FIC: Hostile Takeover 13/18
Domino cocked her gun and aimed. “Warpath! Shatterstar! Heads up!”
Both boys looked at her before propelling off of the ground to avoid the barrage of bullets she shot at their feet. Shatty spun into a series of acrobatics; back flips, cartwheels, handsprings, and long leaps to avoid the grazing bullets. Jimmy put his inhuman speed to the test as he weaved between them, both boys letting out grunts as the woman shot her weapons.
“You can move faster than that!” she yelled at the alien and aimed a shot right at his ankle. His eyes widened and he sprang into the air, but the bullet managed to graze the fleshy part of his calf. Shatterstar grunted at the feel, and looked down at the blood sprayed snow. Domino shook her head. “You’re off your game today, kiddo.”
“Fekt! I am not, woman! You have your luck abilities to rely on!” he scoffed, and threw his sword in the snow.
Roberto laughed from a few feet away. “What the hell kinda game is this anyway, menina? I don’t ever recall this as part of training.”
“Well we don’t really have a Danger Room, now do we?” the merc contested and looked at Shatty again. “Besides, I need to do something to challenge him.” She lifted her gun and quickly fired another round, but that time he was able to avoid it with a spin. “You guys have to realize that HYDRA’s biggest defense is their weapons. I want you all to be prepared.”
“So how come you’re not shooting them?” Jimmy demanded, gesturing towards Terry, Rictor, and Sam on the other side of the yard. They were all sparring with their powers; Siryn and Sam were in the air, while Rictor directed his vibe blasts towards them.
“Because they would get shot,” Domino replied flatly. “And they’re more useful on the offensive rather than the defensive. You guys are my muscle, and I’m relying on you to pull through.”
“We will,” Shatterstar vowed, narrowing his eyes at the suggestion that he would not.
“Look guys, I know this sucks, okay? But I’m trying my best here with what we have!” she exclaimed, and ran her hand through her hair. “We don’t even have proper uniforms for everyone let alone sparring equipment. Back in the day when we had nothing to train with, we did agility exercises like this. I know it seems absurd…”
“Hardly,” Shatty muttered with an eye roll as he picked his weapons back up. “I’ve seen worse on my home world.”
“There you go,” Domino shook her head at them. “All right, all three of you. I want you on your bellies, single formation.”
“There’s snow on the ground,” Jimmy frowned.
“Do I look like I care?” she asked. “Snow doesn’t really stop armies, now does it? Now get down, all of you.”
The three teens did as they were told and laid down in the snow. The cold would be no worry for Roberto, as his solar powers kept him heated, but Jimmy and Shatty would just have to make due with the gloves they had on. Once all three were side by side, she nodded. “When I say go I want you to lift up on your fingertips - one hand only - and the toes of your opposite foot. Your backs are to remain straight and you can’t bend your knees. Stay in that position until I say you can move.”
Roberto grumbled something about his intense hate for core training, but Domino ignored him. “Go.”
All three of them lifted up and focused on keeping their muscles contracted. Dom walked down the line to make sure their formation was correct before she set her watch. They had been doing exercises like these for the four days they had been at the hotel, and the kids were not at all happy about them. The merc kept them rotating between sparring, agility, strength training, power usage, and cardio. Nate had always forced them to focus on their strong points, but now that Domino was in charge she was going to make them train properly. It was just as important that they were in proper shape as it was for them to use their powers. The stronger their bodies were the better defense it made if they had to go on the run again.
And besides, it was not like Nathan had a say anymore anyways. All Domino got the past four days was complaints about how they were not out looking for their team mates. The kids wanted their friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends back, and they missed Cable too - well most of them did. And while Dom knew they would eventually have to go find them, she knew better then to hope for alpha squad’s safe return. There was no point in trying to tell them the kids’ efforts were futile, but she knew that they were. Cable’s squad was gone and that was that. The girls were most likely dead, and Wade was being kept somewhere. If HYDRA was so adamant on doing that to their squad, why not to Cable’s? Besides, they had already revealed that Nate was the one who turned on X-Force, and it did not come as a surprise to Domino.
Though she had never, ever uttered the words out loud, the dark haired merc did love Nathan Summers. They had been through a lot together and for a long time he was the closest thing to a best friend and confidant she had ever had. But knowing someone that well not only helped her identify the good and strong points about him, but the bad as well. Domino had seen Cable turn his back on team mates before. She was there when Hammer had been rendered paralyzed and when Kane lost his limbs in their Six Pack days. To Cable, there was nothing at all that would stand in his way to prevent him from achieving his goals.
That included X-Force too. She hated to say and even think it, but it was true. She had private conversations with Nate and they shared a psychic rapport. The kids were part of a plan to prevent a horrifying future from shaping. They were soldiers to him - pawns even - in the big picture. Of course, he did care about them in a strange way, but in the long run there was only one person besides himself that even mattered in this entire plan.
And that was Sam.
Which was why Dom figured that HYDRA wanted him specially delivered. It mattered not if the rest of the kids died or were taken care of other ways because it was not them that played a big role in the years to come. Although Nate would never word it that way, the rest of them were basically expendable. That included her too.
Because when it came right down to it, it was the fight and ‘the cause’ that was most important. Cable would cross anyone and do anything to prevent millions of lives from being lost in the long run. Such a horrible future was on their horizon - she had seen parts of it herself - and making sure it did not transpire was the sole purpose of Nate starting X-Force in the first place. The theoretical and peaceful nature of the X-Men would not get the job done. X-Force was designed to be militant and disciplined; apathetic to those whose lives that would have to be ruined in order to attain their goals. In the future it was a very noble gesture on Nathan’s part; it took a very strong and special kind of person to operate that way. But right there in the present it was anything but noble. Dangerous, selfish, and criminal only.
Yet, Domino could not find it within her to put a stop to it. Through all the betrayals and questionable acts she had stood by Nate’s side, and stupidly let herself fall for him. Her third rule of survival - never get emotionally involved with anyone ever - had been broken time and time again because of one Nathan Summers. And, of course, she regretted it. Because Nate may have been able to find those kids expendable, but she could not. No matter how much she tried to distance herself from them, be hard on them, or straight up be a bitch to them, she could not ever think of them as puppets.
She had been in their shoes. With no parents to guide them and only an angry outlook on a world that had been nothing but horrible to them, they were all time bombs constantly ready to go off. Used for the purposes of fighting, abuse, murder, theft, and other things that people their age should never have to think about, it was no wonder the kids had such low self esteems and problems socially functioning. They were on the fast track to growing up to be just like Cable if all they were to get was an authoritative, militaristic treatment in their lives. Domino had gotten it from both her guardians and Nate, and she had turned out only hardened and cold.
