THE CREW

Part 5

by Flexman

THIS STORY IS A PARODY. X-Men are owned by Marvel Comics. This is a not for profit story. No one under eighteen should read this story.

Threnody announced she's in the service of Mr. Sinister, just like that, simple and sweet. We're all stood there in silence staring at her. Finally, Perry says what I'm thinking.

"Bullshit!"

Yeah, we heard about him. Everybody has. He's like an urban legend. Some say he's British, others say he's Turkish, and still others say he was a German concentration camp scientist who experimented on prisoners and never got caught. They say after the war he experimented on himself and made himself stop aging. Nobody really thought he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anyone who worked for him. Everything you heard came from a guy, who knew a guy, who worked with a guy, who was friends with a guy who had a deal with him, you know, that kind of thing. That's his power, he's like a myth. You just never knew. They say he's into smuggling, doesn't matter what, drugs, arms, you name it. If it's illegal and profitable he moves it, but that's not his main thing. He's the evil mad scientist type, likes to do these vicious experiments on live subjects. They say he lifts bums, hookers and kids off the street for his experiments. Anybody goes missing, it's Sinister who did it.

One story Dorsey heard, and told us about, was these mutants in New York. Real freaks, you know, the kind you pull your kids in doors whenever they come by. They all got tired of being stared at and having the cops called every time somebody saw them, so they all got together and decided to go live underground in the sewers, away from society. You believe that shit? Anyway, something happened. Nobody knows what for sure, but apparently they pissed Sinister off somehow. They ripped him off on a deal or just plain insulted him, whatever. Sinister sends this team of assassins down there to wipe them out. It was brutal, they say the sewers were running red with blood. Bodies were popping up in the East River. No survivors, not one of them got out alive. It was a bloodbath, a real massacre. That's how the story goes, anyway.

Me, I never believed he existed. I figured the Department of Mutant Affairs made him up. Anything they couldn't blame on Magneto, the Brotherhood or the Mutant Liberation Front, they blamed it on Sinister. Their personal bogeyman they could throw at the Senate subcommittee whenever they wanted to up their budget.

Now, we're standing here with this Tyra Banks knock off telling us she's in the service of Mr. Sinister. Give me a break, what does that mean? She gives him a blow job whenever he's in the mood? I think the bitch is just throwing his name at us to impress. She must think we're fucking idiots. Before the rest of us can say anything, Dorsey holds up his hand to keep us quiet.

"Ok, so you're in the service of Mr. Sinister, what's that to us? Those assholes we iced yesterday, they yours?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," she answers. "The CDs you lifted from the bank belong to Sebastian Shaw. I don't suppose any of you have ever heard of him?"

"Yeah," answers Hooker. "He runs Shaw Industries. That's the company that makes the Sentinels."

"Yes, very good Mr. Hooker. Mr. Shaw wants those CDs recovered. He put out feelers for a team of mutant mercs to get them back and, oh by the way, kill you all. Mr. Sinister wants a look at those CDs too, so he took the contract. He was planning on making copies before returning them to Mr. Shaw."

"You'll understand when I tell you we're not sorry we ruined his plans," Dorsey replied. "So what's the deal now. He sent you in to do the job?"

"Hardly, since you proved to be more capable then anticipated, Mr. Sinister has decided on a different course. I'm here to buy CDs."

"Oh yeah? What's your offer?"

"I can have two hundred and fifty thousand American transferred into your Cayman Island account in two minutes."

"What if we try to sell them back to Shaw? How much you think he'll pay?"

"Mr. Shaw wants you dead. He needs to make you an example to show that no one steals from him. That's a problem you all have to deal with. What he's not going to do is pay you a penny. He may tell you he will, just to set you up, but don't count on seeing any cash from him. Right now, I'm the only game in town."

I could hear Hooker in my head telling Dorsey she's right and to take her offer.

"All right," Dorsey tells her. "Make the transfer."

She pulls her PDA from her jacket pocket. Pushes some buttons, then we wait. After a few minutes, she looks up.

"Done."

Dorsey looks at Hooker, who already has his PDA out. After staring at it for a few minutes, he looks up.

"Confirmed. Two fifty American deposited to the clearinghouse account."

Dorsey nods. Hooker puts away the PDA, reaches into his backpack and pulls out the three CDs. He hands them to Threnody. She puts them in her jacket.

"Good day gentlemen and good luck with Mr. Shaw," she tells us, then turns around and walks out.

For most of us, the mood was good, and why not, we all just made extra fifty thousand a piece for doing nothing. Hooker was the hero of the hour, but he didn't act like it. He said little when we all walked out of the warehouse. When Dorsey asks what's wrong, he answered. "It's not over."

"What?"

"It's not over. Like I said before, we're in some deep shit."

We went to this diner we hang out in. Dinner rush was over and the only ones left in the place were a couple street walkers and their pimp, having coffee. We took a booth in the corner and ordered our own coffee. All except Hooker who because of his condition avoids stimulants like caffeine and sugar, he ordered cup a soup.

"You made copies of those CDs?" Dorsey asked.

Hooker nodded.

"Ok, so what's on them that's so important?"

Hooker thought about it for a moment. "Immortality."

Dorsey's eyes narrowed. "Come again."

"How much do you know about cloning?"

"Just what I see on Star Trek."

Hooker smiled. "All right, let me make this very simple. Let say someone wants to clone you, what do they do? They get their hands on your genetic material, stick your cells in some woman's womb or an incubation machine, wait til it comes to term and out pops a baby that's a perfect copy of you. Great, you say. So fucking what? If you're breeding champion race horses or prize cows, it's great, otherwise, who gives a shit? Nobody, until Shaw's people made two amazing discoveries. First they found a way to force grow that fetus. Instead of a baby popping out you can have a copy of you at any age you want; twenty, twenty-five, thirty, whatever. The second discovery and much more important, they found a way to transfer you into this new body."

