The Red Star

Chapter 40

Crys let out a gasp as she landed on the cold, hard cement floor. Blood slipped fom her mouth and was smeared all over her body, the cuts in her flesh obvious.
"I tried to do this the easy way," Doom said, "But you are just so stubborn."
Crys saw his boots in a blur of tears and blood and she gave a tried chuckle,
"Or I'm just stronger."
"We'll see about that." Doom said coldly.
Crys managed to sit on her feet as she tried to stretch the muscles in her outstretched arms which were bound at the wrists with shackles. The chains which held her were thick and embedded into the concrete wall but every time she pulled on it, she was given an electrical shock, one which became stronger each time she pulled.
She blinked away the tears and saw the man with the whip standing in front of her, his skin a strange white silvery color, his eyes a piercing yellow. His muscular body and chiseled face were spattered with blood and he grinned.
"You see," Doom said, walking around her torturer, "These old tortures are much more effective than new ones. Men back then knew the limits of human strength."
"I'm not human." Crys said through her teeth.
"You aren't," Doom said, crouching to her level, "You are a mutant with a powerful mind that not even my strongest could manipulate. But, sadly for you, I know mutants's strengths and weaknesses."
He stood and turned to the torturer saying,
"Cut her hair and make her bleed."
The man nodded and walked around her and she listened fearfully as he grabbed a long hunting knife. He marched back over to her and she gasped when he suddenly grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her head back. He placed the blade on her neck then traced her jaw until he reached her hair and with jolting motions he cut her long, dark hair off.
Crys felt a sort of humiliation with this. She could do nothing to stop him and all she managed to physically do, was shut her eyes and set her jaw, trying not to let any tears escape her eyes. When he was done with his sloppy cutting he thrust her head foward harshly. Crys felt even more exposed now, she was kneeling there in a pair of shorts, a sports bra and her beautiful hair was just rudely stripped from her like her other clothes were before she was forced into her current wardrobe. She accidentaly let out a sob and the man rushed on her, grabbing her jaw and laughing saying,
"You wanna go home?" he laughed again, "Poor baby wants to go home."
He laughed as he walked around her again and observed her back tatoos from her wings.
"Well well well," he began, stepping forward, "These are cool." he placed the point of the blade on one section and traced it while Crys sobbed silently. "I heard you got wings under here." he said, "Let's see if they're right."
With that, he dug his blade into the skin and made a downward stroke, slicing the already bloody skin of her back. She let out a scream and then a sob before she felt it again on the other side of her back.
"You could just tell me one thing." Doom said before she screamed again, "One little thing is all."
After swallowing a sob Crys said,
"Go to hell."
"Have it your way." Doom ended, and Crys let out another scream, of agony.

Jay brushed the dirt off of her shirt as she stood laughing saying,
"This is actually really fun."
Her eyes looked up at Deadpool who had been sucessfully tied to the ceiling and was now dangling upside down in front of her.
"Oh its much more fun down here," Deadpool laughed, "Wanna trade places?"
"How about you tell us where you took her." Bucky said.
"You guys," Deadpool said, "You can't do anything to me, my heeling factor won't allow it."
"I know," Jay said, standing in front of him, face to face, "I don't plan on torturing you. i just needed you still."
"Then what---" Deadpool was cut off by Jay placing her hands on his head.
She felt a rush of energy and her stomach flipped. She felt as if she were falling, unable to stop herself. All around her were flashes of memory, mostly of Deadpool killing someone or wasting his money. Then she saw Crys and froze everything. All around her was a throbbing darkness as she watched Deadpool look down at Crys.
"Money." Deadpool said, his hand exteneded.