She did not want to see the kids turn out like her. No one needed to see her horrors and feel pain she felt. They often teased her for being a den mother, and while she was the last person she would ever consider maternal, she knew they would thank her for it someday. If they ever even noticed. But whatever the case, they were her one good deed in the world that kept her from having a constantly plagued guilty conscience.
Which was why they were going to train their asses off and make it through this. No longer was X-Force about the cause and the future because right then and there it was about surviving and it was about them. While Cable’s teachings would come in handy here, it was a whole new ball game now. Domino only wanted them to have a chance to live, and they would worry about anything else later. Fuck powers, fuck mutants, fuck Apocalypse, Externals and X-Men, and fuck Cable too.
It was about them and their lives, and she would see to it that they walked away with them intact.
So standing there and watching them train in the snow with shaking muscles and tired breaths was not her idea of fun. She was not a sadist in any sense of the word, but they needed to be prepared. She honestly did not think that they completely realized what it was they were fighting for and how serious it was. Their anger and gung ho attitudes would get them no where against an organization like HYDRA.
“Bobby, time’s not up yet. Straighten your back!”
“We’ve been going forever now!” he spat as his thighs shook from strain.
“And you have super strength,” she told him with narrowed eyes. “Boys in the army have to do this shit in 60 second intervals and you’re only…oh fifty times stronger than them. Five more minutes.”
She turned on her heel and looked up from her watch as she approached the second group. Terry and Sam were racing through the air and weaving through the trees, and Rictor was sitting on the ground. “Fall in!” she called to them.
When the two deputy leaders landed, the merc stared down at Rictor. “There a reason you’re just sitting on your butt?”
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t fly.”
Domino bit back her frustration. “And I gave you exercises to do! You could've gone running and that would've been better than not doing anything at all!”
The Mexican stared up at her with narrowed eyes and placed his hand in the snow. Without a word he made the ground roll beneath them, sending them all down to their butts and knocking the balancing trio of boys behind them down as well. The other teens all groaned and Rictor folded his arms. “Isn’t that all I’m here to do, chica?”
“No, Rictor,” she hissed and pulled herself up from the ground. “Look I don’t think you’re just some weapon! You’re not a god damn wrecking ball and that can only get you so far against HYDRA.” Sighing, she held out her hand and pulled the younger boy to his feet. “Listen, how well did your abilities do for you against The Right?”
Brown eyes narrowed again. “Don’t go there.”
“That’s my point!” she told him. “We can’t let stuff like that happen to us again. I’m only keeping you guys here so we go into this fight stronger, faster, and better than them. I’m not going to lose another member of this team.”
“Cable would’ve sent us in already,” Roberto muttered as the other squad approached from behind. “I just wanna crush those caralhos! We can just go in and fucking do away with them, just like we did at the other base!”
“I agree,” Shatterstar nodded.
“No!” Domino sighed in frustration. “You can’t go and storm in blinded. Every single mission Cable has sent you on in the last however many years now has been that way. And every single mission you guys have failed was because you blew in there on your high horses cocky and arrogant and thinking your shit don't stink! Well that kind of attitude doesn’t allow for you to win wars. Battles maybe, but not wars.”
“She’s right,” Terry cleared her throat and whispered. “As much as I’d like tah go in and get our friends back, we have tah be ready.”
An argument erupted, pitting one half of the team against the other. One side wanting to go and maim for revenge, while the others kept tactics in mind. Domino just threw her hands up in the air and lifted her gun, pointing it toward the sky and firing off a shot. The voices ceased immediately, and Roberto and Rictor had even gone as far as ducking.
“Enough!” she yelled. “I want a spar going on. Right. Now.”
“Who?” Jimmy asked.
“All of you. Every man and woman for him or herself. Anything goes - powers, weapons, hand to hand, and even ‘nad shots for all I care. You guys wanna fight? Do it.” She set her watch. “You got a ten minute time limit. Winner gets out of training tonight.”
“Well then I don’t want to win,” Shatterstar muttered.
Rictor chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s still a competition, si? You don’t want to be a loser, do you?”
"No!" the warrior narrowed his eyes and pushed Rictor on his butt in the snow. The Mexican burst out laughing and fired off a vibe blast that once again knocked all of his team mates to the ground. With that, the group began their rumble and Domino just sighed; so much for even timing them. They probably would not even pay attention anyways. But she figured it was probably better they work that way; despite being every man for himself, she knew that they would eventually form teams and work together to reach their goals - while at least simultaneously getting a work out and using their powers.
“Are ya okay?”
The merc turned to face Sam. “Aren’t you supposed to be training?”
“Ah could take ‘em all out in one hit,” he pointed out with a shrug. “Now will ya answer my question?”
“I’m fine, Guthrie,” she rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
“The good old emotionless façade,” the Kentuckian shook his head and watched across the yard. “Ya been goin’ harder than usual. When ya aren’t trainin’ us ya been locked up in that room o’ yers on that laptop. Ya haven’t even been givin’ us updates on what yer findin’.”
“Because all I’m finding is bad shit,” she told him, watching his expression from the corner of her eye. “The X-Men have already relocated twice because of ambush. Sasquatch and Wicked were killed yesterday. I figure it’s just a matter of time before HYDRA finds us here.”
“This makes for a pretty good makeshift base though,” Sam noted.
“Yeah well as long as they have Cable they have a way of finding us,” Domino muttered.
“You honestly think he gave us up, don’t ya?”
“Do you have any other explanation? Because he’s the one with databases full of info on us, plus he can easily track us down with his telepathy, Sam.” The merc glared at the ground. “HYDRA might be a bunch of assholes, but they have no reason to lie. And all the evidence seems to back up their claims.”
Sam was quiet for a few moments. “Ah know. Ah know that they got caught, but that ain’t no reason to give up hope until we are 100 percent certain they’re…gone. Ah know that Ah wouldn’t want it on my conscience to have given up on ‘em if there was a chance that we coulda saved ‘em.”
“We will go after them,” Domino promised him.
“When?”
“First thing in the morning,” she muttered, and winced when she watched Ric, Terry, and Bobby get flung off of Jimmy when they tried to team up on him. “We’re gonna pack up and find ourselves some HYDRA tech to steal to get us the rest of the way to Fort Severn. I’ve located a comm station they have set up about ten miles north of here. They got choppers.”
“We’re gonna steal a chopper?” Sam asked incredulously.
“I’d tell you guys to fly us again, but that’d just tire you out. Besides, we may need the lift if we come out with any injured bodies.”
“True,” Sam mumbled.