"What do you mean 'transfer you'?"

"Your memories, your personality, your consciousness, everything that makes you who you are can now be taken from your body and put into this new body. You know what this means? Let's say you've lived a nice, long, full life, but now you're old and have all these old man problems. Your mind doesn't work so well anymore, you have arthritis, diabetes, you can't get it up anymore, you're dying, what do you do? Easy, order up a new body, age it to say twenty-eight and transfer your mind in it. Good bye old, broken down, dying body. Hello young, strong, healthy body. One day you're eighty-eight, next day you're twenty-eight, just like that you took off sixty years, but you now have a life time of experience and wisdom no natural twenty-eight year old has. Life is good again. The nice thing is you can keep doing this over and over again, literally forever."

"You're right," Dorsey said. "It's immortality. So this is about Shaw wanting to live forever."

"Yeah, but it's not just that. Sebastian Shaw is on a first name basis with the richest and most powerful people in the world. These people get old too. Think about, as they get really old and start developing all these health problems Shaw walks up to them and says 'Hey old buddy, doesn't look like being old and decrepit agrees with you. Why don't you write me a check for four billion dollars and I'll make you as young as you want to be.'

For most of these people, they have so much fucking money, four billion is not a big thing. Paying that to more then doubling their life is a good deal and Shaw gets even richer."

"Shit!" I said. "He's playing for big stakes."

"Of course," Dorsey said. "He's already one of the riches men in the world. What did you think someone like is in to, dealing a little grass? Threnody is right, a guy like that is never going to stop coming after us. He's going keep trying to kill us until he succeeds. You know what that means?"

"We have to kill him first," Perry answered.

"That's right."

Hooker shrugged. "It's a half and half proposition. On one hand he's bound to have some of the best security around, on the other he's not expecting us to turn it around and go after him, so it might work. I'll stake him out and see what I can come up with."

Rachel Summers and Dani Moonstar returned to Salem Center and reported to Storm. They went over the events of the previous day and Rachel's failure to read Hooker's mind.

"There's no way you can get into this Hooker's head?"

"No," replied Rachel. "I've never encountered anything like it. Like I told Dani, my telepathy never even reaches him."

"That's not unheard of," Sage commented. "There are documented cases of some mutants being impervious to psionic energy."

"There's now a new dimension to the situation. The Marauders are Sinister's people. If they attacked the Crew it's because Sinister sent them. Why is Sinister involved? What's his interest in the Crew?"

"From what I could gather from Vertigo's mind, they were ordered to recover some CD's Hooker swiped from one of the bank's safety deposit boxes. They were also ordered to kill the Crew, all of them."

"We have to find out what's on those CDs. That's now our first priority. It seems we're out of options," Storm decided. "We have to tell Wolverine and Nightcrawler about the blackmail."

"Are you going to tell Scott?"

"No, not yet."

"But you must. If this gets out, the school is finished," Rachel interjected. "Our reputations will be shattered. Not to mention if the students see those images, none of you be able to walk into a classroom without them leering at you."

Storm did not answer. She hadn't thought of that. What she dreaded most was telling Emma Frost. The rest of the X-Men she had known for years, endured hardship and fought along side them, but Emma was the outsider and former enemy whom she didn't trust. There was also Juggernaut. He too was a former enemy, now with Havok's team. She cringes at the thought of him getting his hands on those images. No, it was their problem and they had to deal with it, alone.

"Wolverine and Nightcrawler are on our team. We owe them the truth, but the others, not just yet. We must find out what's on those CDs Sinister is so interested in."

"How do you propose to that?"

Storm smiled. "I have a plan."

Thursday - 10:05am

"Wiped out? What do mean wiped out?" Shaw demanded.

"Just that," Ms. Lorenzo replied. "The entire team you sent against the Crew was wiped out. Only one survivor and she's in the prison ward of the hospital for questioning. Her condition is stable."

"What about the Crew?"

"They didn't take any casualties."

"Are you kidding me? Where did you get these assholes? The first group of junkies you came to at some street corner?"

"They came highly recommended. Their reputation was first rate."

"For some reason I'm not impressed. Do we know what happen?"

"We had one of our lawyers speak to her this morning. She was knocked unconscious early in the battle, so we don't have a complete picture, but it appears you were right, they do have a telepath. First off, they never had the element of surprise, the Crew was waiting for them. Second, after the battle this telepath read her mind."

"They know everything?"

"No, we're insulated. The girl, Vertigo, did not have your name, but she did know they were there to recover the CDs."

"Shit! ," Shaw screamed. "So if they didn't know the importance of what they had before, they know now. This is incredible, absolutely fucking incredible."

"She also stated they have a ghost among them, that's who worked her over. Other then that, she doesn't know what to happen. She was out cold. According to the police report, it was a rather gruesome battle scene. One mutant was impaled by his own spears, another had his neck snapped, another got a stroke somehow and the last was almost decapitated by, what police say, was a flying manhole cover."

Shaw listened intently. When she was done, he said nothing. For the next few moments he stood there in complete silence deep in thought. Ms Lorenzo had seen this before, so she waited. When done he turned to her.

"What it comes down to, is we seriously underestimated this Crew. Apparently, they are more highly skilled then we thought. I won't make that mistake twice. I want three things done. First, we're going to put together another hit team, but this time I want at least three to one odds in our favor, so this new team will comprise no less than fifteen mutants. This should allow us to overwhelm them.

Second, we will issue psi-shields to each of them. That will block their telepath from detecting them and allow the element of surprise. And third, I've decided who will lead this new hit team."

"Oh no," Ms Lorenzo remarked. "He has no concept of being subtle. He's offensive and he leaves bodies all over the place."

"I'm not looking for subtle Ms. Lorenzo, I'm looking for success and he certainly knows how to get the job done. Get me Victor Creed."