Before him stood Erik and Doom, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking down at Crys as well. A man appeared next to him and handed him a leather bag. Deadpool opened it and as he gawked over his money, Jay threw her mind even farther and explored the room they were in and noticed the ceiling was made of a strange, silvery metal. SHE then decided to do something which she didn't even believe could be done; she let her mind wander through the ceiling and and the earth until she arrived on top. Everything was hazy, but she could still see clear enough to make out that she was in the middle of a grassy field. She then became bolder and drifted farther upward and around to try and see where this was. She looked all around her and saw a distant mountain range on the horizon but when she made a full circle she came face to face with rolling mountain ranges which turned into dark and tall mountains jutting into the sky.
"These look familiar." she said to herself.
Her mind traveled higher and higher until she was beyond the clouds and even higher until she could see the whole continent. She looked down at where she came from and found that it was in Idaho, closer to the Northern border. Suddenly her mind was pulled down so quickly that she felt sick to her stomach. She opened her eyes again and found that she was on the floor of the warehouse with Bucky holding her up.
"What did you see?" Steve asked impatiently.
"Mountains." Jay said, shutting her eyes again when a sharp pain made her groan.
"And?" Logan said.
"Idaho." Jay mumbled. She tried to stand and with Bucky's help, she was able to.
"Idaho?" Charles added.
"Yeah," Jay said, "It's quiet, out of the way. Perfect place for Doom and Erik to set up that underground fortress. Which, might I add, had a really odd looking ceiling."
"What did it look like?" Charles asked eagerly.
"Silver. Shiny and silvery grey." Jay said, "Why is that significant?"
Charles let out a sigh and then walked away with an annoyed chuckle.
"Well?" Bucky asked, tightening his arm around Jay.
"It explains why I was unable to find them." Charles said, coming back to the group, "Erik's helmet it made out of a metal which I am unable to penetrate with my mind. He must have found a deposit of that metal up there and created an underground base."
"Well where in Idaho is this?" Logan asked.
"In the north, close to the Canadian border." Jay said.
"A little more specific?" LOgan complained.
"I don't know!" Jay said, more out of pain than anger. "I think it's around a place I used to live, I recognized the mountains."
"Ok then," Logan said, "Let's head out."
"What about him?" Steve asked, motioning to Deadpool.
"Yeah, Captain Shield is right," Deadpool said, "You can't just leave me here."
Jay looked at him a moment and said,
"Get out yourself."
She then motioned for Bucky to help her out of the almost completely destroyed warehouse, and the others followed. When they got to the van, Logan said,
"So what's the plan?"
"Infiltrate Erik's base and get Crys." Jay said. "Whatever Doom and Erik want with her it's not going to be long before bad things start happening to her. We have to get her, I don't care how."
"Look at the size of our team," Logan said, "Do you really want to try and infiltrate a mutant infested base with 6 people." he chuckled and added, "At least I am able to do similar missions with at least 10."
"Believe me," Jay said firmly, "I think each of us can count as two people at the moment."
"Alright," Logan said.
He turned around to open the door when Jay felt something strange and she cocked her head, looking at Charles saying,
"Logan wait--"
The doors swung open and they all stood still, staring inside the van. Sitting in their seats were two men, one was dressed in a suit and his blonde hair was slicked back while the other was wearing a red-burgundy leather vest, combat boots and black trousers with a long sleeved, faded blue shirt on. He was asleep while the other was fully awake and smiling.
"Who the hell are you?" Bucky said.
"My name is Matthew Worthington, and I'm--"
"My cousin." Jay said drearily.
"Yes," Matthew said with a smile.
"You're the douche that stole my parents's fortune." Jay added.
"Whoa," Matthew added, putting his hands up, "My dad did that, I was like four when that happened."
"Point taken," Jay said, "Now what do you want and who is that?"
"Oh," Matthew shoved his elbow into the man's side and he almost fell forward with a groan.
"What the hell man?" he said.
"Jay," Matthew said, rolling his eyes, "This is Peter Quill. He showed up at my doorstep saying he was sent here through a portal because he needed to find an infinity stone."
"And what does that have to do with me?" Jay said.
