xp_logs | Blessed Are The Peacemakers: Masters of War (Reply)

Nathan's quiet comms shift is interrupted by one of those potentially fateful telephone calls from someone unexpected. (Maybe that should be potentially fatal.) Afterwards, a strategy session is held, with a rather unusual result.

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Unlike a number of his teammates, Nathan actually liked sitting his comms shifts. At Moira's suggestion, he'd made a rule for himself that he didn't work on any Elpis paperwork during that time. Which meant that he had a handful of hours every week where he could read or jot down his thoughts in the journal Jack Leary insisted that he still keep.

He was engrossed in doing just that - although keeping one eye on the monitors, of course - when the ring of his cellphone surprised him. He'd brought it down with him of course, just in case Moira called from Muir, but it took him a moment to switch mental gears. Pulling off his headset, he flipped open the phone, glancing at the screen. Unknown international number - okay.

"Hello?"

There was a long, static-laced pause. The connection obviously wasn't good. "Is this Dayspring?" the voice on the other end finally asked.

Nathan frowned, trying to identify the voice. He felt as if he should know it. The accent sounded Russian, but there were a limited number of people calling him from Russia who'd be using Dayspring instead of Morrow. "... yes. Who's this?"

Another long pause, and for a moment Nathan thought the connection had actually been lost. At last, there was a faint, flat-sounding chuckle. "Saidullayev. I suppose we have never had a conversation, have we?"

This would be the moment in a movie where I drop the cell phone out of shock, part of Nathan's brain observed sardonically. The rest of his brain was busy assessing the situation. Saidullayev. Calling him. Although this was a public number, available to anyone with access to Elpis's website. Saidullayev wouldn't have had to look very hard to find it.

But why call, that was the question... "What do you want?" Nathan asked without further ado, and didn't bother to keep the edge of cold hostility out of his voice. "Magneto not keeping you busy enough, so you figured you'd resort to prank calling?"

The laugh on the other end sounded closer to brittle this time. "I've left Lehnsherr, Dayspring. The man wants things I can not give. He is... how do you say, a maniac?"

Look who's talking. "And you felt the need to inform me of this why?" Nathan asked. He didn't have a very good track record with shocking phone calls from out of the blue. They tended to lead to trauma and explosions. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up right now."

"I need your help."

"... you're insane. You've nearly killed me twice."

That laugh, again. "I am insane, Dayspring. I sit here, and wait for the walls to change around me. To find that I am back there in Derbent. Magneto said you seemed to take exception to what I did there, when I was... freed. He said you tried to stop me."

Nathan stiffened slightly in his chair. Shifting walls... It was pure chance, he knew, that Saidullayev had used the same imagery that he himself had been haunted by after being captured and reconditioned by Mistra two and a half years ago. But it didn't hit him any less hard for the realization.

"I do not know how long I can remember that I am here, and not there." There was something very blunt about Saidullayev's statement. Like it was irrefutable truth, and he didn't care whether Nathan believed it or not. "If I lose control again, what will I do next, Dayspring? Nathan. I know you and I have many things in common. Would you not want someone to help you - to stop you, were you in my place?'"

"We don't have that much in common," Nathan said, but almost under his breath. They had too much in common. That was the problem. "I don't know what you want from me."

"I am home. In Shatoy. I will wait for you as long as I can." Saidullayev coughed. "I need you to help me decide what to do next. I do not... trust myself, to make that decision."

"Saidullayev-"

"I will wait as long as I can. You must make the decision," the Chechen telekinetic said, more forcefully, and the line went dead.

Nathan lowered the cell phone away from his ear, staring blankly at the screens in front of him. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. "Every time," he muttered under his breath. "It gets me every time."

--

"-it comes down to, really, is that we can't let someone that powerful and unstable, who's proven how dangerous he is, wander around loose if we have the opportunity to change that," Nathan said. His tone was calm, logical, almost detached. "We're talking about the man who tried to blow up San Francisco, and who did take out a good chunk of Derbent."

"The American government does have the ability to contain him, should he be handed over to them," Charles pointed out, just as calmly, although there was something a little more intent than usual about the way his gaze sharpened as it rested on Nathan. Not quite suspicion, but definitely concern. "He could be charged for his actions in San Francisco easily enough. The Russians would of course claim jurisdiction--"

"And we all remember what they did the last time they took him into custody, yes? Although I suppose he could be lucky, and this time they'd just shoot him." If there was an edge to Nathan's voice this time, it was barely perceptible. His grip on the arms of his chair was a little tighter than it needed to be, however. "I'm not suggesting we respond for the sake of helping Saidullayev. I'm not that tender-hearted. I just think we need to seize the chance to defang him."

Jean chewed at the corner of her lip, considering. She was still more than a little shocked this had come up at all - the fact that Saidullayev would ask for help, and from Nate at that... "I don't disagree in the slightest that any opportunity to, as Nate says, 'defang' the bastard should be jumped at but we don't really have the facilities to hold him if... well, if things go badly. And I really don't trust that, with Saidullayev involved, things will ever not go badly."

"Do we have any reason to trust that this is not a trap?" Kurt asked quietly from his corner. "Any way to know?"

"No, but that actually raises a few possibilities in terms of a response," Nathan said, rising determination in his voice. He'd laid out the situation; now he needed to talk them into the solution he had in mind. "We need to find out whether it is, obviously. If it's not, we need to figure out what it would take to get him back here. Chechnya is not the easiest place to get in and out of, even these days."

"His resistance to telepathy makes him difficult to locate with Cerebro," Charles said. "I tried repeatedly, after you and David encountered him in Derbent."

