A/N: in response to a couple of reviews:
Thanks to Franglais for correcting my French in chapter 10. Fixed now.
Thanks to Maria for noticing that I still had this set at G rating. Fixed too.
And thanks to everyone else who has reviewed; I love getting feedback. Please keep them coming :D
Chapter Thirteen: Father and Son
The moment my consciousness entered Jacqueline's mind, I had stepped into the middle of a raging battle. She and Mindstorm were locked in mental warfare together, both desperate to take control of the body. I couldn't blame them; being trapped inside someone else's head for the rest of their life was not an attractive prospect. I could also sense the presence of seven year-old Jackie, elsewhere in the mind, running, hiding, terrified at what was going on.
Jacqueline! I'm here! I telepathed to her.
Help me, her voice came back weakly, she's too strong. She's going to take over.
Why did you do this? I thought you said that going dormant in your mind again was the last thing you wanted to do.
I had to. There was no other way. She was going to kill Chloe. If I can keep her in here for long enough, the body will shut down, and she'll be finished.
But you'll die too!
I don't mind. I don't really want to live on in this body anyway. Do you have any idea how much I suffer?
Yes. I've been in your mind and experienced your feelings before, remember? Don't give up yet. Take your body back and the Professor will help you sort out your mind problems.
Can he?
You've got to hope so. Let me help you.
All right then, help me. Help me defeat Mindstorm.
Where is she?
Come closer. You'll be able to sense her.
I moved my consciousness through the ethereal towards Jacqueline, until I began to sense another presence. Mindstorm. She was there, lurking, angry and confused at what was happening, and she was determined to destroy Jacqueline and take over this body. Clearly uncomfortable in this strange environment, she hesitated before channelling a psychic blast in Jacqueline's direction. Jacqueline weakly tried to block it, and I used my own power to help her deflect the blast away. Mindstorm sensed me, and her fear grew.
What have you done to me? she screamed, I want my body back!
It's too late, Mindstorm, I said, the telepathic link between this body and yours has been broken. You'll never get it back.
No! You're lying! Please, tell me you're lying! Please tell me I can get back!
Her fear had increased tenfold and she was beginning to sound hysterical. She was too used to being in complete control of her life, as well as the lives of those around her, and being thrown into this situation was too much for her to handle. Mindstorm broke down into tears and terrified wails. I didn't feel the slightest hint of sympathy for her, not after what she had done to Chloe.
Now's your chance, I said to Jacqueline, she's lost it. Go up and take control of the body.
No, Mindstorm sobbed, forcing herself to focus and try to stop Jacqueline.
The two of them moved away from me, up towards the synaptic link that would give them control of Jacqueline's body. It was a race now. Neither of them was any longer interested in stopping the other, only in making sure that they got there first. I began to move my own consciousness, following after them as quickly as I could. Could I use my power to throw a psychic blast to impede Mindstorm? I wasn't confident of using telepathic attacks in these surroundings, and it might even do damage to the fabric of Jacqueline's mind. I decided not to risk it.
It seemed that Jacqueline was even weaker than I had anticipated. The fight must have taken a lot out of her, and Mindstorm began to pull ahead, getting ever closer to the link. Unless I did something soon, I knew she'd get there first. I tried to increase my speed and move to block her, but I was too far away. Forgetting my earlier decision, I launched a psychic blast towards her, but due to my lack of telepathic experience I was way off target. I could do nothing to stop Mindstorm now. She was going to take control of the body.
Just as she was about to touch the synaptic link, another consciousness swept in front of her, blocking her path. It was Jackie, the seven year-old child mind. Clearly unaware of exactly what was going on, she had obviously identified Mindstorm as an enemy, and gone to stop her. She wouldn't stop her for long, but with luck it would be long enough. As Mindstorm grappled furiously to get past the child's psyche, the exhausted seventeen year-old Jacqueline moved past her and into the synaptic link. Mindstorm screamed.
Neil! Go! Jacqueline said urgently.
No, I've got to stay and help you!
Don't be stupid! Get back into your own mind! Mindstorm can't take over my body any more , but she can still get into yours! Go, before she realises! Get to the telepathic link before she can!
The weight of the possibility hit me like an anvil. I'd never even considered the fact that I might be putting my own body at risk by entering this arena. But of course, it made perfect sense. If I could flow back along the telepathic link into my own mind, Mindstorm could do the same! I began hurrying back towards the telepathic link, and could sense Mindstorm close behind me. She knew where I was going, she knew it was her only hope of avoiding never-ending imprisonment inside Jacqueline's head. She fired a psychic blast, but I managed to dodge, and continued on my way. The telepathic link back to my body was close now, and I was still ahead of her. She gave a scream, and I could sense her increasing her power, putting everything she had into one last burst.
