NOTE: As of October, 27th, 2005, I have restructured this piece of fiction to make more sense. Part I will deal with the past and Part II will deal with everything that is currently happening in their timeline at the time of the Prologue.
Disclaimer: This site is called FANFICTION dot net, so of course I don't own X-Men Evolution or any of the characters, Marvel does, this is just my spin of things in an alternate universe.
Author's Note's: A whole LOT of you guys totally made me laugh my ass off, with your 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU AND YOUR REMY AND ROGUE IN A BROTHER-SISITER MENTALITY?'. And the thing is this, yes, for now they do have a brother-sister type mentality, but there's reason for that, a heavy angsty one, you'll find out chapter three or four, depending on where I get with this chapter, and it doesn't mean that they aren't attracted to each other, if not already in love with each other. Let's just say that something got in the way, and caused them to back off…but that's all I'm saying, for now…I think I really showed that they cared about each other last chapter, and they do. Things will most definitely heat up, I mean she can touch…But don't worry, they will get their act together, and it WILL be a ROMY, because I love Romy, so it shall…eventually. I like to show build up and progression…and WILD FORKS OF ANGST DESTROYING EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH!…Muawahahahahahaha…okay, so no wild forks of angst destroying everything in its path. I can't do evil stuff to Romy, like even in 'The Road to Forever'; I condensed it all into one chapter. It was getting super long, but I just couldn't leave you guys with their relationship in tatters.
My stories will probably not have constant updates for awhile because I have summer school. I am seriously questioning why I'm doing this to myself, I mean who cares if I won't be able to take physics normally? I could do without it.
This fic is probably gonna be darker than anything I've written thus far, due to the fact that they're fighting for a Rebellion. I will have character deaths in it, not any of my major characters, but still some pretty major ones. So you have been warned. This chapter's really sad...I nearly cried writing some bits...Also, it'll be really violent. The spy stuff will come a little later, but I will have it. I mean, it's just great for some Romy innuendos...hehehehehehe...
This chapter will deal with the back story of each of the characters and what makes them want to fight in the rebellion for a better future. It's all very sad and really made me choke up to write this. There may not be much Romy in it, but I'll really try hard to put it in. When I first got inspiration for this fic, it was the idea of Remy and Rogue being spies, the one I gave to ForbiddenScars for 'The Midnight Air', but then while writing that first chapter, it got a more deeper darker sorta feel, in that I gave a reason to why they're spies, they're part of a resistance fighting for the freedom of mutants, so that they can coexist peacefully with normal humans. I soon twisted it into a sort of mutant persecution type thing, that was in another story idea I had where several of the X-Men had been captured by the Weapon X program and forced to work for them, but I strangely like this better. In this chapter, I really think I've given it a dark edge, but I really think that the original idea of espionage will be in it too. As soon as I decided that this would be a sort of rebellion, I realized that this was inspired by one of my favorite book series, called 'Broken Sky' by Chris Wooding, about twins whose father was the leader of a secret rebellion against an oppressive king. It's a story full of twists, and unexpected angst, not to mention some pretty cool action in a totally cool fantasy world.
I'm really sorry about this, but once again, I find my chapter is running a bit long, so I'm gonna cut it in half a bit, maybe into thirds, I do have most of it done, but I'm dividing for better digestion from you guys, because it's gonna be a LOT to take in. It really gives the past and back story to each of the mutants…The upside is that it gives you a taste of how they grew up, and Remy and others make their debut next chapter. Remember, this will showcase Rogue, Remy, Ororo, Hank, Logan, Raven, Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, John and Wanda. So I will address all their pasts and they will show up, as well as some cameos from Xavier, Magneto and a few others.
But anyway, thanks to all you guys, for sending me all those reviews. I was really surprised at the great response that this got and I'd like to thank all of you guys for leaving a message, and I hope you continue to support this story and all my others as well.
Shout Outs:
Ishy: Thanks once again for another review. I simply love it when you review my fics, because you're just so enthusiastic about it and other random stuff too. It's nice to have a reviewer that always reviews my stuff and gives such sweet feedback. I always just see them as being great spies, I don't know why, but it's one of the situations that just really seem to click for them, that and pirates…I'm glad to have had to make you guess about the couple there at the beginning, it was always my intent to make you think is it them, or is it not them and not clue you in until the end. They will be getting out of the mentality soon…but we'll see. I'm sorry for the lack of bunny on crackness updating…typing stuff out is a bitch, ideas are the easy part. Oh and I absolutely love how you want to shove a rusty shovel down Mystique's throat for the X-Men stuff in you review for 'The Road to Forever,' made me laugh. I read it and was like 'WTF are you doing to them?', in a summary anyway, I'm not willing to support Marvel or buy a comic book…It's uncanny how we have the same views on Sinister, Mystique, Belladonna…
Maginme: Thanks for your review, and don't worry, they'll be plenty of Mystique and Logan goodness, especially in this chapter. I agree with what you said about how few really expand on them or do it at all. The fact is that the two of them just seem to have so much chemistry and sexual tension, so I had to do them and I just think that they work well together. They would seem like a clash of personalities, but I think that's what attracts them to each other, a bit like Romy. I've just thought that on Evo that they seemed to have been in a relationship once, but got jilted by each other, hence the bitter feelings and anger, plus it was just that tension that they had. Plus, I just love it when together they're Rogue's parents. I really want to show them interacting. Once of the best fics for a bit of Logan with Mystique, I think is Extermination by Slickboy444, even though it's only hints of it.
