Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men. Marvel does. So don't sue.

Author's Note: This is a short chapter. I've been working on the next few chapters, so hopefully they will be worth the wait (although they won't be out for a couple of weeks).

Song Suggestion: One Step Closer – Linkin Park

Jubilee was caught in the images of her own mind. Lost somewhere on the astral plane, she stumbled forward with no idea where she was headed. Although she had a pretty good idea of what she was running from. Behind her, a small explosion caused the ground to shake violently. Refusing to be knocked off her feet, she took a running leap to stable ground and kept increasing speed. Her sides burned, but fear and hate kept her going. Behind her she heard Bastian's sneer as his base erupted in a fiery mushroom cloud.

Her legs pumped across the vibrating ground as his voice resonated around her head like a thousand buzzing flies. She could practically feel it surrounding her, choking off conscious thought. "Keep running little girl. You have nowhere to go." Ignoring him, she pushed on, desperate to find shelter.

As her vision cleared from all the smoke and debris, she noticed something on the horizon. To her great relief, there was a tree line up ahead. True, it was strikingly out of place in the terrain, but far be it from her to question this particular stroke of luck.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged forward. Blocking out Bastian's voice as it rang unforgivingly in her ears. "Do you really think that I am as weak you are? Surely you didn't think that little display could destroy me?"

That was too much to hope for. If she could just make it into the forest – which was rather dense from what she could tell – she knew she would be harder to track. She just had to provide a distraction to gain some ground. "Fuck off you miserable piece of shit!" She countered as she twisted to throw a powerful blast behind her.

There was a bright flash, but Jubilee didn't stop even for a second. Not even to watch her plasma display bounce off his armor and explode in his face. It didn't take her long to realize he wasn't phased. His voice grew ever closer, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "How disappointing. I was hoping you'd have more fight left than that. Have you expended your energy already?" He laughed quietly, taunting her further. "It must be so disheartening for one so young, fighting on your own without any help from the friends you have sacrificed yourself to help. You seem to think they would actually concern themselves with a piece of filth like you. It's time to face facts. They have more important battles to fight. Have you not realized that your very life is expendable for the sake of all that is good?"

"The X-men don't abandon their own!"All she had to do was hold out until they could get to her. Emma had to know where she was by now. And she would have communicated with the Professor. They wouldn't just leave her behind unless there was a really good reason.

Though the harder she had to fight, the more she realized it had better be a fricking good one. She had helped them escape days ago. She had sacrificed herself for their sake and had accepted that she might never make it out of that base alive. But couldn't they atleast track her down with Cerebro or something? Sure there were other battles going on, but they were all fighting the same bad guy right? You'd think they'd find her by default!

"Why would they bother coming back for the one who has betrayed them? It is far better for them to leave you to your fate."

"My fate has nothing to do with you!" She spat as she flew as far from him as she could get and set off another round of fireworks.

He dodged her attempts easily. "So young…so naïve." He could tell she was trying a little too hard to hide the fact that each word was like a nine inch blade being driven deep into her gut. "You have no place with the X-men. Yes, I've seen how highly they think of you. Treating you like a child and then leaving you behind at the first opportunity. You honestly think it was a mistake that I was able to capture you so easily and access your mind? They've barely trained you to defend yourself!" He laughed in a cold, metallic chortle that pierced her soul. "You were made for me to manipulate. There is no other use for you in this world. Know that your place is with me. It is I who will be the last thing you see as you draw your final breath."

Jubilee's eyes rolled heavenward as she spun around, right at the edge of the forest. If only she'd had gum, she would have smacked it right in his face. "Oh that's original! The big bad evil supervillian's gonna kill me. Help. Someone. Please." Her tone was drenched with sarcasm as she walked backwards into the treeline and promptly disappeared. Just like Wolvie had taught her.

She moved among the large tree trunks, keeping low to the ground. Bastian had stopped in his tracks, scanning for signs of movement, but making no effort to follow. By the time he caught up with her, she would be long gone. Or so she thought…

Dodging just in time to avoid being hit in the face with a snake-like piece of metal, she took off running as five more came up from behind her. To her aggravation, she was too slow and they wound tightly around her hands and feet. The last one coiling its way around her neck like a python, choking the life out of her. Her face hit the dirt before she could wrap her hands around it. When she lifted her head again, there were tears streaking down the sides of her face as she struggled to breathe. Just as she staggered to her feet, they were yanked out from under her and she flew backwards straight to where Bastian stood.

As soon as she got within sight of him, the metal loosened around her throat. She hurled a puddle of spit that landed in his face before throwing insult after insult. If she could only get him mad enough to beat the shit out of her, she could prove to herself that every word out of his mouth was a lie. Her brain knew better than to believe him, but in her heart she couldn't help but question her loyalties. She'd give anything to make him eat his own spew for putting her through that.

