Yay!!! Another chapter closer to the big finale!!! Hope you all enjoy this one… it's going to take a while for stuff to actually start happening again, but bear with me, it should be really really good. Would I give you anything less? Thanks so much to Ria who told me how to turn on anonymous reviews. I'm not absolutely sure they're working; I didn't review my own story to check. So anyway, if you haven't been reviewing, NO MORE EXCUSES! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!!
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"Miss Braddock?... Miss Braddock?... Betsy!" The teacher shouted.
"Hmm? Oh. The square root of negative 16. Uh… 4i." The whole math class giggled at her as she read from her math book.
"That's lovely, but it seems 13 questions have passed during your little nap." The teacher said.
"Oh. Sorry." Betsy mumbled, still half asleep.
"Why don't you go to the nurse's office? I'll talk to you after class."
"Okay." Betsy said as she gathered her things and left the room. Some of the popular girls still giggled at her as she shut the door behind herself. She would have said something to them, but she was much too sleepy to care. As she walked down the hallway, she wavered from side to side, finding it difficult to reopen her eyes every time she shut them to blink. After a few feet, she gave up and pressed her back against the wall, and slid down to the floor, with her knees in the air in front of her. She folded her arms over her knees and put her head down. She started to drift off to sleep when she heard a chanting that had plagued her dreams… only this time, she was awake.
"The time is upon us." A faint voice whispered in her ear.
"Do not let them see you cry." Another said. "Do not show them you are weak." Betsy was afraid to look up. She thought if she could ignore them long enough, they would go away. But that never worked, not since that night Emma had visited her.
"No! I can't go!" The voices continued. "I am fit!"
"The weak must never be a burden to the strong." Betsy started to hum "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to herself to shut the voices out, but the cries, the moans, the screams, they had kept her from her sleep. But she refused to let them take over her life.
"Help us!" This one sounded as if it were screaming right in her ear. She wouldn't let herself react, still trying to ignore the voices. "Before it's too late." Betsy couldn't help but jump from the floor as a hand reached out from the wall behind her and touched her on the shoulder. She was certain she had screamed too, but must have imagined it since no one came out to check on her.
"Time is running out." Betsy spun around to see where the voices were coming from. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the large wall, usually peppered with homecoming posters and chess club reminders, covered in hieroglyphics.
"Who are you to decide who is weak?" One of the hieroglyphs whispered. Betsy watched as the stiff, rigid figures carved into the wall came to life to explain their meaning to her. She watched as large glyph sitting in a throne laughed as he directed four smaller ones in a battle against a small army, each one carrying a mark on their foreheads. The four swiftly and violently defeated the army, then split into armies themselves. They flew through out the many levels of the carving like a swarm of locusts, killing and devouring all those without the mark on their head. The rest secretly cried in agony as their loved ones were ripped away. They were forced to join the army, or were killed. Betsy looked at the carnage and pressed her back up against the opposite wall, trying her hardest to distance herself. She wanted to get involved, but she didn't know how. As the war raged on outside, the glyph on the throne continued to laugh as the pile of broken bodies grew beneath him. His soldiers forced all the others to bow at his feet. Those who refused were added to the pile. Blood began dripping down the wall from the dead figures. The voices kept crying out for Betsy to help. Once she had managed to remove herself from the scene, looking at them like a violent movie on TV, she went to touch it. The people reached out to grab at her finger tips, but she ignored them. She gently touched the wall, and pressed her palm against it. Much to her surprise, their entire world began to crumble like brittle ash and fell to the floor.
"Hey Betts!" Kitty shouted as she as she walked out of the ladies room, snapping Betsy back to reality, making her jump again. "You really looking forward to the football game on Friday or something?" Betsy stared at her blankly, in awe, then looked back to the wall, only to see a poster advertising for the football tournament game under her palm. "Don't you have class now?" Kitty asked as she sat down on the floor behind a pile of books.
"I got sent to the nurse's office again." Betsy explained, finally reeling from the grotesque vision she had witnessed.
"Wow, for someone who can't sleep during the day, you sure do sleep a lot at school." Kitty joked.
"You get any word from home yet?"
"You mean the team out looking for Rogue?" Betsy nodded. "Yeah…" Kitty slurred as she looked at the floor and thought for a moment. "They went to that place outside Seattle, where we found you, and the place had been abandoned. There's no sign anything 'sinister' ever existed." Kitty glanced over at Betsy to see how she was going to react. Betsy just looked down at the floor, tired and defeated.
