And now, Fitzroy vs. Bishop.

Fitzroy, Chapter 03

As Avalanche drove the humvee down the road leading into the city, he noticed a body on the side of the road. Quicksilver, riding next to him, also noticed it, but quickly dismissed it as nothing important.

"Uh... Commander, that man was probably attacked by Fitzroy," Denti said. "Shouldn't we stop to help him?"

"No point, he's already dead," Bishop said. "Probably carjacked. That's a sure sign Fitzroy's coming this way."

"You know, between you and me," Pietro said to Lance in a low voice, "I think he's got issues with Fitzroy."

"Really? What gave it away?" Avalanche snarked, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, shut up," Quicksilver snapped back. Turning his head back slightly, looking towards Denti, he asked, "Do, Lieutenant. What's your story, anyway?"

"My story?" Denti asked quizzically.

"Yeah, your story," Quicksilver repeated. "How'd you end up working for SHIELD?"

"I graduated from MIT three years ago," Denti replied. "I studied information technology. I didn't have a very impressive record or resume, but I managed to crack an identity theft ring that baffled the police... in my spare time. Once word got out, the CIA wanted me to work for them, but SHIELD made me a better offer. All I needed to do was some field training to meet their standards, so you could say I'm a pretty well-rounded agent."

"And you don't mind working in the mutant affairs division?" Quicksilver asked.

"No," Denti replied. "Actually, I think people give mutants a harder time than they deserve. I mean, I know there's some bad apples, but from what I've seen, they're the same as anyone else."

"Plus we have cool powers," Quicksilver boasted. "I bet you wish you were a mutant."

"Sometimes," Denti whispered, dejected.

"That's enough," Bishop growled. "Let's keep our focus on the mission."

--

John passed his final evaluation with flying colors. Commander Fury personally recommended him to SHIELD Command, and John Lucas Bishop became a full-fledged agent of SHIELD. After several years of service, John was promoted to Lieutenant under Fury's command. Soon, more mutants were joining the ranks of SHIELD; John wore a smile the entire day that Bolivar Trask resigned his commission in protest.

Taking the week off, John went to New York to be with his family; his little sister Shard was now sixteen, only two years away from graduating high school. With John's salary, he was able to move his mother and his sister out of their old apartment, and into a more spacious apartment in midtown Manhattan. While their mother finished cleaning the dishes, John remained at the kitchen table to help Shard with her homework.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," John said to his sister, "I've never been good with algebra."

"That's okay," Shard said, putting her advanced algebra book aside, and taking a small novel from her backpack. Shard was thin, but still short, and her hair remained a curious light brown. She looked shorter still next to her tall, muscular brother. "I don't need help with that. You ever read Anthem by Ayn Rand?"

"I... no," John admitted. "Never even heard of that."

"Even I've heard of Ayn Rand," their mother Janet called from the kitchen.

"Well, I'm supposed to write a short essay about what I thought," Shard explained. "But it's a terrible book. I don't know where to begin."

"How about from the beginning?" John mocked.

"Oh, ha ha," Shard replied. "But I mean it, it's terrible. It's like... it's like she just want to express one idea, then put a really cheap story around it. It's so lazy!"

"Well there you go," John said. "Write that down. That right there is your starting point."

"I guess," Shard said, taking her notebook and pencil. The table shook slightly. John raised his eyebrows, looking down at the floor- the table had been purchased recently, was it already uneven? The table was fine- soon the chairs shook along with it. John stood up and quickly moved to the window.

Outside, news choppers were circling the area. People on the street were running around, some trying to see what was going on. John went to the television.

"...Some kind of giant robot," the reporter said over footage of a giant red robot attacking a group of people in colorful costumes. "They're attacking it... one of them is creating some kind of wind... this is... this is the more astonishing thing I've ever seen... these people have come out of nowhere, with this robot... and they're doing things that don't seem humanly possible. This might be some kind of optical illusion or other trick, but what you are seeing are people controlling weather, teleporting, walking straight through parked cars..."

"What in the world is that?!" Janet cried. Shard also started to gawk, equally amazed and shocked.

"Mutants," John said to himself. "They're out of the bag." He went to his jacket, lying on the sofa, and took a special phone. "Lieutenant Bishop. There's a situation one block from my current location. What are my orders?"

"Ignore," said the dispatcher. "All SHIELD agents are to keep their distance from the subjects."

"Why?" John asked.

"For security purposes," the dispatcher told him. "The Marines will handle it. You are not to get involved. That's the order from the top."

"Understood," John said, putting the phone away. His mother and sister looked at him, hoping he had answers. "It's under control," he said to them.

