Chapter 21: Of sketchy motives and convoluted plans

"-there haven´t been any sightings of Magneto since we arrived. Making out his second in command, Mystique, is understandably even harder. Which means we will have to be careful when handling the hostages, should everything go more or less smoothly. She might be masquerading as one of them. Now, as far as our intel goes, the parliament, here, and the American Embassy, here, are the two main bases the Brotherhood uses and they split their people evenly, at least number wise. There hasn´t been any sign of other activity, which is interesting because – Okay, why are you staring?", Ross interrupted himself with a frown, finally giving up on showing me things on the map laying out on the table between us.

I made an uncommitted noise as I continued to muster the Agent.

I couldn´t concentrate on the briefing. For some reason, the longer I looked at Ross, the less I could unsee the Martin Freeman in him and it freaked me out more than it did for all the other actor look-alikes.

"…Hello? Are you listening?", an exasperated Ross asked, reminding me eerily of the face Watson would make at pretty much anything Sherlock did.

Maybe it had to do with the actor having other roles that I knew more? Or because I had watched a couple of talk shows with Martin Freeman as a guest? And I did watch a stupid amount of behind-the-scenes stuff for the Hobbit movies.

… I should really try to find out if there were plans for that trilogy in the making. Or duology at this point. Watching it with a different main actor as Bilbo was sure to be mind-fuck.

"Al!", Ross tried to get my attention.

"Hm?"

I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Ah, of course. What were you saying?"

Ross sighed.

"Nevermind, let´s just wait for the X-Men."

A while later, the tent became quite cramped. It was slightly hilarious to see Ross utterly dwarfed by Wolverine on one side and Hank on the other. I tried not to laugh at him though. Pjotr next to me was towering over me too after all.

"Now, have any of you an idea why the hell Grenada? I just-, I don´t understand. They can´t seriously expect that this is going to work. An international terrorist group can´t just invade a sovereign nation and overthrow the government, right? Please tell me they can´t do that.", I asked Ross, slightly regretting that I had stopped looking into international relations and their recent history after I got worried about my blood pressure spiking.

Dying over getting mad at reading scientific papers on all the kinds of fucked up our world and society in general did not sound like a fun way to go.

Anyway, who did the Brotherhood think they are, a secret CIA operation? Hah. It was funny because it was usually quite plausible. But for the life of me, I couldn´t come up with any way one of the big players could try to profit off of an insurrection in Grenada. Unless they were seriously obsessed with importing nutmeg.

"They have claimed that Grenada was chosen because of Hydra facilities on the island.", Ross answered and nodded at his technician who hurriedly pulled up a video on his laptop and turned it so everyone could watch.

I blinked in surprise. It was most definitely prerecorded and showed Magneto as he gave a speech about the atrocities committed against mutant kind and how Grenada would pay for its complacency by providing the mutants a haven.

Confusion crept on my face as I tried to follow that reasoning.

Logan laughed.

"Well, that is bullshit.", he said dismissively.

I couldn´t help but agree. With a frown I had Ree pull up all known Hydra bases and research centers.

"Hm, there was a lab a bit inwards where less people live. Still, it was abandoned years ago after the research lead they were pursuing was deemed a failure. They didn´t destroy it though.", I read out.

"Could they be after the research data then?", Pjotr asked.

Ross shook his head.

"Unlikely. The project was experimenting with methods of population control by manipulating international food supply chains. For some reason Hydra decided to start with certain spices. Ergo, Grenada.", he explained.

I wrinkled my brows in doubt.

"That kind of sounds like some Hydra-bigwigs just wanted a base in a vacation spot.", I said.

Ross shrugged his shoulders in such a way that suggested he agreed somewhat.

"That probably doesn´t matter though. And as far as we know, the research lab is completely empty. No trace of Hydra at all."

"Which brings us back to the original problem. We don´t know what the Brotherhood wants.", Ororo piped up from where she had crept up on me from the left.

"Fucking-", I startled badly and put a hand on my chest as if to calm my racing heart. I glared at a way too amused looking Storm.

"Since when did you become so sneaky?", I asked rhetorically.

The corners of the heroine´s mouth twitched upwards while she pretended to concentrate on the map.

"Exactly.", Ross interceded a bit too loudly before the conversation could get off track.

