Disclaimer: please see chapters one through twenty.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Chapter Twenty-One, out with all possible haste, I figured, one more chapter before I hit the grindstone of uninteresting, unimportant, time consuming work wouldn't hurt anything.
Also, a couple chapters ago I introduced Shift, but it is proving entirely too weird to have a character in the story with my name, so from now on I'll be addressing her as Rune. I hope this doesn't confuse anyone.
So here you go!
Enjoy.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Through the jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh – He is Fear, O little hunter, he is Fear! – Rudyard Kipling
When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. Harriet Beecher Stowe
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Rogue was shoved with little ceremony into the recreation room, affectionately dubbed 'The Pit' by its occupants. Sinister had not come, as she was sure he would, when she woke up. She was further perplexed when the guards didn't take her to the experimentation wing, he was waiting for something, and she knew it, she just didn't know what. Probably though, he was waiting for her to lose her mind.
The room was full, a couple more faces then there had been before, apparently nobody was scheduled for experimentation today. Leech waved to her but remained where he was, playing with the other two younger kids. Psychostorm's glare felt hot on the back of her head but she refused to acknowledge him, Rune was talking about something to a decent sized audience of her people and had not yet noticed Rogue's presence.
Rogue herself, despite having actually gotten rest that night, felt drained and exhausted and moved immediately for an unoccupied armchair. Once seated she closed her eyes, trying to figure out some kind of course of action she could take, something she could do to free herself but any and all ideas escaped her.
"Hi."
The voice was masculine, but soft, sensual even, and Rogue knew it well enough, having absorbed its owner. It was guilt from this more then anything else that made her open her eyes and give him her attention where she would have ignored all others.
"Declan." She said in greeting, he nodded.
"You don't have to feel guilty or anything you know, about absorbing me, I know why you did it, I only feel bad that it didn't work the way you wanted."
Rogue nodded uncertainly, already wanting this conversation to end.
"I just thought you might want to know, my powers, when you touched me, it kinda went both ways." He seemed to struggle for a moment, "I . . . I can touch your mind, the collar doesn't block it, I don't know why but it doesn't. I've been careful though, if Sinister noticed my powers growth . . ." he let that thought hang in the air between them for a long moment.
"Touch mah mind?" Rogue finally said, still looking more or less uninterested. "How?"
He shifted uncomfortably, moving from foot to foot, "well . . . when you dream it's stronger . . . but I can see your mind, like a telepath. I tried to help you, but I can't build walls like you, my telepathy didn't evolve with a need to . . . then I saw the link . . . the collar couldn't stop it, I didn't know what it was at first, I brought you to it." He seemed to struggle again, "Then he came, I'm not sure how, so I left again. Give you privacy . . ." he mumbled that last part, letting it die off.
Rogue was now staring openly at him, she recalled feeling someone else pull her to the link, she'd assumed it was Remy, or his Psyche, but Declan?
"I thought," Declan continued, dropping his gaze away from her own, "I thought this new growth might help, you know, to escape. We can talk whenever we want, maybe with others too, if we're careful, at night, I can pull your psyche beneath the collar and we can plan something, if anyone can do it, it would be you."
The hopeful look he gave her as he finished stating the obvious reason to his approaching her, almost made her heart break. She had no clue what Sinister or his guards had been saying about her, but everyone seemed to think her at least some form of demi-God if not a fully fledged one. How could she make these people understand that she was just a person, like them, no more special then that. "Maybe." She said, the finality in her tone telling him that the conversation was now over while not crushing his hopes completely. He smiled shyly at her and walked away, slowly, as though the movement caused him pain. She recalled, through his psyche, that he had never been healthy, even as a child.
She watched him leave, her gaze drifting over to Rune and her followers, then across the room to Psychostorm and his lackeys, but rested longer on the two leaders then on any of the others. Perhaps there was a use in this.
She remembered thinking once that she'd need an army to have any hope of getting out of here alive. . .
Maybe she needed to stop looking beyond her prison for a miracle, and start looking to make one within it.
It wasn't quite the army she had wanted, but it would be a start.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Kitty walked with deceptive cheerfulness into the large immaculate building, it seemed an almost hybrid between warehouse and research facility and instantly brought to mind all kinds of horror movies about viruses and zombies Kurt had made her watch. She walked bravely up to the front desk where a pretty woman with black hair and white lab coat sat at a polished chrome desk filing her nails. The phone next to her was ringing but she apparently didn't want to answer it. Kitty figured she was one of those secretaries hired on looks rather then aptitude. "Good morning!" she chirped as she walked up to it, placing her hands on the top of the smooth metal, it was a pretty tall desk.
