X3: The Ace Of Spades

Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)
A/N:Alright, now I’m getting into gear on my summer update schedule. Just a tad over a week, which will be the general timeline between chapters. We get an X-Force mission, Remy and Sarah talk, and a bit more with the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s. Thanks for all the feedback last time, and please read and review, and enjoy, this new chapter!
Chapter 30: Operations

The sleek helicopter sped them toward the Helicarrier, now clearly in sight. Remy and the others had changed and been out of the mansion within minutes of the calls, driving one of the school vans to the small area they’d been driven to before.

A helicopter was waiting for them, and had taken off the moment they stepped aboard, speeding away much faster than the last transport they’d taken. As a result, they were near the Helicarrier in ten minutes less than it had taken the last time.

Their pilot turned sharply, circling them around the massive floating structure, hovered down to land on a small area on the side of the ‘Carrier’s deck. He gestured for them to get out, and they hurried through the door and over to the same staircase they’d used before, where Carter was already waiting.

“Follow me,” she said, her voice tense.

“What’s th’mission?” Logan asked.

“I’ll brief you in the helicopter with the others,” she said quietly as they tried to keep pace with her in the narrow corridors of the Helicarrier.

She took them down several side corridors and down a set of stairs to a larger hall in what seemed to be a shortcut from the way they’d gone their previous visit.

The hall soon ended at the entrance to the vehicle bay, and they could see Domino and Jamie waiting by the sleek black X-49 helicopter they’d seen the previous time they’d been here.

“Sorry about the short notice. Hope you guys are ready,” Domino said as they neared them.

“’bout time you guys got here,” said another Jamie as he walked up behind them. He tossed a slim communicator to each of the newcomers. Each one consisted of a small earbud, a frame that kept it in place by hooking around the back of the ear, and a slim, long microphone that could be bent to fit the person’s face.

“Put those on,” he said, and then walked back in the direction he had come.

Jamie, the one that had been waiting by the helicopter, pushed off from where he had been leaning. “Don’t mind him, he’s just grumpy that I’m making him stay behind and monitor the mission from the Helicarrier. Now that we’re all here, let’s get going. Clarice is waiting for us.”

Carter followed the others onboard, and slid around to the front, to sit in the copilot’s seat. She turned around in the seat to look back at them.

“Where are we headed?” Logan asked.

“Philadelphia. I’ll brief you in a minute. Blink will teleport us to a S.H.I.E.L.D. helipad about thirty miles out from your mission, and we’ll fly the rest of the way in. We’ve found it easiest for her and us to have a set number of pads with coordinates she can remember easily.”

“That was after we’d done a few blind teleports and she ‘ported us in front of a passenger jet,” Jamie muttered, grinning.

“Shh!” Clarice commanded, shooting a glare back from her place in the pilot’s seat. “I need to concentrate – this is the biggest group I’ve ‘ported before. And one more word from you and I’m leaving your liver behind, Jamie.”

His mouth snapped shut, and she turned back to the front, a smug smile on her face.

Clarice took a deep breath, and placed her hands firmly on the instrument board. A pink glow immediately erupted from them and slowly began to envelop first the board itself, and then the frame of the helicopter before it moved on to each of the passengers.

It then flashed brightly, and there was a momentary feeling of weightlessness, before gravity slammed back in and the light disappeared.

Remy glanced out the window and found himself looking out at an open-air helipad surrounded by a high chain-link and barbed wire fence in a wooded area.

“Mein Gott, ” Kurt breathed – she’d teleported not only them, but an entire helicopter to within 30 miles of Philadelphia, or about a hundred miles away from where they’d been. He could barely handle transporting a group of people a few miles without getting tired, so this sort of ability was amazing.

Clarice turned her head, looking back at the group with a large smile. “Hey, everyone still in one piece?”

“Hope so,” Domino said.

“Alrighty then, let’s get to Philly,” she said, turning her attention to the controls and flicking a series of switches.

Either the engine ran quietly or the body of the helicopter was soundproof, because as the engine started and the blades began to whirl, it made only the slightest hint of sound in the passenger compartment – little more than what one would experience on a passenger airliner.

Carter turned around in her seat as the helicopter lifted off, and swung down a small flatscreen television monitor that had been locked into the ceiling. She tapped a few buttons on the PDA she carried, and the screen flickered to life with the logo of S.H.I.E.L.D. against a blue background.

Then an image of an olive skinned man with a well-trimmed beard slid onto the screen.

“This is our target today. His name is Ahmet Abdol; he also goes by the moniker of ‘Hayy Jabal’’ – an Arabic phrase that roughly translates to ‘Stone That Lives’ or ‘Living Monolith’.”

She switched the picture to one of him walking with a group of people, AK-47s slung over their shoulders. ”He’s an Egyptian national, and member of Qaeda Al Jihad, an Egyptian terrorist group with strong links to Al Qaeda. He’s one of their lead operatives and has been involved in a number of high profile bombings and assassinations in Egypt.”

“The reason you’re needed is that this man is a mutant – a very powerful mutant terrorist, and we need you to neutralize him. Not a lot is known about his abilities. What we do know is that he feeds off of radiation – the more he gets the stronger he gets. When he’s absorbed enough radiation, he has some level of super-strength, something described as concussive force beams he can shoot out of his eyes, and very durable skin – an Egyptian assassination operation took a shot at him with a fifty caliber rifle, and it barely pierced his skin.”

“We believe he’s here for his brother, Asal. His brother was picked up in Philadelphia last month for planning a terrorist attack and sending information back to his organization. He’s being held in the federal penitentiary in northern Pennsylvania until his trial starts.”

“Ahmet arrived in New Jersey earlier today with a fake passport. Someone spotted it as he went through customs, and when the airport security tried to detain him, he shoved his arm into an x-ray machine in the security line and started tossing around guards like they were dolls.”

Carter sighed, and switched the screen to show a map of Pennsylvania, with a red line apparently showing his path. “He was spotted two hours ago attacking a hospital and forcing them to use a CT scanner on him to collect the radiation from that. Police have been trying to track him, and we saw him near a convenience store outside of Philadelphia just ten minutes ago.”

