Hurriedly, Faye opened the door of her home.
"What are we going to do?" asked Tom. "Run away?"
"I never run," she said, gathering her belongings, put them into a bag, and put her mask back on.
"Oh, right. Only after Daniel had done real damage."
"Shut up," she muttered, busily searching for any scrape of money and shoving it into a little zipped pocket in her belt. "I don't understand what's...," she cut off, gasping for air.
"Faye?" asked Tom.
But she didn't answer, she was trying to fight off two gigantic hands that were cutting off her air circulation.
In his tank, Tom frowned, wondering what was going on outside. He could hear stuff through the communicator but didn't know what was happening. In seconds, Tom tapped into a passing satellite and zoomed in on Faye's apartment, just in time to see her get thrown out of the apartment into the parking lot, followed by Sabertooth.
"Sabertooth?!?" exclaimed Tom. "I'm calling Logan."
"No!" came the answer right away. "I can handle him."
"Faye, I..."
"Trust me."
Tom sighed. She was so darn stubborn, but she knew what she was doing, most of the time. And, when it came to Sabertooth, she knew how to handle him.
"Now, Victor, I understand you're mad..."
"More like psychotic," remarked Tom.
"Tom, you're not helping."
"I see Tom is still with ya. Hi, Thomas," said Sabertooth, striking Faye down.
She fell to her side. She raised her head and quickly kicked the back of his knees. He lost his balance and fell on his back. She jumped up, reached for her scythe and released the arrowhead. She put it up to his chest and pressed on.
"Ok, Creed, listen to me. Whatever it is that ye're mad at me for ye're better ferget it. I ain't got time to take any 'o ya rantin's, gottit?"
He growled and reached for Faye's hand. She pressed on harder to the point that her weapon made a small dent on his coat. He chuckled evilly, stopped and looked at her fiercely. He screamed, pressing his body into the arrowhead. It ripped through his skin like butter; startled, Faye backed up.
"Oh, my God!" she cried as he reached for her arm. "You're crazy!"
"And you're mine!" he grunted, pulling the arrow with one hand and gripping Faye's arm with the other.
She tucked and pulled but he kept on holoding. He pulled her close to him, picked her up, bringing her face close to his. She could feel his warm breath on her skin and his claws digging into her arms. She looked into his crazed eyes and felt nothing but desperation. She was going to die tonight, there was no doubt about it.
She tried to think of a way out, but everything seemed either impossible or improbable. Her scythe was too far away for her to summon. She couldn't take Sabertooth's energy because Daniel would go crazy with it. Gathering some of her own and unleashing a blast on him wouldn't work, she needed time and concentration for that, and she had neither. Neither reasoning nor brute forced worked when it came to Sabertooth. Suddenly, she had an idea.
She started moving her left arm, just enough to reach his face, and touched him. Slowly, she ran her fingers through his hair and down his neck, caressing him tenderly. He growled, which sounded more like a purr, and pulled her even closer to him. Brusquely, Faye moved her right arm and stuck it into the open wound on his chest, which was scabbing but not totally healed. Sabertooth howled and screamed in pain, and, angrily, he threw her inside a dumpster, full of wooden boxes, glass bottles, windows and pipes left over from a nearby construction site. Everything gave into her weight and shattered. The loud crash resonated through the empty streets.
In the apartment complex, a couple of windows lit up, as curious eyes spied on the enormous figure outside. They saw the gigantic man walking toward the large dumpster. He climbed into it and pulled out the limp body of a woman.
"Now see what ya made me do, my love?" he said as he carried Faye away from the dumpster. "Ya've made me hurt ya, and that ain't what I came here for."
Sabertooth calmly placed her down and brushed her hair off her face. More lights came on around him. Suddenly, he stood up; he could hear Logan's engine coming closer. Around the corner, Logan appeared with his bike. He jumped off and both men started running toward each other; Logan with his claws extended, Sabertooth with his claws ready to rip Logan apart.
