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Right! Fic! Onward! March!
Xavier Institute Kitchen
8.30 a.m.
"Yes"
"No"
"Yes"
"No"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Ye-"
"Say it one more time John and I swear I will re-acquaint your head with the frying pan!" screamed Wanda
John grinned and produced the frying pan from behind his back "What this one? I took the liberty of removing it from your –"
Wanda hexed the frying pan out of his grip and caught it deftly by the handle. She grinned with satisfaction as she waved her preferred object of torture in John's direction.
"…grasp" finished John lamely before breaking out into a grin again "You know what I like about you Sheila?"
"Pain?" questioned Wanda savagely
"Nah – ya know you never fail to surprise me" answered John
Wanda blinked. That was probably the best compliment she could remember getting. Then again – it didn't really take much to top Toad's 'nice rack babe'.
"Er…thanks?" said Wanda
"See you do love me really" said John as he wiggled his eyebrows at her playfully
Wanda sighed "You're an idiot" Was all she chose to say before striding off to the other side of the kitchen.
John smiled after her as Lance let out a low whistle.
"I think you might be in there Pyro, she didn't even hit you or anything this time" whispered Lance with a smirk
"Yeah she's really warming up to you" said Freddy as he bit into his bacon-egg-tomato-sausage-waffle-cheese sandwich
"You think?" asked John happily
"Definitely homme" contributed Remy as he got himself a cup of coffee "How many timed have y' been hexed dis mornin'?"
John screwed up his face in concentration "Er…none"
"Exactly" said Remy pointedly as he took a seat next to the other two boys.
"What exactly?" asked Pietro as he zipped in and buttered himself a bagel in one second
"Y' sister and John…good match non?" smirked Remy
Pietro's face blanched "She actually likes you back?"
"Well mate – general consensus seems to be that she doesn't hate me so much anymore" mused John "So I think she thinks I'm tolerable, which means she thinks I'm alright, which I think means she likes me"
Pietro rolled his eyes "Uh-huh"
"Dum diddly dum" hummed Arianna as she stirred a handful of small white tablets into a steaming cup of coffee.
"Hurry up!" whispered Jamie as Scott showed sign's of slowing down in his early morning rant to Bobby on 'The Danger's of Icing a Kitchen Floor' first thing on a Saturday morning.
Arianna stepped away from the coffee with a satisfied smirk just as Scott turned away from Bobby who decided to pull a funny face at his leader back in defiance
"Be careful your face doesn't get stuck that way" commented Jean lightly as she walked into the kitchen, joining the rest of the institute students and their temporary guests
Betsy went over to Lance 'Do I want to know what went in that cup?" she asked discreetly as Scott walked over to the kitchen table.
"Why ruin the surprise?" smirked Lance as he and his team mates, as well as the new recruits quietly watched Scott drink his coffee as he read the morning paper.
"Why is everyone so quiet this morning?" asked Scott after he noticed something wasn't right
"Er….."
"Quiet? No….."
"Pfff! Who's being quiet? I know I'm not!"
"Just watching the news man"
"Can't a guy eat in peace?"
Scott raised his eyebrow at the quick replies "Ok what did you guys do?" He narrowed his eyes and focused in on the Brotherhood and Acolytes members. "Or should I ask what they did?"
"Maybe Summer's, you should just shut up and drink your damn coffee instead of being such a suspicious ass all the time" said Lance airily as he took a bite out of his toast
"Maybe I will!" snapped Scott before turning back to his newspaper in annoyance, the others making a point of resuming normal chatter so as to not make Scott suspicious.
"Nothing's happening" whispered Jamie as Scott finished off the last of his coffee "And you put in most of the packet!"
"Give it time…." replied Arianna as she focused on time shown on Kurt's holo-watch "Five….Four….Three…Two….One…."
All of a sudden Scott sat up stiffly in his chair, his face quickly becoming a nice shade of red.
