While Alex was sitting next to his brother begging him to wake up Piotr was holding Kitty's hand and praying for her in Russian. He brushed back a lock of her brown hair and watched in frustration as she continued to struggle for her very life against a nightmare so real to her. "It's not fair. Why must you suffer so much my dear Katya?" he whispered into her ear.
Rahne walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're worried about her. We all are, but you have to have faith it will all work out in the end. I mean three of Danielle's victims have woken up. So that means that Kitty will to. I bet that the first thing Kitty does when she wakes up is ask for Lockheed."
Piotr laughed softly. "Your probably right about everything being okay. It's just that I feel like I am losing the ability to protect my loved ones. My parents are gone, and Illiyna suffered under the hands of Magneto for so long, and now this. Just once I wish things would be easy in life. But right now all I can do is be here for her. You know you're probably right about Lockheed. Why don't you go get him?"
Rahne scurried off to fetch the little dragon leaving Piotr alone once again. "Please keep fighting Katya. Don't give up. Come back to me. I need you." He whispered gently to her. Kitty just continued to shake and shiver giving no indication at all that she heard him.
In the Control Room Forge was waiting for Jean to come back with some food for them to eat. He had just finished repair their dream helmet as he was calling his invention. Hopefully it would work properly now. He ran his fingers across the keyboard attempting to isolate Kitty's dream patterns and figure out what was going on.
"Man I wish I could figure this out. Why can't I get anything right the first time around? Lets see type in this code here add the figures up and bingo! Yes I finally got it. Oh man this is not good not good at all. If that's what Kitty's dreaming I got to figure away to help them out fast before they die!" Forge said to himself as he furiously typed on the keys.
In Kitty's dream world the remaining four mutants had appeared safely. The only problem is they had reappeared halfway in the ground and where sinking fast! If they didn't think of something fast they would be underground with no way to breathe at all.
"We have to get free! I don't want to be buried alive!" Boom Boom shouted as she struggled to free herself from the ground.
"Do you think any of us have plans to die either? Stop struggling so much it's making you sink faster!" Daytripper yelled at her friend. She had stopped struggling so much and had stopped sinking so fast.
"Even if we stop it doesn't get us out of this mess! None of us have a power that can free us. Oh man help! I'm up to my neck in dirt!" Husk shouted in a panic.
"Try and remain calm everybody. Will think of something. I hope." Mirage said trying to get a grip on the situation. Her eyes widened in horror as the ground continued to suck them under. They were in deep trouble. Husk was nearly engulfed and her other two teammates weren't far behind. If they didn't do something quick they die.
"I have to think. This is what Logan's always preparing us for in our training sessions." Mirage thought. "I have to keep a clear head and think of all my alternatives and go with the best one. But what choice do I have now? Its like Husk said none of us have a power that can save us? Wait a minute we do!"
No time to hesitate. They were almost fully underground. Concentrating as hard as she could she tried to use her powers as never before. She already knew she could cause nightmares, cause hibernation, and link minds with another. But she had also learned new abilities. She could sense what was happening in a dream and direct its course. Now she had to shape it to her accordance.
Fighting against Kitty's mind she pictured a pair of scuba tanks on hers and the others back along with a facemask. She saw it clear as day in her mind. She focused on that image and making it a reality. Just as she was about to be fully engulfed in the earth it happened. Four pairs of oxygen tanks and face masks appeared on them. She had done it.
The others looked at her in shock. They were surprised to still be alive as well as what she had just accomplished. They discovered a tiny mike in their facemasks to talk to another since they couldn't use their armbands. Swimming through the dirt they made their way over to Mirage to see how she was.
"How did you do that girl? I mean I've never seen you do anything like that in the Danger Room before!" questioned Boom Boom.
"I don't honestly know. But I think I'm finally learning the full extent of my mutant powers. Who knows I may have evolved to a point where I can handle the extent of my new abilities." Mirage told them shakily.
"Well however you did it I'm glad. You saved our lives with your quick thinking. You're a heroine." Husk informed her giving her a big hug.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but where on a timetable. I think we should get going before something else happens. You know like we run out of oxygen." Daytripper pointed out. The girls nodded and started their strange swim through the Earth to find their friend.
