~~ Quebec ~~
'Sleeping on it' only seemed to make the problem worse. Tempers sharpened as both sides tried to prove their point by discrediting their opposition. In fact, as Kitty gazed upon the people she had been through so much with, it occurred to her that maybe they weren't supposed to make a difference. Maybe they were supposed to die and let things happen the way they always did. Kitty was getting really depressed when she heard something that made everyone stop cold.
A knock on the door.
No one was supposed to know that they were in the small house, and even through all their arguing, the mutants made sure they didn't raise their voices too loudly. There were blackout curtains on the windows and just to be safe, they were using candles. So how could anyone have known where they were, unless...
"We were followed." Logan hissed and his claws slid free of his knuckles. "Might as well let them in if they know we're here."
Bobby and Kitty were closest to the door, but neither made a move towards it. Remy snorted and crossed the room. "Kids." He muttered as he passed them and flung the door open.
"Greetings. My name is Lucifer. I am looking for a mute-ant named Todd. Is he here?"
"Lucifer? Todd? Is this a joke?" Bobby asked.
"What is your definition of joke?"
"Come in, come in. You see," Wanda ushered the strange man in and hastily shut the door. "We aren't supposed to be here. Bad things could happen if we're found. Now, what do you know about Todd?"
"I was sent to assist him."
"With what?"
"I don't want to lie to you, but I don't want to tell you the truth. In instances like this, I opt to say nothing at all."
"What does that mean?"
Lucifer just looked around the room with a mild expression on his face. "I believe I've seen some of you before. Ah, Kitty. Good to see you made it safely."
"Ya, well, I had, like, help." She said with a blush.
As Lucifer continued his scan of the room, he nodded in recognition to Storm, Lance, Logan and Mystique.
"Well, Todd's not here, we think he's dead, but..." Kitty trailed off as Lucifer fixed his cool blue gaze on her. He waited a moment for her to finish, but finding no comment forthcoming, signed it off as a 'human thing' and took control of the conversation.
"Well, if you have no intention of introducing your companions," he gently reprimanded her for forgetting her etiquette, "You will be pleased to know that Todd is not dead. He is merely misplaced."
"M-misplaced?"
"Yes. It seems that he and I were separated during our return. I must find him now, and I suspect that you seek him as well."
"Yes, in fact we were just about to summon you to help us." Wanda cut in. "I am Wanda Maximoff. This is Lorna Dane, Alex Summers and Jean-Paul." Wanda pointed to each as she named them.
"Summon? You knew where I was?"
"No, but we were planning on reincarnating you."
"Re-in-car-nate?"
"Yeah. That's when you fix up a new body for a dead person."
"And how does the person get in the body?" Lucifer asked, morbidly fascinated by the idea. He wasn't quite sure what his mind was associating with the process, but it seemed painful.
"Well, you burn candles and have a reincarnation ritual."
"And how do you do that?"
"Well, I can't just tell you that. That defeats the purpose of me being the only person who can do it."
"You are? Have you tried it before?"
"Yes. On animals, though."
"Oh." Lucifer said. The one word carried with it an immense amount of respect and he looked at Wanda as a young child would look at an older sibling. In other words, the look in his eyes was nothing short of awe-inspired worship.
"So how would you have raised me from the dead?"
"The same way I did those animals." Wanda said irritatedly. Lucifer wasn't exactly the god-like creature she had expected, in fact, there was no proof that he even WAS Lucifer.
"So you can re-in-car-nate anyone?"
"Technically speaking, yes. It's harder than it seems, though. The basic requirement is that they have to have either died a tragic death or have had a lot of power while they lived."
"What would I have to do to learn this magic?"
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not going to tell you."
"Then just teach me, I don't mind if you refuse to speak to me."
"If I teach you, then I won't be the only one anymore. Got it? Besides. It's not a power you use on just anyone. The person isn't the same as they were when they were alive. The mind and powers are there, but they're basically just little robots."
"Row-bots." Lucifer handled the word as if it were a fragile piece of china.
"Stop doing that. Look, show us a sign that you're really Lucifer. You don't look evil or anything."
"Why would I look evil?" He asked.
"You're Lucifer, right... so show us some evil magic."
