To Err is Human
By Todd Fan
Disclaimer: "The smallest catalyst can set off mind-boggling chain-reactions. One time, I said, 'Let there be light'.. all hell broke loose, figuratively speaking"
Chapter 33 - A dream worth keeping
"So let me get this straight...the only plan you guys have is to stand out here until someone comes?"
Xavier didn't blink.
"Yes"
Pietro DID blink.
"Baldy's finally gone over the edge", he said, "Looney Town, population: him".
Logan snarled, popping out his claws.
"Show some respect, you snot nosed little..."
"Logan", warned Xavier, then arched a brow, "here they come"
A loud explosion rocked the area as dozens of footsoldiers appeared out of the building, firing their weapons at the mutants. Logan gave a snarl, diving upon them, using his claws to slice through them with ease. A few shocked soldiers were taken down by Freddy as he ploughed through them, while Piotr grabbed a piece of the fallen wall, tossing it at a small group.
"Come out, Shaw, you coward!", snarled Logan, "or do you want to hide behind your little servants all your life?"
"I assure you, Weapon X", said Shaw, walking slowly out of the building, surrounded by the other members of the inner circle, "I do not intend to hide from anyone, particually you".
He gave a smirk.
"Though I do hate getting my hands dirty", he said, "Emma, dearest, introduce our guests to your little...project".
Emma nodded, clicking her fingers. From the shadows stepped five youths, Gina amongst them. All had the same, blank robotic expressions on their faces, all marked on the back of the neck from the controling solution.
"Meet our own personal army, the Helions", said Shaw with a smirk, "all young mutants, all controled to move at the comand of Emma or myself. And now, they can be tested out on you, before they move onto bigger things".
He glared at the team.
"Kill them", he said simply.
The first to move forwards was a girl with indigo hair and eyes, she gave a snarl, suddenly transforming into an indigo werecat. She hissed as she leapt towards the X-Men, being pushed aside by Sidney, quickly transforming into a tiger. The indigo creature gave a yowl of suprise as Sidney hissed, her tail swishing. She lashed out her claws at the were, trying to force her away from the others.
Wanda narrowed her eyes, forming a hex-bolt in her hands, shooting it off towards Shaw. Before it could hit him, however, she was struck with a black disk. She blinked in suprise as her hex-bolt changed course, knocking Scott off his feet. As he hit the ground, the hex meant for Shaw caused his visor to fall off, his blast streaking through the air, blowing up a nearby jeep.
"HEY!", shouted Scott, trying and failing to close his eyes, "who's side are you on!"
"It wasn't me!", growled Wanda, pulling the disk off her, disipating the hex around Scott, "it was this"
"You just got a bad case of bad luck", smirked a blonde-haired girl, flipping a handfull of black disks in the air, "coutesy of Roulette, here, have some more!"
She tossed a bunch of black disks at the X-Men. One hit Pietro as he tried to speed towards Shaw, causing him to trip and cartwheel onto the ground.
"My leg!", he yelled, holding onto it, "that little physco broke my leg!"
"Oh, shut up", hissed Wanda, unsucessfully doging another disk, her powers shooting off again, this time striking a wall, causing it to fall towards Ray and Rogue.
BAMF
Kurt quickly grabbed the two, teleporting them away form the wall. Unfortunately, as he did so, he was caught in the hex-field, causing his re-entry to be high above the ground, causing all three to fall to the ground with a thud.
"Okay, that's getting anoying!", snapped Amara, flaming up, forming a blast of magama in her hands. Suddenly a boy stepped in front of her, smiling softly.
"You don't have the will to fight", he crooned softly, "you're too fightened, you're freezing up".
"No..I...I...", Amara blinked, shivering, suddenly feeling a mind-numbing terror, she powered down, backing away from the scene.
"Good job, Empath", smirked Emma, then glared at a red-head, "Tarrot, NOW!".
Tarrot nodded, pulling out a tarrot card from her pocket. She concentrated as a figure of the skeletal Death on horseback materialised in front of her. Death raised his sythe, charging into the battle. He charged towards Kitty, knocking her to the ground, before turning back on her, sythe raised.
"KITTY!"
Lance narrowed his eyes, the ground shaking under Tarrot's feet, causing her to fall, the figure of Death disapating as Tarrot fell to the ground, hitting her head.
"Finish them", snapped Shaw, looking at Gina.
Gina smirked, the ground errupting into a jungle of lashing vines.
"Gina!", shouted Jamie, dodging one of the vines, "it's me, Jamie! C'mon, you don't want to do this!".
Gina looked at him unblinking, knocking him to the side with a vine. Jamie winced, three dupes popping out, which he quickly re-absorbed.
"Now, we work", said Xavier with a nod, closing his eyes, putting his hands to his temple.
