Chapter 9:
Sienna was sitting on the window seat again, her body rearranged in the usual manner with her knees hugged against her body. Her scarlet top and pants were drying nearby near the heat pump and she was wearing a top with lace strings along the sides and long black trousers with flared legs. Her boots were sharpened at the heel and she sighed as she piled her hair on top of her head absently and clipped it in place. Something was amiss with the stillness of the night outside. She'd felt on edge for a week but with only Logan here, the house felt rather empty. Jean and Storm had left to retrieve a missing mutant who had threatened the life of the President, Cyclops and Xavier were with Magneto and that left Logan here alone. Not that he was unfit; just it gave her the shivers. Frowning, Sienna heard the pad of feet and stuck her head out of the door, sighing when she saw Logan head into the kitchen. Grabbing her heart, she relaxed and went to lie on the floor with a copy of Dracula she had borrowed from the Professor. Deeply immersed, she looked up about an hour later and dropped the book on the couch as she picked up the sound of something foreign. It was the sound of aircraft, several but the Blackbird was not among them, she could tell by the sound of the rotors. Frowning, she crept to the window and blanched as she picked up the designs of the US Army. What was the Army doing here unless...
With that thought, she covered her lips with her mouth quickly to block out the loud gasp she had emitted. Running out of the room; she ran up the stairs and began to scream with words for the first time since before she had come to the Institute. Racing into each door that she pushed open, she roused the occupants and explained what had happened. Then, she was out and running to the next one. As she stopped for breath with the hand of a young girl in her grasp, she looked out and saw the soldiers in the moonlight. Drawing back, she watched as they crashed the front door open. Sienna grabbed three of the kids nearest to her and pushed them down the laundry chute with clear instructions to hide in the woods as they fell down the slide. Then, she stopped dead and listened to the tramp of the soldiers up the stairs and the shooting of tranquiliser guns into bodies.
---
Pressing her body up against the wall, she peeked around the corner and started as three of the unknown intruders started to enter the rooms. Then, one of the soldiers beckoned to his partner and they walked towards her as she shrank back into the corner of a room. Grinning, they entered and trapped her in the corner as her eyes darted from one face to another in terror. Then, as one moved towards her quicker than the others, the pixy-like face lost its terror and became full of rage. Reaching into his weak mind, Sienna took a strand of thought and began to twist it as he squirmed. Then, she broke the thread and he fell, gasping to his knees as the other two looked on in dread. As she pressed further into his mind, she activated her secondary power and began to weave an illusion in his brain. Expertly, she changed it so that the man rose and began to attack his compatriots without the gun. Shooting him dead, the two men turned on her and were about to shoot her but suddenly collapsed on the floor. Behind the bodies stood Mayaa, a girl Sienna had met previously with electricity crackling from her fingertips. Thanking her profusely, the two girls ran down the stairs and Sienna pushed Mayaa through the secret entrance into the woods.
Sienna was about to enter the passage as well when she stopped dead in her tracks and stared in terror. There in the hallway was William Stryker facing off against Wolverine. Suddenly, Sienna began to shake with terror as she stood there transfixed to the spot. That was her father there, she knew everything about their relationship and that she had a brother who had once come here. It was him! The one man who had used her, abused her and ruined her life. Shaking, she suddenly had the urge to run away and hide. As Wolverine was dragged away from Stryker by Iceman, Sienna could feel the adrenaline bursting through her body and she hid in the shadows as Stryker headed towards Cerebro. "So that is what this is all about," Sienna whispered to herself as the truth dawned on her suddenly. All a diversion for her father to get his own way and hurt others, who knows how many students had been killed or wounded in the invasion and for what purpose? To destroy the Institute, or was there something else afoot?
---
As Stryker looked over his shoulder as he headed towards the door, Sienna stepped out into the hallway and regarded her father with great anger and contempt. Starting back, Stryker stared at her in kind and then snarled "What are you doing here, mutie?"
Stepping back, she regarded his face and searched for some form of recognition in his cool gaze. Finding none, she spoke coolly and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I could ask you the same thing, Stryker. Why are you taking Cerebro and killing my friends, my classmates?"
Stryker placed the suitcase down. "Because they need to be taught a lesson."
"Like you tried to teach me, father?" That made the soldiers look at her in shock and she nodded. "Tell me the truth, father, did you love me at all? When you tortured me, drugged me and whipped me, didn't a small or even tiny thread of remorse come through as you looked at me helpless? Did you, at any point love me, care for me?"
Stryker shrugged. "How could I love a mutant? How could I love a demon, an evil creature like you? You deserve to die for what you did."
Sienna looked at him with pity. "What did I do that was so wrong? I was only two when you incarcerated me? How could I have done anything when you kept me locked up for my life?"
"You helped kill my wife," Stryker snarled. "You killed her, you and Jason by being mutants. I had to lock you, a mutant that has tormented me ever since with your presence."
"That was not my fault, father..." With that, Stryker held up a hand and stopped her. "I am not your father, my daughter died many years ago. Sienna Tatiana Natalyaa Stryker is dead; I do not know you..."
Gesturing to the soldiers, he watched as they attacked her. She could only defend with her body, not with her powers or she would show her father exactly what she was. Tears glistened in her eyes and blurred her focus but she kept fighting until she was shot by tranquiliser darts and collapsed onto the ground. Stryker just walked out as the guards dragged her up and out of the place into the aircrafts and took off. Gazing down at the unconscious mutant before him, Stryker moved his hand falteringly along her cheek. Despite what he had told her, the pale woman before him was his blood. Stroking her gently, he moved a blanket over her shoulders and flinched as she nuzzled up to it. Then, he walked into the cabin as the mask fell back into place...
