Chapter Twenty-Five:
Sid stood and stared down at his sister. The heat was building around her now, and he took a few steps backward before looking over at Magneto.
"You have to leave...now," he said firmly, "All of you..."
Sid spun around and spotted the X-Men gathered near the feet of the Sentinel. He glanced at his sister once more, and then raced toward the Professor.
Magneto frowned, looking at Rebecca curiously as the orange glow of around her body grew stronger. He moved a few cautious paces to his right, until he found himself near Mystique.
Sabertooth and Deathstrike stood nearby, and he motioned toward them.
"Go to the helicopter and bring it to the hanger door," he said, "Sabertooth...you know the way...be swift...our time grows short .."
Deathstrike nodded, and awaited the larger mutant's direction. Sabertooth held Magneto's gaze a moment longer, giving an affirmative without words, and he and the Lady headed quickly in the direction of the tunnel outward.
Magneto glanced at Mystique, and a smile crossed his features. It was not pleasant...almost bitter...but still very pleased.
"This battle is over..." he glanced back at Rebecca, "And this time our people are victorious..."
***
The Professor still had a comforting hand on Mary's shoulder when Sid ran up beside them. Her sobs were fading, and Nightcrawler was trying to reassure her that the danger was gone.
However, Sid's urgent expression spoke to the contrary.
"Professor Xavier," he said quickly, "You all need to get out of here fast. Rebecca's been hurt and...," he shook his head, "There's no time to explain...just get out!"
"If she's injured, we should get her back to Henry," Cyclops said, "It will be quicker to get there then back to Chicago..."
Sid tried to look appreciative but shook his head, "No...No...you can't take her...you have to leave before the fire takes her!"
Xavier fixed his eyes on the wounded young woman...and in her mind he found so much rage it was blinding. He suddenly understood Sid Malloy's insistence and turned to the X-Men.
"Let's get Rogue and Mary to the jet," he ordered, "We will wait until Miss Malloy is ready to be transported and get her to..."
"No!" Sid shouted, "No, dammit you can't wait!"
"We can't just leave you here..." Cyclops said. The snow lying just inside the open hanger doors was beginning to melt.
"Yes! You can!" Sid said, and pointed to the newly forming puddles, "Don't you understand? Can't you feel that?"
Sid glanced back at his sister, and Xavier followed his gaze.
Rebecca looked like she was leaning forward on her hands, and then she slowly began to stand. The remainders of the Brotherhood were still lingering around her and Sid swore angrily.
"Shit," he said and then turned to Xavier one last time, "I'm telling you, Professor. Just leave..."
Sid turned on his heal and sprinted back over to Magneto. Xavier was staring at Rebecca, and reached out to her mind again. Such fury...such rage...he wondered what could have possibly caused such violent emotions in her?
***
Toad was still crouched next to Rebecca when she began to stand. The motion was slow, but he did not dare try to help her. The air around them was shimmering from the heat, and just being within a few feet of her made his amphibious-like skin sting.
He barely noticed the discomfort, however. He was too focused, his fascination of the image of her rage held him in place.
As she rose, he stood with her. He vaguely noticed Pyro's voice beside him.
"Whoa..." Pyro breathed, "What's happening to her?"
They could hear Rebecca's hoarse breathing and, when she spoke, her voice shook with barely controlled fury.
"De...defense...defense...." she stammered, "Mech...mechanism...that's what...they always said..."
As Sid ran up to her again, she raised her eyes.
The tears falling from her eyes hissed and evaporated as they touched her face.
"Oh, please..." she said desperately, "Oh...please leave, Sid...I can't stop it..."
***
Above the lingering X-Men, the Sentinel suddenly gave off a deafening tone. It sounded three times, an internal warning alarm triggered by the growing heat.
"WARNING..." a robotic voice shouted, "ENVIRONMENT HAS BECOME UNSTABLE...INTERNAL SILICON COMPONENTS WILL BEGIN TO SHUT DOWN IF TEMPERATURE RISES ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED DEGREES FAHRENHEIT...OUTER HULL TEMPERATURE AT NINTY-TWO DEGRESS FAHRENHEIT AND INCREASING AT AN UNACCEPTABLE RATE... AUTOMATIC PRECAUTIOUS WILL BE TAKEN IF MANUAL INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT PROGRAMMED IN... TWO... MINUTES... WARNING...ENVIRONMENT HAS BECOME UNSTABLE..."
