THE HEAVENS OPEN
By Stormkeeper (stormkpr@usa.net)
As always, I wish to thank my beta tester Leigh for assisting with every aspect of my writing.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
*****************
"What the hell is goin' on??" Gambit asked.
I wasn't sure who specifically his question was targeted to. All we knew was that we had clue what was happening on the planet's surface. We'd lost contact with the away team, and no one was in telepathic contact with Jean. We'd heard snippets of sentences, like 'It's Dagron!" and 'Get away from her!' That was about it.
So we stood around the bridge, looking at each other and fearing. "If we don't hear from dem in another minute, I'm takin' a shuttle down there," Gambit said. I'd kind of thought Cyke might say something along the lines of, 'Let's not be irrational.' But he said nothing and looked confused and worried, like the rest of us.
Several more awkward seconds ticked by. Finally, we heard something over the communicator. "Shuttle to Freedom." It was Wolverine!
"Wolverine, what's happening?" Scott asked. "Where's Jean??"
"Dagron's got her."
"What???"
"Calm down, Cyke."
"Wolverine, are Rogue and Nightcrawler with you?" Hank asked.
"Yeah. I'm settin' the shuttle to return to the ship now."
"Please let us know what you encountered on the planet," Hank implored. He wanted, I knew, to hear what had happened in chronological order so that he could make sense of it all.
So Wolverine explained to us what had happened. "I think Dagron got a hold of Rogue's mind somehow. She attacked us. She's unconscious now."
"Did you hurt her?" Gambit asked.
"No. Not anythin' she can't handle. But once Kurt teleported us back to the shuttle, she fainted. She blacked out."
I looked at Cyke and noticed he still seemed to be having trouble comprehending what we hadn't seen on the planet's surface. "But what happened to Jean?? Tell us, step by step, what happened."
"Rogue attacked us and absorbed Kurt's teleportation. She knocked him out and teleported to Jean. She knocked Jean out after Jean was tellin' us that it was Dagron controlling Rogue. Then Rogue attacked me. I couldn't stop Dagron's men from taking Jean---I was trying to stop Rogue from killing me. She and I fought, Kurt regained consciousness, and he teleported us to the shuttle. We gotta regroup before we rescue Jean."
I think this was the most consecutive sentences I'd ever heard from Wolverine. It was at least the most I'd heard him say since Storm left.
"So we have wounded. I will proceed to sick bay right away," Hank said.
"Me too," Shaman said. "Hector, please accompany us."
"Of course."
Hank, Shaman, and Hector left the bridge. I looked at Cyclops. I couldn't tell if he was shocked or angry or just stunned.
***************
Not long afterwards, most X-men found themselves in sick bay, keeping a respectful distance from those who were at work. Hector tended to Nightcrawler. He had sustained some nasty head and neck injuries, but nothing that Shaman said he could not recover from. Kurt sat up in bed, looking a little stunned but more or less alright. "Once Shaman lays his hands on you, you gonna be fine," Hector said to him.
Gambit stood next to Rogue's bed. "I do not know what has occurred," Hank said, alternating between looking at Rogue and at several monitors. "According to the monitors, it is as if she is in some type of coma. Wolverine, you are certain that you did not strike a blow to her head --- or anything similar?"
Gambit's eyes flashed ominously as he looked at Wolverine. "I didn't," Wolverine said. "Right before Kurt beamed us back, she had me pinned to the ground. She held my wrists back. Before that we hit each other a lot durin' our fight, but I didn't do anything that knocked her out."
"Obviously not or she could not have been pinning you down."
"When did she loose consciousness den?" Gambit asked.
"As soon as we got teleported back to the shuttle. She lost consciousness right when we reappeared on the shuttle," Wolverine said.
"So what we gonna do?" Gambit asked. The anger had dissipated from his voice. It looked like whatever had happened on the planet's surface was not Wolverine's fault, and he understood that he couldn't blame his friend for Rogue's condition. Instead they had to focus on getting her to regain consciousness, on helping her get better. "How we gonna get Rogue outta dis…coma, if dat's what dis is."
"I do not know," Hank said. He looked at Wolverine. "You said that Jean said that Dagron had control of Rogue's mind, correct?"
"Yeah." Wolverine's monosyllabic answer sounded more typical of his style, and he certainly preferred it to the long explanations he'd been forced to give.
"Obviously he doesn't still have it, or Rogue wouldn't be unconscious now," Cyclops said. He was fighting to maintain calmness and assert his leadership here. But the thought of Jean being captured was sending frantic shock waves throughout his entire system. Maintaining composure was an intense struggle.
"So what the hell's he want with Jean?" Wolverine muttered.
"What's the deal wit' Rogue den? Why ain't Dagron in control of her now?" Gambit asked.
"Could he still be?" Shaman asked. "Perhaps he is somehow monitoring us through Rogue."
"I wish we had Jean!" Jubilee said. She was standing near the doorway with a cluster of X-men who were listening to the discussion around the unconscious Rogue. Jubilee and the others were trying to maintain a respectful distance so Hank could work, but they still wanted to be involved in the discussion. "She would know what's going on."
As Gambit nodded his agreement with Jubilee's words, Hank replied to Shaman's idea. He checked his monitors again. "I suppose it is not inconceivable that Dagron might be monitoring us through Rogue, but it is unlikely. All the signs indicate that she is in a coma-like state."
"Telepathy might not show up on our equipment though," Cyclops said. "We have to play it safe. I want someone assigned to monitoring Rogue at all times. And let's continue this discussion in one of the conference rooms!"
