Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 366 ROOTS

“You know, you’re very different from yesterday,” Kitty said. Annoyed but intrigued after I set her down outside. 

“Am I?” I asked. 

“Yes, you didn’t hardly talk at dinner before,” she admitted. 

“What can I say? I’m in a good mood. But for now I need your help,” I said with a wolfish grin.  

“What kind of help?” Kitty asked, quickly getting over my abrupt kidnapping. She and I had very minimal interaction before. She had known Anne for a while though so when I started “dating” Anne, Kitty was more receptive of me. 

“I need your help to find a treasure,” I admitted. 

“What are you? 12?” She asked, annoyed. 

“Sometimes,” I said. “Look, I've been working on something here for a while. Have you ever noticed weird comings and goings at the school? You really think it’s normal to have perfect 10 model worthy teachers? All of them are gorgeous and look like they spend every waking moment in the gym.”

“They’re just health conscious,” Kitty said. “There is a big push in gym for us to stay active.”

“Gym class does not normally include sparring and fighting one another,” I said. 

“Professor McCoy said it’s important to know self-defense,” she defended. 

“It is good. But normal for a school of kids out in the boonies.” 

“What are you saying?” Kitty asked. 

“There is a secret part of this school. Something they don’t let everyone in on. I haven’t seen Professor X since I got here. I’ve heard he comes and goes, but I’ve never seen him. Have you?” 

She shook her head. “Not since he found me.” 

“See, if this is his school he should be around more. I think I found where he and the secrets are held,” I said. 

“Where?” 

“Right here,” I said, extending my arms out. We were on a small path leading away from the school. On either side was a patch of a park. 

“What?”

“Underneath us, there is a secret passage,” I said. Bending down I put my hand on the ground. “In fact underneath every path from the school there is an underground passage. About 10 feet down, but there.”

“How do you know?” She asked, looking around. 

“I can feel it, trust me,” I said. The void of Spiritual Energy was a dead giveaway. “I followed all of these paths. They interconnect like a spider web around this whole campus. I think something is going on here that none of us know about.”

I could feel her become more nervous. Focused on her feet it slowly dawned on her why I wanted her. 

“No,” she said, shaking her head. 

“Yes,” I said. “Come on, Kitty. I know you can take me with you.”

“I’ve done that like twice,” she said. “I only got the hang of taking someone with me recently.”

“I have full faith in you,” I lied. It was a big risk but I wanted to finish this quest. I felt like I already knew what the secret of the school was, I just needed to get a glimpse of the truth. “Look, Kitty. It is not normal to bring a bunch of freaks and geeks all to one location. Every single one of us can do something otherworldly. Something that normal people can’t be trusted with. I just want to make sure that they aren’t like…experimenting on us. I haven’t seen any people go missing, but wouldn’t it be best to know for sure?” I asked. 

It was all a lie of course. At least I hoped it was. The world of X-Men was tough, especially for mutants, but Professor X was a champion of mutants. Doing his best to keep the world safe and keep mutants from being looked upon in a bad light. That was the Professor X I knew of at least. There were an infinite amount of Marvel worlds. Who knew what kind of Professor X I got? I decided I needed to know for sure now rather than later.

“I’m nervous,” she admitted. 

“Tell you what. Phase me through the floor. If anything bad happens you can phase us out,” I said.

“My power doesn’t work that way. I can’t float us back up,” she said, fear paramount in her. 

“I understand, but this all connects back to the school. I’m sure there are safeguards and cameras at the access points indoors. We jump down to the paths out here. Work our way to the main school and escape there,” I said. “If it’s not that bad, who cares, we get a slap on the wrist. If it’s really bad we can at least warn people.”

“What the hell,” she said. “You really think mutants are being experimented on?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s find out.” I extended my hand. Kitty gulped and took it. I made sure to stop using my Haki or any other powers that could interact with her own. 

“Just…hold your breath,” she said. I nodded. Watching her I noticed her Spiritual Energy churn, then to my amazement it moved to me. I held my breath as we began to slowly sink into the ground. First my shoes then pant legs. I didn’t risk talking for fear I would break her concentration. 

Only about an inch a second, we dropped slowly but surely. I breathed in and out steadily, not hardly feeling anything as we passed through the cement path. I felt like how I did when being teleported by Gantz. Nothing, I just couldn’t see parts of my body anymore until poof we were in the concrete. Dropping down and down until I saw light again. 

When I was all the way through gravity took hold. I grabbed Kitty and absorbed the short fall to the steel floor. 

My eyes instantly scanned everything as my Observation Haki focused outward. We were in a large circular hallway. Steel grating for floors there were pipes and ductwork underneath the grating. Like we were in some kind of spaceship the area was dim. I moved slightly and a motion sensor must have kicked on because the lights brightened. Kitty squeaked, nervous as the lights flared to life. 

“It’s okay,” I said.

“Cam ow het te go,” she mumbled. I looked down noticing I had pulled her into my chest when we fell. 

“Sorry,” I said. Her face burning red in embarrassment as she looked around. 

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “There really are paths. A lot of them too.” I could see other dimly lit branches down the hall. All circular, all empty.

“Let’s go,” I said. Walking down the hall I stepped lightly, barely any noise coming from the footfalls on the metal grating. Kitty wasn’t so quiet. “Are you trying to alert people we are here?”

