Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution, any characters from it or Marvel's '616' mainstream that may appear, I'm not making money off of them... I don't even have a witty remark today, to be honest.
"Sons of Liberty"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
SHIELD Safehouse
Manhattan Island, New York.
Afternoon.
"Nice," Lance remarked approvingly, looking at the new uniform he now wore courtesy of SHIELD; a deep blue sleeveless jumpsuit with dark red on the outside of the legs and the sides of the torso, protective arm and leg guards and a visor to replace his old helmet, "I could get used to this..."
"I know what you mean," Kitty answered, missing the look on his face as she spun around to show off her own new uniform; coloured the same shade of blue and midriff-baring, but with long sleeves; a pouch belt, another pouch strapped to her thigh and gloves all in a dark brown completed the outfit, "I guess the best way I can think of to say it is I don't feel like a kid anymore."
A scoff came from nearby, "We haven't been kids since Magneto and the Professor recruited us for this secret war of theirs, if that long."
Kitty and Lance turned to look at Tabby as she walked into the room, newly dressed in a uniform similar to Kitty's own but with short sleeves.
"Yeah, I know," Kitty agreed, "I got bullied back home just for being a smart human, I can just imagine how they'd have treated me if they knew about mutants. I don't agree with Magneto about ruling humans... but I don't completely agree with the Professor either to be honest, I know better..."
Lance reached out and rubbed her shoulder, "Hey, don't worry. While old Bucket-head and Baldy are fighting each other, we just swoop in and save the day for everyone..."
"Planning on playing the hero, Lance?" Kitty teased, "You're sure you wouldn't rather go back to stealing test answers?"
"What can I say?" The geokinetic shrugged, "You do strange things to me."
"Hey, yo, not in front of the tadpoles!" Todd's voice came from the doorway as he hopped into view, wearing a blue jumpsuit of his own with knee, elbow and shoulder pads, "Fury wants us in the sub-basement, yo."
"Glad ya could join us, finally," Fury remarked as the four entered a room that could've been the boardroom of any Fortune 500 company in the world, complete with a sidetable furnished with pastries and coffee, "Pull up some chairs an' pay attention."
"That means to him and not your 'Pretty Kitty', Lance," Pietro teased from where he was kicked back with his feet up on the conference table. Like the others, the speedster wore a new uniform, divided in half from his left shoulder to right hip with a lightning bolt design, the lower half was the same dark blue as the others wore while the upper portion was the ice blue shade from his old uniform, unlike the others though his accessories were standard SHIELD white.
"Hey, these are good cinnamon buns, where'd you find them, Sarge?" Fred asked from the position he had claimed near the sidetable. His new outfit was the least changed of them all, dark blue pants and a black tank-top styled much like his civilian clothes.
"Trapani's Bakery in Little Italy," Fury answered, rolling his eyes, "Now, we gonna get this briefing started or should I jus' find someone else ta do this?"
Kitty blushed as Lance pulled out her chair for her and they sat down side by side, "Sorry, Colonel."
"Eh, forget about it," Fury waved a hand, as Todd and Tabitha took their own seats, "Seen too many too-serious burnouts ta have a problem wi' agents staying loose before a mission."
"We're not your 'agents' yet, Fury," Lance reminded him firmly, "First we do this, then we go from there, that's the agreement. So, like you said, let's get this briefing started..."
"Somebody kill the lights..." Fury suddenly hit Tabitha with a firm glare before the blond could create one of her trademark time-bombs, "With the switch."
"Why don't I take care o' tha' for ye, Nicky-me-boy?" An Irish lilt answered as a reddish-blond haired man in his mid-thirties wearing a SHIELD uniform that seemed to have fabric connecting the arms and torso entered the room.
Fury gave an approving nod, "Irish, good, you're jus' in time. Team, this is Special Agent Sean Cassidy, he'll be providing ya with support on this mission. That means if he tells you something's a bad idea an' you're fool enough ta do it anyway, it's your heads."
"Tha's for sure and certain," Sean agreed, "Nicky there's nae payin' me enough ta be a babysitter, so you'll have ta wipe your own noses."
"If that's how you feel, just stay out of our way," Fred challenged, taking a step forward, "We'll do this ourselves without any Scottish jerks."
"He said he's Irish, yo," Todd remarked as Sean growled at Fred.
"That's enough!" Fury's voice echoed in the room, "Dukes, drop it. Irish, you get the lights an' then sit your ass down."
"Yeah, right," Fred muttered as he took a step back and picked up another pastry.
"Whatever ye say, Nick," Sean shrugged as he reached out a hand and flipped the lightswitch, plunging the room into darkness, "Ye're th' one in charge o' this wee cavalcade of whimsy."
