#Rescuing Geordi

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n created by gene roddenberry [identity crisis, s4ep18] 'Geordi, my voice is familiar. Listen to it. You can feel that we share this. You know I'm not a threat. The others, Mendez, Brevelle, they don't exist as humans anymore, but a part of you still does. You're not one of them yet, Geordi. I can help you if you'll just trust me. I know what's going on inside of you, the war you're fighting with yourself. Your humanity slipping away. The instinct to run, it's overpowering, but they know how to beat it now, Geordi. Look at me! I've come back, Geordi. Let me take you back, too. Just take my hand.' - leijten

[mostly-natm]

For those of you who didn’t find this comic angsty enough!

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday @levarburton #levarburton #actor #director #LaForge #startrek #thenextgeneration #voyager #generations #firstcontact #insurrection #nemesis #startrekpicard #readingrainbow #roots #ncisnola #Transformers #RescueBots #WeirdCity #NancyDrew #Leverage #Redemption #bhm   

[isthereintruthnobeauty1968]

watched darmok again 🙂 the scene where picard tells his best summary of the epic of gilgamesh to dathon as he dies is well and firmly lodged into my head!

[overseer-picard]

I have to talk about "I, Borg" for a moment. I get so exasperated by people saying Picard was stupid or weak for not using Hugh to cause genocide. I get it, Hollywood neural rot tells us we should always kill the bad guys but... come on, watch the episode with your brain wrinkles open.

Picard was chomping at the bit to use Hugh to infect the Borg, his staff were the ones telling him to slow down and think about things but he turned a deliberate blind eye to them for most of the episode. It was deeply out of character for him, but his actions were underpinned with a simmering rage that made it all make sense (especially considering he had been assimilated just two years prior).

He lashes out at Guinan, "It's not a person, damn it, it's a Borg!", he tells Geordi to "unattach himself" from the "lab animal", and he even makes Beverly do a double take when she says "You're making it sound like a virus." and he says, his eyes colder than we've ever seen, "And if all goes well, a terminal one."

(Cold Eye Picard ^ very scary, do not approach. He even gives a flicker of a sadistic smile here, which might be the only time in the whole series we see that.)

But my main point is that Picard wanted to go through with the plan more than anyone else on the ship. So much so that the lust for revenge was splitting him open at the seams and making him abandon his core morals. Even Guinan, whose entire world was destroyed by the Borg, tells him he needs to calm down and reconsider.

And that moment towards the end, the climax of the episode, when Picard is tapping into Hugh's recognition of Locutus, trying to do a hail mary to prove that this is still nothing but a mindless drone, and Hugh says "No, I am Hugh". BAM. Picard's entire demeanor shifts as he realizes there's no way he can murder this innocent individual.

And this moment-

-as Picard is saying goodbye to Hugh, you see his smile fall and doubt pull at him. Perhaps he's questioning if he did the right thing, or maybe wondering just how furious Command will be with him, but either way, it's a poignant moment that completes his arc because he was true to his moral center, and that is true to his character.

In my opinion, if Picard had chosen to push through with the plan, to kill Hugh and the possible (there was a chance it wouldn't work) millions of other Borg drones who were just as innocent and capable of rescue and rehabilitation as Hugh (and himself), it would've been a failing of writing and too far removed from Picard's character to be believable.

It's an incredible episode, and Patrick Stewart's performance is astoundingly nuanced, so it drives me a little crazy when people completely miss the entire point. If I wanted an action based thriller about the Good Guys coming up with cool ways of killing evil space zombies, I wouldn't be watching Star Trek.

^ the face of character growth

[windvexer]

On what I'm going to call "peer positioning" in witchcraft, and the scary empowerment it can bring you

I think a lot of people who get into witchcraft have a problem with being able to see themselves as peers & equals to the powers they cultivate around them.

I see this most often discussed when it comes to gods. "Just because your god asks you for something doesn't mean you need to do it!" Etc. I think we've all heard that.

But today my thoughts are on the tarot, and how some people seem to treat tarot readings as "the truth" or "the answer" that then must be followed, even if they (the living, breathing, human practitioner) don't really agree or don't really want to do that.

I'm really big on the analogy of a witch as a monarch, and the concept of various powers (like gods, spirits, tools, and spells) being counselors in the throne room.