Shortpack, Jean and Sage nodded, following suit. Gina blinked, stopping suddenly, dropping to her knees, panting. The plantlife all stopped moving as the telepaths combined their powers, trying to purge her mind of the harm done by Shaw.
Gina, sent Xavier, please, do NOT fight us, we are trying to help you. You are not like this, you know you're not.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD, Gina mentally screamed, shaking her head, it hurts!
Let us HELP you, sent Xavier before frowning, "Multiple, talk to her".
Jamie nodded, running over, kneeling in front of her.
"Gina, listen to them, let them help you", he urged, "you don't want to be Shaw's lakey for all your life. I know you don't!"
Keep it going, it's working, sent Shortpack.
"You want to be a dancer, remember?", carried on Jamie, "you said you wanted to be like that girl in that cheesy eighties movie, you know, with the welder and stuff!" (1)
Gina whimpered, shaking her head.
"You remember making me watch that movie?", Jamie tried, "when I stayed over at your place. We stayed up all night watching cheesy movies eating pizza. And then we played scrabble, and you made up the word 'Flopypot', and made me believe it was an actual word. C'mon, Gina, you have to remember"
Gina's eyes opened in confusion, changing from dull green back into their original vibrant jade.
"Jamie?", she squeaked, before her eyes widened.
She cried out, holding her head in pain.
"What's wrong with her?", shouted Jamie.
"Her mind is trying to purge the remnants of the poison Shaw injected into her system", frowned Xavier, "it's causing her powers to flare. Her body was forced into evolving too quickly, now it's trying to right itself"
Gina narrowed her eyes, the plants around her coming to life again. They lashed out behind her, catching hold of Emmanuel and Daniel. The men screamed in horror as the vines started to close around them, squeasing them tightly. There was a sickening crunch sound as Gina fell unconcious, the vines dropping the boneless forms of the two men. Shaw's head shot up as the sound fo sirens filled the air. He nodded at Emma, who clicked her fingers, calling off her Helions.
"Fine, take back your little child", growled Shaw, "we have better things to go onto".
Logan snarled, clenching his fists.
"No, you're gonna go pay fer your crimes, like decent folk", he smirked.
"What crimes?", said Shaw, arching a brow, "in case you haven't noticed, I'm one of the richest men in America, there is no courtroom in the world which would dare prosecute me or any of my Inner Circle".
Emma smirked, leading the four remaining charges into a waiting chopper. Shaw following behind.
"If I were you, X-Men, I'd make myself scarce", he said, "two dead bodies obviously killed by a mutant would not look too good against you, would it?".
Xavier frowned, nodding at Scott to pick up Gina.
"We shall probably meet again, Mr Saw", he said flatly, as he and his team entered the Blackbird.
"No doubt we will", smirked Shaw, vainishing in his own chopper, "I'll look forward to it"
Each aircraft took to the air, going their sepearte ways, an instant before squad cars pulled up to the scene.
Lizzie groaned, shifting on her bed. She had been discharged from the Institute, but been told she had to rest, alot. Well, she'd rested...and then she'd rested some more. Now, now she was bored!. Geez, how long did broken ribs take to heal!. She lay back, blinking up at the ceiling. She could always count the tiles again. Of course, she already knew there were twenty three tiles. She knew this because she'd already counted them a total of fifty nine times.
"Agggghhhh!", she said, hiding her face in a pillow.
There was a tentative tap on the door. Lizzie sighed, removing the pillow, watching the door.
"Come in".
The door opened and two huge eyes blinked around them.
"Hi Lizzie"
Lizzie smiled softly.
"Hey there, Sammy", she said, "come on in".
The young fish-boy opened the door enough to let himself through, before closing it again, walking over to her bedside.
"I came to check on you", he said, then smiled, "and I got you this pretty flower to make you feel better".
He brought a rather crumpled daisy from behind his back. Lizzie smiled, taking it off him, smelling it.
"Awww, thanks Sammy", she said gently, "it's lovely".
"You're welcome", smiled Sammy, "how are you feeling?".
"A'hm still a bit sore", said Lizzie with a weak smile, "but a'h hope ah'll be out of bed soon"
She chuckled.
"So, how's everyone doing?", she asked, "a'hve been going stir crazy cooped up here".
Sammy grinned.
"Kyle got fleas and he had to have a special shampoo that makes him smell", he said, being twelve, loving such misfortune, "oooh and Lorna hit Alex over the head with a shovel and he's got this biiiiiiiiiig bruise on his forehead!".
Lizzie laughed, shaking her head in amsusement.
"A'h suppose he had it coming again", she said.
"Doesn't he always?"
Both Lizzie and Sammy glanced over to the door, where Lucas was leaning on it with a smirk. He walked in, ruffling Sammy's fin, the closest thing the kid had to hair.