Domino sighed irritably, not wanting to ask the question but it would not leave her alone. “How you holding up, Sammy? I know I’ve been a bit of a jerk and haven’t worried much about that head of yours, but I can tell that you’re upset, kid.”
“Course Ah am; all of us are,” he shrugged and jammed his hands into the pockets of his still intact uniform. “But Ah’m really itchin’ tah get out there now. And despite anythin’ ya wanna say, Dom, Ah know ya are too.”
“I’m quite sick of running like dogs,” she admitted.
“That’s not what Ah meant,” he scolded. “But Ah know that ya won’t go there with me, nor will ya ever admit it, so Ah’ll just leave it at that. We’re ready and willin’ tah do whatever it is ya want us to. Just give the commands and ya got it.”
“Good to know someone supports what I’m trying to do.”
“They do support ya,” Sam insisted. “They’re just scared.”
“They said that?” Dom scoffed incredulously.
“No, they didn’t say that. But Ah know that they are. When it comes down to it, we’re all just kids. They’re scared and sad and angry, and they only take out their tempers on ya because they rely on ya tah make it better.”
“I can’t make it better,” she muttered. “And we can be as optimistic as we want, Sammy, but I think we’re in for a real shitty reality check when we crash this base.”
He frowned thoughtfully, and just as he opened his mouth to reply, a massive sonic scream was let loose. The two leaders winced and covered their ears, and when Domino looked back at the team, all the boys were on the ground and Siryn was standing triumphantly.
“I win!”
“Did you have to grab her ass!?” Rictor yelled, pulling his face out of the snow.
“It was an accident!” Jimmy insisted.
“Bullshit!”
“I feel dishonoured,” Shatterstar frowned sadly. “I was beaten by a woman’s voice box.”
Roberto smirked at him, and he too sat up in the snow. “You’ve been off your game all day, amigo. Maybe if ya weren’t getting beaten before training, you wouldn’t have this problema.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” Ric demanded.
“We do have ears you know,” Jimmy muttered and scrunched up his face. “Some of us more than others…”
“Will you get off my leg!” Shatterstar yelled at the Apache man. “I cannot move when you squish me!”
“You’re the one sitting on my damn boot!” Roberto hissed.
Rictor growled and got to his feet. “What were you talking about?! What was that supposed to mean, cabron!?”
Siryn just rolled her eyes as she stood amongst the bickering boys, and let out one more scream to shut them up. Then she gracefully lifted off into the air with a smug grin. “Have fun trainin’ tonight!”
Domino smirked amusedly at the redhead before turning to face Sam. “Well at least some things don’t change.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The next morning found the team out the door of the hotel by 4:30 am. The skies were still black, and the cold winter winds bit at their flesh. Some of the team - namely those who had originally been on Domino’s squad - were lucky to still have their uniforms intact. Their issued costumes were equipped with armour and were meant to withstand temperature and other elements. However, the teens that had been confined to the cave were without theirs. Rictor and Terry had lost theirs along the way to the medical facilities, while Shatterstar and Roberto’s had been much too damaged by blood, rips, and wear to be salvaged. They did, however, still have their utility belts and their combat boots - which was a plus - but mostly they were stuck with makeshift uniforms made up from clothing found in the hotel. For the most part, they were black and easy to move in, but they did not at all help with the weather.
“You okay?”
Theresa nodded at Jimmy and cursed her chattering teeth as she lifted her binoculars. “I’m fine; I just have a really bad feelin’ about this.”
“Why?” the bigger man questioned.
“Call it woman’s intuition,” she smiled wryly. “The guards are still up over the hill there. We’re gonna have tah wait for Dom’s word.”
“Figures,” Roberto scoffed and paced behind them. “I don’t at all understand why we just don’t go subdue them! Knock them the fuck out and then steal their shit!”
“You make us sound like street thugs,” Jimmy laughed.
“Domino’s right in all this,” Terry sighed, and looked back at Sunspot. “She’s been doin’ this stuff since she was just a kid, so I think we should listen tah her, boyo.”
“Yeah well Domino’s not Cable and if Nate were fucking here we would be attacking!” Roberto scowled and folded his arms over his blackened chest. “I’m sick of being a sitting duck. Those bastards killed our friends and they have the rest captured. Nate wouldn’t have let this go on.”
“Nate wouldn’t let us charge in somewhere blazing either,” Jimmy pointed out.
“Yeah but at least he would not bother fucking around with all this emotional preparedness crap. And shit! Everyone suddenly thinks he’s the bad guy now!” Roberto ranted, and clenched his fists. “I used to have a problem with o empregador when my dad died, but Cable really pulled through for me! He wouldn’t betray us.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Terry sighed impatiently. “I dinnae wanna think that he would, but we cannae rule anythin’ out at this point.”
“Screw that,” the Brazilian seethed. “If any person on that squad turned on us, it would be Deadpool.”
“Will ye shut up?” Terry hissed. “Ye keep yellin’ and ye’ll get us caught!”
“Droga, what’s with you!?” Roberto snapped. “You were the one who was trying over and over and over to get a hold of their squad back at Bearskin Lake! You told me repeatedly that you just wanted to find god damn Wilson and that you weren’t gonna give up! And now you’re just kissing Dom’s ass when you know damn well that she’s wrong here!”
“Watch it,” Jimmy warned.
The Brazilian huffed and sat down in the snow cross legged. “I don’t know why you keep kissing her ass either, Jimbo. All she does is lead you on! She’s only been worried about that babaca!”
“Enough!” Jimmy yelled, and pointed a finger at his chest. “You shut up right now, Roberto, or so help me god I’ll knock you out and leave you here to freeze.”
“Maybe you should,” he murmured.
“Guys,” Terry sighed tiredly. “Now is nae the time for this crap. ‘Berto, I know ye wanna get them back for ‘Mara - and you will - but right now we just have tah follow orders. If we dinnae then we’ll get distracted and mess up. And we cannae afford tah do that right now.”
“I know, I know,” Bobby sighed. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just getting antsy! We crashed at that place for like five days without doin’ a damn thing but kick each other’s asses. I just think it’s about time we do something productive.”
“And we are,” Terry pointed out and lifted her binoculars once more. Movement caught her line of sight, and she grinned. “Here we go,” she lifted her comm device to her mouth. “Aye, Domino. The guards are away from the door.”
“Good,” the merc’s voice buzzed over the intercom. “Wait for the signal. I’m gonna have Shatty blow a hole in the garage at the west side of the yard. As soon as the alarms go off, I want you guys to break for the chopper. We’ll meet you there and then we book right away, got it?”
“Roger,” the redhead whispered into the comm.
