“Rraa?”

“Shiny!”

“Tweeet!”

“Grrrr.”

Ample amusement flooded Elizabeth’s face even as rampant curiosity and wonder flooded her mind. Two ravens perched on her shoulders, Huninn on her left, Muninn on her right. They were trying their best to stare at absolutely everything and constantly made sounds of interest and intrigue, yet dutifully remained on her shoulders. After a year of working constantly with the ravens, Liz had finally decided to take them on a tour of the mansion.

It had taken that long to ensure she had a strong relationship with them, and that she understood how they worked. More importantly, it had taken that long to ensure they knew how she worked, and together they had found ways of effectively communicating between each other. Liz was reasonably certain she could get basic instructions and abstract thoughts across to them, and likewise they could voluntarily express ideas and thoughts to her, taking full advantage of having access to a person with opposable thumbs.

They were crafty, clever creatures. Liz loved them.

Liz had found that it was always useful to establish friendships with animals. Not only had it saved her life on many occasions, but it deepened her bond with them. Access to their thoughts and feelings only enhanced that ability. With animals as smart as the ravens, she could almost communicate with them like they were kids. Kids who could fly and be her eyes, ears, and even voice as needed.

“Ruff,” a dog barked quietly behind her.

<<I love you too,>> she thought to Zorro, flashing him a memory of her scratching behind his ears. His tail wagged happily as he brought up the rear.

“Alright, lady and gentlemen - next stop is the infirmary!”

To say the icemancer was in a hurry was misleading. He practically was jogging down the hallway on his phone and being trailed by his large dog who thought they were going for a run. Sam wasn’t heading outside though he was heading to the hanger where the X-jet resided. ”No, V. You’re staying put. You got to keep an eye on that giant guinea pig of yours as well as Bruno and Cam. Calling you to let you know I won’t be home for a few days.”

His jog slowed a bit when he saw Liz her two ravens and Zorro, ”No, I know you are able to fly and it would be good practice. You however got to stay put today. It’s only a rescue. Should be pretty boring.” he slowed more as he sprouted an idea upon seeing the two black birds resting on the Biology teachers shoulders. ”Yeah, I’ll call Cora on my way. I just know how you get when you see the Jet taking off.”

He slowed to a stop and put his hand up to hold everyone up. Bruno responded by stumbling into the back of Sam’s legs. ”Right. Later kid. Be good and no fires.” hanging up he looked to Liz, ”You speak to aquatic animals too right?” Sam asked hoping that Liz could take out like ninety percent of guess work in his search for the missing researchers. One of whom Sam happened to be friends with.

”The cold dwelling kind?” he waved at her to follow. ”Team of researchers went missing in Antartica. I got called in because one of the researchers is a friend of mine. You busy? Gift of gab could help! Wheels up in five!” he didn’t wait for a response but started to run off again as Bruno sniffed everyone and trailed after his human.

Elizabeth felt the approach of joy moments before she heard echoing footsteps and Sam’s voice along the halls. A quick mental touch and she found Bruno following along behind his human in pursuit of Some Great Fun. Liz smiled widely and allowed that feeling of fun to spread to Zorro and the ravens. Her own dog began wagging his tail and all four of them oriented on where Same and his dog were about to appear.

Liz didn’t need to listen through any of the animals to hear what Sam was saying - it didn’t seem like he was making any attempts to hide his conversation. It seemed he had a spontaneous trip planned that he was now rushing toward. It seemed the X-Jet was his destination.

She half raised an arm and waggled her fingers at him, a movement designed to ruffle the birds the least, yet still an acknowledgement of Sam’s presence. He was slowing down and coming their way so Liz stepped to the side of the hall, a gentle nudge causing Zorro to do the same.

“I speak to all things living and inanimate,” Liz grinned unashamedly. “It’s just that I can understand when animals try to speak back.” He waved her along so Liz started jogging as well, a quick mind touch keeping the ravens calm. “Men, however, are a completely different beast!”

It didn’t take long before she caught up Sam, easily keeping pace despite his much longer stride. Their training over the past year in addition to her own workouts had really done a number for her cardio and endurance. In those moments, she finally allowed her mind to catch up. He wanted her to go to Antarctica to help find a missing person? Just like that? Like she didn’t have a life or--

“You’re fortunate classes are over for the week,” she said in amused annoyance. She didn’t stop running though. Sure, he was assuming a lot and this was almost literally the definition of last minute but...someone was in trouble. Sam thought she could help. Besides….it was Antarctica! This was a golden travel opportunity! Like she was going to turn that down!