Friday - 10:21pm

Harry Dorsey unlocked his apartment and walked in. He went to the small kitchen, opened the fridge and got himself a beer. As he turned to go to the living room she spoke.

"Why don't you get me one?"

Threnody was standing in the doorway.

"Where is Allison?" Dorsey calmly asked.

"She's all right. Sound asleep in the bedroom. She'll wake up in the morning feeling great and we will not be disturbed. Now about that beer?"

Dorsey got her a beer and they walked into the living room. "This is your girlfriend's apartment, isn't it? As soon as I walked in I knew this was a woman's place, you just crash here."

Dorsey shrugged. "I pay my half the rent."

"Yeah, but except for a couple of things in the closet, one draw in the dresser and one shelve in the medicine cabinet, nothing in this place is yours. There's nothing of you in here to say this is your place. It's like you're ready to move out in a minute notice. Why is that?"

"Rule number one, if you want to take down scores, never let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds or less if you feel the heat coming around the corner."

"What about Allison? You'd just split without even saying goodbye."

"I'd feel bad, but yeah, that's the way it's got to be. So why are you here?"

"The CDs were not complete. They only have about half the process on them."

"And you think we held out on you?"

Threnody smiled. "No, we have a source inside Shaw Industries. We know what happened. It's funny, if you had hit that bank the day before or the day after we wouldn't be having this conversation, but on that day they removed three of the CDs to updated them, so we ended up with only half the process."

"Bad luck."

"Maybe or maybe it's good luck for you. Sinister wants you to steal the whole set from Shaw."

Dorsey shook his head. "We wouldn't even know where to look for them."

"They are kept in a security vault in Shaw Industries' west coast headquarters in Malibu. The problem is they are going to be there for only four more days. This is a rush job."

Dorsey leaned back and giggled. "Know what I did today? Went on line and got a prospectus of Shaw Industries. I read the whole thing. What it told me is it's a very prosperous company. It's in the Fortune Fifty. I figure a company making that much money can afford the best security. Now I don't know what kind of security they have in this headquarters of theirs, but I do know that at the very minimum it would take Hooker and me at least six months to scope it out. No way this is happening in four days."

"It won't take you anytime," she said, as she reaches around the easy chair and pull out an attache case. She handed the case to Dorsey. "Open it," she instructed. Dorsey did. Inside were blueprints, diagrams and extensive sets of notes. "The entire security setup for Shaw's headquarters. It's complete, every detail."

Dorsey glanced through the items in the case. "This is ridiculous. Just running through this I can tell this would be the most complex job we'd ever took on. Look at all this. They even have a hand print scanner at the vault."

"There's a list of all the people whose hand print authorizes entry."

"Look, I don't think you have any idea at the amount of preparation in putting a job like this together. We don't just decide and go do it. There's a lot of planning and prep work, especially for something like this. Can't be done in four days, sorry."

"Maybe you boys just need the right motivation."

"What does that mean?"

"Fifty million dollars. I can have half, twenty-five million, deposited in your account by the end of business tomorrow. The rest payable upon delivery of the CDs."

Dorsey just sat there staring at her.

"Fifty million is the right number, isn't it?" Threnody asked. "Hey Harry, you're not the only one who works with a telepath. We had you boys scanned too and I happen to know each of your friends has a dream and ten million apiece is the price tag for those dreams. Now, the way I figure it, with all the scores you've taken down so far, minus expenses, each of you has about a million and change in your personal accounts. At the rate you're going, it will take you about another seven to eight years to get the other nine million each. That is if you don't screw up, get caught and sent to Pelican Bay, Folsom or some other hell hole. Sinister is giving you a chance to get it all in one shot. By this time next week you can all move on to the next phase of your lives. Think about it. Talk it over with the others."

For a minute Dorsey sat there.

"All right, I'll talk to them. How do I get in touch with you?"

Threnody hands him a cell phone. "There's only one number on the recall. Call me tomorrow. If you agree, I'll have the money transferred before the end of the day. Call me again when you have the CDs and we'll arrange the exchange."

Dorsey took the cell phone and began packing the diagrams and blueprints back in the case. Threnody sat back and continued drinking her beer. "Mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Dorsey shrugged. "You can ask."

"I noticed all your friends have dreams. Perry sings and writes rap. Wants to start his own record label. Kurita is an artist and wants to open his own studio. Cruz wants to open up his own motorcycle fabrication shop. From his conversations with the others, Hooker wants to start his own software company. You're the exception, no dream. Why not?"

Dorsey looked at her. "I don't know how to do anything else, and don't much want to."

"So this is it for you? Taking down scores. You love the money and you love the juice."

"It beats a regular life."

Saturday - 7:27pm

I love hanging out at Hooker's place. Aside from his many talents, he has just two hobbies. First he loves video games. Doesn't matter which platform, PC, Xbox, PSII, Cube, he has them all. The only problem for him is he usually masters' a new game in less then a week, so the challenge is short lived. It's the second hobby that I really love. Hooker cooks and like everything he's ever tried, he's become great at it. He usually makes more then he eats so he always has the best stocked refrigerator. I'm munching on these stuff calamary shells and Cruz is wolfing down his teriyaki chicken. Perry already ate and is playing Doom on his PSII. Dorsey is making a beer run. Cruz asked him to also bring back Ben and Jerry's.

Hooker is sitting at the table, head resting on his hands, fixated on the material Dorsey give him earlier. He's been sitting there motionless for almost three hours, except for his eyes dancing around the pages. Every now and then he would turn a page or change the blueprint, but except for that he hasn't moved in those three hours. He's happy, he has something he loves more then anything in the world, a challenge.

Dorsey returns, hands us each a beer and sits on the couch, watching Perry play the game.

"Let me have one," Hooker tells him. We all look up, Hooker's finally done with his analysis. Dorsey hands him a bottle. He's not much of a drinker so I don't know what to make of him asking for a beer. Hooker rub his eyes for a minute, stretches his arms and shoulders, opens the beer and takes a long pull.

