The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
***
"So… we've waited long enough Eric," Rogue said calmly and coolly, Logan standing behind her, glaring at the old mutant, and his companions, who were both sitting by his side, looking equally calm, back at the wolf-like man.
"Rogue, my dear, Haven't you heard of the saying, 'Patience is a virtue'?" Eric said leaning back in the chair he was seated in.
"I ain't never claimed to be virtuous." She narrowed her eyes. As if on cue, Logan cracked his knuckles menacingly. Rogue leaned forward in her seat, as though to counter Eric's own action. "Plus, we don't have time for any distractions, from what we've found about from the information we've gathered."
Kitty was sitting at the other end of the table, next to Jean, and the empty seat, that used to belong to Pyro. She shook her head and glanced back at Magneto, to see his reaction.
"Yes, you never were one to take time." Magneto mused; he smirked at Logan's behaviour. "Logan, standing there, cracking your knuckles is not going to scare me. Or have you forgotten that your bones are covered in a substance that I can manipulate without a second thought."
Logan glared again, this time if possible, with even more menace. Kitty swore she could hear him growling, but she shook her head again, and the sound went away. "Very well… what do you wish to know?" Magneto's smirk disappeared as quickly as it came, only to be replaced by the same thoughtful face, he had had been wearing for a majority of his stay at the Complex.
"Everything you know," Rogue said instantly.
He laughed patronisingly at her. "My dear, you will need to be much more specific than that."
It was Rogue's turn to glare, "Fine, we want to know everything you know about the FOH, Senator McPherson's connections to the FOH, anything about this 'Project Assassin' and anything else we might find useful."
"Anything you would find useful you say?" He tilted his head sideways, and looked at the purple haired mutant known as Psylocke. "Betsy? Tell them what you told me the other day."
She smiled and nodded to her boss, then turned and looked at Rogue. "He's going to use the 'Project Assassin' to kill prominent humans, and blame it on mutants. It will be his main argument in the Mutant Registration debate next week." She explained in a cheerful British accent. Far too cheerful to work for Magneto, but then again, Pyro had also been in the employ of Magneto, and he didn't seem the type to work for the politically-extreme mutant either.
Rogue nodded, "Yes we got that information when Kitty and Remy retrieved it from his offices. What we need, is a list of all the mutants and their abilities who have been enlisted in this program." She turned back to Magneto, "Kitty tells me that you liberated Storm from—"
Malice cut her off angrily, daggers shooting out of the familiar eyes of the African woman. "The name is Malice; Stop calling me Storm, for god's sake. She doesn't exist anymore."
"Malice, they need time to adjust to the fact that you aren't Storm." Magneto chided heartily, a gleam of something Kitty didn't like in his eye, "Perhaps you could remove yourself from her body, to demonstrate what she really is." He turned and faced Kitty, looking directly at her. She stared back at him, determined not to look away. He continued on, without pausing. "That is, unless you all wish to be killed, or have you not realised that if Malice did not possess Storm's body, she would only be a robot who would kill you instantly because all she knows how to do now is to Kill mutants."
Rogue muttered a soft apology under her breath, before continuing on, "Kitty tells me that you liberated Malice from the training centre. Would you happen to know where any other centres like this one would be, so that we could liberate them as well?"
"There is one in Daytona, Florida. And a small one in Philadelphia. We've already destroyed the one in Westchester; it was where we," he nodded to Betsy, "found Malice."
"Why was Malice not affected by their methods?" Jean asked softly, drawing Magneto's attention away from Kitty.
"She has superior telepathic abilities. Alpha-Class. They didn't realise it at first, but it is almost impossible to crack the spirit of a telepath." Magneto explained to Jean, who nodded, and went back to her brooding silence. "That would explain why Jean was lucky enough to escape the program. I believe they wished to utilise her telekinetic abilities, but her telepathic abilities held too much of a problem to bother with her."
"Have you got a list of mutants in these centres? And how far along they are in the program?" Logan said to Magneto, in a voice that sounded as though he was resisting the urge to yell.
"Not a list, but we do know of a few mutants who are in the facilities. You know them too… Piotr Rasputin; Colossus. I believe the Russian government enlisted him for treatment a few months ago. Forge, Pietro. He would not be advisable to release, unless you wish to give him a lobotomy. He has been there for the good part of 3 years. I believe they are training him for stealing information. I believe there are a few individuals there who were members of the Morlocks."
