Chapter 6: Flaunt It
--6 Weeks Later--
Logan and the professor had been stretched thin trying to take care of all the students over summer break and search for their missing friends at the same time. They couldn't track them and Logan was about to go crazy. He was headed toward the kitchen to see if he could kick students out and back to bed when the phone rang. After digging around the couch cushions he came up with the phone, $2.00 in change, and a lighter. He had to wonder about the last one but then he realized that he'd never answered the phone here before and he wasn't sure what to say. He decided on a gruff "Hello?"
"Meet me at Pandora's Box tomorrow night at 11:30, don't be late." A clipped business like voice said over the phone. It sounded familiar but it was so late that Logan didn't even begin to care. He did one last sweep of the house, locked as many doors and windows that he knew about and went to talk to the professor.
"It could be about our missing mutants." Logan said as he finished reporting the odd phone call. The professor was lost in thought and didn't seem to be paying much attention.
"I think you should go and check it out, in the meantime, we've got some students who are attempting to go on a joy ride, why don't we take some of the joy out of it?" Logan grinned evilly. Right now, punishing the kids sounded like a lot of fun.
A young mutant named Roger and his gang of cronies had piled into one of the cars and was opening the garage door when the lights caught on someone silhouetted in the middle of the driveway. The group consisted of two other people, Alyssa and a guy known only as Golem. Roger and his gang were known to be bullies. Good. Logan thought to himself. This would be a lot more fun than he thought.
--The Next Night, Pandora's Box, 11:35 p.m.--
Logan and the professor had decided it would be best if Logan went all by himself, after all someone had to watch the kids. Until he walked into the place, he hadn't realized that it was a strip club. Flashing lights and loud pounding music disoriented Logan. Pot smoke filled the air so thick you could probably get a high just standing there breathing. As soon as he walked in a young blonde, heavily made up, and no older than Rogue came up to him.
"Follow me." She whispered in his ear. He was unsure as to what kind of invitation it was until he saw her nod to the bartender. Someone had responded to the signal the bartender gave. Logan caught a flash of long, straight black hair and pale skin. He decided he had no choice but to follow the blonde. Up ahead, the girl with the dark hair slid down one of the poles to the applause and catcalls of some of the patrons. He caught a glimpse of very spiky heels that seemed to stay attached by leather straps that came up underneath the brunette's knees. She also had on a simple, short black skirt. As for the top, you couldn't see it from behind if she was even wearing one because her hair covered her back. Then the girl up ahead disappeared and the blonde turned a corner.
Logan found himself in a hallway made up completely of glass. Every window was full of gyrating, half-naked women and even some men. There were even people pressing themselves up against glass that made up the floor and ceiling. The hallway finally ended and surprisingly two women well-dressed in business suits opened very large double doors for his escort and him. The room seemed to be a large conference room area. One wall was nothing but window that let moonlight in. The girl he'd seen early stood looking out of them. As soon as they were alone the girl flipped all that hair over one shoulder. She was wearing a black backless halter top that was held on by very thin straps. At the small of her back was a black and red tatoo:
2X3 (A/N: Obviously it would look a lot spiffier than that, I just wanted to give you a general idea.) She didn't hide her identity, she flaunted it.
Rogue was actually aware that she wasn't in control of her own thoughts. Her first instinct was to jerk away but when her body obeyed her mind was full of pain. Pieces of her life went floated before her like some kind of grotesque parade: The time when she first kissed a boy and nearly killed him, the bar where she'd run into Logan, her nearly being killed when Logan crashed the car, the Institute and her life there, being stabbed when she tried to wake Logan up, Magneto putting her in that machine of his...and so on. All of the images went flashing past one right after the other. As soon as the track came to the end, they'd start all over again. It was beginning to get on Rogue's nerves. So she tried to think of other things. She thought of the few times she'd kissed Bobby and just generally hanging out with her friends. Suddenly her mind broke free and she was left to her own devices. She almost wished she'd gone with the program because she was suddenly drowning in thick fluid that had the consistency of gel.
