Among the Strong
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marysuevirusTitle: Among the Strong
Chapter Two: Fallout
Fandom: the Marvel universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic violence, language, sex, dark themes, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs todazzledfirestar Morgan belongs toginevra Roxxy belongs tonanaeanaven Jehnna belongs to silverfox_chan and Dare belongs to me. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from dazzledfirestar .
Author's Notes: this is almost entirely Daz's fault. okay. so it really isn't. its actually almost 100% my fault. Daz just did a whole lot of encouraging. this fic is going to be kind of dark, so please keep that in mind while reading.
Among the Strong - the index
They were right. He was a hairy little beaver. A very angry, hairy little beaver. And, at the present moment, he was staring at Duke like he was going to chew his legs out from under him.
Of course the Underground was flooded with stories. Stories about the X-Men. Stories about individual mutants. That was why he and the others had jumped at the chance to work with Dare when Charisma had called them. The Underground was filled with people who'd spent much of their lives on the streets, who'd been unable to find a place in society. Not many kids who had grown up like that had been given the opportunity to become something big. Very few of them had gotten the chance to go to that fancy mutant school in Westchester. Dare had been one of the exceptions. Duke wasn't the only one who'd grown up damn near worshipping a girl he'd never met because she'd gotten lucky.
Naturally, stories about the Wolverine had been plentiful in the Underground. There wasn't a macho dick who was part of the organization that didn't want to be a little bit like him. For a while, Duke had been one of those macho dicks. But he'd grown up and matured and realized that it was better for him to find his own path than try to emulate someone else's. Still, he'd always wanted to meet the Wolverine. Hero worship, he supposed.
Now that he had, he was having a hard time reconciling the stories with the man standing before him. He was having a hard time believing that this short, angry man was the person people he'd grown up with idolized.
It had been only moments after the last of those strange women had dragged Dare and her friends off through the portal that it had swirled again and then a bunch of men had come through. Duke had watched them come slowly across the sand toward the jets. Some of them had walked at a normal pace. Some of them had staggered and ended up leaning against one another. When they'd arrived at the jets, they'd stared at them as if they hadn't seen them in a long time.
Roxxy had been picking herself up out of the dirt and a tall guy with dark hair had gone over to help her. After hearing him ask her if she was alright, Duke had realized who the guy was. That was when Roxxy had gone a little mental and had staggered forward until she'd stopped before the angry little beaver of a man. "Logan, I'm sorry."
He'd stared at her a moment before the expression on his face had flattened out. "What happened, Roxxy?" the man had asked.
"Xavier sent us. He said he couldn't find you anywhere. When we got here, there was nothing. Then they came," Roxxy'd told him. "They're gone, Logan. The horsemen took them."
"Who? Who'd they take, Roxxy?"
"Morgan fell first. Jehnna fell right after her. Dare went next." Those words made a flat expression even flatter. It wasn't something Duke had thought possible. "Haley was last. The horsemen dragged every one of them through the portal. I tried to get up and stop them. But they were gone so fast. I'm sorry, Logan. I'm so sorry."
"Son of a bitch!" he'd snarled. Hell, Duke was pretty sure the man had growled. And out had come the claws he'd heard so much about. Those claws had gleamed in the glaring of the sun, its light running over the sharpened edges as if to sharpen them further. Duke had decided, if the horsemen returned, there wasn't anything short of death that would stop the Wolverine from tearing them apart.
Okay, then. Mental note. Do not, under any circumstances, piss off the Wolverine.
"What would Apocalypse want with them, Logan?" Roxxy had asked. She'd sounded confused and Duke hadn't been able to tell if it was because she was hurt or something else.
"It ain't Apocalypse we have to worry about, Roxxy. Its Sinister," Logan had told her. Roxxy had stared at him before shaking her head. And then Logan had looked past her with a grim expression on his face. "Pete. Get everyone on board a jet and go back to the school. Take Roxxy with ya. She needs ta see Hank. I'm stayin' here."
Roxxy had tried arguing with him, but the man had been adamant about it. Hell, he'd blown past adamant and rolled right into belligerent. So the area had turned into a beehive of activity for a few minutes while everyone had prepared to leave. The man Logan had called Pete had collected Roxxy and urged her onto the jet. At the same time, the rest of his team had joined him in the hot sand. When they'd asked, Duke had voiced his desire to stay and wait. The rest of them had said the same thing.
He was starting to regret that choice. Just a little. Because Logan looked like he was ready to kill someone. And he kept staring at Duke.
They'd moved into the jet and closed the hatch. Logan had flipped a switch that had turned on air to the cabin so it wasn't stifling hot in there. The rest of his team had dozed off after the excitement and stress of the fight. For the moment, he and Logan were the only ones awake. And the silence was painful.
"What made ya stay, kid?" Logan's gruff voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up to find that the other man was watching him closely. As if he was measuring him against some invisible ruler. Duke didn't know him well enough to know if there was curiosity in his gaze. For all he knew, Logan was making what he considered polite conversation before he gutted Duke.
"Dare," he responded honestly. "I'm staying for Dare."
Duke regretted his statement a moment later when the other man growled again. One of his fists clenched and it looked like he was fighting the urge to let his claws slide out. And it hit him then. The way Roxxy had been almost desperate as she'd apologized. The way his eyes had darkened when Roxxy had mentioned Dare. Duke knew Dare had kids. She'd talked about them at their training sessions. But she'd never said who their father was. Looks like he'd just found that out. Well, wasn't this awkward?
"She's my team leader!" Duke insisted, hands up in a kind of surrender gesture. Logan gave him the hairy eyeball in response. Duke was starting to think everything about the man was hairy. And he had to wonder, if only for a moment, just what it was Dare saw in him. "My name is Duke. And I'm one of the people that helped Dare get Haley back from Doom. She said she saw potential in me and the others, so she's been training us. Two or three nights a week, if her schedule allows. She comes into the city and we hit a gym. She's my team leader and I hope a friend. I want her back. I want to help get her back."
Logan regarded him a moment before leaning his ass against the flight console. He crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles in them bunching up. There were certainly a lot of them. Had someone given him steroids and told him they were candy? "Do you have any idea what we're up against?" Logan asked him.
Duke stared at him a moment. Thought about it. He'd heard the names they'd tossed around earlier. But they didn't mean anything to him. Not the way Logan's tone suggested they should. "No. Not really."
He heard the other man sigh. Then he moved across the cabin to something that looked like it was meant to be a closet. There was an old leather jacket in it. He pulled a cigar from one of the pockets and tucked it between his teeth. Then he started chewing. "You'd have an easier time takin' on Doom than Apocalypse or Sinister. I don't think Apocalypse is the one we gotta worry about, though."
"Why not?"
"Because Sinister's got plans and those plans obviously involve the girls. And the X-Men who didn't return with the rest of us." Logan ground out. He slowly returned to the console and once again put his ass on it. Duke had to wonder if he was going to blow the aircraft up or something by doing so. The thought flew away as his brain caught up to what the other man had said.
"Wait," he blinked. "What do you mean? What kind of plans does this Sinister dude have?"
"Kids these days," Logan muttered. The cigar shifted to the other side of his mouth. "Sinister's about as fuckall crazy as they come. He's got some seriously fucked up ideas about mutants and genetics. He studies both of 'em. And he looks for ways to mix the two."
"Mix the two..." Duke repeated, parsing out what the man wasn't saying. The frown that came was deep because the only conclusion he kept coming to was a bad one and he didn't like it one bit. "You're saying he's going to fuck around with their genetics?"
"That's putting it simply," Logan responded. "There's no tellin' what he's got planned for any of `em. But the longer they're there, the more damage he can do. We gotta find the portal, find a way to open it, and go get `em."
Duke stared. That plan sounded... extremely suicidal. That was something the both of them seemed to have in common.
"I might be able to help." The words came from behind Duke. He frowned even before he turned to face Null. He still looked like he needed a year of sleep. Whatever it was that had knocked him on his ass had taken a lot out of him. Duke had known Null for years and had never seen him look this rough.
"Dude, no. I saw what that thing did to you before. I don't want you fucking around with trying to locate it now."
"You think you can locate it?" Logan asked, voice steady and even. Duke turned to look at him.
"No. No way. You aren't going to use him to hunt for that fucking thing. It knocked him on his ass earlier. I don't want to risk him by having him try it again." There might have been a little anger in Duke's voice. It earned him a look from Logan that told him the other man didn't give one flying fuck what Duke would and wouldn't allow. "This is a member of my team you're talking about using."
Logan made a sound that sounded like a snort. Duke didn't know him well enough to say that's what it was. But he didn't like the look on the other man's face. For a moment, it looked like he was going to say something. But the moment passed. The man's scowl intensified and Duke thought he heard teeth grinding together.
"Duke, don't be a dick about this. I know you don't want me to stretch my limits. But its Dare." Null's voice filled the silence of the cabin. Duke knew what he was getting at. Dare had given them a chance when she'd accepted them as her team. And then she'd given them a sense of belonging none of them had felt. "We need to find Dare. And Haley. And the rest of her friends. You know she'd go to the ends of the earth for us. We can do no less for her."
"Kid's right," Logan said. He sounded less angry. More in control. But a look his way said it was a close thing. "Dare's loyal to a fault. Gonna get her killed again one of these days."
Duke blinked. "Did you say... again?"
"What can I do to help?" Null moved past Duke to cross the cabin until he stood close to Logan. "What do you need me to do?"
"Can you locate the portal?" There might have been a faint note of hope in the question. Duke couldn't be certain because he didn't know the man well enough to make that call. Honestly, he wasn't sure if Logan had any setting beyond angry.
"If its there," Null replied. The man faced the windows, staring out at the desert beyond them. Duke knew the moment he was using his power because the fine hairs on his arms stood up. That told him that Null was using a massive amount of energy to try and find the portal. No one said anything while he worked, time slipping by like the slow slide of molasses out of a bottle. Logan watched him expectantly, never once moving away from the console.
Duke knew when it became too much for Null. He saw the fine tremor start in the other man's hands where they hung at his sides, curled into fists as he searched. Then his knees started to shake. A moment after that, the tremors spread to his whole body. Duke threw himself out of his seat and was there to catch Null before he dropped to the floor. He helped Null to a seat and settled him in it. Kneeled next to it to keep a close eye on his friend. Logan was staring at him. Waiting.
"Did you find anything, Null?" Duke asked, even though he knew the question. He'd scanned for two minutes or more. If the portal had been there, he'd have found it before then.
"No," Null said, breath rasping out of his lungs like he'd been running for hours. "I'm sorry. I checked as much of the area around us as I could. It isn't there. Its like it wasn't even there before. There's no signature left behind."
Duke rose to his feet and whirled on the other man. "What the hell, man? Couldn't you see he was already shaky from his first encounter with the portal? And I'm pretty sure he got slammed into by one of those beams. They were flying all over the place. Would you put someone else's life on the line if it was anyone else? Or was it just because they took Dare?"
"Arrogant little prick," Logan growled. There was the harsh sound of metal sliding against metal and Duke was looking at the claws again. He wasn't scared. He allowed his power to wash over him. In the blink of an eye, he was once more a muscular, hairy troll looking thing.
"That is enough, Logan." The voice was soft. Feminine. Filled with authority. Logan didn't move, but the claws retracted slowly. As if to remind Duke. Duke wasn't afraid of him. Shaking his head, he turned to find one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen standing behind him. Her skin was dark. Not tanned, but naturally dark. Brilliant blue eyes stood out against all that lovely skin. And her hair was stark white, a flowing mane that somehow fit her. She was clad in a pair of blue capri pants and a pale pink tee that hugged her figure. Even in such normal clothing, she looked regal.
"Kid's actin' like a jackass," Logan said.
"You put my teammate in danger," Duke retorted. "Just because they grabbed Dare --"
The claws came out again, bringing Duke's words to a halt. "Finish that sentence, kid. I dare ya."
"Logan!" This time, the woman's voice was louder. Firmer. Filled with more authority. Her tone saw the other man grumbling under his breath, but the claws retracted once again. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. The woman turned to look at Duke. "I apologize for Logan's behavior. He has a hard time controlling his temper when Dare is in trouble."
"I get that he wants to find her and bring her back. I want to do that, too. I get that whatever this dude Sinister is going to do, its going to be bad. But his worry and anxiousness doesn't give him the right to treat my teammate like shit and put his health on the line."
"No. It does not," she agreed.
"Why are you here, `Ro?" Logan asked. He sounded like he was maybe tired.
"The professor sent me to sit watch with you. And to keep you from doing anything stupid," she told him. There was a hint of a smile on her face when she did. It was a pretty smile that made a pretty face even prettier.
"I don't need no babysitter," Logan grumbled.
The woman let her gaze sweep the interior of the plane. When she looked at Duke, she shot him a wink. Then her attention returned to the other man. "Of course you don't. Now go rest. The professor doesn't think we will see any more of Sinister today. You need to be fully rested when the time to fight comes."
Logan glared at her a moment, then stomped away from the flight console and disappeared from view. Something told Duke that, even with the white-haired goddess there to take Logan's feet out from under him, it was going to be a long wait.
~*~
"This is madness, Rosemary. You should be at home, resting," Henry said for what had to be tenth time since they'd stepped into the elevator. Roxxy gave him a look, then faced the front of the elevator.
"I need to do this, Henry. As the only member of Purple Team who wasn't taken, this is my responsibility," she returned. For the tenth time since they'd stepped into the elevator.
"Your responsibility is to your health. It is to me and the oath you made me when we married. And it is to our children." That was a low blow. If the elevator hadn't stopped and the doors opened just then, she would have told him so. Instead, she marched out of the car and headed toward the desk where Roberta sat. Roxxy stopped short when she found Johnny was already there.
