Chapter 7: Action (part 1 of 2)
2 days earlier
Tessa walked past the conference table where the Hellfire Club assembled. The party was over and they had all the information they needed for right now until Tessa came in. She threw a file onto the table in front of Betsy. "Rachel Summers is dead." The members looked up in surprise and some of the mouths dropped open. "Crucified by the Church of Humanity," she finished.
Betsy took the file and read over it. "How did you get this?" she asked.
"I was looking for stuff to train the new personal assistants with like keeping up to date bios of enemies and I looked at hers and she is dead. It happened last week."
"Where did this happen?" Polaris asked.
"San Francisco," she answered quickly.
"That's Bline Jewelers main headquarters," Betsy said softly. "Well it is for now." She tossed the folder aside and went digging through others on her right. Finally she picked one out and flipped through it. "Arthur Reguloss said here that Bline Jewelers is scheduled to abandon all of their San Francisco offices and make New York their headquarters."
"Sage, I need you to find out flight travel for Mr. Reguloss, And set up an appointment with the President of Bline Jewelers in the next couple of days," Emma instructed. "Oh, and prep a jet. I think it's time we visit an old friend in Canada."
"Wait," Banshee said. "Why do we need to tag Reguloss' moves?"
"Because he should be going back to San Francisco, to make sure everything is ready to go," Emma answered.
"Then why wouldn't he?" Warpath asked.
"We know that Kathleen is working with Scott Summers, and Reguloss is working with Kathleen, which might be a problem. We need to find out why Bline Jewelers is moving their headquarters."
"It's not just anywhere either," Mystique added. "They're moving it to a district that they just gave control to. They gave all the New York properties to Reguloss and now they are moving their headquarters there? That sounds like they're just giving away the company. Notice how I said giving, not selling. You don't just give somebody millions of dollars, which is what they're doing."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, that Kathleen is probably controlling the whole company. She's making them move their headquarters over to Reguloss," she answered.
"But why would she want to do that?" Northstar asked.
"I don't know yet, but obviously what ever she is getting from Reguloss must be important to her," Emma answered.
Suddenly the door opened and Husk ran into the room holding a piece of paper. "San Francisco is the founding city of the Church of Humanity " she said handing the piece of paper to Emma. "Sage said something about the Church of Humanity and San Francisco, so I looked it up and that's what I found."
"So, if Cyclops is working with Kathleen, who is working with Reguloss, who is moving everything out of San Francisco, then something bad is going to happen there," Cannonball thought out loud.
"Sage, hack into Reguloss' funds and see if he has purchased anything that cost more than a million dollars in the last couple of months," Sean ordered.
"Like what?" his daughter asked, who had been standing at the door the whole time.
"I don't know, but if there is something it can't be good," he answered.
"Wait a minute," Iceman interrupted. "Who's going to Canada and why? Do we have friends in Canada?" he asked, his questions directed at Emma.
"Yes," she said standing. "Betsy, Sean, Kurt, could I see you real quick?" she asked. The three stood and walked with her out into the hallway. "We need to decide who is going where and I think we need to do it sometime soon…like now," she said. "All I know is that I can't go to Canada. If you don't recall he doesn't like me very much," she said.
"He doesn't really like me either but he does like the elf and I'm pretty sure that if Kurt is there we could refuse to at least help," Betsy said.
"Who else should go?" Sean asked.
"I think that Storm would like to accompany us to see an old friend. If you remember, they did have a special something," Kurt said with his German accent.
"I think that's a good idea," Emma started. "Has Sage appointed personal assistants yet?" she asked.
"Yes I have," said Sage. "Sorry for the eavesdropping, and I think I know what your thinking. She's Ororo's assistant so she will be able to go. Would you like for me to finish the details of who goes where?" she asked.
