Title: Project Rapunzel
Chapter 8
By: Web Spinner
Notes: I am sorry this fic is sort of depressing and dark all the time. I really should be writing a research paper but I am writing this instead. Why can't my profs let us write any fun stuff? Please review!
~ Jean~
Sobs racked my body as I was being dragged away. Shadows hid the foot of the tower preventing me to see him. It was a blessing, I could stand to see my sweet Scott de... no I can't even say it. Ida stuffed me into a car and strapped me in. She seemed amused at my tears. Shaggy was in the driver's seat waiting.
"What happened to Joseph?" he asked.
"I don't pay you to ask questions. Drive," Ida yelled at him. I closed my eyes. `Think Jean. Concentrate' I told myself and started to work mentally on the knots that held my hands. I still couldn't control my powers very well and working the knots, which were behind my back, was nearly impossible. I twisted and tugged on the ropes that held my hands. The skin of my wrists broke under the bite of the rope and I felt trickles of blood wet my hands. I concentrated harder and the ropes seemed to loosen a bit. The minutes felt like years as I twisted my hands and inch by inch until they came lose. I rubbed my bloody wrists and undid my ankles. I kept glancing again and again at Ida and Cal but neither of them seemed to be paying me much attention. I finally pulled the duct tape off my mouth and winced at the sting.
"Do you want to know what happened to Joseph?" I asked. Shaggy jumped and slammed on the brakes. Ida let out a good long string of curse words.
"How did you get lose?" he asked me.
"They shot him. She shot him. He's dead, Cal. You were his friend..." Cal eyes widened and a sudden guilty look crossed over his face.
"You were the one who betrayed us weren't you?" I yelled at him. Cal looked at Ida horrified.
"No, he can't be. You weren't supposed to hurt him. He was a good guy," Cal stated with shock in his voice.
"He was a mutant. He killed two guards," she stated. Keep talking, I thought and finally found what I was looking for. With pain staking slowness I slowly lifted the sharp pair of scissors, which Ida had used to cut my hair out of her pocket.
"You had no right. He was right. Human stupidity is infinite. I quit," he spat at Ida.
"Why you little..." Ida started just to find a pair of scissors floating in front of her aiming for her heart.
"Don't move, Dr. Frankenstein or this might hit a vital organ. Tell me, doctor, do you have a heart?" I whispered into her ear. Cal stared at me in shock. I think Ida had gone a few shades paler but it was hard to tell by the moonlight. She said nothing.
"I've been waiting to do this for a long time. You hurt me bad, doctor. Just because I was different. You killed my love..." my voice had raised to a yell. Ida looked even more frightened. I was going to stab her through the heart with those scissors until Cal's voice stopped me.
"No, Jean. You can't. It's not right. If word gets out that she was killed by a mutant then the rest of your kind will be hunted down even more and she will win in the end," he sad and put a hand on my shoulder. Ida smirked at me. The scissors pierced her shoulder causing her to scream. She just had to push me to far. She should've been glad they weren't in her heart.
"I'll drive you to the nearest bus station," Cal said and started the car again. "Traitor," Ida hissed at him clutching her shoulder.
"What we are doing is righteous! Don't you understand, we are cleaning the human race of this disease," she yelled at us.
"Bull," I stated and glanced at the passing scenery.
"We live for the cause and we'll die for the cause," she stated and grabbed the steering wheel.
"What are you doing?" I heard Cal yell before the car hit the tree.
I don't know how long I had been knocked out. My head pounded and a trickle of blood ran down my forehead. I groaned and sat up stiffly. The front of the car had been totally smashed in. Cal was unconscious over the steering wheel and Ida had been thrown through the window.
"Wake up Cal," I said as I leaned over from the backseat.
"Come on Shaggy, don't you die on me," I said and felt for a pulse. There was a light fluttering beneath my fingertips.
"Shaggy," he whispered and opened his eyes a little bit.
"Come on, that's it. You can make it," I said. His mouth cracked into a small smile.
"Liar. Get out of here. I'm sorry for the pain I caused you," he whispered hoarsely at me. I bit my lip. He was dying. I sighed and felt all the anger leave me.
"I forgive you," I told him as I found his hand. I squeezed it and he smiled once again then died.
The road was deserted as I walked along the sides. I had wrapped by bloodied wrists with some scrapes of material I had torn off Cal's lab coat. The road signs gave me no clue to where I actually was, much to my dismay. My stomach grumbled for food and my muscles screamed with pain but I have to keep going. I am free a last but I keep wondering if the price was too much to pay. Tears started to stream down my face again causing me to have to wipe them away. Over the horizon the sun was beginning to raise, it was a glorious sight. You never stop to appreciate things like sun rises until they are taken away from you. I spotted a small store and jogged over to it. An old red pickup truck was outside of it along with some other cars. The truck bed had a cover over it. It would probably serve as a good resting place until I could start my journey again. I crawled into it and lay down on the cold metal. Tiredness overcame me and I was asleep before I heard the motor of the car
start.
