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Post by Iceman on Jan 22, 2007 12:46:58 GMT -5
[cont. from 'Grabbing Bobby']
Bobby looked up as Warren walked in, not more than a couple minutes after they'd arrived, explaining how he'd helped Alison and asking what was going on. Assuming he hadn't read the emails, Bobby explained. "We're going to help the Men In Black get the kids out of Sombra Corp. The government wants to show off some good human-mutant elbow rubbing."
But he spoke distractedly, and his eyes were on the letter in Warren's hand, with Paige's handwriting on the front. It wasn't opened. "You, uh...you should probably wait to read that 'till after," he suggested nonchalantly. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a folded letter, gesturing with it once. His eyes fell to it, and he looked away from it as he slid it back into his pocket and adjusted his position in his seat. Just in case Warren planned to read it before the meeting started...and if it was anything like the one Bobby had gotten, now was not an opportune time to find out that Paige was gone.
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Post by forge on Jan 22, 2007 14:22:42 GMT -5
Forge walked into the War Room – a name that he personally liked, though it seemed a bit extreme for Xavier’s vision. His cybernetic leg didn’t even limp as much as it once had, and when he walked in on the three young X-Men, he did so with a stride of confidence.
He greeted the trio with a broad smile. “Good news, guys, good news. Uncle Sam has decided that after all of our controversy, the public still thinks the X-Men are good for Mutant Affairs.”
He took a seat across the others, and propped his feet up on the desk. One foot wore a heavy boot, the other one looked more like a metallic boot itself.
“Although I haven’t exactly told them the only reason we had all of the intel on Sombra was because Mystique handed it to us, they feel as if maybe they owe us one. Regardless of the reason, The Department of Mutant Affairs wants the X-Men to have a presence when they go in and pull those kids out of Sombra. It should all go down smoothly, as I doubt the company’s going to put up a military fight with Uncle Sam. Though there does remain the possibility that they just want us there in case the kids – mutant, trained killers kids – get out of hand.”
He slid a manila envelope across the desk to Bobby. “That’s all the information for the location, and the contact numbers for the DMA. They’re going to meet you at the hotel listed in there, and you three already have reservations. Also in there are the keys to a van downstairs. Sombra’s in Philly, so it should only take you guys a few hours to get there. The ride should be comfortable.”
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Post by Shadowcat on Jan 22, 2007 16:49:03 GMT -5
Kitty cringed at Bobby's hint. That would probably only build suspense. At least it would for her, but maybe guys were different. The way they thought, Warren would probably just happily forget about it until it became convenient to read.
Silly boys.
She plopped down in a chair next to Bobby across the table from Forge and made her interested face unconsciously as she snapped into classroom mode.
"Shotgun!" she said as the folder was slid across to Bobby, resisting the urge to snatch it from him and rifle through it on her own. Mysterious folders had a weird sort of draw for Kitty, mostly, she thought, because her dad's legal files had always been distinctly Off Limits as a kid, and they'd always been kept in an extremely shiny filing cabinet.
"So are we just, like, chilling at the hotel for tonight, getting the game plan down and stuff?" she asked. "Or are we getting everything done today?"
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Post by forge on Jan 22, 2007 21:43:46 GMT -5
“Well, you're actually looking at staying tomorrow evening, then handling it the day after. I figured this would give you a chance to put your best faces on for the show.” Forge responded, wiggling his metallic uni-toe.
He figured it would get them in the better mind space to have a fun night out in the hotel first, and not be cramped up in the same old mansion for a change. It'd be particularly good for Bobby, since Forge had seen Paige leaving... fully packed and ready to leave. It had been a bit upsetting to not know where she was headed, but he could only assume it was bad news. Poor Bobby. He'd have to take the kid out for some beers when he got back.
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Post by angel on Jan 22, 2007 23:13:46 GMT -5
Bobby's words just made him more curious, but then Forge was walking in and rambling about the Sombra thing.
Except that it wasn't even happening until the day after tomorrow. So why the hell had he been dragged out of bed now? For Bobby to read a file?
He was tired and cranky and after Bobby's words, the letter was practically burning a hole in his brain as he curiously tried to figure out what it was all about.
So Warren opened the letter in his hand and said, distinctly distracted, "What exactly are we there for? Just to look good? If they're expecting any trouble, you know I'm not really the hardest hitter..." He was much better for recon, aerial support, that kind of thing.
