Chapter 8 - Plan A
The past few days had been very quiet, the students had been on their best behavior and basically everything was going fantastic. The thought itself had been bothering Professor Xavier. He knew something was going on and he had the feeling Magneto was up to his old ways of the destruction of the human race. He called a meeting among the X-Men immediately and he explained the matter at hand.
"Magneto has been too quiet lately," the Professor looked up. "I know he is planning something but I don't know what."
"Well, Professor," Jean started. "How will we know if he's doing something or not?"
"If we're lucky, we can catch him before he makes his move," he turned his head to a squirrel monkey sitting on the window sill.
"Wait," Jean recognized the monkey. "Has anyone seen Morgan?"
"Last time I saw her was two days ago at the museum," Ororo looked at the Professor.
"That's impossible," Logan looked up. "She was here when everyone went out. I talked to her."
"That would mean." Ororo looked at everyone else. "Oh my God… He's already made his move."
The Professor stopped everyone from panicking and told them he would try to find her with Cerebro. He was hoping that he could find her before something terrible happened to her. Everyone left but Logan. Charles smiled as he passed by and Logan followed. He simply read his mind as they walked through the hallways and he knew what he wanted. They went down the elevator, down a few hallways until they reached the Cerebro Chamber.
Logan had never seen Cerebro before and he wanted to know how it worked and how it would find Morgan. The Professor wheeled up to the stand and quickly put on the helmet. Logan looked around as a million holograms of people flashed before him. The Professor explained how he was connected to every human and mutant on the planet when he used Cerebro. It was the most fantastic thing according to Charles.
Within a few minutes of looking at over a thousands holograms, the Professor had found her. The hologram showed her curled up on the ground and unconscious. He tried to find the coordinated of her location but he lost the signal and the hologram disappeared. Logan looked around and wondered what was going on. It was unlike the Professor to loose connection with someone. There was defiantly something or someone interfering with their search.
"Something interfered with Cerebro," the Professor explained. "She is defiantly with Magneto."
On an island not too far away from the institute, the rain dripped through the metal bars and onto Morgan's body. She shuddered and slowly woke up. She didn't recognize her surroundings and her wrists were being weighed down by metal clamps. The only thing she could remember was going outside looking for Logan when everything went black. Her eyes explored the poorly light area around her but the only thing she could make out was that she was in a metal cell. She tried getting up when the bars on the others side of the room bent and a man walked through then a blue woman entered.
"Ah," the man said. "I see you have awakened. I guess the tranquilizer was too strong this time around."
"Where am I?" she looked up at him
"You shouldn't worry about that," he smiled. "I have seen your ability to manipulate metal. Where did you get such a power?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know," he turned to the woman and smiled. "I saw you stop over one thousand bullets and send them flying back. Yet you don't know."
"I didn't intend on doing that."
"Well, we will see how powerful you really are by force."
He raised his hand and the two clamps started to move on their own. Morgan tried to resist but it was impossible and she didn't know why they were moving. Her mind was still under the influence of the tranquilizer and it was hard to focus on certain thoughts. She looked all around her and she noticed that everything was made of metal. That is when it hit her. This man could manipulate metal too and that this man could only be Magneto.
They entered a room where an elderly man was chained to a chair and a huge hairy guy was keeping guard. Magneto, who was being followed by the blue woman, waved his hand and bought her to a machine that was on the other side of the room. It was circular and two columns were attached to it. He walked over and attached her hands to the column while smiling. She tried to pull herself away from them but another force was controlling them.
"What are you doing?" she struggled to get free.
"Saving us all."
He backed away and the machine started to rise off the ground. Metal arms started to rotate around her and the machine started to conduct some sort of electricity. Her eyes grew wide in terror because she had now clue what was going on. She felt the heat on her palms and she tried to pull away. Suddenly, the skin started to burn and a white field started to form around the machine. The pain was unbearable and her legs gave way. She began to scream as tears streamed down her cheeks and some of the metal of the machine started to crack and bend.
"What the hell is going on?" Magneto cried out.
The machine was taking on more damage and he ran up to stop it. The machine touched the ground and all the electricity was drained into the metal floor. Morgan collapsed and the clamps around her wrists broke off. Magneto grabbed her and pulled her off the machine. She felt the skin of her palms being ripped off and she screamed in pain. He threw her to the ground in frustration and he glared at her.
"My machine," he turned to her. "You… you broke my machine."
He looked up at the hairy man who was standing on the other side of the room and then back down at Morgan. The hairy man walked over and grabbed her by the arms. His claws dug into her skin as he pulled her back to her cell and she tried not to scream in pain. The man threw her into the cold room and she groaned as her wounds throbbed. That machine had drained all her energy and she was beginning to feel really tired. The pain of her burnt hands was becoming a forgotten memory that would come back to haunt her.
Morgan slowly made her way towards the barred window and looked out to see only water. Her heart and spirit sank. There was no way she could get off this island or out of the cell. She didn't know why Magneto wanted her but she only wanted to be back the school. The Professor had warned her about him having an interest in her but she never thought he would actually get her. She heard footsteps in the distance and she knew she had to make the decision right there.
"Alright, let's try this again," his voice echoed.
He walked into the room just in time to see Morgan transform into an eagle and fly through the metal bars. He quickly ran over to try to catch her but she was already out of sight. Morgan had no clue how to fly but she tried her hardest to stay level and stay out of the water. She was starting to become very exhausted when she finally saw land. She was hoping that the school was near where she was flying.
The Professor had tried many times finding Morgan with Cerebro but he couldn't find her. She would appear only to disappear a few moments later. Magneto was no where to be found either and he was starting to worry. He had no idea what he could be planning and it bothered him greatly that he couldn't see what Magneto was planning.
