Post by adrini on Dec 17, 2014 0:18:23 GMT -5
X-Factor Chapter 6: Together
By Adrini
"Medic! Medic!" Piotr yelled as he hurried with Rogue into the med center. The girl had taken a hit in the most recent rescue and needed attention, as did the two new mutants being brought in on stretchers. Hurried into the admissions room the rescues, siblings under eight, were panicking, still in shock from the attack that had also left them parentless.
Within moments a half dozen medical personnel arrived, overwhelmingly focusing on the kids. Rogue was swept away and the two new mutants were taken directly to the ICU, they were obviously in bad shape. Piotr remembered the shock of his own first injury but the young woman was actually calm as they led her to the setting room to have her wrist looked at, he was impressed. For a new member she was adapting very quickly, and even flashed him a smile as she left.
Down the hall he saw another bed being made in the Factor wing. Jean's room was nearby and he took the chance for a visit. Scott and Alex had bet him to it, which wasn't surprising. The brothers were rather possessive of the counselor.
"It's just a wrist fracture. They should make quick work of it," Alex said as Scott claimed the seat next to the bed. "She'll be getting out the same time as you."
"Fury will be free that day too," Scott said, playing with the ring Jean was now permitted to wear. "Not the most romantic idea, but current events might not allow for better."
"We can ask." Jean said, excited. Piotr knew her request to have an in hospital ceremony had been denied. "How is she?"
"Shaken, but I think she will be well." Piotr said, gladdened as he saw her thoughtlessly grab the team leader's hand. Alex pulled a chair over and pulled out his phone, SHIELD business something he was all too used to. "She could use company, I think. You haven't really talked to her much with being here."
"That's true, Alex, could you tell them I'm okay with her moving in here if she likes?" she said and the young man nodded, happy to help a teammate through that jarring first injury. She turned to more serious matters. "How did it go?"
"War is begun." Scott said simply, communicating the rest through shared memories. "But the first battle was ours."
"But not all of them will be. I'll be back tuesday. Stay alive till I get there, that is not a request." She squeezed his hand tightly, serious. "Not remotely a request."
-X-Factor-
"Do you even know where she is, where they are?" Shaw said stiffly with his companion nearby. He was in Washington to pull a few strings and make some sense. He fit in too well in the governmental hub.
"No. Little bitch wiped the location, didn't know she could do that." Emma said, following close behind. "I'll find them."
"No, I will. You don't seem able to do anything." He walked into the garden area and a generic suit seamlessly passed him a suitcase. She sighed, he would be insufferable now.
"What did you get this time?" she asked, he was waiting to brag. On cue he smirked and walked to a hotel.
"New recruits. The one thing we know is that they are taking in mutants. In retrospect it's a far better idea than what we've been doing." They got in the elevator. "We'll be picking up a few people in colder climates, I'd pick up a jacket."
-X-Factor-
It was a chilly day on the green as Bobby claimed a bench and pulled out his lunch. The sun was covered by the overcast day, and the wind had picked up from the morning. To Bobby, however, it was fine. The cold was never really an issue for him, something that came in handy when everyone else was running around Boston dressed like a yeti and he was able to move very quickly in a light fall coat. As a bonus it did drive his mother nuts also, life was good.
The Boston Green was largely uninhabited that day, which suited him well enough. Pulling out a book he looked over his notes for his upcoming entrance exam for Emerson, he could finally get away form his ever brilliant high school classmates. Honestly, if less then half of them weren't in some dead end something by next year he'd be shocked.
"Emerson, good taste in schools." He heard a voice say as a stranger sat next to him. "Have a major in mind?"
"Liberal Arts for now, I have time." He looked wearily at the person, a woman and started looking for a way out. "Gen eds and all that."
"You don't have to, you know. Go to school." The woman, in a cream suit, looked bored. "It's horrible. Books, professors, so much work. You're skills are way better then that."
"People don't hire for Pokemon levels." Bobby finished him sandwich and put the wrapper in the bag, pretending to finish despite how much his mother's brownie was temping him. This woman gave him a bad feeling. "But I could write, or maybe go into art collection. I'll get there."
"I'm talking about your real ability, Mr. Drake." The woman smirked. "I can offer you more then a few art classes. You could really, well, shake things up."
He knew he was terrified, and only wanted to get away from this stranger. Too shaken to be smooth he gathered his items and started to rush away, the blue bus was only on the corner and so long as he was near others in the public he was safer.
Emma smirked at the effort, and quickly captured the young mind. The boy's eyes glazed over and she signaled for Shaw to finish the job.
"The family types never want to leave." Shaw said as they led the young man away to the car. "It was never going to happen."
"Liberal arts, that's no plan." Emma scoffed. As they arrived and she commanded the young man into the car, "We're doing him a favor."
-X-Factor-
"They're coming!" Jubilee said excited, as Rogue laughed and hurried to take out the dishes the group had prepared earlier. "Hurry!"
"Just around the corner," Alex said as he joined them. "Maria is stalling for pictures to give us time. The music!"
Pietro followed, and grinned at the scene. Several plates of food had begun to litter the counters, a few small streamers covered the doorways and Alex was cuing up the CD player. It was the best they could do on a limited budget, short time and the scarce supplies at the BX. But it was still a break and was going to be one hell of a celebration.
"Well done, Agents." Maria said as she entered and looked at the set up, actually grinning. "Full marks. In ten."
Alex excitedly counted down and pressed play as Scott carefully carried his new bride into the front area, both in dress blues. The team cheered, quickly gathering around the couple as Jean insisted on standing on her own again. Rogue couldn't help but laugh as the team dissolved into excited talking and repeated embraces. Peitro was eagerly sharing a moment with his friends, his happiness for them beaming from his gentle face.