“Engage the enemy if you have to, and don’t hold back. Morals don’t mean a damn thing right now if you guys wanna make it outta here with your heads on your shoulders.” Domino paused. “Good luck, kids. We’ll see you in a few.”
Theresa smiled. “Beta out.”
“Alpha out.”
The Irish woman looked between the two boys on her squad and gave them encouraging nods; the monsters that had destroyed their homes and lives and everyone that they loved were finally going to get a taste of years worth of militant mutant training. There was no more empathy for human life by that point, and now it was just kill or be killed. Theresa tried her best to keep vengeance out of her focus, but every once in a while it managed to poke its ugly face through.
As a deputy leader of X-Force, she had to set an example though. Revenge would only cause mistakes, and no matter what had been said and done by her fellow team mates in the past weeks, she did not want to see any of them hurt. She would not allow them to get themselves killed recklessly.
She had already lost Feral - and almost Rictor - from the same exact thing.
“It’s show time,” Bobby grinned as a loud blast echoed off the mountains and trees surrounding the parameters. The garage Shatty had been assigned to destroy was nearly half a kilometre away from the designated chopper warehouse. It was a long ranged attack which would most likely exhaust him, but the team had to take their chances.
It was times like these they needed Meltdown around.
The redhead gestured for her squad to move out from their hiding spots amongst a circle of pines, and they took off in a run down the hill. The communications towers that HYDRA had set up did not have as nearly as many personnel as their base had. The comm towers were meant only to relay messages and house servers and data. The guards there would be easy to take out.
But, of course, the diversion would only see to it that the security on hand would go to the site of the blast instead.
Bobby and Terry took off into the air when Warpath put his speed to use. The Apache man moved at a pace that could rival a high powered car, circling the chopper pit at the base of the hill to quickly immobilize any security left taking cover. Siryn and Sunspot flew directly for the aircrafts, and were immediately met up with Rictor and Cannonball.
“Where’s Dom and ‘Star?” Terry questioned.
The Mexican rolled his eyes. “Had to stop to fight people. Could’ve easily avoided it though, but you know those idiots.”
Terry could not help but grin, and tossed a headset over to the younger man. “Co-pilot with me?’
“Sure,” Ric nodded and climbed onto the main pilot side, activated the controls, and turned on the blades. “Where’s Jim?”
“Here!” the bigger man appeared at their side in a flash, and Sam hurriedly gestured for him to climb in.
“Good thing these things are meant foah carryin’ people,” the Kentuckian chuckled, and turned his head when gunshots went off in the distance. “Drat! C’mon, Dom…” he muttered.
Bobby, Jimmy, and Terry worked on getting themselves strapped into their seats. The chopper was quite cramped, but big enough to hold them all. The sirens and alarms were screeching all around the building now, and it made Theresa’s heart race. If they did not act soon, HYDRA would most surely be on their tails in a matter of minutes to shoot them out of the sky. Hell, they would be lucky if the aircraft they were taking was not equipped with a tracking device.
Fortunately for them though, the last two members of their team ran down the hill with Domino shooting her plasma guns back at the top.Shatterstar jumped aboard first, and immediately slammed his fist up through the bottom of the dash. Rictor shot him an annoyed look.
“Madre de Dios! Do ya have to break something everywhere you go!?”
The alien rolled his eyes and pulled back, lifting a black box. “We have no use for this. Unless, of course, Rictor, you would like to get caught.”
The Mexican smiled brilliantly at him. “Smart ass.”
“Let’s go!” Domino cheered as she jumped in. Sam quickly followed her, and slammed the door shut to the aircraft. Rictor and Siryn manned the controls and they were off the ground in seconds.
Sam stayed up in the pilot’s area with them when the others took their seats, and rummaged around the containment cupboards above the pilot chairs. “There’s gotta be a map around here somewhere!”
“I’ll just go north,” Rictor mumbled. “I mean, sometimes I swear that’s the only direction in Canada.”
The Kentuckian grinned triumphantly when he found what he was looking for. Quickly he pulled the folded paper apart and scanned it for their destination. Cursing silently under his breath as he searched, it took him a few moments to find it. “Fort Severn! Latitude: 56 degrees 4' 0 north, Longitude: 87 degrees 34' 0 west!”
“You got it, hombre,” Ric nodded.
“What’s the ETA?” Terry questioned.
“In this thing?” Sam glanced down at the meters on the dash and scrunched up his face thoughtfully. “Forty-five minutes?”
“Good job, guys,” Domino called from the back seat. “When we get to the base we’ll split up, okay? We can’t waste any time at all on a briefing when we get there. So I want one offensive and one defensive guy on each team.”
“Understood,” Sam called over his shoulder as he continued to key in codes on the dash computer.
“Cannonball and Sunspot, you guys'll track down this Strucker guy. The agents at the last base made it sound as if he was the head honcho, so your job is to get a lead on him. Warpath and Rictor, you guys are with me. We look for Cable.”
“Whoopdedoo,” the Mexican muttered.
“Shatterstar you’re with Siryn,” the merc continued to order. “You guys are in charge of taking out agents and freeing and locating any other prisoners. Are we understood?”
“Dom?” Jimmy asked.
“What’s up?” she questioned.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with Siryn and be her defense.”
The redhead turned in her seat and glanced at their leader. Domino had her eyebrows furrowed and was regarding Jimmy with a curious look. Violet eyes then turned to Shatterstar and she sighed. “Would you mind working with Rictor?”
The warrior’s eyes brightened, but he did not allow his facial expression to change. “No.”
“Good, Jimmy you’re with Terry and ‘Star’s with us. I don’t want any goofing off though!”
Jimmy nodded, and shot Theresa an encouraging smile. “If we’re going in with guns blazing, I just wanna make sure I can stick with her. We work best together.”
“Agreed,” Domino conceded with a shrug. “Anyone else have objections?”
When no one else said a word, Sam looked back at the older woman. “Ah guess this is it then, huh? We either come out of this on top, or…nothin'.”
“We will come out on top,” Shatterstar stated.
“Agreed,” Domino nodded her head. “We’ve been training for this, and now it’s time. We stick together and we blow those fuckers the hell up for ever messing with us in the first place.”
Silence enveloped the carrier then, leaving the team in thought. The quiet must have gotten to Ric though because he began looking around confusedly. “Is it just me, or does it feel like we should have some crazy rock tune playin’ in the background right now?”
Nobody said anything for a few seconds before Bobby burst out laughing. “Man, leave it up to you to provide the commentary when Tabby ain’t around.”
Sam could not stop his chuckle either. “Not foah much longer though. Because we’re gonna get her back.”
