Super Trouper
Sam, Bucky, Torres, and Walker had taken the flight to Madripoor and had arrived at the address that had been listed on the watch. They’d done everything the message had requested and looked up at the abandoned building. The lights were dark and there was no indication of anyone being in the building. As a result, Sam sent Redwing to survey the upper levels of the building. Redwing returned a few moments later with thermal scans of the upper levels.
The scans revealed two people in the building on the seventh floor. With that, the four men walked inside and took the elevator up. Once they reached the seventh floor, they made sure to be quiet. Walker had still maintained that this was some kind of setup while the other three thought otherwise.
The four men heard music from down one hall and decided to approach quietly. They got to a door at the end of the hall where the loud music was coming from. Redwing was reading a thermal signature coming from the room. Sam slowly opened the door and walked in cautiously, raising his wrist, Torres following suit. Bucky and Walker both put their hands on their firearms. Sam identified the song as an ABBA tune, but couldn’t quite remember the title.
As the song got to the chorus, they then heard somebody humming along. At the chorus, the person began to sing along. At the center of the room was a large table with several chairs surrounding it. The voice was in the room but out of sight.
On the table were a box of tools. The group of four split up and wandered around the room. Sam looked at the contents of the table while Walker stood by the door. Bucky strolled over to the other side of the room and looked at a stack of papers on a table in the corner of the room.
Torres went to the opposite corner and found the portable speaker that had been playing the loud music. He picked up the speaker and then turned it off, ending the song abruptly.
“Hey! Logan! Turn that back on!” The voice shouted. It was Katherine. All four men whipped their heads to look at the table.
No one dared to respond, so remarkably she phased her head through the table and opened her mouth to yell again before stopping, seeing that it was indeed not Logan. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and then scrambled to stand up, continuously phasing through the table, “Hello- hi- you’re early-”
Sam shook off the initial shock of seeing her phase so casually and then greeted her, “Hello, Katherine.”
Kitty quickly shook off the shock and then dialed something on her watch. She walked through the table and then stood on the opposite side of the table from Sam, “Again, only my mom calls me Katherine,” She went to correct him, “I go by Kitty.”
Sam nodded, “Any other nicknames we should know about?”
“Nope, Logan is Logan and Kurt is Kurt,” She shook her head.
“Speaking of which, where are your accomplices?” Walker asked, stepping away from the door and towards the table.
“Logan is suiting up somewhere and Kurt is keeping watch. I just notified them that you’re here,” She explained.
As if on cue, Kurt teleported in with a BAMF! Of purple smoke and landed on top of the table. He looked around and had the same expression as Kitty had had moments earlier. He then grinned and got off the table, “Willkommen!”
Logan walked into the room, grumbling something. Out of him, Kurt, and Kitty, he seemed the least shocked. He spotted the four men and then mumbled something else before sitting down in a chair beside Kitty and Kurt and ordering, “Take a seat.”
Kitty perked up like she remembered something and then dove under the table. She came out from under the table holding a chestplate with four watches and a few tools and extra parts inside. She emptied the contents onto the table and then asked Kurt to help her put on the chestplate. They did so quickly and then sat on either side of Logan. Sam sat down across from them and Bucky and Torres sat on either side of him. Walker sat next to Bucky and still watched the three mutants with suspicion.
Logan let out a large exhale and started talking, “Let’s start. There’s a large warehouse nearby that belongs to the Power Broker. We’re gonna raid it and take information that can tell us where they’re getting mutants from and who’s giving them government secrets.”
“And why do you need us for this?” Bucky asked, crossing his arms.
The purple dragon, Lockheed, flew into the room through the window and landed on Kitty’s shoulders. It crawled down and settled into her lap. She took off what looked to be a little camera off of its back and then handed it to Logan. She briefly locked eyes with Bucky and then quickly looked down at Lockheed, giving off a hint of discomfort.
Logan set down the device on the table and a blue hologram floated above the group, “Facility’s massive,” He then pressed a button on the camera, causing a multitude of red dots to pop up around the facility, “And there’s a crap ton of high-level security infesting the entire place.”
“In summary, you need our help to break into this place,” Sam concluded.
“Richtig,” Kurt nodded.
“You do realize there’s better ways to go about this?” Sam matched Bucky and crossed his arms, “We’ve got a friend who knows the Power Broker’s moves well.”
“Who?” Kitty asked, tilting her head.
“Sharon Carter. She works with the government now. She’d help us and you if you’d be willing,” Sam suggested.
