"Nigel Williams?"
The nurse turned her head swiftly as a man hurried down the hospital corridor in the process of ripping broken wires out of his flesh. The hem of his dressing gown was flapping behind his bare feet as he continued to move swiftly down the brightly lit walkway that was milling with ambling patients and swiftly passing doctors.
"Mr. Williams!" repeated the nurse firmly, quickly following after the man. A few heads looked up at her calls and she gestured to a doctor coming her way, "Dr. Murphy, stop him!" The doctor looked up from his files to see a dark skinned man running towards him. Doctor Murphy quickly stepped in front of the man's path, frowning.
"Nigel, where are you going? Why have you removed your – "
The nurse screamed, her files being dropped from her hands.
Murphy was flat on his back, head lolling as blood trickled from his lips and nose. The dark skinned man ran faster, pushing roughly by passing people who stopped and stared. "Stop, sir!" cried another doctor who had clearly seen the attack on his fellow colleague. His eyes shot wide as the man's face came closer. His eyes were blazing yellow and glowing brightly even in the clear lighting of the hospital. The dark skin of the man's face split with swift lines, cracking open across his face as it flaked away to reveal a different shaped face and deep blue skin.
But he could not survey the oddity any longer, for a fist struck him across the face, and the doctor collapsed backwards with his glasses askew. The blue woman shook herself out of her clothes with ease, sprinting through the corridor whose inhabitants swiftly parted as the naked female ran by. Several alarmed cries followed her, including, "mutant!" and "freak!" Mystique had been under the persona of Nigel Williams ever since Wolverine had left her for dead in the Liberty Island museum, recieving the treatment that the real, dead, man couldn't.
Mystique barged out of the double doors of the hospital entrance, stumbling into the sunlit street. She stared down at the bandaging around her stomach, but it disappeared as her form changed into the frame of a plain-looking young woman. She quickly pushed through the crowd of commuters, not entirely sure of where she was heading. She gasped and was knocked off balance as somebody heavily hit her tender chest as they pushed by. She gave the offending person a glare, but they were lost in the crowd. Her eyes narrowed as she stalked on ahead, her attention only being caught when she saw footage of the previous Ellis Island event on a television in a shop window. Frowning, she moved closer, watching as the footage, which was headlined with, "Mutant terrorist captured." Then, suddenly she saw Magneto's unconscious face on screen as he was buckled up and pushed into a police helicopter. Surrounding guards were pushing the press away from the scene. It was a recap from last week, but it told Mystique everything as she watched the helicopter ascend to the skies.
The Government had Magneto.
Her head slumped against the glass slowly, watching with dark brown eyes as the news changed to a report on a car accident south of Manhattan. Her eyes closed as she sighed, thinking over the recent events with a weary heart. Magneto was captured, she had no idea of Toad or Sabretooth's whereabouts and the X-Men were celebrating a victory. With a fist clenching she straightened up, eyes opening to a glare.
She would go back to Magneto's home, try and find the rest of the Brotherhood. Then they needed a plan to free Magneto..
"Toad?" Mystique called as she ran across the bridge into Magneto's lair. Her bare feet struck heavily on the cool metal as she pressed forward. "Sabretooth?" She came to a halt in one of the corridors, spinning round as she seeked for her teammates presence. As much as she searched, all the corridors she stared down, there were no signs of life, and the place looked eerily undisturbed.
Could it really be? Toad and Sabretooth dead? She hadn't witnessed either of their deaths. All she knew was that Toad had got a nasty attack from Storm, but she never thought that the kind, gentle woman would kill a person. Clearly Toad must've angered her. He did things like that, as Mystique knew only too well.
What would she do now?
What could she do?
Magneto.. he needed her!
The week had quickly passed, surprisingly. In her bid to try and find more information about Magneto's whereabouts she had been going under the guise of the recently killed Senator Kelly. As she desperately searched round the other senators and their contacts for evidence on Magneto's whereabouts she had been taking part in meetings and news interviews, as a method to keep up the masquerade of Senator Kelly, of course, with very different views on the mutant population.
Today she had managed to get herself right into the heart of the matter itself. A meeting with the President and Colonel William Stryker, ahuman dealing with current affairs with mutants.
She pushed into the sunlit office slowly, quickly receiving attention from the President, "Senator!"
She threw on her most charming smile, "Mr President. Thank you for having me." She strode towards the President, accepting his handshake with a few deft motions. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Stryker regarding her with an unimpressed face. He, like they, was clad in a smart suit. Cold eyes sat behind his rimless glasses. Older than both of them, he face showed years of hardship, his hair greying, as was his beard.
"Senator Kelly, this Colonel William Stryker – "
As turn as attention was brought upon Stryker, his weathered face spread into a welcoming smile and he extended his hand to shake Mystique's. "How do you do?" asked Mystique, finding it difficult to keep a smirk from her face.
" – His department had been dealing with the mutant phenomenon since.. before my time." The President regarded Stryker with a rather fond expression.
However, Stryker swiftly cut in "As I recall, you were a staunch supporter of the Registration Act, but it seems your ideas on the mutant problem have changed recently."
At his words, Mystique sharply looked at him, toning down her glare as she forced on a smile, "For the best, I hope." There was a small pause, in which Mystique proceeded to hurry things on, and turn the attention off of Kelly's mysterious turn around. "So, what are you proposing, Mr Stryker?"
Stryker glanced towards the President, then pulling a slim black file from under his arm, "Uh, may I Mr. President?"
The President nodded, stepping round his desk and joining the others at the small table in the centre of the couches. Mystique slowly sat herself down, watching with curious eyes as Stryker opened out his folder and began pulling out various black and white photographs.
