Crimson: Did a few changes here and there, so
here's the second version. Hopefully, I won't
be sending you a third re-write.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters 'cause
Marvel beat me to it, shimatta. But the one that
sounds like she doesn't belong that one's mine and
mine alone.
Note: I use several words (Some are swear
words, who woulda thought koopa in Polish = fuck
[!?]) in different languages, and that might
lead to some very confusing statements.
** = telepathic conversations
{} = person's thoughts
This is it folks, you're only chance to turn
back. If you decide to stay, you have been forewarned of
the dangers that are involved.
Night was falling as the people of Manhattan;
Salem Center to be exact, started up for the nightlife.
Among these night-goers was one Cajun Remy LeBeau. He,
like many others, he is a mutant but not just any
mutant: he's an X-Man. Gambit, the rogue thief that
once wandered the bayous of New Orleans, Louisiana. He
has a hidden past with many dark secrets that have been
haunting him as of late, especially on this twisted
night.
His companion was one Canadian runt by the name
of Logan better known as Wolverine, the savage
Canadian. These, two outcasts were on their way to
Harry's Hideaway for a drink or two.
"Alright Cajun, what gives?" asked Logan in his
usual gruff tone of voice.
"Not'in' gives, Log'n" the Cajun's accent
emphasized 'Logan' as he stated it, so it came out as
Low-gun.
"Then why'ja invite me?" Remy's expression
darkened and turned serious at this,
"Somet'in' is goin' t' 'appen. Somet'in' big"
Logan darkened at this, he like Remy had a hidden
past, dark secrets and a body count no one can top.
He could smell the seriousness emanating from the
swamp rat. He, too, could tell that something was going
to hit.
And hit it did, both X-Men were thrown back as
a plasma blast exploded underneath their feet. Logan
rolled with the explosion then leapt to his feet, three
bone claws popped out with a SKNIT. Remy jumped
to his feet just in time to see their attacker,
Sinister standing before them with his usual gloating
smile plastered onto his metallic face.
"What do ya want?" Asked a pissed off
Wolverine, Sinister looked at him then at Gambit.
Something crossed his face, fear? worry? hatred?
confusion? amusement?, it could have been any of
these.
"I have no quarrel with you, but the one that
hides behind you"
"Well bub, you're goin' hafta go through us
first"
"Exactly, that is what I was trying to do" The
two X-Men looked confused at this, "You see, he wants
me and since you are foolishly blocking his way,
he will have to go through you two first, to catch me"
The moonlight shimmered off of Sinister's teeth as he
smiled his trademark smile. He turned and ran from the
scene, leaving the two loners alone with Sinister's
dilemma.
A low and savage growl echoed from behind Gambit and Wolverine, they turned to see a large tooth-gnashing, red-eyed, black-scaled, lion-tailed, eagle-winged, mongrel-like devil-dog.
The beast appeared to be the size of a one
story building, give or take a few meters, weighing
as much as 2, 590kg. The paws on this thing were four
times the size of Calaban's hands; the claws embedded
into the monstrous pads are about the size of
Wolverine's only thrice as thick. It had long hair on
its feet up to its knees; a mane of coarse, tangled
black hair ran down its back to the top of its head.
Its red eyes burned an eerie glowed of demonic fun
and pleasure, as it stared at the place Sinister had
once stood in not too long ago.
*NeW tOyS* reverberated inside the minds of the mutant outlaws, as the devil-dog discharged its talon-like claws. Its swiped at the 'toys', both warriors leapt out of the way. It didn't like this and snapped at Wolverine with its metal-crushing jaws. Wolverine spun out of harm's way and slashed at it with his bone claws, catching it in the eye. The devil-dog reared in pain at the loss of its eye, thrashing its head around wildly.
Wolverine bounded onto the demon's back, trying to ride it but with the thrashing it was doing, he had to jam his claw in the demon's pelt so that he could stay on. Wolverine looked up to see the three kinetically charged cards heading for him and the devil-dog that he was riding, he vaulted off and ran after the retreating Gambit.
Gambit reached into his pocket and withdrew
three cards; among them was the Ace of Spades the card
of death. Charged with kinetic energy, he threw them at
the demon and sprinted after the departed Sinister.
"Hey Gumbo, any reason on why that thing is
after Sinister?" Gambit shook his head.
"Gambit don' know, but if it's after 'im den,
'e's in for some fun times, non?" Wolverine chuckled at
this.
"We'd better inform Cyke" Gambit nodded, the two X-Men made their way to the X-Mansion.
The silhouette of a humanoid figure could be
made out as it shifted uncomfortably in the shadows. It
was watching five adolescents; they were walking around
in search of some fun or excitement. {So, dese are de
ones}, the figure thought dourly. The group, the figure
was watching, contained Jason Gerber, Adam Kirby,
Peyton Conway, Davetta Mantlo and Lloyd Englehart.
These five are mutants; Slapshot, Pipedream,
Rewind, Charade and Red Rover happens to be their code
names, respectively. Their powers are pretty much what
their codes names stated; Slapshot could change the
trajectory of any moving object while Pipedream could
slip someone a dream, Rewind was able to rewind back
time, Charade can convince anyone of anything no matter
what it was. Red Rover is well, a mutant dog if you
will.
