| The Doctor's Trial; Weapon X on trial | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 20 2010, 03:14 PM (1,554 Views) | |
| Gorvar | Sep 24 2010, 08:06 AM Post #51 |
Self claimed fanfic critic.
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Anyone else getting a Lionel Hutz from the Simpsons vibe of him? |
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| LoganActor | Sep 24 2010, 09:52 AM Post #52 |
Plays Logan on TV!
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Heh. Maybe a little. |
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| Cat | Apr 29 2011, 02:44 PM Post #53 |
Secret Agent
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Hoping people will accept my apologisies for nearly a years delay Chapter 13 “His name was Gerard Pitts, but no one ever called him that.” “What did they call him?” “Mastodon.” Wraith was looking ahead, as though Marie hadn’t spoken. “Creed called him Gerard once. Thought he was going to kill him. Said that kid had died, a long time ago.” “What did you know about him?” Wraith paused. “That he was from New England, I think originally, that his parents were still alive, though he never spoke to them,” He shrugged. “The reasons behind that never seemed important, we were all running from something, and I knew all I needed to know about him anyway.” “Like what?” “That he’d have your back in a fight, and wasn’t afraid of pulling some crazy stunts. That he loved the Avengers, the British TV series, the superhero team wasn’t around yet, especially.” He grinned. “Used to get real sore when a mission made him miss an episode.” He continued, “That he could recite most of the romantic poets off by heart, but hated Beatnik poetry. That he could shoot almost perfectly straight and never missed.” “What he was like in bed, not that the jury’s going to want to know that.” Logan muttered in an undertone. “Don’t know.” Cat muttered. “Man is not bad looking. Some of the women might enjoy that?” She gave the first real laugh she could remember, as nine eyes stared at her. ******* “How did you escape?” “By being what I am.” John Howlett drank slowly. “A man came to the asylum, and the guards told him about me. That I was never sick, no matter what they did to me. He offered to take me. They didn’t care. The money had stopped.” The eyes were dark. “He didn’t take me himself, probably didn’t think I’d offer much resistance. Hadn’t spoken or moved in a long time.” He sighed. “They flung me in a horse and carriage. When the carriage skidded on the ice, I was flung clear.” He shrugged. “Guessed a grain of sense must have remained, as soon as I stood up, I started walking. I was heading home.” “Brave decision.” John snorted. “Bravery had nothing to do with it, Doc. Instincts, maybe, but the truth was I had nowhere else to go.” He shrugged. “Made no difference, really. When I got there, I found the old man dead. Alone.” He met Samson’s eyes. “I didn’t kill him. Maybe Dog did, maybe old age took him, maybe the devil just got tired to waiting.” He shrugged. “I just knew he was dead, and I could smell Dog all over that place. So I followed it.” “Why not go into the town, tell them who you were?” John chuckled, softly. “Every step along that road, I heard stories about the Howlett curse. How the old man was cursed to have lost his son, his grandsons, how madness stalked that hill, causing a maid servant in the house to kill her master, and the grounds man, and kidnap her charge, causing the mistress to go out of her mind with grief and put the weapon that had killed her husband to her head. That the maid had scarred her lover, before fleeing into the winter.” He shrugged. “Quite an impressive tale. There’s still those who claim the grounds are haunted.” He snorted. “Perhaps they’re right.” “But you don’t’ believe...?” “In ghosts.” John shrugged. “Lived too long and seen too much to completely disregard them, and yeah, those grounds are haunted. But by memories only. Of the three who died that night, I’m fairly certain that my father was taken to heaven, Thomas the devil would have been pleased to see, and my mother...”He shrugged. “Her ghost, I could believe. But they claim to see a maid with hair of red, pulling a young boy from the house. That her feet are stained red.” He shook his head. “James did not physically die that night.”’ ***** The defence lawyer was smiling. The smile that made Logan think of Creed, just before he killed. “You’ve stated that Gerard Pitt was your teammate.” Wraith nodded. Logan allowed himself to relax a little. If anyone stood a chance against this guy, it was Wraith, who did this sort of stuff naturally. “He was more than that to you wasn’t he?” Wraith shrugged. “We were friends. The only two Americans on the team. That created a bond between us, I guess.” “Really?” the lawyer was wandering around his table. Logan’s claws itched beneath his skin; the beast was calling for him to attack this threat, to protect his pack. A quick glance told him that the rest of his team felt the same way. Maverick’s hand kept twitching to the empty hoister at his side, and Cat’s eyes were almost glowing red. He caught Fury’s eye across the room, and nodded. If the guy made it to the end of this trial, it would be a bloody miracle. “So much so that after Gerard Pitts suffered his accident, you invited him to share a house with you.” On his left, Cat groaned. “DADT” She muttered. “The bastard.” Wraith wasn’t stupid. “Like I said, Mastodon wasn’t in touch with his parents, and he needed