June 17, 2009

7:49 PM

Danbury, CT

A week after waking up from my surgery, Team Plus was moved to a small apartment in Danbury, CT, just twenty minutes from Salem Center, NY, home of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the place that we were apparently going to be scoping out.

"Man, this place sucks." Malcolm whined as he finished unpacking the few personal effects we were allowed to bring with us.

"Yeah, it really does." Dani replied. "But there's nothing we can do about it, so shut the fuck up."

We had only been in the apartment a few hours and I was already getting sick of their bickering. After discovering Malcolm's attempt to seduce Dani, he and I had nearly come to blows a few times, the most recent time literally minutes after we started moving stuff into the apartment. In order to maintain our cover that we were juniors at West Connecticut State University, we had been forced to move everything in on our own. Apparently Colcord planned to call us with our orders later in the day.

The apartment wasn't very big and even less living space. There were three bedrooms in it. However, we were using one as a staging area and arsenal so only two of the bedrooms were available to be used. This meant that Dani and I shared the larger room under the cover of being in a relationship and leasing out the extra room to our friend. It was a situation that both of us appeared to be fairly comfortable with. I certainly wasn't complaining.

Finally, nearly an hour after the last words spoken, the three of us finished putting everything away in our sparse apartment. Colcord had agreed to let us move freely within the Danbury city limits, leaving only for recon missions to the Xavier Institute. So, Dani and I planned to go to the nearest store to pick up somethings that would maybe make this small hellhole more livable.

We were about ten minutes into the walk to the store when Dani spoke up.

"Take my hand." she said swiftly.

"What?" I replied in shock.

"Colcord would be pissed if we went out in public and didn't hold up our cover. Now, take my goddamn hand."

Realizing she was correct, I carefully grabbed her hand and took it in mine. It definitely didn't feel natural at all and he knew it was something they would need to work on in order to convince the locals that they were who they said they were.

"Why do you think that Colcord put us in an apartment? He could have just moved us to a different facility." I asked her quietly, doing my best to keep my voice from carrying.

"I think he really thinks that one day, we'll trust him and volunteer to work for Plus. He obviously thinks he's a mastermind."

"He's also lying to us." I admitted to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Back when I was on trial, my lawyer said that she had been hired to defend me by a man named Charles Xavier."

"What for?" she asked me.

"This guy apparently wanted me to come work at his school. However, part of me wonders if he didn't know that my trial was fixed." I replied.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, he directly opposed Colcord and if Howlett is there, maybe he knows about Plus."

Instead of replying with words, Dani just shrugged and led them on further down the road. Suddenly, I thought of a question that I had never thought to ask before.

"How did you get to Plus?" I asked her. "I mean, did they abduct you or what?"

Dani took a deep breath before she responded. I could tell that this wasn't going to be a good story.

"Well, I had been at Plus nearly a full year before they were finally able to get you to come. They kept talking about the convict this and the convict that. I don't think they wanted Malcolm and I to know who you were for some reason. But, about fourteen months before you came, I was volunteering at a animal shelter in Denver, which is where I'm from."

"Really, Denver?"

"Yeah. Although realistically, this is just where I was from. It wasn't home or anything like that. Anyway, I was volunteering and all of the sudden I heard a commotion outside the room I was in. I walked outside to see Wilson and three others standing there. I was getting ready to transform into that polar bear you saw when one of them put me down with a stun gun."

"Wow." I replied in awe.

"Yeah, I woke up at Plus six days later. They treated me fine. I figure they wanted to make sure I was in top shape when you got there. Plus, the one guard that tried to assault me accidentally hit the release button on my power bracelet. The next thing he knew, there was a falcon gauging his eyes out."

"Why didn't you escape?" I replied as we finally reached the small store that we had been headed for.

"Wade shot me with a tranq dart before I could escape."

"Damn."

"No kidding." she replied with a sad chuckle. "Although I am glad that you came around. If it had been just me and Malcolm for any longer, I probably would have tried to kill myself."

"Well, you happen to be the only bright spot in my life too." I replied with a smile.

