Chapter 18- Pns Laid Out

  Citadel – Great Hall- 2008- 10- 22 (Evening)

  Eric Lensheer- (Magneto)

  Erik was the st to arrive at the meeting he quickly called together. Exodus floated above the table the two women had selected. His daughter sat opposite of blue-skinned shape-shifter. Only Wanda didn't react to his appearance, as she seemed lost in thought.

  “Why the sudden emergency meeting?” Mystique asked him once he was close enough.

  Instead of answering her, Erik expined why the shape-shifter should help him. "You said earlier today, that you thought we should be more proactive. Some fresh information has allowed you to prove that you can keep your cool for me, help me pn and complete my mission, and I will leave you in the Americas, so you can dig up your leads again."

  That got her to sit up straighter, as his daughter asked. “What is the mission father?”

  "I will not lie. My motivations are entirely personal, so participation is not mandatory. I just got some information from Dugan that a mutual friend of ours is alive, but under guard by the US military." Erik told the three of them.

  Exodus then asked. “Who?”

  “Steven Rogers.” The leader said with a smile.

  "Captain America is alive?!" Mystique snapped at him. He nodded at her in answer, his smile getting wider. However, the shape-shifter didn't see it as a good thing as she ranted. "They will use him to isote the original Super Soldier serum, from him and mass produce copies of him. It will be a massacre with soldiers like him used against us."

  Erik was about to correct her and expin what Nath’aniel and the High Evolutionary’s notes meant, but he stopped with his finger pointing at her as he thought. ‘She’s not ready for that information.’ Then he looked up at Exodus and saw the same stern look on his face as well. ‘Neither is he, not yet.’

  So he skipped the facts and expined his theory instead. “I don’t think we have to worry. Because they already have the formu, instead the reason it was so successful for Steven is because he isn’t an Enhanced. I think he is actually a mutant.”

  “He can’t be. Both the French and the Russians were using enhancement formus on mutants, and all the formus did was kill the mutant subjects.” Mystique argued. As she did she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.

  Erik nodded at her statement but had a counterpoint, which he added. “That is true, most attempts to improve mutant soldiers resulted in the deaths of the mutant. That’s because their X genes were already active.’

  “I asked Nath’aniel what would happen to someone with a dormant X gene getting one of those serums or other chemicals, and he said that their gene would awaken and there is a chance that their powers would just be what the formus, but there is also a chance they would different results. So we could have brothers and sisters who think they are Enhanced, but are actually one of us.”

  "Thus expining why Captain America's results were such much better than the other attempts made." The shape-shifter muttered, finishing his own theory for him. Then after a moment of silence, she added. "God, imagine how much bad press would come out if Captain America really is a mutant. They have cartoons and television shows about him."

  “So how do we get him? And as you mentioned earlier sir, I wonder if we should be the ones to go.” Exodus asks the room.

  "It all comes down to what pn we come up with here and now. Steve is alive and in New York City. If we go alone in the Grey-Wing, there is a chance that it will lead to a fight. But if we come up with a pn tonight to present to Nath and Psylocke, then they will join us and let us use their Portal Room."

  "So what we need is stealth, well Ms. Mystique this is your wheelhouse. So what's the pn?" Gypsy asked her.

  "Drop the Ms. you're not our lesser at this table girl… So the pn is to use me as a decoy, while Erik, and a small team escort the good captain to the mage for the testing.” She guessed and Erik nodded. “But I can't make a pn without more information, besides target and target's city." The blue woman states, before bringing all attention back to Erik.

  “He is being tested at SHIELD headquarters and has an off-site apartment. He has a security team and a liaison officer assigned to him.” The mutant leader revealed the limited information they have.

  “We cannot do it near their headquarters, too many eyes.” Mystique pointed out right away.

  Exodus followed up with. “So we need more information.”

  There was a moment of silence while they all thought before Erik said. "Then we get more. Peggy Charter was the one who let it slip to Dugan in the first pce. She must have access to him for that."

  “You want us to kidnap and interrogate the founder of SHIELD?” The knight asked in confirmation.

  “No, we trade for it. She was compining to Dum Dum about this liaison officer trying to keep her from Steve.” Erik suggested.

  “What do we have to trade though father?” Gypsy then asked.

  Erik thought back to the mage's Great Truth, and without citing it, the leader offered. "An answer… We won't mention my theory, but offer to her the answer that Nath'aniel spell can provide."

  “The Super Soldier serum.” Mystique states their end goal.

  “So we have the basics of a pn, get information from Charter and swap out the Captain with one of us, but now the real question. Who do we send? I know that we are pnning for Mystique to be doing the swap but we do also have Copycat here.”

  Erik shot that suggestion down saying. “No, I don’t want to risk her other mission by having her swap genders so close to it. But you’re right we should limit those of us with bounties on our heads. Besides Pyro is already out since he is still doing his author thing in his homend.”