"And I don´t like it but we can´t wait."

"So, what´s the plan then?", Mr. Tall-hairy-and-gruff grumbled.

Abusing my ability to teleport, apparently. The longer I had listened to Ross´s plan, the more I despaired. Shame that Nightcrawler wasn´t around (yet).

Could have really used someone to share the workload with.

First, I dropped both teams, evenly split between X-Men and the super-special agents, at their chosen spots.

I left them to their own devices to get on with my task. Setting up a civilian-free perimeter.

To that end, I had to hurry along invisibly, scanning as I went and portal a few hundred startled and scared Gre- Grenadier?

Grenader?

Grenadian citizens.

-a few hundred startled and scared Grenadian citizens to the other side of the island before the fight broke out.

I had to act as fast as possible so that the Brotherhood wouldn´t get alarmed by the suddenly even emptier small city. Powered by my anxiety, Hades refused to come down, which meant that the people I was trying to escort couldn´t see me.

Made things a bit more difficult. And I was pretty sure at least about a hundred or so would start believing in ghosts because of me.

Oh, well.

As I waved through the last few evacuees (not that they saw my gestures), I gave the teams the go-ahead.

A few minutes later I stood anxiously waiting inwards on the island, Hades finally down on my shoulders again. The sun shining down on me harshly, making me feel even more uncomfortable. Before me Ree displayed two dozen different camera angles. As soon as it was possible, I would swoop in and get the hostages out. Through the camera feed I could get the spots exactly right. That was the plan at least.

And for that plan I had to sit the fighting out. Which had me quite antsy. It was a good thing that Ross was the one in everybody´s ear (both metaphorically and literally), coordinating everything.

I watched, incredibly tense, as both teams made contact with patrols in not even a minute from each other.

Differences became clear quickly.

The parliament building was barely defended. Sure, the number of Brotherhood members was the same, but these mutants were very obviously not the elite team. Some had mutations that didn´t help them at all in a fight and they even had troubles with using their guns. Most of their defense was just blocking entrances and generally creating fire hazards. Sadly for them, the parliament strike team had Cyclops. Essentially, they were easy pickings.

The embassy in contrast was held up by familiar faces. Sabretooth, the frog-man, Marcus and the guy in the trench coat, whose powers I still wasn´t quite sure about. The priorities were clear.

But what would the Brotherhood gain from pissing the US off by holding one of their embassies hostage? There were much better ways for that, hell there wasn´t even an ambassador stationed here.

I shook my head as I watched Wolverine clash with his rival. Before I could question whether or not those two were brothers still in this universe, Ross´s voice brought me back to my task.

"Bluelight, team Bravo has made contact with the hostages. Proceed.", came his clipped command.

Hurriedly, my eyes snapped back to the parliament. Through the shacky footage I could see that, while there was still some fighting, the team had made it into the big room where the hostages where huddled together, ducking behind and under tables as they hid from the chaos going on around them.

A look at the room and I was there. Immediately I closed off one side of the room with a teal-colored wall. The circa twenty disheveled civis startled badly at my arrival, distrust in their eyes. Not like I could begrudge them for that.

On the other side of my wall I could see two soldiers methodically taking down a young mutant with slightly blueish skin. Another one was trashing as he was held down by Hank. A flash of red light told me that Cyclops was in the hallway. Pjotr waved at me, one limp mutant under his arm as he looked around for stragglers.

"Alright, stay calm. I´ll escort you out of here.", I told them and opened a portal to a position previously chosen by Ross. It wasn´t near the other evacuees as we couldn´t be sure that Mystic wasn´t hiding in the group, but it was sufficiently far away from the city and the fighting.

"What is going on?", one woman in a professional looking skirt-blouse combo asked. Her hair was in a bit of a disarray and I could see the toll the situation had taken on her in her tired face but her spine was ramrod straight and her eyes were demanding answers.

I was surprised by her inquiry, but then again, the Brotherhood surely hadn´t taken the time to explain anything to them.

"A terrorist attack, basically. We aren´t quite sure what their actual goals are. Their known leader hasn´t been spotted on the island. Please follow me.", I tried to explain to encourage them to go through the portal.

