41 Chapter 41

{A/N: I'm alive. I needed a break. But I'm back and will resume writing. Also had a couple other ideas that I have on the back burner for the future. Anyway this took a bit longer than I planned but I felt like I needed to reread everything just to get back into the right headspace.}

Mikael sat quietly at his desk as he scrolled through a new design for the power source of his speeders that Tony Stark had sent over to him. It had been several months since the incident with Obadiah and Tony's subsequent reveal as Iron Man. Since then Tony has been frequently traveling across the world, sometimes to fight groups of terrorists or warlords that were attempting to take over an innocent village while other times he would make an appearance alongside Mikael's team of metas to mitigate and control the damage and casualties from natural disasters even if Tony's idea of helping with natural disasters was just to throw money at the problem. Even now as Mikael sat in his office refining his new speeder designs, he could hear the news speaking about Tony's recent appearance over New Guinea and his assistance with rescuing people from a recent tsunami.

Mikael's eyes couldn't help but glance over at a nearby report about the costs of rebuilding a number of homes that Tony smashed through last week in an effort to rescue people before they drowned. Mikael sighed heavily as he leaned back in his chair before closing his eyes.

"Ordis how's the vibranium mining coming? Give me some good news please." Mikael said aloud as the familiar spherical AI appeared above his desk.

"Sir, the first Sentinel Droid battalion is fully operational and has begun mining operations on Trappist-1f. The second Battalion was recently completed and now on standby. The Third Battalion has now entered production and proceeding according to plan although we may need to look at expanding mining operations into the asteroid belts in the Trappist system for additional resources." Ordis stated as several holograms appeared with large red circles marking a number of available resources in the system.

"Good. Use a portion of the vibranium and make tools to increase mining efficiency. Also send me a hundred pounds of it. I have upgrades to make." Mikael said as he picked up a medical report from his desk.

"Maybe that'll make Maria will stop complaining about Frank coming home with bruises. Now I have to figure out how to make vibranium weave." Mikael complained as he tossed the report on top of the other files that have been piling up on his desk.

"Understood sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Ordis asked as Mikael spun his chair around until he was looking at the wall behind him.

"That is all Ordis. Thank you." Mikael replied before the AI vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Mikael closed his eyes and took a deep breath standing to his feet and walking towards the elevator and up to his own personal training room. The room was on the residential floor of the building and on the other side of the large living space across from the bedrooms. Life was simple during the last few months, peaceful even. Mikael spent more time with his family and friends, he had used the excuse of checking on the company's humanitarian aid to see the world with Jean. But that didn't change the fact that Mikael was finding himself training more and more. Maybe it was because he knew in the back of his mind that everything would soon become more and more dangerous and he wanted to be prepared. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that training his skills and refining his abilities seemed to bring him a sense of balance. Maybe it was both.

But regardless of the reason Mikael once more found himself brandishing his lightsaber. Step by step and swing by swing he moved through the seven lightsaber forms that was engraved into his own memory. The hum of his blade filled the air as the walls were illuminated by the soft silver light. His body moved like a leaf in the wind, constantly shifting as he fought against imaginary copies of enemies long gone. There in the solitude of the training room he could visualize the crimson red blade of his counterpart's former rivals.

Silver and red filled his mind as he danced around the room, his blade weaved through the air in an attempt to fend off the phantom attacks. With every second his movement became faster until his body appeared as nothing more than a blur. The force flowed from within him, passing throughout every fiber of his body and pushing every action to become more efficient and precise. With a effortless step to his right he raised his blade to guard as the illusory red blade passed along the length of his own before swiftly bringing his blade up and around to slice down and through his phantom opponent.

"What happened?" Mikael asked as his eyes opened and looked towards the entrance of his training room. Kitty stood in the open doorway holding onto the frame as she gasped for breath. Her chaotic emotions were like a loud alarm that had disrupting his trance.

"We were attacked! Scott's been taken!" Kitty cried out as she continued to catch her breath.

"By who? What did they look like?" Mikael asked as he deactivated his lightsaber before walking past her and out of the room.

"I don't know who. There were several of them but they all looked like they worked for one guy. Pale white skin, red eyes and some kind of gem or something on his forehead." Kitty answered as she quickly followed behind him. Mikael stopped in his tracks as he processed the description that was given to him.

"I don't know what happened but we tried to fight back but that guy, something he did kept blocking our powers." Kitty added supported herself with her hands on her knees.

"Where's Jean?"

