Bobby and Kitty managed to get the group just past the Texas/Mexico border and into Customs, a building that housed the guards and officials that made sure the wall between the two countries stood and did not have unwanted people coming in and out. While Roger had been more than relieved to have found friends instead of enemies (and less people on their tail, he hoped), he was still very wary, especially of those he found. He guided the truck into the parking lot as ordered by Bobby and Kitty, instructed to wait until dark and interact as little as possible as they sat there. Indeed, not accustomed to be being told what to do by youngsters, Roger seethed in his seat and counted the hours, hot sweat running down his face as he and his man exchanged nothing but signals displaying impatience.
In the back, the others seemed less worrisome, but watchful too. Roger studied them through the back glass window that separated him from the others and noted a sudden change. Magneto had been smiling the whole time, but was also unused to being told what to do, just as Roger was. Xavier was just as relieved as Roger was too, but amused in his own manner and talking quietly with the others in turn. Ororo kept to herself, glancing out the back of the truck here and there, watching the other officials carefully and not seeming to trust the situation much. Matthew Adams seemed very surprised to find people he was campmates with, but was patiently (as always, unlike Roger) figuring out the next step, twirling his gun in his hands as his face showed him thinking. Hank McCoy, the politician of the bunch, quietly took out a newspaper that was earlier tossed into the truck, reading silently the news. What was on the outside world, Hank wasn't sharing, but it was enough to raise an eyebrow and show Xavier, the two shaking slightly.
Roger had enough (and hoping Hank and Xavier did not know what happened overseas, hearing the story as he did around him). By the time the sun was going down, Bobby and Kitty were approaching the truck, but they were drawn back, seeing Roger's foul mood. It was one thing to be on a mission and miss his family. It was another to make him play the wait game and play by their rules.
"Anywhere we can talk alone?" Roger asked Bobby, his snarling tone enough to make Kitty dodge behind Bobby and hide.
"I have a bedroom I share with another guard and Kitty has the same arrangement, but otherwise, no," Bobby answered coolly, without a show of his temper. "You can drive me down the road and we can talk, but that'll raise some suspicion, since your paperwork is still being looked over. You can't leave here now anyway."
"Back of the truck then," Roger then ordered in an imperialist tone, pushing the vehicle door open and jumping out. His man remained inside on watch, but eyed Roger as he stormed to the back of the truck, Bobby and Kitty behind him anxiously.
As soon as Roger climbed onto the truck bed, everyone's eyes lit up and they all greeted Bobby and Kitty warmly. While Kitty smiled weakly and waved, Bobby answered for them in a voice that gained respect and command. Roger did not like it, but conceded to being careful in their talk nonetheless. All ears seem to be on these two new people and the truck they pulled over. Roger was sure they had their superiors on the lookout, so had to make this quick and easy. He had no time to play any more games with these two.
Kitty and Bobby found a seat in-between Xavier and Magneto, as the two moved over and Hank walked across the truck to sit with Matthew and Ororo. Roger continued to stand in a stubborn manner, but crossed his arms instead, to show how pissed he really was. He stared at Kitty and Bobby for a few seconds, making the former squirm in fear, and started.
"We have no time," Roger said, stating the obvious. "We have papers to get through the country and another set to get to South America. What's the holdup?"
"Suspicions from those above us," Bobby answered. "Every truck has been told to sit for at least a day or two before every background check has been cleared. Sometimes, it's longer when nothing can be found."
"That's our job," Kitty continued. "We stop all vehicles, check their paperwork and research their intentions and why they want to go south. If they check out, they leave in a day. If not, we do additional work to ensure that they were heading where they're supposed to. That might take weeks sometimes."
"A bureaucratic process, you mean," Magneto interjected in a deadpan manner.
Bobby blinked a few times. "Yes…yes, I would say that."
"But we've ensured that your business was legitimate and you have been chosen to switch out guards in the Brazilian camp," Kitty went on. "You can go ahead to Mexico and South America, but there will be people who will follow you to Brazil."