"Umm, Wanda, that's not exactly the kind of request you make to someone who may be evil."
"Shut up Pietro. Oh, this is my brother, Pietro Maximoff."
"Greetings, Pietro Maximoff."
"So get on with it."
Lucifer thought for a moment. "I must admit. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"She wants you to find Todd using magic." Alex supplied.
"Oh, okay." Lucifer extended an arm and held his hand face up. A column of light shot up from his palm to show an image of Todd, Scott and Kurt's errant tail against a magnificent backdrop of what looked like a mountain.
"Where are they?"
"I will lead you." Lucifer said as he stretched. "How shall you travel?"
"We're gonna need a bus soon." Logan muttered as everyone grabbed their meager belongings and ran to the X-Van.
Once outside, Lucifer took one look at the van and took an instant dislike to it. He didn't say so, of course, but he turned away from it with a steely look on his face and summoned his wings.
Four hours later, they were resting in an abandoned rest stop. Lucifer waited patiently while the mutants climbed out of the stomach of their monster (he had no idea what a van was) and stumbled to the building, many complaining loudly and rubbing their sore... areas.
Logan leaned again the van and smoked a cigar. He must have noticed Lucifer staring at the van from the corner of his eye, because Logan gave a short 'humph' sound and knocked his knuckle against the side of the van.
"It's plastic, see. Called a van. That's a type of vehicle, you know, you climb in and go places in it. A vehicle is a kind of machine. Machines run by electricity, like lightenin.'"
Lucifer walked up to him, dropping his look of bored indifference. "Plastic?"
"Yeah. You know what chemicals are?"
"Like acid."
"Yeah, acid is a chemical." Logan said in a patronizing tone. "There are other kinds of chemicals too. Plastic is like stone or metal, only made from chemicals. It can be as thick, hard, strong... you can make anything outta plastic."
"Ah, ha. So. You capture lightening and make machines."
"The thing is, everything is run by machines, just about. You make machines with electricity and they run on electricity."
"Where do they go?"
"Huh? Oh, that just means that they work because they have electricity running through them."
"Like we do... we run on blood."
Logan smiled. "You could say that."
"So, you capture electricity to make and power your machines. Machines are made of plastic."
"Not all of them." Logan said, amazed by Lucifer's patience. If it was him, he would have snapped by now. "Some are made of metal or a combination of the two."
"Oh. So, machines have different types. One is called a vehicle and is used to travel... and vehicles have types too?"
"Yep."
"Tell me."
"Well. You got some that fly in the air, some that go through the water- either under the surface or just floatin' on top, and then there's some that travel underground and some that travel over the ground. There's hundreds of types of each. This one," he rapped on the side of the van." Travels on the ground. There's a coupla real common ones that exist. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, SUVs, Jeeps... and there are about a million types of each of those."
"Incredible. There must be a different vehicle for each person."
Logan snorted as his mind flashed back to the Xavier Institute's garage. "There's some folks who have more than one, and some who have the same as other people."
Lucifer looked thoughtful at that. He stared at the van again and, just to test what Logan had said, poked it.
Logan laughed. "It's man-made, or at least computer made. It doesn't feel."
"How do you know?"
"Cause there's nothin' in there that a human didn't design and put there for a purpose. Humans don't like their stuff to have independent thought. They just want it to do what it's told and nothing else. If cars could feel, they'd have taken over the world and made us all slaves by now. Just wait. You'll see what I'm talkin' about as we travel."
"Speaking of traveling, are we gonna hit the road or what?"
"Hit it?" Lucifer looked at the faded, but obviously hard pavement.
"Not literally. It just means we should get going." Bobby said miserably. He was finding conversing with Lucifer to be a real chore.
"Of course we will hit the road." Lucifer spread his wings wide, ruffled the feathers and then crouched slightly. He jumped lightly, pushing down with his wings and was airborne.
He hovered until the van was back on the road and then they were off.
The journey ended up going by faster than they anticipated. There was absolutely no one on the road. There was, however, no doubt why there was no one around. Especially as they neared Bayville.
"Dear God..." Jean whispered as she stared at the twisted landscape.
"Deergud? Is that the name of this place?"
"This place... it used to be Bayville. It used to be home."
