Chapter 7: Where Help is Needed
"'Ro, are you sure you don't want me to go with ya?" Logan asked.
Ororo kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to be fine. Caitlyn's coming with me, and Hank, and Scott."
He frowned. "Why is she going anyway?"
I set my hands on my hips and glared at him. "Right here, metal-for-brains."
"Yeah?" Logan shrugged, "I still don't get it. Why the hell do you have to go? Bringing four people is overkill."
"Hank is going because he is a government figure, Scott is the leader of the X-Men, I'm going because I'm the only one who can stay calm, and Caitlyn is coming because she is the only one Remy told about what happened at Alkali Lake."
Logan started to protest and she held up a hand.
"It was her, or we bring Remy. I don't trust him in a government building. And we can't bring Emma because she was one of Magneto's."
Logan growled. "Why don't I go?"
"You don t remember the lake. Besides, I'm more worried about you than I am about Remy."
Hank craned out of the waiting plane. "Can you hurry up? We are going to be late?"
Ororo and I clambered up the steps and ducked through the door of the fancy, hyper-safe, government plane. I sat down gingerly in one of the seat and straightened my skirt.
Scott sat in the seat across from mine. He looked remarkably uncomfortable. "I hate suits."
"It has to be more comfortable than this." I tugged on my charcoal grey pencil skirt again, "Or those spandex monstrosities."
"I like those!"
"You would."
~OoOoO~
"These people are being held captive for no more reason than that they had one extra gene." Ororo finished.
Scott leaned forward, hands flat on the table. "All we are asking is for backup and transport for these people. Rebecca Stryker has had two-hundred American citizens kidnapped. It is your responsibility to make sure they are freed."
An old man with a wrinkled double chin spoke first. "Young man, we know what our job is. However, I cannot believe that these… people are in any immediate danger."
I spoke up. "Do you know what is happening in there? Children are being experimented on by people looking for different ways to kill them. They are locked in cages like rats and-"
"How do you know any of this?"
"I talked to two people who were trapped at Alkali Lake. Stryker is repeating and expanding on her uncle's work."
"Idle speculation." Double-chin muttered.
I turned to Scott, "Tell them what happened."
"Caitlyn, I wasn't there for that long, it's-"
"See!" double-chin dragged himself upright, "He just said it himself, nothing really happened. Now that the cure is gone, we need a new way to free mutants from their curse. Ms. Stryker might end up providing that."
Scott glared at him, "I was fifteen, they operated on my eyes, which could have blinded me, then threw me in a metal box."
Ororo, Hank, and I froze. Scott rarely ever sounded that angry, not even when talking to Logan.
Ororo broke the silence. "Besides, mutants aren't cursed. If you don't want to help us, just say so."
The man next to double-chin pressed a small, blue button. "Please escort out visitors back to their plane."
~OoOoO~
"I can't believe them!" Alex yelled, storming out of the living room. He slammed the door so hard behind him that it swung open again.
I dropped onto the couch, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "So now what are we going to do? It's not like we can get everyone out of there by ourselves."
Emma looked up. "I'm not sure this will work, since you were the people who got rid of Magneto, but we could always go to Mystique and the rest of the Brotherhood." Scott shook his head. "She'd never help us. It's not as if she lost anyone irreplaceable."
"What about Wade?" Emma asked, "It seems like he would like to get back at Stryker and his family, even if it's only his niece."
"Hell non!" Remy yelled, "Ai am naut gon' work with dat rotten piece o' merde af'tah what he did."
"Can you think of anyone better? Deadpool is one of the best fighters out there." Emma retorted.
"I thought he was dead." Logan spoke up.
Emma shook her head. "He has your healing factor, remember? The DNA work Stryker did unraveled so he's pretty much back to normal. He still has the healing factor and the adamantium, though."
"No I don't remember."
Scott shrugged. "We need more fighters. We need Deadpool and anyone else we can get."
"What about Domino? She can fight, and she has a good reason to hate Stryker."
"Contact them. Tell them we can pay."
We only had to wait an hour before the front bell chimed. Emma answered the door and admitted the two mercenaries.
"Logan! I'm shocked. Really, and- hold on. Gambit. Ahh… this is... a rather interesting turn of events. Well, let by gones be by gones, I always say."
Remy glared at the talkative mercenary.
"I guess not." He looked at me. "Wade Wilson, mercenary, bodyguard, just about anything for those who can pay. You are…?"
"Caitlyn. Someone who appreciates it when people know when to keep their traps shut."
"You've been spending time with Logan, haven't you? Hey, Neena, come on over here and meet the nice people."
The other mercenary, a dark haired girl with a rather large gun strapped to her back, stepped away from the doorframe.
I held out my hand. "Thank you for agreeing to help us."
Neena shrugged one shoulder. "Wade's idea, not that I'm complaining. And, if we're fighting, it's Domino."
"Thorn."
"Why is she being all friendly now? What did I do to her anyway?" Wade muttered.
"Shut it, homme, she knows what happened at da Lake. Ai told her. An' Ai mean ev'rythang."
"Ouch."
"We're paying you to fight, Wade, not talk." Logan snarled.
Wade ran his fingers along the grip of one of the two swords hanging on his back. "Then let's get going."
