It's Not What You Know...

Part Three - Snakes and Ladders

by Sabia

Disclaimer: The X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, GenX and Deadpool belong to Marvel Comics. This is a nonprofit work of fiction. Julia de Santos/Shockwave belongs to me but she'll deny it if asked. The camera crew (Marcella, Kenton and Josh) is also mine but they are considering offers. Land Rover and Mustang are trademarks of their respective owners.

Questions/Comments: sabre@industrialwebworks.com

~telepathic conversation~
*sound effects*

The PACRAT was already humming when they went down the hanger the next evening.
Forge strode down the ramp as they approached. "I've made a few modifications to the cloaking systems, the drives and the communications units."
"Will we still be able to understand it?" Sam asked. "'A few' for you means total rebuild for anybody else."
"For the most part." He patted the hull. "There's no way SHIELD can trace this baby now."
"I think I'd better make sure I can still fly it." said Roberto as he disappeared up the ramp.
Risque smiled at the craft. "You guys lifted this thing?"
"Yeah, a while ago." said Jimmy.
"Everyday you tell me something about this crew that sounds cool." She said.
"Our goal is to snag a helicarrier one day." said Sam straight-faced.
"Donnae be foolish. Where would we park it? They're far too big for in here and Jean would get mad if we ruined the back lawn." Terry asked. "I think we should try for one of those nice carrier ships."
"Ocean cruising sounds good." Risque agreed.
Forge shook his head. I can really tell who trained these kids, he thought.
"Try not to damage anything, okay?" He wasn't encouraged when they seemed to consider the idea like fish pondering bicycles. "How about try not to completely destroy it then?"
"Ah think we can do that." Sam smiled.
"Yer such an optimist." Terry remarked.

Julia strolled in with her rifle slung over one shoulder and boxes of newly-synthesized tranquilizer darts in her arms. "Fake bullets, anyone?"
"I'll take some." said Jimmy. "Is the same stuff you used on Mimic?"
"No, Doctor McCoy tinkered with the mix a bit so this batch should be nearly instantaneous. Don't be shy, there's lots." She encouraged.
"Who's Mimic?" Risque asked as she claimed a box.
"The guy Julia knifed when she first arrived." said Jimmy. "He fell on her so she stuck him in the chest."
She paused in her loading of a clip and smiled approvingly at Julia. "I like your style."

Shatterstar and Tabitha came with a cart of video equipment in tow. Kenton and Josh trailed after them, loaded down with their gear.
"What's all that?" Terry asked.
"My other baby." Kenton said. "It's a duplication and editing field unit."
"If we're going to get the footage on the air for tomorrow morning we'll try to do the prep work right after we get out." Josh explained.

Marcella came in with Cable and Domino. The reporter was the only one in civilian clothes, even if they were safari-style. She looked at the rest of the team preparing their weapons and otherwise milling around in their combat uniforms.
"I feel so underdressed." She said.
"We can probably get you suited up if you want." Cable offered.
"No, I've got to look the part." Marcella said. "As annoying as it is, I've still have to wear make-up and be fully coifed to get on the air. Producers love a scoop but they like a pretty face even more."
"Things we have to do." said Domino. "What else do we have to bring up to the Academy?"
"Just the transmission units if that place has a communications setup like the one upstairs." Marcella said thoughtfully. "We'll call the station as soon as we're ready to send."

