X-Men-First Class: Rise or Fall
Chapter Two Hundred Sixteen
Author's Word: Hi, fam. I know many of you wanted this posted sooner rather than later but my own ailment this week prevented that. So, let's cut right to it. Please enjoy and review!
Hands folded together and chin propped up by them, Raven lingered on the sofa with a steady growth of distress building up within her. Her yellows eyes followed Erik's pacing. With hands behind his back, he moved unceasingly back and forth with no sign of fatigue evident.
"Dad?" Gripping the doorway for a moment, Alex rushed into the Mag Cave. "I saw the X-Van in the garage."
Erik took him into an embrace. "Boychick."
"I'm sorry." Alex gazed up regretfully. "I don't know how I let this happen."
Erik shook his head firmly. "This is not your fault."
Raven stood to share a hug with her twin. "Any sign of him?"
"Nothing," Alex confirmed. "And no one from school knows anything. The Howlett-Creed bros aren't back yet?"
"They're still out," Raven said. "Hank went to help them look. Charles and Emma are conducting a mental scan. Did something happen while we were gone?"
"Nothing," Alex replied strongly. "That's why this is so nuts. He was acting normal. By Lee standards, anyway. I'm really hoping he's goofing off."
Erik spoke with, "I hope this spell of tomfoolery has been worth what will be the worst whipping of his life."
Raven and Alex shared a mutual look at that.
IIIIIII
Perched on top the Westchester University Library, the watchful man remained in place when he detected the arriving scent.
"Guess ya heard Vapor's lost more of his mind."
"I can't believe he would simply vanish this way." Hank flipped up and over to join him on the edge of the roof. "Something could have gone wrong with his mutation."
Victor spotted a small figure racing up. "Looks like Lo's got somethin'."
Both men leapt down gracefully to get to him.
"Nice of you to join the party, specs," Logan addressed Hank then spoke to both of them. "Finally got a lead on him."
"Where?" Hank wanted to know.
Logan responded, "Right near the airport."
IIIIIII
When what remained of her dwindling tank ran out all too quickly, Melissa silently cursed her vehicle then directed them all out. The three able bodies walked alongside the open part of the barren road.
Melissa did not miss the exhaustion effecting Leon's movements. "Let me carry her a while." Leon faced her. "You've had to use more of your powers than I have."
With a nod, Leon transferred the weary Tricie over to Melissa's hold. He now walked in tune with Maya.
Hugging herself, the teenage girl said, "I don't know what I'm feeling. Disbelief or just disgust."
"Both probably," Leon predicted, leaving a secure arm around her.
Maya leaned into his side as a thought crossed her mind. "Where is your motorcycle, anyway?"
"Home."
"Then how exactly did you get here so fast this morning?"
"I hitchhiked," Leon told her. "On a 747."
Jaw dropping yet again that night, Maya could only eye him. "You snuck onto a plane? And you got after me for the pharmacy thing?"
Leon brought her nearer and informed, "Don't think I'm done getting after you for that, by the way. Right now we have to reach the others."
Maya buried her face against his jacket. "Please, please don't be mad at me right now."
"As if it's possible to stay mad at the VIP," Leon stated.
Attention on sweeping Tricie's bangs out of her tired little face, Melissa spared a brief side eye glance back at the two X-Men.
IIIIIII
A plethora of hurried footsteps signaled the arrival of the four youths in the den.
"Angel filled us in," said Frank.
"Alex, did you find him?" Cordelia wanted to know.
"Has he called?" asked Angel.
Sean offered, "I'll get in my car and drive around."
Erik came to stand over the anxious quad. "The only thing we need any of you to do right now is go upstairs to bed."
"Aw, man," Frank reacted.
Sean's mouth formed a circle. "Erik, come on."
"We want to help," Cordelia near moaned.
"And you may do so by doing exactly what Erik," the other Headmaster entered the Mag Cave ahead of Emma, "and what I am now telling you to do." The Professor pointed upward. "To bed, please. There will be plenty to discuss come morning."
Amidst the grumbling, Angel helped to usher her friends out.
Emma told the remaining three gathered, "We were unable to locate him."
"That's on account of him bein' airborne." The trio of trackers walked in next.
Alex faced Logan. "What are you talking about?"
"His scent faded right around the airport," Victor explained.
"We can't be sure he took a flight," Hank said, "but it is too great a coincidence."
"Airborne?" Erik frowned. "That makes no sense. Where in the world could he be going?"
"His cousins perhaps?" Charles threw out. "Jared could have attempted to contact him."
Raven shook her head at that. "No way, Charles."
"Rae's right," Alex agreed. "No way in the world would Leon ditch us without a word to go see him."
