Chapter 7: Robbery
Opening my eyes blearily, I found myself looking into the sky. My head was killing me as I sat up.
'This is Deja-vu. What happened?'
Thinking back, I remembered Kurt taking the portal maker and accidentally activating it.
'Dammit Kurt. I didn't have a targeting system made yet, I have no idea where am I. Everyone else fell in with me, so they've got to be around here somewhere.'
Looking around, I found myself in an alley, which gave me a huge sense of Deja-vu. Laying all around me were the rest of the X-Men, who were unconscious.
'Okay, I need to figure out where exactly we are. It's possible the device sent us to another place in the same universe, so it's worth checking.'
Everyone was unconscious still, so I got up, and walked out of the alleyway to try to see if there were any distinguishing landmarks. The skyline immediately drew my attention, my eyes focusing on a skyscraper with the name Wayne on it.
'DC. No idea which DC, but it's DC. We're in Gotham, which is a pain, but I can work with this. We've got a good set of powers, we should be able to steal enough tech for me to remake the portal generator and we can get back to our universe. I'm lucky we didn't end up on some primitive earth.'
Walking down the streets a ways, I found a line of warehouses. Checking inside one of them, I found that it was abandoned.
'This will work.'
Walking back to the alleyway, I found the X-Men stirring.
"What happened?" Kurt asked.
"Thanks to you, we're stuck in another universe," I said, heat coming into my tone.
"What do you mean, another universe?" Scott asked.
"By another universe, I mean another universe Scott, that should be pretty clear. Kurt messed with the device I was tinkering with and sent us all to a parallel world."
"My bad," Kurt said.
"Yes, you bad."
"How and why were you messing with a device that could send us to another world?" Jean asked.
"I'm smart and good with technology and I wanted to see if there were other universes," I said.
"And look where that got us. We're stranded in a completely different universe." Scott said.
"That's not my fault. Kurt shouldn't have messed with it. We're lucky I know how we can get home."
"And how exactly do you expect us to do that?" Rogue asked.
"The world we're in is at least as technologically advanced as ours. We just need to steal some stuff for me to build a new device."
"No, we're not some common criminals. We're supposed to be heroes, we don't steal." Scott said.
"I'm not sure if you got the memo, but we're not at home anymore. We don't have the liberty of sticking to ideals that hinder us. You want to be the hero, fine, but I'm finding us a way home." I said.
"I'll help," Laura said immediately.
"Me too, it's my fault we're stuck here," Kurt said immediately. I could see he felt guilty about what had happened and was trying to make up for it, but I was still annoyed at him.
"I want to go home, but are you sure we have to steal?" Kitty asked.
"Nobody is going to just give us the technology for free and we don't exactly have enough cash on us to buy it," I said.
"I don't know about stealing, but I'll try to help," Evan said.
"You know I got your back man, but are sure this is the best idea?" Bobby asked.
"It's as good of an idea as we've got."
"The Professor taught us to be better, to show we could be heroes. I don't know if I feel comfortable taking after everything he's done for me." Jean said.
"We need to get back though. Without us, who's going to show the public that mutants and humans can coexist."
Jean still looked unsure but nodded.
Everyone turned to Scott. "I'm not helping, but I don't want to be stuck here either."
"That's fine, your power isn't really all that much help for this. I looked around outside the alleyway before you all woke up. There's an abandoned warehouse a little ways away from here we can use." I said and gestured for them to follow me.
I led them into the warehouse I had found.
"Ew, it's all grimy and dusty," Kitty said.
"Well, we're just going to have to deal with it," I said. I was used to this kind of environment, so to me, it wasn't all that big of a deal.
"So where do we start?" Laura asked.
I laid out a plan. Telling everyone I had the chance to look around before they woke up, I explained that Wayne Tech was the most advanced place near us, so it was the best option for us to steal from. Kitty and Kurt would be the most important factors in this as they both had powers that were useful for breaking into places. I would use a device I had to disable the cameras, letting Kitty phase Me, Kurt, Laura, Jean, and herself into the building. Jean would read someone's mind inside to find where to find the stuff we'd need. Laura could deal with any guards we came across and Kurt would teleport all of us out when we had what we needed.
"Everyone ready?" I asked as our group stood a short way away from Wayne Tower. I swiped some Ski masks for us to use to cover our faces, which made Scott snort.
"You all look the part of the common criminal now."
He, Bobby, Evan, and Rogue were staying in the warehouse since they didn't have a role that would really help. The fewer people the easier it was for Kurt and Kitty, so they were staying behind.
"Let's just get this over with. I hate the thought of stealing, but I like the thought of being stuck here even less." Jean said.
The group nodded and I pulled a device from my storage cube, rolling it towards the building and activating it. The cameras outside froze for a second before going back to normal.
"Alright, it's on a loop we can move now," I said.
We ran up to the side of the building and Kitty took hold of all of us, phasing us through the wall as we entered the building.
"Jean you're up," I said.
Jean nodded and held her hand up to her head, searching the building for people.
"We need to go down. There are sublevels where they store most of their technology." Jean said.
"Kitty, you good to phase us down?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I won't be able to phase all of us that many more times," She said as we each grabbed her shoulder and phased us down through the ground. We passed through several meters of stone before we found a room where different things were being developed.
The scientists in the room all froze at our appearance.
"Jean, can you knock them out?" I asked.
"Yeah, but it's going to take a lot out of me," she said.
"Do it, I don't think any of us want to have to physically knock them out."
Jean held her hand up to her head again and after a moment of concentration, every scientist in the room collapsed to the floor.
