X-Men: New Class

by Ambaryerno

Set in the Earth-10005 Universe, a new class of students arrives at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Inspired by Agents of SHIELD, X-Men: New Class loosely adapts Kyle and Yost's New X-Men as a hypothetical live-action television series. (Note: This story only accounts for up to X-Men: Days of Future Past, and will not be updated for Apocalypse)

20. 2x04 - Enigma

2x04

Enigma

Based upon stories by Jay Faerber and Marjorie Liu

###

Act I

###

Laura studied the drink menu with her typical diligence, and categorized each item by its ingredients, dietary characteristics, and cost. Each was then carefully crosschecked against her mental list of confections she had already sampled for similarities in potential flavor profiles based on bean type and preparation, and ingredients, and further sorted by those that were pleasing to her palate (a curious piece of nomenclature, as the palate was unconnected to the sense of taste) and those she found objectionable. The latter she set aside, though did not discard outright, as she found that subtle variations in ingredients she might otherwise dislike could at times interact in unusual ways, often presenting an entirely different taste than the individual components might suggest. For now, however, she would make her selection from the list of choices nearest to her own preferences.

Ordering coffee had proven to be quite the unexpected mental exercise.

The others were not quite so meticulous in their selections, and Laura suspected they would adhere closely to their typical orders. For Sooraya, seated to her left, the Turkish blend, orta şekerli. Cessily sat next to Sooraya, and would have the caffé macchiato with cocoa. Victor, in turn, sat to Cessily's left, and would abstain from coffee and, given the weather, would order a hot chocolate. She frowned slightly as she considered Julian, seated on her right, and glanced sideling at him from behind her menu. Laura had not had the opportunity to observe him enough to establish a baseline for his preferences, as he only recently began accepting her as part of his social group. A development she found perplexing after the way he treated her when she first came to school.

They were all gathered at what Cessily called their "usual table," which often distressed her greatly whenever they arrived at the Grind Stone to find it occupied by others. Laura at first was unsettled by the idea: A usual place to sit implied a routine. A routine was a pattern. A pattern meant predictability. Predictability was a vulnerability to be exploited. Yet oddly enough her friends found such predictability comforting, rather than distressing. Even more oddly, Laura was beginning to find it so as well, though when once she made an attempt to remove interlopers from their table the others quickly stopped her, and surrendered their favored place to sit without a fight. She found that equally perplexing.

She sniffed, and caught a hint of a familiar scent approaching from behind; a subtle yet spicy perfume, mingled with the lingering pungent aroma of coffee beans. Luna DePaula casually strolled up to their table, and greeted them all with a smile. "Hey guys! How are my favorite Junior Woodchucks doing today? Oh, and you, too, Mr. Keller."

Cessily, Sooraya, and Victor all chuckled at Julian's expense. Laura considered the reaction for a moment. Referencing Julian by name in this manner implies he is not one of Ms. DePaula's favorites. Ms. DePaula's tone of voice suggests this is not true, however, therefore in this case humor is to be derived from Julian's exclusion from the group, and laughter is acceptable.

One corner of Laura's mouth twitched into a faint smile.

"You're just denying your real feelings, Luna," Julian said, and quirked a confident, lopsided grin. "You know I'm on the market again, right?"

Laura felt an odd sensation in her belly as he said that, and frowned as she pondered what it meant.

Luna just rolled her eyes. "Sorry, hon', but you're not my type."

He made a pout. "It's because I'm a mutant, right?"

"No, it's because you're a guy."

"What, you don't go both ways? Not even a little?"

"Not even a little."

"Don't tell Santo that," Cessily said. "He thinks it's hot." She smirked at Julian. "Anyway, I thought it was because Julian's an arrogant, narcissistic, egotistical ass?"

"And that is reason number two."

"What?" he said, and shrugged. "Those are some of my best qualities."

Luna just chuckled under her breath and shook her head. "Besides, I mess with you and I'll be calling all sorts of trouble down on my head, kiddo."

He sniffed indignantly, though Laura judged from his posture and tone of voice that it was all meant in fun. "Who are you calling kid? Seventeen is totally legal in the state of New York."

She made a show of ruffling his hair. "Thanks for the warning. So what can I get you kids today," she said once she finished with the verbal sparring Laura observed appeared to be part of the ritual of ordering coffee at the Grind Stone.

"I'll go with the caffé macchiato," Cessily said. "And keep the tarts coming!"

Luna chuckled and made a note on the pad she carried tucked under her arm. "You know I envy you, sweetie. I'd never be able to keep my figure if I packed them away like you do. Some girls have all the luck!" She turned her attention to Sooraya. "And how about you today, the usual?"

Sooraya nodded, and folded her hands on the table in front of her. "Of course!"

"Hot chocolate," Victor said. "Light on the foam, with three marshmallows."

"And what mad concoction can I get for you today, Mr. Keller?"

Julian thought for a moment as he looked over the drink menu. "Give me a layered latte macchiato, but with a full shot of espresso using the Geisha beans, and add one shot of caramel and one shot of chocolate," he said. Luna gave a subtle roll of her eyes, but scribbled it down on her pad. Cessily and Victor smirked at him, but Sooraya's reaction was hidden behind her niqab.

Laura just watched Julian while he made his order, and made a mental note of it for further observation before returning her attention to the menu in her hands. From the corner of her eye she caught Luna look in her direction and smile down at her. "Need a few moments as usual?"

Laura nodded without a word as she resumed studying the drink menu. She was becoming too predictable.

Luna just laughed lightly and shook her head in amusement. "You know, I'm going to have to expand the menu if you're going to keep trying something new every time you come in here."

Laura frowned; she had not considered her proclivity for experimentation might impose upon their host. "I do not mean to inconvenience you," she said, and felt her face heat in embarrassment over the thought of making another faux pas.

Cessily and Victor just smiled and shook their heads, and Sooraya giggled softly from beneath her niqab. Julian rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. "She's just teasing," he said, his tone colored a little by impatience, and that just made the odd sensation in her belly over his previous comment even worse.

"Oh."

Luna just smiled down on her. "Don't worry, sweetie: If you like to try something new, you go right ahead and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. A little experimentation every now and then can be a good thing."

Julian's cocky smile returned. "So you say, but I'm not seeing you give it a try."

Luna rolled her eyes and gave Cessily and Sooraya a patient look. "You ladies better fix him up with someone soon, because I can see he's going to be trouble."

The strange fluttering returned, and all Laura could do was bury her face in the menu and hope no one might think something was the matter, while she pondered the meaning of this feeling distracting her from her drink selection.

###

Julian stepped outside the café with his to-go cup in hand, and took a long sip while he waited for the others to join him on the sidewalk. The fragrance of the coffee blended with the crisp scent of the night air, leaving him feeling invigorated and refreshed (though it could also have been the caffeine at work). Faint stars winked to life in the sky overhead, all but overwhelmed by the skyglow of New York City to the southwest. Cars rumbled along June and Titicus, and the sidewalks were packed with pedestrians out enjoying the winter's evening. The bite of the wind was dulled by the warmth spreading through him as he drank, but his breath still misted in the air in front of him, and Julian was eager to be on his way somewhere warmer.

"So what are we doing next?" Victor asked between drinks of his hot chocolate as he stepped up beside him. His diminutive, slender frame was buried underneath layer upon layer of heavy winter clothing, with a knitted cap on top of his head, and a scarf wrapped securely around his neck. Only the green scales of his face were visible, and he looked distinctly uncomfortable in the cold. "Whatever it is, I hope it's someplace warm."

"We can always hit the arcade," Julian said.

"I don't know, ever since that fight last fall I think the owner doesn't like seeing us around."

Cessily joined them out on the porch, and a small amount of condensation appeared on her gleaming silver skin. She was dressed much lighter than would be reasonable for most people (other than perhaps Santo, Ms. Munroe, and Mr. Drake), in a stylish pink woolen coat. With her mutation the cold didn't particularly bother her, for which Julian envied her immensely — he would never get used to the Atlantic winter. Sooraya and Laura followed her, the former with a heavy down coat over her abaya, the latter clad in her oversized jacket, black leggings, and a miniskirt. Julian had to focus his attention on the street to distract himself from checking out her legs.

What the hell was the matter with him lately?

"We could go see a movie," Cessily offered.

"There are a few that I have been wanting to see," Sooraya said in agreement. "Laura?"

Laura shrunk down into her jacket as they all shifted their attention to her for her feedback. Her pale face, framed in the shadow of her hair, colored slightly, and she shyly ducked her head away from them at being asked to cast her vote.

"Come on, Soo," Julian said, letting his impatience through. Inviting her along hadn't been his idea, but now they were stuck with her. "You know you've got a better chance of Santo getting a question right in class than you do of getting any kind of meaningful input out of her."

"Oh be nice, Julian," Cessily said, and glared.

"What!" he said, and shrugged defensively. "I'm just saying! You know she always goes with what everyone else is doing."

Sooraya rolled her eyes behind her niqab. "Perhaps that just means we don't give her interests enough consideration?"

"Well, let's let her pick, then," Victor said.

Cessily smiled and nodded. "That's totes fair."

Julian sighed and rolled his eyes as he was quickly out-voted before he could object to what would probably be an evening of Morrissey. "All right, all right, fine. Laura, what sounds good to you?"

If anything, the sudden responsibility of picking their next destination only seemed to make her even more uncomfortable. She huddled down even further into her jacket until she nearly disappeared into it entirely, her to-go cup (and Julian was somewhat chagrined when she placed the same order he did) clutched protectively in front of her like a shield. She scrunched her features as if deep in thought, and he couldn't help but frown somewhat in confusion at that; it's not like it was all that hard a decision to pick between the arcade or a movie.

"The arcade," Laura finally said in a very quiet voice.

The corners of Sooraya's eyes wrinkled as she smiled behind her niqab. "The arcade it is, then!" she said in a merry voice.

Julian sighed and rolled his eyes, and the five of them started off together down Titicus towards the arcade. They drew a few curious looks from the pedestrian traffic, though most people just disregarded them with the passing familiarity that came naturally to them with the school's presence near Salem.

Cessily and Sooraya were soon gossiping away as they walked, with Victor chiming in periodically on some inane goings on among their classmates, and Julian tuned them out by force of habit. Laura followed along, trailing slightly behind the rest of them, and swept her green eyes across the pedestrians passing around them. Julian's stomach twisted itself in knots when he recalled the things she told him during their talk in the park a couple weeks ago, and he nervously wondered just how many different ways she had already come up with to kill them all. Laura had scarcely said another word to him about it since, but now that he knew what to look for he could see just how deeply she was still troubled by it.

Laura seemed to sense him looking in her direction, and he quickly turned his eyes back to the sidewalk ahead of him to avoid the flash of green flicking towards him. Maybe Sooraya was right. Maybe they ought to say something about her dreams to Jubilee; it would certainly be easier for him to get a normal night's sleep without waking up to find her crouching at the end of his bed. But no, that wasn't an option. It was bad enough with Santo knowing about her being in their room. The last thing he needed was—

Julian's thoughts were cut off when Cessily stopped in front of him, and in his distracted state he nearly bumped right into her. He shielded his coffee from being knocked from his hand and awkwardly stepped around her. "Hey, Cess! Watch it!" he yelped.

Cessily didn't respond, and just kept staring straight ahead of her. Julian frowned at the expression of shock and wonder on her silver features, mirrored on Victor's face and in Sooraya's eyes. He looked in the direction they were staring, and there, not twenty feet in front of them, was a big, glowing blue ball hovering in the air above the sidewalk. A large crowd had gathered around and were now watching in astonishment, and all of this stretch of Titicus buzzed with excitement. Camera phones flashed, though from some of the murmurs Julian guessed nothing was being picked up.

"What the hell is that?" Julian asked, dumbstruck. The ball bobbed and wove about, radiating a cool and eerie blue light that illuminated the area immediately around it like broad daylight. Small arcs of energy escaped from its surface as it hovered in front of its audience.

