Cara Black (Shadowdancer)'s Story

Ryan stood up, the world had finally stopped spinning. Quickly surveying the battlefield, Ryan noticed he was very over extended. Rushing back to the rest of the X-men, Ryan pushed as hard as he could. He'd had a good long rest and was ready to move and fight as hard as he could. Luckily for him, running on all fours was so much faster than on two legs, Ryan never understood why everyone else stuck to their bipedal running. Looking over his shoulder, Ryan was glad he'd decided to move. A large number of sentinels had descended upon the Mansion and Ryan wouldn't have wanted to be there when they did. Luckily for him, Magneto had decided he really didn't like the sentinels just landing wherever they pleased. In fact, it appeared he took exception to that and forcibly ejected them from the premises. It was terrifying, but Ryan became very aware of just how glad he was that Magneto was on his side. Remembering Vincent, Ryan called out with his thoughts. Professor Xavier, can you hear me? How're Vincent and the rest of them in the Danger Room doing? we left them with an advantage in numbers, but you can never be sure.

Unfortunately, Magneto had stopped dealing with the foot soldiers, which it turned out were just non-metallic robots. Nothing he could do really. Not if they were synthenoids. That, however, was just perfect for Ryan. Time to really let loose, now Ryan didn't have to worry about killing them, which he was very concerned about when fighting the human men. Ryan ran as fast as he could, still on all fours, joining Scott, Thantos, Kyle, and the others in dispatching the rest of the foot soldiers, Ryan pounced on the nearest synthenoid, knocking it to the ground and landing on top of it. Ryan raised his fist high in the air, claws snapping out and plunging his clawed hand into the depths of the machine, rummaging around until he felt something important and ripping it from the machine. The thing sparked in his hands and the robot stopped moving. Ryan crushed the component in his fist. He heard others grouping up behind him, preparing to get him in the back. Ryan lashed out with his right foot, kicking the robots as hard as he could, sending them flying, luckily he'd aimed away from the others. They landed a good distance away, right under where magneto had dropped a sentinel a few moments later. Leaping from his position on the ground to a new target, Ryan landed on two robots at once, slamming their heads together and smashing them completely. Ryan locked his hands together and raised them above his head, slamming them sideways into the chest of an oncoming soldier, knocking out his chest cavity completely which was hurled into another soldier and exploded. Whipping his entire body around, Ryan lashed out with his claws, turning himself, temporarily, into a bladed tornado quickly taking out another four approaching soldiers. Slightly winded, Ryan then jumped back and joined Scott, Thantos, and the others who were working on the foot soldiers under Magneto's directions. "Damn there's a lot of them. Plus, they don't go down as easy as the humans do. Guess we'll have to fight smarter, not harder. Any idea how to take down a big number of them all at once?" Ryan asked. "I'm only any good one on one, not when there's so many of them."

Thantos watched as Magneto destroyed and crushed the sentinels. 'Really glad that hes on our side' Thantos extinguished his pewter and reached his hand out iron pulling the coins he had thrown earlier back to his hand. Turning to face the incoming robotic solders he held up the handful of coins and smiled. ' If their not human then i don't have to feel bad about this.' Tossing the coins into the air Thantos flares steel and sends the coins flying into the approaching wave of synthenoids. A crunching sound can be heard as the coins force their way through the bodies of the synthenoids.

The coins reach the back of the wave of robots. 'Not down yet?' Thantos quickly flares iron pulling the coins back through the robots. The second wave of coins crippling and collapsing the robots as Thantos looks around for Ryan. Seeing him across the battlefield he pushes himself off of a fallen coin landing behind him. "You alright Ryan? You seam a little tired. I didn't throw you to hard did I?"

Cara’s eyes flickered slightly, the sounds of the battle were still raging around her but she felt somewhat distant from it all; her head was pounding and her ears ringing heavily. “W… Wha…” she groaned her senses still not quite back to what they should be. It took some time for her to realise that Stinger was trying to pick her up.

Slowly her surroundings began to become slightly clearer although still fogged over, if it wasn’t for Stinger’s brightly coloured hair she would have blended in with the now greying skies.

She made an attempt to speak. “St… Sting...” the words sounding weak in her throat. Perhaps she was more hurt then she had earlier thought. Eventually the fog began to lift and the resounding throb in her head brought her into reality the sharp pain in her shoulder quickly following.

She sat up quickly; slightly alarming Stinger who tried to keep her still but Cara just shrugged her off, pulling herself weakly to her feet. “No.” she managed, her voice croaking. She could see the battle still raging around them, Magneto was dealing with the sentinels the massive metal men crumbling beneath his power and the weapon x attackers seemed to be retreating. That was good news; Cara had no intention of becoming a puppet any time soon.

