A/N: Well, here we are, chapter 5. These chapters just keep getting longer and longer! I almost put the mission in the final part of the chapter as the start of chapter six, but in the end, I decided that six has a little bit of a theme to it, and this mission would have disrupted that theme.
At any rate, there will be three more chapters after this one, at least that's the current plan. (When I started writing this, I'd only planned on it being 6 chapters long, so I may end up extending it further.) And, just so you know, because of the other story I'm writing, the posting of this one may be a bit slower.
Also, because of the somewhat graphic violence in this chapter, I have decided to re-rate this as R/M as of now.
Disclaimer, once again, cuz apparently it's what's needed here: I don't own X-Men! It's not for lack of wishing, though!
Chapter 5- Shadows of the Past
It had been an hour since John had hit Kurt with his fireball. Kurt had been rushed into the emergency room, the same room John had been in the night before, and Hank had been in there with him since then. Charles had gone upstairs to his study for some reason, he hadn't elaborated on why, while Logan and Kitty were in the observation room watching Hank work. That left Ororo and John alone in the waiting room.
John was sitting in one of the chairs with his face in his hands, he had been this way since they walked into the room. Storm had been pacing the room some of the time, and sitting in a chair near John at others. Neither of them had said anything since coming into the room, though she had opened her mouth several times to speak, but had closed it each time without saying anything.
A heavy sigh from John caught Ororo's attention. "John?" He looked up at her, and she couldn't tell for sure what was going through his mind. His face seemed to be a mixture of anger, hatred, confusion, and fear, and if she was honest, he looked like he didn't know what was happening. "Are you all right?"
"Not really, no." Storm knelt down to look at his eye with concern, and noticed for the first time that his nose had also been bruised. He probably broke it during the fight at some point, though it looks like he fixed it. John apparently wasn't using his powers, because he didn't respond to her thoughts, at least not immediately. He did put his hand up to stop her from touching his bruise though. "Physically, I'm fine. My eye, my nose, they're already healing, and in a few days they'll be nothing more than a memory." Storm looked at him a little bit confused now, if he wasn't physically hurt, then what was wrong?
Before she could ponder that question more, the doors opened and Kitty walked out with Logan. Kitty noticed John, and her she immediately became angry. "What the hell are you doing here? Did you come here to gloat?"
John had been wrestling with several emotions, and now that Kitty was talking to him, anger was starting to win out. John stood up as his expression changed from confusion to anger. Logan noticed this and before John could say anything he stepped between the two. "John, you don't want to start more trouble."
Storm, realizing Kitty's emotional state and that it was going to cause a problem, decided to try to help separate the two. "Come on, child. Let's go find another way to relieve your tension, all right?" She led Kitty to the door, while adding. "Hank wants to look at John's injuries from the fight." Kitty didn't take her eyes off John until she could no longer see him for the door shutting.
John sighed and sat back down, looking at Logan. "I really made a mess of things, didn't I?" It was more of a statement than a question. John was aware that Kitty was holding him responsible for Kurt's injury. Truth be told, John was holding himself responsible as well, so he couldn't blame her.
"Hey, bub, why don't we wait until the professor talks to us. I don't think it's going to be as bad as it seems." Logan realized that even he wouldn't believe what he was saying, and he knew that the psychic sitting before him wasn't impressed, but he knew he had to say something. "Kitty is upset because this is the first time since the two of them started dating that he's actually been injured. Give it time and she'll get over it."
"No, she won't. She has no reason to." John closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. He knew that he was going to be tired after the fight, but the emotional strain that he'd been under for the last hour was draining him more than he'd anticipated, even as he was sitting there. Out of respect for Kurt's privacy, he'd intentionally refrained from using his telepathy to see what was going on in the other rooms, but he knew that it probably wasn't too good if it was taking Dr. McCoy this long to come to see him. "I know he'll live, but I'm worried that I did more damage than I initially thought."
Before Logan could respond, the door to the lab opened and Hank walked out. "Well, Kurt's unconscious, but he'll survive. He'll probably have a little scarring and he'll need to rest until after the holiday, but he should make a full recovery." He looked at John, seeming to notice his injury for the first time. "Let's take a look at you, shall we?"
