Chapter 3: Crisis

Author's Notes: Welp, I may not have updated too soon like last time, but that's how it goes sometimes. Some days you an update, others you can't. I just hope you guys don't get too impatient. :3

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Arowl: Yeah, sorry about that 'V' thing. My laptop's keys stick at times. :3 I'll try sand press harder when it comes to that letter next time. :P

Marx: You won't really have to worry much about that, actually. Although there will be many action sequences, my main focus is always the plot, so while I could satisfy you with lots of violence, it always has a meaning to it. Keep that in mind as the story progresses, you may just end up figuring some things out. :3

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Anyways, this should pose to be quite the chapter. Hope you enjoy. :3

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I chased Carmen as she walked quickly down the hall. "Wait, Carmen!" I exclaimed, having to jog to catch up to her. Where was she even going? "Carmen, where are you going?"

"To get something," she half yelled. "If it's going to be up to us to rescue him we're going to need to go prepared."

"Carmen, what do you mean 'us'? You can't possibly mean us, can you? Like, the newcomers? Mockingbird, Midnight, etc..?! You don't mean us, right?" My mind was driven into hyper mode as I wondered why in the world Carmen would think, much less say such a thing. I was breathing hard in my hysteria, not even knowing where we were going. "I mean that's crazy!" I continued to yell. "Why us? Why does it have to be u-"

Carmen slammed her heel against the steel floor causing a sharp click to ring through my ears. "Of course it has to be us!" she snapped. "Who can we get, the original X-men? Oh yeah, like that's possible! You know what Professor Storm told us! After Professor Xavier's death they all started going their separate ways from this place. Storm was one of the only few who stayed, but only because she had to take care of this school! And the ones who are left are on another assignment now in another part of the state!! By the time they get back it could already be too late!" I stared at Carmen in slight amazement as she tried to catch her breath. It was a little hard to believe, but Carmen was actually angry… She rarely ever showed any emotion except when with Mockingbird, yet here she was…yelling…

"Do you understand what I am telling you, Lex?" she asked, now calming down. "We're the best fighters the institute has right now. It's up to us to save Xavier. It's up to us…" She sighed before walking again. I continued to follow.

"So…what are you doing?" I asked my voice slightly quieter than it usually was.

"There's something I want to get before Storm-"

Guys, Storm's voice ringed in my ear, and I was pretty sure in Carmen's too, which meant it wasn't Storm at all. Storm wants you in her office. Now, so get here quickly, Mockingbird ordered. She sure could scare me at times with her abilities… I turned towards Carmen, but she was already gone, obviously to her room. I sighed, wanting to know what she was up to, but figuring she'd like her privacy, leaving me to break into a sprint towards the professor's office. I really didn't want to get on her bad side at times like these…

Surprisingly, Carmen and I arrived at professor Storm's office at around the same time, but even more surprising was the fact that everyone was there… Midnight, Mockingbird, Anne Marie… What Carmen was saying before suddenly struck me. Carmen is one thing…but you too, professor?

Storm sighed, standing in front of her desk. She seemed stressed…

"You probably all know already why I have called you here…but just in case I shall explain. I'm pretty sure you all saw what was on the news, about Professor Xavier being alive. Although we do not know whether it is true or not, we can't afford to risk it, and unfortunately that means that we must act quickly. We don't know who could be going after his body as we speak." She breathed deeply before exhaling, very slowly. Whatever decision she had come to had to be hard for her to admit.

She looked at all of us very severely, as though sizing us up. "All of you are the strongest we have right now, and as much as I do not want to do this…" There was a deafening pause as she shook her head. "I cannot…send you on this mission."

There was a shock sent through the room. Cannot…? What? I looked towards Carmen and she seemed dumbstruck. We were all sure she was going to send us.

"But…why, professor?" Carmen asked, trying desperately to compose herself, but failing.

"It's tough, yes, but we cannot afford to send such an ill-experienced team on such a dangerous mission. The odds of all of you making it out safely with the professor are slim to none. I cannot risk it."

