(Seven)
Back at the penthouse, Creed went off. "What the fuck was that!"
"Nuthin'...please don' be mad at me, Master, please!" Kimble pleaded.
Creed picked him up and slapped him again. A claw caught in the dog collar and ripped it from his throat, snapping his head back painfully. Victor didn't care. He dragged the pilot down the hall to the holding cells. Right outside the door, he lost control again and began to beat Kimble some more, giving him unrestrained blows to the face and belly. Kimble squealed in pain, but didn't try to fight.
Victor was lost in the fog of rage. He had been betrayed again. He saw a flash of Rose's face. Rose kissing Logan, this girl he had thought would be his. What he thought he had seen and felt from her when they were growing up had been a lie. Was this a lie, too? Had Kimble insinuated himself in his life only as a means to escape? Had all that gentleness and tenderness been false? He felt such pain, such horrible pain. He couldn't stop his fists from raining down blow after terrible blow. He was lashing out at Kimble, at Logan, at Rose. At all of those who had ever fucked him over.
Creed's men stood by, struck silent by the violence. They had never seen their boss lash out at his new toy like this. Kimble was being seriously abused. Kimble covered his head and sobbed as blow after blow fell down on him. Worse than that was the anger and hate coming from Creed's shine, for the first time directed at him. Creed felt betrayed and vibrations of his hate and pain were devastating to the pilot. He had done this terrible thing.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Mary shouted, bringing Creed back to his senses.
He stood over Kimble, snarling and drooling slightly as the red haze that had blanketed his mind lifted a little. Kimble lay broken at his feet, wheezing with pain as he struggled to breathe. Each breath was an agony and he made a sickening sucking sound each time he took some air. He was seriously injured. Gel was leaking out of his nose and ears and the corners of his swollen eyes. This made Logan's beating on the Lucky Dragon all those months ago feel like a love tap. It was amazing, or cruel, that he was even still conscious.
"S-sorry, Master..." Kimble managed, only dimly aware that the pounding had stopped. "I won't do it again...I promise." He pawed at Creed's foot with a gel bloodied hand, trying to appease his Master's wrath.
"Just tell me why!" Victor demanded.
"Mary gave me some chocolate...when the kids wuz cummin'...I seen the snow..."
"What's that got to do with anything!"
"He–he wuz the only one who wuz nice ta me...chocolate...He gave me chocolate when I wuz so sad...hurtin'...I seen the snow an' thought 'bout home...I knows they been lookin' fer me...didn' wan' him... ta... worry 'bout me no more...I sez ta him...H-happy now...s-stop lookin'...stop lookin'...only one nice ta me... back home..." Kimble gasped as he struggled to breathe. His grey blood poured from his torn lips and dripped to the floor.
"You sayin' ya don't want to stay?" Creed asked, his voice full of angry pain and hurt. He didn't understand Kimble's babble.
"I wants ta stay...stop lookin'...wanna stay...I jus'–I jus' wuz thinkin' 'bout home, is all."
"This is yer home now!"
"Yes. Yes, Master...Don' be mad at me...please. I won' do it again!"
Sabretooth stood over Kimble, a perplexed, pained look on his face. He was deciding what he should do. He knew he should deliver Kimble to Jael as he was supposed to do, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He needed what Kimble could do for him. He could sense in Kimble that this had been a momentary lapse of judgement, nothing more. Their bonding was close enough now for him to see Kimble's sincere regret and misguided intentions.
Still, it galled him that Kimble had called Gambit of all people. The only one he hated more than that runt Wolverine was that red eyed Cajun thief. Some restless emotion stirred inside, one he hadn't felt in a long time. Jealousy. Funny how the face that came first to mind was Logan's instead of Remy's.
He snarled and withdrew. "Let him sit in the cell an' bleed 'till we pack up. We're bugging out," he said finally, turning away and walking back up to the penthouse.
