Penance and New Beginnings: Chapter 10

by Verthril

Chapter 10 : Lost

The bar was smoke filled and filthy, health code violations in the hundreds, and disreputable. It was the kind of bars that they had visited the world over, enjoying every minute of their time there. They could forget there was a war raging outside the walls and let their aggravation disappear for a time into a bottle or brawl. This time though it was all business as the man known as Logan sat, breathing in all the various scents the bar offered.

Alcohol was abundant, as was the musk of men as they arm wrestled off in the corner as a show of primal strength, like deer battling one another with antlers to prove their virility and dominance. Then out of the crowd as the door opened, light pouring into the dimly light establishment, the scent he was looking for wafted into his senses, gun oil mixed with the smell of mercury. Turning on his seat, he gave a nod to his friend across the bar and then spun back to order another beer.

Victor Creed, ruthless killer and devious assassin a former CIA operative as well as an unwilling pawn in the Cold War at the hands of Weapon X. Then the wars with Humanity came, and Apocalypse created a nuclear holocaust on his home plane. He joined at the side of the heir to Apocalypse's throne, Holocaust. Genocide was commonplace in that time, and remorse was a rumor. Then somewhere along the way, the blood on his hands caught up to him, washed over him, drowned him. He washed up on the beach with something he had long since buried, pity and honor, remorse, and that shining thread of goodness that Blink nurtured.

That time has long since been erased, vanished from the misbegotten universe that spawned that world. A great cosmic accident was the price for his return to humanity, the price, five billions lives including friends and those he considered close as family. Another great cosmic accident came when Clarice teleported him into the heart of the M,Kraan crystal to avoid the fate she shared with the others. She died that he might live. If he knew of the Clarice Ferguson of this realm, maybe he could see the irony in it. But for now, all he could see was the man walking up to the bar that stunk of mercury rounds.

Leaning back in his chair, Victor placed a well aimed foot out in the path of the unknowing enemy who was oblivious to the fate he had caused for himself. As he tripped over the boot, Victor leapt to his feet and brought a knee right into the middle of the man's back, placing a clawed hand over his head. Muffled curses could be heard, but those retorts could wait.

"Might want ta watch where yer going next time punk. Ya tripped over my new boots. Ya mighta scuffed them up, and I'd hafta use yer face ta buff that out." Creed snarled, playing the all to familiar part of the tormentor and bully.

"If ya watched where ya put your boot ya inbred hick I might not have ran into it!" The man yelled, but as the bar chilled, he knew the err of his way.

Slowly a crowd formed over the man, after insulting the honor of nearly every man in this backwoods bar off the beaten path. Home to bikers, truckers and any sort of rough neck, it was a place where tempers flared like summer storms, just as unforgiving. Victor passed a cold gaze about all who walked up, and with the look of absolute malice in his eyes, they soon fell back to what they were doing.

Logan knew that was his cue as he walked to the man, beer in hand as he crouched down to look the man in the face. As Logan did so, the man caught a glimpse and his blood ran cold. He had been given files on the man before him, and what was foretold in them by past accounts did not bode well for him. Visibly pale, the man began to struggle against his unknown captor to no avail.

"Good, ya recognize me. Means I don't need ta waste time on an introduction. Vic, lets go some place more comfortable like." Logan remarked as he stood up and finished his beer, walking back and settling the tab for himself and Victor while Victor took the man from the bar.

Minutes later the pair and their captive found themselves standing in a wooded clearing out behind the bar, plenty of distance away from where anyone might wander in. By this point the man had began babbling how he knew nothing and begging them to spare his life. Neither man listened as Victor held him in his grasp as Logan looked up to the lowlife.

"Ya know nuttin' eh? Funny how yer already babbling about that when ya seemed pretty spooked in the bar at the mere sight o' me and my pal here, and at that we haven't asked ya one question yet. That tells me yer lying." Logan growled, unsheathing his claws and bringing them perilously close to the man's throat.

At that, Victor let a low growl rumble from deep within his chest, looking down to the man in disgust and resisting the urge to do anything he would regret. Logan looked up to him with a quirked eyebrow until the scent hit his senses. Such a coward was this man, that at the sight of the claws, he had relieved himself upon Victor's leg.

"Spill before he spills yer guts. Ya musta read our files ta know our faces. Ya know I'm prone ta berserker rages while Vic there is a total psychopath. Don't tempt either of us." Logan growled as he let the feral nature rise to the surface, a dread look filling his eyes as he gave the beast a bit more slack on the short leash it was kept on.

The man froze, lost to the primal instincts that stood tethered before him. A deeper ancestry stood there in the man known as Logan, instincts not known to normal humans passed down through a genetic quirk known as the X-Factor. From elsewhere the deep rumble rose to a high pitched roar akin to a jungle cat as Victor brought him out of his momentary lapse into another part of his mind where the conscious mind hid. Looking up to the cat eyes above him, he did not wish to anger the man who had a fine grasp on his arms, all too capable of snapping them in a whim.

