Hey everybody! So what do you think of Vanessa getting shot? Petty dramatic, right? Oh, and are you X-Men people comment-shy or something? PLEASE COMMENT! I KNOW you readers are out there! Even if you don't comment, love you guys! I'll be updating a bit more now, so please keep reading!
-E.H.
(The X-Men don't belong to me. None of the none-OC -characters or references are mine, so dude; don't sue me…because that would suck…so, yeah.)
Andy watched through the small crack between the door and the frame and saw Sanders walk around Vanessa but couldn't hear what he was saying. Hatred boiled up inside of him at the very sight of this horrible human being, but he knew that running in would only get them both killed. There were two armed guards and several doctors and only one of him. He watched as Sanders suddenly turned away from Vanessa and saw her look of horrible sadness and anger, but could only guess at what Sanders could have had said to her. Suddenly Andy heard footsteps around the corner of the hall and he stepped away from the door, turning and looking for somewhere to hide. There was only one door in the hall that didn't have a card lock and her rand inside. The room was right across the hall from where Vanessa was. The door opened and inside was a dark closet with cleaning supplies in it. He closed the door behind him and waited in the darkness for whoever was coming to pass by.
He never heard them pass, however. There was suddenly an immensely loud scream from the other room. He hardly had time to process this before he heard was the sound of two silenced gunshots and the metallic ringing that the loud bangs produced. He didn't dare leave the closet, but his spine gave an involuntary shake as he thought of what could have happened. It had been a man's scream, Sanders… After a few seconds he thought it was safe to leave the closet.
Slowly he reached out a hand in the darkness and felt the cold metal of the lock. Taking a deep breath he turned the knob and pulled the door open a few inches. Looking out he saw that the hall was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief he pulled the door open the rest of the way and cautiously stepped out into the hall. Seeing for certain that the coast was clear he scrambled across the hall to the closed door of Vanessa's room. He tried the door, but it had closed and was now locked.
He stepped back to figure out what to do when he heard it, the third gunshot. This one was also from a silenced gun, but was very close to the door. It wasn't the gunshot that made Andy's hair stand on end however; it was the sound that came after it. It was a horrible choking sound, like someone was drowning, but it was interjected with coughing and sputtering. It was a girl. There was only one girl in the room.
"Vanessa!" Andy screamed, losing all reason and hammering on the door. He futilely tried to force the lock and kick the handle, oblivious to the new sounds emerging from the room. There were men screaming, more gunshots… "Vanessa! I'm coming!' Andy continued to shout, beating his fists on the solid metal door. He suddenly became aware of the silence on the other side. He paused and nearly jumped out of his skin as the handle began to turn. He put up his fists and bared his fanged teeth, awaiting anyone that could open the door…well, almost anyone.
A man with a black beard and bright red skin peered out through the half opened door at him. Andy stuttered for a few seconds then, remembering Vanessa, tried to force the door. The red man held it back.
"Stop it! Let me in! Vanessa! I'm here!" He shouted. He was infuriated to see a look of bemusement on the man's face. He looked over his shoulder and talked to someone behind him in a strong Russian accent.
"Magneto, there is a boy out here wanting to see the girl I think." Andy gave up on the door and tried to look into the room around the demonic-looking man.
"Let him in…" drawled a low voice inside the room. The second the door was opened Andy flew in, his heart pounding and suddenly stopping as his eyes fell on Vanessa. She was lying in the middle of the room, an alarming pool of blood seeping across the floor around her. He ran to her side and kneeled beside her, fighting back tears. She was alive…barely.
"Vanessa! Can you hear me? Vanessa, I'm here. It's ok…" Her hand was held over a place on her side and she was shaking horribly. Her eyes were open and teary.
"…An…Andy…" She whispered. Her blood-soaked hand reached out to him and he took it without hesitation, placing his other hand on her heavily-bleeding injury. He was shocked to feel how cold she was. Wasn't blood supposed to be warm? He tried to smile reassuringly but he guessed that it only came across as guilty, which he was. It was only at this point that he remembered the other people that were in the room. He looked up from his friend with a start and was amazed at the large number of people he had simply failed to notice on his way in. Then the shock set in. These people were…like them. They were different.
