A/N: They'll be brownie points given to anyone that can figure out who the guy with the brotherhood is BEFORE his name is mentioned. It's not a hard decision if you've read anything else by me..he's an original or mine and often has something wrong with him. Think, people.
JANUARY 23, 2005 11:05 p.m.
"How's she doing?"
"She's fine, Vel."
"And at the moment where is she...?"
"Out with another of the alliance members. They're working on something for Hank."
"And you're not with her?" He was obviously angry.
"No, I figured she deserved some freedom. Julius' taking care of he--"
"Julius Kanteon? No."
"No what, Vel?"
"Keep Angel away from him. I've looked into their backgrounds and I don't want her involved with him; in any way."
"You looked into their backgrounds? They're not serial killers and rapists, Vel! They're kids, young adults...stop being paranoid."
"Anything happens to Angel or Tara, you take the consequences."
"Nothing will happen."
"I'm serious, Nanaki." The reciever slammed down in response without another word.
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS (INSIDE) 11:45 a.m.
"Sabbath. Sabbath..?" Tara froze in midstep, waiting for some reply from him. None came. It wasn't unusual especially since he'd developed a habit of ignoring her. A lot of people did after a short amount of time. "Fine. You can deal with Quicksilver alone."
The sound of footsteps behind her drew her attention and she ducked under a staircase, holding there as they approached closer. "It's not my fault that the Marauders vanished. I had better things to do then baby-sit the lot of them. Mystique was watching, wasn't she?"demanded one voice as they appeared.
The person attached to the voice was unrecognizable. He was about the same heigth as his commrad but looked younger; he was dressed in jeans, a black shirt, and a dark brown leather-like jacket. He wasn't among their list or even any of the mutants they'd looked through.
"Of course, but Mystique's hardly what I'd call reliable." Tara had to look twice. In front of her, but with her hidden, was another Pietro. He looked identical to the one outside in every way even clothed. "There were reasons I had some qualms over bringing her here."
His 'friend' chose to ignore that statement. "And this all concerns me how?"
"Interesting report. Mystique mentioned a group of kids, older kids at the hanging. She described one as being overly emotional, another claimed the girl had a weak stomache...I want you to find out about these people. Who they are, what they want, and why they were there."
"I get to chase the strange people, Pietro? Thank you so much..." His expression plainly said he had other things in mind besides finding a strange group of kids.
"Stop being a smart ass. I have to deal with Toad...you find them."
Pietro raced off, leaving his friend in the same spot. He, himself, vanished upstairs without a backward glance.
"I'm starting to hate these people. Do this, do that. Put up with Mystique's temper; deal with Toad's constant depression over what he doesn't remember." He started to stalk off but stopped all of a sudden, looking around.
Tara tensed, backing away further into the darkness the stairs provided. She held her breathe to keep from making a sound but waited, ready to strike if he found her; a tongue the length of hers was a good thing.
"I think someone wants to play Hide-and-Seek,"the remaining one said quietly, walking backwards for a few moments. He stopped to face the stairs; he stayed a moment then looked directly at her. "Is there something I could help you with...?"
I think I can use this to my advantage. Maybe, just maybe, I can play a game with his thoughts. If I can convince him that I'm a relative of Toad maybe I could get through and talk to him. His depression had to be over the deaths that none of them can remember.
She stepped forward from the darkness, making sure he saw her features, clearly. "I want to see Mortimer Toynbee."
"And who would you be to make those requests, girl?"he asked without the slightest bit of attention to her except a quick once-over. "You don't look like the typical kind he plays with."
"I'm his sister."
His eyes nearly bugged out. "Toad's s-sister?"
"Yeah, his sister." She glared at him, hoping that he'd give in and take her to her so-called brother. He just studied her as if needing further proof. Her point was proved with his next words.
"Prove it."
She relayed the information she could about him including his estimated birthdate, full name, and just about every other statistic, inlcuding his appearance.
The guy nodded. "Alright. Follow me,"he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and starting up the stairs.
