Chapter 11: Cougar Meets the Brotherhood
"Better to have beasts that let themselves be killed than men who run away." -Jean-Paul Sartre
Once again, Creed found himself stalking through the Brotherhood's headquarters to meet with the bucket-head. A dark scowl marred his face. Every mutant who saw him gave him as wide a birth as possible in the halls (which were much too narrow for his liking). His overcoat flared out behind him with his smooth prowling strides, as if to give Creed's anger a physical form.
Truth be told, he wasn't angry at being called back to the Brotherhood's HQ. No, he was angered by his own lack of control concerning his beast. Over the last year, he would often find that he had wandered to the desert of California, where he'd taken the Cub. No matter where he went, Sabretooth would pull Victor back to Death Valley. No amount of bloodshed would satisfy the beast. And it pissed him off.
He could hear the other mutants talking behind doors and around corners, but he ignored them in favor of getting to Magneto's office and back out as quickly as he could. Sabretooth couldn't stand being in the building—it was too similar to Stryker's lab for his tastes, with the cement walls and floor and claustrophobic halls. It brought back memories he'd prefer to keep buried.
If his current mood, the similarity, and the memories weren't enough, the inane chatter of the other mutants grated his nerves, played them like a fine-tuned guitar. If he couldn't get away soon, he was gonna knock some heads (or gut someone, he wasn't picky), and he'd only been in the headquarters for 10 minutes.
When he finally reached the main office, Creed walked in without warning. Magneto gave the large Feral an irritated glare.
"Sabretooth."
"What," Victor growled. The man didn't back off, but stood his ground against the dark glare Sabretooth pinned him with.
"I have a job for you." Magneto's voice was firm as he met Creed's blue-grey gaze levelly. Lehnsherr didn't say anything more, waiting for the other Alpha's thoughts.
"What kinda job?" Sabretooth ground out. A sly smile curled the German's lips.
"I'm fairly sure you will remember a certain Kuga Talonson?" Erik purred. "I need your help to retrieve her from Death Valley." The Feral's eyes narrowed and darkened to deep cobalt.
'Oh, fuck no! I try ta get away from th' bitch, and fuck-bucket wants my help getting' her? HELL no!'
Magneto must have seen Creed's answer in his expression because the smile immediately dropped.
"I'll pay you $25 thousand."
'Now he's tryin' ta bribe me?' Sabretooth thought in contempt. "Why do you need my help?"
"I need her on my team, but I want her to join freely. You can control her, while she would probably ignore anyone in the Brotherhood."
"I ain't gonna help ya. You've got Juggernaut 'n' Toad 'n' yerself. I'm sure you'll figure something out."
The door opened again, and a pale blonde stuck her head in. Magneto and Creed turned their attention to her. "Sorry to interrupt, sir," she said quietly, "but the X-Men have decided to try to get the girl as well."
"Do you know who is going?" Magneto questioned.
"Yessir. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Shadowcat, Colossus, and Wolverine," was the quiet reply. Creed's eyes unfocused as he thought.
"Thank you, Emma. You may leave," Lehnsherr dismissed her. He stayed quiet as Sabretooth contemplated the new information.
"I'll help ya, long as I get to deal with the Runt." The Feral's sharp gaze cut through the German, who smiled. Creed turned and started toward the door as Erik spoke.
"Good. We leave as soon as the group is ready." Magneto's smile dropped suddenly. "Do not make me regret this, Creed. If you ever double cross me again, I swear I will find a way to destroy you."
Victor froze, one clawed hand on the door. He turned his head slightly to speak over his shoulder.
"Issat a threat?" he asked softly.
The spice of anger not his own swirled around his nose, and a dangerous smirk curled his lips as he faced the door again. "Remember who you're messing with, Lehnsherr," Creed said, almost teasingly playful. "You might get hurt."
He opened the door before stopping again. "And one more thing. The Cub ain't gonna speak human speak if her beast is in control." Then Victor Creed slipped through the doors and into the halls. He needed some fresh air.
Cougar ran. She wanted to get away from the building that had held her captive for the past year. She wanted to get away from the gold-white ground that burnt. She wanted to get away from the heat that surrounded her. She wanted to get to someplace she knew; someplace familiar.
