X-Men: The (fan fic) Series

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1X06 – The Trask at Hand – Act II

“We’re going out tonight,” Kitty stuck a folder in front of Bobby as he was attempting to eat his breakfast.

“That’s odd,” he frowned as he sat back, “that line never works when I use it.”

“Ha ha,” Kitty pulled out a chair, “there’s a meeting tonight of the HLS,” she sat down and stole the blueberry muffin he had sitting to the side for ‘dessert’, “and it’s in Queens, so you need to memorize all that by 4:00, you’re driving.”

“To Queens?” he said absently and he reluctantly turned the pages of the file.

“Yep,” she was a bit muffled by the muffin so she covered her mouth. “Since you’re from Long Island anyway, I made most of your background match up so you wouldn’t have to remember too much, same High School and everything.”

“Did you make me the popular jock?” he asked as he turned the page.

“Please,” she made a face at him, “we want them to believe us.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and she just grinned at him. Eventually he gave up and went back to the file, “Can’t believe you talked me into this… correction, can’t believe you talked Scott into this. Are you sure you don’t have a secondary mutation? Snake charmer?”

“Bobby, sweetie,” Kitty made the sounds one does when talking to a child, “that would make you a snake,” she gave him a pity look, “and then you would be Snakeman, not Iceman,” she paused, “or Icey Snake Man… SnakeIce Man… Snake-Ice… that one has potential.”

He glanced up at her and her big brown eyes, “Don’t cats kill snakes?”

Her eyes drifted up as she thought about it, “Yes, yes they do.”

Bobby shook his head and laughed, picking up the file again, he had some reading to do.

…

“So, what do we know?” Rogue stood with the Acolytes in an abandoned warehouse, leaning over a map.

“The American government is ran by five year olds who throw temper tantrums?” Pyro piped in.

“About Nimrod, yah nimrod,” Rogue gave the grinning Aussie a dour look.

“They’ve been keeping everything pretty quiet,” Quicksilver ignored them, “even some of our better inside sources have been cut off… but you don’t move a project of this size without a few leaks.”

Rogue turned back to the team leader, “We sure we can trust the information?”

“Not as much as I’d like,” the man admitted, “but we’ll know soon enough, they head out in the morning from the facility somewhere outside Roanoke, Virginia, to a new base in Ohio.”

“Where in Ohio?” she asked.

“Not a clue,” Quicksilver admitted, “but there are only so many ways they can get to Point A from Point B.”

“They are going to be on guard, expecting an attack,” Avalanche pointed out.

“Hasn’t stopped us before,” the pyromaniac grinned.

…

“Now, the value here is dependant—” Scott was cut off in mid-lecture as his phone rang. Normally he’d keep it turned off or silent but he was expecting a call. Slipping it out of his pocket he checked the name and hit accept, “One second,” he said to the caller then looked up, “I have to take this, Jubilee,” he got the young girl’s attention, “make sure they do their worksheets.”

“But I don’t want to be the responsible one!” the girl lamented as he exited into the hallway.

“Sorry, Fred,” he told the man, “go ahead.”

“I’ve sent a military courier with a sealed package to you,” Fred told him blankly, “should be with you shortly. The package contains the date, time, and location of the move. Don’t share this information with anyone and don’t talk about it over the phone. We’ll see you when we see you.”

“Any word on the Brotherhood or Acolytes?” Scott knew there was no way they were going to pass this up.

“Magneto was spotted recently in South Korea, that caused a little bit of a stir,” the Fed said wryly, “but otherwise no. Mystique, Sabretooth, the Acolytes, all could be anywhere in the world right now.”

“Alright then,” Scott sighed, they would just have to plan for everything, “thank you, Fred.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he gave a bit of a snort, “this is still the military’s ball game, Cooper’s group is simply providing backup. Don’t expect a warm welcome or support.”

Scott frowned, “Agent Cooper did inform them of our involvement?”

“Yes,” Fred didn’t sound very happy, “but as far as they are concerned, you’re cannon fodder.”

“Oh, great,” there was a distinct amount of sarcasm in his voice.

“You should receive the package with the hour,” the agent said, “I’ll talk to you again later.”

“Thanks Fred,” and with that the man hung up and Scott headed back into the classroom.

Jubilee was sitting on the edge of his desk reading a teen magazine and blowing a bubble with her gum.

“What?” she said when he gave her a ‘what in the world’ look, “You told me to make sure they did their worksheets, you said nothing about me.”