She picked up speed and Zorro came dashing alongside her, before pulling even further ahead. He knew their destination for Liz was feeding it directly into his mind. “Race you to the jet!”

”That’s right bud! We're going on a trip! You want to fly boy? Hmmm? Do ya?” Sam asked as he leapt of the side of the railing overlooking the hanger and slid down to the entrance of the jet on a slide made from ice. Bruno barked and took the stairs, Sam was confident his dog wasn’t that courageous.

Bruno ran up the ramp and hopped into the co-pilot seat next to Sam and gave him the occasional lick as his human started to flip switches and press buttons. They were going for a fly!

”I know bud, gonna go see some penguins. Find a friend or two. Prevent anyone dying from exposure to a snow storm. It’s gonna be great.” the icemancer said as he waited the five minutes. While Liz wasn’t capable of jumping the railing and sticking the landing like he could he smirked when Zorro was the first one into the jet.

”Who is that?” he said putting on his dog speak voice for the other dog and his. ”Those two gonna be fine for the trip?” he asked putting his seat belt on. He was talking about the ravens. Bruno had a tendency to get antsy on long trips Sam was hoping it wasn’t universal with animals.

”You might want to ask him nicely if you want shotgun.” Sam said smirking. Bruno head tilted to Liz.

Elizabeth was in fact the very last person to reach the jet. She had been doing pretty well up until they got to the hangar, in which case Sam completely cheated and went over the railing. He didn’t even keep the ice slide up long enough for her to even consider following along on it. “How rude!” she laughed as she went for the steps behind Bruno and Zorro. She could really be annoyed, not when the dogs were having so much fun.

She made it down the steps just as Zorro reached the jet, once again proving that quadrupeds were so much faster than bipeds. Halfway there, Huninn and Muninn leaped from her shoulders and took flight, slicing through the dead air of the hangar and bursting into the jet proving that winged bipeds were even faster. Wingless bipeds were just slow.

“Fine, fine, I’m dead last,” she chuckled as she slowed, jogging up the ramp. Zorro was there, dancing around as he saw her finally approach. She knelt down briefly to accept slobbery dog kisses, ignoring the judgemental and snobbish looks from the ravens. She winked at them anyways and stroked them with a caress of amusement.

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it,” she said after a quick scan of the ravens. Elizabeth made her way to the sets behind the pilot and copilot chairs. “I’ll be fine too, by the way. For an impromptu trip to Antarctica,” she added drily. Of course it had been entirely her choice but she wanted to see if there was any mileage she could get out of this. Maybe even get Sam to owe her a favor!

She smiled at Bruno and rubbed the top of his head. “It’s okay, Bruno, you earned the seat. I’ll stay back here with Zorro instead.” She plopped herself down in one of the (surprisingly comfortable) chairs and strapped herself in. Zorro trotted over and pressed himself against her legs, lolling his head back to stare at her, his tongue flopping out in happy pants. ”Good boy,” she said, scratching behind his ears.

Huninn and Muninn had elected to perch on various thing, Huninn on the arm of a chair and Muninn on top of a crate in the back. Both immediately sat about observing and looking around the jet’s cabin, something Liz hadn’t given them much time to do the first time she’d taken them on the jet. Back then they didn’t have as tight of a relationship. Still, she kept up mental contact with them (and Bruno and Zorro too) in order to continuously browse their moods and adjust them as needed.

“Alrighty Captain, we are cleared for takeoff,” she said, throwing a mock salute at the back of Sam’s head.

With everyone in the jet he flipped a switch for the ramp to lift they were on a time crunch and now that everyone was here he could explain it. ”Yeah, well. We have a bathroom on the jet. They don’t.” he said opening the hanger doors and kicking the engines on. Once everyone was seated they could take off.

Once they were in the air Sam apologized for being so curt. ”Friend of mine has a research team in Antartica, met him while we were both in the artic, other side of the planet I know but he is a specialist of sorts. The cold kind. Studies life forms above and below the ice and the effects global warming is having on them. Figured you two would hit it off when we find them. His wife called me, said they hadn’t been checking in asked me to look into it.” he said hitting the autopilot button when they got enough altitude.

