October

Pete Wisdom rubbed the stubble on his face. Since his suspicions were aroused, he'd been working around the clock for several weeks on this. He was going to find the traitor within SHIELD and he didn't care how long it took. It was now almost a month since the disaster in America and things had progressed with the war, but hunting down the terrorists behind this was not enough. They needed the proof to put the bastard away once and for all. Pete knew that once they'd done with Bin Laden, then there would be other strikes elsewhere, but for the moment there was a need for intelligence to provide the justification that was needed to attack another country, to overthrow a government and do what they were currently planning on doing and some point soon.

As he typed in the data that was being found out by the rest of the team and cross referenced it with his own findings he began to realise that what he had was more damning than what they'd found out. It was going to be soon that everyone else returned to the Helicarrier and then Pete would no longer have the resources he needed to keep searching, if he was right. The traitor had covered their tracks well, but not well enough. He was on the verge of finding the identity but he didn't know if he'd have time. He needed to find a way of keeping them out of action for the moment. Lydia was still healing, but she had woken up which was good, though he had kept a lot of what he was doing out of her sight. She was nowhere near fit for duty yet, and the rest of the team where scattered.

Pete looked at his watch and knew it was time for him to do a final check in with the rest of his team. He pressed save on the console and then pressed another button to get a communications line and he dialled the number and ensured it was a secure line.

"North," came a voice at the other end of the line.

"Davey, it's Pete," he said. "You and your people almost done at the CIA?"

"Just crossing the T's and dotting the I's," said Maverick, his voice containing more than a little tiredness in it. "What about you, what have you found out? Anything new since we last spoke?"

"Not enough," said Wisdom, echoing the tiredness. "Longshot time. Have you got anything else that will help us on this?"

"Nothing. We know that there have been a lot of operatives in the field," said North, "but after sifting the reports it seems clear that the CIA simply missed what was going on this one. Despite the field presence this is one that got away." However his tone told Wisdom that he wasn't convinced. Both of the two agents had worked in the intelligence community and there was something about it that didn't quite ring true.

"You still don't buy it do you?"

"Not a chance. There were rumours and other aspects that were being investigated but to miss an operation of this size and scale - not a chance. The only way they missed it was if they wanted it to be missed. My gut instinct says inside job and the only way that everyone in the agencies could miss out on it is if they were being intercepted. SHIELD's the only agency with that kind of pull, which works with the traitor routine." Pete sighed. It was either one person or a massive conspiracy and he knew which one he was hoping for.

"And you found nothing?"

"After a month, nothing, which means that either the stuff was never here or our target's covered their tracks. In all honesty Pete, I've done all I can here." There was a determined resignation in what he said and Wisdom knew he'd done all he could.

"You made copies?"

"Natch," replied North. "Maybe if we pool our resources we can find something as a group."

"Hope so," said Pete, thinking that the data that he had to work with was more working against the terrorists not the traitor. Looking for something that wasn't there and then working out what wasn't there and why was taking it's time. "When are you and your team due back?"

"Sometime tomorrow," said North. "How's Lydia doing?"

"She's healing, but it's slow. They've still got her in the solar bays, hoping that if they boost her powers it'll push the healing process. I've still not told her."

"Why not?" asked North. "She's the detective of the team. I'll bet she's going stir-crazy."

"Yes she is, but the sooner she gets better the... better. I'm not getting her hurt again."

"It wasn't your fault Pete."

"Never said it was," said Pete, realising his error. "I meant getting her involved will open her wounds and I need her at one hundred per cent before I let her help."

"Sure," said North. "Whatever you say, Pete."

"See you tomorrow, Davey." He hung up and lit a cigarette. He was getting tired, he could feel it but he'd be able to rest in a moment or so. He had another call to make and called the Interpol office in New York. Terry had slipped when she was at ground zero and her cell had been dropped and smashed. She'd twisted her ankle, but with her fast healing abilities thanks to Sinister's little gift it had healed, but SHIELD's resources in terms of manpower were spread thin and he'd not gotten her a replacement yet.

"Pete Wisdom for Teresa Rourke," he said to the operator.