The woman rolled blue eyes and put her nail file down, looking irritated. Kitty immediately disliked her. "Can I help you Ma'am?"
"Yes actually, I wanted to apply for a job."
"We currently have no positions open but I hear McDonalds is hiring, you might want to try there."
Biting her tongue to stop herself from verbally attacking the woman Kitty just smiled brighter. "I heard that the Scientist who runs this place was looking for subjects in an experiment, and that it pays good money. I thought to apply for that."
The woman looked at her critically, "You eighteen?"
"Yes." Kitty said, slipping across a driver license supplied by Mystique, Kitty was actually seventeen.
"You a mutant?"
Kitty phased her arm through the desk.
The woman humphed and pressed a button on the phone, which had thankfully stopped its annoying beeping. "Doctor, you've got another guinea pig here." Kitty bristled at the words but managed to hide it.
Silence. Then, "Excellent, please bring her up Kristy, and show her to my office, I'll be there presently."
Giving Kitty one final disgusted look the woman, 'Kristy' stood from the desk and led Kitty through the large empty hallway to an elevator, everything was extremely high tech, so much so that Kitty was amazed. Some of it even matched Xaviers tech, but it didn't matter, there wasn't a program she'd come across she couldn't hack. As the elevator rose slowly higher Kitty felt the beginnings of anxiety and fear, what if this didn't work? She had no desire to be experimented on, it was true that she'd heard this guy was looking for mutants, but she'd also heard hardly any who applied ever lived to get their paycheck.
What if Mystique was overestimating her ability to control this situation? Worse, what if Kitty was overestimated her own abilities? This could all go horribly, horribly wrong, incredibly fast if even one thing went only a little wrong.
Even as she began to envision horrible fates and nightmarish occurrences happening in the near future Kristy interrupted her. "Your bag is moving." She commented dryly.
Kitty looked down and winced. She forgot to unzip the bag, Mystique was going to flip! She moved quickly to rectify the situation, phasing her hand into the control panel below the buttons on the wall and finding the cord that led to the camera in the corner, thus killing its feed while opening the bag with the other hand. Kristy looked about to yell at her when a black cat leapt lightly from Kitty's overlarge and (she thought to herself) very tacky brown bag, hissing at the X-man as it did so.
"What do you think you're doing! Pet's aren't allowed in here!"
Kristy didn't get a chance to say anything else, in the next instant Mystique had resumed her own form, knocked out the annoying receptionist with a sharp two fingered jab to her neck and chest and adopted her body. "I expected more of Logan." She commented in Kristy's annoying voice. "You better stop daydreaming and get in the game kid, or you'll get both of us killed and probably Rogue too."
Kitty looked a little shamefaced but met the shape shifted glare with one of her own. "If the schematics I pulled from buildings mainframe are correct," Kitty went on as if she hadn't heard a thing, "There's a storage room just down the hall from where we're stopping, we can shove Barbie in there." She pulled a laptop from her bag and quickly pulled open the control panel cover and used a black cord to connect the two, typing faster then even Mystiques eyes could follow. The elevator slowed immediately, buying them precious seconds. "The cameras on the thirteenth floor," the floor they were going to, "and the elevator are all looping now, we're effectively invisible to the electronic eye."
Mystique grunted, impressed despite herself. "Xavier teach you that? I hardly thought hacking an agreeable subject to the oh-so-holy mutant high."
Kitty frowned, determined not to let the woman get to her, "I taught myself. I have a knack for it."
"You ever get tired of playing the goody goody give me a call."
"Yeah, right."
Kitty pulled the cord out and carefully slid the cover back over the panel, glad she'd spent so long the day before hacking through the impressive security features. The core of the buildings tech, the veritable holy grail and her entire purpose for being here, proved impossible to penetrate from an outside source, she was hoping that this doctors personal computer was hooked into it directly, and that he was arrogant enough to think all hacking attempts impossible and not have similar defenses placed on the interior of the building. If not then this would most likely be a wasted trip.
As they both stood, watching the glowing numbers slowly climb higher and higher they tensed themselves, getting ready, once they stepped off this elevator there was no room for mistakes, and Kitty was beginning to realize, no room for emotions.