***
Sid winced as the loud voice rang in his ears. Rebecca stared at the machine, and the floor beneath her bare feet began to glow as heat poured into the stone surface. She gave her brother one last warning glance...before she began to walk forward.
Toad tried to take a step after her, but Sid blocked his way.
"No, stay back..." he said, and then turned to Magneto, "Come on...let's go...we have to leave!"
Magneto kept his eyes on Rebecca and shook his head.
"Not just yet," he said.
A moment later, the room began to explode.
***
The fire had her now.
It had her since the moment she saw Cody die.
It was not fair...even though he looked old, he had really only been a child...
Just like she had been...just like she could have been...
The fire wanted out...the power wanted to be free...
Oh, God it was so much stronger...
She was so angry...she just wanted to break something...
But, the conscious part of her was still aware of the others ...
She would break anything she wanted...
She would burn this fucking place to the ground...
But she would be damned before she let the fire kill...
***
When the first ball of fire gathered in front of her, it hovered a moment, before it shot across the hanger. It impacted one of the open halls leading into the empty base, and then exploded outward. The grated level above crumbled under the impact, and the temperature in the room increased quickly. In steady repetition, the flames flew forth again and again, each time becoming more powerful, more destructive.
Rebecca was grinning.
***
Xavier ordered the X-Men to retreat as the inferno began to spread. They ran out into the snow, which had melted to the point that it was more mud than ice.
When they reached the jet, Xavier saw Mary turn back and stare at the fire within. Her vision, her dreamed prophecy, had come to pass. It had been just as she had seen...except for her confrontation with the Stranger's dark force. She had not known of that.
She heard Cyclops's voice urging her on, and she followed after him into the jet.
Gambit had secured Rogue into the medical bed Mary had previously occupied. Mary sat down in a passenger seat nearby. Her mind was still hazy from her experience, and as the ramp closed, she noticed the jet she and Rogue had arrived in sitting forgotten in the melting snow.
"Oops..." she mumbled, and Nightcrawler frowned with concern.
"What?" he asked and Mary pointed one shaky hand toward the ramp.
"We forgot the little jet..." she said, her words slightly slurred.
"We'll come back for it..." Nightcrawler's soft voice said.
Mary shook her head, "No...we won't..."
"We must come back for Sid and..." he began but Mary cut him off.
"No," she said firmly, "We won't..."
Xavier listened to her next words, and stared out the front window gravely.
"...but Erik will."
***
The hanger's north end lay in ruins. Every possible entrance leading back under the mountain had been destroyed. The flames made the air in the hanger almost unbearable, but much of the heat was escaping out the open doors.
Magneto had his arms folded over his chest, and he was immensely pleased.
The fires had not burned close enough to himself or the others to cause injury, so he assumed this demonstration spoke to the true limitations of her power. Was she as powerful as her mother…or have her paternal genes, dominant in mutants, diluted her maternal heredity?
Rebecca was breathing heavily as the fire abated. It was a lull, not an end...and it would not last long.
Her focus was still the screaming Sentinel, which was reporting its outer temperature was now at one hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit.
She did feel a measure of control, pulling the fire back, though it was ready to take her again when commanded. It had been a long time since she allowed this much of the fire out…she did not know how much would make her lose control entirely.
Dumb ass machine, she thought, glaring up at the Sentinel, Why would you tell everyone how to destroy you? Five hundred degrees...
"Sid..." Rebecca managed to say, her fists clenched painfully at her sides.
"I know...I'll do what I can..." he replied and then went to Paul and helped him to his feet. He aided the 'pusher' as he walked, and Paul tried not to think about the two bodies he was leaving behind.
Magneto walked up behind Rebecca before Mystique could stop him. The power in the air made him smile again. No human being, no human army, would dare stand up to this.
"What a gift you have, child," he said. He frowned as Rebecca began to laugh. The sound was more terrified than amused.
"Gift?" she said without turning around, "Is that what you call it?"
The room trembled as the Sentinel began to step forward. The booming message changed, and it now stated that automatic precautions were being implemented...mutant source of instability would be neutralized.
Mystique, unlike Magneto, decided to heed Sid's warning. She grabbed Pyro and Toad by the arms and tried to drag them away. Toad tore out of her grasp and she glared at him.
"Don't be a fool," she said, and then shouted, "Erik! We have to leave! It's coming back!"
"We can't leave her here," Toad growled at her.
"Stay then," Mystique said back, and called to Magneto again, "Erik!"
