Chapter 49: Team-Up

Chapter 49: Team-Up

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Getting the team together.

-x-X-x-

Thaddeus looks between Laura and Cessily’s excited, anticipatory faces, even as the two female mutants look right back at him expectantly. Honestly... it just seems prudent to take down this Harkins fucker while he’s least expecting it. Still...

“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. Let me make some calls.”

Laura and Cessily exchange glances at that, but in the end both shrug and slowly nod in agreement. Good, because if they hadn’t, Thaddeus isn’t entirely sure how he would have stopped them. The power he’d gotten from Cessily was interesting. It seemed to almost have mixed with the Diamond Form he’d gotten from Emma. Thaddeus hadn’t gotten much of a chance to try it out yet, but turning into Liquid Diamond sounded like it would be fun and useful.

For now though, he just pulls out his phone and gets to work.

-x-X-x-

“Seriously Laura?! And you didn’t call me until NOW, Thaddeus?! Cessily... you’re looking lovely.”

Kitty Pryde is the first to arrive, mostly because she’s the first one that Thaddeus calls after he calls Emma... again. Fortunately, his benefactor and partner in crime is, while less understanding than before, still willing to hear him out. When he explains what’s going on and tells her his plan to bring in back up, she ultimately gives him her blessing... again.

Meanwhile, Kitty looks decidedly put upon that she’s only being brought in now, at the eleventh hour. She throws Laura a bag containing her costume, even as she pouts strongly at Thaddeus, already dressed in her own. Indeed, this isn’t Kitty they’re dealing with right now... this is Shadowcat. An X-Man. Just as Laura is quick to change as well, going from Laura to Talon.

Cessily on the other hand still looks more human than ever before and preens under Kitty’s words for a moment.

“Well thank you, Kitty. I feel lovely. All thanks to our handsome hunk here, hm?”

Kitty huffs at that, giving Thaddeus a half-hearted glare that’s somewhat undercut by her eyes tracing down to his still-bared chest and her lower lip falling into the bite of her teeth.

Laura, finally finished getting dressed, also responds to Kitty’s words.

“You would have tried to stop us.”

At the blunt appraisal from her fellow mutant, Kitty throws her arms up in the air.

“Yes! Of course I would have! Because we didn’t know at the time that Cessily had been taken. But I could have been persuaded, probably! It hurts that you didn’t even try, Laura.”

Laura fidgets for a moment self-consciously at that, before finally muttering out an apology.

“... Sorry.”

Before Kitty can accept or deny that apology, however, Thaddeus pauses and clears his throat.

“Incoming.”

He’d warned them all ahead of time that he was calling in another ringer too. Cessily quickly shifts into her all-mercury form, turning silvery all over including her hair this time. Kitty and Laura are already suited up, their identities technically concealed. A few moments later Gwen swings in clad in her own costume, landing in a crouch a couple yards away from the four of them before slowly rising to her feet.

Thaddeus had considered calling in Rogue as well, but ultimately decided against it. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the young goth woman or anything, but more that he didn’t want to pull her into anything too dangerous. Kitty and Gwen were both already fighters. Kitty was an X-Man, and Gwen was Spider-Woman, one of New York’s most active vigilantes. But Rogue... Rogue was just a girl desperate to have her powers fixed.

Not to mention, part of the reason Thaddeus had pushed for Mystique to leave Rogue behind at ESU was so that the shapeshifting terrorist leader couldn’t turn her adoptive daughter into any sort of fighter or weapon against Rogue’s wishes. It would be mighty hypocritical of him to drag the young woman into a battle she was ill-prepared for now after the fact.

“Holy shit, you know Spider-Woman?!”

Kitty’s exclamation of shock and awe causes Gwen to pause for a moment, seemingly taken aback by the recognition... and appreciation? The female vigilante doesn’t seem to know what to do briefly, even as Thaddeus shrugs.

“I know a lot of powered women, Shadowcat.”

Kitty blushes at that, clearly reminded of his powers and how they functioned. Huffing to try and save face, she crosses her arms over her chest.

“W-Well... I just figured your ‘handler’ would have you on a shorter leash than this.”

