X-Men: Night of the Living Brain Dead
                               by
                           Ben Church bchurch@su.edu

	All major characters are the property of Marvel Comics 
except Hotshot.
                            Chapter 13
	"Remember," the pirate captain told her first mate, "I 
want the boy alive."
         "It will be done mistress."
    
        Will raced across the deck, heading for the battle.  He 
saw the how many pirates there were.  He counted at least 
twenty, against a crew of five.
        "Five?" he thought.  "What kind of sailing ship only has 
five crew members?"  He shrugged, and decided that he'd better 
get the element of surprise.  He went to the stern of the ship 
and began to climb the rigging.  Then he looked above and saw 
that two of the pirates had had the same idea.  He took aim 
with the pistol and fired.  The bullet struck one of the men in 
the back, and he fell screaming from the rigging.  Will kept 
climbing and caught the pirate just as he reached the crows 
nest.
        The pirate turned and snarled.  Will hit him in the face 
with the pistol.  The pirate reeled from the blow, and Will 
caught him with a round-house kick that sent him to the deck 
below.  
        The lookout who had been hiding peeked over the edge and 
said in a shaky voice "Thanks mate."
        "Don't mention it." said Will.  He hacked at a length of 
rope and grasped it in his hand.  He tested it's strength and 
jumped from the mast.  The wind whipped his hair as he plummeted 
towards the deck.  Then the rope caught him and he swung towards 
the battle.  His momentum sent him sailing into one of the 
pirates and he heard ribs crack as his opponent toppled over the 
railing to the water.
        He felt a blow to his neck and turned on his assailant. 
 The pirate stared in amazement when his club had no effect on 
Will.  Will was also amazed, never the less he ran the pirate 
through with his blade and then turned and parried an attack 
from another pirate.  He swung an the pirate parried then 
slashed at Will who twisted away.  Then both attacked at the 
same time and their blades locked.  They strained against each 
other, neither able to gain the upper hand.  Then Will stepped 
in close and brought up his knee and slammed it into the 
pirate's crotch.  The pirate crumpled to the ground and moaned. 
 Will hit him on the head with his sword hilt.
    
        The pirate first mate crept up behind the boy.  The 
captain wanted him alive so he would do as she asked.  The 
problem was how to subdue the boy.  He'd already seen that a 
blow to the head would not work, so he would have to be drugged. 
 The first mate took the drug from his pocket, and poured it 
over his sword.
        "Boy!" he shouted.  The boy turned from his latest 
victim. "Your very good boy.  Let's see how good you are."
        "Anytime.  Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, fifteen men on 
a dead man's chest, and several other pirate cliché's." the boy 
answered and attacked.  The mate matched the boy blow for blow 
but was unable to gain any ground.  In fact, to his astonishment 
the boy was driving him back.  He was using a fighting style the 
mate had seen but never had to contend against it.  He'd seen a 
demonstration of this fighting style once in Japan.  But how 
could this boy have learned it?  Finally, he was able to scratch 
the boy on the arm and knew that he'd won.
    
        Will started to feel the drug's effects as soon as the 
cut had been administered.  He fought it but his vision began to 
dim.  He dropped to his knees and an insane thought flashed 
through his mind.  "This never happens in the movies."  Before 
he could ponder what a movie was, he blacked out.
    
        He woke that night and found that he could not move.  He 
looked down and saw that he was tied to the mast of a ship.  A 
strange light shone from off to his right and he turned his to 
see what it was.  To his horror, the ship he'd tried to defend 
was burning.
        "A beautiful sight is it not?" said a seductive voice 
behind him.  He strained to see who it was behind him, to curse 
them and spit on them, but he could not turn that far.  The 
owner of the voice stepped in front of him.  She was a darkly 
beautiful woman who seemed familiar to him.  A chill ran 
down his spine.  Where ever he knew her from, it wasn't good.  
With a sudden revelation, he realized that she was responsible 
for his memory loss and for him ending up in the middle of the 
ocean.  His eyes narrowed.
        "Oh now don't look at me like that." she teased.  "You 
fought well on your ship.  I could use you as part of my crew. 
Of course you're too young to be an integral member, but I've 
been looking for a..." she studied his body blatantly, "Cabin 
Boy."
        Indecision tore at him.  These were the people who had 
just murdered his friends.  
	"But on the other hand," he thought "if I was part of 
the crew, I could destroy them from within.  Especially if I 
gain the captain's trust."  Hating himself despite his plans he 
nodded.
        "Excellent!" she smiled.  "Lets seal the bargain, shall 
we?" She reached around the mast with both arms to untie the 
ropes.  Because the mast was rather large in circumference, she 
was soon pressed quite tightly against him.  There was no doubt 
that she'd done it on purpose.
        "The captain's a grade A slut." he thought with disgust. 
"I'll bet she's slept with everybody on the ship."
        Just before she loosened the ropes, she kissed him full 
on the mouth.  Then the ropes holding him fell away, but she 
didn't back up.  She held him against the mast with her own 
body.  She pressed her lips against his ear and whispered "You 
will stay in my cabin.  You will clean up after me and bring me 
my meals.  You will provide maintenance to my weapons and 
clothes.  And last but not least..." she paused and rubbed 
herself against him, "you will bathe me."
        "I think I'm gonna hurl." he thought.
    
         Emma Frost burst into the foyer of the  Academy's main 
building.
        "There is another presence in his mind!" she cried 
furiously.
        "What?!" Xavier cried incredulously.
        "What's more, I recognize it.  It's Selene the former 
Black Queen of the Hellfire Club."
        "So she's behind all this." Magneto said.
        "We now know why he's in a coma." said Charles.  "Emma 
can you go in and bring him out?"
        "Of course," she said confused, "but why can you not-"
        "I can no longer trust myself in another's mind.  I've 
caused too much pain already."
        "Charles!" Magneto started, but Xavier silenced him.
        "Please Eric, not now."  He looked at Emma and she 
nodded and left the room.
    
To be continued...