xp_logs | Mommy Dearest Redux: Endgame

Kurt is located, and some of the team go out to retrieve him. But the situation isn't as simple as it first appears, and choices are made that will bring consequences of their own.

Ororo stood back, in the low shadows of the street, looking up at the house where Kurt was supposedly being kept. It wasn't that she doubted Amanda and the Professor's findings, but... Of all the places to be. With a internal sigh, she turned away, looking back at the small team gathered next to her. "As far as we know, Kurt is in that house, along with Mystique and potentially other members of the Brotherhood... because of Kurt's behavior, we have reason to believe he may be held against his will. As such, our primary goal is to facilitate his escape while minimizing casualties." Of course, we do not really know what is going on. As always.

Nathan, crouched by the wall, his psimitar in his hand and a look of intense concentration in his face, visible even in the shadows, looked up at her with a frown, catching the edge beneath her low, calm tone. "I am getting an impression of Kurt," he said quietly, "but he's very good at shielding his thoughts, and given that we don't know who all is in there with him or what's going on, I don't want to push too hard and risk him tipping them off. I've got at least one other vague thought-trace, but..." He made a face. "If Charles can't tell whether or not Magneto is in there, I sure as hell can't. And I'm not making any promises as to how many other people are in there, period." There was a distinct disadvantage to enemies who had been taught how to shield their thoughts by the strongest telepath in the world.

Marie let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. If Magneto was in there, then she would deal with him better than she had the last time. Unfortunately, she doubted he was...the whole thing didn't have his particular stamp on it. She ignored the taunting voice in her head that said she was just scared. "Then Ah guess we do what we always do...jump into the fray and figure it out as we go." And hope that Kurt's ok. And not the latest mansion resident to be subject to a little brainwashing. "Polaris, any chance you can tell us how many folks are inside?" She glanced over at her green haired teammate, wondering how she was dealing with the whole situation. After all, Rogue wasn't the only one who had a score to settle with more than one member of the Brotherhood.

"Hard to say," Lorna was pale, regretting not begging off this mission and feeling guilty for the wish. She closed her eyes, saw the world in shifting green and felt her way through the house. "It's...I can't say. Not with certainty. Probably only a couple?" She didn't dare probe too much, didn't dare chance that someone would notice. With the Brotherhood, it was never a matter of having the upper hand. "I'm sorry."

"There is no need to apologize," Ororo said, hoping that the team could stay together long enough to get in and get out safely. "Cable, you and Rogue will be going in, straight towards Kurt. Polaris and I will cover the back exit should they become alerted to our presence and try to escape. Do not engage anyone unless it is unavoidable, and beware of Mystique." A shapeshifter and a teleporter… if she had coerced him in any way, blocking their escape might be a laughable attempt. "If Kurt is unable to leave on his own, Rogue, you will aid him."

Marie was grateful that the shadows were able to hide the paleness of her cheeks. She knew what an order like that could mean and she hoped it didn't come to that. Not Kurt. Smoothing the leather of her gloves, she forced herself to release the tension that seemed to be running through her body. "Once we split, how are we gonna make sure that Mystique doesn't try to infiltrate?" she asked. Logan was the only person she knew that could identify the blue skinned mutant regardless of her form.

Nathan made a noise that might have been a low laugh if there'd been anything resembling humor in it. "Switchboard?" he suggested. "I never thought of using it as a metamorph-detector before..." He gave Lorna a sideways look. "It's probably the most efficient way."

Lorna felt the glance and repressed the automatic shudder. "She doesn't feel the same, even shifted she's... When I have her face to face...I...probably can tell. I think." She had to get it together. This wasn't a good time to fail to cope. Lorna took a deep breath, "But you'll have to still do the switchboard probably. More than just low level. Her cover is exceptional. She's better trained than...she's incredibly well trained."

"She is," Marie agreed, not bothering to conceal her shudder. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and pushed all the doubts in her mind into some far recess to be dealt with later. Now wasn't the time to deal with them. "Ah just hope we're not too late."
_____

Lorna had been right. There were only two people in the house, and only one of them was Brotherhood. Kurt looked up from his cup, sitting on a kitchen chair. "You know that if anyone is looking for me", he said quietly, "it will be easier for them now that I have stopped moving."

Mystique smiled slightly. She was in her natural form, as she had been each time she and Kurt were alone together. "Do you not want to be found?" she asked.

