The Red Queen
Author's Note/Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-men Evolution, America McGee's Alice, or Roughneck: Starship Troopers Chronicles characters in this fanfic. This takes place eight years after the Bug War and is one of my many crossover fanfics. SICON is the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations, a worldwide government.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So, Jeremiah, what are you doing now that you've graduated?" Kitty Pryde asked a friend.
"Join SICON." Jeremiah replied.
Kitty had known Jeremiah Cerd since she came to Bayville. Outside the Institute, he was one of her first friends in Bayville High School. He was the sort who would prefer go and do his own thing rather than conform to the group standards. Kitty found that to be inspiring. It was her junior year, and next year was her senior year.
He was a fairly ordinary looking fellow, rather lightly built, standing roughly 5'8" with short brown hair and gray eyes with hawk faced features. He was of British descent, evident by his voice.
"SICON? Jeremiah, be careful." Kitty said, she wasn't about to try and lecture or talk him out of it, whenever Jeremiah had his mind set on something he never changed it.
"I will be." Cerd replied lamely. Kitty turned to go talk to other friends she knew were graduating.
"Kitty," Cerd began. It was a moment hanging like a dangling thread in the tapestry of time, a moment where anything could have been said. Kitty turned, waiting for Jeremiah to say what he intended to say, "Keep in touch."
He had said that when he saw her go up to Lance Alvers. He didn't know what to make of it really. The early part of freshman year they avoided each other like the plague, but this year and every other since they were getting pretty tight. Were they just friends?
~ ~ ~ ~
"Keep in touch. Bloody brilliant cliché." Cerd growled. He in reality had planned to tell Kitty exactly how he felt about her, how he had been feeling about her for the past two and a half years. Always something got in the way when he attempted to do so however. Such as at the dance his sophomore year, he got in that dance like he wanted but something inside him froze up.
"Jeremiah?" Kitty asked, catching up to him as he walked up to his car, a drab green Jeep Wrangler.
The Englishman halted in midstep and turned, "I just want to know, what made you want to join the military?" Kitty asked.
There was something about the genuine concern in her voice that made Jeremiah respond, "I guess it was after my family died."
Kitty knew Jeremiah grew up in London and during the Bug War; an Arachnid plasma bolt had blown his house down around him. His family had all died in the wreckage, Jeremiah himself being the only survivor. She also knew that was one of the reasons he was such a loner; usually he was by himself, or with one of his few good friends, of whom she was one.
Jeremiah knew exactly why he had to go and leave, the loss of his family was one of those circumstances. But the real reason, the one that was foremost in his mind was his unrequited feelings for Kitty. He wanted very much to be with her, and he got some hint that she was somewhat fond of him, but there was something intangible, something he could not quite discern, that kept him from expressing feelings beyond friendship. It was a friendship he treasured, though. He thought of that moment a few months ago when he lost all resolution to tell her…
~ ~ ~ ~
"And when I wake in the morning, you're the first person that comes into my mind. I mean it's some feeling I can't put well in words. You probably might have guessed how I feel, by the fact that I'm always there for you when you've had a bad day, how I'm always there every step of the way. So what I'm trying to say is…" Cerd said, rehearsing for the umpteenth time what he was going to say.
He heard Lance and Kitty talking, it was small talk, but there was a hint of romance in the air. As he rounded the corner, he could see an air of passion to be released between the two. He turned and walked away, hanging his head in dejection.
"I guess I am meant to always be alone. I've always been on my own. No body cares about me, but me. And that's the way it's going to stay." Cerd said to himself, jamming his hands into the pocket of his green hunter's jacket as he walked outside, the late winter cold as cold as the darkness in his heart. He felt a solitary tear welling up in his eye, and at that moment as he looked across the parking lot the way a deposed monarch looks out before the jeering mob moments before his execution, he knew what he had to do, get the hell away from Bayville, go as far as possible, he had gotten into the same college as Kitty, Berkeley, but he wanted to go far, very far and a college campus wasn't large enough for his purposes. The next day Jeremiah Cerd journeyed to the recruiting station where he signed up for the Mobile Infantry where he received his orders, to report to Basic after his high school graduation. He also had orders to report to the K-9 Corps after he graduated the fifteen week Basic Training course.
~ ~ ~ ~
The trio of drill sergeants looked over the collection of recruits standing beside their bunks in the barracks. They were members of Platoon 3572. At that moment, an imposing, mean looking blonde haired bespectacled man walked through the platoon bay, "I am First Sergeant Dunlap, your senior drill sergeant, from now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be sir, do you maggots understand that?"