The peopel who lived around there knew that that neighborhood was tough, so they started going back into their homes and turning off their lights, pretending nothing was happening. The two of them were ready to attack each other where a shot was heard.
"I don't know what yo're doin' 'ere," said the landlord in a thick New Yorkian accent, holding a shotgun. "But we don't like yor kind goin' 'round, messin' up our stuff, yo see? Now, why don't yo and yor freaky friend get outta 'ere 'fore I calls the cops? Or better yet, I could call my cousin Paulie. Yo pick."
Sabertooth snarled and started moving toward him, who let him have it right in the stomach. Wounded and defeated, not to mention humiliated, Sabertooth left. Logan motioned as if he was going after him, but stopped; the landlord still had his shotgun pointed at him, and he had re-loaded. He started to move toward where Faye was laying.
"Don't yo even think 'bout it," he said.
"Or what, bub?" Logan grunted, but stopped. "Tom," he called out. "Wake her up."
Tom accessed Faye's mian system and shot a dose of adrenaline through her bloodstream. She started having convulsions and twisting her body, as the adrenaline kept pumping. Her heart beat so fast, it seemed like it would explode. She stood upp wobbly and tried keeping her balance. She was in bad shape, there was a wooden stake going through her stomach, a piece of glass stuck on her arm and another on her thigh. Since her heart was beating too fast, blood kept gushing out of the wounds. She pulled the wood out of her stomack and cried in pain. Warm, salty tears ran down her face; she pulled the two pieces of glass out as well. More blood gushed out staining her cape and clothes.
*She ain't gonna be able to take much more of this,* thought Logan.
"What the hell...?" asked the landlord, confused at such an ungodly sight.
He raised his double barrel shotgun and aimed, just as Faye started trying to walk.
"NO!" screamed Logan, knowing what the landlord was about to do. Logan started running toward him, when he pressed the trigger.
The first shot echoed with the silence of the night, hitting her right on her leg. The landlord cocked the gun and fired another shot; this time missing her face by milimeters. He cocked the gun one more time , and, as Logan reached him, he fired the third shot which hit Faye on the shoulder. Faye fell backwards. Logan cried out, kneeling down, as the landlord let go of his shotgund and ran back into his home. People were coming back to their windows to see what was happening.
"Tom," Logan called out. "Is she dead?"
"Nearly..." Tom trailed off. Faye's body started melting in with the pavement. When she was gone, people came out of their homes. Incredulous faces all around, they wondered what it was that they had just witnessed.
Everything was silent for a moment. Slowly, but steadily, Faye's scythe started moving. Dumbfounded, Logan looked at it, he followed its path with his eyes. As suddenly as it had started moving, it stopped. Out of its place, started coming out a shape of some sort, as if the ground had began boiling. In no time, it changed into Faye's body. She was looking down and her hood covered her head.
Logan smiled for seeing her, but his smile faded away as soon as she released her scythe and arrowhead.
"Daniel," he whispered, and looked around wildly at the numerous people that were watching the scene. "Inside!" he scremed. "NOW!!!"
He grabbed the fallen shotgun and fired shots up in the air. He then turned to the people and threatened to shoot them. They ran inside in fear. Logan turned around to face Daniel, who was not standing next to him, without the mask. He started at Faye's eyes, which were now bewildered and wicked, full of Daniel's madness.
"Get outta her," Logan growled.
"Make me. Face it, Logan, she needs me," said Daniel with a triumphant smile. "She can't survive without me."
He carefully replaced the back and left, travelling through the ground as fast as the wind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The kids woke up with the Professor's thoughts in their heads.
"Please, all students assemble in the library."
"Wha's goin' on?" asked Rogue, sleepily.
"I don't know but we better, like, hurry," answered Kitty.
In a matter of minutes all the students were in the library. They were asking each other what was going on.
Professor Xavier entered the room, followed by Ororo, Hank and Logan.
