Title: The prophecies
Chapter: 2
Disclaimer: I don't own the theme I only own original characters and some
original concepts.
N.B. to the reader Jean Grey is still missing but I have included Beast as he is quite an important character.
Wanda sat staring out of the small barred window of her cell into the night's sky, arms tied into this madmen's jacket she let out a sigh of despair. She had been incarcerated in this stinking prison for ten years and she was still no closer to escape, her only friend snatched away from her to be dragged into the dark abyss of the unknown. She stopped in mid thought was it her imagination or had she heard movement from outside, slowing her heart rate and closing her eyes she focused in on the sound, whatever it was it was getting nearer.
Then there was an almighty crash as the wall cracked and crumbled leaving a figure outlined in the evening dusk, reaching a hand towards her
"Granddaughter"
She clasped his hand in relief and fell into his embrace. As he carried her out she could see an almighty battle commencing as mutants were fighting guards and soldiers in an attempt to escaped out of the newly made openings in the prison defences but there was more than that.
Her grandfather placed Wanda on the floor of a helicopter hidden in the forest. Mystic sat at the controls keeping the craft at a steady altitude but turned to give a small smile, which filled Wanda with a warm glow of freedom. Her grandfather shook her gently
"Now Wanda I need you to remember clearly do you recall a prisoner of a about your age, a girl by the name of Pandora. 'Pandora', 'Pandora' the name filtered around Wanda's head in a whirl of confusion, wait what was it Striker had said as he had dragged away her only friend.
"Well my dear Pandora you caught me once but I will lock you in such a dark hole of a cell you won't even have the strength to lift your cursed head"
Pandora! "Yes" she replied "My friend Morphine, Striker called her Pandora" as she said this she was shocked to see a boy of her age, rise suddenly out of the shadowy corner and stand staring at her as if she had revealed the secret of eternal youth. Her grandfather paused slightly watching the boy then fixed his eyes on hers.
"Are you sure"
"Yes! Yes, you must save her"
"I plan to; Mystic?"
"About twenty more of those black cloaked men have arrived making a total of about sixty and they seem to be breaking out all the prisoners for a distraction whilst ten or so re - enter the building."
"Then my dear land this bucket of metal and find our honoured guest"
"Pyro" but it was too late he was gone.
Pyro waded through the thigh deep snow, his legs turning to icicles but he hardly noticed. 'Perhaps it wasn't her' he thought as he stroked his lighter tenderly. 'It had been so long, would she want to see him; maybe she had meant to leave him? No, she'd promised' He replayed that summer afternoon.
'Everybody leaves me; promise me you'll never leave'
He held her close pressing her back against his chest; she turned her head brushing her lips against his cheek and whispered in his ear.
'I'll always come back for you, as long as I have mind, I will return to you, that I promise'
'That's a funny thing to say why should you lose your mind?'
Using the violent emotions that were welling up inside, he took on his opponents one by one like countless toy soldiers being felled in battle.
When without warning a deep echoing boom was amplified in the night air; causing the raging battle on the front lawns of the prison to stop and hold its breath. Looking towards the building Pyro saw a shimmering blue mushroom cloud materialize around the prison and rippled outwards from its focus. When it hit he felt a chill overcome him and blinded by the light was thrown to the ground. Mounting to his knees he took in a sharp breath, for on the ground, in every direction, as far as his eyes could see, laid the lifeless bodies of every prison guard and soldier, with looks of fear caught in their now numb eyes.
Sitting near the library window of his country estate Charles Xavier let his mind wonder as he sat in the midsts of his beloved X – men. When like a knife in the back, a piercing anxiety sliced through his thoughts filling his body with a spasm of pain.
"Professor are you O.K.? cried Cyclops as he leapt up from his chair.
"Scott, I need you to go to the island of Brodeur Peninsula in Canada, there is a girl you must bring her back, take every one you can. Magneto is there along with many shadowy figures, be quick for there is not much time."