Emma who was frustrated at being heard when she didn't want to be gritted her teethe and let somebody else answer the question. "Yes, that would be fine," Kurt finally answered noticing the tension in the air and trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. "Just make sure you equalize both teams, if you know what I mean," he finished.
o0O0o
An hour and a half later the whole group of former X-Men was standing in the Conference Room. "Assistants will be with their Lord Cardinal in both teams. Going to Canada will be Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Storm, Cannonball, Moonstar, Northstar, Iceman, and Thunderbird. The White Queen, Banshee, Mystique, Gambit and Polaris will all be going to New York City to visit with Bline Jewelers and the rest of you will be staying here incase of an emergency," Sage said. The three different teams separated as they headed to where they needed to be. Jubilee stood closely behind Storm who she would now be working for. Jubilee still didn't know what they were supposed to be doing in Canada but she shut her mouth and went along with whatever happened. Thankfully, Paige was coming so the whole trip wouldn't be to dull.
"Are we leaving now?" she asked Storm as she noticed that they were heading out to meet a car.
Ororo turned around and nodded. "Yes we are, is something wrong?" she asked.
Jubilee smiled and answered back, "Umm…I didn't really have a chance to pack. How long are we going to be gone?" she responded.
"We should be back tomorrow, and the servants packed everybody up while we were briefing," Storm answered smiling.
"Oh," Jubilee said feeling stupid. They got in the car and were off to the private airport. When they arrived, Jubes jumped up and down and trying to see over the few people's heads to find Paige. Finally she spotted her standing next to her brother. Jubilee was about to make her way over to her friend but was stopped by the bags dropped in front of her. She looked up and saw one of the guards' hidden faces. She couldn't see behind his mask but she guessed that he was smiling. She snatched the bags up and smirked at the man. She followed Ororo to the jet and handed her bags to the man that was loading luggage into the cargo area. After she climbed the stairs into the plane, she again suck out Husk. She found her sitting next to her brother. She quickly made her way over and plopped into the seat across the aisle. "Hey," she said.
Husk turned her head and looked at her friend. "Hey," she said softly.
Her brother, Sam, leaned over and smiled at Jubilee. "Hey," he said smiling. "Do you want to sit here?" he asked getting up.
"No that's really okay," she said as he stepped into the aisle. "No, sit down, I'm fine here," she continued motioning for him to sit.
"No really, I'm gonna go sit wit Dani," he said pointing at his girlfriend a couple of rows back.
"Okay," she said sheepishly. When Sam passed by she got up from her seat and moved over to sit next to Paige. "So, are you excited?" she asked.
"No not really," Paige answered. "So, do you know what we're doing in Canada?" she asked. "I went over everything and I don't see any reason for us to go." At that moment the intercom came on and the voice told everyone that they were ready for take off.
The flight went smoothly and the team landed in a small city outside of Montreal. Outside the air was filled with snow and the windows were all frosting over. The team had taken turns changing for the climate and temperature change. Nobody had seen Jubilation or Paige ever since they went to change and it was finally decided that they were still in the bathroom when the jet had landed. The whole team was outside in the cold waiting for them. Finally Jubilee stepped into the doorway. She was wearing a pair of ski pants and a heavy fur jacket with a pair of ski goggles on her head. Her long black hair was pulled into a high ponytail and chandelier earrings hung from both her earlobes. She stepped into the snow and walked to Sam's side.
"Where's Paige?" he asked.
"She's coming," Jubilee said with a smile.
Then Paige stepped into view. Her long curly hair was now short and straight. The ends of her blonde locks flared out at her shoulders. She was wearing a pair of khaki hip-huggers and a pink turtleneck. Over her shirt she was wearing a khaki double breasted jacket that ran from her shoulders down right below her hips. Hanging from her ears were a pair of large hoop earrings and on her chest rested a necklace with a large "P" charm. She walked down the stairs and stepped onto the ground, her khaki Uggs crunching the snow under her. She carried her pink purse under her arm and walked over to her brother. "Wow, Paigey, nice," he said in amazement.
