8. Falling From Heaven

Unknown Part 1

Alphabet City

New York

Jean-Paul Beaubier came too. He was lying in a pile of garbage, a rat sitting on his foot. With a weak shout, he kicked his leg, sending the filthy thing flying off into the alley. He dropped his head back to the garbage bag behind him, exhausted. The sweet smell of the trash was revolting him, his stomach rebelling. Flipping himself over, he crawled a few meters forward before vomiting noisily on the ground. Wiping his mouth, he climbed up and set out. He hadn't had a fix in two days.

On his way, Jean-Paul saw a man walking along the street, cleaner and richer looking than the majority of the people who lived here. Jean-Paul glanced around and finding the street deserted, sped over to the man pulling him into an alleyway. A few quick blows and the man was unconscious, moments later Jean-Paul had taken his wallet and watch and left him lying in the alley. Setting out once more, he continued towards his destination.

Arriving at his destination, a non-descript building, Jean-Paul walked inside. Ignoring the muscular men who were there to stop trouble, he entered a room one floor up, stopping when he saw his target was already talking with someone. He waited calmly, the two men in front of him having a heated argument. "But Sharples..." one of the men whined. He had a face like a weasel.

The other faced him, speaking sharply and angrily. "No, Hennesey, you had your chance. You still owe me the three thousand by Monday….otherwise…." he finished by snapping his mouth shut, exposing his elongated and sharpened teeth.

The weasely man flinched at the sound, nodding hurriedly. "O..of course, Sharples. Whatever you want," he said quickly before practically running from the room.

Turning to Jean-Paul, Sharples ground his teeth angrily. "Some people think I'm playing around," he said angrily. "This is not a joking matter. What do you want anyway?" he demanded. Jean-Paul ignored his anger, holding up some of the money he had stolen before. Sharples looked at it greedily. "Good," he said, going over to a cupboard and pulling out a small bag of white powder. "You can use the room down the hall like normal." He said, waving towards the door. Jean-Paul threw the wad of money at him, and, grabbing the bag, he was gone out the door before the cash hit the ground.

Down the hall, Jean-Paul went to the room he normally used and found it free. Going to the cupboard on the wall, he removed a strap, a syringe in a sealed packet, a spoon and a lighter. Moving quicker than a normal person, excitement making his control slippery, he poured a small amount of the powder onto the spoon, holding the lighter under it, watching it melt. Smelling the fumes, he sighed. Soon. Ripping open the syringe, he poured the bubbling liquid from the spoon into the chamber, sealing it carefully. Fumbling, he set it on the table and quickly tied the strap around his arm with a practiced ease. He pulled it tight, making the veins of his forearm stand out blue and angry. Track marks from previous hits dotted his arms, flaking scabs in some places and red sores in others. Finding a clear patch, he jabbed the needle in and pressed down, shooting himself to heaven. Collapsing in bliss, barely managing to remember to pull out the needle and undo the strap, he collapsed back, lying on the floor. He remained there, barely capable to move, not reacting to the shots fired downstairs, nor to the door bursting in. When hands lifted him up by the arms though, the room began to spin and he began to scream.

Oak Lakes Rehabilitation Centre,

Two months later…

Jean-Paul woke up in his room. The government had sent him here, after his arrest in Sharples' house, too high to try and get away from the cops or even think about using his powers, and for two months, he'd been trying to clean up. He was improving. He wasn't even strapped to the bed anymore. The first few days hadn't been too bad. At least he was clean now. But then the withdrawal set in. They had strapped him to the bed when they caught him. He also hadn't had a fix since his arrest. He was proud. He had gained a measure of self-respect but he wasn't sure that he wouldn't end up in exactly the same place he had before if he was let out.

"Jean-Paul?" One of the nurses poked her head in the door. "You have a visitor." Thanking her, he wondered who it could be for a moment before wandering down to the lobby where visitors waited.

The only person there who wasn't a nurse or a patient was a large black man. "Jean-Paul Beaubier?" he asked quietly. Jean-Paul nodded and the man led him to one of the couches set in the lobby for this very purpose. Sitting down, he got straight to the point. "My name is Lucas Bishop. I'm a member of an organization known as the Mutant Underground. I'm here to speak to you about the opportunities we offer to new recruits."

