Selecting mutants to accompany Joseph wasn't easy as most of the qualified members were absent. Still though, Persephone managed to scrape together what recruits she deemed somewhat decent. By the time she had finally gathered them in the meeting room Joseph was already waiting. Persephone tensed as she noticed his body posture and the murderous look on his face. Her mother was damn sure to wind up with more than a bruise or two.
Persephone could remember very clearly several incidents in which members of the Brotherhood had failed, irritated, or undermined Joseph's authority before. Astra was thrown out of windows for her insubordination, Deadpool hung by the rafters for hours, and Rapture had once spent all night in outside in the sub-zero weather. She could only imagine what Mystique would wind up with. Though it was unlikely her mother would accept any anger from him. Persephone could see this was most likely going to lead to all out war between them.
She didn't want to think about that at all. Frankly she had more important things to do...like making sure Joseph didn't get any angrier and make it worse for all of them.
Joseph joined them soon enough, his jaw was clenched in anger and his hands balled into fists. Persephone was not deterred as she walked up to him and asked where they were going. He glared at her, still furious with her mothers actions. Still Persephone did not flinch back under his gaze. Had he been looking at other people that way they would be running from the room by now.
"We are going to upstate New York." He informed her. "The Avengers have established a small base near their Mansion, that is where your mother took my team."
Persephone acknowledged this with a nod as metallic devices floated to the teleporters in the room, they probobly contained the coordinates. "We will separate into two groups. Myself, Sunder, and what's left of Alpha squad will arrive on the Northern part of the base. Persephone will take the rest and arrive on the Western half. You're objective will be to eliminate any Avengers or threats you may encounter. You will then hold the perimeter until I give an order. Is everyone clear?"
Heads nodded numbly as everyone accepted this, with the exception of Persephone.
If her team was to hold the perimeter then odds were that she wouldn't be there when Joseph found and confronted Mystique. That could prove to be deadly if the peace wasn't kept between the two of them, and there was no guarantee it would be.
"And what will we do once we locate out missing teammates, the ones that are under orders?" Persephone asked, certain to point their forced compliance to Joseph. They didn't deserve his wrath, they were after all following her mothers orders.
Joseph paused for a moment, considering what Persephone had reminded him of.
"Any Brotherhood members you find will be detained and taken back to base once you have them all. Except Phoebe and ,I will deal with them myself."
"Understood." Persephone said. Her stomach muscles beginning to tighten once she realized her mother and Phoebe were not getting out of this completely unscathed. There would be anger and pain, and while she was worried for her mother and friend a small part of Persephone didn't want to acknowledge that this anger was well deserved.
"Sunder and Chendra prepare to teleport to the given locations on my mark." The air around the mutants suddenly became energized as the two powered up. "Now." Joseph said as flashes of energy consumed the mutants.
The hard ground welcomed Persephone as she quickly realized how untrained Chendra really was. It was probobly her first time teleporting so many people, and as a result everyone was now picking themselves up off the ground. At least it was only a few bruises, nothing appeared to be broken.
Chendra was on the ground a few feet from Persephone, babbling about how sorry she was.
Shaking her head Persephone pulled the girl up as she reassured her. "It's alright, Cinder did much worse the first time he tried to teleport a group. At least you got the coordinates right."
"But I did horribly. I usually have a better grip on things. I'm sorry." Chendra said as she started to cough.
Persephone patted her back. "Don't worry you'll get better, we'll practice some more when we get back. In the meantime we have a mission to accomplish." Chendra nodded as Rogue continued. "You're fighting tactics are still pretty weak, stay close to me."
Across the base were some Avengers fighting with Joseph's group. They seemed to be handling themselves alright. Before Persephone had a chance to decided her next course of action Iron Man drones came out of a platform at the top of the base. "Offensive ground maneuvers!" Persephone shouted to her team. "Those of you that can fly get in the air and wait until the drones are distracted before making a move."
Fifty feet away from her Joseph tore the underground metal from the base, making a large hole. He and his team descended into the entrance made as six more drones came flying toward Persephone. She cursed angrily as she quickly realized there would be no time to follow Joseph if she was busy on the surface.
At least a quarter of a mile under Joseph reached the final level of the base, the control center. This is where Mystique would undoubtedly be as the control center also housed dangerous weapons and information. As he suspected the blast doors guarding said weapons had been blown and pried open with ash marks on the edges. Mystique's destructive way of opening things did prove to be efficient.
Inside there were isles and isles of weapons on shelves. Most of these had been taken off and tossed aside when they proved to be not as effective as hoped. Joseph located Mystique across the room, she was currently testing out a sentient looking gun that vaporized the wall.
Anger surged through Joseph as the offending mutant took notice of him. Mystique had undermined his authority and taken his teams to lead an unauthorized assault. And for what? A few measly weapons and outdated information. As if those charges weren't enough Mystique has put her own people at risk for this assault. That was more than enough to warrant harm and fury upon her.
Upon realizing just how furious her leader was Mystique reached for the gun at her waist. It was made of plastic and plastic bullets just as all her weapons were. She was always very wary of him, even after years of working under him and taking orders. Unfortunately for her, Mystique had no time to fire her weapon as Joseph gathered his full strength moved the entire underground facility.
