Disclaimer: Yet again these character belong to Marvel and yet again, they
knew nothing about this story therefore I'm making no profit from this. 

Comments suggestions?? We can be reached via e-mail at
skruse@snd10.med.navy.mil
Anything and everything is greatly appreciated.

Recap: Cable and Domino have figured out who killed Graydon Creed and are
going to the X-Men for help

by Scott Kruse and Rob Alarcon

Winds of Change 

Part III

     Valerie Cooper stood looking out her office window, towards the
skyline. She was wearing a navy blue suit with a matching knee-length skirt.
Her hair was tied in a tight bun. This was normal business attire her except
there was one thing out of place. A thin tendril of blue smoke snaked it's
way up from the cigarette lit between her fingers. It was a habit she had
given up before graduating high school and hadn't returned to until after
this morning's meeting.
     Valerie took a long inhalation from the cigarette and held it,
breathing out only when she finally had to. She could not believe the last
twenty four hours. If she wanted funds for a rec room, she would have to
wait at least a week for results. However, over night, after Creed's
assassination, her superiors were able to make instantaneous decisions about
her team.
     Her team, she asked herself. Yes it was. She was slowly working her way
into a field operative status and was nearly micro managing everything the
team did now. Now that was all going to change. For every mission she
decided was X-Factor material, she would need to report to someone before
acting. Even if an emergency arose. There would also be missions, where even
if she whole heartily disagreed, she had no authority to prevent X-Factor
from going.
     Three sharp raps came from the door and Forge entered without asking
permission. She slowly turned to greet him as he stormed his way towards her
cluttered desk. "What is the meaning of this," he nearly yelled, clenching a
sheet of paper in his human hand.
     She took one more puff from her cigarette and ground it into an
obsidian ash tray she had purchased along with the cigarettes. She looked at
him for a moment before answering. His head band was dark with sweat and his
uniform shirt was torn in two places across the front. Obviously he had been
working out before receiving her memo and didn't bother making himself
presentable.
     "Things in X-Factor are going to change dramatically Forge. Things that
are beyond my control."
     He stared at her for a moment and she wondered if she had said too much
in those short statements. The team had always known she answerable to a
higher level on the chain of command but was the decision maker on
everything. "But this is for my resignation as field leader," he said,
tossing the sheet of paper on top of the clutter on the desk.
     "Forge, you are an excellent leader however in recent months we haven't
been able to utilize your gift to the fullest extent. You are not being
denied a place among X-Factor. You are to be given control over the
munitions and technology departments housed in Falls Edge."
     "This is ridiculous Val. Strong Guy has been in a coma for months now.
Madrox has been recovered but in no condition to be reinstated on the team.
And as much as I'd hate to say it we don't even have Random."
     "Forge-"
     "And while we're on the subject. Sabretooth and Mystique. Granted they
are our best field operatives by themselves but their place is NOT on
X-Factor. It's almost like a resurgent Freedom Force."
     Valerie's face flushed a dark crimson from anger. As much as she wanted
to yell an explanation in his face, she couldn't. Maybe it was paranoia but
what if her office was bugged. She was warned not to attempt to work behind
her superior's back and if she did... They had left it at that to let the
implied threat create it's own images. "Don't give me any more grief Forge.
Just...just do it."
     "Fine. It'll be on your desk within the hour." She could hear the faint
hum of strained electronic gears from his cybernetic arm clenching and
unclenching a fist.
     Valerie waited until he marched out of her office before collapsing in
her chair. Did everything she touch today have to go sour.
     Her hand drifted to the top drawer of her desk, looking for another
cigarette but stopped before opening it. How bad could it get, she asked
herself. REAL bad was the only answer she could provide. She placed her head
in her hands while leaning over the desk, she recapped the details of her
morning meeting.


