Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Pryde/Wisdom/Marvelverse) Recoil Chapter 3/12 (R) Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 23:14:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Recoil Chapter 3 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Most are Marvel's. Jake and Jesse are mine. It's all fiction. No money is being made off of this. Etc. WARNING: Harsh language, violence, thematic elements, imagery, and just nasty stuff. That, and X-Factor II fans ... I apologize in advance. ------------------------------------------------------- 6/5/2004: X-Factor Townhouse, Washington, D.C.: 15:20 hrs EDT: ------------------------------------------------------- "What the -" BLAM "ALEX!?" "Lorn - HGGK - a -" BLAM "DAMNIT! Anti-magnetic shells - AAH!" CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP BLAM "FORGE!? You - how in the hell - no -" BLAM "HOLY SHIT! MYSTIQUE!?" BLAM "GUIDO!?" BLAM "G - God -" THUD BRRRAMP BRRRRAMP CH-CLIK "Jamie - Nom du Nom! Non - NO!" BLAM "Xi'an? What the bloody - MOTHERFU -" BLAM BRRRAMP [Security override of internal defense systems enacted.] CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP Click. RUSTLE CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP SHYMMMMMVV ------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere over New Hampshire ------------------------------------------------------- She felt it rather than sensed it, as her precognition flickered. "Scott, call X-Factor, please? Something's ... not right," Betsy Braddock asked her squad leader as he was stirred from his silent brooding. Scott Summers looked at Betsy with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged. "If you say so," he said, letting Piotr Rasputin take the controls. Scott keyed in the com-code for X-Factor Headquarters, and half-smiled when his brother Alex's face appeared on-screen. The smile vanished as Alex coughed up blood. "S-Scott ... help ... shooter ... some kind of weird bullets ... Lorna's been ... all of us ..." Alex said, slumping at the distant console. "Colossus -!" Scott began to order - - even as his heart clenched. #Alex ... but Jesse's somewhere below, with Sinister - God, what do I do?# Scott thought, looking over his shoulder at the others. "Scott. I want Jesse back as much as you do, but the D.C. EMTs may not be able to handle mutant trauma victims. If Lorna or Guido lose control of their powers, or Lila -" Cecilia Reyes began. She regretted each word - she knew the fear of losing a loved one, and the Summerses had been among the most accepting of her teammates after she'd reluctantly joined the X-Men following Operation: Zero Tolerance. Jesse, especially, was like a nephew to her, and to ask Scott to abandon the search for his little boy made Cecilia feel ill. But X-Factor could be dying, and Cecilia was a trained specialist in mutant injuries, and Hank was still busy treating Jean. Scott nodded, and met Cecilia's eyes. "I understand, Cecilia. Colossus, land this bird. Psylocke, can you jaunt Iceman, Cecilia, Rogue, yourself and me to X-Factor's townhouse?" Scott asked. "We're gone, Scott," Betsy said, filling the cockpit with shadow. An instant later, Piotr was the only one remaining. "Dos vydanya, tovarisches. Now, I have to find a field to land this plane in ..." Colossus said with a sad smirk. ------------------------------------------------------- Betsy and the others stepped from the shadows, into the charnel pit that had been the living room of X-Factor's townhouse. Something that might have been Raven Darkholme lay, limp, across the feet of Forge's still-twitching body. Neither had recognizable features, and Bobby's vomiting was the only sound anyone heard for a long moment. "What happened ...?" Marie LaVonne-Lehnsherr-LeBeau whispered, pushing her skunk-striped auburn hair away from her horrified green eyes. She walked over to where her foster-mother lay, then cradled the shattered body and began to cry silently. "KARMA!" Betsy cried, running to where Xi'an Coy Mahn lay, bloodied, on the floor. Cecilia raced to her side and knelt beside Betsy as she tried to comfort the wounded telepath. "Mask - the attacker - wore a mask - some kind of psi-shielding - shot Alex and Lorna - second floor - Cyclops, hurry -" Xi'an pleaded, before blacking out. "LORNA!?" Bobby cried, forming an ice-slide and hauling Scott to the second floor with him. They got off and raced into the com-suite, where Lorna Dane was crying and cradling Alex's body. "Scott? Bobby! Thank God - he's bad - and I -" Lorna stammered as her eyes rolled back in her head. Bobby caught his ex-girlfriend as she passed out, and he cursed when his hand came away bloody from her back. "S-Scotty -?" Alex rasped as Scott held him in his arms. "I'm here, little brother. Who did this?" Scott pleaded - even as he feared he would know the answer. "Don't know - didn't see - masked face - Lorna? Scott, is she - KAFF - Jamie - what about Jamie? And Lila and Guido and Xi'an? And Forge?" Alex asked, blood dripping