A/N: this will be the first story I've actually completed! This is a historic event…well okay it's not but hey, it's pretty cool for me. Whatever, on to Mutant Land.
Soldiers everywhere, and all of them looking like her cousin. They're trying to kill her she has to stop them, Kurt's there, he wants to help her. Red lights, blue lights, Andy and Kurt together –
Just go, there's too many –
Kill them all! NO they're American, they're my family, it's my cousin –
Civil war, who will win
Who will lose
Who will die
KURT MOVE
NO –
Sabere sat up with a gasp. Logan was standing directly over her, and he pulled back as he found a knife at his throat.
"You were having a nightmare." Just a statement, just a word. No meaning at all to that horrible occurrence that would doubtlessly be back. She nodded shakily and replaced the knife.
"Are we leaving?"
"Yep. Unless you're not up to going…"
She stood up and led the way out of the room. "Not a chance. Let's go."
The jet was surprisingly full – the four X-Men plus Xavier, Kitty, Bobby, and Rogue, alongside Magneto, Mystique, and John. Storm and Scott sat at the controls again, and Sabere took the only available seat between Jean and Magneto – not her ideal arrangement. She was no longer so furious that she couldn't focus. That had been replaced with a burning focus, a cold fire that calculated every future move and allowed for no mistakes – and no more loss.
"I understand you were one of Kurt's closer friends," Magneto said unexpectedly.
Sabere tensed and tried to hide it. No matter how close this guy was to Xavier, she wasn't going to give him any buttons to push. Apparently that was what had happened to John – he wasn't happy with Xavier, and Magneto gave him the openings he wanted. Not going to happen to her.
"You could say that."
"Child, you don't need to lock yourself away like this. You're among friends, and no one is going to throw you back on the streets…unless that's what you want."
"I'm not a child," she sighed, knowing that was the response he'd expected.
=And you're not going out on your own, right?= came Jean's mental voice.
=Don't know yet. Get out of my head.= That time she wasn't trying to be mean – she was fed up with Magneto's condescending talk and Jean knew that. Sabere got a wry mental smile in return before the contact broke.
"Of course." Magneto said nothing more. Sabere settled back in her seat and thought that it seemed to be taking a lot longer to reach the base this time.
"Two signals, dead ahead," Storm said sharply from up front. Sabere craned her neck to see what she meant.
"Missiles," Magneto sighed, sounding almost bored. "These are the most brilliant military minds in America, and they still haven't figured out that simple missiles don't do much damage to us."
"Then stop bragging and get up here and help out," Storm snapped. "Three of you should be enough to deflect them."
"Can we just blast them back to the base?" Sabere suggested.
"If you wanted to possibly kill our allies and eradicate all traces of what Stryker was doing, yes, feel free," Xavier snapped. "Just do it before they hit the jet."
Sabere, Jean, and Magneto all braced themselves behind the pilots and established shields against the two approaching missiles. Sabere sensed the layered shields around her and did her best to merge the edges and reinforce their defense.
"So they know we're coming?" she said through gritted teeth. "And they can just shoot more stuff at us?"
"Yes, deal with it," Jean replied just as tersely.
"Can you two hold those shields?" Sabere asked.
"Yes," Magneto answered.
"No," Jean snapped.
"Deal with it," Sabere retorted, and withdrew her shields.
"What the hell - " Jean tried to compensate for the sudden lack as the missiles struck. They hovered in midair fifty feet from the nose of the jet, still burning furiously. Together Jean and Magneto forced them backwards and out to the sides. Sabere closed her eyes and crouched behind Scott's chair, gripping its back to support herself as she worked. As the two missiles drifted far too slowly away from the jet, Sabere wrapped a protective shield around the entire jet, a close-fitting guard that hopefully could hold out against small-scale attacks. While the other shields were focusing on the front, Sabere's protected the whole plane, and just in time. They were close enough to the base now to be peppered with a high-tech laser-like machine gun, which Jean was unprepared for but Sabere's shield stopped. Finally a last nudge sent the missiles plunging away from the jet at sharp angles down into the water on either side of the base. Sabere's shield was holding, but barely, and Jean caught the cue and added her own supports.
"Storm, take her down," Magneto ordered, watching their approach but not helping with the shields. Sabere's head was reeling, but she kept pouring her energy into the shielding. She clung doggedly to the shield and didn't loosen any holds until she felt the jet touch down on the roof of the base.
"Let's go!" Scott passed the controls to Xavier and led the charge down the ramp. The rest of the group followed, and the soldiers who had gathered in the Atlantic winds didn't stand a chance.
The jet lifted up slowly and Scott touched his earpiece. "He'll be back in half an hour. Let's get moving."
Logan slashed open the nearest door and leading the way down the stairs. Immediately they were bombarded with machine gun fire from below. Rogue shrieked and slumped back on the stairs. Magneto pushed forward and caught the bullets leaving the guns as he twisted the barrels so they couldn't fire. Pyro stepped up next to him and launched a channel of flame at the group, which scattered backwards and disappeared around corners with streams of fire in pursuit. Magneto scooped up dozens of bullets and flattened them together into a large metal shield that he floated in front of them as Sabere tended to Rogue. The bullet had hit her upper thigh, but had fortunately missed the major arteries. She easily withdrew the bullet and watched the blue healing glow cover the wound and then withdraw, leaving smooth skin behind.
"Very handy," Magneto conceded. "Shall we?"
The shield led the way down the stairs, but as soon as the next group of soldiers arrived, Magneto split it back into the individual bullets and launched them at the soldiers.
Every one of them fell before the others could make a move.
"Eric," Sabere gasped. "They're…Americans! How can you just…"
"This is a war. They'll kill you if you don't first."
Scott defused the growing situation by stepping forward and gesturing down the two hallways. "There's too many of us and too much ground to cover. Storm will take one group and I'll take the other. Storm, you take Logan, John, and the kids, the rest, come with me."
Sabere followed Scott down the left-branch corridor with the others following close behind. She gathered her energies into her hands and prepared to gesture them into shields at the slightest need –
- except the need came sooner than she had expected. They rounded a corner, and there Geoffrey Stryker stood directly in front of them. He was surrounded by two dozen other soldiers, all leveling submachine guns at them.
"Well, this complicates things," Magneto said softly. "Fortunately we have a competent group."
"For two dozen soldiers?" Sabere replied, trying to reach unobtrusively for her knives.
Above them several charges on the roof detonated, blasting holes large enough for dozens more soldiers to drop down on cables. They landed easily as the rain fell through the holes and aimed their weapons not at the mutants, but at Stryker's men.