Tara followed, slowly. "What's your name...?"
"Landon." He offered no last name; she didn't ask for one. They walked upstairs and toward a bank of bedrooms in a run down hall. Tara tried not to cringe. The place was tacky and even more out of care then the circus had once been. "You?"
"Tara Toynbee."
"Why haven't you been around before?"Landon asked, continuing his third degree. They approached one of the bedrooms.
She fished around then gave the only answer she could. "I didn't find out until recently. My parents gave me up as a kid; I was part of a circus for awhile...it took until now to find my brother,"she said, feeling guilty for the lie but thankful she'd taken on his last name.
"Sounds tough." He offered no explanation of his own background but hit his fist against one of the doors. It rattled and shook on it's hinges. "Toad, visitor!"
Pietro answered the door, looking none too pleased at the interruption. "Who's here? They can wait."
Tara glared at the guy, hating him already. "I'm Tara Toynbee. Your friend, in there, is my brother."
He laughed here, long and hard. "Yeah, sure, kid. Run along."
Maybe I need to prove it to him in a different way. Before he could react and move even with his quick speed, Tara flung out her tongue and wrapped it around his neck, squeezing. "I. Want. To. See. My. Brother. Now."
A third voice interrupted them. "It's okay, Pietro. I'll see her,"it said, giving nothing away about the person except the person wasn't happy. Nothing else could be decided from just the voice but there was little to no authority in it.
"Right. Take care of this then meet downstairs. Mystique has something to talk to us about..." Pietro left, forgetting Landon and leaving him alone. He shrugged then went into one of the bedrooms down the hall, closing the door.
Tara entered Toad's room, looking around. There was nothing unique about the room except for it's blankness. It was impossible to tell the paint color or what color any furniture was; most places were bare of carpet or just plain worn out.
"I guess you're aware that I'm not your sister?"she asked to start their conversation.
"Yeah. I don't think my parents would have had another kid, knowing it might end up like me. What is your name...?"
"Tara Toynbee. I kind of took your last name awhile back...I knew you were like me; a hybrid-like mutant,"she explained, twisting one of her hands around behind her back. She forced it to remain still and studied him. "What's wrong with you? Why aren't you like the others?"
Toad sighed. "It's complicated. There's things that I remember that no one else does...it's like there's something that happened and it's been erased, but I remember it. Somehow, sometime, I died."
She nodded. "Yes, you did."
"So you know about me...?" He looked and sounded like someone that had found something they'd lost but didn't know what to do with it. He didn't stand or look at her. "What happened?"
"You're not real, Toad. You're a clone..."
PUBLIC LIBRARY (OBITUARY AND DEATH CERTIFICATE SECTIONS) 12:00 p.m.
"Here it is." Kellie tapped the book in front of her, coughing when a wave of dust rose and filled her mouth. She gagged a moment then wiped her mouth with the back of one gloved hand. "Obituary for Sean Cassidy or Banshee."
Corey came over to stand by her, abandoning his own volume of death announcements. He read the one she'd stopped on and pointed out, nodding every few moments.
"Is it him?"
"It's him. Read the stats...his birthdate matches ours along with the picture. Apparantly, he's been dead around a year..." Her voice trailed off and she returned to their print out.
"Around a year? He would be out of synch with the others. He'd have to be around before them, wouldn't he?" Corey took the print out to study.
She shrugged. "Maybe unless the others have wandered. It could be that Remy and Hank had some issues with finding their way 'home', if you will, and took longer to return then you'd think."
"But Banshee is officially ruled as deceased?"
Kellie nodded then removed a black marker, writing across his information in bold letters DECEASED.
"I don't think they'll have a problem reading it,"he said, sarcastically, staring at the large words. She gave him an unKellie-like smile but gave no response. "Who's next?"
"Riptide."
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS (OUTSIDE) 12:15 p.m.
Russ cringed at the sound of something snapping in his arm. It hurt worse then it should have, even worse then the time he'd torn a bunch of tendons while fighting with Julius. Training, not fighting, even though, it had become one.
