Thanks to:
Todd Fan – Gambit's debut ep was on today and I hate that he had brown eyes! They got it right later on but still…and you're right, the continuity of the whole programme was screwed. Some stuff you can forgive because it is a new take on the X-Men but some stuff is just wrong. How could any of the Evan/ Pietro stuff work if Pietro was an exchange student? Which is why I ignored that whole thing.
TheDreamerLady – I got the idea from a number of places. I've always fancied the idea of depopulating the world and I read a fabulous zombie fic by Furygrrl, which is an Evo/ resident evil crossover (click on to my reviews, find Fury and check out the story, it is seriously scary!) that made me want to try it even more. I've always been a big fan of King's 'The Stand' but I was worried about comparisons (I don't want to write the same story he did with Evo characters in it). So far the whole story is an experiment and I've no idea where it's going! It will continue through to the summer though, when I finally have some free time.
LadyEvils – Ha, my school doesn't believe in heating either, they keep telling us how great it'll be when we get the new building but that doesn't help us now! There will be lots of Lance to make up for the lack of Kitty. Wanda will show up in later chapters but she's not here yet…
UncannyAsianGirl – I think this is the longest review I've ever had, thanks! They're not my real sisters; we've bonded over a love of Rietro! And my real name is Dani not Wanda; I got nicknamed that because I'm less like Miss Moonstar than Miss Maximoff (bi-polar and homicidal). Hey, you're vid was very cool! There are several good videos out there and I have about thirty on my computer but yours was one of the best (right up there with the Xmas vid 'what's this?'). Hmm, about the other vids and the guess the song, I think the U2 might be 'beautiful day' and I Storm vid (I have yet to see a vid dedicated to her!), the No Doubt might be 'Just a Girl' dedicated to the X-girls, Steppenwolf will have to be 'born to be wild' about Logan, Chumbawumba would be 'I get knocked down' (I dunno if that's the proper name of the tune) maybe dedicated to the Brotherhood. As to Garbage and Prince and Sting, I'm not totally up on their stuff so I could only hazard a poor guess. Maybe 'I'm only happy when it rains' dedicated to Storm (my fave Garbage song has to be 'when I grow up') or 'Horny Toad' by Prince dedicated to Todd! I've always liked the idea of making a music vid but have no idea of how to go about it (and even if I did I doubt my crappy computer would be able to cope) so I admire you for being able to do one. And Five for Fighting and Timbuk 3? I've never heard of them, sorry! Weirdly, you're the second person in a week to recommend 'Y the last man' to me and I've never heard of it before. Trask is gonna show up here and Irene…I don't know where she got it from but it wasn't from Mystique. Because she infected so many people they spread all over the US and I guess she got it from a carrier. And I think that Mystique might have been a carrier for a while but now she's free of what she has she can't spread it any more (kinda like Logan and his healing factor, he gets sick for a short time but when she kicks it she's no longer infectious). And damn! You spotted my plan for Rogue. As to accents, in the UK we pronounce Wanda as it is the US but Danielle is another matter…'Ghost of a chance' does my head in because in America my name is pronounced "Dan-yell" which is aggravating as hell, it's "Dan-i-elle. Have you ever seen the film 'The Full Monty'? I talk more like them. They live further south than I do but it's as close as I can think. Risty is supposed to be from my mums home town which is bull because once you get this far north the pronunciations are more like Americans – for example I wouldn't say "clahss" I'd say "Class". The only accurate thing about Risty was that football is called football and not soccer (horrid word!).
Soulstress – Yeah, Lance has his powers but he hasn't had chance to use them yet. Thanks for the praise!
Crimson Lipstick – I'm not disappointed that I'm not more reviewed for this because at the same time humour is universally appealing whereas something dark is less so. I'm really proud of this fic and I think it'll be one of my best. At the moment I'm trying to study as well as write otherwise I would update more quickly.
Southern Goth Gal – Glad you like it sis! And you printed it all out? How cool is that? The story hugs you right back (and I do too) and I hope you like the rest of it just as much!
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"I won't tell you again! This area is quarantined!"
"Merde!"
"Dat's inhumane!"
"We need a doctor!"
Remy LeBeau took one look at the barricade the army had hurriedly put up and shook his head. The barricade wasn't strong and wouldn't hold up to a mob but the soldier manning the area was maybe 18 and scared green. If anyone tried to break through the barricade they'd be shot because the kid was afraid. Trying to hang out with the big boys and finding himself up against a frightened crowd of unarmed spectators.
The crowd were almost all ill and every one of them was afraid. They were begging for treatment, the cure, anything to stop them from dying. The soldier knew no answers, only orders. Not a good combination.