In this context, it's easier to adopt the mindset that all of these powers have their own personalities, abilities, and goals - and that they can & will provide conflicting information when you ask for advice. (Especially ancestors - so opinionated!)

Imagine Captain Picard sitting in the meeting room with Geordi, Riker, and the rest of the space nerds.

Captain Picard is like, "the power core is failing and the away team is stranded on the planet. I think we should use the nebula to hide until the Gromflomites stop searching for us." And then Geordi is like, "but Captain, the engines would never make it! We have to go rescue the away team immediately!" And Captain Picard is like, "damn... Wow. I really wanted to go to the nebula, I thought it was the best choice :/ but if you're saying we literally don't have to worry about the Gromflomites..." Then Riker is like, "Captain, no. Geordi isn't saying the Gromflomites aren't a problem, he's just expressing his top concerns as Chief Engineer." And then Picard is all, "oh, so... this is conflicting information? Did that mean I did a bad reading on Geordi, or that negative spirits are stopping me from being able to communicate? Is Riker possibly a trickster?"

If you're captain of the ship, monarch of the kingdom, (etc.), then it might be important to ask yourself:

Am asking for input from my counsel of allied powers, and then making choices for myself?

Or, have I inadvertently signed over my decision-making process to these powers?

And I think it all kind of comes back to "peer positioning," or, witches being able to develop a spiritual framework within which they are equals to the powers around them.

Since beginning practicing witchcraft in earnest, I have often demanded a course of direction. Instead of asking, "how do I accomplish this?" I would ask, "what do I do?"

And the answer was the same every time, deeply infuriating, but also very scary: "Do whatever you think is best."

I think that's the problem of being the captain of the ship. Once your counselors are done giving their input, you are the one who has to make the final call.

Lately I've really been on a kick about witchcraft as a path of empowerment, and I think that viewing spiritual input as just that - input - is a vital part of the process.

Even if you are a true-blue believer in the magical power of tarot, tarot is still just one counselor sitting in your throne room.

Even if you have tutelary spirits, guardians and guides, gods and angels, providing blessings and support - they are not sitting at the head of the table.

You are.

I think that a framework of allied powers as peers and equals is relatively basic, and does have its flaws. But I also think it can be helpful in a variety of ways:

It can provide a system of understanding why allied powers can give conflicting advice, or even seemingly bad advice that doesn't align with our personal desires.

It can provide a tool for processing spiritual input.

It helps restore a sense of personal authority to a practitioner.

It can help a practitioner reclaim control of a path that's grown a mind of its own.

It aids in practicing that most oppressive of skills - liberated autonomy.

I just think it's something to consider. At the end of the day, most of us have probably got to make our own calls.

[I'm making this post because in the past few months I've been helping witches consult the tarot, and they've been giving feedback like, "so this is what I should do, right?" or, "what is it telling me to do?"

I can basically see the huge reblogs where people are explaining that a period of time where they signed complete personal autonomy over to their god was the most empowering and spiritually electric time in their lives,

and I want you to know, I'm not speaking about vows and oaths made to entities that gives them control over your life. I'm talking about situations where witches put down their autonomy so they can have both hands free to shuffle tarot.]

[obsidianmichi]

The crazy part about Star Trek Online is that it's stuffed full of cameos and missions that repeatedly star characters from the main cast of every major Star Trek show except, I think, Enterprise, Strange New Worlds, and Lower Decks.

Like you can go on a fully voiced adventure with Michael Burnham and Seven of Nine in her Fenris Rangers era to decide whether the Excalbians will embrace good or evil and fight Seven's evil simulation created body double.

Worf, voiced by Michael Dorn, Worf is in the major Iconian missions and a central figure for Klingon players as they shoot up the ranks.

Martok, voiced by John Garman Hertzler Jr. (rescue him from the Tzenkethi and go on so many missions together as random space adventures, and he's just like he is in DS9.)

Almost the entire cast of Deep Space Nine, including René Auberjonois's final voicework as Odo before his passing, the same for Aron Eisberg as Nog, Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys, and there's an entire episode where you play as Quark and his Ferengi friends stealing from Iconians. Even Salome Jens pops up as the Female Changeling to play a villain in the Gamma Quandrant arcs. Plus, Chase Masterson got in ahead of them all to chew through the scenery as Leeta's Mirror counterpart, Admiral Leeta!

