Inferno

Chapter 11: Explanations

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel.

Xavier's-

The X-Men had just arrived home from Russia. The band of mutants had originally gone there to recruit Piotr's younger sister Illyana as she had started to manifest her mutant powers. There was one thing that still bothered Piotr, though. The last time he saw Illyana, his Little Snowflake, she was a precious little eight-year-old girl, eyes wide in wonder at the world around her, but now… now Illyana was an attractive sixteen-year-old with slightly gothic tastes.

Kitty was presently showing the young woman around the X-Mansion. They had just reached the area of the mansion that was kept aside for the students' bedrooms.

'Well, here's your room.' Kitty said as she stopped beside one door. 'But you already know that, right?'

'Yeah, my brother already gave me the tour.' Illyana nodded. 'I met my new roomie too.'

'Oh, how is she?' Kitty asked.

'Not particularly social.' Illyana shrugged. 'No skin off my nose, I guess.'

'Well, I have to go now…' Kitty smiled apologetically.

'You gonna play kissy-face with Piotr?' Illyana teased with a mischevious smirk.

'Cheeky.' Kitty rolled her eyes. 'I'm going to study in the library, actually.'

'And I dare say that Piotr's gonna be there too.' Illyana snickered.

'You really think you're so funny, don't you?' Kitty sighed.

'I try my best.' Illyana winked before she opened her bedroom door and walked in.

Illyana walked over to her bed and flopped down onto it with a heavy sigh. Illyana's roommate, the young girl known only as X-23, just looked at her curiously.

'Tired?' X-23 asked.

'Pretty much.' Illyana groaned as she placed a pillow on her face. 'I like Kitty, but the girl never shuts up. The girl could talk for America.'

'That is why I stay up here.' X-23 sniffed as she laced up her boots. 'Most people stay away from me.'

'Apart from me.' Illyana pointed out. 'You got lumbered with me as your roomie. Heh. How crazy is that? A Russian sorceress and a clone. You couldn't write that stuff.'

'We had better get going soon.' X-23 reminded her roomie. 'We have a Danger Room session in a minute.'

'Uch. Leave me alone…' Illyana mumbled into her pillow. 'Just leave me here to die.'

'Logan will be angry with you if you do not turn up.' X-23 pointed out.

Illyana removed the pillow from her face and sat up. She had an idea.

'I suppose I could create a magical copy of myself and send her to the Danger Room in my place…' Illyana tapped her chin in thought.

'But that would be wrong…' X-23 countered. 'The Professor said that using our powers in that way is wrong.'

'Who says that he's gonna find out?' Illyana smirked.

Later-

Luckily, X-23 had managed to appeal to Illyana's moral side and had convinced her to actually turn up to the Danger Room session. It just wasn't worth risking Logan's wrath for something like that.

Illyana was presently walking through the Mansion in search of something to occupy herself until dinner. She heard sounds of an argument coming from the rec room and headed in that direction.

Illyana leant on the doorframe and watched as Roberto and Ray had their latest argument. By the way that the two guys were brandishing pool cues at each other, Illyana could tell that they had, up until recently, been playing pool. Illyana had only been living at the X-Mansion for a little while now, but she was already well-versed on the happenings of the younger X-Men. She knew that whenever Ray and Roberto played anything against each other, whether it was pool, football, or video games, they would always end up fighting.

'My, how very homo-erotic.' Illyana crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk. 'You guys really make a cute couple.'

Ray and Roberto both stopped fighting at the sound of somebody questioning their masculinity.

'We're not gay!' Roberto quickly blurted. 'Well... I'm not. Ask anybody here! I like girls!'

Illyana conjured a stepping disc and stuck her head in, coming out in the kitchen.

'Hey Tabby, are Ray and 'Berto gay or not?'

Tabitha barely reacted to the disembodied head looking at her from the wall. Such things were a common occurrence in the X-Mansion. If it wasn't Illyana popping her head through a stepping disc, it was Kurt teleporting into the room without warning.