"Where exactly are they?"
"Do you mean the centres?"
Rogue nodded.
"They are located in old, seemingly run down apartment buildings. They are all identical. All are scheduled for demolition, but the respective councils cannot demolish them until all the red tape has been cleared.
"Despite their shabby exterior, the interior is state-of-the-art technology and design. They've perfected the technique of the Power Dampener, however it is run on electricity ad is very to susceptible to EMP"
"EMP?" Kurt asked.
Logan answered before Magneto, "Electro Magnetic Pulse. Iron-man over there "He nodded his head in the direction of Magneto, "probably could create one by blowing a fuse box just outside the facility I suppose."
Magneto turned and looked at Logan, "For an overgrown werewolf, you are smarter than you look."
Logan growled once again, sounding, if possible, even more threatening than he usually did. Rogue put a calming gloved hand on his clenched fist, and he took in a deep breath.
"I would blow the fuse box, and that would put the Power dampening shield out of order, and send the whole place into darkness. Then, Psylocke would find the mutants who have experienced the least amount of experience, and we would fetch them."
"It's that easy?" Bobby asked incredulously
"Nothing in Life is ever that easy Robert. There are armoured guards and enough weaponry to equip a small army. But it's all metal."
"So, when are we going to release them?" Angel asked.
"We can have the Blackbird ready to leave in 15 minutes." Rogue said calmly before she turned to Magneto and his company, "Will you be joining us on this particular mission?"
Magneto nodded. "That is the only way that you shall get anything done. And only Psylocke and I know the precise location of the centres,"
Everyone began to leave, but just before anyone left the Room, a question popped into Kitty's head so fast that she didn't even think before asking it. "What happened to all of the other mutants? What did you do to the ones that were too far down the treatment?"
Magneto turned back to face her. Rogue stopped at the door and watched Magneto for his answer.
He paused and looked at her with the thoughtful look she hated, "What do you think I did with them Katherine?" he asked her in a voice, barely louder than a whisper.
She hadn't considered that, but now that she thought about it, his intention was clear in her mind. She sent him what she hoped was a disgusted look.
He sat back down in the seat directly opposite to her, which Remy had just previously vacated, and looked her straight in the eye. "What would you have done my dear? Imagine 50 people all trying to kill you at once, and you knew you had the power to protect yourself from them. Don't pretend you are higher than me. You would have done the same in the circumstance. You have done the same in the circumstance."
Kitty stared straight back at him before a flash of the memory of a few nights ago crept into her mind. One of a Security guard falling lifelessly to the ground, with a bullet in the chest that had been shot from the gun she held in her hand.
"Were you going to tell us about this Eric?" Rogue said calmly, her green-grey eyes icy.
"You only said to inform you of the information you would find useful to your cause. I did just that" Magneto said coolly, looking away from Kitty and locking his steely gaze with Rogue.
Logan growled, "You're playing us Bucket-Head," Magneto ignored him.
"We said to tell us any information you had about the FOH and the Containment facilities." Rogue said keeping her voice level, but Kitty saw her fist clench and unclench gently. A mannerism Rogue tended to use when she was extremely pissed off.
"Yes… and I did so."
The fist clenched and unclenched again, this time a little harder, "You chose not to tell us that you had to murder 50 innocent mutants, so that you could get a few to survive?"
"Well Rogue," He stood up and looked down at her. Because although he wasn't an extremely tall man, he could tower over her. "I would gladly let you absorb me, so that you would fully understand the situation we were in."
He held out his wrinkled hand to her, and looked at Rogue. Rogue looked at his extended hand, and her still clenched hand relaxed. She stared it at a good 10 seconds before beginning to take her glove off.
"What are you doing?" Logan asked her, grabbing her shoulder so she turned around and faced him.
"I was given these powers for a reason. I might as well use them." She said dismissively, before she turned back to Magneto.
"Concentrate on those particular memories." She instructed him. He nodded and she reached for his hand.
Kitty watched with morbid fascination as Rogue took Magneto's hand in her own. Magneto's face took on the 'stunned mullet' face, before he went limp, and was caught by Psylocke and Malice.
