Rebekah
The X-Men are looking for me when I return.
"Where were you!"
"I thought I heard something!"
"What was it?"
"Nothing! Look, can we get out now?"
They nod and we run. I really don't want to be here when the Brotherhood break free. Kitty helps me leap over a body that looks slightly bruised. Kurt limps past.
"What happened?"
"Inhibitor dart to the thigh. He can't teleport and he fell off the wall, landing really badly."
I leap over and catch him just as he starts to topple.
"It's okay Elf."
He grins.
"I thought only Logan called me that?"
"I like it. It's cute."
He rolls his eyes.
"Please say it isn't a crush. You're fifteen."
"Is there a law against thinking a nickname is cute?"
"No."
"Good. I can tell you some stupid laws though. In one state, it is illegal to take an alligator down the street on a leash."
"You're kidding."
"No."
"Really?"
"I have a book on stupid laws. And stupid quotes. And stupid deaths. Look up Darwin Awards. I mean, come on. Who puts flowers around a tiger's neck?"
"Are you joking?"
"No."
All this quick back-and-forth dialogue has a purpose. Get Kurt to the Blackbird before his leg gives way. Every now and then his weight rests harder on my shoulder and I know he would have fallen. I keep his mind active because while I can support him, I don't think I could carry him. The leg slips and I wince as his arm smashes down on my shoulder.
"Sorry."
"It's okay. Just… try. We're almost there."
He smiles and I pull him the last few metres to the ramp of the Blackbird. Beast carefully takes Kurt off me and as Kurt moves I see a patch of normal skin where the cloth of his uniform has been ripped. An inhibitor dart. A dart designed to take our mutant powers. I press my hands together and shudder. The fur is soft and almost like velvet on my face and hands. It's elsewhere that it thickens to soft, heavy reds and browns. I hear a noise and my ear instantly flicks around to follow it but it's just Warren's wings settling and then I marvel at how easily my ear moved. The skin is soft and velvety, a warmish-rust colour and they poke out from my hair, which is the darkest part of my fur, hair stuff. Is it a mane because I have hair elsewhere? Or what? Look, I'm already confused. But I was talking about inhibitors. I thought that I was a freak but then I realised I was acting just like Beast who I consider a bit of an idiot for not being so pleased with his genius-level intellect and body more adapted for running and leaping and climbing than the normal human body. I've been given a gift. A body faster, stronger, warmer than my former one. I'm the one who's always going on about the beauty of cats. And now I am one, pretty much, and all I could think was 'I'm hideous'. Little hypocritical there girl!
Beast bustles over.
"Any injuries?"
"I got a splinter."
He rolls his eyes but pulls out the splinter of plastic from the pad of my hand.
"Where… This is industrial grade plastic, used for metal substitutes. Where did you get this?"
"I…I had an accident. Caught my hand."
"On plastic that is almost impossible to shatter? Show me your claws."
Embarrassed, I unsheathe my claws that look like someone's been biting them.
"You broke something. Who was there that you released?"
"No one."
"You're a terrible liar."
"No! I didn't let anyone out!"
"But there was someone there and you broke the chains they were being held with. Plastic, so a Brotherhood member… Rebekah, was Magneto there?"
"I…I think so…"
"Magneto was there and you didn't tell us?"
"I had a reason."
"Ah… You released Isaac didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"So… He got us out but he got us into the mess in the first place. I suppose I was saying that the time we'd spent writing was to be forgotten. That the next time we'll meet we'll be enemies. That he's a Brotherhood member. And I'm a sort-of-X-Man."
"Sort of? Rebekah, some of the stuff you've done is what Kitty and even Storm hasn't done. Attacking Magneto one-on-one and almost beating him? Managing to break out of his private citadel? Make him run for medical attention? I saw the injury you gave him. He'd have needed a mutant healer to get his leg healed after you attacked it."
"So… I'm an X-Man?"
"Welcome to the family."
"Are you mad I let Isaac go?"
"No. Because that's what X-Men do."
Isaac
When I woke up, I went downstairs into the kitchen. The tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
Apart from the absence of Magneto everyone from the Brotherhood was present. I guessed Magneto was still worn out from yesterday. Everyone sat in silence. Everyone was still thinking over the events of yesterday. We had got our butts handed to us like children.
