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Post by squeekness on Nov 3, 2006 13:45:28 GMT -5
Fallen smiled at him indulgently. "The main function of this program was entertainment. It has safeguards. It goes against their programing to hurt anyone." "You haven't unlocked all the codes, you said. How do you know the safeties are even working?" "Because I put in some of my own. One of them is the power supply. See those two black cubes there? Those power the hologram. When one of them is 'out', he has to stay within eight feet of those cubes. Those cubes act as restraints. He basically can't leave this room." "What powers the cubes?" "My Ristle energy." Fallen snapped her fingers, making a blue spark. "The cubes are powered directly from me or from batteries in the Engine Room. I charge the batteries and everything that uses power on this ship uses Ristle energy from those batteries. So do Seth and Kimble." "So they're like slaves, then. Totally under your control," Logan said. "Be very careful, Wolverine," Fallen said sternly. "They are not slaves. I was a slave myself once. It was horrible. I wouldn't do that to them or anyone else. This is a program designed to please. They both want to be out so they can play and explore. I don't force them to do anything they don't want to." "Right. Sure. He didn't seem too happy about bein’ ‘out’ just now." He jabbed a finger at Seth who was still balled up on the floor. "Not that I have to defend myself to you, but Seth and I had a long conversation about this before this was done. We have an agreement. He saw that Kimble liked it and wanted to try." "An 'agreement'? You made an agreement with a program? You talk about him like he is already real," Beast interjected. "I don't understand. Either he's sentient or he's not. If he is sentient, what right do you have to control him this way?" "He's not sentient the way you mean. He's just a very realistic personality. Even if I was able to acclimate him permanently to this environment using the hologram, he'll never be alive the way you mean. He asked me to do this because he wanted to know what it was like out here. It's the closest he'll ever come to being what we are. He's very curious. Both of them are. I saw no reason not to indulge him. As a precaution, some safety measures are required." "Sounds ta me like you are dancing on a real fine line," Wolverine commented. "I can see how this 'program' of yours could get out of control so easy. You got it tied into yer ship, now yer tryin' to bring it out in this world. You ain't convincin' me that this thing is safe. What if one of them goes nuts? What then?" "It won't happen. I can control it. It's just a program like any other." Logan shook his head. "I hope yer right. For your sake." (Eight) Logan woke the next morning refreshed but was in no hurry to get up. He lay on his bed, contented and relaxed. He was used to waking up in strange places and could sleep anywhere, especially in a bed as comfortable as this. The mattress was thick, the blankets warm and cozy. He scratched his belly as he lay, letting his mind wander. He wondered how long they would be trapped here and if they would ever get home. Wolverine was adaptable and had no baggage from one place to the next, but he knew the others were not. It wouldn't be long before Henry missed his lab and Gambit his girl. The others back home must be worried about them. He wished there was some way to contact them, but without an inter-dimensional phone, that wasn’t likely to happen. Logan was alone in the barracks room at the moment, the X-men’s temporary quarters, the others had already risen and started their day. He could smell food from the galley being cooked and decided to get up and eat. He washed up quickly in the lav and wandered out to the galley. The room was busy, Gambit and Kane were eating at the table while Maylee was cleaning up and doing chores. What caught Wolverine’s attention next was that Henry and Seth were playing chess. Henry’s board was another small hologram active on the galley table. Seth had a matching board on his desk in the control room. As a move was played, the pieces moved on each board. Henry fingered one of his pieces and made his next move. Seth grumbled a little, unsure of how to make his next move. Unlike yesterday, he was fully dressed, back in his white sweat shirt and jeans. He made his play, his brow crinkling. "Are you certain you wish to make that move?" Henry questioned, his eyes up to the viewing screen. Seth fidgeted. "Yes?" he answered a little uncertainly. Beast snickered softly, amused by the indecision in the young pilot’s voice. "Perhaps you should move the pawn to your right instead." "Um. Right. Thanks." Seth moved his piece, taking Henry’s advice. He smiled shyly at the big blue doctor, obviously happy to be tutored. Logan was too hungry to just stand there and watch. He took the seat next to Beast and smiled as Maylee placed a bowl of food down in front of him. It was leftover stew from yesterday, but after starving in the pen for three days he could’ve cared less. "Thanks, kid. Where's Fallen?" he asked pulling a hunk of bread from a fresh loaf on the table. "She's down in the shop with Kimble, taking down some parts for Maylee's lessons," Seth explained from the screen. He glanced at Henry as he made his next move, waiting for a nod of approval from his opponent before continuing. "Fallen’s teaching her how to repair the ship." Henry looked at the girl. "You're training to be both a medic and a mechanic?" Seth answered for her, "Not much difference between the two if you think about it. Besides, kids like her need to be as useful as possible if they want to do well in the Clan. Maylee has good hands. She has a real talent. She works very hard," Seth finished proudly. Maylee smiled at him, thankful for the praise. Her eyes glowing with happiness showed just how much she cared for Seth, that she was happy he had spoken up for her. At that moment, Kimble walked into the c*ckpit room from a door in the back. His hands were sooty and black from grease and he was casually wiping his hands on a rag as if he had physically taken machinery apart. The realism of the image he cast impressed Henry, reminding him of himself every time he’d pulled one of the X-men’s Blackbird planes apart. He could almost smell the grease from Kimble’s hands. Kimble had a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and he took a big drag and blew smoke. "Fallen's ready fer ya, kid," he said to Maylee with authority. Maylee nodded and started finishing up her chores. The happy look she’d had for Seth was gone, lost under a passive submission to Kimble’s tone of command. She clearly did not have the same affection for Seth’s twin. Kimble paid no mind to her change in attitude. As he waited for the girl to finish her chores, Kimble noticed Seth and Henry were playing a game together and looked over Seth's shoulder. He grunted with a laugh and reached down, rudely making Seth's next move on the chessboard. He glanced up at Henry, that teasing half smile back in place. "Checkmate." "Hey!" Seth complained loudly. "I was going to do that!" "Uh huh. Right." Kimble looked down at his brother, smiling with amusement at his reaction. "I was! I--I'd at least considered it!" Kimble's grin grew larger, his eyes twinkling. "Shure you wuz. Uh huh, right," he chided merrily as Seth continued to sputter excuses. Kimble took another drag on his cigarette and blew smoke at his twin. "Shure. Ya coulda had 'im four moves back, too, but I guess you wuz just drawin' out th' suspense, right?" He patted Seth on the head like a dog. "Maybe you should jus' go back ta playin' checkers with the kid, huh?" he finished, jabbing a finger at Maylee. Seth waved smoke out of his face. "I can do this! I just --" "Hafta learn ta looks at the whole board, kid," Kimble finished for him, his voice losing some of its teasing and becoming more instructive. "It’s a lotta squares, gots ta keeps a good attention. Yer smart enough, I guess, butcha lose track of where yer goin'." "Maybe you should just let him lose on his own," Henry suggested. "He might learn more that way." Kimble looked at Beast, his eyes still merry. "Well, if losin' is a learnin' experience, then he oughts ta be a genius by now fer all the *** kickin' I been givin' him," he drawled arrogantly. He looked next at Maylee, a flash of impatience in his eyes. "Downstairs. Now. Fallen's been waitin'." he said sternly.
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Post by squeekness on Nov 5, 2006 22:21:51 GMT -5
"Yes, sir," she said submissively and left. Seth looked at the chessboard, forlorn. Kimble yanked affectionately on his long white ponytail and gentled his voice even further. "Don' take it personal, kid. I been playin' a lot longer than you." He looked at Henry, teasing once more. "I'm shure Henry there'll letcha win if ya piss an moan enough." Seth looked up at him. "You're an a**hole." Kimble beamed. "Yes, I am," he said proudly, kissing the top of Seth’s head with a loud smack. "Butcha loves me anaways," he finished and laughed as he walked out. "He's a real charmer," Wolverine commented sarcastically, not the least bit amused. Kane laughed. "He's more bark than bite and little more than a child. He's not as tough as he'd like us all to think he is. I've seen Fallen make him break down and bawl more than once from arguing. He's got no patience, no control. It’s sickening. He wouldn't last two minutes out here." "He's tough to me," Seth complained. "And you're all the better for it," Kane commented fatherly. "You're even weaker than he is." Wolverine shook his head. It was hard to believe these images were two halves of some bizarre computer program and not really alive. They behaved and interacted like real people, not made up characters. Kane and Maylee reacted to them as if the brothers were real people. "Well, I'm sick of his crap," Seth continued, trying to hide how Kane's words had stung him. "Fallen lets him get away with everything." He was about to continue when an alarm flashed on his console. He clicked it off and put on a set of headphones to listen. Kimble poked his head back into the control room. "What is it?" Seth held up a finger and Kimble waited patiently, cleaning his hands on the rag again. Seth shook his head slowly and closed his eyes. He slowly took the headset off and looked up at Kimble with sorrowful eyes. "Valentin's in the third. He's too close. He’s going to come here, I know it. We have to move," he said in a trembling voice. Kimble grinned at him sadly, all teasing gone. "Been two months gone now. She ain't gonna go," he said softly, coming into the room. Seth began to argue with him angrily in the other language Fallen had used. Kimble nodded without comment and put a hand on Seth's shoulder, listening to him vent. Seth began to cry and Kimble brushed his cheeks tenderly as he would a child. It was odd to see Kimble change from arrogant a***ole to caring brother, but it was there and not artificial. He appeared to care very much about what Seth was feeling. " Shamay war natay a roo. There ain’t no helpin’ it, buddy," he said to his brother gently then looked up at Kane. "You best gits yer women an’ children an’ git out early. Takes May with yous." Kane met his eyes and said boldly, "No. I will stay and face him if he comes." "He'll chew you up an' spit you out," Kimble snarled in disgust, flashing his teeth. Seth shivered at his brother’s angry words and put his head down. Kimble stepped closer so Seth could lean against him and put an arm around his brother’s shoulders protectively. He didn’t look down at Seth, but continued to glare at Kane. "You should go." "No. I'm staying. Someone's got to stand up to that brute." Kimble snorted. "Oh? An' yer it? I'll be shure ta send our condolences to yer first wife." Kane stood abruptly and pointed up at the screen. "That's enough out of you, Kimble!" Seth tugged on Kimble's shirt, getting his attention. "You have to tell her to go, Kimble. Make her listen," he pleaded. Kimble brushed Seth's hair back and looked deeply into his eyes. "She don' listen ta me as well as you, you knows that. We’ll just end up fightin’." "Please..." "All right. I'll try, but I ain't promisin' nuthin'." He looked into Seth's face and saw his distress. He smiled indulgently. " Seth tay kunda Siska esk, huh?" Kimble said gently and rubbed his brother’s head. He gave Kane a long, hard look and walked out. Seth sat still with his head down and wouldn't look at the others. Wolverine turned to Kane. "What's goin' on? I thought you guys were all on the same side." "We are on the same side, it's not about that. It's about Fallen and Valentin," Kane explained. Seth shivered at the mention of Valentin's name. He looked out the door where Kimble had gone, turning his back on the conversation in the galley, not wanting to hear it. "What do ya mean?" Logan said, not understanding. He was disgusted by Seth's show of weakness, by the soap opera that had been played out on the screen. What could have him so rattled? Kane tried to explain, "Fallen and Valentin have this kind of love hate relationship. I don't know how else to describe it. She'll avoid him for months then she'll make sure he finds her. When he does, he comes and beats the living crap out of her." Seth covered his ears and looked down again. He didn't want to hear what Kane was saying and yet didn’t want to click off, either. Kane looked away from him, just as irritated as Logan by his childish behavior. "It's something she's always done. I can't explain it because I don't understand it myself." "He hits her?" Henry asked, alarmed. "Then we should leave at once!" Kane shook his head. "No. This will be the last time. I have asked Cerebus for her. I will stand up to Valentin and protect my claim. I will put a stop to this." Angry voices began to drift up from the floor. Kimble and Fallen were going at it pretty good, a fight just as Kimble had predicted. The conversation had started out merely being loud, with Kimble trying to go about this with some humor, but it soon turned sour and brutal when it was clear Fallen wasn’t going to be persuaded easily. Gambit watched as his teammates grew uneasy over the argument and how it was spiraling down into ugliness. Logan especially was beginning to clench his fists and growl softly, wanting to do something without knowing what. He himself was not so quick to judge. He had been involved in many verbal battles with his high spirited girlfriend, Rogue. Like anyone who squabbled often, he saw fights in layers, that there were levels of severity, and he hadn’t thought that Kimble had crossed that final line just yet. Kimble’s fury was not directed at his captain, the worst of his savagery was aimed at Valentin, this mysterious General who had everyone on edge. Kimble was scared and frustrated, but he was not attacking Fallen herself, something that kept Remy in his seat waiting patiently. Once Gambit had learned that the two brothers were in fact artificial personalities, he had spent some time observing the two pilots. He was quite taken with the Kimble personality in particular, intrigued by how real he had seemed. Kimble’s playful, teasing manner, so much like his own, appealed to him as well as Kimble’s response to his brother’s emotional breakdown. Kimble could tease, annoy, and soothe with equal ease, changing glibly from one to the other as any normal human would. It made him seem three dimensional and real. Even now Remy could hear that Kimble wasn’t just trying to push Fallen around, his argument had merit, he was simply put out that his views were being disregarded. Kimble snarled something again, making Remy laugh in surprise when Kimble let fly with a torrent of