Hi! *waves* Thanks to such an enthusiastic response to Part 2, my muse came back with a vengeance and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote at least part 3A. More will come tomorrow - guaranteed!
Title: Into The Heart of Darkness
Part: 3A/?
Author: Stormy
Warnings: Angst, light humour
Pairings: 3x4 established, 1x2 forthcoming
Archive: Jacky's page (addy's in the sig) and whoever else wants it!
Please! Enjoy! And tell me if you did!
Beeping. It echoed rythmically and steady in his ears. It annoyed him. Profusely. He must kill it.
Heero struggled to open his eyes but they seemed to have lead weights attached to them. His mouth tasted cottony and dry; he tried to swallow, and coughed instead.
A rustling sound cought his attention and he heard a gentle voice telling him to wait. Seconds later, he felt hands helping him to a sitting position and the rim of a cup touched his lips. He drank greedily at first, wincing slightly as it stung his sore throat and his eyes opened completely. A beautiful red-haired woman sat next to his bed, calmly putting the cup back down on the table. Heero's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in the I.V in his arm and he reared up from the bed, ripping the needles out. The woman backed up slightly, still wearing the calm expression.
" Calm down. No one's going to hurt you here. You're safe, Heero."
The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Heero focused on her face even as his body tensed in readiness for an attack. If this were an OZ trick, he'd be ready. The woman held up her hands placatingly.
" I promise you, you're safe here."
Heero listened to her voice and awareness slowly crept into his mind even though the tenseness did not leave. The woman sighed.
:: Maybe you remember this, hmm?::
Heero jerked backwards in shock, slapping a hand to his head.
" You," he whispered. " The telepath."
" You DO remember," she chuckled. " I'm glad."
Heero's eyes narrowed again as something else came to mind. He vaguely remembered being taken out of his...
" What have you done with our Gundams?" he asked in steely tones. " And where are the other pilots?"
The woman looked puzzled for a minute - and then her face cleared.
" Are you referring to those robots we found you in?"
For a minute, Heero had a mental image of the fit Wufei would throw if he heard a woman calling his Gundam a 'robot'.
" Yes."
" We've put them in our hangar. They're safe there. As you are here."
Reinforcement of safety. Heero grunted. " And the pilots?"
"--are all fine."
The door suddenly slid open and Heero automatically reached for his gun. Finding it missing, he scowled blackly at the woman who's attentions shifted to the newcomer. Heero's eyes widened and his jaw actually dropped.
A giant, fuzzy blue gorilla with fangs, a white labcoat and spectacles, carrying a clipboard, bounded into the room. Heero stared mutely, unable to say anything. [1]
" And how's our patient today?"
The gorilla headed for the his bed and his fingers clenched. The red haired woman's eyes widened.
" Beast, STOP!!"
Jean had been satisfied with the progress she had been making with the brown-haired boy. She had felt him relaxing slightly - inwardly, she wondered why a boy his age would be so mistrusting and wary. When the door opened, she knew exactly what he'd been reaching for - the gun she'd found on him and moved to a safe location.
_What kind of world did they come from_? she wondered.
Jean had sensed Beast coming and was unsurprised by his appearance. Heero, however.....Jean only had a split-second to register the shock and then the bizarre calmness of mind exhibited by Heero, as though some remote part of his brain had been turned on that shut off all emotion except what was needed to deal with the here and now. Heero attacked.
The boy rolled off the bed with lightening quickness, striking his foot out and connecting with Beast's stomach. [2]
" Oooooofff!!" Agile and quick as the Beast may be, he was unprepared for an attack from a child on a sickbed.
Heero ducked and wound up in the corner of the room. His mind noted the lack of any windows, coming to the instant conclusion he was on some sub-terrain level and that the door was the only way out. He began analyzing possible escape routes as he watched the blue-furred man rub his stomach.
