Lucky Me
Chapter 080
The way to start off a September was certainly not with Major-Pain-in-the-Behind Poovey giving a test, forgetting both sack lunch and lunch money or finding myself on a plane bound for a different country.
"What person in their right mind would go to Genosha?" It was something between a mutant chopping block and safe haven. I think it depended on the laundry fabric the people in charge used that week. I didn't know much about the country accept no one in their wrong, demented, or self-hating minds ever went to Genosha by choice. Just thinking of that place gave me the creeps.
Even creepier than when Wolverine was in my bedroom after he found the gun.
Bobby-Jerk chimed in. "We would!"
"That's why I asked 'what person in their right mind would go'."
"Just remember you're one of us." That was the last thing from mind settling. Not to mention it sounded like Iceman just put a curse on the whole crew.
Phoenix, Cyclops, Northstar, pointless little me, Iceman, Wolverine, Flex (I didn't know what that boy was doing here), and Bishop. Storm had taken the other half to go do something in Spain or whatever. Wasn't me, didn't care.
"We're not going to Genosha, Blyt." Yeah, my mistake we were going to a base that was a fraction of a hair away from its border. Big difference there.
I sat, arms crossed, sulking about my bad fortune. The only reason we were going to all these places (the three different bases) was because there was a rumor that Cable found interesting. It was something about a new program being put into place dealing with mutant genetic butchering or some sort of science jargon. I wondered why these people never think of something more creative than that.
Anyway, more and more mutants kept disappearing. All have the same, almost parasite, like abilities. This was what got interesting or so the X people in charge thought. Parasite was mutant lingo for someone like Rogue. Their powers basically were leeched off of other mutants' powers. Sounded like a riot, right?
Landing a mile or so away from the complex, Cyclops started to bark off his commands.
"...Blyt and Iceman, I want you two to work together." My eyebrows went straight up. "And Flex, I want you to baby-sit these two." My eyebrows came crashing back down in a glare at Dad. The nerve of him, like I was the one who needed a baby-sitter!
Adrian looked at me, and then to Bobby, who had the same speechless expression. "Sure."
After some brief explaining, we were sent on our way. Phoenix said she couldn't detect anybody's presence but it didn't mean that they weren't there.
Great, were we going to fight ghosts or something?
We got the backdoor (if that's what you wanted to call it) and it was closest to where the Blackbird landed. The other paired off people scampered away into the woods like deer. I couldn't stop thinking that they were just going to make a circle back to the plane, build a fire and make s'mores while we three did all the work.
Iceman, the senior as Scott so kindly reminded us, lead the way. When it came to the door, he hesitated. I didn't know what the big deal was; it was already slightly opened anyway.
Venturing inside, it seemed like a nice, clean, well-lit hallway. Well, except for the blood.
Oh, and the bodies the blood had come from.
My stomach jumped out of my body and ran back to the plane.
"Blyt?" Flex questioned as I stepped back in disgusted horror as the smell of it was too familiar. "Something wrong?"
Yeah, the dead soldier guy was wearing two different colored socks and I being such a fashion buff could not stand that horrible sight.
Something wrong, sheesh, idiot.
I jumped forward, closer to Iceman, and shook my head 'no'. Our leader gave me a steady look and I weakly smiled and nudged him forward.
Iceman went to several of the guys, checking their pulses before concluding his findings to the big boss man.
"Cyclops, all the present staff, they're dead."
"Same here." Cyclops.
"Affirmative." Bishop.
"Butchered." Wolverine.
All four points of the fort, all the occupants dead? Again? Who were these people that seemed to be in front of us at all time? Why did they kill all these guys? What was the point?
"Come on you two."
We walked a bit further. What we were looking for was any sort of computer terminal. What we found was that the hallway went straight but also had the option of left or right. Iceman split us up and each went a different direction.
I got the right turn. My arm itched suddenly (probably nerves) and silently thanked Iceman for noticing my displeasure at seeing so many people lying dead in very uncomfortable positions. It was a massacre, again. Their guns were shredded and broken a few feet away from almost each and every body.
"Find anything, Blyt?" Bobby's voice crackled over the comm. link.
"Just more Dracula victims." Bad time for bad jokes, but I was uneasy. This was the second time they dragged me to a building that was more a morgue than a place of secret military work.
There wasn't even a sound echoing off the walls. Nothing but dead silence. That was not a joke. Perhaps a bad pun, but not a joke.
I came to another turn in the hallway and obediently followed it. Yes, there were doors but there was no way little baby Kerry was going to stick her big head in just to have it possibly whacked off. I like myself a little too much to be that painfully stupid.
