Chapter 5: Reflections
Mystique lost her concentration for a moment. Then she let orders fly.
"Sabretooth, go down and meet up with our newest hostage. Do not kill him under any circumstances. I'll be down as soon as I can, two minutes tops." Sabretooth left. "Avalanche, watch them. Do not let that one use telepathy. Watch them very closely." With that, Mystique ran off.
We were stuck alone with Lance. "Here's how it's going to happen," Lance said. "All of you will sit on your hands, or hand if that's the case." Lance glanced at Alex and grinned. Alex slowly sat down and moved his good arm under him. I moved my hands under me; the others did as well.
"Good," Lance said.
I glanced at Jean. She held my gaze. Should I warn Logan?
It's probably to late, but you can try if you want.
Suddenly Lance kicked me in the stomach. I cried out in pain and looked up at him. Lance smirked at me and returned the pressure to my injured leg.
"Everyone, be quiet," Lance ordered, "except Jean. I want you to keep talking.:
We all knew what he wanted. If he kept her talking, then Jean wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to send a telepathic message. Jean sighed and looked up at Lance. Lance smiled and applied more pressure to my leg. My pain elevated.
"Talk to me, Jean," Lance stated.
"What do you want me to say?" Jean asked him.
An evil grin spread across his face. I understood. "Lance, don't even think about it," I growled.
"Shut up!" Lance barked, stomping down on my leg. I clenched my teeth together, so I wouldn't cry out.
Jean seized the opening. Logan, it's a trap. Get out!
Somehow Lance knew what she had done. He became angered and took it out on me. He started beating his fists into me. Pain exploded throughout my entire body. By the time Jean telekinetically flipped him off of me, I was barely conscious.
I had managed to stay conscious while Lance stomped around angrily.
After a while, Mystique and Sabretooth had returned with Logan in their arms. As soon as the door had opened, Alex dove on top of Rogue. We all knew that she'd do something rash. I would've done it if I could've.
"Smart kid," Mystique had murmured, as they set Logan on the floor.
"Is he-?" Rogue had asked from her position under Alex.
"No," Sabretooth said, disappointed. "He's just asleep thanks to a very strong tranquilizer."
Mystique had glanced over at me. I was in tremendous pain and laying flat on the floor. My eyes must've been glazed over or something, because she came over to check me out. I looked up at her.
"Avalanche," Mystique had said. "What did you do to him?"
"She used telepathy," he had admitted, "and I- uh... got a little mad."
Mystique had gotten really mad and Lance had left us in a hurry. "Come, Sabretooth," Mystique had ordered. "We'll have our fun later." They had left and Rogue had looked around again. I had feared that she would cry, but she hadn't.
Now it was nine o'clock. That happened over two hours ago. Logan was still asleep where they'd left him. I figured his healing power must not work on tranquilizers. Rogue was asleep near him. She was close enough to feel safe, but far enough away that she wouldn't accidentally steal his powers. Alex lay on the floor just to the right of me. He was sleeping on his left side to stay off his injured shoulder. Jean was asleep to my left. She had stayed awake for a while, but eventually fell asleep.
I looked from Alex to Jean. They were all I really cared about. I couldn't live right without either of them. Alex was all the family I had left, since the accident. When I looked at him, I saw myself. He was as much a part of me as my stomach, which was empty at the time.
Jean was the love of my life. It had taken us years to sort out our feelings and finally go out. It was like magic every time I was near her. Whenever we were apart, I ached for her and longed to hold her in my arms. No one could tear us apart.
I looked over at Logan. We had never really gotten along... ever. I wondered how things would look tomorrow when he was awake with us.. They would interrogate him for the access codes as well, but Logan won't tell them, because they torture him. He might tell them if they hurt Rogue, but threats and injuries to him will get nothing accomplished. He healed fast, so he'd probably try to fight them tomorrow. He'd lose it though. Magneto could hold him down really easily.
I moved my gaze over to Rogue. This experience had her shaken up at first, but she was relaxing now. She seemed to be maturing right before my eyes. She had lost her cool when Logan was brought to us, but I figured she would get it back when he woke up tomorrow.
My gaze moved to the door. I started to think about Magneto's plan. He had said they were going to "break in and teach". The only thing I could think of was that they might turn the Institute into a place for them. They could teach the students and force them to break the law. They'd have mutants rule and no more FOH's. As crazy as it sounded, it made perfect sense when I was thinking of Magneto. I couldn't let them destroy humanity.
Then I thought about the professor. What would happen to him when Magneto got a hold of him? He'd be interrogated. Then he'd either be forced to join them or be killed. We'd probably be forced to join them or held as a prisoner. Sabretooth would probably be allowed to fight Logan and win by cheating. I felt tears brimming in my eyelids. I couldn't remember the last time I'd cried.
