DISCLAIMER! The “cats” are mine, as are January and Feb. Agents Madrox, Dane, and Sinclaire are copyright to Marvel comics. My bird is regurgitating on me. I’m going to kill him. Excuse me please. Okay, I’m back. Everyone else I either made up and is not copyrighted to me, or it belongs to HB. I’m making no money.

THANKS go to Patti and Wendy. Thanks!

Shedding Light On The Shadows ch 4

Dana smiled as she climbed out of the black Honda Accord. “Thanks for picking me up, David. Love ya for it.”

He grinned wolfishly and got out of the car, locking the doors. “It was on my way, anyway.”

Dana bit the corner of her lip as she turned away from the boy, eyeing the house where the party was at. She’d never been to a party where she shouldn’t be before. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and walked inside.

Light and noise and a foul odor rose up to greet her, the jostling of humanity in a small space sucking her in.

“So you came after all,” came a male voice. Dana turned and looked at the man, smiling tentatively. “I didn’t think the Quests ever came to bashes like this.”

Dana shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, they don’t. I snuck out.”

The boy--Hank--grinned and put an overly familiar arm around her shoulders. “That’s my little rebel. I knew you could do it!”

Dana laughed uncertainly and watched as he pulled hard on the cigarette he held, blowing out a thick stream of smoke. She glanced around the room, noticing that most people there were smoking. Well, if they did it, and they were cool . . . “Can I?” Dana asked, reaching for it.

Hank shrugged and handed it over, eyeing the slender girl beneath his arm.

Dana took a deep breath and inhaled smoke--only to have her lungs violently reject it. She doubled over, coughing, feeling hands on her back as Hank pounded her.

“You okay, girl?”

Dana stood up, her eyes watering. “Yeah,” she gasped, “I think so.”

Hank laughed, pulling her off into a corner. “Look, I’ll teach you how to smoke.”

Dana smiled encouragingly. “Uh, okay. Why not.”

Hank grinned.

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Hadji scowled at another knock on the door, peering out the peephole. Seeing what looked like Agent Madrox, he bit his lip and opened the panel.

Agent Madrox elbowed his way in even before the door was fully open, cold brown eyes staring around the room. “Where are the cats?” he said after a minute.

Hadji frowned harder, moving to push the man back out the door. “Where’s Dr. Quest?”

Madrox turned his cold glare down on the Indian boy, not budging. With one hand he reached out and shoved Hadji back. Hadji tripped over the small table and fell backwards onto the couch.

“I don’t see the cats, sir,” the Agent said into a button on his jacket.

“Then take who you do see and go,” returned a voice through the comm link.

Hadji’s eyes widened and he scrambled off the couch, bolting out of the room. Just great. He was home alone with someone who was out to get him. Again. Hearing footsteps behind him he twisted around the corner, running into the rec room and locking the door before picking up a stout length of iron in the form of Race’s weight-lifting pole. He braced himself behind the door, listening as the footsteps neared and stopped.

“Come out now and this’ll be easy,” came the muffled voice. Hadji didn’t bother answering. A minute later a bullet snapped through the lock, and the Agent came striding in. He never saw it when Hadji swung the bar as hard as he could, connecting sharply with the man’s head. There was a sickening thud as the body fell to the floor--and Hadji found himself staring into the eyes of a rather shocked . . . Agent Madrox. He blinked and looked at the body laying prone on the ground, then up at the agent who still stood. Two of them?? The new agent took a step forward, and Hadji swung again, knocking him to the floor. And once more another one appeared out of nowhere, taking his place.

Hadji considered this briefly. “I suppose you wouldn’t mind telling me how you did that?” he asked finally, looking at the duplicate and praying Kit or Colin would smell blood and come back.

The man shook his head and started to advance, ducking the swing Hadji made as the boy backed away. There was the welcome sound of the roar of an engine outside, and Hadji swung again as the “agent” looked quickly away. The man fell, there was another, and Hadji took that brief moment to run. He raced out the door and into the hall before the other man started chasing him, his feet pounding the carpeted floor. Hadji was able to keep ahead of the double as he raced out the front door and past the driveway, into the path of oncoming headlights.

The already slowing car stopped with a screech of tires and smell of burned rubber. The driver side door snapped open and a slight figure came out to stand behind it, gun braced on the rim. “Freeze!”

