Cypher's Elegy

by Cypher

(COMPLETE) From beyond the grave, a mutant reflects upon his life, and the actions that brought about his untimely demise.

15. And So It Begins

Cipher's Elegy

By Cypher

Chapter Fourteen: And So It Begins

"Now this is odd..." Douglas scratched the back of his head, staring at the computer screen in front of him.

Kurt, from his seat across the aisle, glanced in the blond's direction. After the fight he had realized that they were over Logan's time limit, but as none of the mutants had tried to contact them, he thought they didn't mind. Or they knew we'd fight and that's why Logan agreed to send me up here. He wouldn't put it past the older mutant. "What's odd?" He sat up a bit. Might as well start trying to be nice to him again.

"Well, as I understand it, Feng Shui is the art of positive and negative energy, and its flow in the world."

Kurt nodded, rested his chin on his hand. "Ja. It's why Jean goes nuts whenever Bobby or I move stuff in her room."

"Well, this program I downloaded allows me to alter a room to see what the flow of energy would be like." Douglas tapped a few keys on the console.

Kurt looked towards the ceiling. That would explain the strange phrases he was using earlier, after our fight. He must've been hurrying to make this...room. "And it didn't do what you wanted it to do?"

"That's just it. It did everything perfectly, but there's something odd about the result."

Sighing, Kurt finally got up and padded over to Douglas. Resting one hand on the back of his chair and leaning over the mutant's shoulder, Kurt's yellow eyes scanned the screen. "The red lines are flow of negative energy?"

"And the blue of positive, yes."

Kurt tilted his head. "So...this is saying all the energy is being focused into the Temple?"

Douglas nodded. "That's what I don't get. The crystals are aligned so that any energy flow is impossible. It's like whoever designed this place didn't want energy of any kind to work inside the temple, or for any energy to leave." He rubbed his chin. "That makes sense, kinda. I mean, if you're a God and a temple is a sanctuary, and assuming Exodus did exist, it's only logical he wouldn't want any sort of stray energy from rival Gods to do damage."

Kurt nodded, his tail swishing back and forth as he thought. "But that doesn't explain why the positive energy is focused specifically on the crystals in the temple walls."

Douglas leaned to the side to look at Kurt, a smile tugging at his lips. "Yeah. You get this?"

"Sort of." Kurt stared at the screen another moment. "What would happen if the doors were open?"

Douglas sat back up and typed a few commands into the computer. "Well, if the Cyttorak crystals move into the grooves above and the doors vanish..." He hit enter and waited for the computer to make his adjustments.

Kurt blinked as the screen changed. "The energy is no longer a direct beam into the Temple."

Douglas snapped his fingers. "The seal. It must be referring to the energy flow keeping...something inside the Temple." He stood up and started pacing. "This means that not only did this Exodus, Hell, ancient civilizations know that Cyttorak crystals had some sort of energy, which we know as radiation, but that Exodus himself was-" Douglas froze and stared off, his eyes widening. "Oh God..."

Kurt blinked and straightened. "What?"

"Exodus wasn't just some God that jumped from civilization to civilization. Kurt, Exodus was a mutant! That means that any number of myths weren't just myths, they were ancient mutants!"

Kurt just remained still, a bit stunned at the accusation. "You mean..."

"Medusa, Apollo, Ra, Anubis, anyone from ancient mythology could've been a mutant! Not just that, they were the first mutants to ever emerge on Earth." His brow furrowed. "But something...something sent the gene into remission, so that very few mutants existed again until now."

Kurt frowned. "Aren't you jumping to conclusions? What if it's only this God?"

Douglas shook his head. "No. I'm sure, I'm positive! I just need...just need proof!" Douglas blinked, pausing in his ramblings. "Is something ringing?"

Kurt looked around, then glanced at the front of the Velocity. "I think it's the communication panel." He headed to the front chair and sat down, eyeing the controls. Damn Logan. I told him I needed training for this thing too.

"It's this one." Douglas, having followed Kurt, reached over the furry mutant's shoulder and pushed a button, one that looked very much like the others. "Velocity.

"Douglas? This is Mr. McCoy."

Douglas grinned. "Hey, what's up?"

