Forces of Nature
The X-men and the Brotherhood were on a high rooftop observing the spectacle before them. Several buildings were on the verge of collapse. Water had completely flooded the city. All manner of flotsam could be seen floating in the churning dark water's current. Steel colored clouds were flowing in the air. The rain, thunder, and lightning only made the scene look more desolate.
Lance looked at the scene with a lost expression. "All the time she had been with us, she never told us much about her past. I never had imagined it was that bad."
For the first time in his life, Pietro was feeling truly guilty and responsible. "And to think we used her. We used her when she needed the one thing she's never had the most."
Jean looked up at her. "So much pain, anger, and hatred. She's suffering under these three emotions. If this doesn't stop, she could end up destroying several other cities."
In their minds came the voice of Xavier came from the X-Jet. "Yes, and worse. She is dying."
"Say what?" Todd yelped.
The calm, serious voice of the X-men's leader and mentor came to them, "I have been monitoring her power output. She is using much more power than her body has the ability to regenerate." He looked gravely at them, "At this rate she will literally consume herself. When her energy is used up, she will simply wink out of existence."
"We have to do something." Scott said importantly.
"Yes but what?" Kurt said as he looked from face to face.
"We've already tried everything." Rogue added.
Todd's fists clenched at his sides. "I'll go, alone this time." He began to walk off.
Pietro quickly blocked his way. "Are you crazy? It's too dangerous."
"I know I can help her. Serena's still in there somewhere." He shoved Pietro aside and he ran off without another word.
Todd used his enhanced leaping ability to leap from rooftop to rooftop. Finally he reached the building closest to Flood. "Serena!" he shouted up at her. "Can you hear me?"
Flood glared down at him. "You just can't wait to die can you?"
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Meanwhile Serena's consciousness drifted between the physical and the existential world as if curled into a ball. Her eyes were closed. She was floating in an endless nothingness. All was still. There was nothing but calm emptiness.
"So quiet here. No sound, no light. Just the void where nothing is asked of me. I'm safe from others, and others are safe from me." She thought to herself in this dreamlike state.
'But… you finally met someone you can trust. Don't you want to preserve the gentle moments you had for the first time with someone? Would you really close your eyes to that?' A voice in the back of her mind said quietly.
"With my eyes closed I won't have to see anymore horrible things. I hate myself, what I am, and what I couldn't stop." Was her response.
The voice from the deepest recesses of her mind was persistent,' So you'll just stand by and let your friends, your family, everything you care about, fade away?'
"They're better off without me." She responded without emotion
'You don't care about anyone. You're just a coward.' Came the frank reply.
"That's not true." She protested halfheartedly.
'Prove it.' The inner voice said.
"How?" She asked with a twinge of desperateness.
The inner voice was not to be taken in with emotion and just said two words, 'Wake up'.
"SERENA!" Todd's voice called out through the darkness.
"Todd?" Her eyes slowly slid open.
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Flood had her hand over Todd's face and his head was pressed up against the wall of the roof cap. "Say her name one more time and I'll crush your skull." She pressed his head harder into the wall. Todd couldn't take the pain. "SERENA!" Suddenly he felt the pressure lessen and the hand covering in face was lowered. He shook his head trying to shake off the pain, and looked into the eyes of Serena. She looked scared and confused.
"Todd?" She whispered.
"Serena? Is that you?" He gasped.
"No! That's impossible!" Flood's voice was once more coming out of Serena's mouth and her expression was both shocked and angry now. "How can you still be here?"
"Let Serena go!" Todd yelled tackling her.
"Get off of me worm!" Flood screeched and kicked him off. Then she used her water blast to knock him back against the wall.
Flood lowered her hands and the water blast died away. Todd slid down the wall and crumpled face down onto the gravel of the rooftop. He groaned as he pulled himself back up. He glared at her breathing heavily.
"I hate to admit this, but I need help." He said hoarsely.
"Hey you!" a voice called out signifying an answer to his prayers. It was Serena's twin brothers Kevin and Calvin as they popped up over the parapet. His heart sank again. This wasn't the kind of help he had been hoping for. "We're here to help!"
"How the heck--?" his question was answered before it was even finished.
"Hey, thought you could use a hand." Pietro said zipping up to him.
Todd watched as Nightcrawler appeared with Rogue. "What are you guys doing here?"
"The professor told us to come and help you." Rogue said.
"For some reason he sent only us three." Kurt added with a small grin.
"Well did you have to bring them?" Todd gasped as he jabbed his thumb at the two young boys.
Pietro shrugged his shoulders, "They wouldn't stop pestering me."
"Stay back kids. This isn't your sister." Todd called to the youngsters.
"Where's are sister?" They replied in unison as the looked to Flood.
"What'd you do with Serena?" Kevin said.
"She's gone, and she's never coming back." Came Flood's voice form the body of Serena.
"No…" Calvin whispered.
