Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 409 ALL PURPOSE CLEANER

I was with Scott’s team. For some reason he thought I needed looking after. Alex and Lorna next to me, Hisako and Betsy were with Logan on the other side of the building. When Scott’s watch hit 9 we ran toward the building. Moving quickly Scott touched the side of the visor on his head and a red beam blasted the lock off the door in front of us. 

I always pictured Scott as some useless mutant for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that I wanted his girlfriend, or the movies portrayed him as a wimp, but next to him I really didn’t want to get blasted by his optic cannon thing. 

Scott was the first one through the door. He didn’t stop at the reception desk as we ran past. We were able to get floorplans for the building with the help from the professor, and there were a lot more levels than I had assumed. At least 4 levels below us Scott guessed that there were even more since they weren’t the final prints before the place was built. 

Originally designed as a bomb shelter for government employees it had been sold to Oscorp for cheap after the Cold War. Xavier was also able to find documents from Doctor Connors stating that the lab was obsolete and had to be renovated. The supposed renovations lasted so long that someone from corporate visited and simply decided to ship the important stuff to a new location. Doctor Connors went on his sabbatical soon after that. 

It was all pointing to the final piece of the puzzle. Granted I had thought it would end on the roof of Oscorp as I fought the Green Goblin, but this was fine as well. The night was still young at least. 

Moving to the stairs Logan and his team arrived as we did. Logan didn’t hesitate though. 3 long metal claws shooting out of his fist he sliced through the locked stairwell door. First in, I followed behind him and the sound of our footfalls echoed inside. 

The group behind me a bundle of nerves, even Scott was nervous, though it was for everyone else. Logan was a ray of sunshine as his rage only grew. I wondered if he had some sort of Berserker skill as well but ignored it as someone walked into the stairwell below us. 

Without waiting for the others to notice I jumped over the handrail. Hitting the stairs I jumped again and landed on the guy. Kicking him into the door he was a weak looking lab tech. Wearing a white lab coat his glasses fell out as he was knocked out. 

“You saved us,” Logan said with a scoff. 

“Anytime,” I said.

“Stop playing,” Scott said. “Logan, your team on the floor below. My team this one.”

I wanted to go to the floor below but dropped it. Mid-operation was not the time to act insubordinate. I followed Scott’s lead, Lorna and Alex behind us. 

We appeared to be in a testing area. Large rooms on either side they had an array of props. I guessed this had been used for weapons testing or something before. Extending my Haki outward I found another person in a corner office.

We passed through the halls in a line, ignoring the big rooms until Scott noticed the light of the back office. 

“You 2 that way,” he said pointing to Lorna and I. “Alex with me. Check to make sure there are no other rooms occupied.”

We nodded and split off. I had already checked with my Haki but acted like I had to search as I moved next to Lorna. “How are you doing?” I asked. 

“Fine,” she said, not believing it herself. 

“You know it’s okay to be scared, right?” 

“Ha, you’re not,” she said, her face flush, we slowed a little. Her long hair tied back I could tell she wanted to talk. I had been keeping my distance from her because of Alex, but I wasn’t going to pass up talking to a beautiful woman. 

“I am scared,” I assured. “But not about this. I’m scared about what is the cause of this. What is happening here that is somehow tied to you getting kidnapped?”

“You really think it’s related?” She asked. 

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“I’m pretty sure. You know you’re doing great with the whole ordeal, right?” I asked. 

“Ha,” she said, wiping a tear. “I don’t feel great.”

“If I was in your shoes it would have taken a hell of a lot more than an order from Scott to get me moving. Once bitten, twice shy. But I want you to know that if something bad were to happen I will do whatever it takes to make sure you’re okay.”

“Why are you being so nice?” She asked. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I like you,” I said. Her heart fluttered. “You’re part of the team,” her heart sank. “and you’re like a 10 out of 10. Green is my favorite color for a reason. It’s hard to keep my eyes off of you.” I gave her my best smile and she blushed. Thoroughly distracted we rounded the corner as Scott and Alex rushed into the office. 

“Hands up!” They yelled but it was just another lab tech. He about pissed himself even though we didn’t have guns. 

“What’s going on? Who are you?!”

“We are with the government,” Scott said. He pushed the skinny man face first against the back wall. It appeared he had been jerking it to some porn as his pants dropped. 

“Government? Why?”

“What are you working on here?” Scott asked. 

“For Oscorp. A government contract for Oscorp.”

“What exactly are you doing?” 

“I don’t know what’s going on downstairs. I just test blood samples.”

“For what?”

“Degradation. Strength. Simple routine checks,” he said. “They’re doing something with radiating specimens downstairs. I just work a computer.” 

“He’s telling the truth,” I said as a loud blaring horn sounded on the floor. “Guess Logan is having fun.” Instead of waiting for orders I ran out of the room.  The others followed but I wasn’t waiting. Jumping up I flew quickly to the stairwell. 

