xp_logs | Mutant Mole People

The team heads into the freight tunnels under Chicago to search for the missing mutant kids.

One of the little-known facts about the abandoned freight railway beneath Chicago's streets was that it had never been meant to be. The tunnels that had begun with a night's digging in the basement of a tavern in 1899 had been intended for telephone cables only. The freight railway had been a surreptitious experiment, meant to carry mail in and coal out of buildings in the Loop.

Even when service was officially begun, the railway never did 'well'. Poorly conceived, poorly run, it limped along for decades. Then coal was replaced by natural gas, part of the tunnel system itself was displaced by the subway, and better ways were found to fill the same purposes. The railway went out of service in 1959, very quietly.

Sixty miles of track, forty feet below the ground.

Out of sight, out of mind.

~*~

The tunnels, as they'd made their way down into them, had turned out to be pitch-black, darker than dark. What background information they'd managed to get on the tunnel system had suggested that would be the case, though, so they'd brought lights with them from the Blackbird, which weren't flashlights but more like the light wands used on flight decks. The greenish glow they cast was enough to let them seem where they were going, but made the tunnels seem more than a little sinister.

Definitely a psionic presence here. More than one? Nathan hesitated at the junction of two tunnels, his grip on his psimitar tightening as he concentrated, trying to locate the telepath Charles had said was down here without giving away their position. And telepathy is far too handy an ability when you've got kidnapping in mind... I suppose I should be glad that never occurred to me before. Obscuring the psi-signatures of his three teammates was taking a little more effort than it should.

~Storm,~ he subvocalized. ~One telepath, and one other psionic presence, but it seems... fragmented. I can't pinpoint it.~ Echoes. Little flickering echoes, and yet one mental signature, he thought... I am so not good at this...

~A telepath and another similar presence. Perhaps someone with the ability to work through other creatures? The tunnels are a haven for rats and bugs.~ The reply was made through her comm, for the benefit of the rest of the team, her voice as controlled as ever as she kept the light currents of air going for as far as she could measure them.

Keeping a hold on what she knew, a reminder that there was space beyond what she could see. The flaring of her nostrils with each breath gave her away, though - but she still took each step carefully and, so it seemed, confidently. ~You and Polaris be ready to shield if needed. I will try to sense where they might be, if they are near enough. The air currents might help.~ After a moment, she glanced back at Kurt, reading the silent message he gave her easily, and finally nodded, allowing him to rest a hand against her arm - both guiding and reassuring, in the small enclosed space of the tunnels.

Kurt found it just as reassuring, in fact. He had good night vision, either a part of his mutation or just chance, so the darkness was not a problem... but he'd never liked enclosed spaces very much, and the sure knowledge that another person was close at hand helped considerably.

The reminder was an unnecessary one for Lorna though she murmured an assent anyway. Lorna was already maintaining a light shield that could easily be expanded. Most of her attention though was on the structure of these old tunnels, getting used to the EM signatures of the rails and supports. She rather liked these tunnels. The fields were very settled and comfortable. She wasn't ranging far ahead like Nathan and Ororo, instead letting her second sight linger behind for any variations to the rear and trying to determine what shouldn't be there.

~Onward, but not upward, then,~ Nathan said, then returned all his focus to the task at hand. There were three missing mutant teenagers down here somewhere. Maybe if he tried locking on to them...

But of course, the other telepath was shielding them as well. Bastard.

~*~

They finally pinpoint the kids and their captors, but run into more resistance than expected. Nathan tackles the telepath, and one of the mutant kidnappers discovers that one really shouldn't get snippy with a magnekinetic when one's mutation involves turning one's skin into metal.

Light. They turned a corner and suddenly there was light, the ruddy glow of a fire coming from inside a shanty that had been built at the junction of four tunnels. Even as Nathan signaled to the others to hold up for a second, something shifted in the vague psionic impressions he was getting, something blazed like a sudden nova in the astral vicinity, a powerful mind unshielding itself.

