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CANON FODDER written by Richard 'Kurogo' Palmer
Warning: This Fan-fiction deals with mature such as substance abuse, profanity and violence.
"She still hasn't talked?" Graves asked as he entered the control room.
"No sir, not since she was brought in." One of the soldiers reported.
"Damn." Graves remarked somewhat calmly, "We need information and we need it quick. As it is Operation Clean-sweep is running behind schedule."
"A problem you wouldn't be having had you taken my advice." Came a voice from the rear entrance to the control room. Graves turned to see a tall man with long curly hair, dark blonde in color. He was dressed in a black business suit. His face sported a beard with the hair shaved off of his chin. Accompanying him were four or five armed guards in US military attire.
"Leveque?" Graves asked.
"It's been some time Graves. Two… maybe three years?"
Graves nodded, "and the Utopia project?"
"Still operable." Leveque said as he approached the monitor screen, "So who is the subject?"
"An unknown, sir." A young soldier replied.
"Have you been subjecting her to the normal psychological treatment?"
"Yes sir, we had minor progress on the first day we hooked her up to the machines."
"The machines?" Leveque repeated.
"Yes sir, its standard procedure."
Leveque grinned as he turned to Graves; "well there's your problem right there. You have to learn, Graves, that because it works on paper it doesn't necessarily work in real life. Sometimes the best solutions are tried and true ones."
"What are you suggesting?" Graves questioned.
"Give me ten minutes with her," Leveque smiled, "I'll get the necessary information out of her." A few of the soldiers looked at Graves, he nodded. "Very well then, show me to her cell."
Balam looked up as her cell door opened, a tall dark blonde man with a beard in a suit walked in. "Hello, miss, how are we feeling today?" She just turned her head and ignored him. "Fine, you don't need to respond, all I'm asking is that you listen."
"Will you be needing any assistance sir?" the guard asked.
"Thank you, no," Leveque smiled, "I think we'd rather be left alone." The guard left closing the door behind him. Leveque bent down and pulled a bottle out of his jacket, "Here, Child, have an aspirin, it'll ease the pain."
Christina looked at him in disgust.
"Hmm, still distrusting I see. That's understandable," Leveque said solemnly, "Well I'm going to let you in on a little secret… right now the baselines in the control room are experiencing technical difficulties."
Balam looked confused.
"That's right child, I'm altering their monitoring devices so they have lost all audio. But don't speak, knowing Graves' people they may be able to lip read." He grinned, "As you've probably guessed by now, I too am a mutant. I've been using my powers of mental persuasion on a covert mission of sorts. With the knowledge that I've gained I may be able to stop Operation Clean-sweep before it truly gets off the ground. In fact if it all goes well, I might even be able to bring down the whole damn system. But that is neither here nor there." He smiled as he put the bottle of pills away; "I'm here to help you escape this facility. On paper it will read that you are being transferred to another facility, but in truth I will have you flown back to Massachusetts, where you can rejoin your fellow teammates… your friends… If you understand blink twice."
Christina blinked her eyes twice in a row.
"All right, now I have to administer a temporary mental block until next we meet. When I count to three spit at me, do not say a word as at that time the audio will be operable once more. Then I'll leave to set things in motion." He stood up, "One, two, three."
Balam spat at him, harshly.
"Hmmm, very well child, If you do not wish to speak than there is nothing further I can do. But the each and every one of your kind will be brought to justice, and you too will be charged with the same crimes as they, have no doubt of that." He turned and left her cell.
"So?" Graves questioned Leveque as he walked back into the control room.
"She's in an advanced state of emotional shock, causing her temporary loss of vocal ability." Leveque said as he put on his gloves, "If you had proceeded with a bit more caution I might have been able to extract the necessary information, but as thing's are now…" Leveque shrugged.
"What about psi-scans?" one of Graves' men asked.
The look he received from Leveque made him very uneasy. "I'm no expert in the field, but from what I know in psychology I would say that it would be improbable. You would need an extremely powerful psychotronic device to break down the psychological barriers, or at least an extremely capable telepath." Leveque grinned as he looked at Graves. "It appears you have pushed when you should have pulled, a lesson you should have learned when you worked under my supervision. There is nothing more I can do here, aside from the normal cellular scans. I'll be in touch." He motioned to the military personnel accompanying him and the turned and left the room. He turned back to Graves just before he walked through the door, "I'll need a tissue sample of the subject, and I expect to have it by the end of the day."
As Leveque and his armed escort got on the helicopter one of them turned to his leader, "So what is the plan, sir?"
"We release the mutant known as Balam, we return her to the academy and take Equilibrium into custody. He'll answer for his disobedience and the plan will continue. Is that understood Anthony?"
