Subject: [OTL]: HellsX 41 Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 04:37:54 -0700 (PDT) From: D Benway HellsX [41:45] Change of Command Produced by Benway. See notes for disclaimers. _______________________________________________________________________________ They didn't have a funeral for Doug. "He was already dead," said Frost. "Does anyone else want to suggest how we might waste more of our time?" The meeting was one of the many that were part of the planning of the next two ops. It seemed that there was an organization that was backing the Monsters in their assault on America, and it was being run out of Britain. There were two targets, one a command centre under the British Library in central London, the other a training centre in the countryside called Warthogs or something like that. After the meeting, she returned to her room. There was a cart outside loaded with electronic equipment, but she couldn't smell any technicians about. Any human ones, anyways. She wandered into her bathroom. She removed the loose tile from behind the faucet. There wasn't anything there, since she'd flushed the thing that she was supposed to hide. She ran her fingers along the surfaces of the empty space for over an hour. "Don't you know where stuff goes when you flush?" said Sam, from the doorway. "Don't care," said Kitty. "Looking for this?" he said, holding out the thing that Maximoff had given her. She made the signs for watching and listening. "Not here," he said. "We got it messed up here, and in some other places, too." "What do I do?" she said. "Get Doug's killer," he said. "That was Castle," said Kitty. "It was Frost," said Sam. "Castle tried to warn Summers. Guess Summers didn't believe him." He handed the thing to her. "So what-" she said. "Frost'll call for you within the hour," said Sam. "You take this in with you, and touch her with it. That's all you have to do." "She is my master," said Kitty. "No she ain't," said Sam. "She's inside. We'll take care of that thing that's keeping her prisoner. You just be there. You'll know when to do it." "If you don't?" said Kitty. "Then no Amistad for anyone," said Sam. "You gonna do it?" "I will," said Kitty. "Just one thing." "What?" said Sam. "The prisoner, Tim Drake," said Kitty. "Took care of him last week," said Sam. "And his little friend, too." "Oh," said Kitty. "Garbage disposal," said Sam. "McCoy was finished with them." She let Sam get away. She had no reason to believe that he had lied to her about the cameras or the microphones. She unleashed her feelings upon the metal bedstead. Once it was reduced to unrecognizable shreds, she headed for the elevator. Swimming up the elevator shaft, the car passed through her once, but it was empty. Frost didn't look up when Kitty entered her office, but Kitty hadn't knocked and was airwalking. It was a risk. If Logan were there, he might still have some way of stopping her. Logan wasn't in the room. Kitty watched Frost for some time, concentrating on something on her computer that required many clicks on the mouse. She saw Frost frown, and then grimace. "How did you get in here?" said Frost, glancing up. "Why are you floating?" Kitty began to airwalk towards the desk. "Stop that at once!" said Frost. Kitty hesitated for a fraction of a second, but the voice was so far away when she was phased. "As your master, I order you to halt!" said Frost. It was the voice that belonged to the blood that once commanded, but commanded no more. "You will obey me," said Frost. "STOP!" "No," said Kitty. Frost lunged for something just under the desk, but then froze. "Get out-" said Frost. "Il ne. Traitor! Peut pas-" Kitty placed the thing onto Frost's frozen face. It hissed slightly, and Frost collapsed into her chair. A steel curtain began to drop slowly over the window. "What happened?" said Frost, in a quavering voice. "For Doug," said Kitty, as she heard the meeping of the ghouls from somewhere quite nearby. "Doesn't make sense," said Frost. "This is the ballroom. Why is my desk in here?" "They said you were Xavier," said Kitty. "I'm meeting Xavier this afternoon," said Frost. "Who are you?" "No-one," said Kitty, as the shutter finally closed. A door that was hidden behind a bookcase opened, and Sam and the others filed into the room. "Ghouls are not allowed on this level," said Frost. "I don't recognize any of you. Where is Douglas?" "We're the new ghouls," said Jubilee. "We're here to take you to Douglas." "I-" said Frost. "Je ne peux pas echappe." "It's not him any more," said Kitty. "I know," said Sam. "He's inside screaming, I'd wager." "She didn't do this," said Kitty. "She would have done it just like he did," said Sam. "She had Doug made, she was Logan's master. That's what she was raised to do." "You're going to-" said Kitty. "You can come watch," said Paige. "No," said Kitty. "Suit yourself," said Sam. Frost stood up, and joined the ghouls at the entrance to the secret passage. Kitty waved as they filed back in to the tunnel, and left her alone in the office. She waited there for some time, but nothing happened. No alarm, no Logan, no Summers. She phased back into the elevator shaft, and returned to her room. She curled up in a ball on the pile of scrapmetal that had once been her bed, and waited for someone to come for her. It was over an hour before the alarms sounded, but they were quickly silenced. She heard the odd scream in the hours after, but still no-one came. After the lights went out, she waited another few hours before venturing out into the corridor. It was empty, but there were bodies in the corridors on the next few floors up. They were all support staff. She recognized a man who had bought her blood, and one of the pilots. Summers was affixed to the pilot's neck, bleeding him dry. "You-" she said to Summers. His head snapped around, fangs bared. "Oh," he said. "It's you." His face returned to its normal configuration. "You've changed," she said. "All my life I fought this," said Summers. "I had no idea, no idea what I was missing." He returned to his feeding. She phased up to the next level, where the X-Men had their chambers. She could smell nothing living. She went into Bobby's room first, but it was empty. The carpet was soaking wet, and the door to his freezer was open. Bobby was in there, sitting on a mound of shattered ice, stroking the frozen carcass of his dog. One of its legs had broken off. "He had cancer," said Bobby. "They were going to take him to the vet, and he was crying all the time, but he'd still get up and jump on me when I came home from school. He'd still go for the frisbee like he always did." All the lights were on now. Beyond where Bobby was sitting, a huge mound of shattered ice lay melting. She could recognize the limbs and the features of all the X-Men, carved into ice. "The cat was dead," said Bobby. "I found it an alley, with its kittens still nursing." She could recognize her own features, twisted into the usual grimace she used during competition. She had practiced in front of a mirror for hours to get it right. "There's only one left," said Bobby. "across the hall." She ran, straight through Ororo's door. There was a pillar of ice from the ceiling to the floor in the centre of the room. Inside was the ceiling fan, then the white scarf, then the face with the eyes bugging out and the tongue protruding, blue. "Why can't I cry?" said Bobby, from the doorway. "Why can't I cry real tears, not blood?" "It's not in our nature," said Kitty. "Then what is?" said Bobby. "Hunger," said Kitty. "Obedience," said a voice from behind them. >From a dark corner, Logan's two red eyes burned brightly. [Next: The East Wing]