”She isn’t the type to worry unless it’s an issue so I looked into it. Their capsule they have been staying in is just gone. No storms to block a view everything is just gone.” he said revealing how odd he found it. ”Looked it up with everything they had it was a few tons that just vanished with a crew of eight.” Standing up he stretched his arms and then reached over to Bruno who was busy studying the clouds zoom by.

”While I can detect thermal, visually I’m pretty blind out their between the boys and the birds I figured you could add some extra senses to help me track them.” he walked past them all and went intot he back of the cabin near the ramp, fridge and bathroom. Grabbing a coat he looked it over and brought it back and offered it to Liz.

”Don’t need it till we land but there are more thermals in the back for missions like this. Figured seeing as you’re gonna be leading the Search and Rescue part of the X-Men you might as well know what we got for situations.” he said half jokingly. She never accepted the position. Sam just wanted her to.

Elizabeth snorted and wagged a finger at the back of Sam’s head. “Tut tut tut, oh Sam, when you’re an animal, everywhere is a bathroom if you just believe!” Her grin could’ve put a Cheshire cat’s to shame. Then she settled back and poured out a stream of peace upon the animals as the jet began to roll and fly.

In the back, Muninn crowed and hopped off a cabinet, fluttering to land on a coil of heavy rope, all the better to get a grip on. This was not the kind of flying he was used to. Huninn wasn't too offput, and neither was Bruno. Then again Bruno had undoubtedly flown like this many times. Zorro was the newbie. She massaged his neck absently and got a tail wag in response.

Liz shrugged at Sam’s apology. Maybe she wouldn’t get a favor out of this, but she could still use this for some kind of gain in the future. “You’ll pay me back later,” she said simply and innocently, as if she wasn’t already working out plans to that extent. “I must say, though, I find it amusing to no end that you have a snow friend. Only person I know who’s made a friend solely because they’re into cold stuff.” She smiled, although the seriousness of the situation did not escape her.

Being lost anywhere was bad. It was difficult enough in warm environments, when the elements weren’t as likely to kill you. Tropical climates, for example. You still had to have food, water, and stay safe from animals, but it was doable. Harsher environments were far more troublesome, and there were few places on Earth humans could access that were harsher than Antarctica. A person could die in under an hour if they weren’t prepared.

Liz frowned in thought as Sam got up from the pilot chair. There was no tinge of worry in her - she knew about the autopilot. “I’m starting to think it was no accident you encountered me just before this trip,” she said, her eyes narrowing a bit as she turned to track the man visually. It had seemed like a spur of the moment meeting, especially since she herself hadn’t exactly broadcasted her movements or her bird tour, but she was getting suspicious that Sam had orchestrated things.

Which was just about confirmed when he brought out a coat.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the coat and draping it over the arm of the chair beside her. She didn’t leave her own seat, to avoid dislodging Zorro from his place against her legs. “You know, I never agreed to that,” she said pointedly, her frown deepening a bit more. “We never did have that full conversation.”

When Sam had first suggested her joining the X-Men, specifically in such a particular role as that, she’d been completely blindsided. Not once since she had been a bright-eyed teenager had she considered being an X-Man. She knew roughly what they did and what it required. She was not a soldier, a fighter, not like them. Thanks to the training Sam and Serena had been giving her, she could hold her own in small conflicts, but that was against humans, or against mutants if she had the advantage of surprise. But she was no elemental, no battlefield manipulator. She couldn’t walk through mirrors or shrug off gunshots.

But finding people? Coordinating efforts? Tracking targets in the air, in the earth, even in the water? That she could do. She’d shown that pretty conclusively to Sam before, when she was able to solve a kidnapping case that would’ve taken the cops days to resolve, if they ever could. “Maybe we should just get through this first before you press me into service,” she said with a wink. “I’m...I’m just not sure about putting on a uniform.”

”I believe I don’t want any of them going unless they half too. Even then just do it on the ramp so I can open the doors when we loose altitude.” he said speaking as a man with confidence. Bruno merely adapted to the jet, he wasn’t born into it.

