Disclaimer: The X-Men are the property of Marvel. Golan and Cirrus belong exclusively to Star and are used with permission. Corrinth retains all rights to Ilehana Xavier and Ori. Lamby retains all rights to Blaze.
A/N: This story is a joint work between Lamby and Corrinth, based on Corrinth's X-Men the Movie fanfiction of the same name. Reviews always welcome.
09
"This is it." The glee in her tone was unmasked as Mystique laid a blue hand against the cold sandstone wall. She was disappointed that there was no pulsing power as she had felt before within the rock. It didn't matter. The coordinates had been right; the Temple was here, right at her fingertips, her ticket to fortune, success and power.
"How do we get in?" Pyro asked sullenly.
"Usually these places have a thing called a door, my dear Pyro." Mystique purred gently, before her face set hard. "So start looking!"
Pyro grumbled to himself, setting off with Colossus in one direction, whilst Cirrus led the Brotherhood members off in the other. Mystique glanced callously towards Gambit, who stood possessively by the 'Chosen One', Xavier seated in his wheelchair once more but still unmoving. Fine, if the Cajun thief wouldn't respect her orders, he would be the first to feel her wrath once she had gained her new powers...
The air shook with a reverberating hum, almost too low for the ground-bound mutants to hear, but sending the local wildlife into a frenzy of activity nonetheless. Leaves and braches dropped from the canopy as unexpectedly a large silver orb descended. Mystique cursed aloud, her anger only beaten by Remy's own foul tongue spitting French as he recognised the all-to-familiar method of transport. Magneto. How had the Master of Magnetism found them all the way out here in China? One glance to Pietro, who folded his arms smirking, and Mystique was appeased. The treacherous child would pay for this betrayal!
The surprise came when the large orb opened to reveal not one, but two mutants inside. Magneto had not come unprotected, or unescorted it seemed as a leggy woman with very short cropped blue hair stepped elegantly out of the orb, dressed in electric blue plastic. Wanda clearly did not approve of her father's choice of female company. Neither did Gambit; Electra was one ex-girlfriend he could've done just fine without ever seeing again, though he wisely bit his tongue and did not meet her curious expression. Magneto himself did not seem the slightest bit bothered about his daughter's approval, completely ignoring Wanda's petulant looks as he strode towards Mystique, Electra pacing not two steps behind him.
"Did you really think you could steal away with my team, my own children, without me hearing about this little venture of yours, Mystique?" When she did not reply, he smiled underneath his helmet. "The Guardians of Destiny..." He seemed to be trying the strange phrase out on his tongue. "I must say it's an intriguing idea. And the powers, there is a power of metal I understand?" Magneto held out his hand, and Colossus, though trying to shut down his mutant power as he realised what Magneto was going to do, shot across the jungle clearing, heels dragging in the dust. "Am I to believe that you would give an ancient gift of power to this sorry soul instead of me?"
For a moment Mystique could not believe it. Magneto grew bored of dragging Colossus and flung the Russian into the mud as she stuttered in reply.
"Of course not. I didn't think you'd be interested, that is all Magneto."
"You are sure you know what you are doing?" Magneto asked airily, in reply. He voiced not only his own but the concerns of the other mutants gathered behind him as well.
"Of course." Mystique answered grandly, "It's all too simple. We go to the Temple, we carry out the ritual and we go home with more power than we ever dreamed of. The war will be over in the time it takes us to rid the world of humans and those pesky X-Men."
"Then consider me interested." He concluded, eyes falling menacingly on Gambit and the unconscious Xavier. "Electra," He spoke to his new consort evenly. "Allow Gambit the freedom to blow us open a door and take over guarding dear Charles. And you," He spoke now to Colossus who visibly winced away from his boss. "Don't ever presume to be better than me ever again."
Gambit and Pyro flinched slightly along with Colossus, knowing that all three of them were in Magneto's grasp again, no matter what Mystique promised. Electra came to Gambit's side, looking him over with way too much familiarity for his own comfort as he stepped obediently away from the wheelchair. In a matter of seconds, his charged card knocked a large hole in the Temple's door. Another card charged but retained in his hand, acted as a good torch as he led the way reluctantly into the dark interior.
