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It was finally time for their team to teleport with Kurt to the prison known as Alcatraz. Iver and Collin had been waiting for this moment since they were told there would be a counter strike. Yes Colin wanted to go to save Mary, but she was in good hands with John Howlett, Aurelia, and even the human Colby. He needed to focus on getting his twin sister back. During the attack their family had lost Evan, Iver’s twin, but Collin and Iver refused to lose Sadria and their unborn nephew and niece. They were looking for retribution for Evan and Tanner’s deaths and for the kidnapping of their sister. Duncan refused to let them go along, so he was coming along probably to make sure that the Kearney brothers didn’t just start killing people. It was a possible outcome.

Other than Duncan they were being joined by Azriel, a human, who had helped get the information about the different prisons. Duncan had tried to talk Azriel out of going telling him it would be too dangerous for a human to come. Azriel said if Colby was going with Aurelia and John then he was going on a mission too. Collin did question why he chose the mission to save his sister. Azriel told him that he’d had to take her a meal when he was there and something about her just drew him in. The way he explained it made Collin feel it necessary to make a point to Azriel. So before they headed into the main room Colin took Azriel aside. “I want you to understand something. Sadira isn’t just my sister, she’s my twin sister. She means the world to me. She is probably an emotional wreck being held captive while so far into her pregnancy. And it’s going to get worse when we have to tell her that Tanner, the love of her life, is dead.”, Colin said pushing Azriel against a wall. “I get it. I’m one of a set of triplets. And that cunt Scarlet Witch had my triplet Darren beheaded. I know what siblings mean. I’m terrified of what will happen if Colby doesn’t come back. I just put faith in Aurelia to bring him back. So how about you cut the shit kid and tell me exactly what you are trying to get at.”, Azriel said shoving Collin off him and fixing his uniform.

“Fine I’ll be straight to the point. I’ve heard enough about the type of man you are Azriel, womanizer is the word used most often. If you even a second, and I mean a second you think about take advantage of my sister’s emotional state by playing the ‘rescuer’ card I’ll draw and quarter you and then spread your body parts to the corners of the globe.”, Collin said. Azriel nodded. “Fair enough kid. Wasn’t really on my mind. You’re sister’s pretty but fresh widow with kids is probably more emotional baggage then I’d want.”, Azriel said holding up his hands. “I just want to get her out of there, that’s it.”, he added. “We ok now?”, Azriel asked extending his hand. Collin looked at Azriel, digging deep into his mind and seeing he wasn’t lying. “Yeah we are.”, he said shaking his hand. Iver peeked around the corner. “Let’s go guys!”, he called. Collin and Azriel walked into the main room ready to leave.

Kisa raced past Collin and Azriel and threw her arms around Iver. “Don’t go, please. I know what Sadria means to you…but please. I can’t lose you too..”, she said crying on his shoulder. Iver sighed and hugged her tightly. “I’m coming back to you Kisa. I have to save my sister and my future nephew and niece. I’ll be with Collin and Duncan. So please don’t worry. You need to be strong. Kurt’s going to be teleporting back anyone who’s injured. You need to be ready to help them.”, Iver said as he gently wiped the tears from her face. “Promise. Promise you’ll come back.”, Kisa said. Iver smiled. “I promise.”, he said. She turned to look at Collin, Duncan, and Azriel. “You three better bring him back. If he breaks his promise because you didn’t keep him safe…I’ll never heal you again and I’ll tear off your legs in my tiger form.”, she warned. Azriel’s eyes went wide, “Tiger form…”, he whispered to Collin. Collin smiled. “Aye, Kisa may be one of our healers but she can also transform into a tiger. As I understand it she’s got quite a bite.”, Collin said nudging Azriel in the ribs. Duncan put up his hands to Kisa silently telling her to calm. “Kisa we are all coming back.”, Duncan said calmly.

“You better be coming back.”, a soft voice said before slender arms wrapped around Duncan hugging him from behind. Duncan sighed. “Yes, I am coming back Lindee. I’ve been through worse fights and returned. Pretender and her soldiers are not going to be the end of this Scot.”, he said patting her hands. He gently unlatched her hands and turned around and hugged her tight before lightly kissing her lips. “You won’t lose me. I promise lass.”, he said giving her a wink. Lindee smiled a little and nodded. “Alright, I’m going to hold you to that. They say Scots are men of their words.”, Lindee said taking a step back. “Aye, we are. Now let’s go boys.”, he instructed placing his hand on Nightcrawler’s shoulder. Collin linked arms with Kurt and then with his brother. Azriel cautiously grabbed Nightcrawler’s other arm. “Um so how does this wo…”, he was cut off as Kurt teleported them outside Alcatraz. “rk”, Azriel finished. He let go of Kurt and quickly threw up. “Alright, so teleporting is instant and makes my stomach do flips. Awesome.”, Azriel said wiping his mouth. Kurt just laughed. “I’ll return when you call for evacuation. “, Kurt said before vanishing.

“You going to be alright?”, Duncan asked looking to Azriel. Azriel nodded. “Yeah just not used to all this, but we got a job to do and I’m the one who knows the building the best.”, he said heading down the rocks of the island. “There’s an old water main down here. It’s not used since the place was upgraded to a new system. But it’s not guarded and we can use it to get in without being detected or setting off an alarm.”, Azriel explained. So in silence the Kearney brothers and Duncan climbed down behind Azriel. Azriel stopped at a large grate. “Alright anyone got a crow bar?”, he asked tugging on the bars. “Stand back.”, Iver said moving in and grabbing the bars. Within moments the bars had melted away. “Opened.”, he said with a smile. “Umm yeah follow me.”, Azriel said still adjusting to what these guys could do. He led the way into the prison through the dried up water pipe. He stopped when they got to a vent into a room he knew was just for storage. “Alright the room above us is storage, so we should be able to get in through here.”, he said pushing up on the grate and climbing up into the storage space.

