Red Army Blues - The Waterboys
When I left my home and my family
my mother said to me
"Son, it's not how many Germans you kill that counts
It's how many people you set free!"
So I packed my bags
brushed my cap
Walked out into the world
seventeen years old
Never kissed a girl
Took the train to Voronezh
that was as far as it would go
Changed my sacks for a uniform
bit my lip against the snow
I prayed for mother Russia
in the summer of '43
And as we drove the Germans back
I really believed
That God was listening to me
We howled into Berlin
tore the smoking buildings down
Raised the red flag high
burnt the Reichstag brown
I saw my first American
and he looked a lot like me
He had the same kinda farmer's face
said he'd come from some place called Hazzard, Tennessee
Then the war was over
my discharge papers came
Me and twenty hundred others
went to Stettiner for the train
Kiev! said the commissar
from there your own way home
But I never got to Kiev
we never came by home
Train went north to the Taiga
we were stripped and marched in file
Up the great siberian road
for miles and miles and miles and miles
Dressed in stripes and tatters
in a gulag left to die
All because Comrade Stalin was scared that
we'd become too westernized!
Used to love my country
used to be so young
Used to believe that life was
the best song ever sung
I would have died for my country
in 1945
But now only one thing remains
but now only one thing remains
But now only one thing remains
but now only one thing remains
The brute will to survive!
The song above is Scott's song. At least in my fic it is. I've heard it on a movie about the Ulster and it fitted what Scott as a glove. Hope, treason and the brute will to survive.
Tak
*************************************************************************
I know so much about U.S. Government's modus operandi because they created me. Some of their best instructors taught me how to think, how to plan, how to kill. It was only 6 months after the Six Pack adopted me that S.H.I.E.L.D. contacted them with the propose of full pardon and lots of money if they became a Fury's personal assault team.
They accepted. Dealing with Middle Eastern dictators is not funny. They send you to suicidal missions and tend to forget the number of your bank count. Most of times, being paid is more problem than the mission itself. You hear about a mysterious explosion on Kuwait's Sheik personal garage that destroyed 6 of his Rolls Royce and it's very possible it was only Beatriz Domineaux PMS-ing. They only believe you are serious when you threaten to shot their Picassos. It's not that they know art, or even like them. If it's expensive, they like it.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s missions don't pay as much as frightened Sheiks, but they give you more information, support and consist basically in destroying terrorist complexes and capturing assassins.
I didn't betray them. In the truth, I didn't betray S.H.I.E.L.D at all. They have no motives to come after me. For the US government to convince them to hunt me, they would have to give the Security Council data about their secret research facilities and the why someone would want to blow them up.
Neither did Fury betray me. Officially I was an intern at Fury's new base. By this I was untouchable.
You see, there weren't many known mutants and they needed a new specimen to test their prototype. That led them to Madeline Summers, an 18 year-old mutant. By the day we married I promised her I would protect her and our son with my life. She used her body to stop a bullet that was directed to Nate. She died in my arms.
I'm not someone you could describe as driven by his passions, but this meant war, so I began to gather information about them. Some would say not all them are at fault, and that my quest to protect my people put me on their level if I'm using their methods. You don't kill civilians. You don't kill the messengers. Well, I'm not killing civilians. Oh, yeah, I'm killing scientists and soldiers, but they aren't innocents. Not really. Some people would consider their excuse that they were just following orders acceptable. I don't.
Heinrich Eichmann said he was only following orders. For refusing to kill, it would mean his death, and it would be a futile sacrifice since there were many willing to do the job. He was found guilty for his acts. None of the Nazi officers that used the command chain as their excuses were found innocent. Always there is a choice, even if the choice is death.
You can't trust governments for their promises are as vain as the paper they were written. For example, after the war, West Germany government intelligence agency was composed by the men that gave advises to Hitler, Military Intelligence officers, SS and Gestapo's (Geheime Staatz Polizei) officers that avoided imprisonment.
I found Maddie on the streets. She was malnourished, dirty and smelled like a wet dog. It was love at the first sight.
She made me remember myself. At that time I was living alone. The Six Pack was in a mission, and Fury thought it was a good idea for me to live alone among civilians to tune my stealth skills. Sometimes the best place to be invisible is among the common people.