Jade: Breathe with me, in out, in out. It's okay, don't worry, they'll get together eventually. I did this because I wanted to show some sexual tension, attraction, angst and chemistry with them. That, and OMG the angst. They'll get their act together, I promise, and I think you got some hints of Romy in how he thinks of her as being beautiful, and such, but there will be a reason why they are the way they are…I'm glad you like this fic, I like your enthusiasm and that you're still willing to read on.
CF: Thanks for your review. I say Hi to the squirrels back and I hope that they won't use the or else on me…I'm glad to have confuzzled my readers a bit at the beginning. I was dropping a few hints of who it may be. So sad to have taken Wolvie, I know, but it makes for an interesting plot. I say onward to the road of Romy and Johnda as well, so read on a drop a review, please. Oh yeah, Emil has to use his Mad Hacker Skillz ™ for something doesn't he, and what better way than to spy on Rogue and Remy with the gang for their first kiss. I just had to do that in 'The Road to Forever'.
Numbah 333 all the way 2 hell: Got one long name there, sweetie. Anyway, thanks for the review. The Kiotr, we shall see, but there shall be some in the next chapter, as this chapter will deal with the back story to this whole shebang, but there will for sure be Kiotr in the next chapter. The thing is, that Kitty, I think is the Valley girl with a brain, so she'll always be more than just the Valley girl in my book, and as for her role, who else is gonna be Rogue's best friend? Of course she'll have an important role and not just for her tech skills her powers are pretty helpful too.
Thanks to: Kitty-Phantom, bored247, Thanagarian Angel, Dannonspring, Realtfarraige, GothikStrawberry, and Spicy Sweet: Thanks for your kindness and encouragement. Romy fans unite!
simba317 is proud to present, without further adieu, the next chapter to 'Underground Resistance X'…
PART ONE: CHAPTER ONE: HOWTHE WORLD FALLS APART
The world has always been faulted, it's true, but no one had ever expected such persecution of one group of people, not after events in the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, Rwanda, Middle East, South Africa, the American civil rights movement and many more. However, it was not for creed or race, it was purely for blood, for genetics. Mutants, they say, are a impurity in the perfection that is the human race, especially when the genetics of the human make it so superior. It was simple, to be human was to be good and pure and to be mutant was to be evil and filth. They were a marked people from the moment of birth and were never given a chance to prove their worth.
It was many years ago that the mutant race first gained prominence in society. They were a budding subculture, one small facet of the world community and one that wouldn't really put a significant amount in the world population. They seemed strange phenomena. Sure, they had been around for some time, but in number so few and isolated and powers so frightening, especially in manifestation, it wasn't hard for the fear and paranoia to set in. They began to become targeted as the new scapegoat in society, much like Jews in Nazi Germany. It wasn't fair, for they were in every race of people, every creed, every culture and every country; it was purely because they were born differently, a tainted piece in their blood. The hysteria and bigotry against mutants became so bad that they were forced into hiding to protect their fragile lives.
But that was not all. Governments around the world began to see mutants as a menace. Their powers, they argued were dangerous and unpredictable and all mutants must be contained, controlled and kept away from society for their dangers. They based their ideals off the human riots and bigotry that had turned to violence against mutants and when they defended themselves, it was then that they pulled the trigger to the gun. They could no longer have the tainted genes in the society, nor could they have the dangers and violence that they brought with them. So the already outcasted mutants were marked a stain on existence. It was then that an international agreement was signed and all mutants called to be gathered, imprisoned and ultimately destroyed, or used for purposes of wiping out their own race. It was why the Three were so powerful.
This group of powerful men were given the power to control the mutant problem after the agreement was signed, the International Agreement on the Mutant Race. These men were given the power to control all prisons, camps, laboratories and other facilities pertaining to mutants where they were degraded and captured to be put to work, imprisonment and experimentation. For mutants had been stated as officially being not only a danger to human life, but not human, and therefore not able to continue their existence. They lost their rights, homes, property and what ever else they had to be subjected to cruelty.
It was in this utter terror that two men formed a pact, from here on, they would sit still no longer, they would ban together and set the world right again for future generations so that this discrimination could not happen again. Their names were Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr and these two men would go into years of hiding and build what is now known as the Underground Resistance X. A mysterious organization of rebels bent on freeing mutants imprisoned, gaining information on the plans of the Three and ultimately gaining the right to live free again like any other human on the planet in harmony. They built secret bases all around the world that have never been found by any government, any spy or army. They were just that good. They never got caught for anything and they stalked in the shadows. They were a mystery wrapped in an enigma. They were the rebellion and the hope that those not for persecution cheered for, they were the ones that you whispered stories about at night for that spark of happiness, they were legends, they were like Robin Hood, and they were the secret future.
Her name was Raven Darkholme. When she was 18, she married her childhood friend and love, brilliant scientist, Alfred Wagner. They were mutants, living a secretive existence in Germany, passing information to the rebellion as they had infiltrated and started working at a facility owned by the Three. Alfred Wagner had been a brilliant mind full of potential, the work done by that brain would assist not only the rebellion, but human life in general. He may have been young and just out of University with many degrees, at 19, but he was nothing short of a prodigy, and so he married his love, Raven, at 19. They were an unusual pair, but they complimented each other famously. Nine months after marriage, Raven would give birth to their pride and joy, Kurt. Though blue, with short fuzzy fur, a tail, and strange hands and feet, and knowing that they'd have to hide him, they loved him beyond all else. The only visible sign of Alfred's mutation were his pointed elf ears, the ones that he would give on to Kurt. One night their strange sort of happiness would end. (Yes, I KNOW Kurt's dad is Azazel, but work with me here, it's an AU)
"Alfred! Alfred!" cried an urgent voice banging at their door.