He helped Iver up and after Collin then Duncan got out on their own. “Okay so from here where are Sadria and Meghan?”, Duncan asked. “Meghan is going to be two flights up in a cell down this hall.”, he said pointing on a map. “Sadira however is held on the top floor here, right by the control room where Pretender tends to be.”, he explained. “Between us and the girls are about two dozen armed soldiers. I don’t know what you all can do, so I’m just going to hand this to Duncan to call the play.”, Azriel concluded. “Alright here’s how this is going to go. Azriel you are sticking with me. I told your brother I’d keep an eye on you. So we are going to head up here to get Meghan. Collin and Iver I’m going to trust you two to get to your sister. No one makes a move on Pretender till we are all back together. Understood?”, Duncan said giving them their marching orders. Collin and Iver nodded. “We understand. Sadria is our priority, once she’s safe we can get Pretender.”, they agreed. Azriel nodded in agreement though the idea of a babysitter because of his brother wasn’t really sitting well with him, but that’s something he could deal with Colby about that later. So the quartet divided as they cautiously exited the storage room.

Azriel kept low and lead the way across the room to the stairs, avoiding being seen by the guards. When they reached the bottom of the stairs he double checked that his guns were loaded with tranquilizer darts. He didn’t want to kill anyone if he could help it. These men and women were just following orders, so he couldn’t really be angry at them. Though there were some he wouldn’t mind snapping the neck of. Which would be anyone who dared to speak ill of his departed brother Darren and making accusations about being a traitor to the nation. Those were individuals he’s happily snap the neck of. But he would follow Duncan’s instructions of not killing. “Alright we are going to be walking right into a group at the top of these stairs. So I don’t know what you’re power is, but you better be ready.”, Azriel whispered. Duncan smiled a little. “True me, I’m ready for this. Been a while since I’ve been in battle, and god I miss it.”, Duncan said taking the lead and heading up the stairs.

Before he reached the top of the stairs he stopped and just peeked above the top stair to see how many soldiers there were. He shrugged counting about six. “This will only take a minute.”, he said laying his hands on the top stair. Once his hands made contact twisting vines began to grown and run along the floor. The soldiers were busy talking and of course not looking at their feet. It wasn’t till the vines started to wind around their legs that someone noticed. “What the hell!?”, they started screaming trying to pull the vines from their legs. The more they pulled at the vines the tighter they became till they were waist deep in the vines. “Let’s move.”, Duncan said rushing into the hall. Azriel followed and looked in amazement at what Duncan had done. “GET BACK HERE!”, a soldier yelled. Duncan looked over his shoulder at the soldiers and shook his head before pointing up. And without a word or warning the vines raised the soldiers off the ground and flipped them so they were hanging from the ceiling. They all dropped their weapons and those that struggled became fully engulfed by the vines. Duncan gave a smile and silently moved forward. “Have fun hanging out boys.”, Azriel quipped with a tilt of his helmet before following Duncan.

While Duncan and Azriel went one direction Collin and Iver headed the other to find their sister. As they quietly made their way up the stairs Collin held up a hand to Iver to indicate they needed to stop. He could hear their voices but beyond that he heard something even more familiar. “LET ME OUT OF HERE!”, a distant voice screamed. “Quite down in there!”, someone yelled. “OH WHEN MY HUSBAND OR EVEN MY BROTHERS GET HERE AND LET ME OUT I’M GOING TO MAKE YOUR WORST DREAMS A REALITY! YOU ARE SCREWING WITH THE WRONG PREGNANT WOMAN!”, the voice screamed back. Collin looked back to Iver and both smiled. “That’s our sister..”, they said trying to hold back laughter. “Alright let us make this quick, she’s going to rampage soon and don’t want to her to risk our nephew and niece’s safety for her own anger.”, Iver suggested. “She does make a good suggestion, worst nightmare it shall be.”, Collin said with a smile closing his eyes. His mind seemed to jump from one Solider to another to see what exactly their fears where.

Once he had that he unleashed their nightmares. First a thick fog developed in the hall, the soldiers started to clamor trying to figure out what was causing this phenomenon. The brothers took advantage of the dense fog, which one of these soldiers’s apparently feared, to make it down the hall past them. As they passed each of them new visions came to life unique to each of them. They all seemed to be pretty standard such as giant spiders, but the guard who had yelled to their sister had the most amusing fear. This soldier had a very deep rooted fear of the fictional character called Pennywise from the Stephen King book and film IT. Collin covered his mouth to hold back his laughter as the soldier started to scream and the imaginary Pennywise chased him and the others down the hall. “Alright that was pretty awesome Collin.”, Iver had to admit.

Duncan and Azriel froze for a moment when they heard panic screams and even gun fire. Duncan quickly grabbed his communicator. “Phantasm… Alchemy… is everything alright over there?”, he asked worried. Collin pressed on his communicator, “Yes Sin Eater we are fine. That’s just the soldier’s panicking at their nightmares coming to life. Shots not fired at us but my illusions.” Duncan let out a sigh in relief. “Alright keep making your way to your sister. We are almost to Meghan.”, Duncan instructed. Azriel just raised an eyebrow not really sure how to feel about what he just heard, but then again why should he be surprised. He saw what Sadria could do so it would make sense that her twin would have something equal in the power department. So with the concern resolved they continued down the hall. Azriel pointed to a cell, “This one.” Duncan nodded and looked through the small viewing window.

Inside the small dark space he could make out the outline of someone on the bed. “Meghan..”, he called. In the cell Meghan moved slightly hearing her name. She hadn’t been called her name since being brought here. The soldiers just called her ‘mutant’ or ‘scum’. She rolled, carefully as she was trying to recover from the broken ribs she’d received that morning for refusing to talk. She could make out what looked like an eye in the viewing window. She looked puzzled uncertain what was outside her door. “Don’t worry Meghan. It’s me, Sin Eater. We’re getting you out of here.”, he said. Without thinking about her actions first she sat up quickly. “Professor Fearbirigh!”, she called before quickly doubling over to hold her ribs. “Just stay still, I’ll get this door down and we’ll have you taken somewhere safe to see Kisa for healing.”, he said before starting to study the door. “Now to get this door open..”, he said considering what he was going to do to pull it out. “Um, I still have my keys.”, Azriel said holding them up. “I told you there was a reason I wanted this mission.”, he explained before flipping through them to find the right key and opened the door. “Very useful.”, Duncan commented before heading into the cell.

