Eeeeetcha....inspiration's coming in small spurts today - two short parts and a third one probably coming up later after i finish my laundry! *takes deep breath* REAL LIFE GETS IN THE WAY OF CREATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS'S!!!!! *exhales* Okay - enough venting. Here we go - and remember, comments are a must! ^_~
Title: Heart of Darkness
Parts: 4B
Author: Stormy
Warnings: Angst, slight Remy-torture (very, very mild)
Pairings: 1x2, RxR
Archive: At Jackies page (addy's in the sig) enventually - and to anyone
else who wants it. Just ask me first.
Ta-daaaaaaaaaaahhh!!
Heero fired two more times, killing the last two Sinister-looking snipers on the roof. He stood up slowly, watching their bodies fall to the ground dispassionately. Before they hit though, they disapeared. Heero blinked, recognizing the familiar hum that signified the end of a session. The holograms vanished, the buildings and destroyed mobile suits melting away. Heero grunted and looked up at the observation deck. A woman with a white skunk streak - _Rogue_, his mind supplied - waved cheerily at him and he idly glanced at the gun, wondering if the bullets would penetrate the thick glass separatiing them. _Probably not_, he decided ruefully.
" I wouldn't do dat," came a husky laugh from behind him. Heero whirled around and came face-to-face with the red-eyed man from before. " Even if ya made it t'rough da glass, de bullets would bounce off her - got a hide like adamantium dat girl does." [1]
" I heard that swamprat!" came an amused snort over the intercom. Remy waved at her and she nodded, exiting the room. Remy turned back to the boy.
" Heero, right?"
Heero shrugged, watching him.
" Don' talk much, dat's for sure," Remy commented mildly. He observed the boys tense stance. The gun he held was at his side but Remy knew from the Danger Room readouts that he could aim in fire in about as much time that it took him to charge and throw a card. _Dat ain't much time_.
" No."
Remy shrugged. " S'okay - I know you're worried 'bout your friend--"
The boy twitched.
" --but I'd say he's still alive f' now. Sinister likes to play wit' his new toys first." Gambit's lips curled in disgust. Heero trembled, a low growl building up in his throat.
" How do you know?" he bit out, trying unsuccessfully to push all his anger and worry down. Then memory hit him. " You....Cyclops said you knew the most about Sinister."
Remy looked at him. " Yeah, I--HEY!"
He dodged the boys lightning quick attack, rolling to his feet and whipping out a card. Then he froze. Heero stood there, gun slipping through nerveless fingers before they clenched into fists so tight his knuckles turned white from blood loss. His shoulders were shaking violently, and though his eyes were dry when he looked up, Remy almost recoiled from the pain radiating out from the pale face with the force of a blow. " Heero?"
" You're....right. I....I'm.....worried. About...Duo." The boy's words were stilted and halting, almost as though it pained him to admit it. " Not used to....being....helpless." He locked eyes with Remy and Remy again felt the weight behind the gaze. " What...what did Sinister do to you?"
Remy exhaled noisily, feeling a cavern open up in his chest, swallowing him hole.
*Needles stinging, hurts me, likes to hurt me, screaming, trapped, pain, hurt, pain, sadness, emptiness, pain, fists striking me, must prove I'm stronger, must fight back, hurts so bad, kill me, kill me, pain, won't stop, please stop--*
" Gambit?"
Remy's head snapped up and he took a deep breath before he answered.
" He trained me."
Heero's blue eyes pierced his and he saw it then - saw a boy who knew what training meant, saw what it did, knew how it felt.
" You know," he whispered in surprise.
Heero thought it was odd that he was shocked to hear Gambit's words. He recalled the numerous training sessions he was put through by Dr. J - everything from beatings to build up his pain threshold, to rape, so that he would never break. Sensory deprivation. Mind terrors. More beatings. More pain. He saw all that and more reflected back at him through red-on-black eyes. [2]
He swallowed convulsively. " Yeah....I know."
Gambit sighed. " Good."
" What?"
" Good," Gambit repeated harshly. Then his tone softened somewhat. " You know what its like. You'll be able t' help your friend."
" Help him...." Heero repeated numbly. He shook his head. " No - Duo's stronger then that. He's been tortured before....he's never been broken..." his voice trailed off into a whisper Remy nearly missed it. "...like me..."
Gambit's heart clenched at the self-recrimination in that voice. Then he froze, as the implications of what Heero had said hit him. " Oh, merde..."
Heero stared at him. " What?"