Nia bent forward in an order to clear her mind, she wasn't exactly sure what had just gone on, but she would bet her life that it hadn't gone by unnoticed; already she heard hurried footsteps approaching. Nia's thoughts ran rapidly as those of a cornered animal when the idea formed perfectly in her head. Where best to hide but in a crowd! With that she ran out into the corridor unlocking and opening every cell with her newly regained powers. As she expected the people who poured out and in an effort to escape were soon transformed into a raging mob; however she knew this alone would not save her, so before she turned the corner she sent a bright blue spark back to the main generator and turned to flee for her life, for in a few minutes that generator would internally combust causing an explosion that would burn the place to the ground.
Reaching the fresh air Nia pausing to gain her bearings and almost recoiled in fright as she stared into the static eyes of her recent interrogator, he was dead. An almighty battle seemed to be occurring on the front lawns, so to stay unnoticed she decided to flee into the Alpine woods in search of a village in which to recuperate before attempting the sea crossing off the isle.
Using her powers to keep her bare feet safely above the snow she ran at an alarming rate deeper and deeper into the forest when she came to an abrupt stop. In the far distance she could hear a plane landing and people crying out in pain and anger when, there is was again. Some one was watching her from the safety of the trees. She ran out at her fastest rate weaving and turning like a snake and then flew up to conceal her self silently in a tree. A masked and hooded man entered the clearing breathlessly a few minutes later, Nia taking her element of surprise fell from the tree like a rider of the apocalypse to land squatting on his chest with his own knife at his throat.
"If you value you life, you will tell me why you pursue me" she hissed a few centimetres from his face.
The man looked round as if considering his options and then without any warning let out a high whistle. In a matter of moments Nia could hear feet approaching from every direction. She grimaced; this was obviously going to be a long night.
To stop him betraying her whereabouts to his comrades she slit her captive's throat. Then pulling the gun from his belt she focused all her remaining power and drew herself up for the fight that would surly ensue.
As Pyro entered the clearing he stood for a short moment in disbelief, there she stood fighting off A HUGE group of about fifty men. That girl never failed to amaze him, but he could see from her stiff movements that she was starting to run out of power. Before he could reach her, he saw a man presumed dead rise from the ground with a dagger in hand and drag it down the side of Nia's body. Pyro let out a howl of anger as he saw them now circling his collapsed beloved, thrusting his hand forward in an impulse movement, he sent out a stream of flames that set the whole flock of vultures on fire. Running through the inferno he reached down and scooped Nia into his arms and ran from the clearing.
Nia clutching her open wound in an effort to stop the bloods escape was stunned to find herself in the midsts of a strong embrace. Her rescuer seem to be a boy of about her own age and was looking down on her with a look of such tenderness that she felt inclined to trust him, which admittedly she didn't often do. Her thoughts bombarded the innards of her mind but the door to her forgotten past stayed firmly closed "Why do you look so familiar? I could have sworn that I have seen you face before." She sensed him slowing and before long he was laying her gently onto the snow with his swade jacket rapt around her shoulders. His fingers questioningly moved along the side of her waist enabling him to examine her open cut, his face became strained.
"I have to go now but only a short while, just to make sure I wasn't followed" he said as he ran his fingers lightly through her hair line "But I'll be back very soon and I'll be able to take you to a safe place in a helicopter hidden near by where they'll tend to your wounds O.K?."
Nia nodded slowly in utter confusion but she was in a situation were she was in great need of this boys help. He reluctantly got up and moved off into the undergrowth. She tucked her self more deeply into the warm jacket and awaited his return.
Rogue stepped lightly off the jet 'that had to be the worst journey I've ever taken'. Bobby hadn't talked to her the whole way; he'd just sat staring out the window sometimes she wondered whether he was still there or if what she saw was just an illusion. 'I wish that John were here he always knew what to say' she thought to herself.
"Now team Storm tells me that there's an intense battle going on between the escaping prisoners and the army and that the prison is also on fire. The battle has nothing to do with us, we are here to find the girl before Magneto or anyone else for that matter and to free anybody still trapped inside. O.K. Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and Jubilee stay with me everyone else spread out"
'Huh still being treated like children' thought Rogue as she followed Cyclops around the edge of the woods. Kitty and Jubilee were walking side by side torn between fear and excitement, sneaking up on one another and laughing. Rogue felt with renewed force her pounding sense of loneliness and looking around for comfort was confronted with Bobbies hunched and brooding shoulders. 'And you think you're hard done by'
Cyclops drew to a stop, in the clearing lay a bedraggled figure lying in the snow she lay curled on her side, face grimacing in pain as blood trickled from her open wound dieing the snow around her.
