Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

Steve rode his motorcycle up to the gate and pressed a button on the silver box and he heard a beeping sound. He waited for a moment when the gate opened and a voice spoke from the silver box.

"Follow the signs to the main building. Professor Xavier will be waiting at the entrance." A grouchy voice stated over the device.

Steve's motorcycle which was a modified version he had back in the second world war. It was an original prototype of Hydra's that topped out at 90 mph at the time. But SHIELD has since been modifying it.

The classic motorcycle design had been converted to run off of electricity as opposed to the mystery energy Hydra used to use. Its top speed had been doubled. The metals and materials had been switched out for more durable materials. Then the trap switches had been switched out for a booster and an engine shut off.

As he pulled up to the entrance he went around the water fountain where a group of students were playing. He smiled at the sight and had to resist frowning as they used their abilities to play with the water.

As he parked his motorcycle at the entrance a bald man in a wheelchair rolled toward him with a red head pushing him.

"Mr. Rogers! It is a pleasure to have you here." The bald man declared.

Steve frowned, "Professor Xavier, a telepath, thank you but I have a feeling you already know why I am here."

Professor Xavier dipped his head in apology, "a habit, but I never go too deep into another's mind. Mostly because doing so would not only be noticeable but usually ends up in me learning too much about my target."

Steve sighed as he handed a file to the Professor. "Regardless, I suppose you understand why I came to you?"

"Because the person who supplied this file is untrustworthy but their statement of not trusting SHIELD is important as well. But you do understand that regardless of the contents we will not be able to assist you in taking out a facility like this. The Xavier Institute is under the watchful gaze of the government at the moment." The professor explained as the red head began pushing him along a sidewalk.

Steve grinned slightly, "I suppose that means you only know that the place I want to attack is a Hydra facility. Look in the folder, more specifically you should look under the 'Imports' tab."

Xavier frowned before he opened the folder and started looking it over, "I change my mind, this is something we can get involved in. But regardless, it would be difficult to pull off something so large. It will take time and preparation, especially since we don't want someone to take advantage and invade our school while we are away."

"Then we could train some more of our people to be X-Men. Or even just train them up for a bit." The red head suggested.

"Actually, that is not a half bad idea. With Cyclops leaving on a sabbatical it would be beneficial to start training the next generation of X-Men. Robert Drake and Anna Marie could be useful. Jean, see about running through basic combat courses for the students just in case." The Professor closed the folder as they arrived at a pond.

"Even with our team we will still need more people. I only saw a glimpse of the file but it includes an entire town right? An entire town full of Hydra soldiers is not something we can take-on without casualties." Jean pointed out.

"Agreed, which is why I came for your help in the first place." Steve pointed out.

"Hmm… If I tell Magneto why, he would be willing to send some help." Xavier rubbed his chin as he began to get lost in thought.

"The Mutant Terrorist?" Steve asked, surprised. He had read about the leader of a terrorist group once before. He is labeled as both a freedom fighter and a terrorist in the SHIELD database.

"Yes, despite his… stern demands regarding mutant superiority. He has the same view of aversion regarding human experimentation."

"Hmm… I doubt that would be enough." Jean seemed to remember something. "Mr. Stark is actually coming in a few days for a meeting. Should I bring this up with him during our meeting?"

"That would be good. Hmm… if we can not go through SHIELD it might be a good idea to bring in the FBI at the last moment." Xavier began planning in his mind.

"Then I suppose you won't mind if I spend some time training with your people?" Steve suggested.

"That will be fine, we have a guest room you can use if you want to stay here for the time being." Jean responded.

"I would greatly enjoy that. I am surprised there are not more students here." He looked at the group of students that were playing basketball on a nearby court. But they were enhancing the experience by using their powers.

"It is summer break. We only house the at-risk children, the ones that signed up for the summer camp, and the ones that have nowhere to go." Xavier explained as he nodded toward one of the children by a tree.

Jean explained as Steve looked over, "she is a telepath with strong illusion powers. But she suffers from nightmares so she projects nightmare monsters in her sleep. She is one of our at-risk cases we have been working on."

Steve frowned, "why not just seal off her powers?"

Jean scoffed, "have you ever cut off a limb?"

Even Steve could feel the hostility from Jean, "I suppose… I apologize if I upset you."

"It is alright." Jean rubbed her forehead, "since Cyclops left my duties began encompassing the X-Men as well as administrative duties for the school. Not to mention trying to find the missing children."

Steve nodded, "I suppose I will only be imposing on you more."

—-----------------------------------

Ethan sat at his desk typing as a notification popped up. The folder of info he sneakily delivered had arrived at the Xavier Institute, or more notably the Xavier Academy's main building.

That was good. His parents were already on route from somewhere. His schedule for the next two weeks were packed full of issues. From preparing for the raid to preparing a guest room for Felicia's aunt. At the moment he was working on preparing a few digital devices.

One of them was a hacking device that would download a massive amount of information. Basically a hard drive made specifically for data retrieval.

The other devices were basic cards and infiltration gear that was necessary to pass as Hydra operatives. Data cards that he would use for doors. He had someone else making the hydra uniforms that consisted of black combat gear with red hydra emblems. They planned to just steal weapons as needed. The only other thing were small hacking devices that would unlock any doors that basic access would not get them.

After this he would work on the phone his father requested. It would take a few days to manufacture alone, since it was custom designed.

While he was working on that an alert popped up. It had exclamations around it, indicating it was part of his warning system. The message was a warning regarding a user by the handle, 'Silver Fox'.

He instantly changed gears and started looking up information on this Silver Fox. It would be prudent to prepare and counterattack. Not to mention why they were curious about his actions in the pentagon. How they knew he had done anything in the pentagon was impressive enough.

But upon looking closer it was just his algorithm flagging someone trying to figure out who accessed a classified file. Apparently the old log got flagged when he accessed it. Normally it would not have caught much attention. But more than likely someone had enough pull to have the government watch a few things, like those old files.

He doubts it would lead anywhere but he would just keep watch on their progress just in case. So he turned his attention back to what he was doing before.