New X-Men: Elite #3
Old Ideas Given New Life: Part 3- Final Cuts
Selene had really fallen in love with these islands. The leaves of the wooded islands turned a bright red. Red was Adrienne's favorite color by far. Many of her favorite things came in red: roses, strawberries…the blood of her enemies. She smiled to herself it wouldn't be long now until pathetic little Emma figured things out, if she was alive. A fact Selene didn't doubt. Emma was alive she could feel it. Emma was coming for her. And if she was as stupid as Selene thought, she'd deliver the boy to her. And once in her life Selene was truly happy to see Emma, because it would be for the last time. And she'd have her prize. Xavier had no idea what he had in possession. Selene fished into her pocket for her cell phone. There were preparations to be made after all she wanted dear Emma to have a warm welcome.
Westchester:
Changing into his new uniform, Bobby felt like a rockstar. Cool shades. Trench coat. He was smoking. Giving himself a final look in the locker room mirror he set out to begin pre-fight check on the Blackbird. Still lost in his thoughts he ran into Ian Sorensen coming out of the locker room. Ian reminded Bobby of himself on his very first days at the mansion.
"Sorry Mister Drake, I wasn't watching where I was going." Ian offered the older man.
"Bobby, call me Bobby, Mr. Drake is my father, kid." Bobby said with a smile. "You want to help with the pre-flight preps? I know we can't take you guys along but at least you can see a real mother of a plane."
"He bought it!" Ian said to via their telepathic link walking silently behind Bobby to the hanger.
"Ouch. You don't have to scream! Project your thoughts; do not launch them at me. Anyway just be sure to be on the look around I can see everything you see. Tim and I need to know what security the X-Men have." Kai responded back "Just keep your eyes open to give us a clear view." Kai was furious that when the briefing was over it had been decided that t he was to be left behind with Tim and Ian. That wasn't going to happen. A quick scan of Tim's thoughts revealed a penchant toward cracking electronic locks and hacking computers. If Tim was as good as he thought he was, maybe they had chance at getting around mansion security measures. Kai couldn't fathom not helping to save his best friend. He blamed himself partially for what happened. Kai's mind went back to that night. It was the night before Emma Frost had paid him a visit for his final entrance interview. He was having a going away bash at mansion. Ash had called; his voice was almost frantic. Kai was with the very inviting McKenna Daniels; at in moment of haste to get his friend off the phone, to indulge in all things carnal, he admonished Ash that he was just being paranoid and he's shouldn't worry. Now forty-eight hours later, his best friend was in serious trouble, Kai would never forgive himself if Ash died because a few lustful moments.
Ian's jaw literally dropped when he saw the Mansion hanger. From what he could tell the hanger was housed completely underground. The hanger doors were located in the ceiling. "Ian sight-see later! Keep you eyes open for anything that might cause problems or help us" Kai projected. Ian winced a little from the mental intrusion.
"You all right, there kid?" Bobby asked noticing Ian change in facial expression before opening the hatch of the Blackbird.
"Yeah, just a little headache, Bobby." Ian replied. Mr. Drake is a nice guy, I hate lying to him but staying here in the mansion when we might be able to help isn't right. Ian thought to himself.
"So you think white bread can do this?" Tim asked Kai.
"Do what?" Dani asked as she entered into the rec. room where Kai and Tim had been sitting. She hadn't wanted to say anything to Jean but it seemed weird to her that two kids that hardly knew each other and hadn't expressed any interest in knowing each other before this moment seemed awfully tight now.
"Hey, Danielle. We were just putting bets on if Ian would make it a week here without calling his mum! Isn't that right Tim?"
"Yeah, the punk seems like a mama's boy if I seen one." Tim said
"You know you guys should try and be nicer to each other. If any of you can make it through the week, you are going to need and depend on each other." Dani said not fully buying Kai's explanation. But she left the two what ever it was that they were talking about.
Kai reconnected with Ian's mind absorbing the information boy had found pertinent and also his entire memories of the afternoon. While more useful and observant than he would have thought, he wasn't trained in what to look for in a security system. Who would have thought all that black ops knowledge he'd siphoned out of the heads of various SHIELD operatives that had visited his mother would have come in handy for anything except sneaking in and out of the girl's dormitories on his last boarding school's campus. Now that Jean, Bobby, and Dani had already left the compound in the Blackbird, and Emma had presumably retired to her quarters it was time to act.
