MULTI-FACETED PROBLEMS

By Rob Ballard

Val Cooper’s Office

“So, how did your meeting with Stone go? You’re still alive, obviously,” she joked.

“It could have been better,” the Mistress of Magnetism told her. “But I suppose you’re right. He’s supposed to get in touch with us with details soon, but we haven’t heard anything yet.”

“Get used to it, Lorna, the waiting is the hardest part,” Val told her.

“Yea, and you know what a patient person I am,” she noted. After a moment’s pause, she asked, “Val, have you actually seen Mystique lately? I mean, even as Mallory Brickman, or anyone else, for that matter?”

“Come to think of it, no, but that’s not really unusual. I don’t exactly get a chance to schmooze with the Senators very often. Thank God,” she added.

“Well, I would definitely try to keep my eyes out for her. Apparently the hounds believe she’s reponsible, at least in part, for the recent theft at Searls Lab.”

Val’s eyes widened. “I know, he told me. That is the last thing we need right now.”

“No doubt. And the worst part is, they had no idea why.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up from here. You all be careful. There’s no telling what Mystique wouldn’t do if the price was right or it suited her needs.”

“Sure thing, Val, you do the same.”

“I will.” Doctor Cooper hung up the phone and checked the time. “Shoot. 2:30 pm, I was supposed to meet Ed for a late lunch!” She rushed from her office, nearly forgetting to lock the door behind her.

As she was racing down the hall, she almost didn’t notice the large man with the goatee. He bore a dangerously wide smile, and tipped his head at her. “Hello, Ms. Cooper,” he said smugly as he winked.

Instinctively, she returned a “hello,” and then realized who had just passed. She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to watch the man continue down the long hall.

Valerie jumped as one of the interns tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Ms. Cooper, is something wrong?”

“Oh! I’m sorry, no, I just,” she shook her head, “I just thought I saw someone I….ummm….never mind.” She took off again, leaving the bewildered intern to try to figure out who or what she’d been staring at.

An underground laboratory

The blue faced woman stared dispassionately at the large man with his back to her. She had a fleeting thought of morphing her arm into a razor sharp knife and slicing through him, but thought the better of it.

Instead, she simply told him flatly, “Here it is. I’ve been told this stuff is rather unstable, much like yourself. Should be a perfect match.” Mystique lifted the heavy box and set it on the table with a gentle thud.

The man turned to face her, smiling a little too broadly for Mystique’s taste. She’d have liked to wipe that smile right off him. “Your shape-shifting powers have served me well, yet again, my dear. I suspect it shan’t be long before you have me out of your hair, and happily reunited with Trevor. And then, we shall all have what we want, yes?”

Mystique pointed at him defiantly. “You already know what I want, Bowser!”

The man’s eyes widened, his brow furrowed, and Mystique swore she could see fangs underneath his curled upper lip. “And…you know what I want,” he spat. “Your little boy has done me a tremendous favor! And I thank him, from the bottom of my hearts!” As he spoke, saliva collected at the corner of his mouth. Mystique was horrified, it reminded her too much of Sabretooth on the hunt.

“If it weren’t for him,” he continued, “I wouldn’t have been abducted from this dimension. Oh, I was furious, of course. The pain his conjured monsters subjected me to was horrible. You can just imagine what it’s like to be eaten alive, can’t you Mystique?”

Mystique tried to face him, look him in the eye, and hide her disgust, but she couldn’t. “As Trevor began to forget about big, bad Bowser, the pain mercifully subsided. Eventually I even found myself back in my own reality. It was as though nothing at all had happened. Until I found that I’d been altered somehow. A permanent manifestation of a child’s nightmare! And now, I think it’s only fair that I express my gratitude…”

“I swear to God, if you ever try to hurt him, I’ll rip…”

“Yes, yes, yes, of course you will,” he waved her threat off idly. “Relax, my dear! I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for your little precious one. Like a father, he’s made me what I am today!” Bowser laughed furiously, the hideous sound echoing through the lab and Mystique could barely stand it. After a moment, he settled down.

