*pouts sadly* Almost nobody commented on parts 1 and 1A - is it really that bad?? Well, I'm posting part 2A, B and C all in one shot - the response will determine whether or not this continues....I value every comment I get - and I really need feedback on this 'cause I'm determined to do my best on it - but I don't know if that's any good if you don't tell me! *gets on her hands and knees* Please??
Title: Into The Heart Of Darkness - X-over with X-men
Parts: 2A B and C
Author: Stormy
Warnings: Angst, sap, battle
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, Rogue/Remy ^_~
Archive: At Jackies page (addy's in the sig) and whoever else wants it!
*looks at Darkflame and Tyr hopefully*
(Year: 2000 Location: Westchester, New York)
A somewhat feral looking man sat cross-legged in the middle of the huge lawn in front of what appeared to be a large school. Somewhat shaded by the branches of a large sycamore tree, the man sat, seemingly oblivious to the sounds of nature and the world around him. The wind rustled once, warningly. An ear twitched. Heightened senses caught the near inaudible sonic whine of a Shi'ar engine. Getting to his feet in one smooth motion, the man known to his friends as Logan, loped into the large mansion.
Through the decorative hallway, past the old paintings and marble busts on their pedastals, towards the large room that served as the office of Professor Xavier. Without bothering to knock, Logan pushed the door open.
" Cajun's back," he said simply in a low gutteral voice; then turned around and headed for the elevator.
" Thank you Logan."
Professor Xavier's golden hoverchair, yet another gift of the technologically advanced Shi'ar race, moved smoothly around the desk and he joined Logan in the hallway. A faint 'whoosh indicated the arrival of the elevator car and the metal doors slid open, allowing the two men to enter.
" Sub-Basement," Xavier spoke clearly. Logan merely sniffed and reached into the pocket of the tattered, red flannel shirt he wore. Taking out a cigar, he bit off the end, took out a light and proceeded to blow smoke rings into the small room. The professor sighed as he activated the ventilation system.
" You do that deliberately."
" Yup." Teeth gleamed in a snarling smile that would have sent most men running for the hills. Professor X merely returned the smile, albeit somewhat ruefully.
The elevator slid to a halt and the computerized voice confirmed that they were now indeed at the sub-basement level. The doors opened up to reveal a brightly lit hallway, completely encased in metal. Logan's steel-toed cowboy boots struck the floor with a metallic ring that nearly blocked out the soft humming of the hoverchair. Various doorways branched off from the main corridor but the two men continued in silence until they reached the far end. Another set of doors opened at their approach, leading into an extremely large, underground hangar.
Taking up the most space was a large black jet that gleamed. Sleek and powerful, it stood there silently, waiting for it's next mission. To the one side of it, a smaller, one-man jet that could have passed for the twin of Remy's plane, had its side panels open, in the midst of an apparent upgrade. Half a torso hung out of the guts of the plane. Logan snorted.
" Incoming, Cyke."
The torso revealed that it did have an upper half as a head popped up over the panel.
" Remy?"
" Who else?" The sarcasm was not lost on anyone.
Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, [2] stepped away from the small jet and grabbed a rag from the toolkit on the ground next to him. He nodded a greeting to the Professor and Logan.
" Where's Jean?" the professor asked curiously. Scott smiled - the question was a mere formality. If he so chose, Professor Xavier could have told Scott the exact location of anyone in the X-mansion. One of the perks of being the most powerful telepath on the planet.
But as he had learned from his experience with Onslaught, with great power came great responsibility. Never one to indulge in psychic frivolity before, the Professor now worked harder then ever to avoid intruding on other's thoughts without their permission.
" She's in the war room," Scott answered. A powerfully built young man, he had short brown hair but the color of his eyes were not immediately apparent. Cyclops wore a red, ruby-quartz visor that turned everything he saw into shades of red. the man who's looks could literally kill, Scott Summers head housed powerful optic beams of monumetally destrcutive force. The visor kept this power in check.
A warning alarm went off and across the vast room, a ramp opened up in the wall, revealing its holographically hidden location in the mountain-side adjacent to the Westchester school. Logan moved to one side and watched, cigar dangling between his teeth loosely as the whines he heard from the engine before, came back in full force.
The mini-jets engines all but purred as it glided down the runway, hovering a few feet above the ground. Touching down softly, the hatch opened and Remy Lebeau hopped out of the cockpit in one fluid motion. Remy flicked his sunglasses off his nose to hang against his chest as he sauntered over to the three men.
" A welcoming party for Remy?" he asked with a sly grin. " Ya shouldn't have."
" S'why we didn't," grunted Logan. " Rogue fill ya in?"
" Somewhat," Remy shrugged. Anything else he would have said was cut off as another side door opened and a young woman, clad neck to toe in tight green material came through.
" Remy!"
Rogue flew through the air and crashed into the Cajun, hugging him tightly. Remy returned the embrace.
" So you DID miss me, huh Chere?"
" Idiot," she muttered grinning. Placing her gloved hand over his mouth, she kissed the back of it. Unable to touch anyone, skin to skin, she had to improvise until she learned to control her power. And Remy didn't mind at all. He winked at her and wrapped one arm securely around her waist.
Cyclops cleared his throat.
" You know who stole the space generator?"
Remy's eyes suddenly lost the joyed look and became hooded. " Yah. Sinister." He spat out the word as though it tasted foul in his mouth. " Everyone okay?"
" Fine," the Professor nodded. " I myself was out talking with various mutant rights groups. Most of the others were out relaxing - Mr. Sinister had been waiting for just such an opportunity."
" Yeah, he does that, doesn't he?" Remy mused darkly. " Defense no good?"
