Hey. -makes small talk- So, I'm bored, and Rinjii is 'away'. Also known as, not on msn. So I have nothing to do, so I'm gonna write this. Yay? Yay! A few points I felt like making - I did spell Bizenghast wrong. There's an 'h'. I spelled it right this time.
And the site was a n i m e - e d e n . c o m. No spaces, though.
And I finished the first three Hellsing OVA's. Best things ever. Watch em. Do it. All available on YouTube. I strongly encourage you to watch em.
Oh, and thanks go out to Teri Neko and Ratdogtwo (my main supporters! And unlike Rinjii, they don't hit me when I don't update! I luvz you!) for reviewing. Oh and please note: I prefer reviews to story alerts. I can see you when you just add it to that list, not that I mind being on it. But I prefer reviews, even if they say "This sucked! Get a life and a plot, would you?!'
Chapter 9
Vincent shook her head.
"Why did I know you would say that?" She asked sarcastically.
Alex smirked, tilting his head. "Maybe cause you're in my head just as much as I'm in yours?"
"Shut up. Come on, we can talk down this way." She led the way down the hall to a locked door. "This is my 'study'." She explained, feeling Alex's curiousity. "Magneto gave it to me when me and John arrived. I haven't actually used it yet." She dug her keys out of her pocket, and shoved one into the lock. As the door creaked open, they heard a muffled curse. Peering in, they saw Mystique pinning Jamie, the well known Multiple Man, to the desk. As always, she wore no clothes, but Jamie's jeans were open.
There was silence.
"You know, I really didn't need to know what you really do in your free time, Mystique." Vincent commented conversationally. The spell broke. Mystique pushed herself upright. Jamie hurriedly zipped up his jeans, blushing.
"Well, well, if it isn't our resident pyropathic. I wonder, do fires have minds you can get into as well?" Mystique shot back.
Vincent raised her eyebrows. "News flash, Mystique," She replied, quoting one of John's favorite expressions, "I don't listen to everyone's thoughts all the time. I would like to retain what little remains of my sanity."
Mystique snorted.
Vincent smiled. "Now, we'll leave you two alone." Turning, she pushed Alex ahead of her back down the hallway.
"Where to now?" Her twin asked. Vincent shrugged.
"Back to mine and John's room, I guess."
Suddenly, a yell echoed up the hallway. "Brotherhood, mobilize! We are moving out now!" Around them, doors were flung open and the members of the Brotherhood flooded the hallway. Mystique appeared out of seeming nowhere beside them.
"Magneto wants you! Move!" She yelled over the noise of a hundred mutants yelling and doors banging. She disappeared back into the crowd almost before Vincent could nod. Throwing one last thought 'Stay here.' back to her brother, she shot off in the direction Mystique had taken. Shaking his head, Alex ran after her.
"I am NOT staying here!"
--
Having been delayed in the crowd, by the time Alex found Vincent in the entrance hall of the mansion, she was already deep in discussion with Magneto.
"You're doing what?"
"Vincent, now is not the time. We need you to stay here."
As Vincent opened her mouth to argue, John appeared beside them, Mystique and Turk in tow. "We're ready to move." He reported. Raising a hand to forestall what Vincent was about to say, Magneto turned.
"Brotherhood!" He called out above the chaos. Instantly, the foyer fell into silence. "The time has come! The government has made the first move. Today, not one, but two of our number had their cure forced upon them! We will not stand by and allow this! Today, we strike back!"
Ignoring the rest of the speech, Alex focused his attention instead on the four standing behind the older man. Turk was heading his way. Vincent was glaring at Pyro, who had his lighters strapped on, Mystique looking on. His hands were on Vincent's shoulders as he pleaded with her under cover of the echoing cheers of the Brotherhood. Vincent's face was cold. She shrugged his hands off her shoulders and turned. John grabbed her arm, leaning in to say something to her. Vincent stiffened, and, as Alex watched, turned and punched John in the face. Silence fell quickly. Evidently, he hadn't been the only one watching the two argue. Magneto turned to speak to them, but froze as Vincent stalked past him and grabbed Alex by the arm, shoving Turk, who had just reached him, aside.
