Chapter 24- Pn B

  New York City– Inside Trevor Smith’s Brownstone- 2008- 10- 22 (Afternoon)

  Eric Lensheer- (Magneto)

  “This might work to our benefit," Exodus suggested.

  Erik looked back at the disguised shape-shifter; the two of them shared a look before he nodded. Then returns his gaze at the former director and tells her. "Call your researcher." Then the mutant leader moves back to the entrance to the home.

  Once he was certain that he couldn’t feel recording devices near him, he tapped his 'watch'. The disguised timepiece lit up as he said into it. "Magneto to Rogue, how are things on your end?"

  He waited a second before he reached to activate it again, but as he leaned in they responded. “Got the ‘ok’ from the bar owner, we just got to call before we head over. We just left there now. Oh, and whose bright idea was it to send two underage girls to make the deal to rent out a bar?”

  "That's why I gave you the letter, so you could pass it off to one of the staff and not actually need to enter. And need I remind you, you volunteered." He expined back, waited a moment then added. "Tell your brother to rush to our location, the package is under attack and we may need to move up the timetable."

  “Regretting we didn’t take our speedster yet?” He faintly heard her snarky comment, as he walked back into the home.

  ‘Kids.’ He thought as he entered the living room again. Erik noticed that Peggy was in the dining area on her cell phone, but what more worried him was that Trevor was missing. He leaned towards Psylocke and asked. “Where’s the husband?”

  He noticed a purple glow hit her eyes, as she used her powers before she answered. "Upstairs, he is hitting his private stash. He doesn't like to drink in front of her, but he needed something to calm himself down. Apparently, she started going to AA around when she got pregnant with their daughter. I'll keep my third eye on him."

  Erik thought back to Rogue’s comment about speed. “Maybe not. Nath'aniel back when you bonded Psylocke, you once confused me into thinking you were my son, because of the way you moved. Can you still cast that spell?"

  The mage was looking over the various photos in the living room, but he still answered. “The Rapid-Steps spell, yes I can… are you wanting to go intervene in their battle?”

  Erik approached the mage and leaned in before he whispered. "He saved my life, twice in the war. I owe him."

  Then the mage whispered back. “That’s a lot of weapons that I don’t recognize, and I am pretty sure that openly helping them isn’t in line with the mission pn you presented to us… and given that they were willing to blow up their base just to get Bass, Psy and myself, do you think they are the sort of people to back down when you and your friend organize a resistance against them? Or would be more than likely to escate the fight, to include people they have awakened their genes?"

  ‘He is righ., Hydra won’t back down until they at least unleash something, whether it be a mutant or an Enhanced.’ Erik thought.

  “Nor do I think you aiding them will be seen as welcome.” Psylocke telepathically added.

  “Your both right. The Brotherhood would not be seen as welcome.” The mutant leader muttered, but then added. “But Good Samaritans are, and we have four members with no previous association with our group, five if we include your Servant, She-Devil.”

  The telepath crossed her arms in thought before verbally agreeing. “That could work, she could hit them with from behind with a Spirit Jump, while I stay behind to protect Nathy. Assuming we can find somewhere close enough for our leash to not be an issue, and still keep him out of direct fire."

  The blinking sparkles of a Servant materializing forewarned the She-Devil’s compint. “Don’t I have a say if I have to fight or not?”

  "Well, you would be punishing gun-wielding psychos." The mage pointed out.

  "And they're more than likely New Yorkers as well," Erik added.

  Those points brought a smirk to the bikini-wearing woman's face. Then Peggy came out of the dining room and held a hand to the speaker of her phone before reporting. "My researcher is in, with a heavy emphasis that there better be rewards to the risks we are taking… so all she needs to know is where we are doing this and when."

  "Soon, some of us are moving to aid the Captain, while those of with bounties will aid from the shadows," Erik reported. Then he fished out a folded slip of paper, on which he had already written the address of the bar. "And we will be meeting here. May we use your back door? Sidewalks are more cluttered than alleys.”

  She took the paper and nodded. Then the mutant leader gestured for them all to gather and leave. 'Exodus' opened the door, but waited. While She-Devil just vanished like Servants tended to do. The first ones out were Wolfsbane and Nath’aniel.