Eventually Pietro broke the silence. "What happened to us out there?
No one answered. Pietro stood up, and with a blast of air, he was gone.
"We should go back there and burn the place to the ground," Victor growled.
"No," I found myself saying. "That would not be a good idea."
"And why not?" He replied hotly. "Who's side are you on?"
I didn't bother answering him. I got up and walked out. My powers hadn't returned to me yet but the healer mutant I'd talked to had reassured me they would return shortly. Weirdly, my ability of detecting mutants hadn't disappeared.
I almost wished I had Dr. McCoy to talk to. I remembered the look on his face when I had confronted him in the woods. I doubted very much I was still in his good books. I wondered into the city. The mutant paradise Magneto had created for these people. People who couldn't live among ordinary humans due to their abilities. They streamed all around me, some grotesquely disfigured. I didn't even blink. This had become natural to me now. I let my mind sift through them, looking for any mutants powerful enough to be worth my attention.
"How does it feel to be the most powerful mutant here?"
I glanced to my right. Quicksilver stood beside me.
"I don't have any powers at the moment," I replied.
"You know what I mean."
"I don't know. Weird I guess. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I couldn't stand being stuck in that house any longer."
We walked a bti longer. A commotion to my left made me turn my head.
A gang of mutants were robbing a store. The mutant shop keeper was throwing some sort of light daggers but they weren't having any effect on them.
If Magneto was here this wouldn't happen I thought.
"Watch this," Quicksilver said grinning. Seconds later the stolen items vanished from the gang's hands. They looked around bewildered. There was a rush of air and a pole smashed into the gang leader's head. The bent pole clanged to the ground and Quicksilver appeared next to me.
"That hurt me more than it did him. They're stronger than they look."
The gang saw Quicksilver and charged. I stood in front of him as a dozen of them came at us like wild boars. What did I do in my world to deserve this? The gang ground to a halt in front of me. They waited for me to do something. When it became clear I had no mutant powers the leader swatted me aside. I crashed into a wall and my world went black.
I opened my eyes. I expected it to be dark by now but I must have only been out for a few seconds because Quicksilver was still fighting. Quicksilver was fast but most of the gang were super tough. His punches weren't doing any damage. I felt my healing factor start to work. I got up and ran to help Quicksilver. All of them ignored me because they didn't see me as a threat. Big mistake. The first one turned as I punched him in the face. He flew twenty feet into the air and crashed through the roof of a house. My powers were back with a vengeance! One of them went for me, but automatically a ruby red light shot out of my eyes. He went through three buildings before he came to a stop. Then they all rushed towards me. I was knocked to the ground like a rag doll. Before I could retaliate, five of them pinned me down while the others pounded me into the ground.
Suddenly they were all lifted into the air. Lamposts tore themselves out of the concrete and wrapped themselves around their necks like scarves. They squawked in surprise.
Magneto floating in the air. The gang blanched when they saw who it was.
"We're sorry," they begged, practically in tears. Magneto looked ready to kill them, but then he let them go. They would not be committing any more crimes in a hurry! When the gang disappeared, I realized the real reason for allowing them to escape. Magneto was incredibly weak. He almost fell out of the sky. I doubt he would have had the strength to strangle those mutants in his current condition.
With Pietro and Magneto hanging onto me I steeled myself for a gigantic leap. I shifted us all into the mansion where Magneto was helped to bed by Pietro. I sat down and waited until Pietro returned.
"He's very ill. He's gonna have to rest for a while," he reported. I sat down, suddenly feeling weary. I reached up to touch my face but the bruises had already faded.
"Thank you for your help," Quicksilver said.
"Don't mention it," I replied.
I teleported into my room. I switched on my laptop and went onto the Internet. I tried to hack into the X-men database but it was too well guarded for my amateur skills. I hacked into Kitty's computer and from there entered into the database. Her computer was automatically cleared with security. I snooped around for anything that attracted my curiosity.
This looks interesting, I said to myself. I clicked on one of the files named Siege.
It seems about two dozen mutants had been blockaded in a coalmine in Texas. I was going to dig a little deeper when the page started to close down. I had been discovered. I quickly closed the program down and destroyed all evidence that could lead back to me. I hope I hadn't made the X-men suspicious.