Chapter 3: Kidnapped
She screamed. The group of monsters swivelled around to see the dust and debris clear. Several people were stood in the doorway beyond, uniformed bodies. Her stomach leapt at the sight, yet more reinforcements. Surely she was defeated enough already, there was nothing she could do. Did these people know the meaning of overkill? But after a horrible second, the man leading the group shot laser beams out of his eyes. AT the monsters. It was then she realised, they weren't on the same side. The rest of the group burst into action, fighting those fiends. Whether the new group were good guys or just another bunch of maniacs after her daughter she didn't know or care, all she knew was that maybe it gave her a chance to get her daughter back.
As the fight broke out, a uniformed woman made her way over to the bed. The redhead ducked down next to her and looked her over
"Are you alright?" she asked and Beth nodded dumbly. The uniformed woman, she cared!
She wanted to shout, to warn them, to tell them to run while they still could. But her voice was frozen, dead, in her throat. She couldn't bear this, she didn't want anymore deaths on her conscience. That's all the uniforms were, bodies. Or they would be anyway. Like the first time these fiends had shown up, had come to take Isabelle; anyone who stood in their way was done for. She couldn't understand how she had survived so far, she just wanted to scream at them, for them to disappear. She didn't want them to die like everyone else who had tried to help her; the security guards who tried to help her the first time those beasts had shown up; the gypsies that had taken her under their wings, welcomed her into their family; they were all dead now and it was her fault. June and Bill! What had happened to them? She prayed they were out, safe.
"Come on Beth, we need to get you out of here." the redhead continued gently.
"No! My baby!" she HAD to get Isabelle, she had to make this woman understand. It was obvious from the surprise on her face that she wasn't expecting Beth to be a mother. She looked sharply around the room and her eyes widened considerably when she spotted the baby. Her eyes changed, as though she was concentrating, focusing on something no one else could see. Then she turned back to Beth
"The others will get her. But right now, we need to get you out of the firing line."
"NO! I can't, Isabelle, I can't, I can't leave her, I -"
"Beth, trust me. If anyone can bring her back to you, it's them." The sincerity in her eyes burned into Beth, and she found herself nodding and allowing the redhead to lead her out of the room. She followed her out of the pub, momentarily glad to see June and Bill standing across the road with their patrons, obviously having been evacuated. June spotted her and started forwards, concerned, but was held back by another uniform. The redhead guided her with a hand behind her arm, taking her away from the small confused and chaotic crowd and round the corner. They came to a building site Beth knew, it had been there weeks, but the massive jet parked there was an entirely new feature. Her eyes round with amazement she stopped and stared
"My gosh." She said. But it was only half-hearted.
"It tends to have that effect on people. I guess I'm used to it though. We'll be safe inside."
And with that she pressed a button on the wristband of her uniform and a door opened, a ramp sliding out of the enormous craft. She lead the way in and as Beth stepped in looking around in vague amazement. The questions she could ask! But as it was, she didn't care. She was too worried about her daughter. What on earth had made her trust this woman?
"I'm Jean by the way." The redhead introduced herself, sealing the entrance with another button.
"What, when… do you know how long they'll be?" she asked, her voice unsteady. Jean shook her head, commiserating.
"Sorry. It'll take as long as it takes. I know how worried you are, but trust me, if anyone can bring your baby back to you, it's them. Right now, all we can do is play the waiting game."
"In all my life, I've never been as scared as when I saw her in his arms. Not even giving birth terrified me as much as that. I swear my heart stopped."
"Yeah. I know the feeling. Not with a child, but my husband, my team-mates. I hate it."
"Me too. I just want my baby back Jean." Jean squeezed her shoulder compassionately. Beth pressed a hand to her mouth and fought back the tears.
And they waited. A few minutes later, they twirled around at the sound of the door dropping and saw the walkway glide down. The uniformed group came in, and the two who had evacuated and managed the crowd but all Beth saw was that one of the people aboard, a beautiful young woman with black skin and white hair, was holding Isabelle. She dashed to the woman who handed Beth her baby. She clutched her to her as if her life depending, crying.
