Author's note: Scott is actually my favorite X-Man; he just has the coolest glasses. You'll understand why I just said that after you read this!
Anyone who reviews will still get a response, but I've discovered the convenience of the private review reply! Any new readers, please review! I'd love to hear from you, too!
SOphIe: Kurt will be featured later in the story. Don't worry. Somehow your review was very off topic though…
Chapter Eleven: Doomed
"They've been gone since yesterday… I think that normal shopping trips are generally less than twenty four hours long. Something has to have gone wrong. Otherwise, I'm going to kill Erik when he gets back with Scott." Alex had just woken up, but he was already beginning to wear a hole through the carpet with his pacing.
"Chill out, Alex. It's not as if shopping for clothes is exactly dangerous. Maybe they snuck up to bed without anyone noticing because they didn't want to wake anyone up." Sean tried to pat Alex's shoulder comfortingly, but the blond mutant jerked away from the touch.
"I've already checked their rooms! I've checked the whole mansion!"
"Maybe there was a lot of traffic, so they decided to stay overnight at a hotel. That's possible! I mean, Erik doesn't exactly seem like he would make the most patient driver."
"Shut up! Erik would obviously use his magnetic powers to levitate the car back to the mansion if there was a ton of traffic."
Emma, Raven, Kurt, and Hank all stood outside of Alex's bedroom, listening in intently. The loud arguing had alerted them to the disagreement, but none wanted to interfere. Some of them felt the inclination to jump in and defend Sean, but no one acted on it.
"He would never give away our location like that!" Sean argued.
Frowning steadily, Alex bristled at Sean's valid argument. "Shut up, Sean! What I'm getting at is this—they've been kidnapped or worse yet, killed! They could even be dying in some hospital right now!"
"Isn't that a bit paranoid, Alex?" Emma had finally sauntered in, prompting the others to follow her into the room as well. "You're immediately jumping to the worst conclusions. Surely 'Magneto' is powerful enough to take care of himself, and Scott has impressive mutant powers, too. They couldn't just have been kidnapped or brutally attacked without a huge commotion. We would have heard about such a big incident on the news."
"Yeah, and isn't Magneto a little too old to be kidnapped?" Sean giggled at the thought of some random thug trying to take on the master of magnetism. "Have we gotten the ransom note yet?"
"I'm being serious here, Sean. Scott hasn't trained to control his power, and my big brother instincts tell me that something bad has happened to him!"
"Did your brotherly instincts tell you that your little brother was alive and living in filth on the streets?" Crossing her arms, Emma glared at Alex, who clenched his fists menacingly.
"Shhhhhh! Everybody, calm down. I would have thought that just the fact that Scott and Erik have not returned yet would be cause for alarm. It is in no way normal for anyone to be gone this long for a trip to the store. Does anyone know what store they went to? We need to organize a search party." Hank cleared his throat loudly, but it came out as more of a roar than a cough, causing the fighting to cease.
"I think they went to the outlets," Emma said. She was also worried about Scott and Erik. She had definitely not planned on becoming the oldest mutant in the mansion, and she felt a strange sort of protectiveness over Scott. It may be that his youth caused her to think of him as someone who needed protection, or she just genuinely cared about children.
"Okay, Emma. You will go down to Cerebro, and the rest of us will take the Blackbird to the outlets to see what we can find." Pulling out his headset to remain in contact, Hank prepared to leave, but Emma's diamond form immediately moved to block him, looking quite angry.
"No! You're going to need me. I'm a valuable asset to the team. I'll search for them with Cerebro, and then we'll go directly to where they are. This will actually save time because you won't have to waste any time wandering around aimlessly, searching for nonexistent clues.."
"You have a point…"
Everyone followed Emma down to Cerebro and watched in anticipation as she put the headgear on. Her face was full of intense concentration, but when she pulled the helmet off her head, it had switched to frustration.
"I can't find them. Something is interfering with Cerebro. It could be a psychic shield of some sort, or maybe even another telepath, but if I can't find them with Cerebro, they must be in trouble. Someone very powerful has gotten to them."
A dark look passed over Alex's face as he ground his teeth angrily. He had only just been reunited with his brother—he needed to find him soon.
When Erik woke up, he found himself lying uncomfortably on a cold tile floor. His body ached from being on a hard surface for so long, and his mind was cloudy. Slowly blinking his eyes open, his sight was accosted by the bright white lights shining from above. Finally regaining his ability to see something other than the lights, he found himself staring into the deep brown eyes of Scott Summers, who was staring at him concernedly.
Scott had been awake for almost an hour, which he had spent the better part of poking and prodding Erik's limp body with his foot. This explained the raw tenderness Erik felt in his ribs, although he was unaware of this fact. Taking his hands, Scott hoisted Erik up into a sitting position. The sudden movement caused Erik a great deal of nausea, and Scott leaped away from him when the older mutant began vomiting profusely.
"Are you okay?" Scott whispered.
Erik wiped the vomit off his face and looked at Scott in disbelief. "Not in the least. Where are we?" He rubbed his forehead, and the cloud suddenly lifted away. Looking around, he could see that they were locked in a small room together, and there was no metal in sight. They were trapped, and Scott's glasses…were gone.
"I don't know. I think the drug affected our powers though. My blasts are usually on all the time, but now I can't even access them. Whenever I try to use my optic beams, I only get extreme pain behind my eyes."