Victor said, "The good news is that we ain't pick up… we didn't catch a whiff of his blood. So chances are he ain't hurt."
Logan added, "Until we get our hands on him at least."
IIIIIII
An additional ten minutes of walking brought the roaming group upon a gas station. Any elation they felt faded upon discovering it closed and the one pay phone out of order. It did have other things they certainly needed, beginning with a bathroom. Melissa and Leon got them into the back room. They ate a few packaged snacks with bottled water.
Tricie's lengthy quiet spell at last broke with, "I don't understand. Why are we here? Where's my mom?"
Maya offered her a smile. "It's going to be okay, Tricie."
"Maya," Tricie eyed her imploringly, "where's my mom?"
Feeling a shine in her eyes, Maya's throat grew dry.
Melissa reached over to stroke Tricie's hair. "Your mother was sick, honey. Very sick."
The little girl gave off a slow shake of her head. "No… no…"
"Tricie," Maya finally spoke again, "it's going to be okay. She left you here with me. With us."
"No!" she screamed.
Maya grabbed her in a strong hug. "Shhhhh, Tricie." She kissed the top of her head twice. "Shhh, we have to be quiet. It's okay. We're okay."
Crawling up from behind, Leon sandwiched Tricie in and got close to her ear. "We're going to take care of you. Don't worry."
Maya's eyes widened at Tricie's hitched breathing. "Guys… Tricie, calm down. Please!"
Melissa tried rubbing her back but it did nothing to soothe her.
Thinking quickly, Leon gathered her up and walked the space with her. He allowed her to pull on parts of his shirt as well as his hair with as much force as she wanted.
"Tricie," he continued in her ear, "you have to calm down. The last thing your mother would have wanted was for you to get sicker. That's why you're here with us. So we can make sure you're alright. That's why you have to be calm."
Though her crying did slow, it continued quietly for nearly an hour. At last, sleep got the better of her and she settled in on the pallet of travel blankets the station had in inventory. Leon covered them both with a comforter. He then looked to where Melissa had gone out to the store front. He saw her positioned against one of the windows near the entrance.
Leon came close to her. "I thought you'd be beat."
"I thought you'd be practically flat-lined," she countered. "Your powers…" Melissa looked back at him. "You're able to transfer other people with you?"
Leon nodded. "Didn't know it was possible until Alex needed me once. Granted, I haven't cared enough about anyone to try ever since I discovered my powers."
Melissa stared at him silently then nodded towards the back room. "What's the deal with you and this kid?"
"Tricie?"
"Maya," she clarified. "You hitched a plane to go see her all because of a hunch. What, were all the white horses rented?"
"Maya is…" Leon thought how to describe it. "She's too important."
"To the X-Men?" Melissa wondered. "That's way too ironic."
"To me," he emphasized. "Maya went through a monumental tragedy. Her mother was never there fully. But Maya kept on going, living, smiling. I'll do anything to preserve that smile. Because the last thing I want is for her to be as mentally fucked as I am."
Melissa studied him further before she tacked on, "As we are."
"That's right," Leon nodded. "You are in the club. Trauma, psyche ward…"
"All kinds of crazy. But I take it your own personal recovery didn't involve fist loads of violence."
"Martial arts can be therapeutic," Leon said somewhat coyly, "but mind games? That's where the real fun is. Screwing with the heads of shrinks, pretending to be just another happy preppy when I started college."
Melissa surmised, "Until Alex got clued in."
"Yeah, and he started looking at me different. But not in a disturbed way. More like, what can I do to save you? Because he cared. He and the other X-Men, some more than others, cared. Legit."
"Does that even exist anymore?'
"Apparently. So," Leon moved on, "the Acolytes, runaway shelters, squatting in gas stations. This your new therapy?"
"Physical therapy," she stated. "I stop and what's left of my heart gives out."
Leon said in turn, "At least you have a heart in there."
Melissa stared at him peculiarly. "After tonight alone, you honestly think you don't?"
Leon looked back at her, only able to offer up a small shrug. "So, your turn."
She raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"
"What's your interest in Maya?" he clarified. "Why are you still here?"
Melissa remained quiet at first, thinking that over. "It's like you said. Her mother isn't fully there. She's playing make-believe that she can handle everything on her own so much that she doesn't want to clue your team in. I know what… I've…"
"Been there?" Leon supplied and she nodded. "I know what you mean."
"Yes," their brown eyes remained focused, "you really do, don't you?"
From the trickle of moonlight, the corners of Leon's mouth could be seen turning upward.
IIIIIII
Within the mansion's library the gathered instructors in addition to Raven filled the two joined tables.
