Okay. I was watching this show on the Travel Channel, and I saw THE coolest thing. It was 'The 10 Best Places to Pig Out,' and the fourth one was this omelette place in Seattle. Anyway, they were showing images of all the weirdo drunk people who come in late at night, and get the odd feeling one of the guys they showed had just come from seeing X2. Why? He was painted blue. Dark blue. With little raised tattoo things. Needless to say, I freaked out.
So, that said: MetaChi, you kidnap my Kurt and I'll…I'll…I'll sic Lightwing on you! Ha! If she'll cooperate, that is…O.O' I've been trying to think of an intro for Aragorn and Legolas, but I haven't been having any luck…I'll get in touch with you on that! *Thinks* I know there was something here that I wanted to say, but I can't remember it, so, just go read the fic!
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Professor X was right. They spotted the Brotherhood almost immediately, but still weren't sure if Mystique had them come here for a reason, or if it was just a coincidence, so they all made sure to keep them in sight. It was good for them the Brotherhood was staying in a pack. The Professor and Ororo stayed outside with the truck, for backup, but the rest, covered with trench coats to hide their uniforms, were inside. At the moment, Nightcrawler and Mythos were perusing some odd body jewelry in Hot Topic; Shadowcat was contemplating a cart of cell phones; Rogue was reclining on a bench; Cyclops was waiting in line to get a pretzel; and Jean was 'flirting' with some boys by a central fountain. They all had a clear line of sight to the Brotherhood, who were basically looking like a group of punk kids hanging out at the mall, and all were alert, looking out for anything out of the ordinary.
Janella, much to her chagrin, had been instructed to stay close to one of the more experienced X-Men, though she did understand why. If she froze up, or something went wrong and she proved to be a danger to herself or anyone else, they needed be able to get her out of the way quickly. Of course, Nightcrawler was a logical choice for that.
There was a sudden surge of movement towards one of the entrances of the mall. Mythos tapped Nightcrawler's shoulder and pointed, and the two of them moved to the exit of the store to see what was happening. They saw the crowd part in two, and someone, surrounded by a small group of people, move through the part towards the quickly erected platform in the center of the mall.
"That must be the candidate," Mythos whispered. "What's his name? Chamb-Chamberlain? Yeah, that's it." Nightcrawler nodded sharply.
"Ja," he said, before adding, "Let's get closer." Mythos nodded, and then moved out into the crowd. Nightcrawler stuck close behind her, trying to avoid brushing against them. It was hot in the mall, even with the air conditioning, and most people were wearing very little clothing. Mythos stopped, and held out an arm to stop Nightcrawler too. Very, very subtly enhancing her height, she looked around, and spotted most of their other teammates in the crowd gathering in front of the platform. She also noticed the Brotherhood edging closer as well. She turned to Nightcrawler.
"So there's absolutely no way to tell Mystique apart from regular people when she's shape-changed?" she asked Nightcrawler. He shrugged.
"None zat ve've found, no," he said. She put a hand to the back of her head.
"I don't like that," she murmured. "Something feels wrong." She stood tall again and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that there was a team of mutant peacekeepers and a band of mutant troublemakers in the crowd. Chamberlain, the Presidential candidate, was standing behind a podium. The crowd was cheering wildly and applauding, and the guy hadn't even begun to speak yet. The hair on the back of Mythos' neck stood up for no reason, and she glanced around again.
It all happened so fast that it took a discussion amongst them all after it was over to fully piece it together. First, the ground underneath their feet rocked, bringing most of the spectators to their knees. Mythos and Nightcrawler grabbed on to each other, and used each other for support. As a result, they were the first X-Men to pound up the stairs and onto the platform. The men who had escorted the candidate in were now clustered around him, but she could tell they were being harried by Quicksilver. Their heads kept jerking every which way, and it didn't help that Toad hung upside-down from the banister above and kept flicking at them with his tongue, confusing them further. The ground began to tremor again, but on the raised platform, the effect was less noticeable. Mythos noticed a flash of red light out of the corner of her eye and knew the Avalanche problem was being handled. A moment later, Shadowcat and Spyke joined them on the platform, but Mythos was already in motion. She had adjusted her eyes, and they revealed to her the blur that was Pietro. A well timed thrust of her leg and he was sprawled on the floor. With a thump, he tumbled off the platform. Mythos saw a flash of blue hurtle past her, and knew Nightcrawler would be able to handle Toad. Well, actually, she didn't know it, but she hoped so. It sure seemed like he could.
