DA Revelations
Episode 16 – Ma Fille
Chapter One – Drained
"If he dies, I swear to God that I'll tear every part of that Godforsaken Island apart piece by piece."
It was the first time she had spoken in two hours; the comment had sounded so dramatic and yet, despite that it made her feel better. But it was honest – if Remy LeBeau died on Muir Island thanks to the new regenerative therapy having gone completely wrong, then Rogue knew she would lose it...she would crumble to dust every building on that island, and take it down until there was nothing left but rubble.
"He won't die," said Hank McCoy by her side, ever the picture of calm as he piloted the blackbird jet across the ocean, their destination Scotland, still so many hours away. "He's had rubble fall on him, he's had a hole in his chest...he can survive this. Remy LeBeau is a fighter."
"You realise this is your fault. All your faults. You all wanted him to go for this therapy so bad, even though you knew it was still being tested," Rogue frowned.
"You wanted him to go for that therapy just as much as we did."
"I didn't push him into it, though. I didn't keep reiterating the fact that he needed it."
"It was his decision to go, Rogue," said Hank, although something in his expression left Rogue feeling otherwise. What was it the blue furred beast was hiding from her? Why were his eyes so...so guilty?
"That's what he told me too," Rogue adjusted her seatbelt, "but I don't believe it now, Hank. He's a good liar. You, however, are not."
"What could I be lying about? The fact that we all knew his health was failing badly and we wanted him to go get treatment before he deteriorated into an early grave?!" Hank demanded, his voice slightly impatient now.
"You may as well have dug that grave for him," Rogue reached for the control panel and tried to make a video call out to Muir Island. "I'm gonna check in, see if anything has changed..." she informed. The signal failed, and instead only the sound of static crackled. "What the hell is up with this thing – it worked fine yesterday."
"I don't know," said Hank. "Alot of the controls are acting up too and have been for the last twenty minutes or so..."
"Can we make it to Muir Island?"
"I think so," said Hank, he checked the readings on the panel at the left side of the throttle, "it's mainly interference – can you hear it?"
Rogue nodded, there was a noise. "Reminds me of when someone has a cellphone near the controls," she got up. "Did you leave a phone in here?"
"I wasn't the last one in here," said Hank, "Scott maybe did...although I don't think he even carries it with him."
She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood, "I'll take a look around, see if I can find it."
"Are you sure you didn't bring your cell phone?"
"I'll check," said Rogue. "I was so frantic when I heard about Remy I wasn't even thinking when I tossed stuff into my bag – maybe I did throw it in there...I'll look."
Rogue moved into the back of the blackbird, through the door into the small cargo hold where the spare uniforms, medical supplies, and communicators were kept. It was where she'd dropped her bag before taking her seat in the co-pilots seat. "The sound is louder back here," she called to Hank.
The humming of electricity interference all around her was irritating. Rogue sighed and unzipped her bag, she went to grab for the first thing inside – a plain grey t-shirt – to pull it out to search and she felt something hard beneath.
"Ow!"
Rogue yanked her hand back, squealing in shock. There was something there beneath the fabric...something definitely not the extra pair of jeans she'd packed.
"What is it?" Hank demanded.
"My bag said 'ow'..." Rogue frowned, she pulled the t-shirt out of the bag and tossed it aside to reveal the seven year old inside her bag. "We have a stowaway."
"What?" called Hank.
Rogue frowned and pulled the little girl out of the bag.
"Hi," said Jessie, her face bright red, her eyes large and nervous, her mouth quivering.
"Jessie, what the hell..." Rogue said, then she tried to quickly curb her language and her temper. "What are you doing here?"
"I hid in the bag..." Jessie pointed out.
"I figured that part out..." Rogue sighed, she grabbed the girl's wrist carefully and led her to the front of the jet.
"Jessie..." Hank said in surprise.
"She hid in my bag," Rogue said.
"Strap her into a seat," Hank warned, "struggling to keep the blackbird steady here."
Rogue sighed and led the little girl to the row of seats behind the pilots seat and she put her into one. "I can't believe you did this."
"We have to take her back," Hank said decidedly.
"We don't have time, Hank. Remy is dying!"