"Switching to secure channel P," said the voice at the other end and Pete adjusted the equipment in the office accordingly.

"Hey, Pete," she answered. "What's up?"

"Just checking in," said Pete, flicking the ash in to the tray next to him. "See you and your team managed to get some of their support network." He'd seen the news reports of the capture of more of the people who had helped to set this operation up. "How much have we learnt from them?"

"Nothing that we didn't really know already," said Siryn. "In all honesty, we're not learning a great deal new now. We're getting the bits and pieces from the other agencies now, but there's a lot of stuff that we can't do now. America is closed down and things have been a lot tighter than they were. Though they could be better."

"Any more sign of outside interference?" asked Wisdom. He knew that Terry had found some of the boons of their investigation. Several warrants had been cancelled, files removed from their locations and databases amended. There had been hell to pay and as yet there had been no sign of finding the perpetrator. Interpol had been very angry at this discovery, especially by someone from outside the agency but now they were conducting their own investigation as to what was going on.

"Nothing," said Siryn. "All clearances were reviewed and tested and we're still waiting for Interpol to give me details of what they found. What fightens me is the extent of the conspiracy were looking at here, as it's not just US intelligence agencies who seem to have been affected. Has anyone come back to you from the UK yet?"

"A couple of people," admitted Pete. "They're looking in to it at the moment, but they're not exactly co-operative with me so I'm going the long way around. I've got Brian looking in to things with Dai Thomas, and Alistaire Stuart at WHO is doing some stuff for me. If Black Air are still around I can't find them and the other subversive elements just aren't returning my calls."

"Who are you using?" asked Siryn.

"Just a small little club in London."

"Hellfire?" "Maybe," said Pete, supressing a chuckle. "Shaw's death has thrown the whole organisation in to disarray and I'm hoping that's the reason they're reluctant to talk. If they don't though, I'll go home and kick the door in myself then see what I find."

"Pete, I took a run over to Massachusetts, and me Da' at the Academy. He's of the opinion that you are - that whoever did this had some reach. He doubts anyone at Interpol would have done this without an outside force behind him or her and he doubts that any terrorist could get in. They have strict policies these days and the background checks..."

"Can be altered, but that's too extreme. That can be easily traced," said Pete, speaking from experience. "Yeah, it's more likely that someone came in and altered the files, or used the remote link."

"No," said Siryn. "They can't use the remote link. Some of these things require a special sequence of access that needs for people to be actually there in person for it to go ahead. The main files are centrally stored and need to be physically maintained."

"When did you find that out? When you spoke to Sean?"

"Aye."

"Interpol aren't exactly playing ball here," muttered Pete, finishing the cigarette and getting out another. "Damn it. We're close, Terry, I can feel it."

"I'll be back later tonight," she said. "We'll see what we can find then."

"Okay," agreed Pete. "Later, and Terry?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't fall over again, hmm?"

His reply was the dial tone and he grinned. There was one more call left to make and he contacted Marcus Raven at the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

"Wisdom," said Raven as he answered. "Been expectin' the call."

"Marcus, you got anything else?"

"Nope, the Bureau's clean as a whistle. I ain't been able to find anything at all. Nothing's missing, there's been no data that wasn't accounted for in fact everything here suggests the Bureau missed everything, but seeing as we found a load out afterwards, it may be everything we got is all there is."

"Figures. You almost done in DC?"

"Yeah, there's not a great deal for us to do now, other than getting out of here and putting together details on the other terrorists out there, the ones that didn't attack the US, but have and that we haven't done anything about."

"I take it you refer to 'we' as in SHIELD?"

"Yup, plus there's other whispering's here about the super heroes and how if they weren't busy duking it out on Maine Street with Doctor Doom then maybe this kind of thing wouldn't happen."

"It's crap. This kind of thing would have happened whether or not the Avengers existed, if the X-gene was just junk DNA or technological genius was the kind of thing that made computers run faster, unless you're the military. Still this kind of reaction was always going to happen."

"Yeah, just wonderin' at what point are mutants going to become targets of retaliation the next time Magneto gets off his backside and attacks us all."

