"Look, Richie Rich, I did not ask to get sattled with you. But if I have to be with someone I'd rather it be you then Demon or Dust."
Corey rolled his eyes but ignored the biting way the words were spoken. His full attention was on the hall in front of them while they walked.
Julius continued with his rant about the reasons Kellie and Angel irritated him; he seemed much too caught up in it. His attention wasn't on the stairs as it was suppoused to be and he fell head long down the stairs, slamming his head against the bottom plank. Julius didn't move.
"You alive down there, Misery?"Corey yelled, making his way slowly down the stairs. He didn't hurry even though the other boy could have a concussion or worse. It would suit him just fine because of the torment he so obliviously put everyone else through; eye for an eye or something like that.
He said nothing in response.
Logan and Rogue'll have a field day with this one. He sighed and moved to heft Julius' large body up when something blue passed nearby; he jerekd upward, altering his appearance so anyone hanging around would see Logan rather then himself.
Who was actually afraid of a guy that could create illusions by altering minds?
"Not many people,"Corey answered himself before taking off in the direction he'd seen the blue blur go. "Here, Stitch, stitch, stitch." For some reason he remembered the silly blue creature from outer space that had been in theaters the year before.
"Stitch, good gracious. What is this stitch?"
Corey whirled around to face the voice but saw nothing. Something hit the back of his head, something hard. Stars burst onto his vision then darkness set in.
"Oh my stars and garters, I think that might have been too hard....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kellie stared straight ahead of her but kept an eye on Angel.
She didn't feel any real connection to the girl but what kind of a person left someone else to fend for themself? Kellie knew she should be bitter about her parents' abandoning treatement of her but for some reason she couldn't repeat their mistakes. These people, these mutants, were like her and wanted to help. The least she could do was try to go along with at least part of it.
"Kellie, did you hear something?" Angel's voice came from further off in the direction of one of the unused bedrooms of a further down hall. It was barely audible, reminding Kellie of the time she spent in institutions thanks to her loving parents.
"Don't think about it, Kellie,"she muttered, taking off at a run toward the sound of Angel's voice. It seemed to draw further away from her.
"Don't run, Kel, you could hurt yourself,"Angel called back seconds before an "mphf" and thud came from her general direction.
Kellie unbuttoned the snap on her glove then pulled it off, preparing for any battle she might be forced to have. The atmosphere of the room changed dramatically at the same moment as glass shattering came; one of the guys swore next.
She moved toward the sound but the lights cut out, leaving her in darkness; something slammed into her back. Her hands caught the staircase railing to keep herself from falling but footsteps told her the assaliant got away. Her breathe came in pants while she worked to hold on with her sweating palm and the glove encased other one.
In another part of the mansion, Russ Collins' last thought was for Tara who had just yelped, a sound of pain. He started to turn toward her but found himself instead thrown back against the far wall; he collapsed there, watching shadows shift.
Tara's last thought was-Well isn't this great?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No one spoke for a long time while they sat at the 'meeting' table. The five remaining mutants stared down at the table; their gazes darted up sometimes but never met anyone else's. Rogue didn't move from her standing position with Remy behind Logan; Logan stared at them with a glare that could stop anyone's heart; Remy tapped a card against the back of the chair.
Everyone waited for the silence to break. Angel broke it.
"Since no one else'll say it. What was that and where is she?" The words were laced with barely-controlled anger and a form of fear that only Logan could pick up on. "Where is she?"
Rogue sighed. "Angel, I told ya not everyone was happy with a reformation of the X-men... we're nothing but a menace, sugah."
Russ spoke next. "Don't pull that, Rogue. You know who it was...tell us. We have a right to know; she's our teammate."
"Bullshit,"Julius snorted, rising from the table. Eight pairs of eyes went to him. "I didn't sign up for a team and really I could careless about some stranger. She doesn't affect me in the least neither would her death..."
In the next instant Angel had slammed him back against the wall on the other side of the room. Her usually calm face was contorted in anger and violence; one hand held him there from across the room. Her face was colorless except for the green of her eyes.
"If she dies, I swear on my father's grave, you'll die seven times worse. Her death will be your death...an eye for an eye, life for a life." She stated with words with a cold finish while staring at Julius.
Julius stared back, angered.
Silence reigned in the room. Anyone with any emotion could feel the anger projecting from her mind and body; it was almost a physical force.
Rogue's voice disrupted it. "Let him go, Angel. Don't kill him...there's other things to work out,"she said, not making a move to approach the girl. Her senses told her not to approach her since even Logan hadn't moved from his chair. "Let him go, sugah."