She clicked something on her PDA and the map zoomed in on the city of Philadelphia itself, showing his path through the city – a number of dots showing reported sightings, as well as police efforts to halt him.

Rogue frowned, looking over the path, which seemed to change and straighten out several times at certain intersections, almost as if the man was following directions.

Her eyes narrowed. “What’s this group of buildings he seems t’be headin’ for? It looks like he’s changin’ course to end up straight through here.”

Carter looked down on the PDA at her display. “Pennsylvania State University. Private college.”

Remy snapped his fingers. “You said his brother was scoutin’ de city for terrorist targets? So he’d know a bit about de city. Maybe he told his brother dere’s somethin’ here. Dey got some sort of medical facilities or somethin’ dat would give him more radiation?”

Carter’s brow furrowed, and she spend the next minute searching the school on the internet, scrolling through several pages, and then she paled. “Oh, damn.” She said under her breath.

“Clarice, speed us up, fast as we can go,” she said urgently, and then looked up at the others. “Penn University has a nuclear reactor, set up for research with radiation. It’s small, only one megawatt of power at max capacity, but I’m sure it’d be producing than enough radiation to fuel Abdol for a prison break.”

“We’re going to have to hope we beat him to the campus, because I don’t want to know what he’ll be capable of if he reaches that reactor.

She left up the screen with a map of the campus for them to study, and nodded in Domino’s direction. “Dom is team leader. Let’s make this a quick takedown. And remember – he’s got a limited amount of power. Wear him down if you have to, because once he runs out he’s as vulnerable as any baseline human and needs another recharge to keep it up.”

She pulled out her slim cell phone. “Make whatever plans you can, we’ll be there in ten. I’ve got to call that school and get them evacuated, and hopefully get that reactor shut down.”

***********************************************************************
Ahmet walked through the school campus, trying to not appear out of place as best he could. He looked back down at the map and directions he’d taken from Egypt, which his brother had provided him, and turned to move through a large green commons area toward a squat building several hundred yards away.

He could only read English to a limited extent, but it had been enough to get him by on his trip toward this building from New Jersey. Once he obtained the power available here, nothing, and no one, would stop him from rescuing his brother.

Ahmet winced as he took a wide stride that pulled at the skin of his side. He’d been shot by the police at the airport as he’d begun to absorb the energy from the x-ray machine, and he’d been vulnerable enough that it had punched partway into his skin, leaving a bleeding, painfully deep flesh wound.

He’d forced one of the nurses at the hospital to bandage it, but the outer part of the white bandage was already starting to soak red with blood.

Ahmet’s eyebrows furrowed when the cell phones of the young men and women around him began ringing almost completely in sync. Each person answered the phone or read a text, and then a sort of composed panic began, and people began moving away from the buildings and toward vehicles, a panicked murmuring rising amongst them.

He smiled grimly to himself – they were evacuating because of him. It gave him a sense of cocky satisfaction that he could strike such fear in the hearts of these people.

Ahmet moved toward the large double-door entrance of the building he’d walked toward, and a burly security guard stepped up and in front of him before he could enter.

“I’m sorry sir, the school has issued an emergency evacuation, all buildings are going into lockdown. You can’t –”

He was cut off with a gurgle as Ahmet’s hand jabbed forward and gripped his throat with inhuman strength. Ahmet hefted the larger man from the ground, and squeezed harder. The man slumped bonelessly to the ground moments later, his neck snapped.

Ahmet yanked the door open, and stalked down the hallway, following a sign that said something – the only word he could recognize from it was ‘nuclear’, and ended up following a small series of the same sign with arrows pointing the direction to the reactor.

He ran into one more guard, and dealt with him just as swiftly as the first, although this time he felt the exertion more, and felt the pain in his side stab harder. He was beginning to run out of energy – the constant movement and several encounters with the police were quickly draining him, and he needed this soon.

He turned a corner and came to the end of a small hallway with a door labeled ‘control room’. He put his shoulder to it with a firm shove, and the locked door flew inward, off of its hinges.

An older man, with graying hair who appeared to be some sort of scientist, whirled around in his chair in front of the control panel, and stared at Ahmet in shock. “What- how – you aren’t authorized to be in here.”

Ahmet growled, and spat in the man’s face before grabbing the front of his shirt and tossing him across the room. A glance at the display of the control panel showed the reactor to be running, but that the man had been in the process of initiating a shutdown – he’d made it just in time.

Ahmet walked to the other door in the room, and opened it. It led out onto a metal platform and a set of stairs inside the reactor room, which ran down to the floor. He smiled in contentment as he moved slowly toward it.

He absently fingered a long quartz crystal that hung from a golden chain on his neck. He could absorb energy brute-force-like if he needed to, but having a crystal like this helped him focus the energy into himself much more readily.

He reached the ground floor of the room. The room itself was taken up mainly by a large, deep pool of water that glowed an ethereal blue from Cherenkov radiation. The pool surrounded the reactor itself, and provided cooling during operation – to get to the radiation and the reactor itself he’d need to take a swim.

Ahmet took a deep breath, and then jumped into the water, shivering slightly from the cold temperature at the top where the water was freshly pumped in. He ducked his head under, and swam quickly downward toward the bright light of the reactor.

As he neared it, came within a few feet of the powerful nuclear-powered device, he felt a tingling feeling grow, crawling along his skin, as he began to absorb the radiation.

He moved his hands in the water to bring himself even closer, and then felt the full brunt of the power of the reactor. Power surged through him, like a drug, much more intense than anything he’d ever felt, almost to the point of pleasure.

He reveled in it, soaking up more and more of it, until it reached a point where he began to feel like he was going to overload all of his senses. He kicked his legs and swam back to the surface, gasping as he received air.

He gripped the edge of the pool of water and yanked himself out, staggering to his feet. He moved a hand down to his abdomen, and laughed with delight when he felt his wound had disappeared.

He strode confidently from the room, and toward the exit of the building. He’d never contained so much power, and the energy coursing through his veins gave him an even stronger sense of confidence. ‘These cowards will pay for what they’ve done to my brother,’ he thought to himself.

