Chapter 44- Quick Rescue

  Savage Lands – Fall People’s Fort Raptor- 24- 10- 2008 (Early Afternoon)

  Kevin Plunderer- (Ka-zar)

  "I warned your father! I told him not to send people here, yet here you are!" Magneto shouted at the blue-skinned woman. Her only remaining standing guard moved to shield the girl, yet suddenly stopped and floated into the air. "Drop the weapon, or I will crush you in your own armor."

  The soldier only struggled as he filed about helplessly.

  The mutant leader received support from an odd source, as the blue woman ordered him. "Do it!" Even with that, the soldier didn't obey, till she added. "Your king ordered that should we encounter the Brotherhood, we are to obey them as if it was his words spoken."

  Hearing that, the man released his grip on his sword, once it hit the ground he was lowered enough so he could stand on under his own strength. Ka-zar watched the other mutants walk the battlefield, either to check on each other, or as Deadpool was doing, shot another still-moving Golden person, to ensure their enemies were truly defeated.

  “Uncle Erik…” The woman began to speak but the Brotherhood leader wasn’t having it.

  “That includes you as well, princess. Disarm!” Magneto snapped. She threw down the bde she was holding. Then he gred at the soldier again before admitting. “Don’t think that I can’t feel your hidden weapons. The Magi have decided to aid you and heal your wounded, but they have also decred that no Atntean weapons are permitted within their halls.”

  The soldier then started to remove items that looked like ordinary decorations but were actually small knives. Even the princess took off her bracelet, and oddly a seashell from her outfit’s bottom.

  As the two of them discarded their weapons, Nightcrawler teleported to be standing beside their leader, and then reported. “Including the handmaiden, there are four others inside the Grey-wing, they all require immediate medical attention, sir.” The blue fur boy ended it with a small salute to Magneto.

  Their leader must have been really pissed, because instead of a chuckle or anything, the young teleporter shied away from his gre.

  A cough and Deadpool muttering, "They make them in red too?" pulled the adventurer's attention from the drama. Ka-zar’s eyes went wide, as the gun-wielding man aimed his pistol at someone he recognized.

  “Deadpool wait!” He shouted before running over.

  Ka-zar had to admit that the man was disciplined, for he didn’t pull the trigger and actually waited. It took him a few seconds to reach the red suited man, and when he did, the man lifted up his mask to reveal his smooth face, before he asked. “Why you know him?”

  The adventurer nodded, before saying. “That’s Prince Tor’fynn, the youngest son of this nd's king and a friend."

  Deadpool cracked a smile, before joking and saying. “A prince huh, I guess that’s another one off of your bucket list then Quicksilver.”

  "It would need to be on my list first." The white-haired young man admitted as he made his way past them to his father. When he made it there, he told their leader. "Citadel was right, a whole army is coming, hundreds of them, must have roasted them when the Grey-wing flew by."

  “Golden people or Fall?" Magneto asked the boy. The speedster pointed at one of the yellow-skinned lords as his answer. "Great, well princess now we have a time limit, go on through the portal." The master of magnetism told the two water breathers. When the soldier moved to go through first he added. "Not you, not yet, I need your help directing me on patching up your comrades' armor, so they don't leak out all of their water and suffocate."

  When the soldier looked towards the princess he grumbled, but even she staring at him didn’t get the man to agree, so the mutant leader looked at Ka-zar, not that he saw as he was looking over the fallen prince. Who he found was quickly fading.

  Magneto ordered him. “Ka-zar, you go with the princess.” Then he told the soldier. “He will make sure she remains safe. And is the most neutral in our disagreement”

  Ka-zar stood and turned face the older man, as a short man in yellow jumped into the conversation. “Oh, I think I am more neutral than any member of your team is Mags.”

  “Yes, but the oracle gave Nath’aniel a target for your mission, and Storm wants you all to be off as soon as possible… Unless of course, you are staying alongside Alucard.” Magneto told the hairy mutant.

  “Why is Alucard staying?” As Wolverine asked this, he was joined by the two other mutants that came with him.

  The tall and imposing man going by the name Colossus and the short and skinny teenage girl named Armor. Ironically it looked to the wild man that Armor, was the more brutal and skilled fighter between the two of them.