"...theories yet unproven, but that looks to be what we're seeing now," said a scientist, calling in to the network as a correspondent. "There have been rumors of these kinds of people in scientific circles, but no concrete proof... we've heard theories of government coverups and conspiracies of all kinds... but if what we're seeing is not a trick, then these people are proof that mutants exist."

"Mutants?" Shard asked.

"They're people born with special talents," John explained. "What you're seeing there, that's all real. No tricks, no illusions. Those people are really doing all that stuff. I know because I'm a mutant, too."

"Oh, John," his mother said, exasperated.

"No, momma, I think she needs to know this," John insisted. "After this, mutants won't be able to hide anymore. See, I have this power... I can shoot energy from my hands." John held up his fist, and let it glow a soft red. "I used to use this to break out of jail."

"John, no," Janet protested.

"She needs to know!" John turned back to his confused, worried sister. "I know momma told you I went to military school, but I was really in jail. And I used my powers to keep making trouble for the guards. So the government had to come in and deal with me. Mutants were supposed to be a secret. But they gave me a second chance. Now I'm working for them. I'm one of the good guys now. And I think those people, fighting that big machine, they're the good guys, too."

"So..." Shard held up her hand. Like John's it was glowing softly, though a pale yellow, compared to John's red glow. "So that's what this is?"

"My God," their mother cried. "Shard, baby, you got it too?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "I didn't know what it was... I didn't want you to take me to a bunch of doctors."

"Don't be afraid, baby sis," John said, hugging his sister. "There's nothing wrong with being a mutant. We're just like everyone else."

"...But we have powers."

"Well, yeah. But we're still just like everyone else." On television, the robot drifted down towards a high-rise building, on fire and immobile. With a bright and loud explosion, it collided with the building, causing the camera to shake. Once the image returned, there was nothing but a giant, fiery hole in the building.

"Momma," John called. "Things are gonna change. I know some people who thought something like this would happen. Right now, everything's going to be a little scary. Nobody needs to know what me and Shard can do. Not right now, anyway."

"I know," Janet said. "I know we gotta keep this quiet. And you know I'm good at that. But promise me you won't let them do anything to her."

"I promise," he said, looking his mother in the eyes. "Nothing's going to change. I'm still working with the government. You and Shard are still going to live well. She's still going to college, momma."

"So, I can't tell anybody?" Shard asked.

"Not right now," John told her. "You need to keep it a secret a little while longer. Can you do that?" Shard nodded, though she couldn't hide her worried expression. John took his sister and put his arms around her, cradling her slightly, a whole foot taller than her. "Everything's gonna be alright, baby sis. Everything's gonna be alright."

--

Bishop crossed his arms and looked out the window at the crowded streets of downtown Harrisburg. The humvee had been parked at a meter outside a souvenir shop. Quicksilver had gone ahead to scout for Fitzroy while the others waited behind for any word. Avalanche kept the humvee running, while Denti seemed to be going through files on his PDA.

"So, this Fitzroy, what did he do to you?" Avalanche asked, leaning back from the driver's seat.

"This isn't a personal issue," Bishop replied, keeping up the facade.

"Alright, it just seems to me like you really have it in for this guy. I don't want to pry or anything."

"I have four hundred men under my command, Alvers," Bishop said. "I could send each and every last one to get a job done, but there always a slim chance that they'll fuck it up. Fitzroy is a dangerous man, but because of his personality, not his powers. This is one of those times when I have to make sure the job gets done."

"And if we don't catch him?"

"That's not an option," Bishop solemnly explained. Avalanche nodded and turned back to face the front.

"Commander, whatever happened between you and him," Lance said, seeing through Bishop's excuse, "It's none of my business, but you do what you have to. I'll keep my mouth shut."

"If you don't I'll break your legs," Bishop replied. Was that an attempt at humor? Lance figured that with Bishop, it might as well be sincere.

"Found him!" Pietro's voice announced through the speakers inside the vehicle. "Heading down Second Street. Intercepting now." Half a block away, the unmistakable green haired Trevor Fitzroy was trying to blend in with a crowd, casting glances for any sign of a SHIELD agent. From the corner of his eye, he saw something heading for him- Quicksilver instantly appeared, grabbing Trevor out of the surprised crowd.

"You again," Trevor said, smiling once Quicksilver stopped and put him down in an alley. "I think you need a time out."