"I told them I would go back", Kurt said slowly. "And I meant it, and still do. I would rather it be in my own time... but if they find me before that, then so be it."

"Very fatalistic of you. You do have options, Kurt, as I keep saying."

He laughed a little, ironically. "Oh, yes, I have options. To go back to them... to give it all up and go back to the circus... or to throw both away and take my chances." He didn't mention the fourth possibility - to join the people she'd been keeping him away from - mostly because he didn't consider it one.

"I think your problem," Mystique said, very deliberately, "is that you're not ready to make a choice. I don't think you're going to be ready, of your own accord. That, my dear, is why we have stopped moving."

_____

With a nod to Nate, Rogue began to move towards the house, careful to keep to the shadows. With as many unknowns as there were, maybe surprise would help give them the upper hand. Keeping her back against the wall, she reached a gloved hand down to the doorknob. The lock broke easily when she turned it and she pushed the door open, offering one last prayer to whoever might be listening before moving inside.

Nathan followed her in silently, drawing the minds of his teammates into the switchboard as he moved - taking care to buffer Lorna as much as possible, to try and ease some of the discomfort. He toyed, again, with the idea of reaching out to Kurt's mind, to tell him they were coming... but they couldn't know the situation. If Kurt reacted in the wrong way...

As quietly as possible Ororo led Lorna down the street, far enough that they could cross over and come around towards the back of the house without being detected. The building seemed quiet and still, almost abandoned. She listened carefully for any sounds of commotion or confrontation inside - though she hoped they wouldn't encounter anybody, the chances weren't likely that it would go completely smoothly.

It was almost a shame to disrupt this peaceful neighborhood. Lorna followed Ororo silently, focused more on their surroundings than the house up ahead. While she didn't think that there were more than a couple people in the house, just Kurt and...Mystique, it would not be a welcome surprise if Toad or someone else was hiding nearby waiting to cause trouble. Not welcome and not unlikely either. Everything seemed quiet though. That was almost too bad, she'd have liked to have had a distraction from the touch of Nathan's mind on hers.
_____

There were no signs or sounds of anything untoward in the house, other than what they knew of its occupants. In the kitchen, Kurt got up and paced the length of the room. "I did not bring you here as a trap. You do know this, yes?"

Her teeth were very white against her blue skin as she smiled. "I know you're not that devious, yes." There was nothing mocking in the comment, however. Just a statement of the obvious.

He smiled faintly, acknowledging the point. "It would not have to be my plan. But it is true I am not a good liar."

"You think you're a closed book, but you're not. It's just a matter of knowing what to see..." She trailed off, a frown appearing as she looked in the direction of the hallway.
____

Nathan reached out and laid a hand on Marie's shoulder, a silent signal to stop. #That other mind just... sharpened.# He still couldn't tell who it was, just that it was now paying very close attention to its surroundings.

Marie halted in mid-step, swallowing hard. So much for the surprise advantage. #Then let's do this.# Flying forward, she entered the kitchen, her gloved fists up and ready. "Mystique." The name came out cold and flat, masking the emotion Rogue was truly feeling. Her eyes flitted around the room quickly, assessing the situation. Kurt appeared to be unharmed and there were no other occupants, but she felt like there had to be something else going on, so she resisted the urge to immediately strike at the blue skinned woman. "Nightcrawler, are you ok?" She wanted to be cautious, in case Kurt wouldn't be coming willingly...but he would be coming if she had anything to say about it. It was about time she started repaying her debt to him.

He was already standing, but didn't move as he looked at Marie. "I am not harmed, Marie. In any way, I promise you."

"You'll pardon us if we don't quite believe that," Nathan said. "After what happened to the last X-Man who was a 'guest' of the Brotherhood." He leveled his psimitar. "Back away from him, Mystique."

The shapeshifter smiled very slightly. "Scan his mind, telepath. Answer your own question. Or wait..." Mystique paused, very deliberately. "You won't do that. I forgot - Xavier taught you. To be ashamed of your powers, of what you are." Her smile grew, just a little. "Although perhaps you were convinced of that before he ever got his hands on you?"

"We can sort all of this out, Kurt," Nathan said, his eyes still locked on Mystique. "Once she's safely in government custody."
_____

At the light touch of Nathan's mind on hers and off Ororo's nod, Lorna moved forward, locking down all the exits she could feel except one. Lorna was trying her best to ignore the discussion carrying over the coms and focus on the task at hand. The sliding glass door slid open, Ororo preceding Lorna in. The green-haired woman hung back, not just out of reticence to encounter the blue-skinned woman but also to act as rear-guard.