Angel's hand dropped to her side and she sat down. Julius fell to the floor, making contact, hard. The physical force of the anger vanished.
Kellie's gaze returned to the table while Corey stared at Julius' slow return to the table. His eyes never left Angel's; something between respect and hatred flashed there. He sat back down without a word. Russ glanced at his teammate but she remained gazing at a wall. Her expression had gone blank.
"Now that the power struggle's over, it's time to explain some things,"Logan said, still not rising from the table. "The people that came here are part of an anti-mutant group from...well they were around during our time. This would be their children...they take an oath at a certain age and officially join the FoH."
"Friends of Humanity,"Remy supplied after a moment of silence. He stopped the card against the table's edge. His attention switched to each of them several times; he settled it on a distant wall. "Dey have mutant issues...dey were su'poused to have died out de same day of uh, de X-Men's death."
Kellie nodded, looking at him. "That's nice, Remy. Why'd they take Tara and how do we get her back?"she questioned, glancing at the others around her table. No one met her eyes, especially Julius, or moved.
Remy fell silent.
"It's not always that simple, Kellie. Friends of Humanity aren't just take and kill...they have a thing about torturing mutants until they either..." Rogue stopped speaking and stared off into spacing. Something about her words must have struck a nerve for she didn't move for a long time.
"Either lose their sanity or things go too far and the mutant dies,"Logan finished, shifting away from the table. His attention stopped on Angel. "Fighting won't do any good and making promises to kill someone won't either, Angel. Rogue said it was too early for you guys to get a mission but with this there's not much of a choice...we've been searching for a headquarters but haven't found one as of yet."
"So we just stay here?"Angel demanded, rising from the table; her expression was blank with no trace of her previous anger and violence. "We do nothing?"
Corey stood. "We can't do anything if we don't know where she is...face it, Shatter, we can't do a thing."
The others nodded their agreement except Rogue who was still staring into space and Remy who stared down at the hard marbled floor. Neither of them glanced toward her; the fact gave her anger a surge.
"Well I won't stay and wait for nothing. I'm getting out of here..." In a few quick steps Angel Blade left the control room. A scream, more of confusion then anger, split the air.
Logan cringed away. His hands went to his head because of the shrillness of her voice. Rogue and Remy snapped out of their respective trances as the new mutants rose. Several made a move toward the door but stopped it. Their hands went to their heads.
Rogue forced up her walls just in time to block the empathy passing through. From Remy's expression he'd drawn up his walls, tighter; his own empathy wasn't going at the moment. Shatter's empathy drawn scream would have been enough to bring the younger mutants-Misery, Image, Dust, Sabbath-to their knees except for the heavy steel and metal laced walls surrounding the meeting room. An add-on with the development of a full empath.
Julius looked toward them for an explanation, raising one eyebrow to ask his question. It was subtle yet not.
Rogue explained, quietly,"Her empathy. When an empath feels a strong emotion it projections in the form of either a feeling or a scream...Angel's mixed emotions are forcing her to project screams. You need to learn to build up your walls, all of you. For the moment you're dismissed but stay within reaching distance...the second we find this headquarters we move. Be ready and waiting...no screw-ups or Tara will most likely die....."
(I could leave it here, I really could...but I'm not that cruel. Here's the next part.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tara opened her eyes, blinking in the dark interior of the room. Her head hurt as did both her wrists and ankles; her eyes felt as if someone had rubbed them with salt. She was not in a pleased mood.
"Sabbath, I'm going to kill you!"she screamed at the ceiling, climbing up from her resting place on a couch. Her feet scraped against the floor along with the sound of metal scraping wood. Her gaze went to her feet and she almost cried out.
Large silver cuffs encircled both her feet. They were anchored to the floor with a chain around a silver loop, protruding from the floor.
Tara felt sick.
"RUSS!ANGEL!" She jerked on her feet, trying to move and managed a few weak steps toward the window she could just make out the edges of. Her progress slowed when she ran into a table in the dark room. A curse split the air before she felt the edge of the paper her hand had touched. She tried to read it but couldn't make out anything about it in the dark.
Ignoring the pain in her feet, Tara shuffled across the room and yanked the closed drapes from the windows. She had to bring her hands up to stop the flood of sunlight through the window; she bit down a whimper at the intensity of it. The window pane allowed her to see out onto the street but when she ran her fingers over it she realized it wasn't a full window. The person on one side could see out it but the ones on the other side wouldn't see anything except drapes even once they were moved.
"Dammnit,"she muttered, slamming her fist against the window. Her gaze went to the edges of the white paper sticking out from between her fingers; her hand stung now. "Let's see what these people left me..."