Alfred quickly excused himself from playing with his four year old son with his wife and opened the door of his humble home to see who it was. He was greeted with the image induced, worried face of one of his coworkers and fellow member of the Rebellion, Hank McCoy, also brilliant scientist.
"Vhat is it, Hank?" asked Alfred, looking at the worried face of his friend. It was then that he noticed the suitcase and thick travel clothes on the large man.
"I think they're on to us, Alfred," he said frantically, "The Mutant Strike Force is out and scanning the area. They'll capture us for sure. We have to hurry. We have to escape before it's too late. I'll help you pack. C'mon."
Alfred nodded and rushed the frazzled man inside his home to an equally worried Raven who had overheard the conversation and was already grabbing items and stuffing them into bags. Little Kurt sat confused on the small couch in the living room. Soon the two men joined her, and within minutes they were packed and about to scour the country side until they reached the secret base for protection.
"Vhat's going on, Mozher?" asked Kurt, puzzled.
"We're packing to leave, Kurt," said Raven sadly as she dashed into the kitchen to pack food for the journey.
"Vhy?" asked Kurt as his father entered the living room.
His father knelt beside him and said the few words that he would always remember, "because ve are different, Kurt, and zhe'll hurt us if zhey find us, terribly, but ve mustn't hate zhem for zhey know not what zhey do and are just following orders."
It was strange for his four year old mind to comprehend, but soon he found himself dressed in a red jumpsuit with a blue scarf, toque, gloves and boots to ward off the winter cold. He remembered being carried by his mother for the trip, the backpack on his mother's back and the suitcases that his father and Hank lugged with them as well as they trekked the forests for hours that night. He remembered the moon was full in the dark sky and that the stars twinkled above as well. He could feel the anxiousness off of the adults. Each would look back constantly.
They didn't rest, walking through the entire night at a grueling pace for they were running for their lives. The trees were dark mysterious sentinels and the path they took was narrow and rocky, and if you didn't know where you were going, you'd get lost easily. There were no markers to get to the base, just landmarks that each member ingrained into their memories.
For hours and hours they trudged on. A day had passed, and it was night again, yet they marched on. Darting in between the trees, rocks, and greenery, staying out of sight and not making noise, they moved through the woods. It had started snowing, the breaths they breathed, ragged from exhaustion could be seen in the air. Still his mother clutched him protectively and the night formed around them, the ink blue clouds, the royal purple black sky spotted with the glow of millions of silvery white stars and the light of the silver white moon. However, they stayed hidden in the shadows, not making footprints, so as not to be tracked.
They had reached a clearing in the trees, a meadow that would be rich with wildflowers in the summer, but know blanketed with a thick layer of pure iridescent white snow. A frozen river was to their right and the raw edge of a rocky cliff was to their left. This was the most dangerous part of their route, for a hundred feet, they'd be in the open and exposed. They couldn't use their powers to defend themselves, or use Alfred's powers of teleportation to port across, or they'd be found by the Mutant Strike Force or MSF, and their mutant power detection devices. So they stuck close to the cliff wall and hoped and prayed that they'd make it passed alive, for they were so close to the base, another two hours of walking.
Suddenly, they felt eyes on them, predatory human eyes. They looked at each other urgently and hurried on, hoping that they could make it, keeping quiet. They heard the telling rustle, the snapping of twigs and branches by boots, for the MSF instilled fear in mutants, and they always made it known at the last moment that their lives were about to end and made hell. They tortured them from the first sighting. But still, Alfred didn't port them, for that would give up their location to even more MSF operatives, and make it known that they were indeed mutants.
A leap could be heard, and that's when in all ended in horror and tragedy. They heard running behind them, of a single gunman, they didn't look back, they only ran, ran for their lives. They were so close to entering the cover of the trees at the other end, so terribly close to where they'd actually stand a chance of actually escaping and fighting the gunman with hand to hand battle.
A shot rang out in the end, a shot and a single spluttered groan as blood escaped from the victims lips.
"Oh my stars and garters…" cried out Hank McCoy sadly and with gravidity.
"Alfred! ALFRED!" screamed the high-pitched fear filled voice of Raven Darkholme.
"Daddy? Fazher?" asked a confused Kurt, eyes filled with horror and fear.
Alfred Kurt Wagner fell to the pillow like snow, his blood staining the pure white, a single bullet in his throat, cutting off his oxygen. He died upon that bullet entering his body. McCoy angered by this callous act, let out an angry and sad howl and attacked the gunman, he dropped to all fours and ran to the man, swiping his face and knocking him out cold, then walking over to his fallen friend. Raven Darkholme raced to her husband, son in hold. Dr. Hank But she knew, she knew he was gone, the moment she kneeled next to his body and let out her grief, fear, anger, and sorrow in heavy tears. Kurt released himself from his mother's grip and went to his father's side.
"Daddy, Daddy? Vake up! Vake up, please! Daddy, please vake up, please. Daddy, please, it's me Kurt. You alvays listen to me, Daddy! Daddy, please…Help, me, Mommy, why won't Daddy vake up?" cried a anxious emotional little boy as he shook his father's side, but his father would not awake, the man's startling blue eyes forever opened in shock, at the end of his short life. Tears began to run down the little boy's face as he realized the situation while a saddened Beast looked on to the terrible scene, drops of blood glinting on his claws from when he swiped the sniper. Henry whispered a prayer to his friend and closed his eyes. (I know, it's really, really sad. I took a page out of the Lion King. Mufasa dying makes me cry every time.)