mangled profanity, using new and inventive phrasing the thief had never heard before. This was like Rogue, oh yes. Even Kimble’s drawl reminded him of her. Maybe that’s what the attraction was, Remy mused. Kimble reminded him of home, even now with the argument growing more strained. It made him recall those fiery battles, maybe because when all was said and done, they had each scored points and in some ways learned new things about each other. Rogue did not make things easy and he was thinking that Kimble shared that trait. Remy couldn’t help but wonder what the guy was like when he came out in the hologram. He hoped he might have a chance to find out. Logan wasn’t so eager to see an irate Kimble go any further than he already was. He didn’t differentiate between ‘levels’ of verbal battling. All he heard was Kimble’s mouth going way too far. He took a step towards the galley door, intending to go downstairs and interrupt, but a grunt from Kane halted him. "Let them be, son. They’ll work it out." "That Kim’s got a mouth. If he respects Fallen so much, why does he talk ta her like that?" Kane chuckled wryly. "Because a mouth is all he has." Seth wasn’t the least bit entertained by the goings on. He covered his ears tightly at the sound of the raised voices and drew his legs up into his chair, curling up defensively. A door slammed below and it was suddenly quiet. Seth slowly lowered his hands and looked at the rear c*ckpit door waiting for Kimble. It wasn't a long wait. Kimble leaned in the door, his face red and his eyes blazing. Seth asked him a question and Kimble rubbed the heel of one hand into his right eye in irritation. He shook his head in a negative gesture and replied. " Nisk. Fallen natar ratan eresk tadaesk ratay." Seth broke down into gasping sobs and Kimble went to him. He snapped a switch on Seth's console without commenting to the others and the screen winked out. "What's his problem?" Logan growled. "Why is Seth actin’ like that?" "Seth can't handle any kind of violence. The last time Valentin was here it was pretty bad. He just freaks out now whenever Valentin gets too close. I don't know why Fallen doesn't fix that. Who wants to hear and see a man cry like a child? Certainly not I. At least Kimble stands up to Valentin. Whatever. I've got better things to worry about than Fallen's stupid program. I've got to get my people ready." He nodded at them and walked out. "Gambit seen some pretty strange t’ings, mes amis," Gambit spoke for the first time, running a hand through his bangs and scratching his scalp thoughtfully. "But ‘e ain't never seen anyt'ing dat was 'just a program' act like dat. Dem boy’s be actin’ like real, no foolin’ around. I'm t’inkin' mebbe Fallen got more dere dan she sayin’." "It’s just a program, Cajun. Ain’t no different than what we got back home," Logan grunted, clearly not sharing the same view. Remy smirked at him. "Not even when ol’ Beastie ‘ere put dat Britney Spears patch in de system did anyt’ing we got come dat close to real." Logan shook his head. "Don’t matter. What was up there ain’t no different than watchin’ TV. It isn’t real. Those guys ain’t real. Fallen’s just got a wee bit too much time on her hands, she has to have some kind of show goin’ on, I guess." Remy clearly didn’t agree. "Mebbe so, but dis Valentin? I 'ope 'e one bad mutherf***** to deserve all dis fuss." "I have to agree with you, Remy," Henry said. "I think Fallen's bitten off more than she can chew. These brothers are more real than she cares to admit --- at least to us. If Seth is that badly frightened, we should keep on our toes. I suspect our new friends are going to need all the help they can get." Logan wasn’t about to sit around and be amused by Fallen’s computer. If there was trouble brewing, he wanted to be ready for it. Being very security conscious, said he was going to check the ship’s perimeter and see what kind of defenses the area had to offer. Henry followed him out and Gambit decided to try talking with Fallen about what was going on. Maybe he could worm some details out of her. To read more click here: www.fanfiction.net/s/2486472/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 6, 2006 14:33:30 GMT -5
Remy saw the trap door was open and went down the stairs to the lower level. He found Maylee and Fallen working in the shop. She was instructing Maylee on how to take one of the filters apart. Fallen appeared calm in spite of the fact she and Kimble had argued aggressively only minutes before and looked up at him with a smile as he entered but continued the lesson. It only confirmed his guess that he had just witnessed something of a day in, day out scenario here. Kimble and Fallen must bicker often. Remy eased himself against the wall nearby to watch and wait for the lesson to finish. They were interrupted before that, however. Gambit turned his head when Kimble popped up on one of nearby viewing screens. "Fallen," Kimble barked. His voice was tense and angry. Fallen ignored him. " Mistress," he repeated with emphasis, the first time Remy had heard the word spoken. It said something, implying ownership and Fallen’s higher status. Where it might have sounded ridiculous or demeaning in any other situation, here the title made perfect sense, even to Remy’s highly developed sense of fairness. "Not now," she said calmly without looking up at him. Kimble grinned an irritated, nasty smile and raised an eyebrow in impatience. "Fallen, darlin’?" he insisted, his voice sickly sweet. She glared up at him then. "I. Said. Not. Now." Her voice was stern. "Ya gots a coolant leak on two. Fix it. Don' fix it. I could give a crap less," he snapped. He switched off, but not before he clearly snarled, "F**kin' b***h!" "Argghhh!!!" Fallen shouted, clenching her fists. Blue flames of energy rippled around her wrists as she struggled for control. "He's impossible!" She snatched a wrench and hammer from the bench and stomped off to the Engine Room. When she was gone, Maylee started to softly laugh. Remy looked at her and c*cked his head in curiosity. "What’s so funny dere, petite?" "This is how Kimble gets his way. He's going to torment her until we leave." "So tell me dere, kiddo..." Remy inquired, trying to sound casual, "...what you t’ink of dat rascal Kimble, eh? Seem like mebbe ‘e make you a little nervous." "He’s all right, I guess. He’s been different since Momma started using the hologram." Remy nodded to himself, keeping track of who belonged to whom. Maylee had used Momma the same way Kimble had used the word Mistress. She must be Fallen’s daughter. "Diff’rent ‘ow?" "I don’t know. Bossier....not so nice to me. He used to be more playful, more fun to be around, but now it’s like he thinks he’s the only one who can take care of Momma right. When she gets...hurt...he comes out in the ‘gram and he’s all over her. He won’t let me get close, like she belongs only to him. It’s annoying. I mean, I was here first." "He older dan you. P’etetre, ‘e sees it as ‘is responsibility." Maylee snorted derisively. "He’s not older than me! He just looks that way because Fallen chose that skin. He’s not a man, not a real one anyways. Real men don’t cry." " ‘E cries?" "All the time. When Fallen gets hurt he cries. When they fight, he cries. He cries more than I do. It’s pathetic. I’ve never seen Kane or Valentin cry. I’ll just bet Kimble’s younger than I am," Maylee complained with obvious disdain. "He’s like a little kid." Remy could see she carried some resentment towards Kimble. He noted how she said nothing about Seth’s own child like behavior. If anything, Seth appeared to him to be more immature and childish than Kimble was. The fact was that Remy had seen Seth fall apart and cry, not Kimble, but Maylee didn’t seem to acknowledge that. Remy wasn’t naive, he had an idea that her problem with Kimble was more like some kind of sibling rivalry. If Kimble was coming out frequently and was active in Fallen’s care, Maylee probably felt displaced or shoved aside. "Sound like you an’ Kim don’ get along so good." "I don’t trust him," she replied evasively, keeping her eyes down. "Why?" "I don’t like the way he looks at Momma sometimes. I wish she would bring Seth out for good and leave Kim behind. Seth is nicer than him. He doesn’t yell or fight and he’s really gentle. He always talks nicely to me." "Sound like you like ‘im best." Maylee smiled at him shyly. "Yeah. He’s good for Momma. She’s been a lot happier since he’s been around. She stays away from Valentin more." "Do you know why she let Valentin treat ‘er so bad?" "No. It’s just always been that way for as long as I can remember." Their conversation was interrupted when another loud verbal argument broke out from the next room. Kimble was still trying to press his case and was getting nowhere. It was clearly pissing him off, his profanity alone could peel the paint from the walls. Kimble had quite the vocabulary, even if he did mangle it as much as possible. After a few moments, Fallen stormed from the room and returned to the bench. She slammed the tools down, furious. She was quite a sight, all riled up, and Gambit couldn't help but laugh a little. She saw his amusement and smiled suddenly, laughing herself to break the tension. "You’re stupid little games aren’t going to work, Kimble! You hear me? Not this time!" she shouted to the air. She suddenly shrieked in shock as the overhead sprinkler fire system turned itself on for no apparent reason, spraying her with ice cold water. Only her. It had activated precisely where she stood and not in the whole room, impossible for it to have done so by accident. "Kimble! You arrogant, little b*****d!" Fallen screamed, spraying water. "Oh, you are so frikkin' dead!" She snatched the wrench and stalked over to the black power cubes for the hologram. She raised the wrench in the air, threatening to demolish them. Destroying them would clearly end any further possibility of the twins using the hologram to leave the system and interact with others. Her threat was taken seriously. On cue, the sprinkler shut off and Kimble came up on the screen. "Wait a minnit there, baby doll," he drawled, his hands up in cheerful surrender. "You don' wanna be doin' nuthin’ rash!" He was trying really hard not to laugh. He saw Remy there and gave him a playful wink. "You going to quit this?" Fallen challenged, the wrench still raised high. Kimble wilted before her obvious wrath, losing that playful charm. He sat back with a defeated sigh, looking ten years older with some kind of suppressed pain. "Whatever ya say, kiddo. If gittin' smacked all ta hell means that much to ya, fine, girl," he said, a nasty hard glint coming into his eyes. "Jus’ don’tcha come cryin’ ta me all about it later." He clicked off with an angry, final flick of his wrist. Fallen wiped dripping water off of her chin and roughly tossed the wrench aside onto one of the benches. "Pr**k!" she snapped to the empty screen, losing her earlier playfulness. She walked back over to Maylee, but the girl had clearly lost interest in the lesson. Fallen noticed and quickly dismissed her. Maylee fled, no longer in a good mood. "Dat Kimble's kinda spunky for a computer game, neh?" Remy noted. "Yeah, well. He has to learn when to quit. Sometimes he goes too far," she replied, using some clean scrap rags to dry off. "‘E's got a point, chere. If it's not safe ‘ere for you, we should go." "Valentin is my problem. Not yours. Not Kimble's," Fallen said, squaring up to him, daring him to defy her. "We don't leave unless I say. That's final. Even if Valentin comes this way, you are in no danger, so the rest is none of your business. I suggest you go back up and get some rest. We’ll be leaving soon enough and you’re not quite well just yet," she said, dismissing him. Gambit shrugged and left, seeing he was going to get nowhere here. Maybe he could try again after she cooled off a little. He had no idea he wouldn’t be given the chance. End book one. To be continued in The Clan. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 8, 2006 10:12:29 GMT -5
The Clan, Book two of my Kimble series, Chapter one. "Sir, there’s been a problem with the mission."
Charles Xavier sat at his large mahogany desk, eyes closed, one hand rubbing at his temple, warding off what was soon to be a killer headache. Those words had been spoken to him days ago, but they kept replaying themselves over and over again like a bad recording in his mind. Charles Xavier was not a young man, he was in his late-fifties, bald but still quite fit for his age. He was a mutant himself, an omega telepath and possibly the most powerful mind reader on the planet. He was also bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Not one to let limitations of any kind set him back, Charles had used his wealth and his mutant power work for him in creating the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children – a fancy cover name for a school, but more importantly, for a refuge for mutant children. This amazing institution was located on a large estate in Westchester New York, a fine place for such a fine facility. That had been a few years ago now, and some of those gifted children had grown into outstanding men and women. With the help of those first students, Xavier next created his most beloved accomplishment, the X-men. The X-men were not like most other mutant groups or gangs. They fought not for profit, but for peace. They most often acted as policemen against mutant terrorists or did interventions where they would seek out troubled mutants – most of whom didn’t even know or even wanted to know they were mutants – but who had found themselves in trouble, harming themselves or others. The X-men would collect these wayward folks and add them to their own numbers, giving them survival skills, but more importantly, a superior education. These folks then had a choice, they could stay on and help others at the school, or if they had the dedication and the guts to stand up to the challenge, they could eventually win themselves a seat on the X-men team itself. Charles Xavier, or the Professor as he was sometimes called, had many such loyal and reliable people. The team grew steadily larger over the years, mostly by students from the Institute, but also by acquiring the occasional "walk on" like Remy. Logan they had recruited from a Canadian government agency, the first Charles had invited this way, and it was such a success, that others had followed later. Regardless of their reasons for joining, most had worked out well, sacrificing themselves for others on a daily basis. "They’ve simply vanished, Professor. Just like the others."
Charles Xavier wasn’t a stupid man. In every venture there are always risks, sacrifices. It didn’t happen often, but Charles had buried more than one good friend in the large private cemetery on the grounds. This had been very different. If there had been a plane crash, one could search the rubble and bury the remains. If there had been an abduction and a claim of responsibility, one could pursue the perpetrator until he was caught and the stolen ones returned, hopefully safe and sound. But this.... This was a vanishing without a trace. One of a series of vanishings that began a couple of months ago which hadn’t even come close to being solved. No one had claimed responsibility and the number of victims had come close to four thousand in total. The abductions had all occurred to large groups of people in the city of New York. All had happened in places where young people gathered, dance clubs and the like. This is why the Professor had placed his teams there, that is why they had gotten taken as well it seemed. What a colossal turn of rotten luck. "They’ve vanished without a trace and I don’t know what we’re going to do about it. Professor, we have no plan."
