...Slate could not quite decide: was this density the effect of a psychic-induced dimming of Sam's wits, or a persistent mental state? In either case, it was clear that his demonstration had failed to produce the desired effect. Either the enemy physic was too good at what they did, or Sam was too... Sam.

To be fair, the disappearance was well within his hypothetical wife’s illusionary capabilities.

However.

“You say we have been friends for years,” Slate stated, quite reasonably. “In that time, have you know me to joke cruelly with Katrina’s permission?” He assumed that some things in this future of Sam’s had remained the same. Katrina would have gleefully allowed--would most assuredly have been the one to instigate, in fact--turning Sam’s son invisible. A child invisibly tormenting its father was well within the realm of her humor. The boy would have to be in on it, of course, but what flying monkey boy did not wish to add “invisible” to his adjectives? Dogs, however, would not understand what had happened to them; they would not be gleefully launching invisible stealth raids on their parental unit, they would be frightened. She would never have allowed that for a mere joke.

Additionally.

“When have you know me to...” What was the phrase? “To ‘play a prank’? Really, Sam, please think logically for a moment.”

Logically, which was more likely: that Sam’s mind was under the control of a powerful enemy telepath of which he was utterly unaware, or that Slate had gained a spirited sense of humor?

Sam blinked for a second then looked to his son. Slate had a point. Sam could honestly never remember the telepath going out of his way for a prank. A poorly executed joke maybe but pranks were out of his reach… unless Katrina put him up to it. Sam decided to give Slate the benefit of the doubt however and heat him out at least. Sam shook his head and scratched the back of it. Sam didn’t want to believe he was right though it seemed to Slate he was convinced everything was not normal.

Sam looked to his son who had only just joined them, ”Sammy buddy, why don’t you go see if you can find Kat? I bet she is looking for you anyways and if you run into your sister make sure you both offer to help your mom with what ever she needs.” she wasn’t Sammy’s birth mother but that didn’t stop him from calling her mom nor did it stop her from calling Sammy her son. He really hit the jackpot with her as a wife.

Sammy looked from Slate to Sam and smirked, “What party are you talking about?” before he took off flying back in the direction of the house laughing like he just said something hilarious. Sam smirked, it seemed his son still didn’t understand the term ‘playing it cool’ he was young though and he was the offspring of Sam so he’d figure it out eventually.

Once his son was back towards the house Sam looked back to Slate and stared at him, ”Alright Slate, you got five minutes before I want to see my dogs again, Start talking, why do you think I’m under the influence of a telepath?”

It was nice of Sam to send his nonexistent son away, so that the adults could have a private conversation. Slate had to wonder: when the boy went inside, would he succeed in finding Katrina? Was there some version of her here, just out of sight, created by Sam’s desires or the will of the psychic influencing him?

He did not want to meet that Katrina. He wanted to convince Sam that this world was fake, and return with him back to the real one, where his own Katrina was touring a college campus.

...With a well muscled air force cadet. He had almost forgotten that.

“It is 2013,” Slate started. “I am sitting in the Cerebra control room in the Mansion. A half hour ago, Maya called me in to operate it. You left the Mansion on the X-Jet, and you took three children with you. No one has heard from any of you since. You are not responding to communications.” He presumed so, anyway. Maya would have tried Sam’s cell phone before calling in a telepath, correct? “I located you in Colorado, and entered your mind. There must be a psychic involved, due to...” His eyes briefly flicked to the all-encompassing scene around them, “...the circumstances in which I found you, as well as certain blackouts Maya reported you having prior to this. Please try to remember, Sam: what is really going on? The Team will be coming for you. You need to prepare them for what they will find.”

If nothing else, Slate knew he could count on this: that Sam would not to send the X-Men into an unknown danger if he could prevent it.

Slate as always was right to the point no sooner than his son left Slate had begun in explaining what he thought was happening. Sam blinked once then twice as his mouth slowly hung a jar. He didn’t know what to say at first as his mind started to register everything. It was 2013, not 2023? Then that meant his family in his house was not really his family. Sammy and Ayrin weren’t born yet and he wasn’t with Alexandra? No that couldn’t be true he remembered the wedding day and the first day he moved them all out here to Colorado. Where Slate said he was currently in his mind.

Sam’s head started to hurt and he put his hand up to it and tried to continue thinking about everything Slate had been saying, Colorado, telepath… X-Jet, he took three kids… Sam shook his head again and tried to think less on the pain his head was giving him. ”If what your saying is true…” Sam winched slightly and opened his eyes looking up to Slate, ”I think I know who is in my head besides you…” he looked back to his house and shook his head, ”your telling me the last ten years didn’t happen… all this?” he wanted to go back inside his house and see his wife and kids; they were busy planning his birthday party.

