Darkness Gathers

Part One of the Darkness Trilogy

Chapter Nine

Renegade sat in the passenger seat of Scott's mustang beside Logan who was racing down the highway. She was unsure of exactly what was going on; Logan had hijacked her from the mansion with no time to prepare, telling her nothing other than that they were going to California. His current demeanour suggested there was no room for argument; he seemed rather tense, even for Logan. So Renegade went along without protest, glad that she never went anywhere without her purse, mostly because some of its contents were bound to raise questions she didn't want to answer.

They had been driving for about an hour when Logan's breakneck speed had caught some unwanted attention from the local fuzz. Sirens sounded behind them as flashing red and blue lights appeared.

"I think he wants you to pull over," Renegade remarked wryly

"I don't have time for this," Logan growled through bared teeth.

"Just pull over; I will deal with this…quickly." Renegade said with a sigh, knowing that what she was about to do was not going to help with Logan's trust issues.

"Fine," Logan said half shouting as he slowed the mustang, and finally came to a stop.

Renegade grabbed her purse and exited out the passenger door approaching the police car behind them. The officer inside rolled his window down a wary look on his face.

"Miss I am going to have to ask you to return to your vehicle," He stated in a no nonsense tone.

"There is something you need to see first," Renegade replied without emotion.

"Slowly," the officer warned, drawing his weapon and aimed it at her.

"You won't need that," she responded dismissively and slowly pulled out a Homeland Security badge and passed it to the uneasy officer.

"You're a little young for Homeland Security aren't you?" he asked suspiciously.

"I get that a lot," she shrugged and continued "But I don't have time for your third degree. It is very important that my partner and I get where we need to be as soon as possible. It is a matter of national security."

"That's a civilian vehicle," he stated cautiously.

"Yes it is; this mission was unexpected, and our usual ride is…getting some upgrades. I apologize for the confusion," she answered directly

"All right," the officer said seeming satisfied and handed Renegade back her badge. "Do you need a police escort."

"Thank you but that won't be necessary, we need to stay covert."

"I will flag your plate so this doesn't happen again."

"Thank you officer, you are a true credit to the uniform." Renegade said before heading back to the Mustang, sliding into the passenger seat as the cop car disappeared down the highway.

Logan took off like a shot down the road, glancing over at Renegade with suspicion burning in his eyes, "How did you do that?" he demanded

"First of all you're welcome and second of all I have my ways." she responded elusively

"Renegade, I'm in no mood," he said menacingly.

"Really, I hadn't noticed," she remarked sarcastically as Logan remained silent but shot her an icy glare. "Fine. If you must know, I told him we're Homeland Security," she said flatly.

"He bought that?"

"He did when I showed him my badge."

"Wait, are you Homeland Security?"

"Of course not."

"Then why do you have a badge?"

"Does it matter? I do, and it helped you; which you still haven't thanked me for."

"Oh, it matters," Logan said, ignoring her last comment.

"Everyone has a past Logan, and I have yet to hear a single X-man talk about theirs. So why is it that not knowing mine pisses you off so much?"

"I'm looking for answers, not a lecture bub."

"Well I think you owe me a few answers as well, so how about a Quid Pro Quo?"

"I don't owe you anything."

Renegade shrugged, "Then I guess you don't want to know that badly."

Logan growled angrily, his face went red and Renegade could swear steam was about to start shooting out of his ears. She started to wonder if maybe she had pushed him too far considering he was already agitated about something.

"Fine! You win. Quid Pro Quo it is" He finally spat out. "You First."

Logan smelled a hint of fear as Renegade drew a deep breath and began to explain, "Before I joined the X-men I was a G-man."

"What the hell is a G-man"

"I worked for the Government, for a rather unknown section, so secret I don't even know its name. At times I have helped out other agencies, so I have clearance and ID badges for everything you have ever heard of, NSA, CIA, Shield, you name it, I got it. Your turn; what's in Cali Cali?"

"Kat."

"Why is Kat in California?"

"Because of a stupid notion I put in her head. If you were that high up in the government, why would they send you to help us?"

"All I got told is that the growing tension between humans and mutants was cause for concern, and they wanted me to do what I could to try and prevent the war. They also mentioned that the X-men were the front runners of that endeavour, and I may want to look them up. Going it alone was still an option. Now what idea did you put in Kat's head?"

"Not so fast; there has to be more than you're telling me."

"Probably is, but I don't know for sure, my best guess is it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm insubordinate. Of course it could actually be because war is a game no one can win."

"War isn't a game."