"It's not necessary, Hank, but if you insist, I suppose I can't refuse, can I?" John smirked at Hank, but both men knew it was a false smile.
Hank knelt down to look at the eye carefully. He poked it lightly, and John winced a little, and after examining both it and John's nose, Hank smiled at his patient. "Well, it looks like you've already set your broken nose, and both of your injuries are looking like they're starting to heal. I guess you really do have some advanced healing."
"I do, but nowhere near as advanced as his." John nodded toward Logan as he spoke. "It works quite a bit faster than a normal person's ability, but I don't know if I could survive a bullet or a stab to a vital organ, like my heart, and honestly, I don't want to find out, either."
Logan snorted at John's comment, which John took to meant as a "thank you" for the implied compliment. Hank stood up and turned to the other mutant. "Well, I suppose I don't need to look you over. Your shoulder is burned, but it's almost all healed already, and any other wounds you received will be automatically taken care of by this evening, I'd assume."
"Yeah, Doc. I'll be fine. If there's nothing else, we need to go see the professor." He started for the door, with John standing up and nodding to Hank before following.
Charles looked up as Logan and John walked into his study on the first floor of the mansion. "Well, I take it Hank has seen you." Of course, the professor already knew the answer, but he still asked anyway.
"Yes, there isn't anything he can do to help me any more than my body already is." John sat down in one of the two brown leather chairs across the desk from Xavier, and Logan sat in the other.
"That's good, I suppose. How's Kurt?" The professor looked at both men with some concern on his face. The events of the last few hours had been rough on everyone, and he knew that John, Logan, Kurt, and Kitty were hit hardest for various reasons. John appeared to be struggling to keep his emotions in check, and Charles could tell that he was conflicted, though John's mental barriers prevented him from digging very deep into the young man's mind.
Logan, on the other hand, was easy to read. He was just barely containing his anger. Charles didn't really know for sure who Logan was angry with, but it wasn't hard to see what was on his mind, even if he wasn't psychic. Even so, it was the older mutant that answered. "He'll be fine if he gets some rest. There was no permanent damage, though he may have some scarring."
Charles smiled lightly at this. Everything considered, nobody getting seriously injured was probably a blessing. "Well, then, I suppose we should move on to other things. John..."
John had been staring off somewhere, his thoughts obviously not on what the professor was saying, but when he heard his name called his attention came back to the two in the room. "Sorry, sir. I'm a little distracted with everything that's happened today."
"It's all right, I know you didn't mean to do what you did. That's not the reason you're here right now. This morning, I ran your name through every database I could, and I have found absolutely nothing about anyone named John Kerogi except for a birth certificate from sometime in the early 1980's in Franklin County, Missouri. However, even the names of the parents have been removed from the certificate."
John chuckled lightly at Charle's statement. "I'm a ghost, I always have been. I suppose I should have mentioned that to begin with, but it didn't seem that important. Honestly, I'm surprised that there's any data on my existence at all, considering that the Organization tried their best to make it look like I didn't exist."
"As for my family, I don't know what my dad did with the military, although I do know it was classified. Even his marriage to my mother was considered top secret, as she could potentially be a security risk." John closed his eyes and shook his head, the memories of his childhood playing through his mind. "When he retired, we moved to a small town in northern Missouri, and he worked as a security consultant with someone he knew from his own childhood. It was two years after that when I was..." John stopped for a minute, his eyes beginning to well up in tears.
"Thanks to them, I am nobody and I have nothing, no past, no future." John's sadness was turning quickly into anger, and both men were concerned about his sudden apparent emotional swings. He paused again, obviously aware that his companions were uncomfortable around him, and tried to calm himself down before continuing. "There are no records of my existence other than those that the Organization has on their computers. Most of my life I have been using aliases in public, and in private I have been a slave. I'm sorry I can't help you more than that."
Before anyone could say anything else, the computer behind Charles started beeping. The professor turned around and typed something on the keyboard, and an article appeared on the screen in front of the three men. The article was a four year old report from a British newspaper about an explosion of a passenger ship at sea. In the article it mentioned a terrorist suspect being believed to be on board the vessel, and that the ship had exploded before a UN military unit could board it. One of the most prominent things the article had was a picture of what would be assumed to be the ship in question engulfed in flame.
