I don't own anything to do with anything in the X-Men franchise. That sucks majorly, but that's all right. I'll live. I do own Jaklyn Porter, Silence Allerdyce and most of this plot, besides the bits that came from the movie. Mina belongs to my friend. This fic follows along with X2 and is rated for language, violence, drinking, blood, gore, and some bad relationship choices. No explicit sexual content yet. That comes in the sequel, kiddies. And I'm not listing pairings, because they're pretty obvious. Woo. Hope you enjoy this fic.
Illusive Rhapsody
Chapter Twelve / Unknown Intrusion; Terror
Later that night, when she thought everyone would be asleep, Jaklyn crept down from her room and headed towards the kitchen. Her injuries had all healed, except for the bruises on her arm and shoulder from Mina tackling her into the wall and a twist in her ankle that felt as if it would never heal completely. She rounded the corner into the kitchen of dark wood and cobalt blue tile and found that she wasn't the only one awake. Logan and Bobby were sitting on either side of the island. Bobby had a carton of ice cream and a spoon and Logan had a bottle of Dr. Pepper with a thin layer of frost still showing in his hand.
Upon seeing Logan, Jaklyn's face got very hot, but, through harsh yelling in her head, she was able to keep herself as normal as usual. "Guess I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep," she mumbled, climbing onto a stool beside Bobby and putting her head in her arms, face towards the tiles.
"Ice cream?" Bobby offered her the spoon when she looked up and she gratefully scooped a large mouthful and ate it. "See? Sugar fixes everything."
"Not likely," Logan mumbled.
The trio sat in silence for a while before Bobby chilled a pop and handed it to Jaklyn as well. The house was silent around them, creating this sort of pounding in everyone's ears, especially those with enhanced-hearing. For a long while, the only sound any of them could hear was the flicking of channels by the only mutant in the house who never slept. He was a young boy, and Jaklyn didn't know his name. She sighed heavily and took a long drink of the smooth soda, when her ears caught something. Jaklyn flicked a glance towards Wolverine, who had stopped what he was doing and was standing completely still; he had heard the same thing she had. Helicopters. Footsteps.
Jaklyn slipped off her stool and dropped into a ready crouch, her muscles tense and her senses alert. Across from her, Wolverine had tensed up too. Bobby was looking from one to the other, confused.
It was then that the first of the dark men showed up. His face was painted with camouflage paint and he was undistinguishable from the man behind him. Wolverine caught the first guy and Jaklyn lunged for the second. Silently wishing she had worn her pajama pants and not her nightgown tonight, she wrapped her hands around the man's thick neck and tried to pull him forward; she was always aware of the footsteps thundering around above her.
Out of nowhere, the brain-rattling scream of the mutant called Siren tore through the air, causing all five of the people in the kitchen to scream in pain and for most of them to fall to their knees. Wolverine, who was entangled with the man and his machine gun, bellowed and bullets shot of the gun in rapid succession. The scream died away as quickly as it had started, freeing everyone and letting the fight rage on.
Jaklyn was thrown into the island, skidding across the smooth tiles and landing painfully on her feet on the other side. She vaulted back over the table, kicking the man in the face and landing with one foot on his neck. With a little more pressure, his trachea collapsed and the last bit of air from his lungs wheezed out. One thought reached her mind as Wolverine finished off the other man with his claws, and that was: I need my knives. But they were all the way down in the subbasement. Her cobalt eye scanned the kitchen. I guess I'll have to settle for whatever I can find in here. She rummaged through drawers until she found two identical knives, about six or seven inches in length with jagged edges. When she turned around, Logan and Bobby had left and without a second thought, she bolted into the hallway after them.
Mina awoke not so much from Siren's screaming or the loud commotion in the hallways, but from a yell of her name that was filled with panic. It was John. She scrambled from the twisted confines of her sheets and tumbles onto the floor. Slipping on her slippers, she bolted into the hallway. She couldn't see him anywhere.