She turned over to look towards the mansion, Jonathan and Memory had retreated back towards Magneto evidently running into trouble with a sentinel, Ryan and Thantos appeared to be dealing with the remaining soldiers and it looked as though another two mutants had arrived, one being the Art teacher Vincent the other Cara didn’t recognise but it looked like the mad mutant Ace knew them, who could tell if that was good news or not.

As Cara took in her surroundings her other senses came back in full swing, the crunch of sentinels crushing together and falling to the ground deafening her, the taste and smell of blood and sweat filling her nose and mouth making her wince. The pain in her shoulder and head was intense and followed with an aching that hit to her very core.

She stumbled under the weight of her own senses for a moment looking as though she was about to crash down once more but managed to hold on, pulling herself into a proper footing, she drew the knife from her boot and began to look through the bodies.

There wasn’t many bodies remaining most of the losing soldiers having retreated at Trask’s orders, it seemed that Cara was the only one actually aiming to kill on the mutant side. ‘Pacifists!’ she grumbled to herself in her thick Russian accent. Eventually she found what she was looking for, a radio. She picked it from the corpse and checked to see if it was still working. There was a slight amount of crackling through the speaker but it was definitely still operational. It could be the lucky find they needed.

She turned to limp quickly back towards the students collecting the four of them together. “Are all of you ok?” She asked as she approached. “Why are you all out here? You should be inside where it’s safe!” she told them all hurriedly, checking the four of them over for injuries and ignoring her own.

“Are all of you ok?”

Jonathan and Memory turned quickly to the weak voice which had just managed to get the words out from behind them, the badly injured figure of their music teacher limping with great difficulty in their direction. Before either could react, she was speaking again.

“Why are you all out here? You should be inside where it’s safe!”

As Cara, or Shadowdancer (which Memory liked more than Cara's real name), began to check everyone over, inspecting their injuries and wounds while ignoring her own pains, Jonathan made an attempt to stop her and search observe her own. For the most part the siblings had received only minor cuts and bruises. Cara however looked like she had just been in a war, which was fairly appropriate in the current context. This is what had been brought upon them, a war, and Jonathan was going to make it to the bitter end with Cara in one piece if it killed him.

"The conditions inside aren't much better, ma'am." He spoke softly in his husky Texan voice trying desperately to have a look at her wounds while she continued to ignore them. His first aid skills were fairly basic but something was better than nothing.

"It was Vincent who told us to come outside. And..." He looked her up and down, grimacing slightly at the damage to her body. "...if you don't mind me saying, you seem to be in greater danger out here than ourselves." A tremor vibrated through the ground as yet another sentinel dropped with a clunk, the multicoloured body crushed into a crude ball shape, making Jonathan Memory have to stop for a moment and regain their balance. Reaching out his hand to help his teacher, Jonathan pulled back suddenly taking a full step and back and looked to the ground.

'I can't touch her skin... I can't help her without my gloves...'

Memory, realising her half-brother's dilemma, took the role herself. Her first aid skills were also quite basic but she knew all of the essentials. All she needed now was somewhere safe to look over their professor's wounds. With her honey-sweet voice and a reassuring smile on her face that few could usually resist, Memory spoke softly to the woman only four years older than herself.

"Our injuries are minor, unimportant. You've been through a lot more. We need to get you somewhere safe to take a look at your wounds." Glancing around, she tried to find some place to the take her. Seeing nothing, nowehere, she returned her chocolate eyes to the woman.

"Please let us help. You are in no fit state to fight."

Maxx paused her annoyance and nodded, impressed with Ace's dramatic entrance. However, annoyance returned quickly as she was addressed 'Sparky'.

"I guess you can say I was bringing you a gift. But it seems like you and your pals here have seen better days. You told me you worked at a school, not a war zone." Grey eyes scanned the wounded, the tired, the determined, and the defeated. Extending a lending hand to others was not a general habit of hers, but these were fellow mutants. Besides, who else would be bake off against, all of the other cafe's were too cookie cutter. "Just tell me what you need."

There was a woman, who Maxx guessed was one of authority with the tone of voice she spoke to some of the others. Her appearance was a little rough for wear, and there was nothing special Maxx could have done for her physically, but maybe she could offer her services another way.

"If you can get her inside, I can help to keep any straggling speds away from you, assuming you can patch her up." Maxx offered before turning to Ace and shrugging uncomfortably. Maxx was out of her element, and couldn't wait to sleep and then pull a gig, followed of course by a nice stiff margarita.

Sam was still shaken up after everything, nothing was the same to him anymore. The person he was about to fight was now his ally according to the Professor and his teacher Cara.

"There's seriously too much mind control going on here Charles." Sam staggered outside observing everything from fallen Sentinals, dead soilders, and wounded friends. Sam noticed all of the soilders that were falling, although he had only heard about it he could guess that it was Jonathan using his powers. Although it was weird up until now he never used them or maybe he wasn't around when he did, Sam probed the thoughts around his head before heading towards Jonathan and the people who surrounded them.

