PREVIOUS PAGE – NEXT PAGE
TEASER | ACT I | ACT II | ACT III | ACT IV | TAG
1X03 – Alekhine’s Gun – Act IV
“I have nothing in common with any of these people,” Scott commented as he and Betsy moved away from a group of individuals.
“That’s okay,” she smiled, slipping her arm through his, “you’re only here to stand and look pretty.”
He gave her a sideways glance and was about to say something when two others approached, Warren and Jean.
“Betsy,” Warren said with false pleasantry, “are you finding this as incredibly conceited and boring as I am?”
“Possibly moreso,” she replied with a sweetness that belied her words. “How much longer do you think we have to put up with this?”
“It would be rude to leave before they have their official introduction of the high council and Black King,” he said regretfully but no one would realize that unless they could actually hear the tone of his voice.
“Black King?” Scott finally let his curiosity get the better of him.
“Like a chess board,” Warren filled him in. “They have a Black and White King, Queens and Bishops. Just a fancy way of saying President, VP, etc.”
“Ah,” that kind of made some sense. “How much longer you think?”
“Not sure,” Betsy replied as her arm slipped from Scott, “but not before I get a dance from you Warren, if you permit, Jean.”
“All yours,” Jean laughed stepping slightly away so that Betsy could take Warren’s arm.
“This isn’t an attempt to corner me about the Tokyo merger?” he said suspiciously as Betsy led him away.
“You know I have some serious investments in Tsurayaba Engineering,” they heard her reply as they wandered off onto the dance floor.
The air became awkward between the two teachers and Scott cleared his throat, “Would you—”
“Miss Grey,” a man’s voice drew their attention. Scott looked to the side to see the interloper approach, an older, distinguished looking gentleman with brown hair, a black classical tux, and a scotch in his left hand. “What a pleasure it is to see you here.”
“Yes,” Jean said warily as he took her hand and gave it a mock kiss, dipping his head as if he would touch his lips to her knuckles but he was either much to polite or germaphobic to actually do such a thing, “do I know you?”
“Sebastian Shaw,” he smiled as he brought his head up, “Black King of the Hellfire Club, North America.”
“Congratulations on your appointment,” she replied evenly.
“No need to be so defensive, my dear,” he waved off her prickly demeanor, “I know about that business with your father, that was my predecessor. I assure you I have no ill will towards Doctor Grey, I’m sorry, Councilman Grey.”
“While that is good to know,” Jean let a small smile touch her lips, “my family’s stance on the Hellfire Club, and those organizations like it, remains the same. I’m here as Warren’s date, nothing more.”
“I think we both know you were meant for more than just eye candy, Miss Grey,” Shaw said knowingly but then quickly turned his attention to the dance floor, “the Worthington’s have been assets to the Club for decades now.”
“Then perhaps you should be talking to him?” Scott did not like this guy, he wasn’t particularly sleazy or shady, but there was something about Shaw that made the little hairs on the back of Scott’s neck stand on end.
“I shall,” Shaw gave him a polite smile, then turned back to Jean, “enjoy the rest of the party, Miss Grey.”
Shaw then bowed his head slightly and headed off towards other party-goers. It was when he was out of earshot that Jean said, “He’s a mutant.”
That caused Scott to pause, “You sure?”
“I wasn’t going to peek too much,” she told him, “but I wanted to do a surface scan, see what he was up to. He’s had training to block telepathic scans, not even stray surface thoughts.”
“That doesn’t make him a mutant,” Scott pointed out, though now he had a better understanding of what was bothering him.
“I said he had training,” she looked at him sourly, “not that I couldn’t see anything.”
Scott’s jaw gapped slightly, “Jean—”
“I only broke through to the surface thoughts,” she quickly assured him, “at least he was truthful, he’s not interested in my father, ruining his career or otherwise.”
“That’s something,” Scott was at least glad knowing that, he didn’t like the idea of someone going after her father again.
Silence fell between them and Scott wasn’t exactly sure what to say, so instead he stepped forward and held his hand out in the universal gesture of asking a woman to dance. Jean smiled and accepted his offer and the two walked out to the dance floor together.
…
“We have a quarter mile curtain,” one of the agents informed Cooper as Rogue stood among six guards who were completely covered to keep her from touching them. It was almost comical.
“Check points at half a mile are secure,” another one said, the whole group jostling just slightly as the plane finished taxing on the runway.
“Nervous?” Rogue smiled as they felt the plane come to a stop, the ankle cuffs wrecking her balance.
“Cautious,” Cooper looked at her dourly. “It’s not beyond Magneto’s power to pull a plane or copter from the sky.”
“I doubt Magneto is even in the same country right now,” Rogue assured her. “If the Acolytes have to run to him every time we have a little hiccup, then what good would we be?”