He sat on the cot next to Meghan. “Let me look at you, child.”, He said trying to get an idea of how bad Meghan’s injuries were. “I didn’t tell them anything sir. All they got was my name and codename.”, Meghan said quietly as she looked at him. “It’s alright Meghan, even if you had said something you wouldn’t have known where we went. We got as many out as we could. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to save everyone.”, Duncan said looking down in sadness. “Sir, how many did we lose?”, she asked. “Too many.”, Duncan said simply. “What about…what about Scott? Did he get away? Did they take him? Or is he..”, she questioned trailing off not even able to speak the words out loud in case it was true. “He’s fine. He made it out. In our isolation he sobered up. He went on a different mission to rescue Jean and Annai.”, Duncan said putting her fears to rest.

Azriel kept watch at the door in case someone came by. “I recognize you..”, Meghan said looking to him. “You were that kind guard who gave me some morphine for my pain.”, she said pointing at him. Azriel nodded. “Yes that was me. Azriel Delaney ma’am.”, he said giving her a nod. “Azriel and his brother Colby helped us find these prisons and are helping us on a couple missions.”, Duncan explained. “Thank you. Thank you Azriel, I’m not sure I’d have survived without you.”, Meghan said starting to tear. “Let’s get you out of here.”, Duncan said grabbing his communicator. “Nightcrawler, I have Tempero for evacuation.”, he said calling for Nightcrawler. In a cloud of smoke Nightcrawler appeared in the room. “Come with me Meghan.”, he said helping her off her cot. And without another word they were gone. “Alright let’s go meet up with Collin and Iver.”, Duncan instructed.

As Azriel and Duncan made their way back to find Collin and Iver they were already as Sadria’s cell door. Sadria had heard the screams and gun fire down the hall. “What the hell is going on out there?”, she pondered her to herself. “I hope one of them shot their own foot off or worse. Stupid bastards.”, she grumbled to herself as she rubbed her protruding pregnancy belly. “Please calm down guys, mommy is trying to remain calm so that you can be calm. But you kicking me innards isn’t putting me in a better mood.”, she said softly trying to get her unborn twins to relax. “If they are anything like us they aren’t going to stop giving you hell even after you birth them.”, Collin joked peaking into the cell through a glass viewing panel. Sadria knew the voice and knew it well. As her face lit up so did the room. She looked to the viewing panel and there staring back at her was a pair of blue eyes she knew belonged to her twin. “COLLIN!”, she yelled with excitement. “Was that you who made them scream and fire their weapons? Wait they didn’t hurt you did you? If they did I’ll kill them.”, she said it obvious how quick her mood could change. Collin shook his head. “Yes I made them see their nightmares but no they didn’t fire at me or Iver.”, Collin explained. “Iver? Is Evan or Tanner with you?”, she asked walking to the door.

Collin looked away and locked eyes with his little brother Iver. Neither of them knew how to tell her. How do you tell someone that their youngest siblings and husband were dead. “Collin? Iver? Answer me. Where are Evan and Tanner? Where is my husband?”, she demanded. “Sadria…we.. we just don’t know how to tell you.”, Iver said his voice cracking a little as he tried to contain his own tears as he had to now think about his lost twin. “Sadria, dear sister, Evan and Tanner. Well they didn’t make it out of the school that night.”, Collin said his voice cracking a little as well. “What? No, no Tanner can’t be gone. He can’t. I can’t raise these two alone. I can’t do this without him.”, she said starting to sob. She crumbled to the ground holding herself tightly. “Who did it?! Who took Evan and Tanner from us?”, she demanded. “It was Pyro.”, Iver answered. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill every single one of the Acolytes for this.”, Sadria said clenching her teeth in anger. “Cyclops, Target and Demitri have gone to face Pyro. They will get you justice. Let’s just get this door out of the way and make sure you are ok.”, Collin suggested. “Iver you’re up little brother.”, he said stepping back.

Iver placed his hands on the door and started to manipulate its chemical makeup causing the metal to melt from solid to liquid. The brothers rushed in once the door was gone and knelt on the floor hugging Sadira. “Are you hurt? Did they hit you or anything?”, Collin asked. Sadria shook her head. “No, I’ve been kept in this room there was some sort of protective seal on the walls so that my powers couldn’t be used outside of here. But Kim never let them hit me and never gave me a dose of that serum which would surprise powers. Despite being a bitch and someone who I’ll see in a grave, she is a mother and wouldn’t put my unborn children at risk.”, Sadria explained. “What about Meghan? I know she’s hear, I’ve seen her taken to interrogation. Have you saved her yet?”, Sadira asked looking to her brothers. Almost on queue Azriel and Duncan walked in .”Meghan is safe. Nightcrawler has taken her to be healed by Kisa.”, Duncan answers. “Professor Fearbirigh.”, Sadria said looking to him tears in her eyes. Then she looked to Azriel. “I remember you. You’re the guard that told me you were here to help. It is good to see you were not lying.”, Sadira said with a weak smile. Azriel smiled back, “Glad to prove myself honest.”

Collin and Iver helped Sadria to her feet. “I’ll call Nightcrawler. He can take you to Kisa who can check on you and the twins.”, Duncan said reaching for his communicator. “NO!”, Sadira yelled. “The twins and I are just fine. I’m not leaving before you. I have lost a brother and a husband. I shall not lose two more brothers and I want to make sure Kim is put in her place.”, Sadria said sternly. Duncan was about to argue his point but both Collin and Iver shook their heads at him. “Fine, but I ask you to be cautious.”, Duncan said with a sigh. “The only one that needs to be cautious is Kim. I’m a very pissed off pregnant woman. My powers are very active and she may not know this by the twins have powers too and we will be using them.”, she said rubbing her stomach. Everyone looked at her a little confused. “When they attacked the school, the only reason I got taken was someone hit me on the head from behind. But one of the twins apparently controls water because they were blasting soldiers away from me and another or maybe the same one also put up a shield to stop the bullets from hitting me.”, Sadria said retelling what happened the night she was taken. “To have active powers before birth… it’s unheard of.”, Duncan said. Sadria nodded. “Yes but these are no ordinary babies, they are mine and Tanner’s.”, she said with a small smile.