Gambit chuckled harshly, remembering what he'd gone through at the hands of Sinister. After he'd been broken. When he'd...
" Maybe de physical pain's gonna be de last of your worries," he said, half-snarling, half chuckling with bitterness. Heero's eyes narrowed as Remy rubbed his eyes wearily. " S'metimes it's too much trouble to break 'em. It's easier to CONTROL dem."
" Control?" Heero echoed uncertainly. Remy nodded.
" Sinny's got a lot of toys to help him get people to do what he wants," Gambit explained roughly. " He couldn't use 'em on me - my metabolism's too screwed up for mind imbalancers, or drugs. He once injected me wit' a shitload of phenobarbitol and I was still able to resist anyt'ing he tried, when I should have been mindless as a newborn." He grinned darkly. " Handy trait." [3]
He crossed his arms, leaning against the door. " But Remy hear a lot of t'ings while he was dere....I remember a mutant was brought in. Feisty kid - could hear 'im yellin' from my cell. He stopped soon enough - could never figure out what happened to him to make him Sinny's new pet."
" Den I joined de X-men. Tried to save de world." He chuckled grimly. " And I met Morph - a mutant wit' de power to shapeshift into anybody or anyt'ing, just by t'inkin' 'bout it. During a battle wit' de Sentinals, we t'ought he was killed."
Heero recalled hearing something about Sentinal - like Gundams on a less technologically advanced scale. " Go on," he said curtly.
" He disappeared - we never found his body. Time passed and eventually, Cyke and Jeannie decide to tie de knot. A beautiful wedding too - Remy, he kissed almost all de bridesmaids. 'Cept Rogue - she got away," he grinned. Heero was getting impatient, even though his stony demeaner revealed nothing.
" Does this have a point?" he growled. Remy shook his head.
" Impatient, " he said softly. " But yeah, dere's a point. De minister turned out to be Morph - working for Sinister."
" A traitor?"
" Dat's what we t'ought. 'Til we battled Sinister an' his goons on an island where Jeannie and Scott were supposed to be havin' d'ere honeymoon. Turned out Morph had a little bug in his head dat made him evil, eager to kill. Probably what happened to de kid in de cell. Now Morph be a peaceful kinda guy - and he fought de implant wit' every part o' his being. Dat's why he was able to stop himself from killing Cyke." His eyes glowed briefly and Heero grunted at the sight of the red ligth, giving Remy's face a positively fiendish look. " Dat's why he left." [4]
" Left?"
" Didn't wanna hurt nobody 'till he gets control o' himself. We took out de bug - but de programming, it remains up in his brain."
" And he could do this to Duo."
" Probably."
Heero winced. " But Morph didn't like killing.." he whispered, horrified at the thought of a blood-crazed Duo rampaging through ranks of civilians. " How effective could a bug like that be on someone who's used to it - who sees killing as an order to be followed?"
" De ends must justify de means in your world," Remy muttered, eyeing the boy sharply. " He might not fight de implant as much."
" That's what I thought," Heero sighed. " But if we get to him, we could stop him, right?" He couldn't believe how he was acting - practically BEGGING Gambit for some reassurance. But his thoughts were raging out of control and he pleaded silently with the red-eyed man to agree with him. Gambit dropped his eyes.
" Maybe," he allowed, not wanting to destroy all of the boy's hope. " De X-Men - we don' go down wit'out a fight ya know."
" Neither do Gundam pilots," Heero returned, regaining his iron control. Blue eyes glinted like ice chips. " We'll find him. And he'll be fine."
" Le's hope so, mon amie," Gambit whispered, watching the boy walk away stiffly. " Le's hope so."
End Part 4B
Whatcha think? I still think it could use some revising - it took forever to decide how I wanted Gambit to play into this - but on the whole, I'm kinda happy.
Notes - wonderful, glorious notes! :
1. Rogue's powers also include a thick skin - enough to deflect bullets, lasers, tanks and falling buildings (that one was my favorite episode!) See previous chapters and notes for more details on her powers.
2. I'm just guessing what kind of training Dr J and Sinister put the two guys through - there's that creative license again!
3. Again, I'm using discussion from the mailing list - it seems to take Gambit longer to succomb to deadly gases and other poisons so again - I'm blaming his physiologal makeup as a reason. 'S'alright? 'S'alright.
4. Now I'm kinda mucking up the TV series....but I pretty much followed inside the lines. If you'd like anyt'ing...excuse me, anyTHing (damn cajun's accent is addicting!) explained further, please email me.
Stormy
Please send comments to: dingostorm@hotmail.com