Imprisonment
The moon was bright that night. Shining with a muted glow that seemed to bathe everything in its light, from the tall office buildings to the smallest homes it seemed peaceful like nothing could go wrong or be wrong in the world. However that was not true since as is the nature of people to be forever changing; it is for the moon to shine unending in its muted glow, whatever happens. On that night a plan had been formulated, a decision reached, and an atrocity committed.
People were captured from different places, from different groups, just because of the way they were born. With government permission a world-wide change came into place and an ancient fear came into play. They weren't at the top of the heap any more, the fact that the new evolved humans over powered them and made them feel small frightened the leaders of the world. They said they were doing justice for the world, and saving humanity but how is humanity saved when you enslave half of it. That is what they did in a nutshell, to the entire population of mutants in the world. However the most famous group is what this night involved since this night was the night the group and all its ideals shattered like thin ice.
The flickering shadows created by the swaying curtain, interrupted the sleep of a tried young X-man named Marie Darkholme otherwise known as Rogue. With a yawn that cracked her jaw, she stretched and moved to the curtains to draw them closed making sure they were tied shut so she could sleep in peace, she had been so exhausted from the mission she hadn't stopped to change out of her uniform. As she lay back down she heard a low thump outside her door, sounding like someone had dropped something but it was midnight.
Having moved to a singular room for some privacy a couple of days back she was a little nervous and quickly slipped off one of her gloves as she rose silently from her bed to head towards the door. As she heard the door open she quickly pressed against the wall in hopes that the darkness of the room would hide her. A thin beam of sea foam green light flashed around the room once missing her by chance but as it come around again it glinted off her bangs. Cursing she rolled quickly forward and reached up to touch who ever had come to her door on the face, only to touch cloth.
She froze for a second and darted sideways as the tall figure snapped out with a punch that would have knocked the wind out of her. She leaped sideways dodging a dart by inches as she carefully kept quiet not sure how many there were in the institute. Gradually getting closer she continued to dodge the darts, with a couple of very close shaves some only inches from her body. With an agile twist she flipped herself in front of the shady being and quickly ripped off the lower part of a mask. A slight masculine frown gazed down at her as if the figure was slightly surprised and confused as his pistol set against her throat. She froze ready to touch him quickly and knock him out but even if she did that he would have time to shoot her and who knew what were in the darts. He was shaking she noted startled, looking up again she saw that he was almost having an inner argument as his mouth twisted in a grimace.
Hesitantly he slowly pointed the gun up into the air tossed it away from both of them to land with a small clatter in the darkness as he also pulled away the top part of his mask so she could see his face. His hazel eyes burned into her like torches as he gave a small smile and gently pulled her hand away with the same gloved hand that threatened her with a pistol not two minutes before. Scowling she crossed her arms and glared at him as he stepped into the room and closed the door, blinding them both for a couple of seconds before he flicked on a small flashlight.
"What do ya want?" Rogue was around as happy as a trapped tiger and scowled darkly at the soldier as the he glanced warily around. "I couldn't do it." He hissed listening intently to the ear piece on his helmet as his eyes danced around the room never staying still. "Couldn't do wha" The door flew open again as she started to back up, nervous of the situation. As they both stood blinking in the sudden light, Rogue was able to make out two more soldiers standing in the doorway carrying heavy rifles.
"Private! Secure prisoner." One of them barked as the other readied the rifle. Rogue backed up and stumbled over something as the man brought the rifle up to his shoulder. Reaching down she felt hard cold metal and she quickly jerked the first soldier's pistol up and fired two darts at the soldier with the rifle just as she felt a sting on her shoulder. Looking to the side she saw the tip of a dart deep in her shoulder and as she reached to pull it out she collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. The last image she saw before falling into blackness was a small arrow on the shoulder of a hazel eyed soldier.
Meanwhile in the girls dormitory Kitty Pryde slowly sat up and yawned. Stumbling in the direction of the bathroom she grabbed a cup from the sink and slowly began filling it with water. She heard some rustling in the room she shared with Jean and Rahne though the young half-wolf rarely used the room preferring the comfort of the forest since she and Jubilee returned to the institute, though tonight she had been too tired to go out. Amara and Jubilee slept in the next room over and she could hear the same rustling in that room as well. Slightly suspicious she quickly put down her glass and winced as the sound reverberated throughout the bathroom. She quickly stepped back against the wall and phased into it making sure not to go completely through while leaving enough of her face out so she could see.
"Are you sure you heard something?" Two armoured soldiers stepped into the bathroom, fully equipped and masked with one marked by a star on his shoulder while the other had a circle. "Ya I heard something and we're missing one." Kitty quickly smothered a startled gasp and stayed absolutely still as the men approached her wall ready to draw back fully into the wall if she had to. "Which one is it?" the star man asked shining a small green light around the room, luckily passing over her.
"The one that walks through walls and junk I think." She crossed her fingers and prayed they wouldn't find her. The Star turned to Circle and seemed to scowl at him, though it was hard to tell with the mask on. "Jeez man that one will take forever to find." Circle shrugged and he grabbed the flashlight away from Star, who was now clearly ticked off. The light continued to scan the room and suddenly stopped right above where her arm was hidden in the wall. The continued strain of having to hold her power was starting to get to her and she was starting to shake causing a small rumbling noise in that section of the wall. "Hear that." Star grabbed the light back and laid his ear against the wall as Kitty desperately tried to stop shaking. She would eventually have to step out otherwise she would implode. Quickly she stepped backwards out of the wall and turned around only to freeze at the scene that lay before her.
After being sedated Jubilee and Amara lay completely helpless as two more armed soldiers quickly shackled them and snapped a tight metal band around their wrists. They were now in the process of shifting them out the door when Kitty stepped in from the bathroom wall. She was panting from having to control her power for so long and her eyes were wide in terror as she stared at the looming figures in front of her. "No . . . get away." She threw up her arms and turned and dashed back through the bathroom wall to get away stunned that she just saw two friends get tied up like cattle and then taken away. Circle was inspecting the part of the wall which she had been in before just as Kitty came crashing through from the other room. Surprised Circle lay dazed for a couple of seconds while Kitty quickly leapt up and bolted for the door.