And he didn't do 'vans'. The only type of car that he could be in that was at all comfortable was a limo, since he could stretch out and not bend all his feathers - and there was a professional driver who wouldn't get him killed if he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. So he'd probably meet them down there.
But enough of that. His eyes flicked back down to the letter, which he skimmed once, blinked, went back to the start and read again, more slowly.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the FUCK? Blue eyes immediately flicked up to regard Bobby, since something had clearly happened the previous night to make Paige decide that taking off was a good idea. If it was all about the break up, then she could have left days ago... so what the hell had Bobby said to make her leave? And why hadn't she come to talk to him about it?
Looking shocked, confused, and a little upset at the fact that his best friend had disappeared without actually saying anything, Warren picked up his cellphone and flicked it open before closing it again and sliding it into his pocket. Now was not the time to call her... but shit, he hoped this meeting was going to be over quickly.
"Are we needed for much longer, or can I just take a look at that file later on?"
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Post by Iceman on Jan 23, 2007 15:17:58 GMT -5
"What exactly are we there for? Just to look good? If they're expecting any trouble, you know
I'm not really the hardest hitter..."
This was true - but Bobby couldn't help but feel a hint of annoyance at Warren's comment on only being there to look good. "What does it matter, really?" Bobby suggested, putting a hand on the file and sliding it to be in front of both him and Kitty, who had called shotgun on it. "It's not like it's looking good in the sense that we were wanted at the premiere for. It's incredibly good PR, being seen working with the government - and that kind of thing is exactly what we need right now."
'And besides, if you don't like looking good, then what do you spend hours in the bathroom primping for?'
Bobby's eyes went to the letter as he saw that Warren was reading it to himself, then to Warren's face. 'I told you not to read it yet,' he moaned silently. His eyes squeezed shut for a moment, opening once again only when his head had turned and he was looking at the file, which was not open.
He obviously wasn't paying attention to what Bobby was saying, either. Part of Bobby wanted to end the meeting just as quickly as Warren did, to talk about it with him and try and figure out what was going on. But the part of him that held the values of the X-Men above all else knew that he had to keep his mind on the task at hand. As soon as the briefing was over, they could try and figure things out. Though Paige had made things pretty simple, at least in the letter Bobby had received.
"Are we needed for much longer, or can I just take a look at that file later on?"
Bobby was just as concerned with Paige's sudden disappearance as Warren was. But Warren's complete disinterest in the duties of the X-Men was getting on Bobby's nerves. Coupled with his part in the Paige situation - for Bobby was, quite plainly, jealous of Warren. He was jealous that while Bobby was probably the last person on the planet Paige wanted to hear from, that Warren would probably be Paige's shoulder to cry on via phone when he walked out of the room and called her - which Bobby knew he'd do, from the way he brought out his phone and flipped it opened and closed. He was irked that while he and Paige had fallen apart, Warren had swooped in to be there for support - not for his support, oh, no, but for Paige's.
Bobby was glad Paige had made friends, and glad that she had made friends with Warren - both of them were great people that Bobby cared for tremendously. But Bobby had never truly given solid form to the anger in the back of his mind at the fact that Warren had somehow suddenly becoming such best friends with Paige in the two weeks Bobby was gone that Bobby felt like their years of friendship were only second-rate to Warren. And with all that had happened with Paige, especially her leaving, this jealousy and anger had begun to surface in Bobby's mind.
He kept his mouth shut, though, and tried to focus on the words on the top page of the file. It was up to Forge to tell Angel if he could go.
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Post by Shadowcat on Jan 23, 2007 15:34:29 GMT -5
Kitty bent over the file, brushing hair out of her face so she could actually read it, but the fall on one side also gave her an opportunity to cast a glance over at Warren, who was messing with his phone. Probably a bad idea to call the Corn Princess (or whatever they had beauty pageants for in Kentucky) in the middle of the meeting. And, seriously, even if it was a straightforward thing, everyone should at least pretend to be paying attention. Kitty was, though she was paying more attention to how much time they got to spend at the hotel and calculating how long she'd likely have to work on a decent tan. She'd been moping all summer, and it was drawing perilously close to its last month.
She flipped past the first page, but just about everything was schematics and the names and ranks of everyone the government would be sending, plus a mockup of a couple different press releases and hotel information. Nothing actually very interesting, though it was all probably important. She slid it back over to Bobby so he could let Warren see it and possibly get him interested in something other than Miss Appalachia.