…

“Now,” Kitty fiddled with her purse as Bobby put the Ford Escape into park and killed the engine, “you remember everything.”

“Yes, Marra,” he used her pseudonym, “I remember. Why did you pick Marra anyway?”

“It’s short for Jandamarra,” she opened her door and slid out, “the Queen in the House of Mavendore books.”

“Right,” he also exited and came around the back of the vehicle to join her, “and where did you get ‘David’.”

“The Tenth Doctor,” she looped her arm with his and they started to walk towards the rented out building.

“Who?” Bobby asked, confused.

Kitty grinned and shushed him as they got to the entrance, Bobby holding the door for her as they went inside.

There was a small table with a sign-in book and several pamphlets. They picked up a couple to look ‘interested’ and to give themselves stuff to talk about. Walking into the main room there were several chairs lined up in front of a small, open area with a microphone. A table with coffee, soda, donuts and other pastries lined one wall. There were several people milling about, some couples but mostly single individuals.

The gathered group varied in ages and, to Bobby’s surprise, in race as well, though it did seem to be dominated by middle-aged Caucasians.

“Welcome,” an older gentleman, well, in his forties, but that was old to the likes of Bobby and Kitty, greeted them, “name’s William, I’m Humanity’s Last Stand representative for the five boroughs.”

William seemed like your average guy, the kind that might have come from a university lecture what with a sleeveless sweater thrown over his button up dress shirt, nicely trimmed hair, and respectable specs on his nose.

“David,” Bobby introduced himself politely, “and this is my girlfriend, sorry,” he acted like a goofball, so normal, really, “fiancée, Marra.”

“Congratulations,” the man said cheerfully, a rather congenial smile on his face, “always wonderful to see a young couple in love.”

Kitty giggled and laid her head on Bobby’s shoulder, it was everything he could do not to look at her like she had grown a second head.

“How did you hear about us?” he asked conversationally.

“The internet,” Kitty answered for Bobby. “I was reading about that poor kid in Iowa, horrible, simply horrible.”

 

“Such a shame,” William shook his head, “God gave us differences so we could celebrate our uniqueness, we start stripping away at that and we are simply asking for conflict as the only way to express our individuality.”

Bobby tried really hard to smile, “Took the words right out of my mouth.”

Kitty gave him a little nudge but William didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, I’m glad you could make it today,” the representative gestured to the table, “please, help yourself to some refreshments and find yourself a good seat. If you have any questions before or after the meeting, don’t hesitate to find me, or Jameson,” he started to look around, “he’s one of our upstate New York representatives…” he trailed off as he kept looking. “He was here a minute ago, oh, well, I’ll introduce him during the meeting.”

“Look forward to it,” Kitty smiled, then with a thank you and nod, William moved on to greet another couple.

“Looks like someone drank the Kool-Aid,” Bobby frowned once William was out of ear shot.

“Come on,” Kitty pulled him towards the food table, “whatever happens, we have to pretend we agree, okay,” she whispered as she picked up a soda, “I doubt William knows anything about Colonel Trask or Sentinel, so we need to get in their good graces.”

“How long do you think that will take?” he frowned, picking up one of the nearly room temperature drinks.

“As long as it needs to,” she replied, glaring at his hands wrapping around the can, “and don’t you even think about icing that in here.”

“Hey, I put a ring on it,” he gestured to her fake engagement ring and decided to just go for it, “you’re my woman now, you don’t tell me what to do.”

She looked like she was about to smack him, then a grin edged at the corners of her mouth, “That’s the spirit, keep it up and they’ll be having you running this outfit in no time.”

“Thank you,” Bobby gave a shrug of modesty, grinning at her, “you gonna fry my X-Box when we get home, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you betcha,” she moved past him towards the chairs.

…

“This is the exact route the convoy will be taking,” Scott brought the map up on the screen in the conference room. “It’s about a six hour drive between the Roanoke facility and the Air Force Research Lab at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” he hit a key and the map became dynamic, “it will be the next research base location for the Sentinel project.”

“Air Force?” Jean interrupted, “I thought Sentinel was likely an Army project?”

“Gets to a point,” Logan leaned back in his chair, “where a military project is so deep it can go literally anywhere there’s a facility that can handle it.”

Scott added, “I doubt even the base commander knows what Sentinel is, just that he has to make room for it.”

“Ah, I see,” the red head nodded.