The note was simple yet the way it was written made her wonder. Satanic evil anti-mutant people or a strange run of the mill scientist?
My deepest apologies for the terrible way you were brought here. I had hoped that it would be a non-violent confrontation but things did not go quite as well and organized as I had planned. Logan never was one for simple things but this test will prove whether your friends have learned anything or not. There's a fridgerator in the corner where you can get something to eat. Either myself or one of my associates will be in to check on you once you are awake.
The signature was simply scribbled like a doctor.
Tara crumbled it up and threw it behind her. "Great...Dr. Jekyll has kidnapped me as some test. What a lovely finish to the day...THANKS ALOT!"
Her gaze went to the refridgerator. Her stomache growled at the same moment and she limped over to the small white appliance, dragging the chain attached to her ankles with her. Her hands shook slightly while she removed some food and began to eat; the ache to her stomache gradually faded and she realized something. She didn't know what time it was or how long she's been gone. Surely someone was looking for her.
She stopped the thought.
Yeah, right. Who would look for me? My foster parents were glad to lose me and the others are hardly a team or friends...I'm stuck here with this damn mad scientist.
The door behind her opened. She turned to face it, forgetting about her food for the moment.
The strangest sight ever greeted her. The man or beast standing in the doorway was covered from....well covered everywhere in dark blue fur. He wore a white lab coat like the doctors she'd seen at a hospital the few times she's ever been in her life; it made her want to move away from him.
"Hello, Tara. I'm quite sorry for the state I've had to leave you in but...Logan's rules required that it seem as real as possible when the new recruits show up,"the 'beast' apologized while entering the room.
Tara moved away from him, sliding closer to the one-sided window. Her expression was distrustful of the man; doctors weren't nice people from what she's seen. His persona screamed DOCTOR.
"Why are you afraid, Tara? I know about all of you....Angel, Russ, Kellie, Corey, Julius...calm down, child."
"How do you know me and who are you?"she demanded, looking away and out the window. People walked below along with the familiar scene of a street preacher, ranting against mutants; the sight held her attention.
"I know you because I am meant to know you...My name is Henry McCoy but my friends call me...Hank."
Aren't I horrible? Sorry Anything but Ordinary3 but I'm being evil and stopping it right here. Wonder what's going on? A little confused? Guess what? So's the author on one or two things; it's all going to work out. Most of you will probaly have figured out what's going on by now.
Corey rolled his eyes but ignored the biting way the words were spoken. His full attention was on the hall in front of them while they walked.
Julius continued with his rant about the reasons Kellie and Angel irritated him; he seemed much too caught up in it. His attention wasn't on the stairs as it was suppoused to be and he fell head long down the stairs, slamming his head against the bottom plank. Julius didn't move.
"You alive down there, Misery?"Corey yelled, making his way slowly down the stairs. He didn't hurry even though the other boy could have a concussion or worse. It would suit him just fine because of the torment he so obliviously put everyone else through; eye for an eye or something like that.
He said nothing in response.
Logan and Rogue'll have a field day with this one. He sighed and moved to heft Julius' large body up when something blue passed nearby; he jerekd upward, altering his appearance so anyone hanging around would see Logan rather then himself.
Who was actually afraid of a guy that could create illusions by altering minds?
"Not many people,"Corey answered himself before taking off in the direction he'd seen the blue blur go. "Here, Stitch, stitch, stitch." For some reason he remembered the silly blue creature from outer space that had been in theaters the year before.
"Stitch, good gracious. What is this stitch?"
Corey whirled around to face the voice but saw nothing. Something hit the back of his head, something hard. Stars burst onto his vision then darkness set in.
"Oh my stars and garters, I think that might have been too hard....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kellie stared straight ahead of her but kept an eye on Angel.
She didn't feel any real connection to the girl but what kind of a person left someone else to fend for themself? Kellie knew she should be bitter about her parents' abandoning treatement of her but for some reason she couldn't repeat their mistakes. These people, these mutants, were like her and wanted to help. The least she could do was try to go along with at least part of it.
"Kellie, did you hear something?" Angel's voice came from further off in the direction of one of the unused bedrooms of a further down hall. It was barely audible, reminding Kellie of the time she spent in institutions thanks to her loving parents.
"Don't think about it, Kellie,"she muttered, taking off at a run toward the sound of Angel's voice. It seemed to draw further away from her.
"Don't run, Kel, you could hurt yourself,"Angel called back seconds before an "mphf" and thud came from her general direction.
Kellie unbuttoned the snap on her glove then pulled it off, preparing for any battle she might be forced to have. The atmosphere of the room changed dramatically at the same moment as glass shattering came; one of the guys swore next.
