Unity
Chapter eleven:
Government offices in Manhattan, covert operations:
Although Mystique had been at Steven's new headquarters before, disguised as that elderly secretary, she hadn't learned much about the place. Why bother? All she was going to do was murder the guy, not foil a worldwide, paranormal plot.
"Had I told the X-Men and those girl-scouts I've already been there, they would've gone in without a hint of a plan, dragging me along. (sigh) Good guys are so dumb." The blue-skinned woman got to a computer and started searching through the archives. "Okay, Rogers, let's see what's so special about that property of yours." It didn't take her long to find the desired file. "Come on, you call this a security password? The ones at arcade games give me more trouble." She didn't have much time, so Mystique downloaded the plans into a disc. The metamorph then took the form of a purple-haired, goatee-wearing delivery boy and left the room. As she made her way outside, she ran into two businesswomen who were heading in the opposite direction.
"Hi Kevin," the blonde one greeted, "Working hard I hope."
"You bet," the mutant in disguise answered, "I'm not planning to lose my job."
"You're not?" the brunette questioned, "'Cause there's a document in particular that should've been at my desk hours ago."
"Right, sorry, I'll go get them immediately." Mystique had only taken a few steps when the brunette spanked and squeezed her rear tightly.
"Hurry up, or else you'll really be sorry," she purred.
"Uh, yes ma'am." Once both women were out of sight, 'Kevin' hurried to the nearest exit, which led to an alley behind the building. "It's not getting caught what frightens me, it's having to deal with these situations." Mystique stretched her neck, and when she glimpsed to the left, she caught sight of something peculiar. "Rogers? What's he doing?"
The old veteran, escorted by a pair of security agents, was having an unofficial meeting with a fortuneteller. She was born with the power of premonition, yet she wasn't a mutant, but since the customer is always right, she made no objection to him believing otherwise. He even thought the colored lines on her skin were natural and not tattoos.
"The knowledge you seek is but a step away," the young girl whispered as she dropped some painted stones on a rusty barrel, "and shall remain so if you cannot you meet my price. The same goes if you doublecross me."
"I never go back on my word, and I consider business dealings as something sacred," he replied. He could've told her that withholding vital information is a federal crime, but he was saving intimidation as a trump card. The girl nodded and moved the stones around with her long fingernail.
"Your enemies are those who hide beneath the surface." She pointed at one that had a fist painted on. "Their leader is gathering an army as we speak, the likes of which you've never seen. However, he relies on brute force alone, no strategy whatsoever." Next came a stone with an 'X'. "His only defense is secrecy, which will fall once you read the contents of this envelope." Finally, she pointed at one with a sword. "Strike hard and decisively, victory shall be yours."
"My only complaint is all these gypsy theatrics," Rogers snorted. One of the agents handed over another envelope, which contained a five-figure check, and he passed it on to the girl.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you," the fortuneteller chuckled greedily. The gray-haired man was also glad, the price he had paid was much less than planned. As he headed back inside, he saw a wino with a large dirty beard.
"(tsk) No good, welfare-sucking bums." Said bum's eyes narrowed with anger. Rogers was about to go up the steps when the tattooed girl stepped up, swinging a crystal pendant.
"As a gesture of good will, I advise you don't let yourself be fooled by her false facade." Mystique reacted immediately and pushed her way past the old veteran. Following their training, the agents reached out for her. The metamorph took care of the first one with a kick to the stomach, the other was thrown over her shoulder and slammed against the wall, this move however left her vulnerable to Rogers' taser.
"YEARRGH!!" Mystique shrieked and fainted, reverting to her bluish form.
"It's her!" the gray-haired man gasped in disbelief, "Young lady, you have given your country a great service!"
"Don't mention it, I said it was a freebie," the tattooed girl replied with a wink, "Make sure you lock her up somewhere safe." Unwilling to hear anything else she left. As the young fortuneteller walked down the streets, she pondered what she had just done. You're gonna be sore Ms Darkholme, but trust me, I've actually put everyone on the right track. Her expression became a sad one. It's a shame that so many people will be hurt in the process. She looked at the envelope in her hand, shrugged and tossed it into the trash.
*****
Flying usually relaxes me, Storm thought, but it's not doing anything for me this time. Therefore, she decided to head back home. The ebony-skinned girl turned around and was well on her way when she heard screaming from below, she looked down and managed to see people running out of a building. She dove at high speed then stopped short when a warning came to mind. "Pluto told us how dangerous this can be, a quarrel between two people could quickly involve four more, then eight and so on. Going there by myself would be suicide." Storm sighed regretfully and left, with a little luck, things wouldn't turn out so bad.
Sailor Neptune had been following her mutant friend, and she too heard the commotion. In fact, she was smack in the middle of it. At first, she too thought that it was another growing fight and decided not to intervene, then she sensed something familiar.