"Not this time," Quicksilver said, slapping Trevor's hand away. Trevor reached for Pietro's neck again, but Quicksilver just slapped his hand away once more. He kept trying, casually lifting his hand to grab Pietro's neck and repeatedly getting slapped away, amused with the little game they were suddenly playing, until he glanced over Quicksilver's shoulders. Trevor's eyes widened as a red beam flew over his head. He cast one of his temporal fields over Quicksilver and rushed into the backdoor of a restaurant.

"Don't worry about him," Bishop said to Denti as they ran to the door. Avalanche kicked the door open.

"Easy, we're with SHIELD," Avalanche said to the kitchen staff. "Anyone seen a guy with green hair?" Nobody replied, or noticed. That's when the trio realized that the entire kitchen staff had been placed under various temporal fields, all of them slowly reacting at various rates. "Shit."

"Split up," Bishop commanded.

--

"What do you mean you haven't decided on a major?" John asked belligerently. He had come to visit his sister Shard at her dormitory at Columbia University. Just as John had hoped, Shard had kept her mutant powers a secret from all but her closest friends, and focused herself on her studies. "This has got to be the best damn school in the country, and you don't know what you're studying yet?"

"Well, I'm thinking about law," Shard admitted. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, though she was still nearly a foot shorter than her big brother. "But I also want to study literature. I'm going to take a few classes before I really settle."

"Don't take too long," John said. "I don't want your scholarship to run out on you. I don't make nearly enough to pay your tuition."

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm just here to party."

"And speaking of which, if I hear any guys have been in here-"

"I'm nineteen, John, I'm not your baby sister anymore," Shard protested.

"Ah, you're right. It's just... I dunno. I just feel overprotective is all. You and momma, you're all I've got. And where we came from... I just want you to have a good life. I'm glad you stuck to the books, baby sis. I didn't want you turning out like me."

"But you turned out just fine anyway," Shard assured him.

"Yeah, after Nick Fury busted my ass for six months," John laughed. SHIELD and Colonel Fury were no longer secret; in fact, John could openly wear a jacket with a SHIELD patch while visiting the campus. Shard was proud of her brother as well, and kept a picture of him in full SHIELD uniform on her desk. "Hey, I've never had college food. How about we try some of that?"

"You're going to hate it," Shard warned him, leading him to the door. Glancing out the window, John spotted a green-haired young man strolling outside in the darkness. John took his phone from his jacket. "What's wrong?"

"This is Commander Bishop," John said into the phone. "Fitzroy has been spotted at Columbia University."

"Processing, sir. There doesn't seem to be anyone else there," the dispatcher told him. "I'll have a team sent right away."

"Yeah, I'll make sure he doesn't escape. Bishop out." When he noticed Shard's confused glare, he explained, "There's a guy out there we're supposed to watch out for. He's a mutant and he's been causing some trouble, so the state of Pennsylvania wants us to deal with him. Stay here."

"You're going to go after him alone?" Shard asked. "I'm coming, too."

"Shard, if SHIELD's been asked to take care of someone, that should tell you they're dangerous. Civilian police can't handle him. Stay here, and stay safe. I won't be long."

Outside, Trevor Fitzroy strutted about, whistling to himself. He spotted someone walking alone, a young redhead, probably fresh out of high school. She was probably walking to her dorm after class, or maybe after a meeting with friends. Trevor grinned and followed.

--

"Don't move," Trevor barked, gripping an elderly woman's neck. Commander Bishop, Denti, and Avalanche had entered the restaurant's dining room, and Trevor had just taken the owner as his hostage. The patrons had fled, and the staff kept their distance, afraid to make a wrong move. "It won't take long for me to take everything this old lady's got."

"Put her down, Fitzroy," Bishop commanded.

"I'll let her go if you put down your little toy," Trevor said, referring to Bishop's plastic gun. He raised an eyebrow, and began to put it down.

"Sir?" Denti questioned. Lance had a confused, skeptical look as well. Once the gun was on the floor, Bishop stood back up.

"I've put the gun down," Bishop said calmly. "Let her go."

"No, the gimp there has a gun, too. Tell him to put it down. And the greaser," Trevor insisted. Bishop nodded to Denti, and he removed his gun from his holster, slowly setting it down on the floor. Avalanche shrugged; he was unarmed. "Yeah, okay. We've done business. Now I want you to call this whole thing off. I'll let go of the old lady once you've-AAAAH!" Trevor flew back into a table, allowing the old woman to slip and fall. Avalanche quickly rushed and caught her before she could damage herself, and helped her to a chair.

Bishop had his hand held out, red energy dissipating from it.

"The power's in me, not the gun," Bishop explained to a reeling Trevor. "I just use it for focus. You asked me to ditch the gun, so I gave it to you raw."

"That's real funny," Trevor said, sneering. He held out his hands, but Bishop shot him again before he could create a temporal field. Standing over the bruised Trevor, lying on a broken table, Bishop kept both hands out, prepared to strike again. Quickly, he seized Trevor by the collar, pulling him up to his feet. Denti reached into a pouch on his belt and removed a metal collar, pressing an activation switch on its side. From behind, he snapped it onto Trevor's neck like a large handcuff. Trevor grunted and tensed up as the collar drained him of his powers. Bishop pushed him, forcing him to walk.

"Sorry for any inconvenience," Denti said to the restaurant owner. "The staff in the kitchen will be fine, just give them some time to snap out of their temporal fields."

"Staff in the kitchen...?" the old woman asked cluelessly.

--

Outside, Avalanche prepared the humvee while Denti saw to the disoriented Quicksilver. Bishop pushed the captive Trevor along, but even though he was beaten and bruised, he still had a smirk on his face.

"Okay, so we're going to get credit for this, right?" Quicksilver said anxiously.

"You'll get credit for the capture," Bishop said. "But Trevor and I need to talk."

"Wait, are you...?"

"Yeah, we got it," Avalanche said, interrupting his teammate. Bishop pushed Trevor to walk away from the humvee, down the street and turning the corner. Quicksilver gave Avalanche an annoyed glance. "Easy. This is something he's gotta do."

Bishop took Trevor right back to the alley where he had originally been taken by Quicksilver. The others remained behind; it was just John Bishop and Trevor Fitzroy, along with some brick walls and a few trash cans.

"My dad's making some calls, you know," Trevor gloated.

"That didn't save you from SHIELD last time, and it's not gonna save you this time."

--

Trevor had waited for the young redhead to wander through one of the darker paths on campus before making his move. He held her neck with both hands, forcing her to his knees as he drained her energy. He felt it rushing through him, flowing through his body, a feeling greater than anything a normal human could ever feel. It was pure ecstasy to Trevor Fitzroy, more euphoric than any drug or any orgasm.

"You're such a sweet little thing, aren't you?" he whispered to the girl as she struggled, but quickly she lost her strength, and gave in, collapsing into Trevor's grip. He let her drop and stretched his arms, twisting his wrists and snapping his fingers like someone who had just woken from a refreshing nap.

"Hands where I can see them!" John Bishop commanded, pointing a plastic gun at him. Trevor turned his head, grinning, and held up both hands. "You're under arrest, Fitzroy. You'll be taken to a SHIELD prison." As John approached, Trevor released a wave of green energy from his hands, and John was trapped in a green energy field. He saw Trevor moving at rapid speed, jumping up and down and making faces at John, taunting him. John fired, but his red blast vanished once it left the green haze. He then realized that he had been caught in a temporal distortion field- time for him moved slower than it did for the rest of the world, Trevor included. He ran out, hoping to be able to join normal time before Trevor got away. He saw Trevor fall over quickly, and then saw his sister Shard, pointing her hand at him.

Outside, Shard kept her hand trained on Trevor, prepared to fire a blast of energy. Though yellow in color, her powers were identical to her brother's, at least until she could develop them further.

"Mutants everywhere," Trevor said, standing back up. "So what's your name, girly?"

"What have you done to him?!" Shard demanded.

"Aw, don't worry about him, he's just stuck in a time out. He'll be alright. How long is he gonna be there? I forget, I didn't really plan it, it was a spur of the moment kinda thing. But you... you've got a lot of energy in you. How about you come over here and give me some of that, girly?" Trevor grinned, slowly walking towards her. Shard fired at him, but he dodged, then seized her by the throat.

"Shard! Shard!" John yelled.

Holding her up off the ground, Trevor licked his lips. "Oh, the big guy wants to watch huh?" He winked at John, who he could see slowly screaming inside his field, and slowly getting up to run to his sister's aid. "Yeah, we're gonna have fun, you and me... let's get started!" Shard tried to pry his hand off, but it felt as if it was glued to her throat- somehow, his power draining effect managed to keep him fused so long as he was feeding. But that wasn't the worst of it. With every passing moment, she could devote less and less energy to her own mutant power, and soon she didn't have enough excess energy to create a single blast, even if she could break free.

She felt weak; too weak to continue struggling. Shard was a fish held above the water, feeling as if she could no longer breathe; her body was so weak that it went limp, though her will was still strong. She still wanted to pry Trevor away, to punch and kick him, but her limbs were to weak to respond. Shard become a motionless doll, screaming to move.