"Maybe I should have let Tara stay around to help me,"he groaned, charging a nearby handful of rocks and tossing them toward the advancing 'werewolf'. He was huge with blonde fur, a nasty expression, and 'fangs' complete with a growling noise.
Mystique was having quite the fun with him.
"I just wanted to tell you that you've not real. You were cloned from the real Mystique." Mystique, apparantly, wasn't pleased with the answer and threw him against another wall, holding him there by his throat.
He gagged, struggling against the large, blonde-furred arm that gripped and cut off his air. He fought with himself a moment then gripped one hand around a handful of fur then concentrated on charging it. The fur glowed purple then in the next instant, she/he was flying across the room.
With a final roar, the giant slammed into the nearby, half wall; the wall rattled then broke in several other places, sending a shower of dust and brick inside. It rained down like icy hail, earning something like shouting from the inside occupants. The giant changed into a blue woman with bright red hair, dressed in white with a 'skull' belt; she remained there a moment.
"What's going on our here?" The second voice was now familiar. Quicksilver had arrived and was trying to help Mystique up.
Tara appeared at an upstairs window with another frog-like mutant. She shook her head a moment then tried to mouth something. It took another two attempts before he recognized it.
Toad knows. What about those two?
Russ sent her a scowl and started to lift an arm, realizing that it hurt; it fell to his side, causing him to grimace and cry out, quietly, in pain. He noticed Mystique was now up with Pietro's help even though she appeared a little worse for wear and wasn't moving much.
"What's this about cloning?"Quicksilver demanded, glancing away from Russ toward the new arrivals; his expression was even more confused by the sight of the two frog-like mutants. His attentioned lingered longer on Tara then he scowled. "LANDON!"
There was no response from upstairs except for a sheet of paper floating down from one of the windows. It was blank and charred in some places as though someone was playing with a lighter around the edges. Feathering, not really burning.
"LANDON KELLER!"
Still no response beyond a few similar sheets of paper.
Russ scowled and forced himself to stand, ignoring the pain he felt. His arm hung at one side, limply and he felt severe bruising around his jaw and lower cheekbone; he scowled, grimacing at the motion.
"Scientists got a bright idea after the death of the mutant populations. They decided to clone mutants and allow them to run free, erasing the moments of their death...they have nothing left of it,"he said but stopped realizing that their attention wasn't on him. The two had begun to walk away.
Toad's voice stopped them. "I remember."
"What do you remember, Toad?"Mystique replied in a slurred voice without moving from her supporter's arm.
"Dying. It's still here; I think I somehow replaced the memories they used or restored them to their original form. I can remember dying and the short time before...do you remember the riot, the mutant war?"
One shake of the head and a silence later, he continued. "There was a sudden war against mutants. It involved one of the senators; he wanted to end mutants exsistence. They came and none of us were ready...Magneto and Xavier were discussing a basic peace treaty while this was going on. It was never revolved. Everyone died except Rogue, she left the line-up, and Logan, he wasn't there." His expression was hopeless and his eyes sad.
"Is Landon real...?" Mystique's question.
Tara nodded. "As far as we can see, he's real. His birth certificate's unattainable, but he's not listed among the known mutants. He's in the new list, a list of mutants that are over the age of ten."
"What does it mean?"
Russ realized it with a sick feeling. "Another list."
XAVIER'S INSTITUTE (REBUILT) 3:45 p.m.
"I assume everything's going alright?"Rogue asked without looking away from the book she was thumbing through. Her full attention was on the book instead of out the window, watching Remy's clone.
Russ laughed then grimaced when the motion caused him pain. He returned to trying to eat with his better hand; he was barely getting anything into his mouth.
"Let me get this straight,"Julius started, looking up from his food. He was busy stuffing his mouth but stopped to continue. "Sabbath, here, got beat up by a cloned shapeshifter?"