~ Kitty~
You'd never think of Logan of being a gentle guy but he set my arm in a splint without a trace of roughness.
"You saved his life, half pint," he said as he finished. I sighed and looked across the med lab where Scott was still sleeping on one of the beds. Bandages covered his eyes making my heart fall even lower.
"We failed. Jean's gone and now Scott can't see," I nearly cried. I hated crying in front of Logan but I couldn't help it.
"I'm sure Chuck is trying his best with that computer of his in trying to find Red," Logan assured me. He was lying of course.
"Cerebro is still broken from Mystic's last visit. I'd be fixing it now if I didn't have this thing on," I said with disgust and glared at the cast on my right arm.
"Chuck should've called me and Beast down from Canada. This was not a mission you youngsters should've taken by yourselves," Logan said grimly.
~Jean~
"She's coming around," a soothing voice lifted me from my sleep. I smiled in comfort for I was so toasty warm, a feeling that I had long forgotten. I opened my eyes and found several people staring down at me. None of them had lab coats on and each wore very welcoming smiles. One was an old man with a head of white hair and the kindest blue eyes I had ever seen. Beside him was an old lady with her gray and white hair pulled back in a clip. She wore a blinding shirt of purples and oranges with a pair of purple slacks. It gave her a impish sort of look to her. The man closest to me was sitting in a chair by my bed. He was an older man in his fifties. He had a balding head of hair and a stethoscope around his neck. He reached out to me and I drew back in fright. "It's ok, honey. We won't hurt you," the old lady said warmly.
"How long have I been here?" I asked but kept a good eye on the doctor. There was no way I was going to let him touch me. He'd only take me back to them... I shuddered at the thought.
~ Rev. Grey~
Our young guest looked about ready to leap out of the bed if anyone made any sudden movements.
"About a week," I told her. She had slept most of the time but on the second and third day had gone into violent seizures that made me fear she would make it at all. Even now, it was going to take a lot of work to get her healthy again. She looked half starved and she had been bruising over her body not to mention deep bruising around her wrists and ankles that showed she'd been tied unmercifully. The young lady was a mystery indeed. She had somehow hidden in my old pickup truck when I was returning home from a trip out of town.
"I'm Rev. Charles Grey, this is my wife, Maryanne, and this is Dr. Peters," I introduced everyone. She glanced us over with her large green eyes.
"I'm Jean," she said simply. Her eyes lingered around our guest bedroom until they found an open window. Over the horizon, the sun was starting to appear. Her lips turned up into a smile.
"And joy cometh in the morning," I quoted from the book of Psalms. Something tells me this young woman was going to make it.
~Kurt~
Kitty looked like she was going to cry again as Beast shinned a small light into Scott's eyes. I put my arm around her careful not to touch her broken right arm. She didn't move away but laid her head on my shoulder. It was really freaky to see Scott without his glasses and not getting blown to kingdom come. After an hour of scientific mumbo jumbo we finally got the results in plain English. Scott's powers were gone. "Anything?" asked Beast.
"I can almost see some shadows, that's it," Scott replied without any emotion. He was taking it well in my opinion. I'd have freaked out.
"Is there any way we can get the antidote to the beam that did this?" Ororo asked. She and Evan had made it back from their trip from Africa as soon as they heard. I had to come back from a visit to my parents in Germany as well.
"Tabby fried the computers," Kitty said. None of them turned to look at the blonde girl. Strong, quirky Tabitha Smith looked ashamed even though she had been following orders, she knew she had destroyed Scott's only hope of getting to see.
"We have to get Jean," Scott says. Man for a guy that's just lost almost everything, he's got a one track mind. The professor laced his fingers together. It was tearing him up inside to see Scott like that. I think he secretly thinks of the older student to be somewhat like a son to him.
"How?" the professor asked.
"I'll look just like any normal person. I have to find her and I will find her," he said determined.
"But Scott, you're....you can't see!" Kitty cried.
"I don't care," Scott answered back. There was no question to it now. He was defiantly in love with her. I held Kitty closer and whispered how much I loved her in German.
"I'll go with you!" I volunteered.
"You will all split up into groups," commanded the professor.
"I'm sure we will be able to find her," Ororo said.
"It'd be easier to find a needle in a haystack," Evan grumbled causing the rest of us to glare at him. Although I hated to admit it, I agreed with him.
