Who: Clarice Ferguson, Emma Summers, Faiza Husseine, Iroh, John Jones, Logan Howlett, Nathan Summers, Neena Thurman, Scott Summers What: a technically successful raid on a yakuza warehouse When: Wednesday night Where: a warehouse Rating: PG-13 for language and PC injury Status: complete
Neena told Logan the address Kitty had given her. They’d come separately, and it was probably safer to have two potential modes of transport out of the situation. She leaned over to look in the toolbox in the bed of her truck, then nodded when she saw everything was intact. “I’ll meet you there, it’s better if we don’t park close to each other.” She opened the driver’s side door and pulled out a hat to tuck her hair into, and a black hoodie. Luckily, she was already wearing boots and her leather pants.
Logan had parked about a block away. It wasn't difficult for him to get there quickly and quietly. For being full of metal he could move very stealthily.
He nodded at her once they met up at the ware house.
Neena wasn’t wearing sunglasses this time, because it was just too damn dark. She had a belt with pouches hanging somewhat awkwardly from it, and a brand new rifle hanging from a strap on her right shoulder. She was still wearing the stupid hoodie, because she had no idea where to get kevlar reinforced outfits in Irvine. She took a deep breath, centering herself when she met up with Logan. “Alright, this is supposed to be an arms warehouse under the Fire Nation’s control. I figure it’ll be easier to pin them than the terrorists. You ready?” She was. She wanted to get in there and lose herself in the fight.
Logan shrugged and pulled on a ski mask. “Ready.” Either he just kept those things around, or he had picked one up on the way down. The latter was more likely. “The fuck am I lookin’ for?”
“We need some information about whatever they’re planning next, and some leads about who’s actually in charge would be good, too. If we find anything useful, we can report the place using an anonymous hotline, and if we get caught, we can have a little fun without feeling too bad about it tomorrow.” She tugged her hood up over her hat and face. “Sound good?”
Wishing he had his black ops outfit, Logan nodded his head, then cracked his knuckles. “Well I hope we don’t get caught then.”
Yeah. He was looking forward to this.
Neena smirked. “See, that’s why I like you.” She turned toward the warehouse, looking for the best point of entry. “Wanna do what we did last time and split up?”
“Just watch your back.” Logan patted her on the shoulder, and then jogged around the building, looking for another point of entry.
“Always do.” Neena noted, before looking around for her own point of entrance. She saw a guard station by a normal door, and snuck up to it, keeping her face down so her pale skin wouldn’t attract attention. She took out the guards easy enough, and snuck inside. She figured she had about ten minutes to get in and get to the office before they knew what was happening. It would be plenty of time. She moved through the boxes, keeping her eyes and ears open.
Iroh sat in the office, smiling as he saw the first person enter. “There may be more, don’t react until I give the order.” He spoke softly into a microphone, which was connected to earpieces in all of his best men’s ears. “Let them get in a little way, I need to capture one of them.”
Logan disabled a camera, then snuck in through a second story window, courtesy of built in climbing equipment. He dropped to the ground and remained perfectly still, sniffing where guards were and listening for the tell tell sound of cameras swiveling. Unlike last time, all his senses were available to him.
He met a few guards, and they were actually surprised by him. Not all the guards were Iroh’s elite team.
Neena worked her way in deeper, and Iroh watched her go by. Wolverine was catching some of his cameras, but not all of them. “The man regenerates, avoid him. Circle the woman and bring her in alive. You may injure her if necessary. Do not underestimate her.”
Neena found the stairs to the office, but they were very exposed. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go up alone, anymore. Something felt off, but she didn’t know what. She missed the communicators she’d had when she was an X-man. Hell, even a telepath was better than going in silent. She got one foot up on the stairs before she heard the sound of someone coming up behind her.
Logan was going to have to talk to Scott about some kind of equipment. For now though, he relied on his senses. He heard someone moving behind Neena. He picked up a can and tossed it to his left.
The regular guards rushed toward the noise, and under Iroh’s orders four of the ten men around Neena went to intercept Wolverine. The man behind Neena got shot by her, but the other five moved in, guns trained on her. “Since when do ninjas use guns?” She asked. The men fired at her legs, but Neena ran away from them. “Shit, plan B!” She didn’t mind, she felt alive now.
Logan maimed, he didn't kill. One man he hamstringed, a second lost his hand and part of his forearm, the third and fourth he just headbutted into unconsciousness. The metal claws glinted as they cut through the air, and ran red with blood.
