First Contact (Part Three)

My life and my friend's life just so happened to be partially in the hands of something that admitted it was built to kill us.

Saberwolf made me wary, but he never did anything that validated any of my suspicions. He led us away from trouble, showed me places to hide until trouble pass, and basically avoided fighting altogether.

He didn't even want to fight when we finally reached the room where they were holding Ruth.

"The room at the end of this hall," Saberwolf said as I peeked around the edge of a corner, "That is where they are keeping the mutant you have identified as your friend."

He hadn't been wrong so far when it came to steering us around the base safely, but after everything that happened, more than ever I really didn't feel like leaving any aspect of my well-being in anyone else's hands, "You're sure?"

Saberwolf shifted about in place. It was amazing how his metallic joints didn't make any sounds when he moved, "Other than you, I have noticed only one other mutant lifeform in this area. If it is not her, your friend is not here, or she is dead."

I know that I winced. There was always a chance that I'd taken too long to try and free myself. That something awful could have happened already in the meantime. I didn't need it brought up out loud, "Be a little blunter next time, why don't you?"

Saberwolf seemed taken aback by my reaction, "Sarcasm. You are displeased. Yet, I fail to see how keeping the entire truth from you will protect you in this situation."

"Don't worry about it," We didn't have time to get into the delicate discussion of preserving someone's feelings. I had no idea when the guy I knocked out would wake up, or when someone else would come and check my room. We had to do, "What about guards?"

The sensor thing that covered what would normally have a nose and eyes on almost anything else glowed momentarily as he scanned the area, "No guards other than a patrol moving through these halls. You will need to get to her and free her quickly."

I took that as the cue to go. Just like everywhere else in this place, the door wasn't locked, so I barged right in. Her head snapped up in alarm the moment I entered the room and I saw her for the first time without her blindfold.

At first I thought they had done something horrible to her, because I couldn't see her eyes.

She didn't have any at all; as if nothing were supposed to be there in the first place. She didn't even have eyelids or anything, just skin over her sockets, like it was just another part of her face.

It took a second for the thought to register that maybe she had been like that all along. It would have explained why she kept the blindfold in the first place, to keep from freaking people out.

Her hands were tied behind her back and a helmet of some sort was on her head. She didn't seem to know it was me from the way she tried to shrink against the wall as much as possible from where she was on the floor, "Please, no. She does not want to be hurt, thank you."

She couldn't tell that it was me. Normally she could. Being blind had never mattered before when it came to that, "Hey, Ruth. It's me, Bellamy. It's going to be okay. I've got you," She flinched away when I got close and kneeled down by her, even after I spoke.

She apparently hadn't known that someone had been outside either.

No matter what, she didn't want me to get anywhere near her, trying to jerk out of my grasp, even though I was trying to help her. She finally calmed down when I got the helmet off of her head and turned her around to get the ziptie off of her wrists. Her skin was red and raw from where it had been cutting into her.

I put her hands onto my face to try and get her to calm down. I didn't know if it was just some stupid movie cliché or not. I just wanted to help, "It's me. Just relax, okay? We're gonna be alright."

Once I took the helmet off of her, everything seemed to clear up for her. Her face twisted from an expression of fear to recognition, "Bellamy?"

"Yeah," I manged to say, before she threw herself at me in a hug. I still wasn't good at the whole comforting thing, and I probably needed someone to tell me that everything was going to be alright, but I had to be the strong one here. I was the only one who could be, "I know. I'm scared too," I said, gently rubbing her back, "Some X-Man I'm supposed to be, huh?"

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry," She kept repeating remorsefully. Her body shook like she was sobbing. It sounded like there would have been tears coming from her eyes, if she'd had any, "She couldn't see you, no. They kept her from using telepathy."

I helped Ruth to her feet, but she didn't need it. She didn't seem to be harmed. If they'd roughed her up after first capturing us, she'd been there long enough for any bumps or bruises that I could see to fade, "Did anyone hurt you?"

"She is fine, thank you," When we made it out, she didn't seem too terribly surprised to be in front of Saberwolf, who had been waiting the entire time, "Hello."

Yeah, Saberwolf had been waiting, though not patiently.

"You have taken too long," He told me, before I could even try to introduce them, "I can detect frantic movement around our area. They know you are free. I will lead the way. You will follow. Be prepared for combat."

I grabbed Ruth's hand and ran behind Saberwolf as fast as the two of us could go. I was sure he could move much quicker, but was keeping a pace that we could keep up with so he didn't lose us. As we moved through a corridor, Saberwolf suddenly jumped onto a wall and launched himself at a group of men coming around the nearest corner.

That couldn't have been pleasant, being hit with a gigantic metal weapon flying right at you. He couldn't have weighed less than 800 pounds, and that was a modest guess. The claws at the end of his paws extended, turning him into an even deadlier weapon standing on top of his fallen targets.

Reavers tried to swarm him, but that was where the chainsaw that came out of his back and into play. His tail grabbed onto it, and made good use of its mobility. Anyone who moved out of range of his deadly weaponry caught a light blast that put them down for the count, courtesy of me.

