Leverage: Something Found

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Cyclops and Storm have to get creative to gain access to the basement of a building home to an anti-mutant civil action group. They don’t find the girls, but Scott makes a new friend.

"If assuming that our targets aren't in the basement simply because these... people are taking up the first floor wasn't stupid, I'd be turning around and walking out of here right now," Scott said through gritted teeth and under his breath to Ororo.

Of course, it would be the height of irony if the mutant terrorist kidnappers were holing up under where an anti-mutant civil action group Scott had never heard of had their offices. The sort of irony that might appeal to mutant terrorists idiotic enough to kidnap the President's daughters.

"I hardly think this can be called a voluntary visit," Ororo murmured back, narrowing her eyes at the large poster tacked up on the wall beside them. "But it is a necessary one, all the same." Smoothing out her expression, she stepped forward towards the receptionist's desk, smiling at the fresh-faced young man sitting there. "Hello," she greeted him, resting her elbows on the counter and leaning forward slightly. "We hope we are not taking up too much of your time, but there is something we would like to ask you."

The young man looked up at her dubiously, obviously untrusting of the white-haired woman. "Do you have an appointment?"

... okay, Ororo's smile usually worked a little better than that. Scott stepped forward, shaking his head at her. "You could just come out and explain, you know," he grumbled. "It's your fault we're here." He gave the young man a sheepish smile. "This is going to take a few minutes to explain - bear with me? We're elevator consultants."

"Oh really?" the receptionist said, suddenly intrigued. "I didn't know elevators needed consultants."

Scott grinned at him. "It's actually more interesting a job than you'd think," he said. "For instance, today. We've been working on an elevator bank traffic study, doing some ASME A17.1 inspections while we're at it-" The receptionist's eyes were looking a little glazed and Scott donned an abashed look. "I'm sorry," he said with what Jean would have called his best charming smile. "I just started speaking in acronyms. How to tell when you've been putting in too many hours, huh?"

"I know how that goes," the young man said, nodding conspiratorially. Ororo could barely keep from giggling. "Sometimes I answer my cell the same way I answer the phone here. It's so embarrassing." He looked like he was about to offer Scott his number in case he ever wanted to test the validity of his statement.

"I dream in blueprints. That says bad things about my utter lack of a social life, I'm sure." Scott sighed a bit ruefully and leaned on the front desk. "So. I had a point somewhere around here... we're taking a look at a number of elevators in buildings in this neighborhood. They're all of a certain age, I'm sure you've probably noticed, but there are some key differences that'll make one elevator a good fit for the study and another not. Any chance we might be able to get down into the basement and take a look at your service elevator?"

The receptionist was looking mildly dubious. Scott leaned a little further forward on the desk and gave him a hangdog look. "We've got a bit of a bet going," he murmured, his gaze flickering briefly to Ororo, who was standing just far enough away that they could pretend this was a semi-private conversation. "I think this building's just perfect, but she thinks looking's a waste of time. And I just hate the way she preens when she's right."

"You think it's perfect?" the young man repeated. At Scott's nod he pursed his lips; the X-man could almost see the wheels turning in his head - a perfect fit would mean plenty more visits to the building by the hot elevator consultant. "Well, normally you'd need an appointment, but the director's away today, so I guess it wouldn't hurt..."

"I could tell you all the reasons why I think the elevator's perfect without looking at it," Scott said with a grin that was downright roguish, "but I usually save that for when I get to know someone. At least well enough to be sure they won't run in the other direction when I start describing the beauties of up peak and down peak settings."

"Oh, I wouldn't run," the receptionist assured him. "It sounds like it'd be very interest--"

"C'mon," Ororo interjected then, hands on her hips as she gave Scott a look. "You can take care of your personal business when it's not on company time."

Scott straightened, dogging a dignified look that was near perfect except for the tightness of his jaw. Bitch! it screamed silently as he gazed at Ororo for a moment before looking regretfully back at the receptionist.

"It won't take long, I promise," he said. "We just need to look at the base of the shaft of the service elevator, and then I suppose you're going to insist on doing the same for the passenger elevators," he grumbled at Ororo. "You'll pardon me if I don't trail along behind you."

