~~ Pietro ~~
It was just too much to bear. Todd was gone. How could he die? After all he had been through, how could something like this kill him? Why couldn't I have died with him?
Pietro leaned Haiden against a big rock and waited for him to awaken. As he waited, he thought. Random thoughts, none of them had anything to do with anything, but they helped pass the time.
When the ground began to shake, Pietro didn't even look up. It was a rhythmic pounding on the earth- definitely not Lance.
"Of course you followed me." Pietro said out loud, even though he doubted Valzinameku could hear him, or understand him for that matter. Todd's spell hadn't worked. That meant only one thing. Valzinameku wasn't the result of anything dealing with magic. The only people who could have killed Valzinameku were dead because they assumed that the thing was what it looked like, a demon.
Valzinameku stopped a mere three feet way from Pietro and Haiden. The speed demon looked up into the cavernous jaws of the true demon. "Okay. It's not like I care." Pietro said and waited for the monster to kill him.
So far Valzinameku had only killed with force, either crushing, battering or swallowing them whole. Pietro expected to be flattened with one of the demon's many arms, but the last thing he expected was to be suffocated with smoke. In fact...
"Verflixt und zugenaht," a low voice muttered. "Vhy didn't you move?"
"What? Kurt?! What the Hell?"
"Ja. I hurt everyvere. How 'bout you?"
"Todd's dead."
"I'm sorry, but now isn't ze time. Ve'll vorry about zat later. Right now ve need zomeplace to hide."
"What about that hole that Lance made, the big one by the fort."
"Zehr gut." More smoke filled Pietro's awareness and suddenly he felt lightheaded. "Stay here."
It wasn't like Pietro had a choice in the matter. He was surrounded by darkness, and if anything was true, Pietro did not like being in the dark- be it in familiar territory or otherwise.
"Kurt! This isn't funny." He whispered in a harsh voice, desperately fighting panic. "Kurt!" There was a sound to Pietro's left and a soft hissing sound. Pietro stumbled backwards and fell. The sound grew louder. Pietro, frightened beyond all reasonable thought turned and scrambled to his feet. He ran, not bothering to be cautious about which direction he was headed in or what he would do when he ran out of space to run. Something was there in the darkness and it was coming for him.
~~ Kurt ~~
When he returned from collecting Haiden and Todd, Pietro was gone. Kurt didn't think much of it. He assumed his contact had picked him up already. Kurt carefully set the two Mage-mutants down and settled in for a lengthy wait. He was, to say the least, surprised when his contact tapped him on the shoulder.
"Ah, zere you are. You are early, no?"
"Late." he said simply.
"So vhere is Pietro?"
"Gone."
"Vhat?"
"Gone. Skyza tracks."
"Skyza?"
"Demon worm. Hell to meet with. Hell to fight. Friend is gone. The Fates' will."
"The Fates' will? Fine. Take zese two back. I'll look for Pietro. Ze Fates may have other plans."
"As you say. Without you, no point."
Kurt's golden eyes reflected the faint glimmer of light from afar. "I don't believe zat, and neither do you. You shouldn't say things you don't mean viz all your heart. Pietro and I vill see you at ze main camp." With that, Kurt Wagner faded further into the blackness.
The Vulgate looked down at the two humans left in his care. "Perhaps the Fates that govern your kind are more generous than mine. I simply cannot understand why else they would allow you to upset the system so." He tucked a mutant under each arm and spread his wings. With a graceful running start, he flew close to the ground, not realizing that he carried Earth's last hope to almost certain death.
Of course, even if he had known, the Fates would allow no intervention on his part. Gods are picky like that.
~~ Evan ~~
Evan was lying on his bed, trying to get a little bit of sleep since the military wasn't letting him go anywhere. He was also trying very hard not to think about the last three days. It really wasn't hard, despite the fact that nothing was the way it was supposed to be. Evan just decided he didn't want to think about anything, and he didn't. The problem was that when he fell asleep, the thoughts came anyway.