The funny part is, Kitty already knows Gwen. And honestly, her domino mask doesn’t really prevent Gwen from identifying Kitty either. And the blonde probably recognizes Laura as well. But Kitty doesn’t know that Gwen is Spider-Woman. Laura, meanwhile, can probably recognize the scent as belonging to Gwen Stacey, judging by the knowing look in her eyes.

There’s a brief pause as they all assess the situation, exchanging looks and trying to figure out what everyone already knows. Until finally, Gwen seems to come to the same conclusion that Thaddeus had already come to and reaches up to remove her mask.

“It’s me, Kitty. I’m Spider-Woman. So I guess you knew Spider-Woman too, heh. You just didn’t know it yet.”

Kitty’s mouth opens and closes wordlessly for a moment before she pouts and shakes her head, reaching up to pull the domino mask off of her face.

“Ugh, domino masks are useless, aren’t they? I’ll just go without, whatever.”

“Thor might not like that if he hears about it.”

“Ehh, he’s the God of Thunder sure, but it’s not like he has a monopoly on the word, right?”

“Huh, has no one ever used Thunder before? I would think it would already be in circulation, but I can’t think of anyone...”

They might not be completely convinced, but they clearly weren’t completely against the idea either. Besides, Thaddeus could always change it later. It was just a codename for a single clandestine operation, right?

“Then it’s settled. You girls can call me Thunder.”

From his body comes Cessily’s inhuman voice.

“Mm, Thunder and Mercury... not exactly a match made in heaven, but I can dig it.”

That made it sound like Cessily was planning to stick around, but Thaddeus didn’t think this was the time or place to has out things like that. Especially not in front of others. Sure, the all-mercury mutant seemed to be clinging to him after he helped her in a way that no other has done so far (or been able to, really) but he hadn’t thought she’d want to stick with him forever or anything.

... Later. They could figure out where they stood with one another later.

“Let’s move out then. Mercury, you’re our GPS. Lead the way.”

“Of course, Thaddeus. Let’s go, girls.”

-x-X-x-

As it turns out, Harkins had relocated outside of New York City altogether. Not too far outside thankfully, but still, they have to travel a fair distance to find the private, rundown, seemingly abandoned compound that he and his Facility have made their new home.

Coming up on the treeline some distance away from the compound, their group takes in the view for a moment. As it turns out, rushing here was the right call. It’s pretty obvious just from a glance that the bad guys have been rushing to transfer everything into place all night long and have just finished up as the sun begins to threaten to rise over the horizon.

The fresh tracks of multiple trucks are all that remain of the numerous vehicles that transported material, personnel, and who knows what else here from the destroyed laboratory hidden under New York City.

Meanwhile, security is lax. Almost suspiciously so unless one knows the details. They just got done running and hiding, and it seems like they’ve been on high alert all night long. Only now, when it seems obvious that they haven’t been followed, are the bad guys allowing themselves to relax a bit and breathe a sigh of relief.

It was a fair assumption, really. How in the world could they honestly have expected Cessily to gain the ability to feel where the additional pieces of her had gone, hours upon hours after the fact? No, as far as they were concerned, she would either have always had it, and therefore chased them down much faster, or she couldn’t and didn’t have the ability to track them down, and thus they were safe.

Speaking of which, Thaddeus clears his throat, speaking quietly.

“Mercury? Is every missing piece still in there?”

“... Yeah. It’s all there. Some of it is inert. Some of it... some of it is moving though.”

Thaddeus’ eyes narrow at that, while the others all stiffen at that information. Moving seems bad. Really bad. Regardless, they needed a plan didn’t they? And it certainly wasn’t going to come from him, even if he’d acted a little bit authoritative earlier. He still knew his lane, and this wasn’t it.

“Girls... I won’t pretend I’m not incredibly green and new to all of this. So... what do we do here? What’s our plan?”

Laura, Kitty, and Gwen all exchange looks at that... before answering at the same time.

“We attack.”

“We need a distraction.”

“We infiltrate.”

They all pause and then look at each other again, clearly not exactly pleased that none of them seem to be on the same page. Thaddeus resists the urge to facepalm, even as they all start arguing. Oh no...

-x-X-x-

The Vote:



[ ] Push for Attack - 4%



[ ] Push for Distraction - 3%



[ ] Push for Infiltration - 14%



[X] Let them talk it out, trust them to come to the best option together - 79%

-x-X-x-

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