February 7, 1958
"Moira?"
She woke up, feeling groggy. Levine sighed as he sat down in a chair next to her. He held two steaming cups of coffee in his hands.
"Here," he said, offering her one.
"You're a lifesaver," she said, drinking deeply.
When she opened her eyes she saw Levine looking at her with concern.
"Did you go home last night?"
Moira laughed. The question just seemed so ridiculous.
"My home is a dormitory two doors down," said Moira.
"Alright, did you go to your dormitory then?" Levine sighed.
She shook her head.
"You can't keep doing this to yourself you know," he said, "It's not good for you. I…I'm worried about you Moira."
Moira took another drink of coffee.
"I'll be fine Levine," she said, "I just need to focus on my work right now."
"You've been focusing on your work ever since you left Genosha," Levine said, "It's time for you to take a day off or something."
"I took Christmas off," she muttered.
"Only because I made you," Levine said, "I know what you're going through right now."
"I really think you don't," said Moira.
He sighed.
"No, I do," said Levine, "I don't understand it, I can't really, but I know why you're staying here all night and never letting up."
"Levine, I can't," Moira said, "I can't stop working on this."
She leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair.
"Every day people are dragged away from their homes and imprisoned," she said, "We've been working on this for nearly a year now and we still haven't been able to save anyone. Levine, I can't stop."
He shook his head.
"The same was true before we visited last time," he said, "and I'm not saying you didn't work hard before that. Because you worked damn hard. But now…ever since that night you were attacked-"
"Which turned out to be a dead end," muttered Moira, "Trust me to shoot the one in charge and leave the guy they picked up two days before from a hire-a-mercenary with a fake name."
"The bank leads are yielding something," Levine said, his voice firm, "We may be still tracing them, but they're something. Now, you're going to kill yourself if you don't take a break Moira."
She opened her mouth but he shook his head.
"You know I'm right," he said, his voice firm, "And you need to take a break. You'll be no good to anyone dead."
Moira didn't respond. She stared into the depths of her coffee cup, watching the liquid swirl. She was aware that she hadn't been at her best lately. She'd been losing weight much more rapidly than she knew was good for her. There had been only a handful of times in the past few months that she had slept in a real bed.
Downing the rest of her coffee she looked back at Levine.
"I need to get her back," she said simply.
Levine sighed.
"Moira, I don't mean to sound insensitive," he said, "But…when this is over, when they finally let us go to Pennsylvania, do you think we'll still be on this case?"
"We should be," Moira said, "This isn't just happening here. This is an international problem. People are being imprisoned. If the CIA won't take this any further than the States, won't announce it to the international community when it has the proof it needs, then I'm not sure I want to be in it."
He nodded.
"And we're the experts," he said.
"We're the closest thing they have to experts," Moira said, "If they'd stop dragging their feet and appoint some more people then we'd have a few more."
Levine put his coffee cup down. He folded his hands in front of him and furrowed his brow. His lips pursed and she thought that he'd begun to chew his tongue. She knew that he was looking for words, and that whatever he had to say next wouldn't be pretty. Putting down her own coffee cup she braced for the impact.
"Moira, do you think this is ever really going to be over for us?" he asked, "That the States will ever be a safe place to bring your daughter back to? She's a mutant, and that shouldn't matter, but in some places it does. And we're always going to lead dangerous lives here. And I…"
He sighed.
"I say this alot, but I'm not as smart as you," he said, "So I know you've thought about it. Do you ever really think that you'll be able to bring her back?"
Moira forced back her tears.
"No," she said, "I don't. I knew that from the moment I decided to take her to Genosha."
She swallowed hard.
"But I have to pretend Levine," she said, "I have to be able to pretend. Even if it's just for a little while, that just about everything I care about isn't on a tiny island near Africa outside of my reach. And I..."
Moira closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'll figure it out," she said, "One way or another this can't go on forever. You know what things are like with Rahne. She..."
She was cut off when Levine put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know," said Levine, "And don't worry. It'll work out."
She managed a small smile and nodded to him. Withdrawing his hand Levine went back to his desk. She took a shuddering breath before picking up the pen that had fallen out of her hand when she fell asleep. Moira looked down at her paperwork and tried to remember what she'd been going over before she fell asleep. Picking up the thread of her work she finished up a few forms.
When that was done she walked down the hall into her dorm. It was a small room, just a place she could live to be protected by any snipers who got any ideas. She pulled out fresh clothes, showering and changing. Moira blow-dried her hair and tried to cover up her dark circles with make-up. It was a losing battle, but she had to at least make the attempt.
Upon returning to her cubicle she saw Levine in conversation with another agent. She saw her partner's brow crinkle at his words. The agent departed before she got there and Levine motioned to her. She walked over to the water fountain with him. He looked nervous, getting a drink before he spoke.
