A/N: Here is the second part of the three chapters that happen at the same time. I'm sorry if this one is a little slow at the end, but I wanted to try and clear a few things up.
A Madman's Heart
Part 16
It was a peaceful evening when Jean and Scott had finally gone to sleep. Only a few short hours later an alarm sounded through out the mansion signaling that an intruder is on the property. The couple were both out of bed and half way towards the door with a few seconds. Alarms were a general part of their routine, whither they were drills or not. Slipping on their outfits before opening the door, Scott ran into the blurry eyed Iceman already iced up.
"Please tell me this isn't a stupid drill." Bobby stated, already halfway awake as the made it to the stairs. Scott shook his head at the younger member and looked down towards Storm and Wolverine who were already heading towards the dubbed War room.
"Where's Remy? I swear if that Swamp Rat tripped the alarm I'm gonna hang him from the ceiling by his toes." Rogue stated as she walked into the room and took her seat.
"Scott, I can't find him or Jubilee's presence anywhere." Jean stated with her eyes closed and suddenly winced as something over whelmed her. Scott move to keep her from leaning back to far and falling down, but Logan beat him to it.
"Jeanie, you okay?" the Canada asked in a rumbling voice. Jean nodded and put her hand on his chest to push him away so she could stand on her own.
"Something is heading this way, something very wrong." Jean stated towards Scott and rubbed her temple to try and stop any oncoming headache. 'I'm fine.' She whispered in his mind as she sat down in the chair.
"We have a visual on who has come onto the grounds." Professor Xavier stated as he pulled up the picture onto the big screen. A young man was standing up facing the outer walls of the grounds. His hair was a mess and his clothing slightly torn as he crouched down.
"Who is it?" Cyclops asked. Shadowcat played with the computer a bit trying to find out any information on the person. Nothing came up right away, but after a few more moments she got a name.
"His name is David Heart, a run away. Says here he got in some trouble a while back with his twin, Shawn, but nothing after that. They appear to be mutants, but nothing other then a shape shifter." Shadowcat stated and typed a few more keys bring up a picture of Shawn, over it in a big lettering was the word deceased.
"What's he doing." Rogue asked as she watched the figure crouch down lower and rest his hands on the ground. He was mostly hidden from the camera, but some parts of his shirt and arm could be seen through the bushes.
"Hiding?" Iceman stated in a question as he lounged in his normal, non-ice form. Logan looked at the picture for a minute and then grunted.
"Care to share with the group?" Cyclops asked crossing his arms over his chest in as a relaxed matter as Scott could ever get.
"He ain't hiding, he's waiting. Not for us, but something over that wall." Logan stated and took out a cigar. Lighting the thing with a lighter, he took a deep breath and then sent it over towards Cyclops.
"For who?" Jean asked looking at the monitor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David was tired, hungry, and all together worn out. The last few days of travel had been hell on his abilities. Avoiding Sinister's men and staying out of trouble had worn his body out, but he only had to hold out for a few more hours. If he could buy Jubilee enough time to get out of the area, then he would die a happy man. He may have tried to let Jubilee think there was hope, but only because she wouldn't have left if she thought he would die. No, he wouldn't delude himself. There were a good five men out there, he could hear their boots as the got closer, maybe ten yards from the wall. Crouching down in hopes of a surprise attack, David said a silent good bye to Jubilee before focusing totally on the up coming fight. He may die here, but he would be damned if he didn't take a few down with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shouldn't we help him, I mean he's not gonna be able to fight much." Shadowcat stated looking at David.
"Cyclops, take Jean and Iceman to see if he is okay. Storm, you and Rogue are on air patrol, give Scott's team a heads up toward what is coming over the walls. Beast, try to get the boy to come into the mansion or at least give him some medical aid if he needs it. Wolverine, back up Cyclops ." the professor stated in a calm voice as he watched the screen. The X-men filled out and Shadowcat watched them go.
"Professor, why am I here?" She asked and the professor placed a hand on his temple to reach out with his mind. He was quite for a few passing moments and then looked over to Kitty.