"Evan? I'm scared." Melissa Birch stuck her head through Evan's door. At five years old, she had been abandoned because she was a mutant. Her power was control over plants, though it was often confused with Kitty's power since Melissa disregarded doors by shifting the wood so that she could walk straight through them.
"What for?" Evan said and gestured for her to fully enter the room.
"Everyone's gone."
"Where? To school? I thought we had the day off."
"I'm not stupid, Evan, and I'm not a baby."
"You're right. You're eight years old. By the time I was your age I was... well, I learned how to skateboard."
"Evan. It isn't funny. What's going on?"
"I don't really know." He rubbed his arm where the open wound had been and marveled at the smoothness of his skin. "I'm bored. You guys wanna play a game?"
"Are you kidding?"
"No. I'm bored. We can't leave, so we might as well do something interesting. What do you say?"
"Well, okay." Melissa's brow crinkled as she tried to decide whether or not Evan was making fun of her. When he stood and opened the door and looked expectantly at her, she took him literally and ran to gather the rest of the mutants.
Evan followed a bit more slowly. ~Someone~ had to act like the responsible adult.
Within an hour, though, the remaining ten mutants of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters were thoroughly immersed in a game of Mutant Tag. The officers on duty stood in shock (or in some cases- laughed themselves to death) as Evan chased the younger kids in circles only to have them dissipate into smoke when he got near them.
"That isn't fair, Marcus! You can't use your powers to help other people!" Evan wailed.
"But the Professor said these games are to build stamina, strength and teamwork."
"He was joking! Since when do you take the Professor seriously anyway?"
"Since I figured out that you can't catch us if we work together!" The younger mutants laughed.
"Besides, you can always tag Jamie. It's not like he's all that fast."
Everyone but Jamie glared at Melissa. Ever since the last time they played Tag with Jamie, they had avoided tagging him. It was just too unfair, since he would split into five or six clones and literally gang up on people. There was no point in tagging him since he was 'it' for only as long as it took him to create a few clones.
"I want to play something else." Jamie said. "This game is too easy."
Evan moaned. After an hour of running, he wasn't prone to agree with Multiple. Evan never really understood why they always played in teams before, but now that he had been pitted against the 'weaker' half of the X-Men, it was all to clear to him.
"Fine. What?"
"I don't know. The electricity is out so we can't play video games."
Evan sighed. "You're right. This place is boring without at least Bobby around. Even Scott would make things more interesting."
"What's that?" Melissa asked as she pointed at something in the distance.
Everyone turned to stare at the dark, hulking shadow that was plowing its way through the city.
"Maybe its a trick of the light." Evan said. He couldn't take his eyes off of the thing. "Go inside. I'll go see."
That prompted a chorus of objections and not only from the mutants.
"Hey, I'm just gonna look. Nothing else." Evan protested even as he ran towards the town. Without breaking his stride, he scooped his skateboard up from behind a bush and waved.
The trip was shorter than he had thought it would be, mainly because he hadn't factored in how fast the thing was moving. Evan crouched in an alley waiting for it to walk past to he could catch a glimpse of it. Evan waited and waited for the thing to walk past, but it never did. He finally got bored and peeked out of his alley. Upon seeing nothing, he ventured further out.
Nothing.
Laughing at himself for actually believing the big shape was anything more than a trick of light, Evan turned around to get his board.
"Holy mother of-"
~~ Remy ~~
"I don't tink we should go back."
"I don't think you're thinking. How are we supposed to just leave them there?" The sky darkened and the clouds swirled ominously as Storm barely held her anger and frustration in check.
"They meant for us to get reinforcements. We couldn't beat that thing. We aren't in any condition to go back. We have to get back to our be-"
"Enough. This is real life, Bobby. Thee isn't time for that nonsense."
