Chapter Twenty Six - A Slither of Hope
Looming over the other X-Men menacingly, Logan slammed his hands down onto the conference room table-top, unable to contain his anger. "What d'ya mean, there's no way we can get there? Marie's there, goddamit!"
Charles Xavier gestured helplessly. "I am just at a loss as to how we can physically get into the Labyrinth."
"Then get thinkin', Chuck, 'cause if I don't do somethin' soon I'm gonna be doin' some serious damage to ya furniture instead."
Please, Logan, calm down.
Logan snapped his gaze onto Dr Jean Grey. "Get outta my head, Red!"
Charles turned back to Sarah, somewhat desperate now. "There is nothing else you could tell us that might help in anyway?"
Sarah shrugged apologetically but frustration was clearly etched into her own face. "I just said the words and Toby disappeared."
"Can't ya say the words again?" Logan blurted. "Wish me away, or somethin'? I'm ready an' willin'!"
She shook her head, although appeared mildly amused, despite the circumstances. "It doesn't work like that. It's all connected to Jareth. And if he's a prisoner somewhere…" her amusement swiftly changed to distress, "…he won't be able to respond."
"But I thought it was a bunch of goblins that did the baby snatchin'?" Logan pointed out.
"Yes, but they're not real exactly. They're…" she faltered, as if trying to find the right words. "…A projection from Jareth's subconscious that is, in turn, somehow linked to the Labyrinth." She sighed. "I wish I could explain it better."
"Fascinating," Dr Hank Mckoy remarked. "Simply fascinating."
"Fascinatin' aint gonna help us, doc," Logan spat back, glaring at the blue furry man who sat opposite him.
"Logan, if you cannot behave with more restraint, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Charles insisted regretfully. "I understand how you must be feeling, but your anger will not help Marie. It will only delay her rescue."
Sarah ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation and hung her head, shoulders heaving despondently. "This is all my fault."
Logan stared at her and his gaze softened. Rolling his eyes he dropped heavily down into the nearest chair forcing himself to acknowledge that Chuck was right. "Nah, kid. It aint. It's mine. I should've never left her alone with that bitch."
"I still can't believe what Miandria did," Sarah grieved, genuinely hurt. "That she betrayed Jareth like that. I thought she was my friend."
"Perhaps she was forced into doing it," Jean suggested, voice sympathetic.
Logan recalled the woman's haughtiness in the Danger Room. "Nah. I don't buy that. There was something dodgy about her from the beginnin'. I could sense it, only…" he clenched his fists. "I didn't damn well act on it."
"Please, all of you…it is no ones fault," Charles started, but then he stopped abruptly, suddenly detaching himself from the conversation, his eyes seeming distant.
"What is it, Professor?" Jean asked anxiously, reaching across to lightly rest her hand on his arm.
After a few moments had passed Charles snapped out of his reverie and immediately turned to Sarah. "Scott and Storm have returned. They have Toby with them. I think you should go meet them." He took a deep breath, his face grave. "I'm sorry to have to say this, but your step-mother has taken an overdose of pills and is in a coma. Your father is with her now, at the hospital."
"Oh no!" Sarah quickly stood up, her chair scraping noisily on the grey tiled floor. "Yes…I will…oh god, poor Toby."
"Jean, if you would be so kind as to take Sarah back up to the main levels."
"Sure, Professor."
When the two women had vacated the room Logan lent back in his chair and folded his arms. "Then there were three," he groaned. He glanced from Hank back to Charles again. "C'mon, you two are the brains of this joint. Time to put some of that intelligence of yours to good use." Usually one to keep his emotions well hidden, on this occasion he was unable to conceal just how fraught he was becoming. "I'm beggin' ya now."
Silence hung over them like a dark cloud, ominous and painful.
Logan's claws itched like crazy beneath his skin, intent on being let loose to release some of this pent up frustration overwhelming him. All he could think of was how he had let Marie down. Left her in the clutches of that woman. He didn't think he had ever failed her before and it made him feel physically sick, the fact that he was so helpless to act when she could be suffering…
His eyes scrunched closed. No. Don't think about it, bub…
The sound of the door being opened made his eyes blink open with a start and he turned to see Scott and Storm walk into the room. They looked a little worst for the wear.
"Take it things didn't go too well?" Logan ribbed, although his heart wasn't in it.
Scott sank down in the chair next to Hank. "You could say that," he confessed, unzipping his jacket and dragging a thin scarf from around his neck.
