I don't own any Marvel stuff...except the X-Men DVD, but I didn't make that :D I do own Morgan, her dog, and Umbra. If you use any of these characters, ask me first.
For the second time in three days, Morgan woke up in unknown territory. But this time there was no gray ceiling to welcome her; it was a dungeon, plain and simple.
She blinked groggily for several minutes, fighting to regain every ounce of consciousness as rapidly as possible. Her cell seemed to be made of stone, with a large barred window at one end. She wanted to examine the window closer; but when she tried to stand she found that she was tied to the chair.
"Well this bites," she said grimly to the wall, trying vainly to reach the knots that bound her to the chair. "First kidnap, then imprisonment. What's next, The Price is Right?" She struggled against the bonds, but that approach also proved fruitless. She glared around the room. How would she manage this one?
She closed her eyes, trying to remember any and all powers that might assist her in her escape. Flight? No, her wings would be just be damaged by the tight ropes. Ice? No, the ropes were hemp, not steel, so ice wouldn't help. Mind reading? No. Steel claws? No, she couldn't bend her hands to reach the knots. Laser eyes? Only if she wanted to remove the rest of the room along with her bonds.
What mutants had been battling the X-Men when Magneto had choloroformed her? A frog man, a fire kid, a great hairy man with fangs, Mystique…No, none of those were practical. But there was one other…
The shadow man! Umbra, or something. Shadows weren't inhibited by measly ropes. Taking a deep breath, she vanished.
The ropes collapsed on the chair as the shadow rose, casting eerie shapes on the wall of the cell. Then Morgan reappeared, standing in the center of the cell. She gathered her sweat shirt around her, feeling the large holes her wings had left in it. Oops. But more pressing things were at hand.
She glanced around the room for a means of escape; a boxy camera sat high in the corner. She grinned, making an extremely rude hand gesture. Then, using Cyclopes's laser vision, blew it into smoking bits.
Now that that was finished, she decided it would be prudent to find the way out. She stood across from the window, which gazed out over the ocean. If she could squeeze out the window, she could fly back to the Institute. She approached the window, reaching out to finger the bars.
An blue spark leapt out at her, striking her outstretched hand. She jerked back, swearing. She glared up at the fizzling remains of the camera,the personification of her captors. She would just have go out the door.
It was a large metal contraption at the opposite end of the room. She reached out with her mind like the Professor, looking for the lock. There wasn't one; the door seemed to be completely fused to the wall. "Damn!" she cried, pounding the offender with her fist. She racked her brain once more. Laser again, perhaps?
She backed up, lining up her eyes with the edge of the door. A narrow beam of red light connected her hazel eyes with the edge of the door; but its highly polished metallic surface acted as a mirror, reflecting the laser back towards her. She leapt out of the way just in time as the beam flew through the air that her forehead had previously inhabited, striking the stone wall. A large crack appeared, sending fragments of stone and dust cascading into the room, but otherwise it was undamaged. She drew near to it warily, coughing in the cement dirt her experiment had created. The stone was much too thick; that was not a way out. She was quickly running out of options.
But that Magneto fellow…what did he do, exactly? It appeared to only be telepathy, but then why had had only attacked Wolverine? And with a name like "Magneto," that certainly implied…
"That's it!" she exclaimed, turning back to the window bars. "Metal! He controls metal!"
She lifted her hand like she had seen the man do when he had so casually flung Wolverine to the side. With a Moses-esque motion, she eased the crackling, electrified bars out of her way. She stepped toward the open sky, out onto the small ledge.
The sky and ocean flickered and vanished.
A much larger metal room encircled her stone prison. She stepped out into it, utterly confused.
"That's our best time on record. Congratulations."
Back a the Institute, the X-Men were nursing their wounds.
Bobby had a large bandage wrapped around his shoulder and upper arm where Mystique's talons had punctured his skin; Scott had burn marks on his arms and legs where Pyro's flames had reached. Even Aurora was having difficulty breathing after her battle with Sabertooth. Only Rogue and Logan appeared unharmed.
"A damn shadow man. They've got a shadow man!" Scott exclaimed as Aurora rubbed a stinking salve onto his burns.
"Magneto's forces are growing, it seems. This will make it even more difficult to recover Morgan," said the Professor, the lines on his face deepening.
"You still think we can do it?" Scott snorted. "We don't even know where his lair is, and even if we did, it's sure to be well defended."
"We've got to get her back," said Logan, helping Bobby back into his shirt. "If we don't, Magneto could use her to level half of New York State! It's not like he hasn't tried it before."
"We can't possibly think of leaving her there!" Rogue cried, a haunted look flickering behind her eyes. "Alone with that man and his…his pets." She shuddered. "No way. We've got to go and get her back."
"And how do you propose we do it, smartass?" Scott exploded, standing up angrily.
"Scott, sit down!" said Aurora, trying to force him back into his seat. But he pushed her away.
"How do we know this isn't a trap? It would be a lovely way to pick us off, one by one. First, send us a girl with such amazing powers that we can't help but investigate, then within twenty-four hours she's leading us off on a wild goose chase to Central Park; who do we meet? Magneto. Who knows all our weaknesses? Magneto? Who sends her a dream about…about…" he swallowed, collapsing into the chair. He lowered his face into his hands.
The Professor sighed. "We must stay strong, Scott. And we must find Morgan Oleander."
Morgan spun around, coming face to face with Magneto once more. He was no less imposing without his cape and helmet; Morgan felt very, very small. He wore a lopsided smile like a crown, beckoning her royaly towards him. "That was an excellent time. The best, in fact. None of my other trainees can escape from The Box that quickly. Usually the ocean hologram disorients them…" He trailed off, moving forward. When Morgan backed away from him, his smile widened. "Don't be afraid. Come here, child."
Now it was Morgan's turn to give a sardonic smile. "Of the guy who leads kids off in the middle of the night and locks them up? Why should I be afraid of you?"
He frowned. "I said, come here." He raised his hand. Morgan could feel her self being dragged forward, the snaps and zippers in her clothes straining in their sockets.
"No!" she cried, fighting back with the same power. The two identical magnetic polespushed each other away with great force, sending both Morgan and Magneto tumbling to the ground.
"You'll pay for that," he said, climbing quickly to his feet. Morgan had been dashed against the out wall of her former prison and she lay dazed, gazing dumbly up at the older man as he approached her. She could feel someone else pressing on her mind, preventing her from recovering. She struggled against it, trying to force the person to reveal himself. But as she did so, Mystique appeared from the side, clasping two great cuffs around her wrists. The painful shock brought her sharply back down to Earth; the psychic pressure vanished.
Magneto's smile had returned. "Those should hold you. Should you try to use your powers, I'm afraid that you will experience some pain."
"Go ahead and just try it, kid," Mystique growled, her yellow eyes glowering down at the other female. She grabbed the chain in the center, hauling Morgan to her feet.
Magento smiled approvingly. "Now it's time to find out exactly what you can do."