Hitting the door to the stairs I flew down quickly, almost too quickly as I narrowly missed hitting my head more than once. Down flights of stairs at breakneck speeds this final floor was the tallest yet. 

Pushing through the door at the bottom of the stairs I found 2 guards knocked out just inside. This area was a lot different than the one before. Wide open, there were doors to other sections, but straight ahead drew my eye. Large cylindrical vats of blue ooze sat eerily before me. The exact color and consistency of the ooze I was subjected to. 

My heart rate increasing I dropped down to the floor and began running. Extending out my Observation Haki to map out the area I found dozens of people to the right. Sounds of fighting further ahead past the vats I cursed and kicked in a door. Inside were discarded clothes. Shoes, shirts, and pants in one huge mountain I was fearing more and more what I would find. 

Kicking in another 2 doors I dropped down as a gun was fired at me. People were screaming inside the room. I used my Timeflow and rushed in. A single guard spraying the assault rifle at me I sped up, running up the wall like Jackie Chan I leapt and shot the guy with a Spark. He was thrown back, his muscles contracting from the high power as he fell back. 

Time began to become normal as I landed in front of him. Punching down I hit him hard in the gut cause him to cry out and pass out. Taking the gun I emptied it and turned to the prisoners. Dozens of nude people in cages, they looked at me with fear and hope. Some gathering at the back, others were about half way toward me, praying I would free them. 

My Observation Haki telling me everything around me I reached into the pocket of the guard. Pulling out the key I walked over to the first cage. “I am Walker,” I said dropping my mouth mask. The other X-Men hadn’t hid their faces, but I was used to it. “I assume all of you are mutants?” I felt affirmatives from their Haki. “Perfect. I am with a mutant support group. There are 3 people on their way here. They will help guide you outside.”

People began to cry happy tears. I opened the first cage and was rushed by the prisoners. Charging my voice with Nen I ordered, “Calm it down.” The crack of my voice caused the men in front to hesitate. “Women and children first. This will be nice and orderly, understood?” The men hesitated but parted as the women and younger children walked through. Opening the next cage then the last I eyed everyone and escorted them out. 

They tried to talk to me but I was focusing on too much with my Haki. After a look they shut up. I let them grab some clothes at the large pile, but it was obvious there were more clothes than people. 

When we got closer to the exit I yelled out, “Cyclops! It’s Walker!” The trio heading my way hesitated, alarms still blaring. I was itching to catch up with the other 3 but hostages always took precedence. 

“I have people here, Cyclops,” I said and felt the stoic leader speed up. 

“What the hell?” He asked seeing the semi-dressed people behind me. His eyes wide he too hadn’t believed how big this whole thing was.  

“You got them?” I asked. His Haki said that he was going to make me handle it so I turned and ran where I assumed the fighting was going on. “Thanks!”

“Walker!” He yelled but I was down the hall and back in the vat room. Each one was taller than me, wider too. Never a good thing I couldn’t help but picture people floating in the blue liquid. My Haki all the way out I couldn’t believe how big the area was. Some impossible underground lair I finally felt the battle going on ahead of me. 

4 fights going on at once, Wolverine was fighting a huge monster and Connors in his lizard form. Hisako and Psylocke were being pushed back by another 2 monsters. They felt like they were the size of men, really big men, but they had weird appendages I couldn’t place so far away.

Cursing, I yelled, “Summon Tabi!” The blue/black beast appeared next to me and began running in stride with me. “Gonna need your help, my trusty Pokepal.”

“Don’t call me that,” she said but jumped onto my shoulder. Sitting straight up as regal as ever I saw the fight going on ahead. Red light the only illumination around us there were large tanks on either side. At the far end Wolverine was fighting a man with a horn on his head. 

“Fucking Rhino?” I asked. One of the Spiderman villains, Rhino was a half-man half-rhino in some versions of the comic. This one was just that, but so much bigger than I thought. 12 feet tall he was standing on 2 legs. No clothes on his limbs were a weird mix between the wide rhino legs and thinner humans. His body was pure gray muscle. His face gray, there was a horn on his forehead. Wolverine hacked and slashed at him, but wasn’t getting very deep into his thick hide. 

I couldn’t see Lizard but he was further in, probably waiting to attack. Hisako and Psylocke were fighting another 2 familiar villains. One was Scorpion. Not the badass Mortal Kombat villain, but an actual mix between man and scorpion. Black carapace segments up and down his body he had a thick tail sticking out of his lower back that attacked as quickly as a snake. Betsy/Psylocke was blocking the tail narrowly with the purple psionic blades sticking out of her fists. 

The last villain was Vulture. He looked more like Angel than I remembered. Wide wings sticking out of his back he had a long beak of a nose and long talons for hands.

