A/N: Hey everyone! First off, Happy Valentine's Day! I felt that I should upload on Valentine's Day because I really like everyone who enjoys reading this little story. Secondly, I am very sorry for not uploading anything for a while. I have been trying to upload at least a chapter per week. Truth is, I'm not writing as much because of other personal responsibilities. So, maybe the uploads will happen once every two weeks or something... but they will keep coming. I swear I'll finish this thing if its the last thing I do. Please review and tell me what you liked/didn't like too much/anything! Every time I get a review, it gives me a burst of energy to write. Also, I'm planning to do another run at going back and editing the recent chapters, so, if you don't hear from me in a month, that is probabaly why. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy Chapter 14.

Disclaimer: So... I was told to write one of these. I do not own X-men: Evo. I am not that awesome.

14.

Ravyn was either still alive or in hell. The cold sensation from the dart still remained, freezing her insides. Her eyes felt glued shut, as if begging her not to open her eyes and see the terrors that lay beyond them. She forced them open and jerked her head back.

She was in a room made entirely of mortar. There were no windows; the only light in the room came from an old, flickering light bulb attached to the ceiling. The solitary bulb cast grotesque shadows over the room, but held enough light to reveal a large metal table. Ravyn noticed the metal clamps on the legs of the table, holding it in place. A door, also seemingly made of mortar, was immediately to her right.

Ravyn took a deep breath. It smelled horrible in the room. It was either completely new, or it wasn't used in a while. She attempted to straighten her back, but cried out as a wave of pain washed over her body. She looked down. Her limbs were tightly strapped to the arms and legs of a chair with a long metal chain. Her entire torso was wrapped in a soft cotton bandage. Though it stemmed the bleeding, it didn't stop the irritation that occurred every time she tried to move. Whoever brought her here wanted her alive. The healer attempted to use her power, but felt nothing but the cold sensation.

Ravyn began to think that the situation was another one of her strangely realistic dreams when the door opened and a man strode in. Instead of wearing black like her last tormentor, he wore a lab coat. His face was that of a middle aged man, but the top of his head was completely bald with small tufts of grey hair. In his hands was a clipboard, upon which was a blank piece of paper. He stood across the table from her, and placed the clipboard down.

"What's your name, mutant?"

Ravyn looked pointedly at the man. Even though it wasn't her real name to begin with, she didn't want to give the man the name 'Ravyn'. The name had grown on her, and held the same amount of sacredness as her true name.

"Kitty," she said. Her brain was too muddled to think of any other name.

"Kitty?" For a split second, Ravyn thought that the man had caught her bluff. She was relieved when he took his eyes off her and scribbled something on his clipboard.

"Last name?"

"Pryde." She used Kitty's first name. Might as well make it complete.

The man dragged a chair from the darkness and took a seat across from her. He stared at her for a while. Ravyn was able to identify disgust mixed with a more prominent expression: curiosity. "And how old are you, Kitty Pryde?" The sentence was worded tamely, but the tone of it was dark.

Her age. Ravyn shook her head, temporarily ridding her of the pesky stars that floated across her vision. She jostled with the thought of giving her age. Even though it was just a number, Ravyn considered it to be another part of her identity, and she was not about to tell a man whose job was to interrogate her.

She stared calmly back at her interrogator. "Seventeen," she lied, telling the man Kurt's age. The man's eyebrow rose slightly as he jotted down the false information she fed him. Ravyn took advantage of the time he spent writing by looking around. Her back screamed in protest as the wounds were twisted, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. She hoped to see Kurt, his golden eyes glowing in the dark, silently convincing her that everything would be fine. She suddenly felt much more than half a year younger than him.

She returned to face the man as he looked up from his writing. Her heartbeat quickened as the man rose from his chair and touched her face gently. She turned away from him, uncomfortable with his close proximity to her.

The man laughed. "And what's your power, X-man?"

He knew she was an X-man. Ravyn's mouth opened slightly from the shock and her heart rate doubled. The man observed and caught her reaction; he jotted it down. She knew that question would come eventually, but she dreaded having to answer it.