“What?” 

“You sound like you’re wearing heels,” I hissed. 

“I can’t help it, I’m nervous. What if they just experiment on people that find this place?” She asked. 

“Then I will be sure to use you as a decoy and escape,” I said.

“What?!” She cried. I moved my hand to her mouth. 

“I’m joking. Kitty, they aren’t doing that, I promise. Let’s just look around. If it gets bad I will protect you,” I said. 

“You protect me?” She asked like I had told a joke. She frowned but also blushed. She too wasn’t used to the human contact. 

“Just trust me,” I said, walking again. “Try to walk quietly.”

“I’m trying,” she whined, but really sucked at it. Despite her future hero name, she was not as quiet as a cat. It was like having an elephant follow me. 

My senses attuned all around us. I headed to the first branch. Turning toward where the school was I hissed as more motion sensors went off and lights turned on. Relaxing slightly knowing that no other lights were going off I let off a little sigh in relief, but then down the way lights turned on. 

2 men coming down a hall a hundred feet away. I only got a glimpse as they passed through my hall, but it was enough. 1 was a shorter man, only about 5 foot 6 inches tall. His black hair spiked, he had huge mutton chops on the side of his head. Pure muscle and ready to fight, it was easy to know it had been Logan aka Wolverine. Behind him had been a giant of a man at least 6 foot 5 inches tall. Just as muscular he had a buzzed haircut and had to be Colossus. 

“Let’s go,” I said, speeding up as I jogged in the direction they went. Kitty cursed but ran after me.

Our footfalls echoing in the long tube-like halls I made it to the crossroad they had crossed and began walking in the direction they left motion activated lights on. Kitty stuck to me, she tried to get my attention about heading toward the school but I ignored her. My quest wanted me to know the secret of the facility. I planned to find out. 

After another few branches we came to a large room. A catwalk ahead of us there were stairs that went down into what appeared to be a huge hangar. Inside was a jet. Sleek black exterior, short wings at the back, it was obviously the X-Men’s ship. Called the Blackbird or something it was an ultra-fast ship that I thought could even go into space. 

“What is that?” She asked. 

“A plane,” I said. Risking it I moved closer. On the metal grating catwalk that looked over the hangar I noticed Wolverine and Colossus talking to someone. I moved over and began to inch my way down the stairs so I could get a better angle to see the stranger they were talking to. 

“Listen, bub. I don’t care who you are. You don’t just show up here and start demanding we check out this or that,” Wolverine growled. He appeared to be more like the comic version than the Hugh Jackman version. Shorter, bigger and bulkier muscles, and more pissed off. He chewed on a cigar as he spoke. “We have other things to worry about.” 

“And what is that, exactly? Teaching classes? Logan, I recruited you because you could literally go on forever. Never tire, never die, at least you haven’t yet,” the stranger said. He wore a dark blue suit with a black trench coat over it. I couldn’t see his face yet. I moved down again. “I have given you all a lot of leeway to do what you want. For this allowance, I expect help.”

“I work for the Professor,” Wolverine said. “We are willing to help, just get his approval and-” 

“X is incommunicado. Since he finished his little toy he has been spending more-” The man stopped talking as I finally saw his face. It was that of a black man. Which was good, I preferred the black version. Gruff face and eye patch it was easy to see that it was Nick Fury. In the early comics the head of SHIELD was white, but lately his renditions had been black. Taking the physical description of Samuel L. Jackson, it was the version of Nick Fury I preferred.. 

“Why is a kid staring at me?” Fury asked as he continued to study me. 

“What the hell?” Wolverine asked. 

“Just…doing uh…scavenger hunt,” I said. “Hey, I found a 1 eyed guy, wasn’t that on the list?” I asked, walking back the way I had come.

As Wolverine ran for me I grabbed Kitty who had become frozen in shock. Throwing her over my shoulder I back tracked, the lights turning on as I came to each hallway I moved some Nen to my body, kicking off the ground with increased power. 

It wasn’t long until Wolverine was running down the hall after us. The small man sounded like a freight train as he only sped up.  

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said. I knew I should probably just stop and take whatever punishment was offered, but I couldn’t help but run from the feral man.

“He’s gaining!” Kitty yelled from behind me. 

“I know,” I said. Feeling someone ahead I took a turn, trying to work my way toward the school. I began taking every turn I could. More rooms around us I ignored them as I stuck to the halls. I became trapped between 2 halls with people in them. 

Jean Grey yelled, “Hey!” As we ran past. The steel floor turning into concrete we were closer to the school but I threw Kitty to the side as Wolverine barreled toward me. 

The shorter man was like a cannonball as he extended his arms my way. No metal claws out at least, I braced myself with Nen. Empowering my body I ducked down before he grabbed me and took his collar in hand. Turning him over me I forgot he was so heavy. Almost 400 pounds of muscle and metal I barely got him flipped over my body. 

Landing on the concrete floor with an oompf Wolverine cursed and moved to get back up. I grabbed Kitty and moved toward the stairs just ahead. But as I did I noticed a man I had forgotten about. A little taller than me, brown hair, red glasses, it was Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. 

“What the hell is going on here?” He asked. 

I breathed in and out heavily. Looking around I offered, “Game of tag?” Scott frowned and I knew the jig was up.