Asunder
"How is this getting any better by waiting?" James's tone cut across the silence, sharper than any knife.
John let out a breath and waved an arm in Clarice's direction.
"We need Shadowcat. You and I will be fine when the bullets fly, but they aren't going to bounce off of Blink. You said yourself that Dazzler can shoot laser beams. You said she can hear better than both of us. You said she can echolocate. You said she's learning to fly. If she's back there, I'm sure she can hold off Sentinel Services until we get there."
James snarled, turned away and turned back again.
"Yeah. All that's great, it'll work just fine against their spiders and their humans but what about Pulse? What happens when they bring out their little nullifier, what then?!"
John's eyes went wide, a vein starting to swell at his temple. He looked to Clarice, then away at nothing in particular. Clarice knew why. The last time they'd encountered Pulse, they'd been hunted like fish in a barrel and if not for John, likely all of them would have been captured. Pulse had gotten away that day and got caught in an explosion the next time Sentinel Services had caught up. The way Thunderbird told it though, he'd survived a near-lethal attack before. John wasn't about to be caught off guard a second time.
"Look, I'm not saying we wait forever, just until Shadowcat gets here. Then we go in, come hell or high water."
James studied his brother for a long moment before turning away and stalking off. He was stressing out, and channeling his stress into a hyper-focused state in that familiar way that Clarice was starting to think was genetic.
John put a hand over his eyes and grimaced. His brother was right; between the constant packing and moving, rescue missions, chasing down information leads, the skirmishes that were less brawl and more retreat – he'd forgotten, just a tiny bit, how seriously he needed to take Sentinel Services. It was too overwhelming to keep all of it at the forefront of his mind all of the time and he was getting dangerously close to that point he heard other infantrymen talk about in the Marines: that moment when you're too afraid to be afraid. Irrational calm, his squadron had termed it, and it was a crapshoot as to whether that saved the day or damned it.
In the priceless minutes they spent waiting for James's teammate to drive back with the SUV full of mutants, John convinced Clarice to have a seat, drink some water, and sort herself out. Beside her, John took another long sip of iced water and listened intently to a small device that intercepted police radios and some transmissions from Sentinel Services. So far, nothing about the library and nobody matching Alison's description had been mentioned. Clarice took the time to stare at John. Her eyes fell onto the glass he held, studying how the condensation ran over his skin and how he held it just tight enough to not to destroy it. The same way his other hand held hers. He had learned, at some point, how to walk the line between advancing his powers and not losing the things about him that made him steady. Reliable. Safe. It was a point, she now realized, she herself had not yet reached.
Around the eighth time that James turned to look at them, John downed the rest of his cup and stood. Clarice took one last gulp of hers and followed him back to James. She thought she saw a hint of relief in the younger brother's face.
"There's a vehicle approaching. Northeast, off-road. She's cutting through the woods. I don't feel any vibrations of trees being plowed and no helicopters in the sky; if she had anyone following her I'm sure she lost them."
John nodded, coming to the same conclusion. James was eager, but he was still on track. The black Audi came barreling out of the trees and underbrush filled with the sound of children cheering on their temporary Nascar driver. It came to hard stop ten feet away that left the vehicle lurching violently and the sound of everyone inside bumping into each other was audible to everyone. Clarice raised an eyebrow.
"James? How old is Kitty?"
She thought she saw the corner of his mouth tick upwards as he watched everyone pile out of the doors. "Twenty. But she's been with the underground since she was sixteen, I think. Probably not licensed."
Just when Clarice was feeling hopeful James might lighten up a tiny bit, the grim expression settled back onto his face. Wishful thinking, it seemed. By the time all of the mutants were out of the van and heading towards the house, Kitty had seen James's face and known something was wrong. She did a bounce-run that made her ponytail swing as she came closer and it reminded Clarice of the signature Baywatch run.
"What's the matter? Why do you look like we're out of food?"
"Alison's missing."
Kitty gaped. "What? What happened?"
Clarice could feel his eyes on her as he answered.
"We don't know. She disappeared somewhere between Sentinel Services showing up and us teleporting out. We're going back to look for her."
"Got it."
"I need you to keep a hold of Blink and stay phased. We're anticipating a welcoming committee."
