X-Men Mission: Lone Sentinel 1
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xp_logsThe X-Men scramble at the request of SHIELD regarding an attack by Magneto and the Brotherhood on a government facility.
The X-Men scrambled quickly, moving to the Blackbird even while Scott was still on the phone with Agent Coulson. They had reliable intelligence that the Brotherhood was moving on a DARPA facility, and with the Avengers dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake in Pakistan, there was nothing that SHIELD had ready to blunt the assault. More importantly, their intel said that the attack was being led by Magneto himself. The man hadn’t been seen in years and considering his age, most had assumed his days in the field were over. The chance to stop the Brotherhood and recapture Magneto was far too great to ignore, and the largest X-Men team deployed in years strapped themselves in. Scott transferred the call over to the comms so they could get as much intel out of Coulson as possible.
There were few names in the world that commanded more infamy, more respect than that of Magneto, the man had been fighting for his beliefs, for his goals despite the opinion of the world, the names and threats levied against him for decades. Since Charles had recruited him Scott had clashed with the man time and time again and had rarely come off the better for the engagements. The brown-haired man hadn't even thought about it when SHIELD contacted them, fingers sounding the alarm, sending out an alarm even as he was talking to Phil Coulson on the line, quickly transferring the call over to comms so the rest of the team could hear as he tugged his suit into place.
"You're on with the team, Coulson, what can you tell us about the Brotherhood? How many of them have come out for the attack today?"
"Not sure. Our people sighted Magneto, Toad, and Blob. Past that, I couldn't tell you. He EMPed the facility on the way on, so comms are down." The stress in his voice was obvious. It was his agents down there.
"It sounds like he doesn't want anyone to find out what they're up to," Jean said. "Whatever it is, it's big enough to get him back into the spotlight so it's likely he's not going to be going in with kid gloves. We'll try to help your agents out however we can, Phil."
She was silent for a moment. "We could probably split up. Make it easier to cover the building that way."
"Air assault and Blink-Express?" Blink mused, surveying their numbers and skillsets in her head. "Yeah, that would work pretty well, because I seriously doubt it is just those three. Even if, especially if, Bucket-head is there, too."
"It's not gonna be just them, not for this." Kyle agreed. "What's at the place they're trying to kick down? I mean we looking at like, nukes, or like, space lasers? The real Constitution? Cause I heard the one in DC's actually a fake." He ignored Scott's stern look. "I'm just saying, if we know why they're there, we have a better idea of how many people he might bring."
Jean-Phillipe had his arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders hunched forward a bit at the news that the Brotherhood was on the attack. "It is a research facility, non? That means it is something experimental. And either electromagnetic or related to mutants, to draw Erik's attention like this."
"DARPA facility. We're trying to get more information from the Pentagon, but all they are telling us is there's nothing CBRN in development there." Coulson said. "Sorry, nothing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear involved. It's all military development with no crossover with SHIELD, so it could be trying to duplicate Iron Man's armor or testing out new HUMVEE cup holder designs for all we know."
Maya had to this point been quiet, leaving it to the more experienced team members to ask the questions or make the decisions. As far as she was concerned, they could point her in a direction and she’d do what needed to be done.
“So it’s DARPA, which should mean office building, right?”
"Research lab. Two wings, two stories, and at least three levels of subbasements. We're also trying to get blueprints, but I get the feeling that there's overlapping pet projects happening, and everyone keeps kicking around who has final authority here. We're trying to escalate but the Pentagon really doesn't like us poking around their toys."
Logan snorted. "'Course not. They're more worried about savin' face, not losin' money, and tryin' to justify their budget in the end. Can't do that if some pesky people snipe what they're workin' on out from under their noses or make it hit the news when it shouldn't." He was tapping his fingers against the armrest and trying not to grind his teeth. Magneto, of all people, making a reappearance after this long could only mean big trouble was coming. He also expected the man to have contingency plans for facing whoever showed up, X-Men, SHIELD, or Avengers. "Just hope we don't walk in and find anythin' too nasty down there. Or need any serious questions answered once things are said and done.”
Betsy shuddered. Unlike most of the others, she had no experience with Magneto or his people, only knowing them from television broadcasts that led the adults around her to quickly change the channel. Facing him was not a situation that she’d ever expected to be in, and she did not want to have to worry about the government having nefarious plans on top of that. “It’ll probably just be some new weapons, maybe drones or something like that? Or something boring and technical."
"Yeah, boring and technical. Why would a secret Government lab ever have anything dangerous or against the will of the universe? I'm sure all the scientists only do the most ethical of research and nobody ever asked them to turn mice inside out or make a death ray or anything."