Levar Burton as Geordi LaForge!

Janeway and Mirror Janeway voiced by Kate Mulgrew. (Mirror Janeway is a Borg Queen!)

Denise Crosby as my Romulan main's new adopted mother, Empress Sela and her mother, Natasha Yar. There's also Tuvok (my love!), Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, Jason Isaacs voicing Prime Gabriel Lorca (!!) in the Discovery missions, Tilly and my much beloathed nemesis Mirror Tilly, Stamets, and Michael Burnham. Most recently we've gotten Mirror Wesley Crusher and Mirror Doctor Crusher during Picard's third season, and Ezri Dax in the latest episodes.

There's also Leonard Nemoy, who voiced the major exploration sections and Fed character level ups in the initial game but that's been in at launch.

It's honestly impressive. Every time I turn around it feels like another Star Trek alum is lending their voice to the game. Star Trek Online is somehow the most blessed and the most cursed tie-in game in existence. The dream and the hellscape for Star Trek fans.

Also, the space combat is genuinely really fun.

[foone]

So if Threshold happens to different Trek crews, who gets who pregnant? Voyager is one of the few shows where it makes heterosexual sense, (for lack of a better word, "sense" not being the word anyone would use to describe threshold)

So for Voyager, it being Paris (pilot) and Janeway (captain) makes sense through that lens. Paris, sure, because he is a pilot. We could pick a Science Guy to do it, but then it might be B'Elanna who does the flying fast, and then who is she going to kidnap for Lizard Sex? Harry? ... Yeah it'd be Harry. Anyway once you've picked Paris, you've got to figure out which woman is funniest to have him abduct into Lizardry. B'Elanna? No, not funny enough. She'd be a Klingon lizard and beat him up instead of mating, even if they did get married later. Besides, what if she evolves into a super-advanced Klingon, not a lizard? *claps* PUT TUVOK ON THE SHUTTLE. Kes? No, they already did a Tom v Neelix episode. Seven of Nine isn't on the show yet, so Janeway it is.

Ok so for other shows, we gotta pick a pilot or science guy (who might be screwing around with transwarp, and thus get Lizarded) and someone they could turn into a lizard to have babies with. The show is assuming heterosexual pairings here, but we know about things so we are not so limited.

The original series: as much as I'd love to say Sulu and Uhura ("I'll save you, fair maiden!" "sorry, neither"), I think TOS was much less of an ensemble than later Treks, so it'd need to be Spock. Spock is doing some science stuff, he gets hyper-evolved, and he picks someone else to hyper-evolve and turn into his lizard bride. As much as I want to say "Kirk", I think it's more likely that he runs off with Uhura and then Kirk has to rescue them. Kirk was always about being the one who rescues people, having the Enterprise come rescue Lizard!Spock (is that antisemitic?) and Lizard!Kirk and it's called commanded by McCoy? Nah.

TNG: the direct analogy to VOY would mean we have Wesley and... Picard? No, no, and no. Sorry. Frankly, we already had this plot on TNG (Genesis), and canonically the answer is Worf and Troi. The problem with it being a pilot thing is that Wesley is a child and Data (the official science guy) is an android, so he can't really be hyper-evolving. We could go with Geordi, the other Science Guy, but then we've got the image of a black man kidnapping a white woman. Uhhhh no. We already did that episode and it is an example of Deep Shame for the show. So Worf and Troi it is.

DS9: so this is what inspired me to make this post. We all agree Sisko would be a damn good father to his lizard babies, but would it be him? If so, with who? You could have it be Dax, and she lizards first and kidnaps him, which makes some sense given that she's a Science Guy. But you also have to consider Weird Guys. Every Trek series needs a Weird Guy so that whenever an ancient alien artifact turns the whole crew into Muppets or whatever, they can be the one who isn't affected and can thus solve it. This is all to say, Odo/Kira could be done. We've had a few episodes where he's been shown to do very extreme things out of his pining for her, so it makes some sense. Odo/Quark would be funnier but given how the DS9 writers handled Profit and Lace, I really don't want to see them do a gay mpreg episode.

