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 please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)
A/N: Hey everyone, Thanks for all the great feedback last chapter, glad you liked it. I think you all will definitely like this one - plenty of action, tempered by plenty of romance. There are a few comics references this chapter as well for my fellow comic nuts reading this. Read, and enjoy the next chapter!
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Chapter 32: Capture

Charles waited patiently while the image on the computer screen shifted wildly for several moments as the webcam broadcasting the image was shifted on the other end of the line.

The image finally ceased blurring, and came to rest on a woman sitting in a chair in front of the computer on her side. She had dark brown hair that framed the delicate features of her face, and expressive light grey-blue eyes.

“Good morning, Moira.” Charles said, smiling at his friend – one of his closest and one he had known for years, well before the X-Men, back in his early college years.

“G’mornin’ Charles,” she said, a hint of Scottish brogue in her voice that had become less thick and pronounced over the years. She grinned at him. “It’s afternoon here, though.”

Charles chuckled, and his gaze was drawn to a young man who moved from where he had been adjusting the webcam, to sit in the chair next to Moira.

“Sean! It’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”

The strawberry-blond haired man nodded - a wide grin, which seemed ever-present, spread across his face. “Good t’see yeh too, Charles,” he said, his voice melodic and lilting with a soft Irish accent.

Sean Cassidy had been amongst Charles’ first students, or rather his first X-Men – Hank, Scott, Jean along with him – and he had left after Ororo had come to the mansion, back to his home country of Ireland, and later to Muir Island to help Moira at her lab.

“How’s Theresa?” Charles asked. “She made it back alright?”

Sean nodded. “Yes, she’s here, still tryin’ to get used to the time change from New York. Thank yeh for makin’ sure she got on the plane over here safely.”

Charles smiled. “It was no bother – Ororo was happy to take her to the airport and make sure she got on.”

“An’ her school work? How has she been doin’ there?” Sean asked.

“Very well. She has been excelling in all of her subjects. The only thing I would note she could use some more effort in is mathematics. But then that tends to be the toughest subject among most students. I haven’t heard from Ororo how her final exams went, but I’ll send out the report cards by the end of the week.”

Moira cleared her throat softly. “An’ how is Rahne doin’, Charles?”

Moira had encountered the young girl when her adoptive father had brought her in for help with her mutation, and she’d spent some time bonding with the young girl, before finally recommending they seek out Xavier’s help, leading them to move to America.

“Excellent, actually. She’s still a bit shy, but we’ve been working on that. And in the last few months, she’s made a number of friends with some of the new students her age that have come to the school.”

“Her control over her mutation has improved greatly,” Charles continued. “There are still the occasional involuntary shifts when she’s very emotional, but the threshold of intensity of emotion required to trigger it has been raised by quite a bit.”

Moira smiled softly. “Good. She is a good girl, an’ I dinnae like seein’ her struggle like she was when she was here.”

Charles nodded, and his eyes twinkled. “You know, I’m sure she’d still like to hear from a friend – if you’d like I could send you her home number…”

Moira nodded. “Aye, I would like tha’.”

Charles smiled and glanced down to write a short note to remind himself to send it off to her – even psychics forgot things, he mused silently to himself.

He raised his eyebrows as he looked up again at the webcam. “How are things on the Island?”

Moira shrugged. “A wee bit better then th’week or two after Alcatraz. Still the occasional death threat, mainly from Americans, but ye know we got them anyway from time t’time. Still a steady amount of calls from mutants wonderin’ if we have th’Cure. No new patients, though. An’ we’re makin’ some progress with the gene sequencin’.”

Muir Island was the home to Moira’s Muir Island Research Facility, which she’d started around the same time Charles had returned to the States to take over the Mansion from his recently deceased father, and later turn it into the school it now was.

It was primarily a research facility, dedicated to researching the genome and differences between mutant and base line human genomes, and to the research of manifestations of mutant powers: how they worked, what specific mutations in the “X-Gene” caused the particular power, and other mutant related research. It also served as a sort of mutant hospital, usually for mutants with out of control or debilitating mutations to rest and attempt to recover and receive help from Moira and her staff.

On the screen, Sean nodded. “Everythin’ has been slowly calmin’ down, but then we’re not in America like yeh, so that’s expected, though the Parliament elections comin’ up are bringin’ mutant rights into it.”

“But anyway, did Moira tell yeh the good news?” Sean reached down and grabbed Moira’s hand, turning it so a modest diamond ring on her finger showed on the camera. “I asked her t’marry me last Sunday.”

Charles smiled and nodded. “Yes, she mentioned it when I called Wednesday. Congratulations, Sean. I’m happy for the two of you.” A twinkle appeared in his eye again. “I do have one question for you, because I want to make sure you’re thinking things through completely…”

Sean raised his eyebrow, waiting.

“You have tried her coffee, right? Because I’m of the opinion it could destroy a marriage if one doesn’t know about it ahead of time.” He said.

Moira huffed out a breath, rolling her eyes, and Sean chuckled. “Oh, really, Charles, it isnae that bad. Yuir jus’ too used to drownin’ it with milk an’ sugar, an’ ye cannae handle my kind of dark coffee.” Moira said, her accent thickening while she tried to hide a grin.

It was something of a running joke between the two of them since they first met. Her coffee was strong, extremely dark, and in Charles’ opinion it seemed to be almost the consistency of motor oil.

Sean chuckled. “Yes, I’ve tried it. I think we’ll figure a way t’survive with it – it’s definitely not my fav’rite. But then I’m more of a tea person myself.”

Sean scratched his chin. “We’re thinkin’ a weddin’ next summer, an’ I was wonderin’ if yeh’d be my best man, Charles. Years back I’d have liked m’cousin to, but……” He trailed off, shrugging.

“I understand – he’s not the person he used to be these days. I’d be honored to be your best man, Sean.”

Moira nudged Sean with her elbow. “Well, now that ye’ve finished insultin’ my coffee, we should get to what you wanted to talk about, Charles. If we go over an hour the price for the call jumps up.”

Charles nodded, and glanced down at the folder Warren had given him. “Did you get the fax of the plan?”

Moira leaned forward to grab her own paper copy of the folder’s contents that Charles had sent over to them. “Aye, Charles, we got it. I havenae had the time to read much more than the summary, but Sean read through it all. Ye’re right, I think it looks promisin’.”

Sean nodded. “I think so too. It could be the thing we need to start tippin’ world opinions in our direction. Just one thing – the lad, he knows he’s going to have to out himself as a mutant publicly, right? If not to make it work, at the very least to get the media attention to help the startup.”

Charles inclined his head. “Yes, I believe he does. A few weeks ago, I would have been doubtful – when he arrived here, he seemed embarrassed and ashamed of his mutation – likely because of his father. But in a short amount of time he’s seemed to accept it and no longer wishes to hide it.”

Sean chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “If he’s willin’ to do that, I think this will work. I know his father, mostly by reputation, but I’ve met him once as well. If he’s anythin’ like him, he’ll keep at somethin’ ‘till it’s done. Wit’ a drive like that I think this group could go far.”

His eyes creased slightly, and he looked over to Moira before looking back to the camera. “So what is it, exactly, yeh wanted from us?”

