WARNING: GRAPHIC MATERIAL!
It was cold, wet, and dark inside; Ororo was shivering. Maybe it was her nerves, but she blamed the cold, rocky, passage-way. After confirming that the Friends of Humanity base, one of them, was actually underground, Logan and Scott had found an entrance. They had encountered a few patrol men, but Logan took care of them quickly and quietly. As Ororo followed Scott and Logan, and Hank and Remy brought up the rear, she began to wonder how big the base was because it seemed to never end. "How much further?"
"I can smell 'em, so not that far," Logan said.
Sure enough, he was right. Each X-Man took cover behind a wall as they peered around the corner. There was a large glass water tank in the middle of the large room with several tubes running from it and into the ground. Surrounding the tank were operating tables.
"What is this place?" Ororo whispered.
"Hell," Remy muttered.
They watched as armed men came from a door in the far corner, dragging a woman, who they assumed to be a mutant. Even though the female mutant struggled against them, the humans overpowered her. Ororo noticed the large metal containment around the mutant's neck. The men lifted the female and threw her on one of the tables and strapped her down tightly as she began to wail. One of the men backhanded her so viscously, blood sprayed from her mouth onto the floor. Ororo gasped and covered her mouth. Logan's eyes narrowed at the woman noting the bruises and cuts all over the woman. He also smelled dried blood and men on her; apparently raped, several times. Logan growled and moved forward, but Hank stopped him, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, attempting to calm him. The woman moaned as she was injected with something in her arm. Seconds later, she stopped moving. Sensing Ororo shift uneasily, Scott held her hand and squeezed, comforting her. None of them want to watch this, but they didn't have a choice.
"How's coming along?" one of the men asked the other.
The second one turned on a tool, an electric screwdriver, to what Logan could see. "Well, let's see," he said.
The first man spread apart the woman's legs as the second man came around. Logan and Scott exchanged glances; the later covering Ororo's ears and pressing her head in his chest so she didn't see.
The mutant's scream echoed throughout the base.
"I don't understand why we couldn't do anything!" Logan fumed, slamming the door behind him.
Jean looked up from reading her files then went back to her work. Scott and Hank stood on both sides of the Professor and Ororo sat down, holding her stomach, a disgusted look on her face. "What you witnessed," Charles began, "this procedure…"
"It's rape, Chuck," Logan snapped, growling.
"Logan," Hank warned.
"We let her die!" Logan yelled. "We didn't do a fuckin' thing!"
"We couldn't, Logan," Scott said softly. "It would've compromised the mission."
"Fuck the mission!" Logan cursed.
"We did nothing so we could save millions of others like her," Hank reasoned.
"They injected her with something," Scott told the Professor. "We believe she was part of an experiment."
"How so?"
"Her file said so," Scott said, putting it on his desk. Clearing his throat, he glanced at Jean real quick. "We brought the body back with us in hopes of finding out what's going on."
"I'm a chemical engineer though," Hank said, knowing Charles would ask him.
"I see." Charles, and everyone else, all looked at Jean.
Realizing the room got quiet and all eyes were on her, Jean looked up at them. "What?"
Jean stood in the infirmary and stared at the body bag in front of her. Logan stood on the opposite side of her, with his arms crossed, as he watched her. Finally snapping out of her daze, she looked at the clock on the wall, and sighed deeply. She first opened the folder that was found on the woman, the unzipped the bag. After she unzipped the feet, she glanced at the body and gently felt around the bones and bruises masked all over the body, from the toes to behind the ears; Jean checked every portion of her body. The mutant's body was covered in deep cuts, some intently and others inflicted bruises, broken bones, slashes and dried blood. Jean gently lifted the woman's head and examined her neck, seeing several puncture marks; inject marks from many needles. She then turned and examined her arms carefully, seeing slash marks on the wrist. Jean swallowed hard as she moved and positioned herself properly as she opened the woman's legs and spread them apart. Using the light above her, Jean looked around. Logan watched, feeling his blood boil at the condition of the woman, and the fact that Jean had to perform the examination. Jean frowned deeply as she concluded the examination. Standing up, she snapped off her rubber gloves, and walked over to the table grabbing the medical folder.
"You were right," she told Logan. "She bled to death." Jean skimmed a few pages and stopped on one. "This girl had it tough," she muttered.
"What?" Logan asked curiously.
"It says here that they fertilized her, so she became pregnant…" Jean drifted off and squinted her eyes to make sure she was reading the print correctly. Logan furrowed his brows and walked over to Jean, looking at the reports.
"What is it?"
Jean pointed to the paper. "It says right here what they were trying to do."
Logan looked at the writing. "This is Greek to me Jeannie."
Jean looked up at Logan. "They're trying to create a super mutant," she said.
"What exactly does that mean?" Ororo asked after Jean finished explaining her findings.
Jean sighed and looked at the X-Men sitting in the room, watching her intently. "They're taking DNA from mutants and coming them, creating a new DNA thread. In that thread, contains the powers that the DNA holds. With the right chemical balance, you can generate all those powers into one being," Jean explained to the best of her ability. "Theoretically…you can have an immortal human, or mutant."
Scott's mouth dropped. "You're kidding?"
Jean shook her head. "This mutant wasn't a good match," she told them. "If she hadn't died from DIC, she would've been killed during the next procedure. Her body couldn't handle the alternate DNA." Jean held up the folder. "These happened to several others as well. It wasn't just this one."
"She's one of many," Hank said. Jean nodded.
Scott pointed to the device behind Jean. "What's that?"
Jean turned behind her as Hank picked up the metal device that was once around the mutant's neck. "This," Hank said, holding it up so everyone could see. "It's what we believe to be a device that contains mutant's powers."
Ororo raised her eyebrows. "How?"
"The metal," he answered simply. "It's made with the same compound that the mutant cure was once made of."
Logan shook his head angrily. "If we don't do anything," he said. "This'll continue."
Charles wheeled his way in the middle of the them. "X-Men," he said. "I believe now is the time to put an end to this…once and for all."
Sorry the chapter was so weak...it did sound better on paper. The army doesn't give much personal type, so I kinda rushed it I think...It'll get better though (I hope!)
Please review