"Scott are you O.K.?" asked Jean concernedly as Scott put as hand on his stomach as if he was about to vomit
"I…." mumbled Scott " I…..gotta go!" With those words he stood up and dashed out of the kitchen, the sounds of laughter following him up the stairs.
Jean turned on the others "What did you do?"
Arianna took a box out of her trouser pocket and shook it happily "Coffee flavoured Super-Lax! Wonderful idea don't you think?"
"What?" sighed Jean in exasperation as everyone cracked up laughing again.
"Hahahhahaha I just love that prank!" chuckled Pietro "Remember when we did that to Mystique?"
"She gave us extra-training for a month yo!" reminisced Toad "And it was still worth it!"
"Really?" asked Kitty in surprise "No way!"
"Yeah … Ah would have thought the psycho bitch would have killed y'all for that one" commented Rogue "No offence Kurt"
"None taken" shrugged Kurt
"Well Pietro did it…." Started Blob
"Even Mystique wasn't crazy enough to try to kill Magneto's son" Stated Lance "By the way Pietro…how was your coffee?"
"Fine th – why what did you do?" asked Pietro suspiciously
"Nothing….." said Arianna nonchalantly tossing the packet of laxatives around in her hand
Pietro rolled his eyes "Nice try guys! I'm not falling for that one!"
"Really?" asked Wanda as she went over to the sink
"Yup! Cos' I don't even feel a…" Wanda turned on the tap with a big smirk, letting the water run loudly "…thing!" Pietro finished weakly before dashing out the kitchen at speeds even he didn't know he was capable of.
"Thanks sis" said Lance as he hi-fived Arianna
"You people are so immature" said Jean snootily before walking out
Lance rolled his eyes at her back "Whatever… in about 20 minutes I'm going to be a dead man! Might as well get my kicks while I still can…"
"Yeah well times up!" snapped a voice from near the door
Lance looked up to see two very unhappy looking people standing at the door, Logan just behind them
Logan picked up Scott's discarded newspaper and made himself comfortable "By the way Rocky your parent's got here 5 minutes ago" he said casually
Lance shot Logan a dirty look before putting on his best smile "Hi Shel….."
"Don't you friggin 'Hi Shel!' me-" started Shelly before Arianna ran intervention
"Mom!" she said brightly before running over and giving Shelly a big hug, followed by Tom, allowing Lance to get a decent head start.
"Boy you better come back here!" shouted Shelly as she noticed Lance sneak out the back door. She ran past the others and out the door.
"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN!" they heard her scream
"I wish I could explain why I married her….." trailed off Tom as he watched his wife chase Lance around the garden
"Hey if you don't want her, I'll have her!" exclaimed Pietro happily as he came back into the kitchen "She's foxy!"
Tom glared at him and Wanda rolled her eyes and gave her brother a quick thwack over the head.
"Thanks" said Tom
"Don't worry about it!" shrugged Wanda
"Meanie" retorted Pietro sticking out his tongue
"I was just trying to protect you guys!" came a distant shout from outside
"Protect us? How could you fail to tell us your boss is a family stealing maniac!" came the reply
"Lance is a dead man" noted Toad simply
"Nah I think Lance could take her" commented Pietro
"I dunno mate" replied John conversationally as Shelly continued ranting "She has a lot of rage"
"I got a coke that says Lance wins if this goes violent" said Pietro stretching his hand out to John
"Deal!" replied John shaking Pietro's hand in a business-like manner
Logon Magneto's back I don't suppose you could….. said Xavier telepathically just as Tom headed outside to mediate the argument between his wife and son
Logan sighed and threw down his newspaper, I'm on it, he sent back before standing up and heading outside
"You could have at least told us!" said Shelly exasperatedly
"How was I supposed to know he was going to turn up?" said Lance defensively
"Well you could have told us beforehand anyway!" continued Shelly "You always shut us out, you never tell us what your up to, if we hadn't found out about Gage you could very well be dead by now and we wouldn't have a clue!"