“And now that I’m back home,” he grinned, “I find myself with a few debts to repay. First, there is X-Factor. And Valerie Cooper. I’d also like to see the Hound program go through a refit, it seems terribly ineffective right now, don’t you think?”

For once, Mystique was speechless. She ran from the room, Bowser calling back to her, “I’ll be calling on you again, my dear. How does the saying go? ‘Don’t be a stranger?’” Again he laughed, as he returned to his work.

X-Factor HQ, 2019 hours

“Trevor, you say you aren’t happy here?”

“Like you don’t know that already,” the young red haired boy told the native American, words dripping with sarcasm.

Forge knew he would have to be delicate about how he explained this. The mind of a 10 year old boy worked a little differently. The more appealing he could make this idea, the better. Fixx sensed what Forge was thinking, and agreed.

“What do you miss about being here?”

“I’m bored all the time. I miss my friends. I miss my…mom and dad…” Trevor choked the last few words out between tears. Fixx looked like she was just about ready to cry, herself.

In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, Forge hugged the boy tightly, and said nothing.

Fixx smiled, and offered a suggestion, “Trevor, maybe being around some new friends your own age would help you feel better?”

“I guess so,” he said, with little enthusiasm in his voice.

“We know someone who we think you’d like to meet. Over at the church, Father Vincent. Father knows some other children your age who would probably like to meet you?”

Trevor’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Yea, I’ve met him before. He’s a nice old guy. You think he’d let me bring my friend with me?”

Forge and Fixx looked at each other, each thinking Trevor was speaking of some imaginary friend. Suddenly a young blonde haired boy, similar to Trevor’s age, appeared. “You guys, this is my friend Scotty.”

Fixx looked like she was about to be sick.

Across the street from the parking lot of Searl’s Laboratories, 2107 hours

Stone thought it was very ironic that his thick hide, while great at protecting him from physical danger, didn’t help one iota where the psyche was concerned. He felt miserable, like he was being torn a thousand directions. Since being recruited into the hounds, he’d been brainwashed to the point of total loss of his own sense of morality. Right or wrong all seemed to blend together in his mind like the murky depths.

Recently, though, he’d started getting a handle on what was going on. As the newly appointed Houndmaster began to trust him more and more, they scaled back on the mindwipe treatments. Of course, he never let on that he was beginning to have second thoughts. That would only mean brainwashing with renewed effort. It would guarantee the loss of whatever free will he had regained.

He shook his head and tried to focus. He was here doing something that his size made him totally unsuited for – surveillance. He tried to hunch down behind the dash, as best he could, as he spied the blue skinned woman through binoculars.

Usually, Mystique would have noticed something as obvious as Stone watching her. After all, she was no amateur. But tonight, she was not concentrating. She was spooked, her mind was on too many other things, including revenge. “She should know that such emotions simply cloud the judgement. Very ineffective,” he noted. He surpressed a smile as he realized that he’d just been doing the same thing moments earlier.

He watched as the woman morphed herself into a lab tech complete with the white coat and proper identification. She disappeared behind the double glass doors after flashing her badge at the security guard. The outside security was easy, there were several other checkpoints she’d have to go through before reaching her objective. Even in their mode of heightened readiness, Stone knew that she’d have no trouble passing the myriad of other security measures contained within the building as well.

Bowser’s underground lab

“So, how’s it going, Soundwave?” Bowser patted the small man on the shoulder.

“Hey, watch it! This stuff is unstable, you know! A little slip, and it’s back to the drawing board. A big slip, and this place is history! Kablooey! Got it? Sheesh.” He shook his head and went back to his work.

Bowser continued to smile brightly despite Soundwave’s warning. “I trust, my friend, that you will take care that doesn’t happen. Especially when we’re so close to completion.” Bowser gestured toward an enormous unmoving, unblinking figure partially hidden in the shadows against the back wall. “How has the experimentation been going?”

Soundwave sighed impatiently, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “The exoskeleton has been slow to solidify. Once Mystique returns with another dose of Vanadium-263, that should take care of that. Otherwise,” he nodded toward the figure, “he seems to be ready. His capacity for information retrieval and threat neutralization appears to be uncompromised by our recent enhancements.”