Rogue looked like she was in pain for a few seconds, her hand flew straight to her head, and Kitty felt all of the hairs on her head, that weren't fully pulled back with her scrunchy, stand on end. The few paperclips on the table flew across the room and attached themselves to Rogue. Then all of a sudden, Rogue's face relaxed and the paperclips fell to the floor with tiny clinking sounds.
She turned to Kurt, who had been watching the scene from just near the doorway. "Could you please take Eric down to the Med Lab? Tell Chase he's fine, and he'll wake up in an hour or so."
He nodded and Psylocke and Malice handed Magneto over to Kurt who teleported away instantly.
"Logan, get ready to leave," Rogue said curtly, before pushing Bobby out of the doorway and storming out the door.
***
The two mutants stepped out of the dark black car and looked up at the building. Or what was left of it. If you looked closely at the ruins, you could tell that it used to be a nice set of units. But due to the fire that had ravaged it, it was no longer liveable. The two mutants walked up to the front door, where the "To Be Demolished" sign was nailed to the doorway.
The woman pointed at the sign, where it was covering the lock and a small shot sounded. The lock was shot through, but the sign was still barring the door. So the man stepped forward and took hold of the sign, and ripped it off the door with one wrench and dropped the sign unceremoniously on the ground.
The door swung open, gently creaking at the same time. The woman walked inside, and the man soon followed.
"Find the light switch Emily," The man commanded in a soft monotone voice.
Though he could not see her nod because of his sunglasses he knew she was searching by the soft shuffling noises she was making. It wasn't long before a small click sounded and light filled the room.
The room was bare and dusty, just as derelict as the outside. A broken chair was next to the door, spider webs connecting the three remaining legs. A panel of the roofing was missing right above their heads, and he could see the old lead pipes that ran through the building.
The only thing that wasn't old and dilapidated, and seemed as though it had been recently used, was the door that was at the other end of the room. Instead of looking that dull off-white dusty colour that the surrounding walls were, The door was clean and looked like it was frequently used. The once-gold handle had rubbed away, so that the only gold bit left was a tiny bit of the lock.
Scott lifted his hands to his sunglasses and casually lifted them off his face, and looked at the door, which was blasted away instantly with the raw power of his optic blasts. After a second, he closed his eyes and replaced the glasses back on the bridge of his nose, and opened them again, to see the destruction he caused.
The door was now gone, blown away. In fact, half of the hallway beyond it was missing. But that wasn't something that he was to concern himself with. He took the few steps to the door confidently and walked through as though he owned the place. He heard Emily follow him down the hallway, and into the room that was at the end.
It was an old-style study. A huge big mahogany desk, filled most of the room, with a large leather business chair sitting behind it. The walls were covered in Bookcases that reached the ceiling, and were stocked full of books that ranged from textbooks, to instruction manuals, to hardcover classics.
He watched as Emily walked over to the book-case wall on their left and reached up to grab Thomas Moore's 'Utopia'. She pulled it out, and a whirring sound filled the room. A vague awareness of watching a movie where this happened flashed through his head, but it didn't register. Or even if it did, he didn't react, even as the whole bookcase moved to the front and to the side, revealing a hidden room on the inside.
A man in a Blue and Brown uniform greeted them with a clipboard. He looked up, and began to speak, but before he finished his sentence a small hole appeared in his chest, and he collapsed.
Emily lowered her hand and walked into the room. Scott followed, and a soon as they had walked only five steps into the now white-sterile environment a high pitched siren began to wail.
Harsh synchronised footsteps began to echo from somewhere nearby, and soon enough, they were surrounded by soldiers; all armed with heavy artillery, in green and black camouflage uniforms. Several clicking sounds and their guns were trained at the two mutants who were standing there, not looking phased at all by the intimidating soldiers in front of them.
"We wish to speak with Boliver Trask. Now." Scott said quietly and firmly. None of the soldiers moved.
"We wish to speak to Boliver Trask. Now." He repeated, in the same soft tone.
Once again, none of the soldiers moved.
Emily raised both her hands, so that her fingers were spread out aiming in many directions.
"We wish to speak to Boliver Trask. Now." Scott said once again. This time, his voice growing deeper.
When no one reacted, he continued on. "Fine… If you won't bring him to us, we'll have to find him ourselves."
Emily shot bullets from all 10 of her fingers. Several of them hitting soldiers on different parts of the body. The ones who weren't hit fired back at Emily, but Scott removed his sunglasses and destroyed anything that was heading in the direction of him and his partner. (And a few of the people who were sending them in their direction).