“Alright well if we are all ready, her office is down this way.”, Azriel said leading the way. The group followed him till he stopped before a turn. “She’s at the end of this hall. The rest of the guards are between us and her.”, he advised. “I’ll handle this..”, Sadria said walking past everyone. Azriel grabbed her arm before she could step into the hall. “Are you sure about this?”, Azriel asked. “As sure as I will ever be. These people beat and abused Meghan. I can’t let that go. For all I know one of these men is the one that killed my husband or my little brother back at the school. Don’t worry I won’t kill them.”, she said pulled her arm away. “OYE PRICKS!”, she shouted. The soldiers turned and saw her standing there. “How did you get out of your cell?”, a soldier questioned. “Not your problem. Your problem is that you are standing between me and the bitch that’s held me here and participated, indirectly, in the murder of my husband. So I give you a choice. Stand aside or try to defend her and I’ll make you suffer ten times over.”, she said raising her hands. As her hands raised her mild telekinesis kicked in and the vents and anything on the walls started to rattle.

The soldiers looked to each other nervously as the walls started to rattle. With a gulp they raised their weapons and fired. “Bad choice!”, Sadira yelled and suddenly a shield appeared in front of her the bullets stopping falling to the floor. Sadria started walking down the hall and the soldiers started back up. “So who wants to fight the pregnant woman?”, she questioned. “Please step forward because I’m really in the mood to knock someone’s teeth out.”, she growled. Again the soldiers looked to each other. This time, however, the group shoved their commanding officer forward. “Look you just got volunteered by your troops.”, she said before punching him hard leaving the imprint of her wedding ring in his cheek. “I don’t know if you are the one who did it, but that was for Meghan.”, she yelled. She hit him a second time this time, as promised, a tooth was knocked out of his mouth. “That was for my brother.”, she advised. Then without a second thought she gave one solid punch into his stomach as he doubled over she whispered in his ear, “And this is for my husband.” And with those words water burst from a nearby radiator and pushed the commander back. As he flew back, the hot water burning his face, the soldiers ducked for cover and he went straight through the door to Pretender’s office. “KNOCK KNOCK PRETENDER! “, Sadria yelled stepping through the door way.

Azriel, Duncan, Collin, and Iver quickly followed behind her. “She was not messing around when she said the twins already have powers…”, Duncan commented. Azriel looked to the soldiers who were cowering. “What should we do about them?”, he asked. Duncan looked to them and shrugged. “I guess we should do something.”, he said raising his hands and his vines rose up and wrapped each of them up so they couldn’t move. “Excuse us. We..we’re with her..”, Azriel said pointing forward with a smirk. Pretender had already radioed in that her prison had been breached, but she wasn’t the only one. She looked up from her desk and managed to get out of the way just in time as the door blew open with the commanding officer on it. She looked to the doorway and her eyes went wide as she saw Sadria standing there. “Sadria. Look I’ve been kind to you. I made sure you were brought here where you’d not be touched or drugged. I wouldn’t let any of the other Acolytes take you to their prisons knowing they wouldn’t take into consideration your condition with any amount of sympathy. The other prisons are falling as we speak. Your team has won. So really what point is there is us two fighting? I won’t hit a pregnant woman.”, Kim said simply rising to her feet.

Sadria’s emerald green eyes just seemed to glow with anger the more Pretender spoke. “Shut your mouth Kim. You will not talk your way out of this. You and your group will pay for what you have done. My brother… my husband are gone and it is on your hands as much as anyone of the Acolytes.”, she growled pointing her finger. “Fine you want to fight, let’s dance.”, Pretender said as she multiplied creating six of herself. The others came in behind Sadria. “Can we help now?”, they asked seeing the six Pretenders in the room. “NO. This is my fight. I’ve faced her before and I will not lose this time.”, Sadria said holding up her hand to tell them to stay back. “I need to find the right Pretender..”, she said looking at the six Pretenders as the closed in on her. She started to search their minds, closing her eyes and pulling some strength from her unborn children. Her eyes shot open as she found the one. She dashed to the left and tackled the farthest pretender to the ground and just started punching her. “You helped take away everything from me! I lost my husband that night!”, she screamed as she just kept punching Pretender’s face.

Suddenly there was a voice that seemed to fill the room, it was coming from Kim’s radio on the floor. “Everyone, shut up and listen to me. It may look like we aren’t going to win this battle. But I’m going to change our odds, we are all going to walk out of this without a scratch. Now I can’t guarantee that what I’m going to do will really work. So before I change things I want to say, despite our faults and internal problems I want to say I wouldn’t ask for a better group of Acolytes. So here goes nothing guys, it was a pleasure fighting alongside you.”, the voice shouted. Then Pretender heard a voice spoken directly to her mind “Kim, if whatever she’s doing doesn’t work please just know I love you and couldn’t wait to marry you. The other five copies disappeared and Kim looked about to weep. “And I might lose everything tonight, my future husband and my children..”, Kim said her voice soft.

“What did that voice say about ‘changing the odds’?”, Azriel questioned. “That was Scarlet Witch and whatever she’s going to do it’s not going to be good.”, Duncan answered. “Scarlet Witch, but that’s where Colby is.”, Azriel said now worried. Collin ran forward and pulled his sister off Pretender. “We need to get out of here. I don’t know what’s going to happen but we don’t want to stay here and find out.”, he said. But it was too late. A flash of blue light covered them followed by purple. As the colors faded there was nothing.

