(Ten)
Valentin sat at the galley table simmering with rage and frustration. He had to do something, he wasn't about to sit here a prisoner on his own ship. He glared at Gambit who was sitting casually on one end of the long galley table, taking the time to have a drink and a smoke. "This is my ship! I demand to be released!"
"Je suis de'sole, Vally. No can do. Seems you got a problem keepin' your hands to y'self."
"You really trust that freak? You saw what he did to your friend. He walked right through him! You don't know how powerful he is! We should take him down while we still have a chance!"
"Trust dat boy more 'n you, mon ami."
Gambit took out a deck of Clan playing cards and shuffled them loosely in his hands. Valentin was playing on his own insecurities, he knew. It wouldn't work. He'd seen a lot of weird shit as an X-man, watching Kimble phase through Logan like that didn't really blow him away. He'd seen a girl named Kitty Pride walk through walls and rise up on steps made of air. Jean could fly and read people's minds. Storm, one of his very best friends, threw lightening bolts from her hands. Rogue, the girl who'd stolen his heart, could absorb someone's personality and powers just by touching them.
"I know who he is," Bruce said to no one in particular, his eyes thoughtful and dreamy. He'd been moved to the opposite side of the table because Joseph and Valentin wouldn't leave him alone. They were mad at him for not putting up a good enough fight before. They didn't seem to care that he was half out of it at the time.
"What?" Remy asked, turning his head back to look at him.
Bruce looked at Valentin. "Zander. I think he's Zander."
"Who's Zander?" Valentin grumbled irritated. He wasn't pleased with Bruce at all right now.
"I'd know that voice anywhere." Bruce shook his head with an odd smile. "Never thought I'd see him again." He looked at Valentin again. "You don't remember? The Siskan hologram that went nuts. Killed all those guys."
Gambit was immediately interested, but tried not to show it. This could be a trick.
Valentin sneered. "Oh, that was so long ago. How could you be sure?"
Bruce looked at him pointedly. "Because I knew Zander. I'm positive it's him. I'd know that voice anywhere."
Valentin snorted in disgust and looked away.
Bruce continued to reminisce. " 'Well, what do ya know 'bout that?' " he said in a near perfect imitation of Kimble's catch phrase. "Never thought I'd ever hear that again. It has to be him. I'll just bet your precious little pilot bribed the Curator of Files to get him and she thought she could fix it."
"You're being stupid, Bruce. Zander didn't look like this."
"You don't get it, Valentin. The user decides what the program looks like. Fallen's a pilot so she made him look like one."
"Tell me 'bout dis Zander," Gambit asked.
"We used these Siskan holograms in our training," Bruce explained. "They made good sparring partners because they couldn't get hurt. We could use them all day and they wouldn't get tired. They used these black cubes that powered them up and healed them if they got damaged. We could load them up with files and they did what we wanted them to. Something happened to Zander. They say he got smart. Thought he was real. Went crazy. He went to work one day and blew up for no reason. He grabbed a sword and started hacking away. Some men were killed.
"I was there when it happened. It was horrible. They tried to run him through with swords, but he just kept coming. Someone finally used a taser gun to shoot him down. They shut off the program and Zander was deliberately 'broken' so the program wouldn't work anymore. All the other Siskans were closed down and they disappeared, too.
"I'm betting Fallen found him and played with the program. There's two of them flying the ship and working together, right? She did that to fix him, I'll bet. It's him, I'm telling you. It's not stable. We gotta take it down while Fallen is still weak and can't protect him. He might not do anything right away, I mean, he was good with us for a while before he cracked up. But no one knows what set him off. I was there with him right before it happened. He seemed okay to me. Then a couple of hours later, he just went nuts. He could do it again at any time."
Remy considered what Bruce said. It was eerily similar to what Fallen had said about Kimble. He suspected Bruce wasn't just kidding around, although Remy didn't think he was telling the whole story. He would have to talk to the others about this. He didn't have to wait long, a moment later they came walking up with Kimble.