As Charles and Logan read it, they became aware of John's anxiety and confusion toward the article. It was Charles who spoke first. "You are considered a terrorist?"
"Only in certain circles." John pointed at the picture. "Can you blow that up? Make it full screen?" A few clicks by Charles and the picture took up the entire screen, as John had requested. "That photo, it is of the Euphrates, but I don't know how it was taken."
Now Logan was a little confused. "What does that mean?"
"The ship was over 150 miles out to sea when it exploded, and it wasn't from a terrorist attack, at least not one on my part." John pointed to the front end of the ship, where there was a flaming hole in the side of the hull. "That hole was from a helicopter impact, not a bomb or missile."
Logan was getting angry that John had only partially answered his question, and he glared at the younger mutant, who continued after a few seconds. "There were two helicopters, both of them military, probably Organization, though I can't confirm that. They attacked, and those of us on the ship fought back, we shot down one, and I damaged the other one, but it hit the ship's side before it hit the water. It was the chopper that sank that ship, not me." He looked at Charles as he added. "And it was definitely NOT a passenger ship, though it was classified as one. Other than myself, everyone on board was either on the ship's crew or belonged to a paramilitary group that was using it as a mobile base."
"So, why were you on the ship?"
John sighed at Charles' question and sat back down in the chair. "It is a long story, one that I don't think I can properly tell." He closed his eyes and rubbed them, wincing as he rubbed the bruise along the right one, before continuing. "I can, however, show you. That is, if you'll both let me into your minds for a few minutes."
Logan was not excited about that request. "No way you're going anywhere near my mind, bub! Not without a good reason."
John looked at Logan for a second, his face not showing much emotion other than exhaustion. "What I plan to do is share my memories with you two, at least as much as is needed for you to understand the circumstances surrounding the destruction of that ship." He sighed and continued. "In order for you to understand why I was on the ship, though, you'll need to know the events leading up to me boarding it."
"It shouldn't be too much of an invasion, Logan. It would be more like him projecting the memories than really invading your mind."
"Ah, like Jean does sometimes?" Jean could, at times, project some memories that were particularly strong emotionally, and sometimes she did so without meaning to. Logan could specifically remember one instance where he'd suddenly been assaulted by images of her and Scott in bed together, something he wished he could get out of his head.
John seemed to be reading Logan's uncertainty and looked at Charles, who silently told him about Jean's ability. "I think I can control what you see a little bit better. I have more experience in that area."
Logan realized that he was going to have to go endure this whether he wanted to or not, and reluctantly nodded his acceptance. "All right, but I'm not going to guarantee that I won't want to kill you when we're done."
John smirked at Logan. "Fair enough. Give me a few minutes to get my thoughts in order, then we can begin."
John closed his eyes and appeared to almost fall asleep. Logan started to move toward the younger mutant, but caught a look from Charles that stopped him. "This is going to take a lot of concentration from him. He needs to prepare himself for the exertion." As soon as the professor had finished speaking, John opened his eyes again, and Logan noticed that they were glowing fairly brightly. A few seconds later, both older mutants were blinded by a flash of white light.
As the light dissipated, they realized that they were no longer in Charles' study. In fact, they were laying down on a table that they quickly realized was made of cold steel, probably some sort of operating table. They were staring at the ceiling, which had several lights hanging from it. Confusion and fear gripped them, and they realized that the emotions weren't their own. They were walking through John's memories.
John looked around and groaned, though it didn't sound like it came from an adult. Two men, who had been talking in German out of his field of vision suddenly appeared above him. The one on the left was dressed in a military uniform, dark green complete with several medals and bars on the left side of his chest. The man on the right was in a white lab coat, obviously some sort of doctor. It was the military man that spoke first. "Good to see that you're finally awake, John. I've been looking forward to meeting you."
John couldn't understand why this man knew his name, and it didn't make him any less afraid. "Who are you? Where are my parents?" John's voice was not of the man that Logan and Charles were used to hearing, it was the voice of a child. This memory, they realized, was probably from soon after John had been kidnapped.