Description
It was finally time for their team to teleport with Kurt to the prison known as Alcatraz. Iver and Collin had been waiting for this moment since they were told there would be a counter strike. Yes Colin wanted to go to save Mary, but she was in good hands with John Howlett, Aurelia, and even the human Colby. He needed to focus on getting his twin sister back. During the attack their family had lost Evan, Iver’s twin, but Collin and Iver refused to lose Sadria and their unborn nephew and niece. They were looking for retribution for Evan and Tanner’s deaths and for the kidnapping of their sister. Duncan refused to let them go along, so he was coming along probably to make sure that the Kearney brothers didn’t just start killing people. It was a possible outcome.

Other than Duncan they were being joined by Azriel, a human, who had helped get the information about the different prisons. Duncan had tried to talk Azriel out of going telling him it would be too dangerous for a human to come. Azriel said if Colby was going with Aurelia and John then he was going on a mission too. Collin did question why he chose the mission to save his sister. Azriel told him that he’d had to take her a meal when he was there and something about her just drew him in. The way he explained it made Collin feel it necessary to make a point to Azriel. So before they headed into the main room Colin took Azriel aside. “I want you to understand something. Sadira isn’t just my sister, she’s my twin sister. She means the world to me. She is probably an emotional wreck being held captive while so far into her pregnancy. And it’s going to get worse when we have to tell her that Tanner, the love of her life, is dead.”, Colin said pushing Azriel against a wall. “I get it. I’m one of a set of triplets. And that cunt Scarlet Witch had my triplet Darren beheaded. I know what siblings mean. I’m terrified of what will happen if Colby doesn’t come back. I just put faith in Aurelia to bring him back. So how about you cut the shit kid and tell me exactly what you are trying to get at.”, Azriel said shoving Collin off him and fixing his uniform.

“Fine I’ll be straight to the point. I’ve heard enough about the type of man you are Azriel, womanizer is the word used most often. If you even a second, and I mean a second you think about take advantage of my sister’s emotional state by playing the ‘rescuer’ card I’ll draw and quarter you and then spread your body parts to the corners of the globe.”, Collin said. Azriel nodded. “Fair enough kid. Wasn’t really on my mind. You’re sister’s pretty but fresh widow with kids is probably more emotional baggage then I’d want.”, Azriel said holding up his hands. “I just want to get her out of there, that’s it.”, he added. “We ok now?”, Azriel asked extending his hand. Collin looked at Azriel, digging deep into his mind and seeing he wasn’t lying. “Yeah we are.”, he said shaking his hand. Iver peeked around the corner. “Let’s go guys!”, he called. Collin and Azriel walked into the main room ready to leave.

Kisa raced past Collin and Azriel and threw her arms around Iver. “Don’t go, please. I know what Sadria means to you…but please. I can’t lose you too..”, she said crying on his shoulder. Iver sighed and hugged her tightly. “I’m coming back to you Kisa. I have to save my sister and my future nephew and niece. I’ll be with Collin and Duncan. So please don’t worry. You need to be strong. Kurt’s going to be teleporting back anyone who’s injured. You need to be ready to help them.”, Iver said as he gently wiped the tears from her face. “Promise. Promise you’ll come back.”, Kisa said. Iver smiled. “I promise.”, he said. She turned to look at Collin, Duncan, and Azriel. “You three better bring him back. If he breaks his promise because you didn’t keep him safe…I’ll never heal you again and I’ll tear off your legs in my tiger form.”, she warned. Azriel’s eyes went wide, “Tiger form…”, he whispered to Collin. Collin smiled. “Aye, Kisa may be one of our healers but she can also transform into a tiger. As I understand it she’s got quite a bite.”, Collin said nudging Azriel in the ribs. Duncan put up his hands to Kisa silently telling her to calm. “Kisa we are all coming back.”, Duncan said calmly.

“You better be coming back.”, a soft voice said before slender arms wrapped around Duncan hugging him from behind. Duncan sighed. “Yes, I am coming back Lindee. I’ve been through worse fights and returned. Pretender and her soldiers are not going to be the end of this Scot.”, he said patting her hands. He gently unlatched her hands and turned around and hugged her tight before lightly kissing her lips. “You won’t lose me. I promise lass.”, he said giving her a wink. Lindee smiled a little and nodded. “Alright, I’m going to hold you to that. They say Scots are men of their words.”, Lindee said taking a step back. “Aye, we are. Now let’s go boys.”, he instructed placing his hand on Nightcrawler’s shoulder. Collin linked arms with Kurt and then with his brother. Azriel cautiously grabbed Nightcrawler’s other arm. “Um so how does this wo…”, he was cut off as Kurt teleported them outside Alcatraz. “rk”, Azriel finished. He let go of Kurt and quickly threw up. “Alright, so teleporting is instant and makes my stomach do flips. Awesome.”, Azriel said wiping his mouth. Kurt just laughed. “I’ll return when you call for evacuation. “, Kurt said before vanishing.

“You going to be alright?”, Duncan asked looking to Azriel. Azriel nodded. “Yeah just not used to all this, but we got a job to do and I’m the one who knows the building the best.”, he said heading down the rocks of the island. “There’s an old water main down here. It’s not used since the place was upgraded to a new system. But it’s not guarded and we can use it to get in without being detected or setting off an alarm.”, Azriel explained. So in silence the Kearney brothers and Duncan climbed down behind Azriel. Azriel stopped at a large grate. “Alright anyone got a crow bar?”, he asked tugging on the bars. “Stand back.”, Iver said moving in and grabbing the bars. Within moments the bars had melted away. “Opened.”, he said with a smile. “Umm yeah follow me.”, Azriel said still adjusting to what these guys could do. He led the way into the prison through the dried up water pipe. He stopped when they got to a vent into a room he knew was just for storage. “Alright the room above us is storage, so we should be able to get in through here.”, he said pushing up on the grate and climbing up into the storage space.