"Hey, Sammy, think ye can do me a favour?", he asked, "Maggott 'accidentally' tossed Syrin's favorite necklace in the resevouir again, can ye go in and fish it out?".
Sammy nodded enthustiastically.
"I'll get it out before you can blink!", he said, puffing out his chest, giving Lizzie a kiss on the cheek before dashing out of the room.
Lizzie sighed softly, watching him go, a soft frown on her face.
"Ye would have been a wonderfull mother, Li'zbeth", said Lucas, sitting next to her on the bed, "sorry, your mind was shoutin' out..hard not tae hear".
Lizzie looked at him with a sad sigh.
"A'h guess", she whispered, "we'll never know for sure, will we?".
"Well...I dunnae know about that", said Lucas.
Lizzie blinked, looking at him confusedly.
"What?".
Lucas cleared his throat, giving her a smile.
"We could always try again...once we're a little older", he said softly, "when we're both ready...if ye want to, that is".
He sighed, taking her hand.
"Now's as good a time as any tae say it, I've been trying for months", his other hand moved under her chin, tilting her head up so her eyes locked with his, "I love ye, Elizabeth Guthrie".
Lizzie's eyes widened, before a wide smile crossed her face.
"Took you long enough", she teased, then sighed, "A'h love you too, Lucas".
He smiled, brushing a hand over her cheek, leaning in to give her a soft kiss, not wanting to be anywhere else in the world than right there.
"A small area just outside of Bayville yesterday was scene to the deaths of two famous buisnessmen", said Trish Tilby, staring at the camera, "Emmanel DaCosta and Daniel Toynbee are well known for their fortune and multi-million dollar buisnesses. Their bodies were found horrifically mangled, police refuse to give much detail on the matter, but it is thought that it was a mutant attack".
There was a 'poing' sound as a rubber dart stuck itself to the TV screen, sitting perfectly on the reporters forehead.
"Feeling better?", asked Shortpack, arching a brow.
"Much", smirked Hank, putting his dart gun down.
A day later and the Hellfire Club had all but disapeared, the Helions along with them. Police had investigated the Institute, but of course, with no evidence to prove any of the mutants inside had been responsible, they soon turned away. Roberto frowned, watching the screen, his arms crossed.
"How do you feel?", asked Danielle gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Roberto shrugged.
"I'm fine", he said, "he stopped being a father to me a long time ago".
"How about your mother?", asked Danielle, giving him a hug, resting her head on his arm.
"Why do you think she is at digs all the time?", replied Roberto, "they haven't had a 'good relationship' since I was two".
He sighed.
"Unfortunately, they will want me to take over the buisness", he said, then smiled slightly, "maybe I can fix what my father managed to ruin".
"Kurt", agreed Imara from where she was lying on a play-mat with Toby.
"And to think", said Shortpack, arching a brow, "women pay thousands of dollars to be inseminated with genus sperm...and the result of genus genes is this".(2)
Imara wrinkled her nose at him.
"KURT!".
"In other news", contined Trish, the rubber dart still firmly lodged on the screen, "Warren Worthington, aclaimed as one of the worlds most eligible bachelors anounced his engagement today. The young woman in question, a Gabrielle MacLeod-Wyngarde is rumoured to, indeed, be a mutant. This had, indeed, caused a stir".(3)
"That sneaky winged dog!", said Beast, blinking, "he didn't mention a thing to us!"
"Can you blame him?", asked Shortpack pointedly, arching a brow, "If I were in his place, I wouldn't want too much fuss either"
"Shortpack, unless Barbie or Thumbelina become real, you'll NEVER be in that place", said Storm.
"Oh gee...thanks, 'Ro", said Shortpack dryly, "it's so nice to know I have friends who care for me".
"Come on, young lady", said Storm quickly, plucking her daughter up, "that's enough talking for one day".
The second she was moved, Toby began to whimper, moving his arms around trying to find his fellow youngster.
"I can't leave her here, Toby, she has to go home", sighed Storm, "I really, really want to sleep".
Hank chuckled, picking up Toby.
"She'll be back tomorrow, I promise", he said, then looked pointedly at Storm, "for the love of God, make sure she IS here, I swear he knows when I've duped him".
Storm, chuckled, nodding her head, going outside, putting Imara in the car with a smirk.
"Come on, lets go home to that lovely meal Daddy made for us out of guilt", she said, "even if he doesn't have to, but who's going to argue when we can get cooking like HIS?"
"Kurt", replied Imara
"Exactly", said Storm with a nod, heading off.
Meanwhile, in the garden, Gina was getting some fresh air.When she'd finally come to, she'd been quiet and withdrawn, not speaking to anyone, not even Todd or Jamie. She sighed, closing her eyes, letting the wind brush through her hair. She felt hurt, used...and a slow, boiling anger for those who did this to her.
