True Believers: Part Ten
With a groan, Ripper sank to the floor. All around him, the other laborers were doing the same. A few had simply collapsed as soon as they'd been led back into the pen. Not surprising, considering how long it had been since their last rest period. Part of Ripper wanted very badly to help them, but that would only draw the guards' attention. Then, the sick and exhausted would simply be--removed. They would have to find sources of strength within themselves, he thought bleakly. There was nothing he could do.
You can't save them all, Dunworthy's voice echoed in his head. Ripper's expression tightened. Dunworthy could be so abominably cold-blooded at times. Ripper remembered Dayspring saying the same thing to him once. The exact same words, but so very different in the attitude behind them. From Dunworthy, it had sounded like a proverb. But from Nathan, it had been a warning, a tired, painful acknowledgement of the nature of the war they fought.
You can't save them all, he'd said roughly, his eyes full of self-loathing as he held the body of a child in his arms. Ripper felt tears sting his eyes at the memory of that little boy, caught in the crossfire during an unexpected Dark Rider attack on the old safehouse in York. He had stood there, helplessly watching Nathan wrestle silently with guilt and grief until sirens had started to wail in the distance. Slowly, as if every step had been an effort, Nathan had risen and carried the boy's body over to a clean patch of grass, away from the carnage, and murmured an Askani prayer over him before bodysliding them to safety.
Ripper had gone with him to the funeral. They'd stood at a distance, watching the grief-stricken family bury their son. It had been a beautiful, warm summer day, Ripper remembered. Odd how details like that stuck in one's memory. Or maybe he'd only remembered it because of the contrast to the day the boy had died. Then, it had been raining steadily.
Just as it had the night he'd met Dayspring. The night Nathan had saved him. His old life had been violent, without purpose. Even now, he shuddered to think of some of the things he'd done back then. It had all ended in a pool of his own blood in a London alley, not long after his fourteenth birthday. He could only vaguely remember Nathan leaning over him, and how terrified he'd been of this towering stranger with eyes that seemed to pierce right to the depths of his miserable soul.
For some reason, Nathan hadn't simply called an ambulance. No, he'd brought Ripper back to the London safehouse, much to the disgust of Blaquesmith. Another stray, the enigmatic Askani had called him contemptuously. The comment had stuck with Ripper, even in his half-conscious state. But it hadn't been until he'd met Wisdom that he had understood what Blaquesmith had meant.
What would you have done in this situation, Pete? I know, you would have called me a 'soddin' idiot' and told me that I 'shouldn't have bloody well gotten yourself involved in this friggin' mess to start with'. But Ripper couldn't avoid the fact that Pete would have done something, found some way to help. Wisdom might have a foul mouth, a fouler temper, and an attitude towards the Askani that bordered on the openly hostile, but Ripper had never shared Dunworthy's subtle distrust of him. He liked Pete. And anyone who was that loyal to Nathan deserved the benefit of the doubt, no matter how Dunworthy raved on about personal feelings getting in the way of the mission.
Something drew his attention, quietly but insistently, to a girl crouched near the front of the pen. One of the new arrivals, she was a tiny blonde waif who couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. When he'd first seen her, Ripper had wondered what on earth Vandal's men had kidnapped her for. Whether they had intended her as a toy, rather than a worker. But she'd taken her place in the line, just like anyone else, and as they'd been led back out to the pen, he'd seen that she'd been set to work on some of the more delicate equipment, whose dissassembly required nimble fingers and a dexterity that most of the larger workers couldn't manage. Ripper rose with a tired sigh and went to her side.
"You should really rest when you have the chance, love," he advised. She started, turning huge, terrified blue eyes on him. "It's all right," he continued quickly, trying to reassure her. "I'm not going to hurt you." Occasionally, there were--incidents among the workers, but the offenders had been swiftly and harshly dealt with. The guards, however, were a different story. Some of them were predators, pure and simple, and if the girl didn't do her best to blend into the background, she was in trouble.
She stared at him for a moment longer, and then shifted, drawing her knees up to her chest almost protectively. Ripper sat down beside her. If his presence could give her any kind of comfort, he was going to stay right here until Vandal's men came and dragged them back out again. Kindness doesn't have to be a showy thing, he told himself firmly, thinking of Nathan.
"What's your name?" he asked softly, his voice subtly encouraging.
"Penny," she said after a long hesitation.
"I'm Jamie," Ripper said, reaching out and taking her hand, as if to shake it. She flinched, but he didn't let her go. He needed the physical contact to activate his mutant ability. True, he was only a gamma-class empath, too weak to register on Apocalypse's security systems, but he was able to sense emotions fairly accurately. And what he sensed from the girl alarmed him. She felt like she was on the very edge of hysteria. If she loses it, she'll be 'removed', too, he acknowledged to himself grimly. "Listen to me, Penny," he said very quietly, meeting her frightened gaze. "You have to keep your head, here."