“Hopefully some financial support for him. And this group will need a strong board of directors to keep it moving toward its goals, and Warren asked me to find some members for him. I figured a famous Irish mutant and the head of the largest mutant research facility in the world would help raise publicity, and be a good addition.” He said, grinning.

Moira and Sean exchanged a momentary glance, and then Moira nodded. “Aye, I think we can do that, Charles. As long as we can teleconference for most of th’board meetings.”

Sean continued for her. “I looked into things before yeh called – between the two of us we c’n front a little over a half million US dollars an’ still be in good shape ‘round here. An’ once it goes public, I think we could raise at least that much. People are a bit more friendly toward mutant rights on this side of the pond.”

Charles smiled warmly. “Thank you, both.”

“Do ye have anyone else in mind, Charles? Ye’ll need more than just th’two of us.” Moira asked.

Charles nodded, his brow furrowing. “I’ve talked to Hank, and he said he’d be willing to be on the Board. After he resigned, other than missions and trying to get his old research going again, there isn’t much to do here for him.”

“I’m going to call over to London later,” Charles continued, “to talk to a friend of mine. I think you know Brian Braddock?”

Moira nodded. “Aye, I’ve met him, don’t think Sean has.” She said, and Sean shook his head. “I think he’d go for it. His sister’s a mutant, an’ the family’s been leadin’ all the political reforms on mutant rights in the Parliament.”

Charles frowned. “I have a few others in mind, mainly mutants and small mutant groups. I might also talk to Reed – I think he would be interested.” Charles hesitated. “And I thought I might talk to Nathaniel…”

Moira’s eyes widened. “Essex?” She asked, shocked. “Charles, are ye sure about that? He’s got quite a diffren’ idea about how things should be, an’ even about the science behind mutant development.”

Charles grimaced. “I know, Moira, but he’s a big figure in the science world. I respect Essex, I just have different opinions and theories than him. And with Essex, Hank, you, and myself, we’ll have most of the top scientists specializing in mutants, which would give a lot of legitimacy to the organization.”

Charles sighed. “And I’m coming to realize we need to hear from other viewpoints, or we’ll fail even amongst mutants. Warren helped me realize that with this plan – you know I’ve struggled with going public like this.”

Moira nodded, and then chuckled slightly. “I guess I’m okay with it. He’ll be outnumbered by us if we don’ like somethin’ he’s proposin’.”

Charles smiled slightly. “True.” He glanced at the clock at the bottom of the computer screen. “Alright, Moira, Sean, I should get going. I’ll be in contact with you later when Warren and I have everything finalized. It was good to talk to both of you again – I’ll get those report cards sent out soon.”

“G’bye Charles,” Moira said, smiling softly.

“Talk to yeh later,” Sean said, standing up to move toward the webcam and switch it off as Charles did the same with his.

Charles smiled bittersweetly as the picture disappeared. He was happy for his former pupil, glad that he’d found someone who loved him, but at the same time he also felt a hint of regret at the brief, failed relationship he’d had with Moira, years ago, that had ended up simply as close friendship.

He pushed the thoughts from his head, and looked down at the address book in front of him. There were two more to call this morning – the Braddocks first, he’d decided, and then the Yoshida family before it got too late across the world in Japan.

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“END OF MISSION – STAND DOWN”

Stephen Lang entered the words into his Master Mold console, and S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. towering in the large hangar nearby released its hold on the mutants it carried in its hands, letting them drop over six feet to the floor, still unconscious from their capture.

Lang gestured to the nearby armed men, some of Boss’ team, wearing their S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry. “Get some of those collars on these muties and pack them up with the rest. Those were the last two – Maldrone wants the shipment sent off tonight to Montana.”

The men hurried to comply – they’d learned quickly to follow Lang’s orders when they found out Boss became rather unpleased if they ignored Lang.

He watched as they dragged away the two mutants – a young man, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties with shaggy blond hair, and a young Muslim girl, her body covered in a long black abaya robe, and all of her face but her eyes concealed by a black niqab, which had come off partially during the brief struggle and flight back, showing more of her face than was likely allowed in her religious traditions.

He’d been glad they’d managed to catch her unawares and knock her out quickly. She’d been on the Purifier watchlist of mutants they wanted, and had been watched closely for the past year. Had they given her some warning, her power would have made it nearly impossible to capture her.

He glanced back down at the screen, which was running replays of footage from the mission. He was glad they’d run into the boy, as he had some sort of energy-projection power, with energy blasts from his hands. The smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s had sustained minor damage from the battle, but had not frozen up, meaning the patch he’d made to their programming was working.

He’d wished he had both main S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s at the base here, but Maldrone had made him send the second up north, to spread out the abductions and reduce suspicion, and he was running the unit remotely in tandem with the Purifier base it had been stationed at.

‘Oh well,’ he thought, grabbing his large laptop and the connective leads, and moved over toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., beginning to hook the leads up with a hidden port under the chest plate. He sat back, started the diagnostic’s program, and waited for it to run its course.

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Kitty woke up to the smell of... paper? She blinked groggily as the smell registered, and felt her eyelids brush against the same paper she smelled. She groaned slightly and lifted her head up from the textbook she’d fallen asleep face-first on. She grimaced as she felt the paper peel away from her cheek after having been in contact with it for so long.

She reached up to rub her eyes, and felt a hand move away from her shoulder – she realized then that someone had been gently shaking her awake. She started, and turned to find Piotr standing next to her chair in the library.

Piotr looked down at her with an amused expression as she blinked sleepily.

“Hey Pete,” she said, one hand rubbing at her right eye. “What time is it?”

“Seven in the morning,” he said. “You slept down here all night.”

She stretched her neck, the muscles in it protesting at the position she’d slept in as she moved. She winced. “Yeah. Seven, huh?” She closed her eyes as her mind processed the time, and they snapped open again. “Three hours ‘till the physics exam,” she said, groaning slightly.

She straightened when she smelled the cup of coffee he was holding in his other hand. “Smells good,” she said.

Piotr smiled and passed the coffee mug to her. “I brought it for you. Logan started up all the coffee machines and made a lot for all of us, and I thought you could use a cup.”

She smiled up at him. “Yeah, I need it. Thanks.”

She tilted the mug, and sipped at the hot liquid. It was black – Piotr hadn’t added anything to it – and while she usually would add a dash of soy milk to it, she didn’t care at the moment. The aroma itself was already bringing her to full wakefulness.

Piotr nodded. “Oh, Rogue got Remy to make breakfast for us – he said it should be ready in a few minutes.”

Kitty nodded as she raised the mug to her mouth once again. She set it down and sighed, looking down at the open textbook in front of her. “You ready for the test?”

Piotr shrugged. “I think so. Best that I can be ready, at least. How about you? Were you hoping to absorb the information if you slept on it?” He asked, grinning slightly.

Kitty laughed. “Something like that. I think I’ll be okay. Just wish I had more time, but having all the tests bunched up in a four day period makes it hard.”

Piotr nodded. “At least it is the last test for us. Then we’re done until next semester.”

Kitty smiled. “Yes, that’s the plus. When are you heading out?”

Piotr turned to lean back against the table by her side. “I fly out Friday. I think everyone’s leaving Friday or Saturday.” He looked curiously over at her. “What about you?” Then he grimaced, remembering the divorce. “Sorry….”

