The icy blast stung as Que clung to the cliff. Her climbing gear had several tears in it and her boots were not helping her as much as she'd have liked either.
She and Biel had just barely escaped capture after their mission had gone horribly wrong. Now they had to reach the top of the mountain above the chasm where they had been almost torn apart or eaten alive by some sort of demons from another realm. Stealing a mythical tabet from where it had been guarded for centuries was not the most ideal mission. How could she have been so arrogant as to think she and Biel could do it with no back up? She just prayed they'd be able to climb high enough contact the base. The temple they'd just escaped had some sort of disruption field around it. The signal on her satellite beacon had gone up a bar but was still not strong enough to contact anyone further than a couple hundred miles.
Biel was more worse for ware than Que. One of the demons had slashed his side, and he was bleeding through his bandages.
As Que looked down toward Biel, she spotted a couple of blurry shadows down past him. They were moving in and moving in fast. The demons. They'd followed them.
"Que…" Biel called from below. "Que!"
Physically, Que hadn't moved an inch since the mountain side started to shake. She was still roughly thirty feet above her comrades and fifteen from the top.
Manuel and Aasir were able to catch up to the Alisa and Jonas, who had found a narrow ledge to stand on during the violent quake.
"Que," Manuel radioed over their com links. "Que! Are you alright?"
He tried again shouting to her, but she didn't respond and stayed frozen in place.
"What's going on? Que!" Aasir tried before turning to Manuel. "Is something is wrong? Manuel? What is it?" Aasir asked anxiously noticing Manuel's sick expression. He'd had it the entire time they had been in the arena, but something had changed. A pained expression crossed his sickly pale face.
"I… I don't know what Que is thinking about but…" he started before wincing in pain. He took several deep breaths to steady himself.
"Manuel can feel and influence the emotions of those around him," Alisa explained. "Manuel what is wrong with Que?"
"I'm not sure, but she needs our help. I feel… panic? Umm… something else. I don't know. I wasn't sure who it was coming from at first, but I've felt sick since the mountains appeared. I'm sorry I should have mentioned it earlier," Manuel pleaded.
"Paige has almost reached her. I'm going to join her to see if I can help. You three stay here," Aasir instructed. "Manuel, can you switch lines with me?"
"Aasir, please let me go. You may be able to turn into birds and whatever else you want, but I think… I think I'll be able to help more. I know you guys are really tight, but if she is panicking, she'll need more than a furry friend," Manuel explained.
Aasir paused, slightly panicked himself, he didn't know what to do.
"You're right. We'll both go. The mountain doesn't seem to be shaking as bad, and I can at least help you climb up," Aasir agreed.
"Actually, I think we all need to start climbing again," Jonas interceeded. "We have to all get to the top. You two can go help Que, and the rest of us will get to the top to see if we can do anything more from there."
The group switch around lines, and updated Paige of their plan via their com link. Paige had taken a break on a ledge only ten feet away from Que. Paige would go first to meet Que and the two boys would join her as soon as possible.
As the group split and resumed climbing, the mountain ceased to shake. Paige was almost to Que, when Que turned toward her. Her gaze looked far off.
"Biel, the signal isn't strong enough," Que said. She was speaking to Paige, but she was confused as to what Que was talking about. Had Que forgotten her name?
"Que, are you okay? What are you talking about? We are really close to the top. Come on," Paige replied. Aasir and Manuel moved closer and were six feet below them. Que glanced in their direction and her eyes grew wide.
"Biel you need to go! They followed us!" Que said in a rush as she pushed Paige to climb.
"You need to get to the top and signal for help! Hurry! They are coming! I'll try and hold them off!" she continued to shout. Que was breathing heavily as she positioned herself on the mountain to face the boys.
"Que? No! What are you doing!" Paige yelled back, trying to grab one of Que's arms.
Wind swirled around the pair and electricity started to crackle around the girls.
"Raven? Can you hear me? Somethings wrong with Que! We need to stop!" Paige called over their com links as she fought to stay on the rock face against the wind. The boys below were fairing a lot worse, and the other half of their team had to stop as well.
