Chapter 7- Cody Makes A Deal

Sying was actually grateful for the chance to unwind on the Wagners' island. Kate had told him that he could stay there as long as he wanted, and there was a hammock in a prime location for him to sit out in the sun and listen to music and relax.

He had wanted to be mad, of course, but he couldn't quite seem to manage that. Instead, it was more that he was disappointed. Penny had been his first real girlfriend, and he really had fallen for her in a way that he hadn't thought he would able to do with someone who wasn't Krissy.

She had been exactly what he needed. She was fun, and she thought he was sweet and cute, and he knew his ship approved of her — and he wasn't sure what else he could have done. He couldn't help being miserable, because if this was going to be a problem…

It just wasn't fair that having the big family he did meant he was under the microscope when he fell in love.

Still, it had been good to get away for a while, even if he had no plans of dragging it out and being out there for more than a couple days. It had only been overnight so far, and he was already starting to feel better having slept on it and spending the rest of the next day letting off a little steam with a good run and some music to fit his mood, with plasmoids to the beat over the ocean just because he could.

But he wasn't going to spend much longer than that feeling sorry for himself. Because if there was one thing he had learned from Penny, it was that he was actually very cute — and he was pretty sure he could try again.

Not immediately, obviously. He had very bad rebound taste. Sell-you-into-slavery bad taste. But he wasn't under the same delusion Elin was that he wasn't going to ever find anyone.

So, he had planned to head back out across the ocean — and maybe stop somewhere to grab something sweet to recharge on the way — but that more or less evaporated when he heard the low hum of a jet of some kind and cracked one eye open from where he was lying on the hammock with his hands behind his head.

He couldn't see anything, but he could hear it. Stealth tech, then.

"Oh come on," he said to no one in particular as he sat up in the hammock. "Can't a guy get any time to himself without trouble like this?"

Almost in answer, Sying head the hiss of a mechanical door opening, and he looked toward the sound in time to see a few men in uniforms that he recognized as Russian step out of seemingly nothing. He jumped to his feet and would have hit his comm if not for the net that burst out of the trees nearby, knocking him over faster than he could react — and since he could move fast, he was sure that meant there was a dampener up.

The net sparked for an instant, and before Sying could maneuver to hit the panic button in his pocket, the electric arc simply knocked him out cold.

When he woke up again, he wasn't anywhere close to the Wagners' island — not that he had expected to be, considering he had seen the Russian uniforms before. It was nice not to wake up in one of those sensory deprivation tanks, though — but that was the only good thing he could say about his situation.

He could taste the familiar tang of adrenaline when he realized that he was wearing a collar again, but he was also tied down and couldn't move. There were a couple Russian soldiers off to the side, and to the opposite side, he looked over to see Jana.

Or… Sinister. The woman looked less and less like herself every time they saw her, growing paler, letting her hair grow out, with redder eyes than before.

Sying narrowed his eyes her way as he considered her. He knew from his family that Sinister used to attach himself to programs like this so he'd have access to mutants, but… Sying was half-Kree. And not just that but half-interdimensional, genetically-altered Kree. Sinister hadn't really cared about his immediate family before.

So, he turned away from Sinister and toward the two Russian soldiers to bear his teeth and let out a hiss their way. "Guess you want me to trash this place too," he said through his teeth. After all, might as well give them a solid middle finger when he didn't have anything else to offer to fight them with.

But to his surprise, that just got a cold smile out of one of the officers. "The destruction of our previous operation is precisely what makes you such a valuable asset," he said.

"Yeah, I'm a real catch," Sying said dryly.

The Russian officer simply tipped his head toward Sinister, who was smirking the slightest bit before she sang out in an odd sort of mix of Jana and Sinister's voices, "You will answer all the questions put to you fully." Sinister paused to watch Sying glare for a moment before she asked, "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Sying said, though as upset as he was, he had to smirk when the two Russian officers answered too and then looked disturbed by it.

Sinister smirked to herself before she gave the two officers a quick command that they didn't have to answer. Sying was pretty sure she'd done it just to show that she was the one running things, even if they were in a Russian base.

