| Making a Better You Part III/Finale | |||||
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| What: The X-Men confront Mr. Sinister stop him. | |||||
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Horizons Medical Center had renovations thanks to falling under the banner of Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas. The only problem with this partnership was the chief of medicine Dr. Saxton. After investigating the Hospital Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Kilroy and Logan discovered that Dr. Saxton wasn't who he seemed.
Dr. Lian Ethan Saxton was found out to be Nathaniel Essex aka Mister Sinister. For the last 18 months Sinister has had full access to a hospital and a walk-in clinic. Every patient was at his disposable. All of the possibilities were mind boggling. Each potential conclusion equally horrific.
What made matters worse was Horizons Medical Center was connected to a string of missing patients and one attempted kidnapping. Both would be kidnappers were hospitalized thanks to Sunspot, Iceman and Kilroy. The only thing the duo desired more than anything else was "Perfection" whatever that meant.
Now the X-men had to figure out their plan of attack. Did they go after the Hospital or the facility? Would they go in guns blazing or try to sneak into the buildings to figure out what was going on?
Logan voted for stealth was he looked at the other X-men in the blackbird with him. Pulling back the mask to his blue and yellow uniform his eyes scanned the others, "What does everyone else say?" He was willing to let the others take point on this operation. All he did was recon work. The others actually dug their hands into the muck to figure out what was wrong. They knew better.
Kitty Pryde gives a brittle smile. "I don't think we have that many guns to blaze right now.. but if we hold on for backup we're leaving all those people in his "care" in the meantime. I say we go for a subtle takedown. He's got a lot of powers, but maybe we can drug him and get him away from those people." she knows that's highly optimistic, but. She doesn't want to leave without trying -something-.
In his organic ice form, Bobby shrugs a little. "I don't think there's anything that could drug him unless he made it," he remarks. "If we knew where he was though..." Bobby frowns, looking thoughtful. "We could launch you and have you like phase him right away from everyone..." he trails off, half seriously to Kitty. "Maybe we go in through a basement or something. That's usually where mad scientists keep their stuff they try to hide. Well, that and creepy Gothic castles."
Logan nodded to Kitty, "Chances are he's on top. Floor of the Hospital, in his office. That's where you two found him, right?" he asked going off of Bobby's remark as well as Kitty's. "We could fly above the hospital, give ya a drop and deal with whatever hell comes loose when ya keep dragging him down?" The Blackbird was heading toward the city of sin. All of the lights could be seen from the windows, "Me n' Bobby head to the first floor?"
As the black jet cut through the skies his eyes went to the pair. "We gonna do it like this?" he asked making sure this was what the pair wanted. Yes, the plan would have gotten Sinister out of the office and away from people it would have created chaos. Maybe that's what they needed though. They were being way too quiet on this one in his opinion.
Kitty Pryde smirks a bit from where she sits, also in her navy and blue costume now. "A little 'drop in' appointment..? Has style. And yeah, he might not risk attacking me while we were phasing through the floors, but we'd still have to deal with him at the bottom; I can't keep us in concrete forever.
Kitty Pryde says, "..D'you think he brainwashed those kidnappers?"
Bobby blinks a moment, surprised they're going with his almost joke of a plan. "Not sure what else there is to do unless we freeze the building solid or something," he shrugs, looking over at Logan. "They seemed kinda brainwashed to me."
"Could be. He likes to tinker with the minds of people. Ask Scott n' Jean 'bout that," Logan said. The pair of lovers, as much as that made Logan groan to think of them like that, had some stories. As the ship was above hospital the gangplank opened up. "If we jump chances are he's hidin' something. If you pop into some unknown room yer gonna be alone til' me n' Bobby get there. That's gonna take some time. If you stop at the first floor me n' Bobby can get there quick, but we won't know what he's hidin'. Plus we gotta expose what he really looks like. When we saw him last he looked like an Asian-American," his eyes went to the two other X-men. "How bad would it looked if others thought we were just attackin' a doctor?" that would have been a PR nightmare for the school and the X-men. "If ya go to some unknown place, lure him back. Might throw him off his game n' expose him too. Choice is yers, kid." he eyed Kitty being honest with her about the options they ahd before them.
Kitty Pryde hmms.. she crosses her arms, glancing speculatively out the hatch. "..Y'know.. Sinister -made- himself the way he is, right? He modified himself, copied powers from others.. augmented. And now he's doing it to these other guys? Bobby, maybe you were on the right track. The only drug to use on him is one he made himself.. If Sinister can augment himself, his concoctions must work on him.. what if we find what he's working on for those kidnappers, gave him whatever random potion he was brewing up to test on the lackeys? If they haven't taken it yet it's probably not ready, it probably wouldn't help him, but it might hinder him."
"What do you say to a little poking our noses where they don't belong before we attack the not-so-good doctor?"