Kitty nodded and grabbed Clarice's arm so quickly that the green eyed mutant was taken aback. Growing up looking as outrageously as she did and cycling through foster homes and orphanages, she'd never gotten much in the way of physical affection. Most had gone out of their way not to touch her. Such a casual willingness was...an adjustment.
Blink opened the portal and the Proudstar men entered first, methodically sweeping across the library. Shadowcat stepped in perfect sync with Blink as they came through and the portal closed. Already, Warpath was in a far corner of the room looking for any sign of Dazzler, as if the art history section could tell him what happened. She supposed there were less reasonable expectations out there.
"Alison, if you can hear me, give me a sign." he half-whispered in his search for clues. She thought she might have heard Please after that in a voice that was uncharacteristically small and desperate. He was a far cry from the man who sat at the counter top with her yesterday, all smiles and snark. Thunderbird had progressed into the adjoining computer lab room but soon re-emerged with nothing. Blink and Shadowcat looked in every bathroom and under every desk, just to be sure she wasn't still hiding, but there were no Sentinel Services agents and there was no Dazzler. Blink told herself that tit wasn't her fault, but as each spot came up empty, the knot of anxiety in her chest grew. When the whole building had been searched, Warpath looked worse. He ducked out of the main room and seconds later Blink heard the sound of porcelain exploding and water spraying. When he returned, he was drenched from head to chest.
"We hit Sentinel Services, then." Thunderbird started to protest, but Warpath wasn't having it. "There's only four possibilities here, John. Three, with this off the list. Either the Sentinels locked her up, or she's stuck in the portal, or she's dead. I have to know, John! I have to know."
His voice broke in the last sentence and pity crept into John's face.
"Brother, going in there without a plan is suicide. There aren't even any signs of a real struggle here, we don't even know if they have her! I will gladly risk my life to bring her back, but I will not risk it for nothing. I'm not risking Blink for that and I'm not letting you risk Shadowcat without cause. Busting into Sentinel Services..." he stopped, flashing back to Pulse and the others he and Marcos had lost on last year's calamitous mission. They, too, had thought they could take on the agents. Turned out they were only handing over his best friend on a silver platter. "Nobody comes back from that. We get a confirmation first, we take advantage of as many weaknesses we can find, and then we strike."
Warpath's voice raised an octave and he pointed an accusing finger at his brother.
"You are treating this like it's some sort of mission! This isn't Kuwait! I'm not asking Master Sergeant Proudstar, I'm asking my brother to help me!" He paused just long enough to draw more breath, "Clearly, that's asking for too much."
There was a small sound as a fist-sized portal spontaneously formed and closed near Warpath and his eyes jerked to Blink. Thunderbird adjusted one leg, his body blocking half of her from sight of his brother.
"One night, James. Give it one night. We'll stay up, we'll tap every source we have to see if she's there and what sector. If she is, I'll get every fighter ready and drive you there myself. But give it one night. Let us be prepared and let us be sure."
Thunderbird pleaded with his brother, knowing that if he didn't accept this option, there'd be no stopping him. Shadowcat turned to Blink and she caught her gaze, recognizing the same thought crossing her mind: Either the group was about to split, or there was going to be an all-out fistfight between John and James. Neither of them wanted to see the kind of wreckage that would leave.
Fury remained etched all over Warpath's features. This, Clarice though, is why he's called Warpath.
"If they brainwash her- if they turn her into their little pet- I swear I will hunt down each and every agent I find, and anyone who gets in my way."
Thunderbird closed his eyes. This was the best answer he was going to get and still it was a loaded one. If Warpath went vigilante on Sentinel Services, things would become exponentially worse. If the agents didn't manage to kill him, they'd find a way to drug him and use him. If Warpath's massacre was successful, there was the risk of the government conducting a drone strike to eliminate him, and that would destroy not only his brother but also anyone in a fifteen to twenty mile radius. Forgoing that, such an attack on Sentinel Services would lead to even harsher discrimination against mutants, and there was a chance a mob of fellow mutants could hunt him down. John knew firsthand from contact with the X-Men three years ago that there were mutants whose powers were beyond match or measure. The last thing anyone needed was to be hunted down by an omega level mutant. He opened his eyes and let them settle on Blink. In them, she saw the weight of his brother's life on his shoulders and the question of if he was making the right choice.