"When were the X-Men expecting you to return?" Sinister asked.

Sying tried not to answer, but the only resistance he got up was the fact that he'd started to hiss, and it came out in his answers, elongating his s's. "I didn't say."

"But they'll notice your disappearance somehow. A scheduled check-in, perhaps?"

Sying glared at her. "Yeah."

"How often?"

"Daily."

"When was your last check-in?"

"About an hour before these guys showed up," Sying admitted, though he was trying not to. He had the same problem his dad had with the Purple Man, though — he was sensitive to sound, and the whole command was a verbal assault on the same lines as that guy had used. He could hardly even clench his teeth or try to give an evasive answer.

Sinister nodded and then looked up at the Russian officers. "Then we have plenty of time," she told the two of them. Both of them nodded their agreement before she looked back down to Sying. "Now," she said, her expression shifting into something more malicious. "Tell me what the different children at that miserable little school are capable of."

Sying tried not to answer, but that lasted for maybe a second before he found himself telling Sinister — and the Russians — everything. Everything. From the older kids like Nolan with his invulnerability and Penny with her ability to armor herself to the younger kids like Zoe Barton with her shapeshifting powers and Kaleb Wagner's teleporting and Michael Summers' metal manipulation…. All of it.

As soon as the Russians had their list, they stepped out of the room, leaving Sying alone with Sinister. "And now for the real question of the hour," she said, her eyes glittering. "Where is the Summers boy hidden away?"

Sying was really starting to feel miserable as he shook his head lightly. "There's a few Summers boys." He was trying to fight it, and after talking about everyone in the school, he was at least starting to get some handle on evasion.

"The one that belongs to Scott," Sinister clarified, looking irritated at the attempt to slow her down.

"Which one?" Sying ended up asking — which was sort of evasive too but also necessary to the question.

Sinister looked livid. "I have no interest in Cable. Where is the other one?"

Sying almost smirked. "Which one?"

But at that, Sinister's eyes widened, and Sying knew the jig was up. "Both of them."

Sying frowned as he suddenly realized his glib response had given away too much. Half the reason Chance was on lockdown was that Sinister thought he was dead, and Sying had just blown his cover! "They… they're at Muir Island," he said despite the best effort yet to bite his tongue.

"And the twin girl?"

Sying swallowed and nodded. "They're there. All three of them."

The smile that began to stretch across her face was truly menacing the longer it went on. "You've been very helpful."

"Bite me."

Sinister chuckled. "Well then, why don't you tell me if Wolverine's boy is being hidden away as well — and where I can find him."

Sying was shaking his head even as he answered. "I hope you find him," he spit out. "He's with Bruce Banner at his lab, and the Hulk could use the five second exercise tearing you apart."

She considered him for a moment, then shook her head before sweeping from the room and gesturing to the men standing just inside to deal with Sying. As for Sying, he held the glare just until she left before he let out all his breath in frustration. His friends were in trouble now, and he couldn't even warn them.

Cody and Chance both were dead to the world asleep in their room after they'd spent the day out at the shooting range with Brian Braddock — which had been a blast, literally and figuratively. But after that, they'd headed in and barely even changed out of the clothes that still smelled like gun oil and explosives before they were both out, so it took both of the boys a moment to process what was going on when the alarm went off.

The room that they were staying in had originally been one of the emergency lockdown rooms, so whatever assault was going on outside, it had triggered the emergency measures, sealing the door and locking them both in.

The boys glanced at each other for a moment before both of them went to get the guns that they had stored nearby to load them and wait — and Chance tried calling Charlie on her cell to make sure she was okay. He had to try twice, though, because she'd had the same thought, and they ended up getting each other's voicemail before they connected.

Cody watched Chance for a moment before his older brother hung up the phone and nodded. "She's locked down too. She says the whole school is scared, confused, and panicked." He paused. "And she says she knows who's coming."