"I know it might sound hallow coming from a arrogant snot like me, but thank you for helping me. I have to go on this mission." Kai said to Tim and Ian as they donned the black training uniforms that they'd found locker room on the way to the hanger.
"Hey as long as I get bust some heads its cool wit' me. And I get that new computer system. Right?" Tim said. Ian simply laughed.
"Of course anything you want you can get. You know, I didn't know geeks could be SO hardcore." Kai quipped inputting the codes to the lock to the elevator to hanger level. Kai was surprised by the lack of more intricate defense systems considering the technology he observed in the War Room. Upon opening the hanger doors he realized why they'd so easily compromised the defenses. Standing in front of the second Blackbird dressed in a provocative white leather suit was Emma Frost.
"Did the three of you think that you could so easily get pass the mansion's systems? You did get pass the obvious ones but I had to help you with the others. I couldn't risk Jean finding out until it was too late."
"What? You not going to stop us?" Ian said dumbfounded surely thinking that they had just been busted.
"No, Ian. She's not. Jean grounded her on this mission because of the personal stakes with Selene. And you can't wait to settle that score can you Emma?" Kai explained with a smirk.
"Don't get cocky child. If you're half as talented as you think you are I'll be counting on you to keep these two alive while I settle my score." Emma said with finality boarding the plane with the three boys following.
Selene preened in the mirror she had to be ready for her guests. Lightly tapping a black ridding crop on her free hand, she walked out of her private suite. Things were going according to plan. Emma would die, and she'd take few of her self-righteous cohorts with her. Selene smiled at the idea of Emma's rotting corpse and took her position in front of the wall of monitors showing feed from security camera's covering the island.
The X-men's Blackbird:
We're approaching the island, Jean. According to these readings we haven't been picked up." Dani said from the co-pilots set to he older woman piloting the plane.
"We don't know what kind of defenses this woman has Jean, maybe we should have waited for Scott and the others to get back." Bobby said for the first time feeling doubts about the three of them alone on this mission.
"Now isn't the time for second guessing Bobby. We can do this. If you haven't noticed I've gone through some changes. I'm more than up to handling Selene." Jean replied, her eyes flashing with flames for a second, as she began the planes vertical descent in an open field. Once landing the time for discussion was over, it was time for them to act. Moving quickly over the open field and into the brush they began the trek to the islands main compound.
The security room:
"Mistress, there's no visual from the field but the pressure sensors are reading something out there." Selene simply smirked at the man's report and radioed Oblique. "Oblique take Maul and a security detail with you the south campus gates we're expecting company."
Oblique had been waiting for another chance to prove her worth; she knew Adrienne was not a very forgiving employer. She'd seen Donovan's body. Oblique motioned to the Cro-Magnon man they called Maul and motion him to follow. The beastly man just grunted lumbering after her.
The South Campus Gates:
"We've got two hellfire guardsmen at the gates and two in parapets. All packing assault rifles." Dani whispered to her teammates. "Pretty light considering, this woman is a raving megalomaniac." Dani remarked. "But then again, this is a sorceress who doesn't really need a complement."
"Exactly. If we are certain of anything with Selene, there's always more than meets the eye." Jean cautioned. With that the three sprang into action. Dani focused her psionic powers into a glowing bow firing two arrows of concentrated psychic energy into the guards in the parapets. Iceman threw up a barrier of ice to deflect the bullets of the gate guards as Jean reached into their minds putting them into a deep slumber. Jean thought to herself so far so good.
Elsewhere on the compound:
Hand-to-hand combat was something Emma Frost had never seen any use for since she could defeat her opponents with a stray thought. But with the onset of her new mutation, her diamond skin, Emma felt the urge to release her rage on the hapless fools that her served Selene. Regardless of her current affiliations, Emma in her mind was THE White Queen. With a swift chop she dispatched the last of the men guarding the entrance to the North campus of Meridian Enterprises Retreat. Looking back at three relatively untrained mutants with her she questioned for a moment if she hadn't made a mistake bringing them along. But the time had past for such doubts.
Kai looked over his shoulder at his two companions. He'd seen how surprised they were when he'd let loose on those guards. They weren't expected a spoiled rich boy to be trained in several martial arts disciplines. He hadn't even needed to use his mutant abilities. So far this "mission" was rounding out to be a glorified training exercise for him.
"That guard over there was ever so gracious in letting me rip from his mind the location of an underground passage we can use." Emma smiled, the group quickly moved toward the hatch entrance.
