Clint Barton was sitting in his cell. They had stripped off his uniform and had given him a pair of sweats to wear. He had just had the dream five minutes ago. Clint looked up to see Emma Frost walk into the room.
"You were telling the truth."
"Why would I lie about a thing like that? So you believe me. Why do you believe me?"
"I had the dream you described. If you are to take Franklin out of here, I am coming with you."
"No offense, but how do you know your mind powers will even work on what we'll find out there."
"Franklin is my responsibility. I go where he goes."
"I'm not gonna argue with you. I have one request however. After this is done, can I enroll Rover here?"
"His name is Rover?"
"He answers to it. First I have to get him though."
"Is he a mutant?"
"Not really. More of a genetic construct. I met him in Canada. The Secret Empire had created him and his family. They terminated the experiment. So I helped him gain revenge."
"Why do you want him here?"
"He's still a kid. Your school can give him the education that I can't."
"Let me see him first then I will decide. Here is your costume and weapons. Meet me in my office in ten minutes." Emma then walked to the door. She stopped before she left the room.
"Mr. Barton, one more thing. If you ever attack my students again I will reduce you to a vegetative state. Are we clear on that?"
"Yeah, we are. If it comes to that, make it good. You get one shot. Then I shoot back... and I never miss."
Frost left the room. Clint sat down on the bed. "I hate dealing with telepathic women. This one's worse than Moondragon..." Clint muttered.
*I heard that.*
"Damn."
I walked into Frost's office. I hadn't seen anything like this before. If she got rid of the items from the Marquis de Sade section of Victoria's Secret, the rest of the room would indicate a style and a sophistication that was way beyond anything I ever saw with the Avengers. Even Janet van Dyne didn't have this kind of style.
I stood in the back of the room by the door. The X-Men that had arrived yesterday were there as were Franklin, the two kids Franklin's age, the short black man Rover had drawn for me, the students and of course Frost and Cassidy.
"Mr. Barton, take a seat please." Frost offered.
"I'll stand, thanks."
"Suit yourself. We have been talking with Franklin. He has agreed to do this. Gateway," Frost pointed at the black man. "Will get us there."
"Just how many of 'us' are there going to be?"
"Myself, Franklin, Sean, his daughter, Cannonball, Wolverine and Iceman. Storm will stay to watch the students." Frost told me.
I watched as several of the students demanded that they go as well. I walked to the door and started to leave the room.
"Mr. Barton, just where are you going?"
"I'm getting Rover. Any of you want to come, get moving."
Franklin, the other two kids, Cannonball, Wolverine, Jubilee and Husk all followed me outside. I looked at my entourage. "Stay by me. No sudden moves. He gets skittish pretty easily."
"What is Rover, Mr. Hawkeye?" Franklin asked.
"He's a big cat. You'll see him in a second anyway. Here he comes."
It was pretty amusing watching the look on Franklin's and the other kid's faces. Rover liked them as well. Wolverine was looking at Rover with a puzzled look on his face.
"He's a construct, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Only one of his kind left."
I watched Franklin, the other kids and Rover start playing in the leaves around the Academy. They looked like they were having fun. I then started walking a little bit away from the kids. Cannonball and Wolverine joined me.
"Wolverine, you've gone against Blackheart before. What can you tell me about him?" I asked.
Wolverine nodded his head. "He's real scum. Be careful around him, he likes to play head games."
Frost walked over to us. "We've determined who is going."
She looked at the kids playing. "That is Rover?"
"Yeah. The kids like him, he's housetrained and he's had all his shots. The only bad thing is, when he chases cars he drives them back."
"He can drive?"
"He's not stupid, Frost. Far from it. He's a fairly talented artist, he knows American sign-language, he can follow orders and he's a very quick study."
"What about his physical abilities?"
"Very fast and stronger than he looks. How strong I can't tell you, I don't have access to equipment to measure those types of things. His claws are fairly strong but they can't get through steel. His senses are about equal to that of a cougar."
Frost looked me in the eye. "We'll take him. Two reasons. One, the children like him and that is an important part in my decision. Two, if what you say about him is true, then it would be a shame to waste his potential."
She looked back at the children. "Will he follow someone else's orders if you tell him to?"
"I couldn't tell you that. He's been around me most of the time. If I can convince him that this is the best for him, then he'll probably do it."
"When we get your wife back, then you talk to him. Sam, have the children go inside. Logan, Barton come with me. We'll discuss who is going."
I followed Wolverine and Frost back to her office.
He felt the tug on his soul. The inclination to go to the north-east. So he climbed on his bike and drove out of the city.
Daniel Ketch hated when this happened. But he knew better than to try and avoid it. Sometimes, he hated the responsibilities of his bloodline.
Emma Frost looked over those gathered in her office. The only ones she had never worked with, in one form or another, were Barton and Teresa Cassidy. Barton's reputation as Hawkeye was, of course, hard to dispute. And Teresa was on X-Force. If she was dead weight there, Cable would have dropped her a long time ago.
She shifted in her chair, making sure that Bobby was the only one to see what she wanted him to. Then she straightened back up. The look on Bobby's face, to her, was worth the trouble of setting that up.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Drake?" Frost asked.
"Uhh, I have to go outside. I'll be back in a few minutes." Bobby quickly fled the room.
Storm looked over at Frost. "Was that necessary?"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean. On to business. Since Storm will not be going and certain members of the X-Men do not trust me, Samuel you have been chosen to lead this mission."
"Why me, ma'am? Why not Hawkeye? He's got more experience than Ah do."
"Mr. Barton? Would you like to tell Samuel why you won't be in charge?"
