So how was the last chapter? Hopefully it was satisfactory, and now on to the REAL plot. Oh wait, just a little flash to our heroic X-men…yes, I'm keeping the ROMY back and I feel evil pleasure but take relief that I'm not too cruel. It's coming soon-ish. Plus, I'm not going to go to much into accents at this point because we all know how they talk and it's a hassle to write. So, only a few accent words.
Oh and by the way, the snippet of song in the last chapter was not mine, it was called Our Solemn Hour, hence the chapter name.
Chapter 8: The Last Night and The First Dawn
Several hours previously…
The phone rang. Kitty Pryde phased her arm back through the couch to grab the phone when she realized that it was coming from upstairs in the professor's office directly above the common room. She shrugged and went back to typing on her laptop until she heard the intensity of the conversation upstairs. She couldn't tell who Xavier was talking to, but from his answers he was certainly tense.
"Yes, I was glad to offer the assistance. What? Oh dear. Yes of course. Logan and I will be there as soon as possible." The phone was hung up and Kitty could hear the professor leaving his office.
She rushed out of the room to see what was going on, not looking where she was going, so she collided painfully with Scott, knocking them both to the ground. His hand flew to his face to make sure his glasses were still there.
"Kitty? What's the hurry?"
"Don't know. I heard the professor talking upstairs and he like sounds totally freaked. Well, not totally freaked, but as close as he gets to it." She shot off again, phasing through walls to move faster. Scott followed.
The commotion had summoned the other X-men. The professor was talking urgently to Logan in the foyer before Wolverine hastened away in the direction of the elevators to the lower levels. The X-men crowded around the professor before Scott shushed them.
"What's up Professor?"
The professor's face was very grave. "The strange detections I've been receiving on Cerebro, well, I've finally been able to locate their position. Strangely, they are centered in a deserted island archipelago several miles of the coast of New Brunswick in Canada. You are all familiar with SHIELD from past experiences?" they all nodded. "Well, they are out to investigate and Logan and I are going along. Unfortunately, they have reason to believe that whoever is holding mutants there are aware that we know their location. We are hoping to get there in time, before whoever is there can escape."
"Right on professor. Suit up X-men."
"No Scott." He halted them as they were about to hurry off. "Only me and Logan. You all have had enough trauma after Magneto and Asteroid M. Especially Scott and Kurt, discovering long-lost family members."
Kurt cringed a little. In the fiasco where Magneto had been kidnapping and pitting mutants against each other to join him in his asteroid colony, they had ended up working with Mystique, who they had believed to be their school principal Ms. Darkholme. During the fight, Mystique had revealed to Kurt that she was in fact his biological mother. The news had shaken him, but he had learned to accept. He wouldn't let it stop him from this mission.
Scott also had found someone that he hadn't seen for many years. His little brother Alex had been found by Magneto and had helped them defeat him in the end. After he and Scott had very nearly joined him. Scott shook his head. That was in the past now and Kurt was speaking for them.
"Please prof, ve're fine, ve vant to help. Especially if zese people are hostile, you might need our help." The X-men all agreed.
The professor at last consented, leaving Storm in charge of the mansion. At least the summer had arrived and the X-men wouldn't miss school by tagging along. Logan came upstairs to announce the jet ready to go.
In less than fifteen minutes the jet shot out into the blue sky and they were in the air. The kids were all on edge. Truth be told, the adventure with Magneto had been the only true mission they had been on other than recruitment before and it made them jumpy. All except for Scott who was holding his composed leader persona together. What could be the answer to this mystery, where mutants appeared for less than a second and vanished without a trace?
They were out over the Atlantic when a communication crackled over the PA system. A ruff voice spoke.
"So you decided to bring the whole posse. Well, just so long as they don't get in the way they can stay. This is a serious mission, not one of your mutant escapades, so let us handle it and we'll let you know if your services are required. Otherwise, keep your noses out."
Wolverine growled at the speaker. "As soft on words as ever Fury. Don't step on our toes and we won't step on yours."
"Fair enough," the voice sneered before silencing. Right after, a squad of military choppers with the SHIELD badge on the sides dropped in around them.
They flew on and the sky grew darker as they flew under menacing clouds. At last the comlink spoke again. "We're approaching our destination." There was a pause and then a heavy swear word echoed from the speaker around the cabin. "Too late," the man snarled.
