X-Men Mission: Amid These Storms: Roundtable

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

A group of X-Men discuss the information that Remy has sent them.



The X-Men's briefing room had always seemed chilly. Like the hallways, the room was sheathed in steel, dominated by a long conference table and the holographic 3D imager used to develop deployment plans. The main computing centre was here as well; a huge system interlinked with all of the information gathering and cross indexing that minds like Hank McCoy and John Forge could develop. The database held more information on mutants, mutation, and methods to react to them than any one place in the world, and the value was beyond compare.

The mutants seated around the table looked as somber and serious as the room. The information that Remy LeBeau had provided them painted a grim picture for them. Someone was paying money for mutants on the open market, and it was possibly connected with the disappearance of the two Genoshan teenagers over a month ago. The possibility that an entire nation was supporting a mutant smuggling operation was daunting.

"So, those are the details the Snow Valley group put together. This Bulat character would 'acquire' young mutants, regardless of their powers, and then leave a message for his supplier via this number. The number goes to an international rerouting system, so it's impossible to trace where it starts from or terminates to." Kane read from the file. "The only reason that it's remarkable is that this same number was the last number dialed on the hotel phone in the Genoshan kids' room and from the bedrooms in several kidnappings and disappearances in the US."

Sam rubbed his chin as Kane read aloud from the file. He grimaced at the mention of the number being impossible to trace; of course it was, that'd make it too easy if they'd been able to follow it back to its source. "And there's no way to narrow down its location at all, I suppose?" Even being able to whittle their options down to a single continent would be better than nothing.

Scott leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on the interwoven fingers of his hands, he held the pose for a few moments before he turned to look at Sam. "If Remy couldn't find the source then I think we have to assume it is completely untraceable." He sighed before sweeping his gaze over his teammates sitting at the table, "We can't let this go on" he exclaimed angrily, "any thoughts on how we can stop them?"

Lorna's arms were crossed with one hand come just under her chin as she listened to her teammates. "If we cannot trace it then maybe - and I hate to say this- we set bait for the kidnapper." She was seeing little else they could do if they couldn't trace the number.

Mouth set in a grim line, Paige nodded in agreement without pause; it was obviously what she had been thinking as well. "I don't like it, but we have to assume we have more training than the average mutant they are targeting. And hopefully more back-up. We have enough younger full team members without resorting to trainees."

"I can call for some SHIELD backup." Kane said. "Mutant trafficking is their area and whoever does come into the trap is going to be part of all of this. Having a big agency supporting us would help. Even if it does mean dealing with the green plague."

Terry snorted at Kane's reference to their beloved Agent Brand. She sat in her chair with one foot drawn up, and an arm looped around her knee. "Standard baiting tactics then? Leak a story, give just enough information to identify them, keep a tracker on them?"

"A couple preferably, eyes on the ground and in the sky. I could provide the latter." The more people they had to keep an eye on things the better, Sam figured. "As much as it might hurt us to admit, having SHIELD back us up will help with that as well, I reckon."

Scott nodded reluctantly, "I guess it can't hurt to have Shield along" he agreed. He rested his hands on the cool table as he paused thoughtfully, "We'll probably also want to put a few teams on the ground to cover all the routes in and out. We don't want anyone getting away from us."

"We could use all the help we can get." Lorna said, in regards of the SHIELD involvement. "Who do we get to be the bait?"

"Laurie, Yvette, maybe Janet? Basically, full team that can pass for under the drinking age, I figure," Paige answered. "I'd vote for Yvette, her training sessions have been stellar lately. Heck, I'll put on some ill fitting clothes and adopt an improper obsession with my cellphone, if we need to." She paused, looking around the room. "What?"

"It's just we know it's not much of an act for you, Kentucky." Kane said, leaning forward on his forearms. "Not impugning the abilities of my fellow X-Men, but anyone who gets used as bait is going to be at the thin edge of the wedge if things go bad unexpectedly fast. I don't have a better idea, but there is a risk involved here."

Terry's smile was small for the joke. She looked at the others and bit the inside of her lip before throwing out, "Can we double up? Give whoever is on the ground a partner?"

"That's not a bad idea, better than having them go in alone anyway. It should still work just as well if there's a pair as opposed to just one person." Sam rubbed his chin, thinking over what Terry had suggested. "I don't see why not, anyway." He turned to Scott to see what he thought about that idea.

Scott nodded slowly, "It's the best chance we've got." he agreed. "Garrison is right though, whoever is acting as bait could be in big trouble if anything goes wrong. I think Terry's idea would help a lot, if we can put two people in they can at-least watch one another's back until the other teams can reach them. With our teams and SHIELD deployed in the area we should be able to minimize the risk in the mission."

"Sounds like a plan - even if it is risky." Lorna said sitting up straight. "And need be someone could always watch from the skies." Lorna didn't like the idea better than the next person, but she saw little option on catching these bad guys and bring an end to their kidnapping spree. "If nothing else can be said, we should start putting our plan into action, or another mutant might end up missing."

"Guess all that's left is organizing the pairs and bringing them in," "Paige said, somewhat resigned.