The Song of Eternity
Canto 7
A Normal Life
Verse 9
The feeling of dread,
Born into all living things,
Waits below the surface,
Like the calm before the storm.
Vincent looked up from the laptop he was working on to see Logan enter the office. "Morning," he greeted the X-Man who just grumbled and went straight for the coffee pot. He continued to work on his laptop while Logan read the newspaper and smoked his usual cigar. Eventually Elena and Damon came in looking irate.
"That's it Valentine. You start getting those kids up in the morning," Damon growled as he slumped down to his chair with a squishing sound. "Cole has to be thrown down the stairs to wake up and Murphy has a reflex of casting random spells on anyone who touches him in his sleep," Damon complained.
"Best idea I can think of is to hook up some electrodes to shock them awake in the morning," Elena joked. She had picked Damon up earlier after he had awoken the kids. "What is all this about a dinosaur in the mall last night anyway?" she asked Vincent.
"Good question. It wasn't any of our kids," Logan explained.
"It was an illusion. The twins and I were there, so once we realized what it was, Cole just negated the mutant who created its powers," Damon explained.
"What can you tell me about this man?" Vincent asked Logan as he turned his laptop around, showing him a full screen face of Mesmero.
"Mesmero? That the guy from last night?" Logan asked to Damon who nodded. "He's a powerful telepath whose power is being increased by something. We have no idea what it is. He's appeared twice, each time to perform a task releasing one of the seals on some chamber holding the most powerful mutant, Apocalypse. There's supposed to be only one seal left before Apocalypse is free. What do you have on him? And more importantly, how do you have anything on him? You were still asleep when we battled him," Logan pried.
"Starmore left some files on dangerous mutants and other threats to the planet in a command center in the basement. All he had on this one was that he was a powerful telepath of unknown ability, working to release a great evil on the planet. But Starmore only really cared about destroying the WEAPONs, so since this Apocalypse isn't a WEAPON, Starmore let him be. There were several warnings going off as well, but all they did was point to a location on the globe," Vincent explained before hitting a button, causing a map of a mountainous region and a monastery to pop up. "Here, a monastery in Tibet. If it is okay with you, I would like for you and Damon to go check it out and report back."
"Tibet? I barely even know where we are now," Damon complained.
"That's because you get drunk fly around rather than study this world," Elena sighed.
"I'm up for it. Xavier will want to hear about this too, so he's probably let us use the jet or chopper," Logan considered the mission. "I'll go talk to him, we can leave tomorrow, just be at the mansion around 8 in the morning," Logan said as he got up to leave. "Might wanna pack climbing gear too, no telling what terrain we'll have to go over," he added before he left the offices.
"Is that snow at that monastery? I hate the cold!' he roared before leaving the office to go pack his things.
Cole and Murphy emerged from Chemistry yawning after arriving late once again. "Too early… me needs sleep," Murphy mumbled as he opened his locker. "I need to tell you some stuff me, Vince, and Damon found last night too," he said to Cole who looked at him expectantly. "Well we found where the guy might be and I think Damon and Logan are gonna go check it out. At least that was Vince's plan last night," Murphy shrugged before stumbling off to class.
"Hey, Cole, hear about the ruckus at the mall last night?" Lance said from behind him. "Blob says you got a first hand look at the thing," he continued, not getting a response. "So, uh… You decided about that thing we talked about yet?" he asked nervously. Cole nodded, handed him a slip of paper, then went off to his next class. "What's this?" Lance asked himself as he read the note.
I'll pick you up at 7 and then we'll get the girls. Be ready Friday.
Logan stared at the cloud of warm breath as it left his mouth. He grunted and pulled himself up over the top of the ridge and looked down on the monastery. Damon landed silently beside him. "I don't see any people, we could have landed here instead of marching through this damn snow for the last two days," Damon complained.
"Shut yer yap, we got a job to do," Logan growled as he trudged down the hillside towards the monastery. He noted how the snow gave way to green grass at a uniform height all around the valley. "That ain't natural. Something weird going on here," he mumbled as Damon flew down to the main building on his camouflaged wings.
