The next hour went by fast as they picked up all of the sleeper agents and Ezekiel purged their databases. Whatever was useful was tagged for pickup and sent to the main base. Everything else that was left behind, Magneto used some metal to crush it into a tiny ball which they took with them. They made sure to leave no trace of the safe houses ever being used.
While they were working on that Sarah was worriedly watching over Laura as she was going in and out of a berserk type state. The first time it happened she was almost stabbed when she reached out to hold Laura's hand as Laura's claws popped out. She decided to stay away from Laura's hands and feet after that and was content to just watch for now with a worried gaze.
When they were finally finished collecting everyone, Ezekiel had the first group of twenty guards transported down to the disposal area of the facility. It had a special blast furnace for the disposal of corpses. Magneto and Kaecilius were standing next to the furnace as Ezekiel was at the controls opening it up.
Ezekiel looked at Magneto and said, "Set one in feet first with their head sticking out."
As Magneto was moving the first body into place he said, "This would be a lot faster if you just let me crush them."
Ezekiel nodded as he walked up the first person set into the furnace and grabbed them by the head. He took a moment to adjust their head and angled it just right before he quickly jerked the person's head back as he twisted it. A snapping sound was heard as he said, "I was the one to order this, I won't be a hypocrite and not do it myself."
Magneto let out a sigh as he said, "Could you at least use a gun or something to speed up the process?"
As Ezekiel moved out of the way for the next body to be placed in the furnace he said, "Anything else I use will make a mess I don't wanna clean up."
Kaecilius spoke up and said, "Aren't we going to destroy the entrance to the base? Couldn't you just kill them all there?"
Ezekiel walked up to the next person and repeated his actions as he said, "We could, but we would still need to dispose of the corpses afterwards."
As Ezekiel was moving out of the way for the next body, Kaecilius said, "We could just pile them up and burn them after they are dead."
Ezekiel was silent as he walked up to the next body and snapped their neck. As he stepped back out of the way he said, "Alright, we can do that after we finish this group. We will move everyone that we are keeping alive to the bottom portion of the base, then I will take care of the rest."
Before he walked up to the next person he looked at Kaecilius and asked, "Are you going to use magic or are we just going to pour an accelerant on them and a lighter?"
Kaecilius shrugged his shoulders and said, "Doesn't matter to me, but if we used an accelerant and magic, that might be the quickest way."
It took about ten minutes for Ezekiel to go through all of the guards they had brought with them. After they sealed the furnace, Ezekiel set it to auto run its cycle, before they portaled back up to the base.
Once upstairs they started to transport Laura, Sarah and the hostages all down stairs. They also moved the higher ups, Sutter, Rice, Stryker and the scientists downstairs. Once they were finished, Ezekiel took an M-16 style Stark made rifle from the security office, along with four, sixty round magazines. He walked out into the main area where all of the guards and sleeper agents were being held. Magneto, Kaecilius and Logan were waiting for him when he came back.
Logan spoke up and asked, “You sure you don’t want me to do this, bub?”
Ezekiel shook his head and said, “I appreciate the offer, but I will take care of this myself.”
Ezekiel slid the first magazine into the rifle, before he pulled back the charging handle. He checked the chamber before he released it and watched the first round slide into the chamber as it closed back up. He looked at Magneto and said, “Line them up.”
Magneto used his powers to hold up a group of people in a row as Ezekiel stepped closer and shoulder the rifle. He was only a few feet from the first person when he took aim at their head and slowly let out a breath as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the barrel and hit the person square in the forehead. Ezekiel didn’t pay attention to what happened and aimed at the next person as Magneto moved the fresh corpse to the center of the loading dock area. Ezekiel aimed at the next person and repeated what he had just done. It went quickly and within ten minutes about two hundred people were disposed of by Ezekiel.
Ezekiel took a deep breath when he was finished, Then he looked over at the pile of bodies before he shook his head and looked at Kaecilius as he asked, “Want some help with the fire?”
Kaecilius shook his head and said, “No need, I can handle it.”
Ezekiel nodded his head as he set the rifle he just used on the ground, next to the empty magazines. He walked over to Logan who was sitting off to the side smoking a cigar. As he got close, Logan pulled the cigar from his mouth as he asked, “You sure we needed to kill all of them?”