"Damn it! It's locked!" Ian said tugging at the handle.
"Thanks for that astute observation, Opie." Kai laughed
"It's a simple electronic lock, I can crack it in five minutes." Tim offered
"We don't have five minute, step aside." Kai rebuffed Tim and brushed him aside. Then turning his attention to the hatch Kai eyes flared with silver light and the hatch shot into the air like the cork from a champagne bottle. Tim felt his jaw drop, he'd since stuff like that in movies or watching the Avengers on CNN, but standing next to someone who rip 6 inch thick steel doors off their hinges had taken him aback. Maybe, Kai was some rich brat on the surface but this kid seemed way too comfortable doing shit like this. Tim thought he'd better keep an eye on him. The four disappeared into the underground passage.
"I can sense that Jean and the others are already at work here, that's why security was rather light on our end. Selene must have diverted her staff to the south campus. Here's what you're going to do. I want you to find Ashton and Mina. When you find them, you get them or anyone else they have here out. But use your heads if you even think you can't handle it you find a place to hide and contact me or one of the others for help." Emma said looking each one of them in the eyes, as they nodded in agreement. They came to a fork in the corridor one leading into the main complex, one leading into the sublevels. "Kai, remember what I told you. If anyone dies its your ass." Emma said turning to head into the main complex.
"Good luck, Emma." Kai simply answered gesturing the boys to follow him.
The Upper levels of the Main Complex:
"Jean I don't like this, it's been way too easy." Bobby said looking around the dark lobby of the large building. A wall of monitors behind the reception desk silently played CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC. The floor was littered with the pathetic pawns that Selene called security. Dani walked over to the shadow ensconced reception station to see if she could hack into the mainframe to download a more detailed layout of the floor plan of the complex.
"You're right, Bobby. Dani, I've got a bad feeling about this, hurry up."
"You guys are just," Dani's reply was cut short as a massive hand reached out of the shadows and slammed her head face first into the mahogany work station.
"Allow me to finish the lil' skank's statement. You guys are just screwed!" Maul said stepping out of the liquid shadows. The hulking beast of the man was repulsive in appearance, a strange fusion of human and reptile parts. Iceman and Phoenix sprang into action. Looking out of the corners of her eyes Jean saw other shadowed figures emerge from their inky depths.
"Hey, Ice-boy nice to see you again." Oblique said a smile. The security detail fanned out and opened fire on Jean and Bobby as Oblique disappeared again into the shadow
"This is getting out of hand." Bobby said erecting an ice shield between them and their attackers. "They've got us acting like a couple of novices. Come one let's show 'em what it means to be an X-Man!" Bobby said gritting his teeth. Jean hope he didn't see her chuckle a bit at the cheesy dialogue he was spouting. She was glad there was some levity to be found in this situation. Dani still hadn't gotten up. Jean prayed she wasn't dead.
Maul didn't care how much Iceman threw at him he was going to break him down just like he did that little girl. He smiled at the thought and plowed through the stream of semi-liquid ice, that was covering his body. Then he realized all too late that the covering of ice as just a secondary effect. As his body stiffened, he slumped over. Iceman smiled at his work.
"Nice trick freezing the dumb giant from without and within; I won't be that simple." Oblique said, flying out another shadow portal in a leaping kick connecting with Iceman's chin. In a flurry of kicks she managed to knock him to the ground. Hoping to do quick damage and fade into the shadows again before Phoenix had chance to lock on her. But then again the redhead had twenty men to combat. Conjuring Iceman's own shadow to become her servant, Oblique commanded the now solid shadow to pull him down into the liquid dark to drown him. Jean stood surrounded by the men. Guns drawn. But she was calm, feeling the fiery energies of the Phoenix rise in her. A wave of light flashed over the remaining guards. Succumbing the psionic onslaught the men simply slumped before her.
"Release him!" Jean's voice boomed with unearthly power as every shadow in the room faded. Oblique turned from her victim to face the power of the Phoenix. As afraid she was of Selene, before was a force that she didn't want to wrestle with. Oblique faded away to parts unknown.
Chapter 3: Woman to Woman, Queen to Queen
Emma moved quickly through the main complex. She had seen on the monitors that X-men below in the lobby were making good time. It kept them distracted while she faced Selene. Using her telepathic abilities to look like of the many technicians of Selene's war room. Emma moved closer to her target. She put the gun to her head and pilled the trigger. Game over. Set. Point. Match. I win. Emma stood over her Selene gloating, proceeding to empty her clip into her. But yet she could still her Selene annoyingly condescending voice calling out to her. How was that possible? SLAP. Emma blinked and opened her eyes. She'd been dreaming. She remembered now. She'd walked past the one the security terminals and had been distracted by what was going on with Jean and the others and before it was too late someone had hit on the back of her head. SLAP. SLAP.