The gold-white-shift-ground was soft, slowing her down. Her claws couldn't find purchase, her hands and feet sunk into the ground slightly with each step. But she didn't slow, didn't stop, didn't give up.
Finally, the ground started to become firm, stable beneath her claws. Shrubs and sharp-spine-plants dotted the otherwise bare landscape. Mountains surrounded her, distant—yet looming—behemoths, sleeping, surrounded by soft-gold-white ground. Shift-ground-hills rolled to her right and behind her.
She stopped running, sliding in the loose dirt. A cloud of dust blossomed around the young Feral, and she coughed, trying to get the dust out of her throat.
Once the dust settled, Cougar looked around. The area wasn't familiar, but the same could be said for the place she was running from. When nothing caught her eye, she continued running. She ran north. To the Feral, north meant safety, even if she'd been born in the Mid-West. North was safe, north was familiar.
Cougar skidded to a stop again, rocks cutting her hands and feet as she slid. Her ears strained, listening for the sound she heard moments before as her obsidian eyes flicked around her. She couldn't see anything, but she heard something, like faint thunder.
Testing the air, the Feral could smell cold-scale-lizards, dirt-earth, and shifty-grain-rocks, a scent she'd grown accustomed to over the past few hours. Fainter, she smelled blood-earth-metal, fire-start-gas, and cloud-sky; a familiar scent. She remembered the scent from the time just before she was taken from her territory in the white-cold forest, and it made her nervous.
After another quick look around, Cougar started racing across the land again. She didn't want to be found by the thing that smelled so familiar.
As she ran, she noticed the air started to smell different. The blood-earth-metal scent started to get stronger, but not the fire-start-gas or cloud-sky. It smelled like…like iron, or steel; scents she knew from the time in The Building*. The blood-earth-metal scent got stronger bit by bit, until it over-powered everything except the scent of objects close to her. Cougar slowed enough to be able to take in any changes in the environment (other than scent) but not enough to be walking. Swiftly, she stood up; that provided height to see farther.
But without her nose, she was a sitting duck. Especially with the shift-sand-hills to her east, where anyone could sneak up on her.
Panicked, Cougar turned and ran toward the flat ground to her west, no longer following her inner compass north. She had to get away from the sound and smell. She pushed her legs to move faster, not wanting to give up height for speed.
In her panic, the young Feral didn't see the group of people standing on the floating piece of metal.
Without warning, Cougar found herself bound, blood-earth-metal holding her arms to her sides and her hands and feet together. She wasn't able to stop her forward momentum and fell, the side of her face, shoulder, and arm getting torn by rocks both large and small. Desperately, she tried to get to her feet, but only kicked up a small dust cloud.
Snarling, the Feral looked around, trying to find the one who stopped her escape from The Building, from the scent, from the sound… She was angry. She was tired of being caged, tied up, of being at another's mercy. She would rather die than allow another to dictate her. The only one she would answer to was her Alpha.
She spotted something behind her, so Cougar rolled over. A low, loud growl rumbled in her chest as Feral black eyes locked onto the group of people stepping off a flat, floating blood-earth-metal disk seven tree-lengths* from her. She couldn't make out individual scents, since the blood-earth-metal scent was so strong, but she would get scents, when the humans were closer.
Not that she wanted them to get that close. She struggled, trying to get out of the blood-earth-metal bindings. As she strained against the bindings, Cougar studied the group. There were about eight people total.
One man wore a strange cape, and a blue woman who stuck close to the cape-man. The rest of the group was following the cape-man, which meant he was the Alpha. That makes blue-skin-woman his mate.
A woman in white stuck close to the Alpha and his mate, almost treading on their heels. Cougar knew what competition over a mate looked like; this wasn't it. The Feral saw the white-woman was seeking protection. From what, Cougar couldn't tell. Maybe the rest of the group.
A boy with rich brown hair loyally followed the Alpha while he flicked a fire-start-lighter on and off. Brown-head-fur-cub reminded Cougar of a pup following its person around with admiration. A young man with dark hair walked next to the cub. Spines grew out of his face.
Briefly, Cougar thought back to the time before she found her territory; she had been running for a while, and stopped to hunt. A small creature with spines—just like the man had—walked in her path. She tried to claw it, but the spines stuck in her hand. She never bothered spine-creatures after that. With a growl, Cougar realized spine-face was one person she didn't want to mess with.
