Disclaimer: All X-men characters are created and owned by Marvel. I am gaining no profit for this.
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Ch 20: Found and Lost
Something was fishy. Sandra had been searching government sites for almost a half hour. She had expected to find something by now. Her Father always showed her these top secret documents all the time. But now she couldn't find any of them. Of course they could have been so secret that they were never put on any site. No that couldn't be right. Everything else was there. And they weren't expecting anyone to be able to break into their files. Sandra got up from her chair and headed towards the main lab. Hopefully Mathen was still there and she would be able to talk to him.
She still didn't totally believe everything he had told her, but maybe he was right about something. If her Father didn't work for the American government, maybe he worked for a different couldn't. Anyway, Sandra was glad to go see her lover. She hated being mad at him. She sort of skipped down the hallway to find him.
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Remy could smell the blood and knew that there was no way that Mathen could have survived, but still he had to make sure.
"Mon ami?" He waited for a second. Remy was so frustrated about being tied down. He could only move his head from side to side and Mathen had fallen somewhere behind him. "You still dere?"
Wolverine, Beast, and Scott were behind him too. He knew they were there, but didn't understand why they had been silent the whole time. Remy also worried that maybe they had been hurt before he had woken up. Sinister. Dis ain't gonna end like dis. You not gonna get away with dis.
Although he thought he could defeat Sinister, Remy still felt hopeless. Without his powers and being restrained like he was, he knew he was screwed. Even though he hadn't been very close to Rogue in a while, he still worried for her. And Jean. They were somewhere else, and who knew what Sinister had done to them.
Remy had lost a lot of faith through the years but still, as he lay there, he said a small prayer in his head. It was all he could do at the moment. He felt so alone.
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Storm had put her uniform on and had contacted the professor about what had happened. She knew who had her friends and she was going to get them back. After taking some time to recover from the attack, she had checked the whole mansion. Storm had found the Blackbird missing but that was it. She had almost decided to take to the air and try to follow it, but the professor had made a better suggestion.
Sinister was ruthless and he would do anything to get his way. He would not give up after only one try. If he wanted her, he would keep coming after her. He would be back. And Storm was ready for it. It had taken her a long time, but she had managed to get the security system back up. If anything entered the mansion, even a tesseract, she would know. She had also added an alarm that would sound if someone tried to mess with the system again.
After that, she had gone into the danger room and reprogrammed all of the robots. They were now all scattered around the house. Storm knew that she was strong enough to take on any attacker, but she didn't want any surprises. If they had something special planned, the robots would definitely take them off guard.
Now all she had to do was wait. She hated it, but she knew it wouldn't be long until Sinister sent someone to collect her. She would save her friends.
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Sandra happily bounded into the main laboratory. She couldn't wait to be with Mathen again. She had thought about what she would say. Mathen was probably right about her Father not working for the government, but she would prove to him that Sinister was making good, lifesaving discoveries with his experiments. She slowed down when she noticed that Mathen wasn't around. All of the X-Men were still where she had put them. She was confused. Usually when Mathen decided to do something, he would get right to it. He should have at least freed them by now. Her eyes wandered along the back wall.
Her wide smile fell, and her eyes immediately lost their sparkle. There was a long smear of blood on the back corner of the wall. Something was horribly wrong. She didn't want to go any closer to it but her view was blocked where she stood. She moved like molasses slowly walking forward. Finally, she had made it next to Remy LeBeau. She glanced at him and he gave her a mournful look. Sandra ignored it and leaned forward just enough to see past the counter that had kept her from seeing beyond.
She screamed.
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Sinister was sitting back in his chair and grinning. Sabretooth sat on the other side of the big oak desk with his feet propped on it. Normally, Sinister would have scolded him for doing so, but he was in a good mood. "I knew he wasn't trustworthy."
Sabretooth finished lighting a cigar and began puffing it. "Problem's solved now."
He chuckled, Sabretooth was completely relaxed. He usually was after such a satisfying kill. Sandra was on his mind too.
