Don't Close Your Eyes: Breach

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

The mansion is compromised by a group of men who somehow know just the right way to get in.



Jean always loved Friday mornings. It meant it was a day until the weekend and, in most cases, the prospect for fun. Classes had been over for a little while for the regular school year but she had been giving the occasional summer school class to those who had failed her class or didn't do as well as they would've hoped. But today she was on medlab duty, finishing up on adding to the file of a couple of people who had had their annual physicals.

Warren was having some sort of Fourth of July trip that weekend that most of the students had gone on. Had she not been swamped with work and catching up on adding to some old mission reports she might've gone with them. But as it stood she was settling for watching fireworks from the mansion that weekend.

Monet was also the quiet of the morning, now that her two single, solitary classes for the semester were over. She wasn't scheduled to work in at the Elpis office today and had instead settled in at the desk in her room, papers and laptop out. At some point soon, she'd wander outside, get a coffee and maybe continue on her efforts to spontaneously develop photosynthesis.

Despite having moved out of the mansion, now that Amara was on her summer break she'd been making a point of taking the occasional trip back to the mansion. Sometimes it would be for her occasional X-Men training session, though it was more often to spend time riding Mallesan. It was a skill she didn't want to lose, and it was something she enjoyed spending time doing. She'd already been out this morning, and was now back indoors to shower and change before she thought about heading back to Manhattan. There was no hurry, since she wasn't expected at Elpis today, so she was taking her time.

Hank was, of course, down in his private laboratory, tinkering with a new model for Artie's speech machine. An idea had struck him in a dream and had born fruit as science roused him from his bed in the early hours of the morning. Disheveled, he felt more of a beast than a man as he soldered a final connection onto the device. Dousing the soldering pen, he smiled toothily and removed his welding goggles. Smiling down at his work, he knew that today would be an excellent day for science.

~*~

One photograph taken with a long-distance lens was just enough, on the far side of 'just enough' to get him a location to teleport in. He wasn't happy about it, because it was poor planning. They could've gotten something better, he'd laid out a few ideas himself but no, they didn't want to 'risk' it. Whatever, as long he got paid.

Markham took one more good look at the photograph, bit the inside of his mouth to get the little bit of adrenaline he needed, grabbed Vince by the shoulder and popped out, the displaced air actually making a few popping sounds as they left. Teleporting in didn't make the same noise. Air was pushed out, it ruffled curtains and blinds and hair, but never made the popping nose. They landed a little heavily inside the room in the photograph - someone's dorm room, he'd guessed, and Markham released his traveling-partner and leaned heavily against the wall as he slipped a mask over his mouth and nose.

"Get going. I need to recover before I go back for the rest."

Vince nodded once and took off. A map had been drawn for him, literally, to get him where he needed to be. This whole job put him on the wrong side of twitchy but there wasn't much choice involved here. It was better not to think about it at all, really. In the halls it was easier, but when he passed what looked like a classroom it felt like someone suddenly dropped a lead weight in his stomach. Lucy. They have Lucy so suck it up already.

An office lined with bookcases waited for him near the end of his destination. It was easy for the technopath to bypass the security panel courtesy of the code his blackmailer had pulled out of someone's head. An entire bookcase swung open to let him through to the small security room. He knew there was a larger one somewhere, but this was the only place he could set off the gas he'd been told. It was a matter of moments at the desk before he figured out the set up through a combination of his powers and computer engineering skill. Not more than five minutes after he'd gotten in the mansion's knock out gas was starting to filter through the vents.

"Weapons can always be turned against you," he muttered to himself a bit sadly. He really hoped there weren't as many kids in this place as it looked like there could be. Minutes passed as the gas spread out through the mansion in a veil of smoke. In bathrooms, bedroom, offices, and work areas, people dropped like flies with barely little warning. The gas was quick and effective.

Markham teleported out as soon as he could - a little sooner than he probably should have, but a little dizziness never really hurt anyone. He could take a longer break once he had everyone inside, they wouldn't need him as urgently then.

His appearance was met with barely a glance, and until he cracked his neck and back and then walked towards the rest of his 'passengers', they didn't even acknowledge him. "Grab on tight, gotta have the pressure to bring you along." he said curtly. Maybe they didn't need to be reminded but he didn't know them well enough to be sure. "Don't even think about letting go until we're there." He didn't need to get his heart racing this time, he just steadied himself and popped out.

The group reappeared back in the mansion, gas masks on for a few minutes afterward to negate any lingering effects. A large, tanned man with his head shaved bald and various tattoos peeking out from under his shirt looked around. He paused a moment, as if listening to some unseen person, then smiled down at the prone, red-haired doctor on the floor of the Medlab. He grabbed her by the hair, slinging her over his shoulder.

"Gentlemen, let's start taking them all to the Danger Room. It's gonna be a busy day."