"Rest in Pieces"
By Roby Carr
Part Two: Captured By Alien Candy Canes
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When the X-jet landed in a forest just outside Glen Ellyn, Illinois, it was apparent to every one of the X-men aboard that the Acolytes had been there - though the signs were much different than they had originally expected. In fact, the forest and every building were just as intact as they should have been for a small clean town like Glen Ellyn. None of Pyro's trademark burns haunted the buildings nor any of the people who inhabited them. As they entered the town, no one was babbling about a cat- or metal-man. In fact, not one person at all was talking about anything off the topic of the sudden disappearance of two teenaged girls.
The closer Ororo got to the police station, the more jumbled the information coming from random citizens became. Sometimes the rumors sounded like they could be true, like when they passed a mother telling her husband that the two girls had said they would be back in an hour and didn't return. But other rumors sounded like simply that. Rumors. An old woman was busy calming an old man as he attempted to explain that he had eye-witnessed the entire thing. Then he proceeded in explaining that the girls were simply walking down the street when they had been abducted up into a flying hamburger by giant alien candy canes.
"He's always been a bit odd," the woman reassured them before ushering the man away, apologizing profusely.
By the time they had poked, prodded, shoved, and 'excuse me'-ed themselves to the front of the line - with help from Logan when several annoying preteen boys refused to get out of their way -, Ororo had gathered that the girls' names were Claire and Jackie and that both had just finished ninth grade at Glen Ellyn Public High School. The story of how they had disappeared was a mystery though. Apparently, everyone else in town had been doing something at the presumed time, leaving the girls alone.
"Oh yeah," Evan muttered, "With all the burning buildings and hysteric people, this just screams 'Acolytes were here!'" His sarcasm was so drippingly obvious that Kitty actually elbowed him in the gut and stuck her tongue out at him.
"If you're so smart, you should have already, like, found them, Evan!" she retorted and trailed after the two adults. Evan just glared at her backside, wanted so desperately to have Scott here instead of him. He was never actually much for going on these little missions and probably wound never have come to the mansion in the first place if Professor X hadn't agreed to pay his bail in exchange for that. Or as he liked to think of it - the professor blackmailed him into coming.
Ororo pushed open the doors to the police station, finding it to be very busy. The only one hardly working was a young woman sitting at a pine desk at the very front of the room, right next to the turnstile that let people through the brick half-wall that separated the lobby part of the station from the rest of it.
"Excuse me," the white-haired woman asked as she strode over to the desk, Logan at her side.
The young woman heaved a huge sigh and began speaking into the phone she was holding, "Yeah, Jessica? Get this, there are people here. I know! So, I've gotta go. Well duh! Of course I'm calling you back, Jess! Okay, later!" Setting the receiver back on its hook, she gazed up at them with big, annoyed eyes and began in an exasperated tone, "Welcome to the Glen Ellyn Law Enforcement Offices. Is there anything in particular that I can help you with, maam and/or sir?"
"Yes," Ororo continued, giving her the biggest smile she could work up after being insulted, "We'd like to speak to someone about the two girls who've disappeared."
"What? Like do you want me to take you to the room where they're taking statements from everyone Claire and Jackie knew?"
"That would be wonderful," Ororo replied and moved towards the turnstile.
"Can't."
"Why not?" Logan growled. For the last ten minutes he had allowed Ororo to take charge. She had driven the X-jet, landed it properly and gotten them through the crowd and into this place. But obviously he would be the one needed to get them any farther with their mission.
The woman let out another bored sigh. Her eyes darted to the telephone, no doubt that her mind was already on how she would tell Jessica about the 'losers who came in and totally bothered her'. "Because," she told Logan, hardly disturbed by his slight anger, "I'm not just allowed to let in anyone to jump in on the biggest case our police have worked on all year. State patrol already has pictures and is on the lookout."
"We're not just anyone," Logan snapped back, "I'm part of state patrol." He jutted his thumb towards Ororo. "She'd a private detective contacted by the state to work this case."
"Who're they?" the woman asked, her eyes on Evan and Kitty. They were lingering back by the door, still bickering under their breaths.