Ahmet suddenly dropped to his knees and doubled over in pain. A stab of blinding agony had hit his stomach, and he couldn’t figure out what had caused it.

The pain spread slightly, to his chest and stomach. Suddenly there was a pinging crack, and his chain dropped from his neck with the crystal still attached – one of the links looked completely severed – snapped.

‘What?’ He thought to himself, looking dumbly down at the necklace.

His clothes felt much tighter than they had before, and while he’d noticed a slight tightness moments before, he’d thought it was due to them being wet from his ‘swim’ in the reactor pool.

Looking down though, he saw the flesh of his arm trying to bulge out around the abnormally tight cuff of his shirtsleeve. It was as if he was growing and it confused him.

His vague suspicion was confirmed at an increase of the sharp pain and a sudden tearing sound as his shirt burst open at the seams, no longer able to expand with his body.

Another burst of pain wracked his body, and then another, and he writhed on the floor as his pants started to follow suit while his entire body continued to grow and expand.

‘What is happening to me?’ He wondered in panic and pain.

***********************************************************************

“Alright, let’s close down the area around the reactor building until we get a better idea of where he is,” Domino said, pulling open the door to the helicopter.

She jumped out first, landing in a crouch on ground, which Clarice was hovering several feet above, pulling a heavy black duffel bag with her. The others followed her, and they fanned out to begin to surround the building – Clarice had set them down in a large open commons area near the building in question.

There was a heavy downdraft of wind as Clarice took off again. “We’ll circle around, try to get a visual, and stay in contact. If you need help, Carter can take control and I’ll ‘port down and get you out of there. ” Her voice came over the headsets.

“Copy that,” Domino said. “Jamie, you and your dupes take the west side and we’ll take the other sides – wait –“ She pointed to the front of the building where the lifeless body of the security guard laid at the door. “We’re too late, he’s inside. Probably already at the reactor. Plan B.”

Plan B – get into the building and hit him hard and heavy to drain his energy – was halted moments later when a loud cracking noise came from the building, moments before the roof exploded outward in a cloud of drywall, metal, and other debris.

First a head and then a torso appeared, revealing a huge, grey-skinned man with no hair. Only his facial features themselves showed him to be Abdol. The fact that he towered over them by at least twenty feet likely had a bit to do with him being somewhat hard to recognize.

“Shit,” Logan muttered. “Thought Carter said we were facin’ some superstrong guy. Not fuckin’ Paul Bunyan.”

The enormous man turned once he broke free from the remains of the roof, and started moving toward them, although he didn’t appear to notice them.

Remy’s eyebrows rose. “Naked Paul Bunyan. Dat’s not somethin’ I wanted to see. Gonna have nightmares now.”

“Carter, you seeing this? No intel on this?” Dom asked, her lips curling upward slightly at Logan and Remy and their banter.

“I see that, Dom, we had no idea this could happen. Then again, he probably hasn’t run into many nuclear reactors living in the desert in Egypt. Orders are the same. Neutralize or kill. We can’t let him get off the campus – we haven’t evacuated any of the surrounding area.”

“Got it,” Neena said, and then switched over to the team frequency, and looked at each of them with a slight grin. “Welcome to our life. Wish we could have gotten a practice run in, but this will have to do.”

“Rogue, Gambit, hit him fast and hard – Nightcrawler, distract him. If we can get him off balance, Jamie, you and your dupes trip him up – I’ll hang back and do what I can,” she said, unzipping her bag to reveal several long sniper rifles, and grenades, and even an RPG launcher. “Logan, Carter said his skin was impenetrable. Somehow I doubt he’s run into your claws before, so let’s see just how invulnerable he is.”

“My pleasure, Dom,” Logan said, easily slipping into the codename mindset.

Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke as Remy pulled out a full deck of his cards. Kurt reappeared directly in Abdol’s face, and the man looked at him in surprise, for the first time noticing the group in front of him. Kurt used the momentum of his teleportation to swing around and kick the man in the eye – about all he could do given the fact that his head was around the same size as Kurt himself.

Abdol grunted, and slapped his hand upward, as if batting away a fly, but Kurt was already gone, leaving a puff of his sulfurous smoke in the man’s face. He began a series of similar harassing attacks, just enough to make Abdol angry and get his attention elsewhere.

Remy charged as much power as he could into the deck – without disintegrating it – and hurled it upward at Abdol, who had continued walking toward them. It exploded with a brilliant blast underneath his chin, and he staggered back, stunned and blinded by the explosion.

Rogue darted over, underneath him while he was distracted, to the now-ruined part of the building they’d come to defend. She grabbed a large chunk of concrete, nearly twice her size, and hefted it over her head as she flew back toward the others.

She decided to take advantage of his vulnerable and exposed anatomy, and spun with the hunk of concrete before letting it go like a shotput weight, and it hurtled toward the man, and shattered on impact.

Abdol grunted, and nearly doubled over, grasping at his crotch to protect it from further blows.

Domino took advantage of that movement to sight down the scope of her rifle, and begin firing. Each shot hit its mark, near one of his eyes, and he clenched it shut against the attack.

Abdol let out a guttural roar, and his eyes suddenly glowed a bright yellow, and his face twisted into a snarl. He swatted again at Kurt, and clipped his tail on one swing, causing him to tumble until he could recover to teleport away.

He kicked a nearby car, and Remy, Jamie, Logan, and Domino had to scatter to avoid the tumbling mass. “Merde, we just made him mad!” Remy yelled as he took a glancing blow across the forehead from the fender when he tried to dodge.

He reached up and wiped away the trickle of blood that began to drip down into his eyes from the cut in his forehead. He wasn’t too concerned by the amount of blood – head wounds always seemed to bleed a lot, and always looked worse than they were.

Rogue shot back into the air, and grabbed the rolling car, stopping its advance, and then she hurled it straight back at Abdol where it burst into an exploding mess against his chest.

She flew up, closer, and spun circles around his head, trying to give the others time to recover, and was rewarded with the sound of several whistling bullets flying past her and striking Abdol as Domino got set up again with her rifle.

She darted forward several times, landing a few heavy kicks to his face that seemed to have some effect in disorienting him.

