VIXEN BLUE
Written by Vale
ISSUE 1
"Blame
Canada"
Cover
by Vale.
This
story features Vixen Blue and related characters, which are characters
of Angela Peak;
This story also features characters belonging to Cark Owens.
X-men are trademarks of Marvel comics. This work is © of Angela Peak
2006.
Please do not archive without permission of creator.
Somewhere in Canada, about twenty years ago
The repetitive crunching sound of small feet running through freshly fallen snow was the only sound to be heard on that silent night. That was until the deafening explosion from behind her. Even from that distance, the blast forced the frail little body through the air until it landed several feet away into a snow drift.
Shaking the snow from her head the little girl turned to face the blaze. She could feel the heat on her face and it felt wonderful. Her lips curled up at the ends into an uneasy smile. She was free. But at what cost? All the other children that had hated her, she’d never shed a tear for them. And the ones in charge, the ones that beat her, they surely deserved this for their cruelty.
Little Anna sat in the snow watching the building burn itself out until the next morning. No one had escaped the flames. Finally she stood up, secured her woolly hat and put on her mittens. Seemingly without any sense of direction she started walking into the dense forest that surrounded the smouldering cinders of Murdock Orphanage.
* * * * *
Now
“Would you like a drink, Ma’am?” smiled the overly made up air stewardess.
Anna Marie Carter woke with a start. Clearly a sleeping passenger snuggled up in a blanket wasn’t something the stewardess seemed to be able to recognise easily.
“Erm, orange juice?” Anna replied while rubbing her tired eyes. She was amazed that she’d been able to have slept at all considering the loud rumbling of the engines, but was certainly glad for the rest. The lady chirpily handed her a plastic cup which she gratefully accepted, while holding the blanket up to her neck with her free hand.
With a mere thought, she manipulated her outer layer of skin to assume the shape and colour of clothing (since for her, unconsciousness usually meant instant nakedness) and then pushed the blanket away. Between that and her ability to render the opposite sex into gibbering idiots who’d unthinkingly obey her while simultaneously drowning in their own drool, the Vixen Blue persona was complete.
Sitting there, sipping her pulpy orange juice, her thoughts were brought back to her team mates. Shaun’s funeral kind of destroyed whatever was keeping them together as a team but Anna had long since decided to go on this journey before Facet was killed, before the Soul Stealer and before Mystique showed up.
She’d been warned by her newly discovered sibling that her father was the infamous serial killing mutant psychopath, Victor Creed, better known to most as Sabretooth (hardly a gleeful revelation). And it would be in her best interest to meet him on her own terms rather than have him track her down and have the inevitable unpleasantness ensue. She’d given this a lot of thought before running with it. She was now on route to Edmonton, Alberta Canada and she was very apprehensive of this first meeting.
A few months ago she’d believed herself to be alone in the world. Since then she’d been bombarded by information of relatives she never knew she had. Parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. It was all a bit much. The biggest question on her mind though was why did she spend the first eight years of her life in an orphanage if her parents were alive? She strongly believed that this was Mystique’s doing since Sabretooth apparently didn’t even know she existed. She was hoping for some answers, but wasn’t expecting to get them from her father. After this, she had decided to track down the bitch known as Raven Darkholme and find out the truth.
* * * * *
“Just wanted to let you know that I’m ready for her. The plane should set down within the next hour. Are you sure you just want me to follow her?” The woman spoke from a public phone in Edmonton International Airport. Her human form disguised her true appearance as the Shape Shifter known as Melanie Wynn.
“If all goes to plan, Switch should have planted Slick on her by the time she’s leaving the airport. When she’s on route, and off guard, you and Switch can make your move. Slick will be able to help you both incapacitate her so you can bring her to me.” Mystique informed her.
“I don’t know why you think I need help to take out that slut.” Melanie scowled.
“I’m not taking any chances.” Mystique concluded before switching off her cell phone.
* * * * *
It wasn’t until Anna Marie’s plane was approaching the centre of Canada that the pilot informed the passengers that they wouldn’t be landing there due to severe weather conditions. They were instead going to be landing in Helena, Montana, one of the North Westerly States of America, where there would be an overnight stop before they were able to continue the journey to Edmonton the next morning, weather permitting.
