Raien walked down the dark hallways of the Mansion. A strange feeling had woken him. Like he was being watched. Like the girl he and Chimera had seen the other night had returned. It wasn't cold like before, but his skin crawled anyway. He'd left Chimera sleeping soundly in their room. The whole thing just looked like a horror story. He'd seen enough of those to know that he shouldn't be walking around in a big dark house late at night all alone. Especially given what they'd seen. He mused that he was part of such a movie, and that any moment some huge ugly monster was going to jump out at him. He smiled at the thought, actually. He was far from a defenseless token blonde that those movies seemed to love. He felt his power easily within his grasp, begging to be called upon. It was so comforting. Something he hadn't realized before he'd lost it, and something he didn't think he could live without.
Silently he moved through the hall, in the main part of the mansion, careful steps making hardly a sound. Though all the stealth in the world wouldn't do much for him, not with the eerie light he cast upon the room. Anyone with a pair of eyes would be able to see him coming. Disturbing, that. A sound around the next corner shook him. The light creak of footsteps on hardwood. No one should be up at this hour. And even if they were, they shouldn't be in this area of the mansion. It was nowhere near the kitchen, it was nowhere near anything except the front door. He heard a whisper, barely audible, but not loud enough to decipher. Female. Airy. Like he'd seen before. Raien noticed it was suddenly very cold again. Another creak. He inched up to the wall, creeping along its side until he stood next to the corner. A sharp inhale and he sprang around the corner just in time to see a thousand explosions of every color imaginable hit him all over his body, sending him flying back into the wall. Then he heard the sound. Like screaming… Fireworks.
"Jubilee! Its me! Its Raien!" He yelled, barely jumping out of the way of the next blast. Landing on his feet, but still dazed, he looked up at a very confused and pale Jubilee.
"Oh my god, Raien! Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I- What are you doing up here?" She asked, beginning to shake.
"I might ask you the same question…" Raien said evenly, surprised at not being as shaken as he would have thought he should be. He looked down at his smoking jacket, tiny embers glowed softly in the worked leather. He'd either underestimated her power or it had grown. Raien heard frequently how serious Jubilee had become with her training. It appeared to be paying off…
"I'm so sorry, Raien… I…" she stammered. "I… thought for a minute you were…" she wavered for a moment, then fell to the floor shaking, tears glistening in her eyes. Raien moved quickly to hold her. She gratefully climbed into his arms, her own latching like vice grips around his back. Wetness soaked through the shirt on his shoulder as Jubilee let go of her tears. Raien knew this was about when she'd been captured. She'd been wandering the halls just as he had. The same thing must have woken her. This was the second time in a week he'd held her like this. He wondered if she'd truly ever be over what FoH had done to her.
Raien held her long past when the shaking stopped, when the tears soaking his shirt began to dry. Long past the last shallow sob. She eventually pulled away, and in her eyes, Raien saw something that he was very accustomed to. Loneliness. Not the kind that a moment of contact with another person could cure. The deep, unrelenting pain of being alone. Raien had thought that Wolverine was with Jubilee. He'd thought he saw glances. Something more than just two friends in passing… He remembered all the pain of his life, and he too felt like he wanted to cry. Whatever the feeling was that he'd woken to was gone, replaced by the unyielding need to be close to someone. He felt bad that he had someone to go to, and Jubilee did not. He would have to talk to Logan. He would have to see what was going on. See if there was anything there, or if Logan had simply been trying to help her cope.
Jubilee stood in that way only a woman could. Softly and gracefully, making her look, for a moment, much older than she was. Raien lingered a moment, and they parted in silence, leaving each other to return to whatever they'd been doing. Raien planned on going back to his warm bed. Bad feelings aside, the look in Jubilee's eyes made him want to just be with someone. So he stalked down the hallway toward his quarters. He felt bad for Jubilee. What they'd done to her… What they'd forced her to- Raien stopped and shook his head. Going down this path would only make him angry. He turned his thoughts to Chimera's strong arms and soft fur. He only had to half fake a smil as he reached the door.
