Disclaimer: Well, I decided to take some classes on hacking (yes, they do have those) to learn some new tricks; I'll let you know how they go…
A/N: As an early Christmas gift, I'm going to give you guys an extra chapter to enjoy. Merry Christmas! I hope that this helps you guys to begin to reconcile my long updates, and how long this story's been going on. I really appreciate everyone who has stuck with me, so I dedicate this chapter to each and every one of you. Enjoy!
"…"- conversation
'…'- thoughts
(…)- extra facts/actions (some)
'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally
Chapter 57: Remy's Chronicles: Rescues, Part 5
Hallway #3, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 3:25 AM
Remy and his group soon reached hallway #3, where they found a suffering Danielle and Scott, who was weeping bitterly in his cell for Jean. Remy assigned positions to all those with him, placing most of them on guard duty while he, Kurt, Amara, Bobby, Tabby, Logan, and Lexie moved to rescue the cells' occupants.
Amara, Bobby, and Lexie went to Danielle's cell, where she was screaming her lungs out, the sound piercing Lexie's eardrums.
"Damn, she's loud when she screams," Lexie commented, rubbing her ears to try to get the ringing to stop.
Amara looked over to her friend and replied, "Oh yeah, and she's supposed to be meek and quiet when she's getting tortured thanks to mental images, right?" Lexie scowled at the use of sarcasm, but shrugged, knowing Amara was right. Bobby hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, as he had been busy freezing the door solid, so that they go and rescue Danielle.
"Done." Bobby powered back down to his normal form after icing the bars. Amara and Lexie looked up from their arguments and Lexie rammed her shoulder against the bars, pleased when they gave way under her weight. The three mutants then entered the cell and while Bobby and Lexie held Danielle still – with Lexie making sure that Danielle's hair was out of the way – Amara flared up and shot a lava stream at the collar, taking care to aim at just the right spot. When the collar had come loose Amara shifted back to her human state and carefully took it off Danielle's neck, throwing it against the wall so that it shattered into a million pieces.
Danielle moaned and opened her black eyes to the welcome sight of Bobby, Lexie, and Amara. "Guys… it is so good to see you," Dani muttered, taking care to keep her voice low to save her energy. With Lexie and Amara's help, Dani got to her feet and they brought her out of her cell, Dani learning from Bobby what was going on.
As the group of four mutants exited the cell, Dani looked up and her voice trailed off as she caught sight of Evan, who was leaning against a wall, fingering a small spike. Although they had never talked, as Dani often acted the part of a wallflower, she had gradually realized that she had fallen in love with the spiked mutant, especially with his rough-and-tough personality and determination. Amara noticed Dani trail off and looking to where she was staring an evil smile crept onto her face.
"So Dani; any crushes lately?" Amara innocently asked, catching Lexie's attention. Lexie sniffed the air and on smelling attraction towards Evan from Dani grinned as well.
Dani started at the question and replied, "Of course not, 'Mara. I have much more important stuff to deal with right now, including defeating Apocalypse." She looked away and so didn't notice that Evan had noticed her and was outright staring.
"So Evan, got a crush on Dani?" Ray asked, coming up to sling an arm around Evan's shoulder. Evan roughly pushed Ray's arm off and wheeled on him, a cold expression on his face.
"No way, man! Why would I like a wallflower like her?" Evan hissed to Ray, who noticed that his voice dropped a few pitches on the word "wallflower"; as if he didn't mean what he had just said. Internally, Evan was asking himself when Dani had become so… well, hot?
Ray shrugged and replied, "Hey man, I'm only saying what I'm seeing; just treat her well." Ray then left a now confused Evan to go and help bring Scott out of his cell. Scott was currently unconscious and Kurt and Tabby were struggling under Scott's body. Ray ran over and helped them up, where they brought him over to Remy, who quickly healed him.
Scott opened his eyes and on seeing Gambit struggled to get to his visor to shoot the trespasser. However, on realizing that he was being held in the air he demanded, "Guys, put me down! I need to kill Gambit!" His demand went undone, as his carriers continued to carry him over to where Hank was, so that the Institute's main doctor could tell Scott what was going on... and avert an unnecessary death.