Behind the small group was a large man. He had a strange rock on his head; rounded on the top, cut straight at the bottom, and a part was cut out for his face. Strange bands wrapped around his chest and arms, showing off his large muscles. Something about rock-head unnerved the bound Feral, but she couldn't place what it was.
Behind rock-head hopped a green man. Everything about him reminded the Feral of slimy-water-frogs, from the way he moved to how he looked (his face slightly resembled the slimy-water-frogs), to the long tongue that would snap out randomly—probably catching annoying-buzz-flies. The thought curled Cougar's lip.
But as her black eyes strayed to the last person, her struggles immediately ceased and her blood ran cold. Short, dark head-fur, black human-clothes, black trench coat…and the smirk that spread across his face when he saw her freeze. Her eyes locked onto his storm-blue eyes for a short moment before she looked away. Her Alpha stalked behind the group, slimy-frog-man hopping next to him.
Cougar almost curled up on herself. Almost. She would have if the frails (and rock-head-man) weren't there. As it is, her head ducked down slightly and her shoulders hunched. Raw fear-stink filled her nose, mixing with the blood-earth-metal scent, burning her nose.
The group was only three tree-lengths from her now. Cape-man stopped, and the others followed his example. Everyone, that is, besides lion-man-alpha. He continued stalking forward until he stood even with cape-man. White-woman shied away from him when the other Feral passed her.
Lion-man-alpha scented the air and his smirk grew when he took in her fear-stink. Cougar determinedly kept her gaze away from her alpha, instead glowering at cape-man. He smiled in what she guessed was supposed to be kind, to which she snarled, baring her fangs threateningly. A rumbling chuckle came from her Alpha, sending shivers down the female's spine.
Cape-man was about to speak when a loud roar filled the air. Lion-man-alpha growled deeply, and Cougar snuck a peek at him. He was glaring at something behind her, a large, feral smile showing his fangs.. So were the other frails behind cape-man. Curious, the young Feral looked over her shoulder and saw another group on the shift-ground-hill she'd climbed not too long ago.
Seven people, all with black human-clothes. The leader was tall-ish, with brown head-fur and a strange red eye-covering. A red-head-fur woman was behind him, with a snow-fur woman and a blue man with a spike-tail on either side of her. A young brown-head-fur-woman stood near a big shiny-blood-earth-metal-man and a man covered in freeze-water stood in front of shiny-metal-man.
Finally, there was the man who had roared, running down the shift-ground-hill and completely oblivious to the calls of, "Logan, don't!" His dark head-fur was curled up, like wolf-ears and blood-earth-metal-claws were unsheathed.
'Lion-man-alpha and claw-man?! No chance. No chance for escape…' Cougar realized dejectedly. She curled up, protecting her vulnerable stomach with both groups there to see her pitiful reaction.
"Ah, I see the X-men have decided to join the party," cape-man called.
"The Runt's mine," lion-man-alpha growled lowly.
"Release her, Magneto!" one-eye returned angrily.
"I don't think I will."
Without warning, Cougar was lifted in the air. She yelped, struggling again as she tried to find the safety of the ground. She was floating, she realized. But she wasn't a sky-creature, she couldn't fly! Land-creatures were meant to stay on the ground or in the trees, not hang over them as she was doing now!
In her panic, she looked to the only one she would obey. Lion-man-alpha looked at her for a long moment before going after claw-man. A terrified whimper escaped Cougar's throat. She needed to get away! She couldn't protect the partner-of-her-mind-and-soul if she was caged again!
That thought gave her strength, calming her fear. The Feral woman took a deep breath before looking around her with a calculating gleam in her gold-flecked obsidian orbs. She took in all the mutants fighting each other, the blood-earth-metal that was still binding her, cape-man who walked so calmly in front of her.
A sneer crossed her face at the idea of what she was about to do, but only for a moment before she put on a devoted expression. Purring started in her chest, causing cape-man to glance at Cougar.
Magneto turned around when he heard… was that purring? He looked at the bound Feral. For a moment, he thought he saw some gold in her black eyes, but she closed her eyes briefly. When her eyes opened again, they were as black as a cloudy night sky. Maybe he imagined it…?
Well, that wasn't the important thing. The important thing was the Feral was purring.