Terry glanced up as Shatterstar entered the cabin. She had the feeling something was different with his outfit but she couldn't place it. Same style as yesterday, she thought. Same colour. Then she realized what it was.
"Nae swords, 'Star?" Terry asked with faint amazement.
"No, not for this mission. As we are under strict orders not to cause casualties, Cable insisted that I use only firearms." said Shatterstar.
"I donnae think I've ever seen ye without yer swords." She mused. "How do ye like it?"
"I feel as though I am not fully dressed." He complained.
She laughed. "Do ye realize that most people go through their whole lives without even seeing a real sword?"
"Yes, but I don't wish to suffer the same deprivation."
"There's nae a stun stetting on a sword, what did ye expect?" Terry asked. "We're nae supposed to even hurt anybody on this mission, ye know."
Shatterstar still felt unduly persecuted by the decree. "Julia?"
She looked up from playing with her teleporter belt. This thing is going to get some major use, she thought. "Hmm?"
"What weapons are you bringing?"
"My rifle plus the same two handguns as you. Why?"
"Truly?"
"Yes. Right now I don't even have a knife to my name." said Julia.
Shatterstar sighed. No help there. "I had not expected you to comply so easily."
She leaned over the back of his chair. "There's not much I can do if I'm going to follow orders. On the plus side, this gives me a chance to put the main set in the dishwasher."
He regarded her closely. "Are you joking?"
"No, do you think I clean all my knives by hand? No-one has that much spare time."
"Do ye worry about spots on yer blades?" Terry asked.
"Of course. It's tacky to have any kind of soap residue on the steel." said Julia.
"I fear you have consumed far too much caffeine this evening." Shatterstar decided.
"There's no such thing as too much caffeine." She smirked as she batted at his ponytail.

"Everybody ready?" Roberto asked as he powered up the engines.
"You betcha. Let's do it!" Tabitha yelled from the cabin.

***

Cable and Domino watched as the PACRAT lifted off and then disappeared as the cloaking systems were activated.
"We'd better get going too." said Domino. "They'd never let us forget it if we were late."

***

Julia materialized in the shadows of the rental warehouses. She climbed up to the darkness between two of the angled roofs and settled into virtual invisibility as she watched the scientists leave for the day. If things were according to the schedule, there would be twenty guards throughout the facility on a rotating shift for the night. Hmm. A few are still inside.
"Four of the scientists are working late tonight." She said quietly into her headset.
"Must be racking up the overtime." Sam sent back. "Okay, we'll have to work around that."
She swung her rifle into position. The guards at the gates were visible and looking bored with life. You guys should have called in sick, she thought. She pulled down her infrared goggles. With matching gun sight, it's what every fashionable assassin wears this season. Let's see. Two minutes to shift change. Why get two when you can get four? She waited until the relief shift came into view then shot the guards as they were standing around shooting the breeze. That makes eighteen plus the workaholics inside.
"It's a go."

The team materialized just inside the gates. Jimmy and Sam grabbed the unconscious guards and tucked them away in the gate booth. Julia dropped off her rooftop perch and ran across the road as they opened the gates enough to let her in.
They found the electronics junction and patched in to the security system. Shatterstar opened the control module and input a stream of commands.
"The system is down and will remain so for seven minutes." He stated as he got up.
"Good enough." said Sam.
Risque eyed the door. "Everybody good to go?"
They nodded at her and she imploded the metal. Jimmy kicked the crumpled steel out of the way with a grin.

Kenton started filming as he followed them in. Josh had his gun out and was watching his back. Marcella also had a gun out as she walked ahead. She was talking softly into her collar mike at the same time.
"Tonight, this strike force is breaking into this top-secret government facility. Why? To expose the truth behind the experiments being done on mutant children. These children are being altered and programmed to become creatures known as hounds..."

***

Another wave of Risque's hand took care of the doors to the facility control room.
"What the..?" The rather shocked man inside managed before Jimmy shot him with the darts.

Shatterstar surveyed the panels. "Centralized functions. We are able to seal the building and prevent any outgoing transmissions from this location."
"It's the only time being locked in is going to be a good thing." said Tabitha.
A few commands later all the external doors except for the one imploded on their way in was locked down. All phone lines and computer connections were severed. After a few more commands, all the interior doors were unlocked and the mutant detection systems were disabled.
"They're stuck with us now." Risque smirked.
Sam looked at the schematic. "Do we have a fix on where to start? This place is deeper than the info hinted at."
"The blue markers mean somebody's home." said Terry as she studied the display.
"Okay, we'll start at that one then work our way out." Sam pointed. "Ah kinda thought this place would be filled but Ah guess it's good it isn't."

Terry, Shatterstar and Julia went to handle the guards while Sam took the rest of the team to break the closest group of kids out.

