---

---

It seemed that the ice queen was amenable to fighting her. Bobbi grinned, glad that some was taking her up on the offer. "Of course, naturally," she responded in a light tone. She shrugged off her leather jacket to make it easier to move. She made sure her boot laces were tight and did a few minor stretches like Wes had taught her.

Once she felt prepared, Bobbi stepped into the 'ring' so to speak. She rolled her shoulders before she reached into the void. The light formed around her arm and she grasped about for her dearest companion - Captain K.O. She wrapped her fingers about a stem and pulled. As it came through the void the weight felt very off. She frowned as she watched the stupid, idiotic squeaky hammer come through. She stared at it in disbelief for a few moments as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Stupid stupid stupid. In anger she threw the hammer at Sapphire.

---

---

As he moved stealthily through the hallways he had the supreme misfortune of hearing that awful voice. He froze in place, unwilling to breath much less move. He listened as her voice slowly departed and feeling returned to his legs. He breathed in sharply, his heart hammering in his chest as if it were threatening to break free.

He dared not follow her closer. Not without back up anyhow. He'd learned his lesson the first time. It did not take much longer until he came to the training facility. He opened the doors just in time to see Bobbi throwing a toy hammer at Sapphire. He winced, wondering how much it must have hurt Bobbi to pull that cursed item from the beyond. Someone was toying with her.

---

---

Bella stepped off to the side to watch the two women work. She took this seriously because she knew that in a combat situation she would have to rely on them to have her back. Provided, of course, they never double-crossed her. She'd take them down if they did, but it would be a somber moment. She had already seen Sapphire fight. The girl excelled in using her powers, but all it would take was someone draining them from her or putting her in a heated environment for things to go down. She may be a competent fighter beyond that, but that remained to be seen.

The other woman, Bobbi, she hadn't known too well. From her small interactions with her, she seemed headstrong. A force to be reckoned with, provided she put what she had to good use. She watched as Bobbi tried to pull something out of a portal, her power. What appeared was a comical, squeaky hammer. Bella assumed that was not intentional, but it was still comical to see her chuck it at Sapphire's head. Bobbi got into her own head too easily. Too quick to anger. She might have better luck if she wasn't so concerned. She'd address that later.

For now, she was eager to see how Sapphire would react to the hammer throw.

---

---

---

---

Gardner's Office
"Wow, so nice to the other members of your team there," the hallucination said, rolling his eyes. "Not to mention you are an idiot if that is the only way that the name Regan Wyngarde rings a bell, you do realize that I mentioned her a while ago right? But don't mind me, I'm just a figment of your imagination that was created by Wyngarde, I mean seriously you do not pay attention at all do you? Unless of course it is you talking to yourself. Actually, fairly certain I'm just supposed to annoy you and make it difficult to actually have you think, which I have have not been doing a good job at it. Until now that is," he said before glancing over towards the door.

"You need to keep an eye on them Psylocke, they are up to something I would think. After all, usually while walking around you'd think I'd run into someone," Gardner's voice said right on the other side of the door.

"Alright, if you say so, but why are you suspicious of them all of a sudden?"

"Because they don't know how to keep their noses out of trouble," she said simply, before both Watts and Evelyn would hear the sound of the doorknob turning.

---

---

---

---

Sapphire didn't really say anything, just more or less letting the hammer hit her in the face. She rolled her eyes slightly as the toy hit the ground with a loud squeak. "...Could have been worse, you could have summoned up butterflies or something like that..." she mused slightly, looking over at Bobbi. She noticed that there were tears almost coming to her eyes, and now she was more of thinking of something to potentially distract Bobbi, or at least end up knocking her to the ground with a hard enough fall that she forgot what had just happened.

After a moment, she sprung into action, before she whirled around, slamming her foot into Bobbi's knee, knocking her to the ground, and she tackled her to the ground and ended up pinning her. "You probably aren't that bad of a fighter, but I think I can see the problem. You let one mistake get under your skin. Look, I can't tell you how to act in a fight, or what to do, but I can tell you that paying more attention to one small mistake like summoning up that squeaky toy hammer and it could make things end up worse. You need to roll with the punches and stop focusing on the small things that accidentally happen, mistakes happen no matter how hard you try and prevent them," she said to Bobbi, before she got up off of Bobbi, standing up and held her hand out to her to help her up.

---

---

Watts didn't give any visible indication of a reaction to Andrew. He knew that he was a hallucination constructed by his own mind and he didn't need to evaluate his subconscious telling him that he was an idiot. He could tangle that psychological issue another time when he had a moment to contemplate it properly - and perhaps he would have to study some books on issues of the mind. That might help. Of course even if his hallucination was correct and it was constructed by Regan, then there was no point in examining the source of the issue further - thus it was decided. He would worry about the hallucination later.

The sound of footsteps outside the door and the turning of the knob was a far greater issue.

He didn't make a sound to indicate to Evelyn what he was doing when he scooped her up and ran faster than the eye could see out of the office, phasing through the door in order to prevent needing to open it himself. Streaks of red lightning accumulated behind him as he emerged into the training room and began running in circles to slow himself down in time. Depositing Evelyn on the ground, Watts stared at the four gathered there. Psylocke, Gambit, and Rogue didn't seem to be here. Was it worth going after them? Or was this smaller team enough? "Andrew is alive and being held at a facility nearby. We're leaving now. Either suit up or stay out of the way."

---

---

---

---

Evelyn turned her head just as she could hear Gardner's voice on the other end talking to Psylocke most likely about them, looking over at Watts she didn't want to say anything right now that would easily tip Gardner off that they were in her office. Just as Watts was about to grab her Evelyn quickly took all the files, she wasn't sure if she managed to snag all of them. Even just one paper on the ground would probably set off Gardner at this point. Though she grabbed them before Watts had picked her up and carried her out of the CEO's office, she wasn't really used to the fast speed either.

Evelyn was eventually set down on the ground in the training room, her eyes scanning the room seeing Bobbi, Belladonna Wesley and Sapphire in the room. Watts taking no time to brief them, though not giving to many of the details, sighing slightly and looked at those in the room before putting the files down on the ground spreading them out for everyone to see. "We snuck into Gardner's office and managed to find all of this here." Evelyn said looking over at Watts for a moment, she wasn't to sure about Psylocke right now since Gardner was just talking to her just outside of the office. She was pretty sure that Gambit and Rogue would be trustworthy and would betray them as far as she could tell anyway. "Take a moment to read over the files first." Evelyn said looking over at Watts. "We might want to get Rogue and Gambit in on this to."

---

---

Sapphire took advantage of her weakness and Bobbi didn't do much of anything to stop it. She winced and hissed in pain as she felt the boot connect with her knee and she went down with a loud slam as her back hit the floor. There was a dizzying moment where she wondered if her head had hit the floor as well. Bobbi stared up at the ice woman and let her say her piece.

She didn't get it. They would never get it, would they? She had just summoned the stupid weapon that, according to Watts (as well as herself) had been a partial means of murder for a teammate. That thing had played a part in Andrew's death. It was her fault and she was loathe to see it. But she said nothing, she stared at the woman for a long time until she removed herself from Bobbi's person. She stood and swiped at her back end to remove any particles of dust that might have lingered there.

Watt's entry into the room was indicated only by the rush of wind at first. She grimaced at the sight of him, barely able to tolerate the man's presence as much as he hers. She caught sight of Wesley as well and offered him a small smile before concentrating on what the pair had to say. She wrinkled her eyebrows together at Watts' statement that made nearly no sense. Andrew? Alive? No.... Evelyn offered more explanation and offered out the files. Bobbi took hold of them, beginning to flip through them. Her hands were shaking badly and Wes took the papers from her so that they could be more easily read with steady hands.

---

---

He cringed in sympathy with Bobbi's thump to the floor. He couldn't hear what was being said but he could tell from the chilled, sour expression on her face that she did not like it at all. He walked further into the room just as a certain speedster made his grand entrance. Wes could not keep the scowl from his face, even as Bobbi smiled at him. He listened intently to the small number of facts offered to them.

Shock rattled through his spine and splintered across his nerves. Andrew couldn't possibly be alive, could he? And all this time the grief Watts had poured over himself and Bobbi. For what? No, he shouldn't think about the man, that wasn't important right now. What truly mattered was saving Andrew. He voiced his desire to join before Evelyn added in her bit.

"I'm with you," he said to Watts, voice laced with cool detachment.

He stood beside Bobbi, looking over her shoulder at the files she had taken from Evelyn. It became obvious that she could not hold the items in any way that was helpful to the group, so he took them from her and held them out in his more steady hands, his eyes scanning over the facts laid before them.

---

---

Sapphire more or less took the words right out of her mouth. She would like to work with Bobbi more on combat techniques, perhaps she could aid the woman with controlling herself so that her power would work more to how she expects. The two of them seemed fine though, no serious injuries as far as she could see. Perhaps wounded pride?

Before Bobbi could share her opinion, Watts ran in with blazing speed, slowing himself down and depositing Evelyn. She didn't know what was so important, but Watts did not hold back. He was another person she wanted to tackle. His overall attitude could be detrimental to the others, especially if it happened much the same as with Bobbi.

But that could wait. Andrew was alive. She could believe it (crazier things have happened). She did not need to see the file though. If Andrew was elsewhere, he needed to be rescued. And it only solidified her belief that Gardner could not be trusted. Surely she knew, especially if Watts was as worked up as he was. She walked over to pick up her sword. "I'm in."

---

---

---

---

---

---

Sapphire said nothing else really to Bobbi, when she turned towards the door when just about everyone else showed up. That was a little bit surprising, the fact that they all sort of showed up fairly quickly and all kind of at the same time. That was the first thing that stuck out in her mind instantly, the second thing however were the words that were coming out of Watts' mouth. How could someone have even possibly survived that sort of explosion? It hadn't exactly been a small one, to the point where they had felt the explosion rock the area that a few of them had been in.

"So, you're saying that somehow he is still alive, based on files you found in Gardner's office? And now you are saying we should go behind her back in order to deal with this? Wow Watts, you definitely are a different person then you were a month ago, since just last month you were totally against the idea of breaking into her office for any sort of reason or crossing her in any way. Eh, what the hell, sounds like fun, I'm in. So where are we heading? And if you want to get the Cajun and his girlfriend in on this too, fine by me, but let's just get going already! It'll be way more fun then sitting around here all day."

---

---

---

---

Evelyn looked at everyone within the room, who were going to look over the files that she managed to bring into the room which she was glad that she didn't leave them all behind before Watts snagged her out of the room. She was pretty sure that they could trust Rogue and Gambit, looking over towards Watts for a moment and then over to Sapphire. "It's not that far from Serval HQ we could make it there pretty quickly its in the files." Evelyn said wondering if Bobbi was okay to handle the mission that they were about to go on that wasn't really sanctioned by Gardner.

"Watts could scout out the area while we get Rogue and Gambit see if they both are in on the plan maybe?" Evelyn suggested, she was more than ready to get out of here and find out. "Anyway we should start and head out now Gardner was about to enter her office when we snagged the files so she will probably know that they are missing soon." Evelyn suggested before going to leave the training area.

---

---

Watts raised an eyebrow at Evelyn. The old X-Men team did have a decent track record, so he couldn't protest to their inclusion on the account of skills. If anything, he felt it would just be a waste of time to go and hunt them down to bring them along, but it seemed to be the consensus that everyone else here wanted the full team. They were the sacrificial lambs anyways - who was he to begrudge them some allies that might actually have a fighting chance against this shadowy organization? "Fine," Watts said curtly. "We'll bring the benched X-Men." He had to resist the urge to snort when Wesley said that he was with him. "I feel so comforted to hear that," he snarked. "Our odds of success do not improve with your inclusion, but so be it."

He was hardly thrilled by Sapphire's attitude. But he had already wasted enough time insulting Wesley. "I'll get them," he then said, about to kick off running but he tripped. Like a performer who did something unintentionally, Watts decided to go with it, peering at the ground as if there was something very interesting there. "... Hmm. More metal from Andrew's suit," he claimed, before dashing off again at a run. It wasn't long before he collected Gambit and Rogue and he deposited them back in the training room with the others. "Let's go. Every second counts."