  “Tomorrow is Entreatment day, a day that people can make requests from the Magi. He is staying behind to ask for aid in removing a magic curse that was pced upon him." The Brotherhood's leader told Wolverine.

  The short man hit himself in the head, muttering. "A magic curse, I should have thought of that when Beast couldn't find anything wrong with him." Then his two juniors moved passed them to enter the portal, but Quicksilver ran in front of them to stop them.

  “Powers off big guy.” The speedster warned them.

  “Pardon?” Colossus asked him confused. Ka-zar then noticed that sure enough the rge man still had his skin turned to metal. Not that it had helped when the two of them fought earlier.

  "You cannot be using your powers when you pass through the magic portal," Magneto told him.

  "Even I have to turn off my speed when I go through," Quicksilver added.

  “Why?” Armor asked next.

  Magneto answered her saying. “Nath’aniel expined that the portal needs to be touching the real you, in order to carry you from pce to pce. I don’t quite understand it myself, but I am smart enough to trust the experts when it comes to thing I don’t understand.”

  The girl had already turned off her powers when the battle ended earlier, but Colossus was still in his steel form. He shrugged, before turning off his own, and quickly shrunk and his skin and meat turned back from metal into normal flesh.

  Then the two mutant teens stepped through the portal without incident.

  “Sir?” Ka-zar asked to get his leader’s attention.

  “Yes?” Magneto replied.

  The wild man started to expin before making his request. “This is Prince Tor’fynn, his father owns these nds, and I know him, he is a good man…”

  "Well, then you better get him to Nath'aniel if you want to save him." Magneto interrupted him. As he reached down to pick up the still bleeding and breathing prince, he heard his leader add. "Well let's go soldier, you men need you."

  Then Ka-zar carried the wounded man like a princess, and headed to the portal. When he got there he could see the princess staring death towards the still unconscious King Tallis.

  "Don't do it, girl," Wolverine told her, he seemed to be waiting on her too. "Killing in battle is one thing, but murdering a man will stain you."

  “It is hard Uncle Logan.” The woman admitted.

  "I know. But you can be better than people like him." The short man muttered before gesturing towards the still-open portal.

  The wild man followed the short man through st before the portal closed. The sight of the closed portal made the princess start to panic. Yet before she could voice her worries someone else spoke.

  “One moment.” A voice off to their left said. Standing there was Curha, disguised as Cagen still. She was repcing an empty power cell with another charged one. “Keeping the portal open for long durations takes a lot of power, more than the Citadel can currently produce, so we need to swap in cells to get everyone in when everyone is just standing around talking.”

  Ka-zar wasn't too worried because he trusted everyone who lived here, as none had ever tried to deceive him, so he pressed on with the fading prince in his arms. Meanwhile, the other two stood staring at the fake mage.

  With a fresh cell inserted. A moment ter the portal opened again, and Rogue, Exodus, and Quicksilver carried in two of the soldiers and the injured maid as they came through.

  Citadel – 2nd floor, Re-Locator room- Oct 25, 2008 (2:21 PM)

  Steven Rogers (Captain America)

  The worker robot, stayed in the transporter. He had been warned that his temporary guest status may grant him access to the third floor that the Brotherhood lived on, and many of the better amenities were located, but while there he needed an escort. The super soldier honestly found the sculpted robot to be friendlier than the men assigned to his security detail.

  “Ma’am.” He muttered and nodded at the robot, before the doors closed on him.

  Steve then went back to running the towel through his hair, trying to dry it fast. He did step to the side in case someone exited the transporter, while he did this. As he finished he asked the ceiling. “Citadel, can you lead me to Janet’s current location?”

  Instead of answering him, a green crystal hourgss appeared and drifted off a ways, but stopped when he didn’t follow.

  Steve hung the now-damp towel around his neck, before following it. He had originally warped up here because this was where he slept after the party, but that the hourgss didn't float towards the transporter, told him that she was on this level too. So scratched his head, but did decide to start walking behind the floating item.

  The two of them walked through a pair of halls before it stopped beside a set of doors. As the super soldier got closer to them, the doors opened on their own. Inside he saw several molds that reminded Steve of the mannequins from various stores.

  Like the super soldier, Janet wore a white robe given to them by the Citadel. She had an art easel with a sketch on it on her left, and a half-dressed mold on her right. The woman herself held two patches of cloth. She took one and held it to the mannequin, before switching to the other one in thought.

