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CATCH A SOUND WAVE written by Richard Bonstein Sampson Jr.
Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.
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Catch A Sound Wave
The janitor did his rounds with no cares. He knew that this prison for mutants had the best security. It was designed by a mutant. He hadn’t lived long in the city of Easton, but he had been there long enough to learn about some of the rules. He didn’t much care. He had a good job, a nice life. They paid him well to clean the halls, but then, it was a high risk area. Many times, he had mopped this floor. Today, however, was different. He snuck his walkman into work. They forbid stuff like that, but it was well hidden. Hidden under his shirt, the wire was well hidden. The volume was very low. He approached the one section of the prison. He noticed a few times that there were signs that read, "No humming, no singing, no music of any kind, except hard rock." That was odd that they would allow that noise, but not the good stuff, like Billy Joel, who he was listening to right now.
As he passed by the guard in the area, he started sweeping by the cells. As he got to the farthest cell, he heard a voice say, "Hey, watcha listening to?" He stopped dead in his tracks. He turned back to look at the guard. The guard wasn’t moving. The voice then said, "Not back there, in here." He quickly turned to face a guy, around 21-22 years in age, in the cell. The man was just lying on the cot as he said, "What are you listening to?"
He froze and slowly said "Nothing." He noticed that the prisoner eyed him with what might be called a predator’s eye. This felon never took notice of him before. Why now?
The felon just looked at him and said, "Listen, I hear the beat. What did you do, smuggle a tape player in here?" The guy just reached through the bars. He tried to back away, but the arm kept reaching. When it finally grabbed him, he was pulled to the bars so fast he hit them hard. He quickly saw the felon holding his walkman, and the guard was having a panic attack. He then blacked out from the pain.
Davis Skinur put the walkman on. He heard the sound of sweet music. Five years in this cell, and he had never heard a song, until the idiot janitor brought in the music. He noticed that the guard was now in a panic. Of course he knew why. Soundwave was about to break out. Almost instantaneously, the bars disappeared. It was his doing as he watched the janitor fall to the floor. He turned and watched the guard fumble for his gun. He shifted the music in the walkman and he heard a new song. He smiled and said to the guard, "Hello Irving." As the guard pulled his gun out, the gun turned and shot him three times. Davis smiled. "The Ballad of Irving" was funny, especially when a cop got gunned down. He then brought the bars back, killing the janitor. No big loss. The janitor had no mind. He heard the sirens start. He hated noise. He quickly pumped up the music and phased out of the prison. When he finally got away from the prison, he turned and faced the city and said, "Look out, Rich. It’s payback time."
*************************************************
It was quiet at the Xavier School. A while ago, Yvette Cassidy, as her name was now since Sean adopted her, would have enjoyed a movie with her boyfriend. Of course that was before the museum, before their near abduction. Now they had started to live for the day. A few times, someone one had caught them kissing for too long. They were still scared to be apart, but Sean and Emma took precautions. Now it was a Friday night. She knew that Rich was hoping to treat her to a movie. She had hoped it would have been one they could watch alone, no one from the school around. That was then. Now they were sitting at a table, playing Clue with Jubilee, Everett, Monet, and Darrett, the new boy. The only advantage they had was that they still had their mental link. {My love, any ideas?} She asked through the link they shared.
Although Rich wore a poker face, his mental voice said it all. {Monet is to blame. She killed Tim Curry, in the place to eat, with the weapon that killed the Telegram Girl.} She had watched the film with Rich twice already, and knew what the answer was.
Monet looked at her and said, "Well Penny, what are you going to do?" She just smiled at her former captor’s sister.
She stood up and in a proud voice said, "I accuse Ms. Scarlett in the Dining Room, with the Revolver."
A voice came from the back of the room. It was Emma Frost’s. "Very good, Yvette, now I want you to solve it without Richard’s help." Yvette was shocked that Emma knew. She watched as Emma took the cards and started to shuffle them, picking out a Person, Place and Thing. When she finished, she beckoned Rich to the couch. Yvette watched as her boyfriend moved away from the table and sat on the couch. She knew it was best for him, but she wanted to be with him.
She heard Darrett comment, "Should have know they’d cheat."
She was about to hit the boy as Angelo sat down and said, "Don’t judge them for what they had done in your past. Rich and Yvette are some of the best mutants here." She nodded with what Angelo said. She turned and saw Rich had reached for his Gameboy. She had gotten him a Color one for Christmas. She could tell by the red cartridge in it that he was continuing his Pokemon game.
The same game played out, but it was interrupted when she saw Sean enter with the rest. On her adopted fathers face, she saw a look of urgency. She listened as he said, "Hank just called. E’ said we might want to see the news."
She had a little fear in her voice as she said, "What’s wrong?"
She noticed that his look was grim as he said, "Hank just said we had better turn it on." She watched as he picked up the remote and activated the TV. It was as if no one was playing the game. The picture on screen had a prison on it.
She noticed that everyone listen with intense interest as the voice on the TV said, "What you see is the prison outside the city of Easton. The resent upset here was caused by a prison break. The escapee, like most of the prisoners here, is an evil mutant. Easton is a known safe haven for mutants. An FBI agent reporting here at the time gave this statement." The image switch to that of a man with dark hair and what looked to be a young face.
Yvette watched intensely, but heard Rich say in their mental link, {No, it can’t be.} She looked in his direction and could see it in his form that he was scared. He was shaking like a leaf.
The man said, "The FBI believes that Soundwave, as he likes to call himself, is nowhere in the area at the time. The key witness that helped in his apprehension and gave the testimony that sent him to prison is not in Easton at this time. We ask that all law enforcers help us apprehend Soundwave. If you see him, approach him with Hard Rock music. He hates noise. He can’t use it. All that we can reveal about the witness’ location is that he is up in the New England area." Yvette heard a door slam. She turned to see Rich had left the room.
Sean just said, "I think Hank suspected as much. Remember after Elane’s attack that Hank interviewed Rich for his files. I think it has something to do with that breakout."
A mocking voice in the room said, "It has everything to do with it." Yvette, as well as the others, turned to face Darrett. "In my time, Soundwave was one of the worse in the army." Everyone knew that Darrett had saved her and Rich, but they also knew that Darrett was from a future where she and Rich were evil Emplates. It sent a chill through her body every time she thought of it.
Emma looked at Darrett and said, "What do you know of this Soundwave character?"
The boy just said, "Enough. He was one of the worse in their army. He qualified as second in command. He resented his spot and situation, but he knew he didn’t dare chance a conflict. You see, according to story, Rich and Soundwave were at one time friends, but Soundwave attempted to frame Rich for his own crimes. Rich helped in the apprehension of Soundwave and testified at the trial. Soundwave was put away for life."
Yvette realized what that meant. Rich was afraid for his life. She knew now why Rich disappeared. She looked at Darrett and said, "How crazy is he?"
Darrett looked at her and said, "He’s been in prison, without interaction with anyone. He’s probably demented by now. When he was broken out in my time line, he was an effective enforcer, but was mentally out of it." The boy started to leave the room and said, "He was also very ‘lonely’, if you catch my drift." The boy had left and Yvette could have sworn that everyone had shuddered when he said that. She didn’t like the tone that word carried.
She heard Everett say, "That boy freaks me out. Sean, did Hank say who his father was?" She had to admit that she knew very little about the future boy, and she didn’t trust him.
Her father said, "Hank never said. He had his reasons." She looked at him and wondered what secrets her father was hiding from them. She then wondered where her love had gone into hiding. She decided to check his room in the boy’s door.