"Of course it's a game; you just don't see it that way because you are a game piece, so am I, but somewhere there are some fat cats pulling all the strings. They play games with people's lives and never see a day in battle; but we are getting off topic. What notion did you put in Kat's head?"

Logan once again ignored the question, "If you were really so insubordinate how did you make it so high up in the secret sections of the government."

"It was never my choice to be an agent, but that is a long and complicated story, and there is nothing I want to know bad enough to open that can of worms…especially to you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked through bared teeth.

"It means that I am not about to give the one person, who seems to be the least fond of me, the keys to my destruction."

"I thought you were indestructible."

"My body is indestructible, but there are fates worse than death."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh Logan somehow I feel you, better than any, understand exactly what I mean. A person doesn't become the way you are with a life that's all sunshine and roses."

"What do you mean the way I am?" Logan growled not the least bit amused.

"You're very distrustful and more than a little overprotective over the ones you love. That suggests to me that you have been burnt far more than once; I actually like that about you. See it's admirable that you want to protect those you are close too and it lets me know exactly where I stand it's very…honest. Now will you please stop dodging the subject and tell me what stupid notion you put in Kat's head that made her feel like she had to run literally all the way across the country?"

Logan looked very annoyed but finally relented, "That Gumbo's feelings for her might just be an accidental projections of her feelings reflected back by her empathy."

"Oh my god…you didn't…Of course you did! Are you insane? You do realize just how afraid of being vulnerable she is to begin with! It took so much meddling to get them this far. Are you in love with her?"

"Of course not! She's like a sister to me."

"Then why don't you want her to be happy?"

"I do, I just want her to be happy forever. Gumbo ain't the forever kind of guy."

"For the right girl everyone is the forever kind of guy, everyone settles down sometime Logan."

"You don't know the Cajun like I do."

"I don't think the Cajun is the real issue here. The real issue here is that you can't see Kat the way I see Kat."

"How do you see Kat?"

"As a woman, with needs a big brother can't satisfy."

"I'm warning you Renegade."

"Oh no! I'm so scared, you're just pissed off that I'm right," She said her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I just can't believe I have you to thank for this mess."

"Trust me it would have happened eventually anyway; just this way I will still have some hair left by the end."

"What gives you the damn right?"

"Maybe I don't have the right. Okay I probably don't. Maybe it will turn out colossally bad, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, so I did it anyway. Really it wasn't my place, but it's too late now, I wanted to do it and I did it, I'm not going to apologize either."

"Will you at least tell me tell me why you did it?"

"Maybe I think that life threw them together for a reason; maybe I think they belong together for a little while or a long while. They need to see where things go, to either to find out they're better off as friends, or maybe to share their lives together. Maybe I did it because this life is full of painful experiences especially when most of the world thinks you're a freak, and you have power. So I believe any good experience you can squeeze in there is the bit that makes life worth living, no matter how fleeting the moment. There will always be more pain, but joy is much harder to come by. Or maybe I really was about going to pull all my hair out if I had to watch them dance around the giant elephant in the room any longer," she shrugged then added, "Who can remember?"

"What would you know about joy?"

"About as much as you know about fun," Renegade snapped back. "If you must know not much anymore, but it's not too late for them. Jury's still out on you and me. Hey, one regenerator to another, do you remember the last time you were happy?"

"I have flashes."

"Well that's encouraging. I hear you a lot at night…the nightmares. My ability is changing and I'm starting to see things that hurt differently. I'm not sure quite how to describe it but I can tell something was done to you, and because I can see it I think that means I can fix it…if you want me to I have no guarantees or anything but I can try."

"I don't know," Logan said cautiously

"Ok seriously, what is your deal with me? I get that I'm no saint, but seriously I am not up to anything sinister."

"I know you ain't one of us. You have power I'll give you that, but you don't smell like a mutant to me. Aside from that to the rest of us, this is our life, and we believe in what we do. This is just some mission for you."

"Fair enough, but for whatever its worth if I didn't believe in what you do I wouldn't have taken the mission."

"You say that like you had a choice."

"We always have a choice, Logan, all decisions have consequences, so I always pick the ones I can live with, since I am going to doing it for a long time."

"What are you anyway?"

"Part concoction, part something else, I don't know what."

"Concoction?"

"I really can't get into that, I have already said more than I should. You may not like that answer but you may as well get over it. Like me or hate me, I'm not going anywhere, I'm in it to win it. Don't worry we are going to find Kat."

"I hope your right."