It was a strange sensation, being able to swim through the ground. They had stopped sinking so rapidly, but they could still feel themselves falling through the ground. If this was happening to them they had to conclude that Kitty's worst fear was phasing through everything and never being able to stop.
"How are we supposed to find Kitty? I mean we haven't landed next to our dreamer yet. And given our current situation we really don't have the time to search for her." Boom Boom pointed out.
"I hate to admit it, but she's right. We have to figure out someway to locate Kitty and fast. Mirage, you're the closet person to her. Maybe you can sense her mind? After all you found her mind when you where in hibernation so it stands to reason you can find her again, right?" Daytripper asked her nervously.
"Yeah! Just do what you did the first time. Search for her mind and bring her to us now!" Husk said excitedly.
"I'll try, but there's no guarantee I can succeed. I'm still not sure how I found her the first time. But here goes everything." Mirage said uncertainly. She opened her mind up and tried to connect with Kitty's. She tried to remember exactly what she felt when she first found Kitty's mind.
After a few minutes she felt a slight tingle in the back of her head. Images and stray thoughts filled her head. She had found Kitty. She smiled at the girls and pointed the way to where Kitty was.
The girls swam through the earth as fast as they could making sure not to use up the oxygen to fast. At times they got stuck and had to rest. But nothing would deter them from their goal. After what felt like forever they finally got close enough to see Kitty in the distance.
"Look! There she is! Man I can't believe we finally found her. It may have taken us a long long time, but we did it! Now all we have to do is go and wake her up and it's so long underground!" Boom Boom shouted clapping her hands happily.
"Yeah and we better hurry. It took us so long to get here we used up almost half of our oxygen supply. If we don't hurry we could use up the other half really quick." Daytripper informed them as she checked her oxygen supply.
"Well then what is it we're waiting for an invitation? Let's get over there and help Miss Valley Girl out already!" Husk shouted.
They swam as fast as they could to get close to Kitty as they could get. When they got near to her they saw that she was in the same sort of jam they had been in to begin with. She was phasing quickly through the ground unable to stop. Her eyes were wide with panic. She was screaming her lungs out even though no one was able to here her do so.
"KITTY! We have to stop her from phasing otherwise she could end up dead!" shouted Mirage.
"How do you propose we do that? We can't touch her! She'll just phase right through us!" yelled Boom Boom back at her as they all dove after her. They had to get to her before something bad happened.
"Look lets just get close enough to attempt to grab her. Will figure out something when we catch her." Daytripper told the others as they swam furiously after her. They could see Kitty's face wide with fear as they continued their mad dash after her.
Somehow Kitty's voice was able to travel through the earth. Her voice echoed in their faceplates. "HELP! Someone please help me! I can't stop myself! I'm like going to die!"
"Hang on will rescue you! Try and control your descent if you can! You're going to fast for us to catch up!" Husk shouted at her. The young mutant pushed herself harder than ever before to reach the hysterical girl. When she was just above her she stretched out her hand. "Try and grab it!"
Kitty flailed her hands widely trying to grab her outstretched hand. Her fingertips brushed against Husk's, but she was unable to grab a hold on. She missed by an inch and continued her descent only faster. "Oh God help me!"
"We have to stop her somehow! At the rate she's falling she'll end up in the Earth core soon! Come on girls think! There has to be someway to stop her from phasing." Daytripper said urgently as they watched Kitty rapidly disappear from sight. She was falling so fast they couldn't keep up.
"I got an idea. Give me your belts quick! Hurry there isn't much time!" Mirage said urgently. The girls undid their belts and tossed them to Mirage. She quickly buckled them together and then tied them to one of her arrows creating a chain. She fired the arrow and held onto the end of the chain praying that she hit her mark.
Somehow the arrow flew through the earth, almost like it wasn't there. The arrow sailed right through Kitty's hands. She grabbed hold of it tightly. She jerked to a sudden stop and just hung there in the middle of the ground.
"Okay girls start pulling! We have to pull her up fast before she starts phasing again." Mirage said grunting with the effort of holding the end of the chain. The girls quickly got behind her and started tugging on the line.
In the Control Room Forge had just finished analyzing the effect Scott's powers would have in the real world. Jean and him worked furiously for several minutes trying to get the Danger Room to respond to their commands so that his dream would move on. Finally the danger had passed. "Scott's okay. I can sense it. He's passed his crisis."
