AN: Alan Hunt is a character I made up and you'll see more of him in the future.

BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 14: CALLING IN FAVORS

Guy Spears was not a happy man, not at all. He had already gotten a report on what happened with the trucks. Personally he had hoped they wouldn't catch on but not only did they, they got some of the purified Toxin-8. Right now they would be able to analyse it, although the factory itself was safely under a shell company that wasn't linked to his company.

He was sitting in his office thinking of what to do. His office was in a high rise in Manhattan with windows on two walls. It was large and spacious, being part of a major company that he made from the ground up sure helped. His building wasn't as big as the types of places like Stark or Trump, but it was a nice squared one with two taller sections on either side.

His office of course had all black thick carpeting and grey walls. There was a bar a meeting area in front of his desk and a wall with a flat screen TV. Everything was always neat and polished as well, he liked to give an impression when people walked in, like the wall with all the more famous products on display.

But now he had one other product on his mind, the mutants would most likely be already working on a cure for the toxin. Although it would take some time that wasn't what worried him, the fact that they eventually would get one that's what worried him. It took months to get that formula working, and it would take them weeks to alter it again.

Add to the fact those other mutants in the sewers wouldn't let this go unchallenged. He still remembered all the damage they did to the Bayville facility and he had to shut that down because of them. He lost a lot of profits in that. He just knew they'd be back but the question was when?

He needed help that was for sure, if the mutants got a hold of the antidote that he made in secret let alone if the FOH found out he made one, or if anyone managed to get hard evidence well his life would be a lot more dangerous.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed this had all been such a good idea at the time. Use the Power 8 as a blueprint and use it to create a deadly toxin that you could sell to one side and the cure to the other. He could have made a large amount of money with this, but now all that and a lot more were in jeopardy.

He picked up his phone and dialled in a number that only he knew of. He waited a few moments before he heard a voice on the other line. "Mr. Creed we have a problem."

Graydon Creed one of the heads of the Friends of Humanity in this part of the country was not pleased to hear that. Ever since the fiasco with Trask he didn't want any more slip-ups like that. And right now in he didn't like this at all. He was in a car being driven to a political candidate that they were hoping to back, with him in office and under their agenda it would be one more politician in their pocket to use against mutants.

"What is it?" He listened in as Spears told him the whole story. "I fail to see how this is my problem, from the reports I got from our people in Bayville several of the mutants haven't been seen. It looks like it does work but slowly."

"Yes but if they come after me then you got a problem," Guy Spears said in a cold tone. "If they kill me then the secret dies with me. Plus if they try to take any evidence about this that takes me down you people will come down with me. I wasn't stupid enough to make a biological weapon for you people without making sure my ass was covered."

Graydon wanted nothing more then to rig the man's neck, but he did make two points. His toxin was a weapon they still needed. Add that to the fact that they couldn't afford the political fallout if it got out that the FOH was behind making biological weapons. He already knew SHIELD was keeping on eye on them with the Trask and his new Sentinels.

He thought it over, at the moment Spears was too valuable to let go of or to eliminate him. Their group was already doing too much at the moment. "Fine I'll send you some people that can help with the security of your building and assign a body guard that should help keep you calm."

"Thank you, I knew we could find a reasonable course of action." There was a click and Creed turned off his phone and thought about throwing it in a fit of anger but didn't. "Damn fool is becoming a major pain in my ass."

He knew that after this Spears may be needed to be dealt with if things kept going at this rate. But now he had other matters to attend to. He was looking over a few files on a few of the other programs that they had in place. Mainly things that were designed to turn the public against mutants, even on a subconscious level were already in effect.

They would manipulate events and thus manipulate the perception of the nation as a whole. They had already slowly started this process by laying the ground work. Suck as seeing that mutants who commit crimes are put on the news or in the papers. They also targeted those that would help mutants as well they were traitors to their race anyway and got what they deserved.

Taking away those that helped mutants would make them more desperate and act out in more violent ways. Either for retaliation for those crimes or just because of the hate put into them by the events would spawn these violent out burst. It was a subtle game that was sure but if done correctly then things would go their way.

By cutting off the life lines to them, and making mutants act out in more dangerous manners as well as making sure that those events were brought to the attention to the public would help ensure that public views on mutants would go their way.

It wasn't easy socially engineering the collective perception of the nation but all they needed was the majority. Some people seeing how most of the people thought would instinctually go with that group simply because humans were creatures that thrived in communities. The bigger the community and the closer it was with its members the safer an individual felt.

Only people with strong views or minds could make up their own uniformed opinions, they were the key people to persuade. It was people like that, who became leaders and who the masses would follow.

