Sanctuary Part 4:

Calling All Mutants!

St Louis, MO

Jake's feet hurt as they pounded against the pavement. He had never run this fast in his life. He glanced back and saw the reason he had started running, a mob of angry mutant-hating assholes.

"You and your kind are trying to destroy our freedom!" One man screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Maybe he's the scum that killed the president!" someone suggested in a loud scream.

"We won't let him hurt anyone else!"

"Faster, come one!"

Jake's heart was in his throat with fear. There had already been several mob attacks on mutants in the past few days; he didn't want to be the next statistic. He had to get away. Too bad his powers did him no good, he could amplify sounds. That would just make the mob even more ferocious. It would feed into the frenzy. He glanced furiously around as he ran, trying to find a means of escape.

"I've almost got him!" someone shouted very close behind him, he could swear they were right on top of. He tried to run faster, to push himself but it was no good. He had never been much of a sprinter, despite being in good shape. The adrenaline was the only thing allowing him to stay ahead of the mob, and he could already feel it begin to wear off, he'd already run a good half a mile down the street.

Pain burst in the back of his head, his head snapped forward, his view filled with concrete as he fell face-first into the road. As he disappeared under a flurry of fists and spit all he could think of was that he was glad his younger brother Ethan wasn't here to see this happen. He lost consciousness in seconds, but that didn't stop the mob as they brutally kicked and stomped at his limp body.

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

"It's no good," Professor Xavier sighed heavily as he lifted the Cerebro helmet from his head. "I can't find any trace of Bobby anywhere."

"I don't understand, he was here late last night, where could he have gone so quickly to disappear like that?" Jean bit her bottom lip.

"I don't know, Jean, but we won't stop looking for him. Someone could have placed a psychic dampener on him, he might be in a naturally recurring magnetic field that deflects all but the most focused psychic energies. It could be any number of things."

Jean nodded slightly, still biting her bottom lip.

"Scott, I want you to have Wolverine go over Bobby's room and everywhere surround it, maybe we can track him through scent. Also, check again with Sam and make sure there isn't something that Bobby hinted at that he may have missed out of context. Bobby has to be somewhere."

Scott nodded and immediately spun on his heel and left the Cerebro chamber. He made his way upstairs where everyone was busy bustling about, just starting their days. Scott hadn't slept at all last night between Sam flying off and Bobby's disappearance he hadn't had a chance.

"Hello, Scott," Storm said as she passed him in the hall. She had no idea of all that had happened yet. He considered stopping and telling her she was seen as a leader amongst the X-Men, after all, but the Professor had given him a mission and he'd carry it out before he did what he wanted.

He found Warren and Logan sitting together outside on a bench overlooking the small lake on the property. Those two had been very close lately, which was unusual for the both of them. Scott didn't know what they were up to but if he knew Logan at all then he was sure he wouldn't like it.

"Logan, the Professor wants you to do something," Scott said simply.

"I already stopped smoking cigars in the mansion," Logan said dismissively, Warren smirked.

"You know this isn't about that," Scott said.

"Then what is it about? Or are you gonna try and make me beg for it, Summers?"

"We had a student go missing last night."

"I already told you, Sam had talked to me and left with Warren," Logan groaned.

"It was Roberto da Costa." At this news, Warren became immediately interested. Da Costa and Warren actually were more connected than most people, including da Costa, realized. Not only were they both the eldest son of a billionaire business mogul their fathers also belonged to the same elite organization, the Hellfire Club. If something had happened to Roberto the repercussions would be far-reaching.

"What happened to Roberto?" Warren asked.

"We don't know, that's why we need our resident bloodhound here, to see if he can find out."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Logan growled and immediately headed back to the mansion.

Five minutes later Logan came out of Bobby's room that he shared with Sam and Warlock and started sniffing as he had been doing for the last minute. He stalked down one side of the hall and up the other. Cyclops stood in the middle of the hall, his arms crossed sternly.

