Part 4

The Ill Fated Mission

[a/n]Again, I don't own any of the X Men characters. I do own Carly Chase [Jolt], & Megan Sykes [Shadow Storm].

Carly's POV

I looked over at the clock. 3:30. I was sitting at the table in the dining room, drinking a cup of hot chocolate. I couldn't sleep. I had been thinking about my parents' death again. It was something I remembered clearly, even though sometimes I wished I didn't. I remember the fire. I was so scared. So easily I could've died, too. Hell, maybe I should've. I remember the firefighters carrying me out, a scared 9 year old child. I was so tired, so weak. I remember my parents never came out and by the time the fire was out, it had gutted the house completely. I remembered crying for my parents. As young as I was, even I knew there was no way they'd made it out. No one ever found out what the cause of the fire was and I sure don't remember. I always wondered if I had caused it somehow with the manifest of my mutant powers. But, I don't remember. I've heard about how suppressing memories protected people from memories too painful to process. Maybe that's the case. Maybe I'm just better off not remembering. After all, they say ignorance is bliss. The sound of footsteps caught my ear. I looked towards the doorway and saw Victor. It had been about a week since he and Logan had joined our team.

"Victor." I said quietly. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see him right now.

"Mmm. Pretty Carly. I knew you were here. I could smell you." Victor said, "But what are you doin' awake?"

"I couldn't sleep. I was just thinking. What about you?" I wondered if he couldn't sleep, too, or whether he made a habit of prowling around in the early morning.

"Nope. Came down for a beer." he answered, taking a beer from the refrigerator and opening it. He offered me one, but I refused. I don't drink. Never have. Never want to.

"I don't drink." I told him. He shrugged and sat down across from me at the table. Before he could even take a swig of his beer, the mission alarm sounded.

"What the hell is that?" he growled.

"It's the mission alarm. It means Major Stryker wants to see us in the mission room." I explained. When we entered the mission room, Colonel Stryker was already there waiting. The big guy leaning against the far wall is Fred Dukes. He's an unusually big guy, muscles on his muscles. He has the brawn, but not really the brain, you might say. He's kind of a sweetheart, but not too bright. His mutant power is extreme durability, resistance to damage, and extra strength. The short, skinny man practically standing in the corner is Chris Bradley, or Bolt. He's extremely quiet, a really nice guy. He's so quiet sometimes I forget he can talk. Sometimes it just doesn't seem like he belongs here. He is a mutant that can control electronics. There's a technical name for it, but I don't remember it. The thin, strong man with the brown wavy hair, who is leaning against the wall closest to Colonel Stryker, is Wade the Mouth. Wade Wilson, or as some call him "The Merc With the Mouth". For good reason. He's a mercenary, who loves his two katana swords, and just killing in general, a little too much. His mouth seriously never stops. He's always saying something. He's probably the most annoying member of the team. Colonel Stryker always tells him, if it weren't for that mouth on him, he'd be the perfect soldier. Truthfully, he scares me a little. The Asian man with the dark hair and dark eyes, standing beside Fred Dukes is David Nord, or Agent Zero. He's a bit cocky, and a bit of a suck up to Colonel Stryker, but he pretty much always has a professional heir about him, and there's no denying he's good at his job. That, and the fact that he always follows orders without question is the reason Colonel Stryker wants him on the Team. He's also a mutant. He has the very enhanced reflexes and accuracy, which really helps his shooting skills, making him deadly accurate. Guns are his weapon of choice. A few minutes after Victor and I entered the room, John Wraith entered. He was an African American guy with dark eyes and a bright smile on the occasion he did smile, who pretty much always wore a cowboy hat. He's a nice guy, a mutant with the power of teleportation. It's awesome and useful. Megyn, the girl from the hallway, who was standing next to Wade, is a mutant with the ability to control shadows. After John, Logan walked into the room. Colonel Stryker wasted no time in getting to the mission at hand.

"We're flying to Africa, where there's a diamond mining operation. We're looking for a special material. That's all I'm going to reveal at this time." he explained. Not much of an explanation, really, but I was sure he had his reasons. He didn't give any one of us time for any more questions. He just got us all into a jet. This was always the way when we traveled to a mission location. Stryker sat in the front of the plane and the rest of us sat in the back. As the plane took off, Logan looked as if he would be sick.

"You don't like flying?" I questioned him. Logan shook his head.

"Aww, poor little baby." Wade remarked. Ugh. Why did he always have to run his mouth? I felt bad for Logan, but I didn't really know what to say that could make him feel better, so I just kept my mouth shut.

"Don't worry, Nancy. More people die from car crashes than in plane crashes." Nord remarked. He was such a jerk, too.

"How about impaling?" Logan said. I wanted to laugh out loud. If there was one thing I'd learned about Logan over the week I'd known him, it's that he doesn't take any crap. Not from anyone.

"Hey, be nice. Or your approximation of nice." John said. John, always the nice guy, trying to settle the situation, but with a hint of smart alec in there. Then, he added, with a smart alec grin, "Need a bucket?"

Logan waved him away.

"We're landing." came Stryker's voice from the front of the plane. The first part of the mission, the storming of the gates and everything went well. Then, Stryker learned that the mineral he was looking for came from a small village nearby. So, there we were, standing, with all the villages as hostages in their own village. Wade, being a mercenary, apparently knew how to speak their language. So, Stryker made him translator.

Frustrated, Wade finally said, "He says it came from the sky."

"He's telling the truth." Logan said.

"You don't speak the language, Logan." Stryker said.

"It's a meteor fragment." Logan said.

Stryker asked where he could find more, and when the man responded, saying that there was no more, Stryker gave a look to me. I knew what he wanted, but I couldn't believe it.

"Sir, I can't. I won't. No. They're innocent people, civilians." I told him.

"Carly, there are always casualties in war, even civilians." Stryker said firmly.

"Sir, this isn't war. I can't do it."

Stryker scowled, then nodded to the others and turned his back. Victor walked up to a man and snapped his neck. Nord opened fire, and Wade entered the fray, katana waving. I stood there, paralyzed with shock, unbelieving of what was happening.

"No!" Logan said, running at his brother, but Nord pushed him down. He finally got up and made his way to his brother, grabbing his arm before Victor could slash open his target. Everything was still and quiet at that moment. All eyes were on the brothers.

"Victor, that's enough. That's enough." Logan said.

"We got a good thing going, Jimmy. Don't you screw this up."

"It's enough. We didn't sign up for this."

"Maybe you'd rather be sitting in a cell until they find a way to do it to us. Is that it?"

Logan finally let go of his brother's arm and Victor backed off. Logan turned around and threw his dog tags on the ground. He was leaving? No. He couldn't leave. Could he?

Victor yelled to him as he started to walk away, "Jimmy!"

The rest of us just stood there silent. Logan turned around to face us. He looked me in the eye and tears started to well up in my eyes. For a moment, he looked like he felt bad, but then, I think he couldn't handle it, either, and he turned to face his brother.

"We can't just let you walk away." Victor said. Logan just turned back around and kept walking until he disappeared into the thick jungle, disappearing from view. And just like that, he was gone.