Just those few shots drained me. I felt nauseous, and it didn't have anything to do with the dead bodies around Saberwolf. It was official. Taking in nothing but artificial light was really bad for me.

I didn't bother looking at the results from that little encounter. It would have only made me feel worse. It was gross enough when I could feel the blood underneath my feet as we kept running.

"Why did you not use the shotgun?" Saberwolf asked me as we kept on going, "Using your powers has clearly weakened you further."

"It was faster," I said as an excuse. It was flimsy. The shotgun wouldn't have taken that much time to grab. It was right there behind my back for goodness sake, "Give me a break. I haven't fired a real blast since I got free. I didn't know it would tire me out so much."

That much was true. I was quickly learning that artificial light was definitely not quality. It was like filling a high-performance vehicle with an inadequate fuel type. My engine definitely didn't want any part of it – at least not as my entire supply of energy.

The pattern of the corridors were beginning to blur. I was next to useless, but luckily freedom was a great motivation for him to take the initiative.

Anyone that got in his way was quickly removed.

Now, he didn't kill everyone, but stuff got cut off of almost everything he swung his chainsaw or claws at. Let's just say, it was easy to see who had been outfitted with cybernetic parts already, and just how far through their conversions they were.

Not far enough to deal with being shredded by a combat wolf-bot thing. Pierce said he was looking to build a cyborg fighting force, but I thought he would have been further along. These recruits were new. Brand-new.

At the end of a hall that got smaller the farther we went, there was a ladder leading up. It was dark and too high for the little light that was getting through to reach the top, so I had no idea how high it was.

"Climb," Saberwolf ordered, his back turned to us as though he would stand guard in the meantime.

"Go, Ruth. I'll be right behind you. I promise," I told my friend, sending her up the ladder first. I started to make my own way up, but Saberwolf made no moves to come after us, "How far up does this go?"

Saberwolf's tail swayed in the air behind him. He was anticipating a fight, "Irrelevant. Climb, quickly," He said, "And refrain from using your powers again until you are safe."

I didn't like the sound of that, "Until we're safe," I tried to correct for him.

He would have none of it.

"Bellamy... climb."

The only reason he helped in the first place was so he could be free. What was the point of all of this if he was just going to stay behind and fight so we could get away? He had a sense of self-preservation, and he was supposed to be a weapon. Defending others shouldn't have mattered to him at all.

I looked back down when it was clear he wasn't going to move until we were well out of reach, "If you don't follow us, I'm gonna jump back down this hole and drag your metal ass out with me."

"I do not respect you enough to feel any concern at your threats."

Saberwolf was definitely my kind of asshole.

I kept climbing after Ruth, but started having some trouble about 100 feet up. I almost missed a few rungs with both my hands and my feet. It was pitch dark until I started making my hands glow so I could see where I was aiming.

By now, we could hear the sounds of fighting down below. I didn't know how many there were, but I heard yelling from more than one person. One thing was for sure though, I never felt another person or thing touch that ladder underneath us.

"Ouch," Above me there was a solid thud and faint sounds of Ruth struggling. I wondered if she bumped into something until I got close enough to see that she was trying to push the hatch at the top of the ladder, "It won't open."

The damn thing had better not have been locked. That would have just put a cherry on top of everything, if my escape efforts flamed out all on their own.

"Okay, watch out. Squeeze down past me," I said, moving to the side to let her move down. It was time for me to take a crack at it. "Be careful not to fall."

"Yes, thank you."

I got to the top of the ladder and braced myself on the rungs so I could give it a decent push. It really was heavier than heck, but I could at least get it to budge on my first try, "Come on… you bitch," The next time, I pushed up with my whole body, the lid braced against my shoulders. Climbing despite the weight pushed the lid up and brought me out to the surface.

The sunlight was the best thing I'd felt in days. The moment it touched me, I felt a change. I basically flipped the damn thing the rest of the way over from that point.

The smell of water hit me first. I stood and looked around as Ruth finished climbing out as well.

We were on a buoy in the middle of a river, in the middle of a city. A big one, because it was noisy around us in the open air. I looked around and not far from where we were, I saw a bridge.

"No…are we in New York?" It was a little befuddling to consider. I figured they'd taken us farther away from where they'd plucked us from.

Well I guess we could catch a break after all. Go figure.

Granted, we were still stuck a long ways away from safety, but it wasn't hopeless by any means.

As I thought about what to do, noise emanated from the ladder well until Saberwolf's head popped out of the hole. There was blood on him, but at least he was in one piece.

After all, it wasn't like it was his blood.

"Welcome back," I was actually happy to see him, but I wasn't going to say so. Instead I turned my attention to our circumstances, "Well, fuck then. We're like an hour away from the school. I was expecting much worse."

"New York City is a common staging area for many clandestine activities."

"No, I get that. I'm just saying, if you kidnap me, you've got to take me farther than an hour away from my house."

Yes, I wasn't from New York, but come on. I wasn't an idiot. I could get back to Salem Center from NYC, without any X-Men training.