Gambit looked at Hank, and then gestured towards Rogue. Hank followed his gaze; it was in the direction of Rogue's midsection. "What about….?" Gambit began.
"Do not worry, Remy," Hank said. "As far as I can determine, the fetus was not harmed during the fight and does not appear to be harmed by Rogue's state."
"How can you be sure, mon ami?"
"I performed a blood test to check her hormone levels. Additionally, I examined her and found no blood stains or discharge. I am confident that the fetus is unharmed."
Gambit breathed a sigh of relief.
Less than a minute later, most of the X-men were reassembled in a conference room. Hank, Shaman, and Hector remained in the infirmary—charged with monitoring Rogue. Cannonball remained on bridge duty.
"It is obvious that this mission was a mistake!" Jeanne-Marie said, the minute everyone was seated. "We have one X-man captured and another unconscious. And it sounds like we did not learn anything else that we hadn't before!"
Cyclops ignored her. He fought to maintain some control over the proceedings. "Let's continue on about Dagron's powers. We've got to figure out what did he did to Rogue and why he captured Jean."
"I have been pondering the question of Dagron's control over Rogue's mind, and the explanation for her unconsciousness. Perhaps Rogue lost consciousness when she lost **proximity** to Dagron," Hank said, his voice coming in over the communicator. "Maybe she is physically too far away for him to maintain control. Perhaps once she was taken such a great distance from him, his control over her mind ended and she, therefore, lost consciousness."
"Telepathy does appear to have physical limits. We've even seen it with Jean and the Professor's powers," Cyclops said.
"If 'telepathy' accurately even describes what Dagron has," Bobby added, happy to contribute to the discussion.
"I think we gotta get Dagron for us to really know what's goin' on with Rogue," Wolverine said.
"An' we gotta get Jean back too. We gotta take another mission to the planet," Gambit said. And he couldn't wait to get his hands on Dagron.
"Before we rush into going there again," Northstar began, his voice with an edge to it, "let's think it through some more. You got your asses kicked down there. We don't want that to happen again. What's to stop Dagron from taking control of **all** of your minds this time?"
Northstar's question sparked something in Gambit. "Why did he only take control of Rogue dis time? Why **didn't** he take everyone?" Gambit asked.
"That is a very good question," Hank remarked, his voice again coming through over the intercom. "If Dagron wanted to kidnap Jean, why did he not commandeer **her** mind instead of Rogue's? Alternately, why did he not take control of all your minds?
Gambit gasped. "Maybe it's got somet'in' to do wit' our first encounter wit' him. Dat time dat he had me an' Rogue in some sorta….trance."
"What do you mean, Gambit?" Cyclops asked. Part of him wanted to immediately storm down to the planet's surface and rescue Jean. But he knew that they had to plan the rescue mission well for it to have any chance of succeeding, and he knew that meant spending time doing speculating and guessing. As desperate as he was to rescue his wife, he understood this. He also looked at Gambit and guessed that the Cajun understood it as well—if they were to get Rogue out of the coma, they had to figure out what was going on with Dagron.
"Dat first time we were on the planet, he had control of Rogue's and my mind. Maybe he found…..some way back into our minds. Once Rogue got close enough to him dis time, he was able to get back in and take control again."
A German-accented voice was heard over the intercom. "Yes, I remember. He said---"
"Kurt, you should be resting," Wraith said, cutting him off.
"I am alright, Hector. I recall Dagron saying, that first time, that he wanted to learn more about us. When he said he knew enough, he….he somehow released Rogue and Gambit's minds," Nightcrawler remembered.
"So perhaps he truly did leave a -- pardon the expression --- a back door in Rogue and Gambit's minds," Hank said. "A way for him to quickly get back in, once they were physically close enough again."
"But what's to stop him from taking over all of our minds next time?" Jeanne-Marie asked. "I wasn't on that first mission, but from what I heard, it did not sound like it took too long for him to get inside Rogue and Gambit's minds the first time."
"Well, they were separated from the rest of us for a little while," Bobby said. "So maybe it wasn't instant. Do you remember, Gambit?"
"My memories of dat mission are pretty vague, mon ami" Gambit mumbled. "I can't really remember dat much once Dagron gets into the picture." Gambit had no clear memories of that mission from the time he spotted Dagron until he had been beamed back up to engineering and away from Dagron. He was also starting to fear ever getting Rogue out of that coma. The X-men still didn't really know what they were up against.
"It couldn't have been too quick," Wolverine said. "If Dagron had an instant way to get inside people's minds, then he wouldda gotten inside Jeannie and Kurt and me on that last mission."
"Maybe that's why he kidnapped Jean!" Scott said. "Obviously he has some sort of limited telepathic powers. But maybe he's trying to expand them, make them more powerful."
"An' who better to help him then one of the world's greatest telepaths?" Wolverine summed up.
"It does make sense," Hank added. "After all, Rogue was under his telepathic command. Why did he not capture her—or Wolverine or Kurt? Jean is the one he captured and it is quite possibly her telepathy that sets her apart."
"So what do we do?" Jubilee asked glumly.
"What else can you tell us about the mission?" Cyclops asked Wolverine. "Is there anything you've left out?"
Wolverine again recounted everything they had seen since they beamed down. He concluded with, "Our readings were probably right. It looks like they are tryin' to build more shuttles."
"Whatever they are doing," Jeanne-Marie began, "might I propose that once we rescue Jean and find a way to wake up Rogue that we get the hell out of here? We might not be able to fight Dagron. Maybe it's best if we leave him the hell alone – whether he's building more shuttles or not."
