Hi! I am soo sorry that I haven't updated my story in so long. Graduation took forever! I'm so excited that high school is over... wow! But I finally am back to my story! Which is exciting too... anyway... heh... onto the turmoil and angsty –goodness... I swear this story turned into a soap opera... oh well I still like it (lol) enjoy!
Miko
---- Chapter 15----- Psycho-analysis
Scott Summers' mind reeled as he adjusted to the dramatic change of light. His eyes, emanating their usual red glow, helped things along. The yellow hue created by the ruby quartz lens never much let things get too dark. Shapes had almost come into focus when he heard his wife call out.
"Scott?" She was somewhere in front and to the left, but too far for him to see.
"I'm fine." He called back.
"The back-up generators should kick on in a minute." Hank proclaimed. "This is a MEDICAL lab after all."
"Great, so if that mutant didn't know where we were before, she can just follow the big flashy medical lights." Bobby muttered.
"Weren't you asleep?" Henry answered back.
"She doesn't need the lights." Jean's voice resounded off the concrete walls.
Scott stood, still not knowing where Jean exactly was, but the tone in her voice had him worried. He was about to take his first step when he heard fast footfalls and the thunk of a hand against glass.
"Leila...what is the matter with her?" Scott could hear Kurt's voice. He must have run up to the girl's glass house. With Kurt's exceptional eyes he reported that she was twisting around on her bed.
"She's having a nightmare." Jean answered, sounding more tired then before. "Everyone is..."
Scott heard a thud, like something had fallen to the ground.
"Jean!" He heard Kurt cry.
"What's the matter? What happened?" Scott called, taking a few blind steps towards Kurt's voice. "Damnit Hank, get that generator going!" Scott yelled as his foot clipped something on the floor.
"It's automatic." Henry shouted in defense.
"She fainted." Kurt finally answered. "I moved her to a bed."
"Where are you?" Scott continued walking, cautiously.
"I'm..." Nightcrawler began.
The generator lights finally flickered on. They weren't as powerful as the mainframe, but Scott could see.
He ran to Jean.
"Jean?" he held her hand and touched her cheek.
She gasped awake and sat straight up, holding her head.
"Oh god! What is she doing?" Jean panted.
"Honey?" Scott said from behind her, still holding her hand.
"Oh Scott!" She spun around. "She... she's, there's no time. Take Henry and wake up as many of the children as you possibly can! Tell them to stay in their rooms... and stay quiet!" She squeezed his hand. "Go!"
Scott didn't argue. He didn't like not understanding all of the details, but when Jean used that tone, he knew to listen.
"Beast you're with me." he barked and moved towards the lab doors.
"Scott!" Jean cried as an afterthought. "Whatever you do, don't draw attention to yourself. And don't hurt her, or you'll harm the students!"
Scott nodded and the two were out the door.
Jean sighed and tried to relax. Suddenly she shot back up. "Leila! Oh Bobby, please wake her up!"
Bobby ran up to the glass to find Leila still thrashing and yelling out in her sleep, though he couldn't hear it.
"Why doesn't she wake up?" He asked.
"Just do the waking FOR her Bobby. The longer she's asleep the stronger Callie gets!"
Bobby moved to open the door.
"Callie... is that her name?" Kurt asked with a cheerless expression on his face.
"Yes, but Kurt, she's not what you think..."
Bobby opened the door to the little glass room and went in to gently shake Leila awake. At the slightest touch she bolted straight up with tears streaming, she grabbed a hold of Bobby. Then she let go just as quickly and held both of her ears. Bobby remembered the auditory modifiers on the table and reached over to help Leila put them in.
"Callie..." Jean continued. "She's using the children to boost her power levels so she can keep control of Logan's rage."
"And that's not exactly what I would think of her?" Kurt sighed.
"No, Kurt, the rage, it's eating her up inside, she doesn't understand it. She's gone almost completely insane."
