Author's Note: So last chapter you met the promised sociopath, Mr. Lancaster. Lots more of him here. If you hate him, (which you're supposed to) don't fret; next chapter you get to meet a nice person! Yay!
Again, reviews are appreciated; you have my eternal gratitude for reading; I hope you like it!
-Elle
Part XXI
Replacement
The new head technician stood iron-rod straight, holding his right arm in his left hand. It'll be alright, he told himself; just tell him what you're here for.
"M-Mr. Lancaster, S-Sir?" he said timidly, "I-I'm the new t-technician you r-requested. S-Someone s-said-"
"Don't stutter." Said Dameon quietly, "It makes you sound weak. You must never show weakness. Do you understand?"
The tech swallowed hard, and mastered himself, "Yes, sir. I understand, sir."
"Good." Dameon turned around, and smiled pleasantly, "Now, what can I do for you?" The technician relaxed; maybe Mr. Lancaster wasn't as scary as everyone said he was. A little eccentric, certainly, but he could deal with that.
"I was told to come here," he replied, "someone said you wanted to see me about installing some cameras?"
"Yes," Dameon answered, his tone friendly, "do you think it would be possible to get some cameras installed in cell block A tonight?"
"Well…" said the tech. Dameon's eyes flashed dangerously. "Yes," he finished quickly, "Yes, I think that would be possible."
"Good," his eyes were pleasant once more, "Excellent. Now," he continued, "when you go in there, make sure you're very quiet. Be careful not to wake anyone up. The prisoners in that block are very dangerous."
The tech nodded and turned to leave the room.
"And," Dameon called out, "When you're finished, go to the salary office. They have instructions to pay you and your crew an extra nine hundred thousand dollars each for your services."
"Thank you, sir!" the tech exclaimed, astonished, "Thank you very much!"
"You're very welcome, young man. All I ask is that whatever you see tonight stays out of the news, okay? We're only trying to protect the good citizens of America, but some people might not understand that what we do is necessary. It would be better for everyone involved if you and the others didn't say anything, all right?"
The technician nodded, relieved it wasn't anything else. He left the room. Dameon faced the wall of screens, and turned up the volume. The choir sang for him. He smiled. "'From this arises the question as to whether it is better to be loved than to be feared, or the opposite. I reply that the prince should be both.'(1)" He whispered.
Part XXII
Candid Camera
Wolverine was sleeping when they came in. The door only made the slightest sound as it open, the shoes only the faintest whisper on the floor. The room was picth dark, so there was nothing to see. He woke up anyway.
He could smell them. There were…three? No, four. This damn inhibitor collar was making it hard to sense anything. He heard their every move. His eyes opened an infinitesimally small amount. It was enough. He watched them move about. What was it they were putting up? Cameras. Good. That meant the place hadn't been bugged yesterday or today. That was important. But it also meant they had a problem. A problem the Elf would need to be warned about.
He waited until they left, then another twenty minutes; too make sure they weren't coming back. That was all he could afford.
He could only count on it taking them about half an hour to connect the feed to wherever this was going. He needed to talk to 'Crawler.
"Elf," he called down the hallway to his left, "Wake up. We got a problem."
"Was ist?" came a bleary voice from the same direction, "What is it, Logan?"
"They've just been in here and bugged this place. It's full of cameras now. We got 'bout five minutes till they get the things running. If that."
"X-Men," called 'Crawler loudly, "Achtung!" He was fully awake now. His body had been pumped full of adrenaline more times in the past two days than should happen to anyone in a lifetime.
There were some groans from the rest of the X-Men as they woke up. Logan hoped they were listening, because the Elf was talking a mile a minute.
"Someone just had cameras put in here. Whoever they are, it is vital they do not know what we plan to do. From now on, only say things which have no tactical significance, or do not talk at all. We'll find another way to communicate. Only use our codenames in conversation. If these people don't already know who we are, we do not want to give them another advantage. Verstehen?"
There was a general consensus. Everyone was awake now, but they lay back down on their cots and pretended to sleep. They didn't want whoever was watching them now to know anything had happened.
Part XXIII
Control
Dameon sat down in front of the panels and the screens, and watched the ones in the upper left corner come to life. He smiled. He was in control again. He was once more lord and master of his realm.
His cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller I.D. He flipped it open and said,
"Good evening, Mr. President. How may I help you? Yes. No. I know you're not sure about expanding the sentinels, but it's all for the good of the people. Other countries can't object if we take them over, sir. Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir. You're right sir that was out of line. I apologize. It won't happen again. Of course their being treated humanely, sir. Those are just rumors. Alright, sir, you have a nice evening. Thank you, sir. Goodnight."
He closed the phone with a snap. The president was so stupid. He didn't even know what Dameon was doing here; he had no idea what was happening right under his nose. He had gone right along with Dameon's "all for the public good" bit, and had basically given him free reign. His mistake.
Dameon congratulated himself. He really couldn't have chosen a better target. Mutants were nationally hated and feared anyway; all he had had to do was play off of that fear. It had been so easy. And now he got to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor. He turned the volume up higher. It was beautiful.
(1) A quotation from The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli