FIC: It's Called E.S.P. (Ch. 5/?) (Psych!/X-Men)

[ficwize]

Title: It's Called E.S.P.
Fandom: Psych! and X-men crossover
Prompt: 77 - don't rock the boat at tamingthemuse
Warnings: Spoilers for the X-men movies and some general spoilers for Psych!
Rating: Teen - some language, potential violence
Summary: Shawn claims to be a psychic. Some people believe him.
Disclaimer: None of the lovelies are mine. But I have enjoyed playing with them!
A/N: Many thanks to lostacanthus for the beta! I think this is the halfway point.

As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.

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Previous Chapters: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four

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Chapter 5
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“This is all your fault, Shawn!” Gus glared at Shawn across the holding cell. “I can’t believe you got me arrested.”

“It’s all just a misunderstanding.” Shawn answered, looking back over his shoulder at Gus from where he stood by the door. He’d been systematically banging S.O.S. on the bars for the ten minutes since they’d been escorted to the holding cell.

“They took my shoes, Shawn. I liked those shoes!” Gus lifted one of his feet, illustrating his point and showing off one of the thin foam thongs he’d been given.

“You’ll get your shoes back, Gus.” Shawn rolled his eyes. “Don’t think of this as ‘an arrest’,” he turned, making air quotes with his fingers, “think of it more like protective custody.”

“The only person who needs protecting is you, from me, if you don’t get this straightened out.” Gus stood up and came to stand next to Shawn. “And quit banging on the bars.”

“I’m making a point, Gus.” Shawn turned towards him, waving one hand.

“You have a point on your head.” Gus glared at him. “I can’t believe we’ve been arrested.”

“You haven’t really.” Juliet’s voice interrupted Gus before he could fully vent his steam. “It was more like a protective custody thing.” She came to the cell door and grinned in through it.

“You see?” Shawn began nodding in that exaggerated manner that drove Gus nuts some times.

“My shoes, Shawn.” Gus crossed his arms and glared. “That’s all I’m saying.”

“Oh, for…” Shawn turned to Juliet. “Can you get Gus his shoes back? He’s having a real security blanket kind of moment.”

“I am not! But if I was, no one could blame me!” Gus stalked past Shawn through the open cell door. “There was a mob of people running around screaming, ‘Kill the Muties!’ if you’ve forgotten.”

“I’ve not forgotten.” Shawn shook his head. “I nearly got lynched and would have if Bobby hadn’t saved me.” He paused. “Or maybe we’d have been shot. A and B were awfully irritable and they got kind of trigger happy at the end...”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gus demanded. Then, thinking better of it, he held up his hand. “No, you know what? I don’t care. I want my shoes, and then I’m out of here.”

“Umm, sorry Gus.” Juliet stepped in front of him. “We’re going to need your statement.”

“I don’t know anything,” Gus protested, but he sounded a lot calmer when he was talking to Juliet than he had when he was talking to Shawn.

“You can start with what you were doing there.” Juliet led them into an interview room.

“Oh.” Gus looked surprised. “It was a benefit being hosted by all the pharmaceutical companies in the area. I work for Central Coast Pharmaceuticals, Inc.”

“It’s his second job.” Shawn chipped in. “We were just being supportive.”

“Uh huh.” Juliet frowned skeptically. “And this had nothing to do with the information you got from me the other night?”

Gus’s eyebrows shot up and he gave Shawn a look that clearly said he was glad Juliet wasn’t looking at him like that. “Juliet, really.” Shawn smiled at her, giving her his best charming innocent look. “You didn’t tell me that there was going to be a mob crowd there tonight.”

“Trust me - that was a surprise for us all.” Gus muttered.

“Hmmm.” The door behind them opened and Lassiter stood there. “You would think that not much would come as a surprise to a psychic.”

“Well, it’s not an exact science.” Shawn shrugged, craning his head back to look at Lassiter upside down from his chair

“No, it’s not. Apparently, it’s a mutation.” Lassiter’s voice was sour. “Spencer…” He stopped, his expression pained. “Why are you associating with these people?”

Shawn and Gus exchanged a guarded look. “What do you mean ‘these people’?”

“Don’t you watch the news?” Lassiter threw down a file on the table and photographs spilled out. He sat down next to Juliet while Shawn and Gus picked up the pictures.

“What is this?” Gus asked, astonished.

“Surveillance photographs recovered from Worthington Labs at Alcatraz.”

The glossy black and white photos clearly showed Bobby and Logan, along with four others, standing in a row and facing down what could only be described as a horde of menacing looking people. The lab was behind them.

“What happened?” Gus looked at Shawn. Shawn was staring at the way that the six mutants were lined up.

“They were the ones who turned back Magneto.” Shawn answered softly, realization dawning.

“How do you know?” Juliet asked tensely.

“Call it a vision.” Shawn replied, but for once, he was subdued and left out all of his normal theatrics.

“Which raises the question of how they came to you.” Lassiter commented, jarring Shawn from his thoughts. Looking up with a forced devil-may-care grin, Shawn shrugged.

“They needed a psychic. And I’m the best.”

Lassiter leaned forward over the table. “Why do they need a psychic?”

Shawn leaned forward as well, until his face was only a few inches from Lassiter’s. “Why don’t you ask them?”

“I will.” Lassiter sat back. “Count on it.”

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“Shawn! What the hell have you done now?” The angry voice of Henry Spencer boomed through the waiting room, making Shawn close his eyes in silent supplication. Encounters with his father always promised to be complicated.

“I didn’t do anything except not get killed. And that’s a positive thing!”

“I’m not so sure he agrees,” Lassiter commented from where he stood in the doorway looking smug. “In fact, he looks like he might try and kill you himself at the moment.”

“You want to tell me why I had to come down here with bail money if you didn’t do anything wrong?” Henry demanded, coming to a halt beside his son.

“Hi, Mr. Spencer.” Gus piped up from where he sat on a bench against the wall.

“Gus?” Henry’s face lost some of its initial anger and he looked between his son and his son’s best friend, confused. “Why are the two of you so dressed up?”

“We were at a party,” Shawn explained, shaking his head and shrugging. “Things got a little out of control.”

“Oh, my God.” Henry went absolutely white. “You were at that benefit at the Doubletree Inn, weren’t you?”

“I can see that psychic abilities run in the family.” Lassiter commented wryly. “Your son and his partner were taken into protective custody when we arrived on the scene. Some of their compatriots were placed under arrest.”

“Which is why we needed the bail money.” Shawn explained as if it made perfect sense. “Although it’s terribly unfair. They saved me and Gus after all. They’re hardly terrorists.”

“We found evidence of their activities all through the building.” Lassiter stood up straighter. “Between the shards of ice, the torched parking lot, and several doors and rioters that had interesting cut marks… there was more than enough evidence to place them under arrest.”

“It’s all circumstantial!” Shawn protested angrily. “And you know it!”

“They are known and recognized combatants from Alcatraz. I would be remiss if I didn’t arrest them!”

“This is ridiculous…” Shawn began, but he stopped when his father put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“Easy, Shawn.” Henry stared at Lassiter pointedly. “The detective is only doing his job. If these people are as innocent as you say they are, I’m sure they’ll be cleared of suspicion in no time.”

Gus sniffed. “They have no criminal record. If they did, we wouldn’t be able to get them out of jail anyway. There’s no way that a judge would have set bail.”

Lassiter flushed red and he turned towards Gus angrily. “I’m sorry if my doing my job thoroughly upsets you, Guster, but that’s not my problem. Keeping you and your idiot friend from getting killed tonight was my problem. Keeping other innocent people from getting killed is my problem. Telling the families of those people who were hurt tonight that they have a loved one in the hospital is my problem.”

There was a moment of stunned silence in the wake of Lassiter’s outburst. The detective shook his head, and then forcefully straightened his tie. “If you have the bail money, Detective Spencer, you know where to post bond.” He turned and stalked away, leaving the three men to stare after him in shocked silence.

“He’s under a lot of stress,” Juliet’s voice startled Shawn out of his thoughts and he turned towards her with a questioning look on his face. “The Chief got a phone call from higher up. We were ordered to arrest any and all mutants on sight.” She gave Shawn a pointed look. “Lassiter is bending the rules more than I’ve ever seen him before. He went to Judge Shoob for the warrants.”

“Judge Shoob was in the paper a month ago,” Gus spoke up from where he was now standing by the wall. “She took a big political hit for her stance on mutant rights.”

Juliet nodded, stacking the files she held in her hand. “It’s the only reason that your friends were able to get bail. And it’s the only reason you’re not in the cell with them, Shawn. He vouched for you, personally.” Her eyes hardened. “So give him a break and cut him some slack.” With that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

“Come on, Shawn.” Henry pulled his son gently towards the front hallway. “Let’s get your friends out of their cell. We can figure out what to do next after that.”

“It’s not fair.” Shawn’s protest made him sound a lot younger than he was.

“Not much in life is. Let’s go.” Henry pushed open the door. “You too, Gus.”

It had been a long time since Shawn had felt so helpless and although he’d never admit it, he was glad that his father was there to take charge. Just this once.

********************************

“Let’s go, Popsicle.” Logan’s growl snapped Shawn’s head around and he turned towards the door where the two mutants were coming from. “You too, Feathers.”

“It’s that other guy, Shawn.” Gus hissed.

“I can see that.” Shawn replied, studying the third man carefully. He looked young, probably younger than Bobby even. His eyes were downcast and he was trembling slightly, but he walked determinedly towards the counter. He was doing his best to pretend that he didn’t have a pair of giant white wings strapped down to his back with a harness. Shawn was impressed. The kid nearly pulled it off.

