"You have got to be kidding me," Raven McCoy muttered to herself as she shifted through the contents of yet another file folder, spilling a set of pictures along with a number of printed pages. She quickly but thoroughly scanned those reports, her lips curling in disgust. "Trask Industries all over again."
Regardless of how involved she was in looking over the information showing that this Essex Corporation was indeed following in Trask's footsteps and experimenting on mutants she was not caught off guard when someone entered the room. She had already swept the papers back into the folder, replaced it in the file cabinet and quietly closed it before a uniformed guard stuck his head in and surveyed the situation. He raised one eyebrow.
"You planning on spending all night here Sarah?"
She gave a deep sigh, in the voice of the older woman whose appearance she had taken out in the parking lot a half-hour before. It had been tricky, getting the cleaning woman to go home on a faked errand that had also allowed her, in the guise of one of the perimeter guards, to get close enough to her to duplicate her appearance and more.
Working with Hank and the Professor had sharpened her natural abilities to the point that she was able to use her powers to transfer the image of one item exactly to that of another one, in this case her ID badge. Correct down to the bar code it would allow her to get in the building. Along with the woman's personal code of course. Wasn't it fortunate that Essex required their employees to sign out as well as in and that a teleporting Kurt, blending into the shadows as only he could had been close enough to memorize her code?
The guard at the entrance had been surprised to see her. Sarah that is.
"Didn't you just leave?"
"Prank call," she had grumbled. "Someone's hide is going to get tanned later."
"I hear you," the man had laughed.
So far she had accomplished two of her objectives. She had confirmed that Essex was experimenting on mutants. Combined with discovering that one Colonel William Stryker was now employed by Essex as a "security consultant" had meant that it was a near certainty that they were behind the kidnapping of Marie and Kitty. What she hadn't found was where they were being held. She only knew that it wasn't here. Since Essex was world-wide that left a lot of places. She was running out of places to look here. And time. It wouldn't be long before the real Sarah discovered that she had been sent on a wild goose chase and came back.
She headed for the door just in time for it to open again. The same guard stood there, a rather embarrassed look on his face.
"Sarah I know you've already cleaned the security office but we had a bit of an accident there. Would you mind?"
"Okay," Raven managed to put a heartfelt sigh into the single word answer while being rather jubilant inside. She corralled the cleaning cart and followed the guard.
Once there the escorting guard returned to his duties, leaving her alone with one supervisor. He needed to go and Raven thought she knew just how to make him do that. While he rambled on about the accidental spill that she was busy cleaning up she used the opportunity to contact Kurt.
On their way out they had dashed by Hank's lab and picked up a couple communication devices that her husband had developed. A near invisible throat mike meant that speaking out loud was not necessary. Sub-vocalizing, basically mouthing the words without sound, was picked up and sent word for word to the receivers concealed deep in their ears. In response to Raven's message an alarm began to sound as Kurt teleported to the fence surrounding the complex and disturbed it. Once the alarm sounded he teleported back to the parking lot.
The result was immediate and everything Raven had hoped for. The supervisor on duty got busy snapping out orders and then left the room to take charge of the response team. She had thought he was that kind of guy from listening to him; the kind who would get tunnel vision on what was in front of him and concentrate on that rather than seeing the whole picture. She leaped to the computer he had left logged on and began to hunt. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for; the overall schedule of the guard force, which included the rotation among other Essex sites. And there were the latest trips to a location that there was a reminder to always check in with Colonel Stryker immediately upon arrival, before anything else. Apparently the good Colonel had complained. He would.
"Now where are you?" Raven muttered. "Not you Kurt," she hastily added before the other mutant responded. It took several nerve-racking minutes before she could exclaim "Found you!" Hastily she returned to computer to its original screen, which happened to be a half-completed game of solitaire. Finishing her cleaning she pushed her cart out into the corridor. As she headed down the hallway the returning supervisor passed her, grumbling to another guard.
"Must have been an animal of some kind. I'm tired of these false alarms but I guess it comes with the territory."
Raven was at a bit of a loss about what to do next. Her problem was resolved when she received a message from Kurt.
"Raven the cleaning woman is back."
"Perfect. Give me just a moment." She looked around. Yanking open a door she peered inside. Empty office of some kind. She stood in the middle, checking to make sure there was nothing within arms reach. She fished in a pocket. Taking an elaborately engraved disc out her laid it on the floor and backed away. "Okay Kurt. I'm ready. Can you bring her here?"
In answer there was a "pop". Kurt stood there, holding the real and very confused Sarah by the arm. Raven leaped to him, picking up the disc as she did. Holding on she looked at the other woman.
"It's up to you but I would suggest that you simply forget all about this. I seriously doubt that any one is going to believe you. Don't forget to sign out." Then they were gone.
Sarah blinked. Twice. She looked around. Taking her cart she headed towards the room where the cleaning supplies and equipment were kept. Several people greeted her along the way. No one seemed surprised to see her. She finally decided that the whatever-or-whomever-in-the-world the people were that she had just meant were right. She'd forget the whole thing happened. She didn't know that she was covered in more ways than just one. When Raven had assumed her identity she had blanked out her fingerprints, a trick she had learned. So if anyone suspected the security computer or the paper files had been gone through there would be none of Sarah's prints to be found except where they needed to be.
Meanwhile the two intruders were headed home. Raven checked with Kurt.
"How are you feeling Kurt?"
"I'm alright. It was a bit scary as always," the German born mutant confessed.
Kurt's teleportation was limited to places that he seen or that he had previously visited. That ability had been proved useful again and again during the times after the battle with Apocalypse when Raven had given in to his often repeated requests and allowed him to accompany her during her trips to seek out and free other mutants. Of course those were not the free wheeling missions she had undertaken before. They were limited and often included others and took place when training of the expanding X-Men or serious threats requiring all or most of the group weren t in the offing. They had basically come to an end a few years ago when Raven and Hank married and started their family.
One aspect of training they had hit on was the idea of Kurt using a familiar object rather than a place to teleport to. It had taken much practice, beginning with the engraved disc being placed where he could see it, then hidden behind a screen and finally completely out of sight behind walls. It was nerve-racking for Kurt because he worried he might teleport into a place where there wasn't room for him. But they had persevered and careful precautions to only have him come to large empty spaces had worked so far.
"I know and I'm proud of you as always," Raven told him with a smile.
"Thank you. Was this a success? Do you know where they have taken our friends?"
"It was. I believe I know."
"Thank God." The Catholic mutant crossed himself and said a short prayer of thanks. Raven wished sometimes she had his faith. In the meantime she slowed and held his hand, hoping that indeed someone was listening and helping them.
"Where are they?" he asked when the prayer was finished.
"Some place I should have guessed. These people are very good but they are very arrogant. I'll tell you when I tell the others as soon as we get home. I will say though that it's someplace that you have been before."
"Good."
(To be continued)
