Wolverine and the X-Men Season 2: Chapter 5
Three hours ago... Westchester, New York
The X-Men lay huddled around a computer screen, showing a list of the presently missing or inactive recruits. Wolverine and Beast stood next to the computer, the former holding an old wooden pointer that he'd borrowed from one of the classrooms.
"Alright. I'd been hoping not to use this plan for too long, but this is basically a plan to bring back a few members of the X-Men who have gone AWOL who we can't contact."
"Wait, wait, wait," Kitty interjected. "You've had a plan to recruit more X-Men and you've not properly used it till now?"
"I was going to recruit Psylocke and Domino back into our ranks. Needless to say, the Brotherhood kinda ruined that and I'm not exactly keen to approach the issue right now. We all know that Piotr and Ilyana refused the invitation back the first time round and then didn't pick up the phone afterwards, and the Mardees have tried hacking our communications a few times. Their last troops may get a bit trigger happy if they hear we're doing recruitment."
Beast then cleared his throat in a somewhat ungraceful manner before he spoke.
"We've also got a weird signal that keeps trying to enter our communications frequency when we contact known former members. Every time we try to trace the call, our operating system freezes for an hour, then resets back to normal. We fear every time we try to discover who they are, they discover more about us. We've been forced to change the frequency and restrict communications until further notice."
Forge coughed in a loud and melodramatic manner.
"I apologise," Beast chuckled. "We're forcing Forge to change our frequency for us while we restrict communications."
Wolverine rolled his eyes and pressed a button on a remote, causing the presentation to move to the next slide and move to a map. The pointer moved from Westchester, New York and across the Atlantic, settling at a location in the British Isles.
"To get back to the point, I'm pulling in a few favours from some people I know. For the next few days, I'll be sending out a few members of us to make sure these deals are made and they help us get members of the X-Men back. The more we have to help the better."
"The first trip is with a SHIELD jet we've been loaned from the Helicarrier, and if possible we'll make it tomorrow. Pilots will be able to drop three volunteers off to Cardiff, Wales to check on the last known location of Megan Gwynn, codenamed Pixie, but after that we're on our own. Until we get any further notice, assume that the Blackbird won't be repaired until two days from now. Dismissed."
The X-Men filed out of the room, with the last to leave being Scott supporting a still somewhat frail Jean. Beast and Wolverine were left to close down the computer files and the map. The blue giant turned to face his shorter teammate, concern clearly etched on his face.
"Do you believe we have any hope of finding any former X-Men?"
The only answer Hank got at first was a clearly audible sigh, followed by Wolverine slumping to a chair.
"Want my honest answer, Hank? I think the only X-Men that have an honest chance of still being alive without working for a new employer would be old Peter and his sister. Considering that two members now on the mansion were headed for Genosha and only left because we proved we were working as a group again..."
The question hung in the air, but neither particularly wanted to ask it for fear of letting their imagination answer for them. Nevertheless, they found themselves speculating the status of every X-Man not presently in the mansion.
Both of the X-Men's members were so caught up in this that they failed to realise Nightcrawler had not quite been out of earshot, and was now standing in the middle of the doorway.
"I doubt that the X-Men who fled and remained in Genosha will have fallen victim to the Sentinel attack. The X-Men were trained by the finest mutants on the planet, led themselves by the best teacher and father figure known to the planet."
The pair looked up, both annoyed that their teammate had chosen to eavesdrop, and also surprised to hear such polite and pleasant words from him. Nightcrawler had never been the nasty one in the team, but this was oddly poetic even for him.
"Charles Xavier would be proud to know that his vision still lives on despite his present incapacitation. As we all should be."
With that, Kurt turned and walked away, missing the faint smile on Logan's face and the grin breaking out on Hank's.
"Only the elf could say something that cheesy and generic with a straight face."
"Not to mention make it work."
A few minutes later, in the main lounge of the mansion
The team lay sat around the television, with the exception of Wolverine who had opted for further training, as well as Forge and Beast working to get the X-Jet back up to full capacity.
"In news related to Genosha, the acting leader, Wanda Maximoff, has declared that she will do her best to resume coordination and diplomacy with the United Nations, in particular the United States of America. Her first move has been to publicly exile the accused perpetrator of the Sentinel invasion, known mostly by his moniker "Magneto", from the island. His current whereabouts are unknown and the public are being warned not to approach him under absolutely any circumstances."
"How stupid does somebody have to be to approach a man who attempted an invasion of the United States with an army of Sentinels?"
For his flippant comment, Bobby got a loud hush from a half-asleep Tildie Soames as well as several death glares hurled his way and a light punch in the shoulder from Rogue.