"Everything seems to be on the level," Logan said as he approached.
"Bien. Dat's good ta know. C'mere a minute," he said to Wolverine, pulling him aside. He stood close to Logan's ear and whispered, telling him what was said. He didn't think Kimble would be able to hear.
Kimble wasn't the least bit happy about it, he knew they had to be talking about him. He resented it, but said nothing. He distrusted the X-men as much as they distrusted him it seemed. He looked at the Clansmen and at Bruce in particular. There was something familiar about the guy, but he couldn't place him. Bruce wasn't one of Valentin's regular guys and hadn't been aboard the Lucky Dragon before this run. Something nagged at Kimble. Something unpleasant.
Joseph clicked his tongue at Kimble as if he were a dog, getting his attention. "Zander," he said softly, with an odd smile. It wasn't a question. He wanted to see what Kimble would do.
Bruce groaned in dismay and looked away.
Remy stopped talking and waited, his eyes locked on Kimble's face.
Kimble squinted at Joseph. "What didja just say?"
"That's your name, isn't it? Zander."
Kimble felt sick, that acid burning sensation again. The name burned into him with an agonizing familiarity. He saw the bloody sword, could almost feel it in his hands. He realized now that file had been no mistake and the truth of it rocked him. He tried to control his swirling emotions as they fought to run away out of control. He couldn't let these men see how badly he was frightened, they might try to lock him up or worse. If he could just forget about it, it would go away. There was no proof that he had been Zander or anyone else. Let them say whatever they wanted. It had nothing to do with what was going on now. He could never be that way again and so it was meaningless. It was in the past. He could ignore it if he could just control his anger and fear. One thing was certain, he couldn't let Fallen find out about this. He'd had a taste of freedom and wasn't going to allow anything to take it from him.
Kimble swallowed heavily and lied arrogantly, "Name's Kimble. Always has been."
"Fallen named you that."
"Nope. She asked me. I told her Kimble. I'm Kimble. Ya gots me confused with someone else."
"Bruce says he knows you. Don't you remember him?"
Bruce hissed, "Don't set him off!"
Kimble cocked his head at Bruce and laughed to cover his discomfort. He had no clear memory of Bruce at all and he wasn't about to go digging for one. His small dip into the memory files had already caused him enough trouble.
"Nice try, Joe. You git these guys all wound up by yerself? Must be quite an accomplishment fer a pea brain like you," Kimble said with a disgusted snort and looked at the X-men. "They tell ya 'bout that Siskan that went nuts? Huh? Old news, pals. Last I heard they fried that bastard good. Unrecoverable. These guys just wants ta spook ya. Fallen ain't that stupid."
"She doesn't know," Bruce whispered, too afraid to look Kimble in the eyes.
"Please!" Kimble sneered. "Fallen ain't that blind. Yer just tryin' to get outta this bucket of shit yer in. Wonderin' what yer gonna do now that Fallen ain't gonna let ya kick 'er around no more."
"Speakin' of which..." Logan interrupted. "We need someplace ta lock these guys up. Keep 'em quiet 'til we figure out what we're gonna do." He wanted to change the subject so he could get Kimble away from them for a moment. He wanted to talk to his teammates. He didn't believe Kimble at all. The Siskan's eyes were jumpy, like Joseph had caught him in a lie. "Can we use the barracks?"
"Ain't got no security there but I 'spoze we could rig up a security screen or sumpthin' ta keep 'em in. It's got a lav so we wouldn' hafta moves 'em around. I'll see what me an' Seth kin do."
"You do that."
Kimble walked away to the main room. He called up Seth on the main screen and they talked.
Logan used the opportunity to confer with the others. "I think we should keep a close eye on Kimble. Try ta learn as much as we can about him. He's lyin', I can see it." He challenged the others with his eyes to contradict him, but they were quiet. "I hope these guys're wrong, but I wanna be ready if they aren't."