CH5

"The first thing I would like for us to do this morning is thank God for changing Senator Kelly's heart!" the woman began. "As most of you know Senator Kelly was once one of our worst adversaries, and now he is one of our best supporters! Only the hand of God could bring about such a miracle!" While the rest of the room broke out in applause, Victor sat in his seat snickering to himself. 'Wonder what Blue would say if she ever heard this?' Too bad he was never going to tell her. If Mystique ever found out where he had been today, she would never let him live it down. Even though the rest of the gang, including Mags, would a big laugh from this, he was just going to keep it all a secret. As the cheering ended, she continued.

"Next, I would like for everyone to turn around and greet our guest." It seemed to Victor that every eye in the room was now on him. "We are glad to have you join us today, sir. Would you care to stand up and tell us your name?"

'Oh, this'll be fun,' he thought sarcastically. He calmly stood up and waited for moment expecting someone to recognize him from the many tabloid magazines or the television true-life crime shows which depicted him as a fiendish and terrible monster. But oddly enough, the only one who seemed to remember him from anywhere was the boy who had watched him jump down from the tree. Sabretooth almost felt a little disappointed, he thought by now he had at least reached national celebrity status, but he supposed this did help ease the current situation. Honestly, what was he going to do if someone had recognized him and jumped up screaming "MURDERER! MURDERER!"? Start swinging his claws left and right slashing at everything in his way? He cleared his throat and humbly spoke up, "Sabretooth." He knew giving out his real name was strictly taboo. The preacher smiled and spoke into the microphone.

"It's an honor to have you join us today, Sabretooth. I'm Joyce and I see Matilda's already made herself known. Sorry if she's been bothering you. She tends to pick out her own baby-sitter." He groaned a bit wondering if he liked being called the brat's baby-sitter, but thought it was interesting to have someone think of him as something other than a simple slice-n-dice machine. Vic shrugged his shoulders.

"No problem. She's OK" He never could use lengthy sentences around people he didn't feel comfortable with. As much as he wanted to inquire about Tilly's condition, he wasn't about to get into a conversation with a lady with a microphone.

"Well if she starts to get on your nerves just let someone know." Joyce then spoke up to the rest of the church with a cheery voice. "Everyone say hello to Sabretooth." A unanimous "hello" went up, and with that Victor took his seat. Popularity was something he knew nothing about, but he was sure he could feel right at home with it. It was almost as rewarding as watching some frail beg for her life. Well...almost.

Creed began to study each stain-glass window with great interest as Joyce began her sermon. It may have appeared to some that he was ignoring her, but that was not so. The human language, both the body and the spoke forms were so alien to Victor. As hard as he tried, he never could entirely grasp their concepts, and more often than not they made him feel uneasy, like he was being threatened. Fortunately, he had learned that if he was earnestly interested in what someone had to say, he must first focus on something else in the room. This kept him from a more serious distraction, like wondering when he may be physically attacked. In this case, the stained-glass windows made the perfect choice for a visual pacifier. He couldn't remember if he had ever seen something made by man that was so beautiful. He noticed the way the sun-light shone through each payne; how the rays dazzled and danced about the room, soothing and ministering to his soul. Each window told him a different story, and each window urged him to view what only the heart could see. For the first time in his long, hard life, Victor Creed was experiencing art---not just looking at it as any time before. He promised himself he would try this more often.

One window was of a shepherd and his flock. This one was mostly done in shades of browns and greens. Another was of a woman and a man (Jesus?) having a conversation by a well. Rich and lavish shades of red, blue and purple brought this picture to life. Still another window had a lion snuggling up with a lamb, while a small child played with a snake. Sabretooth chuckled a little bit and point to the window. "Kinda reminds me of us," he whispered to Matilda as she leaned her weight onto his elbow to take a nap.

But the one that kept catching his eye was what looked like a group of joyful people with their hands raised, and what appeared to be flames covering them, as a white dove flew above their heads. Victor had no idea what any of this picture was about, but it was a beautiful scene all the same, with its bright shades of yellow and red mingled in with its shades of orange and gold. Yes, he quickly decided this was his favorite one. Suddenly, Vic heard the queen-size matriarch mention something about angels and instantly his cat-like ears twitched in her direction. 'Angels?' Victor listened closer.

"Angels come in all shapes and sizes." The woman's voice rang clear as a bell through out building. "Some angels do come straight from heaven, but most of the angels you and I are ever going to see will be made of flesh and blood, and they will be living next door to you, standing behind you in the grocery line, working along side of you on Monday morning, or for that matter you might have one sitting next to you right now. Victor just looked down at Matilda who had now fallen asleep beside him and mused. Could this creepy looking, mute child be an angel? Joyce continued.