Jean-Paul looked at the man like he was crazy. "You do know this is a rehab center?" he asked quickly. "You do know that I'm here because I was arrested in a crack house so high I couldn't even get away from the cops?" The man nodded. "Then if I'm the best you can go after, the MU must be slipping. Badly," he said sharply.

Bishop just smiled at him and said, "On the contrary, Mr Beaubier. You will find that we are aware of a good bit of your history. The accounts we have of your time with the Crew, including some eyewitness testimony, demonstrate your disgust at what your addiction forced you into. We also understand why you stayed with the Crew." Jean-Paul looked at him sharply. The man responded to his unasked question. "After the incidents involving the Kingpin and Daredevil," he began. Jean-Paul kept his face calm but shivered, remembering the echoing snap of Maria's spine, the thud of his fists as he beat Daredevil. "After the incident, the Crew ended up involved with a man named Sinister. Domino approached us with the offer to capture him and as he is high on our most wanted list, we agreed.

"Enduring some fairly dangerous undercover work, Domino, Blink and Chamber performed very well in the assault on Sinister's complex. The man himself escaped but a great deal of information was gained from his lab. But that's not the point. It was from Blink and Chamber who cooperated with our debriefing teams after the incident that we received our eyewitness testimony about your opinions of what you were doing. Our own analysts, hell, even I can see why you stayed as long as you did. The Crew remained with us a few days but they left shortly after. They've only appeared on our radar briefly during the interval. We tracked you down when your arrest came to our attention but we left you for a few months," the man finished.

Jean-Paul stared at him. "What do you want with me?" he asked. "You're clearly aware that I've committed crimes but you obviously aren't here to arrest me," he said.

Bishop smiled. "I don't think you understand how hard it is to train officers for this kind of industry, Jean-Paul. When someone is trained like you are, through experience, we aren't going to let them waste away in rehab. You needed to be here to clean up and if you join you'll have to stay clean but we want you as an agent. Think of it as a way to make amends."

Jean-Paul's mind was spinning. He opened his mouth to respond but Bishop spoke up again. "How could I forget to mention Maria?" Jean-Paul's mouth snapped shut with a click. "She is currently in a private medical facility at the Xavier Institute, under the control of the MU. That, along with the required medical care for Red Lotus who suffered a great deal of medical abuse when he abandoned the Crew for Sinister, she is receiving the best of care."

Jean-Paul spoke up slowly. "If I joined you…." he began. "What kind of work would I be doing? My past experiences with the MU haven't been the most pleasant, you understand." Bishop smiled.

The Mutant Underground Headquarters,

Some Distance from New York Proper,

His first day. Jean-Paul hated first days. As far as he knew, everyone hated first days. Meeting new people, wondering if they'd been told about his circumstances. He had arrived at the facility a few minutes before, landing on the discrete flyer-pad on the roof of the largest building in the large complex. He hoped he didn't get lost.

Walking in the small door, he was met in front of security by a Puerto Rican woman. "My name is Cecilia Reyes." She introduced herself.

"Jean-Paul Beaubier," he replied, shaking an outstretched hand. "I'm here to take you through security and give you a quick tour," she said pleasantly. "I'm fairly new here myself. In about half an hour, you have a certification class with one of the combat instructors." She smiled when Jean-Paul snorted. "Yeah, I doubt you need it but it's compulsory for your certification. You need to have it before you can go out in the field.," she replied but noticed the twitch of his head when she referred to his past.

"I should probably explain something before we get started. I know something of your situation," she said and his heart sunk. So much for the fresh start he'd hoped for. She continued, "No-one else on the facility has been told. I'm aware because I was with Blink and Chamber during the Sinister incident and after when we were all locked up in here with the debriefers."

Jean-Paul had to stop himself breathing a great sigh of relief that she didn't know where he had been the last three months. "When do we have to be at this fighting certification you mentioned?" he asked, adroitly changing the subject.

Looking at her watch, Cecilia gasped, "My god, how late were you? We have about 2 minutes and it's not a short trip!" Grinning, Jean-Paul motioned to her to lead the way.

