Episode Three : Part Two

The inside of Ka-Zar's home among the trees was just as curious as the outside. No ordinary tree house, It had rooms, compartments, on the ground as well as elevated . The floors- where there were floors- were made of the same things as the walls, and the ceilings, wood, nice carved flat panels in some places, and small cylindrical bits in others.  The place was not only intricate, it also seemed vast. The team, however, were only confined to one room near the entrance.

They were in a room just big enough to fit them all, with hammocks and a wooden day bed amongst the trunks of the trees that grew throughout the house.

"Before anything else, since no one seems to wanna say it, what the hell is this place? Who the bloody hell really are you? And where did that lion thing go?”

"This place is my home. I am Ka-zar. My Sabertoothed friend can take care of himself"

"Those don't answer my question and it's not your friend I'm worried for, I'd just like to keep an eye on him at all times. He disappeared somewhere on the way."

"What is important for you to know is that my home sits right at the  side of the hilly interior which Magneto now operates."

"We're close enough to infiltrate ."  said Ali at the realization.

All the team instinctively looked at Lorna whose eyes were widened and face alert yet somehow distant. The one thing she's wanted since slipping through her father's fingers was to return to take him down. The thought of being on the verge seemed slightly surreal to  her.

Her face became stern with determination. The x-agents, most of them, instinctively knew the directives she would issue :

"Ka-zar will let us know the best entrance point for Ciph to begin scouting. Get in, assess, get out. No tech with you. Your eyes are just going to have to be enough to map the area. Regroup, then we finalize our plan of action. Our first priority is to take out the weapons. Find out what's up their sleeve., let's trust Howlett's story, so we can know how best to take it out. We don't spare a minute after that to stop magneto."

Taking out Magneto would be the trickiest part. None of the agents really packed the power to do so on their own or even together. They'd never previously been able to best him even in simulations . He was powerful. Ruthless.

If need be, X has the Junior team and The Captains on stand-by. They can be here in no time once our cover has been blown.

"The juniors?" Anole asked.

"Easy there hotshot." Alex responded with a snide look in his eye. " Don't worry your pretty green head. I'm sure we won't have to. And even if we do, they're old enough, don't you think? Well trained." 

Anole,visibly, wasn't pleased.

Alex continued, "It's those Captains I don't wanna see."

"Follow directives, make it quick and clean, we'll be fine." responded Lorna.

She wasn't as sure as she sounded. But that's how it has to be with all leaders.

As the day passed and the evening approached, the humidity remained stagnant like a blanket that spread out across all of the savage land, inescapable. They were taken to another room that was somewhere deeper in the perplexing edifice that was Ka-zars home. To the more keen, some of the rooms with tables, sealed compartments, strange tools and the occasional sets of life specimens - potted, jarred - made it more evident that his home also doubled as some form of lab facility. He certainly didn't eat some of the things they'd seen- they would hope.

"What do you study?" Ali had asked as they entered the room earlier. Ka-zar wasn't one to be coaxed to speech.

The room was spacious and bare. One of the walls was the bare rock of the adjacent ridge. Kaz-ar had left them close to a half an hour ago to prep amongst themselves for the next step of the mission at hand. They made themselves comfortable, or as comfortable as the place would allow, around the room. Howlett leaned against the ridge wall idly making a miniature steak from a piece of loose wood he'd picked up, sharpening it with the middle bone claw of his right hand. Anole was looming silently in a shadowed corner while nearby Ali was stripping down to the bare spandex bodysuit that Lorna had asked her to wear while infiltrating the facilities. No tech, no metals. Ali was "Cipher" after all, able to go invisible to even psychic detection. But Lorna was taking no chances.

Lorna stood over her brother who was sprawled, relaxed on the room floor. She wiped a bit of her short, sweat-matted hair from her face as she observed him. He acted a lot less serious than he actually was. She knew him. His jest and snark and seeming nonchalance at times would mislead anyone else, but inside she knew he was every bit as grounded as she was.

"You're going to have to be the frontline against Magneto. You'll have to pack the punch and I'll back you up." Lorna said to him.

"I know." He replied

"Anole, you're Cyclops. I'll handle the Wolverine. Cipher and Howlette - "

"He needs to get a code name " Alex interjected.

"You two have to focus on keeping whatever their weapon is from ever functioning. We expect to take it out first of all, but we have to make sure there's no contingency, nothing else up their sleeve."

"Thinking a little far ahead." a voice came from the entrance of the room. Ka-zar. "Why not take things a stage at a time."

"The game plan is important." Lorna responded.

"Things do not always go as planned, girl. Cipher's mission alone could put a change on things."

Lorna peered at him without answer.

Ka-zar had in his hand a brown sac, Behind him his beast looked on silently.

"How did you get him through the door?" asked Alex as he propped himself up looking at Ka-Zar.

"He's been here since before we arrived. I brought food for you. Nourish yourself."

"Good." said Alex, We're gonna need it.