Titanium ••• Andy Strucker [Book 1]

eXtreme measures II

Hours later the sun had long set above the streets of Midtown Atlanta when I reached the main streets.
I sat down on a bus bench and took a deep breath. This was stupid, how the hell was I going to find him. I sighed, looking up at the night sky, the stars twinkled across the vast darkness. They sure as hell weren't aligning for me tonight. I looked at the street around me and noticed a bar across the street. I stood up and walked across the street.opening the door.

The stench of cigarettes and whiskey hit me like a ton of bricks, the nostalgia of wearing my father's gigantic coat coming back to me.
I sat down at the bar and the bartender came over to me.
"What can I get ya?" he said not looking up from the glass he was cleaning.
"A beer, thanks," I said quickly.
The bartender looked up at me and and opened his mouth to say something.
"I'm twenty- one." I sighed staring into his eyes, letting mine turn purple and he nodded.
"One beer coming up," he smiled.
The bartender came back with a beer and placed it down in front of me. I nodded my thanks and took a swig of it, the bitter taste made my taste buds tingle and my chest feel warm.
I shook my head and turned my attention back to the bartender who had turned around.
"Hey," I said to get his attention.
"Yeah," he turned around and I finally got a look at his name tags which read Tony.
"Tony is it?"
"The one and only. What can I do ya for?"
"Have you ever seen this guy here?" I ask sliding a photo of my father across the bar so he could see it.
"Yeah that's Rick," he nodded then leaned closer. "You should be careful though he doesn't like people poking around in his life."
"Why?" I asked, putting my drink down on the coaster in front of me.
"Word on the street is that he's a mutie."
I dug my nails into my palm.
"Thanks," I said gritting my teeth and forcing a smile.
"Anytime," he said and walked away.
I quickly got off my stool and left before Tony realised.
When I exited the bar, the street was lit up with lights from other buildings and it was raining.
"This is just great," I huffed throwing my hands in the air. The door behind me opened and I quickly ran to the alley way beside the bar.
I peeked around the corner and Tony stood there looking pissed off.
I turned back into the alley way and sighed, this was pointless.
"What do we have here," a voice sneered from behind me.
I turned around and there was a group of three guys standing in the entry of the alley way.
"You know it's not safe to be wandering around at night," the man laughed.
"Yeah, for who?" I said sarcastically.
"Ooh she's a feisty one." the other said.
"Just leave me alone," I said and tried to walk past them, the first guy moved in front of me.
"Not so fast," the guy said, getting close to my face. The other guys circled around behind me.
"Look I don't have time for whatever this is, I've got someone to find," I said going to push past the guy in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back against the wall of the alley.
"Now that's not very nice," he taunted.

"What's going on here," said a gruff voice from the street.
"Nothing. Mind your own business old man," one of the other guys said. The man audibly sighed before the guy holding me against the wall flew backwards and hit the other wall with a thud. The other guys ran at the man who shook his head.
"I wouldn't try that," he said in a bored tone as both guys were knocked back. They scrambled to their feet and took off down the street leaving their friend knocked out on the ground.
"I trust you won't say anything," the man said and started walking away.
"Wait!" I called after him.
He stopped and turned, the street light illuminating his face.
"Dad?" I gasped.
He looked confused for a second until he realised who I was.
"Ivee."
I ran forward and hugged him.
He hugged me back. "What are you doing here?"
There was a sound behind us. "Not here," he muttered gesturing for me to follow him.

We walked for ten minutes in silence before coming to a small apartment building, it looked run down and abandoned. We went to the second level and he opened the door to the first apartment.

"So," he began. "How long has it been?"