A few others nodded their agreement with Jeanne-Marie, though the team did not reach any conclusion on that issue. The X-men continued to discuss their situation for a while longer, but they didn't reach a decision on their next course of action. Rescuing Jean and reviving Rogue would be easier said than done, they knew. The group agreed to take a short break.
****************
Gambit pulled up a chair and sat down next to Rogue. He slowly removed a glove, and gently stroked her face. Other people were still milling around the infirmary and he wished he had some time alone with Rogue.
He reached down and planted a kiss on her cheek. The kiss was light as a feather against her slightly cool cheek.
"Chere, I'm sorry," he said quietly. He desperately wished that their last conversation hadn't been an argument. "You know dat I love you. I'm sorry we argued."
Rogue lay as stiff and unconscious as she had been since Nightcrawler teleported her to the shuttle. The machines continued their steady beeps and hums, and there was no change in Rogue's condition. Gambit sat by her side for as long as he could, talking to her and murmuring words of love. "Gonna be alright, chere…you gonna get outta dis."
***************
"It's going to be alright," Scott Summers said, holding Charlotte.
Charlotte was crying in her father's arms. Her tears woke up her brother, who had been sleeping peacefully. Little Aurora played nearby, uncomprehending of the reason for her friend's distress.
During the X-men's conflict, the children had been ensconced in the rec room. The room had been child safety-proofed and the parents reluctantly had decided to leave them in there. Jubilee and Cyclops had been set up with an audio hook-up so they would have known had anything happened to the kids. The bridge, too, was set up with a video hook-up so that Cannonball (while on bridge duty) could remotely keep an eye on, and talk to, the children as he watched the ship's sensors.
"Daddy, where Mommy?" Charlotte asked.
"I don't know now, munchkin," he replied. Jean had to still be unconscious because she had not telepathically contacted Scott. And Charlotte was unable to sense Jean's emotions, because as soon as Scott had entered the rec room, his daughter had tackled him saying "No feel Mommy! No feel Mommy!" when certainly meant that she could not sense Jean's emotions.
The thought of Jean being unconscious was terrifying to both of them. Although deep in his heart Scott did not believe that Jean was dead, he knew that was not an impossible prospect either. Scott took several deep breaths and replayed various teachings from the Professor over the years. Whatever was happening with Jean, he had to pull himself together and focus. He had to be there for the team, and for his children now too, despite the mental turmoil he was experiencing.
Jubilee soon walked into the rec room to check on her daughter. Scott continued to comfort both of his children. He spent many long moments with them. When it was time for him to leave the rec room, he turned and started down the hall.
He nearly collided with Northstar.
"Northstar." Cyclops said the man's name, a little surprised and unnerved. Scott, immersed in his thoughts, hadn't been paying much attention to whether anyone else was in the corridor.
"Cyclops, I wanted to apologize to you," Northstar said.
He spoke a little too quickly and was coming on a little to fast for Scott's tastes. Scott was so absorbed with Jean's situation, the events on the planet, caring for his children, and figuring out what the X-men should do next -- that he nearly asked Northstar 'For what?' But then he remembered, of course. The incident had been biting at the back of his mind for the past several days, and Jean had urged him a few times to discuss it with Northstar.
"I was out of line," Northstar continued. "You have a right to your opinion, and I might disagree with it, but that happens. We are not the ones who will ultimately decide what is moral and what is not. So I wish to apologize for losing my temper with you."
Cyclops blinked a few times, though the gesture could not been seen through his visor. He didn't quite believe what Northstar was saying. A few seconds passed as Scott searched for words. "I accept your apology," he said. And then he wanted to add something positive to end their awkward conversation, but he couldn't quite get the words together. He didn't want to say 'I didn't mean what I said that evening,' because he **did** mean the words that he'd said to Jean in the rec room, the words that Northstar and Bobby had eavesdropped on. He didn't want to have it appear that Northstar's apology would prompt him to take back his stance on homosexuality. Besides, if Cyclops even tried that, he knew it would come out sounding a lie. Then he considered adding words to the effect of 'You and Bobby are good people,' but felt that would sound ridiculously condescending and decided against it.
However, in the second or two that Cyclops silently debated whether or not to say more, he realized that if he didn't say something now, the chance to do so again would not just drop out of the sky. He himself likely wouldn't ever initiate it---so the moment would be gone forever. A few months ago during the X-men's last big return trip to An'zhina, Scott had agonized at his lack of friends aside from Jean. He realized now, with a chill in his heart, that he had made virtually no progress at cementing any real friendships since then. And now Jean was gone until they could get her back. As another second went by, Scott realized that he **did** have to say more, even though he doubted he would ever be friends with Northstar. `Well, you gotta start somewhere,' he told himself.
"And I guess you're right," he began awkwardly. "Sometimes people have to agree to disagree. "But I want to let you know….Jean and I have a lot of respect for you and Bobby. That's one of the reasons that I did what I did to save your life." The words weren't coming out right, Scott knew. He was tripping over and bumping into every syllable. And he realized that last sentence made it appear that he was again trumpeting the fact that he had been responsible for Northstar being cured. So he covered up that bumbling with more words. "And I'm sorry if I was out of line with anything I said or did."
Cyclops had replayed the incident to himself a few times, and had discussed it with Jean too, but he had not truly felt that he ever really got out of line during it. He **had** been ready to strike Northstar, but Northstar too had been ready for a brawl. Northstar's words had been fighting words, and he had to have known that.
