Wake up,
Dolls.
Piotr was
not in the mood to pay attention to little things like locks or the fact that
the Catseyes Investigations building was empty. He
stormed inside and, despite his rage, made a mental note to replace the now
broken lock at a later date. He saw pictures of a young girl strewn about Illyana’s work area. The name of the girl was Karen Beecher;
it was scribbled on the photos and on several notebooks. Another name that was
scattered about was Peter Merkel. This name was most sinisterly written
alongside words like ‘cult’ and ‘black hat.’
“What exactly are they up to?” he
asked himself.
“Just this side of
‘none of your business, bro!’” Piotr turned to
see Illyana and Kitty behind him.
“When did you two come in?” Piotr said, shocked he had not heard the door.
“We’re stealthy, that’s why we’re
good detectives,” Kitty said briskly, as she sped past Piotr
and over to her desk, going straight for her ‘Dolls’ files.
“I’m glad you two are safe. I was--”
“Butting in,” Illyana
interrupted him.
“I told you you
were not to help on any cases until your probation was
over,” Piotr said calmly, but seriously.
“I am of age, Piotr,
you cannot tell me what to do,” Illyana said gently,
but swiftly guiding her brother towards the door.
“You are my responsibility ‘
“Well, consider yourself absolved,”
she said, meeting his tense gaze.
“If you do not come home with me
right now, do not bother coming home at all!” Piotr
shouted as quietly as possible.
“Duly noted,” she said, as she
continued to push him towards the door.
“I mean it,” he said, only half-convincingly,
as he gripped the doorframe to stop her from pushing him through.
“I know,” she deadpanned.
“I will give you one more chance,” he
said, almost pleading.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stay here,”
she said with a sigh, as she finally got him outside.
“Illyana...”
he groaned as he stopped her from closing the door on him.
“I’ll see you at home later,” she
said, pushing on the door.
“When?”
“Soon-ish...”
she said, as got the door closed. Piotr went on
talking and the two girls barely held back a laugh as they saw him realize that
the doors were soundproof. He threw up his hands and stomped away.
“Wow, he must be getting really fed
up to use the ‘or don’t come home at all’ move.”
“Are you kidding? That’s the fifth
time he said that this week,” she said as she tried to lock the door and saw
that it was broken. With a sigh, she used the chain at the top of the door and
followed Kitty over to the file cabinet. Kitty tapped the top of the cabinet
twice and then turned the key still in the cabinet’s top drawer. Suddenly a
hissing sound could be heard as the tiles immediately in front of the cabinet
began to lower.
“So how are we going to get Dougie out of this?” Illyana said
as normally as she would have, if the longtime friend and teammate was not a
brainwashed drone of a madman.
“How can you be so cavalier?” Kitty
asked, rubbing her temples as the platform came to a
stop inside their secret HQ level.
“Because I know everything will be
all right,” she said confidently.
“I wish I were as certain as you,”
Kitty said. Then she suddenly noticed that they had been in the HQ for over a
second and Lockheed was not slobbering all over her. “’Heed? Lockheed?
Warlock?” she called urgently.
“Oh, is that their names?” a gruff
accented voice said from the other room. They rushed in to see a distinguished
Hispanic gentleman in a finely tailored suit twirling his beard in a
stereotypical villain fashion. Next to him were a group of thugs subduing
Warlock and Lockheed. Kitty and Illyana were about to
strike when he loudly cleared his throat to call their attention.
“Girls, girls, no
need for that. My name is Fabian Cortez and I have a proposition for
you.”
---
Ragdoll
smiled proudly as his Dolls adjusted to the process. Everyone in the hall, save
four, found themselves on the floor writhing in pain. Ragdoll,
Constance, Mattie and Karen herself remained untouched. Karen for her part was
still in her coma and
“Now my children will no longer have
the worries that weighed them down as individuals. Conflicts will be erased as
we take over their problems and choices for them. Karen controls them and we
control her,” he said with a smug smile, though his voice gave the bearing of a
man who believed that he was doing something for the greater good.
“So, who’s first for them to handle
for us?” Mattie said fiercely.
“I’m thinking our President’s poster
children for his fascist dream. With all of our mutant children this so called
Squadron Supreme should pose no problem for us,” he sat with his
cat-ate-the-canary grin.
“That should definitely be fun,”
Mattie said rubbing her hands.