***

The last group of guards was in the staff lounge watching a football game on a small television set. Shatterstar smiled to himself at the irony of having his foes too distracted by a broadcast to pay attention to a threat.
"Commercial break, Mojo-kissers!" He announced as they opened fire.
"This is like shooting fish in a barrel." Terry commented as the last guard fell over. They had been relaxing in avoidance of their rounds so they didn't have their guns close at hand.
"It'd probably be more fun if we had let them run around the hallways a bit." said Julia.
"There are still the four scientists to subdue." Shatterstar reminded them. "Although I strongly doubt they will prove to be any kind of challenge."
Terry smiled. "We can always count on ye to be spoiling for a fight." She tapped her headset back on. "Sam? We've taken care of the guards but the doctors are still about."
"Got you. We'll be on the lookout." Sam responded.

It turned out harder to find their quarry than anything else. The doctors were occupied in one of the labs in the basement of the building. Shatterstar peered through the glass insert of the door.
"They are all there." He said quietly. "It looks to be an operating theater."
Terry frowned. If they interrupted an operation, the patient might suffer. She took a look. "They're nae wearing masks so maybe it's nae too delicate a surgery. Let's do it."

They burst in and shot the scientists before they could react. As they fell to the floor, the subject on the table came into view. It was a teenage boy in a transitional state between human and wolf.
"An autopsy." said Terry as she studied the still form.
Julia inspected the IV drips with an expert eye. "No, a murder. He was poisoned first."
"Are ye sure?" She asked.
"Yes. These drugs are popular with my crowd. No real doctor would dare use them like this." said Julia.
Shatterstar looked at the video camera that was recording the procedure. "We will take this vid. It is proof of their crime."
While he removed the cassette, Terry found a sheet and covered the body.
"I'm sorry we dinnae come in time to save ye, lad."

***

Sam led his team down the hallway. He could hear noises from the far end behind a pair of double doors.
"What do you hear?" He asked Jimmy.
"There's three different people in there. They sound like kids. I don't hear or scent anybody else but us in the vicinity."
"Okay."
Tabitha and Risque took up position on each side of the doors. Sam and Jimmy held their guns ready. Kenton and Marcella stood to one side while Josh stood beside Jimmy.
"Go." said Sam.
The doors were yanked open. On the other side was a short hallway with large glass enclosed rooms on each side. The yelling stopped and faces appeared pressed to the glass.
"Oh Christ." Risque muttered. The faces were young, early teens. Two boys and a girl. She approached the closest boy. "What's up? We're the rescue squad. Stay cool and we'll get you out."
"Out?" He slurred.
Marcella grabbed the chart hanging by the door and skimmed the contents.
"He's been drugged." She held up the report to the camera and began describing the contents.
Tabitha approached the girl. She was probably around thirteen. "Hi. Uh, sorry but we can't take the masks off yet. I'm smiling friendly-like under here if it makes you feel better."
The girl looked at her hopefully. "Who are you?"
"We're friends." said Tabitha. She picked up the report hanging beside the girl's door. She's a telepath? She looked at Sam. "Let them out now?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Stand back from the door." Tabitha told the girl. She manifested a small timebomb and blew the lock away. "C'mon on out, we're not gonna hurt you." She coaxed gently.
The girl took her outstretched hand and held it an almost crushing grip as she began to cry.
"Oh, hey. Shush. It's okay." Tabitha tried as she patted the girl's back.
Risque imploded the lock on the boy's cell and held the door open. "Okay, kid. You're out of there."
Marcella waved for Jimmy to come over. "You'd better stick close. The drug they used on him is an anti-psychotic."
The boy shuffled forward unsteadily. He didn't resist when Jimmy put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm on your side. Don't be scared." said Jimmy.
"Not scared." The boy said slowly. "Gerry's coming?"
"Yeah." The last boy agreed as Sam opened his cell. "Uh, hi. That's Lindy and Martin. He'll be okay in few hours."
"You seem okay." Risque observed.
"Drugs don't work on me. That's what the collar's for. I get zapped if I get out of line." Gerry said quietly.

***

They came around a corner and spotted Sam's team waiting outside a set of doors.
"Tabitha and Jimmy went up to the PACRAT with the kids." said Sam.