And lashing out.

It was like a mountain had just landed on his head. If he hadn't had the psimitar to brace himself, Nathan would have gone to his knees in the filthy water at the very least. The telepathic pressure was sudden and enormous, and the mind blazing at him from ahead at the junction of the tunnels was far, far stronger than he had expected.

#Incoming,# he barely managed, throwing shields over the other three that were strong enough to protect them, not just hide them, only moments before he felt the other telepath gather his strength to strike at them. Someone came running out of the darkness screaming, clawed hands extended and wild hair obscuring his - her? - features. Nathan tried to dodge and stumbled.

And Kurt was there, suddenly, one glance at Nathan showing him his team-mate was in no position to protect himself. Putting himself between Nathan and his opponent, he turned at bay.

The woman snarled and launched herself at Kurt, her skin rippling, thorn-like protrusions melding together into metallic armor. Her claws shimmered and grew a few inches in mid-leap. "These are our tunnels - get out!"

He dodged the leap easily, while staying between her and Nathan. "Not until we have done what we came to do. Give us the children."

"They're ours!" She was fast, almost as fast as he was, and got inside his guard before he could dodge again, slashing at his uniform. Her claws tore through the top layer of the leathers, but didn't penetrate the body armor.

He bamfed to one side again, not bothering to check for wounds - he could feel there were none well enough. "They are not yours until they tell us they wish to stay."

"Hey, babe, why don't you leave the nice man alone." Lorna flicked the woman's EM fields, more like a tap on the shoulder than an offensive move, just to let her know that there was someone more her size there. "And chill out would you? You're freaking out."

Kurt was gone in another bamf, and the woman whirled on Lorna with a snarl of contempt. The armor flexed and solidified around her. "Can't even be safe down here, can we?" she raged, advancing on Lorna. "Can't be left alone, even in the dark..."

"Oh please, like we're the Scooby Gang lurking into strange places for fun. Do you know what this tunnel damp is doing to my hair?" Lorna walked backward slowly as she talked, drawing the woman further away from the rest of the group, down one of the tunnels. So long as she was armoured Lorna didn't think she had anything to fear. After all, the woman sort of felt like Paige when she husked. "We came here following the kids. Give them back and you can keep your ninja turtle paradise."

"Your hair..." The woman's lips curled in contempt as she took in the emerald shade of Lorna's hair, visible even in the firelight. "Guess you think that lets you understand. Lets you know what it's like."

Lorna raised her hand to her hair self-consciously then dropped it. "Actually, no. I used to dye it. I had the option of hiding what I was and I took it." She shrugged, still leading the woman back, wrapping the EM fields tighter around her fists so she could keep her contained if she made any sudden movements. "I don't regret it but I don't pretend to understand what it's like to not have the option either."

The woman tried to lunge at her and was stopped by the EM fields. "Let me go!" she seethed, wild hair whipping around her face as she thrashed in Lorna's grip. "Let me go or I'll kill you!"

Lorna rolled her eyes, "Now how are you planning to do that when you can't even move? Seriously, chica, next time? Ask what the green hair means first instead of just whining about how it doesn't make me special." She pulled the metal woman back a bit more and put her against a wall. "Now, you want to try again with the calming down thing?"

"You could fit in!" The scream was laced with bitterness. "They can't, and you want to take them back up there, you stupid green-haired bitch?"

Name-calling was so not cool. "You know, I'm really done with your attitude, lady. You need to take a time out." So saying she reached up and yanked a long since unused pipe off the ceiling and used it to pin the woman to the wall, threading bolts through the concrete to fuse with the support beams. "You stay here and think about what you did and I'll be back later." She gave her green hair a toss and jogged back down the tunnel to where she'd left the others.

~*~

'Tackling the telepath' is a little easier said than done. Nathan isn't quite overmatched, but he's not having an easy time of it either.