He slipped back into the shadows and hurried away. He'd grown up in New Orleans and was familiar with the area, where to go and where to avoid. He hurried down Bourbon Street, the most prolific landmark in the area.
He'd never envisioned it lit up by fire.
People were afraid, scared. The riots had begun several hours before with the locals looting shops. He had no idea who'd set Bourbon Street alight but he did know that no one was coming to sort it out. Either the locals would sort it out or the famous street would burn.
It was time to get away from here.
He briefly considered saying goodbye to Jean-Luc or Belle, but it wasn't his style to drag things out like that. They were sick. That was all. They could live or die without him. He had no desire to watch them struggle when there was no way he could help them and might be putting himself in further danger of contamination.
He kept an apartment close to the French Quarter and he made his way back there. He had possessions but nothing pf particular sentimental value – in his line of work it was better to be able to leave a place behind without a pressing need to return. But he could do with clothes and the spare cards he kept there. He was down to four packs in his coat and running low always made him nervous, especially when people were acting as panicked as they currently.
He grabbed a bag and began shoving clothes into it, not taking the time to choose. There was several grand hiding in various locations around the apartment and wondering if he'd need it threw him somewhat. If New Orleans was anything to go by, most stores wouldn't be open and the customers wouldn't be the paying kind.
Eventually he decided to take the cash. It was inconceivable that this strangeness would last and he'd need to buy stuff along the way. Maybe when order was restored he could return to his apartment. On the other hand he'd been thinking about walking away from the life he had here for a long time. Maybe he'd call the apartment a loss and try his luck somewhere else. If nothing else, Remy was lucky.
He paused at the door to his apartment and had a look at the room. He had no real attachment to the place but he'd had some good times there and furnished it to his own liking. He might never live in a place like this again.
He had a bad feeling; like this was the last time he'd ever see his apartment again.
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The doctor had finally arrived at the Guthrie place, much to Sam's relief. He hadn't been back to school since Amy promised to cover for him, his family were too sick for him to be away from them for long. Eight brothers and sisters, two parents. Ten sick people all demanding things of him.
Sam waited in the living room while the doctor looked in on the family, closing his eyes and feeling himself drift. He was goddamn tired. He'd had barely three hours uninterrupted sleep since the morning Paige had come downstairs and told their mother that she wasn't feeling very well.
"Sam?"
"Huh?" Sam opened his eyes and blinked at the doctor. He hadn't paid too much attention before but it looked like the doctor also had the flu. The mans eyes were bloodshot, like he'd had about as much sleep as Sam and his skin was pale, a veil of sweat on his forehead.
The doctor sat down. "Sammy, I'm gonna be blunt because I don't have the time for anything else. I've still got most of the rest of the neighbourhood to go see. Have you heard the reports on TV about the flu?"
Sam nodded. "Sure, but they said it was under control, that there were medicines on the way. I know it might take a little longer for us to get them way out here but…"
"There is no medicine Sam." The doctor took of his glasses and began cleaning them with his shirtsleeve. "I've been trying to contact my suppliers and there's no response. None of my colleagues that I have managed to speak to know anything about it and all of them have been overrun with cases just like your family. To be honest, I doubt very much that there is any medicine being sent out."
"But…" Sam indicated to the television in the corner. "They said that there was nothing to worry about! That people should be feeling better within a week!"
The doctor was shaking his head before Sam finished speaking. "They're lying Sam. Anything to keep the population from panicking. The last thing the government wants is people rioting for a cure that may not exist."
Sam let the words sink in before he asked the one question that was really on his mind. "So, what about my family?"
"I just don't know." The doctor got to his feet, refusing to meet Sam's eyes. "But I've already signed seven death certificates today…"
"Death certificates!" Sam leapt up and grabbed his arm. "Are you trying to say that my family's going to die?"
"I don't know." The doctor looked at the floor. "But there's nothing I can do for them. It's out of my hands."
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Fury glared through the one-way mirror that let him see into Wolverine's room but prevented the mutant from seeing out. In spite of the precaution, he had no doubt that Logan was aware of being under scrutiny.
Bolivar Trask walked up behind Fury and glanced through the glass. Logan sat on the edge of the bed in the small room, not watching TV, not pacing the floor. Just waiting. It was unnerving.
"The latest tests on Wolverine's blood samples were failures," said Trask when he realised Fury wasn't going to acknowledge his presence. "They injected him with the virus…"
Fury turned around, giving Trask an angry look. "I didn't authorise that!"
"With respect sir, it wasn't your order to give." Trask tried not to feel gleeful at the obvious resentment Fury was feeling. It was about time the man realised that SHIELD wasn't his personal playground. "Wolverine was injected with the virus and he didn't even get sick. His healing factor stopped it in its tracks. We've taken a blood sample and the antibodies he created are like nothing the scientists have ever seen before."