Kimble whimpered and whined as his battered and broken body was lifted and dumped onto a cot in the cell next to Leon's. He reached out for Mary, begging her to repair him, but she obeyed Creed's order and walked away to pack up. She wouldn't come back for him until it was time to go. Kimble lay back, gasping for air as the tears poured from his eyes. He was going into shock, but wouldn't pass out, his increased tolerance for pain had seen to that. The time passed slowly, measured by each tortured, labored breath.
Leon shivered in the cell next to him, covering his ears to block out the horrible wheezing Kimble was making as he tried to breathe. He had witnessed Kimble's savage beating with a kind of horror, glad it was Kimble and not himself. Of course that left the question of, if they were leaving, what were they going to do with him?
(break)
Kimble whimpered softly, cowering on the floor at the Master's feet. He could still feel vibrations of hurt and rage that came from the big man and was ashamed because he had been the one to cause them. They were in the long stretch limo, cruising at impossible speeds away from the penthouse. Creed had shoved him into a long trench coat to hide his wings and herded him down to the car, squashing him down to the floor. They had collected Leon along the way and the boy sat across from him, dressed now but bound and gagged. The others were following in the van and the panel truck they used to move their equipment around.
Kimble raised his eyes to his Master but Creed was looking out the window at the rain. He had tossed off his jacket, his roughness betraying how upset he still was. The reflection of the water falling down the window made false tear tracks down his face, making him appear fragile and wounded. He chewed on a claw, trying to control his raging temper and hurt. He still felt betrayed, but was more afraid of why that should matter. Kimble was just a prisoner, right? Just someone to be used. He closed his eyes, knowing all that had become a lie a long time ago.
Victor had always been careful and all the calls made from his office phone had been taped. He had played Kimble's call back before they left. It confirmed what the pilot had told him, flooding him with relief. It also took his breath away, what Kimble had said about him. About being happy and not wanting to leave. Creed's body shivered as a sharp pain sliced right through him. This was so unfair! He was supposed to feel nothing. The only way for him to survive with his sanity intact was to just shut it all off. These needs, these wants he'd been feeling so much lately...they were dangerous.
"I'm sorry, Master," Kimble whispered again from the floor.
"Shut up. I don't wanna hear from you."
Kimble lay down flat and covered his face, sobbing. He had done this horrible thing. Why was it he couldn't stop himself from doing these self destructive things? Stupid old Zander! Kimble now knew he had been tricked. He had it good here, more than good in spite of the abuse. By allowing Zander to manipulate him, he had thrown it all away. What was he going to do now?
Let me takes yer pain, Kim, Lakotashay pleaded.
He wasn't about to give her full control again. No, I'm gonna find a way ta fix this. I have to.
On the opposite bench seat of the limo, Leon cowered. He wasn't certain of what was going on, only that Kimble was the cause of this whole mess and now they were leaving.
He had been languishing in Sabretooth's holding cell for over two months before this night, certain that he would be slaughtered at any moment. The guards outside had teased him unmercifully, describing in exquisite detail just how Creed was going to come and shred him to pieces. It wasn't hard for them to make him cry and he was unable to stop the tears of fear that poured from his eyes now.
Leon had been terrified after Kimble's savage beating. Leon could tell the crew was bugging out and he figured this was going to be it for him. He was dead. I mean, why would they take him along? He didn't even understand why he hadn't been killed already. To his surprise, Sabretooth just walked into the holding area and stood there looking at him with a perplexed expression on his face as he clenched his hands over and over again, deciding. He unlocked Leon's cell and dragged him out, screaming and kicking. Leon struggled as he was bound and gagged, but the restraining collar he still wore around his neck kept him from doing anything more.