"Wow, if Warren could see you now!" Jubilee said excitedly.
"Let's start moving!" Betsy snapped coldly.
OOOOOO
Meanwhile in New York City
Emma Frost's platinum blonde hair was pulled back into a professional looking bun and her eyes were framed by her prescriptionless glasses. A strand of hair was dangling in front of her face even though she continuously tried to push it back behind her ears. Next to her walked Lorna Dane. She had dyed her hair black and pulled the front part into a small ponytail that overlapped the rest of her curls. Both women dressed in business suits and carried leather covered briefcases.
"Polaris and White Queen checking in," Lorna said. She wasn't addressing anyone to their face but she placed her finger on the minute comm. set that was placed in her ear. "Do you copy?"
"This is Gambit, I hears ya." The Casein accent sounded in both Emma and Lorna's ears.
The two kept walking until they got to an elevator. Emma pressed the button to go up and they waited. When the doors opened the two were met by another woman. Her silver hair, rimless glasses, and matching brown sweater and skirt accented her wrinkled face. She looked like she was over the age of fifty but yet her eyes still looked youthful and full of life. When the doors closed the young eyes flashed yellow. The old lady's craggy white skin changed to a deep blue and the silvery hair escaped the tight bun and fell as red locks on black leather covered shoulders. Mystique pulled the emergency stop leveler and the elevator jerked.
"The bugs are in place," she said as Emma and Polaris started to unhook their comm. sets from their ears. They handed the electronics to Mystique who ducked them away in a black bag that rested on her left hip. After they were away she pulled out two cell phones from the bag. Polaris and the White Queen took them. "These are regular phones, except for the fact that they are both triggers for the bugs. You press this button right here and the bugs will instantly turn on. If somebody finds out there is a bug all you have to do is disconnect the battery on the back and they can't trace anything back to you even though the devices will still be on, so we can track what's going on at all times." She pushed the level back and the elevator jolted upward. Suddenly the old woman was back and Mystique was gone. The doors opened and she walked out.
Once the elevator finally reached the forty-seventh floor Lorna and Emma stepped into the hallway of one of Bline Jeweler's most important offices. A man sitting behind a tall desk greeted them. "Hello, may I help you?" he asked.
"Yes," Emma spoke up. "My name is Emma Frost and this is my associate Michaela Panning," she said motioning to Polaris who was showing the man an identification card. "I am here with a proposal from Frost Industries. I have a meeting with Randall Bline this morning."
"Yes of course," the man said coming out from behind his desk. "Follow me please." The two women followed the man down a few hallways that finally led to an open office area. "Wait here and Mrs. Tanner will notify you when Mr. Bline is ready to see you," he said before he left the room.
The two Hellfire Club members sat down in guest chairs and waited. Minutes later the secretary's phone beeped and she answered it. After speaking she set it back in the holder and stood up. "Mr. Bline is ready to see you now, Ms. Frost," she said opening the door to an office.
Emma walked in followed by Lorna. "Mr. Bline, lovely to see you again! It's been along time since we last met. Rome wasn't it?" she asked making small talk.
Mr. Bline stood up from his desk and shook her hand. "Yes, Ms. Frost, I believe that was the last time. And you are?" he asked sticking his hand out to Polaris.
"My name is Michaela Panning," she answered shaking it. "I'm Ms. Frost assistant."
The three sat down and Mr. Bline put his hands on his desk. "So, Ms. Frost you said that you had a proposal, I would like to see it," he said.
Emma turned to her co-worker and nodded. Polaris started digging in her briefcase while Emma stared at Bline. She was about to dig into his mind when his phone beeped and the secretary's voice came through the speakers. "Mr. Bline, Kathleen is here to see you."
The White Queen quickly looked at Polaris with her eyes wide open. "I'll see her outside thank you," he said standing up from his desk. He walked out of the room and Emma quickly stood up and pressed her ear up against the wooden door. When she realized that she wouldn't be able to hear anything she placed her fingertips on her temples and tried to enter Bline's mind.
