disclaimer: All recognizable characters are owned by Marvel, except Jenny who is MINE! (though I have been known to share if you ask nicely.) I expect to make no money off this fic. Dammit.

Human and the Demon
by Dizi

Chapter 11

Jenny awoke to a blinding headache and a dark room filled with the stench of vomit. She was lying on a concrete floor and groaned as she sat up.

"If you move slowly its not so bad." came a woman's voice in a low tone.

"Who's there?" Jenny asked just as softly following her example.

"I'm Lacy." the woman replied. "I'm sorry about the smell but I'm pregnant and that stuff they used didn't go over well with the baby."

"Hi, my name's Jenny. I'm a waitress at Harry's Bar." Jenny carefully inched her way towards Lacy's voice.

"Are you a mutant too? Can you do something to get us out?" Lacy's voice was filled with a desperate hope.

"I'm sorry, but I'm fully human. You're a mutant? What can you do?"

"Nothing that helps, I can see in the dark. Otherwise, I just look different." Lacy said bitterly. "You want to be careful, by the way. You're right by where I threw-up. Go toward your left."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Jenny reached the wall and leaned back beside Lacy.

"Do you go to St. Francis too? That's where I was when they got me."

"I volunteer there but I was at work when they busted in. You're the woman Johnny was worried about, aren't you? He said you're sick."

"I'll be alright if we get out of here." Lacy said quickly.

She wasn't sure if she believed that but Jenny couldn't do anything now. "What do they want us for? I'm nobody important."

"I don't know, I woke up here just like you. I'm so scared." her voice took on an edge of panic. "What if they hurt my baby? He's all I have left of my Danny."

Groping for her hand, Jenny squeezed it gently as she had learned from Ororo. "I'll do everything I can to help you. I have friends who will look for me almost immediately. Try to stay calm, I'm sure worrying isn't good for the baby."

"I can't help it. How am I supposed to not be scared?" Lacy clung to Jenny's hand and leaned against her. "But it helps not being alone anymore."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." At their joined hands pressed against Lacy's side Jenny felt a pressure and said in awe, "Wow. Was that your baby?"

"Pretty active, huh? I wish I knew if it was a boy or girl. I've been calling it 'he' because Danny wanted a boy."

Jenny could hear the love in Lacy's voice and felt the woman and her child go straight to her heart. "Tell me about your Danny. I can tell by the way you say his name he was a special man."

"Oh, he was but he would have said he was ordinary." Jenny could tell Lacy was smiling. "He wore these huge glasses and sold insurance. Most people would say he was a geek, but he was good at it and everyone trusted him. He used to say 'Someone has to do it, and everyone needs insurance. Why not me?'"

Jenny laughed softly, "Well, he had a point."

"Yeah, I always laughed. I think he said it just so I would." Lacy became quiet for a moment. "Did Johnny tell you what I look like?"

Nodding, Jenny answered, "He said you have red skin, white hair, and pointed ears."

"That's me. All my life everyone said I was from the devil, but Danny called me his angel. He was a mutant too, but he looked normal. He was my hero. Danny could put up a force-field. That's how we met. I talked myself into a job at a fast-food restaurant and someone found out it was a mutant cooking. They started throwing things at me. Danny stood in front of me and protected me. Then I got fired and I didn't know what I'd do. He took me home with him, didn't even think twice. We were married two weeks later."

"That's beautiful. You loved him very much, I can tell."

"He was so sweet and kind, I couldn't help but love him. We weren't together long. We only had six months before he died in a car accident. His family... they didn't like me. When he died they threw me out. They didn't even care about the baby. I think they were afraid he'd look like me." Lacy began to cry silently but Jenny could feel the tears on her shoulder. "Danny wouldn't have cared."

"Of course, he wouldn't. He obviously loved you very much. Don't worry, Kurt and my friends will come. They'll save us. It's what they do." Jenny reassured her confidently. "Have you ever heard of the X-Men?"

"Aren't they terrorists? That's what the newspapers and TV say. They're your friends?" Lacy's voice was incredulous.

