Chapter 2: The War Torn Path
The X-men had placed the intruder in the med-bay to recover from what ever had afflicted him when kitty had found him. They were currently in the lounge, discussing the interloper while Scott and Logan searched for information.
"I wonder who he is." Jean said absently looking out the window.
"Whoever he iz, he vaz very good at bypassing our security." Answered Kurt, who stopped eating long enough to speak. Kitty, meanwhile, was watching cartoons, but was listening in on the conversation.
"At least you guys didn't have to see him like, pitch a fit on the kitchen floor." She shuddered at the memory. Scott walked into the lounge, holding a brown folder.
"O.K. team we've managed to get some information on the serial number of the gun, including the name of the owner and from that his service record." The record was passed around. Kitty read the page:
Name (Rank): Greerson, Joseph C (Staff Sergeant)
D.O.B. (dd/mm/yyyy):21/02/1984
Nationality: British
Birthplace (City/County): Maidstone/Kent
D.O.D. (dd/mm/yyyy): 07/07/02
Military History: Joined junior leaders on 16th birthday. Filed for career continuance at 17. Posted to the Royal Marines on 20/02/02. Gained field promotion in Kazakhstan after Commander Frederick Benson was K.I.A.
Cause of Death: Burning- An explosive substance was ignited in Greerson's household, final analysis was arson. No suspects apprehended.
Kitty placed the record on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh-Kay, so like, this guy's dead. He's been dead for like, a year." Evan leaned forward and read the document "Yep." Was all he could say. Scott placed it back in the folder "What are the Junior Leaders?"
"I dunno, but we'll ask him nicely when he wakes up." Logan entered the room holding a DVD. "And if you thought his record was weird take a load of this." He tossed it to Kitty "I've just had one of the techno-geeks burn it off the net." She placed the disc into the player and sat back down. They all crowded round the T.V.
A grey haired man was hunkered down behind the bonnet of a pickup. The camera was focused on a hospital in the background:
"This is David Stifan, reporting from Brisbane, Australia where a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie has come to this quiet town. An unknown number of terrorists, possibly mutant radicals, are holding the staff and patients of the Lady of Mercy hospital hostage. No Ransom note has been given but we will update you when and if one.what in gods name is happening now?" The Stifan looked up as a shadow went past over his head. A helicopter moved into view and halted over the hospital roof. Six fully armed men rappelled from the chopper, onto the hospital roof. What followed was thirty-five minutes of gunfire. Stifan looked over the truck bonnet.
"Well it seems that the Armed Response Unit has in to resolve the situation. The team have taken prisoners and have lined them up against the wall. Once everyone has left we'll attempt an interview with the team." It took several minutes for the victims and police to leave but when they did Stifan went to stand up when the hand of the camera man forced him back down "What?" The hand pointed towards the soldiers and zoomed in. Three of the team stepped up and executed the three terrorist with out hesitation "Holy crap!" The reporter exclaimed, the commander turned and fired his assault rifle at the team. "Get them." Stifan ran with the camera man in his wake shouting as he went. "Their kids! Did you see their faces? Some of them weren't even sixtee." Kitty paused and rewound the footage to the execution, the commanders face was exactly like the picture on Greersons file: Youthful face, ice blue eyes and pitch black hair. Rogue stared at the screen in disbelief, they all did. "This kid's a psycho" Professor Xavier's voice entered their minds Come to the medical bay, our patients awake. They got up and headed into the bowels of the institute.
"Sarge, we've got hostile inbound, due west."
"How's the Commander doing?"
"Not good sir. According to the medics the bullet ripped through his left lung, he's patched up but the slug is still in there. They can't stop the internal bleeding." Joseph looked to the westward hills; they had an hour till the rebels attacked the outpost. Joseph walked over to Perkins, his radio operator "Has Operations got that Chopper off the ground yet?" 'Perky' looked like he was close to panic "There's some kind of electrical disturbance sir but he relayed that code 13-82 is now in effect." Joseph gave him a quick pat on the shoulder to reassure Perky and went next to the west gun nest. He took over from Peterson who was manning the FN Minimi GPM. "Go have a lie down Peterson, you could use it.' Peterson looked relieved as he headed for his sleeping quarters. He was only 16 and was fresh from the Black-ops Academy for military children. "Sure thing Shadow man." Joseph smiled; the guys had started calling him that since they had discovered his skills in intrusion and concealment. If there was any one who could sneak into a heavily fortified encampment, it was Joseph 'Shadow man' Greerson.
