xp_logs | Operation: Red Letter Day

Elsewhere in the complex, Jubilee and Ororo finally find Remy. At least, what's left of him.

The complex wasn't huge, and it only took a few minutes moving under the map that Doug had acquired to isolate where Remy was being held. The trouble was that it was behind a set of locked doors, past a pair of armed guards that looked at the very least competent with the automatic weapons they held at ease. The sterile complex was more like a laboratory or a prison than a command centre, and certainly the list of labs and experiment rooms indicated that HYDRA was still in the same business that the late Von Strucker had started - biological and genetic research.

Myriad emotions ran through the back of Ororo's mind as she peered around a corner at the guards - discomfort from the tunnels was being subsumed by impatience and over that an overwhelming sense of urgency and anger - these were the men responsible for holding Remy, and for that there would be no leniancy.

Jubilee could feel the prickle of electricity run along the back of her neck; unbeknownst to the weatherworker small sparks were dancing out from her fingertips, her hair. It grew more charged until even the guards seemed to notice it, glancing at each other with somewhat bemused expressions on their faces.

#You first, 'Ro,# she said, thankful that Emma's range was enough that the telepathic switchboard still included them, it made this a lot easier. #Figure you could use the outlet?#

It wasn't that she didn't want a go at them herself, frankly, she was just looking for an excuse to get her vengence on but from the looks of it, Ororo could really use this right now.

The white-haired woman looked up in surprise, though it didn't take long for her to figure out what Jubilee was referring to as arcs of electricity jumped from her hand to the wall next to them as she reached up to steady herself. #Very well,# came the grim response, her eyes clouding over to an opaque white, and unfolding her legs she stood and stepped around the corner into the corridor in one smooth movement.

She didn't give them so much as a chance to lay down their weapons before she raised her arms, summoning a gust of wind strong enough to lift them off their feet and slam them into the doors behind them.

The wind hammered them back into the door like a car impact, dropping both of them to the floor unconscious; puppets with their strings cut. There was no external reaction; no alarms immediately went off, or the yells of guards coming to investigate. It appeared that Ororo's attack was swift enough that they retained the element of surprise as they reached the locked door.

#Nice work,# Jubilee said, moving forward to the locked door, she pulled a small device from the inside pocket of her jacket, plugging it into the electronic lock. It would take a few seconds for it to get a bead on the pin, but after that they should be through.

Jubilee grinned at the clunk of the lock mechanism disengaging, piece of highly specialised cake, pushing the door open she moved forward into the corridor beyond.

The door simply led to a second security door, this one protected by a palm plate scanner. The door was solid and almost featurely, not giving any hints to what lay beyond it. Ororo spared no time thinking what it might be, dragging an unconscious guard by his jacket towards the second door and using his limp hand to bypass the security on the second door.

The door opened into a charnel house scene. The room was concrete walled and high ceilinged, with bare racks of fluorescent lighting. The floor was carved up by lines of steel grates, under which only blackness could be seen. In the centre of the room, a device akin to a dentist's chair was set, with heavy non-reactive plastic restraints holding the figure trapped in it. Beside the chair was a set of waist tall tool kits, on top of which was a jumble of tools.

At the sound of the door opening, the figure working on the captive in the chair turned, and didn't waste time on surprise or questions. With a viper fast movement, Brock Rumlow drew both automatic pistols and started to pour fire into the doorway.

Jubilee reacted instinctively, pulling power from her body to build a shield of plasma in front of her as she rushed through the door, bullets melting as they came into contact with it. It wasn't something she'd be able to keep up forever, but it would give Ororo and herself a chance to get closer to Rumlow.

"Oh dude, have you have messed with the wrong people," she snarled, keeping herself between Rumlow and Ororo.

The weatherworker ducked low, her arms spread as the lightning built and built; the only thing that stopped her from letting it arc across the room was the figure in the chair - bent, still, slumped. "Put down your guns and you may yet live," she commanded over the sound of gunfire.

Rumlow didn't waste his words arguing. Two mutants, both powerful, and he was unsupported. There was an easier way to do it. One gun turned, pointing directly at LeBeau's head. He started to walk back, keeping the weapon always leveled on the Cajun as he holstered the other one. The tableau held for a moment before he carefully knelt down and raised one of the grates with his hand, gun locked and unwavering on Remy.

Red washed over Ororo's vision, turning the scene before them into a bloody mess. "Go, then," she heard someone say, and she realized it was her. "Leave. But if you harm him any more, if you spill another drop of blood then I swear to you, I will hunt you down and ensure that the last thing that you hear will be your own screams as you roast alive and nothing - none of the perversions you have invented - will match what you will endure before that time comes." She waited, completely unmoving, the anger having given way to something else, something that transcended emotion and left only stillness in its place.

Rumlow gave her a mocking smile before dropping through the gate and letting it clang shut behind him. There was no shame in retreat before superior firepower, and his job was not to let himself be killed for no reason.

Remy lay all but insensible in the chair. He was nude and his head had been crudely shaved. His naked body held all the marks of torture; long, shallow cuts covered his torso and chest, and deeper, gouging ones on his arms and legs. There were burns to his chest, temples and genitals from where they must have used electricity, and a supperating raw wound on his stomach looked like the work of a blowtorch. As they approached, there was a crunching noise underfoot, which turned out to be a dozen teeth crudely extracted and then discarded.

Ignoring the smell of blood and burnt flesh, Ororo crouched down beside the man in the chair, reaching up to place one hand lightly on his grizzled cheek. For a long moment there was nothing but silence, and then she was standing, casting a glance back at the other person in the room. "Help me get him up."

Jubilee had dropped her shield the moment Rumlow left, and stood back as she watched Ororo go to Remy, she moved forward now, placing her hand against his shoulder to pull him forward and out of the chair. She twisted, shoving herself under his arm to keep him from falling and looked over at Ororo. "He's going to be okay."

It seemed a rather stupid statement given Remy's state and where they were but Jubilee felt it needed to be said, because he would be okay, or as okay as he ever was. She believed that, had utter faith that once they got him out of here and back home he'd be okay, he had to be.

Ororo said nothing aloud, gritting her teeth as she eased under his other arm and started for the door, Remy's feet making only the barest contact with the floor. #We have him,# she sent over the switchboard as they stepped around the still-unconscious guards on the flood. #And we are evacuating the building. Let it fall to the ground for all I care.#