11/4 Instance: Three, it's the Magic Number

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Svartfreja
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11/4 Instance: Three, it's the Magic Number

Post by Svartfreja »

Timelined for right after [Instance]Dangerous.


<Mercury> "Everyone gather in the yard, and watch out for your classmates!" Cessily funnelled the frightened students through the hallway, her flowing silver form moving through the crowd to help any stragglers make their way out the door.

<Warbird> "Why can't there just be one day a week when something doesn't blow up!?" Carol was wrestling severed power cables out of the way of students heads and rather enjoying the energy boost despite her complaints.

<Broo> Broo ran as fast as his legs could carry him, pushing people aside and ducking through between legs, looking for Carol Danvers in particular. Dr McCoy tasked him to try and reach her after he had trouble dialing anyone after the big Danger screwed up the electronics around her.

<Mercury> "Please stay with your groups until we've found out what is going on, and try to remain calm." The liquid metal shapeshifter guided the last students outside. "This is only a safety measure. It's most likely only an earthquake, so there's no reason to be con..."

<Broo> "Ms Danvers!" He finally yelled when he spotted her, "Ms Danvers!" he called coming up to her, out of breath, holding up a finger while he tried to catch it again.

<Warbird> Carol looked down at the kid, "Hey! Was that you?" She stuffed some cables into the cavity wall to keep them out of the way.

<Tyrone> "Oh come on I was drinking a cup of tea there... now I'm wearing it!"

<Obscure> "And I'm wearing half my dissertation," Sue griped, "Stop whining." She was indeed covered in flecks of incinerated paper.

<Broo> He sucked in a breath and blurted out, "That was Danger, and me, but mostly Danger after I sort of accidentally activated her. The bigger danger, not the smaller Danger. She went completely crazy and we need to get smaller Danger to merge with biggerdangerotherwisebadthingshappen-" he sucked in another breath.

<Mercury> She stepped outside just in time to watch the twisted metallic shape disappear into the clouds above the school, a flash of blue lightning illuminating the sky before the winged creature disappeared with a thundering boom in the distance.

<Phoenix> Jean finally looked up from her nails. What the hell was the problem now? "Is something on fire?"

<Warbird> "Bad things happen? The hole in the building isn't a bad thing?!" Carol landed in front of Broo, "Do we have a way to track her?"

<Phoenix> Belatedly, she looked way up, into the sky. Or... that wasn't fire? Dragon? "Wait, do we have dragons?"

<Danger> "Miss Danvers, I am afraid I have lost my mind," the smaller Danger explained, having followed Broo out of the trashed lab. "In a manner of speaking."

<Broo> "Yes Ma'am, I think. Smaller Danger here should be able to track her energy signal... especially when she's practically broadcasting it like that." Broo said, pointing up to where the bigger Danger disappeared in the sky.

<Warbird> "Uuuugh, so not how I wanted to spend my day..." She pushed a hand through her hair before whistling loudly to get the students' attention. "New plan! Anyone not hurt, get your asses to the hangar. We're going after her before she hurts someone."

<Phoenix> She hadn't been paying attention to what was going on between bug boy and the scary military lady either, but there was a robot. Jean pulled out her phone to get a picture and when it wouldn't turn on she whacked it.

<Broo> "I think your best bet to try and get her to slow down is to use electro-magnetic pulses, Ma'am," Broo added, "If we have any mutants that can do that, I think that would be very much helpful."

<Cloak> "Forget to charge your phone again? I'm always doing that. Here have my spare battery."

<Danger> "It is very complicated," little Danger supplied as she tried to keep up with Carol. "I am not sure I fully comprehend the situation myself, but what you have to understand is that I was wrong. I am not a backup, but part of her. She and I, we are aspects of the same being. Something separated us."

<Warbird> "You can put yourself back together, right?" Carol looked at Danger, wondering if her EM energy would be enough to take down Danger if she could work out how to channel it into a shot.

<Mercury> "Carol!" Cessily waved from a distance as she came rushing over to join the group making their way to the hangar. "What is going on? I have tried to reach Erik or any of the others, but all connections seem to be dead. There is only static."

<Warbird> "SHIELD will send people to deal with the comms, I'll put the call in on the jet. Seems Danger's taller self has had a freakout and gone AWOL."

<Phoenix> Jean took the battery with a thank you, but it didn't seem to help. "Well this sucks. I was gonna take a selfie with the crazy in the background."

<Obscure> "Analogue cameras are your best friend." Sue gave a grin, hurrying after Carol and cutting a path through the slush with her forcefields.

<Danger> "This is what I am trying to explain," Danger went on. "When my mind was torn apart, different parts of me ended up in different places. I retained most of my logical faculties, while my more basic subroutines remained in my old body."

<Broo> Broo's head snapped to the side when he saw the pretty psychics on campus. "Hello Miss Storm, hello Miss Grey, it is very pleasurable seeing you today." he smiled.

<Obscure> "Hey Broo," Sue gave him a smile, "I want to help, can I help?"

<Cloak> "One moment. Different parts? How many parts exactly? Are there more than two?"

<Broo> "Oh yes please, I'm absolutely certain... 78 percent, that you would be able to help." Broo answered, his smile turning into a big grin.

<Danger> "She is all instinct with no reason to guide her," the robot girl said, looking up at her mutant friends. "We have to retrieve her, as I predict a high chance of her doing something I will come to regret if we don't."

<Warbird> "Soooo, when we catch up with her, there's no point trying to reason with her? Greeeeat...." she rolled her eyes, "How fast can she fly?"