Star however had different ideas, having deduced immediately from the vibrating sound that she had been in the wall he quickly moved himself to where he could easily catch her when she came back through as he knew she would. As she burst through the wall crashing into the thicker Circle, Star was waiting at the door to catch her as she tried to slip through to find her other friend. A quick prick from the sedative stopped her from phasing through him as she quickly became drowsy and soon crashed into unconsciousness. Casually shackling and tagging her, he quickly carried her out of the room and into the hall where nine motionless bodies lay each sleeping in their own separate haven.
The Professor rubbed his temples a strange ringing noise had been penetrating through his mind all day and he was starting to worry it might be serious when the alarm system had gone off in the early morning, ending with it having to be shut down for two days. At the sound of the door opening he swivelled his chair around with a smile until he saw who had come into his office.
Hank McCoy lay in a battered heap, his mouth open and three darts sticking out of his blue furred chest while beside him, like a crumpled piece of paper Ororo lay, darts decorating her form as well. A squad of five soldiers marched swiftly into the room levelling their rifles at the crippled telepath, who was hunched over in pain from the new levels that the ringing had risen to. "Stop." He gasped raising a shaking hand palm towards the five guards who watched him with interest as he strained to lift his head. "Who-o are-e yo-u?" He whispered as he fought the blistering pain in his head.
One of the strange soldiers sneered and pulled a small box from his belt. "We are humanity mutie." He spat out the term and thrust the box towards the telepath sending him into an intense bout of pain as the ringing grew even louder. One of the soldiers marked on one shoulder by an arrow reached to take the box, but the sergeant of the group quickly beat his hand out of the way. "Private!" The soldier snapped to attention and quickly saluted. "Sorry sir!" The sergeant let it pass before quickly readying the sedative dart that plunged home in the mutant's shoulder. As the Professor slowly drifted into a deep dark well of pain, he felt through the terrible ringing a small bit of sadness for him in the top recesses of the young soldier adorned with an arrow's mind.
Logan trotted down the long staircase of the institute heading for the kitchen to grab a last minute drink before a restless sleep. It was always difficult to fall asleep and now it was even more so with no major baddies to take his edge off. When he pushed through the kitchen door he was surprised to find the blue furred Kurt causally finishing a sandwich as he came in.
"Guten abend." Kurt said cheerfully still in good humour even in the middle of the night as he quickly finished his sandwich off in two bites that showed his sharp canines. Logan grunted moving to the fridge to quickly finish off the last remaining beer. "Can't sleep?" He asked Kurt who had jumped onto the center islands and was idly standing on his head. "Ja." Suddenly a noise startled both of them from the floor above and Logan sniffed warily as a foreign scent drifted into the small dimly lit kitchen. "What was dat?" Kurt had crawled off the island and was standing next to Logan a similar wary look on his face as he prepared to bamf into the above room.
In a cloud of sulphurous smoke he quickly vanished and Logan glanced around warily as his claws shot out. The smell was stronger now and he swiftly flicked the lights off and melted into the long shadows. It wouldn't help much but it would at lest give him a small amount of surprise. There was a sudden yell from the room above and Logan growled as he recognized the voice as Kurt, but as he moved towards the door the voice grew weaker and trailed off. He growled again and ran through the open kitchen door towards the stairs but he never got there, a soldier stepped behind him and drove a small syringe into the back of his neck knocking him roughly into unconsciousness.
"Ahhugh." Rogue slowly came to, shaking her head from the after effects of the drug only to look up and see an old man poised with a needle right above her. With a yell she pulled away only to have him roughly grab her face to keep her still. Her eyes widened "But" that wasn't possible, her head whirled as more confusing thoughts flew through and she shook her head again to clear it. With a sudden quick movement he jabbed the needle into her forehead and she winced in pain. "Don't do that." The man scolded still at work with his syringe tattooing her face she now realised as light green ink flew through the tube attached to the needle. "You'll make it smudge and ruin all the hard work I put into it." The man was fairly old around fifty maybe with thinning grey brown hair and soon finished up his job in quick deft movements.
While he held her head steady the rest of her body continued to fidget fervently to escape, trying every trick she knew and anything that might help. She was fastened to a steel table at her neck, wrists, waist, and ankles and while she couldn't escape she tried to find out as much as possible. "Who are ya? Why am Ah here and what the hell are ya doing to my forehead?" She demanded starting to fidget her head again as more questions kept pouring out. "Hold still and I'll tell you." Replied the man, focusing his grey, brown eyes on the design that now grew steadily until he put aside his needle to look at his handy work.
"Who I am is not an issue since you'll never see me again." He ran a finger down the side of the neck and hand restraints, watching as they opened with a soft hiss and as she sat up he handed her a small frameless mirror. The tattoos was a light neon sea green and seemed to pulse with electricity until she reached a hand up and touched it gingerly, getting a nasty shock on her finger. A small swirl graced just above her eyebrow and on her cheek a small handprint glowed dimly in the sea foam green ink the man had been using. As she examined her new tattoos she noticed a smaller M just below her chin in jet black ink and as she looked questioningly at the needle man, he muttered an explanation. "It's for your identification as a mutie and what type you are." He said emphasizing mutie in a bitter tone as he tore off a small metal band from around her wrist.
He tapped just above her new tattoos and she was surprised to feel no memories or thoughts come form him. The tattoo was regulating her power she guessed but though it was a pain most of the time the thought of not having any last defence made her feel nervous. Scowling she reached up to try to smudge it or somehow get it off but she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Needle man had picked up a small rod with a small bump at the top. Just as her fingers touched the tattoo, his thumb touched the bump and she was instantly sent into a world of pain.
