Holding On

part II

There are ghosts at play in the shadows about them. This abandoned tenement building holds the answers to a long ago, tragic mystery that they seek to unravel. But for the mutant members of X-Force, Cannonball and Shatterstar, the former Morlock Thornn as well as their newfound ally, New York Police Detective Jose Hidalgo...ghosts also haunt their memories. For as they systematically conduct an interior search of the tenement, all four of them see the crumbled ruins around them. Bits and pieces of someone they once called...friend.
"Shatterstar, slow it down, Buddy." Sam tells him, as they slowly make their way up the stairs. "Stop goin' ahead of the pack."
"Why?" 'Star replies. "We would be well served to find the traitor, Feral, gut her and be done with this."
"'Star, I know how you feel about her." Sam tells him. "Feral fooled the lot o' us, but she did even more to me, remember? She nearly killed me. But, no matter what, we ain't here ta' kill her. We just wanna' find out the truth about what really happened to her an' Thornn's family. An' guilty or innocent, try an' find a way ta' help them both."
Hidalgo turns towards Thornn and asks, "You don't think that's going to happen, do you, kid?"
"No, Jose...I don't." Thornn replies.
"The girl I used to know, the girl you were, Lucia Callasantos, had a lot of hope inside her heart. Is there any left inside the mutant named Thornn?" Hidalgo asks.
"Hope left me a long time ago." Thornn replies, softly. "Stamped out so hard that I can barely remember what it felt like....Look, Jose...remember this is where my sister died! This is where it all began! Carolina...I told Maria to watch her for five minutes. I had seen you an' your friends outside. I wanted to play with you. T-then...we heard her scream...w-we all ran inside....I never really found out...did Carolina fall down the stairs...or was she pushed?"
"Huh? Plasters falling from the ceiling..." Hidalgo draws his gun and shouts, "X-Force, watch out! I got movement!"
Before Hidalgo finishes the sentence, Feral has dropped down behind him, with her claws at his throat.
"Long time, Hermana mia." Feral growls to Thornn.
"Maria?! Let go of him, little sister. Don't do this, please!" Thornn pleads.
"All I'm doin', Lucia, is what I always done. Findin' a way to survive." Feral replies, as she leaps up into the shadows, taking Hidalgo with her.

And just outside the tenement, in X-Force's concealed Tracker...
"Cable, she got the jump on us. She took Hidalgo hostage." Sam reports over the radio.
Domino winces, as Cable's fist smashes a few thousand dollars worth of computer equipment.
"JUST GREAT!! You were sent in there to flush her out! And instead Feral's going to pick you off one at a time! Oath, Sam, wake up in there!"
"Sounds like you trained her too well, doesn't it, Nate?" Dom asks with an innocent grin.
"Hey, the cop was so gung-ho to go in there, Domino, what could we have done?" Rictor asks.
"Ohh, I dunno, maybe say 'no.'" Dom replies.
"We need Hidalgo alive after all this is done." Tabitha adds. "I mean, he was our alibi for bustin' Thornn outta Police custody!"
"Hidalgo had to go in." Cable tells them. "He's doing his job. And we're doing ours." Cable then speaks into the radio microphone, "Do you need any additional support in there, Sam?"
"No, Sir, we can handle it, but...maybe Siryn should go airborne in case Feral tries gettin' away over the roof tops." Sam replies.
"Done." Cable replies, giving Theresa a thumbs-up sending her on her way. "The others are spreading out to cover the entire perimeter. Stay in touch, Sam. If necessary, we can take the whole building down in five seconds."

"An' we can blast it down in two!" Sam replies, after cutting the connection. "But that ain't gonna' solve our problems."
"And again I say that where someone like Feral is concerned there is only one solution." 'Star tells him.
"There's always more'n that, 'Star." Sam replies. "Bad seed that she is, Feral was still family in a way. An' the way I was raised, you always try to do right by your family. Cable was right to remind me o' that. I just hope Hidalgo's okay."