So she remained silent. She turned her face away from the man. The muscles in her back protested, but the pain had mostly subsided. It was then that Ravyn noticed that the cold sensation was rapidly disappearing from within her. Was she gaining her powers back?

The man chuckled. "Don't worry, we always get our answers. One way or another." He patted her cheeks gently before leaving the room.

Ravyn let out a sigh of relief. Warmth spread throughout her body, and, in some parts, it felt as if her skin was burning. She felt the tingling sensation in her back. She smirked as her vision cleared up, and even breaths filled her lungs.

It wasn't long before the man in the lab coat returned with two men dressed in camouflage uniforms. "I'm going to ask you nicely one more time. What is your power?" He turned her chair so that she faced the door and his face.

The fact that she had her ability back, gave Ravyn a dose of overconfident bravery. She spit into her interrogator's eye. The man yelped in shock. He stumbled back a couple of feet from the mutant and shouted to the two men behind him. "Bring in the teleporter."

Ravyn heard the words, but her brain didn't comprehend them. She was busy celebrating her victory over the mysterious scientist when her eyes caught sight of a blue figure being dragged into the room by the two camouflaged men.

"Kurt," Ravyn whispered. Immediately after she spoke she prayed that she was inaudible. The man sneered at her before kicking the motionless blue figure. Ravyn twitched and tears filled her eyes, which she quickly blinked away.

"What's your power?" The man turned to her again. One of the men in the camouflaged suits grabbed Kurt's hair and pulled, forcing the mutants to establish eye contact.

How long was she unconscious? Kurt looked entirely spent. His gold eyes were rimmed with blood red lines and he looked as though he hadn't slept for days. He had multiple, bright red lines running down his body. His lip was busted open, pouring out blood that dripped off his chin and onto the floor.

"Remember him, Kitty? Your power or he dies." The scientist put a gun to Kurt's head. Ravyn's eyes glanced from the man to the gun to Kurt. Torn, she concentrated on reading Kurt's face. What did he want her to do? Kurt didn't reveal anything. He looked at her as he always did; giving no hint of the pain he had just received. His mouth even twitched up to a comforting smile. It was as though, through their situation, he found it funny that she felt the need to take Kitty's name.

The man cocked the gun and was about to pull the trigger when Ravyn shouted, louder then she intended. "I can heal…" Her voice drifted off into silence. She had defied the most important rule she was taught in her training to be an assassin: only one life counts and it's your own.

The man motioned to the two people who dropped Kurt unceremoniously to the ground. Ravyn winced. Kurt tried to stagger upright, but was hit over the head with the butt of a gun. Ravyn tried to make eye contact with the scientist, but he was busy talking to the men who brought in Kurt. He talked quickly in low tones before turning back to his prisoner.

"Don't even try anything suspicious." As he said this, his two minions began to loosen her bonds to the chair.

They had freed her wrists, but weren't finished untying her legs when she attacked. She was completely healed, and as soon as she started moving, her strength returned to her. Half standing, she surprised her captors by pushing one of them to the side. She punched the other one hard in the groin. While both were preoccupied with their injuries, Ravyn summoned all her strength and kicked hard with her legs while pulling her arms upwards, resulting with the unraveling of the chain she had around her body. As soon as she stood up, she picked up the chair and hit the minion she had previously pushed away.

The man in a lab coat was drawing a dart gun with the mysterious blue liquid when Ravyn flung the chair at him. He collapsed by the open door, offering her a chance to escape. Ravyn sprinted to the door, but tripped over a body that lay forgotten on the floor.

Kurt's mind threw him back to reality when he felt a sharp kick to his side. He moaned in pain and tried to stand up. Ravyn was scrambling off his body, staring at him as if she had forgotten they were both in some kind of jail cell. Her eyes darted from Kurt to the unprotected door. Kurt knew exactly what was going on in her head. "Go!" he shouted in his head, his lips too parched to form words.

Ravyn stayed planted where she was as a minion grabbed her from behind and forced her to her knees. She didn't try to fight back. The man in the lab coat raised his dart gun and fired. Tears of frustration filled Ravyn's eyes as she felt the coldness return to her body.