Polaris waited and watched as Emma concentrated. Suddenly Emma shouted out, "Oh no!" She opened her eyes and ran next to Lorna. "We have to get out of here," she said grabbing her phone from the case on her skirt. She took out the battery and then quickly snapped it back into place. She then dialed a number into her phone and held it to her ear. At that moment the doorknob clicked and the latch started to open. Polaris held her hand out and the latch quickly went back into the crevice and stayed there. Banging and pounding sounded on the door as Emma spoke into the phone. "We need an extraction now!" she yelled as she moved to the window. "Level forty-seven on the east side of the building. I don't have time for that! We need to get out of here now!" she yelled.
In a moment Polaris right at Emma and grabbed her waist. Before the two hit the window, the glass broke do to Polaris breaking the frame with her power. The two flew out of the window and started to free fall into the street. Then they started slowing down and eventually were levitating upward.
When the two meet the other members of the Hellfire Club members Banshee asked, "What happened?"
"Kathleen, as we suspected, is brain-controlling Bline. I entered his mind a seconds before her and waited to see what was going on. I took a chance and tried to discover what she knew by tapping her link with him. But she found me and I quickly exited his mind before she mentally attacked me," she answered. Banshee nodded as they pulled up to the airport. "But," she added. "I did find something out before she noticed. Reguloss is giving Kathleen a bomb, which she is sending to Scott Summers. He is sending that bomb to San Francisco, it is set to detonate right after Scott and the other X-Men leave the city. The funeral date is set for the day after tomorrow. We have to get to San Francisco."
OOOOOO
BACK IN CANADA
The Hellfire Club trudged through the Canadian snow pulling their jackets close to their bodies. Paige Guthrie rubbed her arms rapidly trying to warm them. "When are we going to get there?" she asked anyone who would answer her.
"We're only two more minutes away," Psylocke answered.
Sure enough two minutes later the team arrived at an old cabin with a shed standing next to it. They approached the barn but stopped before walking in. Storm stopped and took a deep breath. "Are you okay?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah," she answered. "Just preparing myself." With that Psylocke opened the door and Nightcrawler and Storm entered the room first. Jubilee followed and then everyone else entered. Husk was the last one in and couldn't see over all the people.
"Wolvie?" Jubilee shouted. Husk heard her feet running across the wooden floor.
"Hey girlie, what are you doin' here?" she heard a gruff voice say. "Ro? Elf? What are ya'll doing here?" The crowd of people moved forward and spread out. Paige made here way to the front and saw Wolverine.
"Wolverine," Psylocke started but was stopped when he stood up.
"Hey Betsy, I thought you were dead," he interrupted sniffing the air.
"Is that why you went into hiding? Well I'm flattered. It's a long story and I'll tell you later but right now something bigger is happening," she responded. "And we think that you may be able to help us."
For the next half-hour Elizabeth Braddock explained the situation that had faced the X-Men and the decision to split. She told him about Xavier being a liar and she told him about all the new Hellfire Club members. She told him about everything that had happened in the past couple of days and about the mysterious Kathleen. Wolverine didn't say anything, didn't interrupt, he just listened. When she was finished she just looked at him and he stared back at her. "So," she started. "Will you help us?" she asked. Storm, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee stood behind her to remind him that his friends would be with him.
Logan stared into everyone's eyes, even the people he barely knew like Husk, Feline, Blaze, and most of the other assistants. "That all sounds well and good but I still don't understand one thing," he started. Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "Why exactly do you need my help? It sounds like ya'll have it all under control," he asked the question and Paige could see the panic in Psylocke's face. Apparently she hadn't really thought that through herself.
"Well," she started to answer, trying to sound convincing. "I guess we don't really need you, but we could use the extra man-power. And Logan," she added noticing the way he smirked. "We all know that you are one of the best fighters…any of us have ever seen."
