Dead Letter Office, Swiss Connection: Homecoming

[x-courier.livejournal.com]

Jake and North talk on their way to their meeting at Infonet.



David turned his European Union passport over and over in his hands, running his thumb over the pages to test their slightly-waxy feel. "These damned things get harder to forge every year," he mumbled, bending and twisting the cover. He held the photo page up to the light, glancing to his left at Jake, who was at the moment maneuvering their rented sedan down the A1 autobahn.

"Ironic, I will admit. My mother was a Swiss citizen when I was born here, and I could easily reobtain a completely legal and aboveboard passport," North said with a chuckle, "and yet I travel on an expert forgery. There's some great joke in that."

Jake shook his head. "If you figure out the punchline, let me know," he replied. "I'm not sure where my real passport is, to be honest. I think I left it here when I left for Prague." He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to bleed off some of the nervous anticipation that was coursing through him. This was the first time he'd been back in Geneva and the first time he was going to talk to his mother and sister since he'd been muscled out of Infonet, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

"Do you know what I hate?" he asked rhetorically, only half-paying attention as he steered the car through traffic. "This new thing where they take the picture of your ear. Not only do I have to make sure everything lines up right for the facial recognition software, but now I have to pay closer attention to how I fold my ear. Annoying."

"Harder and harder to be a bastard every day," David agreed. "Time marches on. Time has, however, given us wonderful little computer monkeys like Mister Ramsey."

The admission was as close as a compliment that North had ever given out loud to Doug, considering that the absent linguist had managed to hack the European Union passport database to swap in David's photograph and cover information with that of a recently-deceased German national and simply delete the 'deceased' flag. Light-years beyond North's own skills with a glue pot and hobby knife, and he had to give credit where credit was due. Even if the boy was a complete and utter monkey.

"I met with an Infonet courier once, did I tell you that?" David related. "Back before the Arkady mission... Gott, so long ago now. Of course, everything went south after that and Weapon X found ourselves blacklisted by your former employers. Perhaps it would be best not to mention that little detail when meeting your mother, I think."

"There are a lot of things it's good not to mention around Mother," Jake said wryly. "Like, well, anything. The woman is a shark." He resisted the urge to rub at his mouth, a new habit he'd picked up since last he'd seen them, one that had quickly become a terrible tell. Instead, he fiddled with the radio buttons on the steering wheel for a minute before turning the music back off.

"Who was the courier you met?" he asked, just as much a means to distract himself as a curiosity.

"Didn't give a name," North mused, closing his eyes to try and recall the operation now almost twenty years gone. "Small fellow. Indian or Pakistani, if I had to guess. Possibly Uzbek. When we went to pick up the package, someone firebombed the entire place. Infonet refused to work with us after that."

"Ah, that job. I was still in school then, not sure who the courier was." Jake drummed his fingers against the steering wheel again. He'd never been much of a nail-biter, but he was tempted to start. "Why do you call Doug a monkey?" he asked instead.

North laughed. "You must never tell this to him. Twenty years ago, 1989, I defected to the West and became part of William Stryker's task force, Weapon X. Here I am, twenty-four years old and convinced that I am this badass secret agent out to change the world by neutralizing the bad guys, yes?"

As he self-consciously dropped his face into his hand and groaned, David shook his head with laughter. "First operation out, there I am backstopping Wolverine and Mastodon in a raid on a GRU cache. Shots fired, and I took cover in the first place I could think of. Which happened to be up a telephone pole. Turns out Logan had taken them all by surprise before they could even get their hands on their weapons, and he and John decided to have some fun with me. So they called me
'monkey' for the next nine months."

He sighed and shook his head again, smiling at the memory. "Ramsey reminds me of myself at his age. Driven, wants to change the world, and very convinced of his own capabilities. Sometimes even the most talented need to be brought back down to earth a time or two, yes?"

Jake laughed despite himself, the image of a young North clinging to the top of a telephone pole too good to let go. "Your secret's safe with me." He raised an eyebrow, glancing at the other man as he merged onto the exit ramp. "So if you ever disappear on a job, I should look up? Or have you put your climbing days behind you?"

"I prefer to keep both feet on the ground when I can help it," David grudgingly admitted. "I'll leave the high-wire act to Jubilee."

"Better her then us," Jake replied absently, not really paying attention to their conversation anymore. They were driving down familiar streets, and he wondered if there was time to stop at the bakery on the corner before going into their meeting.

North looked over to the car's GPS, then to the dossier in front of him. "Yes, well. As nice as it is to have the occasional suit-and-tie adventure, sometimes I prefer the comfort of high-caliber weapons and high-speed chases. Or do I have that backwards?" He shrugged and straightened his tie in the passenger mirror as Jake parked the sedan. "Would your mother take it as a horrible offense if I brought a gun to the meeting, you think? Just throwing it out there."

"I think she'll take it as a compliment, actually," he murmured in reply. "I mean, I don't know that I'd wave it around or set it on the desk at the beginning of things, but--" Jake shrugged. "They're probably not expecting much from me," he said miserably, eyes fixed on the entrance to Infonet's offices. "It might be nice to surprise them a little."