Bobby looked around and spotted Shawn and Gus. Nodding a greeting, he let his eyes linger on Henry for a moment before he leaned towards his friends and said something under his breath. The three of them then turned to stare at Shawn’s group. Logan nodded his head, his eyes hard and dangerous and Bobby excused himself to walk towards his rescuers.

“Thanks for bailing us out, Shawn.”

“Think nothing of it.” Shawn started, but Henry interrupted him.

“Oh, I think plenty about it.” Henry’s gaze still hadn’t left Logan, except to flicker over Bobby and the other boy quickly, gauging. “I hope you fellows have a few minutes.”

“We’ll pay you back.” The unknown youth joined them, shrugging his recovered trench coat on over the harness that clearly held his wings tied back. He shifted uncomfortably, clearly aware that he was the center of a great deal of surreptitious attention, as the officers in the property recovery room stared at him through the glass. “I’ve already called my father and he’ll have the money to you by tomorrow.”

“And you would be?” Henry demanded, but Shawn stepped forward smoothly.

“Warren Worthington the Third.” He smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“How did you know who I am?” Warren didn’t look pleased or relaxed by Shawn’s announcement.

“I’m a psychic, remember?” Shawn tapped his head. “And you’re here to help your friends, am I right? You were just doing it a bit more from the sidelines.” Shawn shrugged. “Well, sorta. You had a front row seat tonight.”

“If we’re going to talk about all this, let’s do it somewhere else.” Logan finally joined them, buckling his belt through his jean loops and clutching a cowboy hat. He fixed Shawn with a glare that made the younger man swallow hard. “I have a few questions of my own.”

Henry cleared his throat and Logan turned to look at him, questioningly. “Who’re you, bub?”

“The man who just bailed you out of jail. Bub.” Henry answered in the same tone, completely unintimidated by Logan’s gruffness. After a second, Logan’s face relaxed and he chuckled under his breath.

“Then I guess I owe you a beer.”

Shawn and Gus exchanged another look and then watched as Warren and Bobby did the same thing. “Let’s go, Shawn.” Henry glanced towards him before walking towards the door.

“Where?”

“Back to my house. I have a roast that I should have put in the oven hours ago.” He sniffed. “But instead I had to come to jail to bail out my son and his friends.”

“You’re cooking again?” Shawn sounded dismayed. “And technically, Gus and I didn’t need bail. We just needed a ride.”

Gus shook his head. “Leave me out of this, Shawn. I still blame you.”

“I’m still eating, aren’t I?” Henry rejoined, ignoring Gus’s comment and leading the way towards the parking lot. Once there, he stopped in front of Shawn’s car.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Shawn protested.

“Yeah, well I drive a truck and you mentioned that there were several of you.” Henry opened the door and looked at Shawn pointedly.

“At least let me drive,” Shawn demanded.

“No.” Henry ignored Shawn and stared at the small group of people following him. The three out of towners were looking doubtful, clearly uncertain what they should be doing. “Get in the car. All of you.”

“It’s my car! I at least get shot gun!” Shawn called out, but stopped when he heard a soft ‘snickt’ of claws emerging from Wolverine’s hands. “On second thought, you should really take the front. The four of us can fit in the back, I’m sure.”

“How?” Bobby asked, dubiously, studying the vehicle with skepticism.

“I have a better idea,” Warren finally spoke up, with a small grin. He pulled off his trench coat and tossed it to Bobby. With a quick flick of his wrist, he tugged of the harness. “I’ll follow you.” Stepping back, he stretched and his wings sprang out on either side of him. With a small bounce, he was airborne, leaving the three humans and two mutants to stare up after him.

“Show off.” Bobby muttered, earning a grin from Shawn.

“You’re one to talk.” He pointed out. “Ice slides? Nice.”

“Thanks.” Bobby grinned back. “I’ve been practicing.”

“You three quit yacking and get in the car.” Logan ordered from where he was sitting in the front seat.

“Yeah. I’m hungry.” Henry added, cranking the car.

“Should we be alarmed that Logan and your father are getting along?” Gus asked, leaning towards Shawn to keep from being overheard.

“Probably.” Shawn shrugged. “But my old man sprung us all from the big house and is apparently going to feed us, too. I’d say that our day is looking up, so don’t rock the boat.” He grinned. “Not riding hump!”

“Me neither!” Bobby was already moving towards the passenger side. Gus took a deep breath and counted to ten, but then, without other options, he climbed in through the door that Shawn was holding open for him and crawled to middle.

“I’m adding this to the list of things you’re going to have to make up to me, Shawn.” Gus sniffed. “Don’t think I’m not.”

“I don’t doubt it for a minute,” Shawn grinned.