“Yes!” Bowser bellowed. “It’s just about time to set our own little twisted genetic aberration free again. What kind of trouble do you suppose he’ll find himself in this time?”

“All right…just who are you and what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” The blue skinned woman looked like she was just barely keeping herself under control. Her arm was stiff as though she might try to morph it into any different number of lethal weapons she was capable of.

Stone came as close as he’d ever been to jumping in shock. He’d been caught totally off guard. Of course, he didn’t have a ready answer. All he could think was, “How in the world did I miss her approaching?” Instead, he simply said, “The name is Stone.”

“Listen, ‘Stone’, I don’t know what kind of freak of nature you are, or what your problem is, but one thing is for damn sure, I don’t need a tail. And if I ever catch you following me again, I’ll become the biggest rock crusher you ever saw. Got it?”

Stone considered her threat for a moment, then chose to ignore it. “What you are doing is wrong. You are stealing.”

Mystique stared at him incredulously. “Oh geeze, and I suppose you’re my guardian angel, now? No, thanks, don’t need one, go find someone else to preach to.”

“I cannot allow you to take that container with you.” He nodded at the rather large grey box Mystique was holding.

“Really?” Her hand morphed around the box like a protective claw. “And I suppose you’ll be the one taking it away from me?”

Stone knew he was not going to win this one with brute force. She had the advantage of speed and maneuverability. Mystique probably wouldn’t be able to hurt him, and when she realized that, he figured she’d flee. If that happened, he’d never be able to catch her. So he decided to try to pry her for information, instead.

“Surely, you must realize just how dangerous that stuff could be in the wrong hands.”

“That’s not my problem, is it? I have other things on my mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a deliv—”

“Mystique! This is serious business! Innocent people could get hurt!” Stone’s voice thundered across the lot, and while it got Mystique’s attention momentarily, it barely slowed her down.

“Yeah? Big deal! Innocent people could get hurt if I don’t make this delivery, too! Now leave me alone! I’m warning you, don’t try to follow me!”

“Mystique, we can help you!” he pleaded.

“No! Stay out of this!” She spun on her heel, and left. Reluctantly, Stone thought it best to let her be, for now.

“So, how do you like being the boss so far, Lorna?” Shard asked over the television blaring the machine gun sounds of an action-packed Van Damme movie.

“It’s not really what I expected. I never really thought of myself as a leader. Most of the time I haven’t even been a team player, much less a leader. I’m still trying to decide if I’m doing this out of Alex’s legacy or because it’s something I really want to do.”

“You ever have second thoughts?”

“Oh, occasionally. Sure, I could go back to our Diablo Mountain hideway and bury myself in Geophysics books. But, you know, I’m just not sure that’s me anymore.”

“Really?”

Lorna looked annoyed momentarily, as some nameless bad guy on the television screamed when Jean-Claude took care of him with a well placed bullet. She turned back to Shard, “You sound surprised. Is it that hard to believe?”

“Well, let’s just say I’ve heard you were a tough sell for the hero bit. Just seems a little unlikely that you’d put yourself in a position like this,” Shard smirked.

“Hey! Who said that? I’ve always been there when they needed us!”

“Never mind that,” Shard chuckled, “I’m just really impressed so far. You seem to have this leadership thing down pat.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate–” Lorna was interrupted by a particularly large explosion billowing across the television screen, followed by a chorus of Jamies cheering with delight. “Jamie!” she called. “JAMIE!”

When Jamie didn’t answer, the boss decided to take matters into her own hands. Without ever leaving her chair or using the remote, the Mistress of Magnetism, quite literally, pulled the plug on the television.

“Hey, Greeny, what’d you do that for?” Shard and Lorna just shook their heads and laughed.

“Ah, whatever. I need to head to the store, anyway. It’s time for us to pick up another six-pack!” Jamie-on-the-couch held up an empty beer bottle, to prove his point, and the other dupes agreed.

“Men…they are all alike!” Lorna said, and they both laughed.

“Hey! I…” Jamie-laying-in-the-beanbag loudly burped his displeasure, “…reshemble that remark!”

“Lorna, can I have a word with you?”