Renegade leaned back a little in her seat and closed her eyes trying to push away the pesky feelings that she was starting to develop. She felt concern for Remy and Kat, who were probably both feeling bad right now. Even a little for Logan who was obviously feeling guilty, but feelings were dangerous, especially the ones she felt for Logan. Sure he was an asshole, but he was an asshole with a heart of gold and she didn't know anyone that would go the lengths that he would for those he loved. Despite the fact that she stood a good six inches above him, she still found him quite attractive, his rippling muscles, that mess of blue black hair, piercing blue eyes, chiselled features; he truly was gorgeous. These feelings were dangerous though; she struggled to keep at least a moderate distance from every one of her team mates. If she wasn't close to anyone then no one could be used against her. She didn't want anyone to get hurt in the crossfire. Worse yet she hadn't told anyone at the agency that she had developed the ability to heal, and if they found out they would surely want to drag her back to base to spend all of eternity healing the rich and influential. That could not be allowed to happen; she knew one day she would have to leave the X-Men so that they didn't get caught in the crossfire when the inevitable came to pass so she couldn't let them in, not too close, they were safer at a distance. She pushed these thoughts from her mind and fell asleep. She woke up about 6 hours later. She stretched in her seat and looked over at Logan, he looked exhausted.

"You look like you could use some sleep."

"Sure," Logan agreed too tired to argue he pulled the car over.

They switched seat, and Renegade started speeding down the road, missing her Ferrari a little. Logan fell asleep in minutes. About an hour down the road, his nightmares kicked in. He started thrashing in his sleep before he started making noises, growls, and what sounded like cries of pain. The next thing Renegade knew she had 3 claws sunk deep into her side. She let out a whimper and struggled to keep herself from veering into the ditch. His claws retracted and Renegade let out a sigh of relief, and his body calmed down at least for the moment. A few hours up the road Renegade pulled into a gas station, lucky the hour was still late since there was less chance of anyone noticing or caring about her blood soaked half shredded shirt. She covered the damaged bits as best she could with her purse and fuelled up Scott's mustang. She headed inside to pay grabbed a few drinks and snacks for the road and grabbed herself a hoody from a clothing rack near the till and paid then she slipped off to the bathroom and changed into the hoody disposing of her shirt in the trashcan. When she returned to the car she couldn't help but notice that she had not been the only one to receive an injury from Logan's nightmare. Scott's mustang was in need of some serious detailing; it had a few scratches and a small pool of Renegade's blood stained the seat.

Scott's gonna love that Renegade mused to herself as she took off down the highway.

It was just approaching noon when Kat pulled in to eat again. She'd slept later than she'd really planned on and knew she'd have to push the speed limit to stay ahead of the others. Now she found herself in a small Wyoming town. There was a decent crowd t her chosen small café and she tried to ignore the conversations around her for the most part; at least until she heard one word that made her blood run cold; Chimera. Tuning into the conversation she drank the rest of her coffee slowly taking the time to pick up some information.

"You'd think that Chimera facility was military or something," one man that Kat pegged to be in his mid-fifties was saying.

"Maybe it is," his companion who appeared around the same age replied. "Probably turning those kids into some kind of soldiers or something; maybe looking into psychic soldiers like those old conspiracies were always on about. Of course those kids are already pretty messed up."

"I guess that would explain their security details carrying automatic weapons…I'd love to see what's inside that fence though. I just don't get why they have a facility like that in some remote part of a mountain pass so far north of town."

Kat stopped listening then as she tossed enough cash on the table to cover her meal before she stalked from the small restaurant, no one even bothering to glance up as she left. There was a chance that this wasn't the Chimera she remembered, but she needed to know for sure. She knew she should contact Xavier but until she knew for sure she was going to hold off and do a little recon on her own. It wasn't like she was planning a full on assault of the place or anything.

Taking a detour from her plan of laying on a beach, Kat tore off in Logan's Jeep heading north on a small mountain road. An hour and a half later she left the vehicle in a roadside turnout, donned a heavy coat and gloves and headed through the dense trees on foot relying on scent to find the facility as she climbed steadily higher.

The only people that had ever been able to get the drop on her had all been feral. She barely caught a noise to her right and glanced in that direction before she found herself face down in the snow and pinned beneath two assailants who, by their scent, were a part of the Chimera facility. They smelled of the addictive serum the company used to manipulate the X-gene in mutants while at the same time controlling the mutants; the withdrawals were damn near impossible to get through though they wouldn't kill; they just made you wish for death. No amount of struggling dislodged the two however and her blood froze in her veins when a voice from her past spoke.

"Curiosity really did kill the cat; or in this case brought if back for more," Dr. Wayfield chuckled from above her.

Kat snarled and redoubled her efforts but only laughter met her struggles. Seconds later the sharp prick of a needle in her neck told her she was done. With her last conscious thought and every ounce of effort she had left as the drugs took effect, she mentally screamed for Xavier before the darkness closed in on her. She threw every ounce of energy she still possessed into that last telepathic cry for help sending her limp to the ground.