"Why don't you just shut up? You're so damn stupid. Listen to yourself! How many people have died fighting this thing? We're all this planet has left. We need to regroup and recuperate. There's no beating this thing at anything less than full power. If a million people have to die in that time, it's better than us dieing now."
"Watch your mouth, kid." Logan threatened Lance.
"Why don't you do something other than threaten people? It's all good and well that you have that damn healing factor of yours. You're the X-Men for crying out loud. There's dozens of you. It's Freddy and Magneto are gone, Todd and Pietro are on a suicide mission so you guys can pull yourselves together and pick up the slack. And you wanna go back and screw us all up the ass. I won't let you do it. I won't." Lance swiped a sleeve across his face.
"Let's think about this. Logically." Kitty pleaded. "I'm not even sure just what's been going on."
"Who is? The only people who knew are down there, fighting, dying. Who knows?"
"So let's go over what we know. Maybe we'll think of something." Kitty looked around at the others, but no one said a thing. "So, this all started when Magneto came over to the Institute and said that Kurt and Pietro were traitors."
"No, remember, Evan was acting strange, and walked out on the Professor. Then Magneto came over." Bobby interrupted.
"Okay, so Logan caught them in Evan and Kurt's room and dragged Pietro and Kurt downstairs. They left and Logan said something about Phoenix..."
"They weren't spies. Evan got hold of some papers about Phoenix and how she was part of an illegal experiment. He was turning them in I guess. He used Pietro to get them and Kurt as a quick escape."
"You know, that day before Evan and Phoenix got in that fight, didn't Kurt drag Evan to introduce themselves. And on the day of the fight, Pietro actually came up and said something to Evan and Kurt. Kurt just about died right there." Jean said slowly.
"So, this goes back further? Or is this another story that has nothing to do with anything?" Logan cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on the boys.
"I think it's all related. Pietro dumped Phoenix on us because she creeped him out."
"Yeah well, Pietro told me that there was a lot of crap that followed her. People dying and disappearing. And I think he mentioned some weird stuff, like, well. Now that I think about it, it's stupid. More like... a horror story."
"Let's hear it."
"Well, he said that when she moved, she set fire to a wall of her new house. And she would sit there for hours staring at that burnt spot. One day she refused to move from there. Just stared all day long. And that same day, her school blew up. There were about 2,000 people inside. Then she went all funny, painting the walls of her brother and sister's rooms with blood."
"Blood?"
"Yeah, that's what he said. And Phoenix kept staring at that spot. One day her mom just disappeared. The kids went to a foster home. The people they stayed with had a son. He kept bothering the little sister and then he went missing and then she went missing. I think they found her dead some where. In the foundation of a building that was being laid. And then Phoenix's little brother died of some disease. After that, Phoenix went to DJJ and then a crazy house and that's when we met her."
"In between she met a detective. Got attached to him... and then he committed suicide."
"Ouch. Surreal. So. Assuming all that happened and Evan found out something about an experiment, why would-"
"The Masters.... she kept saying stuff about the Masters."
"So she thought-"
"She didn't think anything. The people who experimented on her were still around. They found out that Evan knew what they had done, so they told her to kill him." Logan interrupted.
"Yeah, that would explain the fight at school."
"At school? Evan fought at school?"
"Uh, well."
"And she lost. Evan totally won that fight."
"So..." Logan leaned on the door of the truck. "Everything's beginning to click with Phoenix. She was brainwashed and experimented on. The people behind the whole thing sent her to kill Evan because he knew, but when she failed to kill him directly, she told on us so that he'd be out of the way."
"When we escaped, those plans went bad. I'm thinking that whoever experimented on Phoenix also experimented on someone else. That's where Valzinameku comes from." he concluded.
"Doesn't add up." Remy said. "Dat don't explain why Todd went all funny too. Assumin' Lucifer be a mutant, Where'd Haiden come from? And de ladies say dey saw a cave full o' bits 'n pieces o' mutants lahk Lucifer. Where's all dat comin' from? Ah agree wit' da firs' part, but the bit wit' Valzinameku bein' a mutant don't sit well wit' me."