'Sleeping on it' only seemed to make the problem worse. Tempers sharpened as both sides tried to prove their point by discrediting their opposition. In fact, as Kitty gazed upon the people she had been through so much with, it occurred to her that maybe they weren't supposed to make a difference. Maybe they were supposed to die and let things happen the way they always did. Kitty was getting really depressed when she heard something that made everyone stop cold.
A knock on the door.
No one was supposed to know that they were in the small house, and even through all their arguing, the mutants made sure they didn't raise their voices too loudly. There were blackout curtains on the windows and just to be safe, they were using candles. So how could anyone have known where they were, unless...
"We were followed." Logan hissed and his claws slid free of his knuckles. "Might as well let them in if they know we're here."
Bobby and Kitty were closest to the door, but neither made a move towards it. Remy snorted and crossed the room. "Kids." He muttered as he passed them and flung the door open.
"Greetings. My name is Lucifer. I am looking for a mute-ant named Todd. Is he here?"
"Lucifer? Todd? Is this a joke?" Bobby asked.
"What is your definition of joke?"
"Come in, come in. You see," Wanda ushered the strange man in and hastily shut the door. "We aren't supposed to be here. Bad things could happen if we're found. Now, what do you know about Todd?"
"I was sent to assist him."
"With what?"
"I don't want to lie to you, but I don't want to tell you the truth. In instances like this, I opt to say nothing at all."
"What does that mean?"
Lucifer just looked around the room with a mild expression on his face. "I believe I've seen some of you before. Ah, Kitty. Good to see you made it safely."
"Ya, well, I had, like, help." She said with a blush.
As Lucifer continued his scan of the room, he nodded in recognition to Storm, Lance, Logan and Mystique.
"Well, Todd's not here, we think he's dead, but..." Kitty trailed off as Lucifer fixed his cool blue gaze on her. He waited a moment for her to finish, but finding no comment forthcoming, signed it off as a 'human thing' and took control of the conversation.
"Well, if you have no intention of introducing your companions," he gently reprimanded her for forgetting her etiquette, "You will be pleased to know that Todd is not dead. He is merely misplaced."
"M-misplaced?"
"Yes. It seems that he and I were separated during our return. I must find him now, and I suspect that you seek him as well."
"Yes, in fact we were just about to summon you to help us." Wanda cut in. "I am Wanda Maximoff. This is Lorna Dane, Alex Summers and Jean-Paul." Wanda pointed to each as she named them.
"Summon? You knew where I was?"
"No, but we were planning on reincarnating you."
"Re-in-car-nate?"
"Yeah. That's when you fix up a new body for a dead person."
"And how does the person get in the body?" Lucifer asked, morbidly fascinated by the idea. He wasn't quite sure what his mind was associating with the process, but it seemed painful.
"Well, you burn candles and have a reincarnation ritual."
"And how do you do that?"
"Well, I can't just tell you that. That defeats the purpose of me being the only person who can do it."
"You are? Have you tried it before?"
"Yes. On animals, though."
"Oh." Lucifer said. The one word carried with it an immense amount of respect and he looked at Wanda as a young child would look at an older sibling. In other words, the look in his eyes was nothing short of awe-inspired worship.
"So how would you have raised me from the dead?"
"The same way I did those animals." Wanda said irritatedly. Lucifer wasn't exactly the god-like creature she had expected, in fact, there was no proof that he even WAS Lucifer.
"So you can re-in-car-nate anyone?"
"Technically speaking, yes. It's harder than it seems, though. The basic requirement is that they have to have either died a tragic death or have had a lot of power while they lived."
"What would I have to do to learn this magic?"
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not going to tell you."
"Then just teach me, I don't mind if you refuse to speak to me."
"If I teach you, then I won't be the only one anymore. Got it? Besides. It's not a power you use on just anyone. The person isn't the same as they were when they were alive. The mind and powers are there, but they're basically just little robots."
"Row-bots." Lucifer handled the word as if it were a fragile piece of china.
"Stop doing that. Look, show us a sign that you're really Lucifer. You don't look evil or anything."
"Why would I look evil?" He asked.
"You're Lucifer, right... so show us some evil magic."
