Government Intervention

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the Marvel, I'm not making any money.

Part 2/6

Thor's arrival at the Triskelion was a unique event. He'd had to abandon the ambulance as they entered the city and the heavy traffic had forced other cars increasingly closer until the drivers, desperate to escape the barrage of emotion Remy was projecting, fled their cars making the streets impassible.

Thor did what he could to stabilize Remy with the ambulance's supplies then started walking. Warren trailed after them several yards back, but still much closer than anyone else.

Ironman had tried to offer assistance, without luck, then headed back to the base. "Steve, forget getting one of the holding cells equipped as an infirmary, we don't want this kid anywhere near Banner."

"Thor never did explain what happened."

"All I know is at thirty feet I didn't want to get any closer," Tony reported. "At twenty I was about ready to crawl out of my skin and if my life had depended on it I couldn't have gotten within fifteen feet of that kid."

"How is Thor doing it?" Steve asked.

"Hell if I know. You'll have to ask our resident god," Tony replied. "Damn good thing he used to be a nurse, cause no one else is going to be able to treat the kid. He didn't look good. God, I need a drink."

****** ****** ******

Warren trailed after Thor, guilt and rage tearing at each other in his mind, however both agreed he couldn't leave Gambit behind. Whether the boy was Sinister's dupe or willing apprentice Warren needed this finished.

Between his internal turmoil and that generated by Gambit Warren barely noticed his surroundings until he found himself cut off from the object of his obsession by the featureless steel doors of an elevator.

Warren turned from the elevator only to find his path blocked by a costumed man and some sort of robot thing.

Warren vividly remembered the Sentential he'd dismembered during their brief reign of terror and spread his wings defensively, his eyes narrowing angrily. He sent a volley of fletchlets at them.

Captain America ducked behind his shield; the knives bounced harmlessly off of Ironman's armor.

"Warren Worthington?" Tony exclaimed in stunned disbelief.

Hearing his name used for the first time in years Warren froze. A moment later Captain America's shield slammed into the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.

Warren awoke sometime later only to find himself in a holding cell and promptly went crazy, trying to batter his way out and screaming death threats at anyone who cared to listen.

****** ****** ******

Nick Fury glanced across his desk at the three Ultimates gathered there. "Alright, I come back from the Whitehouse to find the bottom three floors of my headquarters off limits because of some mutant kid who was supposed to lead us to the X-Men and a very agitated, not to mention blue-skinned heir to a multi-billion dollar corporation trying to tear apart one of my holding cells. Anyone care to enlighten me on what I've missed?"

"Remy Lebeau was given sodium amytal, the dosage was high for his body mass but not dangerously so," Thor reported, for the moment sounding as much the nurse he'd been as the god he'd become. "However, the side effects due to his mutation are proving devastating."

"Truth serum and 'paths," Fury said shaking his head. "Nasty combo. I've never heard of one reacting with a defensive shield like this one before."

Thor frowned disapprovingly. "I was not aware tests had been done to examine the effects of such drugs on mutants."

"Relax," Fury said. "I may have read the Weapon X program's files, but I never agreed with their methods. That's why we shut them down. Do you have an estimate on when the kid will come out of it?"

"Your reports could probably give you a better idea than I could," Thor said, his voice still disapproving. "With the amount of turmoil he's projecting I was concerned that he wouldn't retain enough sense of self to reassert his mental shields."

"The telepaths Weapon X experimented on all came out of it without assistance," Fury said.

Thor nodded shortly. "I have a patient to attend to," he said dismissing himself.

"How's our other guest doing?" Fury asked.

"He's calmer," Tony said. "We're misting the air in his cell with a sedative, it seems to be helping his mood."

"We're sure this is the Worthington heir? I don't remember the papers saying he was blue," Fury asked.

"He wasn't," Tony said. "I did some business with his dad, saw him at a couple of parties, the blue skin tones are new, but it's the same kid."

"Shit, lets hope the media didn't get a good look at him," Fury said. "The last thing I need is his parents lobbying for his release."