"But I'm so scared," she whispered, trembling. Scared is an understatement, Ripper thought, wincing. The fear in her was so strong he could almost taste it.
"I know," he said, keeping his reassuring tone with an effort. "But you have to stay calm, and do exactly what they tell you as quickly and as quietly as possible. That's the only way any of us are going to make it out of this."
"That boy--" she started, then trailed off, shivering more violently as if the memory of the boy Vandal had killed that day was too horrifying for her to face.
Ripper sighed. "That does happen often, Penny," he said softly. "I won't lie to you. But you have to try and put it out of your mind. I know it's hard." Concentrating with all his strength, he tried to reach out with his gift to calm her, feeling beads of sweat stand out on his forehead. His ability to project was the weakest facet of his empathy, but he had to try. It hurt, to think of this girl winding up as another of Vandal's victims. Maybe it was because she reminded him of his sister--
Tears shimmered in Penny's eyes, but, when she spoke again, her voice sounded calmer. "Who are these people, Jamie?" she asked, as if she expected him to have the answers. "What do they want with us?"
He managed a smile, even as he opened his mouth and lied to her. "I'm not sure, Penny." He didn't dare risk exposing himself, not yet. Not even to reassure her. He squeezed her hand and then released it. "Better not to know, maybe," he offered gently. "Just focus on making it through each day. That's all that's important right now."
She gave a resigned sigh, and then curled up on the floor. "You're probably right," she said, and gave him a shaky but brave smile in return. His heart nearly broke at the sight of it. God, she is so much like Rebecca, it hurts to look at her. "Part of me still thinks I'm dreaming," Penny continued drowsily. "That this is just some nightmare I'm going to wake up from--"
She fell asleep quickly enough. After a while, Ripper stretched out on the floor beside her, thinking to follow her example. But when sleep finally did claim him, it was far from restful.
In his dream, he was watching Vandal and Dayspring fight. The Horseman was faltering, falling back under Dayspring's advance. This same scenario had been in Ripper's dreams ever since he'd wound up here, an unconscious manifestation of the thirst for justice that drove him during his waking hours. But this time, Ripper couldn't muster even a flicker of triumph. His attention was drawn to a shadowy figure behind Nathan. It waited for the fight to end, for a moment of vulnerability to pounce on. A woman? Ripper thought hesitantly. But the shadow was faceless, and part of Ripper gibbered in terror, sure that the figure wasn't human at all, but something--evil.
"It's over, Vandal," Nathan snarled, emphasizing his words with blows. "There's been enough death!"
Vandal staggered backwards and fell to the ground, turning into dust as soon as he hit. Nathan looked briefly satisfied, but his expression wavered as he looked down at his hands. They were covered in blood. He shuddered, the look in his eyes wild.
"Too late," he whispered. "My fault. I failed them. My fault--"
"No, you saved us!" Ripper said quickly, starting towards him. But Apocalypse's base suddenly blurred around them, and, between blinks, they were standing on a battlefield, knee-deep in the dead.
Ripper gasped, recognizing from Blaquesmith's files the uniforms that the corpses wore. The great majority of the bodies were dressed in Canaanite green. But many wore Askani armor, their still faces marked with Clan tattoos. Ripper, nearly choking on the smell of death, looked out over the battlefield. It seemed to stretch for as far as the eye could see, a flat plain all but carpeted with bodies. There was movement, here and there, and Ripper nearly threw up as he realized that there had to be wounded out there, buried beneath the dead.
Not far away, Nathan stood on a patch of bare ground, beneath a torn and singed blue banner. There was enough of it left for Ripper to see that it had been emblazoned with a golden Phoenix. He closed his eyes for a moment, dizzied by the sudden image of a great army, setting out in the sunlight with that banner flying at its head. The faces of the soldiers who marched behind it, faces full of hope and determination. He could even hear them singing--
"No," Nathan whispered, drawing him from that brief, beautiful reverie. Ripper opened his eyes and saw the color drain from Nathan's face until he was as pale as the dead. "Not here. Not again." The shadow was still standing behind him. Waiting.
Ripper started towards him again, instinctively reacting to the agony he felt, but Pete was suddenly there, reaching out to stop him. "This is too deep for you, Jamie," Pete said with a sad smile. "Use your bloody head for once, and stay out of it."
"I can't!" Ripper snapped, trying to pull out of Pete's grasp. His empathy seemed curiously amplified, as if he'd just been jumped up to alpha-class. "He's in pain, can't you feel it?" And the shadow was growing more substantial, glowing with its own curious non-light.
"Noble of you," Pete said wryly, shaking his head. "You think you're going to save him? You can't save them all, Jamie."
"Stop saying that!" Ripper snarled.
Pete sighed. "You can't save them all," he repeated calmly. "Him, least of all. How much do you think is LEFT to save, Jamie?"