"Umm, Wanda, that's not exactly the kind of request you make to someone who may be evil."
"Shut up Pietro. Oh, this is my brother, Pietro Maximoff."
"Greetings, Pietro Maximoff."
"So get on with it."
Lucifer thought for a moment. "I must admit. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"She wants you to find Todd using magic." Alex supplied.
"Oh, okay." Lucifer extended an arm and held his hand face up. A column of light shot up from his palm to show an image of Todd, Scott and Kurt's errant tail against a magnificent backdrop of what looked like a mountain.
"Where are they?"
"I will lead you." Lucifer said as he stretched. "How shall you travel?"
"We're gonna need a bus soon." Logan muttered as everyone grabbed their meager belongings and ran to the X-Van.
Once outside, Lucifer took one look at the van and took an instant dislike to it. He didn't say so, of course, but he turned away from it with a steely look on his face and summoned his wings.
Four hours later, they were resting in an abandoned rest stop. Lucifer waited patiently while the mutants climbed out of the stomach of their monster (he had no idea what a van was) and stumbled to the building, many complaining loudly and rubbing their sore... areas.
Logan leaned again the van and smoked a cigar. He must have noticed Lucifer staring at the van from the corner of his eye, because Logan gave a short 'humph' sound and knocked his knuckle against the side of the van.
"It's plastic, see. Called a van. That's a type of vehicle, you know, you climb in and go places in it. A vehicle is a kind of machine. Machines run by electricity, like lightenin.'"
Lucifer walked up to him, dropping his look of bored indifference. "Plastic?"
"Yeah. You know what chemicals are?"
"Like acid."
"Yeah, acid is a chemical." Logan said in a patronizing tone. "There are other kinds of chemicals too. Plastic is like stone or metal, only made from chemicals. It can be as thick, hard, strong... you can make anything outta plastic."
"Ah, ha. So. You capture lightening and make machines."
"The thing is, everything is run by machines, just about. You make machines with electricity and they run on electricity."
"Where do they go?"
"Huh? Oh, that just means that they work because they have electricity running through them."
"Like we do... we run on blood."
Logan smiled. "You could say that."
"So, you capture electricity to make and power your machines. Machines are made of plastic."
"Not all of them." Logan said, amazed by Lucifer's patience. If it was him, he would have snapped by now. "Some are made of metal or a combination of the two."
"Oh. So, machines have different types. One is called a vehicle and is used to travel... and vehicles have types too?"
"Yep."
"Tell me."
"Well. You got some that fly in the air, some that go through the water- either under the surface or just floatin' on top, and then there's some that travel underground and some that travel over the ground. There's hundreds of types of each. This one," he rapped on the side of the van." Travels on the ground. There's a coupla real common ones that exist. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, SUVs, Jeeps... and there are about a million types of each of those."
"Incredible. There must be a different vehicle for each person."
Logan snorted as his mind flashed back to the Xavier Institute's garage. "There's some folks who have more than one, and some who have the same as other people."
Lucifer looked thoughtful at that. He stared at the van again and, just to test what Logan had said, poked it.
Logan laughed. "It's man-made, or at least computer made. It doesn't feel."
"How do you know?"
"Cause there's nothin' in there that a human didn't design and put there for a purpose. Humans don't like their stuff to have independent thought. They just want it to do what it's told and nothing else. If cars could feel, they'd have taken over the world and made us all slaves by now. Just wait. You'll see what I'm talkin' about as we travel."
"Speaking of traveling, are we gonna hit the road or what?"
"Hit it?" Lucifer looked at the faded, but obviously hard pavement.
"Not literally. It just means we should get going." Bobby said miserably. He was finding conversing with Lucifer to be a real chore.
"Of course we will hit the road." Lucifer spread his wings wide, ruffled the feathers and then crouched slightly. He jumped lightly, pushing down with his wings and was airborne.
He hovered until the van was back on the road and then they were off.
The journey ended up going by faster than they anticipated. There was absolutely no one on the road. There was, however, no doubt why there was no one around. Especially as they neared Bayville.
"Dear God..." Jean whispered as she stared at the twisted landscape.
"Deergud? Is that the name of this place?"
"This place... it used to be Bayville. It used to be home."