ENTER MAYHEM
CHAPTER 16: A SINISTER PLAN
After April had calmed down, McCoy was allowed to examine her, Vincent stayed with her the entire time, since they both hated being examined. Jean went to fetch her some new clothes for her to wear.
She came back with a set of clothes that Amara had lent her, mainly because they were about the same size. April got dressed in the strange new clothes behind a screen for privacy, her head was still spinning from everything.
First she was free for the first time ever, now she was also safe and with most likely the one person she trusted in the entire world. She came out from behind the screen. She saw Seven, no Vincent, she kept correcting herself and his friends.
She liked his new name, and the new name he gave her. She wanted to forget that horrible place and that man.
"How do you feel now April?" Charles asked her. "Do you feel up for some questions?"
April sat down on the bead, she looked up at Vincent and could feel his support. "Yes, I think so."
They questioned her gently, asking what she remembered about Sinister and his base, his plans, who was working with him.
"Well I don't know where that base is, there were no windows, and the helicopter that brought me had no windows where I was."
"Apparently he must have planned in case you were captured by us." Charles said.
"There were two others I saw. One was bald and had these green tattoos on his face."
"That sounds like Mesmero." Xavier was socked that Mesmero was working with this Sinister person.
"There was this lady too, but she was different, she had blue skin and red hair."
"Mystique," you could hear the venom coming off of Rogue's word.
"April." Vincent spoke up. "Do you know what happened to the others?"
She didn't need to ask who the 'others' were. She slowly nodded. "Sinister had detailed files on all of us, HE was the one behind Project Prodigy."
"WHAT!" Vince cried out standing to his feet.
"It's true he was the one in charge, he's the one who did that to us!" The cried out, then her face went vary gave. "Prodigies 1 to 3 didn't survive experimentation, 4 and 5 were killed in training, 8, 9 and 11 were taken by the people who attacked the lab. 12 is in an insane asylum somewhere and when 10's powers manifested he just disappeared in a flash of light, and no one has seen him since."
No one talked for a few minutes as the information she told them sunk in. Vincent seemed to take it the hardest, he just slumped down against one of the walls and hung his head. Five of the kids where dead, one nuts, another vanished, and who knows what happened to the other three.
Vincent had always hoped that they had gotten out like he had, now it appears he may have been the lucky one. It didn't sit well with him, why did he get out and no one else did, why him.
Rogue sat down next to him and placed a hand o his shoulder. "Are ya goin' to be alright?"
"I think so…..I just…need time." He said in a quiet voice.
She just nodded her understanding.
"Well I think that is enough for today, April would you like to rest a bit, you can take one of the guest rooms if you'd like." Xavier said to her.
She nodded her head in approval, Vincent then rose up with Rogue. "We can show her Professor."
April leaped from the bead and went over to him with a huge smile on her face.
"Vary well then." The Professor said to then, his own smile on his face at the sight.
As they all left Xavier went over to the lab to talk with Hank. As he entered he saw Hank there examining several devices found on the girl's suit, in the belt, which both where on a table near by.
"Have you found anything Hank?" Xavier asked him.
Hank looked over at the Professor. "Yes I have apparently these devices are some kind of injector. They inject some kind of serum, I haven't completed an analysis of it, but so far it's both amazing and terrifying stuff."
Xavier looked puzzled at this. "Amazing and terrifying how?"
"Well first off I'm not sure how, but I think this enhances a mutants powers, weather permanent or limited time I don't know. The terrifying part is, if someone would take too much it could cause the X-gene to act like a cancer killing other genes at a rapid rate."
Xavier look horrified. "Good God Hank, that serum could be used as a weapon for mutants like Magneto to increase his followers powers, or for humans like Trask to kill all mutants with their vary own X-gene."
Hank nodded in agreement, this could possible be the most devastating substance to mutant life ever, and the both of them feared what would happen if it got out into the world.
Meanwhile Rogue and Vincent were currently showing April around, Jean had left them to explain the situation to the others, so no one would think she was still out of control.
When they reached the dorm level Vincent turned to April. "You know I think I really could use a change and shower, I still haven't cleaned up from today." He looked to Rogue then. "Think you can handle it?" He smiled at her playfully.
She smiled back slightly. "Ah think ah can, go on ya startin' ta smell of mud."
He gave her a mock look of hurt then walked off to his own room.
April walked with the girl known as Rogue in silence. She wasn't still sure about her, she only really trusted Vincent and the others in her life, so she was a little uneasy.
Rogue decided to break the silence then. "Sorry about deckin' ya back there, but ya were a little out of control."
April looked up at the girl. "It's okay….sorry for trying to drown you." She averted her eyes for her apology.
"It's alright, everyone's fahne, so don' worry about it too much."
April looked at the slightly taller girl and could see that she was sincere, she smiled then knowing that these people might forgive her actions.
They finally arrived in a room, with sparse furnishing, only a dresser, bead, table, and a chair, but to April it was a four star hotel. "This is my room?" she couldn't believe it.