From the looks of the lobby, the space between the passenger elevators and the service elevator - he'd spotted it behind the building, before they'd come in - would cover most, if not all of the basement. They'd get their search done. If he could either persuade the receptionist to let them go down there by themselves, or maybe just keep him busy...

Ororo smirked and turned away, just in time to cover the fit of laughter that came over her with a quick bout of coughing. I think I know what example to use next time we discuss 'alternative infiltration tactics...

When she arrived back in the lobby after a fruitless search through the entire basement area Ororo was greeted by the sight of Scott leaning over the receptionist's desk, laughing at something the young man was showing him on the computer monitor. "I was right," she announced as she approached them. "There's nothing down there of use to us."

Scott donned a crestfallen look. "... well, hell." He looked down at the receptionist with an apologetic look. "Damn, I feel like I owe you an apology. Getting you to let her into the basement, then taking up all your time like this..."

"No, no, no apology needed. Today was looking pretty boring 'til you showed up. At least now I know a little bit more about the exciting world of elevator consulting." The receptionist grinned, leaning in a little closer to Scott. "Don't let her gloat too much, eh? She's probably lying anyway... jealous, y'know?"

Scott looked sideways at Ororo, raising an eyebrow. "You're probably right," he said, grinning back and slipping the young man a card. "Thanks for the time. And the patience. Oh, and for the movie recommendation. You have me thinking of reviving my social life, believe it or not..."

He waited until they were well clear of the building before turning to Ororo with a bright smile. "Well. I didn't think I was actually going to get out of there without him asking what I was doing on Friday night. I think you came back just in time."

"I would have come back earlier, but it seemed like you were enjoying yourself," she told him, arching one eyebrow.

"Ororo, he was telling me about much he cried at 'Freedom Writers'. I was about to run screaming." She was still giving him an odd look, though, and he sighed. "Nothing at all in the basement?"

"No, nothing. Besides the base of the shafts. Which we will have to come back to 'inspect' sometime." Okay, she was definitely not going to be able to keep a straight face much longer. "So you can verify my opinion."

"Hey, it kept him out of the basement while you looked around, didn't it?" Scratch one more building off the list... we've got to have some luck soon. "Besides, for someone working for a bunch of bigots, he was a pretty nice guy. Kind of a geek," Scott said with a perfectly straight face, "but nice."

Ororo wasn't able to mimic his expression; giggles began to overtake her as she tried to speak. "I am sure... you... will be very happy together," she managed to get out.

He poked her in the arm. "We're on a serious mission here, Munroe," he muttered under his breath, far too amused by the situation himself. "Stop cackling. You and Jean can split a bottle of wine and spend the evening laughing at me once we've got those girls back home where they belong."

"I know, I know," she said, calming almost immediately as they headed for the next building. Scott was right, this was a serious mission and there was nothing to laugh about. Nothing except the mental image of Scott seducing impressionable young men with elevator jargon. That was hilarious, no matter the circumstances.

"Perhaps we should split up - we are nearly done with this block and the clock is ticking. I would like to touch base with the rest of the team as well. And I promise not to mention your new friend when we do so."

He gave her a tranquil look. "Good. Because I have plenty of choice stories I could share if you did." They paused at the corner, and Scott gave her a quick, crooked smile. "'Yell' if you need me. I'm going to go try the elevator consultant schtick again."


Clarice and Shiro deal with some of their interpersonal conflicts while searching for the girls. They don’t find what they’re looking for, but stumble across another child sorely in need of help.


Clarice stared at Shiro, arms crossed over her chest as if to ward him off. Of all the people to be paired with, it had to be him. "Let's go," she said curtly, taking off towards the warehouses they had been assigned to. This had to be one of Scott's ideas. Or Nathan's. She was going to get them back. Oh yes.

Shiro wasn't too happy with this arrangement himself. And by "not too happy" he really meant that this was the worst idea ever. It was probably an attempt by the field leaders to get them to talk again so they could actually work on the same team. The DR would have been nicer, though, because then the inevitable explosion wouldn't be so bad.

