xp_logs | Log: How Do We Solve A Problem Like Pete Wisdom?

Xavier calls in Remy for a conference with the X-Men team leaders, to discuss how they're going to handle the Alphonso/Wisdom situation. It's followed by a surprising offer from Charles, and a new plan forming in Remy's mind.

Remy walked into the room following the Professor's message, a scowl already on his face. The three team leaders, Scott, Alison, and Ororo were sitting in front of the Professor in a semi-circle, a series of documents in front of them. Obviously he'd been called for the tail end of a briefing, and paused at the door.
"Come in and have a seat, Remy." Xavier said, returning to the documents. I wanted you here to discuss your input into our plans for Pete and the information."

"Right. Dat intelligence dat I found." Remy caught Scott's look, and his scowl deepened. "Should have sent it to CNN." He muttered as he found a chair in the corner and sank into it.

Remy's comment was apparently unnoticed by Ororo as she waited calmly for the meeting to continue now that Remy had joined them, though Alison slid a neutral look towards Scott, holding his gaze for a few seconds before focusing on the stack of papers before her once more. There was a flicker of acknowledgement in Scott's eyes before he focused again on Charles, waiting.

"Alphonso de la Rocha has been notified of the likely threat that Pete presents," Xavier began. "I spoke with him personally, and he informed me in no uncertain terms that he considers himself well-protected. I did not speak of the information Remy uncovered," he nodded to LeBeau in acknowledgement, "for obvious reasons. De la Rocha did inform me as well that he is aware that Pete is not acting on anyone's behalf but his own, which serves further to confirm what Remy has discovered."

Xavier paused, looking from all three team leaders to Remy. "Nevertheless, given Pete's capabilities, I want to ensure that Alphonso remains protected, and that Pete is dissuaded from any rash course of action. Whether de la Rocha likes it or not, he is to be considered under the X-Men's vigilant protection until Pete returns to us."

"Are there any other questions?" Xavier said mildly, looking over to Remy.
"Any reason why you looking to get X-Men killed?" Remy shot back. "De fact is dat de la Rocha deserves to die. Painfully. Our best plan is to cut Wisdom from de mansion as a rogue agent in as public a manner as we can, and den get out of his way. It means dat likely Shaw or de rest of de Hellfire Club going to hold it against us, but we can use de mercenary attack as a counterpoint ‘gainst dem."

"It is not up to us to determine who deserves to die, Remy," Xavier spoke matter-of-factly. "And the moment that a legal opportunity arrives to confront Alphonso with his actions, then it shall be seized. . I am familiar with the way that the Hellfire Club operates, and am well aware the threat that they pose to this school. Should Pete kill Alphonso, whether there is proof of our involvement or not, the potential does exist that Shaw will be able to use that to gain the support of the Hellfire Club as a whole to continue his attacks on us.”

“But putting X-Men in de way of Wisdom?”

“Might be the only way to ensure that Shaw cannot paint this as a plot by this school. We are well aware of the danger this situation presents to us, Remy. But more important is preventing Pete from delivering what he believes as justice to Alphonso, at the cost of his own self. Even if the danger of the Hellfire Club did not exist, my decision to protect Alphonso would remain the same.”

"Besides." Alison tilted her head to the side, considering her words carefully before speaking. "Offering to Alphonso to put the X-Men between him and Pete serves us as much as anything else. It will make Pete stop and think, that much more. I don't believe he'd kill one of us to achieve his aim in this."

"You so sure 'bout dat? Fuck, does anyone here actually know who Pete Wisdom is?" Remy stood up, his voice rising with him. "Anyone heard of de town of Fielby in Denmark?"

"No." Alison leaned back in her chair, waiting. It was obvious Remy wanted to expound on the subject of Pete's past, at this point. Scott's gaze lingered on the documents, although his attention was all on Remy.

"De reason you haven't is it doesn't exist anymore. A virus got out, started infecting de place. Turning people into psychos with superpowers. So dey dropped in Pete Wisdom. Over eight hundred people, women and children, gone. Nothing but a glass crater dere now. Dat was less den six years ago." Remy started ticking off points on his hand. "St. Petersberg in 1995. Piotr Abramovitch, his fourteen metahuman guards, forty or so house staff, even his fucking favourite dog are all killed as Wisdom butchers his way to dem. Sixty dead, half of dem just poor bastards unfortunate enough to work in the mansion. Three years before, he shopped a Triad boss in de middle of his own private fortress, past hundreds of trained guards. Before dat, de one dat made Wisdom a star on our little underground world was Brockham. Dey sent him out to locate and deal wit' two test subjects who escaped from some British super-soldier program. He caught up wit' dem in a bank in dat little town. Killed dem. Killed everyone in de bank. Rigged the bank to explode, killing another couple of people, and den shopped a reporter dat was asking too many of de right questions on de way home."