"Take us home, please."
Blink reached out and cradled the side of his face in her hand, knowing it was little comfort but wanting to offer something, however slight. Then she ripped open a portal and the four of them walked back to the Underground safehouse.
Kitty broke away first, bounding into the house and up the stairs to her room to contact the other Underground hideout and let them know what happened. Clarice stayed with John and John kept a close watch over his brother, never letting him out of his sight. If James made a run for it, John was the only one fast enough to catch him.
True to his word, John spent hours on a burn phone making calls to all the mutant telepaths and clairvoyants he knew, checking for news on Alison. Then he sent a text to Sage, hoping the number still worked, begging for any hits she might have on Sentinel Services' database. Finally, he grabbed his scanner and flipped it on, once again listening for messages as he watched James settle behind a computer and start checking the social media for relevant gossip. Clarice slipped away just long enough to grab two protein bars and sank down on the couch next to John. She flicked one into his lap and pulled her legs up underneath her as she leaned against his side.
"So, this is a stakeout. Should we be taking shifts? I can portal us faster than he can run, so it's alright if you need to take a ten minute nap or something."
John looked at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye, more than a little grateful but equally resolute.
"I'm good but you should rest; you're not used to making that many portals at that distance in one day. Speaking of which," he swiveled towards her, one hand encircling her wrist and a thumb idly rubbing it, "That other portal you made, the small one. Was that accidental? Did we push you too much?"
Belatedly Clarice remembered what John had told her during training: take slow breaths. Calm your heart rate. Wait for the right moment, then commit to the action. If she did all of that, her portals would stabilize and the perimeter wouldn't wiggle around like it did. The last time she'd practiced too hard he'd immediately told her to stop, that he could see her hands starting to shake, and that using her power in that condition would do more harm than good.
"No. No, it wasn't that. It's just that-" her mind recalled the sheer wrath in James's face and the volume of his voice as he shouted and she couldn't finish.
"Where were you going to send him?" he asked carefully, no judgment in his voice but Clarice's eyes widened.
"What? No, I wasn't sending him anywhere. At least, I wasn't planning to, the portal just...opened."
She focused on her knee, the worn denim covering it seemed a safe place to look. He drew her gaze back upward with a finger under her chin and brushed her hair out of her face.
"You were scared?" He phrased it like a question, for her sake. They both knew it was fact.
"I was uncomfortable. Sometimes a growling cougar works as good as a warm jelly donut."
John closed his eyes, though Clarice knew his ears were still trained on his brother, and touched his forehead to hers. His voice dropped down to a whisper.
"I would never let him hurt you, you know that, right?"
He opened his eyes, hoping to find faith still resting in hers. He needed to know that she trusted him, that when things got hairy he would be there for her. He didn't like the thought of her hastily jumping through escape portals as she had so often done in the past. The instinct to run was second nature to her and he worried one day she would jump too far away to track.
"I know. It was just...reflex. Kid's got a hell of a temper."
John gave a wan smile and nuzzled her nose with his own.
"Yeah, always has. Always thought he'd grow out of it though. He's twenty-one, I guess it's a lost cause now."
"You think?" she quipped, emerald eyes sparkling.
He stared at her until he found his finger tracing a path along her eyebrow and he reminded himself that tonight was about Alison. He let his hand drop to his lap and refocused.
"We're not getting any leads on Sentinel Services. Clarice, is there any chance that Alison's still inside that portal from earlier?"
Clarice took a deep breath, not ready to move on from that one comfortable moment, and thought about it.
"Yes? She was definitely in front of me, John. I saw her. I always save myself for last to make sure I don't leave anyone. She went in and...and didn't come out and I don't know why."
Across the room, John heard James stifle a yawn. He looked at Clarice's half open eyes and put an arm around her, drawing her nearer, and listened to her heartbeat slow. It had been a long day for all of them but she needed the rest more than him. Were she more alert, she would realize his plot to lull her into slumber, but as things stood, she was already entering the first stages of sleep. This wasn't his first sleepless night and wouldn't be the last. He was thankful, at least, for someone to hold on to.