"They are not terrorists." Jenny said firmly. "They are superheroes. They'll come, you'll see. And I'll do everything I can to help you until they do."

"You're so brave. I wish I was more like you."

Jenny didn't think she was brave. Cold, tired, hungry, and scared stiff for both of them - all three of them - not brave. But she had faith that if she held strong her friends would come. Kurt and the others would save her. Boy, will Logan be mad, she thought. "They'll come." she whispered, putting her arms around Lacy.

"I do not understand. Vhat do zey vant vith Jenny?" Kurt wondered aloud, as he paced the War Room.

"Maybe he's holding a grudge. It was because of her I got the information to have him removed from the police force." Bishop reminded him. "And she's ultimately the reason Warren funded the shelter."

"The reasons are secondary." Scott interjected, not wanting to upset Kurt further. "We need to find her and stop whatever the FOH are doing. Logan and Remy are looking for the place now. We'll find her."

"But vill it be in time? Before zey hurt her for vhatever reasons zey have?" Kurt asked bleakly.

No one answered.

The door slammed open and the two women covered their eyes, blinded by the light streaming in the doorway.

"I always knew muties smelled bad." Jenny vaguely recognized the man's voice but couldn't place it.

He grabbed Jenny's shirt and jerked her to her feet while Lacy cowered in the corner protecting her belly. "You smell like muties, Miss Grenislavich." he sneered.

"My name's Green." Jenny gasped.

"You're a mutie lover and don't deserve to live. I lost my job because of you. They took my badge." His face was inches from hers and twisted in rage but she suddenly remembered the policeman named Mike from a year and a half ago. "If it was up to me you'd already be dead, but there's someone who wants to see you. If you cooperate, he says you can leave. You are human after all, even if you're a traitor to your race."

"Jenny!" Lacy cried as he dragged her from the room.

"Don't worry, Lacy. Remember what I told you!" Jenny called back to the frightened woman.

"Shut up, mutie lover!" Mike shouted.

Lacy saw him backhand Jenny as the door slammed shut. The room plunged into darkness again and she wept for the first person she had trusted since Danny died and clung to the only hope she had.

The X-Men would come and save them.

Gambit watched dispassionately as Wolverine slammed his fist into the defiant man's jaw and he slumped to the ground. The man hadn't said anything but that a mutie lover deserved what they got. Wolverine hadn't been happy to hear that and the man was lucky to still be alive. He would be eating through a straw for a long time though.

Touching the communicator inside his trenchcoat, he said, "Dis be Gambit. Not'ing yet."

"I have the address for the head of the local group. I'll give it to you and you can try there, if you don't have any other leads." Bishop's voice was dispassionate but Remy knew he was as worried as they were.

"Might as well," Wolverine growled, "all we're findin' right now are the dumb ones."

"De one's who know anyt'ing be already dere. Gambit t'ink we try de house."

Bishop rattled off the address. "Nightcrawler's in a bad way. He's not even speaking in English anymore when he asks the same questions. Iceman called Beast, but it will take him too long to get here to be of help in finding her."

"Nobody better call Jubes." Wolverine growled, already getting in the jeep. "She'd hitchhike here an' start lookin' fer Jenny on her own if she knew. Any word from Psylocke and Archangel?"

"They'll be here in another hour." Bishop replied. "Hopefully we'll have something by then. If not she'll join you to help with the questioning."

"Dat be good. We call when we get dere." Gambit agreed with his hope but if they found someone with information unwilling to talk, Betsy would do things Jean wouldn't to get what they needed. Things much less messy than what Wolverine would do.

Mike pushed her into another room and Jenny stumbled but caught herself before falling.

"Now, that's no way to treat our guest." The new man standing in the light spoke in a cultured accent and wore a thousand dollar suit, which Jenny only knew from seeing Warren's wardrobe. "Please have a seat, Miss Grenislavich. We have so much to discuss. I knew your father, you know."

Mike shoved her into a folding chair and held her there with a hand on her shoulder.

"My name's Green. Jenny Green." she said, barely daring to say the words.

"You were born Genevra Grenislavich, and used that name to claim your father's estate." The reply was said in a kind and reasonable tone, but his eyes when he looked at her were like ice. "From what I've been told you seem to be an upfront sort of person. So, let's get down to business, shall we?"