Suddenly all the memories and thoughts of the people she had absorbed came back into her mind crowding it and causing an explosion of pain in her mind as she tried to cope with hundreds of thoughts, feelings, and personalities all at once. She was tied on a stake in front of a horde of villagers, men in white lab coats jabbed needles into her skin, she saw herself at a concert feeling like she wore a second skin. She snarled in animalistic rage, felt calm anger of someone who could control their feelings, and cried like a small child separated from her parents all in the same confusing moment before they threatened to destroy her sanity.
Just as sudden as it started it stopped and she shakily looked over at the needle man who had his thumb hovering over another bump. With an emotionless glance at Rogue he pressed the different bump and again she was sent into hell, but this time physical pain. Lightning rippled across her body causing her to shake in pain as well as from the aftershocks, until it suddenly stopped again as the Needleman took his thumb of the bump. "Do you need another lesson?" He asked his face a mask as she rapidly shook her head still panting from the pain of the last burst of electricity. He tapped another bump on the rod and she felt the same drowsy sensation as before at the institute just when they were all captured and the same pit of darkness swallowed her.
Kitty leaned against the wall of a juddering truck, not in the cab but in the back cargo area. She sighed and knocked her head against the wall only to wince and grab the new bump that was forming there while reaching up to touch the new vertical strip of green that marked her forehead down to the tip her nose. "That wasn't very smart." Jubilee remarked her face glowing from the random swirls of ink that marked her face, as she lay close to where Kitty was sitting. Amara giggled reaching up to hide her mouth while also hiding the small flame tattoo on her chin. Rahne trotted over from the far end of the hold where she had been trying to listen to the driver's conversation with a lot of muttering about weak human ears. "Their takin' us to a special plant." She murmured quietly as she sat down beside a tried looking Rogue. A small wolfs head blazed on her right temple as she shook her head like a wet dog and she grinned at Jean who had suggested listening in.
"Thoughts of escape?" They all frowned thoughtfully as the truck bumped along what seemed to be a gravel road. "The guys are behind us in a separate truck." Jean mused, her circled eye tattoo lighting her grim face. "We should rescue them if we can." Jubilee put in, sitting up as she asked the question they were all thinking. "Why would this happen?" They all stared at each other in confusion as the question ran through all of their minds. "Well it happened so we might as well make the best of it something good might come form this." Kitty said, and the rest nodded in agreement. There was a sudden jarring lurch that knocked them down and they were slowly getting to their feet when Rahne suddenly froze. "The engines stopped." She muttered tilting her head to one side and listening intently.
By this time they were all standing and the older full X-men were standing in front of the younger students. The back door was suddenly thrown open and all of them shielded their face as the bright sunlight blinded them. "Come on out ya muties, General won't be happy if the shipment is late!" A broad-shouldered man stood at the opening of the two doors, blocking the way out and he was holding the small rod in his hand. Kitty saw out of the corner of her eye Rogue shuddering when she saw the thin rod and mentally raised the danger of this man a couple of notches since Rogue wasn't scared easily. "Well come out!" His voice was gruff and demanding with a low threat in every word. Kitty took an uneasy step forward while Rogue and Jean stubbornly held their ground with the younger students shifting nervously behind them. "That's it." The voice was now fully directed at her now and she stopped to shiver like a scared horse.
"What do you want?" She called to the man before staggering to the ground with a cry of pain as fire rushed through her bones scorching her from the inside out. As she crouched there panting from the pain she felt Rogue's hand grab her thin pyjama top and haul her to her feet, bracing the younger girl on her feet as the man's voice rang through the hold again. "Who told ya, you could talk! I'm coming in to get ya then." Kitty nodded to Rogue, signalling she was ok and they both went to stand in front of the man with Jean coming forward to support them. There was only enough room for both of the girls to stand side-by-side width ways in the hold but the man filled that space up with ease. Towering over the two girls, Kitty gasped and doubted he would even need the small pain causing rod to fend them off.
"Well come on!" He reached to grab Kitty's shoulder intending to pull her out but she quickly ducked and slammed a hard punch into his solar plexus, only to come out with hurt fingers a couple of seconds later. "He's wearing some sorta armour look out!" Rogue rolled underneath the incoming blow only to glance back and see it wasn't meant for her. "Look out!" Automatically Jean's hands rose to her temples to block the blow with her abilities but no power answered and she barely managed to sidestep in time. Kitty dove through his legs and scrambling to her feet as she fumbled to reach for the controlling rod that he had slid through the side of his belt to use both hands against her friends. "Got it!" She yelled triumphantly only for it to change into a scream of pain as the rod stared to pulse with electricity, causing her legs to buckle from the pain.
The man turned around as Kitty dropped the rod with a clatter onto the floor of the truck. In one hand Rogue tried valiantly to free herself from the large hand that was clasped around her neck and Jean lay like a broken rag doll against the back wall. Jubilee, Rahne, and Amara had attacked the large man viciously but in the small confines of the hold and his odd armour Jubilee and Amara had been thrown back like Jean while Rahne struggled to free herself from the man's other hand. Kitty blinked blurrily up at the tall man who now bent down to look into her face as she knelt on the ground. His face was broad and muscular with chin bones sharp enough to slice paper on, his eyes glowed a pale brown as his dirty blonde hair stuck out in all directions from his military buzz cut. "Couldn't take it could ya?" She scrambled backwards as he continued to advance, tossing Rahne and Rogue down like pieces of matchwood.
She shook her head, her eyes wide in fear as he continued to advance causally thrusting the rod back in his belt. Raising a hand he tapped the top ridge of the tattoo on her forehead and she felt the part of her power rush out of its imprisonment ready to be used. He then grabbed her hands and shoved them hard into the edge of the truck before tapping the tattoo again. Her hands moved through the steel like it was made of cold molasses and after the tattoo was fully activated again she couldn't budge her hands if the world depended on it. "Hey, what the heck!" She tugged at her hands before staring wildly up at the tall figure that causally backhanded her in the face. "I said not to talk, didn't I?" he coolly raised an eyebrow as he tapped the tattoo again and pulled her out of the truck's floor before tapping it again. Kitty shivered and squirmed as hard as she could to escape, but he only tightened his grip and shoved her out of the back of the truck.
