Log: Situation Gone From Bad to Worse
Jun. 2nd, 2007 07:42 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsPete and Remy meet with Ororo and Scott at the mansion, where the situation keeps getting worse and worse.
They didn't seem like much; just grey oblong rocks with veins of purple and white crystal shooting through them. The kind of thing you'd ignore if you saw it placed in a garden between the orchids and the rose bush. But enormous resources and dire threats had been made in order to recover them, leaving the group at the table to wonder exactly why.
The group alone was uncommon, since they had made pains to hide any official working relationship. Never the less, some things were not safe to discuss over the phones, and now Pete Wisdom, Remy LeBeau, Ororo Munroe and Scott Summers made a grim circle around the stones in the middle of the table.
It was LeBeau who finally broke the short silence, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together. "You've got how many missing in Vegas?" He said, a touch incredulous at the names Summers had mentioned only moments before.
"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself for emphasis, Remy." Scott's voice was only a few degrees warmer than glacial, and there was a flash of red in his real eye for a moment before he looked back down at the stones. He had indulged in a moment back in the locker room, earlier - his locker now had a substantial dent in it - and that was all he was getting until after the crisis was resolved. But there would be talking then, he thought, not looking at the woman standing beside him. Oh, yes, there would be talking. "The kids, even the older ones, are one thing. But that's three X-Men - four, if you count Tabitha. Charles can't even find Nathan."
Each name was like another drop in the sea of guilt Ororo already felt; the icy tone of Scott's voice was enough to send a chill through her. She tried to keep a composed expression, though it was difficult to meet the eyes of anyone sitting around the table right then. So many missing - students, staff, team - and the responsibility rested firmly on her shoulders. Though she had accepted that, the gesture hadn't come with any startling revelations with how to deal with the situation. For now she kept quiet, waiting to see if anyone had any suggestions at all.
"Dere's no way dis is just Belladonna and de Guild. Dey don't have de resources for something dis large, 'specially not wit'out an obvious benefit." Remy turned over the situation in his head. They'd been looking for leads every since they'd noticed Amanda had disappeared, and the call from the mansion that had brought him and Wisdom over still didn't give them all the answers. "Dis going to have to be Selene's people. Hellfire Club and de Black Court have links to de New Orleans Guilds from way back. 'donna be de face we've seen, but she's got to just be on contract. Looks like de cult is as big as we feared, even wit'out Selene."
"So, two jobs to do: find the missing, and stamp on whoever's behind this. What're our options like for making these lumps of rock traceable? That ought to lead us to the organ grinder. Anyone got any monkey hunting ideas?" Pete glanced round the room.
"We've still got Alarune under surveillance. If dese stones are for de same ritual dat we saw in Brazil, he'll likely be involved."
"Unless he was able to gather immense resources in the short time since we last encountered him, there are bound to be more powerful players involved," Ororo spoke up. "And the sheer numbers it has taken to strike at so many points means that our own resources will be spread out, which is likely just how they want it." She paused, dropping her eyes back to the table and steeling herself for what she had to say next. "We must turn over the stones, however. Both to trace to the root of the problem, and to rescue our students. There is no other option."
"So," Scott said, when Ororo stopped, taking up the thread of the conversation smoothly. "We need a way to discreetly track them, when they're handed over. Technological trackers could be detected too easily, and I'm not sure what else could be whipped up on short notice." He smiled thinly. "In other circumstances I'd say the cult isn't a priority in comparison to getting our people back, but let's make sure this time that they don't have the ability to do this again before we piss them off."
"Looks like Alarune is our first step. We might be able to paint an RFID chip on to de stones as well. Doesn't react until you actively attempt to reach even. If dey find it and remove it, it's de kind of thing dey going to expect from us." Remy shook his head. "If we don't, dey could suspect dat we've got one or dem identified already."
"Last I checked, RFID's got a range measured in meters at best, but maybe Forge has come up with something in his lab recently. OK, let's see if we can turn Alarune over, get some idea find out who he's working with. Meanwhile, we hope to god these bastards are either stupid or overconfident enough to miss us tracking the stones." Pete scowled. "Are we missing anything blindingly obvious, here?"
"Nothing that will help us," Ororo said, her tone of voice just this shy of defeated. "Let us begin our preparations... we do not have much time."
"Remy get de others on Alarune and Wanda and 'Yana on de stones. If dey can figure out what dese things are going to be used for, maybe we'll have a better idea where dey going to take dem." Remy got up from his chair. He'd already noticed Ororo's mood, but right now, there were too many lives at stake to take time for it. He trusted her to put it aside until they finished. "Let's do de job."
