The night sky was bright above, lit up with the twinkling stars of space. Below, riding down a long, empty road was a young woman on an old, black Harley motorcycle. She wore no helmet, leaving her caramel colored hair to fly out behind her in the wind, her dark blue eyes trained on the road ahead as they shined slightly in the light of the moon.
As Cody, the girl, coasted along, she was oblivious to the idea that she was being followed by an unknown person. There was a flash of a blur, of bright white hair, a turquoise colored outfit. Racing only a few feet behind the unsuspecting girl was Quicksilver, his shifty form easily keeping up with her. "Now?" The young speedster said quietly into the earpiece he wore, his hand coming to rest on the small machine for a moment.
"Now." The response came almost immediately, as if it had been waiting for the moment to say that one word. Quicksilver, a smirk now on his face as he received the long awaited command, put on an extra burst of speed, suddenly no longer on the ground, but rather flying through the air, tackling Cody as she sat atop her cycle.
Time seemed to slow as Cody swerved, her hands struggling to control the bike below her as she tried to stop the vehicle from diving off the road. But suddenly, she was rolling over onto her side as she heard the crackle of dirt beneath her felt the bike tipping as it began to roll. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, and was suddenly standing on the side of the road, watching as her bike rolled away from her. But it was then she realized that there was someone else with her.
The clapping sound behind her reached her ears all too easily. Cody turned slowly to see Quicksilver standing not far from her, brushing dust and grit from his sleek suit as he faced her with a sly smile. "Bravo, bravo! I see now why Magneto would want you at all." He said, his tone slightly menacing. Before Cody had even blinked, the young teen was suddenly before her, grabbing her arms and twisting around behind her to pin them behind her back.
"Now," he whispered quietly in her ear, ", you're going to come with me." But by now, Cody had realized that this was no joke, that this was no test. This was real. With a smirk of her own, she heaved her top half forward, tilting her face down towards the ground as she tossed Quicksilver to the ground in front of her, chuckling slightly.
"No, I'm not." Cody snapped back, watching him with narrowed eyes as he began to rise. As if on instinct, she made as if to punch him, but her palm was open. As her hand lined up with him, he was suddenly thrown backwards, as if forced by some unknown force. He was tossed backwards, rolling for a few more moments before he slowly rose again, wiping a bit of blood from his lip as he smirked at her.
"Finally, a challenge!" He stated, then dug his toe into the ground, suddenly blurring into a cloud of color as he dashed towards her. But before he could grab her, Cody was gone, instead standing in a different spot as she gazed upon his surprised face. It seemed that for the next few minutes it became the ultimate struggle of cat and mouse. But something had to give eventually.
Cody fell to the ground as he pinned her, forcing her face first towards the dirt. "You're about as thick as a ghost, aren't you?" Quicksilver said to her, his breath hot against her ear as he continued to pin her using his entire body. Without any warning, he suddenly cried out in pain, his grip instantly loosening as he was sent flying by a sudden beam of red light.
"Are you alright?" A calm, gentle voice reached the young woman as she slowly began to rise to her feet, shaking her long brown hair as she regained her senses. Turning her head, she saw the figure of a man, and a well built one at that. He obviously had strength, for he had wide shoulders, though his frame was a bit lanky and lean. He had a handsome face, framed with short, cropped light brown hair almost the same color as her own. But what really surprised her was the fact that he had some sort of disc attached to his head, covering his eyes. His hand fell to his side as Cody gazed at him, nodding slightly, still cautious.
"Good. I'm known Cyclops." The man said to her, walking over to her as he reached his hand out, obviously offering help as stopped near her. Cody let her eyes wander to the fallen form of Quicksilver for a moment before she let her eyes turn back to the man, giving another slight nod as greeting, but took his hand anyways.
