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English
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Part 28 of Mutants and Mutants
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Published:
2023-02-17
Completed:
2023-02-20
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5,966
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Illyan and Genosha

Chapter 3: Request and Response

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

When the meeting finally concluded, Illyan rose and stretched, letting the little old man grunt escape as his back popped from far too long in a very, deliberately, uncomfortable chair and headed towards the exit. He hadn’t lost his escort, but then paused as he walked away, “Oh, also, on a personal note, I should check in with Diana and convey the Barrayaran offer of hosting her and her family.”

Ororo gave him a flat stare. “And why would she want that?”

“To ensure she does not accidentally kidnap anyone else,” Simon said.

“Sounds like she might be arrested if she accepted your offer.”

“Hardly. But I’m sure more formal assurances can be provided if desired.”

“Assurances we would simply have to trust.”

Simon didn’t stiffen at the insult to his E--his former commander. “As we must accept your assurance of our safety and every other thing we just discussed.”

“We’ll see what she says,” Ororo said, though her expression made it clear what her recommendation would be.

“They.”

She gave him an actually confused look. “This was an offer to her and her family. She remains a child and unless you propose a truly unusual legal structure, this choice does not belong to her alone, and certainly does not belong to you.”

“And Marie Trogir?”

“I understand she’s wanted for manslaughter, but that’s an extradition matter between Genosha and Barrayar.”

She stared at him for a moment, then just shrugged. “Not my problem. Let’s get you back to the plane so you can grab your bags before someone touches them and triggers those defenses you set up.”

Illyan nodded and they headed out.

That evening, Simon was surprised. Not that he had a visitor, but that they knocked on his door, instead of simply appearing inside. 

He considered the odds as he approached the door and mentally placed a small bet with himself about who it would be. And he partially won. Diana, her parents, as were two of the X-Men, who’d actually managed to maintain anonymity and therefore were known only as Phoenix and Cyclops. He’d somehow expected Raven to be their escort, even though that was foolish. Diana was allied with, aligned with, or hostage of the X-Men. These groups were allied, but no more than that. 

“Diana,” Illyan nodded to her politely, and to her parents, belatedly realizing he’d never gotten their names. Quick introductions followed, though the X-Men certainly didn’t share their real names and they all took seats in the fairly nice hotel suite that Genosha was providing him with. 

“What can I do for you?” he asked.

“Well...” Diana’s voice trailed off and her mother jumped in. 

“We wanted to start by thanking you. You rescued all of us--” Cyclops cleared his throat. “Yes, the X-Men were on their way, but you rescued us. And we--Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome. But I somehow doubt you came all this way just to say that.”

“No,” Diana’s father admitted. “We heard about your offer and we want to understand what you’re suggesting.”

“It’s fairly simple, Emperor Gregor recognizes that through no fault of her own, Diana is accidentally grabbing people from our universe and bringing them here. Despite the best efforts of the X-Men to train her, that has continued. The easiest solution to that is for all of you to go to a world where such powers do not exist and there is no risk that she--” he lowered his gaze to Diana and had to control a wince of his own as he saw her flinch under it, “that you will accidentally kidnap anyone else.”

“Given the new portal, this isn’t necessary. Even if it happens, whoever it was could just be sent back,” Cyclops pointed out.

“That would depend on a large number of factors, including their identity and nature. But, to give a minor example of some of the problems which could arise, if you were to bring through an Earther, it would take months for them to get home, just given travel time. If you were to bring through a Cetagandan, that would have significant political ramifications. And that’s without getting into the cost of sending people between dimensions.”

“Money isn’t the point,” Phoenix cut in. 

“No, risk is. And freedom is.” He controlled a wince at that, but the overemphasis on freedom and underemphasis on duty was inherent in this culture and he needed to play the hand he was dealt. “And choice is. Are you free to make that choice, or are you prisoners?” Simon asked the family directly. 

“Freedom?” Phoenix floated to her feet, cutting off the response. “You speak of freedom while seeking to drag her back to your Imperium , from which none of us will be able to assist her?”

“None of you have been able to assist her here,” Simon countered, which provoked a set of winces from everyone in the room. He let his voice soften, “But I asked you a question. Are you free, or are your prisoners here?”

“The X-Men do not--” Cyclops began, rising to stand besides his partner (quite obviously in more than just the military sense). 

“They aren’t keeping us prisoner. They’ve been trying to help me!” Diana yelled, slamming her hands down on the table. “Which is more than you ever did!” 

“Indeed, Diana. I lacked the knowledge, power, and connections to assist you beyond after the first time I saved your life.” She flinched at that. “Something I have set about correcting since then. And I have succeeded.”

“Yay, you can go home, so why are you here?” Cyclops asked. 