”I have a lot of ‘friends’” Sam said smirking forming a bowl of ice at his feet then thawed out the middle incase anyone wanted a drink. Bruno was fine with an ice ball Sam formed shortly after. The dog’s tail wagged as he tried to chew the ball. ”I might have saved his life from a polar bear and he might have given me a bottle of whiskey.” Sam said shrugging, ”Before I stopped drinking of course.” he added. He had been sober for over two years now. A fact he was proud of.

”Should I be surprised if you have a friend just because you both like animals?” he asked turning his attention to the back of the jet and grabbing a few heavy blankets and putting them next to the bowl of icewater. Bruno looked to the blanket then looked back outside. Sam saw the look, Bruno knew it was for him and Zorro.

”Happy coincidence actually. I knew I was walking up to someone with multiple thermal signs. The birds were a tip off though.” he said truthfully. ”Could have gotten by with just Bruno. With his sense of smell and my thermal sense, we would find them. Just the guy has a family and his wife called me. Meaning that its more serious than anything. No one should grow up without their dad.” Sam said having gone through that.

”Just throwing it out there again, I think it’s good to have a team of non-combatants. Specialists, ones that show the world we aren’t all heavy hitters. Just people who want to help out where we can.” he said truthfully. ”Sides, you’re good with kids and I already have a list of them ready for someone to lead the team.” he smirked. ”No pressure. And the uniforms are customizable, mine has swords on it.” he said bragging. Half the time he didn’t even wear it.

Elizabeth didn’t bother turning around to watch Sam as they spoke. Doing so would dislodge her dog and just craning her upper body around would hurt very quickly. She didn’t need to, though. She could see him perfectly fine from Huninn and Muninn’s vantage point. Huninn was very interested indeed at the ice water bowl that appeared. She paid extra close attention to the man who felt so cold.

The zoopath closed her eyes to shut off her own visual input and grinned unashamedly. “It’s perfectly normal, in fact it’s quite common, to bond with people over a mutual love of animals. Honestly, have you ever even seen a timeline on social media? Seventy percent of it is pets,” she said promptly as she continued running her fingers through Zorro’s fur. “A very negligible percentage of such content comes from liking the absence of heat. It’s not exactly something one puts on a dating profile or uses in a meet-and-greet icebreaker.” She paused for a moment. “Pun intended.”

Muninn shuffled out of the way as Sam scrounged up some blankets. The raven’s natural curiosity led his eyes precisely where Liz would’ve directed them. It looked like Sam was settling for a long trip, if he was making bedding for the dogs. The blonde decided that only made sense. Even with all the resources the school had at its fingertips, a flight to Antarctica would still take most of a day, if not longer. Two bad she hadn’t brought a book.

She laughed. “So what I’m hearing is that you literally just wanted some warm bodies,” she teased briefly, before growing serious. “I’m happy to help out,however I can. A few extra ears, ears, and nose can’t hurt.” Liz thought she heard something in Sam’s voice at the end, but she couldn’t place it. “Will we be meeting his wife in Antarctica? Or the base he was at or what?” Might as well get the full story now. If this was going to be a mission she deserved a full mission briefing, right?

Huninn started digging her beak under one of her wings to chase an itch, so Liz switched her viewpoint to Muninn’s. She herself kept her eyes closed, yet frowned. Good with kids? He had a list of kids to be led? She fell silent for several moments, considering his words and implications. She did well with children, that was true. Part of that was because she genuinely liked kids and was willing to step in and be there for them no matter what they needed.

Did they need to join the X-Men?

Did they think that was the only option for them?

The life of a mutant could be very difficult indeed. Even Liz, who could physically pass as a human, had had problems as a teenager, which had gained her emotional scars that she still had to deal with. But the kids who had physical manifestations of their mutations, whether it be physiological changes or even emitting something from themselves? They were targets. They were noticed. NYC was very progressive in many things. Mutants, while still a minority, were common. Liz had read a recent study that said approximately fifteen percent of the city was made up of mutants. But that meant speciest prejudices could be more extreme as well. And the X-Men were often hailed as the face of mutantkind, the champions of the children of the atom, who fought and bled and saved those who couldn’t defend themselves.

It was noble. It was good. But...was it always right?

There were other things mutant children and teenagers could aspire to than a...private security group? And recruiting them so young? Did they even understand what they were getting into?

Liz still had a lot of thinking to do about that.