"I need you to bring up who is attacking us and I will give the information to the others." Kitty nodded and began to bring up all the camera angles in hopes of finding a picture that might tip off the other's location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cyclops was the first person to reach David, but not in the form he expected. David was now a 5'6 werecat with claws longer then some daggers. The second David caught sight of him he attacked with a nasty snarl. Cyclops dodged to the side just as Iceman slide up and iced David's feet.
"We're here to help, just chill dude." Bobby stated smiling at his own joke, no one else found it funny or seemed to catch on. David just snarled again and tried to break the ice around his feet, fully intent on attacking the people around him.
"I don't think he understands us, I'll try to talk to him telepathically." Jean stated as she stepped forward to look at David. 'We aren't here to hurt you, we trying to help.' Jean stated in a voice that was close a motherly concern. David's eyes fell on hers, both telepathically as well as physically, and her screamed out in rage that came more as a howl. He struck out at her with his claws, intent on getting her out of his mind. Jean got images of a man that she assumed was his twin being hit by something.
"Jean, look out." Cyclops yelled as he ran sent a blast at the branch David had sent flying at them. Jean ducked as a few stray twigs rushed over her head. She sent a quick mental blast into David's mind, sending him into a peaceful stated of sleep.
"He's out for a bit, but we need to get him inside before they come over the wall." Jean stated as Beast picked up the normal David and looked him over for any major wounds. Finding nothing to cause much concern, Beast ran towards the mansion just as the wall behind him crashed down with enough force to knock most people off their feet. Scott looked over at the crumbled wall as a new wall of water slammed into him. A small girl stood on the edge of a section of untouched wall. Another man stood at the base of the wall with a smile.
"Greetings from the mainland." the man laughed as he rammed into another part of the wall sending the girl falling down towards the ground. Just before she hit the ground a flow of water caught her and took her near the other man.
"Bring us David, that's all we want." the girl stated in a musical voice that seemed to have four separate tones.
"Come now Shasa, Sinister never said we couldn't have some fun." the man stated as he lunged at Iceman. Iceman placed a sheet of ice at his feet while Wolverine jumped out of the bush with a snarl and landed a hard kick at the man's chest.
"There are two more of them in the area, one is facing off with Storm and Rogue, the other is heading towards the mansion and rather fast at that." Shadowcat whispered into their minds with Xavier acting as a medium.
"Iceman head towards the mansion and try to head him off, Beast will meet you there. Shadowcat, tell Beast to get out here. Jean make sure Rogue and Storm are alright." Scott yelled out orders as Wolverine and the man went head to head in an all out fight. Wolverine went in to try and slash at the man's ribs but only got smacked into a tree by Scott.
"He's big, but he sure do move fast." Wolverine stated as he got back up and with a snarl attacked the man once more. Scott looked around for the girl and found her flying towards Jean with a large amount of water under her. Scott let loose a large size blast that connected with the water under her and boiled it a good deal of it away. The girl screamed out as she fell away from the water in a hurry and then screamed again as she hit the ground.
"Shasa!" the man yelled out as he smacked at Wolverine, the hit grazed Wolverine, but with enough force to send the smaller man a few feet. He ran towards the girl fully intent on saving her from Cyclops. Cyclops raised a hand to blast the man away, but stopped in mid-motion when he saw Logan land on the man's back. Logan began to punch wildly at the man's head and neck, fully intent on taking him down.
"Leave Powerhouse alone." Shasa screamed as the water left over smashed into wolverine as Powerhouse went down. Wolverine looked up to see the water smash into him then he smashed into a tree, then another and another as the water carried him through teen yards worth of trees and ground.
"Enough." Jean stated as she held out a hand towards the girl and the girl froze in mid motion with a startled expression.
"Wolverine, you okay?" Cyclops asked the water drenched Canadian. Logan looked at him with eyes full of anger. The sight was on to behold, a drenched Logan who's hair that normally stood up, was now falling over his face in a mess. A normal person would have laughed for the whole two seconds before he gut them.