They didn't seem like much; just grey oblong rocks with veins of purple and white crystal shooting through them. The kind of thing you'd ignore if you saw it placed in a garden between the orchids and the rose bush. But enormous resources and dire threats had been made in order to recover them, leaving the group at the table to wonder exactly why.
The group alone was uncommon, since they had made pains to hide any official working relationship. Never the less, some things were not safe to discuss over the phones, and now Pete Wisdom, Remy LeBeau, Ororo Munroe and Scott Summers made a grim circle around the stones in the middle of the table.
It was LeBeau who finally broke the short silence, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together. "You've got how many missing in Vegas?" He said, a touch incredulous at the names Summers had mentioned only moments before.
"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself for emphasis, Remy." Scott's voice was only a few degrees warmer than glacial, and there was a flash of red in his real eye for a moment before he looked back down at the stones. He had indulged in a moment back in the locker room, earlier - his locker now had a substantial dent in it - and that was all he was getting until after the crisis was resolved. But there would be talking then, he thought, not looking at the woman standing beside him. Oh, yes, there would be talking. "The kids, even the older ones, are one thing. But that's three X-Men - four, if you count Tabitha. Charles can't even find Nathan."
Each name was like another drop in the sea of guilt Ororo already felt; the icy tone of Scott's voice was enough to send a chill through her. She tried to keep a composed expression, though it was difficult to meet the eyes of anyone sitting around the table right then. So many missing - students, staff, team - and the responsibility rested firmly on her shoulders. Though she had accepted that, the gesture hadn't come with any startling revelations with how to deal with the situation. For now she kept quiet, waiting to see if anyone had any suggestions at all.
"Dere's no way dis is just Belladonna and de Guild. Dey don't have de resources for something dis large, 'specially not wit'out an obvious benefit." Remy turned over the situation in his head. They'd been looking for leads every since they'd noticed Amanda had disappeared, and the call from the mansion that had brought him and Wisdom over still didn't give them all the answers. "Dis going to have to be Selene's people. Hellfire Club and de Black Court have links to de New Orleans Guilds from way back. 'donna be de face we've seen, but she's got to just be on contract. Looks like de cult is as big as we feared, even wit'out Selene."
"So, two jobs to do: find the missing, and stamp on whoever's behind this. What're our options like for making these lumps of rock traceable? That ought to lead us to the organ grinder. Anyone got any monkey hunting ideas?" Pete glanced round the room.
"We've still got Alarune under surveillance. If dese stones are for de same ritual dat we saw in Brazil, he'll likely be involved."
"Unless he was able to gather immense resources in the short time since we last encountered him, there are bound to be more powerful players involved," Ororo spoke up. "And the sheer numbers it has taken to strike at so many points means that our own resources will be spread out, which is likely just how they want it." She paused, dropping her eyes back to the table and steeling herself for what she had to say next. "We must turn over the stones, however. Both to trace to the root of the problem, and to rescue our students. There is no other option."
"So," Scott said, when Ororo stopped, taking up the thread of the conversation smoothly. "We need a way to discreetly track them, when they're handed over. Technological trackers could be detected too easily, and I'm not sure what else could be whipped up on short notice." He smiled thinly. "In other circumstances I'd say the cult isn't a priority in comparison to getting our people back, but let's make sure this time that they don't have the ability to do this again before we piss them off."
"Looks like Alarune is our first step. We might be able to paint an RFID chip on to de stones as well. Doesn't react until you actively attempt to reach even. If dey find it and remove it, it's de kind of thing dey going to expect from us." Remy shook his head. "If we don't, dey could suspect dat we've got one or dem identified already."
"Last I checked, RFID's got a range measured in meters at best, but maybe Forge has come up with something in his lab recently. OK, let's see if we can turn Alarune over, get some idea find out who he's working with. Meanwhile, we hope to god these bastards are either stupid or overconfident enough to miss us tracking the stones." Pete scowled. "Are we missing anything blindingly obvious, here?"
"Nothing that will help us," Ororo said, her tone of voice just this shy of defeated. "Let us begin our preparations... we do not have much time."
"Remy get de others on Alarune and Wanda and 'Yana on de stones. If dey can figure out what dese things are going to be used for, maybe we'll have a better idea where dey going to take dem." Remy got up from his chair. He'd already noticed Ororo's mood, but right now, there were too many lives at stake to take time for it. He trusted her to put it aside until they finished. "Let's do de job."
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