"Cool," she said. The administration had actually shelled out for the Four Seasons Philadelphia. How cool was that? "So we're just going along for the ride, basically? Is there, like, a base plan? I mean, I assume the Sombra people have guards and stuff."
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Post by forge on Jan 23, 2007 20:32:47 GMT -5
Forge's brows furrowed, but otherwise he did his best to hide his annoyance. Whatever that letter Angel was reading had said, it was obviously shitty news. Even Angel – who didn't ordinarily sit well during meetings and had never really wanted to be an official “X-man” could listen longer than this. He regarded Angel with a level look, and shook his head. “You can catch up on it later if you'd like, everything's in the file. I just figured you guys would probably want to talk about it in person... but by all means.” He nodded at the door and gave the blonde a sympathetic smile.
Turning his attention back to Bobby and Kitty, he nodded. “They've got a plan, and for the most part I think the troops involved want us to keep out of it. I've informed them of basically what you guys can do, so they may ask for a favor or two. They have troops, and guns, and I doubt Sombra will put up a fight. My real concern is what happens should one of these kids freak out and try to attack them... There are some seriously powerful mutants in their ranks. That's what you're there for, to try and subdue the kids if things go wrong. All the government can do is pump em' full of tranqs. I'm sure between you three you should be able to come up with something better.”
He leaned back again. “Though honestly, no one's twisting your arms. If any of you ever doesn't want to go on a mission, just let me know. Otherwise just know that you'll be dealing with a Colonel Hopkins. He's pretty mutant friendly, and works with Beast on a daily basis. That doesn't mean he likes our vigilante squad, though, but I think he values our necessity.”
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Post by angel on Jan 24, 2007 6:10:21 GMT -5
"It's not like it's looking good in the sense that we were wanted at the premiere for. It's incredibly good PR, being seen working with the government - and that kind of thing is exactly what we need right now."
Was it really? Bobby had been publicly outed as a cop-killer, or not far from it, and though he'd never actually been charged, that had to have stuck in people's minds. Perhaps more so, because he'd never been charged. Considering that the government had gone so far as to deny their existence not long ago, it was probably going to look like they were all in each other's pockets now. Probably pockets that were lined with considerably more green, because how else did anyone get let off of killing a police officer without any trial?
But none of those thoughts were enough to distract him from what he'd just read. Nor were they enough to distract him from the fact that Bobby had obviously said something the night before to drive Paige away, and Warren's first thought was to call her and see what the hell had happened. It was all fine for Bobby. He had Kitty, Warren had always been second best there. And he hadn't minded. But after growing so close to Paige, he wasn't exactly going to just sit there and do nothing for the X-Men - who he really wasn't that interested in joining, as he'd made more than clear to Logan - or for Bobby to feel better about whatever it was that he'd done.
"Are we needed for much longer, or can I just take a look at that file later on?"
"Cool," [Kitty] said. "So we're just going along for the ride, basically? Is there, like, a base plan? I mean, I assume the Sombra people have guards and stuff."
It made him wonder just what was in those files, and whether any of it would be even remotely useful to him. “You can catch up on it later if you'd like, everything's in the file. I just figured you guys would probably want to talk about it in person... but by all means.” Forge's words somehow felt... Well. Not entirely like an accusation, but almost as though Warren could go but if he did the three of them wouldn't be happy with him. Even though he had every reason to be anywhere but this meeting.
“They've got a plan, and for the most part I think the troops involved want us to keep out of it. I've informed them of basically what you guys can do, so they may ask for a favor or two. They have troops, and guns, and I doubt Sombra will put up a fight. My real concern is what happens should one of these kids freak out and try to attack them... There are some seriously powerful mutants in their ranks. That's what you're there for, to try and subdue the kids if things go wrong. All the government can do is pump em' full of tranqs. I'm sure between you three you should be able to come up with something better.”
So what, he'd informed the government that Warren could fly? Yeah, that'd really come in handy if one of the powerful kids freaked out and tried to hurt people. He didn't have an invulnerable form like Bobby and Kitty. There was a slight tension in his jaw as he listened to the rest of it.