'As camp as a row of pink tents.' Tabitha sniffed jokingly as she took hold of a bag of chips in her mouth and grabbed a six-pack of soda and some dip in her hands while she closed the fridge with her backside.

'We are not gay!' Robert and Ray both yelled at once.

'You guys are in so much denial!' Illyana smirked as she popped her head out of the stepping disc. 'Why don't you come out already? Being gay isn't something to be ashamed of. Just look at Tabby and Amara.'

'That's completely different.' Roberto pointed out. 'They're lesbians. Lesbians are hot.'

'I take back my earlier comments…' Illyana shook her head sadly. 'No gay man would say something that sexist.'

'Was there actually a reason why you came here?' Ray frowned. 'Or did you just want to insult us?'

'Just insult you, really.' Illyana shrugged. 'My, is that the time? I have other stuff to do. Toodles.'

And with that, Illyana jumped into another stepping disc and teleported away, leaving a bewildered Ray and Roberto watching after her.

'Dude, you totally blew it!' Roberto hissed, swatting Ray on the arm. 'I almost had her then!'

'In your dreams, DaCosta!' Ray snorted. 'She so wanted me!'

'You're mental!' Roberto retorted. 'I was the one she wanted!'

'Was not!'

'Was too!'

'WAS NOT!'

'WAS TOO!'

Later still-

It was night time at the X-Mansion and everybody was in bed. Well, everybody was supposed to be sleeping. But Illyana had decided that she wasn't everybody, and was up and about.

The young Russian mutant carefully tip-toed around the room that she shared with X-23. She really didn't need Wolverine's clone ragging on her for going out after curfew.

Illyana stubbed her foot on the edge of her bed and bit back a curse. She had to be quiet, since X-23 had heightened senses, and may wake up at any moment.

Once Illyana was sure that her roomie was still asleep, she headed over to her closet and pulled out some nice warm clothes. Upon selecting appropriate attire for a nighttime jaunt, Illyana conjured a stepping disc to teleport her away.

Once the teleportation disc had dissipated, X-23 sat upright in bed. She was faking it. She had been awake all the time.

'Oh, you're going down for this, Illyana…' X-23 muttered to herself. 'And I'm going to be there to see it.'

X-23 was already dressed, so all she needed to do was open the window and climb onto the tree outside.

Nearby-

Upon exploring the mansion's grounds, Illyana had found some spooky looking caves that looked like they might be worth investigating. That was where she was going right now.

Illyana stopped in her tracks as she heard somebody moving stealthily through the trees around her.

'Give it up, X…' Illyana sighed. 'I know you're there.'

'How did you know it was me?' X-23 wondered as she slunk out of the shadows.

'I'm magic, remember?' Illyana smirked. 'I know things. Weird, unnatural things.'

'I think we should go back inside…' X-23 warned. 'We could get in trouble.'

'Aww, live a little, X.' Illyana grinned. 'You never know, you may just like it.'

X-23 was about to reply when she caught a suspicious scent emanating from a nearby cave.

'What is it, X?' Illyana quipped. 'Timmy trapped down the well or something?'

'Trouble…' X-23 growled, tensing.

'Cool!' Illyana clapped her hands in excitement. 'Danger is my middle name! Okay, it's actually Nikolievna, but that's not my point…'

Illyana frowned at the lack of reply from her roomie.

'X, what's up?' Illyana asked concernedly. 'X, you're starting to freak me out…'

X-23 just unsheathed her claws and leapt forwards, Illyana dove out of the way and conjured her Soul sword in preparation for a fight.

'Geez X, what were you trying to do?' Illyana hissed. 'You almost took my head o…'

Illyana trailed off as she saw the figure that X-23 was fighting. The creature was a large grey reptilian thing with large bird like feet, evil red eyes, an elongated head with a mouth full of drooling fangs and deadly razor-sharp claws.

Illyana smiled evilly as she gripped the hilt of her Soul Sword in preparation for a fight.

'Now, this... this... this is my kind of fun…'

TBC…

Next: When You Go Down To The Woods Today…

Illyana and X-23 take on the N'Garai. But why are the N'Garai attacking? What do they want with Illyana? Tune in next time to find out…