Speed Bump
Chapter Four
Speed Bump
Erik Lehnsheer, known publicly as Magneto stood in front of the table setup within the empty steel mill facility. He silently took in the sight before him of Mastermind and Pyro looking exhausted sitting at the table and looking up at him. “So please explain to me again why you blew up a billion dollars’ worth of military grade weapons?”
“Ironman showed up.” Explained the man coded as Pyro, St. John Allerdyce in a thick Australian accent.
Magneto nodded as he once again took in the answer for such a response to the arrival of a mortal man on his boat. “And your solution to that dilemma was to blow up not only the weapons, but the boat as well?”
The illusionist mutant, Mastermind answered next. They had been going over this for the past forty-five minutes, ever since he and John had returned. “Listen boss, it was a spur of the moment kind of decision. This kid apparently was on the boat hiding out, that spider kid, an Avenger. He knew the payload we were hauling. We had to get rid of all the evidence.”
Mystique had been watching the questioning from the far wall of the room where they had set up their communication equipment. Finally, deciding that she had had enough of the back and forth about how stupid John and Jason were to blow up the boat, she moved her way to the group. “So we are back at square one?”
Turning to her, Magneto pondered the question then shook his head. “Not exactly. Yes, we lost the weapons and the financial security they offered, but we did acquire the attention of the world. The news programs have continuously been running reporting about the explosion and forced the government to admit that someone was able to sneak into a secure weapons storage building and procure a fairly large quantity of the supply without anyone being the wiser until it was gone.”
“What exactly does that do for us?” Jason asked. They needed money for the campaign. This job was supposed to set them up rather nicely and it was now all gone. While he had a few ideas of where else they could pick up a few bucks, it wouldn’t be anything remotely comparable to what they would have gotten with the weapons’ deal.
“A lot.” Magneto informed them. He was surprised that they didn’t see how this outcome almost better served them then the money from the cargo would have. Money was inconsequential to Erik, there was always a way for someone with his capabilities to obtain some. Money couldn’t have brought them the outreach they had accomplished from last night. Yes, there would be people upset about not receiving their American military weapons, but as the minutes rolled by, Erik was becoming less concerned about the explosion. He was much more concerned about the impulsiveness and almost cowardly actions of his men to go off the plan all because two Avengers showed up. “They haven’t released any names yet, but I can promise you certain people in certain agencies and departments know that we are involved. The American people now know that mutants were able to walk right into a highly secured location and take what they wanted, and no one stopped us. It shows our power.”
Mystique summed up the point of Magneto’s. “Insights of fear.” Fear wasn’t what the Brotherhood was about. The organization, still in its infancy, was founded on the belief that in order for the mutant race to survive, it had to band together. They had to present a united front to show the humans that they cannot and will not be controlled. That was to be done through a show of power not invoking fear in the masses.
Fear was the oldest and sadly, most successful technique to use for control. It was a tool used by the weak. Erik would never be accused of using fear to spread his message and to increase his ranks. “Insights of reality. Everyone knows what we are capable of now. We may be few in numbers but mighty in strength. The truth of what a group of a few mutants can do should cause people to see the reality of what we could accomplish with additional membership. The government’s Department of Mutant Affairs has always been a magic show. The country believes the department is ensuring freedom and equality for our race, but the real reason for its conception was to control us. We proved with the weapons that we will not be controlled, in fact, it is us who controls them. Tell me Jason, how did you and John escape the explosion?”
John contributed in obvious pride of his actions. His containment of the explosion was not only a life saving measure but covered their escape. “We got on the dinghy and I controlled the flames of the explosion to cover us until we were able to out run the blast and anyone who may be trying to get us.”
Leaning against the table, Mystique looked behind Erik to the television. “Is this the type of reality that you want them to see?”
Erik, upset with the disruption of the point he was trying to make about how Jason and John should have stood their ground and not escaped, turned around in time to see the newscasters introduce their next interview. Seeing who it was, he demanded of the group, “Someone turn it up!”
“Good morning everyone, I am Hailey Godwin and joining us this hour are two esteemed guests. I would like to welcome both of you gentleman, from the Department of Defense, Secretary Thomas Williamson. Also, we have with us from the Department of Mutant Affairs, Deputy Secretary James Rhodes. Gentleman, thank you for joining us today.” The screen split into a trifold so that the reporter was in-between both men, who were broadcasting from different locations into the studio. “Let’s start with Secretary Williamson, sir do you have anything to share with the public regarding the explosion of American military-grade weapons off the coast of Delaware?”
