Silverfox Lining Chapter 10
By Cadet Deming
I don't own the rights to X-Men or the Wolverine Origins Movie, Marvel and Fox Studios do, so please don't sue. I work in litigation so you wouldn't want to anyhow. Based on movie continuity. Wolverine/Kayla Silverfox/Victor Creed/Wade Collins/Col. Stryker. Rated T for adult language, adult situations, drug use and violence Romance/Dark Comedy/Suspense Set in the 1970's. Reviews are very welcome please-).
Author's Note: This is the darkest chapter I've ever written.
Medical Facility, Three Mile Island
Wade blinked a few times. Everything was black. Was he dead? Was he in heaven or hell? Is death really this boring? He heard muffled voices nearby.
Wade tried to sit up, but bumped his head. Was he in a coffin? What if he starved to death underground, like stories he'd heard about of people who were buried alive? The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout. They eat your eyes, they eat your nose, they eat the jelly between your toes. A big green worm with rolling eyes crawls in your stomach and out your…he forgot the rest. It was so hard to remember.
"Hello?! I'm not dead yet! Someone pay attention to me!" Wade called out.
He heard more muffled noises, and the sound of a latch being adjusted. The whole world shook and he was pulled out into a fluorescent glare. He saw Colonel Stryker, Agent Zero, and that creepy female doctor who was so icy she made Emma Frost look like a department store Santa Claus staring down at him.
Wade sat up with his arms extended in front of him and moaned: "I need brains."
A gun went off, nearly deafening him. A sharp pain hit the front of his skull. He was thrown back onto the slab.
"You idiot Zero! It just took him 24 hours to come back, and I still don't know how effective the procedure was. Do you know how much taxpayer's money I've spent on this?" Stryker said.
"You always aim for the head with zombies, sir!" Zero replied.
"Dude, that fucking hurt, man. It was worth it for the looks on your faces though," Wade said, sitting up again.
"Interesting," the doctor muttered to herself as she scrawled something in a notebook.
He felt the bullet in his forehead working its way out. It fell into his hand. Now he knew how Jimmy and Victor felt. There was something he needed to remember.
"Wade, I'm so glad you're back with us. The doctors declared you legally brain dead, but I had a theory the regeneration process just needed some time to adapt to your body. It still seems to be a little unpredictable. Most things are at the experimental phase," Stryker said smarmily.
"Legally brain dead? What do you think he was before?" Zero said.
"Did you piss on yourself when I went Living Dead on your ass?" Wade asked.
Stryker and the doctor both turned and looked at Zero. He had a tell-tale dark stain on his pants. He quickly grabbed the doctor's pad and covered his front with it.
"I don't need you looking at my crotch," Zero said snippily.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not interested in your 3 ½ inches. I have a girlfriend...for a change. Ohmigod, Tabby. What happened to Tabby after I went under? If Victor got her I will finish what I started and kill him. I'll kill him if it's the last thing I ever do…before I regenerate again. Immortality is so cool."
Stryker stared at him for a few moments. His tongue darted out as he licked his lips.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but I have bad news. Victor brutally attacked and murdered the mutant known as Tabitha Smith while you were under. He's alive. I tried locking him up. His appetites have been getting to be too public. He escaped, unfortunately. You have first-hand experience with how powerful he is. I do have a proposal. I understand the rage that comes from losing a loved one to this growing problem. As the implantation of mutations has proven to be a success, I'd like you to continue with further additions. If you can handle it, you'll become powerful enough to defeat even Victor, to destroy any mutant alive. Are you in?"
"I'll do anything," Wade said.
One Hour Later, Another Section of the Medical Facility on Three Mile Island
Stryker sat in a chair, watching the blonde mutant lying on the bed with interest. She looked so pale, so fragile. So many problems from such a young child.
She moaned weakly. Her arm tugged on one of the many IV tubes attached to her. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Tabitha, I'm so glad you're alive. Did I ever tell you that out of all of the mutants here, you're my favorite?"
"If that's true, why is this is the first time you've ever called me by my real name, instead of 'little girl' or 'Hostile 17'?" she asked.
"It's human nature to take things for granted until we almost lose them," he replied.
"What happened…what happened to Wade?" she asked, coughing.
"Wade is…dead. He's legally brain dead," Stryker lied.
"No! No, this is all my fault! This is all because of me," she sobbed.
Stryker had never been good at false sympathy. After his wife died, he had shut down even more emotionally on the inside. He preferred to think his feelings, rather than feel them. He sighed and handed the Smith mutant a box of Kleenex.
"Lit…Tabitha, that fight wasn't about you. You weren't the cause. Well, ok maybe it was partially your fault for being part of the hate triangle from hell and you were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Victor and Wade have been at each other's throats since I formed Team X. They were looking for an excuse to crack and try to kill each other. You were just the Macguffin Device. If this didn't happen today it would have happened a month from now over something else," Stryker said.