The Training Room,

Mutant Underground Headquarters,

Walking in a few minutes late, Jean-Paul and Cecilia, attracted almost no attention. The instructor walked to the middle of the mats. "Good morning all, now sit down and shut the hell up," she announced in a British accent. "Today we have a new student, so the compulsory humiliation is in order. Come on down, Jean-Paul."

Smiling at Cecilia's quick whisper of encouragement, he walked over to the mats through the small crowd of trainees. He reaches the mats and the purple haired woman looked him up and down. "My name is Betsy Braddock, Jean-Paul," she introduces herself. Suddenly, her leg whips out in a vicious kick which he manages to dodge.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he replies loftily. "Powers or no?"

Flash of a startlingly feral grin. "Of course powers. Where's the fun without?" she replies as a solid wall of something sends him spinning to the other side of the mats. He never lands, recovering whilst still in the air and he speeds forward, arriving behind her as she begins to turn. Pushing forward, he hooks a leg around her feet and drops her to the mats. She lands in a roll, coming up smoothly to face him. With a peculiar stretching motion, she reached out with a punch that he docked and ran around behind her but was nearly caught in the stomach by her leg that had curled around behind her in a kick as she punched. Grabbing her leg, he whirled in a circle loosing her towards the opposite corner of the mats. Hands dropping out to catch the mat as she whirled, she was visibly steadied by nothing and thrown forward, a pink sword manifesting from nowhere.

Jean-Paul threw himself backwards to avoid a blow that sliced through the mats, then lifted off to avoid a leg sweep that would have rendered him unable to father children had it connected. He hovered above her, when suddenly a force pulled him ground-wards. Instantly reacting, he used one of his favourite tricks. Instead of resisting the force, he simply aimed himself at the woman and flew directly at her as fast as he could. He was not far away so he didn't have time to gain enough speed to hurt her and she went flying before she could even stop pushing him with the telekinesis. Betsy was knocked into the ground with a good deal of force and while she climbed to her feet, she made no move to attack.

"Well, Mr. Beaubier, it does indeed look like you're good enough. I'll sign the certification after this class." Turning back to the pupils she said, "I want you to note the way Mr. Beaubier reacted to my telekinesis at the end; instead of trying to resist it, he used it against me. That is a very good tactic…"

Jean-Paul floated over to Cecilia. "Well done," she said. "It took me at least twice as long to knock the woman down." Jean-Paul looked at her doubtfully; she wasn't a particularly muscular woman and he wondered how she'd managed Betsy's telepathy but she continued on. "We have a meeting with Bishop now. You're being placed on a squad straight away," she told him. Surprised, Jean-Paul blinked. "Right away? I expected much more bureaucratic stalling" he said. (ok, maybe wrong word but I'm suffering from mental blanks here). "Lead the way."

Bishop's Office,

Mutant Underground Headquarters,

"You are to work with him under Shard as your commander," Jean-Paul heard as he entered the room, Cecilia following in and closing the door behind her. Inside there were three people, two women and a man. Bishop waved them to the empty seats. "Jean-Paul, Cecilia, sit down," he said. "These are the people you'll be working with. This is Monet," he said, indicating the younger woman with very dark skin. "She's got a good balance of powers, flight, invulernability to a limited degree, but she's also got basic telepathy. Nothing phenomenal but enough. This is Morph," he said indicating the pale man. "He's a shapeshifter. Non-human and limited moving parts. Cecilia, I believe you already know Shard. She is capable of firing concussive bursts and projecting solid light holograms," he finished.

Jean-Paul nodded to each of them, noticing Cecilia's face had frozen up when Bishop mentioned they would be working with Shard. Clearly some issues there. Bishop said, "I'll let you get to know each other in a minute. You can go but I just need a moment with Jean-Paul and Cecilia." The others filed out obediently, nodding as they passed the remaining two. Bishop said, "We need to discuss Shard."

Cecilia snapped, "Yes, we do. I can't believe your using her on a squad! I know you were trying to rehabilitate her or something but..."

