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Chapters
Prolog
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilog
 
 
 

The Vault - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by NicoPony
Last updated: 08/15/2007 08:57:57 AM

Chapter 12

Earth Intruders, Bjork

We are the earth intruders

We are the earth intruders

Muddy with twigs and branches

Turmoil! Carnage!

Here come the earth intruders

We are the paratroopers

Stampede of sharpshooters

Come straight from voodoo

Back in her cell, Jean trudged forward and landed face-first on her bunk. She was exhausted. Moxie looked down from the top bunk, her short pageboy haircut flaring out around her pointed ears. “Having fun yet?” she asked.

Jean glared at her with one eye, then rolled onto her back. She tapped the inhibitor on her wrist. “So, what’s the story?” she asked.

Moxie smirked and disappeared onto her bunk.

“What’s going on?” Betsy said from her bunk on the opposite side of the room.

Jean beckoned Betsy to join her. Betsy sat herself in Jean’s bunk. “Moxie’s inhibitor isn’t working,” Jean explained in a hushed undertone.

“What? But how?”

Moxie reappeared. “A fluke,” she said. “Or perhaps because my mutation is mostly physical, they just don’t care.”

“We have to figure out a way out of here,” Jean whispered. “Listen, I saw someone out in the jungle.”

Betsy’s eyes widened. “One of the denizens?” she asked, her voice full of anticipated horror.

Jean gave her a quizzical glance. “The what?”

“One of the island inhabitants,” Moxie said. “The tree people.”

Jean shook her head. “No, I saw my...friends. Or not friends, but people I know.”

Moxie cocked her head. “Who? The X-Men?”

“Two members of the Brotherhood. Avalanche and the Scarlet Witch.”

Moxie raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she said speculatively. Then she smiled slyly. She once again disappeared back onto her bunk. Jean thought the girl was acting very strangely.

“They’re planning a rescue,” Jean continued. “I say tomorrow, we make a break for it, meet up with the Brotherhood and organize a break out.”

“Jean, you can’t!” Betsy said. “The jungle!”

“I’m not going to stay here for fear of a bunch of tree people,” Jean snapped. “Moxie, are you with me?”

“No.”

“What? Why not? You out of everyone has full access to your powers!” Jean said.

“Because,” Moxie said. “If those Brotherhood losers are really here, then we wait. They’ll cause enough catastrophe to distract the guards. Then we’ll escape.”

Jean paused. Moxie might have a point.

“Lights out!” squawked one of the guards. The lights in the cells began to turn off with resounding clangs. The girls’ cell went dark. The corridor lights flickered eerily.

“Well, g’night,” Betsy sighed and returned to her bunk.

Jean lay back down and closed her eyes. From out in the hall came a mechanical whirring and the rhythmic sound of heavy footsteps. Jean’s eyes reopened. All three girls sat back up, looking toward the cell doors. A nervous murmur was coming from the other cells. The footsteps grew closer.

Jean gasped. A larger than life figure moved down the hall, mostly humanoid in appearance in that it had arms, legs and a torso. The thing’s body was vaguely transparent, revealing a mass of wires and mechanical parts which emitted a faint pinkish glow. Amidst the workings of its chest and arms, Jean could make out weapons components. The head was merely a stump with no semblance of a neck. A singular eye rotated back and forth, scanning each cell before moving on. The girls stared, horror stricken, as the thing passed.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Betsy asked.

“A Sentinel,” Jean replied grimly. “One we haven’t seen before.”

Though tired, Jean spent a sleepless night tossing and turning in her bunk. The brackish smell of the place seemed to seep into her pores. There was a constant sound of dripping, muted occasionally by a snore or the sound of one of the inmates weeping. Jean’s senses stretched, searching for the Sentinel’s presence. She knew it was nearby, and she couldn’t get the image of its singular red eye out of her mind. The night stretched on and on. Morning seemed a long time in coming. Finally, the morning klaxon sounded and the girls moved from their bunks.

In the cafeteria, there was no sign of their squad member, Pyro. Gambit was also missing. Jean had made up her mind. There was really no time to wait, especially if her fellow X-Man was in trouble. She followed Squad Three to the prep room, where they replaced their harmless blue slippers for work boots, and then marched out to the construction site. Because Pyro was missing, Jean was reassigned to clearing brush with Moxie. Lorna looked at the pile of reinforcement bar with dismay, and Jean gave the girl a sympathetic smile. In reality, Jean was pleased to work near the forest. It suited her plans. When at last the inhibitors were either turned off or powered to a lower setting, Jean reached out with her telepathy. She searched for Moxie’s mind. Though the girl was working right beside her, Jean could feel nothing. Moxie’s mind was like a big blank in space. Jean looked at the feline mutant, feeling something strangely familiar prickle her memories.