"That's good. I hate to see what he did to the infirmary. Oh no not again! Kitty just reached her peak. Oh man this is not good. Not good at all. Contact the Professor fast! Kitty is in grave danger!" Forge yelled at her as he tried to do something to help Kitty.
In the infirmary things were slowly returning to normal. The patients had gotten back into their beds, the helpers were checking to make sure the equipment was up and running, and Beast was giving Scott a physical while Gail bandaged Bobby's sprained ankle. Rahne had just returned with Lockheed after chasing him all over the top floor. "What happened here? Did something explode? Bobby how did you end up down here?"
"You could say that. Scott's powers went on the blink and carved a nice hole in the ceiling. Don't worry we got everything under control. You can take Lockheed to see Kitty with no problems." Gail said lightly. She then returned to the task at hand.
"Ow! That hurts! Can't you just heal me with your powers?" whined Bobby. Gail glared at him and pulled the bandages even tighter. Bobby yelped and gave her dirty look, but stopped complaining.
Rahne walked over and set the little dragon down on his mistress chest. He curled right up next to her heart and began to purr contently. Rahne smiled at the sight and turned to face Piotr who was looking even more crestfallen then when she last saw him. "What's the matter? Did something happen to Kitty while I was gone?"
"Scott almost hit her with his powers. She could have been killed if I hadn't stepped in the way. I'm worried that someone else's powers will hurt her. Also I'm concerned. Scott's incident indicates some sort of progress in his dream doesn't it? Then why hasn't there been any in Kitty's?"
"I don't know. We just have to be patient. Just wait and see everything will be okay."
Suddenly Kitty's monitors started going crazy. Her heartbeat was raising and her brainwave activity was going berserk. She let out a piercing cry for help. Lockheed jumped off her just as she started phasing through the bed.
"KITTY! No we have to stop her. She doesn't have any control of her powers while she's asleep!" Piotr yelled as he tried to grab her as she started phasing. But she was already through the bed and starting her way through the floor.
Rahne transformed and using her wolf jaws grabbed a hold of her hospital gown. She braced herself and slowly started pulling her back up through the floor. Piotr grabbed her tail and also began to pull her up.
Suddenly the gown phased through her mouth sending the two mutants tumbling. Kitty continued to phase until only her face was visible. That's when Lockheed turned up the heat. He breathed fire near his mistress face causing her to stop phasing. That was long enough for Piotr to transform and smash his fist through the floor so he could grab Kitty.
She had many cuts, bruises, and he was sure that there were some internal injuries. He gently laid her on the bed again. He yelled for Beast and the furry doctor barreled over to see what the matter was. After getting a quick glimpse at her a look of horror etched itself across his face. He quickly got to work.
Piotr watched anxiously terrified about what might have happened to her. He began to wring his hands nervously trying to calm down. Finally Beast looked up at him and sighed. "Were extremely lucky. She has internal bruising but no other real damage besides some superficial cuts on her skin. She should take it easy for the next few days but I figure she'll be okay."
"Thank you Beast. That's good to hear. I hope that the worst is over. I'm only glad that Lockheed was able to stop her from phasing all the way down to the earth."
"Lets just hope that she wakes up soon. I can't imagine what the others are facing right now is any easier then what were dealing with." He replied.
Inside Kitty's mind the others had finally managed to pull Kitty to them. She was still phasing, but now it was just certain body parts. Mirage quickly thought up of a tank and facemask for her so she could breath in case she became solid.
"Thank you so much for saving me. I don't know who you guys are, but I owe you big time. You think you could get me back to the surface?" Kitty inquired breathlessly.
"I don't know, but we have to try. Our air supply will run out in twenty minutes and were at least ten feet below the earth surface. I'm surprised we haven't succumbed to the pressure yet." Mirage told her friend anxiously.
"Well this is a dream. I don't think the normal laws of physics apply here. So lets go before we all die!" Boom Boom yelled already on her way up to the surface. Husk scrambled after her followed by Daytripper. Mirage wrapped an arm around Kitty's waist and began to pull her towards the surface.
"You know this be a lot easier if you helped me. I can't carry you like a dead weight all the way back to the top. Its just making me use up to much oxygen." Mirage informed her after a few minutes of struggling.