Bishop stared at her coldly. "Shard is a Mutant Underground agent who was on deepcover work. With Sinister. Unfortunately, she was exposed and conditioned for loyalty. Retaining both that loyalty and her original personality would mean she would end up doing things she found repellent. This meant our psi division had to recondition her. She is the same person she was originally. Just…I need you two to keep an eye on her. Make sure the deprogramming sticks. There shouldn't be incidents but…" Bishop trailed off. Then, refocusing, he said, "Cecilia, please treat her the same. I know your circumstances are difficult but this squad needs to function as a squad. It can't afford to have dissension in the ranks. I won't be assigning you to a specific target at first, you'll just serve as a backup team for some of the other squads. When that happens, you're under the command of the squad leader. Simple. You'll start in two days. Now go and meet your squad properly," he finished.

Northstar and Cecilia stood to leave but Northstar turned back. "Thank you" he said quietly to Bishop before leaving the office.

A Mutant Steroid Production Facility,

Texas,

Around One Month Later,

"So why is your squad taking this one, Psylocke?" Jean-Paul asked as they waited for their signal.

"Because this lab, like just about every other piece of mutant-related genetic research in the damned country, apparently, is run by Sinister. Which means MORE Nasty Boys. So sick of killing those idiots," she said. Spotting a flash from inside the warehouse, she said, "That's our signal. Your time to shine, flyboy." Grabbing her by the shoulders, he lifted her up, barrelling them through a window into the factory.

Landing in a roll, Psylocke was already attacking the remaining guards that Shadowcat hadn't taken out when suddenly an explosion too large for Shard to have created rocked the factory. Cecilia, on the other side of the production floor, threw up a shield that protected them all from debris and the explosion itself. Dropping the shields, Cecilia let them out and Jean-Paul flew towards the source of the explosion, when he suddenly stopped dead. Three figures were porting through the smoke. Three very familiar figures.

Blink and Chamber did not even look at Jean-Paul, merely 'porting off to the side where they began to destroy the steroids. Jean-Paul flew over to Domino. "Look who decided to stop sticking everything they could find in their arm and start fighting the good fight. Your little MU buddies know about your past….indiscretions?" she snapped viciously.

"Good to see you too, Domino. Yes, some of them know. I assume you recognize Cecilia Reyes?" he shot back. Ignoring her, he flew over to Blink and Chamber. They didn't look up at him. "Blink? Jono?" he asked quietly. "Are you ok?" Chamber did not react, continuing to send out small blasts to destroy the steroids. Blink looked over at him and he gasped in shock. Her face was covered in bruises. "Clarice…what happened?" he asked before she could speak.

She looked at him sadly. "Nothing Jean-Paul. I just…had a fall," she said softly.

"Clarice……tell me" he said softly but she turned back to her work, 'porting boxes over for Chamber. She ignored Jean-Paul. Giving up for the moment, he turned to Chamber, still destroying boxes. "Jono, where have you guys been, what have you been doing?" he asked. The boy ignored him. "Jono?" he practically begged. The boy continued to ignore him.

Blink came over, still 'porting boxes and said, "He doesn't talk much anymore." Looking at her, Northstar said, "Blink, what has happened to you? Is it Domino? Is she…" he began but Domino called out "Blink!" and she cut him off. "I think you need to go back to your friends, Jean-Paul. Now." "Blink!" he begged, refusing to move but suddenly, she 'ported him over to his squad.

Looking on in silence as the Crew destroyed the steroids, Jean-Paul stormed over to confront Domino. "What have you been doing to those children?" he demanded righteously.

Looking directly at him, Domino said, "What they deserve. Which you will get in about 5 seconds if you don't move. One," she began.

"Domino you can't be serious!" he said.

"Two," she said, pulling a gun and aiming it at him.

"Blink is covered in bruises and something is clearly wrong with Chamber."

"Three," she said coldly before firing. Jean-Paul reacts instantaneously, throwing himself backward and the bullet bounced off the shield Cecilia threw around him. Domino looks at him, still expressionless and says, "Slippery trigger finger. Won't happen again. Four." Jean-Paul looks over at Blink and Chamber who are destroying the last of the boxes when Domino says, "Five." And starts firing.