"SHARD!" Trevor's eyes widened as he heard John scream out, freed from the temporal field. With a red blast from his gun, John knocked Trevor away, forcing Shard to drop to the grass below. She was his priority- he rushed to Shard, checking her vital signs. "Shard... baby sis, are you alright?"

"...John," she said weakly.

"How sweet," Trevor said, already on his feet, approaching the pair. "Is she something to you? I have to say, she was yummy. But I don't think she could handle me. Few girls can, I'm just too intense."

"You son of a bitch!" John yelled. Trevor kept his hands in his pockets, generating a field that surrounded the three of them; he didn't need to project it with his hands if he intended to be inside as well. John stood up, pointing his fist at Trevor. "You fucked with the wrong man! "

"That's nice," Trevor replied nonchalantly. Did he even noticed he'd just been threatened? "I'll leave you two here to get re-acquainted. I've got places to be, you know." Trevor, near the edge of the field, stepped out backwards- and right into the waiting arms of a SHIELD strike force, who had arrived and prepared for him while he was busy inside the field. John put down his hand and watched as Trevor was beaten and carried away in fast motion. Two SHIELD agents stood at the edge of the field looking in, trying to make sense of it. John turned back to his sister, who remained motionless. He knelt beside her, cradling her head.

"John..."

"Shh, everything's gonna be alright," John said. He wanted to ask her why she had come, but he already knew the answer. "Your big brother's here."

"John..."

"Shard, everything's gonna be okay. They got him. He's gonna be locked up."

"...John..." Shard smiled weakly, and then said nothing else. John picked her up, holding her close to him. He held his baby sister tightly, afraid to let go of her. He had worked so hard to pull ahead for her, to give her a chance at a better life. In a matter of minutes, it had all ended.

John had once prided himself on his strength. He had not cried since he was a child; now he could not stop himself.

--

"Yeah, I remember," Trevor said to Bishop, his back turned away from him in the alley. He could feel the pistol pointed at his back. "I heard you bawled like a baby. Heh, I forgot she was your sister. It doesn't matter anyway."

"My mother died a year ago," Bishop said to him. "After losing Shard, she suffered from so much anxiety and stress that it killed her. But the one thing she was glad for, was that she got to see her baby girl's killer brought to justice. We threw you in a cell, Fitzroy, and we never intended to let you out. When I heard you had escaped, it was like you stopped by my mother's grave to spit on it."

"Sorry," Trevor said sarcastically. Bishop couldn't see his smile, but he knew it was there.

"Have you ever loved anything, Trevor?" Bishop asked.

"Yeah," Trevor replied. "I love feeding. Gives me such a rush. But other than that? Nah, not really. This is a shitty world, but you make the most of it."

"Did you think your dad would have helped you out again?"

"Shit, yeah. Why not? He's done it before."

"He did it because you were always in Pennsylvania. He couldn't protect you when you came to New York... or when SHIELD came after you. So what made you think it would be different this time?"

"I don't know," Trevor replied, clearly annoyed. "That's his problem."

"Your freedom is his problem?"

"Yeah, let him worry about how it happens."

"And if he doesn't, you'll tell the public that you're his mutant bastard son?" John deduced.

"Pretty much. He's such a pussy. I can tell he wants to kick my ass, but all I have to say is 'I'll tell!' and he just does whatever I want. You know what? I love that, too. I love it when he just does whatever I tell him to."

"And your victims?" Bishop asked. "Do you love the fact that they can't fight back?"

"Some of them fight back, but yeah, when they can't... it feels great." He could feel that Bishop had pulled the pistol away. He thought he heard him holster it for a moment, but then it came back, this time pointed at the back of Trevor's head.

"Do you regret anything?" Bishop said. "Does it matter at all how many lives you've taken? How many people you've hurt? Does it matter at all to you that killed someone who could've really been someone? Someone who could've made a difference in this world?."

"Shit happens," Trevor mocked.

"I'm only going to ask this once, Fitzroy," Bishop stated. "Do you at all regret killing her? Is there even a shred of remorse in you?"

"Fuck you," Trevor said defiantly. "Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Because I'll never get the chance again." Bishop pulled the trigger- a bullet flew cleanly through the back of Trevor's head, exiting through the front, right between the eyes. Bishop had switched his plastic focusing gun for a real one with a single bullet. He hadn't used a real gun since he was a teenager; even as a SHIELD trainee, he had concentrating on using his powers instead of weapons. And even as a gang member, Bishop had never killed anyone with a gun.