He helped Iver up and after Collin then Duncan got out on their own. “Okay so from here where are Sadria and Meghan?”, Duncan asked. “Meghan is going to be two flights up in a cell down this hall.”, he said pointing on a map. “Sadira however is held on the top floor here, right by the control room where Pretender tends to be.”, he explained. “Between us and the girls are about two dozen armed soldiers. I don’t know what you all can do, so I’m just going to hand this to Duncan to call the play.”, Azriel concluded. “Alright here’s how this is going to go. Azriel you are sticking with me. I told your brother I’d keep an eye on you. So we are going to head up here to get Meghan. Collin and Iver I’m going to trust you two to get to your sister. No one makes a move on Pretender till we are all back together. Understood?”, Duncan said giving them their marching orders. Collin and Iver nodded. “We understand. Sadria is our priority, once she’s safe we can get Pretender.”, they agreed. Azriel nodded in agreement though the idea of a babysitter because of his brother wasn’t really sitting well with him, but that’s something he could deal with Colby about that later. So the quartet divided as they cautiously exited the storage room.

Azriel kept low and lead the way across the room to the stairs, avoiding being seen by the guards. When they reached the bottom of the stairs he double checked that his guns were loaded with tranquilizer darts. He didn’t want to kill anyone if he could help it. These men and women were just following orders, so he couldn’t really be angry at them. Though there were some he wouldn’t mind snapping the neck of. Which would be anyone who dared to speak ill of his departed brother Darren and making accusations about being a traitor to the nation. Those were individuals he’s happily snap the neck of. But he would follow Duncan’s instructions of not killing. “Alright we are going to be walking right into a group at the top of these stairs. So I don’t know what you’re power is, but you better be ready.”, Azriel whispered. Duncan smiled a little. “True me, I’m ready for this. Been a while since I’ve been in battle, and god I miss it.”, Duncan said taking the lead and heading up the stairs.

Before he reached the top of the stairs he stopped and just peeked above the top stair to see how many soldiers there were. He shrugged counting about six. “This will only take a minute.”, he said laying his hands on the top stair. Once his hands made contact twisting vines began to grown and run along the floor. The soldiers were busy talking and of course not looking at their feet. It wasn’t till the vines started to wind around their legs that someone noticed. “What the hell!?”, they started screaming trying to pull the vines from their legs. The more they pulled at the vines the tighter they became till they were waist deep in the vines. “Let’s move.”, Duncan said rushing into the hall. Azriel followed and looked in amazement at what Duncan had done. “GET BACK HERE!”, a soldier yelled. Duncan looked over his shoulder at the soldiers and shook his head before pointing up. And without a word or warning the vines raised the soldiers off the ground and flipped them so they were hanging from the ceiling. They all dropped their weapons and those that struggled became fully engulfed by the vines. Duncan gave a smile and silently moved forward. “Have fun hanging out boys.”, Azriel quipped with a tilt of his helmet before following Duncan.

While Duncan and Azriel went one direction Collin and Iver headed the other to find their sister. As they quietly made their way up the stairs Collin held up a hand to Iver to indicate they needed to stop. He could hear their voices but beyond that he heard something even more familiar. “LET ME OUT OF HERE!”, a distant voice screamed. “Quite down in there!”, someone yelled. “OH WHEN MY HUSBAND OR EVEN MY BROTHERS GET HERE AND LET ME OUT I’M GOING TO MAKE YOUR WORST DREAMS A REALITY! YOU ARE SCREWING WITH THE WRONG PREGNANT WOMAN!”, the voice screamed back. Collin looked back to Iver and both smiled. “That’s our sister..”, they said trying to hold back laughter. “Alright let us make this quick, she’s going to rampage soon and don’t want to her to risk our nephew and niece’s safety for her own anger.”, Iver suggested. “She does make a good suggestion, worst nightmare it shall be.”, Collin said with a smile closing his eyes. His mind seemed to jump from one Solider to another to see what exactly their fears where.

Once he had that he unleashed their nightmares. First a thick fog developed in the hall, the soldiers started to clamor trying to figure out what was causing this phenomenon. The brothers took advantage of the dense fog, which one of these soldiers’s apparently feared, to make it down the hall past them. As they passed each of them new visions came to life unique to each of them. They all seemed to be pretty standard such as giant spiders, but the guard who had yelled to their sister had the most amusing fear. This soldier had a very deep rooted fear of the fictional character called Pennywise from the Stephen King book and film IT. Collin covered his mouth to hold back his laughter as the soldier started to scream and the imaginary Pennywise chased him and the others down the hall. “Alright that was pretty awesome Collin.”, Iver had to admit.

Duncan and Azriel froze for a moment when they heard panic screams and even gun fire. Duncan quickly grabbed his communicator. “Phantasm… Alchemy… is everything alright over there?”, he asked worried. Collin pressed on his communicator, “Yes Sin Eater we are fine. That’s just the soldier’s panicking at their nightmares coming to life. Shots not fired at us but my illusions.” Duncan let out a sigh in relief. “Alright keep making your way to your sister. We are almost to Meghan.”, Duncan instructed. Azriel just raised an eyebrow not really sure how to feel about what he just heard, but then again why should he be surprised. He saw what Sadria could do so it would make sense that her twin would have something equal in the power department. So with the concern resolved they continued down the hall. Azriel pointed to a cell, “This one.” Duncan nodded and looked through the small viewing window.

Inside the small dark space he could make out the outline of someone on the bed. “Meghan..”, he called. In the cell Meghan moved slightly hearing her name. She hadn’t been called her name since being brought here. The soldiers just called her ‘mutant’ or ‘scum’. She rolled, carefully as she was trying to recover from the broken ribs she’d received that morning for refusing to talk. She could make out what looked like an eye in the viewing window. She looked puzzled uncertain what was outside her door. “Don’t worry Meghan. It’s me, Sin Eater. We’re getting you out of here.”, he said. Without thinking about her actions first she sat up quickly. “Professor Fearbirigh!”, she called before quickly doubling over to hold her ribs. “Just stay still, I’ll get this door down and we’ll have you taken somewhere safe to see Kisa for healing.”, he said before starting to study the door. “Now to get this door open..”, he said considering what he was going to do to pull it out. “Um, I still have my keys.”, Azriel said holding them up. “I told you there was a reason I wanted this mission.”, he explained before flipping through them to find the right key and opened the door. “Very useful.”, Duncan commented before heading into the cell.