I thought it would be nice to do to someone what Dom did for me. Maddie became the reason I wanted to come back home everyday. For the first time in years I was truly happy. For the first time in years I felt like I was alive.
When you spend years at the streets you learn quite early to don't be attached to people, it will only hurt you in the end. The idea was right when I think I shouldn't become attached to Maddie, it only hurt me, but then I remember the time we spent together, how happy I was. I can see her in Nate, the way he frowns when I refuse to do something he wants, the way he laughs.
I swear to a God I don't believe I'll protect my son by any means necessary. He will have a future, even if I have to kill all the shitheads in Washington.
Working with the Six Pack was very good. I learnt a lot about stealth operations, how to use a gun, how to buy a gun, how to achieve information, how a team works. It was also good because I earned my own money. Working in a mercenary team means you learn how to operate on the black market. Once you have the contacts you can get almost anything if you can pay for it. Money is not a problem if you are daring enough. If you steal illegal money, there's nothing they can do. What will they say? 'Oh yeah, marshal, somebody stole 5 million dollars from my Swiss account. Where did I get the money? Why isn't it in my IR declaration? Oh, you see.' My targets of choice are senators that voted 'yes' to the Sentinel Program. Now I have US$25 million in cash and some more I've invested. Why not denunciate them? I thought about it, but discarded the idea when I came to the conclusion it wouldn't make a difference. Their replacements would be the same, just younger.
Of course, I have some money from my parents' life insurance and both my salary for the time I worked with the Six Pack and for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Destroying their research facilities won't stop them just delay the discoveries. I needed something to counteract the detection device. I showed Eric my problem and he gave me the name of Henry McCoy, a scientist that may have the means to solve my problems.
Henry McCoy, a genius, two PhDs at the age of 26. He gave up his research to teach chemistry and be a coach at a public high school. He disappeared after a strange incident at said school.
Eric gave me his current address, Westchester County, Bayville, Greymalkin Lane, 1470. Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. He assured me I wouldn't be difficult to convince Dr. McCoy to cooperate once I talked to him, but that I would have to pass his guards. He told me it would be save if I entered by the front door instead of sneak through their security system.
A black Land Rover, as save as anything I could find. They have a good security system. Too good, too sophisticated for them to be just a school as they claim to.
"I'm Scott Smith, I would like to talk to Dr. McCoy, please." Intercom, radio and wire, good choice, reliable even when there's no power.
"Oh, uh, excuse me, but there's no Hank McCoy here." Young voice, male, teenager, probably at middle teens.
"I didn't say his first name was Hank."
"Shit."
So I wait. 20 minutes. They send the cavalry to receive me.
A short bulky man that that grunts a lot. A tall redhead that makes me remember of Maddie. A black boy with blond hair.
"Follow me." Grunts the short man.
An old man on a wheelchair greets me. Bald, middle forties.
"I'm Charles Xavier, headmaster of the Institute. I would like to know why you want to talk to Dr. McCoy." English accent.
"I believe you are a mutant. This 'institute' appears to be the home of several mutants. Am I wrong?"
The short man grunts. The redhead frowns. The bald man remains impassible.
"And if you are?"
"Then you and I would have a lot in common."
"I see. Eric sent you." A statement.
"Yes. I asked him for a trustable scientist and he gave me Dr. McCoy's name."
"May I ask how did you meet Eric?"
"We have some interests in common."
"I see. This way please."
He motions to a wall. I've learned to don't take things for their appearance, so I expect some kind of secret passage. An elevator greets me. My instincts were not wrong, they are not just a school, there are more. By the little I can see, much more.
He motions me to enter the elevator and across a titanium corridor. A big titanium door, like the ones you would find at the Picard's Enterprise. Oh yeah, Nate loves Star Trek; he makes me watch it every time I'm at home and Xavier makes me think about Picard. The first time Nate saw Geordi he pointed him, pointed my visor and began to laugh.
Dr. Henry McCoy is a blue furred mutant with oversized hands and feet. He has the posture of a gorilla. Makes me remember the cookie monster. If Nate comes to meet him it will be love at the first sight.
"Dr. McCoy."
"Hank, please."
He nodes to me.