"I don't know where else he could be. The professor searched my brain for anything I might've picked up subconsciously, but I really don't know anything else."
"Betsy, chill out. Nobody's blaming you for anything."
"I know." Betsy finally sat down on the floor next to Kitty.
"Are you okay? I mean, I know you've been having nightmares and stuff, but you're really acting weird… y'know?" Betsy sighed. She knew what Kitty meant. "Maybe you should talk to Miss Frost… about… y'know…" Betsy perked up at the thought, surprised Kitty would even mention what happened to her, but she was actually forced to briefly consider it.
"No. It isn't her. It just all happened around the same time." Betsy shook her head. "Just a coinci--" She stopped dead, a light bulb going off in her brain.
"A what?"
"It's not…" Betsy's eyes rolled around in her head, trying to form her thoughts clearly.
"It's not what?" Kitty was utterly confused.
"It's not a coincidence, Kitty, the Phoenix and the hieroglyphics." Betsy forced out as the pieces all fell into place.
"The hieroglyphics in your dream?"
"It's not a dream… I just had it again, but I was awake." Kitty was still clueless. "It was a vision." Betsy finally explained. Kitty was beginning to wrap her mind around Betsy's train of thought. "They came at the same time because…" Her mind was moving faster than her mouth could spit the words out. "The army can win with the Phoenix… we can defeat Apocalypse."
"Wait a minute…" Kitty was having a hard time absorbing Betsy's words and listening to new ones at the same time, but Betsy jumped up and started running down the hallway. "Wait a minute!!" Kitty shouted after her.
"Time is running out, Kitty. I have to go!"
* * *
Gambit's leg bounced impatiently as he sat next to Wolverine in the black bird. He stared out the window waiting to catch a glimpse of anything familiar.
"Cut it out, kid, you're makin' me nervous." Wolverine grumbled at him.
"Sorry, mon ami." He said back. "Lemme ask ya somethin'."
"What?"
"Am I th'only one who don't buy Mystique's story?" Gambit whispered.
"You mean the one about how she woke one morning in the middle of nowhere without knowing how she got out of those crumbled stone pieces?" Wolverine asked sarcastically.
"So it ain't jus' me, then?"
"Not by a long shot. But she's so desperate to find Rogue, she's working with us. We don't want to alienate her." Wolverine explained.
"What if she knows somthin'?"
"What makes you think she knows something? You may be empathic, but Mystique's been hardwired not to show anything."
"You underestimate me." Gambit smiled. "Why you think she's so desperate t'find her…? Mebee 'cause she lost her…?" Wolverine sighed with no sarcastic comeback.
"If she knows anything about Rogue, she would've told us. But if I find out she's lyin'… I'll help her morph into a blue chopped salad." He growled.
"Why don' we interrogate her or somethin'? I mean, if we find out she don' know anything, it's not gon' make her any less of a help than she is now. Whatever information she may or may not have, she obviously knows she can't find her without us." Gambit paused for a second to let Wolverine consider his logic. "What if she's tryin' t' push us in a certain direction? Whatever direction that maybe, she wouldn' be doin' it if she couldn't say to Rogue 'look who found you.'" The last point caused Wolverine to telepathically ask the professor whether or not he should approach Mystique.
"At your discretion, Logan. Do what you must." Was his response. Wolverine unbuckled his seat belt and moved to sit next to Mystique, who was staring out the window, in the only empty chair on the plane.
"What do you want?" She spat venomously at Wolverine.
"I've got some questions… about how you got here."
"I told you all before… I don't know. I woke up somewhere in the middle of the woods, morphed into a bird and flew here." She barked for the millionth time.
"Which direction did you fly?"
"What?"
"If you didn't know where you were, how did you know which direction to fly?" Wolverine asked calmly, infuriating Mystique even more, not being able to gain the satisfaction from his frustration as well.
"I just… did." She trailed off as she looked back out the window.
"I may not be able to read your mind, but I can smell a lie from a mile away." He responded.
"Maybe you should have your nose checked." Mystique grumbled.
"Look, all I'm saying, is that if you know anything, it might trigger something in the recesses of these kids' minds." Mystique just scoffed at him, refusing to give in. "Okay, we've got nothing to go on past this. We can't use cerebro until she uses her powers. We know Sinister can build a psi-proof fortress, so we probably wouldn't be able to find her even if she did use her powers… assuming she even can."
