FWTM: Resolution

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

X-Force reaches Neramani, only to discover that his plans are larger and more sinister than anyone had dreamed, and that the man was utterly mad as well.



Walking through the door of the PMO, it could have been just another business meeting. The blood on Remy and Sarah, the hard looks, the business-like way they entered in order to deal out death, which normally would have set a person into a panic. But Prime Minister Deepankar Kenneth Neramani didn’t so much as twitch, watching them from his leather chair, toying slightly with a crystal formation on his desk. Remy didn’t say anything, merely pulling a card to throw as Sarah readied her bone knives. His arm was poised to throw when he suddenly stopped, trying to fight through the sudden waves of depression that gripped him, leaving him wondering what the point of it all was? Neramani smiled slightly, and touched the crystal again. The flare of light left them both drained and unable to do anything against the man they’d come to find.

“Assassins. It’s almost a tradition in Indian politics, so obviously I’ve had to consider the possibility.” He spoke, his voice slightly accented from his British schooling. “To be fair, I’ve actually been hoping that the Americans would be stupid enough to send someone. Generally heads of state understand when you react to attempts on your life with a military response. Producing corpses makes it even better.”

He touched a button on the desk, likely a crash button of some type, alerting his guards. “I am frankly amazed. Dacoit is a tenacious defender. I wouldn’t have thought any force could get past him and his Guardsmen. I’ll have to invest some more money into training for my Imperial Guard. After all, they’ll have a lot of work to do if China doesn’t fall into line.”

“Dat’s insane.” Remy forced out, fighting the psionic assault. Beside him, Sarah was equally trapped, but resisting every moment.

“Insane? No, just practical. China blocks us eastward, just as Iran does westward. If you’re not growing, you’re dying, and while toppling Iran will certainly appeal to Russian and Israeli groups, China won’t wait for a long negotiation. Hit them hard and make them fold up on their western border, and offer to trade nuclear weapons if need be. The Imperial Guard can flatten Beijing while we’re all still on the phone and that ends that threat quickly enough.” He smiled a photogenic smile, every inch the politician except for the madness behind his eyes. “You agree, of course.”

A wave of agreement flowed through them both, and they found themselves involuntarily nodding, a feeling of total acceptance of his ideas battering against their emotions. Neramani patted the crystal sculpture.

“This was my father’s dream for India, but he didn’t live long enough to see it. Although, he’s still a part of it. Remarkable man, my father. Do you know what this is? Truly?” He held up the crystal, stroking it lovingly. “This is Mandeep Cornelius Neramani, my father. When he died of a stroke, the autopsy found that his brain had been almost entirely solidified into this crystalline matrix. They had no idea my father was a mutant, of course. A psychic, like myself and my poor late sister, Lilandra. I remember the first time I touched it, felt the power surge in me, and heard the echoes of my father.” He looked up with a mad stare. “I hear him all the time. In my head, whispering new plans for my country, Americans. This will be India’s century, even if it requires burning a few cities to ash to make it happen. Even if it involves a few of my own cities suffering the same fate.”

He carefully placed the crystal back down on the desk and considered. “Now, what to do with you to showcase the Guard’s power? Where is Dacoit?”

As if on cue, the side of the wall burst in, scattering stone, glass and lathe in all directions as Dacoit hurtled through, smashing deep into the floor and wall at the other side of the room. His face was badly bruised and beaten, and behind him, an unconscious Oracle was pushed through the hole in the wall.

Following Dacoit, lifted on a wave of bitumen and concrete, came Amanda. The witch was literally glowing with power from the city, and her grin was slightly manic. "That was fun," she commented. "I hope the boss lady doesn't mind me grabbing Blondie here as well, but she really was only doing her job." Her gold gaze fixed on D. Ken. "Ah, so here's the plonker who's been messing with the place. You've got one hell of a cranky city mad at you, mate."

Neramani's smile had frozen into a horrified grimace as he watched his lead guardsman groaning on the floor, trying to get his feet from under him. The empathic wall that had paralyzed them dropped for just a second as his concentration broke, and Remy stepped aside from Sarah.

"Marrow."

Sarah shook her head once, then twice, and finally grabbed a much larger bone out of her right shoulder. She leapt forward, swinging the bone downward and onto the crystal on the desk. "Stay the fuck out of my head, you asshole, or it's your head I'm smashing next."

D. Ken's eye bulged as he threw himself at the shattered crystal, hands deeply cut by the shards as he tried to scoop them up. "Father!" He cried, his mouth twisted by anger and shock. "K-kill them! Kill them, damn you!"

Dacoit found his feet, weaving slightly like a punch-drunk fighter. It was his Prime Minister, his oath to his country, even if the witch had torn gaping holes in what he believed. If that meant dying here, so be it.

"Kill us?" a voice said softly from the back of the room as Wanda slowly entered. She was as bloodied as the others, beaten badly and more than a little singed, but she stalked through the door with a purpose. Her eyes met Dacoit’s. "Like Neramani has had you do to your own people? Playing India like it is a chess board, moving his pawns around and damaging his own for one reason alone? Power. He cares of nothing more than power and will do anything, kill anyone - even his own sister - to achieve that goal."

She paused and smiled suddenly, a look that suggested she knew secrets. "About that, Dacoit. If I know my allies well, and I do, Lilandra is still alive. Would you rather force through this madman's schemes or protect and back the sister he attempted to put to death? Because eventually, he'll decide again that what he has is not enough. Do you really wish to see this day repeated ad nauseum?"

Remy watched the man slowly consider the words, even with Ken screaming for him to attack in a higher, more desperate voice with every moment. Finally, he shook his head. "Prime Minister," he croaked out, past the pain and exhaustion. "I believe I have to speak with your sister before I can obey that order."

Ken watched, gaping as Dacoit wearily walked from the room, closing the door behind him. Facing them, he tugged his tie back into place, and straightened his shoulders. "I am the Prime Minister of India. One call and my country’s nuclear arsenal will be in the air, heading towards…” Remy shook his head, cutting the man off. “The rest of the Guard will be here now! And if you try and hurt me, India will batter your country for a hundred years in my name."

"Non," Remy shook his head. "I warned you dat dere were rules, and you ignored dat. De price you pay is dat you going to be forgotten in a month as just another failed tyrant; a mistake of de moment, to be buried in history and left to disappear." Remy motioned for X-Force to follow him. He turned to the door, and flung out a single card behind him. It hummed through the air, and D. Ken Neramani clutched at his throat as it sung past with a whisper. Red cascaded through the gaps between his fingers, and his eyes rolled back in his head as he toppled backwards, sprawling with the loss of his last moments of life, blood pooling between the shattered crystal shards.

"Your time is now over."