Agent Madrox froze.

“Hadji,” said Risk’s voice, “Who is this?”

Hadji moved out of the headlight glare and over to where Risk stood, breathing hard. “It’s Agent Madrox. I think. I’m not sure anymore.”

Agent Madrox grinned. “You can shoot one of me, darlin’,” he said, trying to see past the light to where Risk and Hadji stood, “But can you shoot two of me?” He stamped his foot, and another doppleganger appeared. “What about four of me?” Both doubles stomped, and next to each one another appeared.

Risk licked her lips. “Let’s find out.” Her aim already set, she simply fired at the first one, who went down with a cry of shock and pain. The second one followed, but already the two left had created six more.

Then a shadow leapt out of the darkness before again separating. Kit attacked one of the men, while Colin attacked another.

“We’ve found something,” Colin breathed, slicing through a neck, “Follow Kit!”

The cat leapt back, onto the hood of the car, and from there into the tree line.

After a moment’s hesitation Hadji and Risk followed, leaving Colin with the dopplegangers. They ran through the night, hearing behind them the confusion as more and more Agent Madroxes tried to catch the slippery shadow. Colin, deciding he was done with the fight, slunk away after the others.

A hard run through the trees and along the rocks brought the foursome to the lighthouse, where Kit and Colin entered without hesitation.

“Guys, what--”

Hadji was silenced by a quick move from Kit, who led him back into the room where January’s transporter sat, glowing lightly in the nighttime darkness. Hadji looked at the thing, remembering when January had made it. They’d been chased by whoever wanted January and February, and had ended up in many different places around the world when they’d stepping into it, trying to escape the armed men. Finally they’d gotten back together and, of course, beat the bad guys, but it had taken quite a while.* And it hadn’t been fun.

“What about it, Kit?” Hadji asked, eyeing the thing.

Kit grinned. “It broke.” He beckoned to Hadji to come closer, then pointed at the floor. Hoofprints could be seen coming out of the machine, then racing back in. They were small prints of cloven feet.

Hadji frowned. “So cows are coming through the broken portal?”

Colin shook his head and called up records on the computer. After a moment Hadji recognized them as a list of where the transporter was opened to at what times. About five days after they’d used it, however, it started showing jumbled things for locations.

Hadji frowned, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

“Look through the portal,” Colin said, grinning.

Hadji bit his lip, then sighed and stuck his head through. Looking back at him was a baby unicorn. Quickly he pulled his head out, then shook it and stuck it back in. The unicorn was still there. Now there was also other unicorns, and a dragon sleeping in the shade of a copse of trees. Hadji again pulled his head out. “I am so confused.” After a minute he shook his head. “Despite the fact that we’ll have to look into this, what does it have to do with our current predicament?”

Kit and Colin just gave him blank looks.

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Benton groaned and rubbed his head. Opening his eyes, he looked up and around at the surrounding area. Race and Agent Madrox stood to one side, deep in conversation, while Agent Sinclaire tended to Agent Dane, who was still unconscious.

“How is she?” Benton heard himself asking, sitting up slowly and moving toward the young woman. Unconscious she looked even younger then she was, her graceful features relaxed and the wary, older eyes closed.

“A think she’ll be jest fine,” Agent Sinclaire said, smiling slightly. “She should be wakin’ at any moment.”

As if on cue the woman groaned and lifted a hand to her face, covering her eyes. “Oh lord, Rahne. My head,” she moaned, sitting up easily. All noise in the room stopped as the door to the cell creaked open, a shaft of light slicing through the dark.

A young man stood there, trembling slightly, and said “Mr. North says you can be released i-if you agree to turn o-over yourselves t-to him.”

Race almost snarled in his anger, but Agent Dane stood stiffly, silencing him with a raised hand. “Tell Mr. North,” she said quietly, “that we turn down his offer.” The young man turned to go, but was arrested by the woman’s next words. “Tell him also, that if he wishes no harm done to this place he had best release us and hand over who we want. That is the only warning he will get.”

The young man’s eyes widened, and he rushed out the door. A second later a tall man with raven black hair walked in, his smoky gray eyes livid. “What is this? I hold you captive and you threaten me? Let it be known that you’ll not leave this place.” With those words he turned and left the room, the sound of a bolt sliding into place echoing.