Xavier was half way through his physics class when he suddenly fell silent in mid-lecture. The sheer force of Kat's telepathic cry was backed by an indescribable fear and he shuddered before managing to block it enough to establish an actual connection with her; by then the Chimera serum had her in its hold. He cringed as he carefully pulled away from her mind feeling the residual telepathic effects of the drug himself and he could only imagine what she was going to deal with this time when she had to cleanse her system of the drug.

"Professor?!" Jubilee's terrified voice pulled him back to the present and he realized he'd never heard them he'd been so caught in the feral's mind and fear.

"Classes are cancelled until further notice," he informed them as he pushed to his feet. "Jubilee I need you to tell Scott, Jean, Storm and Gambit to meet me in the war room in ten minutes. Also let them know classes are cancelled and I'll explain it all when we meet."

"Okay…do you want me in the war room too?"

Xavier considered it but shook his head; he would not risk Chimera getting their hands on her, "Not this time."

Jubilee nodded not even arguing. The look that Xavier had was enough that for once she didn't want to know what was going on. As she headed off to deliver his message Xavier wasted no time in getting to the sub-levels. He didn't immediately head for the war room however instead he headed to Beast's lab.

"Hank, we're going to have a serious problem."

Beast spun at the sound of Xavier's voice with a startled look holding a test tube in each hand, "Could you be more specific?"

"Kat's been captured by Chimera. Any information you have on what they use will be of the utmost importance when we get her back."

Beast nodded slightly, "As long as they have not changed their serum in the past several years but I doubt that they have let it remain the same. Still…I should be able to at least lessen the pain and hallucinations this time."

Xavier nodded and both he and Beast headed for the war room to await the rest of the X-Men. He could only imagine how Gambit was going to react though he knew nothing of Kat's past with Chimera. Still he knew the Cajun was probably going to blame everything on Wolverine. While they waited Xavier's thoughts drifted to when he'd first run across the feral back when she was only sixteen years old and on the verge of running out of the very serum that held her completely reliant on Chimera and willing to do nearly anything they wanted; or course taming a feral did not happen by locking them in small rooms and issuing orders.

Sixteen year old Kat was once again pacing her eight by ten cell while the scientists and supervisors watched her on the security cameras. There had to be a way to get through to the girl, though at least now they knew the serum would work; they just needed to find a way to dictate the powers granted to an individual. It had been a stroke of genius to use the withdrawals to stress the systems of the subjects enough to elicit a mutant manifestation. This particular subject 6824 was proving to be extremely difficult to control however even with the punishment of being pulled off the serum when she disobeyed orders.

Kat growled under her breath as she paced. Already she could feel the drug's effects dissipating and it was only a matter of hours before she was going to be in full withdrawal. All because she had refused a kill order on one of the other subjects. The small room felt like a cage and with no control over her instinct she was steadily becoming more and more unstable. As she turned she caught sight of a demon from the corner of her eye and growled again. The hallucinations were already starting.

As she paced the feral fought against the withdrawal, clawing for control as she slowly sank to the floor her entire body shaking and she closed her eyes. The sudden darkness that flooded the facility drew her attention again a few moments later, the feral snatching enough control to realize the soft click was the door unlocking to her cell. Hazel eyes burning with predatory intent snapped towards it, ready for it to be a trap but the power remained down. Unusual since the back-up generators usually took over by now. A slight smirk touched the young girl's lips, drawing back to bare her teeth as she lunged to shaky feet and bolted out into the hallway that had erupted into chaos when the generators didn't kick on.

With single intent, she stalked through the hall shakily sniffing the air every couple of strides. She didn't even blink when two security members appeared in front of her, armed with rifles and tranquilizers. Growling, the feral in full command, she moved instantly and the two guards fell in limp piles with snapped necks. She continued down the darkened hall easily stepping around other mutants that were as trapped as she and in a complete uproar. Most had given up on everything and become exactly what Chimera had wanted them to be; killers and spies but they paid her no mind…she was one of them after all.

Finally she found what she was looking for; the labs. Without a thought her right fist went through the glass door and unlocked it before she ducked inside. A heavy winter coat was hanging near the door and she grabbed that, followed by boots to protect bare feet. Following her nose, she grabbed a handful of syringes loaded with the Chimera serum. Those when in the pockets of the jacket before she dosed herself with another; it was almost instantaneous that the serum took hold in her body and she recovered from the beginnings of withdrawal symptoms. On her way out the door, heavy boots securely on her feet and coat wrapped over army fatigues, she dropped anyone who tried to stop her, becoming the predator and killer that they had wanted her to be…just on her own terms and against them. The perimeter fence was easy for the feline feral to scale and she disappeared into the Montana wilderness.