Northstar nodded, and that was the end of their conversation. Cyclops now had to push it away and get back to work on resolving the X-men's current crisis.
********************
Several minutes after checking in on Rory, Jubilee had left the rec room and found herself on the bridge, sitting next to her boyfriend. They both didn't fit on one chair, so Jubilee sat beside Cannonball, holding his hand.
"Do you ever think Panda was right?" she asked.
"You mean, to stay back on An'zhina with the baby?" Sam asked. He knew this was weighing heavily on her mind; she had brought this up before.
Jubilee nodded. "I mean, maybe I **am** doing the wrong thing. Is it right for Rory to be out here with us? Especially now---when we just got Rogue in a coma and Jean captured."
"Dumplin', you know that we don't really know if it's right or wrong for Aurora to be here with us. You just gotta follow your heart and your instincts on this." He paused and added, "Besides, Rory's a mutant, right? We don't know what her powers are yet, but maybe they'll be somethin' real powerful. Bein' around all these X-men can only help her."
"I guess so."
"'Sides, Rory already did her first great thing on this mission. She actually got Wolverine to smile the other day. She's gotta be the only person who can do that."
Jubilee smiled at Sam's lightheartedness. "I never knew that having a kid would mean….so many questions that I can't answer." She quickly added, "I mean, I knew it wouldn't be a picnic. I knew it wouldn't be easy but I didn't know that I'd spend every minute wondering if I was doing the right thing or not." Jubilee paused and sighed. "Actually, I'm bullshitting. I had no idea. I didn't even think through what being a parent would mean. Once I decided I was gonna have the baby, I didn't think it through at all." She smiled, cutting herself off from getting more graphic. She'd wanted to say, 'I didn't think what it would mean until Rory's head was sticking out from between my legs and I had this red squirmy infant to take care of.'
"Darlin', no one can blame you for that," Sam said softly. "The state of mind you were in when you were pregnant…." He let his voice trail off. "But hey, it's gonna be alright. Rory's gonna be alright and so are you."
The bridge doors opened and Bobby stepped through. "It's time for my shift. And I think the other's are gonna re----"
His voice was cut off by Cyclops's over the intercom. "All X-men please reassemble in the main conference room."
Cyclops had a plan. It was now a matter of getting the team together, enacting the plan, and hoping it worked.
**************
Jean Grey's head felt as if it were filled with stuffing. A dull ache throbbed in the back of her head. When she felt her eyes opening, darkness surrounded her. Keeping her eyes open required too much energy. She shut them again.
"Here. Drink more of this. This will help you."
Jean couldn't place the voice of the person speaking to her and, in fact, didn't know whether she'd ever heard their voice before. She dimly recalled Hank McCoy and knew that the voice did not belong to him. She struggled to use her telepathy to get inside the mind of whoever this was, but for whatever reason, she couldn't connect with her telepathy. She kept reaching for it but could not grasp it and soon grew too tired to continue. The voice that spoke seemed kind though, and Jean sipped the hot liquid that was presented to her.
More time passed, though Jean wasn't aware of it. She dimly felt as if she'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for a while. But this time, her head throbbed less. She could open her eyes more easily and focus her thoughts. She felt more like herself this time. Recent memories came back to her and, as they did so, she felt a chill. She remembered teleporting down to the planet now. She recalled the scuffle with Rogue. The last thing she remembered was a blow to the head.
As it all became much clearer, Jean tried to grasp her surroundings and focus on her powers. She had the idea that she was not with the X-men. She tried to activate her telepathy and contact Scott.
Nothing happened.
Jean reached a hand up to rub her head. This time she noticed something. There was something around her neck, something metallic and cold. An inhibitor collar.
"You look much better now, Jean," a man said to her. Jean used her diminished strength to focus on him. He sat on a chair in the corner of the room. An older woman sat near him. He said something to her and the woman left the room.
Jean mustered her energy and sat up. She took in her surroundings. She was sitting on a comfortable bed in a dimly lit room. Discerning details was still problematic; her mind still felt foggy. But there was no mistaking the man who sat looking at her. Dagron. Tall and slender, with gray and white hair, mustache, and a long wispy beard, Dagron might have been in his late forties, Jean guessed. She had never actually seen Dagron before but her intuition indicated that this was the man.
"Dagron, I presume?" Jean asked. Her voice limped through the room; using her vocal chords had strained her more than she'd anticipated and she was surprised at the weak, raspy sound that came out.
"Yes. I'm very pleased to meet you, Jean Grey."
Jean wasn't surprised that he knew who she was. According to the accounts of those who had been on the first away mission to this planet, Dagron had boasted of probing Rogue and Gambit's minds to learn more about them. Jean's mind was still injured and slow, but she started to contemplate the limits of his powers, ways to get this collar off her neck.
"Welcome to Nari Silara," Dagron said.
"Is that the name of your castle?" Jean asked. She presumed that she was now inside the large structure she and the others had seen.
"No, Nari Silara is the name of our planet. My….castle—as you call it--- is known as Gul Dagronol. The structure is called a gul, and it has borne our family name for centuries."
"Where did you get this collar from?" Jean asked, tugging on it. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she realized the answer. The X-men must have left some collars inside the shuttle. She remembered vaguely being in a meeting, years ago, when the X-men had talked about the storage space inside the shuttles and had decided to use it.
"I retrieved it from your shuttle."
"What do you want with me? I want to be returned to the others. Why did you bring me here?" Her weary voice could not muster the strength and command she sought and her words came out as whines.
