Tightening her seatbelt, Moira rubbed her ears as they began to descend. They'd been popping for the last thirty minutes.
They'd boarded a commercial airline. The 'welcome committee' (as S.H.I.E.L.D so fondly called them) were sat further ahead with no idea that their contact was onboard with them. During her final debrief Fury had mentioned the team's long experience in initiating contact with exceptionals, but the nature of the so-called X-Men was unusual. As far as Moira knew, after all she only had Level 3 clearance, S.H.I.E.L.D had never approached this many exceptionals at once.
Her report was thorough - the team were well aware that they were meeting with a potentially large group of highly powered, and perhaps hostile, mutants. At Moira's insistence they would go in unarmed, badges on display. Guns would have no effect anyway, and it could be seen as a peace offering of sorts. She left the rest to their discretion. Fury, at the very least, was more than confident in their abilities and she had to be too. The team had had experience with exceptionals before, they would know what to expect.
Moira hadn't had that luxury during her first encounter with the mutants, when she glimpsed a woman carved from diamonds and a man who appeared to be the devil.
Once they had made contact they would retreat back to the hotel they had been booked into, the address of which they would give to the X-Men in a show of good faith. From there they were to call their contact. Moira would be at a guest house a short walk away. Close enough to get to the team if anything went wrong and they needed a specialist agent. Hopefully far enough away that Charles wouldn't be able to hear her if he decided to take up the offer to visit the team.
The knot that had been in Moira's stomach since she joined S.H.I.E.L.D, the one that wringed of betrayal, was flaring up again. Usually she could quickly quiet it once she started to think about everything she'd gone through after Charles had taken her memories. Today it was harder.
He had wiped her mind for a reason, to keep organisations like S.H.I.E.L.D from showing up on his doorstep. To keep his pupils safe. Moira couldn't imagine S.H.I.E.D trying to exploit the X-Men - their own agents were more than capable. The only occasion Moira could think of that they would need to bring in the mutants would be if they were going up against another one of their kind. Namely Lehnsherr. And even in that case, Moira remembered how much Charles used to drag his heels when it came to dealing with Erik.
Erik would no doubt be furious that Moira had revealed their existence - even though plenty of people, government higher ups anyway, knew that mutants were real without her help. There had been an awful lot of people on those ships outside of Cuba after all.
How Charles would react on the other hand, Moira wasn't sure. He would be cautious around S.H.I.E.L.D, definitely. Undoubtedly he'd be curious about other exceptionals they'd encountered, if they were mutants or something else entirely. Then he'd want to know how Moira got her memories back.
Of course if he had just listened to her assurances that she'd keep quiet rather than invading her mind they wouldn't be in this situation at all.
There was no need for her to feel guilty about this, she thought firmly to herself. After remembering her time with the mutants she knew it was only a matter of time before they did something so explosive that there would be no putting the lid back on the box. If anything S.H.I.E.L.D could be an asset to them. Moira didn't think there was much of anything they couldn't keep quiet.
The plane touched down and Moira hoped that the growing queasiness was just a result of her ears finally clearing.
She was careful to take her time while disembarking to give the team time to get out of the airport. Moira must have been the only person in the back rows to be thankful to be trapped in a queue behind two old men blocking the aisle while they heartily discussed yesterday's baseball game, oblivious to the huffs and sighs emanating from behind them.
"Hey, move it along would you?" A red faced man called out after a few moments. The men looked slightly bashful before stepping aside for the other passengers.
As the team wouldn't be needing her for several hours, Moira stopped at the hotel bar for some tonic water with the hope that it would settle her stomach. After sending two men packing, she eventually moved on to catch a cab.
By her calculations the team would be checking into the hotel as she got in the car. By the time she was checking into her own room, they would have already travelled the short journey to the mansion. What the outcome of that would be would be something she wouldn't learn for at least several hours - if all went well at least. Tactical support would alert her if there were any calls made to the emergency services.
The guest house was as quaint as could be expected but it was a solidly built, clean house - more than suitable resting her head. Tossing her case onto the bed, Moira quickly established that the doorframe into the wardrobe was sturdy enough to support her weight. She might as well use the free time practically, and some light training would get the blood flowing in case there was an emergency call out.
In the few training sessions they had together before her graduation, Carter had moved Moira onto martial arts and Tai Chi was proving a favourite for her when practicing in her spare time at home or on the road. Her balance had already improved significantly. Besides, a guest house was hardly likely to have a gym to do strength training and, apart from pull ups and crunches, there wasn't much else she could do in a small bedroom.