  Thus everyone’s attention went back to Mystique, as most of their members that weren’t wanted were in fact the kids that she either birth or took in and raised. She sighed before saying. “Yes I know, my kids are all unknowns so they may be the best choices for this mission, however I want them to decide to join, I don't want us to pressure them into this." So she turned and looked his daughter in the eye.

  “You want me to ask them?” Gypsy asked in surprise.

  “If Magneto or I do it, they may feel that they have to say yes. If you do it, it will just be another mission.” The shape-shifter expined to the teenager.

  “It's not just because you are near them in age. You are by some measures the Brotherhood's heart now. Psylocke used to be, serving as my go-between. But with her being Nath'aniel's Servant, she really can't be neutral in some things. “ He added to the blue woman’s expnation.

  "I have a concern," Exodus stated. When everyone was looking at him he continued. “Ka-zar. He hasn’t left the Preserve since he got here. It may be difficult for him to focus or he may get into trouble if we send him on this mission.”

  Erik thought for a moment before answering. “We can’t hold him back just because of that though. If he wants to go we can keep him in reserve like we did during the Newman raid.”

  “When do you want to do this?” Mystique asked him.

  “I will present the pn in the morning, and hopefully we can be in New York before noon. Which gives you enough time to have a session with Nath’aniel, before we leave." The mutant leader turned her question back around on her.

  “What?” She asked in surprise.

  "Don't think that I don't know that you have swapped sessions with one of your kids instead of taking a turn yourself. Everyone takes a turn Mystique, and yours has come due." Erik told her. As he finished he saw that several of the utility drones had arrived and had started setting tables for their dinner.

  Savage Lands – The High Evolutionary’s Compound, new NewMen Hall of Lords- Oct 22, 2008 (Evening)

  Red Lion-

  She walked up the steps of the former barracks two at a time. A mouse of the people had run to her and told her that she had been requested by name by the Countess, so Red Lion moved with haste to answer the summons. The burning in her lower regions had greatly receded after she received the injection from Baron Ivory, but still, Red Lion's thoughts and gaze drifted towards the men she passed on her way to the great hall of the Hall of Lords.

  Squires opened or held the doors for her as she made her way into the Hall. One of them even gave her further instruction. “Private Eating room, upstairs.” Red Lion nodded her thanks and pressed on to the conclusion of her trip.

  Once upstairs a boar knight held the door open to her final destination. Once she stepped inside, he closed the door behind her.

  Inside the room were three members of the people. The biggest was the baron who gave her the injection, his trunk of a nose grabbed some of the bread on his pte as his hands held a pair of tablets that he was reading. sitting to his right was the Countess herself, Lady Ursu was one of the few Newmen with a ft face, and unlike before she was not in her armor, but rather a brilliant red dress.

  The wolf knight that was addressing her was armored, however. "As you can see, their purge is actually a blessing in some ways, had we not lost so many of the carnivores we would have run out of food by the month's end, even so, we only have enough to feed our men for the next four months."

  "Did you run the system's calcution if we went to half rations?" Baron Ivory asked the knight.

  "I did, the system gave us only an extra two months if we went on wartime rations." The knight reported.

  "Red Lion, why are you not seated?" The Countess asked her.

  Making the lion woman shake her head, as she insisted. "I am unworthy to sit with you, my dy."

  "You will lead our workers, so of course you are worthy. If I had the power to I would bestow you a title as well.” Lady Ursu argued, before eating a mouthful of a muffin.

  "You could make her a Baronet." The elephant lord added.

  “We can settle the matter of tiles and ranks after our punishments have been determined.” The Countess stalled the topic.

  “They already killed half of our soldiers and took the top half of our compound, what more punishment till it is deemed fair?” The wolf knight asked.

  “They are Powered, and they have shown they know how to use their abilities to great effect against us. So for now we bow and obey, and if we are lucky we may get out of this alive. Remember that it was HE who chose to leave us." Countess Ursu snapped at the wolf.

  "And HE chose to lie to us about the long-term effects of the Sway, or that we nobles were still partially under its effects." Baron Ivory added.

  “Problems for another day.” the bear woman muttered, before pointing her knife at Red Lion.

  So she quickly pulled out and pnted her butt into one of the free chairs.

  "Six or four months," Ursu muttered before sighing. Then she ordered. “Keep the men at full rations for now, we may find a fix in those four months before it becomes an issue.”

  "There is of course the risk of the Sway making them start to starve themselves the longer we keep them under it, so keep an eye on your men to make sure that they in fact eat what we are preparing for them." The Baron added. Then the two nobles went back to eating their dinner.

