Jonathan' eyes widened as the shadow creature raised its arm to strike. Reacting instinctively, Jonathan pushed Six back hard and braced for the impact that would surely come. Despite the shadowy figure of the striking creature, the force behind the attack was strong enough to lift Jonathan off his feet and then some, his body crashing into the metal walls of the lower levels with a sickening smack. His body rapidly became unresponsive, first his limbs, then his hearing, before finally his world faded to black.
Jonathan's eyes opened slowly, a ringing in his ears, to see the same creature, the exact same one with its snarling sneer and hollow, hell-fire eyes, but from a perspective he was not expecting. He scanned the metal ground quickly, his hazel eyes moving erratically in search of what he sought. And what he currently wished to find was in fact himself. The still form on the floor, twisted into what must have been an uncomfortable shape if he were awake to feel it, brought a sick feeling to his stomach. Upon staring down at his arms he discovered that they had taken on a somewhat transparent look. And his brain felt strange, as if he were floating. It was not something he wanted to get used to, but at the same time this brought such peace to his heart, made the stress of being a mutant and brother and friend and protector crumble away. In another time he probably would have stayed there, content to live out his life like this, worry-free and at peace. That felt too much like running away form his problems however, and that was one thing he wouldn't allow, not now. Now was the time for answers.
"Am I dead...?" Jonathan asked himself as he looked down at his body once more, but he was reassured the opposite. The rhythmic rising of his chest told him that he was in fact still alive. It must have been the knock to the head from his unpleasant collision with the wall. So he was... what? Unconscious? Asleep? Regardless, it seemed his powers had kicked in. Being the master of dreams has its perks.
Ignoring this projection, his dream form, Jonathan stared straight at the creature. Something was wrong. It wasn't moving as it should. In fact, nothing was. Not the shadow being, not Six, not even the slow breathing of himself - which Jonathan really should have noticed. Although, this form was new to him, this power not used very often. Every other time he had manipulated his dreams in the past during the night it had always been a strange dream world, not the real world. As interesting as it was that his final and strongest ability could manipulate his consciousness into a transparent projection of himself, like an astral projection through dreams, he really couldn't think on it now. As in a dream, the time flow was considerably slower, much different to how it should be. Again, however, this was not something to think of now, however fascinating it may be. This situation needed action.
Thinking quickly about the best course of action based on the apparent strengths and weaknesses of his opponent, Jonathan smiled and closed his hand concentrating, a burning sensation that left no pain beginning to pulsate on his skin - if you could really call it skin while like this. For a moment, as Jonathan looked up into the face of the creature, he faltered, the heat dissipating quicker than it had formed. Despite the fact that it was moving slower than it should while Jonathan was like this, and that his body was apparently invisible to everyone else, the creature was staring straight at him. Not Six, not his body, but his projection. It was... unnerving, but not enough to stop him. Concentrating once more, he brought back the burning to his hand, and steadily increased it. With more effort his time and the real world's time to synch up. He obviously didn't know it but the dream and reality manipulation power that he had tried to hide away for so long was a lot stronger than he thought.
"I may not be able to see into your mind," Jonathan began, a faint light beginning to glow between his fingers which only grew in size and intensity. "but I know what the shadows run from." In this form, Six (if she were using her powers) wouldn't be able to see him as he was only a projection of Jonathan's consciousness, unless he allowed her to of course, but she would most definitely see the light growing as it existed in the real world. He was affecting reality out of his dream from within his dream. It was bound to be noticeable.
"I know what you are weak to," he snarled at the coal black, shadowy behemoth, the light in his palm now a blinding white light, the sheer force of the energy already to cut through some of the shadows advancing on him.
"I know what you fear..."Every time he spoke the shadow seemed to respond in some way, as if he could really hear and see him.
'Let's see if you hear this...' He though opening his hand. While his hand was closed, the light had been covered slightly and wasn't as bad on the eyes, the energy wasn't as bad on the entire body, but now the light and heat in his palm was released with no restraints bar the protection of his palm for Six, limiting it somewhat.
"You fear the light." Jonathan threw his hand out palm first and closed his eyes, concentrating on casting the energy from his hand out and focussing it on the shadow. The added help of the reflective metal amplified his ability to a degree. When the full force of the light hit the shadow's body, it flinched and drew back, the shadows retreating with it, but it soon learned to adapt. The heat and light were visibly stinging and burning the shadowy figure but it fought against the current and began a slow walk towards Jonathan using turning its head so as to not see the light directly. At this rate, his power that had taken so long to charge and so much energy to use wouldn't last long than a minute at best. He had to do something...