Suddenly, the entire team was standing in the danger room arena. Que still looked distant and moved herself in between Paige and the rest of the group, anger etched on her face.
"Paige, what's going…" Raven called from the center dome at the top of the Danger Room, but she stopped when Que sent a streak of lighting toward Aasir and Manuel. Que was attacking them! Thankfully, the boys were able to dodge the blast by mere inches.
"Que! Stop!" Raven called. Jonas and Alisa ran over to help Manuel and Aasir, but just as they reached them, they had to all dive for cover. Que released two more bolts of lighting in their direction and the floor began to shake. Several wind gust blasted all of them in multiple directions.
Paige watched Que in horror.
"Que stop!" she yelled shaking the back of Que's shoulders. Que easily brushed her off, turned wild eyed, and created a giant wall of electric current between the two.
"Run! Biel! Run!" she shouted to Paige. Que took up a defensive feral stance as she prepared for another attack, blasting more wind forward.
Raven watched in stunned horror at the scene. The Danger Room was now divided by a giant wall of electric current, Paige was stuck on one side with the exit door, and the others were sprawled out in various places on the other with Que standing at the ready to attack again. They needed help fast.
Upstairs, Professor Xavier was in the middle of a lecture with some of his more advanced students.
"Charles! We need you and possibly the other in the Danger Room!" Professor Xavier heard.
"On my way," he replied then turning to his students "Class dismissed!"
Through this he saw through Raven's eyes the disaster unfolding in the Danger Room. He contacted the others as he wheeled to the elevator. Storm was already there holding open the elevator for him. Peter rushed in just as the doors closed.
"What's going on Professor?" Storm asked as the doors closed.
Back in the Danger Room, Raven had set the machines to go after Que, in hopes of directing her attention away from Aasir, Jonas, Manuel, and Alisa. The four were holding out well on their own, but she didn't want to take any chances.
"We can't keep avoiding her forever! We need to go on offense Aasir!" Jonas shouted as he dodged another lighting blast.
"I think I have an idea," Manuel said as the three boys and Alisa divided behind a barrier Raven had just activated.
"I need you to get me as close to Que as possible. If I am able to touch her, I might be able to stop her," Manuel explained.
Aasir looked worried, but Alisa cut in before he could protest.
"It's all we've got. You know Que will be more upset if she hurts one of us once she realizes what's happened."
Aasir nodded "Okay, Jonas, if you and I can distract her, Alisa can try and get Manuel closer."
With that the team split. "Hey Que! Over here!" Aasir called, running toward the left side of the electric barrier. He phased into a panther and picked up speed as powerful gusts of wind were pelted in his direction. Jonas hoped on top of the metal box they'd hidden behind and started in the same direction, only he launched himself to a higher ledged along the wall.
With Que distracted, Alisa grabbed Manuel's arm and the pair slowly disappeared, blending in with the background.
"Don't let go of me until we get close enough," Alisa whispered.
They ran around the right edge of the arena dodging stray streaks of lightning as they went. Just before they reached Que, the exit door slide open and Peter, Storm, and Scott hurried in.Que whirled around in a frenzy and searched for Paige who was running toward them.
"No! Don't!" Que screamed. The electric wall fell, and she started toward the older X-Men. It was the perfect distraction Manuel and Alisa needed. Manuel let go of Alisa and grabbed Que by the arm. Que shrieked in surprise and tried to put alway, fear irradiating from her body.
Manuel looked her square in the eyes and spoke "Que you are fine. You are calm."
The winds died some, but Que was still trying to pull away from his grasp. The tan teen held firm and repeated "Que, you are fine. You are calm."
This time Que stopped struggling, her breathing slowed, and she blinked hard several times. The whole room and stopped and was now watching in silence.
"Manuel?" Que said in horse, confused voice. "What…" she looked around.
"Why is everyone…" she couldn't understand what was happening.
The Professor's voice rang out over the intercom from above "Manuel, thank you. Will you please walk Que out to the infirmary? Everyone else, please head back upstairs to rest and eat if you need to. Do not worry about your afternoon classes."
Everyone headed out with Que and Manuel being last.