The older bald gentleman smiled pleasantly at the camera. “Good morning Hailey and thank you for the invitation to speak on your show today. First, I would like to correct an inaccuracy. The explosion was not off the coast of Delaware. The explosion was on a vessel traveling approximately thirty miles from the nearest solid spot of American soil. It was in international waters. As far as sharing any new intel we have, I’m sorry. It is still an active investigation.”
“What about the suspects?” The newscaster asked. “Has anyone been arrested or even questioned yet regarding this incident.”
There was a brief delay while the Secretary listened through his earpiece to the questions posed to him. “Currently, we have people of interest that we would very much like to speak with. However, it requires a degree of interdepartmental collaboration that my counterparts are unwilling to offer.”
“And that brings us to you Deputy Secretary Rhodes. Early information implies that the suspects in this explosion were mutant individuals, and that some or all of the Avengers were part of an attempt to recover the stolen weapons which led to this explosion. How to you answer to Secretary Williamson’s claim that your department is not sharing valuable intelligence with his?”
Rhodey allowed a brief smile to appear on his face before vanishing. “Good morning Hailey. The Secretary is correct, we cannot say a lot about an ongoing investigation. I can only repeat the information I released this morning, at least two individuals were involved with breaking into a military weapons storage center in upper Pennsylvania earlier this week and stealing a large quantity of weapons. Obviously for security reasons, we cannot go into the specifics of what was stolen. Security footage of the center was able to produce two faces of the people who broke in. When the military ran the images through their facial recognition software, the results were of two individuals who happen to be mutants. At that point my department was contacted to inquire if we had any information on the suspects that could aide in the investigation. The Department of Mutant Affairs collected and turned over the requested information and that was the end of our involvement. As far as the Avengers being sent in to recover the weapons, that is incorrect. Never did the DMA contact the Avengers or anyone else to aid in the investigation. My department has fully corroborated with other departments and was only used in this investigation as intel support, that was it.”
“Secretary, what do you have to say in response to the Deputy Secretary’s remarks.”
“Hailey, pardon my French, but I call bull on the Deputy Secretary. Yes, the DMA provided us with information, and it was pretty damn good information at that. Stuff we wouldn’t have been able to put together in time to attempt to intercept the shipment. The defense department is beyond appreciative for that. However, the DMA does not corroborate with anyone and hoards information from other departments and agencies, information that is instrumental to public safety.”
An eyebrow arched on the Deputy Secretary, the only feature that would clue a viewer in on a crack in the man’s resolve. “What information are you talking about, what are we hording that could hurt the general population?”
“A list of mutants.” The Secretary rose his voice and quicken his speaking pace. “Tell the truth Deputy Secretary, your department has a database that lists every mutant.”
Rhodes spoke over Williamson. “That is incorrect, such a database does not exist at our department.”
Thomas went on acting like Rhodes never spoke at all. “And you refuse to share that information with anyone, such as the Department of Homeland Security or Defense, or agencies such as the FBI. Government departments and agencies that could use that information to ensure the safety of the public.”
“Again, there is not a database of mutant names in the department, that is an urban legend.” Rhodey repeated in a calm voice with a deadpan expression.
“Hailey, I am promising you and the American people that there is in fact a list of mutants that the Department of Mutant Affairs has and refuses to disclose to counterparts. I am so sure about this that I am using your show as a platform to ask, no demand, from Congress an investigation into this matter. One department cannot be the controller of this critical information. Today it is a boat full of weapons that exploded, which thank the good Lord didn’t hurt anyone, but what about tomorrow?”
Rhodes finally permitted some emotion to show. Shaking his head side to side with a confused look on his face, he attempted to sum up the entire event in simple terms. “You are trying to scare people. It was two or three people who stole the weapons, the fact that they were mutants had nothing to do with it.”
The Secretary banged his fist on to the surface in front of him. “I beg the American people to contact their representatives to back me in my plead to Congress to investigate this matter.”
Suddenly the screen that was showing the television program caved in on itself. Pyro, Mastermind and Mystique looked to Magneto to watch him gesture the crushing of the equipment with one fist, using his magnetic field controlling ability to destroy the item. Mystique held up the remote, “I could have just turned it off.”
John looked to be relieved by the broadcast. “They didn’t release our names, that either means they don’t know for sure it was us, or…”
Magneto pulled the television off the wall and threw it in the direction of the two men, interrupting John’s hopeful takeaway. “They know it is you. Don’t be a fool.” He took a calming breath, “It appears that there is a specific reason they are not notifying the public of their suspects.”
