3 Chapter 3- Portals of Doom and Controlled Destruction

Crashing into a dingy room in the MU headquarters, an abandoned bank, left empty after a mutant terror attack some years ago, and hidden by the abilities of one of the mutants, whose illusions concealed the activity. Lauren and Cait swarm me, checking over Reed. "Is he okay, we saw him get shot?"

"Probably an immobilisation round. Limits bodily movement and hurts like a bitch, but not lethal in any way, but you should quickly check just in case. Is the teleporter okay, because she looks like hell?" I ask John, who instantly picked her up and carried her to a couch where she began to suffocate. Not quickly mind you, but she was definitely breathing shallow.

"She portalled for miles. The energy that must take."

Listening to Clarisse's gasps for air, Cait looks over her, "She needs help, a hospital."

Eclipse pointed out the issue with that plan, "If she goes to a hospital, she'll be arrested."

"You aren't understanding the situation, she could die here."

Beginning to spasm, Clarisse unconsciously ripped open a portal, revealing a stretch of highway, with a car speeding towards the rift.

"Move!" John throws himself towards us, pulling me and Lauren away and into a corner of the room, just as the back half of the swerving vehicle smashes into his back, having been cut in half by the closing portal.

"Lauren, if it happens again, I need you to close the portal, constrict the air around it and push it shut. Can you do that for me?"

"Andy I'm not sure that would even work."

"Try." Turning to the adults in the room I make a suggestion, "If we can't take her to a hospital, can he somehow get the medicine back here?"

Cait looked at me, "Andy you can't just buy that kind of medicine from a gas station."

"I wasn't suggesting you BUY anything. Visit a clinic, sneak in, grab some meds and get out."

"A-Andrew Strucker, we do not steal!"

"Well then you're going to watch as she suffocates, and her powers wreak havoc as her body fights to survive, causing spatial tears with every seizure." Quick reasoning and the moral argument gave me the stronger position, and she knew it, writing a list of the medicine she would need. *sigh* "They're going to fuck it up, just go with one of them." I turn to Eclipse, "Can you go with her, I'd go but I'm fairly popular recently?"

The room was silent, looking at me like I was a three-headed alpaca. John pushed them into action, "He's right, go. Take her and come back quick, we don't know how long she has."

Passing the first-aid kit I'd taken to one of the MU members, I ask, "Does that seem like a fair trade for two sodas?" to which he laughed, his pitch-black skin surprisingly flexible as he laughed.

"Sure kid, follow me." While the tour was super boring, I grab the mutant history textbook from the library, and two cans of a passionfruit soda, returning to Clarisse who'd been moved onto a table in the vault, to distance her portals from other people.

"Is that a book? And Passionfruit? What happened to you? It's like you're a whole new person after gaining powers."

"Well a person is the collection of their experiences, so yeah, I'd say I've changed. Still me though." 'Besides, it's way more fun to read about mutants, as a mutant, rather than as a subject at school.' It took another 20 minutes for another portal, and as I'd suggested, Lauren closed it fairly easily, but dawn was breaking through the portal, which meant more visibility, and more than likely, more cops.

Reaching the page on the Von Strucker siblings, a pair of german mutants who together formed the mutant threat known as Fenris, capable of incredible energy manipulation, almost a magnified version of both mine and Laura's abilities. And by magnified, I mean like, by 100. "Hey sis, is dad's side of the family German?"

"Looking up from her phone she asks, "I think so, why?"

"Because there are these famous German siblings, with the same last name as us, just with a 'Von.'" Showing her the book she pales, reading the text explaining they were killers and terrorists, having killed over 300 people.

"This could just be a coincidence," she refuted, terrified it might be true.

"Maybe, but it explains the dreams I've been having." Pulling out my sketchbook, filled with dozens of sketches of a wolf, "Not to mention we have the same powers as them, at least separately, he could pull things together, like you and I have her ability to rip things apart."

Taking her hand, I console her, "So what if it's true? They're our GREAT grandparents, and to be honest, this book was probably written by a human based on their descriptions of some of the pacifist mutants, like Professor X who was described as a terrorist. So maybe they weren't as bad as they were made out, I mean, I'd do anything to protect you. Maybe we'll get written about one day. We've already performed one terror attack on the school, only 28 to go." The joke made her smile, but she still looked a little uncomfortable at the idea of her family being mutant terrorists, so I continued holding her hands, my thumb tracing the back of her knuckles as she leant against me, waiting for our mother's return.

Again the portal opened, large enough to drive a bus through, exposing us to a now sectioned-off strip of road, police cars and spectators surrounding the glowing circle, guns raised and aiming at us. "OH SHIT."

"Put your hands on your head and get on the ground now!!" Two of the officers walk through the portal, the first punched squarely in the jaw by John, and the second thrown out of the portal by the same dark crystalline man who'd given me the tour, allowing Lauren time to shut the rift.

"They called for SWAT, next time it will be a real fight," turning to us he apologised, "I would have moved you to a safer part of the building, but without your powers, we can't close the portals. I'm sorry."

