Alex wandered the city for another few days taking in the sights and just generally being a tourist. He had been to New York before, but it was always a brief stop. This was the first time he'd really been able to get lost in the city and absorb it. He liked to do that whenever he had time to, just experience what a given place has to offer for however long he was there. There was still around forty thousand left in his bank account from his last trip to Vegas, so he had the luxury of staying a few months if he felt like it this time.

There were a few places across the country where he'd made real friends and he liked to swing by and visit them from time to time. Like his frequent stops in New Orleans to hang out with Remy. Sometimes he'd swing up through Oklahoma to see the Guthrie kids, Sam and Paige. When he really thought about it, Alex realized that most of the people he'd made friends with were mutants like him. Weird.

Alex was still very much growing into his powers. They had fully manifested years after they should have. Doctor McCoy's theory was that his powers had awakened at a much lower level when he hit puberty. He had become uncannily good at reading people and knowing when they were upset but trying to hide it, which was the primary reason he had decided to become a therapist. The head trauma he had suffered in the car accident had killed his brain, for all intents and purposes. Since his body had been kept alive his brain had spent seven months rewiring its neural pathways to avoid the damage that had been done. In doing so it had to utilize more of the area that governed the use of his mutant abilities, which awakened them in a heightened state. His brain had essentially...rebooted. It shouldn't have been possible, but yet it had happened. However, it had the unfortunate side effect that a lot of his memories from before the accident were just gone.

Arriving back at the Paramount where he was staying, Alex was surprised to see a certain trenchcoat-clad Cajun leaning against the wall outside the entrance. It was a bright day, so Remy's mirrored sunglasses didn't look as out of place as the trenchcoat he was wearing in May. He had to be careful when he was out in public because his eyes were a dead giveaway that he was a mutant. They were solid black, with red irises that glowed slightly when he used his power.

"Tantrum, bout time you showed up." Remy drawled at him, "Gambit been standin' here two hours now."

"What the hell are you doing here, Remy?" Alex asked him, "Last I heard you were still in Louisiana."

"De Professor called me in, 'ad Cyclops pick me up in de Blackbird." his friend replied, "He heard about your job offer. Wants ta see ya before ya accept it. Figured Gambit 'ad de best chance o' talkin' ya into it."

"Why did he think you'd have the best chance?"

"You wound Gambit, mon ami." Remy said in an offended tone, "I t'ought we was friends."

Alex could feel the amusement bubbling under Remy's blatantly false indignance. He had started doing that shortly after he learned that Alex could feel other people's emotions, making fun of Alex and letting him feel the amusement coming from him. It was like Remy was laughing at him with no one else the wiser.

"Yeah, we're friends." Alex said with a laugh, "Ride or die, buddy."

"Dat's more like it." the Cajun said with a grin.

"It's what, a three hour drive to the Institute from here?"

"De Professor inside." Remy told him, more seriously than before, "Gambit don' think 'e was gonna take no for an answer."

"Well, let's see what Chuck wants then."

"Gambit got a hundred dollars dat says you won't call de Professor 'Chuck' to 'is face."

"You're on."

When they walked inside Alex quickly spotted the red-haired woman standing outside one of the conference room doors. She spotted him at the same time and he felt a slight tickle in his brain.

'Hi, Alex.' Jean projected into his mind, 'Good to see you. It's been a while."

'Hey, Jean.' he responded the same way, 'How are things at the Institute?'

"They're fine." Jean said verbally as they got within earshot. A man standing nearby shot them a strange look.

"So what's going on?" Alex asked, "Remy said the Professor wanted to see me."

"He'll explain inside." she answered.

Saying that, Jean opened the door and walked inside, beckoning for Alex and Remy to follow her. When they got inside the room Alex saw the Professor, Scott, and surprisingly, Logan all sitting around a table in the center of the room.

"Hey, Chuck." Alex said in greeting, "How's it going?"