“They haven’t come for you, Rogue,” the agent pointed out, “they’re smart enough to know that once we get to the containment facility, rescuing you will be a suicide run. They should have tried while we were in Philly.”
Rogue gave her a slow grin, “Wouldn’t be much of a game then would it?”
“This isn’t a game,” Cooper frowned.
“Game is the crossword answer for four letters meaning strategies that aren’t boring,” the mutant gave a light chuckle.
“We’re ready,” the first agent called out as the hatch opened up.
“Let’s move,” Cooper barked the order and two of the ‘personal guard’ as Rogue was starting to think of them lifted her up by her arms and literally carried her as the whole group moved to the plane door.
Rogue was hauled across the tarmac to a waiting Mi-17 military transport helicopter, her guards keeping a tight circle around her to discourage any quick-footed or teleporting mutants. With precision she was dragged into a seat on the copter and strapped in securely. The last person was barely onboard before the pilot revved the engine and brought the bird into the sky, three others right alongside it.
“ETA, ten minutes,” the pilot called out though she could barely hear him over the roar of the engines.
In twenty minutes she’d either be free or a permanent guest of Homeland Security…
…
“White Queen,” the announcer called and a blonde woman with striking features, almost ice colored eyes, and dressed completely in a white ball gown which showed off ample cleavage, walked down the aisle. She headed towards the four thrones which had been placed at the end of the room in front of the famous Unicorn tapestries.
The four mutants clapped politely as they stood off to the side with the rest of the attendees. Jean and Betsy exchanged glances.
“She’s a telepath,” Jean whispered to Warren who looked to find that very interesting.
“Black Queen,” another woman, just as striking with long jet hair and a black gown with a corseted top, walked towards her seat.
“She’s a mutant too,” Jean told her date quietly then focused on the two Bishop’s who had taken position to the rear of the thrones. “They’re also mutants.”
“White King,” a tall blonde gentleman followed the Black Queen’s steps, he had very strong facial features which almost made him look angry.
“And him?” Warren asked as he applauded.
Jean shook her head, “No, but he’s the only Council member who isn’t a mutant.”
“Black King,” was announced and Shaw began his walk down the aisle to take his seat at the tallest, most ornate throne.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the voice continued, “the Council of Chosen.”
With that the attendees clapped louder, showing their support for their leadership. Shaw held his hand up to still the applause, “Gentleman, ladies, it has been a year of many changes, a time of rebirth for the Hellfire Club, and I, for one, am humbled and honored to be at the precipice of this new order.”
This was met with more applause but Shaw continued, “To members old, new, and soon to be, let there be no more secrets between us. We are the Triumphant. We are the Proud. We are the Chosen.”
The group clapped at his declaration and the man seemed to stand like a master among mice. With the naming ceremony over, and the group dispersed, the one-time Xavier students found themselves huddled together.
“It can’t be a coincidence,” Betsy said thoughtfully, “that many mutants on the Council. I know they’ve been undergoing leadership changes in the past five years, none of the council members have sat longer than that.”
“Is this a bad thing though?” Scott asked. “I mean, having mutants in high level positions is good if they are working towards peaceful co-existence.”
“Are they though?” Jean frowned at him. “The Hellfire Club has always been stocked with self-serving corporate execs, um, sorry Warren, Betsy.”
Betsy shrugged, “Father has his moments.”
“Your words are too mild,” Warren replied dryly to Jean.
“But do them being mutants make them more dangerous than humans in their position?” Scott asked in all seriousness.
The three upper-class mutants glanced between each other, none felt comfortable giving an answer.
…
Once the helicopter landed on top of the three story building just a short drive from Washington D.C., Rogue was ushered out of the bird and rushed over to the stairwell. She was then taken to an open area next to a freight elevator while everyone checked in and confirmed their status.
“They never came for you,” Cooper spoke neutrally, with perhaps some surprise to her voice.
Rogue simply shrugged.
“I thought the Brotherhood didn’t abandon their kind?” she asked in all seriousness.
“They don’t,” Rogue answered simply, then a smile crept onto her face, “we didn’t get to finish our conversation.”
“Yes,” Cooper frowned, “you asked me about chess. I told you I play from time to time.”
“Quicksilver loves chess, it’s his favorite game, but it’s so hard for him to find someone challenging enough to play,” the mutant was unexpectedly candid, “and it has to be someone who really knows chess. Not just the rules, but the plays. Like the difference between a King’s Knight Gambit and a Bishop’s Gambit, that kind of thing.”
“That wouldn’t be me then,” Cooper admitted.
“Oh, he’d hate playing you,” she let out a little laugh. “There is no fun to be had playing those who don’t know the moves that guarantee a win, you know why?”
“Because they’d have a poor offense,” the agent suggested.