"Raven, Raven, w-w-we have to go, now. I-I-I'm so sorry," said Hank, his voice shaking with the emotion of his friend's death and his tears, sadness and mourning in his deep blue eyes, his ears drooped in his upset state, clasping Raven's shoulder in sorrow and comfort, "we'll pick him up later."
"Ve can't leave Daddy, Uncle Hank! Mommy, we can't leave daddy, right? Right, mommy?" asked a confused and saddened Kurt.
Raven Darkholme hardened in that moment, upon hearing her son's scared and shaken voice. No, no matter how much she wanted to take her husband with her, and give him medical attention to save him, in her heart she knew it was too late, and she could only do her husband's wish and protect herself and their son, live for him, and escape, to make sure that his sacrifice would not go in vain.
"I-I-I'm so s-s-sory, Kurt, but we have to leave him," cried out Raven, choking on her sobs, and having to be gathered and comforted by Hank's comforting embrace.
"No! NO! Ve can't leave him! Ve can't leave him…" cried Kurt, in tears, scared of all that was going on, shaking his head in denial.
"Kurt," said Hank, kneeling down and putting a heavy paw like hand on the boy's small shoulder, "we have to, I'm so sorry, but we have to," he said, pain and sorrow in his voice. Kurt let out a grief filled sob and ran into Hank's furry embrace. The big blue furry man hefted up the small boy and with that, he and a dazed Raven Darkholme walked in misery towards the forest, not 10 feet away.
Kurt's quiet sobs could still be heard as they hiked through the rough uneven wooden land. Not half an hour later, a whizzing noise zoomed through the forest, causing Hank McCoy to stumble and fall. Before he could react, another shot whizzed by and impacted into his back, two red spots on his torso starting to form. Raven and Kurt looked on horrified as Hank handed Kurt to Raven.
"Go Raven! Go! Don't stop! Go!" cried Hank as he doubled over in pain as a third shot smashed into his body, causing the kind gentle, beast looking man to collapse to the ground unconscious from all the pain, the snow turning scarlet.
Raven didn't look back as she clutched Kurt and darted between the cover of the trees. She ran as fast as she could not daring to use her powers to hide them, lest she wanted a horde of MSF operatives to know their location. Her breathe came in jagged puffs, still she knew, knew that there was another gunman behind them, more MSF operatives that had gone to find their fallen comrade.
She sped up, wanting to make it to the base as fast as she could, before they were both killed as well. Crack! The sound of a bullet as it crashed into a tree could be heard, Raven knew that the sniper had spotted them and was shooting. She squatted behind a tree.
"Kurt, Kurt, listen to me, when I tell you to run, do so, you know where to go. Promise me that you'll listen to me," Raven requested of her already scarred son as small scared, mournful tears still spilled down his fuzzy face.
"Ja, Mozher," whispered Kurt. Even in his confused state, he understood that he had to listen to his mother.
Raven nodded, looked behind her quickly, to see if the sniper was in sight, seeing that he wasn't, she bolted from the tree and sprinted off in the direction of the base, but still weaving enough to throw off the location. She rushed on, faster and faster, when all of a sudden, pain exploded in her back, causing her to stumble and fall, dropping Kurt. Her desperate emotional and pain filled eyes stared into the frightened ones of his son, as the slick red blood from her back ran into the white snow of the forest floor, tainting it in deep crimson.
"Run, Kurt!" she chocked out before her golden eyes widened as another bullet hit her in the back, causing her to grunt at the pain.
"Mozher!" screamed Kurt, fear edged in his voice.
"Go, go, please Kurt!" whispered Raven as unconsciousness took her.
Kurt got up stumbled and began to run in the direction that his parents had ingrained into him as being the safe place, the place to go if anything went bad. He scampered along as fast as his four year old legs could take him.
He had not run for long, his breaths coming up in small puffs, when a loud band echoed in the silence of the forest. A net sprang forth and began to consume him, but Kurt rolled out of the way, a scurried away, running for a small distance before another net came hurtling towards him at breakneck speed and he knew that he could dodge it. The net encapsulated him and caused him to lurch and fall to the soft snow. He rolled in a ball frightened, somehow his four year old mind could comprehend that something terrible was about to occur.
A single man wearing black army fatigues and a fur lined hat with flaps to cover his ears appeared before him.
"Well, well, well, look what we've got here," he said amused, "it's a little demon boy."
"Good job Klaus," said another man wearing the same outfit who Kurt recognized as the man Beast had swiped down from the bloody claw marks on his cheek.
"Thank you, Niklas," he said, "He's young, perfect for the labor prison, or the lab."
"He is, we take him to the lab, Essex will be most interested in him," said Niklas in a cold voice. (Yes, I know that I'm changing some of Essex's goals…but it's AU, my fic, and my power as the authoress to do whatever the hell I want, besides, he's freaking evil.)
"So we shall," said Klaus with a predatory laugh.
He name was Marie, she was four years old. She had dark cinnamon colored wavy auburn hair with a frosty white veil with the strands of hair that were her bangs and deep emerald green eyes. Her father had been a mutant, a mutant that the lynch mobs had found out about, thus ruining the little happiness that he and her mother had made for her in their little home by the banks of the Mississippi River. Her mother had not cared about that, she had loved her father dearly as she had loved Marie dearly.