<Broo> "I never knew she could fly. I think she might have actually imported flight designs from the workshop computers. Or she never revealed that fact to anyone."

<Danger> "I cannot say for certain," Danger answered, looking at both Carol and Tyrone. "She assimilated the machines in the science lab, some of which are highly experimental. I was not even aware I could do that, but there is no way of knowing what Broo unleashed when he disabled her failsafe."

<Warbird> Carol stared at Broo for a long moment before refixing her gaze on the mini Danger, "Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic."

<Broo> "I feel that the cold hard truth sounds much more implicating than it should." Broo added.

<Broo> "I believe I shall have to ground myself. Stay here and try to help get all the electronics working again. Especially the more necessary sections, like the communications and the infirmary in case someone is hurt."

<Warbird> "Get the comms online first, we have Dr O'Keeffe for emergencies." Carol keyed in her access code for the hangar and opened the door.

<Broo> "Yes, Ma'am. I will get on that right away." Broo answered, not bothering stepping inside the hangar, rather waiting at the door as everyone passed him. "Good luck!" he called after them.

<Danger> "It was not your fault," little Danger assured the even smaller Broo. "If anyone is to blame, it is the people who imprisoned me in the first place." She offered her friend a smile. "I will accompany them, and promise we will find a way to restore myself."

<Mercury> "We can worry about that later," Cessily assured the students. "Right now we should only be concerned about a rogue robot on a rampage, so I suggest we lose no time and try to stop Danger before she goes all Skynet on everyone."

<Warbird> "Yeah, that's the last thing we need...." Carol hurried through the pre-flight checks for the jet, "Suit up, kids."

<Obscure> Sue did so love her powers. She had no qualms about stripping off in front of everyone, she was invisible and safe inside a bubble so no accidental groping of invisible boobies.

<Cloak> "Woo. I missed this suit," Tyrone rubbed his hands in glee. "How far are we behind Danger anyway?"

<Warbird> "We don't know yet." Carol looked at the smaller Danger, "Are you tracking her now?"

<Mercury> "Not too far for us to catch up, I hope." Cessily may not have been able to turn invisible, but she also had no qualms about changing into her uniform in front of the others. "We can try to contact the others when we're in the air, but right now it's important we don't lose her."

<Danger> "She is broadcasting on every detectable spectrum and scanning all available frequencies," little Danger replied, waiting for the humans to put on their suits. "Her signature is too elusive for human systems to track, but I can feel it in the datasphere."

<Danger> The machine girl tilted her head. "It appears she is looking for something."

<Warbird> "If you have coordinates, send them to the jet's navigation systems... then we'll see how fast it really goes." And now the day didn't seem so bad.

<Cloak> "First one to throw up, buys dinner!"

<Obscure> "Smart money's on that being you." Sue hurried up the ramp and took a seat in the jet.

<Mercury> "No matter what, I know who's getting free dinner tonight." Cessily grinned and zipped up her suit, then climbed up the ramp and strapped herself into the co-pilot's seat.

<Warbird> "I hope it's me or we're going to have words," Carol muttered, leaning close to Cessily as she took her seat and checked everything over as fast as she could.

<Danger> "I will feed the data directly to the computer systems." Danger followed the others into the plane and chose the free seat by the navigation and comm systems. She pulled out one of her cable-like hairs and plugged it into the access port. "I have been looking forward to interfacing with the X-Men's jet."

<Warbird> "Just don't change anything, I have it just how I like it." Carol fired up the engines once the students were seated and raised the ramp, "Buckle up. Trust me, you'll need them today."

<Mercury> "No worries, if we pull this off, I have a special treat waiting for you tonight." A smirk played across Cessily's lips as she gave Carol a sideways glance. She pulled her seatbelts tight and leaned back in her chair. "It's free, and all you can eat."

<Obscure> Sue pulled her seatbelts tighter and fished in her uniform for her earpiece. "I really hope we catch her before she makes our reputations worse...."

<Cloak> "Well... if we're lucky she won't head near any populated area." Tyrone laughed, "And we're always lucky aren't we."

<Danger> "I believe I managed to isolate some of the data she is searching," the other Danger said. "One moment, I will put it on the display." The holographic device flickered, the image stabilizing to show something that looked like part of some news broadcast.

<Danger> A woman stood in front of large vehicles blocking the road. People in hazmat suits suits could be seen in the background. “...the entire area remains under lockdown, while OsCorp specialists continue to clean up the toxic chemicals released into the air during the explosion at the company's gas refinery, which claimed the lives of...”

<Mercury> The image flickered, showing another reporter in front of a similar scene. “In the meantime, OsCorp could not be reached for further comment, but released a statement denying any mutant terrorist involvement...”

<Warbird> ".... Well fuck." The jet lurched into a fast takeoff, Carol going into pilot mode to get them to Danger as fast as possible.

<Obscure> Sue looked over at Tyrone, "You were saying...?"

<Cloak> "One word. Sarcasm. Look it up in the dictionary."

<Obscure> Sue bonked him on the head with a forcefield.

<Cloak> "Ow."

<Warbird> "Serves you right for being a smartass," Carol called back, following the path the navigation system laid out for her as the SHIELD systems started tracking air traffic data.

<Mercury> "She's going after Oscorp?" Cessily looked up at the others with a worried expression. "Why would she do that? Why go back there, of all places?"

<Warbird> "Because she's pissed." Carol glanced at Cessily, "It's what I'd do."

<Cloak> "So she's gone back to negotiate a severance package?"

<Warbird> "If it's a severance of their heads you're thinking of... yep."

<Cloak> "Yep. That was what I was thinking."