::Stop!::
Heero merely raised an eyebrow, his soldier mind already adjusting to the idea of telepathy, filing it away to use as a reference in the future. [3] Hank chuckled.
" The boy packs quite a wallop!" he said. Jean sighed.
" I'm sorry Hank. I should have warned him." She turned to Heero, marvelling at the feeling of deadly intent rolling off of him in waves. " Heero, I'm sorry. I should have prepared you. This is Dr. Henry McCoy, codenamed the Beast. He's been taking care of you and your friends."
" Pleased to meet you, young man, " Hank smiled.
Heero studied the man balefully, keenly noticing the words 'codename'. Jean stepped forwards.
" Heero?"
Blue eyes snapped back at her.
" Where are the others?"
Jean smiled again. " I'll take you to them."
She gestured to the door and Heero moved towards it silently, keeping his eye on the bouncing blue doctor. Outside the room, Jean crossed the hallway and knocked once before opening it as a familiar voice answered. Heero slipped around her to see Trowa sitting on the bed where Quatre was currently lying. Both looked to be okay and Quatre seemed to be regarding Jean with some familiarity. He must have been one of the last ones to wake up, he reasoned. He was slightly disconcerted by that fact. Jean put her hands on her hips.
" And when did you get out of bed?" she asked Trowa with mock sternness. Trowa shrugged and stared at her impassively. Quatre smiled.
" Heero!"
Heero stood next to the bed and gave them a quick once-over to see for himself that they were okay. He looked at Trowa who nodded fractionally. Quatre agreed.
" We can trust these people Heero, " he said eagerly. " My space heart tells me so."
Heero grunted and turned back to Jean. " Duo and Wufei."
Jean's eyes went dark and she looked away, biting her lip. " Wufei is fine," she said. " He's one room ov--"
" Where's Duo?" Heero cut her off, not liking the expression on her face.
" We couldn't find him," admitted a voice from the door. A tall man wearing a visor walked into the room. " We only found the four of you." He stuck out his hand. " I'm Scott."
Heero stared at the man, ignoring the hand. Scott shrugged and dropped it.
" Maxwell is missing?" Wufei apeared in the doorway. He took in his friends current state and seemed somewhat satisfied with their condition. " Was he not with Deathscythe?"
Heero closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened. He remembered a black wave coming towards him as he fastened his harness. He remembered Duo...his eyes snapped open.
" He didn't make it into the cockpit!" he growled, anger and fear mixing together to create a deep wellspring of concern. " He was opening the hatch when that black thing hit us!"
" So he might have been transported elsewhere," theorized Hank, stroking his furry chin thoughtfully. Quatre's eyes widened in concern.
" Possibly another dimension altogether?" Scott asked, moving next to his wife who took his hand. Heero's gut tightened as he heard that and Quatre gasped out loud.
" Nah, he's here," came a gruff voice from the busy doorway. Four heads snapped up and focused on him.
" Logan - did you find him? " Jean asked hopefully. The feral man shook his head.
" Nope - but I smelled 'em."
The four pilots exchanged puzzled glances. Jean noticed their confusion and decided to explain.
" Logan's a mutant. As we all are."
" Mutant?" Trowa asked, speaking for the first time. Logan chuckled, somewhat amused at their naivity.
" Guess they don't have those where they're from."
" Mutants are humans that are born with special abilities."
" Abilities?" Quatre asked this time.
" What do you mean Duo's here?!" Heero slammed his fist into the table by the bedside, splintering it. THAT certainly recaptured their attention. Hank clucked his tongue disapprovingly as he noticed the long slivers now deeply embedded in Heero's fist. _He acts like he doesn't even feel it_.
In reality, Heero didn't feel it at all. Al he knew was that somehow, they'd been transported to a strange world and Duo was missing. He stared fixedly at Logan, not even flinching as the wildman glared back at him. " You said you SMELLED him?"
" Logan has extra-heightened senses as part of his mutant abilities," Scott explained. " He also has an accelerated healing factor - most injuries don't even faze him."