Next to him, Alex could feel Remy trying not to laugh. He also felt the amusement of Jean and Logan. Scott radiated slight disapproval but didn't say anything. Surprisingly, he also picked up slight amusement from the Professor himself, though his face remained stoic. After a few awkward seconds Remy lost his composure and broke out in gales of laughter, holding his stomach. After he pulled himself together he reached into one of the many pockets of his coat and pulled out a hundred dollar bill to hand to Alex.

"I see Gambit still hasn't broken his habit of making unwise bets." Xavier said with some amusement coloring his words.

As Remy handed the money over Alex felt Scott shift from disapproval to mild amusement. He'd thought calling the Professor 'Chuck' was disrespectful, but once he realized Remy had put him up to it he saw the humor in it.

"So what are you doing here, Charles?" Alex asked the telepath, "All Remy would say is you wanted to see me."

"Yes." Xavier said, "You were approached by a SHIELD agent and offered a position with them. The nature of the agent who made the offer concerns me somewhat."

"Agent Romanoff?" Alex inquired, "She seemed okay to me."

"Her past is questionable." Xavier explained, "And she is not well liked within SHIELD itself. The Black Widow is a highly skilled manipulator, while not having any of the advantages of myself, Jean, or even you. I am well aware you can detect when someone is being deceptive. However, if there is anyone who can deceive someone by telling the truth, it is Natasha Romanoff."

"You say that like you know her personally."

"We are...acquainted." Xavier said, "Several years ago Agent Phil Coulson requested my assistance with a young girl that had recently come into their care. He explained that she had defected from the KGB and had a disturbing amount of psychological conditioning implanted in her mind. SHIELD had reached the limits of what they could do without damaging her mind further, and Agent Coulson asked me to go deeper and eliminate what I could without harming her. I agreed."

"Sounds like someone owes you a favor then."

"On the contrary." the Professor said with a quiet chuckle, "It was merely part of our arrangement. SHIELD assists us by directing mutants to us and occasionally going in to retrieve those out of our reach. In return, we offer the services of some of our graduates, provided they are willing. Sean and Betsy joined SHIELD shortly after Agent Romanoff's defection, and Jamie Madrox followed soon after."

"I worked with 'em a few times, too." Logan interjected, "Their STRIKE teams know their business. They started out as just a group o' spies workin' outta an old bunker. Asked me to join back then, but I didn't want any part o' it. Peggy got real driven after Steve went into the ice."

"Steve?" Alex asked curiously.

"Steve Rogers." Logan said, looking at him like he was an idiot, "Y'know, Captain America? Didn't you pay attention in history class?"

"Honestly, I thought he was just propaganda."

"They made up a bunch o' stuff about him to sell comic books." the surly Canadian said dismissively, "But he was a real person. Stand up guy, risked his life for me in a firefight once. I'da been fine, but he didn't know that."

"As I'm sure you've deduced." Xavier said, "I asked Logan to be here because he's the only person on staff not currently working with SHIELD who has firsthand experience with them. He has some concerns that I felt you should be made aware of."

"SHIELD ain't like the other agencies." Logan began, "They don't play by the same rules, and they pretty much ignore international laws with what they do. The whole operation's off the books and they don't answer to the U.S. government, even though they're based here. There's a council of people from different countries that Nick answers to, but other than that he has the authority to do pretty much whatever he thinks needs to be done."

"One man has that much power?" Alex asked, "That seems a little...dangerous."

"We agree with that assessment, Alex." Jean put in, "Sean, Betsy, and Jamie aren't just working for SHIELD. They're keeping an eye on what's going on from the inside and reporting to myself and Charles. Director Fury is clean, we're not worried about him. But there's evidence that something else is going on. If SHIELD is compromised, that's a problem. Not just for us, but for everyone."

"So you're spying on the spies?" Alex asked with a smirk.

"Essentially." Xavier confirmed, "Some of the missions Betsy was sent on didn't mesh very well with what we know of Director Fury's goals. We want to know why. SHIELD knows more about mutants than any other organization on Earth. If there is a splinter group within that the Director isn't aware of they could pose a significant threat to us."

"So where do I come in?" Alex wondered.