"Gina?"
She opened her eyes, turning to look at Jamie, who was frowning at her worriedly.
"Are you okay?".
Gina shrugged.
"Not really", she said, "considering my Grandmother is dead and I've got the lives of at least three people on my concience"
"That wasn't your fault", pointed out Jamie, "you were't even in control of yourself, then".
"I still did it", replied Gina, "it doesn't make me any less of a killer...so be it".
Jamie blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"He wants an assasin, he'll get one", said Gina, narrowing her eyes, "all of them will".
"WHAT!", squeaked Jamie, "You can't go all Kill Bill on them!"
"They deserve to pay for what they did to me", growled Gina, the surrounding foilaige rippling with her emotion, "I won't let them get away with what they did to me. They murdered my Grandmother, they used me to kill others".
"But if you go to kill them, it won't make you any better than they are!", protested Jamie.
"I don't care", she said, "there's no place for me now, anyway".
"You could stay here at the Institute", Jamie said desperately, "you'd be safe here, no one could hurt you again. Please...don't go, Gina".
Gina's frown faltered slightly, before she sighed, walking over to him.
"I know this is hard to take, and I truely am sorry", she said softly, "but I can't let this lie. From the moment I woke up, I have been having flashbacks of what was done to me...what was done to the others".
She shook her head.
"And Shaw and his cronies still walk free?", she narrowed her eyes, "I'm going to make sure he gets what he deserves".
"But...", started Jamie weakly.
Gina sighed softly, giving him a gentle kiss.
"You'll understand, one day", she said, before stepping away.
Vines grew around her, encasing her before sinking to the ground, vanishing. Jamie sighed, staring at the ground.
"It's okay, Jamie", said Xavier, wheeling over, "her mental state was greatly altered by Shaw's meddlings, I doubt that her personality will ever be the same again"
"But did she have to leave?", Jamie whispered.
"She seemed to think she did", said Xavier, "and for that, we have to assume she knows what is best for herself".
"You're on in five, Miss Cagney".
Sidney smiled, nodding at one of the backstage assistants.
"This is it", smiled Todd, taking her hands, "you ready?"
"I'm more than ready", said Sidney, then frowned, "how're you holding up?"
"Me?", said Todd with a chuckle, "the woman I love is starting the career she was made to be in, I couldn't be happier"
"You know I meant your father", said Sidney pointedly.
"I'm fine", said Todd with a frown, "to be honest, I'm a little disapointed it wasn't me that ended his miserable life".
"Poor baby", teased Sidney, kissing his cheek, "did you give the Morlocks my package?"
"Yeah", he said, "they didn't quite understand why you insisted on givin' them a quarter of your earnings"
"They saved me", said Sidney softly, "they took me in when I didn't fit in anywhere else. They're like a family to me, and I can't think of anyone more deserving".
Todd nodded, giving her a hug.
"I understand", he said softly, "you better get goin', that guy's startin' ta look a little pale".
Sidney chuckled, looking over her shoulder.
"Oh, that's Mr Sakano", she said, "he's Dazzler's producer. He's a little..highly strung" (4)
That was a bit of an understatment. Mr Sakano was pointing wildly to the stage with one hand, while he used the other to repeatedly hit himself in the head with what looked like a big, heavy book.
"Okay, I'm going, I'm going", whispered Sidney, giving Todd a soft kiss before heading up to the stage, the sound of applause sounding.
Todd sighed softly, leaving to sit at his place around front, watching her as the band started up, Sidney singing softly.
"Did you ever know that you're my hero, And Evr'ything I would like to be?", she sang, "I can fly higher than an eagle, 'Cause you are the wind beneath my wings. (5)
Todd smiled, watching her adoringly, he couldn't believe he'd won her back. He knew he'd never be able to let her go now. He'd follow her to the ends of the earth and back again.
"I love ya, Sid", he whispered softly.
(1) - Flashdance, in case you're wondering.
(2) - This is actually true, I saw it on a TV show once. How...odd.
(3) - Incidentally, Gabrielle doesn't belong to me. She belongs to my RPGing buddy, Shel. And yes, that is WYNGARDE.
(4) - Mr Sakano isn't mine, he's from Gravitation, the only Anime that I will watch (and thus love). He's such fun!
(5) - Wind beneath my wings, by Bette Midler, who I think is the ONLY person who can pull this song off right.
Well, there's another Chronicle done and dusted. What do I have in store for you in the next one? All that I will reveal that it is set around 5 years after this one. That's it. HAH! Ahem. Anyway, I was planning on bringing out my next 'Pick on a group' story next, but because of my evil backlog of work, I'm afraid it's on hold for a while. Instead, I've started to bring back out my parodies, in non-script format. Anyway. Do review. Until next time...