Cody didn't even have to ask, considering the look on Chance's face. "She recognized Sinister's 'song', right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess now we test out how good the lockdown is," Cody said, gesturing toward the door with a tip of his head. "But I'm telling you now: if she gets through, I'm blasting her into next week."

"I'm right there with you," Chance agreed fervently. "I'll shoot her in the mouth so she can't stop us."

"Yeah, good," Cody said, though now that they knew who it was, he couldn't help but get up and pace a bit just to let out the excess energy.

As the two of them were prepping and holding their breath for a big fight, very suddenly, the locks on the doors clicked … and they began to open. No warning to the kids that all was clear, nothing to indicate anything had happened like Moira always was sure to do … they just … unlocked.

Still, for as odd as it all was, they weren't the least bit surprised when two men far too large to be normal stepped in to fill up the doorway. Both Chance and Cody were quick to react, more out of self-preservation instinct than anything else, with Chance shooting and Cody blasting the men back out of the doorway. They both hit their panic buttons, too, though considering how much was going on outside, they were sure the people who were set to respond were already in the middle of it all.

"I don't see her," Cody said to Chance, which they both knew was bad, considering her stolen power sets.

"Drop your weapons," the Sinister-Jana tritone sang out. "And don't move."

Both of the boys dropped their guns and froze, their eyes wide as Sinister finally made her presence known, looking overly smug at the two boys.

"You're not getting off this island," Cody snapped angrily. "So just… buzz off. Or don't. Stick around and get your butt kicked; see if we care."

She turned his way with a glare and crouched down to pick up one of the guns. "You sound so confident," she drawled out before she turned the weapon on Chance and fired — hitting him just above the knee.

Chance went down with a cry, and Cody swore loudly. "Leave him alone!"

"Such a mouth on you," Sinister said, tutting as she approached Chance. She sneered, then crouched down. "I'm tired of seeing this one turn up at the most inconvenient times. I thought for sure that this would be behind us."

Chance's eyes were wide, and he was obviously hurting, but he managed to spit out her way, "Took the words right out of my mouth."

She carefully wrapped her hands around Chance's throat and narrowed her eyes to slits. "Even with trained animals, it will never be done right unless I do it myself." She clenched her hands and leaned forward — clearly intent on choking the life out of him with her bare hands — and Chance couldn't do a thing to stop her.

Cody felt the same sort of numb anger as the last time he'd seen Sinister — and this time, he was there to see in real time as his brother was killed. He was shaking all over again before he almost gasped, "Stop. Please — let him go."

"You're in no position to make demands or requests," she replied coolly, her gaze locked onto Chance's fear-filled one.

Cody was still shaking as he swallowed hard. "I swear. I swear. You kill him and I'll fight you every step. But…" He took a breath and looked at his brother, who had managed to get one hand up to push back out of sheer desperation, but it wasn't even making a dent. "Please. I won't fight you. At all. Just stop."

"A promise of cooperation," Sinister said thoughtfully, though she hadn't let Chance up either, and it was obvious he was starting to go limp. "If you break your word, I'll make you watch while every member of your family dies. Slowly."

"If you knew anything about my family, you'd know I won't break my word," Cody swore.

Sinister smirked as Chance's eyes fluttered. "Fine." She let go of him, and with a heavy gasp, Chance started coughing — the lines of red marks and bruises already clearly evident around his neck. She got to her feet without sparing Chance the slightest glance and tipped her head at Cody. "It's time to go."

Cody stared at Chance for a moment before he swallowed and nodded. "Alright."

Sinister swept past him, not looking back — trusting that Cody was going to cooperate rather than risk his brother. When they got to the exit, she spun on her heel. "Whatever devices you have on you — remove them. Now."

Cody was almost numb as he nodded and pulled his phone and panic button out of his pockets, as well as his glasses, holding them up for Sinister to see.

She took them, dropped them on the ground, and crushed all three beneath her heel. "Keep up, my boy."

As soon as the attack on Muir Island had begun, the X-Men had been alerted, and they were in the air in an instant, since there was a teleportation shield in place on the island. It only took half an hour to get there, but it was obvious once they arrived that things had not gone well.