"Kid, I'm more concerned with my wife than I would be of you or your friends. I'm the last person you want in charge. I'm to emotionally involved to make life and death decisions." Hawkeye told him.
"Thank you, Mr. Barton. He's right, Samuel. You on the other hand, led X- Force quite well when Cable was gone. You aren't emotionally involved with anyone that will be going and so, you are in charge. Logan won't lead. Bobby can't lead. At least not yet. As for myself, can you honestly say you trust me? Don't answer. The response would probably embarrass us both."
Storm spoke up from the back. "You have the skill, Samuel. If we didn't believe in you we wouldn't have made the choice. Trust in yourself. And you will do fine."
"Anyway, besides Sam, Barton, Franklin and myself we will also have Sean, Terry, Bobby, Logan and Chamber. Gateway will provide transportation. We leave in an hour. Prepare. If you'll excuse me, I have things to take care of." Emma got up and left.
Sam got up and looked around at his 'team'. "Ah don't feel so good."
Sam then ran from the room. Hawkeye went after him. "I'll handle the kid, the rest of you get ready."
Bobby was sitting on one of the benches on the Academy grounds. He was staring off into space. Without turning, he knew Emma Frost was behind him. "Hello Emma. Did you enjoy doing that to me?"
"Don't flatter yourself Drake. I'd have to care about you to enjoy what I did."
"Then why do that? You've been in my mind, you know all about me. Why do you continue to torture me?"
"Robert, I... I really don't know."
"Figure it out then. This is getting old, fast." Bobby patted the area next to him on the bench.
"Have a seat."
Emma sat beside him. She seemed nervous for some reason.
"Emma, this has to stop. I'm not one of your students and I'm not one of your business rivals. If you want something from me, tell me. I'm not the mind reader, you are." Bobby got up to leave.
"One more thing." Bobby leaned in close to Emma. "Stop flashing me in meetings. It's to distracting."
Bobby then left to join the others. Emma called after him. "You."
"Excuse me?"
"You said to tell you what I wanted. You."
Bobby walked back over to Emma. "Are you kidding?"
Emma started to leave. "This was a mistake..."
Bobby grabbed her arm. "Hold on. You weren't kidding?"
Emma looked him in the eye. "I never kid."
Hawkeye found Sam outside leaning behind a bush. He waited until Sam had straightened himself up before making any noise. Sam turned to Hawkeye standing there.
"Nervous, kid?"
"Just a little, suh."
"It happens. And call me Clint. These people are your friends and they've worked with you for a couple of years. Like Storm said, if they didn't trust you to do the job, you wouldn't have gotten it. Just remember that they're here to help you."
Sam nodded his head. Clint then laughed. "It's not that bad, kid. When I was given command of the West Coast Avengers, I had to lead people who were used to following Captain America. Try filling those shoes. You'll do fine. Just be sure to keep an eye of Franklin. Without him, we're toast."
"Yes, suh. And, suh, thank you."
"You're welcome. Come on, I want to see Jubilee try and talk her way onto the team. That should be fun."
"What am Ah going to do about her and the others who want to go? They'll all want to go."
"Except for M, tell them they can go if they can shoot one of my arrows, from my bow and hit a bullseye. With M, just tell her no."
"Think that'll work with her?"
"Do you want an honest answer to that question, kid?"
"No, suh Ah do not."
"Then she will meekly go back to her room along with your sister and Jubilee. We leave in forty-five minutes. Don't be late, it looks bad." Clint then walked off.
Daniel Ketch felt the pull to someplace called Snow Valley, Massachusetts. He turned off the highway, went through the town and still felt the pull. He finally found himself in front of "The Xavier Academy". The gate was open so he drove in.
Following the driveway up to the main house, he was not prepared for the sudden appearance of several of what he knew to be X-Men. He stopped, then turned off the bike. After taking off the helmet, he looked at the gathered people.
"Is Logan around?" Daniel asked.
He saw Logan and Jubilee come from the back of the group. He hadn't seen Jubilee since New Orleans. Logan held his hand out to Daniel.
"Glad you could make it, kid. How'd you know to come?"
"Why am I needed?"
"Blackheart has the guy in purple's wife. We're going to get her back. Seen 'Mr. Frank' around?"
"No. Heard he might be dead. When we leaving?"
"Who the heck are you? You show up, Logan's the only one who has ever seen you and we're supposed to sit back and let you come when I can't? What do you think this is? And another thing.." Jubilee complained.
"Silence, child." Frost told her.She then looked at Daniel. "You've fought Blackheart before?"
"Yes ma'am. I also helped the X-Men out against the Brood in New Orleans. I see Jubilee hasn't changed much."
Jubilee thought that over. "You aren't the guy with the shotgun. You aren't a member of the Thieves Guild. The only other guy there was flame skull... No way!"
"Way. When do we leave?" Daniel asked.
"In a couple of minutes. Do you want to change now or there?" Logan asked.
"I better do it here. Stand back." Daniel then concentrated for a moment and then placed his hand on the gas cap of his motorcycle. In a flash of light and fire, he became Ghost Rider.
Ghost Rider turned and looked at Hawkeye. "Blackheart has your wife. I will do all in my power to ensure her safe return. This I swear."
"Thank you."
Gateway appeared and looked at all those who were to go. Before starting he nodded his head to Ghost Rider. Then he started swinging his bullroarer. A glowing portal opened. Emma Frost, Franklin Richards, Wolverine, Cannonball, Iceman, Siryn, Banshee, Hawkeye, Chamber and Ghost Rider all went through.
Gateway then closed the portal. Storm did a quick head count. She saw Artie, Leech, Penance, Rover, Paige, Angelo, Everett and M...
"Where's Jubilee?"
To be continued in part three...