Keri Wilson

Dreams and Desires
Hell in Paradise, chapter 2
Where Do We Go From Here, part c

Jubilee thought, if someone calls me mutie again I'll scream. All around her in this room were crying children and angry adults, mostly women with infants or children. The truck had deposited them on some island, possibly not far from Manhattan. They had definitely gone through the city on the way here.

"Jubilee!" Kitty saw Jubilee as she and the three younger LeBeau children were herded along with other women with infants or preadolescent children into the same room.

The two women hugged gently and Kitty touched the top of baby Gwen's head.

"She okay?"

"So far. How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay, but I want to see Kayley and Fion and hold them tight."

"Kayley is here. There she is" Jubilee pointed to a corner of the room, where most of the school's younger children clustered in close group with frightened faces. "She hasn't seen you yet with all these people crammed in here."

Rowena LeBeau overhead the conversation and was off through the crowds before anyone noticed. The other LeBeau children followed in her wake.

"Oh I believe the LeBeau progeny are bringing Kayley to me." Kitty smiled in spite of the situation.

In moments Kitty had her daughter hugging her for dear life. Kitty couldn't keep the tears from welling up in her eyes as she picked Kayley up and hugged her back. With two of their teachers there the other children followed the young Lebeaus. Jubilee and Kitty had soon had all the younger children from the school surrounding them.

"I didn't see Piotr or Fion anywhere as they brought us in and split us up. They took Remy off alone and those guys looked mean."

Kitty and Jubilee exchanged worried looks; Remy probably was in the most danger of all of them.

Kitty continued, "The took the older Lebeau kids off together. Apparently this was supposed to just be the waiting point for people like us. Older kids go elsewhere."

"Probably where Fion is. You didn't hear Kelly's speech. He said anyone 12 and older 'suspected of engaging in outlaw activities would be sent to work camps'. Our kids are automatically suspect just for being our kids and at the school."

Kitty's hands clenched. Work camps! More violations of basic human rights. How far could they go before the public realized what outrages were happening here.

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 "Hey Jono, you and Paige need to stay over there. It's gone to hell here. Sentinels and everything." Jonothon Strasmore played back the entire message from his old friend Angelo for Paige, Rahne, and Moira. Angelo had obviously made the transmission in an almost panic.

Jonothon and Paige had gone to Muir Island a couple of weeks ago, so Paige could undergo a rather sophisticated form of invitro fertilization. It involved a bit of genetic manipulation of the zygote. Then she would have to rest for at least two weeks to make sure the egg had implanted and continued to develop.

Paige had wanted a child, but Jono had been too fearful for Paige's safety if they did it the traditional way. He had even expressed strong fears about invitro if no genetic work was done to insure his mutation was not active in the child, and if possible not passed along at all. To placate the fears of her husband Paige suggested asking Moira for help. Knowing how insistant his wife was on having a child Jonothon agreed. The process had been sucessful so far. But now this had happened.

"Yuir not thinking on goin back right now are ye?" Moira looked at them sternly.

"But they're in trouble." Paige said insistantly.

"No, luv, think. Angelo was right. Better we stay here. At least till we can figure out a plan and get together anyone else that was outside yer country to rescue them."

After over an hour arguing Jonothon finally convinced Paige that going now was foolhardy. But when Paige awoke the next morning it was to a message left by her beside. From Jonothon.

"You convinced me luv. But don't follow. I want you and the baby to be safe as possible. As soon as I find them I'll be back here." 

"No, Jono, why did you do this." Paige hurried to the hanger hoping he hadn't left yet. She found the flyer gone and an angry Moira shouting to all and sundry.

"Damned fool boy! Had to run off all by himself to be a hero, going to get himself killed and where will that leave Paige and her bairn! Husbandless and fatherless that's what!"

Rhaine quickly broke in before this went on anymore in front of Paige, "Mum, stop!" and pointed to Paige standing in the hanger not 20 feet away.

Moira looked ashamed. "Did he happen to leave any kind of message?"

An ashen faced Paige wordlessly handed the note over, but her hands shook when she released it.

"It's just as I thought. The boy is right about you staying here at least though. I've already set up the remaining flyers to only operate under my direct command, is that clear? No more foolhardy leave takings from anyone!"

"Yes mam." Paige and Rhaine said automatically, temporarly cowed by such strong maternal authority.

Paige felt frustrated at Moira, but she feared if Jono commlinked them she would scream as loudly as Moira at his stupidity, going on this alone.

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Renee, Roger and Regina Lebeau stuck close to one another. Even when they were loaded on the trucks they carefully counted off the numbers loaded onto each truck and made sure they were right in the middle of the a group. When the truck was underway they took notice of their fellow passengers. One was a surprise.

"Andrew?"

"Yep, they got me too. I saw the three of you and did the same thing you did while we were waiting."

"Did they get-"

"Yeah and they seperated us too, Lisa and the baby got pushed into the group with the women with babies and little kids. I got sent here like you all."

"Sentor Kelly took mama away while we were still at the house."

"He found out Mom Lebeau was his daughter?"

"Yeah, don't know how though."

"I'm really scared they're going to hurt dad though." Renee whispered.

"What?"

"They took him off seperate at the station. The guys looked like ultramutant haters. Like the old videos we watched in history class about the Friends of Humanity."

"Oh sa va brute" (this is really bad) Andrew muttered.

"Oui." The other three LeBeau children replied.

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Piotr hadn't been as lucky. His shouting and resistance to the guards had lead to him being sedated again and tossed into a different truck than his son Fion. Piotr woke to find himself among strangers. Ones like him that had tried to fight with the guards despite the power suppression collars they all wore. He did not recognize any of his fellow passengers. But his heart was filled with hatred for the people who had control of his life for the moment. He vowed to wreak great venegence in his loved ones names.

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Remy Lebeau thought, Well dey haven't killed me yet so dey want me alive for some reason. As long as I'm alive I've got hope. Both for everyone else and for me.

It hadn't been a pleasant trip, and they had injected him with some chemical that had knocked him out for a good many hours on the trip to this place.

Some maximum security prison. Miltary, security was too advanced for anything else. Some technology must have been stolen from de mansion. Definitely Shiar based. Wonder how well de guards know how to use it. It could be an advantage for me.

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