Dreamweaver: Part Five
The cabin was larger than Bishop had expected. Not quite as large as the one where Warren had taken Elizabeth to recover from Sabertooth's attack, but similiar--except that this one wasn't perched on the edge of a rock face. Most of the first floor was visible from the outside through an enormous bay window. The lights were off inside, but Bishop's eyes narrowed as he saw movement in the shadows.
He looked over his shoulder at his companions, glowering. The three of them stood at the edge of the trees, having stopped for a moment to regroup before heading into the cabin. Logan raised an eyebrow at Bishop's glare, and, standing just behind him, Cable sighed.
"Bishop, just because I can't see your face doesn't mean that I don't know what you're thinking. Yes, of course this could be a trap. But I don't sense any danger."
Bishop grunted skeptically, ignoring the threatening look Logan gave him as he turned back to the cabin. "Let's get this over with, then."
They went quickly and quietly to the door. It was unlocked, surprisingly, and Bishop led the way in, his gun leveled and at the ready. Inside, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw how well-appointed the cabin was. This place had to belong to someone of wealth. Bishop judged it unlikely that Andrew Taylor was that person. Sinister, on the other hand
#She's upstairs,# Cable whispered in his head. # She knows we're here.#
Bishop frowned, aware of an odd feeling, as if someone was tapping a finger lightly against his skull. Tapping on my chamber door, he thought, a line from one of Ororo's favorite poems coming back to him.
#That's cute, Bishop. But I'm shielding you, so you can stop quaking in your boots.#
Bishop ground his teeth, not bothering to hide his dislike. Infuriatingly, he heard a mental chuckle. What is so amusing? he thought at Cable angrily, but got no answer.
The three X-Men made their way up the stairs. Once they were in the upstairs hall, Cable moved past Bishop to take the lead. Bishop stiffened, caught between insult and a very real reluctance to have the most vulnerable member of their team in front.
Logan's hand clamped down on his arm, just as he was about to call Cable back. "Don't even think about it," he said, quietly but firmly.
Bishop wrenched away from him angrily, but made no further move to stop Cable. After everything that's happened tonight, Logan still trust him? he thought in honest disbelief. This is not how I would expect Logan to react, this--inability to recognize a threat! Could Cable be manipulating him?
Cable stopped before one door, laying a hand against it. Then, he nodded to himself almost absently and fumbled for the doorknob. Bishop swore and grabbed him before he could go through the door.
"Wait, damn it--"
Cable pulled away, looking annoyed. # Bishop, do you want to do this? The amount of hostility you're projecting--if she's at all sensitive, she'll pick up on it. I really don't think you'd be able to win her trust.#
Still simmering, but unable to reject the logic of Cable's words, Bishop let him lead the way into the room. Logan followed, shaking his head disapprovingly as he passed. Bishop was left to take up the rear.
The bedroom they entered reminded Bishop strongly of how Jubilee's had looked when she was at the mansion. It was strewn with clothes and magazines, clearly the room of a young girl--and not a temporary hiding place.
Regina Bell sat on the unmade bed, her knees drawn up to her chest. Bishop could sense the psionic energy around her, strong and strangely familiar. If I didn't know better, I'd say I'd encountered that power signature before--
She looked over at them, her eyes glowing with an unearthly light. Bishop felt that odd pressure again, this time harder, and a muttered curse from Logan told him he wasn't the only one. But no horrors reached out to trap their minds. Cable's shield had to be holding. But for how long? He's injured, low on energy--
"Regina--stop!" Cable grated, taking a step forward. He was moving slowly, painfully, as if he was trying to walk into a powerful wind. "We're here to help you, girl, you don't--" She shrank away, her eyes glowing brighter, and Cable fell to his knees with a groan that sounded like it had been ripped from his very soul.
At the edges of his vision, Bishop saw images shimmer. Randall, Malcolm, Shard. He shook his head angrily, and raised his gun until the girl was in his sight. A stun blast should stop her--
The gun went flying out of his hand, and Bishop cursed in pain, nursing a wrist that felt broken. "Cable!" he growled, well aware of where the telekinetic blow had come from. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I should blast it right back at him, the fool!
"Try it again, and the next time, you go out the window!" Cable snarled shakily. "Stay out of this!"