"Alright, alright." As much as she tried to ignore them, Mystique's motherly instincts got the better of her. "Sinister brought me out of those stone pieces. I don't know how he did it, and I don't wanna know. He had his goons drop me off in the woods behind the mansion. He said all I had to do was distract the Acolyte. I didn't know he was gonna take Rogue. If I did, I probably would've taken her myself."
"So when you said you didn't know anything about the plane--"
"I lied." She stated simply, before he went on any further. "I'm good at that."
* * *
"Professor?! Professor?!" Betsy shouted as she ran in the mansion.
"Betsy?" Cecelia interrupted her, coming to the front door from the hallway that led to the med-lab. "What are you doing home from school?"
"I have to speak with the professor." Betsy said, surprised to see only the doctor. "Where is he?"
"The team's not back yet. Is everything okay?"
"I really need to speak to the professor." Betsy repeated, brushing her off.
"Well… there's cerebro…" Cecelia suggested, trying her best to help. Betsy just looked down at the floor, frustrated.
"I'm too tired." She mumbled.
"You can go lie down in the med-lab. Pyro's bored out of his mind, I'm sure he'd enjoy the company. I'll let you know when they get here--" Dr. Reyes tried to be accommodating. Betsy nodded and walked down the hall to the med-lab. She opened the door to find Pyro sitting on his bed flipping through channels on the TV fixed to the ceiling across from him.
"Bonzer!! A real, live, living person with whom to interact!!" He lit up when he saw Betsy, making her blush slightly. She smiled as she dropped her book bag and climbed on the bed next to him.
"How's it going?" She asked.
"Going? You mean time's still moving forward?"
"Too fast, I'm afraid." She chuckled at him.
"Looks like you've come to the right place then."
"How are you feeling?" Betsy said, trying to move the conversation forward.
"Alright, I guess. I get a pounding headache every now and then, but mostly the stitches itch like mad. But oh no, I don't dare scratch. That damn doctor always comes in here and smacks my hand. I swear, she's gone half an hour, I just barely reach my hand back there, and she runs in to smack my hand. She must be a teleporter/telepath or something. I dunno how she does it. It's like she's watchin' me around the corner, waiting for me to do it! There is no peace in here, I've decided." Betsy smiled as she shook her head at him. "It ain't so bad though. Wanda and Avalanche come in here every afternoon after their danger room sessions."
"They're doing quite well." Betsy said. "They're progressing with their powers, I mean."
"Yeah, yeah. I just wish the Kitty-Kat would get interested in Lance again so he'd leave me an' Wanda alone for a while. I been tryin' t'get Wanda t'give her a nudge."
"Hey!" Betsy said, offended. "Kitty's been trying real hard to stay away from Lance… you know it wouldn't work out, and they'd both be depressed all the time."
"I don't care. Just 20 minutes, once a day, that's all I ask for." Pyro pleaded.
"What about your powers?" Betsy said, changing the subject.
"Good as new!" Pyro shouted with glee as he pulled a lighter out of his pocket. Hit lit the lighter and formed the fire into a heart. He waved it toward Betsy and she smiled as it dissipated. "It kinda hurts after a while." He said, nursing a throbbing in the back of his head. "How 'bout you, sheila? Why are you confined to the sick ward?"
"I'm crazy." Betsy mumbled, not wanting to go into it any further.
"Join the club." Pyro chuckled. Betsy just smiled at him. There was a moment or two of awkward pause as neither had anything else to say. "Hey what've I been missing at school?" Pyro asked.
"I don't really know." Betsy shrugged her shoulders. "I've been sleeping through most of it, myself. If you really want to know, though, you should ask Kitty. She'll leave out no detail."
"Life's too short." He said, brushing off her suggestion. "You all are really close here, aren't you?" he said, out of the blue. "You really look out for each other."
"Well, I don't know how good a job we've doing lately. People keep getting kidnapped. But we try."
"I don't even see why you go out there." He said as he folded his arms.
"Go out where?" Betsy was thoroughly lost.
"Well, at first I couldn't understand why you'd leave Mags and come here with all these kumbaya sheep that follow Xavier around, drooling with their jaws open. But after being here a week and a half or so, it just feels like putting on a warm blanket after being out in the cold." Betsy smiled at his conclusion. "But why you would ever leave to go out there and fight for those bloody wankers that don't give you the respect you deserve as a higher evolutionary?" Betsy quickly got angry with him.