"I'm sure you're concerned about things and I will explain everything shortly," began Professor X.
The students began scurrying and getting settled. They all paid close attention to him.
"I'm sure none of you have seen the headlines of today's news," said Hank, showing them the front page of three major newspapers. Scott, Rogue and Sam took a newspaper each. The others scattered behind them to read what it said.
"Three found dead, another five reported missing," it said. "The victims were found disemboweled as a result of an apparent massacre. The police don't have a lead as of yet, but any of the missing five could have been the killer."
Bobby whistled, the others started each having a different reaction, but some were just stupefied.
"Do they know what happened to the other five?" asked Rahne.
"Not yet, Rahne," Professor X. answered.
"I think _The New York Times_ has a list of the missing people," remarked Ororo.
They rapidly looked at Sam, who blushed. Jubilee snatched the paper from his hand and read aloud.
"'The five missing people are as follows (in no particular order):
"Miles Johnson, Rita Anderson, Fran Charles, Zack Hinder, and Jade Fey...,'" she broke off. They all looked at each other.
Kitty made a small whimpering noise as tears streamed down her face, Rogue hid hers in her hands, Scott placed his head between his knees, held his neck and sighed, Jean put her hands on his shoulders. The others were just as bewildered. Logan couldn't take seeing them like this, so he left the room.
"If any of you feel the need to stay home from school, we'll understand," said Hank.
"We will be available to anyone that wishes to speak about anything," said Ororo. "This does not mean she is dead. It is best to keep hope alive."
"Also, this killer could still be on the loose, so I think it would be wise if everyone is inside before dark," announced Professor X.
They all agreed; some left the room, others stayed and conforted each other.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Logan entered his room, he couldn't bear the thought of those kids hurting because of something Faye had done. he wanted to go back downstairs ad tell them everything. Instead, he opened the communicator and contacted Tom.
"Have you found her yet?" he asked.
"No," answered Tom. "Daniel has a way of scrambling my signals."
"His telepathy."
"I'm sure of it."
"Who contacted the newspapers?"
"He did. It's all a sick joke to him, he likes to see people suffer?"
"Especially Faye. Did ya know anythin' 'bout this?"
"No, but I suspected. One day, Daniel contacted me saying that he wanted to talk. I said fine and we started a conversation."
"'Bout what?"
"Normal things, the weather...and well, anyway, suddenly, he asked me what I thought of what Faye was doing. I found it strange but he was actually being nice, so I told him that it was her business and all I could do was help and support her in any way possible."
"He was quiet for a long time. After a while, he said that he didn't like it one bit. He thought she was sticking her nose into things that didn't concern her. To him, this was all a trap."
"How so?"
"That's exactly what I asked him and he said that he had a feeling it was all planned. According to him, Destiny was talking to someone the day of her supposed vision. He hadn't sensed someone in the house, but he couldn't sense Destiny's energy either."
"How come Faye didn't sense the same thing?"
"He said was sleeping when Destiny left. I think this is his way of getting Faye out of Magneto's attack."
"I don't know..."
"He said he always had been smarter than Faye, even as kids. But without Faye, I don't think Magneto will spare the kids."
"I'm sure Faye has already regained control."
"I don't know. Look at the headlines, the bodies were cut up, not drained. He isn't taking in any energy, just rampaging like a madman, which is what he does mostly. With the accident in Mexico, he drained most of the victims, the others were killed slowly. The two that are locked up were tortured."
"Good God."
"Exactly, it took months for Faye to recover from the shock and the memories."
"I'm gonna find her."
"No wait! I just picked up her signal."
"Where?"
"I'm trying to pinpoint her...Bloddy hell!!! I lost her. She's still in Bayville, though.
"I'm gonna look either way."
"It's no use, she's on the move. By three o'clock this afternoon she could be anywhere in a 50,000 kilometers radius."
"Right," Logan grunted. He'd never felt so helpless.
He needed ot get out. He grabbed his jacket and headed out to Akira's.