Joseph faced the hills and reflected on the code he had been submitted from Operations '13-82 was only used in extreme cases. It meant that Joseph was promoted to a field command until Benson recovered or he himself was incapacitated. Shouting rose from the forest ahead. The Rebels erupted from the trees and rushed towards the camp Guess they were closer than we thought I mused as I pulled the trigger on the machine gun, screaming to the troops that we were under attack. The enemy kept on coming, even as Joseph took down the first line.
I woke up, pain ripping through my skull as I sat up, or tried to. I was manacled to a metal table. I opened my eyes slightly and surveyed the room; it was cold, bright, harsh and angular. I see you are awake, I apologise for the headache, I didn't know you would be affected that way." I turned my head, craning my neck to the right; a bald-headed man in a wheelchair was leaning towards me. Behind him were two people, a black women with white hair and a muscular blue furred.thing.possibly related to the one in the group that attacked me earlier. "Who are you?" I asked feeling the cold hit my exposed skin "Can you dim the lights? I can't see too well." The dark skinned woman moved off out of my sight, after a few seconds the lights dimmed "Thank you" I breathed and opened my eye fully.
"Who are you?" I asked again, still straining my neck to see "I am professor Charles Xavier, on my right is Oruro and on my left is Hank. They are both teachers here at the Xavier Institute." I tested the bonds on my wrists and ankles "Am I a prisoner here?" Xavier smiled warmly and shook his head "No, the straps were used to hold you in place when you went into convulsions while I probed you, I only managed to get one coherent memory out of what's left of your mind, everything else I got was fragmented." I was confused, Xavier saw this and explained "Someone has purposely destroyed your memory but has left everything else: Your instinct, your emotion, your knowledge. Everything else but your memory is fine." I had only one thing on my mind "So uh, I can go then?" Xavier nodded towards me and then Hank "Please Hank, let the boy up." Xavier and the woman left as Hank began to untie me "Is it nice here?" I asked Hank "It is nice: Relaxing, calm, quiet except for the kids of course. But please call me Beast." I smiled ruefully, but features are hard to see on my face "Beast huh? I wonder how you came up with that." He chuckled "You will find that many of us go under different names, it can get confusing but you'll get the hang of it." He looked at me questioningly "If you decide to stay that is." I sat up as he loosed the wrist straps "At least you have a name. It's weird; I feel I could strip a weapon in thirty seconds. I can look at you and immediately see a dozen ways to bring you down but for the life of me I can't tell you my name or why I look the way I look, I mean, I have no skin no features, no life of my own." I sighed as the full force of depression bore down on me "I'm just a shadow."
Kitty looked through the two way mirror at the dark shape that sat where Greerson was supposed to be "Is that him?" Scott asked "He's just a dark patch, a vacant space." Jean smiled "That's poetic." "And technically correct as well." Xavier and Storm moved to the table in the middle of the room that all the X-men were currently sat around "He was Homo Sapien up until a few months ago, a dormant gene was forced into activity, what you are seeing is his ability." Xavier picked up Joseph's record, Kitty sat next to him "What are you saying professor?" Xavier spoke as he read "It's simple. He is a living shadow, a perfect mimic." Kitty was puzzled "Oh?" Xavier picked up on her confusion and explained further "He can mimic the physical abilities of any person, just like you saw today: Logan's claws, Evan's spikes, possibly even yours, Scott's and a few other peoples abilities. How his dormant gene was activated is uncertain and we may never know. Josephs mind has been severely abused, his memory is like a war torn path; heavily scared and pock marked." He looked at the X-men each in turn "I would like to invite him to stay but I'd like your opinions before I do." The response was immediate but split, Scott, Jean and Rogue rejected the idea "Have you seen the guy's record? He's a trained killer." Explained Scott "And you shoulda seen the video of him we watched." Added Rogue "It was horrible." Kitty decided to speak up "He deserves a second chance doesn't he? He's like, entirely lost his memory so he's not technically the same person." She looked around the room "Right?" The objectors looked grim, their thoughts plain. All eyes turned to Kurt and Evan who looked extremely uncomfortable. Kurt was the first to speak "I uh, I agree wiv Kitty, we should give ze guy a chance." "Same here." Evan said quickly, relieved he didn't have to speak first. Scott was stunned "You want to give a cold blooded killer a second chance?" Jean backed him up "We can't trust him, he's dangerous." Xavier coughed quietly but everyone looked at him waiting for him to speak "How do you know he is evil?" Scott countered immediately "The footage showed him ordering the execution of three unarmed men." Xavier shook his head "You don't know the full