Kitty sighed slightly. “It’s fine. My flight out is on Saturday. I… we’re really not sure yet how we’re going to handle living arrangements. Mom wants me with her, and Daddy wants me with him. We’ll have to figure out something, like maybe half the summer with each of them, or alternating weeks or something.”

“Things will work out,” Piotr said softly. “They both love you – they’ll come up with some sort of compromise.”

Kitty smiled weakly around the rim of the coffee mug, and reached out to pat his hand. “Thanks. You seem to always know the right thing to say, Pete.”

He swallowed nervously and smiled. ‘Not all the time,’ he thought to himself.

“Growing up with a younger sister, it’s hard not to know,” he said.

Kitty chuckled. “I’ll bet.” She set the mug down and started to shuffle through the mess of notes surrounding the textbook on the table in front of her. “We should go get something to eat. Brain food and all that.”

Piotr nodded, and pushed off from where he was leaning, and started to slowly leave the room.

Kitty chewed her lip as a thought came to her. “Hey, wait, Pete. Before I forget – you have a cell phone, right?”

Piotr stopped and turned around, nodding. “Yeah, it’s up in my room.”

She smiled and tore off part of one of her note papers that had a blank lower half. She grabbed her pen and scribbled out a number. “This’s my cell. Give me a call sometime – we can go do something over the summer: figured I’d better do it now or I would forget later. I mean, we live in the same city, right?” She said, grinning. “If you want to, that is – I… it would probably help me get away from all the drama with my parents.”

He smiled, his cheeks turning pink, and carefully folded the paper once she handed it to him, and slipped it into his pocket. “Sure. I’ll call you.” He bent down over her notes, and wrote his number at the top of one of the pages, and pushed it toward her. “And if you want to get away and I haven’t called,” he said in explanation.

She nodded, and slid the paper on top of the stack, and slid them into the front of her textbook. “Thanks Pete. You go ahead, I’ll be right behind you,” she said as she piled her calculator onto the books, slid her pen into her pocket, and picked up the stack before turning to follow him toward the kitchen.

Even as they exited the library, she shook her head in amusement – she could already hear Sam talking animatedly from down the hall to someone in the kitchen.

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“Police in Virginia and West Virginia are puzzled by a recent string of abductions and disappearances that have occurred over the last two days on either side of the border of the two states.” The news anchor said, a small map of the area showing up on the screen next to him.

“Police were not willing to put forward a definitive statement about the disappearances, but they did say that a large number of the abductions were of mutants. Thus far there has been a single witness, and police say he gave them a statement, describing the taking of one of the victims. He described the abductor as a human wearing some sort of body armor or robot costume.”

“Police are taking the testimony with a grain of salt as the man, who lives on the streets, has been in and out of several mental institutions over the past five years.”

“But more disturbingly, last night a string of five abductions hit a suburb of New York City, and the families of the victims have all stated that the abductees were mutants. The NYPD is investigating, and has not made any statements, but a source from inside the department has stated that the disappearances in Virginia and west Virginia may be linked to these disappearances, and the department is looking into anti-mutant hate groups as possible suspects. ”

“Watcha doing?” A low, female voice came from behind Warren, who jumped at the sudden intrusion, nearly knocking off the sheaf of papers he had resting on his lap while he watched the television.

He turned on the couch to find Lorna walking around it from behind him. “Hey, Lorna. Not much, just watching the news,” he said as his green-haired friend rounded the couch.

“D’you mind if I sit?” She asked, gesturing at the couch.

“No,” he said, grabbing several papers that he’d left sitting on the couch next to him, “go ahead.”

She smiled and sat down on the couch next to him far enough away that she didn’t lean back against his wing, which spread out slightly across the back to accommodate his sitting position, but close enough that she brushed against it slightly, sending a light shiver through his body at the contact.

“So what’s with all the papers?” She asked, looking curiously at them.

“It’s… well, it’s sort of a pet project of mine I’ve been putting together the last few days. It’ll give me something to do around here. You want to hear about it?”

She nodded, and leaned back against the couch, turning her gaze attentively to him. “Sure.”

Warren smiled slightly. “Well, I’m making a… it’s kind of a mutant rights organization. Things like this are officially called Non-Governmental Organizations. They’re sort of like a charity mixed with a lobbying group.”

“I… I want to help change the way people view mutants, and the way mutants are treated under laws around the world. We’ve been letting people like all these anti-mutant groups scare everyone about us, and we need to fight back. It’s… something that’s worked in the past with others that were discriminated agaisnt, and I know there are a lot of people out there that want the same – mutants and humans.”

Lorna nodded slowly, smiling at the intensity of his focus and his words. “I like it.”

“You do?” He asked, a dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks.

She nodded again, smiling. “Yeah. It’s a good idea. And it seems like you’d be a good person to do it. What’s the group called?”

He looked hesitantly at her. “I’ve been working on that. Looking at other organizations for ideas… I’m kind of liking ‘Mutants Without Borders’….”

She grinned. “Like Doctors Without Borders?”

He nodded, shifting uncomfortable on the couch. “Yeah. Not exactly original I guess….”

She shook her head. “No, I like it. It sort of says what it needs to say, and gives a pretty good idea what it’s about.”

He smiled slightly. “Alright – I’ll go with that.”

He then sighed and gestured at the paperwork. “Unfortunately it takes a lot of forms. Charles got me in touch with this lawyer he knows who sets up groups like this, and he sent me all this startup paperwork. Unfortunately I’m sure there’s ten times more when I’m finished with this,” he said rolling his eyes.

Lorna laughed. “My dad used to say bureaucrats need a form to tell them to fill out a form to get permission to fill out the form you actually need.”

Warren nodded, grinning. “Sure seems that way.”

Lorna spread her hands out. “Well, you’ve got your first recruit right here – let me know if you need help, or if there’s anything I can do to help out. Things’ll be pretty dull around here until I can finally start classes, so I don’t have much to do.”

“Thanks,” Warren said, “I’ll let you know…. Actually,” he said, pausing as he looked at the messy pile of papers on his lap and on the coffee table in front of them. “Could you help me look for a form? There’s supposed to be one in here that sets up tax exemption, and he wanted me to send that to him as soon as I could, but I can’t find it – these don’t seem to be in any logical order.”

“Sure,” she said, and grabbed the small stack he proffered to her. Lorna began to flip through it, her eyes skimming each page. She pulled her legs up on the couch, moving them beneath her, and settled in as she looked through the pile of papers he’d given her.

As she reached the end of the stack, she leaned forward to look at the pile still on the table as Warren finished his own stack.

The words on top of the first sheet caught her eye, and her hand darted forward. “I think this is it,” she started, but trailed off.

Warren had seen it as well, and reached for it, and they both froze, his hand covering hers above the paper.

She felt her breathing speed up slightly when he didn’t pull back, and when she realized how close her face was in proximity with his. She licked her lips nervously, her green eyes meeting his brown ones.

It seemed almost like he was starting to lean closer, and she swallowed heavily. “W-Warren?” she stuttered, her voice uneven.

He stopped. “Yeah, Lorna?” He asked softly.