Soon, there was only Scott and Emily left standing. Both relatively unscathed. Emily had a small burn on her finger, and Scott had been grazed by a stray bullet, but both seemed oblivious to any pain it caused them.
The made their way past groaning bodies, not caring if they stepped on fingers or toes, and into the room that all the soldiers had entered from. It wasn't empty as they had thought it would be. Standing in the middle of the room was Boliver Trask. The man who has delivered Emily to her new owner just two days ago.
"Emily Packton. Scott Summers. What are you doing here?" He asked authoritatively.
"We need information on the two mutants who escaped two and a half weeks ago from this facility." Emily said calmly to the man in front of her.
"And how would you know about that? That's top secret."
"The Senator has his contacts." Scott replied curtly. "We need that information. If you don't give it to us, we'll find it ourselves."
"Why do you want it?" Trask asked angrily, looking beyond the two mutants to the carnage they had left behind them.
Scott answered in the all too familiar monotone voice. "The Senator's reasons do not concern you. And as your highest paying benefactor I suggest you do as he asks."
His hand went up to the arm of his sunglasses, as though he was getting ready to remove them. Emily, who was standing right next to her, raised both her hands, and directed all of her fingers at the angry man before them.
The angry man warily eyed his sunglasses, and quickly glanced at Emily whose face was emotionless, yet still seemed mighty dangerous. He came to a decision. "Alright. Follow me," He instructed, and the two mutants followed him down the hall.
***
Disclaimer: They don't Own me, I don't own them… it's a two way deal you see…
A/N: YAY!! 103 REVIEWS!! It only took 12 chapters… oh, I'm so proud of you all!! I didn't think you'd do it, but you DID I'm so proud!! :D:D And for that, here is a chapter, as promised, at least two days earlier than usual! :D (And I know ZenZen will be tempted to murder me for posting just after she reviewed, but that's her problem ;) Sorry mate, that's life :P)
And just for that, here is some shout outs for the lovely people at the review board!!
Freya – thankyou for helping to boost the total up to 100… Feel free to continue reviewing… it makes me feel special.
Rogue Pryde – Hehehe… I think that's why I started writing the fic in the first place. Things aren't going to stay nice and peachy for them, and I mean, look what happened in the movie… (But this isn't movie based… not really)
Danfred – Yes, Oh yes… Definitely weird… But then, Who isn't?
UnknownSource – Thanks for saying I got Magneto right… I sorta based him on my dad, but changed the way he talked… My dad is very Yobbo-like… but still seems to make you feel small… And sorry about the Kitty thing, the way I see it, She's not thinking straight… You know with the death of a close friend and all that. You will find out more about Emily. But she is a character I made up… but she was based of another character I read in someone's fic.
bloody_lady – Nothing *ever* ends like that in *any of my fics… I'm just to morbid and sadistic… I don't do Romance very well… makes me feel icky… But they would've made a cute couple eh… hmm….
funkygirl4723 – Scott and Jean *will* be reunited, I promise. Scott might try to lop Jean's head off with his optic blasts, but they will be reunited. And Romy is pretty cool eh…
ishandahalf – Pyro got on my nerves… Actually I really liked him as a character, I wish I saw more fics around that tried to stretch out his character more… But his time was up in my world… And Magneto was a bit of a bastard wasn't he… But then he's always been a bastard… Oh well… what can you do?
Suzaka – I'm glad you like that line… I liked it too… It sorta explains why he's always so annoyed around the brotherhood… and Pietro an Wanda too…
DoWriter12 – Yep… I hope the whole Storm Malice thing was explained good… and you'll have to wait and see what Magneto does… though he's not doing much right now though is he…
LewsTherinInsanity – Thanks… I feel sad for Pyro and Kitty too… I cried when I killed him off… And Kitty… well everything seems to go wrong for her doesn't it… :S
And finally the ever-lovable ZenZen – Yes, lendiness will begin as of tomorrow… I'll bring em in, but if you in anyway damage them, I will rip your head off and feed you to my cat… And I'll send you chapter 14 when I've finished it… I have a feeling I'll get it done soon!!
Hehehe… well there we go!! Please review and I'll try and get chapter 14 finished as quickly as possible!