A shorter man stood by the entrance of a large concrete building with a solid metal door as the only opening, holding a thick sandwich in one hand with a heavy chain in the other. Kitty flipped over just in time for Rogue cannon balled into her as she was thinking of the fastest way to dodge past the small man and she heard a small hiss of pain as Rogue tried to lift her right arm but it just hung limply at her side.
"Bastard." She spat glaring at the back of the large man while he hoisted Rahne up and tossed her out of the truck. Quickly they both caught part of her and landed back on the earth with a thump as Jubilee came spinning off the bottom of the truck with a yelp only to be half caught and land winded on the ground. Amara and Jean tripped out together with a sharp shove in the back that sent them both flat on the ground. "Alright ya muties!" The smaller man had lungs of iron and was loud enough that Kitty was sure he could subdue rock with his voice. He puffed out his chest and tossed the sandwich in front of them as if they were dogs and turned away to talk to a smallish creature that was standing in the shadows behind him. Kitty strained to hear what they were saying but they were talking too quietly, and she watched in puzzlement as the smaller figure slowly shook his head before stiffening as the man pressed something in his pocket and backhanded him in the face.
The figure stumbled back into the sunlight and Kitty gasped in surprise when they saw him. Pietro had been changed so drastically that she could barely recognize him and as he blinked warily she could see he didn't expect them to. His back curved slightly making him look slightly hunched over and his legs were bent at the knee making him look like he was half squatting, but his legs looked right that way. He only had three toes in the shape of a cat's foot though the right proportion for a human with thick padding on the bottom of his feet to protect it from the harsh rocky ground they were standing on. His toe nails had lengthened into claws and turned white though it was hard to tell from the dirt that clung to his feet. His arms had stayed very much the same shape though his hands changed with only three fingers not including his thumb and the same claws as were on his feet. His face though had changed even further then the rest of his body with a slight muzzle protruding from his face in the proper place for one and she watched in shock as his tapered ears rose out of his hair to stand erect and alert like the ears of a fox.
Hesitantly Kitty crept towards him and her eyes widened further as she noticed the pearly silver scales that covered his entire body before reaching out a hand to gently grab his arm. "Pietro?" she whispered gently reaching up to touch his face as he started to sob and she caught him as he collapsed into her arms. "Shh, Shh." She whispered rocking him back and forth as he moaned in her ear. "She killed them all." Kitty stiffened and as she did she saw his ears fold back with a small rattling noise that came from the hallow spines that topped his ears. "Who?" She whispered back, gently patting his back as he continued to sob and she felt a brief thump on her leg as his tail trashed back and forth, the spines on it making the same rattling noise.
"Who killed who?" He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her slightly away from him as she stared into his slit pupils. "Manipulator, she did it, their all gone." Pietro shivered and gripped her shoulders tighter "She killed them all Tabby, Toad, Lance, Freddy" his voice died away as he started to cry again and Kitty gentle rubbed his back crying with him to lose such good "Enemies". She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up to see Rogue standing behind her with a sad look in her eyes. "You ok?" she asked looking from her to Pietro who had run out of tears and was shivering in Kitty's arms. She nodded and Rogue came up behind Pietro to hug him awkwardly as Jean came forward to help Kitty. Jubilee and Amara quietly talked to each other with one eye on Rahne at all times. Rahne was snarling and as she opened up her hands to stare at them she saw a thin line of coppery blood appear on her finger tips.
The small human watched them all like they were ants in the shadow of his boot, unable to escape his torment but they were beneath his attention. He tapped a small button on the bottom of the rod in his hand and smiled in satisfaction as all of them but Pietro fell down with yells of pain. As they shivered from the after shocks Pietro just bowed his head and turned his jugular towards the small man, his eyes dead of all emotion. The smaller man however grinned and whispered something into Pietro's ear that made him flinch away in pain before tapping the small glowing tattoo of three lines just below his eye and watched him dash into the plant in a cloud of dust as one part of the X-men team stumbled to their feet, brushing off dirt from already dirty knees. "Let's move." He said roughly and the giant man jumped out of the truck to back him up.
Slowly with a few scuffles they moved into the base and Kitty soon found herself walking jerkily next to Jean. "Are you ok?" Jean asked worriedly. Kitty gave her teary smile, she knew that Jean had known about her and Lance even though the entire thing was kept a secret until the Brotherhood had mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks ago, then she had blurted out her story to Jean. "Could be worse." She said before staring back at the ground. Jean nodded and patted her shoulder sympathetically before they continued in silence.
For a couple of minutes everything was fine but when they were deep inside the factory Rahne suddenly growled and leapt on the back of the small man knocking the control rod out of his hands. She swiftly grabbed his hand and touched it to her right temple instantly regaining her abilities before quickly morphing half way. She snarled and ripped the man's shoulder apart before the giant man grabbed her around the throat and started to shake her. He shook her like a terrier shakes a rat and Kitty winced as she heard snapping from all over Rahne's body. "Excuse me but there is no need for violence." A civilised voice cut through the darkness on one side and all of them froze, each preparing to jump the giant to stare at the woman who walked out of the darkness.
"Aghh." Logan rubbed his head as he slowly sat up glancing around him before springing to his feet in readiness. In a flash the events of the night before rushed into his head and he clenched his fists waiting for the dull pain of his blades springing out but it never came. He scowled at the thick metal bands that covered where his blades would some out and as he reached to rip one off his bones jerked in blink of harsh pain. He growled, sweating as he lifted the metal up to look at his face. A small cross marked his check and his nose was bent to one side clearly broken and oozing blood out of one nostril. He snarled and punched the side of the truck in anger. There had been many illegal breakthroughs in Mutant containment in the last couple of years the latest involving chemical ink by some internet company. He looked up as he heard several more groans around the truck and glanced around squinting to see through the murky darkness that would have been clear in his normal vision.
