Chapter 10 - Time Sensitive
When Elin was done with her shower, she headed over to crack open her laptop while she dried her hair and decided to see how Sying's little private trip was going.
But then she frowned when she saw the email in her inbox. Things had been so crazy that she simply hadn't been able to see it before. And this email was from the previous morning.
Hey, Elin, just letting you know I'm headed back soon. I'm just going to take a catnap in the hammock and should be back a little after lunchtime. Maybe earlier. It was good to sleep on it and not have to answer to anybody for a while, but I hate being alone. See you soon. -Sying
Elin frowned and turned to look at the clock. It was nearly sunset and she knew Sying couldn't possibly be back yet. They'd have seen the ship come in for as much as they were outside. She tapped her fingers against the desk and frowned at the screen a little deeper before she reloaded it, just to see if it needed to be refreshed for new news, but after a few minutes, there was no luck on that front and Elin had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She tossed her towel onto the chair back then headed off to find Noh re-working the security system and tightening up the relays. She stood nearby until he had a break in what he was doing so she could ask him "Have you heard from Sying?"
Noh frowned her way. "No, but I haven't checked my messages today," he said.
"The last one I have is from yesterday morning," she said. "And he said he'd be here by now."
Noh's frown deepened at that. "Let's go find Jubilee," he suggested, scooping her up to run her over to where Jubilee was snacking on some SweeTarts playing with Ael and Kade. Noh tipped his head to the side, and Elin knew they were having a silent conversation before Jubilee followed them out into the hallway.
"What's up?"
"I don't know, I just … haven't heard from Sying," Elin told her. "I can show you the last message I got - from yesterday." She was already offering her phone to Jubilee with the email open.
Jubilee frowned as she read it and then checked her own phone. "The last one I've got is from yesterday too," she said, already calling him up.
But when he didn't answer, Noh looked like he was just realizing something. "That would explain the penetration to our defenses," he said softly. "I assumed it was Sinister, but if they had our codes…"
Elin's eyes widened a little. "I didn't smell him at all in Russia though," she said.
"I'll find him," Jubilee said, already headed toward Cerebro.
Noh put a hand on Elin's shoulder. "We should tell Scott. I'm sure Charlie would have noticed if he was there, so he must be elsewhere."
She nodded and turned, her phone tightly in her grip.
Noh squeezed her arm gently. "Thank you for looking out for him, little sister," he said softly.
"He'd do the same for me," she said.
"We all would," Noh promised as they got down to Scott's office and he knocked on the door. "Scott, it seems our troubles are not yet through. We haven't heard from Sying since before the events of yesterday's raids, and he isn't answering our calls."
Scott's eyebrows shot up as he got to his feet. "I'll have Kurt take Logan down to the island and see if they can pick anything up from there."
"Jubilee is already at Cerebro," Noh told him.
"Good." Scott let out a breath. "Noh, if I'd known he wasn't answering-"
Noh waved him off. "None of us had the wherewithal to check emails, and there was no reason to think he had found trouble - except of course for his incredible talent for doing just that."
Scott nodded and then looked to Elin. "Your mom is going to want to come too when she hears about this," he told her.
Elin nodded. "I can go get her," she offered. "Or … just make the popcorn for the smaller kids."
"Get Kate too," Scott told her.
"I'll send down Dad and Uncle Kurt," Elin said before she turned and headed out the door.
K closed her laptop when she heard Elin coming, and by the time she got the message on what was going on, she was fully suspicious of the fact that Sying was gone at the same time that all of these competing weapons programs were finding themselves razed to the ground. So she didn't even bother changing out of her 'special' uniform when she dropped her plans momentarily to go speak with Scott.
When she got there, the guys were already gathered up and going over their best guesses as to when Sying disappeared. She looked at the gathered group of heroes and cleared her throat. "Iran. We're going to Iran. Or … I was going to anyhow."
The four men looked up in surprise, and Scott raised an eyebrow when he saw her uniform. "Jubilee's on Cerebro right now. What's got you in Iran instead of Russia?"
