xp_logs | Genosha: The Unwritten Alliance: A Break For It (Reply)

There is a meeting at Xavier's to determine what they should do.

The mood in the briefing room was grim. The school and the extended community of Xavier's had faced danger before. They'd bested mansion invasions, hostage crises, and X-Men missions that bordered on one way suicide trips. But never had anyone so powerful moved as effectively as Genosha had, or as openly. Twenty-one people had been kidnapped, including the entire on-campus student body. To add to it, the Genoshan ambassador had known the X-Men by name, the school's origins with Lensherr, and secrets that they had thought buried. The message from the ambassador had been as bold as their kidnapping; any interference in Genoshan activities would be paid for by their hostages. If Xavier toed the line, they might release them slowly. Overnight, the Professor seemed to have aged, concern cutting deep fissures in his face. It effected them all, but to him, it would always be his responsibility first and foremost.

At the table, neat piles of documents and print-outs had been arranged, representing everything that they knew about their foe. It wasn't much, and Remy had been almost apologetic when he'd passed it out. The next fifteen minutes had seemed like hours, silently looking over the thin clues, trying to see if there was something that could change the pessimistic appraisal of their situation. Unfortunately, the solution wasn't in the pages in front of him. Finally, Remy put down his documents.

"Dere's de possibility of some older British networks still active on de island. I sent an email to Betts to look into it. But, for now, dis is all we've got. Genosha's been very good at being mostly ignored; quietly prosperous, as bland and neutral a foreign policy as possible - de fucking Canada of de African continent, until you find out 'bout de mutants."

"We are all agreed, I suppose?" Kurt asked quietly. "That there can be no conceding to such terms just for a 'might'?"

"No one takes our people and gets away with making the rules," Vanessa commented, tone icy and even as she looked over what information LeBeau and his people had gathered. "No one takes our kids and demands compliance. This is not a question of 'if' but 'how.'" When she looked up her eyes first went to her partner beside her, then her former teammates and Munroe. She looked over the four X-Men and Charles all in turn, taking in small worry lines and body language. "We don't know where they've got our people or where to start looking and they're so insulated no one else seems to have anything useful either." She lifted the thin report to punctuate her point. "So, barring Braddock coming back with anything, what we need right now if information. And I think the only way we get it is to go in ourselves or get others to do the same for us."

Scott's hands clenched tightly as he glared at the reports on the table, his head nodded slowly as Vanessa spoke. "You're right, they don't get away with this," he agreed, barely suppressed anger evident in his voice. "If no--one else has anything on them I don't think we can count on the British having anything more. We're going to need to do this ourselves."

Lorna put two fingers at the bridge of her nose, "We should be focusing right now on how to get the kids out. Getting information will just delay us and by that time we do have solid information, they might have already moved them. Granted that we have to be careful because if we are caught or if they catch wind of what we are doing, it will just make it that much harder. What options do we have right now to deal with this situation?" She looked around the room.

"We don't know where they are being kept so we can't focus on getting them out," Vanessa pointed out as calmly as possible. They did actually do intel gathering in the X-Men, didn't they? "We need to get in and get information, such as where they are. I would love to know what plan you'd like to propose we begin crafting before we know where to aim an assault. Currently we not only don't know where the kids and the others are being kept but we don't know what sort of forces we'd be coming up against. We don't know their numbers, their training or what sort of weaponry they are wielding. There are no options until we find out all of that. The best way to do that is to get people into the country. Preferably people sitting around this table, such as those with experience in espionage?"

"That is why you are here, to lend us your expertise." Charles' voice was as tired and beaten as his expression. "Obviously they will be watching the mansion and its residents, but you..." His gesture encompassed both the X-Factor and X-Force people. "You are not 'on the radar', as it were."

Emma tapped diamond fingernails lightly on the tabletop. "There are some legitimate avenues available for those of us who aren't as obviously aligned with Charles. There are business opportunities available to Frost Enterprises in Genosha at the moment. Large enough to justify my personal attendance and a small entourage at least. I could probably get four or five people in with me."

Charles wheeled his chair away from the table slowly, turning it so that he had his back to them all. The slump of his shoulders, the bowed head... they spoke volumes of the turmoil inside him. It was a moment of uncertainty that few there had every actually seen.

"I started this school as a safe place," he said at last. "A place to learn and grow. And over the years, that safety has been compromised, again and again. I have seen my students abducted, tortured, broken... and some have died." The image of Sofie Stepford lying on the floor of the Danger Room, blood leaking from her ears and nose, came unbidden to the minds of those watching. "I know this situation is my doing. In my desire to make the world a safer place, in my hubris in thinking I could change the world, I made the school a target. And now, it is the youngest of us that are paying the price."

