So I stopped in like the middle of writing this chapter because my friend sent me this amazing song. It was featured in the Sherlock Holmes trailer. It's called Unstoppable by E.S. Posthumus, and I swear to God I just sat there for the whole song and envisioned what a trailer for this fic would look like. In my mind, it's freaking amazing. Unfortunately, I can't make videos to save my life. Oh well. Anyway, here's the giant climax/fight scene that I've been looking forward to writing since I started this story! You're going to see a side of Marianne in this chapter that you've never seen before, and possibly read about some things that are going to be hard to read for some people. Just a fair warning.
Chaos ensued.
As soon as the dart stuck to the tree, men in white lab coats and metal hats ran out of the bushes, brandishing dart guns. Elisabeth narrowly missed a dart that whizzed past her face, not even millimeters away from grazing her nose. Everyone jumped into action immediately.
As a scientist ran towards her, Marianne jumped off the ground, flipping over him and pointing herself so that her snow boots collided with the man's back. Lucy brought the side of her hand down on one man's shoulder, not daring to use her power unless it was absolutely necessary. Beast roared and hurled one scientist over his shoulder as Alex blasted another and Sean sonic-screamed yet another. But the men just kept coming. It was like they were never ending.
"Where are they all coming from?" Rosabelle shouted, tossing two men back into the forest with simple waves of her hands.
"I have no idea! They either have a cloning mutant or recruited furiously in the past few days." Charles smiled meekly at his lame joke, and Rosabelle rolled her eyes.
"Charles, look out!" She ran up to him and threw her hands up behind him, stopping a dart just as it brushed against the hair on the back of Charles' head. It disintegrated and she narrowed her eyes at the shooter. He flew back with a scream.
"Thanks," he muttered, and she smiled.
"Anytime."
"C'mon you lovebirds, we have to get back to the mansion!" Elisabeth yelled and Charles instinctively grabbed Rosabelle's hand and began pulling her towards the mansion, yanking her back up whenever she tripped. The others started back towards the mansion when there was a thud.
NO! The voice was so loud in Charles' head that he gasped and pressed a hand to his aching temple. Nononono please wake up! He recognized the voice almost immediately and turned to find Marianne sliding on her knees next to Hank, who was lying face down in the slush. She rolled him onto his back and was checking for a pulse.
A hundred darts flew in the sky towards them, but as Charles shouted the darts seemed to bounce right off of the air around them. In fact, all the darts seemed to just be bouncing off the air around the area where they were standing altogether. It was then he realized that a hand had left his grasp. He looked over and saw that Rosabelle had her hands up, concentrating furiously.
"I can't hold it for very long," she said through gritted teeth, like all her concentration was being put into that force field. "You need to hurry and get them out of there!" Charles nodded and ran to Marianne's side, where she was shaking her head and sobbing. Hank looked like he was dead, but his chest was barely rising and falling. If it weren't for his brain waves, Charles would have assumed that his dear friend was dead.
"Marianne, we need to get out of here. Help me pull up Hank."
No, this can't be happening. This isn't supposed to happen. She just kept mouthing his name over and over again, like she was trying to say it aloud.
"Marianne, we need to hurry. Rose can't hold that force field for very long." Then, he heard it. It was a whimper and barely audible, but it was there.
"Hank." He stared at Marianne in shock. She was frozen, staring at Hank and holding her neck with her throat. She looked up at him in disbelief.
"You have your voice back," he muttered. Her blue eyes sparked, but not with happiness.
With fury.
"And my power," she said. Her voice was hoarse and cracked in several different places. She stood and faced the crowd of scientists. "You are all going to pay," she murmured, and even with the cracking voice she still sounded deadly. "Pick up your guns and press the barrels to your foreheads." They obeyed unwillingly, all of them looking absolutely terrified.
"Marianne, don't," Charles said in a warning voice, and looked over his shoulder. All of the girls looked scared, and the men were throwing nervous glances at one another. It was obvious that no one had ever seen petite, fragile Marianne like this before. "They don't deserve this."
"No, Hank doesn't deserve this," she said, gesturing at the blue man in the snow, barely alive. "They deserve to feel like how all those other kids felt. Like how my brother felt." Her eyes locked on one scientist and she walked out of the force field, ignoring Rosabelle's protests and walking over to that scientist. "You remember him, right? The one that could feel emotions?" He hesitated, looking at anyone but her. "Answer me!"
