REMY'S ELEVEN: The Xavier Job

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

"That right, sunshine?" Pete Wisdom said down the phone line. His contact was talking in rapid-fire bursts, trying to earn his payoff as quickly as possible. The call was being recorded, of course, but Pete jotted down tidbits that immediately set off his suspicions. Ten minutes later he hung up, and ground his cigarette out. With a sigh, he punched the interoffice speaker button.

"Charlie? Pete. We need to talk. Now. After that, I'll have to give Nate a shout." He though a moment. "I'll drag LeBeau in on this and all. We're in a huge pile of shit, and I think he think he might be a bit handy."

***

Pete had already availed himself of the drinks cabinet by the time Remy and Nathan walked into his office. Both men caught his grim look as they found seats across from the desk. Nathan took a deep breath and unconsciously hunched his shoulders. This did not look at all promising. The psychic ambiance was bleak, to put it mildly. "I'd make a 'who died' joke, but I'm picking up on the fact that this isn't the time. What's going on?"

"We're fucked, mate. Again." Pete answered, taking a sip of his scotch before continuing. "If we're very bloody lucky, it might not be fatal. Thanks to one of my sources, it looks like Stryker's fucking with this school is still going on."

"Stryker?" Remy asked.

"Almost a year before you showed up, Remy, Stryker invaded the school. Took half the bloody staff and students hostage . During the attack, he was also able to hack the computer system. Grabs a bunch of files; plans for Cerebro, the Danger Room, that sort of intel." Wisdom said.

"I thought we were able to recover most of the lost information immediately after Alkali Lake?" Nathan said.

"It looks like we missed a few small files. Small, but very bloody important." Pete snorted.

"Exactly what are we talking about here?" Nathan asked tightly.

"Part of Charlie's big tin hat downstairs is the ability to do an analysis of a mutant's raw power, and place them on the potential scale. Charlie combines that testing with data we gather once the kid arrives here. Their strengths, weaknesses, the actual mechanics of their abilities. That's a big part of the way the school gets the data required to build training programs for these kids." Wisdom outlined, gesturing with his hands.

"Remy got a bad feeling dat he knows where dis is going." LeBeau shook his head. "Wit dat data, a person could build a detailed threat response to every X-Man and student in de school. Create proper countermeasures."

"Give the boy a gold star." Wisdom smiled grimly.

"Merde."

"So, who has these files?" Nathan stopped, his eyes widening as his mind presented him with one of the less-savory possibilities. "Fuck, tell me it's not Magneto."

"The files ended up in the hands of a ratfuck named Jacob Lowenstein." Wisdom said, pulling out some notes.

"Arcade?" Remy looked up sharply.

"Got it in one." Pete nodded.

Nathan hated it when everyone else in the room knew more than he did. Brought back old, bad memories. "Someone want to fill me in? Who is this Arcade?"

"A fucking lunatic, old son. Owns a shitload of computer and tech stocks. Started his empire by inheriting a chain of arcades from his father back in the eighties, and then sold them off. Worth over a billion dollars, and likes to dabble in the criminal underworld a lot. Fingers in a lot of pies." Wisdom said, consulting the results of his research.

"And den dere's Muderworld." Remy said, drawing a series of blank looks from the group. "Rumours amongst de rich and famous. For de right price, you can have de person you hate de most kidnapped right off de street, and dumped into a complex full of death traps and puzzles. So, you sit dere and watch dem run around like a rat in a maze, until one of de puzzles kills dem."

"That's just a bloody rumour. I figured he put it about himself, trying to sound scary." Pete said.

"Non. Too many people in Eastern Europe have tracked cash back dis way. I bet most of de stories about it are bullshit, but de place and de practice does exist."

"And this is the bastard who has enough information to endanger our kids." Nathan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Great."

"It gets worse. " Pete's face was impassive. "The word is that he's planning to auction it out to the highest bidder on the eleventh."

"Seven days from now?" Remy rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "When is the Professor sending in de X-Men?"

