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X-Calibre Trilogy: Dead Run
By : jwieda
Category: X-men Comics > AU - Alternate Universe
Views: 1147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men comics, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story. - Chapter List
We found the door out of the cavern within a few minutes and
one of Jonathan’s spies went to work on picking the locks. I could sense people
waiting on the other side and warned them of this; as soon as the door was open
both sides opened fire. I was kept towards the back of the crowd while those
trained to fight went to work. Sheer force of numbers served to cut down
Richthoffen’s men and we began to advance as a group through the labyrinthine
passages beyond, a dozen or so armed Sicarii defectors stationed at that door
to secure it against future attack.The going was surprisingly quick – it seemed that
Richthoffen had been operating on a near-skeleton crew. Jonathan suspected that
they hadn’t anticipated being invaded, and certainly hadn’t seen it coming from
the inside out like this. They’d expected their privacy, he figured, and likely
further counted on the corrupted Sicarii to keep the rest of us away.As we went along our group pared itself down, clusters of
six breaking off each time we encountered another split in the tunnels. We were
whittled down to around one hundred people by the time we arrived at the castle
itself, and we continued to splinter off to secure the various wings of the
estate. Each time we encountered Nazi personnel we made sure they didn’t get
away; they were either killed or held for questioning – usually it was the
questioning that prevailed. When we made it to the uppermost floors where the
bedrooms were, we discovered that most of our hosts had retreated there to wait
for our arrival. They felt uncertain for the most part, as they didn’t seem to
know quite what to expect from us now. I detected Richthoffen down one of the
hallways; she was giving orders as her thoughts raced through her head to
recall everything her intelligence had told her about the “Feuer-ausüben
Uberfrau [fire-wielding superwoman]”, trying to work out a way to neutralize
me. I also picked up from her that Nightcrawler was indeed dead . . . and
curiously enough, she felt a certain amount of remorse over that.Mon Dieu . . . had I been the only woman he’d encountered
who’d not been attracted to him? And had he ever realized that? I shook the
questions away – I’d have my answers later if I ever was bold enough to ask it
of him.“Set me down,” I whispered to Mathias. “She doesn’t know
what happens to me after I use the fire.”He nodded, understanding the advantage that gave us.
Thankfully I was more steady on my feet and could stand on my own. Hopefully a
minor display of our power would be enough for now.“There are a dozen soldiers, plus three doctors and
Richthoffen,” I informed Jonathan. “Four are in her office—“ I pointed to one
of the doors, “—and the rest are there, with Nightcrawler.” I pointed to
another door towards the end of the hall.“What are they up to?” Jonathan asked in a low voice.
“In the office, they are doing something with her records.
Destroying them I think. The others . . .” I bristled as I realized how little
time we had now to fix things. “We have to get there, now!”“Aye!” Jonathan shouted and quickly divided our forces
between the two rooms. The majority of us, including myself, Magdalena,
Mathias, and Adeleine, headed for the further room.“Scheisse!” Richthoffen shouted as the door swung open.
“Geöffnetes Schiessen auf ihnen [Open fire on them]! Lassen Sie sie nicht durch
[Don’t let them through]!”“Mein Frau, es gibt nicht
genügend Zeit [Ma’am, there isn’t enough time]—“ one of the doctors began to
protest as the bullets began to fly around us all. “Die Arbeit wird verdorben! Wir
können nicht [The work will be corrupted! We cannot]—““Ich erteilte Ihnen einen Auftrag, Doktor [I gave you an
order, doctor]. Sie befolgen es [You will obey it]!”“Erhalten Sie weg von ihm [Get away from him]!!!” Magdalena
screamed when she saw what they were about to do. “Sie Barbaren! Lassen Sie ihn
allein [You barbarians! Leave him alone]!”Terror, grief, and rage were streaming off my friend, and it
had nothing to do with the newly-dead men around us. As the full impact of the
scene before us sank into her mind I found myself deeply disturbed as well. The
mortuary and forensic equipment in the room suggested that they’d been about to
begin dissecting him.The doctor didn’t get to obey the order, as he fell to the
floor with a neat bullet hole in his forehead courtesy of one of our
sharpshooters. Another doctor reached for the instruments and got his fingers
blown off before he could pick them up; he was dead an instant later as well.. . . what’s the matter, little girl? . . .
