Chapter 2: Settled
A few hours later, I was sill awake. Everyone else was asleep except Mystique who sat watching me. We were driving really close to New York City. I was still sitting with Alex's head on my leg. I had been looking at him for the longest time. He had gone from unconsciousness to sleep a while ago.
Suddenly he shivered, I took off my jacket and laid it over his torso and bare arms.
"You ought to get some sleep," Mystique said. Her voice cut through the air like a knife. It had been silent for hours.
I shook my head. "There's no way I'm going to get any sleep tonight
"I'm not going to hurt you while you're asleep," she informed me.
"You're not the one I'm worried about," I replied, brushing back a stray hair. In that move, I'd shown her the bruise Lance left on my temple. By her gasp, I knew she'd seen it.
"Avalanche?" she asked, looking at Alex.
I nodded without lifting my gaze from my little brother.
"How did you know that he was in trouble?" she said, quietly.
"Brother's intuition," I replied. "Now I've got a question for you. How did you know that these two kids would lead to the destruction of us?"
She smiled but remained quiet. I looked up at her. Normally, I would've been scared of her, but I needed to know who was on the inside or had been at one time.
"Come on, Mystique," I said. "I've figured it all out: Rogue gets you Wolverine, Alex gets me, and I get Jean. Eventually Ororo and Xavier will come after us."
Mystique locked eyes with me. "Congratulations," she smirked.
I looked back down at Alex and brushed a stray hair off of his forehead. I put my head against the top corner of the car and watched Alex breathe. Mystique said nothing.
A little while later, the car stopped. I looked over at Mystique. She stood up and kicked Lance in the side. He jumped up and looked at me.
"Wake them up," Mystique ordered. "Big brother, wake up the little guy."
"Alex," I said, shaking him lightly. "Alex, wake up."
He stirred and looked up at me. "Scott," he whispered. "Are you okay?"
I nodded and helped him sit up in the seat. Just like me, Alex was in pain and trying to conceal it.
"What's going on?" Rogue demanded.
"Toad," Mystique ordered, "go tell Sabretooth we're on our way.
Todd left the car. Lance came over to Alex and picked him up. Mystique carefully held Rogue. That left me with Pietro.
As we got out of the car, he whispered, "You're not going to try anything stupid, are you?"
I stayed silent as Pietro pushed me into an abandoned building. Once we were inside, the door was locked. Pietro and Lance abandoned their hostages and went down a side hallway. Mystique set Rogue down. Rogue immediately began to fight.
"Rogue," I ordered. "Stop. It's not worth it."
Rogue stopped. Mystique looked me in the eyes. Alex came up to me.
"Come on," Mystique ordered. I stepped forward and pushed the other two behind me. Mystique headed down the hall. I followed her. Rogue and Alex followed me, a bit reluctantly.
After a couple of hundred feet, we stopped. Mystique turned to face us. She opened the door behind her and held it open for us. I took a deep breath and we entered the room. Mystique didn't follow. I glanced around the room. Sabretooth stood in the middle. I heard Rogue draw in a sharp breath.
"Come here," he ordered.
We came toward him. I stayed in the front. I stood strong despite the fear I usually have of him. Alex had never even seen Sabretooth, so he stood in awe. Rogue had faced him but wasn't looking forward to doing it again.
"Little boy, step forward," Sabretooth ordered.
Alex didn't move. I wasn't sure whether he was scared or determined to be uncooperative. Either way, he stayed behind me.
"Are you deaf or dumb?" Sabretooth roared, coming up to us. "I said step forward."
Alex was definitely scared now. Sabretooth came up to me. He set one of his claws right beside my ear. Slowly he dragged it over to my smashed nose. Blood slipped out. Then he slapped my across the face. His claws left four bloody streaks and I fell to the floor.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," Sabretooth told Alex, "but I will if I must. Now, come along."
Alex stepped forward. "Don't trust him, Alex," Rogue warned. Alex glanced at me as I got up. There was blood running down my face. He stepped up to Sabretooth, who led him out of the room.
"If either of you use your powers, I'll kill him," Sabretooth warned as he shut the door behind him.
I glanced at Rogue, "Are you okay?"
She nodded, "Though, I should be asking you that."
I smiled, "I'm fine or will be when Alex gets back here."
She wiped some of the blood off my face and onto her gloves. Then she tore the hem off her shirt and wiped the rest off.
"What happened?" she asked me.
That's when I realized that she didn't know how we'd gotten here. "We've been kidnapped. They meant to grab you and Alex, but I went to find Alex and got nabbed as well. I'm the bonus."
"Why do they want us?"
"You two can cause the destruction of the Institute," I answered truthfully. "They got you to get to Logan. Alex got me and I'll get Jean here."
Rogue gasped, "The professor won't be too far behind."
I nodded, sitting down. Rogue sat down too. "We have to do something," she whispered.