"Bad news. Is Logan with you? And the others?"

Douglas' grin faded, and Kurt leaned forward. "Nein. We left the others at the Temple of Exodus."

"You found it?"

"Yes. It was rather difficult, as it was deep inside the mountains, but Kitty found it."

"Kurt," this was Xavier's voice, "I want you to teleport down there and start collecting the others. You have to get out of there immediately."

Douglas finally found his voice again. "Why? What's wrong? It's seismically stable, otherwise it wouldn't have survived-"

Kurt ignored the inquiry and teleported to the cave, expecting to see a glaring Logan there to greet him. Looking around, though, he couldn't spot anyone. "Hello?" Turning around, his eyes finally noticed the three Temple doors, or lack thereof. "Uh oh." He hurried towards the entrances. "Guys, I-" The rest of his sentence was cut off as he ran into some sort of shield. Howling in pain he was thrown back to the entrance of the cave. "Vas..?" Shaking his head, and wincing at the singed fur, he stared at the temple. That's when he realized that the background humming from the crystals was gone, replaced by a fluctuating pulse-like sound, with the crystals illuminating at each interval. What....I need to get back to the Velocity. He teleported back to the surface.

"And so we believe he is a minion of a powerful, and deadly mutant."

Kurt's head snapped towards the front of the vehicle. It was still Xavier's voice, but the tone was incredibly serious. Along the same lines as the tone he used to announce Magneto was getting a new lackey. "Douglas? We've got problems."

Douglas glanced back, then hopped up from his seat. "Jesus! What happened? It's like your arms caught fire!" He hurried to seat Jean had left the first aid kit on.

Ignoring the blasphemy for the moment, Kurt sat in the seat Douglas had just vacated.

"Kurt, are you alright? What's happened?"

"I'm fine, Herr McCoy, just a bit singed." He barred his teeth a moment as Douglas probed his arms, but made no other move against the boy. He's just trying to help. "I went to get the others and...well...the Temple was open."

Douglas stopped his ministrations and looked into Kurt's face. "Would you...say that again?"

"The Temple was open. They must've got impatient-"

"Or something inside wanted to get out."

Douglas shook his head, even though McCoy couldn't see the gesture. "No. From the simulations I ran, if there was something in there, the energy flow would prevent them from opening the place up. Someone on the outside must've...brushed against a crystal."

"This is very bad news. Kurt, Douglas, I want you to stay where you are. I'll gather the remaining X-Men and-"

"How will you get here if we have both the X-Jet and the Velocity, Professor?"

Kurt felt a weight hit him in the stomach at Douglas' not so subtle reminder. He's right. There's no way they can reach us. Not quickly enough. And if there was someone in there...maybe that's why the Acolytes were here, to try and prevent something from escaping.

"Besides, as Kurt pointed out to me earlier, aren't we jumping to conclusions? Maybe they're all fine, just inside the temple where they can't hear us, and the shield activates automatically when the doors are open. What makes you think something's....alive in there?" Douglas wrapped one of Kurt's arms, the one with the most singed fur.

"Douglas, correct me if I'm wrong, but you said Exodus went from the fourth century, being a God, to the twelfth century. What if this Temple keeps him alive in a form of stasis. And if he is indeed the minion of this other powerful mutant, he will take hostile, possibly even deadly actions."

Douglas bit his lip. He has a point, Goddamnit. Could I have somehow found a...fancy stasis chamber that holds the key to Earth's destruction? He ran a hand through his hair. Well, not Earth's, but maybe my friends'? Kitty- He choked on that thought, falling back into a nearby seat. "Oh Lord...." Of all times not to be religious.

"Look, you two stay there, and keep an eye out for any of the others. Knowing Logan he's already got them prepped to make an escape. I'll pilot the Jet by remote autopilot. With luck we'll be there in less than twelve hours."

Kurt glanced out the window. As McCoy said, the X-Jet powered up and began to take off. "Alright. We'll stay."

"Contact us if there's any change. Xavier out."

Douglas looked past Kurt at the receding plane. Twelve hours....what's the worst that could happen in twelve hours?