"Guess we're both lucky."

Nearly two hours later, Dani and I walked out of the store with several bags of food and small decorations. I wasn't one for interior decorating and I didn't get the feeling that she was either. However, I also knew that we both felt the need to customize our living arrangements as much as we could, just to give ourselves something to do.

By the time we reached the apartment, we were both throughly exhausted and ready for bed. Unfortunately, our new roommate could not be held in the same regard. As we walked in the door, we both saw that there were several empty beer bottles strewn all over the living room floor and that he had another in his hand as he sat there and waited for them.

"How was your date?" he slurred.

"Funny, Malcolm." Dani replied. "I see you had a good evening."

"Fuck you, you whore." Malcolm raged. "I wasn't talking to you. So, how 'bout it, Ghost? Did you get a quickie or something?"

"Go to bed, Malcolm." I replied, angered by his tone and his use of my codename. "We can't have you breaking our cover on the first day."

"Fuck our cover, man!" Malcolm screamed as he stood quickly. "What the hell am I supposed to do about our cover? You two run this fucking show! You have to go and fuck her to keep our cover! What the hell do I get to do? Sit on the fucking couch while you guys fucking do whatever you want!"

"We aren't doing anything." I replied calmly. "I've never slept with Dani and I don't plan on it."

"Definitely." Dani chimed in.

"Fuck you two. I would fuck her if I were you."

"You are an animal." I replied harshly.

"No." he replied with a vile look on his face. Suddenly, he made his way quickly to her and looked at her hungrily. "She's the animal."

In the moment after that, something inside me snapped and I went into a rage that I had never felt before. With all the power that I had, I reared back and leveled Malcolm with a single left haymaker. Suddenly, I looked at him laying on the floor, nearly unconscious, and noticed something. Whereas before, I could always see anyone's weaknesses, I couldn't anymore.

"As I thought, when you rage, you lose your ability to utilize your inherent abilities."

As I heard Colcord's voice play over a speaker somewhere in the room, I was instantly brought back to the world and noticed that Dani had grabbed me from behind and pulled me into a crushing embrace.

"What are you doing?" I chided.

"Trying to calm you down."

"By squeezing me to death?"

"Before my parents died, they used to squeeze me as tight as they could when I was angry or sad. I saw your anger and thought it might help." she admitted lowly.

"Not bad." I replied with a smile before turning my attention to the voice. "A side effect of the ability?"

"Yes. It appears that Howlett's berzerker rage manifests inside you as well. As long as you are clear-minded, you will still be able to use your ability to analyze weakness. However, if you go into the rage, any other abilities that you may inherit will shut off."

"Great." I replied before turning back to Dani. "You ready for bed?"

Dani slowly nodded before looking back to the floor at Malcolm.

"What should we do with him?"

"Leave him here." I fired back harshly. "He'll wake up sometime in the middle of the night.

"Yeah, but then he'll turn to vapor and hover into our room."

"True." I admitted. "There's only the one vent in there and the cracks in the door, I think we can cover those before we go to bed."

"Great."

"You will get your orders at 9 AM tomorrow morning. Be ready."

After a half hour of taping up the vent and pressing stuff into the cracks in the door, we were finally ready for bed. I began to grab pillows and blankets and lay them on the floor when Dani spoke up.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

"Setting up my bed. I figure we could alternate who gets the bed, but I'm used to sleeping on a prison bed too or even the desert floor so hardwood is no problem."

"Or, I have a better idea."

"What?" I replied in confusion.

"You could get up here and stop being such a prude." Dani replied sharply.

"Well, I don't want to cramp you or make you think I was making a move on you."

Suddenly, Dani smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen her use.

"Maybe I want you to make a move on me."

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Maybe I don't want to be the guy who's just available."

Finally, Dani seemed to relent.

"Fine. Get up here though. I don't want you sleeping on the floor." she replied.

"OK." I said as I got up and fell into the bed.

"Also, you should remember that I'm the only girl available."

"Like you would let me forget."