“Though honestly, no one's twisting your arms. If any of you ever doesn't want to go on a mission, just let me know. Otherwise just know that you'll be dealing with a Colonel Hopkins. He's pretty mutant friendly, and works with Beast on a daily basis. That doesn't mean he likes our vigilante squad, though, but I think he values our necessity.”
Though all he wanted to do was tell Forge that he wasn't interested in the mission, didn't think he was the right person for the job, and that he didn't actually appreciate being volunteered for things - especially this kind of thing, with the government and all - rather than asked, Angel just nodded and looked over at the file. Sharp eyes let him see more than he otherwise could have, but it all seemed quite unnecessary reading to him.
"They've finally stopped denying our existence, then?" He had a thought, that maybe Jimmy should tag along, in case it did come to a fight. The kid known as Leech... Well, Warren had never been game to get too close to him, not wanting to know what would happen to his wings. He didn't particularly relish the idea of having to grow them back every time he walked away from the guy. But his mutation was useful, incredibly so, especially when it came to that kind of thing.
"And we're leaving when?" With almost all the details sorted out for them, and no idea what the government would be asking them to do when they arrived, Warren wondered just how much more they had to talk about. He resisted the urge to open his phone again, though his fingers twitched slightly as he thought about how soon he could get out and call Paige.
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Post by Iceman on Jan 24, 2007 15:14:34 GMT -5
Bobby listened to the abundance of information Forge gave them, and the questions and answers that went back and forth. He nodded slowly, ingesting all of it. "I think we can meet later today, or tomorrow, even, and go through the file together," he suggested. They seemed to Bobby to have gotten all of the necessary information - except for Warren's question of when they were leaving, which was a good one. And anything Forge had missed telling them would no doubt be in the pages of the file.
Bobby glanced at Kitty to make sure she wasn't reading anything at the moment, then flipped the file folder closed. He lifted it from the desk and offered it to Kitty. "Do you want to hold on to it for now?" Since she was the only one of the three that didn't have a situation to discuss. Or, well, Bobby didn't really know if he had a situation to discuss - Warren could want to just talk to Paige. Which could either fare positively or negatively for Bobby. But either way, now that they had the information they needed, Bobby scooted back his chair a few inches, looking to Forge for the answer to the question of when they'd be leaving. So he could catch Warren before he ran off and try to discuss what was going on with Paige.
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Post by forge on Jan 24, 2007 23:47:28 GMT -5
Forge nodded to the three, folding his hands in his lap. “Well, like I said, the job’s the day after tomorrow, and you have your reservations for tomorrow evening at the hotel.”
He shrugged.
“Don’t much matter to me when you leave, so long as you’re there in the morning to meet the colonel. And to answer your question, Angel, I guess between Teen People, Baltimore, and my interview with Trish Tilby, they must have decided somewhere it was ridiculous to deny us. Finally.”
He cast a curious glance between Bobby and Warren, wandering still what the letter was all about. He assumed it had something to do with Paige, since she and Warren were friends, and she’d left all of a sudden like. To his annoyance, she didn’t tell him anything about why she was leaving, or even that she was leaving, but it wasn’t like he was her boss or anything. The X-Men were a volunteer group of people with similar agendas. There was no one really “in charge.” Didn’t stop him from being very annoyed at the situation, in a similar light to his annoyance with Colossus and Sibyl, the underaged girl he’d run off with.
“You guys should be up to date, anyway. No need for a second meeting - I’ll be monitoring you from here through your X-comms. I’ve also got a camera feature pin I’ll give you tomorrow, just in case you need some extra eyes from me. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day, guys. And enjoy the hotel.”
Forge stood, and gave them a final smile before leaving.
[exit Forge]
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Post by angel on Jan 29, 2007 2:32:06 GMT -5
As soon as Forge was out of his seat, Warren was too, and he waited only a matter of seconds after the technopath left before doing the same.
"I'll, uh... Catch up with you guys later," came the vague assurance as the winged man wandered out of the room, already re-reading the letter for a second time.
He didn't open his cell phone straight away, contrary to both his first instinct and what the others were probably expecting of him. No, if Paige had wanted so badly to say goodbye... She could have done it with more than just a note herself. It was childish, yes, but in a way he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of a phone call, wanted her to feel just a little bit of the hurt that he had at knowing she'd run off with nothing more than a note.
Instead, he headed up to his room to get himself organised for this trip, to read the note again, and to maybe try to figure out in his head just what the hell was going on before he did anything else.
[Exit Angel]
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