The lynch mobs had found her father out, and that night, gathered outside their small whitewashed house, tossing lit torches into the house until it began to catch on fire. The had already stormed inside and beat her father to a bloody pulp on the front porch while she and her mother hid in the master bed room above, watching in horror as the poor man stopped moving whatsoever. When they were done with her father, they began to enter the house, pouring gasoline as they went, looking for the two missing people that resided in the house. Her mother clutched Marie close to her as she hid in the closet, knowing that they'd come for her and Marie.
"Marie, listen to meh, tha passage in this closet lead to tha attic. Ah'm too big to fit through, but honey, yah're not, so Ah want ya ta climb through and get out of tha house from tha lattice that goes outsahde tha window, lahke we did last week when we went out ta look at tha stars with ya daddy, remember us climbing down from tha roof?" said the frightened young woman. Marie nodded.
"Good, Ah want ya ta climb out from tha attic, understand?" asked her mother.
"Yes, momma," said the frightened little girl, "but whah?"
"Because, honey, those people down there, they don't understand us, and are too blinded bah hate to do any different. They catch ya, and they'll do terrible things to you, but always remember that they're blinded, and when the blindness is lifted, they'll see tha lahght," she told to her daughter, "Take this," she continued unclasping a silver necklace with a delicate butterfly pendant and clasping it around her daughter's neck, "Yoah daddy gave it ta me when he first told meh he loved meh, it'll protect ya, and you'll have somethin' ta remembah us bah."
Her brain was too young to process the gravity of what those words meant, but she knew from her mother's tone of voice, and fear in her body language, that it was bad.
"Climb bah tha sahde hidden bah ivy, and keep outta saight, girl, got it?" asked her mother.
"Yes," said Marie nodding.
"Good, sweetie, remember that ya daddy and Ah love ya, no matter what, even though you maight not evah see us again, alright?" said the woman with tears in the green eyes she passed to her little girl.
"Okay, momma, Ah love ya too," said Marie, not quite understanding why her mother would say this. The truth was her mother was ready to sacrifice herself, so that her child could escape.
"Good, honey, now hurry," whispered her mother as she pulled open the passage to the attic on the ceiling of the closet. She then hefted Marie through and placed her on the ledge.
"I love you, Marie, now go," said her mother as she closed the passage off from her daughter as the sounds of many people entered the bedroom, trashing items before finding her mother and beating her. Marie could hear her mother's cries as she crawled in the darkness of the attic. The night was already bright with the flames that were devouring their home. She crawled on until she reached the window that they had all crawled out of last week and climbed onto the lattice to reach the roof to watch the stars. The lattice also lead to the ground as well and was on the side of the house about five meters away from where the next house started, it was also deserted.
Marie carefully and soundlessly lifted up the window and slowly but surely lifted herself onto the ledge of the window. Balancing precariously on the ledge of the window, she crawled to the lattice and began to make her climb down to the ground many floors below. When she finally made it down, she climbed the fence to the neighbor's house and hid in their backyard for awhile until the noises from the riot died down. Later that night, she began to follow the river to God knows where. Her emerald green t-shirt, faded jeans with butterfly patches and white sneakers were already worn, but now they were dirty from the climb and her subsequent walk by the river. Her wavy hair swayed in the wind and the small silver necklace around her neck that her mother had given her jangled slightly.
She had walked for what seemed like hours, without stopping, the beating of her father and the screams of her mother still haunting her mind. Suddenly, she heard a shout.
"That's her, the mutant kid that escaped the house," shouted a voice; she spotted a man in black army fatigues with the letters MSF on his left chest pocket. She had remembered seeing other mutants being taken and beaten by those men and knew that if they caught her, it would be horrific, so she ran with all her might that her small four year old legs could carry. A loud bang exploded in the air and a net was flung towards her, trapping her in its depths, making her immobile, she tried to struggle but it was no use.
"The boss will be pleased. He's gonna use the young ones to test on how to destroy the X-gene, since it's still developing," said another man as he approached his comrade.
"Yeah, Essex will totally be pleased," said the man with a cold smile, "it's time to ship this little sweetheart off to Siberia with the rest of them."
A white cloth was pressed over her nose and mouth that had a burning sweet scent, making her pass out.
"And this is where you'll be stayin' girlie, enjoy the view," laughed a cruel man as he tossed Marie into a cell with black electric gates and cold steel walls, with such force that she hit the wall with an smacking noise, before she yelped in pain and fell to the floor. The electric gate then slammed shut as the codes all reset and locked her in. However, she was not alone in the cell. She had been loaded on a plane with some other mutants and flown to the prison in Siberia.
A boy with golden eyes, blue fur and hair, two toed feet, three fingered hands, pointed ears, fangs and a long prehensile tail approached the fallen girl slowly.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Are you alvright?"
The girl moaned and Kurt helped her up to a sitting position.
"Sorta," she whispered back, "who are you?" She asked curiously with no fear towards the boy's appearance.
"I am Kurt Wagner," he said in a German accented voice, "Vhat is your name?"
"Mah name is Marie," she said back, "Where am Ah?"
"I'm not zure. All I know iz zhat zhey come get you and then bring you to a big scary room, where zhey make you go to sleep, and vhen you vake up you're back in your cell. Zhe food is alright zhough, not too bad," said Kurt glad to finally have some company again and someone to talk to besides his fearful thoughts and pained memories.