The silence didn't last too much longer as I screamed bloody murder and nearly flew into the roof.
"Calm down, Kerry," Iceman, who had only started to ask a question, causing me to have a heart attack, shushed.
I calmed down enough (after a minute of holding the wall for balance while trying to get my heart under control) I came back to reality. Glancing over at the older guy, I frowned and smacked his arm.
"Don't do that!"
"I didn't know you were going to be so jumpy!" He defended.
"Next time make a noise or something before appearing out of nowhere." Sounded reasonable to me.
"First off, I didn't appear out of nowhere, I came from the hall right here."
Oops, I didn't even notice the new opening. Must have been the hall he chose. Well duh it was the corridor he chose! Sheesh.
"And secondly, if I had made a noise you probably would have attacked me."
He did have a point. Ah! I didn't like it when guys were right!
"Flex? Are you there?" Static answered. The creepy feeling came back and seemed to spread to Iceman. "Flex?"
One, two...
"Yeah, sorry." That dumb jerk! He shouldn't worry us like that! "Nothing here."
"We found the main frame, it's pretty smashed up." Cyclops was always the lucky one. This was sarcasm, adjust to its temperature. "Bishop rendezvous with us..." and the coordinates were given as were the instructions for us to keep looking for any living body.
Bobby started to walk in the direction I had been going before he scared me half to death (I swear he knocked off thirty years from my life). I followed him like a puppy down the corridor; he stopped at each and every door to look for people. I guess he was accustomed to this type of situation.
Or was a complete idiot.
"Blyt, check the right side of the hall, I'll take the left." He's desensitized to this; I was the idiot for being there! I did as told though. I would open the door an inch, peek, and then go to the next one. It wasn't until the third door that Iceman, sounding rather frustratingly amused, asked what I was doing.
"Checking the rooms."
"You have to go in the rooms to check them."
I gave a frightened stare to the door in front of me. It was opened slightly and I started to shake my head.
"What if that maniac that did this is lurking around in one of these rooms? I don't want to end up dead!"
"You won't. Whoever did this is long gone." He picked up one of the dead scientist's hands and dropped it. "Rigamortis has already started to set in and if there is anyone alive, we need to find them."
I wasn't convinced (but I had enough guilt now placed on me) but he also assured that my training would probably override my fear and he reassured me a thousand times that he would be a breath away. So, taking a deep swallow of air, I slid into the room and my eyes tried to focus on the darkness.
Realizing this wasn't going to get anything productive done, I reached blindly around the door frame and finally was able to flick the light on.
My scream carried through the halls. Then I think I ran and Iceman showed up and I was shaking in his arms and whimpering like a mutilated puppy.
"Kerry, Kerry! What's wrong?" Shaking beyond the point of fear and surprise, I looked up at him then pointed to the door I had just run back through. He left me for a moment, went to the room and since he left it so quickly I guessed he didn't like what was in there anymore than I did. "Looks like they got creative." There was no humor in his voice as he securely shut the door behind him.
Lifeless blue eyes. R-Red everywhere! I felt my stomach twist with green butterflies; even they were sick and shaken. He had been hanging from the ceiling. Gutted like a fish! What kind of monster-!
"It's all right, Kerry." I didn't even realize Bobby had me in another embrace until he spoke. Noticing he was there, I attached myself to him and kept my head down, buried in his shirt. He kept his head down, close to my ear and kept repeating about how he told Scott it was a bad idea to bring me along.
Did they know it was going to be like this?
I didn't know how much time passed, but the comm. links wouldn't give it a rest. Finally, I pulled away and Iceman looked so worried and concerned that I found my feet interesting.
"Go ahead," he spoke to the badge, keeping one hand around my shoulders.
"We were able to tap into their computer banks. There should be a containment unit where you are or very close nearby."
"Maybe that's where Flex disappeared to." Bobby sighed, "We'll go check it out."
He let his hand slide down my arm and grabbed my hand as he started off toward the left. I numbly let him lead me. I couldn't understand why people did this! I couldn't understand why we had to do this! I thought we were supposed to prevent things like this from happening! Not stumble upon them!
It was the lost leading the blind as I kept my head down and my free hand curled up next to my chest, fingering my necklace through my uniform. The further we got from that room, the more alive I felt. A thought came to the front of my mind unbidden, what if a mutant like GraveWorm was real? Talk about freak out. That would mean that all these dead people and someone who has the power to animate the dead could attack us—see where I was going with this freak trip?
"What do you think they would say at school if they could see us now?"
Easy for him to say, but since he was making an effort to lighten the atmosphere, I supposed I should as well.
"I think they'd probably say something like, 'Man, that guy is lucky, holding hands with that girl.'"