Another thing was to take down all those mutants looked up to, you take away their role models and you take away things like joy, faith and hope. There were already two such individuals under current observation. The first was the musician Allison "Dazzler" Blaire, she was a talented musician who started up in the early 90s. She was currently working in her home on a new album but there were hints that she may be a mutant.

If exposed and ruined in disgrace then it would only help them, human fans would be repulsed by her and maybe some in mutants in general, while her mutant fans would feel the loss of one of their idols. It was a pity though if she was a mutant, her music was very good.

There was also a very talented artist by the name of Alan Hunt, he was a sculpture that made incredible works of art in many different styles and elements. Some didn't know how he managed to make such flawless things but his people were suspicious of him. Creed had once seen a metal sculpture by him himself once and it was flawless, with no seams or anything. It looked like one giant piece of metal somehow formed then created.

If he was a mutant it would explain that and yet another idol would fall as well.

"Mr. Creed sir we've arrived," The driver told him and he nodded his head and put the files away. It was time to work on the political front the social front could wait a little longer.

-Classified Location-

Clare Smith wasn't your average girl, although she looked average enough. Not very tall at seventeen years of age with glasses and the only thing to really stand out was her light red hair that she always kept in a ponytail. However she was walking through the secret base that her team X-Force under SHIELD used for their HQ.

She was part of the mutant team, mainly her being support role. She was never really good with the combat stuff so she was put in a position that was better for her talents. With her genius level IQ and her power to see the future it made her one of the best mission operators around. She like her two friends Wes Johnson and Susan Masters had been part of the Prodigy experiments. So far with only two other living survivors one a psychotic the other with the X-Men.

They had been raised by people inside of SHIELD, her own adopted parents were lab techs and she had a lot of fun with them. Ever since their powers manifested they were being trained to use them and now they were part of a full team.

Currently she was in her X-Force uniform; it was a loose jumpsuit that was green with SHIELD X-Force patch on the shoulders. She had a jacket on as well mainly for any tools that she liked to bring on the few times she was needed in the field. But now she was headed to the Core now.

She walked by the metal walls that she had grown accustomed to, living with SHEILD her entire life made her used to such things. She noticed a few of the soldiers and people around as well that helped out around the place.

Clare came up to a large security door and pressed her hand against a palm reader. It glowed green and it opened, she smiled as she entered the room she helped to design and build with her adopted parents, hell they were her real parents to her and she loved doing things like this with them. She still remembered when she was eleven and helped them out in the labs.

The Core was a complete mission control center for the team with all the latest gear and then some. There were three chairs there were in the center of the room with computer equipment and helmet devices that she created for certain uses.

"Hey just in time," Said the dark skinned and haired fifteen year old Claudia St. Croix. Next to her was her twin sister Nicole. The two were the younger sisters of Monet and were telepaths.

"Yep we better get to work then girls," Clare said as she took the central chair that had more equipment connected to it and facing a large screen against one of the walls. She sat down and control panels moved into place on either side of her. The helmet moved down to fit her head as a HUD moved down over her eyes.

The M Twins took their own places although their chairs faced away from her to two smaller screens and not as complex controls. They were there to help her and the helmets would amplify their telepathic powers to help keep in contact with the team.

Her powers and skills would help keep the team not only linked but informed. "Okay girls the team is at the damn and this is a rescue mission with the priority to keep casualties to as close to zero as possible."

"We know, we know." Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah we didn't sleep through the briefing on this," Nicole added in.

"Sorry," Clare said shyly, even though technically she was in charge in the support group she was always a shy and somewhat timid girl.

-Dam in the USA-

It was close to night as the sun was falling onto the damn that a group of terrorist were holding the workers there hostage. It had been going on for seven hours and now X-Force was going in, they had all the detailed information that they could get for this mission. They had the blueprints on the damn, satellite recon of the area and thermal images of as far inside the damn as possible.

Unfortunate some areas were shielded by thermals with all the metal in the way. But they were already moving on with their plans. There were two members going for an aqua assault, one in a black and purple combat suit was the team leader Domino. She was the oldest of them at twenty one and with her pale skin, dark hair and single black spot over one eye she stood out. With her in a similar suit only in navy blue and black was the second in command Susan Master AKA Aqua.

Susan was only seventeen, well nearly eighteen actually and with her powers to manipulate water she was perfect for this. Also since her eyes had an extra lens so she could see underwater and her lungs were altered in a way to take oxygen out of the water she didn't need any scuba gear.

Both of them made their way to opposite ends of the facility until they came to dam's wall. They both took out devices on their belts and placed them over their hands. They were specially designed devices that the SHIELD people had made up. It stuck to nearly every surface so both of them started on climbing to the top. Aqua had to take a moment the cough out all the water in her lungs first, she had gotten used to it but it was damn annoying to expel the water every time.