Those incredibly painful words had been spoken by the Professor’s right hand man, Scott Summers. Scott was a sturdy young man, one of Charles’ first students and possibly his finest. Scott’s mutation was pretty spectacular in nature, his body produced a sort of destructive energy that could be released through his eyes. Due to a childhood accident, there was no on/off switch, he simply shot out beams of red energy whenever his eyes were open. Because of this, he was forced to always wear protective eyewear that controlled this deadly energy to protect himself and those around him. Charles had perfected a special visor for him, one that allowed that energy to be released at will. Scott had mastered the use of this visor and earned for himself the codename Cyclops. This terrible mutation had brought out in him a strong personal will and self restraint. He did not make alarmist statements without fully assessing a situation and checking all of his options. It had been difficult for Charles to hear the sadness and hint of defeat in the man’s voice. These three missing team members were all valuable in their own way and were already sorely missed. The one missed most of all was Henry. Beast taught many classes in the sciences and was in contact with much of the student body. His classes were the most lively and very popular. Henry made learning fun and the kids learned well from him, some of them going on to work on scientific projects beneficial to the whole Institute. It hadn’t taken long for questions and whisperings about his unexplained disappearance to be heard among the students. The X-men missions were not discussed amongst the civilian students and none of them were in the know. Charles was unsure how long he could keep the kids from questioning this loss before he would have to tell them some devastating news. Wolverine was also missed by the senior team and staff if not the students. His classes were tough and the going sometimes hard. He taught mainly self defense classes and survival training and he expected results. He was fair if not exactly lenient. Logan was primarily missed by the staff because on a risky mission he was the guy you wanted watching your back. Because he could take a beating and walk away from it, Wolverine was the first to jump into harm’s way to protect another, the man was positively fearless. Now Remy LeBeau, prince of thieves... for him there was always a special place in the Professor’s heart. He considered Gambit to be one of his finest achievements. With every step he took, Gambit was a walking symbol of reform and recovery. He was the hardened criminal with the Devil’s eyes who now worked on the side of the angels. It was widely known that Gambit had a checkered past and some even knew about his one most notorious crime. This knowledge had kept Remy from making many friends in the mutant community, he was shunned and scorned by most, finding peace at last in this Westchester refuge. These three men were among the Professor’s finest and now, he had no clue where they were or how to find them. He could only hope that wherever they were, they were alive and well, safe and sound. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 10, 2006 12:48:36 GMT -5
(Two) Wolverine climbed up the slope to the top of the ravine. The view from up here was fantastic, he could see for miles in all directions. He could see the forest and the big lake they had flown over just yesterday out here to the Lucky Dragon. Even further out were the ruins of the City they had fled from. So far, there had been no sign of an advancing Clan army or incoming ships. Logan was surprised at how barren this area was considering how close the forest had been. In these brown rocky canyons, nothing grew except scrub brush and a few scraggly dead looking trees. He could sense no large animals, only tiny mice and the occasional insect crawling around in the nooks. No birds flew overhead that he could see and he wondered if there would even be bats here at full dark. It was dim here, gloomy. The sky seemed like it was perpetually cloudy. He had expected that near the Dognan city because of all the fighting, but out here it should be clear. Weird. He grinned to himself when he heard Henry slip and slide on the loose rocks behind him. He waited until he heard the big blue man come up behind him before he teased, "Climb much?" "Very funny. You see anything?" "Nuthin'. If this Valentin guy is comin', he ain't walkin' in with a big army." Maybe he has teleportation capabilities." "Maybe he ain't comin’ at all. Could be some kind of trick." "Seth seemed to think something was going to happen." "He ain't real, Blue," Logan replied, quick to show his viewpoint on that. "Doesn't mean his opinion doesn't matter. We haven't been here long enough to dismiss him or Kimble so easily." Logan just grunted. "What's Kane doing?" "Not much. His people haven’t packed up. He's waiting." Logan scanned the horizon again. "We should keep watch up here." "This is too far away from the ship. If something happens, we might get separated. The ship's cameras show these same views on the big screen. Come back with me. You can look out from inside." "You go ahead. I want ta check the perimeter one last time before dark." "Right." Henry turned away and went back down the way he'd come. He wandered through Kane's camp, seeing how his people were milling about nervously. They looked to the canyon top anxiously as if expecting an attack. Some of the men were sharpening their weapons, others were packing up everything else but their tents while trying not to be obvious about it. The children were out of sight and probably hiding. Kane hadn’t given the word to leave yet and they weren’t comfortable with it. It didn’t matter. Henry suspected these people could break camp quickly if they had to. Henry walked up to the Lucky Dragon and went inside. He entered and stood in front of the big screen in the Main Room, observing that it still showed four different views of the surrounding area. Henry could clearly see Logan moving about and noticed that the camera views appeared to be following him as if he was being deliberately tracked. As if in answer to Henry's unspoken question, Kimble popped up on the screen at his work station. He was leaning back in his chair and had his furry pilot’s feet up on the console as usual. He smiled up at Henry as a friendly greeting. "It's all clear, Henry. Don' worry, I gots ya covered. If Vally's cummin', it shouldn’t be fer a while yet." "Logan said he could see no sign of an army. Would Valentin teleport in? Beam down from a ship perhaps?" "Beam down? Dunno whatcha means by that, but if he's runnin' with Reese, he kin teleport most anawhere. Reese kin move a lotta people at once if he's got a mind ta do it." "Who is Reese?" "Reese is Vally's Third. He's an alpha like you guys. He kin teleport people from far away. 'S the only reason why Vally keeps that scraggly little bugger around. Reese ain't always with him, though. Sometimes Vally gots him runnin’ ‘round doin' other stuff. Tough ta say what's gonna happen. Don' worry, me an Seth're lookin' out fer him." "How is Seth?" "He's all right. He's gonna be shy 'til Vally's gone, then he'll come out. It's kind of ya ta ask, though. I'll mention it to him." "Tell him I'm ready for a rematch at chess anytime." "You gonna let him win?" "Not unless he earns it." "Good man," Kimble said with a snicker. "See ya round." He waved and clicked off. Henry smiled and went into the galley. Fallen and Maylee were seated at the large metal table. Fallen was eating a light snack. Maylee had some photos of Gambit's injuries and looked like she was filling out some kind of report. Henry sat across from her and tugged on one of the pictures. "What is this?" "When we go back to Station Nine, I'll go back to my class. Any confirmed reports of any medical work I did out here will be added to my scores. I’m sorry your friend was hurt, but he's really going to boost my grade this quarter." "They have regular schools here?" "Yeah though the classes are pretty small and I only get to go when we come to the station. My instructor is really nice and he holds all my lessons for me. I do most of the work out here." "That must be difficult for you." "Not really. Momma and Seth help me out a lot." Henry smiled at Fallen. "Maylee is your daughter?" "Not in the real sense," Fallen answered. "Valentin gave her to me when she was four. He said he found her in a ditch someplace. I was still pretty low after the Red Sky went down --- that was a ship I had been piloting. I was recovering from a serious injury and not quite myself and he figured that caring for her would take my mind off things. He was right. Maylee was one of the best things to happen to me." She gave Maylee a hug. "May and my boys. They're the best." "How did Remy get those scars on his chest? Was he clawed by a monster?" Maylee asked shyly. She’d seen five large silver slash like scars that crossed most of his chest and abdomen when she’d undressed him. It was an old injury and she guessed it had almost killed him. "Why, yes. He’d been clawed by a monster...in a manner of speaking. We’ve fought many enemies in our time. It would be impossible to walk away unharmed." Henry was aware of Remy’s scars, but hadn’t thought of them for some time. It had been a long time since he’d seen them. All the team members were expected to report for regular physicals, but Remy like Logan, often dodged them. The one time Henry had managed to drag the thief in, he’d been quite shocked by the signs of that old injury to say the least. In spite of his training, Henry had been unable to hide his surprise and the thief had seen it. Remy didn’t allow the doctor to ask about them and never showed up for a physical again. The other team members had taken longer to find out about them, if they even knew at all. It had been clear early on that in spite of his flirtatious nature, Gambit was a shy boy. He never walked around the house or anywhere else without a shirt and he never used the communal showers, even after a grueling workout session with the team. When the X-men finally learned of Remy’s checkered past and his most serious crime, Henry knew then the claw marks had come from Sabretooth, a vicious killer mutant that Remy had been known to be with on one memorable occasion. Judging from the depth of the scarring, Gambit was lucky to have walked away from that encounter alive. As bad as those body scars were, Henry was surprised they were all Maylee had asked about. There were a pair of more devastating scars that Gambit possessed, one on each wrist. Those were still tinged with pink and far more recent, the sign of a serious suicide attempt, no kidding around there. Henry with his deft medical eye had surmised those had come during Remy’s trial in Antarctica or in the beginning of his exile. Again when Henry tried to question the thief in private about them he was brushed off and not allowed to ask about them again. If Logan or anyone else on the team had seen them, they hadn’t dared to ask. Kimble came up on the galley screen, interrupting Henry’s thoughts. He spoke Fallen’s name and waited, saying nothing more. "Yes?" she replied, her eyes glancing up to him. Kimble didn't answer, but looked at her intensely instead. She met his gaze and slowly shook her head. He swore and said, "Better haul *** an' hide, May! Vally's comin’!" He clicked off, vanishing into the system. Maylee reacted immediately to Kimble’s warning. She got up in a rush, snatching her things hurriedly from the table and fled from the galley, disappearing down the trap door to the lower level of the ship. Henry stood, trying to control the hammering in his chest. There had been no mistaking Kimble’s fear or Maylee’s reaction. This was going to be bad. "Are you going to do anything to stop this?" Fallen lowered her eyes, a sad sort of defeat in her eyes. "No. Stay with Remy. This isn’t your quarrel and I’m certain nothing will happen to you. Whatever you see, whatever you hear, don't try to fight Valentin. You won't win and it will only make things worse." "Fallen, please." "Go. Stay with your friend." To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 13, 2006 16:57:34 GMT -5
(Three) Logan came down from the slope and walked unhurried over to Kane. He hadn't seen any sign of anyone coming and had decided to come down. Maybe Kane would have some meat cooking and would want to talk for a while. He greeted Kane and was about to ask him something when the wind shifted. Logan froze. The wind carried the scent of a large group of people coming their way. "Someone's comin'." Kane looked at him. "How do you know?" "I'm an alpha. It's what I do." At that moment, there was a flash of light and a small pack of large men, warriors, materialized in the middle of the camp. The leader was massive, over six feet tall and very powerful. He was Clan, by his dress and tattoos. He had the most markings of any Clan man they'd seen so far. They covered most of the sides of his chest and arms. The only gap was down the front of him where the Honor Sword would be if he had it. His hair was fiery red and tied back in a long ponytail. He had a long broadsword in a sheath tied to his back and a Dognan energy gun strapped to his thigh. His face was cruel, his eyes mean. There was no mistaking the malice or power of this man. At his feet crouched a small black haired man, clearly some kind of feral alpha. He was dressed in a ragged pair of leather pants and wore no shoes on his feet. He carried no weapons. His eyes darted quick and sure about him as he took everything in, sniffing at the air. He grinned wickedly up at his Master, showing broken, jagged teeth. "Easy, Reese," the big man purred, patting this creature of his like a pet. Behind him stood another man, his Second, Joseph. Joseph had a large amount of tattoos and carried a broadsword as well. His hair was a deep brown and tied back as everyone else’s was. He was tall and sturdy, a heavily muscled warrior as were most of Valentin’s men. He looked over the crowd with the arrogance of someone who has been in power for a long time. He would be as cruel as his Master. The people of Kane's camp dropped down to the ground, kneeling submissively in terror. Valentin turned his withering gaze on Kane and sneered. "Kane." Kane dropped down on one knee. "Valentin,"he returned with equal contempt. Valentin looked next at Logan who hadn't moved. "And you are?" "Neutral observer," Wolverine drawled. He slouched arrogantly, hooking his thumbs in his jeans. He figured he could take Valentin without working up much of sweat. Valentin approached him cautiously, but with no fear. "And what have you seen?" "Nuthin' that impresses me much." Valentin stopped and smiled at him indulgently. "Really?" Logan yawned, bored. "Really." "Well, we'll just have to work harder then." Valentin's men began to laugh. Logan didn't get the joke, but all the hairs went up on the back of his neck. He turned to look behind him, but it was too late. A flash of light blinded him and Reese, the feral alpha, stood beside him. This beast was the teleporter. Before Logan could act, a restraining collar was placed on his neck and his target flashed away. The man reappeared next to Valentin bowed on one knee. His master looked down at him, pleased. "Very good, Reese." Reese garbled something lovingly up at him only Valentin could understand. Wolverine snarled and yanked on the collar, feeling the red rage rise. He let it. The collar wouldn't come free. He turned and roared at Valentin. "Come fight me like a man!" He popped his claws, feeling his flesh shred and bleed without healing. He was a pain junkie and shivered with the joy of it, looking forward to the coming battle. He was going to rip this jackass a new one and love every minute of it. Valentin stepped towards him and they circled. Valentin had his large sword but didn't pull it. Instead, he suddenly kicked up dirt into Wolverine’s eyes and smashed a massive fist into his face. The collar dulled Logan’s senses and delayed his reaction time, he hadn’t even thought to dodge the blow. The force of Valentin’s strike lifted him off his feet and sent him sailing backwards a few feet before he landed gracelessly on his back with a thud. He did get some satisfaction in spite of his pain, though. Hitting his metal laced bones was like hitting a brick wall, Valentin howled with pained surprise and gripped his wrist in agony. Wolverine shambled drunkenly to his feet with a wicked laugh. It had been a really long time since anyone had sent him for a flight like that, this was getting interesting. He came back to Valentin without fear and circled him once more, sniffing at him like a buzzard to the kill. Valentin’s wrist was injured and the big man wouldn’t be able to strike out at him again, not like that. Logan chose his moment and lunged, popping the claws on one hand just for show. He wanted to intimidate Valentin but wasn’t quite ready to take this to the next level, not until he was certain just what he was dealing with. Valentin was clearly a veteran warrior, he dodged Logan’s blades quickly and spun, kicking Wolverine in the face. He wore heavy boots with steel toes and Wolverine felt his lips tear as his mouth exploded with pain. How he didn’t lose teeth on that one he didn’t know. He twisted and went down on his knees hard, blood pouring from his open, gasping mouth. Damn, he was getting his *** kicked instead of the other way around! How embarrassing! Valentin laughed, pacing around the downed man in a circle. "You alphas are all the same. So arrogant with your silly powers." Logan calmed, trying to get back under control. He knew he was letting his rage get the best of him and that he was better than this. He would beat Valentin down, it was just a matter of time. He wiped his chin as he stood up on shaky legs and pulled his torn lips back in a bloody smile. He spat blood and they circled again. He was about to make a move when a volley of red glowing objects flew past him overhead towards Valentin. Logan knew to keep his head down but his opponent did not. The ground exploded in front of Valentin and he spun away, cursing. Logan looked behind him and saw Gambit and Henry coming. "'Bout time you guys showed up." "You know us, better late dan never," Remy wheezed. He was still weak but putting up a good front. It wasn't working. He looked like he would fall down at any moment. Valentin barked a command and Reese blinked out. "Watch out!" Logan yelled. "He's got a teleporter!" To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 16, 2006 12:12:15 GMT -5
Gambit and Henry braced themselves but Reese did not appear. Instead, the rest of Valentin's army melted out of the blackness and came towards them. There was at least three hundred men, all in prime physical condition and armed with swords and arrows. More than a few of them carried Dognan energy guns. The X-men were completely surrounded with no way out. Valentin scrutinized the three mutants. He was even bolder now with his men behind him. "Best decide now if you wish to live or die." "Kneel down and live to fight another day," Kane advised from behind Logan. All of Kane's earlier bravado was gone, so much for him standing up to Valentin. There really wasn't much choice and though it rankled him to do so, Logan got down on one knee. Gambit and Henry went down behind him. The submission by these X-men was outward only -- they all knew how this game was played, stay down and wait for the best time to strike again. Valentin approached Logan more confidently now, his men following closely behind. He came up to Logan and gave him a backhand slap, wanting to establish his dominance. "Both knees for you, outsider!" he sneered. Logan started to stand, flushed with rebellious fury, but Valentin knocked him back down. "Stay down, wild one, or maybe I'll take one of your friends. They seem a bit weaker than you." Logan stayed as he was. He knew there was no way out, not just yet anyway. His anger still burned however, rising up out of him in a deep, throaty growl. Valentin eyed the feral man warily, but didn’t back down. Another of his men approached him from the main pack, carrying more restraining collars and energy cuffs. Logan snarled at the sight of them but didn't fight as the X-men were next restrained. There was no profit in it, not three to three hundred. He could probably make it, but not his teammates. He would wait. That finished, Valentin next turned to Kane. "Come here, Kane. We must talk." Kane stood and obeyed nervously, his face pale. He looked up at the larger man and Logan smelled his fear. Valentin could as well, the red haired Clansman grinned with evil intent and Logan knew Kane was going to die. Valentin’s voice was calm as he spoke, "Cerebus tells me you've been to see him, Kane. He is pleased that you have freed these alphas, they are prized above the others. Supposedly, they are the ones of legends told on the Far Earth. Fallen’s little X-men. Seem a bit pitiful to me, but Cerebus wants them just the same. He shall have them." "They are his," Kane stammered, clearly hoping a little generosity might get him out of this. It wasn’t going to happen. Valentin’s voice became more haughty and arrogant. "Of course they are. And I shall bring them, not you. Did you really think this meager offering would get you what you want? The pilot? As if Cerebus would give his First Pilot to a two bit piece of Clan trash like you? Please! Not when he has someone else in mind more deserving." "She'll never bow down to you!" Kane snarled and recklessly drew his sword. Valentin just laughed. "Me and Fallen know each other in ways you'll never understand," he growled. He pulled his own sword and they circled just as he and Logan had done. Kane could see that Valentin was wounded from the brief tussle with Wolverine and was all over it. He lunged wildly and without finesse, Logan almost groaned aloud at the sight of the man’s stupidity. Valentin was perfectly calm and therefore far more accurate, he sidestepped just as he had with Logan and with an easy, well timed stroke, hacked Kane’s arm off and sent the man’s sword sailing off into the growing