KISS in Paradise 21-D


Calista sped over the waves below.  She did not like flying 
when the fog rose.  And the fog was rising, appearing 
unexpectedly in pockets on and between the islands, almost 
as if it was trying to block her.

She had found two of the leaders of the strangers, one 
being on the island she had started on.  The third island 
had yielded no leader.  She was headed for Paul's island, 
anticipating seeing him again.  The other leaders had been 
hesitant to believe her but Paul had been very 
understanding.  Paul would see the necessity of doing what 
Drakkon requested.  She saw a dark dot and focused her eyes 
on it, bringing it into focus.  She gasped in shock when 
she saw something she never thought to see, something 
totally impossible.

Samantha and Darkraven were flying TOGETHER northward.

All who knew the two Outcasts knew they never associated 
with any other.  Darkraven kidnapped strangers to torture 
and kill.  Samantha was a thief and bully.  Everyone drove 
them away from their homes; aware the two were nothing but 
trouble.

Calista angled in close.  "Where do you fly?" she demanded, 
sure this was trouble for Drakkon's plan.  Could they be 
heading for Drakkon?  Drakkon was north.

"Do not interfere," Samantha warned angrily.  "We hunt 
Enforcers."

Calista matched her speed to theirs, easy since she was the 
stronger flyer.  She could see that Darkraven was 
struggling to keep up with Samantha, saving her breath for 
the task of flying.  Calista stayed out of Samantha's range 
for her fire breath and yelled, "Why do you hunt 
Enforcers?"

"They have taken my Gene and Darkraven's Peter," Samantha 
answered.  "Once leaders of the strangers and now our 
companions.  We Broke them and The Enforcers have taken 
them to a ship to let the people there torture and kill 
them."

"You Broke two of the stranger leaders?"  Calista wondered 
if Drakkon know of this when he sent her to find the 
leaders.

"It doesn't matter what we did," Samantha snapped.  "You 
get in our way, I'll slit your throat myself so Darkraven 
can feed and then I'll roast and eat your carcass."

Darkraven spared a few breaths for conversation, her voice 
strained as she pushed her flying to the limit and beyond.  
"Help us, Calista.  They say you are the Eyes of the 
Islands.  They say you are fair.  Minotaur has taken my 
companion and will return him as he has returned all my 
companions, dead.  How is that fair?  I do not wish to bury 
another companion."

Calista kept pace with them as she thought.  Enforcers.  
Drakkon wanted to bring down the Enforcers.  Two of the 
leaders of the strangers.  Drakkon had sent her to tell the 
leaders.  The leaders she had told would relay the message 
to the other leaders who were free.  It was the missing 
ones who would not hear of it if she did not deliver it.  
"I will help," she agreed.  "Where are they?"

"North," Samantha said angrily, her fists clenched.  "They 
have taken them North, where Death and Evil dwell."

*	*	*	*	* 

Aurora Dawn trembled in the dark.  Terrible things had 
happened here.  It hung in the air still, brought in 
perhaps by the fog that had unexpectedly crept onto the 
island, chilling her to the core.  She would much rather be 
outside, in the sun, watching the waves.  Anywhere but this 
darkness.

The box rested where he had said.  She ran her hands over 
it.  Was it the right one?  She could use her special sight 
to see in the dark and tell the colors of the buttons. The 
right order.  She had to do it in the right order.  She 
started to push the green button.

Voices!  Someone else was down here with her!

She clutched the box to her chest and fled towards the 
light.  She had to get out.  She would not be trapped in 
this place of madness!  She heard someone following, 
running steps.  She had been spotted!

"Got you!"  A voice exclaimed and arms grabbed her.  She 
recognized the Enforcer Ursa and screamed, fighting to get 
free.  "You again!  LOBO!  It's the phantom girl!"

Aurora cried out and tried to break away from him.  She 
finally wiggled free but his hands grabbed for something 
solid and found the box.  She felt him tear it from her 
grip.

She fled for the light as the other Enforcers joined Ursa.  
She could not fight all of them.  She would ambush them as 
they left the underground places and regain the box.

"What have you got?"  Lobo asked, sniffing for a trace of 
the mysterious female who somehow seemed able to come and 
go at will.

"Some kind of box," Ursa said, puzzled.

Angel clung tightly to Naga's arm as they approached the 
others.  "Box?  What kind of box?"

Ursa shrugged.  "Just a box."

"We'll go back up to the light," Angel ordered.  "We may 
finally have Moreau's papers.  It had to be something 
important for someone to come down here after it."

Outside, Aurora stayed invisible, watching as the group 
came out of the darkness.  They were staying too close 
together.  She couldn't sneak in and grab the box away.  
Not yet.

Ursa examined his find.  "It's got buttons."  He pressed 
the red button.

Ghostly fire exploded around him.  Fur burned and flesh 
peeled from the bones.  Bones blackened and cracked.  A 
pathetic heap of flesh and ashes collapsed onto the grass.

The box fell onto the grass and sat gleaming in a stray 
beam of sunlight that found its way through the fog.

