September 3, 1974
"Alright, thanks."
Alex saw Sean switch his headset off out of the corner of his eye.
"Are your friends going to be joining us?" he asked.
"No," Sean said, "They're staying out of it."
His friend sounded troubled.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"No."
"You're an awful liar," Alex said.
Sean sighed.
"I'm just going to end up owing some people," he said, "Big time."
"You need me to go down there and talk to them?" Alex said, "Because if you need me to, I will."
Sean shook his head and laughed.
"No, but that would be interesting to watch," he said, "It'll be fine."
"If you're sure…"
"I'm sure."
Alex nodded and glanced over at Charles. Charles was staring out the window, his gaze distant. He hadn't said anything since they had gotten onto the Blackbird. Alex wondered if he was reaching for the minds of Moira, Jean, and Warren. From the way his brow was furrowing he wasn't reaching any of them.
That couldn't be good.
"You know the basic layout of the conference center," Alex said, "It's not going to be difficult to get in there. We just need to enter to the roof under stealth mode. It's going to be a lot more difficult once we're actually in. It sounds like these people have a lot of firepower."
His team nodded. Scott looked down at the control panel, his eyes riveted on the displays. Alex cleared his throat.
"Cyclops?" he asked.
Scott looked up, swallowing.
"I hear you," he said.
"Good," Alex said.
He looked back at Charles.
"Any contact?" he asked.
Charles closed his eyes.
"Marvel Girl is psychically exhausted after her contact with me," he said, "And there's…I'm close to reaching the others but there's a kind of noise around the building."
"Noise?" Alex asked.
"I'm hearing other thoughts," Charles said, "It's hard to pick anyone out of the crowd. It seems that many of the telepaths are broadcasting their thoughts very loudly, and they're very scared. It's creating a blanket cover that is difficult to move through."
Alex shifted. He bit the inside of his cheek.
"Professor," he asked, "just what are they scared of?"
Charles furrowed his brow again. His eyes snapped open.
"It's Sinister."
Alex almost turned the Blackbird into a full on dive. Scott whipped around, his mouth open.
"It can't be," Scott said, "I killed him!"
"We were also under the impression that Beast killed him," Alex said, "Sonuvabitch. What the hell's he up to?"
Charles looked at him.
"I have no idea," he said.
"So what are your resources?" Archangel asked.
Lorna looked at him. He was carrying Marvel Girl, who looked as though she were ready to faint. Archangel had told her that she had contacted the Professor. That meant that X-men were going to be pouring into the conference center soon. It meant that, for better or for worse, she was going to see Alex again.
She shifted her vest, rebuckling one of the compartments. She had done it hastily, and it didn't fit quite right. She needed something to distract her. When she was satisfied she shrugged.
"What are yours?" she asked, "Got any hidden pockets?"
She tilted her head and smiled, but Archangel intensified his glare. The smile slipped off her face.
"I'm wearing business casual!" he said.
Lorna sighed inwardly. He hadn't gotten the joke. She had to remember that she wasn't dealing with Alex. She was dealing with one of his students. She shouldn't expect any witty repartee from him. She felt silly expecting it in the first place. Not all X-men were like Alex, even if Warren seemed to be a good fighter.
"I've got a set of lock picks, my knives, two flares, a flashlight, small first aide kit, and some metal buttons," she said.
"Where?" Archangel asked, looking dazed.
"This coat and vest have a lot of pockets," Lorna said.
He paused.
"And two flares?" Archangel asked.
"You can never be too careful," Lorna said.
She pointed to herself.
"You know what I can do. Lance, or Avalanche to you, is pretty self-explanatory," she said, "You know Senyaka and Toad. And then there's Boom-Boom. She can make things explode by creating disks of kinetic energy."
Lorna frowned and turned to Tabby.
"That's what you figure, right?"
"Right," Tabby said, "But, to be frank, I just blow things up."
She grinned. Lorna turned to see that Lance was glaring at her.
"What is it now?" Lorna asked.
Lance opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
"Don't tell me that you're pissed because I told him information that he needs to know?" Lorna said.
Lance didn't say anything.
"That's what I thought," she said.
She looked around her. She could see that Toad looked uncomfortable and Senyaka was looking at her through narrowed eyes.
"Let's get one thing straight right now," Lorna said, "We all want to get through this alive, don't we?"
There were a few glares.
"Well I want to live," Lorna said, "So let's figure out what's going on, beat the shit out of whoever's doing it, and then get the hell out."
