Apocalypse Rising
"Lock her in isolation room two!" Dr. Christina Lee yelled as the Catchers dragged the unconscious Kela through the main doors. She had woken up once from her drugged stupor, and thrashed about in the armored car, shifting halfway back to the Primeval before Dr. Lee took a needle filled with animal tranquilizer and jammed it into the side of Kela's neck. The leader of RegiCorp was annoyed with the Catchers, and at herself for creating adrenaline that potent. At least the isolation rooms she had created would (hopefully) keep her nature at bay.
Each padded cell was specially designed to keep the more violent Shifters under control, the harsh lighting giving off a small amount of radiation that would suck out what little energy they still contained after weeks of starvation, dehydration, and torture. They would wear a straight jacket for over 20 hours a day, the other four spent in the extraction chamber. There, they would be forced to Shift to feed a tube that would suck the energy and deposit it in a room that would feed something else. Her normally perfect hair was escaping the tight bun and flying into her face. She ran a carefully manicured hand over the stray bits of hair, and tucked them behind her ears until she could get to a mirror.
She followed the Catchers carrying the Shifter girl to isolation, then made sure the lights were switched on high. She won't be getting up, much less escaping any time soon, Dr. Lee thought, Even if I have to be the one to beat her myself. She stepped behind a two-way mirror and darkened watching room, watching the beginning stages of Kela's new home. Once Dr. Lee was satisfied, she walked down one of the twisting hallways, walking up to a door that required three different types of password identification. Once every password was entered, the door slid open on silent hydraulics. The room was stripped of any real color (exempting one item), the palette the same silver grey, the grey of concrete blocks and there was nothing inside it except one chair, rather a throne made of the most beautiful gold, covered in hieroglyphics that hadn't been seen since ancient times. Sitting on the throne was an ancient man. Stick thin with skin the same color as the walls; his wrinkled form was hunched over with the great strain of age. There were black markings inked over his bare chest that rose and fell with shallow breath. Two sunken black eyes painfully moved to stare at the bowed head of the doctor. The lowered head flinched at the gaze as if it stabbed through the delicate skull.
"She is here, my Lord." Dr. Lee shakily said. The voice that answered sounded like burning paper. The man on the throne rasped every breath as if the act of thinking to speak pained him.
"Very good…Dr. Lee. I expect…everything…to continue…as planned. There will be…a week until…the new moon…I…we shall…act then…do not fail me…this time. Make sure…my young…goddess…is comfortable." He scraped out a laugh that dissolved in a fit of coughing. Christina awkwardly added in her own laugh.
"Yes, Master Apocalypse."
The mansion was in an uproar. The younger students, who had only heard of Professor Xavier only in passing, were suddenly very curious to see the bald man in the wheelchair enter the school. They were told to stay in their rooms, but some of the teleports would sneak glances in the main hall, and then back to the rooms to tell everyone of the man. So naturally, as soon as the study doors closed with the "adults" inside, the entire school had heard of the man who had risen from the dead.
"How have you been alive this whole time? Do you understand that we could have used you? You were off, God knows where, and everyone else has been trying to deal with the anti-mutants and then searching for others, especially Kela…!" Logan yelled. The Professor, as usual, kept a calm head, waiting for Logan to finish.
"Let me explain. Jean did kill me, though that was only the death of my physical body.
"Do you remember when I would teach a class on a man that had slipped into a coma, how he was legally brain dead? A woman, Moira McTaggert, and I have been working on the transfer of consciousness from one person to another. When I died, I sent out my consciousness to that man. What felt like hours, were weeks. Inhabiting a new body took some time getting used to, and I would wake and fall back asleep for almost a year. When I fully regained consciousness, I needed to get used to this body. It was the same as my old one, unfortunately with the same disability, and each movement had to be trained back into my system.
"Every once and a while, I would feel a stab of consciousness of another person, a girl alone in the jungle, struggling to survive. It wasn't until Caliban found Kela, that I could finally reach her mind. I had read about Apocalypse, and I believe that Kela is that animal God that had trapped him in Obsidian all those years ago. He can only rise to power by taking the energy of the descendants of the God that had captured him. The descendants—"
"The Shifters." Storm interjected. "Speaking of which…"
"There all gone!" Lex had burst into the room, brown eyes wild. Despite all orders to remain inside, he had placed an ear up to the wooden door as soon as it had closed.