What he had done would not be considered honorable by most people. But deep inside, buried somewhere, Bishop still believed in the same ruthless code he had been taught as a boy. Trevor Fitzroy had not been killed by a Commander of SHIELD, but by a former member of a street gang. Now, that Bishop was dead as well.

Bishop threw the gun into a trash can. He wouldn't need it again. He bent down and turned Fitzroy over, not at all surprised that Trevor hadn't died with his trademark smug smile. The split-second when he realized he was about to be killed would forever be frozen on his face.

--

"Dead?" Senator Shaw exclaimed, shocked. An agent of SHIELD had personally come to his mansion to deliver the news, a courtesy extended to members of the senate; otherwise, he probably would've just gotten a phone call without much detail. "But... how? What happened?"

"While attempting to escape from SHIELD custody, he was shot by an unknown assailant," the agent explained. "According to the report, we believe it was a vigilante." The agent handed Shaw a folder. "All declassified details are listed here. For security reasons, we are withholding pieces of information for now. SHIELD is truly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, thank you," Shaw said, subdued and sedate. But once he closed the door, he tossed the folder aside as if it were his electric bill. A huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders- SHIELD's blackmail was only effective so long as Fitzroy was alive. If he was dead, it would be harder to prove he was connected to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

Sensing his opportunity, he went to his office to make an important phone call.

"Cameron? Hello! It's Sebastian. Listen, I wanted to apologize to you, I misread your proposal. I thought there was some questionable wording, but goodness, I've looked it over, and I honestly can't remember what I was worried about! I must be having a little too much to drink, eh? Haha! Yes, I'll support the bill as-is. In fact, I think we can afford to make a few additions..."

In exchange for keeping his relation to Shaw secret, Fitzroy had asked him to help enable his depraved behavior.

In exchange for keeping Fitzroy's relation to Shaw secret, SHIELD had asked him to help defeat any anti-mutant legislation attempted by his colleagues.

Now free from both burdens, Senator Sebastian Shaw was free to support whatever legislation he wanted, and now added his support to the growing list of names backing a law originally suggested by the mayor of a small town called Bayville...

--

Just as Bishop had intended, Quicksilver filed a report that showed only he and Avalanche had gone to Pennsylvania. The official reason for having only two members was because Quicksilver had deemed Fitzroy a minor threat. While they had managed to collar him, Fitzroy attempted to escape, but was killed by an unknown assailant. Quicksilver speculated it was a vigilante (officially, at least), and this was the report delivered to Senator Shaw. Bishop had made it clear that they were to remain quiet about the real events surrounding Trevor Fitzroy's death.

Commander Bishop watched a group of cadets from an overhead catwalk, being drilled by their instructor in a large room. He was joined by Colonel Fury, who lit a cigar. He offered Bishop one; as usual, Bishop declined. Fury knew he would, but he felt Bishop had earned the courtesy, and continued offering it, in case Bishop ever decided to accept.

"These cadets are getting shrimpier every season," Fury groaned. "But they'll be tough as nails in six months."

"That's how you breed a real SHIELD agent," Bishop agreed. "I guess I was too soft on those Brotherhood punks."

"You make due with what you've got," Fury assured him. "I came to talk to you about their latest report... the Fitzroy incident. Says a vigilante probably killed him. Examiner says it was done close range, probably while he was standing. Sounds like execution style to me."

"Most likely," Bishop shrugged.

"...I added a line about Quicksilver being momentarily incapacitated," Fury said knowingly. "I found it implausible that he couldn't have chased after him before this vigilante got him." He exhaled some smoke. "I gotta ask... when I brought you into this organization, you said you wanted to be an example for your sister, and you wanted to help your mother financially. Both are gone. Now they've been avenged. What's your motivation for sticking around here?"

"This is my home now, sir," Bishop explained. "I have nowhere else to go. All I've got now is my duty."

"Are you still devoted to SHIELD?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good," Fury said. "I'm glad we've still got tough bastards like you on our side." Fury departed, puffing on his cigar. Bishop kept watching the cadets, wondering where Shard would've been that day. She probably would've been close to graduating from college. Maybe she would've gone on to law school. Maybe she would've become a writer. She may have eventually learned the extent of SHIELD's power, and even berated her brother for involving himself with such cases. She certainly wouldn't have approved of killing Trevor Fitzroy in an alley. Shard would've been the moral compass Bishop sometimes felt he lacked. But Bishop kept his focus on the present; Shard would be none of those things.

But if she was, one thing would've been certain. For all his faults, Shard would've been proud of her big brother.