"You didn't just think I'd leave you alone did you?" She asked as she turned to face him. Unlike the women who worked outside her clothes could almost be called conservative and her subtle makeup actually did what it was supposed to, enhance her beauty. Logan just couldn't buy that he'd contributed to most of her DNA sequence.
"I don't think SHIELD's too happy with me right now."
"SHIELD's never happy. They'll get over it. I didn't call you out here to chat about that."
"You're not going to try and kill me again are you?"
"Please. You're not any fun to kill, you don't fight back. Besides I owe you now, so I suppose killing you would be in poor taste now wouldn't it? Besides I think I know what happened to your friends, or at least I know a way to find them."
"Why are you helping us?" Logan asked immediately suspicious of her motives. A look that could have been sadness or guilt darkened her bright green eyes.
"Because I think it's my fault that they are in trouble."
Rogue was dying. She knew death well because she'd already had a brush with him once before. It was maybe the only time that she'd been glad for her mutant powers. She couldn't breathe and her frantic movements were using up what precious oxygen she had left. She heard a watery beep and a clicking sound and then she was deposited on the floor of a very white room coughing up what felt like every organ in her body.
"You shouldn't have rebelled. It would have hurt a lot less." A little girl with braids framing each side of her face said. She had brown hair that was dotted with blue ribbons. She wore what almost looked like a first communion dress and her feet were bare.
"Rogue what am I going to do with you?" Her adult voice did not match her child body and for the first time Rogue was desperately afraid. The girl had struck a pose with her head cocked to one side, hand on her hip one finger wagging at her.
"I think you need to be punished." The room began to swell and swirl like a bad acid trip. Rouge closed her eyes and fervently wished to live. When she opened her eyes she was surrounded by land mines.
"One false move and you'll hear a click, that will be the last sound you hear. Though I suppose you could get lucky and only lose a leg or such." The girl giggled, skipped playfully in between the mines and walked out of a door not five feet away. Rogue wanted to curl up and cry, but she couldn't. She might set off the land mines.
"Look, I didn't do it on purpose. I don't think threatening you or your friends would be the best way to hurt you. I think it would just piss you off instead. Besides, tactfully, threatening is just a way for someone to get something they want without usually having the means to enforce the threat."
"Why do you think it's your fault."
"Look I'd show you, but I need a computer and some other stuff that I don't have here."
"Let me guess, you want an invite to the Institute."
"I know you have the necessary equipment."
"Let me ask you a question first." She arched one eyebrow at him, which Logan took as consent.
"Why did you pick this place to meet me?" Logan saw her lips twitch and if she'd known how to laugh, he thought she probably would have.
"I used to work here. It's my home when I'm in the NY area."
"How old are you?" Logan asked incredulously.
"You said I only had to answer one question, so let's go.' With that she walked out. Logan just shook his head and followed.
- -Twenty Minutes Later- -
Logan and X23 were walking up the driveway to the Institute. Logan thought he should say something, but for the life of him, he didn't know what. He wanted to say something though.
"I believe you've already seen the place." Mentally he winced.
"It was dark and I didn't come to see the furniture. I'm still not. But I do know the general layout of the building." Logan turned and grimaced. Roger and his crew were loitering in the doorway. They were supposed to be fixing one of the many windows that Logan and X23 had smashed. As they walked through the door, Logan and X23 found themselves the head of an annoying entourage.
"Hey chickee! What you doin' with this old geezer. Come with me and I'll really show you around." Roger thought he was such a smooth operator. X23 stopped, her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, and Logan swore he heard her growl. She marched over to Roger and grabbed him by the neck with one hand and held him in the air a good three inches off of the ground.
"Does it look like I need any help from you? Did I even address you?" Alyssa and Golem made movements as if to help Roger, but X23 just glared at them and said, "Don't."
"You'll kill him!" Alyssa wailed.