"Do ya know what happens in the room?" asked Marie with fear from what her mother had told her. Kurt shook his head, his deep blue hair flapping a bit.
"Are there any other people here besahdes the mean people who wear black and you?" asked Marie.
"Ja," he said, Marie gave a confused look, "It means yes, and zhere are ozher people like us in cells and a man vearing all vhite in zhe big scary room. He's zhe one zhat makes you fall asleep."
"Oh," said Marie, "It's cold in here." She rubbed her arms, trying to get warm.
"I know. Here's my blanket," said Kurt, holding up a ratty old red blanket, "I'll zhare it vith you."
"Okay," said Marie, "do you know when we'll eat?" She snuggled up next to Kurt with the blanket over both of them.
"Soon, afther zhe man in vhite walks down zhe halls and looks at all of us," said Kurt.
Suddenly, the clanging of boots could be heard as a man in black boots and slacks, and a long white lab coat stalked the halls with one of the MSF agents at his side. He had black hair slicked back, cold stone eyes and pale skin.
"We put the new one in the cell with the blue boy," said the MSF agent pointing to the cell which held Kurt and Marie.
"Thank you, officer. That will be all, you may give the order to give them food, now," said the man in the lab coat in a deep baritone voice.
"Yes, Dr. Essex," said the officer as he headed off in the opposite direction to give orders.
Nathaniel Essex approached the cell and bent slightly, peering in to see Kurt and Marie huddled together in the cold, watching him with fearful eyes, causing a slow smile to spread on his face as he said, "I'll be seeing you two, soon…" He then straightened up and went to see his other lab patients.
"He's creepy," said Marie.
"Ja, he is," said Kurt as the gate once again slid open and two trays of plain food were pushed through.
The two children then crawled to the food and began to eat it hungrily. It consisted of some warm thick soup, bread, a portion of vegetables, meat, cheese and a glass of milk each.
"It tastes kinda funny," said Marie, tasting her food.
"I know but you kinda get used to it," said Kurt.
"Where'd ya get that?" asked Marie concerning a dark swollen welt against Kurt's left eye.
"If you're not careful, zhen zhe guards, zhey hurt you," he said sadly, "so be careful vhen zhey enter and you'll be okay."
"Okay…So how long have you been here anyway?" asked Marie.
"A few months, I zhink," said Kurt, "Do you know vhat month it is?"
"Ah think it's March now," said Marie.
"Zhen I have been here for about two months, I zhink," said Kurt sadly, "I really miss my mozher and fazher."
"Me too," said Marie, "what happened to them?"
"They were shot vhen ve vere running vith Uncle Hank, who vas shot too," said Kurt sadly as he looked away, sipping his soup, "What happened to yours?"
"Mah daddy was beat real bad and Ah think momma was too," said Marie, her voice breaking.
Kurt didn't say anything, just hugged her, she hugged back too. In that moment they formed a strong bond. They were the only ones that could understand each other, the only ones that they could talk to and the only ones that this seemed to be happening to, or so they thought to themselves. From then on, they became like brother and sister, sharing what little they could with each other. They became close because of their losses and the situation in which they were thrust upon. They promised then, to take care of each other and to look out for each other, because at that moment, they were all that they had in the world that had taken so much away from them.
"Gahrrrrr," sounded the thoaty growl, followed by much banging, punching being thrown and cursing, that was the sound that wakened Marie and Kurt about three weeks after Marie had arrived.
"Get him back," shouted a voice. Marie and Kurt slowly made their way to the front of their cell, gazing into the hall to see, many guards dragging a snarling, snapping hairy man, fighting all the way. His dark hair was messy, and he had tons of wounds covering his stocky frame. They were all large and appeared to be fatal, and yet this man had not received medical attention and was fighting as if he had no injury at all. He was a caged animal. The man's face was ensnared in a scowl. Claws erupted from his hands and he began to slash at the guards causing injury to many. The man didn't give up, as more guards approached him, it only caused him to anger even more and attack more violently, the guards were sporting some rather large lacerations on their bodies. Suddenly, another man appeared, the commanding officer of the guards and with him a squadron carrying tranquilizer guns with enough tranquilizer to make a rhino go down.
They began to shoot the darts at him, but barely slowing the wild man down. It seemed to be no use. The tranquilizers were taking no effect. The commanding officer brought out his electrocution rod as well as the rest of his squadron and they approached the beast, now distracted by the remaining guards that were still putting up a fight. Walking wearily up to the man, the squadron all poked the rods at the enraged mutant at the same time, sending wild forks of electricity onto his body, making it steam. The man howled in pain, causing Kurt and Marie to cover their sensitive ears, and fell down unconscious. The men trying to control the out of control animal all breathed a sigh of relief and dragged their injured comrades for medical attention, leaving the head squadron to deal with the feisty mutant. (Wow, I just noticed that I really torture Logan in my fics, but hey, the guy can heal, and it's only physical pain…I mean he's rather unangsty right now…)
"Put him in that cell," said the commanding officer pointing to Kurt and Marie's cell.
"Are you sure you want to put him in with children?" asked another officer.
"Who cares? Besides, it's the only one with room, plus Blue Boy and Streak Girl need a friend," he said with a laugh, causing the questioner to smile. The rest of the guards hefted the man up and headed towards Kurt and Marie's cell. Marie and Kurt backed into their corner, not wanting to be beaten again. The gate hissed open and the men tossed the burly mutant into the room, where he landed with a thud on the floor, sliding a few inches. The gate then slid back into place and reset.
"Is it alahve?" asked Marie.