"Back off, Misery,"came the response through clenched teeth. His fork fell from his hand again, causing him to expel a long sigh. "You try fighting a werwolf that towered over you and had fangs plus double or triple the strength of Logan."
"If you go see Hank, he'll give you something to help the bones heal faster,"Tara said, offering her opinon for the first time. She was intent upon her sandwich, though, she ate very little of it. Her chips were also for the majority uneaten. Something was off with her.
Probably still having some problems with the whole Toad thing, Russ thought, trying again to eat. He gave up and shoved his chair back, walking out and toward the med lab. His back and arm were hurting and he knew one side of his face was bruising. He wished, repeatedly, that he'd taken Tara's offer to 'work together rather than seperate'; he was an idiot.
~Don't be hard on yourself, Russ. I've still got the broken wrist that Kanteon gave me...you did a good job.~ Angel's encouragement wasn't helping much.
~Leave me alone, Angel.~
~I'm trying to help.~ Her voice had taken on a defensive tone.
~Well don't!~he practically shouted back, walking straight into the med lab and toward the inner office. He knocked once it was clear that she wasn't going to respond.
Hank answered almost instantly, rubbing his rather large blue nose and removing the glasses or gogles he'd been wearing; he wasn't sure which it was.
"I'm suppoused to come get something to help with this." He started to lift his arm then let it drop as a sharp pain seared through him. His back protested, causing him to lean heavily upon the door frame. "Mystique wasn't playing nicely."
"Ah, Mystique. She always was a slippery one." Hank added his agreement then began searching a cabinet until he found a bottle of pills. He shook out two then handed them over.
Angel made no further comment to Russ but pushed her food away and listened in on his and Hank's conversation. There had to be a further explanation for his pushing her away. Normally they could at least stay on civil terms but now he wanted nothing to do with her.
His wall came up. It was red brick with strange, demon-like creatures guarding it. They pushed her back, forcing her away from the wall.
She withdrew, completely, from his mind.
Julius was watching her. "What's wrong with our great leader..?"
"Shove it, Misery,"she scowled, taking one last bite of her sandwich before standing. He rose, too. "I'm going upstairs."
"Me, too. We need to discuss Jean Grey."
"No, we don't. Just work out the transportation and we'll meet later,"Angel said before vanishing from the room. She was halfway up the stairs when he caught her arm, rather hard.
"What's your problem?"he demanded, tightening his hold when she would her jerked away. His shields were up, too. His wall was steel with barb wire circled inside. "Why are you running all of a sudden?"
"I ain't runnin'. I need to think...leave me alone, Kanteon."
"Prove nothing's wrong."
She sighed. "How?"
Julius shrugged, not knowing himself from his expression. She thought a moment then leaned up and kissed him full on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. Instinctivly, his arms went around her waist and he almost picked her up, almost.
"Happy now?"she asked, giving him the remains of a smile before running up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door between them. His footsteps came forward; she leaned against the door, praying he'd go by. He walked past her room then into another, but, she noted, it wasn't his room that he went into.
Angel sat down against the door, placing up her wall which better resembled a fortress then a single wall like the others. She masked both emotions and thoughts; it was her own, personal trick. The thing with John and leaning about Jean's situation put a lot more on the line and brought things into perspective.
"Maybe Vel was right. Maybe I'm not ready for this..."
XAVIER INSTITUTE (REBUILT) GARAGE 4:45 p.m.
Tara stared at the papers she held, flipping through them with a mumble here and there. She flipped through it then began working on her latest task of the moment. It was in-between their runs to find clones but since they'd found all three of theirs easy...she was free to work on it.
It wouldn't make up for what Logan had done for her as a child. She didn't think she could ever make up for his getting her out of the circus or helping her find a somewhat decent home. Nothing could pay back the sacrifice he'd made to take care of her.
"Maybe this can be a start,"she mumbled but returned to work. She played for a moment, twisting several things around then growing frustrated; she'd abandon it a few moments then return to work. She stared at it a moment then scowled. "Forget it! I hate the stupid thing!"