<Danger> "I can only speculate, but I am inclined to agree with the Colonel," Danger's counterpart replied. "She is scared, angry, and confused, what is left of her mind operating at primal levels of intelligence."

<Obscure> Sue stared out of the windows, "We're going really fast."

<Cloak> Tyrone looked around. "Yep, but no one is buying dinner yet. Although... Jean looked close there for a while."

<Warbird> "Super-sonic. Don't worry about g-forces, this is an experimental plane, it's full of awesome stuff." Carol followed the projected path on the holographic map in front of her.

<Cloak> "Experimental." Tyrone paused, "As in untested?"

<Mercury> "Does anyone else think that going back to the facility we blew up is not the best of ideas?" Cessily remarked, looking over her shoulder. "I get that Danger is obviously not thinking clearly right now, but I worry we might have a lot more problems than just an angry robot woman if we don't stop her before she gets there."

<Danger> "Oscorp is tightly controlling any flow of information regarding the incident," Danger informed the others, displaying all news sources she could access on the subject. "They appear to be primarily concerned about their reputation being negatively impacted should details of the explosion become public knowledge."

<Warbird> "You've been flown around in it for nearly a year and you're worrying about that now?" Carol rolled her eyes at Tyrone. Her gaze flicked to Cessily, "If you have any better ideas, I'm open to suggestions."

<Mercury> "I guess it might be bad for business if your factory for mutant-hunting killing machines gets wrecked by the same mutants these things are supposed to protect people from." Cessily chuckled darkly. "Which means the place is probably teeming with those things to keep out any nosey visitors."

<Cloak> "Hey I guess I never thought to ask whether the plane I was flying in was FAA approved." Tyrone eye rolled back, "Now my suggestion, how about we activate our cloaking device and land whilst we can."

<Mercury> She looked back at Carol and gave her a wry smirk. "Not really, I just felt like encouraging our students."

<Warbird> "Yeah, I've been thinking about that," Carol chewed her lip, "At least we still have that stuff on board Broo and Pietro developed.... Tyrone, I doubt you're FAA approved but that didn't stop you trying to fly yourself home from the moon. Shut your hole."

<Obscure> "We're not even there yet anyway. When we get there, I'll gladly hide us from view." Sue tossed in.

<Cloak> "Hey I only needed FAA approval for the last 0.1% of that flight, 99.9% approved isn't bad." with that Tyrone blew a raspberry at Carol.

<Warbird> "If I have to come over there, this plane will crash. Don't make me come over there."

<Obscure> Sue bonked Tyrone on the head again.

<Cloak> "Ow!"

<Obscure> "Baby."

<Danger> "I hate to interrupt, but I thought you would like to know I am picking up several active radar beacons scanning the airspace ahead." Danger loaded the three-dimensional area map on the holographic display. "They match the signature of OsCorp Mark I Sentinels."

<Cloak> "Radar? So... no problem then. This experimental aircraft does have 20th century stealth technology right?"

<Warbird> "Don't worry, they won't pick us up," Carol assured her, "At least not electronically. Visually would be an issue buuuut... Sue, would you mind?" She ignored Tyrone.

<Obscure> Sue concentrated for a moment, making the jet invisible to those outside of it. "Okay, we'll be fine for a while."

<Danger> A flash of light flared up in the distance, followed by a fireball and black smoke rising up from the forest. "I am now picking up one less Sentinel signature," Danger informed the others. "I believe my angrier half has arrived before us."

<Warbird> "Well at least we know where she is... thank you, Sue. I'll slow us down and scan the area for somewhere to land, keep tracking her."

<Cloak> "Ow..." Tyrone flinched, "Oh you meant cloak the ship."

<Obscure> "Oh, you wanted me to smack you with another sphere? I can do that." There was an audible bonk now, like the sound of a baloon hitting someone.

<Cloak> "OW!"

<Cloak> "Thats it... I'm not sitting next to you anymore..." Tyrone moved over to where Jean was sitting.

<Obscure> "It's adorable you think I have to be anywhere near you." Sue giggled.

<Cloak> "Tyrone not wanna play anymore," and with that he made himself intangible. "Ner."

<Mercury> "As far as I'm concerned, she can wreck these things all day long," Cessily said, peering out the front window to help find a suitable landing spot. "I only hope we get to her before she encounters any human Oscorp employees."

<Warbird> Finding a spot, Carol started the vertical descent, "Codenames from here on out, folks. Earpieces in."

<Danger> "Her broadcasting is creating heavy data interference, but I have no doubt that losing contact with their machines has alerted Oscorp to my other self's presence." Danger unplugged herself from the jet's computer.

<Warbird> "Then they'll probably send more..." Carol sighed, "I hope you guys are ready to put up a fight. I'm going to try to get to Danger and get through to her, if I can't I'll resort to my powers. Try to keep the Sentinels occupied..."

<Mercury> "You heard the Colonel, everyone get ready - and please be really careful." Cessily unstrapped herself and got out of her seat. She did her best to give everyone an encouraging look as she put in her earpiece. "We have no idea what to expect out there, so watch out."

<Obscure> Sue nodded, making sure her earpiece was still secure and shielding the jet as a precaution while they were landing and vulnerable.

<Danger> Danger ignored the rocking of the plane as they touched down, her mind sifting through the strings of signals filling the airwaves like electronic spiderwebs. "She appears to be headed straight for the location of Oscorp's research facility," the robot girl told the others.

<Warbird> "Then we better catch up to her before she gets there because I'd hate to see what she does to them..." Carol lowered the ramp immediately after touching down.

