Essex looked down at his watch, at the blinking red light. He smiled and made a gesture over to Regan, who leaned over obediently. Yes, a crook of the finger and she'd be there. Much more obedient than her sister, and perhaps she was a little smarter. Not by much, but it was something.
"I do believe your sister has found some of the Xaviers," he said.
"She'd be at the boat right now, wouldn't she?" asked Regan.
Yes, definitely a little sharper than Martinique.
"The GPS tracker indicates she is," Essex said, "Perhaps some of his people thought it was a good idea to sneak aboard the ship. A good plan, although a risky one."
"Looks like it didn't pan out," said Regan.
"No," said Essex.
He stepped out of the helicopter, keeping his head down. Regan trailed after him. Yes, he'd caught her at the right age. Her sister, not so much, but Regan served as a good worker, a good person to do the heavy lifting.
And the blood spilling. Yes, there was that for when things got messy. He wasn't a man prone to violence. What he did on the tables and in the labs was purely for science. If he derived enjoyment from his experiments, that meant nothing. It was just the thrill of discovery.
He straightened up as they walked away from the helicopter's whirring blades.
"So, how do you want to handle this?" Regan asked.
"Simple," he said, "We don't have as much time as I would like, but I want you to fetch Emma. Bring her to lab X42 along with MacTaggert."
Regan raised her eyebrows.
"Are you sure it's ready?" she said.
"No," smiled Essex, "But we need to do a test run, and this is the perfect opportunity. It'll be the most secure location, and the chances are Xavier won't be able to find his lady love there. But when Martinique comes, hand it over to her."
"What?" asked Regan, "Why?"
She really could be annoying. While he'd carefully nurtured the rivalry between the two sisters, this particular aspect of it made him want to break her nose. Regan should know better than to question him.
"Because we'll need transport for our other guest," he said, "And she's much more important. Even if all goes well, I want her secured. She's too...precious to let go."
Regan nodded and sauntered off to the building. He watched her go, and then turned around. The rest of Weapon X was getting off the helicopter. He looked them over in derision. If Wraith had been there, then it truly would've been the three stooges.
As it was, it was just Chris and Zero. He heartily disliked them both, Chris for his timidity and Zero for his inability to be creative. But, they were skilled. They might be able to hold off the team that had taken down Nur for a while, might being the key word. If Stryker could've been convinced to part with Victor, then they might actually have a chance, take one or two down with them.
He waited as Martinique flickered in front of him. Essex cocked his head as Martinique wiped away the blood from her face. She looked a mess, with bruises all over her head and a burn on her lips. He thought there was even a cut on one of her hands.
"You look as though you've been thoroughly beaten," he remarked.
Martinique glowered and stormed over to him. Wraith shrugged and walked over to the other two. Martinique crossed her arms, her eyes still venomous. No, maybe he hadn't done such a good job with her as he had with her sister.
"There were two of them," she said.
"Which ones?"
"The blue demon one and the shapeshifter," muttered Martinique.
He perked up, more interested. Both of them were rare, exquisite mutations. Xavier had a habit of collecting the best around him. If only the man had an idea of the specimens he had. Or maybe he did, and that was why he was training them for combat.
"But just the two, correct?" he said.
"Just the two," she said, "But they took my sister."
"Regan's in the compound."
"My other sister," Martinique snapped.
He gave her a level look, and she ducked her head in apology. That was better.
"Come now, you never really liked Megan," he said, "And she's only your half sister, isn't she?"
"She's supposed to be ours," said Martinique.
"She'd be, what, eight?" asked Essex, "I can say from experience that children are very troublesome at that age. I can barely deal with them, and you know how patient I can be. Would you really raise her?"
"We could've if her stupid mother hadn't interfered," Martinique said, "And that blonde brat who kicked me was there."
Essex laughed.
"You do know how to hold a grudge don't you?" he asked.
Martinique gave him a side look, and he smiled benignly.
"Listen to me," he said, "Xavier's team is coming. No getting around that. We have to deal with that first. But, afterwards, I will personally help you find your baby sister. Who knows? She might be worth something."
She shoved her hands in her pockets and Essex smiled. He gestured to her and they walked together.
"I need you to go to lab X42," he said, "I've instructed your sister to fetch Emma and MacTaggert for you. I'll give you the signal for the rest. I believe you'll know just which buttons to push for Emma to be...persuaded to do what you say. And if things go south, we'll have MacTaggert as a bargaining chip."
"Maybe not," said Martinique.
He stopped walking and turned to her, narrowing his eyes.
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because I think you'll want to keep her," said Martinique, "I had my suspicions, so I ran a blood test with a sample collected from the floor after one of our sessions."
Essex's eyes widened, and he knew that his jaw dropped slightly. Giddiness flared up in him. There were so few reasons to do a blood test in this environment with Martinique's deficit of knowledge that he felt lightheaded with the possibility.
"Now, the test could be wrong," she said, "But I think MacTaggert's pregnant."
"My God," said Essex, smiling, "How far along?"
"Hard to tell, but not very far," said Martinique, "Probably conceived a week or two before we got a hold of her."
"And she wasn't at the CIA then," said Essex, "And her son wasn't in school, and she wasn't...so...oh, this is too much."
He ran a hand through his hair. It was trembling. Telepaths were always the ones to watch out for, how they could creep into a mind. He'd seen their work firsthand, but they were a rare breed indeed. It was much more common to see some sort of offshoot of telepathic abilities, like Regan and Martinique, like Kayla. But a true telepath, one that could speak in your mind and twist your thoughts? Very rare.