Jubilee walked toward her room. She deeply hated being alone, even though a week ago she would have welcomed it forever. She'd always been a social creature. She loved the company of others, and she'd deeply missed it even though she hadn't wanted it. She wanted everything to be like it was before FoH. Before all the fighting and the constant worrying. Where the most she had to worry about was not passing Hank's algebra final. How things had changed. Hank used to be on some other level than she was. Like she was still sitting at the child's table watching the adults talk to each other. Somewhere along the line, it had changed. She thought she knew what had brought that change about. She definitely was not as naïve as she used to be. Jubilee jumped suddenly as the alarms screamed and lights flashed around her. She spun on her heels looking at the front door. The proximity alarms. She brought her hands to her sides in a way similar to some of the forms Logan had shown her. She knew it would be a few moments before the team would react, much less be ready for anything. A heavy thud hit the door in front of her, sounding vaguely of metal. Though she knew it was stupid, and that anyone from the team would laugh at her or yell at her for doing it, she walked toward the front door and slowly opened it. In the darkness, she saw something large. Light from the alarm illuminated it for only a split second. It looked silver. She thought it was a bomb for a minute, but as she stepped closer, she recognized it. Recognized him.
"Piotr!" she screamed, running to him. He was nearly unconscious, getting there very quickly. She saw the smallest of smiles before the intense dark eyes closed. A soft sound of metal on metal, and his impervious skin retracted to wherever it came from. Jubilee started to drag him inside, careful of his neck and back, she'd been taught never to move someone if she didn't know their injury, but with things as they were today, she wasn't about to leave him outside. That would be as good as killing him. Just inside the front door, she shut off the alarm and brought a pillow to place under his large head. It had taken quite a bit of strength to drag the man in. He must have been over three hundred pounds. Working out was coming in handy.
Just as she sat down next to him, several half asleep, half startled, half dressed X-Men showed up. Beast and Bobby among them looking severely agitated until they recognized the man laying before them. Bobby snapped the collar off of his neck and immediately frosted over, running to check the grounds incase Colossus had been followed. Beast quickly moved to his side and checked his vitals, then felt along his back for any spinal damage. He muttered something about a portable X-Ray, and meaning to do something before he sat up and looked at her.
"What happened?" Beast asked simply. A rare thing for the man.
"He just stumbled up to the front door. I don't know where he came from. I found him like this." Jubilee said. She was about to open her mouth again when Piotr's eyes opened slowly. He tried to sit up.
"Easy, my friend, don't try to move," Beast said, something paternal in his voice. Piotr sat up anyway and looked around at the growing number of people around him. The solid black circles under his eyes looked so unnatural on his powerful face.
"Apologies. Is rest I need. I have not slept in several days to get here." he said in that low Russian accent. Jubilee quickly jumped to her feet to help the huge man to his own, and was somewhat surprised by the delicate way he gripped her hand. She would have thought someone as large as Piotr would have a strong, firm grip. Helping him down the hallway was pretty easy, tired as he was, Piotr was far from weak. He looked over at her with an approving and grateful smile. Jubilee didn't know what to think for a moment. They soon found the elevator and traveling to the basement floors.
"Is good to see you again, Jubilee. You've grown up." He said, the rumble in his chest sounding somewhat alluring. She had to shake herself to keep her mind on reality and her eyes on his face. She loved that accent. Eyes. Face. She shook herself again.
"I'm so glad you're okay, Piotr, we were so worried. There's so many of us we haven't heard from in a long time." She said, just as the door opened. Off the top of her head, she knew which rooms would be open and sought out the best one. The door slid quietly open and semi-stale air rushed into the hallway.
"It might be a little dusty, but we can fix that later." She said softly, knowing the hulking man next to her wanted more than anything to just sleep. She thought she saw something else though. Loneliness. The same look she was sure she was giving him.
"Maybe we talk for little while?" He asked, nodding toward the open door. It took Jubilee a moment to respond, but she slowly nodded, and entered the room. The stale air smell was stronger in here than Jubilee thought it would have been. Had it really been so long since anyone had lived there? She realized that a great deal of time had passed since all of the fighting and the camps and everything began. She'd been doing a lot of thinking during the past few weeks. About her life, about who she was, about moving on from what had happened to her. She'd even begun to feel something like attraction again. The thought scared her a little. She didn't know what it would be like. She feared that all men turned into animals in the bedroom.