She had the chance to escape the torture chambers, but instead she stayed because she couldn't think of leaving someone to die in her stead. She had become weak. She knew that if her assassin co-workers saw her now, they would have shared a shocked and disappointed silence.

The scientist called the men out of the room and the door was closed behind them, leaving Ravyn and Kurt alone. Ravyn didn't move from her position on her knees. Even though there was no evidence of a window, she still felt the scientist's piercing glare on her. Kurt, on the other hand, dragged himself upright and leaned heavily on the cold wall.

"You could've made it," he said, his voice hoarse and tired.

Ravyn looked up at him quickly, like she was shocked that he was still alive. "I know," she stated, restlessly. She began unraveling the bandages under her shirt. They were sweaty and kind off bloody, but she figured that they would be better than nothing for Kurt's wounds. She pulled him off the wall and began bandaging him. Her attitude reminded Kurt of when they first met, when she begged him to kill her rather than face the humiliation of losing.

"Who would've guessed that Jimmy was the one looking for us?" Kurt asked, trying to get her to break the silence.

Ravyn sighed, dejectedly before answering. "He was being used. His ability… It's powerful."

"What is it?"

"Being God."

At the mention of God, Kurt reached for his scapular, but felt only his bloodstained fur. "That's impossible," he muttered, inaudibly.

"He gives a command, and you are forced to do what he says."

Kurt relaxed as the bandage came in contact with his wounds. "I heard that Jean was like that at first. Children begin to learn how to use their powers that way-" Kurt took a sharp breath and grit his teeth in pain as Ravyn tightened the bandages around his torso. Ravyn muttered an apology as Kurt took a few breaths to stem the pain. He then continued, "He… he is very powerful though, for a child."

Having finished her work as doctor, Ravyn took a seat beside Kurt. Although her insides were frozen from the dart gun, the parts of her skin that brushed against Kurt's fur felt hot. "How long was I out?"

Kurt looked away from her, thinking. "I'm not sure. One…. Maybe two-"

"Hours?"

"Days."

They both heard someone hit the other side of the door. "No talking!" A man's voice broke the barriers of the jail cell. Ravyn slouched against the wall and began to throw pebbles on the floor against the wall on the opposite side of the cell.

"What will they do to us?" Ravyn whispered quietly. Kurt could sense nervous tension in her voice.

Kurt wanted to lie to Ravyn, but a part of him couldn't. "This pace… It's a testing facility. They will experiment your strength and how you… how you react to different medications-"

Ravyn looked into Kurt's eyes, which were fixed on her face. Her lower lip quivered slightly. "We have to get out of here." She left Kurt's side and walked around the room, her eyes darting wildly around the room. She was looking for vents.

Unexpectedly, Ravyn threw her fist down on the table. Her hand screamed in pain. "Ravyn, calm down." Kurt staggered to his feet as the door opened and two buff men dressed in the same camouflage uniforms entered. They made a quick scan of the room before their eyes stopped on Ravyn.

"You. You're coming with us." One of them stated, approaching Ravyn with his hands outstretched. Kurt hissed in anger and got ready to attack when he caught Ravyn's eyes glowing with excitement and curiosity, gazing past him and out the open door. She subtly shook her head to him.

She allowed herself to be handcuffed and escorted by the two men down what seemed to be a maze of pipes made entirely of concrete. If she didn't know better, she would've thought that she was in the sewers. The pipes were lighted by a dim light bulb every couple of yards. Every now and then, they would pass doorways made of mortar. When she focused hard enough, she could hear coughing or crying from within the room.

Ravyn memorized every turn they took. She also kept a lookout for vents, which have saved her life many times. They had not been walking long before the two men stopped in front of a mortar door. Unlike the other doors, the one they stopped in front of had a small window. Bright lights streamed through the window, causing Ravyn to squint uncomfortably. The two men removed her handcuffs and shoved her into the room.

The room was brightly lighted by a large light hanging from the middle of the room. The room was once painted white, but now sustained many dark red spots on the walls and floor. Ravyn's uncertaity rose up at the sight of blood. Across from the door she had just entered were bars that divided the entire room in half. Beyond the bars was another door. Ravyn noticed that the bloodstains were all on her side, and the other side of the bars was immaculate.