He was crammed into a long trench coat like Kimble's to hide his restraints and then forced to wait in the hallway as Creed turned next to Kimble. The pilot had been repaired only moments before by Mary and had stopped making that horrible racket. Leon was disgusted as he watched Kimble writhe and grovel at Sabretooth's feet, begging and slobbering for forgiveness. Creed bent down and snatched the pilot by the throat, bringing him up high, high off of his feet to glare into his eyes. The pilot hung there submissively like a dead thing while Creed stood there looking at him with the same perplexed expression he had given to Leon when he stood there trying to decide what to do with him. He tossed Kimble out into the hall and then the two of them were dragged roughly down to the car and tossed inside. Creed took a seat across from Leon, his eyes moving instantly to the window and saying nothing. Kimble was a sobbing lump of misery on the floor.
Leon was confused about a great many things. Kimble had powers, Zander had shown just what he was capable of when he exploded Seamus, and yet Kimble, with no restraining collar, had offered no resistance to the horrific beating or to anything that was done to him afterwards. He was like the passive sacrificial lamb being led dutifully off to slaughter. Leon was disgusted. This was Cameron's ShaRain? The one was supposedly going to lead the Freedom Kings into glory? What a joke.
Equally perplexing was the change in Sabretooth, but that only gave Leon some sense of hope. The Sabretooth he knew could never keep his mouth shut as he boasted loudly about how he was going to kill and was blatantly violent. The creature before him now was a changed man. He was abnormally passive and his eyes clear from murderous blinding rage. This was not the same man who on that horrible first day had pinned Lakotashay down before him and ravaged that poor creature's body with such terrible force. This one was hurt and angry, eerily silent in his fury.
Leon looked at Kimble as he sobbed and groveled at Creed's feet. Over his long stay in the holding cell, Leon had overheard the guards talking about Creed's Whore. It didn't take him long to figure out they were talking about Lakotashay. Somehow 'Shay had insinuated herself in this monster's good graces in order to survive. They rambled on about this Whore who allowed himself to be treated like dog shit and came back begging for more. He had a place next to Creed's bedside and was at his beck and call. Anyone of Creed's people who wanted to, could have a piece of Creed's Whore although the word was that Creed had become more and more possessive of his Whore, sharing him willingly only with Mary. If you were fast enough and sneaky, you could catch the Whore behind Creed's back and he would do anything you wanted, anything. He just didn't care.
Leon wasn't too surprised. He had seen Kimble in action on Cameron's Club tapes before the change, before Lakotashay had come and made things right. Looked like Kimble had returned for good and found himself a little slice of heaven. Or so he had thought. That night's beating was the worst thing Leon had ever seen.
There had been a frightful noise as Creed's thundering rage exploded and Kimble was dragged down to the holding cells. Kimble never resisted as he was smashed down again and again until he lay in a broken heap, barely breathing. Creed left and the pilot was tossed into the cell next to Leon. Mary came and Leon could hear Kimble whimpering and crying to her that he had only wanted to talk to Remy because he missed him and wanted to let him know he was okay. He hadn't meant anything by it.
Leon thought it was a crock of shit. Kimble must have been trying to escape and got caught. Mary seemed to believe him, though. She repaired Creed's damage with her plasma and Kimble fell silent in a stupor, his pain taken. Later, Creed came to collect his Whore and now they were all here in the car, driving off to who knows where.
(break)
The limo cruised for a while and then Creed grunted some kind of signal to Mary who was driving. The car stopped and Leon was dragged out. Kimble didn't even look up from his disheveled mess on the floor of the car, there would be no goodbyes. It was night time and Leon was hauled out onto the street and taken into an alley. He was shocked when Creed ripped him free from the ropes that bound him and jammed some money in his pocket. Victor tossed him away like he was diseased and headed back to his car. He looked back at Leon and said a single word, "Run."
Sabretooth stalked back to the car and was driven away.
Leon just stood there, stunned that he had been freed. He still wore the collar but was alive. He fled quickly and stumbled into the nearest restaurant, turning up his jacket collar to hide the inhibitor collar. He was never more grateful to be alive than at that moment.