"You are asking quite a few questions. I think you need to rest more. We will talk more later, and I will be back soon."
Dagron rose from his chair and exited the room, imploring her one more time to get some rest. Jean made as if to follow him but never managed to get to her feet. Still too weak from Rogue's strike, she was forced to lay back down again. She refused to rest though. Her eyes scanned the room.
Nothing. The bare room presented nothing that appeared as if it could be used as a weapon, and certainly nothing strong enough for her to use to slice the collar off her neck. Although the room was dimly lit, Jean could see that the walls were decorated with several strange markings. Symbols of some sort, she guessed. The floors and walls were all a muted red hue. Jean's fatigue soon caught up with her and it forced her to take some rest. She needed it.
When she'd slept some more and regained energy, Jean rose from the bed. This time, she felt almost back to her normal self---with the exception of the accursed collar which blocked her powers from her. She resumed her search of the room. Smooth walls and no windows, no other escape means and the door was sealed. She tugged on the alien handle to no avail.
Fighting panic, Jean forced herself to sit back down on the bed and take a deep breath. The other X-men had to know where she was.
Or did they? Jean replayed in her mind the encounter outside of the castle (or the "Gul Dagronol", as he had referred to it.) She remembered most of it now, and she recalled that once Nightcrawler and herself would have been hit, it then would've come down to Wolverine versus Rogue. Jean sought out possible scenarios where Wolverine could have somehow managed to escape and contact the X-men. She tried to recall Danger Room battles and remember whether or not Rogue was capable of defeating Wolverine in combat. She'd seen those two fight some intense battles in training, and as Jean recalled, they ended up in stalemates more often than not. Jean tried again to contact Scott or Charlotte, knowing it would be futile as long as the collar was in place.
She found she was very thirsty and she badly needed to use the bathroom. An annex to the room contained what appeared to be a toilet and sink, though the shapes were foreign and odd. They were colored a dull red too, like virtually everything else in the room. Jean nonetheless used them and, after washing her hands, drank from the faucet. It tasted just like any water. There had been a glass sitting on the counter, too and it had been filled with a substance that appeared to be water. During her futile search for a weapon, Jean had tried to break the glass. It obviously wasn't made out of real glass; the vessel didn't so much as shatter and Jean had succeeded in only spilling the contents.
She sat back down on the bed and waited, and said a few prayers too.
**************
I sat on the bridge, simultaneously monitoring the others' discussion, the screens which tracked any activity going on in outer space, and the video hook up to the rec room. It looked like Charlotte had sweet-talked her Dad into allowing her to be in the meeting room with the X-men; only Rory and Chris were in the rec room.
I didn't participate in the discussion at all. Basically, the X-men talked around and around what had happened. I heard audible frustration in Gambit, Cyclops, and Wolverine---not a great combination. I hated when any one of them---let alone all three of them----was angry. The anger had a way of dominating the room. But basically everyone seemed to think that the most likely premise was that Dagron wanted Jean for her telepathic powers and that he'd lost his hold over Rogue due to the physical distance between them now. (Needless to say, there had been no change in Rogue's condition.) Other theories were tossed around but those were the two most well-accepted ones.
They then spent a boatload of time formulating plans for getting Jean back, and for reviving Rogue. I half tuned in and half tuned out.
When next I paid attention, Gambit was talking. He sounded not just firm but **passionate.** "Dat ain't gonna work, Wolverine. I tell you, a full-on attack ain't gonna do it. He got a lot of men, looks like dey trained as soldiers."
"And they have Jean," Cyclops said. He sounded more sedate now; I think the stress and anger had maybe fizzled out into weariness. "We don't know where she is. If we get to a point where we're winning a battle, he could threaten to hurt her."
"Dat's why I say dat stealt' is the answer." Given Gambit's accent, it took me a second to realize what word he had said. I stifled a most-inappropriate giggle when I made out the word 'stealth.' Gambit had such an interesting way of talking. But giggling wasn't the right reaction; Gambit was still speaking firmly and with ardor, and I hoped the intercom hadn't picked up that sound. "We gotta take dem by surprise. I can do it."
"He is a master thief," Hank said. He was still in sick bay with Rogue; his voice came over the intercom. "If we were to wage a full-out attack, Dagron and his forces are sure to notice. But if a master thief could break in alone….the chances are increased that this mission would be a success."
"And what's gonna stop him from doin' exactly what he did with Rogue?" Wolverine asked. "Dagron's a telepath, an' you and Rogue were the two he had in a trance that first time."
"But dis time I be ready for him. He took me by surprise dat first time. Dis time I'll know he's comin'. I can put up some strong shields."
"It is true that Gambit has an ability to resist telepathy," Cyclops said, almost sounding as if he was reading from Gambit's official X-men files. "During training, you've been able to resist Jean and the Professor."
I peered at the monitor and saw a most-displeased Wolverine shaking his head. "He got you the first time, he's gonna get you again. That's bullshit about your 'shields' bein' stronger ---if they were, you couldda fought him off the first time. We ----"
"I tell you, Wolverine, it was 'cause he take me by surprise dat first time! Dis time, if he tries somet'in' again, I'm gonna know he's comin'. I'm gonna be able to feel it, an' I can block it."
Wolverine went on as if Gambit hadn't spoken. "We let Gambit do this and we're just gonna get another person captured and we'll be no better off then we are now. We gotta launch a full-scale attack on Dagron."