"Shel this isn't the right time to be having this conversation…" began Tom before his wife cut him off
"Then when is?" she retorted quickly
"Not now." interjected Logan gruffly "Sorry to break up the family reunion but Magneto's back." Logan turned towards Shelly "Lance here had no idea Magneto was going to get involved in this and neither did we. Magneto thinks Arianna is a cousin of Jamie's who's staying with us, you can be the aunt and uncle and it's best if everyone sticks to that story - got it?"
Shelly looked like she would have liked to say more the look on Logan's face left no room for argument, she glanced at Tom and then nodded silently
"Good" said Logan before turning to Lance "Get in the planning room I'm guessing we have the final details for tonight to go over."
"What's tonight?" asked Tom curiously
Logan looked at Lance who shrugged, then rolled his eyes "We're infiltrating Shaw's mansion, turns out this business with Gage goes way beyond him and Rocky here. I'm sure Charles will fill you in on the details when were done. If you two wouldn't mind following me I'll show ya to where you'll be staying"
Logan walked away and was promptly followed by Tom, Lance and Shelly.
Shelly nudged Lance in the side "Sorry" she said quietly
Lance grinned "me too"
Shelly rolled her eyes "You know if you let us give you an allowance you soooooo wouldn't be getting it this week"
"Ouch" replied Lance
xX x
Logan surveyed the teams before him and began the meeting.
"Ok folks, here's how this one is going to roll, We're breaking up into four units, red, blue, silver and gold"
"The gold team will obviously consist of Gambit, Rogue, Angel, Psylocke and Avalanche, you guys will be our inside team, as soon as Gambit retrieves the information from Shaw's office I want everyone out of there no matter where you are and who you're talking to" he looked pointedly at Lance "got it?"
Warren, Betsy, Remy, Rogue and Lance all shook their head to show they understood.
"Now Rocky, seeing as you're a bit a of wildcard in this operation, if and when Gage comes to talk to you, try as hard as possible to stay in the ballroom, it wouldn't be wise for you to be on your own with him, but just in case…." Logan picked a black article of clothing off the table and threw it at Lance, who caught it deftly.
Lance examined it and realised it was a bullet-proof vest "That's reassuring…." he commented dryly
"We're just being practical kid, human's don't have powers they have guns" stated Logan matter-of-factly
"Silver team - Cyke that's your crew of Red, Elf, Porcupine, Popsicle, Sunspot and Boom Boom." He threw a file down in front of Scott, "There are 3 other offices in the West Wing of the mansion, 2 of them having safe's as well as a larger one being located in the master bedroom - it's your job to check it out"
Scott nodded "Will do"
"Red and blue you guys are aid and recovery. Red team is going to be led by myself and will consist of the remainder of the X-men seeing as you guys don't seem to integrate very well, were taking the North side of the estate. Blue team will be the Brotherhood and Acolytes, you guys will be taking the South side with Storm and Hank."
"Er….." John stuck his hand up "Mr Wolverine? Sir? Where exactly are we going to be?"
"Woodland surrounds 85 of the Shaw estate" interjected Storm "that is where were our base of operations will be, there is also enough cover for us to hide both the X-jets. The woodland itself is not monitored by security cameras but as soon as we get out in the open we will be watched, therefore it is essential that both teams be discreet"
"Aren't we always?" said Jubilee sweetly as Ray and Bobby snickered quietly
"Now we don't have all that long until we have to leave so if we could start-" began Xavier before Scott's raised hand cut him off. "Yes Scott?"