"You seem different than when I saw you last, Piotr." Jubilee said, looking at him. She couldn't figure out what it was. Same haircut, same brawny arms. Different clothing, that might have been it. He wore a pair of blue jeans and loose sweater, which actually made him look more fat than muscled. Jubilee of course new better. She looked at his face again and saw fear flash across it for a moment, then relief. What was up with that? He looked down at his clothing and shrugged.
"Must be Armani suit…" he said dryly. Jubilee chuckled. He had changed. Even with a newly acquired cynicism, he was definitely more charismatic than he used to be. Always the strong silent type, but that appeared to be the old Colossus. "Is truly good to see you, Jubilee. I hoped you were alright. Has been long time."
Jubilee nodded. "Its great to see you too. Where've you been all this time?" She asked timidly, something not entirely in her nature.
"Running, mostly. Is like they know where I hide before I do. I am tired of running." He sat down heavily on the bed groaning as he landed on a sore muscle. "Wonderful to be somewhere I can sleep soundly. Tell me of yourself, have you been well?"
"Oh, I've been-" Jubilee started to say she'd been fine, but caught herself. "I'll be okay. Its been a little rough around here lately."
"Has been rough everywhere these days." He said contemplatively. "Who was man with glowing eyes? And big one with him? I have not seen them before." He asked abruptly. Jubilee thought that was odd, but then again, Colossus had never really been one for tact. He preferred the straight up answers to everything.
"That's Raien. He's really great. I think he used to be called Nightfire when he was with the Morlocks. He used to live with them until he was captured by FoH. He and Chimera, the other one, joined us a few weeks-" Jubilee paused again. "Wow, its been longer than that hasn't it. A few months ago. Raien is amazing. The things he can do make me so jealous. He gets this fire around him, and… I don't know, its got something to do with gravity I think. He can kind of fly, but he has to push off…"
"Levitate?" Colossus asked, looking somewhat disappointed with the description of his powers. Jubilee could tell she didn't get her point across. She shook her head.
"Kind of, but he can do a lot more... Its really cool." She realized she must sound like some kind of giddy fan. Which, to an extent, she was. She knew that without the things Raien did, she might still be in that camp. Blessedly, she was interrupted before memories came back.
"What about this… Chimera?" Piotr asked.
"He… Well, he's pretty much what you see. He's a big teddy bear though. Wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it tried to hurt him, or Raien. We think he's got something like Wolverine's healing factor too, only its not as dramatic." She answered. Jubilee saw his confusion and realized what she'd implied. He must have seen the way they were when they were around each other. They made absolutely no attempt to hide it anymore, which Jubilee admired.
"Its probably what you're thinking… They're lovers." She said with the slightest tinge of envy. The silence that came after hearing something like that reared its ugly head. It was strange though. Piotr looked more thoughtful than anything else.
"They are happy though, yes?" Colossus asked after a while. Jubilee knew that he was very conservative, which was why the question was so out of character. She had to stare at him for a moment before responding.
"Oh, very. Seeing them together… It makes me jealous. They're both really great people. I'll have to introduce you to them tomorrow." Jubilee finished, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Even though they were out in the open about it, she didn't think that they'd appreciate her broadcasting the fact to everyone who came by.
"If they are happy, then I am also." He said simply. No trace of distain, no trace of revulsion on his face. Jubilee was floored. He should have said something. He should have been shocked. Years before, Piotr had been absolutely disgusted with the idea of two men sharing a bed, much less being lovers. It was Colossus's turn to look confused. Jubilee felt somewhat guilty. Why should she be shocked that someone who had been hunted for months because of what they are is not offended by others being who they are. She felt a little silly, because even she had been a little disgusted by the idea. Until she'd seen them together. She couldn't deny that it was indeed love, plain and simple.
"You really have changed…" Jubilee said. She found herself really liking the new Colossus. It was definitely a side of the man she'd never seen. After a moment of thought, she realized Piotr had passed out. She smiled a little before undoing the man's boots, then removing his jacket, which wasn't an easy task. She found herself looking at his body with appreciation, but not attraction. She should have been attracted, but just wasn't. Even though, years before, she would have killed for just a second look from any of the men in the mansion. Perhaps this was part of her growing up. She pulled the blanket over Piotr's large form and silently bid him goodnight.