Ezekiel shook his head and said, “No. Not really. But letting people who were ignoring what was happening here live didn’t sit right with me. A quick death is all I could offer them as compensation.”
Logan raised an eyebrow at that as he asked, “What about the scientists, the higher ups and Sarah? You offered her a job and she is part of this mess.”
Ezekiel nodded at that before he said, "While true, she was only brought in for her ability in cloning. She only learned of the other shit they did here recently and while you could argue she had to know something was going on, I checked the records. She was always required to stay in certain areas whenever they brought in new subjects or moved them around. Before her new clearance level, she always had at least two guards posted to watch her at all times."
"Alright, so she gets a pass from you then? What about the others? You told me Stryker was gonna suffer."
Ezekiel gave a feral-like grin as he said, "Don't worry he will."
Logan took a long pull of his cigar before he said, "Just let me know when so I can watch, bub."
Ezekiel nodded as he said, "As for the others, they should be getting the same fate as Stryker. They were the ones who were doing all of the experiments."
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Logan let out a grunt in reply as he and Ezekiel watched Kaecilius using a magic spell to catch all the bodies on fire. Magneto had already crushed the pipes for the fire suppression system and Ezekiel also disabled the software for it. So when the fire started in earnest, the only thing they had to deal with was the smell. After Kaecilius made sure he had caught all the bodies on fire, he opened a portal for everyone to head downstairs.
When they came out of the portal Laura was finally awake and she looked at Ezekiel as she asked, "Can I be released now? This is uncomfortable."
Ezekiel nodded as he said, "Give me just a moment."
He walked over to Xavier and asked, "Can I have that vial please?"
Xavier pulled a vial out of his pocket and handed it to Ezekiel who walked over to Laura and popped the lid off of it. Laura's nose scrunched up as she tried to move her head away from the vial. Ezekiel smiled as he put the lid back on it and said to Magneto, "Alright you can release her now, she is cured."
Magneto nodded as he released Laura from her restraints. The first thing that happened was Sarah pulling Laura out of the chair and giving her a tight hug. Laura herself was a little awkward but still returned the hug, although not as enthusiastic as her mother.
Ezekiel smiled at her response before he said, "Alright time to have some fun. Magneto, I want you to put Rice in that chair for me and then set him next to that surgery light and facing the wall. Also could you make something to restrain his head, I don’t want him looking around.”
Magneto let out a sigh but did as Ezekiel asked as everyone else was slightly confused with what was going on. Ezekiel just smiled as he picked up the tablet Xavier was using earlier and made all of the lights in the room they were in dim down. The only light currently on was a surgery light pointed down at Zander Rice’s face, the rest of the room was only at two percent light. Ezekiel played with the tablet for a few moments before he looked over to Laura and asked, “You mind helping me out with something?”
Laura glanced at her mother for a moment before she looked at Ezekiel and asked, “Maybe?”
Ezekiel pointed to just behind Zander and said, “Stand there until I tell you to come out.”
Laura looked back at her mother, who just shrugged her shoulders and said, “It should be fine… I think.”
“It will be completely fine, better than fine in fact.”
Laura thought about it for another moment, before she moved into position. As she did, Ezekiel glanced at Xavier and said, “Wake him up.”
vvvvvv
Zander slowly woke up, his head hurt a little and he couldn’t really see anything but a bright light in front of himself. He blinked his eyes a few times and tried to move, but he was restrained to a chair. He couldn’t really remember what happened, wasn’t he at work? Or was he at Sutter's house with his wife? Everything was fuzzy and it was hard for him to think clearly.
Ezekiel had moved out of Zander's sight and waited quietly as the man woke up. It took about thirty seconds but when he started to struggle in his bonds Ezekiel spoke from behind the man and said, “I can assure you, those won’t come off unless I allow it.”
Zander tried to turn his head to the voice and said, “Do you have any idea who I am, who I work for? You have no idea how fucked you are, do you?”
