Memories

Orange Croutons Zoom-Zoom Butterscotch

Disclaimer: What do you think?

If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.

"A special peace delegation from the X-Men…"

Tora walked behind Colossus, relying on his bulk to shield her from most of the paparazzi. Magneto leant over.

"I have yet to thank you for your kindness when it came to Wanda. Thank you for helping me."

Tora stared at him levelly.

"What makes you think I did it for you, Erik?"

They went in and it didn't take Tora long to escape the reporters. She walked into a room where Laurie was leaning over a collection of Magneto's helmets, chatting vibrantly to Idie. Tora walked over. Smiled at them. Pointed at the case.

"You know Erik based his helmet on the Shadow's?"

"Really?"

"Yes. His first helmet was an adamantine helmet that Etana had lent him in the War."

"Those two knew each other?"

"Yes. Etana looked after him."

Laurie looked up.

"Why aren't you with the other X-Men?"

Tora sighed.

"I don't like reporters. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to look at the bit on alternate realities. See what a mess they made of that bit, trying to explain it in terms an idiot could understand."

She was watching one of her interviews with Charles. It was when she was having one of her nightmares.

Her face was thin and tight. She was worried.

"Do I just…? Yeah. Okay. My name's Tora. Just Tora. One of my gifts is to link with alternate versions of myself. And… For all they call it a gift, in reality it's a curse. Sure, there are a few nice, peaceful realities. But most aren't. Most are… I'm sorry. It's just that three nights ago, in one of my others…I… Should I go back to the beginning? Yeah…"

She fidgeted in her chair, obviously not happy.

"In this world, everything isn't okay… I'm… I was kidnapped when I was two years old, just like here…but…instead of everything working out sort of okay… I'll start by giving a basic overview? Yeah. There was a huge protest in Washington. They called it the March of Purity. Dr Henry McCoy was beaten to death trying to peacefully protest for mutant rights. Few weeks later, in Albany…a mutant girl's powers manifested. Out of control. Destroyed huge areas and killed six-hundred thousand. That gave the anti-mutant crowd a cause. So they started the 'Decimation'. All mutants and their human relatives were rounded up and killed. Human carriers of the X-Gene were sterilised or imprisoned. The Fantastic Four –well, three of them- were arrested for harbouring a mutant… The Exonims –kind of like Sentinels- did a 'good job' of keeping the streets clear but there was a problem. Magneto stole a load of buildings and created an easily defendable fortress to protect the remaining mutants. So the U.S. Government needed a weapon. A mutant weapon who could get in and kill them all. And… And that's where I came in. They tortured me. Turned me into a living weapon. And… And this is the bit I keep crying over… They cut out my emotions… I…I can't feel! You can't understand what it's like… The emptiness… The… I'm sorry."

She cleared a tear from her face.

"I don't want to go into that. They decided to show me off at some big military conference. I…I escaped… I killed every last person there… And then I got out… There was an anti-mutant rally going on… I…I don't know how many people I killed… all I remember is this terrible emptiness… It…I… And I'm telling you this because it could happen here. It will happen here, unless we find a way of living in peace… I'm sorry… I…I just want to go now. Is that okay?"

The video started again and Tora turned away to see Idie watching Rachel talking. She walked over and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Rachel understands. She knows what it's like for me. To see all the alternate futures. Only they aren't alternate. They're possibilities. All of them had chance to exist."

She heard Laurie come up and smiled at Idie.

"I'll see you around, kid. Stay safe."

Tora turned back to the video of Rachel, which had started again. She reached out and touched the screen.

"I hope the nightmares stopped, Ray. Mine haven't."

And then there was an explosion. Tora whipped around and charged in the opposite direction to the fleeing people. She skidded into the main room in time to see Hellfire grunts march in. Then she groaned, reached out to Emma.

Kids? I draw a line at hitting kids.

Then take the adults. There are more than enough to go around.

Tora leapt over and neatly knocked out three guards before being noticed by anyone but the X-Men. Bobby saluted her and she raised her hand in return. Then she returned to hitting people. Sighing, she opened her hands and let the waves out. They'd been lapping at the corners of her mind, begging her to use them but so far she had resisted. But in the end, the lure was too great.

The force of the water sent most of the guards flying against a wall and Tora closed her eyes as her hands moved over her head, controlling the waves. This felt good. Pure power. Running through her, a part of her. She was only vaguely aware of Namor falling to the ground and normally that would have put her on alert. As it was, she was dancing on the edge of oblivion. Only paying attention to her opponents, marvelling at the freedom that came with the surges and dips in power. Over and over, like surf crashing on a beach. Power peaked, she tore through exhibits. Powers dipped, she resorted to fists and feet. Powers peaked… Over and over, not realising that the peaks and troughs weren't the usual style, that something was wrong. In fact, she didn't realise that the other X-Men were down until the four children surrounded her and held up a box.

She staggered as the mental chips tried to shut her brain down but she'd bypassed that problem years ago.

"Voice…command…Tora…Override…protocol…six…"

She stood up straight.

"Children? I have to fight children? What have I descended to? That I don't see this as repulsive?"

Her arm shot out and one of the children was now hanging from her hand as her fingers tightened at his throat.

"Children… Just children…"

The boy in her hand wasn't struggling.

"You're good. But we're better."

Something shot at her but her claws sliced right through it and she barely glanced down before sighing.

"A Badoon brain slug? I mean really? I can rip those things apart with a word. Also, whoever sold them to you sent sub-standard ones. How much did you pay? Because if it was more than two-billion, they totally scammed you."

She dropped the boy.

"And I really should warn you. Back in the day, my husband tore through the Hellfire guards like a whirlwind. And I'm even more dangerous. I don't want to kill children, but if it comes to it, I shall collapse this whole building on us. It will kill you and quite possibly severely injure me. But I will survive. You won't."

"Are you sure about that?"

She staggered as something hit her back. She tried to turn but she couldn't.

"We're read all the old Weapon X files. Very interesting. And do you know what we found? Your little weakness. The one thing that they used to control you. Adamantium-twelve. The unstable variant of the very metal in your bones. We've been steadily exposing you to it. Bye-bye, Dragon."

She glanced up and the brain slug hit her right in her face. The last thing she remembered was Dragon screaming in agony. Or maybe it was someone else…

Phoenix winced.

"I've never been hit by one of those but I've always heard they hurt."

"They do. It basically shuts your brain down and feeds off any thoughts. It doesn't matter that most thoughts are of the calibre of 'orange croutons zoom-zoom butterscotch'. It's food."

"Please tell me you didn't…"

"I think that was one of the more coherent thoughts…"

A.N. The title of this chapter is an inside joke with me and my brother. I had to fit it in somewhere. If anyone can tell where it's from, I'll be very impressed