As her phone vibrated in her pocket, Amelia turned away from looking out the window, having just watched the world pass her by, to pull out her phone. She had received a message, a notification popping up, showing it was from Scott, she turned to see him with his phone out, pretending to type away.
Opening her phone, she looked at the message and narrowed her eyes.
{"We're being followed. We're getting off at the next train station where I'll explain. Don't look around focus on your phone. If you can't, pretend to go to sleep."} She read internally and quickly realised why Scott acted the way he was. Rather than saying anything and risking being overheard, he typed a message, teenagers nowadays were constantly glued to their phones and therefore not attracting attention.
Knowing what she did now, Amelia typed back. {"How do you know?"} She didn't doubt him, as Amelia was quickly coming to understand, Scott was rarely wrong regarding these things. He had an understanding of such ploys that seemed beyond normal and she was not about to question him.
However, she did want to hear his reasoning.
Even the best of people could make mistakes and if he was just being paranoid, Amelia would instead clear that up. Yet she also wasn't going to do so verbally and possibly risk putting them in danger if he was right.
There was a long wait and in order to stop herself from looking around, Amelia did as Scott suggested, leaning back and closing her eyes. If she hadn't, Amelia knew that she was more than likely going to look around to see if she could find anyone watching them closely.
When the message came through, she opened her eyes and looked.
{"I noticed from when you were tending to Warren and I went to get food. I had thought I lost them but I noticed them again when we were at the train station. I can't explain more than that, just trust me. We get off at the next station, change trains try and lose them that way."}
{"Ok."} Sending that message back, Amelia once more leaned back and closed her eyes, trying her hardest to resist the urge to not look around. Yet, as she did, the only sounds she could hear were the thrum of the train and the occasional sounds of people around them that made her tenser as if the world around her was closing in.
All the while, she felt like she was being watched.
-X-
"What's the plan?" Amelia asked quietly, as she and Scott got off the train, blending in with the crowd of people that covered the sound of their voices.
"We confront them on the next train." Scott's response was sharp and shocked her, though Amelia did wonder why such a thing surprised her. He was, as she was coming to know, very decisive in his actions, carefully weighing his options and choosing what he believed to be the best. Scott would not make a rash decision, he would carefully consider them all before choosing what was the best, not what had the least risk.
Never the safe option, but the best option.
"Why?"
"They were good enough to find us despite me losing them the first time around, I suspect one or all of them has powers of some kind. The chances of us throwing them off our trail by changing trains is slim, but not impossible. However, the chances of it working are not enough for me to leave it at that. So, I will confront them that will buy us more time to get to Hank and then back to the Xavier Mansion where we should be safer with Charles' telepathy." Scott explained Escaping them forever is impossible and they will no doubt find us again, buying us time to do what we need to and getting out before they catch us is the best option.
If they did that and managed to make it back to the Xavier mansion, they would be in a far more secure position with the chances of their pursuers being able to sneak into the mansion where a telepath resided near impossible. If Scott told Charles about their pursuers, then Scott knew that he would be constantly checking for new and unfamiliar minds nearby, reading their thoughts and finding out their aims.
It was by no means perfect, but it provided better security than other options.
"That's dangerous Scott." Amelia protested. "You barely took on Sandman and Rhino. I saw how exhausted you were from that fight alone and it's a miracle you did not suffer from any serious injuries. But you've already said you suspect these guys to have powers of some kind, what if they are every bit as dangerous as those two?"
"I am aware of that fact," Scott replied. "But it does not change the plan."
Amelia did not seem convinced that this was the best option and Scott sighed.
"You're wrong about one thing, I did not struggle against Sandman and Rhino in the way you think." Amelia rose a brow in questioning. "They were both untrained and unfamiliar with their powers and each other. I dragged that fight out to keep them there for as long as possible, giving you as much time as I could, but to also improve my predictive analysis against untrained opponents. I was aware of the limits of my stamina from start to end, ensuring that I had enough stamina left to make it back up the stairs and provide you aid if that was necessary. When I began to reach that threshold, I ended the fight then."
Amelia did not know what to say in response to that, so she put it to one side, but had not forgotten the fact he had admitted to using Sandman and Rhino as, what was effectively training dummies. "Then why not confront them on the other train? There's going to still be passengers in this train as well?"
"We were in a disadvantageous position," Scott noted as the two entered the rear carriage of the train, quickly pulling out his phone and typing. {"There, we were near the middle, which left us open to attacks from two sides. However, to suddenly move from where we sat to try and move to the rear carriage where there might not be seats would definitely put them on guard."}
{"But as I said, there are still passengers here. Changing trains had no difference."}
{"It will when you pretend your Mutant ability is activating."} Amelia froze, especially when a person sat beside her, shifting her phone to keep it away from their eyes. {"I will not ask you to fight, I know you do not like it. So instead, I ask you to put on a show that causes people to panic and move to the next carriage. There, you will wait for my signal and detach this rear carriage from the train, isolating them."}
{"What about you?"}
{"I will face them."}
"Alone." Amelia turned, ignoring the possibility of being overheard.