"So far our attempts to determine Agent Romanoff's loyalties have come up empty." Jean explained,"Her partner is a good agent, and loyal to SHIELD as far as we can tell. But with her history, it is entirely possible Romanoff could be a double agent. It wouldn't be the first time a supposed defection was a cover to get someone inside an enemy group. Since she approached you with a recruitment offer, you're already closer to her than any of our people have managed to get. Sean is on speaking terms with her, but she does not trust him. From what we've managed to observe, Agent Barton is the only person she does trust. He is highly protective of her and they are rarely seen apart from each other."

"You couldn't tell when you were in her head?" Alex asked the Professor directly.

"If she was sent in as a sleeper agent, there could be programming implanted in her that is deeper than I was willing to go." he answered, "What they asked me to do was very delicate and ran the risk of doing severe harm to her mind if I delved too deeply. There is undoubtedly more in there that may never be removed completely. The people who did that to her were unspeakably cruel and did not care about the damage they were doing to her psyche. I do not believe her presence at SHIELD is a ruse, but I would like to be absolutely certain of that. She is a very deadly woman and I'd rather not take the risk that we might end up at odds with her."

"So my job is to get close to her...and then what?"

"Report any findings back to us." Scott spoke up for the first time, "Gambit will be your primary point of contact. Since SHIELD is aware that the two of you are good friends it won't raise suspicion if you call him from time to time. If you have information to pass on the code phrase will be 'Have you talked to Jean lately?'. Gambit will then contact Jean and she will contact you telepathically, which she can do from the Institute. As far as we know SHIELD does not have the means to detect telepathic communication."

"Seems like an awful lot of trouble for one woman." Alex pointed out, "Is that really all you want me to do?"

"No." Xavier said after a brief hesitation, "I would also like you to look into the suspicions we have of a splinter group within SHIELD, much like the others who are there. Carefully. Your abilities will give you an advantage that only Betsy can currently match. She spends most of her time in the field, while you will have at least several months of training at their base of operations before you will be sent out."

"I see." Alex mused, "So you think I should call Agent Romanoff and accept her offer."

"Indeed." Charles replied, "I believe Gambit said you planned on waiting a few days before you called? Tomorrow is Saturday, and it seems like as good a time as any to contact her."

"Consider it done, Professor." Alex assured him.

"Be exceptionally careful, Alex." he added, "If there is a group within SHIELD with ill intent you will be in a great deal of danger should they suspect your true reason for being there."

"If it's all de same to you, Professor," Remy said, "I t'ink Gambit gonna stick around for a few days. Don' t'ink Tantrum should go to any meetings wit dem by himself."

"I concur, Remy." Xavier agreed easily, "Thank you for volunteering. I'll see to it that we obtain a room for you before we depart."

"I'll cover it, Charles." Alex put in, "It would look strange if a reclusive billionaire paid for the room. SHIELD is almost definitely watching me. Me paying for a hotel room for someone they already know I'm friends with won't look as suspicious as you paying for it, even though they already know who you are and have a working relationship with you."

"Excellent point, Alex." Scott said. Alex briefly read his emotions and deduced that Scott was grudgingly impressed, "You seem to have a knack for the whole espionage thing."

"So what's my extraction plan if this goes tits up?" the empath asked.

"We send a team in to get you out." Jean explained, and then grinned, "Or maybe just Logan."

"That's a good plan." Alex replied with a laugh.

"We should get back to the Institute now." Charles said, "No one will remember we were here, but keeping our presence concealed is becoming taxing."

"I'll check in every two weeks or so whether I have any information or not." Alex added, "I'll make my calls as random as possible so it doesn't look like I'm checking in."

There was no response from any of them, but Scott did give him a serious nod before they filed out of the room.

"What the hell did I just get myself into, Remy?" he griped.

"I don' t'ink you meant to." his friend replied with a smirk, "But it sound to Gambit like you just agreed to spy on one o' de best spies in de business."