"Yeah, well just think if that happens, guess who the first line of official defence will be."

"Huh, won't that be a cheery thought to take to bed," sighed Raven. "Ah never wanted to be an X-Man."

"You're not now," said Wisdom. "We see any of Magneto's people, we kick the crap out of 'em and take 'em in. We don't let them go and have them come back to beat on the world again. All terrorists are going to have to behave themselves from now on. What about Fury?"

"He headed back to the Helicarrier this morning. He finished his business at the Pentagon, and left me to clear up. Ah wasn't happy at his using me as an empathy to find out what his bosses were ordering him to really do."

"He do anything else?"

"He met with Bridge to discuss the Excalibur mission, but other than that he was in a lot of meetings and such. You can ask him yourself, he'll be with you soon."

"He ought to be back by now," said Pete. "I'll see if I can find him. We have things to discuss."

"You're bringing him in to the loop about the traitor?" asked Raven, his voice sceptical at what he was hearing. Pete had not wanted to broaden the range of people who knew before.

"Yeah," said Pete. "I think it's time to let him know what we've found. I'd prefer a bit more proof though. I guess you'll be back later tonight?"

"Ah reckon. I'll let you know if we turn anything else up."

"Good work, Marcus. I know it's not been an easy assignment for you. For any of us. See you when you get back." He ended the call and stubbed out the end of the cigarette. He wanted to head down to the medical bay and check in on Lydia. She wasn't discharged yet, because there were still things the doctors needed machines for but she was comfortable and he arrived there quickly.

"Hey," she said as he entered. "You look like hell."

"So do you, and I've been working. What's your excuse?"

"Bite me," she said, having become a lot more appreciative of him since he was one of the few people who visited everyday. She had a few friends in SHIELD but Wisdom didn't have to do it. She could tell he still blamed himself for what had happened and he was being a bit more civilised towards her. Every now and then he went in to his surly routine, but she'd gotten past that. "So what's going on?"

"SHIELD's liaison deal's coming to an end. The evidence and other bits and pieces everyone's pulled together seems to be enough and it's up to everyone else to do their parts now. Once we've sifted the data and made our own conclusions, I guess it's going after the others. AIM, Hydra, whichever name gets pulled out of the hat first." He looked at he, suspended by wires in places. "Pain getting too much again?"

"Just tired to sleep on the bones. The internal stuff has been fixed and the doctors say the CAT scans say I'm clear. Guess I just needed to sleep."

"Yeah, well they can do miracles when they want. When's the next operation scheduled?"

"Tomorrow. My left leg isn't healing quite right so they're going to have to put in a steel rod, like they did with my arm."

"Great so when we go after Magneto you're going to be such an asset."

"X-Force is going to Genosha?" Pete shook his head, seeing the hope and fear in her eyes.

"God, I hope not," he said. "No way do I want to go there just yet. It was just something Raven was saying; about the backlash the next time someone mutant-like does this kind of deal. We're the front line, now."

"That's comforting," said Lydia. "First time out we almost got ourselves killed and trashed a lot of real estate."

"Shit, we are X-Men," said Pete and kissed her on the forehead. "Anyway, I need my rest as well as you, so I'll head off. The guys will be coming back later and I know they'll pop in."

"Pete," she said as he stood up. "What else is there? I can tell you're not telling me everything that's going on. Is it about the set up in Madripoor? You've avoided talking to me about it since I woke up."

"Yeah," said Pete. "I'm not getting anywhere findin' out who did this to us, to you. I've been looking a lot at this terrorist thing and I feel... I think I've let you down by not getting the bastard and if I let you down then I'm also letting down the thousands of people who died in New York as well."

"How do you work that out?" asked Lydia.

"Because if I can't help a team mate, how can I help perfect strangers?" he said, shaking his head. "I'll be back before your op." She nodded and let him go.

Pete wandered through the corridors of the Helicarrier, heading for his own quarters. He held his cheeks in his hands as he walked by, feeling the stubble on his face and knowing he needed a shave. He also needed a shower and some food before he looked over the stuff that X-Force had brought in and made his official report. Things were going back to normal and he wouldn't have the freedom he'd come to enjoy in this position.