"Of course. There's nothing special about me. My whole existence is to be a pawn for men's egos," she said bitterly.
"You really do have the self-esteem of pond scum," Stryker said.
"What did you say to me?" she said and sat up sharply.
"Your choice of words, not mine," he replied.
"How would you know that?"
"The Frost girl told me. She was interrogated about the whole incident. We still haven't gotten a straight answer on why Wade Collins gave her the key to her cage," Stryker said.
"Emma is my best friend. Granted, she's my only friend, which shows how bad my social life is, but she wouldn't tell you that. You would only know if you were listening, if you were watching the whole time. You must have known about the fight, and you didn't stop it. You let Wade die, you bastard!"
Stryker felt his mouth twitching into a smile. He got tired of double-dealing and lying constantly. What was the point of pulling the wool over people's eyes if he couldn't brag about it eventually?
"What can I say? I like to watch. I had filming installed in the cells, for security reasons after my books started disappearing. And the showers, but that was just for…entertainment," he winked at her, watching her turn red, either from embarrassment, anger, or both.
"But, what would you have to gain from one of your Team X Members dying? Why give Wade mutant abilities only to watch him be killed?"
"I had to see if the powers actually worked. What better test than to see him in action against the strongest mutant I know? Plus some of the guys had a dead pool bet over who would win in a fight between Victor and Wade."
Smith threw the box of Kleenexes at him. He deflected it. He grabbed her arm.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. No one's protecting you now. Wade's…gone. And Victor, well he's your worst nightmare. Hell hath no fury like a 250 pound mutant scorned. I can't keep him locked up forever, he's of too much use to me," Stryker said.
"What do you want from me that you haven't already taken?"
"Maybe you and I can work out a similar 'protection racket arrangement'. I'll give you time to decide. I know it's been a rough day for you. Of course I would have to transfer you out of the cells, and let the rumors spread that you're dead. It would be the only thing to keep you alive when Victor gets out," he said, stroking her cheek with his finger.
She flinched and turned away.
"Are all men ruled by what's below your waistlines?" she said bitterly.
"We're animals. It's evolution. You're a smart girl. I'm sure you'll make the right decision."
"I've thought about it, and no. I'd rather die on my feet than keep living on my knees. Especially in front of a snake like you."
Stryker was ticked off. How dare she? She picked the wrong time to finally grow a spine.
"I'll say hello to Victor for you," Stryker said coldly as he left the room.
20 Minutes Later
Agent Zero sat reading an intelligence report on the next mutant he was assigned to capture. He preferred to skip over the psychological profiles and stick to the objective data. Although Wade made no secret of the fact his assignments were all about money or one of his bizarre ideas of a joke, and Victor seemed to use his assignments as a way to vent his increasingly animalistic instincts, Zero viewed his bag and tag missions as shooting practice, just with tranquilizer darts instead of bullets. The more dehumanized the better.
The phone rang and he picked it up to hear Colonel Stryker's voice: "Just do what we discussed."
Zero didn't ask questions. He never did. He put silencers on his ever present guns and walked to the room the Smith girl was in. This was almost too easy.
He was surprised to see her bed was empty. The back door on the other side was slightly ajar. He peeked through it.
She was in a small office area. A phone was in her hand. He heard a dial tone. She looked directly at him.
"I thought he would send Victor for this," she said.
"I guess he wanted it painless," he replied.
"A little late for that," she replied, and started laughing hysterically, crazily. She sounded like Wade.
This wasn't what he was used to at all. Targets were either completely voiceless and anonymous, shooting at him, or running away. He felt uncomfortable with how she kept looking directly at him. This wasn't part of the plan.
"Can't I have my one phone call, please? They never let me have one phone call," she said.
"So you can give away compromising information? I don't think so."
"If I say anything dangerous, you can shoot me. Serial killers get a last request. Why can't I," she said, and broke into hysterical laughter.
"Fine," Zero said, surprising himself.
He watched her dial a number and lift the phone to her face.
"Hello, could I speak to Emmett Frost please? Hello, you don't know me, and I can't tell you who or where I am, but I needed to let you know your daughter Emma is still alive. She's still alive and she's so strong and you would be so proud of her, so please don't give up hope. Please don't give up hope."
Zero heard a garbled man's voice as she hung up the phone. He saw she was crying as she looked back up at him.
"Just do it," she said.
"Turn around," he said.
She didn't comply. She just kept staring at him.
"I said turn around!" he said, his voice cracking.
Finally she turned.
He put the barrel of one of his guns to the back of her head.
"I promise, it will be painless," he whispered.
He pulled the trigger twice, execution style. It was the same motion he'd done thousands of times before. It was the first time he felt something. He never wanted to feel again.
To Be Continued