*The X-men and their world belongs to Marvel

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"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Scott bellowed at the students and Logan. They had given them the chase and caught up to the larger jet. Now they were sitting in-between the two jets, getting yelled at by their teachers.

"We had to save Shadow!" Kitty defended, "You guys weren't going to-"

"It isn't your place to make these kind of decisions Miss Pryde." Scott growled through clenched teeth. "Its our responsibility to make these decisions and-"

"But you were making the wrong one!" I now stood up and looked down at my teacher.

" Shadow and the rest of the mutants at that base are in danger, along with all the students back at the school! Yes we were disobeying you, but we had to take this risk. If we want to be X-men one day, we'll have to learn when to take a risk if it means saving people."

Scott was fuming now, I half expected him to shoot me with his lasers.

"Cyclops," Storm said, "Maybe, maybe we should check things out. We're already out here, so what's the harm?"

"The harm is-" Scott started to yell, but stopped himself when he realized he didn't have an argument. "Well, these students stole a jet and flew out here by themselves against our permission. And no, I don't think you or the bushman count as supervision!" Scott yelled at Gambit when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Professor Summers, you can't make us go back, not without even trying to find her." I said, trying to keep my voice calm. "I'm speaking only for myself here, but I'm willing to give up my place at your school to help her."

I looked around at the brigade of classmates "I don't expect you all to risk the same, and I thank you for coming this far."

Kitty rolled her eyes at me before coming to stand behind me. "You artist guys, always so dramatic. I'm with you Pete."

One by one they came to stand behind me and glare at our teachers. Wolverine stood beside me, sneering at Cyclops and Gambit had come over with Rogue. Lance came to stand beside Kitty, murmuring "I don't even go to your school, so what can they do?"

Storm actually smiled at us before nudging her comrade and friend. Scott swore, a first time doing so in front of his students. "Fine, but we're coming with you and you all have detention until you graduate."

He stormed up to Wolverine. "I hate you."

Wolverine just gave a wolfish grin. "So which jet do you want to drive?"

xXx

It was past midnight when I heard the alarms go off. I fell out of my bed and looked around confused. From the hallway I heard men being yelled orders to over the alarms, and lights were flashing out my window.

Sensing someone's presence, I spun around to see Bryan offering me a hand up, in his other hand was a gun.

"They're here, lets move." He said as he helped me stand up.

Guess there's no time to get dressed, I thought absently, glancing down at my sleeping boxers and tank top.

I pushed the thought out of my sleepy mind as Bryan and I raced past the other soldiers and down to where they had the mutants locked up. After taking out the two soldiers that stood guard outside the prison and stealing their keycards, we got into the prison.

The number of suffering was outstanding…

Left and right there were mutants locked up in tiny cells. Some were strapped to the wall, some were in cells the size of closets, others were being hung from the ceiling of their cells. Proof of the experimentation on these poor souls was visible. From those closest to me I could see their arms were bruised from all the needles and IVs stuck into them. Other prisoners looked like they recently had surgery done on different parts of their anatomy or looked like experiments gone wrong. At the other end of the hallway of cells, there were five soldiers shooting the imprisoned mutants.

"No!" I screamed charging at the five soldiers. Using my senses and agility, I dodged their bullets. Seconds later, the five were dead on the floor and their blood on my hands.

I've done it, I thought horrified as I backed away from the corpses, I've finally became a murder…

"Cathleen, come on!" Bryan yelled over the chaos, giving me a shake. "We have to get these people out of here!"

I shook my head absently, then got to work. I used the stolen keycard to open the cells. Some mutants needed extra help escaping their prisons, physically and mentally.

"N-no," One girl, barely older than me, stuttered. Her eyes blackened and she retreated to her cell's corner where she began to rock back and forth. "I-it's a trick! You're trying to trick me into being bad! They said I could go home if I was good, but you want me to be bad!"

The large mutant I freed prior came forward and whispered to the traumatised girl as he picked her up. "Its alright sweetie, you're okay. Trust us, you're going home."

Other prisoners needed to be carried out, but soon we had all gathered outside their prison hall. I saw the Brotherhood members and most of them seemed to be in not too bad shape. Bryan came rushing up to me.

"She's not here! I can't find my sister Felicia anywhere!" Bryan yelled, panicking.