He stopped speaking them, lowering his forehead onto his hands, a heavy sigh escaping him. Just as it seemed he would not speak again, he continued, his voice heavy:

"These people will not return our people to us willingly. They intend to make an example of them, and I cannot let them bear the brunt of the punishment I have earned." He looked over his shoulder at the group assembled at the table. "Please, bring my children home."

Jean stared at the Professor, closing her eyes when the image of Sophie flashed across her mind. She still felt some responsibility for the girl's death and the situation at the mansion but calling up old ghosts did nothing. They had to focus on the present and do what they could to save those in the here and now.

She rose and walked to the window, putting her hand on the professor's shoulder. "Charles, you can't blame yourself. What Genosha is doing to its own people is wrong. They know it, otherwise they wouldn't be trying to cover it up," she said. She turned toward the group.

"The Genoshans would not have taken the children and the others if they didn't think we were a threat. They're afraid of us. They struck first because they know that we are a danger to them. They want to scare us into silence and inaction. I agree with the others. I believe is just an attempt to get us to comply. I have serious doubt they will return them alive. Going in to get them is a risk I think we will unfortunately need to take," Jean said.

The idea of that risk was something that disquieted her. These were her students, people she cared for. The prospect of potential harm, of death, was not something she took lightly. But it was a choice they had to make, the lesser of two evils.

"We've been through hell before more times than I care to think about. But we got through it. We will again this time. We cannot put ourselves at the mercy of tyrants. We will get them back. "

"Inspiring words aside, jails stand out. A jail meant to keep upset mutants out so they can't get the upset mutants inside should stand out more. We should focus on an aerial view of urban areas for above ground structures. A jail like this above ground and outside a city will be easy to spot. An underground facility would be problematic." Bishop tried to offer a bit more focus to the conversation. "Once we have a list of likely places we can check them out once we're in country by focusing on window size, vehicle accommodation, and exit route security. Maybe someone can find a list of utilities consumption for the country. Jails consume more water than any other place I've ever been."

"Unless it's part of a larger facility or de kind of specialized cells dat are here in de mansion. I don't know if dere footprint would be distinguishible if it's just de twenty kidnappees kept there." Remy sighed. "Dere's a larger question dat we been dancing 'round. Dey know 'bout de X-Men. Enough to identify several missions. And in de time between de disappearance and dat Ambassador showing up, it's highly unlikely dat dey got all dat from one of our people. If dey know 'bout de X-Men, what else do dey know?" The nightmare scenario was that they had full dossiers, and all that X-Force and X-Factor would accomplish would be to add to the total number of hostages.

"More than we'd like them to, almost certainly," Ororo replied grimly. If they knew the X-Men, they would know her and the others that had started there to go on elsewhere, and those avenues were wide and long-reaching. The Genoshans could very well have eyes on all of them, and they would be none the wiser until they took a step in the wrong direction. "But those of us now outside the mansion are still the best assets we have in this; certainly if we are hoping to gather information on the ground, which from all the signs it looks like we must do, and soon. At the very worst we can serve as a distraction, divide their attention and resources while you attempt an extraction."

"At the worst you could be captured too, and the whole mission would fail," Scott pointed out. He sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry Ororo, I didn't mean it like that but," he gestured to the files spread across the table, "they've been a step ahead of us all this time. And now this, I hate feeling so helpless." His gaze swept across his colleagues gathered around the table, "I honestly don't have a better idea and it sounds like we have the beginnings of a workable plan here. If you can get us the information we need we'll get the kids back." He stopped and threw an apologetic look at the Professor, "What do we do about the trainees? As much as I want to protect them as well, these are their friends we're talking about. We can't just ask them to abandon them, they'd probably end up sneaking off and getting themselves into more trouble."

"This is a situation where we are pressed to the limits of our resources," Charles replied. "We will need every person available."

"If dis is going to work, we need to be able to hit dem hard and fast, and disappear just as quickly." Remy didn't get into just how dangerous it was that Genosha had the intelligence on them. That would be an issue for another time. "We'll transfer Sarah back to de mansion for de assault. Wit' her powers, dere's too much risk trying to get her into the island covertly. She can coordinate our intel back to you. Do you have a training module on pulling twenty people out of a secure facility quickly?"

