Disclaimer: The X-Men characters, the New Orlean's Theives and Assassin's Guilds, and all other recognizable characters are copyright to Marvel Entertainment Group. This work of FanFiction is not meant to impinge on that copyright or defame Marvel Comics or the X-Men and related characters in any way.
Copyright: This work of FanFiction is the intellectual property of K-NICE and her IRL persona. No copying, distributing or editing of this material is permitted without the express permission of the creator, K-Nice, under United States copyright law.
K-Nice, 1999

Taking Prisoners
by K-Nice

Part 1

The early morning gloom left a cold feeling in Remy's spine. He could feel icy fingers strumming his vertebrae. He longed for the warmth of his bed but stifled the desire by moving into action. Six hours of dark, cold, lonely waiting was about to pay off. He made several final keystrokes on the laptop computer he crouched over. His trench coat was stretched under and around it to protect its delicate parts from the gritty sand of the Nevada desert. The mountains were too far away to effectively to hide the sun and there was only an hour before day would break over the horizon. He held his breath as he waited for the big payoff. The screen blinked twice in rapid succession and a countdown screen appeared. He almost groaned in disgust. The security network was responding to the virus much faster than anticipated. It would take longer than he had hoped to shut down the system and the shutdown would last for a short period of time. Remy checked his watch and set it to match the countdown.

He slipped his hand into his trenchcoat and pulled out his cellphone. He hoped he could make this call while the computer's transfered data at each other. Punching an intricate sequence of numbers, wondering what would happen if he got one wrong. The only warning he had was a soft "click" but he held the phone at arms length as it set off a piercing alarm. 'That's enough to give away my position, isn't chere?' he mused as he brought the phone back to his ear.

"This is Raven, speak now or I'll buzz you again."

  "Listen careful now Raven, I'm at the Center and your "window of opportunity" just got narrower. And my fee just got higher, tu comprends?"

"Yeah, yeah, If you want the best you have to pay for it, right. Fine. When do we move?"

Raven heard silence and waited with baited breath to hear his next words. She was ready to move in any direction depending on what he said.

"It's already started, chère. With only one change of plans. It all goes down in 30 minutes, not 45. Starting 3 minutes ago."

Raven could hear the soft grating of metal on metal. She knew he was on his way and that left it up to her to get her part done in 17 minutes less than her meticulous planning accounted for.

She slippd into the shadows moments before the appearance of a guard, the one that usually lead the prisoners to the cafeteria or showers. It would not seem strange for him to order certain prisoners to another location. All she had to do was convince him to remove the power dampening collar around her neck so she could shape-shift.

Raven concealed the alarm she had rigged from left over parts in the clock radio she had "accidentally broken." She had to lower herself quite abit to those human pigs just to get the darn thing but it was the key to getting them out of the Center. She had found an electronics major among the prisoners and she had created a way of communicating with the outside by pirating cellphone signals. Tonight was the final culmination of weeks of planning.

Raven's mind sped ahead of her as she threw herself at the guard. The plan called for her to wheddle, plead and seduce until he freed her but now plans had changed. She grabbed his arm and twisted it around. He heard the crack of his arm breaking before he even saw her. She snatched his tazer and pressed it to his face, causing a ragged gash as he fell unconcious from the charge and the pain. She dragged his heavy body back into the shadows and lay it carefully. As she backed away she was convinced that he was just passed out drunk, or even sleeping on the job, not dying slowly in a pool of his own blood. She hoped it was enough to convince the other guards to leave him alone or else her little plan was going nowhere very quickly.

Remy was pissed. Raven's plan was a good one, but it was very precise. He was good, he was fast, but there was no way he could get through enough levels of the Center's security to allow for a full breakout. Raven had been adament that no one be left behind, but he was being paid for is thieving skills, not to work miracles. When the final part of their plan, the schedule for the external power dampening shield, had come up disappointingly short, Remy had almost scraped the whole thing a gone home for the night. However, Raven was a tough mercenary and if she said this place was bad that meant it was worse. He couldn't live with the idea that someone he cared about, one of the girls or even a Guildmember would be sent to the Center.

Remy scooted on his belly across the beams in the crawl space under the guard station. He didn't mind the grime or the confined space, though he was glad he had left his coat where it coudl stay relatively clean. He did mind that the access door seemed to be blocked by a chair. Remy pulled out a card and tried to charge it.

There wasn't even a fizzle.

The dampening field was still up.

He checked the LED on his watch as it counted down to the 25 minute window he hoped his hacking had bought them. The numbers speed toward "00:25:00" and he remained motionless in anticipation. At "00:24:59" Remy placed is fingers on the hinges of the door and quietly desintergated the pins. Then he charged the card and slipped it through the slit of the trap door.

The response was fast and loud. The guard who had been sitting on the door leapt up and landed on his rear. His four companions aimed their weapons at the site of the explosion. One of them gave the count, while another lifted the trapdoor. He was thrown off balance as it freed from its hinges. In the seconds that the door hide him from their sight, Remy charged five cards and sent them flying. Without pausing he kicked the chair over and vaulted behind the desk. He checked his watch again: "00:24:01"

Continued in Chapter Two.

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