She took a deep breath. “What are we – what’s happening between us?” She asked. As much as she hated to admit it, her flirtation with Remy, and his admittedly gentle turndown, had shaken her confidence a bit, and she wanted to hear from Warren himself that he was feeling the same things she was.

He cleared his throat. “I… I’m not sure. But I like it.”

She nodded quickly. “Me too.”

He wetted his lips then, and she found herself staring at them. “Lorna, I don’t know… I’ve dated a few girls before, but I’ve never known anyone like you… do you… want to see where things go?”

A relived smile flooded her face. “Yeah, I do. Maybe… dinner somewhere?”

His eyes widened, and a brief flash of embarrassment came over his face. “Y-yeah, of course, that’s what I was trying to say, I just…”

She gazed at him knowingly, and placed her free hand over his for a moment. “I know. I’m… actually kinda new to this.”

“Really?” he asked surprised. “You’ve never…. you know… gone out with someone?”

She grimaced at the thought of single date she’d been on with a guy who went to school with her. “Technically yes. But, let’s just say, as long as you don’t take me to a McDonalds, and then try to basically chew my face off and cop a feel afterwards, you’ll be in good shape…”

“A-alright,” Warren said, clearly trying to mask his amusement at the way she described it. “I’ll… umm.. certainly try to resist the urge to do so,” he said, the corners of his lips quirking upward.

“Hey, it’s not funny, I really thought he was like a cannibal or something the way he was ‘kissing’,” Lorna said, trying not to laugh at Warren’s expression.

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, finally grinning. “How about…. Friday night?”

“That sounds great. I… I like you a lot, Warren. I hope this goes somewhere.” She said, before finally letting go of his hand and grabbing the paper. “I think this is what you were looking for.”

He nodded, slowly tearing his gaze away from her to look back down at the paper – unsure if she was talking about the form, or about what had just passed between the two of him. But the answer to both was the same: “Yeah, I think it is,” he said softly, taking the paper from her.

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Rogue floated gently down from the air to land on the roof next to Remy. She was greatly improving her landings with practice, although she still had to keep concentrated – if she wasn’t paying close attention she still ended up making her own crater, or a long trench in the grass.

“Hey Sugah,” she said, sitting down next to him. He had the ruggedized S.H.I.E.L.D. laptop they’d after their tour, resting on his lap, and was scrolling down the current screen with the mousepad.

He smiled, and turned his eyes from the screen, to meet hers. “Chére,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “How it feel to be done?”

Rogue flopped down on her back, stretching her arms out over her head. “It feel’s great,” she said, sighing with relief. “No more classes, ‘till the day after Labor Day three months from now.”

Remy nodded, and reached out to caress her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. “Not completely over, Chére. Dere’s de occasional trainin’ wit’ S.H.I.E.L.D., an’ I wan’ to keep working wit’ you on savate, if you wan’ to keep learnin’.”

Rogue smiled slightly. “But Ah think of that as fun, or as a workout. It ain’ takin integrals an’ twistin’ functions ‘round or doin’ papers on famous writers, or doin’ chemistry. An’ yeah, Ah want you to keep teachin’ me, Sugah.”

Remy’s grin turned lopsided, and he winked at her. “Suppose dis means I can take you out on dates more often.”

She blushed slightly. “Ah’d like that,” she said softly.

Then her expression became stern. “As long as Ah don’ get fat from you spoilin’ me.”

Remy raised an eyebrow, and poked her in the side. “Dat’d be hard to do, Chére. You’re damn skinny as it is.”

Rogue shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. “Ah guess… but not too much fattenin’ me up – not all of us have the metabolism of a horse like you, swamp rat.”

Remy grinned. “Oui. But I saw you wolfin’ down dose pancakes dis mornin’. You don’ have a horse metabolism, but it’s still pretty good. Maybe somethin’ pig-sized….”

She gasped, and swatted his shoulder. “Remy LeBeau, did you just imply that Ah’m a pig? At least Ah said horse for yah. Ya’ll are lucky you’re holdin’ that expensive laptop, or Ah’d toss you off th’roof.”

Remy chuckled, and placed the laptop to the side, and leaned over to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “Well, here’s your chance, Chére, you can toss me off now.”

She pouted up at him, her head settling against his shoulder. “Ah would, but you make a better pillow than a crater, so Ah’ll let ya live this time,” she murmured.

She turned on her side, resting her cheek against his shoulder, the palm of her right hand moving to rest flat against his stomach. “Mmmm…” she mumbled contentedly.

She sighed and moved her hand further up his chest, and let it come to a rest over his heart, which she felt beat strongly and reassuringly against her palm. “Remy?”

“Mm-hm?” He murmured into her hair.

“Ah love…… Ah love spendin’ time with yah like this,” she finished lamely.

She chewed her lip, cursing silently to herself. She wanted, more than anything, to follow Jean’s advice, but over the last several days it seemed every time she came close to telling him she loved him, that dark part deep down inside her brought all her insecurities to the forefront, and silenced her.

She closed her eyes, wishing it was easier, wishing she didn’t feel the fear and insecurity she felt.

She finally spoke again when the silence grew long, and she wondered if he suspected what she’d been about to say, but she looked up into his eyes and couldn’t see the hint of surprise she would have expected.

She changed the subject. “So what are ya doin’ on th’laptop? Fury send us somethin’?”

“Non,” he said, the arm behind her shifting so he could run his hand along her back. “Charles, actually. Everyone’s around ‘till at least Friday, an’ he wants to get one last big X-Men mission in before half de team leaves for de summer. He asked me dis mornin’ to plan it, an’ den have Logan an’ Stormy look it over.”

“Oh. Somethin’ big? Dani, Jubes and Sam ain’t been out in the field before.”

He nodded. “I know, dat’s part of de planning – I’m tryin’ to balance things so neither team gets hurt if dey freeze up or somethin’ like dat. It sometimes happens first time you run into de real deal – practice only gets you so far.”

He reached out with his free hand and grabbed the laptop, laying it down on his belly just beneath where her arm crossed his chest. He tapped the mousepad, and the screen flashed with a large set of blueprints.

“Prof. wants us to hit another Purifier place. De other New York one one we found out ‘bout from de last raid. I guess Kitty got some info off de hard drives on de typical guard setup, an’ security system, an’ whoever Xavier’s source is called him last night. I guess dere’s been some disappearances in de area nearby, an’ dey’re behind it – mutant disappearances. Now’s de time to act if we’re gonna act.”

She nodded. “So, S.H.I.E.L.D. got anythin’ on them?”

He grinned. “More’n I could have hoped. Blueprints, pictures, a whole history of de last few months dey’ve been watchin’. More’n enough to work dis out.” He frowned slightly. “It’s bigger though. Las’ time it was jus’ a single office buildin’, but dis place is like its own gated community mixed wit’ an office park. Harder to get what we want, more security to worry ‘bout.”

She smiled, and let her palm move slowly up his chest, and to his cheek. “You know, Ah just so happen to’be datin’ this expert thief. Ah’m sure he’ll be able to handle it.” She whispered, her lips ghosting against his.

Remy groaned, and quickly shut the laptop and set it to the side before reaching up to tangle his hands in her hair and pull her closer. “Oh, I’m sure he will too,” Remy said, “but he’s got dis beautiful girlfriend dat’s way too distractin’ for him to get any more done until he kisses her senseless.”