He shifted his vision to the infrared spectrum, trying to catch sight of the kidnappers' or the hostages' heat signatures. "I do not see anything," he said quietly, "But that does not mean that no one is there. Wait. It is not safe to go in without first taking a closer look." And by that he meant to fly in, look through the windows, and see if there really was anyone that they could fling into the Potomac River.

Despite waiting a reasonable distance away for Shiro to finish checking the windows, Clarice huffed and pouted silently. She knew she was being unreasonable and childish, but she was okay with that for the moment. At least while things were quiet and she was being forced to wait until he did his flying machoman thing. Once in the building she was more than content to be professional again.

When he told her that it was okay to go in, she headed over, trying the door to see if it would open. Locked. "My turn," she said, opening up a small blink disk and teleporting the door lock away entirely. "You don't see any motion sensors or lasers or anything do you?"

That little display made Shiro raise an eyebrow. He had to admit that that was impressive. "I do not see anything, no," he replied. It might have actually just been an old abandoned warehouse in southeast DC. In which case they were wasting their time. But maybe they'd find some Kickers here, just like he and Marie had back over the summer. Because Clarice was the best person to be with if they did, of course. Shiro rolled his eyes at the thought.

"Well, maybe there will be something interesting inside," she said doubtfully, clicking her flashlight on despite the hazy daylight filtering through the grimy windows. The warehouse was huge, although mostly empty, so she headed immediately for a stack of crates. "Ew..." she whispered, obviously homeless people had been living there recently.

"We can only hope." Shiro shifted to IR again and followed the sweep of Clarice's flashlight. He couldn't help but hold a hand up to his nose to block out the rotten stench of the river. If he were a cynic, he'd think that it's appropriate for the center of American politics. If.

Investigating the warehouse was dull. Almost as dull as when she and Cain had gone to Nunavut to see if Scott was there. At least that had been kinda interesting and there were substantially few exboyfriends around. Hearing a skittering noise, Clarice clicked her flashlight off and motioned for Shiro to be quiet. She was going to check it out.

Shiro turned immediately to the source of the sound and tapped into his powers, ready to manifest his fire form on moment's notice if it turned out to be something dangerous. He saw a red blob, signifying that a small heat source was nearby, but it wasn't even close to human size or shape. If he was lucky, then it was a mutant who could lower their body temperature. Same case if he was unlucky.

Clarice crept up to a pile of crates, peering around one carefully before turning the corner. One corner had been pried away and the boards broken, Clicking her flashlight on she shined in inside, catching something huddled towards the back. "Hey Sunfire," she said using his codename just in case, "Gimme some better light."

The area around them was suddenly illuminated in a golden-red hue. Shiro approached Clarice, his right hand aflame, and held it out to help her see whatever she was looking at.

Inside the box, behind the blanket and the food wrappers was a child attempting to make himself invisible in the corner of the crate. "Hey, there. You like Teletubbies?," Clarice said, smiling, turning towards Shiro, "It's a kid!"

He nodded slowly, not moving from the corner and Clarice did not go near him

"I'm Tinky Winky," she said, introducing herself. "And this is Po."

Shiro sighed and covered his face with his free hand. "You are not calling me that," he muttered just loudly enough for Clarice to hear. He shook his head and lowered his hand so he could see the kid. "What are you doing here?" he asked softly, using the same tone he often reserved for his sister. The flames diminished, too, to a soft golden glow, in case the kid tried to bolt for fear of the fire.

She just did, so really, it didn't matter that he protested. Smug in her name-calling, at least for the moment, she crawled into the crate a little, "Can I come in?" she asked politely. This looked to be the kid’s home.

"I'm waiting for my mommy," he said, not moving, but not flinching back either.

"Dude, you think the stuff from the other crates is theirs?" she asked, pointing towards the other boxes a little ways away.

"Probably," replied Shiro. "Washington has its fair share of poverty and homelessness. Come on." He let the fire extinguish and began to walk away. "We need to report back and see if there is another assignment. Our targets are not here." And as much as leaving a possibly abandoned child pulled at his heart strings, there were other matters of life and death to attend to."