     Polaris, The Mistress of Magnetism, though she hated that title due to
it's implications of being associated with Magneto, was sprawled on her bed.
Around her room, several suitcases had been hastily packed during the night.
She was trying to phrase her request for a leave of absence from Forge for
the past hour, but there was no proper way to put it. With the current state
of the team, the last thing he would want is to be left alone to handle
Sabretooth and Mystique. Wild Child and Shard would be there if they got out
of hand but one was obviously intimidated by Sabretooth, as much as he tried
to hide it, and the other was unreliable, in her opinion.
     There was something bothering her about the Creed assassination that
she was hesitant to tell her teammates. Somehow she believed the threat to
Mystique afterwards was more of a red herring than fact.
     Lorna ran her fingers through her lustrous green hair and decided not
to ask for permission to leave. Not wanting to lay there and waste any more
time, she sat up and stretched her arms. She didn't realize how tired she
was until the rush of blood from her head nearly made her fall back to the
pillow. "Time to get cracking," she said, while lightly slapping her face to
wake herself back up.
     Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Wild Child about to knock on
her open door. "Hey Kyle. What's going on?"
     "I didn't know you were going on vacation," he said noticing, the
multiple trunks. "I know you women are always over packing 'just in case'
but don't you think this is a little out of hand?"
     Lorna smiled at Kyle's attempt at humor. "Actually, I didn't tell
anyone and no it's probably not enough. There are some personal matters I
need to tend to outside of X-Factor. I should be back in no more then a month."
     "That long," Kyle said, frowning. "Is there something you'd like to
talk about?" He stepped into the room and took a wooden chair that was
pushed into a desk. Spinning it around he sat down and draped his arms over
the top of the chair.
     It was still hard for her to believe that such a feral looking man
could possess a golden heart. He reminded her a lot of Logan. He had a gruff
exterior but when you peeled away the outer layers there was a man who cared
deeply for each member of the   X-Men. She considered telling him her
thoughts thought decided against it. She wasn't one hundred certain of her
hunch so why worry the others needlessly.
     "Not at the moment. Listen. Could you do me a favor?"
     "You know you only have but to ask."
     "Could you tell the others that you saw me and everything is all right
and not to worry?"
     Kyle promised he would but knew if you said something like that than
there was a reason to worry. 
     Lorna lifted the nearest bag and threw the strap over her shoulder.
There were three other bags which she could easily lift with her magnetic
powers but Kyle hefted two of them by himself, leaving the last for Lorna.
     They left the room and headed down the hallway towards a set of
elevators that would take them to the lobby level. On the way, a scowling
Forge passed by in the opposite direction, seemingly oblivious to them. "I
wonder what's eating him," Lorna said. Kyle only replied with a shrug.
     The taxi was already waiting for Lorna by the front doors. The trunk
popped open just before they reached the taxi. After the bags were tossed
into the trunk, Lorna thanked him for his help and hopped in the back seat.
     "Where to ma'am," the cab driver asked, staring at her green hair in
the rear view mirror.
     "The airport please." The driver nodded at drove out of the Falls Edge
compound. Lorna sat back at watched as the scenery flew by to distract her
from her own thoughts. In her haste to pack, she hoped that she included
enough money for a flight to New York to visit with the   X-Men in hopes
they could help.


