Leaving the Door Open

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. I have calculated everything, and the first domino is ready to tip. Everything will fall according to my plan."

"If this doesn't work, the backlash from the community will be extreme. After all, no one is supposed to be able to get out. Ever."

"Brighten up. Remember, nothing happens here that I do not notice because nothing here happens without my permission."

"Ha ha. Just know that if this goes wrong, and I end up cleaning up the mess, I'm coming after you."

"I won't be expecting you."

**********

Doktor Klaus Heidegger emerged from Felix "Flux" Fletcher's cell after the routine check up that was required by state law every month. Geryon had received his check up an hour or so ago. The surly Samoan didn't say much, but would only grunt or move his head in response to Klaus. It was paradise compared to the nonstop smart-alecky crap Flux slung at him from the moment he entered to the moment he left.

Klaus wondered if Flux would ever get bored of calling him "Picklepuss."

Klaus reached the armored door dividing the prison from the clinic.

"Hello, Intern," Klaus said. "Ah, Mister Lensherr, I see. Did you come to hand me your data?"

The Intern nodded and passed his supervisor a rather large envelope.

"Thank you, Lensherr. You may go get yourself a coffee. Please bear in mind the guard changes soon. Please do not be caught standing here in the next five minutes until the changing is complete."

The intern nodded and walked away at a brisk pace. It wasn't every day an intern at the Jozua Clinic got to fetch his own coffee.

[Jane]

Lensherr walked out of the clinic to the Starbucks across the street. This time of the morning it did a brisk business, and today was no exception. A tall, thin woman was in line in front of him, her clothing dark and utilitarian. She ordered a cup of joe, black, and stood to the side waiting for it.

Jane looked at the Jozua intern and made eye contact for a few seconds before taking a seat at a table by the wall with coffee.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

Lensherr walked over to Jane as he sipped his coffee. "Like clockwork, every day, every week for a month," he said to her. "Five minutes for the entire guard to change. No more, no less."

He shrugged apologetically. "It's all you have. I'm afraid the good doctor doesn't allow for delays. I hope it helps."

[Jane]

"Of course it helps," Jane said quietly. "You've done well." He nodded, hesitated, and then walked off.

She plucked her phone from the front pocket of her Dickies and dialed a number. "Five minutes is the window." She clicked the phone shut and set it on the table, looking at it while she sipped her coffee.

[Vigilante]

Ginny grunted assent, hanging up and tossing her phone into the saddlebag of her Harley and swinging her leg over and down. Just another day, assisting terrorists for the greater good. Whatever the hell that was, anyway.

She walked along the sidewalk behind the Jozua Clinic, her footsteps clinking quietly as she paced out from the corner of the bundling. Moment of truth coming up fast. Either the information was good, the measurements precise and the area was clear beneath her... Or she was about to try rematerializing in the dirt twenty feet below. Ginny hesitated, checked her watch, then crossed herself and -

bamf

She was in a hallway lit with sickly fluorescent lights, a bright clear plexiglass looking box in front of her. The single occupant stood up abruptly at the sight of her, and she strode toward the door to his cell.

[Flux]

Flux heard the displacement of air and looked up, from where he'd been reading, then stood and moved quickly to the door of his cell, discarding the book on the floor. He didn't recognize the woman, but he was sure she was a mutant. Moreover, he could sense it: METAL! Not even Banner was so gorgeous and glorious as this stranger.

"The Brotherhood has finally seen fit to send someone," he sighed, straightening up as Ginny approached the door. "I always believed my Brothers and Sisters would aid me."

[Vigilante]

"Yeah, okay. Don't get all choked up." Ginny halted outside the locked door and stripped off her jacket, unwinding the heavy metal chain that she'd wound over her torso. She dangled it from her hand and then released it.

It never hit the floor, instead hovering in the air while the teenager stared at it. She cleared her throat, double checking her watch. "You have four minutes and ...twenty seconds before the guard is finished changing. You better get to work. They want you to get Geryon out, too, and whoever else you feel like bringing."

She turned on her heel and began pacing the distance back to her entrance point.

[Flux]

Flux hovered the chain with reverence. Beautiful. Long enough that he could divide it into lengths to wrap on his arms and legs with plenty left to wield as a weapon and chunk bits off for projectiles. Such a simple thing, but so elegant.

"Whoa, whoa, wait! What do you mean? You're not just gonna teleport us out?" He was indignant. All this time sitting here, wasting away, and now his freedom was so close. Just the barest flash of teleportation and he'd be gone in less than a second. And he's got to walk out? "What the hell!?"

[Vigilante]

She turned around to face him, his pale face getting a little red. Ginny shrugged into her jacket and said, "The Brotherhood wants you to prove yourself. They're still irked that you dragged their name into the 'bridge incident.'" She raised an eyebrow.

