Chapter 12
The call from Flare had galvanized the Mansion. Since word had spread through the other X-Teams of the kidnaping, every mutant from any X-Team who could arrive, had arrived the previous day, just to be on hand if needed. Everyone was up and heading to the War Room within minutes. Remy and Rogue weren't the only ones grateful for the assist. The various X-Teams had worked together for years. Scott knew that he had far more resources available to him than the day before.
Since the school had advertised that it was a mutant educational institution, a few years previous, there were well over 300 mutant students in residence, not counting staff. Kitty Rasputin and Rahne Sinclair who were both teachers, told Scott that pretty much every student and staff member had offered to help if needed, included the non mutant staff members. At a hurried meeting in the War Room, Scott felt now was the time to take some of them up on their offer.
"Jean," he said, "Have Genghis teleport Jose Lopes down here."
Genghis was a twenty year old student from Kazakhstan. Though 20, he was finishing his senior year in high school. Genghis, or Jing-iss, as he pronounced it, was the strongest teleporter that Scott had ever seen. He had at least ten times the strength of Nightcrawler, minus the sulphur smell. He was also a medium level telepath. When he combined his abilities, he could take an image from another's mind and could teleport to that place. He could, in effect, jump blind.
Jose Lopes was a non-mutant staff member. He taught Spanish and he was from Tampa. After Scott explained where they needed to be, Mr. Lopes was able to envision a dentist's office about two miles from Sinister's hideout.
Normally, the X-Men used the Blackbird as the primary means of transportation to a mission, but Cody and Renee could only have minutes. At the same time, Flare could have been baiting a trap. Scott planned for both contingencies. He had Genghis teleport Wolverine, Wildchild, Cable, Caliban and Nightcrawler to recon Sinister's hideout. Domino, Angel, Jubilee, Dr. Reyes, Sunspot, Rictor and Cannnonball were to take the Blackbird to Tampa as the cavalry, if needed. Scott also had Storm take Iceman, Psylocke, Wolfsbane and Colossus. take the spare jet and go to where Flare had called from and they try and track her down, from there. They would rent a car when they arrived. Synch and Boom Boom would take care of the second jet and keep it in reserve.
There was one last thing that needed to be addressed before the strike team went to Tampa. Scott looked at Gambit and Rogue; at their haggard, but hopeful expressions. Scott asked them in a hard voice. "Can the team count on you?"
"Don't worry mon ami. We team players," said Remy.
"Rogue?" Scott asked, looking her in the eye.
She nodded.
"Gambit, Rogue, Beast, Bishop, Chamber, and Havok will go to Tampa. This could be either a wild goose chase, a diversion or a trap. Everyone else, stay at the Mansion. You might be needed. I will be monitoring things from here. Let's show Sinister that he made the biggest mistake of his life.
"Are you ready Josh?" asked Flare.
"I guess so," answered Cody as he was getting into the car. Flare buckled him into the backseat of the car. She wished she had a car seat for him, but beggars couldn't be choosers. The car she had stolen, just did not have one. Hopefully a cop wouldn't notice.
"Where are we going?" asked Cody
"Oh, I know a nice safe place," she answered. "Have you ever heard of Pittsburgh?
"No," Cody answered.
"Josh, you'll like it. It is a nice city," said Flare. She couldn't believe her luck. When she had gone to the ladies' room, just before coming to the car, she found a purse that someone had left. She quickly emptied it of 116 dollars cash, another credit card along with that woman's driver's licence. She had a thought, if she were asked for ID, she could use one of the three driver's licences she now had and she could say that she hadn't replaced it since her disfigurement. It might work.
As they drove to a convenience store to get a tank of gas, Cody asked, "Can we call the Mansion from Pittsburgh?"
"Of course," Flare promised.
After the assault arrived in Tampa they started towards the clinic. Genghis teleported three motorcycles along with the strike team. Cable telepathically contacted all of them almost as soon as they started towards Sinister's hideout.
We have a problem, said Cable. The building is on fire. There are three police cars in front of the place. We are taking the direct approach. I will be encouraging them to help us.
At the word, fire, Rogue went airborne and was on her way. When the rest of the team got to the building, they could see that it was engulfed. There was no sign of Rogue. It was obvious that she was searching the building. Wildchild, and Caliban were hurrying down the block in the opposite direction.
"Bishop, Beast, Genghis back up Caliban and Wildchild," Havok said as he Gambit and Chamber got off the bikes..
Beast Bishop and Genghis rode to pick up Wildchild and Caliban, the man who was gifted with the ability to track mutants. Everyone hoped that he would be able to track two particular mutants.
While this was going on, Chamber opened his mind. The only people in the building that he could sense were Rogue, Wolverine and Nightcrawler, who were searching it.
Gambit charged a playing card. He wanted to throw it at the burning building, but was afraid that if the kids were behind whatever surface that he threw it at..well he had to hold the card.
Nightcrawler teleported Wolverine out of the building. They were both coughing furiously. Rogue followed a second later, holding something. It was Renee's stuffed bunny. She landed by Gambit.