"Me either." Jean agreed. "That thing... feels too old to be a mutant."
"What do you two think?" Storm asked the General and Mystique. They had sat silently through the whole thing.
"I think that if Pietro told you something it was the most accurate information you could get without talking to the people themselves. I also think that it would take Evan, Phoenix, Kurt or Pietro to explain how she fits in all o this. Remember, Valzinameku wasn't introduced until Pietro and Kurt helped Storm, Kitty and myself escape the fort. We hid in the woods until the government showed up. Then we ran for the old skatepark. Pietro was leading us to a hideout there, but we had to turn back because we needed Freddy to help us across some places and he was gone. Pietro said that it was too dangerous because the slightest misstep could be the death of us."
"Yeah, we found that place a while back. I have no idea how we made it the first time, but I had the bright idea to put glow in the dark paint on my shoes so we could find our way back. There's a whole city down there. With food and a generator and everything."
Mystique nodded. "We saw the footprints. As Pietro was coming back up the ladder, the ground shook and he missed the rung he was supposed to grab. He fell and we... ran. But the ground opened beneath us and Valzinameku caught us. He had Pietro too, and Lucifer in a cage made of bones. We told you the rest."
"But how does Valzinameku tie in with Phoenix? Is there a connection?"
Kitty gasped. "We're so stupid. This whole time we've been thinking about Valzinameku as a thing, an animal. But he thinks. He sent Pietro to spread the news of his coming. Think about it. If you were a powerful creature, person, like he is, wouldn't you want a body that was suitable to your power? I mean, it takes more energy and time for Freddy to move than it does for Lance, because even if Freddy is stronger, Lance is faster and he doesn't have to spend half as much time eating to have enough energy to use his strength. If Valzinameku can use magic, don't you think he would want a body that was smaller? That way he could have his mental strength and the mobility of the smaller body. A mutant could do that. The professor, he couldn't keep his mind in someone else's body, but his thoughts... it all depends on the magic." Kitty looked around to see if anyone agreed. "Well. I mean, you know... if magic is all in your head... you are what you think you are. I mean. What if Valzinameku's shape is like... what his magic looks like?" Kitty gave a frustrated sigh. "Todd's magic is subtle. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. Maybe that's why he looks like a nobody. Because his magic-"
"Yes. That makes sense. When he was Slay, he was known for sneaking right under his prey's nose. That's why he never needed to use his powers and no one knew he was a mutant until he retired." Logan began to seriously think about what Kitty was saying.
"Yeah. That's it, I guess. So, Valzinameku looks the way he does because that's the way he sees himself with the magic. Powerful. Invincible. Death walking. He didn't want that. Death is a ponderous thing that claims us all eventually, but not as quickly as he would like. And you can escape death any number of times to score points for life."
"Interesting. Now we know why he's so ugly."
"But he isn't. Not really. He's scary, but not ugly. Its hard to explain."
"Then don't."
"The point is," Kitty elected to ignore Bobby. "A phoenix is a mythical bird that bursts into flames when it dies. It's born again from the ashes. If you steal a feather from it, you'll be cursed for the rest of your life, but if it gives a feather to you, you'll be blessed."
"So? Stop babbling and get to the point."
"That IS the point. This is all about Phoenix. She's given Evan the feather and died. She'll come back, Evan has her blessings. We'll win just because of that. This whole fight is about old myths. Fallen angels, demon's on earth, its a chance for all the things that might have been to actually happen."
"But there's something wrong with that theory." A voice behind them said. Everyone turned to face the shadows where it came from.
"Evan!"
"No. I'm afraid not. You see, you were so close, except for one minor detail. The Phoenix you know is really an imposter. Haiden Malcolm is the true Phoenix. He gave the mystic feather to his sister. She gave it Evan. I stole his body and indirectly control the feather. Isn't it beautiful the way things work out?"