Remy paused as he noticed the stillness about the X-Men in the room. They had known in an intellectual sense that Wisdom was an operative and had done a number of questionable things. But most had never heard the details, the actual amount of blood that he had spilled. Alison was staring at her files as though she might be able to see through them, as though something had just occurred to her, though Remy could only speculate as to what that might be.

"De point is dat dis is what Wisdom is trained to do: neutralize superpowered protection to reach his target. Maybe you right and Wisdom hasn't decided dat he's comfortable killing you people. So he'll try and do it in a careful way. But he will get to de la Rocha, and de chances of some one getting killed if something goes wrong are pretty high." Remy said, looking at each of them. “More importantly, what if Pete takes things to de next level? You ready to kill him to protect Alphonso?”

That statement hung silently in the air for a moment before Xavier spoke. “Scott, Alison, Ororo, that will be all. Please let me know your initial strategy as soon as you have it. Remy, would you stay behind for a moment? I’d like to speak with you alone.”
Unsurprised by the request, Scott picked up the documents in front of him and let Alison and Ororo precede him out. This part of the conversation was between the Professor and Remy, and besides, the three of them had quite a bit to talk about.

Remy did his best not to glare at the departing backs of Summers and Blaire. The Boyscout and the Pop Star just weren't listening. If Wisdom had them between him and de la Rocha, Remy was sure that he'd go through any number of X-Men to kill Alphonso. Lethal if he had no choice.

"Dis is so fucked up." Remy muttered before returning to his chair. Xavier had been silent as the X-Men team leaders filed out, merely watching LeBeau. "Right homme, you said you had more to say to me alone. Can we talk about why de hell you gave Wisdom dat intelligence? 'specially without preparing for de results?"

Charles simply continued to pour his tea, placing the silver teapot back on the plate and sipping his Darjeeling gently before responding.

"Remy," he began, "I understand your objection. You of all people are aware of the probable outcomes of what Pete is capable of doing with this information. Yet you should also be just as aware that his capacity for acquiring information rivals, if not equals, your own. His former vocation has proven very useful to this institute and to the X-Men on more than one occasion."

Pausing in his speech, Charles swiveled his chair to look out the window. "Did you know that on more than one occasion, I have had the opportunity to remove Magneto as a threat to humanity? I am speaking in a more permanent manner than the attempted imprisonment of two years ago. Yet I do not pursue such a path, because of the reason I founded this school, Remy. And that is hope. Hope that despite having the option to make the wrong choice, that all of us are capable of making the right one. I do sincerely hope that Pete chooses that option."

"And if he doesn't? Charles, de la Rocha is not worth a couple of dead X-Men. Maybe Pete not ready to take it dat far, but maybe he is. If that's the case, none of your people have a chance against him. Dis not a criticism of de X-Men’s skills or your training; it's dat dis is what Wisdom does, just as effectively as anything Gambit ever pulled off." Remy shook his head, wishing that they'd just listen. Didn't any of them understand that it was their lives he was trying to save.

"If he decides dat killing Alphonso is more important to him den de lives of de people you put in front of him, he'll kill dem. Dat's not a threat or a boast. Dey are not ready for him, mostly because dey not de type of person dat he is. Or I am."

"I am aware of the depth of Pete's character, Remy," Charles intoned. "and of his capabilities. I have informed de la Rocha of the threat personally, and he assured me that he had matters well in hand. Nevertheless, I have made arrangements to observe him in a protective manner until we can bring Pete back into the fold, as it were." He passed his hand over a folder on his desk before looking directly at Remy.

"Pete Wisdom has been a man I have come to consider a respectable and honorable man," Xavier said slowly, "regardless of his past and certain views he holds. He has more than once put himself at risk for this school and these students, and I truly believe that their importance to him will outweigh any actions he may take motivated by grief and anger. However, one thing you say does hold true: that Pete's judgment has been sorely affected by these events. That being said, until his safe return and possibly after, I have a proposition for you."

Remy looked up suspiciously. So far, he'd been shut down on every track he attempted. Subduing Wisdom early, leaving Alphonso to his own devices, even limiting the involvement of the X-Men. He didn't think Charles would ask him to remove Pete entirely, not with his other statements. That aside, what could the Professor want?

"If you wrong..." LeBeau stopped, pulled himself to together. Maybe he could get to Pete first, pull him off of this path he wanted. His mind went back to the automatic scroll of numbers and operations, locking his already difficult to read mind further away from intrusion. If Charles caught wind of it, he was going to be a permanent resident of the medlab.

"Proposition? Didn't think dat you needed to bargain wit' Remy, homme."

"I would no more try and give you an order, Remy, than I would try and change the weather." Charles smiled broadly and slid the folder over to Remy's side of the desk, but kept his hand on top of it. "Pete maintained a certain level of connections from his former employment that have proven very useful during his employ here. Information not available through, to put it directly, standard and legitimate channels. In his absence, I see the same potential in you, Remy. I am not giving you a mandate nor an order," Xavier said, "I am offering you a job."