"I've got no idea," Cessily said.

"Nori didn't come to town, did she?" Victor asked. "I thought she was staying back at the school because she needed to study for a test tomorrow."

"What, you think Ashida did this?" Julian asked, and motioned at the bobbing ball of light and energy dancing in front of them.

"I mean, it looks kind of like the ball lightning I saw Dr. McCoy create in his lab during science class once. So if it's electricity I'd imagine she could do it."

Sooraya shook her head. "No, you're right. Noriko wasn't able to make it to Salem tonight. It's a shame that Dr. McCoy isn't here, maybe he could tell us more."

Laura squeezed in between him and Cessily to see what was happening, and Julian shifted self-consciously at the feeling of her shoulder pressed against his arm (though Cessily paid the contact no mind on her end). She sniffed audibly and her expression turned thoughtful.

"Reports of ball lightning generally reference a smell like sulfur, or an odor akin to an electrical fire. This has no odor at ..." she said, but trailed off and cocked her head to one side and narrowed her eyes in concentration.

"Laura?" Cessily said, when she saw the perplexed expression on her delicate features.

"You cannot hear it?" Laura said, her voice suddenly very quiet.

Julian strained his ears, but if the whatever it was made a sound, he couldn't hear it over the awed babbling of the crowd. "I don't hear a thing," he said, and shrugged.

Suddenly, the ball began to move much more rapidly, sweeping back and forth across the front row of the people pressing in around it. Sooraya frowned behind her niqab in growing concern. "Perhaps we should suggest they all move away. I do not think I like what it's doing."

"How do we know they won't just blame it on us?" Victor asked.

"Twenty bucks say they will," Julian said. Laura suddenly squeezed past them and stepped out into the open space in which the thing was bobbing around, her slender gymnast's figure silhouetted as the light it emitted suddenly flared brilliantly. Julian blinked and shielded his eyes, and the rest of the crowd gasped audibly at the change.

"Laura!" Cessily said. "What are you doing?"

"Seriously," he said, and scowled at her. "I don't think we should be messing with this thing."

She ignored them and just stood where she was, her coffee in one hand and studying the glowing orb with her head cocked to one side. Julian was reminded for all the world of a cat regarding an empty box. The ball hung in the air, pulsing rhythmically and weaving slowly back and forth in front of her.

And then suddenly it rushed towards her, slammed into her chest, and vanished in a flash of blinding white light. Laura let out a startled yelp and was flung backwards. Her coffee flew from her hands and spilled across the sidewalk, and she struck the ground hard on her back and lay unmoving. The crowd shrieked in panic and people began to scatter.

"Laura!" Julian cried out, and the four of them all rushed forward together, as much to keep the startled crowd from trampling her as to check on her condition.

She lay unmoving, her head turned to one side, her eyes closed, and her mouth hanging open. A few of the pedestrians who weren't startled into flight crowded forward as well to help as he, Cessily, Sooraya, and Victor crouched around her. Cessily reached out a hand and Laura's breath misted on her silver hand. In spite of himself a hollow feeling spread through Julian's gut at the sight of her lying sprawled and unmoving on the street; memories of the crumpled bodies around the bus and in the school flashed before his eyes.

"She's still breathing," Cessily said, unnecessarily, and gently shook her in a vain effort to rouse her. "Laura? Laura! Are you all right?"

Laura didn't answer, and just lay still and cold on the pavement, while her forgotten coffee dripped into a nearby storm drain.

###

Act II

###

They all crowded into the observation gallery of the medbay's quarantine area. Laura lay still and silent in a bed beyond several layers of ballistics glass allowing observers to watch what was happening inside, with sensors and other apparatuses Julian couldn't even begin to name attached to her skin, and surrounded by computers and other instrumentation. She somehow seemed even smaller than normal in this state and, Julian found himself strangely alarmed to realize, incredibly fragile as she slept. In spite of this, when Julian looked at her face she appeared relaxed and at peace.

He, Cessily, Victor, and Sooraya watched Dr. McCoy and Josh at work from the moment they brought Laura back to the school; one of the residents of Salem who witnessed the incident broke several traffic laws speeding them back home to get her here. Julian leaned against the glass watching intently as McCoy poked, prodded, and attached his gizmos to hook her up to the machinery inside. Cessily, too nervous to watch, sat in one of the chairs along the far wall with Sooraya and Victor trying to keep her company. Professor Xavier and Cyclops were there as well, the former seated calm and serene in his wheelchair, the latter standing with his arms folded across his chest and a worried scowl on his face. Both stood next to Julian and watched the activity inside the quarantine room.

Ashida, Alleyne, and Santo arrived last; summoned by the Professor upon learning of what happened. Ashida stood at the window with the Professor, and Alleyne threaded his arms around her from behind. For a moment the sight of them together spiked a pang of longing for Sofia — the warmth of her in his arms, or the scent of her hair as he nuzzled the back of her neck — but the memory of their parting quickly blunted such feelings and he forced the thought of her from his mind.

Santo just sat in a chair in back playing Farty Troll on his iPhone (thankfully he turned the sound off).

The airlock hatch hissed, and McCoy and Josh filed out to join the rest of them in the observation gallery. Julian stood away from the window, and Cessily, Sooraya, and Victor jumped out of their chairs and joined the rest of the group.

"Is she all right?" Julian asked.

"Why Mr. Keller," McCoy said, his furry features twitching with amusement, "unless my ears are mistaken that sounded like you actually cared for young Ms. Kinney. I wasn't aware you were friends."

Julian felt his face heat at that, and he wished he'd just kept his big mouth shut. Especially when he heard Santo sniggering behind him. The Professor regarded him for a moment as well, but whatever he thought of the matter he didn't say. Julian folded his arms across his chest and glared at the big, furry mutant. "I didn't say I was or I do; she just tagged along with Cessily and Sooraya when we all went to Salem. Doesn't mean I can't be concerned."

"Oh, of course not. But, to answer your question," he said, and sighed. "I honestly really don't know."

Xavier frowned, and Cessily edged forward and gripped Julian by his arm. While Julian did his best to hide his own anxiety, Cessily's was plainly visible on her silver features. "What do you mean, Henry?" the Professor asked.

McCoy shrugged. "Physically, she appears to be in her usual perfect health. All of her vital signs are stable and normal, and if she sustained any injuries during the incident her healing factor has already repaired the damage."

"But she hasn't regained consciousness since we brought her home," Sooraya said.

"That is what's particularly curious about her condition," he said, and brushed past them to a computer console built into the wall below the observation windows. He tapped a few buttons, and part of the glass lit up with charts and monitors Julian couldn't even begin to make sense of. McCoy motioned to one chart in particular; a line graph that looked an awful lot like the results of a lie detector test. "I'm reading a significant amount of neural activity. As far as I can tell she ought to be conscious."

Cessily regarded the chart with only a vague look of comprehension. Julian didn't have the slightest clue what it meant. "So you mean her brain is crazy active? What about dreams?"

Julian looked at her sharply, and then glanced nervously at Sooraya. If she thought anything of Cessily's suggestion she kept it to herself.

McCoy shook his head. "No, the activity is lighting up in the wrong parts of her brain. I wish I had a baseline reading of her neural oscillations against which I could compare the activity I'm seeing, but Laura has been remarkably resistant to visiting me for a physical."

Xavier nodded in understanding, and glanced up at Mr. Summers, who said nothing. "Yes, Laura is rather uncomfortable around doctors."

"There's something else," McCoy said, and tapped another button. Another chart appeared, this time showing three separate graphs all overlaid atop one another. McCoy pointed out one of the lines, somewhere around the middle of the chart. "This is a measurement of the normal bioelectric field generated by a baseline human."

He then indicated the next line, which was very similar to the first, though with a few higher spikes. "This is the field reading from a mutant. I chose to use Logan's from the last time I was actually able to lure him down here, as their mutations share several key characteristics. As you can see it's very similar to the baseline human's, with a few differences that are likely triggered by some combination of his mutation and the adamantium bonded to his skeleton. I would assume that Ms. Kinney would have a very similar reading, accounting for differences in her sex, age, and the fact that only her claws are bonded."

Finally motioned to the third line, which was practically off the chart. "And this is what our equipment is reading from Ms. Kinney at this very moment."

Xavier's mouth hung open in astonishment. "Dear god."

"What?" Cessily asked, her face as confused at what they were seeing as Julian felt. "What's wrong?"

"Laura's body is currently generating a bioelectric field far more powerful than it should," Foley said. "It's weird, but actually kind of cool." That drew an annoyed glare from Julian and Cessily, but he ignored them and shrugged helplessly. "But it's nothing my power can do anything with even if I knew where to start."

"Is there anything else that happened before Laura was struck?" Xavier asked.

"Laura said she heard something just before the phenomenon struck her," Sooraya said.

"Did she say anything else?" Xavier asked. "Perhaps what it was she heard?"

Sooraya shook her head. "No, and I didn't hear anything at all."

"Julian? Cessily? Victor?" Xavier asked.

Cessily and Victor both shook their heads, and Julian shrugged. "Not a thing."

"Does that necessarily mean anything?" Ashida asked as she studied the charts. "I mean she is kind of bat-shit crazy as it is, right? Maybe she just heard something."

McCoy folded his arms across his chest and grunted. "There's too many medical anomalies to rule Ms. Kinney's perceptions of hearing something out as any sort of crazy, bat-shit or otherwise, particularly as her auditory acuity is far beyond normal human limitations."

Mr. Summers considered this for a moment. "Professor, do you sense anything?"

Xavier shook his head. "Nothing from a surface impression. As Henry indicated; Laura is completely unconscious, though it's not a coma." He considered this for a moment, his hands steepled together and his index fingers leaned against his chin. "Henry, please keep Laura quarantined. Until we find out exactly what has caused these readings I don't want to risk the possibility that it might present a danger rest of the school. And I would like her kept under constant observation. I want to be informed the moment she awakens."

"We'll set up a rotation," Cyclops said, and immediately shifted from teacher to X-Man as he turned his ruby-quartz glasses on the group of them gathered in the gallery. "Hank and Josh can work in shifts, but I want at least one of you with them at all times just in case the containment isn't enough."

Julian raised a hand. "Enough for what?"

"Hopefully nothing, but I don't want to take any chances." He quirked a grin. "Think of it as your team's first live exercise. David, I'd like you to set up the rotation."

Alleyne shifted uncomfortably, and Julian scowled indignantly at his back as Cyclops gave him the responsibility. "Uh, yeah, ok, I can do that."

"Good. Remember that whatever is happening, that's still Laura in there. So be sure to take that into account."

Julian folded his arms and leaned heavily against the glass looking out into the room beyond. "Yeah. Great. Which means if she decides to flip out when she wakes up we're screwed."

###

Why did I have to open my big mouth?

Julian sighed and leaned back in a swivel-chair, his feet kicked up on the console in front of him. The lights were turned down to better help Laura sleep, and for the past two hours Julian had counted the ceiling tiles about a hundred times. He actually found himself wishing he was sitting in on Ms. Pryde's computer science class. At least then he'd have something more enjoyable to look at than the spartan furnishings of the observation gallery.

Foley sat in another chair and watched the information projected on the glass intently. Monitoring Laura's vital signs was apparently no more interesting than watching someone watch them, so Josh slumped in his chair and leaned on his fist while trying not to fall asleep.

"So how'd you do that, anyway?" Julian asked, once the boredom of being assigned the overnight watch finally became too much for him to bear the silence, and even Foley's conversation was better than nothing.

"Do what?" Josh asked, his voice distracted as he focused his attention on the readouts from McCoy's gizmos and doodads plugging Laura into the monitoring equipment.

"Your skin, Threepio," Julian said. "How did you do that?"

Josh lifted his head off his fist for a moment so he could study both of his hands at once. "I don't know, to be honest. When Kevin ..." he trailed off, and Julian heard a small catch in his voice at the memory his question dredged up. In some distant corner of his mind Julian regretted asking, but it was already out there and he couldn't take it back. "He messed me up pretty badly with his power. I was able to fix it, but when I woke up again I looked like this."