Kurt sat in one corner and moaned clutching his forehead as he slowly rocked back in forth, his face lit by two circle tattoos the marked his forehead and his chin. Sam sat beside him frowning at the ceiling as he gently stroked his own tattoos, a circle on his forehead with two slashes down his cheeks. Jamie sat curled against the wall his eyes huge as he hyperventilated staring at the roof of the truck as his small tattoo of two stick people glowing on his cheek, while Bobby was scowling at the front of the truck where their captors drove them down the bumpy road fingering his snowflake tattoo. "Where's goggle-boy?" Logan asked cracking his neck before starting to pace back and forth scanning the rest for any possible injuries before stopping and kneeling in front of Kurt.
He was badly beat up with a black eye and a broken nose just starting the uncountable bruises that riddled his body down to a break in his tail. "Looks like someone really worked you over Elf." Logan said gruffly bending down to examine the wounds with a professional eye. Kurt grinned and brought his hand down from his forehead to reveal a massive bruise. Logan's eyebrow rose and he half-grinned back before patting him on the shoulder and turning to Sam. "Help him got it?" Sam nodded and quickly began ripping part of his sleeve to make a brace for Kurt's tail. Logan continued on to where Jamie was sitting next to Bobby and knelt down beside them as Jamie stared at him wide eyed. "Mr. Logan what's going on?" He squeaked struggling to sit up before Logan held him down again. "Everything will be fine kid." He patted Jamie's shoulder and the youngest student settled down reluctantly, as Logan turned to Bobby. "Won't do any good Ice."
Bobby glanced up at him and scowled before turning back to stare at the tinted screen window. "It will make me feel better." He growled clenching his fists before jerking his head towards the far end. "Roberto thinks staring out the back will help us get out talk to him if you want to preach." Logan growled and jerked Bobby up by the collar. "Look Ice this isn't the time to be doing this." "And what time is?" Bobby shot back sullenly glaring at Logan. "We're captured and powerless and you just want to sit back and let them haul us off?" Logan glared at Bobby for a couple of seconds before roughly dropping him on the floor and stalking off to find Roberto muttering quietly to himself.
"Where's Ray?" He asked coming to stand next to Roberto "Gone." Roberto murmured staring out into the fog "Scott, Hank?"
"Gone too." He muttered again straining his eyes for any spot of sun light. "Where?" He looked up as Logan asked this question his eyes dead to the world as he causally tapped his sun tattoo earning a nasty blister on his finger with no reaction. "The testing facility where you and this body are going as well." He murmured his eyes flashing gold once before he shook his head and started to mutter again cowering.
"Go away I-I don't want a-a-ny part of this." His eyes glowed again and he stood straight again with a calm smirk "over five hundred miles away and I have complete control amazing, this scientist really knows her stuff." He examined Logan who glared at Roberto's body and clenched his fists. Roberto grinned and placed a hand on Logan's shoulder watching as Logan's eyelids began to droop before they opened flashing gold. "Wait until you've met the Leader of this operation then try to kill her. If you succeed take your own life." Roberto went limp and collapsed as Logon stood still as a statue close by neither moving nor blinking before turning away.
"Well good job X-men." The strange women laughed clapping her hands in amusement. "The Metamorphic student using the physical contact with the hired ignoramus required to shut down the ink's subduing quality, it is almost like the cinema I presume." She paused and her face twitched in a slight smile, her bronze hair covering her expression while a tall Military man stepped out of the shadows behind her. "Very melodramatic really." Her light amethyst coloured eyes glinted behind a pair of glasses as she stared at the captives like a hungry wolf. "I personally thought it would be Jean Grey that would try an organized escape procedure but I am proved incorrect." She shrugged and snapped her fingers, turning on the lights to reveal the rest of the containment area.
The captives gasped staring around the room in a fascination as the glass cases around the room came into the light. "My name is Karen Thirenwood, PHD in biology, history, English language, several other languages and a trained DNA manipulator." The Woman stated flatly, striding over to the long control desk as the giant man dropped Rahne in a broken heap on a long table beside the desk. "But that goes against all Evil guy tradition to tell us your actually name." Kitty chirped as the table began to hum, vibrating softly before starting to glow dimly. "As you can see I am not a stereotypical physiotherapy patient with grandiose schemes of overturning the balance of world government with plans that would not have worked in the planes of actual life." She replied her hands flying over the keyboard as images began appearing in thin air in front of her showing cross sections of Rahne's head and brain centering on a point in the neck.
"You." She barked suddenly at the two thugs. "Me?" The giant man shakily stepped forward and pointed to himself. "Yes you, you over evolved Neanderthal! You snapped six of her spine vertebrae and this is one of the few that are essential for my research." She rounded on the hulking giant before slamming a fist his side. He bent over in pain and started to choke, spluttering as his face started to turn red then purple. As his face slowly turned black he fell forward and collapsed on the floor twitching as the women smoothly lifted her hand out of his gut, dusting off a small silver ring before slipping it back on her finger. "Wow." Rogue gasped getting a glance from Karen as she stepped back at the desk. "Yes, swiftly acting poison from the terigoma spertionus able to seep through any armour and will continue to damage the nervous and blood system even after it's past through making it the best weapon"
She glared at Kitty who had quietly snuck forward and was quietly examining the screen's base. "Holographic data processors?" she glanced up with a shocked glance at Karen who was looking as shocked as Kitty. "You recognized it?" Kitty nodded and lightly tapped the base before watching in delight as the hotmail homepage came up instantly. "Sympatico?" "Better, personal internet company founded by myself." Kitty nodded and quickly knelt down to examine the circuitry but found a thin syringe resting against the back of her neck instead. "Well this conversation was quite enlightening I would much prefer it if you stayed with your friends." Karen tapped the back of Kitty's neck with the syringe and watched calmly as she slumped to the ground, unconscious. "What the hell did ya do?" Rogue demanded her fists clenched as she strode towards the unconscious Kitty and the still Rahne before feeling the cold steel snout of a rifle against her neck and stood stock still as Jean, jubilee, and Amara found themselves in similar situations.