"McCone wants to see us," he said.
"Did we not dot an 'i' correctly on our last forms?" Moira asked.
"No, it's not that," said Levine, "I think…well, this guy was pretty serious when he was telling me about it…I think that…"
Her throat closed up.
"Are we about to get the green light?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Levine said, "All I know is that we're supposed to be in the conference room in about two minutes."
He gave her a nervous smile.
"Wanna go find out what this is about?"
She nodded and they walked down the hall to the conference room. McCone was in there, along with a man in is late thirties. He looked at them both when they came in, his face impassive. Moira supposed he was military. If anything it seemed to confirm her suspicions and she felt her heart beat faster.
"Have a seat," McCone said.
They sat down, the other man across from them and McCone at the head of the table.
"I have another meeting concerning a situation in Berlin, so I'd like to keep this brief," McCone said.
He drummed his fingers against the table.
"For several months now the two of you have been doing a lot of work," he said, "I'd like to know if you're positive that there's a facility at Three Mile Island that houses mutants. If you're not, I'd really prefer to know now."
Something about McCone's tone irritated Moira. They had been showing him aerial surveillance coupled with loading and unloading records for months. They'd even conducted a few covert interviews with the surrounding residents. The disrespect of their work, combined with her lack of sleep, made her tongue loosen.
"Sir, I don't believe that such a facility exists," she said, "What I know is that there's a facility there that experiments on mutants."
Levine winced and McCone raised his eyebrow. She thought she saw the other man smirk, but he didn't say anything.
"You're certain?" asked McCone.
"Certain," Moira said.
"And you Agent Levine?"
"Positive," said Levine.
Leaning back in his chair McCone gestured to the other man at the table.
"Then I'm here to give you both official sanction to go through with your proposed raid of Three Mile Island," he said, "And I'm going to give you the tools to do so. Agent MacTaggert, Agent Levine, this is Captain Christopher Summers of the Special Forces squad the Starjammers. He has personally volunteered his squad for this mission."
Christopher nodded and looked at Levine and Moira.
"I've been briefed on the idea of mutants," Christopher said, "And I'm probably the only Special Forces Captain who's going to buy it."
"And why is that?" asked Moira.
He gave her a thin-lipped smile.
"I'm open-minded," he said.
Levine shook his head, unconvinced.
"You sure that your men can do this?" asked Levine, "The kind of people we're talking about are used to going into people's houses and removing them. They fight against people who have super powers and come out on top on a daily basis."
Christopher narrowed his eyes.
"My men have more than adequate training," he said, "And I'm determined to see this through. Coincidentally I know about Genosha. Is that real?"
He spoke bluntly but his voice had an edge to it.
"Yes, it is," Moira said, "If you believe in mutants then you should have no problem believing in Genosha."
Christopher inclined his head towards her. Moira returned the look and glanced over at McCone. He seemed bored with the meeting, which was just as well.
"I have to get going," he said, "You're all dismissed."
"Director," said Moira, "I was wondering if I could go over some rudimentary strategy with Captain Summers."
"Do you have any objections to that?" asked McCone.
Christopher shook his head.
"None at all sir."
"Alright then," McCone said, getting up, "Try to make this operation quiet; all of you. If you are wrong then we're going to have a lot of powerful people very angry at us."
"We're not," said Moira.
McCone shook his head once before leaving the room. Moira waited for his footsteps to die out before she turned to Christopher.
"How many children do you have?" she asked.
He started, looking surprised by the question. Even Levine seemed taken aback.
"I have two sons," he said.
"Are they both mutants, or just one?" Moira said.
Christopher's eyes narrowed.
"If you're even thinking of-"
"My daughter is a mutant Captain Summers," Moira said, shaking her head, "Blackmail and intimidation are the last things on my mind. Is that why this is so personal for you, because you have a mutant child?"
She saw Christopher hesitate, looking down. Levine glanced at her before turning his attention back to Christopher.
"My oldest son, Alex, is a mutant. I don't know about his younger brother Scott," he said, "I've known he was different for a few years now. He can…there's this light…never mind. My wife says it's like looking at the Northern Lights."
His expression hardened.
"About a week ago I came home during my lunch break. I get out about half an hour after they get out of school. My wife works too; gets back later than I do. After about twenty minutes I find Scott cowering in the basement," he said, "He's four years old and he was scared out of his mind. He tells me that people with guns came. Alex hid him in the basement but he says they took him. Neighbors said they heard noises…"
Christopher clenched one of his hands into fists.
"I was at my wits' end until I heard about this MRD," he said, "My son is only eleven Agent MacTaggert. If anything has happened to him, then I swear to God that I'll burn that place to the ground."
Moira looked over at Levine. He nodded.
"Then it would appear, Captain," she said, "that we're all on the same page."