Jubilee noticed as Yvette started out the door. They all had been instructed to pay close attention to where both Yvette and Rich were. There was still an underlying fear that Rich would try and keep Penny’s abilities. She motioned to the others at the table, "I think we better follow her." Jubilee had once walked in on one of their long kisses. She at times wished that Ev would kiss her like that, but she knew that would probably wait. Lately, both Rich and Yvette were trying to live for the moment. She had caught a glimpse of them looking over the movie section of the paper. They were trying to pick a movie to watch. That’s why she decided on the Clue game. Stop them before they leave. Now, the news of this Soundwave character freaked Rich out.
She noticed Sean was behind her, Everett, Monet and Angelo. He said, "Think she’s going to try to find out something." She noticed the look on Sean’s face. It was touched with worry. A worry that one might have about a teenage daughter.
She just nodded, not knowing what to say. Monet then said, "I hope that Darrett is wrong about how vicious this Soundwave is. Something tells me the way he put it, that Soundwave has no regard for others."
Everett just said, "He’s been in jail for a while. I’m more worried what he might do to certain people here." Jubilee realized what he meant. She shuddered at the thought.
She just said to Everett, "That scares me to blazes." She looked up at Sean and noticed that his face had gone pale. She then said, "I think Penny might have gone to talk to Rich. He looked pretty shook up."
As they entered the boy’s dorm, Jubilee noticed Penny was standing at the door to Rich’s room. As they approached, Jubilee looked in to see a sight she had never seen. She just heard Penny go, "He’s terrified. I don’t want to go near him. He’s had that all his life, a piece of his youth, his innocence." Jubilee saw that Rich was sitting on his bed, Indian style, and clutching what looked like a blanket.
She noticed that Sean stepped forwards and said, "Let me talk to the lad, alone." She noticed that everyone left the door, except Penny. She didn’t want to pressure her into leaving. She just stepped back and allowed everything to play out.
He knew they were there, but he didn’t care. He was too scared to care. Davis was loose. The courts assured him that Davis wouldn’t escape, but he did. He still remembered that day in court. Davis telling him that he would kill him when he got free. He was scared for his own life, more scared than he had been of Emplate and Aura. Then it hit him, Yvette was in trouble, too. Davis would kill her too, and maybe even Gen X. He shuddered as the thought crept through his mind. He almost jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was so focused on his fears that he hadn’t noticed Sean’s ability had kicked in on him until the Irishman put a hand on his shoulder. He also saw Yvette still in the doorway. She was worried, and he could tell. Sean just said, "What happened, lad? Darrett told us a tale, but what’s true about it?"
Rich looked at his teacher, and as of recently, his girlfriend’s father and told him the truth. "He was at one time my friend, at least I thought he was. Soundwave, or as his real name Davis Skinur, was a high school friend of mine. I never knew what he was until the day at the bank, due to the amount of mutants at our school. You see, the news mentioned Soundwave everyday, and no place had a clear picture of him. He had pulled off robbery after robbery, and crime after crime. To Davis, it was a daily game. The FBI was called in. One day they managed to corner him, at the main branch of a local bank. I was there, running an errand for my parents. I was surprised when I saw who Soundwave was. Davis had me taken aside and planned to send me out in his place. He wanted to frame me for his crimes."
Sean just looked at him, "What happened lad? How did ye stop him?"
Rich swallowed and said, "I learned about my ability a bit more than I had known. I used his own ability against him. I manipulated him and his gang out in to the police’s hands. The FBI man rushed in and I almost collapsed. It was a great strain on me. The trial happened a few days later."
He saw his beloved walk over to him and say, "What happened?" She was concerned, and she had right to be.
"When I testified, Davis had no chance of an innocent verdict. He vowed vengeance on me. He said that he’d kill me. He acted crazy, for he said that someone named Big Blue wanted it that way. I was scared, that’s why I left Easton, but the FBI always tried to protect me." He sighed. "It’s going to do no good now. Davis is going to find me. He’s going to kill me. He’s a mad man, and I can’t imagine what incarceration has done to him."
He felt Yvette hug him as she whispered in his ear, "Protect me, please." She was afraid of Davis, too. He went to return the hug, but was afraid of what Sean would say. He lightly hugged her and looked at Sean.
He saw Sean look back and say, "It’s alright, but don’t get carried away. I don’t want to force you two to break up." He nodded and hugged his beloved a little tighter. He noticed as Sean left the room. He sighed a bit in relief. He always worried about how Sean would treat their relationship now that Yvette was his legal daughter. His thought was cut short when Yvette kissed him on the lips.
When she stopped, he said, "How about that movie?" That was their original plans for the evening. Something nice, they were going to try and see a film with Matthew Broderick in it, but Jubilee waylaid them with Clue.
She smiled and said, "We were going to go see that Matthew Broderick film. Any suggestions?" He smiled as he went over to a shelf and pulled out a tape.
He put the tape in and said, "Well, he’s a scientist in this one." He kissed her, knowing that Sean trusted their judgement enough to let them be alone for a while, as the film started. They just watched the film as they lay on the top of his bed.
*************************************************
Davis stood at the front of store in Easton appalled at what he heard. The one who put him prison was far away. He was furious. Knowing Rich, the boy would only entrust the info with his family, but they would never tell anyone else where he was. Davis turned and faced the street. This was not going to be easy. He had to find a way to narrow down the search. He then heard a deep voice say "I heard you escaped. Can I trust you to get the job done this time?"
He spun around and saw a blue face one of the TV’s. It was Big Blue, the one who wanted him to frame and then kill Rich. He never understood why this man, or was he a mutant, wanted Rich killed. "If I can find him? He left town."
The face just looked at him and said, "I’ll give you some assistance, Davis, but you better not fail me." Davis nodded. He wanted to find Rich and get vengeance. He didn’t care why Big Blue wanted all of this done, but he did wonder about it. Big Blue then said to him, "You can find information at the residence of the X-Men. I trust you can get past their security."
Davis had heard of the X-Men. He knew that they were mutants, but he was willing to fight them just to get the info he needed. "I’ll do it. I’m sure they’ll be no trouble at all for me." He didn’t want to disappoint his boss again, although he knew almost nothing about Big Blue.
The face smiled, and he felt a shiver. "See that you don’t, or I may just have to reconsider your usefulness to me." The image disappeared and Davis sighed. He couldn’t believe what he was going to do. It might be interesting to see how he can handle the X-Men. He let and evil smile cross his lips as he contemplated what to do to them if they tried to stop him. He took out a tape that he swiped, put it in ‘his’ walkman and flew off in the direction of New York, making a brief stop at his old hideout to get something.
*************************************************
Emma walked with Sean down the hall of the boys dorm. "I can’t believe how this is affecting Rich." She was worried that all this would turn around the slow progress that was made when they were rescued from Emplate. She also then thought about what Sean told her. That he had left Rich and Yvette alone. "I also can’t believe that you left Rich and Yvette alone. You and I both know that they have been living for the day lately. You know what could happen."
Sean looked at her and said, "True, but I trust them not to do anything stupid. I know that they love each other, and I know that Rich nor Yvette want to jeopardize that." She wished that she had the same faith that he had in the two.
Emma listened as they headed down the hall. She heard a movie playing. "Are they watching a movie?" She remembered that Jubilee mentioned that they were planning that. She had a thought run through her head. What some couples do in movie theaters. "Oh no." She broke off into a run down the hall. Sean was closely on her tail.
She heard him say, "What’s wrong?"
She just said, "Did you ever take a date to a movie, Sean?" She heard him pick up his pace. That idea had worried him. When they neared the door to Rich’s room, they saw it was still open. She wondered why the door was open. She looked into the room and couldn’t believe her eyes. On the TV, a movie was playing, but the two people in the room were fast asleep, on top of the bed. She stepped into the room and said, "I’m surprised."
