Beginning to pace the room with an almost palpable air of impatience Zephyr snatched the stolen phone from the air without even glancing in its direction as he tried to remember the numbers he needed to make the first of far too many calls. There were accounts he needed to move, properties that had to be masked and veiled warnings that had to be conveyed.

Even caught up in his thoughts as he was the elemental didn’t fail to notice Katrina abrupt burst into the room. Honestly a part of him had more than expected it, even hoped for it; if only for another chance to vent some of his ire. He forced himself to ignore the urge however and instead separated a thin layer of air to coat the room in a shell of silence, thus muting Katrina’s tantrum before it began to truly build up steam and allowing him to make his first call in blessed peace.

“Odeh? This is Zephyrus, listen carefully…”

He wasn’t certain whether Katrina somehow realized she was being ignored or if the room had been too dark to tell and she’d simply come to the end of her rant. All the hessian knew was that his carefully constructed quiescence was all too suddenly shattered by what sounded like a resounding crash of wood happening, not outside the room, but within his own head. The sheer volume of the imaginary sound was actually sufficient to leave the elemental dazed for a handful of seconds and by the time he recovered his senses the petite illusionist had already made her escape.

With no immediately convenient outlet for his anger over the gamines latest stunt Zephyr’s hand lashed out blindly towards the bed, summoning a concentrated torrent which sent the queen sized four poster screeching against the hardwood floor before it collided with the oaken door frame with sufficient force to shake the supporting walls.

Shortly after that the rooms third story windows were thrown open and Zephyr deftly sent himself out in the open air. He was in no mood to deal with inevitable fallout his brief altercation would likely invite from the manors unusual residents. He needed to be alone and to think, neither of which he could do where he was.

Just as she had feared. The X-Force was operating primarily on the donations of time and money from others. They had no magical mystery benefactor like the X-Men did. They didn't even have a proper runway and landing pad. Katrina had brought the Blackbird down on an area behind the house that had recently been paved over. It was the foundation they were going to use for their training facility and it didn't contain a drop of jet fuel.

On board the jet, Ghost checked the gages without actually firing anything up beyond the battery. They had enough fuel for take off if they needed to move the thing. They did not have enough for a trans-continental flight.

They needed jet fuel.

Ghost glanced out the front window back at the mansion. She was a coward. Letting Katrina loose in the house was as good as guaranteeing that she would go tell Zephyr. He was already going to hate her for everything leading up to this. The elemental looked out the front window for so long that she found her focus shifting from the mansion to the spots on the windshield.

Bugs? Now that was something Ghost couldn't screw up. She peeled off the jacket, wrapped Zephyr's gun in it and stashed the whole parcel in a locker at the back where the X-Men uniforms were kept.

She went for a squeegee.

Bucket in hand, Ghost was making her escape out the back door when the doorbell rang. She froze. All of the Maxes who were carrying ladders, rags and squeegees started bumping into each other rather than running over Ghost was was clogging the exit. Maggie went for the front door.

Please don't be him. Please don't be him. Please don't be him.

Upon hearing Alistair's precise manner of speaking, Ghost glumly handed off her bucket to one of the many Max. This time she didn't have a wig or a trench coat to make her feel safe and saucy. Of course, maybe it was better that she didn't have the gun either.

Maggie had already invited him in. There was no dumping him now and as much as Zephyr was going to hate her, hopefully this visit would be good for both of them.

"Maggie. You've all been so kind already, I hate to impose another guest but I invited Mr. Alistair on behalf of Zephyr."

"Oh. Will he be staying the night?"

"No. And as soon as we're fueled up and ready to go, neither will we."

"Maya." There was a lot of depth to that word that Ghost just didn't get.

"Honestly, it was an impromptu trip. Next time we'll make it a proper visit." Yeah. Next time. With the man in the suit standing with his air of command in the foyer, next time was looking to be put off.

A door slammed so hard, it made Ghost jump. She wasn't the only one.

"I'll go see..." Maggie was already half way up the stairs and that left Ghost with him.

