Ilehana the snow leopard sniffed the cold air and then sneezed. She had completed a quick circuit of the dome and was convinced that the only way in or out was at Magneto's disposal. Unless you were Shadowcat or Nightcrawler… Now as she watched the metal buckled and opened in front of her, beckoning her in as she shifted back into her human form.
Inside all was eerily quiet as the metal closed itself again. She was trapped. The animal inside her longed to panic, but she wouldn't let herself.
"Ilehana Xavier," Magneto spoke from across the room, "and how is my God-daughter?"
"Where's Blaze?" Ilehana refused to acknowledge her relationship to this man. "What have you done to her?"
"She is alive, for the moment. Walk with me," there was danger in his words that dared her to contradict him, but Ilehana was no fool. She did as she was bidden and Magneto repaid her by continuing to speak. "Here is the deal, Ilehana. You and I both know you can never settle to live in the same house, fight the same fight, as your father's precious Jean Grey. So fight with me instead, for the liberation of all of mutant-kind. In return I will let Blaze live."
"My hatred of Jean may run deep, but not so deep as I would make such a foolish alliance. Then again you probably already knew that, making this conversation nothing but a formality before you try to have me killed," Ilehana was rewarded for her intelligence by Magneto's cold smile. Sending out telepathic fingers Ilehana tried to learn Blaze's whereabouts from him so that she might pass the information on to the waiting rescue party. "What have you done to yourself that I cannot read your mind?"
Magneto dismissed her question with a wave of his hand, the same wave that brought all four of his minions running to his side. "Kill her," he ordered them almost inconsequentially. "It will be a worthy challenge for you."
At that precise second Ilehana called out to Wolverine and the others. Nightcrawler teleported all four X-Men in besides Vixen as Sabretooth growled his approval, finally a proper fight! He didn't wait for Logan to shake off the momentary queasiness that teleporting with Kurt was prone to bring, attacking his old foe with evil ferocity.
Shadowcat eyed up Colossus as warily as he did her. How to hit a girl who couldn't be hit? Pyro solved that problem for him, setting a fearsome dragon of fire bearing down on Kitty as she ducked and rolled out of harms way. Colossus instead bore down on Rogue, who removed her gloves with a hasty tug and tried to simultaneously avoid the Russian's attack and drain his strength away.
Ilehana growled her disapproval as she recognised Gambit as the man Blaze had spent too much time with recently. He didn't wait for the savage attack of his body and mind he knew was coming, turned and ran for the door like a demon was on his coat tails. Vixen wondered at his cowardice, but at the door he stopped, turned and winked at her. Confused she touched his mind with hers.
#What, traitor?# she asked, mind voice sharp.
#Follow me,# was his only reply as he disappeared out the door. Magneto scowled as he saw what was happening, but even as he raised his hand to command his lair to stop the treacherous thief and the metamorph a blue bamf! of smoke clouded his vision. Nightcrawler planted his hand hard on Magneto's shoulder and teleported the two of them outside into the cold snow.
"Bye now!" The fuzzy blue elf saluted the Master of Magnetism, disappearing back inside the dome to help his friends. Magneto grimaced his displeasure as he plunged three feet to the ground, and then another two almost up to his waist in snow before he could engage the Earth's magnetic field to make himself float. Dusting the snow from his otherwise immaculate outfit he surged forward, intent on the dome some fifty metres away.