Sean followed her in and said, "I’m not. I trust the lad’s judgement, and I trust me ‘daughters’ judgement. But I think that we should take Yvette back to her room." She watched as he went down to pick her up. She then thought about it what it might mean to the two.
She stopped Sean and said, "No, I think for tonight, they should stay together. Let’s just leave them a note." She saw the look he gave her and said, "We take her out of the room now, and Rich might panic. Last thing we want is for Rich to panic, especially since Davis escaped."
Sean nodded and said, "Yur right. I just hope that they don’t try to live for the moment." She looked as Sean picked up a patchwork quilt. He then said, "With all that is running through his mind, Rich probably feels his only escape is to be a kid again. Maybe it’ll help calm him down, hope it does right now." She watched as Sean covered the two sleeping forms with it. She couldn’t help but view them both as her own children. It was very unusual, but it fit. She turned off the TV and VCR, and they left the room, but not without posting a special psionic note in their brains. Only recently was she able to break through their language barrier.
As they left the room and closed the door, she listened for a moment. She heard a different voice. One she never heard before. Before she mentioned it to Sean, she heard a second voice. She turned to Sean and said, "Darrett is talking to someone." This worried her. What if Davis, or this Soundwave as his name was now, was on the school grounds, and Darrett was helping him.
Sean just nodded and said, "Let’s see the boy." For once, she could have sworn that he read her mind. They headed off in the direction of his room.
Darrett just laid on his bed. He had company, but he knew who it was. He just said, "I don’t think I can get use to this time line, Henry. I mean, it’s too weird. Our savior in our time line is a madman in this time line. Skitz and Penance are good guys. There are too many things to mention." He sat up and looked at the figure sitting in the chair. He was, as usual, tinkering with a toy.
The man was wearing the garb of a 1930’s man of high wealth and almost renaissance taste. "Well, look at me. Where I came from, my victory turned into my failure. You change an event in time, and time rewrites itself. Some things remain the same, others change greatly." The man stopped tinkering with the toy and threw it to Darrett. As he caught it, the man said, "It’s like that little puzzle. There are many solutions, but with each choice the path is different."
He fiddled with the puzzle and said, "Yes, I suppose that is true. I just wish I could use my knowledge to help more. I mean, now Soundwave is free. Any ideas on how to stop him. I mean you should know."
The figure let out a slight cackle and said, "You have to do like I did. Manipulate him into defeating himself. That can help you, but I don’t think you can. You see, Skitz and Penance aren’t your enemies this time. They are your allies. All these people are."
Darrett just looked at the figure and said, "Henry, it’s hard to except. My father is dating one person, and my mother is interested in another. I don’t know what to think." The figure walked over to him and put his hands on his shoulders.
"Don’t think about it. Remember you met Bishop. His timeline might be gone now. He’s outside it. He’s here and now. You’re here and now. You are this timeline now. Adjust. Remember some the best plans need some adjusting." Darrett noticed that Henry stopped talking and looked at the door. He turned around to see who was at the door. It was Sean and Emma.
Emma Frost looked at him sternly and said, "Who is that, Darrett?" Darrett lost his train of thought and the figure disappeared. "Where did he go?"
Darrett figured he had to explain that much. "I brought him here. It’s my ability. I summon certain beings. While I have them here, I control them. It only works on some beings." He hoped that they would understand.
Sean Cassidy looked at him and said, "Alright, but who was that man? Was he someone you could summon?"
Darrett nodded and said, "That was Henry. He is a toy maker. He’s like a confidant I can keep. I summon him when I need to talk to someone about my problems." He noticed that Emma looked at him with hurt eyes.
She walked over to him and said, "You can talk to us about your problems. Remember, we are all here to help you." He knew they wanted to help, but it was difficult to explain to them why.
"Emma, I understand what you are saying, but there are so many things different I have to try and think them through. Just give me time." He watched as they nodded and left the room. He closed the door, locked it, and went to his bed. Maybe he needed to sleep on the whole mess.
Everett had decided to spend some time with Jubilee. This whole upset with the idea of this Soundwave character had her a little upset. It had him worried as well. From what Darrett said, it had him very worried. That boy made him feel uneasy. It was as if the boy was judging him. He was lost on this thought when he heard Jubilee say, "Ya know Ev, I always thought I would have to worry about Sabertooth doing me in. Now, I don’t know."
Everett knew how scared Jubilee was of Sabertooth. Even back during the attack by the Phalanx, she didn’t trust him. "Jubes, you don’t have to worry about this Soundwave character. I’ll protect you from him." That was true. He would protect her from anything. He’d risk his life to protect her from Emplate, Sabertooth and all the others that would harm her.
Jubilee smiled at him. That was a good sign. She looked at him and said, "Ya mean it, Ev."
He put his arms around her and said, "I’ll protect you no matter what the risk." That was the truest statement he ever said. He looked deep in her eyes. He wanted to kiss her, and something told him that she was hoping he’d do the same. He decided to kiss her.
It seemed that that thought attracted attention. He almost jumped when there was a knock at the door. On the other side came the voice of Paige, "Jubes, can Ah talk to you for a second."
He looked at her and saw a heartbroken look on her face. She just sighed and said, "Yea, come on in." He let go of her as Paige walked in the door.
He heard Paige gasp as she said, "Did Ah walk in on something?" He felt a little embarrassed by what she implied.
Everett then said, "No. We weren’t getting into that at all. I was trying to comfort Jubes about the threat of Soundwave." It was the truth.
Paige sighed and he saw another person behind her. It was Jono. <She was worried about that too. She was worried about what he might do to her, Jubilee, and all the other gels here.> Everett watched as a look of fear washed over both girls faces.
Everett just sighed and said, "We were just getting past all that Jono. I think we have to face facts that we have a real problem to deal with. I know that we don’t have to worry much about what he might do to all of us. We have to worry what he might do to Rich and Yvette. They are going to get the full force of Soundwave’s fury."
He heard Paige gasp as she said, "My Gawd, you’re right. Rich is the real target, and Yvette will be in the line of fire."
Jubilee looked up and said, "And we are just consolation prizes in Soundwave’s little game of vengeance." Everett watched as they all nodded in agreement. "This is not good. We have to help them, and it puts us in a great risk area. We don’t even know much about Soundwave. We don’t have a photo or anything."
Everett smiled and said, "I think we might. Yvette will know because of the memories she and Rich have shared, but I remember seeing a high school yearbook in Rich’s room. We might have an answer there."
They were all surprised when they heard Emma Frost say, "Good thinking, Everett. I wish I had thought of it while Sean and I were in there."
Paige was first to say, "Why were you in his room?"
Emma just said, "His TV was on. He and Yvette got to see part of a movie. They weren’t paying attention to it as much as they were earlier."
He swore that the same thought was running through everyone else’s mind that was running through his. "You mean they were...." He didn’t want to say what he suspected, but they all knew what he meant.
Emma just said, "No. They were laying on top of his bed, fast asleep. We left them together because if they woke up separated, Rich might fear that Soundwave is here. I planted a mental note in their minds saying what Sean and I did."
Everett looked at her and said, "What about making sure he doesn’t try to keep her ability?"
He notice that Emma gave him a nasty glance as she said, "Which do you want to deal with, Everett, Rich trying to hold an ability, or Rich scared out of his wits because Yvette isn’t around when she was around?’ He understood what she meant. She then said, "Now, I think it is all time for you to go to bed." She left the room and everyone followed.
