Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 14
Chapter 6: The Unexpected Turn of Events
Kitty groaned as she dragged a plastic bucket through the water and threw the cold sea water into a large plastic laundry cart, "We're never going to get rid of all this water!" she complained.
Scott Summers was standing at the edge of a stairway forcing all his optic beams into the water trying to evaporate the water with the heat but he knew as much as the others there was very little chance of this working.
Bobby Drake had made a wall of ice to stop the water from going any further upwards towards the next subbasement. Subbasement 5 was already completely submerged and subbasement 4 was almost there.
Kurt and Kitty, plus several others who were not affiliated with the X-Men, were busy trying to keep the water level in the basement from getting any higher by using buckets, pots, anything that would hold water, to empty the water into the laundry cards which would be taken out and emptied into the yards. Nothing was working.
"We're going to end up all drowning down here," Kurt said worriedly.
"I don't want to die down here," Kitty shivered, as she kept throwing the water out into the laundry cart. Anyway, we're the X-Men...we'll figure out something."
"I hope so," Kurt despaired.
Kitty looked at him, "Kurt, we'll make it out of here somehow…I mean…someone from Muir Island or something has to have noticed we're missing by now…for all we know…they could be sending a search party out for us."
"What chances are there of them finding us though?" Kurt asked.
Kitty could see the distress on his face, he'd had things bad. He'd obviously taken his anger out on the clones too, for he was bruised and hurt just as the others seemed to be.
"I knew something like this was sure to happen sooner or later," Kurt sighed as she scooped out more water and threw it to the cart.
Kitty kept working hard, she could feel the eyes of the clones on them, and she didn't want to anger them further.
"I…I know things between us have been iffy since…I kissed you in the elevator…"
Kitty shrugged, "forget about it, ancient history, right?"
"Kitty…I never really stopped caring about you, and I…I just see how things are with Rogue and Remy, you know, and I'm scared that one day something will happen between us and we'll never get the chance to say the things we wanted to say, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life without having never having let you know I loved you…" he looked at her.
Kitty sighed, "Kurt, seriously, I love you too, but…it's just not going to work…not anymore…and I promise, we'll discuss it WHEN we get out of here… I promise…"
Kurt looked away from her, "fine."
"I'm sensing a presence up here," Monet stated as she led the way running along the large hall with it's cell doors on every side. "I'm still new to this, I can't tell who it is yet…" she explained.
Remy ran through the halls still bare, "I haven't done this much streaking since I fifteen!" he followed on.
Monet rolled her eyes, "can you PLEASE be serious for at least an hour?"
"Serious?" he asked, "Monet, the shit I been through in the last seven years, if I'm any more serious I'm going to throw a noose round my neck," Remy uttered, he followed on.
Monet shuddered, she'd inexplicably sensed what had happened in the mansion with the clone's suicide, it hadn't been up until she'd seen the real Remy here today that she'd known the truth. But still, what he'd said did not sit well with her. Now she understood why Rogue had been so highly strung over the past few weeks. "Rogue has already been devastated enough over your death," she turned and looked at him.
"HUH?" He asked, confusedly.
"Explanations later," Monet stopped in front of a door, her telepathic senses told her someone was behind the door. "Open the door."
Remy slipped the remote key through the lock and the doors slid open, they gazed inside. Professor Xavier was inside there, sitting on the floor against a wall.
"Monet!" the Professor said in absolute shock. "Remy…what—how did you get away?"
"We'll explain later," Monet rushed in and pulled the Professor up into her arms.
"Get the Professor out of here," Remy said, "far away as possible."
"The blackbird isn't far…"
"Take this," he gave her the key, "take the Professor to the blackbird, when you come back, use your powers to sense out any remainders in the cells…use the keys, the doors are all adamantium, it's the only way to get them out."
"I think the X-Men may be down in the basements…with every other mutant here, my powers went crazy when I was close to where the flood was, I know that's where Miss Pryde was."
"Then that's where I'm going…after a little stop on the way."
"What stop?" the Professor asked.
"The clones…they got this chip in them. IN case somethin' goes wrong with them they can be deactivated completely…kind of like robots…" Remy said, "there's a room in the subbasement that does it. My guess is they're all down there trying to stop the flood, no one will be guarding the control centre."
"Good luck," Monet said, "I'll get the Professor away and I'll be back as soon as I can," and holding onto the Professor, she flew off.
