Jean studied the man before her. "How did you know where to find me, Agent Mortimer?" He was young, and carried himself with a forced confidence. His uniform was immaculate and he broadcasted an eagerness to please.

"It's protocol for your office to inform us when they have an operation within our jurisdiction." The young man answered as he indicated the hummer waiting for them.

"Have you been waiting for us long?" She asked as she followed him.

He opened the door for her. "Only a few minutes. Not to worry, if I'd gotten word that the situation had escalated I would had come in to get you."

^Is something wrong?^ Scott projected to her as he got in the hummer from the other side.

^I'm not sure,^ she replied. "Do you know why I'm needed? Me specifically?" she asked the agent once he'd sat in the front.

"No Ma'am. I was just instructed to come pick you up." The Humvee started moving.

^Jean?^

^He's not lying,^ she said, ^but something's off. This wasn't an operation. There was no need for anyone to inform Seattle we would be here.^

^Force of habit maybe?^ Scott offered. ^Someone saw the request for the flight and sent an email.^

^It's possible, but I still have a bad feeling, stay on your guard.^

The drive took them to the industrial part of the city. They stopped next to four other Humvees. As they exited a man in his late forties joined them.

"Thank you for coming Agent Grey, I'm captain Santiago. Our staff shrink's on vacation and we haven't been able to raise his backup." He offered his hand.

Jean shook it. "I'm happy to help, what's the situation?"

"We were transporting a Renegade when his restraints failed for some reason. He escaped custody and ran here. We have him contained, but since you were in the area I thought it might be best if you handled it."

"How dangerous is he?"

"Probably not that much. That's why I had you contacted. I figure if you can talk him down things will be easier than us having to storm in. His name's Alexander Blandings. His folks died in his early teens. Did some time in the foster care system but ran off. Built a history as a trouble maker. When his mutation kicked in he was recruited by the Renegades. Probably just has issues to work through."

She nodded. "ok, I'll go in, assess his state of mind and I'll let you know how I want to proceed."

"I'm going in with you," Scott said as the Captain handed Jean a walky-talky.

"I'm sorry son, but I can't let you go in. I can't afford to have a civilian get hurt here."

Scott's eyes started glowing. "I can take care of myself."

The captain didn't react to the red light leaking of the Scot's eyes. "I'm sure you can, but I still can't let you go in there, Agency policy."

"It's alright sir," Jean said, "he's with me, I'll take responsibility for his safety." She took the holstered gun that was handed to her and clipped it to her back.

She looked at the captain. "Don't do anything until I've contacted you."

"Yes mam."

Scott walked in step with her as they went to the open dock door. "How are you feeling about this now?" he asked when they were out of earshot.

"I'm still not comfortable about it. The captain was wearing a thought shield. It could just be standard procedure here, but it always makes me nervous when someone takes steps to stop their minds from leaking."

Scott smiled. "I didn't realize how dependant you were on the stuff that leaks out of our head."

"I am, the same way you are to reading body language. There's nothing wrong with someone trying to control their reactions, but it does tend to make them look suspicious." She leaned against the wall before looking in. The area against the wall was empty. Forty feet further in series of wooden crates were stacked one atop the other, maybe fifteen feet high, making small alleys between them.

She cast her mind through the building, feeling for other minds. There was only one. "He's alone in the building, on the other side of it."

"How do you want to handle it? Are we going to him, or are you going to take control and get him here?"

She gave him a sharp look. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm a mind reader, not a puppeteer. And even if I was, it'd be unethical to take control of him."

"Sorry," was all Scott said as a response to the accusation. "I'll follow your lead."

She nodded and stepped inside the warehouse. She made her way through the mazes of alleys the crates made until she was less than a hundred feet from the other man. "Alexander?" she said loudly, "my name is doctor Jean Grey. I'm just here to talk."

Scott was the one who noticed the white glow appear above the crates. He grabbed Jean and pulled her to the ground with him a moment before crates exploded and the air above them sizzled.

Once the pieces of the crates and their contents finished falling then they looked up. The crates on either side of them had been obliterated. Scott looked back along the path of destruction to see a shoulder length blond haired man standing there. The man bolted when they made eye contact.

"Not very dangerous my ass," he spat, "This is most definitely a trap. Are you ok?"