Almost every member of the staff had been injured in some way or another, though thankfully, the students had been able to hide away from the action. But as the team split up to assess the damage, Scott was the one to run into Moira, who was simply beside herself for how upset she was.

"Moira? What happened?" Scott asked, though he already had a sinking feeling he knew.

She looked furious through her teary eyes as she drew herself up. "Sinister toolin' about in some wee lass's form." She shook her head, trying to temper the fire. "Stolen powers … I couldnae stop him."

Scott opened his mouth to try to reassure her for a moment but instead ended up simply running down the hall. He knew where his kids were in the residential areas, and he had to make sure they were okay.

He got to Charlie's room first, and his heart dropped when he realized that she wasn't there. He was about to turn around and leave to go to the boys' room when he heard a small noise, though, and he turned back to see the grate drop off of the air vent as Charlie poked her head out, looking incredibly pale and shaken but absolutely still alive.

He rushed over to pull her out of the vent the rest of the way and wrapped her up in a relieved hug as she hooked her arms around his neck.

"I knew she was coming, so I grabbed my music so I couldn't hear her," Charlie explained.

Scott pulled her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head. "That's my girl," he said. He kissed her forehead again before he started to get back up. "I'll be right back," he promised. "I just have to find your brothers."

He somehow wasn't surprised when Charlie followed him down the hall, though, holding onto the small little leather bag she grabbed from her bed stand.

The Marauders outside of Chance and Cody's room had obviously gotten on the wrong end of Chance's guns and Cody's optic blasts and were down for the count. But when they looked in the room itself, there was no sign of Cody, just Chance, who was pale — from the gunshot to his leg and the redness in his eyes and the bruises around his neck.

Scott could feel the bottom drop out of his stomach as he rushed over to Chance and almost missed it when Charlie whispered, "I'll find him," pulling the Amy pendant out of the leather bag.

Scott frowned Charlie's way for a moment, but when he saw the brief shudder move through her and then there was no other emotional breakdown or sign other than Charlie briefly nodding as she concentrated, he turned back to Chance and simply picked him up and headed down the hall.

Hank and Moira both were at the medical bay dealing with the staff — and a small number of students — who had been hurt when the Marauders came through. "Sinister took Cody," he told the two of them as he set Chance down, frowning at his son's bloodshot eyes and the rasp to every breath he was taking. "Charlie's working on finding him now."

Moira had backed away from where Hank had more or less taken over. Most of the staff's injuries amounted to bumps and scrapes, and the kids were more shaken up than anything, but once it was more or less under control, Moira couldn't quite keep her fury down. She knew that she needed some space and something to do other than focus on what she'd like to see happen to Sinister and his ilk, so with a determined expression, she breezed by the rest of the adults gathered to 'check the perimeter settings' in the security room.

"Dad," Chance said in a raspy voice, looking incredibly wide-eyed as he struggled to get the words out. "Dad, Cody…" He let out a heavy cough that drew Hank's attention as the blue-furred doctor made his way over, frowning over the unmistakable injuries, though Chance was halfway pushing Hank's arm away trying to talk to Scott. "Made a deal," he rasped out.

"What are you talking about?" Scott frowned.

"For me," Chance said, clearly upset.

Scott stared at Chance for a moment before he swore under his breath and then stepped back to let Hank attend to Chance a little better. "We'll get him out," he swore.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too much longer before Charlie came rushing down to the medical wing. "I know which way they went," she said, her eyes wide and her hands shaky, but it was clear she was determined. "I had to widen the focus, and I just have a direction, but I can direct us as we get closer."

Scott took a step toward her. "Charlie…"

Charlie shook her head quickly. "I've got it," she promised. "We have to find Cody. He's so mad."

Scott frowned her way for a moment. "You're not coming."

"I can't look at the emotions of the whole world at once, Dad. I only have a direction." Charlie shook her head at him but held his gaze. "I won't get out of the jet."

Scott paused and then nodded once. "Fine. But one of Kurt's bamfs is staying with you."

"Fine," she agreed, already following him out the door.