The X-men peered forward through the dark clouds until they saw it. A fiery pillar of smoke was billowing upwards from a miniscule, uninhabited island. Xavier put his fingers to his temples but released the position a moment later.
"Nothing."
The choppers and X-jet landed near to the smoking wreckage. They all climbed out and the teenagers felt a distinct feeling of deep dread. This place seemed to radiate an aura of doom. Logan sniffed and wrinkled his nose. He leaned into Xavier and muttered.
"Too much. Fear, sadness, blood, fire, despair…death."
Nick Fury stepped out of the nearest chopper and surveyed the remains. He growled more cuss words in a long string before summoning his agents toward the burning remains. He turned to the X-men.
"If we need any…assistance, than we'll let you know." He strode off to join his crew.
The X-men stayed outside of the jet. The teens felt annoyance, they wanted to do something. They had come here to help solve a mystery, not sit on their rear ends.
That was before the first bodies were removed. The SHIELD agents emerged first with two stretchers, both supporting body bags. A limp, burned arm dangled from one of X-men stared, feeling rather sick. They had never had to deal with death before and it wasn't pleasant. As even more and more emerged their horror grew. How many people had been in this place?
After about two hours Fury approached. His face was twisted into a frustrated expression.
"All we know is that all the dead inside were mutants. Nothing else, no records, no preserved evidence, no anything."
Scott stepped forward. "Sir, we could help in the search. We won't get in your way."
Fury didn't look too thrilled, but hey, might as well have some extra hands digging around. "Alright fine. You can join in, but anything you find report right back, understood?"
They all readily agreed and entered the ruins. It had been a huge complex, but only sub-basements and a teetering structure remained. They separated to search.
Kitty and Kurt stayed together, picking their way carefully through rubble. Kitty tried to suppress a shudder. "What could have been going on here Kurt? It's seriously scaring me just like thinking about it."
"Zat's vhat we're here to find out Keety." The two wandered into the wreckage of a room that was just barely identifiable as some kind of laboratory. There were blasted pieces of computers and other paraphernalia scattered about. Kurt began to rummage around in a corner while Kitty moved off toward where the computers were.
The valley girl tripped and wobbled over the rubble. Frustrated, she phased her feet downward. She went a little too far down and her feet went into the floor itself. Unexpectedly, her intangible toes detected something that felt odd, out of place. Curious, she bent over and put her hand into the ground and felt about. Kitty caught the strange object and brought it back up. It looked like a big USB drive…
She held it up and yelled to Kurt. "I think I found something!"
Her friend bamfed over, examined it momentarily, before vanishing again to gather the others.
When she handed the device into Fury he seemed pleased. "It's genuine. Let's see if it's any value to us."
While his agents continued searching around he and the X-men headed back to the X-jet. The kids were quietly congratulating Shadowcat on her find while Logan, Fury, and Professor X loaded the drive and began to download the information to display.
They gathered around as the screen came to life. It blinked and then it came on.
There were only pictures at first, with information on them listed on the side. Pictures of kids, no older than six or seven. They seemed healthy, but their little faces all wore the same expression: fear and confusion.
The pictures began to blink by, showing more of them. Then more pictures of the same kids but a little older. It kept going like this; it was almost like a silent movie as the pictures rolled and showed the mutant kids turn to adolescents then teens, changing the entire way. Faces grew older and more shaped. What was even more noticeable were the worse things. As the faces aged, they grew thinner, paler, and gained scars. Their expressions changed rapidly, but by the teenage photos they were all the same. Their gazes were stony and hopeless, with a cold bitterness and broken submission to their fates in their eyes. Even in the photographs their eyes were faded.
Then videos began to play. A droning and emotionless voice stated information.
A girl with blue-green hair it seemed came on screen. She was in a training room of some sort where giant robots were firing on her. She ducked and weaved about, no powers in use. The voice rattled out.
"Mutant Operative 43. Future mutation asset predicted as animal mimicry. Training level: average. Time in acquistion: twenty six months."
Many more videos such as these were displayed of separate mutant kids in intense training. Then another video came on screen. It was a split screen visual, so two scenes played at once. Two groups of the children were standing on a platform. A loud and deep blare echoed and at the same time, both platforms on both screens dropped.
The X-men watched as in both feeds, several kids fell yelling for their lives into the pit. Kitty's and Jean's hands flew to their mouths, Kurt looked horrified, Scott's jaw tightened, and Evan could be heard to mutter a hushed 'oh man.'