He'd nearly salivated when he'd heard Stryker had found two sisters, the older with an offshoot and the younger with the pure, telepathic ability. He'd bartered and wheedled, convinced Stryker to keep Kayla instead of Emma. While Emma wasn't as strong as he would've liked, she was still developing, and he knew she could really shine one day.
But Xavier? He knew enough about the man to know how powerful he was. Emma was nothing, nothing compared to him. What would his child be like? While Essex didn't prescribe to Lamorack's theory of evolution, those with stronger parents tended to be very strong themselves. He'd followed genes through the generations, tracing their roots. He knew what could build up, what the X-gene could truly unlock if given time.
It was why he'd been saddened to hear that, while Magneto had had a daughter, she'd been killed by ignorant police. She could've been a goddess, truly capable of molding the world. And they had shot her because their tiny minds couldn't comprehend how amazing she was.
To have Xavier's child though, that would more than make up for it. In his count, Xavier could very well be the most powerful mutant in the world. Yes, people would rage about Magneto, but he'd felt Xavier's touch in his mind from across the world. Magneto caused earthquakes, but Xavier could, if he wanted to, kill with a look.
And to have this child from birth? Yes, he detested children, but this would be different. This would almost put the girl he'd jokingly called his daughter to shame. He would have the perfect mutant, and perfection was so very rare.
"I need you to go to X42 and get MacTaggert off the island," he said, "Take her to...oh, take her to the Canadian location. It's been cleaned up, and it was our most secure. She's going to need to be very well cared for for the next year or so."
"A year?" asked Martinique, "She's only got about eight more months on her."
"Yes, but the child may need transfusions, and, quite frankly, it's probably healthier for the baby to be with her for the next few months," he said, "After that we can, I don't know, kill her, ship her back to Xavier, toss her to Stryker, use your imagination. It doesn't really matter."
He grinned.
"But, for now, she might be the most important person in the world," he said.
The wind whipped at Kurt's face, lashing him with spray. Megan had already retreated into her coat, her tears still staining her face. Amanda was trying to wipe them away, trying to pretend she hadn't almost taken a shot to head earlier.
Next to him Mystique was loading a gun she'd picked up from one of the crew members. It made him uncomfortable at how fast she'd been able to do it, that she was carrying it at all. She'd also disappeared while Kurt was grabbing Megan and Amanda, coming back out with an industrial flashlight. He realized that, like on the boat, stepping up had consequences.
Because Mystique wasn't just angry. She was frightened, nervous, jittery. Something had happened, and Mystique was talking as though the whole mission was in jeopardy. He'd known that was a possibility, but Mystique looked a few steps from hysterics.
He looked down and finished tuning the radio. Mystique told him the rest of the team would be driving toward them now, but had refused to radio in yet. He didn't know why that was, but it worried him. What did she know that she didn't want them to know?
"Kodi?"
He turned. Amanda was there, and Megan was sitting a little ways away. He looked down at the radio and, hesitating, Amanda moved a little closer.
"I know you must be really confused," she said, "But...Megan and I..."
"She's not even your cousin, is she?" Mystique said abruptly.
Kurt winced, but Amanda just nodded slowly.
"Not biologically," she said, "I just...her mother died when she was young, and we weren't going to throw her out. My family had just died and, well, we needed each other."
"She had sisters," said Mystique.
A shadow of annoyance passed over Amanda's face, but she just took a deep breath.
"Yes, assassin sisters who wanted to train her," she said, "I was thirteen when they came. They hit her twice where I could see."
"You kicked one," said Megan, "Pulled her hair."
"I was actually trying to scratch her face off," Amanda chuckled.
She looked over at Kurt, suddenly nervous.
"I'm sorry I had to lie, well, not lie so much as not say anything," she said, "Although, to keep up the cousin charade I had to change my name. People ask less about names like Amanda and Megan for cousins. We don't look enough alike to be sisters and...well, like I said, Amanda made more sense than Jimaine."
Kurt looked at her, saw the sadness in her eyes. She'd done nothing wrong, only tried to protect the child she loved and had grown up with. There wasn't much time, and he wasn't sure how to explain adequately.
So he settled for the short version.
"My name's Kurt," he settled on.
A sparkle appeared in Amanda's eyes.
"Enough," Mystique said, "Catch."
Amanda turned in time to catch an industrial flashlight. She looked at it blankly.
"Now, you're going to get radioed in for a landing party," said Mystique, "Since you derailed everything, the least you can do is make sure they get here safe. Flash it four times, then three, then four. If they question you over the radio, tell them you were told Scott blew up a tree at the school. Understood?"
Amanda nodded, looking confused.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To save a friend," replied Kurt.
"Yes, and we need to get going," Mystique said, "We'll come back for you, we can't help it at this point, but just stay here until then."
Amanda sighed.
"One minute," she said.
She turned her back on Mystique and looked at Kurt. There was that same sparkle, but something else too. Amanda bit her lip once before moving forward and kissing him. Fireworks went off in his mind, a mind that had never felt a kiss before, as her lips moved against his confused, clumsy ones.
Her tongue caressed the inside of his lips, lightly skimming his fangs. It was bold, uncaring that she might cut herself on her teeth. She kissed him without any reservation, or care, and it made him think of that night on the deck.
Amanda pulled away, smiling as though she was the one who had just had something beautiful happen to her.
"Be safe, okay?" she asked.
He nodded mutely, staring at her. Mystique moved forward, grabbed his arm.
"Lover boy, let's go," she said.
He nodded, giving Amanda one last look. She raised her hand in a slight wave before smoke surrounded him and Mystique.