Memories
Sweat and Blood
Disclaimer: What do you think?
If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
She tilted the non-existent head slightly. Odd. Bastion could see her. She supposed she was still registering as a mutant to him. And then she leant forward, spoke in a way that didn't require vocal chords or air.
You are as mutated as I am. You take pleasure in carrying out your prime directive. You were never programmed for such. You are a mutant program, a divergence. You are like us.
Bastion obviously couldn't hear her and Tora cursed. Why could she never have the good ideas when she needed them? Like when she was fighting to the death? Oh well. Death wasn't actually that bad right now. Especially when you got to see Hope and Logan screaming incredibly endearing battle cries in her name. For Tora, you metal bastard! had a rather good ring to it. Right, she needed to concentrate. She fixed on Hope then gently took Dragon and fed a tiny part into Hope's mind, using the back door she'd left herself when she'd 'blessed' Hope in the briefest of reprieves.
Hope…
Who's that?
Dragon…
Tora?! You're alive!
No… Dragon… The Dragon Song… No need to get Hope's hopes up. Now that sounded weird…
Oh… Disappointment rolled of her. Tora felt a pang of guilt for lying but it was for the best. Hope would work better with grief. It would give her the anger she needed. Yes, her father was dead. But so was her mother figure. And Hope burnt so brightly, in rage and grief. And Tora controlled the sea of emotions and channelled it into a tsunami. Hope held out her hands to her sides and Tora embraced her.
Flame on your right hand.
Fire, burning, caressing.
Wave on your left hand.
Water, lapping, soothing.
Love behind.
Emotions, strength drawn from the X-Men, all so afraid for her.
Hate ahead.
Bastion sneering at the girl.
Hate to Love.
And all the power, sheer mutant energy bolstered by phoenix fire and dragon wave. It burst out of hands and eyes and anger. And metal exploding under the stress placed on it. And then Hope was crying because where she had been so strong, now there was just a girl who had lost her parents within two days of each other. And Tora quietly retreated, leaving the girl to her grief.
xXx
The girl stumbled and then someone caught her. She looked up, grateful and did a double-take. Her rescuer was a handsome boy, somewhere in his late teens, early twenties. Messy black hair, flecked with tiny darts of red. His eyes were startling, heterochromatic. One was normal, bright blue. The other was amber, with a cat-like slit for a pupil. And most obvious for its lack; no letter embroidered on his chest. She knew he was taking in the M, knew if he were human, he would drop her. Instead he put one finger to his lips and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her into the backstreets, away from the Sentinels.
"Who are you?"
He grinned.
"Here to help you."
"Where are you taking me?"
"To the Professor. She'll help you."
"The Professor actually exists?!"
"You bet!"
They ran and every now and then pressed up against the wall or doubled back. And finally they entered a tiny house. A handsome blond boy was sitting in a chair, feet up on the table.
"Hey, Curt. Got the girl? Good."
"Hey, Ted. Look, I'll induct her, then come up for my shift early, so you can have a bit longer with Billy."
"Curt, you're a lifesaver."
The boy leant back and pressed his hand to the wall. The floor slid back and he grinned.
"See you in ten minutes, Curt. Have a good one."
"You too, Teddy. And now I don't owe you for taking my toilet shift so I could go on that date with Jubes."
"No bother. See ya."
The first boy grabbed her hand and pulled her down a tight, winding flight of stairs.
"I… I didn't know this existed."
"Neither did we. But, well, hang with the X-Men long enough and you get contacts. This leads into the Mole Man's old cities."
"You have a city?"
"There's quite a few of us. We pick up people. Hey, Billy."
The boy they were passing grinned.
"Tommy's looking for you, Curt. Something about… fireworks and Peepers' bed? I don't want to know."
"Thanks. Where's-"
"The Professor? Where do you think? The memorials."
"Ta. See you later."
The girl looked over her shoulder. The boy, who she now realised was 'Curt' shook his head.
"Nah, Billy's with Teddy. I won that bet, by the way."
"The guy when we came in?"
"Yeah."
"What do they… you know, do?"
"Billy's one of those iffy ones. He's a mage but we think his power –the mutant one at least- is reality warping. He basically wishes for things to happen and they do. And Teddy? Well, he's not even human."
"Not… I thought…"
"We don't discriminate. Teddy's had it harsh. His dad was Captain Marvel. You know, the Kree Avenger? His mom was a Skrull –the shapeshifters- and a princess at that. Teddy was shipped off to Earth as a baby. We're not actually sure what his real form is. We think it's a blond, chunky, green-skinned boy. But seeing as he's a shapeshifter with Kree super-strength and invulnerability, we aren't going to try and find out. This way."
They entered a huge cavern, lit with luminous fungi. Curt steered her towards a tall, thin, spindly building, almost reminiscent of a termite mound. She looked at him.
"It was the old cathedral. We moved here after the Mole Man and his people were wiped out. You might want to be quiet."
They entered and her mouth dropped. All the walls were embedded with life-sized stone statues of people. Curt smiled sadly.
"We have a few telepaths hooked up to a…power-enhancer, and every time a mutant or superhuman is killed by the Sentinels, we make a tribute."
"They're beautiful…"
"Yeah, well, some people here… The Sentinels messed them up. The Professor's at the far end. In the X-Men memorial."
"Thanks."
"Probably talking to Dad again."
"Your… Your dad was an X-Man?"
"Both my parents. Dad was killed pretty soon after the take-over. Marked as a Level 1 threat, see? Which is pretty impressive, seeing as that was the level of Magneto, Charles Xavier, the Scarlet Witch and Phoenix."
"I… I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. Dad died protecting my little brother and sister. He'd always wanted to look after us. I think he'd be proud of us. Jamie almost single-handedly runs the entire computer infrastructure and Eva… Well, Eva's the best fighter her age. The Prof's just down there."