Ripper heard the shadow laugh, a rich, unmistakably female laugh of triumph and delight. Nathan fell to his knees, weeping openly now, and the shadow's human form began to twist and stretch as it wrapped itself around him in a mockery of an embrace. Ripper struggled to get away from Pete, who gave a resigned grumble and vanished so abruptly that Ripper lost his balance and fell on his face. By the time he had gotten back to his feet, there were two children standing between him and Nathan.
One was a girl, red-haired and serious, maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a dark red bodysuit trimmed with gold, a large blue 'X' on her belt. Ripper knew he should recognize the uniform, but he couldn't quite recall from where. Somewhere in the files--an 'X'--but she's too young to be an X-Man! And what the bloody hell is she doing in my dream?
The boy beside her was younger, maybe eight or nine. Seeing the white streak in the boy's brown hair, the metal of his left arm and the way his left eye glowed, Ripper realized with a shock that this was Nathan as a child. The boy regarded him dispassionately, saying nothing. It was the girl who finally spoke.
"Tell him," she said in a subdued voice. Behind them, the shadow had totally engulfed Nathan. Part of it still looked like a head, and it turned towards Ripper, regarding him with eyes like two glowing coals. The girl sighed, exasperated, and before Ripper could react, kicked him in the shins. He stumbled backwards with a curse, and she shook her head. "You weren't LISTENING," she said insistently. As he looked down at her, he could have sworn her eyes were glowing. "Tell him."
"Tell who what?" he growled.
"Nathan, you idiot!" she snapped. Ripper gave the boy a doubtful look, and the girl sighed again. "Not him. Your Nathan."
"Oh," Ripper said. The girl looked suspicious, but evidently decided that he knew which Nathan she was talking about.
"Someone HAS to tell him. It's wrong to keep it from him. He'll find out anyways, and then it'll just be worse." Ripper was about to ask her again what she was talking about, but even as he opened his mouth, the boy half-turned towards his older self, huddled and shaking within the shadow. "No!" the girl said sharply, and the boy gave her a mutinous look. Her voice softened. "Now's not the time."
"It's not fair," the boy muttered. Ripper shook his head. As dreams went, this one was weirder than the norm. "I want to help. Slym and Redd would want me to help him. And it's only right, Gina. I remember. He doesn't."
"You can't help with this, Nate," the girl said sadly, giving the boy a quick hug. He submitted to the gesture with all the huffy, half-offended dignity that Ripper would expect of any boy his age. "This was decided a long time ago. SHE made sure of that." The venom the girl instilled in that single pronoun hit Ripper like a blow across the face.
"Still not fair," the boy grumbled, then gave Ripper a thoughtful look. "What if he tells the others?" he asked hopefully. "Warns them, I mean. Maybe they can do something--"
"About what?" Ripper demanded. The girl shook her head, and then led the boy away. They were visibly trying not to step on any of the bodies they passed, but neither of them seemed particularly bothered by the corpses, either. "Wait one bloody minute!" he snarled, going after them. "What are you talking about? What is--"
His dreamworld burned away as the Phoenix from the medallions rose up in front of him, spreading its wings. He always thought it would be a beautiful sight, but this firebird wasn't beautiful. It was terrifying. It burned a dark red that hurt his eyes, and its scream was full of anguish, full of madness--
Sweating, he awoke, and lay there trembling for a few minutes, trying to gather his composure. Eventually, he heard the guards returning. They shouted at the laborers to get to their feet, delivering a few choice kicks to laggards. Still shaking, Ripper pulled Penny to her feet, reminding her in a low voice to keep her eyes on her work and stay quiet.
But he found he was unable to follow his own advice when he returned to his place in the line of workers. The dream wouldn't leave him, no matter how hard he tried to forget. It made no sense. He was an empath, not a precog like Dunworthy. For him, a dream was just a dream.
Still, the girl had been trying to get him to do something. Tell him, her voice echoed in his mind. But tell Nathan what? He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing the battlefield, seeing Nathan fall to his knees weeping. The scream of the Phoenix rang out again in his mind, and he shuddered.
"Pay attention, you!" one of the guards snarled, cuffing him. Ripper immediately turned all his attention to the power cell he was working on. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Penny glance at him worriedly. He willed her to focus on her work, and did the same.
There was no time to be puzzling over a dream now. But he made a mental note to ask Dunworthy about it, when he got out of here. And to scan the files on the X-Men and associated mutants back at the safehouse. Maybe the girl would be in them. What had the boy called her? He scowled. The details were fading already, damn it. Had it been Jenna? Or--Jana? He heard the guard growl at him again, and hastily put it from his mind.
***
Sitting in her office, Emma Frost sighed, letting Jubilee's term paper--although she shuddered to dignify it with that title--fall to the desk in front of her.