"Yeah, but you're just a healer, right? Shouldn't you just come out looking like your usual preppy self?"

Foley sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "I overheard Dr. McCoy talking to the others when I was recovering in the medbay afterwards. Healing is apparently just the first thing I've figured out how to do. He says I have total control over pretty much everything that's biological."

Julian tore his eyes away from his contemplation of the ceiling. "What does that mean?"

"It means I could do a lot more than just heal people. Like turning myself gold, however the heck I did that."

"So what, you can like, make people grow wings? Or give Santo a functioning brain?"

"The first, maybe. But come on, Julian. Santo? Even my powers have limits."

"Can you like, make people into mutants? Or take their powers away?"

"Maybe. I really don't know. I mean, I guess mutation is all genetic, and if I can alter people's genetic code—" he motioned at his face "—see Exhibit A, I suppose I could." Josh's expression hardened. "I suppose I could do other things, too, that I really don't like to think about."

"Like what?"

"Please don't ask me that. You have no idea how much I wish I could get my hands on Stryker."

Josh didn't elaborate, but from the look in his eye and the dark tone of his voice, Julian didn't need him to. It sent a shiver down his spine. He shifted uncomfortably in the awkward silence that followed, and lowered his eyes to his lap so he didn't have to see Foley's features twisting in anger.

"Look," he said hesitantly. "If I didn't say anything to you before, I'm sorry about what happened. With Laurie, I mean. I'd be mad too if I lost Sofia that way."

"But you didn't," Foley said. "You drove her away."

Julian's face heated and he clenched his fists to stop himself from calling on his power and sending Josh across the room. "Yeah. I did."

"You know, that's always been your problem. You took everything you had for granted, and walked around with that chip on your shoulder thinking you were better than everyone else. You don't really understand what it is to have something that matters like Laurie did to me."

Julian bristled at that. "Look, Foley, I don't need a lecture from you, or anyone else. So you can—" His diatribe was cut off by a loud beeping from the console, and Josh immediately swiveled around to address the equipment. Julian jumped to his feet, feeling his heart start to pound against his breastbone in spite of himself as he uselessly swept his eyes across the scores of readouts Foley was monitoring. "What's that?"

"The computers are picking up a change in Laura's brain activity, I think she's coming out of it."

Julian looked away from the console and turned his attention to the quarantined bay beyond. Sure enough, Laura slowly began to stir. "Call the Professor, she's definitely waking up."

"Already on it," Josh said.

Laura's eyes fluttered open, and that's when everything went to hell.

She let loose an inhuman shriek Julian thought might have been audible even without the intercom system allowing communication with anyone behind the glass, and sprung out of her bed and ripped out all of the sensors affixed to her skin, setting off alarms in the observation gallery as the equipment lost track of her vitals. "Oh crap," Julian said, "I don't think she's happy."

Josh jumped up beside him, his eyes wide with alarm as Laura's claws flashed, and in a blind panic she went to work tearing the quarantine bay apart. She smashed and slashed equipment, sending sparking and torn computers and electronics flying across the room, and hurled one so hard into the observation glass that it actually cracked. "She's panicking!" Josh said.

"No kidding, Foley, what the hell's going on?"

"I don't know! I don't know! I'm not the doctor, I'm just supposed to be monitoring the feeds and calling Dr. McCoy if there's a problem!"

"Jesus Christ, Foley, don't you think this is a problem? Get the Doc!"

With no further equipment to trash, Laura turned her attention on the room itself. The piercing squeal of metal rending metal split the air — and Julian's skull — as Laura slashed at the walls, leaving deep, ragged gouges in the reinforced bulkheads securing the quarantine bay. She flung herself against them, and soon she was bruised and bleeding from the effort of trying to force her way out of the room. "Oh god," Julian muttered, ignoring Foley's frantic calls for Dr. McCoy over the PA.

Laura spun around in circles, her breath coming in heaving and ragged gasps, her hair in disarray, and her green eyes wide with terror. For a moment she ceased being human and Julian was reminded of an animal trapped in a cage and desperate for escape. And then in a moment of clarity her eyes fixed on the airlock door.

"Oh shit," Julian muttered, and with a deafening squeal she plunged her claws into them, the adamantium blades carving effortlessly through what had to have been at least a solid foot of steel. An alarm sounded and emergency lights began to flash.

"Warning! Warning! Breach detected in quarantine, please begin evacuation and containment procedures," an automated voice said in an annoyingly disinterested tone of voice.

"Foley!" Julian cried.

"Doc and Xavier are on their way," he said. "We need to try and stop her!"

"That's just great, how do you plan to do that?"

Laura's desperate cries grew louder and she hammered at the door with her claws, metal squealing as she slowly but steadily carved her way through in an effort to free herself. The voice warning repeated itself over and over again, yet somehow never managed to get more insistent.

"Can you restrain her?" Josh asked.

Julian gawked at him. "Oh yeah, great, that's just what I need. One hundred pounds of whirling death that needs to go through me to get away!"

"Well I can't stop her! If she guts you I'll just heal you."

A frustrated growl rumbled in the back of his throat as he called his power to him. "All right, all right! You'll need to open the airlock, I can't do anything while it's closed."

"Got it, let me know when you're ready."

A solid thump, followed by another and another, and accompanied by the sound of tearing metal, echoed through the observation gallery as Laura flung herself into the hatch. Julian winced at each impact, wondering just how much damage she was doing to herself in her panicked efforts to escape containment. He gathered his power to himself, and nodded at Josh. "Go."

Foley tapped a few buttons on a control console, and with a sharp hiss the inner airlock door swung open. Laura immediately rushed inside and started work on the outer door. "Don't worry about closing the inner door, just get the damn thing open!"

"I'm trying, but it's not designed to have both doors open at once!"

Laura's cries grew more and more frantic, which is more than he could say for the voice of the alarm, and to his astonishment the outer door actually shook with the force of her diminutive body slamming into it. She clawed at the inside, and then finally, with a release of gas, the outer door opened as well. Julian braced himself for the ball of violent frenzy about to pop out.

Laura sprung free of the airlock, but before her feet touched the ground Julian seized her with his power. She screamed in rage and fear, and uselessly flailed about with her claws as she tried to fight free of the invisible grip holding her suspended over the floor.

Bile rose up in Julian's throat at the sorry state she was in: blood matted her hair, her face and body were bruised and battered from flinging herself into the walls and door, and her hands and feet were bloodied. But what struck him most was her eyes.

She was terrified.

"Laura!" Julian called, "Laura, it's all right!"

"Laura," Josh said, raising his hands towards her so she could see they were empty. "It's ok, you're safe, I just need you to calm down."

Laura looked between the two of them without seeming to comprehend what they were saying. Her breast heaved as she gasped for breath, and her eyes were wide with fright.

"Laura, look at me," Julian said. "I'm not letting you go, but you need to look at me. Just calm down."

And Laura looked at him. Her green, frightened eyes bore straight into his, and for a moment Julian saw just how deeply she actually felt. And right now, all that feeling was focused into pure and terrified fight-or-flight survival. His mouth went dry, and he briefly entertained a mental image of losing his hold on her and adamantium claws slicing him to ribbons in vengeance for blocking her escape. However Laura stopped struggling, and recognition finally began to settle over her when she saw him.

"Julian?" she said in a raw and shaking voice.

"It's all right, Laura," a voice behind him said, and Julian risked a look over his shoulder to see the Professor entering the observation gallery, with Dr. McCoy following close behind. "You're safe, now."

"Oh my stars and garters," McCoy said, dumbstruck when he saw the level of destruction Laura had wreaked inside the quarantine bay.

"Let her go, Julian," Xavier said, his voice gentle.

"Professor," he began, "I don't think—"

"It will be all right. Let her go, gently now."

Julian met the Professor's eyes, and Xavier offered him a small, comforting smile and a nod. He looked back to Laura again, who now seemed more confused than afraid. She had retracted her claws, though her breathing was still coming in rapid gasps. He sighed, and carefully lowered her the rest of the way to the floor and released her from his power.

Laura immediately collapsed to her knees, all the energy of her rampage spent, and crawled into a corner of the observation gallery and huddled there trying to shrink out of sight.

###

Act III

###

Josh fidgeted uncomfortably as he faced Xavier and Henry inside the ruins of the quarantine bay, his surface thoughts alive with concern over how they would react to what happened. Laura remained curled up in the corner of the observation gallery behind them and stared numbly at the floor, while Julian sat next to her to keep an eye on her. What little he picked up from her mind was alive with fear and uncertainty breaking through her normal shield around her emotions, but strangely enough Julian's presence seemed to act as a soothing influence.

"Well," Henry was saying, "I know for certain I'll need to replace most, if not all, of the equipment. Ms. Kinney was quite thorough in destroying the facilities."

"I don't know what happened!" Josh said, his voice loaded with apology. "One moment she was waking up, and then the next ..."

"It's all right, Josh," Xavier said, and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "No one is laying blame on you for anything." He sighed. "If anything, it's my fault. I should have known how Laura would react to waking in such circumstances, and taken better precautions to prevent the outburst. However I thought it best to proceed with caution until we better knew what we were dealing with."

He turned his attention on Henry next, whose expression was crestfallen as he examined the remains of the quarantine room. "And Henry, we can replace the equipment. The important thing now is to find out just what has happened."

Henry sighed, and scratched his chin with one big, furry blue hand. "I'll review the data logs and see what I can find. With luck Laura was conscious for long enough before she started tearing everything apart for it to record a scan of her more-or-less-normal neural patterns."

Xavier smiled. "Very good, Henry. And as for you, Josh, go ahead and head back upstairs. Get something to eat and try getting some rest."

"Yes, sir," he said, and hurried off, filled with relief that he wasn't in any actual trouble over the destruction of the bay. Henry followed after him to see to the computers outside in the observation gallery, and Xavier retreated as well, stopping his wheelchair next to Laura and Julian. Laura spared him a momentary glance, though Julian sat with his eyes closed and his head leaned against the wall. Xavier lightly brushed his mind and could feel his exhaustion; maintaining a hold on Laura with his power had taken more effort than he let on, and he was already worn from the events of earlier in the evening.

"Julian, we have everything in hand now, why don't you get some rest? We'll call you if we need anything more."

Julian's eyes blinked open, and he nodded as he wearily pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, ok. She's, uh, she's ok, right?"

Xavier smiled as reassuringly as he could, but couldn't help but feel a small amount of trepidation himself. "I'm sure she's just fine, just a little shaken up."

Julian looked between him and Laura for a moment, then levered himself to his feet and started for the door. He was just about to step into the subbasement hallway when he stopped and turned back. "Professor," he said, and for a moment looked at Laura before meeting Xavier's eyes again. "I don't know what's going on, but something has her more than just a little shaken up. She was terrified to be in that room."

Xavier sighed. The events of the past few weeks were certainly making keeping his agreement with Logan much more difficult than he liked. "Thank you, Julian," he said. "I assure you we have it all in hand."

Julian's shoulders hung, but he nodded, ran a hand back through his hair, and retreated without another word, leaving Xavier and Henry alone with Laura. She followed Julian out with her eyes, and her posture became much more guarded in his absence.

"Laura," Xavier said, and her eyes flicked back in his direction. "How are you feeling?"

"I am sorry I damaged Dr. McCoy's equipment," she said. Her voice was raw and uneven, and very quiet.

Henry, for his part, just smiled at her. "Oh, it's all right. I assure you that this is by far not the worst abuse my equipment has taken over the years. You have no idea how many times I've had to rebuild the Blackbird after Cyclops has crashed her."

Xavier chuckled softly at Henry's attempt at levity, but Laura didn't so much as smile at the joke. He abruptly sobered to match her mood, and leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms across his knees. Laura remained huddled into the corner and hugging herself tightly, and Xavier frowned sympathetically at her.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions so we can try to understand just what, precisely, is happening to you. What's the last thing you remember about this evening, before you awoke in the medbay?" he asked.