~*()*~

Logan's nose twitched, catching the scent of nearby bodies, and let out a soft growl as he forced his eyes open. Whatever had hit him knocked his senses a bit, and it took him a few minutes to focus on the blurry form before him. Half-pint... Groaning, he tried to sit up, but his limbs wouldn't respond immediately. Concentrating, he managed to push himself into a sitting position in time to spot another figure moving. "Red?"

"I'm alright." Jean, not as disoriented as Logan, sat up and rubbed her temples, willing the headache that had manifested there away. "What about you?"

"A bit sluggish on the reflexes." His eyes shifted around the room, spotting the other mutants. "Why aren't they awake?"

Jean sighed and reached over to the nearest mutant, Scott, and touched his forehead. "We were all hit with some sort of psionic blast. My powers let me shield myself somewhat from the attack and repaired the damage." She closed her eyes, trying to look into Scott's mind. "Your healing powers must've helped you recover faster than the others."

Finally gaining control over his legs, Logan got into a crouching position and eyed the room. There was nothing fancy about it. A typical room made of stone, with one doorway on the opposite side of the room. There wasn't any door, but beyond it was complete darkness. In addition, the door frame was covered with blood-red carvings, made of the same crystals that were outside the temple. Probably to keep us in. Still, he headed towards the door. "Any sign of Blonde or Elf?"

Pulling her hand away and scoot over to reach Kitty and Bobby, she shook her head. "I can't sense them anywhere nearby. It's likely that they haven't come back down yet."

"Or they can't get in." Logan unsheathed his claws and tried to slash at the air in the door, biting back the pain that traveled down his adamantium and through his body. "We're locked in by that...radiation."

"Perhaps that's for the best." Jean closed her eyes again, focusing on repairing the younger mutants' minds. "We awoke Exodus, and from what I sensed, Wolverine, we're in a lot of trouble."

Logan was about to retort when a groan cut him off. Turning his head slightly, he saw Scott sit up and rub his neck. Good. Maybe when we're all awake we can get outta here.

"Man, what hit us?"

"Psionic blast. You alright?"

"I think so." Scott pulled himself to his feet and glanced around. "Douglas and Kurt?"

"Not here. We're hoping they got wise and stayed put in the Velocity." Logan frowned as the hairs on the back of his neck tingled. We're being watched. He scanned the room for any sort of hidden camera, a false panel, anything. No...he's closer than that.

"That royally sucked."

"No one, liked, asked for your opinion, Bobby."

"Quiet you two." Logan backed away from the door. If there was no hidden camera, that meant whoever was watching them was doing it from the darkness outside. "Kitty, can you phase out of here?"

Kitty blinked at Logan, then pushed her hand against the floor. "No."

Jean frowned and looked at Scott, worry seeping into her mind. "Scott, can you light up the room outside?"

"Jean, with this temple there's no guarantee-"

"Just do it, Cyclops. Now."

Frowning at Logan, Scott aimed for the doorway and pushed the release on his visor.

A minute passed, then two, before Bobby spoke up. "SHIT! I can't ice anything either!" Then he clamped a hand over his mouth, giving Logan a wary look.

"Forget about it, kid. We got bigger problems than your language." Wolverine slid his claws back in and looked at his hands. The holes sealed up, though more slowly than usual. "Whatever's keeping us in here is dampening our powers."

"How very astute of you to make that observation."

As a group the band of mutants turned towards the door, trying to spot the new voice. Jean found the eyes they belonged to, and shuddered at the darkness behind them. Exodus...

"That's right. I, am Exodus." Light suddenly flooded the outside room, and most of the mutants put their arms up to shield their eyes from the sudden change in ambiance.

Logan merely squinted, trying to spot an exit in the room. The light, he noted, was blood red, indicating it came from the irradiated crystals. He spotted those crystals first, mainly because they were in two large groups resting atop of two columns. Most of the light emitted came from them, but there was another source originating behind them, from a circle in the wall. He noticed most of the light filtering through came from symbols, symbols he remembered seeing on the pentagram on the wall of the front of the temple. The light gathered together and struck a spherical Cyttorak crystal, which deflected it into two beams that were absorbed by two smaller grouping of crystals, resting at the top corners of a small set of stairs. Two more tiny grouping of crystals were located on either side of the central structure of the room: a throne.

