Shifting Sands
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "I don't want a haunted car. I already have a haunted cello"
*****
Chapter 14 - Emergence of an enemy.
****
"I wish you'd tell me how you know something is wrong", said Sidney as she and Morph ran out of the hotel.
"I told you, it's just a gut feeling", said Morph.
They turned the corner, running into Calisto, Evan and the others, with them was a terrified-looking Artie, projecting images above him of terrifed Morlocks running everywhere.
"We've been set up", said Calisto, "the Alley has been attacked, we have to egt down there, NOW".
With that, she charged off for the nearest sewer opening, the others following with her.
****
Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Forge was happily sitting in the living room reflecting on this sudden big (and rather scary) change in his life. He glanced up when he heard a bark, only to have Max leap onto his knee, licking him happily.
"Aggs, MAX!", he said, then blinked, "Max! You came home!"
"He came home last night, Self-Carer", said Warlock with a happy grin as he walked in.
"I find out 'Ro's not pregnant, i get engaged, AND my dog comes home?", said Forge, "this is the best day ever!".
"Hi, Forge!".
Forge glanced up as Dani walked in with Roberto.
"...Well, nothing lasts forever", muttered Forge, "what are you doing here Dani?...You didn't run off again did you?"
Danielle cleared her throat.
"If by 'run off', you mean 'walked out of the Reservation, neglecting to tell anyone'.....maybe a little", she said sheepishly, "but Grandad's okay with it, he's used to me".
"Yeah....because he can blame me", muttered Forge.
He blinked at Roberto, who let out a defeated sigh. Forge arched a brow before frowning at Danielle.
"Nétaé?êhósêtónê?éve?"*, he said.
Dani tried her best to look inocent.
"Hova'ehe"**, she replied, then to get rid of Roberto's look of sheer confusion, "we were just at the arcade and i beat him. It was fun!".
A smirk crossed Forge's face.
"Ahhh i see what's going on", he said teasingly, earning a blushing glare from Danielle.
"He'kotoo'êstse!", she hissed, "Éáahtomóne".***
Forge blinked.
"Dani...i really don't think Roberto can understand a word we've just said", he said.
"No..no i can't", said Roberto, blinking in suprise as Danielle started ushering him away from Forge.
"Come on Roberto, lets go elsewhere before SOMEONE starts sticking his nose where it doesn't belong!".
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the remaining mutants of the mansion had opted to gather around Storm to oggle her ring.
"It's so big and pretty", said Amara, "i'll trade you it for a piece of my island"
"Not in a million years", said Storm pointedly.
"Wait", said Bobby, "Would that make you Mrs...Forge?".
"No", replied Ororo, "i'll keep Munroe..Forge is still nervous about using his real name...not that I see anything wrong with it".
"You KNOW it?", said Jamie, standing up.
"Sweety, do you thinnk i would agree to marry a man if i did not know his name?", said Storm placidly.
Everyone was quiet for a minute before Amara piped up.
"What is it?"
"I'm not telling", replied Storm, a smug grin on her face.
"AWWWW", said the teens in uison.
"Damn, oh well, we can still put our efforts into finding out Rogue's real name", said Ray.
"A'hm sure she'll LOVE to hear that", said Sam, then grinned, "so will Forge be Mr Munroe?".
"Maybe", said Storm, "lets face it, neither of us have been ones to follow convention".
*****
Inside the tunnels, Sidney, in her tiger-form padded through the panicking load of Morlocks. She paused when she found Tommy lying on the ground, she nuged her very still from and backed away with a soft growl....she was dead. Sidney narrowed her eyes and growled lowly, heading back through the tunnels, ready to protect her home. She stopped dead, hearing Torpid scream. With a roar, she leapt around the corner, pinning down Torpid's attacker. She gave a snarl, raising a paw to swipe when she saw who she was pinning down. She gave a suprised mew and jumped off her uncle, backing up and sitting down in shock. Sabertooth pulled himself up with a growl, then caught Sidney's scent. He blinked.....Sinister had not said anything about this.... Sidney changed into her normal form, her green feline eyes staying firmly trained on Sabertooth's.
"Sidney...i..."
"Save it", said Sidney with a growl, picking up Torpid and walking off down a tunnel.
She had never been more thankfull in her life than when she saw Evan waiting for them.
"We gotta get outta here, now", he said.
Sidney's ears flicked back, and she sniffed the air. She gave a growl and passed Torpid onto Evan.
"Go, i'll be right behind you".
Evan blinked in suprise.
"But...Sid...."
"GO!".
