12. Hound and Hare
Interrogation Chambers,
Mutant Underground Headquarters,
Sweat glinted in the dim light of the chamber. Jean Grey's hair was soaked in it, clinging damply to her skull. The woman beside her was spotless, not sweating a drop. Sage studied Jean expressionlessly, watching as the woman panted. "Tell me about how you met Domino, Jean," Sage asked, almost politely. Jean shivered, opening her mouth angrily to speak but closing it again at a look from Sage. Quietly, she began, "I found Domino living under the name of Neena Thurman…" As she continued, Sage's brain analyzed information as fast as she could. The woman had broken under the interrogation. Just. Now, all she had to do was ask the right questions.
Greenwich, Connecticut,
The United States,
Jean-Paul sped down the rows and rows of streets, feeling the trees that arched over the road behind him curve down and inwards, bending to fill the gap he left. Backtracking, he returned to the others. "Nothing," he spat. Blink sighed and Cecilia shook her head. Neither Chamber or Monet reacted, the latter not stirring from where she sat with her legs crossed. With a nod of his head towards the motionless woman, Jean-Paul asked, "She hasn't had any luck either?" but Blink said, "Nothing. She hasn't teleported from anywhere close by, I'd have felt that. She's still here." Staring around at the innocuous-looking suburb, Jean-Paul whispered to himself, "We'll find you, Domino, and when we do, I'm going to kill you."
Interrogation Chambers,
Mutant Underground Headquarters,
"Now, Jean," Sage said, "tell me about your training." Jean glanced at her, no more than a flickering of her pupils, but Sage caught it. Licking her lips, Jean began, "I was found by Professor Xavier some time after my friend Annie…" but Sage cut her off. "Not that training, Jean." The woman's eyes flicked towards her, then around the room again. "I want to know when he found you." The woman began to try and pull herself out of the chair but the ropes around her arms and ankles held her there. She began to throw herself against the bonds, yelling, "I don't know what you mean!" Sage stared at her for a moment before advancing on Jean. It seemed that she hadn't broken after all. More pressure would be required.
Greenwich, Connecticut,
The United States,
Monet straightened with a gasp, eyes popping open. "I think I've found her," she said and Jean-Paul was at her side. "Where?" he snapped urgently but Monet massaged her temples a moment before answering. "There's an estate, just round the corner from here. Its covered by the most subtle piece of shielding I've ever seen. It would need as much power to do this as it would to…" she trailed off, looking at Chamber. The boy just stared back at her, not speaking. He had barely spoken since he and Blink had been brought back. Monet shivered slightly and continued, "It sends a mind trying to probe the area off to the side. I only caught it because the auto suggestion couldn't get through my double shields. I can't tell you what's under there but Domino isn't anywhere in the area. I'm almost certain.," she finished. Jean-Paul looked at her for just a moment, before taking to the air, shouting, "Come on! We can't let her get away!"
Interrogation Chambers,
Mutant Underground Headquarters,
It had taken a good deal of extra pressure but Jean had finally cracked. She was starting to talk. Spilling out secrets, how he'd found her months before Xavier. Her initial training, creating the secret place deep in her mind that Xavier would never see. The planning. The scheming. The break from the X-men. Everything. Sage was very deeply disturbed. She was also missing something, she knew it. But she didn't know the questions to ask. "Why form the Crew?" she asked. Jean replied slowly. "He wants people. It's a training ground. Domino's been doing it for years, where do you think my agents come from?" She let out a vicious, dry laugh. "You didn't think your little killings were going to get his agents, did you?" Sage looked at her in horror. She demanded, "How do you ensure loyalty? You put these people in a situation that creates intense bonds, how do you make sure they won't turn on you when they find out that you've been setting them up?" The woman tied to the chair rasped another laugh. "Domino is bonded to him. Domino is loyal and she will be loyal until she dies." Sage fixed her with a hard stare, knowing there was more, waiting for her to continue. Jean whimpered at the look and said, "We use a mole. One who's been bonded, one who will stay loyal. It's done as soon as the group is assembled, the turning." Sage felt the blood drain from her face, staring in horror. "Who?" she demanded instantly. "Who is it?"
