Chapter 16: The Martyr
London was razed that afternoon.
"Turn it up," Jean said tersely, and a student near the screen obliged. A newscaster yammered something about a new kind of biological warfare and it slowly became clear that the British army had indeed made a cure bomb, and planned to drop it on Apocalypse. There was no footage – no unnecessary personnel were allowed, which meant no cameras – but the anchor listened in silence for a moment before reporting that the bomb had failed. It had gone off, but the explosion hadn't touched Apocalypse.
"Well, it was a good idea," Kurt said half-heartedly.
Just a few minutes later, translucent blue dome-shaped energy shields were raised around Cairo and the two European cities; no one could get in, but humans were periodically exiled from the cities, and many mutants appeared to be trapped inside. Military alliances from a few nations approached the shields occasionally, fired missiles and whatnot at them, then retreated before one of the Horsemen could come out to lay waste to the army. The failure of the British cure bomb had been discouraging, and no one wanted to chance another attempt. Kurt crouched in his usual fashion on the back of the couch over Sabere, twirling his rosary just over her head. She lay carelessly with one arm across her stomach and the other dangling on the floor, watching the devastation with unfocused eyes. A handful of friends lay draped similarly across chairs and couches and staring at the screen. No one admitted it, but everyone was waiting for Scott and the Professor to come back from the doctor's. No one wanted to be alone when they heard the verdict.
Every once in a while Kurt glanced down at her, but she didn't notice – her troubled face remained locked on the screen. Gambit distractedly shuffled through a deck of cards he kept in his pocket. Kurt was mesmerized by the motions – cards flicked in and out between his fingers, flying into his other hand and back. He stopped when he noticed Kurt watching, and with a grin that made his red-eyed face look even more devilish than Kurt, held up one card – the king of hearts. Kurt rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the television. At least they had stopped babbling about that cure. Kurt freely admitted it was tempting, and the possibilities entrancing. He wouldn't have to hide under a hologram, wouldn't have to conceal that tail…and Sabere would never look at you again. He hadn't ever really considered taking the cure – hanging by a tail from a high ceiling had its advantages – but if he ever needed one concrete reason to dissuade him, he only needed to look at her.
Breaking news in the form of an overturned semi finally ended the glow from the blue shields, and as if a trance was broken, Sabere sat up. Gambit flicked his cards into piles to play solitaire, shaking his head. "Wish we could get over dere and show 'em what we're made of…Remy's tired of sittin' and watchin' cities get flattened…"
"We'll get our chance," Storm assured him. "Probably quite a few chances before this is over."
"When?"
"Well, we're not going anywhere until the other reinforcements get here. And Beast has some theory on how we can stop Apocalypse from imitating our powers, which could narrow the field a little."
"Field, more like all of Russia…" Kurt snorted as he dropped onto the couch cushions next to Sabere. He caught her smile a little out of the corner of his eye and his heart lifted. She was cheerful enough in the company of others, especially the new arrivals, but whenever Apocalypse was mentioned – or worse, when he took another step like this – she closed in and was inconsolable.
"Aw, cheer up, cheri," Gambit smiled. "If 'Pocalypse keeps getting bigger, he'll just explode, methinks."
Jean burst into the room before anyone could unseat that notion. She sat on the edge of one of the chairs, worrying her lip with a graceful finger. "They're back."
Moments later Xavier rolled into the common room. Sabere stood slowly, hands folded, and Kurt wondered if another vision had told her what had happened to him. No one said anything at first, and Gambit let his quietly flipping cards fall to the table.
Xavier managed a small, encouraging smile that convinced no one. "They've found the cause of my headaches. I – " His voice caught and he cleared his throat. "I have a small tumor – right here – " He tapped the back of his head just above his neck.
They stood silent for a moment. His powers will be affected. He won't be able to fight. He could die. Cold panic settled in Kurt's stomach as Xavier spoke again. "Unfortunately it's too close to the brain stem for surgery."
"You don't need surgery! Sabere can – " Storm started, then hesitated and glanced at her. "Can't you get rid of it?"
Sabere blinked, taken by surprise. "I – I can't, that's – that's not the kind of healing I do."
"You're a healer! You have to try!" Storm insisted.
"This is different! This isn't knitting cells back together, this is removing something, removing parts – a tumor." She spat out the word, shaking her head in denial.
"You won't even try?" Kurt asked gently. Her green eyes flew between him and Xavier, and in the silence she released a huge sigh.
"Professor, I know we're all trying to keep up false hopes, but this is one that has to go," she said quietly. "This is something I cannot fix."