Daken waited for the tires to blow on the vehicle before motioning for the team to move in. The sound of the metal hitting the concrete made him wince and saw his brother do the same. As the soldiers climbed out of the vehicles, he watched as his team went into fight mode. He moved to the back of the trucks and popped his claws before cutting open the side of the vehicle to let the captured mutants out. He reached his hand in and felt someone grab hold of him, as he pulled the person out he realized they had found the mutants taken from Xavier's School for the gifted. The red head looked at him with wide eyes as she was pulled out.
"Daken!?" she asked in shock. "You're.."
"Go two streets over and load onto the jet." He ordered, "Lead the others and get them to safety. We have your back." He assured her as he grabbed the next person as the girl jumped down. She looked around her at the fire and bodies in the street, the reality of the night hitting her hard, Jade Summers reached up and touched the collar around her neck. As she pulled herself from her own daze, she caught sight of a soldier coming toward her.
"Jade, get goin'!" she heard from above her and someone dropped down from above her, swinging their bo-staff around. "We got dis, focus and get outa here sugah."
"Desi…" Jade started before they nudged her forward.
"Now ain't da tahme. Get goin. We ain't gonna let nobody get ya again." Desiree spoke as James motioned for the others to follow. Jade noted the ones who had been rescued. She didn't know all of them. It made her wonder just how many they took from their homes.
"Two streets over you will see a blue leopard. Her name is Spot. She will get all of you onto the jet. When it's full we will radio in and get you to safety." James informed her. "Hurry."
"Ookami! Oy found the Storm girl!" James heard his teammate yell. He turned and hurried toward them as he watched Izzy Allerdyce jump down into the truck. "She's unconscious, but she is alive…" he told him as he lifted her up. James held the girl in his arms as Izzy pulled himself back out of the truck.
"Get her to the jet. I think we have almost everyone. Get ready to leave." James instructed him, and Izzy gave him a nod before blending in with the escaping mutants. "Daken! Whats the status?"
"One more truck, assist Rebel. She's over exerting herself and we need her to stay with us." his brother called to him. James looked around for the girl before catching sight of a glowing vehicle and Desiree moving back from it. James moved to her and touched her arm. She whirled around, ready to fight.
"It's me, it's just me." James assured her. "I think you're done for the night."
"Almos'...jus' a few more trucks." She told him turning back around, only for him to grab her wrist. "Ookami."
"You told me to stop you if I thought you were going to hurt yourself. We have them. They're going to be safe and we are going back to the compound. We can get you isolated so you can get your emotions in check." James told her. "No more fighting." The two remained silent for a moment as six more mutants moved past them, and Daken followed them. "When we are in the air, we can have Hades get rid of the trucks, if you do anything else, you will be compromised."
"Alraght. Alraght. Let's go din" She sighed. "Everyone got out?"
"We got everyone." James assured her as they started moving toward the location of the jet. The sirens in the city were in all directions and getting louder as they grew closer. As the two entered the jet, Desiree moved to the front. "Lift the ramp and take off, keep the door open. Hades I need you to finish off the trucks, we don't need them repairing them, the less they have the better."
"Got it mate," Hades responded and moved to the door. As they flew over the scene they had just left, the street lit up in flames and the explosions heard in the distance as the door closed and everyone settled in for the ride. It was silent for a while, the rescued mutants coming down from the adrenaline of every event that happened that night. Daken's team sat in the back, finally able to rest for even a moment.
"We could have used your help at Xavier's you know," Jade spoke up after the silence had taken over. "Most of this could have been prevented if you all had shown up there."
"Contrary to what you might believe, kid," Daken began, without turning around. "Xavier's is not the only place in the world where mutants exist."
"No, it's not but we had a sizable number of people there. Do you know how many were killed? Taken? You didn't have to see them die. You…" her voice broke as she spoke. "They didn't all get out. I don't even know what happened to my mom and dad."
