Chapter Twelve: When a Friend Dies

There was no time to think of a plan. I had to do the first thing that came into my mind. Wrenching myself to my feet, I grabbed Rat, putting both hands around his neck, squeezing as hard as I could. This was his weakness. Fast and agile as he might be, his small form possessed no great physical strength. He clutched at my wrists with his hands, his claws tearing into my flesh, desperately trying to push me away. I held on as tightly as I could, feeling him beginning to panic as he struggled for breath. Both of us knew he didn't have the strength to free my grip.

Rat, however, had other weapons. Twisting his head into position, his sank his teeth into my arm, and bit down hard. His sharp, pointed fangs pierced my skin easily, and his poison began to pour into my bloodstream. I could feel it spreading throughout my body, weakening me. I felt my grip on his throat begin to weaken, and he fought with renewed vigour, sensing his chance to get away. Anger coursed through my veins as I entered my berserk state, my strength increasing, constricting his throat even further. Rat choked and gasped, his claws ripping into my arms in a last flurry of desperation, then he sagged in my grasp, and I knew he was dead.

Letting his body fall to the floor, I felt my adrenaline rush dissipate, and my body still succumbing to the effects of the poison. I was starting to feel dizzy, and blackness began to creep in at the sides of my vision. I wavered, stumbled, and fell on to my hands and knees. Both of my arms were a bloody mess, torn to pieces by Rat's claws. I would have been in agony if the poison hadn't been dulling my senses. Jacqueline was lying not far away, still breathing, clinging on to life by the narrowest of threads. She'd lost a horrific amount of blood from the wounds Rat had inflicted, and there was nothing on Earth that could keep her alive.

Except my healing power. I'd forgotten all about it since using it to cure Magneto. It was our only hope. Crawling desperately across the floor towards Jacqueline, I knew I had to use it on both of us simultaneously. Both of us had mere seconds left to live, and no time could be wasted. Pulling myself along as fast I could, ignoring the pain, I grabbed Jacqueline's hand, tugging at her glove. I didn't have the strength or the co-ordination to pull it off. With an almighty effort, I dragged myself along another foot, and placed my hand on her cheek. The poison had almost completed its work; I could barely move.

Please, God. Save us.

I took a deep breath and called on my healing power. Several moments passed, and nothing happened. It wasn't working. My body was too weak. I couldn't –

My healing power erupted from my heart like a nuclear explosion, sweeping through my body like a shockwave, destroying the poison, mending my arms, sealing my wounds, cleansing my entire body of Rat's attacks. It didn't stop there, passing through my hand into Jacqueline's body, pulling her back from death's door, healing her entire body and restoring her to consciousness. She jerked upright and grabbed my arm, "What happened?"

"Calm down. You're all right now. I healed us."

"Where's Rat?"

"He's dead. Can you stand?"

I got to my feet, and helped Jacqueline to hers. She swayed giddily and grabbed hold of me for support.

"I feel really dizzy," she said breathlessly.

"You've lost a lot of blood," I told her. "But you'll be fine. Listen, I can't stay with you. Wake Cyclops, and both of you get upstairs. Telepath to the others and get them to meet you there."

"What about you?"

"I'm going down to help Kurt and Mystique."

"You can't do it alone! Let me go with you!"

"No. Jacqueline, you can hardly stand. I have to go alone."

"Why you?"

"Because I'm the only one who can do it. Magneto wasn't lying to me earlier."

"Lying to you about what?"

I shook my head, "Never mind. Look, Cyclops is coming round. I'm going downstairs now. You get up to the ground floor. Kurt will teleport us up there."

"It's too risky! I'm coming with you!"

"Jacqueline, get upstairs. That's an order."

"An order?"

"Yes. The Professor said that if anything happened to Cyclops, I was to take over."

"You?"

"Yes, me. Magneto insisted; I didn't know why at the time. I think I do now."

"Why, then?"

"Tell you later. I'm going down now. Get to safety."

She said nothing, and I walked into the elevator. I knew it wouldn't go downwards without valid fingerprint and retinal ID.

"Let's see if I can control this manually," I muttered to myself, raising both arms.

Pushing out with my senses, I could feel the shape and contours of the lift, and the mechanism that would lower it to the bottom level. I used my telekinesis to push the motors, and the elevator began moving down.

All right, Magneto, I thought to myself, let's hope I'm everything you think I am.