"Remy, can you heal Dani?" Lexie asked, and on receiving a yes told Dani that Remy was going to come and heal her since her energy was far too low for her to heal herself. Once Remy had healed Dani he allowed Logan to explain to Scott and Dani the rules in the hallway and then led his team, now numbering twenty-one strong, to the next hallway. Remy didn't notice the nasty looks that Scott was directing at him, utterly embarrassed that he had had to be rescued by the enemy.
Hallway #14, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 3:33 AM
On arriving in hallway #14, Scott instantly recognized his brother's screams of pain and ran over to his cell, intent on rescuing Alex himself. However, he didn't take notice of the electricity that was surging on the bars, and when he touched them yelled as he was electrocuted. Once the smoke had cleared a severely electrocuted Scott stood, facing the other twenty mutants in front of him, all of whom trying to not laugh at Scott's new style.
"Ha ha. You knew that'd happen, didn't you?" Scott muttered, flicking soot that now covered him from his uniform and visor eye, trying to keep up his reputation of being in pristine condition. On getting a snort as his answer from Logan, Scott sighed and said, "Fine, I give up. You guys are obviously the experts on rescuing people when compared with my apparent lack of skills; go on." Scott grudgingly moved aside, watching with envious eyes as Remy told which mutants to go to each cell and rescue their inhabitants. Why couldn't he earn that kind of respect?!
Remy stood ready to heal Alex and Rahne when they came out of their cells while Jubilee, Lexie, and Tabby went to retrieve Rahne and Kurt, Bobby, and Ray went to rescue Alex.
Once Kurt had teleported Bobby and Ray inside the cell Bobby knelt in front of Alex and held him by the shoulders, hissing in his ear to stay still while holding his hair away from Alex's collar. This gave Ray a clear shot. Ray, aiming carefully, shot a thin stream of electricity at the collar, taking care to control the path of the electricity so he wouldn't accidentally electrocute Alex. The collar crashed to the ground, small sparks flying off the jagged edges of the keyhole. Alex began to moan in pain as soon as the collar came off, and Kurt grabbed the three of them and teleported them outside to where Remy was waiting, healing powers ready.
After Remy healed Alex, he moved over to Rahne's cell, counting off in his mind which hallways were left for him to do. 'We only have trois hallways left; den Remy can see his chére again…'
Meanwhile, Alex had opened his eyes and on seeing his friends said, "Wow guys, what speedboat hit me and ran off?" On getting a few chuckles at his joke, Alex grinned and slapped high-fives with his teammates, glad to see that they were okay. However, on counting all of X-Factor that was in front of him he realized that some members were still missing, including Lorna.
"Where's Lorna?" Alex asked worriedly, concerned over his girlfriend's safety. On getting looks that said 'We don't know' Alex cursed and, powering up sent a shot of energy at the wall, causing Hank and Callisto to dodge it, Callisto shooting a nasty look at the younger Summers' brother.
Scott, having seen Alex's anger walked over to his brother and, placing a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, bro; we'll find Lorna, I promise." Alex gave him a quick hug in thanks then went over to Bobby and Ray to make plans on finding Lorna.
Rahne, meanwhile, opened her eyes to the concerned faces of Jubilee, Lexie, and Tabby and giving a shout of joy jumped into a group-hug, surprising them with the amount of energy she was exhibiting. After the hug broke up, Rahne sniffed the air around her and, frowning, asked, "Where's 'Berto?"
The three women looked at each other then at Rahne, with Lexie saying, "Sorry Rahne, but we haven't found him yet." Rahne let out a mournful sigh and a short howl of sorrow at the fact that her boyfriend hadn't been found yet; funny, she somehow knew Roberto was close-by, but something was off. She could sense that something wasn't right with him…
The four women walked out of the cell and into the hallway where the other X-Factor members greeted Rahne with enthusiasm and excitement. Remy watched her, amazed that she had so much energy after having been held captive and thought, 'Oui, she's one of 'em…'
Hank once more explained what was going on and the group left the hall to go and find the next hallway on Remy's list, Rahne desperately hoping that she would find Roberto soon.