"We are going to contact them as soon as possible." James assured her. "We aren't sure who made it out and who didn't. We can start figuring that out once we get to safety. You all are our top priority right now. We need to focus on getting those collars off of you so you aren't able to be tracked. Once we are over the border, we will touch down and check injuries as well." He told them, trying to bring the situation to a calmer level. His eyes every so often moved toward the back where Desiree sat with her eyes shut tight and hands over her ears. "We know that the Baxter building, Stark Tower and Xavier's have been hit. We aren't sure about the west coast Avengers but we have people trying to get into contact with them. We also know that they raided the Guthrie farm. We do not have the number of casualties, but we are doing our best"
It wasn't long before the plane landed in a secluded area, shielded well from prying eyes. As everyone piled off the plane, the sun rose, and the realization of how much time had passed hit everyone. The exhaustion was setting in for all the teens and young adults as they sat in the grass. James and Heather moved to the group and dismantled the collars they wore. The tension in the area slowly dissolved.
"So what now?" a deeper voice spoke up from the back. David Drake stood up and crossed his arms. "Because I can tell you right now, there is now way I am going to sit back and watch the American government take mutants. I don't know where my parents or sisters are, but I know what I am going to do."
"We have to regroup." James repeated. "Once we have everyone together, we will go from there. We have some water that you can have and we will be on our way again."
"What about her? The face of mutants, the one who put up such a damn fight to give all of us so much attention?" Jade asked, pointing to Desiree, who was sitting against a tree.
"What is your problem with her?" Heather spoke up. "She is the one who found the information so that we could even rescue you."
"If she could find that, then she could have figured out that all of this would happen."
"You are just looking for someone to blame, Jade. We are all upset, we are all tired. "James tossed out. "We did everything we could..I know that doesn't seem like enough, but we were five people out there and we didn't get to any building in time to stop anyone from being hurt, taken or arrested. We got all of you out, though. We got to you before you ended up in that damn camp with those collars on for who knows how long."
The silence overtook again as the group fell deep into thought. James moved over to Desiree and sat down next to her, a phone pressed to her ear, "Hey Mama, Papa, Its Des! Ah hope ya'll are okay, ah know its late but ah just...ah wanted t' hear ya'lls voices. Ah'm okay. We made it home safe and our friends are wit' us. Ah love ya'll." She said, trying to make her voice more peppy than she felt at that moment. As she hung up her phone, she leaned her head against James' shoulder and shut her eyes. "Ah wish ah coulda done more," she told him tiredly.
"You can't do that to yourself, Desiree. We did what we could. If we had done more, there would have been even more death and destruction. Daken is on the phone with Bucky, now getting an update. The last one he said that some staff and students from Xavier's arrived, and that Kielar Storm was there. Many people got out. You can't beat yourself up. We didn't get everyone. We can do another rescue mission when we aren't going twenty-four hours without sleep."
"James, I need to speak to you." Daken said and moved toward the younger brother, kissed the top of Desiree's head and stood up, following the older man. Daken had his back turned toward the girl as he spoke again. "Bucky said that they just got reports that the LeBeau place is gone."
"Fuck."
"They are looking over everything, but we have only seen Anna outside the home before it blew up. There is no evidence that the others were in or out. Bucky is almost positive they got her. We just don't know where the rest of the family is." Daken told him.
"We can't tell her until we get to the compound. She's going to lose it and she's already high-strung. She needs to sleep and be away from people for a few hours. I can tell her myself. We can make sure Izzy is around, too. He's able to keep her calm. He's going to keep looking for more evidence, right?"
"He's not stopping. Both Dakota and Kielar are on the computers trying to locate them and the West Coast Avengers, which also include Tommy Stark. Kielar brought in three survivors from Xavier's, A Drake, Worthington and Wisdom. Scott Summers arrived with Kitty Pryde and several kids. Ororo had the second jet with a few others on it and they went to an Australia compound. I think the plan is to have John, Hayden and Kane take over for the adults with them so they can regroup with us. They confirmed Bobby Drake dead. It's a lot for everyone to take in, so we're going to have to have someone who can convey things like this well, to do so when we get back."
"Yes. Okay." James said, rubbing his eyes. "We should start heading back. "
"Secrets aren't good among teammates." Heather said from behind Daken. "I know you two have taken charge, but we would like to know what is happening."
"You will kid, I promise. It was just an update I needed to give him so he can handle something personally. Are you ready to get back to Pup?"
"I'm always ready to get back to your child. He's a lot more pleasant to be around than you." She snorted. "Everyone's had water and we can get this trip over with. You need a shower. " Heath smiled at him before turning around, her tail swishing back and forth as she headed to the jet.