The throne, like the room, was nothing spectacular. It was what, or more precisely who, was on the throne that worried him. Exodus sat there, smirking at them. His skin was the most noticeable thing about him: it was a crimson shade, almost mimicking the color of the jewels that surrounded him. His skin contrasted greatly with his cobalt eyes, illuminated by a dull yellow glow, and his raven hair, which was pulled back and slightly longer than his neck. His face was currently resting on his hand, which was covered by a blue glove. The gloves were tucked into a velvet armband, and Logan could just make out some runes inscribed on the inside sleeve.

The rest of his arm, as well as the rest of his body, was covered by a black outfit that Logan suspected was some sort of basic armor. His shins had the same purple coverings as his arms, and a sash of the same color wrapped around his waist. Gold was the other prevalent color on his body. Two golden armbands reflected some of the red light, and where his knees should've been, two gold plates were jutting out with tendrils that seemed to snake down and wind around his lower legs. A gold clasp was on his waist, as well as one on his upper right breast that was clasping, Logan finally noticed, a white cape, tinted red by the surrounding crystals.

Logan heard Bobby take a step back, and nudged Scott so that he was protecting both him and Kitty, should it come to blows. Assuming we ever figure out how to get our powers back.

"Oh, you won't get your powers back unless I say so." There was a definite French accent to the voice, deceptively soothing, even. He stood, a few inches taller than Wolverine, and walked over.

Logan noticed that two gold leaves he had thought were the back of the throne rose with Exodus, and he realized the curving objects were part of his outfit, framing his head. Definitely a God complex.

"The last time I was placed here, I thought it was for good. Thank you oh so much for freeing me."

"If you're so thankful, why don't you, like, let us go?"

Exodus' eyes focused on Kitty, glowing with energy for a moment, before returning to normal. He shook his head. "My dear girl, according to my instruments, hundreds of years have passed." He eyed them. "I need to find out what's going on before I can resume my status as a God."

Scott snorted. "You're just a mutant."

Exodus narrowed his eyes and raised his hand. "Do not speak against me." Scott was lifted off the floor and thrown into the opposite wall. "It is by my will alone that you live. Should you prove difficult I will simply kill you and find another mind to interrogate."

Jean's eyes widened. She hurried over to Scott and examined him for injury, but her thoughts were more focused on what Exodus had said. He's going to interrogate our minds. But to get to everything, he'll have to-

"That's right, Ms. Grey. While I acquire my information, you will be killed." Exodus turned and walked back to his throne, his cape billowing slightly. "A small sacrifice, considering you're an inferior being." He turned back around and sat down, eyeing the five prisoners. "But who to start with?"

Logan glanced back at Scott, then stepped forward, growling. "Me."

Exodus rubbed his chin, obviously thinking about it. "Very well." His hand rested on a crystal on the right arm of his throne. "Come forth."

Logan gave Jean a single glance. "Check on the others, all of them, while I'm...keeping him busy. Got it?"

Jean nodded, catching the unspoken message.

"How sweet, but since you will all die, it hardly matters." Exodus raised his hand, and a yellow glow enveloped Wolverine, dragging him from the room and throwing him to the floor before the crimson mutant. He touched the crystal once more. "Now," his eyes took on a golden glow, "let's start with what you know of Apocalypse...and move on from there."

Logan growled and stood to attack the mutant, when he felt something tickle at the back his mind. His eyes widened only moments before he let loose a feral howl.

~*()*~

Kurt sighed and leaned back in his seat. Over two hours had passed since the Professor had contacted them, and he was bored out of his mind. Sure, Douglas had offered him his laptop to play Solitaire on, even though it was in a different language. Somehow, though, after you win fifteen times, it gets redundant. Looking over at Douglas, he found himself envying the blond again. Except for getting up those couple times, he's just sat glued to that computer. Kurt couldn't do that. He had to be moving, to keep his mind and body busy. Stretching, he walked over to the other side of the Velocity to see what the mutant was working on.

Douglas glanced up from his work, and offered him a halfhearted grunt in acknowledgment of Kurt's presence. Otherwise, he kept typing and muttering into a microphone, the screens struggling to keep up with his commands.