Ravyn waited for something to happen. She had no idea what the room she was currently standing in was used for, but knew that her blood would probably be the latest addition to the walls and floor. She waited for someone to enter and give her directions. The bright lights began to give her a headache when the door beyond the bars opened. The man in a lab coat entered, smiling broadly.

"Hello, Kitty Pryde. Want your power back?"

The scientist eyed her like an animal in a zoo. He wrote more points on his clipboard, before reaching into his lab coat. He pulled out a large syringe that was filled with green slime. "An antidote," he stated to her questioning gaze.

Ravyn shook her head. "Why should I take it?" She approached the bars separating her from the scientist, glancing at him warily.

"What more do you have to lose?"

"What do I have to gain?"

The scientist sighed deeply before he repeated her question. "What do you have to gain? You're powers."

"For your entertainment." Ravyn clutched the bars tightly. The scientist stood on the far side of the cell, out of reach from the mutant.

"Cooperation is required if you want to survive, Ms. Pryde. The blood around you is a symbol of that."

Ravyn looked around at the bloodstained walls and floor before turning her attention back to him. Slowly, she stretched her arm out in front of her. The scientist approached her, but kept most of his body out of her reach. Ravyn watched as the green slime entered her vein. Her body suddenly developed a hot, almost burning feeling. Without warning, the scientist took a step back and pulled a gun out of his coat. With exact precision he fired a bullet into Ravyn's forehead.

Ravyn felt the bullet enter her head and hit her brain. Pain washed over her, and she found herself on the floor, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Her forehead felt like waves of water were going back and forth over it before the bullet popped out of her head. Sitting up drowsily, she caught it in her hand.

The scientist was ecstatic and began to write furiously on his clipboard. "That was amazing, Kitty!"

Ravyn rushed at the bars and clawed through them, trying to reach the scientist. The man in the lab coat took a step back, continuing to scribble. He momentarily looked up and signaled to someone behind her. She saw something move out of her peripheral vision and turned. Jimmy stood, petrified, on her side of the room. From one look, she knew that Jimmy didn't know what he was supposed to do with her.

"Now let us see what you can really do."

A shot rang out. Ravyn braced herself for the bullet, but moments went slowly by without the feeling of pain. Slightly dazed, she looked around, and her eye landed on Jimmy's bleeding body. "You, bastard! He's just a kid!" she shouted, pulling Jimmy into her arms, her hands covering the hole he had in his chest.

"So? Can't you heal him?" the scientist asked dismissively.

Ravyn's eyes clouded with rage, but she forced herself to think clearly. She pulled Jimmy to her chest, resting her head on his shoulder, her mouth close to his ear. She healed him slowly, enough to keep him alive and conscious enough to understand her, but slow enough to keep him tired and disoriented-looking. "Jimmy, listen to me. I don't care what he offered you. It's not worth it. You're the only one who has the power to get out of here. You have got to help me-" she winced as she transferred most of his wound to her body. Her blood mixed with his. "I can get us out of here, but you have to trust me." She felt him nod feebly against her shoulder.

Ravyn pulled away from him and stood, facing the scientist. A large bloodstain covered her chest. Jimmy slowly stood, unharmed. The man in the lab coat's mouth was slightly opened, his expression triumphant. "That was incredible! You are perfect for our experiment-"

"The doctor will stop talking and sit down." Jimmy's voice filled the room. The scientist silently obeyed him. "The doctor will open that door," Jimmy continued, pointing to the door behind him.

The scientist held the expression of horror, but left the room through the door on his side. As soon as he left, Jimmy turned to Ravyn. She took an involuntary step back. "You will help me find my parents?"

"I will. Yeah. Sure," Ravyn promised, still a bit scared of the young boy's power.

Jimmy smiled hopefully up at her before getting serious. "I can't control him after he opens the door."

"I'll take care of him."

"There are also two guards stationed at the door."

Ravyn smiled to herself. Despite what he had previously done to her, she was beginning to like Jimmy. The familiar feeling of adrenaline pumping through her system returned, reminding her of how she felt during her killing days. "Stay back," she warned Jimmy as the knob of the door slowly turned.