It was easy to see the worry on his face. But she couldn't miss the fear and sadness that lingered in his gaze. Roxxy shot Henry a look that suggested he should eat his shorts for thinking she shouldn't have come to see Johnny in person. That look did nothing to chase the anger out of Henry's expression. She ignored him and made her way to Johnny's side. "I'm sorry this is such short notice, Johnny," she said softly.
"No. Its okay. I was actually getting ready to come out to Westchester when you called," Johnny replied.
"Can we go someplace private to speak? Someplace where no one will chance upon us?"
He stared at her for a few moments, the fear and sadness deepening, then nodded his head and motioned toward a door. "If you'll follow me."
"Is Reed in his lab?" Henry asked, Despite his anger with her, his voice held nothing of that emotion when he posed the question.
"When isn't Reed in his lab?" Johnny returned, a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips.
"Very good. I need to speak with him. You'll find me there if you have a need of me." He brushed past them, not even stopping to press a kiss to Roxxy's cheek as he would normally do. Johnny frowned at that before starting for the door he'd motioned to only moments ago. Roxxy nodded and started walking. She couldn't help but feel it when Johnny fell into step behind her. And his hand was there to open the door before she could do the same thing herself.
They ended up in what looked to be a library. Based on the titles on the books, it might have been something more along the lines of a study. Reed's study, to be exact. Every single one of the titles Roxxy looked at had something to do with all branches of science. Johnny closed the door behind them firmly, then moved toward a chair settled near a small table. He motioned to the one on the other side of the table, but Roxxy shook her head. "No, thank you. I'll stand. I'm full of too much pent up energy to sit at the moment."
Johnny frowned, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.
"What's going on, Rox?" he asked, using Haley's favorite nickname for her. "You should sit down. You look like shit."
That blunt statement stopped her from speaking a moment. "Are you supposed to talk to women that way?"
"No. You're not supposed to. But I'm not trying to woo you into my bed. You're my wife's best friend and you're acting strange. You also look like you should be resting. So tell me what's going on."
Roxxy stared at him a moment, then took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be fun by any stretch of the imagination.
~*~
"This is a surprise, Henry. What brings you to the city? You normally avoid it." Reed stared at him, both in surprise and pleasure. Would that this visit was only for pleasure. Henry supposed he should be grateful that Reed had bothered to look up at all. Frowning, Henry moved deeper into the lab until he stopped at Reed's elbow. From his coat pocket, he produced a bag that held a several items.
"I came because I need your help, Reed," he said as he laid those items out on the desk. Several sheets of paper that had been folded into quarters. A small plastic case containing a slide with something glowing green on it. Several vials of blood.
Reed was already reaching for the papers before Henry had finished. "What's all this, Henry?"
Henry's sigh drew the man's attention to his face. "I cannot be certain that my tale will make sense. Rosemary told it when she was in a heightened state of emotional distress."
"Go on," Reed prompted.
Henry opened his mouth to speak, then sighed again. This time, it came with a frown. It looked as if he was having a hard time deciding where to start. "There was some kind of mission. Death Valley, I do not have the particulars. What I do have is that we lost contact with Red Team shortly after they arrived. Blue Team went to see if they could determine what happened to the other team. We lost contact with them. The New Mutants went next. And we lost contact with them. Charles decided to send Purple Team."
Reed frowned at that. "He sent them after losing contact with three other teams? What was he thinking?"
"Purple Team is quite accomplished, Reed. You know yourself they've personally confronted Doom and come out unscathed. They've been on enough missions that this was nothing they should have been excluded from."
Reed made a humming sound at the back of his throat, but otherwise said nothing else. Still, Henry was given the impression that he didn't quite believe that last part. Pushing his annoyance down, Henry continued with his story.
"To my understanding, when Purple Team arrived, it was to find the other transports sitting in the sand on their own. There was no sign of anyone else. Of course, per protocol, they investigated the area." Here, Henry paused and frowned. This was where the tale got strange and he still didn't know if he had enough information to really grasp what Rosemary had told them. "During the course of their investigation, according to Rosemary, a portal opened not more than ten feet from their position. She said it produced four figures."
"Four?" Reed questioned, brow wrinkling as he turned that fact over in his head.
"Yes. Four. She said they were horsemen."
"Apocalypse?"
"This is what the evidence suggests. These horsemen, all of them women, then provoked a fight with Purple Team."
Reed interrupted him. "All four horsemen were women? Is Roxxy sure?"
"Rosemary was adamant about the fact. She also said something about each of them being vaguely familiar, but I'm certain she was delirious at the time." Henry waved a hand in the air, marking the previous statement as being unimportant, before continuing on. "She said the fight lasted only a few short minutes. One by one, the rest of her team fell to the horsemen. She says the horsemen then dragged all of them through the portal."
"The horsemen took the rest of Rosemary's team? What possible need could Apocalypse have for them? Especially if he already has horseman."
"If Rosemary's information is to be believed, Apocalypse isn't the one who wanted her team."
It didn't take Reed long to parse what Henry had intentionally left off.
"He's working with Sinister?"
"Rosemary said that only a few moments after the horsemen disappeared into the portal, many of our missing teammates returned. Only four were missing from the group."
"Who didn't come back?" Reed's brain was already turning over hypotheses and equations. Henry was sure of it.
"We're missing Scott, Remy, Warren, and Sam Guthrie."
Reed looked at him. "Four men. Four women. And Sinister is holding them?"
"If our information is correct."
"Henry, that information.... If its true that Sinister is involved, this could be a disaster."
"Disaster is a light term for it, yes." Henry nodded, his expression grim. He'd already considered just what this might mean. Nothing he'd come up with had been good.
"How does this relate to what you just told me?" Reed's hand motioned to the items Henry had laid out on the table for him. Henry's gaze fell to the blood samples and he frowned.
"Rosemary was injured in this short fight. She was wobbly when she arrived back at the institute. When I examined her, I found this." Henry touched the box with the slide in it. "Of course I took the opportunity to study it, but I can only make an educated guess at it. Rosemary doesn't seem to recall what it is or how it came to be imbedded in her side."
He shifted his attention to the vials of blood. "When it became apparent that there was something wrong beyond the typical exhaustion one sees after a fight, I immediately conducted a thorough examination. I was unable to determine what the problem might be before Rosemary decided she had to come tell Johnny what had happened. It seemed more expedient to bring my meager results with me and consult with you."
"She wasn't going to let anyone else tell Johnny, was she?" Reed asked, his attention already given over to the papers Henry had brought. They didn't contain much information. And nothing helpful at all. Results from the brief test he'd been able to run before Rosemary had been heading for the door.
"No," Henry shook his head. He had to admire her loyalty to her friend. But it made him angry that she didn't seem to want to put herself first on this occasion.
"So," Reed said, finally lifting his gaze from the report he'd been reading. "What can I do to help?"
Henry never got the opportunity to answer. "Reed! Henry!" Johnny's voice, edged with a healthy dose of concern, announced his arrival before the door slammed open to let him in. Henry turned toward him and felt his heart drop into his feet.
~*~
"What's going on, Roxxy?" Johnny asked again. She'd taken far too long to answer for his well-being. Add that to the fact that she looked like she would topple over at any moment and he was far beyond being patient.
"There was a mission," she began. She looked a little confused by that, though, which made Johnny wonder what the problem was. "Wait. Let me back track a little. That part is important. No. No. Its too much. I'll sum up."
"Roxxy." Johnny made it a simple statement. But she must have heard the warning in it because she looked up at him with eyes that held a touch of fever to them. In point of fact, Roxxy was pale. And it looked like there might have been beads of sweat building at her hairline.
"Right. Okay." She heaved a sigh before turning to pace. Johnny couldn't help but notice the faint wobble in her steps. "So Haley came to us and told us that we had a mission. We didn't get details until we arrived at our destination. Death Valley. She said the professor had lost contact with Red and Blue Teams. And the New Mutants. All within twenty-four hours of each other. We were supposed to go to the site and investigate. See if we could figure out what happened."
"Three teams? Three teams in twenty four hours?" Johnny frowned at that. How was it possible that three teams could go missing in the span of a day?
"There was nothing there when we arrived. The jets they took stood on the sand.. But we didn't find any of the teams. No one was there." Roxxy wobbled again. And Johnny could see that the sweat had beaded up on most of her brow. She looked bad.
"Roxxy," he said, but she spoke over him.
"We hadn't been there long. Ten or fifteen minutes. A portal opened not far from us. Four people stepped out." She turned back to him, her gaze looking vaguely manic. "They were women, Johnny. And I swear they looked familiar. But they were horsemen. And they said something about chosen, but the speech is a little garbled in my head. Then Dare said fuck you and all hell broke lose."
Johnny couldn't quite hold back the chuckle at that. Of course it would be Dare who said fuck you. Because that was who Dare was.
"It happened so fast, Johnny. I couldn't keep track of what was happening. Dare's fire wasn't effective. Haley spent more time shielding herself than anything else. One of the women was able to predict where Morgan would pop up.Not even Jehnna could keep them back with her abilities. Morgan went down first. Jehnna dropped right after her. I lost track after that. I don't know what happened. I think I lost consciousness. But when I became aware of my surroundings, Logan and Piotr and so many others were there."
"What happened to the rest of your team?" Johnny asked. He needed to know. There'd been a kind of dim static in his head for a while now and he was starting to understand what it meant. What it was. It was the link he had with Haley.
"Logan told me Sinister was involved. The horsemen took Haley, Dare, Morgan, and Jehnna. They weren't there when I looked for them. But Logan said Sinister was involved. And then we realized some of the men hadn't come back. I didn't get to ask any questions, Johnny. Logan made me go back to the institute," she said. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, Johnny. I couldn't stop them and now Haley's missing and..."
"Roxxy. Stop," he said gently. "You need to calm down."
"I'm going to help find a way to bring them home. I swear! I'm going to - " Her voice trailed off. Johnny didn't like what he saw. Her legs were trembling and her skin was terribly pale. Paler than it had been when she'd walked into the lobby. Sweat was trickling down the sides of her face. Her hands shook. He watched as she swayed on her feet, then her knees buckled.
"Roxxy!" Johnny was up in a flash. He caught her before she could hit the ground. A glance at her told him her eyes were closed and he could see a faint hint of red staining her cheeks. Her body was on fire with fever, skin producing so much heat he could feel it through their clothes. Shit and more shit.
It took him half a dozen strides to cross the study and reach the door. One hand tugged it open, allowing him to carry her through. Then he took off up the hall, heading for Reed's lab. He knew that he would find both Henry and Reed there. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Roxxy, but he had no doubt that the two of them would be able to help her. The door gave way with a twist of his hand and he used a foot to shove it open wide. He might have used enough strength to slam it into the wall.
He didn't care.
"Reed! Henry! Something's wrong with Roxxy!" he told them.
"Rosemary!" Henry moved even before Reed did, coming to Johnny's side in order to scoop her out of his arms.
"Bring her this way, Henry," Reed instructed. He was heading toward a door that Johnny knew opened into an infirmary of sorts. Johnny wanted to follow. He felt he owed it to Haley's best friend to watch over her and make sure she got well. Haley would hate it if she came home and Roxxy was sick.
That thought gave him pause and he once more felt around for the link. Still there, but still dim and still staticky. She would come back. Haley had to come back. He was sure she wasn't dead. He was sure he'd have felt it if the link died. So Haley was alive. She was. He had to believe it because anything else was more than he could handle.
So Johnny wanted to follow Reed and Henry. He wanted to help them with Roxxy. He wanted her to heal up and be better when Haley got back. He wanted... Damn it, he just wanted Haley. She'd told him once that the fear of losing him had kept her from his side. He'd never told her that he feared losing her every day.
Goddamn it, he needed Haley back.
~*~
"The first couple is waking." He glanced down at the creature standing beside him. One of his creations, something to pass the time until he'd had all he needed for his latest experiments. It was an odd assortment of parts, looking nothing like this or that. He'd decided to call it, and the others like it, his goblins. He'd already given them tasks. Guard over his toys and make sure they did as they were told. And escort them from their suite to his lab. To the gymnasium when exercise was called for. Deliver them their meals. Keep them from attempting escape. Easy enough tasks.
"Ah. Good news." He grinned at the creature, then turned to the wall of screens that covered the wall of his personal rooms. It only took a few keystrokes to bring the monitors to life. Each one showed a different suite. Each suite contained a different couple. His toys.
He took a moment to watch each of the couples. The first pairing had been laid out on their bed side by side, bodies only just touching. There was no sign of movement, telling him they were still caught up in the effects of the experiments he'd already performed. The bruises that had marred the young man's face were nearly gone, slow to heal due to being held in stasis for so long. The woman's bruises covered her shoulders and were still dark. They might possibly even be painful.
He smiled, a feral grin that would be frightening to anyone who looked upon it.
The second couple were in the center of the bed. The man lay on his side, his back facing the edge of the bed. The woman with him had her back pressed against his chest, her body tucked under his arm. There were no bruises to see with this pairing because of how they were positioned on the bed. But he knew that both sported several painful marks after their battles with the horsemen. He knew, because he'd investigated every inch of their exposed flesh.
His gaze moved to the third screen to study the couple on it. The man lay on his back, the sheet low on his hips. The tanned expanse of his chest was well-sculpted perfection. His head was turned to his left so that it faced the side where the woman rested. She'd curled into him on her side. Her face. hidden by her hair, was pressed against his chest. Her left arm lay against his abdomen. His left arm was under her head and curled loosely around her. He could tell by a simple glance that the man would be waking soon.
The last screen showed him the final couple. The woman had already stumbled from the bed and sat on the floor, legs sprawled gracelessly before her. Her companion was awake and had lifted himself up far enough to look at her over the edge of the bed. There was a frown on his face. Both were glaring at one another.
Excellent. Things were off to a good start.
"Bring them to me. Do not damage them any more than necessary," he told the goblin at his side. The creature ducked his head before turning and scuttling out of the room. Perfect. He could get started on the first phase of this experiment.