Anna couldn’t believe it. This had to be a joke. It would only be a matter of time before someone would come after her. She had a bounty on her head in the U.S. and since she was arriving on a commercial flight it was going to be tricky. Her powers helped her though the fingerprint part, but her face was likely to be instantly recognised. Much to her delight, she got through passport check with only a few surly frowns from the staff who had seemingly had their personalities surgically removed when they got the job.
She quickly made her way into the ladies bathroom and splashed some cool water on her face. This was just typical. She’d wanted to keep a low profile and not attract any attention to herself. There was no way she’d be getting on that plane tomorrow now that she’d been recognised by some piece of technology. Her details were undoubtedly now flooding computers across the five lands. She had to be on alert now and most importantly, find another way to get to the Creed residence.
Another woman came into the bathroom and stood a few sinks down from her. Anna didn’t pay her any mind until she began staring at her in the reflection of the mirror.
“Bad day?” she asked with a smirk on her lips. Anna’s brow furrowed.
“Could be better” she replied.
“It’s about to get worse” grinned the woman as her appearance shifted from an average looking brunette in a dress to a psychotic looking woman with spiky black hair, combat pants and a bra while holding a rather scary looking knife.
“Mystique?” Anna asked.
“Hardly. The name’s Switch, but that ‘has been’ wants you pretty bad for some reason. I ain’t asking questions, I’m just here to take you down.”
“Then I have the edge, I don’t have the restriction of needing to keep you alive.” Anna grinned. Switch sneered. A woman in a toilet cubicle squeaked.
Switch lunged for her target with her favourite blade which Vixen managed to block with her left forearm. With Switch distracted for a second, Anna was able to raise her right knee swiftly into her opponent’s stomach. Switch stumbled back while Vixen lashed out with her left leg and pinned the woman’s right arm to the wall with her foot making her lose her grip on the knife. Switch got in a left hook to Anna’s jaw and watched her fall back onto the floor having lost her balance. The woman just laughed at her.
Vixen looked to her right, saw the fallen knife, grabbed it and flung it accurately at the cackling woman’s head. Switch’s quick reflexes however enabled her to catch the blade between her hands.
“Thanks.” she grinned broadly gripping her precious blade. Back to square one.
Vixen was getting angry. In a series of quick manoeuvres, she jumped up, grabbed the paper towel dispenser off the wall, ran at Switch and whacked her over the head with it. Stunned, Switch dropped to her knees. Vixen grabbed her by the hair, walked her over to a toilet cubicle door and rammed her head into it three times, causing the woman behind the door to squeal with each thump.
Vixen was still holding onto Switch’s limp body by the hair when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her fingers had become long and bony with thick black claws, her eyes had gone amber and her teeth had become sharper. She let Switch’s body fall to the floor and ran to the sink to wash the blood from her hands and swill down her face. As she began to calm herself, her claws and teeth became less pronounced until she looked like her old self again, innocent blue eyes and all.
She picked up the knife and shoved it in her bag, moved Switch’s body into a cubicle and checked her pulse. She was still alive but probably wouldn’t regain consciousness for a little while. She grabbed her bag from the sink unit and rushed to the door where she discovered that Switch must have bolted it when she first came in. She quickly unlocked it and hurried towards the exit.
After an attack like that, Anna decided that she’d need more than just a piece of cutlery to protect herself and so she managed to charm an airport security man out of his automatic rifle. After all it was better to have a gun and not need it than the other way around. Just as quickly she exited the airport, jumped in a cab and asked the driver to take her to a good hotel. She’d catch up with her luggage in Edmonton.
* * * * *
Richard Rutner was always on call. He didn’t care what time of day
or night. He loved his job and was happy to do it. He walked into the
office as requested and there sat two men and a woman behind a long desk
all dressed the same in black suits.
“Welcome Richard.” Spoke one of them. He nodded back.
“Lets cut to the chase, you’re the best we have, Richard and we need you to do something for us which many before you have failed to do. We’ve tried everything from seasoned professionals to hired help and all have failed.” He paused, “We need you to recover an AWOL agent of our organisation. She’s just arrived into Montana in the last half an hour. The finger prints didn’t match up but the face, it’s unmistakeable.” Spoke the second man.