“Fucking hybrid bullshit,” I said. Dr. Connors had made a bunch of human/animal mixes. But instead of retaining the human characteristics like Peter Parker, they were a weird HP Lovecraftian lovechild of human and animal. 

“Tabi, help the girls,” I said. She jumped off my shoulder and began to grow as she ran toward them. Spitting fire it wasn’t long until Vulture’s feathers were alight and he was rolling on the ground squawking. 

I ran past the 4 fighting and moved to help Wolverine. Rhino stomping on the little man from above I jumped forward and did my current ultimate punch. My fist turning black with Armament Haki, condensed Nen running along the outside of my skin, electricity of my Spark snaking this way and that up and down my arm, and Timeflow activated. I began to punch Rhino over and over in the face. 

My left arm using just Nen I hit him 8 times with each fist before he tumbled over. Hitting the ground hard Wolverine extended his claws and jumping up slammed them into the man’s legs. He roared in pain and the gray body began to shrink. Gray turning to tan he was like an Animorph turning from animal to man. The process was ugly and I assumed painful since he screamed and jerked, but that may have been Wolverine’s claws in him. 

When a large 7 foot tall man was left crying and moaning on the floor I looked up to Wolverine. “Lizard guy?”

“This way,” he said, pointing further in. He turned to Psylocke and Armor/Hisako. They had pushed Scorpion to the edge and Armor began sealing him in a redish psionic cage like her own Gundam type armor. “You good?” 

Hisako gave us a thumbs up and we were on our way. The end of the lair turned into a tunnel. Speeding up our footfalls were the only noise as we moved further away. “What happened?” I asked as a ladder appeared ahead. 

“Don’t know. Ran straight this way after some guards. Were looking around then greeny showed up. Opened those tanks to reveal those freaks,” he said. We made it to the metal ladder and looked up. There was another tunnel that led straight up. I guessed it would bring us out to the sewer. Lizard was always using sewers in the comics. 

Wolverine grabbed the first wrung and began to roar. Electricity shooting into him his body shook violently. Ripping him away I didn’t feel as much pain but he was breathing in and out heavily, weak from the short shock. 

“Booby trapped,” I said looking for the wires. 

“You think?!” Wolverine growled sarcastically. I found the wires touching the metal ladder and jumped up, ripping them off. Not waiting for him I began to run up the ladder. I wanted my answers, and this wasn’t stopping me. 

After about 50 rungs I came out in a wide room. I guessed we were still a ways underground but looked around. Another door on the side I moved to it, Observation Haki on full volume as I kept my eye out for more traps. I didn’t find anything as Wolverine groaned and got to the top of the ladder. Flinging the door open the sewer was revealed. 

Grumbling, I extended my Haki out. Ignoring details I was looking for the big stuff, and was rewarded. “Come on,” I said. Wolverine limped but was quickly following me. Large tunnels taller than me, we were at a low point of the sewer system as we started to run up. Turning this way and that I locked onto my target and as he stopped for a rest we caught up to him. 

Before he noticed us I used my Timeflow and sped up. Coming up to his back the Lizard slowly turned as I no longer worried about silence. Halfway there I shot a Spark at him. The big green raptor ducked down but I had aimed for his chest so the Spark hit him square in the face. Time began to speed up again as I came within 10 feet of him. 

The Spark wasn’t very damaging to him, more of a surprise. Falling back he dug his long claws into the poured concrete of the sewer branch and pulled himself up. Ripping off a big chunk of the concrete he threw it at me. 

Sliding in the sewer water it passed over me as Reptar swung his tree trunk of a tail at me. I grabbed it, fusing my hands to it. The tail kept swinging and I began to swing with it. When it hit the wall I fused the tail to the wall and pulled my hands out. Kicking down I hit the monster’s leg with all I had. 

The leg buckled and snapped as Wolverine roared and stabbed into the beast’s arm. Pinning it to the wall I used Timeflow and began hitting the Lizard in the side with my ultimate punch. Just Haki and Nen it took 4 blows but his ribs cracked. 

Arm pinned, tail fused to the wall, leg broken he lost all strength in his body as he spoke. “Stop,” it said in a distorted version of Dr. Connor’s voice. “Enough.” 

“Turn normal,” Wolverine growled.

“My uh, tail,” he said. I looked at it but still hadn’t figured out how to unfuse things except myself. 

“Gonna have to cut it off,” I said. Before anyone could answer I used a Nen blast and sliced through the end. Lizard roared but as he was released he began to shrink. Green tail pulling into his body, the green scales changed to pink skin, and the man was left. He cried out in pain as his arm shrunk and Wolverine’s claws made bigger holes in his smaller arm. The X-Man was nice enough to retract them but grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck. 

“You’re going to start talking, right now,” Wolverine said as he turned around. Heading back to the lair Dr. Connors began to spill his beans and it was about what I expected, but still a surprise.