Domino sighed and regarded everyone. “Here’s to hoping, kiddies. Here’s to hoping.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Chapter 14 is up!
Both boys looked at her before propelling off of the ground to avoid the barrage of bullets she shot at their feet. Shatty spun into a series of acrobatics; back flips, cartwheels, handsprings, and long leaps to avoid the grazing bullets. Jimmy put his inhuman speed to the test as he weaved between them, both boys letting out grunts as the woman shot her weapons.
“You can move faster than that!” she yelled at the alien and aimed a shot right at his ankle. His eyes widened and he sprang into the air, but the bullet managed to graze the fleshy part of his calf. Shatterstar grunted at the feel, and looked down at the blood sprayed snow. Domino shook her head. “You’re off your game today, kiddo.”
“Fekt! I am not, woman! You have your luck abilities to rely on!” he scoffed, and threw his sword in the snow.
Roberto laughed from a few feet away. “What the hell kinda game is this anyway, menina? I don’t ever recall this as part of training.”
“Well we don’t really have a Danger Room, now do we?” the merc contested and looked at Shatty again. “Besides, I need to do something to challenge him.” She lifted her gun and quickly fired another round, but that time he was able to avoid it with a spin. “You guys have to realize that HYDRA’s biggest defense is their weapons. I want you all to be prepared.”
“So how come you’re not shooting them?” Jimmy demanded, gesturing towards Terry, Rictor, and Sam on the other side of the yard. They were all sparring with their powers; Siryn and Sam were in the air, while Rictor directed his vibe blasts towards them.
“Because they would get shot,” Domino replied flatly. “And they’re more useful on the offensive rather than the defensive. You guys are my muscle, and I’m relying on you to pull through.”
“We will,” Shatterstar vowed, narrowing his eyes at the suggestion that he would not.
“Look guys, I know this sucks, okay? But I’m trying my best here with what we have!” she exclaimed, and ran her hand through her hair. “We don’t even have proper uniforms for everyone let alone sparring equipment. Back in the day when we had nothing to train with, we did agility exercises like this. I know it seems absurd…”
“Hardly,” Shatty muttered with an eye roll as he picked his weapons back up. “I’ve seen worse on my home world.”
“There you go,” Domino shook her head at them. “All right, all three of you. I want you on your bellies, single formation.”
“There’s snow on the ground,” Jimmy frowned.
“Do I look like I care?” she asked. “Snow doesn’t really stop armies, now does it? Now get down, all of you.”
The three teens did as they were told and laid down in the snow. The cold would be no worry for Roberto, as his solar powers kept him heated, but Jimmy and Shatty would just have to make due with the gloves they had on. Once all three were side by side, she nodded. “When I say go I want you to lift up on your fingertips - one hand only - and the toes of your opposite foot. Your backs are to remain straight and you can’t bend your knees. Stay in that position until I say you can move.”
Roberto grumbled something about his intense hate for core training, but Domino ignored him. “Go.”
All three of them lifted up and focused on keeping their muscles contracted. Dom walked down the line to make sure their formation was correct before she set her watch. They had been doing exercises like these for the four days they had been at the hotel, and the kids were not at all happy about them. The merc kept them rotating between sparring, agility, strength training, power usage, and cardio. Nate had always forced them to focus on their strong points, but now that Domino was in charge she was going to make them train properly. It was just as important that they were in proper shape as it was for them to use their powers. The stronger their bodies were the better defense it made if they had to go on the run again.
And besides, it was not like Nathan had a say anymore anyways. All Domino got the past four days was complaints about how they were not out looking for their team mates. The kids wanted their friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends back, and they missed Cable too - well most of them did. And while Dom knew they would eventually have to go find them, she knew better then to hope for alpha squad’s safe return. There was no point in trying to tell them the kids’ efforts were futile, but she knew that they were. Cable’s squad was gone and that was that. The girls were most likely dead, and Wade was being kept somewhere. If HYDRA was so adamant on doing that to their squad, why not to Cable’s? Besides, they had already revealed that Nate was the one who turned on X-Force, and it did not come as a surprise to Domino.
Though she had never, ever uttered the words out loud, the dark haired merc did love Nathan Summers. They had been through a lot together and for a long time he was the closest thing to a best friend and confidant she had ever had. But knowing someone that well not only helped her identify the good and strong points about him, but the bad as well. Domino had seen Cable turn his back on team mates before. She was there when Hammer had been rendered paralyzed and when Kane lost his limbs in their Six Pack days. To Cable, there was nothing at all that would stand in his way to prevent him from achieving his goals.
That included X-Force too. She hated to say and even think it, but it was true. She had private conversations with Nate and they shared a psychic rapport. The kids were part of a plan to prevent a horrifying future from shaping. They were soldiers to him - pawns even - in the big picture. Of course, he did care about them in a strange way, but in the long run there was only one person besides himself that even mattered in this entire plan.
And that was Sam.
Which was why Dom figured that HYDRA wanted him specially delivered. It mattered not if the rest of the kids died or were taken care of other ways because it was not them that played a big role in the years to come. Although Nate would never word it that way, the rest of them were basically expendable. That included her too.
Because when it came right down to it, it was the fight and ‘the cause’ that was most important. Cable would cross anyone and do anything to prevent millions of lives from being lost in the long run. Such a horrible future was on their horizon - she had seen parts of it herself - and making sure it did not transpire was the sole purpose of Nate starting X-Force in the first place. The theoretical and peaceful nature of the X-Men would not get the job done. X-Force was designed to be militant and disciplined; apathetic to those whose lives that would have to be ruined in order to attain their goals. In the future it was a very noble gesture on Nathan’s part; it took a very strong and special kind of person to operate that way. But right there in the present it was anything but noble. Dangerous, selfish, and criminal only.
Yet, Domino could not find it within her to put a stop to it. Through all the betrayals and questionable acts she had stood by Nate’s side, and stupidly let herself fall for him. Her third rule of survival - never get emotionally involved with anyone ever - had been broken time and time again because of one Nathan Summers. And, of course, she regretted it. Because Nate may have been able to find those kids expendable, but she could not. No matter how much she tried to distance herself from them, be hard on them, or straight up be a bitch to them, she could not ever think of them as puppets.
She had been in their shoes. With no parents to guide them and only an angry outlook on a world that had been nothing but horrible to them, they were all time bombs constantly ready to go off. Used for the purposes of fighting, abuse, murder, theft, and other things that people their age should never have to think about, it was no wonder the kids had such low self esteems and problems socially functioning. They were on the fast track to growing up to be just like Cable if all they were to get was an authoritative, militaristic treatment in their lives. Domino had gotten it from both her guardians and Nate, and she had turned out only hardened and cold.