“Your idea has merit,” she finally said, ignoring the part she had trouble with. “Diversity is always more beneficial for an ecosystem - it allows for one’s weakness to be covered by another’s strength. I will continue to consider it - it does have a certain measure of appeal to it.” And who knows? Nonviolent divisions of the X-Men could be beneficial for children as well. While fighters and champions were necessary and important, it should not be the only path impressionable minds were exposed to. Informed decisions required information about all options.

”..... I’ve seen it but I don’t do social media.” it wasn’t a brag though it was a point of pride with him. It was easy enough as it was for anyone in his past to track down his whereabouts through the news and his exploits as someone on the team. He didn’t want to put up a neon sign saying ‘Sam is here’ everywhere he went. That was welcoming more eyes than he wanted.

Her countered comment caused Sam to drop the subject. Liz was smart, and he didn’t like arguing philosophy. His upbringing made him question a lot of things in his life and that was a rabbit hole he didn’t want to dive into.

”No, she’s state side with the kids. They are based in Alaska, that family loves wildlife. She’s a park ranger last I checked.” Sam said trying to recall what she did. ”She isn’t the type to worry, saw her stare down a pack of wolves one time. She called, it was enough to get me moving.” with the blankets down Bruno looked from Sam to the bed and hopped out of his chair and went to lie down.

Sam walked back to the piolets chair and sat back down. ”We’ll started off at the base where they were stationed, check the scene for clues or a trail. Been watching the weather around there, a little bit of a storm looked like it passed on by I couldn’t see any tracks when I checked the real time cameras they had. It glitched out during the storm so something must have happened then. Either their communications are down or something happened.” he didn’t know and over thinking it wasn’t going to help. Sam delt with what is and what will be, not what was. However the was, was important in trying to figure out what is.

”I know it does. I came up with it.” Sam agreed kicking his chair back a bit and closing his eye. ”I have given it some thought before asking you the first time. My idea hasn’t changed at all. The team was never meant to be just fighters. We had to adapt and fast. Now we are at a point I want to focus on those who want to help but aren’t fighters. You for example. Luna’s on that list two. I’ve already had several search and rescue training sessions with her. She didn’t have a rough life like me and I don’t want to keep putting weapons in kids hands. Hence the need for another team.”

”Think about it some more Sundance, the team will exist with or without you. You’re a natural born leader, you like to help and you’re good with the kids. My opinion an no brainer for the position. I can start looking elsewhere if you flat out refuse it.” he said forming a snow ring around his neck for more support as he was starting to fall asleep.

Elizabeth gave a vulpine smile as she chalked up a mental victory point. It was fun teasing Sam - he took it every bit as well as he dished it out. The verbal sparring was every bit as fun as the physical sparring, although this left far fewer bruises. And like their combat training, when it was over, it was over. Liz didn’t feel the need to rub his face in her triumph. She was too good a friend for that.

Also, she knew he’d mercilessly return the favor when he won.

“A park ranger who stares down wolves? I like her already,” Liz said in approval. A park ranger was something she’d considered doing herself at one point, before shifting into an educational direction. She had mad respect for a person who would face down a wolf pack though, because Liz was assuming the woman did it without any powers at all. And that only enhanced the concern for this trip, as if Liz needed any more.

The psychic minimized her connection to the ravens as Sam walked back to the front of the plane. She opened her eyes and tracked him herself, pulling her phone out to quickly take notes. No sense in having him repeat everything again a dozen times over the trip, although a rebrief before landing probably wouldn’t be amiss.

And Sam’s additional explanation of his team proposal mollified her. That put things in a very different light. As did wanting her to lead a team. She blinked at the back of his chair and didn’t bother hiding her surprise. What? Natural born leader? Corralling a class or manipulating a herd of animals was one thing, running a team was something very different!

….wasn’t it?

“Well, you’ve given me a lot to consider,” she said thoughtfully. She valued Sam’s opinion highly. This was his true field of expertise, after all. All manner of emergency services, paramilitary operations, and even law enforcement. And from what she knew of his background….

If he thought her the right person for the position, it wasn’t something to be discounted lightly.

As she settled in for the long flight, she turned toward silent contemplation of her future.

Hours passed after the conversation died down, he even managed to get some sleep it was long enough for him to remember things see people that no longer existed. ”Daddy! Sam jumped up and looked over to Zorro and Bruno on the blanket he had laid. Bruno was watching him. Giving the dog a thumbs up he sat upright and looked to the controls and then outside. The landscape was white and there were a few flashing lights on the dash.