Hallway #5, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 3:49 AM
When the group entered hallway #5, Scott felt through his telepathic link with Jean her presence in the hallway. He took off running for her cell, ignoring the other cell's occupant and this time, using logic unleashed a large beam of concentrated energy at the bars, disintegrating them quickly. Scott ran in and, using a narrow beam of energy, fried the collar around her neck, which released his wife from her captivity. Scott carried her out of the cell bridal-style and reluctantly said, "Gambit, I need you to heal my wife."
Remy, chuckling inside at how insincere Scott sounded with his request, went to where Scott was and, using his energy healed Jean. He then ran over to where he heard arguments occurring, fearing for the worse. However, what he saw caused him to grimace and slap a hand on his forehead.
"Forge, you're not doing this right; it's all wrong!" Hank yelled, trying to keep Forge from fiddling with the hinges of the non-threatening door by moving to take over Forge's work area. Forge was doing his best to ignore Hank but soon exploded, calling Hank a boatload of names, some that Hank didn't recognize. This was, of course, the doorway to the main hallway, which had remained sealed even though Remy had supposedly fried the hinges when he had phased the group of mutants through it.
Remy thought to himself as he watched the two adults argue, 'Both Hank et Forge must be trying to prove dat he isn't useless… Mon Dieu, what are they doin' now?'
While Remy ran over to the arguing adults to try to settle them down – especially Forge – Logan had run over to the other cell but when he saw the cell's occupant he froze.
"'Ro?" Logan croaked, sounding nothing like his usual gruff self; in fact, fear laced Logan's voice, bringing it to the point of cracking. For in front of him lay Ororo, unmoving on the ground, her white hair dull and limp, shallowly breathing.
"Elf! Popsicle!" Logan roared, catching the attention of all the mutants, who had been watching Forge and Hank fight with interest, most having never seen Hank yell curse words at anyone previously. Kurt and Bobby ran over to Logan and on seeing who was in the cell both paled considerably.
"We need to rescue her; now!" Logan said, and then thinking again yelled, "Cajun! Get your ass over here!" Remy came running over from where he had been trying to restrain Forge from attacking Hank, leaving Evan and Ray to try and hold the inventor and doctor back from attacking each other. On reaching the cell, Remy understood the situation immediately and hit himself in the head, cursing his forgetfulness of rescuing the other occupant of the hallway.
"Oui, go et rescue her, Monsieur Logan; Remy will be waiting ici," Remy commanded, taking off both his gloves in preparation. Logan nodded and with Kurt grabbing both him and Bobby teleported inside the cell.
Logan instantly ran over to Ororo and, gently picking her up, whispered, "Come on 'Ro… don't do this to me. We all need you at the Institute; you're our heart, you inspire us all to do our best. We need you; I need you…" Logan then placed a kiss on Ororo's forehead, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Bobby and Kurt. The two shared a look, silently agreeing not to tell anyone about the kiss… yet. Logan then gently moved Ororo's hair away from her neck, allowing Bobby a clear shot at the collar, which he immediately took, taking careful aim to make sure that he didn't hit Ororo.
Once the collar was frozen, Kurt gently removed it and sent it flying into the back of the cell. He then took hold of Bobby and Logan, the latter still holding Ororo in his arms, and teleported them outside of the cell, where Remy was waiting. When the quartet had materialized, both Forge and Hank ran over, both having given up the task of opening the door when Callisto had threatened them with castration if they didn't stop.
On seeing an unconscious Ororo in Logan's arms Forge ran over and gently ran a hand along Ororo's face, doing his best to not curse out Logan for Ororo's condition, whom he knew was at no fault for Ororo's condition (but hey, he needed a scapegoat) and was significantly stronger than him. Hank had moved to Logan's left and, picking up her wrist, listened for a pulse.