The team moved on to the next area that was supposedly occupied according to the schematics. The featureless hallways and unmarked doors didn't provide any clues as to the contents of the rooms.
"What the hell's wrong with these people? Didn't they have the cash to spring for a few signs?" Risque asked.
"We'll have to split up again. 'Star, ye and Julia can search this side." said Terry. "We'll have a peek at the other wing."
Sam looked at the camera crew. "Ya'll want to come with us or stay here?"
"We'll tag along with these two for a change of pace." Marcella decided. "If you find the kids first then just yell and we'll come running."
"Okay, holler if you need us." said Sam.

***

"Find anything?" Josh asked as he poked his head in another room.
Julia opened another door on the other side of the hallway. "No, but I get the feeling they've been moved out recently. These rooms look like somebody was living here."
Marcella pushed open a door and frowned. It had been a child's bedroom but hastily abandoned. There were still posters on the walls and few articles of clothing on the floor.
"They bugged out. Either somebody knew we were on to them or a group of these kids were pulled out for something else."
"Damn." Kenton muttered from a few doors down. "Guys, come see this."

The room had been destroyed. There were furrows on the walls and most of the bedding had been torn apart. The furniture was in similar condition. Julia went in and examined the remnants of the decorations. There were a few tattered posters of cars and girls. She opened the closet. A small collection boy's clothes hung haphazardly on the hangers.
"This was your room, wasn't it?" She asked absently.
"What? Who are you talking about?" Marcella asked.
"We found the doctors doing an autopsy on a poisoned boy who looked like a changeling caught between shapes." She touched the scoring on the dresser. "He had claws."
Marcella shook her head. "Get some stills, Josh."
"You got it." Josh said as he took the cap off his camera.
"How many kids do you figure they've been killing in here?" Kenton asked quietly.
They didn't have an answer for him.

***

Shatterstar opened the next door. This room was brightly coloured with alphabets decorating the walls. All the furniture was child-sized. There were stainless steel pens lining one wall. Several children looked up at him from inside the containers as he entered.
"Za's vid." He whispered. This was too close to what he remembered from his own childhood. He crouched down and studied a small boy with dusky skin. The boy's golden eyes were like those of a cat.
"Hello, little one. Do not be afraid. I am here to free you."
The boy seemed to consider that. "Why?"
His grip on his gun tightened at the innocence of the question. "Because this is not a good place."
"Okay. Can I have a cookie?"
"Yes, if I can find such a thing." He looked the lock on the cage. It was plain steel. Ah, I have a key, he thought as he pulled out his laser cutter. The lock was swiftly cut off and the door swung open. He placed the child on the miniature sofa.
"Wait here. I will bring your companions."
"What's that?"
"Companions. Your," He paused and considered a word a child would understand. "playmates?"
"Okay." The child agreed as he kicked his feet against the cushions.

***

Julia, with camera team in tow, followed the sounds of children talking to the open door. Inside, Shatterstar was sitting in the middle of a group of pre-schoolers, dispensing cookies.
"Shit. Um, pardon my language." Josh said. "They're just babies."
Marcella looked around and noticed the steel cages. "Christ, look at the cribs."
"Paid for with your tax dollars." Kenton remarked from behind his camera. "Mar, let's start with a pan shot."

***

As the crew did their tour of the room, Julia opened the adjacent office door. A stack of reports was heaped casually on the desk. Someone doesn't like filing, she thought. She flipped through one at random. Aggression enhancements. Mutation advancing. Termination of nonpromising subject.
She bit her lip. "Oh gods." Such scientific language, she thought. It almost disguises the fact they tortured and murdered a child.
Shatterstar came in. "What have you found?"
She looked up and had to smile a tiny bit. "You've got crumbs on you."
He brushed himself off as she showed him the report she was reading.
"They aren't children. They're lab experiments." She said. "One was killed last night because he wasn't advancing fast enough even after the alterations."
"The cowards. They slaughter the helpless." He said with quiet anger. He ran his hand over the pile of reports. So many folders but there were only five children in the room. Too close his homeworld indeed.
"The trainers did not experiment on us, but those who showed little progress were often taken away."

