40 Rampage

The three raced down hall after hall, encountering a few squads of men here and there. Stryker must have guessed that they would get loose possibly so he stationed these men to either try to stop them or delay them. Devin and his two companions had just finished off another group of five quickly and now had his thoughts turning towards what he would find when he got back the two kids. Would they be safe? Would they be alive? As his thoughts began to run in circles his rage was beginning to build. His eyes slowly began to grow a deeper and deeper red while his pupil changed from a normal, black circle to a white, slited one.

"Mr. Price are you alright?" Beast asked as he caught sight of Devin's change. Instead of answering Devin sped up and began to leave the two behind. Devin turned a corner causing Wolverine and Beast to lose sight of him. Just as they reached the corner themselves they heard gun shots and shouts as well as flashes from the muzzle flares. Speeding up themselves, they turned the corner only to find a dozen soldiers mostly on the ground though one was hanging upside down from one leg that had lodged between two pipes that run the length of the ceiling and another stuck through the cinder block wall with his chest facing the ceiling, his head and shoulders lodged in the wall. Devin was standing in the center of the bodies breathing heavily.

"Mr. Price are you alright?" Beast asked again as he and Wolverine walked towards Devin. They could see that he had cuts and tears from where the bullets had grazed him. Upon reaching Devin they noticed that small red scales with white edges had appeared around his eyes and the red that had been his irises was slowly spreading out into his sclera. Seeing this the two X-men shared a look at Devin's appearance. Wolverine reached out to touch Devin's shoulder to see if he would respond, only for Devin to take off at a sprint again, this time even faster than before. After another second the two followed as even though Devin was unresponsive he was still moving in the right direction to get to their objective.

It was then that they saw Devin standing in front of a pair of doors similar to the ones that had lead to the control room. He stood staring at them but tilting his head from one side to the other.

"Hank, are we still on track?" Wolverine asked as he walked up next to Devin to see him still tilting his head like a dog back and forth.

"If memory serves me right then yes. The room beyond these doors is an ante chamber to the room we are seeking." Beast said as he looked from Devin to Wolverine. It was then that a low growl came from Devin's throat and he kicked the doors open. As the three entered they noticed that there were two other people in the room.

The first was a woman of Asian descent with long black hair pulled back into a pony tail. Her slim body was packed into a black, skintight bodysuit and low-heeled boots. Her eyes were the most noticeable thing though as they were a metallic silver color. The second woman shocked both Wolverine and Beast as she was someone they were quite familiar with.

"Emma, what are you doing here? We thought you were kidnapped with the Professor?" Beast asked as Wolverine began to frown.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice Hank." Emma replied as Wolverine shook his head.

"What does Stryker have on you?" Wolverine asked as he slid his claws out.

"He has someone that I hold very dear and if I don't cooperate then I could lose her forever." Emma replied as she turned into her organic diamond form.

"Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you." Beast said with a pleading tone.

"He was watching me the entire time. If he had even the slightest suspicion then he would have made me regret it by hurting her." Emma replied. Just as Beast was going to give a reply of his own Devin launched across the room, slamming the Asian woman into the wall behind her. The concrete cracking from the impact, shocking not only Devin's companions, but Emma as well. Devin bared his teeth at the woman as he was now sporting elongated canine teeth in a threatening display. Unbeknownst to the others the woman began to grow out long metallic fingernails each about eight inches long.

Devin pushed off just as the woman swung her claws in an attempt to disembowel him. Devin landed a dozen feet away on his hands and feet in a crouched position next to Wolverine. It was then that the other three snapped out of their shock.

"You sure we can't just help you after we rescue the Professor, Frost?" Wolverine asked as he popped his neck left then right.

"Sorry, but I can't take the chance." Emma said as she got into position. A second later with a growl from Devin the five people clashed together.

***

"We've got to be close." Rogue said as they stepped out of a hidden stairwell.

"What makes you say that?" Storm said as she looked one way then the other as Callisto exited the door.

"I don't know. Maybe just a feeling, but I think we're close to the others." Rogue said as she turned left and started walking again.

"I think you're lost and don't want to admit it." Callisto said as she let out a sigh of frustration.

"Just keep walking already." Rogue said while rolling her eyes in annoyance.