Kurt and Logan took advantage as well – Kurt teleported him in near one of Abdol’s legs. Logan’s claws sprang forward from his knuckles, and he stabbed them down onto the man’s foot. There was a slight resistance, but Dom was right, he thought to himself, as they punctured Abdol’s skin.

He had to yank them back out quickly when Abdol’s leg jerked at the sudden pain, trying to toss him off of his foot. But Logan quickly ran to the other foot and did the same, slicing several deep gashes into the skin and deeper into the muscle.

Abdol looked downward, his eyes still glowing, and blasted Logan off of his feet with a burst of yellowish energy that left a smoking crater behind where it had hit.

He turned toward Domino and Jamie, and unleashed another concussive blast, sustaining it and tracking to follow them. The blast neared Jamie and he scattered – literally – in several dozen directions, each dupe giving Abdol a new target he had to focus on. The optic blast left a gouged track in its wake, furrowing into the green lawn of the commons as he tried in vain to hit his enemies.

Logan scampered – rather agilely – up the man’s leg, digging his claws in as handholds, causing pain and irritation to the enormous man when he wasn’t fast enough. Logan soon reached the spot on his back that Abdol couldn’t reach to knock him away, and stabbed his claws into where his spine should be.

Abdol growled with frustration, jerking his head wildly to try to hit someone out of blind luck with the blasts of energy from his eyes. Then he reached back to grab a long, steel support beam that had been part of the structure he’d torn his way out of. He swung it around with blinding speed like a baseball bat.

Rogue was unable to dodge to the side in time and took the full force of the girder against her body. The impact bent the girder in half, and slammed her out of the air and to the ground, where she left her own impact crater.

“Rogue!” Remy cried, seeing her motionless in a shallow hole in the ground, bleeding from her nose.

He hurled three more decks of playing cards at Abdol before he turned and started to dash to her side.

He stopped – relieved – when she began to move, and then sat up, as if startled awake, and even from where he was a few dozen feet away, he could see the flash of blue in her eyes.

“Very bad idea,” Carol growled, tensing her knees before launching back into the air. “Never learned you shouldn’t hit a girl?”

She flew forward, and rammed into Abdol’s face with both of her outstretched fists, snapping his head backwards. She flew around him before he could recover, and grabbed another chunk of the building – this one much larger, and then darted upward into the air at incredible speed, until Remy could no longer even see her.

Logan stabbed further into Abdol’s back, and Domino tossed aside her sniper rifle in favor of the RPG-7 launcher in her pack. She was about to sight down the small ironsights on the tube barrel, when Remy slipped up beside her.

“Wait. Let’s give dis a bit more of a bang, shall we?” He said, and rested his fingertips against the grenade warhead, the magenta glow spreading down its length, but never touching the tube of the launcher itself.

He removed his fingers and stepped back. “Better do it quick, I c’n only concentrate on keepin’ it from blowin’ for a little bit.”

Her eyes lit up and she flashed him a wide grin. “I like the way you think, Gambit.”

She braced it against her shoulder fully and pulled the trigger, which launched the warhead at Abdol. It spun slightly as it left, and for a moment it looked like it might not fly straight enough, but it seemed to correct in mid flight, and Remy let go of his control over the charge as it impacted Abdol.

Abdol was staggered back by the massive explosion, nearly knocked off his feet, as the explosives of the grenade itself were enhanced by Remy’s enormous kinetic energy charge.

Jamie was already acting, the ground around Abdol quickly covered by dozens – hundreds maybe – of dupes, each grasping his feet and legs and pushing and pulling.

It was enough to complete Abdol’s loss of balance, and he fell back. Logan managed to jump off the toppling man and roll out of harm’s way, and the dupes in the way simply blurred back toward the others, absorbing into them.

Abdol slammed down onto his back, his head hitting the side of the building forcefully enough to knock several bricks loose and to cause the wall itself to buckle inward.

In all of that, Abdol had gone with the “out of sight out of mind” approach with respect to Rogue, and that ended up being his undoing.

Moments after he toppled, Rogue – or rather Carol – streaked through the air straight downward, shoving the concrete chunk in front of her with all her might. She was a blur as she slammed it heavily into Abdol’s stomach, the block exploding into a million little shards on impact.

She flew away, somewhat wobbly, as Abdol doubled up on his back, his knees drawn up to his chest as he clutched his stomach, moaning. His eyes seemed to be unconsciously still projecting their energy in a long, yellow beacon up into the sky.

As they watched, he began to shrink back down, losing nearly half his height in mere moments, as the energy expended from the fight and leaking from his eyes drained his reserves he’d gotten from the reactor.

“We’ve got him,” Domino said over the headset. “I’ll collar him, but we need to get out of here before the police – or worse, the media – get out here.”

“We’re coming in,” Clarice said over the channel, and the helicopter banked from where it had been circling a half-mile away, and moved toward them.

Rogue landed next to Remy, stumbling slightly as she did so.

“Carol?” Remy asked, and she looked up at him, nodding. “She alright?”

Domino watched them with interest. “I thought your name was Marie…” She said. “That’s what Fury’s file on you said.”

Carol smiled slightly, and moved her hand up to swipe at the blood still dripping slowly from her nose. “That’s Rogue’s name. I’m Carol Danvers - Rogue absorbed me a few weeks back – I was dying and sorta made her do it, and now I’m pretty much a resident of her head. I can take over for her if she lets me.”

She shifted her gaze back to Remy. “She’s fine, just a bit shaken up. The blow knocked her out for a minute or so, and so I took over. I’ll give her a few to get back to normal, and let her take over again when we’re sitting down in the helicopter.”

Remy nodded, relief passing over his eyes. He’d known she was durable, but not how much punishment she could really take. He clenched his jaw against the image of her lying lifelessly as it passed through his mind again.

Domino stepped over to her bag and shifted several weapons aside until she found a slim metal collar. She grabbed it and took over to the now-normal-sized Abdol, and snapped into place around his neck.

Carol looked up when Remy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He gave her a knowing look, and she unclenched fists she hadn’t realized she’d made at the sight of the collar.