Several floors above, Feral dumps Hidalgo onto the floor.
"Is that your answer, Nina?" Hidalgo asks, "Try to hurt the people who want to help you?"
"Help me, Jose?! Sure! You jus' wanna make your mutie collar an' get chou face on the front page of the Post!" Feral yells in reply.
"Haven't changed a bit, have you, Maria?" Hidalgo says. "Tienes tanta maldad encima, no? Evil inside an' out."
"Naaah, not evil, Jose...jus' sometimes...sometimes...it all gets too much, y'know?" Feral replies, softly this time.
"Carolina died falling down the stairs. Your brother, Matteo, fell off the roof. Two accidental deaths. Statistically possible, but it raised eyebrows, didn't it, Maria? Then your mother died when you were fifteen, and no one thought that was an accident. And that's just about when you and Lucia disappeared, if I recall. But someone was missing, huh? Guess whose body was found stuffed between the walls of a building one block away? Tell me, how did your mother's old boyfriend happen to get his face ripped off?! Or did you guess already? Did you see the news reports we leaked out to try and draw you and your sister back here? Tell me why it required dental records to identify Harry Bellinger, Maria?"
"SHUT UP!!" Feral screams. "YOU DON' KNOW NUTHIN' ABOUT NUTHIN' JOSE! YOU DON' KNOW WHAT HE DID!" Feral slaps Hidalgo across the room and begins to slowly pace around him. "You ever stop to look past that stupid badge you wear...the messed-up laws you get paid to uphold...an' think to yourself that maybe some people deserve to get killed?!"
"Maybe some people do, Maria...but wanting someone to die is a big step away from actually committing murder. My job isn't to police your thoughts, but your actions." Hidalgo tells her.
"After the fact!" Feral sneers back at him. "That's all the cops were ever good for, right? After we got our tv stolen, they came! After daddy hit mommy, they showed up! After daddy was found dead in an alley with a needle in his arm, then they told us! Tell me, Jose...where were you an' your stinkin' shiny badges when me an' Lucia really needed you?"

A few floors below...
"I have Feral's mutagenic signature tracked, Sam." Cable informs him over the radio. "She's two floors above your position."
"We're goin' there now, Cable." Sam replies. "Jus' tell me if you lose the signal comin' from Hidalgo, okay?"
"If she kills the peace officer, then will you accept the fact that the girl needs to be terminated, Guthrie?" 'Star asks.
"No, Shatterstar!" Thornn interjects. "Maria's not goin' to kill Jose...not yet, anyway. She's usin' him to draw us up...to show us somethin'"
"An' what's that, Thornn?" Sam asks. "What haven't you told us yet, Woman? We need ta' know the whole truth."
"Never expect a den of thieves to safeguard your valuables, Cannonball." 'Star tells him, when Thornn is silent. "Nor a family of liars to provide you with the truth! It is becoming increasingly obvious that the words we need to hear regarding Feral's past will have to be ripped from her hissing tongue!"

While on the roof...
"Any movement, Dom?" Cable asks.
"Zip." Dom informs him.
"Be ready." Cable replies. "They're getting closer to her. The only escape she has left is through the roof tops."
"Funny how she let herself get pinned like that, huh?" Dom remarks.
"Almost as if she wanted to..." Cable says. "As if she had a reason to. Feral is going to come out into the open...I'm not sure why, but my gut tells me she will."
"Say the word when she does. I have the shot lined up already." Dom tells him.
Cable's whole body goes rigid at Dom's words. His mind racing back to a shot he had lined up...a shot he ultimately took. Dom knows the instant she sees his reaction that she inadvertently triggered one of the most painful memories Nathan has.
"Just like I had...when Stryfe took my son, Tyler...and I took the shot...to protect the other members of my family......I shot my own son..." Nathan's voice is barely a whisper, but the words cut straight to Dom's heart.
"Nate...?" Dom asks, as she places her hand on his shoulder.
"The word won't be given, Dom." Nathan tells her. "This situation is not going to end with Feral's death."
"Even if that means giving her the chance to kill us?" Dom asks.

"Stay Back!!" Feral screams, as 'Star kicks in the final door separating them. Her claws draw fresh blood from Hidalgo's throat.
"Feral, stop it, Girl!" Sam tells her. "You ain't gettin' away from here an' you can't kill all of us. Jus' give yourself up, okay?"
"What for, Sammy?" Feral replies. "So I can go to jail? So I can get locked up in a cage? You think I'm gonna' let that happen to me?"
"You're not getting out of this one like you did before, Maria. I won't protect you and I won't let you run away again." Thornn tells her.
"LET ME RUN AWAY?!" Feral screams in a rage. "What choice did you ever give me, Lucia?! I had to leave, an' yeah, you helped me find the Morlocks, convinced them to take me in, but if you'd done what you shoulda' from the beginning I never woulda' been put in the position I was in! You covered up for me, Lucia, but don't EVER think you protected me!"