She did not want to see the kids turn out like her. No one needed to see her horrors and feel pain she felt. They often teased her for being a den mother, and while she was the last person she would ever consider maternal, she knew they would thank her for it someday. If they ever even noticed. But whatever the case, they were her one good deed in the world that kept her from having a constantly plagued guilty conscience.
Which was why they were going to train their asses off and make it through this. No longer was X-Force about the cause and the future because right then and there it was about surviving and it was about them. While Cable’s teachings would come in handy here, it was a whole new ball game now. Domino only wanted them to have a chance to live, and they would worry about anything else later. Fuck powers, fuck mutants, fuck Apocalypse, Externals and X-Men, and fuck Cable too.
It was about them and their lives, and she would see to it that they walked away with them intact.
So standing there and watching them train in the snow with shaking muscles and tired breaths was not her idea of fun. She was not a sadist in any sense of the word, but they needed to be prepared. She honestly did not think that they completely realized what it was they were fighting for and how serious it was. Their anger and gung ho attitudes would get them no where against an organization like HYDRA.
“Bobby, time’s not up yet. Straighten your back!”
“We’ve been going forever now!” he spat as his thighs shook from strain.
“And you have super strength,” she told him with narrowed eyes. “Boys in the army have to do this shit in 60 second intervals and you’re only…oh fifty times stronger than them. Five more minutes.”
She turned on her heel and looked up from her watch as she approached the second group. Terry and Sam were racing through the air and weaving through the trees, and Rictor was sitting on the ground. “Fall in!” she called to them.
When the two deputy leaders landed, the merc stared down at Rictor. “There a reason you’re just sitting on your butt?”
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t fly.”
Domino bit back her frustration. “And I gave you exercises to do! You could've gone running and that would've been better than not doing anything at all!”
The Mexican stared up at her with narrowed eyes and placed his hand in the snow. Without a word he made the ground roll beneath them, sending them all down to their butts and knocking the balancing trio of boys behind them down as well. The other teens all groaned and Rictor folded his arms. “Isn’t that all I’m here to do, chica?”
“No, Rictor,” she hissed and pulled herself up from the ground. “Look I don’t think you’re just some weapon! You’re not a god damn wrecking ball and that can only get you so far against HYDRA.” Sighing, she held out her hand and pulled the younger boy to his feet. “Listen, how well did your abilities do for you against The Right?”
Brown eyes narrowed again. “Don’t go there.”
“That’s my point!” she told him. “We can’t let stuff like that happen to us again. I’m only keeping you guys here so we go into this fight stronger, faster, and better than them. I’m not going to lose another member of this team.”
“Cable would’ve sent us in already,” Roberto muttered as the other squad approached from behind. “I just wanna crush those caralhos! We can just go in and fucking do away with them, just like we did at the other base!”
“I agree,” Shatterstar nodded.
“No!” Domino sighed in frustration. “You can’t go and storm in blinded. Every single mission Cable has sent you on in the last however many years now has been that way. And every single mission you guys have failed was because you blew in there on your high horses cocky and arrogant and thinking your shit don't stink! Well that kind of attitude doesn’t allow for you to win wars. Battles maybe, but not wars.”
“She’s right,” Terry cleared her throat and whispered. “As much as I’d like tah go in and get our friends back, we have tah be ready.”
An argument erupted, pitting one half of the team against the other. One side wanting to go and maim for revenge, while the others kept tactics in mind. Domino just threw her hands up in the air and lifted her gun, pointing it toward the sky and firing off a shot. The voices ceased immediately, and Roberto and Rictor had even gone as far as ducking.
“Enough!” she yelled. “I want a spar going on. Right. Now.”
“Who?” Jimmy asked.
“All of you. Every man and woman for him or herself. Anything goes - powers, weapons, hand to hand, and even ‘nad shots for all I care. You guys wanna fight? Do it.” She set her watch. “You got a ten minute time limit. Winner gets out of training tonight.”
“Well then I don’t want to win,” Shatterstar muttered.
Rictor chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s still a competition, si? You don’t want to be a loser, do you?”
"No!" the warrior narrowed his eyes and pushed Rictor on his butt in the snow. The Mexican burst out laughing and fired off a vibe blast that once again knocked all of his team mates to the ground. With that, the group began their rumble and Domino just sighed; so much for even timing them. They probably would not even pay attention anyways. But she figured it was probably better they work that way; despite being every man for himself, she knew that they would eventually form teams and work together to reach their goals - while at least simultaneously getting a work out and using their powers.
“Are ya okay?”
The merc turned to face Sam. “Aren’t you supposed to be training?”
“Ah could take ‘em all out in one hit,” he pointed out with a shrug. “Now will ya answer my question?”
“I’m fine, Guthrie,” she rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
“The good old emotionless façade,” the Kentuckian shook his head and watched across the yard. “Ya been goin’ harder than usual. When ya aren’t trainin’ us ya been locked up in that room o’ yers on that laptop. Ya haven’t even been givin’ us updates on what yer findin’.”
“Because all I’m finding is bad shit,” she told him, watching his expression from the corner of her eye. “The X-Men have already relocated twice because of ambush. Sasquatch and Wicked were killed yesterday. I figure it’s just a matter of time before HYDRA finds us here.”
“This makes for a pretty good makeshift base though,” Sam noted.
“Yeah well as long as they have Cable they have a way of finding us,” Domino muttered.
“You honestly think he gave us up, don’t ya?”
“Do you have any other explanation? Because he’s the one with databases full of info on us, plus he can easily track us down with his telepathy, Sam.” The merc glared at the ground. “HYDRA might be a bunch of assholes, but they have no reason to lie. And all the evidence seems to back up their claims.”
Sam was quiet for a few moments. “Ah know. Ah know that they got caught, but that ain’t no reason to give up hope until we are 100 percent certain they’re…gone. Ah know that Ah wouldn’t want it on my conscience to have given up on ‘em if there was a chance that we coulda saved ‘em.”
“We will go after them,” Domino promised him.
“When?”
“First thing in the morning,” she muttered, and winced when she watched Ric, Terry, and Bobby get flung off of Jimmy when they tried to team up on him. “We’re gonna pack up and find ourselves some HYDRA tech to steal to get us the rest of the way to Fort Severn. I’ve located a comm station they have set up about ten miles north of here. They got choppers.”
“We’re gonna steal a chopper?” Sam asked incredulously.
“I’d tell you guys to fly us again, but that’d just tire you out. Besides, we may need the lift if we come out with any injured bodies.”
“True,” Sam mumbled.