"Ya is somethin' wrong?" Rogue asked her.
"It is just that during my stay with Sinister all I got was a small cold metal room, with a bead, nothing like this." She was looking over the room while saying this, totally captivated by the room. "And before that back at the lab we only lived in…."
She shuddered at the memory, it had been worse. The children lived in nothing more than high tech cages.
"Ah know about all of that." Rogue said comfortingly
April turned towards her. "How, did Vincent tell you about it?"
Rogue shook her head. "When Vincent used CPR on meh, ah absorb all of his powers and memories when he touched my skin."
April looked at her a moment letting it sink in. She sat down on the bead. "Everything?"
Rogue nodded. "Everything. Ah saw what he went through, and ya through his eyes. Ah also saw that tyme when he got that large scar on his back."
"Then you know he got it from protecting me from Him." She folded her arms across her chest and shuddered.
"Ya mean that Simmons guy." It wasn't a question, and April only nodded. "Yeah ah know all about how that Simmons guy was in charge of 'disciplining' you guys. How when ya failed to do this obstacle course, he through ya to the ground and got out some kind of lash and tried to 'punish' ya."
"But Vincent fell on top of me and stopped it." April finished. "The scientist in charge was enraged that Simmons would hurt Vincent like that without his say so, and Simmons was punished for it."
She smiled slightly at Simmons being scolded like that, even Rogue who still had faint traces of Vincent's memories, smile at that man getting punished.
"He always tried his best to look out for the others, and we started looking out for each other as beast we could after that." April said. "I always wished that that man GOT what was coming to him." She said darkly.
"He did." Rogue quietly said to herself.
"Did you say something?" April asked her.
Rogue suddenly looked up, she didn't mean to say that out loud. "Nothin' important." She decided she needed to change the subject. "Ya know if ya are goin' ta live here now yall goin' ta need some more cloths, than Amara's hand meh downs."
"Oh, you are right, but where am I going to get new cloths? I've never lived in the outside world before." She sheepishly said.
Rogue could feel a small smile on her lips forming. "Ah think this is the perfect tyme to introduce ya to the queens of the mall that live here, Kitty and Jubilee."
Vincent had just come from his shower finally free of all that mud and crud that he had on him. He just finishing dressing when Kurt Bamfed in. About a foot from his face.
"Geez!" Was all he got out and fell back. "Kurt we REALLY need to get you an early warning system for that."
"Oops, sorry meinen Freund." Kurt said to him, embarrassed that he shocked him like that. "I'd thought that you would want to know that Kitty, Jubilee, and Rogue took April shopping."
"Oh no, please tell me Kitty's not driving, April has had enough of a shock as it is." Vince pleaded with him.
"Nein, nein, Ororo is also with them and she's driving." Kurt smiled at him, especially seeing the sigh of relief coming from him.
"That's good news." Vincent said to Kurt. He was making his way to his computer when Kurt asked him something else that caught him completely off guard.
"So…vhat's up with you and meinen sister?" Kurt asked.
Vincent froze. 'Oh crap.' was all he could think about.
April was nearly overwhelmed at the mall. She had never been in one and it was so full of people and strange new things. The girls had taken her to many stores and at launch they stopped at the food court.
They all sat at a large table for four which was now surrounded with shopping bags. Ororo had decided to give the girls their privacy, but still sat where she could still watch over them.
The girls where nearly finished and where talking amongst them selves and answering all of April's questions.
"You know this has been like really fun today." Kitty said all chipper as usual.
"I know what you mean Kitty." Jubilee said to her.
Rogue rolled her eyes at them. "Please, yall are always happy when ya two get a chance ta go ta the mall."
"So" they both said, Rogue just shook her head in defeat, while April giggled at this.
"I have to agree with Jubilee and Kitty, this has been pretty fun for me." April said before taking a sip of her drink.
"I'll bet, I mean no one who hasn't been taken to a mall before know is just criminal." Jubilee said to her.
"Yeah and there's like more to do here then just shop too." Kitty said.
"Like what?" April asked them.
"Well there's like that Cineplex on the other side of the mall." Kitty said.
April with a confused expression asked her what a Cineplex was.
Jubilee told her it's a place where you go to watch films, and also a place to go on dates. This caused April to ask both what movies and dates were. The first one was easier for then to explain, but the date thing was a little trickier.
"Well you see April, when you like someone, usually of the opposite sex, but not always for some people, you go out together to watch it." Jubilee began. "For instance Bobby and me are going to see one together tomorrow."
"Yeah like Tabby and Sam did a couple of times." Kitty said.
Jubilee got a grin on her face, as she remembered the first time those two went out. "Hey yeah, wasn't Rogue and Vincent with them too."
"Oh so are you and Vincent 'dating'?" April asked Rogue innocently.
Rogue blushed slightly and didn't answer before Jubilee jumped in. "Well that's the rumor."
