Talons
Chapter 12
The door to the Danger Room had an extra, very obvious magnetic seal on it. For the hard-of-thinking, Logan wrote "Ugly Fuck Inside: Don't open" in permanent marker right above the lock. Xavier tried to hide his irritation as they bypassed the main door and headed for the observation / control booth. Logan's foul language could be particularly irksome at times.
Kotoko followed behind the X-men, taking up the entire breadth of the corridor as he went. Kurt glanced behind him to Kotoko, muttering something in German under his breath.
"What's that, elf?" Logan asked.
"I was thinking that Kotoko won't fit in the observing room," Kurt said, louder. "That little booth is a tight fit for us alone. We'll need to hook up an outside screen for him."
"Or we let him into the Danger Room after we find a way to restrain the prisoner. With all the stuff Charlie dishes out on us, there should be something in there to do the job."
Kotoko had just passed the main door when he stopped, let off a few clicks, and walked "backwards", standing just outside the Danger Room. Apparently, talons never needed to turn around "the right way".
"I guess he liked that idea," Logan commented, glancing over his shoulder. "He doesn't like that guy in there. Doesn't like him one bit."
"I'm surprised you can get so much off of him," Ororo said. "I would think you'd have more trouble gauging an alien's scent."
"He lets off a lot of the same scent combinations. I can pick up 'pissed off' easy enough."
They entered the observation booth, the professor coming in first. Peter made sure to return to his normal form before squeezing in behind everybody else. The inactive Danger Room had but one occupant; another talon, curled up in the far corner. This was the pursuer, the armored one who attacked Cyclops and then followed Kotoko as he escaped down the road. It wasn't hard for Logan and Colossus to find, still balled up into a great big wheel. After it skidded off the road, it plowed through not one but five trees, only the first one being in Ororo's field of vision. Colossus had simply picked the thing up over his head and walked it back home.
Its battle armor was nothing short of incredible; though the weapons blister was shattered beyond repair, the rest of it was still intact, even after so many high-speed collisions. Sometime during the night, Professor Xavier must have learned from Kotoko how to remove the enemy's impressive battle armor, because now it was sitting naked on the floor. It had similar markings and coloration as Kotoko, though it was perhaps a shade darker.
"Is it just my imagination, or is that one bigger than Kotoko?" Ororo asked, peering at the balled-up talon.
"It is definitely bigger," Peter told her, nodding his head. "It is bigger than Kotoko as I am bigger than Kurt."
That was a sizable difference. Was Kotoko notably smaller than average for his race, or was this one that much larger?
"He ain't got no manners, that's for sure," Rogue drawled, shaking her head. "He woke up 'bout an hour ago and started attackin' the glass. 'Course, since this stuff could take a small missile, he didn't have much chance of doin' much...."
She tapped the shatter-proof, armored "glass" that separated the Danger Room from the control booth. Despite the attacker's best efforts, the glass was just badly smudged. Of more interest was the fact that the observation booth was a good twenty feet above the floor. The talon could leap quite a distance.
"How long has he been quiescent?" Xavier asked, taking his customary spot at the head of the controls.
"Once he realized that he couldn't break the glass, he calmed down pretty fast," Bobby answered, shrugging. "We got some nice pictures of his underside. That is a 'he', right?"
Xavier nodded. "Kotoko seems to think so, based on the voice."
"Well, his underside is lined with all these little waving tendril things," Bobby went on, wiggling the fingers on his right hand. "It reminded me of a starfish. Ever seen the underside of one of those?"
Xavier keyed in a control set, and the windows automatically washed themselves from the outside. The talon below slowly lifted up on its claw tips. Kurt could then appreciate the trouble Kotoko must have gone through last night, to make his motions as non-threatening as possible. Everything this talon did exuded the menace of an angry, cunning, bloodthirsty monster.
"That's it," Xavier encouraged softly, keying in another, different sequence. "Focus in on the wipers…. Let me sneak up on those powerful legs of yours…."
He finished the sequence, then held his hand above the activating button, waiting for just the right time. When the talon was at what seemed to be full extension, Xavier hit the button. Thick cables shot out of the walls and around each of the talon's limbs. The creature roared in anger and jerked about, but it had no way to free itself. Soon it was bound fast. Xavier tapped his finger on the console in thought. Judging from what Iceman and Logan told him about the fight last night, the tensile strength of the cables was superior to that of Bobby's block of ice. They should hold….