The door had only opened a crack when Ravyn flung it open. The scientist stood in the doorway, a disturbed expression on his face. He tried to shield himself from her with his clipboard, but Ravyn easily reached past it. She grabbed him by the collar and flung him at the closest guard. After both of them fell, she turned to the other guard, sidestepping a dart. She threw a punch at his unprotected neck and used her elbow to finish him off on the ground. Jimmy stared at Ravyn with pure admiration for a second before the girl grabbed his arm with one hand while the other picked up the dart gun from the floor.

Ravyn retraced the twists and turns of the pipes that the two male guards had escorted her through minutes earlier. "Where are we going?" Jimmy asked as Ravyn pulled him down hallway after hallway, taking frequent glances behind them.

"Getting a friend." She stopped at a door and opened it. Kurt was right where she left him. His eyes were shut and he seemed to be muttering prayers through his bruised lips.

Ravyn shook him awake. His golden eyes focused on her hazel ones. Her old assassin composure had returned to her, but she managed a small, wry smile. "We're getting out of here."

Jimmy broke the moment. "I hear them coming."

"Come on!"Ravyn threw Kurt's arm around her neck and helped him off the ground. Immediately, Kurt's legs gave out, and Ravyn felt his full weight pulling her down.

"I won't make it." He tried to state it calmly, as if he didn't care if he escaped or not, but Ravyn felt his pulse race.

"Damnit!" Ravyn muttered. She turned to Jimmy. "I've gotta heal him. Hold them off!"

Jimmy stared, his eyes wide with horror. "There's too many of them…" Ravyn knew that he wanted her to leave Kurt.

"Just do it!"

Jimmy jumped to obey her. Ravyn's eyes met Kurt's endless piercing gaze. "You ready?"

She didn't wait for an answer. Her hand felt the soft fur on Kurt's cheek and her mind concentrated. She winced as she transferred some of his wounds onto her. She felt her lip cut itself before it healed up again. She broke into a sweat at the extent of some of the wounds. Through it all, Kurt's eyes never left her face.

Jimmy screamed. Ravyn removed her hand from Kurt's face and tried to get her vision to focus. Kurt jumped into action. Grabbing her hand with newfound strength, he pulled her out of the cell. Still disoriented, Ravyn stumbled in front of Jimmy, accidentally taking a dart for him. For the third time she felt her ability drained from her. She saw a blur of blue as Kurt charged at the approaching camouflaged men. With the agility of someone who spent his entire life training, Kurt attacked the five men, sliding between them as well as scaling the walls and ceiling above them. His tail, the only ability he had at the moment, became the most lethal weapon. It gave him the ability of having an extra arm or foot, strong enough to throw a man the length of the hallway or choke him.

Ravyn stayed rooted to the spot she stood, watching Kurt perform. She had never seen Kurt fight before, and she could tell that the years of training in the circus as well as at the Institute had sharpened his talents. It wasn't until he began sprinting down the hallway on all fours that she felt her legs move again. "Run!" she shouted, pushing Jimmy ahead of her.

The three mutants ran, pursued by twenty uniform men. "I'm gaining my powers back!" Kurt shouted to her, catching up with her slower pace. He grabbed her arm. "Get the boy!"

Ravyn whipped her head around, expecting to see Jimmy right behind her. Instead, she saw him collapse to the floor behind her, two darts in his neck. Ravyn dug her heels into the ground in an attempt to stop moving away from Jimmy's downed body, but Kurt, oblivious to the situation, still had a tight grip on her arm and dragged her forward.

Time seemed to stand still. Jimmy was still conscious and reached a tiny hand to her. Ravyn saw the men and the scientist appear around the corner. "Kurt, no!" she heard herself scream as she felt Kurt's muscles tense up, a sign that he was going to attempt to teleport. She stretched out her hand, their fingers inches away.

She heard a loud gunshot and felt herself being sucked up, the smell of sulfur surrounding her. The men, the scientist, and Jimmy's tearstained face disappeared before her eyes. In the split second before they teleported, Ravyn remembered the casual promise she made to Jimmy, and how, like all her other promises, she was forced to break it.