"Sir yes sir!" came the chorus.
"Sound off!" Dunlap replied.
"Sir yes sir!"
Two other drill sergeants, one a woman, the other a man. The female drill sergeant went up to Cerd, "Did he say eyes? Are you checking him out?"
"Sir no sir!" Cerd replied.
"Do I look like a sir to you?" the woman shouted, infuriated.
"Sir no sir!" Cerd replied, taken aback.
"Hey Canto, come here, apparently I look like a sir to this man!" the woman replied.
"Do you know the difference between male and female?" shouted the male drill sergeant, Canto.
"Sir yes sir!" Cerd replied.
"Sergeant Quell is a ma'am, not a sir. Don't you turn your head and look, jackass, keep your eyes straight. Oh, are you rolling your eyes at me. Keep them straight, don't shift them around!!!" Canto yelled.
"I've got him," said Dunlap, "Find a spot, recruit, one freaking spot and hang your eyes on it!!"
It was a long time after that they were finally finished with him. It was then that the recruits were finally allowed time in their bunks. Cerd's was closest to the window, and through the dim light of the street lamps near the barracks, he looked at a folded and creased photograph he had squirreled away in his trouser pocket as he forced himself to remember someone who smiled instead of frowned, who spoke kindly, instead of shouted, who he cared for but could not have.
~ ~ ~ ~
From down the hall, Kitty Pryde heard a scream, it was one of the younger kids, who's name was Tyler, a small African-American kid with budding telepathic abilities. She could already hear Jean, who was on her summer break from Yale, come running, calmly reassuring Tyler he was just dreaming. The poor kid was rocking back and forth, muttering something about Wonderland, about crazy kids, about all sorts of nonsense, including an army of marching cards.
Kitty didn't think much of it, Tyler was only seven, and nightmares were part of a kid's life at any rate. But the way he kept going on about a Red Queen spreading destruction, the more it gave her the chills. She could even hear the kid ranting about the grinning cat or something.
"Must be another one of those nightmares." Kitty said, going back to her bed, and back to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
Africa was sweltering; the heat beat down mercilessly on the explosive ordinance team that was walking through the old minefield. Jeremiah Cerd held the leash of his K-9 partner as they sniffed for mines that had been laid here when rival clans in Somalia decided to go at it. The Mobile Infantry had come to restore and keep the peace that was it's major mission now, peacekeeping among the many nations that made up SICON. Though the Bug War had brought the world together, the world still had its occasional brushfires that SICON was now trying it's best to stop.
Jeremiah Cerd was painfully aware of the lack of cover on this open road where the mines were placed along. He was armed only with a shock stick across his back and a 9mm pistol at his hip along with two fifteen round magazines, certainly not enough to fight of a determined band of attackers with assault rifles and RPG's if they decided to turn hostile.
Diablo, the German Shepard that was the other half of the K-9 team, barked as he indicated another landmine a few meters away. On his radio, Cerd contacted the explosive ordinance guys who went to go and detonate the bomb. At least Diablo's sharp senses could detect any hostiles faster than any of the others could, so Cerd headed for higher ground to be part of the perimeter guard.
~ ~ ~ ~
The fearful falls of many feet could be heard long before the marchers themselves could be seen. The Cheshire Cat awoke from his nap in the upper branches of the large and stately oak tree. He saw them, a massive marching army of card soldiers, and their objective, a nearby township of Wonderland.
The Red Queen had been defeated over a century ago, by one Alice Liddell, who overcame the madness that possessed the roving bands of insane children ensnared by the madness that was now returning to devour Wonderland.
In the ashes of the burning town, oblivious, the insane children frolicked. Once the hope for the salvation of Wonderland, these vile insane children were damned to forever suffer in the hellish place, having failed in their quest to save it.
The smoke of burning buildings and even more grotesque burning bodies curled off into the night sky. The Cheshire Cat knew that though Wonderland was eternal, the human beings whose night dreams helped build this realm were not. He knew that his old companion Alice was long dead but the old troll foretold that a descendent of Alice's would be Wonderland's salvation, but who it was? The Cheshire Cat could not tell, and the troll was still searching, but all he knew was whomever it was, he or she was their last hope. Curiouser and curiouser still…?
Author's Note: I invite you now to guess who this last hope is? Place any guesses in the review section.