Of course, Bobby's iceblock held against a different talon, who had been wounded beforehand, he thought. He turned his wheelchair to fact the assemblage. "Those cables should hold, but I would feel better if we had a bodyguard for Kotoko in case something went wrong."
Logan smiled. "No problem. See you down there."
The room was a little less crowded after he left, but not by much. Kurt decided it would be easier if he just hung from the ceiling instead, but as he crawled halfway up the nearest wall Ororo stopped him, tugging his tail just enough to get his attention.
"You're not going to hang upside-down, are you?" she asked.
"There will be more room for the rest of you," he responded.
"No way, mister," she ordered, her voice imperious. "Remember what Hank said?"
"He said nothing about hanging."
"He said to do nothing that would aggravate those ears. Just what do you think's going to happen when all the blood rushes to your head?"
Kurt hadn't considered that. Hank's "activity restriction" was going to be harder than he thought. He reluctantly stepped back to the floor. By then, Logan's voice came over the intercom.
"I'm here," he said. "You want me to take care of the extra lock, too?"
"No," Xavier replied, punching in the codes to disable the lock by remote. "Though I will want you to scrub your profanity from the door when this is over."
Logan grinned as the extra magnetic sealer detached and retracted back into the wall. Well, it all kept the kids out of the Danger Room, didn't it? Another series of clicks and beeps issued from the door itself, and the ready light glowed green. He turned to Kotoko.
"Just so you know, I'm your bodyguard," he said. "Anything goes bad in there, it's my job to get you out. You O.K. with that? One click yes, two clicks no."
All of Kotoko's barnacles clicked once in unison, and he crouched and came up quickly, like a bouncing bow.
"Ready to go?" Logan asked.
Kotoko gave one click again. Logan nodded, then extended both sets of claws.
"We're goin' in, guys," he called.
All eyes were on Logan as he walked into the Danger Room below the control booth. Kotoko entered a few steps behind. The enemy talon roared and strained against his bonds. Logan swiped a section of wall next to him, casually shearing through the plate. Then he aimed the same set of claws at the enemy, who silenced instantly.
"Mine are stronger than yours, bub," he warned softly. "Don't make me use 'em."
Xavier watched the exchange, the sounds piped in through the intercom for all to hear. Logan and Kotoko got halfway across the Danger Room before Logan called a halt, putting his hand out and stopping where he was. That was as close as he felt like getting.
Teacher Xavier, this is one of elite of the King's Own, Kotoko thought. He is strong and powerful, and will take a long time to break under a professional interrogator. Since I am not an interrogator, I must assume you are going to look into his mind as you have mine?
Yes, Xavier responded. However, you still have a vital role to play. As you ask him questions, he will bring up the answers in his mind, even if he does not tell them to you.
I see. Will he be easier to read if he is agitated, or will such strong emotions make it harder for you?
It will make things easier.
Very well. It will begin.
"Hello, oh brave baby killer," Kotoko said aloud. "How does it feel to finally run across a race that fights back?"
The differences between Kotoko's and the prisoner's thought structures were like night and day. Kotoko saw things in shades of gray, neutral and indefinable until distinctly and laboriously researched. The prisoner was like a binary computer. He compartmentalized everything into "good" and "bad" and there was nothing in-between. What the King said was good, everything that contradicted him was bad, and any evidence that could point somewhere else was rationalized away or considered anathema. Circular reasoning insulated him from having to make choices about his life or motivations. It was the totalitarian mindset of a cultist, something Xavier had seen all too often among humanity. The fact that it existed among aliens made this kind of tragedy even worse.
At first the interrogation went reasonably well. Xavier could see that this being, whose name was Taktak, was part of a small survey party. Taktak had been with his squad for only a few months. He had been sent to Earth to collect animal samples. None of his squad had any idea if the children they tried to abduct were sentient or not, nor did they care. Unlike Kotoko, they wasted no time in studying their prey. However, there was another, underlying reason for their foray so close to the Institute. Something just under the surface, which Xavier couldn't quite see.
Suddenly, primitive shields went up in Taktak's mind. He was doing the equivalent of chanting his name, rank, and serial number over and over, ignoring everything his interrogator said. Whatever Xavier wanted now, he would have to dig for it, something he never had to do with Kotoko. A loathsome prospect under any condition, made worse by the fact that he wasn't sure where he was going in this alien mind. However, there would be no reasoning with Taktak, and more than just Xavier's students were at stake.
Xavier's hands curled a bit tighter around the arms of his wheelchair. He was going in.
To Be Continued….