Chapter 41

The evening shift at the high security prison came into place, and Mystique watched from behind parked cars as guards walked towards the gate to enter. A few cars away from her, one of the guards was exiting his vehicle to go onto the new shift. Rising to her feet, she resumed the form of Grace – now knowing full well men liked what they saw with her. She quickly passed round the bonnet of the car she had hid behind, running towards the guard as he locked up his vehicle.

"Hey!" she called as she hurried towards him, her call quickly catching his attention.

The man looked round, raising the brim of his cap as he studied her, "You alright, miss?"

"I've actually got a bit of a problem that needs sorting.." Mystique put on her most smouldering look; all the while a coy tilt of her head was administered.

"Sure thing," he said quietly, walking closer to her, "What is it?"

"Well.." murmured Mystique softly, edging forward towards the guard. With only inches between them, she abruptly raised a leg, slamming it down upon his shoulder, followed by the sweeping strike of her arm. With a strangled gasp the guard collapsed to the tarmac, falling unconscious at Mystique's feet. "Sorted it," murmured Mystique with a smile, idly rolling the body out of view with her foot.

She quickly turned, heading over to the gate in her changed form, now mimicking the guard. She took the back of the queue heading in through the gate, each guard having their nametag scanned for admittance. Mystique kept her face blank as the tag on her uniform was scanned and calmly walked on ahead the minute she was cleared. Up ahead she saw Laurio laughing loudly with his friends and recalling something from the previous night.

No doubt what that was.

Mystique kept close, following them into the main building. Laurio and the other guards turned into a locker room, putting away their belongings and taking off watches and other metal items. Mystique merely stood by one of the benches, making a long deal of tightening the laces on her shoes. Her eyes glanced upwards as Laurio strolled back out, tailed by the rest of the guards. She took up the rear once more, following them to the plastic prison where Magneto was kept. Some passed in through the automatic doors, others heading down the corridor, including Laurio. Mystique took initiative and headed inside the prison entrance.

"McKinley, what are you doin'?" someone suddenly shot at her, "You're doing the door today." Mystique spun round, staring as one of the guards pointed at the automatic doors, indicating she was to stand outside.

"Sorry, don't know where my head is this morning," muttered Mystique as she headed through the doorway and fell quiet.

Outside was Laurio, heading in with a tray of food and drink for Magneto. He nodded in greeting to Mystique as he passed, then heading in through the automatic doors.

Mystique watched, aware that Laurio would be heading in there filled with the metal she knew Magneto could detect. Especially after his starvation from the substance, he would pick it up easily. It was only a small amount of metal, for Mystique knew that if not, it could be detected, and she wasn't willing to risk this plan. She had seen Magneto do incredible things with the tiniest amount of metal possible; she had no doubt over his abilities.

She waited, ears straining as she heard the distant sounds of doors opening and Laurio's footsteps as he descended down the tunnel. Moments passed, and Mystique began to fear that Magneto had not noticed the metal! But just as the doubt crept into her mind there was an earth-shattering crash of plastic. With a gasp she spun from her position by the door, running through them as they parted. She stopped and stared.

Magneto landed on the entrance platform, at his feet two dead bodies of guards. In the distant smashed prison lay Laurio, having suffered the same fate. Magneto's head sharply lifted when Mystique rushed in, still disguised as one of the guards. She saw his fingers raise, ready to do the same to her. Her eyes widened and she hurriedly transformed into her natural state, pushing her mutation to change furiously faster than ever before. "Don't!" she said abruptly as she was revealed.

Magneto's face, already jubilant by his escape and the return of metal grew with a smile as he watched Mystique. "Thank you, my dear."

"There's no time," said Mystique hurriedly, "Grab your belongings, we have to leave!"

Magneto was no fool, he could tell by Mystique's behaviour that something serious had happened since his capture, but he did not press the matter. Right now, Mystique was the one who knew what needed to be done. With a curt nod he swept by her, intending to locate his precious helmet and his outfit, and then, when they were clear of the prison, she could update him.

"I spent weeks looking for clues, going under the guide of Senator Kelly. Toad and Sabretooth were killed at Liberty Island, so I had no help. When I was looking for information about your prison on Stryker's computers, I discovered that he is planning to build another Cerebro at his private base."

Magneto and Mystique were quietly walking through nearby woodland, the ground around them bathed in a warm honey glow of the setting sun. Magneto frowned at these words, slowly looking her way, "That must be why he wanted information, he wanted to locate Xavier's mansion and take Cerebro."

"And he's managed it," said Mystique quietly, "it has been all over the news about a mutant facility in Westchester, but we know that that means, he went in there and attacked."

"Do we know the state of the mansion?"

"No," answered Mystique, "Apparently some are on the run."

Magneto frowned, pausing as he looked up into the skies, "They can't hide from someone like Stryker, he will track them down easily."

"Why do you think Stryker wants Cerebro, doesn't he need Xavier?"

Magneto sighed quietly, "Oh, he's got Xavier," he informed her, "he took him when he came to visit me."

Mystique closed her eyes, bowing her head. The danger of the situation had just got worse. There were a few moments of silence before Mystique looked back to Magneto. "Where did you get your injuries from?" she asked him softly.

"Don't tell me you really believe that the human rights stretches over to mutants," Magneto murmured, lowering himself down upon a fallen log. "Stryker has many methods of persuasion, they vary in pain and strength."

"I wish I could've helped you sooner," whispered Mystique softly, resting her cool palm against one of his worst bruises.

With a very small smile, Magneto shook his head, "No matter. I'm out now, and we must find the X-Men."

"Why do we need the X-Men?" Mystique quickly asked, looking affronted.

Magneto's eyes rose back to the sky, "Because they may have important information." He then frowned, gently raising his hand upwards.

"What is it?"

His fingers gently wavered, as though testing the air. He could feel a large structure of metal hurtling towards the earth. His eyes suddenly lit up and he swept to his feet, striding off with a flow of his cloak, "Come!" he called to Mystique, who quickly moved to stay by his side. Together they reached a clearing and Magneto stopped, staring skyward. Following his line of sight, Mystique gazed into the darkening sky to see a distant dark shape rolling through the sky as it plummeted.

Magneto raised his hand once move, fingers spread wide as he concentrated. Mystique remained in silence, watching at the shape fell towards them at a horrendous speed. Magneto was guiding it in their direction and as it came closer, Mystique recognised it as the X-Jet. Magneto slowly clenched his fist, and as Mystique watched, she could see bits of metal that were flying alongside it pulled back to fix a gaping hole in the roof of the aircraft.

Closer the jet came, so close now, that Mystique could see the terrified faces through the windscreen. Then, all of a sudden the falling aircraft froze to a halt, Magneto's palm spread wider. Magneto released a quiet chuckle, Mystique smirking a little at his toying notions. He could have easily stopped that plane from falling when it was thousands of feet in the air – clearly he wanted to give them a bit of a scare.

"When will these people learn how to fly?" asked Magneto aloud, glancing over to Mystique with a malevolent smile.

Mystique glanced at him, returning the chuckle as they both turned their heads back to stare up at the plane. Magneto lowered his arm and the X-Jet followed, legs extending, it till it hit the grass with a slight bump.

"We'll wait till they are settled," said Magneto softly, turning and walking back into the woodland. Mystique watched as the ramp began to lower, but quickly turned and followed Magneto. She knew things would be all right now, with Magneto back by her side.

Thanks for reading! Review time! And I've decided that when I get to the end of X2 I'll 'pause' it, wait for X3's release and then continue!