"We've managed to gather evidence of a mutant training facility in the Salem region of upstate New York."
Mystique leant forward, staring down at the nearest photograph. It was a clear aerial photograph of Xavier's School for the Gifted.
"Where did you get this information?" asked the President, picking up a photograph.
Stryker straightened with a rather smug expression on his face, "Interrogation of one of the mutant terrorists from the Liberty Island incident."
Before Mystique could stop herself, her head shot up, "Erik? Erik Lensherr?" The President and Stryker shot her quizzical looks. A surge of worry was suddenly clouding over her, "Y-you have access to him?"
"Magneto, yes," continued Stryker, apparently ignoring the anxiety on Kelly's face. "We developed the technology that built his plastic prison."
Falling into a silence, Mystique lowered her head, mind racing with hundreds of questions she wanted to ask, but couldn't without looking suspicious. He knew where Magneto was! Swallowing slowly, Mystique forced herself back on track. She leant forward, picking up the nearest photograph and straightening. "This facility is a school," she said in a calm voice.
But Stryker looked all the more conceited, "Sure it is," he said, throwing another photograph down on top of the scattered pile. It only took the briefest of glances for Mystique to recognise what was in the picture, and she made a bid to grab it before the President did. But it slipped out of her finger as he picked it up.
"What the hell is that?" he asked, voice turning concerned.
"A jet," replied Stryker, which such a pompous air Mystique felt like slamming him into the nearest wall.
"What kind of jet?" shot the President.
Mystique slowly eased it out of the President's hands, staring down at the photograph. It was clear as anything, the oddity of the jet on top of the landscape of the mansion. How could she find a good explanation for that not being suspicious?
"We don't know," continued Stryker, "but it comes up, out of the basketball court."
Those last few words did it. The President pushed himself to his feet with a sigh and walked around his desk, holding his head as though he had a mild headache. Stryker had got what he wanted. There was nothing Mystique could do..
Stryker took this opportunity to loudly criticise, "If we'd been allowed to do our jobs, Mr President, before this incident – "
"All right, listen," the President cut across him smoothly. Stryker looked over to him with a curious expression. The President turned from the window, his face full of contemplation before he looked to Stryker, "William, you enter, you detain, you question, but the last thing we need to see is the body of a mutant kid on the six o'clock news."
Stryker smiled slowly at the authorisation for his operation and turned his head to give once more, a smug expression in Mystique's direction. Mystique returned the smile. He would have no idea what had hit him when he entered that mansion.
"Thank you, Mr President," said Stryker calmly, leaning forth to gather up his photographs, "Better go and prepare, hadn't I?"
Mystique stood to her feet, glancing over to the President. The President seemed to recognise what Kelly represented and at once repeated himself, "I mean it William."
"Of course you do, Mr President," replied Stryker with a smile, leaning forward and extending his hand to shake his farewells to the two. "Good day to you," he turned on his heel, striding out of the office.
Watching Stryker go, Mystique turned back to the President, forcing a smile and shaking his hand, "Thank you for letting me participate."
"Not at all, Senator. I feared William might be asking for something much worse than this. But in my eyes, not yet; let's give these mutants another chance."
Mystique nodded her head slowly, pulling her hand from the Presidents as she turned and swiftly followed out after Stryker. She needed to find Magneto. He was a short distance ahead down the corridor, walking along another woman.
"Mr Stryker?"
Stryker slowly stopped, "Senator Kelly," he replied, turning then introducing the woman he was stood with. She was as tall as he, dressed smartly and most captivatingly in a tight grey suit that no woman would choose to shamelessly flaunt herself in. Long locks of straight black were scraped back from her pale Asian face and pulled into a tight ponytail. Black glasses covered her eyes, slightly disguising them with a tint of the lenses. "This is Yuriko, my personal assistant." She had swiftly extended her hand.
Mystique took it in greeting, missing the small smirk on Stryker's face as Yuriko's fingers clamped harshly upon Mystique's and shook roughly. There was a faint crack. "Oh," said Mystique as she pulled her hand back, she was sure her joints had just complained of the pressure, "quite a handshake."
Stryker and Yuriko turned from her, continuing to walk. Mystique held a fierce glare on the back of Yuriko's head as she followed after the, rubbing her previously crushed hand.
"What can I do for you?"
"Erik Lensherr's prison, I'd like to arrange a visit, if possible." She threw another glare at Yuriko.
Bitch.
"It isn't a petting zoo, Senator. In this conflict he is the enemy, you're just a spectator – " Stryker patted Mystique on the upper arm in what he supposed was a friendly gesture. Mystique felt like grabbing that arm and flipping him onto the floor. " – so why don't you just sit this one out, all right?"
"Conflict?" repeated Mystique, holding back a laugh as she stopped walking. "Mr Stryker, do you really want to turn this into some kind of war?"
These words had obviously affected Stryker, for he too stopped, turning swiftly back to Mystique with a flash of anger in his eyes. He brought himself close to Mystique, giving a cautious glance down the corridor. Workmen were fixing the damage caused by the previous mutant attempted assassination on the President whilst guards stood solemn, but at full attention. "I was piloting black ops missions in the jungles of North Vietnam while you were sucking on your mama's tit at Woodstock, Kelly." Mystique regarded him with stern eyes. "Don't lecture me about war. This already is a war."
And with that, Stryker strode off, Yuriko instantly by his side. Mystique slowly turned her head as she walked them leave, a smirk gracing her lips as her yellow eyes flashed.
Do you remember at the end of X1 when we saw Mystique disguising herself as a security guard? You better have! Lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, we are moving in full force inside X2!