"You'll never see your pitiful sister again." Flood said with a sneer on her face.
"No… Serena!" Kevin screamed and an electrical surge blasted from him.
"Let our sister go!" Calvin shouted as he hit the ground with both of his fists and the ground shook violently.
The air seemed to crackle around them. To Flood's shock the two boys levitated off the roof, rising in the air above her. Electricity flowed from Kevin's hands while a glowing energy flowed from Calvin's. Lightning cut through the dark sky and a roar of earsplitting thunder rang through the night. Electricity crackled around Kevin's body as Calvin's body was surrounded by a strange aura of light. Last but not least, both boys' hair had turned a whitish blonde.
"What the….?" Flood backed away as the boys glared at her with glowing eyes.
"You hurt our sister." Calvin growled.
"And our friendTodd." Kevin added in deadly serious tone.
Looking to each other they slowly turned to Flood/Serena and in unison said, "Nobody gets away with that." Electricity shone around their bodies. "Nobody!"
Kevin focused and electricity formed between his two hands. "Take this!" he shouted and shot a bolt of electricity at her. She dodged out of the way just in time.
"Ka-boom!" Calvin screamed as he clapped his hands together creating a shockwave that knocked Flood off her feet.
"Since when?" Todd said amazed at the immense power the boys were demonstrating.
"For a while, weird things happened. Sometimes when I touched something electrical, it would blow up. And every time my brother fell down it would cause tremors." Kevin replied matter-of-factly.
"We were afraid to tell anyone, especially mom. We knew she would be really mad." Calvin added, never taking his attention away from Flood.
"So… so Lance wasn't the one that caused that tremor." Todd said feeling slightly guilty. He would have to apologize to Lance later.
"Ready?" Kevin said looking to his brother.
"On three." Calvin replied.
Kevin shot out a lightning bolt and, at the same time, Calvin banged his fists together, knuckle to knuckle. The electricity stunned Flood and the radiation from the shockwave caused the billboard on top of the building to literally come apart and fall on her.
"Filthy little brats!" Flood snarled as she shot a blast of water out of her hands at Calvin. It hit him sending him over the edge of the roof. He screamed as he fell.
"Bro!" Kevin yelled in horror. Calvin covered his eyes and waited for his body to plunge into the dark cold water below. But he didn't land in the water. Instead he landed on something soft. He opened his eyes and saw to his, his brother's, Flood's, and Todd's surprise, that he had landed on a cloud. It was a small cloud, soft like cotton, and as light as air.
"Whoa." He said breathlessly as he slowly stood up balancing himself on the cloud. The cloud rose up to the edge of the building where he had fallen off and he hopped off the cloud and onto the rooftop.
"Enough games." Flood said leaping forward to hit Kevin hard in the head. He gave a small cry of pain before collapsing onto the ground.
"Kevin!" Calvin shouted.
Before he could retaliate Flood turned on him and punched him hard in his gut.
"Oh gaud." Rogue said, horror struck at the display of ruthlessness. The small boy crumpled to the ground, but before he lost consciousness he managed to create one last shockwave that caused the side of the roof to fall apart. Calvin almost fell, but Kurt managed to port in, grab him, and port out again.
"Nightcrawler! Get them outta here!" Todd shouted to him.
"Right." Nightcrawler responded as he grabbed the other small boy and ported away with the two of them. Flood gave a small scream as the roof she was standing on crumbled away and she began to fall. She grabbed a protruding brick just in time. Hanging there, breathing heavily as she watched pieces of rock and granite fall down into the dark water. She looked back up to see Pietro with his hand out to her.
"Take my hand." Pietro said in a calm soothing voice.
Her face turned from fearful to smiling. "In your dreams," she whispered and let go.
The water began to churn violently. Then it bulged and rose. Something was rising up from it. They all watched in horror as the bulge of water rose up higher than the building and began to take shape. Slowly, it turned into what looked like a fearsome dragon made entirely out of water. In the center was Flood curled up into a ball, eyes closed, her body glowing. No, not her body, her necklace… The light pulsed steadily, almost as if it was the beating of the monster's heart.
Kurt picked that second to port back in, "So what did I…. Oh mein Gott." He stared up at the huge water dragon completely lost for words. It opened its mouth and sent a huge stream of water. They all managed to dodge it somehow.
"Quicksilver!" Rogue said frantically turning to Pietro. "Get her outta there and maybe it'll stop!"
"Will do!" Pietro replied without hesitation quickly spinning in ever quickening circles and finally with a swoosh he was off, launching himself at the body in the dragon's head.
Everyone followed the bullet-like form as it arced through the air and then penetrated the water's surface.
They all held there breath as he disappeared.
With a huge splash he burst out of the opposite side of the monster's head, Flood in hand. He managed to land on the rooftop across from the team, though it was a rough landing.
