Reavers, part 1

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

3:12 am, March 1. Westchester, NY.

Moments before the covert invasion begins, the Reavers go over the plan


“You understand the mission parameters?" the accented voice demanded. Behind thin glasses, the engineer nodded, tucking his laptop under his arm. “Repeat them back to me," the voice insisted.

“Gain access to the facility, follow Marshall down to the sub-level as indicated. Get into the Cerebro chamber, do a raw data image from the files, get out. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve done this, Mister Cabrera." Mitchell Tanner brushed a hand through his thinning hair. With a triple degree in electronics engineering and computer sciences, he’d nevertheless found work hard to come by since the dot-com boom. One simple hack into a Swiss bank to make his life easier, and he’d gained the attention of the kind of people who, while not making his life easier, were certainly making it more profitable.

“You stay by Prettyboy’s side, the whole way, cabron," Cabrera’s voice spoke from the darkness. “No detours, no questions. Reavers give an order, you take it like it’s the word of the Lord on high. We clear, engineer?"

Tanner nodded, clenching his jaw to stop the quivering that the larger man inspired. “Clear."

Cabrera moved out of the shadows, looking to the assembled men before him. Flak jackets were fastened, weapons were locked and loaded, gear was taped down silently. He blinked, and a status menu popped into his field of vision. Linked into every member of his team of Reavers, he ran a check down the list of their cybernetics and the status shone green on all systems.

“We have our orders," he hissed over their integrated comlinks. “We get in and Prettyboy hacks the entry security. Squads Charlie, Delta, and Echo run quick in-and-out cloverleaf watch patterns, you know the layout. Foxtrot team – Reese, I want you, Macon, and Cole up on the second floor, residential level. Containment only, ese. I know you men got history with these people, but I also know you’re professionals, we clear?"

“Clear," came the response in triplicate. The three Reavers had been hand-picked for the cybernetic conversion process because of their security experience with the Hellfire Club, an employment which ended after certain mutants had staged a raid on the Club, crippling over two dozen employees.

If his face had been visible beneath the chrome skull mask that was surgically attached to his head, Cabrera would have been grinning. He looked at his two lieutenants, switching over to his command frequency.

“Marshall - Prettyboy!" he hissed, glaring over at where the black-haired cyborg was sliding a comb into his pocket. “Ain’t got time to look pretty. You ready?"

Prettyboy turned to face his leader, holding up his arms in capitulation. “No sweat, man. System ain’t been made I can’t break. Just another job, just another cool hundred thou towards getting a new chassis," he said, glancing down at his body. While an attractive man from the neck up, Prettyboy’s body was nothing more than a metal skeleton with sheathed motors and wires moving him around. Despite looking frail, the skeletal body acted as a communications antenna, making Prettyboy a walking sensor suite and radio station in one. Nodding, Cabrera turned to the squat form of Bonebreaker, a thug from the Antipodes who’d had his lower body completely replaced by a tank-tread system, silent and swift.

“You got your men, and your orders. It’s personal, but that ain’t our issue, ese. You take the boathouse, find the cripple inside, you put a bullet in his head. Contract says make it messy, you do. Clear?"

“Clear as day, Skullbuster. Clear as fuckin’ day."

Skullbuster nodded, motioning for his men to move out. In small groups they crept through the woodline until their target was visible.

1407 Greymalkin Lane. The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.


***

Remy and Lee catch the Reavers before they gain entry, and raise the alarm. Counter-ambushes are indeed afoot.



"You ever get de new data factored in from dat Sinclair?" Remy said, looking over the database.

"Yes. Don't light that." Kuk said, pointing at the cigarette in Remy's hand. "Increased the recognition factor by forty percent in the--" His voice trailed off as he focused on something over Remy's shoulder. Remy looked around to find a board starting to cascade with red rectangles.

"Lemme guess. Red means bad." Remy said, and was almost run over as Kuk shoved by him and all but vaulted into his seat. Kuk's hands flew over the keypad, bringing systems on-line.

"Multiple incursions on the grounds. I've got eight, no ten... more than ten. Moving in squads. Don't light that."

"Merde." Remy slid into the seat beside Kuk. "Perimeter defenses?"

"Not in this situation. Here," Kuk hit a few buttons. "I'm slaving the com system into your station. We're going to have to let them into the house. They're moving too fast to stop at the door." He hit another button, and the subsonic alert went off in the mansion. Every X-Man's com started screaming danger, and the camera system in front of Remy blossomed with a map and the personal indicators.

"Great." Remy clicked over the screen while he slipped on the headset. "Evac protocols in place?"

"Yes. Don't light that." Kuk snapped. "Everyone should know what to do. Just call out threats to the closest responders and dump the updated priorities to my screen."