"Can they be replicated?"
Trask shrugged. "They're trying their best sir, but it's a complicated process. It could take weeks to copy it exactly."
Fury glared at him. "We don't have weeks! We might not even have one week!"
"That's another thing sir," said Trask. "We have four of the bio crew out with the flu and another three are ill but still working. That leaves us with two people who are relatively healthy and it's not enough. It would take the whole team a while to do this and we're working on a skeleton staff. To be honest sir, I think we're screwed."
Fury glanced back through the glass at Logan and pulled out a cigar. "Have they tried injecting a sample of Logan's blood into an infected person?"
"Not possible. Wolverine's healing factor is a vital part of his DNA and it's given him a whole new blood group – they're calling it type D+ in the lab – and they claim that it's impossible to introduce a different blood group to an infected individual. Besides, how much blood can one guy give, even if he does have a healing factor? Not enough for the whole population. We have reports of whole towns infected and there are doctors asking awkward questions."
Fury lit the cigar, glad of something to do with his hands. "Anything else I should know?"
Trask nodded. "Reports of mutant powers being triggered by the illness, usually in terminal cases. Immediately prior to death for the latent cases, at least there are no reports of anything similar before they got sick. A case in Illinois where a girl melted through the floor and vanished, no trace of her since. Another girl in Boston collapsed in some pricey boarding school turning into diamond – diamond! A boy setting himself on fire and just burning to a crisp. A pro wrestler that no one could help because they couldn't get through his force field. There are people saying that it's because of the flu, that it's some kind of side effect. So far there's no hint of anything more. Nothing's appeared in the press because it's still being controlled, but how long before some publisher decides that if he's gonna die there's nothing left to lose? We can't keep the fatal nature of the flu secret forever and I think that most people have probably guessed no matter how many 'everything is fine' motions we make in the media. And you have to know that there are going to be reports sooner or later on the weird things that are happening to some reason before they die. If it's believed that the mutations are a side effect of the flu, there'll be more panic than before. But I think if we reveal mutants to humanity, then the issue of the flu might just be pushed into the background."
Fury puffed angrily on the cigar. "You think that by exposing mutants we'll take peoples minds off dieing? It won't."
"But it's something to think about sir."
"No." Fury took the cigar from his mouth and sighed. "How are you feeling Trask?"
Trask allowed himself a smile. "I feel fine sir."
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The room was so devoid of distraction that it only aided the girls already heightened senses. She heard the footsteps a long time before they reached her room and identified them as Dr Risman. There was something a little odd about the way she was walking, more slowly and cautiously than usual.
The door was unlocked and opened slowly, revealing Dr Risman. The girl frowned and sniffed the air. Risman looked sick and the girl could hear her laboured breathing, smell the sour sweat that the doctor was trying to hide with too much perfume. Dr Risman had no business being in work.
"X23." Dr Risman leaned against the door for a moment. "Let's go."
X23 tilted her head to one side and regarded the doctor quizzically.
"Be quiet," said Dr Risman. "We're leaving Hydra. For good."
X23 nodded, suddenly understanding. If Risman was as sick as she looked, then she was trying to put right the things she felt she'd done wrong and the doctor had obviously not been comfortable about some of the things that Hydra were doing regarding her. X23 had wanted to escape Hydra for as long as she could remember, had watched other children of her age on some of her training exercises able to laugh, play, have fun, things she had never been allowed. All she wanted was a normal life and here was her chance to finally have one.
As quietly as she could, X23 got up and followed Risman out of the door and down the corridor. They got to the door leading to the fire exit and headed down the stairs.
"I've wired the cameras here on a loop, so we should be able to get away unseen." Risman kept her voice pitched low, trying to catch her breath. "But if there's trouble – just fight to get out. You can't stay trapped in here, not with what's going on out there."
X23 kept all her senses on alert, hoping that Risman had planned this well. She realised she had no real idea of how to get by in the outside world, having seen only what the Hydra agents had allowed.
At the bottom of the stairs, X23 paused, sniffing the air. There were people on the other side of the door, at least four of them, maybe more…
She had no time to do an olfactory count. Risman opened the door and suddenly there were guns in their faces.
"Oh shit!"
"OK doc," said the guy in front. "X23 goes back to the room and you have an appointment with Madame Hydra."
Risman shook her head firmly. "You can't leave her in here! In case you haven't noticed…"
"Either you do as we say or we shoot." The man kept his gun level with her face.
