Chapter Nine
Chantelle appeared in front of the X-Men, her hair a mix of red, yellow and blue. She said, "quickly, follow me. I'll show you where Aura, Solitaire and Remy are. They moved Scott, I think to where the Professor is, and I think Dreamer's there too. Rap and Kurt aren't far."
She was hovering about half a metre off the floor, her emerald green gypsy skirt swirling around her ankles as she led them through the corridors. As they came to a corner, she stopped and said, "there are guards outside the rooms with prisoners. Usually it's Jennie, Rebecca or Draconia in this section of the facility. Don't let Jennie's singing get to you. It's meant to disorient you and make you confused. Take her out first if you can. Rebecca and Draconia aren't too dangerous."
Jean said, "I'll see if I can throw her telekinetically, stun her against the wall."
Cat moved up beside Jean and Logan and her hand brushed against Jean's arm. Jean used her telekinesis to hurl Jennie against the wall, but it was much stronger than usual. The dark-haired girl's head smashed into the wall and she fell to the ground, blood trickling from a gash in the back of her head. Jean's eyes widened. "I… I shouldn't have that much power," she gasped. "I've never been that strong before!"
They didn't have time to think about it. Kitty ran over to the electronic lock and phased her hand through the keypad. It spat sparks and hissed open.
Aura jumped up and cried, "I knew you'd come! Damien tried to make me think you weren't coming, but I knew he was lying. There's a bit of a problem, though. Remy's hurt, and Solitaire says the light's too bright for him."
"I c'n walk, chere," Remy said, standing up. He grimaced in pain as his weight put pressure on the wound in his ankle, but he managed to stay upright, which was more than Aura had expected.
Chantelle knelt beside Solitaire. "Do you think you can walk?" she asked.
He opened his eyes and winced at the light. "I could fight if I had my sunglasses."
Kitty ran over and pulled the Aviators out of her pocket. "I brought them. We found them after you got taken and I figured you'd need them."
Solitaire slid on the sunglasses and grinned. "Much better."
He stood up and Chantelle slid her arm around his shoulders. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
She led the X-Men through the corridors, talking as she went. "I'm taking you to the room Raptor and Kurt are in. Kurt can 'port some of us out, and the rest of us can get the Professor and Scott. I think that'll work best."
She knocked on a door and called, "Rap, it's me. The others are here."
Raptor opened the door, a relieved expression on her face. "Thank God."
Kurt's holographic inducer was off and his normal form was visible. He stood up and asked, "who's going out to the jet?"
"Remy and Aura," Jean said, assessing those who wouldn't be able to fight. "Take them."
Kurt nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised, vanishing in a cloud of sulphur and brimstone and a bamf.
"Come on, let's get to one-eye and Chuck," Logan said.
A cold voice said, "I don't think so."
They turned to see Sabrina, Discordia and a blue-haired guy who looked like Dreamer standing in the doorway. The blue-haired guy grinned coldly. "Don' look so surprised. Daniel's not th' only one with blue hair."
The Southern accent sounded wrong, spoken with such venom. The X-Men were used to Rogue and Dreamer's accents, not one like this, spat out with hatred.
Sabrina's laser beams shot out of her eyes, lancing toward the X-Men. Suddenly, a bamf echoed around the room and Kurt appeared behind Sabrina. He hit the back of her neck, hard, and she crumpled to the floor. The lasers veered off-course and dissipated harmlessly against the while tile wall.
The blue-haired guy threw bolts of electricity at them, most of which were flung aside by Jean's telekinesis. A few found their mark, but none were strong enough to injure the X-Men badly.
Jubilee threw fireworks at the blue-haired guy, trying to blind him so the others would be able to knock him out. Cat stumbled suddenly and grabbed Jubilee's arm for support. A huge blast of fireworks exploded, blinding them all momentarily.
Logan's sight cleared just in time for him to dodge Discordia, who was lunging blindly, her hands morphed into sharp, wicked blades again. Logan dodged aside and swung his claws at her, catching her a glancing blow on her left shoulder. She cried out and morphed into him, healing the wounds in seconds.
She didn't stay in his form for long, morphing quickly into Scott. She tore the visor off and fired optic beams, one after the other, at the X-Men. One caught Rogue full in the stomach and hurled her against the wall, where she lay, motionless.
Jean froze when she saw Logan fighting what looked like Scott. He saw her indecision and roared, "it's not him, Jean! Read his mind, see for yourself!"