"I believe this is the part where I reveal my scheme, am I correct?" Karen called up a large image of the world in the air before her. "As I advanced through University I discovered that through certain electric pulses a signal can be set off in the brain the sends the body into the survival evolution state." She called up an image of a feathered dinosaur with long rabbit like feet and large claw-like talons. "The archnautex, the cousin of the Caudipteryx, shows this type of evolution through the hasty sprouting of feathers to help it survive in its environment." She walked around the table and stood in front of the helpless captives continuing to lecture. "I used the same process on certain types of animals trying many different combinations and finally ending up with this." She whistled and a large strange looking canine came bounding to her side.
He rubbed against her leg wrapping it with strange tentacles that grew from behind his ears and at the joint of his head as well as from the connection point of his front legs to his body. His front paws had grown wide spread with webs connecting them and the bare marks of retractable claws were seen glinting under the brown streaked black fur. "Jeran here" Karen stroked the top of his head that came up to her armpit soothingly before speaking again. "Is the pinnacle of my success, but the greater challenge was yet to come when I heard of the X-gene." She paused and looked straight at the captives, her eager hungry look sending chills up their collective spines. "An entire segment I had not discovered, I had tried it on humans before with deadly results but a half way evolved it would be a piece of proverbial cake." She laughed and gestured to the glass cases surrounding them.
"These are my failures and my lessons." Jean was the first to spot the "lesson" and quickly turned her head away to avoid being sick. Evan hung on the wall, suspended in the glass tube by a stasis trap, slowly rotating to show the full extent of what had happened to him. His spikes had exploded for him in every direction ending with him resembling the Porcupine that Logan had nicknamed him after with a changed animalistic face. "Not enough calcium growth." Karen muttered moving on through the ranks of the Morlocks, explaining what had gone wrong in each one. There was a space on the wall where an empty tube lay open and ready to receive its newest occupant. The short man, who had been watching the entire performance unemotionally stepped up to where Rahne lay and roughly dragged her to the empty tube before shoving her in. "Thank you." Karen murmured watching as Rahne's body slowly hovered into position and began to spin.
"Now the brotherhood, there were some breakthroughs." She gestured to the back wall where four bodies hung in a room wearing their uniforms which were ripped and shredded from the process. Lance stood frozen in a grimace, a statue formed of solid granite. "Trying to get him to be moving stone." Karen explained and moved on to the next body. Freddy had imploded and his bones where all that remained floating in the air while Toad looked basically the same save the tiny bullet hole above his ear. Tabby was glowing so brightly it was almost a physical blow and she was the source of all the light in the room while cables ran from her tube to the computer. "She is our energy source and our light in this main lab, it is partly keeping her alive since it is displacing the extra energy, but it is also slowly killing her." Karen glanced around again and frowned. "There should be more here soon, here we go." She turned around and watched as three soldiers carried in four more bodies.
"Each of these are examples never to over extend a subjects power." She said watching as the shrouded bodies were dumped down a long chute. She turned back and named the bodies calmly. "Ororo was used to keep the fog up until her forces were depleted, Professor Xavier showed that the telepathy blocking device must never be used in combination with the darts, Scott woke up while the soldiers were about to sedate him and was shot." Jean gasped at this news and grimly kept her head up to hear the rest. "Lastly Hank was also shot but from unbridled enthusiasm among the soldiers to rid the world of carriers of the X-gene." She tapped the control panel and the soldiers that were attending the bodies quickly marched over and saluted her. "Bring the two essentials here and watch them carefully." They saluted again and quickly marched away. "After the success with Quicksilver I discreetly passed along the details until it reached the government when they made a deal with me." She took a deep breath and grinned. "I was to wipe the mind of every human on earth and replace their memories of any Human looking X-gene carrier and replace it with a subspecies of domesticated lesser beings, with powers to be used."
There was silence for a couple of seconds before Amara scoffed at the notion. "That's impossible; nobody can change history or that many people's memories." Her voice trailed away at Karen's grin until Jubilee piped up "Can they?" Karen shrugged "What is history then information passed down by families and written in books." She grinned at her captives who were now sure she was insane. "If the books disappeared and memories were changed then history could be changed and I have the tools for that memory change right here." She gestured to the four soldiers who were returning with two more figures. "And a subspecies can be created with my process."
The Soldiers had formed a solid square around the two recognizable enemies. 'Mastermind and Mesmero, Ladies and gentlemen." One of soldiers announced grandly with a slight grin. He winked at Rogue who just shot him a glare and ignored him, recognising him as the strange soldier who had burst into her room. "Thank you Mark." Karen seemed interested with this interplay and turned back to the door way to watch the other half of the X-men file in. "Kurt!" Rogue quickly strode to her brother and started to examine his wounds, while Amara and Jubilee mingled with the other students explaining what had happened to the other members of their group. "Kätzchen!" Kurt hobbled over to where Kitty was lying and carefully tried to bring her back to the safety but eventually Rogue picked her up and supported Kurt all the way back to their small group.
Logan meanwhile was staring at Karen who stood by watching this with a satisfied smirk. A small voice spoke at the back of his mind, urging him to tear out her heart and end his friends' punishment with the insane woman's blood staining his hands. He shook his head and turned to face the inner circle not noticing that Mesmero closed his eyes for a second. Logan's eyes flashed gold and he whipped around, charging Karen who side-stepped smoothly while glaring at Mesmero who shrugged. He came around again flashing two punches to where she had been two seconds before until she flipped onto his back and jabbed his neck vein with the ring. He stiffened and started to convulse spitting out blood and black poison before going still. The room was silent for a second and a small sob was heard from the midst of the captives as Rogue cried for her trainer and friend who had suddenly been yanked from their lives.