Jean dusted herself as she stood. "I'm ok."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. I lost my concentration when we ducked, give me a moment." She took a few breaths and closed her eyes.

Scott looked around and listened while she focused. He didn't want that blaster to surprise them. He also kept an eye on the way they came in case those outside decided to join in. He doubted they would since if they wanted to eliminate them themselves they had the opportunity to do it outside.

"He ahead of us," Jean said.

Scott looked up the path just as Alexander turned in it. He seemed as surprised to see them as Scott was to see him. The man lifted both arms and pointed them at him.

Scott saw Alexander glow with a pulse of white light which then ran down his arms. He pulled Jean against himself and turned so he would take the blunt of it. He barely had time to think that was a stupid idea; the man had destroyed crates over a hundred feet. He wasn't going to be able to protect Jean.

The beam hit him.

Scott closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he felt the heat sear his back.

And then it was over.

He opened his eyes, surprised at still being alive. He looked at Jean through a red filter. "Are you ok?" He'd worry about why his vision was off when this was all over, or why he smelt burned.

She nodded and looked at him. "What happened?"

"I don't know." He looked over his shoulder. The man was standing in the middle of corridor a look of utter surprise on his face. He noticed that the back of his jacket and shirt had been completely burnt off, but didn't stop to think about that.

He unleashed everything he had at the man who could have killed Jean.

Alexander only had time to lift his arms over his face in complete horror before he was hit.

Scott's vision returned to normal and he was astonished to see Alexander still standing, His t-shirt had been shredded off his body, but the man himself didn't have any marks on him. Instead, he started glowing white again, brighter than he had before.

Scott turned. "Stay behind me," he told Jean, "and stay down." He felt the front half of his jeans fall off, but didn't worry about that, Alexander was pointing his arms at him again.

Scott had to put an arm in front of his eyes to block off the brightness as the beam hit him again. He felt the heat as his shirt and jacket burn off, but once they were vaporized, nothing. It was as if the energy the man was throwing at him didn't exist.

Or rather, he realized as his vision shifted into the red again, that he was absorbing it.

When the beam stopped Alexander was bent over, panting. He looked up and cursed.

Scott smiled. He was going to make the man pay. He fired a beam at the bottom of the crates in the corner near Alexander. He wasn't going to waste his fire power on the man directly, but he was still going to hurt him. The crates above came tumbling down.

Alexander jumped out of the way and ran back the way he'd come from. Scott chased him, ignoring Jean's call to stop. That man could have killed her. It was pure luck that he hadn't. Scott wasn't going to stop until he'd crushed him to a pulp.

Alexander turned another corner just as Scott made the crate next to him explode. Scott continued running as he turned the same corner, where Alexander was waiting for him, crowbar in hand.

Scott tried to jump out of the way, but Alexander still managed to connect with his shoulder hard enough that his right arm went numb. He stumbled against the wall of crates and then rolled on the floor, wincing in pain and shock at the cold concrete. He shot the crowbar out of Alexander's hand and stood, glancing down at himself and only now realizing that every pieces of clothing he'd been wearing had been burned off.

Scott leaned back against the crates before pushing himself off and in range of the other man. He swung at him but Alexander dodged it and punched him in the stomach.

Scott went to his knees.

He shot at Alexander's feet, making a deep grove in the concrete and forcing him back enough he could catch his breath and stand. Alexander was standing there fist in the air, ready for him. Scott started walking for him, but before he reached him Jean interposed herself between them.

"Stand down," she ordered him.

He looked at her, his vision was now more pink then red. "He could have killed you," Scott growled, looking at Alexander.

"I don't care. Stand. Down. Don't make me have to put you to sleep."

Scott glared at her for a moment before taking a step back.

"You're going to have to do more than put me to sleep lady." Alexander told her when she looked at him, "You're not taking me back there alive."

"I'm only here to talk," she replied.

"Yeah, talk. You sure have a strange way of showing it," he commented, nodded to Scott.

"You started that by trying to vaporize us, remember?" she snapped. She took a breath and continued in a calmer tone. "He was just defending himself. We're not here to hurt you. In fact I'm pretty sure we were setup for you to kill us."

"Damn right I was going to kill you. I told you I'm not going back there. You got any idea what they did to me there?"

