Mirror, Mirror

Mirror Mirror Chapter Twelve
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Oy, this weekend… ahem Pics are forthcoming. InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. J ProPhile: I’m restocking to send stuff out. J Morgan: *gloke * Readers/Reviewers: Thanks for keeping up with this and reading/reviewing as you can!


“Your ribs are showin’.”
Mystique raised a brow and fixed Sabretooth with a penetrating glare. “That’s the most coherent I’ve heard you in years.” She skimmed one hand down her side, wincing inwardly as she felt the xylophone ridges of her ribs and the slight concavity of her stomach. “You’re shedding.”
Sabretooth did not move from his spot on the too-narrow metal bed but he did huff in annoyance, his chest rising and falling sharply at her comment. “She’s comin’ again. Got herself a friend.” Since their arrival at the latest holding facility, the third since their captivity, Sabretooth had found that he could hear the comings and goings of their captors much better than in the previous location. And they were treated a shade better as well—real food instead of glop and barely stirred powdered drinks, temperature control on the space and they had been given, to Mystique’s ill concealed delight, basins of water and cakes of soap with which to wash, twice a day.
The shape shifter slid to her feet, the metal cot creaking in her wake, and took up a nonchalant posture by the thermostat. Sabretooth nodded slightly, indicating their proximity. A moment alter, the door slid open and the dark haired teenager who had been their captor stepped in, holding a tray laden with dinner. This time, she was not alone. An older man, one hatefully familiar to them both, followed, a slight smile playing on his lips. “Good evening, friends.”
Sabretooth growled low in his throat, his body tensing, but Mystique cut off the burgeoning outburst with a flutter of her fingers, a ‘stay down’ gesture. “Essex. Should have guessed you were here. The way this year has been going it was either you or the reanimated corpse of Francisco Franco. ” She folded her arms across her bare chest, unusually aware of her nudity as Essex stared at her, the odd half smile never leaving his lips.
The dark haired girl who looked too much like Kitty for Mystique’s comfort had set the tray down and was arranging plates and glasses in a neat fashion on the bolted-down table in the middle of the room. One look from Essex, though, and she stopped what she was doing and beat a hasty retreat, the door sliding shut behind her as she shot them a fearful last glance. “The reports from my associates have not been favorable,” the doctor said without preamble, staring to pace slowly back and forth across the breadth of the room, staying out of arm’s reach of either mutant. “It was all I could do to convince your last caretakers to give you to me in one piece.”
Sabretooth snorted softly. Their last caretakers had been more scared of them than anything, shoving food through a slot in the door and peering at them through the tiny window set high in the wall, never opening the cell for fear of their abilities. Mystique shifted as Essex paced near and was gratified to see him flinch slightly, drawing back. She noted that his hand moved towards his left hip pocket. _Weapon, _ she thought bluntly. _He’s not stupid. He’s just an asshole. _ “So what’s your plan? Clone us too? Add us to your strange little army?” She let her lips curl in derision. “What I wonder is, how are you accelerating their growth, if you’ve only been around us a few months, a year maybe? Surely the cost of their sudden viability as soldiers is taken from their biological stores. Are they weak boned? Slow of mind?” She held her tongue as Essex turned to face her, blocking her view of Sabretooth.
“You live in your own space, unaware of all that goes on around you. I’m not some simple movie villain, showing his hand before the plan is done. I’m not much for this popular entertainment of movies but I have seen enough to know you never do that, never show your planned ending before it’s time.” He reached out and trailed a finger down Mystique’s cheek, frowning as she did not react to his touch. “I bargained long and hard to get you both here. I used my own blood, sweat and tears to ensure your safety here. I would think you’d appreciate that.”
“I’d appreciate it more if you weren’t using us as some stupid game piece and let us free,” she replied tartly, moving away.
“I know you could kill me easily, Mystique,” Essex murmured, his voice a mixture of awe and amusement. “But what would you do without me? Stay here in this little cell and starve? Fuck yourself silly with Sabretooth in one last hurrah as his animal side took over, finally suffocating the man?” He tsked chidingly, reaching for her face again, this time pinching her chin between his thumb and forefinger and forcing her eyes to meet his. “You’re afraid. I can smell it on you like death.”
Sabretooth rose silently, but did not advance forward. He caught Mystique’s eye and seemed to be waiting for some sign from her before proceeding. “Essex,” the woman said softly, not moving out of his grasp but rather stepping towards him, “death clings to you like a second skin. Any stench you smell is your own.”
The doctor’s smile fell entirely then and he shoved her back against the concrete wall. She hissed in pain as her head bounced off the heat register but she did not fight back. Gathering his temper to him like a cloak, he strode towards the opening door. “You both will be presentable for company in an hour. I’m arranging your sale to the highest bidder.”