Laura bunched her features and thought back to earlier in the night. "I am not certain, I ..." she trailed off with a choked sob, and it seemed as if she were about to begin crying.

"It's all right, Laura," Xavier said, keeping his voice as soothing as possible. "Take your time."

She allowed herself a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking again. "I went to the Grind Stone with Julian, Cessily, Sooraya and Victor," she said. "After leaving there was a disagreement over what to do next. Julian wished to go to the arcade, but Cessily and Sooraya suggested a movie. So they decided to ask what I wanted to do." Laura's expression changed, and a measure of confusion appeared on her features. Xavier allowed himself a moment to touch her thoughts more directly, and though her defenses were up and preventing him from grasping a complete picture, he could see that she was conflicted as much over being forced to make such a decision at all, as why she made the decision she did. "I decided the arcade sounded interesting."

Ordinarily Xavier might have dismissed her choice, but he recalled the way she watched Julian as he departed, and how his presence seemed to help calm her after her earlier outburst. He filed that thought away for later consideration, however, and returned his attention to much more pressing matters. "What happened next?"

Laura concentrated. "On our way up the street we encountered the phenomenon."

He nodded idly; Laura's story so far was matching up with the report the others had given as well. "Sooraya mentioned you heard something, but the others didn't."

"A voice."

Xavier raised an eyebrow and frowned. "A voice?"

Laura nodded stiffly, and hugged herself tightly.

"Do you remember what it said?"

She shook her head. "I could not make it out. It was very faint, like a whisper. I remember nothing more after that."

Xavier glanced at Henry, who was frowning at the computer terminal. His mind was radiating a sensation somewhere between alarm and fascination. "Henry?"

"Charles, I've never seen anything like this before," he said, and ran a hand back through his furry blue mane in disbelief. "The neural scans managed to pick up a flurry of activity from Laura's mind as she regained consciousness, and I'm reading two entirely distinct patterns. One, I assume, is her normal oscillations, accounting for elevated stress levels under her current circumstances. The other is the pattern I detected while she was unconscious. Both of them were active and inhabiting her mind simultaneously."

Xavier's mouth hung open in shock. "My God, Henry, are you saying that there are two separate consciousnesses inhabiting her mind?"

"That's certainly what the data is telling me."

Laura looked between the two of them, and Xavier felt a flare of fear break through her defenses. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Xavier sighed. "I'm not entirely certain yet. With your permission, I would like to enter your mind. Whatever this presence is, it must be buried deep within your subconscious. I ought to at least be getting a surface impression even with your mental defenses, but though I can get one from you, I can't touch this other presence. Perhaps if you were to allow me to read you more thoroughly I might be able to ascertain just what it is we're dealing with."

Laura considered the request for a moment, and then gave him a small and reluctant nod. He repositioned his chair so he could face her, and carefully reached out to place his hands on either side of her temples. "I promise, you won't feel a thing."

Xavier concentrated, and he felt her mind open little by little to allow him inside. He found himself standing in a long corridor with doors on either side, the walls thrown up by her psyche around all the traumas in her young life in a desperate effort to keep herself functional, and was immediately reminded of Logan's mind. But where Laura had closed and locked doors, Logan had nothing but blank walls, crumbled in places to reveal doors and windows where fragments of the memories buried deep in his subconscious could still be glimpsed.

But for Laura, everything that had ever happened to her was accessible. Many of the doors strained against their hinges and threatened to give way at any moment.

As he made his way along the corridor he was buffeted by the wild surging of emotion she normally kept buried behind her mask of emotionless calm. Xavier had heard the other students speak disparagingly of her icy stoicism, and he idly wondered what they would think if they could see the storm of feeling lying beneath the surface of her green eyes as he did now. Grief, fear and pain surged around him and threatened to sweep him away, and only a firm grip on his power buoyed him against the flood. A grim undercurrent of rage simmered beneath it all seeking to be unleashed, but was clamped down and forced deep below the surface.

Xavier fought against the tide and continued deeper, seeking for the memory of what happened. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt something there, lurking among the locked doors of Laura's subconscious. But where was it? He felt as if it could sense his presence in turn, fleeing deeper into her mind in fear of discovery, tantalizingly close but just out of his reach. He searched and probed with care, mindful of the fragile doors so as not to risk tearing one from its hinges and unleashing a storm of hurt that would cause Laura's fragile emotional barriers to collapse upon themselves, and expose her to the full weight of her grief. But the something continued to elude him.

"Hello!" he called out into the empty corridors. "Are you there?"

His voice echoed through the hallways of Laura's mindscape, but there was no response. At least at first.

Slowly he became aware of a sound like a whisper, just audible enough to be heard, but so quiet he couldn't make out what it said. Xavier started forward, deeper and deeper into her mind, following the sound of the voice.

"Where are you?" he said. "I can hear you, but I can't understand you!"

Xavier continued on his way and walked past row upon countless row of doors, and the further he went, the more extensive Laura's efforts to lock away the grief and pain hidden behind them, until now he was walking past heavy steel vaults. Yet even here the lightest disturbance might be enough to rip the walls down, and it grieved him to pass among these memories, unable to help her reconcile the horrors she had lived through; horrors no child should have ever endured.

And finally, as he reached a turning in the passage among her most bitter and deeply buried memories, he found what he was looking for.

A large ball emanating cool blue light floated in the corridor like a will-o'-the-wisp. No, something more wondrous and yet more mundane even than that: like a star, churning and boiling in a writhing mass of plasma. At times a solar flare erupted from its sunspot-dotted surface, ejecting plumes of energy into the space around it, while coronal loops and other features twisted and writhed above it. A star small enough he might hold it in his hand. Xavier gazed on it with amazement as it silently radiated its light into the hallway.

"My god, Laura," he whispered. "Is this truly what you saw?"

Xavier slowly started towards it, and somewhere in a distant corner of his mind he could feel its thoughts. To his complete and utter amazement he realized that it was truly alive and conscious, and aware of his presence in Laura's mind.

"Hello," he said, keeping his voice as conversational as he could. "My name is Charles Xavier."

The star just continued to shimmer and glow, and hovered silently in the corridor.

"Who are you?"

For a moment, Xavier thought he heard a response; like a whisper from a great distance, but he couldn't make it out.

"I'm sorry, but I can't understand you," he said, playing a hunch that the star was indeed attempting to communicate with him. He cautiously continued forward and reached out to it. "My gifts allow me to touch the minds and thoughts of other sentient beings, if you will allow me—"

He never finished. A blinding flash of light seared his eyes, and Xavier shielded his face.

And then he felt Laura's mind evaporate around him as something struck him heavily in his chest, blasting him backwards across the observation gallery. He cried out in pain and alarm as his chair toppled over backwards under the impact, and he was dumped unceremoniously on the floor.

"Charles!" Henry cried, and rushed to his side. Xavier tried to push himself up on his hands but for a long moment his body wouldn't respond. The pain passed quickly, though for a long time afterwards there was a lingering pins-and-needles prickling throughout those parts of his body which still had feeling. His head spun, though his vision rapidly cleared, and he looked up to see Laura huddled as deep in the corner of the gallery as she could retreat, her green eyes mortified and frightened by whatever just happened.

"I'm all right, Henry," Xavier said. "I'm all right. What happened?"

"I'm not sure. One moment you were working with Laura, and not even a second later there was a flash of light and you were being blown halfway across the room!" Henry looked dumbstruck at Laura. "How did you do that?"

She shook her head. "It was not me!" she whimpered, her voice laden with equal parts guilt, confusion, and anxiety. "I did not—"

"It's all right, Laura," Xavier said, holding a hand up to wave off any further protest. "I know this wasn't your fault, and that this wasn't you. It's all right."

His assurances, however, did little to assuage her, and she just hugged herself even more tightly. He turned back to Henry.

"Henry, see that Laura is comfortable, and see what you can do to determine how to remove this entity from her. Have Scott and the rest of the training squad meet me in my office."

Henry nodded, and glanced at Laura. "Right, I'll see what I can do. I'd like to run a few tests now that she's awake, and maybe see if I can sort out what is her, and what is this entity."

Xavier turned his attention back to Laura. "I understand that being here will be difficult for you, but under the circumstances I must insist you remain in quarantine until we can ensure that this presence in your mind is not a threat. Any tests Dr. McCoy runs would be strictly voluntary, and I promise we'll do everything we can to remove it safely."

She nodded slightly, but shrunk down into herself uncertainly. Xavier refrained from touching her thoughts to confirm that she did, indeed, understand, and just offered her as reassuring a smile as he could muster as Henry helped him back into his chair, and he turned and wheeled himself from the room.

###

Julian slumped in one of the chairs in Xavier's office, packed into the room with the rest of the squad. Despite the Professor's insistence he get some rest after the evening's excitement, he only just threw himself down on his bed when they were all called back down again. Foley leaned against one of the bookshelves. Cessily's hair was disheveled as she lounged in the chair next to him; apparently she had already turned in for the night when they were summoned. Sooraya's niqab and abaya were neatly arranged, though the former couldn't quite hide weariness in her eyes. Victor apparently hadn't gone to bed at all, nor had Ashida and Alleyne. Santo dozed quietly in another chair in the corner, his blocky, angular head propped up on one massive fist.

The Professor was in his customary place behind his desk, with Cyclops standing at his side as they studied something on Xavier's terminal. The rest of them just sat around impatient for the briefing or whatever it was supposed to be to begin.

They didn't have long to wait, and Xavier folded his hands in front of him and swept his eyes across the room to take them all in. "There's no point in withholding this information from you, or even in skirting around it," he said. "A foreign presence, the nature of which we still don't understand, has invaded Laura's mind."

Julian sat up abruptly, and as he swept his eyes across the rest of the group he noted that the pronouncement had quickly grabbed all their attention (except for Santo, who continued to nap off to one side).

"What do you mean by foreign presence?" Ashida asked, and casually brushed a stray lock of her electric-blue hair back from her face.

Xavier sighed. "Dr. McCoy and I are still not entirely certain, but I have reason to believe that the phenomenon she encountered earlier this evening was, in fact, a sentient intelligence of some form. It has taken up residence in Laura's subconscious."

Julian's stomach churned. "Could it be a mutant? A telepath of some kind?"

"It's not something I can rule out, but nor can I even confirm it." He paused and closed his eyes as if in thought, but soon shook his head. "There are mutants capable of astral projection, but I'm dubious of this explanation. Laura allowed me to enter her mind in an attempt to access the particular memories associated with this phenomenon, and much to my surprise I encountered the entity itself. Its energy was unlike any telepath I have ever encountered. If it is a mutant, it's something far beyond our understanding. Perhaps even more powerful than Jean."

Cyclops gawked at that, and even with his eyes hidden by his glasses his shock was clearly evident on his features. "More powerful than Jean? How is that even possible? There's never been a telepath of that magnitude."

"I know, Scott, but the power I sensed during that brief encounter was something so far beyond my experience." Xavier sighed and rubbed his face. "We're dealing with something that, to my knowledge, has never been encountered before."

"We have to help her!" Sooraya said, and Julian nodded his agreement.

"What are we supposed to do, though?" Cessily said. "I mean, what can we do?"

"For the moment Laura will be remaining in quarantine," Xavier said, and Julian frowned and raised his hand at that.

"I don't mean to sound like I'm saying you don't know what you're doing," he said, "but that didn't work out so well earlier."

"I know, Julian, but that I think owed more to her surprise at awakening there unexpectedly."

"Ok, but what now?" Josh asked, his golden features unconvinced by the Professor's assurances. "We can't keep her locked up in quarantine forever. And Julian's right; she really, really didn't like being in there."

"Josh, I would like you to assist Dr. McCoy in analyzing the data he's collected, and develop a means to remove this presence from her mind." He turned his attention on Alleyne. "David, your powers are a form of latent telepathy. It's possible that you might be able to glean something from this entity without triggering the same defense mechanism I did."