The debate got pretty intense at times. It finally came down to a vote. I had listened in as an observer but I honestly wasn't sure which way to vote. Gambit seemed so convinced that he could do this, but Wolverine kept bringing up a great point---why hadn't he been able to resist Dagron the first time? I hated the thought of Remy being in danger but I also had the feeling that an all-out attack would end in disaster.
I must confess that when the voting started, I wasn't sure which way I was going to vote. But fortunately, being not in the conference room with the others I got to vote last. So I decided to just vote the way Jean-Paul had. Yes, I know that's totally lame. But I had no idea which way to go, so voting in accordance with my always-opinionated boyfriend was an agreeable solution to me.
Jean-Paul voted for the Master Thief going at it alone. "My gut tells me that this isn't going to be a case of might versus might, but that we truly have to out-fox Dagron," Jean-Paul said. "If anyone can do it, Remy can."
When the votes were tallied, it was close but the side Jean-Paul and I voted for won. Remy would be on a one-man rescue mission, covertly infiltrating Dagron's headquarters alone.
**************
Once the matter was decided, Gambit left Freedom quickly. He only made one stop. He went to the infirmary to bid farewell to Rogue. He spoke to her motionless form, telling her that he loved her and promising to return soon. Remy kissed her again and once more felt dismay at her lack of reaction. He stood by her bed for several moments just holding her hand, as the monitors softly hummed in the background, indicating no change to Rogue's condition.
Cyclops watched Gambit enter sick bay and waited in the hallway. He knew he was being petty, but he wanted Gambit to get a move on. Every minute they delayed could be spelling worse for Jean. Cyclops took a deep breath. 'Well, if our positions were reversed, I'd want lots of time to say goodbye to my wife---even if she was in a coma,' he realized. Besides, their readings indicated that on the area of the planet where Dagron resided, nightfall was just beginning and it made no sense for Gambit to go in any earlier anyway. Cyclops relaxed and no longer resented Gambit for taking time to say goodbye to Rogue.
"Remember," Cyclops began, as they entered the shuttle bay, "if we go for six hours without hearing from you, we're going to go ahead with Wolverine's plan." Wolverine's plan had, of course, involved a full-scale attack on Dagron. The more Cyclops thought about it, the more desperately he hoped Gambit would succeed. A full assault had quite the potential for being a flop. If something happened to Gambit, there would be only 11 battle-ready X-men left ….one or two would need to stay on board Freedom….Cyclops did not think they could defeat Dagron with 9 people, given that they were fighting on such unknown territory…Dagron seemed to have so many men and the extent of his powers was still unrevealed…
Gambit boarded a shuttle with Wolverine and Nightcrawler. When the cloaked shuttle came near enough to the planet, Nightcrawler would teleport Gambit down, and then immediately teleport himself back to the shuttle. Nightcrawler was not yet back at 100% due to his head injury, but he was strong enough.
****************
Gambit found himself on the opposite side of Gul Dagronol, away from the direction the X-men had approached. The other away team had approached under the cover of a forest but the landscape on this side of the castle was quite different. It contained a few sparse trees with several small structures lining the area. The structures appeared to be made of some sort of wood and they resembled huts. They looked as if they could house two or three people each, at the most. Gambit fleeting mused that perhaps they were servants' quarters.
The lack of cover on this side of the Gul Dagronol was not so much of a problem for a master thief such as Gambit. He moved stealthily and gracefully, and he blended in with the night. Approaching the walls of the structure, Gambit scanned for the best way in. He noticed that several men stood outside, against the building's walls. The men were strategically placed in intervals and they held something which appeared weapon-like in their arms. They had to be guards, of course.
He continued to wait, observe, and plan.
One of the guards turned to his right. He had thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, on the right side. He shinned the torch he held in that direction. Nothing. There was nothing there. The guard then resumed his normal stance. He then heard something towards his left. Whirling around and shining his light-bearing torch, he again saw nothing.
The guard took a breath. His senses must have been playing tricks on him, but there was nothing wrong with being alert. The guards had been warned to be extra careful now. He knew they had a special prisoner who had "powerful friends." Besides, tonight was not a windy evening; the air was quite still. The guard kept his eyes and ears ready, wondering if he would hear another telling noise. He made some hand signals to a few of the other guards, but their responses indicated that they detected no intruders.
Gambit retreated in the direction he had approached. His closer inspection of the castle revealed no quick and easy ways in. The walls all appeared slick and smooth. He could find nothing resembling a window, a chimney, basement. Wolverine had been right; this building looked like nothing on earth.
He tapped a button on his communicator which silently informed the crew of Freedom that he was alright. He then waited and observed more. Perhaps the guards would soon change shifts. At least then he could glimpse someone entering and leaving the castle, which would provide him a clue.
Gambit wouldn't use his powers now. To do so would go against the code of a Master Thief. His challenge was to out-smart and out-sneak his opponents. His foster-father Jean-Luc had instilled this in him long, long ago.
Gambit continued to wait and to watch. More time passed.
****************
"If you think I'm going to help you, you're woefully wrong."
Jean Grey stood facing Dagron. She spoke with feigned bravado and, making her declaration, had barely stifled an incredulous laugh.
"You will help me, Jean. If you ever want to see your husband and children again, you'll help me." Dagron's voice was calm and steadfast.
"Dagron, don't bother threatening me. I won't be coerced."
"I am a patient man. I can wait." With that, Dagron left the room.
