Disclaimer: I was going to wait until later but I decided to add the next chapter now, just for the hell of it. So, I still don't own the rights to X-Men. I'd love to hunt down Brett Ratner and punch him directly in the face.
Chapter VII
Impulsiveness
By now, the X-Men knew about the Brotherhood's recent reemergence into the limelight. There was considerable concern about whether or not Magneto and Mystique were among them. But since the events on Alcatraz and afterward, there'd been no confirmation of either of them. Pyro had escaped being captured and formed a new Brotherhood and they were on the move. So, it fell to Emma Frost to locate the group. That ultimately meant, much to the chagrin of Ororo that Emma would be allowed to use Cerebro to track them down. The massive circular door opened and Emma calmly started into the room while Logan and Ororo watched. Ororo grabbed Emma by her arm before she could go any further and they locked eyes.
"You're on hallowed ground here, princess," Ororo spat. "Don't make us regret this."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, witch." Emma spat back before stepping across the bridge to Cerebro.
Logan confronted Ororo as the door closed behind her. "I know this isn't any of my business, but what the hell's the deal with you and Frost?"
Ororo sighed in frustration. "It's a long story Logan, and I'm not in the mood to discuss it."
"Suit yourself!" Logan muttered.
In the meantime, Emma put on the helmet that was once used by Prof. Xavier as well as by Jean Grey at one point. Emma took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. In moments, the surrounding area seemed to fall away and left Emma standing in total darkness. Then the signatures of countless humans appeared and lit the room. So many of them were close enough for Emma to touch their minds, but she was clearly not looking for them. White light became red to signify the mutant population, and Emma concentrated hard to locate the Brotherhood's current whereabouts. She found them. They appeared to be mobile but not in a ground vehicle. Emma concentrated just a little bit harder and discovered the vehicle the Brotherhood using. And where they were heading! The room returned to normal, as if nothing happened. Emma removed the helmet and returned to the hall in which Logan and Ororo were waiting.
"The Brotherhood has stolen what appears to be a Worthington owned private jet," Emma informed the pair. "They're on route to Roosevelt Island, and going very fast."
Ororo and Logan exchanged glances and Logan commented, "They've gotta be up to something if they're in that big a hurry."
"Is there something you'd care to share with us, Angel?" Emma asked.
Warren and Jubilee emerged from an out of the way hiding place. "How did you…" Warren stopped mid sentence upon remembering that Emma was psychic. "Never mind!"
"Warren, is there something you have to tell us?" Ororo asked.
"Well, you said the Brotherhood was headed for Roosevelt Island, right," Warren said. "My dad has a production factory there. That's probably where his new cure is being developed."
"The Brotherhood's going to destroy the cure before it can be made available," Ororo realized. "They'll kill anyone that tries to stop them."
"Not if we stop them first," Logan added. "Storm, you go get Bobby. Tell him to suit up and meet us in the hanger," Logan turned to Warren. "Angel, you're with us."
Jubilee stepped up and said, "I'm ready when you are, Logan."
Logan looked at Jubilee, shook his head and said, ""No way! This is too big for you, Sparky."
"But I can do it," Jubilee pleaded. "And stop calling me Sparky!"
"Sorry, kid," Logan said. "It's way too dangerous. You're not ready to be out on the field. Stay here!"
Logan left with Ororo and Emma. Warren was about to join them when he saw the hurt in Jubilee's eyes. "Jubilee…?"
"This isn't fair, Warren," Jubilee spat. "I've been training in the Danger Room for weeks. I should be able to help everyone."
Warren rested his hands on Jubilee's shoulders and told her, "I know and I'd gladly have you at my side. But for right now, just trust Logan's judgment and stay here."
Jubilee sighed and pulled away from Warren. "How could I trust anyone when they won't trust me?"
"I trust you," Warren said. "And I care about you a lot. Just do this one thing for, okay?"
Jubilee sighed, defeated and she nodded. She stormed off, leaving Warren alone with his thoughts. Warren did care about Jubilee, and that was why he simply couldn't risk her safety.
