No Warnings.

Chapter 15

Eli felt as though she was floating in water. Blue eyes fluttered open, and Eli found herself in her mindscape. It was as peaceful as ever. Maybe what the copy-cat mutant needed was to spend a little time in her mind, where she was completely-almost-completely free of distractions. With that permeating thought Eli brought the current events to the forefront of her mind.

Firstly, there was her inhibitor. It took three years for her to develop an inhibitor that looked as though it would temporarily stop a mutant's abilities from generating. Eli had already spent almost a year and a half testing the inhibitor on her own body after small scale tests were positive.

Then, there was Worthington Labs that managed to create an inhibitor by synthesizing a mutant with the ability to stop other mutant abilities. This inhibitor was apparently a permanent fixture. On top of that, this was information that Mystique already knew, and had planned on passing along to Magneto before she was apprehended. Magneto was surely going to find her and find out this information. When he did, he would kill the boy; of that Eli had no doubt.

The Worthington Labs inhibitor probably didn't affect humans, much like her own-

Eli shot up from the pond that she had been floating in. She needed to get her hands on the cure mutant. And preferably before Magneto did. All Eli needed to do now was to wake up.

"Come on, Eli, wake up!" the brunette told herself. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Eli growled in frustration. Of all the times to not wake up or even have any physical response, this was certainly the worst. It was then her mind decided that she needed a little dose of a big distraction. Strong, cool hands wrapped themselves around Eli's small waist. She felt cool breath on her neck and ear.

"Wake up, Eli…" the mutant said weakly. His voice chuckled in her ear, and Eli shivered in delight. His hand turned her so that she was looking at him. His fingers caressed the side of Eli's face as she studied his regal features. With an amused smirk he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. "This isn't real…" Eli said before his lips could touch hers.

Eli's blue eyes flew open as a massive amount of telekinetic energy coupled with telepathic flares permeated the room the copy-cat was in. Eli looked around in confusion and panic. She recognized this to be the hospital wing that was in the basement of the mansion. Eli was hooked up to all kinds of monitors. Her heart rate was through the roof.

Eli pulled off all of the cords that connected her to the monitors, and pulled along the the IV bag that she was attached to. There was only one person that this telekinetic energy could belong to; and that person had been dead for months. Eli left her room in time to see Jean Grey walk out of the basement.

"I can't handle this Walking Dead crap…" Eli said as she let herself slide onto the floor.

"What happened!" Eli heard Storm's voice call. "Eli!"

"I don't know, but Jean was here. Storm, Jean was here-" Eli felt herself becoming frantic.

"Wait here," Storm said and left her for a moment. Eli took a deep breath. Now was not the time to freak out over dead people being alive after being dead for nearly eight months. Eli had, after all, seen much stranger things than that. Eli steeled herself.

"What the hell is going on?" Eli said as she stepped into another room; one that had Logan, Storm and the professor in. "And before you yell at me, I think I am entitled to a little swearing! Unless, none of you noticed, Jean Grey was just walking down the hall!"

"Eli, we don't have time for your temper tantrums!" the professor snapped a little, and Eli was taken aback. The professor had done some shady things in the past, but he had never once yelled at her. "Storm, Logan, I need you to take me to Jean's childhood home. She's headed there. Eli, I need you to stay here and watch the children. If Hank returns, tell him that Jean is alive. We need to hurry!"

Eli heard the urgency in the professor's voice, and could only nod. Storm went up to the brunette.

"If you're not feeling well, then just get some rest. Okay? We'll talk about what happened later." Storm left with Logan who looked more than a little shaken up.

Eli sat in bed for the rest of the day. She was being weak. What had happened to the girl who took a god head on? The looming darkness of death was what had happened. Eli feared dying the slow and painful that she had assigned herself to. These were the thoughts milling around her head when she saw Jean Grey standing before Charles Xavier.

"No...Jean stop…" Eli whispered as she saw Jean use her abilities to rip the professor apart. "NO!" she screamed as Hank burst into the room. Eli was breathing hard. "The professor's dead… Jean killed the professor…"

Eli stayed in her room through the professor's funeral the next day. She held her phone in her hands, debating on calling Pepper. Instead, she called the most annoying person on the planet.

"What do I owe for this stupendous moment?" said Tony sarcastically.

"Tony, why didn't you tell Pepper that you were dying?" Eli got straight to the point.

"I-uh, well, I tried to tell her, but we were going through some turbulent moments. Why?"

"There's a seventy-eight percent chance that my inhibitor is killing me. I think I'm afraid dying. Even after all of the stupid things that I have done in the past, which includes, but isn't limited to, jumping out of planes, and fighting some of the most powerful mutants in the world, and slapping psychopaths across the face." Eli whined.

"Eli you-"

"That's it! I just need to face this like I would any other time. Tony don't tell Pepper what I just told you. If all goes well, I'll be fine by the end of the year. Thanks, bye!" Eli hung up on Tony and began rummaging through her things. She pulled out a pair of black cargo pants, a black tank top, a white three-quarter sleeved pull-over shirt, and her black combat boots. She changed into this outfit as quickly as she could. If she wanted to reach the cure mutant before Magneto, she was going to have find him before he made his move.

"Jarvette, I'm going to have to use the stud that has you programmed in it. We won't be able to openly communicate, but I'll be able to give you instructions. I need you to find Magneto using any and all satellites you need to. Start your search in the forests surrounding Alcatraz." Eli said with authority. The brunette was tired of being a coward. She was going to face this head on, and without holding back.

"Where are you going?" Rogue asked Eli just as she was leaving.

"I'm dying, and I need what Magneto wants, so I'm going to beat him to it." Eli said. Then she turned to Rogue. "I know that the cure is something that you've been waiting for since you triggered your powers, but please think it over before you jump into something you may come to regret. If you do it, make sure it's for you; and if you don't, be sure that it's what you want. The last thing you want is to regret something for the rest of your life, ya know."

Several hours later, Eli found herself in the middle of a mutant militia camp. Eli blended in well enough. She had enough experience in being a militia soldier. Eli spotted Magneto looking over the camp. He didn't even realize she was here. Jean was not to far away from Magneto. Jean might be able to sense that she was here as well. Eli hadn't seen John all day, which meant that he was out on an errand for Magneto. Eli sighed. This was going to be a waiting game from this moment forward.

Eli ignored her rising pain, and allowed herself to be questioned by her fellow mutants. She claimed that her mutant ability was concentrated in her voice so she couldn't speak. They had believed it easily enough. Eli slept on the hard ground like she had done in the distant past. She dreamt of the Hulk that night.