"I'm not leaving him," she said, crawling out of the crate, "I'll stay here until his parents come back....and if they don't, I'll take him to the authorities. You go on if you need to."

"Damn it." She was right, in part. That much Shiro had to admit. Their mission and their orders were clear, but an abandoned child is still an abandoned child. "~I wish you could be an even bigger pain~," he muttered in Japanese before relaying the situation back to command.

"I heard that!" she yelled after him, even though she couldn't understand the Japanese. It didn't matter, he rarely said anything complimentary in Japanese.

"I'm going to wait here with you until your mommy or daddy comes back, okay?" she said, sitting outside the crate the boy was huddled in. "You don't have to come out if you don't want to."

"Understood. Over." Shiro stifled a sigh and walked back to Clarice and the boy. "Cyclops says that we ought to stay here." He hopped up onto a crate and sat down on it. He'd be frustrated that he wasn't in the center of the action, but this situation was special. Sometimes he was just too much of a softie.



Marie and Terry have to put aside their differences to work together as Rogue and Siryn when the Irish redhead hears something suspicious in a nearby warehouse.

"Come on, let's check the next one," Rogue said to her redheaded teammate after they scanned yet another empty building. The professor had been able to narrow down the area in which the mutant terrorists had hidden themselves, but he hadn't been able to pinpoint their exact location. Two warehouses, an office building and a church later, she and Siryn had settled into an efficient, if tense, team that hadn't found anything more than trash and small furry creatures. Neither girl had been too happy to be teamed with the other, but they both had enough sense to try and push past their personal differences while there were two innocents being held captive. Of course, that didn't mean they were necessarily polishing their people skills.

The smaller girl paused instead, holding up her hand to indicate the need for silence as she caught a faint sound. Closing her eyes, she focused on the noise--a sort of rhythmic banging. It could be nothing, or it could be someone in heavy boots running down a staircase. "There's someone in that building there." She pointed to the warehouse opposite the one Rogue had just indicated. The fact that she didn't just walk off without waiting for Rogue's order was progress in their working relationship.

Rogue nodded tersely, reminding herself that Terry's powers were particularly useful in looking for people trying to hide. "Then we check it first," she said, setting off towards the building. "Can you narrow down where they might be? We'll want to go in on the opposite end of the noise, hopefully get in unobtrusively to scout and catch them by surprise if it's who we're looking for."

"I'm not a radar," Terry muttered but closed her eyes again, straining to catch the faint edges of the sound, trying to tell where they'd bounced and tracing them back. "They're not on the main level. I think they're fairly close to this side of the building though. Maybe third floor?"

Marie looked at the building before glancing around the deserted street. "Easiest way in is the roof, based on the layouts Cyclops showed us of most of the buildings in this area." She looked at the Irish girl out of the corner of her eye, hesitating slightly. "Can you handle a lift? Or do we need to go in from the ground?" Rogue's tone left no doubt as to which one she considered the correct option.

Terry raised an eyebrow, "Aye, Rogue, I trust you to do your job." Her tone implied otherwise but that she would go through with it in spite of her lingering belief that Rogue would drop her several stories. "When we're near the roof, give a pause before we land. I want a moment to listen again and see if I can't get a better fix on them." Her hand checked her pocket just to be sure that her lockpicks were secure.

Reaching out, Marie placed her arm around Terry's waist and lifted soundlessly from the ground. She moved slowly, careful to avoid spots where the pair would be easily visible through a window and paused when she reached the roof, keeping the girls' mere inches above the surface. Nodding to Terry, she was silent so the girl could check the area, hoping it would be done quickly so she could regain some distance. Despite the safety of the layers between them, Rogue felt an unsettled knot in her stomach.

If Terry was nervous, it didn't show. She listened for a few moments then shook her head. "Set me by the door. I'll pick it and we'll try from there. There's no one close unless they're just not moving around."