“You have ten seconds to open the door,” Agent Dane said, hands balled into fists by her sides. “Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three.”

“Lorna, you sure about this?” Madrox asked as a green glow started to emanate from the woman.

“Two.”

“Polaris?” said the accented voice.

“One.”

Agent Dane’s jaw clenched as she waited a beat for something to happen. When nothing did she turned and smiled. “Jamie, there’s no reason for us to hurt the people in here. Get the door open any way necessary, all right?”

Jamie grinned and nodded, walking to the door and sliding his fingers underneath.

“I don’t understand--” Benton started to say, but was interrupted by Agent Madrox slapping the door with his free hand. There was silence, then a shout as something happened to the guard on the other side, and then the bolt could be heard sliding away.

Jamie Madrox grinned and stepped away from the door as it swung open. There stood--Jamie.

Benton looked from one man to the other. Both looked the same, wore the same clothes, even had the same lopsided smile. “Twins?” he finally asked. If so, then, how did the other know where they were? And why had Agent Madrox put his fingers beneath the door? Some sort of signal? And--

“Not quite,” Jamie said, interrupting the doctor’s racing thoughts. “There are a lot of people who have powers where we come from,” he said, holding out his hand to the doppleganger. “Thanks, me,” he said to it as he seemed to dissolve and melt back into him.

“No problem, me,” it answered as it disappeared.

“We’ll, uh, explain on the way,” Dane said, ushering them all out the door.

JJJQQQXXX

After looking around for a moment, the tall man walked into the party and to the corner where a few boys and girls sat. Teenagers cleared a path for him as he walked, glaring at the tall stranger in the brown trenchcoat.

Dana looked up in surprise when she saw him, pushing away Hank and his cigarette and standing. “Agent Madrox! What are you doing here?”

He reached out and took her arm, pulling her across the room and out the door. Dana, after getting over her shock, started pulling back and throwing insults at him when that didn’t work.

He opened the car door and pushed her in, slamming it behind her before walking around to the other side and getting in himself.

“Did Benton Quest send you?” Dana said with just a tinge of an animalistic snarl. Madrox looked at her, cocking one eyebrow, then looked forward again and backed out of the driveway.

Dana sat back in the seat with a scowl, propping one high heeled shoe up on the dashboard. Sulking, she watched in the side rear view mirror as they drove away. “Is that Jessie?” she said as they neared a curve in the road, bringing her foot down and swiveling in her seat to get a better look at the two girls who were climbing out of their car back in Adam’s driveway.

“No, Jessie’s at home,” Agent Madrox said, glancing at Dana.

Just then the other girl turned to say something to the red head that looked suspiciously like Jessie, and Dana noticed the bright white stripe in the otherwise black hair. The red head nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear in a fashion very like Jessie’s, and then the car Dana was in turned around the curve and they were lost from sight. Dana sat straight in her seat again, looking over at Agent Madrox as if for the first time. He wasn’t smiling like he normally did, and there was an odd smell about him. She swallowed and looked around the car, noticing that it was unnaturally clean, but, more then that, had no smells that she could recognize. Even if Dr. Quest had only walked him to his car, the car would still carry traces of Quest’s scent. And it was awfully odd that they’d sent a man they barely knew to pick her up. She’d have thought that Race would come, if only to yell at her properly. For the first time she took note of the way they were traveling, and swallowed hard, settling fearfully back into her seat. Even if they were traveling away from the Quest compound, there was nothing she could do about it in a moving car.

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“Where’s Dana, Hank?” January asked, glaring at him.

Hank smiled slightly, wondering what he’d done to get January mad at him. This could certainly spell doom for his rep. You didn’t get January mad and not pay the price. “She, uh, she went with some guy. Brown hair, eyes, coat.”

January scowled and bent down, to be closer to Hank’s face so that she could scowl in it even more. “Which way?” she said quietly. Hank pointed. January and Jessie got back in the car and left.

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“You’ve heard of alternate dimensions?” Agent Dane asked, leaning casually against a computer console while Agent Sinclaire tapped away at the keyboard and armed men shot at the metal doors that, oddly, refused to open.

