TW: Thank you.

X-Jet

Mid afternoon

"How well do you know these people Logan?" Ororo asked as she flew towards the coordinates that Clint had given Logan.

"Just met them, they helped me out of a tight spot. But Barton seems like one of those people who actually wants to help people, and I know the difference, trust me. He says the Professor is old friends with their boss," Logan explained ad Jean and Ororo exchanged a glance.

"Knowing the Professor, it wouldn't be a huge shock if he did know whoever runs SHIELD," Jean pointed out.

"Either way, I guess we'll find out soon," Logan noted.

Further conversation was interrupted by a beep from the controls. Ororo looked over and frowned.

"There's a jet coming up on us," Ororo said nervously.

Barely had the words left her mouth when a jet flew up alongside them. Logan looked over and, through the cockpit window, could see Clint and Oliver at the controls. Clint waved with a cheeky smile and Logan couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't worry Storm, they're friends," Logan told her.

"You sure this is the place?" Clint asked Dragon as they neared a cliff side.

"Just do what I told you, we'll be fine," Dragon assured him and Clint sighed.

"I hope so. Otherwise this'll be the shortest mission of all time," Clint muttered.

As the two jets neared a cliff, Clint put in a code on a panel near the controls and, within seconds, the cliff had opened up, revealing a hanger inside.

"Told you," Dragon said smugly.

"He kind of gets bragging rights here," Oliver told Clint, who grimaced.

"Don't remind me," Clint muttered.

The jets flew in through the hanger and landed. As the doors to the hanger closed, the ramps lowered and the two groups walked off.

"Gotta say, never thought you'd need the burner this quick," Clint said as he and Logan walked over to each other.

"You're telling me," Logan said dryly and Clint grinned at him.

"Logan, mind introducing us to your friends?" Jean called out and Logan chuckled.

"All right, sure," Logan said, gesturing the rest of his group over. "Barton, this is Jean Grey, Ororo Monroe, Rogue, Bobby Drake, John, and…uh…"

"Kurt, Kurt Wagner," Kurt introduced himself as Oliver and Clint looked at Kurt startled.

"I have now officially seen everything," Oliver muttered.

"You're telling me," Clint said before looking at the group. "I'm Clint. This is Oliver, and Richard Dragon."

"Nice to meet you all," Oliver said politely, getting over his shock at Kurt's appearance.

"Is your boss really friends with the Professor?" Jean asked and Clint nodded.

"Enough that Xavier reached out to him for help before he got captured by whoever's behind this," Clint said.

"William Stryker."

At the sound of the voice, both groups whirled around, Dragon drawing his guns as the lights in the hanger turned on. Magneto, dressed in his suit, walked into the hanger, followed by Mystique. With an amused smile, Magneto held out his hand and Dragon's guns were yanked from his hands, to the agent's shock.

"Now really, I have power over metal, what do you think your little toys will do to me?" Magneto asked mockingly.

"What are you doing here?" Logan demanded, standing protectively in front of Rogue, remembering what he had tried to do to her last time as Magneto laughed.

"I've been keeping tabs on Charles for some time now, I knew of his affiliation with SHIELD. I knew Charles would reach out for help and this is the closest SHIELD base to the Mansion. It was only a matter of time until a SHIELD team showed up here, hopefully with some of Charles's X-Men," Magneto said smoothly as he looked at Logan, Ororo and Jean.

"You made a mistake coming here," Ororo said darkly, her eyes flashing with lightning.

"Oh please Storm, we both know you won't attack me in here. Regardless, I do not want to fight. I came here for your help," Magneto said, surprising them all.

"And why should we believe you?" Logan snarled.

"After that incident with Statue of Liberty, you really think anyone would trust you again?" Clint said, almost laughing at the thought.

"None of you need to trust me. But we have a common enemy, William Stryker. And I know what he plans to do," Magneto declared, stunning all of them. "Which I will share with you, as long as you're willing to work with me."

Later, Oliver, Logan, Clint, Dragon, Jean, Ororo, Magneto and Mystique sat around a table in what had once been a board room before the base was abandoned.

"All right Magneto, start talking," Clint said and Magneto smiled unpleasantly.

"You think you can make demands of me, human?" Magneto asked coldly.

"I think right now, if you want a chance to stop Stryker, we need to work together. So get over whatever mutant supremacy bullshit you have going on and start talking," Clint said and he and Magneto glared at each other for a few moments.

"Very well Agent Barton," Magneto said, giving in…for the moment. "When Stryker invaded the mansion, he had one purpose: he wanted Cerebro. Or enough of it to build one of his own."