Once the motors had started, the lift descended of its own accord; I didn't have to keep using my power. It came to rest at the bottom floor with a slight jolt, and I used my mind to open the doors. Luckily, there was nobody outside. I couldn't sense where Nightcrawler was, but I could remember the layout of the level from seeing it earlier. Turning right, I hurried down the corridor, pushing my senses out to detect the presence of any humans. There were two, just ahead. I came to a corner; they were standing around the other side, engaged in conversation. I looked through the wall.

Lutowski and Van Gaarde.

" – amazing. Explain it to me again," the Colonel was saying.

"Well, it's not easy to explain it to a non-scientific man, but I'll do my best," said Van Gaarde, pushing his spectacles up on to the bridge of his nose. "Basically the device emits a special type of radiation that suppresses the biochemical reactions needed for a mutation to manifest itself in a mutant's body. In layman's terms, it stops any targeted mutant from being able to use their powers."

"Amazing," Lutowski said again.

"Yes. It will render mutants entirely harmless, enabling us to conduct tests on them at our leisure."

"What of the two you are working on just now?"

Van Gaarde glanced behind him, in the direction of the room where my friends were being held, "Strange, actually. I've been examining their DNA and there seems to be a similarity. They may in fact be related."

Mystique and Nightcrawler were related? This was news to me.

"They are not dangerous?" Lutowski was saying.

"Oh no. Without their powers they are no more harmful than children. However, I would still like to know how the female managed to get in here."

Lutowski smiled confidently, "Mutants are invading. They took us by surprise, but they are few in number, and we're getting the upper hand over them. I sent Rat to kill the ones on Level 4. He should have done so by now."

He took a communicator from his belt and spoke into it, "Rat?"

No response. Hardly surprising, really, considering Rat was dead.

"Rat?"

"He's dead," I told them, as I stepped around the corner.

Both of them reacted in shock, Lutowski reaching for his pistol and screaming, "Mutant!"

Van Gaarde ducked behind him, and the Colonel began firing at me. Calmly, easily, I raised one hand, stopping the bullets, which fell harmlessly on the floor. Pulling the weapon away from him, I summoned it into my own hand. The two men looked at me in fear, and began to back away. I tossed the gun aside and advanced on them.

"Are you going to kill us?" the scientist quavered.

"I really should," I said. "But I'm more worried about my friends. I'll talk to you later."

Earlier I had seen Jacqueline knock men unconscious by simply entering their minds and shutting down their consciousness. Now I did it myself, pushing into both men's heads, finding the part of their brains that linked body and mind, and hitting it like a switch. Both men's eyes rolled into the backs of their sockets, and they slumped to the ground. Unconscious, not dead. I had no time to settle any scores or seek revenge. I ran past them.

The room where they had Kurt imprisoned was locked, and four guards stood outside, weapons at the ready. I jerked the weapons away from them and entered their minds, sending them to sleep. Stepping over the four slumbering forms, I approached the door. Fingerprint ID required. I lifted one of the unconscious guards, pressing his thumb to the scanner. It flashed green light at me, and the door slid open.

Without thinking, I rushed inside. Instantly it was as if a heavy sack had been thrust over my head, cutting off sight and sound. I panicked for a moment before realising what it was. My mutant powers were deactivated, and my sixth sense, my telepathy, was inactive. For a moment I was terrified by my sudden vulnerability, then I forced myself to stay calm, and looked around the room. Nightcrawler sat hunched in one corner, staring at the floor, and Mystique stood uncomfortably nearby, looking down at him.

"Come on!" I said. "We've got to get out of here!"

Both of them glanced up in surprise when they heard my voice. Suspicion crossed Nightcrawler's face as he looked at me.

"It's all right," Mystique said to him. "He's a friend. He's with your people."

At that moment, sirens began blaring in the emptiness of the corridor outside, and an urgent voice came over the tannoy system, "Emergency! Emergency! Security hazard! All personnel use breathing equipment immediately! This is not a drill, repeat, not a drill! Poisonous gas will be released in ten seconds!"

"Come on!" I yelled. "We have to go now!"

The two blue-skinned mutants hurried across the room towards me, and the three of us stepped into the corridor outside. We each breathed a sigh of relief as we felt our powers returning to us. The guards were groggily fumbling for the breathing equipment strapped to their backs, and the voice came over the tannoy again, "Seven seconds…six…five…"

"Listen to me!" I declared to the other two. "We are going to die if you do not do exactly as I say! Nightcrawler, I'm going to send you an image of the ground floor of the building; use your power to teleport us up there! Don't argue, there's no time! Get ready!"