Author's Note/Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-men Evolution, America McGee's Alice, or Roughneck: Starship Troopers Chronicles characters in this fanfic. This takes place eight years after the Bug War and is one of my many crossover fanfics. SICON is the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations, a worldwide government.
~ ~ ~ ~
"So, Jeremiah, what are you doing now that you've graduated?" Kitty Pryde asked a friend.
"Join SICON." Jeremiah replied.
Kitty had known Jeremiah Cerd since she came to Bayville. Outside the Institute, he was one of her first friends in Bayville High School. He was the sort who would prefer go and do his own thing rather than conform to the group standards. Kitty found that to be inspiring. It was her junior year, and next year was her senior year.
He was a fairly ordinary looking fellow, rather lightly built, standing roughly 5'8" with short brown hair and gray eyes with hawk faced features. He was of British descent, evident by his voice.
"SICON? Jeremiah, be careful." Kitty said, she wasn't about to try and lecture or talk him out of it, whenever Jeremiah had his mind set on something he never changed it.
"I will be." Cerd replied lamely. Kitty turned to go talk to other friends she knew were graduating.
"Kitty," Cerd began. It was a moment hanging like a dangling thread in the tapestry of time, a moment where anything could have been said. Kitty turned, waiting for Jeremiah to say what he intended to say, "Keep in touch."
He had said that when he saw her go up to Lance Alvers. He didn't know what to make of it really. The early part of freshman year they avoided each other like the plague, but this year and every other since they were getting pretty tight. Were they just friends?
~ ~ ~ ~
"Keep in touch. Bloody brilliant cliché." Cerd growled. He in reality had planned to tell Kitty exactly how he felt about her, how he had been feeling about her for the past two and a half years. Always something got in the way when he attempted to do so however. Such as at the dance his sophomore year, he got in that dance like he wanted but something inside him froze up.
"Jeremiah?" Kitty asked, catching up to him as he walked up to his car, a drab green Jeep Wrangler.
The Englishman halted in midstep and turned, "I just want to know, what made you want to join the military?" Kitty asked.
There was something about the genuine concern in her voice that made Jeremiah respond, "I guess it was after my family died."
Kitty knew Jeremiah grew up in London and during the Bug War; an Arachnid plasma bolt had blown his house down around him. His family had all died in the wreckage, Jeremiah himself being the only survivor. She also knew that was one of the reasons he was such a loner; usually he was by himself, or with one of his few good friends, of whom she was one.
Jeremiah knew exactly why he had to go and leave, the loss of his family was one of those circumstances. But the real reason, the one that was foremost in his mind was his unrequited feelings for Kitty. He wanted very much to be with her, and he got some hint that she was somewhat fond of him, but there was something intangible, something he could not quite discern, that kept him from expressing feelings beyond friendship. It was a friendship he treasured, though. He thought of that moment a few months ago when he lost all resolution to tell her…
~ ~ ~ ~
"And when I wake in the morning, you're the first person that comes into my mind. I mean it's some feeling I can't put well in words. You probably might have guessed how I feel, by the fact that I'm always there for you when you've had a bad day, how I'm always there every step of the way. So what I'm trying to say is…" Cerd said, rehearsing for the umpteenth time what he was going to say.
He heard Lance and Kitty talking, it was small talk, but there was a hint of romance in the air. As he rounded the corner, he could see an air of passion to be released between the two. He turned and walked away, hanging his head in dejection.
"I guess I am meant to always be alone. I've always been on my own. No body cares about me, but me. And that's the way it's going to stay." Cerd said to himself, jamming his hands into the pocket of his green hunter's jacket as he walked outside, the late winter cold as cold as the darkness in his heart. He felt a solitary tear welling up in his eye, and at that moment as he looked across the parking lot the way a deposed monarch looks out before the jeering mob moments before his execution, he knew what he had to do, get the hell away from Bayville, go as far as possible, he had gotten into the same college as Kitty, Berkeley, but he wanted to go far, very far and a college campus wasn't large enough for his purposes. The next day Jeremiah Cerd journeyed to the recruiting station where he signed up for the Mobile Infantry where he received his orders, to report to Basic after his high school graduation. He also had orders to report to the K-9 Corps after he graduated the fifteen week Basic Training course.
~ ~ ~ ~
The trio of drill sergeants looked over the collection of recruits standing beside their bunks in the barracks. They were members of Platoon 3572. At that moment, an imposing, mean looking blonde haired bespectacled man walked through the platoon bay, "I am First Sergeant Dunlap, your senior drill sergeant, from now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be sir, do you maggots understand that?"