It was just too much to bear. Todd was gone. How could he die? After all he had been through, how could something like this kill him? Why couldn't I have died with him?
Pietro leaned Haiden against a big rock and waited for him to awaken. As he waited, he thought. Random thoughts, none of them had anything to do with anything, but they helped pass the time.
When the ground began to shake, Pietro didn't even look up. It was a rhythmic pounding on the earth- definitely not Lance.
"Of course you followed me." Pietro said out loud, even though he doubted Valzinameku could hear him, or understand him for that matter. Todd's spell hadn't worked. That meant only one thing. Valzinameku wasn't the result of anything dealing with magic. The only people who could have killed Valzinameku were dead because they assumed that the thing was what it looked like, a demon.
Valzinameku stopped a mere three feet way from Pietro and Haiden. The speed demon looked up into the cavernous jaws of the true demon. "Okay. It's not like I care." Pietro said and waited for the monster to kill him.
So far Valzinameku had only killed with force, either crushing, battering or swallowing them whole. Pietro expected to be flattened with one of the demon's many arms, but the last thing he expected was to be suffocated with smoke. In fact...
"Verflixt und zugenaht," a low voice muttered. "Vhy didn't you move?"
"What? Kurt?! What the Hell?"
"Ja. I hurt everyvere. How 'bout you?"
"Todd's dead."
"I'm sorry, but now isn't ze time. Ve'll vorry about zat later. Right now ve need zomeplace to hide."
"What about that hole that Lance made, the big one by the fort."
"Zehr gut." More smoke filled Pietro's awareness and suddenly he felt lightheaded. "Stay here."
It wasn't like Pietro had a choice in the matter. He was surrounded by darkness, and if anything was true, Pietro did not like being in the dark- be it in familiar territory or otherwise.
"Kurt! This isn't funny." He whispered in a harsh voice, desperately fighting panic. "Kurt!" There was a sound to Pietro's left and a soft hissing sound. Pietro stumbled backwards and fell. The sound grew louder. Pietro, frightened beyond all reasonable thought turned and scrambled to his feet. He ran, not bothering to be cautious about which direction he was headed in or what he would do when he ran out of space to run. Something was there in the darkness and it was coming for him.
~~ Kurt ~~
When he returned from collecting Haiden and Todd, Pietro was gone. Kurt didn't think much of it. He assumed his contact had picked him up already. Kurt carefully set the two Mage-mutants down and settled in for a lengthy wait. He was, to say the least, surprised when his contact tapped him on the shoulder.
"Ah, zere you are. You are early, no?"
"Late." he said simply.
"So vhere is Pietro?"
"Gone."
"Vhat?"
"Gone. Skyza tracks."
"Skyza?"
"Demon worm. Hell to meet with. Hell to fight. Friend is gone. The Fates' will."
"The Fates' will? Fine. Take zese two back. I'll look for Pietro. Ze Fates may have other plans."
"As you say. Without you, no point."
Kurt's golden eyes reflected the faint glimmer of light from afar. "I don't believe zat, and neither do you. You shouldn't say things you don't mean viz all your heart. Pietro and I vill see you at ze main camp." With that, Kurt Wagner faded further into the blackness.
The Vulgate looked down at the two humans left in his care. "Perhaps the Fates that govern your kind are more generous than mine. I simply cannot understand why else they would allow you to upset the system so." He tucked a mutant under each arm and spread his wings. With a graceful running start, he flew close to the ground, not realizing that he carried Earth's last hope to almost certain death.
Of course, even if he had known, the Fates would allow no intervention on his part. Gods are picky like that.
~~ Evan ~~
Evan was lying on his bed, trying to get a little bit of sleep since the military wasn't letting him go anywhere. He was also trying very hard not to think about the last three days. It really wasn't hard, despite the fact that nothing was the way it was supposed to be. Evan just decided he didn't want to think about anything, and he didn't. The problem was that when he fell asleep, the thoughts came anyway.
