September 3, 1974
"Charles, no."
"This isn't up for discussion Alex," Charles said, "I am coming with you."
Sean watched as Alex shook his head.
"Charles, I really wish that there were a more delicate way to say this-" he said.
"I have been in a wheelchair for several years Alex," Charles said, "I am well aware of how that effects my combat capabilities, thank you."
His words were sharp, angry. Sean swallowed.
"Charles, Alex is right," he said, "We can't-"
"You don't need to watch me," Charles said, "But I need to be there."
Charles glared at the ground. Sean could see the lines of tension in his mentor's face. Charles sighed once before looking up.
"Besides, it appears as though I might be your best way to contact the others," Charles said.
Alex shared a look with Sean. Charles was right, but Sean could see the continued reluctance on Alex's face.
"You know I have final say in this matter," Charles said.
The struggle was clear on Alex's face.
"Who'll watch David?" he asked.
"Annie has agreed to do so," Charles said, "She was already going to look after Terry, and it appears that she doesn't see David as much of a handful."
Sean watched Alex's face harden. He knew that Alex, for whatever reason, didn't like Annie to begin with. Sean thought that she was fine, if not a little too bubbly. He wouldn't have let her watch Terry if he didn't like her though.
It was a different story for Alex. Now it appeared that she was going to be the final word on the subject and Alex had been left without a leg to stand on.
"I'm going, whether you want me to or not," Charles said, "I need to be there Alex. You may understand one day."
Alex still looked puzzled, but he sighed.
"Fine," he said, "Fine."
He rubbed his chin.
"Let's get moving," he said.
Alex turned on his heel and marched out of the room. Sean straightened the coat of his uniform and headed out the door, followed by Charles.
"Hey, Alex?" Sean asked.
"It's going to be Havok in two minutes," Alex said.
"I know," Sean said, "I haven't forgotten everything about being an X-man. I just need to use the phone on the Blackbird."
"Why's that?" Alex asked, looking over his shoulder.
Sean sighed, feeling uncomfortable.
"When I was in Interpol, I made some friends," he said, "Friends who are going to be interested in what's happening in New York. Friends that might end up getting in the way. I just need to make sure that they stay out of it."
Alex raised his eyebrows.
"Friends like that Phil guy after we rescued Carly?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sean said.
Alex's face hardened.
"They can't know about us," he said.
"Exactly," Sean said, "And we need to be the ones there. We're talking about our own people. It needs to be us."
"Agreed," Alex said, "As for the phone, be my guest."
They climbed into the Blackbird. Sean could hear the murmurs of surprise when Charles followed them, but no one said anything out loud. He looked over the teens. They were clearly upset: two of their own were in danger, as well as Moira. He could see that Scott in particular was antsy.
Sean buckled up into the seat furthest from the cockpit. He put his headset on and tuned it into the phone frequencies. Alex started up the plane and Sean listened to the dial tone.
"Come on," he said, "Pick up, pick up…"
There was a click and he sighed in relief.
"Phil Coulson."
"Hey, it's Sean Cassidy," Sean said.
He heard Phil shuffle the phone from side to side.
"I'd really love to chat, but it appears that there's a rather interesting situation in New York-" he said.
"Yeah, I know," Sean said, "I was calling about that. I need you to stay away from it."
The Blackbird took off, the sound almost deafening. He was glad, because he knew that Phil was trying to process the information. He would be quiet while he did that. Afterwards it would be difficult to get him to stop talking. Sean couldn't risk not hearing anything that he said when he began.
"You want us to stay out of a hostage situation with what looks like very advanced tech?" Phil asked.
"Yes," Sean said.
There was another pause. Sean winced. He had dropped a real bombshell.
"You're intelligent," Phil said, "So I'm going to give you one chance to explain why you want us to stay out of it."
"Some of our people are in there," Sean said, "This is a time-sensitive mission and we need to get in there before anyone knows we're there. We can't have another team running around. You know things get messy when there's more than one team trying to resolve a hostage situation."
"So stand down," Phil said.
"We can't," Sean said.
"Who's we?" Phil asked, "I know you don't work for Interpol anymore."
Sean rubbed his temples. It looked like that lie wasn't going to work.
"I can't tell you," Sean said, "But you know that I wouldn't ask this if I didn't honestly believe that it was best, both for the people going in there and the hostages."
He heard Phil sigh.
"I know. I trust you Cassidy," Phil said, "But there's one problem."
"What's that?" Sean asked.
"It's not my call," Phil said.
Sean groaned.
"Oh God, not Fury?"
"Unfortunately, yes. And you know he doesn't like handing the reins over to anyone."