She kicked the table then yelped in pain, leaning against the wall. Her eyes closed and her expression was pained. "Since when is there a table there...?"
JANUARY 23, 2005 11:05 p.m.
"How's she doing?"
"She's fine, Vel."
"And at the moment where is she...?"
"Out with another of the alliance members. They're working on something for Hank."
"And you're not with her?" He was obviously angry.
"No, I figured she deserved some freedom. Julius' taking care of he--"
"Julius Kanteon? No."
"No what, Vel?"
"Keep Angel away from him. I've looked into their backgrounds and I don't want her involved with him; in any way."
"You looked into their backgrounds? They're not serial killers and rapists, Vel! They're kids, young adults...stop being paranoid."
"Anything happens to Angel or Tara, you take the consequences."
"Nothing will happen."
"I'm serious, Nanaki." The reciever slammed down in response without another word.
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS (INSIDE) 11:45 a.m.
"Sabbath. Sabbath..?" Tara froze in midstep, waiting for some reply from him. None came. It wasn't unusual especially since he'd developed a habit of ignoring her. A lot of people did after a short amount of time. "Fine. You can deal with Quicksilver alone."
The sound of footsteps behind her drew her attention and she ducked under a staircase, holding there as they approached closer. "It's not my fault that the Marauders vanished. I had better things to do then baby-sit the lot of them. Mystique was watching, wasn't she?"demanded one voice as they appeared.
The person attached to the voice was unrecognizable. He was about the same heigth as his commrad but looked younger; he was dressed in jeans, a black shirt, and a dark brown leather-like jacket. He wasn't among their list or even any of the mutants they'd looked through.
"Of course, but Mystique's hardly what I'd call reliable." Tara had to look twice. In front of her, but with her hidden, was another Pietro. He looked identical to the one outside in every way even clothed. "There were reasons I had some qualms over bringing her here."
His 'friend' chose to ignore that statement. "And this all concerns me how?"
"Interesting report. Mystique mentioned a group of kids, older kids at the hanging. She described one as being overly emotional, another claimed the girl had a weak stomache...I want you to find out about these people. Who they are, what they want, and why they were there."
"I get to chase the strange people, Pietro? Thank you so much..." His expression plainly said he had other things in mind besides finding a strange group of kids.
"Stop being a smart ass. I have to deal with Toad...you find them."
Pietro raced off, leaving his friend in the same spot. He, himself, vanished upstairs without a backward glance.
"I'm starting to hate these people. Do this, do that. Put up with Mystique's temper; deal with Toad's constant depression over what he doesn't remember." He started to stalk off but stopped all of a sudden, looking around.
Tara tensed, backing away further into the darkness the stairs provided. She held her breathe to keep from making a sound but waited, ready to strike if he found her; a tongue the length of hers was a good thing.
"I think someone wants to play Hide-and-Seek,"the remaining one said quietly, walking backwards for a few moments. He stopped to face the stairs; he stayed a moment then looked directly at her. "Is there something I could help you with...?"
I think I can use this to my advantage. Maybe, just maybe, I can play a game with his thoughts. If I can convince him that I'm a relative of Toad maybe I could get through and talk to him. His depression had to be over the deaths that none of them can remember.
She stepped forward from the darkness, making sure he saw her features, clearly. "I want to see Mortimer Toynbee."
"And who would you be to make those requests, girl?"he asked without the slightest bit of attention to her except a quick once-over. "You don't look like the typical kind he plays with."
"I'm his sister."
His eyes nearly bugged out. "Toad's s-sister?"
"Yeah, his sister." She glared at him, hoping that he'd give in and take her to her so-called brother. He just studied her as if needing further proof. Her point was proved with his next words.
"Prove it."
She relayed the information she could about him including his estimated birthdate, full name, and just about every other statistic, inlcuding his appearance.
The guy nodded. "Alright. Follow me,"he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and starting up the stairs.
Tara followed, slowly. "What's your name...?"