"Matte, that's not the demon, that's only a youma," The ocean senshi got to street level and ran inside a fast-food restaurant, there she saw a red-skinned girl made out of junk food: french-fry skirt, cheese stockings, taco shell shoulder pads, burger buns for a top, a Styrofoam cup for a hat, and ketchup and mustard containers instead of hands. "Hmm, unless I'm mistaken, its skin is the color of a hotdog, it even seems to have grill marks." The creature had already captured several people, some were trapped in melted cheese and others bound with onion rings. It saw Neptune, took aim with the straw on her hat and fired a stream of strawberry milkshake. The Japanese heroine avoided the attack, the pink liquid hit some chairs that were standing behind and froze them in a matter of seconds.
"Try our weekend special!" the youma offered with an unfittingly courteous voice and smile as it threw razor sharp nachos, the aqua-eyed senshi was barely able to hide behind a table.
"Nani, no jalapeños?" she taunted. The red-skinned youma complied, the slices were so corrosive that they started eating through the wood. "Yipe, better leave the humor to Haruka and Mina-chan. Deep submerge!" The water-based attack was very effective considering the nature of the youma, a great part of its body was getting all soggy.
"Two for one combo!" The monster multiplied and Neptune was hit by four streams of red and yellow, a harmless attack, if you don't consider the tremendous pressure. That and the slippery floor threw the aqua-eyed senshi off her feet, more embarrassing than painful. One of the junk food youma leapt and hit her on the stomach with its knee. Neptune was about to receive another blow when her opponents were hit by a thunderbolt.
"You're lucky I changed my mind," Storm said as she floated through the broken window, "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Neptune grumbled as she stood up, "as soon as I get even with those things. Deep submerge!" The weather-witch pitched in with a miniature hurricane. The monsters were blown to pieces and splattered against the wall.
"These are the youma you guys told us about?" the white-haired girl asked as she raised an eyebrow, "How can you let something so ridiculous looking give you so much trouble?"
"Hey, they can be pretty tough when they want to," the ocean senshi protested as she tried to wipe the goo off herself. "Che, this will take forever. Storm, could you summon a little rain so I can-Nani?" A black ball rolled over and came to a stop between the two, it popped loudly, scattering powder around the pair.
"Neptune! Try not to…breathe…" Too late, the toxin went into effect and they both fell unconscious. Two morlocks entered the place, one covered with mold, the other as thin as a scarecrow.
"I told you it was a good idea to wait," the latter said, "They took care of the burger chick, and we take care of them."
"Yeah, though I can't help wondering were she came from."
"Ah, who cares? Now come on, let's get to work." They went into the kitchen and came out a minute later carrying several packages, all of them quite large and heavy. The skinny one was carrying three of them with one arm, not only that, he went over to the catch-register and added it to the pile; to top it all off, he picked up both Neptune and Storm with his free arm.
"What are you taking them along for?" the moldy one asked, "We weren't the ones commissioned for that."
"No, but you can't let opportunity pass you by."
*****
Xavier's School:
"A quick trip and we'll be right back, they told me." Jean grumbled and slapped her forehead. "I'm such a fool, I should've never left the kids go off on their own."
"You had no way of foreseeing an attack by the sentinels," Henry said as he finished checking on Uranus, "blaming yourself will do no good,
"That's right," the sand-blonde agreed, "blame the kids, they're the ones who should've known better. A sale at the mall, give me a break."
"Come now, back home we're always enjoying ourselves no matter the situation," the time senshi reminded. "In fact, you're the most carefree one," she added with a playful grin. "As for the children's whereabouts, Mystique is investigating as we speak, and Xavier-sama can use his Cerebro device as soon as he's done sending the students away."
"Hai, that other institute in Ireland. It's a good precaution, keeping the kids away until this matter is resolved." The wind senshi crossed her arms and started walking in circles. "As for me, I better find something to do until Neptune returns, otherwise I'll go crazy from all this waiting." She then noticed that Logan, who'd been standing silently by the door this whole time, had just left. Unsure of her reasons, the short-haired senshi decided to follow.
"The children's capture has affected Uranus severely," the redhead noticed, "especially Hotaru's."
"She has the bad habit of taking failures as something personal," Pluto replied. She realized it was hard for her fellow senshi to pretend she had no relation with the young girl, and it was harder in Jean's presence. I just hope Hime-chan is safe, I also hope Small Lady isn't taking this too badly.
Rogue kept herself busy by checking the things she'd packed.
"Gloves, blouses, socks, underwear… Sweaters too, it must be cold in Muir Isle." She closed the lid on the suitcase, and just as she was about to lock it, she let her temper blow. "This is ridiculous!!" The streaked brunette hollered furiously, "Are they honestly expecting me to stay calm and leave when Remy is in grave danger!?" Chibi-Usa sat up on the bed she was lying on.