A grin curved across her lips as he met her lips firmly with his, and tried to do just that.

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

“Alrigh’, so you can see dis place is big, ” Remy said, manipulating the projector in the War Room to get a clearer image of the aerial photo of the Purifier compound.

He zoomed out, and then pointed at a building over a mile away. “Dis is de real target. Dey got smart an’ kept it outta de main compound, but de intel we got says dey’re runnin’ somethin’ with a lot of power outta dis buildin’.”

He nodded toward Ororo and Logan. “We think dis is their computer buildin’ The energy usage is equivalent to one, an’ dey had a hell of a lot of fiber-optic cables run between here an’ de main base. Dis is where their servers will be, an’ all their hard drives. Dat means it’s gonna be pretty well guarded.”

“Best guess is maybe fifty here, close to de same at de main compound. Nothin’ we can’t deal wit’, but we want to get in and out of dis particular buildin’ before dey can delete anythin’ or shoot up de drives like last time.”

“Dat means we’re runnin’ in two teams – one to make a big distraction nat de main base, try to free any mutants while we’re at it, an’’ draw as many guards over dere. De other takes out de rest at de data building, an’ gets de drives.”

He tapped at the screen, and it changed to half-red background and half blue background, and their pictures appeared, evenly split on either color. “Rogue, Dani, Kurt, Bobby, an’ Piotr, you’re on Blue team wit’ me. We’re gonna make a lot of noise an’ fireworks at de main base.”

He nodded around the table at the others. “Rest of you are Red team, Ororo n’Logan are takin’ you to de other buildin’. Kitty, you’re de closest thing we have to an expert on dese things - you’re in charge of gettin’ what you can out, an’ ev’ryone else will cover for you.”

She nodded, a determined look settling over her face, while Dani, Sam, and Jubilee all looked somewhat nervous about the coming mission.

“I think dat ‘bout covers it. Anythin’ to add?” Remy asked, looking to Xavier.

Xavier flashed them a smile. “No, I think you three have come up with an excellent plan. And I don’t think we would have noticed the separate building without you, Remy.” He glanced around the room, his gaze settling longer on the three new additions to the team. “I’m sorry for the sudden notice, but we need to act now while we have our full force here, and while we know there are mutants at the facility that we can rescue.”

Remy clapped his hands together. “Alrigh’ – we’re each takin’ one of de small X-Jets, an’ we already got dese maps on de computers in both de planes if you wanna look ‘em over on de way. Let’s suit up – we leave in twenty.”

Remy waited as everyone filed from the room, before following, stopping only when Rogue paused at the back of the group and turned to him, pressing her hands against his chest. “Good luck, Sugah,” she whispered, leaning up to kiss him softly.

“Good luck Chére,” he said, caressing her cheek as she pulled back and they moved toward the uniform room together, their hands clasping each other’s until they were forced to split to go to the different rooms to change.

***********************************************************************
“Diversion’s goin’ alright,” Remy’s voice came over the headsets of the waiting members of Red team, who were waiting in hiding near the computer building, several hundred feet from where their disguised jet had quietly landed. “You’re about as clear as you’re gonna get. Have fun,” he finished, and Ororo could hear the grin in his voice.

“Got that, we’re moving in. Pull out in ten like we planned,” she said, before lowering her hand from the earpiece.

She looked to Logan, and then Hank, and then to the younger faces of Kitty, Jubilee, and Sam. “Let’s go. Remember, you’ve trained for this, now this is the real thing,” she said, her gaze lingering on the two newest X-Men.

She and the others stayed hidden, creeping along a nearby building, while Logan circled the other direction, coming even with the two men standing guard at the chain-link fence in front of the building.

He sprinted forward, his claws springing from his hands, and the two guards were down – moaning and unconscious – before they even knew what happened. He slashed at the padlock that held the gate closed, and then retracted his claws, gesturing for the others to follow.

He shoved open the large gates and they sprinted through, their sudden appearance leaving the few men in the small ‘courtyard’ to stare at them, stunned.

Hank bounded forward, his fist swinging into the jaw of one of the men as Logan tackled another. Jubilee set off a quiet version of one of her “fireworks” directly in the face of another, and the blast of wind from Ororo knocked him and the other shocked Purifier men and women off their feet, and into the hard brick wall at the front of the building.

“Alright, let’s move around back – blueprints showed that’s the easiest way in,” Ororo said, as the last man was felled.

She led her small group around the building, and then it was their turn to freeze, when they found themselves staring at the entire guard force for the building – nearly fifty in number.

“Shit,” Ororo said, surprising the others on the team at her uncharacteristic curse. The men in front of raised their weapons and began to open fire as Ororo and her team dove behind the only cover on the back lawn – a large bus.

The bullets whined and clanged nearby against the body of the vehicle but they were, for the moment, safe.

Ororo raised a hand to her ear. “Remy, get-“

A sharp, shrieking whine burst from their earpieces, forcing them to tear them off, and shut them down.

“Damnit,” Logan growled, rubbing his ear. “They’re jamming us somehow. We need to do something, quick.”

Ororo nodded. “Watch my back,” she said, and then tilted her head back.

Her eyes slowly clouded over, becoming a pure white color, and the wind around them began to whip up, the sky darkening above them.

She moved around the bus, and a gale-force wind erupted from behind her. It barely ruffled her hair, but buffeted the group back, knocking them into one another as a large downpour started directly above them.

They fired a few wild shots as they tripped up on one another, but nothing came near her as she allowed the wind to increase, and the heavy rain to turn to hail. The temperature around the men began to cool rapidly, leaving those still up shivering too violently to even hold their weapons as ice formed on their extremities – the water that had soaked them now freezing.

Ororo released her hold on the intense, concentrated storm, her eyes clearing once more, and she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily at the energy that move had taken from her.

Logan knelt beside her and grabbed her arm, helping her to her feet.

The sudden sound of a gunshot rang out, and Logan jerked as the bullet hit his back. Everyone whirled toward the sound, and were dismayed to find a group of equal size to the one they’d just encountered, running toward them from the inside of the building.

Ororo’s exhausted mind whirled – it was a trap. There were far more men here than they’d ever planned for even in their worst case scenarios – Remy had obviously encountered more than enough at the main complex for him to have thought that he’d drawn off enough for them to enter easily, so that meant easily the same amount facing him.

“Get- we have to get out of here,” Ororo said, straightening up. “It was a trap, we can’t take them all on. We distract them and then we run.”

“Ah’m on it,” Sam said, coruscating energy surrounding his body. He leapt into the air, and a blast of energy erupted from his feet as he jetted toward the group, whirling through their ranks and buffeting dozens to the ground, before circling back.

“Eyes,” Jubilee shouted, and they had mere moments to make sure their backs were to her as they ran toward more cover, before her hands erupted in a fiery display of deafening fireworks that blasted toward the Purifier forces.

“Alright, let’s get- aaagh!” She choked out as one of the men, now firing blindly, managed a lucky shot in her direction. She doubled over, clutching her side.

“Damnit,” Logan growled. “Jubes is hit. Get the hell out of here. I got her, get the jet ready,” he snarled to Ororo, Hank, and Sam who had made it to the corner of the building in all the distraction.