A strange high frequency sound rang out over the entire subbasement as the mutants in the area were all trying to stop the flood from progressing, they all grabbed their ears and clenched their teeth as it did so.
Jean dropped to her knees, half submerged in water, "What is that?!" she screamed.
The mutants all looked around them, one by one, the clones became strangely stiff, and then dropped into the water, with a splash, or dropped to the floor from where they stood. They couldn't understand it.
"They're dying!" Kitty cried through the terrible screeching. "Oh my god, maybe we're about to be rescued!"
"Highly unlikely."
A familiar voice rang out from the top of the stairwell they were at, and they all looked up, surprised to see Magneto standing on a metallic platform that was suspended in the air by his powers, "despite the clones may have stopped working, this doesn't mean a thing," he uttered.
"Magneto!" Scott growled, "I should have known!"
Kitty gaped, "you're behind this all."
"One of three," Magneto smirked, he gestured to a woman who was standing on the platform behind him, "some of you may be familiar with miss Chantal LeBeau by reputation."
"Chantal…LeBeau…" Kitty said the name to herself, "YOU'RE Remy's sister?!"
"Remy isn't my brother not by blood or anything else," Chantal scoffed, "he's been a trouble maker ever since he found out it was I who was creating the mutant X drug."
"I don't understand!" Kurt cried out, "why are we all in here, if you…I mean, Magneto…you wanted to destroy humankind, not imprison mutants…or has your beliefs changed."
"Oh, no, you see, my beliefs are still very much the same…" Magneto smirked. "I want every mutant I can get on this island, and once the buildings are completed and we have enough inhabitants…well," he lowered the platform, "I'm going to reshape the world the way it SHOULD be…"
"You're going to…what? Destroy every human on earth?" Kitty asked raising an eyebrow, "isn't that a bit of an impossible accomplishment?"
"I have a force field around this entire island," Magneto responded, "nothing gets in, nothing gets out – unless we say so. Once we're ready, all it takes is releasing the right toxins into the air and within a week, humankind would be no more…and then we begin again…building the world the way we want."
"You're insane!" Jean cried at him, she used her telekinetic powers to the air to try and lunge at him, but Magneto pulled out a remote, and pressed a button.
Powerful electric surges ran through each and every mutant in the area, and they all squealed in pain.
Remy turned towards the door to leave when he met his nemesis. In the shadows he appeared, two red eyes.
"Again, you almost got away with it, LeBeau," the voice coldly said.
"I am going to get away with it this time. The clones are all completely disabled."
"But the mutants don't have their powers back," the cold voice replied.
"We don't need our powers to get out of this godforsaken place, Sinister," Remy uttered, "I did it seven times…without mines," he frowned. Remy grabbed a hold of the control panel nearby him. He'd pulled every lever on the panel to disable all the clones.
"But you've never been able to defeat me without your powers…" Sinister laughed softly, "you can't even defeat your own demons," he stepped out of the shadows and into the light.
Sinister almost seemed as if he were entirely constructed of silver, he moved like liquid silver, and when he talked it almost sounded like metal scraping on metal. His eyes glowed like rubies within his pale face.
Remy began to focus every ounce of his energy upon his hands, "you're right, I can't defeat you without my powers, but I can do it with."
"Your MX2beetle…" Sinister's red eyes widened. "Where—"
"It's gone!" Remy frowned, "just like this miserable hellhole will be once I'm through with it..." the control panel began to grow hot under his fingers, it was larger so it took more effort to charge up with the kinetic energy that was his power. "You and Magneto, and even that stupid bitch sister of mines…you won't have ANYTHING to hold us back anymore…your plan wasted...you're not going to have us here and torture us like slaves anymore!"
"It's a shame you don't have the same disposition the clones do, LeBeau. You'd have made a great leader."
"I won't betray the X-Men!" Remy cried, "and you can't force me to…"
Sinister began to move forwards, approaching steadily.
"Stand back!" Remy cried, "I'll let go of the panel, I mean it, and you know what gonna happen…" he frowned, "I'm not stupid…I listened enough during my years of imprisonment here to know that this control everything in the fuckin' building…it keeps the signal steady to the MX2Beetles…if I let go…EVERYTHING goes kaput…"
"If you let go of that, you'll die too," Sinister frowned.
"Most likely," Remy smirked, "but at least the others won't have to live their lives like prisoners for the dream of two mad men and a deranged woman. It'd be like Killing myself to live."
