The attack was decided not to be postponed and would take place that very evening. Mystique went off to discuss the developed plans with Destiny—our seer. Irene Adler, as she was known in her past life, became completely blind after receiving mutant powers but gained the ability to see possible future outcomes. She wasn't a front-line fighter, but with her help, the Sisterhood had greatly improved the effectiveness of its operations. It's always useful to know what not to do in advance.
While Raven would be busy, I decided to gather my small team and brief them on the situation. I quickly found Blindspot, who was reading some magazine in her room. Finding Blob proved a bit harder—she seemed to be avoiding me, which would normally make me happy, but certainly not today.
I found her on the veranda roof. She was... sunbathing? Considering she was lying on her back in a swimsuit and wearing sunglasses, it certainly looked that way, but it was autumn! Wasn't it?!
"What are you doing?" I asked, leaning out of the second-floor window, forgetting for a moment that we had a minor conflict.
"What does it look like?" she snapped back sharply.
Well, that's not how I'm going to sell the elephant.
"Hmm, listen Morty, how about we have a drink together?"
Such an unexpected offer left the talkative girl a bit stunned. She turned her head toward me and raised her glasses.
"Why would we do that?" she asked suspiciously.
"We started off on the wrong foot. I don't know what I did to make you dislike me from the moment we met, but I think we should sort it out over a glass of whiskey or some fine rum. What do you think?"
Blob didn't melt as easily as I hoped and kept glaring at me suspiciously.
"I thought our 'feelings' were mutual, no? You responded in kind every time, and didn't miss a chance to tease me, even when I tried to ignore you."
"Well, I just got into a new company. You know how it is. You have to show everyone that you're someone to be reckoned with, or they'll walk all over you. I think I got carried away with the role, sorry about that."
Morty removed her glasses and looked away for a moment.
"You're right. This conversation shouldn't be had sober. I'll go to the store and buy some wine."
"No, let's do it tomorrow. We can't today."
"What do you mean?" she squinted at me.
"We've got a mission," I said, raising my hands apologetically.
"Well, you're a sneaky bastard!" she exclaimed, a bit impressed.
"Yeah, I am," I smiled brightly.
Even though she understood my simple manipulations, the relationship between us, if not completely reversed, at least normalized. That's a good thing. If you're going on a serious mission, you need to be sure of the loyalty of the people covering your back.
By evening, we had discussed the plans once more in the company of Mystique and Magneto. Ideally, we should have invited Destiny to these meetings, but our seer was an incredibly sensitive person, and she couldn't predict the future amid a brainstorming session.
In an ideal world, she would perform her manipulations in solitude, and only Mystique managed not to irritate Irene. Honestly, I think there's something more between the two than just a friendship. Mystique stays at Irene's room far too often. But that's really none of my business.
At the scheduled time, we gathered in the backyard of our house and, without a word, headed inside the small metal hangar. It looked like a large garage from the outside, and it was one, but the problem was, we couldn't afford to have an underground hideout for a plane like X-Woman. Keeping it in the yard would definitely attract attention from the neighbors.
The yard was surrounded by a tall fence, but for those with sharp eyes, it was no obstacle. This hangar, however, didn't attract attention and concealed our means of transport.
It didn't look impressive at all. A rectangular piece of metal that nearly filled the hangar's interior. Originally, the Sisterhood didn't even have this, and the fact that they lacked a mobile means of transport had bothered me immensely.
About a month ago, I raised this issue, and Magneto promised to think about it. She didn't buy something ready-made, like a helicopter, as I suggested. Instead, she made this metal block completely on her own. While it looked pretty ugly, it flew fast and was simple to operate.
It turned out that Magneto was no fool. She was well-educated, not any less well-read than Charles Xavier. Her interests were broad, and I'd seen both genetics texts and a ton of books on physics in her room. Erika had studied her own abilities in detail and, at this point, was the best expert in electromagnetism I knew.
She had built the magnetic engine and all the necessary components for the Brick—yes, that's what we called it. Don't ask why. Blindspot came up with the name, so just don't ask.
According to Erika, when she was young and idealistic, she had designed many such gadgets. She even claimed that she could build an entirely autonomous spaceship!
Magneto could fly at very high speeds, so transportation was never an issue for her. In extreme situations, she could create an iron platform, load the Sisterhood onto it, and tow them wherever needed. But usually, the other girls preferred to use cars.
Once we got the Brick, everyone agreed that travel time had decreased significantly, plus it could be controlled by anyone, which reduced our dependence on Erika. We could split up at any moment, which greatly improved our mobility. The only downside was that we only had one Brick.
Mystique took the driver's seat, activated the cloaking, and pressed the button to open the hangar's roof. Magneto had already gone to her target, and we couldn't afford to delay.