Jessie's large eyes were wide, and glassy as she stared at Rogue. "I can't let him die."
"There's nothing you can do...you're just a little girl..."
Jessie gave a whine in response.
"Guess we've figured out the cause of the interference," said Hank, frowning as the noise and static became more evident.
"Jessie, you need to get a grip of your powers..." Rogue adjusted the seatbelt and buckled the girl in securely. "Your powers are messing with the plane's controls..."
"I'm sorry," Jessie said, it came out as a blubber and fresh tears spilled out onto her pink cheeks.
"It's okay..." said Rogue. No, it's not okay. The man I love is dying, and she's playing stowaway games...
"Mr. LeBeau is going to be okay...right?"
"Yes, he will," said Rogue, a lie that was blatant in the crack in her voice, Jessie caught it, and more tears spilled. The lights in the jet flickered.
"No, no, Jessie. Concentrate on keeping calm – don't get upset...you'll take us all down."
"I'm sorry," the little girl said again, her eyes shut tightly now, her face grimacing as she tried to focus, her breath was becoming fast, and the plane was rattling all around them, tiny jolts of electricity danced down the armrests and into the floor.
"Hank?" Rogue gasped as the plane shook.
"Take the controls," Hank said, "auto pilot is down."
Rogue rushed to take the controls as he unbuckled his belt and stumbled unsteadily in the shaking plane to Jessie's seat. He knelt beside it and he put both his large hands upon hers, clamping them tightly to the armrests.
"Okay, Jessie. Take a deep, deep breath. Big as you can, get as much air in your little lungs as you can manage..." Hank said gently, watching as the girl did as she was told.
Rogue pulled hard on the throttle. "Hank, we're going down..."
"Ssh," Hank warned Rogue. "Okay, Jessie, now hold that breath in, try to focus on that breath inside you, try to picture it moving..."
Jessie's eyes were tightly shut.
"Now let it out; imagine you're outside in the cold and you can see your breath and it's misting in the air like a big cloud of smoke..."
The plane shook again, slightly less violently this time. "Hank, she's draining power from the jet!" Rogue cried; the lights dimmed out permanently surge them into near darkness other than the back up emergency lights that barely lit the cockpit.
"In, and out, in and out, nice and slow..." Hank said softly, he glanced down at her hands, he felt the energy coming from her, it was making his fur stand on end. "That's it," Hank said softly.
"Haaaaaaaaaaank!!!!" Rogue was holding hard onto the throttle, the whole plane was shaking violently, plunging quickly towards the water. "Hank if you don't do something too we're gonna have to jump out!"
"Now..." he picked up Jessie's tiny hand and placed it gently upon the wall, "I want you to picture your power in a solid form...like a ball of blue light...can you do that?"
"Uh huh..." Jessie whimpered, she bit into her lip.
"Okay, now imagine that ball of light is slowly going into the wall, sinking into it, as if it's melting into the wall...imagine it sinking into the wires behind the wall...imagine that power heading towards the engines, the controls, imagine the whole jet coming alive as you power it..."
The tiny veins on Jessie's hands lit up, and he could see the small balls of light travelling down them into the wall, disappearing entirely. He could hear the plane powering up, the lights brightened, and it jolted as Rogue managed to pull the throttle up just in time to stop the nose of the jet from plunging into the ocean.
Rogue was breathing hard. "Jesus...that was close..."
"No kidding," Hank said. He glanced at Jessie, her eyes were closed, she was breathing softly, her head slumped to the side. "She's drained herself completely – out like a light..." he picked up the little girl's wrist and checked her pulse, "pulse is strong...and her breathing is regular..."
"How did she manage to drain the energy out of the jet without touching anything?" Rogue demanded.
"I'm not sure...we can worry about that later."
"We need to call the Professor and let him know where she is – by now someone will have probably noticed she's gone and be frantic..."
Hank stroked Jessie's hair tenderly. "Poor kid."
"Poor kid? Poor us, Hank! She nearly took us to a watery grave..."
"You just don't get this, Rogue..." Hank sighed.
"What don't I get?" Rogue demanded.
"That Jessie loves Remy just as much as you do."