Summary: The X-men have their hands full with Jael, but a bigger problem arises first. Part 12 of the Game.
Rated M for profanity, violence and some sexual content.
Disclaimer : I do not own the X-men or any of their associated villains, but the Siskans, the Dognan, Jael and the Outkasts are mine. Please do not use them without my permission. Thanks. :)
Updated 10-28-13 to add (break)s and whatnot.
(One)
I hear you ask, "Why would you run away, Dreamer? I thought the 'grams were supposed to stay behind, a prize for the victor of the Game."
I could see early on that there were no real rules in this so called "Game" of theirs. All the players were cheating and so I would as well. I could only cheat so far - going to my Master against the wishes of the Spirits had done David no good. I would not make that mistake again. In my visions, however, nothing was said about me running away and so I grabbed Babette and fled.
I had only one option as far as where to go. I had helped Remy all those years ago, now hopefully he would help me. I soon saw I had nothing to worry about - when I arrived at his home I asked for help and he gratefully received me. I was still frightened in spite of his attempts to calm me, I had been uprooted from all that I had known and was now in this strange new place.
This whole episode had been very trying. I had defied the voices in my black room and paid a terrible price. It had cost me David, my Master, my sisters. How deeply would I be punished for my transgression? Would the punishment continue? I still had more to lose. There was still my special little one. The one whose voice I would hear in my visions. Always she had called out to me, asking for my help. Would her voice be gone now as well? Had I killed her, too, in my stupidity?
The answer came to me the first night I arrived. I dreamt and found my black room. I couldn't get in there fast enough. I had to know if I had truly failed in everything or if there was some way I could make up for what I had done. Once inside and in the black, I screamed and cried, calling out to her, but she did not answer. At first I panicked and that made things worse but then I realized the fault was mine. When I am too loud and crazy in my mind the voices are blocked to me. I forced myself to relax and go quiet. It took a moment but then she came.
"Catch me, Aiden! Catch me!"
I fell to my knees and wept with joy.
(break)
Jennah grumbled to herself, unhappy in the simmering Arizona heat. It was early morning, just after sunup, but it was already quite warm. She was a relatively new member of the X-men team but had been blessed with a medium level telekinetic ability. Or cursed — it had prompted her field boss to volunteer her for perimeter patrol. "You'll earn brownie points," he had said with a grin.
"Brownie points, my ass!" she complained now, feeling more duped into taking a shit job than feeling heroic or noble out here.
Spying a nearby rock under a nice shady outcropping, Jennah headed right on over. She was new to this job and the higher level of physical activity. Out in the real world, she had been a simple factory worker, sitting at a machine all day. Not much going on there in physical exercise. The only good thing she could say about her new situation was that she had lost a hefty twenty pounds. Lookin' good, but too pooped to do much with it.
She sat down on the rock with a satisfied grunt and spread her legs out, taking the weight off her poor aching feet. As a telekinetic, she was more used to cheating with her powers, taking off the edge of the physical load, but since joining this team, she had been trained not to do that, that it was weakening her body and sapping her strength. Bulked up in bigger, stronger muscles now (too pooped, I say, too pooped to do anything!) she really couldn't argue that she was healthier now.
Jennah decided she was going to take a break whether it was too early or not. She slid off her pack and took out a nice large bottle of cool water. She was grateful now for the ice cubes she had plopped in there before she left. She was a little slow, but she was learning fast, by golly. If only she could learn to say no when offered a shit job wrapped in a bright shiny wrapper.
Drinking her water, she noted that the outcropping was actually the footing of a small cave. Maybe if she was adventurous, she might take a peek in there. For the moment she was happy just to a take a load off and enjoy the view.
On her rock, she could also see the Complex twinkling away in the distance, about a mile or so away. She was up on a rise and the vista was pretty amazing. The security here was pretty good she had to admit. All she saw was a large glass building surrounded by pavement and an airstrip. Other buildings were close by, but far enough away to ensure privacy. There was no sign that there were hidden armaments planted in the ground nor could any view be had of the field generator that protected the Complex. It looked like nothing out of the ordinary was going on out there.