Near the door stood the red-skinned man from before. Now inside the room it was possible to see his long tail with a pointed end, only adding to his devilish appearance. Beside him stood a woman, but she didn't even look real…She was made of diamonds. She threw odd reflections and lights onto the plain white walls and was almost hard to look at in the bright lights. Closer to Vanessa and Andy stood three others. There was a naked blue woman with bright red hair and Andy immediately was reminded of his own scales. Beside her stood another woman dressed neatly in a cocktail dress and high heels. Out of her back were spread two sets of wings, like a dragonfly's. In front of all of them stood a tall man dressed in a long black cape and red clothes and an odd red metal helmet.
Andy, still holding Vanessa's hand, turned to the man in front who was clearly in charge.
"What did you do?" He hissed venomously, not bothering to hide his reptilian voice. Vanessa coughed violently behind him and he turned back to her, removing his sweatshirt and holding it over the wound on her side. He heard the sound of the man's feet as he stepped closer and Andy hissed a warning. The man came no closer.
"We had nothing to do with this." Andy heard him say. "It was this human that shot her." Looking over his shoulder Andy could see the man's hand pointing at the slumped figure of a dead man in a lab coat on the floor nearby. Andy looked back at the man. His face was young, but old at the same time, like he had seen things that he hadn't wanted to. He made no move toward Andy and Vanessa, and neither did any of the other mutants. The red-skinned man's tail twitched in the silence.
"Can you…can you help me?" Andy hissed quietly, motioning to Vanessa. The man hesitated, but nodded to the blue woman at his side. She stepped forward and crouched on the floor beside Andy. Real concern was obvious on her face. She smiled shyly at Andy and gently put a hand on his sweatshirt where it rested over the bleeding area and Vanessa winced, rolling over a bit. Her eyes were closed and she appeared barely conscious. Andy held her shoulders to keep her from moving and spoke to her quietly, trying to explain the situation.
"Hey, it's ok Van, there's help here. They saved you...I think." He looked back at the man in charge with a questioning look on his face. The man nodded.
"She has Azazel to thank for her life; he pushed the human's hand at the last moment. He was aiming for her head." He gestured to the red mutant behind him. Andy gave Vanessa's hand a reassuring squeeze and looked at the blue woman. She smiled again and continued to tend to Vanessa's injuries. Hesitantly, Andy stood and faced the mutants around him.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"We are like you. We're mutants." Said the man with the cape. He took a few steps towards Andy and offered his hand. Andy hesitated. He liked what they were saying, about being friendly, but something about them made him nervous. He slowly offered his hand and the man shook it feverishly.
"What is your name, brother?" He asked, smiling broadly.
"Uh, Andy." Andy answered.
"You can call me Magneto." The man answered. Andy nodded cautiously and looked over his shoulder at Vanessa. She had stopped shaking and the blue-skinned woman at her side was stroking her hair gently and saying something he couldn't hear. "Who are you?" He asked her, pulling his hand from Magneto and stepping toward her. She looked up at him with stunning yellow eyes and gave a half-smile. She looked sad.
"Rav…Mystique." She corrected after beginning to say something else. Andy nodded and kneeled beside his fallen friend. He held her hand and watched her eyes open a bit. She tried to talk be he stopped her. He heard the voice of the Russian man whispering something to Magneto behind him.
"It's ok Vanessa. It's not that bad. You'll be fine." He said gently, holding her cold hand in both of his. He suppressed tears. Why was he crying? She wasn't going to die…
"Where is…where is…Sand…d…ers?" Vanessa wheezed, reaching her free hand for her injury as the effort of speech sent waves of pain through her side. Mystique gently restrained her hand and placed her own over the wound, her red hair falling in her eyes as she smiled sadly at Andy, reassuring him.
"Sanders? He's, he's…" Andy said, looking over his shoulder to where the dying man had been. There was a smear of blood on the tile floor, but aside from the dead men on the ground, everyone was gone. "He's...he's not there..." Andy shook his head and looked back to Vanessa. She was crying and Andy softly whispered more words of comfort, but they fell on deaf ears. Vanessa was in an immense amount of pain, but that wasn't why she was in tears. She knew much more than she had ever let on, and she also knew that as long as Sanders was alive, he would stop at nothing until she and her only family were dead and buried.
As Vanessa's eyes closed, all she could see was the fearful face of her best friend, and all she could think of was her brother's dead body…and Sanders standing over it.