Forge & Peter Lakatos; Debriefing

[x-forge.livejournal.com]

Nimrod's former commanding officer makes a visit to the mansion, and converses with Forge to get information on the Brotherhood's powerhouse. Forge isn't exactly personable.



Forge made his way around the corner into the parlor, thankfully without bumping into too many walls. He'd spent the entire morning in his lab putting the finishing touches on his prosthetic, the entire assembly was ready for reattachment, but he needed a break first.

Under normal circumstances he'd have gone back up to the suite to spend time with Crystal, but he had to admit to himself that right now, two flights of stairs were as good as twenty. It had taken him a full ten minutes to slowly plod his way up from the labs; Amelia said that lingering fatigue was a side effect of a concussion, but Forge swore it could go away any time now.

Here at least it was quiet, the only technological noise being the background hum of the mansion's systems and the soothing sensations from the antique grandfather clock as he closed his eyes.

"Forge?" It was Scott's voice, from the doorway. "Got a few minutes?" he went on, moving into the room and revealing by doing so that he wasn't alone. Another man, Scott's height but more muscular in build, followed him in, looking around with mild curiosity at the parlor before focusing on Forge. "Okay, possibly more than a few minutes," Scott conceded.

With mild irritation, Forge cracked an eye to see Scott and the visitor standing in the doorway. "I suppose so, since I'm not really in any shape to make a distraction and dive out the window." He looked the stranger up and down. "Too old to be a new student. Parent, government employee, or another homeless mercenary looking for a handout?" he asked sardonically.

"Probably the second," the newcomer said with a faint smile. His English was only slightly accented. "Not your government, however. And I prefer to think of the three of us as a rather elite club. Those who've gotten on Joszef Veres' bad side and lived to tell the tale."

"Forge, Peter Lakatos. Peter, John Henry Forge. Peter's in the US to do some advance planning for a possible visit by the Hungarian Prime Minister in the fall," Scott said, already turning towards the door. "Also happens to be the guy who's going to have the equivalent of my job over in Budapest in a couple of years. I'll leave you two to talk. Currently being summoned." And he did in fact depart without any further ado.

Forge didn't move from his position in the overstuffed chair. "You'll forgive me if I don't get up," he said to Lakatos. "Hm. Government, on Nimrod's bad side... that's peculiar. I was under the impression he'd slaughtered his former teammates when he went rogue."

There was a trace of pain in Lakatos's hazel eyes for a moment, but briefly. "He did," he said, conversationally. "Just failed to finish the job with his commanding officer. I was a year and a half recovering, and I never went back to the military."

Forge nodded. "Well, you do good work. He's been well-trained." The thinly-veiled contempt was barely masked behind Forge's carefully-modulated voice. "You built yourself one of the best killers on the planet, congratulations. So what brings you here, Peter? Uncle Istvan checking up on the latest handiwork of Hungary's Biggest and Baddest?"

Lakatos didn't react to the tone, save for a very faint smile. "Something like that. I was hoping to ask you a few questions, about his involvement in this. Scott has filled me in on the basics. But we do hope to be able to at least contribute to bringing him to justice at some point. Maintaining up to date information on his current status is one necessary step."

"Ah," Forge mumbled, then cleared his throat and levered himself up in the chair so that he could sit up straight. "You're aware he's working with Magneto and the Brotherhood, obviously. Scott's probably told you that Magneto wasn't present - I wasn't able to tell whether or not Veres was taking any kind of leadership role, but he was the only person dealing with me, so they seemed to be compartmentalizing. He was professional, ruthless, didn't respond to taunts or anything I said to try and get him riled."

Forge shuddered slightly, recalling the feeling of being completely at Nimrod's mercy there in that room. "He's obviously got access to the Brotherhood's resources. Information they know, he knows. I assume it works both ways. I know he's been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he seemed frighteningly sane when I dealt with him. Cold, but not detached. Very aware of everything he was doing."

"I would presume that Magneto is requiring him to stay medicated. He wouldn't be useful, otherwise," Lakatos said quietly. He paused for a moment, watching Forge. "He - we were Special Forces, specializing in counterterrorism. Interrogation techniques were part of our training, but rather carefully circumscribed. Did he become physical with you, during the questioning?"

"Not directly," Forge replied. "Aside from a very controlled show of force when I tried to lash out at him. Which I expected, on Siryn's orders. He splintered part of my leg," Forge raised the prosthetic up and gestured with his hand, "which gave me the method for escape. But did he get violent? No."

Lakatos's gaze seemed both distant and inward-focused at the same time. "Sticking to old practices," he said, "or maybe refraining from going beyond them for other reasons. It's hard to tell. He ceased to be predictable a long time ago." He shook his head slightly.

"He showed a slight vulnerability to electricity," Forge offered, giving a hint of a smile. "About a six second jolt of high-amperage current through an improvised Tesla coil put him down for close to an hour. I played a hunch that his heightened nervous system would retain some normal human biological frailties. Played out for me, thankfully. He wasn't in the greatest mood when he woke up, though." He nodded towards the stump of his left arm, strapped close to his side. "Obviously."

Lakatos's eyes lit up at the new information, but he winced at Forge's last words, glancing at the stump. "Strange," he said. "Lashing out in anger - that was the first sign of trouble, years ago. We had been through some... difficult missions in Kosovo. His mood became darker and darker. He started to get into fights... I often wonder if I'd pushed harder for a psychological evaluation sooner than I did, if things would have turned out differently." He shrugged slightly. "Futile, I know. I did what I could when I saw what was about to happen, but none of us had any idea of the true scope of his mutation."

"He's like a force of nature," Forge agreed. "You don't fight him, you survive him."

"We don't know what happened, to bring him into the Brotherhood," Lakatos said after a moment. "It's the one true gap in our file. One day, he was fully medicated, living under close supervision -twice-weekly meetings with his psychiatrist and case worker, electronic monitoring at all times. The next day, he was gone."

"Afraid I can't help you there, Mister Lakatos," Forge said with a one-armed shrug, "No use trying to unring that bell. And as much as I'd love to chat about the gedankenexperiment of how to stop an invulnerable man, I do have projects to work on."

He shifted forward to lurch out of the chair, touching the end table for balance as his head swam for a brief moment. "Give my best to the Prime Minister, will you? Let him know that if he's in the area, I'd be up for a drive." Forge accompanied the last with a wolfish smile.

Lakatos rose, that slight smile returning. "Perhaps another time. Although those of us on his security detail have nothing but respect for your driving skills." He paused, reached into his jacket pocket and laid the business card on the table beside Forge's chair. "Thank you for your time. I wish you a speedy recovery."

Forge reached for the card, paused with a confused look on his face, then turned to pick it up with his right hand. "You know us younger generation," he said wryly. "We bounce back fast."

Lakatos chuckled, the smile looking genuine for the first time in the conversation. "This is where I say 'enjoy it while it lasts', yes? I need to impose on you for one last thing - directions to Professor Xavier's office? I am apparently invited to tea."

"Left, left at the next hallway, big double doors. He's the Professor, he's probably expecting you." Forge replied. "He does that."