Chapter 3 – Putting the Pieces Together!

Meanwhile…about 18 miles down the road in a lab full of kidnapped mutants, there was Logan – unconscious, and every bit as annoying as he was when he was awake.

"He's at it again." One guard said to another

"Yeah, Jeff – he must have some KILLER nightmares." The other guard responded – looking at Logan's erratic movements in the tank. Every few hours it seemed Logan would react to some sort of nightmare and act out his fights while in his tank. He had already popped his claws out several times and made quite a few cuts on the inside of his tank. Nobody knew what he was dreaming of, but they were quite sure it wasn't good. "I'm just glad he's in there and not out here. I remember him VERY CLEARLY." The first guard said.

"I'll bet you do Mike, you got a MUCH closer look than I did."

"Yeah man – the way he sliced the bumper off that ambulance! Another couple feet and it woulda been my NECK he was slicing through!"

"Yeah – talk about a narrow escape! And what about that night he and his friends took apart the Castle lab? We're just frickin' lucky we had already left or we woulda ended up like the others – dead or in jail wishin' we were dead!"

"You just better hope he doesn't remember us when he wakes up! Maybe Old Man will let us transfer to the lab in Sacramento. That way we won't be around if he gets out."

"Yeah – and watchin' over babies is a LOT less stressful than full grown mutants!"

Think Storm said to herself. There has to be something I'm missing. It was nearly 3 a.m. and she was still staring at the data in front of her on 3 different monitors. She had gone over it several times and was still no closer to finding what she needed. The house was silent with only Bishop still working. Being jet-lagged, he used the time to research missing homeless people. He kept his distance from Storm though. He knew she was really upset and also knew there wasn't much he could do about it so he opted to leave her alone.

"BISHOP!" she yelled – so loud that it startled him.

"Yeah?"

"I need you – get in here now!" Knowing why she was so rude made it easier for him to comply instead of snapping back.

"What ya got?"

"These transmissions…" she said, pointing to a spreadsheet of data disbursements on one of the screens. "That's when they sent all their data to another location right?"

"Yeah – Beast thinks the data from all 3 labs is being compiled on a server somewhere but he can't find the upload signature anywhere. They must have rerouted all their IP addresses after we took out that lab."

"Old Man is too smart to leave a trail behind, but perhaps this information is still useful. How good are you at tapping into communications satellites?"

"Not bad – why?"

"Do you think you can program the computer to search for an upload pattern?"

"Sure – what type of pattern?"

"Well, the Castle lab sent their uploads at 8 pm and 5 am every day. Set up a search criteria for regular uploads at those times and also set it up for the 9/15 hour incremental search – maybe we'll get lucky."

"Storm, do you have any idea how many satellites I'll have to break into and how many search patterns I'll have to sift through?"

"Quite a few I'm sure, but you can narrow it down and start with the most plausible ones first – non-governmental communications satellites and so on. Maybe we'll find something. When can you have it done?"

"The search parameters won't take long, hacking into satellites will take a while though, and the actual searching will be the hardest part. Give me 6 or 7 days." The look she shot him told her that she wanted it done a LOT quicker than that.

"Okay – gimme till tomorrow evening…I'll have a report for you by then."

"That's better Bishop. Thank you."

"What about the homeless people?"

"Jubilee can take care of that…don't worry."

"Whatever you say Storm." He replied. With that, he started his research.

Morning came and still Storm sat in front of the monitors. It wasn't until Tasha came downstairs and said hi to her that she snapped out of her analysis coma.

"Tasha Sweetie!" she yelled as she smiled and gave the anxious child a hug.

"Is PapaLo coming back soon?" Tasha inquired.

"Yes he is Sweetie. We are working on that right now – he will be back very soon and you two will be able to finish your camping trip!"

"Yay! I can't wait to go fishing with him again. That was Fun!"

"Come with me Sweetie and I'll make you a big breakfast – your favorite dish: scrambled eggs with grape jelly and pancakes with maple syrup." The break was good for Storm. Everybody in the house noticed what a difference Tasha's presence made in her. They could only hope that she was really handling the situation better rather than putting on a show for Tasha.

Storm tried to make the morning seem as regular as possible. In her mind she was still sorting through all the data Beast sent her, but her demeanor never betrayed her. She appeared as calm and in control as ever. She even opted to cook breakfast for the other X-Men. The only person that could detect anything different in her mental state was Jean – who opted to keep that information to herself. They all partook in Tasha's favorite dish and commented on how good – but very unusual – scrambled eggs and grape jelly was. The witty child responded with a comment about green eggs and ham, which gave them all a chuckle. They then returned to their work. As it was that Jean had the most free time, she took care of entertaining Tasha for the rest of the morning.

"I STILL don't understand how that mutant is still alive!" the lead scientist said to Old Man. "We've given him enough anesthesia to knock out a HERD of elephants and his body STILL adjusts to it. We finally found a level that seems to keep him sedated, but whatever he's dreaming of keeps pushing his adrenaline up which makes his mutant powers react to the anesthesia."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning if he has a bad enough dream, he'll probably wake up – and then he'll be OUR nightmare! You remember the surveillance tape at Castle? If he gets that mad, I'm getting the hell outta here!"

"It's YOUR job to make sure that doesn't happen again. What about the other mutants?"

"Bout the same…nothing new to report."

"I'm having a body sent from the infant & child lab."

"Here? Isn't that a break in protocol? I mean – the thing that saved our asses from the Castle lab fiasco was that nobody connected with it knew about us."

"I know – but I need faster results, and they have their hands full working on some twins. "

"What happened?"

"The twins died late last night – both went into cardiac arrest at the exact same time. The one being sent here was a 2-year old…died early this morning. I guess it couldn't deal with the stress of the tank. They tried to save it but couldn't."

"Boy or girl?"

"It was a mutant – who cares what sex it was."

The scientist gave Old Man a dirty look and responded with "Old man, I'd really HATE to see the mutant that made you so bitter!"

"Shut-up and do your work. When the body gets here, dissect it and figure out what made it tick."

"Um, you ARE aware that mutants don't develop their powers until there adolescent years right?"

"Don't patronize me! The genetic code for mutants is still there – whether they know how to use it or not!"

"Okay…whatever. I still don't see why you can't just wait to have it examined there. It's what they specialize in right – infants and children?"

"Like I said – they're busy; plus you've made better progress with the adults, I'm hoping you can do the same with this child."