Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men movie characters.
Title: Unforgivable Sinners
By: Cmdr. Gabe E.
Note: This fanfiction occurs entirely in the X-Men movie-verse . Characters' unspoken thoughts are enclosed in .
============================= EBONY = yeap ! Yuriko finally has a mind of her own. As for the guy in the car, there's more to him than meets the "eye" cough cameo cough.
DIVINE GUARDIAN = Thanks for the review ! Logan will definitely be in the fanfic soon. As for Yuriko being quite talkative, she knew she had to appear friendly to the driver. After all, who would want to pick up a mysterious, monotonous person, right? ;).
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Chapter VII: Rediscovering life Stryker yelped in pain as she carelessly pulled him from the ground. He was still amazed by how strong she was. He was almost twice her size and yet she could pull him as if he was nothing.
She quickly leaned close to him and started to talk in a low voice. "Remember --- We shoot documentaries for a living. You got into an accident when the dam broke because we were shooting there. And you're supposed to be my friend. Just try to play the part."
Stryker just nodded. He knew what she was trying to say.
Yuriko wrapped his arm around her shoulders to make it look as if she was guiding his every step. She slowly brought him towards the young man's car.
"Man, he looks terrible!" The driver said as he caught sight of Stryker through the open window.
"Yeah. It was a close call. I almost lost him there. Um, anyway, I really hope we aren't much trouble. Alkali Hotel is just an hour's drive away, so we'll be gone soon before you know it." Yuriko said. She still had Stryker's arm around her shoulders.
The young man smiled and unlocked the door to the backseat of his car. "Look, it's really okay. I'm just glad that I drove by when I did. Your friend's in really bad shape. You should actually consider bringing him to a hospital instead."
"We'll be fine. We have a suite in the hotel and some medical supplies. That would be enough to help him through the night. Thank you for your concern though." Yuriko smiled back at him and opened the door to his car.
She gently guided her 'companion' into the backseat and followed after him.
As soon as the two of them were settled down, Stryker looked at her with a 'can we trust him?' look. She briefly looked at the young man who was seated in the driver's seat, and then nodded at Stryker. Yuriko just had a way of reading people. It was an added ability that came with her extremely heightened senses.
The young man looked at his front mirror and saw his two new companions all settled down at the back. "You guys okay back there?"
Yuriko met the young man's eyes through the front mirror. "Yeah. We're fine. Thanks again for the lift."
"No problemo." The driver started his engine and drove off.
The beautiful scenery outside Yuriko's window filled her heart with contentment. She rolled her window down and looked at the vast snow- covered mountains as the wind blew on her face. The evergreen forests that served as her training grounds, now looked so alive and beautiful. And the sea beyond the lake illuminated from the light of the sun. The view seemed like a painting. And it was the first time she ever realized how beautiful the world truly was.
Yuriko smiled as the view of Alkali Lake slowly drifted away, like a memory that she wanted to forget. For her it was a sign that a new life awaited -- - A life that was hers and no one else's. She now had a life she could live as she saw fit.
But the irony of her current situation still lingered at the back of her mind. She had escaped her prison, only to end up with the man who had put her there in the first place. She looked at the figure sitting next to her. William Stryker. His eyes were closed and his head was leaning against the window on his side of the car.
She still couldn't understand why she took him with her. No, she didn't take him out of pity. Stryker didn't deserve any ounce of pity. It was probably because he reminded her of the suffering she had endured. He was the living proof that she had gone through hell and have come back unscathed. And aside from that, she needed something else from him.
"Oh. By the way, my name's Alex. Alex Summers." The young man suddenly said. He looked at Yuriko from the corner of his eye, keeping most of his attention on the road.
Yuriko's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of his name. It seemed familiar. It was as if she had heard or seen it somewhere before. Either way, she knew it was of no importance to her now. She shouldn't bother with such puzzles of no importance.
"My name's Yuriko. Yuriko Oyama. I really appreciate your help, Alex." She said in a friendly manner. She was glad she was finally talking to someone other than Stryker. It had been a while since she had talked to someone --- truly talked to someone.