He sprinted back out into the open as the men slowly began to regain their vision, and scooped Jubilee up in his arms. She hissed out a breath, and a groan of pain as he lifted her and ran back toward the others. He took several bullets to his back as he rounded the corner, the men pursuing, and he staggered until Kitty steady him.

Jubilee’s face was pale, and her hands clutching her side were red and wet with blood. “S-sorry, should have been more careful.”

“Shush, kid, you did good. You’re gonna be okay, jus’ save your energy,” he said around a grimace as the bullets slowly popped out of his body when his healing factor kicked in.

“Let’s go,” he said to Kitty – the others, he could see, were already clear of the front fence and running toward the jet.

“Go ahead – I got this,” Kitty said. “We came here for something, I’m getting it.”

“Don’t you dare-“ He gritted his teeth as she ignored him and ran straight through the wall, into the building. “You better know what your doin’,” he muttered.

Logan shifted Jubilee in his arms so he could press one of his hands down on both of her smaller ones, helping her apply more pressure for her wound. “Hang on kid. Bumpy for a little bit here,” he said, breaking into a run toward the front gate, the yells from the Purifiers at his heels.

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

“Went straight through – no bouncin’ around is good – an’ it didn’t knick anything major,” Logan said, firmly holding the trauma pads against the entrance and exit wounds on Jubilee’s side – he’d used his claws to slice away her uniform around the wound to get a better look and better access to it. “Lost a lot of blood though, an’ there could be internal we can’t see.”

Jubilee nodded weakly, her arms limply at her sides where she laid on the floor of the X-Jet. “Tired.” She croaked.

“I know, jus’ hang in there.” He looked up toward Ororo, who was sitting tensely at the controls of the jet. “Damnit, where is she?” he asked – it had been mere minutes since he’d given the Purifiers the slip by entering the cloaked fighter before they’d made it around the building it hid behind.

“Right here!” Kitty shouted, panting. “Let’s go let’sgoletsgo, they’re following!” She said, diving through the barely visible ramp, several large hard drives in her arms.

Ororo immediately hit the button to begin to raise the ramp, and before it had even started to move she punched the button to turn on the hovering thrusters, and the plane jerked into the air, leaving the men who’d chased after the intangible Kitty stuck on the ground, staring up at the slowly disappearing bay of the jet.

“What about the others?” Logan asked, crouched with Hank next to Jubilee while Hank checked her pulse and breathing rate.

Hank shook his head. “We can’t stop over by them – I’m sure they got the idea on their own. We need to get Jubilee to the mansion, now. She’s lost too much blood – we need the Med Lab to do anything now.”

Ororo responded to his prognosis by kicking the main engines into gear, sending the jet racing across the skies toward the mansion. She shook her head. “Whatever the radio interference is, it’s affecting the system on the jet too. We can’t call Remy and the others. But they can take care of themselves.”

Logan nodded, and then turned a stern gaze in Kitty’s direction.

She nodded tiredly. “I know, it was stupid. I had to phase them out with me so I’m not sure if that damaged them at all, but I got four,” she said, gesturing at the hard drives. “Even if you guys had to leave, I could have phased over to Rogue and the others, or until I got away from them,” she said in explanation.

Logan growled, but nodded grudgingly. “Can’t blame you for results, but if you ever do something that stupid again, you’re scrubbing the hangar floor with a toothbrush for a year.”

Kitty gave him a weak smile, and wiped her brow from the sweat that had built up in her rapid sprint into the building and then to the X-Jet.

She pushed the hard drives onto one of the seats, and staggered over next to Logan. She reached out, and grabbed Jubilee’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “You’re gonna be alright, Jubes,” she said.

Jubilee returned the gesture with an alarmingly weak squeeze back, and a small smile – her eyes half-closed.

Hank shook his head. “She’s starting to go into shock. I think we’ll make it, but just barely,” he said, peering out at the blurring countryside beneath them as Ororo pushed the engines of the Jet to their limits.

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

Kurt *BAMF*ed back into existence behind the man, kicked viciously at his head, ramming it into the wall beside him. Kurt teleported yet again toward the next Purifier soldier as the one he’d kicked slid bonelessly to the ground.

He landed atop that one, driving him to the floor where he could deliver a punch that knocked him senseless. Kurt looked up as Remy and Rogue dashed out of the interior of the building they were in.

“Anything?”

Remy shook his head. “Nothin’. We got one more buildin’ to check, an’ dat’s de big one over dere.” He said, nodding toward a wide, squat building that looked more like a small company’s building than the headquarters of the Purifier base.

He nudged the man beneath Kurt with the toe of his boot. “These morons jus’ keep comin’ – Stormy an’ de others have to be pretty damn clear.”

He glanced out the windows surrounding the lobby they were in, and saw Kurt, Bobby, and Piotr emerge empty-handed from the building across the small grassy courtyard between the buildings. “Last one it is, den. Let’s go.”

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

Unbeknownst to them, several pairs of reddish photoreceptors glowed as they watched the six mutants meet up and begin to jog toward the large building. Each set belonged to its own robot, and each robot had just been dispatched, and now perched on the surrounding buildings, sending their information back to the Prime, base S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

:GENETIC PROFILE COMPLETE – SIX HOSTILES CLASSIFIED AS MUTANTS - ENGAGE?:

Several hundred miles away, in western West Virginia, Stephen Lang grinned to himself at their luck as he watched the computer monitors displaying the views from each S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

He nodded to himself, and typed out their command.

:ENGAGE. SUBDUE AND CAPTURE.:

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

Remy saw a blur of metal from the corner of his eye, and dove out of the way of the falling object, which landed with a loud clanging sound mere feet from the group.

Three more of the same objects dropped on each side, completely surrounding them, and Remy looked up to find himself staring into the glowing red “eyes” of a metallic being, a towering construct, half a head taller than he was.

“SURRENDER, MUTANTS,” the nearest one said in a somewhat monotone, robotic voice.

“Somehow I get the feeling this isn’t something we knew about,” Dani muttered.

Remy’s eyes narrowed as he examined the being in front of him. There was no way this was human, even armored in something like Tony Stark had. They were far too compact – solid – and their legs were far too spindly, looking like they were made from large bars of some sort of metal, and no room for a human leg inside them.

“Sorry, we don’ surrender, ‘specially to ugly bastards like you.” Remy said, several playing cards appearing in his hand. “Let’s take dem – dey ain’ humans – some sorta robots,” he said to the others, who’d taken up defensive stances, their backs to one another to form a circle.

He hurled the charged cards, and the explosion knocked back the nearest S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.. It seemed to shake its head, and then regain its balance before approaching the group, seemingly undamaged from the blast.

A loud noise, akin to the roar of jet engines, filled the air, and they looked toward the building they had been moving toward, to see another of the robots – this one seemed to be their big brother, dwarfing the others – coming to a landing, the jets that had carried it through the air shutting down.

Remy had a sense of Déjà vu as he craned his neck to see the head of the robot – it was close to the same height as Abdol when he’d emerged from the nuclear reactor.

“Shit, not good,” he muttered, bringing a hand up to his ear. “Stormy, get de hell outta here – we got trouble.”

He cursed when he got no reply. “Take dem out – now,” he shouted to the others. They scattered when one of the smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s raised its arm, and a muzzle appeared and began spewing out hard rubber bullets.