The other telepath hadn't stepped out into sight yet. Hiding? Well, no. Mentally speaking, he was right out here in the thick of things. Nathan could feel him, a fierce ruby-red presence that seethed like lava, and he suspected that only the fact that he'd thought to bring his psimitar was letting him stand up to the mental assault and shield the others at the same time.

So strong, whoever he was. No wonder he'd managed to snatch three kids off the street without being noticed and hide them so effectively.

#These are MY tunnels!# The voice that raged at him was a deep, resounding bass. Like Darth fucking Vader, Nathan thought dizzily.

#I don't want your fucking tunnels, I want those kids!# he sent back doggedly.

#They're mine too!#

#Like fuck they are!#

He got an incoherent mental roar in response, and someone moved out of the shanty, out into view. The telepath, revealing himself. Easy enough to tell that, the way the astral was rippling around him. Lovely, just lovely.

Nathan's other hand closed around the staff of his psimitar. Diplomacy. They hadn't come here to fight. #We didn't come here to fight! Just--#

#I don't care!# The rage in the other man's mental voice was overwhelming, and Nathan nearly doubled over at the hammer-blow to his shields.

Yeah. Telepathic combat had so been on his list of things to do today.

~*~

Ororo finds an opponent. Some mutations are a little ickier than others.

This wasn't going the way they'd wanted it to, but then again things rarely did. Lips pressed together tightly, Ororo surveyed the scene as calmly as she could, eyes skittering away slightly from the blot of darkness emerging from the shanty and heading towards one of the tunnels rapidly. Kurt had bamfed back in and apparently decided that something reminding the woman with a storm at the end of her fingertips of her fear for enclosed spaces was not something he was allowing to linger near her.

Her lips quirked a bit at that, when something drew her attention. Stiffening slightly, relying on the calm she heard in the voices reporting to her, Ororo listening to the shifts in the air currents, cajoling them along, finding solace in how they stretched out without stop.

And found something. Looking to the side slowly, she smiled, just a bit.
~Keep reporting. I've found a dance partner of my own, it would seem.~

And with that she stepped into the tunnel, hands clenching slightly, a calm quip from Kurt keeping her going steadily.

The first blob of charged mucus which nearly landed on her thigh, flung aside at the last minute by a sudden slap of wing, was greeted with a raised eyebrow. The second made her forget entirely about being in a small enclosed space as the winds picked up and her eyes narrowed.

Having someone to focus on was such wonderful help in circumstances like these.

~*~

Kurt turns his attention to the fourth member of the group of kidnappers, who has a vulnerability to an aspect of Kurt's power that he rarely exercises.

As Kurt bamfed back into the tunnels, he moved in on the shanty from the side, in time to see a shadowy form inside, barely human-shaped, warp into something else, a tentacled mass that wrapped itself around the three teenagers who were just beginning to stir out of their stupor. One started to scream and thrash, another went pale, whimpering and curling into a fetal ball, and the third merely passed right again.

Kurt sized up the situation and then made a rapid decision, preparing to use an aspect of his power many people didn't even know he had. Moving towards the wall, he concentrated on the shadows, drawing them closer around him - including, hopefully, those around the kids.

The other mutant was distracted, suddenly, by the movement of one of the intruders. What was he doing? It felt like something was tugging at him, and he started to drift towards the blue-skinned mutant, oddly fascinated. He'd given the kids enough of a Darkforce dose that they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, anyway.

Kurt nodded very slightly to himself, satisfied, when he noticed the movement. Spotting the opening of a tunnel nearby, he subvocalized a few quick words to Storm and then started down it - he could get back easily enough, and the further he drew the mutant from his captives, the better.

Now he was running away? Rippling angrily, the Darkforce-wielder floated a little faster after him, reforming himself into his semi-human shape. Just a trick, he thought. Nothing but a trick, and even if this mutant was like them, visibly different, he was here to take the kids away and that made him the enemy.

Kurt slowed down, walking almost casually down the tunnel and increasing the strength of his draw on the shadows. He wasn't sure what would happen, but it seemed to be working so far.