Outside the window, Dom hangs upside down. Suspended by a nylon rope. She has Feral centered in the cross-hairs of her scope, as she speaks into her radio.
"It's tense in there. She's shakin' the cop like a rag doll. He's hurting, Nate. We've got to do something."
"Let it play through, Dom." Cable replies.
"But, Nate--"
"I said let it play through." Cable orders.

"Okay, Maria." Thornn tells her. "Maybe you're right. I should've done more...I was the older sister...but I was scared!! But you...you never were. Were you?"
"Scared of what, Lucia?" Feral asks. "Of momma, drunk every night? Of Harry tryin' to paw at us after she passed out on the couch? I wasn't scared about any of that...I WAS ENRAGED ABOUT IT!!!" Feral backhands Thornn across the room and begins to drag Hidalgo towards the fire escape. "An' unlike you, big sister, I was willin' t' do somethin' about the problem! Move it, Jose!"

"Fire escape! They're moving out!" Cable relays to Theresa.
"I'm tracking them, Nate." Dom informs him.
"She shot outta here like greased spit!" Sam chimes in.
"They're heading higher, Sam." Cable tells him. "I've got Theresa circling above them now."
"I get the feelin' that this is all comin' to a head up on the roof." Sam replies.

Cable stays hidden on the far side of the roof and begins to circle around while staying downwind of Feral, while Theresa circles above drawing her attention away. Feral throws Hidalgo through an old pigeon coop.
"Know where we are, Hidaggy?" She asks him. "Remember the pigeon coop I had? 'Member how alla you made fun of me for wantin' ta' take care of the stupid, smelly, dirty pigeons?"
"Feral, stop this madness! Now!" Theresa shouts trying to draw her away from Hidalgo.
"Keep back, Cassidy!" Feral tells her. "I never had no problem with you...don't make me hurt you now."
"The pigeons...?" Hidalgo asks. "I remember them, Maria...but do you remember what happened to them?"
"Yeah, I do!" Feral replies. "They was all I ever really had, Jose! All I ever needed! Those birds was the only things that ever needed me!"
"You're wrong, Feral." Sam tells her as he and the other draw around her. "We needed you. During battles, you watched our backs an' we watched yours. An' you needed us, too. For friendship, for a place to belong."
"NO!! None of you ever wanted me around! NEVER!!" Feral screams, tears now pouring from her eyes.
"Stop lying, Maria...to us...but most of all, to yourself." Thornn tells her.
"Me, lyin'?" Feral replies. "That's a laugh an' a half, huh? Go on then, Lucia...tell 'em all the truth! This is the place to do it, huh?"
"It sure is, Nina." Thornn tells her. "Our poppa ran away after Carolina was born. Four kids and no job was too much for him. It was hard on us. Hard on all of us. Momma said it was all our fault. Especially Carolina. One kid too many, she said, drove poppa away. I was old enough to know better, but Maria was only six...she heard what momma said...an' she thought it was Carolina's fault...maybe even Matteo...both their faults that our father had left us."
"Oh, Lord. D-did Feral kill your sister?" Theresa asks.
"I...I don't know...I should have been there...watching her." Thornn whispers. "It was as much my fault she fell down the stairs as anyone else's."
"That's right!" Feral shouts. "The little brat went over to the stairs an' fell! I was tryin' to watch both Matteo an' Carolina 'cause you wanted to go see Hidaggy outside an' flirt with him, right?! IT WASN'T MY FAULT SHE DIED!!!"
"Maybe not, Maria." Hidalgo tells her. "But I remember when Carolina shouted...we all came running inside...we saw you standing at the top of the stairs...and maybe Carolina's death was an accident...maybe it wasn't your fault...but it was still a tragedy, Maria, right? So answer me then...why do I remember...you looking down and smiling?"
Silence is the only answer Feral offers to this question. After a full minute, Sam asks, "What about your brother, Feral? What happened to him?"
"He was chasin' after my birds...runnin' all over the roof." Feral tells them.
"Did you kill him for that, Feral?" Sam asks. "'Cause he messed with your pigeons?"
"No...he tripped off the ledge. He was hangin' by his fingers. But Matteo was always weak. He couldn't hang on for long." Feral tells them.
"How long did he hang on for, Feral?" Sam asks.
"I don't know...I didn't count...not my fault he couldn't pull himself up, right?" Feral asks.
"Nothin's ever your fault, is it, girl?" Sam asks. "What about your momma's boyfriend?"
"Tell 'em all about Harry, Lucia." Feral tells her.
"Harry Bellinger was....a pig." Thornn's voice is just above a whisper. "A cokehead..a drunk...he got momma messed up on drugs. He was always trying to...get at...me. As I was getting older, my mutations started, real slow, much slower than Maria's. An' Harry...he said he dug furry chicks. Momma was passed out one night...I was seventeen...I left..I wanted to get out...Harry..he followed me...dragged me into an alley...I knew sayin' 'no' wouldn't work this time...then we heard...a growl..an animal spitting out hate...and we looked up...That night, I lost my sister. And Feral took her place."
"But you both hid Harry's body in an abandoned building?" Sam asks. "And it stayed there until it was found a few weeks ago, right? That's why you came back, Feral? 'Cause when you saw the news reports about Harry, you knew the truth would get out?"
"Yeah, Sammy, you're so smart for an in-bred mountain man, huh?" Feral sneers. "I got the tip that the Friends of Humanity was gonna spring Lucia, bring her here an' make her pay for 'her' crimes. But that was all just a set up so you could trap me!"
"Thornn can't go t' jail for crimes you committed." Sam tells her.
"Crimes?" Feral asks.
"Carolina was an accident? Who knows? Matteo, too? Maybe." Sam tells her. "With Harry Bellinger, maybe you could make a case for self-defense. I ain't no lawyer...but what about your mother, Feral? What happened t' her?"
"The pigeons." Feral whispers. "After we got rid of Harry, she was mad...so to get back at me...she killed the pigeons...I hated her. So you wanna know what I did, Sammy? I KILLED HER! JUST LIKE I'M GONNA KILL ALLA YOU!!!" Feral leaps for Sam's throat, Cable draws a bead on her before she has cleared the ground and is ready to fire if needed, but Feral is caught in mid-leap by a concentrated blast of Sam's kinetic blast effect and knocked twenty feet back only to find Shatterstar's twin swords crossed at her throat effectively pinning her to the spot.
"No, girl...there's been more'n enough dyin' done here." Sam tells her. "Too much pain. Too much blood. We came here tonight t' end it. An' now that we've found out the whole truth...end it we will. You can come up with all the excuses you want to, Feral. But the bottom line ain't that you killed the people you did because you hated them, or 'cause they hated you. You did it because you've always hated yourself. An' there's too much hate in this world to let someone like you keep spreadin' it around everywhere you go. Which leaves you only one place left to go. The place you shoulda been at a long, long time ago...Detective?"
"Maria Callasantos, you're under arrest for the murders of..." Hidalgo reads Maria her rights as Dom puts the special restraints on her.