Just as Rogue predicted, the monster, its creator no longer supporting it with life, fell away and returned to the water from which it had risen.
They watched as Pietro bent over the lifeless looking form that was just feet away. Suddenly her glowing eyes snapped open and a sudden outburst of energy sent the Pietro flying over the edge and towards the swirling waters below. As he fell away, she stood and swayed on the spot, dizzy from her exertion.
Kurt, standing with the others on the opposite rooftop suddenly winked out and as they watched, Pietro disappeared just before he hit the water. As the looked to each other Kurt and Pietro suddenly reappeared beside them with Pietro laying on his back on the rooftop. Picking himself up he groaned slightly in pain. Looking over, he saw Flood raise herself to her full height and then as though she was focused on one person only, she went a jet of water directly at Todd.
The focused stream of water caught him in the chest and blasted him over the opposite edge of the building. The others ran to the edge and looked over to the lower level some twenty feet below them.
"TOAD!" They all cried together at the sight they beheld.
Todd was on his hands and knees barely able to hold himself up. He had been impaled in the gut by a metal pipe sticking up out of the rubble and was trying with all of his strength not to collapse and let it sink all the way through him.
Pietro quickly sped to him and pulled him up (there was a sickening squelching sound as the pipe slid out of his stomach) and laid him on his back. Todd's eyes were popping out of his head as he shuddered convulsively from the pain. Blood was blossoming out of the hole in his stomach. He gave a sputtering cough and blood came out of his mouth and onto his chest.
"What happened?" Rogue screamed.
"He must've landed on it when she knocked him over the edge!" Kurt said.
"We've gotta help him!" Rogue said as she looked around.
"Don't you think I want to?" Pietro yelled at her. "We'd never be able to get him back to the mansion in time for medical treatment!" Todd was already turning deathly pale from blood loss.
Rogue turned to Flood tears of anger burning in her eyes. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" Flood was staring down on Todd with a lost look in her eyes. After a moment Rogue noticed it wasn't Flood but Serena behind those shocked eyes. The spectacle had been enough to bring her momentarily back to the surface. She was deadly pale as well, sick at what she had just done. She shook her head. "No…" Tears were brimming in her eyes. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
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Serena stood in front of Flood. 'We have to stop.' She said in her mind.
'We've only just begun.' Flood leapt at her and the battle for control begun.
'Please don't.' Serena pleaded.
'It must be done.' Flood replied.
'No more.' Serena said with a stronger voice.
'It's time someone evened the score.' Flood responded.
'They didn't deserve it.' Serena said.
'Like hell they didn't!' Flood shrieked.
'Get out of me!' Serena yelled.
'You need me! Without me, you're nothing!' Flood laughed.
'That's not true!' Serena said, confident now.
'Isn't it? You were always weak.' Flood sneered.
'My friends…' Serena began but was cut off.
'You don't have any friends. You don't have anybody.' Flood said triumphantly.
'LIAR!' Serena screamed. Around her, streams of energy were spinning. With the last of her remaining strength, Serena expelled Flood from her body, and she was gone. The energy spinning around her vanished. As everyone watched, she slowly crumpled over the edge of the building and she fell...down...down…..into the watery depths below.
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Watching her fall Todd gasped "Serena…" before he allowed himself to fall over the edge of the building so he could join her. As he fell he heard the voices of all three of them scream his name.
Serena blinked through the murky water. She felt so weak. She could barely move any of her muscles. She drifted slowly toward the bottom.
From a swirl in the current she vaguely saw Todd as he came towards her. She grabbed his hand and pulled him close to her. She could've sworn she heard his voice. 'Don't leave me.'
'Don't worry,' she gently replied. 'I'll stay with you always.' The last thing she saw was her necklace floating in front of her, glowing brightly. She lost consciousness as the two of them were engulfed with light.
"The water…" Kurt pointed. "It's glowing!"
The water below was indeed glowing. It became brighter and brighter, so bright they could barely see, and the water churned with unknown life.
"What's happening?" Pietro asked.
"I don't know." Rogue said. Then the light slowly died, and they watched as the water miraculously began to recede.
Slowly, almost as if it was trying to cling to the buildings, the water began to go down. They watched as it seemed to take forever. Finally, the last streams ran down the gutters and there, in the middle of the street, there was something. From the roof, they descended.
The two of them lay, embracing each other, silently sleeping. Pietro gently turned Todd over to see that he was no longer bleeding. 'But how?' Went the unspoken question. There was a hole in his uniform, it had been soaked with blood, but the wound was gone.
"Is he…" Rogue began uncertainly.
"I think he's going to be alright." Pietro said to her.
"But-he-he was…" Kurt stuttered, too shocked and amazed to get the words around his tongue.
Pietro shook his head. "I don't understand it either."
"I think it's time we all went home." Rogue said with a sigh, she was too tired to think right now. "Come on, let's get them back to the X-Jet."
Again sorry it took so long. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!