Chapter 12
Thank you to all my fabulous reviewers, followers and favorites. You've been the proverbial rope that has pulled me back to finishing this story. Don't worry, we're a long ways off from the end of this tale but we're about to make some serious progress. Thanks to all of you that stuck with this story through a major plot twist and I promise, your favorite boys aren't going to me MIA for long!
Of course, I don't make it very far. As my adrenaline burns off, my rage turns back into fear and my body gives way to its tortured state, I can do little else but slide down the sterile walls, clawing at the fixtures with my last bit of strength. Nothing. I've got nothing left. I've never felt so helpless in my entire life and that's saying something considering my hallucinations were about being captured and blackmailed by a secret government dumbass and his Special Olympic minions.
"So, this is it, eh?" I grumble to myself.
The must be the first words I've spoken since being kidnapped. My throat feels raw, like it's lined with gravel and each vocal vibration is excruciating. Still. I was never one for prolonged silence so I trudge on despite my protesting vocal cords.
"You've got nothing else to give? No more ideas, no more mutant shenanigans. Just…surrender? That is so Twilight."
I snort at my own joke and immediately regret it as the force of it echoes through my skull. I wait with bated breath, wondering if my head will just pop off my shoulders. I've never been one to miss a meal but by the look of my wasted flesh, I've been starved for weeks. I'm lightheaded with the absence of sustenance and can feel the tendrils of a migraine creeping up the back of my neck.
Fabulous.
I'll spend the last few moments of my semi-freedom and consciousness, puking on the floor if I don't get this handled soon.
As the migraine shifts, spilling into my cheekbones and left eye socket, I begin to wonder if bone can actually melt. Have to ask Pyro about that one.
Ma fée?
What the actual fuck?
Ma fée? Can you hear Remy?
Raw relief floods through my veins and I actually feel the weight of it crush the air from my lungs.
Remy, I whisper back in my mind, understanding the migraine for what it is, a knock on the door of my mental shields.
Ah, ma petit. Es gon be okay. Remy and the Rambling Lunatic are on their way. How are you, ma belle?
I begin to sob. They're real, they're both real and at least some what I've experienced actually happened. Remy must be able to hear/feel my distress because I can hear his sweet, beautiful Cajun mummers rumbling through the ragged edges of my mind. It's so unbelievably soothing that I feel myself slipping into a hazy sleep.
Non, non ma belle. You cannot let dem 'ave ya, not yet. While ya awake dey won come near ya for fear of de sonic blast. But when you sleep, de will steal you away. You mus stay with Remy. Es almost there, just a bit more, ma fée.
I focus on his words, suddenly desperate to stay as far away from that peaceful sleep as I can.
I don't have much left Remy, I can't even stand. I won't be any help to you.
It's painful for me to admit that I've pretty much given up the fight, at least physically. But, it's a choice between keeping myself awake, or crawling down this corridor for a few more feet before I pass out completely. Remy's made it clear that option to will majorly suck so I'm going to have to sacrifice what's left of my pride and wait for my white knights.
I must have projected the image of Remy and Wade riding in on white horses in shining armor because I can feel his rich laughter in my mind. It's the single most pleasant and erotic thing I can remember feeling in a long time, sliding like warm honey down my spine and pooling in my belly.
I retaliate by projecting an image of Remy falling of the horse as it leaps over a fallen stump and Wade laughing at him while riding backwards and quoting Monty Python. That sexy laugh of his erupts into full belly gaffes and I bathe in the transferred pleasure. Pain is being stuffed into the background in favor of his warmth and tender affection. I'm sure tears are still streaming down my face but for this moment I find refuge in his mind.
What happened to me?
The question is almost unbearable to ask. Not knowing anything about the past few weeks of my life is the worst violation I've ever experienced. I don't even know what to be angry about, who hurt me or how they managed to do it. It's like every weakness I had was laid bare all at once with humiliating precision. My defenses had been useless, my power reduced to nothing. What's worse is, I don't have any idea how to stop them from doing it again. It's the most terrifying truth I've ever faced.