"Evan? I'm scared." Melissa Birch stuck her head through Evan's door. At five years old, she had been abandoned because she was a mutant. Her power was control over plants, though it was often confused with Kitty's power since Melissa disregarded doors by shifting the wood so that she could walk straight through them.
"What for?" Evan said and gestured for her to fully enter the room.
"Everyone's gone."
"Where? To school? I thought we had the day off."
"I'm not stupid, Evan, and I'm not a baby."
"You're right. You're eight years old. By the time I was your age I was... well, I learned how to skateboard."
"Evan. It isn't funny. What's going on?"
"I don't really know." He rubbed his arm where the open wound had been and marveled at the smoothness of his skin. "I'm bored. You guys wanna play a game?"
"Are you kidding?"
"No. I'm bored. We can't leave, so we might as well do something interesting. What do you say?"
"Well, okay." Melissa's brow crinkled as she tried to decide whether or not Evan was making fun of her. When he stood and opened the door and looked expectantly at her, she took him literally and ran to gather the rest of the mutants.
Evan followed a bit more slowly. ~Someone~ had to act like the responsible adult.
Within an hour, though, the remaining ten mutants of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters were thoroughly immersed in a game of Mutant Tag. The officers on duty stood in shock (or in some cases- laughed themselves to death) as Evan chased the younger kids in circles only to have them dissipate into smoke when he got near them.
"That isn't fair, Marcus! You can't use your powers to help other people!" Evan wailed.
"But the Professor said these games are to build stamina, strength and teamwork."
"He was joking! Since when do you take the Professor seriously anyway?"
"Since I figured out that you can't catch us if we work together!" The younger mutants laughed.
"Besides, you can always tag Jamie. It's not like he's all that fast."
Everyone but Jamie glared at Melissa. Ever since the last time they played Tag with Jamie, they had avoided tagging him. It was just too unfair, since he would split into five or six clones and literally gang up on people. There was no point in tagging him since he was 'it' for only as long as it took him to create a few clones.
"I want to play something else." Jamie said. "This game is too easy."
Evan moaned. After an hour of running, he wasn't prone to agree with Multiple. Evan never really understood why they always played in teams before, but now that he had been pitted against the 'weaker' half of the X-Men, it was all to clear to him.
"Fine. What?"
"I don't know. The electricity is out so we can't play video games."
Evan sighed. "You're right. This place is boring without at least Bobby around. Even Scott would make things more interesting."
"What's that?" Melissa asked as she pointed at something in the distance.
Everyone turned to stare at the dark, hulking shadow that was plowing its way through the city.
"Maybe its a trick of the light." Evan said. He couldn't take his eyes off of the thing. "Go inside. I'll go see."
That prompted a chorus of objections and not only from the mutants.
"Hey, I'm just gonna look. Nothing else." Evan protested even as he ran towards the town. Without breaking his stride, he scooped his skateboard up from behind a bush and waved.
The trip was shorter than he had thought it would be, mainly because he hadn't factored in how fast the thing was moving. Evan crouched in an alley waiting for it to walk past to he could catch a glimpse of it. Evan waited and waited for the thing to walk past, but it never did. He finally got bored and peeked out of his alley. Upon seeing nothing, he ventured further out.
Nothing.
Laughing at himself for actually believing the big shape was anything more than a trick of light, Evan turned around to get his board.
"Holy mother of-"
~~ Remy ~~
"I don't tink we should go back."
"I don't think you're thinking. How are we supposed to just leave them there?" The sky darkened and the clouds swirled ominously as Storm barely held her anger and frustration in check.
"They meant for us to get reinforcements. We couldn't beat that thing. We aren't in any condition to go back. We have to get back to our be-"
"Enough. This is real life, Bobby. Thee isn't time for that nonsense."