"Well?" Dorsey asked.

"Wells what?"

Dorsey rolled his eyes. "Well, can we do it?"

Hooker took another pull of his beer, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe."

Dorsey and Perry both looked like they're about to give birth. Cruz just giggled. As usual, he finds it all so amusing. I smiled too. Hooker could be such a ball buster sometimes.

When Dorsey told us about Sinister's offer, our reaction was mixed. Perry and Cruz were happy, Hooker didn't react, he just took the brief case and began studying the material. Me, I'm dubious. I believe if it's too good to be true it usually is. I think Dorsey feels the same way.

"Hey, you want to stop fucking around and get to the point," Perry said. "Shit, we're talking about ten million a piece. Get serious please."

Hooker smiles. "All right, here it is. They have spent some serious bucks on their security system. It's good. I'm actually impressed. But when it's all said and done, I don't think it's anything we can't handle, except for one little thing; the Sentinels."

"They got Sentinels guarding the place?"

"Well yeah, this is the company that makes them."

"Ah fuck," Perry yells. "I knew it was too good to be true."

"Well shit Will," Dorsey tells him. "The man is offering us fifty million. What did you think it was for, a smash and grab?"

"Yeah, but I don't know about going up against those dam robot skyscrapers."

"Hold it, wait," Hooker holds his hand up. "I should explain something. When I say Sentinels, I'm not talking about the ones we all know and hate. These are different."

"Omega Sentinels?"

"No, not those either. Let me put it this way. From a business point of view, the Sentinels have a very limited market appeal. They're like aircraft carriers, only governments can afford to buy and maintain them. This freezes private companies, like banks, out of the market. Also, we are now living in an age of urban warfare. The Sentinels are useless in close quarters' combat. You send Sentinels into a town or city, they'll just leave it in ruins and waste a whole lot of innocent civilians. So what Shaw Industries is doing is developing a new class: the X3 Droid class."

"What do they do?" I asked.

"They're smaller, designed to operate in side buildings. Two kinds. They both have insect like structures. The first has wings that resemble those of a dragon fly and, of course, it flies. The other doesn't. It's a little bigger, walks on two legs, six cables for arms, three on each side and a body that looks a little like a spider. Both have the familiar trademark Sentinel heads. Right now the program is still being tested. They deployed about ten of them at their headquarters as part of a trial run."

"Can we beat them?" asked Dorsey.

"No, they're very well armed; RPGs, kinetic energy beams, poly-hyper alloy cables and they can alter the magnetic polarization around them, making your power useless against them."

"Shit, so we can't do this. Those Sentinels will slice and dice us if we go anywhere near the place."

Hooker smiled. "I didn't say that."

We all stared at him. I smiled back. "You have a way around these things?"

"Maybe."

"Ah come on already, do you have a way around them or not?"

"This is a new system, and like all new systems there are bugs. I think I found one. The giant Sentinels detect mutants using brain wave scanners. In order to fit all these weapon system on a much smaller chassis, they had to sacrifice something. They didn't load these sensors on them."

"So how do they navigate around?"

"Well, there are a number of ways, but in this case they installed sensors all over the building. Every section of Shaw's headquarter is monitored by these sensors, they feed the information back to the main computer who relays it to the Sentinels and coordinates their actions. If I can hack into their main frame and take the sensors off line then the Sentinels will deaf, dumb and blind."

"Can you do it?"

"I think so. It's not going to be easy, it's a legitimate 512 bit encryption, but it's not that different then the one I cracked for the bank, so most of the hard work is already done. Give me a couple of days to modify it."

We were upbeat. The job looked doable and it was all within our reach. We stayed for another hour working out the plan. Dorsey and Hooker gave us each a lists of things to do in preparation for the job. It was decided we'd hit it in two days. Then we all left.

Hooker worked for another hour. Then put away the material and spent the next hour doing yoga and abdominal crunches. When done he showered and brushed his teeth. Naked, he walked to bed but stopped before reaching it. The feeling hit him suddenly, demanding his attention. He stood perfectly still in the middle of his apartment, his head up, staring at the ceiling, but not really seeing it. He closed his eyes to concentrate better. His breathing slowed as he bought his hands up to his head, fingers touching his temples. He sensed them clearly now. There were two of them at the front door of his apartment building. They were debating whether to come in. Women, young; one was twenty, the other a little bit older, maybe twenty-two. X-men, or in this case, X-women, but he had never encountered either of these two before. They entered the building. The older one, the red head, used telekinesis to open the locks. They were taking the stairs up to his place. Hooker focused hard. The red head was called Marvel Girl. What a stupid name, he thought. Her real name was Rachel Summers. The other was Danny? No, Danielle Moonstar. What kind of name was that? Indian, Cheyenne. They were both psionic mutants, like him. That meant their powers were useless against him. Why were they here? He expanded his mental scan to see if there were any other X-men around. Negative, they were alone. How strange. What did they want? They were here to see him, but why? When he finally touched on the reason in Summers' mind, Hooker had to smile. It was ridicules. They already reached the third floor. He's on the sixth, they'd be here in a few minutes, he had to get ready. He ran back to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. The bottle of pheromes he bought seven months earlier was there. He hadn't used it since. He splashed some on his face, neck, chest, stomach and crotch. Made sure he used a generous amount. Then splashed some more on his inner thighs, behind his knees, his upper arms and shoulders, on his upper back and on both his butt cheeks. When done he went to his dresser and put on a pair of gym shorts. Can't be too obvious about it. Don't want to scare them off, he thought.

