Unrelenting (X-Men fanfic)

Chapter Four

"What mansion?" Ivy said for the seventh time.  She was now inside their sleek, silver jet, strapped into the seat behind Cyclops, who sat on the passnger side of the controls.

"The mansion we all live in." Storm finally answered from the driver's side of the controls as she flipped switches and turned the engines on.

"Where?"

"In Westchester, New York." This came from Logan, sitting to her left.

Ivy studied Logan as he stared down at his leather-gloved hands.  His thin face was thoughtful and brooding.

"Are they real? She said in a small voice.  When he looked up to see what she meant, she glanced meaningfully down at his hands.  He followed her gaze and sighed.

"Yes," He said wearily. "Yes, they are."

"Do they hurt?" Ivy said, daring to raise her voice just above a whisper.

"What?" Logan said in a confused voice.

"Does it hurt when they come out?"

Logan nodded grimly. "Every time."

Ivy glanced out the window and saw that htey were headed south, which was the opposite direction that they needed to go.

"Where are we going?" She called up front.

Storm glanced back at her. "We're taking a little detour.  There's another stop we need to make before we head home."

As Josh sat in his soft, cushioned chair, starting to doze off, a shudder ran throught the whole train, and it began to slow to a stop.  Suddenly Josh was wide awake.  He was pretty sure that he knew why the train had stopped so abruptly, but he wasn't about to sit there and wait for confirmation that he was right.  Forget that!  He was getting out of there as quickly as inhumanly possible.

He got up, grabbing his bakcpack, and began making his way towards the door.  He didn't have amoment to lose, considering that they'd probably already began their search for him.

As he walked, Josh began making a list of hurtful words describing his feeling towards the U.S. Government, who refused to give up trying to get it's hands on his little mutant self.  Really, it was all quite frusterating.  And while it seemed he had nowhere to go, he wasn't about to give in.  All they wanted to do was run tests and experminents on him, then lock him away in a white, padded cell for the rest of his life, seeing how long it would take for him to die without food, water, or video games like Kung Fu Cop '77.

While his mind was occupied with these tragic thoughts, Josh failed to notice that someone was sneaking up on him until it was too late.  Whirling around, he assumed a defensive stance, his eyes carefully trained on his opponent.

Said opponent was a man dressed in all black, his face hidden, a black gun in his hands.  His hands were shaking, his eyes wide, his whole body trembling.  It was then that Josh realized with a start that these people were afraid of him.  Suddenly his fear of them seemed somewhat ridiculous.  It was all so absurd that he began to laugh- hard.

A look of confusion crossed the man-in-black's face.  Hosh noticed that said man had his name sewn in tiny white litters onto the left side of his black uniform- Kelley.

Josh held up his hands. "i'm not going to hurt you," he said, still laughing softly.

"Why should I believe you?" Kelley shifted his feet nervously. "You're a mutant," he hissed accusingly.

"Well, why should I trust you?" Josh replied quickly. "You're a human- you all hate mutants."

Kelley seemed taken aback by this. "What?"

"Yeah!" Josh's hands sitll up, he took a step foward. "I've been afraid to go to school, afraid to continue karate practices-- afraid to leave the house!"

"But- why?" Kelley stuttered in confusion.

"Because- more than anything- I just want to be accepted.  And you guys are just so afraid of anything that you can't understand! So you try to kill it!"

Kelley's face clouded with confusion, and stuttered stupidly, trying to find a good response.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the emply train car burst open, causing Kelley to scream like a little girl.  When Josh whirled around to see  who (or what) it was, he saw two figures standing in the doorway... and they didn't look like government agents.

"Come with us," said a melodic female voice.

"Why?" Josh said cautiously, instantly on his guard.

In respons to his question, a strong wind began circulating through the train, and lightning flashed outside.

"We're like you, Josh," came a man's voice.

"What?" Josh blinked against the wind and took a step towards them. "You mean-"

"Mutants," Kelley wimpered behind him.

Josh paused, thinking. "How do I know you guys are safe?"

The storm ceased, and the woman took a step towards him. "I guess you'll just have to trust us."