"Yes, I remember," he said painfully, his arms probably aching from pressing the barrel of the gun against his forehead.
"Marianne, stop this now!" Charles shouted. "This isn't you!"
"What was his name again? Tell me his name and age."
"William Jones…eleven." Lucy bit her lip so hard it bled, remembering Willy very well. He was such a sweet kid, always had nothing but nice things to say to everyone. Sean noticed and took her hand. Lucy didn't want to listen anymore; she didn't want to think about Willy, or any of the other ridiculously young kids that hadn't been fast enough. They just hadn't been fast enough.
"And what did you do to him, doctor?" The way she said "doctor" made chills run up and down Charles' spine. "Tell me exactly what you did to him." She said every word slowly and clearly, and made sure each one practically oozed with hatred and anger.
"I…I cracked open his skull and removed his brain for examination." A choked sob broke the deadly silence, and Alex wrapped a strong arm around Elisabeth's shoulders as Lucy hid her face in Sean's shoulder, plugging her ears. Charles looked back at Rosabelle. Her eyes were closed and tears streamed down her cheeks. A thin line of blood escaped her nose and she began to tremble from holding up the force field. She was reaching her limit.
"He was only eleven," she said. "He wasn't even a teenager, doctor. Most of the kids at the lab were barely even teenagers. Most of them were barely even kids." Another choked sob and the scientist swallowed painfully. Marianne looked back over her shoulder.
"Do you still think he doesn't deserve this?"
"Marianne, do you think William would want this? Do you think Hank wants this?" he shot back, ignoring her question. "Everyone deserves a second chance, my dear. You are better than this." He saw it the moment he mentioned her brother. That hard shell she had been keeping around her for all these years was slowly starting to crack.
"No, he wouldn't want this," she whispered, not quite sure who she was referring to, and looked back at the scientist, her body tensing. "Do you feel any remorse? Any regret or guilt for killing those harmless, innocent children that were barely even thirteen? Answer me honestly, doctor."
"Of course I do," he responded almost immediately. "I was under direct orders though. I had no choice." She seemed to relax slightly at this. Rosabelle dropped to her knees as more blood dripped from her nose.
"You will go to your employer and tell him that if I ever find out that he's taking more mutant children, I will personally hunt him down and kill him myself." He nodded, his eyes widening. Marianne backed up and looked at the crowd of scientists. Scientists that ruined her life and took everything away from her. She wanted to kill all of them; she wanted to avenge her brother and those little kids so badly. But Charles was right.
She was better than this.
"This order is for all of you. You are going to quit your jobs today. You are going to go home and kiss your wife and kids and treat them right. You are going to never hurt another mutant ever again. You are going to forget any of this ever happened, and you are going to stay the hell away from this mansion, because if I see any of you within three miles of this mansion, I will kill you. Is that understood?" There was a wave of nods. "Good, now get out of my sight." As soon as they disappeared into the trees, Marianne's shell broke completely and she dropped to her knees, bending over. Rosabelle dropped the force field and collapsed onto the porch.
The girls ran to aid her while Charles jogged to where Marianne was sobbing uncontrollably, dropping to his knees beside her. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair, whispering things like "shhh" and "it's alright" while he rocked her gently. Once she had calmed down, he pulled back and took her face in his hands, wiping away tears with his thumb. "I am so, so proud of you," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "You did the right thing."
A weak smile made its way onto her face. "Thanks." He placed his arm under her legs and picked her up, trudging across the snow. Alex and Sean were pulling a groaning Hank up, his feet making marks in the slush as they walked into the mansion, all of them feeling both physically and emotionally exhausted.
So I was going to add the beginning of the next chapter to the end of this, but decided that it would be better to just leave it here. I had a really hard time writing the majority of this chapter, but hey, it made my best friend tear up, so I guess I did a good job. I also showed this to my old English teacher (I need second opinions and I love her), and she said that to her it was very realistic…well, as realistic as a fanfic filled with mutants could get. I planning on ending this soon, but I'm thinking about a sequel. Thoughts? Review!