"Scott, Storm and Rogue need help. Wolverine, Bobby and Hank could also use a hand." the professor's voice ringed in their heads as they rushed towards their other teammates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Storm and Rogue on the other hand were having a bit more of a problem. Just as sinister's two goons attacked Jean, Cyclops, and Wolverine, a flyer zoomed towards them and caught Rogue off guard with a well placed elbow that knocked the breath out of the Southern Bell. Storm turned in the air to get a good look at the attacker and already raised a hand towards the sky, fully intent on unleashing the full powers of the weather at the woman.
"You don't want to do that. Please, I'm just a child." The woman stated in a calm voice, her eyes a whirlwind of greens and purples as she activated her power. The woman stood no more then 5'5 on the ground and was thinner then a person should be. Storm hesitated for a moment as the woman blurred into that of a small child crying out. Rogue yelled as she shot up from where she landed on the mansion grounds.
"Please don't let the bad monsters get me. Please Ms., she wants to hurt me." The woman stated in a cry. Storm looked at Rogue, but only saw the image of a gray nothingness with a sadistic smile on it's face. She closed her eyes and blinked a few times, knowing something was wrong, but felt her body move to help the child.
"Wind, aid me in batting down this monster." Storm stated, the words flowing from her mouth in a command full of grace and pose, but they seemed more forced then normal.
"Storm, what in the…" Was all that Rogue could get out before the wind crashed into her. A breeze at first, before it gained in strength until it was harder for her to fly at the woman.
"She's still coming, please don't let them take me." The woman cried louder, Storm looked over at her seeing the tears flowing down a small child's face as she hugged herself in fear.
"Do not worry child, I will protect you. Lightening, I command you to remove this woman from the skies." Storm stated as she raised her hand and sent a bolt of lightening toward Rogue. Rogue, to caught up in trying not to let the wind get the best of her, failed to noticed the lightening bolts before it was to late and two struck her before she could have a chance to move.
"Storm, what's wrong." Cyclops yelled at her. Storm looked towards him and let the wind die down so that they could communicate.
"A monster is attacking this child. Cyclops, get her to safety, I can deal with this menace." Storm's voice ringed out as she sent another blast towards where Rogue landed on the ground. The woman looked towards Cyclops and Storm saw the child cry harder.
"No, their not your friends, they are disguised so that they can hurt us, please." The child stated as she looked Storm straight in the eye. Storm looked towards the others and slowly saw them morph into creatures like that she was striking down.
"Her name is Hymna, not much info on her… something about hypnosis powers. You need to get her down. Says she caused a mass riot in Dallas for just her powers." Shadowcat stated into their minds as Cyclops looked towards Hymna.
"Let me see if I can try to reverse what she has done to Storm." Jean stated and reached out towards Storm, feeling a mix of emotions and thoughts as she tired to figure out what was going on around her. "Ororo, it's a trick."
"Bad idea little girl." Hymna stated and looked at Jean in the eyes. Before Jean could turn away Hymna's eyes were already mixing into the whirlwind of color. Jean fought to look away, but soon felt herself being sucked into those eyes. Jean cried out as she tried to fight the hypnosis with her powers.
"They'll fail you. Where are all those voices coming from. They're all screaming at you… Make them stop… Please… Stop." Hymna stated and Jean looked confused before her eyes went wide as voices raised in her mind.
"Make them stop, Scott, they're screaming at me. I can't… stop." Jean stated as the voices grew louder, her mind to chaotic to try to think past the screams and words that flowed into her mind. Cyclops went to set a blast at the woman before he caught sight of her eyes, trying to avoid the glance he ducked his head and shot a glance at the woman. Storm screamed out as she flew at the woman and pushed her out of the way. The blast barely avoided the weather goddess as she flew at Cyclops. He jumped to the right in order to miss her. He got back on his feet trying to find where Storm went while keeping his eyes in the general direction that Hymna was. Storm dove in behind him and caught him as she flew up in the sky, keeping his arms behind his back. Hymna was in front of him before he could react.
"Sorry Storm." He whispered out as he slammed his head back into hers. Storm cried out, but not before Hymna caught his eyes. She drew him in and he fought, but in the end she won out.