"That's impossible, the cameras would have picked up—" Hank began.
"The same way they 'picked up' that woman who turned Kela into that monster? Every single Shifter has vanished."
"Then we don't have much time."
Screams bellowed from the isolation room, somewhat muffled by the thick concrete walls. Dr. Christina Lee watched behind the two-way glass as one of the Catchers took liberty with attacking Kela. They had placed her in a straightjacket, now spotted here and there with her blood, her face covered in her own blood as well. Once the yells stopped and Kela fell once again into unconsciousness. The Catcher, oblivious to her state, continued to hit and kick her, unsatisfied with this new result. Dr. Lee let this go on for a few more seconds before speaking into a mike on the wall.
"Enough." The clone didn't respond. Christina sighed and spoke again, more forceful this time. "I said, enough!" The Catcher's arm paused in mid-air, and stiffened. Slowly, he lowered it and walked out, face a blank mask as usual. Christina had always been annoyed with the clones she had created, but she had to admire the way they would go after something with cold-hearted determination, no matter the cost. She was about to leave, let the broken Shifter to her own devices when a sound from inside the room made her pause. Kela had woken up, and was dragging her broken and bloodied body against a wall; gasps barely serving for breath escaped her mouth.
Dr. Lee motioned for a Catcher to grab the girl, and have him follow her. She walked towards a second set of doors, and had the clone throw the girl inside. It was a relatively small cell, the same grey color of the outside walls. Dr. Lee walked in and lowered herself down to Kela's level.
"I'm going to give you a chance, just once, to Shift. To anything, I don't care, but I need that energy, and He needs it as well. Shift, once I close these doors. Disobey me, and I will kill them all." Kela mustered up the energy to spit in Dr. Lee's face. Christina slapped her across the face, and unhooked the straightjacket. Kela's arms unwound themselves and desperately tried to push herself to her feet, to escape. The door slammed shut and the lights went out. Electricity coursed through the cell, and Kela screamed. She fell back to the ground, and despite her own accord, Shifted to a mountain lion. Dr. Lee smiled.
"Perfect. Now, Gerr, is it? Tell me what you know about Kela." Gerr had been thrown in a back room, giving him a front row seat. He lifted up his head, a black eye covering the right side of his face, a small cut swollen with infection.
"I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Liam never told me anything. Let her go, she's useless to you!" he tried to get up, but a Catcher threw him back into the seat.
"Kela wasn't my only source in your little camp. I know you talked with him about Apocalypse and how she factored into his plans. He is with us now, and I want to make sure she is the One!" She walked back to the panel, and pressed a button, causing electricity to pour back into the cell, Kela changing into dog.
"Speak, animal."
"Liam had a suspicion that she might be…Isis. I know you have talked to Apocalypse, didn't you know this before?"
"You just confirmed my thoughts. He…wasn't certain." Christina pressed the button again. Kela screamed.
Kela's days turned into a living nightmare. When she wasn't in that God forsaken chamber, the very people that she had hid from for so many years beat her senselessly. She began to hallucinate about Logan, about Hank or any of them, that they were the ones who slammed fist and foot into her, smacking her head against the wall and choking her to the point of unconsciousness. Anytime the door slid open was when she would shrink against the wall, whimpering and sinking down into herself, hoping the Primeval would take over, releasing her from this pain. It just laughed, and allowed the torture to continue. It was taking its time, calculating the right time to strike.
She had woken again from being choked to realize that they were carrying her somewhere. It was different than all the others, the hallways larger than the others. She struggled and was rewarded with a fresh jolt of pain to the kidneys. She was thrown down in a large room, about half the size of an airplane hangar. Dr. Lee walked in, a small clutch-type bag made of black leather in her hands.