"Thanks…"
"Gotta go. I'm on door duty and I promised Teddy I'd go early. Tommy should turn up in ten minutes, give you the guided tour. If he goes too fast, just say."
The girl gulped and walked down the long corridor, towards the figure sitting in the wheelchair, surrounded by stone statues. She was about ten feet away when a soft voice spoke.
"What do you think?"
"You're… You're a woman?"
"Typical. I'm a professor, so I have to be a guy."
The chair moved round, revealing a thin, tired face; cropped red hair with a streak of black and four parallel scars marking the right eye.
"Although, I'm no longer an 'official' professor. The '09 Mutant Act. All mutants are stripped of academic qualifications. Sucks. Charles Xavier persuaded me to take higher education. I stuck at it. Seven years of hard work slogging through a degree then the doctorate down the drain."
"You were a professor?"
"At ESU. I used to teach Computing Science."
"You're… Weren't you…"
"Tigress. Yeah. About a million years ago."
"What… What happened…?"
"Sentinels' wanted an 'example'. They surgically severed my spinal cord. Paralysed below the waist. When the X-Men attacked, I pulled myself into one of the air ducts, pulled my way out. Almost killed myself. Tommy, Billy and Teddy found me. Got me to safety, got me through the fever. And I started my little resistance, rescuing as many mutants as I could without drawing attention to myself. By the way, the Sentinels have now found your carcass, torn to shreds by Marauders. We have to be careful. Every now and then, we can stage a transport accident."
The woman grasped the wheels and pushed herself down the corridor. The girl hurried after her.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Elsa."
"We'll have you taken to the Surgery, get the tracker taken out. Don't comment on the surgeon, Jamie's our most qualified. He just happens to be ten."
"You… You have a ten year-old-doctor…?"
"We're stretched. We'll introduce you."
"Er… Professor…?"
"Yes?"
"What… Were the stories true?"
"What stories?"
"About… About you…"
"What about me?"
"That you took the Sentinels on single-handed."
"Before I lost any sensation in my legs or after?"
"I… I'm sorry… That was tactless…"
"No bother."
The Professor wheeled her chair around. Elsa reached out a hand.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"How… How many… How many X-Men survived?"
The woman looked over her shoulder.
"One."
xXx
His hands were coated with her blood as she tried to struggle but he just laughed coldly as she screamed. She had thought this was over! She'd thought she'd never have to go through this torment again! But he was smiling as the scalpel dug straight into her gut and she screamed again. She tried to lash out but he pinned her down, his breath stinking of semi-rotten meat as he lowered his lips to her ear.
"This is just to make sure he doesn't get hurt."
She screamed again as she felt the weight in her stomach being gently removed and then the pain as her body tried to heal the injuries whilst also trying to find the life it had been sustaining that had just been ripped from it brutally. And a child's face, red and scrunched-up, was hovering in front of her eyes.
"Looks like you're good for something after all…"
She screamed again and warm arms were wrapped around her, a low voice singing a lullaby in German and she relaxed, realising the event had been some fifteen years ago and she was safe now, because Logan had been captured and Kurt… Kurt… How had she been so blind? That she'd seen Logan and never him, never kind, funny, endearing Kurt who had never raised a hand to her, even in anger and especially not in fun. Who right now was rocking her back and forth from the nightmare, singing softly and warmly, never letting her slip back into the past. There was a crash downstairs and they both shot up, a testament to years of training and fear.
"I'll go."
He caught her arm.
"Not a chance. Let me."
"Together?"
He nodded and they rose silently, creeping down the stairs in silence. A single claw protruded from Tora's hand as Kurt carefully pulled the foil from the umbrella stand. They slammed the kitchen door open together and froze. Half-collapsed over the table, blood streaming from gaping wounds, was Etana. She looked up, eyes fuzzy.
"Got out… Needed safe… First place thought… Logan… Out…"
Tora stiffened but leapt forward when Etana pitched towards the floor, catching her with a grace she hadn't displayed in years.
"KURT! First aid kit!"
"Got it!"
They worked silently and effectively, slipping into the routine they used when X-Men, some nineteen years back. Kurt 'ported her upstairs to a spare bedroom and Tora got the bandages, disinfectant and all the other items needed in a house with Jamie.
Upstairs, Kurt was carefully, tactfully removing the worst torn parts of Etana's clothes, glancing over at Tora.
"You know I can't risk getting her blood in my system."
"I know. You just make sure the kids don't find out she's here."
He hugged her.
"We were meant to leave all this behind, Liebling. I can understand if you just want her to leave."
"I can't."
"I know."
He pecked a kiss to her forehead and slipped out. Tora quickly moved over, cutting away the last of the ruined clothes and started cleaning the cuts. They were deep, slashes and gouges. All in sets of three, all caused by Etana twisting at the last second to avoid being stabbed. Her face contorted with pain as the antiseptic dripped into cuts but there was no other response. Tora placed pads onto all the cuts and then resorted to simply binding up Etana's whole torso to deal with the bleeding. Then to the less life-threatening, but nonetheless serious injuries to arm and leg, the careful attempts to smooth and clean feathers coated in a thick layer of blood. Not all of it was Etana's.
Tora closed her eyes. She could smell Steve's blood, Max's, Reed's. Of course… There had been a big meeting of all the old High Command, to celebrate the fact Etana had got fed up of waiting and told Steve to propose or she would. They had been invited but declined. And if Logan had escaped –which he shouldn't be able to do- then he would have been perfectly placed to kill almost everyone who stood against Apocalypse. And then Etana's eyes fluttered open.
"…To…ra…?"
"This is really rather disturbing…"