Introducing another new character! Sophie is tiny, shy and has been sheltered most of her life. She's an innocent victim who will play a big part.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for a couple storylines and my girls Claire and Sophie.
Chapter 9:
As soon as the X-men left the room, Charles Xavier turned to Hank McCoy and said, "Well Hank, I suppose we'd better arrange a meeting with the President. You are probably the one person he truly needs to speak to now."
"Well as the Minister of Mutant Affairs, this would definitely be my time to step up."
Hank made the call. Given the state of emergency and his position, he was granted an emergency meeting with the President in two hours time.
"Well that gives us two hours to plan our strategy I suppose," said Hank, "This is going to be very difficult, the President was already anti-mutant and this will only serve to strengthen his resolve. We must prove to him that this was the work of mutant extremists and that it is not cause enough to declare war on his own country."
"Meanwhile, we need to think about Magneto. I have no idea whatsoever where he could be keeping the girl. For all we know, he could have kept her with the teleporter and just have him keep moving. I believe we should offer our services to the President, though he may or may not accept them. The most we can hope for is an extension of that 12-hour period."
Within a two hour span, Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy impatiently awaited their meeting with the President. When they were finally called into the Oval office, the air around them was thick with tension.
"Hello, Mr. President. We understand the gravity of the situation and we would just like to offer our services in aiding to find Sophie. We want to get her back safe just as you do." Hank began.
"Hank, I don't know what your plan is, but if you played any part in her abduction, I will make sure that you are a deadman walking." Replied the President.
"Mr. President, I may assure you that Hank did not play any part in Sophie's kidnapping nor did myself or the X-men. We would just like to help you find her and bring her home safely." Said Charles.
"She was in her room. Her room of all places! The bastard got in and took her without a single person noticing until it was too late. How the hell does that happen?" exclaimed the President.
"Sir, I understand that you are quite upset, but I must assure you that declaring a state of war on all mutants is not the best course of action. Please give us the time we need to locate your daughter and get her back. Declaring war will most likely hurt her more than it will help her." Hank said carefully.
"Violence and action are the only thing these mutants understand! They don't want to negotiate and they don't want money. What am I supposed to do? Just let her go? She's my only child. This would have never happened if I hadn't become President." Tears had begun to stream down his face. He no longer had the poise and grace of a President but just the fear and anguish of a parent who had lost their child.
"Mr. President, I can tell you from experience, that the mutants that took your daughter can be stopped and will be. Allow me to assemble my X-men and with a few days time we will recover your daughter." Charles assured him.
"A few days? What makes you think they wouldn't have..." He paused, unable to say the word on the tip of his tongue, "...killed her by then." The last part was barely audible, almost a whisper as if he said it too loud it would become true.
"Sir, I can assure you that they will not kill her. It would do them more harm than good to kill the girl. They are not monsters, just people who are trying to get their voice heard that choose the wrong way of doing it." Hank told the President.
"I'm giving you five days. If she is not back in my arms in that time, I am continuing with my plan of war, regardless of which side you choose Hank. You had better find her or I don't know what this country will come to. You people have pushed me one too many times. I won't have it anymore. Five days, then your kind is done." The President said gravely as he gestured for them to leave.
As Charles and Hank left the oval office, they exchanged a look, one that conveyed a mixture of feelings, a little relief but still mostly sadness. They had accomplished what they had come to do yet they still felt as if they had lost. They had not expected to change the man's view of mutants in their brief meeting but to see that he still felt such anger towards mutants in general was not a good sign.
"We did what we could Charles. There was nothing more we could do. Now we must just concentrate on the girl. Do you think Cerebro would be able to locate her?" Hank asked.
"If the teleporter had stopped moving, I may have an easier time, but I'll try to find the girl and make contact to let her know we are on our way."
By the time they boarded the Blackbird and returned to the mansion, it was already close to midnight. Charles bid Hank good night and decided that he was not going to get very much sleep over the next couples days so he had better seize a few now, while he had the chance.
At exactly 7 am, the Professor sent out a telepathic message to wake all of his X-men, even the members of the Junior Team. They were on the brink of war; this was not the time to hold out. He would need his whole team if they were going to find the girl and get her back.