Greenwich, Connecticut,
The United States
Chamber watched the road fly by underneath him. He glanced up a moment at Monet, carrying him by his shoulders as they flew along the road. Looking beside, Cecilia was floating along on her disc while Jean-Paul was carrying Blink. He looked back, focusing on the estate they were headed for. He felt something inside him stir as they approached where Domino hid, at last in a position to get his revenge. What she had done to him….Inside himself, Jono felt something stir, something he hadn't felt since they had been chasing the Kingpin. When he found Domino, she was going to envy Leander Natchios and all the others.
Interrogation Chambers,
Mutant Underground Headquarters
Sage jumped to her feet. Jean was refusing to answer. But there was something wrong with her this time. It wasn't the same laughter as before. Striding as close to the woman as she could get, Sage gasped out loud. The inhibitor collar was trickling off her neck, the metal and components melted. Her eyes, previously cloudy from pain, had cleared. But they weren't green anymore, they were red. Sage threw herself backwards desperately, landing on the table as Jean's hands whipped up towards where her neck had been, charred fragments of the shackles dropping to the ground. Sage rolled, flipping her legs back up as the manacles restraining her legs fell apart, filling the room with the smell of singed metal. Eyes dripping red, Jean Grey laughed as fire filled the room and she spoke with a voice that wasn't her own. "Hello, my pet."
Greenwich, Connecticut,
The United States
Monet slammed through the side of the mansion, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. Jean-Paul was through after her, Blink, Chamber and Cecilia following carefully. Splitting up to search the mansion, they didn't notice the figure who walked past them laughing. Sending a brief telepathic message to Domino, the figure slipped out of the mansion, taking a car from the garage. He hid himself from the sight of the Underground agents. Laughing slightly, the figure sped off, most of his mind focused on one room in the bowels of the Mutant Underground headquarters.
Interrogation Chambers,
Mutant Underground Headquarters
Sage stared at the woman, recognizing the masculine voice that sprung from her lips instantly. "You," she said coldly. "I shouldn't be surprised that you pulled something like this." Jean's face twisted into a rictus bearing a faint resemblance of a smile. "Sage, Sage, Sage," the woman's body said, tone almost paternal. "Did you ever really threaten me? Did you even really threaten my dear proxy here? Whose agents have you been killing for the past few years Sage? Mine or hers? Only I know." Sage spat at Jean's body, now surrounded by a pool of fire, eyes dripping with blood. The spittle evaporated before it even got close. Shaking the body's head, the voice said, "One thing I learnt from having access to this dear woman from such a young age was her enormous potential. Of course, I took steps to make sure she didn't realize she surpassed me in some areas but now…well, now it's time to see if she can live up to her potential. I'm just going to leave a parting gift, but what do you think of the idea of having an idiot in possession of near telekinetic godhood and an overwhelming urge to destroy things?" The grin sharpened, showing teeth now. "It has been a pleasure, Sage. If we happen to meet again…well, I doubt that will happen. Ta-ta." With that, Jean's body went rigid for just a moment as her personality and memory were wiped out cleanly. She lifted off the ground, however, and the flames grew hotter moments later as the blocks on her power were removed. With a shriek that shook the building, the fiery woman exploded, consuming the room in a huge burst of flame.
Bishop's Office,
Mutant Underground Headquarters,
"Commissioner…." His secretary buzzed Bishop, his voice trailing off unusually. "Yes, Janet?" Bishop asked "Have you found out what that was?" he said, referring to the shriek that had flown through the building moments before. The woman on the intercom was silent for a moment before replying, "You need to come down to interrogation Commissioner. Quickly. There's been a terrible accident."
Ruins of the Interrogation Chambers
Bishop surveyed the wreckage, face expressionless. Clever as the woman was, it was almost certain that Sage had been killed in this blast. Almost. Bishop held out some hope that she'd be pulled out, that was why he had people searching. Suddenly a shout rose. Bishop sprinted over to where one of the agents was pulling back stones around a body. The stench of burnt flesh was almost unbearable. "Sage…." Bishop said softly and, unbelievably, the woman's pupils rolled around. There was a muscle contraction around her face and Bishop realised that she was trying to blink. Her eyelids had been burnt off. Reaching out with a hand, the woman touched Bishop's temple, forcing his mental barriers aside with her last remaining strength to tell him something. Images without words flashed through his head, everything Jean had told Sage, the encounter with him. Jean dying in her own explosion, filled with a terrible need to destroy but her mind wiped of the information that would have saved her from her own powers. With the last thought before collapsing, Sage sent the image of the woman and the words There's a mole in the squad before dropping back. The healer her rescuer had been shouting for had arrived, elbowing Bishop aside to go to work. With a horrible sinking feeling, Bishop shouted, "Get me a contact with Jean-Paul's people!"
The Mansion
Greenwich, Connecticut,
Jean-Paul felt the communicator in his ear buzz faintly. Thumbing the switch, he said, "Talk fast." Bishop's voice rang through. "Jean-Paul, there's been an incident. Sage is likely to die but before she passed out, she told me there's zzzzzzlllzzlzlzzzz….." Jean-Paul frowned. "Bishop?" he asked but got no response. Looking up suddenly, he spotted the boy standing at the top of the stairs. The boy was watching him, visibly concentrating. The radio gave off a single spark, stinging Jean-Paul's ear before dying. Before Jean-Paul could react, Blink was behind the boy, slamming an elbow onto the back of his neck, knocking him out. Jean-Paul was there a moment later, then Monet. "He took out our communications," Jean-Paul said coldly. "We're cut off." "Who…" Monet began but her voice trailed off as she glanced down the corridor, spotting another teenage boy. Glancing in the other direction, she saw another teenager, a blond girl standing at the other end. In silent co-ordination, the two assumed a fighting stance, the boy vanishing inside a whirling tornado, the girl manifesting a horde of yellow sparkling energy balls.
Jean-Paul darted instantly toward the boy who, moving inside the tornado as he was, still seemed to be moving at the speed of a normal person. Trying to slam blows through the window was proving extremely difficult, the boy popping out bone spikes that were whirled down the hallway, one shattering harmlessly on Monet's body armour, the rest hitting the wall or floor. Finally, Jean-Paul managed to strike a blow to the boy's head and he went down, sliding over his centre of balance to slip down the stairs. Jean-Paul caught his foot before he slid down too far, flipping him to the landing halfway down.
Monet and Blink had thrown themselves at the blond girl but she had launched her little field of glowing energy balls at them. As they approached, Blink opened a portal in front of herself to get rid of them but the girl snapped her fingers, detonating them before they hit. Throwing a single, much larger ball of energy between the two agents, the explosion slammed Blink into the wall knocking her dazed to the ground, and Monet over the banister where she caught herself with her powers, flying back up and pouncing on the girl. The blond set off a few more little bombs but Monet ignored them, rendering the girl unconscious with a quick blow.
Downstairs, Cecilia and Chamber were hurrying towards the fight when only chance saved them from a human cannonball which slammed into the enormous stairs, cutting off their access to the upper level with the destruction. Jumping up from the wreckage, a Native American man threw himself directly at Chamber, only to have to duck under a searing blast. Rolling aside, the man threw himself at Cecilia who threw him back with a force field. Advancing on him, she shaped a force field like a club, slamming the man in the head with enough force to knock someone unconscious. He grunted. Then he smashed his hand directly into the force field and Cecilia felt it almost buckle under the pressure. She grunted in surprise. The man smiled and threw himself forward again.
Jean-Paul saw Cecilia struggling with the man below and he took a swan dive off the railing, aiming to help. Monet threw herself towards the two moments later. Neither noticed the two teenagers groggily getting to their feet. Neither made a sound as the blond girl joined the boy on the landing. Blink still lay on the ground.
Cecilia was struggling with the Indian man, slamming him with clubs of force, harder and harder. He was starting to show injury now and as Monet arrived, the two began to exchange incredibly powerful blows. Jean-Paul and Cecilia could only watch as the two fought, forsaking the ground to take their combat to the air.