"Hello, Emma dear. Did you really think you could waltz in here, and just have you run of the place? Huh, did you?" Selene laughed and backhanded Emma again who was now handcuff to a chair. "Sloppy, Emma. That's always been your problem. So careless. So self-absorbed. A mortal thinking you could play goddess. Hmm, that's why the Hellions are dead at the hands of one Fritzroy, that's why Everett is dead at the hands of your pathetic, dead sister.Witness a true goddess!" Selene said with twirl.
"You bitch. How dare you! You care too lecture me on carelessness. Sadly, a woman of your age, still acting like a spoiled brat."
"Insolent cow, I've enough of you." Adrienne reared back for another smack but when her hand connected inside of tender flesh her hand met hard diamond. Shattering the bones in her hand. Emma smirked. "Enough, games time to finish this." Selene eyes flashing with arcane energy.
Chapter 4: Beginner's luck.
Tim silently and quickly put a sleeper move on the guard near the entrance to the lab. The guard dropped the floor. Grabbing his passkey, he unlocked the door into the lab.
"We're in." Tim said over his shoulder to his new partners in crime. He was learning a lot about these kids as they went along. Ian was a quick study and seemed to be getting used to this James Bond riff. The fact that the three could make it this far was amazing. Kai was successful in keeping them unnoticed by the majority of the security in the place using his powers. First he rips off a door made of steel, then he makes people blind to us. What's with these X-men, Jean, Emma, and Kai all could manipulate people mentally. How did he even know he was here of his own will? When he got back to mansion he was going to hack the mainframe and learn everything there was to know about the X-Men. They had to be too good to be true.
"Tom, are you going to stand there day-dreaming or are going to help?" Kai queried with annoyance. Apparently the guard's access key had only opened the outer door to the lab, another blocked their way.
"I think his name is Tim, Kai." Ian said scratching his head looking down at the control panel. All this was unbelievable. It was as if before today he'd never been alive, but it was getting a little overwhelming. He wished he knew more about his own particular powers maybe he could help more. All he's done today was basically stay back while Kai and Tim did stuff.
"Yeah, whatever. Tim. You're the computer whiz. Hack the system and open the door." Kai said throwing up his hands.
"Why don't you blast the door open like you did before?"
"One, it would draw too much attention. Two, It's taking a lot of my concentration just to keep the illusion that all is cool so that we don't have a horde of armed men to deal with."
Tim moved toward the console and started on the system. The door release commands were linked to the security network. The system was had triple redundancy protection. It was the same kind of system that the bank had when because of a mistake cracking the code the cops came. The cops that shot and killed Dan. Tim froze. Kai saw the strain on Tim's face. His first instinct was to push him, Ash and that girl were in there and he didn't know how long it would before his powers would start to fatigue. Ian sighed once again; here he was taking a backseat to the action. Kai and Tim were working on how to break the lock and he was stuck twiddling his thumbs. He thought about how in the movies it seemed like vaults at banks always opened if the power was cut. But then again, this wasn't a movie and nothing was that easy. Ian leaned against the door and closed his eyes he figured he take a moment to thank the big man upstairs that he hadn't gotten killed today. But at that moment he felt something, he couldn't explain. The electricity, the energy in the door seemed like it was speaking to him, not some much in words, but communicating with him. Ian reached out it and simply asked it to stop to let him through. And somehow, he knew that it had consented. When he open his eyes the lights in the alcove he and others were standing in dimmed and there was a hiss of air being released from the door as it opened.
Kai and Tim's head shot around and there Ian was with a big grin on his face.
"What did you do?" Kai asked but upon looking to the lab and seeing his best friend floating a big tube he didn't care. He rushed in with Ian and Tim in tow.
Chapter Four End Game:
"Yes, Let's finished this." Jean said her powers holding Selene.
"Unhand me you scarlet tramp!" Selene railed at Jean, as she turned to see Jean in the doorway with Bobby and Dani both battle-weary but eyes filled with determination.