"Scott."
"Mr. Xavier, I believe it would be better if the children weren't present to our conversation."
"Wait there mister, I'm no children, I'm 18 and it don't like you are much older than me." A redhead with a temper. My Maddie.
"I assure you, Jean can stay. It won't be a problem."
"If you say so."
I show Hank McCoy the blueprints of the detection device and of the Sentinel.
"I believe they won't be operational for 6 months at least. The research is below the chronogram for at least one year. They had a prototype, but it's not operational."
"I would like to hear from you, Scott, how did you get the blueprints? They are very interesting."
"I broke through some research facilities."
"And the delay on the research?"
"I detonated some explosives inside the labs."
"Nowadays, it's very easy to replace equipment, there's little effect in destroying a lab."
"Not if the scientists are inside the lab when you explode it."
"The blueprints and the shared data?"
"Computer virus, a very specific specimen, it destroys the mainframes by erasing the data and turning off the refrigeration system. It's sad there were other data on the mainframes, but it was a valid sacrifice."
It's very interesting when you can talk about destroying labs; killing scientists and giant robots like you are having tea and cookies. I'm sure they had something like this before, maybe green little men, talking dogs, well, they have cookie monster.
"I was informed of several loses to the scientific world on the last 10 months, but I had no idea they all were involved in something like that."
"Most of them knew what they were doing."
"What do you want from me, Scott?"
"A device to avoid detection by the Sentinels, something small.
He nods.
"I believe you can continue to tamper their progress."
"No, I can't, they've put detection arrays on the facilities."
"So we can't lose time."
"If you may follow me, Mr. Smith." Xavier.
"Of course."
He leads me to his library. The redhead and the runt follow us.
"I would like to know, Mr. Smith, if you agree with Eric's goals?"
"What part? The one about world domination or the one about assuring our survival?"
"Both."
"I agree with the latter, the former is too ambitious and tricky for my liking."
*************************************************************************
Sorry, but for now it ends here. I'm beginning my tests week and I'll not be able to post for at least 2 weeks.
I've been working on the next chapter for a while now, so I believe I'll be able to post a week before Christmas.
Tak
When I left my home and my family
my mother said to me
"Son, it's not how many Germans you kill that counts
It's how many people you set free!"
So I packed my bags
brushed my cap
Walked out into the world
seventeen years old
Never kissed a girl
Took the train to Voronezh
that was as far as it would go
Changed my sacks for a uniform
bit my lip against the snow
I prayed for mother Russia
in the summer of '43
And as we drove the Germans back
I really believed
That God was listening to me
We howled into Berlin
tore the smoking buildings down
Raised the red flag high
burnt the Reichstag brown
I saw my first American
and he looked a lot like me
He had the same kinda farmer's face
said he'd come from some place called Hazzard, Tennessee
Then the war was over
my discharge papers came
Me and twenty hundred others
went to Stettiner for the train
Kiev! said the commissar
from there your own way home
But I never got to Kiev
we never came by home
Train went north to the Taiga
we were stripped and marched in file
Up the great siberian road
for miles and miles and miles and miles
Dressed in stripes and tatters
in a gulag left to die
All because Comrade Stalin was scared that
we'd become too westernized!
Used to love my country
used to be so young
Used to believe that life was
the best song ever sung
I would have died for my country
in 1945
But now only one thing remains
but now only one thing remains
But now only one thing remains
but now only one thing remains
The brute will to survive!
The song above is Scott's song. At least in my fic it is. I've heard it on a movie about the Ulster and it fitted what Scott as a glove. Hope, treason and the brute will to survive.
Tak
*************************************************************************
I know so much about U.S. Government's modus operandi because they created me. Some of their best instructors taught me how to think, how to plan, how to kill. It was only 6 months after the Six Pack adopted me that S.H.I.E.L.D. contacted them with the propose of full pardon and lots of money if they became a Fury's personal assault team.
They accepted. Dealing with Middle Eastern dictators is not funny. They send you to suicidal missions and tend to forget the number of your bank count. Most of times, being paid is more problem than the mission itself. You hear about a mysterious explosion on Kuwait's Sheik personal garage that destroyed 6 of his Rolls Royce and it's very possible it was only Beatriz Domineaux PMS-ing. They only believe you are serious when you threaten to shot their Picassos. It's not that they know art, or even like them. If it's expensive, they like it.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s missions don't pay as much as frightened Sheiks, but they give you more information, support and consist basically in destroying terrorist complexes and capturing assassins.
