THE NEW NEIGHBORS - PART 5

In the hills overlooking the town, Kurt found a good location for their surveillance equipment. It was a stony ledge, narrow and isolated, situated on the face of a high cliff. Given how small and isolated the ledge was, there was little reason for anyone to climb up to it. And besides, it would take mountaineering equipment and good climbing skills to do so.

Kurt, carrying a backpack full of sophisticated observation equipment, simply teleported onto the ledge.

Crouched invisibly in the shadows between a pair of rocky outcrops, Kurt took a moment to enjoy the view. He could easily make out the house in which Mystique had taken refuge. The roads and trails into town were also quite obvious. Just beyond the edge of town, he could see the school.

The entire valley was filled with green conifers. Snow was swirling around distant mountain tops. Grim and rocky hills, covered with tenacious vegetation, squatted at the base of the lordly mountains. It reminded Kurt of the wilder parts of the Bavarian Alps, and he felt a momentary pang of home-sickness.

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Kurt went to work. Within a matter of minutes, a set of cameras and other sensors were in place. Camouflage chameleon coatings triggered once the equipment was activated, and the gear suddenly blended into the surrounding rocks and shadows. Kurt was standing amidst the surveillance equipment and even he was having a difficult time seeing it.

"Henry, you have outdone yourself," Kurt muttered to himself with a slow and amazed shake of his head.

Then Kurt pulled a tiny radio out of his pocket. "Rogue, the equipment is in place," he reported.

Rogue's voice came back clearly. "That's a big ten-four, good buddy. I'm reading all of the eyes in the sky and the view is faaaannnnn-tastic. Come on home, bright-eyes."

Kurt smiled at Rogue's descent into 1970s CB lingo. He attributed it to her unseemly affection for old Burt Reynolds movies.

"On my way," Kurt replied.

Kurt took a moment to glance back downhill. Once again, he studied the house where Mystique was staying.

How many times had she and Kurt spoken over the years? Five times? Ten? And how often had those merely been a few yelled words in the midst of some fight?

It would be so easy to simply go to where she was staying, knock on the door, and...

And what?

What was there to talk about?

Kurt shook his head. Then he teleported downslope, appearing next to a deer trail that led towards town.

Raven had a cellphone that was so secure - so heavily encrypted and intricately shielded - that she could call anyone, anywhere, at any time, and there was no way the call could be traced, tracked, or intercepted. It had cost her a small fortune and was worth every penny.

However, this time it didn't really matter if it worked or not. Raven was pretty sure that the very dangerous people on the other end of the line would eventually be able to figure out where she was. They just wouldn't be able to do much about it. At least not a first.

This was a dangerous play, but Raven was sure it was the only play she had.

"You've got to be kidding me," exclaimed the astonished voice on the other end of the connection.

Raven smiled to herself. "Hello, Manfred."

Manfred was her contact in Hydra. Raven had never met the man personally, but had been communicating with him for over two decades. There was a time when she occasionally did work for Hydra, and the man she always talked to - the person who set up the jobs and made sure she got paid - was Manfred.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Manfred asked skeptically.

"I want to settle things with Hydra," Raven answered.

Manfred sighed. "Sorry, Mystique, but that's not going to happen." There was something like actual regret in his voice.

"I can give Hydra something it wants," Raven shot back.

"Mystique... the Supreme Hydra isn't in the mood to kiss and make up. He's never liked you, and that thing you did in Saudi Arabia was just too damned much. It cost us a lot of money, prestige, and power, and it will take years to sort out the mess. Right now, I'm talking to a corpse."

"That was just business, Manfred," Raven snarled. "There was a time when Hydra understood that."

Manfred snorted. "The current Supreme Hydra thinks it's good business to make it absolutely clear that we can't be screwed with by an independent operator. He has a point."

"Manfred... quit talking like a movie villain and listen to me. I can give you something that Hydra has wanted for decades. Something it once had, but lost."

"And what would that be?" Manfred asked. He was obviously skeptical.

Raven's smile was vicious. "Here's something you might not know, Manfred - Weapon-X was really just a branch of Hydra. A branch that was an extremely expensive failure."

Manfred went silent. Raven knew she'd scored.