Dio didn't respond. He must have been enlightened and awed by her speech.

Then something heavy hit the door.

*CLUNK!*

Or not.

Katrina threw the sheet at the other side, making much less noise with it than whatever Zephyr had hit it with.

*shwiffle*

Hmph.

The little illusionist turned on her heel and stomped back down toward the kitchen, with every intention of going straight outside to the jet, grabbing Ghost, and going home. Zephyr could stay in England with his hated father and without his passport for all she cared.

*stomp stomp STOmp*

Except she kind of did want her little red phone back at some point. It had been a present from Abyss so many years ago. It would be a shame to lose it on account of some air-brained moron. She'd have to get it back somehow.

“Is everything alright up there?” Someone's motherly voice inquired as Katrina had almost reached the bottom stair.

“Everything's fine.” The blonde teen's face said otherwise. Her stomping feet also said she didn't want to talk about it.

*swwwish*

She passed Maggie and proceeded into the entryway where a ladder convention and a family reunion were raising quite the clatter.

Heh. Zephyr's dad was here to see him.

His dad whom he so desperately didn't want to see. His dad, here, which proved that Dio was wrong about him not caring. His dad with whom he totally deserved a face-to-face meeting.

Now she just had to get the saturnine air elemental down here. A little bang, a little life threatening, a little “Help me Obiwan Dio, you're my only hope,” that should do the trick.

Katrina smiled at the group milling around, especially at Alistair, and said, “Hold on just a sec, I'll get Simon for you.”

She closed her eyes and focused on Zephyr. In her mind he looked especially smug right now. The rest of the world kind of faded away around her. She took a deep breath, then started the show that was specifically created for a one man audience.

*bwwoOOOM!*

The explosion rang in Zephyr's ears twice as loud as in her own. At the tail end of it, she pulled just a little on his sense of balance, making him just a hair dizzy, so he'd feel like the floorboards were tilting or he'd just been hit by a concussive wave. Then she whispered in his ear with an illusion version of her own voice, laced with pain and fear.

Dio? Are you... there? Help me.

With that she sent a brief image of flames and a view that could only come from under something heavy, but before the image really developed into anything that he could really scan for details, she cut it off as if something had interrupted her sending the message.

The petite illusionist opened her eyes again with another smile to the group; she really was feeling much more chipper with the prospect of seeing this little reunion showdown, “He should be here shortly.”

---

This post brought to you by sound effects. *ding* Sound effects, making comics more exciting since 1879. *applause* Sound effects. *click* Visit us online at soundeffects.org.

Every cloud had a silver lining

Sadly the price of silver had hit rock bottom.

Drifting amongst the slate grey clouds which veiled the sky directly above the modest English manor Zephyr scowled as he once again tried to reexamine his current predicament for anything he could possibly turn to his own benefit.

Having finally finished his conversation with Odeh a few moments ago the hessian was reasonably certain that the illicit money man would be able to max the majority of his funds within the next few minutes. The Middle Eastern bastard would charge him an arm and a leg for the work but it would be worth it to keep his father out of his finances.

The more pressing problem now was where he went from here; the elemental had absolutely no desire to return to the manor. If anything he wanted to be on the next flight out of the country, given that he lacked any form of identification though that made things somewhat difficult, not in possible but difficult. There were favours he could call in, old contacts in Calais he could reach out to it was just a matter of-

A flash of flame burst across his vision and the world itself seemed to shake as an incomprehensible force fought its way through his senses, costing the mercenary his balance and causing him to drop just below cloud cover before he caught himself. Before he could even begin to truly right himself and question what had just occurred a voice entered his thoughts; a terrifyingly familiar voice which turned his inside to ice as he heard it tremble with pain and fear.

He didn’t stop to think, didn’t pause to wonder why he couldn’t still feel the air quiver with the aftereffect of such an explosion, didn’t stop to question why there didn’t seem to be any smoke or debris surrounding the manor as he homed in on it like a hawk.

He didn’t even consider using a door.

