Chapter 3:

Xavier had been waiting for Sienna in his office, fiddling with his pen as he pondered the emotional setback of his promising student and the consequences for the Institute. Sienna had been exceptionally gaining ground, both in her schoolwork and in her emotional abilities as she struggled to control her gift of manipulation and illusionary ability. It had only seemed fitting that nature had given Stryker two children certainly more dangerous than he was. The apparent death of Jason had left Sienna the sole heir of Stryker's fortune and his devious nature, a role certainly in evidence in the Danger Room or during a game of paintball. Surprisingly, Sienna had remained largely intact mentally and had developed into the exact opposite of her father in most ways. While William had been incapable of love, it radiated from Sienna in large quantities. The girl was largely unscathed, despite her lack of any positive role-models or upbringing. The amount of control she had developed had been nearly complete before the incident in the Danger Room and throughout her time in the Institute she had displayed an attunement to her power that most others at her stage didn't have. But now, she had lost nearly any mental or emotional control she had built up over the years as a student. It was as if the last few years had been literally erased and Charles was worried.

As a soft knock sounded, Xavier smiled as what he perceived to be Sienna entered the office. In reality, it was mystique masquerading as the girl and in her satchel; she had a gun which was fully loaded and waiting to be used. Beckoning her over, he pushed the chair over and studied the perching Sienna carefully. Folding his hands together, he smiled at her as she fiddled with the satchel strap but shrugged the feeling of uneasiness away into the recesses of his mind and his smile faded.

"Sienna," he asked carefully, "what exactly did you mean by being tired, unwell?"

Sienna only rose and walked over to the window. Obscuring the view of her hands, she pulled out the pistol. Turning, she shot the man at point-blank range twice in the chest. Pulling the pistol down, she smiled and began to morph back before the eyes of Xavier. Constricting, the atoms of her body began to change and shift until she was red-headed and blue-skinned again, the shape-shifted mystique. Closing his eyes, Xavier fell unconscious and Mystique laughed before kicking him and sitting in a high-backed chair behind the mahogany desk.

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Meanwhile, Jean Grey had been relaxing in the spa bath with her new husband when she heard a small echo through the astral plane and frowned. The frown was enough to make her husband look up quickly.

"Jean? What is it?" he asked carefully as she shook her head to sense the echo better but it had by now faded.

Jean shook her head in bewilderment and reached out her powers in the direction of the echo. Since her subsequent death and re-appearance, Jean had constantly been manifesting strange and powerful abilities that often took her by surprise and made her feel uneasy in using them. So, she probed the different rooms with her telepathic ability until she got to the top floor. Mystique had left long ago with a cackle so the only thing Jean found was the Professor lying injured and an open window. Turning to Scott in horror, Jean gasped. "The Professor's been hurt bad, Scott. Gunshot wounds..."

Gritting his teeth in anger, Scott changed a quickly as he could before racing up the stairs and into the office. Kneeling by the side of Xavier, he cradled the older man in his arms and tried to move him but the Professor shuddered and opened his eyes.

"Sienna...gunshot wounds...it's not what you think..." Then, he closed his eyes and lapsed back into unconsciousness as Scott yelled for Nightcrawler and Kitty. Waiting, he turned as Kitty phased through the walls and Kurt followed a few minutes later, his breathing rather heavy from the effort of running up three flights of stairs as fast as he could.

As Kitty knelt by her mentor in tears, Scott spoke as evenly and controlled as he could to stop alarm spreading. "Kitty, can you phase him into the medical lab? We need to get him medical attention..." Kitty nodded and started to use her power to move the two of them down the different flights as Scott turned to Nightcrawler.

Kurt," he asked slowly with anger now evident in his voice, "Xavier mentioned Sienna had shot him before he passed out..."

Kurt gaped and shook his head in utter disbelief. "Nein! She wouldn't, she couldn't..."

"She's your girlfriend, Kurt," Scott spoke sharply. "Don't try to protect her. She's in too deep as it is without you covering for her."

Kurt gave him a glare of anger. "Dat vould be a sin, Herr Summers. I am not covering for her, she would know better."

Scott sighed in annoyance. "Very well, then we must assemble a team to retrieve her. We will need you, Remy, Piotr, Logan, Rogue and Storm. See if Betsy's here as well, we'll meet at the Blackbird in our suits in twenty minutes. Anyone who you can't find will be left behind without warning. I'll get Jean myself and meet you there."

Walking off, he left Kurt numb and with a look of complete horror on his face. "Oh, liebchen, vhat have you done now?"