"If you wish." Jean smirked, her eyes aglow. Adrienne felt her own hand rear back and smash her in the face. Stunned Selene wobbled a little before resting against the window seal of the room. Booby froze and shattered Emma's bonds. Emma rose to her feet, wiping the dried blood from her split lip glared at the old witch. "You lose again Selene." Emma said coldly. Selene chuckled. "You'll never find the children with out me. And since I don't think I'll be claiming my prize today. I must be off." Selene vanished.
"Jean, Bobby, and Dani looked at each other in disbelief, as Emma sank to the floor and cried.
The lab:
The liquid drained from tube and Ashton's body slumped to the floor. Kai looked down on a friend he'd known all his life. The one person he trusted without question, he feared the worst. For the first time he didn't know what to do. Kneeling beside Ashton he felt for a pulse. "Oh my…"
"Oh shit, is he?" Ian questioned looking around in disbelief, the lab except for containment unit had been in and sparse computer equipment was empty.
"No, He ain't dead. Damn. Stop acting like a couple of little girls." Tim laughed. Somehow even before Kai could get a pulse, Tim could feel that the boy in front of them was still alive. Instinctively he reached out placing his hands on the boy. Feeling a surge of pure energy flow through him and out of him into Ashton. Tim started to feel dizzy and broke off contact. Ashton coughed and sat up rubbing face. His eyes blinked still groggy from the drugs that had been suppressing his vital functions. He focused on a familiar pair of smiling slightly luminescent silver eyes. "Kai! Thank god! I prayed you'd come." He said hugging his friend. Kai happily returned the hug.
"Ash, what the hell are you doing here?" Kai questioned. If Ash was here it meant he was mutant. How could his best friend have kept that from him? Putting aside those sentiments he focused on the Ash's worried face. "Hey, buddy, it's chill. It's over."
"Um, Kai, wasn't supposed to be a girl in here too, Mina?" Ian reminded Kai.
"Shit, I forgot about her"
"Was she an Asian girl about my age?" Ash said shakily. "They must have taken her and the others. But why didn't they take me? Why?"
"Damn it. This day just keeps getting better. I don't know why they left you behind but I'm glad to have you back man." Kai said running his hand through his wavy locks.
"Maybe I can rip some info from this system." Tim said walking over to the computer station. Just then Kai had a flash. In the vivid image he saw all of them dead under rubble.
"Tim! STOP!" Kai screamed. "Everybody let's go NOW!" The four boys quickly moved to towards the door barely making it before the first bomb went off. The sheer force of the blast hurtled them into the hallway.
"Dude, if you hadn't have told us to get out of there, we'd have been killed." Ian said aghast getting up off the ground.
"I see your mutant power to consistently state the obvious is still active so I'll assume you're alright." Kai joked. "Ash, Tim? You guys okay?"
"Golden. Let's just get the hell out of here before something else blows up." Ash responded with a sigh. He noticed Kai wince and was about to ask when Kai held his hand up to quiet him.
"Kai, are you and the others alright? We heard the explosion?" Jean spoke into the Kai's head.
"We're fine, Jean, a few bruises, but nothing serious. We were only able to rescue one of the captives, Ashton. Selene must have wagered using him as bait to take out any would be rescuers."
"How did you get out in time?"
"I think I had premonition or something. Whatever it was, it saved us. Selene?"
"Gone. For now." Kai could sense the uneasiness in Jean yet he didn't press the issue. For now this battle was over it was time to go home.
Epilogue: Westchester, New York: The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning
The morning sun rose over the campus of the Charles Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. And Emma Frost stood by the lake watching the sunrise. It had been nearly a year since she'd killed Adrienne. And it still haunted her. Every night, she saw Adrienne face in her sleep. She didn't regret it. But she was sad that it came to that. But in the end Emma felt she could not truly let Adrienne or Selene get to her. She had more pressing matters to attend. Selene had at least eight mutant children at her disposal.
"We'll find them." She turned to see Jean and Professor Xavier behind her. It had been the man seated in a hovering chair that spoke.
"Charles, when did you return?" Emma said to the founder of the X-men, studying his face, which seemed filled with portent.
"Last night. But let's leave that for another time. We've much to discuss."
"Jean, what is this about?"
"With the school opening next week. We cannot afford to have any surprises. In discussing with the Professor. I believe that while the kidnapping of several candidates I'd marked for the Generation Next program was a goal. She had particular interest in one student."
"Kai-Alexander."
"Yes. He has enormous potential. One that may exceed us with proper tutelage." Charles added. "If he were to fall under the wrong influences. The world would be in danger."
THE END
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