Kurt looked at Jean... then past her.
Jean turned around.
"Hey, come on now! That's not fair, we just met! You're not allowed to deem me clinically insane until at least the third date." Callie smiled, glowing from the doorframe.
Jean swore under her breath.
Logan had followed Callie's scent around the side of the mansion and through the ground floor window. He had tracked her half way through the main corridor... and then kinda gave up.
The tiles were singed for God's sake. It was like she wanted to be found.
Or maybe IT does...
But Logan didn't want to think of his rage as a living thing. That was way too disturbing. It was also much too accurate at times.
Logan shook his head clear and followed the breadcrumb trail. That was when the lights went out. He continued on once his eyes adjusted until he found blood spilled on the floor.
It was hers.
He continued on faster now, until he heard yells and whimpers from the students in their rooms. Something else had gone wrong.
This lady was seriously beginning to piss him off. The anger boiled up. It wasn't rage, he wasn't about to lose control of it, but it killed Logan to know that what was happening was because of him.
Because of his emotion.
She couldn't handle it and people could get hurt... his fault... somehow.
The rage that he'd lost was harsh and brutal and cruel, but it was his, and in the end it always would be. Right now he had to fight to get it back, maybe even kill... to get the rage that he hated... back.
Sometimes, Logan hated his life.
Jean stood up from the medical bed.
"Callie." Jean sighed, looking up into the other mutant's eyes. "You don't have to do this."
Callie smiled.
Bobby moved from Leila's side. The temperature in the room began to drop.
Bobby don't hurt her. Jean reminded Bobby psychically (Callie didn't need to know that.)
Bobby settled for standing in front of Leila, protecting her, letting the temperature return to normal.
Callie's skin cracked with energy. She giggled.
"This is the best part though." She walked closer to Jean. A green mist started to pour off of her. "He doesn't happen to be in here does he? It wouldn't be THAT simple, would it?"
"Nothing in your life is simple Callie." Jean stated, trying to avoid the mist.
Callie stopped and looked at her through glowing green eyes.
"What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?"
"Well, today's your birthday, it's just an interesting way to spend it."
Callie's eyes narrowed.
Jean could feel Callie trying to probe her mind, affect her emotions. Jean shrugged it off and realized something. Callie wasn't psychic, as Jean had originally thought, rather Callie dealt with primal things, the things before thought and speech and internal dialogue had evolved. She dealt with pictures and raw emotions. That sounded very painful to Jean, and cruel. She couldn't imagine having to put up with that, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl.
"You know what?" Callie started, once she realized her powers didn't affect Jean. "I don't like you." Callie hands started glowing green.
Jean heard Leila gasp.
Callie's head snapped in the girl's direction. "Chicklet." When her attention changed to Leila, the green mist concentrated itself on the girl... it was as if the mist was an extension of Callie's out of control powers. It started wrapping around the little blonde girl, actually avoiding Bobby, causing Leila to hyperventilate.
Bobby registered the mutant's attack and charged towards Callie despite Jean's warnings.
Callie held out her hand. "STOP!" she shouted.
Bobby stopped in his tracks as if he'd run into a brick wall, and Callie slid across the floor like she had been physically pushed back.
"That other bitch may be able to resist my charms... but you're a good boy aren't you?" Callie seethed.
Jean turned to realize that Kurt was no longer at her side. She smelled sulfur in the air. Nightcrawler had BAMFed behind Callie and grabbed a hold.
"You can't stop, can you." He understood with determined eyes.
"Get off!" Callie screamed, losing her breath. She screamed again and the green mist permeated throughout the entire room. "On the ground!" She shouted. "Now!"
Kurt fell to the ground.
Then Bobby fell as well.
Callie's breath was lost again, it came back shallow and harsh, but when she looked up at Jean her smile was beaming, her eyes slits.