As the helicopter landed nearby, Remy slung an arm around her shoulder, turning her away from Abdol and toward the open door of the helicopter. He bent his face down near her ear. “Don’ have to worry ‘bout dat no more, hein? Anyone come near you or Rogue wit’ dat thing an’ dey’ll be dealin’ with me.”

She shot him a weak smile. “Rogue’s right, you are way too sweet.” She said, and winked at him before she climbed up into the passenger bay of the helicopter.

Remy hid a grin, and gripped the edge of the door as he turned to look back. Domino had packed up her bag, and had shouldered it, walking next to Logan and Kurt. Behind them, Jamie and several of his dupes had picked up the now-unconscious and powerless Abdol, and were carrying him toward the helicopter.

‘All in all, pretty damn good first mission,’ Remy thought to himself. While he enjoyed working with the others as one of the X-Men, this group had its own charm to it as well.

He clambered up into the passenger bay, and grabbed Domino’s duffel bag for her as she reached the door, and heaved it aboard, before moving to the side to sit down next to Carol as the others entered, followed last by Jamie, his dupes, and Abdol, who they carried to the far back. They zip-tied his hands together, and tossed a blanket over him – whatever exactly was behind his mutation didn’t seem to care about clothes, unlike Jamie’s own.

“Well, that was a blast, leave Jamie the naked bad guy to carry back to the chopper,” Jamie said sarcastically, sitting down in his own seat after absorbing the rest of his dupes.

“Oh quit being a baby,” Domino said, a twinkle in her eyes. “I saw the look you were giving him. I figured you two could use some alone time.”

She gave up trying to hold in a chuckle when Jamie stared at her, his jaw working uselessly, no sound coming from his mouth.

He finally grunted, and looked pleadingly at all the others. “You see? You see what I have to go through? I hoped all you newbies coming to the team would get those two off my case,” he said, jerking his thumb at a grinning Domino and Clarice, “but I see I was mistaken.”

“Don’ see what the problem is, Madrox, two pretty girls makin’ a fuss over you an’ teasin’ you – most guys’d be happy.” Logan said, grinning at the discomfort that appeared on the girls’ faces and the laugh from Jamie.

Domino elbowed him in the gut, blushing slightly. “Very funny, Logan. Just for that, you’re paying for my beer when we catch up.”

***********************************************************************

The police had quickly zeroed in on the latest disturbance, and were likely very puzzled when they reached the campus and found no cause for the ruined building, and the crumpled car that rested on the furrowed commons along with several enormous footprints indented into the grass.

Clarice had been monitoring the local police scanner, and quickly ported the entire team and helicopter back to the Helicarrier once they neared the site of the battle, and the team was now busy unloading the helicopter.

A team of armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had entered the vehicle bay upon their arrival, and were marching off with a groggy Abdol between them.

Logan was helping Domino take off her several long duffel bags of weapons she’d brought, Clarice and Carter were going through post-flight checklists, and Kurt and Jamie were outside, having helped bring Abdol off the helicopter.

Carol took a deep breath, from her seat next to Remy, and closed her eyes, a slight shudder passing over her body as Rogue took control once more.

She blinked, and her familiar brown eyes gazed unfocused at him for a moment.

“Rogue? You alright?”

“Yeah. Ah’m okay. Just… a bit knocked around.” Her eyes widened. “Remy! You’re bleeding!” She exclaimed, looking at the wound on his forehead.

She reached under the seat and pulled out a small backpack she’d carried along for the trip, and quickly pulled out a small first aid kit. She smiled slightly at his curious look.

“Ah figure Ah’m th’only one 'round here that’s got trainin’ from a nurse, an’ Ah wanna be one someday mahself, so Ah might as well be ready as the team medic for y’all.”

She pulled out a small disinfecting wipes, and placed her hand behind Remy’s head as she leaned in and wiped at the gash with the wipes in her other hand.

He hissed and jerked away slightly at the sharp stinging of the alcohol in the wipes. “Really, Chére, it’s fine. Jus’ a little cut.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Really? Well Ah can just leave it like it is, an’ we can head on home an’ let Sarah see yah with your forehead covered in blood – Ah’m sure that wouldn’t make her freak out or anythin’…..”

Remy grimaced and sighed. “Good point. Clean away, ma infirmiére.” He leaned forward, his hand slipping down to the case resting on her lap to grab another wipes. “Only fair I get to take care of you, Chére,” he said, dabbing away the drying blood by her nose.

She blushed softly, and tried to concentrate on cleaning up his forehead. She let the area around the shallow gash dry – the bleeding had mostly stopped already – and then gently covered it with a thin layer of gauze that she taped down into place.

“Yah get hit hard there? Feelin’ dizzy or anythin’?” She asked, pulling his sunglasses off to get a better look into his eyes.

“Non, just a piece of de car scratchin’ me as it went by. I’m more worried ‘bout you, getting’ hit like dat. Y’scared de hell outta me.”

She smiled softly, and moved her fingers back and forth in front of his face, observing his eyes as they followed him, before sitting back, fairly certain he hadn’t gotten a concussion, although she’d keep an eye on him to make sure.

“Sorry. Ah didn’t see it comin’ ‘till too late. But Ah’m fine. A little sore here,” she said, rubbing her neck, “but Carol an’ Ah are pretty resilient.”

Remy was about to say more, but Clarice and Carter had finished in the cockpit and came out to the passenger bay.

“You two alright?” Carter asked. They both nodded, and she smiled knowingly at their closeness. “Alright, let’s head down to the debriefing room. Shouldn’t take long. You guys did great for your first run together. We should probably do some training together, but you and Dom and Jamie seem to have clicked pretty well.”

“Be right out,” Remy said, nodding at her.

Remy stood up and offered Rogue his hand, which she used to help herself up from her seat after she’d packed up the first aid kit. She slung the bag over her shoulder, and shifted to hold his hand tightly as they left the helicopter and joined the others.

***********************************************************************
Remy took a deep breath, and slowly entered the open doorway of Sarah’s room. He knocked lightly on the doorframe, and she looked up from where she was looking through a textbook.

“Remy! I’m getting bored of studyin’. Can we do something?”