"What're you doing?" Kurt's tail wound around the base of Douglas' chair, tugging slightly, but not enough to pull it apart.

"Well, when the others get here, we'll need some way to stop Exodus. Now, if what I read was correct on those doors, the temple can only be sealed by the inside, and not by telekinesis. In fact, after researching the effects of Cyttorak radiation, I'm willing to bet powers don't really work in there. Or perhaps the fields can be altered to amplify or limit powers, but that's another theory that I need to research-"

"Douglas. Focus. What're you doing?"

Douglas took a deep breath. "I'm...trying to find the best way to collapse the temple to get the same sort of sealing that occurred by closing it normally. You see, we know that the crystals embedded in those specific locations of the temple were not just for decoration, but for...altering the radiation to seal something inside. Now, the scripture I read mentioned something about sealing, as well as protecting the innocent. Remember? Well, Exodus was not known as a generous God, or friendly for that matter. So somehow someone was able to...seal him using the crystals' radiation and protect the innocent, or rather, the world from his wrath." He looked up at Kurt. "Does that make sense?"

Kurt frowned, looking at the screen as it displayed the theoretical ruins for the temple. "But...won't this mean destroying your find?"

"You weren't really that thrilled with it anyway."

"Douglas..."

Douglas sighed and nodded, slumping in his seat. "I know, sorry. In all honesty...what good is an archeological find if I lose my friends, my girlfriend, to some psychopath that might have been unleashed by opening the thing?"

Kurt nodded. "So..what's the plan?"

"Well, if I can find some sort of central chamber with multiple crystals, we may be able to set off a chain reaction with the radiation they emit, especially if it's focused into one place." Douglas looked at the computer screen. "But basically some well placed explosives will accomplish the same feat if we plant them at certain structure points correlating with the external crystals."

"But where are we gonna get explosives?" Kurt looked around. "Other than the New Mutants and Cyclops, and if their powers have been...turned off in there, that's no good."

"True," Douglas smirked and leaned forward, opening a new window on the screen, "but I've done some inventory checks on what's here. Took me a while to get through Wolverine's codes, but I managed to find some...interesting things. Including this." Douglas highlighted a line and leaned back.

Kurt squinted, trying to make out some of the words. "C4 mixed with...what is that?"

"The extended version of TNT. Basically, we have enough explosives to blow the Velocity up about four times over."

"WHAT?!" Kurt suddenly felt slightly sick, knowing he had flown with explosives on board.

"I think Wolverine's just a wee bit paranoid. That, and really, the power of the explosives are about as strong as that of the Velocity's weapons systems." Douglas patted the console. "It's not that big a deal."

"So," Kurt leaned against the wall, crossing his arms, "after Professor X arrives, we're going in, somehow, freeing the others, not getting caught by this maybe alive God, and blowing your find to kingdom come?"

"Basically, yeah."

Kurt let out a breath through his nose. "Just a day in the life of an X-Man." Closing his eyes, he rested a moment, before they snapped back open. Someone had touched his mind. Someone had pounded their way past his defenses and grabbed hold of his inner most thoughts. Someone was yelling for his help.

Someone that sounded a lot like Jean Grey.

~*()*~

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Author's Prattle: And here's chapter fourteen! Enjoy? On the edge of your seat? Chapter fifteen is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from being completed. Honestly! Though I do have the Popal Vuh to study...bah, who cares about that. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. We're really getting to the climax here, aren't we? Exodus is up and about and torturing our favorite mutants. It won't be long now...oh no, not long at all.

And for those of you wondering about my future plans for this fic, like...will there be a sequel? Rest assured, there will be! However, it won't end as you expect, this fic OR the sequel. However, I am considering making it a trilogy...in which case, who knows what'll happen. I've also started another fanfic on SG-1, one of my rare humor ones. If you get bored waiting for a chapter, see if I've posted it.

Alright, enough plugs. On to Disclaimers. I don't own X-Men Evolution, or Exodus. They belong to Marvel. The character of Cipher, I've been told, has his rights up for sale. Currently, he belongs to Marvel, but that may change (if only I had the money). I also don't own the idea of Feng Shui. I do own this plot, however.

That's it, I think. Until next chapter!