My eyes widened as I heard the voice and I whirled around,
trying to find the speaker.. . . all out of matches? . . .
Rounds began to go off behind me, taking down the first line
of people in the rear of the group. We reacted quickly, trying to find the
gunmen to return fire, but there was no one to be seen. I heard a scuffle of
feet and then the enemy fire came from my left, still unseen except for the
bullets racing towards us.. . . surrender yourselves now and you will be allowed the
honor of dying in front of my emperor for your interference . . .“We surrender toone!one!” we answered, shielding those of us who
were left alive with our fire.“What about Nightcrawler??” Magda’s voice inquired from
within the flames.I reached over and snatched his body away from the bed
before they could begin the operation, depositing it gently on the floor before
me. More rounds were going off, but they fell harmlessly to the wooden floor as
melted slag before they could touch us.“You are a fool, Suzanne!” Richthoffen’s voice carried over
the gunshots. “You have nowhere to hide anymore, not even America!
I know where all your stops are for your resistance. I know where the stops are
across the ocean. It’s over! Give yourself up now!”I scowled and we reached out towards her mind, digging
inside to find that she was telling the truth. Kurt had spilled his guts before
dying, telling her in detail about his entire journey through our world and
what he’d found along the way. I saw now that the corruption within the Sicarii
had been deep, running a vein through all of the Cabals on some level. Everyone
loyal to the cause was a refugee now. I swore mentally in my native French and
turned my attention to finding who our invisible friend was. The mind I
encountered didn’t feel like any other I’d encountered before.. . . get out of my head, witch! . . .
I stumbled back as some kind of energy blast made its way
through the fire to hit me squarely in the chest. My barricade faltered for a
moment as well, but surprisingly I recovered quickly enough to lash out with
the fire again, this time zeroing in on the owner of the alien mind and
slamming him back into the nearest wall. He grunted and whatever illusion he
had on failed upon impact. When it dropped it revealed a group of twenty or so SS
– that explained where the bullets had been coming from – as well as a man
wearing a peculiar set of red armor. I walled us off again while keeping my
grip on the strange man, holding him immo aga against the wall as I dug in
again. He tried to push me out but had a hard time of it; as I realized his
native tongue was familiar to me but not because it was Earth-based he managed
to touch a col ool on his left arm bracer.“We will finish this later!” he shouted as a deep rumbling
bass became audible from the other side of the outside wall.“No!” Richthoffen’s voice hollered back in reply. “We need Darkhoelme’s
body for the autopsy!”The odd weapon blew a hole through the outside wall,
revealing the source of the noise. “Forget about that! You’ll have a far better
trophy for your leaders later.”“Oh my God,” someone breathed as the hovering ship came into
view after the dust cleared. A gangplank had been extended and the Nazis were
finishing boarding; the walkway retreated and the aircraft shot away almost
silently as the doors were closing.“That looked like some kind of star ship,” someone else
frowned. “I’ve never seen anything on Earth move like that.”“Are you sure it’s not something they’ve had in production?”
Mathias asked the woman.“Not that I’m aware of. I’ll find out if Jonathan knows
anything about it.” She ducked out of the room, guns in hand, to head back down
the hall. She was met half-way by Jonathan and the others, and they filed back
into the room together.“Okay, describe exactly what you saw,” he was asking her.
“It looked rounded, and seemed to have three main nodes to
it. No visible thrusters or engines – I can’t see how it was staying aloft. The
only sound it made was that low rumbling; I more felt it than heard it.” She
tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It just hovered there while they got on
board, and it took off like a shot. I’ve never seen anything move like that
before.”“And then we’ve got these queer little things to deal with,”
Jonathan glanced down at something in his hand that looked like a common wrist
watch. “None of us have heard anything about such advanced technology. Very
odd.”“Assuming, of course,” Adeleine timidly picked up the watch
to look at it more closely, “that our ex-comrades didn’t keep that information
from you. What is this thing, anyway?”“I pulled it off one of the SS. It seemed to render him
invisible before it failed for some reason.”“That man must have been controlling each of those units
somehow,” I speculated as I considered the peculiar gadget. “When his illusion
disappeared, so did those of the others.” I handed it back to Jonathan. “It may
also have some sort of telepathic block built in; I had no idea the cloaked men
were here.”“Which means that they knew about your . . . abilities.”