Cyclops looked at the figure and decided that this was the girl the professor must have seen, as she matched his description perfectly.
'This is the girl, she must have hurt herself on escaping, Bobby help me get her back to the jet, we better take her back to he mansion fast she won't last much longer'
As soon as they began to move forward the girls eyes flew open and her face turned to stone emitting a glare that would rip open the heavens. Cyclops halted staring at the unnatural eyes but Bobby arrogantly strode out, before you could bat an eye lid Bobby had been thrown back into a tree with an immense force that seemed to have come from the figure that was rising from the ground. Cyclops sent out a blast set to stun from his visor that the girl deflected with an electrical force field conjured seemingly by her very thoughts to be redirected towards Kitty.
"Get down!" screamed Cyclops as he threw himself behind a tree. Pressing the communicator on his chest Cyclops processed to speak very fast "Back up immediately 10km due west of the jet". In a matter of seconds Storm and Night crawler appeared out a cloud of blue smoke.
"What's the problem?" Storm
"We saw the girl a...and she was lying hurt ... bleeding, but when we tried to approach she took off and tried to blast me and Bobby into smithereens" stuttered Kitty
"She must be a trap set down by Magneto" exclaimed Cyclops indefinitely
"How do you know that?!" replied Nightcrawler forcefully who up until this point had been staring open mouthed at the figure, who was now searching for them from the air.
"She tried to attack us!" defended Cyclops
"Perhaps she was frightened"
"We were only going to help her"
"Well maybe she didn't know that!"
"That's enough, the Professor told us to return to the mansion with her and that's what will do" Storm interjected forcefully "For the moment all we have to worry about is getting her down from there"
"Your right" Cyclops "Well we'll just have to distract her long enough so that I can bring her down with my visor."
"Don't you think that's a bit inhuman?" questioned Storm
"She'd only be stunned"
"Yes but she will drop about fifty feet to the ground!"
Storm sighed heavily to her self ever since he'd lost Jean; Scott had lost all trust and compassion for any strangers.
"If we could only distract her long enough Kurt could teleport Rogue close enough to her, so she could drain what's left of her power, with and injury like that it can't be much. Then it only remains for me to swoop down and catch her before she hits the floor.
"Whatever it takes, to complete the Professors wishes"
"Yah I will go fetch Rogue" interjected Nightcrawler.
Storm proceeded to fly up into the night sky, calling on a tremendous storm whilst her target flew a few feet away, watching with a suspicious eye. Then summoning the lightning from the sky she directed a bolt to pass by the ear of her intended captive.
Shock clutched Storm as she watched her bolt of light become drawn from it course, to be absorbed within the body of the girl, who with a sardonic smile took aim to return the bolt at full power.
When as planed Nightcrawler appeared momentarily in the air beside them and disappeared immediately after Rogue had thrown herself forward to end up clutching the girl by the ankle. The assaulted girl immediately threw a force field around herself but as Rogue was now attached to her they both became enveloped in the powerful electric field.
As Rouge hung in mid – air dangling from this girl's ankles she began to realise that although she was clutching bare skin her powers seemed to be having no affect. She looked up to find her utter confusion mirrored in the other girl's face. As she stared into those ice blue eyes she realised that the girl had no pupils what so ever, at that moment she felt herself absorb the powerful emotion that lay conceal beneath this girls surface. 'Why does everyone wish to pursue me to the end of the earth, am I doomed to an eternity alone on the run.' This emotion was so much like Rogue's own inner longings that a tear was brought to her eyes. She was roused quickly by a voice speaking in a plain English accent
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Rogue realised with astonishment that it had come from the bedraggled girl above her.
"Because you do know that's what will happen if you hit the ground before me"
Rogue suddenly felt a whole new sense of fear wash over her, was this girl taunting her before finishing her off?
"I'm going to descend a bit, then throw you up in the air above me so that I will hit the ground before you but don't worry because I'll still have your hand. The electricity absorbed in you will transfer to me as I'll be earthed, then you'll just have to fall the few feet to the ground O.K.? Promise me you won't try that again, I mean what exactly did you plan on doing, pulling me to the ground?"