With a start of surprise as the number reached twelve Kitty realized she was tensing up in anticipation, she was actually looking forward to this! Of doing something as an X-men that didn't require hiding from sight or a straight up brawl. The details of this assignment were attractive to her, the planning needed, the timing involved. It shouldn't have surprised this much though, she'd always been a better spy then a fighter, she was just glad that she was useful, that her defensive powers and her skill with computers could be sued in a subtly aggressive manner to achieve her ends. Even if she had to work with Mystique, even if these were the same reasons why Mystique loved doing what she did, Kitty was sure it didn't make her like Mystique, she could never be that cold, that heartless. Could she? Maybe if she was in the game long enough, did Mystique start out like Kitty? Just wanting to help someone? Would Kitty end up like Mystique?
She didn't have time to brood over these unsettling questions any longer, the number switched to thirteen, she pushed the thoughts away, she pushed her emotions as best as she could back with them. Here goes everything . . .
The door slid opened.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Kurt paced Xaviers office like a caged thing, his tail lashing out from side to side in agitation. Xavier was still locked in Cerebro, Scott had gone to contact Jean, Storm, and Beast and tell them about the morlocks in case Xaviers Scottish friend could help locating them, hoping against hope it would be easier then locating Rogue.
He stared hatefully at his communicator, sitting on Xaviers desk as though abandoned, willing it to crackle to life with news from either Kitty or Remy. He fought the urge to contact them himself, but Xavier had told him that both were more then likely involved at the moment in something risky and his abuse of the communicator would either alert potential enemies to their presence and duplicity, or cause a major distraction at a time when concentration is key to success.
He snarled, animalistic, feeling as though he was going mad with worry. Rogue was still MIA having God knows what done to her, Kitty was with Mystique, a woman who proved her untrustworthiness time and time again and probably wouldn't hesitate to kill the valley girl any other day, only the threat to Rogue was keeping her on the metaphorical leash, but he still worried for Kitty's welfare. He had no clue what the hell Remy was doing, but knowing what sparse details he did about the former acolytes past he doubted it was a walk in the park.
And here he was, Rogues brother for Gods sake, doing nothing. Pacing safe in the institute, useless and –
"Oy! Anyone there! Pick up mate, it's Pyro."
Kurt pounced the second the Aussie began speaking through the device on Xaviers desk. "Yes! What have you found! This is Kurt! Where's Remy?"
"Hey, am I not good enough or something?"
"John, this isn't the time, what do you know?"
"Eh, not much, Belladonna, Remy's Ex if ya didn't know, head of the assassins guild, nasty buggers those lot, did you know they-"
"John!"
"Right, right, sorry. She knows something, more then she's lettin' on anyway, knows someone, she says, that knows Sinister but we all think she knows more, it's just getting her to tell us how much she knows that's-"
"John!" Kurt all but moaned.
"Right, sorry again mate, Remy's working out a way to find out, figure a good all fashioned breaking and entering, finding her paper trail, if she's in contact with someone the number's gotta be written somewhere, the name too, Remy's plan is basically to find it if he can't make her talk."
"John, give Remy the communicator."
"Can't do that mate, Remy's, uh, a little indisposed at the moment."
"Indisposed how?"
"Well, he kinda got shot."
"What?"
"Funny story actually, see he was-"
"JOHN!"
Kurt could hear the sounds of a struggle on the other end and waited impatiently for it to end, then a woman's voice crackled through the device. "Kurt was it? This is Remy's sister-in-law, Mercy, Remy's fine, had a meetin' with Belle and she shot him, but he knew her well enough to wear a bullet proof vest under his shirt, he's got a really deep bruise from it though."
"If he's fine," Kurt started, struggling with himself to keep his voice even, "Why'd john say he was indisposed."
"Well, he spent the better part of this morning drowning his sorrow in hard liquor, apparently getting shot in addition to his hangover and whatever it was eatin' him up last night was enough ta knock him out cold."
"But you have a lead?" He hated how desperate he sounded, "You can find Rogue?"
"You're her brother right?" Mercy's voice was suddenly much more gentle, much more emotional, "We're gonna do out best, me and Henry're helping as much as we can, Jean-Luc too . . . in his own way. You just keep hope, we'll keep you posted."
More sounds of a struggle through which he thought he heard John saying "Wait I wanna talk some more!" and the device died into silence.
He sighed in relief, and then felt his worry double, praying against all odds that Remy find her, so far, this was the only real lead they had, everyone else was chasing theories with the possible exception of Logan, but he hadn't contacted the institute since he left so there was no way for Kurt to know.
Not knowing what else to do, Kurt began pacing again, waiting for Either Scott or Xavier to return to the office so he could relay his conversation to them.
After another few minutes passed and nothing happened, Kurt felt himself getting closer to snapping, he sat down in one of the large chairs in front of Xaviers desk and pulled his knees up to his chest his tail wrapping itself around his feet and tried to calm himself down. Then he folded his hands together and prayed, not knowing where else to turn.
