Sunrise was often at or after 7 in the morning in early winter. Even if the sun would come up earlier, teenagers have the ability to sleep long past the point it became light outside if they had no reason to set an alarm, such as having no school or work that day.
It was this early morning twilight that Illyana Rasputina took advantage of. At even 3 in the morning, there was the chance that one of her classmates would still be up, playing a videogame, glued to WhatsApp, or just mindlessly going through Youtube videos.
None of the mansion's other occupants knew she could do what she was about to do, a state of affairs Illyana was eager to maintain given the questions and suspicion already being whispered behind her back. She did not want anyone to see her floating in the air between the beds of the room she shared with Kitty Pryde, her legs folded as if she was on the floor. She did not want any of them to see the flames of pure silver that shot out of her hand, forming a circle on the floor around her.
Lines of flame crossed the circle, overlapping each other and forming a five-pointed star. Illyana floated above the silver fire, facing the base of the pentagram. Her eyes were closed and her hands were in a relaxed meditation pose.
The fire left no marks on the floor and created neither smoke nor heat. It served a different purpose, a purpose that was revealed as a phantom began to rise from Illyana's body. This phantom looked exactly like Illyana, wearing the same clothes and even the same ponytail the Russian girl was trying out for the first time. The only differences were that this phantom was translucent and standing in midair rather than sitting.
The phantom Illyana was in reality an astral projection, something that allowed her to project her consciousness to other locations. This astral form opened its eyes and floated towards and then through the bedroom window.
Illyana turned north, and her astral form rose high above the mansion's grounds. If Illyana had been a normal person who occasionally had dreams about flying, she would have been struck by the similarities of her current experience to such dreams.
The world turned into a blur of motion around Illyana, who was standing still from her own point of view. Had she moved at such speeds in her physical form, the residents of three states would have been woken up from a low-altitude sonic boom, and her body would not have been able to withstand the acceleration and deceleration. But her astral form had no such physical limitations.
The world slowed down above another school. This was a larger institution than Xaviers, with multiple buildings rather than a single mansion and several hundred students rather than seven. The architecture was of a similar old America style to the mansion.
Illyana lowered herself towards the ground and entered the nearest building. At this hour, most of the lights were still out, but a few were on in some of the hallways. Illyana did a quick fly-through of all of the buildings. She did not find what she was looking for, and settled just in front of the steps of the main campus building. Then, as if she was diving into a pool, she plunged headfirst into the pavement.
There was a lot of metal and machinery below the ground and nor rock or soil any deeper than five feet beneath the surface. At almost exactly the same depth as it would have taken had she done the same at the Xavier school, Illyana emerged in a high-tech hallway, virtually identical to those underneath the mansion.
Illyan stayed in the walls as much as possible at this point. Unlike the school above, all those in this underground facility were awake, forcing her to be much more cautious as she moved from room to room.
Finally, Illyana came to a large room that contained what she was looking for. The room was a perfect cube of metallic floors and walls, and completely dark except for the spotlight aimed at a metal chair in the center.
"You won't get away with this!" yelled the chair's occupant, Kitty Pryde.
Kitty had certainly seen better days. Her hair was completely unkempt, and she had a large bruise on her left cheek. She was dressed in a spandex costume of two shades of pinkish red, a darker and a lighter shade.
"Fair accompli, child," said the room's only other occupant. She was dressed all in white, a daring and revealing outfit that was overshadowed by the large cape flowing down from the heavy white fur covering her shoulders.
She placed a long tobacco pipe in her mouth for a few moments. Both the tobacco and the pipe were worth fortunes. Emma Frost only accepted the best. "It's already done. You are trapped here, without the ability to phase."
Kitty growled as she attempted to break free of the bonds holding her wrists to the chair, but it was as Emma said, she could not use her phasing power.
"Rage all you wish, Katherine," Emma taunted. "Resist with all your might. I enjoy a good challenge. But when this is over, when I've finished with you, you won't want to leave my side ever again."
"The X-Men-" Kitty began before she was cut off by Emma leaning over her and holding the tobacco pipe to her face.
"If your teammates were coming to your rescue, they'd have already been here," Emma said as Kitty coughed on the smoke coming from the pipe. "I know all about your little plan to have Nightcrawler stationed nearby. He isn't there. Nor is your precious professor. Face it, Katherine, you're all alone."
"Doug will-"
Emma laughed. "Douglas Ramsey won't ever notice that you're missing. Did you really think a telepath as powerful as I couldn't keep a naïve teenager in line?"
"Why are you doing this?"
For the first time, Emma's smile vanished as she focused on the business at hand. "You are a mutant. So is Douglass. That makes you both valuable commodities, commodities I and the Hellfire Club mean to control."
"You're pure evi-gasp!" Kitty exclaimed.
Emma spun around, her cape billowing impressively, and saw instantly what had startled her captive. Illyana, in her horror at what she was witnessing and desire to help Kitty, had forgotten her caution and even that she was not in a corporal form and had begun to approach Emma.
"A spy!" the telepath yelled, putting her free hand to the side of her forehead.
"Illyana, run!" Kitty screamed.
"Too late!" the woman known as the White Queen said as she launched a psychic bolt at this unexpected intruded. Illyana's form seemed to explode, the pieces fading from existence without a sound.
YEARGH!
The scream filled the entire mansion, waking up every single resident. Instantly, they bolted out of bed, their bedroom doors flying open.