Damon settled to the ground easily and breathed in the high mountain air. "At least it got me away from Valentine," he mused as he walked through the door into a large stone chamber and started to set up the satellite transmitter by the entrance. "All ready," he said about the time that Logan got over to him. "I'll send out the signals to Vince and Xavier, just grab one of the camcorders," Damon explained as he finished attaching some wires. "And we have broadcast," he stated as he picked up the remaining camcorder and started to look around the room.
Damon, we're getting it all loud and clear on our end. He heard Vincent through his own earpiece and could make out Xavier through Logan's. They continued to look around, making sure the taped all the walls.
"Looks like writing or something. I don't understand it though," he said into his microphone. "Logan, can you read any of this?"
"No, Chuck says it some ancient form of Egyptian hieroglyphics," Logan explained. Eventually they made their way to the far wall of the monastery where the building met the side of the mountain. "What the hell do you suppose this is?" Logan asked as he and Damon stared at a doorway of some kind.
"Didn't you say there were three seals keeping this Apocalypse guy locked up?" Damon asked.
"Yes," Logan replied as he studied the partially opened doorway.
"Check this out then, these two doors are already open," he pointed out as he traced two large stone slabs on each side of the doorframe. "That means that this is the third seal," he said as he pointed the camera at the remaining stone surface.
"The thing is already open," Logan noted as he stuck a claw through the point where the two slabs joined. "Someone closed it to make it look like it was still sealed."
Damon, point the camera up a little. Vincent ordered Damon who pointed the camera towards the top of the doorway at another drawing. That was the third seal. Vincent realized as Damon and Logan looked up a familiar looking drawing.
"That is definitely Galactus dying," Logan said as he stared at a crude drawing of a purple giant bleeding overtop of a door opening.
"Let's open this the whole way," Damon suggested. He and Logan set down their cameras, grasped the stone slabs and pulled until the door opened enough for Logan to get through. "Go ahead, I can't fit through there. Remember, I am not what I seem to be," he joked as he continued to look around the chamber.
Logan emerged a minute later shaking his head. "Nothing in there but an empty sarcophagus," he explained. "If Apocalypse was here, he's been gone for a while now," he said as he pointed the camera at his own face.
"Good, then let's follow his lead and get out of this frozen hell-hole," Damon growled as he began to feel a bit uneasy. "I got a feeling something bad is gonna happen."
Lance resisted the urge to wreck the jeep as it sped towards him, only to stop a few inches from his body. He took a deep breath and climbed in the passenger side and almost burst out laughing. "What's with the suit?" he asked Cole who just flipped him off and stomped on the gas. Lance was dressed in jeans without holes for once, but Cole was wearing his Turk suit, minus jacket and sunglasses, with the white dress shirt half untucked and tie missing. "Seriously, why are you all dressed up man?" Lance asked after closing his eyes as Cole went broadside around a turn.
Cole pulled a note from his pocket and handed it to Lance who opened it to read it. "Oh, cause you're a Turk. What, you gotta be ready for anything?" he asked then grabbed another note from Cole's hand. "Your mission is to keep a lid on mutant activity in Bayville. What? Don't you trust me?" Lance asked.
Cole looked over at him seriously then went back to driving. "Yeah, I guess I do have a bad track record," he admitted as Cole nodded.
Rogue and Kitty waited on the front steps of the mansion as they watched the jeep pull up the driveway at a respectable speed. "You owe me for this one Kitty," Rogue pointed out.
"You don't even know who it is I set you up with," Kitty joked. "Maybe you'll like him?"
"I doubt it. At least you get to touch your date…" her voice trailed off as the jeep stopped and Cole calmly got out of the driver's seat while Lance half fell out of the passenger's side, glad to be on solid ground.
"Sweet Jesus, get this boy a car with roll bars," he breathed heavily once leaning on the jeep. "Please tell me you aren't gonna drive like that the rest of the night," he spoke to Cole.
Cole shuddered in a silent laugh then nodded his head.
"Let's get going then, the movie starts soon," Kitty said as she pulled Lance into the backseat.
Once they got going, Rogue asked Cole the same question Lance had earlier. "What's with the suit?" Cole shook his head exasperatedly.
"Cause he's a Turk, remember? Probably wearing it just in case something happens," Kitty guessed.
Cole nodded to affirm her guess. "So, are you voiding our powers now or what?" Rogue asked Cole.
