Sarah Kinney was released from her prison cell earlier that day. She had secretly taken Laura out of the base to help her sister and niece Megan who had been kidnapped. While they were successful and rescued her niece, it wasn't something her boss was happy with and as punishment she was placed in a cell for the past month. She wasn't allowed to do anything, not even work while she was on 'unpaid leave' as her boss called it. She was released in the morning and the first thing she wanted to do was see Laura, it had been a month and she wanted to make sure she was doing okay. It was the longest they had ever been apart since Laura was born.
Once she was released, she wasn't allowed to see Laura immediately. Laura had training to do, Sarah could only shake her head when she heard that. The 'training' as they called it was more like torture, with that psycho bitch Kimura in charge of it. So she went to her office and began to check all of the emails she had missed for the past month. She was upset when she read a report that Laura had been sent out on a mission.
When she started working for The Facility, she didn't know what they truly wanted to do. She just knew they were at the cutting edge in her field of study and everything else was top secret after that. They kept a lot of what they did a secret after she joined and only allowed her access to certain areas. She worked for years ignorant of what they were really doing, she had kept her head down and focused only on her work. Even after she had proved cloning the sample she was working with could be viable if made as female. She was still kept locked out from learning most of the stuff The Facility worked on.
It was years later, after she had been forced to be the surrogate mother for the clone… No for her daughter Laura. That was when she was finally pulled into the true fold of what The Facility was doing. She wanted to prove she could be more useful with her new security access, so she went back to look at everything she could get her hands on…
It was a mistake, the first file she opened horrified her. A family was captured and brought in because their child was a mutant. The things they did to that family, she didn't sleep correctly for weeks. They were monsters, Sarah knew she couldn't stay there for long, but at that point Laura was already a major part of her life. Even though they didn't interact as much as she would have liked, Sarah considered Laura her daughter. She couldn't leave her daughter with these people, but currently she wasn't sure how she could escape with Laura and keep her safe.
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Ezekiel had his program watching the facility waiting for Stryker and Sutter to return. While the group was waiting for that to happen, Fury had chosen the team for capturing the base. It was going to be Ezekiel, Magneto, Logan, Xavier and Kaecilius. Ezekiel would handle the computer system, Kaecilius would pull people into the mirror dimension for Magneto to capture. Xavier would be used to knock them unconscious and Logan would be used to dispose of the trash once they were finished.
Ezekiel did bring up a point of contention among the group. He wanted to keep the facility, Fury also thought it would be a good idea to keep it. Everyone else wanted to destroy it and everything inside it.
"I'm sorry, did you say you want to keep the lower portion of the base?"
Ezekiel turned to look at Coulson as he said, "Yes, I need the tools they have and since it's already set up and working, why should we waste it?"
Magneto spoke up from the monitor and said, "After everything you have shown us about the place, I think it's best if it was destroyed."
Xavier nodded his head as he said, "I have to agree with Erik on this, once we complete the mission. We should dispose of that base and everything in it. Experiments like that shouldn't be allowed to continue."
Hank Pym spoke next as he said, "I also agree, but we should save some of the technology to study it. Some of that stuff is cutting edge and probably one of a kind. It would be a massive waste to destroy equipment like that."
Fury shook his head as he said, "I can't believe I am saying this, but I agree with Ezekiel on this. Not only could we use it as another hidden base, but we could probably put that cloning tech to work for us."
"Which is exactly why we should destroy it once we are done."
Ezekiel looked towards the monitor at Magneto who just spoke and said, "But that is exactly why I want it. I have plans to make clones, that is one of the reasons I was targeting this place. I knew they had the most advanced cloning tech and I don't plan to let it go to waste."
The room went quiet as everyone looked at Ezekiel, he looked at everyone before he let out a sigh and said, "Don't look at me like that, I might want to make clones but it's not for the reason most of you would think. My current clones aren't that useful in a fight, but what if I could make real clones who could fight and still use my powers?"
Most of the people realized what Ezekiel was talking about and wanted to do. Xavier and his people were a little confused but said nothing. It was Steve who spoke next and asked, "Is that all you want to use the equipment for? To clone bodies for yourself?"
Ezekiel nodded and said, "Pretty much, I have a few other experiments I want to try that aren't related to cloning. But I could do that without the tech in that base, it would just take me a little longer."
Fury spoke next as he looked at Ezekiel and asked, "So you want the base all to yourself till you are finished?"
Ezekiel shook his head and said, "No, it would be a shared resource. But I would be in charge of the whole facility to make sure people aren't doing stuff that is unethical."
"You just said you want to clone yourself and you don't think that is unethical?"
Ezekiel turned to Mordo and said, "No I don't. I am making copies of myself, not making a copy of someone else without their permission."
"What about the soul for the body? You can't really create life if it doesn't have a soul."
Ezekiel smirked as he asked, "X-23 is a clone of Logan and yet she is alive and has a soul. Who is to say a clone of me won't have a soul?"
Mordo shook his head but said nothing else. Steve spoke again and said, "As much as I would like to destroy everything, I am willing to trust Ezekiel with the technology in the base."
Fury, Hank, Peggy and Coulson nodded in agreement, while Xavier and his people didn't comment anymore on it. But it seemed like they didn't fully agree with the decision.
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Ezekiel, Logan, Kaecilius, Magneto and Xavier were currently in the basement at Xavier's school in a conference room. Ezekiel called them together because it was almost time to move. A monitor that took up one of the walls turned on and displayed real time footage of some vehicles driving though the mountains.
"Sutter has been in the base for two days and as you can see I am tracking a convoy of trucks currently heading to the base. I am just waiting for confirmation that Stryker is with them before we move. I will leave it to you how you want to attack the facility."
Logan smiled and said, "I can't wait to see the look on his face before I gut him."
Ezekiel looked to Logan and asked, "While I wouldn't want to deprive you of your personal revenge, I have a way to make him suffer unbelievable pain before he dies and serve a useful purpose at the same time. If you don't mind not killing him yourself."
Logan smirked as he said, "Only if I get to watch."
"Deal."
Most of the group was quiet the rest of the time besides Xavier and Magneto who were chatting amongst themselves. It took about half an hour before the trucks made it to the base, when they did the video feed switched to the inside of the base. It showed the trucks as they entered the upper area of the base and parked at the loading docks. As they began to unload their cargo, which looked like mostly new supplies for the base, a man stepped out of the back of one of the smaller trucks. The camera zoomed in on him for a moment, it was their other target, Stryker and he was commanding people to unload a couple of kids along with some adults strapped onto hospital gurneys. They were all unconscious and looked mostly normal, but one or more of them should be mutants.
Ezekiel stood up and said, "Let's head out gentlemen, I would like to take care of this before they harm those people."
Everyone stood up before Kaecilius pulled them into the mirror dimension, he then made a portal and they all walked though it into the hidden base. Ezekiel looked at Magneto and said, "I think we wait for them to take them down the elevator, then we can start our attack. Will you need extra metal to make the bindings?"
Magneto looked around at the men working in the base before he nodded his head and said, "They are not wearing enough metal to make proper restraints."
Ezekiel nodded and said, "Take it from the middle section of the elevator. It should be far enough that they won't hear anything, and I will disable the sensors from the server to hide what happened."
Magneto nodded before they all walked over to where the elevator was on the second floor. They had to wait for Stryker and some guards to load up the freight elevator and head down. Once they did, Kaecilius and Magneto entered the elevator shaft and Magneto floated them to the middle area of the shaft. Once there Kaecilius pulled them into the real world and Magneto detached a couple thirty foot sections of metal from the elevator shaft. Once done, they went back into the mirror dimension and then joined the others back on the second floor.
Ezekiel pulled out a tablet from his backpack and started to use it for a few seconds. The screen changed to show the current position of all the guards in the base. He looked at it for a few moments before he said, "The guards in the monitoring room should be our first target. No one is allowed into the room except the people assigned to that shift and they still have two hours until shift change. From there I can point you to the next targets quickly without alerting anyone."
Magneto and the rest didn't have any objections and followed Ezekiel's lead to the base's main security room. Once inside, Kaecilius pulled the four people stationed inside the room into the mirror dimension and Magneto quickly restrained them, before they even realized what happened. Ezekiel smiled as he walked up the team lead and asked, "How are you gentlemen doing today?"
The team leader laughed as he said, "I am not sure who you are, but you are fucking with the wrong people."
Ezekiel smirked, did a hand sign and turned into the team leader before he said in the man's voice, "I know exactly who I am fucking with, I hope they have lube because this is gonna hurt."
The team leader was shocked before he could say something else, Ezekiel looked at Xavier and said, "Your turn."
After Xavier knocked them out, Ezekiel handed him the tablet he was using and said, "I will stay here and guide you to targets, while also sending people to places for easy ambushing. It should make it easier to capture everyone without anyone catching on too soon."
"You really know how to take the fun out of a mission like this, don't you?"