The wall behind Fury opened up to review a large display showing a military base, "Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, officially decommissioned an' turned over ta the National Park Service roughly five years ago..."
The image changed to display the blueprints for a multi-story underground facility, "What isn't official knowledge is that up 'til 'bout ten years before that, the fort was the site of a top secret installation. The facility was believed destroyed in a cave-in caused by a terrorist attack an' written off. Problem is, everything we've done ta trace Trask leads ta Fort Wadsworth, which means there's a chance the facility isn't as destroyed as we thought."
"Woah, never heard about no terrorist attack on Staten, yo," Todd broke in.
Fury looked at him in the light from the screen, "There's a lot of things that civilians never hear about that ya will now, kid. Now, can I continue? Good. Last night, a SHIELD agent assigned ta keep an eye on Wadsworth reported the arrival of a mail truck ta the fort. By itself, that would barely be out of place, even park rangers get mail, but it was being driven by armed military personnel an' not the Postal Service an' they unloaded their prisoners where they could be seen, looks like security is sloppy..."
"Or a trap," Lance folded his arms.
"Right," Fury agreed, "An' ya don't get to be no colonel an' a doctor twice-over by being sloppy, so the smart bet's on a trap."
"So do we avoid it or spring it?" Lance asked, causing Fury to smirk.
'Kid has potential, he's asking all the right questions,' Fury thought before he answered, "That's what ya need ta decide. Springing it will get ya to 'em faster, but you'll be prisoners as well; going around it means you'll be free ta work, but you'll have ta first get ta the others before ya can get 'em out."
Lance glanced around the room, even though he knew he couldn't be seen that well, "What do you guys think?"
"I do nae care what ye've seen in shows," Sean stated firmly, "Only a damned fool tries ta free prisoners by letting themself get captured too."
"Any way we can force them to evacuate? Maybe they'll leave Sam and the others behind," Tabby suggested.
"Or they take them with them and then we won't even know where they're at," Pietro countered, "Blowing stuff up isn't the answer to everything, Boom-Boom."
"It's worked for me so far," Tabby shot back, "What do you suggest, then, Speedy?"
Quicksilver shrugged and put his hands behind his head, "I go in alone, in and out, no one can catch the Quicksilver."
"Except there's one of you who'd have to carry three of them and we don't know what kind of security this guy's got that you'd have to avoid," Kitty pointed out, "Do we know where he'd be keeping them?"
'Another good one,' Fury nodded, pointing to the blueprints, "Best guess would be either the labs or the brig, both of which are here, on the fifth level."
Kitty looked at the blueprints and frowned, "What's that in the corner? 'Altemeresc'?"
Fury looked where she had indicated, "Alternate Emergency Escape. Supposed ta be a back way out in case the upper floors are compromised."
"Well, if it's a back way out, then it's a back way in, isn't it?" Kitty asked.
Lance reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze with a smile, "Well, we've got our door... now we just need to figure out how to open it."
"Leave that to me, yo," Todd's chest puffed up with pride.
"Really, boyo?" Sean's tone reinforced the disbelief in his words.
Todd glared at the SHIELD agent, "Hey, I go through security systems just to keep active, ask Kat-girl over there how often I slip through Baldy's... If I hadn't froze up on seeing his ID, I would've picked Patch there's pocket without getting caught, why'd you think Fury recruited us for this?"
"Oh, I do nae know," Sean folded his arms, "Decided tha' since everyone else was playin' with th' kiddies, he'd get his own group, maybe?"
"That's enough, Banshee!" Fury stormed, "I don't care if ya don't think you're a team player, this time ya don't have a choice - ya either work with them or else, an' ya know me well enough ta know ya don't want ta know what 'or else' means."
Fred scratched his head in confusion, "Banshee?"
"Aye," Sean replied, "They call me a banshee because I sing like one; in battle, a' least. What? Ye did nae think ye and yers up there were th' only mutants about, did ye?"
The Brotherhood stared for a moment before Tabby spoke for them all, "Well, yeah, kinda."
Banshee sighed, "Bloody arrogant tossers, ain't ye? So yer plannin' ta send th' frog down th' escape hatch, what about th' rest o' us?"
Lance looked over at Fury, "You want this place left standing or should we have fun?"
Fury pulled out a chair at the head of the table and sat down, sillhouetted by the screen behind him, "Normally we'd keep it intact ta see what we can get out of it, but with SHIELD compromised anything we get might find its way back ta Trask, something we don't need happening, so... use yer imaginations."
Tabby grinned at Pietro, "And you thought I wouldn't get to blow stuff up."