Also hidden was the construction site for the new Dragon. Everyone knew that the work was going to begin on it today. She would have loved to have been part of the security crew working there but hadn't been lucky enough to be picked. Maybe if she did well here, she could get transferred to the site before the work was done.
Jennah startled when her radio crackled. "Jennah! Where are you!"
She clicked it on. "Hey, boss. You sound a bit angry."
"Where are you? You should have been here five minutes ago!"
"I'm sitting on a rock, drinking a nice bottled water, and deciding just how I'm going to tell you to take this job and shove it. I'm putting in for the food court. This sucks."
Her boss laughed. "You said that yesterday and the day before that."
"Probably because it's true."
"We're moving on to the next marker, with or without you, girl."
"Yeah, yeah. Leave the newbie behind, survival of the fittest and all that."
"Very funny, kid. Seriously, you've got five minutes."
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up."
"You sure?"
Jennah laughed. "Yeah, boss. Just gonna sip some water, reapply my wilted sunscreen before I burn to a crisp. I'll be there, I promise."
"I'll right. Be careful."
"Oh, sure. I feel so threatened. I think I saw a tarantula crawl by, a few scorpions..."
"You're a hoot and half, Jennah. See you in ten, okay?"
"Ten minutes it is."
It was an appointment she would never keep.
Jennah clicked her radio off and clipped it back to her belt. The bottle of water made it back into the pack, but as she stooped to raise the bag, the air in front of her did a funny thing. It rippled in a blur, and then a man appeared as if out of thin air.
I'm overheated, it's a hallucination, Jennah thought in stupefied wonder, too amazed to move.
"Well, now. Ain't you jus' the prettiest thing," the stranger said in a lazy drawl, reminding her instantly of Kimble. "Bless the sprits, what a nice surprise."
Jennah had bumped into Kimble briefly, was one of his first conquests in the Club on his level. He stuck in her mind since he was so lovely, but he had pissed her off when all of her requests for a repeat performance were denied, something he never did explain. She had taken him for a snob or a sexual addict after that and stopped trying. It didn't stop her from thinking back on him now and again especially since she had heard the pilot had gotten into some trouble.
This new arrival sounded like Kimble, but he looked anything but. He was tall and magnificent, his green eyes looking on her with a hungry gleam. His hair was long and streaming out behind him in a bright red mane, reaching his waist and unrestrained. It blew about him, calling attention to the fact that he was only half dressed. He was standing there in pure male glory clad only in a pair of tight black stretch pants that left nothing to the imagination.
"I'm dreaming. It's this damn heat..." Jennah mumbled, wavering slightly as she felt the world around her go a little fuzzy.
"Yer dreamin' all right. Gonna makes it real fine fer you, Jennah. Real fine," her visitor promised, moving forward. His hands were slender and white, pale in the daylight as he moved them in a circle about her face, as if he wanted to frame her there, frozen in space.
"How do you know my name...?" Jennah asked in a breathless wheeze, spellbound. The world had closed in, becoming so small it included only her, the man, and the rock.
He didn't answer, he was much too sure of his handiwork in the art of dazzling, but took her into his arms instead, plundering her mouth in a greedy vampire kiss. Her mind was blasted away with a combination of lust and bliss, an intoxicating drug so powerful there was no possible way she could resist. She had felt this before, briefly when Kimble had taken her, only not on this scale. Where Kimble's Kundatesh flavored love was just enough to make her dizzy, this wave was a tsunami, sweeping her away.
