Marvel: 1900

Limehouse, London, August 1900:

Outwardly, the building appeared to be as ramshackle as those that surrounded it, wooden and slightly leaning to one side. But looking inside through the door revealed the pale light of rather expensive lamps. The décor was rich, showing the wealth of the person who owned the premises and the rather burly men who looked as if they didn't have a sense of humour showed that said décor was not to be messed around with.

Upon entering the building, Wagner raised an eyebrow at the sudden change. He had never even thought about entering a house of sin before but Huanxin had been adamant upon coming in and the rest of the group did not even bother to entertain the thought of letting her go alone. Wagner was unsure as to why they were coming in here but he would stand beside Huanxin and ignore the obvious temptation of the rather pretty Chinese girls sitting on a large couch at one end of the room who looked over to the group and smiled before giving them several curious glances as the idea that they were customers soon vanished like mist.

One of the large men approached the group, giving them a suspicious look before asking in hesitant English "What you want?"

It was Huanxin who spoke up, ignoring the pain in her sore ribs and wrist as she said clearly in Chinese "We shall speak directly to Madame Yuriko immediately, we have urgent business with her."

The man looked at the group with obvious hesitance, although Huanxin herself showed obvious signs of injury with a stoop as she walked and her wrist in a sling, three of her companions, two of which looked particularly dangerous, certainly looked healthy enough for trouble. Although the man clad in the robes of a Christian Monk was certainly confusing. Realising he was more than a little out of his depth, the man decided to speak to Madame Yuriko, giving a nod to two other bulky men as a signal to keep an eye on things.

As the man rushed off to get Yuriko, Huanxin reached into her jacket and pulled out the crown she had stolen from Doom's castle. Creed raised an eyebrow at seeing the crown being pulled out "You're giving that to her? Kind of a waste don't you think?"

Giving a shrug, Huanxin held the crown tight as she answered "Madame Yuriko saved my life. Need to repay her."

Creed had certain thoughts on what else could be used to repay Madame Yuriko, flowers for example. Or a postcard from the group as they holidayed on the French Riviera. Those seemed to be much better (For Creed's pocket anyway) presents than the finest crafted crown in all Europe. Regretting he hadn't been the one to grab it first, Creed went along with Huanxin's plan, hoping it wasn't going to lead to too much trouble.

It took only a few moments for Madame Yuriko to arrive, her appearance immaculate, kimono straight and make up superb. Not one part of her outside appearance showed the confusion and anger that surged beneath her. She gave one look at the group before recognising Huanxin with a flicker of annoyance. Taking note of those around her, she spoke in English "What are you doing back here?"

With a dramatic flourish, Huanxin threw the crown towards Yuriko's feet, the clang reverberating around the room before silence set in as people did quick calculations of just how much it was worth. Yuriko bent down and picked up the crown, admiring the sigh of it and a gleam in her eyes showed her glee at the gift "And to what do I owe such generosity?"

"Financial suicide." Creed muttered darkly before a glare from the rest of the group silenced him.

Looking back at Yuriko, Huanxin gave the older woman a cold look "Payment for saving my life, nothing more."

An icy smile crossed Yuriko's face, showing she didn't believe the teenaged girl "Oh, I disagree Gai-jin; you wouldn't give me something like this unless there was something you so badly wanted." She idly ran a finger across the gold of the crown, admiring the richness of it "Those who murdered your parents, they were never caught were they?"

At the sound of Huanxin's silence, Yuriko's smile only broadened as she slipped the crown into her kimono, taking away that distraction "So it is agreed then, for this payment, I shall personally see to it that those who killed your family are done away with."

"No!" Huanxin almost shouted, honest fear crossing her face at the thought of more death "Send them to the police. No more murders."

A small smirk crossed Yuriko's face as she gave the girl a contemptuous look "Do you honestly believe the British would ever do the right thing for us?"

Huanxin paused at the question before turning around and looking at her friends. She gave the smallest hint of a smile before turning back to Yuriko "I do." She replied simply.

Suppressing a snort of contempt at the girl, Yuriko gave a regal nod "Very well then. I shall find those who killed your parents and deliver them to the British. After that, we'll see if your faith remains."

Although it wasn't said out loud, both Creed and Howlett had a feeling that it would be… to an extent. Melville would want to keep Huanxin happy and he would pull enough strings to make sure it went to trial, even if it was merely their words against Huanxin's. Whether or not a 'proper' jury could be found was another matter. Huanxin gave the others a quick look; she had done what she had come here for, nothing else was needed "We'll be going." Howlett stated gruffly as he started to notice a small crowd gathering beside the door. The gesture with the Crown must have attracted some undue attention and there were more than a few who would cut a throat at seeing that amount of riches in one place.