Suddenly the door opened. I looked up as Mystique approached me.
"You're earlier than I thought you'd be," I told her. "I'm not going to get any sleep on my own, so you might as well give me the sedative."
She nodded and pulled out a bottle. She poured the red liquid into the cap. Then she opened my mouth and poured it in. I swallowed it without any hesitations or second thoughts. She turned to leave.
"Mystique," I said. She turned back around. "This cut on my leg has been bleeding for over six hours."
She nodded and left. I laid down, anxious for some sleep. My eyelids got heavy. Then I blacked out. My last thoughts were of Alex and Jean.
Slowly I awoke. Something stung in my arm. I went to swat it, but my arm was restrained. As my vision came into focus, I realized I was fully restrained. I was on a metal table with my pants rolled up. A strong light was above me.
"What's going on?" I asked anyone who happened to be in the room.
Magneto's silhouette blocked out part of the light, "How are you doing, Cyclops?"
"I'm in pain," I told him, truthfully.
He nodded, "I understand. That was a nasty cut you had on your leg."
"What did you do to me?" I asked.
"Twenty-seven stitches," he replied, "and your ribs are not broken."
There was a sudden sting in my arm. I glanced over toward it. Mystique was injecting something into the IV string. She emptied out the syringe. "I assumed you want a painkiller, was I correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," I told her. She brightened the slightest bit when I called her ma'am. That was the reaction I was hoping for.
Mystique patted me on the head. "Lance did a pretty nasty job, didn't he?"
"Yes, ma'am," I decided not to bother to tell her that my worst injuries weren't even from him.
"Try to relax," Magneto told me. "Just ease your mind."
"Eric, should we take him back?" Mystique asked.
"I don't know..." he trailed off.
A sudden pain tore through my leg. I cried out and jerked against the restraints. The pain passed and I looked up at Magneto's confused face.
"I'm fine."
Magneto nodded, "We'll keep him here for fifteen more minutes. Then we'll take him back to the room."
I lay back down and breathed slowly. Mystique and Magneto moved around the rook in a hurried manner. I tried to block them out and tried to imagine my pain disappearing completely. I was almost asleep when Mystique dropped something loud. The clang jerked me back to reality. I looked over at Magneto; he was looking at me.
"Are you ready to go back?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," I said.
Magneto flipped his wrists and the restraints were released. Then he carefully removed the IV string. His power never seized to amaze me. He had such control over it. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the table. I clenched my teeth together as blood flowed into them.
"Come here," Mystique ordered.
"Yes, ma'am," I walked over to her. She turned me to face away from her before tying a blindfold over my eyes. An alarm went off in my head. Then I relaxed and tried to use my other senses. I felt a hand brush past my shoulder.
"This is a necessary precaution," Magneto informed me. "Just relax and follow my orders and you'll have absolutely no trouble, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. How's your leg?"
"It's numb, sir."
"Can you walk on it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Let's go back to your room. I'm sure there are some people anxious to see you."
I paused. Did he mean the four of them or were there more than that now? Magneto gave me a small push to get me started. I continued to move straight until he told me otherwise. After five minutes and quite a few turns, we stopped.
"Wait here," Magneto ordered.
I heard his footsteps descending and Mystique said, "You're quite as peculiar character."
"What do you mean, ma'am?"
"I'm just saying you're different. With the other prisoners, you're like the boss. Around Avalanche, you're bold and take the offense. When you're with Magneto, you act like a humble servant. It's kind of like the many faces of Cyclops."
I swallowed roughly. Magneto returned. I heard a door open in front of me. "Move forward."
I stepped through the doorway and the door shut behind me. I immediately slid the blindfold up to my forehead. I was in a room the size of a closet. There was a door in front of me. I opened it and stepped into the white room.
As I shut the door, Jean ran up to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I lost myself in her like I always did. She pulled the blindfold off my forehead and tossed it to the floor. Then she pulled off me.
"Scott, what happened?" she asked. "We were so worried."
I glanced at the door I'd entered. Now we knew what was behind every door in the room. Jean and I went over to where Rogue, Alex, and Logan were sitting. I sat down next to Alex and Jean sat next to me.
"What happened?" Jean repeated, slipping her hand into mine.
"They patched me up," I said. "They cleaned out the cuts and stitched up my leg."
I could easily see the confusion on Logan's face. He was in perfect condition, as I knew he would be. Rogue seemed fine too. I knew what had happened here. Logan had let Rogue borrow his healing power temporarily. They did that often.
"How many stitches?" Alex asked as he looked at my tightly wrapped leg.
"I think he said twenty-seven," I reported.
Silence fell over the group. I looked at Logan as he wrapped an arm around Rogue's shoulders. He was never scared of accidentally activating her powers. Suddenly the front door opened.
TBC