Before Bishop could say anything in response, Regina slid off the bed, giving him a frightened look. Bishop tensed, ready to react if she tried to attack again, but she turned back to Cable, her glowing eyes returning to normal. Cable slumped, his face regaining some color.
"I didn't mean to--" she stammered. "I'm sorry--" Her voice was soft, almost timid. "I thought you were working for him." A shudder wrakced her thin frame, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Andrew brought me back--I didn't want to come, but he said we had nowhere else to go. He said it was my fault, because of what happened in Calgary. But I was so afraid--I didn't mean to hurt those people!"
Cable's expression was oddly helpless, as if he didn't know what to say. Bishop watched the girl suspiciously, not trusting her show of remorse. How could they know if she was speaking the truth? If this girl was truly a pawn of Sinister's, she could be even more dangerous than they'd thought. Nothing that originates with that madman is ever what it seems!
"Regina," Cable finally said, extending a hand somewhat unsurely. "Will you trust me?" His intention was perfectly clear. Bishop couldn't believe what he was seeing. He planned to link with the girl, to open himself to someone who could destroy his mind by accident?
He can't be serious! The Phoenix-energy must have affected his judgement--
Logan was suddenly in front of him. Bishop blinked in surprise, realizing he'd started forward without making a conscious decision to do so. The look on Logan's face was stern.
"Let him handle it, Bishop. He knows what he's doing."
Bishop stared at him incredulously. "You're both mad! This is an insane risk, Logan--"
"Bishop, shut up!" Cable snarled. Regina flinched, backing off a bit. He turned back to her, and spoke more quietly. "Please, Regina. Trust me. I can help you, if you let me--"
"It's all right, kid," Logan added gruffly. The look on his face was a mystery. "We're the good guys, darlin'--"
Regina stared at Cable's hand for a moment, then grasped it desperately, as if she were drowning and he'd just thrown her a lifeline. A moment passed, and she gave a soft gasp, staring at Cable in horror.
"It's so dark!" Anger sparkled in her blue eyes. "He did this to you, didn't he? He doesn't know how to do anything but hurt people! I hate him!"
"I know, Rachel," Cable said in a faint voice. "I--" He pulled away from her, a horrified look in his blind eyes. "Rachel?" he asked weakly, his face gray with shock. "Oath, what has he done now?"
"I would think you'd thank me, Nathan," came a voice like the scraping of gravel. Bishop dove frantically for his gun, but it exploded under a blast of energy, clearly aimed at the gun and not at him.
"After all," Sinister said, a mocking light in his red eyes as he appeared out of the tesseract portal that had appeared in the wall. "A brother should be happy to have his sister back."
***
Logan growled, unsheathing his claws without a moment's hesitation. Inwardly, though, he was still reeling. Regina was Rachel? No, she could be. Their scents were different, there wasn't anything but the most superficial resemblance, but still--
"Another clone," he snarled, finally settling on the most likely possibility. "You cloned Rachel. You are sick, Sinister. Haven't you done enough damage?"
Sinister raised an eyebrow. "Damage?" he asked mildly. "I'm merely a scientist, Wolverine, working for the betterment of the race."
"My ass!"
Sinister laughed, and moved to stand beside a quivering Regina, touching the girl's glossy hair with a possessive hand. "It's really very simple. Thanks to Ms. Sienna Blaze, I fortuitously acquired a sample of Rachel's DNA just before she disappeared." He sighed, his expression almost regretful. "Such a waste, for someone with the genetic potential of a Rachel Summers to throw it away in exchange for the life of a foolish lummox like Brian Braddock."
"Maybe she didn't consider it a waste, Sinister," Cable grated. He was still kneeling on the floor. He hadn't moved away from Regina, and from the tension in his posture, he wasn't going to. He wants to protect her, Logan realized grimly. Hurt or not, that's what he's got in mind.
Sinister looked down at Cable, frowning. "Undoubtedly the Phoenix-force warped her priorities. A shame that such power has to come with an idiotic tendency towards self-sacrifice." He reached down and hauled Regina to her feet. The girl let out a terrified cry, and Sinister smiled idly, as if he enjoyed her fear. Cable actually shuddered, and Sinister's frown grew. "What, no heroic attempt at rescue? I'm disappointed in you, Nathan."