"I can give you Wolverine, Manfred. Oh, not the original Wolverine, but a version that's younger and a lot less difficult to handle."

Manfred still didn't say anything.

"Just think, Manfred - decades of service from the most effective operative and assassin imaginable. Not to mention unlimited access for genetic testing purposes. And that, of course, would put Hydra closer to the dream of having an army just like him. And he'll gladly work for you if you just give him what he wants. In fact, he'll walk right into your hands."

"What does he want?" Manfred asked carefully.

Raven laughed. "That part's not for free. It's time to start doing business, Manfred."

"Keep talking," Manfred replied slowly.

Raze had a smile on his face - and it had been there ever since recess.

"What are you so happy about?" Laura asked curiously.

It was lunchtime. Aliza, Brad, Billy, Daken, Laura, and Raze were all crowded together at one of the cafeteria tables. A highly energetic round of trading sack lunch components had already taken place. Raze had given up an apple for half of the burrito Mrs. Horsemen had made for Aliza. He was pretty happy with the deal.

"My mom was here," Raze answered happily. "She saw us kick butt in the football game."

Aliza looked puzzled. Brad and Billy pretty much blew off what Raze was saying - they were engaged in a brotherly argument about the quality of the Denver Rockies pitching staff.

Daken and Laura were definitely interested in what Raze was saying, but were doing their best to hide it.

"I didn't see her," Laura said very mildly, seemingly paying more attention to her sandwich than to what Raze was saying.

Raze glanced at Aliza, Brad, and Billy, and then gave Laura an amused look. "She was in the crowd. I guess that made her hard to see."

"Everyone says your mom is beautiful," Aliza interjected. She and Daken were sitting close to each other. Brad - on the other side of the table - was definitely not paying attention to them. Or at least he hoped it looked that way.

Raze's smile turned into a grin. "She's just as beautiful as she wants to be," he told Aliza.

Daken wasn't saying anything. But he frowned suddenly, lifted up a strap from his backpack, and gave it an interrogative sniff. Then he grimaced.

"What's wrong?" Aliza and Brad asked simultaneously.

Daken dropped the strap. "I think something got spilled onto my pack. It smells like ammonia."

Raven flicked off the safety of a rather big automatic pistol. She was standing well back from the front door and slightly off to the side. Then she aimed her handgun at the door, using a sure and steady two-handed grip.

"Come in!" Raven yelled, pitching her voice so that it wouldn't be clear where her shout had come from.

Kitty Pryde walked straight through the door and smiled tightly at Raven. Her eyes were quite cold, however.

She was also rather banged up. Kitty had a nasty looking bruise under one eye, a split lip, and her hair was a tangled mess. Her clothes were rumpled and there was a large stain on the right sleeve of her jacket that looked a lot like dried blood.

"Hey, Mystique," Kitty said mildly. "Long time, no see."

Then Kitty tossed the athletic bag she was carrying onto the floor between herself and Raven. It landed with a flat thud and then rolled onto its side. The zipper was partially stuck open and several bundles of hundred dollar bills spilled out onto the floor.

"From your Denver stash," Kitty said. "I didn't count it, and I had to use some for bribes and transportation, but I figure there's still something like ninety grand in there."

Raven lowered her weapon. There was no point to it anyway. Not against Kitty.

"Thanks," Mystique said. "You're still fetching for Logan, I see."

Kitty shrugged, "I suppose I'll always have Logan's back. And he'll always have mine. It's actually a good feeling, but I don't expect you to understand it."

Mystique didn't reply, but inside she was worried. She could con Logan - although that was a dangerous game. She could con Kurt and Anna. But the number of X-Men in the area that she didn't have a handle on had just doubled.

On an upper floor of a London office building was an organization that the British government - and particularly MI-6 - was positive belonged to them.

They were wrong.

"What is your report?" the director of the office asked. He was an older and floridly obese man who was dressed in an expensively tailored suit.

The other men and women at the conference table deferred to the slender, colorless man who was their spokesman.

"Our analysis of the audio file and cellphone traffic data that Mr. Manfred sent to us was inconclusive. We've known for some time that Mystique has access to Stark- or Doom-level communication technology, so that is no surprise. She was even able to mask background noise with a white-sound emitter. All we could get out of the file was the actual conversation between Mystique and Mr. Manfred."