"What's Magneto going to be doing in all of this?" he asked evenly
Magneto smiled "I have a very special mission of my own to undertake"
Shaw Estate, England
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WASN'T THERE?" screamed the White Queen loudly
"Precisely that" reported Empath "The safety deposit box had ordinary gems and jewellery inside"
"This is most….upsetting" said Shaw slowly "After tonight's discussions our buyer's will expect the deal to be closed by Tuesday at the latest, but if we don't have-"
"Gage is a dead man" cut in Emma "He assured me that this was the one"
"What do you want us to do now?" asked Roulette as she absentmindedly toyed with her hair
"Nothing, we still got loads to do for tonight we'll deal with this matter tomorrow, one way or another we have to find out where Ryan stashed that serial number" said Emma matter-of-factly
"And if we can't?" enquired Empath
"Then we have to break into every single bank in the world, we've put too much into this plan to lose out now" stated Emma angrily
"I'll see if Tessa can be of any further assistance" said Shaw thoughtfully "I'm sure S.H.E.I.L.D. have ways of finding people, no matter how much they want to stay hidden"
Xavier Institute
"Rogue! You look so awesome!" said Kitty happily as her friend did a slow twirl in front of the mirror.
The material of the dress was the exact shade of green of her eyes as Jubilee had noted, with a layer of black patterned mesh over it. The dress went down to her feet and had a sizeable but not trashy split along the right side. Ororo had also provided some long black lace opera gloves with the dress, even Rogue had to admit…. It didn't look half bad.
Though the hair she was definitely not cool with.
"Why do Ah have tah wear this stupid wig?" she said as she adjusted the brown hairpiece for the millionth time, which went down to her elbows
"The prof thought your white streaks were too distinctive" shrugged Kitty
"Rogue I gotta say….you look awesome with long hair luv" said Betsy as she walked in "Ever thought of growing yours?"
"Mmmmm" said Rogue non-committedly as she continued to scrutinise her appearance she was wearing next to no make-up, something else she wasn't happy about. At least Storm had let her wear eyeliner, that was something to be thankful for she guessed.
"Bets shouldn't you be getting changed?" enquired Amara from Rogue's bed
"Well I would be, except Mr. Cajun is hogging the bathroom, and guys tell us!" snorted Betsy
"Use ours" offered Kitty "I wish I was dressing up, but noooooo stupid X-uniform for us!"
Betsy arched an eyebrow "Not like this is actually going be a fun time though is it?"
Kitty sighed "Yeah I guess your right. Lance ready yet?"
Betsy grinned "He's just finished being wired up by Logan, and now he's going around asking everyone if the bullet proof vest makes him look fat!"
"If you ask me guys are waaaaay more vain then girls" said Tabby nonchalantly
"Case in point - Ray" agreed Rahne
"We timed him the other day - he spent 20mins just on the front of his hair!" giggled Jubilee
"You think that's bad - it took Pietro the same time - and that's with super speed!" added Rogue with a grin
"Hmmm I don't think Lance ever does his hair" said Kitty thoughtfully "He pretty much just wakes up and walks out the door"
"Well he's done it today!" laughed Betsy "I had to chase him around with gel for a good 20 minutes before Storm cornered him and told him it was best he looked the part!"
"Really?" said Kitty interestedly "Now this I gotta see!" she said before bounding out the door happily
"So what's goin' on with yah and Angel then?" Rogue asked Betsy
"Yeah, you guys were totally talking all last night!" said Jubilee excitedly
Betsy grinned "I admit he is really cute, nothing's happened yet though. Then again when he sees me in my dress I'm sure that wont be the case! Ororo bought me the purple version of the Versace gown Beyonce wore to the MTV Movie Awards!"
"Oooohhh!" cooed the girls excitedly
Rogue rolled her eyes "Y'all really need to get out more"
xX x
"Ok Lance now smile!" said Shelly happily
Lance resigned himself to his fate and managed a small strained smile for the camera
"Oooohh wait till I show these to Jade, Lance Alvers in a tux! She'll never believe it!" cooed Shelly happily as she waited for the Polaroid to develop
Lance was wearing a plain black tux, with a smart black tie loosely done around his neck. His hair was done so that his bangs fell in his face more to a side and in a more styled manner then his usual just-woke-up chic. Betsy had also taken it upon herself to give Lance's hair a small trim at the back, giving it an overall neater effect.