"You're not going with them, are you?" She demanded. Alex stilled. Behind Vincent's back, Turk was looking at him pleadingly. Behind her, Magneto motioned to the rest of the Brotherhood to begin to move.
"Umm..."
Vincent's face, if possible, grew harder. She shoved his arm back at him hard enough to make him stumble. "Fine." She hissed. "But don't come looking for me afterward."
John, who had just drawn level with them, froze. "Vincent, please don't do this." He pleaded. His nose was still bleeding. Vincent ignored him.
"I've had enough of this - this - organisation." She spat. She pushed past Alex and headed for the door. Silently, he turned to watch her go, stunned by her reaction.
"Vincent." Magneto called out, over the crowd. She didn't pause. "Vincent!"
Stride unwavering, she pushed her way through the crowd and out the door. No one saw the single tear trickle down her cheek.
--
"Oh my god." John dropped his face into his hands. "What have I done?"
Mystique dropped her arm around his shoulders. "She'll cool off, eventually."
"No, she won't." Alex interjected. Mystique glared at him. He glared back.
"What, did you want me to lie? Vincent has no intentions of coming back. She's gone to find Bobby, whoever that is."
Instantly, everyone froze. Magneto turned to look at the boy. "She's gone where?"
--
A block away, a black Saturn peeled out of an underground garage, narrowly missing a young girl and her dog. Inside, Vincent glared straight ahead, blocking her twin from her mind as well as she could while keeping enough attention on the road to drive.
"Mauddie? Whera're weh going?" A small, sleepy voice asked from the back.
"It's alright." She responded. "We're going to find somewhere safe for you."
In the backseat, a four year old boy nodded once and fell asleep once more.
--
Bobby had been sleeping when Rogue ran into his room and started shaking him.
"Bobby! Bobby, get up! It's Vincent! She's here!"
Bobby sat up. "What?"
Rogue nodded. "Get dressed! The Professor wants to see us in his office." She ran out of the room.
Hurriedly, Bobby dragged on a pair of jeans over his boxers and pulled a shirt over his head as he attempted to stick his feet in a pair of sandals. As he stumbled out of his room, formerly his and John's room, Rogue grabbed him and dragged him down the hall.
"She just showed up." She explained rapidly. "Said she needs somewhere safe for the kid."
"What kid?"
"The kid she has with her. She didn't say where he was from or who he was, but she did say he was a mutant."
Bobby nodded. Seconds later, they came to the door of Professor Xaviers study. Before Rogue could knock, they heard the Professor's voice in their heads. 'Enter.'
Bobby, tense, turned the brass knob and pushed the door open. And there she was, Vincent, looking weary and sick, a child of around four years balanced on one hip, totally asleep. He gasped. She looked different from the last time that he had seen her. Instead of the dark, secretive girl, she had the look of a harried young mother. Her face was tight, as if she was forcibly keeping herself from making an expression.
"Look," He heard her demand. "Can't you just babysit him for a while? I'll pick him up later." She shifted the boys weight higher on her hip and he stirred, blinking sleepily around at the others. His black hair was long and flopped into his striking green eyes. His skin matched Vincent's exactly.
"The child is beautiful." Storm commented from the side of the room. Vincent smiled, actually smiled, and nuzzled the little boy's face.
"He looks just like his mommy." She replied. "His name is Lance."
Lance made a sound reminiscent of a sigh, and put his head back on Vincent's shoulder. Within seconds, he was asleep again.
"Please, Vincent, take a seat." The professor motioned toward a chair. "It seems you have a tale to tell."
Vincent, obviously annoyed, rolled her eyes. She sat in the chair, shifting Lance so he was curled in her lap, head on her chest. She seemed resigned, perhaps sensing the professors obvious determination to get the full story. She motioned to Bobby and Rogue to seat themselves as well, the old hostility between the two girls forgotten.
"I don't know where to start..."
"You said that he looked like his mother. Perhaps you could start there?"
