X-MEN MAFIA/SK Kill #1: A new reality

The storage room had long since been abandoned. The stone walls gave the room a feeling of timelessness, almost as if this could have been in the bowels of an ancient European castle. The room was cold, and water leaked in from outside, where the rain had turned to a dreary snow. Discarded relics littered the room, many covered in sheets or plastic. A few broken statues lay toppled in a corner. A single light hung from the ceiling, dangling from exposed wires.

The conversation was as depressing and dark as the room the mutants had chosen to meet in.

"They are going to find out," said one, a bit of fear creeping into their voice. "Then what do we do? You can't expect them to be sympathetic." The question went unanswered.

The tension was palpable and infectious.

"This is more than they have ever asked us to do before. What we are about to do will result in the deaths of dozens of good mutants.”

“We’re killing our last hope…”

“Do we really have a choice?” This question, too, remained without answer.

It was silent of a long time before anyone spoke again.

"Listen, we have to keep our heads. Things are going to be rough, but all we were sent to do is watch and report. That is it." The voice of reason did little to relieve the pressure.

~:-:~

Jubilee shook off the cold as she entered the delivery entrance of the church. Logan had said this is where Storm and the others would be holed up. He also mentioned the group would be hopping from place to place to try and avoid the authorities and, more importantly, the Sentinels. She only hoped she didn't miss them.

She had left the X-Men when they needed her most, and now many of her friends were dead. She couldn't let that happen again. Even if it meant her death, she wouldn't abandon them. Not now. Not ever again.

She snapped out of her musing when she noticed light coming from a room down the hall. Odd. She would have thought they would have found someplace a little less cramped to hole up in. On second thought, there wasn't enough room in there for more than five or six people. Logan had said there were close to twenty escapees.

Perhaps the sentinel attack had her edgy, but it was better to be safe then sorry. She cautiously approached the door and quietly tried to listen to what was going on.

~:-:~

"Shhh!" someone said. "Someone's coming."

The rest quieted down and listened. Listened and perpared for the worst as an unspoken understanding settled in. Whoever it was couldn't be allowed to lie, their very survival depended on it.

~:-:~

Had someone said they were here to spy? Fears and doubts whirled through Jubilee's head and it all started to make a crazy sort of sense. Someone had gotten inside. They were going to lead their enemies to the heart of the mutant resistance.

She had to do something. Taking a breath, she charged in.

~:-:~

The storage room was in disarray, crates broken and smashed, burn marks from her futile attempt to defend herself scarred the walls; the light, broken, hanging dead from the ceiling. Jubilee was only partially aware of her surroundings. Her arm was broken and she couldn't feel her legs. She was barely noticed the boxes crushing her.

She had to get out, had to warn the others. Things were worse then anyone had imagined.

Struggling, she tried in vain to pull herself free. Slowly, the realization came to her that she would probably die here, alone in the basement of a church. How ironic.

~:-:~

The group ran from the scene. They hadn't intended to kill anyone, but she had discovered them. They had no choice. At least, that is what they told themselves to keep sane.

They knew now they had crossed a line of no return, things were going to get messy. A morbid resolve had overcome them all, it was kill or die. There was no turning back, this had become their reality.

~:-:~

The wind blew hard from the east, carrying with it a new snow, as well as even more chilling promises of things to come. A lone mutant sat crouched against the church’s rear wall, staring out across the now desolate cityscape that sprawled out before him. This had once been a vast metropolis, home to millions of humans, with thousands of mutants coexisting peacefully (albeit secretly) among them. All that remained now was a bleak necropolis, extending as far as even a mutant’s enhanced eyes could see. No longer fit for human habitation, this place was now home only to the restless spirits of those both dead, and those soon to be so.

The mutant’s dire musings were interrupted by an abrupt change in the wind, causing yet more unfamiliarly cold air to invade the sanctuary the mutant had found huddling underneath the awnings that shielded the church’s back entrance. As it edged away from the small vortex of snow and ash that had been kicked up in front of it, the lone mutant suddenly heard a soft, yet sharp *BANG* from inside the church. Both curious at and alarmed by this strange occurance, the mutant ducked back inside and headed towards where the noise had come from: down into the basement.

Apparently, nobody else had heard it, because the entire basement level was abandoned. After checking a few doors and finding them locked or leading to empty rooms, the mutant stumbled in to a larger room, which appeared to be a forgotten storage area. In the dim light, one could just barely make out all manner of old and forgotten objects filling the space, ranging from decaying furniture to ancient religious symbols and relics. The mutant was about to mark this room down as abandoned and move on, when a faint moaning came from a pile of crates :

“heee…lp…..”

The mutant surged forward, tossing the debris aside until the crumpled and broken figure beneath it was revealed. It was a mutant, and the obvious victim of violence. Her nose was shattered, resulting in a deluge of blood spilling across her once pretty face, and engulfing the thin trickle of the crimson liquid that was leaking from her ears: the sign of serious head trauma. A heavy ring-like bruise across her throat showed that she had been strangled nearly to death before her attackers had fled. The injuries continued on and on, including shattered limbs and ribs. Any human would have been dead long ago from the savage assault.

The mutant knelt down over the wounded woman to get a closer look at the damage done, and as it did, her eyes slowly opened and locked upon those of her would-be savior. To her horror, she watched a visible change. The light of humanity faded from this new predator’s eyes, like a torch being doused, and the killer suddenly stood fully upright and straight, like a soldier at attention, and then once again turned its gaze back down upon her, appraising her in a whole new light. She tried to muster the strength of will to launch a defense, but she did not even possess the strength to scream as she died.

~:-:~

Her remains were found the next day, as some of the other mutants searched the church for anything useful to bring along. Most of the mutants had known her while she was alive, but it still took a long time before someone mustered the fortitude to look at the grisly scene for long enough to identify her as Jubilee.