Despite her confident tone, Mystique was, in fact, by no means certain. She had collected together her Guardians, her Key, her Chosen One... the mention of Witnesses had meant little to her, but if they were there to Watch, then so be it; they would be there. That fool, Ilehana Xavier, had led her straight to the location of the Guardian's Temple. Mystique shivered as she remembered the strange glare in Vixen's eyes down in the darkness of the Japanese catacomb. She quickly turned her thoughts to safer matters. It would not take much to release the powers of her Chosen One; not now Magneto was here to quash the insubordination of her Key. Magneto at least would have no qualms about loosing the powers of Xavier...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Finally, Ilehana and Ori, leading the assorted group of X-Men, came to a halt and indicated to them all to pull up alongside. They were at the top of a rise, and from it they looked down upon an extremely dense area of jungle with a four sandstone turrets just poking out the top. Ilehana smiled to herself, drawn to the Temple like a lion to a kill.
"Is that it?" Bobby asked; awe inspired into his tone.
"That's it." Vixen replied, a great sense of pride and achievement in her voice. They made their way down, hardly noticing the mosquitoes and other flying bugs that bothered them. No words passed between them, Ilehana was preoccupied, and the others were still struggling to believe that this was the place where they were supposed to gain the power of the Guardians of Destiny. As they broke through the last line of trees, they saw it in full, the front entrance to the Temple of the Guardians; a great sandstone wall that had twelve huge symbols inscribed into it.
"This is something else, Ilehana." Blaze offered after a moment's awed silence. "You think there's anything worth anything here?"
"The whole place would be of historical interest, Blaze." Storm noted, eyes wide and staring.
"I don't think that's what Blaze meant." Bobby chuckled to himself, grinning as the English thief smiled cheekily at him. The kid learned quickly.
The whole conversation passed over Ilehana's head. She was frowning at the great wooden doors, smashed and broken. Mystique had no clue what she was dealing with, that much was for sure. Twelve small sandstone bricks, marked with ancient symbols, edged the rectangular doors. There were five on one side, and seven on the other. She stepped up to the left hand side, where the five symbols; three the same and two different were set, three Witnesses, the Key, and the Chosen One. She set her hand to the last, shivered contentedly as the power pulsed through her.
"Alright?" Logan asked quietly, making her jump. She hadn't noticed him come up so close behind her.
"I can't believe we're really here."
"We're not the only ones."
"It doesn't matter." She murmured, stepping back into his embrace, feeling his chin resting on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, fearing that this whole moment might be nothing more than a dream, but when she opened her eyes again it was still so very, very real. Logan flicked a hand at the symbols.
"So what we got here then?" He asked, trying to sound interested.
"Three Witnesses, the Key, the Chosen One." She turned a little before stepping out of his arms to peer at the others. "Top to bottom; Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Thought, Energy and Metal."
Logan stepped forward then, frowning at the ancient symbol that denoted his own position in this madness. As Ilehana had done, Logan pressed his palm against the marker, not expecting the rush of adrenaline that swept through him as his skin made contact with it. His body tensed for a moment before relaxing, his face breaking into an ear-to-ear grin.
"Hey guys." Though quiet, his voice had an edge that cut straight through the others' chatter. "You really gotta try this." They came forward then, eager to try out this new experience that seemed to have even the pessimistic Logan captivated. Ilehana pointed to their character, noting how Blaze hung back a little.
"Oh!" Storm's exclamation was awed, the force that the stone emitted banishing her fears as she too addressed the others. "You have got to try this! Its like nothing I've ever experienced before, like..."
"Like you've finally come home." Jean supplied, glancing towards Ilehana as if for approval, and the meta-morph grinned in return.
The others stepped back, all eyes on Blaze now as she came forward to scrutinize her icon more closely. It almost looked like fire... as close as a carving could come anyway. She swallowed hard, wishing the others would look somewhere other than at her, but finally she held up a hand to the sandstone. For a moment there was nothing, and Blaze found herself wondering if Ilehana had chosen the right mutant, but then she was taking a sharp breath, feeling the throb of energy at her finger tips... and she knew then that Ilehana had been right all along. That right now somewhere deep within this building, Pyro was laying claim to a power not his, but hers, to take.
"What are we waiting for?" She asked, creating a fireball that danced on her palm to light the way. "Let's go already!"
"After you." Logan grinned to Ilehana. "I guess somethin' along the lines of 'Destiny awaits' should be said."
But somehow, no one could even begin to form a groan.