Alleyne folded his arms across his chest and frowned. "All I can do is pull skills and knowledge. I can't reach out and communicate like you and Dr. Grey can."

Xavier smiled. "Which is precisely why I believe you'll have better success than I did. What I'd like you to do is absorb as much from Laura as you can. She would then be able to help you sort out what abilities are hers, and what belongs to the entity. Perhaps that might help us gain a better understanding of what it is."

He nodded, though his expression wasn't particularly confident. "All right, I'll see what I can do, if she'll let me."

"Julian," Xavier said, and turned his eyes on him. Julian's belly churned anxiously at that; there was something about the way the Professor looked at him just now that he didn't like. "I know it's late, but I'd like for you to go with them."

He blinked. "Me? Why me? That's all nerd work."

"Believe it or not, Laura seems to find your presence comforting. I'd like you to be down there to keep her calm."

Ashida barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Are you kidding me? Whenever I've got to spend more than five minutes in a room with him it just makes me want to punch him in the face!"

Julian's face heated; both in irritation at her comment, and a bit self-consciously over the Professor's remarks. "Look, Sparky, it's been a long night and I'm tired. I'm really not in the mood for this."

"That's enough, both of you," Cyclops said. "We don't have time for you to be at each other's throats right now. Our priority is Laura, and doing whatever we can to help her." He fixed his gaze on Julian, and he could feel Mr. Summers's eyes on him even without being able to see them through his glasses. "Can we count on you to do this?"

He sighed and slumped further into his chair. "All right, all right, it's not like I was wanting any sleep, anyway."

Xavier held him in his eyes for a long moment, but what he was thinking Julian couldn't tell. He just gave him a short nod before looking at Mr. Summers. "Scott, I'd like you and Jean to go to Salem. If this phenomenon was indeed some form of telepathic construct, it's possible a mutant this powerful may have left a psychic footprint or echo in the area. If that's the case, she might be able to detect it."

Cyclops considered that for a moment. "If we're talking a mutant that powerful, couldn't Cerebro do a better job?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't even detect the entity while sitting in the same room as Laura without a deep probe of her subconscious. I'm not certain if there is such an echo that Cerebro would even be able to detect it."

Alleyne raised his hand. "Out of curiosity, has anyone considered whether this was actually an isolated sighting? It's entirely possible there could have been reports of similar phenomena elsewhere."

Xavier nodded. "If he hasn't already, I'll have Dr. McCoy start a sweep of all news feeds for anything that could be connected. If there's nothing else, I'll let you all get to work."

###

Laura huddled in the far corner of the quarantined bay, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and drawing them to her chest, while hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

Logan had broken his promise.

No more labs. No more tests. No poking or prodding, or men in white coats. Yet here she was. Trapped in a cell once more, and though Dr. McCoy was bluer and furrier, he was now just another man in a white coat running tests. She shuddered and buried her face in the arms hugging her legs against her chest and cried, for one blissful moment left alone in her misery while McCoy carried out some order from Xavier that took him away from the observation gallery.

"Laura."

She snapped her head up at the sound of the voice, somehow both distant and yet right beside her.

"Laura."

She craned her neck, looking this way and that, and cocked her head from side to side in hopes her enhanced hearing could locate its source. She sniffed, but could only smell the lingering scents of McCoy and Xavier.

That was when the Entity appeared in front of her, and Laura scrambled back deeper into the corner in alarm as it coalesced from a pale blue mist venting from her pores. And when she saw the form it took, she felt her heart shatter; a fair-skinned face so much like her own, but older and careworn, black hair swept up into a simple and functional knot atop her head, tired but kind green eyes, and lips turned up into a calm and reassuring smile. Seeing that face again came like a blow to her gut, and she clenched her teeth and fists.

"It is all right," the Entity said, when it sensed her alarm. Its voice echoed strangely in the chamber, and whatever form it took it was clearly not her. "I am sorry if I have done you harm, that was not my intent."

"Why do you look like that?" Laura asked, her voice ragged with conflicting emotions. "Why are you doing this to me?"

The smile faltered in genuine confusion as the Entity considered her form. "I saw in your mind that you have strong positive feelings for this woman, and thought you would be more comfortable—"

"Stop it!" Laura screamed, and the tears welling up in her eyes over her new captivity broke free.

The Entity seemed taken aback by her response, but its form shimmered and it reverted into Laura's own mirror-image; her skin turned black, like the void of night, and her hair was white and shining like starlight. "I am sorry," it said. "I do not mean to bring you pain."

Laura hugged herself and fought to regain control. Such outbursts were not conducive to resolving her predicament. "What do you want from me?"

"I need your help."

She blinked in genuine surprise at that. "My help? Why?"

"You have skills that I need," it said, and Laura immediately shifted to a defensive posture.

"I am not a weapon to be used!" she snapped, though for the moment she kept her claws stowed away.

The entity raised its hands in a calming gesture. "You misunderstand me, I do not intend to use you as the others did."

"Then what? Why me?"

"Because I hope that you will understand what it is I ask of you. I am a traveler, and am not of this world. I have traveled this universe from its inception, protecting the seeds of life wherever I found it, and safeguarding the civilizations that have arisen. Shi'ar. Skrull. Badoon. Human. But on my most recent sojourn to this planet, something happened."

Laura frowned as she processed what the Entity was telling her, and sniffed. To her consternation not only could she detect no olfactory evidence that the apparition in front of her actually existed, she could not tell whether what it was telling her was the truth.

"What?"

The Entity's posture shifted as if deep in thought, but with no features of its own Laura had no other cues as to what it was thinking. "I cannot remember. All I know is that I was drawn into the planet's gravity well. Somehow, human scientists managed to capture a sizable portion of my being. I am unclear of the means by which they accomplished this, but I am aware of what this part of me is experiencing. I can feel them running experiments; their curiosity over what they found.

"But Laura, we must stop them. They do not understand the potential consequences of what might happen should they continue along their current course, and that part of me is too weak to free itself."

Laura frowned. "What consequences."

"There is no time to explain everything, but you must understand the cataclysm that would result should part of me die would not just threaten all life on earth, but all life everywhere."

She considered that for a moment. "But why me? Why can you not recover that part of yourself on your own?"

"My nature prevents me from so overtly interacting with the corporeal world. I can take shape, as you saw me in what you call Salem, and as you see me now, but I can only act here by bonding with a mortal agent. I know where the rest of my being is held. The decision is yours — I will not force you — and I promise you that once we bond you will understand everything. But please, Laura, there is so little time, and I hoped that you would understand better than anyone here my pain."

The hollow feeling in her gut spread, and Laura felt tears welling up in her eyes once more as memories of the men in white coats surged up from the depths of her mind. Whatever the consequences the Entity spoke of, she could not allow another being to suffer as she had.

Laura set herself, and gave a resolute nod. "What must I do."

The Entity reached out and clasped her hand. "Thank you, Laura. I promise, you will feel no pain. You and I will become one, for a time, and I promise that you will understand."

Laura held a breath as the Entity shimmered once more, and collapsed into a small point winking in the medical bay like starlight. Laura gasped as it penetrated her chest; her head rolled back and her back arched, and a feeling not unlike euphoria rippled through her as she felt its energy infuse her body.

And as it promised, Laura understood.

###

Julian made his way along the subbasement hallway, his shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets. Alleyne, Ashida — who refused to let her boyfriend anywhere near Laura without a bodyguard after hearing how she destroyed the quarantine bay — and Foley preceded him, but he kept his eyes focused on the floor in front of him so he wasn't staring at their backs. He didn't know why he was so anxious over Laura's condition; it's not like they were friends or anything. If he spent any time around her lately it was because she was always following Cessily and Sooraya around like a lost puppy. Whatever understanding they might have come to that day in the park, she was still weird, creepy, and scared the hell out of him, and the idea that she found him, of all people, comforting was laughable. Just another one of those bizarre, inexplicable quirks that made her so off-putting.

So why the hell was he so worried about her?

He sighed heavily, and tried to force his mind to other subjects, but time and again he kept drifting back to the same thoughts.

They were just drawing near the medical wing's quarantine area when a flash of light lit the hallway to something about the equivalent of staring right into the sun. All four of them cried out and shielded their eyes as the heavy reinforced door allowing access to the observation gallery was thrown from its hinges and blown across the hall. Julian stumbled against the wall and might have fallen entirely without it to support his weight. Josh and Alleyne went down in a heap, entangled in each other's limbs, and Ashida fell on top of them both.

"What the hell?!" Julian exclaimed.

And then a figure emerged from the quarantine bay. A figure that looked like Laura, but something more; Her green eyes were gone, replaced by glowing spheres that burned like twin blue suns, and countless pinpricks of light, like stars suspended in the night sky, sparkled in the black shadow of her hair.

Julian tried to shake what was almost certainly an illusion caused by the surge of light searing his retinas off, but when he opened his eyes again Laura was still there, radiating a muted inner light. Ashida scrambled to her feet while Alleyne and Foley struggled to untangle themselves, and muttered a bit of Japanese invective at the sight.

"Laura?!" she stammered. "What the hell?"

Laura took one look at them both, and then took off down the hall, not so much running as she flew.

Ashida shed her gauntlets, and immediately the hall lights began to flicker as her power quickly built up to an overload. "Shit!" she blurted out, and rushed off after her, trailing electric-blue sparks in her wake.

"Julian, stay with her!" Josh said.

"Gee, thanks, Foley, I wouldn't have thought about that myself!" he growled, and started after the two girls. With the twisting path Laura took through the subbasement keeping up proved to be much less troublesome than he feared, and soon he caught up with them in the long gallery that led to the storage hangar where the Blackbird was parked beneath the basketball courts.

Ashida had taken advantage of her power to put herself ahead of Laura, and whipping sparks of electricity danced across her body as she dropped into a fighting stance, barring her access to the hangar. Laura stood a short distance away, regarding her calmly but with a hint of impatience in her stance.

"That's enough, Laura," Ashida was saying as he rounded the corner and started down the corridor behind Laura. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I can't let you leave."

"Noriko, please!" Laura said. "There is no time!"

"You're going to have to give me better than that, now go back to the med bay so we can sort this out!"

"I cannot, I know what I am doing. Please stand aside, I do not wish to fight you."

"You take a step and I'll have to put you down, I can't let you go."

"Ashida!" Julian snapped, but though Laura glanced over her shoulder at him as he approached the brewing confrontation, Ashida neither budged nor stood down.

"I'm warning you, Laura," she said, and the lights in the hall flickered wildly as she rapidly built up to a full charge.

"Do not do this," Laura said, and took a step forward.

"Damn it!"

Ashida snapped her hands up, and Julian cried out as she unleashed a concentrated blast of electrical energy. They both stood dumbstruck as Laura raised a hand, and Ashida's attack splattered harmlessly against a shield of light.

"What the f...?" Ashida began, but was cut off when Laura's eyes flashed, and a column of light ripped from her hand and down the hallway. It struck Ashida in the chest and knocked her off her feet. She landed hard on her back, and skidded several feet along the floor before coming to a rest just shy of the door.

"Laura, no!" Julian shouted, and reached out to her with his power when she tried to continue on her way. He didn't expect to be able to hold her like this, but much to his surprise he was able to lift and freeze her in the air, and turn her so he could look her in the whatever it was now passed for her eyes.

"Julian, please do not do this," she said. "You must let me go!"

"I can't do that," he said. "Let's just go back to the medical bay so Dr. McCoy can fix you, all right?"

"I cannot. Please, I did not wish to hurt Noriko, and I do not wish to hurt you, too."

Ashida coughed and stirred on the ground behind her, and lifted herself up on her elbows. "What the hell," she murmured. "Do you have her, Keller?"

"Look, this isn't you, all right? It's that whatever in your head."

"No, it is not! Julian, please, you must trust me."

"Don't you let her go, Keller!" Ashida said.