The guards around the candidate seemed thoroughly confused now. They didn't know who to defend against, or where to shoot, if they could at all. Actually, their guns would have been useless even if they were against fully human adversaries. Too many civilians. The ground had finally stopped moving, but a quick glance told Mythos the main support beams had been fractured. They'd have to get everyone out of the central section, and fast.
Mythos spun as the bold tapping of heels caught her attention. A woman was stepping boldly onto the platform, and the way she held herself, the way she walked, told Mythos this woman was different. She had only seen two people in the world walk like that: her stepmothers. It was the walk of someone who thought she was better than all others, and very assured of this fact. As this woman walked towards Mythos, she began to change. It wasn't like when Mythos did it. Now, when she changed, it was like a telescope going out of focus. Her whole image blurred, and when it refocused, she was in her new form. When this woman changed, it was like a wave passed down, revealing the new form in its wake. When she finally stood in front of Mythos, who had to crane her head up to see her, the girl knew she was meeting Mystique, true face to true face. Time seemed to slow to a stop as the two confronted each other. All the mutants stopped what they were doing to watch.
"You must be Xavier's newest mutant," Mystique stated. It was a fact, but she made it an insult. "And what is it exactly, that you can do?" Mythos looked calmly into Mystique's cold eyes.
"Oh, I don't know," she remarked, even as her form began to blur and change. In a moment, Mystique was faced with--herself. "Just a little talent you may be familiar with." She smirked, and, half-turning, sprouted her demon-wings and tail and launched into the air. Mystique looked for a moment as if she'd follow, but instead turned and charged between the guards in an attempt to seize the candidate. Nightcrawler saw her move and intercepted it, dropping onto the blue-skinned mutant and teleporting her outside.
Why didn't he do that in the first place? Mythos wondered. She looked around. It appeared that most of the Brotherhood was out of commission; only Blob was still standing, and struggling with Cyclops and Jean. Even as she watched from her convenient vantage point, Cyclops fired off a measured blast from his visor and nailed him in the chest. The very over-large teen stumbled backwards and tripped-
-Smashing right into one of the already compromised support columns. Mythos winced as a crack splintered all the way up, and the whole thing shifted. Several small chunks of concrete fell among the now-panicking crowd.
"Everyone out of the mall now!" Mythos bellowed as loudly as she could, hands cupped around her mouth in an attempt to enhance her volume. The crowd decided to take her advice, even though it was given by a winged girl hanging about fifteen feet in the air. The crowd immediately surged towards the exits at the ends of the wings of the mall. Instantaneously, the X-Men turned their attention from the Brotherhood, who were scrambling for the exits along with the crowd, to any civilians in danger. As the main support columns splintered and began to disintegrate, they shifted into overdrive. Cyclops used his optic blasts to destroy chunks before they hit, and Jean used her teke to shield those immobilized by fright and get them moving. Shadowcat phased people right through the debris, Nightcrawler teleported them outside as fast as he could, and Mythos, Rogue, and Spyke resorted to the simple 'grab people and run' method, though Mythos did take to the air at times to avoid obstacles.
Unsurprisingly, it was not long until the central section of the mall was cleared, and the X-Men received a mental summons to evacuate and meet the Professor and Ororo at their parking spot. Cyclops led the way, followed closely by Jean and Spyke, then Rogue, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler, and finally Mythos. For such a frantic skirmish, they had gotten off very well. The only injury was a small nick on Nightcrawler's face from a shard of glass. Mythos hung back for a moment, looking around for any stragglers. She ducked her head against some of the falling debris and, seeing that no one was left and the mall was collapsing around her, turned to leave.
Something slammed into her from behind, sending her tumbling end over end across the debris-strewn floor.
