Betrayal - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Valerie Jones
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 21

Charles Xavier studied the chess board before him with interest. It was not his turn, but he watched anyway, curious how the Witness would respond to his move. The danger room had been converted into a copy of Charles' study, complete with a window that mimicked the scene outside of the real one. Currently, a sliver of moonlight shined in on them, its light lost in the warm glow of the lamps.

Several of the X-men were gathered around them, watching. It had become something of an evening habit, though Charles would never admit how much he was enjoying himself. He rarely found a challenging opponent for his favorite game. Still, the true purpose was to glean information from their odd visitor.

The Witness stirred, slid his bishop across the squares. Charles frowned. That bishop had been pressuring his queen. He did not immediately see the purpose in moving it. He studied the board until the reasons became clear. The pattern that the Witness was so carefully putting together would not coalesce for a while, but if it did, Charles knew he would have little defense against it. He began working on a counter strategy to block the attack.

Henry McCoy cleared his throat. "So when did you take up this most august game?" He was looking at the Witness. "I am fairly sure that our Gambit does not play."

The Witness smiled faintly. "No, he doesn't. Forge taught me. . . after de war."

"This human-mutant war you've mentioned?" Cyclops couldn't quite keep the suspicion out of his voice. Besides Bishop, he was probably the most vocal about his mistrust of the Witness.

"Oui." The Witness' eyes never left the game board.

"Then Forge survived the war." Storm leaned forward in her chair.

"Did anyone else?"

The Witness glanced at her. "A few, scattered across de globe. We didn' find anyone else from de original teams, but a couple o' de kids up in Boston survived."

"Who is `we'?"

"Me, Forge, Cable an' Irish."

"Cable. . ." It was not really a comment, just a mother's reaction to hearing that her son had survived. Jean and Scott shared an indecipherable personal look.

The Witness seemed to understand their desire to hear more. He smiled. "He de one ended up in charge after Eric died."

"Eric? Magneto?" Charles abandoned his thoughts of chess.

The Witness surveyed them. "Maybe I start at de beginning, neh?"

Charles smiled. "That might be a good idea." His curiosity was piqued. He knew some of the history of the human-mutant war from Bishop, but he was very interested to hear about it from someone who, purportedly, had been there.

"First of all," the Witness began, "it wasn' officially a war f' almost four years. Jus' a mutant uprising, an' mostly jus' here in de States. But den a lot o' countries started adoptin' isolation policies-- puttin' mutants in camps or deportin' dem, and de violence spread. We were fightin' mostly t' liberate de camps and protect free mutants, but dere were a lot o' groups usin' terror tactics-- on both sides."

"Who's `we'?" Henry adjusted his glasses.

"At de time, it was mostly de folks from X-force and X-factor, wit a few extras thrown in. De Avengers were tangled up in legal stuff-- in prison, if I remember right.

"Den a bunch o' de first world countries-- de States, Europe, Japan, like dat-- formed somet'ing called de Human Consortium. Dey turn it into a war for real. Dey had de manpower, de weapons an' de organization. . . . Woulda been over quick if Magneto hadn' stepped in. He turn a bunch o' factions, lots o' folks who used t' be enemies, into a mutant army. After dat, it jus' one big throw down."

"How long did it last?" Storm asked.

"Eight years."

"And where were you during all this?" Scott did not seem particularly impressed.

The Witness pinned him with a cold stare. Charles knew Scott well enough to know that it was taking everything he had not to back down under that gaze. Not that Charles blamed him. Even he found the Witness to be intimidating, at times.

"I spent a couple o' years runnin' ground operations against de Consortium down around de Carolinas. After dat, Eric figured my . . . particular. . . expertise would do more good f' de cause den anyt'ing I could accomplish in de field. I ended up doin' spy stuff. Espionage, sabotage. . . like dat. Weapons systems schematics an' codes, supply routes, battle plans. . . anyt'ing dat could slow de Consortium down."

There was a short pause. Charles found himself chilled by the thought of just how dangerous a sabateur Gambit would probably be. He decided to change the subject.

"How did Magneto die?"

The Witness laughed, a hard, brittle sound. "Eric de one man I would have bet couldn' be suckered by a woman. But he was, an' she put a knife in his heart in de middle o' de night." He shrugged. "Took me three months t' track her down. She was a mutant, too." His gaze had grown distant with the memory. Charles did not need to ask what had happened to her.

The Witness came back to himself and continued the story. "Cable took over after Eric died. He'd been in charge o' almost all operations inside de States up t' dat point. But losin' Magneto hurt too much. Wit him, we maybe coulda won. Wit'out him we had t' settle f' a conditional surrender-- an' a treaty. Ev'rybody tired o' war by den.

"Basically, dey made mutants a separate nation, sort o' like de native americans were back when. Made us responsible f' creatin' a gov'ment f' ourselves. It was supposed t' be a trap. Mutants were supposed t' be completely separate from human laws-- so mutant kids couldn' go t' human schools, an' mutants couldn' be treated at human hospitals. . . . It was supposed t' be a quiet way t'sink mutants into poverty-- an' slavery, though nobody ever woulda called it dat." The Witness' eyes burned with suppressed anger.

"What happened?" This was something that Bishop had know nothing about. The history of the formation of the mutant government was shrouded in a great deal of mystery.

The Witness looked at Charles, stubborn defiance written in his expression. It was so much like an expression he had occasionally seen on Gambit's face that Charles was taken aback.

"We weren' about t' get beaten dat way," the Witness told him.

"Dere were only de four of us left from de original teams, but we figured we were enough t' give mutants a fair chance. Cable was de leader-- ev'rybody knew him from de war. Dey respected him, dey'd listen t' him. Forge knew how t' run a gov'ment-- how t' set up social programs, start up an' staff de schools an' hospitals, an' Banshee knew how t' put together a law enforcement system."

"The X.S.E.?"

"Oui, Professor."

"What was your role in the new government?" Charles couldn't see Gambit as an administrator of any kind.

The Witness grinned at him. "My job was t' find de money t' make everyt'ing else happen."

Charles studied him, once again forced to re-evaluate this man. "I see."

Scott was frowning in disapproval. "Do you really think that justifies you being a criminal?"

The Witness turned to Scott. "De issue was savin' what was left o' de mutant race. I don' particularly care if you t'ink what I did is justified or not."

"Good intentions don't give you the right to trample on people. Didn't you learn anything from the X-men?" The question was scathing. Jean put a placating hand on her husband's arm, but Scott's gaze remained fixed on the Witness.

Charles imagined he saw real anger burning in the Witness' eyes. "What I learned from de X-men. . . . . you never understand." For a moment, he seemed to feel the weight of his age and the proud carriage wilted a little.

Scott didn't notice. "Now wait a minute--!"

"Scott!" Jean's grip on her husband tightened.

Scott turned an accusing look on his wife. "Why are you defending him? He's admitted to being the head of an organized crime syndicate. How many people's lives do you think he's ruined?"

"Too many t' count," the Witness interjected calmly. His expression was unreadable.

"You sound like you're *proud* of it!"

"Not proud. . . ." The Witness rose and walked over to the window, stared out at the moonlit grounds. "It was just de price had t' be paid."

Scott was furious. "And who made you God, to go deciding other peoples' fates for them?"

The Witness did not turn around. "Same person dat killed you an' y' wife an' y' chillen, Cyclops. De same person dat killed de X-men."