Domino sighed irritably, not wanting to ask the question but it would not leave her alone. “How you holding up, Sammy? I know I’ve been a bit of a jerk and haven’t worried much about that head of yours, but I can tell that you’re upset, kid.”
“Course Ah am; all of us are,” he shrugged and jammed his hands into the pockets of his still intact uniform. “But Ah’m really itchin’ tah get out there now. And despite anythin’ ya wanna say, Dom, Ah know ya are too.”
“I’m quite sick of running like dogs,” she admitted.
“That’s not what Ah meant,” he scolded. “But Ah know that ya won’t go there with me, nor will ya ever admit it, so Ah’ll just leave it at that. We’re ready and willin’ tah do whatever it is ya want us to. Just give the commands and ya got it.”
“Good to know someone supports what I’m trying to do.”
“They do support ya,” Sam insisted. “They’re just scared.”
“They said that?” Dom scoffed incredulously.
“No, they didn’t say that. But Ah know that they are. When it comes down to it, we’re all just kids. They’re scared and sad and angry, and they only take out their tempers on ya because they rely on ya tah make it better.”
“I can’t make it better,” she muttered. “And we can be as optimistic as we want, Sammy, but I think we’re in for a real shitty reality check when we crash this base.”
He frowned thoughtfully, and just as he opened his mouth to reply, a massive sonic scream was let loose. The two leaders winced and covered their ears, and when Domino looked back at the team, all the boys were on the ground and Siryn was standing triumphantly.
“I win!”
“Did you have to grab her ass!?” Rictor yelled, pulling his face out of the snow.
“It was an accident!” Jimmy insisted.
“Bullshit!”
“I feel dishonoured,” Shatterstar frowned sadly. “I was beaten by a woman’s voice box.”
Roberto smirked at him, and he too sat up in the snow. “You’ve been off your game all day, amigo. Maybe if ya weren’t getting beaten before training, you wouldn’t have this problema.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” Ric demanded.
“We do have ears you know,” Jimmy muttered and scrunched up his face. “Some of us more than others…”
“Will you get off my leg!” Shatterstar yelled at the Apache man. “I cannot move when you squish me!”
“You’re the one sitting on my damn boot!” Roberto hissed.
Rictor growled and got to his feet. “What were you talking about?! What was that supposed to mean, cabron!?”
Siryn just rolled her eyes as she stood amongst the bickering boys, and let out one more scream to shut them up. Then she gracefully lifted off into the air with a smug grin. “Have fun trainin’ tonight!”
Domino smirked amusedly at the redhead before turning to face Sam. “Well at least some things don’t change.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The next morning found the team out the door of the hotel by 4:30 am. The skies were still black, and the cold winter winds bit at their flesh. Some of the team - namely those who had originally been on Domino’s squad - were lucky to still have their uniforms intact. Their issued costumes were equipped with armour and were meant to withstand temperature and other elements. However, the teens that had been confined to the cave were without theirs. Rictor and Terry had lost theirs along the way to the medical facilities, while Shatterstar and Roberto’s had been much too damaged by blood, rips, and wear to be salvaged. They did, however, still have their utility belts and their combat boots - which was a plus - but mostly they were stuck with makeshift uniforms made up from clothing found in the hotel. For the most part, they were black and easy to move in, but they did not at all help with the weather.
“You okay?”
Theresa nodded at Jimmy and cursed her chattering teeth as she lifted her binoculars. “I’m fine; I just have a really bad feelin’ about this.”
“Why?” the bigger man questioned.
“Call it woman’s intuition,” she smiled wryly. “The guards are still up over the hill there. We’re gonna have tah wait for Dom’s word.”
“Figures,” Roberto scoffed and paced behind them. “I don’t at all understand why we just don’t go subdue them! Knock them the fuck out and then steal their shit!”
“You make us sound like street thugs,” Jimmy laughed.
“Domino’s right in all this,” Terry sighed, and looked back at Sunspot. “She’s been doin’ this stuff since she was just a kid, so I think we should listen tah her, boyo.”
“Yeah well Domino’s not Cable and if Nate were fucking here we would be attacking!” Roberto scowled and folded his arms over his blackened chest. “I’m sick of being a sitting duck. Those bastards killed our friends and they have the rest captured. Nate wouldn’t have let this go on.”
“Nate wouldn’t let us charge in somewhere blazing either,” Jimmy pointed out.
“Yeah but at least he would not bother fucking around with all this emotional preparedness crap. And shit! Everyone suddenly thinks he’s the bad guy now!” Roberto ranted, and clenched his fists. “I used to have a problem with o empregador when my dad died, but Cable really pulled through for me! He wouldn’t betray us.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Terry sighed impatiently. “I dinnae wanna think that he would, but we cannae rule anythin’ out at this point.”
“Screw that,” the Brazilian seethed. “If any person on that squad turned on us, it would be Deadpool.”
“Will ye shut up?” Terry hissed. “Ye keep yellin’ and ye’ll get us caught!”
“Droga, what’s with you!?” Roberto snapped. “You were the one who was trying over and over and over to get a hold of their squad back at Bearskin Lake! You told me repeatedly that you just wanted to find god damn Wilson and that you weren’t gonna give up! And now you’re just kissing Dom’s ass when you know damn well that she’s wrong here!”
“Watch it,” Jimmy warned.
The Brazilian huffed and sat down in the snow cross legged. “I don’t know why you keep kissing her ass either, Jimbo. All she does is lead you on! She’s only been worried about that babaca!”
“Enough!” Jimmy yelled, and pointed a finger at his chest. “You shut up right now, Roberto, or so help me god I’ll knock you out and leave you here to freeze.”
“Maybe you should,” he murmured.
“Guys,” Terry sighed tiredly. “Now is nae the time for this crap. ‘Berto, I know ye wanna get them back for ‘Mara - and you will - but right now we just have tah follow orders. If we dinnae then we’ll get distracted and mess up. And we cannae afford tah do that right now.”
“I know, I know,” Bobby sighed. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just getting antsy! We crashed at that place for like five days without doin’ a damn thing but kick each other’s asses. I just think it’s about time we do something productive.”
“And we are,” Terry pointed out and lifted her binoculars once more. Movement caught her line of sight, and she grinned. “Here we go,” she lifted her comm device to her mouth. “Aye, Domino. The guards are away from the door.”
“Good,” the merc’s voice buzzed over the intercom. “Wait for the signal. I’m gonna have Shatty blow a hole in the garage at the west side of the yard. As soon as the alarms go off, I want you guys to break for the chopper. We’ll meet you there and then we book right away, got it?”
“Roger,” the redhead whispered into the comm.