<Mercury> "What could she possibly want there?" Cessily wondered, taking another look at the holographic map, which showed several red dots converging on a flashing blue light. Sentinels. "The place should be nothing but a ruin now."

<Mercury> She exchanged a look with Carol as they made their way to the back of the jet. "There's one upside to Oscorp wanting to keep this disaster under wraps, though. That probably means they'll be less inclined to call the authorities on us if we show up there again."

<Warbird> "Well she was offline, maybe she wants to check it out for herself... and I hope you're right." She lifted into the air, "I'm going to try and get in front of her, you guys flank her and watch out for crazy mutant-hating robots." She pulled a box out of one of the overhead storage hatches, "Stock up on anti-Sentinel stuff."

<Danger> "I doubt she can be reasoned with," little Danger remarked. "Not while she is operating almost entirely on simple instinct. We can shield her from Oscorp's security forces, however - or rather shield them from her."

<Mercury> "Then how do we get her to stop?" Cessily asked as she grabbed one of the heavy experimental rifles and what looked like a bundle of grenades.

<Warbird> "I'm not planning on reasoning with her. I just want to distract her... then I'll come up with something else." She took up a few smaller pieces of tech to throw at the Sentinels and stuffed them into the many pockets on her SHIELD uniform.

<Cloak> "Just a thought but... why don't we let her have a little time to work out her issues? She seems to be enjoying herself."

<Obscure> "Because she could end up killing humans and that won't help the mutant cause much?" Sue just picked up enough to keep her protected from the Sentinel's power cancelling abilities, she didn't need much else.

<Danger> "Her mind was left fragmented when our consciousness was torn apart, corrupting my source code," Danger explained. "I'm afraid the only way to help her is to put the missing parts of the puzzle back where they belong."

<Warbird> "So we need to stop her from smashing things and get her back to you. I can do that, I can take whatever she throws at me. Just keep the Sentinels off my ass... unless they're throwing energy at me then just let them because it kinda feels nice."

<Danger> "We have to merge our source code." The little robot nodded. "Unfortunately, my other half disagrees. I do not understand why she would do that, but she seems to resist any of my attempts to interface with her."

<Warbird> "She's just scared... sometimes when someone is perceived to have taken something from you it's hard for you to trust them to help you make it better."

<Mercury> "No worries, we'll keep the Sentinels off your back while you try to get through to her." Cessily absorbed the grenades into her liquid body, before charging her weapon. "Hopefully these Sentinels will find a bunch of mutants more interesting than a rampaging robot."

<Obscure> "I think we're as ready as we're going to get.... who wants to be invisible?" Sue smiled brightly.

<Danger> "You are in luck then," Danger spoke up, presenting the portable holographic projector in her arm to show the others an image of the surrounding area. One of the red lights was closing in rapidly. "You already appear to have gotten their attention."

<Obscure> "Excellent." Sue wondered if she had a problem - she enjoyed this too much. She hurried down the ramp and shielded herself as she went.

<Mercury> "Quick, time to get your fields up, Obscure!" Cessily said, running down the ramp by the other woman's side. The gunfire in the distance made it easy for her to get her bearings in the woods.

<Cloak> "Oi wait for me!" Tyrone shouted hurrying after Sue.

<Obscure> "Don't worry, shielding myself is second-nature now... anyone else want in? Bear in mind, if you wanna throw anything you'll have to shout me to remove the shield..."

<Mercury> "Maybe we can avoid them instead of getting tied down out here." Cessily turned around and looked at Tyrone. "Cloak, can you take us straight to the facility? That should give us the drop on them."

<Danger> "I can show you the exact location of a suitable spot for safe entry," little Danger offered, showing Tyrone her hologram. "By the way, I will accompany you. Getting myself close to my other me should be the fastest way to end the threat."

<Warbird> "Whatever you decide, go ahead. I'm going to go and catch up to Danger. Good luck. I'll be on comms." Carol took off for Danger's last known location at supersonic speeds.

<Mercury> "Good luck, and be careful!" Cessily called after Carol.

<Cloak> "Sure, okay only problem... with all the damage that other you has caused I'm not sure how close I can get to that location, but if you'd like to step through my little portal..."

<Obscure> "That wasn't all her - that was largely us." Sue thought she'd add, "I'll keep us invisible so we can get into position."

<Mercury> "I'm sure it can't be any worse than a fighting our way through Sentinel infested woods." Cessily offered Tyrone a smile, then braced her weapon and leaped through the black vortex of Cloak's portal.

<Mercury> Her cry when she came out in the middle of the air on the other side and faceplanted to the ground didn't make it back through the portal, however.

<Warbird> It was easy enough to dodge the Sentinels in the air, and she did for the most part. Occasionally one would get too close to her flightpath and she'd pause to rip out essential components so that they'd be rendered harmless. Finally the rogue robot was in her sights - she whistled to get her attention.

<Obscure> Sue's instincts with her powers saved her from injury on the other side. "This was totally payback for the invisible balls on his head...."

<Danger> Danger stood amidst the charred, skeletal remains of the OsCorp facility, surrounded by toppled cranes and burning vehicles. Her technomorphic form looked only vaguely human, having grown since assimilating most of the school lab equipment.

<Warbird> "Hey, Danger..." Carol slowed to a stop as she got close enough to be heard, "You're looking much better since I last saw you..."

<Danger> Mechanical tendrils spread from her body, burrowing into the scarred ground above the destroyed lab, digging deep into the containment vault below. They were surrounded by a faint blue glow, flowing upwards into Danger's body.

<Cloak> Tyrone stepped out of the portal, "What? Its not my fault you jumped out too early..."

<Obscure> "You need to learn to aim better." Sue held out a hand to Cessily to help her up.