"Yeah, that's what I thought just happened." Alex said in a wry tone, "I thought you didn't want to tangle with Black Widow and Hawkeye?"

"Dat was for money, mon ami." the Cajun mutant answered with a meaningful look, "Dis is for a friend."

"Thanks, Remy." Alex said, a little touched by Remy's loyalty, "I guess I have a phone call to make."

He dialed the number he was given as they entered the elevator and lifted the phone to his ear. It rang for almost a full minute before it was answered.

"Romanoff."

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon for STRIKE Team Delta. Bravo and Echo were on call this week, so unless something came up that only they could handle they had the weekend free. Natasha was lounging on the love seat in the apartment she shared with Clint. Her legs were draped over the arm of the small couch while her head laid in the archer's lap. Clint was absent-mindedly playing with a lock of her hair while they watched a home improvemement show on TV.

The assumption that they were lovers would be reasonable if you based it on how they acted when they were alone. It would also be incorrect. Clint was almost a decade older than Natasha and had first met her when she was still a teenager, so he thought of her more like an obnoxious little sister than anything else. Clint was also happily married to a former SHIELD agent, which was only known to a few people. Since they were trying to keep that fact a secret, neither of them did anything to discourage the rumors that they were sleeping together. It made sure the women who were interested in Clint kept their distance because they were terrified of Natasha and didn't want to cross her. And it kept the people who hated her from being outright assholes, because the lengths Clint would go to in getting even with the people who pissed him off were legendary.

Since Natasha had defected almost four years earlier almost no one had even tried to make friends with her. People kept their distance and only interacted with her if they absolutely had to. After the one time she had a flashback on the firing range a lot of people viewed her as a time bomb, and they were just waiting for her to detonate. It didn't help matters that she was cold and aloof with people who hadn't earned her trust, resulting in some people sarcastically calling her the Ice Queen. She could be warm and friendly as part of a cover, but she saw no reason to put in the effort on base. They didn't like her anyway, and fake friendliness wasn't going to change that.

They had chosen to live together for expediency. If Delta was called up for a mission it just made sense if they were in the same place most of the time. It was also because Natasha was prone to nightmares and Clint's voice was the only thing she'd respond to if she was stuck in one. If she didn't recognize the person talking to her she tended to get violent, and her one and only roommate other than Clint had immediately requested a transfer after getting her nose broken.

Natasha had been on a rare date the night before and had returned home before ten. She'd told Clint with a disgusted expression that her date had started trying to grope her under the table before they had even gotten their appetizers, so she'd walked out on him and had a few drinks at the bar down the street before heading back. She had fended off advances there from at least a dozen guys, and for good measure she had also beat the crap out of the guy she caught trying to roofie his date.

When the show came to an end Clint tickled Nat's nose with a lock of her own hair and waited for the retaliation. He regretted his decision immediately when she lifted her head and adjusted minutely before letting it drop onto his crotch. She was uncannily good at applying the exact amount of force needed to make it uncomfortable without crossing into painful.

"Ouch." Clint wheezed, "Brat."

The redhead just stuck her tongue out at him.

"What are you, twelve?" he griped. Then he added in a teasing tone, "So, tell me about the guy you gave your number to the other day."

"It's not like that. Jackass." Natasha told him with a mock glare, "I thought he'd be a good fit for SHIELD."

"You didn't explain why though."

"It was in the report." she told him, "Didn't you read it?"

"Do I ever?" Clint shot back.

"He's an Enhanced." the spy explained, "A teek, actually."

"Teek?" he asked, confused.

"Sorry, that's what Cassidy calls it." Nat clarified, "He's telekinetic. Apparently it's one of the more common mutant powers out there. Sean knows like three others. He's got something else going on too."

"How so?"

"He clocked me lying about my name and called me on it." she said, "Apparently he has some sort of ability that tells him when people are lying. Not sure what it is, he was pretty evasive when I asked."

"Can't say I blame him there." Clint mused, "A lot of people out there hate mutants, so if he is one he'd be guarded about what he tells people."

"That's fair." Nat allowed.