Storm's orders to Rachel were short and to the point; make sure Hooker doesn't go out tonight. Make sure he stays in his apartment after the others leave. She refused to tell her why. Fearing Hooker would read it in her mind, the less she knew the better. If that's all Rachel had to do, it would be easy. She could watch the front door of the apartment and have Dani the back, but Rachel had other ideas. Jack Hooker fascinated her. In part because she couldn't read his mind like the other and didn't know what was going on in there, but mainly because of his extraordinary abilities. His talents and intellect were too valuable to be wasted on crime or rotting in a prison. He could make a vast contribution to the world if he could be set straight. It wouldn't be easy, all she knew of him was what she gleamed from Harry Dorsey's mind of conversation they had together, and that painted an interesting picture. If Harry Dorsey was the leader and lynchpin that held the Crew together, Hooker was the catalyst. If it wasn't for Hooker they'd be knocking over liquor stores and gas station. It was Hooker who provided the technical expertise, the high level Intel and the advance planning for them to take down the kinds of scores they did. If he quit on them, the threat of the Crew would be diminished. She had to convince him to come back with her and attend the school, maybe even strive to become an X-men. It was for his own good. Having the combination of enhanced intelligence and being a cyberpath has a serious drawback. His mind works at such a faster level then anybody else it causes problems for him. He has suffered from insomnia, headaches and hyperactivity since he was fourteen. He dealt with it by exercising fanatically. Six days a week he alternates between high rep weight training and high intensity martial arts workouts. He also runs a lot. This worked for a while, until his body got use to it, then the conditions came back. He added yoga and meditation to his exercise routines and now that was controlling it, but for how long? If he doesn't learn how to deal with his mutant powers soon, his mind could burn out by the time he's thirty. That would be her argument to him. They reached his door and knocked.

"It's open," came the voice inside. They walked in and closed the door behind them. Hooker was sitting in the living room wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts. Both women froze. His body was so sculpted. Not big, but hard, it resembled David Beckham's cover on Vanity Fair. All that working out to control his problems had paid off in other ways. He has the six-pack ridged stomach, slim hips, well developed arms, shoulders and legs, especially his calves. Despite the great view, Rachel wished he had more clothes on. He was distracting her. She could sense he was making a strong impression on Dani too.

"Avon or Tupperware?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What are you selling?"

Rachel smiled. "You've read our minds, Mr. Hooker. You know who we are."

He smiled back. "Yeah, and I know what you want. You're wasting your time."

"Won't hurt you to listen."

He shrugged and gestured to a couple chair near where he was sitting. "Have a seat." They did. "Want a beer? I got some left."

They both said no thanks.

Hooker had arrange the chairs so they were close enough for the pheromes to reach them. He was impressed by them. Nice looking bitches. Where does Xavier find them? Rachel Summers was about five seven, a hundred and twenty-five pounds, bright flaming red hair and the greenest eyes he ever seen. She had these weird facial tattoos, he didn't know what to make of them, but aside from that, she had a great face with clear skin. She was dressed in tight jeans, Nike runners, a blue tee shirt and a black nylon windbreaker. Her body was lean and tight, very athletic. Danielle Moonstar was slightly shorter. Weight was about the same. She had olive skin, brown eyes and black hair styled in hard double braids. Had a similar body to Rachel, lean and athletic. She wore matching Levi jeans and jacket, work boots and a green tee-shirt. Both women had mid-size breasts that were smaller then the four X-women he met months earlier. I guess titty fucking was off the agenda this evening, Hooker thought. To further bring the pheromes to bear, he leaned forward, elbows on his thighs.

"I know about your conversations with Dorsey," Rachel began. "How long before the headaches and insomnia come back. You might have it under control now with exercise and meditation but sooner or later your body will adjust again and it'll come back. Beside, you're only getting about four sleep a night. That may be an improvement but it's not really enough."

Hooker's eyes bounced back and forth between both women. Rachel had a warm demeanor. She's trying to come across as friendly. Dani was serious, didn't smile. Seemed a little on the cold side. She agreed with Rachel's decision to come talk to him, but was here only for support. Good, thought Hooker. She won't see it coming.

"We're both psionic mutants like you," Rachel went on. "We know what you're going through and we've seen this before. You know how this plays out? When you can no longer control it through natural means you'll turn to drugs and it'll go downhill from there. We can help you. Enroll in our school. We can teach you how to deal with your powers. We can show you how to put your life to productive use. It's the best thing you can do."

Hooker did not immediately reply. He sat there with a poker face like he was waiting for something. Finally he said, "I have a better idea. Why don't you two quit the X-Men and join the Crew. You'd be the first female members. We'll take down scores, make a ton of money, if anybody fucks with us you help us kick their asses. How's that sound?"

Neither responded. "You think I'm being silly? Why? It's no different then what you want me to do; desert my friends to go do something I don't believe in?"

"There's a different. We do good things."

Hooker smiled. "You have any idea how arrogant and self righteous that sounds?"

It was Dani who first notice something was wrong. She felt warm, very warm and her breathing was becoming labored. At first she thought it was her but then noticed Rachel was blushing. Was the heat on?

It took several minutes for Rachel to answer Hooker. "It's not the same. You and your friends steal, we're trying to save the world and help mutants."

"How? By beating them up, throwing them in the flatscan's prisons, by keeping them in line?"

Dani had stop following the conversation all together. She was fixated on Hooker's body. That sculptured chest and those flat abs. Flat abs were especially a strong turn on for her. Those calves, so muscular, she found herself visualizing her hand around them, caressing and massaging them.

Rachel was also having trouble putting her thoughts together. What did he just say? She didn't catch it.

"We...we teach mutants how to use their asses to benefit others."

Wonder if his butt looks as good as the rest of him. That thought surprised her as she blurted out something she forgotten as soon as she said it. What did she just say? She wasn't sure. Those arms look so good. What would they feel like around her waist. She took a deep breath, it made her feel warm all over. She took another, couldn't get enough.

Dani realized they were in trouble when she noticed she was wet between her legs, but didn't care, the euphoria was overwhelming. She was beginning to pant. All she wanted was to put her hands on those abs.