“Hey petite, can we talk?” Remy asked softly.

Sarah smiled. “Okay, what about?”

Remy entered the room, and closed the door behind him, and moved over to the bed to sit down next to her.

Her gaze was drawn upward to his forehead, where the cut from their run-in with Abdol was healing well, little more than a thin pink line on his skin. She’d been worried when she’d seen his bandaged head when they’d finally returned to the mansion, and Remy was glad Rogue had thought to take care of it before Sarah had seen it like it had originally been.

Sarah’s smile faded at his serious expression, and she looked at him with concern. “Remy? What’s wrong?”

He folded his legs up onto the bed, and grabbed her smaller hands in his. “I love you, petite. You know dat, right?”

“Y-yeah…” she said. “I love you too, Remy.”

He took a deep sigh and looked down. “I need to tell you somethin’, petite, somethin’ I never tol’ you. About why I was down in de tunnels.”

She looked at him, confusion evident in her expression. “I – you were down there to save us… to save me…” She said questioningly.

“Dat’s… dat’s true, Sarah, but it ain’ de whole truth. I jus’… I didn’ want you to hate me, so I didn’ tell you everythin’.”

Sarah looked at him, her eyes radiating uncertainty. “R-Remy, I couldn’t hate you –”

He squeezed her hands. “Please, petite, dis’s hard for me. Let me say everythin’.”

She nodded quietly and he continued. “It wasn’ my first time down in dose tunnels. I – I was lookin’ for a job, an’ someone offered me one dat would be easy money. All I had to do was find de tunnels an’ map dem out, an’ they’d rob dis bank by excavatin’ out underneath it from de tunnels.”

He closed his eyes. “I saw you – not you personally, but a bunch of de other mutants down dere. I watched you all for a while, figured out where y’went and when. I wrote it all down so dey could go at a time when you were all asleep, an’ not risk runnin’ inta you.”

“Dis man… de man who hired me… he had me give de map an’ my notes to a man dat was leadin’ de bank robbery team. His name was Zdravko… Emil Zdravko…”

Sarah swallowed heavily at the name – Remy shouting it as he rescued her still occasionally visited her in her dreams, the fear of the enormous man hurting her, and the relief at Remy arriving in time to save her – and she knew then where this story was going.

“Th-the man in the tunnels?” Sarah asked, her voice trembling slightly.

“Yeah,” Remy said, swallowing heavily. “I left, an’ went to dis warehouse where de man dat hired me was supposed to pay me. I got dere a bit early, an’ found him talkin’ on de phone. He was givin’ final instructions to de team, and when I-“ Remy grimaced. “When I heard him say all of you were supposed to die, I knew what I’d really been hired for.”

“I hurried back, but I was too late to save de others… An’ you know de rest,” he said softly. “I didn’ tell you…. couldn’t, because I was afraid… Afraid you’d hate me, an’ I’d lose you. But I couldn’ keep hidin’ it from you anymore, even if dat means I lose you… I’m sorry…” He whispered.

“Remy, did you know? Did you know that they were going to come down there and kill us?” Sarah asked simply, searching his face, needing to be sure.

“Non, not until he said it. I woulda blown de hell outta dat team when I gave ’em de map if I’d known.”

Sarah nodded, and looked at him with accepting eyes and a watery smile. “Then I don’t blame you for anything, Remy,” she said. “Somebody tricked you, an’ you tried to help us when you found out.”

She placed her much smaller hand against his cheek, and leaned forward, resting her nose tenderly against his. “I still love you, Remy. I’d never hate you – you saved me an’ took care of me, an’ made everything so much better for me.”

Remy closed his eyes, a relieved smile making its way to his face, and he shifted slightly so he could kiss her cheek. “Thanks petite,” he said softly, and let go of her other hand to pull her into a tight hug.

“Did you tell Rogue?” She asked, her voice muffled in his t-shirt.

Remy nodded, and rested his chin on the top of her head. “Yeah, I tol’ her. While back actually.”

Sarah looked up and gave him a tentative smile. “Good.” Her expression wavered for a moment. “I- kinda figured it was something like this anyway, Remy. Most people didn’t know ‘bout the tunnels, so I figured there was a reason you were down there in th’first place. An’ you knew that man, an’ how to get out without getting lost….” she shrugged.

Remy chuckled weakly, and pressed his cheek to her forehead, ignoring the small bone protrusions that pressed against him. “You’re too smart, ma petite.”

Sarah grinned sheepishly, and then wrinkled her nose. “You need a shave, Remy – you’re all prickly.”

Remy sighed. “I know, didn’ do it dis morning – I was worryin’ ‘bout tellin’ you dis…. I’ll go shave, an’ den if you still want we can do somethin’ together.”

Sarah nodded, and let him pull away from the hug. “Alright, Remy. What d’ya wanna do?”

“I don’ know. Why don’ you think of somethin’ while I shave, hein?”

She nodded, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead one last time. “I love you, ma mignonne,” he said softly.

Sarah smiled widely. “Love you too, Remy.”

***********************************************************************

Warren perched on the highest point of the mansion’s roof, sitting in a precarious balance above the ground clearly visible several stories below. A month ago such a sight would have been a bit unnerving, but since he’d come to the mansion – in fact, since the very moment he’d leapt from his father’s building away from the Cure – it was no more daunting than if he’d been sitting on a ledge at the top of the Empire State Building.

The flying seemed to come natural to him, thanks to his mutation, although building up the muscles for sustained long-distance flight and dead-start take-offs was taking time.

There was a sort of built-in human dread or fear deep down in most people toward heights, or at least falling off of high places. He’d even felt it in himself from time to time, but once the exhilaration of flying under his own power took over the first time, that part of him had disappeared.

Warren looked down apprehensively at the cell phone resting in his hands. He sighed deeply, and pressed the “Talk” icon on the touch screen, and brought the phone up to his ear.

It rang several times before the person on the other end answered. “Warren?”

“Hello father,” Warren said.

“Warren! I’m glad you called, after… everything. I was hoping you would. I’m sorry, for trying to force you to take the Cure, I just wanted you to be happy.” His father sighed softly. “I see now it was really myself that I was trying to make happy.”