Nia sighed to herself 'Some people just have no idea!' She wouldn't have normally gone to the effort but when the girl had looked up at her with such confusion then fear, it had become blatantly clear that this was not her idea and even though Nia would never admit it she felt a kind of unexplainable empathy with the girl, which might cause her guilt to play up if she just needlessly killed her. For when that tear had rolled down the girls cheek she had felt an unexplainable bond bridge between them.
Nia began to proceed in her plan, therefore riding herself of her newly aquired attachment and its emotional baggage, whilst the other X men looked on helplessly through the electrical barrier.
"She's going to try and use Rogue as bate!" concluded Cyclops from a far
"Wait! You don't know that!" Nightcrawler
"Kurt's right Scott" Storm
"Oh so you're willing to take that chance are you? Rogue could die! That is something I can't allow ... not again"
And will that Scott determinedly strode forward. Seeing the prisoner's electric shield fail for the first second she touched the ground whilst throwing Rogue into the air, Scott took no chances and aimed a deadly blow at the girl's already open wound.
Rogue saw her saviours face spasm as Cyclops struck her already injured side. With her last effort she completed the transferral of power a gently threw Rogue back to a safe distance.
Rogue turned in horror to see the girl now collapsed with her body folded over her knees. Blood was trickling down from her mouth giving a sure sign that she was suffering from major internal bleeding. Lifting her head she turned a hateful face towards the now approaching Cyclops, Rogue fell back in horror as she saw that the once piercing clear blue orbs that she had trusted, had transformed in pools of depthless midnight waters.
The now powerless captive lowered her head hiding her face within the folds of her hair while slowly reaching her hand out like a claw. Scott stopped in complete agony as he felt his head being clenched in an iron vice. His torturer then gave a chillingly low laugh a proceeded to bring in her long thin fingers and finally snap her hand back into her chest. Cyclops fell to his knees, hands pressed to his skull trying to tear out the images in his head, his mother and father in the burning plane, his brother drowning in the sea, Jean being consumed by the waves. He screamed as his body was thrown into convulsions and then lay stiller than death in the freezing snow.
Everyone stood in utter shock for what seem like years until eventually the silence was broken.
"Storm" whined Kitty "what do we do now?"
N.B. to the reader Jean Grey is still missing but I have included Beast as he is quite an important character.
Wanda sat staring out of the small barred window of her cell into the night's sky, arms tied into this madmen's jacket she let out a sigh of despair. She had been incarcerated in this stinking prison for ten years and she was still no closer to escape, her only friend snatched away from her to be dragged into the dark abyss of the unknown. She stopped in mid thought was it her imagination or had she heard movement from outside, slowing her heart rate and closing her eyes she focused in on the sound, whatever it was it was getting nearer.
Then there was an almighty crash as the wall cracked and crumbled leaving a figure outlined in the evening dusk, reaching a hand towards her
"Granddaughter"
She clasped his hand in relief and fell into his embrace. As he carried her out she could see an almighty battle commencing as mutants were fighting guards and soldiers in an attempt to escaped out of the newly made openings in the prison defences but there was more than that.
Her grandfather placed Wanda on the floor of a helicopter hidden in the forest. Mystic sat at the controls keeping the craft at a steady altitude but turned to give a small smile, which filled Wanda with a warm glow of freedom. Her grandfather shook her gently
"Now Wanda I need you to remember clearly do you recall a prisoner of a about your age, a girl by the name of Pandora. 'Pandora', 'Pandora' the name filtered around Wanda's head in a whirl of confusion, wait what was it Striker had said as he had dragged away her only friend.
"Well my dear Pandora you caught me once but I will lock you in such a dark hole of a cell you won't even have the strength to lift your cursed head"
Pandora! "Yes" she replied "My friend Morphine, Striker called her Pandora" as she said this she was shocked to see a boy of her age, rise suddenly out of the shadowy corner and stand staring at her as if she had revealed the secret of eternal youth. Her grandfather paused slightly watching the boy then fixed his eyes on hers.
"Are you sure"
"Yes! Yes, you must save her"
"I plan to; Mystic?"
"About twenty more of those black cloaked men have arrived making a total of about sixty and they seem to be breaking out all the prisoners for a distraction whilst ten or so re - enter the building."