Everett stopped and turned around to face Jubilee. "Sleep well. I won’t let anything happen to you." When she smiled, he turned and left. Next time, he figured, they might get a chance to kiss goodnight.
*************************************************
She looked at the clock. 2 AM. She had been laying in this room since she went to bed. The thought about this Davis fellow kept preoccupying her mind. Monet St. Croix wondered if it had anything to do with Claudette, her ‘twin’ sister that inhabited the form with her. She didn’t want to say anything to anyone about it. No one here needed to know that her sister would help Marius at any chance she got. She couldn’t help but wonder if Claudette was thinking of informing Marius of this, or even helping Soundwave. She was thinking about this when she heard the voice of her sister pipe up in her head [Wondering who’d I help, dear sister?]
Monet hated how her sister would do that. [That has been racking my mind, Claudette. I would not be surprised if you informed Marius to meet this Soundwave character.] She hated how her sister admired Marius.
Her sister just laughed and said, [You think you’re so brilliant, yet you are so blasted stupid. Marius and his beloved wants Rich and Yvette alive, they don’t want two corpses. If anything, I’d ask them for help to stop Soundwave, although I’d like to see what chaos this guy can cause.]
She couldn’t believe what Claudette just said to her. [Do you know what he might do to all of Gen X? He might kill us, or worse.]
She heard her sister laugh again. [You’re terrified of this aren’t you. I hope he does do something mean to you. Let’s see, he’s been in prison for a few years and is crazy and demented. I like the sound of that.]
Monet hated that and then realized something. [If he does anything to me, he’s doing it to you too.] Her sister stopped laughing. Now there was a different feeling all together. Her sister was scared, and she was now happy at that. She was happy that her sister finally realized the trouble they were in. At that moment, she finally got to sleep.
*************************************************
Rich slowly awoke that morning. He only remembered part of the film. He remember kissing Yvette and not to long after that he, and her, fell asleep. As he opened his eyes, he felt something over him. He glanced down to see he and Yvette were covered with his patchwork quilt. He wondered how that got there when he heard it. It was Emma’s voice. [Richard, Sean and I noticed your door was open last night. We saw the two of you sound asleep. We figured that you two hadn’t done anything.] Rich mentally agreed with that. The farthest they had gone was a whole string of kisses. The voice continued, [Sean wanted to take Yvette back to her room, but given the current circumstances, I thought it would be a bad move. Sean placed the cover on you two, while I shut down everything you had on. Just behave for now, we have a few things to talk about dealing with this Soundwave character.]
He shuddered after hearing that, being careful not to tense up. He then felt something move along his side. He then realized that it was Yvette’s arm. He felt her hold him closer as she said, {Morning. I see Emma and ‘Father’ took care of things last night.} He felt a light kiss on his cheek.
He turned around and faced her. {Yes, they did.} He returned the kiss on her cheek. He was happy to see her smile. {Emma wants to talk to me more about Soundwave.}
He noticed a worry look cross her face and an upset look in her eyes as she said, {Why didn’t you ever tell me about all this?}
He sighed out loud and said, {Cause I thought it was over. When the trial ended, and Davis was put up the river, I was assured he would never escape. I went on to lead a normal life. I never told you how afraid I was of Davis because I never thought he would escape. Now he’s free. That is one of the reasons that when I came here, no one knew I was here.}
She held him closer when she said her next words. {Are you worried about me, about what he’d do to me?}
He nodded and said, {I am very scared for you, my love. Davis was a major womanizer in school. He only thought of one thing. I’m afraid of what incarceration has done to his mind in that area.} He noticed that she was on the verge of tensing up in fear. He tossed away the quilt that was covering them and held her close. While their clothes were immune to her abilities, the bedding wasn’t. He held her and said softly and aloud, "I won’t let him do anything to you. I won’t let anyone hurt you again. I love you too much to let that happen to you." He noticed that she had calmed down. He held her for a little until she signal that she wanted him to let go.
He heard her whisper in his ear, "I know, my love. I hope we stay together forever." With that she started to kiss him. It was a series of short kisses down his neck. He returned it the same way. She said in their mind link, {I thought it might help get your mind off this problem.}
He brought her face to his as he said, {It does help a little, but we have to be careful. We don’t want to go too far.}
She smiled and said, {I know. I wasn’t planning on it.} With that she kissed him on the lips. He returned it the same way. She smiled after he stopped the kiss and said, {When in Paris..}
He smiled in return and said, {..do as the Parisian’s do.} They both engaged in a french kiss. They didn’t kiss that way too often, but they enjoyed it when they did.
There was a knock at the door. That was the reason that they didn’t french kiss too often. Everytime they would, something would happen to interrupt them. The voice at the door just said, "Richard, Yvette, are you two awake?" He recognized the voice. It was Emma. She probably knew they were awake, but they had to answer.
Rich got up off the bed as Yvette sat up. They were still in the clothes they were wearing last night. He opened the door to see both Sean and Emma at the door. He just stepped back and said, "Come in."
Sean walked in first and looked at the two. He didn’t seem to upset as he said, "I trust ye both slept well."
Rich calmly said, "Yes. I’m sorry we fell asleep together, but.." He didn’t know if Sean thought they would have tried anything.
Sean just put his hand on his shoulders. "Lad, I have no doubt that ye wouldn’t of tried anything. I just know that you care enough about Yvette that you wouldn’t jeopardize it. And I know that she knows the same thing."
He nodded and said, "I understand, sir." He noticed for the first time that he called Sean sir. He realized why he did that. He wasn’t talking to Sean, the headmaster of the Xavier School, he was talking to Sean Cassidy, adopted father of his girlfriend. Since the adoption, Rich felt he had to answer to Sean for almost everything.
Emma then said, "Rich, last night we were talking with some of the others about who to watch for. You said you went to school with Soundwave, and Everett said you had a yearbook."
He knew what Emma was getting at. She wanted a picture of who they would be up against. He had to think for a moment where the book was. He then heard Yvette say, "Didn’t you put that book with your computer books?"
He smiled at her. "Thanks love. I didn’t remember what I did with it." He went over to the blue bin where he kept all those books. He opened it and noticed that it would take a little time. He picked out each book in the bin and put it on the bed. After a few books were out, he heard a gasp. He turned around a bit scared. He thought that Davis was there, but he wasn’t. He did however notice a shocked look on Sean and Emma’s face as they looked at his one computer book.
Sean couldn’t believe what he saw. On the back cover of the book Rich just pulled out was the face of the man that Darrett was talking to. He heard Emma gasp and noticed that Rich heard the gasp as well. When he saw Rich look at them and then the book, he took a breath and said, "You scared me. I thought Davis was here."
Sean had to say it. "No, but we are a bit shocked by the face on that book," he pointed to the book where they saw the face. It was eerie, but no less than 12 hours ago, they had seen Darrett speaking to the same individual that was on the book.
Rich looked at the book and said, "Henry Stauf, main character of the 7th Guest and 11th Hour, startled you two. He not real. He’s a fictional computer game villian." He watched as Rich went back to searching through the books for the yearbook they had asked for.
Emma then said the words he was just thinking. "He seemed real enough when we saw him talking to Darrett." He watched as Rich just stopped. Those words seemed to strike a nerve. This was something that bothered Rich on a deeper level, maybe deeper than the lad had thought.
Rich turned around with a book in hand. Sean noticed it was the yearbook in question. As Rich walked over to them with it, the lad said, "You mean to say he was talking to Henry Stauf."
Sean looked at the boy and said, "A bit more than that. He said he summoned him. He said he could summon up certain beings to fight for him. We just didn’t suspect to see one of them in a picture, like that."