He'd enjoyed it, other than the reports of people dying and what had actually happened. The people who'd been on the ground that day were braver and cleverer men than he'd ever be. At the end of the day he was a ex-spy playing special agent games these days. His hot knives were of no real use in a disaster zone and he was more specialised in causing destruction, rather than repairing it.

"Every time you get tired," he said, chiding himself for getting this melancholy when he was close to exhaustion. He sighed and fumbled for the key card that would allow him access to the room. For half a second he wondered what Nick was back so early for and why he hadn't checked in with him. He shrugged knowing the Director had a lot on his mind and swiped the door. Then he turned the handle, only to be met by a massive electric charge that engulfed his body. As he stood there shaking as his muscles contracted, his skin burning as the voltage passed through him he tired to focus, and the smell of his skin cooking and the steam rising from his body made him panic. On a purely instinctive level he fired his hot knives blindly, not using his hands for guidance but forming them around his body and they flew away from him. Somehow they managed to hit the door and the connection broke and he fell to floor, barely aware of the fire alarms ringing set off by the burning of his body.

What he was aware of was the fact that this was no accident. Either he or the others had found something they didn't know about yet, or they had tipped of the traitor. Whatever it meant, they were close and he let himself drift in to unconsciousness.

November

"Well, Mr Wisdom," said the doctor. "I am certifying you as fit for active duty."

"Thanks," said Pete. It was late November now, almost 7 weeks since the attack and he was now able to go back on active duty, after training and getting himself back in shape. He was not unhappy about it, as it had given him a lot of time to catch up on his reading, and reviewing the data the team had gathered and what he had found out interested him.

"The Director would like to see you at your earliest convenience," added the doctor and Pete nodded. He looked at his scarred hand, where the most serious burn had occurred, from the handle on the door. The official story was that there had been a fault with the system and sent an almost lethal charge of electricity at him and if he hadn't fired his hot knives at the door, he would almost certainly have been killed.

It was also a considered opinion that if he hadn't fired his hot knives and burnt off the excessive heat in his body he'd have been out of action a lot longer. Fury had found him on the floor moments after, and apparently Pete hadn't been breathing and his pulse had stopped. Fury was quick off the mark and had given him cardiopulmonary resuscitation and that had brought him back long enough to be taken to the medical bay where the doctors had gone to work. Pete remembered none of this, though he didn't expect to. He'd been in a pretty bad shape for a few days until he regained proper consciousness.

The team had been waiting for him t wake up and they'd put him in a room with Lydia so he wouldn't feel out of place. They had talked about what had happened and got the idea that this had been no accident and the team had agreed to keep their suspicions amongst themselves. It had been then that Fury had called the active team members and sent them on a mission, making Maverick the field team leader until the return of Wisdom. He also supplied the team with a couple of other agents.

After the briefing, North had told Wisdom that they were being sent on a fact finding mission to Russia, where it was rumored that a new mob boss was in fact a mutant terrorist and they were to go in and stop him before he became a larger force in the world criminal organization. It was also suspected that the mutant had been a part of the recent operation against Tony Stark, where the Russian Mafia for reasons unknown had attacked Stark. Stark was a major player in the SHIELD set up, so it had to be seen that SHIELD were doing something. Pete shrugged, and commented that it should be a walk in the park for the team. North had smiled and left Pete to recover, telling him he'd call in to say goodbye before the team left in a week or so as they had to integrate the two temporary members of the team.

It had been a slow process of recovery, as his muscles ached and it was a strain to do anything for a week or so, and they'd not allowed him his cigarettes. His breathing was hoarse and he had a nasty cough as well, plus his heart had taken a bit of strain an it the weeks that had followed he had been trained from scratch, as if he were a raw recruit and soon he was fit again, but he still ached every so often and he was hellish tired. What gave him the drive to go on was that someone in SHIELD had tried to kill him and they'd underestimated their target. He suspected they'd not make the same mistake again, but under such close supervision whoever it was didn't have the opportunity to get close. Until now, and he was back on duty.