"Well, believe it or not, most of the time God sends people like you and me to do the work of angels. We are all ordinary people who are capable of doing extraordinary things." Sabretooth noted that this woman seemed to really believe in what she said. Even so, he brushed most of her words off; surely she wasn't talking to HIM.

"Some of us here were born with special abilities and so was Jesus. Yet, in spite of our ability to do great things in this world, we are afraid to because we will be labeled as mutants, freaks or monsters. But please remember that God made you the way you are for a reason. He knew exactly what he was getting and he knows exactly what he has planned for your life. No one here is a freak, or a monster, and I'm not even sure if mutant is even the proper term to call anyone. Bottom line is, no one here is a mistake, period!" The words hammered away at Victor stony heart. It sounded very much like what Magneto preached and then again it didn't. It was pretty much the flip side to Magneto's ideology. Sabretooth now perked up and kept listening.

"Jesus himself was persecuted and hated for doing God's will. But he never stopped helping or loving the very world that killed him. He never gave up on his mission, and he calls upon us to never give up ours." Victor noticed that some people clapped their hands others stood up or waved their hands. Victor even heard some old woman in the front roll yelling, "I know that's right!"

'These crazy people just keep gettin' crazier!' He thought half amused. Joyce then moved on with her sermon.

"Some angels bring messages, other bring help; but all angels bring love. But what kind of love you may ask. Well, do you think it's the kind of love that says, I'll love you only if you love me first? Maybe it's the kind that says, if you look just a certain way or act a certain way, then I'll love you? Or can it be the kind of love that says, as long as you have something I can use, then I'll love you?" she paused a moment for everyone to think on her words.

Then she became serious. "No of course not! It's the kind of love that lets you forgive those who have hurt you. It lets you live a life of peace and joy even after you have lived a life full of sin and selfishness. It's the kind of love that lets you even learn to love and forgive
yourself." Her words were now starting to hit Sabretooth a little too hard. He lived in the hell he had created for himself and wasn't ready to change his address.

"That's perfect love. That's God's love. He loves everyone in here that way. And if you want to feel God's love personally, then ask him for it. He'll give it to you freely, and ask him for it every day." Vic rolled his eyes and began to think of leaving early.

'Well, now I see where Tilly gets it from. I might have known.' But just then however, a long silver cylinder object came crashing through the very stained-glass window that Victor had been admiring. Everyone jumped out of their seats at the sight of the obvious pipe bomb as Joyce commanded everyone to get under a pew as she and some of the men rushed for the bomb.

'Fuckin' morons! Like they think they know what the hell their doing!' Without another thought and the agility of a feline, Victor Creed leapt from his seat sailing a good twelve feet in the air and grabbed the bomb up the moment his feet hit the floor. Then - Whoosh! –he threw the bomb back outside through the very hole it made in the window. Joyce had just found Matilda who was now awake and crying from all the commotion when Sabretooth knocked her to the floor to protect her and Tilly from the explosion.

The bomb exploded within seconds, causing every window in the building to shatter raining shards of glass rain down on the sanctuary. Cautiously Sabretooth arose and looked around the room. When he saw pieces of his favorite window covering the floor, he let out an angry lion like roar.

"God damn it!" He was carelessly brushing off the glass that covered his arms and shoulders. Joyce picked up Matilda and stood face to face with Victor Creed. She was trying to calm her child by gently patting Matilda on the back. She was shaking like a leaf as she tried to thank the man that had very likely saved everyone in the building.

"Th-th-that was a very brave thing you did, Sabretooth, thank you."

"Oh, that ain't nothin' frail, er um, ma'am. I do this kinda shit all the time!" His chest puffed out like a rooster's. He just realized that she said 'thank you' to him. He couldn't remember the last time he heard those words.

"Um Sabretooth, do you think you could watch you're language?" Joyce politely asked.

"Huh?" Sabretooth looked a bit embarrassed. "So saving your pastry puff asses ain't enough to cut me some slack?"

"Eh, no." she smiled but stood her ground. Suddenly the sound of sirens made their way toward the church.

"Yep, they're playin' my song! We gotta do this again some other time OK babe?" Without another word, Victor dashed out of the building, jumped on his bike, and was out on the street before the cops were a mile away. As he made his way down the highway, the events of the morning played over and over in his mind. In some way he felt his life had changed, though he wasn't sure how or in what way.

'Angels,' he kept thinking to himself. 'Maybe the ol' gal was talkin' 'bout me after all.' He finally and reluctantly admitted. 'I'm gonna hafta make it back there some day 'n see if I can talk to that preacher lady person to person. Besides I kinda want ta see if that Tilly ever starts talkin' anyways.' He smiled broadly. 'Maybe I'll drop in 'round Christmas. That would be a good time to visit. Yeah. Christmas will do fine.'

-THE END