Julian looked between her and Laura, searching her features for any sign that it was really Laura or the thing inside her mind he was speaking with now. This wasn't right; Laura was creepy and scary, but had never demonstrated power like this before. And yet...

"Julian, please!"

He heard the pleading in her voice, the sincerity as she begged him to release her. Julian gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and lowered his hand. Almost at once his telekinetic hold over her failed, and Laura was free. She remained suspended over the floor for a moment of her own volition before gently settling back to her feet.

"Thank you," she whispered, then spun around and rushed down the hallway. Ashida bit out a curse and staggered back to her feet, and angrily stomped towards him.

"What the hell is the matter with you, Keller?" she snapped, but Julian ignored her and just stared after Laura until she disappeared through the hatch leading into the hanger.

###

There wasn't much left at all of the quarantine bay or its observation gallery this time as they all crowded inside to survey the damage. The entirety of the wall dividing the gallery from the room beyond had been smashed, the terminal built into it was a sparking ruin, and fragments of armored glass littered the floor.

"Laura did this?" Xavier said, dumbstruck by the destruction. "Henry, what happened?"

"To be honest, I don't know," he said. "I ran a few tests on Laura and left the bay to check the results, as well as do some looking into possible related phenomena as you requested. Seems it was a good thing I did."

Ashida folded her arms and scowled, and Julian could feel the heat of the glare on him. He did his best to ignore her and joined the others in staring awestruck at just what Laura had done. "Lucky you, Doc," she said. "Who knows what she would have done if you were in there."

Julian turned on her and glared. "You're the one who tried to fry her," he snapped as his temper get away from him. "If you ask me you deserved it."

"Oh please. I don't know what you were thinking with back there, Keller, but it sure wasn't your brain. And now who knows what sort of damage she's doing!"

Sooraya frowned and shook her head. "I can't believe that Laura would have harmed you deliberately," she said.

"How could she even do this?" Cessily said, her silver features clearly betraying her inability to grasp what they were seeing.

Xavier turned his eyes on Julian, and he shifted uncomfortably under the Professor's searching gaze. "Julian, tell me again what you saw."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Like I already told you; Ashida, Alleyne, Foley, and I were all on our way down here. She blew the door off its hinges and when she came out ..." he trailed off as he tried to order his thoughts and comprehend just what it was he saw. "I don't know, it was her but different. Like really, really different. I really don't know how to explain it." He looked at the Professor and scowled. "And rather than asking me over and over again you could always just pluck it out of my head."

"Calm down, Julian," Victor said, and reached out and squeezed his arm. "Getting mad at the Professor isn't going to help."

Julian shook his hand off and fixed them all with a glare. "Answering questions fifty times isn't going to help, either! Look, all I know is that whatever she looked like, that was Laura."

"It sounds pretty freakin' cool, too," Santo said. "Like something out of Poltergeist or something."

"And she said nothing about where she was going," Xavier said, making it a statement of fact.

"No!" Julian said, tiring of repeating the story. "All she said is that there wasn't time. Look, I get it, it sounds insane and she's already one hyperactive ball of crazy as it is, but she sounded so sure of what she was doing."

"Regardless of whether she was sure or not," David said, "We can't just let her run around loose. What she did to Nori, and what she did in here? What if she loses control in a major city?"

"Are we really sure she lost control?" Cessily asked. "I mean Julian said she didn't hit Nori until Nori attacked her first."

"That's easy for you to say when you weren't thrown across a room," Ashida grumbled under her breath.

"That's enough!" Xavier snapped, and spit them all with a glare. "Arguing about it is not going to change what happened. Our first priority is finding her, and making sure that she and this power are drawn away from population centers so it can be safely contained and dealt with. Henry, did you have any luck in your search?"

"I think I did," McCoy said, and looked sadly at the computer. Though he wouldn't say it, it was clear his annoyance at having to replace the equipment — and especially not having it available to demonstrate his genius to them now — was evident. "I have academic access to a number of private scientific databases, and one entry in particular caught my attention: There was an unusual period of solar activity about two weeks ago, which interacted quite energetically in the upper atmosphere. Around the same time, a scientific observatory Upstate detected a strange energy signature that they couldn't quite explain. They recorded it but dismissed it as a sensor being out of calibration. When I compared it to the readings I took from Laura earlier, the signature was a match for the anomalous bioelectrical readings I recorded."

Julian frowned and considered that. "Laura seemed in an awful hurry to get somewhere. Could she be heading to that observatory?"

Henry nodded. "I think it's a possibility. It can't be a coincidence the two signatures match."

Xavier steepled his hands and closed his eyes in thought. "Scott and Jean will be in Salem now, and it may take too long for them to return." He opened his eyes and fixed them on McCoy. "Henry, ready the Blackbird. We don't know Laura's capabilities now but she already has a head start. At the very least the jet ought to be able to get there before she can cause too much damage."

"Who do you want with me?" McCoy asked. "Based on what she did here I wouldn't be able to stop her if she made a fight of it."

The Professor turned his eyes on the rest of them. "I think we have a team already assembled and ready to move."

Santo's rocky features lit up. "We're going on a mission? Awesome!"

Ordinarily Julian might have shared the sentiment, but his heart sank somewhere around his navel knowing they were setting out to hunt down one of their own.

One who could tear them all apart even without her current power-up.

###

Hank, his lab coat exchanged for his black uniform, adjusted the pilot's seat of the Blackbird, and flicked the switches to bring its systems online. A faint whine filled the cockpit as the powerful engines slowly spun to life, and he felt the familiar vibrations through his seat. The children — well, they were not exactly children any more — took their seats in the passenger compartment behind him, with Nori and Julian — or that was to say Surge and Hellion, and he found it odd now to think of them in such terms — crowding into the cockpit with him.

"All right, let's establish a few ground rules before we take off," he said. "First of all, for all intents and purposes I'm leading the team. I'm not the sternest of disciplinarians, but for your own good if I give an order I expect it to be followed."

Nori shrugged. Her modification of her uniform after she found it not to her tastes came as something of a surprise to him when she boarded the jet. Now, instead of the one-piece leather jumpsuit, she had arranged to cut off and shorten the top half to bare a sizable swath of her middle. "Whatever you say, you're the boss. As long as he gets it," she said, and jerked her finger and Julian.

"Look, you want to take this outside?" he said as he tugged at the high collar of his own jumpsuit. "I made a judgment call."

"And it's your fault we have to go bring her back!"

"You're just PMSing because she kicked your ass. And I think that's an argument in her favor."

Hank growled and rolled his eyes. "All right, that's enough, both of you! The mission starts now, I don't care what happened before. Now go back and strap in so I can take off!"

The two shoved past each other on their way out of the cockpit, leaving him blissfully alone as he pushed the throttle forward and engaged the vector thrusters. The Blackbird slowly and gracefully lifted from its revetment in the hangar, and he flipped a switch on his console opening the door concealed beneath the basketball courts above.

The Blackbird gently climbed out of the hangar, and Hank shifted power to the main engines, gaining speed as he swung the jet past the mansion and turned onto a course for the observatory.

"Are we there yet?" Santo groaned from somewhere behind him as they sped north to intercept Laura.

###

Act IV

###

Laura alighted in an open field behind the privacy walls surrounding the observatory. The winter sky was dark, and dusted with a net of winking stars that, away from the skyglow of New York City, would be clearly visible even without her enhanced vision. As she made her way across the open lawn towards the entrance, Laura was astonished to realize she could actually hear the stars singing through her bond with the Entity, and she paused for a moment to look up at them in wonder before forcing her thoughts back to her mission. The installation itself was a nondescript building whose most dominant feature was the telescope dome on its roof, and there was no sign of activity within.

This is it?

Yes, the voice of the Entity replied. This is it. Can you feel it?

Laura closed her eyes and concentrated, and sure enough, she distantly felt something calling to her from deep below the structure. She gasped at the familiar sensation of unbearable agony wracking her body.

You are in pain.

Please, we must hurry!

Laura threaded past the security cameras she noted within the complex and approached the door. There was an alarm, but it took her only moments to circumvent it, and the lock was a very simple one that required little effort to open. She stepped inside the entry hall — a sparsely-furnished and purely functional space leading deeper into the building — and followed the call of the Entity's trapped portion.

She paused at times as she made her way among the offices and laboratories (the latter of which drew an uncomfortable shudder from her), and sniffed the air or listened intently, but though she found her senses had been even further enhanced by her bond with the Entity, there was no sign of security, and for all intents and purposes the observatory's upper levels were deserted. Everything was dark except for the dim blue security lighting. She frowned, finding it peculiar that such a facility would have the means to run the sorts of experiments the Entity was undergoing.

Hypothesis: The observatory could be a public front for a larger research project.

She filed that away for future consideration. Now, however, she had a mission to complete.

###

The Blackbird swooped in low over the observatory, and Hank deftly maneuvered it into an open space outside the privacy wall. Sensors aboard the jet immediately picked out multiple security cameras on their approach, so he flicked a switch on the console to activate the stealth and jamming systems before bringing the craft down outside the fences. As the jet settled on its landing gear he shut down the main engines, but left the auxiliary batteries online for a quick startup if needed.

With the Blackbird secured on the ground he opened the boarding ramp, and clambered out of his seat to address the team unbuckling their flight harnesses in the passenger compartment.

"Ok, we're here," he said. "I'm not sure if Laura has already arrived or not, so we're going to have to do a little light reconnaissance. David, how are the glasses?"

David adjusted their fit over his nose, and blinked as he activated their displays. "Oh man, it's like Google Glass on steroids. Ok, I'm getting a full schematic and floorplan of the whole installation."

Hank smiled. "Excellent! I have the facility's exterior security systems jammed, so we should be able to get inside without being spotted. We have about three hours until dawn, so that gives us a bit of cover from visual tracking."

Nori raised her hand. "Dr. McCoy?"

"We're in the field, Surge, you may call me Beast."

"Right. Beast. What exactly do we do if Laura doesn't want to come back willingly?"

"Let's find her first, and we can deal with that when we come to it."

And with that, he led them down the ramp as they disembarked. The night was cold, but the sky was clear and filled with stars not usually visible through the heavy light pollution nearer to New York City. His fur rippled in the breeze, but the kids shivered a bit in the chill (particularly Nori, whose alterations to her uniform weren't exactly conducive to insulation). They quickly reached their first obstacle as they stepped out of the jet; the observatory's security gate.

Santo pounded a fist into his palm, and stepped up with a grin. "I got this!"

"How about we do it without destruction of property?" Victor said with a roll of his eyes.

The big rocky mutant deflated. "Aw."

Hank grinned tightly. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but Anole is right. Hellion, if you would be so kind?"

"Right," Julian said, and his hands began to glow, bathed in a flickering green aura as he called his power to him. He lifted the entire group together, floated them over the wall, and set them down gently again on the other side.

"Well done!"

He quirked one corner of his mouth into a cocky smile. "I flew a truck last fall in Salem. This was nothing."

"Yes, well let's not get ahead of ourselves. Come on!"

They hurried the rest of the way across the lawn to the main entrance. Henry froze and examined the door with a frown; the alarm had been disabled, and the door hung open on its hinges.

"Well, it seems Laura has beaten us here. Prodigy, any sign of that energy signature?"

"Just a sec," David said, and nodded. "Yeah. And I'm reading two; one is a couple floors beneath us, the other looks to be on the ground floor."

"Lead the way, then!" he said, and they followed after David as he stepped inside.

###

Laura froze and perked up her ears at the sound of voices behind her. She flattened herself against the wall and took cover between a pair of computer terminals, and extended her claws. They glowed pale blue in the darkness of the security lighting, and blue flame danced along their edges. She sniffed and strained her ears, and retracted her claws again as she caught the scent of Noriko's perfume — she wore so much it was overpowering even from a distance — and heard the distinctive and heavy tread of Santo's rocky feet.

They have come to stop you, the Entity's voice said in her head.

I know.

What will you do?

They are my friends. I do not wish to fight them.

I understand.