Jonathan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Can you sense anyone else
here now besides our people?”“No,” I frowned. “But in light of this, I can’t promise that
I’m accurate right now.”“No problem,” he sighed again and took stock of us. “Alright,
let’s go back through and make sure this place is secure.”“Wait, what about Nightcrawler?” Magdalena
was kneeling beside Kurt’s body, her fingers absently stroking his hair. “We
can’t just leave him like this.”“We’ll have to bury him later,” Jonathan frowned, sadness in
his eyes. “We don’t have the time right now.”“No . . . Suz, your prophecy . . .” she faltered, glancing
up at me. “This can’t end like this. It just can’t.”I felt tears sting my eyes as I knelt down on his other
side. His skin was cold; he’d been gone for a while now and I wondered if it
was in fact too late to do anything about it.No, reach out, Little
One. He is still near-by; he does not yet realize that his body has expired.My vision blurred and I slid out of my body again; everything
else around me seemed to have melted into an incomprehensible muddle of colors.
The only thing I could see clearly was Kurt, who was sitting quietly in the
corner on the floor, looking confused. He looked up and tilted his head as he
fixed his gaze in my direction.“Suzanne?” he asked softly. “Where are we? Why is this place
deserted?”“Ah . . .” I struggled to find the right thing to tell him.
“What do you remember last?”“Avalon,” he answered simply. “I was back in Avalon with my
mother and Cain. I blinked and wound up here, but I don’t know where here is.
It isn’t Cold Grey – it’s too warm for that.”I had no idea where Avalon and Cold Grey were; I settled on
part of the truth for my answer to his questions. “We’re in Switzerland
right now. I’ll help you find everyone else in just a moment. Just do me a
favor, okay?”“What?”
“Stay right here. Don’t move.”
“ . . . Okay.” He frowned a little but stayed put.
I concentrated on finding my body again and slid back in,
opening my eyes to find Magda shaking my shoulder.“Hey, are you alright?” Her brow was creased with worry.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I glanced at the corner of the room that
Kurt had been sitting in a moment before.“It’s not too late to bring him back, is it?”
“Oh, Magda,” I sighed heavily. I did not want to face this.
I didn’t even want to think about it. “He is ready to cross over . . .” I bit
my lip; there had to be another way . . .“But you can bring him back,” Magda’s eyes were fixed on
Kurt’s body. “The Metatron has called back the
dead before.”“You forget the rest of those legends,” I spoke slowly. “You
forget the cost.”“I haven’t forgotten.” She straightened up and looked me in
the eye. I felt my stomach tighten when I sensed her nervous determination.
“When the flame has been extinguished, another must be used to rekindle that
life.”“Magda, you—“
“I offer myself in exchange for him.” She squared her
shoulders and set her jaw.I saw Adeleine close her eyes on tears; Mathias put a
comforting arm around her shoulder as he bowed his head. I struggled to keep
from sobbing. “But you’ll die,” I whispered.“I know,” Magda’s voice trembled. “But he still has work to
do. As his priestess, it is my duty to do everything in my power to make sure
he is well enough to do what he must.”“This isn’t just about duty, is it? You’re asking this
because you—““He will never love me,” she cut me off with a whisper,
tears welling in her eyes. “I’m not the one meant to fulfill the prophecy with
him.”“I never saw who will bear his children,” I admitted. “But I
have foreseen Miriam. She is unfit to consent.”“Then it would be someone else!” Magda cried. “Someone who
is not me. Please, Suzanne,” she leaned forward and took my hands in hers, “we
have been like sisters. I will miss you, and I know you will miss me. But this
is what I can do to bring about the justice Allah is preparing for humanity.
This is my charge, my duty. Nightcrawler must be revived to fulfill his duty.