Secret compound- Canada
One Hour later
Dakota rubbed her eyes as she leaned back in her chair, still staring at the computer in front of her. She had finally received a brief message from one set of the West coast avengers, who had been in different locations at the time of the raid of their compound. They were holed up in a friend's home, a friend who had a sister working with a member of their covert team. It was one less trip that they would have to make, and that helped Dakota a lot. The video of Tommy versus the protestors helped pinpoint the area they were in. She had pinpointed a location they could hide out in. Dakota had been relieved to find out that Clint Barton had an apartment in the area. Now the hard part came in getting the two groups back to Canada discreetly.
Kielar poked his head into the room, pulling her from her focus. "A jet just landed. Almost everyone has a room, so the new arrivals can be the focus. We can…"
"Kielar?"
"Yes?"
"It's the covert team coming from New York. Go see them." Dakota told him. "I will take care of getting everything into the computer. I can go through Daken."
"Thank you, I just…"
"Go." she reiterated and without hesitation, he was gone.
Hangar
"We have a medical set up to check you for any injuries. Please move to the right and wait for any assistance." Vivienne told those as they exited the jet. Being one of the first to arrive, she had settled in and offered to help in any way that she could. She kept her eyes peeled for anyone she may know from Xavier's, and when a familiar red head stepped off, she let out a relieved sigh. "Jade!" She called out, and the other girl immediately went to her, the two embracing.
"You made it! Vivi, I didn't see you and I thought…" Jade told her friend.
"A speedster actually rescued us. He brought us here." Vivienne informed her. "Are you hurt?"
"No, No, I'm fine. Did you say a speedster? We don't have a speedster? And since when do they let LeBeau out on the streets to handle things? I thought all of that was a publicity stunt?"
"Wait, as in Desiree? I haven't seen her since she left Xavier's, She was one of them rescuing taken mutants? I thought she was down in the south. I just heard a rumor around here that the LeBeau's were compromised and nobody knows where they are. I thought that included…" Vivienne suddenly stopped talking as someone grabbed her arm "Hey!."
"I don't know what the rules are around that school of yours but around here you will shut your goddamn mouth," Daken growled. "Spreading that shit will do more harm than good."
"Akihiro." his brother said from across the hangar. "Too much." The girls next to the man could barely hear what James said, but Daken let go of Vivienne.
"Daddy!" a small voice called, darting past James and Desiree, followed by Bucky Barnes. The small boy launched himself into Daken's arms and hugged him tight. As the boy was settled on the man's hip, the two switched to sign language. Vivienne and Jade looked at each other and then back at them.
"Wait. You have a kid?" Jade asked. "They did not prepare us for that."
"That would be because nobody knows about him at Xavier's." Daken told them. He paused and took a deep breath as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Bucky, who just gave him a small nod before Daken turned and left with his son.
"We keep that information under wraps as of right now," Bucky began, "Until we have more solid information, nothing is to be said of the LeBeau's and what happened, is that clear?" He told them, leaving no room for argument. "Vivienne, show them to their rooms. Lunch is in an hour."
The girls watched as he walked away and Vivienne looked at her friend before letting out the breath she had been holding. "That was intense."
"You're telling me." Jade said, crossing her arms. "Why did the X-Men not know this place existed? I'm going to get answers. So we could have saved more people."
"I don't think it would have mattered. We didn't know the attack was coming. It was out of everyone's control. We can't place blame on the people who are helping us. We.."
"Yes, we can Viv! They didn't have a school full of mutants. They didn't see their friends, their..their parents get.." Jade started, and Vivi pulled the girl into her arms as a gust of wind came past them and toward the jet. "What…" The two looked over and saw a girl on a stretcher, and Kielar stopping next to it. "I'm guessing that's the speedster."
"His name's Kielar, that must be.."
"Her name is Karla Storm. She doesn't have any allergies to medication. Have you started an IV or…" Kielar started rambling off information before Izzy stopped him.
"Mate, oy am no doctor, we made her comfortable for the ride and we are gonna get her to Elixir." The boy explained. "But ya information should be good for him and whoever else is takin' care of her. She's alive. Jimmy said her vitals are doin' okay."
"But you don't know why she won't wake up. You don't know what they actually did? Has anyone been able to contact Reed or any of them at the Baxter building?" Kielar questioned, rambling again.
"We don't even know," A new voice spoke up coming from around the corner and Kielar spun around to see Johnny. "Hey kid." Kielar stared at the man in silence. "I'm glad you made it here safely."