First Mutant
By David D. Amaya
Chapter 31
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Jungle Cat Feeding Pen, Nation Zoo, Day 21
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"Jubilee, do you have a mirror?"
"Yea, I got a small one in my wallet."
"Please give it to me, I am going to check if they really left us alone. I will also need a piece of gum and that long leg bone in the courner."
She handed Agent Nichols the small mirror that was attached to her wallet and a piece of her gum, which he quickly chewed until it was tacky. Then stuck the wad on the end of a long cattle femur that was lying in the corner. Using the gum as an adhesive, he attached the mirror on the bone and proceeded to inch the mirror along the ajar door, checking the passageway for signs of the Senator's henchmen.
Running the mirror along the length of the door on both sides, no signs of life were found.
"The coast is clear, come on!"
The pair then crept along the corridor then exited the pen and proceeded to the parking lot.
"Well, we got outta that jam in almost one piece," Jubilee asked. "but how we gonna find 'Watt, Secret Agent Dude?"
The Senator's men took both of the Secret Service agent's weapons, their respective holsters, his handcuffs, the cell phone from the Explorer, and the extra phony IDs, leaving him only with his badge.
"First I am going to commandeer this vehicle," Agent Nichols proceeded to break into a new Corvette by smashing the driver's side window with the leg bone. "then head straight to my apartment to get a replacement set of weapons, then join the team at the fallback position."
"What if they ain't there?"
"We have to find a way to contact them some how," he replied as now began to work on the alarm system. "I can not call the throwphone I gave Storm. If they traced the call, they can track it down, we can assume there is a trace on the line." After successfully hotwiring the car, the pair proceeded south out of the zoo.
"Maybe there's a way," Jubilee replied. "Let me scream for them."
"I do not believe they can hear you from here, Jubilee."
"They ain't gonna hear me at all."
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McMillian Reservoir near Hayward University along Douglas St. 1536 EST
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Shielded by the Shi'ar-powered cloaking device, no one would suspect that an SR-71 Blackbird Bomber would be sitting along the banks of the reservoir overlooking the bastion of African-American higher learning, but along it's quiet surroundings, the X-Men were utilizing it's vastly superior technology to locate Cyrus, Jubilee, and Agent Nichols, but to no avail.
"We can't just wait here, Cyke!" Wolverine grunted. "G-Man and the kids got nabbed. We gotta go lookin' for them before those damn exterminators do 'em in!"
"We aren't going off half-cocked, Wolverine," Cyclops responded. "Banshee is there any trace of Cyrus' transmitter beacon?"
"Nay, 'tis not on the radar. It must be shielded somehow."
Wolverine pounded the console in anger. "Damn it, Irish! We can't just sit here! You heard the tone of those assholes! They're gonna kill 'em!"
"But we do not know where they are, Logan," Storm said trying to calm her agitated friend and teammate.
"Stormie's right, Hommie," Gambit added. " 'Dis city real big on de hiding places. We could be lookin' forever an' never find dem 'till it too late."
"BUT IT MAY ALREADY BE TOO LATE, GUMBO!" He bellowed as he grabbed Gambit by the lapels of his trenchcoat. "If they couldn't fight back they ain't just gonna be able to scream for us to help 'em!"
"Storm and Gambit both have valid points, Wolverine," the Professor interjected. "If their plot included killing the President's son they would already have done so in Maryland, and if eliminating Jubilee and Agent Nichols were necessary they could have easily have disposed of them while they lay unconscious."
"The Professor's right Wolverine," Phoenix added. "We must -"
Before she could finish her remark, She and Professor Xavier felt a tingle deep inside their consciousness. A most welcome feeling indeed.
JEANIE!? PROFESSOR!? HELLO!? Jubilee mind-screamed. "Shit, Frosty said this would work!"
Jubilee?
"YES!!" She cried aloud. "I told you it would work, Secret Agent Dude! Jean it's good to here from you guys! Okay, okay, maybe not hear from you -"
Where is Agent Nichols, Jubilee?
"Right here, Professor, " She replied. "Well, say something. Moms and the Professor can hear you."
Agent Nichols, Professor Xavier sent directly to the Secret Service Agent. Are you safe?
Kordel shook his head and blinked his eyes as he momentarily lost concentration driving.
"Don't worry. It takes a little gettin' used to," Jubilee assured him, noticing the shock of someone unused to receiving a telepathic message. "But at least it's cheaper then a pay phone."