circumstances of that situation, it could have been taken out of context." Scott shot to his feet in anger "Context? Damn context! Do what ever the hell you like but don't expect me to like it." He stormed out, followed by Jean and Rogue, quickly trying to calm him down. Xavier turned to Logan "Do you feel the same way Logan?" Logan was leaning against the wall opposite the two way mirror, watching Greerson get up and walk into the darkest corner of the room and huddle into it, Logan had a far away look in his eyes "Obviously the kid has still got the instinct, his arrival here show's that much but looking at him now all I see is a kid whose had his life ripped from him. He's confused, alone and scared." Wolverine turned to Xavier and looked him in the eye "I'll give you my vote as long as you leave his training to me." Xavier hadn't expected this "What makes you think he should be trained" Logan smiled wolfishly "First of all; you think he would make a good asset to the team and second of all, you and I both know the kid's currently running on adrenaline and instinct. At the moment he's balanced but the second the adrenaline runs out his instinct will kick into overdrive and he becomes a danger to himself and anyone near him. With control of his abilities he'll remain calm and hopefully listen to us when and if he goes off the rails." Logan stepped off the wall and headed out of the room "I'll get a room ready." Xavier waited for the door to close before he spoke "Kurt, Kitty, Evan? I want you to help ease Joseph into the institute. Answer all his questions unless they are about his past, I want to give him that information in due course, and please show him to my study, I need to ask him a few questions before he decides whether to stay or not." Xavier turned to leave with Storm in tow "Make sure you stay away from any windows, Joseph has a natural aversion to direct sunlight." Kitty stood up and headed for the door which led to the med bay with Kurt and Evan behind her "Yes Professor." Storm closed the door and pushed Xavier along the corridor "You didn't give your views Storm, why?" Storm paused slightly "Because I have now opinion to give at this time." Xavier left it at that "Very well, but there is something that tells me that there is big trouble ahead, when and if Joseph reacquires his memories it will not be doing him any good. He must have a few bad memories that haunt him at night." "Haven't we all." Storm said. Neither one noticed the black head that had emerged from a darkened corner.
The X-men had placed the intruder in the med-bay to recover from what ever had afflicted him when kitty had found him. They were currently in the lounge, discussing the interloper while Scott and Logan searched for information.
"I wonder who he is." Jean said absently looking out the window.
"Whoever he iz, he vaz very good at bypassing our security." Answered Kurt, who stopped eating long enough to speak. Kitty, meanwhile, was watching cartoons, but was listening in on the conversation.
"At least you guys didn't have to see him like, pitch a fit on the kitchen floor." She shuddered at the memory. Scott walked into the lounge, holding a brown folder.
"O.K. team we've managed to get some information on the serial number of the gun, including the name of the owner and from that his service record." The record was passed around. Kitty read the page:
Name (Rank): Greerson, Joseph C (Staff Sergeant)
D.O.B. (dd/mm/yyyy):21/02/1984
Nationality: British
Birthplace (City/County): Maidstone/Kent
D.O.D. (dd/mm/yyyy): 07/07/02
Military History: Joined junior leaders on 16th birthday. Filed for career continuance at 17. Posted to the Royal Marines on 20/02/02. Gained field promotion in Kazakhstan after Commander Frederick Benson was K.I.A.
Cause of Death: Burning- An explosive substance was ignited in Greerson's household, final analysis was arson. No suspects apprehended.
Kitty placed the record on the coffee table in front of her. "Oh-Kay, so like, this guy's dead. He's been dead for like, a year." Evan leaned forward and read the document "Yep." Was all he could say. Scott placed it back in the folder "What are the Junior Leaders?"
"I dunno, but we'll ask him nicely when he wakes up." Logan entered the room holding a DVD. "And if you thought his record was weird take a load of this." He tossed it to Kitty "I've just had one of the techno-geeks burn it off the net." She placed the disc into the player and sat back down. They all crowded round the T.V.
A grey haired man was hunkered down behind the bonnet of a pickup. The camera was focused on a hospital in the background:
"This is David Stifan, reporting from Brisbane, Australia where a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie has come to this quiet town. An unknown number of terrorists, possibly mutant radicals, are holding the staff and patients of the Lady of Mercy hospital hostage. No Ransom note has been given but we will update you when and if one.what in gods name is happening now?" The Stifan looked up as a shadow went past over his head. A helicopter moved into view and halted over the hospital roof. Six fully armed men rappelled from the chopper, onto the hospital roof. What followed was thirty-five minutes of gunfire. Stifan looked over the truck bonnet.