“Engage the enemy if you have to, and don’t hold back. Morals don’t mean a damn thing right now if you guys wanna make it outta here with your heads on your shoulders.” Domino paused. “Good luck, kids. We’ll see you in a few.”
Theresa smiled. “Beta out.”
“Alpha out.”
The Irish woman looked between the two boys on her squad and gave them encouraging nods; the monsters that had destroyed their homes and lives and everyone that they loved were finally going to get a taste of years worth of militant mutant training. There was no more empathy for human life by that point, and now it was just kill or be killed. Theresa tried her best to keep vengeance out of her focus, but every once in a while it managed to poke its ugly face through.
As a deputy leader of X-Force, she had to set an example though. Revenge would only cause mistakes, and no matter what had been said and done by her fellow team mates in the past weeks, she did not want to see any of them hurt. She would not allow them to get themselves killed recklessly.
She had already lost Feral - and almost Rictor - from the same exact thing.
“It’s show time,” Bobby grinned as a loud blast echoed off the mountains and trees surrounding the parameters. The garage Shatty had been assigned to destroy was nearly half a kilometre away from the designated chopper warehouse. It was a long ranged attack which would most likely exhaust him, but the team had to take their chances.
It was times like these they needed Meltdown around.
The redhead gestured for her squad to move out from their hiding spots amongst a circle of pines, and they took off in a run down the hill. The communications towers that HYDRA had set up did not have as nearly as many personnel as their base had. The comm towers were meant only to relay messages and house servers and data. The guards there would be easy to take out.
But, of course, the diversion would only see to it that the security on hand would go to the site of the blast instead.
Bobby and Terry took off into the air when Warpath put his speed to use. The Apache man moved at a pace that could rival a high powered car, circling the chopper pit at the base of the hill to quickly immobilize any security left taking cover. Siryn and Sunspot flew directly for the aircrafts, and were immediately met up with Rictor and Cannonball.
“Where’s Dom and ‘Star?” Terry questioned.
The Mexican rolled his eyes. “Had to stop to fight people. Could’ve easily avoided it though, but you know those idiots.”
Terry could not help but grin, and tossed a headset over to the younger man. “Co-pilot with me?’
“Sure,” Ric nodded and climbed onto the main pilot side, activated the controls, and turned on the blades. “Where’s Jim?”
“Here!” the bigger man appeared at their side in a flash, and Sam hurriedly gestured for him to climb in.
“Good thing these things are meant foah carryin’ people,” the Kentuckian chuckled, and turned his head when gunshots went off in the distance. “Drat! C’mon, Dom…” he muttered.
Bobby, Jimmy, and Terry worked on getting themselves strapped into their seats. The chopper was quite cramped, but big enough to hold them all. The sirens and alarms were screeching all around the building now, and it made Theresa’s heart race. If they did not act soon, HYDRA would most surely be on their tails in a matter of minutes to shoot them out of the sky. Hell, they would be lucky if the aircraft they were taking was not equipped with a tracking device.
Fortunately for them though, the last two members of their team ran down the hill with Domino shooting her plasma guns back at the top.Shatterstar jumped aboard first, and immediately slammed his fist up through the bottom of the dash. Rictor shot him an annoyed look.
“Madre de Dios! Do ya have to break something everywhere you go!?”
The alien rolled his eyes and pulled back, lifting a black box. “We have no use for this. Unless, of course, Rictor, you would like to get caught.”
The Mexican smiled brilliantly at him. “Smart ass.”
“Let’s go!” Domino cheered as she jumped in. Sam quickly followed her, and slammed the door shut to the aircraft. Rictor and Siryn manned the controls and they were off the ground in seconds.
Sam stayed up in the pilot’s area with them when the others took their seats, and rummaged around the containment cupboards above the pilot chairs. “There’s gotta be a map around here somewhere!”
“I’ll just go north,” Rictor mumbled. “I mean, sometimes I swear that’s the only direction in Canada.”
The Kentuckian grinned triumphantly when he found what he was looking for. Quickly he pulled the folded paper apart and scanned it for their destination. Cursing silently under his breath as he searched, it took him a few moments to find it. “Fort Severn! Latitude: 56 degrees 4' 0 north, Longitude: 87 degrees 34' 0 west!”
“You got it, hombre,” Ric nodded.
“What’s the ETA?” Terry questioned.
“In this thing?” Sam glanced down at the meters on the dash and scrunched up his face thoughtfully. “Forty-five minutes?”
“Good job, guys,” Domino called from the back seat. “When we get to the base we’ll split up, okay? We can’t waste any time at all on a briefing when we get there. So I want one offensive and one defensive guy on each team.”
“Understood,” Sam called over his shoulder as he continued to key in codes on the dash computer.
“Cannonball and Sunspot, you guys'll track down this Strucker guy. The agents at the last base made it sound as if he was the head honcho, so your job is to get a lead on him. Warpath and Rictor, you guys are with me. We look for Cable.”
“Whoopdedoo,” the Mexican muttered.
“Shatterstar you’re with Siryn,” the merc continued to order. “You guys are in charge of taking out agents and freeing and locating any other prisoners. Are we understood?”
“Dom?” Jimmy asked.
“What’s up?” she questioned.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with Siryn and be her defense.”
The redhead turned in her seat and glanced at their leader. Domino had her eyebrows furrowed and was regarding Jimmy with a curious look. Violet eyes then turned to Shatterstar and she sighed. “Would you mind working with Rictor?”
The warrior’s eyes brightened, but he did not allow his facial expression to change. “No.”
“Good, Jimmy you’re with Terry and ‘Star’s with us. I don’t want any goofing off though!”
Jimmy nodded, and shot Theresa an encouraging smile. “If we’re going in with guns blazing, I just wanna make sure I can stick with her. We work best together.”
“Agreed,” Domino conceded with a shrug. “Anyone else have objections?”
When no one else said a word, Sam looked back at the older woman. “Ah guess this is it then, huh? We either come out of this on top, or…nothin'.”
“We will come out on top,” Shatterstar stated.
“Agreed,” Domino nodded her head. “We’ve been training for this, and now it’s time. We stick together and we blow those fuckers the hell up for ever messing with us in the first place.”
Silence enveloped the carrier then, leaving the team in thought. The quiet must have gotten to Ric though because he began looking around confusedly. “Is it just me, or does it feel like we should have some crazy rock tune playin’ in the background right now?”
Nobody said anything for a few seconds before Bobby burst out laughing. “Man, leave it up to you to provide the commentary when Tabby ain’t around.”
Sam could not stop his chuckle either. “Not foah much longer though. Because we’re gonna get her back.”
Domino sighed and regarded everyone. “Here’s to hoping, kiddies. Here’s to hoping.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Chapter 14 is up!