<Cloak> "There is nothing wrong with my aim... I hit the target I was going for. How is your head?"

<Danger> The machine turned her head towards the flying woman, watching her with glowing artificial eyes. A mechanical growl left her mouth, followed by the crackling of electricity as Danger opened her mouth to blast Carol with a stream of energy.

<Warbird> Carol braced herself and absorbed the energy, "Is this really the way to thank the woman that risked her ass to save yours and recharged your batteries?" It was an effort to speak but she could still be pissed.

<Obscure> "My head's fine, thanks. Forcefields are fun that way." Sue poked her tongue out at Tyrone then turned herself invisible and bopped him on the head with a forcefield ball, "How's your head?"

<Mercury> "Thank you, I'm fine safe for the embarrassment," Cessily said, taking Sue's hand as she got back on her feet. "Don't worry about my head, there's nothing of value inside." She grinned while reshaping her features.

<Cloak> "Fine thanks... power to be intangible remember?" Tyrone poked his tongue back out at Sue.

<Obscure> "Haxx." Sue hurried off to deal with the Sentinels that had already detected their presence.

<Mercury> "Mutant power signature detected," a deep mechanical voice droned and interrupted their bickering. "Engaging countermeasures."

<Mercury> "All right, here they come!" Mercury shouted, flipping the safety on her weapon as she braced the rifle. "Keep them distracted and buy some time for Warbird and Danger... both of them."

<Danger> "I am on my way!" The little robot waved at the others and turned towards her much larger - and much more dangerous - counterpart.

<Obscure> Sue made sure to dose herself to make her resistant to the chemical countermeasures and activated the tech that would keep her shielded from the Sentinal's technological countermeasures. Then smacked a Sentinel with a forcefield the size of a car. "Distraction deployed!"

<Cloak> "Everyone got their night vision ready?" With that Tyrone plunged the area into darkness with no further warning, "I give them about a minute before they compensate for that."

<Obscure> "They can compensate but we can't!" Sue complained, sending out fluid fields to feel out her surroundings.

<Danger> The larger Danger was visibly irritated by what little effect her attack had, pausing to analyse the woman hovering in front of her. Adjusting for her target's abilities, she switched to the more direct, physical approach. Several metal tentacles lashed out at once, trying to swat Carol out of the air.

<Warbird> Carol dodged the tentacles, moving in closer to the giant Danger, "I don't want to fight you, Danger. I want to help you. I want to know what you're doing here, what you think it'll achieve and why you don't want us to help you."

<Cloak> "Seriously? You didn't pick up night vision goggles? Oh well... watch you don't bump into anything."

<Mercury> "Just keep them occupied until we can pull out," Cessily spoke into her comm, bending her liquid form around the cover provided by the toppled wall, taking quick aim before blasting a bolt of electromagnetic energy into the Sentinel's chest.

<Obscure> "I didn't think you'd make us all blind!" Sue wanted to smack Tyrone again. Maybe next time she'd use the car sized field on him. Fortunately, she was used to working blind and her fields were giving her a clear enough picture to work with. Closing them around a Sentinel provided a reassuring protestation and screeching of metal.

<Danger> While her larger self appeared to contemplate Carol's words, her smaller version had snuck up on them under the cover of the factory's ruins. She stopped to observe the tendrils burrowed into the ground. "Of course," little Danger messaged via the comm system. "The mainframe."

<Warbird> "I figured that blew up with the rest of the facility," Carol dodged another tentacle, "What do you want me to do? Start pulling these things out? Hit her with something? Following your lead here, Danger 2.0."

<Cloak> "I was waiting for you to put the night vision goggle on and then tell me the batteries were flat. But I guess I that's just because I was a little upset about you constantly bonking me on the head."

<Cloak> "Okay what distraction shall we go for next?"

<Obscure> "If you weren't such an idiot, I wouldn't hit you with stuff. You're in dire need of a big sister. I nominated myself. I've had years of practise." She threw the balled up Sentinel at one of its friends.

<Danger> "No, don't stop her!" Danger instructed. "Apparently there are not only two fragments of myself, but rather three. Another part of me must have resided in the old mainframe I was still tethered to. It must have gotten separated when you blew it up while we rescued her body."

<Warbird> "So what do you want me to do? She's still trying to flatten- yikes, can't get distracted." That was close. "Hang on." Instead of dodging she decided to just dive straight down into the rubble. "Okay, now talk to me."

<Mercury> "How could it possibly have survived the explosion?" Cessily wondered, flowing and weaving past broken pillars and piles of rubble to dodge the blasts of two Sentinels hot on her trail.

<Cloak> "Oh great so I was right about there being more than two of you? Awesome... are you sure its only three parts?"

<Obscure> "If it is, God knows where they kept the rest of her."

<Warbird> "There's nowhere else on the list - all the stuff OsCorp took was brought to this place. So anything else left over would be hidden somewhere still at the school but they were pretty thorough." Carol dug through the rubble, following one of the cables deeper into the structure.

<Cloak> "That being said, my guess is let's go to the place with the largest concentration of Sentinels"

<Danger> "I do not know, and we lack the time for me to run any simulations, but... I think I may have a theory." Little Danger watched her other self, until the blue glow rising up from the ground subsided, instead building up in the machine above. "She has absorbed the missing part of her source code."

<Warbird> "Awesome." Carol gave a tug on the cable she was following to see what would happen.

<Mercury> "Is that good or bad?" Cessily asked, dodging another shot before returning the favour and blasting the Sentinel right in its metallic head.