  Erik heard Psylocke whisper to Peggy. "He has seen a divorce wyer." Then she too vanished in a plume of purple sparkles. Peggy sighed but said nothing as the mutant leader and the shape-shifter closed the back door on their way out.

  Then as a group walked through the backyard and passed their parked cars, till they were in the alley proper, Nath'aniel started to write a trio of white sandals into the air, when he backhanded them, the glowing icons became motes of light that shot into each of them.

  “I don’t feel any different.” The teenage werewolf muttered.

  “Given the name of the spell is Rapid-steps I think it won’t kick in till we take a step.” Erik guessed.

  "I didn't push it to the expert level. I figured you would need to get used to the increase in speed, so I started us out at the base Journeyman, but you will need to lead the way. I know not where this cemetery is." The mage reported.

  Erik nodded took a couple of steps, and found himself at the end of the alleyway. He only didn't hit the trash cans, because he could feel that they were there with his powers. "You weren't joking about the speed difference."

  When he looked back at the others, his fellow members were shocked, while the mage was impassive. Then they moved to join him, in less time than it took him to get out ‘Careful’ they were already beside him. While the shape-shifter and the werewolf looked shocked and somewhat sick, and again Nath’aniel still looked fine, if anything else he looked bored.

  “Perhaps I should just fly us there?” the mutant leader suggested.

  “Wasn’t the goal not to stand out?” Wolfsbane asked.

  "That was before Steve was attacked by Hydra," Erik argued.

  “And regardless with this speed, we will stand out.” The mage said while writing another series of glowing symbols into the air. The mutant leader was about to ask what he was casting now, but before he could the mage crushed the series of icons in his fist.

  The three others tried to shield their eyes from the light, and when they could see, Nath’aniel just jumped up, but instead of falling back to the Earth, he stayed in the air standing on the thin white cloud that he made to hold up the barracks section of the Nazi base that Erik had brought back to the Citadel.

  "Well, are you coming or not?" the mage asked them. The teen was the next to jump up, and she got even more height than Nath'aniel had. Seeing that, the older two joined them and once they were all standing almost a story in the air, Erik led the way and then they were off.

  New York City – Mabel Cemetery- Oct 23, 2008 (03:05 PM)

  Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark (Iron Man)

  Tony watched the fighting through the police CCTV system and wanted to shout a warning when he saw another armored van pull up behind the firs three, he could tell from the way it scraped its frame on its turns that whatever was inside was heavy. Like his suits heavy. However instead, he heard Happy jump the curb with their car and dodge headstones on his way to him.

  So instead he ordered. “Jarvis track that weighted van.” Before he got up and moved towards his bodyguard.

  Janet called out to him. “Mr. Stark you should probably get out of here.”

  Exactly as his VI also warned him. ”I advise you to remain in cover till Mr. Hogan arrives with the Mark V.”

  Tony smiled smugly when his actions were proven right when some rifle fire blew out Happy’s car's front tire, although he tried to stop. The car still plowed into a mppost. The weapons designer was still smart enough to stay low as he moved to the car's trunk.

  “You were correct sir. Experimental weapons have exited the vehicle.”

  Hearing Jarvis' warning he stopped midway to the back of the crashed car, and returned his attention to the right lenses of his shades. An overly rge rail-thin man exited the back of the van. He was easily over seven feet tall, if not taller, and yet the amount of weight he dispced when he stepped out of the van suggested the form-fitting armor he wore was exceedingly heavy.

  When the tall man got his foot stuck under the bumper of a car that was parked too close to the van, he roared before burying his cwed armored hands into the front hood of the car and lifting it into the air, the tall man roared even louder, before the man threw the poor sedan into the cemetery.

  Tony caught the sight of two more people exiting the van more reasonably sized but in white and bck suits instead of the tall man's green, before shaking his head and yelling. "Happy! Pop the trunk." Then the weapon's designer made his way to the back end of the crashed car.

  On his way there he heard the trunk pop, as well as more shots being fired towards them, so from cover he pushed the rear lid higher. Tony then waited a moment for a right time to flip to the rear of the car, but stopped when his phone suddenly went off.

