New Teams, Old Problems

Chapter 11: Gonna Need Another Castle Dungeon Rescue Party

"I swear to God I saw this place on 'Great Vampire Hideaways'," Wade said at nearly a whisper.

Kate and Clint shared a smirk as they looked out over the castle where Wade's intel said they'd find another Department doctor. It was dark and cloudy, too, so they both had to admit that the description was pretty fitting as a light dusting of snow started to fall and they could see their breaths.

"I'm thinking we start in the basement — or the dungeon — or whatever," Clint said with a little nod. "That's usually where the sneaky stuff is hidden."

"You could have used that advice back at the beginning of this silly thing," Wade said as he tapped Kate's shoulder.

"What ... look in the basement?" Kate scrunched up her nose at him. "Yeah, but I love climbing in windows. And not all the houses in LA have basements — that was my start as a PI."

"And you gotta use trees too," Wade said. "I saw that issue too."

Kate shrugged at him, not sure what he was on about — and knowing it was easier not to try to make sense of it. "Okay, I know how to handle castles. Just clear the stairs with some splodeys and make sure there's no dragon."

"You're not wearing a dress; there won't be a dragon," Wade said confidently.

She had to chuckle a little bit. "You know, my life has gotten so weird lately that — that actually makes sense. X-Men are weird."

Clint snorted as the three of them slipped around to see if they could find an entrance — or make one, as the case might be. After a bit of searching, they found a small, barred window that, when Kate looked through it, definitely opened up into a dungeon, though it was several feet above the dungeon floor, and they would need to lower themselves down once they got in.

Clint shot Kate a little grin as he pulled a few acid arrows from his quiver, and once those ate through the bars, they were able to shoot a grappling arrow through the little window, and Kate lowered herself inside first, sliding down the rope until she found herself in a dungeon much like the one she'd been in when she met Bastion a few years ago. Though this time, at least, she wasn't locked in.

The other two slid in close after her, and the three of them split, keeping their comms open as they searched for anything that looked like it might be helpful. The castle was, frankly, huge, so they were fairly well spread out when Kate spotted the first sign of life — a huge guy who was, she realized with a sinking feeling, unmistakably a Marauder.

"Wade," she said quietly into her comm, trying hard to keep her cool and not sound as freaked out over the comms as she was in person.

"Yes my little songbird?" Wade half sang to her

"Wade... what's the name of this guy we're going after?"

"Windsor," he said. "Like the tunnel. And the really sleazy city that isn't Detroit. Why?"

Her heart skipped a beat, remembering what K had told her when they were looking into how to keep Sinister away from her during her pregnancy. "You know that's Mr. Sinister, right?" she said in a hoarse almost-whisper.

There was a pause for a moment before Wade replied in a much less hushed tone. "You know that makes a lot of sense now?"

"Well I'm looking at a Marauder right now so just... be careful," Kate said as she pulled out a few arrows and spread them out between her fingers to shoot the guy.

"Does this count as calling home for help material?" Wade asked. "Because this guy is a gigantic pain in the—"

"Yeah," Kate said. "Yeah... I think we're gonna want to have backup." With that, she let all three arrows fly, and the Marauder went down with a shout.