"We are safe for the moment, Professor," he spoke aloud. "Senator Crain is involved in the kidnapping. His men have taken Kilowatt. He is planing to kill him and blame mutants so he can force the President to push the Mutant Registration Act into law.
"We are headed to my apartment on Wyoming to retrieve some weapons. Can you track his GPS beacon?"
No, it is shielded somehow. We are still scanning as we speak. Phoenix replied as she discreetly scanned their memories, viewing the danger they had escaped from and the Senator's plans that await the President's son. Focusing on their prospective memory of Cyrus in Jubilee's yellow trenchcoat, she concentrated on his neck. She could make out that the inhibitor collar was fastened directly over the pendant that held the tracking device.
The inhibitor he's wearing must be disrupting the tracking beacon's signal.
"Where's Charlie? I am going to need his help-"
Agent Block has been wounded, but he will recover from his injuries, The Professor answered. He is at Washington General Hospital.
He took a bullet meant for us and saved our lives. Phoenix added.
"Damn!" Kordel responded to his partner's injury by pounding the steering wheel, but his Service training kicked in and refocused on the problem at hand. "Does Storm still have the throwphone I have her?"
Yes.
"Dump it into the Reservoir. Crain traced the line and it has to be bugged. I am going to contact the Director and request SHIELD support. Let me know the moment you pick up Cyrus' beacon."
Very well, Kordel, the Professor said. Wolverine shall be dispatched to the zoo and attempt to track the President's son. We will take to the air and continue tracking for his homing beacon signal and will contact you the moment we attain a breakthrough.
Good luck to you two, Jubilee, Kordel.
"Will do Jean, Professor, check in with you guys latter," Jubilee told them then turned to Kordel. "Don't worry, Secret Agent Dude. The Wolvmister can find a contact lens in a rain forest. If anyone can find 'Watt and that slimy-assed Senator, he's the man."
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The Streets of Capital Hill 1543 EST
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Capital Hill Police, with the aid of SHIELD, finally brought order on the Hill as the Director of the Secret Service began sorting through the events of the past hour by debriefing of his CAT unit.
"... Then one of the X-Men took out the Level-One Element. We have secured Citadel, Pin Cushion, and Punch Bowl. The device found at Pin Cushion was a decoy. All suspects are in control and CHPD and SHIELD have restored order."
"Where's Sheepskin?"
"Unknown. Agent's Frank and McKey are with Agent Block at Tourniquet. They pulled another .308 out of him. Agent McKey reported that Sheepskin cleared them 10-19."
"Damnit!" He grunted. "Agent Cooper, continue to supervise clean up with Sgt. Hanson. Send Dragonfly to Magic, then rotate to Carpet. Move out!"
He then pulled out his cell phone and dialed a secured line.
"This is the Director! Patch me through to Cement Mixer!"
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Aboard the Blackbird, Airborne over Washington, DC 1550 EST
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"What did you find Wolverine?"
"Trail's cold, Red. I can pick up eight scents, but this place reeks of cattle blood an' tiger piss. I can tell that G-Man an' Jubilee bailed in a hot Corvette. I'm headed for his place an' see if I can help 'em from there."
"Stand by, we'll pick you up."
"No need. I hotwired a Hog. I'll be faster. You just keep lookin' for the kid on your end."
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Kordel Nichols Apartment, Adams-Morgan, DC 1554 EST
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As one of the trendier neighborhoods of the Nation's Capital, it was common place for a loud red Corvette to roar into the Streets of Adams-Morgan and given that the city of Washington has the nation's highest crime rate, it was not all too unexpected for a driver or a passenger of a sporty new car to have lumps and bruises. So Agent Nichols and Jubilee were not afforded a second glance as they slowly parked the sports car in front of his apartment.
"All right, there it is Jubilee. Agent Nichols pointed out. "The Director should have cleared the Code 5. I am going to gain entry through the kitchen window, then head to the second floor to get my spare pistol and the other tracking device. STAY HERE! If anyone comes to the front or back doors, lean on the horn, but do NOT follow me in. Do you understand?"
"Yea, Secret Agent Dude, " she replied as he stalked away. "I could use a breather anywho."
Once inside his kitchen, Kordel grabbed a sharp knife from a utensil drawer and proceeded to check each room as he did only 48 hours before. But the rooms were decidedly different this time.
The Secret Service had apparently tore the rooms apart looking for evidence. The bed was on its' side, the loose floorboards were ripped out and his spare shotgun and all the remaining shells were taken out, his closet were striped of all his clothes and his regular gun box and the wall safe was ripped out of the walls.