It was nearly a week after her escape and she'd pondered that strange power outage when the generators had also gone down but now she was running low on serum and knew that in the next couple of hours she would fall into the full effects of the withdrawals that she so feared. The thought itself made her tremble as she huddled in a small rock outcropping out of the bitter wind that had blown in from seemingly nowhere. Even the feral wasn't going to be able to maintain control in another hour and she pulled further back into the rock, closing her eyes. She never even heard the approaching footsteps, only when someone grabbed her arm did she respond; lashing out with all the strength she had left at her disposal only to be easily restrained a calming voice filtering into her mind and easing her fight as she was carried away.

Professor Xavier along with Wolverine never left the struggling girl's side. They'd originally restrained her to the medical bed when they'd first arrived back at the mansion but it was clear it was doing more harm than good. So while Xavier did what he could within her mind to ease her fear, Wolverine stayed nearby to stop the frequent physical outbursts from the girl. On one occasion as he'd moved closer to stop her before she hurt herself or Xavier, she'd swung with more force than he thought her small frame could contain, hitting him square in the jaw. He staggered slightly in surprise before recovering and getting a hold of her wrists before she did more damage to herself; that shot had already broke her hand but the pain seemed to clear her mind at the same time.

"Just…kill…me," she muttered and Wolverine shook his head.

"Not gonna happen, Darlin'. You can get through this and we're going to make sure you come through on the other side better and stronger than you were before."

She only groaned and fell back into the bed. Wolverine only hoped that his words would ring true as they continued to watch her fight through her own demons and her fears for two days. It was almost enough to break the other feral's heart but she did exactly as he'd said she'd do. She survived and came out stronger…if a little more of a handful than he would have liked.

Xavier came back to the present as the rest of the team filtered into the room in quick succession. Beast knew of Kat's past because Xavier had explained it when he'd brought the doctor onto the team. He'd needed to know what that serum was and try to find a way to at least lessen the effects. Scott and Jean had been around the mansion by then as students and knew enough of her past just from having had to deal with the untrained and often times mistrustful empathic feral. Gambit and Storm however, knew nothing.

"Professor, what's going on?" Scott asked immediately as they all took their seats around the table.

"As you are all well aware, Kat decided she needed some personal time. Unfortunately that trip has dropped her right back into Chimera's laboratories."

"What's Chimera?" Gambit questioned basing his opinion that this was a sensitive topic on the looks on the other's faces and Xavier's tense and no nonsense tone.

"A facility that has a public front that helps troubled youth. However the true identity of Chimera is much darker than the public is aware. They have been experimenting on mutants and possibly on normal humans as well, for years. Kat was a subject of theirs for six years when she was a teenager. Three of those years she lived outside the facility but the serum they developed enhanced her empathy and they finally convinced her parents to send her to their facility. The next three years we can only guess what she endured. All we know for sure is that the serum not only affects the X-gene and rewrites DNA, something that is extremely painful, but fuses an additional synthetic X-gene to the existing gene…thus giving two very distinct abilities. In Kat's case…she was an empath of moderate power before Chimera but by the time she ended up here at sixteen she was well beyond the normal empathy we usually see as well having her additional X-gene manifested…the feral. Which, to say the least, made her extremely volatile and unpredictable for a while until she learned the control she has now," Beast explained.

Gambit was on his feet before Beast had even finished his explanation, "Den what are we waitin' for?"

Xavier sighed, "Gambit we can't just attack the facility. There's no telling what they've managed to create and there is one piece of information you need to have yet…that serum is highly addictive making most of their subjects completely dependent and complacent; willing to do anything and everything they are ordered to do in order to avoid the withdrawals."

"Den what are we going to do?"

"We go in with a plan," Scott spoke up.

"Jean and I will maintain a telepathic connection with Kat. The knowledge that we are still behind her will give her more strength than Chimera can possibly think she will possess. It will keep her going even in the most dire of circumstances," Xavier added.

Over the next ten minutes, the team roughed out enough of a plan that they felt they had the time to come up with before heading for the Blackbird. Gambit led the way flicking two cards through his fingers the entire time; the ace of spades and the queen of hearts. Once they were in the air, Xavier would contact Wolverine telepathically and tell him what was going on as well as where they would pick up him and Renegade. They were going to need the full team and somehow he was going to have to find a way to keep Gambit from taking off and full out attacking the facility to find the missing feral.