Logan didn't even have to take a moment to think before replying, "Her interns. They stay out here."
"Hey!" Kitty and Evan replied in unison.
"I am so not going to stay out here! I like totally deserve to be in there!"
"Yeah! Me too!"
"They stay," Logan repeated, his voice dangerously soft, "C'mon 'Ro."
The young woman rose and led the two adults through the turnstile and into the mass of ever-moving officers beyond that. The last Evan saw of his aunt was her white hair as she turned the corner. It was then that an elbow struck his gut once more and he bent over, Kitty glaring at him above.
"This is so your fault that we can't go!"
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Jackie unconsciously gave a soft moan as she sat up, having forgotten just about everything that had happened. What was the last thing that had happened? It was... Claire! She and Claire were heading out of Claire's house after telling Claire's mom that they were headed to the nearest "Stop and Go" to get exercise. Or at least that had been their excuse. But what had happened after that? Had she been hit by a bicycle and lost part of her memory of the day? Maybe... But if that had happened, she would either be in the hospital, Claire's house or her own home, with Claire's ringlet-framed face looking down on her.
And she most certainly wasn't in any of those places. She was in a large circular, dome-shaped room with metal walls. Besides a black door in one wall that had no handle, there was absolutely nothing in that room. No bed, or refrigerator with food inside for her to eat. Not even chains to hold her down, or bars to a cage. It for sure wasn't a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, but it didn't seem to be any sort of prison or dungeon either.
"But I hear that most jail cells come equipped with a thirty-two inch high-definition television and internet in this day and age..."
Even though there was no one there to laugh at her horrible joke, Jackie still felt like she heard voices giggling and she laughed along with them. Maybe that was why she was here. She was insane. So insane that they gave her a room that had yet to be padded...
"Claire?" she asked suddenly. A strong urge had simply come over her to check if her friend was there. For some reason she was so worried about Claire. She didn't know why, but her gut instinct told her that Claire was certainly in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.
"Claire-Claire?" Jackie repeated, louder this time, "C'mon Claire! Please be here!"
But Claire didn't respond. Not in Jackie's head, not in real life. Claire wasn't there. So why was Jackie so damn worried?
Probably for the same reason that Jackie was the slightest bit worried about her own behind. She couldn't find her best friend, she didn't know where she was, she had a strong feeling that she was going to die in this hellhole and never see her family and friends again. Not even her crazy old grandfather who was always talking about aliens that looked like candy canes and hamburger spaceships or her grandmother who loved him anyway.
"Oh God..."
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"Cherie," a soft, slightly husky voice murmured and Claire felt fingertips brush across her cheek. She smiled to herself, safe within her own half-conscious world where she and Jackie had had no problems returning from the gas station. Nuzzling up to the careful touch, Claire sighed happily and her eyes fluttered slowly open. She felt a bit disoriented in her current state of mind though she was becoming slightly more concious as a bright light flooded her eyes. Turning to face the person next to her, Claire expected someone she knew well and had cared about for a long time. She expected maybe her older brother, Nathan attempting to wake her or Jackie messing with her head.
But what she most certainly did not expect was a young man from Cajun-country sitting next to her, leaning against the wall and letting her cuddle up against his warm body. The man's bright red eyes wear on her already and he looked plenty calm.
It was then that earlier events came flooding back to her. Colossus, then Pyro, Sabertooth knocking out Jackie, and finally Gambit and his promise not to hurt her. Jackie! Where was Jackie? How long had Claire been out? What about her mother? Anya Roberts would never forgive herself if she found out that she had lost her only daughter, her baby. Claire needed to get home as soon as possible. No, no. She needed to get home now.
And her father and Nathan? Nate would stay out all night searching the nearby woods if he had too. Her dad would skip work to help Nate search until the two had found Claire and Jackie. Oh God, she should have fought back. Or ran for help. Maybe if Claire could get just one person to believe that her favorite cartoon had come to life, maybe they would've helped her. If she hadn't been such a wimp-
"Cherie?" Gambit began, "Thought you'd be talkin' bit more."
It was these words that shocked Claire into remembering where she was and who it was that she was still leaning dependently on.