---

---

As Watt's left the room, after she had finished looking through the files Bobbi said a rare, intelligent thing. It was directed at Evelyn. And perhaps it had already been said but, Bobbi had been far too engrossed in the files to have been able to hear it. With brows knitted and her skin turned pale she asked, "How do we know these aren't a plant?"

It was impossible. It was too good of a thing for him to be alive. It would mean all the punishment she had heaped upon herself and from Watts had been for naught. All of the time she had spent feeling sorry for herself could have been spent storming this unknown castle and freeing their friend from terrible, imagined abuses.

She turned her eyes then on each in the group. They were all in it. There was no way she wasn't going to be as well. If there was a chance she could save Andrew she would do it. She just worried she would be getting her hopes up only to have them dashed. Watts was back and he had Gambit and Rogue with him. She stiffened as she always did when he entered a room, hatred coursing through her veins.

---

---

He didn't even blanche or make a face at Watts' comment. Of course, the man would be too good to accept help willingly from people he deemed beneath him. Watts was quite good at picking nerves Wesley hadn't realized he possessed. But he wasn't in this for Watts. THis was about Andrew and his failure to get to the room in time. Would it have made a difference? He shook his head, releasing these circling thoughts so he could pay attention to the now.

"I am also ready to leave," he said to Evelyn as Watts left the room. A conjoinder to the other's quips of their desire to go. "I have nothing here of true consequence." He was his own weapon. Clothes could always be bought again. Bobbi's question was something that had also danced around his mind for a short measure. Even if they were plants, there was no way he could safely remain here while Gardner was in charge. In the end, this was his only chance of getting out.

---

---

Bella had her own questions. After all, she was not in the room when the machine exploded, seemingly killing Andrew. So that either meant the machine teleported him somewhere or he was, in fact, killed, and was somehow brought back. In any event, it didn't matter why he was alive. He was being held somewhere and Gardner knew and had a hand in it. That was all the incentive she needed to go on this mission. She didn't serve Gardner. She served herself and her own needs.

"Depending on security, we'll need to formulate a plan. We have some good for stealth and some good for action. I could aid in the sneaking in and disabling security measures." She could also incapacitate anyone who stood in her way, but she was trying not to kill every person she saw in front of her. For all she knew, the people there had no clue about what they were doing. She was trying to be better about that. Not everyone deserved death.

She followed the rest out of the training room. She didn't care if the other X-men came or did not come, she was confident in her own abilities and that was all she needed.

---

---

---

---

---

---

"What the hell was tha' for Watts? Ya do realize it is rude ta to do somethin' like that," Rogue snapped at him with a bit of an eye roll. "What's goin' on?"

"Gardner is up to something or whatever, something like that, so we're planning on going to figure out what it is or something like that," Sapphire responded with a bit of a shrug.

Gambit huffed. "Guess ya can't trust anyone these days."

"Yeah, well whatever, we just need to get going already if we are going to. I mean seriously all talk and no action. Watts literally just said every second counts, so if we are going to actually do this, then let's go. We can come up with a plan or something along the way if we wanted to. As for if the stuff was planted there by Gardner, who the hell knows, but the other thing is that it is entirely possible that Gardner thinks we are all idiots or whatever. So let's just hurry up or we'll probably regret it. Now comes a different question, anyone have any bright ideas on how we're going to get there quickly? Since whose to say Gardner isn't already onto us knowing something."

"Oh, I'm almost positive she's onto you people. Not like you all have been very subtle about things. Not to mention last I checked there were cameras in her office, so odds are she saw you and Evelyn in her office by now if she actually thought to look at them. So she does probably know you are up to something," Watts' hallucination said. He'd been fairly quiet up until that point, but now it looks like he's still around.

---

---

---

---

Evelyn watched Watts for a moment before he attempted to speed off, but only to fall over onto his face smirking a little bit to herself and shook her head slightly. Karma was a bitch sometimes maybe he should treat his teammates better, someone might end up tying his shoes together if he wasn't looking for a prank or payback. Watts then left the room, as Evelyn turned to look over at Bobbi who asked a pretty good question and shrugged slightly. "No one really knows, whether she put them there on purpose or not. But it's our job to take down her operation. Or at some point send us on a mission that's questionable at best and we are the scape goats. Or she runs the company into the ground and everything Snow built would be for nothing." Evelyn said. She turned to look over at Belladonna when she spoke up and nodded slightly, they would need a good plan once they get there.