Moving an overstuffed armchair to the side, Moira started to level out her breathing but found it hard to empty her mind. Every time she achieved near concentration she'd wonder what was happening to the team, what they might be going through.
During her brief time with Xavier and his friends she never really took the opportunity to understand the depth of his powers. She knew he was uncommonly powerful, even amongst other mutants, but at the time she had never expected some of his more controlling powers to be turned on her. Moira had, of course, been highly conscience about the possibility that he could be present in her mind without her awareness. Unless he communicated with her telepathically she never knew whether he was reading her or not. A fact she found quite disturbing - something she didn't share with him in conversation and which she was unsure whether or not he knew.
It was an odd sensation to become accustomed to - the idea that your mind was no longer secure. Whether her thoughts were safe. It had also led to some extreme paranoia when using the shower or getting changed, until she told herself he was too decent for such things. Just thinking about him upset her breathing. She wondered how deeply he was probing the other agent's minds, how much he'd learnt about S.H.I.E.L.D.
Although, if she were being honest, her primary concern was whether or not he had realised that she worked there. Moira had encountered at least one team member in training before, and she had been a regular fixture at the base where the team would be stationed when they weren't on a mission.
If he did know, was he angry? Did he feel betrayed?
She stumbled slightly while shifting into her next posture and angrily cursed herself. What did she care.
Realising she was too worked up to do Tai Chi, Moira contemplated going for a jog. Of course if someone rang she would miss the call.
With a sigh she stretched her arms and prepared to do some pull ups when the room to her room banged open. There was no conscious thought - her side arm was drawn and pointed at the figure in the doorway, finger on the trigger. She could picture Peggy beside her, looking at her stopwatch with a small smile.
Alex stood there, out of breath with a nervous eye on her gun.
"Summers?" Moira cried. "What th...how did you know I was here?"
"Old lady downstairs." He said, pointing his thumb behind him.
Moira scowled in return.
"The Professor told me. He sent me to bring you to the house."
"Bring me?" She asked, using the resentment in her voice to mask any trepidation. Moira had been involved in clearing up the bomb shelter after Alex practically destroyed it. That was not a power she wanted turning on her, training or no.
Alex nodded, brow furrowing and his hands twitching nearly imperceptibly at his sides. "We need to go. Magneto showed up."
"Who?"
"Erik - he calls himself Magneto now. It's weird, I know. Raven gave him the name." He said, nose turning up.
Right, in the same breath she had named Alex Havok, Hank Beast and Charles Professor X. Suffice to say the paltry human didn't get a nickname.
"What is he doing there?"
"He's trying to steal Charles' recruits - like the other guy did except so far he doesn't seem to be killing any resistors. Charles," Alex waved his fingers at his temples, "me, and I got out the mansion before they started rounding everyone up. Seems to think Erik isn't really there for what he says he is."
"Like what?"
Alex grunted. "I didn't really have time to ask questions, I was a little busy running to get you." He said, irritation thickening his voice. "And would you mind putting the gun down?"
Moira kept it steadily trained on him. "You said Erik was there and I know Raven is on his side. Prove it's really you."
He opened his mouth before snapping it shut again. Frown deepening, Alex looked down at his shoes while he struggled to recollect something. "After they all left us on the beach you were holding on to the Professor, but Hank knew they'd only respond to you on the radio and we needed to get him to the hospital. He tried to get you up but we were all in a bit of shock so he started growling, actual to god growling," Alex grinned in spite of himself, "to get us all moving. I sat with him while you went back to the plane. You didn't come back out until the boat was in sight.
"She wasn't there for that bit - she wouldn't know any of that."
Moira slowly lowered her arms, gun still firmly in hand. "Is the team alright?"
"Oh yeah, we're pretty well matched these days." Alex replied, moving away from the doorframe, apparently oblivious to S.H.I.E.L.D's presence at the mansion. He must think she was talking about the X-Men, she realised. "We've been recruiting."
Moira grabbed her bag.
"What are you doing here anyway, I thought you'd gone back?" Alex asked.
"I'll tell you on the way."
Alex looked down at her right hand, a movement Moira followed. Her knuckles were turning white around her weapon. "You know that won't work on him."
"That's okay, I've got something special for Magneto."
XXXXX
Finally an X-Men, huh :D It only took 8 chapters. Stay tuned, we'll get some of the big names in the next chapter. As always please let me know what you think and have a great day!