They went on watching as more and more of the children were slain. The professor pinched the bridge of his nose and Logan was supporting a steady growl in his chest. He felt a painful bite of a memory ghost in his mind. He knew he had endured things like this when they had given him his adamantium claws, but these were just little kids for lord's sake.
That cut out. Next came videos of power manifestations and experiments. Kitty got sick and turned away as they watched a boy with the power to regrow limbs have both legs chopped off. His grainy screams over the feed made it even worse. Fury just watched with a blank face, chewing on his toothpick fiercely.
Years of pain and incarceration passed before their eyes as they watched on. By this time, several of the SHIELD agents of higher rank had joined the viewing. Some of them winced. As tough as they were trained to be, to watch such blatant and merciless torture of young people was hard to bear. The mind wiping was perhaps the worst to endure for all.
Then a clip appeared that was very short, so few noticed it among the other gruesome scenes,but one of the agents near the back did. It was of two young women, one blonde and the other with two toned hair, who were strapped to tables. The girl with the strange hair was forced to touch a bare hand to the blonde. Lights erupted around them and they both cried out. The blonde fell still and the other just barely lifted her head from the table, trying to break free with a strength that she hadn't seemed to have before. For a brief instant, her face was shown clearly on screen.
The agent near the back gasped infantesimally and her eyes flashed gold. The disguised Mystique took in the agonized face of her long lost daughter. There was no mistaking it despite the long years: the white skin, the gray-green eyes, and the two tone hair, her Anna Marie. There was also a shred of the defiance that Raven Darkholme had been so strangely charmed by. Then the image was gone, going on to further cruelty.
At last came the camera feeds from that night. They watched as each mutant was hunted down and destroyed. At last, the screen went black and it was all over.
Fury leaned back. "Well, now we know what they were doing and who they were; HYDRA, a renegade spy and terrorist organization. Trying to train mutant kids to become their puppets. I guess we foiled that plan. Now we just have to find the survivors."
The X-men looked at him in confusion. Scott spoke up, his voice hoarse. "There were no survivors. We saw all the current captives listed and each one was taken out. We checked."
Fury threw him a look. "Yes but what you weren't trained to see was that the files listed were incomplete. Whoever downloaded this info for us deleted some files and feed from being placed in this drive. I'm guessing that whoever it was escaped."
"How can you tell that files were deleted and if they escaped or not?"
"The first is obvious. When they were listing operatives four numbers were missing: 23, 57, 72, and 75. I'm guessing since the files on these mutants were excluded then these four were the ones that saved the files. I also saw that if the numbers were accurate that the video feed on four mutants being eliminated were missing. So, until we have solid proof such as this, there are four survivors out there."
Fury dipped his head to the X-men. "I owe you thanks for uncovering this, but from here on out SHIELD can deal with this. You can leave." It was polite but nonetheless a dismissal. The professor consented, knowing there was little else they could do here. No one had seen the female agent with gold eyes slip from the jet.
The X-jet took off into the dark night. The teens were very quiet, unable to speak of what they had seen.
xxxXXXxxx
The darkness on the edge of her brain was withdrawing, but she was unable to wake up. Foggy images of what had taken place flickered in her head. How long ago had it happened? Last night, a week ago, a year? She didn't know.
She remembered fear, and death. They had been running. Then they had fallen. It had felt so terrifying yet so enthralling to just plunge with no hold in life.
How had they survived? Truthfully, she had never really intended to survive the fall, forgetting at the time her invulnerability. Genesis had read her thoughts, only observing the intent to step over the edge. It was better than being slaughtered by HYDRA's lackeys.
She tried to dig up the memories of that time. They had stepped back, she had admitted that it was the end, they had joined together, and then they had fallen straight towards the rocks. Then she recalled the blast of wind. Where had it come from? All she knew was that it had pushed them away from the rocks, landing them in the icy depths. It had hurt, the intensity of the cold, but at least it was the pain of the world and not the torture of slaves. They had sunk into the deep, but then…
There had been a strong current that had carried them away. They had broken the surface, struggling to stay together as they were tossed around. Then the waves had slammed them into cliffs. That was the last thing she remembered.
At last, green eyes slid open. Her eyesight was cloudy and she was barely able to see anything. Beneath her the ground was grainy. She smelled salt and seaweed. Every part of her body ached and her throat burned from the inhaled ocean water.
