I jumped awake to the sound of pounding. My head shot over to look at my bedroom door, a grimace on my face.

"What?!" I yelled, still a little grouchy from the dream and rude wake up.

"Sorry to disturb you, Miss, but there's a military chopper asking permission to land," a muffled voice spoke.

I growled. "Deny them permission!" I shouted.

"We did but they're landing anyway."

I snarled and threw myself out of bed, pulling on my pants and shirt before jerking the door open and glaring at the man standing behind it. "What do you mean they're landing anyway?" I asked.

He shrunk back, his eyes going wide as he swallowed hard. "Uh, they said they needed to speak to you and that they were going to land to do so," he answered.

I bit back the rather rude retort I had for him, knowing that it wasn't his fault. "Fine," I ground out before going back into my room to grab my combat boots, pulling them on, slamming my door behind me and marching down the hall and up into the helm room. I scanned the skies through the windows before I spotted the unauthorized chopper.

"Orders, Miss?" the captain asked, knowing that I was far from happy.

"Remain on course, stick to your orders unless I tell you differently," I said as I made my way out and onto the deck. I stopped on deck, my arms folded over my chest as I watched the chopper land and a man in full military uniform climb out, making his way down to me, a man in a suit and sunglasses next to him.

"Agent Eleanor Howlett?" the man in the uniform asked, stopping in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked, keeping my voice authoritative.

He frowned. "It's usually polite to answer a question when asked," he stated.

I narrowed my eyes. "Seeing as this is a private vessel, one of which you had no permission to board, I think politeness can be suspended for this short altercation," I stated.

The man chuckled. "I suppose you're right," he said before holding his hand out. "I'm Major William Stryker."

I watched him for a moment before shaking his hand. "You already said my name so I won't bother saying it again," I said, pulling my hand away from his. "What do you want with me?"

He sighed. "I'm putting together a special team with special privileges."

I let out a snort. "Not interested," I stated before turning and heading back to the captain.

"What if I told you that you'll get to fight with your brothers again?"

I paused at that. I hadn't seen them since I set out to find Steve. 15 years. I couldn't let this slip through my fingers. "What kind of team?"

"A team made up of Mutants like you, doing special jobs for the military," he answered, a smile clear in his voice.

"And my brothers will be on this team?"

"I'm in the process of getting permission to release them from Military Prison."

I hid the confusion at them being in military prison but I refrained from asking, knowing that it was probably Victor that did something stupid. I had been away from them for far too long. "I'll join your team but if my brothers aren't delivered to me then, well, I'm sure you know what I'm capable of."

Stryker nodded. "I am aware of what you're capable of, that's why I'm here," he said before glancing down at his watch. "You have ten minutes to pack your things."

I shot him a look before turning and heading back to the captain. "I'll be leaving for an extended amount of time," I stated, catching their attention. "I'm not sure when I'll return but your orders still stand until further notice. I want you to inform Howard that I'm visiting my brothers and that I'll contact him if I need him," I said before leaving the room and heading down into the crew quarters. I shouldered my door opened and pulled the bag full of everything I would need to survive. I tossed it over my shoulder before looking my room of 15 years over, not even a little sad to be leaving it.

The facility where Stryker was keeping the team would be considered shady by all definition. The entire building was made of concrete and had the design of a prison. I didn't see one window.

"I'll introduce you to the rest of the team," Stryker said, leading me down a bear hallway. He pushed open a set of double doors, showing me what looked like a living room.

A huge entertainment center rested against one wall while several arcade games were against another. A state of the art kitchen was to the back that looked like it hadn't been touched. Weapons of all kinds covered the other wall, all looking well-kept and loved. Clearly, this was the home of a very male centered task force.

Stryker cleared his throat, attempting to get the attention of the men sitting on the couch, their eyes glued to the TV. "Attention!" he snapped.

They jumped at that, their heads whipping around to look over. Their eyes widened when they spotted me, all of them getting up and hovering around us with goofy smiles on their faces.

"If I knew that you were getting us an in house hooker I would have killed more people."

I twitched at that. "Stryker?"

"Granted."

I lunged forward, my fist connecting with the offending man's stomach, effortlessly dropping him to his knees with a groan. I reached down and gripped his jaw, forcing him to look up at me. I watched him for a moment before shaking my head and pushing him away.

"I like her."

I looked up and smiled at the man who had spoken. "I'm Eleanor Howlett," I told him, holding my hand out.

"John Wraith," he said, shaking my hand. "The sorry excuse of a man you just dropped is Wade Wilson."

I shot a glare down at the still groaning man. "Good to know."

"This is Fred Dukes," John continued, gesturing to the monster of a man.

"Hello," he said, his voice deeper than I thought it would be.

"Hi," I said, nodding back.

"This is Chris Bradley but we all call him Bolt."

"Nice to meet you," the shorter man said, smiling shyly at me.

"Nice to meet you too."

"The silent brooding man is Agent Zero," John said, pointing to the man who seemed to always be by Stryker's side.

He shot me the guy nod, something I returned with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Stryker cleared his throat, catching our attention. "Now that you all know each other I'll be leaving," he said, turning to leave.

I frowned. "What about James and Victor?" I called after him.