Bobby Drake shrugs, leaning back. "Sure, sneaking sounds good. You're probably a better bet for that than me though," he grins Kitty's way. "Cute girl that can walk through walls stands out a lot less than the dashingly handsome ice guy sliding around."
Kitty Pryde says, "Sitching networks if I DC I'll be back shortly"
Looking at Kitty Logan had an idea, "You can grab the two of us. Phase all three of us," he said looking to the two mutants. If they wanted to do recon that was the best thing. If they all fell together they could have explored the hospital together as a team. If they were caught somewhere they shouldn't have been it could have lured out Sinister too.
Looking at Kitty Logan had an idea, "You can grab the two of us. Phase all three of us," he said looking to the two mutants. If they wanted to do recon that was the best thing. If they all fell together they could have explored the hospital together as a team. If they were caught somewhere they shouldn't have been it could have lured out Sinister too.
Kitty Pryde nods. "You bet." she agrees. "The more the merrier, I figure. I can disrupt cameras if there are any, and we can cover more ground with more of us."
"We can definitely put cameras on ice," Bobby replies, making a finger-gun gesture. "So are we jumping? Do I work on skydiving puns now?" he asks, looking to the other two X-men.
When Kitty grabbed the two of them, they dove down in unison. Luckily the office was avoided. Floor by floor they went downward. Everything looked normal. Patient room, patient room, patient room, every patient was in various degrees of health. Broom closet, the rooms kept going down. After a small bit of time they were in the lobby. As Kitty's foot touched the floor she could sense that there was something BENEATH the lobby.
Pressing downward they fell for a small bit and wound up in a place that was more sterile than the facility itself. All matter of things could be seen from the room they were in. Landing on the floor the three of them could see giant tubes that held people in a liquid. Each person was wearing a breathing mask. Kitty would have recognized six of the eight subjects in the tubes. Every person matched one of the missing people she was tracking down. The other two Bobby would have recognized as the attackers. What made this part eerie were the labels on each tube. There was a subject number and a version number. One person was on version 5.0. Another was on version 2.1. The numbers ranged, but what could it have meant.
Looking around the rest of the facility they could see modernized horrors. There were several horizontal tubes that looked like EKG scanners, but Logan gave a small angry growl. "This is a testin' facility. Kinda like the one X-23 tells me she came from," he wasn't sure if any of them knew about Laura's cloning origins. He wasn't going to spill the beans on that one. If one of them knew though then they could have truly understood the facility.
The place was mostly metal from the tiles, to the guard rails. Computers were in front of the horizontal tubes. One of the screens had a readout of a subject called "Perfection" then it was compared to one of the cloning subjects in the tube. It seemed like they were trying to make the subjects into what was called "Perfection."
Looking at the two Logan wanted to know what they were thinking. What did this facility do to them. "Take it out?" he asked. It was clear the hospital was providing test subjects to this place.
Kitty Pryde 's eyes wide in revulsion when they take in the nature of the facility. ..But even so she lets go of the other two quietly, solidifying so she can walk around and look things over. She frowns as she fingers one of the numbers.. "Version numbers?" she glances to the other two. The decimal suggests to her it's not cloning-- probably versions of some sort of testing to improve them. "He's certainly working on something with these people.." she mutters. She checks the computer readouts, and glances at the subject labeled "Perfection". Is there a person in there..?
Bobby makes a face as he looks around. "At least it's not tentacles," he mutters, remembering that encounter. "So...what, clones?" he asks when Kitty asks about numbers. He frowns when he sees the one subject, studying his feet a moment. "Uhh...pretty sure Kilroy messed that guy's feet up so he's either copying you, Wolvie or..." he trails off. "Whatver we do, shutting down what's happening here is pretty high on the 'things the X-men must do' list."
Opening up one of the tubes Logan looked at who was resting in it. Inside was the kidnapper. Part of his leg was missing as he was scheduled for amputation. His eyes went up to Kitty and Bobby before quietly shutting the tube. "May want to turn yer eyes," Logan remember what Kilroy had mentioned. Something about them being messed up, "Start shuttin' machines down," Logan's claws went out as he prepared to shut down the machine was the test subject in it. If they were clones it didn't mean they were lifeless, but Sinister probably expirimented on these poor bastards over and over again so much that their lives were essentially stripped from them. At least that's how Logan saw it.
Kitty Pryde frowns at the others. "If it was cloning, I'd expect the numbers to be whole. That's weird..he must be tinkering with them when he makes them somehow..." the idea turns her stomach as she looks around. More methods of augmentation..I guess he-- woah, woah, hey!" she says, catching at Logan's arm. "These are still people!" she says. Lemme see if I can power them down without killing anyone--" though then she gets grim. "-Then- we can trash everything we can reach."