"Guess I get a black mark if I let some of de more annoying X-Men get killed..."

"One more joke like that, and you'll join them." Kuk looked back at his panel. "Let's get to work."

***

Dazzler gets roused by the alarm and takes command.



Sub-sonics determinedly trying to vibrate her jaw right out of her skull, Alison decided, was not the best of ways to wake up. Particularly not when one ended up falling out of the bed from trying to get away from whatever was attempting to drill a hole through bone like that. One hand resting on her cheek, she rolled to her feet - and then lunged for the night table, one hand swiping up the comm unit there.

#Central, perimeter alarms are howling. Page all on location X-Men, verify evac alarms are go!#

#We in de middle of it, chere.# Remy's voice came loud and clear over her com, a rough shock from the expected one from Lee. #Got at least ten at de edge of de mansion, penetrating now. De perimeter is overrun.#

#No one bothers to actually knock first, do they?# Alison muttered aggrievedly, securing her comm in place. Huh. Clothing might be a good idea at that too, since it seemed she had a little time for that at least. #Evacuation is in progress, right? All exits for the kids secure still?#

Remy looked over to Kuk, who gave him a thumbs up. #Guess so. Kuk's clearing out his firing lines now.# Remy thumbed the record option for Blaire's closest camera. #'less you ready to fight in de nude, you still got 'bout two hundred seconds before anyone in range. You able to handle single contact?#

#Can do,# she replied. Her jogging gear is what was closest and Alison slipped on the pants and tank top in record time, shoes following a heartbeat later. #Anyone else conf-#

#Jetstream, confirm. Heading to assigned spot. Got any hostiles for me?# Even as Haroun's voice came online, a few more filtered through, each reporting on their location.

#Locations unconfirmed as of yet.# Beyond some apparently being in the mansion. Alison headed towards the door to her room, waiting for the report from the security command center. #Going down to secondary location.#

Alison was cut off, someone over-riding the command channel to speak to them both. Apparently Remy had passed on to briefing another team - she paused, one hand resting on the door leading out of her room, eyes wide in the dark and listening for any sound that might be overheard Lee's voice.

#Intruders confirmed. Estimated ten to thirteen, visual confirmation still ongoing. Military-grade gear. All seem to be cybernetically enhanced.# A pause, and Lee continued calmly. #Jetstream, incoming near your location, fifteen feet and closing in fast.#

"Jetstream, confirm. I am hunting. Engaging hostile now." Haroun's comm signal switched off at that, only to be replaced by someone else near instantly. Alison raised an eyebrow at that, taking over the command channel, hand turning the knob of the door slowly.

#Jetstream. No kill engagement. Capture or rout only. Confirm.# She had a fair idea of what the reply would be.

#Central, come again? Capture or rout only? May as well use harsh langua - OOF!#

#I repeat. No kill.# There was no response to that this time, though she hadn't expected any. By now the report had filtered down to all team members, she knew. Taking a moment she confirmed all known locations of the intruders and tagged a few of the present team members to them, and then opened to door to her room, slipping into the still darkened hallways. Everything was dead silent around her - the only break in her comm signal that of Doug coming online to confirm two of the evacuation areas as being occupied and sealed. A glance at the beeper at her waist revealed a small blipping light. Miles' signal was still steady.

#Cable here,# Nathan's voice came. #I'm on the third floor.#

#Jetstream is engaging one of the intruders. If you have no company, fall back on the secondary meet point.#

#No company. I can't pin them down properly.# There was an edge of definite frustration in Nathan's voice. #I'll see you at the meet point.#

#All clear in my area so far.# Sub-vocalizing the brief report for security, Alison padded down the hallway, staying close to the wall. One by one, each team member was finding someone to occupy themselves with, judging from the reports from security. Remy's voice added itself to the mix, the task of feeding information to the active team members flawlessly split between the two men now in the security room.

#Storm here. Remy informs me the house is covered. Aerial and outside grounds are now covered as well.#

#Confirmed. Let us know if you need back-up.#

#Oh, I'm doing fine here so far. Spotted a helicopter not too far away.# There was a pause. #It would be nice if someone had a t-shirt for me or something, when I come down from up here, after we're done with them.#

There was a distinctly strangled sound from someone listening in on the command channel.

#Got you covered.# Alison actually found herself snickering for a moment. #Don't fry their heli just yet?#

She grinned in the darkness.

#I have a plan.#

***
Out for a jog at 0-dark-thirty, Jubilee gets the alert and reacts


Jubilee looked up at the mansion gates in surprise, she hadn't realized she had come this far. She'd taken to early morning jogs before Tai Chi, a habit she'd somehow picked up from Paige, not that she'd ever tell her roommate that. It was part of the somewhat draconian schedule she'd set for herself exercise wise to get back into shape after her various injuries. Another couple of weeks and she'd be able to settle back a bit but for now, she'd keep forcing herself up at horrible hours of the morning.