"I can guess," she replied, looking at his chest. It was covered with a dozen scars; some of them looked very recent. "Who did that to you?"

Alexander eyed her for a moment. "I don't know. Why do you care?"

"Because I don't approve of anyone being tortured."

"Even us evil mutants? I thought the AMA didn't give a damn what happened to *us*," he growled.

Jean gave him a few seconds to calm down before continuing. "How did you end up in AMA custody?"

He looked at her for a moment in surprised and then he searched her face, when he was done he rubbed his. "I don't know," he said in a calm tone. "I'd just been returned to my cell after this was done to me." He turned and showed her a still bloody scar on his back. "Then the goon squad walked in threw a T-shirt over me and then dragged me to the car."

"How did you escape?"

"The handcuffs just feel off my wrists. When we slowed for a light I jumped out and ran."

Jean frowned. "Those have multiple redundancy, there's no way they would just fail like that." She looked up at Alexander again. "Alexander, I'm a telepath," he stiffened, "I'd like to have your permission to enter your mind."

"Jean, don't," Scott said.

"My call," she replied.

"Yeah?" Alexander said, "well, there's no way I'm letting you in here so you can scramble my brains or what ever else you can do when your in here."

"Alex, all I'm interested in is the last few minutes, maybe the last hour. I have no need to reach before that, so you don't have to be afraid, what ever you know about the Renegades is perfectly safe."

He took a step back. "How'd you know about that if you aren't rummaging in here already?"

"It was an educated guess. I'm hoping that your mind contains the answers to why the three of us are here right now."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Just the last hour, right? Nothing before that?"

She nodded. "Nothing before the few minute before your escape for the humvee.

"Ok, what'd I got to do?"

"Nothing."

* * * * *

She was sitting in the back seat of the humvee. Her wrists were handcuffed with standard issue AMA magnetic restraints. Alex wasn't looking at them, but she could see them in his peripheral vision. The lights indicated they were working.

She recognized the captain in the passenger seat. His cell rang and he answered.

"Yeah, that could be a problem." He said after listening to what the other person said, nodding.

"Timing's good," he continued after another moment of silence. He turned to look at Alex. Alex looked out the window instead of meeting the hateful gaze. "I know just how we can take care of the situation. Don't worry about it, I'll handle it." When Alex looked forward again the captain had a walky-talky to his mouth

"Mortimer, you there?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. I want to you go to the Yashida building. We have an Agent Grey there currently. I need you to pick her up."

"Very well sir. Where am I bringing her?"

"That hasn't been decided yet, I'll probably know before you reach her. Access her file so you know who you are looking for. She might not be in uniform."

"Very well sir."

The captain put the walky-talky away.

Moments later the handcuffs fell off Alexander's wrist. She stopped the memory and played it back. Alex wasn't looking at them, but she clearly saw the green light go yellow before turning off.

* * * * *

"Ok, we were all setup."

"You sure?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. The captain called for us before Alex had escaped. And the handcuffs didn't fail, they were turned off."

"What'd that mean?" Alexander asked.

"It means they were hoping you would kill us."

"But why, it's not like I know the two of you, why'd they think I'd do it"

"Cause they knew you'd be determined not to go back with them." Scott offered.

"kay, then what now?"

Jean smiled. "Now we get you out of here."

"How," Alexander asked, "I'm pretty much tapped out."

"You're not blasting your way out; we're going to be discreet."

* * * * *

"I thought you couldn't control people," Scott said as he watched Alexander walk by the agents guarding the back of the building. None of them even acknowledged his presence.

"I can, but I don't. Not if it can be helped. What I'm doing is replaying the same five second memory when nothing happened over and over." When Alexander had disappeared from view she left the agents minds.

Scott had to catch her before she fell to the ground. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, just my brain readjusting to having input from only one source."

"What do we do now?" He asked when she was able to stand on her own.

"First we find you something to wear. Then we go back home."

"Wait, aren't we going to bring them to justice? They tried to have us killed."

"Unfortunately we don't have any proof. Memories aren't admissible."

"So they just get away with it?"

"For now. But I'll have some people look into the captain's files, maybe we can find something else there we can use against him."

Scott grumbled, but he did understand her reasoning. Unless he wanted to become like the renegades, they couldn't just take justice into their own hands.