Illyan smiled gently at him. “Have you ever known a retiree who took up some new hobby? Rebuilding cars? Gardening? Making models?”

Cyclops wasn’t a stupid man. “You’re running an MRD office and attempting to reform the MRD as a retirement hobby?” he asked incredulously.

“Need to keep busy or the brain starts to deteriorate,” Illyan said with a shrug, but then his gaze sharpened. “But I’m not here to talk about me, or to answer your questions, X-Men. I’m here to answer your questions,” his gaze flicked to Diana and her parents. 

“I--”

“This is not your choice. You have dominated this conversation enough.”

Silence stretched for a long moment as Phoenix and Cyclops glanced at each other, then the family and swallowed sarcastic responses. “What would we even do?” Diana’s father asked, plaintively.

“What is your profession?” 

“I’m a plumber! Is that needed in your advanced dimension?”

“Yes. You’d require some retraining, but the Imperium could make that available, as well as providing housing and support until you were prepared to support yourself.”

“I’m in sales,” Diana’s mother said.

“I don’t believe sales techniques have changed too much over the centuries.”

“And me?” Diana asked.

“School.”

“So, I leave all my friends, everyone I know,” her parents cleared her throats, “except my parents, to go someplace, just so you can make me ‘normal’?”

Her parents winced at that, but Illyan didn’t. It was obvious that X-Men propaganda had been quite successful with her. “No. I’m offering you a chance to go somewhere new where you will neither be in danger, nor be a danger to others.”

“We’ve heard some horror stories about Barrayar,” Diana’s father cut in as the girl wilted under his words. 

“I’m sure you have. Marie Trogir is a terrorist who has killed civilians in a vain attempt to overthrow the Imperium. She is quite exactly as biased a source as I am. But her focus, like mine, admittedly, is focused entirely on high leadership roles. Which you would not have. Did she say anything about how most people live on Barrayar?”

That got shaking heads and Illyan nodded, continuing, “Of course not, because she doesn’t know, or care about them. I do, as that’s where I started out. You can have a nice, quiet life. If you choose.”

The three of them glanced at each other and at the X-Men. “We’ll think about it,” Diana’s father said and they rose as one to retreat. The X-Men did not go with them, which was worrisome. As was the reflected movement in the television screen to his right, which the chip flagged as actually directly behind him. 

He twisted to the side automatically as Logan reached for his shoulders, half evading the first grab, only to be pushed back into position by the hand to hand expert. As the only possible counter (besides screaming) involved drawing weapons and escalating the situation, he let his body relax.  If this was an assassination attempt, it was one with the X-Men’s assistance, which meant he had basically no hope of evading it. Not with three of them in the room.

He forced himself to relax as the other two X-Men rose to loom over him. “Still nothing?” Cyclops asked.

“Still nothing,” Phoenix agreed. 

“This is not going to work, Cyclops,” Logan said.

“That rather depends on what this is. Does someone intend to enlighten me?” Illyan asked, blandly.

“This is a warning. If Diana takes your advice we won’t be able to get to her if something goes wrong--”

“But you can get to me.” He paused as he considered pointing out that if this was a trap, they’d never find out about it and decided that would be counterproductive. “Message received.”

“Is it really?” Cyclops asked, fiddling with the trigger of his visor. “I’m not sure you’re getting the message. Maybe you don’t think we can really hurt you?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But I have the advantage.”

Logan’s claws emerged, metal brushing the cloth over Illyan’s chest and pressing in slightly. “You think?”

“Oh, not tactically. Your ambush worked fine there. My advantage is in knowledge.”

“And what is it you know that we don’t?” Phoenix asked, palpably uncomfortable with someone whose mind she couldn’t read. 

“I know it isn’t a trap, so I know that all your threats are irrelevant.”

There was a long moment of silence, then the claws snapped back in and Logan released him. “I told you guys, we should either kill him or not. Threats won’t do anything.”

“On the contrary, they provide useful insights about your intentions and intelligence,” Simon said blandly.

Logan snorted. Cyclops cocked his head inquisitively as he let his hidden eyes examine Illyan. Phoenix’s hands were twitching as she was transparently uncomfortable about Simon’s immunity to her telepathy. “Are you insulting me?”

“I’m evaluating you.”

“Why?”

“The same reason I evaluate everyone.”

“Which is?”

“If you figure that out, I’ll need to re-evaluate you.”

Cyclops glared at him a moment longer. “Everything we’ve done to try to influence, control, or understand you has just given you more information about us. Hasn’t it?”

Illyan paused for a moment and considered. “I’m not insulting you, Cyclops.”

The other man nodded slightly and the X-Men left without another word.

Two weeks later, Diana and her family made the journey to Barrayar.

Notes:

Comments/critiques/corrections always welcome!