Stryker turned back to look at me. "We'll be flying out to the prison at 0500. Be ready," he said before continuing out the door, Agent Zero following close behind him.

"Uh, not to pry but whose James and Victor?" Chris asked, his voice soft.

I gave him a smile. "My brothers," I answered.

His eyebrows raised. "And they're in prison?"

"They're in Military Prison," I corrected.

Chris nodded. "Oh, because that's so much better," he muttered.

John chuckled. "Come on, I'll show you to your room," he said before heading off down a hallway I hadn't seen before.

"So, how long have you been working with Stryker?" I asked, adjusting the strap of my bag.

He shook his head. "Couple of months," he answered. "Wade's been working for him the longest but this is the first time he's been on a team. We're not too thrilled about it but we don't have a say," he stated.

I chuckled. "I have a feeling that I'm going to be hitting him more often."

"You won't hear any of us complaining," John said before stopping in front of door. "This is yours," he said as he opened it to reveal another windowless room. "It's not much but you get your own bathroom."

I smiled at that. "Kind of makes you forget about the fact that there's not windows."

John laughed lightly. "Then there's that," he said, shaking his head. "Fred actually punched a hole in one of his walls."

My eyebrows shot up. "That…..sounds cold."

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, he had issues," he said before glancing down at the watch on his wrist. "Diners in half an hour, I think Wade ordered pizza or Chinese or something."

I nodded. "I'll be there," I said before slipping into my room.

The prison they were holding my brothers in was something from the medieval ages. Iron bared doors cut into stone with bared windows and chain shackles hanging in the cells, keeping the prisoners in their places.

"Wait here," Stryker said before stopping in front of a cell.

Through all the downright disgusting scents that came from the prison I caught the familiar ones of my brothers and smiled softly, knowing they were only a few feet away from me.

Stryker unlocked the cell door and stepped in. "My name is Major William Stryker. You've been charged with killing a senior officer. Is that correct?"

"Apparently, we have some issues with authority," Victor stated.

"Just keep a lid on it," Jimmy told him.

"Sir," Victor added, his tone a little mocking.

"The warden tells me that your sentence was carried out by firing squad at 1000 hours. How'd that go?"

"It tickled," Jimmy answered.

I had to bite my lip to keep from chuckling.

Stryker smiled and pulled his sunglasses off. "You boys tired of running? Tired of denying your true nature?"

"What do you care?" Victor questioned, his tone guarded.

"Oh, I care," Stryker stated. "I care because I know how special you are. How valuable."

I heard Jimmy let out an 'are you kidding me' breath. Sadly, I agreed with him.

"Look, you can stay here locked up like freaks of nature, or you can join me. I'm putting together a special team with special privileges."

I rolled my eyes as I realized that he was giving them the same speech he had given me, word for word.

"No, tell me, how would you like to really serve your country?"

My brothers remained quiet.

Stryker let out a sigh. "Eleanor."

A growl escaped Victor. "What about Ella?"

I took the hint and came around to stand in the doorway of the cell, smiling down at my brothers. I went to say my greetings but stopped when I spotted what was sitting on Victor's shoulder. "Why is there a rat on your shoulder?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

There was a small moment of silence before both Victor and Jimmy burst out laughing.

I took the moment to take in my brothers. They hadn't changed.

"Come on, let's get you two out of here," I said before taking the key from Stryker and unlocking their cuffs.

"I'll leave it to you to introduce them to the rest of the team," Stryker said before he went off down a separate hallway.

"Yes, sir," I muttered. "Come on," I said before leading them down the hallway he had taken me down the day before. I pushed open the double doors and found the team where they had been before, on the couch with their eyes glued to the TV. "I find it hard to believe that none of you have anything better to do," I stated, crossing my arms, looking down at them from behind them

"And I find it hard to believe that you won't give me a strip tease," Wade spoke, not bothering to look away from the TV.

With a swiftness only me and my brothers had, my arm was pressed across his throat, cutting off his blood supply. Within in a few seconds he had stopped struggling and passed out.

"Too bad it's not permanent," John muttered before looking behind the couch at Jimmy and Victor. "They your brothers?" he asked.

At that everyone's head turned, their attention now on my family.

I nodded, smiling proudly at my brothers. "This is Victor and James," I introduced, gesturing to both of them as I said their names. "Victor, Jimmy, this is John Wraith, Fred Dukes, Chris Bradley, and the currently unconscious man on the couch is Wade Wilson."

They all gave their greetings before a loud grunt filled the air.

"You're lucky you're hot, sweetheart, or you'd be on the end of my sword," he stated, his hand coming up to rub his neck. "And yes, that is a double meaning," he said before looking over the back of the couch, his smile slowly falling as he looked Jimmy and Victor over. "Who're the muttonchops?" he asked, his eyebrow raising.

I sneered at him. "They're my brothers and your new teammates, Victor and Jimmy," I told him.

"Hmmm," he grumbled, his eyes narrowed. "The percentage of me sleeping with you just went down drastically."

Both Victor and Jimmy growled at that.

"You are very lucky I have orders to not kill you," I stated, pointing a finger at him before looking to my brothers. "I'll show you guys to your rooms," I said, grabbing one of their hands and leading them away.

Hello readers and Happy New Year! My little break from writing has come to an end and I will try to keep the updates regular.

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