And that's that. Hope you didn't find it too sappy. I also hope nobody's upset that real time travel wasn't included in the story; I had to change Fitzroy's powers in order to avoid real time travel altogether (also, teleportation's sort of covered). Time distortion is a compromise. I'm also aware that Fitzroy is supposed to be a descendant of Shaw, but not actually his son. Things tend to change when you're trying to avoid "HE CAME FROM THE FUUUUUUTUUUUUUURE!" settings, so I basically just combined Fitzroy and Shinobi Shaw. Senator Shaw himself (who is not a mutant here) will become a major character after the Dr. Nathan storyline is resolved, along with his pal Cameron... but even more so than Shaw himself, that little bit of legislation he suddenly flip-flopped on will be very, very important.

And now this week's profiles: Fitzroy, Shaw, and Bishop himself.

Trevor Fitzroy
Age: 24
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Green
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C.
Occupation/Status: Escaped Prisoner (deceased)
Affiliation: Himself
Mutant Stance: Believes in mutant supremacy
Known Mutant Abilities:
-Energy Absorption: Fitzroy is capable of draining energy from living creatures and re-metabolizing the energy to create his temporal effects. Fitzroy must be physically touching his victim, and cannot absorb the energy for himself- he can store it, but cannot use it for anything other than his second power. Though his preferred method is to grip the neck of his victim, this isn't necessary.
-Temporal Distortion: Fitzroy can alter the passage of time within small areas. He can slow it down or speed it up, but the more drastic the effect and the wider the range, the more energy the power consumes. The limits to his power have never been fully tested, but he has been observed affecting an area with a diameter of 50 feet. He has been observed decreasing time to a near-standstill, but increased flow of time has only been observed at x3. These distortion fields also exist for a finite amount of time, the lifespan determined by how much energy Fitzroy has invested. Whenever anything inside these distortion fields returns to normal time, they retain any changes- for example, a person trapped in a field for ten minutes, experiencing time at twice the normal speed, will have aged twenty minutes.
Non-mutant Abilities: Unknown
Personality Profile: With no sense of morality or manners, Trevor has no consideration for others. When he finally met his estranged father, Trevor decided he didn't really need a father. However, Trevor understood that Sebastian Shaw was a powerful man and used that to his advantage, constantly blackmailing his father with the threat of revealing himself as a mutant. Having his father covering his crimes only made Trevor cocky and arrogant, believing himself to be untouchable. This further fueled his dark desires and his crimes became increasingly more severe. With his back covered, Trevor continued his streak not because he enjoyed his crimes themselves, but because he enjoyed having power over his victims, and he enjoyed having his father's protection. Power itself was a high for Trevor, and in his sadism he always enjoyed watching his victims struggle against it, which only reaffirmed his sense of power and control.
Author Notes: Trevor is the archetypal spoiled rich boy. Despite being a bastard son, he knows he can get his father to agree to anything through blackmail. I set him up as a direct contrast to Bishop, who lived an underprivileged life and truly had to work to get ahead. Despite this, I decided not to give them any actual relationship; Fitzroy only killed Shard because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has no other connection to Bishop... this is despite the fact that the main reason I even included him is because he has a history with Bishop in the comics. Like I said before, his powers were changed both to get rid of time travel elements, and so I wouldn't have another teleporter around. As it is, his energy absorption is similar to Rogue, and to that of our next fugitive (though less so).
And in case you're wondering: when writing Fitzroy, his actions, his motivations, and his general demeanor... yes, he was based on the archetypes of a rapist.

Sebastian Shaw
Age: 53
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Blue
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation/Status: US Senator from Pennsylvania
Affiliation: Himself and his constituents
Mutant Stance: Believes in human supremacy, though blackmailed into deterring anti-mutant legislation
Known Mutant Abilities: None, baseline human
Non-mutant Abilities: Well-versed in law and politics
Personality Profile: Like many politicians, Shaw's moral compass seems just a bit broken. He's more interested in pleasing the people who fund his campaigns than in doing any honest work for the people. Even without his senate career, however, Shaw is a tremendously wealthy man, and he's not above using is money and power to get what he wants. Despite this, he does treat those he deals with and those under his employ with a degree of professional courtesy, and hasn't been known to double-cross his allies. It's unclear why Shaw didn't just have Trevor killed. He had no love for the boy, but maybe he still protected him out of his feelings for Trevor's mother. Or, maybe he just didn't want to be the one responsible for Trevor's death, even if he did wish for it. The truth remains clouded.
Author Notes: Shaw's one of the old standby characters from the X-Men universe. He's probably been used in fanfiction dozens of times, mostly as a member of the Hellfire Club. Since the Club is so popular, I'm trying to stay away from it, since it's just treading old ground. Shaw plays only a minimal role in Fugitive Nine, but like a lot of other minor characters, he's going to play a bigger role in the next story. And why he's not a mutant? Eh, not enough plain human characters in this story. Mainly, it just works to add tension between Shaw and his bastard son.