After that small hold-up, the hostages warmed up to the portal fast. In one minute everyone was safely deposited in the forest, most of the group dropping to the ground in exhaustion when they realized that they were safe. I instructed them to wait for now, I would be back soon with more people. I received a few nods from the more present ones and left.

"Ross, do I have everyone?", I asked back in my original position while I tried to see what was happening with the others over my stream.

"Yeah, it looks like they held them all in one spot. Head over to team Alpha. They still have some troubles."

"Alright.", I confirmed.

I took a second to look at their situation before I went over. Wolverine had his fight well in hand. Sabretooth wasn´t down yet, but he was so focused on the hero that he ignored everything else, including the embassy employees. The frog-guy was knocked out on the ground, some smoke was still coming of his crumpled form. Storm´s work quite obviously.

What worried me was that Storm and most of the soldiers were fighting seemingly invisible enemies. Most of their attacks were just crashing harmlessly into walls or were even endangering Wolverine.

In a flash I stood hovering over the fight. I was itching to join but held back in an effort to figure out what was going on. I really wished Jean or Xavier were here to tell me what the others were thinking.

My thinking was cut short when I saw Marcus sneak up on Storm from behind. A quick portal and I swiped at him with a staff from behind.

Remarkably nimble for his age, the cat mutant twisted out of my reach. He turned towards me with a growl. He looked no less mad than the last time we had met.

"You! You are always in my way!", he raved as I mustered his sharp fingernails with some trepidation.

"I thought you would be happy to have Hydra out in the open.", I remarked as I moved into a defensive position.

Marcus just seemed more enraged by this.

"You stole my revenge from me!", he shouted furiously.

Before I could point out the unreasonableness of his complaint he launched at me with jump that I didn´t expect. Thanks to his cat-like feature he could apparently jump quite a bit further than my understanding of physics dictated.

I managed to evade with a slight stumble. I could hear the woosh of air next to my ear. For a second I thought to myself that I had just avoided a new piercing but then Marcus was on me again.

His flurry of swipes was only broken off by the occasional kick.

While I wasn´t worried about being hit, his speed was threatening enough that I couldn´t concentrate on anything other than evading for a good minute.

Finally, Marcus slowed down. He took position a few meters away from me, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His glare was still scathing but more wary now. The cat mutant knew that he couldn´t physically keep up with me even if he was the faster one.

That seemed to frustrate him. He growled again and tried to jump me again.

This time I was prepared though. As I pushed his outstretched claws to the side with my staff, I used my other hand to grab his side.

On the palm of my gloved hand was glowing set of runes that shocked my opponent quite literally. It was his time to stumble backwards. Marcus let out a scream of pain and shock as he held his side.

Before he could catch his bearings I flicked my wrist and suddenly had collar in my hand that I swiftly closed around his neck.

As Marcus laid on the ground out for the count, I righted myself and looked around for Storm and her fight against invisible enemies.

I spotted her sending a gust of wind at an empty spot.

"Ross, what the hell is going on with this team?", I demanded to know.

"When the team made contact with the Brotherhood the number of mutants suddenly tripled. They have been managing well thanks to Storm, but –"

"What are you talking about?! Most of the team is just fighting air right now!", I interrupted him.

"What?", Ross questioned, now equally confused.

"Of course!", I exclaimed and slapped myself on the forehead. "I´m such fucking idiot."

"Bluelight, what is going on- ", Ross tried to get a picture of the situation out of me.

I ignored him in favor of looking for a certain trench coat clad mutant. I should have known, I chastised myself.

The ring prevented any and all mental manipulation. That had been especially obvious with telepaths. Back at my first confrontation with Magneto´s goons I hadn´t thought that much about it, but there was one attack that clearly didn´t land without me having to raise a finger.

The shifty mutant had to have been a telepath. That´s why everyone was so surprised when I didn´t react to whatever it was that he had been doing.

Not being able to spot him myself, I had Ree scan my surroundings. It didn´t take long to find my targets location.

He was hiding in one of the neighbored buildings, trying to lay low as his illusions did all the work for him.

With a thought Hades went up and I entered his building unseen through the wide open backdoor. I floated up the stairs and took a second to watch the unassuming man as he hid on the side of a window, now and then taking peeks at the fight going on below.

Silently I hovered over to his side and one collaring later he laid slumped over sleeping on the ground.