The time between portals was shortening, as what had started as 40 minutes became 20, and now every 10, and Lauren was struggling to close these larger rifts. As the new rift formed I prepared my ability, expecting a more aggressive attempt from the SWAT, and as soon as they came into view, barely 2 meters from the portal, a group of 12 officers ready with stun batons and body armour. Releasing the kinetic blast into the troops, I throw them over 10 meters in the air, dropping them behind their cars on the hard cement, a move I would not have done had they not been so well protected, as the fall risks severe injury at that height, being a fall of over 30 feet. With John using his body as a meat shield, Lauren is bought time, as I continue throwing back any too stupid to approach, and actually tear the doors off one of their SUVs, smacking the agents with the chunks of bulletproof steel.

"Do you mind shutting it, Sis? John's been shot twice now."

"Shut UP Andy!" The new influx of emotion providing enough energy to slam the portal closed. Seeing my smirk she smacks me, "You knew that pissing me off would help. You're an idiot, I could have lost control."

"I guessed. Emotion is used to focus a lot of our powers so I figured it'd help." Apparently having made a plan earlier than in the memory gave Eclipse and Cait the chance to return before Clarisse had a massive seizure. In the memory, she had created hundreds of small rifts, destroying the second floor, injuring people and put on a light show comparable to the 4th of July, but to be honest, the chance of being bisected like the first car left me a little unnerved. So the sight of Caitlyn carrying a goody bag of prescription medication brought nothing but relief, and seeing Clarisse relax as some kind of syrupy liquid is pumped into her was when all the defenders collapsed, me and Lauren on a couch leaning on each other, and John and the tour guide headed back to the central area, feet dragging. 'I don't envy them. They must be exhausted mentally, with all the stress of finding Clarisse, losing Lorna, dealing with us, and then this. And yet, they still have to work. The burdens of leadership I guess.'

POV- Lauren

Andy was different. Weirdly different. The confidence he held himself with, the incredible moments of intelligence he has. Changing the licence plates, packing before Sentinel Services came, he was still goofy and funny, but he also looked at us differently. Andy would NEVER have yelled at Dad, and his words of comfort to me after he found out our great-grandparents were mutants too, shocked me. He comforted me, the same brother who until recently avoided me and argued with me whenever we were forced into the same room by our parents.

I was thankful for it. Without his change, I'm not sure how we would have coped, and in comparison, to him, Mom and Dad just seem so…unreliable, frantic and floundering as they attempt to understand their new situation. Stroking his hazelnut brown hair as he leans on my shoulder, the two of us having fallen asleep instantly after the portal incident was settled, I can't help but wonder what caused the changes to my little brother, who sulked when I stole his food, snapped at me for turning off his music late at night and came to me first when his bullying got bad. Taking on so much responsibility was obviously exhausting for him, as he still sleeps, a tiny bit of drool escaping the corner of his mouth. I agree with him that we can help the MU, but I'm worried for him.

I won't let anything happen to him. I will protect him.

POV- Eclipse/Marcos

At first, the plan was to move the kids and their Mom across the border and keep Reed Strucker as a hostage while he helped get Lorna free. But those kids are something else. Their powers are strong, especially as they have had no training with them, but they're also brave and smart. Most in this situation would be a crying mess desperate for the safety of Mexico, but the boy had questioned the situation over there with the cartels, and although most would have missed it, I saw Andy grab his dad after he was shot with the immobilisation round, dragging him through the portal as we ran. As the MU, we could use their help, but as Marcos Diaz, I NEED them, kids or not to save Lorna, to save my child.

The kids are powerful, and many will be after them, not just Sentinel Services. After we get Lorna, we will need to prepare.

POV- Andy

Waking up inches from my sister's face was weird, but luckily the weirdness was replaced by embarrassment as she points out, "You drool when you sleep." 'It's weird seeing her, because she's my sister, but she's also NOT. Over 20 years of memories without her in them, of fanboying over her, made looking at her weird, the same stupid git who would take my last tub of yoghurt, or slap me when Mom wasn't looking.'

"Zip it." Headed up to our allocated space, I dump our bags on the military bed cot and look over at Dad, who'd woken from the effects of the bullet but was wincing like every step was barefoot on Lego. Grabbing my first coffee since the motel room, I head to where I could find John, Sage and Marcos talking around a bunch of connected computer screens, operated solely by Sage, who's computational mind gave her wicked skill in hacking and predicting events through statistical probability.

"We can't just get access into Lorna's condition Maros, we'd need someone's ID and information and we don't have the time to find, scope out and steal information from a guard, who probably won't end up having clearance into that information anyway." Sage was sound in her logic, being a computer and all, but fortunately, that meant she couldn't determine outliers.

"You guys could use my Uncle, not directly of course, but he ran some senator's campaign, so you could get the information by hacking his email and stuff right? Just leave a small sign that he was hacked and he won't even suffer consequences after."

John looked at me incredulously, "You would let us use your family's account to help Lorna?"