"I don't know, let's take a look," said Kurt. The two children crawled forward to investigate the man on the floor of their cell. When they reached his side, Rogue said, "Well, he looks like he's breathing. Touch him."
"Nein, you touch him," said Kurt.
"Eww…no, he's steaming," said Marie.
"Fine, we both touch him zhen," finished Kurt.
"Fine," said Marie agreeing. The two children looked at each other and poked the man in front of them with an outstretched finger.
"He's squishy," said Kurt.
"Yeah, he is," said Marie as they both continued to poke repeatedly as well as faster at the unconscious, bleeding, and injured man.
Suddenly, the man groaned and opened his eyes, sifting his weight and moving into a sitting position, causing the children to back away quickly.
"Didn't yer parents ever tell ya not ta poke someone, kids," said the man in a deep gruff voice, wincing in pain and checking his body for any further damage. His healing factor began to work, but at a delayed pace due to the negation field in the cell.
"No," said Kurt and Marie in unison, completely innocent looks on their faces, shuffling away from him with scared looks on their faces. As far as they'd known, they'd probably angered a sleeping bear.
The man sighed, "Don't worry, I won't hurt ya," he said making eye contact and raising his hands in a non threatening manner. The kids inched closer to their new cellmate.
"What happened ta yer folks, anyway?" asked the man cautiously, but already knowing the answer what with everything that was going on these days. Both children looked away from him and to their hands, fiddling slightly, if he didn't know better, he'd think they were twins or something, but due to the different accents and appearances, he ascertained that they had just bonded in this place of horrors.
"I'm sorry to see that," said the man sincerely with a pained look, "You can call me Logan. What's yer names?"
"I am Kurt Wagner," said the blue boy with golden eyes.
"I'm Marie," said the girl with white bangs softly.
"So how did you get here?" asked Kurt.
"I'm not sure that I should be telling you," said Logan wearily. You never told little kids frightening stories before bed. But then, considering the circumstances, he was sure that these two kids had seen much worse than what he could tell them about his capture.
"Please, Logan, Ah haven't heard a story in so long," begged Marie with widened green eyes that you just couldn't refuse. She would learn to use that to her advantage for years to come against Logan.
"Ja, Logan, please," begged Kurt as well, with his eyes slightly watering in a puppy dog look, ears drooped and tail swishing slightly. These kids would be the death of him, he decided in that moment.
Logan sighed and reluctantly began to tell them of his capture. He had been in a caged bar fight near Fort McMurray, in Northern Alberta in Canada, to earn some cash (I'm Canadian, so yes I can name cities in remote Alberta)…umm…he had been in a dark tavern deep, similar to the Prancing Pony in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring, in the wilds of Canada in a small town and was in a fight to win the 'Magic Growth Potion' to make him tall…he had been winning the fight, when the battlers figured out that there was something up with him because he never seemed to injure due to his healing factor…umm…due to his magic powers…the barkeep pulled out a gun and was about to shoot him for being a mutant, so he unsheathed his claws and sliced the gun to uselessness…umm…the tavern owner pulled out his magic wand and was about to put him into an eternal sleep, but he unsheathed his claws and destroyed it…however, by that time, the MSF had been called and had apprehended him…umm…the evil gnomes had been summoned…after a lengthy battle, in which men were injured, furniture was shattered and property destroyed, they had captured him when they prodded him with electric rods and shot him with tranquilizers along with other firearms…umm…the gnomes had used their magic powers on him and apprehended him….the MSF had then flown him back to their base where he awakened and he caused hell…the gnomes had then transported him to the base were they transformed into the black garbed men were he fought them…
What he didn't tell him was that he had most of his memories missing due to the last time the MSF had taken him and his adamantium skeleton was implanted, then he escaped and that he could've sworn that before then he had been with some old bald guy in a wheel chair…and that after that the memories got hazy before leading to vague memories of him running rampant in a forest somewhere, living like an animal, and before that even hazier memories of what seemed like World War II, which was impossible, because he didn't look over 40, and he had looked the same during that time.
"Yah're reallah good at tellin' stories, Mr. Logan," said Marie with a cute smile, still wide eyed and attentive due to his story.
"Ja," said Kurt, then yawning, "Tuck us in?" he asked, and Logan could not refuse, because he knew that the kids really needed someone to do that for them, that no one had been giving them that for awhile, and they were kids, dammit, they deserved that.
They're too goddamned cute for their own good, he thought, pulling the worn blanket over them and falling asleep beside them in front of the gate, to protect them.
A month had gone by since Logan had joined them, and things had been steadily getting worse for them at the prison, they were made to go to the lab, Logan had told them that was what it was, more often, the guards were beating them up more, despite Logan's best efforts to protect his self-appointed charges, and they were given meager meals. However, it did not stop them from celebrating Kurt's fifth birthday in mid-March, nor Marie making Logan sing 'Happy Birthday' with her for him. They had given Kurt extra soup that night as a present, and Kurt knew that it was the thought and gesture that counted in that action, and he was most honored that they'd do that for him. Kurt and Marie had come to be like Logan's children and he knew that the kids saw him like the father that they had each lost.
