Chapter 6

(Logan)

We met with Chuck a few days later to talk about this dream my girls were sharing. Angela still denied having any kind of psychic ability - and I know she wasn't lying - and the Professor agreed. As he put it, even normal humans sometimes have flashes of intuition that can be frighteningly accurate. But there had to be a reason for it and so, the meeting.

"Logan, it's true." Xavier said calmly. "It doesn't happen often and most people are quick to discount it, but it does happen. And I know that Dr. McCoy has already explored the possibility that there is a psychic mutation in Angela's family that skips a generation."

"It still don't make any sense to me." I said. "Can you be sure that Evie's not pickin' up on Angela? Or Evie's sendin' to her? One hundred percent?"

"I suppose there's a possibility of that, but I've never seen a psychic mutation manifest itself this early."

"An' just how many mutant couples do you know that have kids, Chuck?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're right, I don't personally know of any others." He looked at Angela, his expression slightly pained. "I hate to ask this of you, but do you remember what Emma's mutations were?"

She shook her head. "No clue. We were kept separate at the base most of the time. They only brought her to me every few months as a 'reward' for good behavior." She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I hadn't seen in her in almost two months when she died." She sat there silent for a moment, then took a deep breath to compose herself. "But they did say she wasn't a feral like me, so I guess anything's possible."

"Chuck, I don't like the possibility that this 'Director' is lookin' for my girls." I said with a growl. "We can't be sure that Stryker didn't tell this guy that I was livin' here. An' we know he had telepaths workin' for him back then. What's to say he didn't have other psychics too?"

"What have Buzz and Sage found in the files you've been collecting?"

I sighed. "Not much. Doesn't look like they kept detailed records on anyone that wasn't bein' trained up as a weapon."

"I see." He looked thoughtful for a bit before he continued. "Well, perhaps I will contact our Mr. Bennington again and see if he has any information that would be useful."

"Charles, I…" Angela began, then hesitated. We both looked at her and she took another deep breath. "No, don't bother him. If he had others, we'll find out. I don't know how uncommon psychic mutations are, but I'm betting that telepathy is the most common among them. If he had…has others, they'll be kept somewhere really secure. And secret."

"Darlin', Bennington's already shown us he can find out anythin'."

"Yes, he can. Anything that's been recorded. But there's nothing in the files he gave us and nothing in the files we've recovered. This 'Director' isn't even mentioned by name and he's the only one out of the entire program who isn't. Don't you think that's a little odd?"

"What are you suggesting?" Xavier asked.

"Well, Bennington claims that his bureau has never been infiltrated, there's never been a leak from his office. Maybe there hasn't been a public leak, but what if someone is leaking information to the Director? And then losing that information so no one can find out?"

"You think he's got a mole?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. What if he's the one doing it?" I stared at her in disbelief, the silence stretching out. "I'm serious Logan! We still don't really know the truth behind Weapon X. We know who is involved, but not why. What's to say it wasn't started as a way to help Bennington out, but after his bureau got taken off the books in the forties it went wrong? You'd have all these people researching a way to make the perfect soldier, someone who would uphold the Constitution against all enemies, then suddenly they're told to stop? Who would be able to stop them? We already know that's when they made Captain America, which eventually led to us. How many others have we missed?"

"Darlin', it just don't make any sense." I said and reached for her, but she shrugged my hand away. "C'mon, think about it."

"I have, Logan, for a long time now. What's the perfect way to hide something you don't want anyone to see?"

The Professor groaned. "In plain sight." He rubbed his eyes and for the first time since I met him, he looked old and tired. "I didn't do a deep scan on his mind when he was here, just touched on his surface thoughts. It is entirely possible that she is correct."

I sat down heavily, the chair creaking beneath me. "An' I thought I was paranoid." I looked at my woman, standing by the window with her arms wrapped around herself. "So what do we do now?"