When the X-men awoke, they didn't know what to expect. The Professor had not contacted them during the night after his meeting with the President, which meant that he must have called off his declaration of war. The only contact they had with the Professor was his telepathic wake-up call, which was nothing more than a "Good morning, please prepare yourselves." Many questions were left unanswered. How much time did they have? Where would they find the girl? Would they make it in time?
At 7:05 am, Charles made his way into Cerebro and began his search for the mutant who had taken the girl. Unable to get a lock on him because of his erratic movements, Charles decided to focus his efforts on the girl, in hopes that she had been brought somewhere so she would be stationary for the time being. He began his search; he weeded out all the men, then all the people who were too old or too young. He focused on girls around 14 years of age. Never actually having been in contact with the girl and since she had no mutation, he could not depend upon an energy signature. After an hour of searching he was unable to find Sophie.
Then the idea struck him. What if the girl was indeed a mutant and either she was unaware of the fact or she had kept it hidden from her parents? Charles decided it was worth a try since he had not found her as a human.
He began the process again; this time eliminating all the humans, the men and those too young or too old. He thought her name and there she was. His thoughts calling out to her, finding her amongst all the other lost and frightened mutants. She sat on the ground, her head between her knees terrified of what was to come. He had found her. She was being held in what must be Magneto's new stronghold. Charles could feel Magneto's power all around her. He had narrowed it down to a one mile radius in a wooded area about fifty miles outside of New York City. He just needed her help to narrow it down even more.
Sophie. The Professor's voice rang through her mind, her head shot up, her eyes scanning the area to see where the voice had come from. Sophie, you cannot see me because I am not with you physically at the moment. I am contacting you telepathically. Nod if you understand.
The girl slowly nodded her head, scepticism still evident in her features. She had just been kidnapped by mutants, she didn't know who to trust.
Sophie, I am a friend of your father's he has asked me to help find you and to help get you home safely. If you think something in your mind I should be able to hear you. Do you know where you are?
No. She thought. But it's cold and dark.
Very good Sophie. Do you hear anything? Sirens, water, animals? Anything you can hear or even smell could be helpful.
It smells damp, like damp earth. Earlier I thought I heard rushing water, when they first brought me here, kind of like a waterfall.
You've been a great help Sophie. I just need you to stay calm and not let them provoke you. We will be there to get you as soon as we can.
Hurry, please. I'm scared.
A waterfall, his best chance at finding her. He searched the area looking for a waterfall and found just one, that would be where they started looking.
Sophie was terrified. She had lived a pretty sheltered life and even as the President's daughter nothing too exciting ever happened. The man who had taken her had promised that he wouldn't hurt her; she had believed him, he seemed sincere in his words but when he brought her back to his master she wasn't so sure anymore.
The man was intimidating with his metal helmet and his cape. He looked like something out of a comic book. For a while she thought she was dreaming. He told her of her father's decision to declare war if she was not returned within 12 hours and how 4 had already passed. He told her how this war would allow his ultimate plan to dominate the world and force her kind into submission to become a reality.
She realized he didn't know. He didn't know that she, Sophie Anne Montgomery, was a mutant. It had only been a couple months since she had found out and everyday she worked even harder to hide it. She longed for a normal life, out of the spotlight and if her mutation was to be discovered, she would never be able to hide. Thankfully her mutation was not physical, but that did not make it easy to hide.
Sophie could bring inanimate objects to life. When she touched something, it sprung to life with a mind of its own. If she concentrated hard enough she could control the object she had touched. Sometimes when she opened a door, the handle would come to life, becoming a lion that would bite your hand if you got to close. She couldn't control her power all the time, but she had been practicing. She had learned to suppress the power when she touched objects, so that they remained inanimate. She could control the object, as if it was a part of her, as if it shared her thoughts. She could take the life away from the object with another touch. She had to learn fast, someone was bound to find her out. With a father like hers, she couldn't be too careful.
The man that took her didn't know she was a mutant and that was why he didn't take away her dove. He didn't see the danger in letting the girl keep a tiny plastic dove. It was the one thing she always kept with her. It was comforting for her, when she's alone she can watch it fly around the room, freer than she will ever be.
She kissed her dove. It glowed briefly then began to spread its tiny wings. It fluttered around the tiny room where she was being kept.
"Go. Help them find me." She said to it and with that the dove slipped through the crack underneath the door and was gone.