"Landon." He offered no last name; she didn't ask for one. They walked upstairs and toward a bank of bedrooms in a run down hall. Tara tried not to cringe. The place was tacky and even more out of care then the circus had once been. "You?"
"Tara Toynbee."
"Why haven't you been around before?"Landon asked, continuing his third degree. They approached one of the bedrooms.
She fished around then gave the only answer she could. "I didn't find out until recently. My parents gave me up as a kid; I was part of a circus for awhile...it took until now to find my brother,"she said, feeling guilty for the lie but thankful she'd taken on his last name.
"Sounds tough." He offered no explanation of his own background but hit his fist against one of the doors. It rattled and shook on it's hinges. "Toad, visitor!"
Pietro answered the door, looking none too pleased at the interruption. "Who's here? They can wait."
Tara glared at the guy, hating him already. "I'm Tara Toynbee. Your friend, in there, is my brother."
He laughed here, long and hard. "Yeah, sure, kid. Run along."
Maybe I need to prove it to him in a different way. Before he could react and move even with his quick speed, Tara flung out her tongue and wrapped it around his neck, squeezing. "I. Want. To. See. My. Brother. Now."
A third voice interrupted them. "It's okay, Pietro. I'll see her,"it said, giving nothing away about the person except the person wasn't happy. Nothing else could be decided from just the voice but there was little to no authority in it.
"Right. Take care of this then meet downstairs. Mystique has something to talk to us about..." Pietro left, forgetting Landon and leaving him alone. He shrugged then went into one of the bedrooms down the hall, closing the door.
Tara entered Toad's room, looking around. There was nothing unique about the room except for it's blankness. It was impossible to tell the paint color or what color any furniture was; most places were bare of carpet or just plain worn out.
"I guess you're aware that I'm not your sister?"she asked to start their conversation.
"Yeah. I don't think my parents would have had another kid, knowing it might end up like me. What is your name...?"
"Tara Toynbee. I kind of took your last name awhile back...I knew you were like me; a hybrid-like mutant,"she explained, twisting one of her hands around behind her back. She forced it to remain still and studied him. "What's wrong with you? Why aren't you like the others?"
Toad sighed. "It's complicated. There's things that I remember that no one else does...it's like there's something that happened and it's been erased, but I remember it. Somehow, sometime, I died."
She nodded. "Yes, you did."
"So you know about me...?" He looked and sounded like someone that had found something they'd lost but didn't know what to do with it. He didn't stand or look at her. "What happened?"
"You're not real, Toad. You're a clone..."
PUBLIC LIBRARY (OBITUARY AND DEATH CERTIFICATE SECTIONS) 12:00 p.m.
"Here it is." Kellie tapped the book in front of her, coughing when a wave of dust rose and filled her mouth. She gagged a moment then wiped her mouth with the back of one gloved hand. "Obituary for Sean Cassidy or Banshee."
Corey came over to stand by her, abandoning his own volume of death announcements. He read the one she'd stopped on and pointed out, nodding every few moments.
"Is it him?"
"It's him. Read the stats...his birthdate matches ours along with the picture. Apparantly, he's been dead around a year..." Her voice trailed off and she returned to their print out.
"Around a year? He would be out of synch with the others. He'd have to be around before them, wouldn't he?" Corey took the print out to study.
She shrugged. "Maybe unless the others have wandered. It could be that Remy and Hank had some issues with finding their way 'home', if you will, and took longer to return then you'd think."
"But Banshee is officially ruled as deceased?"
Kellie nodded then removed a black marker, writing across his information in bold letters DECEASED.
"I don't think they'll have a problem reading it,"he said, sarcastically, staring at the large words. She gave him an unKellie-like smile but gave no response. "Who's next?"
"Riptide."
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS (OUTSIDE) 12:15 p.m.
Russ cringed at the sound of something snapping in his arm. It hurt worse then it should have, even worse then the time he'd torn a bunch of tendons while fighting with Julius. Training, not fighting, even though, it had become one.