  Tony waited till the chorus for ‘Hungry like the Wolf’ started, before jumping behind the car and reaching in. “Jarvis, no warning really? Answer.”

  "Sorry, sir, I am trying to track and determine the abilities of the three Enhanced. That the enemy has deployed. They are giving off strange energy readings.”

  Then he heard his assistant screech into his ear. “TONY! Tell me you’re not at the cemetery still!”

  As he pulled out the oversized suitcase of grey and red metal and dropped it onto the ground, he muttered. "I thought you asked me to stop lying to you?" Then he kissed his thumb and pressed it to the gene-lock on the case, and waited for it to pop open.

  As it did Pepper continued to scold him, ranting. “Tony this is big, that cemetery is on the news.”

  "I would hope a terrorist attack in New York makes it on the news, Pep. It's kind of a big deal.” He said as he started to shift and move parts so he could don the compact personal armor that he built.

  Pepper of course didn't get his joke and continued to rant. "A terrorist attack and you're caught in the middle of it? What will this do for us against the upcoming hearings? If you repel this attack it will only give them…"

  Tony finished for her. "More justification to steal my tech, I know, but people are getting shot at and might die. I am not just going to sit back and do nothing and hope they ignore me. Sorry Pep, but I got to go." Then he leaned down and triggered the arming sequence so the Iron Man Mark V suit, so it would wrap around and protect him.

  He heard the driver's door open, and Happy slowly made his way to him. "Boss, boss we got to get out of here." His bodyguard warned him.

  "You're right you do, but first go over there and grab Janet Van Dyne, she is taking cover over there," Tony told Happy. Then he took off his shades and threw them into the trunk.

  Happy frowned before he asked him. “What about you?”

  His helmet closed in and around him before Tony could say. "I'll be fine." His voice was altered by the suit's speakers, so he sounded more cold and metallic.

  Tony then used the repulsors on his feet to jump extra high into the air. He knew from its specs that Mark V wasn’t built for sustained fight. That was the price for it being portable. It cked some of the bells and whistles that his st two suits have. Still, he could jump up three stories so that he could get a better view of the battlefield than the CCTV system did.

  The Captain had taken out about a third of the original forces, and despite not being equipped for it; his detail had taken down another two. Still, a second wave was moving up to assist the few remaining members of the first teams, and then there were those three Enhanced, who weren’t too far behind either.

  Tony added another boost from his repulsors to get a sort of double jump, before nding atop a decorative statue atop a mausoleum. When he heard Jarvis asked for his attention.

  “Sir?”

  He bsted two of the terrorists, a repulsor each, before he said. “Hit me… not literally.” Then he bsted another pair. Once the whine of his repulsors cooled down his VI reported his findings.

  “I took the liberty of moving one of our satellites so that I could take a reading on those three Enhanced… sir, I am not certain that you can beat them.”

  “Why?” Tony asked, before firing off his feet again and hoped to join the captain in the middle of the cemetery. He nded short, but stopped completely when he heard Jarvis’ report on the enemy.

  "I am detecting quantum irregurities coming off of them, each on a different frequency. However, their suits seem to be stabilizing them. This leads me to believe that each of their powers will vary, but more so, the more damaged their suits become the higher the chance they will trigger a quantum event. While there will not be any radiation, the range of such an event may still be massive by my calcutions.”

  "Walking, talking, weapons of mass destruction. Just like your typical terrorist group, thanks Hydra." Tony stated, before firing all four of his repulsors, while somewhat airborne, he adjusted with another short burst to nd a flying knee into the head of the tall Enhanced in the green body suit.

  Behind his helmet, he smiled, at the striding idiot. Tony's knee hit dead center of the tall thin man's face, and the weapons designer felt a satisfying crunch when the two of them hit the ground.

  “Ghul!” Tony heard the one in the bck suit cry out.

  After standing up Iron Man lined up a repulsor and fired it at the speaker. The shot, however, passed through the man in the bck suit and clipped an unprepared terrorist behind him, in the head. Knocking the man head over ass, before nding onto the ground face first.

  "At least it wasn't wasted," Tony muttered before firing his feet repulsors again and jumping away from the rising long-limbed green-suited man.