The sound of a long whistle diverted their attention towards the doorway where Kitty was leaned up against the side.
"Lance Alvers may I say you look absolutely suave, and I totally love your hair" she said with a big grin as she walked over to Lance
Lance grinned "Kit meet Shelly Winters, Shel' my girlfriend Kitty" he said introducing the two
Shelly grinned "Girlfriend huh? Nice to meet you by the way! Want to see some pictures of Lance as a child?" she asked teasingly
Kitty's eyes widened "Would I? Bring em' on lady!"
"I don't think so!" said Lance as he dragged Kitty out the door
"What not even one?…………."
"Ahhhhh they grow up so fast don't they?" said Ororo with a smile as she joined Shelly in the kitchen
"Tell me about it!" answered Shelly "Coffee?"
"Yes, thank you" said Ororo graciously as she took a seat at the breakfast bar
"This man that Lance said he works for now…" began Shelly hesitantly after a moments silence "is he really dangerous?"
Storm sighed "Like all men he has his good points and his bad. As a child he and his family were placed in a concentration camp during WWII. Magneto fears mutants will suffer the same persecution unless he does something about it, one can only hope that someday he'll see that his actions just serve to bring more hatred towards mutant kind, rather then aid it."
Shelly nodded slowly as she digested this information, her finger absentmindedly trailing around the edge of her coffee cup "Does he really have the Russian man's family captive?"
"Piotr's little sister Illyana is hidden away in one of Magneto's bases, as a means of securing Piotr's loyalty to the Acolytes" conceded Storm "Charles is doing all he can to locate her but Magneto has managed to cloak his bases from his mental powers"
Shelly sighed an set down her cup "I used to get so mad at him. Last year, when Lance moved here I guess, he refused to give us a contact address or number, saying that he simply couldn't. Anytime I tried to probe him about his life he'd get all defensive… I just wish he'd told us what was going on"
"I suppose it was just Lance's way of protecting you" replied Ororo kindly
"Mmmmmm" agreed Shelly noncommittally "I know he's not really my son anymore, but I can't help worrying about him. There hasn't been a day gone by that I haven't regretted letting him run away all those years ago, but there's Lance for you - stubborn as hell"
"Then he really may be your son" said Ororo with a smirk
"Oh sure…" said Shelly with a roll of her eyes "Mock me for my anal retentiveness why don't you"
"You…?" came Tom's voice from the doorway "Never!"
"Don't make me hurt you" said Shelly playfully
"I'm terrified, I assure you" smiled Tom "Ms Monroe? Logan said could you get everyone together? It's almost time"
"Of course" said Ororo as she walked out the door
"I'm not sure if I like this" voiced Tom
"I definitely don't" replied Shelly "But I don't think we have a say in the matter"
xX x
"ROGUE!" shouted Betsy as she banged on the bathroom door "LET'S GO ALREADY!"
"Ah'm coming! Just...uh... fixing mah wig on properly!" replied Rogue hurriedly as she scrambled for something in the cabinet above the sink. Her shaking hand closed around a small bottle of painkillers, of which she took out 4 and gulped them down hurriedly with some water. Her head had been killing her all day and there was no way she could have anything messing up her concentration tonight.
As Logan had said, they needed to be alert at all times. She put the bottle back in the cabinet and opened the bathroom door with a smile.
"Ready?" She asked Betsy
"Aren't I always?" smirked Betsy as she led the way down the stairs, her purple gown trailing ever so slightly behind her, as her hair fell loosely over her shoulders
"Yah look great by the way" commented Rogue
"I know" stated Betsy "So do you, luv"
"Ah know" grinned Rogue as they reached the foyer
"Where's my Gold team? Here are your earpieces" said Logan has he handed them out to the assembled crowed "We'll need to stay in radio contact with you guys all the time, so don't take them out under any circumstances, press the tiny button on the top anytime you want to send us a message"
"Got it" said Betsy as she inserted her earpiece. She spotted Warren and made her way over to him "Hello you"
Warren looked at Betsy and smiled "You look nice." He said appreciatively
"Just nice?" enquired Betsy flirtily
"Gorgeous nice" admitted Warren "Scared?"
