Finally another chapter - I know you are all looking forward to finding out about Xandra's powers. :)
Also, have some Xandra-Fitz-friendship-fluff.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Marvel.

Chapter 17: What She Becomes

When the quinjet dropped then off Xandra wondered for a brief moment whether she would see Coulson, May, Hunter and Morse again, after all they were basically running into the lion's den to stop the drill and find Skye. Xandra knew if she didn't, she would always remember their faces. The friendly smile of the director, the guarded eyes of his deputy, Hunter's insolent smirk and Morse's indignant scowl directed at her. It was just what her brain worked like - a curse as well as a blessing in a way.

The little team of four, three scientists and one field agent, all put on hazard suits, then together they carried the extra-equipment inside, trying not to slip on the stairs. Of course there was some argument about whether only Tripp should go down into the tunnels or whether he should be joined by the scientists, Fitzsimmons argued for the latter which was probably not a stupid idea, given Simmons' biological know-how and Fitz' desire to find out what had caused the disturbance in the electrics. But what about Xandra herself? Nobody seemed sure about that, Coulson had forgotten to (or maybe for some reason even deliberately) not given her any instructions. That probably meant she could decide for herself, didn't it?

Since they had come down into the upper chamber, she had felt that tugging feeling again, the insistent pull towards the lower levels. At the same time, her heartbeat had quickened immediatly, just as it did before one of her tournament fights. It was as if her body was preparing for battle, but Xandra wasn't sure whether it was a battle with something or with itself. Probably the latter, she was so conflicted. Common sense stood against seduction of the meanest kind, that must be what a drug addict felt like, Xandra mused.

"Well, it seems that you need any help you can get," she heard herself say.

Apparently her body had decided. So far for her usual, exceptionally good self control. But to be honest, they really could use her help, she was probably more useful when it came to combat than the other two scientists combined, also she was quite fast and had memorised the plan of the tunnel system beforehand. After a short time of deliberation, the others agreed. In theory, their plan sounded so simple: Plant the detonators and get out. In praxis their work would definitely be a more of a challenge - no comms, no GPS, no flashlights.

Tripp promised they would bring up Mack's body if they found him dead in the tunnels below but the question remained - what if he wasn't, what if he was still alive? The field agent's opinion on this was simple, then it couldn't be Mack but someone or rather something else, and shooting him would, crudely spoken, be a favour. Alexandra silently agreed. When they slowly lowered themselves down into the lower level with only torches as sources of light, she send up a silent prayer that they might come back unharmed and uncorrupted.

It was damp down there, and dark and eerily silent, and Xandra hated it. How had she ever thought this would work, that the torchlight and the presence of the other people would be enough to fight her panic of dark, closed rooms? Well, actually she wasn't locked in, she tried to calm herself down, trying to breathe evenly. After a while, it got better. They managed to succesfully plant two of the bombs, but when Alexandra looked at her teammates, she knew they thought the same: They were too slow.

"Let's split up!" Fitz suggested.

It was met with huge protest from Simmons, but he would not budge. His arguments were good: He was familiar with explosives and he had a map.

"Alright then, I trust you," Xandra agreed, really believing him.

She knew Fitz was aware of his weaknesses, but her feelings told her he wouldn't fail.

"But I will go with you. Simmons will go with Tripp. Alright?"

Without realizing, her tone had changed again, had it been merely pleasant before it was now different, laced with something that seemed to vibrate through the tunnel, a tone that wouldn't tolerate disobedience. The others reluctanly agreed and Xandra saw Tripp and Simmons disappear in the other direction before making her way to the designated area, Fitz on her heels. However, with less people around, the tunnel walls seemed to come closer again and breathing became heavier. She tried to concentrate on her task, follow the path, plant the explosive, run away. Then she would surely be out here in no time. All would be good. And Fitz was here. She wasn't alone. At least her eyes had gotten used to the poor light by now and she could clearly see how the tunnel had been carved out of the volcanic rock.

'What would you think of this, father? No, I know. You would be so excited, you would sell your soul and mine too for good measure for discovering something like this,' she thought bitterly, 'another chance for you to gain fame. But you will never set eyes on this, I will help distroy this unlucky thing.' The thought that she had been here, seen something constructed by another kind of civilization, probably alien civilization, something so far beyond her father's understanding, filled her with an angry type of satisfaction that helped her focus.

"Trouble with your father?" Fitz asked next to her and her head wipped around to realize that she had spelled her thoughts out loud.