"That child," she said balefully, shaking her head. This meant another 'conference', and another week of dodging Jubilee's attempts at revenge. "Good thing I'm a telepath," she muttered, glad she could catch most of the children's misbehaviour while it was still in the planning stages. Sean didn't have that advantage, but then again, Sean was the 'good cop'. He didn't constantly need to be on the look-out for hair dye in his shampoo or frogs in his bed.
She leaned back in her chair with a sigh, stretching. To hell with the marking, she decided. Besides, I wouldn't be fair to the other students if I forced myself to mark their papers after reading Jubilee's. She started to rise, but froze with a frown as she sensed an odd--ripple, for lack of a better word, on the astral plane. It happened a second time, a little stronger, and suddenly Monet and Jono were in her mind, asking her if she knew what was happening.
#I'm not sure, children,# she said calmly. But then she felt a flash of alarm--from Sean, she realized quickly. #Sean!# she said sharply as the alarm grew stronger. # What's the matter?#
He didn't answer. Emma cursed and started towards the door, flinging it open. But before she got more than two steps down the hall, she heard running footsteps. A moment later, Sean came hurtling around the corner and straight towards her. Emma went pale as she saw his burden.
"Good Lord!" she gasped as he pushed past her and into the office. "What happened?"
As she followed him, Sean carried the ashen, semi-conscious Gina over to the couch and laid her down gently. "I'm not precisely sure, Em," he said, sounding as agitated as she'd ever heard him as he moved aside to give her room. "I was helpin' the lass with her homework, and she just collapsed--"
#Ms. Frost?# Monet asked coolly.
#Not now, Monet!# Emma sent back quickly. "Why did you bring her here and not the infirmary?" she demanded, checking Gina's pulse. It was strong, if a bit too rapid for her liking. She glanced up at Sean, who looked very confused all of a sudden.
"I'm--not sure. I--"
Abruptly remembering what Logan had told her about Gina losing control of her powers in that bank in Alberta, Emma sent out a quick probe in Sean's direction. He was all right, she saw in relief, although he had caught the backlash when Gina's powers had gone off. I suppose I should be touched, that his instinct was to come to me.
"Doesn't matter," she said briskly, turning her attention back to the girl. "You did the right thing." She scanned Gina's mind as deeply as she dared, frowning at what she saw.
How very odd. At first glance, it looked like the girl was traveling on the astral plane. There was the same separation of her astral form, and a firmer link between mind and body than most experienced telepaths could manage. But as Emma continued to scan her, she realized rapidly that Gina wasn't on the astral plane. She had left her body, that was obvious, but she had gone--somewhere else. Whatever this was, it couldn't be anything but instinctive, Emma decided, scowling worriedly. After all, she'd barely begun to teach the girl basic control over her telepathy. An out-of-body experience on this level--
"Emma!" Sean asked, breaking her concentration. She gave him a dark look, but he seemed oblivious. "Is the lass all right?" Emma saw the worry in his green eyes, and instinctively moved to reassure him.
"I believe so," she said shortly, even as she created a psionic anchor to smooth Gina's transition back from--wherever she was. "Let's just give her a minute or two," she continued in a taut voice. "With all the other factors at work, I don't know if I would be wise to try and bring her out of this prematurely."
Other factors, Emma thought with a kind of black humor. That was one way to put it. Logan hadn't stopped with the details of Gina's 'criminal career' and what they knew of Sinister's involvement. He'd told her about the visions of the future he and Bishop had seen in Alberta, and Gina's somewhat ambiguous role in their creation. Emma still wasn't sure why he'd trusted her with that information, when he and Bishop hadn't even told the other X-Men. Perhaps he had thought she needed to know, since she would be the one teaching the girl. But she'd also got the distinct impression that he needed to talk to someone about it. Although why he chose me, God only knows-- In any case, it seemed clear that Rachel Summers was involved in her clone's life at a deeper level than any of them understood. She wasn't going to even start on what interest Landau, Luckman and Lake might have in all of this. Not to mention the possibility that Sinister had indeed succeeded in creating a psionic bond between Gina and Cable--who's not someone I'd want to be psi-linked to, all things considered, Emma thought darkly. I do not envy Domino at all--
Gina's eyes suddenly flew open, full of disoriented panic. "No! Rachel, stop him--Nathan!" she cried desperately.
"Gina!" Emma said sharply, reaching out telepathically to try and calm her. Gina gasped, and reason swiftly returned to her eyes. Emma took a deep breath of relief as she scanned the girl lightly and saw that everything had apparently returned to normal.
"Ms. Frost!" Gina said, blinking confusedly up at her. "What happened?" She tried to sit up, and winced. "My head hurts."
"I'm not surprised," Emma said with a faint smile to cover her unease at Gina's ominous words. "Just rest for a minute. It looks like--you may have lost control over your powers again."