The group slowly filed out, Huanxin giving Madame Yuriko one last bow of her head before leaving just behind Creed, the rest following with Howlett bringing up the rear, the back of his hands itching as he felt unseen eyes watching every move. It was with some relief that they all clambered into the horse drawn carriage that had brought them here without having to draw up in defence. As the carriage started to pull away, Huanxin let out a long breath, as if she had been holding it in all this time, the pressure only just being released.

Ororo looked to her side at the girl, still only thirteen and already have gone through so much. She rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving a warm smile "How're you feeling?"

The girl shrugged idly, not wanting to give way to her feelings completely. She felt drained and oddly hopeful, the thought that the murders of her parents would soon be brought to justice "I think so… I want to go home." She shrugged off the hand, still unsure on how to feel about it all.

"We'll have to stop by the doctor when we get there." Wagner said, wincing as he felt his wrist twinge with pain "The one they sent to the hotel only did a temporary job I feel." He shifted himself as he tried to get his wrist more comfortable. The doctor at the hotel had said his work was good enough for the carriage and train rides home but Wagner nevertheless hoped for better treatment when they got back to the castle. He looked over to Huanxin, wondering how she was bearing up with those injuries she had received from Doom "Are you truly well Fräulein? If you are trying to shield yourself from the pain, I believe we can all tell you that ignoring such pain will only make it worse. I had thought that you knew us well enough to speak to us openly."

Inwardly sighing at the sudden increase in peer pressure, Huanxin nevertheless felt her defences crumble as she realised that she could not keep them up, her feelings were too strong to keep them bottled up. She let out a sigh before leaning forward; dropping all defences "I miss them." She practically whispered "I wish they were here."

Ororo put her hand on Huanxin's shoulder once more, this time it wasn't shaken off "Justice shall soon be upon those who were responsible for their deaths Huanxin." Her voice was firm as she comforted the child. The girl smiled sadly at the group around her, they were not her parents. But they were her family, as good a one as she could hope for if rough around the edges. She began to speak, letting out the emotions that the meeting with Madame Yuriko had created. The group listened and each in their own way offered what comfort they could. They were not the best at it, but to Huanxin, she could not hope for more.

With the group gone, Yuriko retired to her room before pulling out the crown, admiring the beauty of it. She hastily brought herself down to business though. When Zhang Tong had been informed that Yuriko had allowed an Adapt, a Chinese one to boot, to go to the British, he had been… displeased. And Zhang Tong often became quite vocal about things that displeased him; to the extent that Yuriko doubted even being several thousand miles away could protect her. The delivery of this crown could prove to be a saving grace for her; Zhang Tong was somewhat infamous for his taste for the extravagancies of Europe. The crown would be worth a lot to Yuriko, but she valued her skin much more.

Old War Office Building, London:

Slowly and with great precision, Melville slid the whisky back into the drawer. He was not normally a drinker, but even the sight of the man before him was enough to drive him to a quick quaff to dull his nerves. Turning in his chair to face the man that sat in front of his desk, Melville turned to business "Well then, hopefully you already know about what's going on in the Congo. The revolt by T'Challa's coalition is crushing the Belgians wherever they stand. Everyone and their dog knew that Leopold was sending the place to Hell but we can't afford a revolt in our African colonies if this spreads. Do you follow?"

The man opposite nodded slowly and made some muffled noises that sounded oddly resentful. Taking this as a positive answer, Melville went on "T'Challa must be dealt with and the sooner, the better. Use any means necessary but we would prefer it to look like natural causes. Understand?"

The man opposite from Melville understood completely. He was great at natural deaths. It was perfectly natural to die from being shot in the head after all. He sat in silence that was unusual for him as Melville finished "You'll be sent on a boat immediately to the Congo. You will be fully briefed on the way there before being dropped off on the coast. It is vital that you complete this mission before his revolt spreads to our colonies. You shall of course be paid handsomely for your service as usual." With those words, Melville got up from his seat and walked over to the door of his office, opening it and saying "You can come fetch him now." He said to two men who had been standing beside the door on guard.

Following Melville, the two men walked over to the man sitting in front of the desk and picked up the chair he was sitting on, the man having been tied to it for extra security and the silence had been due to a thick gag, the latter being more out of having to save people from extreme annoyance. As the man was carried by the two guards, Melville quickly raised a hand to make them pause as he said "One last thing, your usual shenanigans will not be looked upon kindly. This is to be pure business, do you understand Mr. Wilson?"