darkness. Kane screamed, bloody foam and spit flying from his mouth. Valentin walked up to Kane as he finally sank to the ground on his knees and lay his sword across Kane's neck. "No one gets Fallen but me!" he snarled and cut the man's throat with a single angry thrust. He tossed the man down like a sack of garbage and spat on him as he bled out into the ground. Valentin then cleaned his blade on Kane's leather pants and sheathed it with a satisfied click. At that moment, Fallen came from the ship with Reese following behind her, loping awkwardly on his hands and feet like a big broken dog. In contrast, Fallen’s strides were long, confident in her authority. Valentin watched their approach with interest. "Ah, Fallen, so good of you to join us." Fallen saw Kane's ruined body and hollered, "How dare you!"at Valentin with shock and fury. She went right up to Valentin and slapped him viciously across the face. "Who do you think you are?!" she snarled, her face flushed. He didn't answer immediately, but wiped his chin with a wicked smile. He stood over her, enjoying his superior height and laughed, amused in some sick way by her lack of respect. "You look good, Fallen." He licked his lips in anticipation, his eyes gleaming. Fallen glared at him and fearlessly stood her ground. "Who do you think you are, coming in here like this and slaughtering your own people?" she repeated. "Who am I? I am first General and may do as I please." He clearly wanted to avoid talking about Kane and discuss more personal matters, he looked Fallen over with unveiled sexual interest and purred at her, "It's good to see you again, my pretty. It's been a while. Did you miss me?" Valentin towered over her but Fallen raised her tiny fists and defiantly hissed at him like a cat, showing him her long canine teeth. She had no fear of him and it seemed as though she might even attack him. Logan certainly hoped she would. She didn't have a restraining collar so he figured Fallen would use her telekinesis against Valentin and get them all out of this. He'd just love to see Valentin go for a flight. He was quickly disappointed when she made no move to do so. Valentin was amused by Fallen's defiance and continued to undress her with his eyes. He reached out and touched her chin and smiled when she jerked away from him in disgust. "I see your jaw has healed since our last meeting, how nice. Time again to put that mouth of yours to good use." He started to unbuckle his pants. "You put that in my mouth and I'll bite it off!" Fallen warned, meaning it. "Hmm....We have ourselves a bit of a problem, then don't we?" Valentin sneered. He came very close to her and she spat in his face. She was a good shot, her large wad of spit went right into his eye. He snarled and punched her with as much force as his sprained wrist would allow. Unfortunately, it was still quite a bit. Fallen's legs buckled, but to her credit, she didn't go down. Having been on the receiving end of that fist, Logan was amazed. He could see now that this was some kind of brutal ritualized dance she and Valentin had done before. He’d seen enough repeat offenders in the field of domestic violence to see this for what it was. Kimble’s own spoken fears back in the ship only confirmed what he was now looking at. Oblivious to the others around her, Fallen stood and laughed as blood poured from her nose. It wasn't broken, but he'd split her lip. She was crazed, no longer sane. "Just like old times, eh Fallen? Old times..." Valentin said wistfully, his eyes glowing. He caught her hair in his good hand and dragged her towards Kane's tent. She tried to slap and claw at him with her hands but he just ignored it. He roughly tossed her inside the tent and followed, closing the flap behind him. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 22, 2006 16:46:01 GMT -5
(four) Logan watched them go, furious at how all this had turned out so badly. His sensitive ears couldn't block out the sounds that followed of Valentin beating and raping Fallen inside the tent. She was snarling and crying, still fighting him, her oppressor grunting happily all the while. It was horrible, but Logan thought Fallen's acceptance of his abuse was worse. With her powers, she was stronger, she should be fighting him off. Wolverine looked over at Remy when he heard his teammate make a small noise. Gambit was looking at the tent, his demonic eyes glowing with barely controlled fury. His mouth was a thin tight line as he held back the sounds of his outrage. Remy was secretive and had remained something of an enigma to his teammates ever since he had arrived at the Xavier Mansion just a few short years ago, but some things had been made clear pretty early on. Remy was a creature of sensuality, something he pursued relentlessly and with great style. Intimacy was something he clearly enjoyed, but most of all respected. He tolerated sexual abuse no better than Logan, often going out of his way to rescue those he thought might be in distress with no regard to his own personal safety. Being so helpless now was driving the Cajun thief to a near frenzy. He was wordlessly wringing his hands in a futile attempt to escape the glowing energy cuffs that bound him. It wasn’t going to happen. Gambit wasn’t alone in his distress. Henry sat quiet, his eyes closed and breathing in calm deep, meditative breaths. Wolverine could only admire his friend’s resolve. Unable to stop what was going on, Beast was doing his best to shut out what could only drive him deeply into a helpless despair. It didn’t mean he didn’t care, he was a doctor after all, with a few unpleasant ideas of what Fallen was going to look like when all of this was done. She would need medical attention and if he could, he would help her. For now, he would calm himself now to preserve his superior wits for later. There would be a reckoning. The sounds of Fallen's pain and abuse lasted the better part of an hour. In the meantime, as the night darkened and the moon rose, Valentin's men were bored and amused themselves by terrorizing Kane's people. They slaughtered the men and raided their food stores. The women fared much worse. The children ran off into the scrub, but weren't chased. Valentin's men knew they wouldn't go far out here in this desolate waste. The X-men were guarded by a large group of soldiers and unable to interfere. When Valentin left Kane's tent, he looked around him, satisfied. He had wanted to teach Kane a lesson and had done so to his immense satisfaction. "Yer one sick f*$#!" Logan snarled. "What kind of leader are you?!" Valentin walked over to him, bringing the sharp, ugly scent of Fallen's sensual physical contact and blood with him. "I'm the kind that gets results, little man. This is a vicious world. Only the strong survive here." "You'd get more done if you didn't kill yer own people!" "Would I? They obey me unquestionably. Of course, I am not always this cruel," he commented casually, looking around. "Kane tried to take something that was mine. I made it very clear that will never be tolerated. Surely a beast like you understands the concept of territory." "Sick f*%#s like you always fall. I hope I'm there to see it." Valentin grinned malevolently. "Maybe you'll get that lucky, but I doubt it." He looked down at Logan and recognized him for the warrior he was. "We've got some plans for you boys. Fight with us and things could go very well for you. I've always got a need for alphas who can deliver." "I'll never work for an a**h**le like you. Yer pathetic, beatin’ up on a woman like that." Valentin glanced back at the tent. "Oh, that?" He grunted a laugh and had a strange, almost sorrowful look on his face. "Fallen likes that, she always has." Logan shook his head, not believing Valentin’s act for a minute. "No woman ever asks for that." "Fallen is no ordinary woman," Valentin said, almost lovingly. It was disturbing to hear, like fingernails on a chalkboard. "She and I go way back. We have an....understanding, she and I." "Don' make it right." "It is what it is, nothing more." Valentin gave a command and the X-men were dragged back to the Lucky Dragon. Logan and Remy struggled valiantly, refusing to give in without some kind of fight. Remy lashed out with his feet and tried to twist himself free. He was very flexible, weasel clever in his way. It wasn’t enough. He was held fast, viciously slapped about as a reward for his defiance, and in his weakened state, not able to do much about being herded along. Ragged French, no longer so elegant when chocked with ugly, wrathful profanity, came from him in a scathing torrent until he was finally punched viciously enough to silence him. He had no choice but to give it up and take Henry’s path, saving the fight for another day. Logan had no such desire. He spared his mouth the same angry words and simply used his teeth instead. He bit one of Valentin's men savagely, tearing his arm open and was brutally beaten for it. Still he fought, holding out much longer than Remy had. The fight was savage and brutal, recklessly spilling more of his own blood than that of his captors. They were not restrained by either shackles nor their Master’s will, ever so willing to punish. It was an effort, it took three of Valentin’s men to finally subdue Logan and then only by kicking him until he passed out. Valentin just laughed all the while at the display of X-men ferocity, his sick and twisted psyche entertained by the whole thing. Logan’s wildness would be an asset once it was bent to his will, and he was pleased. He paid no apparent mind to the passive blue Beast, but inwardly he knew better than to underestimate one such as this. Obviously this was the clever one, the brains of the operation if not the brawn, not like the two scrappy fighters that had put up all that fuss. What was this one thinking? Silent but most often deadly, clever men were. He would watch this one, see if his suspicions of Henry’s superior intelligence played out. Valentin had the three X-men dragged into the Lucky Dragon and chained to the outside of Fallen's cage in the Main Room, facing the viewing screen, and went into the galley to eat. His men walked around Fallen's ship as if it belonged them and behaved as if all this violence was a normal thing for them. It probably was. Eventually the hour grew late and things quieted. Valentin came to look at his prized mutant captives one last time before he left for the night. He said nothing to them but rubbed his now bandaged wrist for a moment then he and his men went back outside, leaving the captives unattended for the moment. He apparently wasn't concerned about them getting loose. When she was sure Valentin was gone, Maylee snuck out from the lower level and crept over to the restrained X-men, carrying a small box with her. As soon as she opened it Henry was relieved to see it was a medical kit, something they very much needed right now. Logan hadn’t moved once since they’d been lashed to the cage, not a good sign. "Seth? Seth, are you there?" Maylee whispered, looking over her shoulder to the big viewing screen. Seth and Kimble's portions of the screen had been blacked out since the captives had been dragged in here, but they now winked on. Seth was alone and seated in his chair. "I'm here," he answered her, looking around the Main Room nervously. "Where's Fallen?" "Still outside," she replied. She started to cry, but fought it. "Help me. Help me with them."she said, meaning the X-men. Logan's face was dripping blood and he was still out cold, not moving. Gambit was faring better in that he was still conscious. He sagged weakly against the cage, held up by his restraints as he stared numbly off into space. His face was bruising where he had been struck and there was a tight ring of agony around his ribs when he breathed. Judging by all the damage he had suffered here, this wasn’t going to be one of his better trips. "What do you want me to do?"Seth asked in a small, frightened voice. He kept glancing to the door leading to the outside ramp. It was still open meaning Valentin could return at any time. "I need to do a scan." "Okay." Maylee took out a small strip that looked like a Band-aid and placed it on Logan's forehead. A light flashed from under it and winked out. Medical information scrolled up on the screen and Seth read it off. "He's got massive internal trauma and bruising. His skeleton is metal -- I don't even want to know about that.... Hey, Maylee. Just take his collar off." "Valentin will kill me!" she squeaked with very real fear. Her hands were trembling badly. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Nov 28, 2006 12:32:19 GMT -5
"Only do it for a minute," Seth pleaded. "Just enough for him to recover a little bit." "He's right," Beast concurred. "Logan can heal. It's his power." "How do I get the collar off?" Maylee asked, relenting. More information scrolled on the screen, showing details about the collar, including how to remove it. Maylee loosened it a bit until the little glowing light shut off. Almost immediately, Logan's injuries began to heal. His bruises slowly faded and he groaned, blinking blearily as he gradually woke up. He was better, but still in a lot of pain. It would take more than just this moment free of the collar to fully recover. He got onto his knees and looked around him, the soldier in him automatically trying to figure out what was going on and where he was. He looked up at the screen and saw Seth sitting there looking fragile and terrified. The young pilot was obviously nervous and frightened, he still eyed the doorway behind them fearfully. Henry hadn’t noticed, he was asking Maylee, "Can you get the cuffs off of us?" She looked to Seth for help, but Seth had frozen in terror. He was looking past her to the ramp that led outside, his eyes wide in fear.
(five) "Oh, Fallen!" Seth said in a pained whisper, his voice trembling. He hunched over in his chair with an inarticulate outcry of internal agony, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears as he had done before when he had been out as a hologram and was frightened. He'd shut himself down so he wouldn't have to look at her. The X-men strained at their bonds, turning to look at what had spooked Seth so badly. Fallen was walking slowly towards the screen, a ragged ruin of pilot flesh. She leaned sideways as she shuffled her feet, dragging one foot stiffly behind her as she moved with methodical, determined slowness. Clearly, she had a destination in mind, and wasn’t going to let her condition stop her from getting there. She pressed both hands against her lower belly as she moved as if her guts were falling out. Her head was down and her breath came out in ragged gasps, blood and spit dripped from her chin to the floor. She was naked and dried blood and dirt caked her furry legs and ankles in a dark black accusation of abuse. She shuffled drunkenly and wasn't looking where she was going, though she had determination driving her on. She kept walking past them until she bumped into the screen, arriving at last. She put up a hand to brace herself, but slid to the floor, leaving a bloody smear on the glass. Maylee came out of her shock and rushed to her side at once. She cried out in dismay when she saw Fallen's swollen bloody face. There was a noise as Kimble burst into the control room through a side door, his face tight with barely controlled emotion. He went immediately to Seth and found him cowering in his seat, swearing softly in exasperation at his brother’s condition. He brushed a hand over Seth's head and spoke to him softly in an attempt to rouse him, but his brother didn't move. Kimble looked up through the glass and saw Fallen broken and bleeding at the base of the screen. "Get her a wet towel. Clean 'er up," he ordered to Maylee, his voice icy and eerily calm, considering the wildness in his eyes. She obeyed him and left for Fallen’s lavatory in a rush. Henry jerked in his bonds, the doctor in him horrified at the sight of Fallen’s abused body. He couldn’t restrain his own growl of frustration that he was now unable to move. He could bear being tied, but not when he knew someone was desperately injured and in need of his help. The only thing that gave him any comfort was knowing that Maylee was free and able to act. He would be quick to offer his advice if she needed him. "Seth...? Seth, are you there?" Fallen called weakly, responding to the sound of Kimble's voice. She searched for him with her dirty, bloody hands, but found only glass. One of her eyes was swollen shut, the other was filled with blood. "He’s here, but he's all crunched up," Kimble grumbled. "Figgered he be used ta yer crap by now. Hope yer happy." "Don't be angry..." she pleaded, unable to see him but all too aware of his anger. Kimble leaned against his work table and snatched a pack of cigarettes from his console. He shook one out and lit it with an angry spark from his fingertips. The spark was blue like Fallen’s magic pilot’s energy, sharp and potent. Kimble wasn't angry, no. He was furious. His voice shook with emotion as he began to speak, threatening to break at any moment. "We take pretty good care of each other, right? You an' me. Heh, I mean yer helpin’ us with cummin’ out and I look after ya. Makin' shure ya git what ya needs. Keepin' ya safe, huh?" He didn’t wait for a response, but sniffed as angry tears started to shine in his eyes. He was trying to play the tough guy, but he couldn’t hide just how worried about her he was. "I do a good job, huh? I mean, ya tells me so, right? But you must be thinkin' I need another friggin' challenge cuz look at ya, girl." "Kimble, please!" Fallen gasped with a sob, hurt by his words. It didn’t stop Kimble’s rant. He clearly had to unload his frustration with his Mistress and figured now was just as good a time as any. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and sniffed impatiently, defying the tears that shined in his eyes not to fall. "You tell me what ta do an' I do it, no questions asked. But I'm thinkin' ya musta missed a file I wuz suppozta get, cuz I just don't know how I'm suppozta take care a ya when ya keep doin' this crap ta yerself." Fallen didn’t answer, but stayed as she was, sobbing. He shook his head in frustration and raised his voice. "Seth tells ya he's cummin' an you won't friggin' run! Vally drops his pants an yer right there with yer mouth friggin' open, Fallen! I mean, Jeez! What am I supposed ta do, Fallen?! You tell me cuz I got no friggin' clue!" he finished with a snarl, his mouth grimaced and his eyes closed now, the only thing holding those treacherous tears at bay. "Guys..." Remy croaked, his voice harsh with pain. He had come out of his stupor, brought back by the angry words flying around. He was squirming now in his awkward position, not wanting to be an audience to this argument. The emotions being displayed here were too powerful to be anything but real in his eyes. He found himself responding to all of Kimble’s physical signs of distress, one small corner of his mind trying to figure out how something supposedly artificial could behave in such a realistic way. Ever the peacemaker, he couldn’t stand it. "Arretez ceci, sil vous plait! Stop dis now!" He was ignored. Fallen started to shake as Kimble had raised his voice in censure, his anger and pain hurting her even more than she was already. She sobbed now as she requested, "Play me something, okay? I’ll.... I’ll be all right." "No way. Uh, uh. I an’t doin’ nuthin. Not ‘til ya tells me why yer doin' this, ya friggin' little b---h." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared at her. "Tells me why!" "I can't..." "You tell me!" Kimble shouted bitterly, standing now and flashing his teeth in an angry snarl. He shook with his wrath, his hands fisted as he looked at her. "You tells me now! I've friggin' earned it!" "I can't...I can't..."she sobbed. "Fine, then!" he spat impatiently and reached for the switch to sign off. "No!" she begged, pawing at the glass. "Don't leave me...Don't leave me, please!" He stopped, her pleas halting him. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, then wiped his face on his arms. His eyes were all red now and his nose was running. "Tell me why I shouldn’t just shut down," he said quietly, his voice soft with defeat. "Why I should keep puttin' up with yer crap." "Because you're all I have!" she cried. Maylee came from the bathroom. She came towards Fallen but stopped abruptly when she saw the two of them were arguing. Even from the screen Kimble's anger frightened her. "I need you here with me..." Fallen continued. "No one listens to me but you guys. No one helps me like you... Don't leave me!" "Then helps me, baby doll. I needs ta understand, cuz I jus' don' friggin' git it. Why do ya let him do this to ya? It's killin' Seth. He gets wrecked evra time an' I git stuck cleanin' up!" "Because I did something really bad...Really bad...Junta bay...I have to be punished." "Punished? Fer what? I've seen some pretty bad crap in my time, but you ain't ever done nuthin'. I ain't never seen you hurt nobody! What could ya do that wuz so bad thatcha deserve this?!" "I can't tell you...." "Why?!" Kimble snarled loudly, frustrated." Don’tcha trust me?!" "I trust you... I just couldn't bear it if you hated me..." she finished in a thready whisper, her body trembling all over now. "Oh, baby doll..." he said then, a half sob escaping him. He released his anger in a long sigh, a tear finally spilling down one cheek. He leaned forward to put his shaking hands on the glass, reaching out as if he could touch her. He was very close to her now, his lips up against her ear as she rested against the screen. "I ain't never gonna hatecha. Not now, not ever. There just ain't no junta bay in the world that kin change that. We been together too long, you an' me." "You would... It was so awful!" "Tell me, Fallen," Kimble insisted, more tears streaming from his eyes now. "Please! I cain’t hardly stand this!" "I can't....I can't...I can't..!" she bawled and slid the rest of the way to the floor. She curled up, sobbing and covered her face with her tiny white hands. Maylee went to her then and started to clean her up, whispering to her foster mother gently in a feeble attempt to comfort her.