“Alright, JP,” Scott turned to the younger Canadian, “if you have enough endurance, I want you on point and on foot,” he clicked a button and a bunch of dots came up along the route, “these have been identified as possible ambush points. I want you checking them out as regularly as you can, but use your best judgment, something doesn’t look right you let us know.”

“Six hours,” the man nodded, studying the route, “yeah, I can do that, easy.”

“Alright, Logan,” he looked over at the grizzled man, “how would you feel about a float position?”

Wolverine raised a brow but Scott kept on, “I want you on your bike, moving in and around the convoy at all times. You smell anything out of the ordinary or one of the Brotherhood, you alert the rest of us.”

The man gave a non-committal grunt and Scott took that as a yes.

“Ro,” his eyes went to the Weather Witch, “it’s six hours, think you could give us cloud cover and air support the whole time?”

“It won’t be a problem,” she gave a hint of a devious smile.

“Good,” he smiled lightly in return, then he tilted his head towards the last member in the group, “Jean, I want you in the center of the convoy, not only keeping a telepathic link for us, but scanning for anything out of the ordinary. The Brotherhood, Mystique, nervous personal who may have been compromised,” the telepath nodded her understanding, “you’ll ride with Bobby, that way you can put your whole concentration on your telepathy.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed with the plan.

“I’ll take the rear,” he added as the last point of contention, “Anyone have anything to add?”

“What kind of military support are we looking at?” JP asked.

“Not a whole lot,” Scott frowned. “If the Brotherhood shows up then our goal is to keep them from getting to the cargo and letting the trucks escape.”

“They might not attack,” Jean pointed out, “they could watch to see where Sentinel will be located next.”

“If that’s the case then we’ll see if we can keep them from finding out,” Scott paused a second, “but we’ll try not to directly engage them, we don’t want anyone getting hurt, us, military, civilians, if we can avoid it.”

“Risking our lives to help Sentinel,” Logan growled and otherwise didn’t look too pleased.

Before Scott could retort, Storm’s booming voice echoed across the table, “History is strewn with men and women doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, and doing the right thing for the wrong reasons,” she spoke sternly to them, “but as of this moment, all we can do is prove we are not the monsters, it is for History to decide if this is true.”

…

“It is true, in the past, man has fought man over their differences, be it race, religion, or nationality,” William was standing at the front of the room giving his speech, “and that has been wrong, but the answer is not to eradicate our differences, to make us all one thought, one color… that’s exactly what started these wars in the first place. Unrealistic pressures to conform. Instead, we must embrace what makes us different, what sets us aside from the other man.”

Bobby couldn’t help but think that buried under there somewhere was a good message, simply warped by those of the HLS. Perhaps that’s how they gained a following, a kernel of truth in the lie…

“God created man to be caretakers of his world,” William continued, “he gave man differences, separated him into groups, Caucasian, Negroid, Mongolian, Australoid, so they were better adept to survive in the world they were meant to govern. And now we want to go and erase what God gave us?”

The Iceman could hear someone get up and leave, he wanted to join them but did his best to look interested.

“We must embrace our differences,” William wasn’t fazed and did a broad sweep of his hands, “we must protect those differences. Only then may we know peace.”

…

“The X-Men on board?” Val asked as she stood in a debriefing room along with several others.

“They are,” Duncan said as attention turned to him, “they’ll provide cover and support. If a fight does break out I’d stay clear, but I don’t want them to be considered expendable either.”

“Of course not,” the woman nodded and went back to the rest of the group, “three squads are going to be assigned to us tomorrow for the move, they don’t even know it’s going to happen, so that should cut down on possible leaks. They will be from the Army’s Omega’s, they know about mutants so shouldn’t be a problem reacting if we’re attacked.”

“The Omega’s?” Duncan asked.

She gave him a look then realized, “Oh, yeah, you probably never heard about them in the FBI. Omega’s is a slang term for any military unit who is privy to a lot of those kinds of secrets.”

“Ah,” he gathered that there had to be some groups like that, it would be hard to keep mutants a secret from everyone, “but why Omega’s?”

“Cause they get the crap end of every assignment,” one of the other guys piped in.

Val gave the man a dirty look then conceded, “They do tend to get the more questionable assignments since they already have the clearance. Anyway,” she waved him off, “our team’s job is to secure the package through the whole trip. If there is a fight, let the Army and the X-Men handle it, we have to secure Nimrod.”

“If we get attacked though,” one of the ladies spoke up, “doesn’t that mean they’ll know where Nimrod is going? We’ll have to move it again.”