from his mouth. "They're - Forge is -" Scott said, his voice thickening as the sound of sirens filled the air. He saw Cecilia's tearful face at the doorway, and she mouthed the words, "Forge and Mystique are dead." ------------------------------------------------------- X-Mansion: 15:25 hrs EDT: ------------------------------------------------------- "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" "ORORO!" Xavier shouted as the weather ... ... simply went mad. Storm's scream was echoed by the strongest wind anyone in the mansion could remember. A lightning bolt brighter than the sun hammered the cove, and Xavier was grateful that he'd declared the cove off-limits for the day due to the algae. #That won't be a problem anymore,# a dark part of the master telepath's mind snickered as he began to limp towards Ororo Munroe. She floated in mid-air in her loft, sobbing uncontrollably, until a gentle hand touched her ankle. "Ororo. I know I'm the new kid, but please ... Forge wouldn't've wanted y't' carry on like this. Grief is fine, but you're gonna send all us after him if ya don't bring the weather down a notch," Davis Cameron pleaded. Ororo landed, dispelling the Force-5 tornado that was starting to descend from the clouds. She gave Xavier an apologetic look, then hit her knees and sobbed, as Davis and his sister Heather knelt beside her and hugged her. #Thank God. Or Goddess, perhaps ... still. Forge - dead. Mystique - dead. Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiplex, Karma, Lila Cheney - critically injured. X-Factor, destroyed ... and for what?# Xavier thought angrily as he turned from the entrance to Storm's loft. He blinked back tears as Lucas Bishop and Sage stood before him, sorrow on Bishop's face and the slightest flicker of grief on Tessa's. "Professor, we cross-referenced the bookstore's inventory with Jean's claim. A diary with the note: 'Private Property of Brian Xavier' was missing from the box Jesse had been looking at before he was shot," Sage said. A new look of horror crossed Xavier's face. "My father's diary? Jesse inadvertently found - oh my GOD! Alamagordo! This has to be about Alamagordo!" the telepath moaned, covering his face with one hand. "Sir?" Bishop asked, helping Xavier downstairs and into his bedroom. "There is strong, albeit circumstantial, evidence that my father's work in atomics was actually part of a larger government project into mutant genetics at Alamagordo, New Mexico. I believe my childhood friend Carter Ryking was the result of that work - you remember the Hazard file, Lucas," Xavier began, sinking into the chair at his desk. He motioned Sage and Bishop to find seats, and watched them sit before he continued to speak. "I also strongly believe that whatever happened at Alamagordo had to do with my sister Cassandra, and - God help me - even Logan's skeleton. I've often suspected that the government had knowledge of mutants' existence prior to the rise of Scott's generation," Xavier sighed. "In a world with Sinister and Apocalypse, it's certainly not impossible," Bishop said. "Is there any mention of something like that in your time, Lucas?" Sage asked. Bishop sighed, then shook his head. "If there had been, Sage, it would have been buried long ago. Remmeber, my parents emigrated from Australia before I was born, and the world had gone to hell even before that," the African-American time-traveler said. "There is only one thing I remember from my time at Alamagordo that troubles me - something I cannot give a name to. I was a child, barely older than Jesse, when Carter and I ran into a top-secret facility, and saw ... something from nightmare. Something I repressed, as we fled in terror," Xavier said, scowling. He looked at the others and added, "The only words I remember were 'Black Womb.'" ------------------------------------------------------- INTERLUDE 1: ------------------------------------------------------- Black Womb. The very words were an abomination to the shooter, almost as much as - No. X-Factor had to fall. Forge alone knew too many puzzle pieces, and Mystique ... Mystique might have found the diary and gleefully spread the word, just to spite the CSA, consequences be damned. It just hurt, so badly, doing that to friends - people the shooter had known ever since - - no. No remorse, no recriminations, no second-guessing. After all of the effort left to throw Pryde, Wisdom and the others off-track, the shooter couldn't dare break down now. In fact, there might be a way to turn this disaster into a victory of sorts. If only the shooter could play their cards right ... And then realization struck: The diary was missing. The shooter panicked; the diary must've fallen when - - which meant it was back at the scene. There was no other option. The shooter left the cabbie a large tip, got out, and teleported. ------------------------------------------------------- 15:35 hrs EDT: X-Factor Townhouse: ------------------------------------------------------- "No ..." Kitty and Pete had had the presence of mind to have Slipstream drop them a few blocks from the townhouse after he'd picked them up in Washington. That had been nine minutes earlier, but then all hell had broken loose, and Kitty's X-Men identification wasn't cutting any slack with the man in charge of the crime scene. "No, Pryde. It's bad enough Summers and his makeshift rescue squad teleported in first and probably destroyed evidence. We have two people dead, six seriously injured, and I'm not letting an ... ex-patriate and a sickening Bond ripoff ruin this place anymore!" Henry Peter Gyrich snarled as he stood, hands on hips, in Kitty and Pete's way at the main entrance. "Bond's a ripoff of me, fascist-haircut-boy," Pete snarled as he lit up another cigarette. "This might be the same attacker who shot Jesse Summers and bludgeoned Jean Summers! We've got authority from Professor Xavier to conduct an investigation!" Kitty demanded. "This isn't Salem Center, and I don't care if you've got authority from the Pope!" Gyrich shot back. "Gyrich. Go fuck yourself." Pete actually smiled, Kitty's jaw dropped, and Gyrich went deathly pale as Valerie Cooper walked towards them from the alley. The director of the Commission on Superhuman Affairs gave Gyrich another lethal glare, then smiled sadly at Kitty and lifted the police tape. "Go on in, guys. They're your friends too. And Gyrich? These were - are - my agents. You interfere in this, I'll shove your fucking mirrorshades up your ass and your tongue will reflect the sun, you understand me?" Val snarled. Gyrich just stammered as he watched Val walk with Kitty and Pete past the crowds of grieving bystanders, emergency personnel and FBI agents. "They were heroes to a lot of people. That this could happen here ... to them ... this is going to hurt a lot. Especially losing Forge - his gear was instrumental to a lot of our extranormal ops," Val said, her voice thickening as she watched Pete start to scan the place. Kitty froze, shuddering despite herself as she looked around. Lockheed cooed and nuzzled her, then looked up as the shadows rippled. "Kit - oh, God, Kit -" Betsy called. Kitty ran to hug her friend, who let Kitty cry into her shoulder for a long moment. "Lila -? Scott, is Alex -? And Lorna - Jamie - Xi'an?" Kitty asked, looking at Scott for the longest moment. "Their wounds ... weren't lethal. But it was bad - fragmentation rounds, and anti-magnetic ordinance that hit Lorna ... Bobby hasn't left her bedside. Alex is the worst off ..." Scott said, trailing off and rubbing his face. "Lila might be able to leave the hospital tomorrow, but she won't leave Guido. X-Force is guarding the facility like hawks, alongside SHIELD of all groups - who'd've thought?" Betsy tried to joke. "Bloody shite," Wisdom snapped. Kitty released Betsy and walked over to her lover, who was examining one of the bullet holes left from the rounds that had killed Forge and Mystique. "Bullet matches the ones we dug out of the bookstore," Pete breathed to Kitty as he held one of the rounds in a tweezers. "That means - oh hell. This shooter's a lot more dangerous than we thought," Kitty gasped. "What was that?" Kitty looked over her shoulder to see Val standing behind them, her hands in her pockets and a sick look on her face. "The same maniac who shot Jesse and attacked Jean also decimated X-Factor," Scott said, his voice tightening as he spoke. "Open season on Summerses ...?" Val asked, going pale. "Not for bloody long. We've got the bastard's teleport signature, and we know that their tech has to belong to a rogue agent in the Commission. Iron Man told us the teleport tech was confiscated by the Commission, Cooper - care to tell us who bloody well had access to it?" Pete asked acerbically. Val shrugged. "As far as I know, the prototype was slagged. That doesn't mean that the plans were destroyed, though - the confiscation took place when Sikorsky was in charge." Kitty was the one who went pale this time, and Pete cursed again. "Raymond Sikorsky was an agent of ... oh, bloody shite, Cooper. You're gonna get us killed in this bloody investigation, ain't'cha?" Pete groaned. "The Red Skull. What would the Red Skull want with information on Brian Xavier's past?" Kitty asked, frowning. "If the Professor's correct, then whatever his father was working on could be potentially dangerous to mutants," Scott hypothesized as he took another deep breath. "Scott ... look, why don't you go back to the mansion? Pete and I can organize the others and look for Jesse," Kitty called. "No. Thanks, Kitty, but I need you and Pete to find that shooter. If this is HYDRA, then we'll call in Fury and SHIELD, but not before we pin down the details," Scott said, looking around. Then his brow furrowed, and he broke into a run for a doorway near where Forge and Mystique had been shot. "What is it?" Val asked. "Holy - KITTY! PETE! It's Brian Xavier's diary!" Scott shouted. He held the book high, and started to thumb through it as Pete and Kitty raced over. "How in the bloody hell did the damned diary get here?" Pete growled as he took it from Scott. "The townhouse is open to all CSA operatives. If we do have a mole, it's possible they dropped it here as they attacked X-Factor," Val suggested. "If we can figure out why the diary is so important, maybe we can get a better idea of why X-Factor were attacked, as well as Jesse," Kitty said as she examined the diary and went pale again. "Keep on it. Betsy - I know Marie's distraught, and we're all tired, but we need to regroup. Jesse is still Sinister's prisoner, and I need help to get him back," Scott pleaded. "Of course, Scott. Pete, Kitty - can we drop you off somewhere?" Betsy offered as she opened a shadow-portal. "Yeah ..." Kitty said, her voice trembling as the four mutants vanished. "We need to find Logan ... I know what really happened to him ..." ------------------------------------------------------- INTERLUDE 2: 15:45 hrs EDT: Location undisclosed: ------------------------------------------------------- Jesse wasn't quite as scared anymore. Sinister - or "Dr. Essex," as he'd asked Jesse to call him - had given the boy a skinsuit, just like the ones Ray and Nate wore to train in. It was black, and very cool-looking - but it was still awfully tight. #And I don't get underwear. That's weird,# Jesse thought, finishing his struggle into the suit. He zipped up the front and walked out of his room, blushing a little, to find Sinister waiting for him. "I'm sorry that you have to stay here, Jesse. But until the monster who attacked you and your mother is unmasked, I'm afraid nowhere else is safe. I promise not to brainwash you or otherwise mistreat you. You are a guest, and no harm will come to you in my keeping," Sinister promised as he walked with Jesse to a large dining room. The little boy's eyes went wide as he saw the feast waiting for him. There were hamburgers, french fries, lasagna, salad, fruit, dessert ... "You made all this for me?" Jesse squeaked - he was still unused to actually hearing people, but he was definitely happy that he could hear again. "Well, I do have some need for food. Not as much as one might think, but I can process it. Before we eat, I want you to understand what I did to you," Sinister said. He activated a holoprojector in one corner of the room, and Jesse smiled a bit as a hologram of himself appeared. #I do look cool in a skinsuit,# the boy thought as the hologram started to rotate. It stopped, allowing Jesse to see the back of his still-bald head. He gasped to see two other scars - one long curved one, behind each ear. "Those were the places where I entered your head to implant what are called 'stem cells.' The cells were taken from your bone marrow, and I was able to change them into the cells you lost to that infection years ago in your ears," Sinister explained. "Wow. So the new cells help me hear?" Jesse asked as the hologram disappeared. "Indeed. Your hair will grow back in time, and you should be able to hear for the rest of your life," Sinister said, smiling as he helped Jesse to sit in a booster seat at the table. "Uh ... thanks for helpin' me," Jesse said, starting to eat as Sinister sat across from him - the boy remembered that he should be polite to a host, even if it WAS Sinister (and Jesse was still scared of the man). "Oh, it's my pleasure. I must say, it's an even trade. I gained a great deal of knowledge from treating you. I wonder what your father will say," Sinister pondered as he began to sip a red liquid in a glass set befor him by one of the serving robots. "Perhaps, monster, you should allow Jesse his freedom to ask Scott himself?" Sinister spun around as a door in the far wall shattered, admitting a towering steel figure. Jesse's face lit up as he cheered, "Uncle Piotr!!" "Bozhe moi - Jesse, what did Sinister do to you?" Colossus gasped as the little boy ran over to hug his leg. "He didn't do nothin' bad, Uncle Piotr. He healed me, an' he made it so I can hear," Jesse said as Piotr carefully picked him up. "You - did that?" Piotr asked as Sinister stood. "I have nothing to gain by the death of an innocent, Piotr Nikolievitch. Yes, Jesse is scarred for the moment, but his soul is undimmed. And as I promised him, he is unbrainwashed and genetically-intact. The very surgery that saved his life gave me all I needed to know of him," Sinister said, waving a hand dismissively. In response, a tesseract gate opened, and Sinister motioned towards it. "Go, then, if you think that Xavier can defend the child any better than I could. But know this: I no longer claim protection for the boy. Leave, and what happens is on your heads," he said, frowning at Piotr. "Better that he be in our home than yours, no matter the risk," Piotr rumbled as he carried Jesse through the portal. #... I saw Adam in his eyes. I could not let that happen again ...# Sinister thought. He turned back to his afternoon snack, and wiped his eyes before continuing to eat. ------------------------------------------------------- tbc ... -------------------------------------------------------