The military man laughed at John's questions. "Your parents are no longer a part of your life. You are mine now. My name is Col. David Raines." The man's laughter abruptly ended and he frowned at John. "But you will address me as 'Sir.'" John tried to move his hands, only to find that they were pinned to the table. He was trapped. The colonel laughed again and turned to the doctor across from him. "You may begin the treatment whenever you're ready."
The doctor looked at Col. Raines with a fearful look in his eyes as he backed away. "Yes, sir, but I must caution you again, it would be much easier for the boy if he were unconscious for this."
"No, he must be awake. He must get used to enduring pain and suffering. This will be only the beginning of what is to come, and you know it as well as anyone!" The military man was getting angry at the doctor's protests, obviously this wasn't the first time he'd had to hear them. The men started to argue once again in German, and John couldn't help but be more scared with every word that the two men said.
After a couple minutes of arguing, The doctor walked over to a console across the room from the table John was on and pressed some buttons. The table he was on suddenly moved, and John found himself inside some sort of machine. Before he could even try to guess what was happening, the machine's lights came on, and he was bombarded with an intense and nearly unbearable pain.
A flash of light came after a few seconds of the pain, and suddenly John was on the ground. Picking himself back up, he became aware of stinging pain in several areas of his back. Turning around, he noticed a man in a uniform similar to the Colonel, with less bars and medals, standing about ten feet away wielding a leather whip.
"I told you that I would not tolerate failure!" John turned back around and came face to face with the man he recognized. "You will learn to control the ability we have given you, or you will continue to get the punishment! Am I understood?"
John sighed silently before weakly responding, "Yes, sir." He was immediately punched in the face by Raines, which sent him back to the ground.
"You are still far to weak to be of use to me. He turned to the man with the whip. "Toughen him up. Give him ten more." He turned back to John, as two soldiers grabbed him and tied him to the post near where he'd fallen. "You will get tougher, and you will learn to control your ability. I have many plans for you, and I won't allow weakness to stop them!" He turned and walked away, down a hallway as a door closed behind him. Before John could think of anything else, a stinging pain ran up his back, and he realized that he was being whipped once again.
Another flash and suddenly John was blind. No, not blind, blindfolded. The Colonel was barking orders to John and other people John couldn't see. "Use your ability. See your enemies and defeat them." John walked forward cautiously, his arms loosely in front of him, as if he wasn't sure where he was. Truth be told, he had no idea where he was, where the walls of the room were, or where his enemies were. He heard something behind him and spun around, nearly losing his balance, but steadying himself and beginning to walk toward the source of the noise.
Suddenly he was knocked off his feet by a punch to the right side of his jaw. As he scrambled and lunged back at the direction of the punch, he ate another one, this one to the left side. John stumbled a few steps before falling back down to the floor. "Dammit, John, you are worthless!" The Colonel was obviously getting frustrated at the boy he'd referred to as his student. Not that John wasn't getting frustrated with himself as well. He knew what he was supposed to be able to do, but he hadn't yet been able to accomplish it.
"Sorry, sir."
"Don't give me 'Sorry!' Give me success! Get the fuck up and try it again!"
"Yes, sir!" John picked himself back up and stood there for a minute. He had been acting on instinct, but he was starting to realize that maybe he could be trying to concentrate instead. He let all his emotions go from his body and suddenly, even though he was blindfolded still, he could swear he could see shadows and movement near him. Suddenly one of the shadows was heading straight for his head. He dodged to the side and struck out with a right hand, which connected with someone's nose, earning a painful scream from someone. Smiling John turned and caught another shadow that was heading for him before striking another foe in the gut with a knee, then grabbing the man's shirt and throwing him to the ground.
"Excellent job, John. You're finally learning." John removed the blindfold and looked around. One soldier was laying on the ground to his right, blood gushing out of what was obviously a broken nose, another was doubled over in pain to his left, holding his ribs, which may have been broken from the knee he'd been given. John looked up onto a balcony to see Raines standing there with a smile on his face. John saluted him, and the Colonel saluted back. "You're finally starting to become a soldier. We'll try this again tomorrow."
