It was a crummy day by New York standards, Cafas was not at all convinced this was Summer, he figured he must have fallen asleep and woken up in Autumn. It was, in fact, Summer; Late June, July was around the corner. Overcast, windy, raining, miserable. It was sunny in L.A.... Cafas knew that for sure, the live news was running.

Man, this day could not be much less interesting...

He had his feet on a desk in the X-offices. The news was playing, he had a bit of paperwork to do, related to some crime or other he had stopped. A mugging, extra boring. Something on the screen caught his attention. The fifth girl in 3 days had been reported missing by her family. All stunning, all reportedly models, and all just living their life, same as usual, before going off the radar for a few days without a word. Runaways some thought, others figured them dead. Police had no leads on any, no signs of struggle in their houses, no reports of trouble near where they were last seen, just gone. Creepy said the news. "Mutant" said Cafas.

Surprised they haven't mentioned that theory yet...

He made some phone calls, wrote some stuff down, and found his first lead. A modelling agency. He made some more calls. Apparently you did not come to them, they came to you. Spanner in his works. Ten minutes later, L.A.P.D. on the line. Figures more like 7 girls, 4 guys. All help welcome. Good.

Don't think this is what they meant...

So, He needed to get a team together. Was he allowed to do that? Didn't matter he was doing it, he needed the hottest X-men available. He pulled out his X-communicator (recently restored to being in one piece). Transmit. "Drew, Shawn, I need you guys in the offices, hope you don't have any plans for the week."

Not that I care if they do.

Cafas prepared the briefing, quickly printed and photocopied the info he had, victim photos, their profiles, his idea, their first objective, three copies, three folders, each marked with a name. Now to wait. Looked like they were going to L.A.

I could use a vacation.

Drew glanced out the window closest to him. Yup, still horrible outside. Gee, how marvelous. Here he was at a school full of mutants and member of a hotshot team of same and not a darn one could fix the weather. No work today, Sam was handling his own paperwork and what not for a change. No point in heading out into the city either, with that rain out there. That left him at the mansion wandering aimlessly through the corridors. Heck he couldn't even bake since it wasn't nighttime yet. It was more a ritual now than any attempt to hide the fact that he baked. Baking was done at night and even though it looked sort of night-like out there he wasn't about to march into the kitchen and start making scones.

Judging by the students that remained at the school and the rest of the staff he wasn't the only one suffering from a bit of cabin fever.

As long as we avoid a crazed musical number.

Drew smirked at the thought as he paced yet another hallway. Thoughts of puppets and singing were dashed by the insistent tones of his communicator. In this case they remind him of Cafas, one of the other X-Trainees. Drew didn't know him very well but apparently, judging by the message, he'd found something X worthy to do. Maybe it would involve getting away from this abysmal weather?

"On my way." was said into the comm before Drew headed toward the offices. The journey didn't take long and Drew was there fairly quickly.

"Please tell me that whatever you've got involves getting away from this rain."

The comment left Drew's lips as soon as he entered the room. Instead of acquiring a chair he sat on a desk and waited for Shawn and the run down of this mission.

Streak hadn't been to busy the past couple of days. It probably had something to do with the weather. He happened to be training in the danger room. Just something basic, nothing crazy he still had things to do today. Mostly paperwork for new students and he was still answering questions about that building incident not to long ago.

He was taking a little breather and getting a sip of water when his X-comm went off. It was Cafas calling him. "I'll be right there." He was off. He close out the program and left the danger room. A couple of secret passages, that he and Sam had built a few years back, and he was walking through the door that was Cafas' office.

Streak sat in a chair that was pretty close by. He wasn't sure if Cafas could actually call a mission but Streak would take the heat if anything came of it. Just the fact that he was along meant that he could lend legitimacy to what Cafas was doing. "So what's going on? Please tell me it's more eventful than this weather." Streak waited Cafas to start his explanation.

When Drew walked in first, it came as little to no surprise. He tossed the folder to him. "Give Shawn a second." It didn't take him long, it took him less time than Cafas would have thought actually, it had sounded like he was in the danger room over the comm. Cafas took the opportunity to stand. His own folder in hand, and handing over Shawn's. He turned up and rewound the television. Ah the glories of TIVo. It ran through its bit, 5 girls, 3 days, creepy, obnoxious amounts of lovely sunlight, models, disappearances, please call L.A.P.D. with any info. It then finished with some gratuitous beach shots and some shots focused on girls in bikinis.

Yup, that'll convince anyone.

"The real figures are closer to 7 females, 4 males. I did a bit of digging, came up with names, got some details from the local authorities, called the families, you'll find a complete profile of each in your folders. Only a few links, and only one that spans all of them, the police don't think it's much, I disagree. They all worked at the same modelling company some time in the past 12 months, Rock et al modelling."

Which the cops ruled out because...

"The cops reckon the locations, times, and lack of any sign of foul play in the disappearances point to some troubled models running away, or maybe some criminals using "The Rock" to pick their targets. I'm not convinced." Cafas pulled a list from his own folder, containing his current hypothesis, other likely explanations, as well as how they all ranked up with the current evidence. All had 'Need more info on Rock et al' highlighted. "As you can imagine, we need to investigate this company, undercover. Problem is, you don't go to them, apparently, they come to you."