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing in Natasha's bedroom. She instantly hopped to her feet and headed that direction to see which of her four burner phones it was. When she narrowed it down she was startled to see it was the one with the number she'd given to Alex a few days ago. He was the only person she had given that number to so far, so chances were it was him.

She took a deep breath and answered it, "Romanoff."

"Hey." came Alex's voice from the other end of the line, "You gave me this number the other day. I figured you'd be too busy to answer it right then so I waited before I called. Hope it's not a bad time."

"No, you're good." she replied, "You interested in the offer?"

"Against my better judgement, yes." Alex said, "I did some asking around after we met the other day and I think I could live with working for SHIELD. My friend in New Orleans apparently knows a few of your co-workers. Specifically, Sean Cassidy and Betsy Braddock."

"Your friend, is his name Remy LeBeau by chance?" Natasha asked curiously.

"He'd be pissed if he knew I told you that, but yes."

"Sean warned me about him." she said with a light chuckle, "Said he'll hit on anything with a pair of tits and comes across as arrogant even though he really isn't."

"Yeah, that's Remy alright." Alex confirmed. Natasha heard the muffled sound of someone being slapped and a snicker from Alex, "So, where do I go to sign up?"

"You're kind of a special case." Natasha told him, "All Enhanced are where SHIELD is concerned. There's a couple people I want you to meet first. I've never recruited anyone myself before, so I'm not too clear on the protocols."

"Just tell me where to be and I'll be there."

Natasha quickly rattled off an address and a time for the next day. It was a warehouse in Hell's Kitchen they often used as a front for missions that required them to have a location to work from. The ceiling was nice and high with exposed rafters for Clint to hide in while she and Coulson talked to their potential recruit. That was how their dynamic worked, Natasha was the spy and much better at dealing with people. Clint was too blunt and the only time he had any patience is when he was in a sniper's nest. He also couldn't help but make smartass comments that never went over well in delicate negotiations. He had kicked off several firefights in the past because he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"That was the new recruit." she told her partner when she came out of her room, "He's interested. I told him to meet me tomorrow at the warehouse we use sometimes."

"How much do we trust him?" Clint asked immediately. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of Nat being face to face with an Enhanced they didn't know much about. She could handle anything a normal human could throw at her, but Enhanced were a different story. A lot of them could do things they had no defense against.

"Enough that I don't think it needs to be more than the three of us." Nat mused, "But not enough for me to go alone."

"That works." the archer replied, "Same place we usually use?"

"Yep. Ten tomorrow morning."

"Nice. You wanna hit the bar? I'm buying."

"Sure." Nat replied, "I'll go get changed."

She hopped up and walked towards her room before looking back at Clint critically, "You probably should too."

After Alex got off the phone with Agent Romanoff he decided to go check out the address she had given him. He wanted to have some idea of the layout of the building before he walked in there tomorrow. Remy decided to go with him and it took them almost an hour to find the place. Neither of them were at all surprised to find that it was a run-down warehouse. It still appeared structurally sound, though the faded yellow paint hinted at its age. Aside from the main entrance there were two side doors and a loading dock. The building appeared to be about four stories high, but it was hard to tell because the only windows were around the top just under the roof.

After checking to make sure no one could see him Alex lifted himself up to the windows to get a look inside. The warehouse was completely open, with only evenly spaced concrete pillars to break up the floorspace. Alex looked along the ceiling and saw the rafters hung low enough for an archer to position himself. Romanoff had said there were people she wanted him to meet, and it was all but guaranteed Hawkeye would be one of them. If he were in their shoes he'd want to have backup in position in case the meeting went sideways. So that meant he'd likely be meeting with Romanoff and someone else while Hawkeye watches their backs from the rafters.

Alex noticed the high tech security cameras immediately, and made a deliberate choice to not hide anything he was doing from them. If SHIELD was interested in recruiting him they shouldn't have a problem with him taking extra precautions.

Alex had what he needed for now, so he went back to his hotel room to prepare himself for tomorrow's meeting.