"No problem, Yuriko. So, uh, you guys shoot documentaries for a living, huh?"
"Yeah. Mostly nature documentaries. Plants, animals, natural disasters....the like." She didn't want to lie to him, but she had no other choice.
She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't tell him that they just barely survived a damaged underground military facility that was built to destroy mutants and create super human weapons. That would make things too complicated, especially since she's one of THE super human weapons.
"It's a good thing you didn't get hurt. Your friend though, he looks like he took a good beating."
"Don't worry. He'll survive." She briefly glanced at the sleeping man beside her. Seeing him, even in his sleeping state, made her stomach churn.
"So what channel do you shoot these documentaries for? National Geographic? Discovery? Animal Planet?" Alex still had his eyes on the road.
"Um....." Yuriko wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't watched anything for years. She even had no idea what those channels were about. So she just had to guess.
"Discovery Channel. We shoot documentaries for Discovery Channel." She said proudly. She hoped that he wouldn't ask any more questions about their 'work', because frankly, she really had no idea what their work was all about.
"Wow! That's great! It's too bad you lost all the stuff you were filming today. Everyone's actually talking about what happened a while ago. They say mutants were responsible for the dam breaking. Some of the locals even claimed that they spotted the jet of the X-Men. I really don't know who to believe, but I guess nothing can be proven at this point."
"So, you think the mutants didn't do it?" Yuriko asked with a curious tone. She didn't want to delve on the Alkali Lake event anymore, but Alex's view towards the X-Men intrigued her.
"Maybe they didn't do it, maybe they did. Who knows, right? Well, you two were there. Did you see anything? Like a jet or something? Did you see anything unusual? You know, out of the ordinary?"
Yuriko's eyes darted from left to right, as she tried to find the right words to say. "No." She said abruptly. "Um, no. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary." She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Alex when their eyes met in the front mirror.
"Oh okay. But hey, at least one good thing came out of it."
"What's that?" She had no idea what 'good thing' he was talking about.
"I got to help a damsel in distress." Alex chuckled and looked at Yuriko again.
Yuriko chuckled too, and was surprised at her recent emotional output. She was actually chuckling. She even felt herself blush. It looked like Stryker wasn't the only one who needed to discover himself. She needed to discover who she truly was too. She needed to discover the young woman behind the name Yuriko Oyama.
"How about your friend? What's his name?" He asked. The smile on his face still lingered.
"Uh, his name is Jim. Jim Brogan." She said briefly. She couldn't disclose Stryker's real name. Some of the people in the area knew who he was. They didn't know he had built a secret base under Alkali Lake, but his military presence and 'research' made some of the locals feel uncomfortable.
"Well, I hope your friend Jim'll get better soon." He said encouragingly. "Since your shoot got interrupted by the incident, you two might need to get back to work sooner than expected."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure he survives the night." A small smile curled up the corner of her lip as she exchanged words with Alex.
After a while, they caught sight of Alkali Hotel.
Yuriko actually enjoyed the short trip with the stranger. In less than an hour, she felt as if she had already known him as she would an old friend. After all, he was the first person who had ever treated and talked to her as a normal human being. His presence made her feel human again.
"Over there." Yuriko said, pointing at the structure.
Alex drove his car in front of the hotel's entrance and stopped there.
He placed his arm over his seat and turned sideways towards Yuriko. "Well, we're here. Heh. I guess it's true what they say. Time does fly by when you're having fun."
Yuriko looked back at him. She noticed him staring at her eyes. "Yeah. I guess so too. Look, Alex. Thank you so much. And, I did have fun in the trip too." She really wasn't sure what to say. It was obvious that the young man liked her, but she was unsure of what to do in such a situation.
She was about to say something, but her conversation with Alex was suddenly interrupted when she noticed the man sleeping next to her.
Yuriko sighed. Alex was the first person she'd truly met, and now she had to leave. She knew she would probably never see him again, and she didn't want to. Alex was too normal for the likes of her. "I'm sorry, Alex. But I have to go. Thank you for the ride though."
She quickly opened the door and got out of the car, pulling Stryker after her.
= = = = = = = = = = = TO BE CONTINUED !