"They're all dead. You fail everyone of them. They're all dead because of you." Hymna whispered as she held Cyclops' eyes. Storm dropped Cyclops from the air, not more then a twenty feet drop, but Cyclops landed on his feet them feel down, looking over a battle field of broken bodies. As he looked closer he could see their faces, all so lifeless as they lay there in their final position.
"You're in a sewer and the walls are closing in, they won't stop moving, how much oxygen is left?" She whispered to Storm while holding her eyes. Storm cried out trying to fend off walls that never existed.
Hymna raised a hand to her eyes as the toll of holding three minds in constant hypnosis took it's toll. "Ah think you've had a bit to much fun Sugah." Rogue shouted as she slammed into Hymna with a lot of force. Grabbing Hymna's arms, Rogue tied a make-shift blindfold on her. Hymna lashed out by trying to fly blindly in any direction to try and get Rogue off of her. After slamming into one to many trees, Rogue lost her patience and placed her naked hand on Hymna's face. Rogue dropped in a muffled cry as Hymna's powers and memories flowed into her. The last thing she saw before she broke contact was red glowing eyes and lots of pain.
Cyclops, Jean, and Storm awoke from their hypnosis as if it were nothing more then a bad dream. Storm held her bleed nose as she looked around for the enemy. Cyclops tried to stand, but stumbled a bit before noticing her had a twisted ankle. Checking it for any broken bones, he turned it a bit and stopped when it pulsed with pain. Jean had the beginnings of a migraine as she stood up.
"Rogue, what happened?" Storm asked looking towards her friend who now had her hands over her eyes. The woman they saw flying laid in a crumbled heap at her feet. Rogue raised her head towards where she heard the voice come from.
"Crazy lady here decided to use some old fashion Hypnosis on everyone. She out for now, but no one should look me in the eye right now." Rogue stated in a breathless voice. Her accent was lost and replaces by Hymna's voice pattern.
"Here, this should help for a while." Cyclops stated as he held out a piece of cloth that cam fro where his costume was already torn. Rogue moved her hand around a bit before grabbing onto the cloth and tying it securely around her eyes.
"We have her two friends sleeping other by that wall. Wolverine an the others are intercepting the last of their party." Cyclops stated in calm voice as he walked experimentally on the foot. After a few moments he was able to walk past the pain. A howl of rage came from near the house.
"Perhaps we should go see if they need any help." Storm stated, the bloody nose stopped thanks to the use of her arm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wolverine came to the scene where he could smell both Iceman and Beast. Iceman had iced out most of the surrounding are while Beast tried to subdue their guest. A boy, not much older then 17 was fighting with Beast, avoiding any hits from the agile mutant, while landing a few of his own. He was moving fast, not as fast as Pietro, but fairly quickly. He turned and slammed a kick home at the back of Beasts head. Beast went down hard, but got up as quickly as he could to avoid another kick that was aimed for his spine. Catching the foot, Beast pushed the man back.
"I really must insist on ceasing this activity before I have to get violent." Good old blue was fighting, but he was waiting for something. He caught sight of something blue moving up behind them both. On closer inspection it was Bobby iced up and tying to catch the trespasser off guard. The mutant turned around and fire spouted around his hands as he punched at Bobby. The punch landed on Iceman's side and melted away a small section of his body. Iceman left a look of pain cross his face as the water quickly evaporated into steam. Beast grabbed at the mutant to get him away from the resident ice machine. The smell of singed hair hint Wolverine's nose as he lunged at the mutant. He was met by a wall of fire that was once a mutant. The boy lunged at Wolverine and punched at him. Wolverine released his claws as he slashed at the fire, but hit nothing but more flames.
"Enough Blaze. Your fight's with me." The mutant they had rescued stated from the porch. He was holding his ribs where he took a hit.
"Your worthless Heart, running like a coward from home. He wasn't very happy, but I'm not here to collect on you." Blaze stated with a smile, it was hard to see through the flames, but still present. David laughed from the porch and walked down to where they were in the lawn.
"You want her, you gonna have to go through me. You wanna risked the chance I can wipe the floor with your butt?" David stated and Blaze snarled at him before letting a ball of fire rush at David. David dodged at the last second and grabbed a hose from by the porch. Turning the hose to full power he sent the water at the flames. Blaze screamed out as the fire went out and returned to his normal form once the fire was out. Logan caught him in a headlock the second he was put out. Blaze yelled as he tried to brake free, but it was no use.