" Sounds like Heero," Wufei commented. Hank picked up his ears.
" Really?"
" Yeah, I smelled him," Logan said, ignoring the chatter around them. He had to admit - he liked this Heero kid. Logan couldn't smell a hint of fear in the boy, only anger and concern for his teammate. He nodded approvingly. Something in him told him that this boy wasn't used to feeling concern over someone - that's why he could sense Heero's anger so strongly. In an effort to understand, he'd wrongly identified it as anger instead of what it really was. Logan leaned against the wall. " He was there at one point. I was checking out those robot things--"
Wufei's eyebrow twitched.
"-- and caught a whiff of a scent on the black one that I smelled back at the warehouse. The kid, Duo or whatever, was there."
Scott's lips thinned imperceptively and even Jean and the Beast looked somber. Heero focused on Wolverine.
" Is he dead?" he asked, in tones so quiet, they chilled. Logan shook his head. Heero let out a silent sigh of relief, his stomach unknotting and his heart obligingly climbing back down out of his throat and into his chest where it belonged.
" Thank Allah," sighed Quatre. Wufei looked relieved and Trowa lifted his head.
" Then where is he?"
" Probably with Sinister," Beast murmered, eyes vacant. Heero pounced.
" With who?"
" One of our enemies," said Jean quietly. " Duo must have been caught in Fatale's teleportation radius and transported with Mr. Sinister."
" Where?" Heero asked, already running through rescue scenarios. Quatre and Trowa seemed to be thinking the same thing. Wufei addressed Jean.
" Your enemy is named Mr. Sinister?" He shook his head, a harsh laugh issuing out of his throat. Jean glared at him.
" I wouldn't laugh Wufei," she said, and the serious tone in her voice cut through the dragon heir like a knife. " Sinister is a twisted, diabolical madman who delights in tormenting and torturing people. He's responsible for the suffering and deaths of so many innocent people--" Jean broke off and turned her head as memories of a group of people being slaughtered like cows danced through her head.[4] " He's a monster."
" And he's got Duo," Heero finished. Wufei bowed his head at Jean.
" I apologize for my rudeness."
Jean gave him a weak smile and nodded. Quatre seemed to be twisting the life out of the blankets covering his lap and Trowa captured the hands in a soothing gesture. Quatre leaned against him. At the sight of this, Jean smiled faintly, sensing the connection between the two. Scott noticed too, and he squeezed his wife's hand once.[5] Heero began pacing the length of the room.
Duo was in the hands of a madman. Duo. Laughing, life-filled, violet-eyed Duo who loved ice cream sandwich's and stargazing on the roof of their safehouses. Heero felt a burning rage well up within him at the thought of his partner being in the hands of a man like Sinister seemed to be.
::You care about him.::
Heero glared at Jean who wore a sad expression.
:: Stay out of my mind:: he mentally growled at her. Jean nodded, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. Heero felt the faint tingle leave his mind. He changed his look over to Scott who seemed to be the leader of the group.
" We're going to rescue him." It wasn't a request.
Scott nodded, already knowing that the professor would be monitering the conversation.
:: Sir?::
:: I'm here, Cyclops. I've already begun searching for Sinister's location using Cerebro. If we could find the signature once, we may be able to do so again.::
:: Have you been listening the entire time?::
:: Yes.:: The professor's mental voice sounded sad. :: They're so young, yet so old. There's images of such devastating pain literally radiating off them - it's all I can do to shield myself from the worst of it.::
Scott frowned and looked at his wife who nodded, hearing what the professor had said. :: That bad, huh?::
" Talk out loud," Heero growled at them. Jean looked at him in surprise and then laughed out loud - Heero had caught on pretty quick. Wufei raised an eyebrow. Quatre and Trowa looked puzzled.
" She's a telepath," Heero said, jerking his thumb at Jean. Quatre's eyes widened and he clapped his hands.