"Maybe I should have let Tara stay around to help me,"he groaned, charging a nearby handful of rocks and tossing them toward the advancing 'werewolf'. He was huge with blonde fur, a nasty expression, and 'fangs' complete with a growling noise.
Mystique was having quite the fun with him.
"I just wanted to tell you that you've not real. You were cloned from the real Mystique." Mystique, apparantly, wasn't pleased with the answer and threw him against another wall, holding him there by his throat.
He gagged, struggling against the large, blonde-furred arm that gripped and cut off his air. He fought with himself a moment then gripped one hand around a handful of fur then concentrated on charging it. The fur glowed purple then in the next instant, she/he was flying across the room.
With a final roar, the giant slammed into the nearby, half wall; the wall rattled then broke in several other places, sending a shower of dust and brick inside. It rained down like icy hail, earning something like shouting from the inside occupants. The giant changed into a blue woman with bright red hair, dressed in white with a 'skull' belt; she remained there a moment.
"What's going on our here?" The second voice was now familiar. Quicksilver had arrived and was trying to help Mystique up.
Tara appeared at an upstairs window with another frog-like mutant. She shook her head a moment then tried to mouth something. It took another two attempts before he recognized it.
Toad knows. What about those two?
Russ sent her a scowl and started to lift an arm, realizing that it hurt; it fell to his side, causing him to grimace and cry out, quietly, in pain. He noticed Mystique was now up with Pietro's help even though she appeared a little worse for wear and wasn't moving much.
"What's this about cloning?"Quicksilver demanded, glancing away from Russ toward the new arrivals; his expression was even more confused by the sight of the two frog-like mutants. His attentioned lingered longer on Tara then he scowled. "LANDON!"
There was no response from upstairs except for a sheet of paper floating down from one of the windows. It was blank and charred in some places as though someone was playing with a lighter around the edges. Feathering, not really burning.
"LANDON KELLER!"
Still no response beyond a few similar sheets of paper.
Russ scowled and forced himself to stand, ignoring the pain he felt. His arm hung at one side, limply and he felt severe bruising around his jaw and lower cheekbone; he scowled, grimacing at the motion.
"Scientists got a bright idea after the death of the mutant populations. They decided to clone mutants and allow them to run free, erasing the moments of their death...they have nothing left of it,"he said but stopped realizing that their attention wasn't on him. The two had begun to walk away.
Toad's voice stopped them. "I remember."
"What do you remember, Toad?"Mystique replied in a slurred voice without moving from her supporter's arm.
"Dying. It's still here; I think I somehow replaced the memories they used or restored them to their original form. I can remember dying and the short time before...do you remember the riot, the mutant war?"
One shake of the head and a silence later, he continued. "There was a sudden war against mutants. It involved one of the senators; he wanted to end mutants exsistence. They came and none of us were ready...Magneto and Xavier were discussing a basic peace treaty while this was going on. It was never revolved. Everyone died except Rogue, she left the line-up, and Logan, he wasn't there." His expression was hopeless and his eyes sad.
"Is Landon real...?" Mystique's question.
Tara nodded. "As far as we can see, he's real. His birth certificate's unattainable, but he's not listed among the known mutants. He's in the new list, a list of mutants that are over the age of ten."
"What does it mean?"
Russ realized it with a sick feeling. "Another list."
XAVIER'S INSTITUTE (REBUILT) 3:45 p.m.
"I assume everything's going alright?"Rogue asked without looking away from the book she was thumbing through. Her full attention was on the book instead of out the window, watching Remy's clone.
Russ laughed then grimaced when the motion caused him pain. He returned to trying to eat with his better hand; he was barely getting anything into his mouth.
"Let me get this straight,"Julius started, looking up from his food. He was busy stuffing his mouth but stopped to continue. "Sabbath, here, got beat up by a cloned shapeshifter?"
"Back off, Misery,"came the response through clenched teeth. His fork fell from his hand again, causing him to expel a long sigh. "You try fighting a werwolf that towered over you and had fangs plus double or triple the strength of Logan."
