THEATRE OF PAIN

Part II: Audition

By Ryan Krupienski and Dino Pollard

He takes a good, long and hard look at his face in the mirror. A finger traces the scars that line his face, as well as the gray hairs on his head. He sees the wrinkles, and he can feel the pain of his body aging. He cannot control it. His body is turning against him.

The man known only as Logan knows the reality of life. He has accepted the fact that everyone, even him, will eventually die. It is all part of nature. But with his healing factor, he always expected to die in the heat of battle. Perhaps he would make a wrong mistake, or perhaps his opponent would just nail a good shot. He knew it would happen eventually.

But the one enemy he never expected to face was himself.

Yes, he has fought inner battles before, but those battles were more mental than physical. He never expected his body to turn against him. He never expected that his healing factor would stop working.

He continues to stare at his face in the mirror.

No. Not his face. The face of an old man. A man who has come knocking on death’s door. A man who…

*KTASH*

The sound of glass shattering as his fist strikes the mirror. He leaves the hand imbedded against the base of the mirror for a moment, then removes it and looks down. Blood flows freely from the wounds. He reaches down with his free hand and pulls the broken shards of glass imbedded into his skin. He looks down at his bruised and bloody hand, half-expecting the wounds to close up.

They don’t.

He turns on the faucet and places his hand beneath the running water. The blood flows from his hand and down the drain. He grabs a towel and pats it dry before grabbing some bandages and wrapping them around his hand.

“Goddammit…” he mutters.

He opens the bathroom door and steps out into the hallway. He watches as mutant kids scurry about to get to their classes in time. He wonders if he was ever like that when he was in school, if he ever went to school, that is.

“Logan…?”

He recognizes the voice and the scent makes it completely obvious. He keeps his back to her as he speaks, however.

“Somethin’ y’ need, Danielle?”

Danielle Moonstar comes around to his face, and almost gapes in shock at the sight before her.

“My God…” she says. “What happened to you?”

“Just havin’ a bad day,” he replies. She glances down to his bandaged hand and sees red splotches on it.

“You’re bleeding…” she says. “You shouldn’t be bleeding.”

“I do now,” says Logan. “My healing factor’s gone.”

“Oh…” says Danielle. “Oh… are you…?”

“Nevermind about me, I’m fine,” he says. “Everyone has their time, kiddo. Mine’s almost up.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about this or something?” she asks.

“Don’t ya got a class t’ teach?”

Danielle looks down at her watch and silently mouths the word, “Shit.”

“Yeah, I do,” she says. “I gotta run, I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah,” replies Logan as she walks off. “Later.”

He continues to wander through the now-empty halls of the Xavier Institute. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots another young mutant sitting on a couch by his lonesome. His skin appears to be gold with various brain matter showing on different parts of his body. He approaches the young man and takes a seat next to him.

“Ever… isn’t it?” asks Logan. Ever looks up at Wolverine and nods. “Whaddaya doin’ here? Aren’t ya teaching classes?”

“I’m a field operative,” replies Ever. “But Jean told me not to accompany the field team on their mission.”

“What mission?” asks Logan.

“Dunno,” replies Ever. “All I know is that Jean said something about overwhelming psychic trauma and left it at that.”

“Not like Jeannie t’be that cryptic…” mutters Logan. “Hey, don’t sweat it, kid. Yer young, plenty of opportunities for other missions.”

“I suppose…”

“C’mon,” says Logan as he pats Ever’s back. “A walk around the grounds’ll do ya good.”

Ever nods and stands up from his seat. He follows Logan and the two walk towards the exit of the Institute.

“I do have a question for you, Wolverine,” says Ever.

“Call me Logan. An’ go ahead.”

“I could have sworn that you were a little taller than you are now.”

“Perception’s a funny thing, pal,” says Logan. As they step out into the sunlight, Logan shields his eyes from the bright glare. It takes him a moment for his eyes to adjust to the natural light, and once they do, he shakes his head and begins walking. Ever walks beside him, his eyes following everything he sees.

“It’s a beautiful day,” says Ever.

“Hmph…” grunts Logan.

“You don’t think so?”

“Kid, when you’ve been in this game as long as I have, you realize a few things,” says Logan. “And what I realize about a day like this is that it’s too quiet. I don’t like it when things are too quiet.”

“You sound a little paranoid.”

“You call it paranoia, I call it caution.”

The two continue walking, and Logan stops suddenly.

“Nice of you to join us, Red,” he says. Ever turns around and sees Jean Grey standing before them.

“Jean,” says Ever. “Something wrong?”

“I want you to come with me, Ever,” she says.

“Somethin’ up?” asks Logan.

“It’s fine, Logan,” replies Jean. “I just need to talk to Ever about something.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Jeannie,” says Logan. “An’ yer not countin’ me out. What’s going on?”