"Then try harder!"
Scott flinched back at Erik's tone and slunk into the corner of their cell. "I think the monster got to us…" he whispered softly, but Erik heard his words clearly.
"We've been taken captive. We need to put silly fantasies behind us and focus on escaping."
Scott retreated further into his corner and decided to change the subject. "Why did you start the mutant school? You don't really seem like the type..."
"I had this friend, and he had a grand dream for a future where mutants and humans coexist peacefully. I'm carrying this dream for him, and I will make sure it succeeds." Erik vaguely wondered if their conversation was being taped, but quickly shrugged off any concerns; it was not as if he was sharing highly guarded secrets.
"We've been captured. Are you scared?" Scott stared at Erik, looking for any signs of fear, but the older mutant straightened and held his head up high.
"No, of course not. I'm a powerful mutant."
"But our powers have been negated, we're at an unknown location, and if we don't know where we are, how can anyone else? Who will come save us?" Tracing a line through the dust on the floor, Scott voiced his concerns.
"I'm sure that Alex will go to no end to find you. Hank will be smart enough to figure out what happened to us, and Emma can use her telepathy to find any witnesses or leftover psychic residue."
"What will happen when they get here?"
"Alex will demolish the place with his powers. He knows his powers can't hurt you, and he doesn't care that enough about me..."
"Haha."
Silence engulfed the room, and the two mutants began staring at each other unblinkingly. Neither could think of anything else to say, and the tension was unbearable. Erik turned around for a mere minute, but when he turned back towards where Scott had been kneeling in the corner, the young mutant was gone. There was no door anywhere that Erik could see. He had no idea how Scott got out, or who or what took him. Sitting in the deathly silent cell, Erik stared at the opposing wall, willing a door to randomly appear.
"Scott!" Erik yelled out in anguish. Charles would never forgive him if he lost a young mutant. He slapped himself in the forehead. If only he had not let Scott out of his sight... He began pounding his fists against the wall, hoping to escape and save Scott, but all this led to were bloodied knuckles and increasing frustration. Leaning back against the wall, Erik gave into hopelessness. Unless the other mutants found them, they were doomed. With no powers, he was just as weak as a mere human.
After what seemed like hours, Erik awoke to a loud slamming noise beside him. He had not meant to fall asleep, but there was nothing else for him to do to occupy his time, and he had been physically exhausted. Scott was now lying unconscious next to him. His brown hair was sticky with blood, his clothes were stained red and torn, revealing deep gashes along his body, and his face was badly bruised.
Erik held a watchful guard over the young boy, determined not to let him out if his sight for a split second, even to blink. He believed that Scott could be snatched away during the time his eyes shut to blink. The boy was in a bad state, but at least none if the injuries had been life threatening. Erik paused a moment to rub his eyes. The gravity of the situation was finally hitting him—he and Scott had been kidnapped, and Scott had been tortured. He removed his hand to check on the mutant boy, but Scott was gone again. Groaning loudly, Erik whacked his head against the wall of the cell behind him until he felt blood running down the back of his neck.
Later, Scott was dumped haphazardly next to Erik. More cuts and bruises had appeared, and Scott's limbs were sticking out at unnatural angles. He definitely had several broken bones. Somehow, Erik ended up dozing off again. He woke to the sound of painful moaning.
"Shhh, Scott." Erik soothed. "Don't try to move. It'll only make it hurt more."
Scott's breaths were too shallow, and Erik wondered if he had punctured a lung. Either way, he needed to get Scott out of there and to a hospital where he could get medical attention. Hunger was gnawing at the pit of Erik's stomach, and he could safely assume that Scott was similarly hungry, although the pain was probably more of a concern right now.
"Whoever's holding us here, I'm ready to negotiate! No good will come of further harm to a mutant! We have powerful friends."
Only silence answered Erik's pleas. He wondered how Charles would feel if he joined the other man in death before he even made a dent in his dream for peace between the mutant race and lowly humans.
"I'll do whatever you want as long as you get the boy medical attention!"
"Fine," a voice boomed down from a hidden speaker, "You will be my own, personal guinea pig, and I'll fix Scott up."
Erik sighed in relief. There was hope for Scott yet. If he let himself become the lab rat of the monster that had taken them, Scott would not have to suffer in extreme pain.
"Don't worry! I won't hurt you too much. I'm currently testing a new breed of psychological torture, and you will make a perfect test subject. I have been told that it works very well, but there are still improvements that can be made to increase its effectiveness."
Erik was confused. That time, the voice had come from beside him, and he could tell that whoever was speaking was inside the cell with him, but there was no one else in there…except…Scott. Looking over towards the unconscious boy cautiously, Erik narrowed his eyes. How could the unconscious boy speak to him, especially in that creepy, eerie, sinister voice? But Scott was no longer unconscious—cold glowing red eyes were staring up at Erik.
"Um…are you getting your powers back?" Erik asked, hopefully.
For the contemplative reader, some questions-
What's up with Scott?
Is Scott Summers even real? (This is my favorite question)
Is Mr. Sinister screwing with everyone's minds?
What will Erik do now? Has he finally met his match?
Will our ragtag team of mutants save them?
How will they even find them?
Take a stab at these questions, and come back later for the answers to these questions and more!