A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, and keep them coming. I really appreciate them. For those of you who haven't reviewed yet, shame on you! What's holding you back? Feedback always makes the story better. Even if you don't like it, let me know what you don't like. I can take criticism.
Anyway, this chapter introduces quite a few OCs. Don't worry, they're not going to become major characters, but they are necessary. On the off chance that any of you would like to use one of these characters in one of yours fics, just drop me an email asking permission and telling me your intentions for the character. I probably won't mind if you use them.
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Jean's eyes fluttered open. She was looking up at a leaky wooden ceiling. She glanced to her right and found a nurse standing beside her bed.
"Where am I?"
"You don't wanna know, hun."
Jean looked around her more closely. Slowly, her vision began to come into focus. There were beds everywhere with people lying in them. Beside most of the beds were IV stands and other medical equipment.
"You lay on back down now, hun."
"What is this place?" asked Jean.
The nurse wrote something on a chart.
"Welcome to Guantanamo Bay."
Jean felt a sudden sharp pain in her thigh. She jumped and looked down to see what it was. The nurse had just stuck a syringe in her!
"What was that?!" asked Jean.
"Sorry, hun. But we can't have you using those freak powers of yours now, can we?"
The nurse turned and walked off. Jean looked around at the small hospital. It was one big room, apparently a wooden cabin of some sort.
Did that nurse just say Guantanamo Bay? That's in Cuba!
It was then that she remembered what happened in the Danvers' home. She suddenly remembered being dragged out of the door. She had fought them. And then… it had all just gone black. And now she was in Cuba?!
"Hey, you're awake! Welcome back ta life, chere."
She turned to find the source of the new voice. As she did so, she couldn't help but think that it sounded familiar. She stopped when she saw the man in the bed beside her. She focused on the man and finally recognized him. It was one of Magneto's followers!
"You! What are you doing here?!"
He laughed. "Calm down there, chere. You'll make da nurse come back. Ya been out cold for a nice little while, ya know dat?"
Jean studied him. He didn't seem too threatening and he was laying in a hospital bed just like her. "How long?" she asked.
The Acolyte thought for a moment. "Not sure. You was already here when I got brought in. But I just got here las' night. Seein' as ta how dey only passed dat new law two days ago though, I'd guess dat ya prob'ly been 'ere two days. Now, you're starting your third day."
Jean looked around. She'd been unconscious for two whole days?! That must have been quite a hit she took!
"I don't think we've ever met properly. I'm Remy Lebeau."
"Jean Grey. Didn't Magneto call you by some code name? Gauntlet or something?"
Remy frowned. "I called myself Gambit, so he called me Gambit too. Course, now he don't call me nothin'."
Remy studied the ground. Jean tried to read his mind, but couldn't.
Looks like Mr. Danvers' chemical is being put to use around here.
"Did something happen with Magneto?"
Remy looked up coldly. "He deserted me when de army attacked. Took Pyro and Colossus with 'im, but he left me alone ta get captured. Soon as I get outta here, he'll regret dat."
Suddenly, Jean remembered Storm and Carol.
They have to be around here somewhere! Where are they?
She looked around the room and scanned all the beds.
"Lookin' for yer friends?" asked Remy.
Jean nodded as she looked over another row of beds.
"Dey ain't in here, chere. Nurse told me when I got here. Dey out dere," he pointed outside with his thumb, "Nurse said dey put up a good fight when dey got here though."
Jean looked back at Remy. For someone who had worked with Magneto, he was certainly very nice. And, she had to admit, kinda cute in his own way.
"Thanks. So, uh, why'd you work for Magneto?" asked Jean. It was clear she had to talk to this guy, but she had no idea what to talk about.
"Simple. He paid well. Besides, what else was I gonna do? I ran away from home when I was 18. He offered me a new home an' a new fam'ly. I never much cared for dat one though. All dat talk 'bout 'mutant supremacy.' De man's like a broken record, know what I mean, chere? Now I'm 20 and I'm finally outta dat li'l fam'ly o' his."
"You're 20?!" said Jean excitedly. "I'll be 20 in…" she thought for a moment, "in 3 days!"
"Is dat a fact? Well, happy birthday!"
"Thanks. So what is this place?" asked Jean.
"Dis," said Remy with his hands up as if he were showing it off, "is de big mutant detention camp. De government tracks ya down an' den drops ya in here."
"So what do we do while we're here? Surely we don't just have to sit around, right?"
"Well, as best I can tell, it looks like dey got us building somethin'. I can't tell what it is yet though. Course, it's only been open 3 days now."
Jean couldn't help but think that he made it sound almost like an amusement park or a summer camp!
The nurse walked back into the cabin with a soldier on her right. They walked over to Jean and Remy.
"Oh look, the freaks have made friends," said the nurse sarcastically. "Well, you two can go. You're both nice and healthy again. Private Keller will escort you to the admin."