somewhere to stay. I had a house, and was lonely. Plus I like to cook, and it’s no fun cooking on your own.” The Lawyer smiled. “A Generous friend.” “That’s me.” Wraith was smiling, that fake smile he used to use when handing out missions. “So much so that when it became apparent of the nature of the illness_” Wraith interrupted. “It wasn’t illness. The evidence proved that. Your clients,” His face sneered screwed up. The defence protested and the judge reminding the witness to keep his testimony to the evidence and not speculate on innocence or guilt. However, he hoped the defence attorney would remember that the cause of Mr. Gerard Pitt’s death was not disputed, merely who was responsible. The guy actually squirmed slightly in his seat, so Logan supposed that was some form of victory. “As the nature of Mr. Pitts condition became apparent, you ran yourself ragged trying to find someone who could help you. Even going so far as to misuse your contacts and pull with SHIELD to put your old team together.” “I didn’t. I just got Logan and I’d been told to bring in Creed.” “You let him go. With the blood of another innocent woman on his hands_” “Zorra Del Plat was hardly an innocent.” Wraith growled. “She was a traitor and a leader of Hydra, an organisation which was responsible for the nearest to success murdering a United States President, after the attempt on the former President.” “You still let him go.” “He escaped.” Wraith growled. “No one has ever successful held Creed for any length of time.” “Be that as it may, you still removed him from your home, where you were holding him, and attempted an attack on a man under government protection, a man guarded by your former teammate no less.” Wraith’s voice was deadly calm. “I’m not sure what you’re asking. Mastodon was dead by that point.” He kept his voice calm, but could not control his eyes. “He died in the arms of a 15 year old girl, dissolving to a primordial stew in what I have to rank as the worst way to die, and believe me; I’ve seen some pretty nasty ways.” Logan remembered that. Jubilee had screamed but the shock of seeing Silver Fox, or fake Silver Fox, as he now knew, had forced all other thoughts from his mind. Hines had been there too. He wondered where she would have stood on this. “And I was court marshalled for what happened afterwards, and cleared. Court ruled I was doing what was necessary to protect the civilians under my care.” “Yes.” The defence lawyer agreed. “But they did have something to say about the situation, as did the base physiatrist. He ruled you were extremely depressed after the incident.” Wraith glared. “One of my best friends, possibly my only friend, had just died, and I had been forced to relieve some of my worst memories, excluding the pain caused to men I counted as friends, and Fox’s death, which even if she was a traitorous bitch was undeserved.” He shrugged. “You’ll forgive me if I was a little down.” “You insisted on a funeral for Mr Pitts, even though there was nothing to bury.” “Everyone’s got that right.” Logan groaned inwardly. Wraith was losing his temper, not that he blamed the other man. Wraith hadn’t been sane after what happened to Mastodon, then again none of them had. The next time he’d seen him after the funeral, Wraith had been different. Colder, harder, a company man to the end. Grief did strange things to people, and Logan should know that better than most. “Look, if you’ve got an accusation to make, then make it.” The defence lawyer was smiling. “Do you know what Public Law 103 though 160 is?” Wraith’s head ducked as he nodded. “More commonly known as Don’t ask, Don’t tell, it prohibits anyone who demonstrates a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts from severing in the US military.” “You are in the military still are you not, Colonel Wraith?” Wraith nodded. “Then you are aware I can’t ask you about your sexual orientation, but I can ask the nature of your relationship with Mr. Pitts. Was it sexual?” There was a silence before Wraith lifted his head. “December 6th 1956, June 12th 1967, August 13th 1972” “Objection” Wraith continued as though he hadn’t heard. “July 9th 1988, April 5th 1989, 6th January 1991, 8th January 1995, 25th January 2009” His eyes fixed on the other man. “Just some of the dates where I have been under orders to seduce another man for information, so tell me sir.” There was a sneering note in his voice. “You really want to wash defense force linen in public?” ****** “Did you catch up with them?” “Yes and No.” John Howlett sighed. “I found the community where they had gone, but I was too late. The maid was dead and Dog and James fled.” He sighed. “A dead end.” “So what did you do?” John shrugged. “I stayed. I worked. The new foreman wasn’t any more interested in papers than Smitty had been. I kept to myself, and no one really asked any questions, least not for 3 years.” “Then what happened?” “War happened. I found the camp in 1911.”He shrugged. “They said it would be over by Christmas, not that I really cared. I didn’t care about anything much.” He paused, shuffling. “What was it like?” The eyes fixed on him. “Hell.” He added after a pause. “Or as near to it as I ever wish to come. Spent four miserable years there, before I...” “Before you what?” “Before I ran away.” “Deserted.” The dark head moved in a nod. “Why?” John sighed. “I didn’t care really what happened to me, but I discovered nothing could hurt me. They used to joke about my luck.” He paused. “Then one day, near a casualty clearing