He’s been gone for hours now; you know the time is short. Please . . .”We hugged then, and as I embraced her for the last time I
began to weep. Unfair, this is so unfair . . . but she was right. It had to be
done, and quickly.“I’m ready,” Magda sniffed as she pulled away from me. She
then leaned down, whispered something in Kurt’s ear, and kissed his cheek.I swallowed at the lump in my throat as I tapped into the
fire and the power it contained once again. I reached out and touched Magdalena
with it, somehow grasping her life-force and pulling it out of her. She exhaled
softly as she slumped to the floor, and as this happened I placed her fire into
Kurt’s lifeless body. He awoke a split second later, gasping and coughing and
shaking as he looked wildly around the room. I wasn’t the only one who was
worried when he convulsed, but I understood when he struggled to lean up and
vomited. I moved away from his sickness to go to his other side and rubbed his
back. “You will be alright. Your body is rejecting the poisons they gave you.”“What . . . what happened?” he asked a moment later as he
turned to face me. As he did he saw Mathias shifting Magdalena’s
weight into his arms as tears slid down his cheeks. “What happened?” he asked
again, visibly shaken when Adeleine closed Magda’s eyes.“She chose wisely,” I answered quietly as they bore her body
from the room. “She always does.”Kurt exhaled shakily and looked around. I guessed from his
facial expression as he looked around the ruined room that something had
clicked mentally; he was still shaking a little as he sat up, then stood and
stretched the stiffness out of his body.“Miriam and Peter . . . where are they? Are they well?”
“Peter is downstairs; he didn’t look well when we came in.
We don’t know yet where Miriam is.”“I shall go find her, then. Do you havesworswords and
armor?” He was bending over backwards now in a way that I was positive would
have been impossible for anyone else and his tail was coiling into an equally
contorted spiral; as he did this his vertebrae popped in succession and
crackled again when he straightened back up. “Mein
Gott,” he muttered to himself, “I’ve never been so stiff before . . .” He
slowly unfurled the tail as though it hurt to do so.“You’ve never been a stiff before,” I grimaced at the
noises. His eyes widened when he looked over at me. “You died,” I continued
quietly. “She sacrificed herself to bring you back.”His expression was unreadable; he stared at the door Mathias
and Adeleine had disappeared through for a brief moment.“As for your weaponry, it is not here,” I answered. “Heidelmann’s
sister has them back in Berlin.
She has kept them for souvenirs.”He closed his eyes and I heard him swear mentally, his hasty
tirade accompanied by a mixture of nostalgia and frustration.“But you should rest, regain your strength. Come on, this
floor is secured now. You can get set up in another room—““Nein,” he spat. “I will find Miriam. You said you already
have Peter?”“Yes,” I sighed. Stubborn, as always . . . “He is being
brought up here now. He was responsive to us; I think he’ll be fine with some
medical attention.”“Gut [Good],” he nodded sharply. “Any idea where she is?”
“Underground somewhere.”
He turned to face me and offered me his hand; I clasped my
fingers around his wrist and accepted his help up.“Suzanne!” His eyes widened again as hokedoked me over. “You
look terrible! Are you well??”“I’ll be fine, I just need to rest a while.”
He stared at me, unconvinced.
“I was half-dead for the past week,” I smiled wanly. “I just
woke up today. I’ve had to work with Metatron
. . .” I blinked and focused. “I’ve had to work with her four times today. But
I’ll be okay, I promise.”“If you’re sure . . .” He still looked skeptical.
“I’m sure.” I walked with him out into the hallway, where we
saw Peter being carried in someone’s arms. The group kicked in one of the
locked doors, took a look around, and went inside. We joined them and as I
looked over Peter’s abused form I swallowed down some bile. I could only
imagine what he’d been through.Kurt stood silently over the now-unconscious form of his
apprentice, flexing his hands into fists. “Are any of them still alive?”The shocked men hesitated before answering that they did
have some Nazis as prisoners on the lower levels, and that they were currently
being questioned.“Do we have Miriam’s location yet?” He kept his gaze on
Peter.They answered in the negative, which caused Kurt’s fists to
ball up tighter. “Where exactly are they being held? I want to talk to them.”I’d never seen Kurt’s worst work first-hand, but I didn’t
have to read him to know that his idea of “talking” would involve a lot of
pain. He seemed beyond human emotion at that point; his tone was cold and his
voice harsher than his accent made it normally. I suspected that when he was
done interrogating them, they would not be in a condition fit for another round
of questioning.He told me to stay put and get some rest, then left with two
of the men. The other two began dressing the worst of Peter’s wounds while I
was pushed into the soft armchair in the far corner of the room. I struggled to
stay awake but finally gave up the fight when I heard someone snoring softly,
jerked to attention, and realized I’d heard myself.----------------------------------------------------------
When I awoke several hours later I found myself wrapped in a
quilt, still in the armchair. Peter was being attended to by one of the girls
in training for the Priesthood – Alina, it looked like. There was a pounding on
the door and two of our men trying to hold it shut. Ah, so there had been more
of them . . . it hurt, but I reached out with my innate talent and touched
their minds, sending them random thoughts until they were so confused that they
wandered away.“They’re gone now,” I yawned, and one of the men looked over
his shoulder at me.“You shouldn’t be doing that. You need to rest.”
