X-Men: The Gifted Ones

49. HOFSJÖKULL VOLCANO, ICELAND

The printout listed the coordinates as 64.8110° N, 18.7937° W.

Hank checked them again.

The coordinates were correct, they were exactly where Cerebro indicated the hidden associate would be.

A barren stretch of highlands spread out below them, capped by a glacier.

Banshee looked below and back up at Hank. "A glacier?"

"I found her!" Sway shouted. "She's definitely down there!"

"Are you sure?" Hank asked.

"She let me in her mind," Sway answered. "She's in a...cave. Deep inside. This glacier is over a volcano! She's in some kind of old lava shaft. I'll fly over the spot where she is, as close as I can get. "Banshee, I'm afraid you'll have to go down and find her to bring her back. She's in too deep, and she'd never be able to get out on her own."

"Always me," he grumbled good-naturedly.

"Are you going to go down willingly or do I have to push?" Hank muttered.

"I'll go down, I'll go down!"

Banshee jumped from the jet, using his sonic screams to power himself down a narrow cave shaft. The chill in the air permeated every muscle in his body. He made his way down a narrow shaft and found a red-headed woman huddled at the bottom. She looked up at him in surprise. He picked her up and she felt her body slowly warm back up as he pressed her to him to get through the cave shaft and up into the jet. Banshee gently set the woman down on one of the benches. She was shivering violently, her skin tinged silver and her lips almost purple with hypothermia.

"Good God," Hank exclaimed, seeing the near-frozen woman. "How did she ever end up in such a place?"

"It's likely their teleporter," Banshee surmised. "There was no way she could have gotten this far by herself, with no food or water."

"We need to warm her up slowly," Hank warned. "Too fast and she'll die."

"How long until we get back to New York? Get her to Jane?"

Sway sighed, "About five and a half hours."

Banshee and Hank looked at one another. "Sway, switch me out," Hank ordered. "She needs to get into warm, dry clothes and I'm not about to..."

"Cut her clothes off," Banshee finished. "No way. I don't need her to wake up and kick my ass if she finds me taking off her clothes!"

Sway lost her patience quickly. "She's almost frozen to death! How she's still alive is a miracle in itself! This is a matter of life and death, you idiots! Fine, Hank, you fly the jet. Banshee, make yourself useful! Get one of the extra suits, find anything you can to wrap her up in the emergency supplies! I'm sure you have blankets, or a life raft, or anything that can be draped over her!" She knew she was being insubordinate, but she would deal with the dressing-down she was sure to receive later. She had no time for their modesty. The girl could die, and it would have rendered their entire mission obsolete.

Sway peeled off her flight suit and stripped off her undershirt. She slowly removed the cold, damp clothes from the girl and pressed her warm shirt to the girl's abdomen, slowly warming her body. She was careful not to move her too quickly. She heard Banshee cry out and felt blankets and clothing hit her. She looked up in disgust to see he had covered his eyes and was trying not to look at the women.

"God dammnit, Caleb," she sputtered, accidently calling him by his birth name. She knew she was in for it once they landed. "Uncover your eyes and help me warm her up!"