"Now, wouldn't be it nice if you two came along?" Roger asked sarcastically.
"I'm working on it," Bobby explained, annoyed that Roger wasn't giving him a chance to speak much. "We have three others who are willing to work with us and they're on the way to Brazil already. They heard about Bishop and his prison group and then realized that more help was on the way. However, we need to move quicker than even Magneto wants to us."
Magneto raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Camp X-Ray, which was recently said to be established even before the Kansas camp, has been found," Bobby continued in a hushed tone. "It's located in Guantanamo Bay, where they keep the usual human terrorists anyway. It has been kept so secret that even the Ellis family did not breathe word of it. They were so intent on focusing on the United States that they did not care about the Cuban camp after they had it built…nor did they bother putting their famous mutants in there until recently. Camp X-Ray was usually used when they found mutants they considered a threat overseas, usually in American held lands."
"In recent days, Camp X-Ray has been filling up more often," Kitty added. "The United States has just recently made an agreement with Cuba, the first concerning mutants this time. They are to hand over any dangerous mutants…or have them executed."
"The cure has been a forgone thing for them," Ororo replied to this news. "But execution? On what grounds do they have?"
"What do you think?" Magneto asked her. "We are different from them, a superior species."
Xavier gave Magneto a warning glance before turning to Bobby and Kitty next to him. "And what does Bishop have to do with this?"
"He was originally a part of Camp X-Ray," Bobby confirmed. "He was one of the first prisoners, back in 2000 or 2001 maybe. From his journey from the future to there, he said, he wanted to ensure that all mutants knew what was coming…and what to do to avoid it. Afterward, he had escaped, but has been keeping track of the new developments of the early twenty-first century before he turned himself in and was sent to Kansas. He was assisted out of the camp and has been busy ever since."
"And now he's in Brazil," Xavier said softly. "But why?"
"I don't know," Kitty admitted. "But he's been right so far about the future. When we were in that camp, before the rules became stricter, Bishop was known as a preacher of some sort. He told everyone quietly of a future without meaning, without freedom and without peace of mind. However, as the loop tightened, he whispered through the barracks' holes that it was getting worse…and this was only the beginning. He spoke of a man who could practically live forever, one who might be able to change the past…in order for us to have a better future."
"But there is no way to change the future," Xavier chided, the same words he told Danielle some days before.
"There might be." Kitty shuffled her feet for a moment before standing up to get everyone's attention, but addressing Xavier specifically nonetheless. "Professor, I meant to tell you this before, some years before, but there was never a chance to because of events beyond our control. Other than running through walls and floors and dodging projectiles, I can also bring people back in time, maybe a week or two at the most now."
"Their consciousness can be sent back to their body some days in the past," Bobby explained when Kitty became modest about her new ability. "From there, the future can be changed."
"Impossible," Roger declared loudly, his arms uncrossed to show that he was relenting…but not giving up his fight.
"A useful tool and power, I'd say," Matthew chimed in. "Think about it, Roger. A lookout sees something, delays, and then Kitty can bring someone to the past and they can warn the group and they can move."
"And what would you know?" Roger's nostrils flared in anger.
"It's something we can explore later, if possible," Xavier butted in, again trying to defuse an argument and expressing doubt in his voice. "I appreciate you telling us, Kitty. We can discuss this when we have time."
Kitty nodded. Bobby then stood up, taking her hand and rubbing it with his thumb. The two seemed to be a pair, Xavier noted, and he did not notice it before. He remembered that Bobby and Rogue had been a couple and were having troubles because Rogue was incapable of touch without trying to kill someone. However, in his absence, he had missed many things, events that changed around without him there to mediate each party. While he felt for Rogue in many ways, he felt great love and protection come from Bobby to Kitty, in such a fierce way that it even encompassed his relationship with Rogue.