ENT: the series with canon mpreg! Direct translation of would be Mayweather/Archer. Mmm. Probably not. I think it's gonna be a rarepair: Trip/Hoshi. Trip/T'Pol is too canon to be funny. The next best option is Archer/T'Pol and that's just kinda bleh. It makes sense but it's just the kind of thing they'd do and it'd be bland. We can do better. Honorary mention: Trip and Reed.

I've not watched enough of the New Treks to have an opinion there. Maybe SNW: Ortegas and La'an. Don't ask why.

[felinoidrose]

au where tomalak decides bochra is a traitor or something after galorndon core so hes not allowed to return to the romulan empire so he remains on the enterprise as geordis untrained rescue romulan who everybody wants gone except geordi. alas theres nowhere for him to go becausr he bites and hes still loyal to the romulans. he slowly wins over their hearts and becomes everyones slightly trained rescue romulan

[trekkie-polls]

There are so so so so many more, I could really only fit a handful in. If your favorite star trek mystery is missing, please describe it in the tags!

Bonus points for sharing your thoughts on how you would finish the story :)

[monotremer]

Data discovers and rescues Geordi and Ro from their state out of phase with the main ship

(Source)

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 3, Wave 2, Poll 5

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included. 

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Kim Kitsuragi-Disco Elysium

Qualifications:

Visually impaired

Propaganda:

I dunno man. He's Kim Kitsuragi. There's nothing I can say about him that hasn't already been said. He's quiet and reserved and uncomfortable with emotions. He's a self-proclaimed Torque Dork who loves his car like a child. He listens to heavy metal music. He's a centrist. He's a homosexual. He's consistently given shit by everyone around him for his race, his sexuality, and his disability, and he's taught himself to respond to it with cold professionalism. He dresses in historical communist pilot cosplay. I love him with my entire heart.

Geordi La Forge-Star Trek: The Next Generation

Qualifications:

He is blind, canonically, and also [has] chronic headaches as a result of the visor he wears. He was actually originally conceptualized as gay, but never written as such because every Trekkie's nemesis, Rick Berman, took over the production of TNG after Roddenbury left. Every single heterosexual romance written for him is atrocious, and his closest non-familial relationship is with a man, Data. Said relationship is often interpreted as romantic or queerplatonic in nature by fans.

He is blind (uses a VISOR that lets him see the electromagnetic spectrum) and was intended to be gay before one of the producers decided not to let him be (thousand curses on Rick Berman)

Propaganda:

He is so wonderful and I love him so so so much. OK. Okay. So Geordi's main traits are that he is an incredibly dedicated and talented engineer, a ridiculously friendly and charismatic person, and very loyal & stubborn when it comes to the people he loves. He has, on two separate occasions, successfully made friends with a member of a hostile alien faction just by spending a few days with them (Hugh, Bochra). When his mother goes missing and he starts getting communications from an entity claiming to be her, he disobeys orders and puts himself in danger in an attempt to save her. Similarly, in The Most Toys, when Data is kidnapped by Kivas Fajo, he refuses to believe that Data made an error in piloting a shuttlecraft that resulted in his death, and through rigorous investigation, finds out what really happened and is able to get the Enterprise to rescue him. (This episode bears incredible similarity to an episode in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, wherein Keiko does the exact same thing when her husband Miles is falsely reported as dead, so in that parallel, Geordi and Data are directly analagous to a married couple). Geordi's disability is presented in one of the best ways I have seen in media from the 80s-90s. His disability is a part of his character, but never his defining trait, and in several episodes he stresses that he doesn't resent being blind, as it is part of who he is. In fact, there's even an episode where he is placed in direct thematic opposition to a eugenicist society that terminates all disabled zygotes. He was originally conceptualized as gay by Roddenbury, but was never written as such (partially due to Rick Berman's influence). However, all of his canon heterosexual romances are unspeakably terrible, and his closest onscreen relationship is with Data. This relationship is interpreted by many to be romantic or queerplatonic in nature.

He's so cooool!! He's the chief engineer on the enterprise, he's so kind, and his relationship with the android Data is one of the best on the show and is my favourite in all of Star Trek

Anything Else?:

The actor who played him, LeVar Burton, is a vocal ally and has expressed support for his gay daughter in interviews :).

