THE NEED TO KNOW

By Rob Ballard and Lauren Fox

In the X-Factor Team Room…

“A little to the left… higher… higher… ahhh, that’s it!” Fixx smirked at Jamie as she rubbed his calf, working out the charley horse.

“You know, you should have seen it coming, Madrox. I mean, I wasn’t trying to psych you out or anything.”

“If I had known you had physcial therapy skills, maybe I’d slip up a little more often. I mean, my dupes could do this but it just isn’t as good, you know!” Jamie winked at her.

“Now, don’t go getting any ideas, Madrox. I don’t ever mix business with pleasure. Besides,” she grinned, “you aren’t my type!”

At that, Jamie tapped his fist on the floor several times. “What about me?”

“Or me?”

“I bet I could show you a good time!”

Fixx laughed. “I don’t think so. This training session is over! I have an appointment to keep…”

She shook her head and walked out, as Jamie and his dupes called out, “Hey, my turn!”

“You forgot someone…”

“He can’t possibly be better looking than moi!”

“Ouch, I think I hurt my neck, too…”

“Now, this won’t hurt a bit. Just close your eyes, let your body relax and your mind wander,” Forge told her, making note of the EEG patterns.

Fixx opened her eyes. “Now, you know, it’s pretty tough to relax with these probes on my head.” She gestured toward the white pads which were connected to the medical equipment next to the bed. “Besides,” she pouted, “I don’t like doctors.”

“Good. I’m not a doctor. Now hush.” A moment later, Forge switched off the machine. At that moment, Lorna entered.

“Any luck?”

“None. Everything seems normal. I think we’re going to have to chalk that vision up to the flights of Fixx’s unconscious.”

Lorna’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. It just seems weird. First the recurring dream, then the vision of Alex, it just seems…” Her words drifted off in thought.

“Fixx, when did you start having these dreams?” Forge asked.

She thought for a moment, “Probably about a month… no… it was two and a half weeks ago.”

“Have you ever had things like this happen before? Recurring dreams, and the like?”

“Well, of course with psionic powers, lots of strange things happen. Yeah, I guess so. I never really thought much of it. Sometimes strange things happen when one of my sprites gets loose.”

Forge thought about that a moment. “Hmmm,” he muttered as he rubbed his chin.

“Hmmm, what?” Fixx asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to think on this one awhile. And I’m out of time. I need to go check on Trevor. It’s been half an hour, and who knows what he could be up to?”

“How’s that going, Forge? Have you been in touch with Mystique yet?” Lorna asked.

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll get to it right away.”

“So I’m free to go?” Fixx asked, getting ready to pull the probes off her head.

“Yes, for now. And make sure you let me know if you have any more of those dreams,” he called to her.

In Valerie Cooper’s Office…

“No.” It was a good thing the man on the other end couldn’t see her exasperated expression.

“No, sir,” she spoke patiently into the phone as she rolled her eyes.

“No, I know what you saw on television, sir, but,” she laughed lightly, but inside she was anything but laughing. “You know the media blows things out of proportion.”

“Yes sir. I understand. Yes, I will. Of course. If I learn of X-Factor’s whereabouts, you will be the first to know.”

“No. I don’t know where she is, either.”

After a long pause, her eyes narrowed. With just a trace of bitterness creeping into her voice, she said, “Well, sir, after that whole Sabretooth incident, I can kinda see why they wouldn’t exactly want to invite me over for Christmas dinner, if you know what I mean.”

Another long pause. “Fine. Thank you, sir. Good day.” After the caller hung up, she slammed the phone down into it’s cradle.

“Damn!” She shook her head and mumbled to herself, “I wish they’d give up this obsession. You get rid of one, and two more take his place.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. It sounded more like a wrecking ball. “Come in!”

The man who stepped in had to duck almost half a meter to clear the doorway, and Val could feel the floor vibrate as he stepped toward her. She instinctively reached for her gun as this living Mount Everest approached. His voice was deep and threatening as he told her, “That won’t be necessary.”

