Chapter 4: The Plan
When they brought Morgan in, Scott felt something as he recognized her. It was the first feeling that he had had since Stryker injected that serum into his nervous system. He tried to hold onto it as if it was a tangible object. It was guilt. He wanted it. It was his own. More followed. Anger. Frustration. Calculation. His thoughts were becoming his own. Cyclops was coming back.
Sergeant Lyman carefully placed Morgan on the examination table, and went over to the first aid cabinet. He retrieved a suture set, a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and a pen light. Lyman was not only the second in command here at Alkali Lake, he was his unit's medic as well. He wasn't sure of Stryker's plans for this one, but he decided that the scalp laceration needed a few stitches. We can't have Stryker's mindless mutants bleeding all over the place, he thought to himself. As he began his examination to determine if she had suffered a concussion, he glanced at her face and then down her body. She's quite attractive, he thought, I'll need to let all of my men know that she was not to be touched. Most of these men wouldn't think of touching a mutant. You never know.
As Lyman stitched up Morgan's head, he glanced over at the mutant standing at the door. It was Xavier's field officer, Cyclops. Even though he was very much under Stryker's control, he did not trust that mutant. It took double the amount of serum to subdue Cyclops and make him compliant, which told Lyman that there was an unknown variable of serum's effectiveness. Was it because of the mutant's brain damage, his actual mutation, his disciplined mind, or Xavier's training? He did not like unknown variables. Like this woman here and the Wolverine. Why were they not listed as some of the possible mutants they might encounter? Just how much information was Cyclops able to withhold under questioning? Variables.
"Sergeant, is she damaged?" William Stryker asked as he walked into the room.
"No sir, I don't think so. Her head wound is superficial, I took the liberty of suturing up this laceration," he answered placing his last stitch.
"Excellent," he replied glancing down at Morgan, "Cyclops! Come here!" Stryker barked, his eyes never leaving Morgan's face. "Who is this?"
Silence. Stryker turned towards Scott and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. The mutant was obviously throwing off the effects of the serum. His jaw was clenched tight and his right hand was shaking as he slowly raised it to his visor. Stryker quickly covered the distance before Scott was able to regain enough control to activate his force beams. He grabbed him roughly by the hair, yanked his head down, and redosed him. The mutant hissed in pain. This was simply amazing. He had to use double the amount to break this young man; he should not be even remotely ready for this third dose. Stryker attributed this feat to how disciplined Scott Summers's mind is. When Scott raised his head, his jaw was relaxed, hands were steady and back down at his sides. Stryker whispered all of his previous instructions to Scott who nodded in understanding. He walked back over to the table, looking rather annoyed.
"Now. Come here. Who is she?"
"Her name is Morgan McGowan, and she is Professor Xavier's personal assistant," Scott answered with a flat affect, looking down at Morgan, with not a hint of hesitancy in his voice.
"My men reported that she is some type of psy, like Jean Grey."
"No sir, Morgan is an empath."
"Of course," Lyman murmured, "that makes much more sense than her being a telepath."
Stryker was silent for a moment, weighing his options. He had never used the serum on a mutant with abilities such as this. Telepaths and empaths were especially challenging to capture, it took a lot of planning, such as what he had to do to bring in Charles Xavier. Therefore, the effects were unknown and that alone appealed to the scientist in him. But time was short for her kind; it almost seemed to be a waste.
"What level of mutant is she?" he asked softly, his mind still weighing his options.
"She is not a mutant," Scott replied. Lyman looked up at Stryker in shock. His body readied itself for a fight, because he now knew that the serum was ineffective in completely controlling Xavier's field leader. He should not be able to lie right after a dosing. William glanced at his second in command, acknowledged his concern, but did not act as if he was worried about an attack from the mutant.
"Are you sure about this? Was her blood tested for the X-factor?"
"Yes, sir."
"Interesting. Where does her power come from then?" he asked, reaching forward to grasp her chin, examining her face. He was trying to remember any details of the testing that was done by the KGB in the 1960's on psychics. He never even considered that there were non-mutants out there, who 'naturally' possessed powers. In fact, Stryker had thought while reading the documents that the Soviets probably had mutants on their hands without realizing it.
"Her genetics. She told us that all of her family possesses these types of powers."
"Did you thoroughly test her?" Scott nodded, "what can she do?"
"Morgan can read, control, and project emotions, we've never encountered anyone with her level of ability," Scott answered.
"If she was a mutant, what level would you put her at?" he asked, a plan finally formulating in his mind. He would be losing Yuriko tomorrow when all mutants will be destroyed by Charles Xavier and it might be prudent to have some sort of ace in his pocket.