"Well?" Scott demanded.

"Bobby never left his room," Logan said certainly.

"What?"

"His scent fades the second you get out of his room, there is no scent to indicate he ever left his room after going in to go to bed. He was in his bed or right next to it when he disappeared."

"Why don't you go tell the Professor that yourself."

"Chuck will know to trust me," Wolverine snarled.

"What you're saying makes no sense," Scott admonished. "What am I supposed to tell him?"

"Exactly what I just said."

"Then we're back to square one."

"Not exactly," Logan said. Scott raised a single eyebrow. "I discovered another scent in there, a woman's, and it was slightly familiar. It was someone I have met before but I can't place it. It's just as fresh as Bobby's scent. Likely we are dealing with a female teleporter."

Once Cyclops went to report back to Xavier Logan went in search of Worthington again. He found him in the gardens, staring at the rose bushes, obviously lost in thought. He had some news he had yet to tell Warren.

"How'd it go with the search for Bobby?" Warren asked before turning to face his teammate.

"Not good," Logan told him. "It looks like we are dealing with a female teleporter. It may be the answer we need for getting the intel the Presidential assassination."

"I thought Mystique was your answer to that."

"She was until I found out she is a special super-powered prison not far from DC."

"Do you think it was her that did the job?"

"No. All of my contacts tell me they are still looking for the assassin. They brought Mystique in because they think she was you, they are taking your little visit as another assassination attempt."

"Wait, what? They are taking her in because they thought it was her that landed on the White House lawn last night?"

"Idiots." Wolverine shook his head.

"I can't let her take the blame for me."

"Look, pretty boy, Mystique has done a far lot worse than land on the White House lawn. You can and you will let her take the blame for this." Warren looked uncertain.

"We got bigger things to worry about," Logan told him. "Weapon X is back in action, and it can't be a coincidence. This assassination has restarted a lot of mutant-hating crap. We need to find out what we are dealing with and we still need to figure out who did this. We might still be able to save all of this if we can bring whoever it is in."

"Sam knows we are up to something, what are we going to do about him?"

"Keep him out of the loop," Logan shrugged as if it was nothing. "The less he knows the better."

"And if he goes to Scott, his mentor, or the Professor and lets them know what happened?"

"What? You went to the White House and did what? Nothing."

"Yeah, and I did it right after the Professor told us not to."

"What's Chuck going to do, spank you?"

"No, but he might kick me off the X-Men," Warren sounded like that would really bother him. Logan wouldn't have guessed her cared so much.

"Nah, he sees us as a family, he might take you off the field for a while or something but he ain't gonna do that, blondie," Logan reassured him.

"So, what do we do about this mess?"

"This is getting bigger than us," Logan looked thoughtful, a rare sight in Warren's opinion. "We need to bring someone else in on this. Someone that might be able to help us acquire the info we need."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"You aren't going to like him much more than you did Mystique."

"Who, Logan?"

"You'll see. If I can even find him."

The White House, DC

Gyrich marched down the hallway, his face was as blank as a fresh sheet of paper, anyone that knew him and saw it ran as far away as they could. Behind him, two soldiers marched in sync. Well, they weren't exactly soldiers, they had been but each had been discharged for a reason and Gyrich had taken full advantage, hiring them to his personal security firm.

The Secret Service let him into the Oval Office where Madame President waited expectantly, the brightly colored Ms. Marvel standing protectively over her shoulder. Gyrich didn't much care for superheroes, even the non-mutant variety, but Ms. Marvel had been a member of the Air Force. She was capable, trained, and disciplined, if all superheroes were as well trained as her then he wouldn't mind them nearly as much. Mutants though, they were a race that was competing with humans for the Earth, that was another story altogether. Whether people wanted to admit it to themselves or not mankind was at war with mutants. Mutants were here to supplant humans as the dominant species. All mutants posed a threat to mankind.