”****” The alarm came next, they were being shot at. From the water below before the white landscape a two rockets appeared and shot from the water then ignited. ”LIZ! Control the animals!” he shouted the animals all would have been reacting by now as he took hold of the controls. ”Not going down with this cargo!” he shouted and felt the resistance of the wind as he took over from auto pilot.

They were moving fast, too fast for him to get a lock on anything outside of the jet with his thermal senses. The rockets were close now having picked up speed. Sam flipped a toggle and then took the jet to the far left causing the jet to almost barrel roll. Ice formed over the dogs who weren’t buckled down. The ravens could right themseleves and Liz could handle them all form there.

Flares erupted from the jet and then the sensors stopped screaming and flashing red. Two explosions behind them could be heard as Sam zoomed over the landscape. There weren’t supposed to be any military operations here. The sensors would have seen them sooner. ”Everyone alright!?!” he shouted and turned to Liz who he hoped was buckled at this point.

At some point Liz had drifted off to slumber as well, taking her cue from Sam. She had held out for awhile, walking around the cabin a bit and getting settled in with the animals, communing with them and orienting them on plane flight. The ravens had not been impressed, in all honesty. Finally she decided it would be better to rest up - who knew what was in store for them at the bottom of the world?

The alarm blared and spikes of fear, alarm, and startlement jolted her away. Fortunately, she had been buckled in, an automatic reflex when getting in a moving vehicle, even one that flew. A few barks from the dogs and a sudden cacophony from the ravens echoed the alarm and for a moment, all Liz could do was panic and thrash around in her chair in the unfamiliar environment and with straps holding her down.

Then she caught herself. The jet. Antarctica. An alarm. Sam yelling.

Liz threw up the psychic levees she’d spent years building and with a slash of her hand, she doused the animals with a tidal wave of calmness. It wasn’t her usual type of work, a subtle combination of various feelings designed to counter current conditions and gently influence their behaviors. No, this was a bathtub of ice cold water dumped on a candle flame.

At once the animals stilled and went silent. Even as the plane rocked and rolled and hideous explosions could be heard (particularly keenly by the hearing of the animals), they were calm and docile, drowning under Elizabeth’s psychic censering. She returned her hands to the arms of her chair and gripped them white-knuckled as she forced herself into a rational mode. Trust Sam, keep the animals quiet. Be ready for anything.

And then the alarm cut off. She stayed quiet. Whatever had happened, she didn’t want to distract Sam in the slightest, since doing so could be the difference between life and death. It was only when he asked their status that she released her hold on the chair and on the animals.

“Affirmative, all are unharmed,” she said quickly, requiring only a slight scan. True, Huninn and Muninn were rather annoyed and being flung from their perches like that, but they were agile and strong fliers so they hadn’t even collided with anything. Huninn fluttered over to Elizabeth’s headrest and perched above her, glaring about, while Muninn found a spot on the floor away from anything that looked like it might fall.

“Since when does Antarctica allow rockets?” she asked, although she suspected Sam was further along that train of thought than she. Wasn’t it truly neutral territory? Her mind raced. Someone was either taking potshots at random planes that came by, or they were targeting the X-Jet specifically. Either way, it didn’t bode well. It might explain some things though. “Are we near the area your friend went missing?”

”What the **** was that?” he asked to himself out loud his thoughts swam a bit trying to recall everything he knew about the continent at the bottom of the world. Radar didn’t pick up any ships, or anything on land. So either someone is able to materialize surface to air missiles or they were jamming their equipment.

”Since someone decided to put them there.” he said still trying to replay everything over again. He too was still in a state of shock different from other peoples state of shock though. He was still trying to process everything while staying in control. They lowered to the ground and landed seconds later. It wasn’t the best thing to do, but it was better than bringing whoever fired at them to the camp where everyone went missing or... who ever shot at them were the reason they went missing.

Once the jet landed he looked back to Liz, worry still in his eye which quickly vanished for confusion when he saw that everyone was alright. The ice dome over the dogs vanished and Bruno stretched as if he woke up from a nap. ”About a mile off.” he said thinking. ”Well if our crew isn’t at the site I got a feeling I know what happened to them.” he said looking back to the controls.

