Chapter 10:

Sienna woke with a start and found herself back in the cell of her nightmares, the place of her past. Sitting up groggily, she crossed her legs under her body and tried to calm her breathing like the Professor had taught her to do in times of immense stress or waking nightmares. Closing her eyes slowly, she tried to block out all the noise around her and concentrate on the silence. Then, she tried to banish any image of her past from her mind, any glimmer of her cell as it was the place she feared the most. Letting her mind wander away, she floated out of her body onto the peaceful astral plane towards the focus of her meditation, the Xavier Institute. Imagining the gates open before her, she entered through the window in her room and then towards the study of the Professor on the top floor. Pushing the door open, she looked around and sat on the chair in front of his desk. The sunlight streamed in and she sighed before leaning back against the chair and speaking quietly to the empty air.

::Professor, where are you? I really need your help at the moment. You must do something to save the children and me from Stryker, he's behind the whole thing. Where are you? Can you hear me?::

Then, her consciousness sensed a noise and she darted out of the school, through the astral plane and back into her body with a small gasp. Opening her eyes, she uncrossed and stood warily as the door opened and in stepped a freshly shaven Stryker with a swagger in his steps. He had no fear, she could tell but he was rather surprised she didn't crawl back into the corner like she used to do. Facing him, she eyed the refreshed man up and down and then spoke quietly.

"Why are you holding me here, Stryker?"

The man sniggered and let his eyes bore into her face as she steeled herself. "Isn't it obvious, my dear? You are a bargaining chip to me, nothing else. Xavier would never leave you here all alone to face your past, oh no. Pity, he's rather tied up with your brother right now."

Sienna blanched but did not waver or start to shake. Three years ago she would have, but she was different. She'd learnt that there was nothing to be afraid of, that she didn't have to fear him any more. This was a new and improved Sienna, the old one had died three years ago and was no more. "You are evil to use a student against his teacher, to play one of us against each other. To force people to face their loved ones in battle is evil at its worst. Xavier will never fall to your twisted schemes to destroy the race I am part of. You will not win, father..."

Walking over, he slapped her hard and knocked her down onto the floor of the cell. Rising slowly and carefully, Sienna held her cheek in one hand as the blood seeped through the fingers in drops.

"That was evil, Stryker. Striking a defenceless girl when she is unable to defend herself is not what a civilised man would do."

Stryker ignored her barb and instead grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. Freezing, she felt the cold, clammy touch of his greasy fingers on her skin and shuddered as the vice-like appendages gripped her tightly. Squirming, she felt them increase their strength and stopped as she waited for the torture to start. Stryker brandished a long, plastic syringe and placed it n the centre of her neck. Dripping a small dose of liquid onto the skin, he smiled as Sienna screamed at the burning pain of the substance. Stepping back cautiously, Stryker smiled as her eyes began to dilate into a pale white colour not dissimilar to the colour of Storm's eyes when she used her powers. However, he started in shock as the change stopped and the eyes slowly changed back into their normal green colour. Blinking, she smiled as he stared in shock at the seemingly unaffected mutant.

---

Taunting him, she spoke in a sarcastic tone. "You do know that I cannot be controlled by Jason's poison, right? Oh yes, you know nothing of me. My brother may have been docile and willing to co-operate but I certainly am not. I secret my own drug anyway and I am immune to that as well. You have failed, Stryker and I will have vengeance if it is the last thing I do..."

Stryker ground his teeth in anger and tried to increase the dosage but Sienna smiled a wicked smile and grabbed his fingers. Using a trick Remy had taught her in class, Sienna increased the pressure on his fingers and then twisted the arm forcibly so that he screamed in pain and dropped the syringe. Stepping on it, she broke it and the liquid spurted onto the floor. Lunging at her, he broke away and started to yell for the guards when he turned as Sienna uttered a low snarl. Moving a hand slowly, she entered his mind and began to encounter his attempts to resist. The mind of William Stryker was formidable and she worked through it slowly, whittling away the defences until his mind retreated behind steadfast mental shields. Perceiving the shields, Sienna called her power to herself and sent out probes through the small gaps the shields had left unguarded. As they snaked through, she smiled and then the shields weakened and then exploded.

After the shields were blown away, Sienna smiled in victory and began to twist the tendrils of his memory, searching his databanks for anything regarding her and the mansion. She found much that she transferred to her own mind and then she began to alter, to twist and added subtle memory blocks that the weakened mind could not pass. As the resistance started up again, Sienna activated her secondary power and began to weave a cunning illusion. Trapped in the changing scene, the psyche of William Stryker was soon immobilised and unable to resist. Dropping to his knees in defeat, the man stared up at her in submission and she crowed inwardly. She had finally won, had revenged herself and her brother and revenge was indeed sweet to her. Taking the memories she had wiped from his mind, she frowned as she moved slowly through the twisted tendrils of her father's mind.

Smirking, she sensed that now was the time to escape or she would never get a chance. Already, she could feel the hostile mind swelling up again but she subdued it temporarily. Grabbing the man, she used him as a shield against the guards who had taken up position in front of her with guns loaded. Eying the limp Stryker, she forced him to speak by twisting the cerebral lobe that made speaking possible.

"Let her go, let her take what she needs and then go. We are not going to chase her or hassle her, is that understood?"

The guards nodded and then Stryker collapsed as Sienna activated unconsciousness in his mind. The men were too busy trying to revive Stryker to notice her so she walked out of the area, free at last...