"Ladies, you still with me?" Hooker asked, smiling. Neither woman answered, they just sat there staring at him with stupid looks on their faces. He scanned their minds and knew they were almost ready. He stood up and walked behind them, standing in between them, looking down. He put a hand on the side of each of their neck and began caressing. Dani swooned and Rachel let out a long moan, as Hooker worked his way up the side of their faces and to their ear lobes. Hooker was monitored them. Dani's resistance was completely gone, Rachel still had a little resistance, but it was fading fast. He gently turned their heads inward, letting them stick their nose against his stomach. The both began inhaling deeply. After a minutes, he knew Dani was ready.

"Dani, those some dirty thoughts running around in your head. I like that. Act them out."

With no further prodding Dani took hold of Hooker's gym shorts and pulled the waist down, revealing Hooker's erect cock. She began kissing it from his balls, up the stem, settling on the head, planting gentle kisses on it. Then she took the head in her mouth, using her tongue to played with it.

The envy Rachel felt as she watch Dani put Hooker's cock in her mouth shattered what little resistance she had left. All she wanted now was to do was what Dani was doing, taste that magnificent cock. Not being able to she did the next best thing, sticking her tongue out and vigorously licking his balls.

"Now ladies this is all very nice, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. First things first."

He pulled his cock out of Dani's mouth and stood both women up. With his arms around their shoulders he walked them to his bed. Both women seemed very content to be led by him as he moved them effortlessly. He removed their jackets and toss them in the corner. Sat them down on the edge of the bed, kneeled down and removed Rachel's sneakers and socks. Moved over and did the same to Dani's boots. Then he undid each woman's belt buckle and unsnapped their jeans. The tee shirts came off next, followed by the pants. All thrown in to the growing pile of clothes in the corner. Hooker smiled, Dani wasn't wearing a bra. Her dark nipples looked liked they were chiseled in stone and pointing straight at him. He removed her panties and admired he completely black bush. Finally, he carefully undid her braids, letting her hair drop free. She sat there looking up to him with pleading eyes. Hooker made some suggestions to her telepathically as he massaged her nipples. They took hold as Dani spoke them out loud.

"I'm a hot pussy and I need to be fucked," she said.

Hooker turned to Rachel. She was wearing a sports bra and matching panties. He removed them, revealing perked breast and a trim red bush. He handed Dani's panties to her and made her sniff them. To Hooker's surprise, she not only smelled then but licked them too. Yeah, he thought, they're ready.

"Why don't you two warm up," he suggested.

Both women looked at each other and smiled. They appeared shy for a moment as they moved in close and kissed. Cautiously at first but quickly became very passionate. After breaking off the kiss, Dani attacked Rachel's breasts, licking them and taking her small nipples in her mouth whole. While she did this her hand reached for Rachel's cunt, fingering her clit before inserting three fingers in. Both women were already wet, so she had no problem getting them in. It didn't take long for Dani to find Rachel's spot, making her moan, stretching her arms over her head. She seemed lost in the moment. Dani took this as her cue and moved her mouth down to Rachel's cunt. She first went for her clit, both licking and biting it. Rachel's moans grew louder. Dani then tongued her hole. Rachel's hands gripped the pillow hard as she fought to hold it in, but it didn't take long for her to explode in Dani's face with a small yell.

Dani kissed her on the lips and smile.

"Good?" she asked.

Rachel smiled back. "Shut up and sit on my face, bitch."

Dani complied, as Rachel laid back and went to work on Dani's cunt. Dani went wild making all kinds of noises. To show here gratitude Dani lean forward, her face landing on Rachel's cunt and continued licking. A perfect 69.

Hooker was mesmerized, wondering if these two had ever done this before. Maybe they were dykes. Deciding that was enough warmup he removed his gym shorts and moved closer. Both women stopped and smiled at him. They disengaged, got off the bed and kneeled, side by side, before him. Rachel was first, she took Hooker's cock in her mouth. After a few moments of back and forth, she got the whole thing in and feverishly attacked it with her tongue. Meanwhile Hooker guided Dani on her feet and began fingering her clit.

"Oh, I need to be fucked so bad!" Dani said. "Please fuck me, please."

Rachel stops sucking Hooker's cock as she resolves to help her friend. Dani lies back on the bed, legs danging over the side. Rachel grabs Hooker's cock and leads him to her. He takes Dani's legs and lifts them up and spreads them while Rachel guides his cock in to Dani wet hole. Hooker begins pumping away at her and Rachel works Dani's nipples with her mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah," Dani is getting louder and louder. So as not to disturb the neighbors and to get her pleasure, Rachel sits on Dani's face. This suits Dani just find as she begins licking Rachel dry. As she arches her back and bucks her hips, it takes less then two minutes for Dani to be bought to orgasm. Rachel's ass on her face muffled her cries. Lying on the bed, wet with perspiration, feeling throughly content, Dani notices something that amazes her. Watching Hooker pull out of her, she sees he's still hard. Getting up she grabs his cock to make sure.

"All ready hard again? Dam! It must be some mutant power you have," she comments.

Hooker just smiled, not wanting to tell her he still hadn't cum yet. "My turn," Rachel gleefully remarks.

Hooker laid on his back while Dani guided Rachel's cunt on top of him. "Not that way," he ordered. "I want to see her ass go up and down." Rachel reversed herself and began sliding up and down Hooker's shaft faster and faster. She played with one of her nipples while Dani licked and chewed on her other. It went on for about three minutes this time before Rachel went off. After her orgasm an exhausted Rachel laid back on top of Hooker's chest. He let her relax for a few minutes, Dani lying by his side. Then he got up and stood by the foot of the bed survey the two tired and sweating women.

