Chapter Seven-Plans And Accusations

Dragon dropped the phone after hearing the voicemail. He could not bear hearing her sweet voice again and be so far away from her, so ruined. He sighed and moved away from the desk quickly, his abilities making it seem like he vanished and reappeared. He looked at himself in the mirror and straightened himself up before leaving his dark office and going to address The Brotherhood and inform them of his new plans. And new regulations.

As he got to the meeting room, he saw the remaining members of The Brotherhood who he had not slain for being insubordinate. They looked up at him, terrified. He was glad that they were scared of him. At least they would respect him rather than turn against him. He looked at each of them in turn, watching them as they stood up when he made his entrance. He smirked as they sat down only after he did. He loved having that much control over people. It was something he never would have gotten if he continued to be in the X-Men.

When he thought of the X-Men, he thought of Alexa. Sweet, innocent Alexa with her auburn hair and bright brown eyes. The first person he had ever kissed. The only person he ever let in. The thought brought a lump to his throat, making him have to clear his throat multiple times before he could address his people.

"As you already know, we are going to attack the X-Men where it hurts the most. I know their exact location and we will attack them tonight," Dragon said as he stood up.

Mystique, Agent Orange, Gambit, and Colossus were all looking at him. Mystique nodded, letting Dragon know that she was going to go through with it. Dragon glared at Agent Orange, Gambit, and Colossus darkly, making them nod as well. Having been appeased, Dragon smiled at them all. He started to talk again, giving them the new rules that he had just thought of when he called Alexa.

"There's a woman in the X-Men," he explained. "Her name is Alexa. Do not harm her. I will deal with her. Take her, if you can, but if you kill her…" He paused and chuckled sadistically. "Well, let's just say, you'll be begging for me to kill you after I'm through with you."

Alexa barged into Storm's room to accuse her of lying to her. Storm was nowhere to be seen, but Iceman was rummaging through her things as if he was looking for something. Alexa's eyes narrowed as she looked at him suspiciously. She continued to watch him in silence before she saw him slip something into his pocket. Alexa cleared her throat loudly, causing Iceman to jump and look up at her with a terrified expression on his face.

"What exactly do you think you are doing?" Alexa asked, her voice low and threatening.

Iceman tried to explain but he could no longer speak. He could not even move. He felt like he had been frozen on the spot right where he stood. He tried to move again, but he could not even use his abilities to turn the woman in front of him to ice so he could escape. Alexa moved toward him slowly, smiling at his confusion.

"What's wrong?" she taunted, "Can't figure out what's going on?"

Iceman, feeling himself gain control of his body shook his head slowly. He was so confused. He had no idea how she had done that, and why he could not feel his powers burning through him like he usually could. He looked over at Alexa, to ask her what had just happened, and noticed that she had frozen his feet to the ground. Alexa smiled and quickly unglued him from the floor.

"You…"

"I can steal other Mutant's abilities," Alexa explained, "but only when I want to."

"You can return them too, right?" Iceman asked Alexa, looking at her with a very apprehensive look in his eyes.

"Of course," Alexa snapped back. "If I didn't know how to control my abilities I wouldn't even be here now, would I?"

Iceman shrugged and made an ice ball in his hand. He evaporated it quickly then left, leaving Alexa alone to wait for Storm. Alexa paced back and forth for a few minutes, and then sat on the bed patiently. Storm's room was neat and organized, just like the woman herself. The walls were a stormy gray and the sheets were dark. Everything reflected the older woman's personality. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Storm walked in.

"We need to talk," Alexa said, without even waiting for Storm to settle in.

"What about?" Storm asked, sitting on the bed next to Alexa.

"Dragon's alive. You lied to me. You told me he wasn't with us anymore."

"I wasn't lying," Storm replied, looking calmly at the younger woman. "He is no longer with us. He killed Magneto and took over the Brotherhood."

Alexa took a shaky breath and looked at Storm, her green eyes filled with the promise of unshed tears. She blinked back tears of sorrow and looked down. Storm reached out and put an arm on Alexa's shoulder before pulling her into a very warm hug. Alexa took deep, shaky breaths as she pulled away from Storm's embrace slowly. Storm looked at her and lowered her head silently.

"He…he abandoned us, then?" Alexa asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"Yes,' Storm agreed. "He abandoned us."

Alexa took a deep breath and showed Storm her telephone and the last call she had gotten. Storm took the cellphone from Alexa and looked at the number silently and calmly, before closing the phone. She then turned to Alexa again. Alexa looked at Storm, green eyes meeting white eyes when suddenly a loud THUD brought down half the mansion.