"Logan, was Ororo like this when you rescued her?" Hank solemnly asked, his eyes meeting Logan's. Logan nodded, keeping what he was feeling guarded behind a secure gate. Hank sighed and continued, "She's near death… what she saw in her head must have overloaded her neural systems to the point that she must have gone unconscious; she's going to need a rather large surge of energy to come back to us…"
"You mean like what we did for Jean on the moon a few years ago when she was possessed by the Phoenix?" Scott asked, his wife Jean right behind him, not looking pleased that the enemy had rescued her. In fact, she looked like she would have rather died than been saved from plausible death by Gambit.
Hank looked at Scott and nodded. Remy suddenly spoke up, saying, "Monsieur Beast, if Remy is understandin' tu correctly, Storm needs all of our energy to become healthy; oui?" On getting another nod from Hank, Remy continued, "Bon, not a problem; dis may sound corny but tous le monde (everyone) join hands et form a circle dat connects vous avec moi, Monsieur Logan and Mademoiselle Storm." The younger mutants looked at each other and without a word did as Remy commanded, with X-Factor first, with Leon, Rex, and Lynn on his (Remy's) right. Hank joined in without hesitation, his gut telling him that this maneuver was going to save Ororo's life. Forge, with some hesitation and suppression of the urge to grab Ororo and force Logan into standing in the circle (far away from Storm in the line) joined as well with Warren and Kurt following him. Evan looked at Callisto, Artie, Dorian, and Façade, telling them with his eyes that he had to do this and verbally reminding them that she was his aunt and had offered them help numerous times, going so far as to come into the sewers with gifts for the younger Morlocks at Christmas. Callisto nodded and took Kurt's hand, determination steeled. She then motioned with her head to her fellow Morlocks that they had to do this and, grinning Evan joined her, followed by Dorian, Artie, and a reluctant Façade, who still didn't trust Ororo.
Finally, the only mutants left to join were Scott and Jean, the latter looking like she wanted to spit venom. Scott looked at the mutants waiting and then to Ororo, who still lay limp in Logan's arms, her white hair falling over her shoulder haphazardly, her usually bright mocha skin a dull brown. He nodded and moved towards the line, taking Façade's hand, and motioned with his head that Jean join them. Jean refused, proclaiming her intent not to obey Remy's command.
They stood at a standstill for a moment, the rest of the mutants (Scott included) glaring at Jean to enter until finally Logan, growling, gently handed Ororo to Remy, who made sure to support the woman's head while he stalked towards Jean, a venomous look in his eyes.
"Jean, you may not be a student anymore, but you had better listen to me and get your ass in gear! Ororo did everything in her power to help you in your studies at college, goin' so far as to write you all those damn recommendation letters without you askin' her! She's the heart of our school, your fellow colleague, and one of your best friends! And how the hell do you repay her?! You refuse to listen to Cajun's idea, which might be Ororo's only chance of surviving because you're jealous that you didn't think of this and that you were saved by Gambit. Well get this through your head! The Cajun's with us; if Stripes can trust him, if all of these mutants whom he rescued entrusted their lives to him can trust him, and if I can trust him then you had better start trustin' him Jeannie! If you end up bein' the reason that 'Ro doesn't pull through so help me you will regret your actions for the rest of your damn life!" Logan screamed, his words punctuated by anger and his eyes, which proclaimed how much he knew these words to be true. Jean was cowering in fear by the time that Logan had finished, and meekly nodded, getting a snort from Logan. Jean quickly moved into place beside her husband, not looking at anyone as she did so, too ashamed for her actions.
Logan then moved back to Remy and once more took Ororo's body into his arms, nodding to Remy to start the process. All those who had witnessed his rant were looking at each other in amazement, and in the younger students, gears were turning. Callisto and the Morlocks were looking at Ororo with a new respect; if someone as vicious as the Wolverine would defend her so voraciously then she was worthy of all the respect that Evan had for her. Evan was looking smug. He knew Logan cared about his aunt; had known it for a decade but didn't understand why they had never gotten together, especially since he knew that she felt the same way for Logan that he felt for her.