Rogue blinked until at last the bleariness was removed from her vision. Her cheek was pressed onto damp sand and the palest of lights was leaking from the corner of her sight. Despite the freakish ache that was pounding through every muscle in her body, she heaved herself up into a sitting position and leaned up against a rock wall.
It was a small sea cave, a tunnel worn into the rock by currents that no longer reached into it. It was pretty long and wide and wound back towards the hint of light she had seen. The ceiling was low, so that a reasonably tall person would have to bend over so as not to bump their head. Rogue felt a jolt and twisted her head and then relaxed.
Her three friends were there, all passed out cold on the sandy floor. Genesis looked graceful even sleeping, Archer was flat on his back and snoring faintly, while Gambit was leaned against the wall with his chin drooping to his chest. They were all disheveled and covered in sand.
Rogue rolled over onto her knees and stood, every movement cautious. She may be invulnerable, but near constant battering still hurt. The leather HYDRA uniform she wore was still damp and uncomfortable. She shed it quickly down to the black synthetic shorts and tank top that she wore underneath it, also kicking off her boots and allowing the sand to sooth her feet. With a last quick glance at her companions she began to pad softly up the tunnel towards the gleam. As she made her way through the twisting passage a faint trickle of a breeze tickled her face and lifted her short hair slightly. Her heart pounded wildly and her pace grew faster until she was almost sprinting. At last, she reached the opening and she caught her breath.
The sky was still dark, with the horizon growing an eggshell pale in the east. Beneath the predawn sky the ocean shone faintly, a deep royal blue with the small waves crested with silver.
Rogue stared in a trance. The only memories left to her were of steel and stone, and after so long with that being the only thing she knew, this was the most glorious sight she had ever beheld. Her mind was frozen, her thought processes unable to work, letting instinct take over for a time.
Tentatively, she stepped out of the hole in the cliff and hovered in the empty air. With a sudden burst she rocketed forward and shot out over the open stretches of water.
With an exhileration she had never known before she dove towards the waves, the cool air whipping her hair around her and chilling her face. She relished it, her hardened skin defying the majority of the cold as she let a hand trail through the waves, sending up a glittering spray. It splashed her face and she trembled in ecstasy. All this time she had missed it, the wide world, and now she was in it, feeling it.
She pulled to a sudden stop and soared up, higher and higher until she reached the clouds. She rolled and dived and breached among the fluffy surfaces. She still couldn't think, it was just too amazing to believe this was true. Then she just flew up and up until her lungs burned with oxygen deprivation. Then Rogue allowed herself to fall.
As she plunged downward the sun broke the horizon and a heavenly dawn lit up the world. The ocean went from a dark blue-black with silver to depths of aquamarine and emerald, with crests of dove and pearl and it sparkled blindingly. The clouds were tinted with reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, and purples with the sky a radiant and pure blue. Rogue stopped in midair, frozen at this welcome back that freedom had given her. She was over the cliff again now and she slowly descended, still watching the sunrise. She didn't observe the one waiting for her on the cliff edge.
Her bare feet nestled into the cool grass and Gambit drifted over to her side. Neither spoke, merely taking in everything as it finally began to sink in. They were free. Not slaves or prisoners, but free.
The sun was fully over the horizon before he spoke. "It's belle, non?"
She turned her eyes to him and he was shocked. Her eyes, no longer dimmed under false light, were the most vibrant green that he was sure he would ever see. The swimming irises shamed the sunlit sea below and the swaying grass around them. They almost shone with brilliance.
"It is beautiful. Ah… Ah never thought it could be this amazin'." She turned back to the sight and took in a trembling breath. "After all this time Ah think that Ah was startin' to believe that everything was dark and colorless, but now… It's been ten years since ah saw any of it. You were imprisoned even longer, twelve years. When we're finally here after dreamin' of it for countless nights…" She trailed away, and her longtime friend caught the glistening in her angel eyes.
He laid a hand on her shoulder. "We're free now Rogue chere. You don' have to be hard. Your not a soldier anymore, mon belle ami is a human again."