"Well babe," Peter Quill began, running his hands through his hair, "It could mean a lot of things."
"Well Peter this may come as a shock to you," Matthew said, "But she is the only one I know that can help you. i may have powers but they aren't for looking for some magic rock."
Peter looked over at Matthew with a very condescending expression before looking back to Jay and winking.
"Dude," Bucky finally said, "Quit it with the flirting."
"Why?" Peter asked "She doesn't seem to have problem with it."
Bucky paused then opened his mouth to speak before Jay cut him off and said,
"He's my fiance."
Bucky glanced down at her quickly before looking back up at Peter, a shade of red coloring his cheeks. He definitely did not expect that from her at all.
"Well geez," Peter said, sitting back and crossing his arms.
"And um..." Matthew began.
"What?" Jay asked.
"So you know how I have mind reading powers?" Matthew said.
"Yeah?" Jay was confused.
"You remember our aunt, the one who separated from the family and changed her name?" Matthew was a little uneasy.
"Yeah, get to the point already." Jay said impatiently.
"Well I kinda did some thought reading when I asked Peter here who his parents were and um.." Matthew paused and Bucky suddenly laughed.
"What?" Jay asked, confused.
"Mr Quill here is our cousin." Matthew said.
"I'm what?" Peter said.
"He's what?" Jay said.
"I know you are wondering why I didn't tell you before," Matthew said to Peter, "But I didn't need you dissapearing on me. Our family has that tendency." he ended looking at Jay.
Jay then frowned and said,
"Well cousins, we are off to kick some ass, care to join?"
"Yeah." Peter said eagerly.
"No" Matthew said, worried.
"Too bad," Logan began, "You're in the van, you're coming."
After they all piled in, a loud explosion made them all jump and look outside the van at the burning warehouse.
"Oh yeah," Bucky said.
"I almost forgot," Jay laughed. "Johnny's here."
Right then Johnny dropped onto the ground outside the van and said,
"Thanks, I feel loved."
"You're welcome." Jay chuckled.
Jay left a seat open for Sigyn to sit down and the moment she did, Peter looked at her in an almost dumbfounded way.
"Hey." he said.
She glanced at him with a smirk and Jay grinned saying,
"She's my aunt," leaning over and looking at Peter's bewildered face she added, "Loki's wife, my mom's sister."
"Brilliant." Peter said, crossing his arms.
There was a general wave of laughter that went throughout the van until Matthew finally piped up and asked,
"So where did you volunteer me to go?"
"Idaho." Jay said.
"We are going to drive to Idaho?" Matthew laughed.
"No," Charles cut in. "We are driving to my mansion to get into a jet and fly to Idaho."
"Idiot." Logan mumbled as he lit his cigar in his mouth.
"Are we getting paid?" Peter asked.
"No." Johnny said.
"Okay." Peter replied, sounding a little annoyed, "What are we doing in Idaho?"
"Saving my sister, your cousin." Jay said.
"Alright," Peter said.
"What happened?" Matthew asked. "What kind of trouble did you get her into?"
"Excuse me?" Bucky said.
"It's okay," Jay said, "You remember that guy, Victor Von Doom?"
"Yeah," Matthew said. "He's the one who went psyco isn't he?"
"Yes," Jay said.
"He doesn't--" Matthew's words drifted to a groan when Jay nodded. "Great," he added, "This is not the way I expected my day to go."
"Well you decided to visit at the wrong time." Charles said.
"I'll say," Peter added, "I don't even know what any of you are talking about."
"Then just stay quiet." Jay said.
"Yes your majesty." Peter replied.
"You know what?" Jay said angrily, turning to him.
"Jay," Bucky stopped her, "Just let it go."
"Fine." Jay ended, glaring at Peter who just smiled flirtatiously and annoyingly at her, placing his hands behind his head comfortably.
"This is going to be a long trip." Jay mumbled to Bucky.