Ezekiel smiled at Logan as he said, "You should really get out more if you consider something like this fun."
Ezekiel looked at Kaecilius and said, "Send me out, I will send you the next target in a moment."
Kaecilius nodded as he moved his hands a bit, before Ezekiel was back in the real world. Ezekiel sat down in front of the main computer and started to work. Within seconds a new green dot appeared on the tablet Xavier was holding. It was circled and underneath it was the words, 'You are here.'
Next a small arrow started following a dotted line that pointed at four red dots in another room. The red dots were then circled and underneath them were the words, 'Bad guys.' Xavier looked up at the group as he showed them the tablet and said, "I am not sure if he is patronizing our intelligence or trying to be funny."
A little chibi Ezekiel dressed like a knight in white armor popped up on the corner of the tablet and said in a heroic voice, "A little bit of both actually. Now go forth mighty heroes, for you have a quest to compete, evil doers to slay and a young princess to rescue!"
Everyone slowly turned to look at Ezekiel who was sitting in a chair while typing on the computer in front of him. He didn't turn around, but raised one hand and made a motion for them to leave. Logan chuckled before he said, "We might as well get this over with."
Magneto scoffed as he turned to leave and said, "He is so powerful, yet acts like a mere child."
Xavier nodded his head in agreement before he said, "He might be acting childish, but he is right, we have a mission to complete."
They followed the arrow to a storage room, the men inside looked to be in the middle of doing inventory. None of them were currently armed and all of them were in the process of putting things away while making small talk. Kaecilius pulled them into the mirror dimension and Magneto restrained them in an instant, before they could even speak, Xavier knocked them out.
After they were finished, everyone looked at the tablet, when it made a little noise and showed a new screen that said, 'Bad Guys 8/227'. Underneath that was another thing that said, 'Bosses 0/3' below that was 'Princesses Rescued 0/1' and below that was 'Hostages Rescued 0/6'. That screen shrunk down to the right corner of the tablet and the map came back up leading to the next set of targets. Xavier actually smirked slightly when he saw it before he shook his head and said, "Next target is marked."
They moved through the top portion of the base quickly and started to take down all the targets Ezekiel was marking for them. They focused mostly on the rooms and Ezekiel was in the control room routing people around to make them easier to pick off. It took almost twenty minutes, but they captured over one hundred and eighty people and no one noticed anything was wrong.
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Just before Ezekiel and his team started their mission, Sarah was able to see Laura. They were sitting in Laura's cell and talking quietly with each other as the monitor in the wall in front of them lit up. Ezekiel appeared on the screen as he said, "Good afternoon, ladies. If you don't mind, I would like to tell you a story."
Sarah tensed up, she had secretly disabled the security for the cell so that she could talk to Laura in private. Laura sensing Sarah's discomfort snarled and her claws came out of her hands and feet as she stood up.
Ezekiel put his arms up on the monitor and said, "I mean no harm I promise, Miss Kinney. I am just here to tell you both a story, nothing more."
Sarah settled down slightly before she reached out to Laura and gently pulled her back down. As Laura sat down her claws retracted and she looked at Sarah in question. Sarah pulled her close and said, "Let's see what he has to say. For him to be able to gain access to use that monitor and security hasn't locked the whole base down yet. It means he has some decent skills with computers."
Sarah looked at Ezekiel and asked, "Who are you?"
Ezekiel smiled wide as he bowed slightly before he said, "My name is Ezekiel and I am here to tell you both a story if you will listen."
Sarah was quiet for a few moments, as she glanced at Laura before she looked at Ezekiel again and said, "What will we get if we humor you and listen to your story?"
Ezekiel smiled again as he said, "Tell me what you want and I will do my best to make it happen."
"Freedom from this place for me and my daughter."
Before Ezekiel could reply, Laura had looked up at Sarah in complete shock and asked in a quiet voice of disbelief, "Do you mean me?!?"
Sarah smiled down at Laura and said in a sad voice, "I'm sorry I haven't been a good mother, sweetie."
Laura shook her head and said with her voice still quiet, "You are the best mother someone like me could hope for."
Sarah's eyes became slightly moist before she blinked a few times as she pulled Laura into a tight hug. They were both quiet for a while before Sarah finally looked back at the screen to a smiling Ezekiel who said, "That is something I can make happen. So do we have a deal? A story for the freedom of you and your daughter from The Facility, Miss. Kinney?"
"Yes."
Ezekiel smiled wide again and said, "Great, now please don't interrupt me while I tell this story. You can ask questions at the end if you wish."