**Andy's POV**
I woke up and noticed Ivee wasn't there. I sighed sitting up and putting my shoes on, I walked around the HQ for over an hour looking for her but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I started to get worried.
"Dad," I said walking towards him and Sage.
"Hey Andy, what's up."
"I can't find Ivee."
"What?"
"She wasn't in the room when I woke up and I've been looking for her for hours."
"She wouldn't just leave," Sage said but then second guessed herself. "Right?"
"Where would she go?" My dad looked at me.
"She might be looking for her dad," I said.
"Why would she do that?"
"Because she hasn't seen him in ten years and she just out he's a fugitive mutant."
"Oh god. Andy, go find John and Lorna," Sage ordered.
I nodded and ran to the basement where Lorna was training the other kids.
"Lorna!" I yelled.
"What's wrong?"
"Ivee. We think she's gone after her Dad."
"Training's over," she said and followed me out of the basement.
John and Dreamer were with Sage, Clarice, Shatter, my Dad and my Mom.
"Okay," John began when we walked over. "Reed was able to find the last place Sebastian Reeves was spotted, which was in Midtown."
"If Ivee left last night she'd be there already," Clarice said.
"We have to go get her," I exclaimed, "She could be hurt or worse."
"Andy we know and we will find her," Lorna said.
"I'm coming with you."
"No you're not," my Mom said.
"Mom!" I cried, "She is my best friend."
"Andy, if she is hurt, you being there would just make things worse," Lorna said, calmly
"I'm going!" I yelled causing the room to shake.
"Yeah see that's why you're not."
"Lorna please," I said more quietly.
She thought about if for a second, "Fine, but you let us handle things if they go bad."

Lorna, John, and I piled in to an SUV and left the HQ.
"What if she's found her dad?" I asked Lorna.
"Then she comes back with us and he can make a choice."

**Ivee's POV**
"I heard about what happened at the school that was you're friends the.. ah.. Struckers, right?"
I nodded, looking around the room, the kitchen was dirty as was the table we were sitting at. My father took another sip of his whiskey.
"You know our family has known the Struckers for four generations."
"Really?"
"You're great- great- grandmother, Kiara, was friends with Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker."
"Wow."
"Yeah, it's not a good thing though. When Kiara was 16 her powers... they... They changed into something else and she was able to do things that no other mutant could. She and the Von Strucker's killed hundreds of people in their time."
"Oh my god."
"You ever heard of the Hellfire Club?"
"No."
"So those saps in the Underground didn't even give you guys a history lesson, figures," he said.
"How so?"
"Well the Hellfire Club was a terrorist organisation that began in the 1950s."
"And our family was apart of it."
"Bingo," he chuckled "As were the Von Strucker's."
I shook my head in disbelief, I knew my family had a complicated history but this was beyond anything I thought.
"I s'pose you wanna know why I left."
I nodded.
"My father had tracked us down and at the time he was working for the Brotherhood, I had to keep you safe so I left."
My hand came up to clutch my necklace as it all sunk in.
"You kept it," he said pointing to it
"Of course."
"Ha, I thought you would have tossed it."
"Why would I-" before I could finish my sentence there was a pounding on the door.
"Who did you tell?"
"No one I promise."
"Ivee!" Andy's voice called from the other side of the door.
My father sighed and thrust a book into my hands
"Take this it will explain everything," he said.
"Wait where are you-"
"I can't let them find me. Goodbye again. I'm sorry. Stay with you're friends and if the Club tries to take one of the Strucker's, go with them keep them safe."
He pulled me into a hug. Then he ran to the window and was gone.
"Goodbye," I said as the front door burst open and Andy bolted in.
"Ivee!" He yelled, pulling me into a hug. "Are you okay? Why did you do that?"
"I had to see him."
"Don't do that to me again," he said holding my face in his hands.

Lorna and John searched the place.
"Where did he go?" John asked.
"He left."
"Look we don't have time for this we need to go," Lorna said.
We left the building and as I climbed into the car I saw him standing in the street.
Goodbye, I thought as we pulled away from the curb.

"Ivee!" Caitlin called when we walked into the HQ, she hugged me against her chest. "Don't ever do that again," she said, before pulling me back into a hug.

"So what did he tell you?"Andy asked me while we ate breakfast the next day.
"He told me about our family and that we've known your family for four generations."
"Wait really?" Lauren said.
"That's insane," Andy laughed.
"Yeah. It is, huh?" I said when Sage knocked on the door.
"Reed, I cracked the second hard drive," she said.
"Okay," he said and left the room.

"My father worked for Trask," I heard Reed say to John and Sage as I walked past them later on that day.
What the hell is Trask?

A/n
I honestly don't know how to end this chapter so onto the next.