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Secret Burdens
Chapter Eighteen: Monsters Within


“The fight was what they knew, what they were good at, what their hands had known intimately for years.”

* * *

“Iceman!” Ororo’s cry spurred Bobby into action as he swept his arm out, a sheet of heavy ice splaying up from the ground in front of him and his fellow X-men, cascading over the dozen or so soldiers attempting to flank them.

Logan, Henry and Bobby sprinted past the frozen wall, hearing the cracking and shattering of ice as bullets pounded the barrier between their forces. “It won’t hold, Storm!”

“I know,” she answered, sweeping up into the sky, riding the currents as her eyes blanked white. “I just need momentary cover. Keep heading to the barricade.” The air crackled around her form, the dark skies of night swirling with heavy rainclouds. A gale of wind whipped harshly around them all, whirling into a cyclone around their position and the surrounding platoon soon stopped shooting for fear of risking friendly fire in the blinding storm. The winds circled the X-Men, keeping them safely in the eye of the storm, their vision unhindered, and moved with them as they raced through the enemy toward the barricade keeping them from the captive mutants inside. “Beast, Wolverine, you take point. Iceman, cover their backs,” Ororo yelled into the comm. through the loud rushing of storm winds.

Henry bounded across the field, catching sight of one soldier, his arm up over his head, trying to see through the whipping wind. He saw Henry too late. His huge blue form had knocked the man to the ground, before pouncing on another soldier raising his gun in sudden surprise at the beast’s lunge from inside the storm. Shots rang, but Henry had dived low, catching the private around the waist as his heavy clawed feet hooked to the earth and he whipped around, throwing the man into three others. His roar could be heard over the gusting wind and he lunged forward through more floundering soldiers.

“Now this is my kind o’ fun!” Logan laughed as he charged a line of soldiers caught unaware in the blinding storm. His fist found one’s face with a crack of the man’s jaw and he was down before the others could even whip around. Logan’s claws shot free and he swung his arm toward one soldier’s gun, ripping through the metal. He brought his knee up into the man’s face and then his elbow collided with his neck, knocking him back into another soldier rushing toward them. Logan roared in pain as something sharp tore through his side and he turned to see the wide eyes of a soldier holding his gun up, watching Logan’s unhindered movement as he bent low and lunged at him. Logan landed on top of the bewildered soldier, his canines glinting as he smiled menacingly before breaking the man’s nose with a heavy fist. The blow knocked him unconscious and Logan was already up and running at the next soldier in sight, his side stitching back together as the bullet fell from his ribs and to the floor.

Bobby used the moisture in the air from Ororo’s rising storm to create shards of ice flying through the air at the soldiers trying to come around behind the group. He swept his arm in front of him and another sheet of frozen projectiles launched toward four soldiers sprinting through the storm toward them. One was hit so hard in the calf he flipped forward, his leg shot out from under him with the force of the flying ice and he landed face first in the dirt. Another took several hits to the torso, knocking him back and the other two raised their arms too late, the icy shells slamming into their faces and whipping them back, their guns swinging with them as bullets left the barrels. Bobby ducked and rolled as two more soldiers jumped over the four he had just taken down, his hands slamming into the ground as he came out of the roll and ice spread across the floor in the space of a breathe. The following soldiers tried to stop in time but instead skidded unceremoniously across the ice for a couple seconds until their balance gave out and they fell to the hard ice below them. But Bobby was already sprinting away, keeping with the advancing Team Omega as they tore their way through two platoons of men.

They had to keep moving. Ororo knew she had to keep their cover in the storm for them to make it through so many men without getting shot before they even made it to the building. Her comm crackled in her ear.

“Storm?”

“I am here, Angel.” She had to shout to be heard above the rush of wind. Thunder boomed above her as she flew through the wet, whipping air currents.

“I got a radio off one of the soldiers and it seems like Henry’s contacts on the hill are doing their part.” Angel’s voice over the comm unit was punched through with static and Ororo could barely make out what he was saying. She kept her eyes sharp on the three X-men below her, sending out a sudden bolt of lightning toward a soldier who had Henry lined in his sights, gun raised. The Beast turned sharply, throwing the man in his grasp into the fence along the barricade and caught sight of the downed soldier at his back. He growled, but glanced up to Ororo, a quick, appreciative smile on his lips before returning to the fight.

“They’re ordering Shrap to stand down,” Warren continued, “said they’ve got forces inbound to contain him and the mutants. His lieutenants are already calling cease fire over on our end. You should be feeling it soon too.”

Warren was right. The sounds of the fight below her had begun to wane and in the distance she could see some troops pulling back to behind the barricade of the north entrance. Debris and broken concrete littered the fence line and raised barricade, evidence of Storm’s explosive lightning and the fallen turrets. Pieces of the roof were still falling and collapsing onto the field they were fighting through.

“Storm, wait!” Kitty’s frenzied cry brought Ororo’s focus back sharply. “He’s already got the mutants under the controlling agent of that stupid substance! If he’s desperate enough, he’ll still send them out even if the military stands down.”

Ororo cursed under her breath, slowly lowering herself to the ground as the X-Men made it to the barricade blocking their path. The winds and dense fog around the four mutants gradually subsided as the rest of the field came into view and it became clear the soldiers were no longer firing but holding covering positions behind the steel and concrete barrier. Logan still stood protectively before the group, the hair on his neck raised as his ears followed every move Ororo made, his eyes scanning the line of armed forces for any threat against her. His chest heaved with the exertion of their fight and blood was already caking around the tattered sides of his uniform. But his chilling grin was still present and his claws glinted in the roving searchlights, even under the coating of blood.