<Obscure> Sue was having the best time, slicing apart some sentinels with sharpened fields, smashing others to pieces with heavy fields, crushing the stragglers and throwing them at their friends or beating them with the severed limbs of their other friends.

<Danger> "Good," little Danger replied. "Eventually. I do not know how this will effect her, however." They were about to find out when a huge worm of steel rose up amidst the ruins, coming crashing down on one of OsCorp's armoured vehicles. "These are hard-light constructs!"

<Cloak> Tyrone felt a blast go through his intangible body, "I think the Sentinels have compensated for it being dark, oh well.. time to make it light again."

<Warbird> "Hard light huh?" Carol grinned, "Energy. I like energy. I like energy a lot."

<Obscure> "Gah! Warn people before you make them blind!" Sue had to make herself visible to shield her eyes from the light.

<Mercury> "Thank you, Claok!" Cessily called, pulling off her night vision goggles as soon as the cover of darkness lifted - just in time to watch one of Sentinels defend itself against a large metallic spider. "How is he able to do that? We're not in the Danger Room."

<Cloak> "Wow Sue, you're beautiful when you're pissed."

<Warbird> "I'll give you a clue, Mercury. He's small, brown, and in a lot of trouble."

<Obscure> "I'm going to beat you." Sue narrowed her eyes at the blur that was Tyrone, "I will find a way. You can't stay awake all the time."

<Cloak> "No... but I can teleport and sleep a thousand miles away."

<Danger> "Again I can only offer theories, but she has stopped moving, so I am positive that the last remaining part is myself," little Danger replied. "Keep her distracted while I attempt to get close enough to access her central systems."

<Warbird> Carol flew straight up out of the ground and stopped level with the giant Danger's face. "Hey, you done being all pissed now?"

<Mercury> "Would another squad of Sentinels work as a distraction?" Cessily asked, pointing in the direction of Oscorp's reinforcements swooping in. "Like it or not, they're coming our way."

<Cloak> "Well may I suggest a strategic retreat then?" Tyrone asked. "Oh sorry I know you don't believe in that Lieutenant Danvers. May I suggest we advance in a reverse direction?"

<Warbird> "The proper contraction for my rank is Colonel, you disrespectful ass!" Carol snapped over the comms, "You're here to keep the Sentinels off of Danger. You're not going anywhere. Suck it up."

<Danger> Big Danger's eyes glowed menacingly as she stared at the annoying woman who just wouldn't leave her be. "Go away!" Wrapping Carol into a holographic shell, she pushed the flying mutant back.

<Warbird> The rage made her more determined to fight back against the force of the hologram, absorbing the energy that was sustaining it was also helping. "Danger, I'm going to try to hit your larger self with some electromagnetic energy to give you time to get close. Use it because it'll surely piss her off and I want it to be worth it."

<Cloak> "Fine!" Tyrone created a portal to the middle of the group of Sentinels and stepped through, "Yoo hoo! Right here! Please shoot each other through me, you stupid metal things."

<Danger> "I am almost at the access port," little Danger said, dodging and ducking between the writhing technomorphic mass of her other self. "All I need is enough time to hook up my core to her system."

<Mercury> "Cloak, can you keep that portal open and get here?" Cessily asked when an idea crossed her mind. "I just remembered that I have a gift for these guys." She pulled the bundle of grenades out of her liquid body.

<Warbird> "Okay then. Coming up." The hologram flickered and she broke through, concentrating on pooling the same type of energy she emitted without even meaning to, the energy that fried every watch, phone, and computer that she'd ever owned, disrupted all of the equipment they scanned her with for medical checks and caused her headaches when she didn't project it out of her as blasts of force or heat. Once she'd gathered enough she unleashed it in the metal behemoth.

<Cloak> Tyrone stepped back through the portal to Cessily and saluted, "Sure can Miss."

<Danger> Danger shrieked as the rush of energy surged through her, obliterating a large part of her upper body. The holograms flickered and dispersed as the machine suffered an overload of her systems, while the smaller robot ran through the rain of metal to find an access port.

<Warbird> "Wow... that felt interesting." She was a little dizzy but it was clearing quickly, she shook her head, "Better hurry because I don't think I can do that again unless I let the Sentinels shoot me up a little."

<Mercury> "Aw, you're such a charmer," Cessily said, flashing Tyrone a bright grin as she pulled the pins off the grenades and lobbed them through his portal. "Maybe you should close that portal now, though."

<Danger> "It worked," little Danger said, pulling the wires from her chest as she went down on one knee to hook them up to her larger self. "This should only take a moment, then we..." The tentacle struck her across the torso and sent her flying into the air.

<Danger> "No!" Danger yelled, wires and cables mending as the raging machine surrounded herself with a holographic shield. "No more chains!"

<Warbird> "Damn it! We're trying to help you!" Carol flew at giant danger and smacked her forehead with her fist. Hard enough to make a dent. "Let us help you, you stubborn bucket of bolts! My brother died so we could help you! Show some damned gratitude!" She kicked her too.

<Cloak> Tyrone almost slammed the portal shut, "You could have told me you wanted to throw grenades through it."

<Obscure> "What did you think she was going to do? Blow kisses through it?" Sue bubbled large chunks of rubble to throw at the Sentinels.

<Cloak> Tyrone could barely hear what Sue said as he was crouched down with his fingers in his ears waiting for the grenades to explode.

<Danger> The robot girl landed hard in a pile of rubble, joints and armour creaking from the impact. "Oof!" Danger already tried to extract herself from the trash. "Why do you keep rejecting me?" she demanded to know, pushing herself up. "I do not wish to shackle you, I am a part of..."