It wasn't enough. She'd used up all of her power, and I was first into the link. The last sound I heard, before I moved back along the link to my own mind, was Mindstorm's cry: a long, high-pitched mixture of anger, frustration, terror, sadness and defeat. She was trapped now, for the rest of Jacqueline's life.
Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was Jacqueline's face. She opened her eyes and I removed my hands from her forehead.
"I'm back…" she whispered.
"Me too," I said. "I beat her to the link."
She reached up and clutched my hand, speaking in a voice that was barely audible, "Neil…what you did for me…you could have lost your own body, but you still came in to help me…"
"Actually, I didn't realise my own body was at risk."
"Oh. Well…it was still a brave and selfless thing to do."
"So was dragging her into your mind in the first place. Is she still in there?"
Jacqueline nodded, "Yes. She's screaming and screaming, over and over again, endlessly screaming."
"She knows she's stuck in there. You all right?"
"Yeah. Just exhausted. And scared."
"Of what?"
"Of going insane. I was bad enough when it was just me and Jackie in here, but having Mindstorm as well, it's going to tip me over the edge. I don't think I can handle it."
"You can do it. Let's go and find Chris, and kill my father. Then we'll go back to Xavier's."
I stood up, and reached for Jacqueline's hand to help her to her feet. She struggled into a sitting position and put her hands on her head, "Shut up, Mindstorm, shut up. Just shut up!"
"Can she hear you?"
"Possibly. She is telepathic, remember. Neil, I can't go with you. I can barely concentrate on talking to you. Please, leave me alone for a while and I'll try to sort myself out. Once you've dealt with your father, come back and find me. If I'm still sane, take me to the Professor. Please. I'm begging you. I can't – I can't take this!"
"OK. Hang together. We'll be back. Chloe, let's go."
The two of us took one last look at Jacqueline, still clutching her head, rocking back and forth slightly, struggling to get her mind under control, then we turned and headed for the laboratory building.
"Where's Chris?" Chloe asked.
"I dunno. I last saw him on the roof, fighting Inferno."
I scanned the building with my X-ray vision, "Ah! I think I see them!"
"Where?"
"Ground floor. A big storage room of some kind. Come on!"
We entered the building by the front door. I scanned the route that led to the storage room. There was nobody else in sight; the entire building appeared to be deserted apart from us and our two remaining enemies. We hurried along the corridors towards the storage bay. When we got there, there was no sign of anybody. I scanned the room with my eyes. On one side a number of huge metal crates were stacked together, held in place by strong chains. In the centre of the room, smaller boxes and cartons were piled around, in no apparent order. The right-hand side of the room was mostly empty, apart from a few miscellaneous boxes and other articles. Then I spotted them.
"There!" I exclaimed, pointing up and to the left.
Chloe looked. On top of a platform that hung over the large metal crates, Chris was locked in mortal combat with Inferno. I zoomed in. Chris appeared to be getting the better of the fight. Inferno was still fighting in fury, lashing out with his fists and breathing fire, but Chris was successfully dodging all of his attacks while landing blows of his own.
"He's winning, isn't he?" said Chloe.
"I think so. I wonder where my father is."
As we watched, Inferno spewed a jet of flame towards Chris, which he only managed to avoid by changing into liquid at the last minute. Solidifying almost instantly, he knocked the fire-breather's legs out from under him, and pushed him off the side of the walkway. The storage room was huge, and they were at least three floors off the ground. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Inferno fell, his arms flailing desperately, towards his doom. His head snapped upwards, and a fierce jet of flame came forth, melting through one of the stout chains that held the metal crates in place. Suddenly the chain snapped, and the loose end swung down towards Inferno, who grabbed it with one hand. The chain slowed his momentum, and he let go, dropping safely to the ground. He gave a cry of triumph. He'd survived.
But not for long. The metal crate that had been secured by the now-broken chain, had fallen free of its restraints and began its descent towards the ground. It landed squarely on top of Inferno, crushing him to death. Chris collapsed to the floor of the walkway, spent and exhausted. I looked around for a set of stairs that led up to the platform, and Chloe and I hurried over to him.
"You OK?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm not hurt," he said. "Just tired. He took a lot out of me that time."
"Just rest for a moment," Chloe said, supporting him into a sitting position.