What they were doing wasn't clear, for they'd
stop every once in awhile and saying something to each
other. Nineteen-year-old Lloyd was quiet as always, but
you could tell he was agitated by something.
"Guys, we're being watched" his southern drawl
could be heard as he spoke, Adam looked at him and
nodded. The group continued walking as if nothing was
wrong, Jason soon asked.
"Where are they?" Lloyd nodded to the hiding
place the figure was in. "Should we confront or not?"
Adam pondered this and shook his head.
"No, we don't know how they are or what they
want. We'll wait until they confront us"
"Isn't that dangerous?" asked the fourteen-year
old Davetta; she's the youngest and the smartest in the
five-some.
"Would you rather we face them and lose or wait
and see what they want?" Davetta shook her head.
"Alright, then let's see what happens with 'our' guest"
The group nodded at Adam's suggestion.
Adam was dubbed leader earlier on when the group was first formed. Lloyd didn't want the job even if he was the eldest of the five. Peyton wasn't up to the work of being leader, Davetta wasn't to be trusted with the job and Jason, like Lloyd, didn't want the job of leader. So, it went to him only by default, but that was soon going to change. For better or worse, it was going to happen.
The figure melted out of the shadows and into
the light of the night, but far enough away from the
five. A much, _much_ smaller version of the devil-dog
appeared, the figure reached down and petted the dog
roughly on the head. The dog leaned heavily on the
figure's legs.
"'Ex..." A low and incensed voice growled
from the figure's mouth. "Arret" The dog looked up and
appeared to shrug then removed itself from its owner's
legs.
*PlAy?* The figure shook their head,
*Non, Hex we've work t' do. We're only 'ere because Mot'er an' fat'er sent us, t'...* the figure stopped, when they realized that their words were being wasted on a demon. *Go play wit somet'ing* Hex started walking off when the figure telepathed to Hex. *Nothin' livin' t'oug'*
The figure stood out in the crowd of people that wandered the streets. Her purplish white hair was one thing that caused her to stick out, sunglasses covered her demonic eyes, her French-Canadian accent and body movements. And her taste in clothing didn't help; black thigh-hugging jeans, a red loose tee shirt, a red jacket tied loosely around her waist and leather and suede sneakers. What frightened the people the most was the tattoo that covered the whole right side of her face, a fiery red thunder bolt with demonic wings.
I watched the humans wander the trails that they decreed as walkways for their human means of marching. I stood off from the paths, keeping my eyes covered from the view of the bipeds that walked around me. The back of my left hand started itching, {Somet'in' goin' t' 'appen soon, I c'n feel it}
{My name is... Alex Rembrandt Xavier, de only
daug'ter o' de Last X-Warriors; my 'rents are de only
people protectin' our world from Prop'esy. Dey watc'
over me carefully fer my 'unca' wis'es t' get 'is
'ands on me fer 'researc''. I, fer one know w'at 'e
wants wit' me but wit' 'Ex as my guardian I'm safe
from 'is 'arm.
{My s'adow s'ifting powers inform'd me o' 'Ex's passage; my fat'er doesn't approve o' me using dese powers 'cause 'e believes dat I mig't be track'd.
{My fat'er is like me, we're are bot' freaks,
my mot'er was lucky enoug' to be spar'd the torment.
Unca 'Ammer is part 'uman an' part cyborg, 'e told me
dat I'm not 'uman or mutant 'cause I was creat'd by
accident.
{W'at accident? Are probably de most used
words dat I 'ave ever said. I don' remember an accident
but yet 'Ammer says dat dere was one. I dare not ask
my fat'er an' mot'er.} I stopped my pondering, and took
in my surroundings. A large building stood in my path,
I looked up, and read the sign. "Frost Enterprises"
{Frost? Frost?! Non, can't be. 'E died 23 years ago an' t'erefore can' be livin' in dis world. Must be a different Frost} I continued walking, from the building not realizing that something was amuck.
The Xavier Mansion, the X-Men were gathered in
the War Room. Angel and Psylocke were nowhere to be
found, also Rogue, Joseph and Bobby were missing.
"What's the problem, Wolverine" The brown
haired boy scout, Scott or Cyclops to his enemies,
"Sinister's up to something sinister"
"We know Logan, he's been to quiet lately" Jean
better known as the world renounced Phoenix
interjected,
"Non, chere. Wolverine's rig't. Sinister is
up t' somet'ing. We had a run in wit' 'im. 'e was
being chased by a beast" The blue furred beast, Hank,
looked over at his cajun companion,
"A beast?" he asked. His glasses slipping down
his nose a bit, pushed them up to their rightful
place.
"Oui, Henri. A beast"
"Gumbo ain't lying, I saw the thin'"
"Could it have been one of Sinister creations?"
The mortal goddess, Ororo asked,
"Don't know, Stormy" Gambit looked at the
ground, his mind turning over the events that had
transpired earlier that evening. He looked up to look
at the faces of his comrades. A small flashback
occurred; New Orleans, a church, cards and Sinister.