"Fine! Fine! They paid me to transport the weapons to the FOH! Give them the needed kick in the arse to retrieve her! They want her back because..." The man began yelling, only to be silenced as a loud shot rang through the air, echoing off into the distance.

A sickening thud hit the man square in the chest, leaving him a horrific mess as he fell limp in Victor's arms, gasping last breaths sputtering with blood loss. Logan and Victor quickly leapt behind a rocky outcropping for cover, letting their superior senses find their target. They were good, they had stayed upwind of them, keeping their scent covered. Birds passed overhead, flying away from the danger that had scared them. With a general direction, either man leapt in opposite directions from the outcropping and ran through the woods, splitting up the targets and increasing their odds of finding whomever was covering up the leak.

It had been three weeks of utter silence at the mansion, every phone call answered with haste, as they desired only one thing. Logan and Victor had left a week ago, a note telling the others not to worry. They had gone off to find out information on who had given the FOH the weapons and knowledge needed to take down a person with a healing factor. They had left in the middle of the night, and it was in the middle of the night at which the phone call came.

John Wraith, who Jubilee hadn't seen since Logan had gone looking for his past the last time, had spotted the pair in a Merc bar in Istanbul. From there, he had no idea where they had gotten off too, but something was very off about them. Off, yet familiar he had said. In three days he would be back in America with pictures and the like of his encounter. His suspicions were there, but he wouldn't say so over the phone. Then the sound of a door being smashed in abruptly brought a end to the call.

The X-men joined one another in the War Room, dressed in various states of dress, from those who had just arrived from town, or those who had been brought out of their slumber. Scott went over the details that Jubilee had filled him in upon, yawning between notes and comments as he did so. It was justifying to see their 'Fearless Leader' tired for a change, after many a seven am training session left many team members in likewise conditions. Finally with the whole team updated, he turned the table over to whomever wished to air concerns.

"So, what are we going to do? Knowing Wraith he prolly pulled another vanishing act to save his hide. That means his plans of heading back to America are shot down as there's no way he'll be that obvious." Jubilee remarked, looking to her cup of coffee like a lifeline to the conscious realm.

"Indeed. He might try to make contact again. Someone should stay here incase he does so. Though, does anyone have theories about what our errant companions might be up to?" Hank inquired as he tapped a pen against the table.

Silence hung in the air, unspoken thoughts lingering in their minds like a morning fog. No one dared wish to say that Weapon X might have recaptured the pair, reconditioned them, though it was a deep dread when dealing with a shadow conspiracy left over from the Cold War. Jubilee cast a glance about the table, irritation rising at the helplessness of a team of hero's who had brought the world back from the brink an untold number of times. With a sigh, she stood up and looked about the collected X-men.

"So, I'm guessing everyone else is thinking what I'm thinking, that Logan and Vic got kidnapped by Weapon X and reconditioned and god knows what else. The question is, what are we gonna do about it?" Jubilee inquired as she looked about, Jake sitting at her side and looking up with a mixture of concern and dread.

"Bring them home Sugah." Rogue remarked from across the table, Remy nodding by her side.

"K. So, the question is, how? We have two of the world's best Merc's running around fer some shadow conspiracy agency, probably ready to kill us on sight, and more than capable of doing so. Ideas?" Jubilee asked, taking a leadership role over something so very important to her.

As Jubilee and the others discussed strategy and ideas on how to bring their errant friends back into their fold, Scott sat quietly in the corner. If anyone could see into his eyes at that moment, they would have found a look of pride resting in them. A smile passed over his lips as he watched Jubilee take the lead. Silently he snuck out of the room, careful not to draw attention to himself as he left.

The meeting had gone well, but it left Jubilee with a sense that something wasn't right. It wasn't until the end that she found out what it was. Scott hadn't given a single protest or idea of his own during the entire meeting. Looking about, she found something far more curious than a silent Scott, and that being that he had left without so much as a word. She had never seen Scott do so in her entire time with the X-men, for he was always a man with his own idea or the one in charge. Looking about the mansion, she finally found him upon the roof in Remy's favorite brooding spot, watching the sun rising off on the horizon over the glittering surface of the lake.

"Mind if I sit down?" Jubilee asked as she stood off a few paces behind Scott.

"Not at all." Scott remarked with a smile as he patted the spot next to him.

With that Jubilee sat down and looked off to the horizon with Scott, her thoughts lost on the horrific revelation of the three week long absence of Logan and Victor. A sense of revulsion passed over her as the memories of what had been done to her resurfaced. Now it had yet again been forced upon two of the original test subjects for the damnable Weapon X project. With a sigh she curled up in defeat, succumbing to the exhaustion of having the few hours of sleep she had attained interrupted. A cool morning breeze rose and drifted across the mansion roof, leaving her feeling cold.