He groaned again. He knew that a few of the X-men were staring at him, but he didn't care. Not with Fury behind the wheel.
"I need you to convince him," Sean said.
"You know I can't do that without leverage," Phil said, "He'd want a favor from you in the very least. He knows about your…unique skill set."
"Fine," Sean said.
"Really?" Phil said.
He sounded shocked. Sean couldn't blame him. They both knew it was a bad idea to give Fury an unspecified favor.
"Yes," Sean said, "anything that isn't an assassination or will take me away from my daughter for more than two weeks. Anything other than that. Got it?"
"I…I've got it," Phil said, "But, even with this, there aren't any guarantees."
"I have faith in you," Sean said.
He looked around the Blackbird at the rest of the team.
"You just need to have faith in me," he said.
Moira took a deep breath. A large black safe had been wheeled in. She tried the handcuffs that secured her to a set of rails that they had brought in. There was no give. On the other side of the wall a few of the other people in the room had been shackled. She could see that they were scared. A chaperone tried to comfort one who was crying silently.
"It's fascinating, isn't it?"
Moira looked over at Sinister and glared at him. He laughed.
"Now, now, let's not be that way," he said, "Sacrifices must always be made in the name of science."
"Only in your type," she spat.
He sighed and crouched down in front of her.
"You know, humans like you always amazed me," he said, "You do know that you're actually a different species than mutants, right?"
He cocked his head and Moira tilted her head up. She could feel her heart beating so hard against her ribcage that she thought it would burst out of her chest.
"I remember when I first saw you in South America," he said, "A human married to a mutant giving intelligence readings. Those readings were, of course, on my plans and I was a little irritated, but still."
He grinned.
"You had come all the way down to disrupt my labs," he said, "It was a shame. I was creating a paradise down there."
"The inhabitants didn't think so," Moira said, "They called it the Savage Land."
"Can't please everyone," Sinister shrugged, "But what really fascinates me about you is that you actually managed to give birth to a mutant. Do you know how difficult that is, especially with second generation mutants?"
Moira felt her heart rate increase. He knew about David. How long had he been watching them?
"You might want to know how I know he's a mutant," Sinister said, "Well, the fact that the birth was so intense. It's not easy, carrying a member of another species. It must have been horribly painful."
He spread out his hands. Behind him she saw that the safe had been set upright.
"Now then," he said, "I have this theory, that the body has to change a bit to accommodate a new species DNA. Your very genetic make-up might have changed a little for your son."
He got up.
"I'll have to look into that later," he said, putting on rubber gloves, "Right now, I want you to watch something."
Sinister walked over to the black safe.
"What are you going to do?" Moira said.
"I'm going to conduct a little test," Sinister said, "Just a little one mind you. I'll go around and repeat it in the other rooms. I want a good sample size."
He opened the safe before pulling open a second door. Moira saw him pull out a vial full of black liquid. She could see that it was simmering inside the vial.
"You work at a school," he said, "I think that you'll appreciate this. It's such a…learning opportunity."
He glanced over at the students at the other side of the room and smiled. Chills ran up her spine.
"Whatever you're about to do," Moira said, "don't."
She knew her pleas would fall on deaf ears. She had seen too much of his handiwork in the Savage Land. Moira had to try though.
"That's no way to talk to a scientist reviewing his magnum opus," he said.
He turned the vial from side to side.
"This is designed on the basic code that all mutants have flowing in their veins, something I gleaned from young Summers's DNA," he said, "I wanted to do more, but I didn't have much. It really is a terrible thing, to have to work with incomplete data, but sometimes you have to work with what you have."
Sinister pulled a mask out of his pocket and put on goggles. Moira took a deep breath, the pounding in her heart beginning in her head.
"Don't," she said, "Please, they're only children."
She pulled on the handcuff as he approached the students. It didn't budge.
"You might think of this as a sort of inheritance for mutantkind, coming from their original DNA," he said, "Well, inheritance isn't exactly right. See, this comes from our mutant forefathers, but inheritance isn't a strong enough word."
Moira pulled on the handcuff again. It still wouldn't give. She gave a desperate look towards the students at the other end of the hall. The student who was crying drew in closer to the chaperone.
"Don't do this," she said.
Sinister tapped the top of the vial.
"I suppose it's more of a legacy," he said, "Yes, that's the perfect word for it."
The chaperone's eyes met Moira's. There was nothing either of them could do.
"And I think that that's what I'm going to call it," he said.
His eyes lit up as he pulled the stopper from the vial, releasing a black cloud into the air.
"The Legacy Virus."