Swallowing, Jenny cautiously said, "Okay."

"You see, Miss Grenislavich - excuse me, Miss Green," he stressed her name in a patronizing way, "your father and I knew each other well. He was doing a project for me."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about my father's work." Her tone was polite and her words very controlled. There was a cart ten feet away covered by a large towel. Sitting on it was a folder with a large emblem on the front. She knew it to be the symbol of the Friends of Humanity. Seeing it, Jenny remembered where she had seen the group of men outside the shelter. They were some of the same ones that followed the homeless mutants to where they congregated. The pointmen leading the way before the killing started.

"Whether that is true or not isn't important, Miss Green." His cold eyes never left her, and he had to know she had seen the folder. "What is important is that you are in possession of his research. I need that research to implement my plans. I am willing to pay for it, of course."

"I'm sorry but I don't have it anymore. I don't know where it is now." Jenny told the truth without thinking. She had given it to Hank before they had even left the University and had never seen it again.

"I'm afraid I can't make myself believe that. You went to a lot of trouble to get your father's research. I fully understand if you turned it over to someone else, but I cannot believe you don't know where it is now. Your father found a way to detect whether a baby is human or mutant before it's born. Do you understand what that means?"

Her eyes went wide at the excitement in his voice, the first bit of real emotion he had shown. Jenny shook her head.

"It means we can stop the mutant menace. We can prevent any more from breathing our air. They will die before they are even born. We will win this war because they will simply die out. I will win this war, Miss Green, do not doubt it." He stood and looked down at her. "It would be much better for you if you told me what I want to know."

Thinking of Lacy, Jenny understood why they had taken her. Lacy and her baby would be their test subjects. Whether her father's research could help them or not, Lacy and her baby would end up dead. If she convinced them it didn't work or she didn't know where it was, they might kill them now. Kurt and the others wouldn't have the time they needed to save them. She had to protect Lacy and her baby.

"I'm sorry but I really don't know where it is now. It was given away the same day I received it and I don't know what happened to it." Jenny's heart was beating so hard and she was so scared, she couldn't think to lie and make up something. She didn't think they'd believe her anyway. She had never been a good liar.

"As I said, I cannot believe that." He walked away saying over his shoulder. "Do what you have to. I want that research."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stroud." Mike said cheerfully. Her mind went wild at the name. She knew it.

Derek Stroud had been her father's contact with the FOH. He was someone who was not a known associate and went to great lengths to keep it secret. She only knew because of her personal research into her father's activities. If this man had known about the information detailing his connection both with the group and her father which she had detailed in her notebook, he would have had her killed long ago. With her father's death, she had stopped the looking into it because it hadn't been about the FOH or him, it had been about Heinrik Grenislavich. But the information was still there, written in careful print from clues she had gotten from her precious books. If they had really meant to let her go before, she knew they wouldn't now. His name had been said and he would not take the chance that she would tell the world that former D.A. Derek Stroud, currently being courted by the Republican party to run as Senator, was a leading member of the Friends of Humanity.

Now there was something else to keep inside. A detailed account that he was with the FOH, that Henry McCoy - a former Avenger and long-time X-Man - had the information Stroud wanted, and that the research hadn't produced the wanted results in the first place.

Mike jerked Jenny to her feet again, ripping her shirt in the process. "We're going to have some fun, now."

Three other men, all wearing t-shirts proclaiming them to be member's of the FOH, helped him drag her kicking and struggling to a pole where they handcuffed her hands high over her head making her stand on tiptoe. Her breathing became ragged.

Opening the folder she had seen earlier, Mike held it up so she could see the contents. It was a copy of her police file - pictures and all. Then he lifted up the towel and Jenny saw an assortment of objects and instruments. Scalpels, curved knives, straight knives, serrated blades, picks, a blowtorch, and many things she didn't know what they were. She hoped to God she wouldn't find out.

Mike took his time looking them over and made a show of picking out just the right one.