Before they left Natasha pulled out her laptop and logged into the security cameras placed around the building. They had gotten ready to go out already, she just wanted to verify that her hunch was correct before they left.

"A hundred bucks says he scouts the place tonight." she told her best friend.

"You're on." Clint responded, "You're just pissy because I won our last bet. All you had to do was restrain yourself for three more hours."

"Clint, he told me to service all his business partners or I'd be fired." she told him drily, "He deserved that beating."

"Never said he didn't." he shot back with a grin, "Besides, I'm five hundred dollars richer, so why would I complain?"

As they watched, a figure entered the view of the camera at the rear of the building.

"That's him." Natasha said smugly, holding her hand out.

Clint grumbled a little before pulling out his wallet and wordlessly handing over five twenty dollar bills.

Alex was doing all the things they'd expect a SHIELD agent to do when scouting a location. He made notes of all the entrances and approaches to the building. Both of the spies quickly noticed the man in the trench coat leaning against a wall in the background. He wore mirrored sunglasses even though the sun was going down and seemed far too alert to just be a random bystander.

"He brought backup." Natasha mused with her eyes locked on the screen, "Based on the description Sean gave me, that's probably Remy LeBeau. He's a mutant too, and apparently a friend of Alex's."

"Any idea what he can do?" Clint asked seriously. If there were going to be two Enhanced at the meeting he wanted to know everything he could learn about what they were capable of.

"Sean didn't go into detail." his partner answered, "But he said his powers involve charging objects with energy. He prefers playing cards for some reason, but Sean said anything inorganic will work. He throws them and they explode. Sean thinks he's more agile than normal too, and has seen him do things that an Olympic gymnast would hesitate to try. Safe bet that any acrobatic move we can pull off, he can too."

"Sounds like a handful if we get on his bad side." Clint said, "Think you can take him if you have to?"

He knew that of the two of them Natasha had a much better chance of winning a fight with someone whose agility could match or exceed hers. Clint could hold his own in a brawl with the best of them, Barney had taught him well. But he knew his partner was better and it wasn't even close.

"Maybe." she answered speculatively, "But I hope we don't have to find out."

Before Alex left he did something neither of them expected and levitated up to the window level to look inside the building.

"You didn't tell me he could do that." Clint noted drily.

"I...didn't know he could." came Nat's hesitant reply.

"I wonder what else he can do."

"Not sure." came the answer, "I know he can fling a grown man around pretty good, and I watched him break a guy's arm from about twenty feet away. And however it is he can tell when someone is lying. Everything else is speculation."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I know of." Nat told him, "He wasn't exactly forthcoming about it."

In the brief silence Clint took stock of his partner and catalogued all the things she was trying to hide. This guy made her nervous. She was trying really hard to not let him see it, but he had picked up on a couple tells she didn't realize she had. It spoke to how observant Clint was, and how well he knew her, that he spotted them at all. He had noticed early on that Nat blinked more often when she was nervous, and she was blinking every few seconds right now.

"Why does this Alex guy make you so nervous?" the archer bluntly asked.

"What?" Nat exclaimed, "I'm not nervous. What gave you that idea?"

Clint didn't say a word, just fixed her with a 'cut the bullshit' expression until she relented.

"I don't like that he can read me so easily." Natasha admitted quietly, "You can too, but I trust you. I don't even know him."

"That's fair." Clint allowed after a few seconds thought. It made sense that someone who prided herself on only showing people what she wanted them to see would feel threatened by someone who wasn't fooled by it.

"Come on, Hawkeye." Natasha said, abruptly standing and closing the laptop, "You have vodka to buy me. I didn't get dressed up to watch security cameras with you."

"You're such a stereotype." the archer teased, "Vodka, ballet, a generally cynical attitude. It's like you took notes on being the perfect Russian."

Natasha just gave him a level stare with one eyebrow arched.

"Bold words coming from a carnie named after a college football mascot. You couldn't be more Midwestern if you tried."

Clint just shot her a grin and walked towards the door, totally ignoring his partner's glare. She was so fun to mess with.