Chapter 8
By: Web Spinner
Notes: I am sorry this fic is sort of depressing and dark all the time. I really should be writing a research paper but I am writing this instead. Why can't my profs let us write any fun stuff? Please review!
~ Jean~
Sobs racked my body as I was being dragged away. Shadows hid the foot of the tower preventing me to see him. It was a blessing, I could stand to see my sweet Scott de... no I can't even say it. Ida stuffed me into a car and strapped me in. She seemed amused at my tears. Shaggy was in the driver's seat waiting.
"What happened to Joseph?" he asked.
"I don't pay you to ask questions. Drive," Ida yelled at him. I closed my eyes. `Think Jean. Concentrate' I told myself and started to work mentally on the knots that held my hands. I still couldn't control my powers very well and working the knots, which were behind my back, was nearly impossible. I twisted and tugged on the ropes that held my hands. The skin of my wrists broke under the bite of the rope and I felt trickles of blood wet my hands. I concentrated harder and the ropes seemed to loosen a bit. The minutes felt like years as I twisted my hands and inch by inch until they came lose. I rubbed my bloody wrists and undid my ankles. I kept glancing again and again at Ida and Cal but neither of them seemed to be paying me much attention. I finally pulled the duct tape off my mouth and winced at the sting.
"Do you want to know what happened to Joseph?" I asked. Shaggy jumped and slammed on the brakes. Ida let out a good long string of curse words.
"How did you get lose?" he asked me.
"They shot him. She shot him. He's dead, Cal. You were his friend..." Cal eyes widened and a sudden guilty look crossed over his face.
"You were the one who betrayed us weren't you?" I yelled at him. Cal looked at Ida horrified.
"No, he can't be. You weren't supposed to hurt him. He was a good guy," Cal stated with shock in his voice.
"He was a mutant. He killed two guards," she stated. Keep talking, I thought and finally found what I was looking for. With pain staking slowness I slowly lifted the sharp pair of scissors, which Ida had used to cut my hair out of her pocket.
"You had no right. He was right. Human stupidity is infinite. I quit," he spat at Ida.
"Why you little..." Ida started just to find a pair of scissors floating in front of her aiming for her heart.
"Don't move, Dr. Frankenstein or this might hit a vital organ. Tell me, doctor, do you have a heart?" I whispered into her ear. Cal stared at me in shock. I think Ida had gone a few shades paler but it was hard to tell by the moonlight. She said nothing.
"I've been waiting to do this for a long time. You hurt me bad, doctor. Just because I was different. You killed my love..." my voice had raised to a yell. Ida looked even more frightened. I was going to stab her through the heart with those scissors until Cal's voice stopped me.
"No, Jean. You can't. It's not right. If word gets out that she was killed by a mutant then the rest of your kind will be hunted down even more and she will win in the end," he sad and put a hand on my shoulder. Ida smirked at me. The scissors pierced her shoulder causing her to scream. She just had to push me to far. She should've been glad they weren't in her heart.
"I'll drive you to the nearest bus station," Cal said and started the car again. "Traitor," Ida hissed at him clutching her shoulder.
"What we are doing is righteous! Don't you understand, we are cleaning the human race of this disease," she yelled at us.
"Bull," I stated and glanced at the passing scenery.
"We live for the cause and we'll die for the cause," she stated and grabbed the steering wheel.
"What are you doing?" I heard Cal yell before the car hit the tree.
I don't know how long I had been knocked out. My head pounded and a trickle of blood ran down my forehead. I groaned and sat up stiffly. The front of the car had been totally smashed in. Cal was unconscious over the steering wheel and Ida had been thrown through the window.
"Wake up Cal," I said as I leaned over from the backseat.
"Come on Shaggy, don't you die on me," I said and felt for a pulse. There was a light fluttering beneath my fingertips.
"Shaggy," he whispered and opened his eyes a little bit.
"Come on, that's it. You can make it," I said. His mouth cracked into a small smile.
"Liar. Get out of here. I'm sorry for the pain I caused you," he whispered hoarsely at me. I bit my lip. He was dying. I sighed and felt all the anger leave me.
"I forgive you," I told him as I found his hand. I squeezed it and he smiled once again then died.
The road was deserted as I walked along the sides. I had wrapped by bloodied wrists with some scrapes of material I had torn off Cal's lab coat. The road signs gave me no clue to where I actually was, much to my dismay. My stomach grumbled for food and my muscles screamed with pain but I have to keep going. I am free a last but I keep wondering if the price was too much to pay. Tears started to stream down my face again causing me to have to wipe them away. Over the horizon the sun was beginning to raise, it was a glorious sight. You never stop to appreciate things like sun rises until they are taken away from you. I spotted a small store and jogged over to it. An old red pickup truck was outside of it along with some other cars. The truck bed had a cover over it. It would probably serve as a good resting place until I could start my journey again. I crawled into it and lay down on the cold metal. Tiredness overcame me and I was asleep before I heard the motor of the car
start.