Several soldiers appeared around John, one of them holding what appeared to be some sort of electronic collar. John sighed and allowed the soldiers to put the collar on him, then he looked back at Raines. "Yes, sir." He turned and followed the other soldiers out of the room.
Another flash and another change of scenery. Now John was standing face to face with Raines, and it was obvious that some time had passed, as John was taller, and Raines now had some gray steaks in his hair that hadn't been there before. John spoke first. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, I have another mission for you." Raines motioned and the two soldiers standing next to John left the room. "You have become one of our best agents, but the mission I have for you now is one that you cannot be completed by one person."
John was curious about what was happening, and was suddenly aware of another person in the far corner of the room, hidden in shadows. "I take it he's supposed to be my partner?" John pointed to the corner, and knew that the hidden man was surprised that he'd been noticed, even if Raines wasn't.
"Yes, he is. Come on out, Adam." The man walked forward, and John noticed that Adam had a collar around his neck. "As you can see, he is one of you."
"I figured as much." He looked from Adam to Raines. "I've seen him around, but he's new."
"Yes. His power is quite useful, though. He can hit almost any target from any distance."
John looked at Adam. "You can anticipate movements? An interesting ability."
"Thank you, sir." Adam had been curious about the conversation the two men had been having, and decided that since he was being spoken directly to, it would be a good time to voice those questions. "You are a mutant? Where is your collar?"
John let out a slight chuckle before responding. "I have been around long enough to gain the trust of the leaders here. As such, I'm not shackled as much as most of the others. And if you require proof of my ability..." John turned his hand palm up in front of Adam, and the gun on the younger mutant's belt came flying into it. "All you need is to ask." John looked over the pistol carefully, taking out the ammo clip and noticing it was empty.
"I am allowed to keep the gun, but I can't have it loaded on the base." Adam replied to John's questioning look. "It is something given to me when I joined the military. The man who gave me it died saving my life, so I was told I could keep it when I was transferred here."
John handed the weapon back to the other mutant and turned back to Raines. "So, what is the mission, anyway?"
"Ah, yes, the mission. It is simple enough. There's a politician in Britain who's become a bit of a problem for our cause. We need him removed."
Adam scoffed a little at the mission. "Well, that doesn't seem too hard, why do you need two of us?"
John glared at Adam for a second before Raines responded. "Well, the problem is two-fold. First, it is almost impossible to get to him unless it is in a public setting. Secondly, he is extremely paranoid, and will frequently use doubles and fakes in his appearances. He needs to be removed from a distance, which you excel at, Adam. However, John is probably the only one capable of telling if the target is the real one or a fake."
"How can he do that?"
"The same way that I knew you were in the room when I entered it. The same way that I know that you are American, that you have a younger sister, and that you are from New York, even though I've never seen or heard of you before now."
The realization suddenly came clear to Adam. "You're psychic."
John simply smirked at the other mutant before taking the folder that Raines had held out for him. "Thank you, sir." John turned around and started to leave, but paused after taking a few steps. "By the way, congratulations on the promotion, General. It is long overdue." He then left the room, followed quickly by a still confused Adam.
Once they were in the hall, Adam spoke up. "So, you can tell by telepathy if the target is the real one or not?"
"Yes, I can. All I need is some information that only the real target would know, things like place and date of birth, family, other things that no two people have in common no matter how much they appear the same." He looked at Adam carefully now, as the walked down the hallway. "You volunteered to be a part of this?"
"I heard that it was a group that was specialized in using mutants." Adam was silent for a second before adding. "You mean you didn't?"
"No, my employment, if you wish to call it that, was forced upon me. In fact, most of the mutants here were captured and forced into service."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Nobody does. Fact is, officially this group doesn't exist. Only the military unit that leads it does. It allows us to do things that normally would go against international law, such as the mission we are about to take on. Fact is, your presence here may not be officially recognized, though if it was voluntary, I'd imagine it would have to be."
Adam thought about this for a second before replying. "You've obviously been here a while. How old are you?"