Raptor aimed a roundhouse kick at the blue-haired guy's chest. He caught her ankle and sent her sprawling on the floor. She kicked his feet out from under him and jumped to her own feet again. He threw a bolt of electricity at her, giving her a bad burn down her left arm. She stamped on his hand and, as he painfully climbed to his feet, slammed him against the wall and began punching him in the stomach.
Discordia morphed into Kurt and began teleporting around the room, stopping behind the X-Men and delivering sharp, painful blows that injured but didn't incapacitate. She was about to drive a blade/hand into the back of Kitty's neck when the teenager phased through her and kicked her in the small of the back. Discordia fell forwards, losing Kurt's form as she fell.
Logan looked down at the motionless figures at their feet. Discordia was in her metal form, bleeding sluggishly from various wounds. The blue-haired guy was unconscious, his face and body bruised and bleeding.
"Come on. Let's get Scooter and the Professor. Kurt, take Rogue to the jet and rejoin us as soon as you can."
@ @ @
Xavier glanced at Scott. He was slumped in a chair on the other side of the room, breathing slowly and painfully. Dreamer was on his feet, leaning against the wall and wiping the blood from his mouth. Xavier rolled his wheelchair over and put his hand on Scott's shoulder. "I'm sorry you two had to go through that. You understand that I can't let Damien gain the power he'd get if I did what he asked?"
"Of course, Professor. You did what you had to do," Scott said weakly. His eyes suddenly looked past Xavier to the bench against the wall. "My visor's over there. But I've still got these damn cuffs on… Professor, do you have any idea how I could get rid of them?"
"I'm afraid not. From what Damien let slip, the 'keyholes' in the cuffs are merely decoys. They're electronically locked. And you know it took Logan's claws to get them off last time."
Scott half-smiled. "I figured you'd say that. Wishful thinking, I guess. I miss my optic beams, weird as that sounds. I miss being able to defend myself."
Dreamer frowned. "Y'all not wearin' cuffs are ya, Professor?"
"No. Apparently a telepath doesn't pose much of a threat. And I admit, there wasn't much I could do against these people, not while they had you and the other students. Though I did give Damien one hell of a headache."
Dreamer grinned. "So that's why he looked so pissed off when he came ta 'talk' 'bout what maht get ya ta cave in," he mused. "He looked lahke death on legs."
"His guards got quite annoyed," Xavier said, massaging his cheek where a bruise was forming. "I must confess I don't have much patience with people like him. It's a pity young Sabrina allied herself with him. She could have been so much more."
"More than a terrorist," Scott said. "That's all they are, essentially. Terrorists."
The door suddenly spat sparks and an ethereal hand appeared. Scott grinned. "They're here, Professor. That's Kitty's work."
The door hissed open and Logan, Jean, Storm, Bobby, Kurt, Raptor, Solitaire, Kitty, Chantelle, Jubilee, a guy with blue skin and wings and a girl with short red hair entered the room. Jean cried out and ran to Scott, tears forming in her eyes. He stroked her hair and murmured, "it's okay, sweetie. I'm okay."
Xavier raised his eyebrows when he saw Raptor, still wearing her 'punk-Gothic' clothes. She shrugged and said, "recon. Disguise. Long story, sir, I'll tell you when we get back."
Kurt moved forward. "I'll get us to the jet," he said. "I'll have to take you all in two, maybe three separate trips. I can't teleport twelve people at once."
Jean nodded, not letting go of Scott's hand for even a second. "Okay. Is four people too many?"
"No. I teleported four before. Who's first?"
He took them in five separate trips. They appeared in the jet and Logan slipped into the pilot seat again.
Jubilee turned to Cat suddenly. "Cat, two times tonight you touched someone and their power was stronger than it should have been. Is that your power?"
Cat's eyes widened. "You're right… I touched Jean and her telekinesis was stronger, and then I touched you and your fireworks were brighter and bigger. You think that might be my power?"
"Sounds like it," Aura replied. "That could be useful."
Raptor was staring at Damien's compound, an unreadable expression on her face. "We should destroy them for what they do," she said softly. "That Sinister is still there, him and his lackeys. We'd be killing two birds with one stone if we destroyed it."
"We don't kill people," Xavier said firmly.
Raptor turned mutinous eyes to him. "Do you even care what Sinister did to Dreamer, Aura and Remy? What Damien did to the rest of us? How can you let him get away with that?"
"I agree with the Professor," Cat said softly. "They deserve to be punished, but we can't just kill them."
"Cat and the Professor are right," Aura said. "If we kill them we're no better than Damien."
"Interesting as it is to listen to you all argue, we'd better get going," Warren said. "Who knows how long we have until they find out we've been here."
Aura suddenly noticed her boyfriend and squealed. She ran over to him and he swung her into a hug.