"John?!" she called, fearing that he had been captured by whoever had broken in.
"Mina. Over here."
She turned and saw the young man standing a bit behind a pillar, avoiding the flow of children running franticly to who knew where. Mina pushed against the crowd and nearly fell into his arms, and when she straightened, Mina smiled warmly, blushing faintly and pressing herself closer to John. "What's going on?" she breathed, taking his hand.
"I don't know. But, we'd better run."
Holding hands, the couple ran down the hallway, both keeping their eyes open for an exit or for someone in need of trouble. Amidst the screaming children and the loud footsteps of the intruders and the gunshots, Mina spotted Silence sending bursts of fire barreling down the hallway, frying several men advancing towards the group of children. Mina could hear Silence shouting and laughing almost manically, her eye gleaming with internal firelight and her red hair flying about her wildly. Mina and John stopped, and gaped. Both had seen Silence in this sort of frenzy before, but there was something new in her manor, and Mina could guess that it had to do with her home coming under threat; John knew it was because her home had come under threat. Silence hadn't had a home to protect since they had been very young.
"John! Have you seen Rogue?"
Mina whirled and saw Bobby, looking terribly panicked. She looked to John who was shaking his head, and she urged him to go help Bobby find Rogue. "I'll be fine. I'm going to help Silence protect the kids."
John pulled her close and kissed her deeply on the mouth. "Get Silence and find us." He kissed her again before running the opposite direction she did and barreling down the hallway, calling Rogue's name and Bobby doing the same.
"Silence! Si, we've gotta go. You can protect the kids as we run." Her tall friend whirled around, her hair flaring out and fire flying from the ends. Silence's arms were covered in flame to the elbow and her eyes were no longer crimson, but alive with firelight. Mina fell back a step and then grabbed Silence's shoulder. "Silence! Let's go!"
She tried to pull the bigger girl, but Silence didn't budge. "Silence! Come on!" Mina was almost crying, desperate to get her friend to safety. She pulled harder and then reluctantly gave up. Mina watched for a moment as Silence ran down the hallway, towards the noises of fighting, and then she sighed and ran after her, not planning on letting Silence, her best friend, get herself killed because she was trying to protect them all.
Piotr held Siren close to his chest as he ran, looking side to side for Jaklyn or Kitty or any other children in need of help. There was a clump of children running behind him, taking shelter and comfort in his size and strength, and he was leading them away from the unconscious men he had left behind. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears and it was difficult not to let the panic control his actions. The children around him needed him. He needed to get them to safety – the passage was just down the stairs and to the right. They could make it. They had to. He couldn't let these children be captured or killed; whatever these men wanted, he could not allow it to happen. Logan was the only adult in the mansion, and Piotr felt that he, and the rest of the older children, needed to take responsibility and protect the young mutants.
"Peter!" a familiar voice yelled.
He turned and saw Kitty, running from a pair of the soldiers. Gently, he set the unconscious Siren down and summoned the metal around his skin. He stood, an unmovable pillar in the middle of the hallway, glaring dangerously at the men. Kitty passed him and he swung his powerful fists into the faces of the men, sending them flying backwards into a senseless heap where a table and an expensive-looking vase had been a moment before. Piotr turned back and, normal again, embraced Kitty quickly, kissed her head, telling her he was glad that she was OK. Then, he picked up Siren and the group continued to their safety. The young girl stirred slightly in his arms, and, silently, he reflected that removing those darts had been a good idea; she would be awake soon.
There were suddenly more screams and, terrified, the gaggle of kids, Piotr and Kitty stopped dead. Piotr got the kids to press close together against the wall, planning to avoid the soldiers coming around that corner; the kids would be easier to protect if they were close together.
For the second time in two days, Mina found herself afraid of one of friends. She had seen Silence in a frenzy before, but that had been in the Danger Room, in safe conditions, and it had not gotten this far out of control. Mina was standing at the entrance to one of the upstairs sitting rooms, behind Silence and currently in the form of five silver foxes, trying to restrain her friend. It wasn't working very well. There were already three bodies at he feet, black and crispy.
