An Olive Branch in an Iron Glove (Anna)

[Anna Fernandez]

Her eyebrows raised a bit at Noah's long monologue, and Anna smiled at him. "We are all family," she said, but left it at that. "I believe you No- Geryon. And I am grateful."

But not stupid, she thought, looking at Saladin. The older man was very hard to read.

[Saladin]

Anna's ambivalence, on the other hand, was all over her face. Saladin had expected her to be hesitant. That's why he'd brought Geryon. He was as imposing a figure as you could imagine, but his 370-pound bulk didn't contain an ounce of guile.

Which was, of course, why Saladin had come in person.

"I'll see to it that Geryon is always close by," he said. "If he can't respond, he'll send someone who can. When you call is entirely up to you, but, please, don't hesitate if you feel threatened. Even it's just a suspicion."

The blond mutant rose from his seat and smiled warmly. "I'm afraid I'm needed elsewhere. It was a pleasure to meet you, Anna. I'm certain it won't be the last time."

[Dragon]

John was shaken out of his stack of mutant ethics essays by a sudden, urgent pounding at his office door. That kind of knock always meant trouble.

"It's unlocked," he said, and the door swung open to admit a grim-faced Vipul, who shut the door immediately behind him.

John rose from his seat. "Vipul - what's the matter?"

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul didn't waste any time framing the circumstances. He went directly to the gist of it.

"Saladin is in Los Angeles, and if I'm right, he's moving to take control of a free mutant safehouse there."

He didn't really know what else to say, and hoped the X-Men leader had something in mind.

"I'm a room away from him right now."

[Dragon]

This was serious. The X-Men had learned that the Brotherhood was at work in Los Angeles, but until now, there was no sign that it was anything more than their usual procedure of installing new splinter cells. If Saladin was personally involved, there was something more going on. The memory of Kings Cross still burned like ash in the back of John's mind.

One room away... John suddenly wished he had Clarity's gift for speedy travel. "Are you in danger?" he asked.

[Vipul Chandrashekar]

Vipul shook his head.

"I don't think so. He's brought other Brotherhood Mutants, but so far the talk is generally conciliatory. He's trying to gain Anna's, the house leader's, cooperation."

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Vipul could hear the meeting wrapping up. He crossed his arms, jawline tensing up. He decided that earshot alone was probably not going to cover this, and reached into the fridge to pilfer a few bottles of Jarritos, on the pretense of bringing Anna and her guests something to drink.

"Figured you guys could use a drink."

With practised sheepishness, Vipul eased the drinks onto the coffee table. He casually noted the Brotherhood members. One was obviously Saladin, another he'd never seen, and another looked familiar.

Back at Cullen's, Vipul confided something else.

"We were attacked in a gang raid here, not too long ago. In the course of the fight, I took one of the gangster's guns. It's tucked in the back of my pants right now."

[Dragon]

Self was a fluid concept with Vipul, It took a moment for John to register what the man was telling him.

"Keep it there," he said firmly. "It wouldn't do you any good. What we need is information. Can you--"

He stopped, reminding himself that the man standing across the room from Saladin thousands of miles away was every bit as much Vipul as the man standing before him in his office.

"I don't want you to take any unnecessary risks," he said. "But anything you can find out about their plans will give us a better chance of stopping them."

[Saladin]

Vipul's arrival stopped Saladin as he was preparing to turn for the door. He had his itinerary, but he wouldn't be Danish if he refused the simple hospitality of a drink among friends. Even if it was carbonated fruit juice.

"Thank you, Brother," he said, smiling. With a casual flick of his fingers, he caught one of the bottles in a wash of green energy and floated it effortlessly into his hand.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Thank you, Vipul," Anna said, grateful that he at least had remembered some common courtesies. "Are the kids still in the garden?"

He nodded, but seemed a little distracted. Anna caught Saladin's eye and added, "We have a large plot of land set aside for vegetable gardening. It is a good after school activity, and helps keep our food costs down as well." She hesitated. "Perhaps some other time, when you are not so busy..."

Anna looked at Noah. "It is much bigger and better organized than the garden you helped plant that one year." She winked.

[Void]

<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.1 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> As Anna Fernandez entertained her guests, a shadow moved across the back of Redencion House. Unseen, Void passed through the house's walls and into the kitchen. He could hear the sound of conversation in the next room, lead by the familiar voice of Saladin. It wasn't the boss he was here to see, however. He phased into the living room and spared the cordial gathering there only a glance before he began up the house's stairs, in search of one of the Brotherhood's own soldiers, Mute.

[Mute]

Mute occupied his bed in one of the rooms on the second floor. He was alone. His roommates had woken him for college but a dream-induced sweat and his natural ghostly pallor saw them off, and in feigning sickness he was afforded a day of some much-needed rest after a long night of wet work.

Now he simply laid amonst a heap of rumpled bedsheets, staring up at the underside of his roommate's bunk, slowly turning a Ka-Bar knife in his hand, its tip dancing on the edge of his index finger.