Trying to trick him. That's what was going on here. The shadowy form projected himself forward with vicious speed, intending to slam the other mutant into the wall, break him, make him hurt.

He was fast, but Kurt was faster. He was out of the way in an eyeblink, then turned back towards the other mutant, hands stretched out, and actively tried to draw him in.

Pulling! Not just a tug, a pull! He snapped back into a human form, stumbling to within reach before he could stop himself and snarled desperately, trying to lash out at the intruder with what Darkforce he could muster.

Kurt just drew the Darkforce to himself, absorbing it into the more natural shadows of the tunnel, which were now surrounding him and making him near-impossible to see. That dealt with, he grabbed for the other mutant's arm.

Dodging was out of the question. Before the Darkforce-wielder could muster another reaction, Kurt had a firm grip on his arm and suddenly the tunnels were winking out around them, over and over, and there was a smell bad even by the standards of down here... and he was getting dizzy, unable to concentrate...

This always worked, Kurt thought with a kind of grim satisfaction. Even, it seemed, on mutants made up entirely of Darkforce.

The other mutant fell, inasmuch as a Darkforce being could fall. He wound up in a sort-of puddle, tiny tentacles of darkness waving weakly here and there.

Kurt stepped back, shadows still gathering and pooling around him, eyes watchful. Satisfied that there was no further threat here, he bamfed back, not wanting to waste the few moments it would take him to run.

~*~

Lorna discovers that telepaths suck. Nathan holds the line. Kurt finally steps in and manages the whole Diplomacy Thing. Quite successfully, as a matter of fact.

Back at the tunnel junction, Nathan was still locked in a stalemate with the other telepath. Strange-looking person, this one, Nathan thought faintly as the pressure on his shields flexed and swelled. Gray and too thin, definitely a physical change to go along with the psionic mutation and wasn't that a little odd? He tried to lash out with just a little telekinesis - and found himself staggering backwards, trying to cover the opening he had just given the other man. Not a good idea, then.

Lorna skidded to a halt as she surveyed the scene and her mind flashed on several training scenarios. Just a little push on her part might give Nate the upper hand he needed. She dropped into her EM sight and pulled more pipes from the ceiling in preparation to strike.

The strange telepath's eyes flickered sideways to her and he lashed out. #You're dizzy,# he projected at her, the accompanying suggestion almost overwhelming. #You can't stand up.# Nathan felt the shift in the other man's attentions and tried to take advantage, but then the suggestion hit him, as well, and he had to focus on strengthening his own shields a little further, to hold it off.

Telepaths suck. Lorna stumbled and lost her grip on the pipes so they rained down around her. She knelt, hands on the floor, eyes closed, trying to regain her balance and feeling sick. Telepaths really really suck.

Slipping. He was very decidedly slipping, Nathan thought, his teeth clenched so hard that his jaw was beginning to ache. The spindly grey figure a dozen feet away from him was glowing, a thin green-blue light shimmering around his body, and Nathan's grip on his psimitar tightened as he pushed his telepathy further, trying to find a gap in the other telepath's defenses, some sort of an opening he could take advantage of. He was barely holding his own, Nathan acknowledged grimly. And if he let the other psi slip anything past him again, get actual control of one of his teammates... it could be bad.

If he could only divert some of his concentration. Just a little telekinesis, damn it... but no, they were too equally balanced right now. Lorna had given him a moment to regain his composure, but the pressure on his shields was just as fierce. Nathan bit his lip hard enough to taste blood, and the golden glow from his psimitar burned more fiercely.

#We don't want to hurt you...#

#LIAR!# Another whipcrack of power, and Nathan stumbled backwards, his hold on the psi-energy patterns being channeled through his psimitar slipping. The other telepath leapt grimly on the opening, and Nathan gasped aloud, going to his knees, as his shields started to crack. He held the shields on Ororo and Kurt and Lorna doggedly. Teamwork. Had to keep them clear.