"I don't need Cerebro to confirm," K replied. "I've been combing through classified reports of weapons programs going up in smoke over the past twenty four hours. All of them are competing against Russia. And Iran is next on the list, logically. From the damage they're doing, I'm just guessing that they're using Sying. And if it's not him, then I want to know who they are using."
"Alright," Scott said, nodding before he looked to Noh. "Let Jubilee know we're headed out. If they're using those muzzles, we'll need her to be able to communicate with Sying - or whoever it is that they've got."
Noh nodded once and zipped off to go get his wife, and Scott turned to the other three in the room. "I've got Kate prepping the jet already and refueling it from that last run. Kurt, you and Noh are our best bet at catching up to him, and K, you and Logan are our best bet at helping him." He nodded once. "I'll stay here with the junior squad - Billy and Teddy have agreed to stay as well while we're still recovering from that hit."
"We'll be sure to keep you on top of the situation," Kurt said with a nod before he simply teleported himself and the two Howletts to the hangar, where Kate was indeed finishing up the preflight and Noh and Jubilee had just arrived as well.
Once everyone was on board and Kate put them in the air, Noh leaned over to K. "It's as if they want to be wiped from the face of the planet," he said softly. "If the Kree high command hears about this - well." He let the sentence hang and shook his head.
"It'll never get that far, Ambassador sparkle pants," she replied before she headed over to grab a spare team uniform. "I can't go play with you guys looking so much better than you, though."
"So much better than some," Kurt said with a smirk.
"All of you, love," K replied with a smirk. "All of you."
"Now she's just talking nonsense," Kurt said, waving his hand but smiling Logan's way anyway.
"Gonna have to side with her," Logan said. "No offense. I'm sure you're … meh… fine."
Kate snorted from the cockpit. "He's gorgeous, but I appreciate the blinders."
Logan gestured toward Kate. "There ya go. In with the gray haired crowd."
"I'm partial to that one anyway," Kurt said with a little smile over toward Kate.
"You bet your fuzzy little ears you are," Kate said without missing a beat.
"If you love birds want to focus ... I'd like to get eyes on this person," K called back, though she was most definitely curled up with Logan at the time.
It wasn't too difficult to find the site they were looking for, either. It was just good timing that they arrived when they did in time for a spectacular, screaming, colorful explosion that blew through about half of the top level of the facility, though K's intel said most of it was underground anyway. But it was definitely a dead giveaway as to where the missing half-Kree had gone, all things considered.
Before they could fully land, Kurt and Noh teleported out to try and get the jump on Sying before he could disappear again. "Try to get a tracker on him," Logan said over the comm as Kate settled the jet in.
"If, of course, we cannot get him," Noh said as he rushed ahead toward the still-smoking building.
"Get one on him anyhow," Logan said. "No tellin' what kind of recovery they have on the kid."
"If it's anything like SHIELD's methods, I'd say we will simply get to stretch when they arrive," Noh said as he and Kurt headed deeper into the building.
It really wasn't hard for them to follow the trail of destruction. Whether it was scorch marks or equipment torn out of the walls, Sying wasn't trying to be subtle; he was just destroying the whole setup.
They were sure they'd almost caught up to him when they heard the sound of something metal being yanked out of the wall, but Noh and Kurt paused momentarily when they arrived and realized that the metal sound was the door of a cell being torn out - and there were five young mutants inside.
Without a word, Kurt teleported to the kids and directed his bamfs to get them back to the jet - while Noh went on ahead to catch up to Sying.
By that time, the place was well and truly destroyed, and Sying was trashing the remains of a lab setup when Noh arrived and rushed over to where Sying was. He was furious - but not surprised - to see that Sying was wearing the same kind of muzzle setup that Nolan had been outfitted with, and when Noh caught up to him and pulled him to a stop, he was even more furious when Sying shook his head and pulled his arm out of his dad's grasp, signing to him quickly.
Noh stared at Sying's hands for a moment before he shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry; I don't know that…"
Sying shook his head with wide eyes as he tried again, though this time he looked past Noh to where Kate had come skidding to a stop, catching up to Noh after the bamfs had gotten her inside. So this time, Kate was the one to catch the message: Get Kitty or Hank. I'm on a timer. Really don't want to blow up.