"No not all of our problems are solved yet. We must still dispose of him before my daughter sees him." Sabretooth was brought out of his dirty thoughts. Sinister continued. "I don't want her to know he's dead. She's young and naïve, she wouldn't understand."
"What yer gonna tell her?"
"I'll just inform her that Mathen had a change of heart and decided to no longer offer his services to us. She'll believe that he just left."
Sinister sat back. He was very glad to have Mathen out of his hair. The only reason that he had hired him was to kill the security systems in the mansion. He had hoped he would be useful, but the man had proved that he wasn't. Mathen was always sneaking around behind his back. And Sinister did not like that. Suddenly there was a loud terrified scream.
He looked up at the security monitor. Damn. Sandra was in the main lab. She had found Mathen's body. Sinister stood, he would have to take care of this immediately.
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Ch 21: Scapegoat
Sandra ran to the bloody heap on the floor. His face was no longer recognizable and his body had been badly shredded. But still Sandra knew it was Mathen. His blonde hair was matted to his face with blood. And his intense brown eyes were eerily staring at nothing.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Couldn't speak. She wasn't even able to put her thoughts together. Oh my god! Mathen………no.
With shaking fingers, she smoother his hair off of his face. Then she began to uncontrollable tremble. Her entire body shook with tremors. But then she was brought out of her madness.
"Chere. I'm so-"
"SHUT UP!!" She leaped up and looked down at the cajun. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR A WORD!!"
Remy realized that the woman wasn't all there at the moment. Could he blame her? She had walked in and found her lover butchered. Left like expired meat by Sabretooth. Memories of his own flooded his mind. Memories of the morlocks and the massacre that Sabretooth had left behind. He shut his eyes and a small tear trailed down his cheek.
Sandra was no longer paying attention to him. She was already back next to Mathen. His gory, mangled body didn't really appear to her. Instead she saw him as if he were sleeping. Without any fear or repulsion, she put her hands on his face and stroked it.
"Mathen? Honey? Wake up please, I'm here now." But Mathen was beyond hearing her.
All that she needed was for him to look at her and smile. That was all she wanted. Without warning, she began to uncontrollably weep. Through every sob she continued to speak to him. "Mathen I'm sorry. I'm here. You want to leave, ok let's leave! Where ever you want to go." She had to gulp for air.
"Mathen!! Mathen! Come back! Don't leave me here." She covered her face with her hands. Then balled them into fists and raised her head to the ceiling. "MATHEN!!!!"
"He's dead."
She looked up. Standing by the door was her Father and he had just come in. As soon as she saw him she was brought back into reality and sort of calmed down. She stood as he walked over to her and hugged her. He held her shoulders and looked into her eyes. They had gone down to an almost blue flaming color. This had affected her more than he thought it would have, but then his daughter always hated death. And Mathen had kind of been her friend.
She began to sob like a small child who had just lost a family pet. Sinister comforted her until she could speak again. "There, there. It's alright. Everything will be fine."
Sandra took a deep breath. "Father, what happened?"
Mathen was dead. Maybe because of even. And she was now asking her father, because she wanted an answer from him. Mathen had caused her to slightly distrust him and now she was looking for a reason to.
Sinister's face softened. "I'm not exactly sure what happened. Sabretooth was the one who was here, not I. But I have learned what went on." Sinister's gaze turned hard. "Mathen, for some reason, was releasing Wolverine from his cell."
Sandra stared at her father with great interest. So far, it seemed as if he were telling the truth. Mathen was planning on letting them go. Her father continued.
"That action was not a good choice however. Once he was let loose, Wolverine attacked Mathen. He killed him Sandra. Now Sabretooth came in just before Wolverine caused anymore damage and managed to get him back into the cell. He was badly injured though. Right now he's in his room healing." He looked up as if he were looking for something.
"We'll never know what got into Mathen. Why did want to do that?" Sinister paused. "I don't know. But I was just coming in here to take care of our fallen comrade. I did not want you to see him like this."
Sandra stared at her father. He had never once hesitated in his telling of what had happened. So she believed him. And then turned toward Wolverine. She had never been so angry. She would do everything in her power to kill this man.