"What are we going to do?" asked Tom. "Run away?"
"I never run," she said, gathering her belongings, put them into a bag, and put her mask back on.
"Oh, right. Only after Daniel had done real damage."
"Shut up," she muttered, busily searching for any scrape of money and shoving it into a little zipped pocket in her belt. "I don't understand what's...," she cut off, gasping for air.
"Faye?" asked Tom.
But she didn't answer, she was trying to fight off two gigantic hands that were cutting off her air circulation.
In his tank, Tom frowned, wondering what was going on outside. He could hear stuff through the communicator but didn't know what was happening. In seconds, Tom tapped into a passing satellite and zoomed in on Faye's apartment, just in time to see her get thrown out of the apartment into the parking lot, followed by Sabertooth.
"Sabertooth?!?" exclaimed Tom. "I'm calling Logan."
"No!" came the answer right away. "I can handle him."
"Faye, I..."
"Trust me."
Tom sighed. She was so darn stubborn, but she knew what she was doing, most of the time. And, when it came to Sabertooth, she knew how to handle him.
"Now, Victor, I understand you're mad..."
"More like psychotic," remarked Tom.
"Tom, you're not helping."
"I see Tom is still with ya. Hi, Thomas," said Sabertooth, striking Faye down.
She fell to her side. She raised her head and quickly kicked the back of his knees. He lost his balance and fell on his back. She jumped up, reached for her scythe and released the arrowhead. She put it up to his chest and pressed on.
"Ok, Creed, listen to me. Whatever it is that ye're mad at me for ye're better ferget it. I ain't got time to take any 'o ya rantin's, gottit?"
He growled and reached for Faye's hand. She pressed on harder to the point that her weapon made a small dent on his coat. He chuckled evilly, stopped and looked at her fiercely. He screamed, pressing his body into the arrowhead. It ripped through his skin like butter; startled, Faye backed up.
"Oh, my God!" she cried as he reached for her arm. "You're crazy!"
"And you're mine!" he grunted, pulling the arrow with one hand and gripping Faye's arm with the other.
She tucked and pulled but he kept on holoding. He pulled her close to him, picked her up, bringing her face close to his. She could feel his warm breath on her skin and his claws digging into her arms. She looked into his crazed eyes and felt nothing but desperation. She was going to die tonight, there was no doubt about it.
She tried to think of a way out, but everything seemed either impossible or improbable. Her scythe was too far away for her to summon. She couldn't take Sabertooth's energy because Daniel would go crazy with it. Gathering some of her own and unleashing a blast on him wouldn't work, she needed time and concentration for that, and she had neither. Neither reasoning nor brute forced worked when it came to Sabertooth. Suddenly, she had an idea.
She started moving her left arm, just enough to reach his face, and touched him. Slowly, she ran her fingers through his hair and down his neck, caressing him tenderly. He growled, which sounded more like a purr, and pulled her even closer to him. Brusquely, Faye moved her right arm and stuck it into the open wound on his chest, which was scabbing but not totally healed. Sabertooth howled and screamed in pain, and, angrily, he threw her inside a dumpster, full of wooden boxes, glass bottles, windows and pipes left over from a nearby construction site. Everything gave into her weight and shattered. The loud crash resonated through the empty streets.
In the apartment complex, a couple of windows lit up, as curious eyes spied on the enormous figure outside. They saw the gigantic man walking toward the large dumpster. He climbed into it and pulled out the limp body of a woman.
"Now see what ya made me do, my love?" he said as he carried Faye away from the dumpster. "Ya've made me hurt ya, and that ain't what I came here for."
Sabertooth calmly placed her down and brushed her hair off her face. More lights came on around him. Suddenly, he stood up; he could hear Logan's engine coming closer. Around the corner, Logan appeared with his bike. He jumped off and both men started running toward each other; Logan with his claws extended, Sabertooth with his claws ready to rip Logan apart.