Remy winced as one of them hit his body armor with a glancing blow, but shook it off quickly, more cards already in his hands.

***
Several clicks sounded through the air, and compartments on the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s arms opened and soon the air was whizzing with what seemed to be self-contained taser units.

One whizzed straight at Bobby, and he threw his hands up and outward, shooting out a beam of ice to stop it in its tracks.

His body shifted fully into ice – a skill he’d found he had during the battle at Alcatraz, and had been working on in the weeks since. He turned his hand toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. nearest to him, and began to encase its lower extremities in more ice, drawing the moisture from the air to fuel his abilities.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. struggled at the sudden temperature change, the servos in its legs whining as they tried to break free of the rapidly thickening ice. Moments later they heard a loud snapping sound, and some of the ice around one leg shattered as the internal motor reached its limits and popped.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. staggered, and fell on its back, unable to move its legs. Its eyes flashed, and it sent a message to the Prime S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., which now had its hands full with Rogue, whose blows to its chest were straining its ability to stay upright.

:CRYOKINETIC MUTANT DETECTED – REQUEST ASSISTANCE:

The Prime S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. batted Rogue to the side with a quick movement of its arm, and a compartment on its chest opened up, revealing something that looked similar to a radio array it was something the Prime had that the smaller ones didn’t simply because of the power required to run it – an Active Denial System.

The Active Denial System was designed by the military mainly for crowd control, and it sent out a concentrated beam of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation, which acted somewhat like a microwave.

That beam, when it came into contact with a person’s skin, excited the heat and fat molecules, heating the skin up and causing a momentary feeling of intense pain as it passed over.

When the beam came into contact with a person made entirely of frozen water molecules, the effect was much more dramatic, Bobby quickly learned.

As the invisible beam struck him, he felt like the outer layers of his skin were being torn off – which they essentially were as the radiation vaporized the ice making up his body.

He pitched to the ground, writhing in pain as the beam passed over him, and within moments he’d passed out, and the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. turned its attention back to Rogue.

***

Remy grimaced, and slammed the charged end of his bo staff down into the face of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. that Bobby had knocked over, the tip piercing the photoreceptor and blowing up the head from the inside.

The move seemed to distress the remaining S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, as they began to work harder to corral and subdue the mutants trapped amongst them.

“What now?” Rouge yelled as she slammed her fist into the chest plate of the larger S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

“Don’ ask me,” Remy said, dodging a swift hail of rubber bullets, then rolling backwards to avoid a large metal fist. “Didn’ exactly plan on fuckin’ Megatron an’ all his hommes droppin’ out of de sky! What de hell are dese things?”

“No clue!” she shouted back.

***
Kurt teleported from one to the next, trying to damage the heads of the robots, and had succeeded with one, which now had a single glowing photoreceptor – the other one left sparking on its face.

But humans, no matter how random they might attempt to be, often unknowingly act in a pattern – something the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s saw, so on his next teleport, one of the undamaged sentinels spun and launched one of its tasers.

Kurt popped back into existence, only to find himself tangled up in the leads of the taser, which then applied a voltage and sent him spasming to the ground.

Remy growled to himself – they were two for one so far, which wasn’t good for them. This needed to end, quickly.

Remy reached into the inside of his trenchcoat, and removed two of the slim, metallic bo shuriken he had brought with him to the mansion the day he’d arrived.

He gripped one of the metal stake-like objects between the fingers of his right hand, and charged it up. He ran toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. Kurt had damaged, approaching from the damaged side, and its brother S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s didn’t get out a warning before it was too late.

Remy leapt atop it, jamming the metal through the damaged eye, and jumped back off as it tried to swing at him. He landed in an ungraceful somersault when the blow hit his back glancingly and threw him off balance.

He counted under his breath as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. groped at its face clumsily, and five seconds later the team was showered with metal shrapnel and wiring as the head exploded.

Piotr helped Remy to his feet, and Remy nodded slightly toward one of the two remaining smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s. “Double team?” He muttered. “I’ll do the boom, you follow up wit’ de punch?”

Piotr nodded, and his feet thudded heavily across the courtyard, his heavy metal body leaving footprint impressions in the dirt beneath him.

Remy cocked his hand back, the other bo shuriken gripped between his fingers, and hurled it directly at the face of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.

This S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. knew what was coming toward it, and moved its head to the side with ’reflexes’ almost faster than that of a human. Remy, having expected that, gritted his teeth and focused his will on the object he’d just charged, to detonate it remotely.

The blast next to the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s head knocked it further to the side it had tilted toward to avoid the blast, and by then Piotr was there, bringing his fist down to crumple its knee joint and topple it completely.

Remy sank to one knee, gasping, and swiped at the line of blood that seeped from his nose. While he was able to remotely change his own charge on an object, it took a lot out of him, as it was essentially like a telepathic changing of the kinetic energy of an object – and he had always been mostly tactile when it came to his powers.

“Remy look out!” Dani shouted, as the final small S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. saw the moment of weakness and turned its attention to him.

She grimaced and threw her hands out, a dazzling light emerging from them, which swiftly formed into the Demonic Bear he’d seen her create once before.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. paused, seeming to have trouble processing the sudden appearance, and that was all that was needed for the bear to swing its claw. Despite the fact that it was an image, she’d put enough power into it to psionically make it solid, and the claw tore off one of the arms of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., knocking it to the side.

:ERROR – PROCESSING:

:PROCESSING CONFLICTING SENSORY DATA:

:PROCESSING COMPLETE – FEMALE MUTANT CLASSIFIED AS PSIONIC MANIPULATOR – INITIATING COUNTERMEASURES:

A hatch on its chest, in the same location the larger S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.’s ADS had been located, opened up, and a beam of extremely concentrated, high frequency sonic energy erupted from the cavity, directed at Dani.

She clutched her ears against the painful sound that vibrated her eardrums and made her lose her balance. The image of the bear shimmered, and then dissipated into a mix of mismatched images, as the intense sound wave made it impossible for her to concentrate.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. quickly raised its only remaining arm and launched a taser that struck her dead on, taking her out of the battle as well.

Remy grimly pulled out his last deck of cards and began charging them in his hand as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. turned its attention to him.

***

In the air behind them, Rogue was struggling to do more than dent the thick metallic armor of the enormous S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. she was antagonizing.

Having seen Remy and Kurt’s luck with the eyes, she’d begun lightning fast strikes near its face, keeping it on the defensive as it batted her away with its large hands.

She finally made it past, and gripped the large metal forehead for a handhold, and began hammering at the protective covering over the photoreceptor with the other.

Just as she cracked through the left covering and fractured the photoreceptor, a small port in front of her opened up and shot out a pressurized, whitish-green cloud of gas into her face.

Pain erupted through her face as the gas contacted her, her throat swelling shut and her eyes filling with painful tears. She lost her grip, and was hammered to the ground by the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s metallic fist while she tried to recover from the blast of concentrated tear gas.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. was then able to turn its ‘attention’ to its final surviving ally just as Remy and Piotr brought it, too, down – Piotr’s metallic fist driving through its face.