She'd just turned around to go back when her cellphone buzzed against her hip.

It was the warning signal, and it meant that despite the obvious tranquility of her surroundings, something major was up. There was a bunker near here, that she remembered, a bolt hole for when you were caught outside the main evacuation areas if trouble should come a calling.

She headed for it now, not bothering to take the time to silence the cellphone's buzz. She'd stop and deal with it once she hit the tree line and some cover. Right now, no amount of silence would help her if they came across her here, out in the open. The bunker should be just beyond the tree line, disguised as a rock outcropping and currently covered in snow. She hoped the door wasn't frozen over.

She could hear voices as she hit the tree line, and she ducked behind a bush, her breathing controlled as she waited for whoever it was to move off. The voices may have belonged to friend rather then foe but right now she couldn't take that chance. Her first thought was to follow the emergency procedures that had been drilled into them by her teachers. Once she was in the bunker, she'd use the emergency line to let everyone know she was safe, and then it would be a waiting game.

She didn't want to go and hide. She wanted to head for the main house and help take out whoever had decided to attack them this time. But she was aware enough to know that her striding in, powers blazing was more then likely to get someone killed. It was a hard thought for her, that the best way to protect her friends was to find the bolt hole and stay put.

The voices had moved on now, it should be safe to move. She peered around the bush that had been hiding her, her ears picking up the animal noise starting back up now that whoever it had been was gone. They'd stop again once she moved, she just hoped that whoever they were wouldn't notice.


***
Off-campus when the alert comes in, Wanda makes a break to get back as fast as possible.

When the beeper went off, Wanda was nose deep in a book on the college
campus. She'd spent most of the day there working on her project for
the Cambridge scholars—hell, most of the week—and it was a startling
way to pitch back into reality, and three in the morning was one of the only times to actually get to the books without the constant rush of students. Grabbing for her hip, she yanked the beeper up and cursed.

An all alert. She had to get back to the mansion. Grabbing her
jacket and Scott's motorcycle helmet, Wanda darted out of the back
room. "There's an emergency," she said to one of the night librarians who
saw her every day. "Can I leave my things, I will be back later to
pick them up…?"

Barely waiting for the man's nod and she was out the doors of the
library, taking the steps down two at a time in her haste. More than
a few people had to dodge out of her way as she ran, tugging on her
jacket to ward off the wind when she got on the bike.

***

Heading to the medlab to lock down the computers, Madelyn runs into trouble, and Hank comes to her rescue


As she left Moira and Hank, Madelyn dug her phone out
of her pocket and hit the speed dial number for
Security - they ought to know where she was headed,
after all. And she wouldn't mind knowing if she was to
expect any visitors... "Cook? It's Madelyn. I'm headed
back to the medlab to lock down the files since Hank
can't."

"Dis is Cajun Pizza. You want it, we stole it." Remy
said absently into the mic as he switched screens, Kuk
moving beside him. He'd dumped the coms over to Remy
since only Kuk had a solid handle on the internal
systems.

Madelyn nearly stopped dead in surprise, but recovered
quickly. "Good to see you being useful," she replied,
skirting a puddle of water on the floor of the
evacuation tunnel. "Moira and Hank are clear, heading
for the boathouse with a couple of the smaller kids we
had in medlab with the 'flu, but I need to do the
lockdown. Any surprises I should know about?"

"Lower levels are about fifty seconds from being
breached. How long dat going to take you, Madelyn?"
Remy checked the overheads and leaned back to Kuk,
whispering a question to Kuk that Madelyn couldn't
hear.

"Crap," Madelyn muttered under her breath, picking up
her pace to a jog. "I'm about five seconds from
reaching the lab..." And there was the door ahead of
her - she paused before opening it, listening for
footsteps or movement. "All clear so far," she
murmured into the phone a bit quieter. "The lock down
will take me at least a minute... Any distractions you
can provide would be lovely."

Kuk just nodded to Remy's unspoken request, and LeBeau
turned back to the com. "Maybe got you another minute,
chere. Bring your gun dis time?"

"Ha-ha, Le Beau. It's in the gunsafe in my room, where
it usually is. I might be able to get at the tranq
guns down here..." As she spoke, Madelyn was hurrying
as quietly as she could towards Hank's office.
Reaching it, she locked the door behind her and moved
to the desk. "Okay, starting the lockdown now."

"Get out as soon as you can. Dese guys are good." Remy
said, signing off with her.

"They always are," Madelyn muttered to herself,
tucking the phone in her pocket as she began typing in
the sequence to lock down the computer files.

***