"Uh," Bobby looks around. "What shutting things down opens the tubes lets them all out and they're programmed to kill on sight?" he asks, the air getting a little chillier. "Shouldn't we make sure they like...stay snoozing?"
A door suddenly opened up at the far right corner of the room. Out stepped Doctor Saxton. "You shouldn't open up people's property. Sometimes they may come with alarms," the Doctor walked through the facility. Slowly his face started to change. A goatee grew in place and his skin turned to that alabaster white. The eyes became completely red like two rubies that practically gleamed in the light. His hair stayed long.
Going to the tube Logan opened up Sinister suddenly unplugged it. A life support meter suddenly started to beep with the flatlining sign. "Meaningless clones that don't know what it's like to be me. It will take time, but I will show them perfection. How to be perfection on a genetic second only to me," his eyes went to the trio. "What to do with you three," Logan looked to his compatriates and two "shnkts!" cut through the air. Charging at Sinister Logan jumped into the air trying to stab. While successful the cannuckle head was quickly tossed away. Slowly Sinister's wounds healed, but not at the rate of Wolverine's.
Kitty Pryde curses under her breath.. "What do you care, anyhow? I thought you only cared about yourself." she accuses. She edges closer to the largest computer bank, though she keeps alert for any other lackeys. Though considering Sinister's pride, he may have come alone.
As Logan is tossed aside, Bobby snorts and fires off an ice blast at Sinister to push him back. "Dude, you are so not perfection," he laughs. "For one, you got no tan. And your clothes are so outdated," he grins, preparing to jump onto an ice slide if need be. "And that's not even getting into your stupid little beard."
Kitty Pryde kinda has to agree, "He's really got you on the beard, there."
Sinister was pushed back by the ice attack. A shiver escaped his lips before he went for Bobby. Kitty was ignored simply because she didn't attack him nor did she insult him. Well, she kind of did, but Bobby's insult went right for the core.
Lunging at Bobby Sinister tried a tackle. He was a modified human with augmented speed, strength, durability and the like. Bobby wouldn't need to be as fast as the flash. However, he needed to be on his A-Game to dodge Sinister's move.
Kitty and Logan both knew Sinister was solely interested in Bobby at the moment. "I am perfection! I have evolved far beyond the likes of you!"
Kitty Prydetchs, but she knows Bobby isn't one to get in over his head--well. Okay, yes he is, but on purpose more often now a days, and also good at getting himself out again-- she uses the distraction to turn to the computer bank, looking for some sort of option to safely eject the tube people so Sinister can't kill them with a switch flick. If there's an option to give them sedatives to make sure they don't go zombie on the trio, all the better.
Bobby was on his A game alright. Ticking an enemy off and getting them coming at him off their game was something of a specialty for him. Something he, Spidey, and Johnny had in common. He's already onto his slide as Sinister lunges, sliding out of the way and coming to a stop while sticking his tongue out at Sinister. "Ooh, so close!" he laughs, firing another ice blast to further antagonize the enemy.
Kitty worked her magic on the keyboard. She got at a command menu that took her into an interface set up. Everything Kitty wanted was a click or key stroke away. Pressing more keys she tried to release the clones. A password prompt came up. Trying a few different combinations, three rejections came up before the phrase "PASSWORD ACCEPTED" came across the screen. Then a new prompt came up, "Do you wish to stop life support?" Maybe it was a better idea just to put them into a more subdued state.
Bobby saw Sinister take more ice. He shivered again, but went for Bobby a second time. Again Sinister missed. By the time he rose he saw Kitty working on the computer. At that time Kitty was able to get into a command prompt that said "Format Hardrive? Y/N" Yes, she was that good and Sinister never expected a hacker to get into a machine with NO online capability.
"What are you doing?" he tried to lunge at Kitty this time. He didn't know what the X-man was doing on the machine. All he knew was someone was touching his things. They were very sensitive and she could have set his work back months!!!
Kitty breathes a sigh of relief as she subdues the tube occupants rather than kills them, and she's just made her way to ruining the data beyond repair when Sinister shouts at her. She spares him a glance as her finger stabs down at 'Y'. "Oh, you'll see." she tells him. And if she has anything to say about it, his setbacks will be a lot more severe than months. She flips back and away, catching at the cord to the monitor as she does. At the least it should depower the screen, if not yank it over to crash to the floor, which should limit his ability to see what she did let alone repair it.
"Crud," Bobby mutters when Sinister goes for Kitty instead of him. He goes upwards, crouching on the slide to avoid getting his head hit on the ceiling. "Behind ya, Shadowcat!" he warns. When Kitty dodges, Bobby launches another ice blast at Sinister in hopes of making him crash headfirst into the console.
Sinister's head went into the machine seconds after it was unplugged. A scream that sounded like someone stabbed him through the heart rumbled through the room. Pulling the screen away he stared at Kitty and Bobby. If looks could have killed they both would have been in the ground. "You...You...DESTROYED MY WORK?!"