“That, or they simply followed us,” Val shook her head, “but if we all do our job, then we don’t have to worry about it.”

…

“I think I just lost some IQ points,” Bobby mumbled as the two milled about after the meeting.

“You were right about the Kool-Aid,” Kitty was trying not to frown.

“Someone will always drink the Kool-Aid,” Bobby was also doing his best not to seem anything but pleased at having been there, “at least, if the internet is anything to go by.”

“I guess that’s true,” she admitted, “and really freaking sad.”

“David, Marra,” they almost didn’t answer to their ‘names’ when William came over, another gentleman by his side, this one more rough cut and wearing military BDU’s, “how did you enjoy the meeting?”

“It was very informative,” Kitty saved Bobby from saying something stupid, or truthful, “you can read this stuff but you really gave it life and emotion.”

“Everything is much more clear,” Bobby added, a little proud of himself for not saying what he really felt.

“Sometimes you just have to experience the message first hand to truly appreciate it, yes,” William smiled warmly then gestured to the other man, “and this is Jameson, I mentioned him earlier.”

“Always a pleasure to see ones so young get involved,” Jameson nodded, giving them a hand shake.

“You can blame this little firecracker right here,” Bobby put his arm around Kitty before she had a chance to say anything about not being ‘that young’, “she was the one to discover your group.”

“Fortuitous, I’m sure,” the man, Jameson, wasn’t nearly as good natured as William, which is probably why he wasn’t the one doing the public speaking.

“Would you be interested in learning more about HLS?” William ignored the other man.

Bobby glanced at Kitty who looked up at him, of course they wanted to learn more, but it couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Yes,” Kitty finally said with a smile, “I think we still have much to learn.”

“Glad to hear it,” William reached into his back pocket and pulled out some small pamplets, handing over one. “The HLS gathers once a week at one of our camps. If it’s not too much of a drive, we’d like to see you there, tomorrow.”

Glancing at the address, Bobby figured it was barely an hour from Westchester, “I think we’ll manage.”

“William,” Jameson turned towards the man, saying quietly, “are you sure about these two? They look fairly young, they might not be ready for all HLS has to share.”

“Honestly,” William gave him a funny look, “I figured you’d be all for them joining. We could use young, forward thinkers. Isn’t that what you were just telling me last week?”

Jameson opened his mouth to argue, then realized he was already making a butt of himself and nodded his defeat, turning back to Bobby and Kitty, giving them a small smile. “Yes, young, forward thinkers. That’s obviously what we have here, how could I be mistaken?”

…

“Well, that was quick,” Scott frowned as he sat in the study with the team.

“Maybe not that quick,” Bobby said, “I mean, they said it was a satellite base, not the main one. They might not have anything about Trask there at all.”

“Though if they have a computer system that’s connected,” Kitty piped up, “then I should be able to find all sorts of goodies.”

“It’s a good next step for undercover work,” JP pointed out.

“Yes,” Scott frowned, “but it’s tomorrow.”

“Six o’clock,” Bobby added, “it’s like forty-five minutes from here.”

“You won’t be able to come on the mission,” Jean told them, “you’ll never be back in time.”

“I’m more worried that we won’t be able to send backup with them,” Scott pointed out, “the rest of us will be guarding the Sentinel project.”

“I can babysit the kids,” Logan offered from where he stood off to the side.

“I think,” Storm turned to him, “that with the nature of the mission, it’s best if you stay with the team. I will go with Bobby and Kitty.”

“I agree,” Scott looked between the two, “being on the move, your tracking skills will come in handy, Logan.”

The feral man looked mad because he couldn’t argue.

“You should still do the mission, ‘Ro,” Kitty said, “this is just a meeting to see if we’d make good members. We weren’t the only ones invited from tonight as well, I think they invited everyone who stuck around, so I doubt they’re that worried about security right now.”

Scott thought it over for a moment, looking between the two younger mutants. Bobby had shown himself to be pretty reliable and able to handle everything that had been thrown at him, including almost getting killed by Sabretooth. Kitty was a pretty quick thinker, making the right choice even if it led her to getting absorbed by Rogue on their first outing.

“Alright,” he acquiesced, “just don’t take any unnecessary risks. We have time to let this play out. If you have to sit in on a few meetings, then I guess no harm.”

“Exactly,” Bobby and Kitty nodded their agreement.

Scott let out a long breath, tomorrow was going to be one hell of a busy day.

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