“In more ways than one, just leave
that Superman to me,”
“You both can exercise your baser
interests later; this is a time for serious planning my darlings,” Ragdoll said silkily.
“But of course. You know we could
never love another man but you, Rags,” Mattie said with a wink. At that moment
the Dolls began to rise once more, all the emotion and
thought vacant from their faces. Doug Ramsey was the nearest to Ragdoll and the girls and as he stood Constance called him
to her.
“Now is the time, my love. We have
made you one and now we must make you strong,” she whispered huskily into his
ear, though he showed no signs of acknowledgment and continued his vacant gaze.
Constance winked to Mattie who went outside and instructed their human aides to
bring in Fabian Cortez’s serum. Constance than squeezed Karen’s hand and all
the Dolls extended their arms as the assistants injected them. Ragdoll watched as a glazed look passed over his
“children’s” faces and a smile came to his face.
---
“I can get us in unnoticed,” Cortez
said finally, as they approached the Doll’s House after hours of silence.
“How’s that?”
Illyana asked.
“I have people on the inside,” he
muttered.
“Yeah, we kicked their asses,” Kitty
said from behind the wheel.
“No, I have others, but thank you by
the way.”
“No problem,” Kitty said giddily.
She parked their van in a well-camouflaged spot.
“Now comes the hard part,” Kitty
said gravely. She got out of the car and walked around back and opened the
trunk; inside she found a large bag. She took the bag and walked to the
backseat door on the driver’s side. She opened the door and sighed.
“Go on, get in,” she said defiantly.
The snarling form of Lockheed answered in the negative.
“The only way you’re coming with us
is in here, ’Heed. We can’t allow you to draw attention to us,” she said,
pleading.
“I just tested the com. Warlock is
online and has the map of the Doll’s House uploaded,” Illyana
said, ignoring the pleading/ordering and whining/growling coming from the car.
“Finally!
Thank you!“ Kitty shouted, as Lockheed begrudgingly
entered the bag. Kitty hooked the bag’s strap over her shoulder and put her
hood up, motioning for the others to follow suit. They were wearing all black
(as the Dolls’ human aides did) and their hoods were similar to the aides’ as
well. Kitty was watching Cortez suspiciously as they made their way stealthily
to a back door. Illyana took flank and willed herself
not to instinctively summon her sword at the very sight of the place. As they
neared the door opened and a lanky female was standing in the doorframe.
“Thank you, Mel.” Cortez said, as
the woman ushered the three of them inside. They made their way down a dark
hallway and looked for clues to their whereabouts.
“War, what area are we in?” Illyana said, hitting her com button.
“No: ‘Hi Warlock,
how’s the base?’” the defiant robot quipped over the com-link.
“How’s about shut up and do it or I
will make you into an easy-bake oven!” Illyana
snapped, barely keeping herself from raising her voice.
“Area 47. It’s
their “secret” wing,” he said finally.
“I remember this; there was a door
marked 47 where they kept Karen. I know where we are,” Kitty said with a smile
as she led them down the hall.
---
“This has worked better than I ever
hoped. Though it will take a few more daily shots ‘til they can teach their
bodies to produce the chemical naturally,” Ragdoll
said, practically giggling.
“Douglas, my dear,
why don’t you accompany me by back to my room. I feel like celebrating,”
“How’s about ‘ew!’”
a voice said from behind the mind-controller, as Illyana
Rasputin teleported into view. Before any of them could react, she grabbed
“What the fuck?”
“What did you just inject her with?”
Ragdoll asked feverishly. Instead of answering, Illyana vanished before Mattie could overpower as she had
done before.
“Constance, order them to find her!”
Ragdoll shouted. Constance turned to go back and grab
Karen’s hand but she stumbled and fell to the ground.
“Constance!” Mattie shouted, as she
rushed to the girl’s side. It looked as if
“What’s going on?” Karen asked,
alarmed.
“You tried to turn in evidence
against your little cult and ended up the cornerstone of their master plan,
basically,” Illyana said, as she gave a roundhouse
kick to a wolf-like mutant that leaped at her.
“Why are they attacking me?” Karen
asked, recoiling in her bed.