Gina looked terrified. "I didn't--I didn't--"
"No, lass, you did nae hurt anyone," Sean said soothingly, and this time, it was Emma who moved aside to give him room. When it came to dealing with their students on an emotional level, he was her better by far.
Emma stood, keeping her expression neutral with an effort. Rachel, stop him--Nathan! the girl's frantic cry echoed in her mind. "You don't remember anything?" she asked carefully. Gina sat up, shaking her head.
"It was--strange," the girl said tentatively. "I feel like I should remember--but everything's fuzzy. I think--I think I was talking to someone."
"Someone ye knew?" Sean said encouragingly, and Gina shrugged, looking uneasy.
"I don't think so." Her eyes suddenly widened. "But it was someone Nathan knew." Her expression grew worried. "Ms. Frost, Mr. Cassidy--could we please call the mansion and make sure everything's all right? I've got a really bad feeling, for some reason."
"Of course, lass," Sean said reassuringly. "Easy enough t'do, if it makes ye feel better. But I wouldn't worry, Gina. I'm sure everything is fine."
Emma raised an eyebrow. Sean sounded convinced of the truth of his words, but she was sensing a disquiet in him that matched her own. By the time they found out, minutes later, that they couldn't raise the mansion on any frequency, Sean's cheerful facade was exhibiting noticeable cracks.
***
The combination of the noise and the strobe effect was almost too much for Logan. His enhanced senses reeling from the assault, he staggered back against the wall, unable to join the others as they rushed out to try and stop Cable and Wisdom.
A moment later, the chaos of Cable's diversion abruptly stopped as the power on the whole level went down, plunging them briefly into darkness before the emergency lights came on. Still dazed, Logan moved towards the doors, which, surprisingly enough, parted as he approached. He wouldn't have thought they would be working on emergency power. Then again, this wasn't an ordinary power failure. Part of him couldn't help but admire Cable's inventiveness, even as the rest of him was fighting off unease at what had just happened.
This was not like Cable. At all. Logan had expected him to stay and argue his point. Cable had always been the 'stand and fight' type, to put it mildly. That was part of the reason Logan's relationship with him up until the last couple of years had been one long, drawn-out brawl. Neither of them had been willing to back down after the near-catastrophe of their first encounter. But that little scene we just had here--Scott and Jean acting like overprotective parents from Hell--that triggered something, I think. Still, he couldn't quite focus on the impressions he'd gotten from Cable in that last couple of minutes, not with his senses still adjusting to the uproar that had come after.
In the red glow of the emergency lights, he saw the others clustered around the elevator doors. Scott cursed. "I can't stop the elevator!" he snarled. "Bishop, Sam, try the emergency access. Hank, see if you can access the main computer from the terminal in the medlab. Jean--"
But Jean was already oblivious, her eyes closed and a look of concentration on her face. Logan watched her for a moment, wondering what she was trying to do. Not stop the elevator telekinetically, I hope--I think that'd probably make things worse at this point. He noticed Dana leaning back against the wall, looking rather disoriented. Frowning in concern, Logan went over to her side, gesturing sharply at the hovering Sam to follow Bishop and carry out Scott's order.
"You all right, darlin'?" he asked the young empath, realizing how much of a test this must have been for her recently perfected shields. She blinked, her eyes refocusing, and gave him a worried look.
"Fine," she said, her voice a little unsteady. "Nearly--lost my shields for a minute there, but I got them back."
Scott and Hank were now trying to force the elevator doors open. Storm, looking disgusted, shooed them out of the way. The temperature in the hall started to drop as she touched the doors. Logan realized she was freezing the metal, taking it down to a temperature so low that it would be easier to break.
Then, he realized with a shock that he hadn't seen Domino yet. He looked around wildly, and finally spotted her, standing by herself a short distance away. She was slumped against the wall, looking nearly as out of it as Dana had been a moment ago. Dana, following his gaze, actually gave a low growl.
"She's not fine, though. You should have felt what he projected at her just before he bolted. He can be such an insensitive bastard at times. I don't care how--" She trailed off suddenly, frowning, and although Logan had already started towards Domino, he hesitated, seeing how confused Dana looked.
"What's wrong?" he growled.
"I was going to say he was pissed at her. And he was--but that wasn't the dominant emotion." Dana's frown turned into a deep scowl. "You should go talk to her," she said distractedly. "I'll tell you if I sort it out."
Logan growled under his breath, increasingly aware that they had bungled this situation, and bungled it badly. Bishop's suggestion of putting Cable in restraints while he was still out had been out of the question, obviously, but then again, Scott hadn't done much 'reasoning' with him when he'd come to, either.
"Neena?" he said gently, going over to Domino. She looked over at him, pain evident in her violet eyes, and he sighed. "Kickin' yourself in the ass isn't gonna do any good, girl."
