18. She couldn't follow the path through the ground anymore. She came up and the water soaked her. She looked at the sun; it must've been at least three o'clock, maybe later. It had taken her too long to follow the path and she knew she was nowhere near the Institute.

She looked at her surroundings. She knew she hadn't followed any branches on the river but she wasn't sure where she was exactly. The woods ran thickly on each side.

She climbed out of the river and laid tiredly on the grass. She needed the rest. She closed her eyes and welcomed the deep sleep that followed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

19. Rue hungrily ate the stuff they put in front of her.

"Slow down, darlin'," said Logan. "Ya're gonna choke."
"What an appetite you have," Ororo said.

They had already finished with the outside work, so Xavier gave them a break to take care of Rue.

Xavier wheeled into the still plain kitchen and looked at the girl.

"Hello," he said, smiling tenderly. "I'm Charles Xavier. Allow me to welcome you to our school. We will help you with anything you need. Eat and drink as much as you want, then we can talk and find out more about your powers, ok?" He turned to Ororo. "Have you taken care of any wounds she might have had?"

Rue looked down ashamedly at her half-eaten sandwich. Big tears filled her eyes as guilt swept her body and the thought of Gene came up on her mind. She sighed and cleaned her eyes with the back of her hands, but more tears followed.

"What's wrong?" asked Ororo, but Xavier already knew.
"She's been under a lot of stress, so why don't we just let her rest? Tomorrow we'll begin searching for Faye."

Logan was about to open his mouth in protest, but Xavier stopped him. He looked at the girl who sobbed her life away. He sighed and walked her to one of the finished empty units.

Once there, he watched her sleep soundly, after she had cried a lot, and smiled. He felt a nice feeling come back to him, one that he hadn't felt in a while. He thought of Faye and what she could be doing with this girl. He wondered what other secrets had she kept from him all these years. These thoughts got interrupted a message from Xavier that Scott was in trouble. He caressed her forehead and kissed her gently, leaving the door ajar on his way out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

20. Faye woke up and saw that it was night already.

"Owww...my head," she muttered.

You have to start taking better care of yourself.
Yeah, I know. Now tell me, last time you called me Faye, you tricked me into walking right into Weapon X. What have you planned this time?
You're gonna have to learn to trust me sometime.
"Yeah, when the sky turns purple, and cows grow wings," she said, pushing herself up.

Big clouds formed on the horizon, as she walked right into heavy rain. Her soaked robe weighed her down and slowed her significantly. Each step seemed like an endless journey, but she marched on with determination. As more rain came, making it difficult to see ahead, Gene came to a big wall separating the woods. She followed it with her eyes to each side, but didn't find an end to it.

Daniel, I need your help, she asked.
Oh, so you're gonna trust me now?
Don't be ridiculous.
Fine, then, help yourself.
Daniel...
What?
Please?
No, you ought to learn to depend on yourself too. Now you're just seeking an easy way out, you can solve this problem yourself. If you were in any real danger, I'd interfere.
Fine!

"Damned bastard!"
I heard that!
"Like I give a shit...," she grumbled, climbing up on the wall.

She climbed and climbed, until she finally reached the top. She followed it to the left and found a clearing. She climbed down and, with her hands, followed the wall until she reached a corner. The sky lit up and the bright moon shone down on her, blessing her determination. Her vision got dark and blurry, so she could barely make out the shapes of the trees. She clutched her staff and kept on going. She followed the corner and, suddenly, it gave into bars, metal bars. She followed their shapes with her fingers. On the other side, she found a plaque that read "Xavier's Institute for Gifted Students."

Her knees gave in a she collapsed on the ground. She had finally found it. She wanted to cry, so many burdens seemed to be lifted off her shoulders. She was still worried about Rue, but she knew everything would be solved now.

She pulled herself together and jumped over a wall. She couldn't speak or see, so the intercom would be of no help to her. As she walked up to the mansion, the security systems went off. Out of the ground, four big laser guns popped up, ready to fire at the intruder. She continued on, ready to take on anything. One of the lasers fired a warning shot, but she swiftly dodged it. She stood still; on her tiptoes, she looked tall and more menacing. She could barely see now, but she did notice the lights go on in the house. A big guy came out and that's the last thing she saw.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her surroundings. She heard the lasers powering up, then fire. She dodged two blasts, but the third hit her in the back. She quickly turned around and raised her hands, two spikes followed it form the ground and pierced each laser, on opposite sides.

Two gone, she thought. Two more to go.

She transformed her body, disappeared and reappeared in front of one of the lasers. As the opposite laser fired and the one behind her charged up, she gathered energy into her hand.

Use the other powers. You'll need that energy, Daniel warned.

She jumped up, dodging the blast, which landed on the laser behind her, and extended her left arm, palm out, to the laser in front. She groaned as a tentacle, with an arrowhead at the end, came out of the palm of her hand, and pierced the laser. She pulled her hand back and the tentacle reeled itself back in her hand. All weapons were gone, so she continued walking towards the Institute.

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21. Beast came out to see who was trying to invade the Institute. With Storm, Wolverine and Professor X out in Mexico, looking for Scott, he was the next best thing they had to a defense. He had told some of the kids to stay inside, but Spyke, Cannonball, Nightcrawler, and Rogue came out to see what has happening.