"We can look over the building plans more in-depth on our way there see where they have the security planted in there." Once Watts came back and dropped off both Rogue and Gambit, Sapphire briefed them pretty much, Evelyn didn't want to stay here any longer than she really wanted to. "Take whatever weapons you need and we head out to the parking lot i'm sure they have a few company cars parked there." Evelyn said before leaving the room and started to make her way towards the parking lot to find a car to take them to the location.

---

---

John wasn't about to stand around and wait for them to get ready to go, then slowly meander out to the parking lot. Andrew would be dead a thousand times over by then. He huffed slightly, before injecting himself with more of the serum and the red glow returned to his eyes. He zipped around the room, grabbing each person one by one and dropping them off inside of the company jet. The cars weren't going to cut it on this job. He needed as much speed as they could get.

Once he had gotten them all onto the jet, Watts let out a huffy breath. "There, we're leaving." He then set himself down in the pilot's chair and he got the jet ready to go, before beginning the take off sequence. It wasn't long before they were in the air, heading for the location where poor Andrew was being held captive. He turned on the intercom and spoke into the pair of headphones and microphone he had placed around his ears - "This is your captain speaking. Turbulence is expected. Prepare yourself for a fight."

---

---

Bobbi nodded mutely as she handed the papers back to Evelyn. She didn't need to see any more. She was having trouble quashing this feeling in her stomach. This feeling of great hope. She couldn't let herself get too excited. She smiled at Gambit and Rogue - a thin sort of watery smile.

Mere moments later Watts was his usual bossy, commandeering self. He hurried them along to the jet and Bobbi felt her stomach lurch. It wasn't just from the sudden movement to the aircraft. It was also the knowledge that this vile man had deigned to put hands on her without her express permission. If she could catch him she would have smacked him. As it stood there was no time for that. She sat down and buckled herself in, concentrating, meditating.

She wouldn't be the one to fuck up this time.

---

---

Wes took the papers from Bobbi when she handed them to Evelyn. It was a jarring experience, having a man slighter than himself move him across the compound. It must have cost Watts quite a bit of energy to move such a dense person. But it meant that Wes wouldn't have to try and sneak about with Gardner out for his blood. Without much ado, he sat himself down and began the process of pulling up what information he could and comparing what was on the papers. Unfortunately, it was not much at all. Just an image of the building from the outside really.

"Evelyn," he said softly, looking at her once she had joined them on the jet. "I've been attempting to pull some things up. Doing a piss poor job of it," he said with a small laugh. "Dunno if you're any better with the machines, got any thoughts?" He offered her the consol, turning his attention briefly to the others as they were forcefully boarded. He offered each a grin before returning his attention to what he had been doing.

---

---

Bella had not really been listening to the others. She had been preparing herself for the eventual battle they would be having. Either with Gardner or whoever she had working with her to hold Anthony. Before she knew it, she had been grabbed by Watts and whisked to the Jet. She wouldn't say as much, but she didn't appreciate being ran around, but she also knew Watts was determined to get to Anthony as soon as possible, so she let it slide.

Once on the jet, she checked her weapons before she sat down and closed her eyes, entering a meditative state. She often did this before a mission to center herself. Despite how her master had intended her to be, the skills he taught her were valuable. Calming herself and checking her emotions helped clear her mind and zone herself to the battle ahead. She would need her skills here. She could feel it. The others had their merits, she was more sure of Sapphire now and a bit more sure of Bobbi, but she trusted herself above all others.

She let the others do their thing. If they bothered her, it was at their own expense.