Evan sighed, but did as he was told. He knew whatever Sidney needed to handle, she could do so on her own. Sidney watched him go before spinning around with a snarl.
"You betrayed me".
"This isn't what it looks like", said Sabertooth, stalking out of the shadows.
Sidney growled low, he tail twiching, her ears flat back.
"It isn't?", she said, "'cause at the moment it looks like you heading a slaughter of inocent people that your own flesh and blood is a part of".
"I'm not here to attack YOU", said Sabertooth, "i'm just doing my job"
Sidney gave a snarl, charging forwards, morphing into a leoapard her claws unleashed. Sabertooth easly dodged out of the way, but Sidney rounded on him again with a snarl.
"Sidney, please, listen to me", said Sabertooth, "i'm NOT going to fight you".
Sidney roared, sprining on him and pinning him down. Sabertooth gave a growl of pain as her claws dug into his shoulders. He twisted himself from her grasp, using his arm to lift her up and pin her aginst the wall as she tried to claw at him.
"I didn't KNOW you were down here", he snarled, "this ISN'T about you. If i knew you were down here, i wouldn't have come!".
Sidney mophed herself back to her true form, struggling against Sabertooth's arm.
"So, if i wasn't down here, you would have come and killed all these pople? WHY?".
"It's my JOB", snarled Sabertooth, "and you KNOW it is. I'm not much of an assasin if people don't DIE during my work"
"The Morlocks have done nothing", said Sidney, "they just live their lives down here. They don't deserve this".
"I'm not the one who makes that decsion", said Sabertooth.
"Then who does?", growled Sidney.
"I do", said a voice as a pale-faced man stepped into the alley.
Her wore a black armoured suit, with a long cloak. His red eyes shifted on Sidney and he gave a fanged smirk.
"Hello there, young lady", he said, "i'm Nathanial Essex, though you can refer to me as Mr Sinister"
****
Kudos to those who guessed what was happening beforehand. Yup Mr Sinister, evil physco man that he is...
Incidentally, if you want to know what Forge and Danielle's conversation in Cheyenne was it runs thusly:
* "What did you do THIS time?"
** "Nothing"
*** "Be quiet! He's listening!"
Sorry, i couldn't resist that, Forge and Dani get hardly any interaction in the comics, despite them both being from the same tribe and very obviously knowing each other. Do review. Until next time...
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "I don't want a haunted car. I already have a haunted cello"
*****
Chapter 14 - Emergence of an enemy.
****
"I wish you'd tell me how you know something is wrong", said Sidney as she and Morph ran out of the hotel.
"I told you, it's just a gut feeling", said Morph.
They turned the corner, running into Calisto, Evan and the others, with them was a terrified-looking Artie, projecting images above him of terrifed Morlocks running everywhere.
"We've been set up", said Calisto, "the Alley has been attacked, we have to egt down there, NOW".
With that, she charged off for the nearest sewer opening, the others following with her.
****
Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Forge was happily sitting in the living room reflecting on this sudden big (and rather scary) change in his life. He glanced up when he heard a bark, only to have Max leap onto his knee, licking him happily.
"Aggs, MAX!", he said, then blinked, "Max! You came home!"
"He came home last night, Self-Carer", said Warlock with a happy grin as he walked in.
"I find out 'Ro's not pregnant, i get engaged, AND my dog comes home?", said Forge, "this is the best day ever!".
"Hi, Forge!".
Forge glanced up as Dani walked in with Roberto.
"...Well, nothing lasts forever", muttered Forge, "what are you doing here Dani?...You didn't run off again did you?"
Danielle cleared her throat.
"If by 'run off', you mean 'walked out of the Reservation, neglecting to tell anyone'.....maybe a little", she said sheepishly, "but Grandad's okay with it, he's used to me".
"Yeah....because he can blame me", muttered Forge.
He blinked at Roberto, who let out a defeated sigh. Forge arched a brow before frowning at Danielle.
"Nétaé?êhósêtónê?éve?"*, he said.
Dani tried her best to look inocent.
"Hova'ehe"**, she replied, then to get rid of Roberto's look of sheer confusion, "we were just at the arcade and i beat him. It was fun!".
A smirk crossed Forge's face.
"Ahhh i see what's going on", he said teasingly, earning a blushing glare from Danielle.
"He'kotoo'êstse!", she hissed, "Éáahtomóne".***
Forge blinked.
"Dani...i really don't think Roberto can understand a word we've just said", he said.
"No..no i can't", said Roberto, blinking in suprise as Danielle started ushering him away from Forge.
"Come on Roberto, lets go elsewhere before SOMEONE starts sticking his nose where it doesn't belong!".