"We need to go," Bobby announced, starting to leave with Kitty still holding his hand. "We have guest rooms for you all. Just ask the commander of Customs where you can bunk."
"And how will they tell we're not mutants?" Matthew asked, aware that they were being watched regardless and were having lucky misses.
"Don't use your powers," Kitty warned, the notion sounding too easy. "Trask has things here that can pinpoint where the powers are and which person used them."
"They also have collars they'll put on you," Bobby warned as he jumped off the back of the truck, Kitty behind him. "They like using them on prisoners."
The group watched Kitty and Bobby disappear, mingling with thousands of other people who worked at the borders or were their guests. While it was a tense conversation, there had been factors that all of them had not considered. There were more camps than even Danielle had not seen…there had been things Trask had been building and not willing to use until they had to shown their hands…a mutant had powers not imaginable…and this Bishop character was becoming more and more mysterious. Bobby and Kitty seemed to be wary of him and saw the truth he spoke, Xavier noted, but they found his words to be of the future. However, even he was starting to doubt Magneto and thinking that this was a trip not worth it.
We can still meet Logan in the middle though, even if Erik has his own plans. If Logan can manage to cooperate with the Canadian Defense Ministry, we might have some work cut out for us. He has his troubles with them in the past, but if this is the future we are about to save, then it is best to work with the people willing to make it better.
Xavier had no doubt that Logan would give his old superiors (and some of their successors) a hard time. However, if they had the assistance they needed, and Xavier found Bishop and this group of his usable, two fronts can be formed. And that, Xavier thought, might be the start of their war, the beginning of many battles worldwide to get reorganization that mutants too are like humans…and would not be the enemies they were painted as.
While Xavier admitted that maybe some of Magneto's methods had been right and perhaps the only way at times, he still begged himself inside to keep humane. He talked when he could, was able to keep some conflict away, but it wasn't always working. It was then that Xavier wished Alex Summers to be here with them. While his much younger brother, Scott, was dead like Alex was (and a great leader of the X-Men too), Xavier still longed for Alex's reassuring presence and his ways of handling situations like this. Matthew Adams had been good substitute – ex-military, patient and even bitter inside – but it was not the same friend that Xavier picked up to initially form the X-Men.
"So, what was it that you read in the newspaper, Hank?" Ororo finally asked after some moments of silence, a quiet in which even Xavier found a little unsettling. "It seemed a bit important."
While Ororo tried to make the situation a little light and chuckled nervously too, Xavier could not find his voice. The article Hank showed him was disturbing indeed and he did not feel that it was his place to say anything, especially when they had more important things to think about. He turned to Hank, hoping that the mutant would say something, but he uncomfortably scratched his arm again, muttering something about his blue fur growing out and needing to take his serum soon.
"What was that, Hank?" Matthew asked again, louder this time. "Is there something wrong?"
Hank said nothing for a while, hoping that everyone would stop asking him what happened in the news, but there was no avoiding it. He pulled his glasses up, hoping to hide the distress on his face, but there was no easy way to tell the news. Xavier wasn't going to say anything. It was up to him to let the others know.
"England…England has fallen," Hank admitted, his words feeling flat and stable, even for his shaking body. "Between England, Ireland and Scotland, all of the registered and known mutants have been rounded up…and killed. It was a…a horrible mistake."
"What do you mean, Hank?" Ororo asked fearfully. "It's a tragedy. How was it a mistake?"
"Anything like that is a mistake," Roger clarified, trying not to interrupt anymore…and not willing to say any more of the news he too heard.
"Because it wasn't just a mass murder," Hank explained, trying to keep his voice steady. "There was a human found dead and mutants were blamed. So, they gathered the mutants together, dragged them from their homes….and they killed them. It was a rape, a rape of an island nation."
Some of the information above can be referenced in the X-Men: Days of Future Past website called "Twenty-Five Moments". Although a lot of my ideas come from that, some of it has been mixed up, so I do ask for some creative liberty. :)