"No! Dat not de-" Sinister let a crushing punch go into Gambit's jaw and broke it. Remy was left moaning as blood and a few broken teeth filled his mouth.
Sandra was so full of rage that she hadn't even noticed her father's violent attack. And she really didn't care even. Instead she just stared coldly at Wolverine.
Sinister began to wonder why Sandra was so distraught. So he went to her side and hugged her. "I can see this is too much for you my dear. Why don't you go to your room. I'll take care of Mathen."
She quickly pushed him away. "No!" Then she realized that she had shocked her father. She calmed herself and continued. "I mean, no I'll do it. Go check on Victor. Make sure he's alright.
He looked at her questioningly. Then nodded his head. Alright. He turned at left her in that cold lonely lab. Sandra kneeled next to her only love and stared at his lifeless body. She would take his body down to the morgue. The last final loving thing she could do for him.
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Ch 22: Excuse Me Mr. Sabretooth, But You Lost a Claw
Sandra stared at Mathen's body. Or at least what was left of it. That man, Wolverine, had shown Mathen no mercy. And she promised to do exactly the same for him. Her eyes were flaming so much, that she could actually feel heat rising off of them. The only person that she had ever loved so much was now, laid out on a slab of metal.
It had been horribly tough to get him down to the morgue. But Sandra had done it just the same. She still couldn't believe that he was gone. It was her fault. There was no denying it. If she hadn't of been so childish, Mathen would still be alive. He would be right here comforting her, telling her he'd never leave her side. But the reality was, that shortly he would be leaving her. He had already left her, forever.
Sandra couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She wept until she felt like there wasn't a single drop left in her. Gently, she rubbed her sensitive eyes. And again, looked at Mathen. It was devastating to lose him, but it was even worse to only have a mangled body to look upon. Mathen's lip was badly torn and his eyes were swollen. Yet somehow, they had remained open.
Sandra finally lifted her hand over Mathen's eyes. "Good bye my sweet love. I will always love you until my death." With that said, she put her hand on his forehead and gradually brushed it down to close his eyes.
She was about to get on to the difficult task of wrapping his body and then lifting it into the incinerator. But something caught her eye. On Mathen's chest there was a huge gaping wound. But that wasn't what had gotten her attention. There, deep in the wound was something alien. It was some kind of yellowish black thorn. Where did that come from?
For once in her life, Sandra was terrified to explore it. She awfully did not want to check it out, but deep in her heart she knew she had to. Trembling inside and out, Sandra reached out towards Mathen's chest. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to touch the gruesome wound, but it was not so. Whatever it was, it was in deep. Sandra whimpered as her fingers felt torn flesh. She began to cry again. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle this for much longer. So she speedily wrapped her hand around the foreign object and yanked it out. It stayed for a second, because it was lodged into bone, but finally it came loose.
Sandra was actually knocked back a bit, but she quickly recovered. She opened her hand, but as soon as she glanced at it she gasped. It was blood soaked and she refused to look at it. So she ran over to a sink and cleaned it off.
She wiped it off and finally looked at it. Her heart broke. Down in her hand was a stray claw. And she knew where it had come from. Every word her father had said to her was a lie. And she had been stupid enough to believe it. Well, she wouldn't be taken for a fool. She went to go confront her father.
TBC
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Author's Note: Sorry about Mathen guys!L I had to do it. *Hammers nail into lid of coffin. Hand comes out. "Oh no you don't! Get back in there Mathen!" Pushes hand back in. "No exceptions Mathen is dead as a door nail."*
Ok Obviously Sandra is gonna have a little talk with Daddy in the next chapter, but something else is gonna happen too! Actually, a couple big things are gonna happen. First of all, there's only about 2 more chapters left until this ends!! And before it does, Remy is finally gonna get some time in, Sandra is going to reveal what her power really is, and you're all gonna find out what I have planned for the second Installment.
Ok so hold onto your seats only 2 chapters left and at the end I'll finally decide what I'm gonna do with Remy and Rogue. Oh yeah keep telling me if you what Romy or not! Thanky!!