It was about time. He'd gotten so tired of waiting.
Chapter Two: Fallout
Fandom: the Marvel universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic violence, language, sex, dark themes, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs to
dazzledfirestar Morgan belongs toginevra Roxxy belongs tonanaeanaven Jehnna belongs to silverfox_chan and Dare belongs to me. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from dazzledfirestar . Author's Notes: this is almost entirely Daz's fault. okay. so it really isn't. its actually almost 100% my fault. Daz just did a whole lot of encouraging. this fic is going to be kind of dark, so please keep that in mind while reading.
Among the Strong - the index
They were right. He was a hairy little beaver. A very angry, hairy little beaver. And, at the present moment, he was staring at Duke like he was going to chew his legs out from under him.
Of course the Underground was flooded with stories. Stories about the X-Men. Stories about individual mutants. That was why he and the others had jumped at the chance to work with Dare when Charisma had called them. The Underground was filled with people who'd spent much of their lives on the streets, who'd been unable to find a place in society. Not many kids who had grown up like that had been given the opportunity to become something big. Very few of them had gotten the chance to go to that fancy mutant school in Westchester. Dare had been one of the exceptions. Duke wasn't the only one who'd grown up damn near worshipping a girl he'd never met because she'd gotten lucky.
Naturally, stories about the Wolverine had been plentiful in the Underground. There wasn't a macho dick who was part of the organization that didn't want to be a little bit like him. For a while, Duke had been one of those macho dicks. But he'd grown up and matured and realized that it was better for him to find his own path than try to emulate someone else's. Still, he'd always wanted to meet the Wolverine. Hero worship, he supposed.
Now that he had, he was having a hard time reconciling the stories with the man standing before him. He was having a hard time believing that this short, angry man was the person people he'd grown up with idolized.
It had been only moments after the last of those strange women had dragged Dare and her friends off through the portal that it had swirled again and then a bunch of men had come through. Duke had watched them come slowly across the sand toward the jets. Some of them had walked at a normal pace. Some of them had staggered and ended up leaning against one another. When they'd arrived at the jets, they'd stared at them as if they hadn't seen them in a long time.
Roxxy had been picking herself up out of the dirt and a tall guy with dark hair had gone over to help her. After hearing him ask her if she was alright, Duke had realized who the guy was. That was when Roxxy had gone a little mental and had staggered forward until she'd stopped before the angry little beaver of a man. "Logan, I'm sorry."
He'd stared at her a moment before the expression on his face had flattened out. "What happened, Roxxy?" the man had asked.
"Xavier sent us. He said he couldn't find you anywhere. When we got here, there was nothing. Then they came," Roxxy'd told him. "They're gone, Logan. The horsemen took them."
"Who? Who'd they take, Roxxy?"
"Morgan fell first. Jehnna fell right after her. Dare went next." Those words made a flat expression even flatter. It wasn't something Duke had thought possible. "Haley was last. The horsemen dragged every one of them through the portal. I tried to get up and stop them. But they were gone so fast. I'm sorry, Logan. I'm so sorry."
"Son of a bitch!" he'd snarled. Hell, Duke was pretty sure the man had growled. And out had come the claws he'd heard so much about. Those claws had gleamed in the glaring of the sun, its light running over the sharpened edges as if to sharpen them further. Duke had decided, if the horsemen returned, there wasn't anything short of death that would stop the Wolverine from tearing them apart.
Okay, then. Mental note. Do not, under any circumstances, piss off the Wolverine.
"What would Apocalypse want with them, Logan?" Roxxy had asked. She'd sounded confused and Duke hadn't been able to tell if it was because she was hurt or something else.
"It ain't Apocalypse we have to worry about, Roxxy. Its Sinister," Logan had told her. Roxxy had stared at him before shaking her head. And then Logan had looked past her with a grim expression on his face. "Pete. Get everyone on board a jet and go back to the school. Take Roxxy with ya. She needs ta see Hank. I'm stayin' here."
Roxxy had tried arguing with him, but the man had been adamant about it. Hell, he'd blown past adamant and rolled right into belligerent. So the area had turned into a beehive of activity for a few minutes while everyone had prepared to leave. The man Logan had called Pete had collected Roxxy and urged her onto the jet. At the same time, the rest of his team had joined him in the hot sand. When they'd asked, Duke had voiced his desire to stay and wait. The rest of them had said the same thing.
He was starting to regret that choice. Just a little. Because Logan looked like he was ready to kill someone. And he kept staring at Duke.
They'd moved into the jet and closed the hatch. Logan had flipped a switch that had turned on air to the cabin so it wasn't stifling hot in there. The rest of his team had dozed off after the excitement and stress of the fight. For the moment, he and Logan were the only ones awake. And the silence was painful.
"What made ya stay, kid?" Logan's gruff voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up to find that the other man was watching him closely. As if he was measuring him against some invisible ruler. Duke didn't know him well enough to know if there was curiosity in his gaze. For all he knew, Logan was making what he considered polite conversation before he gutted Duke.
"Dare," he responded honestly. "I'm staying for Dare."
Duke regretted his statement a moment later when the other man growled again. One of his fists clenched and it looked like he was fighting the urge to let his claws slide out. And it hit him then. The way Roxxy had been almost desperate as she'd apologized. The way his eyes had darkened when Roxxy had mentioned Dare. Duke knew Dare had kids. She'd talked about them at their training sessions. But she'd never said who their father was. Looks like he'd just found that out. Well, wasn't this awkward?
"She's my team leader!" Duke insisted, hands up in a kind of surrender gesture. Logan gave him the hairy eyeball in response. Duke was starting to think everything about the man was hairy. And he had to wonder, if only for a moment, just what it was Dare saw in him. "My name is Duke. And I'm one of the people that helped Dare get Haley back from Doom. She said she saw potential in me and the others, so she's been training us. Two or three nights a week, if her schedule allows. She comes into the city and we hit a gym. She's my team leader and I hope a friend. I want her back. I want to help get her back."
Logan regarded him a moment before leaning his ass against the flight console. He crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles in them bunching up. There were certainly a lot of them. Had someone given him steroids and told him they were candy? "Do you have any idea what we're up against?" Logan asked him.
Duke stared at him a moment. Thought about it. He'd heard the names they'd tossed around earlier. But they didn't mean anything to him. Not the way Logan's tone suggested they should. "No. Not really."
He heard the other man sigh. Then he moved across the cabin to something that looked like it was meant to be a closet. There was an old leather jacket in it. He pulled a cigar from one of the pockets and tucked it between his teeth. Then he started chewing. "You'd have an easier time takin' on Doom than Apocalypse or Sinister. I don't think Apocalypse is the one we gotta worry about, though."
"Why not?"
"Because Sinister's got plans and those plans obviously involve the girls. And the X-Men who didn't return with the rest of us." Logan ground out. He slowly returned to the console and once again put his ass on it. Duke had to wonder if he was going to blow the aircraft up or something by doing so. The thought flew away as his brain caught up to what the other man had said.
"Wait," he blinked. "What do you mean? What kind of plans does this Sinister dude have?"
"Kids these days," Logan muttered. The cigar shifted to the other side of his mouth. "Sinister's about as fuckall crazy as they come. He's got some seriously fucked up ideas about mutants and genetics. He studies both of 'em. And he looks for ways to mix the two."
"Mix the two..." Duke repeated, parsing out what the man wasn't saying. The frown that came was deep because the only conclusion he kept coming to was a bad one and he didn't like it one bit. "You're saying he's going to fuck around with their genetics?"
"That's putting it simply," Logan responded. "There's no tellin' what he's got planned for any of `em. But the longer they're there, the more damage he can do. We gotta find the portal, find a way to open it, and go get `em."
Duke stared. That plan sounded... extremely suicidal. That was something the both of them seemed to have in common.
"I might be able to help." The words came from behind Duke. He frowned even before he turned to face Null. He still looked like he needed a year of sleep. Whatever it was that had knocked him on his ass had taken a lot out of him. Duke had known Null for years and had never seen him look this rough.
"Dude, no. I saw what that thing did to you before. I don't want you fucking around with trying to locate it now."
"You think you can locate it?" Logan asked, voice steady and even. Duke turned to look at him.
"No. No way. You aren't going to use him to hunt for that fucking thing. It knocked him on his ass earlier. I don't want to risk him by having him try it again." There might have been a little anger in Duke's voice. It earned him a look from Logan that told him the other man didn't give one flying fuck what Duke would and wouldn't allow. "This is a member of my team you're talking about using."
Logan made a sound that sounded like a snort. Duke didn't know him well enough to say that's what it was. But he didn't like the look on the other man's face. For a moment, it looked like he was going to say something. But the moment passed. The man's scowl intensified and Duke thought he heard teeth grinding together.
"Duke, don't be a dick about this. I know you don't want me to stretch my limits. But its Dare." Null's voice filled the silence of the cabin. Duke knew what he was getting at. Dare had given them a chance when she'd accepted them as her team. And then she'd given them a sense of belonging none of them had felt. "We need to find Dare. And Haley. And the rest of her friends. You know she'd go to the ends of the earth for us. We can do no less for her."
"Kid's right," Logan said. He sounded less angry. More in control. But a look his way said it was a close thing. "Dare's loyal to a fault. Gonna get her killed again one of these days."
Duke blinked. "Did you say... again?"
"What can I do to help?" Null moved past Duke to cross the cabin until he stood close to Logan. "What do you need me to do?"
"Can you locate the portal?" There might have been a faint note of hope in the question. Duke couldn't be certain because he didn't know the man well enough to make that call. Honestly, he wasn't sure if Logan had any setting beyond angry.
"If its there," Null replied. The man faced the windows, staring out at the desert beyond them. Duke knew the moment he was using his power because the fine hairs on his arms stood up. That told him that Null was using a massive amount of energy to try and find the portal. No one said anything while he worked, time slipping by like the slow slide of molasses out of a bottle. Logan watched him expectantly, never once moving away from the console.
Duke knew when it became too much for Null. He saw the fine tremor start in the other man's hands where they hung at his sides, curled into fists as he searched. Then his knees started to shake. A moment after that, the tremors spread to his whole body. Duke threw himself out of his seat and was there to catch Null before he dropped to the floor. He helped Null to a seat and settled him in it. Kneeled next to it to keep a close eye on his friend. Logan was staring at him. Waiting.
"Did you find anything, Null?" Duke asked, even though he knew the question. He'd scanned for two minutes or more. If the portal had been there, he'd have found it before then.
"No," Null said, breath rasping out of his lungs like he'd been running for hours. "I'm sorry. I checked as much of the area around us as I could. It isn't there. Its like it wasn't even there before. There's no signature left behind."
Duke rose to his feet and whirled on the other man. "What the hell, man? Couldn't you see he was already shaky from his first encounter with the portal? And I'm pretty sure he got slammed into by one of those beams. They were flying all over the place. Would you put someone else's life on the line if it was anyone else? Or was it just because they took Dare?"
"Arrogant little prick," Logan growled. There was the harsh sound of metal sliding against metal and Duke was looking at the claws again. He wasn't scared. He allowed his power to wash over him. In the blink of an eye, he was once more a muscular, hairy troll looking thing.
"That is enough, Logan." The voice was soft. Feminine. Filled with authority. Logan didn't move, but the claws retracted slowly. As if to remind Duke. Duke wasn't afraid of him. Shaking his head, he turned to find one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen standing behind him. Her skin was dark. Not tanned, but naturally dark. Brilliant blue eyes stood out against all that lovely skin. And her hair was stark white, a flowing mane that somehow fit her. She was clad in a pair of blue capri pants and a pale pink tee that hugged her figure. Even in such normal clothing, she looked regal.
"Kid's actin' like a jackass," Logan said.
"You put my teammate in danger," Duke retorted. "Just because they grabbed Dare --"
The claws came out again, bringing Duke's words to a halt. "Finish that sentence, kid. I dare ya."
"Logan!" This time, the woman's voice was louder. Firmer. Filled with more authority. Her tone saw the other man grumbling under his breath, but the claws retracted once again. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. The woman turned to look at Duke. "I apologize for Logan's behavior. He has a hard time controlling his temper when Dare is in trouble."
"I get that he wants to find her and bring her back. I want to do that, too. I get that whatever this dude Sinister is going to do, its going to be bad. But his worry and anxiousness doesn't give him the right to treat my teammate like shit and put his health on the line."
"No. It does not," she agreed.
"Why are you here, `Ro?" Logan asked. He sounded like he was maybe tired.
"The professor sent me to sit watch with you. And to keep you from doing anything stupid," she told him. There was a hint of a smile on her face when she did. It was a pretty smile that made a pretty face even prettier.
"I don't need no babysitter," Logan grumbled.
The woman let her gaze sweep the interior of the plane. When she looked at Duke, she shot him a wink. Then her attention returned to the other man. "Of course you don't. Now go rest. The professor doesn't think we will see any more of Sinister today. You need to be fully rested when the time to fight comes."
Logan glared at her a moment, then stomped away from the flight console and disappeared from view. Something told Duke that, even with the white-haired goddess there to take Logan's feet out from under him, it was going to be a long wait.
~*~
"This is madness, Rosemary. You should be at home, resting," Henry said for what had to be tenth time since they'd stepped into the elevator. Roxxy gave him a look, then faced the front of the elevator.
"I need to do this, Henry. As the only member of Purple Team who wasn't taken, this is my responsibility," she returned. For the tenth time since they'd stepped into the elevator.
"Your responsibility is to your health. It is to me and the oath you made me when we married. And it is to our children." That was a low blow. If the elevator hadn't stopped and the doors opened just then, she would have told him so. Instead, she marched out of the car and headed toward the desk where Roberta sat. Roxxy stopped short when she found Johnny was already there.