---

---

---

---

---

---

"Well, that is definitely one way to solve that problem. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if Gardner would send us off on some weird mission that either would result in our deaths, or result in us going to prison. But I'd bet on the having us go to our deaths or something stupid like that. We still don't really know what's going on, or what she's even really planning on doing, so we should probably think about what we should do once we get there. I mean yes, yay we've got what looks to be building schematics for wherever we're going. However we go about this, I'm all ears. Your the one who decided to "let" us tag along, you get to make the calls," Sapphire said once they were on board the jet. She figured might as well let Evelyn and Watts (of all people) actually be in charge, since they were the ones who knew what it is that they were even really doing or up against.

The plane had taken off once Watts had gotten them all on board, and she had half-expected them to be shot out of the sky or blown up already or something. If Gardner hadn't known that they were up to something, she definitely knew now since they essentially just stole the jet. The flight however was rather short, as they didn't have too far to go, but the jet definitely was the fastest vehicle they could get. Otherwise, had they just taken a car, the group likely would still be on the road, and probably much more easily followed by anyone that Gardner sent after them.

They would luck out though, at least at the moment anyway. Watts would be able to find a place to land the jet not too far away from the entrance to the building, and it was a relatively hidden spot, so with any luck they wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing the jet or stumbling across it. Hopefully they'd be able to hurry things up a little bit and figure out what the hell that they were doing. "Alright, so we're here, didn't really come up with much of a plan now did we? So...We can just go charging in or come up with something better to do. Since let's be honest, charging in never works out well for anyone."

She wasn't generally one to come up with any sort of plans that generally could be used in this sort of situation. Not to mention she wasn't one to be all stealthy if she couldn't help it, though she did still generally deal in stealth if need be. They had to do something, that much was obvious. With the ramp to the jet down, they'd be able to see the entrance to the building that they were wanting to go to. They'd easily be able to make it over there, but obviously if they weren't too quick about it, odds were that they'd be spotted. However if they didn't hurry, Gardner likely would catch up to them, it wouldn't be too difficult for anyone to figure out where they were going.

---

---

---

---

Evelyn felt herself suddenly being picked up by Watts yet again like for the fifth time today now it felt like, they were all now on the company jet. Evelyn took a moment and looked directly at Watts as he got himself onto the pilot's seat, and shrugged slightly as she walked over and took the co-pilot's seat. She looked over her shoulder as Wesley asked her if she was good with technology, she wasn't really a techy, but her ability could be used to learn it easily but forget it once she learned something else. "Depends really. My other ability lets me learn something instantly, but I will forget it if I end up watching someone else using a different skill. But generally no, not really good with technology." Evelyn answered.

Evelyn watched as Watts flew the jet and they were eventually at their location now, and landed just outside of it the moment that they landed Evelyn got off of the seat and looked around the room. The team was pretty good at stealth by the looks of it as she looked over at Watts. "Watts, scout out the area with your speed if there are any guards knock them out and see if you can find any kind of entrances, if there is more than one entrance drop each of us there." Evelyn suggested. "And then we pair off and start exploring the facility and take down Garnder's operation."

---

---

Watts never really prided himself on playing nice and if anyone had an issue with him having sprinted them all onto the plane, then they could just deal with it as far as he was concerned. Andrew's life was at stake and no one else seemed to really understand the gravity of the situation, perhaps except for Evelyn. As far as he could tell, Wesley and Bobbi probably would be more than happy to let Andrew die a more permanent death this time around. The hallucination had gone silent, with Watts chalking it up to the fact that they were on the right track - or perhaps he had just moved too quickly to the jet for the ghost to catch up to him. His thoughts were on ripping out the hearts of those who had captured innocent little Andrew as he safely landed the jet in a secluded area.

He heard Evelyn's plan and it wasn't bad, but he was convinced that his plan was better. He wasn't going to say that. No, he had every intention of dropping Bobbi, Sapphire, Gambit, Rogue, and Wesley at the most hazardous entrance he could find - let them be cannon fodder while he, Evelyn, and Belladonna searched the facility for Andrew. They would have a better chance of getting things done if the rest of the team drew the majority of the fire. And since he was depositing everyone at a location at superspeed per Evelyn's suggestion, no one would be able to protest. He could play god and decide who got to live and who got to die. "On it," he said simply, before pulling the hood up of his suit. The yellow mask then covered his face, leaving his eyes and mouth visible. Smirking slightly, Watts then took off at a run.