Kurt stepped forward out of the shadows, eyes going from Nathan to the other telepath in growing concern. After a moment, he spoke up quietly. "Can you not see how frightened these children are?"

The telepath glared at the blue-skinned mutant, and a very small part of him softened infinitesimally. #They would be more afraid above. Having to face those who hate them. They're like us, there's no way for them to hide.# Not like this one, he thought viciously as he glanced at Nathan, not like this other telepath who could have lived above with no one ever knowing that was different - his luminescent eyes narrowed and he lashed out again, pettily glad to see Nathan topple sideways, catching himself with an arm but his shields very obviously fracturing further.

The kidnapped youngsters had started to stir again, shaking off the effects of the Darkforce and the lingering effects of the telepath's suggestion, now that he was distracted. One of the girls, delicately lovely whether she was green-skinned and haired or not, whimpered and buried her head in the companion's shoulder.

"I have lived all my life above," Kurt pointed out mildly. "And yes, it has not always been good. But it has not always been bad, either. Look at them. Do you really think they will adjust to life in this place?"

Nathan's head was ringing. Quite literally. But he was hearing Kurt, too, and sensing the other telepath thaw, just a little, towards him. As the other mutant stepped forward, regarding Kurt warily, Nathan blinked. He looks like his whole body's made from brain tissue... Was that even possible? No wonder he was so strong...

The gray-skinned telepath glared at him suddenly, and Nathan reeled back against the wall of the tunnel. It was enough to let him brace himself, though, and he held the shields on his teammates doggedly, ignoring the fracturing of his own. Had to give Kurt more time to talk to the man.

#Better than dying above at the hands of bigots, or their own family,# the other telepath sent bitterly as he turned his attention back to Kurt.

"If their families were going to harm them, they would have done it before now. If you cannot see how they feel to look at them, try with your powers."

The gray-skinned telepath shot Nathan a paranoid look. #You're trying to get me to let down my guard!# he accused Kurt. #This one will take advantage.#

"He will not", Kurt answered with absolute assurance. "Nathan? Consider that an order."

"No disagreement here," Nathan said a bit breathlessly. The other telepath's eyes narrowed - but the pressure eased back, suddenly, and Nathan slumped against the wall of the tunnel. Didn't let go of the shields, though. Not just yet.

The painfully thin man turned to face the youngsters, watching them intently. The boy, obviously an amphibious-type mutation, with webbed hands and feets, gills on his neck and an odd texture to his skin, shrank back away from him. The two girls just cried and clung to each other harder.

#They'd adapt,# he sent, but sounded more doubtful.

"I do not think they would. How old are they, do you think? Fifteen? Sixteen? What they have adapted to is living in the world above, even with their differences. Just as I did."

"Please," the boy suddenly burst out. "Please let us go home?"

#You are home.# The boy cringed in obvious terror at the sharpness of the telepath's mental voice. One of the girls shrieked, curling against the other almost desperately. The telepath raised a hand, but then lowered it again slowly. #They're afraid of me too,# he said, more softly, but just as bitterly. #Of hearing me inside their head.#

Kurt nodded sadly. "Even mutants may be afraid of other mutants, sometimes. And these are not used to telepathy, it seems."

The telepath's thin shoulders slumped. He looked around at Kurt, and then down the tunnels where his other two people had vanished. His eyes narrowed for a moment, and then his posture grew even more despondent. #You'll take them, then? I think you're right.# It was a grudging admission, but an admission it definitely was. #I didn't bring them down here to hurt them but I think we have. Can't save them by breaking their minds.#

Nathan relaxed as the pressure on his mind, on the minds of his teammates, vanished all at once. He didn't get up from where he was, though. No fast moves would seem like a very good idea. Besides, he needed to catch his breath. Ororo stepped out from one of the side tunnels, following the sound of their voices until she reached them - she didn't speak out, didn't interrupt as Kurt spoke, settling in quietly among them instead after pausing next to Nathan to make sure he was all right, receiving a faint nod of confirmation to her silent question.