"Then my dear land this bucket of metal and find our honoured guest"
"Pyro" but it was too late he was gone.
Pyro waded through the thigh deep snow, his legs turning to icicles but he hardly noticed. 'Perhaps it wasn't her' he thought as he stroked his lighter tenderly. 'It had been so long, would she want to see him; maybe she had meant to leave him? No, she'd promised' He replayed that summer afternoon.
'Everybody leaves me; promise me you'll never leave'
He held her close pressing her back against his chest; she turned her head brushing her lips against his cheek and whispered in his ear.
'I'll always come back for you, as long as I have mind, I will return to you, that I promise'
'That's a funny thing to say why should you lose your mind?'
Using the violent emotions that were welling up inside, he took on his opponents one by one like countless toy soldiers being felled in battle.
When without warning a deep echoing boom was amplified in the night air; causing the raging battle on the front lawns of the prison to stop and hold its breath. Looking towards the building Pyro saw a shimmering blue mushroom cloud materialize around the prison and rippled outwards from its focus. When it hit he felt a chill overcome him and blinded by the light was thrown to the ground. Mounting to his knees he took in a sharp breath, for on the ground, in every direction, as far as his eyes could see, laid the lifeless bodies of every prison guard and soldier, with looks of fear caught in their now numb eyes.
Sitting near the library window of his country estate Charles Xavier let his mind wonder as he sat in the midsts of his beloved X – men. When like a knife in the back, a piercing anxiety sliced through his thoughts filling his body with a spasm of pain.
"Professor are you O.K.? cried Cyclops as he leapt up from his chair.
"Scott, I need you to go to the island of Brodeur Peninsula in Canada, there is a girl you must bring her back, take every one you can. Magneto is there along with many shadowy figures, be quick for there is not much time."
Nia bent forward in an order to clear her mind, she wasn't exactly sure what had just gone on, but she would bet her life that it hadn't gone by unnoticed; already she heard hurried footsteps approaching. Nia's thoughts ran rapidly as those of a cornered animal when the idea formed perfectly in her head. Where best to hide but in a crowd! With that she ran out into the corridor unlocking and opening every cell with her newly regained powers. As she expected the people who poured out and in an effort to escape were soon transformed into a raging mob; however she knew this alone would not save her, so before she turned the corner she sent a bright blue spark back to the main generator and turned to flee for her life, for in a few minutes that generator would internally combust causing an explosion that would burn the place to the ground.
Reaching the fresh air Nia pausing to gain her bearings and almost recoiled in fright as she stared into the static eyes of her recent interrogator, he was dead. An almighty battle seemed to be occurring on the front lawns, so to stay unnoticed she decided to flee into the Alpine woods in search of a village in which to recuperate before attempting the sea crossing off the isle.
Using her powers to keep her bare feet safely above the snow she ran at an alarming rate deeper and deeper into the forest when she came to an abrupt stop. In the far distance she could hear a plane landing and people crying out in pain and anger when, there is was again. Some one was watching her from the safety of the trees. She ran out at her fastest rate weaving and turning like a snake and then flew up to conceal her self silently in a tree. A masked and hooded man entered the clearing breathlessly a few minutes later, Nia taking her element of surprise fell from the tree like a rider of the apocalypse to land squatting on his chest with his own knife at his throat.
"If you value you life, you will tell me why you pursue me" she hissed a few centimetres from his face.
The man looked round as if considering his options and then without any warning let out a high whistle. In a matter of moments Nia could hear feet approaching from every direction. She grimaced; this was obviously going to be a long night.
To stop him betraying her whereabouts to his comrades she slit her captive's throat. Then pulling the gun from his belt she focused all her remaining power and drew herself up for the fight that would surly ensue.
As Pyro entered the clearing he stood for a short moment in disbelief, there she stood fighting off A HUGE group of about fifty men. That girl never failed to amaze him, but he could see from her stiff movements that she was starting to run out of power. Before he could reach her, he saw a man presumed dead rise from the ground with a dagger in hand and drag it down the side of Nia's body. Pyro let out a howl of anger as he saw them now circling his collapsed beloved, thrusting his hand forward in an impulse movement, he sent out a stream of flames that set the whole flock of vultures on fire. Running through the inferno he reached down and scooped Nia into his arms and ran from the clearing.
