The Companion Picture - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Dandelion
Last updated: 12/03/2009 06:26:08 PM

Chapter 23

"Kyle, you stay where you are, do you understand me?" Forge spoke into the receiver quietly.

"Forge, I thought this was just a reconnaissance mission. Why do I need to stay here?"

Forge ran his fingers through her hair, as if what he was doing wasn't hard enough. The tension around headquarters had shot up dramatically since Lorna's departure and Forge and Mystique had decided that the few operatives that were left to them needed to be removed to safer locations. "You have a very poor habit of asking questions at the most inopportune time. Listen to me and listen careful. There is a situation at headquarters and I don't think it's safe for you to come back here."

"What's going on?"

"Listen, Kyle I can't go into detail right now. You're just going to have to take me for my word and trust that I'll get back to you, okay? There is a safehouse in the vicinity and I want you to get to it and stay out of sight, do you understand?"

Kyle didn't answer right away, "I just..Yeah, I understand."

"First drop your code-card into the nearest fire."

"What?!" Kyle's voice took on a suspicious edge. "If you're firing me, Forge, I have to hand it to you, this is the most unique way of doing it that I've ever heard of."

"There isn't any time for humor right now, Kyle. Go to Robinson's Bookstore in Toronto. Get Fodor's England and when you buy it ask for change for a five. You'll get the change and there will be an unusual coin in the mix. Turn it over and give it back to the cashier and you'll get what you need."

"Got it," Kyle's voice was compliant.

"Disappear, Kyle, and I'll be in touch when I can."

"What about Shard?"

Forge sighed. "I'll take care of her. You do as you're told. Good-bye." He hung up abruptly.

Mystique looked over her shoulder from her work disabling some of Forge's equipment. "Now what?"

Forge held up the canister holding Shard's holographic information, "We continue the plan. You're the one who wanted out, Raven. Don't tell me you've changed your mind."

"Of course not," she snapped. "I would like to have left under less extreme circumstances, however."

"Well, now is the tricky part," Forge sat down and inserted the Shard programming into his holographic converter. "Reports on Polaris are that she has gone rogue. Everyone is buying it thanks to her stunt in New Mexico."

Mystique grinned, "Well, Forge, it was your idea to leak it to everyone that she *had* gone rogue in the first place."

"She was supposed to just disappear, that would have been much more effective."

"Oh well. She didn't. I thought the move in New Mexico was brilliant."

"Raven, she wiped the desert clean for a five mile radius!!" Forge grit his teeth. "Now, the pressure is really on us. Besides I didn't leak it to *everyone*, just a select few. Her proving it only adds fuel to Granger's fire."

"Look, no one knows about her stunt in the desert."

"They know, they just haven't decided what to do about it and that's why I'm nervous." Forge brought up the holographic information and studied it. "All this means is *they* are waiting for something to happen, and *we* aren't going to wait that long. When they come looking for information, we'll be long gone."

"So, this is the famous Bermuda Triangle base," Magnus looked around. "Interesting, it's not quite what I expected."

The island looked uninhabited. The beaches were wide and crumbled architecture could be seen amidst the rocky crags and jungle foliage. But the peculiar structures that had existed before were still there in all of their primitive and mysterious glory.

"It's beautiful!!" Rogue was off the boat and hovering above it.

"It's weird, is what it is," Remy countered, looking up and noticing Rogue poised to fly off. "Hey, Brett, don' go leavin' me," He reached up towards her.

Rogue grapsed his wrist and lifted him off the ground.

"We'll check it out!" Remy called to Lee and Magnus as they flew towards the island.

Magnus and Lee exchanged glances. "Shall we look for someplace to port?"

"I think *I* remember a deep cove to the northeast," Lee remarked with a superior looking smile, taking the helm again.

"This is your game, Raven," Forge looked over the projected holographic globe he had set up in the middle of the room. "Counter-intelligence is your thing."

"You noticed," Mystique fluttered her eyelashes at him coyly. "All right," she stepped up to the globe and held up the laser pointer in her hand. "You have plans for Shard, do they cover the Westchester situation?"

Forge nodded.

"Good, then all we have to do disable and redistribute your things here, which have been done systematically throughout the week," she pointed at the Northern Virginia area. The globe zoomed in several times. "Couriers have been hired to distribute several of the larger pieces to certain locations throughout the city and surrounding areas. Do you have this part covered?" Mystique looked at Forge.

He cleared his throat, "Yes. The information I'm putting into Shard will allow the X-Men to recover the items."

"Good. It is your job to get Kyle deactivated and then find Lorna," she zoomed out of Northern Virginia and highlighted Toronto. She clicked the highlighter again and a small light off the coast of Scotland winked brightly. "I will be heading towards Muir Isle...and my son." She finished quietly.

Forge looked at her briefly and, seeing her distant expression, cleared his throat loudly to get her attention.

Mystique snapped her head towards him with a slightly guilty look and resumed her talk. "There I will get Pryde to hook up a secure line and attach your signal to it," she paused. "Are you sure she can do that? Pryde is little more than a child."

Forge smile. "Kitty is a certified genius. She can get the equipment up. If I know her, she'll appreciate the challenge and the chance to play with some of my stuff."

