Of Monsters and Men
Love! Valour! Compassion! part 1
Chapter 6 - "Love! Valour! Compassion!"
I was on the phone with Marie..again. I watched as Maggie walked past the door of the office, an annoyed expression
on her face. I shrugged at her and dug in the desk drawer for a cigar.
"Marie, kid..I keep tellin' ya. I ain't in no mood to put up with his ass, last time he picked a fight for no fuckin'
reason other than he had a bug up his ass."
"Oh Creed, Ah know and Ah'm sorry 'bout that, I shoulda tried to stop him. But this is gettin' serious and I could
really use you back on my team."
"You could use me?" I smirk, flicking the zippo and lighting the cigar in the corner of my mouth.
"Dammit, Creed, don't be sick. You know better than anybody how Logan gets sometimes and here lately, he ain't been
much use to anybody, off on his little soul-searchin' tangent. I love the Man, don't get me wrong honey, but he drives
us all crazy now and then. Pleeease?"
"ooh I like it when ya beg.." Once again, messing with her. I hear something break down the hall, and Maggie curses.
"What did you break?!"
"Nothin! Don't start with me!" Maggie hollers back at me and I hear her stomping down the stairs. Marie overhears
this and had to comment.
"See what you did? She don't like me talkin' to you does she? An' where the hell did you find her?"
"She'll get over it, no she doesn't, and I found her in Vegas. You got 17 questions left." I puff with a grin. I hear
a door slam downstairs. Maggie must have gone out to get the mail.
"You are such a bastard, Creed,..I don't see how she puts up with you. The F.O.H. threat applies to all of us tho, I
really just want your word that you're not gonna sit on yer ass and let mutants get slaughtered."
"Shit, Marie..you know I'm not gonna do that. Long as you keep him away from me and mine, you can count on me and you
know it." I grumble, puffing and looking out the window to see Maggie walking down the driveway to the mail box.
"Oh shug, that is so good to hear! You know I'll do my best to keep ya separated. I'd rather not have a repeat of last
time. Oh...and Mama said to tell you she's pleased to hear yer not dead."
"Me either,..frankly he needs to get over this shit and get on with his life. And Tell her to get in line."
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Maggie stormed off to the mailbox, sick of listening to him flirt with some other woman. She'd smashed a votive cup
in the hall when he'd teased the girl. The cuts on her arm stung, but she let them bleed as she walked. She gathers
the mail, one large manilla envelope in there among the usual bills and bank statements. She glances at it and heads
back into the house. Hopefully he'll be off the phone. Maggie couldn't help it. It had been over a week now since
they'd had their little talk about him changing things when he was good and ready. He hadn't said a word to her about
it, just went about his life like everything was perfect. There were days she wanted to gut him just to watch him
heal and then stay out of reach until he screamed with rage. But that would only invite trouble and frankly, Mr.
LaCroix did not raise any fools..Magdelena did not look for trouble.
She enters the house and heads for the kitchen to set the mail down on the table and get a beer for herself. A cold one
might take this edgy temper down a notch or two. The items of mail scatter a little when she slaps them down on the
table and then she bends down in the fridge to pick a bottle out.
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I'd left the cigar upstairs, saved for later. Marie had done it again, managed to talk me into this playing hero
bullshit and now I had to tell Maggie. Not like I was going to move in at the school or anything, but she deserves
to know. She ain't exactly an Angel herself and might wanna know the killing for hire thing might get slow till
Rogue lets up on the leash. As I enter the kitchen, I see that perfect round ass in cut off shorts poking out of the
fridge and absolutely can not resist sneaking up behind her and grabbing her by the hips and yanking her back hard
against me. She nearly drops a beer when she squeaks in surprise.
"Mister Creed! Not funny!" Maggie spluttered and rose to stand up straight.
"Not jokin'..gimme that." I rumble, pressing harder against the curve of her ass while reaching past her shoulder for
the beer in her hand.
"Say please.." she muttered back at me and popped the cap on the bottle, giving her ass a wiggle for my benefit.
"now."
"close enough." She laughed and handed me the beer after taking a drink of it herself. Little smart ass.
"I got somethin' to tell ya Mag,..sit down." I gesture at the table.
She sits down and looks at me, curious. I lean on the counter and sigh, this was gonna be hard to explain.
"I said yes to Marie. She and her team need my help, she asked nicely.."
"repeatedly.." Maggie muttered.