"Alpha level," Scott answered after a moment of thought.
"Hmm," Stryker continued to stare down at her, he expelled a deep breath when he came to his decision. "Lyman, if you are finished here, I want you to strap a neural inhibitor on her, take her to room D and put in position for serum administration."
"Sir?" Lyman looked up sharply, his eyes shadowed in confusion. He was not expecting that they were going to dose this girl, she wasn't a mutant.
"Is there a problem, Sergeant?" he barked, his voice softened when he saw his second in command's eyes. He knew that he had to have the battalion's full support to carry out his plans.
"You do know that there are only two options at this time. We either execute her or we dose her, because she'll need to be controlled," Stryker explained calmly.
Sergeant Lyman took a moment to think about this. He was not happy with this turn of events. He wasn't foolish enough to think that they could just throw her in a holding cell; he knew first hand what she was capable of. Five of his team now lay cold in the morgue by her hand alone. If she can be controlled, it gave them a strategic advantage, especially if Xavier was able to resist Mutant 143's direct telepathic control. Wasn't it better that she be under Stryker's control and not dead and underground?
"No, sir there is no problem."
"Good, so be quick, the effect of that tranquilizer will be wearing off very soon."
"No one is left, Jean. Soldiers came." Jean thought she heard a touch of remorse in Logan's voice as he explained what happened at Xavier's Institute over the night. Was it because he thought he failed, or was it something else? Jean and Ororo exchanged concerned glances, the soft praying in the back of plane stopped. The new mutant was listening as well.
"What about the children?" Ororo asked as gruesome images began flashing in her head in rapid succession. Even though she fully believed in Charles Xavier's dream of one day living peacefully among the flat lines, she was not naïve about the dangers out there.
"Some of them escaped. I'm not sure about the rest." Logan replied softly.
"We haven't been able to reach the Professor or Scott either." Jean added her voice betraying her anxiety. Ever since she was a child she could 'hear' Charles in some form and the telepathic link that she recently established with Scott was gone, as well.
"Where are you, Logan?" Ororo asked thinking that they should not go back to the Institute and get themselves captured as well.
"Boston, with Bobby Drake's family." Logan said, looking into the Drake's living room disdainfully, the kid's parents were getting on his last nerve.
"Okay, we're on our way." Ororo reached over and began entering the coordinates that she was able to upload from Logan's com link. They now had his exact position. Jean chuckled to herself imagining Logan in the suburbs of Boston.
"And Storm? Make it fast." Logan said as he closed the connection.
Ororo glanced back and caught the eyes of Kurt Wagner; he shyly smiled at her before continuing his praying. The communication device on the plane console blinked again with another active com link, but this one was searching for the X-Jet's link.
"Hello?" Jean answered carefully, wary that someone out there had a direct link to them now.
"Jeannie, is dat y?" When Jean and Ororo heard the familiar Cajun accent, they both sighed in relief. It was Remy LeBeau.
"Oh thank God, Remy. Where are you?"
"I'm here at de school, Jeannie." He didn't bother to conceal the stress in his voice.
"Are there any of children there?" Ororo asked, she turned and glanced behind her when she heard the leather of the chair creak, it was the mutant, Kurt. He had moved up into the chair behind her. His facial expression was concerned, his eyes flashed in pain.
"Yeah, Stormy. Piotr had a lot of dem hidden out in de forest. Smart boy, dat one is. But dere is about nine missin' and…"
"No, Logan has three of the kids and they are in Boston, we are going to go pick them up now…oh goddess. That means that there are six kids missing…shit…" Ororo hid her face, trying to keep her emotions under control. She needed to think clearly.
"Morgan is missing. Dey got her."
"No… no they didn't, she's at her father's, Remy, call her cell," Jean replied, she was glad that at least that was one less person they had to worry about. Silence.
"Remy?"
"I'm here," his voice was tight and guarded as if he was trying to hold something big in, "non, she called me last night, when de soldiers were attacking de school."
Jean and Ororo glanced at each other. If soldiers had the authority to attack a school, and take children, who knew what they might do to a woman prisoner.
"Maybe she got out, and just hasn't come back yet," Ororo offered, thinking it might be a possibility.
"Non, dere was a big explosion on de third floor, and deres a lot of blood, I found her sword in de debris."
No one said anything for a minute; everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Kurt began to softly pray.
"Okay, this is what we are going to do. We'll go pick up Logan and the kids in Boston, and then come back there and I will use Cerebro to find the Professor, Scott and Morgan. So stay put, Remy. We'll get her back."
"D'accord, Jeannie."