Chimera slumbered lightly and happily. Regardless of all the things going on in the mansion and the world, this was a time where he could just lay with the man he loved, holding him, feeling the warmth of his body. It was as close to heaven as one could get while still among the living. He woke slowly, to an icy room. A sense of wrongness lingered in the air, which seemed to have lost something, making it smell stale and old. Raien stirred but didn't wake. Not even when Chimera lightly shook him. It was probably nothing. Probably just the internal temperature controls going haywire again. Hank had explained that in the past few weeks they'd been having problems.
His eyes went wide when he heard it. Barely audible, like a whisper only softer. Like the sound the wind makes moving through leaves or tall grass. He could barely make out the words 'help me'. Soft sobbing from one of the corners. He looked into the darkness as goose bumps covered his neck. He tried again to wake Raien and again, nothing. He thought he saw movement, and his blood went cold, his breath held in his chest. He felt like he shouldn't be here. Like he was some kind of invader. It moved again and Chimera could barely make out the figure of a woman standing in the corner, cloaked in shadow, staring at him. Somehow even though he couldn't see her eyes, he knew they were on him. He heard her whisper again, then she looked to one side, then back at him, and somehow he knew the terror she felt, then she jumped through the wall. The temperature of the room warmed slowly and the air didn't feel as stale as it had. The feeling of wrongness was gone, but the goose bumps remained.
Chimera got out of bed, and Raien woke. He put on his shorts and told his lover he'd be back soon. That he had to talk to someone. Raien looked about to protest, but instead yawned, nodded, and went back to sleep. Chimera stepped into boots one of the team had made for him. They looked a little odd, but they made his hoofed feet hitting the ground not quite so loud as they were normally. Black leather and rubber. Chimera sighed. He'd have to ditch the jean shorts eventually, though he loved them. He thought he should be more scared of what he'd just seen, but he'd never felt anything close to malice from whatever, whomever it was who appeared in that corner. The door slid open and he trudged out into the hall. He had to find Jean.
Eventually he found her room. He wasn't used to this wing of the underground portion of the mansion, which probably wasn't good. He made a silent promise to himself that he would become more sociable. He knocked on the door and waited. He was about to knock again when the door slid open revealing a very tired Jean Grey-Summers.
"Chimera? What's wrong?" She asked, trying to remove the sleep from her eyes.
"The girl, I saw her again… I need your help. I think she lived here. Is there some kind of database I can look at?" Chimera asked, knowing that it was very late to be asking anyone anything. Jean nodded and came out of the room in a downy looking robe, exactly the right shade of purple to make her hair look more red that it already was. They reached Hank's lab and entered. At one time, they could have almost expected to see him here working on one cure or another, totally absorbed and unaware of the late hour. Chimera smiled for a moment knowing that was far from the case now. They found the computer and Chimera sat down as Jean used her powers to manipulate the keyboard, flipping through files one after another. Several faces, all young, it was like flipping through someone else's high school yearbook. He saw Bobby's picture, from several years ago, Scott's, and even Jean's. Then hers passed the screen.
"Wait, that's it." Chimera said, the goose-flesh returning. Her hair was different, but it was definitely the same woman. "That's her."
Jean didn't know what to say. She stared at the picture that belonged to Kitty Pryde. She remembered how light and girly her sense of humor had been, how pleasant she was to be around. She would love to see her again.
"Her name is Kitty Pryde, or Shadowcat. Hold on, Chimera, I don't know why she would be here, and especially why she should feel the need to hide herself here. Let me look for her." Jean said, closing her eyes. Chimera waited. He saw her face wrinkle in concentration. Several moments passed. Jean opened her eyes.
"I can't sense her anywhere…" she said, suddenly looking very sad. Chimera was confused.
"She's not in the mansion? But I saw her…" he tried to explain.
"I… Can't sense her… At all…" Jean said slowly.