"How is the boy?" Charles inquired.
Scott didn't seem completely sure. "Subdued, I guess."
Storm sat gracefully down beside the Professor. "I think he will be all right," she tried to reassure with her typical unwavering optimism. "I sense that his temperament is of a quiet nature anyway." She smiled gently. "And I think seeing Sarah again has helped enormously."
"What's going on, Professor?" Scott asked, frowning into his visor. "Sarah says that Marie is gone?"
Charles quickly explained what had happened, from their success in connecting to the Labyrinth using Cerebro, to the alarming abduction of Marie.
Scott turned angrily to Logan. "And you left her with that woman? Are there any brain cells beneath that adamantium?"
"Scott, please," Charles intervened shortly. "We have already been down this path and as I explained to Logan, it solves nothing."
"Just get ya thinkin' cap on, Leader-boy," Logan countered sourly. "We need to come up with a way to get into that place."
Scott shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe that she's there…in Sarah's Labyrinth. I must admit to having been slightly sceptical about the whole thing…But now?" He hesitated, before adding: "Are you sure – absolutely sure – that's where she is?"
"I saw that bitch materialise right before my eyes," Logan retorted. "Where the hell d'ya think she comes from? Mars?"
"Professor…" a calmer voice cut in.
Heated eyes turned to Storm.
"Is Kurt back yet?"
Charles watched her with curious interest. "Not yet…why?"
Her beautiful face was animated further with the stirrings of excitement. "You said that you were able to connect to the Labyrinth through Cerebro." She swept her gaze across the X-Men, finally settling upon Charles again. "Well, is there any way that Kurt could see the Labyrinth in Cerebro, focus upon it, and then teleport there? Perhaps even taking us with him, one at a time? After what happened at Alkali Lake we know that he can teleport with a passenger."
"Could it be done?" Logan demanded impatiently, eyes flicking from Hank to the Professor.
Charles glanced across at Hank. "What do you think?"
Hank nodded. "I see no reason why we shouldn't at least give it a try."
"Then let's just hope that Kurt hurries up," Logan complained, scowling. "I don't wanna leave Marie in that place any longer than I have to." He promptly stood up. "That Miandria," he snarled, over emphasising her name in disgust, "…is gonna be sorry she ever decided to cross me!"
"Logan? Where are you going?"
Logan peered back at Storm, eyes narrowed. "I need a beer, big-time." As he sauntered out of the conference room, he threw back: "I'll be in the kitchen. I wanna know the second Nightcrawler zaps back."
"Yes, Sir!" Scott mocked, but the words held more teasing than malice.
"I heard that!" Logan shouted back from half way down the corridor.
"Poor Logan," Storm commiserated when the riled Wolverine had gone. "It's understandable that he would react in such a way. He and Marie have become very close."
"Poor Logan?" Scott scoffed. "Shouldn't that be poor Marie? One of our team is in trouble and, for the time being, there is nothing we can do to help her."
Hank lifted his enormous bulk from the chair and made to exit the conference room. "If you would all follow me to the lab next door, I have some data to show you that might speed things along a bit."
As Logan approached the kitchen he heard familiar voices. He rolled his eyes. Of all the places Jean could've taken Sarah she had to choose the one place his beers were kept.
He sniffed. And there was another scent. A kid. Probably the brother.
He snorted. The little guy who had been whisked away by the goblins. Sounded like one hell of a disturbed fairytale, poor kid.
Both Jean and Sarah immediately looked in his direction as he marched into the room. The little boy – Toby? - remained preoccupied with whatever it was he was eating - he sure as hell seemed hungry, Logan decided.
Sarah offered him a weak smile, and he could sense that she was still feeling guilty about what had happened to Marie. Jean, on the other hand, appeared slightly annoyed that he had chosen to visit the one place she had taken Sarah for some downtime with her brother.
Too bad, Red, Logan thought stubbornly, although tried not to project it strongly enough for her to catch. After all, he had told her to get out of his head only ten minutes earlier.
"How's it going?" she asked gently as he walked over to the fridge, opened it, pulled out a beer with a drink this and be gutted post-it note stuck on, and slammed it closed again.
He frowned as he leant back against the fridge door. "Too slow for my liking," he growled. "Can't do nothin' till Nightcrawler gets here."
"Nightcrawler?"
"Yeah…Storm made a suggestion that Hank thinks could work."
"In what way?" Sarah asked, watching him hopefully, and he suddenly felt bad. It wasn't only him eager to be reunited with Marie…Sarah was obviously desperate to get back to her husband.