He watched the figure destroy the only lasers they had been able to hook up, and shook his head, slowly.

"Not a day of peace, right?" Beast sighed.
"I guess not. Who's that now?" Spyke asked.
"Let's find out. Hello, there!!! Who are you?" Beast shouted, but there was no answer.
"Ah think she didn't hear ya," Rogue said.
"Hold on, I'll 'port there and talk to her," Nightcrawler said.
"Be careful," warned Beast.

Nightcrawler nodded and *BAMF*ed. He reappeared in front of Gene, who recoiled at the shift in energy. Her mind started racing wildly and her thoughts clouded.

Calm down, he's only trying to..., Daniel's voice faded.
Daniel? she called. Please don't leave me. Not now.

Alone and scared, Gene automatically shifted into defense mode. Nightcrawler waved to the woman, who replied to him by swinging her staff. The big club at the top of it missed his head by mere inches. He teleported back to the others.

"She's crazy!" he said.
"She? Tat's a she?" Rogue asked.
"Apparently," Cannonball pointed. The hood of her robe had fallen and her sleek, short, black hair fell on her shoulders.

Her eyes looked lost and foggy. Beast had a feeling she meant trouble, he knew he had better keep the kids away from her.

"I'm gonna go over there," Cannonball said, propelling himself.
"No!" Beast shouted, but he was already halfway there.

He came towards the woman, she looked up and, though she couldn't see, she felt him come towards her. She gathered energy on her hand and fired. It was just a small shot but it was enough to change his course and have him land on the pool at the back of the house.

"My turn," Spyke said.
"No, I'll go talk to her," Beast said. "Stay put!"

Spyke grumped, but agreed. Beast walked toward the woman, who now stood menacingly tall, the robe covering her bare feet. Her head hung low like she was listening to something closely. As he came within three feet from her, she raised her head, took the staff in her right hand and extended her palm to him. He saw that she had a very deep cut going down her palm, her hand was also drenched in blood. He sped up and, as he did so, a tentacle, this time with a grappling claw instead of the arrowhead in the end, came out and headed to him. He tried moving out of the way, but it followed his movements. The tentacle wrapped around him and raised him up. The claw clapped and snapped at his face.

"Ok, that's it," Spyke said.

He threw spikes to her. She took Beast out of the way and, with the other hand, she conjured up howling winds. The wild gusts blew and beat everything and everyone. The spikes were blown away, back to its owner. In no time, Rogue and Spyke were pinned to the wall. Nightcrawler had teleported away.

"Way to go, porcupaine," Rogue said.

Tom and Jeff came running from inside. Tom's legs were much better now, but he still couldn't do as much as he wanted.

They walked down the stairs to the angel fountain and challenged the woman. She looked at them and accepted the challenge. She conjured up winds of 70 mph, she literally wanted to blow them away. Tom crouched down and put his hands on the ground. Through it, he sent his powers to the machines. They responded to his call and came up, firing at her. She dodged what she could, but Beast was slowing her down, so she threw him against the Institute and reeled her tentacle back in. She raced toward them, being sure to protect herself from Jeff's energy daggers, and jumped over them. She landed on top of the angel's head, and looked down at them.

They turned and backed up a couple of steps. She came down, staff in hand, ready to club them into next Tuesday. She took on Tom, who dodged two of her blows. He used the lasers as defenses, but she was very quick. Jeff threw a dagger on her arm and paralyzed it. She jumped back and looked at him; she ran to him this time, but Tom fired the lasers at her. She stopped turned her attention to Tom and let her tentacle out. Jeff saw the opportunity and threw three daggers. One landed on her shoulder and two on her legs. Her body felt heavy, but she continued standing, so Jeff, seeing no other way out, threw three more daggers. This time aiming two of them straight at her heart and the other at her brain. As they landed, she stumbled back and fell heavily on the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

22. Having stopped Shadowcat, Iceman, Sunspot and Magma, Rue came running out the door to see what was the commotion. Dumbfounded, she saw the three energy daggers land on Gene. Like a movie in slow motion, she saw the woman fall back and Tom and Jeff walk up to her. She ran to them.

"NO!" she cried, as Beast caught her. "Let me go!"
"She's dangerous," he said.
"She's not, she's my friend. That's Gene!"
"What?" Tom said, walking back with Gene in his arms.
"That's Gene! What have you done to her???" Rue cried out.
"Oh, God! And you threw daggers at her?!?" Tom said, looking at Jeff.
"Don't give me that! You attacked her too," Jeff said. "How was I supposed to know that was her?"
"What's going on?" Beast asked.
"Jeff's daggers hit her heart and her head," Tom said.
"So?" Beast asked.
"They're paralyzing daggers. Meaning her heart's gonna stop and so will her brain, it'll happen pretty soon too," Jeff said.
"How long will the effect last?" Rue asked.
"Too long. If she was at her full potential, her brain wouldn't even stop working, she would be alright because she's very strong," Tom said. "I doubt she'd even stop walking."
"She isn't strong," Rue cried. "She's not gonna be ok, because Magneto did too much to her, and she was almost dead when she took me away."
"Get her inside. Now!" Beast said, hurriedly.