Yvette looked at them all and said, "Do you think he can be a menace?" Sean noticed that his ‘daughter’ was a bit scared.
Rich just said, "Henry is minor. I’ve always looked into understanding some villains and Henry is more Maciavellian. He likes to manipulate. He has power, but uses them passively. He uses them to influence and manipulate. Now if he summoned something else, we’d have a lot to worry about."
Sean understood what Rich meant. If this boy could evidently summon villainous characters, that could be a problem if he summoned something he couldn’t control. He then heard Emma say, "Maybe we should have a session in the war room, to learn about Davis, and understand Darrett better."
Sean nodded in agreement and turned to Rich and said, "Rich, would you come with me to the war room." He faced Yvette and said, "Yvette, you go with Emma and get the other kids, ok." He noticed the heartbroken look on her face. She wanted to go with Rich. He waited as Emma took Yvette with her out of the room and then left the room with Rich. When the two had headed of to one off the upper level, Sean led Rich out of the dorm and said, "Rich, did you ever mention your fear of Davis escaping to Yvette."
The lad looked down, but Sean had an idea on the answer. "No. I thought it was all over. I didn’t want anyone to know much more than Davis used to be my friend." Sean understood, in a way, what Rich said. Davis was a part of Rich’s past that Rich hope would never come back.
When they reached the war room, Sean turned and said to the lad, "Rich, what are you more worried about, yur own safety, or Yvette’s safety?" Rich just looked away. It was a difficult question for the lad to answer.
After a moment of thought, the lad finally turned to face him. The lad looked him square in the eye and said, "Sean, promise me one thing?"
Sean looked at the boy and said, "It’s alright lad. I know how much you two love each other. I won’t try and separate you, cause I know that it’s probably the worse thing I could do to both of ye. I know it’s a little hard for you because of the age difference, but I won’t argue about it."
The lad meekly smiled and said, "Thank you, sir. I’m am more worried about Yvette than myself, but I fear Davis might use that against me. He might use my love for her to get me. Threaten her and luring me into the line of fire. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of killing me, but I don’t want him to hurt Yvette." The lad started to sob. It was a sight one didn’t see to often at the school, seeing Richard Cale cry.
Sean held the lad and said, "It’s alright. Remember, if Davis does attack, I’ve got the best hand." Rich looked at him and Sean smiled. "I’ve got quite a big mouth." The lad smiled. Sean was happy that that thought comforted Rich. He sat Rich down in a chair and started to use the yearbook to create a 3-D image of Soundwave.
Yvette continued along with Emma as her teacher went to the room now occupied by Darrett. This boy had some very dangerous powers if what he could do was real. She then wondered what it could translate into. When they neared the door to the boys room, she heard a whiney whimper. She heard it before. She stopped as Emma reached for the door. Emma looked at her and said, "What’s wrong?"
The thoughts ran through her mind. She prayed that she would get an answer with the question she was about to ask. "Emma, does Darrett have a television in there?" When Emma shook her head, she tensed up. She knew what was in there.
She watched as Emma slammed the door opened. She peeked in to see a figure disappear, but Emma faced Darrett and said, "What did you summon this time?" Yvette slowly untensed as she cautiously stepped into the room.
Darrett looked at the both of them and said, "Someone who can ease my nerves. The sound it makes is soothing."
Yvette could hardly believe it. She almost yelled in rage as she said, "You call a Skeksis relaxing. You summon Henry Stauf and now a Skeksis. What’s next, are you going to bring forth next, one of the monsters from that Quake game?" She felt a sharp pain in her head and she grabbed it as she collapsed to the ground.
She knew what it was before Emma spoke. "Yvette, that was totally uncalled for." Yvette glanced up as Emma faced Darrett and said, "But, she has a point. How powerful is this summoning ability?"
The boy looked at her, and then at Emma and said, "Not as powerful as it could be. The more dangerous entities don’t listen or rebel. I found this out a few days ago. I tried to summon another gentleman, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He said he was going to find his way home and get his son for what he did to him."
Yvette could see the upset in Emma’s eyes. She slowly got up and said, "How can you know if you’re summoning something you can’t control." She was honestly worried that the boy would make a mistake one day and bring something that would kill them all.
Darrett shrugged meekly and said, "I don’t know." Yvette noticed that Emma shook her head. This wasn’t a good thing to hear.
Emma then said, "As of right now, Darrett, I only want you to summon this Henry character. Don’t risk summoning any others until you get better at controlling your ability. As for right now, we must all head to the War room." With that, Emma led the way out of the room. Yvette made sure that she was right behind Emma, and saw that Darrett was following them. Even now knowing what Darrett’s abilities were, she felt even more uncomfortable around him.
*************************************************
Davis looked over the room. During his whole time in the building, he hadn’t encountered an X-Man, which was good for him. He was in the room of his objective. The computer was right in front of him with the location of Richard Cale. He approached the computer. He took a look around and slowly approached the computer. He started typing at the console. In a short time, he came across what he was looking for. He read the data that the file contained. The words appeared on the screen but all he needed was location. He noticed a few words and said, "Generation X. Is that the group he calls friends now? Interesting." He figured that Generation X must be a less experienced group like the X-Men. He looked at something else which peaked his interest. It was a cross-file reference, actually, a few of them.
He jumped to the first one. It was that of a teenage girl, with red hair. Davis wondered if it was the red hair or something else entirely that caught Rich’s eye. He read the name of the girl. Yvette Cassidy. He looked further down at the abilities. "Ouch," was all he could say. He continued reading to see that the two meant a lot to each other. He then noticed that one of the names that was in Rich’s file was in her file. Something called Emplate.
He went to jump to that file when he heard a click, or it sounded like a click. He spun around to see a very gruff man, with claws coming from his hands, facing him. The man just said, "Kind of figured something like this would happen. Beast figured you wouldn’t know where to go, so you’d come here to find Skitz."
Davis had to admit, the man was right. "I had a little help from my employer. Now my question is, what are you going to tell the X-Men after I escape."
Davis watched as the man charged him and said, "Nothing Bub, ‘cause you ain’t escaping." Davis started to laugh as he started the music to his sound machine. He watched as the man stopped in shocked and his body started moving of it’s own accord. "Hey, what’s happening?" was all the man could say.
Davis walked up to the man and said, "Let’s just say that for the time being, you’re under my orders. You’ll be doing the Macarena for a while, until someone stops the music." He stepped away from the man as he went over to the computer. It took him no time to set it up with an infinite loop of the Macarena. As he turned around, he said, "Tell your friends thank you for the info, and..." He pulled out a camera and snapped a photo of his victim, "thanks for the laugh." Davis laughed like a maniac and ran out of the X-Mansion.
*************************************************
Daria ran out of her room at a full force bolt, actually a bit of fly. Daria had only learned about being able to fly at the museum. Now she was using it to get her to the meeting. When Emma sent out the psionic summons, she was in the shower. Daria wondered if Emma was aware of that. Her new persistent silver hair was plastered to her back as she flew out of the dorm. She didn’t realize how fast she was going until she hit Mondo. She realized what she had done and said, "I’m sorry, Mondo. I didn’t mean to hit you." She helped the boy up. She had to admit that she thought Mondo liked her, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She felt like she wasn’t worth Mondo’s feelings, if he had them about her.
He smiled that almost ever present smile and said, "It’s ok. I was just coming to check on you. When you hadn’t shown up, we were all worried that you ignored the call."
She smiled and replied, "I was getting ready." She didn’t want to say that she was showering, although her hair probably told him that. She started walking towards the building that the war room was when she said, "I’m sort of worried about this. I mean, first it’s Emplate and Aura, now this Soundwave character. I don’t know if I can handle it."