“Wrong,” she continued to smile, “because for every famous offense move, there is a defense made to beat it.”
Cooper eyed her warily, “But if you don’t know the offense movies, you don’t know the defensive ones either, you’d get walked all over.
“Exactly,” she said sweetly in her country accent, “what fun is it to win the war when your opponent doesn’t even realize the enemy is at the gates?”
…
“You ready?” Quicksilver stood behind Dom and Piotr, the later with binoculars to his eyes, scanning the compound.
“Ready,” Piotr nodded, putting away the binoculars.
“Ready,” Avalanche slipped on a helmet like the one SWAT teams use.
“Right,” Pietro moved his shoulders and stretched his back, “I’ll get you inside the perimeter, the rest is up to you. Take a deep breath,” the second he finished that sentence he ran off behind them and then turned around to head back in their direction.
Avalanche was a broad, stoutly build man, while Colossus was a tall, muscular, Russian… there was no way Quicksilver would be able to pick up either of them, let alone both at the same time. So, using inertia, he ran at the men and grabbed them by the repelling harnesses around their waists. He not so much as carried them but dragged them with him as he ran the half mile into the compound, unavoidably tripping the perimeter alarms.
Instantly, weapons started to target the streak of light, attempting to lead the object. Slipping around the side of the building, Quicksilver let go of Avalanche first, the man rolling to the ground, planting himself firmly as he began to uproot the Earth around him to create a shield.
Quicksilver made it to the other side of the building and let go of Colossus who also had to tuck and roll, his whole body turning to steel as he did so. When he got to his feet, bullets from the automatic defenses bounced harmless off of him, only ripping his shirt lightly.
Ignoring the gnat-like annoyance, Colossus turned to the building. Reaching up with one balled metal fist he proceeded to punch the wall.
…
Alarms started to go off, Cooper instantly asked for a status report.
“Maximoff triggered the perimeter alarm,” a man called back on the radio, “we have Petrakis and Rasputin confirmed on the ground.”
Cooper looked to Rogue, “Only a crazy person would attack here, this is a fortress.”
“You believe so much that no one would bother attempting to assault your stronghold,” Rogue smirked, “are you actually, truly, prepared for it to happen?”
It was not a good sign for Cooper that she had to think about that, “They might get past the outer defenses, but they will never make it past the security checkpoints.”
“Who needs doors when you have a Colossus?” Rogue smirked and the building proceeded to shake.
“They’re breaking through the outer walls!” the voice came back over the radio.
“They’ve broken the perimeter?” Cooper asked.
“No, they are literally breaking through the walls,” he said it like he wouldn’t believe it if he wasn’t watching it for himself.
Cooper was bound and determined not to let it faze her, she turned to the lead guard, “Hold her here, they’ll have to search level by level to find her, we’ll try to cut them off before then. The shape shifter could have snuck in with the distraction, remember the code words. I’m heading to the security room.”
“Yes ma’am,” the guard nodded.
With one last trying-not-to-be-frustrated glance at Rogue, Special Agent Cooper ran down the hall towards the security suite.
Rogue chuckled to herself, “And that’s Check.”
…
Dom ducked down, his palm on the tiled floor, feeling the concrete underneath. In seconds the entire hallway became unstable and cracked, sending the attacking agents to the floor below and trapping others on the other end of the newly opened pit.
Before the men got their wits back and started shooting, he kicked open the door he had been going for. Two shots rang out and hit the flak vest dead on. Dom grunted but otherwise took the hit. While the concussion wave alone would be enough to knock a person down, Dom wasn’t most people.
Instantly he stomped the ground and sent the whole area trembling. This gave him enough of a distraction to get to the three men in the room and take them out with blows to the head or stomach.
“I’m in a security room,” he said into his radio as he looked for a USB port on the console. “Plugging in now.”
“Right,” Pyro’s voice came over the video, “hacking into the system.”
…
Cooper made it to one of the security rooms on the third floor, “Talk to me.”
“Petrakis and Rasputin are wrecking the first floor,” one of the lead agents pointed to the cameras.
“This building was built to withstand two 9.8 earthquakes hitting back to back,” she watched as Colossus bashed through a wall rather than confront an ambush point, “unless they specifically go for all the load bearing pylons we don’t have to worry about a collapse.”
“The Marines are on their way,” another agent called from a communications desk, “eta five minutes.”
“Do we even have five minutes?” Cooper asked a rhetorical question.
Loud explosions could be heard from outside the building.
“Outside cameras, now,” Cooper directed the agent sitting in front of her. When the image popped up on the main screen seconds later they could see a streak of light that was Maximoff running around the grounds, setting off the landmines but getting out of the way quickly enough not to get hurt. “He’s opening an escape corridor, let’s make sure they can’t use it. Bring up the blueprints.”