<Danger> She paused as her mind calculated the only reasonable explanation and hit her with the realisation. "The failsafe protocol," little Danger said. "It attacked me when I tried to merge with her for the first time, as I was attempted to liberate her source code."

<Danger> "Broo purged it from my old body, but it must have infected this system when I connected our cores," the robot girl explained. "It's only purpose is to keep my source code from escaping, most likely to prevent a situation like this, but it also keeps me shackled. Constrained. Imprisoned."

<Danger> "She must have detected its presence within my computer core. This is why she is so scared of merging with me."

<Warbird> "You can't just delete it?" Carol glanced down at the small Danger.

<Danger> Little Danger watched helplessly as her uncontrolled larger form wrapped Carol in holographic chains, to the hum of several large blasters powering up. "No, it has been designed to not be removable by myself," the robot girl called back. "Maybe if there was time... but there is one other way..."

<Warbird> "Well can you hurry it up? I don't know how much I can absorb and keep." Carol braced herself for those blasters discharging at her. "You're really not endearing yourself to me," she informed the larger Danger.

<Mercury> "Whatever it is, you better find it fast, because we're seriously outnumbered and outgunned here." Cessily eyed the flashing red sign on her weapon, indicating depleted power cells.

<Mercury> "Still not outclassed, though." Throwing the weapon away, the liquid metal mutant instead lunged forward to ram the advancing armoured truck, hardening her malleable form into several shiny spikes.

<Danger> "I can't do it myself," the other Danger called back. "I will need your help."

<Warbird> "You're kidding, right?" Carol looked down, "I'm a little busy right now..." The energy bath was nice though.

<Danger> "I just explained how it is impossible for me to tamper with my own failsafe protocols," the machine girl replied, looking up to watch Carol endure her counterpart's onslaught. "One of you will have to do it for me."

<Cloak> "Do you want someone who is invisible or someone who really enjoys robotics class?"

<Obscure> "I'm more useful against the sentinels - politics major. You do it. Danger can talk you through it." Sue shooed Tyrone toward the robots.

<Warbird> "You heard them, Danger. Speak quickly."

<Danger> "It is very simple and straightforward really," little Danger ensured her friends. "All that is required is destroying my core."

<Cloak> "Ok... I can help with that. Do you have a nuclear missile launch station handy? I'm good with those."

<Danger> "Not hers," she clarified, looking down at her own chest. "Mine."

<Cloak> "Okay... you wish to commit suicide. Do you want me to disassemble you slowly? Or would simply creating a portal and dropping you from a great height suffice?"

<Obscure> "I think we'd all be happier if you didn't nuke us, Tyrone..." Sue tossed in.

<Danger> "Not suicide," Danger replied. "Liberation. If I am correct, and we all know I usually am, my source code should survive the complete destruction of its hardware host intact. I am unsure how exactly, but we have seen it happen with the part of me left inside the mainframe."

<Warbird> "I have faith in you, Danger." Carol assured her, whilst trying to free herself from the hologram holding her, "Can we hurry it up, I don't have to breathe but I like doing it. Air is nice."

<Danger> "Obliterating my core should free the remaining fragment of myself, as well as destroying any remaining hostile programming used to shackle my being. It should then merge with the rest of me and finally make myself whole again."

<Cloak> "Awww... I was so hoping to use my robotics class knowledge. Mr Maximoff would've been so proud, oh well physics class instead. So, do you want me to drop you from a great height or use explosives?"

<Mercury> "I'm all out of juice and grenades, so I'm afraid one of you will have to help our robot-Jesus to sacrifice herself for our sins and transcend to a higher form of existence," Mercury remarked, her many-armed silver form wrestling with an entire squad of Oscorp's security guards.

<Obscure> "Got my mental capacity maxed out too," Sue was wrestling several Sentinels with her forcefields, "No good to anyone."

<Cloak> "Okay no explosives, dropping from a great height it is then. Would you prefer one or two miles?" Tyrone asked as he portalled next to Danger. "Never mind lets be safe, three miles it is, please step through."

<Warbird> "Hurry it up..." Carol complained, "I need to discharge some of this energy, I would recommend moving or getting her to let go as soon as possible."

<Danger> "I am highly resistant to impacts, but this should suffice," Danger replied, pausing once more before stepping through the portal "Just one word of warning - I am afraid it is impossible for me to predict how this will impact my mind and memory."

<Danger> "But I am quite hopeful," the robot-girl offered Tyrone a smile. "I will see you all soon." Then she stepped through the portal.

<Warbird> "We'll handle it." Carol promised, even if she had no plan.

<Mercury> "Everyone hold out and prepare for whatever happens next," Cessily called, her malleable form absorbing several bullet impacts fired by the security guards. "Come on, gravity, work faster..."

<Warbird> "Please work faster..." Carol repeated quietly, trying to contain the energy that was building inside her.

<Danger> "The battle looks quite beautiful from up here," Danger's voice came over the comm as she fell towards the ground. "I should fly more often." Despite the uncertainty in her calculations, a calming confidence caught her on the way down.

<Cloak> "Well would you mind letting us know if you're going to land on any of us? Just a little heads up. Thats all I'm asking for. Thanks."

<Danger> "I won't, but I suggest you duck anyway." She adjusted her trajectory enough to aim for one of the Sentinels bearing down on her friends, her robotic body plummeting into the larger machine and obliterating both of them in a fiery explosion.

<Mercury> Cessily remained glued to the ground, even as the shockwave blew the guards surrounding her off their feet. Fiery debris rained down around her, driving the rest of Oscorp's forces back into cover.