Sam turned himself away from Slate and took a step forward when he got the feeling that walking away from Slate was the right thing to do, that feeling also knotted his stomach. Sam stopped and spun on his heels, ”If all this is fake and you are coming… I don’t really know who exactly we are dealing with but Amanda… she’s one crazy *****, strong telekinetic and an even stronger telepath…” Sam said as he tried to focus more on what Slate had said; ‘ The Team will be coming for you. You need to prepare them for what they will find. he fought through the pain and tried his best to think about his T.A.T. days, ”Don’t expect anything… stealth and distractions are what they do best. Shape shifters, telepaths, other mutants, they have some pretty advance tech as well, defense systems armed guards the works.”

Sam looked back to his house and he started to accept that maybe Slate was right, he felt water welling up in his eyes and he continued on, ”That mountain…” Sam said pointing to one he showed him before. ”If Amanda is behind this and you really found me in Colorado, I’ll be in that mountain. There is a base there in the middle of it, it was where I was held as a kid.” pain started to build up in his head again the more he talked about it.

That was when he started to remember the same thing had happened before when he thought about Amanda, ”You don’t have much time, Chase and the others don’t have much time. The longer they are there the longer they are in danger; they are trying to start up T.A.T. again, kidnap kids and turn them into weapons.” Sam took a step forward and grabbed Slate by the arm as things started to blur behind him as if his reality was being erased. ”Save the kids Slate! Bring the heavy hitters and experienced X-Men, only way your gonna get those kids out of here!”

Sam was about to continue and add about his own safety but then didn’t. If Amanda had gotten him to take the kids he had a feeling there wasn’t much hope for himself at this point odds were they were going to have to go through Sam. ”Tell Mirror remember what I said in the infirmary, I mean it.” he let go of Slate’s arm and looked back to the house which was quickly dissolving where his fake family, no his real family even if this was all a trick of the mind he lived years with them calling it all a lie didn’t feel right but he accepted he couldn’t stay here.

His fists tightened and his arms started to shake Sam was pissed now, Amanda was to blame for this it seemed she got stronger since he had last seen her. One thing was for sure she was going to pay for giving Sam everything only to make him throw it away. ”…..Thank you Slate.” Sam said through the anger that was threatening to boil over, Sam turned and walked forward into darkness as a light started to emerge, he embraced the light and woke up.

Continued for Sam in For the Man that has nothing

Back in the Mansion, Slate lifted Cerebra's metal helmet off of his head.

"He is in Colorado. The children are with him. There is a telepath named Amanda, and a group called T.A.T." His hands worked as he spoke the words in his usual monotone; he turned a dial back down, reset switches. The consol hummed lowly as it powered off. "They are in a base inside of a mountain. I can find it again."

He had never seen the place before, but he was sure of this.

He had never seen it, but its image hung in his mind, from a sunlit day in summer. Sam's birthday: it was in the summer. He had not known that. The dream had been very, very real.

He was glad he had not gone back inside of the man's house: had not met his wife and other children. Had not met--

Katrina, he asked, needing no machine to boost his connection to her. Are you there?

She was real.

(Continued from Mission!Save CS from Himself)

Katrina did some quick mental math (thanks to Slate's years of tutoring she wasn't quite as bad at it as she used to be). If she absconded with one of the school's planes she could be back in New York in two hours. That would be a terrible idea if she wanted any sort of future at this school.

Plan B involved catching the first cab to the airport and getting on the next flight back. Even if they didn't have a ticket available, she knew her way around airport security. A local flight would be a cinch to sneak onto compared to an international one. It would just take a bit longer. It was at least half an hour back to the airport and who knew how long until the next flight back to the city.

Stowing away sounded so much better for her potential criminal record than grand larceny, though.

Katrina answered Maya back, “I--I think it's going to be a couple of hours. I don't know how soon the next plane back will be. In the meantime, we should make sure that someone is ready to defend the mansion while everyone is gone in case this is some kind of two pronged attack.”

The little illusionist had already started walking, taking only a slight detour to avoid her tour guide. As she walked she tried to think what she would have done when she helped run Pax Academy, once upon a dream. She would have hidden it, but it was a little late for that now. Then she would have had tunnels to get everyone out.

“Perhaps we should also prepare for an evacuation, just in case.” It would be Maya's call in he end, since she was a team leader.

She hated being stuck down here when important things were happening. Was this going to be how it felt every time there was an emergency with the X-men while she was away at college? Was this were her loyalties truly lay?

On the curb of the main street leading out of the Katrina looked around for a cab. She looked both ways. There wasn't one. What kind of godforsaken town was this with no cabs anywhere?

She heard footsteps behind her. Her tour guide was running up behind her. He stopped, still breathing easily and had not a bead of sweat on his forehead for his efforts.

“Is everything alright? Are you leaving? I'm supposed to take you back to the campus center for the financial aid presentation about the FAFSA and...”