I gestured dismissively. “It was hardly anything. But I’ll
settle down now.” I rose and stretched, headed for the suite’s w.c., and
returned to pull the quilt back over myself to sleep some more.----------------------------------------------------------
It was late in the evening when I woke yet again. Only one
man was guarding us now; I asked him the time and our status.“It’s nine thirty Berlin,
and we got the all-clear from Nightcrawler a half hour ago. We’re secured for
now.”“Where is he?” I uncurled myself under the quilt.
“Still interrogating our P.O.W.s. He’s bound and determined
to find that girl tonight.”“That’s understandable.” I got up and walked to the bed.
“How is he?” I gestured to Peter.“He’ll pull through.” The man lit a cigarette. “Some broken
bones, lots of blood loss, but he’ll be okay.”“You’re sure?” I looked over him, noting the tubes that ran
into his arms and the steady but slow beep of his heart monitor.“Fairly sure. He’s on pain killers, but he woke up and
screamed bloody murder when we set his leg. Then he swore worse than any sailor
I’ve heard and demanded a smoke before passing out again.”I laughed softly and brushed absently at his hair. “If he
had strength enough to swear and smoke, he’ll be okay.” I’d known Peter for
several years; he was Sicarii before I joined up at fifteen and I saw fairly
quickly that he was very tough. He always took a lot of responsibility for us
and for his late brother. He’d told me once that he felt so old sometimes . . .
that he felt like he’d been robbf hif his childhood. He wasn’t well-liked by a
lot of our comrades, but he never seemed to care. I’m here to do a job, girl, not win any popularity contests . . .
That job, in his own amusingly vulgar vernacular, was to “fuck up Chancellor
Shithead and his brainless lot of goose-steppers” in any way he could.“You like him, eh?” the man asked as he put out his
cigarette, breaking me away from my memories.“Well . . . somebody has to,” I blushed and stepped away.
“I’m going to go for a walk.”“Okay, I’ll let them know. They’ve got food on in the
kitchen, two floors down from here.”“Thanks,” I smiled and retreated from the room.
I slipped down to the kitchen and felt my stomach rumble almost
immediately as I smelled the food. Even at this late hour a line was winding
through of people making up plates of sausage, eggs, buttered toast, broetchen [small hard rolls] . . . Heidelmann had had a
fully stocked larder, it seemed, and we were taking full advantage of it.“Haben sie Orangensaft, Mutti [Do they have orange juice,
mommy]?”“Ich weiss es nicht, liebling [I don’t know, sweety].”
“Ich wünsche Orangensaft [I want orange juice]!”
“Wir sehen, was sie haben, wann wir dort erhalten, Uwe. Haben
Sie Geduld [We’ll see what they have when we get there, Uwe. Have patience].”I smiled as I stood behind the woman who was now shifting
her small child from one hip to the other. We shuffled along slowly and I tried
to ignore the pangs of hunger.“Wo ist der blaue Mann, Mutti? Ist er hier [Where is the
blue man, mommy? Is he here]?”“Nein. Der blaue Mann ging zu Sheol [No. The blue man went
to Sheol],” the boy’s mother answered quietly.“Warum ging er dort? Er schaute nicht krank [Why did he go
there? He didn’t look sick].”I didn’t hear her reply and I refrained from correcting the
woman. If our refugees didn’t know he was back from the dead it might have been
for a reason. I sighed and kept moving.We got to the front of the line about ten minutes later.