" How interesting!" he said, eyes shining. " You sense things too?"
" Too?" Jean echoed. Quatre nodded.
" My space heart lets me feel things - emotions of the people I care about, or am close to."
" That sounds like an empath," commented Beast with interest. Logan snorted, knowing what would happen if he let this conversation continue.
" Back to the kid...."
" The professor's trying to track down Sinister," Scott announced. " Meanwhile, Hank is going to check you kids one more time and then we'll take you to the hangar so you can see for yourselves that your robots are okay."
Wufei's other eyebrow twitched.
Quatre noticed and smothered a laugh. " They're called Gundams, sir."
" And I'm called Scott, or Cyclops," Scott answered. " I'm not old enough to be a sir, yet."
" I'd like to know more about your Gundams," Beast said eagerly, barely containing his excitement. " I've never seen that type of metal before - it seems almost as dense as adamantium." [6]
" It's called Gundanium," said Trowa. " And it's indestructible."
" Fascinating!"
" Hopefully after you find that everything's okay, we'll have tracked down your friend," Jean said. " We'll find him. We won't let Sinister have him."
Heero merely nodded and allowed Scott and Jean to herd them upstairs. He could hear Quatre asking questions about mutants and powers and he watched heard Wufei ask Logan where his sword was. Heero tuned them all out as he thought of how Jean had described Sinister. He wondered if Duo was okay.
End Part 3A
Man oh man - the ideas for this just keep coming! Part 3C will deal primarily with Duo awakening in Sinister's little dungeon o' doom - what's in store for our beloved Shinigami?? *Stormy cackles* I am having TOO much fun with this!
What's a fic without Notes?:
1. C'mon - wouldn't ya know something would shock the Perfect Soldier this badly and Duo's not around with a video camera?
2. For those of you about to argue with me that Jean could've stopped the attack because thoughts move faster then actions, let me remind you that A) she believes Heero is a normal human child, none of this enhanced Perfect Soldier stuff and B) he was just out cold - they weren't expecting such a violent attack from a bed-ridden child! Ah, the joys of surprise!
3. I believe part of Heero's training was to learn to quickly accept the unexpected and adapt accordingly. that's why he caught on so quick. Dr. J done good for a change!
4. Jean was referring to the Morlock Massecre that occured in Uncanny X-men, issues 208 to 212 I believe....*goes to rummage through her comic collection* Anyhoo, the Morlocks were a band of mutants who's mutancy were too apparant for them to attempt to live normal lives as humans. They lived underground in the tunnels beneath the X-mansion until Sinister decided that they were the "pollutants" in the mutant gene pool and had them exterminated in a massive slaughterfest by the Raiders. It was recently revealed in Uncanny X-Men #350 that Gambit was one of the Raiders that initiated the attack. To Remy's credit though - he didn't know why they were there until the slaughter began. Then he tried to stop it and managed to rescue one little girl who grew up to be the mutant child psycopath, Marrow.
5. I'm sure some of you are raising a few eyebrows (typical Wufei syndrome) as to why Jean or anyone else for that matter, weren't immediately disgusted by the apparent relationship between Trowa and Quatre. Actually, the X-men are among the most open-minded individuals due to the racial bigotry directed at them just for being mutants, nevermind their sexual preference. Also, it's nothing new - they're friends with the Canadian superhero Northstar who came out of the closet in Marvel comics YEARS ago.
6. Adamantium is the strongest metal on earth, indestructible and a large chunk of it is currently taking up residence in Wolverine's body - his skeleton was fused with the metal years ago. I am ignoring the storyline where Magneto ripped the metal out - Wolverine still has his metal body!! This will be demonstrated and explained better, in chapters to come.
C&C required for purpose in life! Please ask me any questions or tell me if anythiing needs clarifying. Again, I'm trying to keep it as clean and together as possible and it's sometimes really hard to do!
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com