"Henry Peter Gyrich," the President said, her voice colder than usual. He'd pissed her off. "I am not a fan of having my Secretary of Defense just disappear in the middle of the night while we are in crisis."

"Madame President," Gyrich tried to defend himself but the President held up a hand to silence him.

"I need you to stay in contact with me, even when you are in a dead zone," she told him sternly. "If you are going to enter a dead zone, whether it be a military base or whatever it may be you need to make me aware of it ahead of time. Do you understand me, Gyrich."

"Yes, ma'am," Gyrich choked out. Did she somehow know the real reason he had been out of contact? It almost sounded as if she was. Still, he had to know, Weapon Plus was a program she could never know about.

"Good," she picked up a piece of paper. "Now that that is settled I have something I need you to work on for me."

"Ma'am?"

"Due to recent events, there is a new organization being organized to make sure that we are prepared to deal with similar situations." She must be talking in political terms due to the presence of Ms. Marvel, the President was usually much more straightforward with him than that. "I want you to oversee the formation of this organization and make sure they have all that they need to succeed in the protection of this nation."

She handed a dossier marked "Top Secret", he opened it, and inside were some initials he knew very well "MRD". The Mutant Response Division, he had begged for this to get approved, had wined and dined people he hated to his very core to try and make it happen. He had failed. His face lit into a smile.

"I will do everything within my power, ma'am."

"I'm sure you will."

"Was there anything else?"

"Have all the programs we discussed been activated?"

"I was in the middle of reassuring myself of that when your men had come looking for me," Gyrich lied.

"Get some sleep, Gyrich, you look like crap, then see to it that the wheels are in motion on everything you have promised me. Oh, and don't forget the special little project I handed you. The faster we get things organized the better. And the safer I, I mean we, the safer we will be."

"Of course, Madam President," Gyrich stood and left, Captain Marvel's face betrayed no hint of confusion or emotion. He had chosen the right superhero to do the job, he was sure of it now.

Location Undisclosed

Mystique hung by the wrists like she was in some sort of medieval torture chamber. Her head sagged, her brilliant red hair was disheveled and drenched with sweat. Still, she had been in worse situations. Little burns spotted her body, purple and black against her cobalt blue skin. They had been using what amounted to a cattle prod all over her naked body, and they hadn't even asked her anything yet.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I had quite a nice nap," Agent Fox came in, his voice and demeanor pleasant. Mystique didn't say a word. If it weren't for the power-dampening collar around her neck she would be out of this cell and killing him in seconds.

"I assume you know why we have brought you here but you are just refusing to comply."

Mystique raised her tired head and glared at Agent Fox directly in the eyes. "You think I killed your President? I wish I had."

"Is that why you came in flying in the form of an X-Man the day after the President's death?"

For the merest of seconds, Mystique's face registered confusion. Agent Fox noticed and was quiet a moment. Either it was a perfectly timed moment of acting or she really had nothing to do with the second invasion on White House grounds. He didn't let it phase him for long.

"Tell me, Mystique, isn't that what you call yourself? What are the limits of your powers?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? You'll find out when I get out of here, you'll see, right before I kill you."

"When you change form do you actually become that thing genetically?" Fox asked as if she had said nothing. "For example, if you took the form of another mutant, say, Angel of the X-Men, would you be able to also copy his powers? Could you actually fly?"

"He's pathetic, why would I even try?"

"Let's just say you did, would you be able to fly, or block bullets with his metal wings?"

Mystique looked at Fox as if he had gone crazy. "What do you want from me? I don't know."

"Well then," Fox tilted his head to the side and smiled. "Let's try a little experiment shall we?"

What the hell did he have in mind? Mystique didn't show any sign but just a bit of fear bubbled up in her gut, making it feel like a rock. She would find out soon enough, Fox motioned to someone she couldn't see. A team of guards and a man in a white lab coat came into her cell.