     Valerie was permitted to enter the conference room by an older female
secretary. Though she had been in it numerous times, it was hard for her to
fathom it's size based on the waiting area outside. Normally the room was
brightly lit but only a few bare bulbs illuminated the room. This was
usually done when someone was going to be reprimanded.
     Seated above her, in a semicircle, were various heads of government,
along with two men she had never seen. Stairs adjacent to the door led up
the tier to where they were seated. She began to climb the stairs to take
her usual position with the others but was order to remain below by the
Secretary of State.
     Val had nearly snapped at him but remained calm, knowing just one word
could end her career in DC. She looked at each one individually and they all
returned her gaze with a stern one of their own. This is ridiculous, she
thought. It's almost as if I'm the one they are to interrogate.
     "Take a seat," the Secretary said.
     In the center of the room was a lone chair which she hadn't noticed
before. Curious as to what was going on, she complied without complaint.
     "Explain to us how Creed's assassin managed to pull off the murder and
successfully escape without any positive identification being made." The
voice came from behind her and she couldn't figure out who had spoken. The
way the room was designed, all the echoes bounced off the walls were focused
directly to the center of the floor, where she was seated. It was actually
an intimidating function. When she had sat in the seats above, she had
witnessed people cringe from just a normal tone of voice.
     "Mystique escaped and we considered her to be a primary threat, thereby
focusing most of our attention on her retrieval."
     "So the possibility of another attacker never occurred to you?"
     "Not at all," she said sarcastically. This conversation was getting out
of hand already. They were single handedly blaming her for Creed's death.
"There were hundreds of patrolman present. How can you even begin to blame
X-Factor for the entire fiasco? The numbers just don't compare."
     "We'll ask the questions here." That voice Val knew. It was
unmistakenly Henry Peter Gyrich, head of project Wide Awake. Both were in
charge of mutant affair branches but went about their assigned tasks
differently. Gyrich was highly aggressive while Val chose to deal with
problems as they developed. If he ever had his way, millions of dollars in
property damage and uncountable deaths would result and not phase him in the
slightest if the mutant problem was solved.
     "X-Factor's primary purpose is to deal with mutants. A mutant killed
Creed. There for it was X-Factor's responsibility, regardless of the number
of other law enforcement agents present. As head of the team, that
responsibility inevitably falls upon you."
     Val's head sunk. She didn't agree with what the Secretary was saying at
all. If everyone present in Atlanta was a mutant, did that imply that they
were all under her jurisdiction. It was an impossible task.
     "Lately," the Secretary continued, "X-Factor has been lagging in their
initial function. They have been assaulted by," he paused to reread a sheet
of paper in front of him, "the Adversary, lost Alex Summers to who knows
where, and captured a Henry McCoy look alike. Everyone of these has been due
to personal matters getting out of hand. Have you official approved of these."
     Val was thoroughly confused by this last statement. "First off, the
Adversary attacked us at Falls Edge. Havok left the team and the Beast look
alike we stumbled upon. None of these were approved. It was more like
dealing with the issues at hand as they arose."
     "So you are saying that you have no control over your team."
     "Mister Gyrich. You are here as an observer. Please try to remember
that," the Secretary ordered.
     A small smile nearly crept unto her face at Gyrich's reprimand but
withheld from doing so. There was no love lost between them but the way
things were going, it was not a time to be smug.
     The Secretary leaned forward in his seat. "Miss Cooper, I admit I've
been beating around the bush a little but there are things we've come to a
decision about regarding X-Factor. First off we are going to increase your
funding to an unlimited expense account, far beyond what you should be able
to reasonable spend."
     Now Val had no idea where this was going. One second she was being
accused for Creed's death and now they are giving her team a reward.
     "Originally the team was founded to locate mutants before they could
become a threat. We believe it is our best interest to reestablish that as
the main purpose for the team."
     "That's going to be hard. With the antimutant hysteria at an all time
high, the last thing mutants will want to do is hunt their own."
     "That's what the increased funding is for."
     "So you are saying we make X-Factor a band of mercenaries. I don't
think even half the team will stay on board. Sabretooth and Mystique are the
only ones I can foresee agreeing to this. How do I go about explaining this
to Forge and Polaris."
     "We will deal with those situations as they arise."
     "Assuming half the team does stay, we are short manned already. Who do
you suggest we add? Some lunatic like McCoy we have locked up?" Val knew she
was beginning to get out of control but didn't care. Everything was falling
apart around her like a proverbial house of cards.
     "Actually, we have taken that into consideration. I don't believe
you've met the head of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Bastion has been creating
a group to deal with the mutant problem in the event Wide Awake is a
failure. We are giving him control over X-Factor and more specifically,
reorganizing the team."
     Val's heart sunk into her stomach. If they were firing her, why were
they explaining all of this. It would have been easier to leave a pink slip
on her office door. From out of nowhere, she had the urge to have a
cigarette. She hadn't succumbed to that weakness in years but if this
conversation kept on the same track, she would need one.
     "This is not to say that we no longer need you as a part of X-Factor.
The members already hold you in high regard so your position will remain the
same. However, you will be following orders issued by Bastion and report
directly to him. Is all this understood?" The Secretary stared at her and
though he tried to hide it, she thought she saw something behind his eyes to
suggest he didn't agree with everything he had said.
     Val nodded solemnly. "I just have one question, if I may ask it?"
     "Go ahead."
     "Exactly who is being added to the team?"
     Bastion spoke for the first time. His voice was cold, almost wraith
like. "I'm waiting for several candidates to answer my correspondence. Miss
Cooper, you shall know as soon as I do."
     She waited for a moment in silence before taking her leave. 
     
End Part III

Next: The assassin revealed