A few moments later, Wolverine and Storm were suited up and headed into the hanger. Storm glanced at Wolverine's uniform and noticed the sleeves were cut off, leaving only the gloves. Interesting. In the hanger rested the replacement vehicle for the X-Jet; the X-7 Velocity helicopter. Despite it relatively small size compared to the jet, the Velocity was fully armed and large enough to transport up to ten people. Iceman and Angel entered the hanger and marveled at the helicopter.
Iceman was quick to exclaim, "Whoa!"
"Nice, huh," Wolverine added. "When we get back I'll show you how to pilot this baby."
Storm came up to Wolverine and said, "Hank and Kitty are staying behind to watch the students. As for Remy, well, he doesn't seem all too interested in causing trouble."
"Let's hope not," Wolverine added. "I still don't trust that guy."
"Logan!" came a familiar voice. Rogue entered the hanger after Storm and in full uniform plus a dark brown jacket.
"Rogue, what're you doing?" Wolverine asked.
"What's it look like, I'm comin' with you." Rogue said with a defiant tone in her voice.
"Storm, get the ship started, I'll catch up," Wolverine said before turning back to Rogue. "You sure you're ready for this kid?"
"I just got my powers back, and what good would I do sitting on the sideline," Rogue exclaimed. "I'm goin' and you ain't stoppin' me."
Wolverine smirked at Rogue's new found confidence. "Then climb aboard, kid."
Rogue smirked back at Wolverine and rushed into the Velocity. As she took the nearest available seat, Rogue exchanged glances with Iceman. An awkward silenced emerged between them. It wasn't that long ago that they were a couple. Obviously, that was in the past now. Meanwhile, Wolverine was entering the Velocity when he caught the scent of Emma Frost. He turned as sure enough, there was Emma approaching the Velocity in her own uniform. This one was a silvery white color compared to the black uniforms, and had a shimmering white cape in contrast to the one Storm wore.
"Don't look so surprised, Wolverine."
Emma simply waltzed passed Wolverine, not even affording him as much as a glance. Wolverine simply cocked an eyebrow and ultimately wrote it off as arrogance on Emma's part. He headed into the ship as the ramp closed behind him. Wolverine to the copilot's seat next to Storm. He could already smell the tension between Storm and Emma. Storm was obviously not too enthusiastic about having Emma aboard the ship. Storm flipped a series of switches and the Velocity shuddered to life. The main rotor began it rotation, slow at first and then picking up speed. Wolverine hit some switches to open the hanger doors that doubled as the school's basketball court. Many of the students in the school caught a glimpse of the Velocity as it rose from the hanger and into the waiting sky. A single afterburner at the tail end ignited and the copter rocketed away.
Gambit happened to watching the proceedings and said, "Now that's a mighty fine way to travel!"
Domino had the production factory square in her sights. It couldn't be missed, not with the considerably large "W" plastered on the wall. The rest of the Brotherhood were on the ground below and ready to converge on the front gate. As expected, the security force guarding the factory prepared to defend it. Pyro, who was leading the group of Avalanche, Quicksilver, Blink and Polaris, found the human's defensives to be laughable at best. He also noticed that their guns were made of metal. Pyro laughed at the pitiful efforts.
"You'd think they would've learned by now," he said, and then turned to Polaris. "Polaris, get their guns."
Polaris was hesitant to act until Quicksilver gave her a nod. Sighing, Polaris threw her hands out in front of herself and created a magnetic field, similar to Magneto's. Every single gun was literally pulled from the guards present, some even being threw to the ground by the force. Pyro produced a wall of fire to drive off the guards, although some were dumb enough to stay behind. Those fools were burned for their trouble. Then Pyro turned to the burly Avalanche.
"Make us a door, Avalanche!"
"Yeah, I got that!" Avalanche sounded off.
It was Avalanche's turn to show his stuff, stepping in front of the group. Rubbing his hands together and then outstretching them, Avalanche generated an earthquake that rocked the surrounding area. The ground began cracking, and then shifted upwards. The tremor rapidly approached the main gate of the factory and collided with it. With some added effort, Avalanche literally brought the gate down. Any remaining guards that were present would likely have been crushed by falling debris. Luckily for them, Quicksilver sped in to save the guards before they were killed. Not that Pyro would've cared anyway. Polaris used her magnetic powers to move the fallen gate out of the way of the group. There were still a pair of snipers in two guard towers but Blink struck them with a pair of javelins. One guard was teleported all the way to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. The other wasn't as fortunate, having been teleported to the Arctic Circle. Pyro took a good look around the factory. No guards were present, but that was likely to change.