"I bet you two bitches never thought you'd be birthday suit naked and sucking and fucking me when you decided to come up here? It's all been fun but there's one problem. I still haven't shot my wad. You both seemed very satisfied, but I'm not. We're going to do something about that."

He pulled both women off the bed and had them kneeing again before him and his still very much erect cock. They looked like they were worshiping him. "Ladies, you know what to do."

Both started licking his cock at the same time. Hooker stood there with his hands on his hips enjoying the sight and the sensation. Finally after a little while Hooker could feel it coming up. "There she blows," he proudly announced. He grabbed his cock, began pumping, shooting his load all over the their faces and hair. Both women seemed very pleased at having Hooker's jizz all over them. They sat there on their heeds smiling, accepting the spray as if it was a refreshing shower. When done they both remained kneeled in a contented daze with stings of cum dripping from their faces, hair and breasts. Hooker stood over them scanning their minds. Both women seemed to bask in the after glow of all the sex they just had. They were mindlessly contented.

"Too bad none of the student can see what sluts you both are. Oh wait, maybe they can," Hooker smiled, looking at the digital camera set up in the corner.

Just before the women arrived at his apartment, Hooker had set his camera up. It had been recording since the moment they arrived and everything that happened was now on DVD.

"More blackmail material," Hooker commented. "Wonder what those New Mutants of yours will think when they see you in action Dani? Hey, maybe you can have an orgy with them."

Neither woman appeared to have heard him. They just kneeled there with their eyes closed and silly smiles on their faces. They were both out of it.

"Well, on to business," Hooker said. He began going through their minds for any secrets they had. He had done that seven months earlier with the four X women they captured then, but a lot had happen since then and Hooker was looking for updates.

"So you two were spying on us when we fought the Marauders and Storm has a plan to deal with us. She didn't tell you two what that plan is. She's worried I read it in your minds. Very wise, I should have fucked her when I had the chance."

When done he realized something. The pheromes had completely eliminated any inhibitions and defenses their minds had. It left the two women completely docile and open to any suggestion or command. Normally Hooker's telepathy was not powerful enough to control another person, but now with their minds wide open Hooker saw an opportunity. He put a hand on each of their heads.

"Ok ladies, you're not going to remember any of these instructions, but you will completely obey them."

For the next fifteen minutes he planted instructions in their minds. It was like writing a computer program. Line after line of commands implanted in their subconscious mind, below the surface of their everyday thoughts. When done, Hooker decided to test his commands and increase the blackmail inventory. He got his still camera and loaded a new desk.

"Ladies, let do some posing."

The last time, when they took shots of Storm and the others, all the women were unconscious. Kurita had to manipulate the pictures to open their eyes and make them look awake. This was not the case this time, as both women had their eyes open and either smiles or lascivious looks on their faces. Hooker took fifty three shots in all. Shot of them in provocative poses with their legs spread wide. Shots of them playing with themselves, playing with and pleasuring each other, and of them licking each others asses. Two shots he was most proud of was one in which Rachel was on all four and Dani on her back, riding her like a horse. The other put Dani on all fours with a collar and chain on, Rachel walking her like a dog. When finished Hooker was hard again.

"Ladies, it seems I'm horning again. What are we going to do about that?"

Rachel gave a lazy smile and repeated a line of command Hooker had left in her subconscious. "I'm your cock slut and I'll be very happy to take one up the ass for you."

"Thank you Rachel, that's so sweet."

She bent over with her thighs pressed against her chest, reached back and spread her cheeks. Dani rubbed skin lotion on her hole and on Hooker's cock.

"Looks tight. You ever get fucked there?" Hooker asked.

"No," replied Rachel.

"How about you," he asked Dani.

She shook her head. "Great two virgin asses. Nice way to cap off the evening."

He inserted his cock in her anus, slowly at first, back and forth, a little at a time. Finally, after several minutes he had the whole thing in. While this was going on Dani reached under and played with Rachel clit. As was the case before, Rachel got off before Hooker did. When he pulled out of her, he was still very much erect and Rachel was out cold.

"Dani, your up."

He picked a completely limp Rachel Summers up from the floor and laid her face down on the right side of the bed. Dani spread lotion on her own anus and assumed the position on the left side of the bed. Hooker entered her the same slow way he did Rachel. Once he was in all the way he started pumping away. With Rachel unconscious Dani had to play with her own clit. When she had her third orgasm of the night, Dani Moonstar passed out like her friend next to her. This time Hooker kept pumping away until he shot off in her ass. He pulled out and straighten Dani out. Then stood at the foot of the bed and observing both women. They laid there, face down, exhausted and unconscious.

"X women," he remarked. "Three orgasms and they're out of it. Xavier should have trained you to develop more stamina."

He got his camera and took a couple more shots of the two women lying there. He then went to the bathroom and took another shower. After toweling himself off he applied some more pheromons just in case they woke. Hooker went back to the living room and sat at his computer terminal. He took the two discs from the cameras and added the video and still shots to the inventory of the blackmail file. When finished he hid the discs in a hidden compartment in the closet. He walked to the bed and laid down between both women. The clock on the night table said 2:48 am as he snapped off the lights and dozed off.

He woke up at 7:03, the women were still out. He stretched out and thought about going out running, but decided he had to take care of his two guest first. He looked down on them. First Rogue, now these two. All three had been the best pieces of ass he ever had. His friends had similar opinions about the X women they had. No doubt about it, fucking X women was a good thing. He was looking forward to doing more of it. Xavier should open up his own whore house, he'd make another fortune. He definitely missed his calling. The man would make a first class pimp. He knew how to find the best women.

He gently woke Rachel first and led her to the bathroom. The pheromes hadn't worn off yet, she was still docile and very at ease being led around by him. He washed, shampooed and douche her. Then shaved her pubic mount hairless. He toweled her off and applied lotion on her mount, feet and anus and had her brush her teeth. When done he led her back to the living room and dressed her. Hooker repeated the process with Dani. It was more satisfying shaving her pubic since it was thicker and the black hair made a more visual contrast when it was gone. After dressing her, he ordered Dani to braided her hair while he dressed himself. He led both women to the door and passionately kissed each one.