What she needed was something shocking to sober her up, but what could Mina do to that effect? Silence was used to animals, so Mina found herself at a loss. She needed Iceman – he was the one who had brought Silence back to normal in the Danger Room – but he was probably running the other way, looking for Rogue and Pyro was helping him. Pyro wouldn't have been much use bringing Silence back to normal, as she absorbed fire, but he would have probably been able to think of something else to help his sister. He always seemed to be able to think of different ideas… Mina found herself thinking about the kiss they had shared a few moments ago, and shook her head, bringing herself back to the present; she always found herself thinking of the weirdest things in tense situations.
Mina shifted herself back to human form and wrapped her arms around Silence's waist, growling a bit with the effort. The sobering event Mina had been wishing for came then, as a dismembered arm flew through the air and smacked Silence in the face.
Now, Mina, and probably Silence, would have found that absolutely hilarious, had it not been for the thing that looked like Jaklyn which came flying around the corner after the arm.
Jaklyn was completely naked except for a layer of dark blood and smeared camouflage paint. She was breathing heavily, two sets of three holes visible; she'd obviously been shot by the sedative darts. Her eye had taken on the characteristics of a wolf again, but this time, it was vacant, and her finger and toe nails and had extended and looked like some sort of hybrid nail-claw. Her fangs were also extended, and there was blood dripping from them. A pair of jagged-edge knives from the kitchen were held in a white-knuckled grip; blood dripped slowly from them as well. She stood still for only a moment, staring at her friends, and she seemed to be considering if they were intruders as well. Coming to the right conclusion – or more likely, one that satisfied her – Jaklyn leapt over their heads and disappeared to where there was noise of more fighting.
"What the fuck was that?" Silence breathed, still holding the arm.
"Terrifying is what that was."
Silence looked at the arm she was holding and then shrugged and tossed it down to where her toasted damage lay. One thing about Silence was that she remembered her frenzies. She knew what she had done, and she had an uncanny ability to deal with the emotions and she didn't regret anything. "I wonder if Jak'll remember what she did…" she whispered, peering around the corner.
Mina nearly threw up when she looked around the corner. There was blood everywhere. Five or six bodies littered the hallway, and they had obviously been dragged around and ripped apart a great deal. There was also quite a lot of some grayish substance, and Mina did not want to know what that was. "Oh God… I hope she doesn't remember…" Mina shook her head and then grabbed Silence's wrist. "Come on. We'd better go and find Bobby, John and Rogue." When Silence nodded, the girls took off.
Three of the men had managed to pin her down, their hands purposefully on her breasts and low on her stomach. Jaklyn was writhing, growling, scratching and trying to tear flesh with her knives, but she wasn't reaching anything except fabric. The tiny part of her mind which was still human wished she had powers like Silence or Bobby or someone could project something and free themselves.
"She'll be a good test subject for the boss," one of the men said, laughter in his voice.
Jaklyn would not be a test subject. Summoning all of her strength, she freed her right arm, swung it over and brought her knife down into the man's shoulder. He screamed and fell backwards, the knife sliding out and tearing the wound larger, because Jaklyn would not let go. When her left arm was freed, she drove both knives into the thighs of the man to her right and twisted fluidly to her feet, pulling the knives out and bringing them down again, stabbing one into his neck and the other into his eye. He slid dead from her knives, but Jaklyn wasn't finished with him. She pulled the body in front of her and tossed him forward, into the uninjured man, knocking him backwards and buying her time to dispose of the man, holding his neck where she had severed the nerves which controlled his left arm. Jaklyn growled and lunged at him, sinking her teeth into his arm and driving her knives upwards into his stomach, under his ribcage and into both his lungs. Her knives slid from him as well, and as he fell back gasping and wheezing, blood, frothy and pinkish, appeared at the corners of his mouth. But Jaklyn had already turned to face the last man.