"and repeatedly. She's promised to keep Logan off my back..so I'm gonna help her. If she calls and sounds urgent
you tell me right away, no snarky remarks to her, no losing the messages understand?" I point at her as I move
toward the table. Maggie nods and sighs.
"Understood. Who is Ruth Brown?" Maggie asks and points at the mail on the table. I turn quickly and pick up
the manilla envelope, brows furrowed. I tear at the seal and pull out a document,.it's wordy and legal looking.
This does not make me feel any better. Maggie comes to stand beside me, her hand light on my shoulder.
"Victor...what's wrong?" she asks, soft as a prayer as I read this paper I never wanted to recieve. It was a Will.
And a letter. I couldn't sit here and explain this, not to Maggie, not right now. I shook my head and stood up, giving
Maggie a nudge sideways. I clutch the envelope in my hand and move to leave the kitchen. I hit a wall and she's
frowning at me.
"Victor..tell me something." Maggie insisted.
"Let me leave this kitchen right now or I will put you through the fuckin' table, Maggie. I have to go do something.
I'll be back later." I growl at her.
Maggie blinks and drops the shield, letting him leave. A hurt look on her face. "Yes Mr. Creed..."
He leaves slamming the door behind him, gets in a car and takes off like a bat out of hell. Maggie sinks into a chair
and wants to cry.
----------------------------Compassion-----------------------------
I drive like hell, the words of the letter still fresh in my mind. "I'm dying Victor." Ruth was an old
friend and I'd counted on her many times, to talk to, to provide me with well trained and willing women. She was
a classy Madame and ran the best private exclusive brothel in the North East. "It's cancer, inoperable, and I
have to tell you something. It has to be face to face." What could she need? We'd never been really close
but I'd seen her grow her business, seen her thru rough times..that time she got knocked up over 20 years ago, I'd
been the one who talked her into putting it up for adoption. Plenty of people love kids, just no place for one
in a whorehouse.
The hospital has that smell I can't stand. I ask for Ruth Brown at the front desk and they send me up to a room on
the 4th floor. She's there waiting, looking older, grayer, paler.
"You look good Victor." she says, her voice scratchy.
"You look like hell Ruth. I came as soon as I got the letter."
she manages a weak chuckle and nods, "Thank you..sit down. This..is going to be hard to say"
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As soon as Victor peeled out of the drive, Maggie stomped upstairs, threw on a leather jacket and back down to the garage.
Fine, if he was going to be that way, she was going out too. As she pulls out of the driveway, the phone rings, the
machine picks up. It's Marie's voice again.
Creed, shugah, we got news. The FOH is on the move! Get your girl and get here as soon as you can. we don't know
who it is they're targeting, but they've got a good sized force mobilized according to our sources. Please be smart
hon.
The car Maggie chose was perhaps not the best one considering the vanity plate on the front of the Benz.. It was
easy to figure out who the driver was, for the short powerfully built man on the Motorcycle down the street. Logan
grunted and drew up the kickstand and tore off after her. Marie and her hopeless causes. He'd watched Victor tear
out not 10 minutes before going in the opposite direction. It had been eating at him for weeks now, the woman and
her connection with Creed.
Maggie drew to a stop at a light and the motorcycle gunned up behind her. She looked in the rearview mirror and
frowned. She knew that motorcycle and the driver as well. She drummed her fingers on the wheel, waiting for the
light to change and floored the Benz as soon as it turned Green. Logan cursed under his breath and took off after her.
Hard to have a high speed chase in a residential area, but it took him a good 10 minutes to catch up with her again.
Taking a shortcut through an alley, he cut out in front of her and cut her off. Maggie cursed and slammmed on the brakes.
Jumping out of the car, she slammed the door and headed toward him.
"What the hell did I tell you? Stay the FUCK away from me!"
"I got orders to get you to safety."
"I got orders to stay the hell away from you. Sounds like we're both in trouble, cause I ain't goin' nowhere with you."
"Woman, this is bigger than Creed and you just gotta trust me. We're too close to the house still, just follow me
somewhere more private an' I'll even explain."
"You hate Mr. Creed, why should I trust someone who hates the Man I love?"
"You what?"
"You heard me." Maggie put her hands on her hips defiantly and glared at him.
The sound of a tractor trailor rig coming down the street caught their attention however. The Rig was easing down the
street towards them and slowing down. Logan had a second to see one of the doors on the back swing open before he made
a grab for Maggie.
"SHIT!"
"What the hell.." Maggie turned to see what Logan was cussing about,..armed men were pouring from the back of the truck.