“I’ve heard the theories. Don’t know if I believe it, yet,” Benton answered, keeping one eye on Madrox, who was playing with a yo-yo, and the other eye on another door where men stood, pounding and shooting to get in. He didn’t have any idea how they were going to get out of this room--every door was blocked by waves of heavily armed humans.

“Well, start believing, doctor.” Agent Dane smiled. “There are many parallel universes. In one it may be exactly the same--except that evolution took an odd turn and now everyone has four arms. Which, I have to admit, would be nice on occasion. In another universe Hitler might have won, and now there are no people of the Jewish faith, and no African Americans, et cetera.” She looked at the doctor closely. He seemed to be grasping this concept fairly well. “In another universe, evolution has taken the next step, and people walk the earth with powers like, as I understand it, those twins have, and, Mr. Bannon, your partner has.”

Benton stopped her with a sharp twist of his head. “You speak as if you know that’s true.”

Dane smiled slightly. “I do. I’m from that universe. As are Madrox and Sinclaire.”

Benton quirked one eyebrow. “You’re not special agents, are you?”

Dane smiled and bit one side of her lip, trying to phrase things just right. “Not precisely. I’m an agent in that I’m here to get some things that were stolen from us.”

“Let me venture a guess,” Benton said dryly, “you’re here to get people who have these powers, and technology that’s far beyond what we currently have.”

“Good guess,” Madrox piped up from the other side of the computer console.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Race said, holding both hands up to get everyone to be quiet. “Are you telling me that you’re going to take the cats, and Risk, and the twins and everyone else?” He carefully didn’t mention his daughter.

“No,” Lorna Dane said, shaking her head quickly. “Only the people who came from our universe originally.”

“How did you get here?” Benton asked, frowning.

“We’re not sure how the original people got here,” Lorna said, “But we have a . . . friend who can open up portals to other dimensions. She got us through.** One of the things we have to do before we leave is find out how the others got through and close that down so it doesn’t happen again.”

There was only the sound of tapping keys and men half-rioting outside for a while, then Benton ventured up with, “Our cat kids, how did they come to be?”

Lorna turned and looked at Madrox, who shrugged. “As you saw before, Jamie can make duplicates of himself. Once separated from him for a long time, the duplicates start to have a mind of their own. We think maybe one of these managed to come through the portal, was kidnapped, or maybe even agreed to help these men on his own. He told them what technology he knew of--which was no doubt a considerable amount, since Jamie used to work with a doctor who used much of the alien technology we have--and the men were able, with the X gene in the duplicate and with the newfound technology, to make more people with more powers.”

“What about Risk?” Race asked, eyes narrowed. “She got hers from the government.”

Lorna shrugged. “It may be this duplicate worked with the government before working with whoever it is he’s with now.”

“Dang, this is more confusing then how and when Jean died and was brought back!” Jamie said from his corner.***

Lorna looked at him and said sternly, “Jamie, that’s not funny,” though she herself was trying not to laugh. At the confused looks from Benton and Race, she shrugged. “It’s a long and complicated story.”

“Lorna?” Rahne said quietly, watching as whatever she’d been doing on the computer printed out. “A’ve found wher’ their main lab is.”

Lorna smiled. “Good. Then we’ll go get our stuff back, and hopefully stop these people from any more genetic experiments.”

Lorna turned and ripped the sheet off the printer, handing it to Madrox. “Make sure this stays safe.”

Madrox nodded and promptly slapped the console a few times, each time a duplicate appearing. “Here,” he said, looking around, “One of me hold this.” The many “me”s he referred to started arguing almost immediately about which one should hold the paper. Lorna and Rahne paid them no mind, walking to the doors.

“On second thought,” Lorna said, eyeing the mass of humanity on the other side, “Let’s just go straight up.” And with those words she grasped each piece of metal on the clothing they all wore, using only her mind, and they started floating upward. Other scraps of metal followed, tearing out of walls and off the computer, quickly coming together and forming a bubble of sorts around them as they sailed through the roof, and then the sand, and out into the night.

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*An abbreviated version of Lost in Shadows.

**For you X people who might be recognizing some of these characters from X-Factor, Excalibur, etc, the “friend” is Spiral. :)

*** The running gag in the comics (well, it’s not supposed to be a gag, but that’s how it is) is that one of the characters--Jean Grey--has died and been brought back to life so many times and in so many confusing situations that no one can keep it straight anymore.

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