'Some times I wish I had gills instead,' She thought to herself as the two started their climb.

In the air were the two of the three flyers. Polaris was there in her black and green body suit with M in her dark red suit. They were waiting for their team mates to get into position, the other flyer on the team the Irish girl Theresa Cassidy AKA Siryn wasn't with them since in order to fly she had to use that high pitch wail of hers.

'I really wish they'd hurry up,' Monet said telepathically to Polaris suddenly causing the other girl to jump. She hated it when M just sends something like that without warning.

'We're almost there,' Susan's exasperated voice was heard in M's head most likely being carried to her by one of her little sisters. This little 'battle meld' they had come up with allowed the team to operate almost with one mind at times.

Sometimes it was a little confusing on who was thinking/feeling what, so they tried to keep it more low key. 'Fine just hurry up, you know all this humidity it killing my hair," The beautiful young woman said flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I really wish you'd cut out the prima donna act," Polaris said rather then thought at her.

Monet looked at the green haired girl, "What act? This is how I really am."

The others were already waiting on either side of the damn as well. On one side was Kevin Sidney the young man who was a shape shifter. He preferred to wear a yellow and blue uniform but it didn't matter anyway. He was with Guido Carsosella AKA Strong Guy, mainly due to the fact that his upper body was very large and his strength was just as impressive.

"So Morph how are we going to get some of those guards attention?" He asked the younger man as he shifted in the wooded area they were hiding in. He shifted the small circular shades on his face as he looked out there. Thankfully his all black uniform helped to hide his massive form.

Morph just grinned at the big man, "Oh trust me I got something planned."

On the other side Simon Williams AKA Wonder Man and Ben Russel AKA Shatterstar waited as well. Although in Simon's case he was a bit bored. Ben wasn't much of when it came to conversations, but then again he was grown in a lab as some type of super soldier and when SHIELD rescued him from the lab they put him on the team. He was already a combat master and enhanced physical skills to match.

He was in all white with lots of weapons, two swords, daggers, and other things. It was a sharp contrast to his own uniform that was mainly just black with a red W on it. On a near by hill were the last members of the team Wes Johnson AKA Granite and Siryn.

By now Domino and Aqua managed to climb to the top of the damn and made a stealthy move to the two towers there. Each would give them a decent view of things as well as key sniper points. They both carried in water proof plastic a new weapon SHIELD was experimenting with. It was a modified small powered rail gun rifle. It fired projectiles through magnetism then chemical reaction like other fire arms.

The 'slugs' they fired were also different, they were a non-lethal round that when they hit a person sends an electrical current through them like a tazer. It was theorized that even people in body armour would be affected by them. But still to be sure a shot to the head was best.

There were only one guard in each tower and both were knocked out, and tied up before they knew what hit them. Both women un-slung their gear and got the riffles ready as they stayed in the shadows. Domino here, five by five.'

'Aqua, dido.'

'Roger that' One of the M Twins stated to everyone.

'Okay people it looks like this is the best time, you know the plan,' Oracle told them as she was working with lightning speed at her controls. 'I've isolated the frequency they are using and preparing to set up a local jamming field. All radios will be shut out so we'll have to use the BMS for this.'

The BMS or Battle Meld System wasn't fool proof and if they needed would cut the dampening field but only if they needed it.

Back at the damn two of the guards were just doing their patrol when their radios got a sudden burst of static. They didn't know what was going on and one of them were about to try their radio but was interrupted. "Hey boys," Came a feminine and sultry voice.

Both men looked to see a very beautiful teen woman there in the tiniest bikini they had ever seen. The Woman that looked like Monet swayed her hits as she walked up to them, "Hey do you know where the beach is? I'm lose and it's so cold out here with this tiny thing. See I'm getting goose bumps."

She thrust out her chest as both took a look taken aback by this. Although that was enough for Strong Guy to pick them up by their heads and smash them together knocking them both out cold. "You know Morph is Monet ever finds out about this it won't be funny."

"Oh please I've done worst. I mean when I found out how to control my powers I spent an hour just as every woman I ever seen…naked looking in the mirror mind you." The boy said changing back into his normal form.

"That's kind of disturbing man."

"Oh please like you wouldn't be doing it."

The larger man thought about it, "Okay maybe…Hey what is it like to…well you know have breasts?"

"Kind of weird I mean they moved all over the place and adds this weight to your front," Morph said honestly as they took up new positions. "How women put up with them I'll never know."

On the other side Simon was about to ask his partner what the plan was when the man just ran out to the guards before he knew it. 'Damn son of a…could he have at least waited for me?' He thought to himself as he ran after the red headed warrior.