Jubilee yawned as she sat up in bed. She didn't know what had woken her, but she knew she hadn't woken on her own. A knock at her door. She looked at the clock. It was well past noon, surprising even her. She got out of bed, pulling on her sweat pants and t-shirt. She hit the release and the door slid open revealing Colossus, back in his normal uniform.
"Good Morning," he said, "Or should I say afternoon?"
Jubilee smiled and motioned for him to come inside. She hadn't cleaned in a few days, but the place was more or less presentable. She was glad to see him again. She'd really enjoyed talking to someone who didn't treat her as if something was wrong, as if something horrible had happened to her. Which it had, but Colossus didn't know that. He was the only one in the whole mansion treating her like normal. She liked it. Made her feel like she was moving on.
"I'd offer you coffee or something, but I really don't drink that stuff anymore. Do you like tea?" She asked, still waking up.
"I love tea." Piotr said simply. Jubilee actually stopped moving. That had been a joke. Colossus hated tea. He drank his coffee black and strong or he didn't drink it. She forced herself to keep moving anyway. She made two cups of tea. Gave one to him and kept the other for herself. They sat down at the small round oak table and Colossus sipped his tea. The tea he was supposed to hate, but didn't. He said something about having slept well, but Jubilee was more focused on his face, on anything different than what it should be. She didn't know what was up.
He started talking about his life since he'd left the team. He'd only come back for a short time, but when the Friends of Humanity began actively going after mutants all over the world, he'd wanted to go back to Russia to start the resistance there. He said that when he finally got there, everyone was too scared to act. They were beaten into submission before the first blow landed. He said that it made him sick to think of his people like that. He prided himself on his strength, both of will and physically. But what he said next struck Jubilee. How alone he'd been, running from FoH. How they'd predicted his movements, and how he'd never been able to sleep for more than two hours at a time. About how lonely he was. About how he just wanted to settle down. And about how, with the world as it is, he would never be able to. Jubilee saw the loneliness in his eyes, matching hers. There seemed to be something deeper to his though. Something that told her it had been a lot more than just a few months of loneliness. He had the look of a man who'd been shut out of everything.
"…And that's how I ended up here." he said, having finished a lengthy one-sided conversation. Jubilee shook herself. She had no idea what he'd just said. A full five minutes had passed, and she had no idea. She sipped her own tea. She watched him sip his. The tea he was supposed to hate. Maybe he really had changed a lot in the time he'd been gone.
"You said before… You had… Rough time?" he asked her. And Jubilee set her tea down. She didn't want to relive this. She wanted to bury it, but she quickly found herself pouring her soul out to him. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust him. She'd always liked him, but she'd never really been that close to him. No one had. She told him of her capture. How scary it had been when she'd fallen into that cell. Before she knew it, she was in tears, and in Colossus's arms. She'd told him everything. She'd told him about the rapes, the beatings, the helplessness. How when Hank and Chimera found her, she was virtually comatose. She told him of the rescue. How Raien had nearly killed himself in freeing them. He just held her silently. There was something about the embrace, soft yet strong. Warm and inviting. Like she could stay here if she wanted.
"I'm so sorry… I should not have asked…" He said wiping the tears from her cheek. He had the look of someone who knew. Someone who had been through what she'd been through. She tried to say something but couldn't. Her eyes just locked with his. He leaned forward. She closed her eyes. She was scared it would be like it was with those men. She started to feel that dirty, used feeling that had only just stopped haunting her.
His soft lips brushed hers, nothing like before. Nothing dirty, nothing demeaning or demanding. Just a soft kiss. She was filled with warmth. She felt hope for the first time in weeks. She felt like a woman again. He pulled back and rested his head on her shoulder. And they just sat there in a silent embrace for a moment.
They were quickly interrupted by loud crashing sounds all around them. Four explosions followed the first, shaking the walls even though nothing exploding on the surface should cause more than a rattle. Sirens all around them, they dashed out into the hallway, training overriding emotion.
The hallway was lit by small battery operated lights, casting a dim glow, just barely enough to see. She already heard people running down the hallway toward her.
'X-Men, form in the War-Room!' she heard inside her mind. She knew it was Xavier, though she couldn't explain why. Something about telepathy. She didn't even waste her time trying to figure those things out. In the semi-darkness, she ran down the halls she knew so well, aware also that the Colossus she'd known would have taken the lead.