Cecilia hadn't dropped the shield so he flew backwards, getting away before she could seriously press the shield. Following him with her gun, Domino suddenly switched aim at the MU squads who sprang into action the instant she fired at Jean-Paul. Seeing that was useless as they were shielded by Cecilia, she called Blink over.

Blink appeared instantly and said, "Yes Domino?" but Domino just grabbed her, shoving a gun to her temple. "Get down here now, crackhead!" she shouted. Jean-Paul appeared in front of her in an instant. Unable to do anything because Blink's pathetic, bruised body is in the way, he stands compliantly in front of Domino. Pulling out a second gun and pointing at him, Domino said, "It was nice knowing you." As Domino was about to fire, Blink snapped an elbow into Domino's gut and the bullet wings Jean-Paul's shoulder. A moment later, the Crew vanished.

Medical Centre

The Mutant Underground Headquarters,

In the medical centre, Cecilia watches as Jean-Paul's shoulder was tended. The wound was superficial, more an injury to his pride than anything else. Domino had whomped all over them, playing off their weaknesses, Jean-Paul's weaknesses, to get away. She was gone and she would continue to do what she was doing to Blink and Chamber.

Seeing them like that…Cecilia shuddered. Jean-Paul had told her more but she'd seen for herself the bruises covering Blink. The only other person Cecilia had ever seen look like that was during medical school when she had been doing her internship at medical school and a boy had been brought in. His father had been beating him. Cecilia shuddered, thinking of the bruises she'd seen on Blink's face as if they had been on her daughter's face. I have to do something. "Something has to be done," Jean-Paul said as the doctor left. She looked up sharply at Jean-Paul's voice so closely mirroring her own thoughts. "We can't leave either of them with her. We can't. You didn't see them properly, Cecilia, you couldn't see all the bruises. And Jono….Jono is the one I'm the most worried about. I don't know how much Clarice told you about before she met you but there was a time when Jono was hovering on the verge of sadism. I'm afraid he's going to slip over."

Cecilia spoke up. "We can't leave them with Domino. This kind of damage, the only sure way is psi-therapy. That means somewhere like the Xavier Institute, or the Muir Island facility. Or here."

Jean-Paul's attention perked up at the last phrase. "They have psi-therapists here?" he asked, curious. In his month with the MU, he'd not encountered any of these psis, but he realised that Shard must have been working with them in the deprogramming department. Turning to Cecilia, he asked, "Will the others help?"

She nodded. "Shard owes those two as much as I do and Monet saw those bruises. Morph will help because Morph helps people." Jean-Paul nodded. "Can you get them for me?" he asked. "I'm not allowed out of here for 2 days."

Cecilia nodded. "I'll be back in a minute," she said, heading out the door. Jean-Paul leant back into the bed. The sight of those bruises on Blink wouldn't leave his head. Cecilia returned with the rest of his squad.

"Some of you already know what happened before I joined up with the MU. For those that don't, here's how it goes." He told them everything. His skiing career in Canada, his drug addiction and subsequent fall from grace. Getting into mercenary work and cleaning up. Why he stayed in mercenary work. Why he left and how he fell back into the drugs again. How he ended up where he was now. Finishing, he said, "I need to do something for Blink and Chamber. I can't…I won't leave them in the kind of situation they are in."

Monet was the first to speak up. "I saw those bruises on the pink girl. There is no way I can permit a child of that age to remain in this kind of situation."

Cecilia spoke up next. "I already owe those two too much to let them suffer. I'm in."

Morph looked at them. Shard spoke before him. "I'm in. I owe those too even more than Cecilia," she said with a shiver.

"Have you got a plan for getting this past Bishop?" Jean-Paul nodded. "Two approaches. Domino is well established in the mercenary business and we can go after her through straight up official channels. We smack child abuse on top of everything else, we will have no trouble. It's true too, Blink is 15." Looking at Morph, he asked, "Are you in?"

Morph replied, "Of course I'm in. Do you think I'd let you try this by yourselves, child abuse or not? Morons. Of course I'm in."

Jean-Paul looked around at his squad and realised what had happened. He'd assumed command tonight. He'd better live up to it. He owed it to Blink and Chamber to make sure he lived up to it.