"Who screamed?" Amara asked.
"I've never heard anything so frightful!" Rahne said.
"It came from the X-Men's wing," Dani realized.
"Illyana's the only one there," Roberto said.
All dressed in their pajamas, they ran as a group to the other wing of the mansion, where Sam attempted to open the door to the room Illyana and Kitty shared.
"Door's locked," he said, nodding at Roberto to join him. The other boy nodded, and together they kicked the door as hard as they could without using their powers, breaking the lock.
Roberto was about to ask if Illyana was all right when a face appeared in the door they had just opened. The face was green, with large pointed red eyes, nostrils that did not appear to have a nose attached to them, and a wide mouth filled with over a hundred tiny but razor-sharp teeth. Its skin was rough and bumpy, like a cross between a lizard and a human.
The creature flew past them, and they realized that the face was nearly all there was to it. Two small bat-like wings protruded from the side of the face where the creature's ears should have been, and two stubby legs and a tail extended from where there should have been a neck. In all, the creature was only a little bit larger than a housecat.
Only Rahne and Amara did not exclaim "What the hell?"
They had not recovered from the shock of the demon's sudden appearance when they beheld the state Illyana was in. The young Russian was still seated in the air above the pentagram of silver flames, but her head was turned upwards and her mouth was still wide open as if she was still screaming.
Two streams of white smoke were shooting out of Illyana's eyes, coalescing into a cloud three feet above her. More creatures like the first demon were emerging from the cloud.
"Lord have mercy, those creatures are coming out of here," Sam said. These demons were similar to the first in that they had large heads and next to no body, though their shapes and colors varied greatly.
The New Mutants ducked as four of these demons flew out of the room, following the first one.
Dani was the first to recover her wits even partially. "Go after them!" she ordered her teammates. "Don't let them out of the house! I'll try to help Illyana!"
The others ran off, Rahne, Amara, and Roberto transforming in order to use their powers. Dani entered Illyana's room and shut the door, ensuring no more demons would escape its confines. She stared at the scene in front of her, a girl younger than her frozen perfectly still in midair, shooting smoke and monsters from her eyes, and gulped.
"If I can figure out how," Dani whispered.
Rahne was the fastest of the New Mutants on the ground when she transformed. She caught up to the demons near the main staircase, leaping over the railing to catch a blue demon with squid-like tentacles sticking out from under its chin. The demon turned to smoke has her halfway-transformed hands passed through it, and Rahne landed hard on the bottom floor.
Another demon, this one the same shade of purple as S'ym, floated just above Rahne, letting out a terrifying screech that made her cover her sensitive ears. Roberto bounded down the stairs in his transformed state, throwing a super-powered punch at the demon that again met only smoke. The momentum of Roberto's punch threw him off balance, and Rahne had to catch him before he fell as she had.
Still on the second floor, Sam blasted off towards a group of three demons that were flying in the direction of the window at the end of the hall. He caught up to one of the demons in under a second, only for it to dissolve into smoke in his hands, and crashed through the window, shattering it.
Sam continued flying over the grounds until he reached a tree, reaching out and grabbing the large trunk as he deactivated his power so that he could stop without crashing. He looked back. The last two demons had flown outside through the window he had broken.
Amara stood at the window and fired a lava blast at one of the demons, turning it into smoke. Sam blasted off again, passing through the cloud of smoke left by the final demon when he hit it.
Demons continued to materialize from the smoke emanating from Illyana's eyes. Dani stood there frozen, with no idea of what she could possibly do about this situation. She looked down from the demons and focused on Illyana's agonized face. That was all she needed to decide to act.
Dani cautiously approached the cloud and threw a punch at the closest demon as soon as she was in range. Like the demons that had escaped the room, this one dissolved into smoke upon contact.
The rest of the demons, which had been ignoring Dani's presence until then, finally seemed to notice her and surrounded her. Her arms were grabbed by many small hands. Twisting her body to escape their grips, Dani fell over, hitting her head on a cabinet and nearly knocking herself out.
Groggy and barely conscious after the fall, Dani involuntarily activated her power, and a figure appeared above the demons. Shrouded in smoke and shadow, little could be seen of the figure beyond the fact that it was female and very, very angry.
The demons screamed in mortal terror and all vanished in puffs of smoke, enveloping the room in a thick grey mist. The apparition Dani summoned solidified and walked through the mist, picking her up in long, powerful crimson arms.
"It can't be…" Dani whispered, unable to raise her voice at all. "My spirit forms are illusions … They can't pick me up … That thing … was Illyana? But it was so evil … Illyana isn't …"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Dani gasped. She was lying in bed with Illyana standing over her. The other girl now looked as if nothing had happened, and all the smoke and mist had disappeared from the room as if they had never been there.
"I feel awful," Dani said.
"You hit your head pretty bad," Illyana explained. "You stay here and don't try to move. I'm gonna go get some ice for your head."
Dani found her voice, and despite Illyana's instructions, raised her head off of the pillow. "What about the others?"
"We're fine, Dani," came Sam's voice.
Sam had opened the bedroom door, revealing the entire team. None of them looked happy.
"But we've got some questions for Illyana."
Many hours later, in an underground facility far below the Massachusetts Academy, a circular piece of metal flooring began to glow red. The red glow turned to white as the metal deformed from the heat before it began to melt away entirely.
In fifteen seconds, a hole six feet in diameter had been burned away in the floor, out of which emerged Amara in her molten form.