He was young, with cold steel eyes and greasy brown hair, one of the worse and most bigoted guards in the entire work prison, and he entered their small cell to 'check up' on his charges. His heavy hobnailed boots made high pitched slapping tingling noises on the steel floor in the halls of the cells. He was coming closer to their small cell. They heard him stop in front of the electric gate with an electric field to keep the inmates in, pressed the proper code, swiped his key card, and put his thumb on the pad for fingerprint identification. The gate opened about three feet, and the man entered, the electric field building again as he entered, but still leaving the gate open, as if to taunt the prisoner mutants.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he said as he stalked in front of Kurt and Marie. Marie and Kurt sat cowered in a corner. The two small children were huddled together in a tight ball, holding each other, shaking with terror, eyes wide with fear as they looked onto the man approaching them, breathing ragged and fast, whimpering could be heard as well from them in anticipation of their treatment.
He kneeled low as he stopped in front of the two children, causing them to close their eyes in fear. He laughed at their reaction, a cruel heartless sound, taking pleasure in their fear. They were already beaten and battered, and now they'd be more so.
"Why it's a pair of despicable mutie kids, all ready to be cleansed," he said with a malign smirk. He started with a loud booming near shout but finished in a hushed whisper with the word 'cleansed.'
He made a fist and punched Kurt in the jaw, causing the boy to yelp in pain, his head snapping back. The force caused him to fly several feet to the right. He hoisted up Marie and threw her to the floor, and let her slide several feet, before going to her and kicking her hard in the stomach, as she rolled into the defensive ball position. She howled in pain as he landed each kick painfully. As he got bored, he went up to Kurt, picked him up and flung him to the wall, then punched him a few times in the gut, causing the boy to scream in pain and cry.
Logan's dormant eyes, snapped open to the sounds of the children being beaten, furious. He let out a low growl.
"Leave. Them. Alone." Breathed Logan, violence and venom in his voice. The only reason he had not awaken earlier was due to the drugs in his system from the recent experimentation.
"You got somethin' t' say, MUTIE?" shouted the guard upon hearing the Wolverine utter those words.
All of a sudden, with an inhuman speed Logan unsheathed his claws, with the holes bleeding profusely due to the inactive healing factor due to the negation field, pinned the guard to the wall and lifted the man a foot off the groud.
"You leave them alone, or I'll cut out your throat, bub," breathed the burly Canadian into the guard's ear low and dangerous. The guard reached for his electric rod and poked Logan in the stomach causing the man to fall to the ground howling in pain from the new torture to his already partially healing body.
"Yeah, I didn't think so, mutie," said the guard smugly, straightening his uniform and strutting out of the cell like he owned the place.
Slowly, and cautiously after recovering from their pain, Kurt and Marie timidly crawled to Logan's pained side.
"Thank you," whispered Kurt, gratefully.
"Yah're very brave," whispered Marie as well.
Logan opened his kind and saddened intense grey blue eyes, "Yer welcome. Ya don't deserve this, any of this, kids. I promise, with all my heart, to get ya outta here. You can hold me to that, I promise you." Logan saw the hope well up in their young eyes that had already seen too much of the bad in the world, and he knew that he would do all in his power to keep that promise to those two children.
He felt two small weights snuggle up to his chest for warmth in sleep in the cold dank cell. He let out a small smile at the action of the two of the kids and wrapped his strong mangled arms around their tiny bodies, hugging them close, before they all drifted into a troubled sleep. Kurt and Marie in this simple action had given Logan the humanity he needed to become the human again, a reason to live and a reason to fight.
"Take him," said the evil guard with the greasy hair. It had been another two months had passed. Several other guards began to apprehend Logan, but he fought them off, and soon all of them were bloodied. Logan never went without a fight, he made sure of that. Today, however, they weren't using the high grade tranquilizer though, which puzzled them.
A gun was heard cocking and twin whimpers of fear causing Logan to stop beating the guards.
"How about this, mutie, you come quietly, and I won't kill your precious little kids?" said the guard evilly, "I'll even let you say goodbye before we transfer you to the lab in the Mojave, since Essex is starting hate the cold." Logan immediately withdrew.
"Good, we'll give you five minutes, when we get back, you'll come quietly or your little friends will get their brains blown out," said the spiteful guard.
"Fine," growled Logan. The guards left and Logan went towards the kids.
"We'll miss ya, Logan," said Rogue, coming up to give him a hug, tears in her big emerald eyes. She and Kurt had really begun to think of Logan as their dad after losing their own so callously.
"Ja," said Kurt, he too came to Logan and gave him a big hug, eyes watering and voice cracking, his tail and ears drooped in sadness.
Logan wrapped his arms around the two kids and said, "I'll miss you too, as well."
"Just remember that I keep my promises and that I will get you two out," he looked each of them in the eyes and watched to see if they understood. They nodded.
"Buck up, you two, you'll be out there again before you know it," said Logan giving them a rare smile that was truly sincere, tapping each of their chins and causing them to smile through their tears.
The guards began to come back, so he hurried.
"Goodbye, Kurt, goodbye Marie, be good, and I'll see you soon," said Logan as he followed the guards out of the cell, but not before being cuffed with negation cuffs. As he walked to the plane, he hoped and prayed that he'd be able to keep his promise to those two kids.
Okay, so here's Chapter One, Part One. Part Two will be much of the same except that it will deal with some of the rest of the characters. Remy's past will be revealed and Kurt, Marie and Logan will be rescued as well as Hank and Ororo joining in...If it doesn't run too long, Kitty's, Piotr's John's and Wanda's pasts will come into play too. However, they'll probably show up in Part Three of Chapter One. I'll probably put the first Romy meeting into play too in Part Three, so stay tuned.
REVIEW! It will help convince me to work a little quicker and post up the Romy bits. Although I got the Remy bit written out. I think you'll like it.
simba317
