Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 14
Chapter 3: Pushed Away
Monet had almost given up hope of ever reaching the small Island of Genosha when it appeared down below, even the stormy weather had not been able to stop her although it had slowed her down so much that it had taken several hours longer to reach the island than it should have. At first, speeding up through the storm had seemed fine, but she'd found it harder to navigate, and had almost caused a crash directly into a plane. Again, her better judgement had proven wrong, she was beginning to doubt herself, and continuing to lose hope with every passing hour, but she pressed onwards nonetheless.
Monet overlooked the island from above, the island was still quite desolate in some areas, although a large portion of it was overrun with the buildings – buildings that gave her chills, reminding her almost of Alcatraz. It was so cold…and from high up seemed almost abandoned.
I wonder how many more mutants are in there along with the X-Men…there could be hundreds, Monet thought worriedly as she pulled the Blackbird closer to the island. She found it strange, so close to the island now, she thought she might have been picking up some random thoughts of the mutant down there, but her mind remained surprisingly clear.
I was further away from Muir Island when I was picking up the thoughts of the island inhabitants, Monet fretted. Something isn't right here…something definitely is not right.
She decided to investigate closer, still keeping a safe distance from the Island. She noted no signs of a possible attack. Everything was surprisingly quiet and calm. She pulled the jet down a little further, no signs of attack imminent, she decided it was safe. She prepared herself for a landing and headed down towards the island.
She had gotten as close to the island as she could when she suddenly felt a force driving the jet away from the island.
"What the…?" she asked herself in confusion, the jet turned itself naturally away from the island as if it wanted to head back over the way she came. She turned it back, trying again, again, the unseen force pushed the jet away with seemingly no effort.
"What IS this?!" Monet asked. She glanced down over the Island, seeing nothing there that could possibly be pushing her away. "I need to get out and check this out," she decided firmly as she unbuckled her safety belt and climbed out of the chair. She let the jet slowly hover over the area, set it to autopilot, and opened the bottom hatch. She leapt out, taking to flight, and diving downwards. Towards the island she soared until she approached the same area the blackbird had been pushed away from, and found herself, like the jet, being forced away by unseen force.
"What IS this?!" she demanded angrily. She took off to a further away area, and shot through the sky, gaining speed as she went, determined to break through this force, but found herself, as before, just pushed back again.
"NO!" she screamed at the sky trying to break her way through to the island. "I did NOT come all this way to not get on the island!"
Several more times she tried and with no further success. She retired back to the blackbird, and she pulled it off to the direction of a nearby island. She felt like crying, defeated.
It has to be some kind of force field…that's probably why there were no guards or anyone out on watch…they don't need it with such advanced technology, she thought dully as she dropped onto the very back benches of the blackbird, an equipment closet built into the back of the jet caught her eye.
"I wonder…" she said, pulling herself up from the seat and heading over to the closet. "Maybe they have something that would…perhaps stop the effects of it…or something, aren't the X-Men always famed for being prepared?" She said to herself.
Monet yanked hard on the deadbolt and it swung open with a metallic creak. Everything was shelved or packed away neatly, but a scuba tank caught her eye. The ridiculousness of it being there made her laugh to herself. "What would they have that for up in the air?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the thought.
Monet chewed her lip, looking at it, "can I use this?" she asked herself. She wandered back to the head of the jet, gazed out of the windows, she stood, folded armed, as the jet smoothly circled the island.
There WAS water surrounding the Island of course, and this intrigued Monet a great deal. "I wonder…" she said softly. "If the force field is a complete sphere or if it's simply a dome, and only remains on the surface…" she frowned with a smirk. "I guess I'm just going to have to find out for myself…" she grinned.
Rogue and Kitty were clearing their breakfast trays into some large garbage bins in the canteen, the room was alive with talk, and Rogue felt confident enough that the noise would cover any eavesdropping from the clones.
"Thought of any plans to get out of here, yet?" Rogue asked of Kitty hopefully.
"Is the pope really Michael Jackson's biological father?" Kitty asked, her tone downcast, her expression less than cheerful as usual. The cut on her head had turned purplish, and the flesh around the wound had bruised severely. Kitty looked as drained as Rogue felt.
"No," Rogue answered, dejected, she pushed her hair away from her face. Her hair was matted and limp, greasy and unwashed. Her skin felt hot, and slightly sunburned, she'd been in the sun too long, her cheeks burned in the heat of the canteen.
Kitty looked the exact opposite. Kitty's hair had grown frizzy and taken on it's natural curl, her skin had fallen very pale, her eyes dark underneath, the girl had not eaten, and it was beginning to show. Even when she moved it showed her weakness.
"Bingo," Kitty responded to Rogue's answer as she winced, and scraped fishbones off of her plate. She'd let one of the hungrier women at her table eat the food – Kitty was hungry, but not hungry enough to eat fish. Strictly vegetarian, Kitty would have rather ate the plate. "Every time I get to thinking something might be possible…I…just get so disheartened…look at all the mutants here, Rogue…if they can't do it, what makes you think we can?"