Geordi is awesome

The qualifications and propaganda paragraphs correspond, @convenient-plot-device is the first submitter, @autisticiantojvnes is the second.

[isagrimorie]

Star Trek Intakes - Geordi and Worf Celebrate their Rescue.

I just found this channel where it incorporates the bloopers into a canon scene, and this was so seamless.

[lady-sci-fi]

I find it interesting how TNG and DS9 did the same plot with Data/Geordi and Miles/Keiko in “TNG: The Most Toys” and “DS9: Armageddon Game”.

Data and Miles “die” at the start of the episodes with very good evidence that they are dead. Data’s shuttle explosion with his components in the right proportions in the debris. The video recording of Miles being disintegrated in a radiation burst.

Geordi and Keiko have an initially kind of stoic reaction to it, which I read as disbelief. They then both seem to accept it for a little while, although we only see Geordi going through Data’s things and not Keiko doing the same.

Geordi and Keiko get it into their minds that Data and Miles are not dead, because of one tiny thing they believe was off about their behavior before they died. Data not saying the piloting protocol word-for-word on his last trip. Miles drinking coffee in the afternoon.

This leads Geordi and Keiko to think that they aren’t dead, and they’re both very set in this idea. They manage to convince the others, and Data and Miles are rescued.

But there are two differences.

One is that there’s much more emphasis on Geordi’s experience of Data’s death and his denial of it. Keiko doesn’t get to show the same for Miles.

Two is that Geordi was completely right about the slight offness of Data’s behavior. Keiko was wrong, because Miles does regularly drink coffee in the afternoon.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this.

Except maybe the vague notion of Geordi’s attention to Data being played completely seriously, while Keiko’s attention to Miles being played as a bit of a joke?

[shadowphoenixrider]

The Rescue Gambit (1/5) Meet the Team

(When Gambit's solo mission goes terribly wrong and the rest of the X-men aren't available to bail him out, Shadow turns to some old friends to mount a rescue mission. Shenanigans ensue.)

(Welcome to this monster of a fic, the longest I have ever written in my life (14K in total, give or take). Thankfully for you, dear reader, this is split into parts! Who knew writing a silly little rescue fic with my friends' characters would turn into this. Regardless, enjoy!)

Shadow strode down the street, weaving past people with single-minded determination. Her destination was a small, non-descript cafe on the corner of a city street, and she pushed her way inside.

The cafe’s atmosphere reflected the more relaxed area of the city; only a couple of patrons taking up the wooden tables and chairs as they sipped their beverages, and the person behind the counter only barely glanced up at the new arrival into their establishment.

Shadow’s eyes wandered over the room until she spotted a group of men and a woman gathered around one of the larger tables by the window, three of the gents on the hard chairs and the woman and other man in the plush cushioned seats backing up against the glass, supplying most of the noise with their chatter.

She grinned broadly, and headed towards them.

One of the men saw her first, large and bald with a neatly braided brown beard, and he threw his arms wide, beaming widely.

“Shadow!” He cried in his rich Geordie accent, and the others’ heads immediately whipped around to see her approaching.

A chorus of greetings went up as they rose out of their chairs and stumbled out from behind the table towards her, taking it in turns to wrap her up in a hug.

The first was Ber, a large Polish man whose true name was beyond the English speakers' ability to pronounce, as much as they tried. He shared a similar build to the man who had spotted her; a large, five foot nine man with soft features and body, bald except for his neatly trimmed dark brown beard and icy blue-grey eyes. He was clad in a light brown jacket over a pink top with the picture of a grinning, winking demon over the text of ‘SMILE MORE!’, soft grey tracksuit bottoms and well-worn green trekking boots. He hugged her close and yet with an endless gentleness that befitted the animal his name was related to.

Myst was second, a more wiry fellow of five foot six, with short brunette hair that was also trimmed short in a beard and moustache and darker brown eyes. A dark shirt and jeans, a shield with a grey-ish purple skull and crossbones printed on the former, with a teal zip jacket overtop was his clothing ensemble, and he gave Shadow a cheeky grin, eyes darting to the side just to check no-one had followed her.

Lemming, the man who had seen her first, gleefully swept her up into his embrace almost as soon as Myst had stepped away. His hazel brown eyes, sequestered behind his rectangular glasses, sparked with excitement, his grin wide and crooked, wearing a black shirt proudly displaying the logo of a local metal band. This was overtop of black cargo pants and equally dark coloured trainers. He was the tallest of the group, at five foot eleven.