He doesn't know, Logan realized. Whatever he planned, blinding Nate wasn't part of it. "Oh," he said, trying to keep his voice casual. "I think Nate would be ripping your throat out at the minute. If he could see."
"What?" Sinister asked sharply, actually letting go of Regina in his surprise. Weeping, she fell to her knees beside Cable and stared up at Sinister with a surprising amount of defiance in her expression.
"You heard me," Logan said carefully, moving towards Sinister with a very specific purpose in mind. Backing away, the geneticist looked down at Cable, visibly stunned. "He's blind, Sinister. Whatever you had Scalphunter shoot him with, it didn't turn out the way you planned."
Sinister abruptly regained his composure and raised a warning hand, ready to blast Logan if he got any closer. Logan stopped quite willingly. He'd gotten as far as he needed. He was standing beside Cable and Regina, between them and Sinister. To get to him, Sinister would have to get past him first.
"This is nonsense," Sinister snapped, though he looked uneasy. "It was a psionic amplifier, nothing more!" He bared pointed teeth at Logan. "A good attempt at distraction, Wolverine, but futile. I never turn away from an experiment, especially when an unprecedented opportunity is dropped into my lap." He smiled chillingly at Regina. "Her physical resemblance to Rachel is negligible-I felt plastic surgery was in order to prevent her accidental discovery. Her telekinesis is latent, and her telepathy has taken an unusual turn into the areas of memory and illusion. The greater the template's power, the more likely it is that a clone's abilities will mutate into another variation.But genetically, she is Rachel Summers. The only thing missing is her psi-bond with you, Nathan."
"That's why I couldn't link with Logan," Cable grated. Logan glanced down at him, surprised by the rage on his face. "I couldn't share his mind without damaging it because your flonqing amplifier was wreaking havoc with my control." He drew Regina closer to him, protectively. "You implanted one in her, too, didn't you?" His blind eyes narrowed. "You're going to tune them together to try and recreate the bond I had with Rachel."
"The amplifier seems to be working perfectly," Sinister said with another smile. "You're reading my thoughts accurately enough. I should mention that hers is a great deal more powerful than yours. If something goes wrong, it would be easy enough to create another Rachel-clone. Replacing you, however, would be more problematic."
"I suppose I should be touched," Cable snapped. Sinister raised his right arm, slowly enough for Logan and Bishop to see the control pad attached to his armor. Then, smirking, he began to enter a command.
Logan lunged forward with a snarl. "Nate, take the girl and get as far away as you can!" he roared. Bishop was right behind him, armed with nothing but his bare hands.
Blind or not, Cable's instincts were still in perfect working order. Like Logan, he'd been on enough battlefields to know when a retreat was in order. Out of the corner of his eye, Logan saw him stagger to his feet and lift Regina into his arms. In the next instant, part of the wall blew outwards, and Cable jumped, telekinetic energy glowing around him and the girl he carried. Logan hoped he'd be able to get himself and the girl away, but he knew there wasn't much chance of that. Cable might be able to clear away everything in his path telekinetically, but there was still no way he could see where he was going. And there were still the Marauders to consider--
Sinister snarled and blasted him again. Logan gritted his teeth and walked right into the blast, step by painful step until he reached Sinister. His claws slashed, and Sinister stumbled backwards, cursing, The wounds closed over almost instantly, but Bishop seized the opportunity, snatching up a chair and smashing it over the geneticist's head. Sinister fell to the ground.
But as he fell, his hand went to the control pad. Bishop and Logan froze, and Sinister started to laugh, his eyes burning with contempt.
"Did you really think you could stop me?" he asked, still laughing.
Feeling numb, Logan walked over to the hole in the wall and stared down at the dark, peaceful forest. The silence was eerie. In the next moment, there was an explosion so enormous that it defied sound. A devastating wave of psionic energy swept across the forest towards the cabin. Shot with gold and electric pink and fiery red, it smelled like Cable and Regina and the Phoenix, all mixed up in one.
Sinister, you damned fool, Logan thought wearily. Then the wave hit the cabin, and the world was annihilated in white light.
to be continued...
alicia's stories | [ARCHIVE] | comicfic.net