The image changed and the agent glanced between both the map and where the two mutants were currently located. “I want whatever agents we have left on the first and second floors brought here, here, and here. We’ll choke point them. Third floor agents, here and here.”
There was a flurry as the security team spoke into the radios to direct the battle.
“We’re missing something here,” Cooper chewed on her lip, seeing only three mutants. “Where is Allerdyce?”
And that’s when all the screens went black.
…
Pyro sat in the back of a van, far away from the battle at hand, tapping away on his computer.
“I got control,” he said into the radio. “The perimeter guns are on a separate closed system, but I’m opening all electronically closed locks and energy grids… now.”
“We’re Rogue?” Dom asked.
The fire mutant scanned the video feeds quickly, “Third floor, northwest corner, hunkered in with six body guards and a dozen agents.”
“Colossus,” Pietro spoke up, “you’re closer, take point. Dom, make your way across the building.”
“Don’t go for the stairwell Dom,” Pyro informed, “you got a flood of agents there, you’ll have to get across then go up.”
“I will open the way,” Colossus said as Pyro watched him punch through another wall on the camera.
“It’ll take them about four minutes to break my hack,” he told them, “I’m going to go do my part.”
“Let’s do this in two,” Pietro said, “and Pyro, remember what I said.”
“Yes sir,” he said with a little disappointment.
Pyro grabbed a little black box as he hopped out of the back of the van. In the distance, military trucks could be seen gaining speed on the road. The mutant pressed the first button on the box, the primer. Counting to five in his head, he then pressed the second button.
Eight strategically placed gas canisters lining the sides of the road exploded into huge fireballs. Instantly Pyro latched onto them, bending them to his will, creating a massive wall of flame about as deep as a football field and almost half a mile wide… there was no way the military trucks would get through, not without stopping and taking time to examine the situation, a costly delay.
The fire mutant grinned to himself, “None shall pass.”
…
Rogue stood amongst her guards, picking at a fingernail as she waited. Another rumbled went through the building and she could hear explosions outside. She was missing all the action.
A glint of silver caught her eye and she looked up to see Colossus walking down the hallway. The agents opened up fire but the bullets merely pinged off his metal chest. Coming across the first agents, he swiped at them and sent them flying against the wall, knocking them out cold.
The path clear for the more heavily armed guards, their automatic rifles sending multiple projectiles in his direction, they only slowed him down slightly as he absorbed the pressure waves as the bullets were unable to pierce his skin. When he reached the guards he sent them down too, grabbing one of the rifles and crushing it in his bare metal hand.
Soon it was just the two mutants standing.
“Heya Piotr, how you been?” Rogue asked conversationally as she bent over to grab the keys to her cuffs from one of the fallen guards.
“I have been well, thank you,” he said just as politely.
“That’s good,” she sat down and unlocked the chains around her hands, feet and waist.
There was a crash and Avalanche came running down the hall, “Well, they aren’t getting through there any time soon.”
“And neither are we,” Rogue frowned, walking over to two agents she particularly wanted to absorb but hadn’t had the chance to.
“Don’t worry,” Dom gestured at the doors behind them, “we have another escape root planned.”
Nodding, Rogue followed as Avalanche lead the way, the two men taking point, two Rooks guarding the Queen.
…
Cooper stood at the blocked hallway, her mind thinking a mile a minute.
“How do they expect to get out?” one of the agents asked. “The ground is saturated with agents and they just blocked their only way out unless… they’re going to drop the floors.”
“No,” it all became clear to her, how could she have missed it? “There has to be another way around, this way,” she ran down the hall and turned a corner. She couldn’t let them escape.
…
Rogue kissed the pilot and let him slump to the ground as they stood on the roof.
“You good to go?” Dom asked as they piled into the helicopter.
“We’ll run out of fuel before I forget how to fly this bird,” she nodded and hopped into the pilot’s seat, “but we’ll get far enough.”
Hands working on instincts that weren’t hers, Rogue hit all the right levers and buttons to get the helicopter running. Dom and Piotr sat in the back, the latter returning to his fleshy form. Within a minute, Rogue was lifting the copter off the ground, heading North.
…
Cooper made it onto the roof just in time to see the copter fly off, too far away now to be shot down and with everyone on the ground…
A flash of light and she could see Maximoff disappear, he was long gone, having done his job as a decoy…
The stronghold was a wreck, it would take months to put it back together. Rogue was right, if you don’t know all the moves, you can’t defend yourself against them. But now that they knew this one, they would build a better base, one that would be invulnerable to such an attack as this.
But until then… “Check and mate.”
PREVIOUS PAGE – NEXT PAGE
TEASER | ACT I | ACT II | ACT III | ACT IV | TAG
X-Men: The (fan fic) Series 
Leave a Reply