"From what we've seen of his room," Hank spoke, "Leon didn't seem to take anything with him beyond his wallet."
Raven said, "His motorcycle is still in the garage."
"Someone had to have snatched him," Alex urged. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
Kayla put forth, "None of this has made any sense thus far."
"We've no choice then," said Charles. "We'll have to take to the jet and scan for him that way."
Emma added, "We will search the globe if we have to."
Sean and Cordelia entered then at a hurried pace.
The redhead told the room, "I could barely sleep all night so I called Maya to see if she's heard from Lee. She's not answering her phone and the hospital staff tried paging her. Nothing."
"What?" Logan shot up from his seat.
"That's not all." Cordelia stepped forward. "I spoke to Fabian, too. Melissa hasn't checked in with them, either. Last she told them, she was in the Buffalo area."
Erik determined, "This is no coincidence."
Victor stood promptly. "I'll prep the jet."
"Get the Acolytes on the phone as well," Charles directed. "We've no idea what we're dealing with and the reinforcement will be necessary. Not only that, but this just became their problem as well."
Cordelia left the room to make the call.
IIIIIII
Immediately alerted to the incoming noises, Melissa tore away from her slightly dozed state. Leon was by her side the next second. They got the younger two awake and scampered away from the soon to be open gas station. They made it back to Melissa's car and went right back to the station. After filling up the tank, they continued on.
Leon kept eyes locked on the rearview mirror, carefully observant of the two females in the back.
Maya left as strong a grip as she could muster on Tricie. "The van didn't have any windows, but we must have driven for nearly two hours."
"We did," Melissa confirmed. "There's a reason they stuck that facility out in the middle of nowhere. And whatever they have going on, my team is going to shut them down."
"While we're on the same page there," Leon said, "we need to actually reach our teams first."
Melissa nodded and journeyed onward for some form of civilization.
IIIIIII
Dark jackets covering their most unconventional uniforms, the pair of X-Men arrived on the designated floor. At the lack of answer that resulted from knocking, they used their combined shoulder strength to force open the door.
"Maya!" Banshee ran in and began searching through the apartment. He came out of the second bedroom to report, "They're not here."
"But they were," Wolverine informed, taking another whiff of the air. "Smiley, Lee, and Melissa."
Banshee wondered, "What could Melissa have been doing here? And what made Lee fly all the way out here like that? Something's wrong, Wolverine."
"Keep your cool, Bansh'," the older mutant advised. "Losin' it won't help this thing. Now, come on," he turned to rush out, "let's take a look at the hospital."
Banshee uttered silent pleads Heaven's way as he moved swiftly after him.
II
Aboard the monumental aircraft, the assortment of mutants walked the largest common space. The Professor and Emma focused on nothing outside their mental searching; hands and minds linked entirely. Magneto hovered above the floor in a relaxed but concentrated state. Glimmer, Fabian, and Cloak, stared out of the wall of windows at the incredible distance below. Havok lingered nearby, but carried no desire to catch the view. Kayla and Mystique stood off to themselves talking. Estevan walked in a continuous circle, quietly cursing Jimmy's absence.
"This ship is phenomenal," Beast marveled, taking in the tour alongside Marco. "Did you design it yourself?'
Marco let off a whistle as he replied, "I wish I could take that kind of credit. Estevan has mutants in the right places. Some MIT scholars and former government operatives constructed. I just work on the engine and updates here and there."
Beast commented, "You must be an impressive student yourself."
"Estevan gave me the chance to go to school, but I was hands-on with this stuff long before." Marco smiled a little. "Would you believe it all started with helping my cousins harvest car parts?"
Mystique glanced her husband's direction, unable to hide the pleasure it gave her to see him so within his own natural habitat.
"Alright, I'll let them know."
Mystique now faced Kayla. "What is it?"
"That was Wolverine," the older woman said, gathering the attention of the others. "He detected Maya, Leon, and Melissa's scents. They're following the trail by foot."
"Oh my God," Mystique smiled with relief. "So they're okay."
Kayla's countenance became stormy. "Wolverine found another scent in the hospital. Owen Ignacio's."
"What?" Several veins came to life across Estevan's skin. "He's behind this?"
Cloak dashed forward to stand by his leader. "I swear before the living God, if he's touched her I'm killing him."
Magneto put forth, "And you will not be alone."
Emma gasped, grasping Professor X's hands tighter. "We're getting a reading…"
IIIIIII
After looking in on the Howlett twins, Angel went to Brian's nursery. She found him tugging on Dickon's paws. Coming closer to his crib, she cast a warm smile down at him.
"Ang?" The girl glanced back at Frank walking in. "You need some help?"