"Hm, and here I thought you were going to say something like 'Man, that girl is lucky to be holding hands with her teacher. '"
"I know they'd say that, you only asked me what I thought they'd say." Even half turned away; I saw the smile edge on his mouth.
"You're a creep, you realize." Yes, we were playing. I wasn't squeezing his hand to the point of breaking, so it was teasing.
"Yeah, but I'm a cute and loveable creep. Why do you think they've kept me around for so long?"
"To keep their drinks cold during the summer?"
Iceman's smile became more defined.
"Any icing I do over the summer usually ends up down someone's pants, not their cup."
This I didn't doubt. My smile was sincere, I was glad he was trying to take my mind off of this. The halls all looked the same, and were lacking in cute and helpful signs to guide us. Lucky for us there was only one way to go, and that was straight. Or through a door, but Bobby refused to go into any more (more like I wouldn't let go of his hand and my feet became firmly planted when he even moved remotely close to a door).
Eventually we got to a turn, and there was a surprise.
"Adrian!" My brain kicked into action as I let go of Bobby's hand and ran to my fallen, bleeding teammate. I pushed him lightly on the shoulder to roll him over, he groaned. Good, he was at least alive.
"What happened?" Yeah, I know. I sounded a lot like Cyclops by not asking if he was okay first, but like I said Adrian was alive and that was good enough for me at that moment. "Who did this?"
"White-" Oh-kay. Lot of help there. I started to really panic when Adrian's head lolled back. Bobby pried me off Flex and said, after a brief examination, that he just passed out. There was blood coming from the poor boy's neck which was smeared and several small holes in his uniform around the chest area.
Everyone must have been dead except the killer and here we were trying to find it!
After getting most of the bleeding to stop by applying pressure and using ripped off bits of uniform (Iceman's, not mine, since if I were to rip something off of mine there'd be nothing left), we contacted the others with an update. They said they were going to need some time and to be careful.
Picking up the limp boy and throwing him over his shoulder, Iceman started to walk in a direction that was not the way we came from. Confused, I asked why. He shrugged and said he was following Adrian's blood trail.
I stopped cold in my tracks.
"What? We're still going to look for this guy after he did this?" I motioned to the empty halls. There were smears of blood that looked like a body was dragged from the hall into a few of the rooms.
"We have to. Do you really want something that is capable of this wandering around free on the outside?" Wasn't it already? I sighed/moaned and caught up with him. It was quiet again. I felt nervousness fling its arm around me as fear attempted to French kiss me. Man, why didn't I just-
"Sing."
"Huh?" Where'd that come from?
"If you're nervous, sing," Iceman reiterated. "It might help calm you down."
"And lead the killer right to us." I sighed. If the person who attacked Adrian was going to come and get us they already would have. Or so my freaked out mind thought. "Besides I don't exactly have a voice that anyone wants to hear."
In fact my sister was the singerish one. Heavy on the ish. Darcy once caught me singing in my room and asked what happened to the money she gave me for singing lessons. I ended up chasing her outside and turning the water hose on her.
"Come on, you start and if I know the song, I'll-hum."
"How come you get to hum and I have to sing?" He was getting to that irritating level again. Adrian moaned from his position on Iceman's shoulder. Poor guy, did he really need me to give him a headache on top of the beating he'd received?
"If you don't want to that's fine. I'll just tell jokes."
"I'll sing! I'll sing!" I went over songs in my head that I knew. I had to pick one that he knew and would be willing to sing as well. I randomly started to sing one of the songs, something about heaven and wings on shoes or something. Iceman knew it too, so that was all that mattered.
After two more minutes of fudging the lyrics on my part, we passed what looked like the place we all split up in the beginning and then Iceman disappeared.
One moment he was in front of me and then a flash of white, a loud crack, and suddenly Iceman and Flex were gone.
"Iceman!" I ran to were the corridors merged.
I should have stayed in bed.
Adrian lay crumpled on the floor at Bobby's feet. Iceman had a visitor. I saw its back as it perched on his chest. My mind froze; my body malfunctioned and refused to obey. The girl, I could now tell because she slightly turned to pick up Iceman's hand, who only moaned, didn't seem to notice I was there. In fascinating horror I watched as the bleach white girl with odd colored hair drew a single nail down Bobby's palm, opening a nasty gash in it. As if that wasn't disturbing enough, the girl brought the bleeding hand to her mouth and ran her tongue along the inside of the cut. Very, very slowly. Disgusted was not the word for it.
But, like Iceman said it would, my training took over my body. I was not about to let two guys sit there and be sucked on by this white leech. So what did I do? Punch? No. Kick? Not quite. Call for help? Wouldn't that have been smart. Nope, I drew all the attention to me.