"Yes," she sighed, "utter bastard."

It was almost ridiculous, she was running through an alien city, trying to plant a bomb and just in this situation, for the first time, managed to admit even briefly to another human being that her relationship to her father was troubled. Fitz didn't press but only nodded in understanding.

"Mine too. I was not enough. He left."

Xandra suddenly stopped her run so aprubtly Fitz nearly crushed into her. She deliberatedly stepped into his path, making him look at her.

"You, Leo Fitz, ARE enough. You are smart enough, brave enough, kind enough, simply enough. I even believe you a MORE. He left because he is a fool who didn't see that. Just like my mother. THEY are the ones that weren't enough."

Fitz looked to the side.

"I find... I find most days it is harder to believe the good things thatn the cruel things."

"I know," her voice was little above a wisper, "God knows I know Leo."

Suddenly the engineer embraced her, awkward and clumsy in the suits but still warm and there.

"You, Xandra are enough, too, you know. Do you believe that? Do you believe yourself - and me?"

"Most days."

She pulled away to give him a crocked smile.

"Now we probably have to hurry to get this done before it all comes down," she commented, all back to business.

Fitz nodded, luckily the space was already close, just behind two corners.

Fitz set up the explosives while his teammate went some steps away, trying to catch sounds that sounded human.

"All set?" the woman asked after a short amount of time.

"Yes," he answered.

She smiede. "Okay, let's get out of here."

Simmons and Tripp were already "upstairs" when they reached the entrance and helped pulling them up.

"You took quite a long time," Tripp chided them, just like Simmons already out of the hazard suit.

"Yeah, sorry," the other man answered vaguely.

Xandra quickly took off the uncomfortable garment and regretted it in an instant, the tugging on her conscience intensified tenfold. Suddenly, Tripp's phone rang.

"We're out, all of us. It's all good," he stated right away.

May on the other hand sounded disturbed.

"Raina escaped into the tunnels. With the obelisk."

"Doesn't matter, it is going to go down one way or the other," Tripp tried to calm her down.

"But Skye went after her!"

"Damn," Tripp called out, disconnecting the call.

Without a moment of hesitation, he grabbed the cable, sliding down into the abyss, despite the protest of the other scientists. Xandra was silent. A turmoil was going on inside of her, staying or following the call into the tunnel? Suddenly one emotion overpowered everything, striking like a lightning - she had to protect Skye and Tripp. There were no questions left to ask, she had to go down there. Ignoring Fitzsimmon's calls, she slid down after Tripp, into the dark.

There was light in the tunnels, Tripp had relit one of the torches they had discarded there before. For a moment, it seemed as if he wanted to say something, but apparently Xandra's facial expression answered all the unasked questions. Wordlessly, he passed her the torch and lit another.

"You stop 1 and 2 and I take 3 and 4," he explained and his companion nodded, both running off into different directions.

This time, there was no moment to stop and be afraid, there was only time to get the job done and protect the team. Somewhere she could here a voice calling out for Skye, it must be Coulson. Only one reason more to stop the tunnels from collapsing. The first bomb was quickly deactivated and Xandra ran again, she knew it was now a matter of minutes. She deactivated the bomb just before time - now it was her chance to get out of here but part of the team were still down in the tunnels and, who was she kidding, the pull was getting nearly irresistible by now. She closed her eyes, breathing in and out, opened them again - and let her instincts take over. The feeling was different than anything she had ever felt before, a rush, a desire, untamed, wild, savage - not nice, not beautiful, but heady just the same. A ride on razor's edge. Voices. There were female voices, one of them Skye's, and the feeling led her into their direction.

"Skye!"

That was Coulson and he was running towards her.

Suddenly, a huge silhouette stepped out of the shadows, lunging at him. It was Mack. Or rather, not Mack at all.

"Seriously?" Coulson asked, clearly annoyed as he was flipped through the air.

"Edvardson, get Skye, I will keep him busy," he called out.

Only years of training and Coulson's impressive skills made it possible for her to slip past the men and keep running. When she rounded the next corner, she saw something akin to a portal in front of her - the tempel, she supposed. That was were her feelings were leading her. And that was were light was coming from. And the voices. But from one moment to another, walls started to move, starting to close the entrance. The woman doubled her efforts, just slipping into the chamber before the stones meet with an earth shattering 'clang'. Her eyes scanned the room, it was round with something akin to a pedestal in the middle, Skye and a woman who must be Raina on the opposite sides. Both women were staring at what must be the obelisk, it was standing oon the lighted pedestal like an object of art. The shape was hard to determine, probably a bit like an hourglass. Xandra ran closer to her teammate who simply looked at her wide-eyed, but then, one moment before the last door closed, Tripp rushed in.