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the remaining mutants of the mansion had opted to gather around Storm to oggle her ring.
"It's so big and pretty", said Amara, "i'll trade you it for a piece of my island"
"Not in a million years", said Storm pointedly.
"Wait", said Bobby, "Would that make you Mrs...Forge?".
"No", replied Ororo, "i'll keep Munroe..Forge is still nervous about using his real name...not that I see anything wrong with it".
"You KNOW it?", said Jamie, standing up.
"Sweety, do you thinnk i would agree to marry a man if i did not know his name?", said Storm placidly.
Everyone was quiet for a minute before Amara piped up.
"What is it?"
"I'm not telling", replied Storm, a smug grin on her face.
"AWWWW", said the teens in uison.
"Damn, oh well, we can still put our efforts into finding out Rogue's real name", said Ray.
"A'hm sure she'll LOVE to hear that", said Sam, then grinned, "so will Forge be Mr Munroe?".
"Maybe", said Storm, "lets face it, neither of us have been ones to follow convention".
*****
Inside the tunnels, Sidney, in her tiger-form padded through the panicking load of Morlocks. She paused when she found Tommy lying on the ground, she nuged her very still from and backed away with a soft growl....she was dead. Sidney narrowed her eyes and growled lowly, heading back through the tunnels, ready to protect her home. She stopped dead, hearing Torpid scream. With a roar, she leapt around the corner, pinning down Torpid's attacker. She gave a snarl, raising a paw to swipe when she saw who she was pinning down. She gave a suprised mew and jumped off her uncle, backing up and sitting down in shock. Sabertooth pulled himself up with a growl, then caught Sidney's scent. He blinked.....Sinister had not said anything about this.... Sidney changed into her normal form, her green feline eyes staying firmly trained on Sabertooth's.
"Sidney...i..."
"Save it", said Sidney with a growl, picking up Torpid and walking off down a tunnel.
She had never been more thankfull in her life than when she saw Evan waiting for them.
"We gotta get outta here, now", he said.
Sidney's ears flicked back, and she sniffed the air. She gave a growl and passed Torpid onto Evan.
"Go, i'll be right behind you".
Evan blinked in suprise.
"But...Sid...."
"GO!".
Evan sighed, but did as he was told. He knew whatever Sidney needed to handle, she could do so on her own. Sidney watched him go before spinning around with a snarl.
"You betrayed me".
"This isn't what it looks like", said Sabertooth, stalking out of the shadows.
Sidney growled low, he tail twiching, her ears flat back.
"It isn't?", she said, "'cause at the moment it looks like you heading a slaughter of inocent people that your own flesh and blood is a part of".
"I'm not here to attack YOU", said Sabertooth, "i'm just doing my job"
Sidney gave a snarl, charging forwards, morphing into a leoapard her claws unleashed. Sabertooth easly dodged out of the way, but Sidney rounded on him again with a snarl.
"Sidney, please, listen to me", said Sabertooth, "i'm NOT going to fight you".
Sidney roared, sprining on him and pinning him down. Sabertooth gave a growl of pain as her claws dug into his shoulders. He twisted himself from her grasp, using his arm to lift her up and pin her aginst the wall as she tried to claw at him.
"I didn't KNOW you were down here", he snarled, "this ISN'T about you. If i knew you were down here, i wouldn't have come!".
Sidney mophed herself back to her true form, struggling against Sabertooth's arm.
"So, if i wasn't down here, you would have come and killed all these pople? WHY?".
"It's my JOB", snarled Sabertooth, "and you KNOW it is. I'm not much of an assasin if people don't DIE during my work"
"The Morlocks have done nothing", said Sidney, "they just live their lives down here. They don't deserve this".
"I'm not the one who makes that decsion", said Sabertooth.
"Then who does?", growled Sidney.
"I do", said a voice as a pale-faced man stepped into the alley.
Her wore a black armoured suit, with a long cloak. His red eyes shifted on Sidney and he gave a fanged smirk.
"Hello there, young lady", he said, "i'm Nathanial Essex, though you can refer to me as Mr Sinister"
****
Kudos to those who guessed what was happening beforehand. Yup Mr Sinister, evil physco man that he is...
Incidentally, if you want to know what Forge and Danielle's conversation in Cheyenne was it runs thusly:
* "What did you do THIS time?"
** "Nothing"
*** "Be quiet! He's listening!"
Sorry, i couldn't resist that, Forge and Dani get hardly any interaction in the comics, despite them both being from the same tribe and very obviously knowing each other. Do review. Until next time...