“They’re not. They think I'm hurting
you, thanks to the process el senor wacko put them
through. You’re their “Queen Bee,” so call ‘em off,
would yah?” Illyana said, as she teleported a foot to
the right to avoid a power blast. Karen closed her eyes and they all stopped. After
a moment, she tensed her muscles and saw all the Dolls
shake as a golden liquid ran out of their nose, ears and mouth.
“NOOOOOOO!”
Ragdoll screamed. He ran at Illyana
but a hand landed on his shoulder and wrenched the cult leader backwards. He
turned to see Fabian Cortez.
“Hello again, Peter,” Fabian said,
as he went to punch Merkel, but the wiry villain wriggled out of his grip and
ran through a nearby door followed shortly by a fuming Fabian. All of the Dolls’, including Doug’s, heads fell and then a
moment later, they raised again. They looked around as if they had just woken
from a dream.
“WHAT THE HELL!?”
Doug screamed suddenly.
“We just don’t have time for that,”
Kitty said, as she stormed past her confused friend and over to
“The more extreme symptoms of
anaphylactic shock are setting in. ‘
“It was penicillin, wasn’t it?”
Mattie said, both dumbfounded and furious.
“Sure was.”
“You bitch!” She howled, as she
leaped at Kitty, forming her hands into clay swords and axes. Kitty promptly
phased and Mattie fell through.
“You don’t learn do yah, puddy-for-brains?”
“I do know some things … like you’ll
never phase him
in time!” Mattie shouted as she extended a torrent of her clay at Doug, smothering
the boy in it.
“Go!” Kitty shouted to seemingly no
one, but suddenly the bag slumped over her shoulder burst open; a small purple
dragon bolting out towards the villainous girl. She was visibly surprised but
quickly recovered as she blasted another wave of clay at Lockheed. Before it
hit him he unleashed a blast of fire solidifying the clay instantly, causing it
to fall to the floor and crumble. Lockheed dodged another burst and then, flying
speedily to where she held Doug, gently fried the surface of the cocoon she had
him in. This allowed Doug to burst free. Mattie furiously sent another round of
clay at them, splitting it into several streams, but all the streams fell to
the earth with a great thud, as did Mattie herself. Lockheed looked confused as
he had not done this, and Doug smiled as he saw who had. Danny Blaine his former
roommate stood over Mattie, white glow in his eyes and around his hands.
“Thank you,” Doug said sincerely.
“Any time,” his former roommate said
with a wink. Doug ran to Kitty and hugged her as tight as he could.
“I am so sorry, I am sorry, sorry, I
could not be more sorry, a thousand gallons of sorry, I am filled with sorry,
sorry, sorry, I am saying I am sorry, sorry, SORRY!”
Kitty hugged him back.
“Doug, you know how you can make it
up to me?”
“How? Anything? I’m sorry! How?” he asked exuberantly.
“Shut up,” she said lovingly.
“I'm sorry!” he hugged her tighter.
She pushed him off with a smile.
“Where is that rat-bastard Merkel!” Doug shouted, “I want his blood! I want to hold his
still-beating heart in my hands!” he raged.
“Doug, pull it back.”
“Let’s get him,” he said even-toned.
“Better,” she said, as they raced
down the hall Ragdoll and Cortez had run through.
---
“Where is the rest of my serum!” Fabian shouted, as he beat Merkel again.
“The serum is over now; no one will
use it if I can not!” Merkel said through bloodied teeth.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Fabian asked.
“No one gets out alive, buddy...” the
beaten mutant said, giggling. He raised one of his bloody hands and revealed a
small electronic device.
“One push of this button and we all
go to that big Doll House in the sky...” he said, wheezing as he clutched his
chest. Kitty watched this as she came upon the room.
“My God, you’re insane,” Kitty said,
before she could stop herself from drawing their attention to her and Doug.
“Ah, you’re back. I thought you
would be,” Ragdoll said, still clutching the device.
“You are going to just kill all your
‘children’?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“I’d rather have them
dead than be poisoned by the outside world and its disease and darkness!” he
seethed.
“You’re sick,” Kitty said, as if she
could hurt him with the words.
“You don‘t know what sick is until
you‘ve seen the faces of the idiotic masses, glaring at you as if you were the
monster and not them!” Ragdoll snapped, in a cynical
tone.
“I’m a big fan of not being a
monster. Let‘s go with that,” Kitty said, as supportively as she could muster.