“Sure Forge. My door is always open. What’s up?”

“I think it’s time for Trevor to meet Father Bloch. We aren’t doing him any favors by keeping him here anymore. We obviously aren’t going to be able to get in touch with Mystique anytime soon, and besides, until all this blows over, we can’t give him the attention he needs.

Lorna smirked, “You’re not trying to pawn him off, are you? What would Mystique think?”

“Truth be told, no, actually I’ve grown kinda fond of the little fella. But we all know how unhappy he is here. Despite Mystique’s request, we’re probably doing him more harm than good.

Forge paused a moment, then continued. “I also think that his reality warping powers are adversely affecting Fixx. Do you remember that vision of Alex that appeared awhile back?”

“Yes…” she said hesitantly.

“If you remember right, it appeared he was talking to a small boy that we couldn’t see. He called him Scotty. Well, guess who we just got to meet?”

“Oh no. You’re kidding me, right?”

“I wish I was. And as soon as Scotty appeared, Fixx became ill. There seems to be some negative feedback between Fixx’s psionic powers and Trevor’s ability to alter reality. Without doing further research, we can’t be sure how stable Trevor’s powers are. Also, I’m concerned the affect on Fixx could become cumulative. What do you want to do?”

Lorna’s mind told her something her heart didn’t want to hear. She sighed deeply. “As much as I’d like to investigate this more, it’s going to have to wait. We’ve got enough irons in the fire already, and it seems like whenever Mystique’s involved, we wind up getting into a mess. We need the entire team on their toes, including Fixx.”

“I agree,” Forge said. “We don’t need that kind of distraction. I’ll give Father a call in the morning and see about finding him foster parents.”

Late Night Go-Mart, 2317 hours

“It’sagood think yer drivin,’ ‘cause I’m thinkin’ we shouldn’t be drivin’, ya know ole pal.” Jamie weaved in his seat as he patted his twin behind the wheel.

The driver smirked, “yea, well, next time you get to be DD! Got it?”

“Itsh a deal – you got it!” He slurred.

“Quiet, we’re here. Time to reabsorb.” Jamie pulled into a slot next to the store, got out of the car and walked in. He waved to the cashier, a middle aged overweight man who seemed more preoccupied with the newspaper than keeping an eye on the merchandise.

Without paying attention, Jamie walked toward the back wall where the coolers of beer, pop, milk and bottled water were kept. Only there were no coolers. He looked around and noticed they were all on the side wall now.

“Looks like you all have done some serious reorganization in here! How’s a guy supposed to find his favorite brew,” he chuckled as he headed for the new coolers. The man up front grunted his acknowledgment as he reached for another section of the paper.

As Jamie reached in to grab a couple of six packs, he instantly realized something was definitely wrong. The beer wouldn’t budge – it seemed to be stuck. He certainly didn’t want to ask someone to help him lift a six pack of beer (how embarassing!), so he reached in with his other arm and pulled, to no avail.

Just as he was about to complain, the store suddenly began to morph around him, into some sort of holding cell. He couldn’t move, and his arms remained outstreched in front of him, shackled together. “Hey! This isn’t funny! What’s going on?” A moment later, his mouth was frozen shut.

“Enough questions, ‘Mister Multiple’.” Jamie recognized the figure that appeared near the wall opposite him – a rather alluring but dangerous redhead named Daydreamer, whom they met during their last encounter with Stone. Immediately Jamie wondered if Stone had set them up.

“Creating illusions is easy for me,” she said, gently bracing her thumb and forefinger underneath Jamie’s unmoving chin. “Especially when the mind is weak. When you reabsorbed your dupes, your resulting partial intoxication made you just a little more vulnerable to mental suggestion.” She flashed him a wink and a smile and then continued, “So…with that all done, now we’re going to see a friend.”

If he could, Jamie would have raised an eyebrow. “Oh,” she laughed lightly, “not one of yours, mind you! One of mine! I’ll be back later to check on how you’re doing.”

Before Jamie fell into a deep sleep, his last thought was that he really, really wished she was on their side.

NEXT: With a team member missing, can X-Factor piece together what’s going on in time?