"Hey, roomie," he said as he called in to say bye to Lydia. "I'm back on the active list, so you're on your own again."

"Pete," she said. "If we're right then whoever did this is still out there, and they'll be waiting for you."

"I know," he said. "That's not the point. I was careless and they got me. They'll have to work hard to do that again. I'm taking this a lot more personally now. They hurt you, they tried to kill me. Now I'm pissed off."

"Be careful," she said. "I don't really need you back, unless you're a visitor."

"I feel the same way," he said, as he put on his SHIELD flight jacket. "You've seen the same stuff I have, what do you think?"

"It's a senior person within SHIELD. I'm guessing that you are taking in to account the other oddities of recent months."

"Yup. The deals with Wolverine especially. The transport was ambushed when he was going back to Canada, Logan's file was leaked before that and there's been a few other bits and pieces I'm not happy with."

"Connecting everything together will make you look paranoid."

"I know," said Pete. "But as long as my team believes me, then I'm fine."

"Where are the others?"

"Dunno. The Russian mission should have ended weeks ago, but I've not seen anyone yet."

"Me neither. I'm concerned."

"So am I, but Fury wants to see me so maybe he knows something." Lydia nodded. "Besides, I'm going to tell him what we know - what I was going to do before I got sidetracked."

"Good luck," said Lydia. "If I think of something else, I'll let you know." He nodded and made his exit and walked up to the command deck, so he could get to Fury's office. Then he stopped in his tracks and headed for the X-Force office. He was going to find his team and he entered the office to find it deserted and he sat down in his chair and checked on the recent history of the team.

The first thing he read was the mission brief as noted by Fury.

'There have been reports of a mutant crime boss within Russia that is using his power and position to cement himself in place within the global hierarchy of criminal elements. It is further believed that if he establishes himself as a power within Russia this will allow Magneto and his people to establish a foothold within the country, spreading his influence to other countries outside of Genosha. In light of the recent terrorist atrocities, it is inadvisable to allow this to continue. X-Force will be sent in to oust the player, whom our intelligence sources have named as Micah Abanovitch, also known as the Tsar, and bring him to justice. In light of recent events within SHIELD, X-Force are down two key members of staff. I am therefore assigning two regular agents to the team as replacements. These agents are not mutants, however they have been enhanced with bionic exoskeletons for the duration of this mission, and as a field test of this new technology, based on the Armory suit currently being used by Excalibur.'

That was about as much as Pete knew however he started to read the various field reports that had been submitted by the agents on site and he smiled as he digested what he read and he closed his eyes, a proper picture of what had gone down appearing in his mind.

"Okay," said Maverick. "We've done as much as we can here. We have the evidence and the local authorities have been informed, so on my mark, we go in."

"Agreed," said the others and Maverick, Raven and agents Aerella and Dionny ran towards the warehouse, with Siryn flying from above. Maverick fired a blast taking out the door as they approached.

"SHIELD! Nobody move!" he shouted as they entered and Siryn crashed through the skylight, as people reached for their guns in reaction to the raid. However X-Force had their own guns drawn and their powers primed. "Lower your weapons, you've got no chance at taking us down." X-Force had been making sure they knew what was going on, what the capabilities of the targets were and what the success rate of the mission was. They'd had their own methods of intelligence work at finding the location of the base of operations and several days of covert operations had led to this simple mission.

"Do as he says," said a voice and the men complied with what they were doing, and a pathway was cleared so that the speaker could be seen. "So you are X-Force," he said, his Russian accent coming through strongly.

"Our reputation proceeds us," said Maverick. "And you must be Abanovitch."

"Yes, Mr North, I am. And these two gentlemen are people you've known for some time, Mr North." From behind him stood out two old foes of Maverick's. Hammer and Sickle.

"These two are mine," said Maverick as he cracked his knuckles. Obviously they weren't working for Pushkin these days and Maverick owed them both. Hammer for the death of Barrington and Sickle for his eye. "You take Abanovitch and his people."