"She's in the medical bay helping Hank treat Alex. He suffered the worst of the attack when he tried to help Scott." Kitty answered before quickly running after Mikael who had started to walk towards the elevators.

"How'd it happen?" Mikael asked as the elevator started to descend down the building.

"We were on our way to this underground enclave, I guess that's what it's called right? But when we got there and started talking about how to improve their lifestyles when this other group appeared out of nowhere and started attacking everyone." Kitty explained waving her arms in an attempt to better get her point across.

"We tried to fight them off but then that guy showed up and everything went wrong. He said something to Scott but looked like super confused when nothing happened. Then he just teleported in front of him and knocked him out." She continued, her words coming out one after the other without pause as they stepped into the elevator. Mikael raised his hand interrupting her as he looked her in the eyes.

"Stop. Slow down and breathe before you pass out." He instructed as he watched her finally took her first breathe since she had started speaking. The red tint from a lack of oxygen faded from her face as the elevator continued making its way down the building.

"Good, now keep going."

"Okay, well after he knocked Scott out the man kept looking around like he was looking for someone else. That's when Alex attacked him or at least he tried to." Kitty continued as the elevator came to a halt.

"This large hairy guy came out of nowhere and attacked him. He had claw like nails that he used to slash Alex across the chest with and caused an explosion that threw them both back. Remy froze up like he was paralyzed or something and we all got attacked by like a dozen other people. I don't know, it was like it was a convention of different twins or triplets. I swear there was another Storm in there somewhere." Kitty added as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the Medical floor.

"Alright I think I know what's going on." Mikael said as he stepped into a large room. Across the room he noticed Hank holding down the flailing form of Alex as Jean attempted to calm him down. Kurt sat on another bed as Ororo helped him clean and bandage the several bloody claw marks across his chest. Bobby paced back and forth clutching the sides of his ribs. Remy sat on a bench in the corner blankly staring at the floor as he attempted to shuffle a deck of cards only to have to restart as a card would end up at the wrong angle.

"We need to go after him!" Alex shouted as he struggled to get up from the bed.

"And how are we gonna do that? They teleported away it's not like there's footprints for us to track." Bobby replied as he kicked the wall before groaning in pain.

"Where's your armor? And where's Logan?" Mikael asked as he looked around.

"We got split up in the fight. Last we saw he got tackled by that god damn savage into the caves and we haven't seen him since." Bobbie answered as he sat down with his back against the wall.

"It supposed to be diplomatic mission, we didn't think it was necessary to wear armor. We thought it would scare the Morlocks." Kitty answered sheepishly from behind Mikael causing him to let out a breath of discontent.

"Right. I'll add another lesson on following protocols. 47, I need combat team one ready for action. Full kit." Mikael muttered before he walked over to a terminal on the wall to give orders.

"Acknowledged. Will we be ending meatbags today master?" HK-47's voice responded through the terminal.

"Yes." Mikael answered before he looked over his shoulder at the group.

"Kurt, Bobby. Can you still fight? If you can then you're coming with me."

"Yeah I can still fight, but how are we going to find them?" Bobby asked as he stood up.

"Did Scott wear his glasses or his visor?"

"His visor. He always wears it on mission." Mikael quickly input a series of commands into the computer as a message popped up on screen.

[Signal not found.]

Mikael took a breath before inputting a different set of commands.

"Okay, easy way is ruled out. Let's see, if I scan for all technological black spots. Cross it with the database scan and visible satellite images. That removes Shield bases, Wakanda, Atlantis..." Mikael muttered as his hands danced along the keyboard before he sensed a disturbance in the air and spotted a silent alarm appear on the corner of the screen.

[Unknown spatial disturbance detected.]

"Well then. You just made it easy again. Allow access." Mikael whispered before his eyes glowed as he spun around and charged across the room. Everyone watched in shock as Mikael moved in a blur of motion in Jean's direction. The air behind her shimmered and shifted as Mikael's lightsaber hissed to life and pierced forward. They felt something that felt like a wall of warm air washing over them from Mikael's position just before a black haired man in a black bodysuit appeared directly in the path of the silver blade. The man turned his head in surprise just as the silver blade pierced through his back and through the red diamond on his chest. As the man gasped from the sudden attack Mikael's hand passed through the long ribbons that formed the man's cape to grab onto his shoulder and in one effortless motion threw him across the room behind him. The man tumbled along the ground and slid to a halt before standing up and brushing a bit of dust from his shoulder.

"Hello there."