"Finally!" exclaimed Remy as he pulled off the covers and jumped out of the bed. He groaned when his foot landed on the floor with a thud. He looked up at the nurse with a grimace. "Thought ya said I was good again!"
"I said you can go. I didn't say it wouldn't be sore."
Jean climbed out of her bed and walked out of the hospital with a limping Remy and the armed soldier.
"So, what happened to your leg?" she asked once they left the building.
"Took a bullet," answered Remy. "I took out enough of dem ta make up for it though."
Jean looked at Remy in awe. How could he talk so plainly about killing people? She decided to change the subject.
"Where are we going now?" she asked the soldier.
"Administration building. They'll check you in and assign you to a bunker."
They walked on until they got to the building. The administration building was much nicer than the hospital. It was a metal building with central air conditioning. They walked inside and saw a uniformed soldier sitting at a desk.
"Two prisoners. Both just released from the medic," said Private Keller. "One boy. One girl. 20 and 19."
The soldier nodded as he copied down the information. He handed them each a slip of paper. He stopped as he handed the paper to Remy.
"Oh yeah. I remember you. You were in here last night making a big fuss."
Remy faked a smile. "Good ta see ya again, mon frere. I believe ya have my things. I'll take dem back now."
The soldier laughed. "I don't think so, mutant! Keller, take this worm to his hole!"
The soldier at the desk then turned around and called for another soldier to come out. A new man appeared behind the desk.
"Take that girl to her new home, Private."
The soldier glanced over Jean and smiled. "Yes sir!" he said gladly.
Jean rolled her eyes. Great! Not only am I a prisoner, but the guards are all horny on top of that!
She followed the new soldier away from the administration building as Pvt. Keller led Remy in the opposite direction.
Before long, they arrived in front of a small cabin with two armed soldiers guarding the only door. She followed the guard inside and he pointed to a bed that had been pushed against the wall.
"That one's yours," he said.
Jean walked over and sat down on the bed as the soldier left. Once he was gone, Jean was delighted to hear a familiar voice.
"Jean! Thank goodness your okay!"
Jean turned to the voice and smiled.
"Ororo! What's going on?"
Storm sat down next to Jean. "Well, as I'm sure you have figured out, we are captives of the government. This is a detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The government is sending all the captured mutants here. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that that same chemical we learned about before we were captured has been sold to the government to be used against us, so no one has any powers around here. There are countless mutants here already and more arrive every day. I haven't seen anyone I recognize yet though. You and I are the only X-Men here."
"I saw one of the Acolytes in the hospital!" exclaimed Jean. "It was Gambit, the guy with the exploding cards."
Storm let this sink in. "How would one of Magneto's followers get captured? Magneto takes care of his own pretty well."
"He told me that Magneto abandoned him. I don't know why, but apparently he and Magneto aren't on good terms anymore."
"That is interesting," said Storm thoughtfully. "We'll have to see what we can find out about that later. For now, I suppose it's time you met the other girls in the cabin."
Jean looked around at all the faces surrounding her. There were about 6 girls in the cabin of various ages. Storm introduced them one by one.
"Jean, this is Hawk, Voltage, Lisa, Gaia, Waverunner, and of course you know Carol."
Jean greeted each of the girls. "So what are all of your powers?"
Waverunner spoke up first. She was slim and looked about 19. "I can control water. I direct it and command it to do anything I want."
Next to greet Jean was Voltage. She was a pretty girl and Jean guessed her to be about 23. "I can do the same thing as Waverunner here, except with electricity. Plus, I can create electricity out of my body."
Hawk stepped forward next. She was tall, but only about 14 years old. "I can fly and my vision is real good so I can see for miles."
Gaia spoke next. She was by far the oldest of the group as she was around 40. Jean noticed that she looked her age, but was very pretty. "I can speak to nature. Animals and plants both listen to and obey me. I can understand their speech and they understand mine." This impressed Jean. She hadn't heard of anyone with that ability before.
Carol spoke up next. "You already know what I can do, sugar." She giggled. "I mean, you're the one who told me I can fly!"
Jean smiled. It was then that she noticed the 6th girl, Lisa, hadn't spoken up yet.
"What about you Lisa? What do you do?"
Lisa was clearly a shy girl. She was 15 and obviously scared by her surroundings. "Huh? Oh, I don't do much. I can turn myself invisible. That's all."
"Well then," said Storm, "now that everyone knows each other…"
She was cut off by Waverunner. "We don't know what Jean does!"
Jean smiled. "I'm a telepath. I can read minds and lift objects by telekinesis."
The girls all were visibly impressed by Jean's ability.
"Wow! That's awesome!" said Waverunner excitedly.
"No kidding!" said Voltage.
"Do you have a code name, my dear?" asked Gaia.
Jean laughed to herself. "No, I don't."
"Why not? You live with Storm don't you? Why is it that Storm has a code name and you don't?"
Jean wasn't sure how to answer. She looked to Storm for help.
"Jean is a marvelous student and she is learning to use her powers very well. We just never got around to making up a name for her."