Instead, as the grey stone walls grew larger and larger, the elemental merely set his sights on one of the ornate floor to ceilings windows, refusing to bleed a single drop of speed as he twisted the air before him with a thought, forcing the glass panes to explode outwards in a shower of razor shards mere moments before he surged inside and brought himself to a halt with force enough to leave him breathless as he glanced frantically around the deserted room.

---

“Hold on just a sec, I'll get Simon for you.”[/color]

Intent azure eyes blinked and then narrowed as Alistair focused on his younger daughters apparent doppelganger and fought down a frown. Granted he had promised to speak to with Simon should the boy be present but the senior Smith had rather been hoping for a chance to exchange a few words with his estranged elder daughter first. Still, if the lad was skulking around he supposed there was little point in delaying things, better to get it over with quickly and not leave Maya an excuse to avoid him.

As he waited for, Katy? Kaitlyn? To dart off and fetch his son however the young blonde simply closed her eyes and furrowed her features for a brief moment before announcing that the boy would be along shortly. A statement to which Alistair simply nodded as he gave the svelte gamine a faux smile as he abruptly endeavored to keep his thoughts as mundane as possible. The aging entrepreneur had little love for telepaths, but there was little he could do about the child before him at present, thus he would simply have to-.

“Katrina!” Where are you?!”

It was though someone had taken the acoustics of a stadium and magnified it tenfold. All other sounds ceased as the panicked cry boomed across the open air with sufficient force to momentarily deafen all those who heard it.

In the few short seconds it took for everyone to regain their bearings Alistair was the first one to wuickly put two and two together as he narrowed his gaze down to Katrina and asked, in a deceptively neutral tone, “What, precisely, did you convey to my son?”[/color]

Katrina's smile faltered slightly at the sudden crash and crinkle of glass breaking and falling in the other room. Her hands flew to cover her ears as Zephyr's amplified voice boomed through the manor. It wasn't the volume that erased the rest of her smile; it was the tone. He sounded almost... panicked.

Almost like he cared.

She turned toward Mr. Smith, Sr. with wide eyes.

“All I did was tell him I needed his help.” Sort of.

It had worked, in any case, even if it wasn't exactly as she had planned.

Standing under the withering gaze of Zephyr and Ghost's father, suddenly it seemed like her brilliant plan maybe hadn't been such a good one after all.

With adrenaline fueled panic still coursing through his system Zephyr gaze shot from side to side as he took in the wrecked room before him. Even with his last second precautions he’d been going far too fast for a safe landing, and though he’d manage to stop, all the excess momentum had had to go somewhere. In this case, it had knocked aside furniture and scattered the few shards of window glass still left in their frames.

None of that mattered though because as his azure eyes frantically swept over the ruined room a second time they only confirmed what he already knew, and what a part of him feared.

The room was empty.

She wasn’t here. Why wasn’t she here? She had to be here, he’d felt the blast. Why wasn’t she saying anything? She must have heard him. What the hell-

‘No.’ He clamped down on the torrent of thoughts and forced himself to breath even as his heart raced and both his hands curled into fists. He was not going to panic. He was not. She was here somewhere. He just needed to find her. He was going to find her.

Taking another deep breath the elemental closed his eyes and swept his senses through the air as he began to scan the entire manor.

--

Raising a hand to the pinch the bridge of his nose Alistair simply sighed as he heard the young blonde’s response, fighting down the urge to rap his knuckles against the side of her head as he reminded himself that, despite her appearance, the child before him was not his daughter. Sarah never would have tried to cozen him in such a crude manner. This girl didn’t even have the sense to try and look confused, instead gazing up at him with wide ashen eyes which were practically lit with guilt.

Again reminding himself that it wasn’t polite to discipline children who weren’t your own, and that it would likely win him no favours with Maya, Alistair slowly lowered his arm and stared down at the blonde gamine with a less than amused expressed designed to convey precisely how much he did not have for the girl’s puerile attempt at avoidance.