"Why don't you just shut up? You're so damn stupid. Listen to yourself! How many people have died fighting this thing? We're all this planet has left. We need to regroup and recuperate. There's no beating this thing at anything less than full power. If a million people have to die in that time, it's better than us dieing now."
"Watch your mouth, kid." Logan threatened Lance.
"Why don't you do something other than threaten people? It's all good and well that you have that damn healing factor of yours. You're the X-Men for crying out loud. There's dozens of you. It's Freddy and Magneto are gone, Todd and Pietro are on a suicide mission so you guys can pull yourselves together and pick up the slack. And you wanna go back and screw us all up the ass. I won't let you do it. I won't." Lance swiped a sleeve across his face.
"Let's think about this. Logically." Kitty pleaded. "I'm not even sure just what's been going on."
"Who is? The only people who knew are down there, fighting, dying. Who knows?"
"So let's go over what we know. Maybe we'll think of something." Kitty looked around at the others, but no one said a thing. "So, this all started when Magneto came over to the Institute and said that Kurt and Pietro were traitors."
"No, remember, Evan was acting strange, and walked out on the Professor. Then Magneto came over." Bobby interrupted.
"Okay, so Logan caught them in Evan and Kurt's room and dragged Pietro and Kurt downstairs. They left and Logan said something about Phoenix..."
"They weren't spies. Evan got hold of some papers about Phoenix and how she was part of an illegal experiment. He was turning them in I guess. He used Pietro to get them and Kurt as a quick escape."
"You know, that day before Evan and Phoenix got in that fight, didn't Kurt drag Evan to introduce themselves. And on the day of the fight, Pietro actually came up and said something to Evan and Kurt. Kurt just about died right there." Jean said slowly.
"So, this goes back further? Or is this another story that has nothing to do with anything?" Logan cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on the boys.
"I think it's all related. Pietro dumped Phoenix on us because she creeped him out."
"Yeah well, Pietro told me that there was a lot of crap that followed her. People dying and disappearing. And I think he mentioned some weird stuff, like, well. Now that I think about it, it's stupid. More like... a horror story."
"Let's hear it."
"Well, he said that when she moved, she set fire to a wall of her new house. And she would sit there for hours staring at that burnt spot. One day she refused to move from there. Just stared all day long. And that same day, her school blew up. There were about 2,000 people inside. Then she went all funny, painting the walls of her brother and sister's rooms with blood."
"Blood?"
"Yeah, that's what he said. And Phoenix kept staring at that spot. One day her mom just disappeared. The kids went to a foster home. The people they stayed with had a son. He kept bothering the little sister and then he went missing and then she went missing. I think they found her dead some where. In the foundation of a building that was being laid. And then Phoenix's little brother died of some disease. After that, Phoenix went to DJJ and then a crazy house and that's when we met her."
"In between she met a detective. Got attached to him... and then he committed suicide."
"Ouch. Surreal. So. Assuming all that happened and Evan found out something about an experiment, why would-"
"The Masters.... she kept saying stuff about the Masters."
"So she thought-"
"She didn't think anything. The people who experimented on her were still around. They found out that Evan knew what they had done, so they told her to kill him." Logan interrupted.
"Yeah, that would explain the fight at school."
"At school? Evan fought at school?"
"Uh, well."
"And she lost. Evan totally won that fight."
"So..." Logan leaned on the door of the truck. "Everything's beginning to click with Phoenix. She was brainwashed and experimented on. The people behind the whole thing sent her to kill Evan because he knew, but when she failed to kill him directly, she told on us so that he'd be out of the way."
"When we escaped, those plans went bad. I'm thinking that whoever experimented on Phoenix also experimented on someone else. That's where Valzinameku comes from." he concluded.
"Doesn't add up." Remy said. "Dat don't explain why Todd went all funny too. Assumin' Lucifer be a mutant, Where'd Haiden come from? And de ladies say dey saw a cave full o' bits 'n pieces o' mutants lahk Lucifer. Where's all dat comin' from? Ah agree wit' da firs' part, but the bit wit' Valzinameku bein' a mutant don't sit well wit' me."