Anthony Kubrin nodded. He pulled off his helmet and let his braids down. "Understood, sir."
______________
Kevin broke free of the stranglehold the large man had on him and delivered a low blow with his heel. The man doubled back and Kevin grabbed a chair he broke it over the man's back and used the two fragments in his hands to deflect the knife attack from the next man. He punched the guy in the stomach and shot multiple punches to his face as he doubled over. Finally he delivered a spinning heel kick that sent the man flying. As the Holographic image hit the window, Cassidy turned to Emma Frost, "He's not 'alf Bad, is he?"
Emma nodded, "he's a good fighter considering he has no powers to aid him in battle, yes."
Banshee turned back to Kevin who now had another of the holographic images in a chokehold with his boot. Kevin pulled out a can of Beer opened it up Chugged it for a few brief seconds before releasing the man from the hold and slamming the can into his face. Three men came up in front of Kevin and began to close in on him. Kevin prepared for the attack. Suddenly the men grabbed each other's shoulders and went into chorus line dance.
"Dammit," Emma yelled, "He's doing it again." She shut the program off and walked into the room. "Kevin you have to take these training sessions more seriously. So stop the joking and get that bug out of the system."
Kevin shrugged, "This all seems kinda pointless anyway," he said as he went to the control panel, "what you have to realize is people ain't machines. Machines will go for what's tactically sound, people don't always do that, there's a lack of predictability." He typed in a short series of commands into the program and turned to Banshee, "It's all done. Okay?"
"Is that the last 'surprise' ye put in the program, lad?" Sean asked.
"Yeah." Kevin said as he lit up a cigarette.
Cassidy grabbed his arm; "I'm serious lad."
"So am I. Damn, get a sense of humor." Kevin said as he pulled his arm back.
"If I thought ye were going to rework the program I wounnae let ye use the danger room for yuir personal business a few weeks ago." Sean said as Kevin took a drag off of his cigarette.
"Y'know, Screw this, I've had enough trainin'," Sequel said as he stepped out of the Danger room, "I'm going to patch into the computers and try to find Christy."
"We already have people on that Kevin."
"Suck it, I know what I'm doin…"
"I don't think you do." Emma said, "We even have the computers at the X-Mansion trying to track down Balam. I know you think you know it all, but…"
"I know I don't know it all!" Kevin shot back as he turned back to Emma, he walked up to her as he talked, "I only know what was programmed into me at Asylum 7's Labs. I've spent the better part of my life as a Guinea pig, and I've lost it all several times over! My whole freakin' life had been put in a meat grinder chewed up and spit out and shoved back down my throat! When I met Christy that all changed, and then I lost her, and DAMMIT I'm not going to loose her again!" he shrugged, "So, yeah, maybe my helping out isn't going to help much, maybe it isn't tactically sound, but it sure as hell is going to make me feel better. So put a sock in it Frosty, I've had enough bullshit for one day!" He walked off as Emma glared at him. "Don't cry for me Frosty, I'm already dead." He said as he turned the corner.
______________
The helicopter landed on the Heli-pad at Operation Clean-sweep complex in southwest New Mexico. Jean Leveque stepped out of the helicopter with two other men in suits. One was balding with a full beard; the other had a goatee and his hair was done up in several braids. Leveque motioned to them and they followed him into the complex along with a half dozen or so men in US military uniforms.
Graves looked up from his desk as Leveque approached him, "Jean, I didn't expect to see you again so soon. What brings you back here?"
"Prisoner 57 shows a K-4 rating on the Kaufson meters, She's to be transferred to Asylum 7 at once." The balding man said as he dropped a load of papers on Graves's desk.
Graves picked up the papers and looked through them, "Alright." He said as he signed for her transfer, "She's in cell 8, you can go ahead and pick her up."
Leveque motioned to the two men in suits. They left with the soldiers they came in with. Leveque approached Graves's desk, "Norman, how are you? You look a little stressed out."
"It's the damn paperwork, I wish just once we could get the government off our backs on this. But I think were finally ready to be underway, Operation Clean-sweep can be put into full effect in the next week or so."
"No," Leveque said, "It can't." Graves eyes glazed over, "in fact the whole project is causing you unbelievable stress. That's why you can't take it any more. When I leave this evening you're going to take a loaded pistol and…"
"Mr. Graves." The soldier saluted as he came in, "We're having another malfunction in Camera thirty-two."
"I'll get someone on it." Graves said.
"Well, Norman, it's getting late. I think I best be on my way." Leveque said as he turned to leave the office. "Stay in good health." He smiled as he left.
Norman Graves smiled in return. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a small revolver. When Leveque's helicopter lifted off into the air Jean Leveque smiled a little. He turned to Anthony Kubrin; "Another one down my friend, and a world to go."