Scott turned to her calmly. "Yes. I am well aware of my limitations and never do anything beyond my abilities. My previous activity was well within my limits despite my initial reservations. That has proven to me even more what I can and cannot do."
"And what if this isn't like last time?" She questioned sharply. "What if this is beyond what you can do?"
"It is." Scott replied bluntly. "Or it would be if this was a standard situation."
"What do you mean?"
"Victory is not simply about who can beat the other person. If it was, life would be simple and easy, but that is often the mistake many make. Victory is determined by a number of factors and is different for everyone involved." Scott turned to look out the window, all of a sudden seeming to be more relaxed. "Just because one person's aim is to capture something, does not mean the other person's goal is to do the same. Their goal might to be protect it or stall you for a certain amount of time. Victory of them might be to wait for reinforcements and so by stalling long enough, achieve victory."
Slowly the train began to move out of the station, picking up speed rapidly.
"Victory is not simple and constantly varies, causing the way people act to change as well." Scott knew better than most that a person aiming to kill fought differently from someone who was aiming to capture. That difference was small but monumental to those who knew how to exploit it for their own advantage.
The reason Cyclops survived as long as he had was that he knew precisely how to do that.
"With our current position, the variance in victory conditions and many other factors that are now in my favour." Scott looked at her confidently. "What could have otherwise been beyond my abilities, is now well within my limits to accomplish. So, trust me, I've got this."
-X-
The panicked cries were all he needed to know that something was up, Victor spared a glance at the large bald man at his side. Both need not say any words, the large man taking the lead and pushing his way through the crowd of panicked people as they rushed past them, parting the people with unnatural ease.
They then entered the next carriage, the rear one to find a single figure waiting for them, just finishing in pulling a face mask up to cover the lower half of his face. A baseball cap on his head and hood pulled up over the top to keep as much of his face hidden from view, Victor looked to the cameras to see them having been destroyed.
This meant the figure's biggest concern was the prying eyes of people in the other carriage, and Victor was able to hear their whispers.
Yet Victor didn't need to see the boy's face to know who it was, the scent was still the same. "Covering your face isn't going to change anything, Scott." The file had been extensive, designed and laid out like a target package, and Sinister had been thorough. Though in Victor's experience, the man always was, there was something different about it this time.
What? He did not know.
But there was something about Scott Summers that had enraptured Sinister's attention more than anything had in the past. He also rated his skills highly, especially if he had him take three others along to capture him, Victor in his experience in working alongside Sinister, he alone had proven enough to get the job done.
Yet for some reason, that was not the case this time.
The other two of his group, coming behind them moments later, the smallest amongst them by far the weakest looking. However, it was the look Scott gave to the second largest of their group, the one dressed in a fancy suit that made Victor smirk.
"You recognise him?" Victor said, stepping to one side to let Scott get a better view of the pale-faced man. "Surprised he's not dead." That earned a minute reaction, enough to make Victor smile. "Oh, you didn't know. Or didn't mean to."
Scott said nothing.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Victor waved his hand, the man moving forwards, pulling out two hammers. "When you killed him, our employer just barely managed to bring him back, but he's practically brain dead, just enough inside that mind of his to follow basic instructions." Here, Victor smirked viciously, Scott moving to the middle of the aisle, standing sideways to make himself as narrow of a target as he could. "There's still enough in that mind of his to hate you. So, I'll let Tombstone have his revenge."
Tombstone lumbered forwards, heavy footsteps echoing throughout the train as the other three watched, Blockbuster, the largest of their group and a man Victor had limited interaction with, twisted the metal of the carriage door to block them off from the next carriage, also blocking the view for other people.
There would be no escape for Scott in this fight, precisely what they had intended.
As Tombstone came closer though, Scott fired out, Optic Beams striking against the large man's body and throwing him back. Victor stepped to one side, avoiding the flying body, Prism, the weakest of their group just barely managed to dive to one side in time to avoid him. Blockbuster, on the other hand, caught Tombstone in one hand, dropping him to the floor and glaring at the man.
"Pretty dangerous power you've got their kid," Victor replied, smile growing wider, not in the least bit concerned. "But that's not enough to take out Tombstone. Perhaps the old version of him, but he's had a number of improvements made to him."
As he spoke, Tombstone rose to his feet, suit in tatters, yet body unharmed, veins beneath the skin pulsing and throbbing, protruding out in a grotesque manner. Above all else though, was the noticeable increase in muscle mass, Scott narrowing his eyes and lowering his body.
Then Tombstone lumbered forwards once more.