Logan shrugged. "The Blue Elf might be able to get us into the Labyrinth."
"Elf? I…I don't understand?"
"Kurt, also known as Nightcrawler, is a teleporter," Jean informed her. She glared daggers at Logan. "And you know he hates being called an Elf."
"Yeah, well he can be damned annoying at times. All that bamfing! An' I can't smell him first, like I can the rest of ya!" Logan grumbled, before opening his beer and swallowing down almost half the contents of the bottle in a few mouthfuls.
The topic of conversation roused Toby's attention and he twisted around in his chair to stare quizzically at Logan. "A real Elf?"
Logan lowered the bottle from his lips. "Sure is, kid. Only human-size."
Toby looked unconvinced. "Elves aren't human-sized - you're fibbing."
Logan raised an eyebrow. He liked the kid's spunk. "Is that right?" he teased.
"Toby, eat your dinner, there's a good boy," Sarah encouraged whilst she turned her attentions back to Logan. "So you're saying that this…Nightcrawler…can teleport into the Labyrinth?"
"That's what the Brains downstairs are having a debate about."
Jean pondered thoughtfully, and Logan wasn't altogether surprised that she was already putting two and two together - sometimes the intensity of intellect buzzing around the institute could really hurt his head. He wasn't stupid and would have probably come up with the teleporting idea himself, given a bit of time, but he was more the man of action than deliberation.
He smirked as he watched Jean. "You there yet, darlin'? Or d'ya want me to come back later?"
She flashed him a please don't interrupt me look before finally putting him out of his misery. "If the Professor can now connect to the Labyrinth using Cerebro…and if Kurt was to be there and…and try to connect with the place himself somehow…even if it's just seeing it visually…"
"Bingo," Logan finished for her.
Hank gestured to the computer monitor. "The data is somewhat primitive." He frowned his dissatisfaction. "I admit that I am still having difficulty transferring the statistics that we collected from Cerebro."
He pointed, the pad of his finger pressing against the screen. "Each of these lines represents a link to a mutant, or non-mutant, whatever the case may be, and any correlation between them. You will see that they are practically identical every time." He drew their attentions to a second monitor. "And these are the result of our visit to the Labyrinth. Notice that the colour of Jareth's link is different. And that there are these strange anomalies dotted the length of the line, giving it almost a chain effect."
"Do you know what they are?" Storm asked, folding her arms and leaning in towards the monitor.
Hank shrugged disappointedly. "I regret to say that I don't. Although…" He proceeded to tap a series of keys on the keyboard and then pressed return. "My studies of Nightcrawler over the past few months has brought up some interesting results. Take a look."
Charles wheeled in as close as his wheelchair would allow. "The same chain effect," he whispered in astonishment.
"It could simply be coincidence," Hank accepted. "Or an error that occurred when the data was transferred."
"But if not?" Scott posed, leaning his hands on the desk to examine the two graphs in more detail.
"It really is too early to hypothesise."
"Indulge us anyway, Hank," Charles insisted, good-naturedly.
Hank offered the Professor a small smile. "Well, I believe that the chain effect, where the line is neither complete nor broken, represents a weaker infrastructure, where the rules of physics are less governed." He glanced back at the screens of data. "In other words, an ability to travel through other dimensions. We know that Nightcrawler can teleport from place to place here, but we have yet to determine where exactly he disappears to during that brief moment of transition. Whose to say that he hasn't already passed through the Underground at one time or another?" He appeared a little perplexed. "Does that make sense?"
"Perfect sense," Charles reassured confidently, a small smile shivering across his lips. "And if you are right…" what looked like relief slipped into his countenance. "…Then Nightcrawler may very well be the answer to our problems."
To those of you who have read this far - thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
But now for the bad news...
As I said at the beginning, I wrote this years and years ago, then I reached chapter 26, got preoccupied with other things, and never continued the story. Having re-read the whole thing, I might chip away at new chapters in the near future but can't guarantee it. I've kinda moved on from both worlds (though I will always love the Labyrinth and X-Men worlds). I also can't remember much of the plotline anymore so I'd have to make things up from scratch and kinda guess what I intended to do! I'm also more into Sherlock fanfic and my own novel now so my creative mind is elsewhere. I'm also dying to write a couple of Loki (from Thor/Avengers) fanfics. But, like I said, I will try to keep this fic alive, but it won't necessarially be straight away. Thanks again for enjoying my work! Much appreciated! xxx