"You think you're better then me because I can't get inside your head?" Callie moved towards Jean, balling her glowing hands into fists. "I'm gonna win and you can't stop me!"
Realization glowed in Jean's eyes.
"You're scared..."She barely whispered, lowering her hands to stare at Callie. "So am I."
Callie stopped. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The green mist, though thick like fog around the medlab, disappeared around Jean.
"You're afraid of what this rage is doing to you. You fell lost Callie... but I can help you... just let go."
Callie looked at Jean like she had just suggested she should join the National Inquirer... it made NO sense to her. "You let go. I don't know what you think, but I love the way I feel... and my birthday, it's been the best one ever." Callie's nose started to bleed... she ignored it.
"Please Callie, what you're feeling isn't yours. It's killing you!"
Callie shook her head and forced a smile. "I was dead already! Just shut up." Callie's eyes wavered. "Why do you get to know how I feel when I can't even... tell..." She looked away from Jean.
"You ARE scared." Jean put her hands in front of her. "You have been... for a long time... haven't you? Afraid to open up, ever since..."
"SHUT UP!" Callie shouted, a nerve hit without her knowing why. Her eyes glowing a harsher green, Kurt and Bobby squirmed from the floor.
"Oh Callie... Your parents never meant to hurt you like that... I'm so sorr..." Jean started.
"Stop!" Callie raged through gritted teeth. "You don't... know me." Callie couldn't understand what was happening. This woman should just shut up and fall to the ground... instead she was playing psychiatrist... and not very well either... psychiatrists.... they would never act like this... Callie should know after all... "You can't help me, so just stop playing memory lane. No one can help me... people have tried... they all just... die... in the end."
"Your boss never helped you Callie, he just made things worse. He used you."
"At least he paid attention..." Tears streamed down the raven-haired girl's face. Callie touched the tears with a finger, like it had never happened before.
"The emptiness you feel inside isn't a part of your mutation Callie." Jean said in a hurry, before Callie could get defensive again. "It's for protection. It's easier to feel numb inside then to feel pain. But I can help you. I can give you the truth... truth where you've only heard lies... Lies about your parents, lies about your pain... it's not ALL you have to feel Callie. Stop this now... and you'll have a fresh start. Everything can be different... and...we..." Jean stopped as Callie's posture changed.
Her eyes focused on Jean's. The tears stopped.
"Your psychic powers are really strong. You had me, I admit. I actually thought you were sincere... pathetic and sappy, but sincere." Callie smiled. "But here you were, just trying to stall me long enough for the rest of your little mutant squad to drain my power. Waking up those horrible children." Callie lowered her head. "You think I feel empty inside?" Callie's smile broadened. "I feel whatever I want to feel."
"It isn't yours..." Jean whispered.
"It will be!" Callie swung a punch at Jean who was catapulted across the room and smashed into the concrete wall opposite the medlab doors. She fell to the floor... where she stayed.
"Good girl." Callie said in a kind of shock. She walked slowly over to the fallen X-Man and crushed one of her fingers under a boot. Pressing down she realized that the woman had fallen unconscious. Callie pressed harder but the redhead's body simply breathed steadily in and out. Callie took a sharp breath.
She had noticed something else. She could see a glint of metal shining off the swollen emergency lights and gleaming off the glass she had caused to crash on the floor. She held her breath.
"So..." Callie started, digging harder with her boot still on Jean's hand. She heard the figure behind her stop, realizing she had noticed him. Callie spun her heel on Jean's fingers, hearing the bones snap. She felt his anger rise and walked towards the man she'd been waiting for.
"Logan right?" She asked him, her face hidden in the poor light of the medlab.
"You break anything else in her... I snap your neck." Logan glared into the shadows...
Callie lifted her face out of the darkness to where Logan could see her clearly. Blood was streaming from her eyes and met with the blood already from her nose. She gasped for air.
The green fog rolled in thicker then before.
There were tears mixed with the blood.
"Promise?"