"Is this the part where you tell us about your plan to eliminate us, and then leave us, untied, in a room with seven unlocked doors, all of which lead to the outside world? Or is this not an Austin Powers sequel?"
Regent turned his head to look at Saul, who was unimpressed with the death threat we'd all just received. Though his face was still obscured, the man behind the machinations that had led to our capture and imprisonment appeared to be getting irritated with our teammate's flippancy. "Your last thought may be a wish that it had indeed been so, Slumber."
"I'm gettin' sick of your little threats, chump." Ryan, sounding much like John would have, spoke up, expressionless. "If you're gonna ice us here, today… then the least you owe us is an explanation."
"I agree, Threads." He came around the front of the desk, Kathleen slightly behind him to his right, as he reached up to pull the hood back. As it fell, it revealed the face of a middle-aged man whose receding hairline gave him a sort of natural widow's peak. Black eyes stared out from sunken pits, gleaming with a joyful malice. Everything about him that was not obscured by the cloak's royal blue was dark, somehow. I felt a chill, realizing that to this man, lives held no value. He could take or leave as many as he wanted. We were next.
…or perhaps not. Beside me, John slammed into animation, and hurled himself with all his strength at Regent, snarling. The prey merely smirked as Kathleen reached over and grabbed the back of John's shirt, and with a grunt of effort, tossed him against the wall behind us. He straightened himself up and took his place back in line, still silent, but the life was back in his eyes. He stared straight at Regent, eyes burning with hatred.
"I see that one of you needs no explanation. John remembers me from days of old. Don't you, John?" He leaned in close to John, maliciously grinning. "How's Marisol, John?" Regent slid backwards, anticipating a swing that never came. He looked surprised. "I see that the years have taught you control. I never thought you'd learn."
Quietly, John spoke. "This is the kind of sick bastard that would off a little girl, Ryan. Regent is Stanley Thornton."
Thornton gave the thumbs-up sign. "Very good detective work, John! I always told Alexander you were in the wrong leg of the federal trousers. You should have joined up with the Bureau." Seeing that John was going to say no more, he shrugged. "Suit yourself, Earlywine. I never pegged you for the quiet type. I'll go on.
"Well, boys, I gathered you together today for one monumental reason: I really, really don't like your boss here. That, and I don't like mutants in general. I decided to combine both of my… dislikes… into one easy-to-dispose of package by reinstituting Zero Tolerance as a corporately-funded program, starting with you fellas for guinea pigs!"
He strutted around proudly in front of his desk, about to continue his rhetoric. Saul interrupted. "So, it's kind of like a twisted Reese's peanut butter cup thing, right? 'You got your blind hatred of mutants in my envy of John Earlywine! Well, you got your envy of John Earlywine…'" He was cut off, wincing in pain, as Kathleen punched him in the stomach.
"I tire of your attempts at levity, Pickford." He nodded at Ms. Dougal. "Thank you, Kathleen. Some mutants have uses, I have discovered. Such as convincing the lot of you that my little additions to your otherworldly trip were the real thing." He walked around John in circles. "Such as convincing your leader that he was head-over-heels for someone that he didn't even know… and convincing you genetic freaks to lead an ambush on my new home."
Saul wasn't giving up, gasping for breath as he was. "You know, Stan, I can't help but notice that you seem to have issues with mutants. Tell the group how you really feel… get it off your chest."
Thornton ignored him, concentrating on John. "Do you even know why you're here, John? Why I didn't just start with someone else? You made NACL look bad with your final run, because you let your little mutie friend here hightail it for the woods." Little? I outsized this pipsqueak by at least a foot overhead and across the shoulders. "You made us all look bad to some very important people, and you cost me my promotion to the big time."
"Killing Rachel wasn't enough, Stanley?" John's eyes were on the floor. "She was just a kid. Her abilities were passive in nature, and she looked a little different than anyone else. You violated the integrity of a safehouse to get at her. That alone cost you any promotion you may have been bucking for. Don't blame me for your own psycho, homicidal mistakes."
"We lost a mutant, and so I made you lose a mutant. Simple math, Earlywine."
"No, Stanley. Simple math states that two plus two equals fuck you. Complex math is the probability of which one of us is going to leave here in a body bag." John still did not lift his eyes, and his tone never changed. He spoke matter-of-factly.
I had to act before this degenerated into a battle of machismo... and I knew just the way to turn the situation to our advantage. "Do you think that you've won, Regent?" I asked. He whirled to face me, and stalked closer. "In the Bible, Saul chased David for decades, and he ultimately lost. All because of his envy. All because the people said that Saul had slain thousands…"
"…but David had slain ten-thousands," Saul finished. He'd caught on quickly. "And now, all those ones and zeroes are clicking into place for you. Isn't that right, Ryan?"
Ryan didn't answer. He'd already caught on, too. He was staring down at his wrist bonds.
"If you think for a moment that I'm letting you turn my moment of glory into a pointless Sunday school lesson, let me tell you that you're dead wrong. God can't help you now."
