Age Of Magneto

A + X

Steve had taken everything K had mentioned to heart. It had done him no good at all in the public eye when he wasn't available for comment after he'd knocked her out on camera, but he had been far too busy, having thrown himself into digging into the names of the camps, the project she'd mentioned, and then had even gone to Natasha to ask her to look into the Operation that K had said was on the President's desk and to dig into the Department of Agriculture on his way out to investigate the camps himself.

Obviously, he hadn't trusted her word on what she said was happening, not only because she was backing Magneto - but because he honestly didn't want to believe it. Something like that simply couldn't happen in the United States ... not in the country that he'd fought so hard to defend.

But when he got to the camp in the Kentucky, he was dumbstruck and honesty couldn't even find the words to pull together. He wanted to liberate them on the spot. He wanted to decry it and say that it was something other than a prison camp - but the glowing lights on the collars that each and every inmate in the yard of the camp was wearing would have made that a lie before the words left his mouth.

But he still couldn't bring himself to say that Magneto was right when he knew, deep down, that what Magneto was doing was still wrong. He backed away from the camp, sick to his stomach at seeing the truth before his eyes and made the decision to talk to the X-Men before he went any further. He knew that if the camp in Alberta was this bad or worse, he wouldn't be able to walk away for backup or anything else. As it was, he wanted to call in the Avengers - pull in SHIELD - something. But he hoped that this place was a prison for criminals, not just ... kids. He watched for a moment, trying to take in the demographics as best he was able, but what he saw wasn't very encouraging.

And that on its own had him very nearly rushing down on thes spot. A flicker of movement three hundred yards away and several stories up in the tree covered hills had Steve frowning - and a pang of anger hit him in the center of his chest when he realized it was a guard tower - far from the camp itself, and if that glint of light was any indicator, manned with snipers.

He needed back up. And more information. And he needed to coordinate with the X-Men. Right now.

After a long night of driving, Steve was almost to the mansion in Westchester when his comm went off, forcing him to pull the motorcycle over so he could hear what Natasha had to say. "Her sources were legit," Natasha started off. "Operation: Zero Tolerance is a mandatory mutant extermination plan, and yes, it's on the president's desk and has been for almost a month. The fact that he hasn't thrown it out is a little more than troublesome, but he hasn't signed it either...."

Steve's jaw locked and he stared off down the road. "And did you find ties between the US and Weapon X that are still intact?"

Natasha let out a little noise of irritation. "Not only that, but the department and division she mentioned were correct. They're being headed up by the same man that tortured my malen'kiy dyadya," Natasha said, her voice hard. "They never quit, Steve. They just hid their classification. The higher ups in Washington know all about it. Her intel was solid. All of it. And another thing, Steve - I found information on her through that search. She's another weapon from the department and Weapon X. That's where Magneto found her. In stasis in one of their labs."

"I found the camp in Kentucky," Steve said after a long pause.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Natasha said.

"I'm almost to Westchester, keep digging, Nat. Please. We need to know everything before we stop this or we won't be able to take down everyone that backed it up."