Val shook her head, and looked up at him. “Is there something I can do for you?”

His words rolled like gravel. “You don’t know me. The name’s Stone.” He stuck out his hand, which was almost the size of Val’s entire head. Nevertheless, she tried not to display any reluctance as she stuck out her hand. His grip was surprisingly gentle considering his size.

He sat down, the wooden chair creaking dangerously. Val did the same. “So are you from the collection agency? I’m really sorry about that, sometimes the time just gets…”

“Relax, Miss Cooper. Here.” He handed her a scribbled note. On it was written: “Turn your monitoring equipment off now.”

Val studied him carefully, then decided to comply. She touched a button under her desk. At that point her conversation was no longer being recorded. There were many people who knew that the offices in her complex were being monitored, supposedly for safety considerations, but only Val had a ‘magic’ button to turn the system in her room off, thanks to Forge.

“This is highly unorthodox, Mister… Stone… so why don’t we get down to business?”

“I need to get in touch with X-Factor.” Apparently Stone was a man of few words.

“Don’t we all. Look, if you’ve come here to badger me about…”

Stone interrupted, his voice now a little less patient. “Look, Cooper, I know you know where they are. I’m not out to get them. I need to talk to them about… Raven Darkholme.”

“Who’s Raven Darkholme?”

“Listen, don’t play coy with me. You know who Mystique is, and you know how dangerous she can be. I happen to know she has it in for you, so I’d watch my backside real close if I were you.”

Val leaned back in her chair. She did not like to be in a position where she wasn’t in-the-know. Unfortunately, that was the way it was going to be until Stone decided otherwise. So she decided to play along.

“If I can put you in touch with X-Factor, will you tell me what you know about Mystique’s whereabouts?”

“That is acceptable.”

Back at X-Factor Headquarters…

The phone rang a fourth time. Shard just looked at it, staring in disbelief.

“Well, are you going to answer it?” Jamie asked her, putting his cards down, face down.

“It’s our public line. No one ever calls us on that line.”

Jamie picked it up and disguised his voice. “Tommy’z House of Pain, can I help youze?”

“Can it, Jamie. I know it’s you.”

“Oh, hi, Val. What’s up?” Shard’s brow furrowed when she heard who it was. “Okay, I’ll transfer you.” Jamie pushed a button on the phone and said, “Lorna, you have a call. It’s Val. I’m sending you to her now.”

“Wonder what that’s all about?” Shard asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, though.”

“Forge,” Trevor said, poking his head through the doorway of the inventor’s quarters, “Have you…”

“Found Mystique yet? No.” Forge scowled and hung up the phone. “She’s not answering any line I’ve tried.”

“Oh.” The boy frowned. “Do… do you think she’s okay?”

Forge nodded. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he told him – which wasn’t entirely true, but he was certain that a scared Trevor would be twice as bad as an angry Trevor. “And she did tell us that she would call back soon. She might think leaving me in the dark is great fun, but she wouldn’t want you to worry.”

“Forge?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t like Mystique very much, do you?”

“Why do you say that?”

“‘Cause all you guys are always saying bad stuff about her. And you can be really mean to her,” he said, accusingly.

“She does a lot of bad things, Trevor. She’s caused my friends and me a lot of trouble.”

“But she’s done a lot of good things, too,” he pointed out. “Like taking care of me.”

“True. I’ll admit she does surprisingly nice things every once in a great while. But the fact remains that I can’t trust her. Nobody can.”

“I trust her! She wouldn’t ever hurt me!”

“I know,” the older mutant assured him, “but I’m afraid you’re the only one who’s managed to worm their way into her heart. Now, why don’t you go play? I’ve got a lot to do right now.”

“What if she calls when I’m not here?” Trevor looked suspicious.

“If she calls, I promise I’ll come and get you, alright?”

The boy didn’t seem to happy about it, but finally complied and shuffled off to play video games.