Angel opened her arms to share a hug with him. "We should get started on getting this group fed. Are they still outside?"
Frank nodded. "Scott's with them."
With their shrieks and shouts filling the backyard, Kiki, Trav, and Max raced back and forth across the lawn. Seated in the grass underneath the treehouse, Joey silently observed them in between watching Cody jam his claws into the earth.
"Don't worry." Joey touched his shoulder. "Our folks'll bring Maya and Leon back. Just you wait."
"I know that," Cody continued to sulk, "and Leon can take on anybody all by himself. But I want to help Smiley."
Joey reasoned, "You know how worried she'd get if she thought you were in danger, too."
Cody sighed, "Yeah, yeah. I know. Still don't like it."
"Cody!" Trav ran their way ahead of Max and Kiki. "Can you spin us on your toy? Please?"
Cody rolled his eyes. "I don't feel like it right now. Go spin yourself."
"Yeesh," Max retorted, "what a grump."
Cody glared at him. "You better remember you're just a visitor, half-pint."
Trav then threatened, "Quit being mean or I'm gonna tell on you, Cody."
Before things could escalate, Scott jogged over. "That's enough. Come on, guys." He picked up Kiki and gestured for the smaller boys to follow. "I'll help you guys spin."
"Yay!" Trav and Max cheered, following.
Laid back together in a tall leaf pile, Becky and Anne wound their arms together while gazing up at the sky.
Becky asked the other girl telepath, are you okay?
I don't want anything bad to happen to Melissa, Anne sent back. Too many bad things have happened to her already. It's not fair.
Leon, too. But our families will find them and Maya. And maybe now…
Anne looked at her. Now what?
Maybe now, Becky continued, our families will get along better.
They shared a hopeful hand squeeze at that.
IIIIIII
As the clouds overhead at last divided to pour out some resemblance of sun, the light shined across Tricie's face. She reclined against Maya's front, attempting to steady her breathing despite the world before her swirling together.
"You okay?" Maya whispered to her. She received a half-hearted nod in reply and Maya dipped to be near her ear. "I didn't think anything could top last year's birthday. But this year?" She tightened arms around the younger girl. "You'll be my best present, Tricie."
Leon squatted beside them in the grass. "One I'm hoping she's willing to share."
Tricie managed to split a teeny smile between them.
Sighing in annoyance, Melissa hung up the roadside payphone. "And of course, my house is deserted."
Leon hopped up. "If no one's around at our place then it's safe to assume alien involvement." He headed for the phone next.
At the shadow that did not quite pass them, Maya looked up in shock as an all too familiar white vehicle rolled up. "Leon!"
The male mutant dropped the phone receiver and ran to them.
Before they could retreat to Melissa's car, four men in full dress suits exited the van.
The one on the driver's side stated, "Agent Walters, Department of Mutant Affairs. You're to come with us calmly and quietly. Any other behavior will be considered criminal."
"Missy," Leon leapt up to deliver a kick to Walters' jaw, "go!"
Melissa pushed Maya and Tricie forward, making them take off in a sprint.
"Keep going!" Melissa stopped shortly. "Run! Don't look back!"
Though she desperately wanted to remain, Maya followed the order and gripped Tricie by the hand as they continued alone.
Melissa felt a pair of strong hands grab her at the wrists and she instinctively let loose a back kick. At the spot she contacted so forcefully, the agent growled in pain and released her. Melissa further retaliated by unleashing a double kick upon his upper abdomen.
With two agents on him, Leon shifted and rematerialized. He appeared behind one and shoved him with full gusto into the other. Able to catch his breath for only a brief second, the moment he started for Melissa what could only be described as thunder echoed throughout the atmosphere. Complete silence enveloped after that.
A still scream lingered within Melissa's throat and vomit felt ready to erupt from inside her.
Remaining in stunned place, Leon moved his head enough to peer down at the blood protruding from his body. With a single intake of air, he dropped to the ground.
"Leon!" Melissa charged and dizzily fell out over him.
Gun in hand, Owen emerged from the rear of the van. "Now," he kept one finger on the trigger, "are you ready to come quietly?" He aimed the barrel at Leon's temple. "Or do I put him down permanently?"
Heart ready to escape her chest, absolute scorn filled Melissa's darkened eyes.
IIIIIII
Professor X hardly had time to catch his wife as she toppled over in a screaming fit.
"Emma!" While the male telepath attempted to keep a grip on her, the X-Men and Acolytes came near but kept a cautious distance.
Gripping the front of the Professor's uniform in desperation, the heavily distraught woman choked out, "Leon…"
Without her having to utter another word, Magneto experienced an instantaneous shattering throughout his ears.