Shoving Gambit away as hard as she could, Claire found that she was suddenly anything but tongue-tied. How dare he touch her like that! Holding her up against him and pretending that it was normal behavior for perfect strangers. Even though Claire probably knew Gambit about just as well as he knew himself. It was still entirely inappropriate.
"Get away from me!" she shrieked, "Stay away from me! You're a cretin and a... a..." It was rather obvious that Claire was having a bit of trouble coming up with another insult for Gambit, so she settled on something factual and cruel. "And you are a freak of nature! You are a mutant!"
Gambit did nothing but blink as he stood to face the now standing Claire. One of her ringlets had escaped her headband and Gambit shrugged at her insult, reaching out to push the hair back into place. Claire jerked away though and stumbled backwards over the shiny metal floor. In fact the entire room just seemed to be a dome of metal with nothing in it what-so-ever.
"I demand you take me home!" she cried angrily and raced to a black door set into the curving wall. But there was nothing on it, no handle, no keypad... Not even any decoration.
"Cherie, I can't jus' bring you back. Magneto needs you," Gambit explained patiently, walking towards Claire to calm her down. She was almost going into hysteria as she heard this.
"My mom and dad will be so worried though..." she moaned softly, dropping to her knees in defeat. It was quite apparent that out of the two girls Magneto wanted, this one was the easier to manipulate. That could work to Gambit's own advantage instead of just Magneto's.
"Don' worry, cherie," he told her, "Gambit'll be lookin' out f'r you."
With that, the man headed towards the down and it opened by lifting up and inwards. He ducked under and stepped out into the hallway. As suddenly as it had opened, the door slammed shut and Claire broke down in tears.
Her mother, her father, Nathan... Jackie...
"Oh Jackie..." she moaned, "I'm so sorry. Now I bet you're stuck here with the Acolytes too, aren't you? I'm just so sorry, Jackie." She groaned and fell back. Jackie was scared and angry. And she was also worried about Claire. The redhead could feel it deep within her heart. Jackie would be thinking she was going insane. Oh poor, poor Jackie.
"Help me..."
-----
"Help me..."
Ororo stopped dead in her tracks and glanced back down the empty hall where she saw the figure of a pretty, girl with rusty ringlets framing her face. She wore a skirt and she was leaning against the wall toying with one of her many thick curls. The girl glanced up and mouthed something as Ororo was overcome by a deep sense of regret and worry.
"'Ro?" she heard Logan asked from down the hall where he had paused with the young woman from the desk, "Nothin's there. You comin'?"
"Yes..." she murmured and glanced back down the hall, but the girl was gone and she was wondering if she had imagined it. She tailed Logan down the next hall and another until the trio reached a room near the back of the building. It was much larger than Ororo had expected it to be, but once they stepped inside, she found out why. The room was stuffed with people - civilians and police officers. Along the walls were long tables covered with papers and computers.
"Alison?" a woman with dark brown hair and olive skin asked the young woman who had led them here, "I thought I told you that no one was to come here unless they were working on the case or had been asked for. Who are these people?"
"He's with State Patrol and she's a detective of the state assigned to our case," Alison explained quickly, her eyes darting to the door, "So I'm gonna go now, okay?" She didn't bother to wait for an answer before sprinting out of the loud room.
"My name is Ororo Munroe," Ororo introduced herself, "This is Logan."
"Commissioner Juliana Mortiarty," the woman replied, her voice strong and no-nonsensical, "Feel free to talk to anyone working on the case or anyone else who may provide valuable information. Report any leads to me immediately. This is the biggest scandal in ten years." Juliana looked like she meant to say something more, but she was called over by a young man working at a computer.
Logan glanced around the room and grasped Ororo's elbow tightly, murmuring, "We'll talk to the girls' family. If nothin' seems suspicious, we head back to the Institute pronto and report to Chuck that we didn't find any evidence that the Acolytes weren't just dropping by town for a visit."
"Logan, the Acolytes would never just stop by for-"
"That's our plan. Let's stick to it."
