A New Hope
Chapter Eleven
By: Lily Handle
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Author's Note: You think by now I would have something to say here.
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The ground underneath Hope pitched, rolled and thundered. She closed her eyes tighter against a pounding headache and nauseous stomach. What had happened to her? She wondered, curling tighter into a ball. Whatever she was on hit a bump and threw her into the air. When she landed, Hope remembered. Rodger had tricked her, but it wasn't really Rodger at all, it was some woman. Blue skin, red hair, black outfit, Hope remembered. She'd been drugged and now where was she? She obviously wasn't in the alleyway, because alleyways didn't go ka-thunk, ka-thunk or move. Slowly she opened one eye, casting a glance around her. I'm in a boxcar, Hope thought with a start. Moonlight spilled in through the wooden slats, illuminating spots around the car. There was nothing but a few boxes and Hope in the boxcar, which she didn't know how to take. She tried to push herself up only to discover her hands were tied behind her, and so were her feet. Well, Hope thought, what a silly thing to do, it's not like I could go anywhere. Hope sighed, closed her eyes again and began to recite medical text. She had learned that this calmed her down, and she wanted to make sure that she didn't give into the panic that was circling around her heart. She had to stay calm, focused, so she could help herself escape or live longer. Think about liver transplants, think about trauma surgery, anything, Hope chanted to herself, and slowly while thinking about all the nerves you had to line up while reattaching a finger she fell back asleep.
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"Mr. Chandler, please stay calm," Hank said, watching Marcus Chandler pace the front entry of the Institute. He had shown up along with Mary Chandler, Hope's mother, as soon as he'd been informed Hope was missing. Charles had been the one to discover Hope was missing through a premonition, and instantly the Institute had come to life. While Hank had informed the Chandlers that their daughter had been taken he didn't tell them that it was a mutant intent on destroying humanity that had done it. Instead he had thrown on a holo-watch and waited for the Chandlers to arrive. Now that both were here, the team had moved to the underground portion of the house and Hank was left to calm the worried family.
"Stay calm? Stay calm?" Marcus Chandler's old-fashioned Southern accent flowed angrily through air, "My baby girl is missing!" Marcus was a tall man, almost six five with snow-white hair and a mustache that curled slightly at the ends.
"Marcus," Mary Chandler was sitting calmly in an armchair, her small hands folded together on her lap, "If you sit I believe Hank will tell us what he knows." Mary was much smaller than her husband, with the same white hair as her husband, classically shaped. She had always been more level headed than her husband, but underneath her clam exterior, Hank knew that she was just as panicked as Marcus.
"You know something?" Marcus asked, sitting on the armrest of the chair Mary was sitting in.
Hank sighed, "What we know is very little. Hope went to Charity to visit her friends there, when last seen she was going to lunch with a fellow doctor. It turns out that it was an imposter Hope went to lunch with, the real doctor was found in his apartment, bound and gagged."
"Is the doctor alright?" Mary asked, taking her husband's hand.
"He's fine," Hank reassured them, "His story is that his land lord came in and then struck him from behind. The police believe that the land lord was also an imposter."
"Any idea where Hope may be?" Marcus asked.
"Not yet, but the police are looking. I assume you're going to talk to them after here?"
"Yes, it should have been our first stop, but we came here instead," Mary shrugged, "Thank you Hank."
"I'm always happy to help, Mrs. Chandler, Mr. Chandler." Mary got up from her chair and hugged Hank, "If I learn anything important at all, I'll call you."
Marcus held out his hand, "You've always been a good friend to Hope." Hank took his offered hand and shook it.
"It's good to see you both again," Hank said, leading them to the door and watching as the drove down the drive way and through the gate. Once the gate had closed again, Hank ripped the watch from his wrist and made his way to the elevator. He didn't feel like he deserved the gratitude of the Chandlers, what had he done to protect Hope? Nothing, he'd thought there'd been more time to prepare, but Magneto and Mystique had jumped the gun and grabbed Hope before he could even notice she'd left for the day. Hank wished he could go back to the morning, make the suggestion to spend the day with Hope, but instead he'd thought about his work around the Institute. Hank sighed as the elevator doors opened and he stepped into the kitchen where the students who weren't on the search for Hope were waiting for news. The X-men were the ones searching, along with Charles who was using Cerebro to try and track Hope, but everyone else was left waiting.
"They're gone," Hank said when everyone turned towards him, "And nothing new." The students sighed and went back to waiting.