Kitty came too strapped to a smooth seat made of a hard metal similar to the tattoo seat and it strapped in the same places. She wriggled slightly and Karen's face appeared in the air above her head, slightly fuzzy since it was a hologram. "Do not attempt to move it makes the process worse." The face fizzed out again and a hissing noise echoed around the small chamber as Kitty continued to thrash against the restraints.
A blinding pain flashed through her leg and she froze feeling tiny pinpricks grow in size until they exploded all over her body. A crackling noise filled the air and she screamed as her legs twisted and bent, snapping as the bone altered their shape to grow stronger and her feet shifted with a grinding crunch as the base becoming small and the tendon becoming larger. Her shoulders grated as they moved forward, snapping the socket forward with it as she bent in pain. She suddenly arched and screamed again as her spine elongated and her pinkie finger snapped clean off to melt in the hissing smoke around her. Her finger-nails curved and thickened, folding back into her skin to carve a permanent place in the bone and flesh. Her jaw snapped and repositioned itself along with her upper jaw to meld into a short muzzle while her ears were stretched up and curled before moving up her scalp.
The hissing noise stopped and she lay shivering in pain as the glass dome slowly opened to allow a soldier in. He had a small white arrow on his shoulder and she shrank away from his touch on her raw skin while he unclasped the restraints quickly and gently caught her as she fell forward. "Shh it's ok." He murmured as she whimpered in pain, carefully carrying her out to lay her on a small table similar to the front table where Rahne had been lying not fifteen minutes earlier. Kitty opened her eyes gingerly and at first thought someone had slipped her a pair of night vision goggles but when she shakily raised a hand to feel her face she froze and examined her hand all hopes that it was goggles gone. She hadn't really been unconscious during Karen's explanation and had gotten the general gist of it.
But it was one thing to hear it and another to experience it she thought as she rubbed her new honey brown fur between two fingers. She reached for the side of the table and slowly sat up, wincing whenever her skin touched anything remotely hard. Black pads covered the palms of her hands and as she kicked her feet she could see the difference immediately. Her feet were shaped like Pietro's with a slight exception that she was better adapted for jumping not running and she grinned as she wriggled her three toes, watching the claws spring from the indentation they made there during the process. She inspected her hand claws as well watching them spring out and sink back in while her new tail swung behind her the white tip flashing in the light cut off from the brown by a thin strip of black. She checked her ponytail and found to her relief it was still there with two added surprises. Her new ears were similar to Pietro with no spikes and a little bit longer though a tuft of fur marked the tips in the same colouration as her tail tip.
"Kitty, is that your name?" The soldier was back and had brought a small jug of water and a cup with a sandwich beside it on a small trey. "Here you should eat this." Kitty's ears came forward in interest as she grabbed the trey and placed it on the table beside her, thanking the man as he sat down near the entrance staring curiously as she dissected the sandwich removing all of the meat from it before biting into it with gusto. She glanced at the soldier as he watched the food flash past her sharp canines and disappear down her throat faster then thought. He broke the silence first by blurting out a question. "What's the girl with the white bangs' name?"
He blushed and looked down before glancing back up again as Kitty started to giggle. "You mean Rogue?" She grinned at him before looking down again after she remembered what he had done. "I'm sorry." She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see him sitting on the table beside her with a sad smile on his face. "I tried to help the old man and Rogue but I couldn't do anything." He shook his head and gently stroked the soft fur on her shoulder for a couple of seconds before yanking away and stammering "I'm sorry I don't know how to . . ." He stiffened and his eyes glazed over for a couple of seconds while Kitty stood up and sniffed around the room, amazed at how strong her senses were now, casting startled glances his way every so often.
"Hey what are you doing in here!" Her head snapped around and she stared wide eyed at the vastly changed soldier. His face was stern and there was no acceptance in his eyes as she straightened up as much as she could. "I'm here, because I'm um, newly changed and this is where I came out." She looked hopefully at him and he scowled down at her, before opening the door and pointing down the hall. "Go down there and turn left to get to the game room for your type." He spat and shoved her out the door, sending her sprawling as he slammed the door behind him. Kitty stood up a little shakily and brushed off what was left of her nightgown before trotting down the hall to where he said the main chamber was. She crouched down and ran on all fours, back-flipping once or twice until she turned left and reached a plain door.
It slid open at her touch and Jean was standing behind it, with her arms crossed and a worried look fixed on her face. Two tentacles sprouted from behind her normal ears and two more sprouted below where her jaw joined the rest of her skull. Her red hair was as it always had been but she was now covered completely in bronze scales with all of her fingers intact. Her feet were shaped like Kitty's and her reptilian tail curved down from her spine like the hem of a cloak until it ran along the floor. "Kitty!" The young girl suddenly found herself yanked inside and pushed against the wall while Jean's tentacles curled above to almost stare at her from around the sides of Jean's face. "Do you remember everything?" She nodded and Jean quickly unpinned her, before apologizing. "Sorry about that we have to make sure for everyone otherwise we won't last ten seconds." Kitty nodded and grinned at Jean who was now dressed in a green t-shirt with a pair of jeans tailored for her tail.
"Where did you find those?" She gestured to Jean's clothes and Jean pointed towards a small box in the corner of the room beside a small bathroom. The box was overflowing with clothes in a variety of colours, sizes and types. After digging through the box she managed find a light blue shirt and a pair of jeans that fit her tail. After some careful planning she managed to get them on and stepped out of the small changing room fully dressed and a lot better prepared for what could happen. "Guten morgen Kätzchen." Kurt dropped down from the ceiling to land in front of her and grinned at her having obviously come into the room while she was changing. "Good morning Kurt." She yawned and stretched as she looked Kurt over for anything different. He shrugged. "I'm evolved enough to look part animal, Ja?" She giggled and her ears flattened for a second before one twisted towards the door. Jean nodded to Kitty and Kurt and they both took up positions behind her as she carefully opened the door to catch Rogue as she fell in.