Katrina turned to stare at him, “Don't take this the wrong way, but there are more important things to do right now.” She bit her lip, trying to decide how much to tell him. How much of a don't-ask-don't-tell policy did this place have about mutations? She decided in an instant that if she couldn't be herself, she wanted nothing to do with this place any way.

“I need a ride. Some kids were kidnapped by one of the teachers at my school. We think he's being mind controlled. I need to get back so I can help rescue the students. Because I'm a mutant.”

He stared at her, slack jawed. It was the least attractive look he'd had on his face all day so far.

“You're...wait...mind controlled?”

Katrina held up a finger for him to be quiet and tilted her head to the side. Slate was back.

>>Katrina? Are you there?

Yeah, you had me worried for awhile there. Did you find CS?

She smiled back at her tour guide, “Sorry, telepathic boyfriend calling. So, that ride? Yes or no.”

>>“I--I think it's going to be a couple of hours. I don't know how soon the next plane back will be. In the meantime, we should make sure that someone is ready to defend the mansion while everyone is gone in case this is some kind of two pronged attack. Perhaps we should also prepare for an evacuation, just in case.”

"Good point." Maya nodded, hearing the urgency in Kat's voice "Get home as soon as you can, and let's keep in touch. I'll start assembling the team, and make sure the mansion is secure."

The last thing they needed was the psychos who took CS down to come knocking on the front door. Ugh.

Slate returned to the land of the living. Maya clicked the X-comm off before she turned to him.

"Tell me ya found him."

>>"He is in Colorado. The children are with him. There is a telepath named Amanda, and a group called T.A.T. They are in a base inside of a mountain. I can find it again."

Maya frowned at the name. She had heard enough of the whole backstory to know this was going to get very serious.

"We need to get there fast. I'll get the team ready. Keep contact with Kat and let me know when she is back so..."

Oh no. Oooooh no. Missing piece of information, a glitch in the plan that had been nagging at the back of her mind, just decided to explode in nasty fireworks.

"... we don't have the jet."

Well, *****.

>>> Yeah, you had me worried for awhile there. Did you find CS?

Yes, her telepathic boyfriend replied. He is in Colorado, very near you. The thought came with an image--a mountain on a sunlit day, viewed from a grassy field. It was one in a range, but very distinctive in its own right.

No X-Jet. What was it that normal people did, again? Take a commercial plane, certainly. From a public airfield. Slate’s plane tickets had always been arranged for him by his secretary, but he had full confidence in his own ability to acquire them. Thousands of people completed such transactions every day; it could not be difficult.

“We simply need to go to the airport and purchase tickets,” he told Maya. Really, there is no need to swear.

Katrina, he said, please remain where you are. We will take public transit, and meet you in--

...How long did it take for normal people, again? He had always brought a book, when he had flown with the Kabal.

Wait, Colorado? Really? Katrina could hardly believe it. CS was here the whole time. She'd been worried about how to get home for nothing. Now she had to worry about how to get the rest of the team here.

She turned to stare over the shoulder of her tour guide, his mouth still agape. Mountains lurked at the edge of the campus.

“Uhh,” her tour guide finally managed to articulate, “Sure. Where?”

The illusionist pointed over his shoulder, “That mountain. What is it called?”

In the image Slate had sent her had a mountain that looked like that, in the background and from a different angle, but the twin peaks on the top were a definite match. Slate had said she was close, and he was right. She was very close.

“Never mind. The name isn't important. I need to go here.” She drew her finger across the air in front of her, tracing the outline of the mountain she needed to get to. As she did, an image of the mountain was left hovering in the air for a moment, an illusion that would look like nothing more than a shimmer of heat to anyone that was not standing right next to her.

“That's right near Ormes peak.” He seemed to be getting used to the idea that she was a little bit different from the average co-ed. was pointing at the shimmering outline in front of them, one of the mountains in the background of the peak where CS was supposedly hiding. “We did training exercises up there. You can't drive straight up a mountain, though. The road up there loops around a lot. It takes about an hour and a half to get there.”

Katrina bit her lip. An hour and a half of driving on top of commercial air travel time for the rest of the team meant that Slate, Mirror, and the rest of the X-men wouldn't be here for several hours. She shouldn't go alone, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to those kids, either.

“Let's go then. I'll owe you one,” she informed her tour guide. “Gas, road snacks, all the Foothill Frost soda you can drink, it's on me.”

His eyes brightened slightly, “Alright. You have a deal. Just... can you erase the uh...” He waved his hand at the shimmering illusion floating in the air.

“Of course.” She smiled at him, glad that he wasn't running away to his ward his dorm room with garlic and heavy firearms.

The mountain is near Ormes Peak. I'm going to go scope it out, she informed Slate. I'll be careful. Don't worry.

(Continued in Mission! Rescue CS from Himself!)