Commander John Lucas Bishop
Age: 33
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Black (shaved bald)
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Birth: Harlem, New York
Occupation/Status: Commander of SHIELD/Director of Mutant Affairs
Affiliation: SHIELD
Mutant Stance: Believes in equality between mutants and humans
Known Mutant Abilities:
-Energy Absorption: Bishop is capable of absorbing energy.
-Energy Projection: Bishop is also capable of converting this energy into his own plasma blasts. He usually uses a pair of specially designed plastic handguns to help focus the energy into concentrated blasts
Non-mutant Abilities: Trained in armed and unarmed combat, battle tactics and espionage
Personality Profile: Growing up in a bad neighborhood with an absent father, a teenaged Bishop believed he had to join a gang in order to survive. Once under Nick Fury's tutelage, he saw differently. Hardened by his experiences, Bishop can appear stiff and humorless. He takes his job seriously and has no room for goof-offs under his command. His philosophy as a commander is to push his subordinates constantly in order to bring out the best in them, something he learned from Fury (who, in retrospect, usually lightens up just a bit once his trainees graduate). As an agent of SHIELD, Bishop is devoted to his duty, if for no other reason than because he has nothing else left. His family is dead, and his career gets in the way of starting his own family.
Though Bishop generally plays by the rules (albeit the SHIELD rules), he's good at knowing when to bend or break them in order to complete the mission. This is also something he looks for in his own agents. As a former gang member, Bishop understands that sometimes, raw brutality will get the job done. Though not very diplomatic in nature, Bishop will rarely use violence as his first response, and then will only react according to the severity of the situation.
Despite his outbursts, one of Bishop's key traits is his self-control. Though he can grow impatient with his subordinates, he does not abuse them (though he may yell a bit). Bishop is willing to listen to alternate ideas, though he will be quick to dismiss them if he doesn't feel they're good enough. With his odd combination of self-control and shouting, Bishop seems to be both an example and an enabler for the Brotherhood.
Bishop also has a strong sense of right, though it may be a little more cloudy than, say, the X-Men. Bishop has no qualms about keeping criminals in captivity without any rights, even those granted to them by the US constitution, or in outright killing people he feels are too dangerous to be kept alive, regardless of evidence or actual history. However, he also does not like to see people wrongfully punished, and makes sure that his targets meet his strict moral guidelines before taking action. Though he frequently threatens targets with lifetime imprisonment without parole or rights, he generally reserves this only for the worst offenders. Up until his murder of Trevor Fitzroy, Bishop was not known for being vengeful. However, few enemies of SHIELD have ever had personal contact with Bishop, so it remains to be seen if this was an isolated incident.
Author Notes: Originally, Bishop wasn't even part of this- G.W. Bridge was going to be the Brotherhood's taskmaster, but that changed because there's nothing interesting about Bridge, and it made more sense to have a mutant commander. Bridge became Bishop because the toys had already been produced and all we had to do was change the heads... okay, nevermind, bad joke. Anyway, since I'm trying to avoid time travel, that removed a huge chunk of Bishop's backstory, so that made him easier to squeeze into the storyline. Obviously, he's not one of the X-Men and had no real interest in joining... really, not every comic book X-Men character needs to join the Evo X-Men (hell, I thought putting Gambit and Colossus on the Acolytes was a brilliant idea). The Brotherhood needed a tough boss, and I thought Fury would be too busy too directly deal with them, so Bishop fit the bill. Come to think of it, with all the changes made, I'm not even sure how much he resembles the original Bishop. Maybe he needs a mullet?
Also, his name was changed from just "Lucas" to "John L." because the big villain of Invisible Cell (that'd be the story before Fugitive Nine) was Lucas, aka Legion, aka Scottish Guy. I just figured it'd be awkward to have two Lucaseseses. Luci? Lucy! Got some 'splainin' to do...

Wait, Denti hasn't had a profile yet? Hmm...

NEXT EPISODE:

Something in Costa Rica has caught SHIELD's attention. Avalanche, Blob and Pyro are sent to investigate a small island near the coast. One of the fugitive nine is there, but what does he have to do with the flying beast that resides there? And what's the significance of the red crystals growing on the roof of a lava tunnel?

Next: SAURON

Thank for the reviews, they are like brain candy to me! Be here for Sauron next Friday.