I was beside myself. Professor Storm had a point… We weren't used to doing missions and we were still getting used to exercises with the danger room… But then again, we were very strong, especially together, and we couldn't just leave the professor like that… There's no telling what would happen if he was kidnapped by our enemies… I didn't know who to side with. If only there was some kind of sign…

The silence was shattered by Kitty's sudden burst into the room. "Professor!!" she screamed. She sounded as though she had been crying, yet her face didn't really show it.

"Shadowcat," Storm stated, shocked as the rest of us.

"You can't really mean to just desert the professor like that! It's true, we're all not really that experienced, but we have to try! I mean, this is our only chance to get Xavier back! Plus you said it yourself we're really strong, and these guys are our strongest fighters! Please…professor… If it helps I can go with them. I know I can pose of some use." Her words touched me and suddenly a huge surge of energy came through me. I walked towards the center of the room and put my hand on her shoulder before looking towards Professor Storm.

"She's right," I stated simply. "We can't just leave him like that. It may be up to us, but we have a good chance of getting him back here safely, especially with us working together. Alone we're strong, but together we're unstoppable." It was a cheesy line, but I found it affective either way…

Midnight, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, suddenly pushed off, dropping his arms to his sides. "If Lex is in then so am I. I'm with him all the way." I looked towards Midnight, and although he couldn't see me I was grateful either way. Mockingbird left her spot of the room to wrap her arm around her dad's.

"And I am always with my father," she stated in my voice. It sounded really odd considering it was a guy's voice coming from a girl…and now that I heard it my voice sounded kind of odd… Midnight scratched his head, chuckling slightly. I guess he thought the same.

"And wherever Shannon goes, I follow," Carmen stated, once again composed, placing a hand on her hip. We all looked towards Anne Marie, waiting for a response. She sighed. "Alright," she muttered. "Since everyone else is going…" I grinned before looking at Kitty. She was smiling, but it looked…odd…

"You okay?" I asked her and she looked up towards me, smiling like she usually did.

"Yeah, Lex. I'm fine." I furrowed my eyebrows in concern, but shook it off. Maybe I was just looking too deeply into things…

Storm sighed disappointedly, shaking her head. "Who knew we would raise such hard headed students?" she asked herself before looking at us, a renewed look on her face. "Well, if we're all really going to do this you're going to have to listen to my orders and follow them, strictly. If you don't there shall be some severe consequences awaiting you on your return to the institute. Is that understood?"

We all nodded and began listening intently to her plan, but the entire time I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach…and the last time I felt uneasy about something my parents were killed…

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We all exited the jet a few feet away from the fortress the professor was being held in. Storm had informed us that the government, on hearing news of the famous professor Xavier being alive, had secured him in a fortress until they had decided what to do with him. Based on the mutants' shaky relationship with the government in the past, we were sure they weren't just going to give him up to us, so we were just going to have to take him. We would deal with what the government had to say later…

Thankfully, the jet had a stealth mode, so we were able to get really close without being detected. Sneaking up from beside a wall we saw that there were two guards protecting the entrance, which would pose a problem. Mockingbird could take them out easily, but would simultaneously give us away with her sound powers. We had to take them out fast and silent.

"I can do it," Midnight told us. He took a few steps closer to the guards and I watched in awe as the guards' shadows began to move… Then, a long, dark arm emerged from them and strangled both of the guards in the back before snapping their necks in half. They didn't even have time to scream for they were dead in seconds… As we neared the door, I couldn't imagine what it would be like not being able to trust even your own shadow.

Using the keycard one of the guards held we opened the steel door, preparing ourselves for anything which was the right thing to do considering we were suddenly greeted by the sight of several guns. Guardsmen, around seven or eight of them, had all been waiting for us at the other side of the door. "We must have triggered a silent alarm," Cinders muttered. I was about to take a step backward, but then their guns clicked, making me freeze in place again.

Before they had a chance to fire, though, Mockingbird began humming. The very air began to shimmer and we all began floating a few inches off the ground. I started feeling eerie, my body oddly light as if in water. The guards started shooting, but the bullets were deflected before they could reach me. They didn't seem fazed, continuing to fire until all of them were out of ammo. Mockingbird's humming instantly ceased and our feet connected back to the ground with a loud stomp. The guards whimpered and gasped, knowing what was to come about them.

"Sorry," I muttered, before shifting into my bear form. I grabbed the two closest to me and threw them fiercely against the other ones. All of them collided against the wall harshly, heads connecting with heads, knocking them instantly unconscious.

"Boy…you sure went hard on them," Midnight stated jokingly. He gripped my shoulder firmly before we walked further, but for some reason every step began to become heavier. I figured it was because of Mockingbird's show of power earlier and disregarded it.

The further we went in the more guards there were, but they were disposed of easily. It was all almost too easy… It was never a good sign when things were too easy…

Then came the last room, the one right before Xavier was supposedly being held. We were halfway there, when all of a sudden red lights burst into life from every direction. They were shining in pairs of two, which meant they weren't ordinary lights. As the sentinels came closer, one in seemingly every direction, we moved back into the center of the room, all of our backs beside each other. We were cornered, and I felt oddly light headed, while my body was as heavy as lead… I instantly knew what was wrong. Damn…

"You guys ready?" Cinders asked, her hands lighting up in flames. We all nodded and immediately split up. Ramming the first Sentinel out of my way, I proceeded to hide behind a corner, my form forcibly shifting back into a human. I began breathing harshly, my entire body aching and refusing to move. With great force I reached into one of the yellow pockets on my belt. Out of it I pulled out a small, blue sphere.

"What's that?" Shadowcat asked me. Apparently she had followed me into the corner, but for some reason I hadn't noticed. I popped the sphere into my mouth and forcibly swallowed.

"A pill," I breathed. "When I use my bear form for too long during a day my body starts being pushed to its limits." I stood up easily, shifting back into my bear form as a Sentinel came charging towards us. I gripped it's arms and ripped them right off of it's body before giving him a hard kick in the chest cavity, knocking him back a few feet. "The pill sends my metabolism into overdrive," I continued, "So I can keep pushing for a while."

I looked towards Shadowcat, trying my best to smile, which must have looked creepy in my bear form. "It only lasts a short while, though, before I completely tire out. So I have to make the most of it." She nodded, finally getting it, and I charged into battle, clawing and smashing through several sentinels, their metallic bodies short circuiting. It was a bit chaotic amid all the fire, sound, and vines, but somehow we managed to beat them all without harming ourselves, it did take a while though… I figured the pill would only hold out for a minute or two more.

We reached the giant metallic door that would have the professor on the other side. Storm informed us that security was going to be tightest in that room, so we'd have to act quickly. The only problem was…how to get in?

Shadowcat abruptly shoved me out of the way towards the door and began typing in a code on the door panel. We were all confused.

"Shadowcat, what are you…?"

"Shh!" she silenced me. "I…interrogated one of the guards into telling me how to get in here. Don't complain." …Well that was odd…I never took Kitty as the type to interrogate people, but I figured I shouldn't try to look a gift horse in the mouth. The doors suddenly opened and we all walked in. The room was dark, incredibly so, and I could barely see.

"What's goin-" There was a sound of something being shot and Cinders immediately gasped, cutting herself off. "My neck!! Something's…" I heard her body collide with the floor. Someone had short some kind of tranquilizer. We all turned back, but too late. Two other bodies dropped to the floor and from the sound of them I guessed they were Mockingbird and Orchid. I saw Shadowcat standing in the doorway, pistol in her hand. She was loading another tranquilizer dart…

"Shadowcat…what are you…" My eyes widened as her form shifted. Her clothes melted into her suddenly blue skin, hair going from brown to red… In a matter of moments the figure that I once knew as Kitty disappeared, replaced by a curvy woman with blue skin, scales, and red hair… Enraged and confused I charged towards the woman, attempting to at least hit her, but she quickly dodged my fists and feet. It was like trying to hit a ghost… Right at the moment where I thought I had her, my body suddenly refused to move and I was forcibly morphed back into my human form. Muscles aching and pushed to their extreme, I groaned against the metallic floor, fighting off sleep as hard as I could, but to no avail. The pill had wore off… The last thing I remembered was the laughter of the devious woman before my eyes closed and darkness overcame me.

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Kind of crappy, but this was kind of a hard chapter to pull off… Lots of things going on at once. I re-read it just to make sure it was at least mistake proof, though. :3