"Don't worry, Ms. Darkholme, the scientist looking guy said into her as he drew close. "You'll just feel a little prick and this will be over before you know it."

"Is that what you tell all your women?" Mystique smiled at him, her yellow eyes intense. They almost looked like the eyes of a wild predator, like a tiger or hawk, the intensity of it made the scientist swallow. He took out a needle connected to a vial of some clear liquid. He quickly sank the needle into Mystique's blue leg, unable to find any veins under that color.

Immediately Mystique felt weak. "What was that shit?"

"Just a sedative, we aren't taking any risks in transport," Fox answered her, the scientist backed off. In mere seconds Mystique couldn't help but close her eyes, the intensity gone.

She woke what felt like just seconds later. She was in a new cell. The floor and three of the four walls were all cement. The wall facing out of the cell was some sort of thick unbreakable glass. There was no door. How had they gotten her in the cell? She looked up and saw. There was no ceiling, no roof, there was nothing but the open sky.

Fox stood in the hall outside her cell. She glared at him. "You see, Mystique, all you have to do to escape is fly away."

She was sure there was a sniper somewhere out there just waiting for a chance to take her down. She hadn't been lying, she had never tried and so had no real idea if she could replicate Warren Worthington's flight ability. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of trying in front of him. She said nothing.

"Well, if you refuse to engage in the experiment with me then I have no choice but to force my hand." Fox shrugged, he sounded as if he was trying really hard to sound like he regretted it, but there was a small hint of glee in his voice. She simply continued to glare at him. What was he going to do now?

She didn't notice at first what was happening. There was nothing else in the cell, no bed, no window, no light even, nothing else except a single drain in the center of the room. Water began to gush up out of the drain.

It wasn't long before the water reached her feet and made her flinch back. It was ice cold. She recovered her composure and let the water rise up around her feet without flinching again. It didn't take long to get up to her knees. Her body started to shiver uncontrollably, breaking her illusion of total control over her body.

She shifted her organs deeper inside her body, getting as much between her vital organs and the freezing water as possible. She could also shift a pair of working gills for herself but didn't want to tell them about it. Besides, it didn't really tell them whether or not she could fly if she could shift wings. It had taken many many years of practice but she had it down. The water was up to her waist now and no amount of shifting could protect her from the severe cold of the water. Her teeth chattered and goosebumps formed all over her blue flesh. Still, if this was the worst they could do then they were doomed to fail.

"Go ahead and try, Mystique," Fox smiled. "Hurry and try before it reaches where your wings will form. You know even Angel couldn't fly straight up with his wings soaking wet."

To show her defiance Mystique plunged herself into the cold cold water and glared at Fox. He shook his head and then looked at someone just out of sight and nodded. The next moment her body seized, convulsing, the air gushing from her lungs as her muscles spasmed. That bastard Fox had somehow rigged the cell with something capable of electric shock. Electricity was coursing through her body, if she didn't get at least a breath of air in soon she would drown, her gills doing her no good if she transformed back to her own form in shock.

The shockwave passed and Mystique launched herself to the surface, the water had to be almost seven feet deep now and didn't show any sign of stopping. She coughed violently as the water was forced from her lungs. She could see stars but she was still determined not to give in to this weak pathetic human. He couldn't take her on person to person; he had to use machines to do his dirty work for him. Pathetic. She glared even though he might shock her again.

"That was unpleasant wasn't it?" Fox said almost sympathetically. "I hated to do it to you, but you really aren't cooperating with me. I told you before that I needed your cooperation for this little experiment. Believe me, the President and my whole department would think the world better off if you died down here, but not me. I would see it as a waste. A waste of potential. The work we could do together, you and I, you as a lab rat and me with no need for the ethics that only apply to humans. You aren't human after all."