As they walked they came to a set of double doors that looked like they were important. Then they heard the sounds of fighting coming from the other side as well as the walls and floor shaking that clued them in on something significant happening. As they prepared to breach the doors, Rogue held three fingers up and counted down before Rogue and Storm open the doors and then managed to duck in time for Wolverine to fly through the door and smash into Callisto like a ballistic missile. Looking back in the two saw the carnage as well as Beast and Emma still fighting.

"Emma stop!" Rogue yelled only for Beast to throw her into a table that tipped over on its side.

"Beast you need to stop." Storm said as she entered with Rogue.

"Ororo, you're finally here! We need to get to the Professor before they can complete their plans. They are gonna use him to wipe out the entire mutant race!" Beast said before Emma launched herself at him in a tackle.

"Emma! You need to stop! We've already rescued your sister!" Storm said as Rogue pulled Emma off of Beast. Emma for her part wasn't resisting as the news of her sister being rescued settled in her mind.

"Your telling me the truth? She's really safe?" Emma said as Rogue let her go slowly.

"Yes, Kitty and Nightcrawler are escorting her and the others we found out of here right now."

Emma sagged to her knees in relief that her loved one was now safe. It was at that moment that another figure came flying from the other side of the room in a blur of speed and smashed in to the wall before falling to the ground in a heap. The figure turned out to be the Asian woman and though her outfit had seen better days, she herself looked fine. The others looked from her to where she had flew from and finally saw what had launched her.

Devin was standing with one foot raised on a barrel that had rolled into the middle of the room. His clothes were in tatters while cuts and scratches littered his frame. A particularly bad cut was situated above one eye and coating that side of his face in a thin layer of blood. His eyes were now glowing fully red with white slitted pupils staring as if looking at their very souls. The red scales with white edges he had grown were surrounding his eyes and temples.

As they observed him, Devin pressed down on the barrel causing it to slowly crumple like it was a soda can. Opening his mouth released a breath tainted with grey smoke. In his hands was the Iron Knuckle gloves that he had somehow managed to equip in this new state.

"What happened to Devin?" Rogue asked as this new look felt wrong to her somehow.

"He's been like that and it's only getting worse. It's like the time Wolverine went berserk." Beast said to the others as Devin started moving towards the woman he had been fighting. She didn't wait for him to reach her and charged toward him herself. A swipe aimed for Devin's head was ducked and a punch was returned into her stomach, causing her to lift off the ground before a roundhouse kick launched her back the way she came and into the wall again.

As the woman tried to stand up Devin appeared and began to rain a flurry of punches that slowly pummeled the woman back into the wall before another kick launched her sideways. Upon landing she stood up only to clutch her head with one hand and shake it like she was disoriented.

"Where am-" the woman began before a heavy right slammed into her nose again, causing her head to rock back.

"We need to stop him!" Rogue said as she charged towards Devin as the others nodded and followed suit. This time Devin turned his fists on the others. Perceiving them as either a threat or an impediment, Devin didn't care. An elbow to the gut doubled Beast over before another slammed him face down into the ground. Emma tried to grab Devin's arm only for him to grab her arm in return and throw her over his shoulder.

Rogue finally got a hold on him from behind only for him to slam her into the wall to get her to release her grip. This proved false as Rogue only tightened her grip on him allowing the others to pile on. It was as they were trying to subdue him that Devin burst from the pile with white energy jets shooting from his shoulders allowing him to stay aloft in the air. It was as his hand began to glow that a hand latched onto his ankle causing his wings to dissipate and him to slam into the ground face first. The hand belong to Rogue, but seconds after Devin hit the ground did Rogue herself start screaming and writhing on the ground for a minute before she slowed into pained whimpers. The others gathered around her to see if they could help her when the sound of movement caused them to tense and turn to look behind them.

Devin was standing up with his face pointing to the ceiling with his eyes closed. Slowly his eyes opened and they were still red though only the iris was burning crimson and the pupil was the same white slit. This time when he looked at them they felt that it was different than before. It was when a look of confusion crossed his face that they realized that something had definitely changed.

"Um, guys? Where are we and what just happened?" Devin asked then spotting the woman he had been fighting he turned to the others.

"Who's that?"