Remy grinned; he knew that Logan had done what had needed done even if it meant admitting in so few words that he cared about Ororo as more than a colleague. "Bon, now all nous do is concentrate on pulling Storm back to us by givin' her a small portion of our own energy."
Remy closed his eyes, as did everyone else, and slowly but surely Ororo's body began to glow with a silver aura. Silver threads of light exited each person and entered her body, restoring her life force. Once the aura had faded, everyone opened their eyes and watched as Ororo, who was still lying in Logan's arms, opened her eyes. The first thing that Ororo's eyes focused on was Logan, his black eyes looking at her with concern flickering in their depths.
"Logan," Ororo breathed, smiling when she saw Logan grin back at her. He then placed Ororo on her feet, not moving away until she was standing on her own two feet. Ororo then surprised everyone by flinging her arms around Logan's neck, smiling when she felt him stiffen. "Thank you Logan… for everything."
Logan stood there, a shocked look on his face, until he regained his senses and hugged her back, ignoring all the catcalls from the watching mutants (especially the younger mutants). After a minute, they broke apart, and Ororo was surprised when a pair of arms encircled her shoulders from behind, hugging her.
"Auntie O!" Evan exclaimed, not caring how the Morlocks saw his actions; he was just happy that his aunt was fine. He let her go, and watched as Ororo turned around and on seeing him, smiled. Evan just grinned back and said, "Glad to see you're okay, Auntie O."
Ororo hugged her nephew in return and, still grinning, replied, "As am I, Evan; as am I." This was the signal for the rest of the mutants to come and greet Ororo, with Jean being an exception, as she watched the scene with narrowed eyes.
Remy then took charge, and, after briefing Jean and Ororo on the situation, solved Forge and Hank's earlier fight by pointing out that the current hallway and the next one were connected by a door that had gone unnoticed the entire time that they had been in the hallway. Forge and Hank quickly apologized to each other, and then the whole group ran towards their next destination, with no one but Remy catching the small peck on the cheek Ororo gave Logan as they brought up the rear of the group.
Hallway #16, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 4:00 AM
Upon entering the hallway, the mutants knew what had to be done without any verbal command. However, all were shocked when they saw that this hallway had three cells in it instead of the customary two. Remy, sensing the shock that had cloaked the group, said, "We must rescue de inhabitants of these cells; especially if there be trois. Let's move!" This brought the group back to life and with his words, the mutants spilt into their customary groups, with a third added for the third cell. Amara, Jubilee, and Tabby tackled the first cell in the hall, and upon entering, were all shocked to see Kitty a prisoner.
"Why's Kitty here? She wasn't at the DR session!" Amara exclaimed, pausing to wonder why the phaser was there. None of them noticed how she looked as the shadows hid her new form.
"Who cares; we just have to get her out of the cell!" Jubilee commanded, also wondering how Kitty was taken prisoner. Amara nodded, and, flaring up began walking towards Kitty. However, all three women screamed as the light revealed something… unexpected, just as the team sent to rescue the occupant of cell #2 – Bobby, Ray, and Alex – began cursing in horror.
"What happened to her?!" Tabby exclaimed, her eyes taking in the wings and tail that now adorned Kitty's petite frame, accompanied by what appeared to be purple, scaly skin. She looked to Amara and Jubilee, both of whom looked just as lost as her, and, upon hearing the boys, ran to their cell and asked what was wrong.
"What's wrong is that Avalanche looks like a damn gargoyle!" Ray exclaimed, not at all used to seeing a man who, just weeks ago, had looked like a human, and now had a tail, wings, and green, scaly skin. Bobby and Alex nodded in agreement. "Why'd you scream?" Ray asked the girls, who told him that Kitty had wings, a tail, and scaly skin as well.
Remy came up behind them at that moment, and said, "Listen to moi: it doesn't matter what they look like; they are still nos (our) amis et we must rescue them; bon?" The six young adults nodded sheepishly, and upon hearing an extremely high-pitched scream issue from Kitty's cell the women took off while the men turned back to Lance, who was groaning in pain.
