Chapter 13:

The group, swelled by one now, made its way to the deserted Alkali Lake complex and stared at the ice-covered place. Blinking, Sienna stared around and concentrated on the mental link to her father. A horrible side-effect of her power was that Sienna had an impenetrable mind-link to any person or mutant she manipulated. That meant she could feel and think what her father was thinking or feeling at any given time and it gave her the shivers. Popping her eyes open, she sighed in anger. "Stryker is here, in this place..."

Snarling, Wolverine told her to stay outside and then the groups moved in. Gritting her teeth, Sienna turned to Rogue, Bobby and Pyro as they sat there in the helicopter watching the rest disappear. "Well, there goes that option down the tubes." Sitting down in a huff, she soon started as the sound of an explosion rent the air. Clenching her fingers, Sienna turned to the others. "I can't stand being here and doing nothing. They need our help!" Running off through the snow, she ignored the yelling from the three to come back and lit across the snow. Running flat out, she began to huff a bit as she slipped once on the ice but kept going. Searching for the entrance, she pushed her way in and slithered up a pipe until she got to a ledge. Hopping up, she walked precariously along the narrow ledge until she came to a dead end. Hanging over the edge, she saw Cyclops and Jean together and sighed in relief. It was then that she realised Jean had been hurt and so she somersaulted off the ledge and landed next to the startled red-head.

"Hiya, Jean. Need any help?" she asked cheekily and Jean shook her head. "I'll be fine" she gasped out as she held her rib area. "Go check on the others, I lost track of them..."

Nodding, Sienna walked off briskly and manipulated a few of the guards in the way. Running down a corridor, she came to a laboratory that looked eerily familiar and she saw Stryker gloating while Wolverine fought with a lady who had cybernetic claws. "Just like him..." she murmured as she pressed a hand up against the glass. Then, she drew a gun she had brought a few days ago and fired at Stryker, breaking the glass and making him run. Pocketing it, she smiled and then set off down another corridor away from her hated father. She certainly didn't need him coming after her and she relished the thought that he would get lost in the maze of corridors and never come back.

---

Stopping dead a few minutes later, Sienna held her head in her hands and fell onto her knees in agony. The pain was excruciating, it was ringing in her ears and in her head and she cradled herself against the wall as she begged it to stop. Collapsing fully, she stretched prone on the ground with her hands pushing against whatever it was. Then, she blinked as it went as fast as it had come. Sitting up, she frowned and searched her mind. It had been a ripping pain, like the one time she had accidentally turned her manipulation on herself. Shaking her head groggily, Sienna stood and began to run. Something was telling her there was little time left to finish this mission. Darting along the corridors, she saw a small group of children and smiled but kept going.

Then, she froze as she saw Magneto standing there in front of a doorway. Then, he walked away and closed the door. Sienna knew and she was stunned, Magneto had tricked them all. He was still evil at heart and now she could sense the presence of her older brother, it ran thick through the air. The voice of Stryker echoed through her mind as she recalled their last conversation and she gasped and ran towards the door. Pressing against it, she began to scream out loudly "Professor, Professor. It's an illusion, get out of there now. It's Jason, Professor; he's twisting your mind and keeping you trapped." Banging on the door, she fell down against it as her emotional control cracked and tried to collapse on her. Sobbing, she felt the hand of Storm on her shoulder as she looked up.

"What is it, little one?" asked the curious Storm.

Sienna wiped a tear away. "You must hurry; he's in with my brother. He's trapped in an illusion and he's going to kill all the humans. Hurry, I would use my power but I can't do that on him and I can't do it through walls this thick..."

---

Nodding, Storm drew the girl away and turned to Nightcrawler. "Kurt, take me in there slowly."

The mutant nodded and teleported the two of them inside the Dark Cerebro as the others looked on. Then, Sienna looked up and heard the building crack and the shift in the foundations. Slipping her fingers together, she began to pray. "Lord, if you are out there, save us now. Save us..."

Then, as if her prayers were answered, the Dark Cerebro stopped and she screamed out in triumph. Grabbing the hands of the children, she dragged them out of the building as it began to shake and collapse on itself. Dodging planks of wood and pieces of stone, she pulled them through the rapidly rising water and out into the white wonderland that was Alkali Lake. They stood enraptured as the dam began to collapse on itself and the mutants began to stream out of it as the foundations shattered and exploded. Then, it caved in on itself and collapsed under the water. The immense pressure created a surge in the water and it began to rise. Pushing the others in, she yelled out to the ones lagging behind

"Come on, hurry! We don't have time!"

Grabbing the last two, she pulled them in as the Blackbird tried to rise. Supporting the Professor, she began to hum a tune to calm the children down as Storm and the senior X-Men tried to jumpstart the Blackbird. Out of the corner of her eye, Sienna saw Jean disappear out of the cargo hold and hung her head as Scott began to yell for her to come back. Then, Charles began to communicate Jean's wishes telepathically. Reaching a link to Jean, Sienna urged her to come back silently but met with no answer. Then, the plane began to rise in the air and took off as if Jean had willed it to go. Looking down, Sienna started to cry as the water enveloped everything including the retreating form of Jean Grey. Then, the two links exploded in her head and vanished. Putting her head in her hands, Sienna began to sob wildly as they soared away. The lack of a link meant that Jean Grey was dead.

Dead...