Kurt glanced at Nathan and Lorna, still on the floor, in worry, then held a hand out to the other telepath "You could come with us also, you know. All of you. We could find places for you easily enough."

The gray-skinned telepath gave an ugly laugh - aloud, this time. His voice was reedy and thin, not at all like his mental. "Places for kidnappers? Don't make me laugh." There was movement down the tunnel, the sounds of the others heading back. "No, we stay here," he said, ignoring Kurt's offered hand. "We're safe here. And you won't have to come back, whoever you are. We won't take anyone else unless they want to come." He gave Nathan a hateful look, then turned his attention back to Kurt. "You can go off with your normal-looking friends and never worry about us again."

Straightbacked, eyes still a pure all over shade of white from the effort she was exerting in keeping the breezes in the tunnels going, and herself calm and controlled, Ororo merely let Kurt speak. She would be saying those words herself, had Kurt started to speak first, had not the telepath been perhaps more likely to listen to Kurt as opposed to anyone else in their group.

#He's telling the truth,# Nathan sent to the others, a thread of a thought that the other telepath hopefully wouldn't catch. #About not taking anyone else... I can sense that. He doesn't want to ever see us back here.# The defeated, angry thoughts coming from the other man were clear enough.

Kurt nodded quickly, then made one last attempt at persuading him. "We have those in the mansion who have done worse. Are you sure I cannot change your mind?"

"Go away," was the hissed response as he gave the kids one last, almost yearning look. The female mutant with the armor stumbled out of the tunnel and he seemed to relax a little, seeing her. #Go away and leave us alone,# he sent to Kurt, turning his back on him.

Lorna smiled to herself and climbed to her feet, brushing her hands together. Reaching out that far without a line of sight was tricky but it had been worth it to see the woman walk out under her own power.

One of the children, the boy with the amphibious mutation, looked at them for a moment, before getting up and stumbling to Ororo, to lean against her tiredly. The gesture caused her to lose her grip on the air currents for a moment as she looked down in startlement. And then she rested a hand on the boy's shoulder and took a small breath - the air was fresher now, than it had been when they'd arrived. And if she could work up a good pattern, perhaps it would remain so for the people living here now for a while longer. Her attention bent to it once more, her work keeping her fears at bay that much longer.

Nathan sighed, resting his head against the tunnel wall for a moment before he got to his feet. "Can't force them into anything," he told Kurt as he turned towards the other kids, mustering his strength for a soothing telepathic suggestion.

With one reluctant look back at the mutants retreating into their ramshackle 'home', Kurt also turned towards the two girls, looking them over for signs of injury or shock. "I would not wish to", he said quietly. "I hoped only to talk him round."

"Maybe today just isn't the day," Nathan said. It sounded weak even to him, and he could see Kurt's disappointment. "Let's get the kids and get out of here," he suggested softly.

Without hesitation, Kurt nodded firmly. "I think they are unharmed. And we have done what we came to do."

~*~

The team gets the kids out of the tunnels and waits with them for the arrival of the authorities, alerted by Charles.

It took less time, even with the kids, to find the exit that led to the basement of the Field Museum, where the Professor had arranged for the police to meet them, along with paramedics to check over the kids. All that was left to do was wait for them, and then head back to the jet for the trip home.

Kurt glanced round at the rescued teens, checking that they all seemed okay, and paused when he looked at the amphibious boy. He was leaning against the boiler room wall, looking more than a little shellshocked, and Kurt headed over there to check on him.

He leaned against the wall next to the boy and said quietly, "How are you?"

The boy gazed up at him, the gills on his neck flickering. "It was damp down there but I didn't like it," he said.

"It was not a pleasant place", Kurt agreed gently. "But we will have you home very soon."

"Why'd it take so long? I was down there for..." The boy blinked. "I don't know how long I was down there," he said. "What day is it?"