Kate's eyes went wide for a moment before she nodded her understanding. "How much time?"
I'm cutting it close.
She nodded again and then put a hand on Noh's arm to let Sying pass at a run, and Noh frowned at her but didn't argue the point - not when Kate looked like she did.
"Guys, let him past you," Kate said into her comm as she grabbed Noh's hand to pull him along while he was still furious.
"What are you talking about?" Logan half-shouted back.
"There's some kind of timer and an explosive," Kate explained. "And as much as I want him back, I want him in one piece more."
"On it," K said, positively stalking back toward the jet. "Come on guys, tell me you got a tracker on him. I'm gonna see what kind of facilities they still have left."
"Noh got the tracer on him, didn't you?" Kate said, turning to her friend, who finally let out a breath and nodded. "So, we're going to need to call Kitty. I don't know what kind of time limit they'd have for a kid with super speed, but I doubt it's very long."
"Check out the kids he let loose," Logan advised. "Least we can do is get 'em the hell outta here before someone else picks 'em up."
"Already working on that," Kurt promised over the comms. "Jubilee and I have them on the jet, though we could use another friendly face."
"Fresh out," Logan said flatly though he was headed back toward the jet anyhow.
When he arrived at the jet, a few of the kids seemed to have at least settled down when it was clear that Jubilee and Kurt were getting them out of their collars and making sure they had food and water - though the younger two, a pair of girls, were curled up with their chins on their knees flatly refusing to take anything from them.
Logan made his way carefully over to the two girls and crouched down to meet their eye level and tried to speak with them, quiet and carefully, hoping that the only trouble here was a language barrier, which … between himself and K - wasn't much to worry about. And once he'd been sure to introduce himself and the team in Arabic … they seemed to pay a little better attention at least.
Jubilee tried again with an offer of a candy bar, which finally got a small nod from the girls, and she grinned over at Logan. "Thanks, Wolvie."
"It's sayin' something when the most useful thing I can do is translate," Logan said as he sat down near the girls so he could continue to answer their questions.
"Just a really crummy situation," Jubilee agreed, glaring to herself with her back to the kids so they wouldn't see it.
But she was surprised when the smaller of the girls got up and gave her a hug around the shoulders. "I told 'em it was your son that let 'em loose," Logan told her.
Jubilee couldn't help but smile at that as she hugged the girl back. "He's pretty amazing," she had to agree.
By that time, Noh and Kate had caught up with the rest of the group, and Kate looked toward K. "What's the story?"
"Nothing good," she said, not bothering to glance up at them. "Looks like Siberia. Go figure."
"Yeah, that definitely doesn't surprise me," Kate muttered, shaking her head.
"He doesn't even like the cold," Jubilee said with a frown. "Jerks."
"You can give them what-for as soon as we catch up," Kate promised, already climbing into the cockpit, then glanced back at the kids they had. "So, where first?"
"Probably oughta go to Muir so Kurt can go grab Kitty with a solid starting point," Logan suggested. "Give Noh a few minutes to check over the security there while we wait. Let 'em think they got away with it."
"And then give them a rude awakening," Jubilee muttered under her breath.
"Probably gonna have to go in stealthy," Logan pointed out. "Get enough bamfs in though and it might just be easy."
That of course just had the bamfs chattering their agreement, nodding and pounding their fists into their palms. "Yeah, I think as long as we can get Kitty to Sying… after that it's just payback," Kate said.
"Yeah, you guys might want to go home ahead of us," K said, smirking up at Logan. "Seeing as they want to put explosives in people …"
"You just want to tear down the whole of Siberia on your own," Kate accused her.
"I have plans," K said with a shrug. "Of several varieties that you don't need to witness."
"You're not going without me," Jubilee insisted.
K shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you want to witness things. Instead of cuddling your boy."
"Witness shmitness I'm just coming to get my favorite little half-Kree boy."
"She's talking about the after party," Logan laughed.
"Hey, that part I'm fine being in the jet for - which I never say, so don't make me say it again," Jubilee said, leveling a finger Logan's way. "Its just… wrong."