"Remy-kun?" The princess of Crystal Tokyo raised an eyebrow. "How come you mentioned his name in particular?"
"That doesn't mean anything!" the pale girl defended while blushing, "It could've been either him, Kathy or Hotaru, there's no difference."
"Aww, don't take it that way, Rogue-chan, I'm just playing a little." The pink-haired girl took a deep breath. "I feel useless, Hotaru-chan's in trouble and there's nothing I can do." She knew Setsuna well enough to realize that she would keep her out of this at all cost. "The grownups should let us do something instead of overprotecting us." She got up and stomped her foot. "By the kami, let's do something!"
"Say what?"
"We're going on a rescue mission," David announced as he and Bobby entered the room. "Drake and I have been talking about this; running away ain't my style, and he's been feeling like a pathetic loser ever since he came back from the mall."
"No, I'm not, it's you who keeps calling me that," the cold-wielder huffed, although he was being driven by guilt. "We don't have much of a plan, but we're willing to give it a shot. Are you coming?"
"You bet I am!" the ruby-eyed girl immediately responded as she took a step forward, the streaked one held her back however.
"Wait a second, have you all lost your marbles? The professor would never allow this?"
"What about the tantrum we heard a moment ago?" David questioned, "Aren't you worried about the guys?"
"Of course I am! I can't take a step without thinking whether our friends are all right!" Rogue took a deep breath. "But we have to keep a clear head. Us going out there will accomplish nothing except getting ourselves captured, maybe even killed. Have you given any thought to what the X-Men will say?"
"They're overwhelmed with this situation," Bobby explained, "They need our help, and you know they won't accept it willingly."
"And here's the chance to do so," the dark-haired boy added, "If you want to refuse, fine. In fact, I was expecting it from a wuss like you. Come on, Drake." The two teens left the room and Chibi-Usa followed, but David shoved her back before she was even at the door. "You're staying, a useless human like you will only get in the way."
"Listen baka, I'm capable of much more than you believe."
"Oh really? Go ahead, give me one example." The princess was about to answer that rude challenge when common sense arose. Grumbling, she swallowed her pride as David left with a mocking sneer.
"Sorry, Chibi-Usa," the fair-haired boy apologized, "but Dave is, well, sort of right. Without powers I'm afraid you can't help us much." Noticing her pout, he patted her head and grinned. "I'll tell Hotaru I had to encase you in ice." Bobby then turned to Rogue. "Please cover for us for as long as you can." The power drainer simply huffed.
"I promise not to talk. They'll have to read my mind in order to find out." He got the hint and hurried away.
Moving cautiously through the mansion, the two young mutants made it to the garage.
"This is it, the point of no return," Bobby said as he stood in front of the key-rack, "Are you sure about going on, Dave?"
"I wouldn't have even started if I wasn't. Now, this should be the key for-"
"A big load of trouble." They spun and saw Scott coming up to them. "What exactly are you two up to?"
"We're getting our friends back," David answered defiantly, "Remy, Kathy and Hotaru are in trouble, and you guys are much too slow to get anything done." The fair-haired boy sweat-dropped.
"For heaven's sake, Dave, don't make it worse!"
"You're worried about Giselle," the red-eyed man guessed, "I understand perfectly, if Jean were in any sort of danger I'd be climbing up the walls. But even if that were the case, I wouldn't act against the professor's wishes." He moved closer to the students and gestured for them to go back in. "I'm telling you from personal experience, there are times when we have to do what we don't want to so that everyone-Ugh!?" All of a sudden he shook and dropped on the floor.
"And I certainly didn't like doing that," Rogue quipped as she put her glove back on, keeping her eyes tightly shut. "Bobby, be a dear and get Mr. Summers' extra pair, it's in the left pocket of his jacket."
"Thanks for the help," the cold-wielder said, "Although seeing that was a quite scary. What made you change your mind?"
"Believe it or not, Chibi-Usa convinced me," she answered as she took some keys, "She made me realize that I really wanted to help you guys. Now let's hurry out of here before someone else finds out what we're up to."
Up on the roof, Sailor Chibi-Moon watched as the blue car left the garage, she waited a while and began following it.
"It'll be a bright day in Nemesis before I'm kept out of something like this," the senshi-in-training bragged. "Hold on Hotaru-chan, help is on its way."
*****
Steven's HQ:
Kathy awoke and knew right away that she was in a strange place. Instead of a soft bed and warm sheets, she was lying on a cold, hard, metal floor. She opened her eyes and saw a glare so frightening she scooted to the back of the cell. If it hadn't been for the device on her neck, a loud shriek would've been heard.