They met up with the rest of the team at the blackbird, and Charlie just tipped her chin up when she saw that the adults were giving her a bit of a look.

"I can find him," Charlie said as she sat down close by the cockpit so she could give Scott a solid direction.

"Kurt, I need one of your bamfs to stay with her once we get there," Scott said.

Kurt raised an eyebrow Scott's way but nodded all the same. No one was going to argue with Charlie if she could find her brother. "Of course."

With that decided, Scott put the jet in the air, and Charlie clutched onto the pendant around her neck with her eyes squeezed shut. K could smell the uptick in anxiety from the girl, but Charlie was giving Scott directions every few minutes as she clearly zeroed in on Cody — until finally, she opened her eyes and let out a breath. "Found him," she said in barely a whisper before she relayed the final coordinates to Scott.

Once they got to the coordinates, Scott turned to Kurt. "We'll cut through the Marauders, but if she gets within earshot, we're in trouble. You and the bamfs can go in ahead of us — break her jaw or whatever you have to do to keep her quiet and then focus on finding Cody and getting him out. We'll take care of the rest."

Kurt nodded and disappeared in a poof of blue, leaving Scott, K, and Noh to deal with the group of Marauders. In a blink, Kurt found himself in the entryway of the building and inclined his head to the side for only an instant before he teleported again.

He had timed the teleport exactly right, but before he could wind up to lay into Sinister, there was a familiar sharp sound before an optic blast hit him hard enough to knock him back into the wall, knocking him out.

As Cody turned to walk toward Kurt, intending to check on him, Sinister called out to him. "Leave that menial work to the help."

Cody froze and visibly swallowed before he took a step back, still fuming over the order.

"Come away from there," Sinister called out.

"Fine." Cody closed his eyes for a second and then spun on his heel. "Just thought you'd want to know if he was alive or not."

"The Marauders will be by soon enough," she said with a wave. "There's nothing useful there to us."

"Is this another stupid radio blackout zone?" K asked when they hadn't heard back from Kurt in a reasonable amount of time. The path in was heavily fortified with soldiers and Marauders, but between the three of them it was really just a matter of time before they found Sinister even without Kurt.

"Very probably," Noh agreed as he tossed one of the Marauders over his shoulder, then looked to K. "Perhaps you should check on Nightcrawler — I can finish up here with Scott."

"Probably a good idea," Scott had to agree as he blasted back another Marauder. "It's been too long."

"Sounds like a plan to me," she agreed. "I wouldn't mind a chance to crack her one."

Noh nodded and then turned to K to simply pick her up and toss her several yards through one of the windows. She rolled to her feet and saw Sinister standing there with Cody, though Sinister didn't move. Instead, it was Cody who stepped forward and blasted her with a wide enough beam that she couldn't quite dodge it and went flying backward.

"If she gets up — flatten her," Sinister said, her eyes flashing and a smug sort of smile on her face. Cody met K's gaze for a moment and looked wide-eyed and apologetic, but he wasn't arguing, either.

K blinked up at him and turned her head to see what the layout was and to come up with a quick plan, though it wasn't entirely necessary as a soft bamf echoed the room.

Kurt has woken up just in time to see K get hit. He appeared just in front of Sinister, and before the smoke had even cleared, he hit the woman hard, knocking her back several steps with a crack as her jaw broke so she couldn't give any commands. Sinister, for her part, still managed a furious sort of noise before she smacked into Kurt hard enough to set him back as well as the two of them fell into a hard-hitting back and forth.

While Cody's focus was on the scuffle with Sinister, K darted forward and tackled Cody, taking him to the ground in a smooth, gentle move. She put the boy in a sleeper hold, muttering over his shoulder as she asserted her grip. "I'm sorry, buddy, but I have to do this. You'll be fine when you wake up."

An instant after Cody fell unconscious, Kurt hit the wall on the wrong end of an optic blast from Sinister, but when he saw that K had Cody, he teleported to them both. "Time to go," he said and simply disappeared to the jet with both of them. "Scott, we have Cody," he said over the comm, though he was hunched over from that last hit.