"Oh thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much. Thank you." She babbled as tears flowed down her face and she rocked back and forwards holding that soft little bundle, breathing in the smell of her, comforting her daughter, who was also crying. The woman smiled. Jean led her into the corner at the back of the jet and sat her down on the seat, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly, smiling. Once the jet was in the air and they were safely on the way, the activity in the jet died down. The others behind her looked at her curiously but then seemed to realise what they were doing and began to sort themselves out, replacing weapons into racks in concealed cupboards and recovered their possessions. One man lit up a cigar, and the one in those weird glasses told him off
"Logan, how many times? Not in the jet." But Beth only half heard, only half paying attention to anything other than Isabelle in her arms, comforting her crying child. She moved the baby from practically over her shoulder and rocked her in her arms, watching her, gazing down at her, marvelling at the luxury of just holding her, unbelievably grateful. After a while she calmed the baby down and eventually she slept in her mother's arms. She studied her child's beautiful sleeping face for a minute before turning to Jean who had sat down on the other side of the L-shaped bench.
"I can never thank you enough." Beth told her emotionally. Jean smiled and said
"Hey! We're just glad to help." After a moment's pause, Beth asked
"Who ARE you?"
"We're the X-Men." The man in the strange red glasses said, as he had come up to them.
"You're mutants? All of you?"
"Scott, this is Beth. Beth, this is my husband Scott." Jean said with a smile.
"Nice to meet you." She said, shaking his proffered hand.
"You too. And yes. We're all mutants. Just like you." He replied
"But I'm not…" her smile faded from her face. "Isabelle." She looked back up at them, both confused.
"I'm not a mutant. But Isabelle… Isabelle is."
"I don't understand, we didn't even know about her."
"Scott, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The trouble Cerebro had pinpointing her, we couldn't even find her until she popped up in the search for the Marauders. I scanned the room before we went in, I didn't sense the baby. At all. She must have some amazing shields. We didn't know anything about her so we just assumed…" Jean said to Scott, before turning back to Beth "I'm sorry, we thought YOU were the mutant."
"That's how you knew my name." she said thoughtfully, now she wasn't so obsessed with worry over her daughter it had occurred to her that Jean had known her name without needing to be told. She shook herself out of her thoughts to answer.
"Oh, that's OK. But, why were you looking in the first place?" she asked uneasily.
"We're based at Xavier's School for Gifted Children. A school for mutants. So many mutants out there get in terrible trouble, just for being mutants. We try to help them, we teach them, give them a safe place, a home, train them so they can handle their powers. We thought you might need help." Scott explained
"That's a wonderful thing to do. I've always hated the brainless hooligans that think violence is the answer to everything, that judge people based on their colour or race or… or…..mutation. I don't know if that's the word or…" she trailed off. Jean smiled
"I know what you mean. We came here to offer you a place at the school. You're not a mutant, but your daughter is. You're still in danger, you can bet this isn't the last you'll hear of the Marauders; so we can still help you. If you'd like us to."
"I'm not sure I understand…Who are the Marauders?" Beth asked uncertainly
"The Marauders? Those mutants in your room." Scott told her
"Oh. I see." She said in a small voice. Jean looked sharply at her, suddenly concentrating, when she spoke, her tone was intense, as if the question was very important
"How long have they been chasing you?" something was definitely nagging at her senses
"Urm, well, what date is it?" was the only response Beth could give
"January 16th." Scott replied, exchanging a look with Jean.
"Then, about 5 and half months. They started when she was a month old." Jean and Scott's jaws dropped, eyes wide, he impressed, she horrified with compassion
"How on earth have you kept them at bay this long?" she asked
"I don't know of anyone who survived them that long." Scott said.
"Well, I ran." She replied. "A lot. We've been lucky, until this last time, I noticed them before they got anywhere near us, grabbed as much of our stuff as I could and ran. It was kinda weird, I kept hearing this noise. Kinda like static but… different. I don't know. Maybe I imagined it. All I know is, we were lucky and I managed to get us out in time."