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Post by squeekness on Nov 28, 2006 12:32:59 GMT -5
Kimble retreated to fell back into his chair in a sorrowful slump. He slowly shook his head and smoked, wiping the wetness from his face in a helpless gesture of defeat. He reached behind him and took a CD from a rack, obeying Fallen finally. He slid a very real looking compact disc into a player and soft music began to play. It was a silly song from Lovin' Spoonful, something about the rain and a roof. Logan couldn't believe what was happening, it was like being trapped in a nightmare he couldn’t get out of. Fallen was lying there broken, Seth was balled up and useless, and Kimble pissed off and crying like some little kid trapped in the body of a grown man. The figures up on that screen were not real, they were a program. A stupid friggin' program placed there by some sicko pilot who obviously got off on some kind of melodramatic overload. Programs were there to make things better, not worse. This was a dysfunctional family operating on a scale he had never witnessed before. They should be trying to get away from here, not playing out this sick little soap opera. Cripes! "Hey! Kimble! Dude!" Wolverine shouted up at the screen. "Vally ain't gonna leave us alone fer long. We gotta bail!" He snarled when he saw he was being ignored. Fallen heard the music and garbled something intelligible, laughing. "Yer all friggin' crazy!" Logan howled. He’d had enough of this insanity and yanked on his chains. "Alla ya! Friggin' crazies!" He heaved on the cage and like an evil tease, it started to come apart in one corner, inspiring him to continue. Beast and Gambit saw what he was up to and then helped out, eager to escape their prison. They weren’t even close to being silent. "Stop that!" Maylee shrieked in a panic. "If Valentin sees you he'll kill us all!" "I ain't gonna be around that long!" Logan growled, jerking and grinning with satisfaction as something in the framing behind him groaned and broke. "What a shame," Valentin sneered from the back of the room. "I was just getting used to having you here." Logan put his head down and cursed. Valentin entered the main room and walked up to Fallen. She just lay on the floor, trembling. He towered over her and gave her an arrogant sniff. "You stink, pilot." He didn’t wait for an answer, but looked up at the screen. "I see you still have your freaks. Might have to do something about that." "F--k you, Vally!" Kimble snarled fearlessly, raising his fists. Valentin just laughed. "You got a mouth on you, son. Too bad that's all you've got. Had yourself a nice little cry, did you? You stupid child." "Leave him alone!" Fallen challenged from the floor as if she was in any position to stop him. "Sure thing," Valentin grunted at her, amused. "For now. You'd best get straight, pilot. We leave for Station Nine in the morning. Shoot yourself full of junk, whatever it takes. No excuses." He turned to go, but changed his mind. "Think I'll have my Second, Joseph, stay and keep an eye on these guy just in case you get any more ideas about taking off." He whistled sharply and Joseph came up the ramp, ever obedient. He stood and listened attentively as Valentin issued him orders. "Take six men. Camp out in the galley, whatever. I don't want these alphas left alone again." "Yes, my Lord." Joseph left to collect his team. Valentin turned his attention back to Fallen. He crouched down next to her with a disgusted sneer. He took her hair and mercilessly hauled her up to her feet like the possession he perceived her to be. He released her enough to be sure she could stand, then he leaned her head back, baring her throat to him. He leaned in and licked her neck with a long, slow flick of his tongue. Fallen quivered from his touch and urine dripped down her leg. She was broken in every way that counted now. Valentin didn’t care. "It's was nice to see you again, my lovely. It's been so long." Fallen didn't resist him, she simply stared off at nothing, her eyes glazed. He desired a response. He kissed her full on the mouth, giving her his tongue. She roused some at the intrusion, sensing that she had to do something to please him, anything to satisfy his desire for dominance. She returned his kiss and he smiled, happy now. He next glared at Kimble who stood with his hands fisted and useless. "See? She's mine in every way that matters." He laughed and released her before turning and walking away, passing Joseph on his way out. Fallen stood unmoving like a discarded toy, her eyes shiny and half open, her mind completely gone. Joseph sniffed her in disgust, saw her mess, and looked at Maylee cowering by Beast. "Get her cleaned up, girl. Heh, look at you. Getting big now you are," he said, his eyes glittering with evil intent. "Don' even think about it, you #$%^ son of wh--e!" Kimble threatened with real enthusiasm. He sounded menacing, but everyone here knew it was an empty promise. "You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to, freak, no matter how badly you swear," Joseph sneered in a good imitation of his Master. "You’re nothing but a crybaby wannabe pilot with a foul mouth and even worse manners. You’re not even real. Just what do you think a pathetic scrap of a program like you can do to me?" Logan shook his head, a headache like a Texas thunderstorm threatening to split his head apart. He was beyond appalled at the behavior he saw today. "What kind of people are you?! I'm not sure who's worse, you or the Dognan creeps who brought us here in the first place!" Joseph turned to him, the wattage of his evil smile never dimming a bit. "Well, it looks like you'll be around long enough to decide. Better get some rest. We leave for Station Nine in the morning." To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 1, 2006 10:49:55 GMT -5
(six) The X-men didn't sleep well that night. They were all lashed to the cage and uncomfortable with no ability to move about. They hadn’t been given blankets or comforts of any kind, nor any food or drink. The constant movement of Joseph's men from one room to the next didn’t help matters either. The night before, Maylee had cleaned up Logan as best she could and fled. She went into the lavatory where Fallen had gone and didn’t come out. Gambit sat with his back to the cage with his arms still pinned up high. His shoulders ached from the lack of movement and his *** hurt from the hardness of the floor. Being a space ship, the floor of the Lucky Dragon wasn’t carpeted. He was watching the Clan men carefully, looking for weaknesses, but finding nothing he could use. He'd mostly recovered from his illness now but still wasn't full strength. He found himself glancing up at the screen, waiting to see when Kimble would return. The Kimble personality intrigued him and he was welcome for the distraction to his current situation. He was impressed at the depth of Kimble’s sympathy and pain towards Fallen after her abuse and wondered how an artificial personality could seem so real. None of the holograms they used to train with back home behaved as Kimble and Seth did. He had watched some of the students playing computer games and such back home and even then had never seen anything that came close to what he’d seen here. He didn’t have a lot of close friends and the idea of having someone always around like that struck him deep inside. What could be better than a friend you’ve programmed to always be around whenever you needed them? He didn’t share Maylee’s view that Kimble’s show of misery at Fallen’s mistreatment was a bad thing. If anything, it made him like Kimble even more. It showed a depth to his character that made him seem more lifelike and human. He clearly wasn’t just a plain jane personality designed to make a computer more interesting. He was complex and complicated, a puzzle to be figured out. Gambit was intrigued by games or anything that was used for fun and entertainment. Too bad this little journey wasn’t for pleasure, he would have liked to getting to know Kimble a little better. Beast was hunched next to Remy, quiet in his despair. His thoughts weren’t that different from Remy’s. He was a technology junkie and loved anything as new and interesting as this sentient program. What fun they could have in the Danger Room training facility back home. He was also curious just how much control the Siskan brothers had over this ship and if they could be used to somehow get them out of this. No immediate ideas came to mind. Perhaps something would present itself later. As a doctor, he was distressed over Fallen’s treatment and wanted desperately to see her and see for himself that she was okay. It pained him to see what had been done to her. He lived a sheltered life because he stayed primarily in his lab. He wasn’t often a witness to domestic violence since things were pretty stable back at the Mansion. There were strict guidelines regarding behavior and most of the people there were much too honorable to smack each other around over petty domestic squabbles. The closest he’d seen to a total meltdown was a spectacular fight between Gambit and Rogue. Remy had gotten a little too carried away with the teasing and Rogue had gone off. She was invulnerable as well as unnaturally strong and she was tossing dishes and pieces of furniture at the playful thief, curses streaming from her mouth. Of course Remy hadn’t helped things any, he couldn’t stop from laughing and running his mouth off, saying, "Oh, chere. You know dis po’ t’ief don’ really t’ink yo’ *** is dat[/I] big!" A table went flying out through the window. Remy was quick and nimble, the table never hit him, nor any of the chairs that followed, but he quieted after when the adults came running over. He knew they were so busted. Rogue had to be restrained and Remy got chewed out for instigating. He paid up the damages without having to be asked and walked off, grinning. He just never took anything seriously. Henry hadn’t been so amused. He didn’t like anything that could escalate into the violence he had witnessed last night. Logan was on Henry's opposite side. Fallen’s computer program didn’t interest him in the least. The only thing he wanted was to break free and kick Valentin’s ***...severely. He was forced to satisfy his frustration by growling as the Clan men passed by, hoping to get a rise out of someone. Maybe it could be used to get them a hostage or something. It wasn’t working. For the most part they ignored him, but whenever Joseph came by, he would kick Logan with his heavy booted feet in a useless attempt to make him be quiet. Logan wasn’t giving an inch, not to these guys. When he thought no one was looking, he would try to work part of the cage loose. It was taking too long, but he just couldn't sit by and do nothing. This trip had been one huge exercise in frustration. The control room block of the screen was dark and Fallen's bloody smear was still on the glass, no one had bothered to clean it and it clung there as a constant reminder of how volatile their new situation was. Not long after Fallen had disappeared into her lavatory with Maylee, Logan had heard Seth talking to her in there, but couldn't make out what was being said. It was quiet in there now. He hoped she would be okay, but wasn’t disillusioned about the severity of the beating she’d received. He’d been on the receiving end of too much violence and abuse to know she had been hurt, inside and out. Logan looked up and growled as Joseph once more came out of the galley. Joe looked well rested and chipper, a bright easy smile on his face. Valentin's Second looked down at his captives with the glee of the truly in charge. "Sleep much? No? Too bad. You've a busy day ahead." At that moment, Valentin came up the ramp. He, too, looked well rested and happy. His hair was wet as though he’d taken a wash in the river close by and he smelled of the outside and breakfast, making Logan’s stomach growl. His wrist was still bandaged. He slammed the fist of his good hand against the wall of Fallen's lavatory as he passed and shouted, "Move your ***, pilot! You got ten minutes!" He entered the main room and stood next to Joseph. His Second looked at his master with a kind of adoration that turned Logan's stomach, he never had much love for zealots. "They still live, Master," Joseph commented in jest. "Not so spirited as yesterday." "Good, perhaps they are capable of understanding just where they stand." Valentin turned to the men chained to the cage and said, "Welcome, gentlemen, to your first day in the service of the Clan."
