Post by adrini on Apr 23, 2015 23:00:53 GMT -5
X-Factor Chapter 9:
Finding the Path
By Adrini
“On your left.” Jean said as she pulled out the sodas from the fridge. “Do we need anything over there?”
“Topping for the hotdogs.” Wanda filled in, excited. To celebrate being accepted into the team, albeit as a training member, the girls of the group were throwing a movie night while the boys had a pool game.
“Of course. Hey Jubs, once you’re done with the popcorn could you throw in some chili?” Jean smiled. “Coney dogs!”
“Best night ever!” The teen cheered and grabbed the can from the pantry. “Just a few more seconds.”
“No rush, Suga’. We got all night, right behind you.” Rogue, who had made a feast, was carrying over a seemingly endless collection of dishes.
The microwave went off and Jubs reached to open the box when the sparks began to fly from her hand. Jumping into the electrical box the light inside went bright red for a moment before the box exploded.
Hot grease, metal shards and melted plastic flew into the air, none of which hit Rogue or Jubilee as a force field appeared and blocked it. It was after that they realized that the shield hadn't gone far enough.
“Jean!” Wanda jumped from the sofa and ran over, terrified. Not shielded from the blast the telepath was covered in cuts and burns, and bleeding. “Scott! Maria!”
Rogue was there first, looking for wounds and trying to rouse the woman. She had been knocked out in the blast.
Jubilee looked at her, cut, bleeding, hot grease burning her pale skin into red welts and broke down, looking at her hands. Maria nodded to Alex who took the girl aside to talk her down, this was how mutant powers grew. They were not always controlled. Scott was looking at his wife, trying to make sure she was okay, as Rogue stood behind him and tried to help. Her hands helping to move her into a stretcher when even she started getting freaked out.
“Miss Hill.” The woman said, her eyes wide. “What is this?”
Items were flying around the room, some smashing into the wall, some according to some pattern. Jean was restless, and Scott was straining to calm her down. Rogue also guessed the source of the chaos.
“Into the ward, now.” Scott said, Rogue and Maria filling in. Maria took the front bar as Rogue hurried behind him to take the back two.
No one noticed that Rogue was glove-less as they rushed, or thought much of the headache that she started getting shortly after helping the others move her hurt friend.
-X-Factor-
There was only one place the Summers’ kids would go, something anyone would be able to guess. Rachel’s mind, even after multiple breakings, would insist on piecing together the fragments of this world. Girl was stubborn. He hadn't seen the harm in them, shards really, which was why Nathan had been able to pull her away. Whatever pieces she had lost he had given back, he had never forgotten.
He had never actually found out where the base in this era was – Rachel had been so young she didn't actually know and Nathan had shielded anything related to here so fully he had never broken through. But this was the time, this much he knew.
Washington D.C. wasn't so changed, a few fewer places, but he had no problem finding out where he was going. An ally he had regretted not being able to make the first time. The man was here, he had to be in the center of everything, one of the bug movers and shakers of the time.
The offices were ornate, but so was everything in DC. And Mr. Shaw’s offices were especially nice. Passing on the secretary and her objections he walked right into the room where the man was slow to realize anyone was with him.
“What, how did you, no matter. Get out, this is a private office.” Shaw was a confidant man, used to getting what he wanted. That was actually what he had in mind.
“Down.” Sinister said and the man froze, unable to move. “That’s better. Now, on to business. I’m here to propose working together, the fact is we’re after the same people.
“You know this is impossible to believe, I assume.” Shaw said to the man in front of him, sitting there in a nondescript grey suit, had to be an escape mutant from a facility somewhere. “Two mutants, who haven’t even been born yet, have come back in time to stop – I don’t even know how to describe the last part.”
“No one does.” The man said. “How he works. You want proof. I know my future, and I don’t have time to play. So you are going to call your meeting, tell Miss Frost to get ready for visitors, and we are going to deal with this. Or I can tell all the people out there that their favorite mutant hunter favors his own kind. Am I clear? I have kids to get home.”