Maya may have just broken something, she wasn't quite sure but even she thought that maybe that level of sass had been going a little far. She was trying to do that whole 'being a better person' thing that her therapist had suggested, which meant not turning people into theoretical giblets and blood clouds because they'd decided to try and be optimistic.
"Sorry, still learning to do that 'don't be an asshole' thing. I'm sure it'll be fine."
Kurt was visibly trying not to laugh at what Maya had said but nodded to both the girls. "Likely there is some kind of weapon being worked on - or several kinds - and it may well relate to mutants or Magneto would not be here. But we are most probably not going to be told what it is... although perhaps we may see some clue along the way."
"Maybe not..." Sooraya's gaze became distant for a moment. "But if I were him... Magneto wouldn't reveal himself or even come out full if he didn't know... or even think or suspect... it would be something significant." Her gaze quickly sharpened as she refocused on the girls. "We might not be told anything, but keep your eyes open and not just for Brotherhood members."
"In the end, it doesn't matter why he's here in the first place," Scott cut in, holding one hand up in the air, "I'm sure they have all kinds of research that would interest him, but our job is to get in there and stop him before he gets to it. Once we arrive, we'll break off to try and find them, expect a lot of debris and damage so tracking him won't be the easiest thing in the world. Remember, once you find Magneto, or any member of the brotherhood, don't engage them by yourself! Call up, group up and then engage them. He's too dangerous for us to risk anyone getting hurt."
***
“So we have a lot to cover. The facility is obviously the main objective, the fact that it will be your first encounter with the X-Men is important to remember. First thing is to level part of the building right off the bat. It will provide us with cover, bypass internal security measures and leave plenty of materials for Erik to work with as needed. More than anything, we need to wave the red flag in front of the eyes of the X-Men.” The man turned to the screen and touched a button, opening up a list of X-Men and their summaries.
“With Erik in the threat picture, you can pretty much assume Cyclops will be leading this op. Fortunately, the X-Men have lost a lot of heavy hitters over the years. We don’t need to worry about family issues since Polaris and Havok are off playing Columbo or pretending to be social workers, and big guns like Namor want nothing to do with the team. Actually, half the X-Men seem to only be on the team grudgingly and part time, which means you have a big advantage in terms of mission readiness and focus over them.”
The screen shifted and a new graphic appeared. “Most likely, Cyclops will split the team in two. The first team will close with Magneto, relying on power and speed to counter any defenses. The second team, likely led by Wolverine due to his vulnerability to Magneto, will come around in a pincer move, flanking any groups that are assaulting the main body of X-Men.”
The X-Men scrambled quickly, moving to the Blackbird even while Scott was still on the phone with Agent Coulson. They had reliable intelligence that the Brotherhood was moving on a DARPA facility, and with the Avengers dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake in Pakistan, there was nothing that SHIELD had ready to blunt the assault. More importantly, their intel said that the attack was being led by Magneto himself. The man hadn’t been seen in years and considering his age, most had assumed his days in the field were over. The chance to stop the Brotherhood and recapture Magneto was far too great to ignore, and the largest X-Men team deployed in years strapped themselves in. Scott transferred the call over to the comms so they could get as much intel out of Coulson as possible.
There were few names in the world that commanded more infamy, more respect than that of Magneto, the man had been fighting for his beliefs, for his goals despite the opinion of the world, the names and threats levied against him for decades. Since Charles had recruited him Scott had clashed with the man time and time again and had rarely come off the better for the engagements. The brown-haired man hadn't even thought about it when SHIELD contacted them, fingers sounding the alarm, sending out an alarm even as he was talking to Phil Coulson on the line, quickly transferring the call over to comms so the rest of the team could hear as he tugged his suit into place.
"You're on with the team, Coulson, what can you tell us about the Brotherhood? How many of them have come out for the attack today?"
"Not sure. Our people sighted Magneto, Toad, and Blob. Past that, I couldn't tell you. He EMPed the facility on the way on, so comms are down." The stress in his voice was obvious. It was his agents down there.
"It sounds like he doesn't want anyone to find out what they're up to," Jean said. "Whatever it is, it's big enough to get him back into the spotlight so it's likely he's not going to be going in with kid gloves. We'll try to help your agents out however we can, Phil."
She was silent for a moment. "We could probably split up. Make it easier to cover the building that way."
"Air assault and Blink-Express?" Blink mused, surveying their numbers and skillsets in her head. "Yeah, that would work pretty well, because I seriously doubt it is just those three. Even if, especially if, Bucket-head is there, too."
"It's not gonna be just them, not for this." Kyle agreed. "What's at the place they're trying to kick down? I mean we looking at like, nukes, or like, space lasers? The real Constitution? Cause I heard the one in DC's actually a fake." He ignored Scott's stern look. "I'm just saying, if we know why they're there, we have a better idea of how many people he might bring."