It was easy to see the worry on his face. But she couldn't miss the fear and sadness that lingered in his gaze. Roxxy shot Henry a look that suggested he should eat his shorts for thinking she shouldn't have come to see Johnny in person. That look did nothing to chase the anger out of Henry's expression. She ignored him and made her way to Johnny's side. "I'm sorry this is such short notice, Johnny," she said softly.
"No. Its okay. I was actually getting ready to come out to Westchester when you called," Johnny replied.
"Can we go someplace private to speak? Someplace where no one will chance upon us?"
He stared at her for a few moments, the fear and sadness deepening, then nodded his head and motioned toward a door. "If you'll follow me."
"Is Reed in his lab?" Henry asked, Despite his anger with her, his voice held nothing of that emotion when he posed the question.
"When isn't Reed in his lab?" Johnny returned, a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips.
"Very good. I need to speak with him. You'll find me there if you have a need of me." He brushed past them, not even stopping to press a kiss to Roxxy's cheek as he would normally do. Johnny frowned at that before starting for the door he'd motioned to only moments ago. Roxxy nodded and started walking. She couldn't help but feel it when Johnny fell into step behind her. And his hand was there to open the door before she could do the same thing herself.
They ended up in what looked to be a library. Based on the titles on the books, it might have been something more along the lines of a study. Reed's study, to be exact. Every single one of the titles Roxxy looked at had something to do with all branches of science. Johnny closed the door behind them firmly, then moved toward a chair settled near a small table. He motioned to the one on the other side of the table, but Roxxy shook her head. "No, thank you. I'll stand. I'm full of too much pent up energy to sit at the moment."
Johnny frowned, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.
"What's going on, Rox?" he asked, using Haley's favorite nickname for her. "You should sit down. You look like shit."
That blunt statement stopped her from speaking a moment. "Are you supposed to talk to women that way?"
"No. You're not supposed to. But I'm not trying to woo you into my bed. You're my wife's best friend and you're acting strange. You also look like you should be resting. So tell me what's going on."
Roxxy stared at him a moment, then took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be fun by any stretch of the imagination.
~*~
"This is a surprise, Henry. What brings you to the city? You normally avoid it." Reed stared at him, both in surprise and pleasure. Would that this visit was only for pleasure. Henry supposed he should be grateful that Reed had bothered to look up at all. Frowning, Henry moved deeper into the lab until he stopped at Reed's elbow. From his coat pocket, he produced a bag that held a several items.
"I came because I need your help, Reed," he said as he laid those items out on the desk. Several sheets of paper that had been folded into quarters. A small plastic case containing a slide with something glowing green on it. Several vials of blood.
Reed was already reaching for the papers before Henry had finished. "What's all this, Henry?"
Henry's sigh drew the man's attention to his face. "I cannot be certain that my tale will make sense. Rosemary told it when she was in a heightened state of emotional distress."
"Go on," Reed prompted.
Henry opened his mouth to speak, then sighed again. This time, it came with a frown. It looked as if he was having a hard time deciding where to start. "There was some kind of mission. Death Valley, I do not have the particulars. What I do have is that we lost contact with Red Team shortly after they arrived. Blue Team went to see if they could determine what happened to the other team. We lost contact with them. The New Mutants went next. And we lost contact with them. Charles decided to send Purple Team."
Reed frowned at that. "He sent them after losing contact with three other teams? What was he thinking?"
"Purple Team is quite accomplished, Reed. You know yourself they've personally confronted Doom and come out unscathed. They've been on enough missions that this was nothing they should have been excluded from."
Reed made a humming sound at the back of his throat, but otherwise said nothing else. Still, Henry was given the impression that he didn't quite believe that last part. Pushing his annoyance down, Henry continued with his story.
"To my understanding, when Purple Team arrived, it was to find the other transports sitting in the sand on their own. There was no sign of anyone else. Of course, per protocol, they investigated the area." Here, Henry paused and frowned. This was where the tale got strange and he still didn't know if he had enough information to really grasp what Rosemary had told them. "During the course of their investigation, according to Rosemary, a portal opened not more than ten feet from their position. She said it produced four figures."
"Four?" Reed questioned, brow wrinkling as he turned that fact over in his head.
"Yes. Four. She said they were horsemen."
"Apocalypse?"
"This is what the evidence suggests. These horsemen, all of them women, then provoked a fight with Purple Team."
Reed interrupted him. "All four horsemen were women? Is Roxxy sure?"
"Rosemary was adamant about the fact. She also said something about each of them being vaguely familiar, but I'm certain she was delirious at the time." Henry waved a hand in the air, marking the previous statement as being unimportant, before continuing on. "She said the fight lasted only a few short minutes. One by one, the rest of her team fell to the horsemen. She says the horsemen then dragged all of them through the portal."
"The horsemen took the rest of Rosemary's team? What possible need could Apocalypse have for them? Especially if he already has horseman."
"If Rosemary's information is to be believed, Apocalypse isn't the one who wanted her team."
It didn't take Reed long to parse what Henry had intentionally left off.
"He's working with Sinister?"
"Rosemary said that only a few moments after the horsemen disappeared into the portal, many of our missing teammates returned. Only four were missing from the group."
"Who didn't come back?" Reed's brain was already turning over hypotheses and equations. Henry was sure of it.
"We're missing Scott, Remy, Warren, and Sam Guthrie."
Reed looked at him. "Four men. Four women. And Sinister is holding them?"
"If our information is correct."
"Henry, that information.... If its true that Sinister is involved, this could be a disaster."
"Disaster is a light term for it, yes." Henry nodded, his expression grim. He'd already considered just what this might mean. Nothing he'd come up with had been good.
"How does this relate to what you just told me?" Reed's hand motioned to the items Henry had laid out on the table for him. Henry's gaze fell to the blood samples and he frowned.
"Rosemary was injured in this short fight. She was wobbly when she arrived back at the institute. When I examined her, I found this." Henry touched the box with the slide in it. "Of course I took the opportunity to study it, but I can only make an educated guess at it. Rosemary doesn't seem to recall what it is or how it came to be imbedded in her side."
He shifted his attention to the vials of blood. "When it became apparent that there was something wrong beyond the typical exhaustion one sees after a fight, I immediately conducted a thorough examination. I was unable to determine what the problem might be before Rosemary decided she had to come tell Johnny what had happened. It seemed more expedient to bring my meager results with me and consult with you."
"She wasn't going to let anyone else tell Johnny, was she?" Reed asked, his attention already given over to the papers Henry had brought. They didn't contain much information. And nothing helpful at all. Results from the brief test he'd been able to run before Rosemary had been heading for the door.
"No," Henry shook his head. He had to admire her loyalty to her friend. But it made him angry that she didn't seem to want to put herself first on this occasion.
"So," Reed said, finally lifting his gaze from the report he'd been reading. "What can I do to help?"
Henry never got the opportunity to answer. "Reed! Henry!" Johnny's voice, edged with a healthy dose of concern, announced his arrival before the door slammed open to let him in. Henry turned toward him and felt his heart drop into his feet.
~*~
"What's going on, Roxxy?" Johnny asked again. She'd taken far too long to answer for his well-being. Add that to the fact that she looked like she would topple over at any moment and he was far beyond being patient.