"Can't use your fire with so much water huh? You really should remember that next time you attack a house. The might Blaze put out by a mere hose." David stated with a laugh and sat down on the stairs holding the hose loosely in his hands. "You go tell him that she is to be left alone. I'll bargain again if I have too." David whispered as he looked Blaze full in the eyes. Blaze frowned.
"He'll kill you then go after her." Blaze stated bluntly as he struggled against the head lock again.
"Most likely, but it would give her a chance." David stated and the look in his eyes said everything he wouldn't. Wolverine narrowed his eyes. A 17 year old shouldn't have a look of defeat in his eyes.
"Look kid, we ain't letting this punk go just like that." Wolverine growled out towards David. David looked at him with a raised eyebrow and then looked back towards Blaze. Cyclops, Jean, and Rogue, being lead by Storm, came onto the scene looking at the four mutants who were visible.
"Looks like you have everything under control." Cyclops stated in a commanding voice. Wolverine snorted a laugh as he looked over towards David. Blaze took advantage of the moment of distraction and burst into flames. The flames fell to the ground and raced towards where his other allies were last seen. Wolverine snarled as the burns on his body healed up rather quickly, nothing more then first degree, and turned to take off after him.
"You won't catch him. By the time you get to the wall he'll have gotten all his party pals and be half way to New York city." David stated as he dropped the hose on the ground. Wolverine looked at him and started to walk towards him before Cyclops got a word in.
"Who the hell are you Bub?" He asked as his claws slide out in a threatening matter. David started to laugh at the sight.
"You may be scary, but there are worse things hanging around in the dark that make you seem like child's play." David stated as he stopped laughing and went silent. Beast stepped forward and wrapped an arm around David's shoulders, careful of his own burns.
"Let's get those wounds cleaned up and you can tell us all why you are here." Beast stated and helped David stand up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So David. Who was after you?" Professor Xavier asked David who was sitting on the examining table with Beast bandaging up one of the gashes on his side.
"I told you that you don't need to put anything on them, they'll close up on their own in a day or so." David stated and looked at Beast before turning his attention towards Xavier. Weighing what to tell the people in front of him and what not to tell them, David stayed silent for a moment.
"I'm here looking for a friend. She left earlier with one of your members, Remy I think it was. That's why they went missing so you can tell the southern lady to stop ranting." David stated and this earned a laugh from Bobby, who quickly stopped when Rogue shot him a look.
"And why would they do that?" Scott asked, not surprised that Remy had taken off, but was worried slightly about the fact that Jubilee was missing as well.
"To get away from the goon squad that followed me out here. Do you guys know anyone by the name of Sinister?" David asked and leaned back a bit once Beast finished up with the bandages.
Scott paused and looked at Jean then towards Professor Xavier. "Unfortunately we have come in contact with the man." Scott stated with a guarded expression. David raised an eyebrow at the tone. Something must have happened to the redhead for him to look at her like that. Almost as if he wished he could have done something differently.
"Then you know he leaks danger every where he goes. I worked, well use to, work for him. A while ago my brother got messed up and Sinister offered to help him, in return I did a few jobs for him. Not murder or anything, just got some different things from buildings. In the end he got us both trapped in his world, making us do his dirty deeds for so long." David stated and looked at a part of the wall that wasn't to interesting.
"About a year ago I think, maybe a seven months, a girl came into the facility out side of New York. She wasn't to interesting unconscious until we found out that she was under Creed's wing so to speak. We, my brother and I, went in to try and see what she was made up. We were a bit surprised to see how sharp a tongue she had on her." David stated and looked over at Scott. Carefully choosing his next words, not sure how much Sabretooth had told the people in front of him.
"Creed wasn't so happy about leaving Jubilee in Sinister's care, especially since he knew what the man had planned for her. In the end he left and Sinister began his little experiment on her." David told them and paused when he could see that Beast wanted to ask a question, a task that he had developed during his time with Sinister, learning how to read a persons moods. Most people had no idea how many moody people lived in those bases. One minute they wanted to go out to a party, the next they want to blow your head off for saying the wrong thing.