"Not happening. I turned up some horrible facts about the fuck, like an interest in the design and production of mutant hampering technology." Pete nodded. "Lowenstein come out of MIT with a double doctorate in robotics and electrical engineering. He drops the odd bit of technology on the
market, and it's not far behind companies like Stark for cleverness. Guess he figures that mutant powers might change the odds in his casino. The building, the Excelsior, is only a couple of years old, and it's got all sorts of dampeners and disruptors installed in it."

"I'll just bet Mister Lowenstein also possesses a very favourable working relationship with both of Nevada's senators, the governor, and the Nevada Gaming Commission." Nathan said dryly.

"He's utterly fucking dirty, but he pays his taxes, and donates to enough charities to get plenty of photo ops with smiling orphans. He's active politically and, get this, owns the cleanest casino in the state. They'rewilling to not look too closely at his rumours of extra-curricular activity." Pete concluded.

"What about using teleporters?" Nathan asked. "Or hell, one of us psis?"

"We don't have the exact information, but the Excelsior is pretty much a mass of dampeners, disruptors, and psi-chaff. Any of our psionics, including Charlie would be head-blind inside, and the last time I saw a teleporter go through the sort of gear he's got, they were cutting her body out of the wall she wound up in." Pete scowled. "To protect the casino floor makes a lot of sense, but he's also got them in the hotel and the subbasements. He's not taking chances."

"Well, this is sounding better and better," Nathan said sardonically.

"Pete, please tell me you have a plan."

"Actually, what I've got is a shit plan that'll only probably work, but'll almost certainly leave a lot of innocent people dead however it shakes out. I don't like it." Wisdom scowled. "As dangerous as this shit is for us, Charlie's not going to accept the deaths of dozens of otherwise innocent people just to neutralize it."

"Where does dat leave us den?" Remy said, and suddenly caught Wisdom's look.

"You, old son."

"Non." Remy shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "I got a contact in with de firm dat built de casino's vault. Dose things are double and triple protected against tampering. Assuming Arcade kept them in his vault, and assuming I could make it down there in the first place." He was silent for a long moment before shaking his head again. "Non, dere is no way I could do it alone. Even with a team of dese hommes, it come down to de body count."

"Shit." Pete sat back. "You were my last idea. Unless we're willing to live with the bodies on the deck, or just drop the X-men on the place, and hope for the best."

Nathan shook his head. "Sending in the team would be crossing the line," he said. "Whatever your arrangment with the government, the X-Men hitting a casino would be too much to overlook. Any felony committed in a Las Vegas casino is handled on the federal level. Insurance concerns."

"That's all bloody lovely, but it's going to be them or the fucking kids here." Pete said, wearily.

"Students." Remy repeated softly. "Wait, dere may be a way." He cut in.

"You already said you can't do it without a body count either, LeBeau."

"I can't. And we can't. But if we make up de team from outside de combat side." Remy said, suddenly animated. "Depending on de security, some of de students have exactly de right powers to counteract de measures. Skills too. Ones dat Arcade not going to be ready to defend against. I'll have to take a good look over de plans, but I bet we can smart our way through this so we not only get de files back but Arcade never knows who was involved."

"Charlie won't go for putting the kids in danger. Not a hope."

"Homme, just being here puts them in some level of danger. Dey students, but dey also faced a lot too. Dey not children. If dey are willing to work with me, I can probably put together an operation without a bodycount." Remy held up his hands. "Remy no suggesting dat dey join de front lines of a war, hommes. Its just dat dere skills could make dis work. Otherwise, what other options are there? Either a body count, or risk de chance dat de next time Magneto attacks, he's got counter measures against every X-Man's powers?"

"You don't have to sell me on it, LeBeau. But the Charlie makes this call, and that means I need a damn good plan to take to him. When can you get it to me?"

"Tomorrow. Nathan, you up for a little trip?"

"Where?" Nathan asked, a bit warily.

"We're going to figure out how to knock over a casino."

"Good to know sanity hasn't gotten involved yet."