"I'm no expert, but I don't think scaring little girls is good for someone's political career," Remy mocked.
"Laugh while you can, creature," Steven's replied in a cold voice, "soon you'll have no desire at all to do so." The mousy-haired man went over to his former mentor. "I don't approve of this, Jim, these aberrations should be executed on sight."
"I agree with that principle," Rogers admitted, "but you mustn't oversee the useful applications mutants offer." They were at an underground research facility, located far beneath the offices. There, mutants were subject to investigation. "I've seen a single one of these individuals display more firepower than ten tanks, imagine if we had had such muscle during WWII."
"Biological weaponry, huh?" Stevens pondered about this as he inspected each cell. A sadistic chortle came out of him as he thought of experiments, needles, electroshocks and vivisections. The bigot came to a halt when he caught sight of Hotaru. "And this is the one who showed negative on the detector, correct?" The frail-looking girl shrunk under his excruciating gaze.
"That's what the sentinel said," a guardswoman confirmed, "and I double-checked it on our way here. Should we let her go then?"
"Negative," Rogers answered, "she already knows about this place, which makes her a liability to our security."
"Besides," Stevens added, "she's guilty of being a mutie sympathizer."
"Guilty? Since when is friendship a crime!?" the young Creole protested.
"Shut your trap, freak!" another guard scolded as he hit his knuckles with the butt of his rifle. The teenagers were finally left alone, some frightened, others furious.
"Merde cevelle, Remy will teach him to mistreat his friends," the short-haired boy growled. He took hold of one of the bars and started concentrating.
"Cool it, swamp rat, there must be a thousand alarms hooked up," a familiar voice warned.
"Giselle?" Remy and Kathy peered into the cell in front of them. "It is you! How the hell did you end up here?"
"It's a long story," the emerald-haired girl responded as she leaned on the door. "We went home to pick up some stuff and saw those black-suited gorillas, they'd broken into the house and were questioning the neighbors; a couple of them were carrying guns, out in the open, as plain as the scales on my face."
"A hundred to one they were going to start firing the moment they saw you," the red-eyed boy guessed. "Then what happened?"
"I told my mom and dad that I loved them and got the hell out of there, I didn't want my parents to get shot." Giselle took a deep breath. "How ironic, if mom hadn't called after me I wouldn't have gotten caught." The silent mutant put her fingers in her mouth and gave a long whistle, thinking that the neighbors had called the authorities in the first place.
"Yeah, maybe they did, but so what? My looks were likely to get me caught sooner or later." She then noticed something amiss in her Japanese friend. "Hotaru… Hotaru, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," the pale girl lied melancholically, "nothing at all." She laid down on the cot and turned away. Kathy was going to reach out to her but Remy held her back.
"Let her be, Cherie, it's getting late and today has been too emotionally tiring for us all."
Stevens and Rogers reached the upper level and went separate ways, the former had to prepare another rally, while the latter made a beeline to a specially equipped jail, were he was keeping his guest of honor.
"Miss Darkholme, I'm confused, I thought you were eager to come here." Instead of answering, Mystique struggled to free herself one more time, but no matter how thin she made her arms, her bonds became tighter. "I advise resignation. As you can see, those mechanical shackles were specifically made for shape-shifters."
"Hmph, you could've said so earlier and saved me a lot of trouble," the blue-skinned woman protested. "I'm in no mood to have my time wasted, so spit it out. Surely you're here for more than just gloating."
"Very well, I'll get to the point." A lackey brought Rogers a chair, and once both antagonists were left alone, he laid out his proposal. "As you probably know, I'm not above keeping mutants at my side."
"Only those that prove to be useful," the yellow-eyed woman completed. "I can see where this is going, it's the plot from 'La Femme Nikita', I work for you and everybody's happy." Her eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I'll agree?"
"Adequate living conditions and considerable payment," the veteran responded, "This should be attractive for someone like you, the life of a fugitive is always a difficult one."
"Oh, not at all, my income allows me to live in great comfort," the red-haired assassin replied cynically. "I may be a mercenary but I do have my principles. You can't buy me, no matter how big your offer."
"We'll see. I've met many of your high-spirited sort, and I have broken all of them, one way or another." The gray-haired man started to leave. "That conversation you were spying on an hour ago, I'm about to send troops to the underground. Perhaps a glimpse at some of the casualties should help change your mind."
"Fat chance, cretin, I'll figure my way out of here before you know it," she muttered through grinding teeth once he was gone. Mystique took a deep breath and calmed down, she was getting some very violent thoughts and she knew that wasn't good. "This is not good. I'm supposed to be helping save the world from a vibe-sucking devil, and I get caught within the first hour. (sigh) Good thing the X-Men aren't having this much trouble, otherwise we'll really be in the gutter."