Wade Wilson, muted by the gag which had been wrapped around his mouth to preserve the patience of everyone in the building gave another nod, glaring at Melville. It had taken six men to jump him and strap on the gag before Melville would agree to see him. Wilson merely nodded, his bad mood assuaged somewhat by the promise of payment. He was carried out in silence to the relief of many as Melville sat back down in his chair, glad that Wilson would now be the Congo's problem "Poor devils." He thought as he allowed himself one moment to relax "As if King Leopold wasn't enough…"

House of Commons, Palace of Westminster, London:

It was a relatively small turn out it this particular session of the Commons. The lack of turn out was probably due to it being a relatively slow time for internal politics. For Europe it was going pretty mad with the collapse of Austro-Hungary and a conference was being hastily organised to take place in Geneva to sort out the ramifications of that. For Britain and her Empire though, the victory of the Boer War had meant it was just business as usual. The announcement of a new Ministry would have garnered some attention if not for the fact that it appeared largely to be a new Science Ministry of some kind, supposedly taking over from the Royal Society, not without controversy but everyone could wait until what the plans were before kicking up a fuss.

Rather surprisingly for some, a junior Minister by the name of Brian Braddock was given the responsibility to give the announcement to the Commons, word leaking out that he would be leading the Ministry. Evidently Robert Cecil had taken a liking to the lad but with those rather dark rumours concerning the man's sister, many were left to wonder why he was being promoted in such a fashion. As Braddock rose from his place in the front benches, he coughed nervously to clear his throat. Though less than half the total amount of MP's had turned up for this, he was still quite overwhelmed at the thought of addressing the Members before him and hoped he wouldn't make an ass of himself.

"Honourable Members of the House," He started "As per my new responsibilities of accepting the role as the head of a new Ministry, I have been asked to confirm that which has long been rumour. As I am sure that some of the members are aware, news has leaked through of men and women throughout Great Britain and her colonies with fantastic powers and appearances, far beyond that which was thought within the realm of the possible." Braddock took a breath before going on "I am here today to tell you that these are no longer mere rumours. They are fact, people with great powers are living among us today and Her Majesty's Government has created the Ministry of Adapt Affairs in order to monitor the phenomenon."

Later on, Braddock reflected at the silence of these words had brought about. He had expected outrage, shouts of disbelief. Instead, everyone just stared at him in silence and the occasional hushed whisper to another they were sitting by. Slightly unnerved by this, Braddock nevertheless continued "In conjunction with Scotland Yard, the Royal Society and various other organisations, the Government shall be creating an academy for the Adapts as a way for them to learn how to control their powers, plans of said academy shall be released soon. Her Majesty's Government shall also take this opportunity to ask those at home and abroad not to fear nor condemn the Adapts; it is believed they are an evolutionary output and as such, the next stage of Humanity. Instead, volunteer them so that they may come to the institution Her Majesty's Government is creating in order to better explore and understand their powers."

With that, Braddock sat down with the smallest relief that he didn't flub the speech at least. For one, long, icy moment, silence reigned as everyone stared at Braddock in shock, thinking about what he had said. Then, as if it every bench in the Commons had suddenly set on fire, every single MP jumped to their feet, shouting, demanding answers to questions, leading with overwhelming noise as they shouted at the top of their voices. Ignoring the calls for order from the Speaker, the demands for information only grew. An island of calm amid this storm of activity, Braddock could wait until the shouts had died down before answering the questions. The success against Doom had paved the way for them to initiate this program for the Adapts; Braddock could only hope that other nations would follow their path. He could only foresee misery if they did not.

Pulling himself away from worries of the future and regrets of the fate of Betsy, Brian noticed that the furore had calmed down somewhat and he rose from the bench to answer the questions posed before him.

Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire:

From his hiding place amid the trees, Joseph spied upon the returning group with concentration. It was hard for him to keep up his intelligence when he was so far away from her but he managed to do what he could, sending messages along the telegraph only he and she could understand. With a twist of his head, Joseph saw them in the distance, a carriage pulling up the castle, the windows were clear and he could see the people inside. Straining to see, Joseph could just about count them, taking some moments to realise that the same number had left.

Being so far away from her had denied Joseph the reasoning he could have easily have had and as such, stood for some time before he realised the importance of this information. Finally turning around, Joseph ran off down the path towards the hidden location of the communication spot. He didn't look at all out of place as he rushed forward, the perfect spy for such a location.

The end, for now

Part one of this trilogy finished. Hope you've enjoyed so far, part two should come after I've finished some other stuff. Hope you've enjoyed this and remember to let me know what you thought!