"Hey there," a young male voice asked and Ororo glanced to here side where two young men - both about high school age, though one was definitely older - were standing and looking rather annoyed, "Look, I'm sort of busy with the whole 'go-find-my-little-sister-instead-of-sitting-around-like-an-idiot' thing. Ms. Moriarty said that if I finished talking to you guys, I could finally leave this dump and look for her."
"Who the hell are you?" Logan growled, annoyed both the young man's complete and total utter lack of respect what-so-ever."
"He's Nathan Roberts," the other boy explained, more calmly though his eyes kept darting to the door and it was obvious the only reason he was being remotely respectful towards them was to get the two girls back, "Just finished his senior year at Glen Ellyn High, heading to Chicago University next fall. Claire was his little sister."
"She still is my little sister, idiot!" Nathan grunted, and glanced at Ororo, "Call me Nate."
The other boy rolled his eyes, "Whatever, sure. She is his little sister. And she's my girlfriend. I'm Brenden Kelly, to-be eleventh grader at the same high school."
"Logan and Ororo," Logan replied quickly, "Who's this Claire girl?"
"God damnit!" Nathan almost shouted, "She's the one who got kidnapped! Claire Lilian Roberts and Jackie Edith Kelly-Goss!"
"Sorry, we haven't been given much information on the case yet, so we're going off a very raw outline," Ororo covered, "Were you two also close to Jackie?"
Brenden shook his head. "Nate was, but I wasn't. She, Claire and I have carpooled for a while together, but other than that, I only knew her as Claire's best friend."
"So, they were both best friends and disappeared at presumably the same time in the same place," Ororo mumbled and glanced at Nathan, "So you were close to Jackie then?"
"She was like another little sister to me. Her older brother, Anders. He's six-feet-under now but he was my best friend when he was alive."
"How did he die?" Ororo found herself asking.
"Car accident, coming home from an alcohol party," Brenden said when Nate just glanced away, "It was a different driver though. Anders never drank much. Why does it matter?"
"Procedure," Logan grunted, "Don't question us."
"Logan!" Ororo reprimanded, "So, when did you two last see the girls?"
"Two nights ago," Brenden replied immediately, "I was with Claire on a date at the movies and Jackie was there with a bunch of little boys. Probably her little brothers."
"When they left the house on that day..." Nate recalled hollowly, "I could've stopped them from heading out to the gas station, but they always do it, so it seemed fine. Claire asked me to tell Mom where they were going and Jackie looked really tired. It's my fault they were out."
"It isn't anyone's fault," Ororo corrected, "The probably would have gone even if you did try to stop them."
"Can I head out to check around for Claire and Jackie, now?" Nate asked and grinned as Ororo nodded, "Maybe you aren't the bad cop. Here." He paused and picked up a black sheet of paper and a pen from the nearest paper. Scribbling something on it, he said, "It's my home and cell numbers. You might already have my home phone, but no one ever asked me for my cell. Don't hesitate to call with more questions." Nate turned and headed out the door, leaving the duo alone with Brenden.
"There's something you should know that I was sure about tell the other police. It still seems kind of stupid," Claire's boyfriend began, reaching up to flatten his messy light brown hair.
"What is it?" Ororo asked, feeling that perhaps Logan was right and their search may have come to a dead end here. These type of things always happened in New York and Massachusetts, as sad as it was.
"Claire said something that I though was kind of weird the other day on our date," Brenden explained softly, "We were in the mall's Food Court eating cheeseburgers and talking about how Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel shouldn't have been ended so suddenly. Then she said that her favorite show had just been cancelled too and that these days all that was on TV was stupid crud. It was what she said next that was weird though. She randomly mentioned something about "finding Pyro, Gambit, Colossus and Sabretooth." But she just began talking about Angel again like she had never mentioned any of that."
"Pyro, Gambit, Colossus and Sabretooth?" Logan growled, his eyes brightening at the obviousness of this hint. Had Magneto used Mastermind to force Claire to say that, knowing that when the X-men came after the Acolytes, they would find themselves questioning this boy? Perhaps Mastermind was even controlling this boy right now to make sure that they found out? But why? "Oh, I would say that just might be a clue."
"Yeah, that was exactly what Claire said," Brenden replied.
"We've got to be going," Ororo said and this time she grasped Logan's elbow.