"Sir yes sir!" came the chorus.
"Sound off!" Dunlap replied.
"Sir yes sir!"
Two other drill sergeants, one a woman, the other a man. The female drill sergeant went up to Cerd, "Did he say eyes? Are you checking him out?"
"Sir no sir!" Cerd replied.
"Do I look like a sir to you?" the woman shouted, infuriated.
"Sir no sir!" Cerd replied, taken aback.
"Hey Canto, come here, apparently I look like a sir to this man!" the woman replied.
"Do you know the difference between male and female?" shouted the male drill sergeant, Canto.
"Sir yes sir!" Cerd replied.
"Sergeant Quell is a ma'am, not a sir. Don't you turn your head and look, jackass, keep your eyes straight. Oh, are you rolling your eyes at me. Keep them straight, don't shift them around!!!" Canto yelled.
"I've got him," said Dunlap, "Find a spot, recruit, one freaking spot and hang your eyes on it!!"
It was a long time after that they were finally finished with him. It was then that the recruits were finally allowed time in their bunks. Cerd's was closest to the window, and through the dim light of the street lamps near the barracks, he looked at a folded and creased photograph he had squirreled away in his trouser pocket as he forced himself to remember someone who smiled instead of frowned, who spoke kindly, instead of shouted, who he cared for but could not have.
~ ~ ~ ~
From down the hall, Kitty Pryde heard a scream, it was one of the younger kids, who's name was Tyler, a small African-American kid with budding telepathic abilities. She could already hear Jean, who was on her summer break from Yale, come running, calmly reassuring Tyler he was just dreaming. The poor kid was rocking back and forth, muttering something about Wonderland, about crazy kids, about all sorts of nonsense, including an army of marching cards.
Kitty didn't think much of it, Tyler was only seven, and nightmares were part of a kid's life at any rate. But the way he kept going on about a Red Queen spreading destruction, the more it gave her the chills. She could even hear the kid ranting about the grinning cat or something.
"Must be another one of those nightmares." Kitty said, going back to her bed, and back to sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~
Africa was sweltering; the heat beat down mercilessly on the explosive ordinance team that was walking through the old minefield. Jeremiah Cerd held the leash of his K-9 partner as they sniffed for mines that had been laid here when rival clans in Somalia decided to go at it. The Mobile Infantry had come to restore and keep the peace that was it's major mission now, peacekeeping among the many nations that made up SICON. Though the Bug War had brought the world together, the world still had its occasional brushfires that SICON was now trying it's best to stop.
Jeremiah Cerd was painfully aware of the lack of cover on this open road where the mines were placed along. He was armed only with a shock stick across his back and a 9mm pistol at his hip along with two fifteen round magazines, certainly not enough to fight of a determined band of attackers with assault rifles and RPG's if they decided to turn hostile.
Diablo, the German Shepard that was the other half of the K-9 team, barked as he indicated another landmine a few meters away. On his radio, Cerd contacted the explosive ordinance guys who went to go and detonate the bomb. At least Diablo's sharp senses could detect any hostiles faster than any of the others could, so Cerd headed for higher ground to be part of the perimeter guard.
~ ~ ~ ~
The fearful falls of many feet could be heard long before the marchers themselves could be seen. The Cheshire Cat awoke from his nap in the upper branches of the large and stately oak tree. He saw them, a massive marching army of card soldiers, and their objective, a nearby township of Wonderland.
The Red Queen had been defeated over a century ago, by one Alice Liddell, who overcame the madness that possessed the roving bands of insane children ensnared by the madness that was now returning to devour Wonderland.
In the ashes of the burning town, oblivious, the insane children frolicked. Once the hope for the salvation of Wonderland, these vile insane children were damned to forever suffer in the hellish place, having failed in their quest to save it.
The smoke of burning buildings and even more grotesque burning bodies curled off into the night sky. The Cheshire Cat knew that though Wonderland was eternal, the human beings whose night dreams helped build this realm were not. He knew that his old companion Alice was long dead but the old troll foretold that a descendent of Alice's would be Wonderland's salvation, but who it was? The Cheshire Cat could not tell, and the troll was still searching, but all he knew was whomever it was, he or she was their last hope. Curiouser and curiouser still…?
Author's Note: I invite you now to guess who this last hope is? Place any guesses in the review section.