"You don't want to do that…"
Remy smirked. "Don't I?" he asked, a feverish expression built in his eyes. And then he let go of the control panel.
They all heard the loud explosion coming from the basements above, it seemed to echo, travelling down corridors and stairwells, shaking the entire structure. The collars all began to drop off one by one, falling into the water with heavy splashes. Every mutant put a hand to their neck in awe as it happened, not completely understanding what had happened.
The expression on Magneto's face was priceless, Kitty saw it and felt complete euphoria of a victory seeing him that way. He looked as if he'd just been slapped in the face, and was so indignant about it. But he did not remain around long enough to see the outcome, knowing that a thousand mutants in the GMCF had just had their powers released all at once. Even he was incapable of controlling that. The metallic panel beneath him and Chantal LeBeau morphed into a complete sphere surrounding them and they shot off upwards, it seemed to melt a hole in the steel ceiling above, disappearing completely from sight.
"Oh my god! Our powers!" Kurt said. He tested his powers and teleported two feet to Kitty's right just to test. His expression was relieved, he'd been lifted from the depression of a possibility of never being free.
Kitty grabbed onto Kurt's arm, "well don't just stand there gaping, let's go find Rogue and get the hell out of here."
Jean pressed her hands to her head as her telepathic abilities began to return to her within minutes, {Everyone look for the nearest exit, and escape as quickly as you can!} she sent out a telepathic message to everyone in the building.
"What do you think happened?" Bobby asked as he and Ororo began to make their way up the staircase.
"Someone intervened most likely!" Ororo stated, "Lets not spend time dwelling on it. We must get out of this place and off this island as soon as we can.
Rogue had been lying across the floor when the adamantium doors slid open and footsteps approached her, she opened her eyes and gazed up to find a damp Monet St Croix standing over her. "Monet?" she asked, thinking she might be possibly hallucinating from a fever or from the pain.
"Yes," Monet said, pulling her up from the ground quickly. As she did, Rogue's neck swung to the side and the MX2Beetle dropped from her neck and landed upon the cold floor with a loud clatter.
"What's going on?" Rogue asked groggily.
"I'm…not exactly sure yet," Monet said, looking at the MX2Beetle on the floor, "but I think we're all about to be saved…" she pulled Rogue's arm around her neck, "hold on…" she said, and they left the cell. Monet took to flight, flying down the large main hall where all the cells were connected. Swarms of the mutants were coming through hallways every which way, running, looks of happiness, disbelief and haste on their faces.
Monet spotted Scott Summers and Jean Grey, "the X-Men!" she said excitedly, and flew down to meet with them.
"Monet!" Jean said in surprise, "what are you doing here?!"
"Saving our asses, looks like," Rogue said weakly, she winced in pain from her ribs, "what's going on…"
"We heard a loud explosion…The collars fell off…the clones all collapsed. Something sure is going on…" Scott replied.
Monet looked around, not seeing any sign of Remy LeBeau, she hoped he'd made it – not that she had any particular affection for the man, but it seemed so sad to have rescued him just to have him die. Still, it was obvious all this had been because of him.
"Magneto was behind it all!" Kitty yelled, coming through the crowd, happy to see her friend, "AND Remy's Sister – that's who you saw!" she said to Rogue.
"We need to get outside…" Jean suggested, "we need to try and get everyone off this island – in case any more explosions occur – we need to get everyone as safe as possible.
"What about this force-field thing?" Scott asked, "Magneto mentioned it…he said no one gets in or out unless he said so…"
"Force-field…" Monet mouthed, "yes, that's why I couldn't get through…the force field was what was keeping me from getting onto the island – it kept pushing the blackbird – and even me away…is it possible it might have been disabled?"
"Hopefully…" Jean said, leading the way out. The hordes of imprisoned mutants all followed, noisy and excited. The large doors to the front of the building had been opened by Monet on her way out, and they all spilled outside in to the yards.
"Here, take Rogue," Monet said, passing Rogue over to Hank McCoy. I'll fly up there and see if it's still activated," she said.
"Be careful," Jean called out.
Monet took to the sky, the further she got the more she could feel the push of the force field, and finally she was pushed away, it would not get her get any further, "No, it's still activated!" she said as she got back down, she landed on the ground lightly.
Jean looked up, "it's probably a device Magneto constructed, god knows how we can de-activated, or even where it is…and it could be risky going back into search for it – especially with the basements flooded…"
Hank looked up, "If Magneto created it, and it pushes people – and objects – away from it, its possible that it uses the principles of magnetism or anti-magnetism. Instead of pulling an object or person towards it, it pushes it away," he said, "in theory of course."