With Remy supervising, both groups carefully maneuvered around Kitty and Lance's cells, avoiding their tails, which were thrashing around, and carefully moving their wings, which allowed Tabby and Bobby, respectively, to fry the collars. Once the metal contraptions were off, they brought the mutants out into the light where a collection of curses and gasps met them, the loudest being Lexie's, who with a look from Ororo clapped a hand over her mouth to stop another curse from escaping.
Kitty's eyes opened, and on seeing the faces that met her, loudly sighed, and said, "Just great… this was so how I wanted to tell you guys about my new look." She looked to her left, and, on seeing Lance, gasped and ran over to him, leaving a mystified Amara, Jubilee, and Tabby in her wake. Kitty knelt in front of Lance, and began stroking his face, murmuring words to him in an effort to get him to wake up. Her efforts worked as Lance groaned, and he opened his eyes, only to see his worried girlfriend in front of him.
"Kitty, are you okay?" Lance asked worriedly, carefully extracting himself from Alex, Bobby, and Ray's arms and kneeling in front of Kitty, who had tears falling from her eyes.
Kitty threw herself into Lance's open arms and said, "I was afraid that I'd lost you again, Lance." Lance gently stroked Kitty's hair, reassuring her that he was fine. On hearing Remy clear his throat, he looked up into the Cajun's eyes and, grinning, nudged Kitty to look up. When she did, she grinned, and both let Remy help them up.
"Good to see you encore (again), mes amis," Remy said, a smirk threatening to overtake his face. "Oh, while Remy goes to heal de other cell's prisoner you should probably explain your looks to everyone else." Remy chuckled then took off running to the third cell in the hallway, where Kurt had just teleported out with Evan and Logan, an unconscious Amanda in his arms.
Lance and Kitty looked around them, and saw Ororo come forward to embrace Kitty, seemingly not minding her new look. However, on pulling back, she asked, "By the Goddess, Kitty and Lance, what happened?"
Kitty and Lance looked at each other, and deciding to give a quick answer, Lance said, "Well, Kitty and I were both injured by Sabretooth a few days ago. When he injured us, he injected us with some kind of gargoyle DNA from his claws, which mutated us into what you see now. We have new powers and have control over our original powers. The rest we'll explain later."
Ororo nodded, and hugged Kitty once more. She then moved over to Lance and said, "Young Avalanche; I trust that you have joined the X-Men, by the looks of your uniform?" On getting a sheepish nod from Lance, she continued, "Then I, on behalf of the entire Xavier Institute, welcome you to the X-Men." She then surprised Lance by hugging him, catching him off guard. He looked over to Kitty, who was grinning widely, and responded by hugging her back.
"You have no right to do that, Storm!" Jean exclaimed, pushing her way to the forefront. "You have no right to welcome Avalanche to the X-Men, just as Gambit had no right to heal me without my permission!" She was, by now, in Ororo's face, jabbing her finger into Ororo's chest.
Ororo merely stared at Jean for a moment before coolly replying, "I believe that it is you who is mistaken, Mrs. Summers. I am a senior instructor at the Xavier Institute, and I have already heard from Logan and Scott while you were busy glaring at Remy that the Professor had previously given Lance membership to the X-Men. You are acting like a spoiled five-year old and, if you wish to continue teaching at the Institute, then it would be wise to cease and desist; do you understand?" Jean once again cowered, not used to receiving criticism from Logan or told to shut up by Ororo in the same day.
Ororo then turned to face Lance and said, "I'm sorry that Jean is acting this way, Lance. If the Professor believes that you are ready to join the X-Men, then I too believe that to be true." She then moved over to Scott and after talking to him, he nodded and, moving to where Jean was still cowering, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off to a corner to talk privately. If he could change his mind about Gambit, then she could too.
Meanwhile, Kurt had found to his delight and horror that Amanda was in the third cell, and had immediately teleported in with Evan and Logan in tow. After rescuing her, Kurt had teleported himself, Evan, and Logan back into the hallway where Remy had been waiting, ready to heal her. Kurt had held Amanda, much like Logan had with Ororo, while she was healed and, after she had been healed, carefully placed her on the ground, so as to not accidentally drop her when she awoke.