"I don't understand how you can call yourself a 'higher evolutionary' when you feel that you have to resort to something as primitive as violence to get your point across. It's obviously not solving any of your problems."
"Prommie." Pyro sneered at her snobby attitude.
"Codger." Betsy mumbled back. Insulting each other in British colloquialisms.
"Betsy, you wanted to see me?" Xavier said as he rolled into the med-lab, announcing his presence. Betsy and Pyro were both shocked to see him, afraid he'd seen the way they had behaved. Once Betsy decided he hadn't seen anything, she sat up.
"Yes, it's very important." Betsy said as she slid off the bed and walked out with him, leaving Pyro alone in the med lab.
* * *
"No doubt, a war is coming." The professor said over his steepled fingers to the assembled party before him. The X-Men all sat in awe as they considered the severity of their task and possible solutions.
"Well, whatever we do, we're gonna need Jean." Logan stated the obvious.
"But how are we gonna get her on our side?" Kitty asked. "You said Miss Frost kept her on, like, a pretty tight leash."
"We could try an' appeal to the Hellfire Club." Remy proposed. Betsy shook her head.
"They have to know what's going on. They probably have their own agenda in this."
"Like what?" Kurt said, disgusted.
"It's not unlike the Hellfire Club to lull their superiors into a false sense of security, then usurp their power. It's how Emma got to be Queen." Betsy explained. Silence befell the room again when the thought hit the professor. Betsy was listening very astutely, and looked up at him to see him staring at her. They both looked over at Scott. It took a moment before he felt their gaze on him.
"Me?" Scott shouted, drawing the attention of everyone else from their thoughts. "What can I do?"
"Your connection with Jean." Storm concluded.
"But you said it yourself, Betsy. I thought Jean wasn't there."
"No she wasn't… until I said your name. She had to stop and think… she said it made her feel lonely." Betsy clarified. "Mentioning you made the Phoenix feel Jean's feelings. Maybe seeing you again will give Jean the strength she needs to take over the Phoenix."
"Scott, your emotional connection with Jean is one that transcends normal mental limits. It's something I could never hope for with anyone, not even with my first student whom I consider a surrogate daughter." The professor pleaded with him. "If nothing else, you must try. The fate of the world depends on you."
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"Pyro?" Wanda called out as she went into the med-lab. When he didn't respond, she called again. As she approached his bed, she saw him there, resting peacefully, but she decided to wake him up. "Pyro…" She called quietly. Still no response. "Pyro?" She said in a normal tone as she sat down on his bed, growing suspicious. She shook him gently. He rolled over, moaning with vomit on his face. "Pyro!" Wanda shouted, bursting the halogen light bulb over her head out of fear. "Dr. Reyes!" Wanda yelled as she ran into the office. "Dr. Reyes--" She stopped when she saw Cecelia passed out on the floor encased in her force field. Cecelia moaned as she began to regain consciousness. Wanda knelt down to help her sit up as the force field retracted. "Dr. Reyes, what happened?"
"Ung… Infinites." She groaned.
"What?"
"Infinites. A group. One of 'em started talking and I got so dizzy, I must've blacked out."
"Stay here." Wanda said. "I'm gonna go get Xavier." Wanda helped Dr. Reyes to a bed, and ran up stairs, meeting Lance and Toad in the hallway.
"What's the rush, sweet 'ums?" Toad smiled, showing off his pearly… yellows. Wanda scoffed at him, not having the time to shut him up.
"Dr. Reyes and Pyro." She said. "Someone busted in and made 'em both sick." Wanda explained. Lance grimaced with anger.
"C'mon." He said, leading Wanda and Toad down the corridor to the professor's study. He balled his fists causing the house to rock on its sturdy foundation, throwing the doors open. Everyone inside was startled to see him.
"Mr. Alvers, how can I help you?" Xavier said calmly.
"What have you done to him?" Lance shouted as he ran toward Beast.
"Just a minute--" The professor tried to diffuse the situation. Colossus armored up and stepped in front of Lance, blocking his path.
"Get outta my way metal mouth before I--"
"Make me do a hula?" Colossus interrupted him.
"Lance, just calm down and tell us what's going on." The professor tried again. Wanda and Toad watched Lance in stunned silence from the doorway.
