So Near, and Yet So Far

It was Christmas Eve now, the night before our planned prison break. Mystique would be getting Hookup into his gear to let the mutants know we were getting them out.

Hookup was...unusual. He had no telepathy of his own, but he could put two minds together, effectively giving them both telepathy for a short time, though his powers would not work on himself. However, our scientists working in the Movement had found a way to extend his power to more minds with a machine they called the L-150 (or, when they were joking around after hours, the Conference Call).

So sometime tonight, Hookup would let about 100 or so mutant prisoners know what was going to happen tomorrow, about the rescue. The drugs used to subdue the prisoners every year had been switched with harmless placebos, and the alcohol for the guards was triple strength...with some unpleasant additives.

I was falling apart. I didn't want to admit it, but I couldn't take the memories of Pietro looking down at me, the little cruel remarks, the way he enjoyed it when I screamed...oh, God, he loved my screams. He loved telling me how I would always have a little part of him with me. I still feared that...would a baby corrupt me from within? Was it happening now?

I walked down the cell blocks, trying to bring my mind under control. I had to remain in control. I had to stay and break the Cell Block A residents out...those mutants who had been crippled as a result of their capture or afterward. I owed it to them, especially...

I cringed. I was walking directly to A right now. He was there, lost in darkness, because of me. A voice to my left softly called, "Fraulein?" I nearly jumped out of my skin and let out a small scream.

It was Krystal Wagner, alone in her cell. Her brother had been moved further away after their latest escape attempt. Her blue face peered out at me. I nodded to her, collecting myself, not trusting words right now.

"Are you all right, fraulein?"

She looked so much like her mother, sounded like her.... A tear started forming, and I shuddered a little. "Y...yes," I said.

She cocked her head and shook it back and forth. "You are not all right," she stated. "Would you like to talk?"

I blinked. I knew it wasn't Mystique before me, but with the red light blinking above the door to block A, I could swear it was she. It must be a sign.

"I...I can't say anything right now. When we meet tomorrow, after the rescue, we can talk."

"The rescue?" Mystique/Krystal looked at me curiously. I hissed, "Don't tell me it's been put off again. I've been suffering in this hellhole for nearly six months now. You promised...you promised..."

Mystique must have seen something in my eyes that frightened her. She leapt back from the bars and said soothingly, "Of course, Elena. I will keep my promises to you."

I smiled. I felt bad that I had intimidated the woman who had rescued me before, who had given me new life. I would do anything to spare her pain. If there was a God, She was it for me. "I'm sorry, Mystique," I quivered. "I...just need to get out of here. We can talk more tomorrow, then, about why. I didn't mean to scare you."

Mystique came back to the bars and gently touched my hand. "Merry Christmas, Elena."

"Merry Christmas, Mystique." I turned and walked back the way I had come. The rescue would continue, and my Leader was with me. I was going to be all right.