Memories
Following
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
At first glance, the two woman appeared to be Jean Grey and the now Tora Logan. But the Tora double had no scars and there was a madness in her eyes. The Jean had a slight difference in her facial features and her eyes were perfectly sane, but bitter. Both were clones. Both were seething oceans of hatred. Both hated the other but were working towards a common goal. Revenge. One determined to strike out at the man who abandoned her. The other determined to kill her template. They'd met in a New York slum. Tried to kill each other, but that was normally how villain partnerships worked.
"I don't care about planning. I need you to tell me where she is. Then I go and slit her throat."
Madelyne Pryor-Summers rolled her eyes. She'd once met Sabretooth. This mutant was possibly even more twisted and murderous. Maddie had seen her kill a man after enticing him into an alley. For no reason other than she could. Then she'd eaten parts of him. And rung 911. When the police had turned up, she'd gone quietly, and then broken out of the high-speed security van. She was completely insane. A murderous, insane, feral mutant with the capabilities to kill even Wolverine. That was the only reason she agreed to work with her. She would be able to get her into the mansion and strike at the X-Men's heart. In return, she'd find this "Tigress" Miss Circen seemed so desperate to kill. Unfortunately, she couldn't sense her psychic signature. She guessed that Tigress had the same shields as Maddie's new partner. There was absolutely nothing where the woman who called herself Poacher's mind should be. So Maddie was trying to scan for Wolverine. He didn't seem to be in Westchester though and Poacher had assured her that where Wolverine was, Tigress would be as well. Maddie had never really thought of the Canadian being one to settle down.
"He's not in the US."
"Check Japan."
"I'm trying!"
She found the trace. It was in the mountains of Shikoku. She started the searching. Apparently an old monastery had been there. It was scheduled for demolition in the 1800s but an anonymous buyer had saved the place. It had passed from hand to hand since then, last being bought in 1983. The deeds were in the name of a Miss E. Ombre. When she went back through the records, a pattern emerged. The surname of the owner was always the same word in different languages. Shadow. However, she assumed Logan hadn't bought the place, as every single buyer had been female. So a friend? She wouldn't be surprised if Logan was friends with an ancient woman. She began looking up the history of the place. Apparently there used to legends of a black angel who studied there. She decided to look up this "Dark Angel". What she found was incredibly interesting. Throughout history, the Black Angel, the Shadow, the Darkwing, kept popping up. Always where you least expected it. Always when something interesting was happening. And always fighting to protect the weak. She followed a link to a conspiracy theory site. Some people thought it was an organisation of women, others thought it was the same woman throughout all the stories. The last recorded sighting was in Vietnam. So Logan knew this "Shadow". Very interesting. Especially since there was a story about the Shadow killing a man who was going to kill a man with Logan's description then fleeing when this Corporal Logan went to investigate.
"He's in Japan. Shikoku. Why do you think she'll be with him again?"
"They're an item. Not sure how deep they are. But Wolverine will lose another woman."
Maddie rolled her eyes. Poacher was definitely a compulsive maniac. Even with the shields, hate was radiating from her. But she was beginning to regret agreeing to work with her.
"I hate clones."
"Me too. They make the filing horrendous."
"You can talk about filings at a time like this?"
"I just finished archiving everything."
"Good point. You never were much of an archivist in life. It's amazing how well you adjusted."
"I adapt. It's who I was."
Tora sighed as she finished packing. It had been lovely to have a break, especially one alone with Logan. She blushed slightly as her digital chips picked out memories and replayed them. If anyone copied them, they would have a field day. She had a feeling Scott would have them straight back on active duty when they got back. She sighed. Jean would know soon enough that her case had been unopened. She had to remember to turn on her digital scramblers when she got back to the States. She checked to make sure she had the card that stated she had been a victim of a terrorist attack and had metal pins in her bones. Apparently, two war veterans would draw attention, especially with her being so young. She checked her passport. French citizenship, but not under the name of Marie Circen. That name was too well known. No, she was travelling as Tora Logan. She stuck the passport into her bag and did a final sweep of the room. Nothing forgotten. She inhaled and caught the various scents in the room. Luckily, Etana didn't have enhanced senses. If she did, she'd catch all the scents. She wondered if they should have switched rooms a few times, just to play the scent down. She shrugged. It wasn't as if anyone would be coming here for a while. She gave everything one last check before picking up her case. Logan arrived behind her.
"Got everything?"
"Yes."
"How long before One-Eye puts us back on active duty?"
"Two minutes."
"You're on."
"How long do you think?"
"One minute."
"Deal."
They grinned at each other. They still made the jokes they had before that day in July when she'd found her family.
"Ready to go?"
"Think so. I'll miss this."
"So will I. I'll definitely miss some of the stuff we've done."
She blushed at that.
"You're hopeless Logan."
"Come on. The plane leaves in four hours."
She did one last sweep of the room before leaving. She was really going to miss this place.
"She loved that house. She kept going back there."
"Of course she did. Some of the best things happened to her there."
"Then she abandoned it."
"Wouldn't you?"
"Considering what happened there, I don't blame her."
The air hostess glanced at the couple in seats 4B and C again. They looked so content. Both looked asleep, her head resting on his chest, his head on hers. They had both addressed her in fluent Japanese, which was a nice change from most Americans. Although it turned out they weren't American at all. The man was Canadian and the woman French. According to one of the ground staff, the man had been injured in some war and the woman in a terrorist attack. The woman had some bad scars on her face. It looked like she'd been mauled by an animal. She leant over towards the man.
"Excuse me sir. We will be landing in five minutes."
He nodded once and gently shook the woman's arm until her eyes snapped open. She glanced at him then nodded briskly, like she had guessed why he had woken her. Her eyes were odd, a deep gold colour with slightly outsized irises and more oval pupils than a normal person. The hostess wondered if she was a mutant. It would fit with the streak in her hair which was a different shade of red to the rest of her hair. In fact, it looked as though the hair had been dyed. Odd. That weird woman on the flight out looked like her. Only she didn't have the scars. Perhaps she was her twin? Not wanting to appear nosy, the hostess moved on to the next person she was supposed to wake.
Phoenix reached out and touched the water. The image rippled once but didn't change.
"I still can't work this thing."
Her companion smiled slightly and waved a hand, changing the image.
"Show-off."
"It's not everyday I get to do something better than you."
Maddie could tell the place was empty. Her companion was scenting the air of the courtyard.
"They were here. They left a few hours ago."
"So they've gone back?"
Poacher didn't answer. Instead she continued to scent the air.
"There was someone else here. Not for a week but has been here for years. Female, smells of bird and cat. Mutant."
"The Shadow?"
"Probably."
The feral clone padded inside the building. Suddenly she opened the door to a room with a view of the mountains and sniffed hard. A cruel smile slid over her face.
"Naughty, naughty Tigress."
"What?"
Maddie's companion didn't answer. Instead she just moved on. Eventually she came back to the courtyard. Maddie suddenly noticed the pond and became aware of how sore her feet were. The other woman got there first, sliding her feet into the water without bothering to look into it.
The screams echoed around the mountains.
Phoenix gave a self-satisfied smirk.
"Idiot."
"Be fair. You don't expect piranhas in a pond."
"Good point. Too bad her feet grew back."
"Remember Etana when she found her darling pets slaughtered."
"Oh, that was bad. Very bad."