"You wanna know what's goin' on? That one is getting' kicks from testing on my friend. I knew we couldn't trust you." Lance pointed around Colossus's side at Beast, making accusations. Hank was caught off guard and confused,
"Hold your ungrateful tongue, rock tumbler, or I will crush your bones to dust. The X-Men only wish to help." Colossus glared down at him.
"Pyro and Dr. Reyes are sick." Wanda said again as she interrupted. "Dr. Reyes said they were 'infinites'."
"'Infinite'? What's an 'infinite'?" Kitty asked. Wanda just shrugged her shoulders.
"How do people keep breaking our security system?" Kurt said. Betsy and Remy just looked at each other, ashamed.
"Not as hard as you'd think, mon ami." Remy mumbled.
"Not if we've shown them." Betsy added. Everyone followed the professor out as they went to go survey the damage in the med lab.
* * *
"Definitely looks and smells like the work of your friend Vertigo, Betsy." Logan said to her as she watched everyone milling around and putting things back where they belonged.
"Well of course it is. Since I'm not around, she's the only one who can knock people out without damaging the property." Betsy sneered.
"This is so degrading." Pyro grumbled as he wiped his face clean.
"Shut up." Wanda smiled as she handed him a clean shirt.
"Anything you say." He smiled back.
"Are you alright?" Hank asked as he gently examined Cecelia.
"I'll be fine… I think." She answered, still partially dazed.
"Hank." Storm drew his attention by pointing toward a corner of the med-lab where a curtain had been pulled back, revealing a disheveled bed with medical implements strewn about.
"Carol." Hank gasped as his jaw dropped open. As he ran to the site, he looked around for any clue of what happened, or where the comatose woman could have gone, or why she'd been taken. He wanted to do something, but he was so frustrated, all he could is roar.
"Carol? Is that the blond bird that's been sleepin' since before I got here?" Pyro asked anyone who might be able to answer his question.
"Carol is sleepin' 'cause she touched Rogue for too long. Her powers haven't gone away and she obviously hasn't woken up. At first, Rogue was so guilty every time she used her powers, she'd have to throw up. The prof. put in some blocks and she barely remembers it… so we don't really talk about it." Remy explained.
"Ahh… is that why ole' baldy goes in there every afternoon?" Pyro was finally getting the picture.
"Yes…" Logan grunted bitterly as Pyro insulted his mentor.
"Oh."
"Hank, calm down… what's happened?" The professor said, finally making his way inside the ransacked sick bay.
"The Nasty Boys or the Marauders or the Infinites or whoever they are… They broke in for Carol. She's gone."
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Rogue151 – Awww… that soooo made my day. But hey, I aim to please, right? I'm glad you liked the events of the last chapter; hope this one lives up to everything you've come to expect! I hope this chapter came soon enough!
Ishandahalf – More and more twists!! Yeah, everybody is so angsty, but you wouldn't want to read a story about a bunch of adversity-less bubble heads, would you? And I've got a question for you: Just how quick is a bunny on crack??
jess and ria – like I said before, thanks a million, sorry you had to go into your e-mail and everything, I know it's a bitch, but I really appreciate it. I'm glad you like the story, but it is about time you review… shame shame. Keep reading though!!
The Rogue Witch – Yeah, that was silly, wasn't it? I'm glad you're getting hooked on my story, addiction is always good ;-P. You're right, Beast and blob do need some lovin'… do you read Ultimate X-Men? If not, you should, it's awesome, but that just makes me feel even sorrier for both of 'em!!
Aro – I know how you feel; my house is the Arctic Circle. If it's the last thing you ever do with your fingers, I'm glad it was reviewing my story!
Gothic Cajun – Thanks, I'm glad you like it!! Keep reviewing and I'll keep posting!
Sofi – I'm a fan of Jonda too. I'm a Romy shipper to the very core, but I do like Jonda. I've got a little in here; hope it's enough for now. Next chapter will be Jonda-licious!! Thanks for e-mailing me again, but the problem oughta be fixed, so you shouldn't have to. But thanks!!
Andi – Thanks for going into your e-mail just for me!! I'm glad you've been keeping up with the story, and I'm glad you finally reviewed!! Like I've said a million times to everyone else, anonymous reviews should be working now, and I better get a ton of 'em. But if I don't, that's okay too… I guess. Thanks again though!!!!