"What are you doing here?" Skye all but shouted.

"Nice to see you too!" he simply answered, frowning when he saw Xandra standing next to Skye as well.

Suddenly, this obelisk kind of opened. It looked like a mixture of a flower and a chocolate bar when the thin, golden outer layer moved like a flower petal just to fold neatly at the bottom, revealing the secret inside: Blue crystals that were extending more and more. They were magnificent, in a way, but in Alexandra they somehow triggered the weird association with these "make your own crystal"-sets the scientist had had as a child. Had the situation not been so dire, she had probably laughed. Skye and Tripp looked at them transfixed, but it was Raina who was utterly enchanted.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she breathed out.

Suddenly, there was a gust, blowing all of them back some steps. They looked at each other, and what Xandra found surprised her. While Tripp looked confused and upset, a reaction that she had expected, Skyes eyes showed her that she felt quite like herself: Wanting to keep away but at the same time fascinated and morbidly curious. Only that Raina-woman seemd absolutely delighted, she smiled like the cat that got the cream. When Skye stepped a little bit closer to the crystals, Alexandra followed her lead. Suddenly, there was a swishing sound, or rather a slight growling, like the Earth had decided to breathe out. After a few confused looks, it turned out that Skye and Raina started to become covered in a substance looking like stone, it seemed as if they were getting petrified like statues. The young agent's eyes widened as she looked down on her and the rapidly spreading material. Her chest heaved, she seemed to be getting out of air.

"Xan- Tripp!" she called out," making her blonde teammate run towards her.

She grabbed her by the shoulders, ready to shake Skye, even though she didn't know what that was supposed to help. But under her fingers, she felt Skye's shoulders turn into stone - or were they covered by stone? What was going on here? That was all so wrong! What could she do? She couldn't keep her eyes away from Skye's face until it was totally covered in black and grey rock. Behind her, the obelik (or was it the crystals?) was still singing to her. Suddenly, the crystals exploded, the impact flinging her to the ground. When she lifted her head, her eyes searched for Tripp and saw the tears in his. She didn't need to turn around to know that Skye was gone.

A sob left her throat when she saw the splinters of crystal in Tripps chest. Scrambling to her feet, she ran over to his side, sitting down next to him. Just when she reached out to touch him, she heard that sound again, like stone grating on stone. Then she heard the man's whispered "no" and Xandra knew this was the end, for both of them if the grey spreading over his collar bones was any indication. Her legs were getting heavy, so there it had started as well. Then Tripp pulled her towards him with the arm he could still move. She fell forwards, her cheek touching stone, but it was comforting in a way, to die in someone's arms, someone who had become a friend. Xandra had never wished for more. There was no fear, not many regrets. Some people would miss her, but they would be okay. The only one who had ever been in danger of getting hurt had moved on. Maybe she was a bit curious about what was to come now. But there was also some confusion. Why was her own arm that she could see from that angle covered in blue, looking like sapphires, and not black rock? Then, breathing became impossible and the whole world turned dark.

The next thing she realized, after hours or after just seconds, was a rumbling sound, then a slight lifting of the preassure around her. Xandra started to flex her muscles, surprised when the material around her actually seemed to budge. Firstly, it crumbled around her hands, then around her face, making it possible to see again. Her glasses seemed to have been "baked into" the blue material and were now falling off as well, but the woman found she didn't need them. She could see Skye standing across the room, slowly uncrumbling as well. Not paying Raina any mind, the Swedish turned towards Trpp, shaking what looked like sapphire splinters off off her shoulders, just to find that there had been no change at all. She looked back at Skye and for a moment, her eyes locked with brown orbs. Then, the other woman closed her eyes and the rest of her cocoon fell off her - no, it was catapulted off in a huge shock wave.

She didn't know how, but Xandra knew what would happen - the wave would hit everything, it was made to destroy. She lurched forward, prepared to protect the still pretrified Tripp, but her legs were still covered in blue crystal material. Xandra pressed her chest as closely to the man as possible, but she could feel the wave hitting the two of them. The impact made her bones sing, but not much more, but there, in her arms, her friend literally broke in two, fell apart, turned into dust. She wanetd to scream, to call out for her friends - but no sounds came out.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and also the sneak peek into her new abilities.