"Well it seems that the Armed Response Unit has in to resolve the situation. The team have taken prisoners and have lined them up against the wall. Once everyone has left we'll attempt an interview with the team." It took several minutes for the victims and police to leave but when they did Stifan went to stand up when the hand of the camera man forced him back down "What?" The hand pointed towards the soldiers and zoomed in. Three of the team stepped up and executed the three terrorist with out hesitation "Holy crap!" The reporter exclaimed, the commander turned and fired his assault rifle at the team. "Get them." Stifan ran with the camera man in his wake shouting as he went. "Their kids! Did you see their faces? Some of them weren't even sixtee." Kitty paused and rewound the footage to the execution, the commanders face was exactly like the picture on Greersons file: Youthful face, ice blue eyes and pitch black hair. Rogue stared at the screen in disbelief, they all did. "This kid's a psycho" Professor Xavier's voice entered their minds Come to the medical bay, our patients awake. They got up and headed into the bowels of the institute.
"Sarge, we've got hostile inbound, due west."
"How's the Commander doing?"
"Not good sir. According to the medics the bullet ripped through his left lung, he's patched up but the slug is still in there. They can't stop the internal bleeding." Joseph looked to the westward hills; they had an hour till the rebels attacked the outpost. Joseph walked over to Perkins, his radio operator "Has Operations got that Chopper off the ground yet?" 'Perky' looked like he was close to panic "There's some kind of electrical disturbance sir but he relayed that code 13-82 is now in effect." Joseph gave him a quick pat on the shoulder to reassure Perky and went next to the west gun nest. He took over from Peterson who was manning the FN Minimi GPM. "Go have a lie down Peterson, you could use it.' Peterson looked relieved as he headed for his sleeping quarters. He was only 16 and was fresh from the Black-ops Academy for military children. "Sure thing Shadow man." Joseph smiled; the guys had started calling him that since they had discovered his skills in intrusion and concealment. If there was any one who could sneak into a heavily fortified encampment, it was Joseph 'Shadow man' Greerson.
Joseph faced the hills and reflected on the code he had been submitted from Operations '13-82 was only used in extreme cases. It meant that Joseph was promoted to a field command until Benson recovered or he himself was incapacitated. Shouting rose from the forest ahead. The Rebels erupted from the trees and rushed towards the camp Guess they were closer than we thought I mused as I pulled the trigger on the machine gun, screaming to the troops that we were under attack. The enemy kept on coming, even as Joseph took down the first line.
I woke up, pain ripping through my skull as I sat up, or tried to. I was manacled to a metal table. I opened my eyes slightly and surveyed the room; it was cold, bright, harsh and angular. I see you are awake, I apologise for the headache, I didn't know you would be affected that way." I turned my head, craning my neck to the right; a bald-headed man in a wheelchair was leaning towards me. Behind him were two people, a black women with white hair and a muscular blue furred.thing.possibly related to the one in the group that attacked me earlier. "Who are you?" I asked feeling the cold hit my exposed skin "Can you dim the lights? I can't see too well." The dark skinned woman moved off out of my sight, after a few seconds the lights dimmed "Thank you" I breathed and opened my eye fully.
"Who are you?" I asked again, still straining my neck to see "I am professor Charles Xavier, on my right is Oruro and on my left is Hank. They are both teachers here at the Xavier Institute." I tested the bonds on my wrists and ankles "Am I a prisoner here?" Xavier smiled warmly and shook his head "No, the straps were used to hold you in place when you went into convulsions while I probed you, I only managed to get one coherent memory out of what's left of your mind, everything else I got was fragmented." I was confused, Xavier saw this and explained "Someone has purposely destroyed your memory but has left everything else: Your instinct, your emotion, your knowledge. Everything else but your memory is fine." I had only one thing on my mind "So uh, I can go then?" Xavier nodded towards me and then Hank "Please Hank, let the boy up." Xavier and the woman left as Hank began to untie me "Is it nice here?" I asked Hank "It is nice: Relaxing, calm, quiet except for the kids of course. But please call me Beast." I smiled ruefully, but features are hard to see on my face "Beast huh? I wonder how you came up with that." He chuckled "You will find that many of us go under different names, it can get confusing but you'll get the hang of it." He looked at me questioningly "If you decide to stay that is." I sat up as he loosed the wrist straps "At least you have a name. It's weird; I feel I could strip a weapon in thirty seconds. I can look at you and immediately see a dozen ways to bring you down but for the life of me I can't tell you my name or why I look the way I look, I mean, I have no skin no features, no life of my own." I sighed as the full force of depression bore down on me "I'm just a shadow."