He made a quick but futile attempt at smoothing his hair down, then gave up and ran a hand through it, deciding it might be better to irritate his mother instead. "We have to go in there, don't we?"

"Well, yes," North responded. "The whole 'strength in numbers' tactic loses a great deal of effect via teleconference."

Jake scowled at that, although it was halfhearted. "You and your...logic." He sighed, biting his lip. "You don't suppose we could just come back tonight and break in, do you?"

David laughed as he stepped out of the car. "You're going to really make me want to botch this meeting so we'll have to do exactly that, you realize," he stated, before his expression changed to one of disappointment. "Alas, no. You already seem to have irritated your family to the point of ejecting you from the business. No need to push them towards more... permanent means of expressing their ire."

"True." Jake sighed again, eyeing the building in front of them dubiously. "Fine. I'll do my best to be a grown up. That should at least take them by surprise."

* * *

Jake and North meet with Jake's sister and mother. Jake's homecoming is a spectacular disaster.



They were made to wait, of course. Jake tried not to fidget. It was oddly comfortable and awkward all at the same time--sitting in the lobby in chairs he'd never even bothered to glance at before, outside of an office he used to just walk straight into. He had to remind himself that his father wasn't waiting on the other side of the door; Devi had clearly moved into his office.

Just when Jake thought that either he was going to burst or North was going to strangle him, the door to the office opened.

It wasn't his sister that indicated they were to come in - this woman was tall, thin boned and sported red hair pulled back into a neat bun. "Ms. Gavin will see you now," she said politely, stepping back to allow them to pass her.

Whatever essence of their father that had been infused into the office had been stripped away completely. Gone were the expensive but inviting leather chairs; the dark, heavy wood had been replaced with pieces that were utterly modern; the interesting and hodgepodge collection of oddities that had adorned the walls had been discarded and the walls left blank.

Behind the desk, Devi was turned slightly to the side as she carried on a phone conversation. Everything about her body language said she was either completely unaware of their presence or completely uncaring - though the slight curve of her lips told otherwise.

"Please have a seat," Devi's assistant said from behind them.

"Ms. Gavin," David began, folding his tinted glasses and placing them in the breast pocket of his suit, "We appreciate the opportunity to meet with you on such short notice. Hopefully we will not take up too much of your time."

He paused, awaiting a response from Devi, then glancing over to Jake for guidance when there was none. "Mademoiselle?" he repeated, in French for emphasis.

Jake rolled his eyes and sat in one of the chairs, only barely resisting the urge to sprawl out insolently, and indicated that David should do the same. The chairs weren't comfortable in the slightest, more style than substance, although he was sure that that was the point--comfortable chairs encouraged people to stay, to relax, and Devi was making it quite clear that she wasn't interested in them being comfortable. They were going to have to wait longer, it seemed.

He glanced around the office, taking in the changes. He wondered if they'd given Jacob Sr. the chance to clean out his things, or if they'd just escorted him out.

Five uncomfortable minutes passed by before Devi gently placed the phone back into its cradle and turned to face the rest of the room. "Mr. North," she said, tilting her head at him as she leaned slightly forward on the desk, looking relaxed. "Jacob." Devi flashed him a smile and it was not a pleasant one. "Mother will be in shortly for this oh so exciting little family reunion - and guest, of course, Mr. North - but we should feel free to talk amongst ourselves until she arrives, don't you agree?"

Jake smirked back at her. "Sure," he replied, biting back the Illyanaesque whatever he wanted to add to the end of that. "I like what you've done with the place. It's...different."

"Oh, you noticed that I made some changes! I'm touched, Jacob, but you know how it is. When a place gets stuffy, simply out with the old and in with the new." Devi chuckled. "Isn't it wonderful when old adages can apply to people?"

"If I may interrupt," David interjected, leaning forward and removing a photograph from the dossier he had carried in, "Mister Gavin has been helpful so far in assisting my employers with trying to locate this man."

He slid the photograph onto Devi's desk, an old file photo showing the stark white face and pale hair of Arkady Russovich. "It is believed that this individual, one Arkady Russovich, met with one of your couriers a few days ago. We're looking for any assistance you might be able to provide."

Gingerly, Devi picked up the photograph by the corner as if she were afraid she was going to catch something from it. She glanced at it briefly and then back up at her brother. "And what do we get out of helping you?" she asked coolly. "What does Infonet gain from divulging this information?"

Jake knew better than to be surprised--it's exactly what he would have said. Still, even knowing that it was coming, it was hard to hear--one more nail in the coffin of his relationship with Infonet. "Russovich is a known terrorist, one who could bring Infonet's impeccable reputation--" it was hard to keep the sarcasm out of the last two words "--into question if it were known that they were consorting with him. I would think you'd want this matter resolved quickly and quietly, for the sake of the business." And because I'm asking you, he thought, but knew better than to say.