Mystique still looked skeptical, but she conceded. "All right then, when you get your signal you will send us information as to your location and then we will be in contact again."

Forge nodded, "Sounds good."

"I don't like it," Mystique scowled.

Forge rubbed his eyes wearily, "There's a big surprise."

"We're counting on far too many outside variables. The X-Men? Are you insane? They know nothing about covert operations." Mystique's distaste was obvious.

"Raven--"

"The only ones who are at all familiar with it are Logan, who was a pawn at best and Cassidy, who isn't even in Westchester anymore. For God's sake, Forge, that band of nursery school children won't be able to figure out your *code* much less use it discreetly."

Forge rubbed his chin, "So what would you suggest, Raven? They're what we have. You've got to figure out who can be counted on. And you've got to figure out who they are in the X-Men because they are our only option."

Mystique stared thoughtfully into space, "Cassidy knows intelligence, Frost does too, to a lesser degree - her talents are focused on corporate espionage, but still," she ticked the names off on her fingers. "Logan is a plausible point man, but he's got too much ego to get in and out without leaving his mark. Ororo has some intelligence training, albeit on a *very* primitive level, and LeBeau - well, actually, he's quite capable at intelligence and counter-intelligence."

"Well, that's a group, isn't it?" Forge asked.

"If it were just them I wouldn't be so bothered," Mystique shot back. "But you have Xavier and his little scout troop there to start whining about ethics and other such crap while their lives are on the line!!"

Forge hid a smile behind his hand, he hated to admit it, but Mystique had a point. Most of the X-Men knew very little about intelligence. They didn't know how to quietly go about their missions. They tended to be much larger and louder. It wasn't their fault, really. Those that they fought against rarely had any subtlety to them either. And he imagined most of them would have a problem ethics wise with the amount of double-dealing that he and Mystique had in the works for Granger and his associates.

"Sorry, Raven, we're just going to have to trust them to figure it out."

"I can't believe the *dust*!" Lee exclaimed, blowing against a wall and stepping back as a dingy cloud puffed up.

"Ah'm not livin' in a dust hall," Rogue stated firmly.

"I've seen worse," Magnus and Remy remarked in unison. They looked at each other grinning slightly.

"Look," Remy stepped forward. "All we have to do is decide where we want to start. We clean up a few rooms at a time, we'll have a kitchen, a living space and some bedrooms. Dat's all we need t'start, right?"

Three hesitant nods were the answer.

It wasn't much, Remy decided, but at least they were listening. "After we get dat done, we expand. I can see us each having something like our own apartments, y'know? I mean if we stay dat long."

"How we gonna do it all, Cajun?" Rogue asked, skepticism clear on her face. Remy folded his arms in front of his chest, "Well, Ms. Sonic Boom, don't you t'ink dat 'tween you and Magnus y'all can fetch what we need to get started?"

Rogue looked at Magnus, a faint smile at her lips, "Ah guess we've got our orders."

"Lee and I will start figuring out the layout." Remy took Lee's arm and led her away.

Rogue gaped and then looked at Magnus, "Ah never thought that Remy was actually, you know, organized."

Magnus laughed loudly, "Give it time, you may find out more about him than you ever wanted to."

Forge and Mystique sat quietly on the Metro as it hummed along it's tracks. Forge was dressed casually, with a large shoulder bag at his feet and a small device in his hand that many people would mistake for a Newton.

Mystique looked like an average Washingtonian on her lunch break. She wore a smart dark green suit, and had a briefcase tucked between her feet. "Metro Center," the announcer's voice crackled over the speaker almost unintelligible to human ears. Forge and Mystique got up silently and jostled their way out of the train with the crowd.

"Okay, Raven, this is it," Forge shifted his bag on his shoulder. "I'll be headed out of National and I'll drop Shard off along the way."

"And I'm headed to Dulles," she finished. "How annoying, I wish this damn Metro would go all the way there. It's not like it's an international airport or anything."

Forge smiled at her, "Be careful, Raven."

She looked at him seriously, "I'm always careful, Maker. Luck to you," she turned abruptly and disappeared into the crowd.

Forge waited for his train to come and breathed a deep sigh. They weren't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. But at least they were doing some proactive work. At least they weren't waiting in Langley for the roof to come crashing around their heads.

Granger surveyed the X-Factor headquarters in Langley, Virginia with a stern and unpleasant countenance. The building had been stripped clean.

Kastanek came downstairs slowly, "The rest of the team is spread out, Sir. But there isn't anything here."

"How much of a head start do they have?" Granger scowled.

"Well, the power was shut off, but the circuits are still warm. I don't think they have that much of a jump on us," Kastanek looked around the room.

Granger sighed, "Kastanek, our friend Forge has decided to play games with us and I do not like being toyed with. I want information on the X-Factor operatives and I want them immediately. Find out where the operatives were most recently and get people to those locations. Forge seems to think we are after him, and I want to know why." Kastanek nodded and immediately switched to his comm-link calling his information base and remaining in contact with the rest of the team within the X-Factor headquarters.

Granger looked around again, <Why would Forge disassemble this quickly and quietly? What has he found?>