Thanks to those who read the last chapter, favorited this story or me, and followed this story as well. :) Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who reviewed; they mean a lot. Please R&R and enjoy. Sorry for the long wait, but school takes up quite a bit of time now.
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, but I do own Spirit.
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I was bored.
We'd been in the helicopter for a couple of hours now, me still feigning consciousness. I'd pretended to wake up once, just to see how the soldiers would react; it was actually quite hilarious.
All of the soldiers had leapt on top of me at the same time, thinking that they had me "pinned down". I let them think what they wanted, just to let them feel better about themselves. After one of them jabbed a sedative into my neck, I feinted unconsciousness again. Now, I was bored out of my mind. I didn't want to play with the soldiers anymore- the sedatives may not have effected me much, but I didn't like being stuck with needles when I didn't have to be- and everyone was pretty quiet for the duration of the ride, so I couldn't eavesdrop. I did hear the name Alkali Lake mentioned a couple of times, so I assumed this was where we were heading. I finally just slipped into a light doze, not able to do much else.
I was jolted from my doze when I felt the helicopter lowering itself towards what had to be a landing pad. I almost open my eyes and look up, but stop myself just in time. I wait for another ten minutes as the helicopter lands and the humming of metal underneath me fades. I feel someone grab my scruff and pull me from the helicopter, passing me off to someone else to held me a bit more gently. I forced myself to stay limp, glad that this person was smart enough not to squeeze my stomach; though seeing someone have the same reaction as Sabertooth had when I'd vomited on him would have made my day.
I felt the change in temperature from cold to warm as I was moved from outside to inside a building. I was unable to stop my nose from twitching as the smell of medical supplies, fear, blood, and hatred assaulted me. From my time at the mansion with the other mutants, I'd nearly gotten past my fear of anything medical thanks to Jean. Now, being back in the place that had taken me years to escape from in the first place brought all the horrible memories back. I was nearly about to leap out of the arms that held me when I was lowered into what had to be some kind of cage in the shape of a tube. I struggled to my feet after touching the bottom, pretending to be disoriented and woozy. I shook myself out, my fur feeling tight and itchy from where the blood had dried and stiffened. I shook myself again and looked up. The cage was in the shape of a large cylinder, going quite a ways away into the ground. I'd be able to fly out as a bird or something, no problem. My thoughts on that changed when the six students that the soldier's had captured were lowered into the enclosure with me.
"How much you want to bet the wolf'll eat them?" one of the soldiers sneered as he lowered one of the young pups down into the tube. The other soldier chortled.
"Fifty," he said, holding out a hand.
"Deal," the other one said, shaking on it. I snarled up at both of them, moving into the few shadows that surrounded the sides of the enclosure. In exchange for my snarl, the first soldier spat down, his saliva plopping down on my nose. I shook my head viciously, ignoring his cruel laughter; I'd remember him when I escaped.
It took about thirty minutes for everyone to be lowered into the hole. Once the soldiers had placed the lid on top of the cylinder, we were thrown into darkness for a few seconds before lights came on along the sides. A few of the pups were starting to awaken, the others still dead to the world. I stayed close to Heather, laying down next to her as I gave myself a thorough grooming; I didn't want to freak anyone out with my bloodstained appearance. By the time I finished, all the pups were awake. Two of them began crying. Two others tried to slam themselves against the walls, but fell back with cries as they were given harsh electrical shocks. The rest just sat in shock on the floor, some huddling up by themselves and others huddling together around me.
It was cold in the cell, and most of the pups were in thin nightclothes, wrapping themselves up with their blankets. I did my best to keep everyone warm; Heather made her own place huddled under my belly fur, whimpering to herself about there being "too many voices". I didn't hear anything, but I had a feeling I knew what she was talking about; this wasn't the best place for a death-speaker to be. All in all, we were all miserable and scared.
I knew that someone would be coming for us soon, but I didn't dare to voice my thoughts. The pups were scared enough as it was, and I didn't want to scare them anymore than they already were. I did, however, stay in my wolf form. I could have changed into something larger, like a polar bear, but I would take up too much space. I practiced with my thought-speech more, though. I projected my thoughts to the kids, sometimes all at once and other times just a couple at a time. I would give words of encouragement or tell a funny story about what had happened to me when I'd left for a month. I even tried to sing to them, but the soldiers above had slammed the butts of their guns against the top of the cell to get me to shut up. So, I sang to them in the language of the wolves through my thoughts, attempting to give as much comfort as I could. After what felt like hours, all the pups had fallen into a light sleep. I stayed awake to guard my little packmates, though it was getting harder and harder to do so. I found myself dozing off more than once, always jerking awake with my hackles raised and lips peeling away from my fangs in a snarl. Then, I would soothe the pups around me that had been awoken by the jerk before I'd go back to watching over them.
I was in the middle of one of my dozes when there was a sound that made me raise my head and snarl viciously, waking up the lighter sleepers in our small group. The hatch opened.
I rose slowly to my feet, standing protectively over the young pups of the group. A few of the older pups rose with me, trembling with fear, but had their fists clenched and determination shining in their eyes. A heavily gloved hand reached down with a pole, and I knew immediately who they were after.
"Come and get me," I snarled into their thoughts before I lunged for the hand, closing my powerful jaws over the leather. It was laughably easy to crunch the bones underneath the leather, the screaming of the scientist urging my primal side into shaking my head, doing the maximum amount of damage possible. Though I didn't taste any blood and my fangs didn't actually penetrate the glove, I was still able to gain joy out of crushing his hand. I felt the wire loop at the end of the pole tighten around my hind legs, another one capturing my front. I was pulled from the pit in the ground and I released the leather glove, blue eyes shining with hatred as I snapped at anyone within reach. I could hear the cries of the young pups still in the pit below me and, like a mother protecting her cubs, I rose to my feet, ready to die for those kids. Unfortunately, I was yanked right back down onto my side by the poles, three soldiers falling onto my side in an attempt to hold me hostage. I snarled, too angry to get a form into my mind to shift. The Professor had warned me that that was my greatest weakness. He'd told me that I needed to learn how to shift even under great duress, especially when it was emotional; I hadn't listened and now I was paying the price for it as the soldiers dragged me away across the floor towards what I knew had to be the labs.
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Dun dun dun! Spirit is back in the hands of those she escaped. Any ideas on what may happen next? ;) Review and tell me what you think! Until next time, ML out!