"Felicia, you mean Screech?" The large mutant that had helped me before with the girl back in the cell came up to us. He still carried the whimpering, muttering girl. "They took her before the alarms sounded; she's in the surgical room. Down the hall and to the right, you'll find it when you smell the blood."

I looked over a Bryan. I didn't want him to be alone out there in the chaos, but I couldn't leave this group either. I turned to the large mutant. "Okay, get everyone to follow me. Bryan, the surgical room is on the way to the top, we'll come with you."

The large mutant nodded then yelled to his fellow prisoners. "Everyone, follow us!"

We charged down the hall, taking out any foolish soldier that tried to stand in our way. The stronger of the prisoners that weren't helping the others walk came to the front and took out the soldiers before the others even saw them. Eventually, we came to the room.

The mutant was right, the smell gave it away…

When I looked in (covering my sensitive nose), I saw discarded medical equipment laying on the floor and at least six cold metal tables with straps on them. On the floor were several holes, for the blood to drain into. One table had a shivering blond girl strapped down to it. Her head was held down by many straps and there was a surgical cutter, still going. Her cries were muffled by duct tape.

Bryan and I hurried over to her. I worked on cutting loose her restraints and Bryan took away her mouth tape.

The moment he did, she screamed and screamed. It seemed like it would never stop. But the poor girl, skin had been torn away with the tape and the skin left looked dead or infected. It seems she's had that tape on for a very long time.

"Oh Bryan," She finally cried, falling into his arms. "They were going to cut out my brain, they were going to kill me, I couldn't stop them, they killed before, its so dark, so much pain…"

"Shh shh, I'm here now, you're free. I'm never letting anything hurt you again." Bryan promised, hugging his sister tight to him.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but we have to go."

He nodded and carried his crying sister along as we and the other prisoners made our way back up through the base. We knew we were getting closer because we found more soldiers and the noise was getting louder. We lost a few mutants, shot down by soldiers. The poor souls had just tasted freedom before their death…

We made it to the final door, leading outside. I was about to throw it open when I felt a searing pain in my right leg. I screamed and fell, finding blood gushing out of a bullet wound. I looked to see a squadron of soldiers pointing their guns at us.

The prisoners reacted be attacking the soldiers who had tortured and imprisoned them. Those helping the weaker mutants put their charges against the wall and formed a protective circle around them. Before my eyes, humans and mutants being slaughtered by one another.

I could hardly fight with a shot leg, but I could be of help. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the pain or the dizziness from blood loss. I tried to focus on a shield, preventing the humans and mutants from hurting each other, but I just couldn't find the power…

And then it happened. Every mind within a hundred kilometres was inside mine, screaming at me. I felt some slip away as they died, some screaming in agony, some hearts were breaking as they watched their friends or family die, others tortured as they took another's life. All the barriers I put up in my mind to protect me broke the second the restraints on my psychic powers were taken away.

So much pain, emotion, sorrow, death; I couldn't take it!

I screamed and felt myself lifted into the air. Below me, humans and mutants were thrown away from each other, by my shield. With a shuddering gasp, I fell bake down to the floor, barely keeping consciousness. Around me, humans were knocked out, but the mutants were just down.

I rolled over, wanting to sleep and never wake up. Until I saw Bryan looking at me. He tried to smile, that's when I noticed the blood dripping from his mouth. He tried to speak, but a gurgle of fresh blood poured from his mouth instead. He spat, then tried again.

"I-it worked." He said weakly. "Your shield, I guess? They can't hurt each other any more. I-I think it was too late for me though…"

He lifted his hand away from his stomach, showing a gaping wound. There was no way anyone could help him. In my mind I sensed him fading away.

"L-look," He tried to say but more blood poured from his mouth. "after-"

Each word he spoke was now a struggle, I took his hand and used my powers to take away his pain. I met his eyes before connecting our minds. From within our minds, he could tell me his last wishes. Though he could speak and feel no pain, it was still hard to hear him because he was fading away.

"Thank you Cathleen, for this. For giving me hope these last days that my sister could be free. You saved her, both of us. I'm free too." Bryan said, smiling at me.