Staring at the ceiling, I pushed my vision through it, up through each of the underground floors of the base, until I reached the ground floor. Jacqueline and Cyclops were there, with Wolverine and Iceman.

"Three seconds…two…" the voice continued.

I sent my vision to Kurt, and said, "Now!"

Realising it was our only chance, he didn't argue. Putting one arm around me and the other around Mystique, Nightcrawler took a deep breath and called upon his power.

"One…zero…"

There came the sound of gas hissing into the corridor, the very instant we teleported away. For a fraction of a second, some infinitesimal amount of time that could never be measured, we were nowhere, suspended in time-space. Then we re-appeared on the ground floor, and I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

Wolverine jumped slightly as we materialised in front of him. He was supporting Cyclops, who was still slightly dazed, and probably didn't realise who was helping him. Jacqueline, still dizzy and faint, was being steadied by Iceman.

"You're all safe," Wolverine said. "Nice job. Good to see you again, Kurt."

"And you," Nightcrawler replied in his thick German accent. "What now?"

"Our mission's accomplished," I said. "We regroup with the others and then back to the jet. Let's go!"

Mystique and Nightcrawler hurried to the exit, with Wolverine and Cyclops close behind them. I helped Iceman with Jacqueline, who was relying heavily on his support.

"The weapons? Were they destroyed?" Iceman asked.

"Yes."

I pushed out with my senses, and found Magneto, fighting a losing battle outside. I knew he desperately wanted to kill the soldiers out there, but he was bound by his promise, and forced to keep them alive.

We're on our way out, I telepathed to him, clear the way if you can.

Not a moment too soon, he replied with his own telepathy.

As we left the building, the afternoon sun burned down painfully into my eyes, forcing me to close them briefly, and in that time I was unaware of what was going on around me, only of running away from the base, half-carrying Jacqueline, following where Iceman pulled us. When I opened them again, we were past the worst of the fighting, and Pyro and Shock were running to join us. Magneto was still keeping the troops busy, buying us some more time. Dropping a ruined tank in the path of the soldiers, he turned and joined the rest of us as we sped from the facility.

Rogue and Shapeshifter were waiting, hidden behind one of the rocky outcroppings; I could sense them before we got there.

"We disabled the power for the security grid!" Shapeshifter yelled, falling into step beside me.

The twelve of us continued running, back to where Storm and Gaia should be. I searched with my mind, and found them, unharmed, where they should be.

There were no patrols standing in our way; obviously they had been recalled to the base to help with the fight. We had a clear run across the open ground that led to the steep rocky inclines.

"You're safe!" Gaia cried in relief when she saw we were all there.

"Wait a minute!" I said, putting out a hand to stop the rest. "The laser tripwires and the explosives. The electric fences. It's going to take time to get past those. The military will catch up with us!"

"No they won't," said Rogue.

I turned to Cyclops. He was still dizzy and stunned. I nearly swore. Without him we couldn't see the lasers, and we couldn't avoid the explosives. There was no way across. We were trapped. A minefield of explosive on one side, and the Area 51 guard on the other. Looking back at the base, I saw a second Apache helicopter, lifting off from a hidden pad, on its way to intercept us. I couldn't believe it was going to end this way. To have accomplished our mission without inflicting a single human casualty, then to be unable to get back home…

"We're stuck," I said.

"No we're not," Shapeshifter retorted. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? We disabled the security grid. The lasers and the fence are out of action."

Thank you, God.

"All right, then let's go. Before that chopper gets near us!"

"I can destroy it easily," said Magneto.

"No! No killings! You gave the Professor your word!"

We turned and began running up the hill, the explosive caches beneath our feet posing no threat without the lasers to trigger them, drawing ever closer to the fence. When we got there, Wolverine extended his claws to slash through it, but Shock stopped him. She put her hand on the wire and said, "No power. Go ahead."

The fence was of tough, industrial strength wire, but Wolverine's adamantium claws made short work of it. When he had cut a hole big enough to get through, the fourteen of us hurried through, into the sensor field. The sensors that had been such a danger earlier, requiring the most careful avoidance, were now of no regard. They already knew we were there; the sensors weren't going to tell them anything new. Glancing back, I saw the helicopter getting closer. I could sense humans on board, but they weren't close enough for me to identify them.