Then an idea came to him. He would need to buy some more time, and get Six to safety as this could probably hurt her too, before he could use it but it might just dispel the creature long enough for them to escape safely to the upper levels where it wasn't as cramped and claustrophobic. Allowing himself to become
visible slightly [similar to this but with more light and looking like Jonathan] without affecting the strength of his light, that was doing very little against the shadow.
"Six, run! Just go! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just get out of here! Please! Pleas-" His focus on the conversation and maintaining his visible form faded mid-sentence, once again returning to his transparent projection as a torrent of pain crashed through his head bringing a blur to his vision. pushing away the pain he lifted his other hand and the light ignited on Jonathan's second palm growing as bright and hot as the first, the force of it making his hair and clothes whip about in the air even more than before. Jonathan drew his arms back and focussed the energy on one area before him while still hitting the creature, however, it was with far less. The shadow was advancing even quicker than before. He would need to be fast. When the shadow reached just two or three meters away from his projection, Jonathan stepped back and threw out his arms again sending a wave of light and power even stronger than before, ripping the shadow apart before him.
Slowly, the lights flickered back and the corridor returned to its original brightness. He knew he hadn't beaten it, not by a long shot, but at least it wasn't right beside them. They had at least a minute to get moving up the elevator. Jonathan's body, or at least his projection, had other ideas. The form slowly faded, along with his consciousness, back to the body on the floor where he would soon awake from.
Meanwhile, in the sewers of New York at the Morlock headquarters, Memory lurked in the shadows herself, but for a considerably different reason. She had no intention of fighting them. Currently, the shadows were her greatest ally. She had been able to stay within them and keep hidden with her power but she didn't know if this could last much longer. One of the greatest weaknesses to her "invisibility" power was that if someone knew they were looking for her, or looked hard enough for something specific about her presence, then her power would become next to useless. At this stage, while someone knows she is there, it is far harder to stay out of their memory than it is to without them ever seeing her there.
Taking a peek out of the shadow that was surrounding her and around the wall she had hidden behind, Memory gasped and pulled back. The new guy with Magneto, Cain, had turned in her direction. Whether he had seen, heard or sensed her, she didn't know. For all she knew he could very well be looking at someone else. David
had been in the middle of herself and Cain. Taking a silent breath to calm herself, and grimacing as her foot got drenched once again in a puddle thanks to her converse, she peeked around the edge again. Cain was thankfully looking away now and talking to the Morlocks, and apprantly who he had come for. She returned to behind the wall and pressed her to the slimy surface.
'Recruitment? That's it? Recruitment for the X-men?'While Memory wanted to believe this, as it was a seemingly perfect explanation, there was just something off about it. Something that was right. It was true, from what she had overheard at the mansion, that these two were fairly powerful and would make great additions to the X-men team. It also seemed fair to send a large group into dangerous territory (even though Memory herself had managed particularly well). but something was still wrong. Memory slid around the edge again and her eyebrows pulled together tight. It's true that they would need to send someone to recruit them.
'But why send them?'Oh all the people to send on this mission, they send the one's who are and have been criminals or, in Cain's case, just arrived. A number of them weren't even on the X-men team. Why not send Scott or Logan? Why send the ones who no one trusts and aren't fully on the team?
Before she could continue on this train of thought, a rough hand gripped her shoulder and swung her body around, the light weight Memory loved so much before now a burden more than a benefit. Moving quickly, before he signal the others, she swung her arm around his, twisting it to get it out of the way, and slammed her palm into his face. She brought her hand down on him again and watched as he dropped to the ground with a thud and a splash. Memory hoped they were far enough away that the others would not have heard the scuffles, his grunts of pain and the sound of him falling. However, she wasn't prepared to bet her life on it.
Concentrating on her power to stay hidden, which she had let drop before, Memory moved quickly out of the way and hid behind yet another wall, crouching in the corner as small as she could manage. So long as she kept quiet and didn't draw any unneeded attention to herself, then she would get out of here safely. Although, if Cain and the others had heard, one quick mental sweep would reveal her location. Would he do that though? Would he put her in danger? Memory couldn't tell. In fairness, she was spying on them. But it was a for reason. There was something wrong about them. there was something they weren't telling everyone else and she had to get to the bottom of it.
She just had to get out of this sticky situation first...
![visible slightly [similar to this but with more light and looking like Jonathan]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/0f5305f1926257dfc0a6566d33847553/tumblr_mk7136n8DW1rae9heo2_400.gif){kind=link}