"So you get yourself and Geryon out. Or you can just stay in here, because this is all the help you're getting." She smiled. "And I will be back for Geryon, if you fail. Four minutes." And then she was gone, the scent of sulfur and a burst of purple smoke lingering in the hallway where she had been.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"So, let me get this straight. You're going to just let them out?"

"Naturally. But I won't make it too easy. They will still have only the window of opportunity I allow them. They will do exactly as we want. I have no reason to believe there will be any events occur outside of my plan."

"I hope so. Flux is one crafty little guy."

"Obnoxious, and creative with nicknames, perhaps. But crafty? You give him too much credit."

******************

Klaus sat in his office, watching the feeds for the prison on his computer monitor. "It is time. Open the prison doors, and proceed with changing the prison staff."

The head of security scowled at the computer screen. "Sir, it looks like Prisoner 1 has restricted materials."

"Then take them from him. You have the technology. Hurry, Captain, before they get away."

In the prison below, the two large doors labeled WARNING: DANGEROUS MUTANTS INCARCERATED BEYOND THIS POINT. PLEASE COMPLY WITH ALL SAFETY REGULATIONS BEFORE ENTERING began to swing open. The guards waiting inside the door lined up for inspection just as the guards getting ready to enter were lining up to do the same. In all there were ten of them: Two for each mutant in the prison, then two more for each security check point. That made two guards on Geryon, two on Flux, and six more for the three check points. With the shift changing, the number was double to twenty.

The warning siren filled the prison with noise. "Prison break, men! Assume your posts! Get down there and stop those mutants NOW!"

[Flux]

Flux sheared the chain into five lengths: one for each limb, and one to use for weaponry. First, to open the door. He repelled two lengths from two others, launching them into the air where they tangled about the giant wheel that locked his prison door. Then, carefully, he began to attract and repel those twisted chains from their brothers. It was a slow, tricky process; he had to make sure not to accidentally shoot his other three chains away. At last it opened, and Flux stepped through the door for the first time. Funny, he thought, that he had never been conscious when entering or exiting his own cell. He wrapped the chains around his calves and forearms, tying them on as best he could, then gathered up the remainder and sprinted down the hall as the sirens went off.

[The Brotherhood]

They weren't feeding Geryon enough. He liked to keep his weight above 360, with enough fat packed on his gigantic frame to quickly convert into bone and muscle should he need to regenerate an arm or sprout new ones. Losing weight had never been a problem for the gargantuan mutant - it was keeping it on when shrugging off bullets and knife wounds forced him to metabolize ten pounds in an afternoon.

And yet he was on the floor doing pushups, sets of fifty at a time, because he needed to keep his strength up and he was the only thing in his cell remotely heavy enough to give himself a workout. He'd taken to talking to the guards about their workout habits. Vinnie could bench 370. Spencer claimed he could power clean 400. It was cute, in a twisted sort of way.

The scream of the prison alarm interrupted Geryon's meditative rhythm, and he lifted himself to one knee, jumpsuit stained with sweat. Vinnie and Spence each laid a hand on their sidearms.

"Problem, guys?" Geryon said.

"Nothin' to worry about, fatass, just keep doing your thing," Vinnie grumbled.

Geryon lowered himself to the floor to resume his push-ups, but he kept an eye down the hall as Spence loaded a clip of nectar rounds into his pistol.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"We will be using all the standard anti-mutant technology, of course."

"If you built your prison better, those weapons wouldn't be necessary."

"Oh, please. Accidents can still happen, even if they are infinitesimally small. And in the event of a 'worst case scenario,'--the very scenario we are engineering--the community will be expecting us to use all the resources available to us to keep the criminal mutants contained. Relax, it's not like we're using these weapons on you."

************

The guards reached their posts and set up behind their cover, which was positioned on either side of the hallway. They slanted inward and i doing so created a funnel, which Klaus hoped would draw mutant prisoners into the middle of the hallway. Owing to Flux's powers, All the supporting walls consisted entirely of concrete. So were the barriers the guards were crouched behind. All Nectar rounds were made using plastic cartridges and needles. Only the guns themselves contained any metal. At each checkpoint, each guard had a panic button. That panic button would start up the emergency lockdown. In the event of lockdown, three foot thick blast doors lowered from the ceiling to seal off the prison. Each sealed chamber then vented all its oxygen--the trapped mutants and guards would suffocate to death.

To that end, Klaus ensured all his guards were die-hard mutant haters, who would gladly give their last breath to ending an especially dangerous segment of the mutant menace.

[Flux]

Flux waited just inside the door to the no-metal-zone, looking around the corner to the guards arrayed there. Somewhere down that hall was Geryon. Flux was determined to get him by any means necessary. He re-linked the chain using his powers, save the length coiled around his left arm, and repelled it along the floor, sliding it snakelike to where the guards crouched at the ready. Suddenly, the chain leapt up and snatched at one of the metal rifles flinging it up the hall to Flux. He picked it up swiftly and aimed, shooting at whichever exposed guard he could see.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"But what about your men? Sure they're racist, but is that really enough?"