"Get down!" I yelled.

We hit the ground as the chopper flew directly overhead, its twin machine-guns spitting bullets in our direction. Magneto had a hand outstretched and was deflecting the bullets. The helicopter turned and came around for another pass.

"We can't hold them off forever!" Wolverine yelled. "The jet's still miles away!"

"How are we going to get to it?" Gaia cried.

A grin crossed my face as I had an idea, "The helicopter. We'll take it off their hands."

The chopper in question was now flying straight towards us once more. This time it launched a missile, which came streaking directly at us. I had no time to raise my hand to try and push it off course; I could only watch as a stream of frost flew from Iceman's hand at the missile, freezing it into a solid mass of ice, which plummeted out of the air, and shattered on the ground in front of us.

"Good one!" Shapeshifter enthused.

"Magneto!" I said. "Pull the chopper down on to the ground; they'll be forced to land! The rest of you, take cover in the rocks!"

Whoever was piloting the helicopter clearly wanted to bring it round on another strafing run, but Magneto had other ideas. Lifting both hands, he used his power to bring the helicopter down, towards the rocky surface, where the landing apparatus was hastily activated, and the craft performed an ungainly landing on the uneven ground. Crouching behind a rock, I watched as six men jumped out of the chopper, five with machine guns and one without. Four soldiers I didn't know, plus Lutowski and Van Gaarde. The scientist was the only one without a weapon. Those two must have had breathing equipment and survived the nerve gas.

"They're here somewhere!" I heard Lutowski yelling. "Find them and kill them!"

Myself and my friends were all hidden in the labyrinth of twisted and misshapen rocks that dotted the landscape. I sensed Wolverine moving towards the soldiers, keeping himself concealed, using his sense of smell to guide himself near them. Mystique had transformed to take on the form of one of them, and was edging her way forward also. Magneto was making for the helicopter.

The six men split up into pairs, combing the landscape, their weapons ready to fire, keeping in constant radio contact with each other. It didn't help them much as the first pair was attacked by Wolverine, leaping out from behind cover, slicing cleanly through one of the machine guns, kicking its owner to the floor. The second man reacted quickly, bringing his weapon up to bear on Wolverine. Nightcrawler teleported directly behind the soldier, chopping him in the back of the neck. Two down, four to go. After that we would be safe. The other troops at the base would not be following us; after all, they didn't know the lasers were deactivated. As soon as they found out, they'd make their way across, but we'd be long gone by then.

The second pair of soldiers were nervous, alerted to the demise of two of their comrades. Neither of them really stood a chance as Mystique back-flipped towards them, kicking the two of them to the ground simultaneously. One tried to get back up; she knocked him out with a blow to the head. Now only Lutowski and Van Gaarde remained. They had disappeared into the rocky maze, and I pushed out my senses, trying to find them. They were moving together, coming closer to us. I was having difficulty pinpointing their exact location; I had used my powers a lot during the course of the mission, and my telepathic strength was beginning to wane.

I looked around at the rest of our group, making sure everybody was all right. A few looked shaken, but nobody was hurt. Cyclops was back on his feet, and nodded to me as we exchanged glances. Storm, Iceman, Shock and Shapeshifter were near him. I couldn't see any of the others. The helicopter was sitting unguarded, and Magneto was climbing inside. If we could fit all of us on board, it would take us back to the jet, then we would be on our way back to the mansion. I heard voices from my left, and looked in that direction, to see Jacqueline and Pyro, hiding behind the same rocky outcrop, smiling at each other and locked in conversation. I grinned myself; it was a relief to finally see Jacqueline looking happy after everything she had gone through. She'd had her heart set on loving Chris, and her hopes and her heart were broken when he had revealed he loved another. Now it seemed she had found somebody else.

"…but you know I love you," Pyro was saying to her. "I've never met anybody who understands me the way you do."

She was still a little dizzy, but she looked him in the eyes and said, "I know. I think I love you too. I've only known you a day, but already it seems…"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean, I already knew you from when I was Psyche, and she didn't like you…but she wasn't me. I do like you. John?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want us to part. I know that when we go home, we'll go our separate ways. You'll go away with Magneto and I'll stay at the school. I don't want to part. I want to stay with you. Can't you come back to the school?"

"I…I dunno. Would they have me back?"

"They accepted me back. There's no harm in trying."