Laura stepped out of cover and waited in the middle of the hallway. The first to round the bend in the hall leading from the entrance was David, and at the sight of her he immediately froze with his arms out to hold back the others following him.

"Beast!" he said, and Dr. McCoy (followed by Julian and Noriko, neither of whom wished to stay back) stepped around the corner.

"Laura!" McCoy said, and gawked at her in astonishment.

"There you are! Are you ready for Round Two?" Noriko said and glared. Laura flinched back at the ire in her tone, and shrunk down into herself at the dumbfounded stares of the others as they slowly filled the hall behind McCoy, Julian, and Noriko.

"Noriko, I am sorry, but you left me no choice but defend myself."

"I don't know what this is all about," McCoy said, quickly putting his big, furry body between them. "But you need to come back to the mansion with us so we can fix this!"

"I cannot leave now," she said. "You do not understand what is at stake."

"What's to understand about breaking and entering?" Noriko grumbled.

"Dr. McCoy, I made a promise," Laura said. "You must trust me, but what is happening here cannot be allowed to continue."

"And what is happening here?" he said. "Laura, I want to believe you, but I need you to give me a reason. Attacking Nori and running from the mansion doesn't do that."

Tell them, the Entity said, but we are running out of time.

Laura clenched her fists and steeled herself. "I have bonded with the Entity," she said, and the others gasped. "I know everything it knows, and I have seen things that none of you would comprehend. What is happening in the labs below, if it is allowed to continue, could destroy everything."

Sooraya frowned. "What do you mean, 'everything?'"

"Everything!" Laura said. "When the Entity passed earth a part of it was captured by the researchers here, and they are now running experiments that are killing it. And if it dies then what it is holding back will destroy all other life everywhere."

David's eyes widened with astonishment. "You mean like, alien life?"

She nodded. "Yes. I have to stop them before that happens."

Laura took all of them in; McCoy rubbed his furry chin as he considered the implications, David was still trying to wrap his head around the confirmation of extraterrestrial life, Sooraya, Cessily, Victor, and Josh just looked uneasily at her and at each other, as if they could not believe what she was saying. Noriko simmered, her arms folded across her chest as she watched her for any sign she might bolt and run, and from the look on her features she clearly did not believe her. Julian stared at the floor, his hands clenched at his sides as he wrestled with his own thoughts. Finally he heaved a sigh and resolutely stepped forward from the others.

"No, you don't," he said. "We do. I mean this is supposed to be a team, right?"

"Keller, what do you think you're doing?" Noriko asked.

"Look, I don't understand what's going on here, but she seems sure of it. And if things are really that bad I think it's worth at least giving her the benefit of the doubt. I don't know that I care much about the glowing Happy Fun Ball that's gotten us into all this, but I sure would like to keep living."

Laura felt a small tremor in her belly she did not know what to make of, but gave Julian an appreciative nod.

Dr. McCoy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right, we'll check it out. Where are these experiments taking place?"

"There are labs beneath the observatory," she said. "I can feel it below us."

David frowned as he pressed a hand to his glasses and stared at the floor. "If I'm using these things right, there's a massive energy reading that matches the entity directly below us, but there's nothing on the building floorplans to suggest the structure extends any further down."

"Something is not right, here," Laura said, and nodded as she swept her eyes across the hallway. "It makes no sense that an observatory would be conducting this sort of research."

"Curious," Dr. McCoy said. "I thought it rather strange that an energy reading of this magnitude might be dismissed as an anomaly." He looked at her. "Have you any idea how we might get down there?"

Laura nodded. "I believe so." She turned and started off down the hall she had been following. "This way."

###

The service elevator stopped with a jolt, and the doors opened. Hank followed Laura as she led them out into another wide corridor leading deeper into the subbasement of the facility. According to David's feed from the Blackbird's databanks, they were now some five stories below what should have been the storage basements. He blinked in the bright white lighting, a sudden change from the dim blue security lights illuminating the basement and main level of the observatory above. The deeper they went, the greater his sense of trepidation. Laura was right: Something was clearly out of sorts with this facility. On such a perfectly clear night the observatory itself ought to have been a hive of activity, but there was no one at work above.

He strained his ears, and his enhanced hearing picked up what sounded like the hum of machinery and distant voices, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. Laura, however, picked an unerring and certain course through the maze of passages. Whether she wasguided by her own senses or the connection she felt to the trapped fragment of the Entity she didn't say. Instead, Laura silently hurried past rooms dedicated to massive computer and server banks, laboratories filled with equipment and sample containers, and storage rooms loaded with supplies, parts, tools, and other errata, and Hank felt a small thrill at the occasional glimpses inside of advanced robotics and top-secret research. None of which had anything to do with what sort of science ought to be taking place here.

Finally she reached a bend in the corridor and froze, one had raised to stop them. Hank pressed himself against the wall and slid along it until he was standing right beside her, and peered around the corner with her.

There, in the center of a cavernous chamber lined with catwalks and gantries, and surrounded by equipment, was the distinct torus of an experimental fusion reactor, with a brilliant point of blue-white light glowing at its heart.

"Oh my stars and garters," he murmured, awestruck at the sight.

"Wow," David said as he crowded in behind him for a look. "That's impressive."

Laura's body tensed and she bunched her hands into fists. There were perhaps some dozen or so people working the various consoles, or on the floor of the reactor laboratory, and a control gallery accessed by a flight of steps overlooked the cavernous chamber. There was a sudden flare of light, and the buzz of electricity filled the air, accompanied by a mechanical whine. "They are trying to draw power off of it," she said, her voice ragged.

"Uh, Doc? She doesn't look too good," Santo said, and pointed at her.

Hank tore his eyes away from the nerdgasm-inducing sight around the corner, and when he looked at her he realized with a start her face was drawn as if in great pain, and she slumped against the wall. "Laura, are you all right?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It is dying, we have to hurry."

"Do we have a plan?" Nori asked.

"The reactor needs to be stepped-down," David said. "If we try to just pull the plug, with as much energy as I'm reading the whole thing could blow."

Hank nodded, just a hair slower than David and his power. "Can you do it?"

"Yeah, I'm close enough now I was able to pull the procedure from the engineers' heads. As near as I can tell, all we have to do is get it shut down and we ought to be able to free the Entity."

Hank rubbed his chin, but before he could say anything else Laura cried out in pain and clutched her head, just as another massive flare of light erupted from the reactor and bathed the room in a searing white-hot flash. Suddenly all the lights within shut down as a massive spike of energy ripped through the electrical systems and overloaded every capacitor and surge protector in the laboratory. The ground heaved up sharply beneath their feet, and everyone tumbled to the floor.

"What the hell?!" Julian muttered from his hands and knees as alarms began to blare and flashing warning lights turned the chamber the color of blood.

"That can't be good," David said.

"We are too late," Laura said, her voice suddenly gone very small. She and Santo were the only ones able to keep their feet at the convulsions pitching the floor up underneath them, and she staggered forward into the chamber.

Hank scrambled back to his feet and stumbled around the corner after her, and his jaw fall all the way to the floor at the sight confronting him now. Where the reactor once stood there was now just a big, black, gaping hole of nothingness staring at them, surrounded by a brilliantly illuminated event horizon. The catwalks and galleries had been ripped from the walls, and sparking equipment and computers littered the floor along with the remains of most of the scientists.

"Oh my ..."

"Stars and garters. We get it, Doc," Julian interrupted, his own features slack with awe. "What the hell are we looking at?"

"A black hole?" David suggested.

As the others filed around the corner and into the lab Hank was distantly aware of Sooraya muttering a prayer, but no one else said anything; even Santo stood quietly transfixed by the sight, and without so much as a snide remark to offer.

"We are looking at the end," Laura said, and extended her claws. They glowed blue in the darkness, and flame flickered along their edges.

###

Laura stood at the edge of the abyss and stared into the darkness beyond. No, it was more than just darkness; it was the absence of everything. No light, no substance. Beyond the event horizon was absolute and utter nothingness, but she could already hear the sounds of what was imprisoned beyond stirring. They could see the life beyond, and through her connection to the Entity could feel their hunger as they swarmed from the emptiness beyond, drawn to the scent of blood and flesh like moths to flame. And there was nothing that they could do to hold back the onslaught to come.

What do we do now?

I might be able to seal the breach, the Entity said in her mind, but opening it in the first place required a substantial part of my power, so I cannot do it from here any longer.

Laura's breath caught in her throat. What do you need me to do?

The answer was exactly what she suspected, and Laura could only clench her fists and set her jaw. We must pass through the breach and seal it from within. It is the only way.

"Laura, what are you doing?" David asked, and Laura knew immediately he had absorbed the same knowledge from the Entity that it had passed to her.

"Dr. McCoy, get everyone out of here," she said.

"Laura?" Cessily said, and Laura refused to look at them and kept her gazed focused on the void of eternal and starless night looming ahead of her.

"I can fix this, but you need to go."

"Laura," McCoy began when her intentions became clear. "Don't do this."

"Do what?" Santo asked.

"She's going to go inside that thing," David said. "The Entity knows how to repair it, but without its full power it has to do it from inside."

"Are you out of your mind?" Julian said, and strode forward to grab her arm. "You'll be killed!"

Laura turned in his grip and stared him deep in the eyes. She could not read what he was feeling, but beyond his fear over their current predicament there was something else buried deep beneath it that confused her. "If I do not everything will die." She twisted her arm from his grip and stepped away. "None of you can help me now; even if I can repair the breach, if you stay here when it closes you will die, or worse be trapped beyond the seal. You must go. Now!"

She met all of their eyes. "Go!"

And without another word, or waiting to see if they complied, she turned around and strode into the darkness, her hands held loosely at her sides, and waited for the onslaught to come as she gathered the Entity's remaining power around her.

###

Julian watched her go, and Laura's subtly glowing figure vanished into the blackness beyond the event horizon. His racing heart leapt somewhere up around his throat as she vanished from view, and all he could do was stand and stare in shock and horror as the entire facility shook and convulsed around him. Then he clenched his fists and jaw, and took a step after her only to be yanked back by a hand on his arm.

"Julian what do you think you're doing?" Alleyne yelled at him.

"The rest of you can run if you like, but I'm not leaving her!" he snapped. "This is a team, and as far as I'm concerned we don't leave anyone behind!"

"You heard her, Keller," Ashida said. "She's made her choice, but we have to go!"

"She's right, Julian," McCoy said. His furry features were crestfallen, but that didn't make what he said sound any less bitter. "There's nothing we can do for her."

"No! We're not losing anyone else!" Julian spun around and strained against Alleyne's arms, as the others crowded in to hold him back. "Let me go! I said let me—"

Julian didn't get a chance to finish. As he pulled against the arms trying to drag him back he felt himself spun around, and the last thing he clearly remembered was Alleyne's fist flying towards his face.

###

Act V

###

Julian's head spun as his head slowly cleared, and the ceiling of the Blackbird's passenger cabin wheeled overhead. Santo, Victor, Cessily, and Sooraya, as well as their dozens of twin brothers and sisters, spiraled around him before slowly resolving into individuals again. It did not, however, stop the violent vibrations ripping through the jet.

He blinked and sat up, and immediately felt hands under his arms propping him up.

"Easy, Julian," Foley said into his ear from behind, and he felt his golden hands cupping the sides of his head. "You've got a mild concussion, but I think I took care of the worst of it."

"What happened?" he grumbled. "How did I get back on ..."

He trailed off as memory of what happened down below in the observatory subbasement flooded back to him. "Laura!"

Julian jumped to his feet, but Cessily threw herself into his path and gathered him into an embrace. "Julian, no! It's too late!" she said. Her voice caught in her throat. "Dr. McCoy is already starting the takeoff procedure, there's no time to go back."

"We can't just leave her down there!" he said, and forced his way past her for the cockpit. Julian staggered through the cabin, supporting himself on the chairs as the Blackbird shook underfoot and the rest of the group followed after him. He arrived in the cockpit to find McCoy working frantically at the controls, with Ashida and Alleyne strapped into the chairs around him. At the sight of the latter, his lip curled into a sneer and he grabbed him from behind.