Mystique spat at the glass wall between them. Fox sighed and nodded again at whoever it was operating the controls. Mystique tried to brace herself for it, she tried to maintain control over her limbs. It was no good. The moment the voltage hit her body was beyond her control, her muscles tightening and convulsing. Down she went under the surface. She reformed her gills, but they weren't perfect but they would get her at least some air, buy her some time. She realized as another convulsion hit that her gills had disappeared again. She couldn't maintain enough concentration to keep them working.

By the time she realized that her gills weren't working she also realized that her lungs were already filled with water. The electricity stopped and she struggled to get back to the surface of the water but she was so weak. Slowly the light above her faded away and all became darkness.

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

Xavier sat in his wheelchair, the Cerebro helmet resting comfortably on his head, it had been made to fit him specifically after all. Behind him stood Scott, Jean, Logan, Hank, and Ororo, his leaders amongst his rather extended family. They had already been in the Cerebro chamber for at least twenty minutes. Xavier said nothing as his mind raced to work with Cerebro and locate every last mutant in the United States of America. It was incredibly taxing. Sweat dripped from his bald head and his breathing was more rapid than it should have been.

Scott and Jean gave each other worried looks but Hank and Ororo gave them warning glances. It would be far worse for Xavier if they interfered with the process now than if he was overstrained. They waited longer, for what seemed like an eternity eventually even Hank and Ororo were even glancing at each other in worry. Maybe it had gone wrong.

"My fellow mutants," Xavier mercifully spoke, quietly for someone who was addressing all of the mutants of the nation. "As most of you know the President was assassinated by a mutant. I believe many will want to make us pay for the sins of the one. This is my invitation. Whether you know me or not, whether we have had differences in the past or not. I want to extend to you my home, the Xavier mansion, as a place of sanctuary and of peace."

"As long as you are willing to respect the other mutants in the sanctuary and commit no acts of violence while on the mansion grounds you are welcome. Mutantkind is at a crossroads, soon we will have to make hard choices that will determine the future of our kind. We are stronger together than we are apart. If you want to join me at the mansion you will find that knowledge has been planted in your brain as if you have already been here yourself. Please, be safe and travel in groups if at all possible for your own protection. I await you."

It took Xavier a moment to disconnect with all the minds that he had contacted in his telepathic message. Everyone was silent until he removed his helmet. His students, his X-Men were looking very apprehensive. He could hardly blame them, he had just given every mutant in the country their home address. There were bound to be some negative repercussions.

"Will we really have enough space?" Scott finally asked practically. "There must be tens of thousands of mutants in the US."

"Hundreds of thousands, actually," the Professor corrected. His face looked drained, his shoulders were slumped.

"Where are we going to put them all?" Jean reinforced.

"Not all of them will come," Xavier reminded them. "Of those that do we can use their help to create more lodging for those yet to come."

"How are we going to keep the children safe?" Ororo asked in her quiet but firm voice.

"If we worry about the children's safety I have made a program in the Danger Room that will help lodge them. There isn't a more secure room in the mansion other than this one."

"We should get back up so we can greet any teleporters that may arrive soon," Logan said in his gruff voice.

"Let's go prepare the children," Ororo agreed.

"I'm sure that my little message will get out to people other than mutants," Xavier said. "When it does, there will likely be severe consequences. I think I will rest and then do some monitoring for any rumors that pop up."

"I will program a special search engine to try and monitor Washington's reaction," Hank added.

Xavier was right, there was going to be dire consequences.

Here is a review I received, I appreciate any that I can get. Here is also my response to it.

Story: X-Men Vol 1: Sanctuary

Chapter: 3. Sanctuary Pt 3

From: Age Of X (Guest)

Age Of X: This is so good! Please show Mystique's lesbian side it is so rarely shown in fanfics.

Thank you so much for the kind review! I am really enjoying writing it. In the context of this story, I don't know that there will be a good place to show Mystique's interest in women however I do plan on writing a spin-off series (X-Force) where she would feature heavily and I would likely portray her with a woman.