Part VI

When Phoenix awoke, she saw Hank's face smiling down at her. It felt like she'd been asleep for years. She moved her arms to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but her right forearm hurt too much. Henry watched her movements when he decided he should probably explain. "I had to give you a light sedative. That's the IV," he said nodding to the needle in her arm. "You've been asleep for a day. How do you feel?"

She smiled. "How do you think I feel after waking up from a day of sleep?"

"She's a little testy, but she sounds good," Logan said from behind Hank. He was leaning up against the wall in his usual stance.

"Can you move your legs Phoenix?" Hank asked, throwing the bed sheets up and over her legs. They were bare except for the infirmary sockets that they put on her. Her pants and shirt were folded neatly on the chair to the left of her bed.

She nodded and bent her legs at the knee. Hank told her to push against his hand, and she did with all the strength she had. "Good! Good! You seem to be in perfect condition."

"Do you know what happened to me?"

"Well, I have a theory. Because you are a cyberkinetic, when you sent out that electromagnetic pulse your body shut down. I'm not sure if you noticed but I'm assuming that you probably couldn't move your arms at first either." Phoenix nodded. "Well, I think that your body acts like a computer. Your brain had to reboot so as a side effect, you couldn't move your arms and legs. But they're completely fine," he finished with a pat on the leg. He covered her lower extremities back up and then moved around to the side of her bed. Logan also moved to the opposite side of her bed. "You did extremely well in your first Danger Room secession," Hank added before leaving the two alone.

Phoenix watched him leave, unable to meet Wolverine's glare. He spoke first. "I told you to get away from me in the Danger Room, why didn't you listen?" he asked. His voice sounded angry and frustrated.

"I'm sorry. I did stay away but I was thrown back by Juggernaut. It's not like I intentionally wanted to distract you and Sabertooth." She stopped and turned her head to look at him. There was something different about him. Just then, the Professor and Storm came through the med lab doors, the swishing sound following their entrance.

"It's good to see you're awake Phoenix," Xavier said moving his wheelchair to the side of the bed that Hank had once occupied.

She directed her attention to the Professor instead of Logan. "I'm so sorry about the Danger Room. I didn't mean to do that on purpose. I was only going to-"

Storm cut in and smiled at her. "Don't worry about it child. Sage is working on it right now. She always said that the control room needed more updated equipment, so this is her chance to install it."

"Maybe I should go help her. I'm really good with computers and I was the one who wrecked the system in the first place…" Phoenix said trying to take off her IV bandage. She started to swing her legs off the side of the bed when Logan stopped her. He smacked her hand away roughly and tucked her feet back in the infirmary bed.

"Stay in bed. We don't need anything else happening today." Logan said casually. Just as casually as he did that, he walked off through the glass doors.

"He's right Phoenix. Just rest and I'll send Hank back in to check on you later," the Professor said patting her hand and turning to leave. Storm waved and smiled before leaving after Xavier as well.

…

General Derex was sitting at his desk at the Pentagon, working away at something very diligently. His glasses were on the tabletop, his eyes never blinking as he continued to work furiously. He signed one paper, then turned his chair around to grab at something in another pile of mixed up papers behind him. He only looked up once at the sound of his speaker box next to him beeping.

"What is it?" he croaked into it. His was on his last nerve.

"Th-there is someone here to see you, sir. A Miss Raven Darkholme," the scared secretary spoke into the speaker. She smiled at the woman who was waiting, her glasses sitting neatly on the bridge of her nose and her hair pulled tightly into a bun. Her business suit was black, the skirt's length a professional level at the knee.

"Ah, send her in."

The secretary nodded and opened the door for her. Raven didn't even bat an eyelash as she scooped up her briefcase and walked stiffly into the room. She didn't even smile or nod, or give any eye contact whatsoever with the secretary who had opened the door for her. But she was used to being treated that way. She closed the door behind her with a sigh and returned to reading the latest gossip in her Star magazine.

General Derex put down the pen he had been holding for the past couple of hours, and smiled at Raven Darkholme. "Don't give me that look!" she hissed and quickly transformed into the blue femme, Mystique. She sat down in the leather chair in front of Derex's desk, crossing her thin legs.

He sat back, crossing his hands over his protruding belly. "So have you got the information Mystique?" he asked nonchalantly.

She squinted at him, reaching into her briefcase to pull out a disk. "Yes, but I have to ask first why you came to me with this little proposition…?" she finally smirked, dangling the object in front of his face but not within his reach.

"The president's been on my ass all month about this new registration program. He's one of those mutant-lovers," he whispered under his breath.

Mystique laughed in his face. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." She shook her finger in front of him, putting the disk back into her briefcase. "Don't you know that you're working with a mutant General Derex? Isn't it a little ironic? Without me, you're literally nothing. The president would send you on your way, honorable discharge I would think."

"Yes well," he started reaching into a file beside his desk. "If you don't give me that disk Miss Darkholme then you'll have a bit of a problem on your hands as well."

She eyed him suspiciously. Mystique watched as his pushed the manila folder towards her. She studied the front and gently opened the cover. Her eyes changed dramatically, scanning the information he held against her. "I see," she mumbled closing the folder with a slam on his desk. "Just because you can blackmail me you think that you will get the disk? This could lead to something even bigger. What if I become part of your little…project?" she spat at him.

General Derex smiled up at her for she had suddenly pushed her chair back. She was standing in front of him now, her feet planted firmly on the ground. "I promise no harm will come to you. You have a General's honor."

She shook her head and calmly sat back down. "And what good is that?" she whispered to herself pulling back out the disk again. She handed it to him reluctantly, watching as his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. The final piece was in place. Mystique really didn't understand the need he had for that disk. "Have fun with it," she replied, venom still laced in her voice.

With that, she walked out of the office, the woman with the bun and glasses exiting and not the blue mutant. The secretary sat up straight in her chair and coughed a little, pretending to be working on something on her computer. "Have a nice day Miss Darkholme," she called, getting nothing but a slamming door as her answer.

Inside, General Derex grinned wickedly. Time to get his plan in action. He reached for his phone and pushed one of the speed dial numbers. There was a voice on the other end almost immediately. "I need to speak to the president right away. I've made a break-through that I think he should know about. He'll be very surprised with what I've found."