"Personally, I barely know him, so I'm not too bothered, but he's a good person overall." A shrug and a go-ahead gesture and Sage uses me to find my uncle and send messages through his account asking for information on the location Polaris would be moved to, even using some of the blackmail material he'd been collecting on a board member of some security group to get it.

"Got it. She's being moved in 3 days to one of the secret Sentinel facilities."

"Not very secretive," I joke.

"The existence of it and location, no. But no one knows what happens inside it or what the mutants inside suffer, so it's moderately secretive."

Revealing our newly attained information to the others, who'd left a few hours ago while I stayed talking with Sage. "Well there's no way we're gonna be able to break into there. The last time we hit Sentinel Services we lot six people."

"And that was a transport facility, with barbed wire and some cameras, this is another level of difficulty," Sage reminded. "With the 5 willing people we have, there's an 87.53 percent chance of failing to rescue Lorna if we attack the prison."

"Then we don't attack the prison," Cait steps forward. "I know I can't shoot lasers from my hands, but I do have an idea. You said the place they're being moved to is far away, and to put them on a plane, they have to be moved, so why don't we get her as they move her? Hit the transport instead."

John acknowledged the plan, "That could work."

Sage instantly splashed water on their hope, "We would need to know the route and time, and we can't get access to that information, not even with your brother's information."

Marcos groaned loudly, "You can't, but I can."

"Marcos the cartel? The last time the cartel got their hooks in you, you barely got out…are you sure you want to go back to that?"

"No, but I'm out of better ideas."

Lauren finds me mot even 10 minutes later as I sit outside with a coffee. 'How much coffee did these mutants manage to steal anyway?' "I've got an idea on how to stop the convoy. Can you blow up the tires, even at a long range?"

"Hmm, probably not." Seeing her crestfallen face I explain, "Currently I have power, or precision, and by targeting something at range I would need a LOT of power, so I would end up destroying everything around the truck with Polaris in it. Not to mention that by blowing only one tire, all it would do is veer the transport truck to one side, causing it to crash."

"What if I can help focus your power, constrict your destructive energy into a smaller location? Do you think it would work?"

"We can try, but in order to practise focusing the power we need to target something strong to replace the simulated distance," looking over at one of the many scrap cars lying around, "like one of those." Seeing her nod I begin to channel the force towards a distant taxi, the entire surroundings in front of me shaking violently as if the earth around me was moments from collapsing. With a heavy grunt, Lauren directs the force onto the car, leaving the surroundings stable and still again, but completely ripping apart the taxi. The chassis, roof and engine ripped into pieces and thrown into the distance from the force, leaving us both tired, and exhilarated.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" Both of us had stupid grins on our faces as we grab John to show him the combined ability, 'Yes, I could have tried Fenris, but knowing how powerful it is, I could have accidentally removed the truck and all accompanying cars from existence.'

"So? Seems workable right?" Lauren looked proud of her idea's success and I didn't want to again remind her about the crashing car scenario if we target a wheel.

"You destroyed the whole car. It's too risky."

"It would have been," I add, "If she wasn't going to be transported in a transport truck, and we have a few days to practice right? All we need to do is destroy the engine, that way it won't potentially flip the moving car due to inertia, and we will have stopped it dead. They'd have to remove her from the truck if they wanted to move her."

With the plan accepted, we trained both our mutant abilities and our bodies, as I recognised that we would sometimes be in situations where being able to run, or potentially fight without our powers would be useful. 'It definitely has nothing to do with me wanting to bulk up a bit and not look like a twig next to John and Shatter, who had acted as my tour guide last night.

On the eve of the rescue attempt, I call out to Lauren, "Hey sis? Did you tell Mom or Dad what we'll be doing?"

"Yeah, that we'd stop the truck from a distance, then get out of there. Why?"

"Because I won't be going back immediately after stopping the truck. Dad was a prosecutor and Mom is a human, which could cause conflicts later, so we need to prove that we support the group 100%. Which is why I will be staying behind." Her face became a scowl so ferocious I wondered if we were somehow related to Wolverine. "No, you're not coming with me."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because you don't have the willingness or desire to hurt other people, not yet anyway. And I'm not going to risk you getting hurt because you can't or won't hurt someone else."

"Don't act like you're any different-"she begins then stops, looking into my eyes, which had switched as she began, turning hollow, as I drew on the memories of the past life, of the horrific scenes of mutants tortured and experimented on, of John being tortured by an anti-mutant hate group, of a pregnant Lorna being kicked in the stomach by another prisoner.

"I'm willing. I WANT to. I'm not sure if my power is somehow affecting me or what, but between the dreams and the suffering we've been hearing about, I want to rip them apart. So tomorrow, I'm staying. ALONE." She looked slightly frightened but acquiesced to the idea, accepting herself that she would be more of a hindrance than a help.

Having sorted out that issue, I prepare for the raid, telling the mutants to bring guns with them anyway, especially those like Dreamer without offensive abilities, and smuggling a few knives myself, not because I think knives are cooler, but because I've never used one and don't feel comfortable with the chance that I miss, alert the guards, and get shot.

Sometimes you can tell when a day is going to be good. Tomorrow was definitely one of those days.