"We're in, my friends," the Italian mutant said. "And the villains seem none the wiser."
The rest of the New Mutants followed Amara out of the hole after the edges had cooled to the touch and no longer glowed with heat energy. They were all in their uniforms, including Illyana, who was wearing the blue and yellow costume for the first time. The costume Illyana wore was clearly not fitted for her, as the sleeves were too long and it was baggier on her than the costumes any of the others wore.
Rahne immediately shifted into her wolf form and began sniffing around.
"Problem," Dani said after communicating mind to mind with Rahne. "There are too many scents. She can't sort them all out to find which one is Kitty's."
"I scouted the entire complex when I was here earlier," Illyana responded. The room Kitty was held in before is right next door. Kitty's scent should be easier to pick out from there."
She led them to the door, which they found unlocked to find perfect cube of a room.
They all stopped. This room was almost completely dark except for a single light that shone on a figure in the exact center. There was Kitty, sitting in the same metal chair wearing the same pink outfit as when Emma interrogated her earlier. The youngest X-Man was facing 90 degrees away from them, looking at another door leading into the room.
Dani grabbed Illyana's arm. "Something's not right," she whispered. "Why would they leave Kitty all alone in the same place you found her earlier?"
"Obviously it's a trap," Illyana responded.
Kitty turned her head at the sound of hushed voices. She grinned at her rescuers, though it was clearly painful for her to do so with the bruise on her cheek.
"About time you got here, Illyana. What took you so long?"
"The bus broke down," Illyana responded.
"You came to rescue me by bus?"
"What can I say, we're a class act," Illyana said, taking a step forward.
"What are you doing?" Dani demanded. "You're knowingly walking into a trap?"
"We don't really have a choice," Illyana countered. Dani scowled, but she could not argue. Kitty's calling out to them had likely already alerted her captors to their presence. The faster they freed Kitty, the sooner they could get out of there.
"Nice outfit," Kitty said as Illyana approached. "You're a real X-baby now."
"You should like it," Illyana said, reaching out to Kitty when she got close, "considering it used to be y-By the Abyss!"
Illyana's hands went straight through Kitty and the chair she was held in. Given Kitty's powers, this would not ordinarily have been a cause for concern. But if Kitty had been able to use her powers, none of them would have been there to rescue her in the first place.
"Hologram!" Illyana screamed. The figure of Kitty and her chair began to fade an instant after her hands passed through the image.
All of the lights in the cube room turned on at the same time, forcing the mutants to cover their eyes at the sudden brightness. When they lowered their arms, the figure of Emma Frost stood in mid-air above their heads, her hand on the shoulder of a defeated-looking Kity Pryde.
"Welcome, dear children, to my parlor," Emma said with a dramatic flourish. "I know most of you by reputation, and some, not at all. But I'm certain we're going to become great friends."
As she spoke, people began to pour through all of the doors leading into the room. These were the foot soldiers of the Hellfire Club, dressed head to toe in dark blue outfits that consisted of an experimental material that was both flexible and could serve as armor against bullets and knives. The blue was broken up by lines of red around the neck and waist, red gloves and boots, and a skin-colored and yet inhuman mask that only had slit openings for their eyes. Each and every one of these soldiers held a semi-automatic rifle or handgun.
The New Mutants did not bother attempting to fight Emma, as it was obvious she was just another hologram from the way she stood in mid-air. Instead, they turned their attention to the foot-soldiers surrounding them.
"Put your hands up!" one soldier who was most likely the leader ordered them. "Come along quietly, and no one needs to get hurt."
Sam gestured at Amara, who alone of the mutants raised her arms. Rather than come quietly as ordered, she transformed, glowing white hot like a miniature sun and blinding the solders the way the New Mutants had been blinded less than a minute earlier.
Magma did not stop at producing a lightshow, creating an earthquake the likes of which Massachusetts had never seen in recorded history, though localized entirely under the academy grounds. None of the soldiers could keep their footing as the entire underground facility violently shook, and a fissure opened up in the metal floor, forcing them to scramble away to avoid falling in. The lights failed, plunging them into complete darkness.
The soldiers' leader hobbled to his feet before the rest of his men. He knew this facility well enough to find his way in the dark, and when the shaking stopped, quickly found the lever that activated the emergency power. The lights came back on. Not all of the lights, only those connected to the emergency generator, but it was more than enough for them to see clearly again.
Unfortunately, there was no one there for them to see.
"The kids, they're gone!"
Emma Frost took a sip from her glass of wine. She was seated at the end of a long dining table in her personal residence on the Massachusetts Academy's faculty campus. The table, chairs, and every other piece of furniture in the lounge were priceless artifacts from the eighteenth century. A silver candelabra with five long candles that had been made by Paul Revere himself stood on the center of the table.
Emma's attention was focused on the person sitting at the other end of the table, the reason her school was being invaded by a band of misfit mutant teenagers.
"Fascinating. The group seems to have gained some formidable new members since Charles Xavier first gathered them. Miss Pryde, do stop struggling. As long as I'm here, you won't be moving an inch."
Kitty's hands were no longer bound. Emma would never dream of risking leaving so much as the tiniest mark on such a priceless historical artifact as the chair her captive was seated in. Her telepathic powers ensured that the only voluntary movement Kitty was capable of was moving her mouth.
"What are you gonna do?" Kitty demanded. "Brainwash them like you're trying to do to me?"