X23 could hear the mans breath, not as laboured as Risman but getting there. Another guy had sweat pouring down his face and a third was pale. There were seven men there to retrieve them and only one of them seemed well.
Without warning she leapt, slicing the first guard's gun cleanly in two and a well-placed boot to the stomach of another knocking him flying. She retracted her claws and punched a guard with an adamantium-laced fist, breaking his jaw and knocking him out cold. The other guards opened fire and she took two glancing wounds before they were all out of the fight.
Risman scrambled up from where she had hit the floor as soon as X23 moved. "GO! There'll be others after us now!"
X23 raced ahead, Risman limping and wheezing after her. Two more guards awaited them through the next door and X23 didn't even pause, popping her claws and slicing through their flesh as she ran. If memory served, there were one more set of doors, electronically locked, then she was in the main reception. That was where the big guns would be.
She paused and turned, noticing that Risman was far behind her. The doctor looked up and saw the girl's hesitation. She waved her onward.
"GO!"
X23 considered her options for a moment and went back for the doctor. There was no way that she could leave her behind, not when she'd risked so much to free her. That would make her the soulless weapon that she was designed to be and she refused to do Hydra's bidding any longer.
Dr Risman allowed X23 to help her walk. "But if you have to leave me, do it. What I've got…people are dying of it. You have to get away! You're healing factor does you no good if you're left trapped here to die of thirst!"
X23 nodded. Most of the doors were tailored to her unique abilities, fortified with adamantium. No amount of healing could help her if she dehydrated.
The next set of doors was one so fortified and X23 glared at it, debating her options. Maybe if she sliced the electronic lock…
Risman tapped in a code and cursed. "The bitch! She's overridden all the locks…we can't get out!"
X23 looked around and grinned as she spotted the two-way glass set in the wall beside the door. Small, but it could fit a teenage girl easily. The doctor was petite enough to struggle through too. Of course, that all depended on what awaited them on the other side.
She popped her claws and sliced around the glass, a leap and a kick knocking it into the reception. She heard it shatter, hopefully causing those on the other side to flinch away and a split second later she leapt through the gap, checking out the scene in an instant. Madame Hydra herself was stood there, along with ten guards. The guards were no problem, but Madame Hydra was an amazing martial artist and proficient with weapons. She could be a serious problem. X23 was good but she knew she had a long way to go before she was an expert.
X23 flung herself at the nearest guard and sliced through his arm, the nerves contracting in shock and causing him to take out two of his own men in a spray of gunfire before he dropped the weapon. She had already moved on by then, two more taken out by well-placed punches. A bullet hit her in the thigh and she grimaced, rolling out of the way and sweeping the legs from under the guy who shot her, jumping back up and using his chest as a springboard. Her deceptive heaviness took the wind from him and she kicked another guard, the claw in her toe extended, slicing through the skin high on his chest, almost at his neck. The guard saw the blood and assumed he'd been mortally wounded, gagging and trying to run. Claws took out two more guys as she dodged bullets to get to them, taking one in the knee and the other deep in the side. The final guard faced her down, watching her through the sight of his gun as she smirked at him. Then he remembered pressing issues he had elsewhere and fled.
Madame Hydra hadn't moved throughout the conversation, watching as her favourite weapon disposed of the highly paid guards. Now she glanced at X23 and smiled.
"You might have gotten this far," she said in heavily accented English. "But the good doctor has forgotten one thing."
X23 blinked in surprise as Madame Hydra pulled out a box that resembled a remote control. "This is a detonator that vill activate an electric pulse in your brain. This escape attempt is over."
She pressed a button on it and X23 braced herself for unconsciousness.
Madame Hydra scowled as nothing happened and pressed the button again. Still nothing.
"You were double crossed."
Madame Hydra glanced up as Dr Risman spoke. She had managed to get through the gap in the wall and retrieve on of the guns from the fallen guards. Before Madame Hydra could move, Dr Risman fired.
X23 gaped as Madame Hydra took on an almost comically confused expression. A hole appeared in her forehead, a slow trail of blood emerging from it. The wound certainly didn't look to serious but Madame Hydra fell forward, revealing the much larger and more grisly exit wound in the back of her head, her green hair singed.
Dr Risman lowered the gun slowly, panting. X23 went over and prised the gun from her hands.
"We have to get out of here," muttered Dr Risman.
X23 threw the gun to the floor and looked around at the carnage. "But where…where will we go?"
This seemed to throw Risman for a moment. "Uh…I have a car outside. We'll get as far away from here as we can. We can't go back to my place, they'll have it under surveillance."
X23 helped Dr Risman out of the building, wondering just how far the doctor would be able to drive them in her condition. And if the organisation that was Hydra would ever let her get away.