Huh. Looks like I've been demoted to page two again, so It's time to update. One note for Wild Wolvie Girl, Honey, Everyone's favorite Canadian isn't called "the runt" for nothing. He really is 5'4". Sorry to burst your bubble. I'm guessing you're tall. Anyway, the actor may be over six feet, but the actual character is not. Check out some of the comic books, you'll enjoy them.
On with the Show!
* * * * * *
Reagan checked herself out in the full-length mirror in the women's ready room. Her tight fitting black leather uniform was a little too much on the skintight side for her taste, and it made it a wee bit hard to breath, but at the moment it was all she had. The others had assured her that wearing one was a good idea because they were insulated for comfort and slightly armored. Jean and Ororo had left before she even had her uniform out of the closet, and Reagan was loath to have anyone see her in it. She poked her head out the door and saw the other senior X-Men waiting for her a little ways down the hall.
She exited the ready room and tried to look nonchalant, as if she always wore skintight black leather. "So tell me," Reagan asked the group collectively, "do you guys actually go outside in these things?" She pointed to her uniform.
Ororo's eyes widened and she hid a smile behind her hand, Jean grinned openly, Logan's jaw had already dropped at the sight of her and now it fell open even more at her question. Scott just looked lost.
"But we'd never fight anybody if we didn't go outside." He pointed out to no one in particular. "Though it is a pity we have to get them dirty." He patted his own suit lovingly.
Reagan and everyone else chose to ignore this. She fixed Jean with a pointed stare. "What's so funny?" She asked, and turning to see Logan's mouth still hanging open commented, "For heaven's sake Logan, shut your mouth. It can't be that shocking." He did so with an audible clack.
"Well, its sort of an inside joke," Jean replied carefully, least she start laughing again. "You might not get it."
Reagan was feeling slightly peeved. She didn't like being part of an inside joke that she wasn't in on. "Try me."
"Well, it's just that those were Logan's exact words the first time he put on his suit." She tried to contain her smile, but couldn't. Ororo's eyes were nearly tearing up in her effort to control herself.
"And why is that so funny?" Reagan was clueless.
"Well, it's just that sometimes you two are so alike, it was odd hearing you use the same exact words. Ironic really."
"We are not alike." Reagan and Logan said simultaneously, and then glared at each other.
"So." Scott interrupted, "Do we all know our positions and our jobs for tonight's mission?" He asked brightly.
There was silence and then various mumbles of consent.
"That should be 'Yes, Oh Fearless Leader!'" Scott reminded them.
Much eye rolling and grumbling followed Scott's attempt to be funny.
Well, Reagan thought to herself, I guess Logan and I do have some things in common. Scott annoys the hey out of both of us and neither of us can stand our uniforms. Gee, chalk that up to a whole two things we have in common. Woo hoo. At this rate we'll never--
More of Scott's battle talk interrupted her thoughts, and she dutifully followed the rest of the group into the Blackbird and strapped herself in. Where they were going none of them was really sure. The professor had been having trouble tracking Mistique's mutant signature on Cerebero, and he couldn't fine Eileen's at all, which made everyone but Reagan slightly nervous. Reagan was sure that she was out there somewhere, not only alive, but thriving. And for once, annoying someone besides Reagan.
* * * * * *
According to the Professor's telepathic voice playing in everyone's ears, it was time park the blackbird. Scott brought it down a little hard, but Logan kept himself from one of his usual comments, "You call that a landing?" For fear that someone would once again compare him to Reagan, who was currently glaring at the back of Scott's head after the landing caused her to bump her own on the ceiling.
Once they unstrapped themselves and got out, they were in a bit of a shock. They were at the maximum-security prison where Magneto was being held.
"What on Earth are we doing here?" Reagan whispered, to no one in particular.
It was the question that was running through everyone's mind. Why on earth would the Professor bring them to the prison? Surely Mistique and Eileen weren't being held here, but Mistique may have been planning a jailbreak. That made sense. But why she needed Eileen to do so was still a mystery.
"You don't think she can manipulate plastic or something, do you?" Reagan asked
"Well, I've never hear of anything like that before," Jean answered, a little uncertainly.
"Tell us what's going on inside Reagan." Scott suggested.
Reagan squinted at the building a little, and the dark disappeared and suddenly everything inside came into focus. Since the lights were on there she could see perfectly well. "They're in there all right. And I can see that big long plastic tube that connects to Magneto's cell, just like the Professor told us. Mistique has Eileen backed up in a corner, and they're arguing about something. She doesn't look scared at all." Eileen was usually scarred of her own shadow, but being face to face with Mistique didn't seem to unnerve her at all.
After giving them the quadrants where Mistique and Eileen where, Reagan stepped back and the block wall became a block wall again in her sight. She was worried about this "mission." Eileen wasn't her favorite person, not by a long shot. And everyone knew it. She remembered back to the three blissfully quite days in the car on the way back to the Institute, when she had seriously considered tracking down an address for Mistique and sending her a thank you note. Silence was golden.
She wasn't worried because it was her first mission, or anything like that, she was worried about her teammates. Even Scott, and he annoyed the Heck out of her. She knew that they couldn't just leave Eileen there with Mistique and Magneto, even though her instincts were telling to run far away and not get mixed up in this mess. Above all Reagan was worried about Logan. The men running Magneto's prison had done everything they could to keep it metal free. And well, Logan was metal. Or at least his bones were plated with the stuff. She had heard plenty of times already about how Magneto had used Logan the summer before, shoot, Logan had told her the stories himself. In a vain attempt to impress her she thought at the time.
Regardless of reasons, it was true, and Logan had been commanded by Scott to stay with the Blackbird in the event that they needed to leave in a hurry. He could only distract them and get in the way inside where they fighting was going on. The Wolverine was not happy about it, but Logan understood Scott's reasoning, and wasn't even grumbling about it. Well, not too much. Still, the whole thing made Reagan nervous. Whether she admitted it to herself or not, there was something going on between them, though quite what exactly, was still up in the air. And she wasn't ready to give that something up until she figured out what it was.
Scott's muttering broke into Reagan's thoughts and guiltily she remembered that she was supposed to be watching what was going on inside and giving updates. She squinted once more at the wall. "Hey, they moved. Eileen is... Dude. I don't know what she's doing. Looks like she's walking right up the wall. Who does she think she is anyway, Spiderman?"
"Let me see," Jean interrupted her, looking through the pictures in Reagan's mind. "That is really weird." She pronounced. "Her hair isn't even hanging down. Maybe she manipulates gravity around herself."
Shrugging, Reagan went back to watching. She could have sworn that Mistique was looking right at her, and for a moment Reagan felt rather naked standing there in plain sight. Plain sight from her point of view. Mistique couldn't see her through the wall.
Eileen was walking unconcernedly up the plastic wall and stopped to peer in at Magneto. She hollered down at Mistique but Reagan couldn't hear what they were saying. As she explained to Scott in no uncertain terms, just because she could see through walls didn't mean she could hear through them too.
* * * * * *
Inside things were not going according to Mistique's plan. To begin with, the child was impossible to reason with, and she never stopped talking the entire time they had been together. From complaining that knocking her unconscious wasn't really needed as she was certainly planning on coming willingly. After all, hadn't they been planning the entire thing for almost a year? She just yammered on and on and on . . . But surely it would be worth it. Once Erik was freed their plans could continue. World domination. She liked the sound of that.