~ Kitty~
You'd never think of Logan of being a gentle guy but he set my arm in a splint without a trace of roughness.
"You saved his life, half pint," he said as he finished. I sighed and looked across the med lab where Scott was still sleeping on one of the beds. Bandages covered his eyes making my heart fall even lower.
"We failed. Jean's gone and now Scott can't see," I nearly cried. I hated crying in front of Logan but I couldn't help it.
"I'm sure Chuck is trying his best with that computer of his in trying to find Red," Logan assured me. He was lying of course.
"Cerebro is still broken from Mystic's last visit. I'd be fixing it now if I didn't have this thing on," I said with disgust and glared at the cast on my right arm.
"Chuck should've called me and Beast down from Canada. This was not a mission you youngsters should've taken by yourselves," Logan said grimly.
~Jean~
"She's coming around," a soothing voice lifted me from my sleep. I smiled in comfort for I was so toasty warm, a feeling that I had long forgotten. I opened my eyes and found several people staring down at me. None of them had lab coats on and each wore very welcoming smiles. One was an old man with a head of white hair and the kindest blue eyes I had ever seen. Beside him was an old lady with her gray and white hair pulled back in a clip. She wore a blinding shirt of purples and oranges with a pair of purple slacks. It gave her a impish sort of look to her. The man closest to me was sitting in a chair by my bed. He was an older man in his fifties. He had a balding head of hair and a stethoscope around his neck. He reached out to me and I drew back in fright. "It's ok, honey. We won't hurt you," the old lady said warmly.
"How long have I been here?" I asked but kept a good eye on the doctor. There was no way I was going to let him touch me. He'd only take me back to them... I shuddered at the thought.
~ Rev. Grey~
Our young guest looked about ready to leap out of the bed if anyone made any sudden movements.
"About a week," I told her. She had slept most of the time but on the second and third day had gone into violent seizures that made me fear she would make it at all. Even now, it was going to take a lot of work to get her healthy again. She looked half starved and she had been bruising over her body not to mention deep bruising around her wrists and ankles that showed she'd been tied unmercifully. The young lady was a mystery indeed. She had somehow hidden in my old pickup truck when I was returning home from a trip out of town.
"I'm Rev. Charles Grey, this is my wife, Maryanne, and this is Dr. Peters," I introduced everyone. She glanced us over with her large green eyes.
"I'm Jean," she said simply. Her eyes lingered around our guest bedroom until they found an open window. Over the horizon, the sun was starting to appear. Her lips turned up into a smile.
"And joy cometh in the morning," I quoted from the book of Psalms. Something tells me this young woman was going to make it.
~Kurt~
Kitty looked like she was going to cry again as Beast shinned a small light into Scott's eyes. I put my arm around her careful not to touch her broken right arm. She didn't move away but laid her head on my shoulder. It was really freaky to see Scott without his glasses and not getting blown to kingdom come. After an hour of scientific mumbo jumbo we finally got the results in plain English. Scott's powers were gone. "Anything?" asked Beast.
"I can almost see some shadows, that's it," Scott replied without any emotion. He was taking it well in my opinion. I'd have freaked out.
"Is there any way we can get the antidote to the beam that did this?" Ororo asked. She and Evan had made it back from their trip from Africa as soon as they heard. I had to come back from a visit to my parents in Germany as well.
"Tabby fried the computers," Kitty said. None of them turned to look at the blonde girl. Strong, quirky Tabitha Smith looked ashamed even though she had been following orders, she knew she had destroyed Scott's only hope of getting to see.
"We have to get Jean," Scott says. Man for a guy that's just lost almost everything, he's got a one track mind. The professor laced his fingers together. It was tearing him up inside to see Scott like that. I think he secretly thinks of the older student to be somewhat like a son to him.
"How?" the professor asked.
"I'll look just like any normal person. I have to find her and I will find her," he said determined.
"But Scott, you're....you can't see!" Kitty cried.
"I don't care," Scott answered back. There was no question to it now. He was defiantly in love with her. I held Kitty closer and whispered how much I loved her in German.
"I'll go with you!" I volunteered.
"You will all split up into groups," commanded the professor.
"I'm sure we will be able to find her," Ororo said.
"It'd be easier to find a needle in a haystack," Evan grumbled causing the rest of us to glare at him. Although I hated to admit it, I agreed with him.