Thankfully, Forge watched him go, then turned back to the phone, which remained resolutely silent.

Polaris’ office…

“So, Stone wants to see us again, hmmm? Wonder what his change of heart is all about.”

“I don’t know. He told me very little, just that he knew you, he had information on Mystique, and that it would be in our best interests to cooperate. You’ll be hearing from him soon, I’m afraid.”

“God, Val, you didn’t tell him where we are, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Good. We’ll play this game by our rules.”

“You aren’t thinking of taking him up on a meeting, are you? It could be a trap! I don’t like the way he bullied his way in here, demanding to see you.”

“Val, I have a feeling that if Stone really had it in for us, he would’ve found a less polite way to do it.”

“You’re probably right. I did a little checking up on him. Do you know,” she lowered her voice, “that he’s part of the Hound Program?”

“Yes, we’re aware of that. I don’t like it any more than you do. But maybe that’s a good thing.”

“I don’t follow you.” Val was puzzled.

“No offense Val, but we need someone on the inside. I get the feeling from talking with you that you’re not very well trusted right now, and if it’s going to be us against the government, we need to know where we stand. Stone may be just the one to help us do that.”

“You’re taking a hell of a risk. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“No more of a risk than we took when you recruited Sabretooth and Mystique into X-Factor,” Lorna painfully reminded her.

“Ouch. All right, just keep in touch. Let me know if you need anything. Like you said, I’m not sure I can be of much help, but I’m still owed a few favors.”

“All right, we’ll keep that in mind.” Polaris hung up the phone, and took a deep breath. The whole team was going to need to be here for this one.

Twenty four hours later, late in the afternoon with the sun low in the sky, a lone back sedan drove down a remote stretch of river road near the edge of town.

The chauffer driver pulled the cap low over her face. “This could be fun,” she grinned mischievously, turning the wheel and taking it slow and easy. She brought the car to a stop next to a stretch of decrepit storage units.

“Shard, we’ve really gotta work on your sense of adventure,” one of the two Jamies dressed in trenchcoats in the back said as he looked around nervously.

“Shhhhh, quiet. We’re at the rendezvous point.” Shard psionically sent that message to Fixx.

“Now what do we do?” the other twin asked, fidgeting.

“We wait, and be ready for anything!” Shard mentally prepped herself for a volley of photon blasts.

Half a mile away, on the other side of the river, Forge peered through high powered binoculars. “It’s not like you to be so cautious, Lorna.”

“Let’s just call it a gut feeling. I got a lot of mixed signals from Stone the last time we met. The fact is, he’s a Hound, and he’s been conditioned to believe that’s all he can ever be. It’s kill or be killed for them. Until we can find out what he’s up to, I intend to be very careful.”

“Well, our wait’s over,” Forge stated. “I’ve got the subject, coming out from behind the last unit, about fifty meters behind the car. Fixx immediately relayed that to the occupants of the limo.

“He is one BIG dude,” Shard mumbled, as she could feel the car tremble ever so slightly with each footstep.

“And weighing in at in incredible one hundred and fifty kilos, the man made of granite makes his way into the ring,” Jamie announced.

“Come on, Jamie, let’s greet our guest.” Shard got out of the car, and both of the Jamies followed. The second one rapped his fist on the trunk to create a couple more dupes, just in case.

“Greetings, Stone, is it?”

“Yes. Where is the rest of your team?”

Just then, Shard intercepted a psionic message from Fixx. {I’ve scanned the adjacent warehouses, you all are clear. Lorna says bring him over.}

“They’ve sent us to pick you up. Now, you wouldn’t be so impolite as to bring any weaponry with you, would you?” One of the Jamies started frisking Stone, much to Stone’s dismay.

“Cut that out,” he warned. “I don’t need guns.”

“Easy, big guy, let’s take a little ride and then you can talk to my boss.”

“Fine.”