  They had a few bites until the lion woman raised her hand. She felt it would be rude to just ask her a question. The two nobles continued to eat, but the Countess pointed her knife at her to speak. So Red Lion asked. "Why am I now a leader? I am very confused."

  It was the Baron who answered her question while the Countess continued to eat.

  “We four are the only members of the People who are not under the effects of the Sway, the chemical compulsion to revere and need the High Evolutionary. We nobles received a reduced version of it, to fulfill our duty to lead and guide the People.” Baron Ivory started to expin.

  “And so we can debate with HE. HE loved it when we debated him.” the countess added.

  "Quite right, HE does. But on to the young dy's question, as Countess Ursu said, for now, we are bowing and adhering to the desires of this Brotherhood, and they wanted each faction of the People to have a representative. I am the highest-ranked member of the Assistance Core, and the Countess is of course the highest-ranked member of the Wundergore Knights. That only left the nameless masses needing to be represented." The baron answered and expined to Red Lion.

  The countess jabbed and pointed at her as she added. "And as said, as we four of us are the only ones not under the effects of the Sway, it had to be someone in this room that led the masses. And as Sir Fange is another member of the knights, it seemed the best course to rename you to Lady of the Masses."

  "Never mind the fact. By doing this, you also now have a go-between yourself and the masses." The wolf knight muttered softly, but still loud enough for Red Lion to hear. She saw the Baron Ivory twitch at the comment, but the Countess went back to eating as if she hadn't heard the man's snide remark.

  Hoping to move things along, because she was getting itchy between her legs again, being around so many males. She asked. “And what is the Sway?”

  Ursu looked at Ivory, who shrugged.

  In the end, the snout-less woman pushed her pte away and ordered the rge man. "Tell her."

  The Baron coughed into his hand, before starting his expnation. “The Sway was part of our regur maintenance, while the green gases used on us allow us in the Assistance Core to mend and patch the broken sequences of our DNA, the Sway was the purple gas that did basically the same, but for our minds rather than our bodies."

  Ursu smmed her fist into the table, causing the wood to chip and break. Then she simplified it saying. "In yman's terms, most of the People are drugged to be compliant and to need HE, or the High Evolutionary. It's why most of you called him the 'great one', even though he wasn't really all that great."

  A part of Red Lion felt that she should be offended by the countess' statement and yet she didn't. Instead, all she felt was the warmth in her gut and groin. Her mind slowly drifted to thoughts of her holding her own kittens, but such thoughts made her sp her own face.

  The other three members of the People stared at her sudden action.

  “Just making sure this wasn’t a dream.” Red Lion lied with her excuse.

  Baron Ivory nodded and said. "I understand, HE didn't expect us to be attacked by so many Powered, nor did HE leave any pns if he was to suddenly leave us… This is very much all-new terrain for us."

  There was a long moment of silence before Red Lion asked. "So what is next for us and the People?"

  “We need to find a solution for our food shortage.” The wolf knight stated the most obvious hurdle they faced.

  “And come up with a solution before the gathering in the next few days.” The baron added.

  They must have seen something on her face, because the knight growled, and the Countess Ursu added. “They ruled that the deaths of our troops and the seizing of the ship was not enough of a punishment for the People. So we three leaders are to attend a meeting of theirs in the morning after next.”

  “And we are to offer them more?” Red Lion asked. After she said that, her thoughts immediately went towards the man with the glowing eyes, of him breeding her while being restrained by the rge rock-like woman.

  “Yes, supposedly.” The still-standing knight answered her. Bringing her back into the moment and out of her lewd fantasy.

  “They won’t kill us outright, will they?” She asked the two nobles.

  The countess and the baron share a look, before Ursu admits. "It may not be in their power not to, since those we've been, raiding, are apparently ailed with them and may demand it. Thus why, their leader suggested we come up with a solution to offer."

  ‘But what do we have to offer?’ Red Lion thought but didn’t share, since it was clear the others were thinking the same.

  "I say we let their judgment come and focus on the needs of our people and our biggest problem our food stores." The wolf knight argued.

  “Why do we not ask for help?” Red Lion asked suggestively.

  “Even if we asked for trade or charity, it is unlikely that we would earn enough in the time allowed, what with a possible punishment on the horizon.” Baron Ivory said shooting down her suggestion.

  But something made the cat woman think back to the man with the glowing eyes and the battle, and when he put that small metal device into his eye, so Red Lion suggested. “But if they don’t want to kill us, maybe they will help us, they had a device that let one of them aim their lightning attacks. If they could guide us towards flocks or herds of the rger creatures, maybe even some of the more dangerous ones, we could hunt them and offer a portion of the meat to those we…” she didn’t want to say ate.

  “Offended.” The knight said in suggestion to her sentence.

  Countess Ursu sat back in her seat smiling. “Solving both of our problems with one pn, I like it. You might go far… Lady Red.”