Her team nodded. Archangel seemed to agree too, and she figured that Jean would if she had the ability to realize what was going on around her. Their reluctance was frustrating, especially since they didn't seem to have any other option. Lorna wished she'd had more time to train her team.
She remembered Alex, the way he had cut straight to the point. He'd asked her if she wanted to live and, with no more assurance than that, they had clawed their way out of Black Tom's factory. There had been no arguments with him, no muttering. He understood what needed to be done and had done it. She could admire him for that. Lorna knew that she admired him for many other things as well, and she wished that she didn't.
"We need to find Mrs. Xavier," Archangel said, "She was supposed to be meeting us for dinner."
"Professor's wife is here?" Lorna asked.
"She was our chaperone," Archangel said.
"You need to be baby-sat?" Lance asked.
"Shut it," Lorna said.
She straightened her coat.
"Alright, we'll find her next," she said.
Once more she could see the hostility in her team's eyes. She hated that they were like this, that they couldn't understand. It wasn't as though she hadn't tried to tell them how they did things. Lorna knew that they didn't want to listen, didn't want to think about anyone who wasn't inside of the Brotherhood.
She was getting the unpleasant feeling that quite a few members of the Brotherhood were like that.
"She's most likely going to be used as a bargaining chip if anyone finds out who she is," Lorna said, "We need to stop that before it turns into a situation."
"You don't know that," Tabby said.
Lorna exchanged a look with Archangel.
"Unfortunately, we do," Lorna said, "These people came into a peaceful conference full of students guns blazing. I don't think they're above taking hostages."
Moira stifled a sob. She could see the skin lesions breaking out on the students, multiplying and growing at an unbelievable rate. Others were coughing up a black liquid, their eyes wide. She could see a few gray veins standing out on their pale skin. It was happening so fast.
Sinister stood some distance from them, his mask and goggles firmly in place. He was taking notes on a clipboard, humming to himself from time to time. One of the students cried out and Moira felt a piercing pain in her head. She dropped to the floor, clutching her temples. It had happened more than once. Sinister chuckled.
"Don't feel too uncomfortable Mrs. Xavier," he said, "They can't control their powers right now. They'll come out in short bursts. I think we have a little group of telepaths here. Travelling in a pack. Safety in numbers, some foolish notion like that."
Sinister chuckled again.
"Don't worry though: it's much more painful for them than it is for you."
He tapped his clipboard.
"Then again," he said, "it won't be too painful for you. You're the wife of a telepath after all. You must be used to having your mind peered into."
He tucked his clipboard beneath his arm. Sinister walked towards the safe and pulled out a collection of vials similar to the first one. He had more?
"Well, I've seen the first stages here," he said, "It should have some time to incubate. I'll see about the other groups."
"Don't do this," Moira said.
He laughed and put down the vials. Sinister walked in front of her and crouched down so that his goggled eyes would be leveled with her.
"Why would I want to stop?" he asked, "This is my life's work."
"Why?" Moira asked, the word coming out choked, "In God's name, why?"
He smiled.
"Because sometimes we need to see the march of progress," he said, "If some things are trampled underfoot on that journey, well, that's only to be expected."
He motioned for one of the soldiers. Sinister got to his feet as the soldier walked over. He handed Sinister a syringe.
"Now, your husband's students should be arriving shortly," he said, "They'll want you, of course they will. I need a bit of a human shield, as you would say. I don't have too much time. I may have wasted too much already."
He shifted the syringe in his hands. Moira kept her eyes on it.
"Which means you can't stay here. So you'll be coming with me while I check on the rest of the test subjects," he said.
Sinister pulled out his clipboard again.
"However, I know about your background as a CIA agent," he said, "I do my research Mrs. Xavier. I am thorough."
He turned the syringe in his hands.
"I can't have you doing something clever you learned in training like, say, escaping," he said.
He turned the syringe in his hands again.
"It doesn't look like much, does it?" he asked.
Sinister leaned down and jabbed the syringe towards her shoulder. Moira moved to the side to dodge it, but the soldier that was with Sinister held her in place. He missed and tsked his tongue.
"You really shouldn't have done that," he said, "It would have hurt less if you hadn't moved. But let's go with plan B, shall we?"
He stabbed the syringe into her neck. Moira bit the inside of her lip to stifle a cry. He yanked it out again and threw the syringe over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, it's just a sedative Mrs. Xavier," he said, "It should leave you far too groggy to do anything more than move your eyes. I could have knocked you out completely. However, I wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun, now would I?"
Sinister got to his feet.
"After all," he said, "You might know some of my test subjects. I would love to see your opinion on their progress."