The soldiers rushed into Graves's office, already knowing it was too late, blood covered the wall behind Graves's desk. Days later they would receive a termination notice and the project would be disbanded. Graves's family would be notified of his suicide and most of the inmates at the site would be relocated to Asylum 7. This is the way a man like Leveque ran things. No mercy, but underneath the cold exterior a fighter and revolutionary. A man like Leveque would be seen as a terrorist in each country he held allegiance to, but he was also considered indispensable. He wasn't the best Mutant freedom fighter the world could ask for, but Jean Leveque, the man once called Canon, was as effective as any of those in costume, although much more remorseless.
The Helicopter flew off to a military base where Canon had a jet waiting. The soldiers led Christina off the Helicopter and into the Plane, where she was unshackled. Leveque stepped into the luxury airliner and sat down next to a young woman with pale lavender skin. This was Emily Emerson AKA Shroud; perhaps his most trusted Emissary. Canon sat down and opened a small locket and stared at it.
"Is that your daughter?" Emily asked.
"Yes, Emily? This was the daughter I lost to a nameless Anti-Mutant project, from another lifetime. Like Clean-sweep I eventually was able to control it and terminate it. I keep this to remind me what we're fighting for."
"She's the one the Machine for the Utopia project is named after?"
"Yes." Canon said as he flipped the locket closed and put it away, "the final step is to be dedicated to her memory."
Emily sat back and smiled, Leveque had grown to be like a father to her, and she truly felt that although his methods could be called questionable, the ends were worth the sacrifices they'd made.
______________
"Emma!" Sean called, "We've jus' received a telephone call from a man named Leveque. He say's he's found Ms. Laine! He's coming over in the next five minutes!"
"What?" Emma said as she rushed towards the door. The sound of an apache helicopter could be heard as she ran outside. The large aircraft landed and a young cat-girl in an orange prison uniform leapt out at her teacher.
"Christina?" Emma stammered, "But who?"
"I did." Leveque said as he stepped out, "My name is Jean Leveque. I'm a covert Mutant of sorts, I was able to free her from an anti-mutant organization based off the Zero tolerance project and had them shut down." He approached Emma and smiled, "Think of me as a friend."
"You!" came a voice from the school's entryway. Monet Dashed out, "Mr. Leveque, how are you?"
"An old friend?" Emma asked.
"Yes, Leveque used to work with my father, he was the chief secretary to the Algerian Prime Minister." She smiled, "I practically grew up with this man."
Leveque smiled, "Little Monet, it's been some time. You've grown so big! How old are you now, sixteen?" Leveque smiled as Monet nodded. "I wish I could say I was here on personal matters child but I'm afraid work must intrude. He turned to Emma; "I'm here to take an Equilibrium into government custody."
Emma walked down the Hall with Jean Leveque Banshee close by her side. She turned to Leveque as if to ask him a question but stayed silent. Finally Leveque said, "Don't do that."
"I'm sorry?"
"You were trying to find out about my past Ms. Frost, through the use of your telepathy. I'm used to the feeling."
"I'm sorry it was kind of a…"
"Reflex, I know," Leveque said, "I happen to fall onto the use of my powers on reflex from time to time as well."
"If you don't mind me asking, What are your mutant powers? How did you come to meet Monet?"
"My powers include a projected field of Charisma that I can turn on and off at will. And the ability to block psi-scans off all kinds. That is all you need to know. As for how I came to know Monet, I make it a point to become very world renown."
They walked into the infirmary where Equilibrium lay unconscious. Leveque turned to the bald man who had followed him, "Prepare him for transport." He then turned back to the White Queen; "Ms. Frost I'm afraid I must part soon, the life of a covert liberator is a fast paced one."
"Thank you for returning Balam to us." Emma said.
"Aye, There's one more lad who'd probably like to thank ye as well, but he's…"
"YOU!" came a voice from the entryway. All eyes turned to Kevin, "Canon! You Psycho delusionist, Autocratic, Mother Fucker!" He jumped at the man and landed a punch. Leveque only stumbled a bit from the blow.
"Canon?" Emma said.
"I'm afraid the boy is right," Canon said, "I'm the infamous Jim Canon of Asylum 7. But rest assured it was all done for the greater good. As is what I'm doing at this school." He looked at Emma; "The Utopia Project is finally underway."
To be continued…
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The legal stuff: The Characters from Generation X and the concept of Mutants and are a product of Marvel comics and it's employees and are used without permission. Christina Laine is based off of the Samurai Spirits character Cham-Cham, Beyond that she's a character of my own creation. Kevin Dallas, Canon, and his Emissaries are all characters of my own creation, all rights reserved.
Children under twelve and their employee's are prohibited in taking part in this bid for world domination.