Nia clutching her open wound in an effort to stop the bloods escape was stunned to find herself in the midsts of a strong embrace. Her rescuer seem to be a boy of about her own age and was looking down on her with a look of such tenderness that she felt inclined to trust him, which admittedly she didn't often do. Her thoughts bombarded the innards of her mind but the door to her forgotten past stayed firmly closed "Why do you look so familiar? I could have sworn that I have seen you face before." She sensed him slowing and before long he was laying her gently onto the snow with his swade jacket rapt around her shoulders. His fingers questioningly moved along the side of her waist enabling him to examine her open cut, his face became strained.
"I have to go now but only a short while, just to make sure I wasn't followed" he said as he ran his fingers lightly through her hair line "But I'll be back very soon and I'll be able to take you to a safe place in a helicopter hidden near by where they'll tend to your wounds O.K?."
Nia nodded slowly in utter confusion but she was in a situation were she was in great need of this boys help. He reluctantly got up and moved off into the undergrowth. She tucked her self more deeply into the warm jacket and awaited his return.
Rogue stepped lightly off the jet 'that had to be the worst journey I've ever taken'. Bobby hadn't talked to her the whole way; he'd just sat staring out the window sometimes she wondered whether he was still there or if what she saw was just an illusion. 'I wish that John were here he always knew what to say' she thought to herself.
"Now team Storm tells me that there's an intense battle going on between the escaping prisoners and the army and that the prison is also on fire. The battle has nothing to do with us, we are here to find the girl before Magneto or anyone else for that matter and to free anybody still trapped inside. O.K. Bobby, Rogue, Kitty and Jubilee stay with me everyone else spread out"
'Huh still being treated like children' thought Rogue as she followed Cyclops around the edge of the woods. Kitty and Jubilee were walking side by side torn between fear and excitement, sneaking up on one another and laughing. Rogue felt with renewed force her pounding sense of loneliness and looking around for comfort was confronted with Bobbies hunched and brooding shoulders. 'And you think you're hard done by'
Cyclops drew to a stop, in the clearing lay a bedraggled figure lying in the snow she lay curled on her side, face grimacing in pain as blood trickled from her open wound dieing the snow around her.
Cyclops looked at the figure and decided that this was the girl the professor must have seen, as she matched his description perfectly.
'This is the girl, she must have hurt herself on escaping, Bobby help me get her back to the jet, we better take her back to he mansion fast she won't last much longer'
As soon as they began to move forward the girls eyes flew open and her face turned to stone emitting a glare that would rip open the heavens. Cyclops halted staring at the unnatural eyes but Bobby arrogantly strode out, before you could bat an eye lid Bobby had been thrown back into a tree with an immense force that seemed to have come from the figure that was rising from the ground. Cyclops sent out a blast set to stun from his visor that the girl deflected with an electrical force field conjured seemingly by her very thoughts to be redirected towards Kitty.
"Get down!" screamed Cyclops as he threw himself behind a tree. Pressing the communicator on his chest Cyclops processed to speak very fast "Back up immediately 10km due west of the jet". In a matter of seconds Storm and Night crawler appeared out a cloud of blue smoke.
"What's the problem?" Storm
"We saw the girl a...and she was lying hurt ... bleeding, but when we tried to approach she took off and tried to blast me and Bobby into smithereens" stuttered Kitty
"She must be a trap set down by Magneto" exclaimed Cyclops indefinitely
"How do you know that?!" replied Nightcrawler forcefully who up until this point had been staring open mouthed at the figure, who was now searching for them from the air.
"She tried to attack us!" defended Cyclops
"Perhaps she was frightened"
"We were only going to help her"
"Well maybe she didn't know that!"
"That's enough, the Professor told us to return to the mansion with her and that's what will do" Storm interjected forcefully "For the moment all we have to worry about is getting her down from there"
"Your right" Cyclops "Well we'll just have to distract her long enough so that I can bring her down with my visor."
"Don't you think that's a bit inhuman?" questioned Storm
"She'd only be stunned"
"Yes but she will drop about fifty feet to the ground!"
Storm sighed heavily to her self ever since he'd lost Jean; Scott had lost all trust and compassion for any strangers.