***

Sam's team was called back to help take the toddlers to the PACRAT and pack the files from the office. The information on what had been done to the children would be required by their new physician at the Academy.
"Sam? Can Risque and Terry stay up here? The little guys are kind of upset and I can't really help settle them down from the cockpit." Roberto sent.
"Okay, Ah think we should be fine." Sam agreed. "It's just the paperwork now."

***

The records room turned out to be a bigger job than they anticipated. There were dozens of filing cabinets lining the walls. Josh and Shatterstar went to the computer systems room next door to pull the hard drives from the servers.
"Ah hope we brought enough boxes." said Sam as he surveyed the room.
Kenton put his camera down on top of cabinet. "We'd better all pitch in if we're going to clean this place out."

Jimmy came down with the stack of flattened boxes and the teleport field markers. A few minutes later, they were packing files hurriedly. Sam setup the markers in a rough square and the filled boxes were set down inside.
"Ah think we'll have to do two batches." said Sam. "'Berto, bring it up."
"Got you." Roberto replied.
The boxes inside the square disappeared.
Marcella opened a cabinet and whistled at the shelves of video tapes. "We hit the motherlode."
"More dirt that we could have ever hoped for." Kenton agreed. "Pass 'em over."

***

At the Massachusetts Academy, Doctor Ellie Maxwell waited anxiously for her new patients. X-Force had maintained radio silence so they had no idea what they were getting. Sean glanced over at the pediatrician. She was just out of medical school with a specialty in mutant physiology and looked terribly serious about her first post.
"Is the waiting getting to ye, lass?" He asked kindly.
"Yeah, a bit." She admitted as she tucked a stray lock of sandy hair behind one ear.
"Ye get used to it after awhile." He smiled.
Overhead, the lighted outline of the PACRAT appeared and slowly descended onto the Academy grounds.
"Looks like they're here." Emma said.

The team and their liberated charges emerged from the craft. Ellie sighed as she realized they had been snacking on candy and sodas so they would be far too hyper to sleep. Well, I guess we'll do a few assessments since everyone's going to stay awake anyway, she thought.
"Saints, they're so young." Sean said as the pre-schoolers were led down the ramp by Terry and Tabitha.
"Yer going to have to set up a day care." Terry smiled.
Emma melted slightly at the scene then nodded. "We do have a temporary nursery ready beside the medlab. Agnes is waiting so you can take them in now."
Terry nodded. "All right, ye little imps. Follow us and we'll go see the nice nurse."
"Kind of like watching a duck with ducklings." Jimmy commented.
The three older kids trailed after them then stopped at the bottom of the ramp.
Gerry waved uncertainly at their welcoming committee.
"Uh, hi." He said quietly.
"Hello there, lad." Sean said. "Donnae worry, we're all friends here. I'm Sean Cassidy and this is Emma Frost. We're the headmasters of the school."
"I'm Gerry Stevens." He said with greater assurance.
Lindy waved. "My name's Lindy Edwards. This is Martin Taylor. He's not feeling very good right now. The doctors made him take the pills again."
Ellie came over. "Hello, Martin. I'm Doctor Maxwell. You can call me Ellie if you like."
He blinked at her. "Doctor Ellie?"
"Okay, that works too." She smiled.
Lindy held out their charts. "This is some of the stuff that's happened lately. Um, Risque says they've got the rest of our records in the plane."
"I'll need to get you inside and see if we can figure out what they gave you, okay?" Ellie said to Martin.
He nodded and she led him to the medlab.
"Why donnae you two come in and we can get ye changed and settled in." Sean suggested. "Ye can meet the other students if ye like."

"Well, that went relatively painlessly." Julia remarked as the headmasters took the two kids inside.
"Now we just got to unload the boxes." Sam sighed.

***

The files were stored away for future examination and the team went to meet with Cable and Domino. The camera crew came along to show the raw footage that had been taken and to add their observations. The whereabouts of the children that had disappeared from the facility would have to be investigated since all agreed it was too suspicious that so many subjects would have been removed at one time. After they had finished their report, they were left to their own devices while the camera crew prepared the tape.