"I'm nineteen." John appeared to be a little embarrassed by this. Adam looked at him dumbfounded as John continued. "And yes, I've been here for over ten years."
"Ten years!? But that would have made you..." Adam couldn't even finish the statement.
"Yes, I was eight when I was kidnapped and brought into the Organization. They did experiments on me to make me into a mutant, to make me their assassin. It is the only life I know, so I accept it." John continued walking as Adam paused to consider this for a few seconds. "By the way, you should know that we are being watched at all times, especially here in the base." Adam snapped out of his trance at John's words and ran to catch up to him.
"So, we are leaving soon then?" Adam wasn't sure how this mission was going to work out for the two of them, but he was starting to get an uneasy feeling about it.
"Yes, the assassination needs to be done as soon as possible. We have a list of his appearances for the next week in the folder, along with all the personal data we could find on him. Our plane will be leaving in an hour. Don't worry about identifying the target, I'll handle that for you. All you'll need to do is point and shoot."
Adam sighed slightly as they continued walking. "It's all business with you, isn't it?"
"Only when it needs to be. I've seen a lot of people get hurt by their personal relationships in this line of work. You would do well to remember that."
"Of course." By now they had reached the end of the hallway, and an elevator that would take them to the ground floor of the base, and thus the airstrip. "But I must wonder, why are we doing this? What is our purpose?"
"To bring peace to the world. At least that's what I've been told since I got here. So far, I have no reason to question it." John entered the elevator as another flash occurred.
This time, the flash was shorter than the previous ones had been, and suddenly John was outside in a large crowd of people, many of them holding signs and cheering. As he looked around he noticed he was in a plaza surrounded by several buildings, apparently this rally was in some sort of a park inside a city. Around the park were several armed military personnel, and many more were among the crowd and along the stage that John had managed to get up next to.
"Bloody hell, at least it's not raining." John was using a noticeable British accent, good enough to fool the crowd or anyone else who didn't listen too closely. Because of his hood, nobody could see that in his right ear was a small two-way radio, which he was using to communicate to Adam.
"Yeah, just be careful what you say. We really don't need your cover blown before things get started." John smirked at his partner's comments. They had been working for three days trying to find the target, they'd been at several events he was scheduled to appear at, but so far they'd been unable to get to him, as either they weren't in position or the target was one of his doubles.
"Whatever. You have your sights on me?" John was speaking quietly, so that nobody could hear him other than the person he was speaking to.
"If you were the target, you'd already be on the ground."
"Good, because I've got the target in my sights." John moved closer to the stage, preparing for something, though Adam didn't know what. "Wait for my signal."
"Great, lucky you. But how am I supposed to know who the target is?"
"Don't worry, I'll show you if you pay attention."
Before Adam could respond, a nearby band started playing music as several people walked onto the stage. Many of them started shaking hands with the people next to it, and John took the opportunity to shake all of their hands as well. As the fifth person approached him, he spoke to the man. "It is an honor for you to take time out of your schedule and grace us with your presence."
The man looked surprised at the words of this stranger, but he thought nothing of it. "The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for your support." He smiled at the mutant and moved on down the line as John started to walk away.
"All right, I have the target."
"Good. Give it thirty seconds, then fire. Be aware, though, security is still very tight, just getting out of your building is going to be difficult. I'll meet you outside, but you'd better hurry."
"Gotcha. Thirty seconds." John quickly made his way through the crowd as best he could without trying to raise suspicion. This proved quite difficult, and in the thirty seconds he'd only managed to get about a quarter of the way from the stage to the back of the plaza. As the man was walking across the stage, suddenly a shot rang out, and the curtain behind the man was splattered red as he fell over. Immediately, the crowd began to scream and scatter in fear, though no more shots rang out. John used this chance to make his way fairly quickly to the back of the plaza, where Adam was going to be.
Along the way, he uses his powers to sense Adam's presence in the building. He could sense Adam was already on the stairs heading for street level, but he could also sense several armed security forces were near the building, and were ready to go into it. "Adam, you're going to have a lot of company in about a minute. You need to get to the next building over."