"Sit down, Kurt," K said in a stern tone even before she got Cody settled into a seat. "I'd hate to have to knock you out too."

Kurt let out a small breath of a laugh as he sat down beside her. "Far be it from me to argue."

"Did you break anything?" she asked as she started looking him over.

"Possibly," he admitted. "Bruised at the very least."

She let out her breath, shaking her head slowly. "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

Kurt waved a hand. "Her back was to me, and her focus was off of you and Cody." He smirked at bit. "I'm not as slow as Scott — there's no need to baby me."

"I disagree, Dad." She emphasized her point by brushing the gray hair out of his face.

Kurt shook his head at her lightly, though any argument he might have offered to her was interrupted by Noh arriving with Scott. Noh went right to the cockpit — since Scott was immediately moving to check on Cody.

"Is he alright?" Scott asked.

"He seemed fine," K admitted. "I had to put him to sleep, though."

Scott frowned. "What happened?"

"He was walking free and doing what Sinister said."

At that, Scott let his shoulders fall. "Chance said he made a deal with Sinister," he said.

"Then I may have been hasty," she said.

"No, you did the right thing," Scott assured her. "I don't know what the deal was. For all we know, he was under a command anyway. I wouldn't put it past her to be doubly sure."

"I'll keep a close eye on him," K promised. "He should be down for another half hour. Give or take."

Scott nodded at that and then moved to the other side of the jet to sit by Charlie, pulling her into his side to kiss the top of her head as she hugged him.

"Told you I could find him," Charlie said with a little smile.

"Yes, you did," Scott agreed before he pulled her into a tighter hug. "Are you alright?"

"It's worse when it's a wider focus," she admitted. "But I was meditating while you were out there."

Scott nodded at that and simply snuggled her a little harder, knowing that she couldn't possibly be recovered yet. But still — "I'm proud of you, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Dad."

The flight back to Westchester was quiet after that, with Scott taking care of Charlie, Kurt resting, and K keeping an eye on Cody. The only real break to the silence was Hank calling the jet to let them know that he was taking Chance back to Westchester with him now that he was stable, but other than that, it was just a relieved sort of silence.

They were almost home when Cody finally started to stir, blearily glancing around the jet for a moment.

"Hey, buddy," K said, whisper quiet, before she brushed Cody's hair out of his face and tried to let him wake up slowly. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Cody's shoulders dropped instantly, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry I hit you," he whispered.

"I've been hit a lot harder," she replied. "It's fine."

"I was trying to make it look worse that it was," he explained quietly.

"It's okay, Cody," she promised.

But he shook his head again, still looking upset. "She didn't make me do anything," he said.

"It's okay," she said again. "I'm fine. You're fine - right?"

He let out a breath and nodded, though it was obvious he was on the verge of crying because his lip was quivering. "I just… I couldn't let her kill Chance," he said, whisper quiet, as K was.

She pulled him over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, then gave him a kiss on the temple as he took a little shuddering gasp and was definitely crying and trying to hide it.

"I promised her — I said I'd do what she said," he hiccoughed.

"You did what you had to," she said quietly, still just holding him tightly. "Chance is alright. So is your sister."

"Charlie… I didn't even think about — did she—" Cody glanced over to where Scott and Charlie were curled up. "Is she okay?"

"She's the one that found you," K told him.

Cody let out a breath of relief and then just rested his head on her shoulder before he looked past her to Kurt, who was still resting but simply turned toward the two of them quietly observing. "I'm sorry I hit you," he said softly. "I tried to check on you… she wouldn't let me."

"We're used to it," Kurt assured him.

"I'm still sorry," Cody muttered, though he was starting to get a better handle on his emotions. Outwardly, anyway.

But at that, Charlie picked up her head and smiled Cody's way. "Look on the bright side," she said quietly. "We can go home after this. Not to Muir Island. Home."

K felt Cody's shoulders drop a bit at that as he let out all his breath. "That sounds really good right now."

"Thought so," Charlie said with a smile.