Emma's lips parted in a malicious grin. "Wrong, my dear, as I've succeeded with you."
Kitty gasped despite herself, and Emma rose. "As we have become such good friends, perhaps you could shed some light on a few details. Regarding Illyana Rasputin, for instance."
Kitty tensed as Emma set her wine glass down and approached her. "All our intelligence has shown that Colossus' baby sister had no powers whatsoever. And yet a phantom of her appeared in one of the most secure facilities in the world, and hours later, she appears for real, leading the New Mutants on a mission to rescue you. Why is that?"
She bent down in front of Kitty and placed her hands on the sides of the girl's head. "What is the secret of Illyana Rasputin?"
Kitty grimaced and grunted, her attempts to resist Emma's mind probe causing her physically pain.
After 15 seconds, Emma removed her hands from Kitty's head, which slumped forward in exhaustion.
"You really don't know, do you? Your best friend, your roommate, and you have no idea what she's capable of."
Many hours earlier
All of the New Mutants had gathered one side of the kitchen table. Seated across from them on her own was Illyana.
"We're waiting girl," Sam said. He alone was standing, arms folded in anger.
"Sam, she isn't an enemy," Dani insisted.
"Are you positive?" Sam responded. Illyana just held her hands together in front of her mouth. The New Mutants continued to stare at her, as much in apprehension of what she would do next as in anger at what they had been forced to deal with because of her.
Finally, she spoke, her voice slightly muffled by the placement of her hands. "I'm not just a mutant. I'm also a sorceress."
"Gee, we never would have guessed," Roberto said sarcastically.
Sam rolled his eyes at him. "Smart-ass."
"Every chance I get." Roberto turned his attention back to Illyana. "So why were you casting a spell? What made it go wrong?"
Illyana lowered her hands so they were below her chin and she would be able to speak clearly.
The present
The New Mutants had retreated to a storeroom in the underground facility. Rahne held the door party open, standing in her halfway form between human and wolf.
"I canna smell anyone nearby, Dani," she said. "The coast is clear."
"Great Rahne," Dani responded. "Keep your nose up and let me know if you smell anyone coming this way."
"What now?" Roberto asked. "Where do we go from here? We can't just stay in this storeroom forever."
"I know," Dani said. "Once they repair the damage from the quake, their sensors will probably detect us immediately."
"So we've got to make sure they don't get their main power back online," Sam said.
"And in the confusion, we slip in and grab Kitty and run like hell for home?" Dani wondered. "That might actually work."
"Only problem is the White Queen," Sam said. "We're on the run from a telepath who'll know out plans as soon as we think of them."
"Then we have to be smarter than her," Illyana said. "If we split up, she'll only be able to deal with one group at a time, even if she is a telepath."
The others grimaced at the idea of splitting up. "We don't have any straws to pick who goes with who," Roberto observed.
Left unspoken was the real reason they did not want to split up, no one wanted to be the one who was stuck with Illyana.
Many hours earlier
"My astral form is apparently more vulnerable to psychic attack," Illyana explained. "When it was disrupted, the psychic backlash stunned me and allowed some of my familiars to get loose. They're mostly harmless, despite how they look. I appreciate your catching them."
Her story finished, Illyana rose and turned to leave. "Where do you think your going?" Dani demanded.
"I just told you. Kitty's in trouble, and since the X-Men are missing, I'm going to do something about it. I owe her that much."
Amara stood up. "Wait." She turned to her teammates. "Kitty and Illyana are our classmates. We are honor-bound to help them if they are in peril."
"Your talking about taking on the Hellfire Club, some of the X-Men's deadliest enemies," Dani countered. "Even if it is just the White Queen this time."
"I'll go myself if I have to," Illyana declared.
"Amara's right," Roberto said. "We can't do nothing. If the X-Men are abducted by aliens are something, it's up to us to step up."
"Fine," Dani said, "how are we going to get there? Stevie's on vacation, so she can't drive us."
All eyes turned to Illyana, who scowled. "I can use my stepping disks in an emergency, but it would be better if we found another way rather than risk it.
Visible signs of relief spread across the New Mutants' faces, and Illyana looked away. Roberto began counting on his fingers.
"Given how many of us there are, our best bet is to take a bus to Massachusetts.
"A bus?" Sam asked skeptically. Roberto grinned.
"Hey, if we're gonna be superheroes, then we should travel in super-hero style!"
The group broke up, each mutant heading back to their room to change and prepare for the adventure ahead of them. Amara lingered in the kitchen, her back to Illyana.
"Um, thank you," Illyana said with some hesitation. "I didn't think anyone would want to come with me."
"I thought you were like Selene, sorceress," Amara said angrily. "I didn't realize how much until now."
She turned her head to look at Illyana, and fire was dancing from her eyes. "We are classmates, so I will not let you go into danger alone, but don't ever expect us to be friends."
Amara followed the others upstairs, leaving Illyana looking and feeling like she'd just been hit by a sledgehammer.
The present
Two of the Hellfire Club's soldiers were doing their normal rounds, walking through the halls of the undergrounds facility. They had walked the exact same route every weekday for more than a year without incident, but this time was different.
The two soldiers were grabbed from behind a split second after they walked past an unassuming storeroom, hands covering their mouths and preventing them from screaming for help.
They were quickly tied up on the floor of the storeroom and their masks were removed, revealing them to be a pair of middle-aged women. The mutants could only guess what sort of career would lead to them performing guard duty for the Hellfire Club.