Terrified, all Jenny could think of was that she couldn't speak. Couldn't tell them anything. She had to buy time for her and Lacy to be rescued.

Jenny had been taught by six men not to scream, not to beg, not to make a sound. They hadn't hurt her as much when she stopped. There was nothing he could do to her that was as bad as what had already happened. She told herself she could do it again and use the silence to buy the needed time for her and Lacy.

Flashing a knife in her face, Mike grinned at her. "I'm going to have fun, anyway."

The head of the local branch of the FOH wasn't home. He was at his girlfriend's apartment, which he paid for.

His alcoholic wife was there, though.

Remy didn't even have to use his charm to get him and Logan inside. She was quite happy to tell them all about it as she opened his private office for them. She even gave them the password to his computer.

It didn't take long to get a list of properties owned by the group. Nor to narrow the list down to the one they were most likely holding Jenny in.

Now they just had to go get the others and save Jenny.

Her shirt had been cut open straight down the back and hung from her revealing her scars. All four men had jeered at her, laughing and ridiculing her because of them. Jenny kept in mind the memory of Kurt kissing her back and calling her beautiful with every word they said.

She felt the cold steel of the knife touch her and mentally braced herself for what was to come.

"Wait." Stroud's word came just in time to stop it from cutting into her flesh. She had not even realized he had come back into the room. He came to stand in front of Jenny and his cold eyes met her frightened ones. "One last chance, Miss Green. Where is your father's research now?"

"I don't know," she whispered, forcing the words out.

"That is too bad. I tried to spare you, but you are simply too stubborn for your own good." He stepped out of her sight and ordered. "Don't cut her right away, I don't trust her not to die to protect her mutie friends. But show her we are quite serious."

Cracking his knuckles, Mike laughed. "Oh yeah, this is really going to be fun."

For half an hour the only sound in the room was that of fists hitting her body, until Stroud ordered them to put her back in the cell to give her time to rethink her decision not to tell him what he wanted to know.

As they dragged her limp body from the room, she heard him say that next time he wouldn't be so merciful.

to be continued.

note:
GothikStrawberry- Okay, um, you have a real point there... um, bad things are definitely happening. But its all for the greater good, ultimately. Eventually? Sooooo... you like Mystique, huh? I can work with that.
S- I hope you continue to feel that way because there is more action to come. Took me really long time but I think I got it down. Maybe someday I'll do the other story myself (but I'd rather not).
afreddiefan- I get some of them all mixed up. I remember most events but the order in which they happened is sometimes sketchy. Don't get me wrong, you're observation would be correct if I were going by the way they have him NOW, but I don't read the new ones so its the older incarnation I'm working with here. And hey, you think this is a soapbox? Ask me about Scott and Jean and Emma, I dare you. (though I think that wold have to go into an e-mail). Oh, and ch2 of 'The Gift' is up at aff.
Jinxeh- Um, not get involved? You're not going to stop writing, are you? NO! You can't stop reading! You're a regular reviewer! I NEED YOU! Whew, got that out. Kurt really isn't thinking very clearly right now, but I'm sure he appreciates you cheering him on.
B Oots- I missed you! All your questions will be answered! Sooner or later, I swear! Mostly next chapter as I dragged this out a bit. That little sadistic streak GS mentioned. Sorry.

Next chapter: the X-Men are on their way! Hang on, Jenny! (Okay, I didn't know what to tell you without giving it away.)

I finished chapter 18 last night and sent it out to my beta. I also started 19 last night, and I KNOW how I want 20 to go but have to get it in my notepad or the computer. AND I did a couple more short stories. I admit to having gotten distracted by "The Gift" and the next story and "A Friend in Need" ch2, and reading real books and watching TV and... well, I just got distracted. My mind wanders. I will have it done on schedule but there may be a delay in the next one. (Which hopefully will be the Rogue story, by the way, since I already have ch1 written.) If only I didn't have to work and could do nothing but write all the time... (sigh) but a gal's gotta eat, and buy notepads and pens. Unfortunately I misplaced a notepad (think I left it at a restaurant during lunch) and had to wing 18, part of the reason there was a delay, but it worked out cause I'm happier with the new version.

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi