Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth and is used with permission. Blaze, Shockwave, Gaia, Senator Hawley, Matthew Cooper and Iona belong to Lamby and should not be used without my permission.

Scene 17

The X-Jet took off with a roar, disappearing over the horizon in the direction of Mexico like a demon on wings. Xavier made his way to Cerebro, determined to help in whatever way he could, despite the humming fear at the back of his extraordinary mind that he might once again run into Apocalypse. In Xavier's office, Hawley and Matthew Cooper were hard at work, making sure the X-Men's passage was unhindered by local authorities and so forth. The thought of going to see his only child was a long way down the list of things to do in Hawley's busy mind.

Upstairs, Samantha was waiting. Simply waiting, biding her time with Iona and Vertigo, in respectful silence as Apocalypse seemed to speak to them through the book. Only when the jet was nothing more than a vague smell of jet fuel on the breeze, when Xavier was so distracted by the awe-inspiring power of Cerebro, did they make any move.

Dressed in sheens of black and blue, long flowing garments highlighted with flared sleeves and intricate silver jewellery, all three girls cut a stunning scene. Hair loose about their faces, one bleached blonde, one strawberry blonde and one white, skin pale and drawn, it was their eyes that were their most startling feature. Dark and soulless eyes…

They strode down the stairs three abreast, making their classmates walk around them, ignoring the objections and questions of their sanity. Without a glance to the side, Vertigo still cradling the book like a baby, all three arrived as one at the lift to the lower levels. Waiting for the doors to open, Berserker's voice interrupted the flow of mysticism from the book. He asked them abruptly what they thought they were up to, confident and cocky… Until all three girls turned their gaze as one and stared at him. Hastily the teenage boy backed off, swallowing heavily, unnerved despite himself. What was going on?

The doors to the lift slid open, and the three girls strode forward and in. Turning again as one, Iona's hand punched the button for the level they wanted. The doors slid shut and they were lost from Berserker's sight. For a moment the teenager just stood there, confusion written all over his face. Then with grim determination, he punched the lift button himself. If they thought they could cause trouble in the lower levels when the X-Men were away, they had another thing coming…

Wolfsbane sat on the silver blanket dejectedly; tail brushing the floor, making a hollow swooshing noise as she contemplated all possible meanings of the word werewolf. She was going to be stuck like this forever, somehow she knew it. Trapped halfway between wolf and human, a freak, unable to pass as either. She shivered as she heard the door down the corridor open, ears twitching and hackles rising. Why was it suddenly so cold in here?

The door to her small cell-like room moved open once more, but it wasn't Ilehana that stood there, but her three friends. For a moment, Wolfsbane's spirits were lifted. They had been allowed to come see her, which must mean she wasn't in as much trouble as she'd thought. And then she saw what it was Vertigo was cradling in her arms.

"Mine!" The wolf-girl snapped, lunging through the air towards the book, hands splayed and teeth bared. Vertigo did not move, did not quiver and certainly did not feel afraid. Iona reached out a hand almost lethargically as Wolfsbane charged past her and grabbed the mutant's arm. The wolf whimpered and fell back, arm steaming as Iona's power ruptured cells and turned soft fur inside out, sensitive skin burning.

"Apocalypse's." The three girls said as one, whilst Vertigo opened the book to the page that had been stained with Wolfsbane's own blood. Now, not only the wolf's paw print marked the page. It had been joined with three handprints etched in blood. All the other three bore sliced right palms, cuts Wolfsbane's sensitive nose told her were not very old. Looking at them as she stood again, unevenly balanced with strangely contorted half-wolf, half-human limbs, Wolfsbane nodded once.

They left the room to find an irritated Berserker waiting for them. Not one of the four girls even bothered to look at him, turning as one and heading back the way they had come, back to the lift. Only when their classmate cried out with a "Hey, wait!" did they turn on him, eyes empty. Berserker started forwards, but Shockwave was quicker. She grabbed his arm in one hand and unleashed her fracturing mutant power. Crying out as Pyro once had, dropping to his knees and clutching his wrist, Berserker found himself alone again. The only signs the girls had ever even been there were the empty room where Wolfsbane had been, and the distorted fracture that had been his forearm…

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"Thanks for that, I'll be in touch." Michael Hawley went to hang up his mobile, another call finished. But before he could dial the next number, his aide's voice distracted him.

"Sir, isn't that the helicopter firing up?" Matthew had urgency, worry even, in his voice.

"Its probably nothing Matthew." Hawley lectured the younger man, wishing his aide wasn't so jumpy. "Just the pilot showing off for some kids I expect."

"Then why is it taking off?" Matthew asked, pointing out the window, "And why is our pilot kneeling on the grass and throwing up like he's drunk himself dizzy?"

"What the…" Hawley exclaimed, pushing his aide aside as he caught sight of the helicopter's new pilot raising the machine from the ground. "Sammy?"

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"What, we're gettin' an in-flight movie now?" Iceman asked, stretching in his seat as the jet levelled out at altitude, Storm at the helm.

"It's the last transmission sent out by the S.H.I.E.L.D. marines in Mexico." Cyclops replied, flicking down the monitor and selecting a playback file on the jet's computer. An ominous silence descended on the jet as Blaze and Ilehana exchanged glances. The digital image was crystal clear, the audio easily heard even over the sound of the jet's engines. This S.H.I.E.L.D. was no two-bit operation, and judging by the gritty, disciplined determination of the General who introduced himself as Marco Lewis, their missing-in-action status was enough to give even the most confident X-Man nerves.

"This will be the final report," The recording announced, "Before we enter radio darkness for the operation codename Purple Haze. The time is…"

"Think we can start having cool code names for missions?" Jubilee whispered to Kitty, but was shushed in reply.

"I can report that…" General Lewis continued, but suddenly all hell broke loose. There was shouting behind him, then weapons fire, and the camera was knocked over as the General jumped to his feet. The image distorted slightly with the impact, the lens now aimed diagonally upwards. Several soldiers sprinted past its field of view, responding to Lewis' calls to fall back. And then they appeared.

The Horseman known as War lead them, the dark and steely-eyed man from the nightclub that had attacked Blaze. A wave of his hand, and screaming followed weapons fire, as though he had turned the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's guns on themselves. Nightcrawler shuddered.

Next, the jungle seemed to suddenly become sentient, trees whispered and the earth buckled, vines uncoiled from branches and stretched out darkly to grab one soldier and haul him through the air. The camera lost sight of him, but his screams left nothing to the imagination; the plants were pulling him apart. Apocalypse had his X-Man. Gaia.

Blaze cried out wordlessly, making her teammates turn to glance at her. The redhead was rapt, avidly gawping at the screen, as a gun left abandoned by the camera slowly seemed to melt away. A trickle of metal chased itself across the ground, and parts of the camera seemed to want to join in. The image flickered, the camera melting away, and the transmission died out.

"Magneto?" Shadowcat asked doubtfully.

"Mercury." Blaze answered, shaking her head to the Magneto idea. "But she should be dead…"

"Hang on people, we're approaching the landing site." Storm instructed. "It's going to be a rough landing…"