:TERMINATION IMMINENT IF ATTACK SUSTAINED – INITIATING SELF-PRESERVATION PROTOCOLS:

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. raised its left arm – the other had had its shoulder and elbow actuators crumpled by Rogue earlier and that left it completely immobile at the enormous robot’s side. Its hand could still move freely, but it could not lift that arm or move it around.

A round weapon’s port rose out of the metal of the arm that it raised, and it launched the same grenade canister it had used to defend itself in the proving exercise before it has been reprogrammed.

The grenade arced perfectly, and landed between Remy and Piotr before it exploded, spraying them and the nearby ground with anti-friction fluid.

Piotr swiped at the liquid, clearing it from his face, and quickly discovered what it was – he took a single step forward, and his feet flew out from underneath him – he landed with a ground-shaking thud, and struggled to get back to his feet, even shifting back to his human form to attempt it.

Remy, who had already been diving away from the incoming grenade, caught the edge of it and slid for nearly ten feet on his stomach, until he reached the edge of the patch.

He, too, tried to stand, but the liquid had covered the soles of his boots, and also his hands as he’d slid across it, and he too fell back, face first on the ground.

Remy cursed to himself, and began to run a kinetic charge to his hands. He winced in pain as the liquid bubbled, and then flashed to steam, burning his palms. But it was enough to allow him to begin to drag himself away from the puddle of frictionless liquid so he could do the same to his boots.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. would have none of that, however, the crosshairs appearing on its single functioning photoreceptor to allow it to train the small defensive minigun in its chest on the struggling Remy, before it spat out a short burst of rubber bullets.

Remy managed a short cry of pain as the bullets hammered against his side, even the body armor doing little to shield him from the kinetic force of each bullet as they slammed the breath out of him.

Rogue coughed heavily, swiping at her eyes when she heard him cry out, the effects of the tear gas finally beginning to wane, and she opened her eyes to see the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. let loose another burst when Remy began to stir.

She tried to call out his name, but her throat was still trying to recover from the chemical attack. She pushed off the ground, hurtling into the air toward the menacing S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

She slammed full-tilt into its midsection, metal compartment doors crumpling, hinges tearing away, as she left a human-sized dent on the left side of its chest, sending error and damage messages flashing wildly through its computer mind. The thing suddenly grabbed her leg and pulled her away, tossing her against the brick building nearby.

She shook her head groggily at the impact, and rose into the air yet again, but this time the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. was prepared for her.

She tried to dodge out of the way of a thick wire, nearly as big around as several of her fingers put together, but it was hurtling at her too fast. It struck her chest, and the momentum allowed it to wrap tightly around her arms. The wire seemed to be made of the same material as that of the wires used to transmit power in electric lines.

A sudden, violent jolt of electricity the next moment confirmed it – clearly the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. had been prepared for even the strongest of mutants with what amounted to a super-sized version of the self-contained tasers the smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s had been using.

She tasted blood in her mouth as her body spasmed from the jolt and fell out of the air – she’d bitten her tongue as the electricity caused her muscles to involuntarily contract and relax – and it felt like her muscles had been turned to jelly.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. had been studying its super-strong opponent during the entire battle, and had determined the best way to remove her from the battle was a pre-programmed taser – one usually used to take out vehicles by wrapping around their engine blocks and shutting down the onboard electronics.

As Rogue struggled to force her arms and legs to obey, a second jolt coursed through the wire, and she the little control she’d started to regain was lost yet again – and she whimpered to herself at the thought of this continuing until whatever massive battery powering it ran out of juice.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. swept its photoreceptor across the battlefield, and when it saw no further targets, it swiftly ran a self-diagnostic and determined that if any of its opponents started fighting it again, destruction was likely – the same for any reinforcements the group might have.

It transmitted the battle report to Lang, miles away, and received orders back to take those it could and return to base.

The computer mind carefully assessed each mutant and their powers. It determined the energy required to keep Rogue contained would soon be gone and she’d be able to continue fighting minutes after the battery drained, and it rejected her instantly. Piotr’s anti-friction-liquid covered skin would pose a problem of transport, so it struck him from the list as well, and began an assessment of potential value to Lang amongst the remaining mutants.

Rouge bit her tongue again as another jolt course through her, and watched the enormous S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. awkwardly sink to its knees to allow its damaged arm to pick Kurt up in the still-functioning hand.

It rose back to its feet, and then moved over to Remy, and she tried to curse and rage when it shot out a smaller taser across his body, but her jaw wasn’t responding.

She watched helplessly as Remy jerked against the electric charge, and felt tears begin to blur her vision as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. reached down to pick him up with its good hand.

Small jets like those it had used earlier to enter the area emerged from its leg and back, and the whine of the engines filled the now-quiet courtyard. It lifted off on jets of fiery orange, its captives safely in its hands, and it leveled out its flight, and picked up speed, disappearing quickly to the south.

‘Remy….’ Was the only thought that made it to her mind as the enormous taser sparked again, the strain on her body driving her into blissful unconsciousness.

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“Get me Maldrone,” Lang snapped at one of the men he was using as a technician, who’d been supervising one of the now destroyed S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s.

Lang shook his head. This had only barely been prevented from becoming a complete disaster. His S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s were simply not as effective as he’d hoped they could be, and while they’d held their own they had just barely been a match against a determined and, seemingly trained, group of mutants.

Maldrone would be less than pleased that they’d lost four of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, with the fifth functioning just enough to fly back to them.

Fortunately, thanks to that surviving unit, they would have two very valuable prisoners, and they could get what they needed out of them – find out what the group that had attacked them was and if it was the same that had attacked the other Purifier base.

Lang rubbed his stubbled chin tiredly, and sat back in his chair, trying to think of anything else that could improve his creations, make them more able, more effective against mutants like these so that they could do more than incapacitate the mutants and drag two back at the cost of four of their own.

“I’ll be in my quarters – send Maldrone’s call to my personal line. And let me know when our unit gets back. I want to see to these new friends of ours as soon as they get here.”
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A/N: Yes, that’s where I’m ending the chapter - we haven’t had a good cliffie in a while. Yes, I am evil incarnate – it’s alright if you say it. :D

Hope you guys liked it – we get to see a bit of Banshee (Sean) and Moira. Incidentally, rumor has it that both are going to be seen in the X-Men: First Class movie coming out in a few years. Then a few cute scenes in there amongst some of our “couples” (now we’re just about official with another of them!), and then of course the first battle with a full force of Purifiers and with the SENTINELs…… Which didn’t go to well for our friends.

Before I forget – you might think I’m rather evil, but you haven’t met the Irish accent. Boy is that thing tough to write. I ended up with just stating it and a few shortened words here and there. The vowels are so changed around, that when you try to write it phonetically like even a Scottish accent, it gets pretty hard to read rather quickly, so I chose to make it easier on myself and on your eyes and let you imagine Sean’s accent as you read.

So, things are quickly coming to a close – only three chapters left (basically two and an epilogue). Next chapter we get the search for poor Remy and Kurt, the fate of Jubilee (I wouldn’t kill her… or would I?), and Maldrone gets a surprising present from Lang – someone he thought he’d taken care of about two months before…...

I’ll see you guys all next week, please give me some feedback – hopefully the action part went okay (frankly it’s the hardest part for me to write and I was surprised at the positive reviews on the action a few chapters ago, so I tried to keep a similar formula with this action scene).