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Post by squeekness on Dec 1, 2006 10:50:34 GMT -5
"I don't serve nobody," Logan sneered. "Least of all bullies like you." "You'll learn." Valentin started to say something else, but turned to the screen when the co-kpit block winked on, showing Kimble seated in the control room. He was alone, Seth was nowhere in sight. He showed no sign of strain or distress from the night before, but then, he wasn’t really real. He deliberately ignored Valentin as he began working, flipping switches as he warmed up the ship. The floor started to hum under the X-men as Lucky's engines came on. "Freak," Valentin muttered. "Mornin', Vally," Kimble drawled arrogantly. He met the other man's eyes and lit a cigarette, his movements comfortable and at ease. He sat back in his chair with his arms behind his head, his work done for the moment. "You are so very bold aren't you?" Valentin sneered, his voice full of menace. "We'll see how you hold up when I pull your plug. Won't be long now." Unfazed, Kimble grinned and said, "Life's a funny thing, Vally. Not evrathin' happens the way ya think." "How would you know, freak? You're not even alive. Never were. Soon enough, you won't be anything at all." "If yer so shure 'bout me, Vally, why're you even threatenin' me? Huh? Seem a little nervous or sumpthin'." "I'm not afraid of you. I have your precious Fallen. It's you who should be afraid." "I'm just a program, Vally. Gots no reason." Kimble's eyes were laughing. If Logan didn't know any better, he'd say Kimble was in control of some secret weapon that he was going to whip out at any moment. He was deliberately baiting this monster. "Why do you encourage him, Master?" Joseph asked with disdain. "He'll be unbearable." Valentin glared at the screen. "Soon, freak. Soon." Kimble blew Valentin a kiss and smiled when he heard Gambit chuckle at it. He watched as Valentin cursed at him and stomped into the galley, Joseph in tow. Kimble grunted in amusement and went back to work, giving Remy a quick wink. "You think that's such a good idea, talkin' to him like that?" Logan grumbled at Kimble. He wasn’t happy about Remy’s laughter either, he didn’t want Kimble to be encouraged to get them into more trouble. "What if he takes it out on us?" "Yer too valuable," Kimble replied not looking up. " ‘Sides, he expects it from me. Don' wants ta let 'im down." At that moment Fallen emerged from the lav. She had washed and put on fresh clothes, looking a hundred percent better than last night. Her face was swollen and bruised and it looked as though she could only see out of one eye, but she walked with a steady stride and jumped lightly onto the stick. "Good morrow, Fallen," Kimble greeted from the screen. He smiled warmly at her. "Good morrow, Kimble. Prepare to boost in ten." There was a slight slur to her speech. Logan didn’t need to hear it to know she was stoned on painkillers, the smell of an opiate based narcotic wafted off of her skin. "Boostin' in ten, aye." Kimble started flipping more switches. He was calm and at ease in his chair and appeared to be experienced in preparing the ship for flight. He was confident and didn’t ask Fallen for anything as he worked. He would occasionally glance at the men tied to the cage, but said nothing. A short time later, a group of Clan men came up the ramp and sat in the seats. None of them were from Kane’s camp, these were all Valentin’s officers, including Reese. Not all of them had washed as Valentin had and there was a tang of sweat and testosterone in the air. Valentin and Joseph came out from the galley and the feral teleporter joined them in the seats. He didn’t take a seat himself, but crouched at his Master’s feet, laying his head in Valentin’s lap like a dog. His Master lay a hand there and petted him gently, thinking nothing of how odd it might look. Gear was stowed away and the ramp was raised. There was a loud bang as the inner hatch was sealed. "Boostin' in two," Kimble drawled. It didn't look like Seth was going to join him for their departure. His chair remained empty and Kimble made no move to call him out from where he was hiding. "Boosting in two, aye," Fallen replied. She pulled out a cigarette from a small jar wired to the cage and lit it with a sharp blue pop from her fingers. She took a deep relaxing drag and blew smoke out of her nose. She leaned on the stick, relaxed. Moments later a mechanical male voice chimed in. "Boost sequence initiated." A clock appeared on the screen counting down. Fallen crushed out her butt and gripped the bars of her stick like a bike. Kimble counted down. "Ready, steady... Boost!" At his command, blue electricity, like flames, burst from Fallen’s hands and was absorbed into the stick. Fallen's power was far and away the stronger of the two pilots the X-men had seen flying a ship and Beast couldn't help but jerk away from where he was chained to the cage, he was closest to her stick. The burst of flame was bright but brief. There was a strange smell, almost like ozone and he could feel some of the hairs rising on his neck as if there were a static charge in the air. "Boost sequence complete," Lucky chimed again. "Do you wish to continue?" "Yes," Fallen answered. "Launch sequence initiated." "Launchin' in two," Kimble announced. "Launching in two, aye." Fallen looked at the X-men with as pleasant a smile she could muster in spite of the damage done to her face. "Welcome, X-men, to the Lucky Dragon. Now Lucky, he's kinda peppy when he goes so you might want to grab onto the cage real tight now." Some of the Clan soldiers laughed at her words. Wolverine sat still (real men don't need to grab), but Gambit hung on with one hand. Henry was too busy watching Kimble as he moved about the control room. Kimble counted down once again. "Ready, steady... Launch!" Blue flame once more exploded from Fallen’s hands and the ship lurched powerfully upward. Wolverine cursed and had to scramble to keep from sliding. He could feel a strong vibration under him from the lower level then a thump as the landing gear closed. Fallen closed her eyes a little and they slowed. Logan felt the ship stop rising and surge forward. They banked a little to the right and then leveled out, moving at what had to be incredible speed. "G-Force stabilizers activated," Lucky announced. The X-men stopped sliding and heaved a sigh of relief. "Launch sequence complete." "We gots two hours 'til we reach Nine," Kimble said. "Two hours, aye," Fallen replied. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 11, 2006 15:10:05 GMT -5
The Clan men unbuckled and began milling about, some heading into the galley looking for refreshments. Joseph and Valentin went into the barracks with some of the other men. Fallen stayed where she was but leaned her head against the post. She rested her elbows on the bars, comfortable. Small flickers of blue flame wrapped themselves around her arms and were absorbed by the stick. She was still powering the ship even from this relaxed position. Gambit wiped his mouth on his shoulder, still trying to recover from the quick launch. He was impressed with her power and ability and being a big fan of carnival rides and roller coasters, he had enjoyed it immensely despite being tied to the cage. "Dat's one wild wild ride, chere!" Fallen closed her eyes with soft snicker. "Yeah, it’s a real trip." Logan hadn’t been all that thrilled with the ride, he didn’t share Gambit’s love for such things. He was still on the job, looking for an opportunity to get loose. He didn't know what he could do, but he was hoping that he could force Kimble to help if he could get a hostage, Fallen preferably since the Kimble program cared about her so much. Either way, he wasn’t about to sit here without trying. Wolverine squirmed and complained, "I gotta take a leak!" Fallen turned towards the seats, Maylee was still there. "Get Joe for me, honey." Maylee got up and walked into the galley. She came back alone. "Joe said to make him use the bucket." Fallen grunted. "Nice. You know where it is." Maylee went into Fallen's lav and returned with a plastic bucket. It seemed so out of place with all the men here wearing swords and such. She put it down in front of Logan. "Here." Logan jerked his useless arms. "This ain't gonna be pretty..." Maylee stepped back. "I'm not holding it for him!" Kimble was snorting a little as he snickered, "Could be a problem!" Fallen sighed. "Engage autopilot." "Autopilot engaged, aye!" Kimble managed through hearty laughter. Fallen stepped off the stick. She hopped up to the window cut out and onto the sill with a light and easy burst of flight. Her movements were very bird like and graceful, use of her telekinesis obvious. She was right above Beast and he ducked as she dropped down in front of Wolverine and turned to face him. "You gonna give me a hard time?" He gave her a mischievous smile. " ‘Pends on what ya have in mind, darlin’." Fallen sighed impatiently and stooped down in front of him. He could see the pupil of her one good eye was dilated. She was high on something and a nice easy target. She surprised him by raising her hands and crossing them over her chest. He felt a push pinning him down with his back against the cage. The cuffs fell off and he could feel his arms again, but he was trapped against the fencing. He could pee into the bucket but that was all. She'd used her power to hold him in place out of reach. Damn. Maylee moved the bucket into place and Logan urinated. Fallen looked at the others. "Anyone else? It's a long way to the next gas station,"she joked with a wan smile. She was very tired. She probably hadn't slept any better last night than they had. They each had a turn and Fallen replaced the cuffs without touching them or coming close enough for them to reach her. Wolverine still wanted to know why if Fallen was so powerful, she allowed Valentin to brutalize her without a fight. Maylee left with the bucket. Fallen stood stiffly, hopped back into the cage and resumed her position on the stick. She closed her eyes and relaxed with a sigh. Kimble watched her protectively. "Ya wants th' stick back?" "Nah. Too comfortable." "Ya wants me ta play ya sumpthin'?" "Sure." Kimble reached behind him, but picked up the guitar this time instead of a music disc. He tuned it quickly and began to play. He sang in a soft but rough, growly voice not out of place for the song. It was an old Dylan tune, Shelter From the Storm. He performed it very well. Even some of the Clan men paused in the doorway of the galley to listen. He ignored them, he wasn’t there for Valentin’s officers, he was intent on pleasing his Mistress who was so tired and in pain. Fallen smiled. "Been a long time since I heard this one...Hmm.... When did you learn it?" "The other day. Seth found the file, junked it. Kid ain't got no frikkin' taste, I swear. I dug it out ta learns it fer ya," Kimble boasted, pleased with himself. "How did you know I would like it?" she slurred, drowsy. The lights over Fallen's stick dimmed. "Been together too long fer you ta be askin' me that," he said, but she was already falling asleep. " Fayed rowth, my Fallen," Kimble whispered gently. He played for a few more minutes then put the guitar away. The screen flickered and blacked out. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 11, 2006 15:10:37 GMT -5
(Seven) A short time later, Fallen startled awake with a gasp, drenched in a fear induced sweat. She’d had a terrible nightmare, one of many and certainly not the last. Valentin had provided her with plenty of material to work with on top of the full plate the Dognan had dished out for her already. She straightened up on the pilot’s stick and groaned. Her earlier high was gone and she was now very sore. "Good morrow, Fallen," Kimble greeted. He had returned just before she woke. "Uhnn...Good morrow, Kimble. Where are we?" "Ten minutes ta Nine." Fallen stretched, still balanced on the stick. She looked down at the X-men. "You guys okay?" "Just ducky," Logan grumbled irritably. Valentin came down the hallway. The lights brightened. "How close are we?" "'Bout ten minutes out of Nine," Fallen answered. "Good. I can't wait to get out of this crate." He moved over to where the X-men were chained. "Did you enjoy your little trip? Enjoy our fine Clan transportation?" "You people're all crazy," Logan complained bitterly. "We won't serve you!" "Oh, yes you will. You will if you ever want to see your home again. My guess is Cerebus will make you an offer you won't refuse." "Why should we believe you gonna bring us back, neh? You don' 'xactly inspire confidence," Gambit countered. Valentin grinned an evil, wicked smile. "You don't fight, you're useless to us. Useless things have a way of dying painfully around here. You don't want to find out how, son." "You gonna ‘ave to work ‘arder dan dat to scare me, vous [ --insert French profanity that would get me banned if I actually posted it ~ SQ --]," Gambit snapped, his ruby red eyes glittering with arrogant anger. "Gambit ain’t no petite fille you can shove around. Let’s pull off dese chains, see who’s gonna be sorry." "Your weakness is surpassed only by your stupidity, alpha. Have a care, boy. I took you down easily already, I can do it again. You already got one fine cut to your pretty little face, would be a shame to get another." He turned to Fallen. "Open a hailing frequency. Have your freak here ---" he gestured at Kimble " --- call up a squad to meet us at the hanger bay. Inform Cerebus that our little trip was a success." Fallen nodded at Kimble. "Do it." "Aye, Fallen." Kimble picked up a headset radio from next to him and began to speak into it. Valentin walked over to join some of his men who were returning to their seats. The rest of the Clan came out from the galley, laughing and smelling of food and beer. They were returning to port and the men were glad. After months outside in the wild fighting the Dognan, none of them felt comfortable in Fallen's strange ship. Lucky announced, "Clan Station Nine ahead. Prepare to port." The Clan took their seats and The X-men were wary and alert, not knowing what to expect next. Fallen and Kimble negotiated their landing into the hanger of the large Clan military station. The two were an organized team, working together like a well oiled machine. The landing was smooth and well co-ordinated and it wasn’t long before the X-men felt the ship touch down onto solid ground. The Clan men rose from their seats and began to organize themselves and their belongings, getting ready to depart. There was a loud hiss as the Main hatchway of the Lucky Dragon opened up and the ramp lowered down, allowing warm air from outside the ship to trickle in. A squad of fresh soldiers entered the ship and the leader spoke with Valentin, gesturing to the prisoners as he asked Valentin questions. He knew they were alphas from the restraining collars they wore and was cautious about how they were to be handled. Valentin wanted them taken to a holding cell to be processed. Logan heard him say something about them meeting Cerebus later this day. The squad approached and the X-men were dragged to their feet. Gambit groaned as his legs were shot with pins and needles and he leaned into Beast who did his best to hold him up. His head throbbed as his headache threatened to return. Even Logan was a bit wobbly. With no healing factor, he was all pins and needles as well. They weren’t given much time to recover, each X-man got his own double escort and was dragged down the isle towards the outside hatch. As they were hauled out, Fallen spoke to them, her eyes sad and tired. "Good luck to you. Perhaps we will meet again under better circumstances." They didn't get a chance to respond before they were roughly escorted out to the hanger bay. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 15, 2006 18:36:39 GMT -5
(Eight) The X-men were brought down the ramp of the Lucky Dragon and out into the hanger. Henry looked up at the Lucky Dragon as he walked out, he wanted to see what the vessel looked like without the camouflage. Lucky was sleek and beautiful, a nice shiny silver like a dewdrop. Lucky must just slide through the air like a penguin through water, Henry mused to himself, the scientist in him whirling into action. Lucky was crescent shaped and looked smaller than he had seemed from the inside. The layout of the rooms inside had provided the best use of space and he had been well made. Henry wondered where the engines were, they must be large to be so powerful, but Lucky just didn't seem big enough to house them. Beast went on to give his new surroundings a much closer look and was startled when he realized that the hanger was actually a huge cave. The walls were carved from rock, probably some kind of limestone or granite, and the smell of damp stone was everywhere. The walls were grey and sparkled with minerals. In spite of being underground, the hanger was very warm and humid. The hanger itself was massive, it must have taken a long time and a monumental effort to shape it out of the rock. There were several large cargo ships parked inside and even a squad of smaller scrub fighters that must have been stolen from the Dognan judging by their markings. It looked like the marks had been partially painted over as the Clan wanted to claim the ships for themselves, but the Dognan marks could still be seen. The Lucky Dragon was unique in the hanger, the other ships parked here were large and bulky, more of what one would expect from people who didn’t seem to have full knowledge of the technology they were using. Henry wondered if they required pilots to be flown as well. The more pilots there were besides Fallen, the better their chances were for getting out of here. He also observed that there were a lot of Clan men milling about. They were all dressed in the same black leather pants and boots as if there were some sort of style norms here, perhaps as a way of keeping order. Bare chests, long pony tails and tattoos were everywhere. Henry didn't have Logan's sensitive nose, but he could smell the stink coming off of them. Apparently, hygiene was not a priority with these people or they simply didn’t have the proper means to maintain it. The smell of sweat and dirty leather was worse here. Another squad of Valentin's men marched up and greeted their Master with salutes and hand shakes. Valentin gave the order and they surrounded the X-men, taking them into custody and forming an escort. They were led through the bay and placed into a nearby holding cell. There Henry and Gambit's wrist cuffs were removed but not Wolverine's, clearly he was the bigger threat. The cell was locked and they were left alone for a moment to enjoy this new environment. The cell was dirty and didn’t look like it had been used for a long time, lucky them. Beast didn’t know if that was good or bad, but he certainly had no desire to stay in here for long. The idea of anyone being held routinely here unsettled him. It was disgusting. A filthy toilet crouched uninvitingly in one corner and a cot with rotten, ragged blankets was in the other. He was appalled by the conditions. "My God! Don't these people ever bathe!" Logan sniffed around him, making a face. "I don' get it. They can carve out a place like this, but live like savages." Henry was actually impressed that Logan had articulated what he himself had been thinking. With the odd mix of technologies they’ve been seeing, it seemed more like the Clan were the lucky beneficiaries of someone else’s handiwork that got left behind somewhere. Still, Beast hadn’t realized Logan was quick enough to pick up on something that didn’t have to do with fighting or military action. As impressed as he was with his teammate, he couldn’t stop himself from complaining, "I certainly hope the whole place isn't like this." "Don’t worry, Blue. If I have my way, we won’t be stayin’ here long," Wolverine promised. He had no ideas to back up his words, but as bad as this seemed to be, they’d gotten out of worse scrapes than this. Gambit sat down on the cot but jumped up when he saw the blankets were crawling with bugs. "Sacre’ merde! Dis is ridiculous!" Food was brought to them, but their hopes for full bellies were soon dashed. Henry grimaced when he saw it was half cooked meat swimming in grease. It was so foul none of them would touch it. Gambit paced away, feeling his stomach heave just at the sight of it. After a brief wait they were collected and taken for a long walk through the station. Clan Station Nine was a massive warren of connecting caves, reminding Henry of stories he’d read of Dwarves building their huge kingdoms underground. The hallways and rooms had been painstakingly carved from solid rock and he never lost his admiration even after they’d gone a ways. Whoever had crafted it, it must have taken them years to dig it all out. What was disappointing was that for all the care it must have required to create it, the place was badly kept. The place was filthy with garbage and debris strewn about. There were no decorations and no colors except for the stony greys and blues of the stone walls. The more Henry looked about, the more he became convinced that his idea about the Clan inheriting this place from some else had to be correct. It would be the same as how they were using Dognan ships to move about. They hadn’t built those ships but mastered the use of them on their own somehow. All the people the X-men passed were unwashed and the stink was horrible. Beast truly began to fear that running water must not exist in here until they passed a courtyard with a large fountain in it. He could see no way that the water was being pumped, but it was spouting up into the air with enthusiasm just the same. It was surrounded by small shops constructed of wooden carts made from salvaged materials from the ruined city, Dognan markings were on the pieces of wood just as it had been on the ships. They didn’t offer many wares, they mostly sold handmade clothes and weapons. There was another one selling bottles of beer and wimpy looking vegetables. The beer looked to be homemade and not shipped in. There were some holes carved into the high ceilings overhead that had fans uselessly twirling the fetid air, but not enough to allow much light or ventilation. The main source of light came from torches and large biers of burning wood nearby, adding the odor of smoke to the already murky atmosphere. It was dim and smoky and Henry was already missing the fresh air of the Lucky Dragon. Even the pens seemed better than this as far as air quality was concerned. It was clear early on this was a brutal, male dominated society. The men stood about loosely while women cowered behind them submissively. If an order was given, the women responded immediately or were openly beaten. The men fought and argued amongst themselves, shoving each other around, not caring if any innocents or children were harmed in their tussles. The X-men were carefully steered to avoid a sword fight more than once. There seemed to be little or no laws governing violent behavior. Fights and arguments with the use of foul language were constant to the new arrivals as they were led through a central part of what appeared to be a small town. They saw fixed building shops and taverns constructed of more recycled wood from crates and bombed Dognan buildings. Everywhere the men drank and smoked, filling the air with the stink of tobacco, booze and sweat. Clearly they were even less concerned about second hand smoke than keeping clean. Things quieted down as the X-men were escorted to more private living quarters. Here there were almost no women and the men were more military in their attitude and appearance. They passed several obvious barracks and community dining halls and had to get past security check points. Squads of men and boys marched by them in an orderly fashion. All were carrying various weapons, mostly swords and bows. Some men of higher rank carried Dognan energy weapons and waited to be saluted by the lower ranking soldiers escorting them. Some officers stood by in amusement as the X-men were pushed and shoved along, they had seen alphas before and were interested in who these new ones might be. Henry, being so big and blue, caught a lot of attention and comments were made. At last they arrived at a large meeting room. Judging by the security, Wolverine guessed they were about to meet someone of some importance. The room was large with high vaulted ceilings and the stone walls were covered with rich looking tapestries, the first sign of any art or decoration they'd seen so far. The tapestries were hand crafted and showed warriors and battle scenes. Torches were lit every so many feet making this room one of better lit they had been in so far. They passed many long wooden tables covered with maps and dioramas. Soldiers stood about, discussing strategies. A battle was being planned.
