Tinker,tailor

by eponay

Charles and Erik work in England as the heads of MI6. Shaw and Stryker have sworn their loyalty in the interests of the nation. While over in Russia the newly formed brotherhood is seeking to expand its reach, to do so they need a mole. As everything falls apart, Charles searches for the traitor, he turns to the only person he can trust, Raven. cherik. Ensemble. other cameos.

2. Chapter 2

XxX Alignment XxX

1963 Tuesday. The Circus

She passed under the imposing Georgian facade with its tall, plain Roman columns and white tableaued pediment. No one in the neighborhood knew the true purpose of the imperial building, or what the plainly dressed people, who came and went did. A government office most would guess no harm in that and most people who crossed the square were too busy to care, but there were whispers, stories and rumors. Beneath the huge statue to the angel Anteros, an old woman black hair watched, as she had for years. Raven barely noticed her; and she would not have noticed the other tramp stooped beside her, except that he whistled cheerfully to himself. Raven smiled to herself, the tramp had been whistling the 'Hippie Hippie Shake' as she passed by and entered the government building.

She breezed through the great over done lobby of the Circus, heels clacking on the marble floor, dressed in the most uninteresting clothes she could find, a dull camel skirt that came down below her knees paired with a plain white top. Raven had a meeting today in the brown room, but first she had typing to do, a favor to Angel who was late. She hoped the day would be as mundane as her clothes. She took her seat with the other women and began to type.

They were all women in the typing pool, not a single exception, a cage of metal and paper. The two doors at the end stood closed, the rooms behind empty, side by side one door for Charles 'Head of Recruitment', one for Erik 'Service Director', they were closed and silent. A warning. With each clack of the typewriter she thought, want to betray your country? Clack. Want to leave the cage little bird? Clack, I didn't want to ask you this? Clack.

"Raven, why you're late for the meeting, I am sure Angel can catch up on her typing later, mmm?" She jumped. Fuck. Shaw smiled, "I didn't mean to startle you Raven, is there something you'd like to tell me? Not a lover's tiff I hope?" He grinned, offering his arm as if for a dance, Angel stood a little sheepishly behind him. Raven stood and took Shaw's arm her smiled wobbled a just a bit. Want to betray your country? Xavier's voice whispered to her.

XxX The meeting XxX

Raven sat at the polished wooden oval table. The table matched the fake wood veneered panels on the wall that gave the room its name. Fake was the latest trend. Sean sat next to her, Stryker and Shaw on the other side, Sean Alex, and Angel at either end. Raven watched Hank. He looked straight through her, without a blink. Raven never thought Hank could do that. Not to her. Charles and Erik were gone. She was alone.

And the table was headed by monsters. Shaw smiled at her, welcoming her to the table. Her skin crawled. She smiled back. Stryker didn't smile at all. "Shall we get down to business? Parliament has given us permission to begin sharing information with the Americans. I've made contact with an American, a Captain Rogers they would like to share in our intelligence."

"Alex, I believe you have your report to present."

Alex, adjusted his thin red tie, awkward in a suit, cleared his throat, before beginning his report on Captain Rogers. Sean shot him a look of confidence.

Raven should have known the day would not be ordinary; this was the seat of power for MI6. This was the Circus and they all had games to play.