Albany, New York
A dull buzzing ached in the back of her mind. She ignored it. Nothing uncommon, nothing new. Just another reminder of her being more tracking device than human nowadays.
Her brown eyes slipped across the bar, and her hand froze as she raised her beer to her lips. Penny glared at him. "What're you doing here?"
"I can't stay there, Jo, it's too…" the boy, maybe ten, struggled for words as he slide on to the bar seat next to hers. "Well-"
"Out with Tony."
"Weird."
Scoffing, the woman dropped a few bills on the counter. No wonder her head was spinning. The young mutant from the facility had always managed to crack a few dents in her insular cortex. Not that he did it on purpose, of course. His abilities hadn't even manifested yet, but being in the presence of an active X gene sent her mind into a tizzy. "Go home, kid."
His face fell, "But, Jo-"
"Go."
"You said you'd help me!"
With a sigh, Penny stopped. Her face turned to him, and she took in his youthful, scared features. "I tried." She pushed the door open with a shove, ignoring the crashes and bangs at it struck a few steal trash cans.
"Come on, please?" Tony followed her out of the bar. "Jo, I don't wanna stay there!"
"I can't keep you, Tone."
Anthony Kree stared at her as she climbed onto her motorcycle. His black eyes shone at her as she kicked it on. "Jo, please."
"What'dya wanna be around a loser like me for anyway?" She asked, smirking over the roar of the bike.
His shoulders rose in a weak shrug. "You're all I've got."
A sharp prod hit her as the chip in her brain chirped its unhappiness at her positive reaction to the boy. With a cry she fell forward on the bike, and Tony ran over to her. His hands landed on her bare shoulders and pushed her up as she began to pant. "Jo!"
"Le-" She began to spasm under his touch. He let go immediately, wincing as Penny fell off the bike. Hitting the ground with a thud, Penny shook as the seizure continued to brutally rake her body. The child dropped to his knees next to her, trying to pull her from it by shrieking her name, loudly in her ear.
It worked, but that didn't make it any less annoying. The woman was sure to tell him so as she wiped the blood from her nose.
Salem, Oregon
Magneto held up a tiny metal splinter. Levitating it above his palm he looked at his team. "Do you know what this is?"
"'Sa comput'a chip." Toad replied dully, bouncing on his hunches slightly. His black eyes reflected magnified in his goggles, but none of the others minded his antics.
"That's correct," Magneto told him, smiling slightly, "can anyone tell me what it's used for?"
"Storing data?" Jamie asked, a snide, sarcastic hitch in his voice. Mystique let out a scoff, and Pyro chuckled to himself.
"No."
Toad jumped up eying the chip with interest. His eye sight had never been top notch, but the goggles improved it extensively. "P dash six four zero." He tilted his head, "it's an implant?"
"Correct again, young man." Magneto passed the chip to the man on his left. "This chip was removed from a young woman in Nebraska. She was sixteen years old."
"A mutant?" Pyro asked, holding the miniscule snippet up to the light.
"Quite the contrary; a human."
There was a sudden quiet around the table.
"Okay…" Jamie hummed, "so, we care because…?"
"Because this chip," The elderly gentleman pulled it from Pyro's hand, "is designed to stomp out the mutant gene."
"But you said it was a human."
"It was. But the mutant gene resides in most humans, dormant or not." He explained, "The girl had a grandfather that was a mutant, so she was subject to testing."
Multiple Man rolled his eyes, "so?" He asked impatiently.
"So, if enough women are implanted with this, it could wipe our race out. It would repress the mutant gene in any child conceived."
"That's jus' a prototype, yea'?" Toad plucked it from the air. "I mean, sixteen year ol's don' jus' up an' die."
"The child died from brain hemorrhaging, brought on by a combination of the chip and contact with mutants." Magneto met Mystique's eyes, "they said she had been suffering from seizures how long, again?"
She answered him immediately, without hesitation, "eleven months."
"And since then how many other women have died from these implants, presumably?"
"Two hundred and eight of approximately six hundred."
"If these chicks are agreeing to let themselves be lab rats for some anti-mutant cause, what's the big deal if a few of 'em keel over?" Jamie shifted in his metal chair, "isn't that kind of the point of our little club?"
Magneto grit his teeth, but relaxed quickly, "the point, James, is that these women are not our enemies, in fact the group in charge of these little operation have been singling out humans who have either spawned mutated children, or are very openly involved with pro-mutant activities."