Mystique and all the mutants surrounding her fell to the ground, the screeching and bending of metal around them moved upwards rapidly quick. Joseph had taken the entire bottom half and brought it to the surface. It took a matter of seconds for him. The metal roof came flying off as Joseph seized the blue mutant by her throat. The plastic gun lay on the floor a few feet away.
"You scheming foolish female!" Joseph roared. "You have undermined my authority and taken my Brotherhood into armed conflict at their risk of my wrath. This is nothing less than an insult and a challenge!" The demo team and Phoebe's team scattered as Mystique was thrown across the room, and slammed into the opposite wall. "There will be suffering for your insubordination!"
The air around everyone was now electrified with energy as blue sparks took over Joseph's eyes. Mystique dodged several metal shards just in time to reach for her sharp non-metallic knife and launch it at him. It would have skinned his side if his armor wasn't made of metallic alloys. In his anger Joseph launched blue electricity from his fingertips at her.
This time the range was too wide and Mystique had no change of dodging. The electricity was kept purposely low so it would not kill her yet. Joseph stopped only when he his arm was grasped by another mutant. Joseph's head snapped to the girl holding onto him, trying to get him to stop. Through his anger Joseph could hear almost nothing as he stopped the flow of electricity through the air.
Persephone had firmly locked onto his hands, and was speaking to him. "Please stop. You'll kill her!" She was screaming now, he could tell that much through her features. He would most certainly had continued on if not for her obvious distress, and her begging.
Joseph's eyes returned to normal as the metal pinning Mystique loosened considerably. He grasped Persephone firmly by her shoulders as she continued to yell. "Calm yourself child." Joseph ordered. "I was not, and am not going to kill your mother." He stressed.
"In any case she is much more useful alive than dead." Persephone calmed some at his words. "Injure her? Certainly. But I will not go so far as to kill her." She regained her composure as Joseph squeezed her shoulders. Nodding even though worry was still evident on her features. It was true Mystique wouldn't die today for her actions but she would be in pain none the less.
"Perimeter is secure. All the drones and security forces have been eliminated." Persephone said as she pushed through her emotions to give a solid and confident report. The last thing she wanted was to seem like a petty child that stopped a mission because of her feelings. That wasn't the type of lieutenant Joseph needed at his side.
Joseph pulled her closer to him. "I know it is. You have my full confidence, otherwise I would not have tasked you with this." Still sensing her anxiety Joseph kneaded her shoulders with his thumbs. "Was anyone injured?" He questioned.
Persephone nodded angrily. "Chendra. The new recruit. Broke a few ribs and has bruises. She's hardly trained and wasn't ready for this. We never should have brought her but Sunder couldn't take us all and she was the only other teleporter-"
"Persephone." He interrupted. The girl shivered as he spoke her name. "You're correct she shouldn't have come and this mistake won't happen again. But her injuries aren't life threatening. We will get her back immediately to be healed." Joseph released her. "You are tasked with taking Chendra and the demo-team back to our base, I will deal with the rest here. You needn't worry for your mother, for I promise she will make it back alive."
The girl nodded to him. "I trust you." She acknowledged.
Joseph was pleased to hear that. "Good. I will see you when I return." He watched her leave to follow out his orders carefully, his thoughts on how to deal with Mystique without loosing Persephone dominated his mind.
Mystique was still on the floor were she was left, angrily watching the exchange between her daughter and Joseph. Now she was more suspicious than ever.
Five hours later Chendra was sleeping soundly due to the drugs given to her after her ribs had been taped. Persephone left her room after giving specific directions to her roommate to keep an eye on her. Chendra would be fine physically, it was mentally that Persephone was worried about. After just joining the Brotherhood she was more nervous that the others and an injury on her first mission didn't do anything to help the teleports nerves.
Persephone made her way to the tower to wait for Joseph and was surprised to find Mystique wandering about, looking as healthy as ever. There wasn't even a bruise, but then again due to her meta-morphing abilities she could heal very quickly.
"Momma." Persephone greeted her, the surprise evident in her voice. "It's good to see you alright."
"No thanks to Joseph." Mystique commented, watching carefully to see her daughters reaction. Persephone winced.
"You did piss him off in one of the worst ways." Persephone commented. "You know he hates insubordination more than anything. Why would you try something like this without his permission?" Mystique rolled her eyes.
"Spare me the lecture, daughter of mine. Phoebe came to me with the news that the Avengers were off trying to sooth over one of there mistakes and came up with a brilliant idea to take advantage of their absence."
Persephone glared lightly in annoyance. "Don't play the blame game Momma. You were the highest ranking and Phoebe would only go along with your approval. If it had been anyone else they would probobly be dead." She reminded her.
"Anyone else but you it seems." Mystique commented angrily, clenching her teeth as she thought of how close her and Joseph had been at the Avengers Base. She would find out just what Joseph was planning, and she would stop him. She had worked too hard to get a second chance at raising Rogue...and she wasn't about to loose her to anyone this time.