Ororo wasn't entirely surprised that Mystique was taunting Nate, though she was a bit shocked that Kurt was allowing her to do so. His silence spoke louder than anything the shapeshifter could claim. Once they neared the kitchen they could hear the voices, rather than sense them over the switchboard, and Ororo motioned for Lorna to stay behind her as they entered the room. I do not see how this can end well, but dear goddess, please let it be so.

"Kurt. We need to know what is going on here."

Kurt had shot Mystique a look at the taunting, but he was well aware that little he could say would make her stop. At least things had gone no further than taunting, so far.

"Nothing that you would need to intervene in", he insisted softly. "I am not a 'guest' of the Brotherhood, as you put it - none of its other members even know I am here, or do you think I would be talking to you now?"

"Pardon me if Ah don't trust your words Kurt," Marie said while keeping her attention focused on Mystique. "But all the members of the Brotherhood kinda have a history of making people do things they don't want to. And how do you really know they don't know where you are? You aren't in the most trustworthy of company." Her glare turned icy and she fought the urge to start moving aggressively towards the blue skinned woman.

“Regardless of how you came to be here,” Ororo said, darting a glance sideways at Marie and Nathan before looking back to Kurt, “you know we cannot look away now. I am sorry, Kurt, but we have a duty we must fulfill.”

He glanced between them and Mystique, and made one last attempt. "I sought her, understand that. And she has kept me from the Brotherhood while we talked. I told her this was not a trap..."

"Ah, yes, your duty. Do you sleep well at night, Munroe?" Mystique asked casually, as if they were having a friendly conversation about the weather and Kurt hadn't said a thing. "You and your friends make quite a habit of turning over your own kind to the humans. There's a word for that, you know."

“Just as there are several choice words for those that choose to harm innocents to try and get their way,” Ororo responded, more icily than she had intended. What was it about this woman that seemed to antagonize them all? Besides, of course, the obvious fact that she worked against everything they tried to achieve and the harm she had done to them, both personally and more widely spread.

“You are not above the law, Mystique, and you must own your responsibility like anyone else. Kurt, whatever else you may be thinking now, please… you understand this, don’t you?” She was appealing to him as more than a commanding officer – he wasn’t even on the team, at the moment – and as more than a friend. She said this as a plea to his humanity, to anything in him that valued order and fairness and justice.

Kurt did still believe in those things... but he was looking thoroughly, miserably, torn at this moment. "You do not understand, Storm. She could have left me to search for her and never made herself known, she could have let the Brotherhood find me, she could have handed me to them... and she did not. It was never meant to come to this before I came home... but this time, I cannot let you take her. I owe her that."

"She has not yet, you mean, and that is only because it does not serve her current purpose. She has no problem sacrificing whoever she sees fit to get to her goals," Marie said coldly, ignoring the pained look on the blue man's face. "It doesn't matter if you never planned on it coming to this, it has now and so we've gotta deal with it and take her into custody." #Talking isn't getting anywhere. Let's finish this,# she sent over the switchboard as she began edging closer to Mystique.

"You think just because she's your mother that it means anything to her?" Nathan asked harshly, bitter sarcasm surfacing in his voice for a moment. "Do us all a favor, Kurt. Learn from my mistakes." With that, his eyes shifted to Mystique, and the tip of his psimitar flashed. Telekinesis slammed her back against the kitchen wall and sent Kurt staggering in the opposite direction. Putting distance between them.

He recovered quickly, and that small amount of distance meant nothing to a teleporter. "This will not happen again", he said quietly from Mystique's side. "Even if it is because I am not allowed to rejoin the team, I promise you that. But this once... I owe her a debt, whether you can understand or not."

He reached for Mystique's arm.

And abruptly, there was an invisible wall between mother and son, cutting them off from each other. #Suggestions?# Nathan asked coldly on the switchboard. #Should we just knock both of them out?#

#No,# Ororo said quickly, refusing to believe that Kurt had become so disillusioned that it was necessary to take him out as a threat. #Leave Kurt alone. Our enemy here is Mystique, not him.#

“Kurt,” she said, addressing the teleporter in the calmest tone she could muster. “Come with us. We will work this out together… you are still one of us. Come stand with us, please, and we will take care of this as a team.” If they could only get him away from Mystique...