"We're infiltrators, right? I say we find out where his office is and see how good we really are."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Over the next three weeks, Xavier monitored Bennington using Cerebro to get an idea of his schedule. The guy was dedicated, I'll give him that, but that was what made our plan so risky in the first place. Twelve-hour days were not uncommon for him and he didn't seem to have any regular days off. He'd work for three, take one off, work six more, take two off; it was impossible to find a pattern to it. Finally, we decided to just wait until he left his office one day and go in then, which introduced an entirely new set of problems.

I've said it hundred of times and I'll say it again; you can always tell how black a black op is by how much of the facility is underground. Bennington's entire office complex was underground and to say that made me unhappy is probably the understatement of the century. The majority of it was located about two stories beneath the Washington Monument, with the entrance cleverly hidden inside the station at L'Enfant Plaza for the DC Metro. There were other entrances in the Smithsonian and Federal Center Southwest stations, but it seemed they were never used and we assumed that meant they were only for emergency purposes. But that was all the information that Buzz needed to find us another way in.

As soon as he knew where the BCI office was and how to get in, it only took him about three days to locate the power, water and sewer access to the complex. Based on those schematics and some recon photos that Kyro took for us, he even managed to map out the ventilation system with fair accuracy. Once we had that is when it got tricky.

We couldn't ask Xavier to camp out in Cerebro and watch Bennington's every move for us, so we had to come up with another way to track his movements. Angela and I thought that Gamma team would be the perfect squad to send for forward recon, especially because none of them had been seen in public yet. Scott and Storm thought otherwise.

"If you won't let us help you, why should we let you send those children out into the field before they're ready?" Storm was arguing with me, pretty much nose to nose. She's the only other woman besides Angela and Rogue who's never been even a little afraid of me.

"We ain't sendin' them into the field." I argued back. "We're sendin' them to the nation's capitol with cameras an' a perfectly capable teacher on a field trip. If they happen to get some shots of Bennington or some air ducts, it's even better."

"What makes you think he won't recognize any of them?" Scott asked, always on the defensive. "He seemed to know an awful lot about us."

"It don't matter. We're allowed to do field trips. Everyone else does 'em. Now, if he saw me an' Angela in charge of 'em, he might get suspicious. But Sam? Not a chance."

"It's still a terrible risk to take with them. What if something goes wrong?"

"Scott, you can't protect them forever." Angela said and I could hear how frustrated she was. "And these kids want to help. Seriously, no one is going to look at a bunch of kids from a prep school on field trip to DC. They'll be half a dozen teenagers amongst thousands just like them. And they'll only be gone for two days."

"Why can't you send someone from Beta team? Or hell, even a couple more of us with Sam?"

"We don't want 'em to draw too much attention, Cyke." I snapped. "Six kids only need one person to look out for 'em."

"I don't understand why you want to send the kids when you have three other teams of perfectly capable adults." Storm said.

Angela rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. "We've been over this, 'Ro. All the other teams are trained to work as a team and when you get them in the field, they fall into that pattern. When we're in combat or rescue, that's perfect. Gamma team is still trying to prove they have what it takes to be ON a team, they haven't learned that dynamic yet. Besides, they'll just be doing recon, taking some pictures of the sights. We want them to act like kids on a field trip."

Storm threw up her hands. "I don't even know why we bother trying to argue with you two. Once you get your minds made up, there's no talking to either one of you."

"Damn straight." I said. "This is what we've been trained to do, darlin' an' we're very good at it. We wouldn't send 'em if we thought they couldn't handle it."

"And Sam will take good care of them." Angela added. "He can fly all of the jets and he's more than powerful enough to protect them. And it's not like they're completely helpless, you know. They have their own powers and they know how to use them."

"I just can't believe you're willing to throw these kids on the line in your little vendetta, Logan." Scott said. "It's misuse of your authority."

"Excuse me?" I shouted, leaping to my feet. "Would you rather we left the rest of that damned project out there to grab another person an' fuck 'em over like they did to us? Have you heard the way Jung screams in the middle o' the night?" One-Eye paled and swallowed hard. Of course he'd heard the screaming; everyone had. Hea just didn't say anything. Ever. Except to Kyro. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Maybe people ain't linin' up with torches to burn us all at the stake anymore, but there's still plenty o' people out there willin' to use us any way they can. I ain't havin' it."

