Silverfox Lining Chapter 12
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, references to sexual assault and violence Romance/Dark Comedy/Suspense Set in the 1970's. Reviews are very welcome please-).
Prison Cells Three Mile Island
Emma sat on the floor of her cell shuffling a deck of cards for a game of solitaire. What other game could she occupy her time with? There was no one else to play with at this point.
Why were gemstone solitaires considered to be so valuable? She wished she was diamond all the way through. After the shocks of watching Victor Creed kill both Wade and Tabby in front of her, she had been in a medical ward bed for days. That was when the voices started.
Her protective skin had first manifested at age 13, apparently the mutants' Bar Mitzvah, even if Emma was the ultimate WASP. It was brought on by the trauma of her pony having to be put down after she rode him too hard and he broke his leg. It seemed rather curious that mutations didn't show up until people's adolescent hormones kicked in, and something bad happened as a catalyst. Violence and sex were intertwined. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. What doesn't kill you makes you stranger.
When she tried to stop Victor she had been overwhelmed by the sense of her own powerlessness. Her ability was just defensive, a way to keep the rest of the world out. No one could keep the real world out forever.
When she started hearing the whispers, it sounded like a hive of bees. She would hear a voice, but when she turned and looked, the person's lips weren't moving. Emma was afraid she had finally cracked, that this purgatory had broken her.
In the beginning, she thought she could only hear mutants. The guards and doctors seemed like blank slates. Then she noticed a pattern: she could only hear other people's thoughts if they were feeling a strong emotion.
"Ohmigawd! Where am I! Am I going to die? I'd take Spanish class detention over this! It's not my fault I'm a mutant!"
Emma watched as a blindfolded boy about her age was dragged down the hall. He was shoved into Cage Number 17. It had been Tabitha's old cage. The finality slammed shut at the same time the door did.
"Is anyone coming for me? Does anyone care that I'm here?" entered Emma's consciousness from the direction of another cage.
She shuffled through the deck and pulled out the "Joker" cards. She had wondered what Kayla meant by "a good jokester". Emma didn't make the connection she was referring to Wade until she woke up and had been questioned by Stryker about him giving her the key to her cage. The only emotion she had read off of Stryker was lust. It made her skin crawl.
Emma played dumb. It was one of the advantages of being blonde. She knew enough not to let anyone know about her growing sense of telepathy.
She turned the first card over. It was a 9 of Spades. Coincidentally, the same number as her cell. She never wanted to be just another number or worker drone.
Emma flipped another card over. It was the Queen of Diamonds. The picture was so regal against the white background. That was more her style.
"Soup's off," Victor Creed said with a mocking tone.
It was like he was making fun of Wade's memory, spitting on his grave. Or was he?
"Someone pay attention to me! Immortality is boring already!" slid into her mind from somewhere up above.
Victor slid into view. She could see Agent Zero behind him carrying a tray of food. He seemed out of place.
Emma pointedly looked away. She flipped over another card. It was the King of Clubs: the lord of war.
"Good morning rich bitch," Victor said.
She tried to get a fix on his thoughts. Surely a creature as ruled by his emotions and impulses as Creed would be easy to read. His mind was silent.
"Just give me breakfast and get out of my sight, please. I'm not in the mood, not that I ever could be around the likes of you," she replied icily.
"Excuse me, but is this the normal routine? It seems so…unprofessional," Zero said to Victor.
"The morning routine is Victor and/or Wade insult and throw ice water on me. I change into diamond and insult them back. Wade and Victor snap at each other. Tabitha makes a sarcastic cameo so we don't forget she's here. Victor kicks Wade out. Wade slinks off making obscene gestures behind Victor's back. Victor tortures a woman, either psychologically or by committing statutory rape. Did I cover everything? Except none of that matters because you fucking killed them you disgusting beast," Emma said, getting angrier and angrier.
The cards on the floor started to rattle and move. She realized she had probably moved them herself, another hidden power coming to light. Victor and Zero stared at her.
"Someone has to fix the bloody drafts in this place before I catch a flu," she said to avoid suspicion.
"Nah, to get a flu you'd have to have a body temperature that registers above freezing. And what do you care, you acted like you didn't even like them in the beginning," Creed said.
"Prison politics makes strange bedfellows. What does it say about you that you had no qualms about ripping apart your long-term co-worker and lover? What the hell is wrong with you?" she challenged.
Emma sensed guilt. It wasn't coming from Victor though. It was coming from Zero.
"I hope she never finds out Stryker was the one that ordered me to kill her friend. Or that Victor figures out Wade is still alive."
"I don't need to justify anything to you. You're nothing. You have no power and no influence. You don't matter to me, Frost. I came in to tell you that your sister is here, but we're not going to let you see her. We're going to keep you here as bait, because bait is all you're good for. And for the record, I already screwed Kayla six ways till Sunday. And she had to let me because she loves you so much," Creed sneered.
Emma felt a rise of disgust. It came from deep inside of her, but was mirrored from Zero's direction.
"That's enough! This is not professional!" Zero said through gritted teeth.
"I can't let myself feel anything. I can't feel sorry for any of them or I can't do my job, and if I can't do my job, I'll be a nobody again," Emma heard what he wouldn't utter aloud.
"Slither away then, you overgrown hall monitor," Creed said.
Zero walked away. After he left, Victor came closer to the bars of her cage. He looked like he wanted to say something. She tried to open her mind to his, but it was like trying to get a picture on a static-ridden television. Finally, he gave her a chilling smile and walked over to Tabitha's old cage.
"So Scott Summers, is that your name? With that blindfold on, you look like a Cyclops. Have you ever seen the movie "Deliverance"? Because I wanna hear you scream like a little girl," Creed threatened as he unlocked the cage.
Emma tried to block out the double shriek in her mind. Scott squealed out loud, but also in his head and hers. Emma vowed if she ever got off of this island, she would make Victor and Stryker pay for everything they did.
Several Weeks Later, the Wreckage of Three Mile Island's Northeastern Cooling Tower
Wade reattached his head to his neck. He could honestly say he lost his mind, literally. A flurry of confusion hit him as he tried to remember what had happened.
A jumble of images flew before his mind. Stryker had subjected him to more and more additions, each more painful than the last. He'd had Adamantium blades installed in his arms, the ability to teleport, diamond skin, a connection to electrical devices, and the ability to fire lasers from his eyes. He'd been ordered to kill Logan and Victor. He fought both of them, but they beheaded him and got away.
Stryker's voice wasn't in his head anymore. If he had to have a voice in his head, he would have preferred something cooler like HAL the computer from the movie "2001" or a phone sex operator. What was he supposed to do now?
"Hey guys, is this a trilogy? Because I wanna be in the next story. Anyone? Anyone? Pay attention to me. I'm bored!"
The End