Cassandra's Prophecy: Chapter 2, Under the Demon's Gaze

The building had been built to last beyond the builders own children's lives. It loomed; heavy, gray brick against the early spring night. No one had noticed the three women sneak past the locked gates.

Kurt woke to the sound of the front door of his haven being ripped open. He quickly teleported into the rafters of the main worship area. Below him, Nightcrawler saw three women and hoped that they would be an easy scare. He could hear their voices echoing off the high walls but could not make out what they were saying. The two older women walked tall and with confidence. The shortest woman hung back, surveying the area with more care. She crossed her chest swiftly before fully entering the church.

"Hello?! We're not here to harm you," The dark-skinned woman called, holding her hands out in front of her sides.

"Gehen Sie raus!" Kurt teleported across the room, shouting in his native tongue. He had used this trick a few other times on some vandals, the angry sounds of the German language had been enough to frighten them away.

"He's a teleporter," Jean stated, relaying the obvious to them, "that must have been why he was so hard for the Professor to track."

"He also appears to be German," Cassie said, looking up at the bamfing sounds coming from above them.

"Don't you speak some..." Jean started to ask

"Yes, I do," Cassie interrupted and stepped forward, a little more confident now, repeating all that Ororo had said before, in German.

"Ich bin ein Bote des Teufels!" He continued raving and bounced around from parapet to parapet to confuse them. However they did not seemed frightened, and now the most smallest woman was speaking his language. "Ich bin die Augeburt des Bösen, ich bin ein dämon!!" he continued to scream.

"Ororo, I think if we don't move now he could teleport out of here and we'll lose him again," Cassie looked at the others; Jean appeared to be positively indignant. Cassie worried only for a moment that she had overstepped her bounds by directing her suggestion straight to Storm instead of asking Jean, the leader, first.

"Good, because I'm getting bored," Jean grinned at Ororo. Storm's eyes turned a milky white pallor as she spread her arms wide. Cassie heard the thunder crack and black clouds rolled in above Ororo.

The lightning came in with the angry looking clouds and Cassie started as a bolt shot out and hit a parapet directly above her. They all stepped back at the sound of splintering wood and the terrified scream of the man who had been perched upon it. He fell, his body twisting like a cat to land on his hands and feet.

"Cassie, hold his powers now!!" Jean held out her hands to use her telekinesis. At the same moment Cassie jutted out her own hand, freezing his teleporting abilities with her own meager powers. She could feel him at the back of her mind fighting desperately to escape.

"Please, don't kill me," his voice had a heavy accent, but held an air of a person who was well educated. "I didn't mean to harm anyone,"

"I wonder what would give anyone that idea," Cassie snorted indignantly. She looked him up and down. His blue skin was turning darker as the blood rushed to his head. His long tail had a spaded end and was thrashing wickedly in the air. She thought that his coloring could have easily blended into the shadows. Jean gently turned him right-side down, setting him on the ground.

"Do you have him?" Ororo leaned into Cassie, her voice low.

"He's not going anywhere, are you?" She asked him, her voice almost a growl from concentration, meeting his yellow eyes. He shook his head.

"What is you name?" Jean asked in her most soothing voice.

"Wagner, Kurt Wagner," he had the typical German accent, Wagner becoming Vagner. He had folded in slightly, this gave him the appearance that he was ready to take a blow from one of them.

"So, Kurt, if you weren't going to hurt anyone, then what exactly was the attack on the White House all about," Cassie asked, Jean looking almost snippy at being usurped again. He was trembling and seemed so afraid of three women, when he had taken on the whole of the Secret Service in Washington. He ran his cloven hands through his softly curled and dirty hair; a sign to all of his nerves. Cassie started at his hands, remembering her vision. She would have to watch him carefully, at some point he may try to take liberties with her..

"I don't remember, one moment I was here and the next I was fighting those armed guards. I could not control my actions, I tried to stop," he looked down at his bare feet, which were as oddly shaped as his hands.

Kurt felt the stinging, pricking as tears welled up in his yellow eyes. He looked down away from the searing stares of the women.

"We're here to help you, Kurt," the women with the short red hair said, she had an air of confidence about her that told Kurt she was in charge. He felt a hand on his injured shoulder and flinched as pain shot through his arm.