“I don’t know if ya remember this but we aren’t exactly fond of the government,” Logan pointed out with a scowl.
“Neither was Sharon. She risked her entire career to help us years ago and she ended up losing everything. She became a fugitive just like we were. She set up shop in Madripoor,” Sam explained.
“Sharon Carter.. Where do I know that name from?” Kitty asked herself.
“Vas zat ze gallery ve und Illyana vent to-?” Kurt leaned over to her.
Kitty nodded, having an epiphany, “She’s a black market art dealer. She’s got connections all over Madripoor.”
“How do you know Sharon?” Bucky asked suddenly.
Kitty froze after hearing his voice and then stumbled, “We never met, but we were doing an investigation there.. With a friend and we spotted her talking to some suits.”
Kurt jumped in as Kitty focused her attention back on Lockheed, “In ozer vords, ve could be tipping off ze Power Broker if ve vent to Ms. Carter.”
“It’d take less time to just get information from the warehouse tonight,” Logan added on.
Bucky and Sam exchanged a glance. They didn't like the fact that they were so quick to distrust Sharon, but Sam agreed slowly, “Alright, in that case, what’s our plan?”
“Kitty needs to get into the building and connect to the computer system to get the data we need. No mutants are currently being stored in the building so we don’t need to worry about endangering anybody. We don’t know the exact location of the data center in the building so we’re gonna need to find it,” Logan paused to let that sink in before continuing, “So one team’ll have Kitty while the other will have Kurt. That way, if Kurt’s team finds the computer system first, he can teleport her in.”
“I’m thinking of two teams then. Kitty’s and Kurt’s. We should also have a lookout to ensure that we know what’s going on on the outside. Torres?” Sam quickly brought up. Torres nodded eagerly.
“Have the dragon out there with him,” Logan turned his head to Kitty. She nodded and Lockheed seemed to nod with her. Torres frowned and looked at the little purple dragon nervously.
“Alright, let’s assign teams,” Sam clapped his hands together and looked around.
“I’m going with computer girl,” Walker said suddenly.
“Who’re you again?” Kitty asked, inspecting him.
“John Walker. U.S. Agent,” He announced. Kitty still looked at him as if she had no idea who he was. He rolled his eyes and then added, “You hit me with a tray. Twice.”
Kitty nodded with a smug smile, revealing that she has been messing with him, “Yeah, I figured as much.”
“I’ll go with the blue fuzzball,” Sam decided, leaving Bucky and Logan.
“It would be best to have Bucky on the intelligence team for the sake of stealth,” Walker suddenly suggested.
“Then that settles it. Bucky, Kitty, and Walker on team one and Kurt, Logan, and myself on the other,” Sam established and then stood up, “Find the central data room and make sure Kitty gets there, got it?”
The group nodded and agreed to meet outside in twenty minutes. The group then dispersed to make some final preparations. Bucky and Sam took the moment to gather Walker and Torres to speak while Kitty, Kurt, and Logan followed suit on the other side of the room.
“If we want this to go well, we need to trust them,” Sam expressed.
“And if it doesn’t?” Torres asked, quickly glancing at Lockheed who fluttered past them in a purple blur.
“Then we’ve got the advantage of being in an environment where they’re outnumbered,” Walker stated.
“Hopefully, we’ll never have to use that to our advantage, right John?” Sam asked with slight passive aggression.
Walker rolled his eyes and nodded. They then split up and readied their suits and weapons. Bucky tried to subtly look over at the mutant trio on the other side of the room, trying to read their reactions to the whole matter.
“Are you sure you are ready for zis?” Kurt asked Kitty quietly.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve hacked a million different computer systems. This isn’t something new,” Kitty replied.
“You know zat is not vhat I’m asking,” Kurt frowned slightly.
“Cat, do ya really think you’re ready to go on a mission with- ya know,” Logan rephrased the question.
Kitty looked at the ground as Lockheed landed on her shoulders again, “I mean, I can’t avoid it forever. Might as well rip the bandaid off. Plus, he probably doesn’t even remember it. I’m sure it wasn't a memorable fight to him.”
“Kätzchen-” Kurt didn’t look convinced. He knew the truth, he’d heard remnants of both sides of the story.
“Ready to go?” Sam asked, approaching the group.
“Yep,” Kitty grinned and then peered over to Kurt and Logan.
“It’s one mission alongside the most well-known superheroes on the planet, how bad can it really get?”