The older of the two was also proved to be the feistier when they were interrogated. "Go screw yourself, punk," she said to Sam, "we won't talk."
"Wanna bet?" Dani asked, her face scrunching in concentration as she summoned the image of what their captives feared the most. To no one's surprise, it was the White Queen. In their imaginations, Emma Frost became a demon with long, sharp fangs and claws.
Illyana held the door shut to keep the women's screams from escaping the storeroom. When the illusion faded, they were shaking.
Roberto refused to give them any respite. Gesturing at Illyana, he said, "If you think that's bad, wait until to see the horrors she can summon."
"What … what do you want to know?" the soldier who had been so defiant only a minute earlier asked weakly. "Y-you kids … You may think … you're some kind of heroes … but you're just as cruel as the Queen herself."
Dani started and turned away. She walked to the other end of the storeroom and let the others take over the interrogation, leaning on a stack of heavy boxes. Her eyes were wet with tears when, some minutes later, she was tapped on the shoulder. She looked back to see Illyana, dressed in one of the soldiers' blue uniforms and holding the second uniform to Dani.
"I hope you don't mind us being partners," Illyana said, "but it looks like we're the only two these uniforms will fit."
Many hours earlier
The bus was empty except for the New Mutants. Sam and Dani sat in the very back, attempting come up with some kind of plan for if they encountered the White Queen or other senior members of the Hellfire Club.
"If we make even one mistake, we'll be slaughtered," Dani said, her nose buried in notes taken from the mansion's computers
"The way I see it, we've got one advantage," Sam said. "They wouldn't know what Amara or Illyana can do."
Dani looked up. "Unfortunately, we don't know what Illyana can do either."
The present
The largest room in the underground facility, even larger than the cube room, was the room that contained the main generator supplying power to both the facility ad the school above it. At all times, a small group of technicians watched over the generator to ensure it functioned at peak efficiency.
These technicians were experts at their craft, but nothing in their education had ever taught them what to do when the device they were working on suddenly became surrounded by a ring of fire and began to melt before their eyes. Even so, they did what any sane, rational person would do in such a situation. They ran like hell, screaming their lungs off as they did so.
With the generator and all of its backups destroyed, the Massachusetts Academy was plunged into complete darkness.
Kitty was delighted at this turn of events. "Score one for the kids!" she yelled. "Way to go!"
Emma lit a match and began to light the candles on Paul Revere's candelabra. "They are resourceful," she admitted, "but then, so am I."
"You just can't admit you're being beaten by a bunch of children!" Kitty scoffed.
Emma took the remark in stride. "My dear, the night has barely begun," she said calmly as she extinguished the match between he fingers. "Anything can happen."
Many hours earlier
After conferring with Dani, Sam made his way towards the front of the bus. He stopped when he saw Rahne and Illyana. The Scottish girl had chosen a seat across and one row down from the sorceress. Illyana stared out of her window, pretending not to notice the daggers Rahne was glaring into her.
"Hey Rahne, why the long face?" Sam asked.
"Shh, Sam," Rahne whispered. "She'll hear you!"
"Who, Illyana? So what if she does?"
"Sam, she's a witch!"
Sam scowled and took another look at Illyana, who gave no sign that she had heard Rahne, though he knew she must have. He forced a smile as he turned back to Rahne. "And you're a werewolf, so what?"
"You think I don't know that!" Rahne whisper-screamed. "Witch and were-thing are both the spawn of Satan!"
Sam felt the need to sit down in the seat right next to Rahne. "Hey, Ah'm as religious as you. The first book my daddy taught me to read was the Bible, and Ah was attending Sunday school before you were even born. If you're telling me that you're evil just because you're a mutant, then Ah say that's bull."
Rahne closed her eyes. "My reverend would say different."
"What's he know?"
"Sam, don't blaspheme!"
"Your reverend's a human being, just like you and me. None of us can know why the Lord gave us these gifts any more than we can know why good and innocent people suffer and die. It's just not possible."
Sam paused, taking a breath to calm himself down before saying things he had never revealed to anyone before. "Every day, Ah ask myself why my daddy had to go the way he did, coughing out his lungs and his life years before his time. He was a good man, he didn't deserve to die like that. But God thought different, Ah guess. You can't second guess him, and you can't say that people are born evil."
"No one's born a witch."
Sam grimaced. He had no response to that statement from Rahne.
The present
Hundreds of students poured out of the Massachusetts Academy's dormitories, unsure what they should be doing with the power completely out. Such a thing had never happened before in the history of the institution.
The crowd was a godsend for Sam and Amara, who blended in with all of the other teens. They had grabbed a couple of coats to cover their costumes, as inconspicuous a disguise as was possible on a cold New England winter night.
"Hey, nice job with the generators," Sam told Amara. "Real surgical. Professor Xavier'd be very proud."
"Save your compliments until we're safely on our way home, my friend," Amara responded. "The most dangerous part may still be to come."
A police car appeared at the far end of the crowd. "Attention, please!" the campus policeman driving the vehicle said into his loudspeaker. "As you may have noticed, there's been a minor accident. Stay calm, security will be distributing lanterns and flashlights. Everyone is instructed to go back to their dorms and await further instructions."
"That works in our favor," Sam said softly. "It'd be hard to pick out Doug Ramsey in a crowd this big in the dark, but we know exactly where his room is."