"Ladies," he said. "I'd love to spend the next few days getting to know you better, but I have a lot of work to do and a hard deadline to meet. Besides, your friends would miss you and come looking for you. So until we meet again."

He put his hands on their heads and reinforced the commands he implanted last night, then opened the door and both women left. Hooker went for his run and after a light breakfast went back to work on the plans for Shaw's headquarter. He felt very refreshed and invigorated.

Wednesday - 11:53pm

She hadn't used her real name in so many years, it was a wonder she still even remembered what it was. Everybody called her by her street name, Scanner. She was a psionic mutant, an unusual kind. Her mutant powers allowed her to convert her entire physical body into psionic energy, making it possible for her to traverse the astral plan. In plain English, she could become invisible, intangible and able to fly. Her powers were not very useful in a fight, but they did make her the perfect scout and spy. Her orders from Sabertooth were to scout ahead on the target they were about to terminate. Despite the fact their employer, Sebastian Shaw had put together a large task force to overwhelm the targets, Sabertooth was not content to wait until they got together to take down another score. He decided to remove them one at a time. The first target was the feral mutant, Will Perry.

A general once remarked 'that no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.' That was proving to be true. When Scanner flew in to Perry's apartment she saw he was dressed for work in a black, long sleeve Underarmour tee shirt, black sweat pants and black Nike. His apartment was cleaned out of all clothes and personal belongings. She followed him as he exited the apartment. He met up with another of the targets, Diego Cruz, who was also dressed all black.

Several miles away three SUVs, loaded with people, were parked on a street. In the first, on the front passenger side sat Victor Creed, street name Sabertooth. They all waited for Scanner's report. Another of Scanner's powers is to project her images miles away. At mid-night her image appeared in front of Sabertooth.

"What do you have Frail?"

"Change of plans," she responded. "Perry met with another of the targets. They are both dressed to work and they're talking about meeting the others."

"So they're running a job tonight?"

"And you'll never believe where they're going to hit. They're on their way to Malibu. Their target is Shaw's place."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, they'll be there in less then an hour."

Creed smiled, showing his sharp fangs. "Keep me posted, we're on our way." Scanner's image disappeared. Creed laughed. "Looks like Shaw is going to get his terminations right on his front door steps."

Wednesday - 12:43pm

Several miles on the outskirts of Malibu, Storm and her team of Bishop, Wolverine, Moonstar, Nightcrawler, Cannonball and Marvel Girl stood by.

"Are you sure we're out of range of Hooker's telepathy?" Storm asked Sage, who was back in New York, but in contact with them telepathically. Sage's telepathy was being enhanced by Xavier's super computer, Cerebro.

"Yes, if they're hitting Shaw's place for the discs, as they plan, then you are just outside his range. He won't be able to detect you from out where you are, until you close in."

"How do you know what they're planning on doing?" asked Marvel Girl.

"That's why I wanted you to make sure that Hooker stayed in his apartment that night. I didn't want him sensing what we were doing. Sage followed Dorsey home and scanned his mind. Thanks to her we know what's on those discs and what they're planning to do tonight."

"So what's the plan?"

"Val wants to build a case against Shaw. She needs those discs to do that. We're going to let the Crew steal them and when they come out, we'll take them."

"What about the images and videos?"

"Let me worry about that," smiled Wolverine.

"Are you sure the Crew can get them?" asked Bishop. "Shaw's security is top of the line."

Storm smiled. "I have complete confidence in them. Sage is back in the school tracking them with Cerebro. She'll let us know when they come out and where."

We parked the van about quarter mile from Shaw's headquarters. It was near the freeway. Cruz boosted the van earlier today from a parking lot in Pomona and switched the plates with another van of the same make and model. We got out and made our way to where we needed to be. There was a different feel to this score. It was our last and after tonight our lives were going to change. Once we had the discs and turned them over to Sinister or whoever, and got the other half of the money, we were all going to disappear. The heat from this job was going to be unbearable. Shaw would have an army looking for us and if the Feds found out we hit a defense plant they'd get even more serious. So yesterday we all got our lives in order. The number one rule in this business is if you're going to take down scores you have to be ready to move out in thirty seconds or less when the heat was coming around the corner. We packed whatever we could carry in a backpack, cleaned out our bank accounts, put our vehicles in storage and were all set. The money from all our scores, and half the money Threnody already deposited was in our numbered accounts in the Cayman Island. Every thing else gets left behind. Not that there was much, we all lived our lives light. That's just the way it had to be. We all get to Mexico and from there we go our separate ways. Hooker has arranged fake ids, passports and transportation to where we each plan to go. We're all set.

But from the start something was wrong. Hooker seemed distracted. He kept looking around for something. You'd think he had the jitters, but Hooker never gets the jitters. Once again the circuits Hooker has to access are under ground. I grab his arm and we phase down. He found the access panel he needs and opened it.

"Something wrong?" I asked him.

He looked at me. "No, nothing. It's just...I'm getting this weird feeling."

"Your headaches coming back?"

"No, nothing like that. Like I said, it's just this strange feeling. No, it's nothing, just nerves. Don't worry about it."

He went back to work and seemed fine. I didn't want to break his concentration so I dropped it. He taped his laptop in to a line and started punching keys. In thirty minutes Hooker was done. We phased back up.

"All set," he reported to Dorsey. "The main alarm is off and I took the sensors off line."

"You sure those Sentinels won't detect us?"

Hooker smiles. "We're going to find out real soon."

"Yeah, real soon," Dorsey repeated. He looked at all of us and for a minute nothing was said. "Ok, lets go do it," Dorsey ordered.

TO BE CONTINUED