Cole stared at the road, then nodded. Rogue shakily took her glove off and pressed her hand to the side of Cole's face. Cole visibly stiffened when she touched him, but no powers or lifeforces were transferred. After another minute they pulled into the theater and headed into the movie.
A few hours later Cole pulled up at the mansion and stood with Rogue by the jeep while Lance walked Kitty to the door. "They make a nice couple if you can get over how much of a jerk he is sometimes," Rogue said as she watched the pair. She was startled when Cole handed her a piece of paper.
Do you know?
"What? I don't understand," Rogue shook her head as she looked into Cole's eyes. He stared back at her, as if he was searching for something. After a few seconds he bowed his head in seemingly defeat and walked back to the driver's side of the jeep. "Cole?" Rogue called after him.
He ignored her and pulled on his jacket and stepped out into the main lawn of the mansion. "Cole?" she shouted louder this time, getting Kitty and Lance's attention as well. They looked on as he looked up at the sky and screamed in silence as a pair of black wings erupted from his back.
"Cole!" Lance shouted as he rushed toward the silent twin. Cole jumped and took to the air before Lance could reach him, tossing Lance the keys to the jeep. The three of them watched as Cole flew back into the city. "I guess I'm taking his jeep home," Lance guessed as he watched the winged figure fade in the distance.
Murphy got up from the TV when he heard the knock at the door. He walked over and opened it up, surprised to see Lance there. "Uh, hi Lance… Why are you here at eleven at night?" he asked the young mutant.
"Well, you know how me and Cole took a couple girls out, right?" he asked Murphy who nodded. "Well, when we dropped them off back at Xavier's something made him flip out, sprout a pair of wings, and fly in this direction. I just came to drop off his jeep, try to get a ride home, and see if he's okay," Lance explained.
"He came in a little bit ago and went upstairs. I haven't heard anything from him since," Murphy said as he walked upstairs with Lance following. "Cole, you okay in there man?" he asked as he knocked on the door and got no answer. He tried the handle to find it locked. "This can't be good, he might be bleeding from the wing thing," Murphy mused.
"Want me to try to bust down the door?" Lance asked.
"Won't work. Jeez, don't you people feel your power all the time? Can't you feel it when it doesn't work or where it doesn't work?" Murphy asked as he looked at the air around himself. "I'm guessing he's sleeping by the way the void field is pulsing," Murphy said as he closed his eyes for a second. "But the fluctuations are too small, his breathing is shallow, something is wrong," he finished as he tried to open the door again.
"Just use your magic or something," Lance said.
"Doesn't work inside the void field either, damn near nothing biologically super powered does," Murphy explained as he banged on the door. "This is gonna hurt, get ready to put your shoulder into it," he said as they both took their positions and rammed the door, causing it to fall from its frame into the room.
"That sucked," Lance muttered as he and Murphy got to their feet. "Is he sleeping?" he asked as Murphy moved to check on Cole's still form on the bed.
Murphy poked at Cole's unresponsive body, then saw the half empty bottle of vodka in his hand and the empty bottle of sleeping pills in his other hand. "Oh shit! He's trying to kill himself! Try to get a response or something, I gotta go get Vince," Murphy ordered as he bolted from the room and Lance tried to get Cole into a sitting position.
"C'mon buddy, get your ass awake here," Lance swore as he finally got Cole into a sitting position and held his head up. "Christ, he's out of it," Lance said as he heard Vincent's boots thundering up the stairs. "He's unconscious or something," he said as Vincent, Elena, and Murphy crowded into the room.
"What the hell happened to him?" Vincent asked.
"Took the rest of his pills with a half of vodka," Murphy explained.
"Damn it! Murphy, call Xavier, find out what we need to do about those pills," Vincent ordered as Murphy ran from the room to make the call. "Any ideas? Make him puke to get them out?" he suggested.
"Works for me, but they might have dissolved in his stomach already, how good are those things?" Elena asked.
"No idea, he takes two a night, but I don't watch to see how long they take to affect him," Vincent said. "What happened tonight? Anything strange happen with him?" Vincent asked Lance.
"Not until the end of the night, up until then he was having a good time with me and the girls, then he just flipped out and flew off when 'talking' to Rogue," Lance explained.