"That doesn't make any sense. Stryker would need the Professor to operate Cerebro," Jean said confused.

"Which is the only reason my old friend is still alive," Magneto said.

While this meant nothing to the SHIELD agents or Logan, it clearly meant something to Jean and Ororo. The blood drained from Jean's face while Ororo looked horrified.

"Oh my God," Ororo said as they exchanged horrified looks.

"What?" Logan demanded, not liking the sounds of this.

"When Cerebro is working, Charles's mind is linked to every living person on the planet. If he were to concentrate on a specific group – say, for example, mutants – he could kill us all," Magneto explained.

"That's why Stryker wants Charles. He wants to make him kill all mutants," Oliver realized.

"Wait, if what Fury told us about Xavier is true, then he would do that," Clint argued.

"Not willingly, no. But Stryker has powerful methods of persuasion, even against a mutant as powerful as Charles," Magneto explained.

"Like some kind of mind control?" Dragon inquired and Magneto smiled tightly.

"Not the way you're thinking. His son is a mutant with the ability to project images into your mind, create illusions. If he wears Charles down enough…" Magneto trailed off but they all understood his meaning.

"Shit," Logan muttered.

"Who is this Stryker anyway?" Jean asked.

"Fury just said he was a military colonel with an axe to grind against mutants," Clint noted and Magneto chuckled.

"Well, he's not wrong. He's a military scientist who spent his entire life trying to solve the 'mutant problem'. If you want a more intimate perspective, why don't you ask Wolverine?" Magneto asked and Logan looked at him confused as they all looked at him. "You don't remember, do you? William Stryker is the only other man I know who can manipulate Adamantium. The metal on your bones carries his signature."

"The Professor-" Logan started shocked.

"The Professor trusted you were smart enough to discover this on your own. He gives you more credit than I do," Magneto said mockingly as Logan absorbed this.

"That's enough," Oliver snapped, tired of Magneto's mind games and Magneto smiled mockingly at him.

"No, Agent Queen, it has just begun," Magneto said ominously.

"Why do you need us?" Ororo asked before the argument could escalate.

"Mystique has discovered plans for a base that Stryker has been operating out of for decades, but we don't know where this base is. And I believe one if you might," Magneto said.

"The Professor already tried," Logan snapped and Magneto smiled mockingly.

"Once again, you think it's all about you," Magneto said before lifting his head, looking out the glass wall of the room.

The others followed his gaze, seeing Kurt looking at them curiously.

Not long after, Kurt sat in the room, Jean in front of him.

"Just try and relax," Jean said gently.

Kurt nodded nervously before Jean put her hands on his head. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Jean let go as she and Kurt gasped.

"Stryker's at Alkali Lake," Jean said after a moment.

"That's where the Professor sent me, there's nothing left," Logan argued.

"Nothing left on the surface Logan, the base is underground," Jean revealed, to his shock.

"We know where it is now. Now, we can fight back," Magneto said with a smile.

"Which we can probably do better after a good night sleep. It's passed midnight," Clint said after checking his watch.

"For once, one of you humans has a good idea," Magneto said and Clint glared at him. "We should rest and then head over to Alkali Lake tomorrow morning. We should make haste."

"Should be more than enough bunks in here. All right, let's go," Clint said with a sigh, hating he was even putting up with this man.

Later that night, in the longue of the base, Oliver was sharpening some of his arrows, long after everyone else had gone to sleep. Or so he thought until a familiar voice spoke behind him.

"Can't sleep?" Oliver looked over to see Clint standing in the doorway, looking at him curiously.

"Can you, with Erik Lehnsherr under the same roof?" Oliver asked grimly and Clint nodded, conceding his point.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Just having to listen to him makes me sick, knowing what he's done," Clint said as he walked over, sitting down next to Oliver. "But, at the same time, you have to admire his dedication to his people."

"There are two sides to every issue. He might have a point about some humans being too intolerant of mutants, but most are just afraid for their families, of what mutants can do. And they're afraid because of him and what he's done," Oliver said and Clint shrugged.

"Can't say I disagree. But like you said, there is two sides to every issues," Clint said before pausing. "You know he's gonna try and kill us the moment we're not useful to him, right?"

"Why do you think I'm sharpening my arrows? Moment I found out about Lehnsherr, I switched to an allow that was not metal," Oliver said as he picked one up and Clint whistled, impressed.

"Nice," Clint said impressed before pausing. "Is something bothering you Oliver? Something besides Magneto?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked even as he felt himself tense.