Her eyes closed and her legs gave way, a complete surrender. It didn't matter, he caught her easily and lay her down gently under the outcropping, the kiss never ending, only drowning her and taking her under. She never felt the gravel digging into her back, almost didn't notice it when he carefully dragged her into the cave. Guess she was going to have that peek in here after all. Her black denim pants seemed to loose themselves of their own free will, removed by unseen hands and tangling about her feet, but she felt it when he took her, oh yes. It was the most heavenly thing she had ever sensed on any level, all thoughts of being raped or violated never rising. Her will was gone, overridden and blasted away by his intoxicating charm. He was inside her, over her and all around her in a cloud of sparkling glitter lights, a dizzying light show that was beautiful on a near religious scale. She was shaking almost instantly with a paralyzing orgasm, one that stunned her and left her gasping.
"Oh, m' sweet..." her mysterious new lover drawled, seemingly oblivious that the girl below him was anything but mush. "That wuz so fine, so vera fine. Do it again, precious, come on. Feel me, feed me..."
Jennah's body humbly complied, all control from the mind operating it gone. They continued like that for a few moments more, this strange man coaxing all she had to give from her like a vampire lover, feeding not on her blood, but her vibrations of pleasure and rapture. He touched her with great care, treating her like some kind of treasured lover best treated well. He kissed her, stroked her, tasted every inch of her. She couldn't hold back for long, she shook again, harder than before, her mind on fire.
"Wuz that good, Jennah?" he asked her finally, nuzzling her neck with soft and gentle kisses. He knew she was wasted, emotionally empty, and could give no more. She would be unconscious in minutes.
"Yes..." she replied numbly, her voice little more than a whisper. "My god..."
He sat up a bit, all the better to look her over. She couldn't move, she was too exhausted, the fact that she was telekinetic meaningless at this moment. He knew it, even smiled about it some as he stroked her long lovely thighs. "Yer such a pretty thing, Takin' real care o' y'self. Gots some nice meat here, girl. Trust me, I knows."
"Meat...?" she repeated blearily, too stoned to wonder where this was going.
"Yeah, it's real fine. Guess them X guys gots you all in shape. So nice, so tender. Meat with just enough fat left fer flavor. Famayalin will be so pleased.."
"Famay..a..lin?"
He stoked her hair gently and soothed her with his voice as he would a child. "S'okay, Jennah. Don'tcha worry none abouts it. You jus' lie still now."
"Lie...still..." Jennah wheezed, not even flinching when her half open eyes registered a large crystalline blade coming into view. It glinted in the sunlight from the cave door, sparkly and bright. The stranger kissed her once more, blasting her mind and destroying all panic, all desire to fight. She never felt it as the blade next plunged deep into her neck, biting into her flesh and setting free a jet of bright red blood in an arterial gush. It was so very far away, happening to someone else. Someone who used to exist, but just didn't matter any more. All there was was bliss. A never ending bliss fading into black.
The red haired stranger let her bleed out, separating his mouth from hers only when she had come to the last. Feeding on her joy was one thing, but he disliked the taste of the dying last embers of her soul. He let her go, then rose, his body all clean of her blood in spite of laying so close to her. He had formed a clear telekinetic shield around himself - he enjoyed the hunt, but not the mess.
Whistling cheerfully now, he dressed and reached for Jennah's pack. He dumped it out, making room, and then spent a moment more deciding which parts of his kill to take. Which ones that had that had the most meat, the best flavor. He made his choices, butchering the woman with unseen telekinetic hands, singing all the while as he wrapped what he wanted in the remains of her clothing.
He worked quickly, knowing they would be coming for her soon. He loaded the pack and then pawed through her possessions, smiling when he noted her security badge. This might come in handy later, yes, when it was time to finally to take that trip to the bright shiny building below. One lion just wasn't going to be enough. No, he would need one more.
(break)
Just as Jennah was greeting her strange new friend, Remy stood with Fallen outside the trailer office that had been set up as Seth's temporary headquarters for the construction of the new Dragon. The site was located out on the huge expanse of blacktop and was fairly large, having a couple of acres fenced off and private. Materials for the construction were laid out and waiting. Guards had been placed all around, both for the site itself and the Siskans working in it.