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Post by squeekness on Dec 15, 2006 18:37:24 GMT -5
They were taken to the back of the room where there was a great open area with a huge throne. They were brought closer and forced by their escorts to kneel in front of a large powerful looking man. This throne was made of wood and covered with soft animal furs and the man seated there looked at ease sitting upon it as though he had been there for years. Next to him he had a huge broad sword kept in a stand within easy reach. He was covered in tattoos, including the Honor Sword as Fallen had and his long black hair was streaked with grey and tied back in the usual pony tail. He had a short beard cut in the Amish style with no mustache. His eyes were bright and watchful of them even though it was obvious most of his fighting days were over, he was easily in his fifties and had as many scars as he did tattoos. He was dressed in the plain leather pants of the Clan with no other signs of his rank besides his markings. Clearly this was a King with no need of robes and gold trinkets to rule his people, and Logan’s respect for him went up a notch. He watched with curiosity as his guests arrived but didn't speak just yet. Logan assumed this was Cerebus, the leader of these Clan guys and he couldn’t wait to get this over with. If Cerebus wasn’t into riches, he must be more of a politician, and if so Logan hoped he wasn’t sleazy or cruel. Logan knew he would have to be cool here and hopefully something could be worked out to get them home. No matter what the deal was, they wouldn’t be slaves. He would die first. Off to the side of Cerebus, both Fallen and Valentin were settling down on furs. They had just arrived as well through an alternative entrance in the back. They sat in a place that seemed reserved just for them, the furs they sat on were especially clean and layered for comfort. Judging by their posture and the way they were received, Fallen and Valentin were clearly of a high and special rank. Joseph and some of Valentin's other men were standing patiently behind them and not given the same comforts. Standing beside the throned man was a tall warrior, impossibly white like Fallen, but completely human in his appearance. Oddly, he had no tattoos except the highly prized Honor Sword which blazed brightly on his white skin. He leaned casually against the throne and whispered in his Master’s ear. He was certainly Cerebus' Second and in full authority here. He turned to the X-men once they were settled and spoke in a loud and clear voice. "Welcome, X-men, to the Hall of the Great and Mighty Cerebus!" Cerebus leaned forward to inspect them. "You are the mighty warriors I've heard stories of?" He laughed contemptuously and glared at Valentin. "Seem a bit small and weak to me." "Uncuff me and we'll see," Wolverine challenged, keeping the arrogance to a minimum. He was hoping a show of force might make a good impression and earn them a better bargaining position. Surprisingly, Wolverine’s wish was granted. His cuffs and the restraining collar were removed by two servants. He rubbed his wrists, feeling his strength return and smiled at his freedom. He cracked his neck and shoulders, loosening up and he wondered if he was going to have to fight the old man. It wouldn’t have been much of a contest, Cerebus didn’t look like he would last five minutes against him. It didn’t take long for his unspoken question to be answered. "Antius," Cerebus said. Antuis, the white slave and Cerebus' Second came down from behind the throne and approached Wolverine. He casually walked around the smaller man, looking him over. He bowed at Logan respectfully and stepped into a fighting stance, ready. Logan bowed back in equal measure, surprised by his opponent's show of respect and civility, Logan had thought such things as honor and respect were dead in this place. He moved into his own stance and waited. A heartbeat passed and Antius went to it. He lunged quickly, fists flying. Antius was very fast and nimble, quickly reminding Logan of Gambit’s own moves. When they sparred, Gambit was difficult for Logan to beat because of his speed and quick reflexes and Logan usually had to wear him down. The same would probably prove true here. This fight was more like a gentleman's sparring match to Logan than a real battle. Antius gave a clean fight and did nothing underhanded or unsportsmanlike, not like Valentin’s use of trickery and street survival tactics. He was very skilled and Logan took to wondering just how old he was. He seemed young enough, but he had Fallen's same ageless qualities. Antius was very strong and matched Logan's thundering pounding with heavy fists of his own. He didn't tire quickly either and it was clear this wasn't going to be a fast fight. They spun, twisted, hit and kicked, each taking the other's measure. The deciding factor was of course Logan's factor. His healing factor. He could recover from Antius' blows in a way his opponent could not. It took almost twenty minutes before Antius hit the floor for the first time. It wasn't the last. Down and down he went, never cursing or growing angry. He was patient the way a teacher is when he realizes the student has surpassed him and it's now just a matter of time before the match is over. When Antius breathed his last conscious breath of the afternoon and lay in a crumpled heap at Logan's feet, Logan looked down at the first man he truly respected since they started this stupid adventure. "Not bad."Logan said, grinning at Cerebus and archng an eyebrow. "Got anything better?" Cerebus was finally impressed. He snapped his fingers and Antius was carried off to be cared for. Logan grumbled as the restraining collar was replaced around his neck, but again showed some patience and didn’t fight it. He knew his returned healing ability alone wouldn’t be enough to break them free of this place. Cerebus had Logan seated and turned next to Valentin and Fallen. "You have done well. Come, Fallen." She stood and knelt before him. Her movements were slow and pained, yet graceful and well practiced. Cerebus started to say something but a frown crossed his face. He'd seen the damage to her face and it displeased him. He turned his scowl on Valentin. "What is this? I was told nothing of any battle taking place." "There was a disagreement," Valentin explained. He squirmed, uncomfortable. Cerebus was clearly the one man he actually feared. "While I know Fallen can be somewhat spirited and correction may be at times necessary, I will not tolerate damage to my First Pilot! She should be able to fly without discomfort at any time." "I beg your forgiveness, my Lord. It will not happen again." "I should hope not." Cerebus turned now to Fallen who hadn't moved at all during this discussion. "Are you all right?" She looked up at him, her chin up. "I am well, my Lord. Valentin's fists have done me no harm." Logan was seated behind her now and he crossed his arms and shook his head with a snort. Why didn't she try to get Valentin called off? He had the feeling she could probably get Cerebus to do it. There was obviously something more going on here than he knew about. Cerebus ignored Wolverine's rudeness, he spoke to Fallen instead. "Are you ready to fly for me again? I have need of you at Station Six." "Yes, my Lord. I can depart at once." "Very well, then. You may leave." She bowed her head and rose stiffly, in pain. She turned and left, not meeting Logan's heated gaze as she passed. Cerebus waited until she was gone and turned to Valentin who was still waiting. "You have done well, old friend. You will be rewarded. Is there anything you desire?" "You know what I want." Cerebus smiled. "Ah, yes. The pilot. Well, she still owes me a few more weeks. Perhaps when that is done you'll have what you ask for." "Until then, I am ever at your service, my Lord." Valentin was dismissed and walked out the way Fallen had gone.
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Post by squeekness on Dec 15, 2006 18:37:56 GMT -5
Cerebus returned to his guests and looked at Wolverine in particular. "And, you? Are you at my service?" "That depends," Logan answered, once more rising to his feet to show he wasn’t intimidated, collared or not. "We ain’t gonna be no slaves. It’s cool ya brung us out of the pens, but we ain’t here ta fight no wars. Yer Valentin there made out like we was gonna just fall over fer ya, but that ain’t happenin’. Not without a better reason than this," he said, tugging on the collar around his neck. "Perhaps you haven't been properly informed of your situation. You are many miles from home. Not even in the same dimension. When you took that 'jump' on the Dognan ship you traveled across space and time, my friends. You are in our world now. You want to get home, you'll do as you're told." Beast spoke up. "By what right have you taken us against our wills?" "The right of survival. We are an oppressed society. The Dognan must be thrown down. The time to strike is very soon. We have only a few short weeks before the Dognan will send a large supporting army to defend what little they have left. We intend to make sure they have nothing to come home to. Once they see how we've driven them out, they will not return. There is nothing here for them. You will work with our strategists to prepare our defense. You will train our best warriors and I think you’ll find the Clan learn very quickly." "We ain't mercenaries," Wolverine growled. "Of course, nor will you really be slaves. You will be well cared for and not chained as a proper slave would be. You will be instructors, teachers. It’s for your own benefit really." He laughed when Logan arched an eyebrow and snorted derisively again. "Don’t believe me? Understand this. You defeat the Dognan here, it will prevent them from raiding your world as they do. Cerise has been the staging point for every raid on your Earth." Logan just shook his head again. "How do we know that? Where’s your proof?" Cerebus was unaffected by Logan's attitude. "Don't want to take my word for that? All right, put that aside for the moment and let me offer this proposal. Anyone freed from the pens is usually expected to give a ten year term of service and they usually cheerfully agree. In your case, I'll make an exception. You help us fight, and not only will that term be waived, but I will see to it that you are returned home. Refuse, and I'll have you dumped back into the pens. Your choice." Gambit wasn’t the least bit pleased with how the conversation was going. Fighting a war, just or not, was not the way he had expected to earn a ride home. He was smart enough to know that not everybody came home from that kind of fighting. "Don' sound like much of a choice t' me, patron," he complained, speaking up for the first time. "That's cuz it ain't," Wolverine answered. He turned to Cerebus. "We'll help ya out, but if you don't honor yer promise to bring us home, you will pay. Dearly." He popped his claws for emphasis, not caring that his hands split and bled to the floor. Cerebus sneered, trying to hide his fear and surprise at Wolverine’s hidden weapons. "I'm sure." He motioned to an aide. "Go with this man. He'll take you to be fed and quartered. We'll be seeing each other again soon." To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 22, 2006 10:00:07 GMT -5
(Nine) The X-men were led away. The arm numbing energy cuffs were removed but the restraining collars were left in place, being newcomers, the Clan only trusted them so far. They were taken through a series of dormitories and given temporary quarters. They had their own small cave that had been reserved for them near where the alpha squads were kept and it was explained to them that if they chose to join the alpha squad, they would be moved. The rooms there were better than this, they were promised. Henry certainly hoped so. This room wasn’t the least bit enticing. The walls in this room were rough hewn and dismal as the rest of the place had been, no decorations of any kind. Being a cave, there were no windows and the only light came from two small torches and some candles. The room had four small cots constructed of a rough wooden frame and a stuffed mattress of straw. Henry hoped they weren’t infested but had serious doubts. The blankets were worn and thin, rejects from happier times. They were rough and made of some kind of woven yarn with plenty of holes, how nice. Henry was so big, it would’ve taken four or five to cover him but they only had one a piece. At least it was warm here, his fur would be enough. There was a small bathroom to the back, or what passed for one here. It had no shower or bath, only a sink with an ancient hand pump to draw water. The toilet was little more than a outhouse in one corner of the room. At least it didn't smell, it must have been treated with something. A cracked mirror was over the sink. The floor was also stone with no coverings and had a layer of dust on it. They were the first ones to stay here in some time. They would have no real privacy. The door was a large hanging leather skin with the fur removed. Anyone walking by would hear them talking so they would have to be careful what they said. A small dangling string of rocks was rattled to announce if someone wanted to enter. The Lucky Dragon didn't have much but it already seemed like a palace compared to this place. The aide bowed and left them, saying another man would come to help them settle in. "I 'ope dis war don' be lastin’ too long. Gambit not likin’ dis, mes amis," Remy complained as soon as they were alone. He didn’t like the way the hard stone walls seemed to be closing in on him. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but was very uncomfortable with the idea of living underground. He had grown up poor and hard before he’d been adopted and wasn’t happy to be living so rough like it had been then. He had hoped to leave those times behind him forever. He looked at the bed and couldn’t stop the shiver of revulsion that rocked him. His early poverty had made him clean, he didn’t relish the idea of what might be crawling around in there. "You and me both," Henry agreed, sharing Remy’s sentiment. He saw no books or entertainment of any kind. How would he possibly keep his over achieving mind busy? He was no soldier, that was for sure, and he prayed for an early end to this or at least a nice vigorous rescue. Logan said nothing, just sniffed at everything suspiciously. Rough living was not a problem for him, not for a man who'd spent years at a time running around the Canadian woods half naked. He felt for his compatriots, though. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy for them and vowed silently to do his best to get them through this. He turned when their rocks were rattled and watched as Henry pulled the skin drape back. A servant with Cerebus' markings greeted them. "I am Zekian. I have been assigned to see to your needs," he explained. "I have brought a woman for you." He stood aside and allowed a small woman to pass by him into their room. She carried a cloth bag and a sleeping mat. "I assure you that won't be necessary," Henry stammered. "But of course it is," Zekian insisted. "She will clean for you and she will also be your guide. You must learn the facility and I will not always be available. Of course, she will also attend to you...in any way you may need," he finished suggestively. "We are aware that most alphas are very full of vigor, yes. You are very valuable to us and we will see you are cared for properly. She has been well trained and will surely satisfy you gentlemen." Logan looked her over and sniffed at her. She was tiny, little more than a girl, and very pretty. A deliberate bribe. Of course she was a spy and they would have to put up with her. He grinned at her in irritation, showing his teeth, and she backed away nervously. "Really, I don't see how this is necessary...." Henry tried but got nowhere. "Surely, the three of you... Big, strong men... I could send for a boy?" "No! No! This is fine," Henry said in exasperation. He smiled at the fool. "This is more than we could expect." "Good then. I'll be back in the morning and give you a quick tour before we start working with Cerebus. Good morrow, gentlemen." He left. Henry looked at their guest and smiled, trying to make her comfortable even though he most assuredly was not. "And what is your name?" "Shawzy," she said softly with a demure smile. She was obviously well trained and submissive. "Well....Shawzy. We seem to have an extra bed. You could sleep there." She lay her mat on the floor in a corner. "It is not permitted," she said simply. Henry looked at Gambit who shrugged. "No one would know. Surely that mat can't be comfortable," he insisted. She smiled at him like he was an idiot. "It is not permitted. I will sleep here." "As you wish." Shawzy looked at them, lost in the uncomfortable silence that followed. "You wish to eat?" "Sure. Dat'd be nice," Remy replied and beamed his charming smile on her. He offered her his arm and she took it eagerly, basking in the attention this handsome young devil was giving her. He doubted anyone had treated her so nicely and was quick to show her what a real gentlemen was. "You show Gambit everyt’ing, now, s’il vous plait. We got plenty of time, chere." He swept her out the door and Logan and Henry followed, laughing, Remy could charm anybody. The military quarters seemed to be run like a commune with dormitories and large eating places. There were no private quarters, no stores, no taverns. She brought them to one of the less crowded dining halls and sat them down at a table. She left them to get their food from what looked to be a buffet style table in the back. She came back laden with trays and waited on them without eating herself. Gambit wasn't surprised Shawzy didn't eat. The food was terrible. They were served greasy stringy hunks of meat with gravy. The meat was at least fully cooked, but not much better than the food from the holding cell. There were no real vegetables, just lumpy potato things. The Lucky Dragon was looking more and more like luxury living. Gambit sighed and ate only from the bread they were given. Again, he was reminded of his days at the orphanage and felt a swelling of depression sweep over him. He had done without food before and he would do so again. He had grown quite accustomed to the fine dining at the Xavier Mansion. They were given room and board for being on the team as well as a decent paycheck. The kitchen there was always well stocked and he loved to cook. He would often buy new cookbooks just to experiment and most of his teammates enjoyed what he came up with. Of course, he had a weakness for the spicy Cajun food of his native New Orleans and was an accomplished chef in that regard. He might not have been the most accepted member of the household, but when it was his turn to cook and the scent of cayenne pepper and fine wine came wafting out of the kitchen, he always had a full house at his table. Logan gave up and dug right in with a grin. With his constitution, food was never a problem. He had been a soldier most of his life and the old ways still stuck — Eat while you can, when you can, because you never know when your next meal will be. He was already checking out the men around them, sizing them up and thinking of ways to get out of this. He hoped they wouldn’t have to fight, but if it came down to it, he would look out for the others and keep them safe. He would bring them back alive or die trying. Henry was ill just watching Wolverine eat and he picked at the bread with less enthusiasm than Gambit. He needed to lose some weight anyway, he teased himself. They were given a choice of beer or wine to drink, nothing else. He was a teetotaler himself and this was just another form of torture. The Clan had to be chain smoking alcoholics, he groaned to himself. Already he missed the comforts of the Lucky Dragon and the pleasant comradery between Fallen and her boys. This was going to be a long painful stay. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 22, 2006 10:00:42 GMT -5