Immediately when I looked out, I saw Storm´s eye-catching fighting stop. Satisfied I returned to the small battlefield.

"Was that you doing? How did they all disappear?", came Ross´s confused voice over the comms.

Storm was starting a similar inquirement when she saw me flying in her direction.

For both their sakes I answered in loud enough voice for everyone to hear.

"That trench coat guy (whose name I should really learn one of these days) was creating illusions. Telepathic mutations can´t affect me so I took care of him."

Understanding bloomed in Ororo´s eyes.

"Mastermind.", she said grimly. "I should have known to be more careful."

She looked disgruntled and quite mad at herself for not noticing what was wrong earlier. I shuffled nervously from foot to foot, not sure what to say. She was a proud person and I didn´t want to accidentally insult her.

In moments like this I was particularly aware of the fact that I was perceived very differently as a man. Comment that would have been uplifting in my old life and body, would have just sounded condescending or patronizing now that I was male.

To cover up my awkwardness I coughed and gestured to the embassy building in front of us.

"We should, um, focus on getting to the hostages.", I said lamely.

Despite my ungraceful change of topic, Storm nodded determined. But then she looked back at the fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth and hesitated.

Those two were still locked into a stalemate, Sabretooth was bleeding from quite a few wounds though.

"If you help him out this will be over with faster. Here take this. I´ll go with the soldiers.", I said as I handed her one of my rune collars.

She gave me another nod, this one sharper, and sprinted over to her teammate. Meanwhile I went after the soldiers that had already started sweeping the ground floor.

"Hey Ross, how many people were working here anyway when they were attacked?", I asked as I remembered that we should have more intel on this occupation site.

"Actually more than usual. About 23 people. There is a small envoy of African representors there on their tour to promote trade relations with the Caribbean Islands.", the agent explained.

"African?", I asked, a worried feeling stirring in my gut.

"Yeah, Wakandan, Ni-"

The rest of his list was drowned out by the buzzing in my ears. I muted the connection to Ross and started cursing up a storm as I scanned the building frantically.

This was giving me CA: Civil War flashbacks and I didn´t like it. I didn´t like it one bit. The last thing I needed right now was a secretly uber rich and powerful country like Wakanda out for blood and mad at mutants.

I got a hit on the first floor and was on my way. There were only two mutants in my way and with the help of Hades and my collars I didn´t even get to see their abilities before they were unconscious on the ground.

I burst into the room with the hostages and rushed the remaining Brotherhood member before she could react. She got off a shot at me but my shields were too strong and the next moment she was already out of the fight.

I looked around at the full room.

"Is everyone alright?", I asked my bewildered audience.

Everyone of the hostages survived. The worst injuries were a broken bone and a couple of dislocated shoulders. All in all they were luckier than those that had been on the streets or had been trying to resist in the early hours of the attack.

That also meant that no Wakandans had come to harm, which was a huge relief for me. I admitted that I had perhaps slightly overreacted to the situation.

Ross and his strike team went through all the hostages we recovered, but they couldn´t find Raven. We didn´t even know if she had been on the island at all or if she slipped away when the fighting started. Still, the rest of the terrorists had been apprehended and that was a huge win.

Just when relief and a bit of a celebratory mood started to set in after the debrief in our humble little tent was finished and Ross told us all "Good job.", his technician interrupted the lighthearted conversations.

"Um, boss?", she started nervously, her eyes impossibly wide. "We have a problem."

"Spit it out, Smith.", Ross frowned.

"It´s Magneto, Sir. He-, ah, he attacked the President."

Motherfucker.

AN:

*kicks open the door* I´m back, bitches! Muhaha!
Erm, yeah, had a bit of a pause there. Was procrastinating too much on writing applications, so I took a break. And then my anxiety kicked in there for a hot second and I couldn´t concentrate. But hey, I have an interview now, so that is all better!

Anyway. Part two of my adventure of googling stuff that will definitly land me on some kind of watch list.
Also, I really want a vacation on Grenada now. So fricking beautiful, man.

Ha, kinda enjoy the fakeouts with Wakanda.
Is it foreshadowing? Or is our MC just paranoid...

Edit: Just took the double AN out, thanks to Blaze1992 for noticing :)