"This doesn't make any sense," I exclaimed, rather loudly. "Cerebro won't be able to find us if we don't use our powers. Do they expect us to disobey them?" It hit me. "They're having Alex shoot his lasers."
Rogue's eyes widened, "Of course! They're probably on their way all ready!"
Suddenly the door opened. We looked up but just saw Lance, Pietro, and Todd. I grimaced, knowing they were going to pick a fight with us.
I leaned over to Rogue, "No matter what, don't use your powers."
She nodded. I gave her my jacket to cover the small amount of skin she had showing. Rogue slid it on. Pietro ran up to us; Lance and Todd followed slower.
"Hey, Summers," Lance said, "we came in here, because we couldn't stand your brother's cries of pain any longer."
I sat still and quiet, so did Rogue. Lance didn't like that, so he started an earthquake in the room. Though shaken, we still didn't move. Pietro and Lance stood in front of us angrily. Todd was gone. I looked up. He was on the ceiling.
"Rogue, look out!" I called, realizing he was gone to drop on her head. Rogue rolled out of the way, but Todd kept at her. I hopped to my feet, but Lance tackled me back down. I could pin him and Lance knew it. Pietro came up and smashed his foot into my shoulder. Then he lightly set it on my forehead. I froze and Lance pinned me. Pietro laughed and kicked the side of my head. I reluctantly cried out.
Meanwhile, Rogue was running from Todd. Her only exposed skin was on her face and she didn't want Todd to touch her there. Finally she fell. Rogue covered her face with her hands and the hood of my jacket covered the rest.
While Todd continued to try to activate her powers, Pietro took off my sunglasses. I immediately shut my eyes.
"Come on, Summers," Lance teased. "Open your eyes."
They continued to taunt me and try to pry my eyes open. Suddenly the door opened; I tensed.
"Leave them alone." It was Sabretooth. "We got what we needed from this one."
A moment later, the door shut and silence ensued.
"Scott!" Rogue called. I felt my sunglasses being placed back on. I opened my eyes and sat up. Alex lay by the door. He was moaning in pain. I hopped up and practically ran over to him.
"Alex, are you okay?" I asked, picking him up.
"Yeah," he replied, "physically. I'm so sorry, Scott. I didn't catch on to what they were doing until after I blasted."
I sighed, "It's okay, Alex. We figured it out after you were gone."
Rogue slid off my jacket. I set Alex in the middle of the bare room. I took my jacket from Rogue and laid it over Alex.
"Are you injured?" I asked.
He nodded and lifted up his shirt. He had a long gash in his side. Rogue breathed in sharply. It wasn't bleeding, but it had been before. Rogue tore a little more fabric off her shirt and gave it to me. I carefully removed the blood from the surface. While I was, I tried to make a conversation:
"Let me guess," I said. "You acted like a true Summers: uncooperative."
Alex laughed as I'd hoped he would. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a small bottle of water from lunch yesterday. I poured a little on the cloth and looked into Alex's eyes.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," I whispered.
"I am, too," Alex replied.
"I know," I smiled. "You all ready told me that."
Alex smiled. I pushed the cloth onto the cut. Alex clinched his teeth together but didn't make any sounds of discomfort. I cleaned it out.
"You okay?" I asked as I pulled the cloth away.
"Yeah," he told me. "I'm fine, Scott."
Mystique came out of the shadows. I tensed and looked up at her. She held my gaze for a moment.
"Come here." I stood up and went over to her. "Scott, isn't it?"
I nodded. "Yes." What else could I say?
"I've seen the way you've handled this situation and I must compliment you."
I stayed silent. Behind me I heard Alex jump up.
"Stay back, Alex," I warned. "Don't do anything I wouldn't... don't do anything."
Mystique looked from me to Alex and back to me. Then she left the room. I glanced back toward Rogue and Alex. I could see the fear in their eyes, but they tried to relax...
That night, I sat awake again. At about eleven o'clock that night, Mystique and Sabretooth came in. They looked at Rogue and Alex asleep on the floor. Then they looked at me. I sat against the wall closest to the kids and watched Rogue and Alex.
"See," Mystique whispered a bit loudly. "I told you he would still be awake."
I glanced up to see them come up to me. When they reached me, Sabretooth wasted no time pinning me against the wall. I was all ready tired, so it wasn't too hard for him. Then Mystique tried to pry my mouth open with one hand. In the other, she had a cup with a red liquid. I kept my mouth shut. Finally Mystique stopped.
"Listen, Cyclops," Sabretooth growled. "You can either drink it or we'll inject it. It's your choice."
"What is it?" I asked all ready knowing the answer.
"Why do you even bother, Cyke?" Mystique asked.
I sighed. Mystique opened my mouth and poured the sedative in my mouth. I swallowed it.
"See that wasn't too hard," Mystique told me, patting me on the head.
Then they left. I fought off drowsiness for fifteen minutes, but I finally collapsed.
TBC