(Ten) Henry slept poorly in his new bed. He simply couldn't get comfortable with no back support and these rough smelly blankets. It didn't take long for him to join the others on the floor. Gambit was out cold, snoozing deeply, but it had always been easy for him to sleep anywhere. Henry remembered the time he saw Remy dozing comfortably in X-men's Blackbird jet while standing up. They had been on a horrible mission and none of them had slept in days. Remy wasn’t a soldier and didn’t know diddly about flying the plane so he just grabbed a ceiling strap and zonked out right on his feet. They were making their great escape in the middle of a fire fight, surrounded by enemy fighters, but the Cajun thief never flinched or woke. The kid was strange. Henry looked next to him and saw that Logan was awake as well. He was lying on his back staring into the dim light of one of the wall torches, scratching his belly absently with one hand. He looked like he was worried, but it was more of a matter that he was relaxed and comfortable and really wanted a nice cigar right about now. He hadn’t smoked one in a while because of this trip and was sorely missing them. Logan turned to him with a small smile. "Somethin’ on yer mind, Blue?" "Not really. Just hoping this all turns out well. I don’t think I’d like to make this my permanent residence." "That makes two of us. Why don’tcha try an get some sleep? It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow." Henry grunted and rolled over. He was far more comfortable on the floor and soon dropped off into a dreamless sleep. They were collected the next morning just outside their door by Zekian. He was to give them a tour of the areas where they would hopefully be working soon. "I'll show you around some and then we'll start working with some of the strategists," he said. Zekian led them first to the arsenal. This weapons dump consisted of several large caves that were stockpiled with many different kinds of weapons and military supplies. The area was heavily guarded and they had to keep checking in with the guards when they passed from one room to the next. Henry and Remy hung back a bit, they knew nothing of these things and let Logan handle this. Zekian brought them into the first cave of the arsenal where they saw some crates that were neatly stacked against the back wall. Like everything else here, they were made of wood and had Dognan markings on them. Logan was allowed to open one and he was quite surprised to see some land mines and grenades. They were ancient and looked to be World War II issue, but no less dangerous for being so. Land mines were not something he had considered here and he wondered numbly if the pens had been booby trapped. He was glad they hadn’t been there long enough to find out, but if they went back out into the ruins, they would have to be careful. "Where did you get this stuff?" Wolverine asked, not caring for how old some of this stuff was. His extensive training in the art of war made him painfully aware that old ordinance like this could be far more dangerous than new. Zekian was quick to answer Logan’s question. "Our First Pilot, Fallen, is very resourceful. She has been known to raid the Dognan storerooms now and again and when she finds stuff like this, she brings it back to us for us to use. Where the Dognan get it, I can’t imagine." Zekian moved on, pointing out other items of interest. "We have mostly swords and bows, but we do have some Dognan energy weapons." "You'll need more than what I seen here ta fight a war," Logan advised. "Ya wanna beat these guys, you gotta have the same weapons they do or better." "That won't be a problem. Fallen just received some information regarding a shipment of weapons to be delivered to one of their storage houses and she is planning a raid. If she is successful, it will vastly improve our inventory." Zekian led them further in where they next saw some laser cannons and demolition supplies. Powdered TNT and sticks of dynamite were in small boxes carefully labeled. There were even some cubes of C4 left haphazardly about, making Logan’s fingers twitch in nervous irritation. He knew just how dangerous that stuff was, it was worse than those land mines he’s seen earlier. These fools were going to blow themselves to bits and hand the Dognan their victory without the cat guys even knowing it. Logan had received extensive training in explosives and special forces operations. He knew how to construct bombs and their timers. He knew best how to place them and keep his people out of harm’s way and he had an idea he was going to be instrumental in anything these guys had planned. This type of warfare was something the Professor discouraged and Logan had never taught a class like that at the school, but he’d never forgotten what he himself had been taught. Zekian pointed to the dynamite and plastic explosives. "We have these but we don't know how to use them. We were hoping maybe one of you might be able to teach us." Logan grinned in anticipation, the first place he would start was how to keep that stuff locked up. Casualties were supposed to happen during the war, not before it due to stupidity. "I can help ya there, no problem." In the last cave, there were neat rows of swords stacked and bows hung. They were homemade and not the nice modern weapons like he’d seen back home. The only good thing about them was that there were a lot of the in case they fell apart. They then moved on to the training areas where the Clansmen were taught how to fight. Remy and Beast perked up a bit here, both had given self defense classes back at the Mansion and were curious how the Clan trained their men. One room was as spacious and open as the ship hanger. To make it easy to see in the darkness, the room was lit with torches and biers burning every few feet. They could see large squads of men performing martial exercises in a neat and orderly way. Each squad had a handler or trainer who walked among them carrying large bull whips. The sound of cracking and lashing was constant and loud, these handlers showed no mercy and were obeyed without question. You learned or got beaten, those were your options. Logan couldn’t help but growl softly at the sight of it. While he didn’t exactly disapprove of corporal punishment for a glaring offense, if they tried to use the whip on him, someone was going to be in for a nasty surprise. He would jam that thing so far up the handler’s ***, he’d be sh--ting leather for a week. "Those are Valentin's men," Zekian explained, obliviously noting Logan’s interest without realizing the guy was pissed off. "They are the most highly trained and the most skilled. He rules them with an iron hand and they love him. He is the greatest hope of our people." Zekian showed them another area with large cubicles and mirrors. Here men sparred with each other in hand to hand combat. Henry was surprised to see some of the men working with holograms. He never expected to see that kind of technology used here in this primitive place. The holograms were of very poor quality, not like what Fallen was using or the nice ones back home. They were solid like Seth had been, but had no details or faces. "These are the where the newest men start out in their training," Zekian explained. "These holograms are poor though a while back we used to have some rather good ones. Siskan. But we had some trouble with them. One of them went crazy. Thought it was real or something. It malfunctioned and killed some of the men. That's what happens when you take a pleasure program and convert it over for military use, I say," he said with a laugh. "I was one of the lucky few who got to try the pleasure programs out before they changed them all over. Quite wonderful, I tell you. Better than a real woman any day. She'd do anything you asked --- anything! Shame the Dognan killed off all the real Siskans who made those wonderful holograms. It would've been nice to have more of them. Worst thing the Clan ever did was dump all those programs. Who knows where they all went to?" The X-men exchanged meaningful glances at each other. They now had an idea where one of them may have gone. Henry was immediately concerned at the idea of a Siskan hologram that went crazy and killed someone. When he looked back on it, Kimble and Seth’s emotional instability could be a sign of some sort of damage. It certainly made no sense for Fallen to have chosen them to be like that, who would want a companion that argued back? If Fallen did indeed possess one of those Siskan holograms, she could be in danger. Unfortunately, at the moment they had no way of contacting her. To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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Post by squeekness on Dec 29, 2006 0:17:17 GMT -5
They were next taken to where the alpha troops were working. If all went well, this would be where they were moved to next, to be with their own mutant kind. Here things were less formal since these men were used mainly for stealth and black ops. There were no handlers with whips here and for the first time, the X-men saw some women soldiers. As alphas, they were considered special and privileged since there were only a few of them. The ratio of human to mutant back home was less than half a percent of the normal population. In order to flood this barracks with alphas, the Dognan would have had to make many raids indeed. The X-men were told that these alphas here worked closely with the Clansmen but since most of them came from off world like the X-men, they didn’t share the Clan ideals of subjugating women. The skills of the women were too valuable for them to be beaten or wasted as servants. Here they were well dressed and fed, walking about as freely as any of the men. Henry noted with great interest that there were a couple of white skinned pilots. They, too, were treated as equals and seemed to belong here. None of the alphas or pilots here wore restraining devices of any kind. Logan grinned when he caught a familiar scent and heard a sharp whistle from across the room. "Well, now this is sight for sore eyes!"he growled as their long lost friend Jacob came running over. Jacob was the one they had gone in search of when this whole weird adventure had begun. Logan held his hand out and Jacob took it, pumping it madly. "My word! I never expected to see you guys here!" Jacob said, his grin wider than Logan's. Jacob was a medium sized man, blond and blue eyed. He was in the best physical condition Logan had seen him in and was obviously thriving in his new environment, bright and happy. Jacob’s ability as a teleporter would make him very valuable here and it seemed that the Clan was smart enough to see that he was comfortable. "Yeah, well. It wasn't exactly planned." Jacob grinned. "Dognan express?" "Got it in one." "Yeah, we were lookin' for you, mon ami," Remy added. "Guess dem cat guys t’ought we were too good to pass up, neh?" Jacob looked at Remy, saw his crimson eyes with recognition, and addressed him with a small sneer, "LeBeau." Jacob’s greeting had all the warmth of a frigid arctic breeze. Even this far away from home, Remy’s bad reputation had preceded him. He didn’t know Jacob well, but this wasn’t the first time he hadn’t been well received by others he didn’t really know. Remy nodded at him but said nothing more, silenced by Jacob’s obvious dislike of him. Henry gave Jacob a big blue squeeze, trying to divert Jacob’s attention away from his less than beloved teammate. His physician’s eye went right to work, grateful for once that the Clanspeople here wore so little. He noted as Logan had that Jacob seemed to be doing much better than he had in the past, but couldn’t help himself but ask, "Are you well? We've all been very worried about you since you vanished." "I'm fine. Never better." "Yes, I can see that." "They got you runnin' in hoops?" Logan grumbled. He still wasn't happy with their current situation and wanted a more reliable opinion of what things were like here. Jacob shrugged casually and said honestly, "Not really. I wanted to join up after they dragged my *** out of the pens. One overnight stay in there was enough to convert me, thanks." "You were there, too? It was pretty awful," Henry said. "Yeah. Like I said I was there only one night before the Clan came and bailed me out. Did you guys meet that crazy pilot? Fallen? What a trip, man. That guy Kimble cracked me up." "Yeah, we met 'em. What about Kimble?" Logan asked, curious. Jacob laughed as he explained. "We got struck outside the hanger here, waiting for clearance? We had to wait a while and we were all bored so he's up there sittin' at his desk, smoking. He starts telling these hilarious dirty jokes. I mean, the guy never stopped. I've never known anybody who knew so many. I was crackin' up. It was great. I'd love to meet that guy for real some day, he was a riot." Logan glanced at Henry. It seemed that Jacob didn't know Kimble and Seth weren't real, the illusion had been that perfect. "Sounds like your experience was better than ours," Henry commented, not bothering to set his friend straight. It didn’t matter what Kimble was or wasn’t here. Henry went on to briefly detail their horrific adventure with Valentin, he wanted to hear what Jacob would have to say about it. Jacob shook his head. "That sounds a little crazy, my friend. Valentin is a hard guy, yes, but I've never seen him do anything like that. He's actually pretty decent. He reminds me a lot of my drill instructor when I was in the army. He works just as hard as the rest of us and goes right into battle with us, no matter what. He never has us taking any risks he doesn't take for himself. I hope you join up with us. Then you'd see." "We weren't exactly given a choice," Logan said. "We're here fer a while." "Good. You'll see it's not so bad. The alpha squads get better privileges and quarters. I'm surprised they didn't take you here directly." "Maybe they wanted to see if we would back out." Jacob smiled. "I hope not. We could really use you guys, especially you," he said to Wolverine. "We need a guy who knows explosives." "What's goin' on?" "A big raid. It won't be for a while but we have to get ready. I think they want to blow up the main Dognan base just north of here. We take that out and they'll run with their tails tucked, I guarantee it." Zekian cleared his throat and the reunion was over. The X-men followed him back to Cerebus' chamber and planning room. The strategists showed them what few plans they had and they and the X-men spent the rest of the day going over what could be done. It seemed the Clan had plenty of resources, they just weren't being used as effectively as they could be and the X-men were quick to point out ways they could improve. That one thing alone was worth having them there. Cerebus was pleased with the day's progress and told them they would be moved to the alpha quarters in a couple of days. When they returned to their quarters, a package was waiting for them outside the door. Henry picked it up and brought it inside. He opened the bundle and saw three wrapped boxes, one for each of them. Gifts from Fallen, a note said. He opened his and was pleased to find four large books on various subjects. She had included a translator so he could read the different languages. Remy was given several packs of finely decorated Clan playing cards. Logan got a bottle of quality liquor and some cigars. ‘Don't ask me where Seth found those...’ her note said and Logan grunted with amusement. Henry saw those with a groan. He had a low tolerance for tobacco smoke and things were bad enough with all the torches around. The last thing he needed was cigar smoke added into the mix."I hope you don't plan on smoking those in here." "Nope," Logan grinned, lighting up. Henry rolled his eyes. Yes, this was going to be a long trip indeed. He smiled when he saw that Fallen had also packed a small amount of fresh food for them. She clearly knew just how bad the dining was here and felt bad for them. They decided to eat sparingly and make it stretch. Who knew how long they were going to be stuck here? To read more click here : www.fanfiction.net/s/2495701/1/
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