The director's lips went tight, but he didn't say anything. His people were good at their jobs. He should hear them out.

The analyst continued. "Original reports from the failed assassination attempt on Mystique noted that she escaped with a child in tow. However, our operative in her organization had no knowledge of the child. Her subsequent attempt to access her Cicero safe-house ended in a gun-battle and she was forced to flee once more. She then tracked down our operative and executed him. Presumably, he was the only other person who had knowledge of her Cicero location."

"We don't know if Mystique tested any of her other facilities or caches - it is quite possible that she did so in disguise, noticed that we were watching, and backed away."

"We concluded that Mystique was without significant resources or allies and was accompanied by a hitherto unknown son or daughter. The consensus opinion was that Mystique had no choice but to remain on the North American continent, but would retreat to an isolated area. Her long connection with the American northeast suggested to us that she would be found there. Since she knew we had compromised her support structure, she would therefore not approach any of her established hide-outs. We gave an eighty-three percent possibility that she would attempt to access one of her money caches and suggested that we should focus our efforts on watching those caches while continuing to track down those that we didn't know about. We emphasized that the Mystique Protocol should be followed at all times - all Mystique suspects should be killed immediately."

Then the spokesman took a deep breath and continued. "After examining the audio file from Mr. Manfred, we have altered our original conclusions. The file superficially suggests that Mystique has had a son by Wolverine - or possibly Sabertooth - and is willing to trade him in exchange for an amnesty from our superiors."

The director's eyes narrowed. "Superficially?" he repeated.

The spokesman nodded. "Everything we know about Mystique indicates that it is extremely unlikely that she would give up her child. Nightcrawler was an exception for obvious reasons - Mystique had just given birth and she was in shock at the nature of his deformities. Given what we now know about Kurt Wagner, that was short-sighted on her part. All signs indicate that she has subsequently realized that she made a poor decision, and will not make that mistake again."

"So Mystique is lying to us?" the Director suggested thoughtfully. "She's playing some kind of game?"

The spokesman shook his head. "We do not believe so. We have concluded that Mystique did something radically unexpected when she fled: she made contact with a supposed enemy who still bore her some residual goodwill. At current time, we give a high probability to the prospect that she is with Wolverine and Storm, and has received sanctuary from them. Also, Mystique thinks she can somehow give us one of Wolverine's children - probably the boy."

"As partial confirmation, we know that Rogue and Nightcrawler - two X-Men with strong associations to Mystique - have vanished from the Xavier mansion and are not on any known mission. We think they have joined forces with Wolverine, Storm, and Mystique. Also, our team in Denver recently had an encounter with Shadowcat. She incapacitated them and walked off with a satchel full of Mystique's money. So Shadowcat should also be tallied as being in Mystique's corner."

The spokesman paused before finishing. "This is obviously very formidable opposition. And they can call upon additional support as required."

"So we know where Mystique is," the director said quietly.

"And she might as well be on the moon," the spokesman replied bleakly.

Logan's office wasn't that large. At the moment, occupied as it was by Logan, Ororo, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue, it was pretty crowded.

Kurt took one look at Kitty after she entered, 'tsked' at her ragged state, and dragged out a first-aid kit. Now Kitty's lower lip was stained with an antibiotic cream and he was busily wrapping a bandage around a nasty cut on her wrist.

"Hydra is all over the Chicago metro area," Kitty reported. "There was at least two gunfights between Hydra agents and Mystique: one in Chicago and another in the town of Cicero. Both were at safe-houses owned by Mystique. Fourteen people are dead. They were a mix of Hydra agents, Mystique's people, and a half-dozen bystanders who were either killed in the crossfire or executed by Hydra on the outside chance they might be Mystique in disguise. SHIELD and the FBI are investigating."

"Do we know what triggered this?" Ororo asked.

Kitty nodded. "I had a chance to talk to a couple of Hydra goons. Apparently Hydra had several Saudi princes under their control and was maneuvering them into positions of power. Somebody found out and hired Mystique to end the threat. She did just that."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "I saw something about that on the news. Three dead princes in a week - two by heart attack and one apparently killed by a fanatic. The Saudi royal family is supposed to be in a tizzy over the losses."