The door opened again, revealing an older woman whose carefully maintained face and figure spoke of wealth, power and self-control. Devi shared Ariel Richmond's fine bone structure and colouring, but she was decades away from the kind of presence the older woman exuded simply walking into the room.

"Jacob. So you've found your way back here at last." She barely spared her son a look, before switching to North. "And you brought a friend. How nice."

"Mother." It had always been hard not to feel outnumbered when Jake was alone with both his mother and sister, and even North's presence didn't help. "I'd like to introduce you to my client," he put a subtle accent on the last word, as close to a rebuke as he dared, "David North."

David stood briefly, inclining his head slightly towards Ariel. "Madame Richmond," he greeted her before sitting back down. "My employers have empowered me with... significant latitude in negotiating for any information you may have concerning Arkady Russovich. Your son has agreed to assist us and... well, to put it bluntly," he spread his hands, encompassing the three of them - mother, daughter, and son. "You're family, yes?"

As Jake promptly buried his face in his hands, Devi laughed in delight. It was controlled and light and made Jake twitch. "How quaint. It's like you expect me to act on ... feelings, Mr. North. Don't get me wrong, I love a good dry martini as much as the next girl but I don't let it own a majority stock in my company nor do I do it favors for free, now do I?"

"I have to agree. Mr. North, surely Jacob explained Infonet's confidentiality rules? If we were to pass on information on a client - or even confirm or deny that someone was a client - well, we could not be trusted. And a courier company that cannot be trusted... you see where I am going, yes?" Ariel smiled, the expression warm and slightly self-deprecating.

North nodded sagely. "Your reputation for discretion precedes you, Madam. However, I feel that I must reiterate our position." He prodded at the file photo in a stabbing motion. "This man is one of the most dangerous men alive, he was built to be. Secrecy is all well and good, and discretion is a powerful watchword - but so is responsibility. Arkady Russovich is a walking war crime, and believe me, Madame Richmond, no amount of neutrality will protect Infonet if he decides to cut loose."

"And let's be completely honest here," Jake said dryly, "if you were that concerned about neutrality, this company never would have survived past the first attempt to take out one of its couriers. You've always been willing to overlook neutrality when it suits your interests, and when it can be done quietly, with discretion."

He fixed his gaze on Devi. "We have nothing to gain, and quite a lot to lose, by tarnishing Infonet's reputation without reason."

"And what makes you think anything you say could possibly be taken seriously? The ne'er do well son of Infonet, known more for running away than for making a stand?" Ariel's eyes sharpened. "Recently fired from the very same company he's trying to besmirch, after failing his last assignment? Honestly, Jacob, you'll need to try harder than that." Gracefully, Ariel took a seat near her daughter. "Was there anything else?"

David tamped down the sudden desire to leap across the desk and throttle the Richmond woman, suddenly understanding Jake's animosity towards the distaff part of his immediate family. Instead, he simply stood and nodded politely, straightening the lapels of his jacket. "I understand your position, Madam. I see that even with the...management turnover, Infonet has managed to retain its professional standards."

He paused for a moment, glancing at Jake, then back to the two women. "If not its respectability. Guten Tag, Ms. Gavin, Madame Richmond."

Jake finally got his stunned blinking under control long enough to reach into his inner jacket pocket to pull out a picture. He stood to lay it on the desk in front of Devi, his powers hardening his expression into an impassive mask. "One more thing." He tapped the picture, what looked to be a high-quality surveillance camera image of a bored-looking blond man. "Not that I expect you to tell me either way, but I'm assuming Hans Mittlesteadt still works for you."

He leaned in slightly, eyes locked on his sister. "In May, he delivered a package to Xavier's that contained two of my fingers--fingers from the arm I lost on my last assignment." His gaze flicked over to Ariel as he repeated her previous words, then returned to Devi. "Which makes me wonder how deeply you were involved in the attack on me."

In response, Devi leaned forward slightly and smiled. "Oh Jacob, you know that isn't how this works," she admonished. "You haven't been out of Infonet long enough to forget the family motto, have you?" Now she stood up, hands against her desk, wearing a smile sharp enough to cut. "'Paid to deliver', Jacob, 'not to question'. If Mr. Mittlesteadt happened to deliver something that belonged to you, why, how were we to know what the package contained?"

She turned with a pretend sulky look toward Ariel. "But, oh, Mother, I suppose we could take a look at the paperwork and see who ordered that particular transaction? Do something like refuse to take future orders from them or something, I suppose?"

"The least we could do," Ariel agreed, turning a look on Jake that was positively icy. "For family."

There was an answering smile on Devi's face. "Besides, consider it a thank you from our accounting department. I would show you the unsigned buyout agreement but there's a chance that I might have it framed in my condo."

Jake stared at her in disbelief for a moment until North's hand touched his arm. "We're done," he said hoarsely, swallowing the rest of what he wanted to say. It wouldn't help them now, and would only provide the pair in front of him with more ammunition. Swallowing hard, he turned and walked out.