Rogue could barely believe it, but Kitty was sounding more like her old self than she'd ever heard before. It was so unlike her. "You sound like the old me," she mused sadly, she gazed out over the cafeteria. A woman in a dark grey suit caught her eye. Twining through the mutants in orange, she walked with a confident businesslike stride, her dark blonde hair was pulled tightly into a bun at the back of her head. She wore fashionable black rimmed glasses.
Kitty touched Rogue's arm to gain her attention, "something wrong?"
"I…I know that woman…from somewhere…" Rogue whispered, "I…I can't think where from…"
It was true there was something undeniably familiar about her. She was approaching, as the doorway was near the garbage bins. As she passed Rogue she glanced at her, almost knowingly, one eyebrow slightly rising. Her mouth twitching in the slightest smile.
Rogue felt a shudder, this woman knew who she was as well, and Rogue couldn't completely understand why. She gave the woman's delicate face a good look. She had to be in her thirties, the face held much more wisdom than a women of a younger age. She had a perfect nose that ended in a slight point, high cheekbones, and large wide eyes that glittered behind those oval glasses – startling of most was the colours of her eyes, one a brilliant pale green, and a warm coffee brown.
When she was gone, Rogue drew her breath, "How do I know that woman…"
"I have no clue…" Kitty admitted, "but…did you check out the look she gave you? She totally recognised you…I saw it in her eyes…"
"Her eyes are two different colours…that feels like that should mean something to me…" Rogue admitted softly.
Kitty shrugged, "Maybe we went to school with her when we were younger…y'know, at Bayville high."
"No…" Rogue shook her head, "she's way older than we are…she had to be at least in her mid thirties…"
Kitty gave another shrug, "then I don't know…"
"Hey! You two, never mind loitering around. Get back to work…!" one of the clones yelled, approaching, his black and red eyes blazing with fury. It was obvious these clones had little patience.
Rogue had finally had enough, her mind felt as if it had literally snapped. Before she'd known what she was doing she lashed out to punch.
"ROGUE, NO!" Kitty cried, she tried to grab her friend, to prevent it somehow, but was too late. Rogue had caught the clone in the face, and she saw as the clone's head swung around blood splattering from his mouth.
Rogue tried to attack again, but this time before she had the chance, electricity shot through her, jolting her until she felt as if every nerve in her body was on fire and rattling inside her skin. She could hear her jangled cries as she convulsed, dropping to the ground, body seizing, and then it stopped, although the pain did not.
"STOP IT!" Kitty screamed hysterically. One of the other clones on guard duty had activated the MX2Beetle. Rogue twitched violently for several minutes once the shocks had stopped. Kitty fell to her knees to help her, "Oh my god, Rogue…" tears poured down her face, "Rogue…!"
The clone that Rogue had punched violently kicked Rogue in the side several times, Rogue gave a groan of pain, but seemed hardly capable of moving to prevent it, she slightly rolled over, he caught her stomach and Rogue gasped trying to breathe.
"Don't mess with us. We got the upper hand now. You're not in the X-Men anymore. You're a prisoner, don't forget it!" the clone kicked Rogue up the side of the face. Rogue rolled onto her side with the impact, pain exploding in her head.
Kitty couldn't summon the strength to fight the man who'd done this to her friend despite fury seared through her soul at the thought of what he'd done.
"I could have killed her…" the Clone uttered, "let that be a lesson—to ALL of you!" he cried, gesturing to all of the other prisoners who had watched in absolute terror. He turned to the nearest clone, "Thirty-two," he called it's name, "get her back to her cell, lock her in there."
"But she's HURT!" Kitty cried, "she needs medical attention!"
"Do you want the same?!" the clone asked, Kitty noted the number on his uniform was Ten.
Kitty recoiled slightly, watching as a now stunned and injured Rogue was lifted into the arms of the clone number Thirty-two, and taken away.
"Get back to work," Clone ten uttered, and walked away with an angry stride.
Kitty tried to wipe her tears, she was trembling with fright.
"Kitty…what happened!?!"
Kitty turned to see Jean approaching, she looked as tired and drawn as Kitty was. "They…he…he just…he…" Kitty could barely get the words out.
Ororo ran over from where she'd been, "I saw…they shocked her with the collar, and attacked her…I tried to get over, but I was held back by a large man…he told me I'd be killed if I tried to intervene…" she also had tears in her eyes, she looked more frightened than Kitty had ever seen her.
"That was number Ten," said Lorna as she approached from where she'd been watching, "Number ten runs the clones duties…he's like the ultimate badass," she said, "he's the most unstable one…you…you guys really need to keep away from him…"
"Thanks for telling us like WAY too late!" Kitty stood up, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "How can you expect us to help you all?!" she demanded, "we can't even help our fucking selves!" she yelled at the entire crowd that had formed. She turned and headed for the door intent on making her way back to the laundry.