She felt Mondo put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him as he said, "I thought that about my first few days here, but I found out I could. You shouldn’t doubt yourself." She felt almost like she was going to faint. She wondered if Mondo shared the same feelings for her.
She smiled and said, "Thanks." When he smiled back, she felt her heart skip a beat. She always thought that was a figure of speech. After a bit, they arrived at the war room.
As they entered, she heard Sean say, "So ye found her, lad."
Mondo just smiled, and said, "She was in a hurry to get here. She had knocked me over just to get out the door." There was a light round of chuckles all around, except from Sean, Emma, the new kid, and Rich. Sean and Emma were obviously being serious about this. The new kid, Darrett, well nobody understood him. He seemed so critical about everyone, especially her and she couldn’t understand why. Rich was understandably nervous.
She heard Monet speak up after the giggles subsided. "Is there a reason we are going to get to? I haven’t had the best of nights." Daria noticed that Monet didn’t look as perfect as she usually did.
Jubilee just said, "Duh. You look like you and the sandman had a fight and he lost. What’s wrong? Think Emplate might join forces with this Soundwave." There was a quiet in the air. Jubilee had said an uncomforting thought.
Angelo just said, "That has got to be the worst thing you ever thought, chica. We had trouble handling Elane and Emplate, I don’t think we want them all together."
Yvette look out over the group and said, "He won’t. Emplate wants me and Rich alive. Davis would love to see Rich dead." They all noticed that Rich nodded. Rich hadn’t made one sound since they she entered.
Emma then said, "We’ll get to speaking about Davis in a second. Right now, we have to speak about Darrett, and his ability." Daria watched as everyone looked at Darrett.
Everett just said, "You mean we now know his ability. Every chance I’ve had, I’ve tried to synch with it, but couldn’t." She was surprised by that. Everett could discover any mutant abilities, but not much more.
She heard Jono say, <Could be linked to the alternate time-line deal. So what is mystery boy’s abilities?>
Sean then said, "He summons beings to fight for him, but they are rather unique." Sean said it like it was an awkward term to say.
Paige asked the $64,000 question. "Unique in what way? Are they monsters?"
Daria looked at the boy and said, "Are they real?" She was curious about what his ability was now.
Daria was started by who said the next words. "Why don’t you show them, Darrett. Show them your friend." It was Rich. He seemed almost calm as he said those words.
The boy just nodded and he seemed to be concentrating on something. Daria noticed as Emma stepped back as a figure started to form right in front of them. Soon the figure was that of a man. He looked about and said, "My Darrett, you never said that I would be called to meet everyone." She watched as the man spun and was now wearing a tuxedo and said, "Hello all, my name is..."
Rich almost as if on cue said two more words. "Henry Stauf." Daria had heard that name before. She just had to place it.
The figure just turned and said, "And if I’m not mistaken, Richard Cale. How are you lad? I have something for you." The man pulled out a toy, and Daria finally placed him.
She stood up and said, "You’re the villain from those two games, aren’t you?" She faced Darrett and said, "You summon villains." At that, Henry disappeared, as if by magic.
Darrett nodded and said, "That’s the gift. I’m learning to control it." Daria looked in amazement at the boy. This ability could destroy them all, and he acted as if it didn’t matter.
Emma then said, "We already told him not to try and summon anything he hasn’t summoned before. He’s already done that once and it rebelled on him." Daria noticed the shocked look on everyone’s face. Then Emma said, "The most we can do is try to find some way to get Darrett’s abilities stronger so he can control the more dangerous ones." She noticed that Emma was about to say something, but then stopped.
Daria noticed that Sean picked up on the cue and said, "Now, let’s go over Davis, just in case he manages to get here." With that a 3-D image appeared, and Daria noticed as Rich moved back from the table. She also noticed that Yvette went to his side. Sean then said, "This is Davis. He has the mutant ability to manipulate things with music. He can’t use noise of any kind." The man in the image appeared to be the same age as Rich, was slightly taller than Rich, and blonde. Not much else could be told from the image, due to the black and white image. She also noticed that Emma had left the room.
She heard Monet say, "So does he know where Rich is right now?" That was still a major issue, since it was well know that Rich never let anyone know he was here, and now the reason was very obvious.
Sean said, "No, the only way he’d find out is to get the information from the X-Mansion." There was a sigh of relief pass through the room. The X-Men were not going to be stopped by one man.
Emma then walked back into the room. "Don’t bet on that. They just found out that Soundwave was there. Wolverine encountered him."
She saw a smug smile cross Jubilee’s face as she said, "I bet somebody got injured good." Jubilee was inwardly snickering, and Daria realized what she meant.
Emma looked at her and said, "I’ll say. When they found Wolverine, he was busy doing the Macarena. He wasn’t to thrilled to be discovered like that." There was a shocked look on everyone’s face, especially Jubilee’s.
Everyone turned when they heard Rich mutter, "His twisted sense of humor. One robbery he had all the policemen dancing to YMCA."
Sean faced them all and said, "Alright, I want ye all to check out the campus. We’ll get the alarms and join you in a second. Skitz and Penance, stay in here. Darrett, I want ye to guard the door to the war room." He used codenames, and that meant that this was a serious problem.
Jubilee walked though the girls dorm. She didn’t understand why everyone split up. Each of them had taken a part of each of the buildings. As she walked through the dorm, she had her fingers in a gun formation. She wanted to be ready to paf this Soundwave character before he tried anything. She listened intently. She heard music, the worse music of all, NKOTB. She shuddered as she moved quietly through the dorm. Eventually, she heard movement. She moved slowly in the direction of the movement. She saw that Penny’s door was open. She slowly moved along the wall. When she near the door, she took a deep breath. She quickly spun and started firing sparks into the room. "Gotcha. You ain’t getting your target today." She didn’t see who was in the room, but she was sure of who it was. As the sparks cleared, her eyes went wide as the figure looked at her and smiled. "OH...."
The figure slammed her into the wall. She was scared. It wasn’t Soundwave. It was Sabertooth. She was shaking in fear. The figure just said, "Surprised. Prepare for a better surprise." She hadn’t notice but the music had still been going all through the attack.
She watched as the face of her attacker shift. Soon she realized what had happened. She gasped as the figure was that of Soundwave. He just said, "Obviously, you’re not Yvette, so I shall ask this once, where is Rich and Yvette? I was hoping to use her to get him."
Jubilee worked all her bravado together and spit in his face. "I ain’t telling you. You try and hurt him, you have to go up against Generation X." She went to kick him so he dropped her.
As she went to kick him, she felt one hand grip her throat, as the other slapped her. He just said, "Ever have a nightmare come true, bitch." He threw her to the floor. She slid along the hall. "Because you are about to."
She noticed that he turned around. She saw the device on his back. It had to be the source of the music. "Sounds off, creep." She went to fire her fireworks, but they wouldn’t fire. She tried again, and again. She heard him laugh. She stood up to tackle him and then saw it. All the foes she had faced in her life, and they were headed after her. She turned and saw that she was in a dead end. The laughter got louder. This was Soundwave’s work. It had to be an illusion. Then she felt one of them punch her. Was it an illusion? She screamed in agony as the others started to punch her.
Everett had seen the figure leave the girls dorm. It had to be Soundwave. He had left the door open. Everett went to confront the menace when he heard the screams. It sounded like Jubilee and she was getting hurt badly. Did he see Soundwave leave? If not, he had to get in there and save Jubilee, and if he did, was it a trick. He couldn’t take the risk of not checking. He loved Jubilee too much. He ran into the dorm and headed for the screaming. When he rounded the corner, he saw Jubilee all alone. She was against a wall, but she acted like she was being punched in the gut, and all over. Everett didn’t understand what was happening. He also noticed that she was acting like she couldn’t move. He saw no attackers. He wondered if Davis was in here waiting. He moved forward and said, "Jubilee, what’s wrong?"