Drifting came next, smiling serenely as she stepped up to the smaller woman. She, like all the others, stood taller than Shadow at five foot seven, with bright green eyes and gorgeous long wine-red hair, wearing an asymmetrical halter top of white and green on top of black jeans. There was a brief hesitation before she embraced Shadow too, which Shadow warmly returned.

And then last, but certainly not least, came Shadow’s adoptive brother and the only one of the group she could look directly in the eyes: Ebak. He strolled up to her casually, his cheeky, knowing smile on his face, reflected in eyes so dark brown many mistook them for black. His long curly ginger hair was tied back in a ponytail, a scruffy stubble over his cheeks and chin whilst a childhood scar slashed through his thick right eyebrow. He wore a button-up green and grey varsity-like hoodie over a black shirt displaying the red targeting computer from the first Star Wars movie, along with blue jeans. The short, stocky man opened his arms widely, gathering his sister up in a tight embrace.

“It’s good to see you again.” Ebak spoke as he pulled away, his accent rich and soft around the words.

“We’ve missed you!” Ber added from close by.

“I’ve missed you all too.” Shadow smiled, her heart feeling so swollen it threatened to burst out of her chest. She took a breath to hold back the tears threatening to well up in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve not managed to see you guys again before today. Things have been…complicated.”

“So I hear.” Lemming replied, leaning back in his seat.

“Yeah, I was wondering what happened to you after you suddenly stopped turning up at the hospital.” Drifting commented, as the rest all took their chairs again. Shadow slipped into the empty spot in the window beside her and Lemming, sighing.

“It’s a long story.” Shadow admitted. “But the short version is someone got me suspended on the 'suspicion’ of being a mutant - a suspension that’s still in place, by the way - and then I went and got myself involved in a fight between a Friends of Humanity weirdo and the X-Men. The latter of which took me in to their place to keep me safe from retaliation, which is why I haven’t exactly been present until now.”

“Wait, hold up.” Myst held his hands up. “You’ve been living with the X-Men this whole time?!”

“Technically still am.” Shadow added.

“What?!” Multiple people exclaimed, except for Ebak, who just listened calmly. Myst turned to him, narrowing his eyes.

“You knew already, didn’t you?”

Ebak shrugged nonchalantly.

“She called me a couple of days back to tell me what was happening. Which was good, because I was juust about to go and have a look around the place myself.” He eyed Shadow, arching his scarred eyebrow.

“Which was what I was afraid of.” She replied, folding her arms. “The last thing I want is my brother coming face to face with Wolverine and having to work out how to un-fillet him. As you can imagine, I've not really had the experience re-attaching limbs!" Ebak waved his hand dismissively.

“I’m glad they’ve been keeping you safe.” Ber said, his voice gentle and reaching across the table towards her. “I was worried about you.”

“I know.” Shadow smiled weakly, squeezing his hand. “I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet about it. We’re pretty sure any time those thugs would kick off is long past, though.”

“Let’s hope so.” Drifting commented. “But, correct me if I’m wrong, but you have a reason for calling us all here, right? I’m pretty sure hanging out with your friends involves less panicked 'hey can you meet at Leon’s as soon as you can, please?’ messages.”

“Maybe Shadow really, really missed our company.” Replied Lemming. Drifting gave him a tired, long-suffering look.

“As much as Shadow likes our company, I don’t think she’s ever been that desperate to see us.” Drifting retorted.

Ebak cleared his throat loudly, silencing any further discussion.

“Shadow?” He asked.

She took a breath, looking between all her friends.

“I need your help with a rescue mission,” she said.

“Rescue mission?” Myst asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Shadow nodded. “Bit of background. This morning, I and another one of the X-Men, Gambit, were out in the city…”

“Gambit, I’m not sure this is a great idea.” Shadow said, glancing around the wall to the small fenced compound beyond. “You’re not exactly geared for infiltration right now.”

The Cajun grinned.

“Don’t worry chère, Gambit not gonna stay for long. Jus’ quick in an’ out, get de lay of de land, swipe some formula, den come right back to you.”

Shadow sighed, exasperated.