Logan stood next to Gambit, smoking silently. This was the first day of work and there was an air of expectation and excitement. Both of them had been assigned to security here, making sure everyone was where they should be. Remy looked up when he heard Fallen laugh and say, "Same old Kimble." Seth's wayward brother had arrived.
What made Fallen laugh was that Kimble had come fully prepared for work. He came up from a lower level stairwell, walking with a renewed liquid grace. He was dressed only in a new pair of dark painter's pants that had been cut into shorts to accommodate his crooked legs. He carried a rather large boom box (not new, only neglected) with a book of CDs velcroed to one side. The box was presently silent, but it wouldn't be for long. He had a smile teasing the corners of his mouth as he spoke to his lover and now, co-worker.
Aiden trailed him, looking cool but nervous as he listened to whatever exciting tale Kimble was telling. He had no clue what he was doing here. He was dressed as usual with the wide open Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and work boots. A pair of leather work gloves were stuffed into a back pocket.
Fallen may have thought Kimble was the same, but Remy knew better. The process of rebuilding Kimble's confidence was back in full swing and it was evident in the way he walked and the sharpness of his clothing. Aiden had gone shopping, choosing something for Kimble that he might wear for himself. Really, just the fact that Kimble was shirtless, displaying his bright Mark for all to see was something. It had been a while since he had been so bold in front of other people. Kimble's eyes were bright and merry and it had been easy to make him laugh, always a good sign. In the short three days that he and Aiden had renewed their relationship, Kimble had strengthened, become more of the Siskan he was supposed to be. Remy couldn't be more pleased.
Kimble set the boom box down and walked over to Fallen. He was still unsettled around his former Mistress, uncertain about how she felt about him, but with his newfound confidence, decided that he wasn't going to let her bad vibes change his ways. He gave her and Remy each a kiss on the cheek in greeting, ignored Logan as usual, and reached for a folded blueprint that was tucked under Fallen's arm. He scanned it quickly and grunted, "Let's do it. Framin' first."
Fallen nodded at him and he walked off. Boom box first, actually. He clicked a button and out came Bachman Turner Overdrive, "Takin' care of Business". Really, what else would do? He moved to where the building supplies lay, smiling as Fallen came up beside him. They had worked together well in the past and he had fond memories, enough that he couldn't help but find some pleasure in being used for the construction, this was going to be fun. He barked playfully in Siskan and vaulted up into the air in a single graceful movement. She rose with him and they both used their telekinetic power to raise the wood and assemble it into the framing that would be used in the first stages of the shipbuilding.
Aiden was a little lost. He couldn't fly or levitate objects so he was just hanging around here, all but useless. Well, it was better than being cooped up downstairs, so he kept any complaints to himself. He walked over to Remy and took Fallen's now empty spot on his side, opposite Logan. Wolverine still made him edgy and frustrated since he had been incarcerated. They hadn't kissed and made up. He greeted Remy as Kimble had, a kiss on one cheek and a smile.
"You look 'appy," Remy said, bumping him with his shoulder. As much as Kimble had improved, so had Aiden as well. He had been quiet and staying out of trouble.
"Quiet night."
That meant he hadn't dreamed badly and Remy smiled at him. "Where's Babette?"
"She not want to come up szo early," Aiden answered. "I will get 'er later, mebbe when she feel a leetle better, eh?"
"She still stuck on level six of dat new Tomb Raider game?" Remy asked playfully, seeing through the excuse.
Aiden laughed and nodded, caught. "She promise to finish early. Zen she come up."
Seth came out of the trailer office and startled when he saw Kimble and Fallen already at work. He was surprised to see them up in the air, using their powers. It had been so very long since they had been a real team, and well, Kimble hadn't had powers, not back then. It was a little strange, but in a good way. "Oh? Well, I guess that will make things easier," he mumbled awkwardly.
"Mornin', sunshine," Logan greeted. "Thought you were gonna be late for your own first building."