Suddenly, acting on instinct, Cecilia spun and shielded the entire side of the room, bullets pinging from the other side. Domino had a gun to Chamber's neck with one hand, firing with the other, and was whispering some words in his ear, cut off by the sound.
Chamber saw Cecilia attack the Indian man for the first time, and moved to follow her before the gun barrel pressed against the base of his skull stopped him. "Stop." Domino's cold voice warned him. "She turns and you die." She dragged him back from the combat for a moment, before seeing that Cecilia and Monet between them had almost beaten the man. Cursing softly, she released Chamber except for the gun barrel behind his skull and began firing, thwarted by Cecilia. "You know," she said conversationally, "Cecilia once told me that when you blasted her shields, it hurt immensely. I don't suppose you'd do that for me now?" Drop dead, Chamber sent angrily. I'm going to kill you, he finished, throwing himself into her mind. Domino however had some powerful shields and he had to work at these, which the woman herself could feel.
Jean-Paul and Cecilia could only watch as Chamber's chest grew brighter and both his and Domino's bodies locked rigid. The two didn't notice Blink climbing to her feet silently up on the banisters and watching the two younger mutants meet on the landing.
Inside Domino's mind,
Inside Domino's head, Chamber found a horrific surrealist maze, Domino's shields making everything resemble one of those absurdly complicated drawings with the stairs that come out of the wall and lead into the roof. Pushing through, he could feel Domino fighting back as the walls grew bigger and stronger, the stairs and paths more convoluted. Finally, Chamber, fed up with wandering around, blasted through a door. He came face to face with Domino, inside her own head. She looked at him from the desk at which she'd been sitting, two figures beside her. One was old and shadowed, the other young. Light from an unknown source glinted off her read hair. Jean Grey and Domino both looked up and said six words. "He owns you. We own you."
Back in reality,
Cecilia and Jean-Paul could only watch as Chamber and Domino struggled; suddenly, Blink shouted a warning from the stairs. Jean-Paul spun in time to see a large glowing ball of energy falling towards them followed by the tornado of the boy. Blink was on the balcony, mouth still moving to form the words of warning. Pushing Cecilia aside, he took off from the ground, speeding up and over the bomb towards the tornado. Suddenly, behind them, half the room was annihilated in white.
Jean-Paul lifted himself over the two children's attacks, spinning in mid air at the sound of the massive explosion behind him, yet he felt no shockwave. An enormous ball of fire floated against a crimson barrier. He had pushed Cecilia who had reacted instinctively to the sight of the ball of fire, shielding most of the room from impact. Unfortunately, this blast originated from Chamber and wasn't normal fire. As the psychic feedback from her shield hit Cecilia, she began to scream. She climbed back to her feet, whimpering and occasionally crying out aloud in pain. All activity on her side of the room had ceased, Blink on the landing, Jean-Paul floating above the two teenage mutants, Monet and the Indian breaking off their epic battle, the combatants awed by this demonstration of just how powerful mutants could be. Cecilia stood, facing Chamber through the fire and reduced her shield, wrapping the fireball in a bubble of force, compressing it and shrinking it down. Her face streaked with sweat, the Puerto Rican woman had the enormous ball of fire compressed to no more than a cubic meter. Cecilia however was groaning constantly, clearly in enormous pain. Chamber visibly concentrated and Cecilia wavered and dropped, the ball of fire flying out like it was shot from a slingshot. The two teenagers who had been watching the struggle in fear didn't have time to jump out of the way, the impact making the girl scream and the boy grunt audibly as they were knocked back. The smell of burning hair wafted from the two of them. Seizing the advantage, Monet unleashed a massive blow that knocked the Indian mutant back over to Domino and Chamber, the latter's chest now a fiery pit, his eyes glowing. Domino snapped, "Warpath, get up." The young Indian staggered to his feet again, eyes faintly glazed. He hadn't made a sound for the entire battle. Monet faced Warpath, Blink faced Chamber and Jean-Paul faced Domino. Looking from his haggard team mates to Chamber, chest like a furnace and Domino, alabaster face terrifying in the reflected light from Chamber, he hoped that Bishop realised what had happened and sent help. Lots of it.