"The sixteen year old had a kid?" Pyro asked.
"No, but her brother was a mutant, and he too was taken. As was their mother. I believed she died as well, the boy's whereabouts is unknown." He told him, his British accent so much lighter than Toad's. "If these women are not found and the chip not properly removed it could lead to even more hostility towards mutants."
"The government always did like to use us as scapegoats," Mystique reminded them. "Imagine if they started telling people we could kill them with a touch, hell a few women have died just from a faulty chip and close proximity."
Magneto nodded, "Can I trust you to fill in the blanks on the Pasiphae project while I'm in New York?"
"Of course."
With a swoosh of his cape, the old sophisticate was gone, and the three men looked to her for guidance. Moving gracefully across the room, she sighed, pulling a file from Magneto's end of the table. She flipped it open as she sat.
"According to this, the women are scattered most through the eastern states; primarily New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts."
"Don't they also have three of the highest recorded FoH attacks?" Pyro asked, tilting his head. His blonde hair fell in his face but he ignored it, pursing his lips.
"Yes," Mystique rolled her eyes, unimpressed with being interrupted, "but it's different this time."
"'Cause they're humans," Jamie said. His feet were now resting on the table.
She shook her head, "no. According to the reports filed all these women were either family members of, or former members, of Friends of Humanity."
Toad quirked a brow, going back to bouncing leisurely on his hunches. "So…they're like…volunteers?'
"No!" the woman snapped, "Shut up and listen! These girls were either ones that escaped from the cult, or ones were born from other members who escaped from it, understand?"
"So…they're not volunteers?" His black eyes blinked back at her behind his goggles. "S'what? We're gonna round us up some hu'mans and fiddle 'round with their minds?"
"Yes, and no. First thing we have to do is locate the remaining women to see how many are left. After that we offer our services-"
"And how exactly are we going to be removing these chips?" Pyro butt in. "I mean, I've only met one technopath and he's maybe fifteen."
"That's step two."
"Then what?"
She shrugged, "we release them back into the wild with high hopes…and a debt of course."
"W'ot kinda debt?"
"Frog boy's got a point," Multiple Man cut in, nodding at the annoyed man, "what could a human have that we'd want?"
"Shelter, money, influence. Anything."
The taller, dark haired man smirked, "Anything?"
"Not that." Mystique chided, "They're still humans." She spat, cringing at the thought. "There are plenty of willing, fitting women around here, Jamie."
"Is that a proposition?"
Pyro shook his head, "when're we headin' out?"
"Two days, Jamie, John, you'll be going to Pennsylvania, Toad you and Callisto will be taking Massachusetts." She stood, motioning with her hand for them to follow.
They did so as the pyromaniac, once again, inquired, "Why's Magneto in New York?"
"Xavier knows of a woman with a chip." The blue mutant punched in a password and a door slid open, "Magneto wants to see its affects." She grabbed a box marked, Penn and handed it to Multiple Man. "These are the women you will be locating, you are to do so by alphabetical order." She picked up another marked Mass and handed it to Toad. She met his stare evenly, which was difficult with his eyewear, "do not let Callisto get out of hand."
"Bah, she ain't so bad."
"With mutants, with humans she can be rather…impulsive."
"Yes, mum." He lifted his lips tightly as she scoffed at him. Toad didn't need to be told twice, she knew, as eccentric and annoying as he was, he was competent. And coming from her, that was a major compliment.
Her glowing eyes shot to each of theirs, "go get some sleep."
The men left the room wordlessly, hauling there boxes with ease as Mystique opened hers. Rifling through the files she pulled out the one Magneto had directed.
Name: Jane Joplin.
Aliases: None.
Age: 28.
Status: Missing.
Last seen whereabouts: Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, December 3rd of 2009.
Mystique let out a hum, not understanding why this was such an important case to the Brotherhood.
This is to be kept top secret, my dear, do you understand?
She didn't but kept her promise. Whoever this Jane Joplin was, she had a feeling she'd be trouble.
A/N: Hiya. If you'd like this story to continue, please review and take the poll on my page. I ask this because I'm curious to see if anyone is reading it and what they think. Also, if I get my science wrong, which I will, or m X-history, which I may, or my geography-those are eastern states, right? Tell me. I need all the help I can get.