The X-Force went to work, going through the normal humans with relative ease while Maverick went to work on his old foes. Alone they were a handful, but together they were even more deadly, but Maverick seemed to fight like a devil possessed.

"What happened to Pushkin?"

"His views are... limited," said Hammer, as he swung at Maverick, who dodged out of the way, using his powers on Sickle as he did so and sending the villain in to the wall with a full force kinetic blast. "Abanovitch knows better what and where the future lies."

"Really and what is that?" said Maverick, as he elbowed the man in the face and he heard the crack of a broken nose. He looked at Hammer, his jaw covered in the blood leaking from his damaged face. "More crime and death?"

"No," said Abanovitch's voice and Maverick turned to see his team held in the very air itself. "I want Russia to be as Genosha should be, a haven where mutants and their kind are safe."

"Ruled by you?" said Maverick, thinking that this wasn't good and wondering what powers the man had, and how similar it was to fighting the Dragon Lord. The hard part of the mission seemed to b figuring out what the hard part of the mission was.

"Exactly. America has it's Magneto. I am the Russian Magnus."

"Yeah," said North. "Pretty sure that they already count the real Magnus as their own." He felt the air grab hold of him and suspend him up.

"Magneto has nothing over me," said Abanovitch. "My powers are to control the very natural environment, of which magnetism is only a part. The very atmosphere of the planet is mine to command!"

"Ah reckon you've work to do," said Raven and hit him with multiple telekinetic blasts. "My powers ain't exactly based on the natural elements, and from what I here, the real Magnus wouldn't let me do that to him." The shots stunned Abanovitch and freed X-Force from his grasp and Maverick took the opportunity to shoot Hammer and Sickle with his pistol, taking the legs from under them as they tried to flee.

"Not done with you two yet," he said as X-Force went on the attack as Abanovitch anchored himself in the natural environment, sending the rocks and air itself after the team but he was not prepared for assault after assault and after a while X-Force simply wore him down, and it was Siryn's song that brought him down in the end but he was not done yet and he sent the area in to chaos with his abilities, causing natural disasters and damage to the area in the scores, leaving a messy and bloody wake. By the time they'd forced him to bring it under control and stop the madness he had wrought it was too late.

The damage to the local area, and that section of the world's biosphere was done and all that was left was the clear up, for which the team had said they would participate in. The Russia affair had been handled on time, with the player being deposed from his position, but there had been a scuffle that had caused a lot of destruction. That was where they were in an effort to show that not all mutants were bad, because although the country still remembered the Soviet Super Soldiers, it remembered the actions of Magneto more and what he had done to the country in times past. If they could show that mutants were also capable of healing not just destroying then they would do a job in itself. That was where they had been all this time and they would be back soon enough.

"Typical, one week to trash the place, then another three to rebuild it," Pete said. Then he made a couple of other checks on the computers and shook his head, thinking he knew that this had been coming and there was the special email that he'd received that confirmed his suspicions at least in what he'd been looking for abroad. Pete sighed, knowing he owed them a favour down the line and now had a proper picture of what was happening and that he was right to tell Fury what was going on. He made a check on the location of the Director. He was in his office and Pete made his way there now he knew what was going on.

"The Director's expecting you, Commander," said the watch commander and Pete nodded and made his way to the office. He knocked on the door.

"Come in," shouted Fury and Pete came in. "Good to see you up and about," he said gesturing to the empty chair and Pete sat down. "I expect you want a progress report on yer team?"

"No, I checked in at the X-Force office before I came up, just to make sure what was going on. They did a good job in Russia, from all accounts it could have gotten a lot nastier over there."

"I agree," said Fury. "That's another good job for you and your team. The X-Force project is going well. Better than we'd hoped."

"Actually, it's better than it could be," said Pete.

"Oh?" asked Fury, raising an eyebrow. "Explain."

"It's simple enough," said Pete. "There's a traitor in SHIELD, someone who's been trying t ruin us, or at least hinder the operations."

"Do ya have proof of this?" said Fury, standing from his seat and walking over to the window.

"I'll get to that," said Wisdom. "First off I'll tell you what we know. The first instance that we know about something being wrong, or at least suspicious is in Madripoor."

