DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N:Brooke & Chris need some lovin' so I couldn't help but post another chapterXD And a big thanks to My Beautiful Ending and gaarakabuto for their loyalty to keep revewing this story, despite my long...er, pausesXD Hope everyone enjoys this chapter as well as the last one:)
Please a review if you can:) Warning: Brooke has a bit of a potty mouth and there is slight-mild strong language in this chapter, beyond her "norm". Just a forewarning^^
Shit.
After that horrible vision, I wanted to get off the plane. Now.
My hands clenched into tight, white-knuckle fists and I sat like a stone in the seat. I was never the one to be plane-sick; I actually loved the feeling of speed. But I felt my face pale and I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the break of nervous sweat along my neck.
No one really spoke to me. Everyone was quiet and Wade, for once, didn't break the silence. Then he spoke up again. No one listened to him, as normal, or at least, no one tried to.
We landed silently and I rushed off the plane, the first one off and to touch the grass. I glanced over my shoulder to see Stryker walk to my side. I slowly watched the others approach and Stryker spoke up, explaining how this mutant was a great problem to the local people. The government wanted us to get rid of him; we're eliminating the bad ones from the good ones.
I glanced up at Stryker but said nothing to anyone.
We slowly walked sometime, the quiet footsteps loud in the silence of the woods.
"What's the mutant's power?" Wade asked.
"Speed," Stryker said.
I made sure I didn't give away my position of seeing this mutant die. I looked up at Stryker again; there was nothing on his face and his eyes were barely seeable in the dark. I gave up but nagging thoughts sat in my head: what did this mutant do? Why is the U.S. government after him? Lastly, why did Team X, a group of mutants, have to kill him, a mutant?
The house came into view. It was small, barely a quarter of the size of the base. It was dark brown, made of some type of tree trunks and had a small chimney that wasn't smoking. Wade, Zero and Victor lead the group behind Stryker, who put up a hand when we approached the last line of trees.
"I want the teenager inside dead or alive… he has super speed. Kill the rest."
Those orders were stone cold. Ice clung off of them and I almost growled like Victor. Who the hell was 'the rest' and why do we have to kill them? I would have confronted Stryker if he hadn't flicked his hand forward. With that signal, Wade, Zero and Victor stalked towards the building silently like wolves cornering their prey.
"Chris and Brooke… make sure no one escapes. Fred, John, come with me."
I watched Stryker walk away, glaring holes into the back of his head. I saw Chris glance at me out of the corner of my eye. He blushed slightly, realizing that I noticed and looked away. But I didn't take my glare away from Stryker for one second when suddenly, Zero burst the door down.
There were shouts and Wade made his way past Zero, speaking back to them. It was a muffled tone and so I figured: a different language. I pulled out my handgun; I reminded myself of the second one I carry now on my right side on my waist and of my dagger hidden in my left boot.
After I thought those thoughts, I felt slightly nauseous. I was beginning like them, like Zero, Victor and-and Wade. I was expecting to kill and my muscles tensed up when I realized I almost wanted a fight. I wanted to prove myself part of this time, not the weakling with almost a mental problem because she saw the future.
I slowly inched out of tree line, hearing more shouting, screaming, gunshots and childish cries of help. Despair fell into my stomach and I froze.
"Brooke… stay here," Chris whispered, his voice cracking at the end.
He was afraid of them. I glanced at him and stared him right in the eye for a while.
"Why?"
"It'd-it'd be easier… for us too," he whispered quietly to us. The adorable blush came to his cheeks… I gave a small shake of my head, to him and to myself.
There was a loud clash and bang as the power started to flicker. We both glanced at the building, seeing gunshots shooting from the second level windows, shattering the glass to the ground. Victor leapt out and landed with a heavy thud, growling. I gulped nervously and clutched my gun tighter. A childish scream escaped the house from somewhere in it.
"There's children in there, Chris!" I cried quietly.
"I know… I know." He bowed his head low, his shoulders slouched and didn't look at me. I took that as my clue to leave.
I slipped into some nearby shrubs. My vision flashed through my mind again. The lights of the house flickered again and more gunshots. A woman's scream died in the air and the very last note of it hung eerily in the air. Suddenly, the front door burst open with a giant gust of wind. A boy, barely the age of seventeen or so, whipped around to stare me right in the eyes. He cried again and started to gain super speed, but his feet twisted in the flurry.
There was one more gunshot. The boy fell down to the ground and I stared into his eyes. There was a second of a great agony flashed through them and then, they glazed over and lost that lively spark.
He was dead.
