Reed in Custody

Reed watched with a smile on his face as he stood there in the lobby watching as Peter and Kitty snuck out of the Tower to take off for their breakfast date. Sue was standing right beside him but failed to notice as she was distracted by something else. Reed didn't feel the need to worry her about it, aware that Peter was more than capable of handling things himself and would also now call for help if he needed it. Richards was also aware of how powerful his date was, so he let it pass as they both waited for the car to arrive.

"What are you looking at Reed?" Sue asked, realizing he was distracted.

"Nothing," Reed replied, "Just people watching."

"You need to focus," Sue said, taking his hand. "You know why the President called you in to meet with him. They know the mutants are here and are probably going to demand we hand them over."

"It's all right, Sue." Reed told her, "I've made arrangements. By the time they ask me to surrender Xavier and his students, they will no longer he here."

"You're moving them again?" Sue asked, surprised to hear this.

"This was always a temporary fix," Reed explained, "And the fact that I'm being called in is obvious a ploy to separate us and thus weaken our ability to defend the students from another seizure. I have no doubt Shield will arrive not long after I leave with a warrant to search the building."

"That's why you have the lawyers here," Sue suddenly realized, "They're going to read every line of that warrant and make sure it's legal before letting them in."

"They've even got a stay in hand, signed by a judge this morning." Reed added, "That will buy us all the time we need to get the mutants situated in their next location, one that is beyond the reach of the Sokovia Accords."

"Always ten steps ahead," Sue said, kissing her husband on the cheek. "Just be careful out there."

"Always," Reed said, "I shouldn't be away that long. I'll see you later tonight."

Reed stepped into the car that was waiting and it whisked him off to the airport where a private plane was waiting to take him to Washington. Considering the incident that occurred the previous night, the White House was making an effort to discretely bring Richards in without the media finding out about it. While Reed was tempted to tip someone off about his arrival, he felt at the moment it was best not to make things worse before he had a chance to speak with the man in charge.

Reed was respectful enough to wear a suit over his uniform, something he always did whenever he visited the White House. Instead of being shown to the oval office, Reed was surprised to be escorted into the Roosevelt room instead. He stood there in silence and wondering what was really going on, and his answer came to him sooner than he expected, as someone familiar walked into the room.

"Director Fury," Richards said, amused by his appearance.

"Doctor Richards," Fury called back, as he stayed on the other side of the room.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Reed called out to him, "Aren't we supposed to be on the same side?"

"Not anymore," Fury said, as he layed a folder onto the table. "This is a warrant to search Reed Tower, and it's being executed as we speak."

"I think you mean it's trying to be executed." Reed corrected him, as he pulled out his own piece of paper and placed it on the table. "This is a stay that was filed this morning, which will deny access to the tower until my lawyers have a chance to read and make legal challenges in court to make sure your warrant is legitimate."

"My men will not wait to enter the building." Fury shot back.

"The only way they're getting in is through Ben and Johnny." Reed replied, "So unless you're going to attack my tower in the middle of densely populated Manhattan with Sentinels, your men are not going anywhere."

"We can have this stay overturned." Fury retorted.

"Of course you can," Reed replied, "But until then, no one is entering my tower."

"You leave me no choice then," Fury said as he waved his arm to signal someone. Several Shield agents came into the room and surrounded Reed. "Reed Richards, you're under arrest for obstruction of justice."

"A charge that won't stick," Reed countered.

"That may be true," Fury replied, "But come quietly or we'll add more charges that will not be as easy for your lawyers to defend."

"I wouldn't dream of resisting." Reed said as he held out his hands. "You of all people would know that I would never dream of causing an incident here of all places."

"Good choice, Dr. Richards." Fury said as he walked over and put the cuffs on him personally. They were a weird looking set, but likely not enough to contain Reed which didn't matter anyway. He truly had no intention to resist them. Fury than put a black bag over Reed's head to cover up who was being arrested, as the last thing Fury wanted to do was give the press a story about Shield taking in a member of the Fantastic Five. Fury also did want to tip of anyone in New York that might use the news to run, thus ruining his plan.

It took Shield less than thirty minutes to drive him to a secret location in Washington, and move Richards to an interrogation room. After the hood was taken off, Richards could see the usual set up. Big mirror on the wall, along with a table and a few chairs, the standard set up. Reed still had the cuffs on his wrists as he strolled over to one of the chairs and took a seat. Reed sat there quietly waiting for Fury to speak first but the Shield Director just stood there, saying nothing. The silence was finally broken as the director's cell phone started to buzz, which Fury immediately answered.

"Report." He called into the small cell.

"Director," the voice on the other line started, "Parker is not going to be as easy to take in as we first suspected. He's gotten stronger under Richards... much stronger."