Looks like the Director was overlooking this one personally, Kordel thought to himself as he continue to sift through his home. Even his bookshelves were bare. Each book was taken down and ruffled through for hidden papers or hollowed out stash-boxes, then discarded to a pile in the corner.
"Through job," he said to himself as we went back to the closet. "But not through enough." He then slashed the carpeting away from the floor of the closet to reveal a hidden floor safe.
"Aunt Rose always said 'spend the money on quality.'" he said as he opened the custom safe and rearmed himself with two Sig Sowers, a dozen spare clips and holsters for both, while placing the kitchen knife in his waistband at the small of his back.
Watching from a high perch from across the street, a tiny video camera was transmitting surveillance around the apartment on Wyoming Ave and sent crystal clear images of a man climbing the rear kitchen window to a cleaning van around the corner a half a block away, as not to arouse suspicion or to scare off their prey.
"Voodoo, mark entering Hot Zone. Repeat, mark entering Hot Zone. Over."
"Hawk 1, swoop down and rend mark. I say again, swoop down and rend mark."
"Roger, Hawk leaving perch."
"Man, I wish he would have left the car on accessory, at least I could have done some damage to the sound system." she thought aloud. Then she noticed a man walking down Wyoming. There were over several dozen people walking the pristine streets in such a fine fall afternoon. What stuck this man out from the rest was that he was dressed casual, but for one tiny thing was out of place.
Wolverine taught her many of the basics of stalking prey and hiding from predators, one of which was to notice the 'little things.'
"Why would a guy in a clean pair of Levis' and a Tommy Hilfiger shirt be wearin' dirty combat boots?"
The he headed for Kordel's apartment.
"Oh shit!" she said as she reached for the center of the steering wheel, the Corvette's powerful horn blared.
But only for half a second.
What she or Agent Nichols did not realize, the wiring Kordel ripped out to disable the alarm and hotwire the Corvette had also striped a small part of the signal horn wire, exposing it to the metal under the dashboard, so when she tried to signal Agent Nichols it shorted out a simple 75¢ 15-Amp car fuse.
"Fuck! Oh to hell with it, I never listened to Cyke when he used to tell me to say put, so why should Secret Agent Dude get a free pass." She then leaped out of the car and also headed for the kitchen window.
Sniff, sniff, sniff.
Despite the fact that Wolverine was going seventy-five miles an hour in a residential neighborhood full of garbage, people and animals, he could always sniff out gun oil a half a block away, especially if that oil is government standard.
As he veered left from Connecticut his keen eyesight saw Jubilee in a green baseball jacket crawling into a window at the address Cyclops had given him.
Then he pushed the Harley to 90.
Jubilee's natural agility and street smarts, Wolverine's training and Gambit's all-too eager tips on breaking and entering, all came into play as she nimbly and quietly entered Kordel's home. She was so quiet in fact that she was easily able to see the man, now armed with a Desert Eagle raised to shooting position, but she did not even make enough noise for him to notice her.
He was slowly commanding the staircase when she attempted to tiptoe behind him in an effort to use her powers to blind him before he could reach the Secret Service Agent, who was, even now ready to come down, unaware of the potential assailant climbing his staircase.
Her stealthy approach, especially against such an experienced foe, would have impressed the X-Men, until she stepped on a creak in the stairs.
She underestimated his reflexes as he swiftly spun around, her now so close to him he instantly had the barrel of the weapon pressed against her forehead, and used his free hand to grab both of hers and pushed then down to her waist, then he spun around her quickly pinning her to the wall, keeping her hands pressed against her stomach while the Desert Eagle was pressed against her temple.
"Call him out, mutie," he whispered into her ear.
Trying to clam herself down she nervously shook her head no.
He then pressed the large gun deeper into her head and repeated more firmly. "Call him out, bitch!" He clicked back the safety on the Desert Eagle to drive home his resolve. "or your gonna die of lead poisoning."
Kordel was about to exit his study when he heard the unmistakable sound of the safety on a simi-auto. Turning against the wall he drew his Sig Sower and preceded to slowly lead with his Service automatic at low ready, with a dreadful fear in the pit of his gut on why the gunman was being so careless with his weapon.
As he left the door jam his fears were realized.
"Drop the shit, mutie," he called to the Secret Service Agent. "or this slug is going swimming in this bitch's skull!"