She nodded. "As good a place as any...about three years into our 'stay' with Cutter, he hired my sister out to a man, so he could have children. His wife was apparently sterile. Anyway, we soon found out that this was a lie. His name was Matthew, and he was part of an underground organisation that helped try to get girls like us out of our situation. During his 'scheduled hours' with Charlotte, he let her sleep and played some tape of something. I really wouldn't like to know what it was. Anyway, it was convincing. After about three months, it was apparent that Charlotte wasn't pregnant. But by then, he had Cutter's trust...and Charlotte's affection. Unfortunately for both, he developed some feeling for her as well. They called it 'true love'. Either way, they ended up sleeping together. Just once. But it was enough. Charlotte got pregnant. Matt grew protective of her. Eventually, he slipped up. Charlotte had the baby, and Matthew named him Lance. He got Lance out easily. Then he tried to get us out a week later. Matt was killed in the attempt. Charlotte...was raped and killed. I made it out alive. I made contact with the organisation, but by then I didn't want anything to do with adults. I stayed on the streets until it became apparent that I was also pregnant. You know that I aborted my baby. When I ended up in the hospital, and then the mental institution, they came to visit me. They used to bring Lance with them. When I got out of the institution and started working, they turned Lance over to me. That organisation was no place for a baby. But when the remains of Cutter's gang found me, I left Lance with a friend and ran. That was when Storm and the Proffessor came across me and I came here. I've kept in contact with my friend since I got here, and by mere coincidence, when I left, I ended up only a block away from her, with Magneto. Not as a Brotherhood member, but as a bystander. Albeit a bystander with influence, but still a bystander. I never really stayed there. Either way, Lance stayed with me and Jodie. I visited him every chance I could. And now that the Brotherhood is moving...I convinced Jodie to move. She's gone. I took Lance, to bring him here. Now, if you would just babysit him for me, while I try to get Alex and John out of whatever they're getting into the middle of..."
The professor shook his head. "We need more information, Vincent. Scott is...Scott is dead."
Vincent stared, mouth open. "Dead? What happened?"
Xavier met her eyes squarely. "Jean happened, Vincent. She isn't dead. And she isn't Jean anymore."
Vincent's jaw snapped shut. "So the Phoenix finally got out of your control, did it?" She asked.
Xavier stared at her. Around the room, Storm, Logan, Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and Piotr gaped.
There was a long silence.
Finally, Logan spoke. "You knew? You knew about the Phoenix?" He asked.
Vincent nodded. "I used to feel it stir at night. When Jean's conscious mind was sleeping, the Phoenix used to come close to the surface. Close enough to wake me, that is. Before it got any farther, he," She nodded toward the Professor, "would block it. And it would recede until the next night. It used to keep me up for hours."
"Those marks." Rogue whispered. "The shadows under your eyes that never went away. You knew. You knew this would happen."
Vincent shook her head. "I hadn't been here long enough. From what I knew back then, this could have happened every night for years. And I didn't know she would kill Scott. Actually, I thought that she would at least make an effort to keep him alive. Subconscious part or not, Jean was in love with him."
Logan put his face in his hands. Rogue put her hand on his arm. Vincent studied the faces around her. Storm's face was neutral, giving nothing away. Piotr and Bobby were openly shocked. Kitty was crying quietly into Pete's side. Xavier was gazing at her, eyes steady.
"Vincent, we need more information. I assure you, we do not wish to harm John or any other members of the Brotherhood. We want to save the lives of the innocent's that are going to be stuck in the middle of this conflict." The room was quiet. Vincent met the Professor's gaze for a long moment.
"They're moving on Alcatraz Island. They plan to destroy the source of the cure, once and for all."
Instantly, everyone in the room moved. Piotr, Bobby, Kitty and Rogue followed Storm out the door. Logan crossed the room to whisper into Xaviers ear. Then both disappeared out the door.
'Liar.' Vincent thought at the Professors back. 'You'll do whatever it takes to protect this precious balance of yours. Even if it kills John and everyone else in the Brotherhood in the process.'
The Professors voice floated back into the room. "Please remain behind, Vincent, and care for your nephew."
Vincent blocked him from her mind. 'Bullshit.'
Author's Note:
Sorry this took so long. I meant to have it up earlier...but I'm lazy, so... Oh well. Hope you enjoyed. Reviews, please.
