Thus let it be Known.

[Trask]

The flight to New York had been brief and comfortable, but Bolivar Trask neither noticed nor cared. His field agents had managed to successfully pinpoint the location of Emma Frost and by clever deception managed to verify the claims that she was a mutant. The image capture secured in his briefcase by a covert Cerebro Circuit proved it beyond any shadow of a doubt.

The news was at once gratefully received and troubling.

Frost Industries had worked on many aspects of the Sentinel program and if its CEO was a Brotherhood sympathiser, if not an actual member than that made the Sentinels vulnerable.

The wheels had already been set in motion to sever SHIELD ties with industrial giant, but significant changes would need to be made to the Sentinel design if the units were to remain secure.

Another job for Simmons. Simmons and Fury.

That pair could take care of the Sentinel issues. He was sure Nick would have more than a couple of suggestions on ways to modify the formidable frames.

Right now however, there was a more pressing issue to attend to.

Trask stood outside the hotel room that housed a young man who as far as he was concerned, had murdered one of his soldiers.

And he was about to let him go.

The very idea of it made his stomach knot.

Before he turned the juvenile delinquent loose though, there were a few home truths to deliver. Truths that Bolivar Trask intended to deliver personally. He hoped the significance of the act would not be lost.

The agents at the door stood to attention and he nodded his approval to the pair before entering the room.

The agents inside were equally as attentive.

"At ease gentlemen," Trask rumbled before turning his attention to the rooms remaining occupant.

"Robert Drake," he said, no hint of question in his voice.

[Iceman]

Bobby sat up as he heard someone enter, and turned in his seat to see who it was. When he saw Bolivar Trask, he stood immediately. 'Does this mean they're letting me off or putting me on death row?' he wondered, starting in to worrying immediately.

He tried to keep it hidden, however, and played just as nicely as he had with Doctor Essex days earlier. "Sir," he said respectfully, moving around the couch. "I, uh...wasn't told you were coming. Should my lawyer be present?"

[Trask]

Trask did not take a seat, nor did he offer to shake the young man's hand. He remained standing near the door, like some huge, uniformed guardian.

"You won't need your lawyer," he said without explanation. He was doing this kid one hell of a favour, if he ran crying to his lawyer about what was said then so be it.

If they wanted war, they would have it. Right now he perfectly masked his anger with the cool military facade that had carried him through years of campaigns.

"We have confirmed your claim that Miss Frost is a mutant," he continued, "and in that, at least, you have done me a huge favour."

He didn't need to explain why the information was so useful. It was. That was the end of it. There was no way in creation that they would ever be able to verify the claim of her psychic talents and thus prove Bobby Drake's story though.

But, as he was want to do, the President had put in a word and Bolivar Trask had found his arm twisted.

The X Men got another chance.

[Iceman]

Bobby hadn't thought it was possible. He'd thought he'd rot in jail (or hotel, which was still not freedom) while they went on a wild goose chase to find proof that Emma Frost was a mutant, when she could probably do anything from making them think she wasn't one to making them forget what they were looking for.

He couldn't keep down the hope that jumped in his heart at Trask's words. "That's...that's good news," he said, unsure exactly what he ought to say. He felt like he was on trial every time he was around these government types; like everything he said could make or break his freedom. "I'm glad I could help," he ventured. 'Offer,' he thought suddenly. "I told you everything I know, but if there's anything else I can do..."

[Trask]

Trask frowned.

"Make no mistake son, there is no way your story of mind control can ever be proved unless Miss Frost feels like confessing any time soon. Quite frankly I think hell will freeze over first."

He shook his head.

"As far as I'm concerned, the evidence makes you a killer. One of my men, a husband and a father is dead by your hand, I watched through the Sentinel's eyes as you did it."

"There are certain parties however that have accepted your information as a gesture of goodwill and are prepared to grant you reprieve."

He hated the words, even as he said them but refused to give way to the anger that he felt. Professional to the last.

"I am not one of those parties. Even if every word of your story about psychic control is true it dosn't change that fact that Greg Moramos would be alive and Pyro would be in custody if you had not been in that warehouse."

"John Allerdyce is free because of your interference, something you may want to point out to a man named Forge when next you see him. As far as I'm concerned, from now on, a little of the blood spilled by Pyro is on your hands too."

"You may want to think about that before you go to sleep at night."

He turned to leave.

"The X Men get one last chance."

[Iceman]

God. Bobby hadn't thought he was being easy of himself when he'd been beating himself up for his stupid mistakes all those hours in the hotel...But Trask's words cut him to the core. The fact that they were letting him go free registered, but was completely shoved aside at first.

He stared at a point somewhere between eye-level and the floor, silent and still, as Trask bluntly told him that in his opinion, Bobby was a murderer. But worse than that (because Bobby knew he wasn't one willingly)...that John was free because Bobby had gone into the warehouse. Mind control regardless.

He felt like he was back in school, in his pre-teens, being scolded for a prank that he knew had gone bad and hurt someone. It had happened more than once. He felt about the size of an ant.

"Mr. Trask," he managed to speak without consciously deciding to. "I didn't get the chance to...It didn't come up in questioning, and I didn't think it was the time..." He took a breath and cut to the chase. "I'd like to give you everything I know about John Allerdyce. Before he turned against us, I trained with him. And I know his brain probably better than anyone alive today. And there was another member of The Brotherhood that day in Baltimore...She let spill some info about her powers; freaked out when I tried to touch her..."

"I, uh...I know it doesn't change what I did," he said, looking down before lifting his head to meet Trask's eyes. "But if it will help you catch them, it's the right thing to do."

"I can write it, if you want," Bobby said, knowing Trask probably had places to go and criminals to intimidate. "Have Mr. Hodge send it to you..."

[Trask]

Trask paused, very briefly, on the way to the door and gave the young man a glance over his shoulder.

"You do that, Mr. Hodge will know what to do with it I'm sure."

Then he proceeded to the door and pulled it open.

"Get him out of here," he said in a low voice to the agents on guard and then he was gone, out into the corridor, already organising the withdrawal of agents from the hotel.

"And put a call in to Fury, I want agents everywhere Frost Industries has an office, let the woman know she is being watched."

Emma Frost had meddled in his affairs, now he was going to return the favour.