“Might I suggest,”[/color] He spoke in cool, clipped tones. “that you tell him something else? An apology perhaps? Preferably before he does something even more fatuous.”[/color]

After a moment, when the girl had continued to just gape at him, Alistairs impatience got the better of him and the man delivered a brief, but noticeable blow, to the ingénues forehead with the 2nd knuckles of his index and middle finger. “Now. Young lady.”[/color]

He was not going to take the blame for these childish antics, but he would put a stop to them if he had to.

Zephyr's dad was bossy. Kind of like Zephyr, actually, but more so.

Still, Katrina did feel a little guilty that the aeromancer had sounded so worried, especially now that he wasn't being a thickheaded jerk.

She was just about to close her eyes and send Zephyr another message when Mr. Smith reached out in his impatience and flicked her in the forehead.

The little illusionist's grey eyes clouded with anger as she slowly turned back to glare at him. Though he had all kinds of money, probably owned all the coffee shops in England, and was was Zephyr and Ghost's dad, he didn't have any power over her and she wasn't about to let him bully her around.

“Don't do that again.” Her words dripped with ice. If it sounded like a threat, that was all the better. Just because someone was older and taller didn't mean that they were better or stronger.

Katrina turned her shoulder toward the old man and closed her eyes, once again thinking of Zephyr. This time in her mind, his face looked worried.

I'm in the living room. I'm okay. You don't have to tear the whole mansion to pieces.

The girl was trying to intimidate, how quaint. It actually might have been amusing had the words not been preceded by the muted cacophony of shattered glass and overturned furniture echoing down from above.

"I will treat you as a child precisely as long as you act like one. Your gift does not give you free reign to do as you please." The words held an undertone of condescension as he arched an eyebrow at the blonde haired child in an expression of distinct unconcern.

He'd dealt with such an attitude before, insolent adolescents who believed the rules didn't apply to them because they thought they were 'special'. The elder Smith detested it, and as such was well accustomed to disillusioning those who had any sense of self entitlement, whether it be those he employed or even his own children.

Nothing was free in life, it all had to be earned.

That being said Alistair would have preferred a number of precautions before dealing with an undisciplined pubescent telepath. He had brought both his 'assistant' and chauffer, either one of whom would have done wonders in nullifying any threat the gamine's mutation posed. Unfortunately he'd left both of them in the car outside; it would have sent entirely the wrong message had they'd been with him when he arrived at the manor.

Still, he wasn't about to back down. He didn't need to, his point had been made and if the girl didn't listen she'd only serve to further justify him. Granted she could throw a tantrum but from what he'd seen thus far it was unlikely, the gamine perpetuated the all too common air of a teenager who believed themselves wise beyond their years and were incredibly mature.

If it hadn't been so depressing it would have been amusing.

Regardless the ingénue did as she was told, her jejune anger fading as she adopted a brief expression of concentration and turned away from his expectant stare, a motion which would have been far more effective if she'd actually reached his shoulders.

The muffled commotion above died before the girl even finished turning and an unnatural silence settled almost immediately as the air seemed to ripple and thicken in the span of a single breath.

Then there was wind, crashing down in a sudden gale which rapidly focused on the young blonde, briefly catching on her clothing before a haze of colour resolved itself into the shape of a thin young man who promptly snatched the girl from her feet with unusual ease for one so slight and simply held her as though afraid she would shatter.


Well, let it not be said his son didn’t know how to make an entrance, and it was[/s] his son; even clad as the boy was in in a pair of worn jeans and an oversized maroon pull over, the single silent glare he gave Alistair was more than enough for the elder Smith to confirm his suspicions.

Nothing had changed.

Still, he would make a token effort, he had promised Maya that much at least. He waited several moments until the lad finally released Sarah’s apparent twin before speaking.

“It has been some time Simon, you’re sister and her young friend there seem to think we have something to discuss.”

The lads shoulders stiffened for a moment and confusion registered on his face before his gaze dropped to the Sarah’s doppelgänger and he calmed himself.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

Alistair nodded impassively, mentally dismissing the boy as his attention shifted back to his estranged daughter.

He hardly even saw the fist which was hurled at his face.