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Title: Unforgivable Sinners
By: Cmdr. Gabe E.
Note: This fanfiction occurs entirely in the X-Men movie-verse . Characters' unspoken thoughts are enclosed in .
============================= EBONY = yeap ! Yuriko finally has a mind of her own. As for the guy in the car, there's more to him than meets the "eye" cough cameo cough.
DIVINE GUARDIAN = Thanks for the review ! Logan will definitely be in the fanfic soon. As for Yuriko being quite talkative, she knew she had to appear friendly to the driver. After all, who would want to pick up a mysterious, monotonous person, right? ;).
=== ======= = ======================
Chapter VII: Rediscovering life Stryker yelped in pain as she carelessly pulled him from the ground. He was still amazed by how strong she was. He was almost twice her size and yet she could pull him as if he was nothing.
She quickly leaned close to him and started to talk in a low voice. "Remember --- We shoot documentaries for a living. You got into an accident when the dam broke because we were shooting there. And you're supposed to be my friend. Just try to play the part."
Stryker just nodded. He knew what she was trying to say.
Yuriko wrapped his arm around her shoulders to make it look as if she was guiding his every step. She slowly brought him towards the young man's car.
"Man, he looks terrible!" The driver said as he caught sight of Stryker through the open window.
"Yeah. It was a close call. I almost lost him there. Um, anyway, I really hope we aren't much trouble. Alkali Hotel is just an hour's drive away, so we'll be gone soon before you know it." Yuriko said. She still had Stryker's arm around her shoulders.
The young man smiled and unlocked the door to the backseat of his car. "Look, it's really okay. I'm just glad that I drove by when I did. Your friend's in really bad shape. You should actually consider bringing him to a hospital instead."
"We'll be fine. We have a suite in the hotel and some medical supplies. That would be enough to help him through the night. Thank you for your concern though." Yuriko smiled back at him and opened the door to his car.
She gently guided her 'companion' into the backseat and followed after him.
As soon as the two of them were settled down, Stryker looked at her with a 'can we trust him?' look. She briefly looked at the young man who was seated in the driver's seat, and then nodded at Stryker. Yuriko just had a way of reading people. It was an added ability that came with her extremely heightened senses.
The young man looked at his front mirror and saw his two new companions all settled down at the back. "You guys okay back there?"
Yuriko met the young man's eyes through the front mirror. "Yeah. We're fine. Thanks again for the lift."
"No problemo." The driver started his engine and drove off.
The beautiful scenery outside Yuriko's window filled her heart with contentment. She rolled her window down and looked at the vast snow- covered mountains as the wind blew on her face. The evergreen forests that served as her training grounds, now looked so alive and beautiful. And the sea beyond the lake illuminated from the light of the sun. The view seemed like a painting. And it was the first time she ever realized how beautiful the world truly was.
Yuriko smiled as the view of Alkali Lake slowly drifted away, like a memory that she wanted to forget. For her it was a sign that a new life awaited -- - A life that was hers and no one else's. She now had a life she could live as she saw fit.
But the irony of her current situation still lingered at the back of her mind. She had escaped her prison, only to end up with the man who had put her there in the first place. She looked at the figure sitting next to her. William Stryker. His eyes were closed and his head was leaning against the window on his side of the car.
She still couldn't understand why she took him with her. No, she didn't take him out of pity. Stryker didn't deserve any ounce of pity. It was probably because he reminded her of the suffering she had endured. He was the living proof that she had gone through hell and have come back unscathed. And aside from that, she needed something else from him.
"Oh. By the way, my name's Alex. Alex Summers." The young man suddenly said. He looked at Yuriko from the corner of his eye, keeping most of his attention on the road.
Yuriko's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of his name. It seemed familiar. It was as if she had heard or seen it somewhere before. Either way, she knew it was of no importance to her now. She shouldn't bother with such puzzles of no importance.
"My name's Yuriko. Yuriko Oyama. I really appreciate your help, Alex." She said in a friendly manner. She was glad she was finally talking to someone other than Stryker. It had been a while since she had talked to someone --- truly talked to someone.