"After party is so very not wrong," K said as she waved Kurt over for the coordinates. "Not moving so far, so that's probably it. Will that be a problem from Muir, or do we need to go to Japan first?"
Kurt shook his head. "We can leave from Muir," he said. "The bamfs will get us inside, and then we'll get Sying to Kitty in a heartbeat."
"Sounds like a plan then," K said with a nod. "And I'll keep an eye out all the same."
"Yes, if he goes on another mission, we should simply bring Kitty to him," Noh agreed. "We know we can catch up to him."
The rest of the flight to Muir Island was relatively quiet, though the closer they got to the European School, the more the girls began to talk to Logan - apparently excited at the prospect of getting to go to school.
"Oh, Moira is going to love them," Kate said when Logan had explained what the conversation was about.
"Probably," Logan agreed as Kate took them in for the landing. As soon as they were on the tarmac, Logan led the little group of newcomers down to see Betsy, who would act as translator until they learned enough English to get by with.
While that was going on, Noh was sure to take Logan up on his suggestion that he look over the security with Moira - but that just meant that by the time they were settled and ready to go, he was downright antsy. "Is he still there?"
"Yeah, he is," K said. "Worst case at this point - we know where he's headed. We can go and wait for him to come back. Working on getting into their system."
"Alright," Noh said with a nod. "Then I'll get Kitty."
"Kurt would be quicker," K sang out softly.
"I'm going to go insane waiting, K," he said. "I'm going to get Kitty now." With that, he simply sped off, leaving her shaking her head at him in the meantime.
When Kurt showed up a short while later, K was smirking to herself. "Noh went to get Kitty, but I have half a mind to have you go scoop her up away from him before he can get there."
"I certainly could," Kurt said. "But I think it would be best not to."
"Joykill," she said, shaking her head. "That probably gives you about what … twenty minutes to go snuggle your elfling?"
"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make," Kurt said with a smirk before he disappeared in a poof of blue.
Krissy, of course, was more than happy to see Kurt, considering everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours or so, and she rushed over to wrap him in a hug. "Mama told me what happened," she said.
"It won't be that much longer before we have Sying back too," Kurt promised. "But I wanted to check on you, schatzi. Are you alright?"
"Well, I'm okay, but one of my best friends in the whole world is being used by evil Russians, and my boyfriend nearly died, so…"
"So you are worried," Kurt said, nodding.
Krissy nodded and then snuggled into Kurt a bit more. "When you bring Sying back, can I come too? He's been kicked around a lot, and I want to make sure he's okay."
Kurt smiled and nodded. "Of course."
"And, you know, I want to make sure Chance and Cody are okay."
"I wouldn't expect anything less," Kurt said with another little smile before he kissed her forehead.
But it wasn't long after that when Noh came in with a windswept Kitty, who was grinning widely. "Hey, Jubes - when was the last time we did a decent mission together? You do know we can work on smaller projects, right?"
"No, I thought we'd start out big and work our way smaller," Jubilee said before she simply rushed over to hug Kitty.
"Come on, sis - let's get your boy back," she said with a warm smile. "We'll figure out a smaller thing after that, okay?"
"I'm sure we could murder some ice cream sundaes," Jubilee agreed.
Now that everyone was gathered, Kurt and the bamfs got them moving - with Kurt putting a hand on either Howletts' shoulders before they reappeared in Siberia, where there was a small snowstorm starting up, which just had Jubilee more annoyed and grumbling about how it was just even meaner to take her little boy somewhere that cold.
The bamfs had gone ahead inside the place just to figure out where things were before they went back for the rest of the group, putting the small group of X-Men right at the holding area. Only one cell was occupied with a totally passed out and exhausted Sying, but it looked like the Russians had made space for more.
Thankfully, it looked like Sying was more asleep than sedated, considering he was spread out with limbs akimbo the way only teenage boys can do to take up as much space as possible - and he startled upright when he heard the slight electrical snap of K sticking her claws through the controls on the holding cell so Noh could just wrench it open from there and Kitty could step in.
"Do you know where it is?" she asked Sying, and the boy nodded, looking entirely relieved to see them all there as he pointed out to Kitty where to look at a spot along his spine to get the small device out - and neutralized.