***

Julia yawned from her quiet spot in the biosphere. She had found a convenient bench to lie down and look at the stars for a while. The Academy was still jumping even at this late hour. Kyle and Shard had come back from their movie date and had hit it off with older three right away. Good thing, she thought absently. Since they're all living here. The toddlers were being fussed over by whoever saw them so they certainly weren't going to suffer for lack of attention. Every now and then, she could swear someone was close by but since no-one presented themselves, she passed it off as squirrels. Then she definitely heard something that couldn't be any type of nut-hunting rodent, footsteps on the gravel path. She sat up and fiddled with the pins in her hair.

"Hello, child." Ororo said as she approached.
"Good evening, Ms Monroe." said Julia politely. My, I must have offended one of the gods today.
"Have you been in contact with Remy lately?" Ororo asked. "He has not seen fit to write or call me."
"Monsieur LeBeau has been away from his duties for quite awhile." She said. "Undoubtedly, once he's caught up at home, he'll remember his manners and write you."
"His Guild duties." Ororo mused. "He left the Guild when he became an X-Man."
"I beg your pardon but one can never leave." Julia corrected. "We can live elsewhere and do other things but we are sworn to the Guild above all other loyalties."
"The X-Men serve a higher moral purpose. I am sure Remy respects that and will eventually return to us." She said. "And what of you, child? Have you come to recognize that what your Guild represents is wrong? A society that worships a creature as evil as Selene is by its very nature immoral."

Had it been Remy who said that, Julia would have smiled and made some smart comment about Candra's greed. Casual insults between equals were taken as good-natured teasing. But this woman was, according to him and several others, just another street-thief so she wasn't obliged to grant her the same level of courtesy as a Guild member. I'm not going to let some pick-pocket get the better of me, she thought.

"Ms Monroe, I realize that you've been a kept woman for most of your life so you have a rather insulated view of the world." said Julia. "However, I would appreciate it if you kept your opinions about my home and my patron to yourself."
Ororo's blue eyes whited over briefly then returned to normal. "Your rudeness is not welcome, child."
"Then don't invite it but casting judgments on things you have no knowledge." She said. "I won't criticize you for being an amateur thief if you don't criticize me for being an assassin."
Ororo stiffened and opened her mouth to express her distain at the child's obvious lack of respect. I lead the X-Men, she thought. I will not be spoken to in this manner.
Julia held up a hand to stay whatever Ororo was about to say. "Furthermore, please do not address me as 'child'. I find condescension insulting. Use my name in either the long or short form or, if you wish to retain some distance between us, Lady de Santos is acceptable."
"Are you claiming noble blood?" Ororo asked with the faintest sneer.
"No. I earned my nobility the old-fashioned way." Julia smiled. "I killed a lot of people and was rewarded by my sovereign."
She controlled her temper and smiled at the girl. I can also play this game, she decided. "My mother's family have been in Africa for thousands of years. Our house was not founded on death but on life."
"That's very impressive." Julia allowed. "Have you yet to conceive an heir to this heritage? Remy didn't mention any children when he spoke of you."
Ororo suddenly felt the weight of her less-than-successful personal life. "No, not as yet."
"Oh? If I may say so, you don't look to be the sort to have difficulty in attracting a suitor. You're quite well
formed." Julia commented.
She was somewhat mollifed at the compliment. "I have had my suitors but none have been appropriate choices to father a child."
Julia tilted her head. "Should you delay much longer? I mean no offense but none of us are getting any younger."