"Leave," Rebecca said.
"No," Magneto replied.
"Why?" Rebecca asked, still keeping her back to him.
"Because your people need you...will need you beyond today, to defend them against human beings who would rather see mutants dead, like the boy you held today."
Rebecca shook her head, and her voice fell quiet, "I'm...not..."
"Not?" he asked.
"Not...just...mutant..." she said, "Oh, God...I'm a monster..."
The dozing fire suddenly grew again. Tendrils of fire curled up her arms and flames leapt around her feet. The power in her mind was like a rolling river…a torrent fighting to be freed…a breaking dam…
The Sentinel shook the ground again with its footsteps.
Magneto took at step back when Rebecca finally spun to face him.
"I SAID GET OUT!" she screamed, and lines of fire burst from her limbs. In her eyes, there was only rage. If he did not do as she said, he would die...and his aspirations to lead mutants to their proper place in the world would be burned to ash.
Magneto stepped backward, watching as Rebecca turned to face the Sentinel, and then moved toward the Brotherhood.
"We're going," he commanded, and the others followed.
Toad did not hesitate in his pace, but glanced back once at Rebecca. Her eyes, as she screamed at Magneto, had been alive with flame. The same as the video, the moment of rage he had been waiting for, fixated on for months...and they were leaving her behind.
He wondered if they were leaving her to die.
As they reached the hanger doors, the sounds of helicopter blades lead them to where Deathstrike had landed. They boarded, along with Sid and Paul, and took off away from the base.
Sid stared out the window, without emotion on his face as the fire grew.
***
Rebecca did not move as the Sentinel towered over her.
Its eyes, now green-searchlights again, moved in odd directions as it narrowed in on her.
"SOURCE OF INSTABILITY LOCATED," the robot voice said with eerie calmness, "IF MECHNICAL, ATTEMPT TO DISASSEMBLE…IF MUTANT, DESTROY…"
The arm of the Sentinel lifted, and one giant hand began to extend toward her. The voice speaking from it was so calm, pleasant, the look on the giant machine's face so vacant.
Rebecca looked upward at the hand reaching for her. It was dull gray, like dirty silver, and the dull reflection of the flames around her was intoxicating.
She lifted her own arm upward, a soft movement, as if to gently take the machine's hand. The palm was almost touching her own, the mechanical device groaning as it struggled to move in the heat.
"HULL TEMPERATURE REACHING THREE HUNDRED DEGREES FAHRENHEIT…WARNING..."
The flames gathered in her palm, at a temperature far beyond what was necessary to destroy the machine, and Rebecca released the fire at the Sentinel.
The hand shattered, taking the full force of the blast. Repetitious explosions continued up the machine's arm, until the subsequent destruction of the right-chest cavity caused the upper shoulders and head to collapse. The machine took a step backward, and wavered unsteadily.
Pieces of the hanger's ceiling were beginning to crumble as the fire consumed it. One heavy section struck the teetering machine, and it began to fall forward. Rebecca made no effort to move as the Sentinel tumbled over.
As Rebecca watched the Sentinel burn, time seemed to stop. Everything was moving slowly, the machine groaned and screeched as it fell apart.
She saw the ceiling falling, and the Sentinel falling over her. It was going to crush her, but she did not move.
I'm sorry, she thought, I promised I wouldn't…never again…but it has to be destroyed…I'm so sorry…
Rebecca closed her eyes, as the stone and glass fell on top of her.
***
The helicopter was rocked as a giant explosion punctured through the top of the mountain compound. Fire welled up like a miniature volcano, and Deathstrike struggled to keep control of the aircraft as the shockwave rolled through the air.
The light of the fire was blinding for a moment, and then dissipated into a cloud of black smoke.
The sky and ground fell dark. When his vision cleared, Toad opened one of the helicopters sliding doors and looked out over the carnage.
Sid held onto a belt over his head, and also stared out at the destruction gravely.
Magneto regarded him closely, "When can we go back?
"It depends…" Sid replied, "It depends on how long it takes the fires to die down. I'll let you know."
"Excellent…" Magneto said and then called to Deathstrike, "Circle around the immediate area for a few minutes…we will be landing to retrieve Miss Malloy after it is deemed safe."
"Erik," Mystique said cynically, making no effort to lower her voice, "You don't actually think she survived that, do you?'
Magneto did not reply, but Toad glanced back over his shoulder in time to see a dark, confident smile form on his leader's face.