"I won't kill him, though I should and rid the world of his stupidity. Look I don't know who you think you are you spikey-haired, preppy, arrogant little prick, but if you ever say anything to me that is in any way disrespectful ever again I will cut off your balls and force feed them to you. Got it?" Roger must have made a feeble nodding motion because she dropped him. Roger clutched his throat and scooted away from X23. He seemed to be trying to burrow into the wall.
"If you'd be so kind, seeing as how you are a guest in my house, to refrain from terrorizing my students." Professor Xaivier had entered the room and he was not entirely happy. "Now, I believe we have something to discuss."
"Lead the way baldie." X23 drawled. Logan didn't think it was possible for the professor to wheel around that quickly.
"That will end now. You talk of respect to my students, I suggest you start showing some yourself." X23 just stared at him. After awhile the professor turned back around and led the way to an elevator. "I believe Hank has everything you need set up.
Rogue could not understand why she was about to attempt what she was about to do. All she knew was that she had to get out of here and in order to do that she had to get across the minefield. Of course, she did have one advantage in that she could see the mines, but still, one false step, and she'd be splattered across the walls. She slowly began to pick her way in between the mines.
"Thank you Mama for making me take them damn ballet lessons." (A/N: OMG! Rogue, BALLET! 0.0, what am I thinking?) She looked across the room at the door. It suddenly seemed a lot further away than it had before. Rogue continued to desperately try and keep her balance. She hoped that it was worth it.
X23 followed the professor and Logan down a hallway. She hadn't really meant to be such a bitch, but during her last encounter with Logan she realized that there were people her were still looking for her. She'd thought they'd given up on her a long time ago. She was suddenly afraid, and she was willing to admit it, at least to herself. She was becoming very paranoid again. It made her very tired. She wasn't paying attention, which is why she ended up running into a wall of very solid muscle and being knocked flat on her ass.
"Are you all right?" A concerned Hank McCoy bent over to ask her where she lay sprawled.
"Fine, fine." She muttered. Hank bent over and offered a very large, meaty hand to help her up, a very large blue hand that is. She looked up and was confronted with a very ape like man, but looking into his eyes you knew he wasn't scary. In fact he seemed almost vulnerable, which is why she put her hand in his and actually let him help her up.
Hank was amazed. This girl hadn't recoiled in fear like so many others had upon seeing him for the very first time. She'd even touched him without hesitating. It was very curious to him. Although he found so much about life curious which is why he made such a brilliant scientist. His love of science was actually partially to blame for his current appearance.
"I tried to find everything you said you needed. However I was not sure where to find those cables you asked for."
"Have no fear, Gambit's here." A tall man with red eyes and a trench coat entered the room.
"Well aren't you just tall, dark, and mysterious. Now why should I have no fear?" X23 quipped.
"Cuz I have secured these ever elusive cables for you."
"Be still my heart. Now beat it." X23 had no stomach for flirtations. Gambit extended his hands, proffering the cables that seemed somewhat strange to everyone else. X23 went over and took them. She cocked an eyebrow at Gambit.
"Nice job, these are hard to steal, and I know that you stole them because that's pretty much the only way to get them. I think I may actually be impressed."
"What makes them so special?" Hank asked.
"They'll keep people from being able to track my cyber trail. Plus, they'll help in case we stumble across encryption."
"I may not be some computer genius but that sounds like hacking to me. You never said anything about hacking." Logan snarled.
"But darlin' you never asked so get over it." Replied X23. She continued to hook cables and such to the computer. She finally managed to get the computer up and running. No one else present really understood what she was doing, except maybe Hank. After awhile data streams began to float across the screen and take on a shape. But then the image was lost and X23 gave an exasperated slam to the tabletop startling everyone present.
"Come on you psychotic cyber bitch I know you're in there so come on out and play already." She growled under her breath. Eventually the image came back. It took everyone a couple of seconds to realize that they were staring at a face.
"What the hell is that?" Logan asked.
"Here name is Angela." X23 replied. "She's one of HYDRA's pets. She was a little girl, a mutant possibly when they got their hands on her."
"What were here abilities?" The professor asked.