Roberto ambled up as Ororo strode in the opposite direction with a strange expression on her face. Julia was looking excessively sweet again.
"You've been fighting with the weather goddess?" He asked with a grin.
"Goddess? Hardly. She's just a mortal putting on airs." Julia smirked. "And, if I don't miss my guess, she's feeling very mortal right now."
"Oh yeah?"
"Two words: biological clock."
"That's a scary thought." Roberto winced. "I've come to collect you for pizza time."
"Ooh, food. That's always welcome." She smiled. "How do you guys deal with it when the other X-people hassle you?"
"We ignore it and then bitch about them later." He said as they strolled to the kitchen. "She gave me the third degree when she found out I allied my family with the Guild."
"Why? You did it of your own will so what's the problem?"
"She used to be a thief but she says thieving is wrong. When I pointed out that a lot of the Guild is a pretty straight forward business, she said they were manipulating the economy so that honest businesses couldn't succeed."
"Gods, how open-minded of her. " Julia sighed. "Have they assigned you an agent yet?"
"Yes, her name's Helena. We met the week before I left home. I was totally in love until I met her husband." said Roberto. "She's pushing me to get an MBA so when I take over the business full time I'll be able to say I've actually gone to school instead of hanging around Gideon and Cable." He looked curiously at her. "Is it true that the Guilds might be merging?"
"Oh that's been going on for years." She said. "You know that your gang handles most of the economic concerns already for us and we do the military sorts of things, right? Well, a few decades ago a clever soul thought it would be simpler for all involved if we combined the Councils and became one happy clan. I honestly don't think the idea will ever fly. Candra won't let her power base go to Selene and many of the Thieves' Houses won't worship a pagan pantheon."
"Huh. I wouldn't have thought religion would be that big a deal." Roberto remarked. "I saw the dedication hall to Candra when I was in Rio. I got the impression they didn't worship her but they did respect her."
"They used to, but she's not a magical being just a long-lived one so that's fallen by the wayside." Julia explained. "Gratitude and reverence are two different things. What the Assassins feel for Selene is reverence."
He looked uncomfortable. "I, uh, tried to kill her when we first met her."
"I know." She winked. "But then she wouldn't be a goddess if she could be done in by a teenager. Obviously she bears you no ill will if she hasn't come after you or hasn't instructed one of her followers to kill you."
"I feel so much better now." He grinned as he pushed the door of the kitchen open.

***

After partaking of the pizza, Shatterstar went looking for the camera crew. They had taken over the Academy's communications room and were busy setting up their equipment.
Kenton looked up as he entered.
"What can we do for you?" He asked absently as he sorted out some wires.
"I would like to observe what must be done to have a program broadcast if you are agree." said Shatterstar.
"Sure, have a seat." Josh said.

Their mission tape was first edited to take out any unnecessary segments. Then they went over the sound to make sure no-one had said anything that might have given away their identities. Finally, the faces of the children were masked with black ovals.

"I thought that it was the goal to have the children returned to their families." Shatterstar remarked.
"Yeah, but it's more likely that their keepers will want them back." Josh said. "Dom says they'll work on tracing their parents once the heat dies down."
Marcella came in with another pot of coffee and a few relatively fresh danishes. "Hey, guys. How's it going?"
"A sugar fix!" Josh said, reaching for the plate.
"Pass the high-octane." Kenton grinned. "We're ready to go with the final dub. I've already made the backup copies of it and the unedited master."
Marcella poured them each a cup with a flourish. "I'll get Janice out of bed with an obscenely late phone call."
"She'll love it. This kind of scoop will make her producer of the year." Josh said between bites of pastry. "Be creative and make it a late obscene phone call at the same time."
"Uh uh." She said as she pulled out her cellular phone. "We're already the supposed to be the flakiest investigative reporters in the business so I'm not gonna give the one producer who takes us seriously a hard time. " She moved to the other end of the room. "Hey, Jan? Yeah, it's me..."
"Why did she say only one producer takes your efforts seriously?" Shatterstar asked quietly.
"'Cause we do stuff like tag along behind a mutant strike force when they break into government research facilities." Josh smirked.
"We do the stories that the 'real' reporters wouldn't ever touch." Kenton said. "Alien abductions, crop circles, conspiracies, that kind of thing. The mutant issue is probably the most mainstream we've gotten."
"Alien abductions?" Shatterstar asked.
"Yeah. It happens all the time." Josh said. "Do you believe in life on other planets?"
"Yes, very much so." He said with smile.

***

Sam was in a good mood as he sought out his sister. The mission had gone perfectly and things were starting to really come together for their team. He found her sitting in the living room watching television with Angelo. For some reason, they weren't socializing with the new kids. Even Monet is having a good time doing some colouring books with the little guys, he thought.
"Hi there, y'all." He smiled.
"Dios, it's Cable's little buddy." Angelo muttered.
"Don't be rude to my brother." Paige snapped. "What did you want, Sam?"
"Ah thought since Ah'm here, why don't we catch up?" Sam suggested.