They didn't make it to the war room. Raien and Chimera had run out of their room half clothed the second the explosions hit. They were joined immediately in the hallway by Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, and Colossus. They nearly collided with Rogue and Storm at the first intersection. It was then they saw him.
He stood half hidden in shadow, a black figure, barely humanoid, standing ominously just between them and the war room. He was clothed in black, fading into the darkness except several tubes that ran all over his body, all collecting in a single tank on his back. They could hear the mechanical intake and the hiss of air leaving. His side was turned to them, his face looking down the hallway to the left. They could barely see two feet in the hallway. The brand new tread and highly polished toes told them without a doubt who it was. They didn't even need to see the wheel chair that was rolling slowly down the hallway just out of view. A silence settled as realization came to the rest of the team.
Wolverine was the first to move. The sound of his claws slicing through the skin on his hands ripped into the air, followed shortly by an animal snarl. Only then did the man in black turn to face them, a faint glow behind the port-hole goggles of his facemask. The tubes running from his back to his neck glistened in the dim light. A black gloved hand rose leisurely rose to meet the wild blur. Suddenly the air exploded with white-blue light, electricity striking Wolverine all over his body at once. The man crumpled to the floor, white smoke coming from burned clothing, joined by the smell of burnt flesh.
Gambit and Rogue, almost as one were suddenly upon the man in the fiend-like black space suit. Glowing orange cards screamed from Gambit's hands faster than the eye could see. Rogue, for all her strength couldn't hit the man. He took a wide defensive stance, the first real movement he'd made, and while blocking Rogue's flurry of punches with one arm, he drove his booted foot into Gambit's stomach, hitting harder than anyone should be able to. It sent Gambit literally flying backward. Rogue dove after him, barely catching him before he hit the wall.
Raien quickly surveyed the situation. Everything was an unknown. He had no idea what this monster was capable of, but it had taken down half the team in a matter of seconds. Easily. He would have to be careful. Whispy white fire, edged with blue, surrounded him, and in a split second, he was face to masked face with what looked like the devil himself. The sounds of the world around him faded away as Raien began the dance. Feigning a snap kick to the side, he gauged his opponent's reaction speed. A blur of movement showed him. This man was extremely experienced. Raien fought a gulp. He didn't know if anyone else could stop him.
The air tingled around him as they traded blows. Electricity arced between the man's fingers on his right hand. Raien tried something new. The fire around his hands and feet intensified, illuminating the entire hallway. Adding to his own strength, he used his power to pull his hands and feet to their destinations. With blinding speed, he launched an assault faster than any of the rest of the team had ever witnessed. Punch followed by kick followed by punch, Raien drove his opponent back. Blue crackling death streaked by him, as Raien barely dodged it. They were in the middle of the hallway now, the rest of the team slowly moving forward. None wanting to interfere. To do so could spell disaster. The two were moving so fast it would be impossible to hit one without hitting the other.
His opponent rose into the air, and Raien followed without missing a blow. Without the confines of gravity, Raien could move as fast as his mind would allow. He spun at dizzying speeds, like a chainsaw of fists and boots. One foot caught the mask, ripping it off, severing most of the hoses from their connections. Hissing tanks hit the floor as the man released them from their straps. Raien looked into the face of his enemy and was, for the first time in the fight, very scared. The man looked like some kind of Frankenstein, half of his face blue shimmering skin, one red eye which looked feline, the other, dark and cold. From where the rip started, Raien could see scarred lines where this man's right arm used to be and another had been attached. He forced himself to stay focused, to ignore the visage before him and win the fight. He spun again, maneuvering in under a second for a crushing blow to the side of the head. He heard a loud clap as the man caught his foot, his fingers synched down like a vice.
He barely heard a hissing sound before his other foot drove hard into the man's jaw, sending him reeling, the bones cracking violently. Raien hit the ground, confused. His aura faded and his foot tingled and started to feel hot. Dizziness hit him as if all the spinning and kicking he'd done had finally caught up to him, and Raien's head hit the floor.
