Emma stared confidently in to her mirror. Just do it. She told herself.
She pursed her lips and examined the face she saw before her. It looked troubled.
She closed her eyes and immediately drew Kurt's face to mind. After a moment she could almost smell the soft traces of Brimstone and then it happened.
She jolted and found herself in the astral ether facing Kurt.
Kurt was flying a great box kite high above the lighthouse. He stood on the ground at the ocean's edge.
"Ach!" He shook his head. "Emma! I have the afternoon off, let me fly my kite in peace."
"I'm sorry, but I can't." She swallowed. "I've come to warn you, we've got a common enemy. His name is Mildred Watts."
"Mildred?" Kurt wrinkled his forehead.
She rolled her eyes. "Listen, this is serious. He's an up and comer in the hellfire club with a plan to wipe out half the club and seize all it's power."
"Neat trick." Kurt pulled his string and the kite rose, making him smile.
"And the club has already given him the authority to attack Excalibur."
Kurt's head swiveled and the kite string went slack. She most certainly had his attention.
She continued. "He's got a plan, divide, conquer and execute." She explained. "You'll all have to stay on your toes until this is over."
Kurt nodded. "I understand. What's coming first, do you know?"
She shook her head. "I've read his files but his plan is very intricate. I don't know where it begins but he's called in other organizations and is planning on making several key moves himself."
She swallowed and looked nervous. "You'll have to be careful. His power is…"
And with that Emma let out a terrific psychic scream of anguish and Kurt's eyes jolted open.
Kurt lay in a pool of his own blood. His eyes hurt and his head ached but still, he was lucid and ideas and orders ripped through his mind.
Excalibur, with the exception of Lucy, Forge and Rachael, stood over him with worried eyes.
Kurt could taste the blood in the back of his throat and wiped it from under his nose where it ran like a sieve.
"Fun's over." He said, letting them help him to his feet. "We've just been put on notice. Some new player from the hellfire club is looking to take us down. He's got an elaborate plan and hired muscle. Understand?"
Everyone nodded. "Good." He cupped his hand under his nose to hide the fact that it was still bleeding. "Alistaire, get Lucy and Forge back here. Then pull any file you can find on Mr. Mildred Watts. I'm particularly interested in what his power might be."
"Right." Alistaire dashed away.
"Illyana, you were in the club, do you know this guy?" Kurt pressed.
"I'm sorry, no. He must be a new recruit or a lower level member who has come up some in the ranks."
Kurt nodded. "All right. Let's regroup upstairs in ten minutes. Brian, you and Illyana are going to run an errand for me. You've got the strength and escape ability between you that I think you can pull it off."
"All right." Brian nodded and cast a business like glance to Illyana.
"Illyana…" Kurt smiled beneath his hand and the blood flow. "You're not going to like this."
She smiled, almost delighted, that it might be an unpleasant to her. "Try me." She said defiantly.
Kurt nodded. Good. He thought. She's coming along nicely.
Betsy trudged up the stairs slowly behind everyone else. Tabitha had freaked out a bit and was now mothering Kurt to the point of annoyance. Everyone else exchanged worried glances and nervous nods.
Betsy shook her head at Kurt. Scare us all half to death why don't you? She fumed. Kitty and Lucy might have brought me in to this little group but you're the one who started it all…
You're the one I work for…
You're the one I believe in…
Just like Lucy, Kitty and Tabitha believe in you.
You're the heart of this team.
And without you…
We're just a group of strangers.
Betsy cast a worried glance at Illyana who in return shrugged her support and surrender to the situation.
Betsy smiled just a bit more. He's fine. She told herself. He's up and around…
But the vision flashed back to her, Kurt on the ground, having some kind of seizure, bleeding from the nose, his eyes wide and sightless…
She turned her mind away from the image. It was too much to want to remember and it seemed that she was already trying, instinctively, to forget it.
She took several long, deep breaths while everyone assembled back in the main room. Kurt had changed his shirt and stopped bleeding.
"They've turned around." Alistaire crossed the room, flipping his phone closed. "Fax coming in on Mildred Watts."
"Brian, Illyana… You're going to find Emma Frost and bring her here." Kurt explained.
Illyana smiled.
"Because she's the one who tipped me off and I think she's in trouble."
Illyana stopped cold. "It could be a trick." She said plainly. That good for nothing little bitc…
"Could be." Kurt agreed. "So be cautious. But find her and bring her here, understand? This is either going to be a rescue mission or a kidnapping, but it's going to happen."
They both nodded.
"Take Forge's null-cuffs with you." Kurt told them.
"Null-Cuffs?" Illyana asked.
Kurt nodded. "Handcuffs with a built in mutation inhibition unit. It makes it very difficult to use your powers, but not impossible. He keeps them in his desk drawer"
"Sounds promising." Brian nodded, offering a smile to Illyana who looked uneasily away, and then darted off to get the cuffs.
Alistaire pulled a sheet off the fax machine. It had a picture of a mousy little man with a mustache. "This is Mildred Watts. We don't know his powers. Watch out for him."
"He's supposed to have brought in other help, so until this is over, trust no one but yourselves and each other. Understand?" Kurt asked.
And everyone nodded as Illyana came back, two sets of cuffs in tow.
"Good, go on." Kurt told them.
Illyana extended her hand and opened a portal to Emma's office in town. "Well…" She shrugged at Brian. "After you."
And Brian smiled deviously and ducked through the oblong portal and in to Emma's office.
The portal closed after them and Kurt swung back on Alistaire.
"So, come on. What do we know about Mildred Watts?" Kurt prompted and Alistaire looked down at the fax he had received.
"Not a thing." Alistaire shrugged. "No police record, pays his taxes, lives in town, works for a brokerage firm."
Kurt looked at the picture and mused. "She seemed awfully afraid of him… I wonder why."
And Alistaire got a serious sinking in the pit of his stomach when suddenly, Tabitha's phone rang.
Everyone jumped and then smiled. "Hello?" She asked.
And then she got a puzzled look before answering "Sure… She's right here." And handing the phone to Betsy.
Kurt looked curiously at Betsy, who in turn looked a bit puzzled herself before replying. "Right, I think you have a wrong number."
Kurt sat up strait. A wrong number that asks for you by name… What the …?
The phones light blinked off while she held it, as though the line had gone dead.
Betsy handed the phone back to Tabby and smiled.
Kurt looked back and forth between them.
Alistaire seemed not to notice and had crossed over to get the next page off the fax machine.
Then… Alistaire's phone rang as well.
And for some reason, Kurt was seized by a terrible panic.