Lorna Dane, who'd been nearby, gave a slight cough, "uhm…does this mean then, that – in theory of course – that anti-magnetism could be turned around into Magnetism?" she asked, she ran her hand absently through her green hair.
"Possibly…who's to say?" Hank asked, "how could we do this without even finding the device that operates it and switching its settings…?"
"Well," Lorna trailed off as gazed uncertainly at the sky, "Let me try…" she said, she cracked her knuckles and held her hands to the sky, "you…uhm…black leather outfit girl…" she gestured to Monet, "go up there again…"
Monet raised her eyebrow at the woman, "I have a name. It's MONET," she huffed, feeling more herself than she had in a while.
"Monet," Lorna said firmly but smiling nonetheless, "can you be a dear and go up there again?" she asked more politely.
Monet did as she was told, she didn't feel like arguing and she still wanted to be of some use. Obeying Lorna's request, she went up into the air.
Lorna closed her eyes tightly and threw her powers at it. The air around her hands seemed to warp and tremble. A small area of the sky to where Monet was heading seemed to do the same, almost as if intense heat were distorting the image of the sky.
Monet could feel the pull of it, almost like being sucked into a whirlpool, "It's working! I'm being pulled instead of pushed away!!" she screamed before being thrown out of the force-field altogether and tossed downwards into the sea.
"Oops…" Lorna winced, "I hope she won't take that as personal…"
"You can manipulate magnetism?" Scott asked in awe.
Lorna smiled a little, "didn't think it'd be that useful up until now."
"There's always a use somewhere for a mutant
power," Logan responded.
Rogue was holding onto Hank,
"has anyone seen Remy yet?" she asked.
There was no answer.
Rogue sighed, "maybe he never was here at all…" she felt tears sting her eyes, this all felt as if it had been for nothing despite the rescue of the mutants on the island, despite the defeat of Magneto…to her, it just…felt as if nothing had been worth it at all.
Kitty touched Rogue's arm, "I'm sure he's somewhere…safe…just maybe not here..." she assured, then looked around, "has anyone seen Piotr…haven't seen him either…" she said, "but I know he was definitely here with us…"
"I haven't seen him," Logan responded.
"What are we going to do about all the mutants on here?" Jean asked of Scott.
"Take some in the blackbird, we could always arrange some private planes to go and some of the others up…it may take some time, but eventually they'd all get away.
Piotr was nearby, he walked over, "is everyone alright?" he asked. He had been in the back of the crowd elsewhere when everything else had occurred.
Kitty threw herself into his arms, "you're okay!" she hugged him tightly. Relief flowed through her and she promised herself once this was truly over she had to tell him how she felt. The thought of almost having spent their entire lives in this horrendous prison and never having had the chance to say she loved him ran through her mind, and she didn't want to risk that. It was like Kurt had said earlier. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life regretting never having said she loved him.
Kurt gave Kitty a strange look, she hadn't hugged anyone else, why him? This did not seem good, no, not good at all.
Piotr smiled and let go of her, "I am fine," he assured, "a few bruises, but I think we all have those," he touched the cut on Kitty's head.
"Tell me about it," Kitty smirked a little. "I've never felt so vulnerable in my life."
Kurt nearby uttered the words, "me neither."
They were all standing several feet away from the building when a hush came over them all, they were all standing staring at something – and there was no telling what, they were all circling around the door. A few gasps broke the silence.
"What's going on…?" Jean asked confusedly, she gently rose into the air using her telekinetic abilities to see what all the fuss was about. "Oh my word," she put her hand to her mouth.
"What is it?" Hank asked, and carefully pushed his way through the crowd with Rogue still in his arms, ear to see what she had seen.
A naked man stood in the open doorway of the GMCF building, his long brown hair slightly singed, his tanned skin slightly burned, bruised, and cut. He was unabashed in his nudity. There was a scar on his chest, and if you looked close enough, you'd notice a tiny spade tattooed into the flesh on his left hip.
Rogue felt her breath catch in her throat and tears of joy broke from her eyes. "REMY!"
(The end! Or is it? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Yeah, I pushed it forward a bit, I've made people wait far too long for this, so anyway, there it is…remember and review. As usual, thanks to the ones who review the most, ishandahalf, Rogue4787, and of course, my crack 'ho, Aro. Where would I be without y'all?)