Dani and Illyana made their way through the underground facility. With Illyana's memory of the layout from her disembodied visit earlier, they faired as well as any of the soldiers they were impersonating would have in the dark,
"You're sure this is the right way?" Dani asked.
"Yeah. The White Queen's residence was this way, and she has her own entrance to this facility."
"If she is holding Kitty there, you know that means we're going to have to fight her to get Kitty."
"I know," Illyana said softly.
"Is that the real reason you wanted to split up from the rest of the team?"
Illyana did not answer. They continued on, stopping only when a bright light was suddenly pointed in their faces.
"Hey!" Dani yelled. Both of them were forced to cover their eyes from the blinding light.
"Sorry ladies," said a male soldier who stood at the intersection of two halls. "Didn't mean to startle you." He himself had been startled by the sound of footsteps and pointed his flashlight in their direction.
"Report to central operations for damage control assessments," he instructed them. "You'll get your orders there."
"Will do, sir," Illyana said, grabbing Dani's hand and leading her away.
Dani was breathing unusually hard, so they turned and went down the nearest staircase and removed their masks. Dani slumped against the wall and slowly exhaled.
"Whew. I forgot we were wearing their uniforms for a second. I nearly had a heart attack when that creep showed up."
"Worst-case scenario," Illyana said, "I'll teleport us out of there."
Dani was quickly calming down. "If you can do that, why are we sneaking around in the first place? Wouldn't it be easier to just teleport to the White Queen's residence?"
Illyana looked away. Most of her face was hidden in shadow. "Easier, maybe, but not safer."
"Why?"
Dani had never met a mutant who was so hesitant to talk about their abilities before. "Your power has its drawbacks, and so does mine," Illyana said. "I'll use it as a last resort, but not before."
She put her mask back on. Dani followed suit, and they resumed their march towards the White Queen's lair. In the dark, they did not notice the figure that followed them, slithering silently along the ceiling.
Many hours earlier
Sam was even more troubled than before when he left Rahne and made his way to the front row, where Roberto was seated.
"Getting restless?" Roberto asked. "I know the feeling. It's hard to stay seats for so long."
Sam sat down next to him. "Ah feel like a hypocrite. Ah tried to tell Rahne to be open-minded about Illyana being a witch, but truth be told, Ah'm not sure Ah disagree with her."
"A witch would have come in handy," Roberto said under his breath.
"Come again?"
Roberto looked back at Illyana, who was doing her best to ignore everyone else on the bus. "I was just thinking, if she had been honest with us from the start, Xuân would still be alive."
"You can't know that."
"Can't I?" Roberto struggled to keep his voice down. "Even if she wasn't a witch, if we had a teleporter with us, Xuân would never have been in danger in the first place. Having a witch on the team would have changed everything."
He looked out his window. "But no, little miss snowflake has to keep all her secrets. The only thing she cares about it Kitty."
The present
Roberto and Rahne headed in the opposite direction from Dani and Illyana. Their job was to find the facility's exit and secure the team's escape route. Rahne walked slightly ahead in her halfway state, which allowed her to smell anyone approaching while still being able to talk to Roberto.
She paused at a corner, sniffing the air.
"Anything there?" Roberto asked. Rahne shook her head.
"Sorry, Berto. My senses are no' as keen when I'm like this as they are when I'm fully a wolf."
"Can't be helped with Dani not here."
"Tha's true. We should be getting close now."
They came to a locked metal door. According to the information they had from the two soldiers they had captured, on the other side was a the bottom of an old well used during colonial times that had been converted into an off-campus entrance to the facility.
"Can you smell anyone on the other side?"
"I canna' tell."
"Better leave it to me then," Roberto said as he transformed.
"Be careful," Rahne warned him. "It's night, so you canna recharge."
"I know, furball, Why do you think I sat on the left side of the bus?"
With his enhanced strength, Roberto lifted the door off its hinges. While he was placing the door against the wall, a firecracker from the other side exploded in his face, stunning him and leaving him defenseless as a large fist collided with his head.
Roberto fell on his back, looking like he was out cold. Towering above him in the doorway was a giant of a teenager, a Native American boy in his late teens who stood at the same height as Sam, only with far more muscle. He wore the same pink costume Kitty had been forced to wear.
"Some test the Queen gave us," the Native American boy said dismissively. "I punched out a kid half my size, big deal."
Rahne leapt into action, jumping at this new attacker in her wolf-form with claws and fangs outstretched. The boy grabbed what seemed to him to be a snarling beast by the back of its neck, his long arms keeping it a safe distance from his head and body.
"A wolf?" he asked incredulously. "I didn't know Xavier's brats were allowed to keep pets."
Rahne shifted forms again, changing into her halfway state. The shock of this transformation caused him to drop her, giving her the chance to pick him up instead and throw him over her shoulder with her own enhanced strength.
"That'll teach you no' t' lay and hand the New Mutants, you brute."
A second figure appeared in the doorway. This one was a girl with extremely blonde, almost white hair. Like the first one, she too wore a pink uniform.
"Hey fuzzy, catch," the girl said with too much amusement for a combat situation, throwing a black disk at Rahne. The lupine mutant ducked as the disk seemed to harmlessly popped above her head.
"You missed," Rahne said, preparing to lunge at this attacker as well.
"That's what you think."
The door Roberto had torn off and placed against the wall suddenly shifted and fell, its heavy metal frame crashing down on top of Rahne.