"I would like to think I can be one of you again", he said slowly, eyes and voice pained, "but I cannot..." Cutting himself off, he teleported forward without warning, shoving Nathan towards the invulnerable Marie - not aiming to hurt either of them, but to disrupt Nathan's shield so he could grab Mystique's arm.

Nathan stumbled, enough that his shield did in fact go down as he reeled back against Marie. The switchboard abruptly wobbled, parts of it cutting out and back in, enough to slightly disorient everyone linked.

Lorna had been largely silent, watching Mystique instead of Kurt but when he began to move, her attention shifted and she started to reach out, get Kurt to stop long enough to speak, make a plea for him to reconsider. The switchboard's failure stopped her and she stumbled, losing her post in the doorway but moving closer to Mystique.

Mystique seized the moment. Moving like lightning, changing as she did, she lunged at Lorna, and suddenly there were two green-haired women in leathers, spinning around in the kitchen and out through the door into the hall.

This was not how it had been meant to happen, it had all got so out of hand... Kurt spared the time for an anguished glance at his remaining (former) teammates before he vanished, reappearing in the hall for just long enough to see Lorna - it had to be Lorna, if she was alone, there hadn't been time for a kidnapping - still there, looking dizzy but unhurt, and then teleporting out onto the street.

"Rogue! Outside with me," Ororo ordered as soon as the worst of the mental affectation had worn off and they were able to get their bearings. "Cable, check on Polaris, help her if need be." And verify that it is truly her, she added with a pointed look at the telepath - there was no trusting anybody now. With that, she moved towards the door, the winds outside already picking up in anticipation of her flight.

Marie quickly followed Storm, flying close behind her so the white haired woman was never out of sight. They were so close, she refused to entertain the idea that another Brotherhood member would slip through the X-Men's fingers. Landing in a battle ready position, she scanned the area for Mystique. A hard knot formed in her stomach as she failed to see any sign of either of the blue individuals who had exited the house. Her face paled as her brain registered the faintest smell of brimstone in the air.

"Kurt...no...you didn't...you wouldn't...you couldn't..." she said, her words coming out laced with hurt and anger.

The street didn't stay empty for long, as there was another burst of sulfur-scented smoke and Kurt reappeared. He stood looking at the two of them for a few moments, not moving, then looked down, resigned. "I will go with you now. I am sorry."

"How could you!?!" Marie cried out. "How could you help that monster get away? Don't you know what she did to me? To Bobby? To your friends?" A shudder ran through her body and she turned a beseeching face to Kurt. "It's not too late, you can still tell us where she is or go back and get her..." she pleaded.

Kurt shook his head, pained, regretful, but... unshakeable. "I know what she has done. But I know, too, that I told her this was not a trap, and I do not wish her to pay for two weeks of helping me. I do not ask you to understand or forgive... but I am sorry that it came to this."

Ororo gave no response for a moment, merely looking at the man she once thought she had known well enough to trust with her life. Obviously that wasn't quite the case anymore. "Let us go back to the house," she said finally, the words an order despite the fact that the crisis was over. "Kurt, I am going to ask Nathan to scan you if you wish to return with us to the mansion. I am sure I do not need to tell you why. We must be safe."

He bowed his head in acquiescence, turning back towards the house. "I had always intended to return, when I was clearer. It would have been soon, I think... and Nathan may scan until he is satisfied, of course."

There was a very angry telepath waiting for them when they returned to the house. "Kurt, what the hell were you thinking?" Nathan snapped, his grip white-knuckled on his psimitar.

"What I said", Kurt responded, voice somewhere between flat and the calm of defeat. But at least, he told himself, none of his teammates were seriously hurt. "I did what I had to do. You will wish to scan me now."

"I wish to hit you, actually," Nathan said scathingly, "but I think at this point you'd enjoy that a little bit too much." He closed his eyes, for no more than a few seconds before he opened them again and looked at Ororo. "It's him. And no signs of mental control that I can see."

“Very well. I will speak to the Professor during our return; I am sure he will want to confirm this as well.” Ororo glanced around, noticing that Lorna seemed to have recovered well enough from whatever Mystique had done to her during the escape, and that Marie looked eager to get away as well. “Let us go.” She glanced at Kurt, looking as if she wanted to say something more, but started for the door in silence. If there were any more explanations to be made, they would have to come later.