"Well," he sighed. "The best besides you, right doll face?" Betsy laughed to herself as he continued. "Well… I'm thinking about it. And your sure that it only has to be a temporary thing right?"
Nightcrawler nodded and sat down next to Psylocke. "But who knows, Logan," he said. "You might just find that you miss being in the action."
"Really," Jubilee interrupted. "Like what do you do out here? It's like the most rural place I've ever seen, and there's like nobody around for miles," she said.
"That's what rural means," Paige stated, obviously irritated by her friends misuse of words and phrases.
"Whatever." Jubilee disregarded the statement without even a thought and continued. "Wolvie," she continued. "I really think that you should come back with us. I mean, like really, what is the point of excluding yourself from social life." Then she turned to everyone else. "Notice all the big words I just used." Paige shook her head in the embarrassment that her friend considered 'excluding' and 'social life' big words. "Anyway, Wolvie, I miss you. Please come with us, for me?" she said as she widened her eyes and stuck out her bottom lip. When he didn't answer she got on her knees. "Please?"
"Alright kid, but I'm not sayin' this is permanent," he grunted pulling Jubilation to her feet.
"So you are coming?" Storm asked hugging her old friend.
He embraced her and answered, "Yeah, let's head back to New York."
"That's a negative," Prodigy answered holding his gloved fingers to his temples. "The White Queen wants us to meet the other two teams in San Francisco… and fast."
OOOOOO
4 hours later in San Francisco, California
Noriko Ashida walked behind Forge, the man that she was supposed to assist. She didn't really like the idea of being told what to do but she didn't feel like one to complain. Slouching over, she carried her bag of clothes, toiletries, and other things on her shoulder. The team that stayed at the mansion met up with the team that went to New York City when they got to the airfield. Now they were in California and they were about to meet the team that had gone to Canada. The team was supposed to bring back somebody from there that was supposed to help them with whatever was going on.
The Hellfire Club walked across the field and to the nearby cars that were supposed to take them to the hotel. Noriko put her stuff in the back of one of the limos and was about to get in when Forge stopped her. "Noriko," he called out from the car behind her. "Your coming with me." The Asian girl was about to transport her bags to the other car when he prevented her again. "Leave your bags in their," he said. "We're not going to the hotel." She had a puzzled look on her face as she stepped into the limo next to Forge. When he noticed her expression, he answered her unasked questions. "We're going to cemetery where Rachel Summers is going to be buried to make up some battle arrangements," he said. She nodded.
"So," she asked. "Why am I coming?" she asked.
"Because you are my assistant and I need somebody to take notes. I would also like to train you in some of the things that I will be doing today," he answered. She nodded again.
The ride to the cemetery was quiet. Forge, Noriko, Bishop, Blade, Mystique and Matrix were all in the limo and keeping their thoughts to themselves. Noriko, feeling a little uncomfortable with the silence scooted over to talk to the other two assistants. "Hey," she started. The two sisters looked at her and didn't respond. Noriko was about to move back to her original seat in embarrassment when they finally answered back. "My name is Noriko but you can call me Surge," she said as she stuck out her hand to the older one.
"My name is Monet, you can call me Matrix," she answered back shaking Noriko's outstretched hand. "This is my sister Nicole, her codename is Blade." Nicole shook Noriko's hand next and smiled. "So, how old are you?" Monet asked.
"I'm eighteen," Surge answered.
"Really, my twin sisters are seventeen. Maybe you can entertain them and keep them away from me," Monet said. Noriko was puzzled. Most of the time when somebody would say such a thing it would come out cold and sound mean but her statement seemed sincere, as if she really wanted her sisters to hang out with kids their own age. "And I'm twenty-two by the way."
