(Five)

Kimble was drifting away, distracted by the smoke. It was easy to lose his place with so many wonders to remember. He closed his eyes and did a quick scan of his files. The access code Seth had used had unlocked some memory files from the original program, he now had some restored memories from before he was broken. He already had a few shattered, fragmented memories from before, splintered but priceless. They were all he had and he had kept them to himself, protecting them fiercely, even from Seth. Now he was tempted to check out some of the new ones, to recall what he'd lost. Some part of him screamed in protest. It was better to forget and just go on as he was now. Still, he was curious by nature. He peeked into one, thrilled to learn that this was a pleasure program memory...and oh, how pleasant it was indeed! He shivered from a sudden, fierce arousal, his face flushing instantly, and decided it was best to put that one aside to amuse himself with later in private.

He peeked into another, but this time grunted with shock and surprise from being assaulted by a vision of violence and bloody mayhem. He'd seen a flash of himself in another skin wielding a bloody, dripping sword. This Kimble had been overcome by rage and despair. There was a flash of light as he was blasted away by some kind of electrical weapon.

Kimble quickly closed the horrible file and banished it as far away as he could. Where the hell did that come from? He bent over the basin and coughed as his belly heaved, doing his best not to actually vomit. He looked up at the mirror and suddenly never wanted to see himself ever again. His reflection frightened him.

"Hey, you!" came a voice from outside the cage, one that sounded like Wolverine.

Kimble ignored it. He wiped his mouth with a trembling hand as the other strayed unnoticed to his ear in a Seth like gesture of terror. That memory had been mistake. It had to be. No way was he some kind of violent killer. Someone had corrupted his files, that was it. He had someone else's stupid memories. Everyone knew the Clan programmers all sucked. Yeah, that was it. He had files that didn't belong to him. He took a deep trembling breath and cleared his mind. Those files would remain closed. He would delete them at his earliest convenience. Just the thought of dumping them calmed him and his spell of nausea passed.

Seth came on the lav screen. "Check the data, Kimble."

Kimble nodded, glad for the excuse to do something else. He tore himself away from the mirror and walked out of the lav. Maylee and the others were watching the scrolling line. The flat line was wavering slightly. Kimble went to the cage window and leaned on the sill. He waited patiently, smoking now to calm himself, his misadventure in the lav forgotten for the moment.

Blip. The line bounced significantly.

He cocked his head, interested. Waited and smoked some more. Another fan came on above him and he glanced up at it. Why does Fallen gots all these stupid fans, anaway? he thought to himself, distracted.

Blip. The line was bobbing steadily now, just not very high.

"Well, what do ya know 'bout that?" he asked no one in particular, a huge grin breaking out across his face.

Logan glanced behind him as Bruce suddenly gasped. Bruce had turned quite pale and cowered back into his seat, his eyes wide. Something about what Kimble had just said had caught Bruce's attention. Logan could smell his fear and was hard pressed not to growl once more. This was now the second time Bruce had reacted this way to Kimble's voice and that was something the X-man could no longer dismiss or ignore. Now was not the time to investigate that fully, but he would be certain to find out what was going on when it was.

Kimble was oblivious to it all. He crushed out his cigarette in Fallen's ashtray by her stick, noticing several butts still sat in there, a trace of her presence. He saw a vision of her there on her stick, laughing at one of his jokes. The memory was startlingly painful, bringing the sting of tears to his eyes. He didn't want to think of being here without her.

Seth was excited now, rocking in his seat. "Talk to her, Kimble! See if you can wake her up!"

Kimble obeyed, walking over to where Fallen lay. He straddled her tiny waist and crouched down, looking at her. Her face was very still.

"Fallen?" he called out softly.

He reached down and smoothed her hair back from her forehead. Brushed her cheek. He watched with fascination the soft blue glow of his fingers as more of her Ristle energy seeped into him. It was stronger now than before and it felt warm and good as it passed into him. Her eyes flickered, but didn't open.

"Find me. I'm right here," he whispered. He moved closer, both hands on her cheeks now, and rubbed her face with his thumbs. The line on the screen wavered with more enthusiasm. "Fallen, kin ya hears me?"

"Uhhh..." she wheezed softly. Her eyes opened just a little.

"Talks ta me, kiddo," he pleaded, his eyes earnest.

"Who..Who's there..?" Her voice was very weak.

Kimble smiled broadly, relieved. "La ShaRain natay LaRoo."

"My guardian angel? What? Seth?"

"Humph! Seth ain't got the skills ta do fer you!" Kimble grumbled, offended.

"Kimble, it's you. Sorry. But the restraints...?"

"Blown out by a really stupid big power surge. Go figger," he said, still grumpy.

She laughed, coughed. "Very...funny."

"I'm here, Fallen," Seth said from the screen. "I'm still in the system."

Fallen turned her head towards his voice but couldn't see him. "Seth?"

Kimble grew stern, his eyes flinty. "Look at me!" he growled, turning her head back to face him. "That wuz a really, really stupid thing ya done. How couldja do that ta yerself? Ta alla us?" She turned her head away again, not wanting to hear it, but he carefully moved her back to look at him. "We had this all worked out. We had a plan!"

"Too late...Valentin.."

"No! It wuzn't ever too late!" He raised his voice without yelling. "Ya gives up too easy!"

"You don't know what it's like with him!" she spat out, her anger reviving her.