"Get off of him!" I shouted. The creature turned sharply. She growled (like Wolverine) and lunged. I didn't have any time to react. Her momentum sent us both flying several feet back and landing with a thud from my wing or spine; I wasn't too sure which. I kicked and tried to get the beast off of me, her legs were securely locked around mine and she pinned my hands with hers.
If you thought I was safe because her limbs were occupied, think again. She had fangs, red-coated fangs.
She hissed something that sounded like a question in a language I didn't know.
Oh great, a killer who didn't even know English! She then sniffed me. Yes, sniffed me. Like got right up in my face and took a good lung full of me. I felt like a stone, unable to move or to stop her from doing anything.
"W-what do you want?" The she-creature rose up to look down at me with blazing gold eyes. Not even pupils, just bright shining eyes. This was so creepy!
Narrowing those eyes, she canted her head forward slightly.
"Freedom," she spat. Oh good, she spoke English! Great, I could understand what she said before she killed me.
"Get offa of me and go find it." My voice was raspy from fear. What did you expect if you saw an X-Man and a team member go flying away from you because of a single femme fatale?
She snarled.
In my past experiences anything with claws, fangs, and a tendency to growl meant pain. Pain, a good chance of blacking out, and major bleeding.
Mostly pain.
Still, growling she grabbed my face, her razor sharp claws dug into five different parts of my flesh.
For once in my life, I wasn't a moron or alone fighting demons.
I knocked her back with my freed hand and then she went flying off to the side curtsey of a huge ice block from the back.
Able to flip on to my stomach in time to see the great white beast recover, she seemed ready to renew her assault, but an ice wall stopped her. Iceman must've woken up or this was a glitch in reality.
"Are you okay, Kerry?" I was still watching the dancing shadow (not literally dancing, but moving) on the other side of the polar wall. The beast girl was still there somewhere. "Kerry!"
Craning my neck back around, I saw Adrian must've woken up too, leaning on Bobby and Bobby leaning on him as they managed to stay upright. Clambering unsurely to my feet, they tittered together and pitched forward. Adrian recovered, Bobby didn't and his hurt hand was how he caught himself.
Hissing in pain, the man drew back his hand and cradled it against his stomach. Flex's eyes were fluttering open and close. He certainly wasn't going to help Bobby.
Leaning down, I pried his hand away from his stomach. His eyes flinching as I gently uncurled his fingers.
"What the he-what did she do?" Iceman asked, looking at his oozing palm.
"She clawed your hand open and drank some of your blood."
His face twisted in disgust and Flex made a gagging sound. When I asked Iceman for his shirt, of course he once again became Bobby-Jerk. I rolled my eyes at his 'this wasn't the time to get your kicks, kid'. After I threatened to find the cafeteria in here and stuff salt in the wound, he was willing to loan me his shirt for a bit. I dressed his wound (blood made my blood go 'eeewwww') with his sleeve, and let him put the rest of the shirt back on.
After making sure he knew I thought he was a pervert, I helped Adrian up who gave me a lopsided smile of thanks.
Bobby made a quick report/request that someone needed to come find us and take care of the snow white vampire. Bishop quickly elected himself for that little job.
When we made it to the others, they were ready to head out. That was until they saw us. Me with pinpricks of blood running down my face, Bobby-Jerk's bleeding and dressed hand, and Adrian's abused bleeding neck.
"What the hell happened to you?" Wolverine asked as the others started to buzz around the boys.
"Which one of us?" Bobby-Jerk shot back with at dead pan expression. It was a legitimate question if you asked me.
After we were once again heading back to the place where most mutants were safe most of the time, we were pumped for information. Once we handed over our fractured story, Cyclops told us of what they found.
Apparently that place was not to train a horde of mutants, but a single mutant with only one objective. What that objective was, they didn't know.
Half way back, a message was picked up from the mansion.
"Cyclops?" It was Dr. Hank. "We have a small problem."
"We can add it to the list," Bobby-Jerk muttered.
After giving Bobby a stern look, Scott turned back to the comm. deck.
"Go ahead, Hank."
The living blue teddy bear cleared his throat. "Is Blyt listening? This concerns her as well." My attention, instead of playing hopscotch with my mind, stood alert as it eyed the console Dr. Hank's voice was coming through. Given the go ahead once again, Dr. Hank put the fear of loss in me once again. "We've just taken Daisy to the emergency room," silly girl probably burned herself with the curling iron. "She's been admitted into the Intensive Care Unit," ohkay, she tried to use the curling iron while in the shower? "They don't know if she'll make the night."
...oh man.