"There was a mission," she began. She looked a little confused by that, though, which made Johnny wonder what the problem was. "Wait. Let me back track a little. That part is important. No. No. Its too much. I'll sum up."
"Roxxy." Johnny made it a simple statement. But she must have heard the warning in it because she looked up at him with eyes that held a touch of fever to them. In point of fact, Roxxy was pale. And it looked like there might have been beads of sweat building at her hairline.
"Right. Okay." She heaved a sigh before turning to pace. Johnny couldn't help but notice the faint wobble in her steps. "So Haley came to us and told us that we had a mission. We didn't get details until we arrived at our destination. Death Valley. She said the professor had lost contact with Red and Blue Teams. And the New Mutants. All within twenty-four hours of each other. We were supposed to go to the site and investigate. See if we could figure out what happened."
"Three teams? Three teams in twenty four hours?" Johnny frowned at that. How was it possible that three teams could go missing in the span of a day?
"There was nothing there when we arrived. The jets they took stood on the sand.. But we didn't find any of the teams. No one was there." Roxxy wobbled again. And Johnny could see that the sweat had beaded up on most of her brow. She looked bad.
"Roxxy," he said, but she spoke over him.
"We hadn't been there long. Ten or fifteen minutes. A portal opened not far from us. Four people stepped out." She turned back to him, her gaze looking vaguely manic. "They were women, Johnny. And I swear they looked familiar. But they were horsemen. And they said something about chosen, but the speech is a little garbled in my head. Then Dare said fuck you and all hell broke lose."
Johnny couldn't quite hold back the chuckle at that. Of course it would be Dare who said fuck you. Because that was who Dare was.
"It happened so fast, Johnny. I couldn't keep track of what was happening. Dare's fire wasn't effective. Haley spent more time shielding herself than anything else. One of the women was able to predict where Morgan would pop up.Not even Jehnna could keep them back with her abilities. Morgan went down first. Jehnna dropped right after her. I lost track after that. I don't know what happened. I think I lost consciousness. But when I became aware of my surroundings, Logan and Piotr and so many others were there."
"What happened to the rest of your team?" Johnny asked. He needed to know. There'd been a kind of dim static in his head for a while now and he was starting to understand what it meant. What it was. It was the link he had with Haley.
"Logan told me Sinister was involved. The horsemen took Haley, Dare, Morgan, and Jehnna. They weren't there when I looked for them. But Logan said Sinister was involved. And then we realized some of the men hadn't come back. I didn't get to ask any questions, Johnny. Logan made me go back to the institute," she said. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, Johnny. I couldn't stop them and now Haley's missing and..."
"Roxxy. Stop," he said gently. "You need to calm down."
"I'm going to help find a way to bring them home. I swear! I'm going to - " Her voice trailed off. Johnny didn't like what he saw. Her legs were trembling and her skin was terribly pale. Paler than it had been when she'd walked into the lobby. Sweat was trickling down the sides of her face. Her hands shook. He watched as she swayed on her feet, then her knees buckled.
"Roxxy!" Johnny was up in a flash. He caught her before she could hit the ground. A glance at her told him her eyes were closed and he could see a faint hint of red staining her cheeks. Her body was on fire with fever, skin producing so much heat he could feel it through their clothes. Shit and more shit.
It took him half a dozen strides to cross the study and reach the door. One hand tugged it open, allowing him to carry her through. Then he took off up the hall, heading for Reed's lab. He knew that he would find both Henry and Reed there. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Roxxy, but he had no doubt that the two of them would be able to help her. The door gave way with a twist of his hand and he used a foot to shove it open wide. He might have used enough strength to slam it into the wall.
He didn't care.
"Reed! Henry! Something's wrong with Roxxy!" he told them.
"Rosemary!" Henry moved even before Reed did, coming to Johnny's side in order to scoop her out of his arms.
"Bring her this way, Henry," Reed instructed. He was heading toward a door that Johnny knew opened into an infirmary of sorts. Johnny wanted to follow. He felt he owed it to Haley's best friend to watch over her and make sure she got well. Haley would hate it if she came home and Roxxy was sick.
That thought gave him pause and he once more felt around for the link. Still there, but still dim and still staticky. She would come back. Haley had to come back. He was sure she wasn't dead. He was sure he'd have felt it if the link died. So Haley was alive. She was. He had to believe it because anything else was more than he could handle.
So Johnny wanted to follow Reed and Henry. He wanted to help them with Roxxy. He wanted her to heal up and be better when Haley got back. He wanted... Damn it, he just wanted Haley. She'd told him once that the fear of losing him had kept her from his side. He'd never told her that he feared losing her every day.
Goddamn it, he needed Haley back.
~*~
"The first couple is waking." He glanced down at the creature standing beside him. One of his creations, something to pass the time until he'd had all he needed for his latest experiments. It was an odd assortment of parts, looking nothing like this or that. He'd decided to call it, and the others like it, his goblins. He'd already given them tasks. Guard over his toys and make sure they did as they were told. And escort them from their suite to his lab. To the gymnasium when exercise was called for. Deliver them their meals. Keep them from attempting escape. Easy enough tasks.
"Ah. Good news." He grinned at the creature, then turned to the wall of screens that covered the wall of his personal rooms. It only took a few keystrokes to bring the monitors to life. Each one showed a different suite. Each suite contained a different couple. His toys.
He took a moment to watch each of the couples. The first pairing had been laid out on their bed side by side, bodies only just touching. There was no sign of movement, telling him they were still caught up in the effects of the experiments he'd already performed. The bruises that had marred the young man's face were nearly gone, slow to heal due to being held in stasis for so long. The woman's bruises covered her shoulders and were still dark. They might possibly even be painful.
He smiled, a feral grin that would be frightening to anyone who looked upon it.
The second couple were in the center of the bed. The man lay on his side, his back facing the edge of the bed. The woman with him had her back pressed against his chest, her body tucked under his arm. There were no bruises to see with this pairing because of how they were positioned on the bed. But he knew that both sported several painful marks after their battles with the horsemen. He knew, because he'd investigated every inch of their exposed flesh.
His gaze moved to the third screen to study the couple on it. The man lay on his back, the sheet low on his hips. The tanned expanse of his chest was well-sculpted perfection. His head was turned to his left so that it faced the side where the woman rested. She'd curled into him on her side. Her face. hidden by her hair, was pressed against his chest. Her left arm lay against his abdomen. His left arm was under her head and curled loosely around her. He could tell by a simple glance that the man would be waking soon.
The last screen showed him the final couple. The woman had already stumbled from the bed and sat on the floor, legs sprawled gracelessly before her. Her companion was awake and had lifted himself up far enough to look at her over the edge of the bed. There was a frown on his face. Both were glaring at one another.
Excellent. Things were off to a good start.
"Bring them to me. Do not damage them any more than necessary," he told the goblin at his side. The creature ducked his head before turning and scuttling out of the room. Perfect. He could get started on the first phase of this experiment.
It was about time. He'd gotten so tired of waiting.