The girl scoffed dismissively at Rahne's fate and went to help her teammate up.
"It's just like I told you, Thunderbird. Luck beats brute strength every day."
"You'd best hope your luck holds out," Thunderbird responded. "The Queen will have your head if the girl's hurt too bad."
"In that case, the White Queen is the least of your worries."
Roberto had risen and transformed into Sunspot again. He barreled into Thunderbird, pinning him against the wall and throwing him across the hall.
With the giant temporarily delt with, Roberto turned his attention to Rahne and lifted the door off of her. Wolfsbane was still transformed, but she was unconscious and had a terribly pained expression on her face.
A black disk burst above Roberto's head, and he screamed. The door was dropped on the floor to the side, and Roberto collapsed, reaching for his lower back with both hands.
Thunderbird returned from his flight down the hall, his enhanced strength and durability leaving him unharmed. He looked at Roberto writhing on the floor with pity.
"He's in agony, Roulette. What did you do to him?"
Roulette giggled. "Just gave him some really bad luck. With how heavy that door was, it wouldn't surprise me if he pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve."
"You don't sound very sorry," Thunderbird noted.
"Why should I? That was fun."
Dani let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed to her knees. Illyana grabbed her shoulders, shocked by this sudden outburst.
"What happened?"
"Rahne … " Dani said between breaths. She took off her mask again. "Something … hit her … can't … shut out … the pain!"
"Pull yourself together!" Illyana commanded her. "We can't stay here. They're bound to have heard your scream."
"I'll … try…"
Illyana's hands disappeared from Dani's shoulders, causing her to look up. The sorceress hand been grabbed and was now being held against the ceiling by what looked like a purple panther with a the hair of a human girl.
Holding Illyana tight with its claws, the cat seized her mask in its teeth and ripped it off, letting the pieces fall to the floor around Dani. Then, amazingly, it spoke.
"Intruder go hushabye!"
A light appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the hallway and another teenage girl in a pink costume stepped forward. This one had long, red hair, and was holding a deck of cards. She put away a card with a picture of the sun.
"Splendid, Catseye! May the goddess grant that Tarot fare as well against her foe.
Dani was still crippled by the sympathetic pain she was feeling from Rahne and could only watch helplessly as Tarot held up a card with a picture of the devil, who stood up and walked out of the card into the real world, brandishing a long chain of metal links in its hands.
Sam and Amara had no trouble reaching the dormitory where Doug Ramsey was staying. They entered the building without hassle, but their journey up the staircase was blocked by a boy in a pink costume.
The boy leered at them from his higher position on the staircase. "I am Manuel Alfonso Rodrigo De La Rocha, greatest of the Hellions. To reach Douglas Ramsey, you must first get past me."
Manuel's eyes began to glow. "But you don't want to do that, do you? No, you wouldn't want to upset a friend you love so much."
"Th-that's right," Sam said meekly.
"You're our best friend," Amara agreed. "We love you."
"Sam, Amara? What are you guys doing in Massachusetts?"
They blinked, and Manuel turned around in shock. Doug Ramsey had appeared on the stairs above Manuel, his sudden appearance breaking the self-proclaimed greatest Hellion's hold on them.
"Thanks, Doug," Sam growled. He bounded up the steps and punched Manuel as hard as he could without his powers. Once Manuel was off his feet, Sam rolled him over and pinned his arms behind his back so that he could not look at them and use his power on them again.
"My heart and soul are my own, buster! Nobody messes with them and gets away with it, you hear me!"
Sam had no time to celebrate or explain the situation to Doug. No sooner had he gotten Manuel fully pinned than a blur burst through the nearest window, shattering it and taking Sam down the stairs and out the front door.
This disturbance was noticed by multiple students who were still outside and began pointing at the figures flying through the air. From the window of her residence, Emma Frost sighed in disappointment.
"Defeating one Hellion is far from defeating us all!" the flying boy holding Sam yelled above the roar of the wind in their ears.
Sam looked back and saw that he was being flown directly at a tree. "Holy crap!" he yelled, activating his power and blasting out of the other boy's grip a splint second before he crashed into the tree.
Back in the dorm building, Manuel was furious. "That dog dared lay his grubby, peasant hands on a De La Rocha?" His eyes glowed as he looked at Amara, who suddenly began looking at Sam with a hatred that far surpassed what she felt for Selene.
Amara's newfound hatred was so great she could not help but try to kill him. Sam and his opponent were flying headfirst towards each other then a lava blast exploded right between them. Sam, who was invulnerable while blasting, was shocked but unharmed. The other boy was not as lucky. He had reacted with astonishingly fast reflexes, turning away as soon as the lava blast came into view. Unfortunately for him, that quick action put the jet back on his back directly between him and the lava blast, and the little bit of lava from the explosion that struck the jet back was enough to render the device completely inoperable.
Sam's reflexes were not as good as the other flyer's, but he still reacted as fast as he could, diving down and catching the other boy, extending the protection of his invulnerability to him before they both collided with the ground. They left a small crater where they landed, a crater that was quickly filled will molten magma as Amara fired off one last lava blast.
Manuel stepped out of the dorm room and walked over to the filled-in crater, observing how the lava quickly cooled and hardened, replacing the soil that was displaced by the original impact. He grinned maniacally as he admired his handiwork.
Amara followed behind, covering her mouth in shock and horror at what she had done. She glared at the back of Manuel's head, her eyes burning with a new hatred.