Pyro hesitated, then grinned, "All right. I'll do it. For you. I don't want us to be apart either."

Jacqueline smiled.

She was still smiling when the bullet hit her in the chest. Lutowski, firing from a crouched position, grinned, and ducked back behind a rock for cover. Jacqueline swayed for a moment, then she fell lifeless on to the ground.

"No!" Pyro screamed.

I was on my feet, forgetting the danger, and running to her side. Her eyes stared blankly up at the sky as Pyro cradled her body, shaking her, trying to rouse her back awake. There came another gunshot, and a bullet ricocheted off the ground next to us. Lutowski dived back into cover, and Pyro screamed, "I'll kill you! You f**king bastard, I'll f**king kill you!!"

Flicking on his lighter, all semblances of self-control lost, he dashed recklessly towards the rock where Lutowski had last disappeared. I put my hand to Jacqueline's face, and gently closed her eyes. Lutowski jumped out once more, but Pyro took him by surprise, kicking the weapon out of his hands. The Colonel scrambled to get it back, but a jet of fire created by Pyro hit him squarely in the back, searing into his body. Lutowski screamed, rolling around, trying desperately to smother the flames. Pyro was relentless now, more and more fire bursting from his lighter to engulf the Colonel's body.

From behind me came a mocking laugh, and a voice said, "Get up."

I turned to see Van Gaarde, holding a pistol, pointing it directly at my heart.

"Hands by your sides!" he snapped.

I didn't obey. I didn't care any more. Anger snapped in me, and I raised both arms, flinging all the mind power I had left out towards him. He tried to pull the trigger, but was hit by the psychic blast, and thrown on to the ground. I picked up the pistol, and knelt by his struggling form.

The sadist. The madman. The man who'd tortured Chloe, and who'd made me torture Chloe. Now he was at my mercy. I placed the gun to his head; all I had to do was pull the trigger. My finger tightened on it.

In my mind, I imagined I could hear the Professor's voice, as if he was speaking to me over a great distance

Don't do it.

Why not? I said.

You can't give in to hate. Don't kill him.

Of course. He was using Cerebro, and telepathing to me. Suddenly another voice came into my mind.

Kill him.

Magneto.

Erik, stay out of this!

Let him decide for himself, Charles. I've already told him the truth.

Neil, don't kill him!

Kill him, Oculus.

Their voices came simultaneously, both urging me to act. It was a choice, I knew, a choice that would affect the rest of my life. Follow Xavier, stay with the X-Men, and fight for peace and harmony. Or follow Magneto, join the Brotherhood, discover my full potential and rule over the world as I chose. In my mind's eye I could see myself, the supreme being, in command of everyone and everything. I saw my enemies coming before me and begging for mercy. I saw my friends beside me, carrying out my commands. I could see Chloe, by my side…

…no. Chloe would not want that. Chloe would not want to be the wife of a world emperor. Chloe wanted to be the wife of the caring, loving man she thought I was. Was I really? What was I? I didn't know. This was the juncture, the turning point, that would define who I was and what I fought for. I only had to choose.

I chose.

Tossing the pistol aside, I heard Van Gaarde's gasp of terrified relief, as I rose to my feet. Pyro was back, kneeling by Jacqueline, still shaking her, speaking words of desperation, "Jacqueline? Can you hear me? Speak to me; say something! Jacqueline!"

"Pyro," I said gently.

"Jacqueline!"

"Pyro, she's dead."

"No! She can't be! We've got a future together…we love each other…we…"

There were no more words, and tears began to drip from his eyes on to the ground. I put my hand on his shoulder, knowing there was nothing I could possibly say that would comfort him. I could only imagine how he felt. I knew how badly I had felt when I thought Chloe was dead. I could only begin to imagine how he would be haunted by the memories of this day: seeing Jacqueline shot before his eyes after they had just declared their love for one another.

There were others around us now; Chloe, Chris and Felicity were among them, but they were just images and noises in the background. I could only think of Jacqueline, of Pyro and Jacqueline, of love that had been ripped asunder, of the future that would never be. I turned my face to the ground and, for only the third time in my life, I wept. I wept for Jacqueline, for the life she would never have, for the life she had never had; ten years of sorrow and suffering, alleviated only by the brief joy she had found in the last few days, which made her death all the more tragic. I wept for the fact that she had come back to us, only to be taken away again. The friend who was ours. The friend that was lost.

The End

A/N: not quite, there's still the epilogue to come.