"What the-?" she was flipped over and pinned to the floor. She had a brief glimpse of…someone, before a series of sharp blows to her abdomen left her gasping for breath. She curled in on herself, wings spread stiffly behind her. She felt a blast of wind blow by her, and was left alone. It all happened in a span of about 3.3 seconds.
About this time, Nightcrawler realized Mythos wasn't behind him, and turned to look for her. Her saw her on the floor, and also saw something she didn't: a huge chunk of concrete was detaching from the column above her.
It fell with frightening speed. He barely had time to call out her name when it landed on one of her outstretched wings. Her high-pitched scream of pain quickly alerted the rest of the X-Men. Nightcrawler 'ported directly to Mythos' side. She was lying very still, trying not to make any move that might affect her wing.
"I…think it's broken," she said, voice thick with pain. He nodded, eyes wide. It wasn't just broken, he could see it was shattered, but he sure wasn't going to tell her that. As he knelt by her side, he could see that not only was her wing broken, but there were also small cuts and scrapes all over her face and arms, presumably from debris shattered from the chunk of concrete. He knelt down and took her hand in his, squeezing it. She had her bottom lip clenched between her teeth, and her two pointed fangs were drawing blood. The other X-Men were already coming. He leaned over her and forced her to look into his eyes. He had to keep her conscious.
"Was happened?" he asked gently, bracketing her chin with one hand to keep her looking up at him.
"Pietro," she murmured. Nightcrawler felt the blood rush to his cheeks in a furious blush.
"Zat spiteful little…" He could feel the cut along his cheekbone well with blood, and as he squeezed Mythos' hand, a few drops rolled off his fine fur and fell onto her face, mingling with the blood there. The other X-Men gathered around, and he reeled as he felt a burning pain in his left shoulder, at about the place where Mythos' wings attached. He also felt a dull ache in his midsection, and stinging lines across his face and arms. He sat back, releasing Janella's hand, and the circle closed around her, but not before he saw the intense pain etched in her face lessen slightly.
"Can't you just shift the wing back into you?" Cyclops was asking Mythos. She shook her head.
"I'd have…to get it…out from under…the rock first," she said slowly, spacing her words. Cyclops frowned, and all of them looked up at Shadowcat, and she nodded, reaching down and seizing Mythos' hand, pulling her up and phasing her wing out from under the chunk of concrete. Mythos reeled slightly, and Cyclops carefully supported her. She held her tattered wing out away from her body, and a few of the more squeamish among them had to avert their eyes.
"I'd shift it in, but that would only intensify the pain," she said as an explanation. Jean laid her hands very cautiously on the broken wing, and the pain dulled. Nightcrawler felt the sharp pain in his shoulder dull at the same moment.
Was the heck…? He wondered.
"C'mon, Mythos," Cyclops said, placing her arm around his shoulder. He and Jean assisted her up, and between them, she limped slightly for the entrance. Rogue and Spyke followed, but Shadowcat turned to see Nightcrawler sitting on the ground. She offered her hand to him and he accepted it, standing up.
"Like, what's wrong, Nightcrawler?" she asked. He shook his head, an unnerved expression on his face.
"I don't know," he muttered. "I really don't know."
"Come on, guys!" Rogue called from the entrance. "Let's get outta heyah!" Nightcrawler sent an apologetic glance to Shadowcat and shrugged. Then he took her hand and 'ported them to the entrance of the mall.
Storm had driven the truck around, and she and Cyclops were very carefully helping Mythos into it. After she had gotten settled into the back, stretched out on a seat, the rest piled in. It was a tight fit, and Shadowcat had to phase partially into the seat to make enough room. Needless to say, it was an uncomfortable ride back, with Mythos hissing in pain in the back and everyone else squished together in the front.
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Man, I don't like the end of that chapter. And I really can't write accents. I really, really can't write accents! Hmm. Did you know that I'm currently working on the 16th chapter of this? You didn't? Well, now you do. And for anyone who cares, the stepmother mystery will be cleared up in the next chapter…or maybe the one after it. I really can't remember, and am too lazy to go look, so all you readers out there will just have to wait to find out!
You are all still reading, right?
Disclaimer: Why bother? You all know this.