A few minutes later, Amanda had opened her eyes and, on seeing Kurt had shrieked in joy and wrapped her arms around Kurt's neck, breathing in his familiar scent, Kurt instantly returning the hug, his tail wrapping itself around Amanda as well, as if to offer extra protection against the demons she had seen in her mind.
Amanda pulled back and said, "Kurt, what's going on? All I know was that I was on my way home from the Institute after showing Tyne and Laura around the mall when I blacked out; then I remember intense pain and waking up to see your blue, fuzzy face."
Kurt, grinning, responded, "Vell, Amanda, let's just say that ve have to team up together – mutant and sorceress – to save the world; okay?" When Amanda nodded Kurt hugged her again, glad to have his girlfriend by his side for what he sensed was going to be a very difficult battle. He then watched, amused as she used her magical powers to create herself a new uniform. It was the basic style of an extra X-Men uniform except that it had goldenrod yellow and had burgundy red stripes along the arms and legs, twisting into the shape of two intersecting arcs in the middle of her uniform, which signaled that her family had magical abilities. She had goldenrod gloves and burgundy boots and, taking a page out of Kurt's uniform guidebook created a belt with the "X" in the middle with the goldenrod and burgundy meeting to form the background.
"Is this an okay uniform?" Amanda asked Kurt as she looked to him for approval, wanting to make sure that her uniform was just right.
Kurt replied, "It's fine, Amanda; in fact, it's better than mine." He gave her a quick peck on the mouth then together they walked over to the others, who were now watching Ororo chew out Jean for her insensitivity.
Lance and Kitty watched Kurt and Amanda approach out of the corner of their eyes and on seeing Amanda's new uniform, Kitty told Lance, 'Guess Amanda wants to be part of the X-Men officially for this final battle.'
Lance nodded in agreement and replied, 'Can't say I blame her, although I have a question: if we both know that Amanda used her magic to create a new uniform then why are we talking about her when we should be concentrating on watching Ororo chew out Jean?' Kitty nodded in agreement and both watched as Scott came and took his wife away. Logan and Evan came up and, after Lance gave the three newcomers the short explanation of their new looks (Logan already knew), Remy told Amanda what to do in the hallways and they then moved out.
Hallway #13, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 17, 4:20 AMUpon reaching hallway #13, Remy informed everyone whom he had rescued that this was the last hallway he had to do; Rogue's group was taking care of the rest of them. He heard a collective sigh of relief from those who were still missing team members or significant others. Remy knew how they felt; he personally couldn't wait until he saw Rogue again. He was worried about her.
'Tu est une espece d'idiot (literally: You are a species of idiot),' Remy thought, knowing that Rogue was fine and also knowing that she would make an idiot out of him if she found out that he had been worrying about her the whole time he had been rescuing the others.
Rahne, who was leading her team, sniffed the air for a familiar scent, and, grinning, took off towards the last cell in the hallway, having smelled Roberto. Ray and Amara, both anxious to see Roberto followed her. However, on reaching the cell that Rahne had sensed had been Roberto's prison, stopped, shock frozen on her face.
"He's… he's not here," she murmured, her emerald eyes filling with tears. "Where is he?! Ay smelled him; Ay knew he was here but he's not here!" Rahne let the tears fall down her face, angry with herself for getting all excited on smelling her boyfriend and not finding him.
"Ay failed him," she muttered, not noticing that Amara had come up behind her and draped an arm over her shoulders.
"That's not true, Rahne. Roberto may have just been moved to a different hallway; he's still here; I know it," Amara said, trying to cheer up her friend. She looked over at Ray, who was staring at the bars on the cell, his eyes narrowed. "What's wrong Ray?"
"Something's not right here. The bars on this cell aren't charged with electricity; in fact, it appears as if the protection on them has been turned off, almost like what you would do with a light switch. Roberto was here; I don't doubt Rahne's sense of smell, but he was moved somewhere by someone alien, someone evil…" Ray muttered, fingering the bars as he said this. Rahne and Amara stared at him, not believing what they were hearing.