"Get Up. I need to show you something." Kela lay curled on the ground, body shaking, part out of starvation, most out of fear. Dr. Lee made a noise out of disgust, and grabbed the girl by the hair, yanking her to her feet. She shoved the girl forward towards a wall made of darkened glass, and a small panel set into the wall with two buttons. Christina pressed the higher of the two buttons, lightening the glass until the room was visible. Inside, Apocalypse sat in his golden throne, looking slightly younger, and a bit more color to his skin. Kela yelped, and threw herself back away from the glass, falling heavily to the ground.
"What…what do you want with me?" she sputtered out.
"Your energy." Christina opened the bag, taking out a single silver needle. It was roughly the size of a pinkie, and tapered sharply down to a point almost invisible. It gleamed in the harsh lighting, the tip covered in some viscous material. Kela shrunk away from the thing, knowing the last time she was stabbed; she nearly destroyed the X-Men and herself.
It was part of a set of four, each completely identical, and each was as deadly as the last. Christina walked towards the girl as Kela tried to drag herself back. Dr. Lee took one step quicker, and grabbed the girl by the shirt. The needle sliced through the jacket, releasing her. Kela wriggled out of Christina's grasp of only a second, before the needle was slammed into the girl's stomach.
Kela's body acted as if on fire, and she screamed. Out of her own accord, Kela's head slammed into Dr. Lee's, just as she slammed the second into the girl's side. The Primeval raged, and Kela's heart rate sped up, faster than any animal could beat. Kela leapt up and stumbled towards the opening not making very far before Christina leapt upon the girl, slamming the third into Kela's back.
"Die, die for Apocalypse!" and she slammed the fourth and final into her heart. Kela yelled, and threw herself away from Christina, a feral growl escaping her throat. Kela spoke in the ancient language, and staggered towards Dr. Lee, intent on killing her. This was when the Primeval burst forth. The remains of the jacket flew apart as the wings spread from the Dragon's body, a roar bellowing forth from the great maw. Ignoring the Doctor, it focused its attention on the glass. It slammed its head against it, the glass cracking in a thousand pieces and shooting inside the room. The energy from the Primeval then seeped into the room, and Apocalypse laughed. A hand shot out from the throne and a shot of energy slammed into the great head, knocking the Primeval back from the glass. He rose up, levitating over the ground, as his body grew younger, the chest growing with muscle and sinew as the hieroglyphics glowed and swirled around him. The black eyes hardened and glowed, and the rooftop blew off, and he rose into the air, and vanished.
The Dragon shook its head, and turned its attention to Christina. She was grasping at her head, blood oozing between her fingers as she stared up in fear. Its nose wrinkled, stared into her soul.
Die, die for Apocalypse! It echoed back her words, and spewed forth a great fire, the hole in the neck somewhat healed, incinerating the woman. It burst through the wall, and up and out through the roof. Attaching itself to the top of the roof, it howled with anger. As the Great Blue dragon raised its wings to take to the sky, something slammed into it. Another Great Dragon, twice the size of the Primeval-Kela, and a deep red with amber eyes. They bellowed at each other, and launched themselves in the air. They collided and began a downward spiral, hooked onto each other by the great talons, snapping at each other's necks. The Blue Dragon let go at the last minute, crashing its head into the others, and flew back to the top of the sky. As it began to inhale, the other Dragon collided with the other's neck, sinking four-inch long serrated teeth into the soft flesh below the throat.
The Great Dragon screamed and bellowed, shaking its immense head to avoid the cloud of darkness creeping into its vision. The other let go and watched as the Dragon fell to the earth, changing back to Kela, a bloody gash covering the side of her neck. It landed lightly in the grass beside the unconscious girl, and gently picked her up. Carefully it took to the sky, heading towards a familiar place.
Logan was staring off into the distance when a figure crept into his view. At first he thought it was a bird, but quickly changed his mind when it grew in size. He extended his claws running back from the balcony and down the hall, meeting Storm halfway down the stairs. Charles Xavier was staring out a window and saw the two bursts out the main doors. He frowned slightly, and probed the Dragon's mind, slightly. His eyes widened, and he sent a thought to Logan and Storm.
Don't attack him. He's carrying something important.
The Dragon landed lightly in the grass in front of the two, Kela in its grasp. It shifted back to Gerr, holding the girl in his arms. Tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Help her."