"With Lebeau out of the game we're back to square one on finding the X-Men, unless we use him as bait," Steve Rogers pointed out.

"Not quite," Fury said. "Lebeau might not be as well connected as Worthington, but the ones he's got might be more useful to us."

****** ****** ******

Jean-Luc Lebeau did not look like a happy man as he set up his computer for a hopefully untraceable two-way conversation.

He didn't mind fostering good will by selling the government information about things he didn't want to happen anyway, but he didn't like them contacting him.

"You're new at your job," he typed. "Maybe no one explained free-lance to you yet?"

"You've been known to provide assistance when traditional information sources run dry," Nick Fury replied.

Jean-Luc frowned thoughtfully, wondering if he could steer the government team away from Remy and the X-Men. "What's troubling you General?"

"I'm sure you can guess."

"Magneto is a little out of my area of interest; his type of enterprise doesn't accumulate enough money to make the risk worth it, but I'll ask around," Jean-Luc replied.

"How about the X-Men?" Fury asked.

"Aren't they friends of yours?" Jean-Luc asked.

"I think you know otherwise," Fury wrote back. "And I know you've already made those inquiries. Why don't you share, I can make it worth your while."

"Why would I have done that?" Jean-Luc asked, a sinking feeling settling into his stomach. "You know I don't care about philanthropists, no matter how rich."

"Remy Lebeau."

Jean-Luc stared at the name on the screen for a long moment. He wasn't surprised that Fury knew who he was despite his apparent effort to remain anonymous; that was part of the game they played. How could he buy a blind eye if they didn't know who they weren't supposed to be looking at? He was surprised that SHIELD would contact him through this channel if they wanted to discuss his nephew's alliances.

"We both know I'm not going to tell you anything that could threaten Remy," Jean-Luc typed.

"You misunderstand, we want to help Remy," Fury replied.

"I'm not naïve," Jean-Luc sent back, insulted that the other man would even bother.

"Remy's been captured, it's in his best interest if he makes some sort of deal."

"Two scenarios: 1) Remy isn't talking. In which case he won't thank me for going over his head. 2) You don't have him and think you've driven the X-Men far enough underground that I won't be able to verify it."

"I could arrest you."

"If you planned on doing that we wouldn't be talking."

"Alright, Remy hasn't chosen to co-operate. He's young, sometimes parents have to do what's best for a child even if the child doesn't agree," Fury argued.

"Remy isn't your typical sheltered teen," Jean-Luc replied. "I wouldn't presume to treat him like one."

"His background only makes him more vulnerable to cults."

"Now I know you haven't tried talking to him. If you have Remy, prove that the X-Men are with Magneto, I'm sure you'll find he's a very reasonable boy."

Jean-Luc signed off with a sigh then picked up the phone. "Theoren, I need yo' to start lookin' into Magneto's organization. Talk to Renee and Dominic about infiltrating de Brotherhood of Mutants."

"Guild Master, may I ask why? The profit to risk 'nalysis don' seem likely to be promisin'."

"I got bien reason to t'ink de X-Men and government be too busy fussin' at each other to deal wid him less dey get a nudge in de proper direction," Jean-Luc replied. "Do yo' want to live under day madman's rule? Las' I checked 'round eighty percent of de Guild falls under his food or slaves classification."

"D'accord, Guild Master."

"Merci. Keep me informed. If I get called 'way Henri will act as m' stand in."

Then Jean-Luc started looking for Henri. He found his son in the garage working on his motorcycle.

"Your cousin seems to have gotten hisself in a mess," Jean-Luc said.

"More so dan normal?" Henri asked looking concerned.

"I 'xpect someone from de government to come sniffin' 'round, mebbe ask me to go talk some sense into de petite."

"How can I help?"

"If I get otherwise occupied, find out where dey're holdin' him. Start workin' on how to get him loose. I got Theoren lookin' for information on Magneto to trade dem. If all else fails yo' give dem de t'ings I collected on de X-Men an' Xavier."

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