"Not precisely, but I can make or adapt one fairly fast," Kurt said confidently, then broached something else he'd been thinking about. "Also, I have access to more people who would help us. They are not exactly trained to the level of anyone in this room, but even leaving my brother and sister out of it, almost every gypsy in Europe would do what I asked for this. And many of them have no personal tie to me that could be discovered."

Lorna listened, she was lost at words at the moment. Everything they were saying had a point but it was also dangerous. Looking over at Kurt, "Gypsies?" Thinking about it. "They do have a habit of getting in and out of places without being seen or heard. But how can they help?"

"Gaining information we do not have, which is a great deal," he suggested. "Or even just helping to sow chaos to distract attention away from us."

"We should be careful who else we draw in. If we targets, dey could be made to be." Remy cautioned. This wasn't like India, where they knew there was the tacit support to end the war from both inside and outside. This was going up against a nation state alone. "`ro`is right. We need to get on de ground dere as soon as possible. Vanessa, your crew might be best coming in wit`us.`

"Lucas and I are our crew." There was a touch of something in her voice, perhaps sadness or concern, when Vanessa relayed that point. "Though Callisto's helped on a handful of investigations and I do live with her so I'm sure she can be conscripted easily enough. The rest of X-Factor, however, vanished with the kids." The metamorph shared a brief look with her partner before saying, "But we're in, you know that."

Bishop nodded to Vanessa, his agreement silent for a moment. "I don't think there are many mutants in the world that can't be connected with this place but mine aren't very obvious. I might be able to fly under the radar better than most."

"I may have a way for you and I to enter without too much scrutiny being cast upon us," Ororo told him then. "The more avenues we can seed with our people the greater our chances of success. Especially if we appeal to their commercial and capital ventures."

Emma returned her full attention back to the conversation going on in the room, away from the short, sharp telepathic conversation she had been having with Xavier. She was willing to accept that her use of the terms "histrionic" and "dramatics" may have had something to do with exactly how short and sharp that conversation had been, but it had matched the serious caution that Remy had been broadcasting. And when it came down to it, Emma had to accept that she tended to trust Remy's assessment of the levels of dangers more than she was willing to trust Charles'. "Perhaps," she said, "in the circumstances, it may be best for me not to make any of my people a target. I think I may just take Mr Ramsey and find a way to enter Genosha without it being known that we are there. Once we are in, we both have ways to collect information that should keep us off the radar and maintaining contact with everyone else is, well," Emma shrugged, "my specialty."

"It sounds feasible," Scott agreed, "but be careful. If you think can get in there safely and get us the information we need then it sounds like we have a plan." He didn't mention that he knew no-one would back out from this fight. If there was even a small chance that they could rescue the kids then they would take it. "X-force and X-factor will find out where they're holding the kids so that the X-men have a target to attack and rescue them," he summarized. "Does anyone have anything to add to the plan?"

Bishop glanced to Vanessa, then shook his head. "We're good."

"Dis isn't a plan, Boyscout. Dis is desperation in action." Remy said sourly, but he still nodded. "We get our people together. Should have everyone inside Genosha in de next 48 hours. If dey have dossairs and are waiting for us, dat's when you'll know. Sarah will set up de communication links; she knows de contacts and de networks we'll use to get intelligence back out. I'd suggest making use of you teleporters and stealth plane in de meantime and starts to establish some rally points and emergancy caches on de island. Dis falls apart, you could have people scattered all over de place and cut off. Having an evac point will at least keep it from being a complete disaster if we screw up."

It might have sounded defeatist, but Remy wasn't about to sugarcoat how bad the situation was, and how few options they had. If it was anyone but the students, he would have argued that there was no way a plan this risky was worth it. But the Professor was right; Genosha had tied their hands, and if they didn't move now, chances are it was the last they'd ever see of them. The whole point of X-Force in the first place had been to risk their lives, make the ugly decisions so mutants like the students didn't have to, and could be free to chose how they wanted to live their lives. The kidnapping undermined everything, and odds or not, they would either get them out of Genosha, or make Genosha pay in blood to keep them.

"We must be prepared for any eventuality, even disaster." Charles' voice was more sure than it had been before, perhaps as a result of his telepathic spat with Emma. "The West Coast Annex can provide security for the school and act as our plan B. In the meanwhile, everyone with any kind of contacts in the area, get in touch and call in whatever favours are required. Any remaining students at the school will be sent to Muir, with one or two team members to assist with security." Charles' face could have been cast from stone, his eyes glittering in the shadowed sockets. "It is time to go to work."