Subject: [OTL]: HellsX 17 Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 20:51:11 -0700 (PDT) From: D Benway HellsX [17:45] Alien Produced by Benway. See notes for disclaimers. _______________________________________________________________________________ She scanned the forest from a bough forty feet above the ground. She could sense Drake, Summers, and Rasputin closing in on the car parked in the meadow from all sides, while Ororo and Worthington came in from above. She had no idea if Logan was there at all. All five of them were excited, with the blood coursing through their bodies faster than ever, but they were nothing compared with what was in the car. The two men were very excited, but one, the target, was strange. She had the feeling that he was a pretty mushroom like the one her father had shown her in the forest, warning her of its deadly qualities. He'd made her wash her hands off with whiskey after she'd touched it, not entirely by mistake. She listened in on the headset. Worthington had placed a parabolic mike in a tree the day before, and it was trained directly on the car. "Ooooh," said a male voice. "Uk!" said another. "Ahhhhhhhh!" "Whew," said the first. "That was fun." "Oh Clark," breathed the second. "Fun doesn't even begin-" "Mmmmm," said Clark. "Want to do it again?" There was a giggle. "What?" said Clark. "Never done it before with a guy with two assholes," said the other. "Strictly speaking, Lex, only one of them is an asshole," said Clark. "So what's the other one?" said Lex. "Dunno," said Clark. "Think we could use it to make you pregnant?" said Lex. "Dunno," said Clark. "Let's see." "Mmmm," said Lex. "Oooooooh!" "Uhhhhhhhh," said Clark. "Huhhhhhh." "Cyke to Storm," Summers cut in. "Start weather effects. Heavy rain, big drops, loud enough to cover our advance." "Affirmed," said Ororo. The sky over the meadow began to darken. "Look at that!" said a voice, not over the headset. Kitty looked over her shoulder. Coming down the hill through the brush in the dark were two girls. One had a camera, the other had a scowl. "Great," said the scowler. "A cloud." "No, no," said the photographer. "It's the only cloud in the sky, over there, just over that car." "Can't see a thing," said the other. "Don't know why I let you drag me out here." "Because you were in the office when that call came in, you listened in on the extension, and you decided that you had to follow me," said the photographer. "Bet it was a prank," said the other. "You're so gullible, Sullivan." "Speak for yourself, Lang," said Sullivan. "There's something weird going on out there. Maybe it's meteor stuff." "Great," said Lang. "There's people out there," said Sullivan. "In the car?" said Lang. "In the brush," said Sullivan. "Coyotes," said Lang. Kitty dropped to ground level, breaking a branch or two on the way down. "Shit!" screamed Lang. "What the fuck was that?" said Sullivan. "Run!" said Lang. Kitty leapt straight up, did a 360 around a large branch, and launched herself forward, coming down in the brush just ahead of the two girls. They ran, in blind panic, right into her. "Run!" said Sullivan. "Theressomethinginthewoods!" "What?" said Kitty. "Something big," said Lang, stopping. "Come on!" said Sullivan. "Lost," said Kitty. "Sullivan," hissed Lang. "Get your butt back here." "But-"said Sullivan. "Bet we got your big scary monster right here," said Lang. "My friends," said Kitty. "In the car." "Um," said Sullivan. "We saw a car." "Had to go to the can," said Kitty. "What are you flying on?" said Lang. "Geez, Lang," said Sullivan. "The word 'disability' mean anything to you?" "Yeah," said Lang. "That's why I asked her if she was stoned." "Meteors," said Kitty. "Meteors?" said Sullivan. "Shit!" said Lang, as a sheet of lightning lit up the forest. A sound like an elephant in pain almost drowned out the clap of thunder. "Where the fuck are you going?" said Lang. "Someone's hurt," said Sullivan. "Yeah, it's going to be us," said Lang. "We run AWAY from the big noises." "Friends," said Kitty. The elephant bellowed again, and a tree fell into the clearing. "Sullivan!" said Lang. "Get help," said Sullivan. Lang stood there for a moment, then turned and ran. "Your friends?" said Sullivan. "They're over there? With meteors?" "Yeah," said Kitty. "What're they doing with them?" said Sullivan. "Uh-," said Kitty. Something heavy hit the ground. There was no more bellowing. Kitty could smell blood flowing feebly through dying burnt meat, and something else, something not quite human. "Maybe we should catch up with Lana," said Sullivan. "My friends," said Kitty. "Have to help them." She could sense Worthington flying over head, zooming in towards Lana. "This way," said Kitty. The path she picked was not direct, but it put the maximum number of low bushes between