"Cody." She finally responded as he pulled her to her feet, not wanting the silence to last much longer as she wiped the dust from her rose colored tank top, shifting her old jean jacket as she faced the man that had helped her. Cyclops nodded back, seeming to realize that Cody wasn't the talkative type. With a soft sigh, he motioned for her to follow him. "Come on. The Professor will want to speak with you." But just as he finished his words, there was a soft chuckle behind them.
"You X-Men are always butting in. It really does get quite annoying."
The voice was low, menacing. Cyclops spun around instantly, obviously recognizing the voice, but was only faced with a small metal ball connecting with his skull. There was a soft cracking sound and the mutant collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Behind him stood a tall figure, a long billowing cape connected to his shoulders, and a large metal helmet sitting upon his head, framing an old, worn face.
"Why do I always have to do everything myself?" The man said, shaking his head slightly as he slowly moved towards Cody, lifting his hand as his fingers began to close, to form into a fist. There was a groaning sound, and she turned her eyes behind her to see her motorcycle suddenly flying towards her. On instinct, she spun all the way around, her hands going up in front of her, using her telepathic abilities to keep the bike from coming any farther.
"Sorry Magneto. I almost had her." Quicksilver's voice echoed across the ground as he was suddenly beside the older man. Together, the pair watched as Cody continued to struggle, sweat beads forming on her brow from the strain of holding the machine back, of keeping it from coming any closer to her.
"It doesn't matter now. As soon as she is most vulnerable, take her." Magneto said, closing his fist all the way so that the motorcycle began to move with more pull. Cody pushed back as hard as she could, but with the sudden intensity, she was forced to her knees, the strain becoming harder than ever. With a smirk, Quicksilver took his opening, and was suddenly behind her, his hand connecting with her neck. Cody gave a small choking sound before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell backwards into the speedster's waiting arms.
"Cody….Magneto, stop…." The weak voice of Cyclops reached the two mutants as Quicksilver easily lifted the unconscious girl in his arms, her motorcycle falling to the desert ground beside them as Magneto released the magnetic hold, a crash sounding throughout the quiet night.
"Tell Charles I said hello, and that he no longer has to worry about taking on a new student." Magneto stated, motioning for Quicksilver to follow him as a pure metal plane suddenly appeared in the sky, coming to land on the cool desert floor. The platform of the plane opened, lowering before Magneto and Quicksilver, the form of Mystique standing inside of the plane as she waited for her allies to come aboard.
Magneto gazed at Cyclops a moment longer, a smirk on his face for a few seconds before he was gone again, walking up the hard metal door with Quicksilver behind him, Cody still in his arms. Cyclops could only gaze helplessly, a small trickle of blood trailing down the side of his face from where the small ball had connected with his head. There was a small humming sound and the plane rolled forward, was up in the air, and gone.
.ooOOoo.
"Professor!" Scott suddenly burst through the doors of the main entrance to the Xavier mansion, huffing slightly as he kneeled over, catching his breath for a moment. There was a commotion throughout the mansion as students appeared above on the landing, looking down to the first floor as Charles Xavier and the rest of the X-Men appeared at the call of the injured man.
"Scott! Are you alright?" Jean exclaimed, shoving past her friends as she rushed over to her love, enveloping him in a hug, worried as she noticed the dried trail of blood leading from his temple. He nodded, though did lean against her some as he breathed out softly, turning his eyes to the professor, briefly noticing the two girls that stood among the crowd of familiar faces.
"That mutant you sent me to find, she's gone. Magneto came himself. Quicksilver was there too." Scott said, still leaning against Jean for support. Xavier's face became serious and grave as he nodded. Turning his wheel chair around, he faced Storm. "Storm, I need you to find this girl. Take Nightcrawler and Rouge with you." The white haired woman nodded then was gone, going to look for her team mates.
"I'm going too." Scott said, and before anyone could stop him, he was gone, following Storm up the staircase. Xavier sighed, shaking his head as he turned to Jean. "Get the X-Jet refueled and running. It's time we go and find that girl."