Moving around the room, I looked at the different devices and directed everyone on which things to grab that had the components I would need to remake the device. Filling a bag, we were interrupted when guards ran into the room.
"Laura, you got it?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said as she ran at the guards. They shot at her, but she let the bullets hit her, the wounds healing as quickly as they came. She quickly incapacitated the guards, not killing them, but knocking them out.
"I've got everything we need, let's go," I said. We all got near Kurt as he first took the bag, teleporting out and returning quickly without it. One by one, he teleported everyone until I was the only one left. Right when he came back to get me, I watched as Batman ran into the room. Giving him a wave, Kurt teleported me out of the building.
Back in the warehouse, I moved over to the bag and began to take the stuff we had gotten out.
"You happy now? We're the same as the Brotherhood now." Scott said.
"No, we're not. The Brotherhood used their powers for fun to gain stuff, we used it in a situation where we had to. There's a difference Scott, not everything is black and white." I said.
"What, like you did when you lived on the street?" Scott asked with a scoff.
"I think you need to stop there Scott," Bobby said.
"You were homeless?" Kitty asked surprised.
I sighed. "Yes, for a good majority of my life. As for your question Scott, you do what you have to do to survive. Now are you going to keep bitching or let me find us a way home?"
Not looking for an answer, I sat down and started to take a catalog of everything we had so that I could get started.
"I'm going out," Scott said after a little while.
"I'll go with you," Evan said.
I tuned everyone else out and started to work on the device. Someone came to sit next to me, so I glanced up and saw Laura leaning against the wall. Leaving her be, I continued to work until Kurt came over.
"Casper, I want to say I'm sorry. If it wasn't for me we wouldn't be in this mess and Scott wouldn't have said that."
I sighed as I said "Just try not to mess with stuff you don't understand. We're lucky we ended up in a world that was advanced enough for what we needed, imagine if we ended up in the Stone Age."
Kurt's face was subdued as he nodded.
I was making progress on the device, but I wasn't going to finish today. Eventually, Scott and Evan came back.
"There's heroes here too," Evan said with an excited voice.
"There's a whole team of them called the Justice League" Scott commented.
Kurt seemed to get some life back into him as he jumped up and asked "What can they do?"
"This guy Superman has a bunch of powers. There's even a guy dressed up like a Bat" Evan exclaimed.
"Are they mutants?" Jean asked curiously.
"Some of them are I think, but get this. Superman and some of the others are aliens."
'Metahumans are an analog for mutants I guess, but it's not one-to-one. Some are mutates, they just decided to have a general term.'
The team began to excitedly discuss the prospect of life outside of our planet while I continued to work.
"How long is it going to take you to finish that?" Scott asked.
"A couple of days at minimum. It's complicated and I don't have the exact same stuff I had before. I have to work with what I've got."
"Alright, then I think we should do some hero work while we're here, to make up for what we had to steal," Scott said.
"Isn't villains trying to be heroes kind of counter-intuitive?" a voice said from the entrance to the warehouse.
Looking up, I saw a teen in a red and yellow costume standing in front of us. He had red hair sticking out of the top and green eyes.
"There's more of them," Jean said.
From the shadows, several more teens appeared. Standing in front of us was a team I remembered from Young Justice.
'Well at least I know which DC we're in now.'
----
POV Change Third Person
"What do you think Batman's got for us this time?" Wally asked.
"There was a break-in at Wayne Tower, maybe it has to do with that," Robin said.
The Team walked towards the platform where Batman was standing.
"You're correct Robin, your mission today involves the break-in. Today, five individuals broke into Wayne Tower and stole a large volume of technology. At least one is capable of teleporting as well." Batman said.
"Do you know what they took the technology for?" Aqualad asked.
"No, most of what they took seemed random. Before I could detain them they teleported away. Your team's job is to locate and detain them. They could all have powers, so be prepared."
The team entered the zeta beam teleporters and appeared in Gotham.
They were quickly linked up in a telepathic connection, allowing them to communicate with each other.
'Miss Martian, try to scan for thoughts related to Wayne Tower and the break-in.' Aqualad said.
'Understood.'
Miss Martian began to scan the people near her, searching for a sign they knew what was going on.
'It's no use, no one here knows anything. We need to cover more ground.' she said.
'Alright, Robin, Artemis, try to find a clue near Wayne Tower about where they went. The rest of us will continue with Miss Martian to search.' Aqualad ordered.
Artemis and Robin grappled to the rooftop and made their way to Wayne Tower, while the rest of the team canvases the city. Eventually, Miss Martian found something.
'I've got something. Two teens, walking down the street. One of them is angrily thinking about the robbery and someone named Casper.' Miss Martian said.
'Follow them' Aqualad said.
The team followed the teens as they were distracted by news articles and an internet café. Eventually, they turned off the street and made their way into a warehouse.
'There's 6 people in there.' Miss Martian said.
'Robin, Artemis, regroup with us. Once they're here, Kid Flash draws their attention while everyone else sneaks in.' Aqualad said.
Robin and Artemis made their way to the warehouse and once everyone was in position, Kid Flash walked into the building.
"Isn't villains trying to be heroes kind of counter-intuitive?" Kid Flash asked.
'Uh, Miss M, there's 8 people in here. You missed two.' Kid Flash thought to the team.
'I shouldn't have missed any.'
"There's more of them," a voice said inside.
'They have a telepath. She had a way to hide herself from me,' Miss Martian thought.
'We're discovered. Everyone group together, will take them down in a frontal assault.' Aqualad said as everyone converged on Kid Flash.