Aurora bit down on her own hand to stifle the scream.  What 
terrible weapon had Drakkon sent her to bring from the 
Forbidden Places?

Lobo felt rage grip him.  His eyes flashed bright red as he 
gave a roar and grabbed the box.  He ran through the mist, 
mind consumed by a strange red fog that stopped all 
thoughts.  He reached the beach and drew back his arm.

"NO!"  Aurora screamed, trying to follow the fast moving 
wolf-man.

Lobo threw the box out into the surf.

Aurora shot towards the falling box, hands outstretched.

A shark rose from the waters, its eyes gleaming red as 
fire.  The jaws opened and swallowed the box, almost taking 
Aurora's hands with it.  And then it sank beneath the waves 
and was gone.

Aurora hovered over the water.  It was gone.  She had lost 
the box.  She gazed back towards the shore but could not 
see Lobo through the thickening mist.  Now what should she 
do?

She saw a glimmer of red in the mist.  Perhaps the shark 
had surfaced again.  She sped towards the fiery spot.  

The spot grew, spread, and revealed itself to be a set of 
fiery wings.  Samantha was speeding through the mist, but 
that was not what made Aurora doubt her senses.  For on one 
side of the dragon-woman flew Calista and Darkraven 
struggled to keep pace on the other side.  Never would 
Aurora have thought to see these three together without 
blood being spilled.  She cut in on an interception course.  
"Where do you fly?"

"North," Samantha said.  "Minotaur has taken my companion 
and also Darkraven's.  We go to rescue them and kill 
Minotaur and the Enforcers."

"One Enforcer has already died," Aurora reported.  "On the 
Northern island.  But Minotaur is not among those there."

"Did you see one like myself?"  Darkraven asked hopefully.  
"I Broke Peter and Minotaur has taken him, to torture and 
return for me to place with the others the foul beast has 
taken from me."

Aurora blinked in surprise.  "You did not kill your 
companions?"

Samantha growled, fire curling around her lips.  "Help or 
leave.  We have no time for foolish questions."

Aurora thought of going back and telling Drakkon she had 
lost the box.  "I will help."  She joined the flight.

*	*	*	*	*

"Some clothes would be nice," Peter complained.

"Soon you will not need clothes," Minotaur promised.  "Soon 
you will not be needing anything ever again."

Peter glared at Minotaur.  "You're nothing but a coward.  
You tried to take Darkraven by force and she taught you to 
leave her alone.  So now you hurt her in other ways.  
You're too much of a coward to fight fair.  Why don't you 
let me out of these restraints, you bullheaded asshole, and 
we'll see which one of us walks away?"

Gene silently sighed.  There were times he thought Peter 
had a death wish.  And then there were times like now he 
was sure of it.

Minotaur took a step towards the helpless Peter Criss 
strapped on the table, but halted as the door opened.

"And how are my prize specimens?"  Dr. Xavier asked 
cheerfully.

"Have a nice nap?"  Gene quipped.  "I decided to delay my 
great escape until you were here to appreciate it."

Xavier chuckled and pulled a chair over to Gene's table.  
"I will regret losing you.  You have a refreshing 
intelligence.  A definite improvement over what I usually 
have to put up with from these miserable islands.  A bunch 
of whimpering, cowering weaklings.  If it was not for 
Moreau's work there would be nothing of value here."

"Why did Moreau come out here?"  Gene asked.  "Surely you 
know something about why he did what he did.  What was he 
trying to accomplish?"

Xavier pondered the thought.  "I'm not sure.  We only have 
disjointed remnants of his notes.  I at first thought much 
of the notes were destroyed when the Altered broke free.  
There was a period of great confusion, killing and 
rampages.  But reading through Moreau's notes I suspect he 
hid his actual working notes.  We still have not found 
them, although I think I found a clue."

"A clue?"  Gene prompted.  If he could keep this madman 
interested, perhaps he could buy time for him and Peter.  
He glanced across the room and saw Peter watching them and 
chanced a slight headshake.  He saw Peter give a brief nod 
and settle back on the table.  He relaxed, hoping he was 
reading Peter's signals correctly.

"Moreau was always fascinated with his family's secret," 
Xavier explained.  "He studied medicine and zoology.  When 
you read through his early notes you find he had a 
fascination with ornithology."

"Birds," Gene said.

Xavier nodded, pleased that Gene had been able to 
immediately identify it.  "As a child he was an avid 
birdwatcher and raised canaries.  Later he added exotic 
bird species, as money permitted.  That is why I was sure 
the 'songbird' he mentions is one of the tropical birds 
native to these islands."

"Songbird?"  Gene asked.

"In a note to his assistant, he said that if anything was 
to happen to him, Derek was to 'look to the songbird' as 
the key to everything.  I at first thought he meant that 
study of birds were the key to his research, but I suspect 
now that a songbird is a literal key," Xavier said.  
"Somehow a bird, a singing bird, is needed to find his 
working notes.  I'm convinced now that he hid his actual 
notes.  The notes we have found so far often contradict 
each other.  And we have no evidence of what the M Factor 
is or where he got it.  He had something similar when he 
did his experiments on the mainland but he found a source 
here.  I have his diary where he wrote about hitting a dead 
end and then finding the 'M Factor' that let him repeat his 
earlier successes."