"No one was ever really sure. Rumor has it though that she was brilliant at screwing with your head."
"Mind control." The professor brilliantly deducted.
"That was always my assumption, but I also always had a feeling that there was more to it."
"Interesting." This from Hank.
"X23..." Logan began awkwardly.
"Just call me X, it's easier."
"Oh, ok. X why do you talk about her in the past?"
"Some people might consider her dead. No one's ever seen her body in the past thirty years. She only lives in the computers now. HYDRA discovered something to do with her brain. So they actually tried to make her into a super-computer. Mind you, they kept her pretty well contained, but then she learned how to hack and discovered the Internet. After that all hell broke loose. However, living in the computer systems seems to have limited her abilities somewhat."
"How so?" Asked the professor.
"Because she thinks like a machine and expects everyone else to do likewise."
"You speak as if you know her personally."
"I do. They used to make me play chess and such against her. You know, to learn strategy. I'm the only one that ever managed to beat her."
"Because all the kids that played her believed that she was fully a computer. She's still human and therefore is doomed to make stupid mistakes rooted in emotion."
"You just said she thinks like a machine."
"Yes and I said she expects everyone else to do likewise. Her superiority syndrome is one of her biggest weaknesses. Usually a simple solution will jam her circuits for hours."
At that point the image on the screen became clearer and the little pig-tailed girl on the screen spoke. "What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be hiding from me?" X23 snorted.
"I don't hide from anyone."
"Well what do you want?" If the little girl on the screen had a foot to stamp, that is definitely what she would have done. X23 had ignored this temper tantrum and been loading something during it. The girl on the screen let out a wail.
"You ungrateful little brat! This isn't any way to get back your friends."
"First of all, they aren't my friends. Second of all, I'd think twice before threatening them. Fair Warning." With that she hit enter and the image on the screen dissolved and X23 kept up a furious tattoo on the keyboard. After awhile a screen came up with the title:
Project: ELIJAH
Status: Failed
Access Password:
The cursor blinked waiting for her to type something in. She tried a couple of times each time registering a flashing ACCESS DENIED.
"Damn it!" X23 yelled. She closed out the screen and drew up another one.
"What's this?" Hank asked.
"A back door. Stryker put better protection on these files than I thought."
"Stryker worked for HYDRA?" Logan asked.
"No, but he worked for Angela whether it was by choice or not, well does it really matter?" X23 typed a couple more things and suddenly they were staring at the schematics for Project: ELIJAH, even thought they could barely comprehend any of it.
"Professor Xaivier?" X23 asked somewhat tentatively. "Can you find someone on Cerebro just by having a picture?"
"I might be able to. Tell me more about who I am trying to find." X23 was already downloading the picture. She sent it to print then quickly logged out of as many windows as she could. Angela's face appeared on the screen again, only fuzzy and her voice came out full of static.
"And what were we looking up?"
"Have fun Angela." X23 said as she shut the computer down. Then for safe measure she unplugged it.
"What did you do to her?" Gambit asked.
"Sent her a virus so that she would be paying more attention to that instead of to what I was looking up. Oh, you're going to want to trash that computer."
"I'll wipe the hard drive." Hank said.
"No I mean you're going to want to literally trash that computer, smash it up, burn it, I don't care what, but you do not want Angela to invade any part of this house, so all that stuff has to go."
"You could have told us that before hand."
"No, because then you would have given me an older computer that didn't run fast enough. I'll be more than happy to compensate for the loss." She turned around and handed a photograph to the professor. A little boy with dirty blonde hair and large blue eyes stared solemnly out at him.
"His name is Elijah. He's about 8 but don't seem surprised if when you find him he seems older, if you can find him that is." The professor went off, up for the challenge.
Rogue was almost at the door. At the moment when she was most precariously balanced, something terrible happened.
"BOO!" The girl was back.
Click.
It truly was the most horrible sound. The last sound that she would hear in her life. Rogue had stepped on a mine. The little girl laughed and laugh that no child should ever have.
"Boom." She whispered. "You're dead."