"Not yet" answered Betsy truthfully
"Absolutely friggin terrified" said John to a sceptical Wanda
"Terrified? Our job is to hide in the bushes 'just in case'" illustrated Wanda "Lance isn't scared and he's going to party with guy who wants to kill him"
"I still think I need a reassuring hug" argued John
Wanda put a hand to her head despairingly "Oh god why me?"
"You called?" asked Pietro as he whizzed over
"Pietro you are NOT god!" sighed Wanda
"Whoever told you that was a dirty little liar" scoffed Pietro
"Father!" called Wanda happily "Pietro called you a dirty liar!"
"Uh-oh" blanched Pietro
"Now is not the time you two" admonished Beast as he walked past
"Y' look real good chere" whispered Remy into Rogue's ear as he came up behind her quietly
Rogue turned around and checked out Remy "Yah don't look too bad yah self - wait, what happened to yah eyes?" She asked referring to the fact that they now looked normal brown shade
"De eyes don't go down too well at these kinds of events" said Remy "Besides, it benefits Remy to not let on that de Prince of Thieves has an extra card up his sleeve, non?"
"As well as the ones from the poker game last night?" asked Rogue with a raised eyebrow
"Remy still maintains that he won that game fair and square" smirked Remy
"Sure" said Rogue with a roll of the eyes
"Don't hate de player, hate de game chere" shrugged Remy as he offered Rogue an arm "Can I escort a belle fille such as y'self t' de jet?"
Rogue smiled and linked her arm with Remy's "Merci Swamp Rat"
"Have I told you how sexy you look tonight?" said Kitty as she walked next to Lance on the way to the jets
"Twice" smirked Lance "But seriously?…………"
"For the last time you can't even like, tell your wearing the vest!" said Kitty exasperatedly
"Gee Lance you're looking a bit more bulky then usual" said Pietro casually as he walked past "Put on a bit of weight have you?"
"Bulky?"said Lance self consciously
"Don't listen to him" scoffed Kitty "Pietro's just jealous because you, Warren and Remy are getting all the attention tonight!"
"Am not!" snapped Pietro angrily "My Quicksilver outfit makes the ladies go wild I tell you!"
"GAY!" coughed all the guys at once
"OK Listen up!" shouted Logan above the chatter
Magneto lifted himself into the air so he could see everyone "Be on your guard tonight, gather as much information as you can. Acolytes, Brotherhood do not fail me. I hope your mission tonight goes smoothly, Good Luck"
One of the metal orbs that had been left in the hangar floated to his side and Magneto entered it then took off
"Where's he going?" asked John
"Never you mind" snapped Logan "Everybody get on the planes we aim to be in there by 10 at the latest"
Shelly gave Lance a hug "Good Luck"
"And look after yourself" added Tom
"Thanks" said Lance appreciatively as he walked away to the plane hand in hand with Kitty
"I am sooooo not looking forward to this flight" moaned Amara ahead of him
"You ain't the only one" sighed Lance
"Don't be such fraidy cats" said Kitty dismissively "This is not going to be like last time, Storm is a much better flyer then Bobby."
"Ah believe they were referring tah the fact that their powers make it difficult for them tah be too far off the ground genius" commented Rogue from behind them
"Oh" said Kitty "Well I knew that…"
"Sure y' did petit" added Gambit
"Quit calling me little!" whined Kitty as they boarded the plane and took seats
"Everybody good to go?" asked Storm
"Oh yeah…." muttered Lance under his breath "Let's rock"
Hope you liked, sorry again for the delay!
Review and let me know what ya thought as always :) I really appreciate it!
Soulstress:)