Plan in Motion (Part Two)
Group Two sit in silence in the grand meeting hall of the X-Men after receiving a saddening message from Cyclops, informing them of the failure of Group One’s mission and the death of Polaris. Beast solemnly enters the room and speaks, “Director Mackenzie’s cars will be here shortly. Everyone get ready, there’ll be no bathroom breaks.” Gambit chuckles softly before standing “c’mon mes amis, jus’ ‘cause Group One failed don’t mean dat we will too. Les get ready an’ show t’ese S.H.I.E.L.D. folks how de X-Men do it. Oui?” Wolverine looks at him, “good enough for me. Let’s go.” 15 minutes later, the group exit the X-Mansion dressed in their signature and distinctive costumes. Wolverine pulling on his cowl, Gambit putting a card- the ace of hearts- into the pocket of his flowing brown trench coat. Rogue putting on her yellow power blocking gloves while her brother, the German, blue furred Nightcrawler puts his swords into their sheathes. Their mother and world famous mutant rights ambassador, Mystique aka Raven Darkhölme, walks behind them tying up her vibrant red hair. Psylocke ties a bright scarlet sash around her waist as Beast walks next to her looking at a data pad. As the group walk across the gravel parking lot of the X-Mansion, two large black SUVs branded with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo (an eagle surrounded by stars) pull up and park in front of them and two large imposing men step out, one bald and one ginger. The ginger man speaks in a thick Scottish accent “Dr Hank McCoy? I’m Agent Ross Frazer and this is Agent Nick Reed. We’re here to escort you to the Playground, that sound right?” Beast looks at him and nods, the agent then opens the door to his car while agent Reed opens the door the other. Agent Reed speaks in an equally thick accent “please, take a seat. Three in one car and four in another.” Wolverine folds his arms and looks him up and down, “uh uh bub, I don’t like being driven around. I’ll take my bike.” Agent Frazer gives Wolverine a look before sighing, “okay, just keep close.” Wolverine nods before leaving to go to the school garage as the others all sit in the cars before the two agents close the doors. The cars jolt into life as they set off for The Playground, Psylocke (Betsy Braddock) makes some small talk in the back seat of the car being driven by Agent Reed. “So, any of you guys ever been to a S.H.I.E.L.D. location before?” She says with a chirp. Beast looks up from his tablet and smiles at Psylocke, displaying his sharp canine teeth “oh the S.H.I.E.L.D. science team and I go way back! Worked a few missions with them back when Agent Coulson was still in charge, god rest his soul. What about you, Betsy?” Psylocke slightly adjusts her midnight black hair before speaking, “I do actually! I’m good friends with their head of R&D, Jemma Simmons. We grew up together and she was at the academy when I was at MI6 and we became friends, it’ll be good to see her.” Beast, content with this answer, smiles before going back to his tablet as Psylocke looks out the window.
2 hours later. S.H.I.E.L.D. prison known as The Playground. Location-[REDACTED]
The sleek black SUVs stop with a jolt awakening the sleeping Psylocke and Rogue who had fallen asleep on Gambit’s shoulder. A minute later, Wolverine’s bike loudly rolls up beside them before he disembarks. The group all exit the vehicles and are met with an immense aircraft hangar some thousand feet in diameter with a large open sunroof. The sides of the hangar are lined with 600 S.H.I.E.L.D Quinjets, their cockpits gleaming in the sunlight. In the centre of the grand hangar sits an imposing, hulking aircraft, the crown jewel of S.H.I.E.L.D technology, Zephyr-X. The group look around in amazement and wonder, “vhere… vhere are we?” Nightcrawler asks in a slight German accent. “Classified. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.” Speaks a dark skinned man dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses as he exits a door, flanked by 4 armed guards and three familiar faces. “I, am Director Alphonso Mackenzie. Level Omega.” Beast reaches forward and shakes his hand. "Doctor Henry McCoy. Pleasure." A young woman from behind Director Mackenzie steps forward and introduces herself, "Doctor Jemma Simmons, Head of R&D, Level Alpha." Psylocke rushes forward and embraces Jemma in a tight hug. "How are you, Jem?" she asks, releasing Jemma from her grip. "I'm wonderful, how are you Betsy?" Psylocke looks at her with a face full of joy “All the better for seeing you, how’s life in the big leagues? Head of R&D, pretty swanky.” Director Mackenzie quickly interjects before Doctor Simmons can speak “that’s all well and good, but why are you here? Charles said something about a murder and questioning an inmate?” Beast solemnly replies “yes, Director. You are correct, Magneto… Magneto has been murdered and we are here to interrogate William Stryker,” Beast glances at Logan “and not lose our tempers.” Mack, understanding the severity of the situation, thinks for a moment before looking up and smiling “we would be happy to assist you in any way we can, please follow us to the maximum security zone where our most dangerous and problematic individuals are located” He and the other agents begin to walk away as Logan whispers to Beast “Whaddya think? We trustin’ em’?” Beast looks at him “Of course we can, Logan. They are a government agency.” Wolverine grimaces “So were Stryker’s guys, don’t mean that they’re trustworthy.”