"Me either." Angela said. "I think of those people getting a hold of Rahne, or Kyle, or Evie and…no, we won't stop, not until they're all dead."

Scott crossed the room and stood over my woman. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You think they're after your daughter."

"What the fuck does that matter, Summers? You got a problem with me trying to protect my family?" She took a step forward, her eyes hard. "Cuz if you do, then we have a very serious problem here."

"Scott, I think maybe you should back off." Storm whispered, eyes wide.

"Yeah Scott. Back off." Angela said. "I will do whatever I have to do to protect my family and I don't just mean Logan and Evie. But if you think I've gone too far, that's fine. I can take out these bastards without the resources here. I have the files, I have money and I have time. Say the word, we're outta here."

Scott looked from her to me and back again. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." I said, laying my arm across Angela's shoulders. "Don't get us wrong, we like it here. But this is somethin' we gotta do, not just for ourselves. If ya don't like it, we'll go and we'll find another way." Scott just looked at both of us before lowering his eyes to the ground with a sigh. He knew we were right, he just didn't like the part where we left him out of this particular loop. Too bad.

"All right." He said, backing off. "You win, again, as usual. I don't even know why the Professor keeps me in charge of the teams with you two around."

"Because you're a great leader for the normal missions." Angela said. "But this isn't a normal mission, none of these are or ever will be. And it gives you deniability in the end if you don't know more than you have to."

"Fine, send the kids on their fake field trip. But I swear, if any of them comes back with so much as a singed hair on their heads, you'll answer to me personally."

"Sure Cyke," I said with a smirk. "Whatever you say."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three days later, Sam returned with Gamma team from DC. Even though we'd sent them to do recon for us, Sam had treated it like a real field trip and given them a bit of a history lesson while he was there. I'm sure that Storm had probably had something to do with that, but I didn't care. They came back with some good pictures of the vents for the air system to the BCI offices. But the most important part was the fact that Specter had managed to plant a very small digital camera near the main entrance to the offices in the L'Enfant Plaza station. It only had enough battery for about three days, so we had to hope that we'd get our chance before it died. For once, we had a stroke of good luck.

Angela and I were sleeping soundly after a particularly vigorous bout of lovemaking. Our day had been filled with defense classes and Danger Room sessions, which always left us with extra reserves of energy that we liked to take out on each other. So once those reserves were exhausted, we slept much better for it and I for one really liked that. Since my memories had begun to come back all those years ago, I'd slept better but still not the greatest. I was still plagued by the occasional nightmare of the tank at Alkali Lake, but with far less frequency than before. It was much happier for both of us.

I had just started a really good dream involving me, my woman and a beach at sunset when the internal com started beeping in my ear. I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head, hoping it would stop but of course it didn't. I felt Angela reach over me to pick it up. She mumbled something that vaguely sounded like "whatthehellyouwant", then slammed the com down without another word. "Lover, it's time." She said.

I sat straight up. "He's outta there?"

She nodded. "Come on, we don't have much time."

We bolted out of bed and pulled on what clothes came to hand. I went down to the hangar to help Kyro with the jet while Angela went to get Rogue to watch over Evie while we were gone. She boarded the jet less than five minutes later.

Finding a secret place to land in the DC area would be all but impossible, so we shamelessly made use of our hard-won status as superheroes to simply land at the airport. When the authorities asked us what the problem was, we lied and told them we had received a report of a possible mutant attack at L'Enfant Plaza that was supposed to take place during the morning rush and we were simply there to confirm that before we deployed the rest of the team. They offered their assistance, like always, but we declined, like always. No sense in letting them know what we were really up to.

We had also brought our own transportation in the form of three of One-Eye's motorcycles. We told the local police to wait for our call, that we'd let them know first if there was any reason for alarm, then took off as fast as we could. I was still shaking my head in wonder at how easy it was to deceive them. I felt kind of bad, taking advantage of our superhero status, but we didn't have much choice. And I didn't feel bad about it for too long.