If anyone could see us from shore, we must have looked quite the sight. Two kids and a robot wolf all sharing space on a buoy that wasn't even moving in the water.

I got down and welded the lid of the escape hatch. Anyone following us wasn't getting that open with just brute force. That finger beam was turning into the best thing ever. It was flat-out hotter than any version of my light powers that I'd used so far. It was small and pretty easy to control.

I was met with a measure of surprise contact as I got back up.

"Whoa, hey! Hands, girl!" I said as Ruth dug around in my pockets. Before I could complain too much at the sudden invasion of my personal space she pulled a phone out of my pants and held it up in front of my face, "Wha-? Wait, I had that? How did you know?"

That guy had his phone on him when I took his clothes. Outstanding. But there was barely any reception where we were. One bar. Not so great. But maybe something salvageable could be done.

"Call for help," Ruth said, smiling hopefully.

And why not be hopeful? Things were starting to work out, even if they didn't completely solve themselves. Hell, the guy didn't even have a password on his phone! He was so lazy, it unlocked just from sliding a finger across the screen.

I went to dial before I had a horrifying realization, "Shit. I don't know anyone's number by heart," I muttered. Ruth's smile immediately dropped away. Even Saberwolf's tail stopped moving around and smacked down onto the metal of the buoy, "Both of you, shut up."

When would it have ever come up before that moment? I hadn't had to dial a number and remember it afterwards in years! Even before I got a cell phone, my landline at home had a call log!

"555-518-3421," Ruth rattled off without a moment's hesitation. I put it in, and lo and behold, it actually worked.

"Why do you know anyone's number? Do you even have your own phone?" I asked, getting a shrug from the blind psychic as the ringback tone blared in my ear.

"Hello?"

"Who did I just call?" I asked before quickly realizing that it didn't really matter, "Forget that. If you're anyone from Xavier's, it's Bellamy and Ruth, and we really need someone to save our asses. Now, if it's possible."

"BELLAMY?" Deafening volume of the shout aside, I was able to make out that it was definitely Miss Pryde I was on the phone with. Good job, Ruth. I could hear her speaking to someone else in the background quietly. Another member of the staff? Good. Bring in the cavalry, "Where are you? Are you alright?"

"We're fine… mostly," I said, sparing a look down at the hatch as I heard banging on it from the other side, "We're in New York in the middle of the Hudson River… or the bay, I guess. And we're gonna have to swim in a minute, so this phone probably won't be any good after this call."

"Hurry up," Saberwolf said, "They will have reached another exit by now and will be on their way here from the surface."

"What was that?" Miss Pryde asked. Saberwolf did have a very distinct sound to him.

"A robot wolf thing that broke out with us," This was not the time to launch into that series of events, though, "It's a long story."

"Do you know where on the Hudson you are?"

I looked at the time on the phone and the shadow the buoy was casting from where the sun was hanging in the sky before squinting over at the bridge in the distance, "…Like, two miles south of the Verrazano Bridge. I guess this is the bay."

"Latitiude: 40.637785, longitude: 74.049835," Saberwolf said, loud enough to be heard over the phone, because he just had to outdo me.

"What he said," I followed up, staring at my A.I. ally before shaking the whole scene off, "But we won't be here for long. Anyway, we'll find another way to get into contact if you don't just get here in the next few minutes. We've got to go."

I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket, not relishing the idea of destroying the damn thing trying to get away. I really doubted it would survive. It didn't look like a waterproof model, "Now what? Can you swim?"

Saberwolf actually looked a bit apprehensive at the idea of jumping into the bay. Hey, I didn't blame him, but desperate times, desperate measures, "I do not operate well in aquatic conditions, but yes. I am capable of swimming."

"Ruth?"

"Yes, she can swim, thank you."

Great. Even better, I could see Parachute Jump at Coney Island from where we were, so I knew which direction we were going.

"Sweet," I gently turned Ruth in the right direction and jumped into the water first. Lead by example. If I was being put into a position where I was calling the shots, I couldn't half-ass it.

Ruth wasn't really all there upstairs. I loved the girl to death, but really, she wasn't. Aside from that, she wasn't the most physically capable out of the two of us, so helping her along was a must when things got nasty.

Saberwolf was smarter than me and could more than likely cut me up in a fair fight in under a minute, but he wasn't really wasn't built to lead at all. He could make his own choices, but when thinking with others in mind, even though he tried to do so like a human, there were still machine-like absolutes to how he handled situations. That was why he had chosen the things that he had in regards to decisions involving more than just himself.

I had a half-mile swim to shore to think before we pulled ourselves up to the rocks on dry land. My wet, ill-fitting pants were falling halfway off of my ass by this point.

We were right along the nearest highway, complete with exit signs to the nearest most populated area, "Two miles. Do you think we can make it to Coney Island?" I asked rhetorically, "Can't be too hard to hide until someone gets close enough to find us."

At that moment, Saberwolf graced us with his presence once more, making it out of the bay and shaking water out of his openings, much like a dog.

I figured robots couldn't have been that strange to see in broad daylight.