"How you been doing?" Sam asked once they had relocated to Emma's study.
"Awful! Paige complained. "Ever since Miss Frost has been working with Domino and Cable, she hasn't been around at all. We have real classes now with a bunch of different teachers. Mister Cassidy spends most of the time working on security with Bishop and meeting with his Interpol friends. And what's the worst is that we're not going to be X-Men!"
"What are y'all going to be?" He asked. I wonder if they going to train to join us? He thought with foreboding. I don't think the gang is going to like that.
"We're supposed to graduate and get jobs." She said miserably. "Miss Frost said we should start thinking about what colleges we'd like to go to."
"Y'all are going to be educated whether you like it or not." He grinned. "Momma's going to be so proud."
"You're not helping!"
"Paige, Ah know you keep going on about how you want to be an X-Man. Don't you want to do anything else with your life? Me and mah friends aren't any good for much else except shooting and causing trouble. That shouldn't be what you want too."
"Don't tell me what to do." She glared at him.
"Ah'm not. Ah'm telling you to think." Sam got up and paced around the room. "It's not like the movies. We're not heroes. Heck, most of the time we're not much liked. Ah'm sorry that you're mad that Ah think this isn't good life for you but Ah'm not changing mah mind. You're smart, Paige. You can still go to school and be something better than me. Ah'm a mutant high school drop-out with a gun."
"You're not that much older than me." She pointed out. "Why don't you go back to school?"
"Ah want to fight this war." He said. "Maybe after things get better Ah'll try to finishing mah schooling but Ah can't walk away from this now."

***

Six AM the next morning.

"Hurry up, guys!" Tabitha called. "It's on!"
They rushed into the living room as the early morning edition news started and made themselves comfortable.

On screen, the news anchor nodded tersely at them. "In our top story: government-sanctioned experiments on mutant children. We have exclusive footage from inside a top-secret facility that may shed new light on the policies of our elected leaders. We caution that some of the images may be disturbing to some viewers. Bryan, over to you."

They watched as their raid on the Hound facility was shown. The covering reporter made a few comments that could have been taken either way but most of the narration was Marcella's. After the tape ended, the reporter conducted some 'man on the street' interviews to get a handle on what the average citizen thought about the news. They cheered at the predominately supportive responses.
"Progress already!" Roberto crowed. "They're calling us activists not terrorists!"
"What's the dif?" Risque asked.
"You can wreck stuff if you're an activist but people don't mind because it's a good cause." Jimmy explained.

The autopsy tape was shown and they were silent as the boy was killed for the sake of experimentation.
"Ah wonder if his folks will come forward now." said Sam. "He deserves to at least be buried by kin."
"Probably not. All those kids were runaways and the little guys were orphans. His folks are probably glad their freak kid is dead." said Tabitha.
"It's a shame we couldn't get the rest of the scientists on film. They should get their share of attention for what they were doing." Julia mused.
"I understand such a thing may happen." Shatterstar commented. "Josh and Domino are strongly considering using the vids we obtained for further broadcasts."

A government spokesperson was interviewed and gave the reporter a series of obviously canned responses. The overall statement was that they were denying involvement with any such experimentation and that the scientists were acting under their own mandate.
Cable snorted. "Passing the buck won't save you."
"I wonder what dear Valerie thinks about all this." Emma mused with more than a hint of maliciousness. "She's going to have to run for cover soon."
"We should go for a live broadcast next time." Kenton advised. "That way the suits won't have time to prep their squeaky-clean statements."
Domino looked over the top of her coffee cup. "That'd be a bitch to coordinate."
"Not really." Josh said with a stifled yawn. "Set up the relay signals ahead of time and then go for it."

***

Two days later, Jimmy went to visit one the offices of the National Council on Indian Affairs. He was looking to bring them on board as supporters for their new lobby group and to find out if any further information had surfaced about the Camp Verde massacre. Shatterstar, Risque and Julia went along partially as moral support and partially because it was something to do.

"Guys, I need to talk you for a second." said Jimmy as he waved them over.
"Is there a problem?" Shatterstar asked. He glanced around. The area seemed calm but perhaps Jimm