"I- I got a little hung up," Seth stammered nervously. He had just noticed Aiden there next to Remy and was a little uncomfortable after their awkward first greeting. He refused to be intimidated by the newcomer with such strong power, so he just plowed forward. He greeted Remy with a kiss on the cheek and a short laugh. As Seth leaned in to kiss him, he slipped a hand into one of Gambit's big coat pockets. When he withdrew, he had a small piece of candy in his hand. He was well aware of Remy's habit of carrying chocolate and wanted a sweet. Gambit just smiled at him, happy to please, saying nothing.
Seth bobbed his head in a polite hello to Aiden, but didn't touch him. Aiden watched him, smiled nice and easy, and was comfortably silent. His eyes were busy though, examining the young Siskan's shine and offering a gentle vibration of welcome to set Seth at ease.
Seth smiled at that, happy for it and now much more comfortable, walked off to where his Mistress and brother were working. A long table had been set up for him to lay out his plans and he headed that way. He carried a satchel of papers tucked under one arm and was awkwardly trying to open the wrapped morsel of chocolate he had taken from Remy using his other hand and his teeth. He was naturally clumsy so such an endeavor was actually quite risky for him. He managed it just fine however, and lay his papers down at the table.
Wolverine watched all this with a look of puzzled amusement on his face. It told him a lot. Remy belonged to all of these people, the thief had embraced them and was firmly accepted by the entire group. Gambit approved of Kimble's being here and Aiden as well. Logan had no reason to be concerned. What was interesting was that moment of awkward space between Aiden and Seth. What was that all about? They were the only ones not to touch here at all. That meant something.
Logan was well aware of Seth's changes in behavior. They often worked closely together. Seth had been monumentally important in Logan's ability to gather information. Seth was a brilliant hacker and found whatever Logan was seeking. He had been given the highest Security clearance and Logan had come to trust him more than most folks living here. He had seen how Seth was growing more and more quiet — not that he was ever all that loud — and that brooding misery that was always there behind his eyes now. Wolverine wondered if he and Fallen were having troubles, but they always seemed fine when he saw them together.
"So how long is this gonna take anyways?" Wolverine asked Remy, just to say something.
"Coupla, t'ree weeks mebbe. 'Pends on de weather," the thief replied.
"Well, I gotta get some work done. Got some new folks in yesterday," Logan said and walked away. He glanced at Aiden as he passed. They locked eyes, but there was too much defiance in Aiden's own for his liking. Logan was sorely tempted to comment, that was plain, but the moment his mouth opened, his beeper went off. He clicked on his radio and walked off, taking the call.
"You boys still hot, I see," Gambit said to Aiden once Logan was out of range to hear.
Aiden snorted, giving his head a haughty toss. " 'E 'ad no right lockin' me up, aszkin' questionsz like Aiden szome kind of crim'nal, me. Aiden don' do not'ing nobody don' aszk for."
'Cept mebbe you sockin' me in de eye. Well, Gambit's pretty forgiving, good t'ing. "You gonna be okay out 'ere workin'?"
"You mean isz Aiden gonna hit szomebody t'day? I t'ink mebbe, non. Not in ze mood, me. Mebbe tomorrow, eh?" He didn't wait for a reply but walked off towards Fallen and Kimble, keeping his head down.
Remy moved away, his eyes on all the parties. He was a watcher of people, always had been. He was in the process of removing his coat - he was growing a bit too warm for such a thing even this early - but stopped when he saw a flash of concern cross Logan's face, the man hadn't wandered far when he had chatted on the radio. Wolverine glanced up, saw him looking and came closer. "Can you watch things here? I gotta take this call."
Absolument, mon ami. What's up?"
"One of the folks on patrol's gone missing. They want me to sniff it out, see if I can figure it out."
Remy smiled at him knowing this was Logan's specialty. "Go. Take yo' time. Ain't nuthin' gonna happen around 'ere."