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I screwed up, old man," she said with a faint, humorless smile. Logan raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged. "Not by trying to get him to stay here. By being so damned indecisive. If I'd argued with him, he might have listened to me. He's not generally irrational, after all. But by hedging like that--"
Logan shook his head. "That made no sense at all," he grumbled. She gave him a wry look. "Then again," he allowed, "this is Nate we're talkin' about here. You gettin' anything on your psi-link?"
She winced. "He shut it down," she said in a depressed voice. "I suppose I should be glad he didn't just break it, period." She frowned suddenly, her eyes flashing with irritation. "What the hell am I talking about? I didn't do anything except try to get him to think of an alternative way to do this--" Logan kept quiet, not wanting to interrupt her train of thought. Even with the psi-link shut down, Domino had still felt whatever Nate had been feeling just before he'd gone tearing out of here. She was probably best able to figure out what the hell was really going on here. "His reaction was wrong, Logan," she finally said after a long moment of silence. "I expected him to tell Scott to go flonq himself. Not to--lose it like that."
"I was thinkin' that myself," Logan said quietly when she gave him an intent look, obviously expecting his input. "What did you get through the link just before he bolted?"
She scowled, shaking her head. "Anger. He--thought I'd betrayed him or something, I'm not sure. But there was something else, too--"
Dana suddenly appeared at Logan's side, her eyes wide. "Fear," she said. Domino looked at her for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "But what is he afraid of?" Dana continued almost plainitively. "And why didn't Jean feel it?"
"She's not an empath, and she wasn't linked to him," Logan said logically, inclining his head to Dana and Domino in turn. Dana nodded, but still looked troubled.
"Still, she had to have sensed something--"
Scott blasted the elevator doors. They shattered, but his optic blast bounced off a forcefield and came ricocheting back at them. Jean cried out, throwing up a TK shield just before it could hit Scott and Storm.
"That was brilliant," Domino murmured, her expression turning briefly ironic. "Are we sure Nate got his tactical skills from the Summers side of the family?"
"Speak for yourself, darlin'," Logan grumbled. "Personally, I think they're both acting like boneheads at the moment." She gave him a sarcastic look, her eyes flickering towards Jean for a moment. Logan sighed, acknowledging her unspoken addition to the list of people who weren't thinking clearly.
"Back after Nate was hurt in Alberta," Domino said in a very low voice, "Jean told me that she tended to go into 'fire-breathing dragon' mode when it came to his welfare." Logan folded his arms across his chest, and Domino gave him a very faint smile. "I think that was an understatement."
Logan frowned. As explanations went, that was a little too simplistic for his liking. No, there had to be something else driving Jean to act like this--
There was a startled curse from down the hall, and they heard Sam ask Bishop if he was all right. Logan started down to check on them, but before he got more than a few steps, they reappeared from around the corner. Sam looked resigned, while Bishop wore a thunderous expression.
"We got the emergency access open," Bishop reported grimly. "But there's some sort of forcefield blocking it." He saw the remains of the elevator doors and the bluish forcefield behind it. "Much like that one," he said darkly. "I don't know what sort of energy they're composed of, but I can't seem to absorb it."
"We can't even figure out how they're bein' generated," Sam complained. He came to Dana's side, frowning as he saw her, Logan, and Domino clustered together. "What's up?" he said more quietly as Bishop passed him to confer with Scott.
Logan was about to answer him when Hank poked his head out of the medlab. "I regret to inform you, my friends, that we appear to be locked out of the computer," he said. he didn't look too upset, however. 'Intrigued' was the description that came to Logan's mind. "Everything except basic environmental systems are shut down. Essentially, this entire level has been sealed off."
"He doesn't want us getting out," Scott growled. "Damn it, how is he DOING this? Jean, were you able to alert the others?" Logan's heart sank at Scott's choice of words, and Domino cursed under her breath.
"He starts treating Nate like some intruder loose in the mansion and we're going to have an even worse problem than we do now," she muttered savagely.
Jean was nodding. She looked very agitated, and Logan growled softly, not liking the way this was going at all. "I told Rogue to try and talk to him," she said anxiously. "They're headed towards the hangar, so I shielded Rogue, Joseph and Bobby and told them to wait there--"
"What, to ambush them?" Sam suddenly said, incredulously. "Jean, ma'am, ah know you're worried, but this is nuts!"
"What do you propose we do, Sam?" Scott said tensely. "Say 'have a good trip' and wave as he flies off?" Dana gaped at him, but Sam wasn't finished yet.
"Well, ah sure as hell don't think we should be pickin' a fight with him!" Sam said angrily. "And that's exactly what's gonna happen, sir, if Rogue and the others back him into a corner like that!" He spoke with the sort of confidence only experience could give. Too bad it was wasted on Scott and Jean, Logan thought darkly.