Jean-Phillipe had his arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders hunched forward a bit at the news that the Brotherhood was on the attack. "It is a research facility, non? That means it is something experimental. And either electromagnetic or related to mutants, to draw Erik's attention like this."
"DARPA facility. We're trying to get more information from the Pentagon, but all they are telling us is there's nothing CBRN in development there." Coulson said. "Sorry, nothing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear involved. It's all military development with no crossover with SHIELD, so it could be trying to duplicate Iron Man's armor or testing out new HUMVEE cup holder designs for all we know."
Maya had to this point been quiet, leaving it to the more experienced team members to ask the questions or make the decisions. As far as she was concerned, they could point her in a direction and she’d do what needed to be done.
“So it’s DARPA, which should mean office building, right?”
"Research lab. Two wings, two stories, and at least three levels of subbasements. We're also trying to get blueprints, but I get the feeling that there's overlapping pet projects happening, and everyone keeps kicking around who has final authority here. We're trying to escalate but the Pentagon really doesn't like us poking around their toys."
Logan snorted. "'Course not. They're more worried about savin' face, not losin' money, and tryin' to justify their budget in the end. Can't do that if some pesky people snipe what they're workin' on out from under their noses or make it hit the news when it shouldn't." He was tapping his fingers against the armrest and trying not to grind his teeth. Magneto, of all people, making a reappearance after this long could only mean big trouble was coming. He also expected the man to have contingency plans for facing whoever showed up, X-Men, SHIELD, or Avengers. "Just hope we don't walk in and find anythin' too nasty down there. Or need any serious questions answered once things are said and done.”
Betsy shuddered. Unlike most of the others, she had no experience with Magneto or his people, only knowing them from television broadcasts that led the adults around her to quickly change the channel. Facing him was not a situation that she’d ever expected to be in, and she did not want to have to worry about the government having nefarious plans on top of that. “It’ll probably just be some new weapons, maybe drones or something like that? Or something boring and technical."
"Yeah, boring and technical. Why would a secret Government lab ever have anything dangerous or against the will of the universe? I'm sure all the scientists only do the most ethical of research and nobody ever asked them to turn mice inside out or make a death ray or anything."
Maya may have just broken something, she wasn't quite sure but even she thought that maybe that level of sass had been going a little far. She was trying to do that whole 'being a better person' thing that her therapist had suggested, which meant not turning people into theoretical giblets and blood clouds because they'd decided to try and be optimistic.
"Sorry, still learning to do that 'don't be an asshole' thing. I'm sure it'll be fine."
Kurt was visibly trying not to laugh at what Maya had said but nodded to both the girls. "Likely there is some kind of weapon being worked on - or several kinds - and it may well relate to mutants or Magneto would not be here. But we are most probably not going to be told what it is... although perhaps we may see some clue along the way."
"Maybe not..." Sooraya's gaze became distant for a moment. "But if I were him... Magneto wouldn't reveal himself or even come out full if he didn't know... or even think or suspect... it would be something significant." Her gaze quickly sharpened as she refocused on the girls. "We might not be told anything, but keep your eyes open and not just for Brotherhood members."
"In the end, it doesn't matter why he's here in the first place," Scott cut in, holding one hand up in the air, "I'm sure they have all kinds of research that would interest him, but our job is to get in there and stop him before he gets to it. Once we arrive, we'll break off to try and find them, expect a lot of debris and damage so tracking him won't be the easiest thing in the world. Remember, once you find Magneto, or any member of the brotherhood, don't engage them by yourself! Call up, group up and then engage them. He's too dangerous for us to risk anyone getting hurt."
***
“So we have a lot to cover. The facility is obviously the main objective, the fact that it will be your first encounter with the X-Men is important to remember. First thing is to level part of the building right off the bat. It will provide us with cover, bypass internal security measures and leave plenty of materials for Erik to work with as needed. More than anything, we need to wave the red flag in front of the eyes of the X-Men.” The man turned to the screen and touched a button, opening up a list of X-Men and their summaries.
“With Erik in the threat picture, you can pretty much assume Cyclops will be leading this op. Fortunately, the X-Men have lost a lot of heavy hitters over the years. We don’t need to worry about family issues since Polaris and Havok are off playing Columbo or pretending to be social workers, and big guns like Namor want nothing to do with the team. Actually, half the X-Men seem to only be on the team grudgingly and part time, which means you have a big advantage in terms of mission readiness and focus over them.”
The screen shifted and a new graphic appeared. “Most likely, Cyclops will split the team in two. The first team will close with Magneto, relying on power and speed to counter any defenses. The second team, likely led by Wolverine due to his vulnerability to Magneto, will come around in a pincer move, flanking any groups that are assaulting the main body of X-Men.”