  "You get something to eat?" Steve asked her. Janet jumped and dropped both patches, as she shrieked in surprise.

  “Sweet… mother… Captain, ah, do not startle me like that." The mother scowled at him.

  He starched the back of his head before apologizing. “Sorry, ma’am.”

  She breathed a couple of times before answering his first question. "Yes, they served me a lovely meal. Is the fighting over? I gathered that they were attacked by the diminished guards at one point."

  Steve had to find his words, before answering her. “Yes and no, the guards were needed because another mutant group came to them. But they were only looking for some information. But yes, there was a fight that broke out. A diplomatic team in the region was ambushed, and they went and ended that battle… They rescued a princess and a prince apparently.”

  Janet chuckled and muttered. “Of course, they did.”

  “They live in a region of the world, known to everyone as the ‘Savage Lands’, after all.” The super soldier reminded her. Then as she bent down to pick up the two items she dropped, he asked. “What are you doing?”

  “Working off my fine.” She admitted, before going back to comparing the blue and red clothes. He didn’t even need to ask her to expin before she added. “I am to make two outfit designs for my crime of trespassing. They were kind enough to give me two months for this task… as well as an accessory for the cost of room and food while I am here.’

  “How do they not just accept cash?”

  It was Steve’s turn to chuckle, before he told her. “Apparently mages don’t like coin or money, they understand it, but see it as unnecessary.”

  He walked over and took a seat, as Janet went back to work. Yet he could tell that she was distracted. So it didn’t take too long till she asked him. “What did they tell you?”

  The super soldier answered her honestly. "That you snuck in by hiding inside a teenager's coat pocket. And you somehow bypassed some very advanced defenses, till you fell asleep… Actually, I deduced that second part."

  She dropped her arms, and after a moment admitted. “I have powers. I can make myself smaller.”

  Steve waited till she turned around and looked him in the eye, before he asked. "Is that why you were assigned to me, a sort of backup guard?"

  Janet shook her head, before answering. “No. Fury wants to make a team. Simir to the Brotherhood… but their goal will be to protect the world, rather than enforce some ideology. He wants me on that team. I think he wants you on it too.’

  “I was against it at first, but then he showed me some pictures of an alien ship being in orbit of our pnet, and more photos of it shooting and destroying a meteor. I realized that there are dangers out there. Bigger than any war from before, or the other powered people… and I have a daughter…”

  “And you agreed.” He guessed. She nodded that she had.

  After another silence, she expined. "I being named your liaison was a cover to keep me on the payroll, since I didn't want to become a field agent. It was only meant to st, while the director got the authorization for the formation of the team. But the WSC is being stubborn from the sounds of it."

  Steve nodded at her answer. Then after another moment he got up, and told her. "Supper will be in a couple of hours, we will probably go back home sometime tomorrow. If you need to make a call, let us know sooner rather than ter, because it's not so easy down here. Actually, the situation kind of reminds me of the war."

  “Are you worried about how I got my powers, or about SHIELD learning about you being down here?” She asked him before he could leave the room.

  The super soldier shrugged, before answering. "Enhanced, magic-powered, or being a mutant, I don't care. You are you, and to me, that's all that matters. A good kind woman, who has helped me find my pce in this new day.'

  "As for SHIELD, Magneto had one of his shape-shifters take my pce and she even reported in. Not only are they unaware of the switch. They told her that testing would be deyed because of the Hydra attack. So even if we rushed back, I would just be under house arrest if I went back. I guess they are a little upset about me ditching the detail, again."

  They both shared a ugh about him admitting the international agency was upset with his behavior.

  Before he could take another step forward she added. “No other questions then, neither personal nor professional?”

  He stopped and turned around before answering her. “Nope. Your business is your business, just like I would like you people let to me handle my business as my business." Then he pressed on to leave. He honestly felt half-naked, despite wearing a full-body robe.

  Before he left the doors closed. He heard her ask another question. "Another thing, did you schedule that meeting with Anthony Stark?"

  He stopped in the middle of the doorway, but this time he didn't turn around to face her when he answered. "Nope, I just went to put some fresh flowers on a friend's grave. That you would think a man's son, and a man's friend would plot something and use a dead man's pce of rest…Well, I may not like to be on a team with such a paranoid person." Then Steve left her alone and wanted something strong to drink.