Chapter 9
"I've told you. I don't know where they came from." Cat stepped through the door, throwing herself down on the sofa.
"Canadian Government ain't going to help,"
"Especially not when it makes them look bad." Wraith interrupted, earning him an angry glance from Cat and Logan for interrupting the argument they'd been having since they left the courthouse.
"So it could only have come from your lot." Logan continued, choosing to ignore the interruption.
"Not from me."
"She's telling the truth, Logan." Flashman stepped through the door, and stood regarding the mutants. "She didn't give it to Maria." He reached and slowly poured himself a whisky and soda. "I Did."
A beeper on his waist went off, and after a quick consolation of it, he drained his glass and set upon the table.
"I will offer explanations later." He said, perfectly calmly, and stepped outside.
Cat gave a small snort. "Sixty years and Flashy still surprises me." She said, to no one in particular.
"I hope this is someone's idea of a joke." The grey eyes bored into Maria, and she fought the desire to shift nervously.
"You wanna tell why that would be Cher?"
Flashman snorted. "Let's see, shall we? We've just submitted a physc report, which will fall through if the defense finds out that Dr. Rivers also found no evidence of psychosis in one Victor Creed, a.k.a Sabretooth. You now inform me that you wish to put a Convicted thief and liar on the stands. For God's sake, that mutant's record is bad enough public. If the defence starts digging, we might as well throw in the towel.
"Beyond that, what does the evidence prove? Nothing except that they weren't the only ones. We know that, the jury knows that. We have one of the top forensic Archaeologists, or whatever you people call them, to testify about the bodies we found around those sites." His fingers drummed on the tables.
"There's a lot about this case you don't know, Maria. A lot, I pray you never find out. Find the kid and tell him to keep his mouth shut. To never mention this to anyone again, including that Red headed rogue." He shook his head and began to head for the door.
"You told me cher, that you wanted to get them." Maria's voice was accusatory.
"Oh, I do, Cherie," he said, turning, his voice harsh and mocking. "But what I want more than that, more than anything else, is to keep them alive. To make sure no one else dies." He put his head on one side, regarding them. "is that too much to ask?"
"Call Christoph Nord."
Maverick stepped up. He took the bible and swore the oath softly, before confirming his identity.
Maria chewed her lip. Maverick was a doubled edge sword, they'd agreed on that at least. On the one hand, he was the most normal looking, most easy to sympathise with of the group. On the other, he was also the former mercenary.
"Mr Nord, after the break up of Team X, what did you do?"
Maverick shrugged. "I tried to find work. Any kind of work, really. But because I had virtually no papers, and I came from East Germany, no one would employ me." He sighed. "I was getting desperate. I could not go home, the government had killed my friends, and turned the woman I loved into a traitor." Maria allowed herself a little smile. Sixty years later and the pain was still raw enough for the jury to see it. "Then I received a letter offering me work."
"Did the letter say what kind?"
Maverick shook his head. "No. Just that I should go and meet a man in a bar, and he would tell me. It also said that it would not hurt the interests of the United States."
He looked at the jury. "I was suspicious, but desperate. My landlord flung the letter at me along with my belongings. So I went."
"What happened?"
"There was a man, sitting at a table, near the back. He invited me to share a drink."
"Did he give you a name?"
"No."
"Would you recognise him if you saw him again?"
"Yes."
"Is he here in Court?" Maverick nodded and pointed to the silver haired gentleman.
"Let the record show that the witness indentified Marcus Korper as the man he met." Marie turned back to Maverick.
"Then what happened?"
"there was a glass on the table. A hefe-weizen." He shook his head. "It had been a long time since I had had one of those. The man claimed he was from an organization that was interested in employing me." He swallowed. "I rather stupidly drank some of the beer while he talked." He shook his head, remembering. "The room seemed to be getting hotter, I tried to focus, realising too late what had happened."
"You had been drugged?" The defence was on his feet, reminding Maria not to lead.
"I'll rephrase taht then. What did you think had happened?"
Maverick shrugged. "That I had been a fool to think I could escape."
"How's it going?" Flashman turned to see Cap's former sidekick, standing leaning against the courtroom wall. The area was normally reserved for smokers, but he understood why the kid was here.
Sometimes you just needed to breathe.
"As well as can be expected."
Bucky smiled. "You don't change do you Flashman?"
"Do any of us?"
"Creed," Bucky observed. "I find it hard to believe that he was as mad as he is, was, when he was their team."
"Maybe," Flashman agreed. "But the bloodlust, the anger, the madness, that was always there, just below the surface, until it bubbled over."
"How?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"How did it bubble over? What happened to destroy Team X?"
Flashman shuffled, longing for a cigarette to stub out. "I thought Cat told you."
"She said Creed went Rogue and the Team was spilt up afterwards. Except that makes no sense." The blue eyes that stared out at him revealed the true age of their owner's youthful face. "Team X was useful, valuable to them, why would get rid of them because of one rogue agent?"
TBC