Wolverine snorted. " When it comes to Sinister and defences, nothing works except the X-men themselves. Even the deadly stuff don't bother him - just throws one his little cronies into the line of fire, knowing if it kills them, he can always clone a new batch in the morning."
Rogue shook her head. " Dirty little rat," she growled. " And with the stuff he stole...heck, Ah'm not sure Ah wanna know what he's up to."
" Got no choice, Chere - was in de job description when yah join de team."
Scott suddenly tilted his head to one side, seemingly listening intently. Then he nodded and looked at the others.
" Jean's got a weak fix on where Sinister is."
" What?" Remy looked disbelivingly at his leader. " We could never find him before - why now?"
" Combo tracking device and something about mutant residue," Logan said, sucking in the evil-smelling smoke emanating from his cigar. He shook his head. " Makes me think of something ya'd scrape off yer shoe or something."
" Residual energy left over from the tests we did on the machine using Franklin's energy signature," the Professor elaborated. " The machine itself tends to store up energy - not a good thing over a long period of time. Build up of temporal energy - the kind Franklin's powers produced as a side effect - tends to be extremely unstable, and registers quite high on normal energy meters. Jean was using cerebro to track down the temporal energy leftover from what we were experimenting with - and it sounds like she was successful."
Scott nodded. Remy and Rogue exchanged a look. " Suuuuuurrrrrrre, " they chorused. Scott rolled his eyes as he led his team to the door. Logan followed behind, an amused smirk on his face.
Jean looked up from the holographic map in the center of the room as the quintet entered. Storm and Beast were already there, waiting patiently Scott went immediately to his wife and greeted her quietly. Storm smiled when she saw Remy.
" Welcome back Remy. I trust you took care of your business?"
" You betcha Stormy!"
The weather goddess's lips curled in a faint grimace. " Please do not call me that."
Beast waved at them all jovially from where he was perched upside down, feet clinging to the wide beams above his head. " Greetings and salutations all! And Gambit, our travelling compatriot, back among the fold - you're just in time for the expediat retrieval of our temporal matter converter and generator that was stolen by the villainus cur, by possible virtue of power displays and fisticuffs!"
" Huh?"
" We're gonna get back the stuff Sinster took in a big ol' brawl," Rogue translated. She smirked at the Beast. " Ah know my share of ten dollar words too!"
" I am in utter awe, Rogue."
" Ya should be, Fuzzy!"
" If we might cease this childish behaviour," the Professor said, a teasing light in his eye. " I do believe Jean has something to share with us. If you would, Jean?"
" Thank you sir." Jean indicated the large, three-dimensional map hovering in front of them. " Using a modified version of cerebro, I managed to track down the location of Sinister's latest laboratory. It's in what appears to be an abandoned building, on the outskirts of New York City."
" Always in an abandoned building," Logan snorted. " Ya'd think these so called supervillains get all the ideas from the same comic book or something."
Remy snickered. The Professor looked at him in concern.
" I know dealing with Sinister isn't something you're looking forward to Remy."
Remy eyed the professor somewhat suspiciously. " You snoopin' 'round my mind, Prof?"
" Certainly not. But you're broadcasting - quite strongly, I might add. If this bothers you, you do not have to be a part of this. No one would blame you."
Remy weighed his words carefully, before finally settling on what to say. " I'd blame me," he sighed. " Sinister's another one o' my messes I gotta help clean up. 'Side's - you don't t'ink I'd back away from a fight, do ya?" He shook his head, not waiting for an answer. " I be honest w'it ya - de t'ought of seein' Sinster again freaks me right out. But I ain't gonna sit 'round, twiddlin' my t'umbs when I could be helpin'."
Cyclops nodded. He'd expected Gambit's answer to be along those lines. Jean sent him a small smile and Rogue tightened her grip on his hand in a silently supportive gesture. Wolverine looked bored.
" So when we leaving?" he asked casually. Cyclops straightened.
" Psylocke and Warren are unavailable right now. The team so far consists of me, Jean, Beast, Storm, Gambit, Rogue and you Wolverine." [3]
" Seven, huh?" Remy brushed a lock of hair from his eyes. " I'd prefer de whole team."
" So would I. But unfortunately we can't wait that long." Beast leaned forward, placing his large hands on the console. " Think about the implications of what Sinister could do with that equipment! Import soldiers, warriors, foreign deseases, high technology - anything he wants from millions of dimension. And he can do it too - he's a brilliant scientist, regardless of how twisted he is."
" Agreed. " Cyclops looked piercingly at Remy. " We leave as soon as the Blackbird is prepped. Are you in?"
Remy nodded once. His hand slipped out his pocket, holding a card. The Ace of Spades. He concentrated and it burst into pinkish flame, yet the card itself remained unburnt. He held it up and looked at it, looked at THEM. " Let's do it," he said simply and tossed the card behind his shoulder. The card exploded in a tiny puff of smoke as Gambit called the power back into him before it could do any real damage. " De sooner we go, de sooner we done."
Scott nodded. " Let's go."
End Part 2B
Notes:
1. I am one of the ones that believes Wuei likes Duo as a friend a lot more then he lets on. He may yell at him, but I think he truly values the American as a close pal. *smirks* And even if he doesn't....*holds up piece of paper* ...here's my creative license to do what I want! OOC be darned!
2. As you can plainly tell *grins*, this is done in a timeline where Scott Summers is still alive. Again - I'm not following the continuity of either universe to the letter!
3. I haven't completely decided on the full X-roster yet but it looks like this may be it. I may throw in Cecilia Reese later on when we need medical people....maybe Nightcrawler - I think him and Duo would get along....who wants to see Wufei have a sparring match with ninja girl Kitty Pryde?? I'm open to suggestions!
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com