As much as he would have been willing to do anything to get that ominous weapon away from her head, Kordel knew all to well that any cop who surrenders his gun during a hostage situation usually gets rewarded with a department funeral to match the hostages. So desperately recalling all the Department of Justice reports, the FBI workshops, and Secret Service training on hostage situations, he was forced to play this hand out.
"Secret Service!" he responded gathering all his wits for an advantage. "Drop your weapon and release your hostage!"
"No asshole," he replied. "You drop it!"
"Just cap his ass, Kordel!" Jubilee blurted out.
"Shut the fuck up!" he said pushing her head with the gun. "I know all about those mutie collars your wearing," he said as he backed down the stairs using her as a shield. "Your powers are as useless as his are!" He then brought his arm around her throat in a chokehold, which brought her hands around his arm in reflex.
The advantage was clear to the Secret Service agent, he just hoped that Jubilee was able to think clearly with that weapon at their head to follow his lead.
"Yea, flatscan," he started to follow them down the stairs. "take these collars off and all you'll see is a FLASH then BANG! You are a dead DICK!"
Luck was on the pair's side as she was able to see where this was going. Or rather where her left hand was sneaking off to.
"You know you can take him, Kordel!" she said as she was sliding her hand behind her back when she heard a faint but familiar sound. "Just shoot his ass!"
"Drop it or she gets it!" he yelled not noticing that the sound was getting louder.
Kordel lowered his Sig Sower.
"Good, mutie! Now throw it over there!"
He tossed the gun into the sitting area and raised his hand in front of him.
"Now say goodnight to this girl, mutie!" he then raised his weapon to the Secret Service agent.
With his focus away from her, she used her unrestrained powers sending a stream of pyrotechnics to his groin. He released his grip on her enough so she was able to tumbled away from him and his weapon, just as Wolverine crashed through the backdoor with the stolen bike, causing him to spin around firing at the feral mutant.
Kordel then took the knife from his waistband and threw it at the gunman's throat, where it impaled him, killing him in a fountain of squirting blood and burbling death throes.
Jubilee instantly ran into the wounded mutant's arms and squeezed tightly.
"Forget what I said back there about being late, Wolvie!" she said as tears streamed down her face. "That was about as perfect an entrance as you can get!"
Leaving Jubilee to be consoled by the X-Man, Kordel removed the Desert Eagle from the gunman's dead hand and placed it in his waistband in the same location he just seconds earlier housed the knife sticking out of his neck. He then searched his for more useful items.
"Not a bad throw, for a fed," Wolverine remarked as Jubilee released her grip on him. When Nichols looked up from searching the dead man he noticed four bullet wounds.
"Wolverine, you've been shot!"
"Been there, done that, went back again and often, Secret Agent Dude" Jubilee quipped a weary grin crept on her face as she went to the sitting area to retrieve Kordel's service pistol.
Wolverine then saw the damage the Senator's men inflicted and wished, though not for the first time, that he could share his healing factor with his teammates. "You think this dead son of a bitch's gonna say shit, G-Man?"
"One way to find out. Hey asshole, you have the right to remain silent!" Kordel responded as he continued to search him, he retrieved a wallet which he quickly ruffled through, two clips for the Desert Eagle and a pair of keys for a Ford. "This is all the talking he needs to do. Jubilee did you see which way he came in from."
"He was walkin' from that way," she pointed east on Wyoming.
"Did you see if he came out of a van?" he asked her. "He was in a Ford, probably a late 80s cargo van, white or blue colored, that's all Justice has been using lately."
"I'da know, this is suburbia. There's about three dozen yuppie mini-vans parked on this block."
"Wait, a sec G-Man," Wolverine knelt down. His wounds now closed completely, he sniffed the dead gunman. "I can pick up cheap gas, a pepperoni and sausage pizza, and a Diet Pepsi he spilled on his boots," Instantly the images and the smells clicked into place, even though it was a blur on the first pass. "Light blue E-350 Cargo van," he reported "It's parked on Connecticut. This asshole was alone in it."
Taking his pistol from Jubilee. He pocketed the keys. "Jubilee you'll be safer with Wolverine, I will go see what they left us. I shall rejoin the X-Men-"
"Oh, no you don't. We're in this together, Secret Agent Dude! We still gotta find 'Watt, and that means you still need us. You take the 'Vette, we'll follow you in the Harley."
"I wouldn't argue with her if I were you, mister. Besides you heard Ro, X-Men throw down for their friends."
"We're wasting time," Jubilee pointed out as she restarted the motorcycle. "You two coming or not?"
End of Chapter thirty-one
© David D. Amaya 2007