He was frozen, the work was destroyed and coming up behind him Logan suddenly stabbed Sinister with both hands. The man screamed again. Moving out of the way Logan yelled, "Let em' have it!" it was time they went all out on sinister.
If they beat him SHIELD could have recovered and restored the facility. Make sure any damage done by the mutant was in the name of an "outbreak." Ebola was still going around, right?
That was getting ahead of the game. Though bleeding, the wounds were healing. Ice was working on Sinister and kitty could do something with her phasing, right?
Kitty Pryde ducks around the computer bay, looking for anything else worth destroying. "Iceman, think you can put this guy in cold storage?"
"Don't worry, Shadowcat. Definitely giving him the cold shoulder!" Bobby replies. Yes, the puns never end. Icy energy gathers around his hands as he charges up and then unleashes his power to freeze Sinister on the spot. He's giving Wolverine time to pull away though, not wanting him frozen too. "Fury of Winter! Rage on and freeze my foes where they stand!" he declares in an overly dramatic manner. Storm impression for the win!
As the storm impression rattled from Bobby's lips it wasn't long before Sinister became a living Popsicle. Frozen solid the mutant was down for the count, at least fo rthe moment. Logan looked at the other two, "Wanna phase him into the floor? Let SHIELD bury him out?" he asked Kitty. Without Jean or Chuck here to incapacitate Sinister it seemed like this was the best option.
Logan and Kitty were, obviously, unharmed by everything.
Kitty Pryde says, "He'd suffocate, Logan.. Unless he's made himself up a way to not need to breathe too."
"No need, I'll make some more stuff," Bobby replies, coming down to the floor. He waits for Logan to be clear before starting to make a few ice cages around Sinister.
Logan saw what Bobby was doing then added, "Make the room like this. We'll let shield thaw it out," Logan said matter of factly. Noting where Sinister first came from Logan discovered a private elevator in the far right corner of the room, "Time to go," he called out to the group after giving Bobby a FAIR amount of time.
Kitty Pryde pats Bobby's shoulder. "I knew we kept you around for something besides snow cones." she applauds him. She spends the rest of the time phasing through ice and equipment both, frying any other peripheral computers.
Nodding, Bobby sets about freezing the room up. It doesn't take him long once he doesn't have to worry about not wrecking the stuff in the room. When they're done, he follows the others. "We're done, let's bounce!"
When everything was iced up except the elevator it went up to the top floor. Logan sniffed out a door that led up to the roof. Pressing the "X" symbol on his chest the Blackbird came around and the gangplank opened up ready and waiting to take on passengers. When everyone was aboard Logan closed it and got into the pilots chair turning off the auto pilot. It was time to go home. Vegas was safe, for not at least.
Kitty Pryde says, "Well..that..went surprisingly well. You figure we're so lucky?"
"Shadowcat," Bobby smiles slyly and glances at Logan. "Are you suggesting we go hit a casino?"
Nodding with approval, "Can you two even be let into a casino?" Logan asked. He wasn't sure if the limit was eighteen or twenty one. So, he had to ask. Plus it was a little bit of a raze on them.
Kitty Pryde pffs, and shoves Logan's shoulder! "Hey, you may always be the same age, but the rest of us have turned into mature adults, more's the pity! Thankfully, doesn't mean we've gotta act like 'em, right Bobby?"
"Yeah," Bobby laughs. "More fun not acting like them anyway," he says with a firm nod. After a moment, he realizes something. "Don't let Storm know I did an impression of her, by the way. Still working on it."
Logan looked at the pair and thought on it, "If you guys brought a change of clothes. I can get us some rooms. We can hit the strip," he offered a compromise to the pair. The strip aslo included gambling.
"Art in progress..? Say no more, my lips are sealed." she chuckles to Bobby. "..But for the record, I think she'd be flattered." She grins at Logan. "Sounds like a good way to celebrate-- though you know you don't -have- to look after us anymore, Logan." she teases.
"I always carry extra clothes on the Blackbird," Bobby replies. "Ever since that fight in Antarctica. One episode of Full Frontal Bobby as the inflight movie was enough," he says simply, nodding. "But yeah, celebration time!"
"I'll start to book us a shift."
Kitty Pryde says, "Guess you need to start keeping spare clothes in the Danger Room too, after what you told me about your last escapade there." Kitty chuckles, nudging Bobby. She seems quite pleased with Logan's planning, weather he plans to 'look after' them in Vegas or not. Let him, if he likes, she'll have fun with her guys either way."
Bobby sticks hos tongue out at Kitty. "Hey, they were only pulled down there," he says. "Woo! This is why missions with Wolverine are more fun. Cyke'd have us touring some dumb history of Las Vegas museum," he laughs, clapping Logan on the shoulder in a friendly manner.