"It's possible to get through to him if you hit him repeatedly in the head with a lightning bolt first," Jean muttered quietly, then shook her head at the look Charles gave her. "What's the time line, if we're doing this?"

"I think we need recon first," Nathan said, and donned a resolute look as three sets of eyes moved back to him. "It only makes sense. We can't easily take a whole team in there, especially given how twitchy the Russians probably still are."

"But recon will not be easy to get", Kurt pointed out. "For exactly that reason - we have only one person who could get in and out without use of the Blackbird."

"Actually, that's not true," Nathan said. "There are plenty of ways to get into Chechnya discreetly, for one or two people." He very carefully didn't look at Jean just yet. "And there are ways to remain unnoticed once you're there, too. We could possibly get in, size up the situation with Saidullayev, then report back and develop a strategy for actually getting him back here."

The look in Charles's eyes could only be described as knowing, and was divided evenly between Nathan and Jean. "I'm presuming you have an idea as to a way in, Nathan. Although I will point out that this plan would take rather profligate use of telepathy once you were on the ground."

Nathan met those all-too-keen eyes levelly. "That's why I think Jean and I should both go. We could spell each other off." He looked at Jean. "If you're up for it, I mean."

Jean's first thought was a certain amount of shock that Nate, of all people, would suggest a plan like that. Her immediate follow up was that, really, when it came to Saidullayev, nothing Nate was willing to do should surprise her. After a moment she said, "I can't argue that it needs doing. And someone has to be there to at least make the attempt at keeping you out of trouble." The little smile she shot at Nathan didn't really reach her eyes.

The smile she got in return was just as tight. "If it's a trap, we can go out the way we came, trap unsprung. If this is Magneto trying to set something up, we need to know that, too."

Kurt was watching them, yellow eyes wary. "I am not sure you should both go. You are our most experienced telekinetics - what if something happens here in your absence? Or what if it is a different kind of trap?"

"I know there are risks, Kurt. But if something happens here while we're gone, you've still got plenty of manpower, even with Scott and Ororo gone." Nathan grimaced and shrugged. "And if there's an angle to this we're not seeing... well, Jean and I can probably get back out of nearly anything." Not easily, necessarily, and certainly not quietly, but if it came right down to it there wasn't a whole lot that could stop them. He only hoped it didn't come to that.

Jean nodded at that. "I don't think you need to worry about us being away - it leaves the team no more or less short-handed than if were off on any other mission. Plus, this needs to be a small scale thing, no other small group's going to have as much capability of getting out of a pinch." At least, given that they didn't know what kind of pinch it might be, and thus couldn't plan for it. If nothing else, the telekinesis offered much needed versatility.

"We get in, get a good read on the situation, and immediately call in," Nathan said. "No cowboy crap. What I was thinking was going in on an aid plane - there's even one leaving tonight." He flushed a bit at the look he got from Charles. "I checked. But we couldn't get Saidullayev back out that way, so there wouldn't be any benefit in taking too much initiative... really, I'm not proposing to be stupidly reckless here."

"I believe you," Charles said mildly, "but there is a very high degree of risk in even such a cautious approach." He gave Nathan and Jean a warning look. "Given the events of the fall, I'd be disinclined to rely on any help from the Russian authorities should problems arise. There's very little I could do to help once you're in Chechnya."

Well, good thing Nate speaks the language, Jean thought idly, then refocused. "Contrary to popular belief, we can keep things quiet when we need to," she said. "I... well, while I'm not certain it will be okay, I think this is as good of a chance as we can get."

Charles nodded, almost absently, but his attention was already shifting to Kurt. "Kurt? With Scott and Ororo away, the decision falls to you as to whether the ends warrant the means."

Kurt froze, except for the nervous twitching of his tail. "To... to me?" He'd really, really never wanted to be a leader.

There was nothing but patience in Charles's expression. "We could call them in Budapest, if you would feel more comfortable. But Scott and Ororo have both told me on numerous occasions that they trust your judgement, and rely on your input when they make their strategic decisions."

"Yes, I... I am fine with giving support to the leaders", he said slowly. "I have done that all my life. But to be the one in charge... I have never been prepared for that."

Oh, for the love of... Nathan tamped down firmly on that particular impatient train of thought. He somehow thought he wouldn't help his case if he kicked Kurt in the shin.

"You do well in the field, Kurt," Jean said, "in times when Ororo's been elsewhere. It is rather the same thing..." There was just a little more time to think about the matter than there would be in the field. Not that much more, though, if Nate really planned to get them on a plane tonight.

"...I suppose so", he admitted hesitantly. "Though the decisions must be made rather more quickly there. It is for me to say if you will go or not?"

Maybe the ankle, if not the shin? Nathan bit his lip, hard, and then gave Kurt a hard look. "Weigh the possibility of success against any flaws you see in the plan. Pretend it's a tactical exercise." Charles was watching him, or he'd have said more.

Kurt considered this, still very clearly uncomfortable with the decision being placed on him. "I... the plan seems sound. Though perhaps you should check in on comms more often. Just in case."

"I think that sounds wise," Charles said. "And I will speak to Agent Cooper, to inform her of the situation. Our government would undoubtedly appreciate an update on Saidullayev's status, however this ends. And hopefully," he said, his tone turning more brisk, "we will indeed need them to take custody of him once he's safely retrieved."

Nathan could sense the end of the conversation coming and rose, looking sideways at Jean. "We need to figure out what kind of gear we want to take with us," he said.

"Oh God..." Jean said, as a thought occurred to her. "We're going to Chechnya... in January." Standing to join Nate she frowned at him. "Next time, please find me a mission in Fiji."