Cable and Sam stand on the street corner across from the 44th Precinct, once again in civilian clothing, watching a special newscast through a store window.
"...Carolina, Matteo and Marcella Callasantos. As well as a man named Harry Bellinger. The young mutant woman charged is also a member of the terrorist Mutant Liberation Front and used the MLF to kidnap her sister and NYPD Detective Jose Hidalgo from their transport to Ryker's Island. The heroic Hidalgo and Lucia Callasantos, the sister trapped by this tragedy, were able to fend off their MLF kidnappers and apprehend Feral. It is expected that Lucia will not be indicted for her role in covering up her sister's actions, but that Feral will be indicted on at least one murder charge..." "No easy solutions, huh?" Sam asks.
"It wasn't an easy problem, Sam." Cable replies.
"But blamin' the MLF for what happened? That was a neat trick." Sam tells him.
"I can't take all the credit there. The idea came from the young woman who tipped me off when Feral first arrived in Manhattan." Cable explains, as he leads Sam down an apparently deserted alley. "She also happened to feed Feral the false information which brought her to the Bronx."
"But who would benefit from helpin' us out, makin' the MLF look bad an' gettin' rid of Feral all at the same time?" Sam asks.
In reply Cable merely smiles and points towards the end of the alley.
"Dani Moonstar?!?" Sam is stunned to see his former New Mutants team-mate standing holding the reins of her winged steed in the darkness of the alley.
"Sam, Cable." Dani greets them. "Things worked out just fine, didn't they?"
"But you're with the MLF now...aren't you? Why would you help us?!?" Sam asks.
"Maybe because, Sam, like you, I always have been...and still am...someone who cares about the truth...and about family." Dani replies as she mounts her steed and flies away into the darkness.

Our Journey Continues With
The Dark Ride

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