them and the car, or whatever was left of it. Sullivan said nothing, and seemed to be quite good at sneaking about in the dark. When they came to the final break in cover, Kitty made sure that she was behind Sullivan, blocking any retreat. "But," said Sullivan. "That's Clark's car." It was on fire, and crushed. Something burnt black and vaguely human-shaped protruded through the windshield and was embedded in the hood. From another gap in the brush came Summers, with an unconscious Ororo draped over his shoulder. "Where's Clark?" said Sullivan. Summers turned, and Kitty barely made out the pillar of blackness in the middle of the field. From within it came a crunching noise, and then a loud snap. Sullivan backed away. Kitty took her by the arm. Sullivan tried to run, but lost her footing. She had no hope of breaking Kitty's grip. "What's happening?" said Sullivan. Rasputin limped in, leaning on Bobby for support. Logan swirled in, somehow making the flames seem dimmer by his presence. "Trap?" said Sullivan. "Hey," said Lang, emerging from behind them with Worthington. "I met this amazing guy-" They all froze and watched as a silenced black helicopter landed into the clearing. "That's 'taken alive'?" said a man, dropping from the chopper. The voice was unmistakable. She had heard it so many times on TV, it was as well known as that of the President. "Sir," said Summers. "The mission failed to proceed as planned." "I can see that, numbnuts," said the new Captain America. "It's-" said Lang. "Shut UP," said Sullivan. The area around the car was now filling with armed troopers. From the magazines of some of their rifles, she could see the blue glow she had learned to associate with the presence of Endsilver bullets. "This is our op," said Summers. "Was," said the Captain. "Leave us the body and the prisoners." "Those weren't the terms of the agreement," said Summers. "Fuck the agreement," said the Captain. "Hey Castle!" said Logan. "You want this?" Logan was holding out something throbbing, three-lobed, and yellowish green in a tendril of black smoke. "Please," said the Captain. "Fuck you," said Logan. The heart vanished into the darkness. Tearing and slurping sounds started emerging from within. The Captain began to smile. "Master," breathed Kitty. Somehwere with the blackness, a cough. Then another. Then a choking sound. The blackness began to dissipate as the choking worsened. It revealed a tiny man who reminded her of a little bald guy with a high-pitched voice who always represented the wimpy townsfolk in the old Westerns her father used to watch. He was dressed in what she knew from the junior coaches to be Extreme bondage gear. "Mr. Logan," said the Captain. "So good to see your face again, after all these years." "Shit," said Summers. Logan was looking right at her, his eyes wide. She knew that expression very well. He was trying very hard to puke, but could not. He stared at her, then at Summers, then at the Captain, then at Sullivan, who shrieked. Logan leapt over the car, and landed on top of the girl. She went down under teeth. Lang started screaming, screaming, screaming. Some of the troopers started to laugh. Captain America smiled. "Nothing like the traditional cure, eh?" said the Captain. The force of Logan's blow had sheared off Sullivan's arm, and Kitty threw it to one side, as not to be tempted by the blood that leaked from its severed veins. Kitty couldn't see clearly what Logan was doing, but she could smell the blood, so much blood, so much blood pouring down his throat, so much blood for her Master. Kitty moaned. Logan rose from what was left of Sullivan. "Save me," whispered Lang, to Captain America. "Good girls stay home after sunset," said the Captain. Logan stared at Lang. Lang opened her mouth to scream. Logan jack-knifed forwards, vomiting out what looked like a stream of molten lava. It blasted away most of Lang and the better part of the two troopers standing just behind her. For a moment, Lang's two legs remained standing. Two other troopers ran up with fire extinguisher's to put out the remains of their comrades. As the darkness began to swirl around Logan again, he spat out what looked like a gob of glowing slag. "Could've warned me," said Logan. Between them, Lang's unsupported legs toppled to the ground. "Not my job to stop you from doing something stupid," said the Captain. Logan snarled and vanished into the darkness. "Well, that was a total fuck-up," said the Captain. "We successfully contained the alien," said Summers. "The deal was based on it being taken alive," said the Captain. "You're losing your fee on this one." "We'll submit this to arbitration," said Summers. "Wha'happen?" said Ororo. "Nothing out of the ordinary, Miss Monroe," said the Captain. "Just business as usual." [Next: Alexander Luthor]