Chris looked up at us, "What happened to Jacqueline? Did she kill Mindstorm?"
"Uh – sort of."
"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"
"She isn't dead," I said. "It's a bit complicated. Do you remember what happened to Jacqueline after she tried to use Cerebro?"
"Yeah, she got stuck in her own mind and couldn't control her body."
"Right. She did the same thing this time, only deliberately. And she pulled Mindstorm in with her. I helped her regain control of her body, so she's all right."
"What about Mindstorm?"
"She's still in there. She's trapped."
"How's Jacqueline? She holding together?"
"I hope so. She asked us to leave her for a while, to let her get used to it and get her mind sorted out."
Chris sighed with relief, "So they're all gone? Mindstorm, Inferno, Chameleon, Antaeus?"
"Yes. My father's the only one left."
"Is he still here?"
I turned to face the area of the building where I'd last seen Davor Rosiçky, and looked through the walls to see if he was still there.
"He is," I said. "He's still working away on some experiment. He doesn't seem to realise any of what's happened."
"You think we can take him surprise?"
"It's worth a try. Are you OK to join us?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Just give me a minute or two to get my breath back."
He struggled to his feet, and I scanned the building to find a route that would take us to my father. We headed for the elevator on the ground floor, riding up to the sixth, where his laboratory was to be found. Leaving the lift, we walked down the corridor until I held out my hand to stop the others.
"He's in the room on the right," I whispered. "I'll go first. Back me up if necessary."
They nodded, and I walked into the room. My father had his back to me, and didn't seem to be aware of my presence.
"Hello, Father."
I could sense surprise in him, but he kept it from registering on his face as he turned to face me.
"Ah, you," he said coldly. "How did you get here? Where are the four?"
"If you're referring to Mindstorm and her boys, they're dead. We took them out."
He frowned, "Truly?"
"Yes."
"Hmm! Then perhaps you are not such a failure as I thought, no?"
"No. But then I never was a failure, was I?"
"No, you weren't."
"I was a success. Your experiment worked just as planned. In fact, it worked too well. You realised you'd made me too powerful. You knew it would be years before you could perfect the process to work on yourself, and you didn't want a potential rival for power, even if it meant killing your own son."
"Correct. How did you find all of that out?"
"Partly guesswork. Partly through reading your mind."
"Ah, yes. Your telepathy. Not as potent as the gift I gave to Mindstorm, but still…"
"I share a gift with each of them, don't I? Chameleon's eyes, Inferno's berserk attack, Mindstorm's telepathy, and Antaeus' – actually, I don't know what I have of Antaeus'."
"I'm sure you'll find out in time."
"You mean you aren't going to try and kill me?"
"That depends. You are correct that I made you too powerful. For the second phase of the experiment, I decided to work with a larger number of subjects, and spread their gifts around so that no one of them would be a threat to me."
"Yes, I see," I said. "And now I've come to finish you as well. What you did to me – I'll never forgive you. I'm going to kill you."
"Are you? What if I offered you the chance to join me?"
I snorted, "I'd tell you to shove it up your – "
"Are you so sure?"
"Listen, Father – actually, I don't see why I'm calling you that, since you've never been a father to me. Listen, Davor, you've changed my life in a way that was never meant to be. You've ruined the lives of your other four subjects. Nothing, but nothing will make me forgive you."
He shrugged, "Well, in that case, I bid you farewell."
"Huh? Aren't you going to try and kill me? Finish what you couldn't do last time?"
Davor glanced at his watch, and said, "Yes, I am going to kill you. In about twenty minutes' time, you will be dead."
"How so?"
"Hidden in this building, I have set explosives of sufficient power to vaporise this facility and everything in a ten-block radius. You have twenty minutes to live."
"Then you're going to die too, surely."
"No, I'm going to head for my helicopter on the roof, and make my escape."
"You're going to destroy this whole place? Why?"
"Because," he said impatiently. "I would rather that certain people believe I were dead."
"Like who?"
"My old research partner, for one."
"You mean Charles Xavier."
"Yes. He has the capacity to make things very uncomfortable for me. He's done it before, and I can only escape him by faking my own death. Speaking of which, it is time for me to leave."
I stood in his way, "Not so fast, Davor. You still have to get past me."
"You can try to stop me if you wish. You'll die in the explosion. As will every person within ten blocks of this building. Wouldn't you rather spend your remaining – seventeen minutes – trying to find and disarm the explosives?"
I cursed silently. He could have been lying about the explosion – but I couldn't take the risk. I tried reading his mind, and he seemed to be telling the truth.