Once we got to the general area of the Washington Monument, we stashed the bikes and set out on foot. We had memorized the maps that Buzz had made that showed where the air vents were to the underground complex and we had agreed to use the one furthest from the main entrance. It was located at the far end of the mall, cleverly hidden among some evergreen bushes. We did a quick recon of the general area, looking for sensors or monitors, but there was nothing. Bennington was counting on the fact that no one even knew the place existed to keep the vulnerable points safe, his first mistake. I popped out my claws and carefully cut away some of the branches to expose the vent in the ground, then used them to pry away the grate. It was too dark to see very far down the shaft, so Angela elected to go first.

She eased herself down, tossing a wink up at me before she started her descent. After a few tense moments, she spoke over the com. "Ok boys, it's about thirty feet straight down. I don't suggest you jump."

"Copy that. Be there in a few." I replied, then turned to Kyro. "You wanna go next?"

He bowed. "But of course, Wolverine." I watched as the darkness swallowed him, then waited a few seconds before going in myself. I replaced the grate as well as I could behind me, then started my climb down. Naturally, the sides were smooth metal, so I had to slide down by sheer strength, pressing my hands and feet in front of me. It still didn't take long before I made it to the bottom.

It was pitch black at the bottom of the airshaft, but that didn't matter so much. I could navigate just fine with my nose and since I knew Bennington's scent, I wasn't worried. The duct we were in led us about forty feet before we came to the vent we needed. According to the schematics Buzz had found, we were right above a tunnel that gave access to the phone and electrical wires for the BCI office. We were also directly below the reflecting pool at the base of the Monument, which gave me some idea of how far we had to go before we'd find a way into the actual complex. Dim yellow lights were spaced about twenty feet apart down the length of the tunnel, giving us just enough illumination to see exactly where we were. We set off silently towards our goal.

We encountered nothing but the occasional rat as we slipped through the tunnel. About ten minutes later, we came across the door that would lead to the main sub-basement of the complex, which was made of thick steel and obviously locked. I popped a claw and jammed it between the door and the frame, pulling down hard and slicing through the bolts like they were paper. We waited a moment for any indication that a security system had picked this up, but nothing happened. I eased the door open and still nothing happened. I waved the others inside ahead of me and closed the door. We were in.

From that point on, we were flying blind. We had a general sense of the layout thanks to the power and water schematics, but nothing really specific to tell us where Bennington's office was. The room we were currently standing in seemed to be used for storage, old office equipment stacked along the walls. I covered the door we'd come through while Angela and Kyro set off in search of another exit. A few seconds later, Kyro whispered over the com that he'd found it. I waited for Angela to pass me before leaving my position to follow her.

Kyro stood before a plain wooden door, much like any other door in any basement in a normal office building. We stood there for a moment, listening for any activity on the other side, but there was nothing. Again, I went first, turning the knob slowly and easing the door open. I caught the scents of many people, but they were old and no one had been in this part of the sub-basement for a few weeks at least. I stepped into the hallway and the others followed me, closing the door behind us. Low-watt bulbs hung from the ceiling, a few of them burned out, leaving deep pools of shadow along the walls but I didn't worry about them. We were very much alone down there. Perfect.

We set off down the hallway, pausing only to listen at various doors and check out the rooms for anything of interest. Angela was hoping to find a file room or archive of some sort down here, but I believed that it was more likely to be found in the main complex above rather than down here. Something like that would need to be secure if not physically guarded, so having it where Bennington could keep some sort of eye on it made more sense to me. Fifteen minutes after we'd stepped into this hallway, she finally agreed that I might just be right. Women.

At the far end of the hallway, we came across both the elevator and the stairs that led to the main part of the complex. Obviously, we took the stairs because we didn't want to alert anyone who might still be working in here to our presence, not to mention the part where we were committing felony trespassing in a government facility. I checked the door over for any kind of alarms, but since this was an internal stairwell and not an emergency exit, there was nothing. The door was unlocked, so I opened it carefully and waved the others inside ahead of me.