"You picked the wrong house," she growled, advancing on him.
He shoved his companion's body to the floor and aimed a gun, a real gun, at her. "Die, bitch."
Jaklyn was in front of him faster than he could register, holding his gun and pointing it back at him. His wrist was broken and his hand was hanging uselessly at the end of his arm. He looked up at her, took in her snarl and her blood soaked skin and teeth, and he screamed. He was a man trained in the ways of military and he had seen actual combat, and for the first time in his career, he was one hundred percent terrified for his life and it was because of this teenage girl. He closed his eyes, readying himself to feel the shock of a gunshot. But it didn't come. Slowly, he opened his eyes and watched her discard the gun. She turned back around and swiftly took his neck in her hands.
She watched as the life left his eyes.
And then she ran, looking for more intruders to sate her bloodlust.
He was so glad he had taken her advice, and it was perfect night to have done so. The sky was overcast, and once he was up high enough, no one would be able to tell him apart from a large bird. Silence had told him to get out and fly regardless of what his father said, and this was probably going to be the first in many nighttime flights for Warren; there was something about flying that made him feel alive and free and truly happy.
Warren had only felt like this once before, and he had almost died because of it. He had been a young boy and was on top of the Empire State building, and he had seen a hawk or falcon or some other type of large bird hovering on the hot air being expelled from one of the vents on the roof. He had leaned over the railing, trying to imitate the bird. He had fallen down to a lower roof, and survived, but the experience had kind of frightened him away from heights for a while. It was shortly after that when his wings had first sprouted.
His wings spread to their full span now, Warren found himself winging towards Xavier's mansion, hoping to see Silence so she could see that he was taking her advice and flying. Maybe he'd even offer to take her up with him. He wasn't really sure if he could carry another person, or if his wings would take the weight, but he'd be willing to try for her.
The mansion and its grounds looked quiet majestic from the air, and Silence had been right – the grounds were beautiful. Warren dove down, sweeping over the tree tops, heading towards the mansion from the back, a slight smile on his face.
An explosion to his right snapped Warren's attention in that direction, and, as if in slow motion, he saw the glass fall to the ground like a deadly snowfall and then the dark outline of a human followed.
Without a second thought, Warren dove towards the person, arms outstretched.
Silence was very obviously enjoying herself. Fire trailed from her hands and appeared in less than a blink whenever Mina reported soldiers around the corner and a smile lit her face. Silence wasn't killing the men, just knocking them back and rendering them unconscious by throwing them into tables and walls and whatever else was available. Together, Mina and Silence made quick progress through the mansion and Mina managed to locate John and Bobby and Rogue. Mina eagerly rejoined John, but stayed in her fox form to avoid immediate danger to herself; she was also a lot more confident in her fox form.
"Took you long enough," John said, looking pointedly at Silence. "What the hell happened?"
"Erm… We ran into… uh… Terror." Silence suddenly smiled, feeling proud of herself for coming up with a nickname on the spot. "And if we don't move quickly, we're probably going to run into her again."
John spared her only the briefest of confused looks. "Come on. Bobby and Rogue went that way with Wolverine. We've gotta move if we want to catch up. They were heading towards the garage to get a car and get away." He took Mina's hand and started running, waving Silence to follow them.
She moved to do just that, when a lone soldier appeared, singe marks on the front of his outfit; he'd obviously not been rendered completely unconscious. His hand was over where Silence had noticed grenades on the men's vests before, and there was an expression of no mercy on his face. Frozen in place, Silence watched as the man removed the pin and tossed the grenade towards her. Silence ducked and rolled out of the way as the window exploded behind her and then got to her feet planning to take the man out, but locked into a rage as he was, he shot her with the sedative darts from his gun and then kicked her squarely in the chest, sending her backwards and out the window.
Mina and John were already around the corner, and Silence's last thought was about how much it was going to suck dying and having no body know.