John wasn’t about to give up the hope that they were ahead of the law. “The Deputy said two or three mutants stole the weapons. That is a pretty vague suspect list.”
Jason looked over at his accomplice and explained how it all works. “It’s either a trick to make us believe that we are ahead of them, or they really don’t know how many of us were involved.”
Conceding that it could all be a game of ‘smoke and mirrors’ and Interpol or someone could be busting through their door at any minute, John moved on to the other topic of the television interview. “What about that list they were talking about towards the end.”
“That was… bothering.” Magneto admitted. Everyone knowing who was behind the stolen weapons wasn’t a concern, as long as if was clear it was mutants. The public declaration of a database containing the list of mutants however was a different matter.
Looking around to the others, John questioned. “Do you think there is a list?”
Magneto quickly came back hissing, “I know there is a list.”
Mystique got closer to Magneto and with deep concern asked, “Would Charles give it to her?”
Meeting her yellow eyes Erik had no choice but to be honest in this situation. They both knew such a ‘collection’ of names existed. They were instrumental in the assembly of the first group of X-Men when Hank McCoy invented Cerebro, the device used by Professor Charles Xavier to detect humans and mutants. “I don’t know this Secretary Barton, but I highly doubt anyone would hold that position without Charles’ blessing.”
It meant little to Mystique if Charles ‘blessed’ this human becoming the government official who was tasked with controlling their people, that being the official job description or not. It was improbable after Hank’s time as the Secretary that they would ever allow a mutant to have the job again. However, there were some lines that could not and should not be crossed. “But to actually hand a list of mutants over to a human?”
“He must trust her greatly.” Magneto observed looking off into the distance.
“What about the demands for an investigation.” Jason asked finally standing up from his seated position. “The government wants that list.”
“That,” Erik started, then decided the fewer words said the better, “cannot happen.”
“What do we do?” Mystique questioned, thinking about numerous places the list could be hidden. There was the Department of course, but that was too easy, especially if other officials were looking for it. Her home perhaps, but would Secretary Barton keep such important information that people could possibly kill for near her loved ones? Then there was the New York office that the Deputy Secretary just broadcasted from. That was the obvious choice to hide such a precious item. The office was located within the Avengers’ headquarters and would have security for the security. It wouldn’t be any problem for Mystique to gain entrance and look around.
Magneto knew Mystique was already planning to steal the list. The problem was simple, not one of them knew what form the list was in. Back in the day, it was a list of coordinates typed out on paper. This modern technical age broadened what the ‘list’ could be. The solution was straightforward to him and required much less work and energy. “We make it clear to the Secretary that it cannot happen.”
John queried the group, “How?”
Looking to each member of his party, Magneto could almost hear the inner workings of their minds. They were all expecting him to divulge some complex plan in retrieving the list. He would need none of their assistance, he would handle this entirely on his own. “Leave that to me.”
~~~
Clint shut the bedroom door behind him. Turning around he saw that Kate had gone in to the walk-in closet. “What are you doing?”
“Getting real clothes on. I’ll take Charlie to school today.” She called out. “I need to speak to the Professor about a few things, might as well add this to the list.”
“Kate, come on out here please. I don’t think she should go today.” Clint suggested to the open closet door that his wife was somewhere near. He felt like a soldier who had just pulled the pin out of a grenade and was now looking for a spot to throw it before it went off.
Kate reemerged holding a dress. “You don’t think she should go to school?”
Placing a hand up he offered, “Hear me out.”
Kate shook her head and put the dress on the bed and went back into the closet, dismissing Clint’s suggestion. “No, unacceptable. She has to go to school Clint. Education is a nonnegotiable.”
Clint walked over to the closet and stood in the doorway. “Can I say two words?”
Kate turned around from where she was selecting shoes and moved towards Clint. “So she said a few things that are admittedly, concerning. I will talk to the Professor about it and it will all get sorted out.”
Folding his arms, Clint leaned in and stressed the importance of the situation. “She is talking about destroying all humans so that people like her can survive. All because a boy told her so.”
Not liking the idea of being stuck in the closet without an exit for this conversation, she pushed past Clint and went back into the bedroom, calling behind her, “She doesn’t mean it. When I was talking to her just now, she told me that a few kids were comparing ‘humans hurt me’ stories.” Kate sat down on the bed and looked to Clint. “She can relate so it is stirring up some emotions in her. It’s a delicate age Clint. She won’t do anything.”
All Clint did was turn around, he kept his arms folded and used the door frame for support. “Can you promise me that?”
“What?”