"Yer mission?"

"No, the arrest of Tyger Tiger. I can't figure out how SHIELD knew that Hydra had left the island and that we were free to arrest her."

"It was part of the whole deal with Wolverine," said Fury, looking at him. "When we were given details of his treachery, we knew that the island was ready to be looked at for our operational purposes."

"That's what it says in the files," said Wisdom, "but it doesn't quite track. The orders to take Logan came from above you, but the details that were sent to the Pentagon were actually taken from the files on Logan. There are three agencies that have them - the X-Men, the National Security Agency, and SHIELD. The NSA were as shocked as we all were, the X-Men didn't know about it because that was the reason Logan went to Madripoor, so that leaves us. Someone with access to the files used it to screw Logan over. There are no details about Tyger, or Hydra. I had Marcus check when he was in Washington."

"Huh," answered Fury. "I never checked, I just assumed..."

"Yeah, I think that's what the traitor was counting on," said Pete. "Then there was our mission to the island. We were expected, the Dragon Lord knew who we were, our capabilities and when we would arrive. He almost knew everything about us, and it was that which got Lydia hurt. Each of us were approached or followed as soon as we arrived in Madripoor, given clues as to where the Folding Circle would be found and ultimately it was our own fears that were used against us when the Dragon Lord tried to break us. It was from our own psyche files that they were drawn. I know, I remember my own experience." "My God," said Fury. "How bad is this?" "Oh it get's worse," said Pete. "There's the matter of Logan's battle with the Sons of the Shield. The jet was one of ours on a flight plan known only to us and Department H in Canada. We did think it was one of those Department H things, because they have a habit of screwing up, but I looked in to it. Turns out the jet deviated from it's flight plan. Our pilot altered course and yet we were still intercepted." "Where's the Agent now?" asked Fury. "On duty in Madripoor," said Wisdom. "Pretty interesting stuff. As was the door to my quarters. Whoever I'm on to, they know I'm on to them. No way was it an accident - they tried to kill me."

"What else do you have to prove that?" said Fury. "This is getting a little far fetched."

"My files at the X-Force office have been compromised. Someone's been in there and hidden or deleted the files on this. Shame they didn't know about the back ups."

"You kept copies?"

"Yes," said Pete. "Call me paranoid, but I expected something to happen at some point. Didn't think it'd be that close, and thanks again for the save."

"Think nothin' of it," said Fury. "Got yer files to hand?"

"Not that accessible," said Pete. "Besides, I'm not done. I believe that the traitor allowed the tragedy in New York to occur."

"That's one hell of an accusation, Commander," said Fury, his face turning dark. "Ya realise that whoever the traitor is - if yer right - is responsible for thousands of deaths."

"Lot more than that if you take in to account the war going on. No way the intel communities dropped the ball on something this big. As part of the investigations, I had the team check on things to make sure. The things that are missing are the kinds of things you'd expect not to be there if there'd be no intelligence reports, but things are too good. They didn't get everywhere. There's been a few slips on the part of the traitor. In fact, I'm almost certain I know who he is."

"Slips?" said Fury coming over to him at sitting on the desk, almost face to face with Pete.

"Yeah," said Pete. "He's made some very basic mistakes, but I never really put the pieces together until now - because now I know. The first slip the traitor made was when they first met me. Got my rank wrong calling me 'Captain' instead of 'Commander'. It was a basic slip, but very uncharacteristic. Second, they got Siryn's name wrong when they met her as well, which considering they knew exactly who she was. 'Cassidy' not 'Rourke' an' even I know that difference."

"That's all you've got?"

"No, one other thing. A slip that was made and I wasn't even here. At the end of our mission in Madripoor, Maverick was called in to see you. The watch commander told him that you were taking a call from the Middle East. You said it was about a mutant killing and we accepted that, except I had Maverick do some checking. It wasn't that, was it, sir? It was a call telling you that the attack was going ahead on the World Trade Center."

"That's preposterous," said Fury. "You can't think..."

"Oh yes, I can," said Wisdom. "I know who the traitor in SHIELD is, Nick. It's you."