There were helpful signs on each landing, indicating where we were in the complex, so we safely ignored the next floor up, which was simply called "Sub-Basement Level One". Above that we came to "Bureau for Constitutional Integrity, Main Offices". Kyro shifted into his half-panther form, which gave him the best hearing out of any of us and listened at the door. A few seconds later, he gave us a nod and tried the door handle. It turned easily, so he carefully opened the door and peeked out, then slipped through into the main offices. Angela followed him with me right behind her and the door swung closed with an almost inaudible click. Now the real fun could begin.

The hall we were in was short, no more than twelve feet. I smiled as I thought about an op Angela and I had gone on in our previous life together, when we'd had to infiltrate a top-secret base in China. It too had been hidden deep underground, beneath a harmless-looking garment factory. The factory itself was a front, even though it employed hundred of legitimate workers. Thirty feet below the surface was the real purpose, a lab thought to be used in the development of chemical and biological weapons. What we hadn't known at the time (and didn't discover until much later, when Bennington handed us the Weapon X file) was that it was another Weapon X facility. So yeah, I suppose it could be said that it was used to develop biological weapons. Our job back then had been to retrieve some computer files and to kill the project leader. Angela had been in a truly foul mood that night and had requested the assassination part of the mission, leaving me to retrieve the files Stryker had wanted. The BCI offices reminded me of that base in one very important way. Since no one knew they were there except the people who worked there, internal security was pretty much non-existent. The heavily guarded places were the main entrances. Once you were inside, people just assumed you belonged there. I'm sure they used some kind of key cards or ID badges as well, but at this time of night there was no one to challenge our presence or demand to see our badges. The arrogance of government agencies will never cease to amaze me.

We paused in the hallway and I took a moment to breathe in the different scents that lingered in the air. The complex itself was spread out over an area equal to a couple city blocks, so we'd decided earlier that I would try to sniff out Bennington's office while Angela and Kyro went in search of the archives. With a couple hundred years worth of files, it was safe to assume that most of them were on computer. But if this was like any other intelligence agency, they would have plenty on hard copy too and that's what we were after. After a moment, I parsed out Bennington's scent and opened my eyes. The three of us leaned in close to each other and spoke in harsh whispers.

"I'm gonna find his office an' see what's there." I said. "This place is pretty huge, so if you don't find what we're lookin' for in twenty minutes, come back here an' wait unless one of us asks for an assist. Questions?"

"What should we do if we run into someone?" Kyro asked.

"Disable 'em but don't kill 'em. We ain't here on revenge today, even if this guy is the leak. We'll worry 'bout that later, if we have to." He nodded and I looked at the two of them again, but neither one had anything else to ask. I gave Angela a quick kiss and the three of us set off on our tasks.

I prowled quickly through the dimly lit halls, following the scent through the complex. Bennington didn't seem to be the kind of guy who stayed in his office and ruled this bureau from on high, which made my job a bit easier. As I wound through the cubicles and past meeting rooms, his scent grew stronger and I knew I was on the right track. I finally came to where the cubicles gave way to regular offices again and smiled. I slipped down the hallway and ignored the doors to either side in favor of the double doors at the end. Sure enough, a brass plate imprinted with his name hung in the center of the right hand door. I paused for a moment to listen, making sure there was no one in there before trying the knob. The door swung open easily and I slipped inside.

There was a small lamp burning on the desk, a kind of night-light I'm sure. The first thing I noticed was the huge window behind the massive desk. I cocked my head in confusion for a second. Why would there be windows in an underground complex? A heartbeat later, I all but smacked myself. Even normal people don't like to be cooped up in a box all day; they like to be able to see outside whenever they want. I crept closer to the desk and noticed fake trees and a cleverly painted backdrop on the other side of the glass. I was even willing to bet that there was a full-spectrum light fixed in there to mimic sunlight during his office hours. I shook my head and turned from the artificial scene to the desk.