Moxie looked up from her work, wiping her forearm across her brow. “Some kind of problem, Red?” she asked, somewhat snidely.

Jean shook her head, then glanced around. The guard today was the green-haired woman. Jean didn’t spot any Sentinels about. “I’m going,” Jean said finally.

Moxie shook her head with a disparaging sigh. “I thought we agreed to wait,” she replied.

“We can’t. The Brotherhood doesn’t know about the Sentinels.”

Something flickered in Moxie’s eyes: worry. This steeled Jean’s resolve. With her telekinesis, she pushed a large palm towards the forest. It moaned and creaked as she pressured it. It seemed just about to give when Jean released it, sending it flying in the opposite direction. The palm snapped and narrowly missed hitting the guard as it fell. Jean bolted into the trees. Her four years of track and field experience were about to pay off. She heard the guard shout, and for a moment, Jean lost her footing. She suddenly felt dizzy and she staggered. She’d all ready run several yards into the jungle, and with her head whirling as it was, she failed to notice the sudden drop off. Jean tumbled down into a ravine, turning somersaults down the slope. She finally rolled to a halt at the bottom, laying face down in noxious mud.

Shaking her head clear, she leapt to her feet and continued to run. Her breath came in controlled bursts as her legs pounded the marshy turf. She effortlessly vaulted over rocks and fallen trees. The ravine veered away from the compound, and after several long minutes, Jean trotted to a halt. There were no sounds of pursuit. She reached out with her telepathy, searching for Avalanche or the Scarlet Witch. She thought she might have heard a buzzing of several mind-voices nearby, but they decreased in volume and eventually died out. Jean looked down at her inhibitor, which had been powered back to full.

She stared down at the inhibitor with growing horror. Why hadn’t she used her telekinesis to tear off the device? “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Jean chastised herself, banging the heel of her palm against her forehead repeatedly. What would Scott have said to her for failing to think through her plan? She felt a moment of panic, but forced herself to calm. She could still find the Brotherhood without her powers. Wolverine had taught all the X-Men tracking skills. She would just have to look for signs of their passage. Jean began to start up the opposite bank of the ravine when she heard a soft rattling noise. She looked around, but saw nothing. She hoped it wasn’t a snake.

The rattling noise repeated: Cha-shuck-shuck-shuck.

Jean put her foot onto the bank and leaned forward to grab at the vegetation to pull herself up. She pushed off the ground, but it gave under her foot and she slid back down into the mud. She sought purchase in another patch of ground. Jean heard the rattle again, this time much closer. The skin on the back of her neck crawled. Jean swallowed dryly and turned.

She wouldn’t have seen the thing if it hadn’t given another eerie shake. Jean stared, her eyes widening in horror. The thing stood a few feet away, nearly hidden amongst the vegetation of the opposite bank of the ravine. It was a little shorter than her, with thin limbs resembling twisted tree branches. Vines ran up the limbs like sinew. Its torso resembled a hollowed-out stump, leading up to a narrow stem neck. The creature’s head was bulbous and gourd-like, it’s face a parody of human features in moss, bark and leaves. Two white mushrooms sprouted where eyes should have been. The thing shook its head. Cha-shuck-shuck-shuck.

Jean shrieked, a long drawn out scream that sent birds flying from the trees. She paused to take a breath before screaming again. Her knees bent beneath her. Instead of falling, she propelled herself away from the monster. Her scream trailed after her as she ran. The mud at the bottom of the ravine seemed to be getting deeper. It sucked at Jean’s boots as she ran. She made another dive for the bank, but the ground was too soft to support her weight. The walls of the ravine grew steeper and more narrow. There came another rattle. The sound was in front of her. Rattling noises then sounded from behind. There were more of the things, the denizens, as Betsy had called them. Jean scrambled at the bank, launching herself bodily at the walls of the ravine. She slid down time and time again.

Don’t panic, she told herself as she cast about for a weapon. The rattling noises were getting closer. She could see one of them picking its way down the gorge toward her. It moved in short bursts, causing its head to rattle. Then it would still, and stare at her with inhuman eyes. She closed her mouth and swallowed another scream. She spotted a fist-sized stone and lunged for it. Just then, the earth began to tremble and Jean fell forward. Mud closed down around her wrists and soaked her legs up to the knees. She yanked back, and the mud suddenly released her. She wavered on her knees before falling forward again. The earthquake continued, and dirt began to shift down the slope. Jean found her legs entrenched. She spotted two of the denizens up ahead, hidden amidst the fallen leaves and sticks. They leapt up and away from the crumbling slope and disappeared over the crest of the ravine.