“Can you look me in the eyes and promise me that Charlie won’t act out on her threats?”
“What threats?” Kate said throwing her hands dramatically in the air. “Damn it Clint, this is our daughter we are talking about. How can you even think she would do something like that?”
Slowly walking towards her, Clint kneeled in front of her and forced eye contact. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you aren’t scared shitless by what she said.”
Not given any hint of a response to Clint’s questioned, Kate asked one herself, “And your answer to this is to take her out of school?”
“It’s not my long-term answer, no. It is the answer I got for today.” He offered and he stood back up and sat next to her on the bed. “Wanda already left, she is going to see if the Professor has any time today to speak to me. I will go up there and talk to him.”
“It would be better…”
He shook his head. “No it wouldn’t be better if you went. You have a strange way of rationalizing everything, especially when it comes to Charlie. Our son just asked us if Charlie was going to kill all of us and if he needs to lock his bedroom door.”
“That was Cooper just being Cooper.” Kate said with a wave of her hand, rejecting the concerns of their son.
Clint bobbed his head and raised an eyebrow. “It was a valid question.”
“No it wasn’t”
Clint put his elbow on his knee and placed his head in his hand. This wasn’t an argument that he wanted. They had only had two hours of sleep and this was a serious topic that they were discussing, and here they were arguing about the severity of it. There was also Kate’s condition to be cautious about. This type of discussion historically had a tendency to aggravate her condition. In the past months, Clint had become a quick study of gamma radiation poisoning and the effects of stress on it. Finally, there was the pregnancy, and it was widely known to not make a pregnant woman upset, particularly during her third trimester. In a cool soft voice, Clint had to disagree with her. “Yes, it was Kate. The way she was talking, the things she was saying, yes I believe Cooper had a rational concern about the potential actions of his sister.”
“I refuse to believe…”
He threw himself up and faced her. “That right there. That is the problem Kate, you refuse to believe. How many kids have done horrifying things in this world and the parents ‘refused to believe’ that their child was capable of it? Guess what? News flash Kate, our child is capable of it! If something happened, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn Charlie did it. Disappointed, angry, sad yes, but not surprised. Consider my foot down, it’s not happening under my roof and not with my kids.”
“Your foot down?” She didn’t know what Clint meant by that, he had never said that phrase before, but it didn’t sound like anything good.
“Yeah, I am taking the wheel on this. Tony has taken Cooper and Lila to school. He will drop Nate off with Pepper then come back here to get Charlie. She will spend the day at the compound with him. He says that there is always some nominal work that needs to be done, or something that needs to be stapled.”
“Great, give her a weapon.” Kate said under her breath as she adjusted herself and the bed’s pillows, so she was still sitting up, just against the headboard.
“She is a weapon!” Clint yelled at his wife suddenly, causing Kate’s eyes to widen in shock at the statement. Pushing his lips together at his improv outburst, Clint looked to the ground to ‘check’ himself. When he felt he was in control of his emotions, he looked back up and continued. “I will go to the Xavier school and speak with the Professor. When and if I feel comfortable with the actions he proposes to take in order to guarantee my daughter a safe and proper education, Charlie can return tomorrow.”
“What if you aren’t happy with what the Professor says.”
In a matter of fact manner, Clint told her what he would be doing if he wasn’t satisfied with the Xavier school’s response to his concerns. “Then my next stop will be to Lila’s school and enrolling Charlie there.”
Taking a deep breath and letting it out a ‘huff’ in annoyance of Clint’s ‘foot being down’ Kate explained why his plan was destined to fail. “Clint, you can’t do that. She has to be at the Xavier school. She needs to be there. Isolating her from her peers would only escalate her current feelings.”
“She doesn’t have to be anywhere but with her family.” Clint countered then admitted to the benefits that the Xavier school did offer his eldest daughter. “Yes, she receives an incredible education from the Xavier school, but Lila’s isn’t to shabby itself. Anything else she needs; you and Wanda can supplement at home with Xavier consulting.”
“You just decided all this in what, the last ten minutes?” Kate shot at Clint in clear hostility. Almost a year later, and Kate was still hesitant to lessen her grasp on the reins of parenting Charlie alone.
“Something like that. Tony and I spoke after you and Charlie left the table.” He acknowledged, fully detecting the defensiveness and rising attitude in his wife’s voice. “Kate, I’m not going to say this isn’t worth getting stressed out about because that’s a lie. This is a big deal, but I need you to stay calm. It will not help the situation if you get stressed out and I have to take you to Hank. How much help will you be to Charlie or any of the kids if you are in the hospital? You need to rest, as much as you can.” He could see that she was about to protest so he pushed on with logic. “Not only are you going without sleep, but I know your blood pressure is probably through the roof right now which can’t be great for the drug protocol. You know Tony wants to hire a nurse for you, and this behavior is not helping to prevent me from allowing him to interview applicants.”