It was just like any other executive desk, except this one was covered with papers and files in neat stacks. Whatever else he might be, Bennington was still a hands-on kind of guy. I'm sure he had other people who took care of the day-to-day stuff, but there would be certain things he considered too sensitive to trust to an underling, no matter how much he trusted the person. Take the X-Men, for example. His bureau had known about us for much longer than he'd been personally overseeing our operation. Hell, he probably employed the same techniques for gathering intelligence on us that we used ourselves, like high-res satellite surveillance, the occasional live recon teams and, of course, hacking into computers. Of course, we had at least one computer that hadn't been hacked and another that couldn't be hacked, since it was never connected to the outside world. I hoped that we would never lose Buzz to this guy, even if he turned out to be just what he appeared to be.

I rifled through the papers on the desk, but nothing leapt out at me immediately. I glanced down at my watch, saw that I still had plenty of time and turned my search to a series of tall cabinets that were to the left of the desk. These were locked, so I popped a claw and worked it into the crack between the doors until I felt the lock give way. I sheathed the blade and eased the door open a crack, then let it swing the rest of the way on its own. I cursed softly under my breath when I saw the hundreds of hard copy files resting neatly in the roll out shelves. I checked my watch again and sighed. I didn't have time to look through them all, so I pulled out the bottom shelf and started looking for anything marked "Weapon X". About two-thirds of the way through the row, I hit pay dirt and pulled the file out.

I set the file down and started looking through it, but it didn't seem to have anything in it that wasn't also in the file we had back at the mansion. I had just replaced it and started to look for anything on the three of us or Stryker when I heard a faint sound in the hallway outside. I looked around for a place to hide and spied a door in the corner. I quietly closed the file cabinet and slipped into what turned out to be a private washroom. I left the door open a crack, which gave me a pretty good view of the office and waited. A few seconds later, a figure that was not Kyro, Angela or Bennington came into view.

He was a little under six feet tall and wide through the shoulders, yet he moved almost as silently as I could. He didn't bother to look around to see if there was anyone else in the office with him, since the place was supposed to be deserted. However, he did move directly over to Bennington's desk and started going through the stuff there much as I had. After about a minute, he turned to the same cabinet I'd just broken into and started working on the lock. Of course, he had no way of knowing it was already seriously broken, but he didn't seem to notice the difference and swung the doors open after a few seconds. He pulled out the top drawer and started skimming the files, pulling one out here and there before replacing them. I eased the washroom door open and crept across the room, coming up behind him just as he started to turn with a file in his hand. I grabbed him from behind, wrenching his arm behind his back and grabbed his throat with my free hand. "Whatcha doin', bub?" I growled.

He surprised me when he tried to fight. He brought his head back hard, smacking me right in the nose and I heard a crack as the cartilage broke. I growled louder, beating back the animal in my head that wanted nothing more than to gut this asshole and spit on the corpse, but I needed information more than I needed to kill this guy. I spun him around, shoved him back into the open cabinet and held him there by the throat as I popped the claws on my other hand. His eyes widened in shock and he whispered a single word. "Wolverine."

"Ah, I see my reputation precedes me. Good." I replied. I shook my head a bit as my nose righted itself, then glanced down at the floor to the file that he'd dropped when I grabbed him, but the light was too dim for me to make out more than "eyes only" written on the front. I looked back into his eyes with a scowl. "Wanna tell me what the hell you think you're doin'?"

"I could ask the same of you." He hissed. "Last time I checked, you didn't have the clearance to get into this place."

"I got all the clearance I need right here." I gestured with my claws. "So, we were right an' there is a mole in this place. Wonder what ol' Bennington'll think o' that."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I knew he was lying; even half broken, the nose is never wrong. "Try again pal." I retracted my claws and tapped my earpiece. "Hellcat, Totem, I found the rodent. Find Bennington's office an' meet me there."

I heard them both say "affirmative" even as the guy in front of me grew pale. He swallowed hard. "They're here? With you, right now?"