“Look, I don’t doubt you’re an excellent thief, but I’ve really got a bad feeling about this. This isn’t just some shady office block downtown. We should at least wait until the others are back.”

“Contact said dey recently got a shipment in.” Gambit replied, his tone now serious. “Dis be the time to swipe it. Waitin’ for backup might give 'em the chance to move it on. Den we might never figure out what it is.”

Shadow swore internally, knowing he was right. And yet…

“Okay. At least let me call for backup if you don’t make it out, alright?”

He looked back at her, searching her face.

“Give me least fifteen minutes, chère,” he said. “If I’m not out by den, call de others.” He grinned widely. “But Gambit will be by ya side soon enough, you’ll see.”

“I sure hope so.” She sighed, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “You take care now, alright?”

“Always, mon amie.” Gambit flashed her a wink. “See ya on de other side.”

And with that, the lithe mutant sprang gracefully up the side of the building, hopping from wall to wall until he disappeared over the lip of the roof.

“Considering we’re here, I’m guessing he…?” Myst trailed off. Shadow sighed, shaking her head.

“I gave him twenty minutes, just in case something came up. But when I returned to our previous look out, I was just in time to see his unconscious body being taken into the main building.” She explained. “As far as I know, he’s still being held in there now.”

A brief silence settled over the friends, all pensive.

It was Drifting who spoke first.

“Pardon me, but you’re with the X-Men, right? The group of mutants who go around saving people and blowing those Sentinels up? Why didn’t you go to them?”

“I would, if they weren’t dealing with some important mission right now.” Shadow explained, running a hand through her hair. “I don’t know if they’d be able to get over here in time before something happened to him. At best they’re just going to move him, at worse…” She shook her head. “I know you guys aren’t the same, and neither am I, but you were the only people I could think of that could get together to help me break him out.”

They looked amongst each other.

“Shadow, you really think we can go up against guys who took down an X-Man?” Lemming asked uncertainly.

“Just because Gambit’s an X-Man doesn’t make him any more a mutant than the rest of us.” She shook her head. “And he wasn’t geared for a mission, just casual clothes. All it would take is for someone to sneak up on him, or to make a mistake, and he’d be captured like anyone else.”

Ebak rubbed his scruffy chin thoughtfully.

“So sneak in, get Gambit, and sneak out again?” He said. Shadow nodded.

“Yes. If we could get a sample of that chemical formula those guys seem to be moving around, that would be ideal, but the main thing is to get Gambit out of there before anything happens to him.”

“That’s easy for you.” Myst folded his arms, eyeing the smaller man. “You can just blink in there when no-one’s watching.”

“If no-one’s watching.” Ebak repeated. “There’ll be security cameras in there for sure, and going in alone is what got Gambit caught.”

“Yeah, and I would prefer not to lose you to those bastards too.” Shadow added.

“I’m not sure my power is going to help you to be sneaky,” Ber piped up, smiling widely, “but you know that I will always help you, Shadow. Any way I can.”

She smiled warmly back, touched as always by his unwavering loyalty.

“Oh, I’m sure there’s something a big bear man can do to help us.” Ebak grinned over at his friend. “You always need a little bit of muscle when the stealth mission goes awry, right Number One?” He flashed a wink in his sister’s direction, and she rolled her eyes at his nickname for her.

“Well, I guess I’m coming too,” Drifting spoke. “On account of being able to almost completely disappear.”

“Only come if you want to.” Shadow eyed her seriously. “That goes for the rest of you too. I know this is big ask for you all, and I wouldn’t judge you at all for stepping away to keep yourselves safe. But know I wouldn’t’ve called you if I didn’t think you had it in you to help me.”

Drifting considered this for a long moment, before she nodded.

“You are going to need the one mutant with invisibility in this, and someone has to keep an eye on you all.” She smiled as Shadow chuckled. “Just don’t leave me alone in there, okay?”

“Of course not.” Said Shadow. “I intend to get everyone out of that place. No-one left behind.”

Ebak leant over in his chair towards Myst, looking at his friend expectantly. The younger man folded his arms, avoiding his gaze until he uttered a long sigh.

“…Fine. I’ll guess I’ll come along too.” He shot a glare at Ebak, now grinning smugly. “Someone has to keep E safe.”