However, Bastian wasn't growing angry as he normally did at her impertinance. As she fixed her defiant gaze on those soulless depths, she could have sworn she saw a flash of pity before it turned to pure disgust.

"Where is your savior now? Your precious Wolverine? True, he is not dead…yet. But whatever relationship you've had with him is not enough to withstand what I have in store. I've seen inside his mind whereas you cannot hope to. Ever since your pathetic little crush, you've managed to drive him away. Perhaps it was cute when you were thirteen, but now? Chasing him around like a wounded animal? It's just downright sickening. You may be older but your age now is of little consequence. He used to see you as his own daughter. But now that you've lost your wits and training, you're nothing but a liability. Surely you don't believe he feels anything more than a sense of duty?"

The pressure at her neck forced her to her knees. The physical pain she could withstand. But, try as she might, she could not stop Bastian's words from tearing at her heart. She remembered her younger years, when she and Wolverine were a force to be reckoned with. Did he really think that she only followed him around because of some schoolgirl crush? After all, what was it Wolvie said? About how she needed to grow up? Saying that Kitty was more mature and he could talk to her without worrying about how she would take things? Is that why he always kept going back to her? Did she really have to acknowledge that Wolverine accepted Kitty as someone close to his own heart while she got pushed further and further into the background? Did Logan understand her at all or did he just feel sorry for her? Or was Bastian was just expanding on the fear that was already in her head.

"Do you honestly think he has any feeling left for you? After you've tested his sympathy and pushed his patience to its very limit?"

Wolverine's words echoed through her mind. "Honestly kid, I don't know why I bother. It's not like you'll listen to anyone anyways."

"You really are a fool." The soft taunting voice tore into her. He was standing right in front of her now, gloating. "Come now. What's all this fighting going to prove? After all, what have I done but state the truth?"

"Shut. Up." The words were a calm before the storm.

Bastian paid no heed. "Perhaps sparing the X-men has worked to my advantage. All the better to watch the bitter realization on your face as you find that in your last moments your friends, even your so-called father, have turned their backs on you."

"I SAID SHUT IT!" Plasma shot from her hands knocking the entity backward several yards. There was a sickening crack as his head impacted with a solid wall that appeared out of nowhere. His metal skull burst open, exposing a complicated network of sparking microchips, and frayed wiring housed in the fragile tissues of a human brain. There was no time to be disgusted as she felt herself pulled forward, her head aimed to hit the same solid structure with brute force.

Her world became black until a sharp crack across the face brought her back to reality. For an instant, she thought she was back in the safety of her room. Staring into a blurry face with the strangest eyes.

She was lucid enough now to know that she wanted out of this nightmare, however, when she twisted her head around and saw figures materializing out of the shadows, she knew she was having no such luck. On instinct she tried moving into a fighting stance only to find her arms and hands were bound. There was a gag in her mouth and a terrible weight on her legs. With a sudden jolt, she found herself yanked up by the roots of her hair only to see that she was completely naked and there were a bunch of guys crawling around like fire ants on top of her. 15 pieces of human flesh and their probing members stood between her and the ability to cram air into her lungs.

Her mounting body temperature climbed so high that she was able to burn the ropes off her hands and feet while remaining unharmed. As her breath returned, she let out a terrified shriek and slammed her fist into one man's stomach. He doubled over, blood spilling from his mouth onto her torso. She pulled herself into a standing position, putting some distance between her and the bodies which were closing in quickly. One was already grinding against her ass, while another was trying to get close enough to fondle her breast. Two more were slobbering over the inside of her ear. She slammed her elbow down when she felt a stab in her nether regions. In revulsion, she watched a hand drop out before its owner slid lifelessly to the ground.

Face aflame, energy and plasma poured out of her. The bodies surrounding her shuddered and blazed with fire while she alone remained unscathed. Her heart leapt as she used this new weapon on the others who were taking their places. Though she was still outnumbered. And eventually, fighting and kicking – even burning did no good as once again, the bodies continued sliming their way around her legs, causing her to fall backwards into a pool of groping limbs, mouths, and manhood. Writhing with sweat, she felt herself being covered with spit and fluid. Her hair was slick with it. Shame burned through her from head to toe. With a flash and a pop, she watched in horror as her skin began to sizzle and spark. She felt nothing until her body convulsed. Only then did she panic, causing her to drown deeper in the writhing flesh and seepage. Her brain registered that something was on fire, even through the bodies were so tightly packed she couldn't see around them. The smell of burnt flesh reached her nostrils mere seconds before her body exploded.