"Ye mean that…" Rahne began but was interrupted when they heard Warren exclaim as he saw Betsy in the other cell in the hallway.
"Betsy!" Warren exclaimed, beyond glad to see his girlfriend. Determined to save her he stepped back and, taking a deep breath launched a hoard of metal feathers charged with poison at the bars, watching as the feathers exploded on contact with the bars. He smirked when he saw that he had succeeded in melting the bars to the cell. He then ran inside, followed closely by Remy, who was ready and willing to heal Betsy.
While Remy held her, Warren gently moved her hair so that it rested over her shoulder and, taking a feather from his wings mentally allowed it to release its venom on the collar around Betsy's neck. Watching carefully he waited until the collar melted before striking as he forcefully ripped apart the melted hinges of the collar and flung it over his shoulder in anger, glad when he heard it hitting the wall.
Remy then took off a glove and, placing his hand on Betsy's face transferred energy into Betsy's body, making sure to get rid of all the mental scars as well as physical ones. Once he'd finished he nodded to Warren, who came and took his place in front of Betsy. Remy then stepped back out into the hallway where Lance and Kitty were motioning him over.
Betsy's eyes slowly opened and when they alighted on Warren's blue eyes, she screamed and threw her arms around her boyfriend, reveling in knowing that he was okay and not dead. Warren buried his face into her hair; sure, it may not have been washed for a few days but to him it didn't matter; all that mattered was that his Betsy was safe and sound and in his arms once more.
"Warren, where are we?" Betsy asked, her amethyst eyes signaling that she was worried about something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
When Warren told her Betsy's eyes echoed the tone of her voice when she said, "Apocalypse's back?! I thought you and the others defeated him ten years ago!"
Warren nodded and replied, "I thought so too, Bets. However, it seems like the term immortality comes into play here, wouldn't you say?" Laughing, Betsy agreed and together the two exited her cell, only to be met by the worried looks of Remy, Lance, and Kitty.
"Betsy, do you remember anything that happened while you were trapped in that cell?" Lance asked, taking charge as he stepped forward.
Betsy, agape at the new appearances of Lance and Kitty stammered, "No… no, not that I can remember. Wait, maybe…" Betsy closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to get past the pain that had overcome her when she had been tortured. One memory took center stage, causing her to gasp in horror. She opened her eyes to meet the worried ones of Lance. "Yes, I do remember. I remember someone screaming in pain… I'm not sure but I think that this person was screaming someone's name."
At these words, Rahne gasped and stumbled back into the arms of Ray and Amara, silent tears falling down her face once more. Betsy, giving her a surprised look, continued, "Then I remember gaining control over my mind for about five minutes; long enough to hear someone come in the hall, unlock the other person's cell, mutter something which for the life of me I can't remember, then leave, the other prisoner was unconscious. I, I didn't get a look at the guy but from your reaction, luv, I hope that it's not anyone important to you. I'm sorry, that's all I can remember." Betsy finished, tears beginning to fall down her own cheeks. Warren wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to draw comfort from her.
Lance, Kitty, and Remy looked at each other and, seemingly reading each other's mind, said simultaneously, "We are in such deep shit now it's unbelievable." They then turned to look at the gathered mutants from hallways #3 to #16, all of whom were looking like they wanted to kill something or, namely, whoever had come to take Roberto away.
Lance, taking charge, stepped forward and said, "Don't worry; we'll find Roberto. I promise." He seemed to be speaking to Rahne with his words and when she heard them straightened up, dried her tears and nodded, resolutely, believing in every word that Lance said. The others followed her lead, showing Lance that he had an army of mutants and one sorceress ready to take revenge and fight to the death if necessary.
"Bon; now we need to meet up avec Rogue's group; follow moi," Remy commanded and led the way out of the cell, with Kitty helping him to phase everyone through the doorway and into the main labyrinth of Asteroid Evolution, en route to meet Rogue and bring an end to Apocalypse once and for all.