Logan started the jet and lifted off. They were about fifty metres away from the compound when it exploded in a ball of fire.
@ @ @
Ten minutes earlier…
Sabrina regained consciousness with Adam leaning over her, slapping her face. His dark purple eyes were bloodshot, as if he'd been knocked out only a few minutes before her.
Sabrina sat up and saw Discordia rubbing her neck a few metres away. The blonde Aussie asked, "what the hell happened?"
"They beat us," Discordia said angrily. "They actually beat us."
"We should find Damien," Sabrina said. "He'll tell us what to do."
So they headed to Damien's office. The dark-haired man was sitting behind his desk, shuffling through some papers. The other mutants – Dusk, Prowler, Draconia, Kylie, Rebecca, Jennie, Rachel, Samuel and Lukas – were all standing there, heads bowed.
When the three teenagers entered, Damien spoke without looking up. "I'm very disappointed in you all. My plans were almost complete, and your incompetence has ruined all that."
He looked up and they flinched away from the anger in his dark eyes. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you all right now."
"Ya cain't," Adam said softly.
Damien's eyes flashed and he asked, "how dare you presume to ask me for forgiveness—"
"Ah'm not askin' ya f' forgiveness, Damien. Ah'm tellin' ya that ya cain't kill us. Ya cain't kill us because Ah've come ta mah senses now, an' Ah won' let ya."
"So, you're really so weak as to join them," Damien sneered.
Adam smiled coldly, his purple eyes hard with hate and disgust. "No. They're not mah kahnd of people. But, see, neithah are ya, Damien. Y'all holdin' th'othahs back. Ah know we could all be so much more, if y'all weren't so afraid of competition."
"What are you talking about?" Sabrina asked.
Adam replied, "Ah've seen his files, Sab. He's got them on all of us, detailin' our powers an' how far we've progressed… an' how far 'till he's gonna have ta kill us b'fore we become competition. That's why he killed that Lance guy… he was th' smartest one 'round here, an' Damien didn' want anyone who coulda been as smart as him. Ya not too far away from that stage yaself, Sab. D'ya really want ta die f' bein' powerful?"
"That's all bullshit," Damien gasped. "You're lying."
"Why would Ah do that? They c'n check if they want. Lukas! Open th' third drawer in th' filin' cabinet. Take out th' manila foldah an' tell me what's insahde."
Lukas took out a folder and opened it. He read, "Sabrina's progress has been even more accelerated than I'd imagined. Kylie assures me that her daughter will never do anything against us, but I don't believe it. Sabrina is strong-minded, too strong-minded for my liking. If this continues I will be forced to eliminate her."
Sabrina glared at Damien, hate in her eyes. "You would have killed be for being strong?" she exclaimed. "I can't believe I ever trusted you, you… you bastard!"
She tore the bloodstone from around her neck and threw it at him. Then she turned to Adam. "Do what you want. I won't stop you."
None of the other mutants moved as Adam raised his hands, electricity crackling around them. He said, "y'all bettah get outta here. Ah'll give ya five minutes ta be outta the compound b'fore Ah blow it up."
They all left, except Discordia. She stood by his side and asked, "need any help?"
"Turn inta me. Ya'll have mah power, an' y'all survive when we blow this joint. Ah cain't be injured by mah own power," Adam explained. He fixed a cold glare on Damien. "He, howevah, will die."
They left Damien's office, Adam fusing the lock closed with his electric hands. Then they headed to the power core, where all the main computers and power circuits were. Adam placed his hands on one of the computers and 'sucked' all the power out of it, then did the same to all the others while Discordia watched. Finally, when there was so much electricity crackling around his hands that he could have lit up half of the mansion, he touched his hands to a power outlet.
"Simple enough," he explained. "Ovahload th' circuits an' th' place'll blow. Do th' same ovah there."
Discordia placed her hands on another power outlet and let all the electricity channeled through her hands flow into it. As Adam did the same, cracks grew in the walls. Adam said suddenly, "make a shield outta electricity an' y'all be okay. That's enough. Th' place is gonna blow. But we're not gonna be hurt."
@ @ @
The X-Men stared at the flaming wreckage of the base, not noticing the group of people running out of the abandoned church and watching the flames. Aura said softly, "looks like we don't have to do anything after all."
"Take us home, Logan," Storm said. "Take us back to the mansion."
Told you I didn't like Damien.
Anyways, To Be Concluded. In Chapter Ten… well, all I'll tell you is Kurt and Kitty have a nice little interlude by the pool. It'll make you go 'aaww'. The rest is a surprise.