She moved toward the sound but the lights cut out, leaving her in darkness; something slammed into her back. Her hands caught the staircase railing to keep herself from falling but footsteps told her the assaliant got away. Her breathe came in pants while she worked to hold on with her sweating palm and the glove encased other one.
In another part of the mansion, Russ Collins' last thought was for Tara who had just yelped, a sound of pain. He started to turn toward her but found himself instead thrown back against the far wall; he collapsed there, watching shadows shift.
Tara's last thought was-Well isn't this great?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No one spoke for a long time while they sat at the 'meeting' table. The five remaining mutants stared down at the table; their gazes darted up sometimes but never met anyone else's. Rogue didn't move from her standing position with Remy behind Logan; Logan stared at them with a glare that could stop anyone's heart; Remy tapped a card against the back of the chair.
Everyone waited for the silence to break. Angel broke it.
"Since no one else'll say it. What was that and where is she?" The words were laced with barely-controlled anger and a form of fear that only Logan could pick up on. "Where is she?"
Rogue sighed. "Angel, I told ya not everyone was happy with a reformation of the X-men... we're nothing but a menace, sugah."
Russ spoke next. "Don't pull that, Rogue. You know who it was...tell us. We have a right to know; she's our teammate."
"Bullshit,"Julius snorted, rising from the table. Eight pairs of eyes went to him. "I didn't sign up for a team and really I could careless about some stranger. She doesn't affect me in the least neither would her death..."
In the next instant Angel had slammed him back against the wall on the other side of the room. Her usually calm face was contorted in anger and violence; one hand held him there from across the room. Her face was colorless except for the green of her eyes.
"If she dies, I swear on my father's grave, you'll die seven times worse. Her death will be your death...an eye for an eye, life for a life." She stated with words with a cold finish while staring at Julius.
Julius stared back, angered.
Silence reigned in the room. Anyone with any emotion could feel the anger projecting from her mind and body; it was almost a physical force.
Rogue's voice disrupted it. "Let him go, Angel. Don't kill him...there's other things to work out,"she said, not making a move to approach the girl. Her senses told her not to approach her since even Logan hadn't moved from his chair. "Let him go, sugah."
Angel's hand dropped to her side and she sat down. Julius fell to the floor, making contact, hard. The physical force of the anger vanished.
Kellie's gaze returned to the table while Corey stared at Julius' slow return to the table. His eyes never left Angel's; something between respect and hatred flashed there. He sat back down without a word. Russ glanced at his teammate but she remained gazing at a wall. Her expression had gone blank.
"Now that the power struggle's over, it's time to explain some things,"Logan said, still not rising from the table. "The people that came here are part of an anti-mutant group from...well they were around during our time. This would be their children...they take an oath at a certain age and officially join the FoH."
"Friends of Humanity,"Remy supplied after a moment of silence. He stopped the card against the table's edge. His attention switched to each of them several times; he settled it on a distant wall. "Dey have mutant issues...dey were su'poused to have died out de same day of uh, de X-Men's death."
Kellie nodded, looking at him. "That's nice, Remy. Why'd they take Tara and how do we get her back?"she questioned, glancing at the others around her table. No one met her eyes, especially Julius, or moved.
Remy fell silent.
"It's not always that simple, Kellie. Friends of Humanity aren't just take and kill...they have a thing about torturing mutants until they either..." Rogue stopped speaking and stared off into spacing. Something about her words must have struck a nerve for she didn't move for a long time.
"Either lose their sanity or things go too far and the mutant dies,"Logan finished, shifting away from the table. His attention stopped on Angel. "Fighting won't do any good and making promises to kill someone won't either, Angel. Rogue said it was too early for you guys to get a mission but with this there's not much of a choice...we've been searching for a headquarters but haven't found one as of yet."
"So we just stay here?"Angel demanded, rising from the table; her expression was blank with no trace of her previous anger and violence. "We do nothing?"
Corey stood. "We can't do anything if we don't know where she is...face it, Shatter, we can't do a thing."
The others nodded their agreement except Rogue who was still staring into space and Remy who stared down at the hard marbled floor. Neither of them glanced toward her; the fact gave her anger a surge.
"Well I won't stay and wait for nothing. I'm getting out of here..." In a few quick steps Angel Blade left the control room. A scream, more of confusion then anger, split the air.
Logan cringed away. His hands went to his head because of the shrillness of her voice. Rogue and Remy snapped out of their respective trances as the new mutants rose. Several made a move toward the door but stopped it. Their hands went to their heads.