The last one was close on Neena’s tail. She dodged around, trying to outmaneuver him, but it was the course of action least likely to work. She didn’t even notice when another man moved in to intercept her, she was so focused on her tail. The knife in his hands dug deep into her right shoulder, and her rifle fell to the floor. She gasped, and in his office Iroh let out a triumphant laugh.
“Good evening, honored guests.” This time Iroh’s voice came over the PA system. “If you move, sir, we will kill the woman. We all need to have a discussion.”
Logan’s claws sheathed, and he snorted in derision as he recognized the voice. They’d been had. At least Kitty wasn’t here. She wouldn’t be in danger, wouldn’t bring anything more down on her shoulders. She didn’t need that.
Neena swore vividly, then swore again when the knife came out of her wound. Her shoulder wasn’t hanging correctly anymore. This was not a good thing at all. The man who’d stabbed her and the one that had chased her escorted her to the stairs at both knife and gunpoint. Damn. She couldn’t get out of this the way she’d gotten out last time. “Sorry, Wolverine.” Her voice was a little strained, but she could deal with this.
Iroh stood at the top of the steps, gun visible in his hand, and also trained on Neena. The red dot of his lasersite danced over her left breast. “It has come to my attention that you and your associates know far too much about our activities. I can’t have you running around with that kind of knowledge.”
“You really think that we wouldn’t have a failsafe?” Logan snarled. He didn’t move, not while a gun was pointed at Neena, but that didn’t mean he didn’t sound pissed off. “We disappear, half the city will know your business.”
“Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.” Iroh kept his gun trained on Neena, as did the man next to her. “It would not be immediate, at any rate. I could torture you for some time before your network becomes aware anything has gone awry. I’m certain you will give me their names.
Neena snorted. “Obviously you have no idea who you’re talking to.” She could handle this, all of this. She just had to keep calm. She could feel her blood running down her side, it was a sickening feeling. The pain was intense, too, but it helped her keep focused. She couldn’t be too afraid if she was already in pain. What worse could they do?
Logan thought very very hard in Emma's direction. Their location, their situation, and what little they knew for sure. He also added, as an after thought. If you've got enough strength to distract 'em now would be a good time for it.
Duex Ex Telepath.
Emma was in the middle of a delicate situation. For a moment her pleasure flooded Logan’s mind in response to his call. She stiffened under Scott, gasping in surprise when she understood the situation. “Get your pants on, Scott.”
She contacted John before Scott even moved, reaching out for his help. She couldn’t reach that far and still be effective, but with his help she could. It would be simple enough, if Logan was correct about eh situation. She prayed the leader wouldn’t have telepathic shielding.
Iroh laughed at the two of them. “You’ll talk, don’t worry.” The guard with the knife dug his fingers into the gash, ripping it open wider and sending Neena to her knees. Iroh’s site followed her down, always trained on her chest. He didn’t want it to go like this. This was necessary, but he got no joy from it, laughter aside. This man was just a mask he wore to protect his true self.
John was moving before Emma’s thought fully touched his mind and with a thought drip into AJ’s mind to explain where he was going, he shot into the sky at nearly the speed of thought. A green being, tall, angular, and full of power, shot across the sky so fast that sonic booms followed until he thought to go intangible, and shot across the sky faster.
A moment after Iroh spoke the wall behind him exploded, the result of a combination of superspeed, intangible manipulation of the atoms of the wall, super strength plus invulnerability, and heat vision all hitting the wall at the same time.
To say that the wall exploded was not remotely an exaggeration, and Iroh would have less than a moment to hear it before he was buried. then a green blur shot in and hit the other men still standing, before coming to a halt in front of Logan and Neena.
“The White Queen sends her compliments.” He sent a thought picture to Emma, letting her know how things were currently, and he moved to Neena’s side, checking her over. “Can you walk?”
His form rippled and changed to a masked man who looked more human.
Logan sniffed. The man wasn't human, or mutant, or anything of the sort, really. He wasn't Shi'ar or any other alien that Logan had ever smelled before. He wasn't really going to complain. He vaulted up the steps two at a time, to check on Neena.
"The Wolverine owes her a nice bottle of brandy," Logan said.
“What the hell are they doing,” Scott demanded, as he pulled on a pair of pants.
“Something ridiculous.” Emma sighed, filling him on the details as she pulled a dress on. “I’m going to kill them if the Yakuza don’t.” She telepathically informed Nate of the situation while she pulled her shoes on. “Contact Faiza, they have at least one injury.”
Neena just stared at John. “Fuck, I didn’t think I was bad enough to be hallucinating.” She turned to face Logan, and got to her feet. “I can walk. Hell, I can drive if someone else starts the car for me.” She leaned on the handrail, her breathing still ragged.