Finally the limo stopped and the driver opened the doors for everyone to get out. "Keep your eyes open. The funeral is in 12 hours. No doubt Cyclops is here preparing for the service," Mystique said as she entered a nearby building. The others followed her in and were surprised to see hundreds of armed soldiers standing in the lobby.
"Wow," Matrix started. "They don't even get their own room. What do we do?" she asked Mystique.
"I say we go back outside and hope that they haven't seen us," Mystique said softly gingerly stepping back to the glass doors. She let Forge and Bishop go first and then started to head out back first when a group of the mercenaries turned her way.
"Mr. Summers, I thought you would be at the gravesite," one of the men said.
Mystique, who was now disguised as Cyclops, answered, "I was just making sure that everything is okay in here."
A second agent stepped forward with a quizzical look on her face. "Okay sir," she said uncertainly. "Everything is okay, so you can go back out." Mystique nodded. "Sir," she added. "Who are they?"
"I don't know but I'm taking care of it myself," Cyclops/Mystique said.
"That's okay sir," the woman said. "We'll take care of them."
Mystique/Cyclops put her hand on the visor that covered her eyes and responded. "NO, I will be taking care of this myself!" and with that she stormed out of the room with Surge, Blade and Matrix following. Mystique stayed in her disguise until they met up with Bishop and Forge in a nearby coffee house a block away.
Forge was plugging three laptops into the walls and setting them up on a table. "Surge, you'll stay with me while the other four go take pictures of the surrounding area," he commanded pulling up a chair for her to sit in.
Noriko plopped into the seat as the other four walked back out of the coffee shop with four different cameras. She sat and watched Forge set up all the computers and became very bored. "So," she finally said. "What exactly do you want me to do?" she asked.
"You can do this," he started. "Go to the counter and ask them if they have wireless internet connection. If they do then pay them this and come back her with a double tall latte with soy milk. You can get something for yourself too," he said handing her a twenty dollar bill.
While Noriko was at the counter arguing that her frappichino didn't have enough caramel, Forge downloaded the pictures that Bishop, Mystique and their assistants had taken. The cemetery was small, maybe only an acre. It was surrounded by skyscrapers and from the video camera Mystique had he could see that some of the X-Men's snipers were already taken place. He dialed a number on his phone and waited for the pick-up. "Lucas," he said. "I need you to zoom in on some of the sniper's faces. You know, to make sure we're not dealing with something a lot bigger than we expected." He hung up and threw the phone into his big duffle bag. He took his latte from Surge and started downloading the new pictures.
"What do you plan on doing with those?" Noriko asked sipping her frozen coffee.
"I'm going to run them through the Hellfire Club's database and try to find a match," he answered. "I'm going to show you how to do this so you can do it later and it would save a lot of time." Noriko widened her eyes and scooted her chair closer and tried to listen to what her mentor was teaching her. "You just download the picture send it to this computer over here, it's called Fluffy. Fluffy is the one with the database on it. Once the picture is up type in 'ilfluffysearch' and hit enter."
"Wait," she interrupted. "You named the computer Fluffy?"
"Yeah I like to keep it simple," he answered.
"You couldn't have used 'Joe', 'John', 'Jim'?" she asked.
"I could have but I didn't," he responded smiling.
"What are the other ones called? Snowball and Midnight?" Noriko joked.
Forge laughed. "No, now as I was saying, after you hit enter the picture in the window will go through all the profiles stored in the database. There are three things that it checks: cheek bones, the nose, and lip patterns. It takes all matches and tries every features and then matches it with the best one. If it isn't close enough it won't pop up with a match and bio but if you type in, 'nicefluffy15' and hit enter another window will pop up and list the closest matches. With these we won't do that but we do need to send the pictures over to this computer and try to find any match from a old yearbook picture to wedding pictures or anything."
"What database does that search?" Surge asked.
"It searches all government files, the internet, and any other databanks that we can download from another hard-drive," he answered.
An hour later the six members headed back to the hotel to meet up with the others and discuss a plan.