“No, no, this is the right thing to
do,” Ragdoll said, waving his hand.
“You don‘t know the first thing
about the ‘right thing!’ The right thing would have been if I had killed you
the moment I first saw you!” Kitty said, flexing her hand into a fist.
“You’ll be in bits and pieces before
you touch me!” he shouted, blood spitting from his mouth as he talked.
“I don’t die that easy!” she shouted,
before giving Doug a look. He slowly backed out and ran down the hall.
“Run for your lives!!!!” he shouted,
as he ran into the main hall. No one moved an inch.
“What about Ragdoll?”
a random Doll shouted.
“Listen to him! Ragdoll
lied to us! He used us!” Danny shouted, as he used his gravity power to hold
Mattie at bay.
“Did you not see what Ragdoll did to me?” Karen agreed, going to stand beside
Danny. “You have no idea of the horrible things I discovered before he shut me
down!”
“Oh, I don’t have the patience...”
Doug said as he looked at their defiant faces and signaled Lockheed. The dragon
flew into the hair and breathed down a wall of flame onto the back of the room.
All the Dolls made a break for it.
“That did it,” Karen said with a
smirk, as she and Danny started to run off as well.
“Aren’t you coming?” Danny asked,
looking back at Doug.
“I’ll be along soon. Don’t let that
shape-shifting freak out of your sight,” he shouted.
“We won’t!” the two shouted back, as
Danny lifted Mattie into the air with his power and moved out of the room with
her. Doug smiled and made his way back to where the standoff continued.
“Do something! Phase
him! My serum’s in here somewhere!” Fabian shouted.
“If I phase
him, the bomb may go off,” Kitty said calmly, while maintaining eye contact
with Merkel, “is everyone out?”
“Yes,” he said cautiously.
“If everyone’s out, you have no
reason to blow this place up!” Cortez shouted.
“Cortez, do not push him,” Kitty
snapped.
“Why? This little weakling mutie is trying to take my serum! I worked my life for
that! I sacrificed more money than you’ll ever have! My sister’s life even! I
sacrificed it all for this! I will not let this bastard ruin it ‘cause he thinks he’s Marilyn Manson or something!” He fumed.
“I think you mean Charles Manson,”
Doug said warily.
“Doug, now
is not the time,” Kitty said.
“It never is with him,” Illyana said from behind them.
“‘
“No, I want my serum!” he shouted,
as he moved closer to Merkel. Kitty saw a look in Merkel’s eye and knew.
“Illyana, now!” Kitty didn’t even have time to finish
the sentence before they were outside the building on the roof of a nearby
apartment complex. Just in time to watch the Doll’s house crumble in on itself,
with an ear-splitting sound.
“... fuck ...”
Illyana said, in disbelief.
“Ditto,” Kitty said, patting her
shoulder.
“I AM SO SORRY!” Doug shouted,
falling to his knees.
“Yeah, yeah, you can beg for
forgiveness more while you’re making us dinner,” Illyana
said as she teleported them home.
---
“Here’s some more steak, I’m sorry,”
Doug said, as he put more food on Illyana’s plate.
“Thank you, my slave,” she said,
grinning.
“Kitty, any more dinner, I’m sorry?”
he asked, holding up the food.
“No, that’s okay Doug, my appetite
may have been affected by something, I'm not sure what.
Maybe it was the fire extinguisher to the ‘ol noggin,”
she said with a wink.
“I’M SORRY!!!!!!!” he wailed as he
cooked faster.
"She is just joking about that
isn't she?" Piotr asked, as he helped himself to
a plate.
"Maybe.
About as much as I am when I said he stuffed me unconscious into a closet,"
Illyana said with a wink, as Doug went into another
round of ‘I'm sorry’s’. A sudden merciful knock on
the door saved him from another jab, as Kitty went to answer it. She found a
deliveryman standing there with an ivory box.
“Katherine Pryde?”
he asked.
“...yes.”
“This is for you,” he handed her the
box and walked away. She opened it and to her horror found a rag doll inside
that looked just like Merkel. She dropped the box as she took the note from
around the doll’s neck. It read:
---Hello,
my child,
I
never got to show you my mutant gift:
I
don’t die easy either...
TTFN,
Peter
Merkel, your beloved Ragdoll---
The
color drained from Kitty’s face as she looked around.
“Son of a bitch.”
The End?