He sat on the cot next to Meghan. “Let me look at you, child.”, He said trying to get an idea of how bad Meghan’s injuries were. “I didn’t tell them anything sir. All they got was my name and codename.”, Meghan said quietly as she looked at him. “It’s alright Meghan, even if you had said something you wouldn’t have known where we went. We got as many out as we could. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to save everyone.”, Duncan said looking down in sadness. “Sir, how many did we lose?”, she asked. “Too many.”, Duncan said simply. “What about…what about Scott? Did he get away? Did they take him? Or is he..”, she questioned trailing off not even able to speak the words out loud in case it was true. “He’s fine. He made it out. In our isolation he sobered up. He went on a different mission to rescue Jean and Annai.”, Duncan said putting her fears to rest.

Azriel kept watch at the door in case someone came by. “I recognize you..”, Meghan said looking to him. “You were that kind guard who gave me some morphine for my pain.”, she said pointing at him. Azriel nodded. “Yes that was me. Azriel Delaney ma’am.”, he said giving her a nod. “Azriel and his brother Colby helped us find these prisons and are helping us on a couple missions.”, Duncan explained. “Thank you. Thank you Azriel, I’m not sure I’d have survived without you.”, Meghan said starting to tear. “Let’s get you out of here.”, Duncan said grabbing his communicator. “Nightcrawler, I have Tempero for evacuation.”, he said calling for Nightcrawler. In a cloud of smoke Nightcrawler appeared in the room. “Come with me Meghan.”, he said helping her off her cot. And without another word they were gone. “Alright let’s go meet up with Collin and Iver.”, Duncan instructed.

As Azriel and Duncan made their way back to find Collin and Iver they were already as Sadria’s cell door. Sadria had heard the screams and gun fire down the hall. “What the hell is going on out there?”, she pondered her to herself. “I hope one of them shot their own foot off or worse. Stupid bastards.”, she grumbled to herself as she rubbed her protruding pregnancy belly. “Please calm down guys, mommy is trying to remain calm so that you can be calm. But you kicking me innards isn’t putting me in a better mood.”, she said softly trying to get her unborn twins to relax. “If they are anything like us they aren’t going to stop giving you hell even after you birth them.”, Collin joked peaking into the cell through a glass viewing panel. Sadria knew the voice and knew it well. As her face lit up so did the room. She looked to the viewing panel and there staring back at her was a pair of blue eyes she knew belonged to her twin. “COLLIN!”, she yelled with excitement. “Was that you who made them scream and fire their weapons? Wait they didn’t hurt you did you? If they did I’ll kill them.”, she said it obvious how quick her mood could change. Collin shook his head. “Yes I made them see their nightmares but no they didn’t fire at me or Iver.”, Collin explained. “Iver? Is Evan or Tanner with you?”, she asked walking to the door.

Collin looked away and locked eyes with his little brother Iver. Neither of them knew how to tell her. How do you tell someone that their youngest siblings and husband were dead. “Collin? Iver? Answer me. Where are Evan and Tanner? Where is my husband?”, she demanded. “Sadria…we.. we just don’t know how to tell you.”, Iver said his voice cracking a little as he tried to contain his own tears as he had to now think about his lost twin. “Sadria, dear sister, Evan and Tanner. Well they didn’t make it out of the school that night.”, Collin said his voice cracking a little as well. “What? No, no Tanner can’t be gone. He can’t. I can’t raise these two alone. I can’t do this without him.”, she said starting to sob. She crumbled to the ground holding herself tightly. “Who did it?! Who took Evan and Tanner from us?”, she demanded. “It was Pyro.”, Iver answered. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill every single one of the Acolytes for this.”, Sadria said clenching her teeth in anger. “Cyclops, Target and Demitri have gone to face Pyro. They will get you justice. Let’s just get this door out of the way and make sure you are ok.”, Collin suggested. “Iver you’re up little brother.”, he said stepping back.

Iver placed his hands on the door and started to manipulate its chemical makeup causing the metal to melt from solid to liquid. The brothers rushed in once the door was gone and knelt on the floor hugging Sadira. “Are you hurt? Did they hit you or anything?”, Collin asked. Sadria shook her head. “No, I’ve been kept in this room there was some sort of protective seal on the walls so that my powers couldn’t be used outside of here. But Kim never let them hit me and never gave me a dose of that serum which would surprise powers. Despite being a bitch and someone who I’ll see in a grave, she is a mother and wouldn’t put my unborn children at risk.”, Sadria explained. “What about Meghan? I know she’s hear, I’ve seen her taken to interrogation. Have you saved her yet?”, Sadira asked looking to her brothers. Almost on queue Azriel and Duncan walked in .”Meghan is safe. Nightcrawler has taken her to be healed by Kisa.”, Duncan answers. “Professor Fearbirigh.”, Sadria said looking to him tears in her eyes. Then she looked to Azriel. “I remember you. You’re the guard that told me you were here to help. It is good to see you were not lying.”, Sadira said with a weak smile. Azriel smiled back, “Glad to prove myself honest.”

Collin and Iver helped Sadria to her feet. “I’ll call Nightcrawler. He can take you to Kisa who can check on you and the twins.”, Duncan said reaching for his communicator. “NO!”, Sadira yelled. “The twins and I are just fine. I’m not leaving before you. I have lost a brother and a husband. I shall not lose two more brothers and I want to make sure Kim is put in her place.”, Sadria said sternly. Duncan was about to argue his point but both Collin and Iver shook their heads at him. “Fine, but I ask you to be cautious.”, Duncan said with a sigh. “The only one that needs to be cautious is Kim. I’m a very pissed off pregnant woman. My powers are very active and she may not know this by the twins have powers too and we will be using them.”, she said rubbing her stomach. Everyone looked at her a little confused. “When they attacked the school, the only reason I got taken was someone hit me on the head from behind. But one of the twins apparently controls water because they were blasting soldiers away from me and another or maybe the same one also put up a shield to stop the bullets from hitting me.”, Sadria said retelling what happened the night she was taken. “To have active powers before birth… it’s unheard of.”, Duncan said. Sadria nodded. “Yes but these are no ordinary babies, they are mine and Tanner’s.”, she said with a small smile.