Ma fée. Do not focus on such things. Ya tink dis was an easy op? Non, ma fée. Da precautions dey took to steal you from us were de most elaborate any of us 'ave ev'r seen. De are terrified of ya, ma petit. Now, Remy and the Masked Wonder will bring ya home and make sure noting like dis ev'r 'appens again. Oui?
His concern and determination are like braces to my bones and, for a moment, I feel lighter, stronger. As if I could actually get up and fight. I want so badly to believe what he says, to be with them that I being to convince myself that it's all not nearly as bad as it seems.
Fuuuuuck yes, please! Just tell me this, when did my reality become their game. When did they actually take me from you?
There was a pause and my heart dropped into my belly.
De took you at da school. Der was de explosion. De took you in de elevator, right out of our arms, trank'd us and disappeared. No less than 50 man team. None of da children were hurt. Don go worryen' your pretty head about dat. They were der for ya, no one else.
This made absolutely no sense.
I saw Xavier, he told me that none of it was real and that I had to wake up. If what you say is true, then why would he lie to me?
It only occurs to me after I "think" my question to Remy that Xavier is supposed to be dead. I just asked him to explain to me why a dead man would lie to me during a chemically induced hallucination being controlled by a bunch of psycho's trying to interrogate me for something. Not . Too . Smooth.
Xavier needed ya ta take back control. To do dis, he needed ya to question everything.
So, he searched your mind and found "de crux of disbelief." Da last time ya questioned reality. Des was in the truck when dey took ya. From der, it was easier for ya to doubt da rest.
I suppose that makes sense.
Ma petit?
Yes, Remy.
When ya get home ta me and the Bouncing Assassin, We're gon 'ave a long talk about why it's so easy for ya to doubt dat we love ya. Des not okay, petit.
The word love echoes in my head. Thankfully, it's the last think I hear before the wall adjacent to where I'm slumped over explodes in a shower of red sparks. Gotta love a man who knows how to work the cards, right? Wade rushes to my side, frantic and slightly unhinged. I can't imagine what my captivity has done to his fragile mind.
Knowing better than to let him start on a rant, I press my fingertips to his lips and smile with all the energy I have left.
"I wanna go home." I croak.
I can see the shock in his eyes at the state of me. I can't even begin to guess at the damage they've done in this twisted place. Expecting him to charge of down the hall, looking for someone to slice and dice, I close my eyes, trusting that my boys will take care of me. Instead, I'm pleasantly surprised by Wade's powerful arms scooping me up.
His cry of rage forces my eyes back open.
"Glitter bomb. She's a feather weight. Holy fuck! They didn't feed her at all. God damn baby I hope your ass isn't gone! We're gonna have to feed you fried chicken, potato salad and deep fried ice cream until the T and A come back."
Remy only grumbles but I can hear something like agreement in his tone. No one has ever said something like that to me. EVER!
Giggles tickle my chest and I fight them because it hurts too much to laugh. Wade seems to take heart that I've at least managed to keep my sense of humor and presses a kiss to the top of my head before following Remy out the hole he'd created. The sunlight blinds me, which I expected, but what shocks me is the way the sun's heat begins to immediately burn my skin. I groan in pain, having little energy to do much else as blisters break out over my arms and shins.
"Sonofabitch!" Wade shouts.
Something warm and spicy smelling is draped over me and it takes me a moment to recognize Remy's trench coat.
"So sorry, ma fée. We'll get ya out of da sun as quick as we can. Oui?"
"What the double fuck man?" I hear Wade hiss, as if I can't hear him from under the trench coat. Bless his simple heart.
"Extreme photosensitivity, an allergic reaction. Probably a side effect of whatever psychotropic drugs they were giving her…and hopefully temporary."
This cultured voice is one I've only ever heard in my head. I wish I could look, just to see the dead man walking…uh…rolling, but the fear of more blisters keeps me firmly ensconced in my Wade-shaped cavern.
I feel us get into some kind of vehicle and when it begins to move upward I realize I'm back in the jet. I'm really beginning to have mixed feelings about flight. It's nice for a rescue but typically happens right after my world has been totally fucked up. Finally able to rest, I press my face into Wade's neck, breath him in deep and let sleep claim me.