“I know, dad. I… I don’t blame you. I guess I thought it would make me happy too, until Doctor Rao came toward me with the syringe… That was when I realized what I really wanted.” Warren sighed quietly. “I’m not mad at you, dad. What you made, the Cure, it’s a good thing – there are a lot of mutants that don’t want to live like they do with everyone fearing and hating them, that don’t want to be mutants, I’m just not one of them.”

“Thank you, Warren,” his father said, voice uncharacteristically thick with emotion.

He heard his father clear his throat loudly, and he knew him well enough that he was composing himself again, straightening up and putting on his social face.

“Warren are you coming home? You’re – I’d like it if you did, and you’re welcome here still.”

Warren sighed. “No, dad, I’m not coming home. I… I really like it here at Xavier’s. I’ll come by sometime in a few weeks and visit though, alright?” He conceded.

“That sounds good. I guess you’re fitting in well there?” His father asked.

He laughed. “Yeah, really well actually. A lot better than any of the schools that I went to in San Francisco. But I guess it’s probably partly because we’re all mutants here.”

Warren looked up to the sky, trying to figure out how to best broach the next subject. “How’s the company doing?”

“Fairly well. A bit of stock trouble a few days after Magneto attacked, but we’ve recovered. Filing the insurance claims for the facility and moving the manufacturing to a working facility has been the real pain. Nothing to worry about though.”

His father seemed to think about his question more carefully for a moment. “Why? Do you need money, Warren? I can put some into your checking right now if you need it –“

“No, dad,” Warren interrupted. “I do need to talk to you about money, but not for my checking – I’ve got plenty in there, and Charles is letting me stay here for free. I called to talk to you about my trust account from Granddad. I’m over 21 now, and I know I can fully access it now, but I wanted to get your help in turning it over to me.”

“The trust account?” His father said in surprise. “Warren, that’s… that’s a lot of money in there, are you sure -”

Warren rolled his eyes. “Dad, you’ve been teaching me business since I was little. You got me into one of the best business and accounting schools in the country, and I graduated top of the class. Don’t worry, I can handle this.”

There was a moment of long silence, and then his father spoke again. “You’re right, I just… you’re right, I know you can handle it. I’ll send a message to Tom Blackwell today, and have him get in contact with you,” he said, referring to one of the family’s personal financial lawyers.

“Thanks dad. I… Recently someone here inspired me to do something, and I need that money to do it. Right now it’s just an idea I’m developing, but if I didn’t know I would have access to the money for it, it would’ve been a waste of time.”

“What is it?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out, dad. When I come by home to visit I’ll have planned it out more, and I’ll run it by you to see what you think.”

He could hear the reluctance in his father’s voice, but he knew he wouldn’t push it. “Alright Warren. I’ll send that message to Blackwell, okay?”

“Alright. Thanks, dad. I’ll… I’ll talk to you later then?”

“Sure – later. Goodbye Warren.”

“Bye dad,” Warren said softly, and hung up the phone.

His father had been the last person he’d wanted to speak with at the moment, but now he was glad he did, it had cleared up the air a bit between the two of them.

Once he got through everything with Blackwell, he needed to talk to Charles, to see it his thoughts were feasible, and possibly even get his support behind it, Warren thought as he pocketed the cell phone, and then leapt from the roof. His wings spread out to fill with air and let him glide away from the mansion toward the glistening lake nearby.

***********************************************************************
Ororo muttered under her breath as she wrestled the tree toward the hole she’d just finished digging for it, using her still-clean forearm to wipe at the sweat on her forehead.

She began to lift it again, and it suddenly became weightless and floated from her shocked hands over to the hole.

“Need a hand?” Came Jean’s amused voice from behind her.

Ororo smiled and turned to face her red-haired friend. “Thanks. Wish I’d realized it was going to be so heavy before I dug the hole thirty feet away from it.” Ororo said, brushing her hands together to try to knock the dirt off of them.

“Probably a good thing to remember – next time you might not have a telekinetic friend around to help,” she said, moving closer to Ororo.

Ororo nodded. “So, what brings you out and about, Jean? Don’t normally see you out on the grounds.” She asked, curiosity in her voice.

“Your friend Remy, actually.”

Ororo rolled her eyes. “What’s he done now?” she asked, exasperated.

Jean laughed. “Oh, nothing like that. I ran into him the other day, and he sorta gave me a reality check. I realized what a recluse I’ve become, and how much time I’ve spent hiding from all of you when I shouldn’t be. So – this is me. Recovering, or trying to, at least, without brooding.” She said, spreading her arms outward.

Ororo’s face split into a wide smile. “Well that’s good to hear,” she said, pulling Jean into a hug. “I’ve been worried about you.”

Jean looked sheepishly at her. “I was too. But I’m getting there. Still… hurts, you know?”

Ororo nodded, and touched her friend’s shoulder. “I know, honey. It’s been years – I was just a dumb teenager back then, but… I know how it feels. But you know Scott wouldn’t want you locking yourself in your room for the rest of your life.”

Jean’s eyes widened slightly at the hint of images that Ororo unconsciously broadcast at her statement of knowing how it feels – she’d lost someone too: something she’d never told her about. But she decided not to press her on it.

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, how’s… how’s the work with Charles coming.”

Jean swallowed visibly. “Better than I thought, at least. I don’t feel so helpless and out of control. We’re rebuilding walls he built when I was young to help me deal with it all. Slow going, but… I think I’m about where I was before Alkali Lake.”

She shrugged and shook her head. “But how about you? How are you doing?”

“Great actually,” Ororo said, smiling.

“So I hear Logan took you on a date. How was it?” Jean asked.

Ororo chewed on her lip, looking at her friend with apprehension. “It was nice. He… we went to a bar, but it was actually pretty good.”

Jean rolled her eyes. “Sounds exactly like Logan. So – you two are an item now?

“Yeah, I guess we are. Are you… okay with that?” Ororo asked hesitantly.