There was orange juice, much to the boy’s delight; I opted for grape juice to
go with my plate of food. My head was down to select an apple from the barrel
on the floor when I heard excited shouting sound from the tables near the far
doors.“Blick! Es ist Herr Nachtgleiskette [Look! It’s
Nightcrawler]!”“Er ist lebendig [He’s alive]!”
“Wie ist das möglich? Ich hörte [How is that possible? I
heard]. . .”Kurt smiled tightly at the crowded room and gave a little
wave of acknowledgement. He seemed embarrassed by all the attention he was
drawing as he headed for the line. One of the cooks stopped him as he passed to
offer a plate and he frowned.“Nein, warte ich wie jeder sonst. Diese Leute sind
hungriger, als ich bin [No, I’ll wait like everyone else. These people are more
hungry than I am].” He began to move when the little boy stopped him.“Herr Blau [Mister blue]!”
Kurt stopped and regarded the boy patiently, if a little
wearily.“Hier. Danke für die Nahrung, Herr Blau [Here. Thank you for
the food, mister blue].”Kurt took the roll from the child and smiled broadly – a
genuine smile that was rare for him.“Nicht zu danken, Uwe [It’s nothing to thank me for, Uwe],”
he tousled the boy’s hair. Then, to his mother, “Füehlen Sie und Ihre Familie
gut, Frau Schmidt [Are you and your family well, Mrs. Schmidt]?”The woman blushed at his remembrance of her. “Ja, danke
sehr, Herr Nachtgleiskette [Yes, thank you very much, mister Nightcrawler].”“Gut [Good].” He smiled again and headed for the back of the
line.“Take a seat, Herr Blau,” I smiled at him when he approached
several minutes later, food in hand and coffee in tail.He chuckled and sat next to me. “Danke [Thanks]. How are you
feeling?”“Better. Sleep helps.” I took a small bite of egg.
“So does caffeine,” he muttered and drank from his mug.
“Any luck?” I asked softly.
“Not yet, but I’ll make some,” he smiled grimly. “How is
Peter? Have you seen him?”“He still looks bad, but he’ll live. He’s already had a
cigarette, or so I’ve heard.”“Mouth?”
It took me a second, but then I chuckled. “It was running.”
“Three days, then,” Kurt jokingly speculated and winked at
me. We both laughed a little bit before lapsing into a tense silence to finish
eating. “Well, back to work,” Kurt grunted and rose from the table. He began to
leave, stopped, and turned back around. “Is she alright?”I took a slow deep breath and shook my head. He sighed,
nodded, and went to the hallway before teleporting.----------------------------------------------------------
I went back to Peter’s room and sat by his side for a while,
watching him sleep. I wished I could find Miriam for Kurt, but all I could do
was see the future; without the sigil, she was blind to the Metatron. When I
looked the scene that met me broke my heart, as it would break Kurt’s when it
came to pass . . . I saw her lying in a bed, eyes closed, Kurt at her side. She
was bruised and broken, and the sound of her breathing indicated that she was
gravely ill. He held her hands, kissed her cheeks, spoke to her, but it did no
good. Her mind was too shattered; she couldn’t understand his pleas to fight—“Since when do the dead hold wakes?”
I opened my eyes fully, dispelling the vision, and smiled as
best I could. We talked quite a long time; he didn’t know where Miriam was,
only that she was underground somewhere and obviously insane. He caught me up
on his past week – although he spared me the goriest of details – and I began
to tell him about the internal politics that had changed things so radically.