"Sam," Jean said, obviously trying to reassure him. "Rogue and the others aren't going to ambush him." He started to protest, but Jean kept talking, cutting him off. "The only reason I'm psi-shielding them is so he doesn't get the chance to pen them in, like he has us."
"Besides the fact that he's not going to try the same tactic twice," Domino suddenly said, "you're ignoring the fact that Sam's right. Nate's not going to see this as anything other than an ambush, and he's going to react that way." She drew herself up, donning a professional mask, and Logna fought back a surge of near-paternal pride. "And that's not even taking Wisdom into account. We don't know why Pete went with him."
Scott gave her an aggravated look. "All the more reason why we should get out of here and--"
"Do you see me disagreeing with the 'getting out of here' part, Summers?" Domino asked, almost coldly. "There's more going on here than meets the eye. Believe me, I want to figure it out just as much as you do!" When no one questioned her sincerity, she muttered something under her breath and glanced at the forcefield measuringly. "I won't pretend I know how he's playing tiddlywinks with the mansion's systems like this, but considering the tech base he's coming from, it doesn't surprise me that he CAN."
Logan blinked as a particularly vivid memory suddenly reached out and gave him a figurative smack across the back of the head. It had been during the time X-Force had lived at the mansion. He'd been wandering the halls, late at night, and come across Cable working in the computer room. Standing in the shadows for a moment, he'd watched as odd, alien-looking text scrolled across the screens.
Alien-looking--oh, holy SHIT! He hadn't known what it was then, hadn't recognized it. But remembering those sinuous, elegant 'letters', he was more than reasonably sure that it was the same script that had been on the doors in the visions of the future he and Bishop had seen in Alberta.
"Written Askani," he muttered. No one heard him. Why the hell didn't I remember that before? Logan thought agitatedly. He recalled standing there, thinking how odd it was, how he should really mention to Hank that Cable was doing some heavy-duty programming at a damned peculiar hour--
And then Cable had turned around, giving him an odd smile. Go to bed, Logan, he'd said, his left eye glowing a fierce gold in the darkened room. Logan remembered, very clearly, turning and leaving the room to do just that. That son of a bitch! Logan thought, astonished. He made me forget!
But all of this added yet another layer of complexity to the situation. Cable had obviously put a great deal of effort into thoroughly infiltrating the mansion's systems. Logan wondered for a moment if that was how he'd managed to get in and retrieve the computer files during Zero Tolerance. But the fact remained that for someone like Cable, someone who operated on the fringes, an advantage of this sort was nearly priceless. That he would throw it away like this, just to get out of the mansion, suggested a level of desperation on his part that was totally out of proportion to what had really been going on. Dana's question was at the heart of the whole thing, Logan decided grimly. What was Cable so afraid of?
"Ah could try blastin' through the forcefield?" Sam offered. Dana frowned, and Domino gave him a withering look.
"Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped, but then modulated her tone when Sam gave her a hurt look. "Sorry, Sam. But if Bishop can't absorb the energy, there's no guarantee that your blast field will protect you from it."
"Ma'am, we can't just sit here," Sam said worriedly. "We have t'get out there and talk to him."
"Talking," Domino said dryly, raising her eyebrows. "What a novel idea." Scott scowled, and Jean flushed, obviously ready to make some kind of rejoinder. But before she could, she was interrupted.
"Anyone down there?" a voice suddenly emanated from the intercom. Logan leapt for it before anyone else could.
"Kitty, where are you?" he asked quickly.
"The War Room," she answered briskly. "Someone care to tell me what's going on here?"
Logan's head whipped around and he stared at Jean incredulously. "You didn't tell her?" he demanded. Jean flinched.
#I didn't know--what to say,# she said unconvincingly in his head. #Not with Wisdom--#
Logan cursed under his breath. You mean you didn't trust her, he sent back scathingly, and filled Kitty in on the situation. For a full ten seconds after he finished speaking, there was nothing but silence from the intercom.
"Damn," she finally said. "I'll go after them. Pete's got to have a good reason for going along with this, though--damn, what a mess. Any idea where they're headed?"
"Kitty, wait!" Scott said urgently. "I need you to get the main computer working again."
"Good luck," Kitty said darkly. "I got internal com back, but only because it's a non-strategic system, according to the sleeper program that just woke up and started rampaging through the computer core like Godzilla."
"Kitty--"
"Scott, you don't understand. When I try to access the core systems, I can't get the computer to respond to commands in any English or Shi'ar programming language. If I can't talk to it," she continued impatiently, "I can't get it to stop. I have access to internal com, environmental controls, and a whole bunch of other things that do us absolutely no good. I'm locked out of everything else. I think my efforts would be better spent trying to reason with our 'fugitives'."
Scott grimaced at the biting sarcasm in her voice. "Kitty, I understand you want to find Wisdom, but we have to get the mansion's systems back under control? What if we were attacked right now? We'd be defenseless!" Logan almost snorted at Scott's rather weak reasoning.