Setting the redhead down lightly, Marie remained floating and scanned the surrounding area. If the terrorists were smart, they'd have left a sentry somewhere. If the X-Men were lucky, they wouldn't have thought of the roof. "Let me know if you hear something different. Once you get the door open, Ah'll go in first just in case there is anything."

Terry wasn't going to argue with bulletproof. Sliding her lock picks from her pocket, she took her time selecting the right tools, assessing the lock with an experienced eye. Because she was something of an optimist, she tried the doorknob first but wasn't disappointed when it proved to be securely locked. How often did she get to do this for real anyway? Slender pieces of metal fit into the keyhole and in her head, Terry hummed a tuneless little melody to herself. Opening the lock took little time, the scrape and slide of metal against metal giving way quickly to the sound of tumblers rolling. Satisfied, she put her picks away and nodded at Rogue. "Your turn then."

Nodding back, Marie brushed past the girl, cautiously going down the staircase and listening for what her own ears could pick up. She paused at the first exit to the stairwell, gesturing Terry to come closer. "Ah think we should sweep every floor just to be sure, but you point us in a direction if ya hear something likely."

Stairwells acted like sound funnels, distorting the sound but carrying it nevertheless throughout the building. It meant that it was harder to pinpoint the sound but, "They're here. Definitely. Three or more."

Marie took a deep breath, thinking through a few scenarios in her mind. "So there's three people here, but no telling if it's who we're looking for or just bums. If it is our targets, your primary focus will be the girls. As soon as we've cleared a way to them, you get them and get out. Ah'll clean up." Those poor kids have got to be terrified.

--

"I'm getting fucking bored," grumbled Brennan, tossing a crackling ball of electricity from hand to hand idly. Huddled in the corner, Madison McKenna watched him with wide eyes, frozen in terror. "How long are we supposed to wait, anyway?"

"We wait," Gregor said firmly. He wasn't happy with how trigger-happy the electrokinetic seemed. Yeah, it would be nice if this was all happening a lot faster, but no one needed to be getting impatient just yet.

"Oh, that's helpful."

"Stop it," Gregor said forcefully. "Think about how long he's been fighting the good fight." The shapeshifter's eyes all but glowed as he thought about Magneto, and how his idol might react when he found out that Gregor and his friends had managed to kidnap the President's daughters, snatch them right out from under the noses of their flatscan protectors. It would be even better once their gambit worked and it became clear that they'd forced McKenna to bow to what mutants wanted and needed. It might be too subtle, but Gregor thought Magneto might appreciate that. He's got to like people who can think, right?

Brennan subsided, and Refrax grinned cockily. "I can't wait for news of this to get out," he said. "Magnetic North, dude. We're going to be the next big thing."

----

She and Terry had checked three floors and found nothing more than rats and empty boxes. "Only two floors to go," she muttered. And then only a couple more hours of searching together until we can go our merry ways. "Hear anything on this one?"

Not with you babbling, thought Terry but only raised an eyebrow instead and put a finger to her lips. It actually didn't take complete quiet for her to pinpoint the voices drifting through the walls, the faint scuff of someone pacing and a hissing crackle that she couldn't quite place. Without making a sound she held up three fingers and pointed the way. Not knowing what kind of mutants they were going to meet, Terry wasn't keen on extra noise.

Marie nodded and floated in the direction Terry had indicated. She continued to follow Terry's silent indications down the hallways, coming to a halt outside of a door when even she could hear the sounds coming from inside the room. Setting her hand on the doorknob, she turned it slowly and carefully, happy to find it unlocked. Using her other hand, she pointed to herself, the door and then Terry and the door. The mutants wouldn't be expecting anything since they thought themselves untraceable - therefore the girls would be able to use the element of surprise to their advantage.

Inside, the three members of Magnetic North were looking everywhere but at the door. The two X-Men had approached so quietly that there hadn't been any sound to give them away, and the kidnappers had been too cocky, too sure that no one would be able to find them here.

Brennan was the first to react. "Hey!" he shouted, sending a stream of electricity at Marie.