"What are you planning, my dear?" he asked her.
Cougar looked at him, unblinking. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw white-woman and fire-fur-woman staring each other down. Claw-man and lion-man-alpha rolled between the two frails, clawing and stabbing, kicking and punching, roaring and growling at each other. She could hear others fighting behind her, but kept her dark gaze on cape-man.
All of a sudden, the sky darkened as dark sky-clouds rolled in. Sky-fire lit the dark sky-clouds and a streak of sky-fire hit cape-man. He screamed, and Cougar fell to the ground with a thump. She shook off the pain and worked to free herself from the blood-earth-metal bindings.
Cape-man stood up, cape smoking, and glared at someone behind the young Feral. Without thinking, he removed the blood-earth-metal from around Cougar, unwittingly freeing her. As he floated over the Feral, she stayed still. Once he was behind her, Cougar took off, around the fighting groups and into the shift-ground-hills. Once in the shift-ground-hills, she once again headed north.
*1 tree-length = 10 feet (or about 3 meters, for those of you who use the metric system)
Character Key (I'm not sure this is necessary, per say, but it's better to be safe than sorry.)
Brotherhood:
Cape-man= Magneto
Blue-skin-woman= Mystique
White-woman= Emma Frost
Brown-head-fur-cub= Pyro
Spine-face= Kid Omega/Quill
Rock-head-man= Juggernaut
Slimy-frog-man= Toad
X-Men:
Claw-man= Logan
Fire-fur-woman=Jean
Red-eye/One-eye= Scott/Cyclops
Snow-fur-woman/sky-alpha= Ororo/Storm
Blue-spike-tail-man= Kurt/Nightcrawler
Freeze-water-man= Bobby/Iceman
Ghost-cub= Kitty/Shadowcat
Shiny-blood-earth-metal-man= Piotr/Peter/Colossus
Some of the names will be used later, and not at the immediate time. Cougar's name for people changes as she sees fit (a good example is Logan's name from chapters 3 and 4 to now.)
Sorry to end it there. I couldn't figure out how to do the next part. XP
Before Creed 'napped her, during the 5 years in that town with Chrys and Kyle, Cougar began to connect human-speak words (metal, gas…) with Feral-speak (blood-earth, fire-start) from peeking into her human-half's mind. She isn't as good at melding human and Feral as Creed, but she's learning.
…Cougar wants me to tell you… she needed to…learn human-speak to better… understand the partner-of-her-heart-and-mind. Or at least try to understand. n.n (You know how hard it is to understand Cougar? It's worse when she's trying to speak to you… XP)
…My head hurts… I can't wait 'til Kuga comes back… Try deciphering what Cougar wants every. Single. Time you go to type. It is so hard putting words to what she gives me.
The other thing that gave me a ton of trouble was (growl) Magneto. It is almost impossible for me to get into the metal-head's head! DX I couldn't even begin to figure out what he'd say (that was believable). It is so frickin' hard to figure out how to bypass the block he has become in a way that is IC… Grrrr…
Add in the fact I've become extremely stressed lately, and I can't focus on anything. My dad's kidney was taken out a few weeks ago, my mom's knee is gonna have to be replaced, no one is working, my brother's shoulder is hurting to the point he can't lift weights… Everything is just making it hard for me to focus. I can't focus on school (I have a paper I'm supposed to be writing. My class is starting on writing the body, and I haven't even done the research yet. I'm so far behind…), and I can't focus on my stories. (It took me forever to finally find my muses. Even if it is only half of one.)
*sigh* I hate life. Or life hates me. Either or.
The next update might take a while. I need to focus on helping out in the house, since Dad's down and Mom's gonna be down when Dad gets back up.
HOWEVER! I do have a plot. Ish. I know where the next few chapters are gonna go. If someone doesn't fudge with the outline I've made. *cough, cough* Kuga. *cough, cough* (Remember what she did in chapter 8? She may do the same thing, or take it in a completely different direction…) Just need to figure out where the story's gonna go… TO THE DRAWING BOARD!
Alright, I'm done complaining. I'll try to make next chapter longer. (I somehow pissed Sabretooth off, who plays a major part in the next chapter... Creed isn't in the picture yet, and neither is Kuga. But she's also mad at me… *sigh* How do I manage to piss off the characters in my own damn story?)
Laters.