Kitty looked through the two way mirror at the dark shape that sat where Greerson was supposed to be "Is that him?" Scott asked "He's just a dark patch, a vacant space." Jean smiled "That's poetic." "And technically correct as well." Xavier and Storm moved to the table in the middle of the room that all the X-men were currently sat around "He was Homo Sapien up until a few months ago, a dormant gene was forced into activity, what you are seeing is his ability." Xavier picked up Joseph's record, Kitty sat next to him "What are you saying professor?" Xavier spoke as he read "It's simple. He is a living shadow, a perfect mimic." Kitty was puzzled "Oh?" Xavier picked up on her confusion and explained further "He can mimic the physical abilities of any person, just like you saw today: Logan's claws, Evan's spikes, possibly even yours, Scott's and a few other peoples abilities. How his dormant gene was activated is uncertain and we may never know. Josephs mind has been severely abused, his memory is like a war torn path; heavily scared and pock marked." He looked at the X-men each in turn "I would like to invite him to stay but I'd like your opinions before I do." The response was immediate but split, Scott, Jean and Rogue rejected the idea "Have you seen the guy's record? He's a trained killer." Explained Scott "And you shoulda seen the video of him we watched." Added Rogue "It was horrible." Kitty decided to speak up "He deserves a second chance doesn't he? He's like, entirely lost his memory so he's not technically the same person." She looked around the room "Right?" The objectors looked grim, their thoughts plain. All eyes turned to Kurt and Evan who looked extremely uncomfortable. Kurt was the first to speak "I uh, I agree wiv Kitty, we should give ze guy a chance." "Same here." Evan said quickly, relieved he didn't have to speak first. Scott was stunned "You want to give a cold blooded killer a second chance?" Jean backed him up "We can't trust him, he's dangerous." Xavier coughed quietly but everyone looked at him waiting for him to speak "How do you know he is evil?" Scott countered immediately "The footage showed him ordering the execution of three unarmed men." Xavier shook his head "You don't know the full circumstances of that situation, it could have been taken out of context." Scott shot to his feet in anger "Context? Damn context! Do what ever the hell you like but don't expect me to like it." He stormed out, followed by Jean and Rogue, quickly trying to calm him down. Xavier turned to Logan "Do you feel the same way Logan?" Logan was leaning against the wall opposite the two way mirror, watching Greerson get up and walk into the darkest corner of the room and huddle into it, Logan had a far away look in his eyes "Obviously the kid has still got the instinct, his arrival here show's that much but looking at him now all I see is a kid whose had his life ripped from him. He's confused, alone and scared." Wolverine turned to Xavier and looked him in the eye "I'll give you my vote as long as you leave his training to me." Xavier hadn't expected this "What makes you think he should be trained" Logan smiled wolfishly "First of all; you think he would make a good asset to the team and second of all, you and I both know the kid's currently running on adrenaline and instinct. At the moment he's balanced but the second the adrenaline runs out his instinct will kick into overdrive and he becomes a danger to himself and anyone near him. With control of his abilities he'll remain calm and hopefully listen to us when and if he goes off the rails." Logan stepped off the wall and headed out of the room "I'll get a room ready." Xavier waited for the door to close before he spoke "Kurt, Kitty, Evan? I want you to help ease Joseph into the institute. Answer all his questions unless they are about his past, I want to give him that information in due course, and please show him to my study, I need to ask him a few questions before he decides whether to stay or not." Xavier turned to leave with Storm in tow "Make sure you stay away from any windows, Joseph has a natural aversion to direct sunlight." Kitty stood up and headed for the door which led to the med bay with Kurt and Evan behind her "Yes Professor." Storm closed the door and pushed Xavier along the corridor "You didn't give your views Storm, why?" Storm paused slightly "Because I have now opinion to give at this time." Xavier left it at that "Very well, but there is something that tells me that there is big trouble ahead, when and if Joseph reacquires his memories it will not be doing him any good. He must have a few bad memories that haunt him at night." "Haven't we all." Storm said. Neither one noticed the black head that had emerged from a darkened corner.
