Rebekah
I back off slowly. I know exactly what's wrong with me. But first, a lesson in basic pet keeping.
Put a dog's tablets in its food and the stupid creature will wolf it down. Put a cat's medicine in its food and it'll either eat around it in the case of tablets or refuse to eat it at all in the case of liquid medicines. The only way to get a cat to take medicine is to wrap it up in a towel, force its mouth open and massage it down the creature's throat. And even then it will often spit it out. This is all leading up to me saying one thing… I can taste the drugs in my food.
Every single meal, my food has been laced with a mild anaesthetic. Not morphine, as we already know from tests I react like a cat to that –in other words, I go hyper –but other drugs that dull my instincts. Killer instincts. I've not had my dose for over twenty-four hours. Already it's out of my system. Already the beast is beginning to surface. Already I see every little movement as prey, begging to be chased and killed. That's the reason I didn't bring the X-Men up on it. It's for my own good. Because if I don't, I get vicious. And Isaac lying on the red snow is testament to that.
I sheathe my claws and close my eyes. I can't keep this up. Soon I'll lose control, and then I'll not only be putting my sanity on the line, but the lives of all those around me. I stare at Spider-Man.
"If my eyes change, if I start to shift slowly and won't tell you why, you need to treat me like a wild, wounded tiger. If you don't… you could end up in worse shape than Isaac."
He stares at Isaac but then winces when I haul him up onto my shoulder.
"We need to head south. I could shift, but you'd have to carry my uniform. I could take Isaac. A snow leopard will last longer out here than a human."
He shakes his head.
"Don't risk it. If it's the animal you're worried about, you shouldn't be exposing yourself to it."
I nod.
"Right, it's this way."
"You sure?"
"Trust me, I'm an X-Man."
He gulps and nods.
"Yeah. The best at getting in trouble."
I nod.
"And isn't trouble wonderful?"
Isaac
I woke up choking. I reached for my neck and could feel the skin drawing together. There probably would be a scar for a couple of hours.
"You okay buddy?" Spider-Man asked. I realized he was carrying me. He put me down and we continued to walk with Spider-Man supporting me.
"I feel like I swallowed a cheese grater but apart from that I'm good."
"You okay?" I voice said beside me.
I turned to look at Bekah padding along beside us.
"Yeah I am, no thanks to you," I said in a humorous voice.
I -like most boys- was really bad at holding a grudge for long.
"I'm sorry," Rebekah said.
"Doesn't matter. We were both being stupid. Let's just forget it ever happened."
Bekah nodded and we carried on walking.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Towards Magneto's hideout I hope," Bekah said.
I reached out my mind to search for the Antarctic Utopia. I found it immediately.
"Have you found it?" Spider-Man asked.
"Yeah. We need to go bear off slightly but Bekah's nose is pretty accurate despite the temperature."
"It wasn't hard. This route is used quite a bit. Maybe they use it for importation and stuff like that."
We walked on for a while. My feet were buzzing to run ahead but I still felt pretty weak.
A scorching star suddenly shot across my mind. There was a mutant coming. And a powerful one at that. We ducked behind a snow dune as Quicksilver whizzed by. He was probably going to inspect the wreckage of the Blackbird. We waited until he was out of sight before continuing.
"We're here," I said.
"Are you sure?"
"Mastermind must have thrown a shield up that makes it impossible to detect through the senses."
"What do we do?" Spider-Man asked.
"Well, I could teleport us into the middle of the city and hope the illusion wears off."
Spider-Man and Bekah grabbed onto my arms and I ported us into the city.
Spider-Man shook his head. "I don't know how you get used to that. It feels strange."
We looked around. The place was dark but it was definitely Magneto's city.
"Do you know the way?" Rebekah asked. I nodded and started walking. The whole place was eerie and silent. It was like a ghost town.
"What's up with this place?" Spider-Man asked.
"Magneto's a dictator here. No one makes a peep after eleven. Let's go."
We jogged to Magneto's mansion. I rubbed my teeth together ferociously until they made an audible sound.
"Calm down Isaac," Spider-Man said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I hadn't even realized my eyes were burning with red energy like an inferno.
"I hate him so much!" I said with a power in my voice I didn't know I possessed. "He turned me into a killing machine and used me. He stole my life and crushed it. I want to kill him."
"We're not here to do that! Let's just see if he knows anything and then scoot," Bekah said.
"Move!" Spidey whispered urgently.
We got out of sight as Sabretooth crept around the corner on all fours. He looked more bestial than the last time I'd seen him. He looked like a huge cat. He growled an even deeper and fiercer growl than Bekah. He could smell us. He started to stalk towards us. I turned to look at Bekah. She was grinning like a bobcat. She crouched down on all fours andpadded out silently. Sabretooth growled even more furiously but didn't make his move straight away. He didn't speak. The beast had taken over too much for him to say anything.
Magneto must have given him a character enhancing drug to make him a more efficient guard dog. Bekah's fur puffed to its maximum capacity and she growled until I could feel the vibrations through my feet. I weighed up the situation in my mind. Sabretooth was at least three times bigger than Bekah but I was willing to put money on her being faster and more agile.
I would just have to hope that would be enough. They circled each other like caged lions.
The first strike was from Sabretooth. His paw/hand snaked out to strike Bekah on the side of the head. Bekah rolled with it and caught Victor full across the head with her back paws. His jaws snapped and suddenly the movements became too blurred for my eyes to keep up with it.
I could have slipped into slowtime but I something caught my eye. Toad was high up on the wall, clinging to it like a spider and he was staring straight at me. I didn't think it was wise to get in the middle of two feral mutants but I didn't want Toad reporting back to Magneto we were here. I doubted my laser vision would hit him so I turned to Spider-Man.
"Do you think you could handle Toad?"
"Are you kidding me? I'm The Amazing Spider-Man. Watch," he said and he was off. While Bekah and Spider-Man were distracted I teleported inside. I was back inside the office.
Magneto was seated at the table. I didn't make a move for a while. It could be a trap.
"What do you want Isaac?" Magneto said looking up.
"First, I'm going to find out why time is unravelling and second, I'm gonna rip your throat out. Just for the hell of it."
"Well, the first's most probably your fault," he said calmly. "And as for the second, well, go ahead. I doubt I could stop you."
I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and throttle the answer out of Magneto. I sped towards Magneto and gripped him by the throat before he could even gather his thoughts. I snarled
"I'm going to enjoy this. I guess it's time for the legendary Magneto to die!"