With that settled, Kurt simply nodded to a few of the bamfs, and they grabbed onto all three of the Lees as well as Kitty to teleport them back home and out of the way so that they could work on the second part of the problem, the stupid muzzle, somewhere safer.
K and Logan, however were making good on their threats and were methodically destroying everything that they got anywhere near - starting with the radios so that they couldn't call for help.
It was a mission in pure destruction and the worst of it really didn't take too long - all things considered - though they took a little detour through Tokyo with the bamfs once the entire complex was levelled and on fire. The little imps didn't want to at first - at least, not until Logan promised them some sake if they cooperated.
As soon as Kitty and Hank had worked together to get the muzzle off of Sying back in the medical wing in Westchester, Sying took a deep breath and held it for a moment before he let it out through his nose and simply leaned back against Jubilee, who was halfway curled around him in the medical bed and hugging the stuffing out of him.
"Are the Summerses okay?" Sying asked as soon as he really had his voice back, sounding incredibly concerned even as Hank was setting up to finish up - by removing the G-tube they'd used to feed him.
"They're all upstairs," Kitty said. "Why? What's up?"
"Sinister," Sying said simply, looking downright upset. "She was working with the Russians; made me tell her where Cody was and-" He shook his head and looked even more upset. "And I told her Chance was still alive - and I told her and the Russians everything. About everyone. They wanted to get kids with 'good' powers that were young enough they could shape them up."
"You couldn't fight the order," Kitty said reasonably. "It wasn't your fault."
"It is my fault she knew about Chance," Sying said. "She didn't know until I tried to fight the order by being glib and it just… totally backfired on me." He looked totally miserable as he shook his head and Jubilee just gently kissed his forehead and shook her head at him.
"They're safe, so are you … and all of us are more or less accounted for."
"Sans two very angry grandparents," Billy said as he walked in the room and smiled at Sying. "You look like you could use some sugar. Think Dr. Blue will let me give you any Pixie Sticks before he takes that tube thing out or is that a big surgical no-no?" He didn't really ask Hank's permission more than that, though, before he'd tossed a few to Sying.
"Oh, yes. Solid food," Sying said in a far too happy tone as he tore open the Pixie Sticks - and the Tootsie Rolls that Teddy had sent Billy with as well.
"Got you covered, Sying," Billy said with a grin and then sat down by Noh to put a hand on his old friend's shoulder.
"You spoil him," Noh accused Billy with the slightest of smirks, and Billy just shrugged broadly, grinning with his hands spread out in front of him.
"As if you don't want me to?"
"I would expect nothing less," Noh agreed, the smirk widening a bit. "Your husband is worse, though - and that is saying something."
"Gonna have to step up my game," Billy said, shaking his head before he leaned in a bit. "Speaking of." The smile dropped a bit, and he looked more serious. "Don't go all… raze the planet on this one, would you?" He held up a hand before Noh could argue. "No, I get it. I do. And yes, I know you'd only ask the Kree to target one country. But it's a very, very bad idea, and I would like to prevent intergalactic war."
"Alright, I don't think anyone had their money on Noh being the next harbinger prompting, did they?" Jubilee whispered to Kitty.
"Could have made a mint if you'd bet on your husband," she whispered. "Maybe I should take out ten on Peter?"
"I mean, that's even more of a long shot than the one who regularly cites intergalactic war as his favorite thing to do?" Jubilee giggled. "You should do it."
"So going to do it," Kitty agreed with a smile. "I'm pretty sure you have to pay in if Logan does it at this point."
"Always bet on the long shots," Jubilee agreed, still happily cuddled in with her little boy.
Kitty leaned over to kiss both of them on the forehead before she got up. "Well. If Beast gives you the all clear, then I'll just head home … snuggle myself a Star Lord."
"Thanks, Aunt Kitty," Sying said with a small smile.
"Any time," she said before she spun on her toes and bounded over to Hank to hear the good word.
"Far be it from me to get in the way of your mission to snuggle," Hank said with a little laugh. "It's a simple matter of getting this tube out and letting him heal around it. You can go right along to your Star Lord."