Rogue forced up her walls just in time to block the empathy passing through. From Remy's expression he'd drawn up his walls, tighter; his own empathy wasn't going at the moment. Shatter's empathy drawn scream would have been enough to bring the younger mutants-Misery, Image, Dust, Sabbath-to their knees except for the heavy steel and metal laced walls surrounding the meeting room. An add-on with the development of a full empath.
Julius looked toward them for an explanation, raising one eyebrow to ask his question. It was subtle yet not.
Rogue explained, quietly,"Her empathy. When an empath feels a strong emotion it projections in the form of either a feeling or a scream...Angel's mixed emotions are forcing her to project screams. You need to learn to build up your walls, all of you. For the moment you're dismissed but stay within reaching distance...the second we find this headquarters we move. Be ready and waiting...no screw-ups or Tara will most likely die....."
(I could leave it here, I really could...but I'm not that cruel. Here's the next part.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tara opened her eyes, blinking in the dark interior of the room. Her head hurt as did both her wrists and ankles; her eyes felt as if someone had rubbed them with salt. She was not in a pleased mood.
"Sabbath, I'm going to kill you!"she screamed at the ceiling, climbing up from her resting place on a couch. Her feet scraped against the floor along with the sound of metal scraping wood. Her gaze went to her feet and she almost cried out.
Large silver cuffs encircled both her feet. They were anchored to the floor with a chain around a silver loop, protruding from the floor.
Tara felt sick.
"RUSS!ANGEL!" She jerked on her feet, trying to move and managed a few weak steps toward the window she could just make out the edges of. Her progress slowed when she ran into a table in the dark room. A curse split the air before she felt the edge of the paper her hand had touched. She tried to read it but couldn't make out anything about it in the dark.
Ignoring the pain in her feet, Tara shuffled across the room and yanked the closed drapes from the windows. She had to bring her hands up to stop the flood of sunlight through the window; she bit down a whimper at the intensity of it. The window pane allowed her to see out onto the street but when she ran her fingers over it she realized it wasn't a full window. The person on one side could see out it but the ones on the other side wouldn't see anything except drapes even once they were moved.
"Dammnit,"she muttered, slamming her fist against the window. Her gaze went to the edges of the white paper sticking out from between her fingers; her hand stung now. "Let's see what these people left me..."
The note was simple yet the way it was written made her wonder. Satanic evil anti-mutant people or a strange run of the mill scientist?
My deepest apologies for the terrible way you were brought here. I had hoped that it would be a non-violent confrontation but things did not go quite as well and organized as I had planned. Logan never was one for simple things but this test will prove whether your friends have learned anything or not. There's a fridgerator in the corner where you can get something to eat. Either myself or one of my associates will be in to check on you once you are awake.
The signature was simply scribbled like a doctor.
Tara crumbled it up and threw it behind her. "Great...Dr. Jekyll has kidnapped me as some test. What a lovely finish to the day...THANKS ALOT!"
Her gaze went to the refridgerator. Her stomache growled at the same moment and she limped over to the small white appliance, dragging the chain attached to her ankles with her. Her hands shook slightly while she removed some food and began to eat; the ache to her stomache gradually faded and she realized something. She didn't know what time it was or how long she's been gone. Surely someone was looking for her.
She stopped the thought.
Yeah, right. Who would look for me? My foster parents were glad to lose me and the others are hardly a team or friends...I'm stuck here with this damn mad scientist.
The door behind her opened. She turned to face it, forgetting about her food for the moment.
The strangest sight ever greeted her. The man or beast standing in the doorway was covered from....well covered everywhere in dark blue fur. He wore a white lab coat like the doctors she'd seen at a hospital the few times she's ever been in her life; it made her want to move away from him.
"Hello, Tara. I'm quite sorry for the state I've had to leave you in but...Logan's rules required that it seem as real as possible when the new recruits show up,"the 'beast' apologized while entering the room.
Tara moved away from him, sliding closer to the one-sided window. Her expression was distrustful of the man; doctors weren't nice people from what she's seen. His persona screamed DOCTOR.
"Why are you afraid, Tara? I know about all of you....Angel, Russ, Kellie, Corey, Julius...calm down, child."
"How do you know me and who are you?"she demanded, looking away and out the window. People walked below along with the familiar scene of a street preacher, ranting against mutants; the sight held her attention.
"I know you because I am meant to know you...My name is Henry McCoy but my friends call me...Hank."
Aren't I horrible? Sorry Anything but Ordinary3 but I'm being evil and stopping it right here. Wonder what's going on? A little confused? Guess what? So's the author on one or two things; it's all going to work out. Most of you will probaly have figured out what's going on by now.