Marie ignored her initial impulse to jump out of the way and instead was able to surprise Brennan by flying towards him, allowing the electricity to bounce harmlessly off of her. Scanning the room, Marie noted where Madison was curled up in the corner, and then proceeded to sucker punch Brennan. What kinda people kidnap children? And where's the other one? She'd had her innocence taken. The minute the two girls had been taken, they'd lost some of theirs, but she was damned if they were going to lose anymore.

Gregor, who'd been on a cell phone, dropped it in his eagerness to get into the fray. He charged across the room at the small red-haired girl - we're being attacked by little girls? What the hell? - intending to knock her into next week.

Terry saw the man drop his phone and charge at her and did what any small girl would do if faced with a large, angry look man would do. She screamed. Not loudly, that wasn't the point. Tightly focused, perfectly harmonized and ear-splittingly dissonant. Unpleasant to hear even outside the carefully aimed cone of sound waves, it meant nausea and vertigo for its actual target.

Then she just stepped to the side and ran for the girl tied up in the corner.

Refrax, covering his ears and crying out, glared at the closest of the two girls, the one with the stripe in her hair. Marie's shirt instantly began to smoke, his heat vision scorching it.

At least it's not fire. Exactly. And my hair is safe.

Marie quickly pushed off the ground, the heat vision leaving a scorched line down her outfit. Wonder if Ah can get reimbursed for that. "Glad to see you've started pickin' on someone your own size instead of little girls. Not as much fun though, is it?" she asked the blond man as she landed in front of him. A series of punches and kicks later, Refrax was laid out unconscious on the ground. Two down, one to go she thought as she spun around to see if Terry had reached the girl, simultaneously keeping an eye on the third man, who was still buckled over from Siryn's attack.

Terry didn't bother to untie the girl, just covered her ears with her hands. "Rogue!" she shouted in warning and then screamed again, with less mercy and less focus, a broadwave of sonic force buffeting the whole room, sending the last of the kidnappers away from Rogue and knocking down the one she'd already disoriented.

Marie barely covered her ears in time and still found herself wincing slightly. Once Terry had fallen silent, Rogue quickly moved around the room to secure the three terrorists, not being gentle in her motions to tie them up. Activating her comm, she reported what had taken place and continued her search around the room. "The other girl isn't here," she finally said, leaning down as something caught her eye. "Looks like they were in contact with someone right before we busted in," she said as she picked up the cellphone that Gregor had dropped.

"Hey, sweetie. Your dad sent us to get you out of here." Terry smiled at the still scared girl as she took off her restraints. "I didn't catch any of the conversation unfortunately," she continued, addressing Marie again, "it cut out too quickly. What's orders?"

"We're done here. They'll send someone out to search if we missed anything that might be useful," Marie said before coming over to crouch by the frightened girl, doing her best to smile reassuringly. "But right now, let's get you home."




Unfortunately, nothing is ever as simple as it seems at first.

"We've reached the secondary location," Arlee said, a bored look on her face. "And the brat won't stop whimpering. Are you sure I can't just...help her go to sleep?" The blonde sat up rigidly in her seat, her voice snapping angrily. "Yeah yeah, I was just kidding. Calm down Gregor. I won't harm a hair on her very important little head." She shot a look of disgust at the nine-year-old girl curled up in the corner, arms bound behind her back. "Goddamn hiding and babysitting," Arlee muttered as she passed the phone over to Adam. “What would Magneto think if he saw this?"

Adam had just finished explaining how to contact the President again when a loud crashing sound could be heard across the phone line. "Gregor?" He paused. "Brennan? Refrax?" A worried look crossed his face. "Anyone?" Listening to the fighting on the other end, he waited to see if it would clear. The accented female voice that he heard next didn't belong to any of his teammates and he closed the phone, a nervous tic causing his head to tilt to the left. Arlee's face hardened as she turned to face Adam. "They've been breached. It's time for Plan B." A slow, sadistic smile spread across her face as she leaned down next to Madeline McKenna, reaching out a hand to forcibly turn the girl's face towards her. "Your life just became infinitely more complicated." Rising, she quickly moved around the small room, pushing large objects in front of the doors and windows.