"Rogue, the girl that absorbs powers? The girl from Xavier's institute?" Vincent asked.
"Yeah, so wha…?" Lance stopped as Murphy came back into the room at full speed.
"Make him puke now," he said as he pocketed the phone. "We need to get those pills out before any more dissolve," he explained. "Any ideas how we get a guy who can drink half a bottle of vodka in five minutes to puke?" he asked.
"Start punching him in the gut. I know a trick that we had to use on Reno a couple times," Elena ordered as she headed down to the kitchen.
"Great, hitting him is a brilliant idea," Vincent muttered. "Hold him up you two," he ordered Lance and Murphy who slipped an arm over each of their shoulders and got him into a standing position. "Here goes nothing," he muttered as he pulled back and drove his fist into Cole's midsection. After striking him a few more times he shook his head. "Not working, put him down."
"His pulse is getting weaker, even if we get the pills out it might be too late," Murphy said as he looked at Vincent. "We need to try to cast Cure or Regen or something to stabilize him," he said as he looked at Vincent.
"I thought you said cause of his void field you couldn't use spells?" Lance asked.
"You can, but we think there's a good chance it will kill the caster as well, due to the effort it would take," Murphy explained.
"Here make him drink this," Elena said as she came back into the room with a green looking liquid. "Hold his head up so I can pour it down his throat," she ordered as she poured the liquid into Cole's mouth.
"What is that stuff?" Murphy asked as he almost gagged from the smell.
"A mix of common household items, we used to use this all the time whenever we needed Reno to sober up or not die from alcohol poisoning," Elena explained as she finished pouring the liquid into his mouth. "Get that garbage can ready," she ordered Lance who grabbed the can and pulled it between Cole's feet.
Cole's eyes immediately opened wide as his insides heaved upwards and out of his mouth into the can. "There we go, but I don't see any pills, he must have absorbed most of them," Elena said as Cole continued to vomit.
"Spell time then, he's damn near incoherent, so we need to do this without his help," Vincent said as he pulled out the Agememnon. "Let's try," he said as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the magic in the gun. He began to sweat as he finally felt the stirring of power. He opened his eyes to see Murphy having similar results. He finally formed a green glow around Cole's body and fell over as the spell took effect.
Murphy followed soon after, both of them were sweating profusely and bleeding from their noses and ears. "He okay?" Vincent asked as Elena and Lance helped Cole lay down.
"What's happening to him?" Lance asked as he watched Cole's hair grow before his eyes.
"One of those two cast Regen on him. His body is regenerating and reproducing cells at an accelerated rate, hence the hair growth," Elena explained. "He looks a lot like Rene," she pointed out to Vincent as Cole's hair stopped growing. "Sloppy suit, the hair looks a lot like his now," she muttered as she thought of her deceased friend.
"Cole, are you okay?" Vincent asked.
Cole just stared out his window with his face set, ignoring Vincent. "Listen, I know what happened tonight," Vincent said. "You need to get over your past, nothing good will come of you clinging to it," Vincent continued. "Can we leave you alone tonight? Give me your word that you won't try anything," Vincent asked the youth. Cole continued looking out the window, but waved hi hand toward the door, indicating that they should leave.
Once downstairs again the four of them stood around exhausted. "Well, this has been a unique night," Lance joked.
"Yeah, loads of fun," Murphy added.
"It's getting late, I am not in the mood to drive home. I'm taking the guest room," Elena said before heading upstairs an closing the guest room door behind her.
"You mind staying here the night Lance?" Murphy asked. "The couch folds out and all, but me and Vince are probably gonna pass out in the next five minutes," Murphy said as he leaned on the wall.
"Yeah, no problem," Lance agreed as Vincent tossed him some blankets from a closet. "You think he'll be okay?"
"The kid is a survivor, he'll make it," Vincent said before trudging up the stairs.
"Cole will live," Murphy said with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Yeah, I think so too, but I have a weird feeling. Like something bad is going to happen, you know," Lance said before he noticed Murphy's half closed eyes and weary body halfway up the stairs heading to his room. "Almost like the worst is yet to come," Lance whispered as he opened up the couch and fell asleep.