"Sorry I'm really trying, but I can't seem to keep solid long enough to move up. Instead I seem to like keep sinking. Isn't there some faster method you could use to get us above ground?"
"Well unless you care to wake up then no there isn't any. You see were not really stuck underground fighting are way back up to the surface. Instead your asleep in the infirmary while the rest of us are risking our lives in the Danger Room trying to get you to regain conciseness."
"I like have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is something weird is going on with me. I'm like some sort of ghost and I'm just plain freaked. I want to go home and be with my parents!"
"Oh great. We so don't have time for this. Kitty I don't care how scared you are or how much you want your mommy and daddy. You are going to get your butt in gear and either a) help us drag your sorry hide to the surface or b) realize that your dreaming and wake up before we lose oxygen. Because so help me God if we die in your dream I'm coming back from the dead to kill you." Boom Boom yelled at her through the intercom.
At that Kitty just phased back towards the bottom of the endless void and Mirage had to dive after her again. Several precious moments were wasted securing her and making up for lost ground. Husk and Daytripper glared angrily at Boom Boom. This was no time for them to be yelling at one another.
Back in the Control Room Forge had just finished hooking Jean up so she could communicate with Scott. He was monitoring the activity of both dreams when an alarm started to beep like crazy. His eyes went wide as he read the statistics of the team in Kitty's dream.
"No way. There going to suffocate if I don't do something fast! Come on Forge think! There has to be someway to manipulate Kitty's dream to give them some extra time. Oh I hope this works!" Forge said to himself as he quickly typed in a code to activate a program. Pressing the enter key he deployed his secret weapon and waited anxiously to see if he had gotten to them in time.
The team was about two feet from the surface when their oxygen tanks ran out. Suddenly they began gasping for air and struggling to reach the top. Kitty watched in horror as their faces started turning blue and they began to suffocate to death. "NO! Oh God like someone help!" she screamed. She tried to grab all four of the girls and phase them up to the surface, but she didn't have the strength to. In her efforts to help the others her oxygen tank was knocked loose and suddenly she was in the need for air.
She tried to hold her breath, but she knew it was in vain. Valiantly she struggled to stay awake, but she could feel the cold grip of death coming closer. Everything was going black. She knew she was going to die. The last thing she saw before she lost consciences was a blurry sphere descending towards the group.
The girls where hanging between life and death when Forge's special program appeared. It was an emergency retrieval unit he had programmed into the Danger Room scenarios incase someone got seriously hurt and they couldn't shut down the room fast enough. By rerouting the program through the failsafe in the armbands he had managed to activate it in Kitty's dream.
The white ball with a blue cross on it swirled around the team and scooped them up. It then rocketed at warp speeds to the surface. It broke free scattering earth all over the place. It gently deposited the girls on the ground and administered life-giving oxygen to them. The girls woke up coughing and aching all over, but very much alive.
"Well what do you know? One of Forge's ideas actually worked. We should thank him for saving our lives when we get back to the real world." Husk said weakly.
"Yeah without him we all be buried alive. I'm never going to tell him his inventions are stupid again." Boom Boom vowed.
"I'm just glad that it's finally over. I don't think I could stand another minute underground. I'm never going to do that again!" swore Daytripper brushing some dirt from her hair.
"Guys its not quite over yet. We still have to wake up Kitty. So what do you say Pryde? Ready to return to the real world? I'm sure you have Piotr and Lockheed very worried." Mirage said.
"Are you kidding? After what I just experience reality seems a lot better then this. I can't wait to wake up. I'll see you guys later bye!" Kitty told them as a white light enveloped them all.
Kitty blinked her eyes and slowly tried to get up. She winced pain and quickly laid back down. On the bed next to hers she saw Scott was awake to. "Piotr? What happened?"
"Kitty! I'm so glad that you're awake. It was nothing but a bad dream. Dani and the others saved you along with Forge. Now all they have to do is go rescue everyone else. Just relax and lie still. Lockheed and I will keep your company." Piotr told her as Lockheed settle down against Kitty's chest.
The Professor smiled as he saw that two more of his students had survived this crisis. He looked over at Clarice knowing it was her turn. He hoped that she was strong enough to survive whatever she was dreaming about.