-X-Factor-
“Program 5.” Jubilee heard a voice say. Turning she saw a technician playing with a fuse box, intent on some wire or block. “You’re program 5, Jean Summers is one, Scott Summers is 2 – you get the idea. But you’re five. Should take care of that spark problem from yesterday. And don’t beat yourself up too much, mutants grow and things explode. That’s how we work, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Except train on the programs we’re given, of course.”
The speaker was the specialist that was working on the rooms, she had a male counterpart that was off in the backrooms to install hardware. She was severe looking, her red hair tied back in a tight bun and eyes that looked green hidden behind thick glasses.
“I have a program?” Jubilee asked and walked over, to look at the woman. She looked like Jean in a way, more than a little at that. Maybe she was a relative.
“You all do, though one or two are a little rough yet. We’re working on it.” Jubilee looked at the screen as it turned on. “Call me Rachel.”
“Jubilee.” She smiled and the woman grinned for a moment before returning to her job. “Hey, how is Jean doing?”
“Agent Summers? Don’t worry about her, she’s being taken care of. Be back in a day – two at most.” She checked a few settings and grinned for a moment. “You’re good to go.”
“Wait.” Jubilee said as the woman got up and moved to leave. “You said ‘we’, what is your ability?”
The woman grinned before the tools from the kit the woman was carrying began to raise into the air and fly in formation before settling back into their case.
“Not as strong as Agent Summers, of course. No one is, but it saves time when I leave my coffee cup on the counter.” Rachel said and flashed a small grin before nodding and leaving for the day.
-X-Factor-
Skye drove into the town, almost a small mountain resort, and into a back ally way where she could hide the van until she found out the safe areas here. For now she at least knew she was close to the mystery team and just needed to find out where exactly they were hiding.
Walking out to see the peaceful streets it was hard to imagine that this was any kind of military cover, but then the locals didn’t seem to be aware of it either. This was Fury’s work, it was too sneaky not to be. The local mom and pops couldn’t give away the secret they didn’t know.
Which left her still needing to find them, and the local populace were actually still useful. Fury didn’t think of everything.
The files had, once she knew the code to get in, told her what she needed to know and then some. She had expected names and bio information, but what she had gotten was more than she dreamed of. She had found the survivors, suddenly the pattern of rescues make sense – that had been them. Meaning that she wanted to be them to.
“This works.” She looked up at the internet café and sat down in a booth after ordering the largest latte the offered. “No one hides from me.”
It took a simple trace to follow the internet path to the various hubs and junctions, each meaning she was that much closer to the home box. Fury liked these guys, she could tell. None of his other bases had this much security. She was actually having to guess access means. It took the better part of the afternoon, unheard of for her, but she finally got through and downloaded a beacon to find the entrance.
Now to find a way in that didn’t involve getting shot on sight.
-X-Factor-
“Wanda, I believe. Mystic.” Said a voice from behind, and the teen jumped a little. “Come.”
The woman was openly a mutant, with blue skin in an off pattern. However Wanda knew that she was higher in the team and followed. They walked into the hallway and saw the techs again, they were installing programs for the whole team, before walking to the back.
“Who is your greatest loyalty to on this team, aside from your brother?” The woman asked as she sat down. “Not in command, personally. I’m guessing Jean.”
“Yes, she helped us, got us in. Now she’s helping us get settled – and the party-“ Wanda hurried to explain. Obviously she knew she had to follow orders, but Jean was who you went to if you were upset or needed something.
“I understand. I need you to do something, for Jean.” Mystic motioned for her to sit down. “To help.”
“Of course, anything.” Wanda was eager, excited. Jean was a teacher, mentor. She had to use that loyalty against her here. It was for the good of the team, of the world.
“Keep an eye on her. I know this is hard, but she really tries not to be a bother.” Mystic said, the kind words got immediate response. “If she needs help we want to be there. If you see something will you tell us?”
“Wouldn’t I tell Scott?” Wanda asked, confused. “I mean, he’s her husband. That’s how that works.”