Our conversation ended suddenly with Mathias coming to better treat Peter’s
wounds after forcefully removing me from the room to get some more sleep . . .
but I was wide awake and restless only a few hours later, so I decided to
explore the building rather than rouse Peter from another bout of much-needed
rest.The place wimplimply huge. The top floor was all bedroom
suites, many of them occupied by those being treated for injuries. The second
floor was much the same, except less nicely furnished. I suspected the second
floor was servants’ quarters based on this. The ground floor was for leisure –
the kitchen, of course . . . dining rooms, sitting rooms, a billiards hall, a
screening room for films . . . I shook my head at the opulence. My father’s
home had been comfortable; Heidelmann’s castle was luxurious.I headed back to the kitchen to go to the cellars, which was
where the tunnels underground had ended when we came up. I traced my way
through them, holding up a flaming hand to light my way. Many of the side
tunnels were food storage – wine cellars, fruits, vegetables, grains, tinnedods.ods. It almost looked as though he’d been stocking up for an extended stay
for some reason.After the storage cellars ended the main tunnel sloped down
further into the mountain. As I descended I felt the air grow colder; after
twenty minutes I began to hear voices carrying up to me. The acics ics made
them hard to follow and I wound up in several different holding cells and
dungeon-like rooms before I found the correct branch. As I drew closer I began
to make out words . . .“-- know anything about that. I dealt with the boy, not
her.”“Why is it that I don’t believe you?”
My heart began to pound and I moved closer, morbid curiosity
getting the better of me. I peeked into the chamber in time to see Gustaf, one
of our oldest assassins, inject one of the detainees with something. He gave it
a minute to get into his system before asking again, with the same results.“Who was in charge of the woman?” Gustaf asked calmly.
“Erngardt,” the man blinked and tried to keep his head up.
“What is mister Erngardt’s first name?”
“Heinrich.”
“And is Heinrich Erngardt in the room right now?” Gustaf’s
tone was soothing.I dared to duck my head in further and saw several men
sitting bound and gagged on the floor, with Miska and Kurt standing over them.
The soldier indicated one of the bound men and he was dragged to his feet by
Kurt.“Where is she?” he asked softly, his voice almost purring as
he pulled the man’s gag away so he could speak.“Go to Hell, freak,” Erngardt
snarled in response.“Where is she?” Kurt’s teeth were gnashed together.
“Frau Richthoffen told me you were fond er. er. I can see
why; she is a very nice piece of ass for a Jewess,” the man grinned vulgarly.
Kurt was growling now, his tail weaving menacingly behind him, but Erngardt
seemed unafraid of him. “She’s got a good set of lungs on her too . . . I like
screamers, myself.”The tail came up to lash around the man’s neck, choking off
his words along with his supply of air.“Let him go!” Miska shouted. “Nightcrawler . . .” He moved
forward and took a chance by setting his hands on Kurt’s tail to attempt
unwrapping it. “He’s no good to us dead. Let him go.”Kurt’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t immediately release his
grip. I was surprised to find that Miska wasn’t able to budge it – for
something so long and thin, it had a lot of strength to it. “I will ask you one
more time, Erngardt – where is Miriam Shaham?”Erngardt gasped for air once it was available, taking a
moment before spitting in a raspy voice, “You’ll never find her, Darkhoelme.
She’s rotting in an unmarked grave, the same way you will be when we finally
kill you.”“Your problem isn’t killing me,” Kurt grinned so that his
fangs showed plainly. “Your problem is keeping me dead.”The Nazi’s eyes widened at that before Kurt teleported away.
My eyes widened as well and I felt my first good meal in weeks begin to cobackback up when Erngardt started screaming. Kurt came back out of the teleport
across the room and let go of the dress shirt. It hit the floor with the rest
of the man’s clothes . . . and his skin . . .“Sweet Jesus!” Gustaf gasped, his eyes riveted to what was
left of Erngardt. Miska, meanwhile, was muttering his horrified thoughts in
Hungarian.“I will not be so merciful to the next person I question!”
Kurt’s voice rose above the agonized wailing. “Now! Who wants to volunteer Ms.
Shaham’s location?”I ducked back around the corner and swallowed hard, my hands
pressed to my mouth to keep it shut. I heard the keening noises of the officer
grow quiet; I heard the sound of people vomiting.“You,” Kurt’s voice met my ears, “you know where she is,
don’t you?”Someone’s trembling voice answered a few seconds later,
“Y-yes, I-I-I . . . I know wh-where they p-puh-put her . . .” He proceeded to
explain in as great detail as he could manage where to find Miriam.I scanned the young man quickly and found that he was
telling the truth as he knew it. However, he had only heard this second-hand
from one of the others who was not in the room and, therefore, likely dead. I
feared Kurt would go completely mad if he went and couldn’t find her, so I
steeled myself and reached into Erngardt’s mind for confirmation. Then I took a
few deep breaths, threw up the widely-expected façade of the slightly
out-of-touch seer, and stepped forward so that I was visible in profile from
the doorway. I simply could not bear to look at the bloody result of Kurt’s
interrogation technique, so I kept my eyes riveted to the darkness before me.“He speaks the truth,” I declared softly. “She is this way.”