Thornton was interrupted by the brief whine that filled the room, and then a series of 'clinks' as four sets of bonds fell to the thin layer of carpet. "I beg to differ," Ryan said, reaching over to unlock John's inhibitor collar. It, too, fell to the ground with all four of our wrist bonds. Regent and Kathleen stared for a moment at the devices on the office floor, presumably paralyzed by surprise.
In that moment of inaction and silence, John finally lifted his head. He was smiling, teeth clenched.
"It's party time," he said.
With one hand, he grabbed Thornton by the collar of his cloak, and looked for just a moment at Kathleen. I saw his eyes briefly glow before he turned his full attention back to Regent, who looked understandably unsettled. John was still smiling as he said, "I'd say the odds just went up in my favor, Stanley."
I reached up to release my collar, knowing that I had to stop him from making the worst mistake he could ever make. Beside me, Saul released his, and leapt forward to restrain Kathleen and prevent her escape. As my collar fell to the ground, I was nearly flung backwards with the strange yet familiar senses that slammed into me. Once again, after over ten years, my connection with nature was re-established. I could once again feel the power of that connection - my sole real mutant power - and I took it, borrowing the bear's paws and strength. I reached out and gently plucked Regent out of John's hands.
John turned angrily, and his jaw dropped. I could only imagine what I looked like. It had been ten years since I had been able to feel that natural bond, much less use it. I decided to take advantage of the situation, and ask the man himself. "So, Regent," I said, casually, "what did you do to me to return the full extent of my powers?"
Thornton stammered for a few seconds. He eventually choked out, "…chip… implant…"
"You know, Mr. Thornton, so much of my adult life has been interfered with by implants of various kinds. Are you saying that you, who I currently hold in my paws, put yet another implant into me?"
His eyes widened; he was in the grip of sheer terror. "NO! No! I… took it out of you… thought it was a safety precaution you'd been given in case you were ever captured…"
I grinned. "Ah, very good. So long as we understand each other." I gave him a pat on the head with one huge paw that - honestly - unintentionally knocked him out. I took a look at him hanging limply from my other paw and sighed. "I forgot how strong I could get."
A look around the room brought me the wary looks from my teammates, and I could smell the scent of absolute fear from Kathleen Dougal. "Oh, dear. I would imagine you would like an explanation…"
John rallied himself admirably, and was calm when he asked, "Well, I'm not used to you looking like a bear wearing clothes. Since when can you turn into animals?"
"No, no… it's not like that. I merely borrow traits from animals. I just happen to change appearance slightly and look more like them while I'm doing it."
Saul blinked. "You have a snout, man."
I shrugged and nodded. "It's part of the package." I let Thornton fall to the ground with a thud and let the abilities go. Relieved looks came from all around. "As you can see, I do return to normal."
Ryan was nodding, the look in his eyes obviously placing him in what Saul called "scientist mode." "I see… probably that chip that Thornton spoke about was an implementation of Weapon X, meant to limit your abilities to what they were comfortable with. Thornton's removal of that module has more than likely removed the limitation, and you're back up to full power… however weird it seems for us." He coughed nervously. "By the way, thanks for the coded suggestion. I'm surprised that I didn't think of it myself, and that Regent didn't figure out what you meant."
"Think nothing of it, Ryan. Regent's chances of knowing what your full capabilities are were slim. Of anyone, only those of us on the team know of your ability to communicate directly with machines. The binary references were improvised, and therefore admittedly awkward."
"Yeah, but the Bible?"
John grinned. "God works in mysterious ways." His grin faded as his gaze lighted on Kathleen.
I stepped up beside him, speaking quietly. "You realize that because you're my friend, I will be forced to keep you from making any kind of… final… decision regarding our prisoners. I will not have their blood, however foul, on your hands."
"Thanks, Wolf," he whispered. "I'm counting on you. I'm not thinking too straight right now." Louder, he said, "Gather around, Variable X. We've got to discuss what we're going to do with our prisoners."
Saul rolled his eyes. "Okay, good. This is the opening I've been waiting for. Now that we're back on topic, I have a question. How come Mata Hari here isn't making a teleportational break for it, or convincing us to pretty pleeeeeaaaase let her go with her weird emotion control?"
John looked at Saul and smiled. "Easy enough to answer, buddy. I've telepathically shut off her powers." Her eyes widened in sudden realization as John went on, "I've made it impossible for her to ever again utilize that part of her brain. Genetically, she's a mutant… but she's more cleanly and selectively lobotomized in that respect than a brain surgeon could have done with a scalpel or three." He locked eyes with her. "You're done, sweetheart."
Ryan whistled appreciatively. Saul reluctantly released her, setting her gently beside Regent on the floor. I knew we'd have a group meeting about this later; in Saul's eyes, I could see the same uncertainty regarding John's action that I had.
"Okay," John began. "This is the plan." He began to explain.
End of Part 7