Rogue's eyes went wide and turned to the girl. "WHAT rumor?"
"That you two are going out." Jubilee said in a matter of fact type of tone, while on the inside she was laughing her ass off. "I mean you two do spend a lot of time together, and everyone knows you two got the hots for each other." The last statement was a lot more of an exaggeration than what people were talking about, but she was only kidding, and didn't really believe the rumors herself, no one really did.
"Whoa so like everyone knows?" Kitty asked her. "Well Rogue if everyone knows then I wonder if Vince knows?" She said to her thinking of her earlier confession that day in her room.
Rogue whose face had a slightly red tint on her cheeks at that point was staring intently on her nearly finished meal. "Actually ah'm pretty sure he knows that ah lahke him, since ah told him as much in the infirmary." She said to her best friend next to her.
"Oh my gosh really!" Kitty nearly shrieked "Well what about him, did he like feel the same way?"
Rogue blushed even deeper, answering her question.
Jubilee just sat there stunned, mouth opened. She couldn't believe that Rogue of all people really was interested in Vincent and what was even more shocking was that apparently he felt the same.
'Wait until the girls hear about this.' She thought to herself. 'I can't wait to get home now, I got to tell Rahne first though, roommate privilege and all.'
"Oh so you are." April said at last.
"Well not really we haven't gone out an any 'official' date or nothin'" Rogue told her. "Ya ain' bothered by it are ya, ah could see that yall are close to each other." She said slightly worried that April might have a thing for Vincent and she REALLY didn't want to get into a problem like that with this girl.
April merely smiled and shook her head. "No, Vincent is more like a …..big brother to me I guess, though I do care about him, I don't think it is in that way. I haven't really had much experience with things like this though."
The last part was said with a hint of sorrow, because she had never the chance for a normal life until now.
"Well you like got the rest of your life now to find out." Kitty happily exclaimed.
April smiled at her. She was right, and she was glad that she would get the chance to finally see all of what life had to offer her.
The girls had finally gotten home and most of them went to April's room to help her pack. Rogue dropped of the few things she got herself in her room.
She was on her way to April to help out when she met up with Vincent in the hall. He gave her that smile that that over the short time that she'd known him, she grew to love seeing.
"So you girls are back eh. So how did it go?"
Rogue rolled her eyes then. "Ya have no idea, those two were draggin' that poor girl all around the place."
They were walking beside each other now when Vincent place his hand in hers. She readily accepted it almost immediately.
"Well you had it easy, Kurt came to see me while you were gone, and he gave me the whole 'brother who needs to talk about what your intentions are to my sister' talk."
"He didn't." Rogue simply said.
Vincent nodded his head, it wasn't exactly an easy talk, Kurt even though he didn't object to them together, still gave him a hard time, and was still protective of his sister.
"Ah'm so goin' ta get that little fuzz-ball, ah mean technically AH'M the older one anyways, and where does he get off interferin' in my life."
Vince placed his other hand on her arm. "Whoa calm down, he's just looking out for you, you know he meant well."
Rogue bitterly thought it over, Vincent was right. "Ah know, but that doesn't mean that ah'll let him get away with this."
"You wouldn't be you if you didn't" Vincent said with that playful smile of his. "Can I watch, since he put ME through all of that?"
Rogue grinned at his question. "If ya are good…then yes."
"Oh I look forward in to this." He got that predatory grin of his again.
"Ya really do have a vicious streak in ya, don't ya?" she playfully said to him.
"You know it." Vincent said.
Mesmerso was standing beside Sinister watching the fight between the X-Men and Prodigy 6.
"Do you think this plan is wise Sinister?"
Sinister didn't turn to face his ally, she only smiled that ugly smile of his at his own brilliant plan.
"Of course it is. First by having number six dealing with the X-Men, she would either destroy some of them or fail, either one was acceptable."
"But why make the offer for them to join us?" Mesmerso asked, it was bothering him that Sinister thought he could turn the X-Men to their side.
"To make it more believable my good man, I never expected them to join us, it was all for show. Now that she has been 'captured' and I doubt Charles or that little red head of his, would have found the little surprises we left in her head not after all of those barriers we put up around everything else but that."
"You really think he would over look it because it wasn't shielded?" He asked Sinister, worried that the plan would fail.
"Of course, would you expect something like the hidden programming NOT to be shielded, he masked it to looked like a repressed memory, after all after scanning her mind and hearing her story, he would think she would have several of those, which she does."
"The fact they have the serum means they know how far I'm willing to go, and will create a much needed distraction for them to focus on. So when the 'programming' kicks in she'll do as she was instructed, and they'll be too busy looking at our right hand to see what the left was doing and we'll have exactly what we needed from them."
"I must admit it is a devious plan." Mesmerso reluctantly agreed to.
"Of course! I don't call myself Sinister for nothing you know." He said in a vary vain and cocky voice.
NEXT UP CHAPTER 17: THE PLAN REVEALED