"So Parker got away?" Fury asked.

"I'm afraid so," Coulson replied.

"Don't worry about it," Fury said, "We've got other ways to draw Parker out. We'll have him back soon enough."

"I had a feeling you were not happy about Parker joining us," Reed called out from the bag, "You do need to realize it was nothing personal. I was just looking for the best possible candidate for the job."

"He was our best asset," Fury snapped back at him, "You had no right!"

"Of course I did," Reed countered, "If Peter was your best asset, it's a shame you never bothered to tell him about it. He felt underused, underappreciated, and it took very little effort on my part to get him to jump ship. Did you even bother to give him a salary or access to cybertronics, or were you content to let Peter dumpster dive for all his spare parts?"

Fury looked at Reed with a burning rage in the one eye he had left, but he was unwilling to take the bait.

"You sit tight," the director told him, "We're going to execute that search warrant and once we're quite sure there are no mutants hiding out at your building, you'll be free to go."

"That's a big building," Richards noted, "Would it be too much to order something for lunch?"

"I'll look into it," Fury said as he walked to the door.

"Thank you," Reed said politely as he watched Fury leave the room.

After the director left, Richards sat there at the table and patiently waited for hours aware that Fury wasn't going to return unless he needed something or until his operation to bring in the mutants was finished. While Reed's cell phone was taken away, the only thing he needed to stay aware of what was going on was still attached to his wrist as he checked the time to figure out what might be going on. Mr. Fantastic as still a lot of moves ahead of his opponent, waiting for a moment that he planned for the night before. His watch didn't just tell the time, but also allowed his people to know exactly where he was when it was time to break him out. Richards didn't plan to need breaking out, but since his cell was taken away, his team was to assume that not responding before a certain time was to believe he had been taken in. When the clock struck one thirty in the afternoon, the portal he was expecting opened up in the interrogation room, and on the other side of the portal was a familiar face he had seen only a few weeks ago.

"Reed," the sorcerer on the other side called out.

"Stephen," Richards said as he stood up, and walked through the portal which transferred him to the Doctor Strange's sanctum in New York. Strange closed the portal before anyone in the building could tell it was there. It would take them a while to figure out how Reed just vanished.

"Thank you for the break out." Reed said, pleased to be out of that room.

"Surprising I even had to," Strange replied, "I didn't think the President would let Shield challenge the foundation like that."

"He's under a lot of pressure," Reed said, not taking it personally. "I take it the rest of our plan was successful as well?"

"It was," Doctor Strange said, as he walked Reed back to the main hall of the Sanctum. "I moved the mutants from the tower to here, and then used the doors downstairs to move them all to the Sanctum in Hong Kong. We should be grateful that Taiwan was one of the hundred countries that ratified the Sokovia Accord, because by default China opposed the accord and never signed on. That means the mutants will be safe in Hong Kong, and Wong is looking forward to guest lecturing to the students on the mystical arts, which I hope doesn't go to his head."

"I'm pleased to hear that the mutants are no longer in danger." Reed said with a deep sigh, "Were there any holdouts?"

"A few," Strange confirmed, "Xavier himself wanted to speak with the American Government, but we still moved him here to get him away from Shield. I'm not sure where he's gone from here but he and a few other members of his team that stayed behind are safe for the time being. There was another mutant that went unaccounted for, but she left the building this morning."

"She's safe," Reed said, as he was aware of her departure. "She left this morning with Peter, so he'll keep her safe if Shield tries anything."

"Fair enough," Stephen said as he walked Reed back to the door. "Sue is waiting for you at the building, but since you just escaped custody I'd recommend keeping your distance. You're welcome to remain here with me until things settle down."

"I appreciate the invitation," Reed said, shaking Stephen's hand. "But I already have a few safe houses in place that I've used before to shelter people who needed to hide, just never thought we'd use them to hide from our own government."

"Governments are like people," Stephen countered, "They are capable of making rash decisions based on fear. Our government has been afraid of mutants for quite some time, and the Sokovia accord is just the latest in a long campaign against them. Any attempt to control them stems from a mass fear caused by random mutants that do not represent the collective."

"You're talking about Eric Magnus, aren't you?" Reed asked.

"I am," Stephen said, "He's responsible for a lot of the fear that many people have towards the mutant population. When the accords were brought up, we all knew it would be used to strong arm any powered beings that the government considered to be insubordinate. This is just the beginning my friend, so please be careful."

"To you as well, Doctor." Reed said as he walked out the door and out to the car he had waiting outside. Once in the car, Reed picked up his new cell phone and typed in the password. Activating the cell caused the other one that was still in Washington to burn out and destroy everything that was on it. He looked up Peter's number and decided to call his new protégé to make sure he was alright.