"You son of a bitch!" he snarled, and balled a fist to bash Alleyne's face and his glasses in, but Cessily and Sooraya quickly grabbed him under the arms and dragged him away. "Let go!"

"Julian, that is enough!" Sooraya snapped into his ear. "It grieves all of us to leave her behind, but David saved your life!"

"The bastard cold-cocked me and you're taking his side?"

"Will you children please sit down!" McCoy shouted as an alarm blared in the cockpit. "Hang on tight, this is going to be a little bumpy!"

He threw the throttle forward, and the Blackbird lurched underfoot. Julian grabbed onto one of the consoles as the bucking jet threatened to pitch him off his feet, and he heard a strangled cry followed by a crash as Santo lost his balance and went over hard on his back. Outside the forests and fields of Upstate New York wheeled about as the Blackbird slowly lifted into the air and drifted away from the observatory. Massive cracks and fissures appeared in the ground around it, and the lawn, privacy walls, and the observatory vanished as the entire facility was swallowed by an enormous sinkhole, accompanied by a massive plume of dust.

And then nothing. The tremors stilled, and everything was quiet.

For a long moment Julian and the others could only stare at the countryside through the Blackbird's canopy, and he felt his heart sink down into his stomach. Everyone, even Ashida and Alleyne, slumped as they stared down at the wreckage of the observatory. Another grave after having buried so many other friends.

Julian clenched his teeth and choked down the tears threatening to well up in his eyes, and turned away to return to the cabin. He didn't make it more than a step before a brilliant flash of light filled the jet, and they all cried out and shielded their eyes against it.

And when the spots cleared from his vision and he could see again, Julian was astonished to see Laura standing among them.

"Laura!" Cessily said, and started forward to glomp her, but froze at the broad, relieved smile that passed across her features. Everyone just stared in shock, as much at seeing her standing alive in front of them as the fact that Laura didn't smile.

"Laura is asleep," a voice said with Laura's mouth. It echoed in the confines of the cabin, and sounded for all the world like the clear musical ringing one heard at the end of a chord. "It took both our strength to repair the breach, and I fear it was a bit much for her."

McCoy set the Blackbird on autopilot, removed his harness, and levered himself out of the pilot's seat. "Then you are the Entity she bonded with?"

"That is correct, Dr. McCoy. Before I departed I wished to thank all of you for your efforts. I only regret we could not have arrived sooner, but all is now well."

"The breach is sealed?" Alleyne asked.

"For now. I must return to the stars to rest and regain my strength." The Entity-in-Laura smiled again as it took all of them in, an expression that was equally thoughtful and amused on its features. "Humans truly are a remarkable species. Your fear what you do not understand, yet are also driven to seek out the unknown like no other civilization I have encountered. Perhaps I may return again for a closer study someday. But for now, the stars are calling me home."

And with that, the entity emerged from Laura's body, filtering out through her pores like a blue mist and coalescing into a glowing blue ball much as it appeared when they first saw it. Almost immediately Laura's body — returned to her normal appearance — collapsed, and Julian rushed forward to catch her before she could fall to the deck.

"Farewell," the Entity said, and then shot through the cabin ceiling and vanished, leaving Laura asleep in his arms.

###

Laura slowly blinked her eyes open. Her head hurt, her throat was parched, and she felt a sharp stab of hunger in her belly. But she was alive, and as her mind slowly focused itself she found herself alone and in familiar surroundings, as if she were awakening from a long dream.

And she was alone; The Entity was gone, and her mind was hers again.

She sniffed to gain her bearings, and realized with a start that she was actually not, in fact, alone. Laura quickly sat up and clutched the covers to herself, and balled one fist, ready to extend her claws. She was in her own bed in her own room, stripped down to a fresh pair of underthings she did not remember putting on herself. As her disorientation passed and she shook off the last remnants of sleep she recognized the scent almost as soon as she saw him. Julian sat in a chair near her bed, his arms folded across his chest and his head lowered. He dozed with his legs kicked out in front of him, and for a moment she watched him and tried to puzzle out for herself what he might be doing there.

"Julian?" she finally said when no theory she could formulate answered the question to her satisfaction.

Julian jumped in his chair and his blue eyes blinked open. "Oh, you're awake," he said around a wide yawn as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"What happened? How did I get here? The last thing I remember ..." she trailed off at the memory of the abyss she stared into and shuddered.

"The whatever it was dropped you off on board the Blackbird with the rest of us before taking off again. Professor Xavier thought it would be best if you woke up in familiar surroundings so you wouldn't trash the Doc's lab again, so had you brought here. You've been out for the better part of two days."

Laura blinked as she considered the lost time; it certainly explained her dehydration and hunger pangs. She looked at him again, but his features wore a confusing blend of contradictory emotions she could not read. "Have you been there the whole time?"

"What? No!" he said, and his face colored in embarrassment. "Xavier wanted someone to keep an eye on you in case you woke up, and we drew shifts. It just happened to be my turn."

She clutched her blanket against herself, a part of her strangely disappointed by that answer. "Oh."

Julian grunted as he forced himself out of the chair. "I'll let them know you're up. I think Dr. McCoy wanted to give you one more exam before letting you out of bed."

Laura shuddered a bit at the thought of more examinations, but nodded. "Ok."

Julian started for the door, and Laura chewed on her lower lip as she watched him go. "Julian," she called when he reached for the doorknob, and that brought him up short. He sighed and turned back to her, and leaned wearily against the door.

"What?"

"Thank you for trusting me," she said, not entirely certain what it was she was feeling, or what words best fit, so she settled on gratitude.

"Look, don't, uh, don't read too much into it, ok?" he said. His posture and tone shifted and both were clearly uncomfortable. "That thing down in the subbasement? That was completely self-preservation after what you did to Ashida."

Laura sniffed, and much to her surprise found from his scent that he was lying.

"Ok," she said.

Julian hesitated and their eyes met for a moment, then he turned and hurried from the room, shutting the door behind him. Laura watched him go, baffled by the incongruity of his words and behavior.

###

"Has there been any further news on what happened Upstate?" Hank asked as he lounged in one of Charles' office chairs, while he worked at his terminal on the other side of the desk.

"So far, no," Charles said. "The authorities seem content to wave the entire matter off as a natural sinkhole."

Hank nodded, and folded his hands and leaned his furry chin on them. His biggest concern after the whole misadventure was drawing attention to themselves, but this was certainly a stroke of good fortune. "I do regret I didn't have time to question the Entity further," he admitted with a sigh. "Imagine, Charles, incontrovertible proof of the existence of other intelligent life in our universe."

Charles smiled. "Indeed, that would make for one of the great scientific discoveries of our lifetime. Especially given the difficulties finding it on our own planet." Hank chuckled along with the Professor at the old cynics' joke. "But, I suppose it's for the best. We as a species already struggle with those who are different among our own kind, I truly doubt society is ready to learn we aren't alone in the universe."

"Indeed. I find it doubtful, however, the men running those experiments even knew what they captured was a part of a life form," he said, and frowned. "I must admit to some concern that we don't know more about what that facility actually was. I can't imagine why an observatory would be conducting that sort of advanced technological research."

The Professor nodded. "I agree, and I'm already having Logan and his people investigate. All in all, though, I'd say that was not bad for a first mission."

Hank managed a small laugh. "Yes, I seem to recall ours was a good bit more of a near-disaster. Still, whether you're preventing a missile crisis or stopping the potential end of all life in the universe, I suppose saving a few lives could be considered a good day."

"Indeed." The Professor paused, and his expression turned distant. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. I do believe from Mr. Keller, who is about to knock on my door, that you have a patient to check in on."

###

Julian found her later that evening sitting on the steeply-peaked roof of the school. He stood in the opening of a maintenance door from the attic storerooms, normally used by whichever groundskeeper was unfortunate enough to draw the job of cleaning out the gutters or doing whatever other maintenance work was needed up there. He tried not to think about the ground below, and that should he slip and fall he likely would not be able to gather his power quickly enough to stop himself from leaving a messy divot in the lawn. Still, he took a deep breath, and unsteadily made his way out to where she perched almost at the very end of the roof while watching the skies to the east.

"Hey," he said when he reached her, taking extra care as he sat next to her so as not to slide off and into the empty space beyond. Laura never took her eyes off the sky overhead, but he knew she was aware of his presence the moment he stepped out there with her.

"Hello," she said. Her voice was quiet, and there was a strange look of wonder on her face as she gazed upwards into a clear night sky.

"Cess and Sooraya were wondering why you weren't at dinner tonight. What are you doing out here?"

"Looking at the stars." The way she said that, as if what she was doing were such a blindingly obvious and natural thing, made him feel a bit silly for asking.

Julian squinted as he followed her gaze. The skyglow of New York City behind them made picking out all but the brightest of the stars in the sky difficult for his eyes — Orion was only dimly visible low above the horizon, and even then not all of its stars could be seen — but he suspected Laura's keener vision could more readily peer through the pollution of millions of city lights. "Oh," he said.

"I was taught to navigate and triangulate my geographic location with the stars at need," she continued. "Aside from this function, for so long all I thought was that they were inconsequential balls of gas. Most are no longer even in the same place that we see them because of the delay in their light reaching earth, and due to interference from gravitational lensing. Many have also exploded or collapsed hundreds, if not thousands, of millennia ago, and we have yet to see this from our vantage point."

She hesitated for a moment, as if trying to put her thoughts in order. Julian might have given her a smart remark over the Sheldon Cooper analysis, but something about her expression now made him hesitate. "Until tonight I have never truly looked at them before." Laura's face twisted as she sought for the word to describe what she was seeing. "Looking at them now, they are... beautiful."

Julian nearly laughed aloud at hearing her say such a thing, so far was it from her typical mood or choice of vocabulary, but as he looked at her and saw the childlike amazement on her face, as if she truly were seeing them for the first time, he couldn't bring himself to actually do it.

"It is strange, to have known something for so long but to suddenly see it again anew," she continued, hesitating again for a moment as she considered her words. "Have you ever felt this way?"

Her question caught him by surprise, and for a moment Julian didn't have an answer. Laura just kept staring enthralled at the sky above, and Julian just watched her, her green eyes glittering under the moonlight, and her pale face framed by the black shadow of her hair.

Julian cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject to divert his line of thought from where it was headed. "What was it like," he said instead, "to have that presence in your head?"

Laura considered a moment, either not taking note of his failure to answer her own question, or perhaps she meant it rhetorically from the start. "I felt ..." she hesitated again as she struggled to find the right way to express herself. A strange expression crossed her features, and she heaved a small sigh. "I felt at peace."

He regarded her with a frown, the statement recalling to mind her words in the playground a couple weeks before, and the nightmares that led her at times into his room. "At peace?" he asked.

She just nodded slightly. "Yes."

Laura did not elaborate further, so Julian said nothing more, and instead just sat with her and gazed up at the stars.

---

A Note from the Author

This episode is one of several that I've been looking forward to getting to for some time. However it's also one of the diciest because it tip-toes around the incredibly thorny rights issues that exist between Marvel and Fox. Those familiar with the books will probably recognize that, yes, the Entity is indeed the Enigma Force. I always thought it was an interesting plot development to see Laura's connection with it in the books, and really wanted to work that into the series. The best solution I could come up with was to make allusions but never exactly say what the Entity is.

It's another one of those episodes where there's so much going on it ended up a bit longer than usual so I could fit it all in. The final battle was the most difficult part to decide how to approach, so I eventually settled on not showing what was happening, as I felt that would even further ratchet up the tension at the end. Obviously, this episode focused primarily on Laura, as we start seeing more new pieces to the puzzle of who or what she is. However it's also about Julian as well, and his continued development that began in the season premier. The ending of this episode is the first part I wrote. I just liked the idea of that moment between Laura and Julian sitting together on the roof. And besides, it's so much fun toying with the shippers.

Anyway, not too much more to really say about this one, so until next time!