"You've only talked to me and Nate though."
"I wouldn't be this important of a detective if I wasn't good at my job," Ororo told him and turned for the door.
"Wait!" Like Nate, Brenden scribbled some phone numbers down on a piece of paper and handed it to Ororo. "Call me about anything. And take this." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet, opening it and pulling out a piece of a picture that had been cut out. It was a photo of a young girl with auburn ringlets and a pretty face clinging to Brenden as they posed on a beach. "That's Claire in the picture. If you see her, now you'll recognize her. Sorry I don't have a photo of Jackie on me, but you guys can probably get one somehow."
Ororo followed Brenden's example and in flowing, cursive handwriting, she wrote out her cell phone number and handed it to Brenden, "Phone us up if you find anything out. Ask around if anyone knows anything strange either of the girls has said before about those four names."
Not waiting to be asked for an explanation, Ororo led Logan out of the room, glad to be dropping the policewoman facade for a while as they wound their way back to the front room where Alison was chattering away on the telephone to Jessica and Evan and Kitty were waiting frustratedly on a bench. Seeing the adults, they hopped up, wanting to hear some answers but as they passed, Logan hissed, "Not here."
So the four X-men headed back to the X-jet where both Kitty and Evan were filled in on what had been heard in the room, just as Professor Xavier would be hearing very soon.
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.......REVIEW
a/n; Whee! I actually LIKE a story for once and the only thing that can stop me from writing a third chapter is if my computer fries. And I do mean fry. When I came home and attempted to turn it open, it wouldn't work so I brought it to Best Buy. They checked it out and - Lord behold! - most of it was melted on the inside! So, now I finally have my new computer whom I have named "Sheila" after my favorite tank from... RED V.S. BLUE! Gawd, I love that movie! I considered naming that computer Church, Tucker, Caboose, Sarge, Grif, Donut, Simmons, Lopez, Tex and Doc but none of them really fit. Not even 'the Puma' or 'the Warthog' fit it right. So I turned to the only thing left, Sheila! And it worked! W00t!
So... I have a feeling I should say something important so here goes...
REVIEW FOR ME PLEASE! I BEG OF THEE! PLEASE, OH PLEASE! REVIEW!
No, seriously, please review. Even if it means you want to flame me because Logan didn't talk in this chapter, because none of the New Recruits (whom I normally center on) are in the fic yet, or because Pyro, Colossus, Sabretooth, Pietro, Wanda, Scott, insert name here, etcetera hasn't been in here enough. Because of course, there is never enough of Scott's freakin' self-proclaimed leader, choir boy ass in any fic! No, I'm not kiddin'. I really do like Scott. Really. Anywho, please. IF YOU HAVE SEEN RED VERSUS BLUE, TELL ME! I'm actually considering writing a Red V.S. Blue fanfic and I want to know if anyone would read it.
Oh and again...
REVIEW FOR ME PLEASE! I BEG OF THEE! PLEASE, OH PLEASE! REVIEW!
Heh. Heh. Heh. Yeah, I'll shut up soon. Someone said that no one likes self-insert fics. I think that was like the only person who reviewed, but really that wasn't a very good flame. She/he forgot to leave the CAPS LOCK on. Besides, I like writing self-insert fics and two of my friends found my fic without my actually telling them about it and they liked it well enough, so I don't really care. If people aren't going to read a well-written fic (which I'm praying mine is), then I blame them for being closed-minded idiots. One Mary Sue can ruin a fic, but a good original character (or a non-Mary Suey self-insert) can make a fic. As you can see, despite the weird scene in this chapter and the fact that something might happen between Gambit and Claire in a later chapter, she has a boyfriend and he actually isn't into her at all. In fact, he's sorta got a flirty thang goin' on wit Rogue. THEY WILL NEVER BECOME OFFICIALLY ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED AND THEY WILL CERTAINLY NOT END UP TOGETHER! Thank you. Jackie'll also soon get here chance to shine, as Claire is currently upstaging her a little. Don't worry. Everything will end up better than you expect.
Promising good things and yelling "GO CHINA!" at the top of her lungs.
.......REVIEW
- Roby Carr