It was a long day and he was leaving his office. Ororo had been doing her rounds and she passed the Professor. She smiled at him as she walked into her room. Everyone had been very worried about Magneto's plans and no one knew when they were going to do. They were just sitting ducks until there was a clear sign but they didn't want to be.
She got dressed into her pajamas and she was just about to climb into bed when she heard tapping on the window. She walked over to see an eagle that was half dieing and she quickly opened the window. Her eyes grew wide as the eagle turned into Morgan. Ororo quickly grabbed some blankets to cover Morgan's naked body and ran out of her room.
There was a loud knock on Jean's door and she looked up from her book. Ororo run into the room holding a body which was wrapped in a blanket. She quickly got out of bed when she noticed who it was. Scott jumped out of bed and went to tell the Professor as the two girls rushed over to the elevator. They had to check to see if she was alright and to know what Magneto did to her.
The Professor came into the room and Morgan was already hooked up to a few machines making sure nothing bad happen to her. Most of her upper body was torn up but there were some scrapes on her legs, nothing life threatening. He wheeled up to the top of the table and examined her head for any injuries but everything seemed alright. It was great to see the young woman in his presence again.
"Professor," Jean stood beside him. "I found some third degree burns on her palms; she has deep claw marks on her arms and some scratches on her legs. Ororo said that she came into her room as an eagle."
"Yes," he placed his hands on either side of Morgan's head. "She is anamorphic after all. Now let's see what Magneto is up too."
The Professor stayed calm as he searched through her memories. Jean kept an eye out for any changes in her vital signs. After a few moments, she realized Morgan's fingers were twitching and she showed signs of pain. The Professor was still in his trance as Logan walked into the room. He opened his mouth to say something but then he realized Morgan was lying on the table.
"When did she get here?" he looked up at everyone.
"She came into my room shaped as a bird. Apparently she escaped from Magneto's hideout."
"Is she alright?"
Suddenly the Professor snapped out of his trance and pulled his hands away. He looked really troubled and he turned to the others. Jean looked down and noticed Morgan's eyes were opening up. She was about to greet her when the machines started to freak out. Morgan started to groan in pain and she lifted her hands up in some sort of gesture.
"Make it stop," she whimpered as her eyes filled with tears. "It hurts."
"What hurts?" Jean looked down at her. "Make what stop?"
"Make it stop," she screamed.
Jean was having trouble holding her down as she tried to give her some pain killers but she was shaking way too much. Ororo kept her arms but she continued to scream in pain. They turned to the Professor for help but he didn't know what to do. No one was inflicting pain upon her and yet she showed signs of pain. That is when he remembered. It had happened a few times before. Sometimes when he looked through her mind he would touch some memories that were painful to her and she would feel the pain once again. In this case, the pain from what happened with Magneto.
He quickly wheeled to the table and placed both his hands on her head. Morgan tried to shake them off but he made sure his hands wouldn't move. Within a few moments she began to calm down and then completely stopped. All her signs were back to normal and she was back in a deep sleep. The Professor looked confused and quickly left the room. The information he obtained didn't made any sense to him at all.
Logan looked back at the two women and quickly left the room. He had never seen a person in such pain before but he didn't know why she did that. He wanted to ask the Professor but he simply waved him off and told him to come back tomorrow. Ororo passed by and told him Jean would keep watch over Morgan for the night so he could get a good night sleep.
Morgan woke up and it took her a few minutes to actually sit up to look around. She was relieved when she realized she was in the underground area of the school. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping for or when she ever got to the school. The only thing that mattered was that she was away from Magneto and his machine.
A few minutes had passed and Morgan was walking through the hallways trying to look for someone. There was some light in the sky but she didn't know if the sun had just setting or if it was coming up. She walked outside only to be greeted by Mango. He seemed so excited to see her and she could tell with all his jumping and talking. It only brought a smile to her face to see how much he missed her.
She stood leaning against the brick railing and started to pet him. She still had trouble moving her hands since the bandages were still on and the skin was healing. The memory of the pain was still fresh in her mind and she tried not to think about it. Morgan heard the doors behind her open and she turned to see Logan who was surprised to see her up. He smirked and slowly walked over.
"I see you're all better now," he pulled out a cigar.
"I'm getting there," she started to pet Mango.
"You know we were all worried about you," he turned his head away.
"Were they?" she turned and smiled. "Or were you the only one?"
Logan blew out some smoke and scratched his head. It was dead-lock question. Even if he answered yes or no, he knew he was going to get into some sort of trouble so he simply tried to ignore it. Morgan turned away and started to play with a loose bandage. After a few moments she had all the bandage unwrapped in her hand and she tried to re-bandage it. Logan saw her struggling at the corner of his eye and he finished his cigar.
"Here," he turned to her. "You're not doing it right."
He took the bandage but she kept her hand away from him. She hesitated when he put out his hand to help. Logan looked down in horror at her charred and peeling palm. He had never seen such burns on a human before so he quickly bandaged them up. Her arm flinched now and then because he was being too rough. When he finished the job, he stood holding her hand and after a few moments she pulled it back.
"Thank you," she said softly looking up at him.
"Morgan, I..." he leaned closer.
"Logan?" Jean seemed shocked. "What are you doing?"
"He was helping me," Morgan blurted before he could answer. "My bandages were coming loose."
"I'm glad to see you are well," she smiled. "Now the Professor wants to meet with you, Logan, in his office."
Logan looked back for a couple of moments at Morgan before following Jean back into the school. Morgan sighed and turned back to the rising sun. Mango had starting playing with her hair but she didn't really care. Her mind was somewhere else. She knew things would be different now but she didn't know how it would affect her.