Jubilee screamed and unleashed a torrent of brightly colored explosions at the man. He brought his arms up in front of him. As the suit burned away under Jubilee's blasts, a silver metal gleamed at them. A second later, Jubilee fell to one knee exhausted. What she saw before her didn't register. It didn't make sense. The man was covered head to toe in metal. His arms and legs looked plated. They looked like…
A battle cry from behind her, Colossus came flying past toward the man who'd gotten his bearings. A loud banging sound shook the air as Colossus's foot drove hard into the man's stomach. He hardly moved. Colossus gave Jubilee a sad and regretful look before turning to face his opponent once more. He jumped into the air, executing a kick that Jubilee knew Colossus wasn't capable of. Another cry, but this time the pitch rose. Colossus's metal skin turned blue. The voice became female. The clothes faded to white and formed a dress unique to one person. Mystique.
Her kick had no effect, but it didn't stop her. She landed, and immediately the man went for a punch. She dodged it, catching the wrist in three points, pulling it violently to one side at a very painful looking angle. The man didn't even flinch. She kicked him in the ribs, pulling and pushing at the same time. The man yelled and stepped backward barely freeing his arm. It now hung limp at his side. Rage and hatred in his eyes, he reached out with his free arm toward Jubilee, a wicked smile on his lips. Mystique jumped but knew she would be too late to stop it. Electricity crackled around his fingertips. In that instant, Jubilee knew she was going to die. That in a moment, the same energy that had taken Wolverine out was going to kill her. Just as the power surged in the man's fingertips, a gurgling sound came from his throat and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body went limp and crashed to the floor, his jaw breaking fully, disfiguring his already grotesque face. Mystique looked behind her to see the Professor propped up on one arm, hand on his forehead. She sighed. Once again, she'd been discovered. She wondered what was next. Would she stay? Or would she continue to spend her life alone and devoid of hope.
Chimera wouldn't leave his side. Hank had needed to sedate him to get to Raien's leg. Something was not right. He'd cut Raien's boot away to find a hand shaped sickly looking bruise covering the sole of his foot. Before his eyes, the bruise grew. Hank had never seen anything like it. It was like the worst flesh eating bacterial infection he'd ever seen. He could see the skin clearly as it turned colors, from pale pink to light green to brown/black. There was nothing he could do. The infection was spreading. Whatever this man had done to him, Raien was going to die if Hank didn't stop it. And at the speed it was spreading, he was running out of time quickly. Frantically, his mind spun through a thousand different diseases. This fit none of them. He drew a sample from the wound and placed it on a slide, looking at it under the microscope. He could see nothing. No bacteria, no signs of viral infection… The cells were simply rupturing and dieing.
As Hank's mind raced for a solution, only one came up. He had no time to figure out what was going on, to study it and come up with a possible antidote. Within minutes the infection could reach an artery. If that happened, Raien would die. There was only one thing left that Hank could do. When Raien woke up, both he and Chimera would hate him forever. With a cold artificial detachment, Hank prepared for what he was forced to do and ordered everyone to clear the room.
Raien woke, vision blurry, his whole body feeling heavy. Before him were crystal blue eyes, and he smiled before he saw the tracks of tears in the fur of Chimera's face. He looked around the room and swore under his breath. The damned infirmary. He tried to sit up, but found he couldn't. He realized the dull feeling around his whole body was from painkillers. Morphine probably. He felt the hospital bed under him shift as the back of it was brought to a sitting angle. He tried to shake the numbness from his body, but part of it wouldn't leave. That was when he saw how flat the sheet was. When the sinking feeling and confusion set in. Sitting in a chair on the far side of the room was Hank doubled over in a chair, his head buried in large clawed hands. He felt a hand on his shoulder, but didn't look up. He stared at the sheet. At what he knew he would find below it. Or rather, what he wouldn't. He'd seen movies where this happened, where the poor soul woke up screaming and horrified. It wasn't like that. Raien just wasn't ready to deal with what was going on. He lay his head back and looked up at the ceiling. Only he didn't see the light. He saw Logan standing above him, hand on his shoulder. A look of approval, acceptance, regret, and guilt. In his morphine haze, he could feel an absence. He knew, without lifting the sheet and looking for himself, that his leg was gone.