Jean sighs.

“Follow me.”

The heavy, fur-ladden eyelids of Kurt Wagner slowly open to see a man with a large, crimson-colored cape draped across his body. His features are concealed by a gold metal faceplate of some sort. Nightcrawler tries to move, but finds that he cannot. He looks up to see that his arms and legs are restrained. He looks on either side of him and sees his fellow teammates – Domino, Havok, and Scanner – restrained as well.

“Who are you?” asks Nightcrawler.

“I am called Charion, or Controller X,” replies the man. “Whichever you prefer.”

“What are you doing with us?” asks Kurt.

“Oh, a little bit of this… a little bit of that…” he replies. He walks over to a control panel and his fingers dance across the toggles and switches there. To Nightcrawler, the feeling he is experiencing is akin to his mind erupting in a blaze of fire. He grits his teeth and tries to block out the pain, but it is useless.

“Don’t struggle,” says Charion with a slight smile. “I’m just looking for the most deliciously painful memories I can find.”

Outside the Theatre of Pain, inside the modified SR-71 Blackbird jet piloted by the X-Men sit the Norns. Using the Theatre’s technology, they were able to bypass the passcodes needed to access the Blackbird’s technology. One of the Norns, a woman with a snake-like appearence, sits in the pilot’s seat and looks over the various instruments. She can see which buttons need to be activated in order to ignite the engines. And for a moment, she considers igniting the engines and flying off. Ridding herself of the Theatre for good.

“Stacy!”

“What?” asks Stacy, turning to see her fellow Norn. A catlike woman named Felicity.

“We gotta get this over to the Theatre’s hangar,” says Felicity.

“Right, I know,” says Stacy with a sigh. She activates the engines, driving the plane around the other side of the Theatre.

Jean Grey-Summers stands beside a large, round metal table with a giant X engraved in it. Logan is leaning against the table with his arms folded across his chest, and Ever stands tall next to him.

“I sent Kurt, Alex, Domino, and Scanner to investigate a mass psionic disturbance coming from Death Valley, California,” begins Jean. “However, I’ve lost contact with them, and Cerebro can only faintly detect their presence. That’s the reason I kept Ever behind on this mission, because I was worried about a possible psychic trauma.”

“So what do you suggest?” asks Ever.

“I kept you back for another reason,” replies Jean. “And that’s because, if necessary, I wanted you to remain here in case Kurt’s team would need to be rescued.”

“Rescue operation,” says Logan. “Sounds like my kinda fun.”

“You’re not getting involved, Logan,” says Jean. “I don’t want you on field duty until Hank and Cecilia have had a chance to examine you.”

“I’m a grown man, Red,” says Logan. “An’ I’m tellin’ ya right now that you’re not dealing me out of this game.”

“As headmistress, I have that option.”

“Runnin’ a rescue op an’ teaching kids are two different things,” notes Logan. “I’m not sittin’ around with my thumb up my ass while Kurt’s in trouble.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, Logan,” says Jean. “Believe me, I do. But you’re no good to anyone if you end up dead.”

“I ain’t in the grave yet.”

“If I could say something…” says Ever.

“No,” Jean and Logan say in unison, without taking their eyes off each other.

“I can see my opinion is valued…”

The door behind them opens up, and the three turn to see the form of Danielle Moonstar as she enters the room. She looks around the room and can sense that she has just entered a situation.

“Did I come at a bad time?” she asks.

“No,” replies Jean.

“Somethin’ you need, darlin’?” asks Logan.

“I summoned her,” replies Jean. “She’s to accompany Ever on the rescue mission.”

“Rescue mission?” asks Dani. She glances over to Ever and then to Wolverine with a confused look. “I’m lost.”

“Ever will explain the situation to you on the way,” says Jean. “If the others are back from their mission in time, I’ll send them with you. But we don’t have time to wait, so the two of you should get moving.”

“You mean the three of us,” says Logan.

“Logan, I’m not going to argue with you over this,” says Jean.

“Then it’s settled,” says Logan. He turns to Danielle and Ever. “Let’s suit up.”

He turns on his heel and walks out of the room before Jean can offer a word of protest. Ever and Dani both look at Jean, and then turn to follow Logan out of the room. Jean sighs and rubs her temple.

“That man is so damn stubborn…”

The man known as Charion enters a darkened throne room of sorts. The only light comes from torches flickering in the darkness. The dim flames reveal red curtains hanging all about the room. Charion steps towards a large man with horns protruding from his head.

“Their memories are primed for viewing, and the audience is on their way,” says Charion.

“Good,” says the horned man. “But I want more of these X-Men.”

“Why?”

“I have had my eye on them for some time now,” he says. “Prepare the Norns as well as a squad of Ushers. We’re going to take the fight to their home.”