Everything had stilled on the field. Everything except Ororo’s breathing. Her heart pounded in her ears. She took one solid step forward and heard the responsive clicks of loading weapons. Beside her, Logan’s knuckles grew white in his clenched fists.

Ororo’s hands raised slowly in a surrendering motion. Her eyes locked onto what appeared, from his uniform, to be the highest ranking officer peering from behind the barricade. “I have no intention of harming any more soldiers. But keep Shrap’s location from me for any longer and I make no promises as to the safety of your men.” Her voice was firm and unyielding, filling the empty field around them, and a loud thundering boom followed in its wake.

But something wasn’t right. In the faces of the men before her she could only see bewilderment. Several of the soldiers looked to each other in question. Her eyes narrowed.

“Storm,” Logan’s whisper next to her was soft and hesitant. She did not tilt her head in acknowledgement, keeping her eyes focused on the barricade instead, but Logan knew she had heard him. “I smell a fuck ton of fear on these men, bit of anger too,” he chuckled. Then he sobered. “But there’s no hiding the confusion.”

Ororo swallowed, eyeing the soldiers.

“I don’ think these guys know who the fuck we’re talking ‘bout.” Logan blew a breath from his lips.

As if on cue, the lieutenant colonel Ororo had been watching stepped from behind the barricade, though she knew they had snipers watching their every move. She was not about to endanger a possible peace between them, and it seemed the man was of the same mind. He waved down two of his majors beside him, and Logan could see the slow lowering of their weapons, though the main force of the platoon had not flinched.

“General Shrap is under investigation from the ACIC,” the lieutenant answered solidly, his own gaze suspicious on the mutants before him. “I am Lieutenant Colonel Dominguez. Shrap hasn’t been here in weeks, and were he to have been stationed here at Montauk, the ACIC would handle his arrest and transfer. Now,” Dominguez paused, his jaw setting firmly, “who the hell are you?”

Ororo could not help the smile that tugged at her lips. “We are the X-Men.”

Lieutenant Colonel Dominguez’s eyes flashed in recognition. “You do not have authorization to land on this field, and had my superiors not ordered a cease fire I’d have you all behind bars.” The man ground his teeth, but behind him he could hear the unsettling of the men behind him.

“Superiors such as myself, Lieutenant Colonel Dominguez?” Beast’s heavy baritone stole the man’s attention.

Dominguez looked warily at the formidably blue man to his left. “Ambassador McCoy. You are merely a politician. I do not answer to you.”

“Yes, but you do answer to the Secretary of the Army.”

Dominguez ground his teeth. “Regardless, we do not know General Shrap’s location, nor do I see why it is any business of yours the whereabouts of high-ranking military officials.”

“We have evidence that proves General Shrap is holding five mutant military members here against their will and subjecting them to a controlling agent for combat purposes.” Ororo wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Those are some pretty serious allegations.” His voice was steady, but Dominguez couldn’t help the small waver of doubt he felt as Ororo spoke. He himself had begun to have questions about their newly-renovated labs. But Colonel Marks blocked him at every turn.

“Those are some pretty serious crimes, bub.” Logan growled at the man.

Dominguez quieted for a moment, contemplating his alternatives.

The X-Men stood vigilant, Bobby and Henry watching the men with concern.

Ororo grew nervous. What the hell was going on at Montauk?

* * *

“But sir, we have explicit orders to stand down.” Colonel Marks rushed after General Shrap as he strode along the corridor, soldiers bustling past them to their stations. The blaring alarm sirens continued to wail throughout the compound.

“The committee has no idea what threat they’re facing. I’m saving them a lot of dead American bodies.” Shrap’s voice was cold and steady, not unlike his eyes. He turned down another corridor, pushing past several soldiers running toward the north end of the bunker where the fight with the X-Men had concentrated. The two men came to the lab where the five mutants were being held. General Shrap swiped his key card along the security check and placed his palm against the reader for identification.

“Sir, you’re already facing a court martial, and we have men down that need medical help. The X-Men are agreeable to a cease-fire. We have orders to negotiate with them.” Marks was growing steadily worried for the general’s state of mind.

Shrap strode through the opening lab doors. “It is the policy of the United States government not to negotiate with terrorists. And those things are terrorists. The politicians on the hill will see that soon.”

Marks halted at the general’s tone.

“Everyone out!” Shrap yelled, frightening the resident scientists into scurrying from the room. He made his way to the security console for the cells.

Colonel Marks snapped from his daze and made his way to the main observation desk, unlocking one of the file drawers and pulling papers from the organizers. He knew there would be an investigation into their research here and he wasn’t about to let the X-Men get a hand on these files. He began flipping through documents to make sure he collected everything. “Sir, I must urge you to reconsider. They haven’t been formally trained yet as a cohesive unit. You may be sending these men and women to their death.”

Shrap began punching in the security codes to release the five mutants and watched as the cell doors began to slide open. “Then so be it.”

Marks froze at the General’s comment, swallowing sharply, warring with himself over the morality of such an action. “I understand…” he began slowly, unsure how to proceed, “I understand the severity of the situation but General-“

“You understand nothing, Colonel.” Shrap made his way to the center of the room, motioning the mutants to follow him.

Colonel Marks looked down at his hands, and noticed the page he had stopped at in his flip through the research documents. His eyes narrowed in confusion. “Sir, the consent forms…they haven’t been signed. We have to…” He stopped, and blinked as recognition hit him suddenly. Marks wasn’t so sure they had the right monsters contained anymore.

The eyes of the mutants were glossed over, steady in their focus on Shrap as he issued orders. Across the lab Shrap could see the bullet holes lining the wall where his sentries had almost hit the two mutant infiltrators. His resolved hardened. They would not escape again. Not one of them would escape alive.





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