“Your portals will be very useful.” Shadow smiled. “We’ll need a quick a getaway. And, maybe,” she smirked, meeting Ber’s gaze, “an instant-Ber delivery system, should things go south.”

Ber grinned widely, his ice-blue eyes sparkling with mischief. A smile pulled at Myst’s lips at that, entertained by the thought.

All eyes now turned to Lemming, who seemed to have shrunk in his seat. He glanced down at his hands, fidgeting with his watch.

“I dunno what I could do to help,” he said, unable to meet their gazes. “My power’s useless for this.”

“Hey, be kind yourself!” Ber cried. “Don’t make me come over there and hug you!”

“I have a few ideas how a man with manipulation of time perception could be useful.” Ebak spoke, drumming his fingers together. “Besides, you’re more than just your power, my friend.” He smiled, leaning forward. “Out of all of us, you’re the most knowledgeable of weapons - that could definitely help give us an edge in knowing what we’re going up against.”

“Yeah. If we know what they’re packing, we can get an idea of how well funded they are and how dangerous.” Myst added. Shadow nodded slowly.

“And that will definitely be information Cyclops and the others will wanna know after we get out,” she said. “Also. On the very real possibility that something does go horribly wrong, we will need someone on the outside to get the rest of the X-Men.”

Lemming paled slightly.

“You…you sure about this?”

“Very sure. I’ve been around them long enough to know you also need a back-up plan, even if that backup plan is 'oh shit I fucked up, I need an adult’.” Shadow reached into her pocket for a pen. “I’ll give you the address, anyone got some paper?”

There was rustling from around the table, until Drifting pushed a small scrap of paper over to the other woman. Shadow thanked her, before beginning to slowly write it out in her neatest handwriting.

“Here.” She handed it to Lemming, who looked it over, tucking it into his pocket.

“Alright. I’ll come along.” He smiled, resting a hand on Shadow’s small shoulder. “To make sure y'all come back safely.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Shadow smiled. “All of you. I know this isn’t gonna be easy or a walk in the park, so I’m really grateful for your help.”

“We’ll always be here for you.” Ber replied, smiling. “You know that.”

“What the Ber-man said!” Ebak added. “We’re your friends. Your problems are ours.”

Drifting nodded, as did Lemming.

“Besides, what the use of having the power to turn invisible if don’t use it to get into places I shouldn’t be.” Drifting commented, smiling wryly.

“Yeah! And think about it, how often does anyone get to say that they helped rescue an X-Men?” Myst pointed out. “Uh, provided we pull this off, of course.”

“I have faith in us.” Shadow smiled. “You’re not only my closest friends, but the finest group of mutants I know who aren’t famous. We can do this.”

“Right. Well, if we are going do this, we need to solve one very important problem,” Lemming said. “Communication. It’s not like any of us are telepathic or anything.”

“No worries, I had the exact same thought as you.” Shadow smirked, retrieving a small nylon pouch from her pocket. “When I briefly returned to the mansion to call you guys, I picked these up.”

She opened it, gently spilling its contents out. They leaned forwards to examine the small objects.

“Are these ear pieces?” Drifting asked, picking one up to examine it.

“Got it in one.” Shadow grinned. “They have the microphone attached, you can clip it subtly to a piece of your clothing, then press the body when you need to talk through. It’s what we use when we don’t have a dedicated comm. We’ll sort the frequency out in a bit.”

“Am I right in thinking you might have a plan for us, then?” Ebak asked, taking one of the ear pieces.

“A preliminary one, though we’ll need to do another rekkie before I’m sure.” Shadow said. “So, I was thinking…”

(Next: Break In)

[butnobodyhome]

Anna’s cats:

Top left: Geordi, named after the s.tar t.rek character. Lost his eyes as a kitten. Very sweet and snuggly.

Top right: Daroga, named after the character from p.hantom of the o.pera, may be a reincarnation of the character, Anna never gives a straight answer. Hates people, especially men.

Bottom left: Wolsey. Anna thinks she named him after something or someone, but she can never quite remember. She thinks she loved them. Talkative, likes to sit next to you but with personal space.

Bottom right: Gravity, so named because she loves to knock things to the floor. Very curious and friendly. Likes to try and escape whenever someone opens the door.

They are all rescues.