"What types of experimentation?" Beast asked and David smiled.
"I haven't the slightest clue what the technical term is, but Sinister has been working on her to advance her powers." David stated and Beast let out an Ahha. "Right now her power level is somewhere around what it should have been during her early twenties."
"I knew something was off with her mutant expansion rate in reference to her age and size. Such things would be deadly, but if done correctly… Oh my stars and garters." Beast stated as he calculated several things in his head.
"Exactly. Jubilee is to be Minister's powerhouse. With the right power receptors, Jubilee is suppose to be able to produce enough energy to power New York for around three days in one session. She recharges and is ready to go again after a few days rest." David stated and looked at the faces in front of him. The last place he had thought Creed would take Jubilee, the x-men, but a smart choice if they could protect themselves.
"She had only had her first dose of the enhancment drugs, but it was already to much for her. About this time I was training Jubilee to get ready to do jobs for Sinister, nothing to extreme at the time, mostly some sort of control on her powers. I was surprised that it didn't take long for her to gain some control on them and later she was able to control them completely. Sinister wanted to test her and thus, she was suppose to kill a random target, lets just say that didn't go over well with her. She did it, but it almost broke her." David whispered the last part thinking of the last conversation he had with Jubilee before she left.
"Jubilee killed someone." Scott stated rather then asked. David could see that he was having troubles wrapping his mind around the thought that the teenager who looked as sweet and innocent as Jubilee took a life.
"Yeah, well things are a bit different for us there then it is for you here. Here I'm sure the thought of killing someone is quite horrid and, don't get me wrong not a lot of people are comfortable with that part of the job, but that kind of thing can get you on the bad side of a mad scientist. Most people didn't want to get on his bad side since his good side wasn't very nice most of the time." David hurried out and then looked away from Scott.
"Please continue." Xavier stated and David looked over at the older man. He didn't look surprised by the news and that made David a bit more jumpy.
"After coming back I knew she wouldn't last so me and Creed got her out. Sinister knew ahead of time… he always knows, and he stopped us just as we were leaving the building. We got in a fight and then he gave her the next set of drugs that boosted her from her late teens to twenties. She litteraly blew up a good portion of the complex. Creed brought her here and now Sinister is looking for her, hard." David stated the last portion with a lot of enthusiasm.
"That explains why the kid's been secretive about her past. But why would the Cajun go with her?" Logan asked, chewing on the end of a cigar.
"No clue. Remy just went with her, but Sinister is going to be hot on her trail and she's in deep if he finds her." David stated more to himself while thinking about possible locations they would have ran off to.
"Shouldn't we try to find them or something?" Kitty asked and Professor Xavier nodded and started to say something before David cut him off.
"No use. They're half way to China by now. Creed would have made sure she had enough passports, papers, and flights to get her out of her with out raising a single flag." David stated and Kitty sighed.
"We still will look, they are both in danger and wee will not leave them in such a fix." Xavier stated and looked towards Kitty again. "Why don't you and Beast check for any flights or anything that might pertain to the two of them getting out of town."
David laid back on the bed and put an arm over his eyes, fully intent on ignoring the people around him. He purposely left out the part that she was suppose to hand over a few of their members and that Remy was most likely wanted because he has ties with Sinister. He'd let the other man explain that part when the time came.
"David, why don't you go get some sleep in one of the guest rooms. They would be more comfortable then these beds." Jean said with a smile and David raised an eyebrow at her. Sighing at the look that Scott was shooting his way, he sat up quickly and started walking out of the room. "Would you like me to show you the way?"
"No, that's fine. I can find it myself." David stated not trying to cover up the emotion in his voice. He didn't like telepaths, never had and never will. Jean paused for a second and David was already out of the room before she could say anything. As he made his way up to one of the rooms, he smiled. Not likely that they were going to find the pair going through airline records, Remy would have taken care of those if Creed hadn't. He knew they were going out of country, it would be safer to get further away from Sinister. No, they wouldn't find Remy and Jubilee that way, but he had a good idea where to start looking.