“After Scott, then. Just so we can help them, you and me. Will you?” Wanda, assured that she wasn’t keeping a secret from the team leader, nodded.
“Okay, so long as it helps.”
-X-factor-
They were in a mountain. Who the hell hides in a mountain. Skye knew that somewhere in the granite landmark was an advanced, super secure, SHIELD installation of nothing but high powered and heroic mutants who had been trained by the best to save the innocent. They were right there.
Not that it mattered, there was no way she was getting in. They were protected by 6 foot granite walls and steel interiors. The IRS she could get into, this wasn’t going to happen. She even knew she was near the door but there wasn’t a door, there was rock.
Biting her lip and banging the wall in frustration she jumped back as the hit echoed behind the surface. This was the door, it looked like stone, there was moss! She took note to come back later when some time has passed to try to get it open. Once she was inside she could hide or convince the members into letting her in, after all she was one of them and she could certainly help.
Stepping back she was about to leave when the stone opened, the façade of the surface opening. Skye froze, she had no idea what was happening but maybe whoever this was didn’t know she was here.
“It’s a girl, she’s like us.” She heard a voice say. “She was practically screaming.”
The crack grew larger and a woman with bright red hair appeared looking eagerly. Behind her, with a look that clearly showed he was humoring his companion, was a dark haired man in red tinted glasses.
“That could have been anyone, you know your range.” The two stepped into the foliage. “There’s no one here. We’ll miss our turn in the training room.”
“Give me one minute, we’ll make it.” The woman said, now worried. “Do you think she left?”
“Look, scan if you need to. You cannot miss your training, we need to get changed.” The man said and leaned on the rock. Focusing for a moment the woman closed her eyes. How was that scanning? Yet somehow Skye felt entirely exposed, it was very unsettling. But impossible, she was hidden, well hidden.
“I see you, Miss Johnson. Well, not really but-“ The red head slowly moved and Skye found herself facing the woman. One of the team, she had to be scary strong. “I told you there was someone here, Scott. She’s one of us, a strong one even. And she means well. Why are you here, though?”
The man only looked for a moment before pulling out his phone and pointedly pulling the woman away.
“I think we’re doing too good of a job, Hill.” He said into the piece. “The mutants are finding us.”
-X-Factor-
-Move- he told himself. Fighting with will he could barely claim to have, the last remnants of his mind clinging desperately to the last dregs of self-control. His own control, not her. The last memories of who he was, where he came from. There were so few memories left.
-Move- he thought again. It was working. There was an open window, past the others. They were lost – or would be. The people they had been before were almost gone. There wasn’t much left, in some there was nothing. He didn’t want to be like them. He didn’t want to be erased and replaced. He need to find a way out. The window, he had to get to the window.
-Push!- He thought as the latch stuck, he couldn’t fail now. Another mind wipe and he was done, though. He wouldn’t make it. Some mental robot would take his place. The window moved, he opened it the rest of the way. The others would pay for this, but they would pay anyway. Someone had to escape, tell people what was happening, make it stop.
-Keep going!- He thought, focusing on that thought and climbed onto the platform, barely fitting, but barely was enough. He was out, now he needed to get away. Now he desperately needed to get away.
-Fly- He barely remembered her could, how could she had made him forget that? But he felt the wings spread, remembered the motions, the means. Jumping into the air the wings caught wind and he flew, maybe glided. He didn’t care. It was away. Until he tried to find a place to hid, a place to regain strength and as he moved the wind was lost and he fell. Even the force of hitting the hard ground was welcome. It wasn’t there.
He breathed. He was out. He was on free ground, he was out. He just needed to rest, gather what was left of him. Try to rebuild, but what was left to rebuild?
“Garcon, ou’ do not look well.” Looking up, though blurred vision, he saw a form. He couldn’t help but panic. “I ‘ave seldom seen a young man so terifi’. Why don’ oui take you to a place more better, ou do not need to be out ‘ere.”