Last to arrive Nick Fury walked in and shook his head, smiling at the chaos. Normally grim and severe he was somewhat relaxed, taking a rare moment to really enjoy himself.
"Drinks are out!" Maria let the room know. "To a toast!"
Nick Fury joined, taking a glass of the cheap champagne that had been on sale, they had cleaned out what was left of the stock. After a half dozen toasts he nodded to Maria who followed him to the meeting room.
"No rest for the wicked, I assume." Maria said, sitting down.
"I'm afraid not, how long before Jean is up to field work again?" Fury joined her, though he kept the glass. "Time is short."
"She should be back on active duty in about a week, I can stay on her to get back into shape. What's the mission?" Maria pushed the glass away, albeit sadly.
"Massive rescue, there's a store house of kids that have been found, most turned in." Fury shook his head. "Terrified parents, I can't tell you what you'll find."
"So be ready for anything, ASAP?" Maria asked, and Fury nodded. "I'll put the notes together, set a meeting for tomorrow. I want them to have tonight. They've earned this."
"And then some, I agree. We ask alot of them, they're just kids." A loud cheer could be heard from the front room, he sighed. The rest of his agents were grown adults, people who chose this life. These he knew he was kinder to. This was the only life that was possible, there wasn't another choice for them out there without the reality of being hunted again. They were born in harms way.
"They grew up a long time ago, Director. Most of them grow up that way, how it is." Maria also smiled sadly at the sound. "This is the best we can do for them."
-X-Factor-
"How is our newest member?" Shaw asked as Emma sat stiffly at the bar and sipped her very small cup, it was espresso again.
"Almost overwritten, just a few more blocks and he'll be ours. We could grab another one from your little file." The woman leaned back elegantly.
"Or more than one, how many of them could you control at once, if you had to?" She got a fascinated look on her face and considered for a moment.
"Teens, so stubborn." Emma said after thinking. "Five or six at a time. More then that and someone may poke through."
Doing math in his head he noted that he would need to bring in additional help, at least eight or nine. It would be a large order but the pay off would be worth it. The holding warehouse had an army of mutant kids waiting to be taken.
"Very well, we'll be ready. Have you figured out the other matter?" he asked Emma stiffened. "Ah, I thought not. Shall that be up to me as well then?"
"No, I'll figure it out. I have to do this." Wounding her pride was the best way he knew to move her, this other mentalist was a stronger challenge then she had dealt with for sometime.
"Tick-tock Miss Frost." He smirked as she stiffened again. "Or I'll have to fix that for you as well."
-X-Factor-
"Not bad, love." Scott said as he and his now official better half walked back from the training room. "Almost better."
"I have good helper." Jean beamed and laughed as she saw Rogue and Pietro argue over the outcome of the game they were playing when they started the training session. "And I need to be ready."
"You're worrying again, stop that." Scott smiled at her, before returning to the matter at hand. "Another few days I think, is the center ready?"
The center, also called called the 'recovery ward', was where rescues that needed to be moved quickly went to for processing. In the past it had taken in groups of six or seven at once, this new mission was going to test it's abilities.
"Wrote the new guidelines myself, even gathered more staff." Jean grabbed his hand as they walked to the two new rooms, mostly ready. "Just need to get back in the game."
"You haven't let me down yet, and I know you won't let them down. Speaking of-" Scott leaned on the door frame to the half finished boys room with the playful glint in his eyes she had fallen for so long ago. "How goes the recruitment?"
"Hook, line and sinker. There's no way we wouldn't want them with powers like that but Maria has them jumping through hoops. I'm getting them into shape mentally, rather unstable right now, and once that's done we'll get them in the training room for the rest." Jean said as Scott nodded, impressed. "We needed bigger guns and they just fell into our lap, someone's looking out for us."
"Are you using the innocent act?" He asked, leading them back to their rooms to shower and freshen up before he had to go out on his next rescue, she was still benched.
"A little, but I really don't need to. They want to join so the truth is enough. It feels nice to not have to lie this time." Jean sighed, she knew her adjusting, as it were, certain things saved lives and got people moving faster but it still bothered her when she had to.
"Everyone knows you only do what you must. Considering what you're capable of I'm okay with guilt holding that back on missions." They walked into the rooms and removed the sweat sticky jackets they had worked out in. "My mind you're welcome in anytime, though. More fun that way."
-X-Factor-
"Oh you think you're going to get away from me." The young hacker said as she typed furiously. "Not going to happen you little - HA!"
The screen lit up and files began to fly over the screens. Scanning them she nodded and filed the information in her head for later. Following a line she hacked into a sub area and began digging again.
"That's not good." She muttered to herself, looking over the new information. "That's really not good."
She was used to mining SHIELD areas for information but the signature on this one was new, newer then the original file. Considering the file was tied to mutants, something that SHIELD had ties to though what exactly they were was unclear, she would have felt better if the original marker had been them. Better track record. She regularly found once hunted mutants and even whole families relocated and safely trained, it was refreshing.
Looking again at the new marker she looked into it instead, it was different somehow. A branch she hadn't seen before. Even with her access codes she only got the general idea. A group of separated and highly classified personnel under direct management from the big man himself responsible for the rescuing, healing and training of mutants and the relocation of their families. Rather reasonable, really, and explained all the happy endings she was so happy to stumble over.
In any case they were on this new file, so at least they were coming to the party even if they were late. Blocking off a few nagging suspicions, it was better to gather information first, she resolved one thing. As far as mutants were concerned SHIELD were the good guys, and the least Skye could do was help.