Too many to count. Maggie densed and beside her she heard the SNIKT of Logan's claws coming out. She pushed redial on the phone
in her pocket, praying Victor might pick up..
"Stand down Mutants, come quietly or die in the streets like the dogs you are." a solider at the front said as they all
advanced, circling them. Maggie put her back to Logan's, keeping her eye on the men and trying to figure out how
many there were.
"Not likely Bub." Logan growled.
"The hell are you doin? These are like 20 to 1 odds here Runt." Maggie hissed at his back.
"My kinda odds."
--------------------------------In the Hospital--------------------------
Ruth looked at Me when I sat down and gestured at the table by her bed. Another envelope, I picked it up and handed
it towards her. "No Victor, that is for you. Documents you'll need." I didn't like the sound of it and
went to open them. "Wait,..do..do you remember all those years ago, when you helped me set up my business? And when
you loaned me money for doctor's bills?"
"Sure I do. You were just settin' up house when ya got knocked up by accident. That was right around the time I met
Birdy."
"That's right. That was 22 years ago, can you believe that?"
"Time flies,..you did real good for yourself Ruth. You put the kid up for adoption didn't you?"
"Yes Victor I did..and that's why I wanted you to come. The baby,..I'm almost entirely sure she's yours."
"What? Mine? And ya waited till now to tell me?" I growled, moving to get up.
"Victor, wait. I..didn't think you'd want anything to do with her,..and I thought it best to let her grow up not
knowing either of us. I gave her your last name tho. Those documents..I had a private detective track her down. She has
her own business Victor. In the city. It's up to you if you want to find her. She knows nothing about you and I'm
not going to tell her about you. Only about me. Altho I doubt she's stupid Victor, she's going to realize my last
name is not Creed."
"Ruth, you're tellin me I got another kid out there...another kid that might hate me as soon as look at me. Do you even
know if she's a mutant?"
"Yes,..she is. Do what you will,..find her, leave her alone, that is up to you. I just wanted you to know..and I want
to die with some dignity Victor." Ruth looks at me with those tired eyes of hers and I knew right away what she was asking.
"no."
"There is 20 thousand dollars in that drawer with your name on it, Victor. Just do it." She frowns at me.
I nod and open the drawer, I pick up the envelope and tuck it into my coat with the envelope full of documents about
my daughter as well. Then I stand and pull a pillow from behind her head.
"Good bye Victor. You've been a good friend."
"Yeah,..right back atcha Ruthie.."
And I pressed the pillow over her face as she closed her eyes. she never struggled, she just stayed still. The monitors
never registered any fear or stress. She just slowed down and finally stopped breathing. I raised her head once she
was gone and put the pillow back. I positioned her hands on her stomach, smoothed her hair off her forehead. I'd just
killed the mother of my child. Because she asked me to. Alarms started going off, so I stepped back from the bed and
just watched as nurses came pouring in. one or two of them looked at me but said nothing. As I left quietly, one of them
caught up to me in the hall.
"Are you the Mister Creed she was asking about?" she asked.
"Yeah." I said, keeping my tone sorta empty.
"I'm glad you got to talk to her..before she passed. I'm sorry for your loss Sir. She told me you were her oldest
friend." the little nurse smiles softly up at me.
"Thanks. When it came down to it,..I guess I was." I nodded and got out of there as quickly as I could without raising
any eyebrows. I wanted to get home, see Maggie, tell her the news, see what she thought about all of this. As I reached
the parking garage, I realized my phone was still off. I turned it back on and voice mails started popping up from over an hour ago.
Creed, honey, I"m tryin your cell too cause I didn't get no answer at the house. You need to get your girl and get some
where safe. The FOH are on the move, we don't know where they're headed or what they're doin just yet, but we've found the
facility they're operatin' out of. Please call me back as soon as you can! This is Marie, duh."
"Mr. Creed! He's chasin' me! I can't lose him! Where are you? He got behind me just down the street from the house.
SHIT! *tires squeal and the phone is dropped for a moment* "It's wolverine,..I recognize the motorcycle..oh shug, what
am I supposed to do? MOTHERFUCKER! **the line drops. Another message starts. This one is hard to hear and muffled as if
it were inside a coat pocket, I strain to hear it**
"Stand down Mutants, come quietly or die in the streets like the dogs you are."---"Not likely Bub."--"The hell are you doin? These are like 20 to 1 odds here Runt."
"My kinda odds."--"You are INSANE!"--*Gunfire*--"AAGH! SHIT!"--
That was Maggie's voice..that was Maggie's scream...
No,..No,..NOOOO!