Jean sighed, and wrapped her arms around herself. “Yeah. You deserve a good guy, ‘Roro. I’m – I know Logan liked me, and I admit I was attracted by him, but… Scott – he meant so much to me, and I don’t know how long it will take for me to move on. Hell, I don’t even know if I’ve accepted that he’s dead yet,” she said, a tear skimming down her cheek.

Ororo pulled her friend into a hug, and ran a comforting hand up and down her back. “I know, it’s hard to believe he’s gone. But you can’t let it keep eating at you. You have to accept it and live like he’d want you to.”

Jean sniffed, and pulled back, her fingers wiping at her cheeks. “I know.”

She cleared her throat and blinked her eyes. “So… do you need help planting anything else?” She asked quietly.

“Sure, if you’re up to it, I’ve got two more to do – you can help me dig the holes for them,” Ororo said, interlocking her arm with Jean’s and leading her back to the garage, where the other trees rested in the back of one of the school vans.

***********************************************************************

When the assault took place, it happened quickly – too quickly for most of those in the convoy to respond. The fact that only the lead and rear vehicles contained military personnel, and the rest of the convoy was made of unarmed scientists and engineers, only helped that.

The convoy had made it out of Arizona, and through the most treacherous part of its trip through the Rocky Mountains, and through the long and monotonous drive through Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana, and had just passed over the state line from Kentucky into West Virginia, when they’d been forced to halt for an overturned cattle truck.

The weather was bad, rain pouring down for the last thirty miles they’d driven, and those in the convoy had assumed the truck had skidded out or hydroplaned on the wet roads.

The trailer had flipped some fifty feet ahead of them, and the driver was out, trying to get the cattle that had escaped the trailer with little injury off of the road so people could pass.

The ‘accident’ had been preplanned however, and so had the attack, which was two-pronged, hitting the lead and rear vehicles at the same time. Men dressed in thick coats appeared suddenly through the thick walls of rain, energy beams blasting out of concealed muzzles in their sleeves, the S.H.I.E.L.D. energy weapons were no match for the unprepared men – none of them even got off a shot before they died.

Boss – as he was known to the men – bent against the downpour, and made his way to the first vehicle filled with shocked and frightened civilians. One of the figures, a tall and barrel-chested man, hopped out with his hands raised above his head, until Boss gestured for him to lower them.

“About time you came,” Stephen Lang said. “I was beginning to think we’d make it back to D.C. without your boys hitting the convoy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled. “We had to find the right place, so quit complaining. Besides, less distance to base this way.”

“Actually, there’s a change of plans. We’re taking two of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s to the base, to test out my new programming. The rest are going with all the plans back to the Montana base. Maldrone wants them in lockdown to begin manufacturing.”

Boss groaned. “Fine, he’ll just have to pay more for travel expenses.” Boss gestured at the several dozen vehicles, and his men quickly moved to surround each one. “Anyone here worth keepin’ alive?”

Stephen’s lip turned upward in disgust. “No. I was hoping we could take Trask with us and force him to keep working on the units, upgrades and all that, but he flew back early to D.C.. We can grab him some other time if we need him.”

Boss nodded, and gestured with his hand across his throat, and his men opened up with their beam weapons into the small jeeps filled with technicians and engineers, and the drivers of the trailers were yanked out and executed on the spot.

Minutes later, only Stephen, Boss, and his men were left, and the rain had let up to a gentle but steady downpour. Stephen moved through the group, assigning men to the trailers. There were five of the large trailers, each containing a drop pod with its own S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. inside, all covered with thick tarps to look like simply another military convoy across the country.

Lang moved over to the Master Mold trailer, and entered, stepping over several technicians that lay on the floor. He punched a series of commands into the main computer, and a five-minute countdown appeared on all the computer screens.

“What’s that?” Boss asked.

“Self destruct sequence. This trailer’s equipped with a large thermal bomb that will gut the interior – we put it in in case of enemy takeover of the trailer.”

“You’re destroying it?” Boss asked with surprise.

“Yes. It’s the only thing they have that can track the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, and its frame is laced with GPS devices and beacons. If we brought that with us, they’d find us in minutes. Besides, I’ve made my own Master Mold command center, and it’s a hell of a lot better than that cramped thing. Oh, we might want to leave. Soon. That explosive device will wipe out everything in a hundred yard radius.”

Boss’ eyes widened, and he yelled out commands to his men, who quickly hopped into the cabs of the trailers, and started them up. Three turned on the road and headed back the way they’d come – going to Montana – and the other two idled near Boss and Stephen.

“See you back at base,” Stephen said, climbing into the passenger side of one of the enormous trailer cabs as Boss climbed into the other.

Several minutes later, as they turned off the main road and onto a side road that would take them well away from most civilization, Lang smiled in satisfaction when he saw a fireball light up the sky behind them.

A little bit of reprogramming, with the AI he’d been developing as he created the one used by DARPA, and Maldrone’s manufacturing, and they’d have an unstoppable army of loyal mutant hunters at their side, he thought with a broadening grin.



A/N: Hey everyone, hope y’all liked it. Bit more action packed than some of the recent chapters. Wasn’t until mid-week that I decided exactly what would happen on the X-Force mission, and when I decided to put in the Living Monolith. Yes, in the comics several of his appearances were linked with Scott’s brother, Alex Summers, but here I moved away from that a bit. That isn’t to say Alex won’t appear in the future though – you never know who might pop in in the sequel. ;) So…. The Trask here isn’t a bad guy, simply a robotics expert, but we see Creed’s mole is really Lang (involved with the Sentinels somewhat in the comics).

So, I also spent the last few days mapping out for certain the last chapters. There will be five more chapters: next chapter (31) will not be so action packed, but we will finally learn what Warren is up to, and see the youngsters as well as the college kids panic as finals occur; the following three chapters will be amongst the most action-packed of the story, and the final chapter will be a bit of an epilogue/recovery from the previous three.

Hurrah for breaking 300,000 words by my 30th chapter! I’ll likely be at or above 350,000 when this story finishes, so around 10,000 words a chapter average. And I’m sure the sequel will be comparable in length. :)

So – five more chapters, five more weeks, that puts us in about the middle of July, and then it’s off to the sequel. See you guys next week!