"No problem, Yuriko. So, uh, you guys shoot documentaries for a living, huh?"
"Yeah. Mostly nature documentaries. Plants, animals, natural disasters....the like." She didn't want to lie to him, but she had no other choice.
She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't tell him that they just barely survived a damaged underground military facility that was built to destroy mutants and create super human weapons. That would make things too complicated, especially since she's one of THE super human weapons.
"It's a good thing you didn't get hurt. Your friend though, he looks like he took a good beating."
"Don't worry. He'll survive." She briefly glanced at the sleeping man beside her. Seeing him, even in his sleeping state, made her stomach churn.
"So what channel do you shoot these documentaries for? National Geographic? Discovery? Animal Planet?" Alex still had his eyes on the road.
"Um....." Yuriko wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't watched anything for years. She even had no idea what those channels were about. So she just had to guess.
"Discovery Channel. We shoot documentaries for Discovery Channel." She said proudly. She hoped that he wouldn't ask any more questions about their 'work', because frankly, she really had no idea what their work was all about.
"Wow! That's great! It's too bad you lost all the stuff you were filming today. Everyone's actually talking about what happened a while ago. They say mutants were responsible for the dam breaking. Some of the locals even claimed that they spotted the jet of the X-Men. I really don't know who to believe, but I guess nothing can be proven at this point."
"So, you think the mutants didn't do it?" Yuriko asked with a curious tone. She didn't want to delve on the Alkali Lake event anymore, but Alex's view towards the X-Men intrigued her.
"Maybe they didn't do it, maybe they did. Who knows, right? Well, you two were there. Did you see anything? Like a jet or something? Did you see anything unusual? You know, out of the ordinary?"
Yuriko's eyes darted from left to right, as she tried to find the right words to say. "No." She said abruptly. "Um, no. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary." She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Alex when their eyes met in the front mirror.
"Oh okay. But hey, at least one good thing came out of it."
"What's that?" She had no idea what 'good thing' he was talking about.
"I got to help a damsel in distress." Alex chuckled and looked at Yuriko again.
Yuriko chuckled too, and was surprised at her recent emotional output. She was actually chuckling. She even felt herself blush. It looked like Stryker wasn't the only one who needed to discover himself. She needed to discover who she truly was too. She needed to discover the young woman behind the name Yuriko Oyama.
"How about your friend? What's his name?" He asked. The smile on his face still lingered.
"Uh, his name is Jim. Jim Brogan." She said briefly. She couldn't disclose Stryker's real name. Some of the people in the area knew who he was. They didn't know he had built a secret base under Alkali Lake, but his military presence and 'research' made some of the locals feel uncomfortable.
"Well, I hope your friend Jim'll get better soon." He said encouragingly. "Since your shoot got interrupted by the incident, you two might need to get back to work sooner than expected."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure he survives the night." A small smile curled up the corner of her lip as she exchanged words with Alex.
After a while, they caught sight of Alkali Hotel.
Yuriko actually enjoyed the short trip with the stranger. In less than an hour, she felt as if she had already known him as she would an old friend. After all, he was the first person who had ever treated and talked to her as a normal human being. His presence made her feel human again.
"Over there." Yuriko said, pointing at the structure.
Alex drove his car in front of the hotel's entrance and stopped there.
He placed his arm over his seat and turned sideways towards Yuriko. "Well, we're here. Heh. I guess it's true what they say. Time does fly by when you're having fun."
Yuriko looked back at him. She noticed him staring at her eyes. "Yeah. I guess so too. Look, Alex. Thank you so much. And, I did have fun in the trip too." She really wasn't sure what to say. It was obvious that the young man liked her, but she was unsure of what to do in such a situation.
She was about to say something, but her conversation with Alex was suddenly interrupted when she noticed the man sleeping next to her.
Yuriko sighed. Alex was the first person she'd truly met, and now she had to leave. She knew she would probably never see him again, and she didn't want to. Alex was too normal for the likes of her. "I'm sorry, Alex. But I have to go. Thank you for the ride though."
She quickly opened the door and got out of the car, pulling Stryker after her.
= = = = = = = = = = = TO BE CONTINUED !
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