31. Girl Talk
It had been a few days since, what Kitty dubbed, 'The Slap Heard Round the Mansion' and there was an immediate fallout from said event. Eric, only because he found out a day later, had begun to keep Megan occupied with dinners outside of the mansion more frequently. She in turn distanced herself slightly from him and looking the other direction whenever Miguel was around but found herself looking back at him when he was past her. Miguel in the meantime could only feel the sting of her hand when he saw her and kept his mouth closed unless in the Danger Room or in the field where they had to work together.
One case was during a late night at the mansion where Megan, Wanda, Kitty, Tabitha, Marie, and Kitty were all downstairs in the den having a supposed rom/com night when in actuality, it was just them adlibbing what the actors were saying.
"Oh Mister Fiennes," Marie said as she raised her voice, "how will you evah love a cheap big booty floozy like meh when Ah have a wolf cub and once dated Puff Daddy and married Ben Affleck?"
"Oh Miss Lopez," Kitty answered in a deep voice, "we can always put your son up for adoption and hire a hitman to take Puffy and Ben out."
"But what about Mitch Conner?" Tabitha joined in, assuming the role of Jennifer Lopez. "Ben loves Mitch Conner."
"Taco , taco, burrito, burrito, taco, taco," Marie added, singing the words and making the other girls laugh.
"Seriously?" Wanda asked as she drank her smoothie. "This is what we're doing tonight?"
"Beats sitting in our rooms with our thumbs up our butts and nothing to do," Kitty pointed out before taking over for Mister Fiennes. "Ah, but Miss Lopez, you forget, I will be the senator and once I succumb to the dark side, we'll all have cookies. And as for your boy, he'll get a wonderful gig on MTV."
"Well, okay, just as long as my little boy can run around the woods and claw the furniture like the little wolf cub he is." Taking a sip of her drink, Tabitha looked at the others. "Sorry, guys, I had nothing better to add there."
"There has got to be a god somewhere who will bring this horrible movie to a stop!" Wanda yelled.
"It's not horrible," Megan said as she ate some popcorn. "It's a cute movie."
"Only because one of us is living it," Tabitha pointed out. "Or have we forgotten Eric's little bank account?"
"If you're implying I'm with him for his money, then you are sadly mistaken."
"Really," Wanda said, "a man with money is only good to worry about."
"Is that what you keep telling yourself when you're with John?" Tabitha asked.
"Not any more than Rogue does when she's with Remy."
"Mah Swamp Rat doesn't need a lot of money tah impress meh. It's the little things that really matter."
"Like what?" Kitty asked.
"Like the time he snuck into mah room and left a rose on mah pillow. Or when he slipped a queen of hearts card between mah ear and head while on a date. You don't need to be rich to show someone you care. But the occasional Corvette or Viper is nahce, just as long as we don't get caught ridin' in it."
"That's one thing about Remy," Tabitha said. "When he steals…"
"He steals in style," Marie finished. "But really, he knows what I won't condone and ridiculously priced jewelry ain't one of them. Ah don't need no fancy stuff like that."
"Neither do I," Megan told her, "but Eric keeps surprising me with jewelry every chance he gets. A ring, a bracelet and charms, earrings, he just won't stop."
He keeps going on like that, what will he do for Valentine's?" Kitty asked.
"Don't know, although he did promise it would be extravagant."
"Hey," Logan said as he slammed a fist on the wall, startling the girls. "Dragonfly, Witch, Bomber, you're on call. Get suited up and meet at the X-Van, now. You've got a mission."
"So much for girl's night," Kitty muttered as the three requested females did what was ordered.
In Bayville's warehouse district, a cargo ship was docked at a pier where several men in purple armor traveled back and forth on forklifts. Large crates were unloaded and quickly moved to one of the nearby warehouse buildings as armed men stood watch for any signs of trouble. No lights were on except small green LEDs on the men's helmets, providing them with night vision as they went about their business. Unknown to them; however, men and women snuck around them and took position throughout the area.
"This is Colossus," the Russian whispered in his com unit, "Scarlet Witch, Boom Boom, and myself are in position on the northeast side, over."
"Copy that," Pixie replied. "We're ready to move out on your signal, over."
Getting her signal, the red and black costumed woman known as Scarlet Witch disappeared down an alley between two warehouses. Boom Boom took off in the opposite direction and began leaving her small yellow orbs at pre-designated positions. Colossus silently moved to the back of another warehouse and crushed a padlock keeping the door shut and slipped in.
Over where Pixie and her group were, they waited for their que to move out as Miguel kept an eye out for any nearby Executioner soldiers. Behind him was Capra who was waiting beside Pixie as he twirled one of his tonfas.
"You know, I was thinking, for Valentine's Day, we could have a nice moonlit dinner behind the mansion, I cook." He flashed her a grin as he continued twirling his weapon.
"Capra, we're on a mission," she told him. "Now's really not the best time for this."
"But my beautiful woman, we only have a few more days and I would love to do nothing more than treat you as you should be. Dinner, dancing, and the next day, take you home with me to Italy to my cliff side chateau."
"You, you want to take me to your home?"
"Of course. With me, you'll have nothing but the best. Jewelry, clothing, traveling, the most beautiful home you could ever imagine. You could have everything you ever wanted and more."
"That…that sounds amazing."
Hearing the couple speak like that behind his back, Miguel rolled his eyes. He really needed someone to hit right now, or to shoot him in the head and knock him out until his healing factor ran its restorative course. The latter seemed the better option right now.
"Now," Capra continued, "why don't you join me outside under the gazebo where we will have a nice dinner with all the trimmings. There'll be soft music, candlelight…"
Having enough of the 'gentleman's' talk, Miguel softly growled and headed for his next position early. He didn't care what the other two thought of him and didn't respond when Pixie told him to come back and wait for the signal from Colossus and the others.
