SEWER TROLLS AND PSYCHO PENGUINS (part 4)
"You really think you can hurt me?" Jack said.
"Everyone's vulnerable in their dreams," Reverie told him. "You taught me that. I don't know what your problem with Kurt Wagner is, but I won't help you kill him."
"What are you gonna do?"
Reverie glared at him. "Trust me, you don't want to find out."
Jack froze momentarily. He thought he'd planned this out down to the last detail. He thought no one would be able to interfere, least of all this tiny slip of a girl who barely came up to his chin. Who did she think she was?
Enraged, Jack lunged for Reverie's throat, but she thwarted his attacks by putting up a psychic block that sent him flying across the room.
"What the--?" He felt as if he'd been clobbered over the head with some heavy blunt instrument. He staggered back to his feet and came toward her again, only to be knocked back a second time. This only made him more determined to take her down . . .
But she wouldn't back down no matter what he did to her, and the more he lashed out, the harder she fought back, until at last Jack had had enough.
"What—what's gotten into you?" he gasped. He was beginning to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake. A big mistake.
"I'll tell you what's gotten into me, Jack! I'm sick of your manipulation and your power trips, and I'm not going to stand for any more!" Her eyes blazed like forest fires, and Jack suddenly felt unsure of himself for the first time.
He gulped and started to run, but Reverie caught him and fastened him down with ropes to keep him from getting away. Every time he tried to overpower her, she'd hit him with another psychic blast, until he was too worn out to fight back.
"I'll be back for you," she said.
"Where are you going?"
"To tell the X-Men exactly what you've been up to. I'll let them decide what to do with you then."
This was not good news to Jack. Leaving him in the hands of the X-Men, after he had attacked one of their own . . . truly a fate worse than death.
Two hours later, Reverie returned, and she wasn't alone. Wolverine and Storm were right behind her. And they didn't look happy.
"Your little head games are over, John," Storm warned him. "You shouldn't have assaulted Kurt."
Jack looked up. How did they know his real name? No one knew his real name—not Reverie, not anyone. And then he realized how they must have known . . .
"He deserved it!" Jack shouted defiantly. "That freak took my spot! He went to your Institute instead of me! It should have been me!"
"Professor Xavier already explained in the letter," Storm told him calmly.
"Oh, right, the letter. He couldn't even tell me to my face!"
Wolverine slashed out at the ropes holding Jack down, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet. "You're the kind of guy who gives mutants a bad name. I don't blame Chuck for turning you down, if this is what you're capable of."
"What are you going to do to me?" Jack demanded.
"Us?" Logan said. "Nothing. But I have a friend . . . he's just starting up a kind of rehabilitation program for wayward mutants. Not quite your regular community service project . . . but not prison, either."
"I'll take it!"
"I wasn't asking you. You don't have a choice, bub."
"You mean . . . ?" Jack didn't like where this was going.
"You belong to me now."
At that moment Jack wished he were dead.
After the excitement was over, Storm and Logan turned to Reverie.
"What happens now?" the girl asked. "Where do I go?"
A perfect opening if there ever was one. "We'd like to offer you a place with us," Storm said. "We work at a school for mutants, like yourself. You could learn more about your powers and how to use them wisely."
"And you'd be safe from dirtbags like him," Logan added. "We teach you how to protect yourself."
The girl didn't know what to say. "I . . . don't know if I'm worthy. I hurt that poor boy—"
"That kid brought most of it on himself."
"I was talking about—Kurt, is it? The one I made dream. How is he?"
"He's doing better now," Storm said. "Once he's had a few days to recuperate, he should be fine."
"That's good. I didn't mean to hurt him, you know. It was Jack who forced me to do that. I've never met anyone so bitter or . . . evil, if that's not too strong a word." She shook her head sadly. "There doesn't seem to be any way to change him."
"No, there doesn't. Yet."
"What can I do for him now?"
Wolverine said, "Don't worry about him. He won't be hurting anyone else, where he's going."
"That's good," Reverie said. "I didn't really want to hurt him either. Even if he deserved it."
"Are you coming with us?" Storm asked.
Reverie didn't need much time to think it over. "Yes, I think I will."
Kurt was floating in a smoky void. Trolls, penguins, Mystique . . . all had faded away, at least for now. He was gradually returning to the real world with Jean's help. He felt as if he'd been released from some kind of spell . . .
He opened his eyes.
Kitty was standing beside his bed with some girl he didn't know. "Welcome back," Kitty said. "You really had us worried for a while there, Kurt."
"Vhat happened?"
"First I'd like you to meet someone. This is Mari, but her code name's Reverie. She . . . controls dreams."
"Ah." Kurt tried to sit up. It seemed that he'd been floating in the darkness for days. He wondered what time it was.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Mari said. "There was this other guy . . ."
She told him the whole story, beginning from when Jack first found her and conned her into helping him. Several times she paused to sip from a glass of water. She was starving. Jack hadn't let her eat until she finished what she had to do for him, which meant she hadn't had anything in . . . two days? Three?
"I think we could both use something to eat," she said to Kitty. "We've been through a lot, Kurt and I."
"Okay." Kitty went to the kitchen to get them some food.
When she was gone, Mari said, "You really like her, don't you?"
"Of course I like her . . . you mean like her, like her?" Kurt thought about it. "I guess so. But she . . . doesn't feel the same—"
"Kurt, she's been here beside you the whole time you've been here," Jean told him. "She sang to you, and held your hand, and did everything she could to help you. Maybe she does feel the same after all."
"She did all zhat?"
Jean nodded. "I have to go study for a test," she said. "You don't mind if I leave you two alone, do you?"
Mari looked over. "I don't mind if Kurt doesn't mind."
Kurt saw her expression and said, "I don't blame you for vhat happened. He hurt you just like he hurt me. Vorse, maybe." His three-fingered hand reached out to hers. "Friends?"
"Friends."