“I don’t need a nurse. I can take care of myself.”
“Then prove it. Just let me handle this. I’ll go to the school and talk with Xavier, then head over to the compound. I need to talk with Steve today anyway about some HYDRA activities in the Balkans. That should take me until its time to pick everyone up. Cooper has basketball practice after school, so I am going to pick up Nate and the girls and take them to the park afterwards. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe being out in the general public playing on a nice day will deter Charlie from wiping the human race from the planet. If everything goes as planned, she should love people again by five. Just in time to go get Cooper and be home in time for homework and dinner.” Any further details Clint was going to give Kate about his agenda for the day was interrupted by his cellphone beeping that a new message had been received. Assuming that it was Wanda with a time for him to go meet the Professor, Clint pulled it out.
New Message from GrandpapaIronass:
Take her cellphone now! Rhodey messed up big time on national television. On my way now with french fries and intel.
Clint stared at the message and thought about what the best way would be to deal with the newest problem that was just dumped in his lap. Shoving the phone back into the pocket of his pajama pants he paraphrased Tony’s message. “That was Tony, he is on his way back to get Charlie. He is bringing you french fries. Good thing he texted, I didn’t know my phone was about to die. I think my charger is broken, can I plug into yours?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kate looked to her nightstand. “My phone is still on it, but it should be full.”
“Thanks.” Clint said walking over to her nightstand and disconnecting her phone. He waited until she moved to get under the covers and used that distraction to hide her phone in his pocket, turning the sound off as he did so. Clint knew it would at most be thirty minutes before she realized that her phone wasn’t within arm’s reach. However, it was thirty minutes that hopefully would give him enough time to get the story from Tony and prepare for whatever hellfire was about to rain down on them. “I’m going to go get a quick shower in and change, then explain the plan to Charlie.” He watched as Kate nodded and laid down in the bed and reached for the remote control. “Hey, don’t make me treat you like one of the kids.” He scolded, taking the remote from her. Whatever Rhodes had done was probably replaying on every news station. He just needed Kate to get some rest before she had to get involved. “No T.V. no electronics, just go to sleep please.”
“But…french fries.”
“They will keep.” He promised as he leaned down to kiss her. “Just please for the love of God go to bed. I can deal with Charlie or I can deal with you. But for the life of me, I can’t deal with you both.”
“Love you too.”
“Hey,” He started and looked deep in her eyes. “We will be okay.” He put his right hand on her stomach. “We will all be okay. This is just a little speed bump.”
Kate placed her hand on top of his. “That is your child.”
Clint laughed and it felt good to laugh after everything that had happened since last night. “Not Vee, this whole ‘Charlie mess’. It’s just a little hiccup. I will sort it out. Odds are she has already gotten over it. I’ll talk to Xavier, and we will go from there.”
Shifting down lower into the bed and under the covers to find a comfortable position for five minutes before Vee decided Kate had to change positions, she imparted her wisdom of pre-teen girls, “There is no way in hell she has already gotten over it. A boy is involved, if what Wanda says is correct, you and Tony insulted him. If you ask me, that is what caused this reaction from her, you guys saying Ethan sucked.”
Standing up so Kate could get comfortable Clint confessed, “I stand by my earlier analysis. Charlie better get use to it, any boy she likes is going to suck in my eyes. I know she is going to get all ‘teenagey’ and stuff, but I just can’t allow this to be her reaction to that.”
“I understand, and you are probably correct.” Pointing a finger in his face before he started to gloat about ‘being right’. “Probably. Talk to Xavier, find out what is going on over there. Give me a call later?”
“It will be much later, but yes. You need to sleep.” He agreed as he started to walk into the closet to get his own clothes for the day.
With eyes closed and a tired voice Kate pointed out the hypocrisy in his orders. “You only got two hours yourself.”
Reemerging from the closet with his outfit for the day in hand, he closed the door behind him and started towards the bathroom. “Yes, but I am used to it and I am not pregnant with gamma radiation poisoning.”
“Lucky.”
Chuckling as he prepared to shut the door and shower he reminded her, “One more month, you can do it. Nighty-night.”
“It’s eight o’clock in the morning.”
Calling from the other side of the bathroom door in a voice that was louder then he meant for it to be, “I said, nighty-night.”