"Despite the efforts of Wanda Maximoff to restore the status of Genosha and the relationship it has with the rest of the world, the mutant haven still has a long way to go before it returns to its former glory. This is Gregory Stewart signing off for CNN, now back to Anna Males in the studio."
The video feed then cut back to the studio, at which point Tildie picked up the remote and changed the channel to a couple of badly animated cartoons. Scott gave a sigh and reached to change back to the news, only for Tildie to wriggle away with the remote in her right hand. This continued for a minute until she finally fell asleep and Kitty was forced to escort her to bed. Immediately, the television switched back to the news, showing the cleanup of the last major battle that they had been involved in.
Just as the worker was about to interview some of the injured civilians, a loud klaxon sounded throughout the mansion, followed by a monotone voice.
Caution. Unrecognised aircraft is approaching the mansion.
If anybody had been talking through the klaxon, they were certainly shutting up by now.
Type of aircraft noted as Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter. Armaments include a mounted light machine gun and a missile launcher. Currently transporting a cargo crate. Danger rating of moderate assigned. Records show aircraft was originally property of the Russian military. Current owner unknown.
Every person in the Mansion immediately snapped to alert, followed shortly afterwards by the sound of Wolverine's voice over the Intercom.
"All X-Men are to report to battle stations immediately. Kitty, getting Tildie to safety is your responsibility. Storm and Iceman, we need you to take it down quickly! The longer that thing's in the air, the more danger the mansion is in! Forge, get to the defensive centre and get there quickly- the jet will have to wait!"
The X-Men were well drilled in this scenario, having been forced to rehearse it many times before in early morning training. As Iceman started to skate across the ice bridge he was starting to build, Storm took to the air, arms raised in an effort to summon stronger winds. Within moments, the helicopter was starting to lose altitude as the main missile launchers were soon covered by ice. The machine gun began firing erratically as the pilot seemed to be losing his focus, though the threat was quickly neutralised by another ice blast from Iceman. Shortly afterwards, the virtually paralysed machine collapsed upon the ground, crashing violently as it did so.
Nightcrawler was next to enter, teleporting next to Iceman and righting his balance to slide along the ice bridge, waiting until the helicopter had ceased moving before he teleported again and approached the pilot's seat, in an effort to retrieve the apparently wounded crewman.
When he got there, however, he found their head slumped forwards at an unusual angle, with their body mangled. The mutant's first reaction was to gasp in a mix of shock and regret, but as he moved even closer he realised the broken neck's covering had been cracked, revealing a set of wires.
"The pilot of this thing was a machine himself," Nightcrawler muttered. He pried the immobile robot out of the wreckage, noting the presence of a camera to the left side of its head and a small screen for text to scroll across.
A gift for the X-Men. Kind regards, Bryan Liam Hunt.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBPBEEEEEEEEEP...
The explosion was unexpected, and for a fraction of a second the German mutant found himself unable to move from sheer surprise. A loud BAMF did eventually signify his quick moving away, followed itself by his not so graceful landing next to the rest of the now assembled X-Men. When he finally stopped skidding towards the mansion, he was obviously dazed, with his uniform somewhat scorched. Cyclops helped him uneasily rise to his feet.
"What did the robot say?" Wolverine barked at him.
"Nothing too...obvious..." came the weak reply. "Mentioned the name Bryan Liam Hunt."
"Name's unfamiliar." Wolverine paused. "Anything else?"
"It said... with kind regards."
Iceman rolled his eyes. "Why is it that anyone wanting to kill us has a twisted sense of humour?"
Rogue kept her eyes on the helicopter, noting how the cargo crate of the helicopter had mostly been crushed, although there was something that miraculously hadn't been damaged inside it.
"Nevermind that- what's it carrying that's strong enough to not be crushed and mangled by a helicopter crash?"
A dull, metallic thud came from the transported crate that the helicopter had been carrying, causing the hairs on the back of most of their necks to rise. All subconsciously held their breath until the second thud sounded, followed itself by the sound of the twisted remains being torn apart. Finally, two fists broke through what was left of the side, accompanied by an angry roar. It was as if a lion had woken up in the body of a god, which was itself imprisoned in a wooden cage, and finally decided that enough was enough.
Then the all hell finally broke loose, as a red blur leapt from of the wreckage. Iceman considered trying to slow it with a beam of ice, but instead decided to flee with the others and get out the way. Nevertheless, all but Storm found themselves knocked over by the seismic wave as four-hundred and twenty-three kilograms of angry muscle stood before them.
"The juggernaut bows to nobody! For your attempts to imprison me, you shall all fall victim to my unstoppable power."
With that, the behemoth began to charge forth...
No time to write properly, literally about to run off. Poll on my profile about this series, please vote.
Updated as of January 25, 2014. For any imperial users, four-hundred and twenty three kilos is around nine hundred and thirty pounds, give or take.