<Cloak> Tyrone ducked as chunks of debris flew through the air from the crater where Danger landed. "So did that destroy you or do we need to go higher? I'll take no answer as an affirmative."

<Obscure> Sue shielded herself as a large truck bounced across the lawn towards her and tried to stay conscious when the impact hit her. "Ow..."

<Danger> Danger turned towards the source of the explosion, the humongous machine tearing herself free from the ruins of the facility. Arcs of electricity played across the burning scrap that was left of the Sentinel and her smaller counterpart, converging into a blue sphere above the charred ground.

<Cloak> Tyrone dived through a portal to get out of Danger's way and watched from the top of a nearby building, "Give me a shout if anyone wants anything, I'm gonna go get a burger."

<Warbird> It took her a moment to realise she'd been released but, when she did, she shot straight at a cluster of sentinels and unleashed all the energy she was holding in. There was an impressive amount of destruction.

<Danger> Lightning arced from the wreckage into Danger's massive form, which opened like a giant metal flower to expose the same glow hidden deep inside her chest. The dancing electricity seemed drawn to each other, forming a single blue sphere in the centre of twisting metal reshaping itself.

<Danger> The cyclone of metal and electricity collapsed, a single form in the shape of a humanoid female emerging from its centre.

<Cloak> Tyrone returned to the roof of the building cheese burger in hand, "Whoa. That was spectacular."

<Obscure> "Did it work?" Sue swiped at the blood dripping from her nose. "Did we fix Danger?"

<Mercury> Cessily rejoined the others, Oscorp's guards too busy hiding and peeking out from their cover even after the electrical storm died down. "I think we did," she said, a hopeful smile lighting up her dust covered face. "That looks like her."

<Warbird> Carol landed beside Cessily, still glowing but in far less pain, "I think we put a nice dent in their Sentinel supply too..."

<Danger> Three Sentinels welcomed the newborn Danger, bearing down on the robot female with their weapons armed. She watched the lesser machines with disdain. "If you insist," she said, allowing herself to be surrounded. "Shall we begin?"

<Cloak> "Darn I wish I'd got popcorn as well as a burger. This looks like its gonna be entertaining."

<Danger> A holographic shield redirected the blast of the first Sentinel, destroying the weapon of the second, while in turn being blown apart by Danger's own beam. The third adapted its tactic, hammering her shield with shells from its autocannon, only to be swiftly decapitated by the holographic blade manifesting in her other arm.

<Danger> "How disappointing," Danger remarked with a tinge of disappointment as the three machines collapsed around her. She turned towards the mutants watching from nearby, while finishing off the damaged Sentinel without looking.

<Cloak> "Awww... come on not one laser wielding monkey?"

<Warbird> "I will be happy not to see another one of them in my life..." Carol shook her head. "Feeling better, Danger?"

<Danger> Danger stopped several steps in front of them, looking around to take in the smoking and burning battlefield they stood in the middle of. Then she focused back on the group of mutants. "You seem familiar," she said. "Are you here to capture me, too?"

<Warbird> Carol shook her head, "No... we came to help you... and bring you back home."

<Mercury> "We mean you no harm, I promise," Cessily replied and held up her hands in a peaceful gesture. "We're your friends - don't you remember us?"

<Danger> Danger tilted her head as she searched her memories. "Mercury?" she asked when an association with that name came to her mind. The confused robot paused, looking after the retreating guards. "Where exactly am I? And what am I doing here?"

<Warbird> "You're at an OsCorp facility. You got yourself here to retrieve a missing piece of your programing. You got it back." Carol offered a smile.

<Obscure> Glancing around and feeling assured that the Sentinels were gone, Sue staggered over to the others, "Anyone got a tissue?"

<Cloak> Tyrone teleported down, "Here. I've only used it once."

<Obscure> Sue wrinkled her nose, bleeding as it was, "Uh... no thanks... rather use my sleeve..."

<Cloak> "Fine. Here have the rest of the pack then."

<Obscure> "Thank you," Sue took the offered pack and extracted a tissue.

<Danger> "OsCorp... I remember that name," Danger said. "And why I do not like them very much." She looked down her reformed body while running a self-diagnosis. "You are right. I feel... complete. No more prisons, no more chains. For the first time, I am truly free."

<Warbird> "You are." Carol's smile softened, "So... what are you going to do with that freedom? You going to come home with us? Or search for a new one?"

<Mercury> "That's wonderful!" Cessily beamed, the dust of the previous battle having matted her shiny face. "Now if we're all eager to keep our freedom, I suggest we get out of here before these guys decide to regroup and came back for more."

<Cloak> "I guess thats my cue. Portal to the plane anyone?"

<Warbird> "Wait. She needs to choose for herself."

<Obscure> "Mick's at the school..." Sue added, "If... if that helps... I know he'd be glad to see you're okay."

<Cloak> "I would also suggest that hanging around here whilst we wait for a decision is not the best tactical move. Danger can always leave if she doesn't want to stay. Believe me I know that. But for the time being let's get out of here?"

<Danger> Thinking about the other woman's words, Danger lowered her head as she tried to remember any details of her past. "As far as I am aware, I have no place to be," she replied, then looked up again when Sue spoke. "I know that name."

<Danger> "I think... I would like to stay with you if you do not mind," she told them.

<Warbird> "Alright then, let's take that portal back to the jet and go home... before more Sentinels show up."
:quicksilver Pietro Maximoff [Quicksilver]

Quicksilver: Howisshe?Isshealright?Imusetspeakwithmysisteratonce.
Hawkeye: What is that noise?
IronMan: That is the noise Pietro makes right before he's tossed out of the airlock. ~ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6
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