Author's Notes:

Disclaimer: Don't own the X-Men—never have, never will. The interpretations of the characters are my own.

Rating: PG-13 for violence and mature themes. No sex, no strong language.

Characters: Gambit, Courier, Beast, Sinister, various X-Men and marvel characters.

Summary: When the Mutant Registration Bill is passed, the world erupts into chaos. But the X-Men find themselves unable to help and in a race to save their own lives…

Continuity: What? I'm supposed to have continuity? Well, in that case… This story is the 4th in a series I call the "Diamonds Arc". The three previous stories are all posted on by the following titles:

Diamonds Arc Story 1: Diamonds Etched in Blood

Diamonds Arc Story 2: Tears at the Crossroads

Diamonds Arc Story 3: Futures in the Mist

The entire arc breaks off from X-Men continuity somewhere around Uncanny X-Men #360, after the trial of Gambit and Operation Zero Tolerance.

Random Notes: I've been working on this story arc for about 5 years now. It's strange to think it's been that long. When I look back at the very first story, I am amazed at how much my writing has matured in that time (at least in my mind). As a result, my version of the X-Men is based on the way they were then, long before the movies ever came out. I guess that makes me a bit old school now. ;-) Even if you didn't read X-Men then, you can probably get a good sense of the context if you read the Diamonds Arc in order. I view the Diamonds Arc on a whole as a chance to study a possible development of Remy LeBeau's character based on certain events in his life. As a result, the stories in this arc ultimately center around him.

Feedback: Please leave reviews. Critique and constructive criticism are very much welcome. I need them to improve. Even flames are fine. I need them to be humble, which I need to be to be willing to improve. :-P Emails can be sent to me at galaxia. I have a X-Men fanfiction website, but I never update it, so I won't bother giving the link here.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to all who have reviewed and dropped me emails in the past. There are a few of you who would send an email my way after months of me not updating my stories. It never failed to encourage me to keep at it, even when life was too busy and distracting to easily find the time and energy to write. Thank you so much. Also thanks to everyone who reads my stories, even if you choose not to review.

And now I give story 4 of the Diamonds Arc…

Happy reading!

Diamonds Arc – Story 4

Finalities in the Wind

Part 1 - Prologue

It was a windy day—the kind of icy wind that seeped through layers of winter clothing and sent convulsive shivers through goose-bumped bodies. It gusted along the city streets, throwing abandoned papers and soda cans about with a rustling and a clanging. It swept through melting drifts of dirty black snow to spray the faces of passerby. It pushed past the traffic lights overhead, swinging them back and forth precariously.

And it forced Jacob Gavin Jr. to clench his teeth and shove his gloved hands into the pockets of the expensive winter coat he wore. He tried to quicken his pace down the sidewalk, hoping that would help warm him up.

It didn't.

Jake hated winter. More specifically, he hated New York City in winter. The filthy slush, the cold shadows cast by the skyscrapers, seeing the homeless freezing on the street—he hated it all.

So why was he here? Jake pulled his hat farther over his ears, strands of blue-black hair reaching just past the edges of it and scratching the back of his neck. He would have rubbed the spot, but a thick fleece scarf was in the way.

He was here on business—the only reason he ever came here. He scowled against the wind. Business had gotten too complicated lately.

The sound of a newspaper vendor caught his attention, a tall man with a booming voice yelling: "Mutant menace known as Shadow King responsible for Greenwich Village riots! Get your Daily Bugle here!"

Jake scoffed and passed the man without making eye contact. Several other vendors tried to get his attention as he walked by, following the façade of Grand Central Station on his left. The transportation hub was a popular place for selling news, the perfect opportunity to catch midtown's office professionals as they came to and from work.

He ducked his head and tried not to hear them, grateful when he crossed Lexington Avenue and left the headlines behind.

He'd read them all already. It was an old story now, one that had first come out a week ago, six days after the riots, when a man by the name of Nathaniel Essex wrote an article about how Shadow King had been behind it all. Shadow King who was posing as the mafia affiliate "New Son". New Son, his former boss.

"Hey man, you got some spare change?"

Jake looked down at the face turned up at him: gray eyes with thinned gray hair and a scraggly gray beard. To match, the homeless man sat on a gray blanket and wore a tattered gray coat.

"Sorry," Jake said, not stopping. The man's face hung in his mind even after he turned away.

The world was going to hell. And without even the decency of a hand basket.

Greenwich Village was in shambles from the violent outbursts of the people there, spurred on by Shadow King's mind control. Mutant Registration had been passed a week and a half ago, and already its results could be seen—police combing the streets for any sign of a mutant, equal-rights protests that always ended in the beatings of those protestors by Registration supporters, and the tense feeling that a civil war was on the horizon.

And he'd had a part in that.

I didn't know. I didn't know New Son was Shadow King when I worked for him. These were the things he tried to tell himself. This was the mantra he tried to recite to soothe his mind.

But it never worked.

Jacob Gavin Jr, known by his business associates as the Courier, was a messenger for those unable to deliver words in person and unwilling to trust technology to do it securely. A man of his talents—an ability to shape shift into any humanoid form—and of his skills in secrecy and non-detection, was often employed by men of less than reputable character.

But never someone like Shadow King.

It had been enough to make him decide to quit. He could retire to a remote island somewhere, drinking martinis and lying on the beach all day. He had enough money for it—crime bosses tended to pay well.

But then the call had come. The call asking for this meeting in New York City. He'd told the voice on the phone "no," had even declared the word with such firm resolve that he expected no opposition. But then the voice said, "This is Nathaniel Essex."

Sinister. Jake knew the alias of the madman geneticist. People in his line of work made sure they knew things such as this. He also knew what that name meant. It meant he was going to the meeting in New York City. It meant he had no choice. He knew that even before the threats to release his mutant identity to Mutant Registration Authorities came. Even a shape shifter couldn't escape a the power of DNA tests…

And so here he was, two days later, standing on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 42nd Street, waiting for his contact to arrive. He glanced down at his watch, pushing up his thick coat sleeve to see its face. A minute early.

The seconds ticked by. He was almost run over as the light changed and the pedestrians charged across the street under an illuminated walk sign. After that, he moved back against the building at the corner, a small deli with signs promising hot coffee for a dollar.

And then the car came. A sleek black towncar with tinted windows that were almost black. It stopped at the corner and the backseat passenger door opened. He stepped toward it, paused… "Get in," a voice said. It was deep and smooth.

He obeyed and immediately breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the door and felt the warm air of the car's interior envelop him.

The sigh was cut off as he looked at the man sitting next to him.

Red eyes, sickly black lips, pasty white skin, and a crimson diamond etched on his forehead.

Jake had to fight not to shiver despite the warmth as he nodded professionally at Sinister. "Mr. Essex," he said, forcing stability into his voice.

"Jacob Gavin Jr."

The red eyes felt like lasers that seared his skin.

Sinister smiled. "I have a job for you. What do you know about the X-Men?"

Jake swallowed carefully. This was going to be bad…

End Part 1