"If you go see Hank, he'll give you something to help the bones heal faster,"Tara said, offering her opinon for the first time. She was intent upon her sandwich, though, she ate very little of it. Her chips were also for the majority uneaten. Something was off with her.
Probably still having some problems with the whole Toad thing, Russ thought, trying again to eat. He gave up and shoved his chair back, walking out and toward the med lab. His back and arm were hurting and he knew one side of his face was bruising. He wished, repeatedly, that he'd taken Tara's offer to 'work together rather than seperate'; he was an idiot.
~Don't be hard on yourself, Russ. I've still got the broken wrist that Kanteon gave me...you did a good job.~ Angel's encouragement wasn't helping much.
~Leave me alone, Angel.~
~I'm trying to help.~ Her voice had taken on a defensive tone.
~Well don't!~he practically shouted back, walking straight into the med lab and toward the inner office. He knocked once it was clear that she wasn't going to respond.
Hank answered almost instantly, rubbing his rather large blue nose and removing the glasses or gogles he'd been wearing; he wasn't sure which it was.
"I'm suppoused to come get something to help with this." He started to lift his arm then let it drop as a sharp pain seared through him. His back protested, causing him to lean heavily upon the door frame. "Mystique wasn't playing nicely."
"Ah, Mystique. She always was a slippery one." Hank added his agreement then began searching a cabinet until he found a bottle of pills. He shook out two then handed them over.
Angel made no further comment to Russ but pushed her food away and listened in on his and Hank's conversation. There had to be a further explanation for his pushing her away. Normally they could at least stay on civil terms but now he wanted nothing to do with her.
His wall came up. It was red brick with strange, demon-like creatures guarding it. They pushed her back, forcing her away from the wall.
She withdrew, completely, from his mind.
Julius was watching her. "What's wrong with our great leader..?"
"Shove it, Misery,"she scowled, taking one last bite of her sandwich before standing. He rose, too. "I'm going upstairs."
"Me, too. We need to discuss Jean Grey."
"No, we don't. Just work out the transportation and we'll meet later,"Angel said before vanishing from the room. She was halfway up the stairs when he caught her arm, rather hard.
"What's your problem?"he demanded, tightening his hold when she would her jerked away. His shields were up, too. His wall was steel with barb wire circled inside. "Why are you running all of a sudden?"
"I ain't runnin'. I need to think...leave me alone, Kanteon."
"Prove nothing's wrong."
She sighed. "How?"
Julius shrugged, not knowing himself from his expression. She thought a moment then leaned up and kissed him full on the mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. Instinctivly, his arms went around her waist and he almost picked her up, almost.
"Happy now?"she asked, giving him the remains of a smile before running up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door between them. His footsteps came forward; she leaned against the door, praying he'd go by. He walked past her room then into another, but, she noted, it wasn't his room that he went into.
Angel sat down against the door, placing up her wall which better resembled a fortress then a single wall like the others. She masked both emotions and thoughts; it was her own, personal trick. The thing with John and leaning about Jean's situation put a lot more on the line and brought things into perspective.
"Maybe Vel was right. Maybe I'm not ready for this..."
XAVIER INSTITUTE (REBUILT) GARAGE 4:45 p.m.
Tara stared at the papers she held, flipping through them with a mumble here and there. She flipped through it then began working on her latest task of the moment. It was in-between their runs to find clones but since they'd found all three of theirs easy...she was free to work on it.
It wouldn't make up for what Logan had done for her as a child. She didn't think she could ever make up for his getting her out of the circus or helping her find a somewhat decent home. Nothing could pay back the sacrifice he'd made to take care of her.
"Maybe this can be a start,"she mumbled but returned to work. She played for a moment, twisting several things around then growing frustrated; she'd abandon it a few moments then return to work. She stared at it a moment then scowled. "Forget it! I hate the stupid thing!"
She kicked the table then yelped in pain, leaning against the wall. Her eyes closed and her expression was pained. "Since when is there a table there...?"