Jean and Scott gawped at her still and she realised that the rest of them, while under the pretence of doing other things were listening in and had been staring at her, gob-smacked, for the past minute.
Beth looked around the jet sharply, as if only just realising they were travelling.
"We're moving. Where are we going?" she asked urgently
"We're on course to the Mansion." Scott told her, shaking off his stupor.
"Where's that?" she asked, suspicious
"Sorry, it's in Westchester, New York."
"New York! But, June, Bill, they'll worry; my stuff, I -"
"Don't worry. We have your things and you can call your friends from the Mansion." Jean reassured her with a comforting smile, a small half-smile on Beth's worried face in return.
"Okay." She whispered.
"What about your parents? They'll want to know you're safe? Was that them at the bar?"
"No. I've only been there about 2 months. I haven't seen or spoken to my parents since I left." She told Jean quietly, not telling her more than the basics, not feeling in a particularly chatty mood. She was tired, and when she was tired she tended to get emotional, which tired her even more. It was a vicious circle.
"Since you left when? You can't be much older than the kids we teach, when did you leave home?" Jean pushed gently, trying to get her to open up, the others busying themselves again.
"I left when the Marauders tried to take her the second time. It was just too dangerous to sit and wait, I had to keep us moving. I haven't been in contact with my parents since. Everyone around me seems to wind up dead when they come after me, I couldn't expose them to that, especially not Victoria." She paused, getting emotional. No one questioned her and she continued
"They're probably going insane, reported me missing; but I couldn't. I just couldn't, I couldn't risk it. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't. It was already too easy for them to find us, there's no way I could know if it was safe or not."
Jean put a hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the face, drawing Beth's tearful gaze to meet her own.
"You're safe now. You and Isabelle."
"How can you say that? You don't, you don't know what, what they did, what they're capable of." She would have carried on stammering but Scott interrupted her
"We know. And we can handle ourselves." He told her in a firm, confident voice
"No! Everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE who gets in between us and them winds up seriously DEAD. I've seen it!" she shook her head "There's no way you'll survive. They will KILL you, because of us. I can't let that happen, there are too many people dead because of us already. The only way is to keep moving, keep running. We can't stay, you have to let us out. Let us out! Land the plane, whatever, just let us go!" she was beginning to move from highly emotional to hysterical, she got to her feet, agitated, constantly shifting Isabelle in her arms, her voice rising, again attracting the attention of the other X-Men in the jet. They unconsciously moved protectively into a large loose semi-circle around the small group
"What will you do? If we land the jet right now, and let you out, what will you do?" Scott asked her rationally, trying to talk her out of her distress
"I'll take my stuff and I'll get on a coach. Or bus, to you. Or a train or something. I'll keep moving, and hope they don't find us for another month."
"And you're happy with that? You want that life? You want to bring your daughter up on the run? Never having stability, never feeling safe. You could have those things with us." Jean pitched in, trying to persuade her.
"What about you? Don't you want to be safe? Don't you want to have children and bring them up SAFE? Because you won't be, not if we're there. We are dangerous to be around, because they will never give up. They will always come. They're relentless." She said passionately.
"You're right. They are. So what happens the next time they come? You nearly lost her today didn't you? What about next time?" Scott retorted aggressively.
"We'll find a way."
"But you said it yourself, they won't stop, they'll just carry on until they get what they want. Surely it'd be easier just to give her up? Let them take her? Then you wouldn't have to run anymore." The others could see Scott was playing her, using his logical, emotionally-stunted reasoning to make her think and realise they'd be better off with the X-Men, to stop her wanting out, to calm her down. But she just stared at him, her face hostile with outrage, unable to believe he just said that.