Chris? Chloe? I sent, he's hidden a bomb somewhere in the building. Try and find it.
Hey, you're the one with the X-ray eyes! Chris retorted.
I'll be with you in a minute. Start searching.
"Goodbye, son," said Davor, heading for the door.
I moved to block him, but he pushed me aside, sending me flying into the wall.
"You will find my strength almost matches that of Antaeus," he said. "You won't stop me. You can still come with me. It's the only way you'll survive."
"Two words, Dad," I snapped. "The first has four letters and begins with F."
"Hah! Forget it, then."
He strode to the door, and I staggered painfully after him. Chris and Chloe were gone, presumably searching the building for the explosives. Davor was hurrying down the corridor, towards the stairs that led to the roof and the helicopter pad. I went after him as fast as I could. Activating my X-ray vision, I quickly scanned the building, but couldn't see anything that looked like a bomb. Davor was climbing the stairs up on to the roof, and I followed him. Stumbling on the stairs, I dragged my painful form up the last few steps, to watch him starting the helicopter's rotor blades, and quickly performing some checks on the engine. He jumped out of the cockpit, his feet splashing in a small puddle, and called over to me, "It's not too late to change your mind! Come with me!"
I raised the middle finger. He shook his head and prepared to climb back into the chopper. He couldn't. Something was holding on to his foot. My eyes widened as I saw the puddle, coalescing into Chris, gripping Davor's foot, dragging him back.
"All yours, Neil!" Chris exclaimed.
Davor kicked at Chris, and knocked him to the ground. I raised my hand, and lifted my father into the air with my telekinesis. He raised his arms to use his own mind powers, but he wasn't fast enough. The spinning rotor blades of the helicopter tore him to shreds, and I lowered my hand, running over to check on Chris. He was in pain, struggling heavily as he got to his feet.
"You OK?" I asked.
"Don't worry about me!" he yelled. "Find that damn bomb!"
I stared down at the floor, looked through it, and scanned the building once more to see if I could see it. I could see Chloe, running about on the third floor, frantically searching every nook and cranny she could find, then I looked down on to the second floor.
There. That had to be it. Several barrels standing in a circle, with a timer and detonator strapped to the side of one of them. I didn't know what was in the barrels, and I didn't really care. Whatever it was, it was going to kill a lot of people if we couldn't disarm it in the next few minutes.
Chloe, second floor. Almost directly beneath you.
On my way!
She hurried down the stairs and I saw her approaching the barrels.
What do I do? she asked.
Is there an off-switch?
Not that I can see!
Can you unplug the detonator?
Um…how do I do that?
The red wire, said Chris, it's always the red wire.
They're all black.
I zoomed in with my eyes, under the plastic cover of the detonator, and tried to make some sense of the circuit within. It didn't mean a thing to me. My knowledge of electronics was sketchy at best. I didn't know how much time we had left. Two minutes at most.
The wire nearest the top. That's a random guess, but I think it might be right, I told her.
Here goes.
She unplugged the wire from the detonator. Nothing happened. The timers were still going.
Try the second from the bottom.
Yanking out the wire, she exclaimed, "The timers have stopped! It worked!"
I sagged to the ground with relief. It was over. The nightmare that had begun on an ordinary day at school, had finally come to an end. We were safe. I could sense Chloe hurrying up to meet us, and I slumped on to the roof next to Chris.
"Damn, I hurt," he grimaced. "Your dad packs a hefty kick."
"At least he's gone now."
He didn't reply, and we sat in silence, contemplating our victory. We'd come through relatively unscathed – somewhat amazingly – and could now look forward to whatever life held in store for each of us. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew one thing: I wanted Chloe to be beside me.
"Where's Jacqueline?" Chris asked.
When we went down to find her, Jacqueline was nowhere to be seen. We searched the area thoroughly for a good two hours, and found nothing. I couldn't sense her with my mind, or see her with my eyes. She'd completely disappeared. She must have gone off on her own. We wondered if we'd ever see her again, and what would happen to her. One thing was for sure, our lives had changed forever. We'd fought for our survival, for each other, for my past. It was settled now. My past was behind me and I could concentrate on my future. For the first time in four years, I felt hope. Hope for a fruitful life, a better world, a world where humans and mutants weren't set apart by their differences. An ideal world, perhaps, as might be viewed through a child's eyes.
The End
A/N: actually, I'm not quite done yet. I've still to write the epilogue. But please review! Comments on the characters (Neil's four or Davor's four) would especially be appreciated. Thanks for reading.