”Mansion, this is Sam over.” he said calmly through the Jet’s radio. Jammed, static could be heard and there was no response. ”Figures.” he looked back to Liz not bothering with his own phone the service here was going to be awful anyways. ”Any chance you splurged and bought a SAT phone?” the air was suddenly cooler when he turned off the jet.

”We go on foot, maybe we can get a little more information. I’m going to hide the jet, no one should be able to get in even if they find it. Just give me a minute to get some cover.” Sam stood and he walked back to the ramp as it lowered. ”Good job keeping it together, you good?” he asked putting a hand on her shoulder as he past. It was meant to be more supportive than anything but it was also Sam so it seemed as if it was a bit forced.

Walking down the ramp he sent his thermal vision outwards the snow and cold making it that much easier to control his surroundings, so much so a blizzard started despite the sky being clear seconds before.

One part of Liz was scrabbling to piece together everything that was going on, but that part was somewhere in the background. The forefront of her thoughts were in forcing the animals to remain calm. After the first ten or so seconds, when there were no more explosions or violent turbulence or anything, Liz relaxed her psychic stranglehold slightly.

The calmness was dual-edged. As the zoopath drowned the dogs and ravens with pure serenity, she drank it in herself, her own self relaxing and her focus sharpening. She felt removed from the situation, safe in her trust in Sam’s abilities. A third part of her, also in the periphery, noted that it was just as well that she remain calm - if they crashed, she wouldn’t be hurt as bad if she wasn’t tense.

But they didn’t crash. Elizabeth let out a silent prayer of thanksgiving and was already unbuckling herself as Sam turned the jet off. Worry about the details later, right now they needed to move. Probably.

She ceased the torrent of forceful peace and allowed the natural feelings to eddy and flow as needed. They were landed and at the moment, in relative calm. For however long that would last.

Liz nodded once at Sam’s conclusion and was already on her feet and heading to some cabinets and lockers along the side of the jet. “Of course I don’t have a satellite phone,” she said drily. “You know what the mansion pays teachers.” It wasn’t anything to laugh at and was downright comfy, but a sat phone seemed like a pretty redundant luxury.

Liz rubbed her arms briskly. She had been wearing the lightest denim jacket should find, since she’d known she was going to have the ravens perching on her, but while that had been pretty hot in the late summer heat in New York, she was now in late winter in the coldest place on the face of the Earth. As cute as it was, the jean jacket wasn’t going to cut it.

She opened a locker and pulled out a thick and heavy coat and the corresponding snow goggles and gloves. Sometimes the preparedness of the X-Men astounded her. She pulled a heavy backpack on over the coat, a pack she’d checked and stocked from supplies around the jet while they were in transit. It was packed with emergency supplies like a first aid kid, emergency rations, flares, and anything else she could think of. She didn’t have her pepper spray and stun gun with her, but there was a survival knife she’d found that she’d added to a utility belt she’d cinched on around some snow pants she’d found. Sliding into some heavy snow boots and Liz was ready.

By then, the animals were starting to react to the weather. Liz took a deep breath and then opened her mind to Bruno, Zorro, Huninn, and Muninn. She did not peer through their eyes, but she focused on their noses and some of what they heard. Immediately the howling wind blasted through her and she shuddered and stumbled before she dampened the auditory flows. The wind sound died down to an easier level.

“...Yeah, I’m good,” Liz said after a moment. Then she stared as Sam walked out into a blizzard. That hadn’t been there five minutes ago, had it? No, she would’ve felt the wind against the jet, or at least heard it.

“Instant snow day, huh?” she said, trudging along after the cryomancer. “I’ll bet the other kids loved you when you were in school.” She was tempted for only a moment to throw a snowball at him. She did not, however. This was serious and possibly dangerous. And there was no way she’d be able to defend herself from Sam’s counterattack.

She whistled into the wind and Zorro bounded outside of the jet, the ebony forms of the ravens swooping out just behind him. Huninn and Muninn flared their wings briefly before tucking them in and diving toward Liz, opening them just enough to land on her shoulders and huddle in. The cold was biting, lancing through them all, despite the coats of fur, feather, and synthetic materials.

“Can you keep some of the cold off of us?” she yelled over the blizzard once she got closer to Sam. A blizzard might serve as cover, but what good would it be if she and the animals froze to death in it?