"How dare you." Her voice so British, shook with fury. "SHE is my DAUGHTER. I will not STAND BY and let those animals take her away. I will protect her with every breath in my body and then some. I love her, she is my daughter, she's MINE. I would never, NEVER give her up. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because I was stupid enough to get pregnant at my age that I didn't want her with every fibre of my being. She was born because it is not her fault she exists, it was mine. I have her with me now because I want her, and I will always want her. She is my baby, my child, and you obviously have no comprehension of what that means or there is no way you could even suggest that!" her jaw was clenched. Fury was pouring off her, she was trembling with it, holding Isabelle tightly, no one having noticed she had woken. There was a weapons rack/cupboard open behind Scott, and suddenly the weapons hanging there began exploding one by one. One man ran up, turning silver and shooting up in height; and slammed the cupboard shut, containing the remaining blasts. Beth turned to Isabelle, quickly comforting her, calming her, cooing at her, stroking her cheek and tapping her finger with a little fist wrapped around it. She was practically dancing as she bobbed around, talking to her daughter softly, her face lighting up with the love she so obviously bore for her daughter.
"Beth? Are you sure you're not the mutant? It seemed like you were the one upset just now when the weapons cupboard blew up." Jean asked cautiously
"Yes, that may be true, but I'M not the one whose eyes glow when that happens." She held up the baby to prove her point and it was true, the glow was there, plain for all to see.
"I am very sorry for whatever damage has been done, and I apologise for my outburst. Now that I've calmed down, I can see I was wrong to react so strongly. I just don't particularly like being manipulated." She said in a deadly calm tone, looking straight Scott.
"Thank you so very much for your help, all of you" she said, raising her voice to include the others "but I really think it would be much better if we parted ways at the first opportunity. I will never be able thank you enough and I don't feel it fair to endanger you anymore than I already have." Jean stepped up at this
"Please, Beth, rethink this. We can help you, I know we can. And as for putting our lives in danger, we do that everyday of the week. It comes in the job description. I know you must have seen a lot of terrible things, that no one should ever have to see and I know you must have been through so much, and that must make you wary of trusting people, understandably, but we can help you. And Isabelle. She could have an almost normal life, without having to move around all the time. How will you cope when she has to start school? Children need security and stability, how will you be able to provide that? Because no matter how much you love her, how much you sacrifice to give her, there are some things that you just can't give. Please, Beth, please let us help you. Both of you. And no matter how much you protest that your needs don't matter, Isabelle is all you care about, and no matter that you feel that way, you are important too. Isabelle needs you to make sure she's safe. Everything that has happened to you will and is taking a toll on you, and how can you care for Isabelle to the best of your ability, make the best decisions in that state of mind?"
Tears crept to her eyes as she realised defeat. Everything Jean was saying made perfect sense. She felt like a lousy mother, it was all so obvious and she couldn't even see it until a complete stranger pointed it out. In that moment she realised, whatever fragile peace she had built up over her time at the bar with Bill and June, it had been shattered the moment she saw her daughter in that fiend's arms. Depressed, she nodded dumbly, before muttering
"You're right. You're absolutely right."
Jean looked relieved, and had Beth had eyes in the back of her head, she would have seen the rest of the X-Men breathe a sigh of relief. Jean stepped forward and put an arm around her shoulders and led her back to the seat. She sat her down and reached under the seat she'd taken before and took a large box out of the storage cupboard underneath. She took a coat from another concealed closet further down and laid it in the box forming a makeshift cot for Isabelle.
"Here, you can put her down. I'm sure you both could do with a rest." Jean told her. Beth smiled sadly and nodded. "Try to take it easy. You're absolutely worn down as it is, stop giving yourself such a hard time." Beth managed a half-smile at that as she gently laid her daughter in the box and then leant back against the wall, watching the others who turned back to what they had each been doing so fast it was almost comical. Sensing Beth needed a moment on her own, Jean patted her shoulder and smiled.
"I'm here if you need me." She assured the girl. With that, she went to stand with the white-haired black woman. They were acting strangely, as though having a conversation but never making a sound or even a movement. She felt too drained to care what they were doing and turned her attention away. After a while Logan joined them.
So could ya find anythin' out from the kid? he projected, inserting himself into the telepathic conversation
More than I wanted to. The things she's been through, I feel so bad for her. she replied
I'm sure it'll help having a stable home. Storm reassured her friend
I hope so. At my guess, she's about a week away from a complete mental breakdown. The sombre glances they exchanged at that piece of information spoke volumes of the concern they each felt.