A small gasp escaped her and she seized him into a desperate hug, disregarding for once her mutation, her frame wracking with powerful sobs as years of torment and despair were washed out with her tears. He was a little startled but then wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her there. A few tears found their way down his own cheeks though he was silent and he buried his face in her hair. Never before had either experienced such comfort and safety in the hold of another. For a long time they both just stood together, releasing the horrors of a lost childhood and embracing what was yet to come as the sun rose higher. The only sounds were the crashing breakers below.
Some time later found them sitting together on the cliff edge, their feet dangling and still leaning against each other. They were both exhausted and couldn't find the strength to get up again. Rogue lifted her face to absorb the warmth that was seeping into long-chilled bones and pale white skin. The voice of Carol then spoke in her head. The blonde had been silent through her early flight and her moment of release with Gambit, but her immense joy and been there. At least the body she shared was free now.
"Don't you think we should be getting back to the others? I like sitting here just as much as anyone but there are some crucially important things we need to work out."
Rogue sighed, but had to agree. She sat back up and nudged Gambit. "Archer and Genesis might be worried."
He nodded and started for a narrow trail that had allowed him to climb to the top, but Rogue simply lifted him and flew him down to the tunnel opening. Sitting there, side by side, were their friends. Genesis smiled radiantly at them both, her gold eyes still moist.
"We thought you should be alone. I never thought that seeing the sun again would be such a blessing. I'll never take it for granted after this." They settled down beside the other two. Rogue was startled when she saw Archer with his face in his hands. He was weeping softly. Genesis reached to take his hand, squeezing it gently as he looked up again, his cerulean eyes bloodshot and wet. They all paused together and again watched the ocean with content.
Gambit once again broke the reverie. "Well, now what?" They all looked at him. "Que? We free now, don' need anyone to watch out for us, we need to figure out a plan. We can' just sit here for de rest of our lives an' I'm hungry." They continued to stare, before they all burst out laughing. Rogue rolled on the floor, tears streaming from her eyes and her abdomen ached.
"T-trust you to think of your stomach." She giggled as she sat back up.
"Well, he's got a point. What are we going to do?" Archer asked.
Rogue leaned back against the cave wall. "You're the strategist. You tell us."
He thought, using a small driftwood stick to draw doodles in the sand. "I think the first thing we need to do is figure out where we are."
"I never woulda thought o' that." Archer glared at the Cajun before continuing.
"I'm pretty sure we're on an island, so we need to get off of it and back to the mainland as soon as possible. Then, we get our hands on some cash." He looked pointedly at Gambit who grinned devilishly. Out of all of them, he was by far the best at thieving. "After that, we get ourselves some necessities: clothes, food, transportation, and IDs. It'll be the best way to keep HYDRA from tracking us down again if we get settled in as soon as possible. Out of the country preferably, whichever country we're in."
They all nodded. It was the best plan so far: get out of the country and settle in. Rogue smirked. All that training was leading up to them settling down as everyday people. Rogue would be flying them out and Genesis would help with her limited telekinesis. Before that though, they would stay another night in the cave and rest up. Archer left to hunt some food on the island while Rogue went fishing seagull style. She loved the feel of the wind rippling her double colored hair and the feeling of plunging like a deadly hunter into the waves. It was hard, but she managed to snag a fish or two.
The meal was meager, two fish and a large rabbit cooked over a fire that Gambit had set alight with his finger and a pile of twigs. When the sky grew dark they retreated into the far recesses of the cave and settled down to sleep.
It was deep night before Rogue bolted up sweating and trembling. That awful place…then she looked around. She wasn't in her cell, or the laboratory, or in that terrible prison at all. Her heart slowed a little as she took in the bare stone walls and sandy floor. Then she saw Genesis huddled in a corner. Her eyes were dull.
"Even if we're free we can't escape it." She murmured. Rogue nodded and sat up. She was terrified of going back to sleep again, lest the nightmares come again.
"Maybe one day, but not anytime soon." Gambit moaned from where he was huddled nearby. Archer rolled over and agreed, his eyes haunted.
They all remained still, trying to forget the dreams. Then, Rogue scooted closer to Gambit and leaned against him. Genesis crawled over and Archer followed. They piled together like a pack of wolf pups, not like full grown human teenagers. They didn't care, finding comfort in closeness, something they'd never had in that place. Rogue nestled into her friend's chest, with Genesis and Archer on her other side. At last their eyes drifted closed again, and this time, the dreams let them be.
That was how the next day of freedom found them: together.
This one was kinda filler, but I'm still working on what comes after. I'll try to update soon.