Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 12
Chapter 6: Telepathic Onslaught
Monet St Croix came down for breakfast at 8am that next morning, the kitchen of the research centre was almost empty except from Alison Blaire who apparently hadn't slept all night judging by the dark circles around her eyes. Monet gave her one rather questioning expression, then went towards the box of cereal. "Didn't you sleep?"
Alison snorted in contempt but didn't answer, she dig her spoon in to her cereal and swirled the Rice Krispies. {As if she cares…} she thought dully, {she's so self absorbed and full of herself I doubt she even knows I'm here.}
Monet turned and stared, it seemed strange, to be hearing Alison's voice in her head like that, and it made Monet feel slightly ill at ease, knowing she was in someone else's head – hearing things that were never meant to be heard by anyone.
Monet hadn't been prepared for the sudden manifestation of telepathic ability that had come on almost overnight.
I should have realised this was coming, Monet thought dully as she took a bowl from the dishrack and poured herself some branflakes. Monet had always thought she was prepared for anything that life threw at her. She'd never stopped to think for one minute that this natural perceptiveness she'd seemed to have had since she was a child may have been the early stages of her mutation.
Monet poured the milk as she remained deep in thought, it only occurred to her now that there was no other way she could have known about things in peoples lives that she'd never been told. She hadn't known about Rogue and Remy LeBeau's relationship, and yet she'd somehow picked up on it without asking herself why. She'd always assumed it may have been something she'd picked up on absently, hearing a rumour and putting it to the back of her mind…
"Uhm…Monet…?" Alison asked, sounding quite confused, "Monet?"
Monet blinked herself out of her reverie and realised she had been spilling milk all over the counter, "Oh…I…" she stammered, her cheeks flushed and put the jug of milk down but at the wrong angle, in turn, causing it to topple and land upon the floor, an explosion of milk and ceramic hit the tiles. She winced.
"What is WITH you?" Alison got to her feet, grabbing a hand of kitchen towels from the roll on the counter and beginning to mop up the milk on the counter which had begun to spill over the edge. "God, you're like in your own world lately! What's wrong?"
"Nothing…I'm tired, that's all…" Monet knelt down and picked up the broken pieces of ceramic.
"Yeah, right," Alison mumbled, she squinted in annoyance, her blue eyes glittering, "You know you aren't meant to keep things from your team mates."
"You are not my team mates," Monet replied coldly, "You are merely fellow students, barely even acquaintances."
"Same thing," Alison rolled her eyes, she shook her head at the girl.
Monet dropped the pieces to the floor, pain sliced into her head like the cold steel of a knife, and mental images began to flash in front of her eyes quickly, "Ughnnn!" she cried out grasping her head, she curled up on the floor, her hair spilling into the pools of milk on the tiles.
"Monet! What is it?!" Alison asked, falling to her knees, she took a hold of Monet's arm and tried to turn her over to examine her.
Monet failed over, pushing Alison away, and holding onto her head once more. She saw a room swathed in shadows, through a large window faint moonlight shone through revealing three silhouettes, their eyes were like glittering rubies. Monet felt a sense of dread stir within her, no one was there to help her, she was glued to the spot on a bed, her legs felt leaden, her powers useless.
The three figures were closing in, she could see something glittering in one of their hands, it flashed silver in the moonlight briefly and disappeared into the blackness. She was trying to call out to the X-Men with her telepathic abilities, not her voice. All over she could sense their minds, unconscious. One of the silhouettes headed towards her, and she could barely do anything to stop it with the dead weight of her body.
The pain in Monet's head increased dramatically, something cold was against her neck now, cold steel, and needle like points were forcing their way beneath her flesh. She frowned, focusing all her power on those three silhouettes and watched them fall to their knees crying out in agony as she telepathically attacked. Momentarily she glanced to the mirror directly opposite and saw her reflection…only…it wasn't her reflection, it was Professor Xavier's reflection, and she was in his bed, feeling his powers.
Electric shock took her by surprise, and she let out a horrific shriek as she felt what the professor was feeling at that moment back in Bayville. She convulsed madly across the floor.
"MONET!" she heard Alison's voice echo, and her eyes snapped open briefly to see a distorted image of Alison trying to bring her out of the seizure. Her mind was still reeling from what she'd just seen, both telepathically and physically, the pain still remained and it felt as if a hot knife were now trying to filet her brain. She struggled free easily of Alison's grasp, her powers growing wildly out of control from the strain of her telepathic powers manifesting, growing stronger with every moment.
{Oh my GOD!!} Alison's thoughts were screaming, {what is happening to her?!}
Monet began to pick up the thoughts of everyone in the building. They were coming in like crashing waves of the ocean, unavoidable and powerful.