He noticed that she kept facing forward, "Synch, run. There’s too many. Ahhhh." He noticed she flinched. She must have gotten hit by something. He moved in front of her. Everett couldn’t figure out what was happening to her. She then said, "Not again. Stay away Sabertooth. NOOOOOOOOO."
He looked around puzzled, and then wondered. He went up to Jubilee and said, "Where is Soundwave, did you see him?" He had a feeling what was happening.
There was a look of fear across her face. "Yes, but run. No. Anything but that." What ever Soundwave did to her, she was experiencing every fear she had, but worse. She was going to have physical repercussions. He noticed that she managed to turn her head a little, as if she was trying not to see what was happening. He then noticed what looked like a hearing aid in her ear. He synched with Jubes ability and pulled it out, destroying it with a little firework. He noticed that Jubilee started to collapse. He quickly grabbed her as she let out a moan of pain.
He was worried. He got her in a carry and said, "Hold on, I’ll get you to the med center." He made a quick run for the door. There was no telling what horrors had happen to her, but it was obvious that Soundwave induced them. As he ran out of the girls dorm, he ran into Sean and Emma.
Emma Frost was startled by the sight she saw, as was Sean. She ran up to Everett and said, "Synch, what happen?" She could see the worry in his eyes. Ever since Rich had arrived, Everett and Jubilee had become a bit closer.
He looked at them and said, "Soundwave did something to Jubilee. Hypnotized her in someway. She was in pain, and something about Sabertooth. I don’t know what he forced her to experience."
Emma decided to do a quick mind probe of Jubilee. She saw the images of the scenes Jubilee saw. Scores of the X-men’s enemies attacking her. FOH members literally beating her up. And Sabertooth, the one mutant Jubilee feared most. She noticed how Sabertooth had held back in the scenes. Then she saw the scene that was starting before the whole image ended. She stopped the probe there. She just said, "Synch, you stopped it just in time. She was about to have her worse fear come true. How did he keep the hypnosis up without being present."
Everett looked at her with deep concern. She knew what he wanted to ask, but kept him from asking it. He then said, "He put like a hearing aid in her ear. It was playing music."
She heard Sean go, "Sounds like his style." She gave him a stern glare. Sean looked at her and said, "What did I say?"
Everett looked at him and said, "That’s very bad, sir."
Emma just said, "Banshee, if you meant that as a joke, don’t say it again." She noticed that he rolled his eyes. He realized what he said. She then said "We have to check with the others. Soundwave might be trying to stop us before we stop him."
Sean reached for his communicator and said, "Everyone, call in, and tell me the situation." She noticed that he set it so all could respond.
The first voice to answer was Mondo’s. "Banshee. I think we have a big problem. I’m stuck."
Emma worried as she said, "Explain that one Mondo. How are you stuck?"
The boy answered with a heavy sigh. "I saw Soundwave attacking Daria. I tried to sneak up on him, via the walls, but as I came out to attack him, he slapped my head and ran."
Sean said, "Can you reach your ear? He put a sound device in there."
She heard Mondo go "No. I’d ask Daria to help, but she can’t move."
There was another voice that said, "I’m stuck to the ceiling, with this music playing in my ear. The creep said he had a magnet in the ceiling." It was Daria. Emma could guess what was happening.
Emma then said, "Anyone else that can take care of that? Skin? Husk? M? Chamber?"
The voice of Angelo came on the line. "He caught me to, senorita. Right now, I’m waiting for a fly, and my fingers are faraway from my ear."
Sean said, "Where are you, Skin?" She was wondering that too.
"All tied up all over the entry hall, and it’s not to pleasant just hanging here."
Emma just said, "We’ll be there." She faced Sean and said, "We are going to have to help them. Soundwave is mad, but there is a definite method to it."
Just then, a voice spoke on the com unit. <Banshee, White Queen, it’s Chamber. I just got to Husk. How do I stop this?>
Emma turned and said, "What’s wrong?"
<Heard Husk scream in shock. She went to husk into something, but he made her husk to look like Barbie, or one of those dolls. She can’t move, or talk. He heard me coming and tried to stop me, but ran then.> Sean looked at her, and she shrugged. She didn’t know why Soundwave would run. <Had my walkman on, playing one of those Heavy Metal bands.>
Emma smiled and said, "Very clever Jono. Now reach into Paige’s ear and get the hearing aid like thing. Destroy it and she’ll be fine."
She heard a small blast and soon Paige said, "What happened? Now I remember, that..."
Emma heard Sean go, "Easy Husk, right now, you and Chamber go find Mondo and Daria and help them out. I’ll get Skin."
Emma was about to say what she and Everett would do when it hit her. "We haven’t heard from M." She saw an upset look cross both Everett and Sean’s faces.
Soundwave had ran from the mutant with only half a face. Damn freak had Heavy Metal on. Since running into the girl at the one building, he managed to incapacitate all the others. All except the two he wanted. Then he ran into this girl. He had grabbed her from behind and held her firm in his grip. The music increased his strength, but the girl was strong cause she still struggled. He just said, "Ok, babe. It’s simple. Tell me where Richard and his girl are, and I let you go. Don’t tell me, you pay."
The girl had a french accent, which he liked, along with her figure. "No way. I won’t betray my friends."
He allowed her to see his face as he said the next words. "I was hoping to hear that." He let a smile cross his lips. He watched as the fear crossed her face. He then noticed that her eyes quickly glazed over.
He noticed when her eyes returned to normal, she yelled, "No. I’ll tell you where they are. They’re in the war room, but my brother has claim on them." He thought back to the files and the name he saw.
"So you are Emplate’s sister." He smiled. Maybe he should team up with him to kill the two.
"Sisters, you idiot. My sister hates him. I’d rather see him get those two than you. He wants them alive." Now he was confused, but that didn’t matter. He knew where his prey was.
He smiled at the girl, or girls, or whatever he should call them and said, "Thank you. Your brother can have two corpses when I have done Big Blue’s work. I’ll just leave you with this, have fun." He put the sound device in her ear. He watched as she started struggling, and soon she stayed still.
As he walked away, he heard her say to herself. "Look what you have done to us now, Claudette." Maybe he could blackmail the girl later, but that would have to wait. He had to make his way to the war room. He ran out the door.
Darrett watched intensely. He then saw the unmistakable figure of Soundwave. He summoned Henry up to help him with Soundwave. He watched the figure approach. He motioned Henry out of the shadows, and Soundwave said, "A student and a teacher. Does this mean a few added seconds until humiliation."
Darrett just said, "No Soundwave. I’m taking you down. I know your tricks." He put on a pair of sunglasses." He smiled in pride as a frown crossed the face of Soundwave. Darrett knew that the sonic hypnotism needed eye contact to be activated, and as long as he was aware of his actions, he controled who he summoned.
He watched as Soundwave just stopped and said, "Smart, but stupid. I have other methods, you know." Darrett felt the ground under him shake. He remembered that Soundwave didn’t need to hypnotize a victim. He lost his train of thought and Henry disappeared. As he recovered from the shaking, he noticed that Soundwave was on him. It was too late to take any type of fighting stance, and Soundwave knocked him off his feet.
He slowly got up. "There is no way I’m going to let you kill those two." That was true. While he had mixed feelings about everything in this world, this was one thing that wasn’t going to confuse him. Soundwave and him were on opposite sides of the line.
