X-Men Mission: Roller Derby Queen

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

Just to top off the bizarre list of requests, Kane needs Callisto and her murky past to help them.



“Callisto? Callisto?” Where the hell was the woman? She hadn’t been in the garage, the hanger bay or her room, which had pretty much eliminated all of the places Kane had seen her inhabit during her time at the mansion. There was nothing stopping her from, say, currently being found lounging by the indoor pool or having a quiet meal in the main dining room. But the idea just didn’t fit mentally, leaving him guessing now where she might be as he stood in the garage, hands on his hips, looking around.

It wasn't until he felt a tell-tale buzz at his hip that any answer could be found.

<>

A few minutes later, the interior door between mansion and garage opened, and Callisto emerged looking considerably less grubby and oil-stained than Garrison was used to seeing her, with damp hair and a clean change of clothing.

"What?"

"I need a date for the prom." Garrison said, just for the look. "Seriously though, I need some information and I was hoping you might have it."

Callisto rolled her eyes, but this was a gesture that those who knew her had learned to take as the equivalent of a 'yes, absolutely, how can I help?' from just about anyone else.

"You know a biker gang called the Secret Empire? They're here and upstate mostly. Drugs, robbery, and the odd bit of rented assault and battery for bigger fish around New York?"

Running a hand through her damp hair, Callisto thought about this for a long moment, sifting through memories. "I guess..."

"According to your record, the police once took their colours off of you after an arrest in a bar brawl when you were a teenager." Kane said, hoping to jog her memory. He needed someone who spoke the language, if only to get them through the front door.

Callisto raised her eyebrows. "You've read my police record?" Then, "How did you even figure out that was me? I wasn't Callisto then."

"FBI records. The Morlocks have been under surveillance on and off for the last ten years. Someone got a shot of you during that time and matched it up to arrest records for-" Kane paused, trying to remember the name. "Alex Gabler. Who has quite the rap sheet, I might add." The last bit might have sounded admonishing from anyone else, but Garrison said it with a laugh.

"Look, I know you're probably not happy with anyone digging into your past, but part of my job over the last couple of years has been pulling the Morlock files out of the hands of the ATF and SHIELD. There's some that are convinced the Morlocks are 'Gene Nation', and are some kind of terrorist threat. Duncan's now able to control the information, so they don't get used to gin up other pet conspiracies in other agencies."

"Mm. Well, look, I dunno if they'll even remember me, but tell me what you need I guess."

"I need to take a team of X-Men into a high level meeting between different regional biker gangs. The Secret Empire doesn't exist any more; the Bureau took pretty much the entire gang inside on a laundry list of charges a couple of days ago. The thing is that most of these gangs won't know that, so as long as we can pass for Secret Empire members, they likely won't question it." Kane said. "But we need some help if we're going to pass."

Callisto made a face. "No offense, Kane, but do you really think you can... dirty 'em up enough? The Empire were a pretty rough lookin' crowd. I mean, small-fry really, but still..."

"We don't really have a lot of choice. I'm not to worried about the first team. They've got... well, they've got their cover worked out pretty well, and aren't going to be allowed to mingle. For the others, I've done some undercover work with narco investigations in Vancouver. I'm thinking of taking Leverne and Sefton. Kurt's appearance will draw attention, but not suspicion, and I can pass Marius off as a European 'business associate' here for a buy. But I'm going to need a point man that they'll trust, who knows enough of the New York biker scene and history to sell it to them."

The thin woman sighed, scrubbing a hand through her damp hair. "I've been outta circulation a long time," she said. "But, I mean, sure. I guess I can help put something together. Long as you don't expect me to, yaknow. Improvise."

"You just need to act authentic, and help the rest of us do the same." Kane said. "This is important, Callisto. These fuckers are trying to divvy up the Kick market for the whole country. If we can give them a hard enough kick in the balls here, we might be able to roll back access for that drug for years."

"All right, okay," Callisto said in a slightly harried tone. "Just... gimme some time to put some ideas together, yeah? Do you want to meet up with people and, I dunno, talk through stuff?"

"Yeah. I've got to put the team together, figure out what I need. Once I've got that set up, I'll come get you and you can tell me what we need to know and what resources you need to make this work. I'll do my best to make sure we can dig up anything you think we have to have."

Callisto nodded a little. "Kick dealers, Kane... you know what you're doing here, right? These people are paranoid as fuck."

"Not a lot of choice. Neither the Bureau or the DEA have the right resources to respond to this one, and if we can't snatch up as many of the local chiefs as possible, they'll burrow down deep enough that it will be years to roll them back, if at all."

"All right, all right, I'm just sayin'," Callisto said, holding her hands up in defence. "You gotta do what you gotta do. Well, you do, anyways."

"Don't remind me." Kane said. "If we're lucky, all we have to do is act like bikers for a couple of days and sneak out before the raid."

"Assuming you don't die of alcohol poisoning first."

"I've been in training for months. I have the 16oz curl down to an art." Kane joked.

Callisto smirked. "We're all gonna die."