"What, you think I'd leave the other two people that Stryker screwed over outta this? You people gettin' dumber or what?" We stood there like that for a few minutes until the others came bursting into the office. They both looked ready for a fight, but relaxed when they saw I had the guy under control for the moment. "Hellcat, find somethin' to tie this guy up with, would ya?" She nodded once and looked around, then finally settled on the tiebacks for the curtains on the fake window. I whipped this guy around again and tied his hands behind his back, then used the other one on his feet before shoving him into the chair behind the desk. He glared at me angrily and I just smiled. I scooped up the file and looked at it more closely. Besides "eyes only", the only other thing written on the front were the words "Department K". I scowled at the guy again before handing the file off to Kyro. "So, who the fuck are you an' what are you doin' here?"

"I have nothing to say to you, freak!" He spat even as he struggled against his bonds.

"Oh yeah?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Since you seem to know who we are, I'm guessin' that means ya know somethin' of our history. So how 'bout you just answer me, or I'll let Hellcat loose on ya." I smirked as his eyes grew wider. "Yeah, you know how much she loves to play."

"Like a cat with a mouse." She hissed, moving next to me. "Or a mole, as it stands." She slid her claws out and ran them gently down his cheek in a gesture that was almost intimate, then leaned in close to him. "I'm sure you'll scream just as pretty as the rest of them." She whispered.

"No! Please, don't." He begged and she backed off, crossing her arms. "I-I do know all about you. But I swear, I didn't have a choice!"

"Talk." I said, but he just glared at me again and I sighed. "Fine, have it your way. Hellcat?"

Angela smiled, but before she could lay even one claw on him, Kyro cleared his throat. We all turned to look at him. "I have a thought," he began, "that perhaps it would be better if we brought in a…higher authority?"

"Dahell you talkin' 'bout Totem?" I snapped.

"It occurs to me that his boss might be interested to know that one of his own has betrayed him."

Angela frowned. "Totem, you do realize that we're breaking about a gazillion laws just being here, right?"

"Yes, I know that. But Mr. Bennington also knows that we mean him and this country no harm. I think he would be kind enough to look the other way."

I crossed my arms and thought about it for a minute. Totem was right, after all. Now that we knew Bennington wasn't a threat and never had been, we wouldn't hurt him. And we had found out that there was a leak, even if it wasn't a public one. I looked over to Angela, "Hellcat…" I began but she cut me off.

"Hell no, Wolverine. This asshole is the only link we have to whoever this 'Director' is. I am not letting him go until we know what he knows!"

"I ain't suggestin' we do that!" I said. "But Totem's right, Bennington ain't gonna do anythin' to us for bein' here. An' I'll bet he can get all the info we want outta this guy without gettin' blood on the carpet."

"Since when are you so concerned about that?"

"Don't worry darlin'. I'm sure this guy won't live to see tomorrow anyway. Call Bennington."

She scowled at me, but reached over and picked up the phone. After a few moments of pushing buttons, she finally found a directory that gave all the numbers for everyone who worked here, then dialed his cell number. After a short pause, she spoke. "Bennington, it's Hellcat. Come to your office, we have something to show you." She replaced the phone on the cradle and crossed her arms. "I hope you're right, Wolverine. I'd hate for our daughter to grow up without parents."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Forty minutes later, we caught the sound of footsteps approaching the office doors. We were immediately on guard, not sure if he'd come alone or not, but as the sound came closer, the only scent I could detect was Bennington's, so I relaxed and the others followed suit. A few seconds later, he stepped into the office and stopped short when he saw the scene in front of him. He closed the door behind him and looked at me with a smirk. "Well, you certainly took your time." He said with a touch of irony.

I raised an eyebrow. "Whattaya mean by that?"

"Honestly? I expected you three a long time ago." He touched a control on the wall next to him and the overhead lights came on. Squinting against the sudden brightness, I watched as he crossed over to where we were all standing, the mole still tied up in the oversized executive chair behind the desk. "So, would you like to explain to me why you are holding Mr. Maxwell hostage in my office?"

Without a word, Kyro slapped the Department K file down on the desk, took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. Bennington picked it up and began to leaf through it, a frown on his face. "Wolverine caught this man going through your files." Kyro said, his face serene.

"And what was Mr…Wolverine doing in here in the first place?"

"Dahell you think I was doin'?" I snapped. "Goin' through your files. 'Cept I wasn't here to steal anythin'."

"Then why are you here?"