Kurt let go of the man who was little more than a boy and
walked towards me. Miska followed him, and I lit up my hand again and began to
walk. They followed wordlessly; the sound of gunshots echoed down the tunnel
and moments later I was joined by Gustaf. We kept our silence until we were far
underground in a place that was dank and smelled of mildew. I could feel her
now, but all I could feel was a sharp sense of unthinking panicked fear.“She is nearby,” I said quietly, stomach still churning
unpleasantly.“Where?” Gustaf asked in hushed tones.
“The boy said around the corner, when the tunnel turns,”
Kurt answered and sprinted ahead of us. “Here! There is fresh mortar here!” He
was clawing at the wall, throwing down chunks of rock. As he cleared away the
fresh masonry I could hear a faint whimpering whine.We all set to work on digging her out of the vertical grave.
The mortar was still wet in places; they had only recently bricked her up. We
cleared away the space in front of her head first so she could get fresh air
and then, as Miska held her upright by her shoulders, we finished taking down
the stones.“Miriam!” Kurt called her name and lifted her into his arms,
earning a noise that was more suited to a wounded dog than to a human being.
“It’s alright, liebe. I’m here; I won’t leave you again . . .” He bent his head
to kiss her brow and missing when she tried weakly to escape him.“It’s okay, liebchen . . .” He kept a tight grip on her.
“It’s over now. I’m here. It’s me, Kurt . . .”“She does not understand you,” I said quietly, laying a hand
gently on his arm. “Her mind is damaged, Kurt.”His golden eyes were the only light in the tunnel now and I
realized just how eerie they were. I suppressed a shiver and worked on
maintaining my calm. He was going to need it . . .“. . . How damaged?” He asked after a heartbeat’s
hesitation.“She cannot understand words,” I sighed. “But you must calm
her. Here,” I rested a hand on her forehead, “focus on your feelings for her.
No thoughts, only feelings. Soothe her as much as you can with feelings of
safety, love, and protection.”I hoped my idea would work. What I had in mind was a kind of
telepathic empathy . . . only betwehem,hem, and not from me. It was desperate,
but I didn’t know what else to do for them. I tapped into Kurt first, finding
that he’d let all his mental shields down to let me do whatever it was I would
do. I tapped in gently, lightly grasping his emotions and holding them between
my mental fingers.“Se>“Set aside your fear and nervousness,” I instructed, my mind
slipping into a trance state. “Think of good times . . . things that made you
both happy . . .”Flashes of grassy meadows came to me, the feel of a warm
body wrapped in arms and tail, glimpses of stained glass and heavy wooden beams
. . . I then touched Miriam’s mind to find horrific half-remembered visions of
abuse, the sensations of excruciating pain, feelings of loathing and
humiliation and shame . . . I grasped these as well and then put them together,
allowing them both to feel each other. Kurt’s emotions ached for an instant
before he focused again, drawing upon every ounce of love within himself and
distilling it into a soothing mental balm for the traumatized woman. Within
moments she was markedly more calm and let herself go limp in his arms, a
hesitant recognition tugging at the shredded remnants of her mind. My hand was
still on her brow so I felt when she tried to look up at him; he gazed down and
she grew more secure in his protection when she saw his eyes. It was funny that
those eyes could frighten so many but for her, even in such a disoriented
state, they were nothing but comfort.I slowly removed my hands from them both, concentrated on
maintaining the emotional bond, and led the way back aboveground. It was only
after we got her into a bedroom and attended to by Adeleine that Kurt began to
relax a slight measure. I just stood there in the hallway, feeling dazed from
the effort.“You can put yourself out now,” Gustaf whispered in my ear;
I looked down, saw my hands flaming, and recalled the fire into myself.- You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
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