"Alright, Avalanche and Blink, you two hold off anyone who tries to get close," Pyro ordered and than turned to Quicksilver and Polaris, "Polaris and Quicksilver, you come with me."
Quicksilver quickly confronted Pyro and told him, "Just so you understand Pyro, nobody dies in here."
"I'll take it into consideration, of course Magneto would've thought differently," Pyro spat and pressed a communication link on his right ear. "Domino, you reading me?"
"Loud and clear!" Domino said from the other end.
"I've got Avalanche and Blink guarding the front," Pyro said. "Keep them covered and stay alert. The X-Men are bound to show up."
On her lookout post, Domino muttered, "Oh sure, give me the tough job!"
Domino wasn't the only one with her eye on things, nor was she even aware of the other presence. Hidden from view, Vertigo was busy keeping tabs on the Brotherhood. Essex was, as usual, being tight lipped about the reasons Vertigo was stuck doing recon. Worse than that, Multiple Man happened to be along for the assignment. Vertigo received the raw end of the deal on that one. While Vertigo was doing all the work, Multiple Man was lazily lounging about by a tree with absolutely no care whatsoever. Vertigo was mentally begging for someone to kill her right at that moment.
"So, what the hell does Essex want us to do here?" Multiple Man asked.
"If I knew that, then I wouldn't be here," Vertigo spat. "It's bad enough I have to be his watch dog, but I'm also stuck with you."
"C'mon, it can't be that bad, Vertigo," Multiple Man said. "Maybe while we're here, you and I can get to know each other a little better."
"Maybe you could just drop dead," Vertigo spat. "Anyway, Essex won't divulge the full details of why we're here; only who he needs and where to find them. The rest is up to us."
Multiple Man simply shrugged and went back to lounging around. Vertigo glared at her compatriot. Useless!
The X-Men were still a long way from their destination. The Velocity wasn't nearly as fast as the X-Jet was in the past, but it would make it in time. The time couldn't seem to go any quicker for Iceman. He couldn't stop looking at Rogue ever since he found her in the same place as Gambit. He didn't know what to say or how to say it. Iceman was at a loss for words, so he just kept looking at his former girlfriend. Rogue probably felt Iceman's eyes fixed on her, but she didn't turn to meet them.
"Rogue," Iceman said to Rogue. "About what I said before…"
"It's fine, Iceman," Rogue responded with an indifferent tone in her voice. "I'm over it."
Iceman seemed to stammer on his words. "I understand that, but you know things didn't happen like they were expected, with me and Kitty and now you and…"
"Just drop it, Bobby!" Rogue snapped.
Wolverine happened to be eavesdropping, much to his displeasure. "What is this; the Young and the Restless?"
"What're you complaining about?" Storm asked.
"Who said I was complaining?" Wolverine responded.
Storm rolled her eyes and went back to the Velocity controls. "We're less than seven minutes out from the factory. Everybody get ready. You'd better pull your weight out there, Frost."
"You have nothing to worry about," Emma said assuredly. "Oh, and you might want to inform our stowaway that we've almost arrived."
Stowaway? Wolverine and Storm exchanged shocked glances. Then Wolverine sniffed the air and realized Emma was right. Wolverine unhooked himself from his seat and moved to the rear of the cockpit. His quick pace drew the attention of the rest of the crew. Wolverine opened a compartment and found Jubilee hiding inside. While Wolverine was understandably stunned, Angel was even more so.
"Jubilee!?"
The rest of the crew looked on in astonishment as Jubilee emerged from hiding. All Jubilee could say was, "Um... hi everybody!"
Author's note: Jubilee, you have been busted! Anyway, that's yet another chapter finished, and we're one step closer to his arrival. Let me know what what you think and I'll be back soon.