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When Hope woke again the train had stopped, it was still dark outside and Hope was still tied together, but she didn't feel sick anymore. Now she felt like she had to take action, there wasn't anyone in the car with her, and it didn't sound like there was anyone waiting outside, so Hope had a chance. First she had to get the ties off her feet. Arching back Hope tried to reach the knot on her feet with her fingers. Almost, almost, Hope thought, just barely reaching the knot. She bent even further back and felt her shoulder muscles pull, but she had her hands on the knot. Her fingers flying frantically, Hope worked at the knot until she kicked her feet free. Quickly she rolled onto her knees and using the wall behind her as a balance shimmied her way to her feet. Once she was standing Hope tried to reach the knot that tied her hands, but just the tips of her fingers brushed it and she couldn't get a good hold. Giving up on the knot Hope began to hesitantly make her way towards what looked like the outline of a door. Hopefully it's not lock, Hope thought, finding her way by poking her toe in front of her to make sure she didn't run into anything and give away that she was making an attempt at an escape. When Hope reached what she thought was the door, she squinted looking for a lock of some sorts. Unbelievably there was no lock on the inside, which Hope had expected. Thank you God, Hope thought, using her shoulder to try and slide the door open. The door gave a large rusty groan then suddenly jerked open, spilling Hope outside. She landed on her shoulder, gasping as she felt her collarbone snap. She laid there for a second, blinking away tears brought by the pain before rolling to her knees again and slowly getting to her feet. Now where to go? She wondered, looking down the rows created by the parked trains. Okay, don't think, Hope told herself, feel. She went to her left, running as quickly as she could with her broken collarbone and her tied hands. She must have run down fourteen cars when she heard footsteps and whistling.
"Is some one there?" Hope called as she made her way towards it, "Please I need help!" Hope turned and ran into the whistling man.
"Well now little lady," He said, grabbing hold of Hope's arms, "Where are you headed in such a hurry?" Hope screamed as the man's face morphed back into the woman with blue skin and red hair. Hope ripped herself away and stumbled back.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Hope asked, trying to stay one step away from the woman.
"I'm whoever I want to be, but most people call me Mystique, and what I want from you, Doctor, is to shut up." Mystique lunged for her and Hope turned to run. She stopped dead in her tracks as she came face to face with the whole Brotherhood and the four men from the alleyway. There was only one figure she didn't recognize a man in red and purple, but it was easy to tell he was the leader. Could this be Magneto? Hope wondered, trying to stay between the wall of mutants in front of her and the single one behind her.
"Doctor Chandler, we finally meet," Said the man in red taking a single step forward. "I'm almost disappointed this will have to be our last."
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Charles sat patiently working with Cerebro as he tried to find Dr. Chandler. As an inactive mutant he had to track her as a human, but he still hadn't found her. Systematically he'd been widening his search area, three miles, six miles, nine miles, ever steadily reaching farther and farther. Now he was searching almost two hundred and twelve miles of area for the Doctor.
"Logan!" Charles' telepathy reached for the man and then he felt her. The doctor was only twenty miles from where Logan was. There was a chance.
"What, Charles?" Logan thought back.
"Go west, twenty miles, you'll find a train yard. Doctor Chandler has been taken by Magneto," Charles ordered, "The X-men and I will be arriving soon."
"Right." Charles felt Logan turned and started west. Charles removed the helmet to Cerebro, "X-men assemble in the hanger, I've found her."
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Hope was terrified beyond belief, but she wasn't giving in to it. Even though she was facing down a man who had just threatened to kill her and wanted to curl up and cry. She wasn't going to do give in, she was going to try and get away, just because she had to try.
"What do you want from me?" Hope asked, trying to stand her ground even as those gathered closed ranks on her.
"It's very simple Doctor, you stop your work and we will leave you alone."
The light bulb went on in Hope's mind, this man in red was Magneto, the man who had been after her, "You can't stop my work."
"Of course I can, Doctor," Magneto said, throwing his arm out to the right and watching in shock and horror Hope stared as a boxcar was ripped from its tracks and the other cars with were coupled to it. It hovered there almost ten feet in the air, "I'll give you one last chance, stop now and forever, or else." Panic ripped through Hope as Magneto floated the car over and hung it above her.
"Some one will carry on after me," Hope said defiantly, "Mr. Xavier, or Hank will or someone else will. You're trying to stop the inevitable and you can't!" Hope cringed, expecting the car to drop and her to be dead any second. Instead she was jerked off her feet, tackled to the ground and finally heard a thundering crash as she looked up.
"Logan?" She asked incredulous but suddenly he was lifted off of her and thrown to the side. Logan growled as he was pressed against the side of a boxcar. Hope looked towards Magneto who was holding his hands out towards Logan, there was a grim smile on his face. Hope stumbled to her feet, a huge BAM ripped through the night air and the area was illuminated. Hope looked up, but couldn't see anything against the glare of the light, which suited Hope just fine. She took off at a stumbling run, throwing her weight into the charge she caught Magneto in the chest. It hurt her shoulder, but she heard Logan drop to the ground behind her, of course Magneto reacted just as quickly, grabbing the front of Hope's shirt and lifting her off the ground.
"What do you think you can do to me?" He growled, "You're a human."
Hope jerked her knee up, catching Magneto in the chin, "I can do that." Magneto's hand let go of her shirt, and moved to her throat. Hope kicked and struggled against his hold, trying to suck in breaths as his hand got tighter and tighter. Her chest burned, her eyes watered and it got harder and harder to think, but Hope kept trying to kick out and break free. Just as her eyes started to flutter closed, and her mind started to go blank Hope felt her skin start to burn. Unexpectedly white light flared up around Hope, engulfing her. A scream ripped from her throat and Hope was lost in the light.
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Author's Note: Man, I remember when I first wrote this chapter, I hadn't written anything for weeks, maybe enough a month, but then I couldn't stop writing. Now, I can't stop rewriting. Odd huh?
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