The Cold Hearted Truth
Chapter Six
Kaleidopy 

MAINE

" It smells like something has died in here," Drake remarks while looking down one of the dark corridors. He trips over something and quickly discovers what it is. " G-G-Guys, look at this!"

The rest of the scouting party rush over to see what was discovered. " Creed's work," Wolverine sniffs the air. " Body been here for almost an hour." He notices Bobby's reaction. " Ya alright kid, nothin' ta be ashamed of, I've seen a lot worse." Logan adds. " Even a coroner would get sick over the things Creed does to a body."

" I'm alright, just startled me." Drake stands back up. He looks around. " This place needs a decorator."

" Where now?" Bishop cocks his laser riffle.

" Rogue, you and Warren fly up ahead," Scott orders. " And keep in touch. I don't want us separated."

" Ah'm on it, Sugah," Rogue and Warren take to the air as the remaining group search the corridor from ground level. The two came back in less than a minute. " Dead end, Scott."

" I don't like this, Cyke," Wolverine admits while looking around the corridor. " Almost like we are being led this way on purpose." He pops open his claws.

" Just stay alert," Cyclops tells him. " Sinister is known for his trickery." He wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but the thought of seeing Sinister again was beginning to take a toll of him. It was bad enough that Essex had cloned his wife, threatening his life time and time again, but to learn he was also responsible for the complete destruction of his and his brothers childhood. Closing his eyes, he tries to come to grip with what has happened in the last few hours. He was determined to build a new relationship with his two estranged brothers. But something darker was bothering him at the moment, and he knew what it was.

" You alright Scott?" Warren lands beside his oldest friend.

" I've been here before, Warren." Cyclops looks up. " Sinister had me brought here and he did,"

Angel places his hand on his leader's shoulder. " It's alright Scott, we are here with you. I'll die first before I let him get his hands on you again."

" Same goes for me too," Bobby whispers. He notices the two older men glancing at him. " X-men stick together or has that changed?"

" We seemed to have forgotten that lately." Warren sighs. " Our worse enemy has been ourselves."

" Ya'll wanna play attention ta what we been saying, huh!" Rogue shouts at the three men. They walk over to where the others had gathered. " Mind telling the rest of us what's going on?"

" Scott was kidnapped by Sinister before and brought here," Angel tells the others. " I think this is his main base of operations." Warren turns to Cyclops. " I say we wipe it off the face of the planet."

Suddenly the floor opens and everyone tumbles downward into darkness. Before the ceiling closes up around them, the party hears a sinister laugh.

THE WAR ROOM

" Inform the Boss, we have them." Scrambler tells the others in the room. " By the way where is he anyway?"

" Do you have to ask, Stupid?"

" All I asked was a simple question, if you can't answer it, Riptide, then don't open your big mouth."

" Will you two, shut up!" Scalphunter walks into the room, followed by Sabertooth. It was clear to everyone that Creed was still angry at Sinister for the incident earlier. He glares at the marauders but remains silent.

Arlight quickly enters the room, " The Boss is on his way, "

A few minutes later, Sinister and Gambit enter.

" What's he doing here?" Roadblock suddenly yells in protest. He suddenly notices Sinister's gloved hand ball into a fist, the second it does, Remy's eyes glow just like Sinister's. " Whoo, Boss what did you do to him?"

" Why don't you show him, Remington!" Essex suddenly laughs.

Remy's eyes narrow into slits as he eyes the unsuspecting marauder. Roadblock suddenly realizes the zipper on his jacket is glowing, he quickly throws it off and tosses it away, before it explodes and takes out half the wall with it.

" Answer your question?" Riptide laughs. He nods in Gambit's direction. " I'm impressed."

" That isn't so hard to do," Arlight examines the damage to the wall. She picks up the remains of Roadblock's jacket. " I saw a lot of explosives when I was serving in Vietnam, but this is remarkable" She looks at Gambit then at Sinister. " He just looks at something and it explodes? We can finally say good bye to the X-mansion for good." She suddenly starts to laugh. " Boy, you will be a great addition to the ranks of the Marauders."

" Marauders?" Sinister suddenly laughs, making the Marauders looks at each other. Finally they join in the laughter. " Fools!" The laughter stops abruptly. " Do you think for one minute that I will allow you to associate with my son? He belongs only to Sinister."

" Son?" Scrambler smirks. " It's bad enough, LeBeau gets away with murder around here, now you call him son."

" Jealous, are you?" Sinister eyes the man carefully. " Perhaps you would like to undergo the same process he has," He opens his hand and offers it to the Marauder. " Come with me, Scrambler, Sinister will see if you are worthy to be called Son."

Scrambler was a lot of things, but foolish wasn't one of them. " Uh, Boss," He stutters. " I meant no disrespect."

He notices Sinister's eyes are glowing, " Look, I"

" Dis one is a coward, Father." Remy smiles slightly. " Allow Gambit to deal with dis trash,"

" No, I have need of him for now," Sinister put his hand on Gambit's shoulder to get his attention. " Return to your quarters," Essex orders him. " I will come for you later to continue your training."