“My name is the Martian Manhunter. I’m one of her... allies.” He nodded to them. “Which car is yours?” He scanned the area, and made sure all the other minds in the area were asleep. “Everyone else is out. Are you ready to go, or do you need anything else here?” John was in some ways very mercenary. He wanted people safe, as safe as he could get them. And he didn’t like the looks of this place one bit.
Nate, meanwhile, was pissed, and worried, and sighed, then poked Emma to just send medical help via one of the teleporters. Please. Never hurt to be polite! Or, you know... he could. He reached out and sort of shouted Clarice! Sorry to interrupt! Trouble here address. Domino hurt, Wolverine and Martian Manhunter also there, All hostiles subdued. Please and thank you can you take them to medical help? I promise I will pay you back
Logan looked around. “Evidence. Think you can keep them out until the cops arrive?” He hoped there was enough shit here to keep these men locked up for at least a little while.
Your timing sucks, Clarice thought, as she hurriedly got dressed. She teleported in next to Neena. “Okay, I’m charging overtime for this.”
“Fuck, nobody’s the right color tonight.” Neena sighed. “I’ll give you my fucking kidney if you want.” Logan could talk to their hero, she was trying very hard not to puke. Now that things had settled the pain was really pretty bad.
Emma shuffled the entire family into the car, to go make sure things came out to their best advantage.
John nodded at Neena. His voice had an echoing quality, almost... inhuman. “She’s been stabbed and had her musculature ripped severely. She needs immediate evac. The area is secure, but should be considered hostile. Logan should go with you as well, if you can take them both.”
He paused. “The White Queen and Cable will follow.”
"I can take all of us anywhere in the world, but we're going to pay a visit to a very nice British doctor in the county who can heal just about anything," Clarice assured him. The floor glowed purple around them.
“Less talking, more leaving.” Neena demanded. She felt she was in a position to demand, at this point.
Emma contacted John again, to see if they could get local law enforcement in on this somehow. It would be better to put this through regular channels as well.
John smirked as he nodded, and sent a message back with a name and a number, and a badge number. Kirsty Cotton, a cop who could be trusted. I’ll take care of it.
He watched the people vanish, then, making sure everyone was fast asleep, shot out the hole he had made, but waited as he felt Emma coming closer.
Nate grumbled in the car, following the mental conversations. “Where is this Faiza? Who is this Faiza?”
"Faiza's a doctor who works at the Ranch sometimes," Scott explained. "She dreams of the same place we do, her powers let her heal injuries as good as new."
Clarice dropped Neena and Logan inside the underground medical center at the Ranch. The special one. She disappeared, returning in a flash of light with a grumbly Faiza, who was wearing pink slippers, a fuzzy robe, and a hastily applied headscarf.
Faiza looked at them, rolled her eyes and pointed her hand at Neena. "Bloody hell. I'm not going to ask."
Domino was put into pieces, and then put back together again after a few moments of work. "What the hell did you do to your liver, duck? My God. This might take awhile. Clarice dear, why don't you fetch me some tea."
Faiza took Neena apart again.
Emma stepped out of the car to look at the warehouse. It was completely trashed. She reached out to the minds in the rubble, and cursed. “The leader’s gone. Dammit. How did he get out?” She crossed her arms over her chest in frustration. “The police have been called. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here.” She contacted Nate telepathically, just to be safe. Do you want to check on Neena? “Damn inconsiderate bastards.”
Neena grumbled, but she didn’t want to argue too much with the crazy British lady who could split her into component parts. “Clean living.” She noted, making a face as she got pulled apart again.
John faded into view, looking like a normal man again. “They went to the other warehouse.” He shot out of sight, and there were yells, shouts, and then a lot of falling walls. A minute later, Iroh was deposited unconscious by the warehouse, as if he had crawled out.
‘Now we should all get scarce. The police are rolling.”
Nate nodded to Emma. yes please? they went [here]=[address]
Scott started driving as soon as Emma was in the car. He already knew where they’d taken Neena. “It’s a forty minute drive.”
Faiza plucked Neena’s liver out and examined it. She clucked her tongue in dismay, then showed it to her. “You’ve practically pickled it.”
“This is always disturbin’,” Logan muttered.
“It’s not your damn liver.” Neena noted. “Okay, yes. I’m a horrible person, I promise I’ll take better care of it in the future. Can I have it back?” She wondered if there would ever be a thing her life that seemed weird after this conversation.
“I can fix it, just give me a wee moment.” The liver floated around as Faiza started to repair the damage to it. It visibly altered and changed, becoming healthier, and cleaner.
