A sharp wave of searing pain soared through her body, stemming from the pinprick of the injection needle in her chest. Eyes rolled back, knees buckled, and three men watched helplessly as she writhed and convulsed in agony.Her bright colorsvanished; a beautiful woman emerged before them, naked and trembling on the floor.
Eric felt sick to his stomach. He watched Mystique disappear, reborn a complete stranger. She was gone; he'd known it the instant she'd fallen. Since they'd heard the rumors of a proposed cure, he'd ordered her to gain every last piece of information available. This solider had fought for him in the past, taken injuries for him, given her body for him…
They had never seen a mutant injected with the cure before, Mystique was perhaps the first. Eric's eyes never left hers. For the first time in many, many years, she cowered before him, shielding her body. Her legs folded to protect her sex, a hand rose to cover pale breasts.
"You saved me,"
She heard Eric's voice and she could see themingling pity and disgust in his eyes. He was weighing his options, deciding what to do with her now that she was no more than a pathetic liability. She trembled under his intense gaze; turning away from him, she instead looked down at her long, pale body. Bile rose to her throat just as tears rose to her eyes. Oh God, no!
Eric lifted the helmet from his head and handed it to the still stunned Pyro. The young man accepted the helmet with numb hands. He'd just witnessed the death of one of the mutants that he'd come to think of as a hero and family. He watched as the woman Mystique had become shifted and attempted to cover her body from three pairs of staring eyes.
Eric nudged him in the side and Pyro broke his stare, snapping his eyes away from the woman on the floor. Right. Leave Eric to deal with this. No matter what happens, it's his decision. Pyro slipped the helmet under his arm and pulled on one of Juggernaut's huge wrists to get his attention.
Cain towered above all others in the prison trailer, but he had been just as transfixed as the young man by what had just happened. The sight of a naked woman was inconsequential; the sight of a mutant forced into humanity had been jarring.
After witnessing Mystique's pain and terror, Pyro now believed in Eric more than ever, and Juggernaut decided right then to join the Brotherhood. The war had finally come home, it had brought down a comrade and galvanized their leader.
Eric vaguely noticed that Juggernaut and Pyro made their way back outside, stepping around the torched body of the guard who had shot Mystique. Mystique. She turned away from him; stringy black locks fell over her face, he watched her body shake as she silently cried before him.
This would not do, they couldn't stay here.
Eric removed his cape and kneeled down to her. He draped the material over her body. She looked up at him. "Eric…?"
Her voice, her eyes. This woman was a stranger to him, a human stranger now. He frowned. Not now. "Get up, we need to leave,"
His voice was curt, but his hands were gentle as he helped her stand from the floor and secure the cape around her body. Eric led the way out of the trailer, fury radiating from his form. Magnetic fields became warped for several miles, the ground itself began to shake.
Juggernaut and Multiple Man had never met face to face, only conversing while on the prison transport. She vaguely recalled that Jamie was a thief. The two latest members seemed uncomfortable when they saw her, and began puttering around the remains of the prison convoy. John moved away from them and came toward Eric.
Mystique couldn't look Pyro in the eye.
Once Magneto was visible, the new Brotherhood mutants emerged from the surrounding forest, mutants of every shape and size. Her body trembled, hard shuddering wracked her insides, but Mystique only hunched deeper into Eric's cape.
She was no longer his concern.