I didn't betray them. In the truth, I didn't betray S.H.I.E.L.D at all. They have no motives to come after me. For the US government to convince them to hunt me, they would have to give the Security Council data about their secret research facilities and the why someone would want to blow them up.
Neither did Fury betray me. Officially I was an intern at Fury's new base. By this I was untouchable.
You see, there weren't many known mutants and they needed a new specimen to test their prototype. That led them to Madeline Summers, an 18 year-old mutant. By the day we married I promised her I would protect her and our son with my life. She used her body to stop a bullet that was directed to Nate. She died in my arms.
I'm not someone you could describe as driven by his passions, but this meant war, so I began to gather information about them. Some would say not all them are at fault, and that my quest to protect my people put me on their level if I'm using their methods. You don't kill civilians. You don't kill the messengers. Well, I'm not killing civilians. Oh, yeah, I'm killing scientists and soldiers, but they aren't innocents. Not really. Some people would consider their excuse that they were just following orders acceptable. I don't.
Heinrich Eichmann said he was only following orders. For refusing to kill, it would mean his death, and it would be a futile sacrifice since there were many willing to do the job. He was found guilty for his acts. None of the Nazi officers that used the command chain as their excuses were found innocent. Always there is a choice, even if the choice is death.
You can't trust governments for their promises are as vain as the paper they were written. For example, after the war, West Germany government intelligence agency was composed by the men that gave advises to Hitler, Military Intelligence officers, SS and Gestapo's (Geheime Staatz Polizei) officers that avoided imprisonment.
I found Maddie on the streets. She was malnourished, dirty and smelled like a wet dog. It was love at the first sight.
She made me remember myself. At that time I was living alone. The Six Pack was in a mission, and Fury thought it was a good idea for me to live alone among civilians to tune my stealth skills. Sometimes the best place to be invisible is among the common people.
I thought it would be nice to do to someone what Dom did for me. Maddie became the reason I wanted to come back home everyday. For the first time in years I was truly happy. For the first time in years I felt like I was alive.
When you spend years at the streets you learn quite early to don't be attached to people, it will only hurt you in the end. The idea was right when I think I shouldn't become attached to Maddie, it only hurt me, but then I remember the time we spent together, how happy I was. I can see her in Nate, the way he frowns when I refuse to do something he wants, the way he laughs.
I swear to a God I don't believe I'll protect my son by any means necessary. He will have a future, even if I have to kill all the shitheads in Washington.
Working with the Six Pack was very good. I learnt a lot about stealth operations, how to use a gun, how to buy a gun, how to achieve information, how a team works. It was also good because I earned my own money. Working in a mercenary team means you learn how to operate on the black market. Once you have the contacts you can get almost anything if you can pay for it. Money is not a problem if you are daring enough. If you steal illegal money, there's nothing they can do. What will they say? 'Oh yeah, marshal, somebody stole 5 million dollars from my Swiss account. Where did I get the money? Why isn't it in my IR declaration? Oh, you see.' My targets of choice are senators that voted 'yes' to the Sentinel Program. Now I have US$25 million in cash and some more I've invested. Why not denunciate them? I thought about it, but discarded the idea when I came to the conclusion it wouldn't make a difference. Their replacements would be the same, just younger.
Of course, I have some money from my parents' life insurance and both my salary for the time I worked with the Six Pack and for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Destroying their research facilities won't stop them just delay the discoveries. I needed something to counteract the detection device. I showed Eric my problem and he gave me the name of Henry McCoy, a scientist that may have the means to solve my problems.
Henry McCoy, a genius, two PhDs at the age of 26. He gave up his research to teach chemistry and be a coach at a public high school. He disappeared after a strange incident at said school.
Eric gave me his current address, Westchester County, Bayville, Greymalkin Lane, 1470. Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. He assured me I wouldn't be difficult to convince Dr. McCoy to cooperate once I talked to him, but that I would have to pass his guards. He told me it would be save if I entered by the front door instead of sneak through their security system.