The peopel who lived around there knew that that neighborhood was tough, so they started going back into their homes and turning off their lights, pretending nothing was happening. The two of them were ready to attack each other where a shot was heard.
"I don't know what yo're doin' 'ere," said the landlord in a thick New Yorkian accent, holding a shotgun. "But we don't like yor kind goin' 'round, messin' up our stuff, yo see? Now, why don't yo and yor freaky friend get outta 'ere 'fore I calls the cops? Or better yet, I could call my cousin Paulie. Yo pick."
Sabertooth snarled and started moving toward him, who let him have it right in the stomach. Wounded and defeated, not to mention humiliated, Sabertooth left. Logan motioned as if he was going after him, but stopped; the landlord still had his shotgun pointed at him, and he had re-loaded. He started to move toward where Faye was laying.
"Don't yo even think 'bout it," he said.
"Or what, bub?" Logan grunted, but stopped. "Tom," he called out. "Wake her up."
Tom accessed Faye's mian system and shot a dose of adrenaline through her bloodstream. She started having convulsions and twisting her body, as the adrenaline kept pumping. Her heart beat so fast, it seemed like it would explode. She stood upp wobbly and tried keeping her balance. She was in bad shape, there was a wooden stake going through her stomach, a piece of glass stuck on her arm and another on her thigh. Since her heart was beating too fast, blood kept gushing out of the wounds. She pulled the wood out of her stomack and cried in pain. Warm, salty tears ran down her face; she pulled the two pieces of glass out as well. More blood gushed out staining her cape and clothes.
*She ain't gonna be able to take much more of this,* thought Logan.
"What the hell...?" asked the landlord, confused at such an ungodly sight.
He raised his double barrel shotgun and aimed, just as Faye started trying to walk.
"NO!" screamed Logan, knowing what the landlord was about to do. Logan started running toward him, when he pressed the trigger.
The first shot echoed with the silence of the night, hitting her right on her leg. The landlord cocked the gun and fired another shot; this time missing her face by milimeters. He cocked the gun one more time , and, as Logan reached him, he fired the third shot which hit Faye on the shoulder. Faye fell backwards. Logan cried out, kneeling down, as the landlord let go of his shotgund and ran back into his home. People were coming back to their windows to see what was happening.
"Tom," Logan called out. "Is she dead?"
"Nearly..." Tom trailed off. Faye's body started melting in with the pavement. When she was gone, people came out of their homes. Incredulous faces all around, they wondered what it was that they had just witnessed.
Everything was silent for a moment. Slowly, but steadily, Faye's scythe started moving. Dumbfounded, Logan looked at it, he followed its path with his eyes. As suddenly as it had started moving, it stopped. Out of its place, started coming out a shape of some sort, as if the ground had began boiling. In no time, it changed into Faye's body. She was looking down and her hood covered her head.
Logan smiled for seeing her, but his smile faded away as soon as she released her scythe and arrowhead.
"Daniel," he whispered, and looked around wildly at the numerous people that were watching the scene. "Inside!" he scremed. "NOW!!!"
He grabbed the fallen shotgun and fired shots up in the air. He then turned to the people and threatened to shoot them. They ran inside in fear. Logan turned around to face Daniel, who was not standing next to him, without the mask. He started at Faye's eyes, which were now bewildered and wicked, full of Daniel's madness.
"Get outta her," Logan growled.
"Make me. Face it, Logan, she needs me," said Daniel with a triumphant smile. "She can't survive without me."
He carefully replaced the back and left, travelling through the ground as fast as the wind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The kids woke up with the Professor's thoughts in their heads.
"Please, all students assemble in the library."
"Wha's goin' on?" asked Rogue, sleepily.
"I don't know but we better, like, hurry," answered Kitty.
In a matter of minutes all the students were in the library. They were asking each other what was going on.
Professor Xavier entered the room, followed by Ororo, Hank and Logan.
"I'm sure you're concerned about things and I will explain everything shortly," began Professor X.