Now a moment for them to do the mental maths...

Cafas tucked his list away. "So, our first objective? Be publicly attractive. A few hot spots for Rock et al pick ups are circled on the maps included. There can be no suspicion though, we have to live the model life, no doing things by half measures. I'm afraid it's all expensive hotels, nights in the clubs, mornings in the gym and days on the beach." Cafas had to restrain his face, it wanted to smile so badly, but this was a serious mission. Very serious. "Also, we'll be flying commercial to get there. Pack your bags, we're going undercover in Sunny L.A. I'll take questions now."

Boom! That wasn't so hard...

Catching the folder, Drew opened it up to skim through the materials until Shawn arrived. He'd barely gotten through the first page when the other man walked in and said something almost the twin of what Drew had said. Drew smirked a little at that as Cafas started his little presentation. Missing models in sunny L.A.? It didn't sound like much of a matter for the X-Men. Sure there were more missing than were actively being reported but why would it matter to them? There was no obvious mutant relation to it. Not one that he could spot anyway.

The revelation as to what Cafas had in mind came about the time that he mentioned that the modeling company wasn't someplace you could just apply to. They had to come to you. It took less than a minute for him to get the gist of it. Several days of doing nothing but living the life of a model in sunny L.A.? No dreary New York, no paperwork at the mansion, no responsibilities other than looking good. And to top it off it would count toward his becoming an X-Man proper instead of a trainee. Heck, it might even get him out of his master's reach for a little while. Not that he enjoyed that persay so much as it lessened the chance of pain coming his way.

First though they needed to get the mission off the ground proper. Cafas was just a trainee like him so it was up to Shawn to say whether they went as a mission or just a vacation. Drew put on a serious face to match Cafas.

"Hmm, certainly sounds like those cops could use some help. When are we leaving?"

Streak took the folder that Cafas handed him. As he flipped through it he started listening to what the situation was. It didn't take to long to get his attention. Models, disappearances, possible mutant activity? Oh and beaches? What could be better? This simply had to be the best mission he'd probably ever get sent on.

As Cafas replayed the news broadcast he only half listened. As the news reporter talked he flipped through the folders trying to absorb as much information as possible before he made his final decision. Streak knew that because he was the senior X-men it was going to be his call on whether they went or not. Shawn kept his mouth closed as the other two talked. It was hard to tell if this was really a problem that needed mutant intervention or if Cafas was just trying to use this as an excuse to meet models and spend some time on the beach getting a tan. Streak closed his folder and looked at both of them in turn. "Well..." He paused, evilly savoring the fact that they were both waiting for his approval. Finally he spoke.

"I have to agree. There definitely seems like this modeling agency is searching out these models and once they use them once or twice they dispose of them. Since the cops are saying its a weak connection to this agency and they've dismissed it I think it's a good idea if we check it out." The silvermancer then set his folder down on the desk nearest him and said, "Ok boys looks like its a hard knock life for us for a while. Get your stuff packed and we'll leave tonight. We don't want the trail going cold do we?" This last part was said with a smile. Even he couldn't resist the opportunity to spend some time at the beach and some clubs hanging out with gorgeous women. "I don't think I have to say this but if we're going undercover leave your uniforms and any badges behind. We don't want anything that will send a warning to the people were tracking." Streak stood up. He didn't call the meeting but since they were deferring the decision to him he supposed this meeting was over. Streak stood up and got ready to leave the room and pack his stuff.

(OOC: If you want I think we can hand wave the packing and flight and start it up in LA)

The hotel was nice. That the X-men were paying for it was nicer. Cafas stepped out of the hotel gym into the pool, paddled about for a bit to cool off, stepped back out and toweled down. The sun was beating down at what could only be described as an awesome temperature. A few theories had been thrown about in hushed voices between the guys, Cafas' favourite was that the models were part of a cult that passed secret codes through the agency and were all leaving to go to some cult estate place. He liked it because everyone likes a good cult conspiracy.

Why can't we move the mansion down here?

Cafas was thinking that just after mid day might be the perfect time to go out in public, perhaps to a beach, to try and attract some attention. Had it been up to Cafas they would have gone somewhere quieter, perhaps done a bit of surfing (something he had come to enjoy at one point. He was no Kelly Slater, but he wasn't bad either.) Instead it was Venice beach for some time on the sand in the sun, with a fair share of girls sure to be staring (No shirts for today boys.) "Righto guys, time to hit Venice. It's a hard life isn't it?"

The question is, which clubs do we hit tonight?

A question he was sure some pretty girls were going to answer for them later.

Streak couldn't help but recognize how nice the whole place was. Why don't we visit this place more often? I could get used to a place like this. he thought.

After Streak took a dip in the pool. The temperature was perfect. He couldn't have asked for any better weather for a trip to Cali. Streak climbed out of the pool, dried off and headed back inside. Cafas was ready to get the day started and so was he.

"Righto guys, time to hit Venice. It's a hard life isn't it?"

Steak smiled. He knew Cafas was right. "Why do I feel like we're on a much better episode of Jersey shore. Except we're better looking. I'm ready so the sooner we get started the sooner we can get in the spotlight." Streak waited for Cafas to respond as he picked up his things to get ready to leave.