Remy continues to glare at Scrambler, ignoring Sinister, he stalks the marauder with his eyes. Scrambler's buttons on his shirt begin to glow.

Sinister suddenly spins Gambit around to face him. " What Sinister gave you, Sinister can take away." He looks down at the Cajun. " Either obey me, or force my hand."

Gambit nods slightly and walks out of the room.

Sinister turns his attention back to the marauders. " You all know what I require, do not fail me."

" Junior might just bump you off and save me the trouble, Essex," Creed smiles. " Boy might be useful for something after all."

" I grow tired of your snide remarks, Creed." Sinister glares at Sabertooth.

" Feel the earth move," Creed refuses to back down. " That's me shaking in my boots."

Sinister begins to chuckle. " Victor you are about one brain cell away from joining the animal kingdom," He approaches Sabertooth quickly. " Utter one more word and I will remove it."

Sabertooth laughs hard. But did not speak a word.

THE STARJAMMER

" Scott's plan is working perfectly, Corsair,"

" So it seems," The Starjammer's captain responds softly. He didn't like the plan from the beginning. He had spoken his disapproval but he was out voted. It was bad enough in his opinion to know the son he has never known was in the hands of this madman, but to place his eldest son in that same jeopardy was insane.

" It has almost been two hours, are you ready?" Ch'od asks. Waiting for the approval of his captain, he yells to the others. " Starjammers, it is time."

" Everyone alright?" Scott calls out. He looks around at the cell that held them. He knew as long as the force field was active, their powers would not work.

" Anyone get the name of that truck that hit me?" Bobby slowly stands to his feet. He notices that Rogue and Angel was slowly coming back to consciousness. Bishop was moaning before opening his eyes.

" Somebody's gonna pay fer this." Wolverine growls as he looks around his new surroundings.

" Perhaps me, Logan."

" Sinister," Wolverine glares at the scientist. " Ya wanna come a little closer and I'll show ya how much I miss ya." He reveals his claws. " Ya messed with the X-men fer the last time."

" Where's Remy?" Rogue yells at him.

" Don't you know, my dear Rogue?" Sinister folds his arms. " You left the boy in Antarctica, did you not!"

" Ah wanna see him, Sinister."

" He wants to see all his former friends," Essex begins to laugh. " Dead!"

" You lay one finger on my brother, Essex,"

" Your brother?" Sinister acts surprised. " I have no interest in Alexander, nor do I care of his whereabouts."

" I'm not talking about Alex," Scott glares at him. Sinister's trademark laughter was getting to him. " Stop playing games with me, Sinister. I'm talking about Remy."

Sinister suddenly stops laughing and approaches the cell. " I see my two ex -associates have made their betrayal complete." He glares at Scott. " I could have killed your entire family on that day, Scott, but I spared your lives. I allowed your parents to keep you and Alexander. " He stops in front of the bars of the cell and continues to glare at Cyclops. " But understand one thing, Remington is mine."

" Like hell he is, bub," Wolverine tries to rip into Sinister only to be knocked on the cell floor.

" I would not try that again if I were you, Logan," Sinister smiles. " There is a limit to my kindness."

" Yeah, I just bet there is," Bishop walks over to where Scott and Sinister was having a stare down. " What price did Remy have to pay for your kindness?" He angrily points an accusing finger at Essex. " You messed him up real good this time, didn't you?"

" And are the X-men's hands clean," Sinister raises his brow. " At least in my hands, the boy is alive. Would he have been if he remained with the X-men?" He begins to laugh again. " Since you seem to have some time on your hands, why don't you ask your friends why they allowed an enemy of the X-men to put one of their own on trial."

" He knows all about that so called trial, Sinister." Scott continues to glare at him. " We have no secrets from each other, so stop trying to turn us against each other."

" Oh!" Sinister mocks him. " You have no secrets from the X-men, Scott?" He starts to laugh again. " Have you told them everything about us?" He notices the color drain out of Scott's face. " Have you fallen from grace to resort to lying to your friends?"

" Leave him alone, Sinister," Warren yells in protest. " We don't have to know the details to know you did terrible things to him when you kidnapped him."

" You give me too much credit, Worthington. Scott here has provided me with enough DNA to continue my research for years." Sinister chuckles. " Without his help, I would be out of business."

Cyclops turns his back on the others and retreats to the darkest corner of the cell. Turning back around he glares back at his arch enemy. " You are doing the same thing to Remy now, aren't you."

" Oh no! LeBeau is far more valuable to me than you could ever imagine, Scott." Essex smiles slightly as he unfolds his arms. " With you, I needed samples," He continues. " Your brother on the other hand is extremely powerful, how powerful, I do not know yet, but I intent to find out."

" Ya mean experiment on him, don't ya, Sinister." Rogue tries to grab the scientist. " Ya get yer kicks outta playing with people's minds when they're down, don't ya."