Shatterstar wasted no time and as the two guards pointed their guns at him he threw two daggers that jammed into the nozzles of the weapons. When he got close to them then he went into unarmed combat with them. He did a split kick to knock away the guns then a knife thrust to the throats to cause them to start chocking for air. He heard Wonder man coming up and threw one of them to him while he hammered a fist to the gut of the last one and finished him off with an elbow to the back of his head.

Simon only had to do a clothesline to take out the last one since to the guard it was like getting hit by a brick wall. He looked at Ben and shook his head, "We really need to work on your ability to communicate."

The other man just shrugged, "This was just faster," was the only response he gave him and went on.

By now Domino and Aqua were taking noiseless shots thanks to the fact that the rifles were more silent then a regular rifle, at those terrorist that were in their line of sight as the other teams moved in. Oracle was helping them out by telling them where targets were, or would be coming from. Most likely they knew that she was getting this information from either from thermals or from her own powers to see the future.

M and Polaris came in and helped out, M being invulnerable didn't worry about getting shot in fact the bullets that hit her just bounced off and she wasn't even phased at all by them. Monet just went in and with her strength threw men aside like rag dolls and ripped apart weapons with her bare hands. Polaris used her magnetic powers to stop any bullets that came at her or at any team mates and also crushed any weapons she saw.

A high pitch wail was that Siryn was on her way with Wes in her arms, Wes was just glad that he put in the ear plugs, how this girl didn't go def was beyond him.

By the time they were joined by the others it was time for an infiltration since the gun shots would alert the others. Oracle was typing furiously when a vision hit her, she saw a few terrorist aiming AK-47s at several hostages. She saw the location and locked it in, 'Siryn change of plans I need you to drop Granite through the ground at the location I'm sending to you.' She thought and sent a mental image as the Twins helped her out.

'…You sure?' She asked her not sure if she had heard right about that.

'Yes, Wes just go into your rock mode before you hit.'

'Okay, I trus ya girl,' He thought back to her. Oracle had never steered her wrong and if she wanted him to do this he knew there had to be a reason for it. So when Siryn was at the spot that she had seen in her mind she let him fall and he turned into his rock hide mode before he hit.

His black skin turned grey and rocky as he grew a foot and his mass increased. He slammed into the ground and through it into two lower levels until the terrorist about to shoot a few of the hostages that tried to escape suddenly had the roof fall in on them. They jumped out of the way to see the hulking mass that was Granite.

He grinned at the two surprised armed men on the ground, "Oh yeah this is going to be fun."

As the mutants moved through the structure they took down terrorist and made sure that all the hostages were safe. They worked together as they were trained to and made sure to cover each other's backs. The entire operation took them a total of fifteen minutes to clean up the area and make sure all objectives were met. When they had taken out the final resistance that's when a buzzer sounded that everyone heard.

At that moment the simulation ended and the world around them dissolved. They were in a giant metal sphere where they were training. That was one of the simulations that they were running at the moment. Up in the control room there were several technicians working on the many computers used to run the training room.

One of them was a blond woman in a lab coat, she was Dr. Deborah Risman and she was the medical expert for the team down there.

"Yes they are improving although I would have preferred to have a few older candidates for this team," said the woman next to her. She was about 5'11, her long blond hair was tied up in military style behind her head. She was a tall statuesque woman in a military uniform with the skirt unlike the pants worn by the male members.

"Well Colonel Danvers they are the best we could get," She told the other woman. She just nodded, she didn't know much about this Carol Danvers only that she had been in the Air Force and after that the CIA, she had been transferred to help train the X-Force team given her years of experience and skills.

The door opened and both saw Fury enter into the room, he wore his usual trench coat plus the hardened face of a man that had seen so much action and the loss of one of his eyes always gave him this presence about him. Even now the tech people were trying to look like they were working a bit harder when he entered the room.

"So how did they do?" Fury asked seeing the kids down there talking and playing around.

"Pretty well," Danvers told him, "But I think they could do better."

Fury just nodded, "I just got a call from an old friend. Looks like there's trouble and I may need to deploy them for a mission soon. This is a very delicate operation and we may also use this as the perfect way to announce this team to the world."

"Are you sure they're ready for this?" Carol asked him not sure about this, they could use another month at least to work things out.

"Sorry but this is pretty serious and it's bound to get worse," Fury wasn't in a good mood at all. When Logan gave him a call about this he could just see the political disaster this would have. SHIELD would have to step in and take care of this quietly he hoped but if not then he would have to let X-Force into the light and show that mutants were a force for good as well.

He just hoped this didn't blow up in his face.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 15: SLOW RECOVERY