Jean sat back down on the bed. To think that he had the gall to ask her for her assistance! Jean sighed and wondered what his plan was. Keep her here and wear down her resistance until she gave in and agreed to help? Until the X-men failed to rescue her and decided to leave the planet's orbit? If Dagron had the minimal telepathic abilities he claimed, surely his scans of Rogue's and Gambit's minds the first time through had revealed the fact that the X-men were a family. They wouldn't leave until they rescued Jean.
So the question became: was Dagron's fortress as impenetrable as the wizard had just claimed?
Jean shook her head. However powerful it was, the X-men had to be able to find a way through. She paced the room and thought some more, turning over different scenarios and possibilities. 'Maybe I should eventually pretend to want to help him,' she thought. 'I can say that I need my collar removed. Then, at the very least, I can then check in with Scott and the others.' She realized, however, that she had no way of telling them precisely where she was. She hadn't even been allowed to leave the room. 'I guess I can't even be certain that I'm inside the structure that we X-men were looking at before I was captured.'
Worst case scenario: perhaps the X-men would leave Nari Silara and return to An'zhina---with the Professor. If Dagron wanted to face off against a powerful telepath, let him spar with Charles Xavier. Of course, Jean realized, her own powers were now quite on a par with the Professor's.
Jean continued to wait, think, and hope.
************
Hours passed. Gambit periodically, and silently, checked in with the X-men. He would press the certain button on his communicator which they'd agreed would indicate he was alive and well. The X-men on board Freedom shuffled around the bridge, variously checking the sensors, hoping they would miraculously point to something overlooked. But even with their maximum sensor array turned on, they could not pinpoint too many specifics on the planet's surface.
Gambit was scoping out the Gul Dagronol from the forested area when he heard a noise. He looked to his left and right, but saw nothing. He looked above himself and saw nothing except for a large, majestic tree, the branches still and quiet in the night. The noise seemed to have stopped, but Gambit held his breath and listened.
Something. There was something there.
He couldn't pinpoint the location from which the sound came. He wasn't even sure if it had been an actual sound or perhaps rather his intuition notifying him of something. He stood as still as a statue, waiting and listening. He continued to hold his breath. He heard nothing now, but his gut told him that he was not alone. A wild animal stalking him perhaps? Gambit braced himself. If pounced on, he could easily spring up towards that tree and grab the branches. He sniffed at the air---as much as he wouldn't want to admit it, he wished that he had Wolverine's hyper-senses.
All of a sudden, Gambit felt something tugging at his ankles. In a split second's time, before he had time to react, he was pulled down. Not just pulled down to the ground but pulled down **through** the ground. Whatever had a hold of him was gripping him in a steel death-grip. He just had time to close his eyes and his mouth to prevent them from being filled with dirt.
And then Gambit was falling. His body struggled to make sense of it---he had just been pulled down towards the ground of the forest, was miraculously still alive, and then he was falling through air for several feet. When he felt himself on solid footing, he charged up a card to obtain some light. Able to stand up, he knew he was merely bruised but not seriously injured.
"Who's dere?" he called, somewhat mystified by the events of the past few seconds. Wherever he was now, the air was dull and heavy. But he could breathe. Pitch darkness surrounded him, with the exception of the lighted card. The card emanated enough light that he could see shadowy figures softly billowing around him.
"Gambit. Come with us please. We mean you no harm."
Gambit heard the words spoken. Disoriented, he could not detect from which direction they came. The voice had sounded sonorous and other-wordly. Remy's gut, which had saved him countless times during his life, told him that he was basically okay. Whoever or whatever brought him here was not affiliated with Dagron, he sensed. Gambit groped for his communicator but no signal was detected; none of the buttons responded to his touch. Whatever had just happened and wherever he was, Gambit was now on his own.
"This way. Please." The unusual voice urged him again.
Gambit felt a gentle push on his back. He decided that that, for the time being, the best thing to do would be to go along with these….people (or whatever they were.) His instincts told him not to resist now. So Gambit walked, as he held the card. It illuminated the black shadowy figures in front of him. He heard a few of the figures walking behind him as well, though they kept a respectful distance. As much as Gambit wanted to learn more about his surroundings, he could see little else. All he knew was that warm and humid temperatures closed in on him with air that was difficult—but not impossible—to breathe. He knew that had Storm been here, her claustrophobia would've caused her problems. Remy, fortunately, did not share her fear of enclosed spaces.
After less than a minute, they stopped walking. They came to what Gambit sensed was a circular area. The temperature was less hot and the air a bit sweeter and more abundant. He took a deep and liberating breath.
"Please sit down. Drink some of this cool water." Gambit, still a bit disoriented, could not even detect if the voice was male or female or which of the silhouetted figures was speaking.
"I t'ink before I sit an' do some socializin', I wanna know why you brought me here," he said. To an outside observer, Gambit gave away absolutely no hint of nervousness. Even those who knew him well would not have sensed an iota of fear from him---and perhaps there truly was no fear to sense.
"We brought you here because we wanted to tell you about Dagron. To warn you of him." These words were, Gambit detected, spoken by someone other than the first speaker. This voice sounded older, strained, and even a bit ghost-like.
"It is prophesized that you would come here." Another voice proclaimed.
Through the light of his card, Gambit saw that the humanoids---there were about five or six of them---were sitting now, in a circle formation. Their dark robes covered their entire bodies and much of their faces; Gambit could not make out their features. The figures seemed tall---though, to a tall man like Gambit, not excessively so. Though his special eyes allowed him to see better than other people, he could not make out much more than that. The room they were in appeared bare of anything else, other than these people.
One of the figures extended something towards Gambit. It was a flask filled with a liquid. "It is cool water. Drink some."