Remy was, for the first time in a long time, speechless. His residency at the mansion had been working directly for Wisdom, trusting in Pete's orders to ensure that his methods were accepted. But now, with a direct offer of responsibility? Remy was ashamed to admit to himself that he was actually scared of that responsibility; it meant that he had no more room for the self-loathing and personal cowardice.

It was a long time before he spoke. "If you want me to take over for Pete, you should know dat de methods dat we both used are not exactly de same as de X-Men. Sometimes operating on de shadows means we do things dat Wisdom might not have told you 'bout. Dat you might not approve of."

"Pete and I had a very open, if unspoken, acknowledgement of his means, yes." Xavier frowned deeply, lost in thought. "There was a clear arrangement that neither I, nor any other staff member here, were sanctioning his methods - and as such, he always proved himself discreet. I am well acquainted with your background, Remy. Both what you have chosen to share, what I have seen in your memory, and what Pete has informed me of. And there are a number of things which have influenced this decision.

"Primary among them is, of course, your competence. The fact that you have lived the life you have, and continue to live to this day speaks for itself. But more important than that, I feel, is the reason you are stil alive. The hope I spoke of, Remy. The desire to know that there is something more out there than what you have been used for. To believe that life is more than tragedy. And I sense that desire in you, to give back in some way both to make amends for what happened to you, and who you became because of it. I would like very much to offer you that chance, and that hope, Remy."

Charles lifted his hand from the folder, motioning to Remy. "I will not attempt to tie your hands, provided that you use your professionalism and discretion to the same extent that Pete established. I believe you are fully capable of doing so, yes?"

"You sure 'bout dis, Professor? Remy not--" LeBeau paused. "Dis is what it comes to, isn't it? Whether or not I keep running."

Again, Xavier choose that moment for silence; a technique that Remy used to draw out his own contacts into talking, observing the disturbing effectiveness first hand. He didn't agree with what Charles had decided, but he might be able to stop it. Help the school. That was the trap for him.

"Oui, I'll do it."

"These are the access codes to the information stores Pete shared," Xavier explained. "The first thing I will ask of you is to attempt to predict his movements, and given the patterns of research he has done, any probable avenues of threat he presents to Alphonso. At the moment, he is our priority, and I would like you to make him yours." He leaned back and steepled his fingers. "I believe this is the part where our partnership begins, Remy."

"Dat means cutting Wisdom off from his networks. De mansions networks. Overall, dis is going to hurt us badly, Charles. We're going to lose the use of at least half of our assets in de field, since Wisdom can use dem to track us." Remy's mind switched over to business in a flicker. "If he' gone to ground in Europe, dere's no way we'll be able to catch up wit-- sorry." Remy stopped himself, slightly sheepishly. "Look, Remy get on dis right away. I'm assuming dat it means full access to de databases and de journals as well?"

"Within the outlined parameters," Xavier tapped the folder. "Make no mistake - our goal is not to treat Pete like the enemy, Remy. He is a man driven by extreme emotion right now, but he is the same man we have trusted and lived with nonetheless. He is not an outsider, and we must not push him to think of himself as one. Given time, I have hope that he will come back to us. I entrust you with assisting us in ensuring that he does not do anything irredeemable in that time."

"I'll do my best, but dat means we going to have to keep him from being able to follow us. He's not de enemy, but he's also not going to want to be found. Dat means we have to cut off de information flow to and from de mansion. Otherwise, de most we're going to be able to do is hope he gets in touch, because he'll be a couple of steps ahead of us, watching where we're going to be next." The jagged pieces of the situation tumbled in Remy's head, fitting together and breaking apart as he tried to think his way around the issue. "I'll start putting together some kind of plan. See if I can run down some of his cases; see if dere's a pattern dere."

Xavier nodded. "I shall expect updates as you receive them. I shall make the appropriate formalities to the rest of the staff and to the X-Men, and let you be about it, then." His mouth quirked in a wry smile. "Pete always refused to wear the X-Men's uniform, and I see no reason not to extend you the same exception."

"Oui. Let's save Scott de heart attack dis time." Remy said, drawing a slight smile from the Professor. "But if you need Remy for one of de leather brigade's jobs, I'll be there. Even wear de suit if I have to, but it might be an operational hazard wit' de femmes distracted by my PVC-ed rear."

Remy got up, collected the files from Xavier and put them under one arm. There was a time to face things, or his entire life would be nothing more than an epilogue to those fifteen years, nothing worth living them. Remy bit back the fear and looked over his shoulder as he reached the door.

"Professor, when you activate dose systems, make sure dat you register Remy in dem as Gambit."

Edit: Backdated to the beginning of the month