Jamie reabsorbed his dupes, seeing as how there would barely be enough room for the three of them in there. The car was nearly dragging bottom as they pulled out to the bridge across the river. It was only a couple of very uneasy moments before they arrived at the park, but later Shard and Jamie would say it might as well have been a twelve hour roadtrip.

Polaris outstretched her hand, but Stone didn’t accept. She mentally summoned her patience and tried to sound as pleasant as possible. “Hello, Stone. I gather you have some important news for us?”

Stone growled, “I do not like getting beaten.”

So much for pleasantries, she thought. “Listen, Stone,” she said as her eyes narrowed, “it’s nothing personal. You know and I know that Trevor is not a pawn of the United States, or any other government.”

Stone just stared at her.

“And we intend to make sure he gets the care that any other boy his age has a right to have. You know I’m right, and if you’re going to be a sore loser about it, then so be it.”

Stone said nothing, arms folded.

“Fine. Screw you, then. I certainly did not come out here to enjoy staring at Mount Rushmore. I hope you enjoyed the ride,” she pointed toward the limo. In a rare show of defiance, she turned and began to walk away, motioning for the others to follow. “Let’s go, X-Factor.”

Everyone readied for departure, when Stone interrupted. “Wait.”

Polaris turned around first. “What?”

“I… we have been monitoring the activities of someone whom you may be interested in.”

“Yeah? Go on…”

“Mystique. She has been involved in the theft of radioactive matter from Searls’ Laboratories.”

“What?” Forge said, incredulous.

“What the hell is Mystique up to now?” Polaris asked to no one in particular.

“I don’t know,” Stone answered flatly. “We believe there may be others involved, but cannot be certain.”

“Why don’t you just hunt them down and put a stop to it?” Shard asked, disbelieving.

“This is beyond our domain. Our superiors feel it would involve too much risk of unsolicited media exposure.”

“So now it becomes our problem?” Polaris asked, arms akimbo. She was not pleased with this set up one bit.

“I knew you would do the right thing.” Stone blinked once. “My superiors are not aware of my presence here. I must return soon.”

“Is that it? That’s all you can tell us?” Polaris’ stern voice was now laced with frustration.

“For now. I will be in touch with you.”

“How do we know you aren’t lying?” Shard asked.

“I cannot yet offer you proof.”

“What, so we just wait for the Bat Signal?” Jamie chided.

Stone ignored his remark. “I must go, and you shall not attempt to follow me.”

Forge leaned over and whispered something to Polaris, and she nodded her agreement. “All right, Stone. You’ve got your chance. But, I warn you, this had better not be some sort of deception. And, just to be on the safe side…”

Polaris’ outstretched arms magnetically grabbed the car. The muscles in her arms flexed as her hands clawed and grasped. In response, the body of the car became hideously disfigured, rending, crunching and tearing unnaturally, first as though it had been in a terrible accident. Soon it was unrecognizable as a vehicle, metal folds actually binding together. The car continued to compact upon itself, until it was about the size of a handball, and white hot with the heat released from the rapid compression. Aside from the near molten sphere, there was nothing left but a pile of shattered plastic, glass, and smouldering rubber. She dropped her arms suddenly, and the ball fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

Stone appeared unimpressed. “I do not understand this show of force. It is unnecessary.”

Polaris snorted derisively between deep breaths. “Hardly.”

“You see,” Forge added helpfully, “until you decide which side of the fence you want to walk on, we are going to take every precaution. That means, for example,” he gestured toward Polaris’ handiwork, “that we make sure you Hounds don’t get your hands on any of our DNA.” Forge’s emphasis made sure Stone realized they considered him still to be very much on the side of the Hounds.

“I am sorry you feel this way.” Despite his words, his tone was devoid of any emotion.

“Hey, it’s your future. Anyway, we look forward to hearing from you soon,” Forge told him, as Polaris readied the magnetic bubble to carry the team back to their headquarters.

NEXT: Just who is it that can intimidate Mystique? And why does that not bode well for X-Factor?