{So the X-Gene can be triggered before puberty? Wow! The gene becomes more advanced with every generation!} The genetic researchers down in the labs were working on mutant manifestations within children under the ages of seven. Monet tried to force their thoughts out of her head, but the thoughts only seemed to increase.
Moira MacTaggart's thoughts came next. {I'm sure she's stealing. Twice this week we've lost five six packs of toilet paper and three bottles of bleach…I think we need to fire her. I'll do the cleaning myself if I have to.}
Then Sean Cassidy's followed, {why am I avoiding asking her! Eight years is an insane time to be in a relationship without making a real commitment, I should just ask her to marry me. If she says no, nothing will change…right?}
Those thoughts began to overlap, soon her fellow students voices were in her head as their thoughts too began to cloud her mind.
{God, I'm so skinny it's gross…all the X-Men have these amazing bods like they've just come off of a Mr Universe contest and I look like I've just come out of a concentration camp,} Rusty Collins thoughts came. Monet tried desperately to block them.
Soon, everyone's thoughts were overlapping on each others until it was impossible to know who was saying what.
Monet lashed out, knocking a table over, she tossed and turned across the floor, she thudded her feet to the ground in pain, the tiles all coming loose and cracking under her strength.
{There's been barely any fish this haul, all these big boats are comin' in from the mainland and takin' all the fish…how are we meant to survive on this island with the money we make with what we catch if they steal our catches.}
{I think we need to move back to Edinburgh…the night life here is about as exciting as clipping your toenails. But if I tell HIM that he'll just gripe about how city life doesn't suit him.}
{It's rainin'…again…why does it always rain on this godforsaken island…?}
The thoughts of the entire population of Muir Island began to seep into her head, her mind filled with so many words, some in English and some in Gaelic, they were all screaming in her head until she couldn't even hear herself think. They seemed to bounce of the walls inside her skull and reverberate inside her brain, the sound causing the pain to increase. Her heart began to thud madly, she could hear it in her ears, it was like a drum – a wicked beat picking up speed until she felt her heart might explode from the pressure.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Monet screeched shrilly as tears of agony flowed down her face, she aimed upwards, still holding her head, she had to get out of the centre…get off the island, get away from peoples thoughts, the further she was away from them, the sooner the pain would go away. She took off, taking to the air like a helicopter, spinning around, her milksoaked hair whipping around. She went through the ceiling, sending rooftiles, wood and plaster exploding to the air.
Somewhere beneath her she heard Alison gasping and screaming her name, but she had no time nor want to reply. She closed her eyes, a mist of cold rain hit her face, and she began to soar higher, until the air was colder. The thoughts began to drop away from her mind like sand from an hourglass, one by one they disappeared altogether, falling into the island below. Monet opened her eyes and looked down, the research centre barely looked like a miniature model on the barren fields. Further on she could see the small village off the coast, the homes seemed as small as the houses on a Monopoly board.
Monet touched the clouds, the cool damp air, and rain still bathing her from all directions, it soothed her, and she began to breathe evenly again. She soared along the sky for a few moments, her own thoughts began to clear, all the other thoughts that did not belong to her dropped completely. Her mind was her own again.
My powers are growing faster than my mind is capable of handling, she realised wearily, she closed her eyes and soared across the water, the wind hitting her face was reassuring and calming, her short skirt flapped around her thighs, and her loose blouse fluttered slightly in the airstream just beneath her. For one moment, everything seemed fine again…
And then her eyes then snapped open and she stopped in midair, suddenly remembering the first thing that had presented itself to her in the telepathic onslaught.
"The Professor…" she whispered to herself, she sucked in a breath, "The X-Men…they're in trouble…" she glanced back towards Muir Island. Should I go back and get the others? She thought, hovering there, the Island barely a small green blob in the distance. She tried to rationally assess the situation. What could Sean or Moira do? Not much. Moira was a mere human and while Sean was a mutant, Monet felt his powers would do him no good, especially for a journey such as this. And the students? They barely could handle a level three danger room session let alone go up against real opponents and even if they could, there was no time to charter a jet to fly to Bayville, and there was certainly no aircraft on the Island that they could borrow.
Monet fretted, wondering if she'd ever be able to handle a journey such as this just by her powers of flight alone. She'd never gotten as far as to test her flight speed nor her stamina. She began to calculate in her mind. The Blackbird jet had gotten from Bayville to Muir Island in just under eight hours, but Monet was sure she wasn't as fast as the Blackbird, this might be a ten hour journey.
What if I get exhausted in the middle of the ocean? Monet wondered, but then forced herself to forget the negativity for now. No, I can't think like that. The X-Men are in trouble…and I might be the only one that can help…
She looked back to Muir Island one last time, she made her decision then. She turned and began her long journey.