"If we could only distract her long enough Kurt could teleport Rogue close enough to her, so she could drain what's left of her power, with and injury like that it can't be much. Then it only remains for me to swoop down and catch her before she hits the floor.
"Whatever it takes, to complete the Professors wishes"
"Yah I will go fetch Rogue" interjected Nightcrawler.
Storm proceeded to fly up into the night sky, calling on a tremendous storm whilst her target flew a few feet away, watching with a suspicious eye. Then summoning the lightning from the sky she directed a bolt to pass by the ear of her intended captive.
Shock clutched Storm as she watched her bolt of light become drawn from it course, to be absorbed within the body of the girl, who with a sardonic smile took aim to return the bolt at full power.
When as planed Nightcrawler appeared momentarily in the air beside them and disappeared immediately after Rogue had thrown herself forward to end up clutching the girl by the ankle. The assaulted girl immediately threw a force field around herself but as Rogue was now attached to her they both became enveloped in the powerful electric field.
As Rouge hung in mid – air dangling from this girl's ankles she began to realise that although she was clutching bare skin her powers seemed to be having no affect. She looked up to find her utter confusion mirrored in the other girl's face. As she stared into those ice blue eyes she realised that the girl had no pupils what so ever, at that moment she felt herself absorb the powerful emotion that lay conceal beneath this girls surface. 'Why does everyone wish to pursue me to the end of the earth, am I doomed to an eternity alone on the run.' This emotion was so much like Rogue's own inner longings that a tear was brought to her eyes. She was roused quickly by a voice speaking in a plain English accent
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Rogue realised with astonishment that it had come from the bedraggled girl above her.
"Because you do know that's what will happen if you hit the ground before me"
Rogue suddenly felt a whole new sense of fear wash over her, was this girl taunting her before finishing her off?
"I'm going to descend a bit, then throw you up in the air above me so that I will hit the ground before you but don't worry because I'll still have your hand. The electricity absorbed in you will transfer to me as I'll be earthed, then you'll just have to fall the few feet to the ground O.K.? Promise me you won't try that again, I mean what exactly did you plan on doing, pulling me to the ground?"
Nia sighed to herself 'Some people just have no idea!' She wouldn't have normally gone to the effort but when the girl had looked up at her with such confusion then fear, it had become blatantly clear that this was not her idea and even though Nia would never admit it she felt a kind of unexplainable empathy with the girl, which might cause her guilt to play up if she just needlessly killed her. For when that tear had rolled down the girls cheek she had felt an unexplainable bond bridge between them.
Nia began to proceed in her plan, therefore riding herself of her newly aquired attachment and its emotional baggage, whilst the other X men looked on helplessly through the electrical barrier.
"She's going to try and use Rogue as bate!" concluded Cyclops from a far
"Wait! You don't know that!" Nightcrawler
"Kurt's right Scott" Storm
"Oh so you're willing to take that chance are you? Rogue could die! That is something I can't allow ... not again"
And will that Scott determinedly strode forward. Seeing the prisoner's electric shield fail for the first second she touched the ground whilst throwing Rogue into the air, Scott took no chances and aimed a deadly blow at the girl's already open wound.
Rogue saw her saviours face spasm as Cyclops struck her already injured side. With her last effort she completed the transferral of power a gently threw Rogue back to a safe distance.
Rogue turned in horror to see the girl now collapsed with her body folded over her knees. Blood was trickling down from her mouth giving a sure sign that she was suffering from major internal bleeding. Lifting her head she turned a hateful face towards the now approaching Cyclops, Rogue fell back in horror as she saw that the once piercing clear blue orbs that she had trusted, had transformed in pools of depthless midnight waters.
The now powerless captive lowered her head hiding her face within the folds of her hair while slowly reaching her hand out like a claw. Scott stopped in complete agony as he felt his head being clenched in an iron vice. His torturer then gave a chillingly low laugh a proceeded to bring in her long thin fingers and finally snap her hand back into her chest. Cyclops fell to his knees, hands pressed to his skull trying to tear out the images in his head, his mother and father in the burning plane, his brother drowning in the sea, Jean being consumed by the waves. He screamed as his body was thrown into convulsions and then lay stiller than death in the freezing snow.
Everyone stood in utter shock for what seem like years until eventually the silence was broken.
"Storm" whined Kitty "what do we do now?"