post, I got a scent. James’s.” He shook his head. “He didn’t recognise me. No reason for him to, he was a baby when I left, but it was like a madness seized me. I got myself transferred to his unit.” He shook his head. “Still don’t know why.” “He was a connection, however weak, with your memories of a happy past, and your family.” Samson smiled. “Believe me; Wolverine has done much crazier shit to make a link with his past.” “Yeah.” John agreed. He shook his head. “He was actually weirdly happy back then. Had a girl at one of the depots, a secretary, Janice something, carried a picture of her in a wallet on his chest, all very sweet.” There was a bitter note in his voice. “Could have told him it wouldn’t last, never does.” “What actually happened?” John shrugged. “CO was a bastard called Silas Burr. He took pleasure in others pain. I don’t know what happened for sure, but I do know the end result.” He paused. “We were walking off base to some bar when he saw her. The bastard had just left her in the street, dead and defiled. Logan...He just sorta went mad.” He paused. “Not berserk, that might have made things easier; he was still in control then.” He paused “Was a mistake. Silas Burr tore an eye.” “What did you do?” John didn’t seem to hear him. “James just fell forward, he was bleeding out of his sockets, I thought he was dying. So I ran. Must have run for weeks, as next thing I know, I’m in Liverpool” |
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| Gorvar | Apr 29 2011, 06:01 PM Post #54 |
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Self claimed fanfic critic.
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Fanfics, here?! In this forum? poh, the nerve! Seriously, good chapter Cat. I do like how...well Cat seems to be getting a bit better now, joking a little. |
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| Cat | Apr 30 2011, 03:04 AM Post #55 |
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Secret Agent
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As one of the people who started it, and posts the most non direct Wolverine related fan fic, I don't think you're in any posistion to comment. Yeah, Cat is starting to relax or at least adjust. She, Wolverine and Maverick have all taken the stand, so all that's left is for Bucky to take. And while she does care about Bucky, I started this pretty soon after he came back, so she's being living with the idea of him being dead for nearly 60 years. |
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| Gorvar | Apr 30 2011, 05:33 PM Post #56 |
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Self claimed fanfic critic.
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Those two were close once weren't they? |
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| Cat | May 1 2011, 02:35 AM Post #57 |
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Secret Agent
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First proper boyfriend. But then he died and she sort of fell in with Maverick. And Bucky is with Natasha, And they both know Logan would kill them if Bucky cheated on Natasha. And Cat is still screwed by the situation with Maverick. It does have a happy ending, I promise. |
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| Gorvar | May 1 2011, 07:50 AM Post #58 |
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Self claimed fanfic critic.
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Whooooo! At least ti's a lot better then the other fanfics. |
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| Cat | May 1 2011, 03:34 PM Post #59 |
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Secret Agent
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Chapter 14 “What happened?” Samson asked. It was dark here now, and he had finished his tea with John Howlett and stepped out to find he had fifty two messages, varying tones of anger on his phone. “We lost.” Cat was standing by the window, staring out, her voice dull and mutinous. “Not even Captain America can save this now.” “But what happened?” Cat shook her head. “I told you. We lost.” ******* John’s story had been pretty straight forward from there. Arriving in a strange county with no money, no passport and no clothes, beside the uniform that marked him as a deserter, he had quickly fallen in with the underbelly of Liverpool, ultimately ending up working as an enforcer for a brothel. “Most of the kids there were actually safer there than at home. They were treated well, over the age of a consent, looked after.” He shook his head. “Not saying it was right, but it wasn’t wrong either.” John had worked there. He had been there when a scared runaway named Elizabeth Timson gave birth to a baby girl, the first of her nine children. The baby was called Katherine, but everyone called her Cat. “Suited her even back then. She had this way of watching you, just like cat.” It hadn’t been long after Cat’s birth that John Howlett first crossed paths with Race. Race was even back then working for intelligence, and he started paying John for information that the girls picked up. It was the beginning of a long and mutually profitable relationship between the two men. Race got the police off John’s back, and John sent him mutants who he thought could help. When Cat’s powers had emerged in 1939, he had agreed for Race to take her and train her. When a bomb had fallen on the brothel during the May Blitz of 1942, for the first time, John Howlett began to act against the