Fury Said To A Mouse: Request for Aid

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Garrison gets a request for aid from Heather Hudson serious enough that it consists of only 40% personal insults.



One of the advantages of living in a mansion full of cutting edge technology was the fact that you had the ability to connect to the rest of the world in ways that sounded like science-fiction. On the other hand, it did make it difficult to duck calls that you didn't want to take. Kane considered that ruefully as the 'incoming' graphic blinked on and off on the Danger Room control panel. After staring at it long enough to realise it wasn't going to go away and his powers failed to include the ability to destroy it with his sight alone, he finally hit the accept button.

"Kane, you are a horrible little man, you know that?"

"Heather. Nice to see you. You're looking much older than last time. Is it mostly sexual frustration or a general lack of hygiene?"

"You know, it's that signature charm that guarantees you'll die alone. Hopefully soon."

"That was a weak one. Is Mac hiding out of the camera view around waist height?"

"I have important work to do, as opposed to your heavy schedule of alcoholism, hockey pre-season and masturbation. All while crying."

Kane blinked slowly and laughed. "OK, you win this one, Heather. I assume this is about my somewhat tardy reports?"

"Six month is beyond tardy. It's already well into 'irresponsible dickhead territory'. But that isn't why I called."

"Really?" He had assumed it was about the reports which was why he was ducking her. "Shoot."

"You remember Madison's brother?"

"Lionel? Um, yeah, a bit. He came by right after finishing his doctorate, I think. Bit of a prick to Madison. Why?"

"Lionel was part of the Beta Flight program, years ago. Powers came out traumatically while working as a medic with the PPCLI during the UN intervention in Sierra Leone. He can manipulate organic matter through touch."

"Through... wait, Lionel Jefferies was fucking Scramble?"

Heather winced at the name. "Yeah."

"Geez..." SCRAMBLE was an institutional bogey-man in Department H; a cautionary tales for young mutants about controlling their powers and taking training seriously. One of the first Beta Flight mutants, known only to them under the codename Scramble, was a major failure. The mutant could manipulate organic matter and when he was brought into the medical centre in a coma, his powers flared unexpectedly and out of control. Four doctors and seven nurses and support staff were turned into a living mass of tissue that coated the room. Most horrifically, when the first responders finally made it into the room, it was clear that despite being fused together and mangled into unnatural shapes, all the people were still alive and in impossible amounts of pain. An entire book of operational procedures and safeguards had been developed from the lessons learned and it was part of the training information to illustrate the need for training and control of powers.

"Wait, if Lionel was Scramble, how did I meet him? Scramble died in the incident."

"He didn't. Lionel was in a coma when his powers flared. It wasn't until ten days later that he woke up. He has no memory of the incident. After years of training, it became clear that not only did he have full control over his powers but that the flare had also damaged them, making them far weaker than they were when they brought him in. He posed no discernible danger."

"Scramble posed no discernible danger? Are you kidding me?"

"Scramble had nothing to do with who Lionel was, Kane. It was a powers accident. A gruesome one but still an accident."

"OK, so why is he back on your radar?"

"Jefferies has been working in bio-weapon research and development for the last ten years. Sadly, being a bit of a prick wasn't limited to Madison. What he went through with the Forces essentially burned his empathy down to a nub. He basically became a scientific mercenary; nothing illegal but definitely a bit blurry ethically. It also doesn't help that Lionel is a bit of a perfectionist."

"Building a better mousetrap obsession?"

"If by mousetrap you mean complex bio-artificing and genetic manipulation, yes. It's an apt analogy." Heather said dryly, ignoring Kane's slight flush in response. "Jefferies has been working for the Slorenian government for the last six months. Supposedly on some new skin graft generation technique. He asked for some help with a sequencing issue with our labs, so we've been in touch. Two days ago, the area where the lab was located in Slorenia was cordoned off by local military due to an unspecified 'industrial accident'. Want to guess who I haven't been able to get on the phone since?"

"You think Jefferies was building something a lot more dangerous than skin grafts for the Slorenians?"

"No. Lionel is a selfish prick but he's not that far down the road that he'd work knowingly on something lethal. What concerns me is that he might have been working on one part of an illegal whole and something went wrong. Either they're using the accident as an excuse to hold him or accident is a nice way to cover up something far worse happening. Either way, we need to know."

"But Slorenian authorities have politely declined offers for help from the Canadian government."

"Yes. Even you should be able to connect the next dot."

"Yeah." Kane sighed. "I'll talk to the X-Men. See if they don't mind a little fact-finding holiday."

"Good. Lionel's very smart, Kane. Combined with his powers, he could be made to do some terrible things if he didn't have a choice. Be careful."

"Understand. If I can, I'll bring him home." The call cut off leaving Garrison to stare quietly at his reflection in the monitor for a few minutes before picking up the phone to rally the team.