A black Land Rover, as save as anything I could find. They have a good security system. Too good, too sophisticated for them to be just a school as they claim to.
"I'm Scott Smith, I would like to talk to Dr. McCoy, please." Intercom, radio and wire, good choice, reliable even when there's no power.
"Oh, uh, excuse me, but there's no Hank McCoy here." Young voice, male, teenager, probably at middle teens.
"I didn't say his first name was Hank."
"Shit."
So I wait. 20 minutes. They send the cavalry to receive me.
A short bulky man that that grunts a lot. A tall redhead that makes me remember of Maddie. A black boy with blond hair.
"Follow me." Grunts the short man.
An old man on a wheelchair greets me. Bald, middle forties.
"I'm Charles Xavier, headmaster of the Institute. I would like to know why you want to talk to Dr. McCoy." English accent.
"I believe you are a mutant. This 'institute' appears to be the home of several mutants. Am I wrong?"
The short man grunts. The redhead frowns. The bald man remains impassible.
"And if you are?"
"Then you and I would have a lot in common."
"I see. Eric sent you." A statement.
"Yes. I asked him for a trustable scientist and he gave me Dr. McCoy's name."
"May I ask how did you meet Eric?"
"We have some interests in common."
"I see. This way please."
He motions to a wall. I've learned to don't take things for their appearance, so I expect some kind of secret passage. An elevator greets me. My instincts were not wrong, they are not just a school, there are more. By the little I can see, much more.
He motions me to enter the elevator and across a titanium corridor. A big titanium door, like the ones you would find at the Picard's Enterprise. Oh yeah, Nate loves Star Trek; he makes me watch it every time I'm at home and Xavier makes me think about Picard. The first time Nate saw Geordi he pointed him, pointed my visor and began to laugh.
Dr. Henry McCoy is a blue furred mutant with oversized hands and feet. He has the posture of a gorilla. Makes me remember the cookie monster. If Nate comes to meet him it will be love at the first sight.
"Dr. McCoy."
"Hank, please."
He nodes to me.
"Scott."
"Mr. Xavier, I believe it would be better if the children weren't present to our conversation."
"Wait there mister, I'm no children, I'm 18 and it don't like you are much older than me." A redhead with a temper. My Maddie.
"I assure you, Jean can stay. It won't be a problem."
"If you say so."
I show Hank McCoy the blueprints of the detection device and of the Sentinel.
"I believe they won't be operational for 6 months at least. The research is below the chronogram for at least one year. They had a prototype, but it's not operational."
"I would like to hear from you, Scott, how did you get the blueprints? They are very interesting."
"I broke through some research facilities."
"And the delay on the research?"
"I detonated some explosives inside the labs."
"Nowadays, it's very easy to replace equipment, there's little effect in destroying a lab."
"Not if the scientists are inside the lab when you explode it."
"The blueprints and the shared data?"
"Computer virus, a very specific specimen, it destroys the mainframes by erasing the data and turning off the refrigeration system. It's sad there were other data on the mainframes, but it was a valid sacrifice."
It's very interesting when you can talk about destroying labs; killing scientists and giant robots like you are having tea and cookies. I'm sure they had something like this before, maybe green little men, talking dogs, well, they have cookie monster.
"I was informed of several loses to the scientific world on the last 10 months, but I had no idea they all were involved in something like that."
"Most of them knew what they were doing."
"What do you want from me, Scott?"
"A device to avoid detection by the Sentinels, something small.
He nods.
"I believe you can continue to tamper their progress."
"No, I can't, they've put detection arrays on the facilities."
"So we can't lose time."
"If you may follow me, Mr. Smith." Xavier.
"Of course."
He leads me to his library. The redhead and the runt follow us.
"I would like to know, Mr. Smith, if you agree with Eric's goals?"
"What part? The one about world domination or the one about assuring our survival?"
"Both."
"I agree with the latter, the former is too ambitious and tricky for my liking."
*************************************************************************
Sorry, but for now it ends here. I'm beginning my tests week and I'll not be able to post for at least 2 weeks.
I've been working on the next chapter for a while now, so I believe I'll be able to post a week before Christmas.
Tak