“Alright well if we are all ready, her office is down this way.”, Azriel said leading the way. The group followed him till he stopped before a turn. “She’s at the end of this hall. The rest of the guards are between us and her.”, he advised. “I’ll handle this..”, Sadria said walking past everyone. Azriel grabbed her arm before she could step into the hall. “Are you sure about this?”, Azriel asked. “As sure as I will ever be. These people beat and abused Meghan. I can’t let that go. For all I know one of these men is the one that killed my husband or my little brother back at the school. Don’t worry I won’t kill them.”, she said pulled her arm away. “OYE PRICKS!”, she shouted. The soldiers turned and saw her standing there. “How did you get out of your cell?”, a soldier questioned. “Not your problem. Your problem is that you are standing between me and the bitch that’s held me here and participated, indirectly, in the murder of my husband. So I give you a choice. Stand aside or try to defend her and I’ll make you suffer ten times over.”, she said raising her hands. As her hands raised her mild telekinesis kicked in and the vents and anything on the walls started to rattle.

The soldiers looked to each other nervously as the walls started to rattle. With a gulp they raised their weapons and fired. “Bad choice!”, Sadira yelled and suddenly a shield appeared in front of her the bullets stopping falling to the floor. Sadria started walking down the hall and the soldiers started back up. “So who wants to fight the pregnant woman?”, she questioned. “Please step forward because I’m really in the mood to knock someone’s teeth out.”, she growled. Again the soldiers looked to each other. This time, however, the group shoved their commanding officer forward. “Look you just got volunteered by your troops.”, she said before punching him hard leaving the imprint of her wedding ring in his cheek. “I don’t know if you are the one who did it, but that was for Meghan.”, she yelled. She hit him a second time this time, as promised, a tooth was knocked out of his mouth. “That was for my brother.”, she advised. Then without a second thought she gave one solid punch into his stomach as he doubled over she whispered in his ear, “And this is for my husband.” And with those words water burst from a nearby radiator and pushed the commander back. As he flew back, the hot water burning his face, the soldiers ducked for cover and he went straight through the door to Pretender’s office. “KNOCK KNOCK PRETENDER! “, Sadria yelled stepping through the door way.

Azriel, Duncan, Collin, and Iver quickly followed behind her. “She was not messing around when she said the twins already have powers…”, Duncan commented. Azriel looked to the soldiers who were cowering. “What should we do about them?”, he asked. Duncan looked to them and shrugged. “I guess we should do something.”, he said raising his hands and his vines rose up and wrapped each of them up so they couldn’t move. “Excuse us. We..we’re with her..”, Azriel said pointing forward with a smirk. Pretender had already radioed in that her prison had been breached, but she wasn’t the only one. She looked up from her desk and managed to get out of the way just in time as the door blew open with the commanding officer on it. She looked to the doorway and her eyes went wide as she saw Sadria standing there. “Sadria. Look I’ve been kind to you. I made sure you were brought here where you’d not be touched or drugged. I wouldn’t let any of the other Acolytes take you to their prisons knowing they wouldn’t take into consideration your condition with any amount of sympathy. The other prisons are falling as we speak. Your team has won. So really what point is there is us two fighting? I won’t hit a pregnant woman.”, Kim said simply rising to her feet.

Sadria’s emerald green eyes just seemed to glow with anger the more Pretender spoke. “Shut your mouth Kim. You will not talk your way out of this. You and your group will pay for what you have done. My brother… my husband are gone and it is on your hands as much as anyone of the Acolytes.”, she growled pointing her finger. “Fine you want to fight, let’s dance.”, Pretender said as she multiplied creating six of herself. The others came in behind Sadria. “Can we help now?”, they asked seeing the six Pretenders in the room. “NO. This is my fight. I’ve faced her before and I will not lose this time.”, Sadria said holding up her hand to tell them to stay back. “I need to find the right Pretender..”, she said looking at the six Pretenders as the closed in on her. She started to search their minds, closing her eyes and pulling some strength from her unborn children. Her eyes shot open as she found the one. She dashed to the left and tackled the farthest pretender to the ground and just started punching her. “You helped take away everything from me! I lost my husband that night!”, she screamed as she just kept punching Pretender’s face.

Suddenly there was a voice that seemed to fill the room, it was coming from Kim’s radio on the floor. “Everyone, shut up and listen to me. It may look like we aren’t going to win this battle. But I’m going to change our odds, we are all going to walk out of this without a scratch. Now I can’t guarantee that what I’m going to do will really work. So before I change things I want to say, despite our faults and internal problems I want to say I wouldn’t ask for a better group of Acolytes. So here goes nothing guys, it was a pleasure fighting alongside you.”, the voice shouted. Then Pretender heard a voice spoken directly to her mind “Kim, if whatever she’s doing doesn’t work please just know I love you and couldn’t wait to marry you. The other five copies disappeared and Kim looked about to weep. “And I might lose everything tonight, my future husband and my children..”, Kim said her voice soft.

“What did that voice say about ‘changing the odds’?”, Azriel questioned. “That was Scarlet Witch and whatever she’s going to do it’s not going to be good.”, Duncan answered. “Scarlet Witch, but that’s where Colby is.”, Azriel said now worried. Collin ran forward and pulled his sister off Pretender. “We need to get out of here. I don’t know what’s going to happen but we don’t want to stay here and find out.”, he said. But it was too late. A flash of blue light covered them followed by purple. As the colors faded there was nothing.