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Even during her first lifetime, no one could know what Illyana Rasputin was thinking. She could act, hide her true feelings from everyone. Not even Charles Xavier could know what was really going on inside her head. More than once, she had used her uncanny resistance to telepathy to fool the most powerful evil telepaths on Earth, the Shadow King and the White Queen.
Only one person could see through Illyana Rasputin. Her best friend, Kitty Pryde. No amount of smiles or laughter could hide from Kitty the suffering of Illyana's existence. It was why Kitty, alone of all the X Men and New Mutants, accepted and trusted Illyana without question. It was why Kitty knew that Illyana would always do the right thing, no matter the cost to herself.
But now even Kitty is not sure of that. Now even Kitty has no idea what is truly going on in the resurrected Illyana's mind. For her friend would not have done what this Illyana has.
Illyana had let Emma Frost, the most powerful telepath alive and powered, into her mind and still kept her true agenda hidden from the older mutant. An agenda that involved manipulating the entirety of the X Men in a zero sum game against beings that could destroy the universe. The gambit was successful. The Elder Gods were destroyed, saving the universe from their evil permanently, and no one was killed, but no one had realized that it had been Illyana's plan from the start.
Cyclops, the leader of the X Men, admired her for the complexity and ultimate perfect execution of her designs, but he feared her just as much. Nearly every person on Utopia, the haven for mutants, feared her. No one could know just what was going on behind that impassive gaze.
That was why she was now in the brig, in solitary confinement, with a bomb strapped to her ready to go off if she used any of her considerable powers. It was the only way to be sure that she would carry out any more elaborate plots that would put people in danger.
Even Kitty Pryde agreed that it was the best way to deal with Illyana. She refused to even see her old friend after the stunt she pulled, not wanting anything to tarnish her memories of the person who, to help her, made an even greater sacrifice than giving up her life. Kitty convinced herself that whatever it was in the brig, it was not the Illyana Rasputin she knew.
Only Illyana's brother, Piotr, voiced any disagreement with the decision to incarcerate her. He had lost his parents, his brother, his entire family. Only his sister had come back to him, and he could not bring himself to think ill of her, even though he had been unable to stop himself from doing so years earlier when Kitty Pryde was the only one who thought well of her.
When he arrested her Cyclops had assembled dozens of the most powerful mutants on Utopia to subdue her by force if necessary. It was merely her good will, or whatever it was that motivated her to come quietly, that had prevented her attempted arrest from turning into a bloodbath.
Illyana gave no outward sign of minding her confinement, but few trusted that to be genuine. She was a woman of action. Who would have thought her capable of sitting alone for weeks, unable to use her powers, without an ulterior reason?
Perhaps that is why they assumed that she had kidnapped the baby.
It was the first time since her arrest that Illyana's face had an expression, surprise. She sat on the cot of her cell, alone with the thoughts only she could know, when the light appeared in front of her. It was not related to her stepping disks, and yet when it faded, there was an infant, around six months old, lying on its back on the floor or the cell and screaming its lungs out.
Illyana looked out of the force field that served as the door to her cell. No one was around. She called out, but there was no answer. She got up and bent down to pick the baby up. It was difficult, as the metal straight jacket that contained the bomb restricted the movement of her arms, but she lifted the child, holding him as best she could. A second time she wore an expression of legitimate surprise, because the baby stopped crying the instant she had him in her arms.
"Danger!" she yelled. "Danger!" But there was still no response. She turned to the wall of her cell. In a sudden movement that should have startled the infant, but did not, she gave the wall a powerful kick, designed to create the maximum amount of sound from the thick metal that made up her cage. A second such kick followed, and a third.
It was just after the third kick that she got a response. A robotic being walked into view of her cell.
"Not trying to escape, are we?" Danger said.
"About damn time." Illyana spat. "Care to do something about this kid?"
"What ki-" Danger saw the baby in Illyana's arms. Immediately it ran to the cell to deactivate the force field. It grabbed the child out of Illyana's hands roughly and backed out to reactivate the force field. The baby began to cry again.
"Where did you get this child?" Danger demanded from the other side of the energy barrier.
"I don't know. It just appeared."
"We'll see." With that, Danger stalked away, the screaming infant in tow, leaving Illyana alone again.
Several hours later Illyana received another visitor, Cyclops. He was not pleased.
"Where did that baby come from?"
"I don't know."
"I'm not in the mood for your games today, Illyana. Taking a child from its home crosses a line."
Illyana did not answer. Her eyes narrowed as they locked with Cyclops' visor, as unblinking as the ruby material he saw through. He recognized her challenge.
"All right. Do you know anything about the child? Anything that might help us identify him?"
"Only that he's a funny kid."
"How so?"
"He stopped crying when I picked him up. His reaction should have been the opposite. Little Nathan couldn't stand it when Madelyne let me hold him."
Cyclops looked at the floor, breaking their eye contact. Illyana had touched a nerve, bringing up his deceased first wife and his son, who had recently died saving the mutant race.
He was no longer in the mood for her challenges.
"We'll find out who this baby is, and if you're lying, you will regret it." he warned before leaving.
"We'll see." she responded, her eyes narrowing further. Cyclops turned away.
If only he had an inkling of what she was thinking.