wrongs he knew about. “More Dark Knight than Wolverine, but it does some good at a local level.” Working with a police man, James Miller, though three generations, John had help to bring multiple kidnappers, rapists, thieves and murderers to justice. He had kept an eye on Logan, but never interfered. “Why not?” John didn’t reply for a while, then he spoke. “They used to keep dog teams in Canada to pull the sledges. They say if you want a dog to work for you, you don’t show it kindness, but most of the men I knew would tend to the dogs before themselves.” He looked at the other man, “You understand what I’m saying.” Samson paused, sipping his tea. “Not really.” John laughed. “You’re an honest man, and that’s a rare thing.” He looked up. “It’s getting late Doc, you’d better get back.” Looking around the room, at the team looking completely defeated, Samson wished he’d stayed to find out exactly what John Howlett meant. ****** “We never really stood a chance, did we?” Cat asked. She was sitting gazing out of the window, her head bowed. She looked completely and utterly defeated and he hated it. Even after Weapon X, even when the missions had gone bad, even when he’d yelled at her, hateful, stupid things meant to protect them both as the Legacy virus raged through his body, she had always being fighting. “Vhat do you mean?” Cat shrugged. “They couldn’t’ undo it, could they? Give us back our lives, our memories, couldn’t take the nightmares, couldn’t make it right.” He moved closer. “No, but we might stop this.” Cat snorted. “We’ve been trying that since we found out. Look where it’s got us, Camps, X23, Daken.” “That supposed son of Wolverine has nothing to do with Weapon X.” Cat shrugged. “Same thing though programming, suppression of freedom of choice...” She trailed off. “You don’t believe that.” She turned and for a moment, he could see the fire raging her eyes. “How the fuck do you know what I do and don’t believe?” Maverick shrugged, sinking down next to her. “If you believe that, that there was nothing we could do to make a difference, you wouldn’t have agreed to give evidence, you wouldn’t have given me the files, you wouldn’t be this upset.” He sighed, putting an arm around her. “You don’t want to hear this, but you’re upset, you can’t stand seeing Wraith being attack like that, you’re still angry and hurt from Logan.” Cat muttered something under her breath. Maverick glanced at her. “Remember what my powers aren’t?” “And you.” Her head was forward. “He was rough on you.” Maverick shrugged. He moved, and slipped his arms around her, and kissed the back of her neck before he had even really thought about what he was doing. “Maybe this doesn’t solve anything. Maybe it solves things for us.” He paused. “We never speak of it, any of it. We just...” He shrugged. “When we’re together, we just react; we don’t talk about what happened. There were some good times in Team X, as well as the bad.” Cat nodded, slightly. “You remember one night...god where were we?” “San Francisco.” Cat muttered. “It was a couple of weeks after Fox.” Maverick nodded. “You told me about Numberg, about how shocked people actually were to see the monsters, but how much good it did.” He leant his head back, quoting. “If you could make a god bleed, would the people still believe? You said you sometimes wondered if that was responsible for McCarthy, forcing people to see that the worst monsters were human beings.” “Man is an animal but most animals wouldn’t see that as compliment.” Cat muttered, Maverick snorted slightly. “You’re quoting Logan?” at her shrug, he shook his head and continued. “Maybe all this does is force us to face our demons. Our fears. To face things we did back then. To face our past before it destroys our future.” She glanced up at him. “That’s deep.” Maverick shrugged. “Lot of time to think. Nothing really changes, does it?” Cat shook her head. She then suddenly turned around, her fingers reaching up to stroke along the edges of Maverick’s face. “Still the Maverick.” “Still the agent.” He bent down, kissing her softly. Bucky withdrew, grinning. He had a strong feeling Cat would be using her bed tonight. ******** “The hypocrisy of the” “The sheer evil_” “Issued a statement denying the accusations.” “Can’t get away from it.” Logan leant back against the door, regarding his former teammate through hooded eyes. “On all the channels. He moved into the room, and sat down, staring at the profile of the other man. “You’ve become SLDN’s newest poster boy.” Wraith groaned. “I wasn’t thinking.” “Neither was Rosa Parks.” Logan sighed. “Look, do you think Don’t ask Don’t tell is right?” “I think it’s better than things were before.” “Not the question.” Wraith sighed. “Doesn’t affect me. Intelligence, remember? Different rules.” “Maybe.” Logan agreed, silently, “But is that right?” |
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| LoganActor | May 2 2011, 04:49 PM Post #60 |
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Plays Logan on TV!
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Gah! I'm at work, but there's updates! I have to read...but can't!!! Crap! I'll read tonight, I promise. Great to see that I'm not the only one who's brain has been working overtime lately. EDIT: Okay! Whoo! Found a spare few minutes. Epic epic epic. Awesome sauce. Fantastic work, Cat. It's wonderful to have you back again. Can't wait to see where this leads. Edited by LoganActor, May 2 2011, 05:57 PM.
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