“We have surveillance cameras following her as we speak so you should be able to locate her with very little trouble. Find her Richard. If anyone can, it’s you.” The woman spoke last and smiled at Richard.
“Who’s the target?” Rutner asked. There was a short silence before the first man spoke again.
“Anna Marie Fox AKA Vixen Blue.” Richard tried hard not to show any emotion. Fox was before his time. She had gone AWOL before he’d got out of preliminary training. Her reputation however certainly preceded her. He couldn’t help but think what a boost to his career a capture like this would do for him.
“Consider it done.” Richard Rutner pulled his brown mask over his head and unsheathed one of his golden swords, “Ravager is on the case.” He made haste out of the room leaving the three suits alone.
“I’m not so sure Rutner can do this alone. He’s going to need help.” The three nodded in agreement, “What do you think of sending in Recruit Vivica Leon to assist?” the first suit suggested.
“Leon is a wild card, we don’t know if we can trust her yet.” Said the second man.
“Then this will be her chance to prove her worth.” The first man retorted and they both nodded.
“And how do you feel about Recruit Leon, Agent Massie? Are we all in agreement?” The second suit asked the woman.
“Agent Fox is coming home.” Agent Massie, the female suit, smiled confidently.
* * * * *
Anna Marie secured her hotel room door and took a long hot shower. She fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe how she’d lost her temper and turned all feral looking. These new mood swings were really quite frightening. It was all Mystique’s fault. She’s the one who triggered her latent abilities by playing with her emotions. If she’d been brought up like a normal kid, she’d not be in this situation now. And twenty six years later, that was when she chose to have her family reunion? What the hell was wrong with keeping her in the first place?
She needed to get on the move quickly but first she needed to eat something. She couldn’t stand any of the food on the plane so she hadn’t eaten in about eight hours. Amazingly, room service had her dinner to her super fast. As she raced to the door to get her food, her hand luggage, which she’d left on the dressing table started to twitch. What looked like part of the pattern on the cloth started to move away from the bag and ooze off onto the table and then pile on the floor. Very quickly it rose upwards into a human shape but remained an oily black. Anna turned around with the tray to see this thing standing there.
Without a moment to think, the shape shifter known as Slick flung it’s oily mass at her, wrapping itself around her body. With one of her arms still free she was able to tear some of the ooze away from her face so she could still breath. She tried kicking it away but instead of moving away from her body, her foot just moved through him. Unrelenting, Slick kept on covering her until she fell over. Seeing no way out of this, she lay still, feigning unconsciousness.
A few moments passed before Slick began to slither away from her and form his human-like shape. He checked her pulse and seemed pleased that he had not killed her. Anna made sure she stayed down long enough for his attention to be diverted. She slowly reached under the bed where she had hidden the rifle, grabbed it and knelt up.
“Hey, slime pit!” she shouted. He turned to face her and she let off a whole round of automatic bullets into him sending his oil-like body splattering all over the room.
It dripped off the ceiling and pooled on the carpet. She wasn’t sure if she’d killed it but she wasn’t prepared to stick around to find out. She grabbed her bag and turned around so see that Slick had managed to reform and was about to lunge itself at her a second time. Thinking fast, she grabbed her bag and held it open as the large oily mass was about to make contact and caught most of it inside, trapping him in with a clasp.
She sat panting for a moment until the contents started to violently shake the bag around. Vixen looked around desperately for somewhere to put it and then suddenly had an idea. She wrestled the bag into the bathroom, flushed the toilet and then opened the bag over it, letting the contents spill in. When the cistern had filled up with water she flushed again to make sure, quickly fishing out her passport which was wedged in the u-bend beforehand. She fell backwards and rested with her back against the door.
She crawled out of the bathroom, got to her feet and stood looking at her dinner, most of which had ended up on the curtains.
“Last time I order soup at a hotel.” She quickly grabbed whatever was left of her belongings that hadn’t been flushed down the toilet and left the hotel. She looked around the car park and broke into a good road worthy looking car, hot wired it and high tailed it out of there.
To Be Continued…
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