And for the first time in his life, it didn't make him feel any better.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Rogue hadn't been surprised when Guards came for her, carting her off, their guns as always aimed on her lest she try anything, but she proved to be a very docile prisoner this time, not even gracing them with her usual withering glare. Her mind was too caught up in thought, working her way through the sketchy plan she was beginning to formulate. There was a lot of things wrong with it, a lot of things that could go wrong, she might wind up getting more then herself killed if she actually made it through the first part. But she doubted it would matter, a lot of people, the important people, in the pit would prefer death to imprisonment and the ones that wouldn't would prefer to die fighting then to die a guinea pig in some mentally unbalanced sideshows' science project.
Her chances were horrible, more then horrible, but she had to try, it was all she had anymore.
The psyches chose that moment to begin acting up, she felt more of her shield erode, a wave of alien thoughts, feelings and memories swarmed around her, chasing the beginnings of what could be her only shot at salvation far from her conscious mind. In a way she found entirely too ironic for her liking, the collar might actually work to her benefit. As long as her mind was a writhing mass of chaos Sinister wouldn't be able to pick her idea from her mind as he otherwise might, and thus, she may be able to take him by surprise if nothing else.
Her steps faltered, the guards grip on her arms tightened, she shut her eyes against the pain and confused agony that came along with her psych, the core of her being, being pulled in multiple directions at the same time.
She managed to pull herself out again relatively quickly, hissing at the effort while her body broke out into a cold sweat. A soul crushing depression settled over her when she could think again, crushing what hope she had managed to scavenge from her fledgling battle plan.
She didn't have enough time . . .
She'd never have enough time to work it out, to set it up, the psyches . . .
She was integrating too fast, she'd be dead soon as far as she was concerned, Sinister would use her to attack and most likely kill her friends, to destroy Xavier's dream, a dream she'd been fighting for . . .
One last thought seemed to echo in her mind as she was led to the doors she knew Sinister was waiting behind, another round of experiments, another bit of herself chipped away, one step closer to bringing about the destruction of everything and everyone she loved.
Forgive me . . .
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Shift here, chapter twenty one, twenty-two you may have to wait for, all that work mentioned last chapter, yeah, I haven't done it all yet . . . I haven't done most of it yet actually, and now I've officially reached the last minute.
Not quite what I wanted to write, but when are they ever? Remy was suppose to be in this chapter, he wasn't, Rogue was suppose to dominate this chapter, but she didn't, I hope Kurt and Kitty came off alright, next chapter there will definitely be Remy, I'm hoping to get Wolverine in there as well, and of course, Rogue, you'll be seeing some of this 'Plan' of hers next chapter, I'm till hammering out the details of it myself so it may not seem so polished but will hopefully get more refined as the story progresses.
Alrighty then, I'm gonna throw a few shout-outs out now and hope you liked this chapter.
Friend to All – You're sweet, you're review left me smiling for hours after reading it, I can't tell how happy I am to hear that I'm keeping all the characters true to form, I try to make sure and avoid any OOCness, I'm also absurdly pleased that you like the length of my chapters and the quested I put at the beginning of each one, it's actually kind of hard finding quotes suited to each chapter, I try to make them match, sometimes they don't but the effort is there. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the rest of them, thanks again for the review.
The Past – Belladonna really is a great baddie, right below Sinister, and yes, I must give you cliff hangers, their just too much fun to write not to have at least a few in there ;) I'm hoping for Belladonna to become a more involved baddie, but I'm kinda playing with ideas at the moment so I'm not sure how much of her I'll be using outside of the next couple chapters.
Thriller – LOL, thanks, I need that laugh, it's been a tough week, and as much as it pains you I completely agree, cliff hangers are wonderful tools to use to keep people reading ;) and so much fun to write. On the plus side I've only had what, like four cliffies in twenty-one chapters? But now that thing's are heating up there will probably be more ;)
Ishandahalf – I'm glad you enjoyed that cliffhanger, and I'm really glad I'm able to catch you by surprise with some of the stiff I have the characters do, I enjoy making people feel like it's going good and then pulling the carpet out from under their feet, it's really fun. I'm glad you like that dream scene thing because there will be more of them and that link is going to become pretty damn important in upcoming chapters ;) hope this update was fast enough for you!
That's about all I have time for at the moment, once again, I hope this chapter stood up to your collective standards as the readers, and you know the drill.
Likes?
Dislikes?
Review!