" New York City's in danger, Charles. There's a man, like us, you must find. Petrelli, his power's unstable. Your X-Men have to get to him before he blows up the city. 'Save the cheerleader. Save the world.' But beware of the clock--" The tape of the answering machine cut the Seer's message off, but Xavier had easily picked up the pleading tone in the woman's voice. He rewound the tape and played back the message once more before bringing his fingers together in a thoughtful manner.
"X-Men, meet in the War Room immediately. We have a situation," the elder man spoke telepathically into the minds of his professors and students alike as he wheeled himself out of his study. Pausing to cast his windows a glance as an after thought, he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.
88888
"I'm sending a team to New York City, to investigate a possible terrorist bombing. Logan, you, Rogue, Kurt, Remy, and Jean will leave immediately. You are to find the mutant and bring him back to the mansion, alive." Xavier emphasized the last word and sent a pointed glance to Wolverine and Gambit, both of whom had a bad habit of killing first and asking questions later. Logan grunted in acknowledgment as Remy feigned an innocent look.
"You may be required to use force in order to subdue the man, but do so only as a last resort. We don't yet know what the man's capable of." Rogue glanced down at her gloved hands. What Xavier meant was she may have to drain the man unconscious. She wasn't thrilled at the idea, but as an X-Man, she'd get over it.
"Mr. Worthington has been gracious enough to open his home to you during your stay there. At no time are you to abuse this gift," once again Remy posed shocked as everyone glared his way. Under his defense, he happened to be under mind control, the first time anyways.
"I will expect daily reports. Follow every lead, any hunch you come across. Anything that finds this man. Understood?" The nods from his X-Men instilled a sliver of hope into the crippled. This was what they had been training for since the Towers fell nearly six years ago. New York was under attack, again, and this time the X-Men were going to be there to stop the bad guys.
88888
Never again, Gambit assured himself. Never again am I taking Nightcrawler on a stealth mission. The Cajun flinched as his partner bumped into yet another set of trash cans. He managed to keep his cool though, up until the point Kurt collided into Remy's still form and nearly causing the thief to toppled over the stair rail currently standing six stories tall.
"That's it," Remy hissed, more to himself than anyone. He whirled around, narrowing his red on black eyes towards the blue elf, who was glancing around nervously and completely oblivious to the glaring thief. Remy noticed Kurt shuddering a couple of times and the fact there wasn't a breeze to speak of.
"Hey Nightcrawler, why don't you report back to the mansion? Gambit just gonna check this last floor then call it a night." He watched as his team mate weighed the choices with a solemn gaze. Something was definitely spooking the young man. And, if Remy was completely honest with himself, he felt the constricting limbs of foreboding wrap around his gut.
Kurt finally nodded, with a slight reluctance, and bamfed himself away, leaving smoke and the smell of brimstone in his place. The Cajun breathed easier at Kurt's decision to go, he worked better by himself in missions of this nature. Gambit grabbed a hold of the rail above his head and easily swung himself up and over the top bar, his boots landing on the steel crated flooring with nothing more than a whisper.