Soundwave looked at him and said, "You ain’t going to have much choice in the matter." Darrett braced as Soundwave backhanded him. He went flying into the wall. He staggered up and punched Soundwave in the jaw. He staggered back in pain. Soundwave was on him and he was picked up and thrown into a tree. Ever so slowly, things started to black out.
Rich listened to the door as the commotion on the other side ended. He didn’t like the sound of it. He was terrified. He had turned on the camera’s all over the campus, and saw what Davis did to the others. It sent chills through his spine. He heard Yvette come up behind him and say, {Do you think he got past Darrett?}
He heard the door start to open and he pulled her to the locker room where all their uniforms were. {Yes. He’s in.} He couldn’t put it any other way. He could see the fear in her eyes. She had less to fear than he did. He was the one that sent Davis to jail. He was the one who help apprehend Davis.
In the previous room, Rich heard Davis yell, "Come out, Rich, I want to talk to you." Rich knew better than that. Davis wanted to kill him, and God knows what to Yvette. He took Yvette’s hand and pulled her through the locker room. He was looking for a good spot to hide. The room had been divided into separate sections, so both the gents and the ladies could prep, and there was a shower room for them to clean up. However, it was set up so each got privacy. Each stall had curtains around it.
As they ran through to the opposite door, the door that led to the pool, Rich heard one of the curtains rip. He didn’t know which one, but he said to his love, {Look out.} She looked and it happened at once. All the curtains came down. The first one tripped them up, and they fell onto a waiting curtain.
Yvette was almost frantic, and he could tell. She started to get up, but the curtains were mummifying them. {Oh no, not the restraints again.} He could see that she started to tense up and that she was trying to cut her way through, but it was no use. It was happening to him too, but he tried to wiggle out of them.
At one point he couldn’t move and he said, {Hon, we are in deep trouble.} He noticed that she had stopped moving too, but during their struggles, they ended up facing each other. More of Davis’ sick humor. He wanted them facing each other when they died.
He then heard that voice he didn’t want to hear. "Well, well, I see you got nice and cozy for me." Rich looked at Davis. The maniac smiled at him.
Rich just said, "You are sick. I saw what you did to my friends. They won’t let you do this. They’ll get here and stop you." At least that was what he hoped. He looked over at Yvette and she was terrified.
Davis leaned over the two and said, "I bet this is Miss Cassidy. I don’t know what you did, but I’m surprised you found such a lovely lady." Rich’s blood boiled as Davis put a hand on her.
Rich heard Yvette’s reaction to the touch, as she said in fear, {He’s touching me. Don’t let him...you know} He knew what she meant. He was afraid Davis would try that.
Davis then put something in their ears as he said, "Now I bring you the music. I thought you two could do with a special song of passing, since that little cocoon you two are in will be crushing you to death by the time the song is over."
Rich head the music start. It was "Candle In The Wind". As the song was playing, he felt the prison he was in getting smaller. Eventually, both he and Yvette were touching, but it would have been different if they weren’t getting crushed to death. He heard Yvette say, {I never thought it would end like this. I mean, I thought we’d be married before we died.}
The bonds had gotten tighter as he said, {I would have thought that we would have children before we died.} He gasped, struggling for his breath. He heard Davis laughing in delight. He looked Yvette in the eyes and said, {One last kiss.}
{One last kiss.} She gasped for breath and then they started to kiss. He waited to hear a cracking noise. It would have been their bones. He heard a click and saw a light. It was Davis with a camera.
He heard Davis go, "Now this is priceless, two lovers getting squashed to death." Rich noticed that Davis was holding the photo, and it happened. A blast incinerated the photo. He saw Davis spin around only to go flying over them and through the door with a fiery blast. He felt someone reach at his ear, and he could move and breathe again.
He stopped kissing Yvette and looked up. It was Sean. "Well Skitz, that was close for ye and Penance, wasn’t it?"
"Thought we wouldn’t live through it, Banshee. Now let’s take out the trash." He tensed up for battle. They ran into the pool room and saw that Chamber and Soundwave were basically fighting it out. Rich knew that Chamber needed help.
He turned to Yvette and said, {Penance, love, go wide right. I’ll go wide left. We follow the shadows and strike from behind.}
He watched as she held up a claw and said, {Gladly. I didn’t like the constriction trick he did.} With that the two headed out. He just hoped Banshee would do his thing at the right time.
Jonothan Starsmore was angry. He didn’t like what Soundwave did to Paige, and he didn’t want to know what the blighter was going to do to her. He took another blast and Soundwave and said, <I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Husk.>
Soundwave just smiled and said, "You liked her better that way. I thought you would." He went to blast the blighter again and Soundwave punched him down. As he started to stand, he noticed two shadows moving behind Soundwave. That distraction allowed for Soundwave to kick him again, knock the walkman off of him, and the headset off his head. Davis looked at him and said, "Now, to incapacitate you, and your teacher."
Jono looked back and yelled <BANSHEE, NOW!>. He wasn’t going to be manipulated by this prat.
Soundwave looked up in shock and said, "No. It can’t be. Banshee’s are female." Sean started yelling at that point. The sonic scream was not pleasant, but to Soundwave it was devastating. Jono watched as the boy screamed in agony. "Stop it, stop the noise." Jono watched as the two shadows lunged at the device on Soundwave’s back. "No, my sound machine."
Jono just yelled, <Good work, Skitz and Penance.> The two circled around and started to slowly advance. Jono faced the fugitive and said, <It ends here.>
Jono was shocked when Soundwave did a foot sweep. The boy knocked him over in a way that sent the walkman over to his feet. "Not by a long shot." The boy tossed the ruined machine at Rich. Jono turned to see Rich fly into the pool. Sean stopped his scream and ran to dive in. It was all Soundwave needed and Jono realized it. Yvette had run to the pool to, but the boy said, "I’ll be back. I always Hang Tough." The boy had a tape on him, and put it in the walkman. In an instant, the boy disappeared.
Jono turned to face Sean and Yvette as they pulled Rich out of the pool. <Sorry, he got away.>
Rich was gasping as he said, "It’s ok. He has to rethink everything. He’s determined, but right now, he needs to rebuild. That unit was one of a kind." Jono helped get Rich out of the building.
Sean then said, "Right now, we have a couple of students that need to recover from this ordeal. If Soundwave makes another appearance here, we need to be ready. Jono, get Darrett and get him to the infirmary.
<Agreed. I hope Daria and Mondo manage to get Monet free.>
He noticed the look of worry on Yvette’s eyes as she said, "What happened?"
<Soundwave had her thinking she was restrained like you, except non mobile.> He saw Yvette chuckle. He wondered if she found it funny that that happened to Monet. He didn’t dwell on it. They had survived, and there was fear from everyone that they wouldn’t.
*************************************************
He watched the scene from his lair. Davis had failed him again, but the boy would keep trying. When he had first learned of Richard Cale Jr., he wanted the boy dead then. The boy was too dangerous to him. The time was nearing. He knew a confrontation would lead to the boy taking the charge of the family title, and then he thought about it. He smiled wickedly at the thought. "Ozymantius, come here."
He watched as the stone covered man entered the room. "You summoned me, sire."
He looked down at his first minion. "Contact the Orphan Maker, I want him to make an orphan out of Richard Cale Jr."
The minion looked at him puzzled, "Don’t you want him dead, sire."
"With his family’s title and the time approaching, he is dead, and I’m sure his love will be put to a good home with Emplate." He watched as the man left the room. He turned back to the screen and said, "Enjoy what’s left of your life, young one, for En Sabah Nur will end it for you soon."
The End...For Now.