Kitty smiled grimly. "If by 'in a tizzy' you mean, 'celebrating wildly over how they managed to dodge a Hydra bullet', then you're right. In any case, Hydra is taking exception to what happened. In one week, Mystique derailed a plan that was years in the making and the Saudis are now on watch for Hydra. The upper levels of Hydra are mad as hell and want to make an example of Mystique."

"What about Raze?" Logan asked quietly.

Kitty looked at Logan. "He was completely off the radar screen until just a few days ago. Even Hydra was surprised when they hit her main safe-house and he suddenly appeared. Mystique had him buried pretty deep. He lived on the grounds of the Chicago safe-house, almost never left, and was primarily raised by its staff."

Kurt and Rogue glanced wordlessly at each other.

"I tracked down Raze's tutor," Kitty continued. "His name is Simonsen and he was lucky enough to not be around when Hydra showed up. He was pretty relieved to know that Raze was still alive."

"What does he think of Raze?" Ororo asked quickly.

A grin appeared on Kitty's face - then vanished into a grimace as Kurt finally finished tying off her bandage. "Mr. Simonsen likes him, doesn't like how isolated his mother kept him, and worries that Raze might have problems later in life because of that. He says Raze is bright, but has problems buckling down and studying. His best subjects are history and math. English bores him, but he has a knack for languages. And he loves playing tricks on people with his power. The staff in Mystique's safe-house had to develop a password system in order to make sure they were actually talking to the right person."

"He doesn't like English?" Logan said thoughtfully as he leaned back in his chair.

"Is he a reader?" Ororo interjected. She was perched on the desk next to Logan.

Kitty blinked. "Mr. Simonsen says he likes history books and science-fiction."

Logan looked at Ororo, "We could get him into my military history books. Then have him do book reports. That helped Daken with his writing."

Ororo nodded energetically. "And we should find out if he's read Heinlein's juvenile fiction. And Arthur C. Clarke. Laura loves those."

"How about Asimov?" Logan suggested.

"Possibly too advanced - and not adventurous enough for a boy his age," Ororo replied.

Logan frowned, "We want to expand his range."

Ororo shook her head, "We are getting ahead of ourselves. We still do not know what he has and has not read..."

Kurt and Rogue were trying not to smile. Kitty was shaking her head in bemused disbelief.

The director eventually made a report of his own. He did it by teleconference, but he didn't actually know to whom he was talking. During those conferences, the director only saw dark screens. He assumed that the people on the other end could see him and each other.

"How soon can we get confirmation that Darkholme is with Wolverine and Storm?" asked Screen #1.

"Within a day," replied the director. "We have a pair of agents on the way and have activated some resources in the local State Patrol."

"There is an obvious flaw in Mystique's plan," Screen #3 said thoughtfully. "All we have to do is tell Wolverine and Storm what she is offering. They'll kill her for us."

"Darkholme is betting that we won't do that," replied Screen #1. "She is assuming we want what she is offering."

"Or perhaps that Wolverine and Storm won't believe us," suggested Screen #2.

"Mystique is playing a dangerous game," said the director, "but she is in a dangerous situation. She feels she has to take high-risk actions in order to get big results. That fits her psychological profile very neatly."

"Assuming she is actually there, we should assume that Mystique knows we have guessed her location," Screen #2 stated very flatly.

"Agreed," said Screen #3. "However, she has probably drawn so many X-Men into the area that she believes we cannot take action against her. And, frankly, she's probably right."

The director took a deep breath, "I need guidance. Standing orders are to kill Mystique. However, she has made a tempting offer and may be well guarded. Which option should we pursue?"

"Both," Screen #2 replied. "We want Mystique dead and the resource she is offering working for us."

"Is there any way we can estimate what information Mystique has that would allow her to grant us leverage over a Wolverine-level operative?" asked Screen #1.

The director shook his head, "Not at this time, I'm afraid."

"I suggest we continue the ongoing operation," said Screen #3, "but we should defer Mystique's death until we have learned more."

The other screens agreed.