Before she knew what had happened, Scott had his jacket thrown over her. A small smile passed over her lips as she looked up to the shaded eyes of the leader of the X-men, ever the man obsessed with the small details of anything. Neurotic to the core of that metal rod they all surmised that he had up his arse.

"Coffee?" Scott asked as he pulled out a thermos from the pocket of the jacket, large enough just for a couple small cups or one large one.

"Please." Jubilee replied as she pulled the jacket about her, finding it rather encompassing about her petite frame.

Steam wafted from the cup of the thermos as he handed it to her, and with the first sip, Jubilee felt the warmth slowly return to her core. Her body was still working on insulating itself against the chills she was prone to, but her high metabolism didn't allow for much storage of fat as most excess energy went to her powers and her newly gained healing factor. With a sigh, she curled up tightly and crossed her legs as she looked into the black depths of the coffee.

"Still getting the chills I see." Scott remarked absently, earning a nod from Jubilee.

"Annoying as heck. Come winter I'm having Hank make me the biggest, warmest, fluffiest coat he can. I'm a born and raised So Call Mall Rat, I don't do winter without palm trees and beaches unless there's plenty of Java around and a fire." Jubilee remarked as she warmed her hands on the cup.

Scott merely chuckled at the thought of Jubilee bundled up in whatever Hank would create. Going to one of the kindest doctors the world had to offer, while too being very overprotective at times, would ensure whatever it was, it would be big and all encompassing. Looking back down to the youngest member of the team, Scott was quickly reminded of how while young in years, Jubilee had experience and lessons beyond those. And with every day she seemed to be showing it more as she matured.

"Spill it, or I'll paff ya. Ya got something on your mind beyond the sunset. Like, enough ta have you leave your favorite place in the world without so much as a by your way." Jubilee remarked, biting the bullet in an attempt to find out what was eating away at him.

With a sigh Scott looked down to Jubilee, and wondered about that rumor about latent telepathy. She had an uncanny ability for reading people, and the bluntness that was all Jubilee, with whatever bad habits Logan had imparted on her over time. Sapphire eyes met his shrouded gaze, stubborn determination burning deep within their depths. It would do no good to try to lie and postpone what he wanted to wait for later to talk about.

"I was impressed with how you handled the meeting. You covered all the points and a few I wouldn't have thought of, taking into account what you know of either man and what they've been through. I figured I might as well go for a coffee break and catch the sunrise." Scott explained as he looked down to Jubilee.

"And?" Jubilee asked, not content with the half truth Scott had just given.

"And I want you to lead the mission to get them back." Scott remarked, earning a perplexed look from Jubilee.

"You want me to lead it?" Jubilee asked quietly.

"You're the only one who can pull it off. I'll be there to help of course, but I think it would be best if you lead it. You can get into either of their heads all the easier, stab away at the places Weapon X could never touch, or forgot to touch on. And not to mention having someone with a healing factor heading up against those two is always a bonus." Scott remarked as he looked to her.

Jubilee sat in silence, not knowing what to say after the bolt out of the blue that Scott's words had sparked. Looking back off to the sun that had risen off over the horizon, she longed for the simple days of Generation X once more. How ironic it had been, spending nearly half her time there longing to be home with the X-men once more, now only to long for the simpler times now that the torch of responsibility had been passed to her. But then she would never have met Jake, Clarice and Emily, nor would she had found the alternate version of Victor Creed hiding in the woods like a self imposed purgatory. Downing the last of her coffee she turned her gaze to Scott and gave a small nod.

"Fine. But we do this my way. And everyone's hitting up the Danger Room for six in the morning training sessions. I want it set to give the whole team the whole nine yards of what Logan and Vic can do. And get Hank to work on the safeties, a few scrapes here and there wouldn't hurt to pull some Pavlov about avoiding their claws." Jubilee remarked in a steady tone.

"Fine. When do we start and when do you plan on the attack?" Scott inquired with the air of a peer to a peer.

"Soon as we find Wraith and an ol' pal of Logan's by the name of Terror. No way in the Inferal am I going out after those two without Merc's of my own at my side. Beside, with Terror's mutant ability, we'll be able to follow the trail they'll be leaving behind." Jubilee explained.

"Wraith, sure, he'll be more than useful. Might I ask who this Terror is?" Scott inquired.

"Mutant. Lets just say that whoever said 'Dead men tell no tales' didn't count on Terror." Jubilee remarked with a grim humor to her tone, recalling the disgust she felt when she first saw the Mutant known as Terror, let alone the absolute revulsion at seeing how his mutation worked.