"You'll be avenged, Sam," she whispered to herself, transforming an preparing to fire a lava blast of her own accord, one that would boil Manuel alive.
Manuel was saved when Sam burst from the ground underneath his feet, striking him in the chin and sending him spinning to the ground unconscious.
"Sam!" Amara screamed. "I thought I'd killed you!"
"It's ok," Sam assured her. "You scared me half to death, but my invulnerability protected me and the other guy. How're you?"
"I am-I am myself again." She looked down at Manuel. "Is he a mutant like us?"
"Mutant, maybe," Sam scoffed, "but nothing like us."
They drew closer, and for a moment, looked into each other's eyes. "You were very brave," Amara said. It was the first time she had ever praised Sam.
The moment was interrupted by Doug Ramsey, who had watched the entire fight and was now running towards them.
"I don't believe it!" Doug yelled as he approached Sam and Amara. "You two are real superheroes! Wait till I tell … Kitty …"
For an instant, all three of them saw the White Queen as she truly was. But by the time any of them blinked, different figures stood before them.
Sam saw a tall man, skinny-but rugged-looking and wearing mining gear.
"Pa?"
"It's me son. I'm sorry I've been away so long."
Amara saw a beautiful woman wearing a gown of the most luxurious Roman silks.
"Mother? This cannot be?"
"Why beloved, have you never believed in miracles?"
Emma put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Now, I think there's been enough commotion for one night, and you two have caused more than your fair share."
"Sorry about that, sir," Sam said sheepishly.
"Let's collect your friends and get you all tucked away in bed," Emma said.
"At once, mother," Amara agreed.
"As for you, Douglas," Emma said in a more serious tone. "Go back to bed and forget all about what you have just seen." Doug nodded and turned away with a glazed look in his eyes.
The devil summoned by Tarot threw the chain in its hands around Dani's neck. The Cheyenne girl grabbed at the chain, but to her surprise, it did not choke her. Rather, it deformed her, making her appear the same as the phantom of Emma she had used to frighten the two soldiers earlier. Her eyebrows rose like a Vulcan from Star Trek, long fangs stuck out of her mouth, and her nails lengthened into sharp claws, growing even longer by the second.
Above, Illyana screamed "No! Spawn of the abyss!"
In a desperate rage, the sword with which she had defeated S'ym appeared in Illyana's hand. She touched the tip of Catseye's fur with the glowing blade, and feline mutant yelped in pain and dropped to the floor.
Taking her sword in both hands, Illyana unleashed a powerful slash at the fake devil, which exploded and dissipated, taking its chain along with it.
Roulette screamed as she was hit by a psychic backlash from the destruction of her phantom. She stumbled back, rubbing her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, they opened wide.
Illyana was charging at Roulette, sword in and, and a feral rage in her eyes. The Hellion reached for another card, and Illyana stopped as a large figure, or rather figures, appeared between them.
The figures were a horseman and his mount, if a creature with a skull for a face could be called a horseman. The skull-faced horseman raised an absurdly long broadsword in one hand as the horse reared back.
Illyana raised her sword to block what she thought would be the horseman's strike. This was a mistake, as it was not the rider that attacked, but the horse, which struck her on the face and chest with its hooves, sending her tumbling back and rolling repeatedly on the floor before she came to a stop.
To Dani's amazement and Roulette's horror, Illyana was quickly on her feet again despite taking such a devastating hit.
"Does she not feel pain?" Roulette asked.
Emma appeared in the nearest doorway, her white cape billowing impressively as she held both arms out.
"STOP!" she yelled. "Come to me, children! Playtime's over!"
Dani gasped. She saw not the White Queen, but an elderly man with long white hair dressed in a mix of modern American and traditional Cheyenne clothing.
"Illyana," she said, "that's my grandfather. But I saw him die!"
Illyana looked between Dani and Emma and realized what was happening. "It's a trick, Dani! The White Queen's deceiving you! Don't look! Don't even listen!"
Emma scowled at Illyana. "Your mind is completely closed to me. No matter. I shall simply have to take a more direct approach."
Illyana raised her sword again and charged at Emma, but suddenly stopped as if she had run straight into a wall. Emma held one hand to her temple, the other hand outstretched at Illyana.
Dani saw her grandfather's features disappear, to be replaced by the figure of the White Queen. Emma was devoting all of her concentration to her telepathic attack on the sword-wielding girl in front of her.
Grunting with the effort, Illyana took a step forward, then a second, slowly closing the distance between her and Emma, whose eyes widened in fear.
Emma pulled back her arm and raised both hands to her temples, putting even more power into her attack. This time, Illyana froze completely.
Beads of sweat began to trickle down Emma's forehead, while at the same time, blood began to drip from both of Illyana's nostrils. The Russian girl's sword disappeared, and she began to scream from an agony she had no previous experience of.
Dani crawled to Illyana's side and gasped at the sight of the blood pooling and the sorceress' feet as the drip from her nose became a stream. She grabbed Illyana's hand, and the Russian girl started, at the touch. For a brief moment, she shut out the pain as she looked down at Dani. A disk of light appeared next to them, and Illyana jumped into it, dragging Dani along with her.
When the disk disappeared, Dani and Illyana were gone. Emma stood up straight, letting her cape fall over her shoulders so that it covered her completely.
"Run where you will, brats. There is nowhere on this Earth you can hide from us. Soon, you and all your will be mine."