"You and Dragon have barely said two words to each other since the Mansion. What's going on?" Clint asked and Oliver remained silent for a long moment.

"He and I have a difference of option about what requires lethal force," Oliver finally said and Clint nodded, needing no more.

"Let me guess, he tried his whole 'we can't take those kind of risks' speech on you?" Clint asked and Oliver looked at him surprised. "I've worked with Dragon before being assigned to this team. He's probably one of the most skilled agents in SHIELD, but he traded his humanity for what he calls the greater good a long time ago. Living the life we do, sometimes you have to compromise, sometimes in ways that don't make you sleep so well at night. But we have to hold onto our humanity, or there's no point in saving lives, because we're no different than those we fight against."

Oliver was silent, considering Clint had said. Finally, he spoke.

"I don't know how to do that Clint. Each day, I feel less like Oliver Queen and more like this…thing I'm becoming," Oliver said, looking away from Clint.

"That why you pushed Bobbi away? Why you pushed all of us away? Why you didn't go home after Russia?" Clint asked and Oliver remained silent. "I can't tell you what to do, but Oliver…if you're fighting this battle alone, you'll always lose."

Oliver remained silent, considering Clint's words when someone else spoke up.

"Didn't think anyone else would be up," they looked over to see Logan standing in the doorway.

"Couldn't sleep," Oliver said simply and Logan nodded.

"Neither could I," Logan said, leaving out his disturbing encounter with Mystique.

That woman had issues, even by his standards.

"So what's all this?" Logan asked as he walked over, seeing the arrows on the table.

"Oliver's contingency plan for Magneto," Clint supplied.

"You know he controls metal, right? I'd have already killed him if he didn't," Logan pointed out.

"Which is why these are made from an alloy similar to metal but completely different. Magneto's powers won't work on them," Oliver explained and Logan whistled impressed.

"Nice," Logan said before the ringing of a cell phone was heard.

"Sorry, that's me," Clint said, getting up as he pulled out his phone. "Gotta take this."

"He do that often?" Logan asked as Clint walked off.

"Every once in a while, he'll get a call but he never says who it's from. He's always pretty mysterious about it," Oliver said with a shrug and it was silent between them for a moment.

"So, Oliver Queen," Logan said and Oliver looked over at him. "Never put it together until I heard you introduce yourself, heard about you once on the news. Every year, the news channel do a special about the father and son who disappeared at sea. How'd you end up working with SHIELD?"

"That is…complicated," Oliver said lamely and Logan snorted.

"It always is," Logan said as he sat down across from Oliver. "So, you know you got a mom and sister who still think you're dead, right?"

"Yeah, I know. They are better off without me," Oliver said with a sigh.

"I don't have family. Or at least none that I can remember," Logan said with a pause before continuing. "But Rogue is probably the closest I've got."

"Rogue, that's the girl with the streaked hair, right?" Oliver asked and Logan nodded.

"Met her the first I met Jean and Storm. And she was the first person to really matter to me since I woke up with no memory," Logan said, remembering how happy she had been to see him when he came back to the Mansion. "She knows what I am, probably better than I do. But when I came back to the mansion, she threw her arms around me like I was gone for a year. I don't know a whole lot about you or what you've been through. You may think your mom and your sister are better off without you, but I bet they don't agree."

Oliver frowned, musing on Logan's words when Clint returned. Logan looked up, seeing an unreadable look cross Clint's face as he clutched the phone so tightly, Logan was surprised it didn't break.

"Barton?" Logan called out and Oliver looked over his shoulder, seeing a look on Clint's face he had never seen before.

"Clint? What is it?" Oliver asked and Clint opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the words.

"That was…um…that was Nat. There was an incident at Cap's apartment, Fury was shot," Clint said and Oliver looked at him oddly.

"What was Fury doing at Captain Rogers's apartment?" Oliver asked.

"She didn't know or she didn't say. She just said something about a sniper. But uh…Fury's dead," Clint said and Oliver stared at him for a moment, not quite comprehending what Clint had said.

"What?" Oliver asked, sure he had misheard Clint.

"They got him to a hospital, but he died on the operating table. He's gone Oliver, Fury's gone," Clint said heavily, unshed tears in his eyes as he looked at Oliver.

Magneto is a mutant supremacist and will never change, but as long as it serves his purposes, he would be willing to work with the SHIELD team, if for no other reason than he thought he could use them as sacrificial pawns.

And now the event of Winter Soldier start to tie into this story with Fury's death. Stay tuned for more.