I sprang from the bushes, acting like I supposedly making sure no one made out of the building. I felt sick to my stomach, disgusted in my head and all I wanted to do was curl in a ball.
Stryker approached the boy while Zero reloaded his gun and Wade walked out of the house. I realized my gun was shaking and hid my hands away from their view, placing my gun back in it's rightful spot: my waist. Stryker poked the teenager with his boot and shook his head. But he said nothing.
He looked up at the two, almost grim looking, men and nodded.
"The mother?"
"Dead," Wade responded. I winced away from them.
"Children?"
"Two… human…dead." Zero said and when he finished reloading his guns, he stared at Stryker.
"Good job… it's a shame though. Boy could have been something."
Stryker shrugged it off, as if the boy was just a sick animal lost. It made me sick. I glanced at the trees, seeing Chris slowly walk out and watch us. I looked back at the guys before me.
"Let's go," Stryker said, with his arms folded behind his back and started to head back to the plane.
My body started to shake uncontrollably. I felt adrenaline pump through my whole system, sending my nerves into a wild haywire. I clutched my gun and glared at Stryker but I didn't do anything rash. I held my tongue and stiffly walked after Stryker, the team filing behind me.
There were two more incidents of mutant killing over the span of the next week. The next one was hard on everyone, even Zero and Wade, except for Victor and Stryker. Victor was the one who dragged the man, barely the age of thirty at the latest, and tortured the poor man. Even Wade couldn't understand the very fast words slipping out of the man's mouth; Stryker ordered Victor to finish him off. The man found great enjoyment of torturing the poor soul when finally he snapped the man's neck and it was over. John and I left looking pale and Chris looked sick, almost green. But still we did nothing.
The third time I think was the worse. It was a small gathering of mutants. There were small children evolved; the leader spoke with a heavily accented English of some sort. He tried to warn Stryker that all this, all this killing he's doing, would come back to him. The group was made up of three adults, two male and one female, one teenager and two young seven or six years olds; the teenager was a young man again and the younger kids were twins I think.
They were almost identical if they had been the same gender, one little boy and one little girl.
We killed them. Victor immediately took on the two males, whom obviously had been practicing their power. Stryker held back Zero and Wade, staring at John and I. We were meant to finish off the woman and children. We approached and I immediately noticed something was off with the woman. She morphed into a growling tiger before my eyes, snapping her foaming jaws in a warning. I let John handle her, turning to the children.
The teenager was the woman's son, no doubt. He stood in front of the kids, growling at me. His body vibrated but he couldn't fully morph yet. His face took the shape of a half-human and half-wolf or bear. His appearance would have made me laugh if it was an act. But this was too real. My visions started to happen and I pulled out my normal gun, then my dagger. The kids flinched from the sight and the teenager growled.
I thought I could make out words; don't… come… kids… I'll kill you.
I shook my head sadly, bowing it and breathing hard and rasped, "Not if I kill you first."
This confused him and immediately I took the advantage. He wasn't bad as Victor, since he was like a puppy still with oversized paws with had turned into massive brown paws with long dagger-like claws. A bear, I decided he was trying to fully morph into. His once green eyes, took on an ugly green-yellow mix and they became beady, focusing in on me.
I fired the first few shots, just trying to confuse him and get him angry. It wasn't that hard. He soon was racing after me and leaving the kids to hide. Victor and Wade were cornering the last man. There was suddenly a great wail of pain and we both stopped fighting. John stood above the tiger that was slowly drifting back to the woman's form. But she didn't have enough life to morph all the way back; she became a patchy tiger-woman. The boy gave a sorrowful cry, ignoring me and racing towards the woman. The children were left unguarded, unprotected.
I watched as John fired more rounds and the teenager sat to the ground, his face going back to human except for his feral green-yellow eyes. His lips were pulled into a sad snarl but his skin paled immediately as loose blood flowed from his body. I turned away from the sight, my eyes landing warily on the kids.
They must have been orphans. They didn't move and they stared right at me. The girl's eyes were full of tears and overflowing, rolling down her face steadily. She clutched her tiny, frail arms around her brother. Her brother was glaring at me through teary but angry eyes. His pride or fury stopped those tears from spilling over but he couldn't move ether.
I clutched my gun, loosing grip on reality as I realized what I was doing. Reloading my gun, I pointed it the children. I felt my hands shake violently and I couldn't stop them. Suddenly, a few giant whooshes past my ear and the children sank to the floor. Zero pulled back his arm, staring into nothing but straight ahead. Stryker nodded to him and glazed up at me.
That's when I decided that I wanted to leave. That I had leave and sure fucking as hell, I was going to.