{I trusted Sinister, oui but he 's not a mon ami, to
dis Cajun. De X-Men are de only family Gambit 'as,
Gambit ain't goin' t' lie to dem} "I t'ink Sinister
was fearful of de beast"
"Why is that, Gambit?" Remy looked at
Cyke and truthfully replied, "I saw de fear wit'in 'is
eyes" And if to finalize his statement, Remy's eyes
flashed.
Henry shifted in his chair, and straightened
his glasses that were sitting on his nose.
"Remy, could you and Logan describe the
'beast' you encountered?" Remy and Logan nodded,
both could recall their earlier encounter perfectly.
Remy described the beast's make up to Henry.
"Oh my stars and garters" Everyone looked at
him, "We should have this thing contained as soon as
possible. It is liable to damage something and I would
prefer that it not be a living organism"
Cyke quickly formulated a quick plan, at Henry's unsettling uneasiness "Storm, Wolverine and Gambit" The three mentioned perked up, and were now all business. "I want you three, to get to the area you fought the beast and see if you can gather anything information on where it could have went" The three nodded and left the War Room, leaving everyone else to work on a way to trap and if necessary, a way to kill it.
On the Blackbird, Storm and Wolverine were in
the cockpit while Gambit was left to wander the belly
of the jet. {Why's Sinister frig'ten'd of dat beast?}
He tried to figure out the answer but each time he came
up with one, he'd rejected for some reason or another.
{Sinister also looked and acted differently. Dat beast
must know somet'ing about 'im,} "But w'at?" He finished
aloud.
Up in the cockpit, Wolverine was talking with
Storm. Actually Storm was asking questions while Wolvy
answered them.
"Logan, did you see the fear that Remy say
was in his eyes?" The Canadian shook his head,
"No, but, something did cross his face"
"Do you believe Remy is lying, to us?"
Wolverine started at this, no one had asked him about
the Cajun's dark past before. He thought about what
Gumbo had done in the past, the secrets that he chooses
to keeps from the team. But he always ended up
back at his past and his secrets.
"No, the Cajun ain't lyin'" Wolverine voiced, sure of the Cajun's liabilities and where they may lay.
Alex stood in a hotel outside the city limits,
why is she hiding, if you will, is unknown.
"Baka, you are but a fool" Alex flopped onto
the single bed in the small room, "Fat'er... Serap'...
why'd I 'afta come?" Was Alex speaking to herself or
was she speaking to her pet that had just walked in.
*YoUr UnCa hErE* Hex growled in her mind,
*HaD rUn iN wItH hIm*
"Dat's nice" Hex looked at his charge,
attempted to sigh at her apparent shrug off.
*NoT cOuNtErPaRt, HiM* Alex sat up slightly and
looked over at him, eyes narrowed in hatred.
"Don' lie, beast" Her eyes then turned to the
ceiling, "'Ammer would ne'er let 'im come"
*hE DiD*
"'Ow'd y'know?"
*HaMmEr, NoT kNoW mE ThErE wHeN hE tAlK tO
hIm* The two companions sat in silence; one waiting
for orders, the other thinking of orders to give.
Alex leapt off of the bed, walked over to Hex,
bent down and looked Hex in his blood red eyes.
"Take me t' de place y'first caug't 'is scent" Hex did his best at a nod that a demon can achieve and then leapt into the shadows of the room. Alex clenched her left hand into a fist and four bone claws popped free, she swiftly moved her right hand underneath her jacket and removed a plasma rifle from its holder. "Look out unca, Alex's comin' t' play" And with that she cocked the rifle, and followed her pet.
At the combat site, Gambit and Wolverine were
scouting out the ground as Storm checked the air.
Gambit let his hyper-sensitive eyes scan the area while
Wolverine's nose and ears searched over it. The X
insignia on Wolvy's belt started blinking, he tapped it
twice and soon Storm's voice could be heard.
"Have you found anything yet?" Her voice
echoed throughout the empty alleyway.
"Non, Stormy"
"Gambit" Remy appeared to slouch forward
with a guilty look on his face.
"Sorry, chere"
"The Cajun's right there's nothin' here" {I even doubt there will be anythin' any time soon, either}
Above the X-Men stood Alex and Hex.
*PlAy ToYs* Alex smacked Hex on his nose,
he brought one of his paws up to his nose and 'rubbed'
the sore fraction.
*Non, we wait an' see w'at 'appens* Hex
looked unhappy at this but complied. Alex watched
as they talked, watched as they contacted the others.
Heard the engines of a jet start and she listened to
them fade away into the night sky. *It's time* and she
jumped down from her perch. She silently landed on the
ground not far from the Remy and Logan where they
stood. She stepped out of the shadows and started
towards the men.
Wolverine caught scent of someone approaching
their current location. He crouched down, Gambit
sensing that something was amiss, removed a few cards
from one of his trench coat's many pockets. He charged
them, just alittle and waited until the threat showed
themselves.
{Interestin' dey know I'm 'ere} Alex's hand
was holding tightly on to her rifle's handle, trigger
finger resting lightly on the trigger. She walked
slowly forward, quietly as she could and closed the
distance between them in one final leap.
"W'y y' 'ere?"