The good news, the denizens were gone. The bad news was that she was sinking. Jean managed to yank one of her arms free, but the rest of her body remained submerged under tumbling earth. She kicked hard with her legs, and suddenly, she felt the soil loosen. The earth shifted swiftly, and she abruptly plummeted downwards, straight through a hole in the ground. Falling dirt followed her as she tumbled through darkness. She landed with a splat in hot smelly mud. Dirt continued to pour down on her from above. She crawled out from under the soil. Eventually, the earth ceased its shaking. On her hands and knees, she shook dirt from her hair. Then she looked up to the only source of light. There was a hole of light above, which seemed to be slowly closing. The light faded, and Jean was left in darkness, listening to dirt clods splashing down into the mud. Warily, Jean stood. Her eyes strained in the darkness. She sloshed through the mud, her arms held before her. She found a wall that curved up and away. It was also strangely warm. As her hands slid along the wall, she came in contact with something hard and metal. It sparked and she jerked her hand away, cradling her hand against her stomach. Her eyes adjusted slowly, and she realized there was a soft glimmer of light coming from the wall. Slim metal struts glowed faintly. The struts criss-crossed in a mesh pattern. Careful not to touch the wall again, she moved slowly down the tunnel. She detected a faint breeze, and she moved toward it. The floor slanted downwards as she walked, and she found the mud grew deeper. Eventually, she was unable to go any further, the mud had risen up to her hips. Jean backtracked.

As she walked, she became conscious of a low thrumming sound. The light grew slightly brighter, and she became more hopeful for escape. She soon found the source of the noise, as well as the slight breeze. The tunnel branched off into two sections. Down one tunnel, a huge exhaust fan spun slowly, drawing air away. The second tunnel provided the meager light. In the greenish glow, Jean could see the wire mesh lining the wet mud walls. The walls appeared to be pulsing slightly. The sight of it made Jean feel squeamish. Jean pursued the source of the light. The floor rose and she finally stepped free of the mud. A soft murmur could be heard over the sound of the fan.

Slowly, Jean crept toward the sound. The sounds resolved themselves into voices, then words.

“We now have five online, sir,” said a familiar voice. Trask, Jean thought.

“Is that all?” replied another voice full of scorn. “I’ll need far more Sentinels than that to finish my catalog!”

“There’s been some evidence of...sabotage...on the line,” Trask replied reluctantly.

“You’re far too lenient on them,” the voice snapped. “Set the Executioners on them.”

“The Executioners appear reluctant to apply force,” Trask said.

“You insisted we use human guards. The Marauders have proven themselves far more flexible.”

Trask’s uncomfortable silence spoke volumes. “Two of the inmates bested your Marauders in a fight. Without the use of their powers, mind you.”

“Really?” strangely, the voice sounded pleased. “Which two?”

“Allerdyce and the one calling himself Gambit. One of the Executioners brought them to solitary.”

“Hm...Leave the elemental, but bring me the energy converter. I would like to find out how that one...functions.”

“Shall I leave him at the usual drop off point?”

“Yes. Be sure he is properly restrained before you leave him in the ravine.”

Jean had been slowly creeping forward as the two men talked. The last comment twisted Jean’s gut. She kept close to the wall, though the sight of it repelled her. The wall slowly curved toward the light, and the tunnel widened. She was able to see strange mechanical apparatus in the larger cavern beyond the tunnel. Tubes and wires draped themselves over large, liquid filled tanks. It appeared to be some sort of storage vault, but for what?

“We’ve had another runaway,” Trask added. “Jean Grey, one of the X-Men.” Jean’s heart felt as if it had dropped to her knees.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” the voice said idly.

“The X-Men shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Trask insisted.

“Concern yourself with getting more Sentinels online,” the voice commanded. “Computer. End communication.”

Jean slunk forward, craning her neck to see the source of the voice. She could see a large computer terminal, one that could rival the size of Cerebro. A faint glow silhouetted a tall, thin figure in a white lab coat.

“Greetings, Jean Grey,” the man said without turning. Jean felt as if she’d been frozen to the spot. “I am glad to finally make your acquaintance.”

He turned slightly, and she could see the profile of his long pallid face. “I am Doctor Milbury. Welcome to my catalog.”

With that, he gestured as if making a grand introduction. Jean looked upon the large tanks again. Each was filled with a vaguely human shape. With a gasp of horror, she found she recognized one of the figures. Another Jean Grey hung lifelessly inside a tank.

“A carbon copy, only,” Milbury said with mock dismay. “In your case, I find I prefer the original.”

 

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