"Oh, like what's like?" he returned, pulling his hands away in his displeasure. "Like watchin' him treat yer Mistress like garbage, beat 'er up - fuckin' rape 'er!- and not bein' able ta do anathin' abouts it? Huh? Ya know what rapin' is ta me! Takin' without askin'! I'm Siskan! It fuckin' rips me up! Yer not the only one sufferin' in this!"

"You're just a program," came the weak reply.

"Kimble, please!" Seth pleaded. He could see his brother was gearing up for a nice big fight.

Kimble ignored him and sat back on his haunches over his Mistress, his eyes blazing. "An' Seth? Is he just a program, too? Huh? Last I checked you wuz in love with him! Doncha ever fuckin' insults me like that again!" He was furious.

Fallen began to sob weakly. "I'm so sorry... Sorry!"

Kimble caved almost immediately. He sighed heavily, blowing out his rage in one long breath. "Don' do that, baby doll," he protested in a much gentler tone of voice as he leaned forward to wipe the tears from her face. "Stop this now." He got off of her and she curled up into a ball, bawling. He didn't hesitate but pulled her up to him with the blankets and wrapped his big arms around her protectively, swallowing her up inside them. She seemed so tiny there and it made him sad. "I don' wanna fights witcha, Fallen. You jus' scared me really, really bad, is all."

Kimble's thin veneer of control wavered slightly and a single tear dripped down from one cheek. He rubbed his face against her head, trying to hide it. He was painfully aware of their audience of big strong men outside of the cage and he couldn't afford to let them see his weakness. He took another deep breath and calmed himself. He rocked her gently and petted her until she stopped crying. He whispered to her in Siskan and kissed the top of her head, hardly believing he was actually holding her. It wasn't so much that he was real to her as she was so very real to him now. He could smell her tears, feel the heat coming off of her body. He could feel her soft breath on his arm as she calmed. She was so close now he could breathe her Ristle energy from the air.

Seth watched him from the screen, saying nothing, but eyeing Fallen possessively. He'd never seen Kimble touch Fallen like this. He was never around when Kimble came out as a hologram to comfort her from her nightmares. He trusted Kimble but was uncomfortable seeing his brother do the same things he did to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry ... I almost killed you... I'm so sorry," she whispered finally.

"Fergits it." He kissed the top of her head. Her smell was there again, almost overwhelming him. He was so tired now, sad and tired down to his very core. "It's done. We'll deal with it."

Fallen sniffed. "I can feel what you did. The Lightning."

He continued stroking her head gently. "We'll deals with that, too."

Valentin jerked against the cage. "And what about me, boy? You gonna deal with me? That's my wife!"

Kimble looked up slowly, his eyes flinty and cold. Sharing Fallen with Seth he could deal with just fine, but this monster? There was no way in hell. He fixed Valentin with his heat and growled deep and low like a large mean watchdog. It was not a natural sound and there was no mistaking the malice. "You waits yer turn," he warned through gritted teeth.

Looking at Kimble, that hateful angry look on his face, Logan felt all of his earlier concerns about Kimble's mental stability were justified. Kimble gave off an air of danger.

Fallen put her hand on Kimble's chest and whispered to him. "Shush. He'll kill you."

Kimble continued to stare at Valentin, his eyes burning with his unconcealed hostility. He smiled wickedly, showing long, sharp canine teeth and his voice noticeably dropped in pitch as he growled, "He's a steamin' pile of maggoty dog shit what needs puttin' down."

Wolverine stepped up. "It ain't up ta you to do that."

Valentin looked up at his new challenger and sneered. "Oh, and you are?"

"We got enough problems right here without this. The two of you can settle up later."

Valentin returned to Kimble. "You and me. Soon. Very soon."

"I'll be there. You kin counts on it."

Valentin turned his head away no longer interested, but Wolverine surely was. He thought about the time he had watched Kimble dance. Kimble could move, sure, but he seriously doubted Kimble would be good enough to take Valentin down. What was Kimble really? Nothing more than a fancy dancer with a smart mouth. Valentin was a hardened warrior with many years of experience. To a point, Logan even respected him. It really was a shame he was such an asshole. Kimble couldn't even come close on a good day.

Kimble didn't care about any of that. He scooped Fallen up easily and lay her down on the cage room bed. She moaned softly in the sudden comfort of it and turned onto her side. He put a pillow against her belly and she curled around it like always. He tucked the blankets around her with practiced hands. "Git some rest."

He started to pull away when she caught his wrist with her tiny hand and said, "Thank you."

"Fer what?"

"For being there. For always being there for me."

"Anathin fer you, kid," he whispered gently, a gentle smile just for her. He looked up sharply as Seth came up on the small viewing screen next to the bed.

"We should keep the Med-scan running," Seth said, needing to say something. He wasn't comfortable with the way Kimble was looking at Fallen. It disturbed him in a way he didn't fully understand.

"All right. Now I gots ta go take care 'a some things," Kimble said to Fallen. "Git some rest."

"Don't go too far."

"I'll stay close by, don' worry. Fayed rowth, my Fallen." He moved away, standing in the center of the small room. He concentrated and sent a mental command, happy when the lights dimmed in the cage. He went to the doorway and then looked at the others. "We'll talk, but not here. In the galley."

Logan nodded and they filed out of the main room.