Gambit declined, and instead reached inside his trench coat for a canteen. He drank from there. "Where are we? An' who are you?" he asked. His voice conveyed a little impatience.
"We are the Nalarians. We are prophets and oracles. We live underground to escape Dagron's wrath." The words were spoken slowly and clearly, without any expression or emotion in the voice of the speaker. Again, Gambit relied on his intuition for a read on the situation. His perceptivity, which had so rarely failed him, told him that these people would not lie.
"It is prophesized that you would come here," another one said. The voice then appeared to be reciting something, "Strangers from far away lands with unheard of powers…..entering the world of Dagron….using their incredible abilities for both good and evil. They will be our salvation and our destruction."
Gambit allowed several seconds of silence to pass when this one was finished speaking. He then asked, "You guys on the run from Dagron? He your enemy?"
"Dagron seeks to destroy our people, or to use us for his own means. He has nearly succeeded in eliminating our kind. And thousands of other peoples too."
"Well den we got somet'in in common. Dagron's my enemy too. He captured one of my people." Gambit couldn't debate them on their prophesies but he could discuss with them their common enemy.
"We know. He has captured your strongest oracle, one who's powers outweigh his own. He seeks to use her. Once he has taken all that he can from her, he will discard her and he shall be more powerful than ever. The people of our planet—Nari Silara---shall be doomed." A pause, and then the speaker added, "People from other worlds will be doomed as well. Dagron is already amassing an army. His men have studied the space vehicle that your people brought. When he has taken control of Nari Silara, he will next wage war on other peoples."
"Den we gotta stop him. I'm here to rescue Jean---the one he's captured. Can you help me?" It was not that Gambit felt no concern about the words these people spoke of, their foretelling of the ruin that would result from Dagron's ascension to power. But he had to keep focussed on the purpose of his mission. If the X-men had to stop Dagron from taking control of this world or any others, they could do it later on but he was here to rescue Jean.
"Gambit." He was startled to hear his name spoken by one of these figures, but the voice continued on, "We will assist you in rescuing your person. But you must realize that Dagron cannot be allowed to grow more powerful. Your people brought the vehicle here, the vehicle with its weapons of mass destruction. You must face the consequences."
"What would you like us to do?" he asked sincerely. He guessed that there was truth to their words. They had to deal with the ramifications of having left the shuttle on this planet. And besides, he had to go along with them if he were to get their assistance.
"Stop Dagron. He has ordered thousands of people to their deaths already. He cannot be allowed to grow more powerful."
The Nalarians spoke with Gambit for a short while longer. They showed him a hidden passageway into Dagron's fortress, the Gul Dagronol. The passageway connected with a tunnel that had been used by servants, centuries ago, before the structure had been remodeled. "It will take you into his basement laboratory," one of the people told Gambit.
"He don't know 'bout dis passageway?"
"He has forgotten about it. Those who remember, he has had killed. Dagron does not see us as a threat and it would not disturb him even if he knew of this route."
One of the humanoids reached for a stick and began to draw in the dirt. The drawings showed the approximate lay-out of the castle. Gambit was told that the inside of the Gul Dagronol had appeared this way forty years ago, when this one had been a prisoner who had managed to escape.
"This place is huge. Do you know where he might be keepin' Jean?" Gambit asked.
A few more markings were made in the dirt to show Gambit the estimated location of Jean. As the one drew in the dirt, the hood obscuring the face slipped. Gambit stifled a gasp when he saw the person's face. His lit card illuminated the features well enough that he could see much more than he had before. It was a face with no eyes. The skin on the face was whiter than milk. Just by looking at this humanoid's face, Gambit realized what had been floating in the back of his mind since he had been brought here – the fact that these people had no gender, no males and no females.
"You should not delay any further," Gambit was told, once the one had finished marking in the dirt.
"What 'bout Dagron's mind control abilities? If I run into him, how can I avoid it?" Gambit asked.
"You do not need us to answer this for you. You already have the defenses that you need. Just be wary and alert. When you feel the whispers starting, throw up your shields."
"Got one more t'ing I gotta ask you bout. We t'ink dat Dagron's telepathy put my wife in a coma."
"Rogue." The name was spoken as a statement, not a question.
Gambit looked at the person who had just spoken and felt taken aback that these people knew so much of him, so much of the X-men. It was stunning, really. When the Endarians had offered a haven to the X-men, Queen Marina and her ilk seemed to know everything about them as well. And now these poor souls—subsisting in underground tunnels of a technologically backwards planet – knew of the X-men. `I never t'ought what we X-men did was so great,' Gambit fleetingly said to himself. `On eart', we fight hard, we love hard, we struggle to do our best. But we really all dat remarkable? So remarkable dat people across the galaxy know bout us?'
"Can you help her? Can I get Dagron to reverse what he did to her?" he asked them.
"Dagron cannot reverse it. He is like a child with a massive amount of power and no control. He has left people in trances from which they have never woken up."
"What can I do den? Can you help?"
"We are prophets. We do not possess the ability to free someone from Dagron's control."
"What about Jean? Or Xavier?" Gambit asked desperately. He assumed that they would know who Xavier was; they seemed to know everything else.
"It is possible that they could help. We do not know."
Gambit was getting more and more frustrated and fought to keep the sick feeling out of the pit of his stomach. "You're prophets, ain't you? What do your prophesies say bout dis? Don't you got any writins dat talk bout freein' someone?"
"The words handed down from our ancestors tell us only this: love shall conquer all."
*****************
TO BE CONTINUED
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