"Well I think she needs one!" said Hawk. "Carol, Lisa, that goes for you two also."
"Hmmm," said Waverunner as she thought about the problem at hand. "Well, Storm said you're a 'marvelous student,' right? How about Marvel Girl?"
Jean laughed out loud. It didn't seem like a great name to her, but it was just corny enough that she thought it might be fun to use for a little while. Just until she thought of something better.
"Sure! Marvel Girl it is!" said Jean.
"Well that was easy enough," said Waverunner. "Now, what about Carol over here?"
The girls all stared at Carol as they thought.
Finally, Hawk spoke up. "Well, in keeping with our 'marvelous' theme, how about Miss Marvel? She is marvelously strong, after all?"
The girls all giggled their approval.
"Yeah! I like that, sugar!" exclaimed Carol.
"So what about Lisa?" asked Voltage.
"Oh, you don't have to come up with one for me!" said Lisa.
"Sure we do!" said Jean. "I mean, you're one of us, right?"
Lisa looked around and nodded.
"Well then we're gonna give you a good name. Don't worry."
"Just nothing with 'marvel' in it please. I think two names like that are enough." said Lisa shyly.
"Whatever you want!" said Waverunner.
"How about The Incredible Disappearing Woman?" suggested Voltage.
"A little long, don't you think?" giggled Hawk.
Voltage laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is. Well, that was my only idea. Anyone else?"
They all racked their minds for something to call Lisa.
"I think we should call her Cloak, since her power is like a cloaking device," suggested Gaia.
The girls all nodded in approval of the new name. Lisa looked up and smiled. She clearly liked it too.
"Then Cloak it is," said Storm. "I think its time we all took a little rest, now. We'll be expected to work this afternoon and we need to be rested up for it."
"What kind of work are we doing?" asked Jean.
Storm rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, they have us building Sentinels! The government has bought the prototype from Trask and now they want to build a Sentinel army to hunt down mutants."
"And they actually expect captured mutants to build the machines that will hunt down free mutants!" said Waverunner with a huff.
"Well then, can't we just build them poorly and make sure that they don't work?" asked Jean.
"You could," answered Hawk, "but they inspect your work and if they find that you're slacking off, they put you in the Box."
Jean looked around confused. "What's the Box?"
"It's a metal box that's just large enough for a person to fit into," said Gaia. "You can't stand up in it though. It sits in the middle of a big open area that gets bombarded by sunlight. Basically, in the mid-afternoon, it's a human oven!"
Jean looked around in amazement. She could tell that being with these girls would make her time her somewhat bearable, but it wasn't until she heard this that she realized how much danger she was actually in.
*****
The girls all woke up a couple hours later when a soldier barged in and began yelling at them.
"All of you wake up! Its your shift in the construction yard!"
Fearing punishment, they all got out of the beds quickly and marched outside. The soldier led them to the construction yard.
Jean looked around the area in shock. Storm had told her that they were building Sentinels, but these were much bigger than the one they had fought a couple years earlier. They also looked much more fearsome.
The soldiers sent everyone to their designated work areas and they began working on assembling different parts of the gigantic robot.
When Jean got to her work area, she was surprised to find Remy already working there.
"Remy! I didn't think I'd get to see you again!"
"Shhh!" said Remy. "Don' attract attention!"
He lowered his head and continued to work. Jean watched him for a moment, then did the same.
Before long, Remy began to talk again in a hushed voice. "Don' let em see dat we're talkin'. Dey won' like it."
Jean finally began to understand his strange behavior.
"Okay," she said in the same hushed voice. She grappled with what to say next. "How's your bunker?"
"Fine. Got some good guys in it. Might even be able to talk a couple of 'em into going after Magneto with me when we get out."
"Who are they? What are their powers?"
Remy straightened his back and pretended to wipe the sweat off his brow as he looked around for his new friends. He then bent back down and answered her.
"Ryan's over dere helping lift dat steel beam. He's de strong guy with de sleeves ripped off his shirt. Calls hisself Stopwatch. He can control the speed he moves through time in."
Jean glanced up quickly at Ryan.
"What do you mean he controls the speed he moves through time in?"
"I mean he can either slow down or speed up how fast time moves around 'im. He can't go back in time though. But by slowing down time he can move really fast. Heh, even faster than Magneto's little boy."
"Wow!" said Jean. "So who else is with you?"
"De guy talking to de blonde over dere is Viper. Basically, he's a human snake. Got a forked tongue, spits venom, and has some serious agility."
Jean glanced up again and found Viper. He was working next to Voltage.
"So it sounds like you've got a team ready to leave with. Now how do you plan to escape?"
Remy smirked. "C'mon chere, ya think nobody's gonna try ta attack dis place? I guarantee ya that within a week someone shows up to break us out. Maybe it'll be your friends. Could even be Magneto, but someone'll come. You just wait."
Jean thought about this and had to concede that he was right. Most likely someone would come and help them eventually. At least, she certainly hoped so.