"Me either." Jean agreed. "That thing... feels too old to be a mutant."
"What do you two think?" Storm asked the General and Mystique. They had sat silently through the whole thing.
"I think that if Pietro told you something it was the most accurate information you could get without talking to the people themselves. I also think that it would take Evan, Phoenix, Kurt or Pietro to explain how she fits in all o this. Remember, Valzinameku wasn't introduced until Pietro and Kurt helped Storm, Kitty and myself escape the fort. We hid in the woods until the government showed up. Then we ran for the old skatepark. Pietro was leading us to a hideout there, but we had to turn back because we needed Freddy to help us across some places and he was gone. Pietro said that it was too dangerous because the slightest misstep could be the death of us."
"Yeah, we found that place a while back. I have no idea how we made it the first time, but I had the bright idea to put glow in the dark paint on my shoes so we could find our way back. There's a whole city down there. With food and a generator and everything."
Mystique nodded. "We saw the footprints. As Pietro was coming back up the ladder, the ground shook and he missed the rung he was supposed to grab. He fell and we... ran. But the ground opened beneath us and Valzinameku caught us. He had Pietro too, and Lucifer in a cage made of bones. We told you the rest."
"But how does Valzinameku tie in with Phoenix? Is there a connection?"
Kitty gasped. "We're so stupid. This whole time we've been thinking about Valzinameku as a thing, an animal. But he thinks. He sent Pietro to spread the news of his coming. Think about it. If you were a powerful creature, person, like he is, wouldn't you want a body that was suitable to your power? I mean, it takes more energy and time for Freddy to move than it does for Lance, because even if Freddy is stronger, Lance is faster and he doesn't have to spend half as much time eating to have enough energy to use his strength. If Valzinameku can use magic, don't you think he would want a body that was smaller? That way he could have his mental strength and the mobility of the smaller body. A mutant could do that. The professor, he couldn't keep his mind in someone else's body, but his thoughts... it all depends on the magic." Kitty looked around to see if anyone agreed. "Well. I mean, you know... if magic is all in your head... you are what you think you are. I mean. What if Valzinameku's shape is like... what his magic looks like?" Kitty gave a frustrated sigh. "Todd's magic is subtle. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. Maybe that's why he looks like a nobody. Because his magic-"
"Yes. That makes sense. When he was Slay, he was known for sneaking right under his prey's nose. That's why he never needed to use his powers and no one knew he was a mutant until he retired." Logan began to seriously think about what Kitty was saying.
"Yeah. That's it, I guess. So, Valzinameku looks the way he does because that's the way he sees himself with the magic. Powerful. Invincible. Death walking. He didn't want that. Death is a ponderous thing that claims us all eventually, but not as quickly as he would like. And you can escape death any number of times to score points for life."
"Interesting. Now we know why he's so ugly."
"But he isn't. Not really. He's scary, but not ugly. Its hard to explain."
"Then don't."
"The point is," Kitty elected to ignore Bobby. "A phoenix is a mythical bird that bursts into flames when it dies. It's born again from the ashes. If you steal a feather from it, you'll be cursed for the rest of your life, but if it gives a feather to you, you'll be blessed."
"So? Stop babbling and get to the point."
"That IS the point. This is all about Phoenix. She's given Evan the feather and died. She'll come back, Evan has her blessings. We'll win just because of that. This whole fight is about old myths. Fallen angels, demon's on earth, its a chance for all the things that might have been to actually happen."
"But there's something wrong with that theory." A voice behind them said. Everyone turned to face the shadows where it came from.
"Evan!"
"No. I'm afraid not. You see, you were so close, except for one minor detail. The Phoenix you know is really an imposter. Haiden Malcolm is the true Phoenix. He gave the mystic feather to his sister. She gave it Evan. I stole his body and indirectly control the feather. Isn't it beautiful the way things work out?"