I put us in the Astral Planes, making it look like the valley that a small creek ran through by Bryan's home. From his memories I knew how much he loved the place since he was little, and he wanted to see it one more time. Bryan was dressed in a pair of jeans and a leather jacket, in this world he didn't have to be dressed in his army regulated clothing. He could be who he wanted. I no longer saw a dying man, bloody and weak, but a strong healthy and happy. But his image was still fading.

I felt myself start to cry. It wasn't fair! Bryan had risked his life to save the other mutants! To help me! He only just got his sister back and he was going to be taken from her, again. All this because of me.

I felt a gentle hand hold up my chin. Bryan made me face him. "I know what you're thinking, and please, don't blame yourself. I meant every word of my thanks, from the bottom of my heart. But I have one more thing to ask of you. Will you look after Felicia for me? Please? She'll need a friend to help her get over the trauma of this place, and my death. She'll need you, Cathleen. Will you be there for her?"

I nodded, tears sliding down my cheeks. "Of course I will."

Bryan was barely more than a ghost now. He stared off into the sunset, a smile on his face. He started walking towards it, fading even more. Over his shoulder he called, "And tell her how proud I am of her, I couldn't have asked for a better little sister. Tell her that I'll always watch other her, even if she can't s…"

I opened my eyes, Bryan was gone before he could finish what he was saying. Tears continued to slide down my cheeks as I reached over and closed Bryan's eyelids, staring into the green eyes that no longer held the light they used to.

"Rest in peace, you'll always be in my prayers." I whispered.

Suddenly I heard a roar and Creed ran into the room. There was blood everywhere on him, and his clothing was torn. He held a gun in one hand and hand his claws out in the other. I tried to hide myself better behind someone's corpse (I couldn't tell if it was human or mutant), and hoped that my scent would be covered by the smell of blood and death.

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS CATHLEEN?" He roared. Mutants and humans alike cowered at the sight and sound of him, except for Quicksilver. He stood up, though his sister the Scarlet Witch tried to pull him back down. His lip was split open and his left arm was bleeding badly. He pointed a shaky gun at Creed and tried to shoot, but Creed pounced on him.

"Do you know where my daughter is, huh?" Creed shook him. "ARE YOU KEEPING HER FROM ME?"

Peitro started to laugh and laugh, the laugh of a mad man. I guess he thought it was funny that Creed was so worried about the daughter that freed and led the mutants that he had captured.

Creed put his gun to the white haired man's temple and was about to pull the trigger.

All of a sudden, the wall opposite to me broke open. I covered my face from the debris and dust. When I looked up, I felt my heart skip a beat.

Standing in the newly formed hole amongst the debris was my knight in shinnying armour. Peter, my Peter, stood tall and strong in his Colossus form. He surveyed the scene before marching up to Creed and punching him through at least seven walls of the base. He then looked at the mutants around him.

"Does anyone know where Shadow is?" He asked the crowd. Everyone shook their heads fearfully, they didn't know who I was, let alone my old codename, and they were afraid that they were going to be punched by the Colossus next.

"Peter, Peter," I called softly, my voice barely audible. I was so tired, so weak…

"Shadow?" Peter heard my weak call and started searching like a maniac through the debris and people.

"I'm over here." I tried to call, but it came out as a whisper. I tried to sit up but promptly fell back down. A moment later, Peter was at my side and was picking me up gently.

"Oh my god," Peter gasped, seeing the state I was in. He turned back into his skin, human, form and his blue eyes looked down at me in horror.

"Yeah, I'm not looking my best." I tried to smile, but then some blood that was running down my face from the large gash over my eye got in my mouth and I stopped. I wonder when I got that?

"Y-you're still prefect looking, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Peter told me, smoothing down my hair.

"Liar." I said, leaning against his chest and closing my eyes. "You came, I knew you would. Always my knight in shining armour. I knew you'd come…"

"Shh," He hushed putting his forehead to mine. "I'll always come for you, I'll always been here for you Shadow-"

"Cathleen, my name is Cathleen." I told him, opening my eyes to meet his.

He kissed my forehead softly and started to carry me away.

"Peter?" I said, closing my eyes once more.

"Yes Shad- Cathleen?" Peter asked.

"I can look after myself, I'm a tough girl and a fighter, remember?" I said, reminding him of our past discussion. "I'll let is slide this time, but I get to save you next time."

He chuckled softly. After saying that, I fell into a long deep sleep…