New Renaissance Man: Not Your Conventional Hollywood Ending

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But Scott and Jean make do.


In the end, it was Haverford's own past indiscretions that had 'sold' their story to the rather baffled pair of police officers in Aguas Calientes. They'd called in the incident to their superiors in Cusco, only to discover that Haverford, who'd apparently been arrogant enough to travel under his own name the whole time, was under suspicion for artifact theft and interference with historical sites in no less than three other countries.

He and Jean had still been required to give their statements, and their contact information, for when they were back in the States. But Haverford and Lyman were now occupying the single cell in the little police station, and would be transported back to Cusco in the morning.

"You know," Scott said to Jean as he flopped into one of the chairs by their hotel room window, overlooking the town, "we didn't actually get to see Macchu Picchu. That's kind of sad."

Jean had collapsed onto the bed after kicking off her shoes. The police had not been terribly impressed by the fact that a woman had taken Haverford out without sustaining any serious damage, even with the mutant powers she'd admitted to, and had gone over her story with a fine toothed comb.

"If 'ro weren't still off with nathan I'd say we should just call Charles and tell him we're staying longer, but even with classes over we should probably get back."

"Yeah... who knows what else will be blowing up next." Scott examined his swollen knuckles, sighing. "We were kind of flying by the seat of our pants, here. I'm amazed it turned out as well as it did."

"Yes," Jean agreed. "Plenty of help, good help along the way, but we were making it up as we went when we got here."

"There was no plan," Scott muttered almost mournfully. "I was not the man with the plan." He didn't know how long the authorities in Cusco would be able to keep Haverford, at least, tied up over this. Money bought a lot of things. It probably isn't going to buy Lyman a way out...

"Yes. i'm a bad influence on you, I think. Or possibly a good one." Jean rather agreed with Scott, but had no better idea how to deal with Haverford. At least there would be a record, red flags that would get raised if he tried anything else.

"Did you figure out why Lyman was with him?" It was a weak connection, the Rose and Cerebro and Lyman's old connection with Stryker...

"For all of me, I'm not certain. I caught flickers of thought, but was too busy to look thoroughly. there was an impression of the town he was placed in. It was... not flattering. I do think boredom was a part of it." Jean paused, considering. "And, then again, I think Haverford could be pretty convincing when he tried."

"Boredom," Scott said quietly, sinking into the chair. "Well, that's charming." But it made sense. Lyman had been a free agent since Stryker's death, seeking out... routes to power, Scott supposed. The adamantium bonding process was a commodity, one that would have fetched a great deal of money. For him to have suddenly been taken out of that life, and put into another one, a life where the whole point was to stay quiet and out of the way...

"He's not a man to take easily to the quiet life."

"He's a son of a bitch," Scott said heavily. He got up and came over to the bed, stretching out beside her, staring up at the ceiling. "Although.. smaller than I remembered." In a lot of ways.

Jean rolled over to face Scott, propping herself up on an elbow. "Likely to end up smaller yet. I doubt prison rations will agree with him."

"You know," Scott said, and knew he was avoiding the subject of Lyman just a little, "we have a number of big-league philanthropists, among our friends and acquaintances. If they all started to talk about Haverford's light-fingered ways when it comes to historical treasures..."

"Mmm, yes," Jean agreed, thinking it over. "That would go a ways to curbing him, I think, if he tries anything tricky."

"It's a start, at least. See?" Scott asked, not quite lightly. "You can have a plan after the fact too. Sort of."

"Well, you certainly can," Jean said.

"You love me for my strategizing."

"I love you for a lot of things."

"Right back at you," Scott said, tugging her down beside him. "We should get some sleep. Need to make a fairly early start for Cusco tomorrow."

"And we made a fairly early start today, as well." Jean sighed, pillowing her head on Scott's shoulder, not really caring that they were both still dressed.

"We need to go home and have a vacation from our vacation, is what we need..."

"One where nobody tries to hit us."