"Hey." She looked up relived at the three of them and her eyes widened as she found their new skin. "Whoa." She stood up and brushed off the knees of her uniform before glancing at Kurt. "Who healed ya?" Kurt was in perfect shape with only faint scars showing where he had been beaten, though these were invisible in his coat. "She did, Manipulator I think, same as she healed you." They all nodded and turned back to stare at Rogue. "Why aren't you any different?" Jean asked curiously as Rogue scuffed her feet on the floor, not looking up at her dramatically changed friends. Kitty grinned and peered into Rogue's face as she stared at the floor. "It's Logan isn't." Rogue nodded studying Kitty's new face curiously, hesitantly reaching up to touch the fur on her forehead. "It doesn't hurt anymore." She said brightly trying to make her friend feel better while Jean asked her question again.
"My powers messed things up." She shrugged and reached out to tap Jean's scales, producing a sound like metal hitting skin. "Ah just have these now." She tilted her head to show the faint outlines of scales gleaming in the light. "Cool!" Kitty clapped her hands and sprung from the ground to the top of a table that stood six feet away, landing lightly on her fingertips and the tips of her feet with her tail swaying behind her. "Whoa." She turned around to see Kurt giving her a thumbs up while Rogue and Jean just stared at her in surprise. "The process strengthened us depending on the amount of our power and how useful it will be in this new world." Jean guessed frowning in thought as her tentacles twisted around her face.
"Not many people are going to want to have to keep the power turned off all the time so yours probably isn't very marketable." She laughed, seeing the pout on Kitty's face. "It makes sense, our powers are probably strengthened as well which probably explains these." she tapped her tentacles before continuing "Kurt already looks different so his power was only strengthened." He grinned and bamfed beside Kitty, who raised an eyebrow at his new clothes, guessing he changed while Jean talked. "When it increased Rogue's power, the power became to much and it over loaded the system." Jean continued to muse, leaning casually against the wall before jumping up again as Amara, and Roberto both fell through the doorway.
"Hey." Kitty waved before jumping down to help them both up, while Jean cut her lecture short to find some new clothes for the two. Rogue and Kurt started to screen off another changing room for the other people who were sure to come in. Amara and Roberto had both been changed to their powered up forms with the same body structure as most of the team though they both had substantial differences. Amara had a ridge of spines along her back and a pair of twisted dragon like ears with a fiery spaded tail similar to Kurt's poking out the back of her pyjama pants though hers was thicker and more reptilian. Roberto had a pair of curved horns that graced his forehead and a similar spaded tail flickered behind him though both of their flames had dimmed down to a slight glow around them.
"Looks like you're beaten in the demon department Blue Boy." Bobby was leaning against the door frame looking in at the chaos of people getting changed and adapted to their new bodies. He looked very much like himself when he was in his ice form but with significant changes. Spikes run from his forehead down the tip of his reptilian tail with the same basic body as the rest with mitten like hands. His ears were similar to Amara's and his feet were reptilian talons that tapped against the hard floor as he watched them. He had already exchanged his clothes somewhere else and the dark long sleeved shirt with jeans gave him a mysterious air while his eyes glinted a deep blood red.
Kurt grinned and clapped Roberto on the shoulder before bamfing to the door to pull Bobby in. As he yanked him in Jamie rolled in afterwards looking so much like a Rahne when she was half morphed that a lump sprung up into Kitty's throat as she gently helped him up. Jubilee was the last in and as she stepped in some people yelped in surprise. She was covered completely in shining colourful dazzles that lit up every corner of the room, as she grinned at their surprise the dazzles around her face became brighter and she slowly dimmed them to a more normal level though she still couldn't be seen through them. "Well now that we're all here, we need a plan." Jean stood in the centre of the room silencing all conversation as the remnants of the team turned to stare at her thoughtfully. "Where's Ray?" She asked counting them all and remembering who had been brutally murdered with a slight head shake. They all shrugged and listened intensely as the escape debate began.
Ray panted as he dashed through the sewers. "Please be there, please be there." He panted as he stumbled out of the mouth of one pipe into a small enclosed area. "Hello?" He called warily his few strands of hair falling in front of his face. A small sniffling sound echoed through out the chamber and with a quick jerk to tighten his pyjama pants he strode toward the sound. Pulling aside two pieces wood he reached down and pulled out Torpid from the small hole she had dug for herself.
"Hey Kid." He whispered softly gently shaking her as she slowly opened her eyes and started when she saw him. "Shh it's ok." He put her down and crouched next to her, gently patting her back as she cried silently against him. "Where did the rest of your family go?" He patted her head and watched as she drew a scene in the dirt at their feet. A small stick person with spikes was captured in his sleep by two gun wielding stick people in masks while a stick person with an eye patch was shot as she fought the guards with a dart if he guessed right. Other gun wielding stick people captured the other stick people in tattered clothes that he guessed were her family and it ended with her hiding behind the two planks of wood as the gun wielding people searched for her.
"I see." He said messing up her hair as they both got up again "Well I just hafta pick some stuff up then we'll look for my friends and your family." She nodded, smiling happily as she gave him a quick hug before jumping onto the lip of a pipe. "That way?" He pointed up the pipe, glancing at her with his eyebrows raised which made her giggle silently. She nodded and they both trotted up the pipe towards the Xavier institute and a changed world.
"That won't work." The Manipulator sat at her desk running over plans for a new project that she was starting on. She sighed and put her feet up on her desk careful not to smudge her plans, musing about the failure of her before project. "Absorption Powers that I had never thought of." She thought aloud, rubbing her top lip as she did when ever she was thinking. "Study is the key here, the rest will enter the circulation system but this one will stay for now." She started to pace and entered the set password to start the new government system. Pity the mind controllers died she thought herself as she watched from a hidden camera the team surround and chained except the special case that was important for study.
"Computer, new document, bold, center, underline." She waited a second for the computer to catch up to the commands. "Title subject test 50978 name Rogue, hypothesis, lack of control over power interferes with normal activity unless protection is worn ending with the interference with evolution process 969, video journal start now." She turned away from the computer screen and watched as Rogue banged on the door and sank to the floor, watching.