Angela sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "As I'm sure you'll remember, you once gave us a set of keys to certain facilities spread over the globe that might be of interest to us." She said and Bennington nodded, understanding her coded words. "Well, over the past several years, we have…visited those places and we keep coming up with one person who is directly responsible for what happened to us. Unfortunately, the only name this person has is 'The Director'." Mr. Maxwell gasped and we all looked at him. He was struggling against the ropes holding him, so I popped my claws and pointed them at his face; he stopped. Angela scowled at him and went on. "So, we figured that someone was keeping his real identity away from everyone - even you - since his name wasn't included with the keys you gave us. To be perfectly honest, I thought it might have been you."

"Me? You thought that I would do such a thing? That's absurd!" He came around the desk and stood in front of Maxwell. "However, by your reaction to her statement, I'm assuming that you are the one that's kept the name of this 'Director' out of my files?"

"Screw you Bennington, you mutie piece of trash!" He spat. "A freak like you shouldn't be in charge of this place! A true American should be sitting in this chair, not you!"

"A true American?" Bennington said and his voice was as cold as ice. "You think I am not a true American? I fought alongside George Washington himself to ensure our independence! Pray, what have you done for your country, other than commit treason?"

"I've never betrayed America!"

"By coming in here and altering documents that contain information vital to upholding the integrity of the Constitution, you did just that. Or did you never read your contract before you signed it to work here?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Glock. "Do you know what the penalty is for treason? Death by firing squad and I have been on every firing squad since the beginning." He thumbed the safety and chambered a round. "Sometimes, I have been the firing squad. My authority in this office is absolute, my decisions questioned by no one." He pressed the gun to Maxwell's forehead. "Who is this 'Director'?"

"Why should I tell you? I'm a dead man either way, right?"

"True. But would you rather go down in history as a traitor or simply as another unsolved homicide in this city? A 'John Doe', no less."

They stared each other down for a tense moment, then Maxwell finally gave up the name he'd been carefully purging from the records for the past twenty years. Angela hissed in fury when she heard the name, Kyro shifted back into his half-panther form and I narrowed my eyes and felt the animal raging inside me. A few seconds later, Bennington pulled the trigger and calmly replaced the gun inside his jacket.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now, I believe the three of you have work to do. I'll leave him to you."

AN: Not nearly as helpful as they'd hoped, but at least they know who it is now, right? But you all will just have to wait four days to find out...:) Special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, for everything they've done and continue to do...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) for being my number one most annoying fan (and i mean that in the best possible way!)...Super Special thanks to the readers, who are still reading so i guess that means you still like it...and Super Swanky Special thanks to my reviewers, who were taigh01, reeltreble1031, levanna, theNightEnchantress and sela103...taigh - This story is complete, i'm just evil and make you all wait for updates...:) And i can't kill a main character anyway, otherwise there wouldn't be a sequel...but the angst is there, you just have to be patient...:) reeltreble - glad you're having fun with NaNo! My story is...well, it's there...as for Hea and Jung, they're power freaked right now, but they will be mentioned from time to time in this story, but won't be major characters at this time...theNightEnchantress - aw stop, you're making me blush! (grin) And you can blame my muse for making me finish...she's pretty insistent when she thinks i'm talking to other muses (like my NaNoWriMo muse) and i'm pretty sure she kicked the other muse's ass and left her for dead somewhere...:) levanna - I'm glad you love Evie! In the spirit of "write what you know", she's actually loosely based on a combo of my own daughter at that age and my niece...as for wedding bells, you DO remember the part where they keep saying they have neither the need nor the desire to do that, right? sela - I thought i told you before that school is more important than my story anyway! (heh...yeah, i'm a mom, just listen to me!)...hope you did all right on the test! Glad to see you back...and it's not "bad guy" it's "bad men"...but if you read between the lines a bit, it's obvious who they are...:)

Now, all you readers out there that haven't reviewed, why not try it now? I mean, i'm getting hits, so i know you're out there...so why not drop in and just say hello? I promise, i'll post a new chapter right away as a means of saying thank you:)