"Yeah, right. Any ideas on how to do that?" Adam was sounding somewhat out of breath, it was obvious that he was hurrying and was a little bit worried about getting away.
John mentally scanned the area around his partner, and the building next door. "Get off on the fourth floor, take a left, the end of the hallway has a window that's open. You can jump to a balcony across the alley from there."
"Gotcha." John continued his trek to the far end of the plaza, and in the rush of the crowd, he really didn't stand out any in his worried and panicked look.
Adam, for his part, did as John had told him, and successfully made it to the next building. As he came down to the ground floor, however, he realized that he couldn't exit without being seen by the security personnel. Cursing himself for being somewhat trapped, he attempted to sneak out into the ally between the buildings. He found a door that led to the alley after a couple of minutes, but when he stepped through it, he came face to face with the end of a pistol. Before either person could do anything, though, The soldier stiffened before dropping his weapon, then falling limply to the ground. Behind the man, John held a knife, stained in blood. "We need to get moving, fast."
Adam nodded, but drew his gun anyway. "Where to, sir?"
John sighed and shook his head. "First, I've already told you a dozen times, don't call me 'sir.' Second..." He paused for a second looking around before continuing. "I really don't know yet. Cover me for a couple minutes, will you?"
"Cover you? What for?"
"I can get us a route out of here, but I need to concentrate in order to do so, which means I can't be running around and killing people."
Adam thought about this statement for a minute before realizing what John had in mind. "Oh, right. You got it." He looked around quickly, then added. "Can we do it somewhere more defensible, though? I'd rather not have to try to watch my back at all times."
"Yes, follow me." John led him back to the main street, into the throngs of people. By now the entire military and police force in the area had been alerted, but since nobody had seen the shooter, they had no idea what they were looking for. After running down about a block and a half, John pulled Adam into a dead-end alleyway. "This should be easier to defend. Now, just give me a couple of minutes, and I should be able to get us out of the perimeter the military is already setting up."
"You sure you can do that?" John didn't respond to the question, instead he just sat down against the wall and closed his eyes.
Adam, for his part, took a defensive position behind a garbage bin that was in the alley. Several soldiers ran by their hiding spot, but none stopped long enough to realize that the man who was apparently homeless and sleeping against the wall was in fact anything but. After what seemed to Adam like an hour, John opened his eyes once again. "All right, I have a route, but you're not going to like it."
"Why is that?"
"Because we'll have to go in there." John pointed to the manhole cover that was under the garbage bin Adam was hiding behind. Adam groaned, it was somewhat well known that he didn't like underground areas, though nobody knew why. Adam and John both pushed the bin off of the cover, then John used his ability to remove the cover.
"You sure this is the only way?" Adam wasn't happy about the idea of being in those tunnels, and he really didn't like the smell either.
"No, but it's by far the safest way. That is, unless you'd like to take on the entire British military." Adam refused to comment further, upon hearing John's explanation, and climbed into the opening. John soon followed, using his ability once again to replace the cover.
"All right, now what?" Adam looked around, he knew that he would easily get lost in this place.
"Well, we need to get to the airport. The easiest way to do that is the subway, which runs almost parallel to this tunnel we're currently in, just three blocks over." John looked at the surroundings carefully. "The biggest problem is that it's going to be hard for us to get from here into one of the subway stations without being seen. Once we're in a station, we should be home free."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Lets get going, the sooner we get to safety the sooner I can relax."
John couldn't help but smile at his partner's comments. "All right, follow me." He began to walk down the tunnel.
A/N: Well, there's another one down! Next up, I'll continue John's trip down memory lane, including why he left the Organization, and what the Euphrates has to do with it. Also, there will be more between John, Kitty, and Kurt, at least that's the plan, anyway.
Before I go, I have a few people I'd like to thank. First, Hydronix. He's a friend of mine who's given me a LOT of input on the chapters and story, though most of it has been in private. He's also been great at checking my spelling and grammar!
Secondly, Whiteinu1: Thanks for the support. I hope you continue to enjoy this story. Also, thanks for adding me to your Favorites list!
Reika-san: Thanks for adding me to your Favorites as well.
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated! I'll try to reply to them, at least on here, though I probably won't in person.