Neena watched with interest. It was weird, but kind of fascinating all at once. She wondered how much people were shaped by their powers. Would she be the kind of doctor that would tolerate getting up and putting on her adorable slippers to go out and heal a pissed off asshole stupid enough to run into a guy with a knife? If her powers were different, would she be different? Would the dreams have affected her so much? “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, duck. There. Good as new, you should get another few year to pickle yourself to death, but you really should cut back.” She put Neena back together again. “Dr. MacTaggert was right, you’re all bloody nutters.”
“Moira?” Logan asked.
“She was out here last year, apparently I’ve inherited her ‘patch up the muties’ duties.”
Neena rubbed her shoulder a little. It was barely even sore. “Someone has to keep us from dying when we do stupid shit.” She was impressed.
"Since you lot won't stop doing stupid shite, I suppose I shall have to suffer."
“Yeah, that’s kind of how it goes.” Neena sighed and sat down. “We did get the guy in charge though, so there’s that to be happy about.”
"Yippee," Faiza said, and Clarice snickered.
Nate came barrelling in and slid to a stop. Neena got a gentle hug, Logan got a pat on the back, and Clarice got a blushing face and a hug, then Faiza got a hug. And he nodded. Then he turned to Neena and grumbled. “Don’t do that again, silly.”
Neena accepted her hug with bemusement, and the lecture in the same manner. Emma came trailing in afterward, obviously not pleased with either of them. “What the hell were you two thinking?”
Clarice hugged Nate back, rubbing his back during it. “ Next time invite me along.”
The only reason Scott didn’t barge in yelling was Nate and Faiza were there. “You could have caused a hell of a problem for all of us!”
Logan rolled his eyes. “We were checkin’ out some bad shit.” he wouldn’t say they had it handled, but he did know what to do better, next time.
“Some bad shit? Really?” Emma snapped back. “Did it ever occur to either of you that you’re not the police, and it’s not only illegal, but extremely risky for you two to go around shooting up warehouses?”
Neena had a smart comment, but she was too tired to even bother. She looked around for a moment, then realized something. “Did anyone grab my rifle? I dropped it.”
Clarice held it up, then handed it over. She smiled a little shyly at Neena.
“Who said we were shootin’ up anything,” Logan replied, giving Emma a dry look.
Scott narrowed his eyes, and his voice was just shy of pissed. “You were inviting shooting up warehouses. You had guns pointed at you and Neena was seriously injured. We aren’t vigilantes, Logan.”
“Pussy.”
“Asshole.”
Nate felt like his head was about to explode and he cried out as he yelled, aloud and telepathically “STOP!” Anyone in the surrounding buildings was going to have a headache, say sorry. And Logan and Scott were both thrust backward, away from one another, several feet as Nate swore, one eye glowing, and went to one knee.
“Just stop it! We are what we are, in any universe and yelling at each other about stupid mistakes won’t fix anything. Dad, they are not the X-men, and not yours to command. Logan, don’t be a dumbass. You messed up and you know it. Both of those things being equal, both of you need to shut up and concentrate on getting Neena well and figuring out if anything was made public that we don’t want made public.”
And then Nate sighed. “I hate my powers.
And passed out.
Faiza just looked mildly miffed. “Neena is quite well, thank you. Healthier than she was before she got stabbed, in fact!” Then she huffed.
Scott still wanted to shoot Logan through the wall. It would be cathartic.
Emma rubbed her temples, frowning. “Okay. Faiza, you’re a wonderful woman, and I am very grateful to you for coming out here and helping Neena. I really appreciate it, and I’m sure she does as well. Clarice, thank you as well, your quick thinking helped keep this from being worse than it could have been.”
She turned to Neena and Logan, looking between the two of them. “It would be better to leave any vehicles you two drove to the warehouse alone for the evening, so you two need to get rides.” She bent down to collect Nate from Neena, who’d caught him when he passed out. “I don’t think we have anything else that needs to be done here.” She turned her attention back to Scott, and motioned toward the door. Her arms were too full of ten year old to open it for herself. “Perhaps next time you’ll look to us for help before you get into a situation you can’t handle.”
Logan snorted. “I’m sure we’ll ask.”
He watched Scott get the door and made a comment about being whipped.
"Just shut up, Logan." Neena stood up, collecting her rifle. "Pink woman, I'll give you free drinks for life if you take me home."
“My kind of offer. I’m Clarice, or Blink. Whatever.”
She might be head over heels for Illyana, but Neena was hot and kind of her type.
“I’ll walk,” Logan said.
"Great. I'll see you later." Neena smiled at Clarice. "Nice to meet you. I live in Irvine," then she rattled off her address.
There was a flash of pink, and then they were gone.