Once he was far enough away from the two, Miguel shut his eyes and breathed at regular intervals. His temper was rising the more he heard Capra tell Pixie all he could do and give her. They were all things Miguel himself could never do no matter how much he wanted to. Right now, it was best for him to just stay away and concentrate on the mission at hand.
"Miguel?" Pixie said quietly as she came up behind him.
"What is it, Pixie?"
"You need to come back and hold until the others are ready. You could give our position away by being out here."
"Just worry about yourself and leave meh be, alright?" he said, turning to face her. "You and your boyfriend go back and continue talking about your plans. Ah'll stay here and move out on mah own when Ah'm needed. Until then, don't talk to meh."
She was silent for a moment, not believing what he said. "Do…do you honestly hate me that much? To not even want to talk to me?"
Letting out a sigh, Miguel turned back around and kept watch. "No. Ah don't hate you, Megan. Ah just hate what's happened." He turned to face her again. "If he's good to you and makes you happy, go with him. Cause it looks like you two are having a great time together already."
As Miguel returned to keeping an eye on the soldiers, Pixie just stared at him. She wanted to say more to him but was interrupted when Colossus' voice came over their radios.
"Colossus to team, we are done with our part, move out now."
Without another word being said, Miguel headed off to carry out his part of the mission with Pixie left alone in the alley of the warehouses. She stood still in the shadows for a moment before forcing herself to radio Capra and fly off to provide aerial recon for the others.
From her vantage point, she could see Boom Boom make her way over to where the vehicles were and stop at every one for a few seconds. Scarlet Witch had taken position near the forklifts the soldiers were using as Capra made his way to the roof of a warehouse. Miguel kept to the shadows and made his was shipside where he waited to make his move.
Less than a minute later, several pops were heard, attracting the soldier's attention as Boom Boom's bombs went off. Several went to investigate as the others took a more guarded position as all forklifts came to a stop. With their attention on where the noises came from, Miguel shimmied up a thick rope and quickly made his way inside the ship as an explosion occurred where the vehicles were. Panic ensued as all the Executioners began to head over to the burning trucks and flatbeds. Scarlet Witch then came out and unleashed waves of red energy at the forklifts and their crates, causing them to explode just as Colossus broke out of the warehouse he was in and Capra cast his illusions on the rest. The soldiers immediately fell into their training to battle the mutants but were caught completely unaware, they never had a chance to register what was happening.
Inside the cargo ship, Miguel ran into several of the armored soldiers but quickly dealt with them. All were put out of commission with a single claw swipe each. They were tossed out onto the dock soon after as he went back and pulled out several explosives from his pouches. Ripping the top of one of the crates off, he found what their targets were, new armor and weapons for the waiting Executioners. Setting the devices in their proper places, he made a dash for the door as a digital timer counted down from thirty seconds. He was almost out when a lone cell phone with its screen still lit caught his attention. Picking it up, after it turned off, he turned it back on and looked at the last number it had dialed, making his eyes narrow and a snarl appear on his lips. Pocketing the device, he ran and leapt out of the vessel just as the entire cargo area was obliterated from the inside out.
"Retreat!" one of the soldiers yelled. The others obeyed and quickly made their way out of the area by any means necessary.
"Oh come on! I got out of the mansion for this?" Scarlet Witch yelled as she sauntered up to Colossus, Boom Boom, and Pixie who had just landed. "That was a waste of time."
"No it wasn't," Tabitha told her. "We just handed them their asses and made them turn tail."
"No, she's right," Pixie said as she looked around. "That was too easy. Why didn't they fight back? And where's Miguel and Capra."
"I'm here," Capra answered as he ran over to the group. "I was making sure they were actually gone and not trying to flank us down here."
"Well that's one missing X-Man," Scarlet Witch said flatly. "Where's the other?"
"Right here," Miguel announced as he stomped his way over to them. "And we have a problem." He held the phone up before tossing it to Capra. "Your number's on this as the last one dialed."
"What do you mean?" the Italian asked as he looked it over.
"Ah ran into something similar while in Egypt. They hacked your phone. Probably hacked all the mansion and mutant's phones again too."
"Crap, and I just got this thing." Taking her phone out, Boom Boom set a small bomb on it and detonated it after tossing it on the ground. The others followed suit as they got rid of their phones by smashing them, or in Scarlet Witch's case, blowing them up with her Hex power.
"We need to get word to Ororo and Logan about this," Miguel told them. "This makes twice they hacked into our lines and Ah'm willing to bet the computers and land lines are the same."
"Great," Pixie said. "How are they doing this? We all changed numbers and IP addresses, plus, we got new phones and computers. How is it they're doing this all over again?"
"We could always trace the hacker's signal," Capra stated. "There's always a trail left behind after a computer's hacked into."
"No good," Colossus said. "Forge traced the signal and it lead back to the mansion then to the phones and computers before leading to a barber shop. He said it was one giant loop."
"Whoever this is, he knows way more than Forge about electronics. We can't take the chance on using these again," Miguel told them.
"Then what do we do? Use paper cups and a string?" Scarlet Witch sarcastically asked.
"Ah don't know. But the best thing for us to do is to stop using them or change the SIM cards every day after we get new ones since they can find the phones all over again. In the meantime, we go back to the mansion and inform the others on this."
"Good idea," Capra said. "I'll replace everyone's computers and phones. I can even purchase everyone a few SIM cards each."
"Alright," Miguel nodded, even though he just wanted to bust Capra's teeth in, "let's just get back to the mansion and take things from there. These SOB's are getting on mah last nerve."