The students began scurrying and getting settled. They all paid close attention to him.
"I'm sure none of you have seen the headlines of today's news," said Hank, showing them the front page of three major newspapers. Scott, Rogue and Sam took a newspaper each. The others scattered behind them to read what it said.
"Three found dead, another five reported missing," it said. "The victims were found disemboweled as a result of an apparent massacre. The police don't have a lead as of yet, but any of the missing five could have been the killer."
Bobby whistled, the others started each having a different reaction, but some were just stupefied.
"Do they know what happened to the other five?" asked Rahne.
"Not yet, Rahne," Professor X. answered.
"I think _The New York Times_ has a list of the missing people," remarked Ororo.
They rapidly looked at Sam, who blushed. Jubilee snatched the paper from his hand and read aloud.
"'The five missing people are as follows (in no particular order):
"Miles Johnson, Rita Anderson, Fran Charles, Zack Hinder, and Jade Fey...,'" she broke off. They all looked at each other.
Kitty made a small whimpering noise as tears streamed down her face, Rogue hid hers in her hands, Scott placed his head between his knees, held his neck and sighed, Jean put her hands on his shoulders. The others were just as bewildered. Logan couldn't take seeing them like this, so he left the room.
"If any of you feel the need to stay home from school, we'll understand," said Hank.
"We will be available to anyone that wishes to speak about anything," said Ororo. "This does not mean she is dead. It is best to keep hope alive."
"Also, this killer could still be on the loose, so I think it would be wise if everyone is inside before dark," announced Professor X.
They all agreed; some left the room, others stayed and conforted each other.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Logan entered his room, he couldn't bear the thought of those kids hurting because of something Faye had done. he wanted to go back downstairs ad tell them everything. Instead, he opened the communicator and contacted Tom.
"Have you found her yet?" he asked.
"No," answered Tom. "Daniel has a way of scrambling my signals."
"His telepathy."
"I'm sure of it."
"Who contacted the newspapers?"
"He did. It's all a sick joke to him, he likes to see people suffer?"
"Especially Faye. Did ya know anythin' 'bout this?"
"No, but I suspected. One day, Daniel contacted me saying that he wanted to talk. I said fine and we started a conversation."
"'Bout what?"
"Normal things, the weather...and well, anyway, suddenly, he asked me what I thought of what Faye was doing. I found it strange but he was actually being nice, so I told him that it was her business and all I could do was help and support her in any way possible."
"He was quiet for a long time. After a while, he said that he didn't like it one bit. He thought she was sticking her nose into things that didn't concern her. To him, this was all a trap."
"How so?"
"That's exactly what I asked him and he said that he had a feeling it was all planned. According to him, Destiny was talking to someone the day of her supposed vision. He hadn't sensed someone in the house, but he couldn't sense Destiny's energy either."
"How come Faye didn't sense the same thing?"
"He said was sleeping when Destiny left. I think this is his way of getting Faye out of Magneto's attack."
"I don't know..."
"He said he always had been smarter than Faye, even as kids. But without Faye, I don't think Magneto will spare the kids."
"I'm sure Faye has already regained control."
"I don't know. Look at the headlines, the bodies were cut up, not drained. He isn't taking in any energy, just rampaging like a madman, which is what he does mostly. With the accident in Mexico, he drained most of the victims, the others were killed slowly. The two that are locked up were tortured."
"Good God."
"Exactly, it took months for Faye to recover from the shock and the memories."
"I'm gonna find her."
"No wait! I just picked up her signal."
"Where?"
"I'm trying to pinpoint her...Bloddy hell!!! I lost her. She's still in Bayville, though.
"I'm gonna look either way."
"It's no use, she's on the move. By three o'clock this afternoon she could be anywhere in a 50,000 kilometers radius."
"Right," Logan grunted. He'd never felt so helpless.
He needed ot get out. He grabbed his jacket and headed out to Akira's.