Rogue wouldn't meet Gambit's eyes. He suddenly felt a swell of rage. He charged the card to its maximum level and hurled it at the wall of his children's former prison as the sirens of the fire department were heard in the background.
Everyone looked at Gambit as he took Rogue in his arms and held her, careful to avoid skin to skin contact. Chamber and Havok joined Cable with the police.
Ramiro Castro was listening to the biggest shine on he had heard in a long time. The people in front of him were obviously mutants. Their leader's metal arm was definitely a giveaway. Add to that, he was telling the police that everything was all right and his colleagues were buying it! That could only mean one thing. Castro reported to his dispatcher, "Code 44." Mutants of unknown capacity send help.
A moment later, the mutant leader looked at him and said, "I wish you hadn't done that."
Castro realized that either the guy knew the police codes or he took the information from one of the other officers' minds. Castro looked at the man and said, "When mutants are using telepathy on police officers at a suspicious fire, what else would I do?"
"Are you a mutant?" the leader asked.
"No, I just happen to be one of those gifted few who are immune to telepathy. Now do you want to tell me what is going on now or wait for SWAT?" Castro asked in his best authoritative voice. He knew that if he went for his sidearm, the mutants would disarm him. He had to stall them until SWAT arrived, if possible.
"He stole mah chillen." said the man who threw the explosive.
"Your children? There are kids in there?" asked Castro as he was reaching for his radio.
"Not anymore, bub," said the normal looking man who had just stopped coughing. "The kids were there, but they have been moved. No one is inside."
Castro took a close look at the man who answered him. There was something familiar about him. "You're Wolverine," he said. "I recognize you from that magazine." Castro looked around. "Is everyone here X-Men?" he asked. "Of course you are. Look," he said to Gambit, "If someone has taken your children, why haven't you contacted the police?"
The mutant, who was it? Havok, answered him. "The man who stole the twins could easily kill a hundred policemen. The police and the FBI would want to control everything and simply put, we have the experience dealing with this man."
Castro felt exasperated. "Look," he said. "I know that the President has provided you with a standing pardon to prevent cease and desist orders that FOH would level against you if they could and I know about all the good you do. You are very talented and capable people, but you can't do it alone. You have to let us help you. You have no choice."
"Thank you for your concern, officer. We really mean that. This is just out of your league. We don't want you hurt," said the leader, the one with the metal arm as the X-Men turned away from him and started towards the Asian kid.
"I meant what I said," Castro continued. If you leave, I will report this to my superiors who will report it to the FBI who will report it to SHIELD, who will be knocking on your door. An Amber Alert is usually very effective in finding children."
"And if de chillen are found by someone from de Friends o' Humanity?" asked Gambit.
"You X-Men are high profile. Any Friends of Humanity member who hurt your child would hurt their cause. Besides, your friend here just said the suspect could kill 100 police officers. I doubt that an FOH member would do any better. How about it?" said Castro.
Everyone was silent for a minute. "Meine Freunde, perhaps they can help. We are so used to fighting our own battles and we forget that there is a bigger world than ourselves. Sometimes, maybe we need to learn to accept help from non-mutants," the blue skinned one said.
A couple of hours later, an Amber Alert was issued for the twins. The Alert showed the picture of the twins on television as well as Sinister and Flare with an extreme warning not to approach. The Feds had a mutant specialist team on the way. Normally the Tampa Police would have tried to control the investigation, but the Chief of Police knew that if he tried it, the X-Men would just disappear, so the X-Men were in the police department and were waiting by the phones.
The Blackbird had arrived, but it was being held in reserve without the police's knowledge. The X-Men wanted to trust the police, but under the circumstances, all the X-Men agreed that what the police didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
Jean had yet to sense the kids. According to Cerebro, there were 895 mutant signatures in the Tampa-St. Peterburg Metro Area. Most of them were very low powered, if they were powered at all. Many of them didn't know they qualified as mutants. There almost became one less mutant on that list.
Jean scanned a policeman who was about to take a gentle telepathic look at Gambit. Jean hurriedly warned Chamber who made it perfectly clear to the officer that such an attempt would not be well received.
The only encouraging news was that Caliban said that he could sense a mutant trail. He was definitely sure that Renee was ahead of him. He had a faint sense of Cody which didn't make sense. The four were at a terrible traffic jam, over 100 vehicles. It was some sort of bad accident. They were working their way alongside the vehicles.
As Cody went into the bathroom of a truck stop, he saw an older boy, maybe seven or eight. Cody said, "Hi."
"Hi," the boy said. "Wow, your parents let you come in the bathroom by yourself? I mean," the boy added, "like at the gas station. My mom used to make me go with her into the women's room. I'm too old to do that now," he said proudly.
"What's your name?" asked Cody.
"Dennis. What's yours?" Dennis asked.
Cody hesitated.
"Oh, that don't talk to strangers stuff only means adults," Dennis said with understanding as he flushed the urinal and went to wash his hands. "I'm going to Disney World!" Dennis said excitedly.
"I was just there, the other day," said Cody.
"Sweet! Where are you going now?" Dennis asked.
"Pittsburgh," answered Cody as they left the restroom.
"What's your name," Dennis asked again.
"Josh."