"Saturday", Kurt told him. "And you were not there for so very long, really. Time can play tricks on you, in a place like that."

The boy's eyes roamed over the others in the boiler room, lingering on Ororo and Lorna for a moment longer than on Nathan or his former fellow captives. "Who are you guys, anyway?"

"We are... people whose job it is to help with things like this", Kurt answered carefully. "Not always officially, but often we are called to help."

"Well, thanks." The boy shifted, his gills flickering. "I think when I go home I'm going to jump in our swimming pool and not get out for a week."

Kurt laughed a little. "A reasonable reaction, I think."

"Maybe not ever," the boy said, sounding cross and just a little hysterical. "Bad enough you have to worry about normal people looking at you like you're a freak. Other freaks aren't supposed to kidnap you."

"They thought you would be happier with them," was all Kurt could offer. "They were wrong, and they know that now. They will not do it again."

The boy wrapped his arms around his knees, almost hugging himself. "Stupid. To want to live down there. I wouldn't ever want to be that afraid."

Kurt shrugged slightly. "I do not think they see any other choice. Not all those with physical mutations are as lucky as you and I, and your friends, have been." He thought of Sarah, Artie and Miles for a moment, and smiled sadly.

~*~

On the Blackbird on the way back to Westchester, Lorna and Nathan relax and rehash the mission a little.

He rather liked the aspirin, or whatever it was, that was in the field medical kits. There were several different types of painkillers in the kits, obviously, but the mildest variety took the edge off the overstrain headache quite nicely. Nathan mustered a smile as he sat down in the seat beside Lorna's. Kurt and Ororo were up front, talking quietly.

"Stomach settle back down?"

Lorna gave him a look, skin faintly green for reasons that had nothing to do with her power. "Telepaths suck." She punched him in the shoulder and sipped at the water bottle she'd grabbed once they'd returned to the 'bird.

"And that son of a bitch was one hell of a telepath." Nathan shook his head a little, slouching in the chair. "Did you get a close look at him? His whole body looked like brain tissue. I have no idea how I held him off as long as I did." He smirked, not quite humorously. "Nothing like ending up in a pitched telepathic duel my first mission back."

"But hey, at least you only have a headache and not a sprained brain. How does that even work? Being all brain I mean. Don't you need organs and stuff?" Lorna shook her head and leaned back in her seat. "I liked this mission though. No one died and I didn't have to hurt anyone. Almost perfect. Yay for the good guys."

Nathan loftily let the sprained brain comment go. "I just wish the four of them had come out with us too. I mean, yeah, kidnapping bad and all that, but that's a hell of a miserable place to live, those tunnels."

Lorna sighed and ran her hand through her hair then tugged out a strand to look at it. "I don't know. I don't think they'd be happy up here. She accused me of being too normal you know." She slanted him a look, "Guess she didn't get a look at you. Poster boy for normal you are."

"Right," Nathan said dryly. "My freakish nature is all interior." He made a face, remembering... "Mistra didn't take anyone with more visible mutations than different coloration, and only if their abilities counterbalanced their inability to blend into a crowd."

"Luckily we X-men are a more egalitarian group, we take anyone we can shove into a leather jumpsuit. After all, where do you hide a red fish but in a pond with other red fishes." Lorna was in a rather good mood despite her nausea. This really had been a decent mission.

"Charles will be able to keep tabs on them, at least," Nathan consoled himself. "If they change their minds..." He made himself smile. "And the kids are going to be okay." They had stuck around for long enough to make sure of that. The police had been pretty appreciative of their efforts, too. Will wonders never cease.

"We can't change everyone, Nate. We got the kids out and gave the others the option. That's the most we can do." She nudged him, "You aren't abandoning them."

He nudged her right back, but smiled. "People who aren't telepaths and still manage to read minds are highly annoying, you know."

"Just my way of getting you back for being a telepath. Who suck by the way. Did I mention that? 'paths suck." She smiled and patted his shoulder then rested her head on him. "Are we there yet?"