"Of course not! I've tripled their hazard pay and severance packages to keep their families quiet. It's amusing how many housewives can literally kiss their husbands goodby when you flash six figure paychecks their way."

"That's horrible."

"That's American."

"Hey!"

"Oh, don't be so offended. It was only meant for humorous intent. Besides, aren't the things that are most true the most funny as well?"

"You got a tweaked sense of humor, you know that?"

"That's what they say behind my back."

**************

The guards picking on Geryon turned when they heard the rifle go off.

"What the--?"

They both fell. Bullets riddled their heads and torsos. Blood pooled underneath them.

Back in his office, Klaus raised an eyebrow at Flux's tactics. This data would provide him numerous research and development opportunities. Magnetizing the chains and guns, but not the bullets inside? If selective magnetism could be turned into technology, the applications could be limitless.

[Flux]

Flux double-check his rifle as the guards dropped in puddles of blood. Live rounds? Huh.

"I'm way too used to their plastic crap," he grumbled at himself. He shrugged lightly, putting the deaths out of his mind, and walked to Geryon's door. He put his hand on the metal door and yanked, ripping it off the hinges with magnetism.

"Broseidon!" Flux greeted jovially. "They put a surprisingly light guard on you for being as strong as you are." He reached out and magnetized the components of Geryon's collar, deactivating it to allow Geryon the satisfaction of removing the device himself. "Ready to go home?"

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon watched dispassionately as Vinnie and Spencer bucked against the bullet impacts and slid slowly to the floor. He greeted Flux with a shrug. "I'm on the good behavior list. You should try it sometime, man."

As soon as he felt the numbing influence of the collar give way, he reached up, clawed his fingers into the nylon extension straps, and ripped the hateful thing away. It shattered when he flung it against a concrete wall. Geryon took a deep breath and flexed, and a fresh pair of thick, corded arms burst through the sides of his orange jumpsuit with a wet crunch of bone and muscle. His generous gut disappeared, leaving him lean and solid. He reached down and picked up the dead guards' sidearms in two of his four hands.

"I'm ready when you are, Flux. We gettin' any support from the outside?"

[Flux]

"Hell to the naw," Flux grimaced, sticking his head out the door to check down the hall. He could just see the guards posted up waiting for them. It was going to be a tricky business to deal with them. Flux narrowed his eyes, focusing.

"Son of a bitch, there's metal in their guns," He magnetized them together into a useless heap in the center of the hall and moved from cover, opening fire and trusting his powers to protect him.

[Doktor Klaus Heidegger]

"So, just how easy are you making this?"

"There's just enough metal about to make Flux feel as big and strong as he thinks he is. But don't worry. My men won't be completely at his mercy."

"If things get too easy, he'll smell the trap."

"Too true. Unless his ego is as big as I surmise. Nevertheless, I never underestimate an opponent's capabilities."

"Don't try to sound like some general or prize fighter."

"Chess can be more cutthroat than any boxing match."

************

The guards felt their rifles leave their hands. "Push the panic button!"

The guards nearest the buttons pressed them as soon as their comrade gave the order. The large doors began to come down from the ceiling at what someone might call "Indiana Jones Speed." Fast, but not so fast someone in decent physical condition couldn't sprint under before they finished shutting.

The first door started to close, then the second shortly after that, followed by the third set furthest down the hall. Originally they were all supposed to shut at the same time: Klaus had them adjusted so each started a little later and a little slower than the first. Still, if the guards did their jobs, Flux and Geryon wouldn't make it to the second door.

"Melee, men! The batons aren't metal! He can't take them!" The four guards drew heavy clubs made of some sort of super-plastic developed by the Jozua Clinic labs. In the other hand, the guards held a handheld injection device that could deliver a powerful dosage of nectar to any mutant that got within grappling range.

Pinned down by Flux's stolen rifle, the men were forced to wait for the mutants to come to them. "Steady, men! At this rate, he'll run out of ammunition before he reaches us!"

[The Brotherhood]

"Shit."

Geryon wasn't sure what happened when those doors lowered all the way, but he was reasonably certain it would be unpleasant. He advanced behind Flux and added his own covering fire, and when he'd spent both magazines he bull-rushed the first guard with a roar.

The guard didn't bother with his baton, which would have been like swinging a ruler at a grizzly bear, and stabbed at Geryon's massive right hand with his bayonet-syringe thing. But Geryon windmilled his arm out of reach and then caught the guard's wrist with his other right hand. He drove the guard's arm into the concrete wall with a sickening crunch of bone, and the Nectar device fell harmlessly to the floor.

By the time the second guard closed in, Geryon had seized the first one by the legs and was wielding him like screaming, bloody blackjack. "Get a move on, Magnet Man!" he bellowed back at Flux.