"Earlier successes?"  Gene asked.  "You mean he did this 
before?"

"He came to the islands to try to perfect the process so he 
did not need some substance he had a limited supply of on 
the mainland."  Xavier rose and began pacing.  "He used up 
all his supply on just three subjects.  Did he come here 
because this was the source of the M Factor?  Or did he 
come here and find out that the M Factor also existed here?  
Is the M Factor connected to the songbird?  I don't even 
know what form the M Factor is used in.  Is it a drug?  A 
transplanted organ?  What?"

"He had three successful altered humans before he came 
here?"  Gene asked.  "What happened to them?"

"We don't know," Xavier admitted.  "He disappeared for 
several years.  His research on the mainland was performed 
during those years.  We only know what he did because he 
mentions it in his notes when he compares the earlier 
results with the results here on the islands.  And the 
results here may have been tampered with.  There is 
evidence another of his assistants may have tampered with 
the research."

"Why?"  Gene asked, glancing over to make sure Peter was 
staying quiet.  If Peter did not call attention to himself, 
perhaps Dr. X would forget that he was going to give the 
drummer to Minotaur to torture and kill.  If he could keep 
the doctor distracted, maybe Samantha could get help.  He 
refused to give up hope.

Xavier shrugged.  "Don't know.  Don't even know if it is 
true.  It may be that Moreau was insane and his notes are 
fake.  It may be his assistant Derek went mad with his 
changes and faked the notes.  We've tried to reach the 
memories locked in his head but his change evidently 
destroyed them all.  We gave up since he is not an easy 
specimen to handle, but we do not want to damage him.  He 
has not displayed the ability to infect others, but if we 
can find a way to create an army of sabertooth-men..."  
Xavier smiled.  "We have clients that would pay very well 
for that."  He smiled fondly at Gene.  "Just like they'll 
pay for the ability to make more like you and your friend 
who was Darkraven's toy.  I will find the answer.  The M 
Factor is somewhere on these islands.  If Moreau could find 
it, I can too."

"But Moreau knew what he was looking for," Gene pointed 
out.

"I will recognize it when I find it," Xavier said with 
confidence.  "I know what it does.  I just have to keep 
testing everything that comes off the islands."

Figuring they were not going to forget about him, Peter 
spoke up.  "Maybe it's connected to the Beast in the Mist."

Xavier laughed loudly.  "That stupid superstition?"  He 
turned to face Peter.  "It sent the native population 
fleeing in terror.  But I am a man of science.  I do not 
fear myths."

"It has been seen," Peter said quietly.

"SOMETHING has been seen," Xavier said.  "An animal of some 
kind.  We have watched these islands for years.  We know 
every creature on them.  There IS NO Beast in the Mist 
except for the one we create for our own purposes."

Gene shook his head as a wave of dizziness hit him.  He 
blinked, trying to think where he had felt this before.

"If you know every creature on these islands," Peter 
pointed out, "then you should have already discovered the M 
Factor.  So which creature gives you the M Factor?"

Xavier frowned.  "We may know what creatures exist without 
having fully tested them.  There may be some special gland, 
some phase of a seedpod, which produces the substance.  We 
have to analyze everything at different phases until we 
find it."

Gene gave a gasp as his body cramped.  He whimpered in 
pain.  He vaguely heard Peter call his name.

Xavier checked his watch.  "A much shorter duration than 
Darkraven's.  I need to know the amount of blood ingested 
to know if it is a weaker enzyme or some other factor such 
as lower volume."

"GENE!"  Peter called.

Gene gritted his teeth.  Every organ was twisting.  It felt 
like things were tearing inside.  He finally could stand it 
no longer and his screams filled the room.

"A more painful transformation also," Xavier observed with 
a total lack of sympathy.

"Do something!"  Peter demanded.  "He's dying!"

Xavier turned to face Peter.  "You survived your own 
rejection of the alterations.  He will most likely do so 
too.  We need to know if a person can survive 
transformation and rejection.  Our clients wish to have a 
serum that will allow agents to change forms from human to 
altered and back.  The serum will do no good if it kills 
the agents."

Peter cursed.  "DO SOMETHING!  You want to study him."

"I can study him dead or alive," Xavier said with a shrug.  
He winced as Gene's screams grew louder.  "I have cameras 
recording this.  There is no need for me to inflict this on 
myself.  I will return when he is again normal, or dead."  
Xavier left the room with Minotaur on his heels.

"BUT GENE...!"  Peter started, stopping when the door 
closed with a decisive thud.  He turned his head and 
watched Gene thrash on the table.

Blood trickled down Gene's skin from abrasions, mixing with 
the rivers of sweat and running across the table.  His 
talons tore his hands as he clenched his fists tightly 
closed.  He bit through his own lips in his agony and 
bloody froth dribbled down his chin.

"Don't die, Gene," Peter pleaded, his own hands clenched 
into fists.  "Don't leave me alone in this hellhole.  Live, 
damnit, live."