Ezekiel chuckled as he walked around Zander but stayed out of the light. All Zander could see in the dim light was the shadow of a man just outside of the light pointed at him. Zander was sweating a little, but he wasn’t really scared. He knew that if he could just waste as much time as possible, someone would come to rescue him. He was second in command of The Facility after all. Zander smiled at the man and said, “I have no idea how you pulled it off, but if you don’t let me go soon. You will die a horrible death.”
Ezekiel laughed again before he said, “You sound so sure of yourself for someone restrained to a chair. How are you gonna do it? Are you gonna send that little girl you have to kill me?”
Zander froze for a moment as he squinted his eyes and looked at the man hidden in the shadow of the light. After a moment Zander said, “I have no idea what you are talking about, but I know I am talking to a dead man.”
Ezekiel chuckled again as he stepped forward slightly and raised his right hand into the light. A vial was held up with his thumb and index finger and he shook it slightly as he said, “You know I found this in one of your pockets when I picked you up? I have no idea what it is, but I bet it’s important.”
Zander’s eyes widened a little as he started to sweat more, he forgot he was planning to use it on Sutter and then release the little monster to kill him. He was planning to take over as the head of The Facility, once he removed Sutter and that cunt the little monster spawned from. Zander knew that if even a drop was spilled on him he could be killed if they sent that monster to rescue him. As Zander was thinking he started to hear distant gunfire and some muffled yelling.
The man stepped back slightly into the shadows again, as Zander was about to speak the man said, “Damn, I thought I might have more time, but it looks like that little girl is already at the perimeter.”
Zander smirked and said, “I told you, you should have never messed with me.”
The man moved back into the light slightly and said, “It doesn’t matter, I still have enough time to escape, we will just have to finish our conversation again next time.”
As the man was talking the gun fire was getting louder, but at the same time there was less of it. A second later an explosion happened and the man was thrown off his feet, Zander watched in horror as he saw the vial move into the light and head towards him. It hit the exposed metal of the chair between his legs and shattered, the liquid in the vial splashed all over his groin. He froze in absolute terror for a moment before he started to yell at the man who was getting up from the floor.
“You stupid son of a bitch! Do you have any idea what you just did! WE ARE BOTH DEAD! SHE IS GOING TO KILL US BOTH NOW!”
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Everyone watched quietly as Zander was screaming his lungs out, before he lowered his voice and said, “X-23! Stand down! I am your master, you will listen to me! Do you hear me?! Stand down, don’t come near me!”
He started screaming again as he thrashed in the chair trying to get out. Laura actually smirked a little as she watched Zander freaking out, before he finally stopped screaming. Ezekiel turned the lights back to normal and turned off the surgical light as he stepped in front of Zander. He slapped the man hard in the face as he said, “Hey shit stain, wake up, you were dreaming.”
Zander was utterly confused as he looked at the person in front of him smirking. He looked down and realized that X-23 didn’t gut him, he could have sworn she was just killing him. He tried to move but he was still stuck in the chair, so he looked up at the person smirking at him and spat out, “What the fuck did you do to me you mutant freak.”
Ezekiel smiled as he said, “I was just showing you the future.”
Ezekiel held up the vial and shook it in front of Zander’s face as he said, “We both know what this does, don’t we?”
The color drained from Zander’s face as he stuttered out, “Don’t... Don’t open that, if that little monster smells it she will kill us.”
Ezekiel smiled as he opened it up and took a slight whiff. He pushed it under Zander’s nose as he said, “It’s funny, I don’t smell anything, what about you?”
Zander couldn’t move his head away but he said, “Please, put that away and I will tell you anything you want.”
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “Sorry, but I promised someone a play date.” Ezekiel then poured the vial’s contents all over Zanders head.
Zander began to piss himself and shake as Ezekiel smirked before he said, “Laura he is all yours if you want him.”
Ezekiel stepped out of the way as Laura walked around in front of Zander, the man was shaking even more as he went ghost white he stuttered out, “X… X-23, don’t hurt me. I am your master, remember?!? You can’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.”
Laura looked down on him for a few moments before she leaned forward and said, “I’m not the monster, you are.”
Laura stood back up as she walked back to her mother, who smiled at her as she pulled Laura into another hug, which Laura actually returned properly this time.