'In case of an attack', my butt, he thought darkly. Wouldn't hurt you to be honest, Summers, and admit that your pride's hurt because you misjudged how far Nate was willing to go to get out of here.
There was silence from the intercom for another few moments. "I get it," Kitty finally said, with heavy irony. "You want me to let you out so you can 'reason' with Cable again." Logan couldn't suppress a chuckle at Scott's suddenly indignant expression. Scott had deserved that jab, though, after implying that Kitty was a lovesick kid who wanted to go chasing after her boyfriend. "As unproductive as that would certainly be, Scott, I'll give it a try. But only for five minutes. If I don't get anywhere by then, I'm going after them. Oh, and a suggestion?" she added sweetly. "I wouldn't recommend that any of you with energy-based powers try to blast your way out of there. There're forcefields set up around your entire level."
"We figured that out, darlin'," Logan said ironically. "Just do your best."
"Will do, Logan," Kitty said as she broke the connection. Bishop muttered something under his breath.
"She is quite pert," he stated. Logan growled at him.
"Watch your mouth, bub!" he snapped. "'Pert' or not, she had a point. More than one, if you ask me!"
Jean was frowning. "You're right, Logan," she said in a subdued voice, and took a deep breath. "I'm going to try and talk to Nathan."
"Jean, I'm not sure that's a good idea," Dana put in worriedly. "He's upset--you don't know how he's going to react to you approaching him telepathically, especially with his shields in such a mess. It would be better to do it face to face--"
"Obviously, that's not possible at the moment, Dana!" Jean snapped. Dana took a step backwards, her eyes crossing for a moment as if the force of Jean's frustration had been a physical blow. Sam slid an arm around her protectively, and scowled at Jean.
"Jean, stop and think for a second," Domino said sharply, and Jean gave her an angry look. "I don't think he'd interpret you approaching him as an attack, but what if he uses his powers? Aren't we trying to avoid that?"
Logan stiffened in sudden understanding. Hell, I bet that's part of the reason Wisdom went with him, he thought, almost sure of it. Makes sense--
"If I create a close enough link," Jean said, with a forced sort of patience, "he wouldn't be able to use his powers to fight it, I don't think--"
"You don't think?" Domino asked ironically, her implication clear.
Jean glared at her. "You're the one that's so convinced there's some other reason he's doing this," she said. "How else are we going to find out what it is?" Scott, standing beside her, suddenly looked appalled.
"Jean, you don't think--"
"No," she said sharply. "I felt him make the decision to run--his decision, Scott. It was very clear." Logan realized what Scott had been worried about, that this had something to do with the Askani conditioning. Logan growled under his breath. That hadn't even occurred to him.
Domino was staring at the three of them, suspicion in her eyes. "What exactly is going on here?" she said sharply. "How would it have been anything but his decision?" Logan winced, giving Jean a warning look.
You won't be able to put her off for long, Red--and it's like you said. She needs to know.
Jean flinched. "Domino, I'll explain, I promise--but not right now." Domino glared at her, but Jean met her eyes resolutely. "Now isn't the time," she repeated carefully, and, before Domino could say anything else, Jean closed her eyes, her expression going distant.
Domino muttered something under her breath and turned to Logan. He raised a defensive hand. "Not my story to tell, darlin'--"
"Look, old man," she said threateningly. "I'm about fed up with the secrets--"
"I said no, Neena," he growled. She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a thoroughly evil look. Despite the situation, he almost smiled. None of the youngsters he had taught had ever been able to match Domino for sheer obstinacy. "You shouldn't be so eager to hear this," he said, quietly, so only she could hear him. "You're not gonna like it, darlin'."
The irritation in her eyes faded, replaced by uncertainty. But she didn't say anything, and Logan figured she had decided to exercise a little patience. He glanced around at the others, who had very studiously been ignoring their conversation. Scott, who Logan would've thought to have been more interested than anyone else, looked lost in thought, oddly distressed.
"What's up, bub?"
Scott started, and then looked over at him. "I'm just wondering why Nathan would think he needed the ability to co-opt the mansion's systems," he said in a brittle voice.
"Guess he doesn't really trust us," Logan said, not above needling Scott a bit. "Can't imagine why." Scott looked about ready to blast him into the wall, and Logan shook his head. "Kidding, Cyke--mostly. But use your head for a minute. Cable's not an X-Man, and he doesn't think like one. Every mercenary learns to leave themselves a back door out of any situation."
"It is a serious breach of security," Bishop said, sounding angry. Domino, who seemed to have regained her composure, raised an eyebrow.
"Bishop, breaching security is what Nate used to do for a living, remember? Don't expect a leopard to change his spots overnight--" Her eyes suddenly went distant. "A back door," she muttered distractedly. "I wonder--hey, Sam, c'mere for a minute."
to be continued...
[FOOTER]