The only other person he could make out of the group was Cara. Phew she was ok, thats good. Sam thought as he reached them looking and analyzing each one of their faces for memory purposes.

"Hey you guys ok?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

Ace
She looked back at Maxx a bit surprised at her offer to help ‘today is just full of surprises’ with a smile tugging the corners of her lips “sure I could use some cover while we get them inside” she replied to Maxx. “Let’s go then shall-“Ace’s sentence was cut off as the sound of tires screeching to a halt just outside the mansion gates where Maxx had parked her car. She looked over in the direction of the car and spotted a taxi speeding away and realized that it was the art teacher Vincent. ‘So he’s back is he?’ she dismissed his arrival when he disappeared knowing he was much in combat really. Turning back to Maxx she once again said “let’s go Maxx”. And without waiting a for a reply Ace quickly walked towards Cara and them who was quickly joined by Sam.

(OCC: sorry all for the short and crappy post:p and to Create_Something for playing Maxx for a bit.

Aidan O’doherty

Aidan sat at home watching television. He had a long day at the hospital where he worked. There were several consultations with people that he could care a grain of salt about. The mutant human relations were getting much worse. Aidan cringed to see the Xavier mansion on television, being attacked. Nothing the news reporters on television sympathized with the school or students. Aidan wasn’t the most sympathetic person by a long shot but he definitely saw a problem with the lack of care about mutants being hunted down by the government. He had lived for a very long time, and had seen mutants punished and attacked throughout history. Times were becoming dangerous.

“It seems mankind is becoming a little too ignorant and brazen for my liking…” Aidan said as he watched the news footage from his couch. “I think history demands I strike some fear in the hearts of those ungrateful little gutter snipes. We mutants allow them to live here with us out of sheer grace and mercy, and this is the thanks we get? A dog that continues to bite his masters hand must be shot in the head.” Aidan decided that he would have to pay Charles Xavier another visit, much sooner than he had anticipated.

Vincent Xavier

As Sabertooth carried the sedated Vincent Xavier he chuckled. David looked a bit conflicted. The rendezvoused with the rest of the Weapon-X team that escaped and boarded a transport unit to head back to base. Sabertooth placed Vincent into a stasis pod so that he would remain sedated during transport. David looked puzzled at Victor. “What’s so funny Victor?” David said as he sat across from him.

Victor looked up at David after having been staring mostly toward the floor. “That guy really is somethin’ quite scary… Anyone that has me even a little frightened is a fucking person to be afraid of. He carried the look of a killer in his eyes the moment I started taunting him. He carries the fury of both his fathers and that ain’t nothin’ to trifle with.” Victor replied to David with a grin.

“Well it’s a good thing you know how to get under people’s skin otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to catch him off guard the way we did. He’s a pretty cool looking guy. I’d hop the fence for him.” David replied with a devilish smirk.

“You’re always hoppin’ the fence North.” Victor replied as he rolled his eyes. David most always played both sides of the field at his leisure. Victor only had to threaten David once that his piece of the field was off limits else Victor penetrate David’s gut with his claws. However, it was North that Victor spend the most personal time with oddly enough. The two could somehow trust each other, most likely because they were both highly efficient killing machines and could be more ruthless than most others.

“God I’m just not fully healing from that scuffle with him. That asshole almost shattered several bones while trying to damn near crush me.” Victor griped in annoyance.

“It’s a good thing he was still going easy on you. Knowing what the files said about his possible potential he should have been able to have brought down the entire danger room without much trouble. My guess is that he was trying to keep control and not fight Xavier’s locks on his powers. On another note, it seems Frenzy and Stinger turned coat on us. I’d figure that Wendy would do something fickle like that but Joanna surprised me.” David said in a thoughtful manner.

“I’m more surprised that you’re surprised North. I gotta say that those kids put up a pretty good fight. I almost crushed that Asian boy with the fireworks in my arms, just because I knew that it would really piss Logan off.” Victor reminisced.

David glanced up at Victor and then looked back down at the gun he fiddled with in his hands. “I liked that guy. He looks like me but chipper and less of a bastard than I. Also that Minerva girl… she was something else. Her brother looked like he could have gutted me good for even looking at her let alone holding her hand.” David was all smiles. “If either light bright or Memory girl asked me to join the X-men I probably would and retire.” David began to laugh at himself.

Victor cringed. “And that would be the day I actually would want to kill you. Jeez North you are crazy. But then again I don’t plan on sticking with Weapon-X and Trask too much longer anyway. I personally wanna kill him slowly. He lied to us to get us to join weapon-X in the first place. I guess I can’t blame Stinger and Frenzy for jumping ship.” Victor then smirked.

The transport unit arrived at the weapon X facility. With Stinger and Frenzy having joined the X-men and X-23 as a hostage, they were going to have to relocate seeing that their location was now compromised. Trask wasn’t worried in the slightest about X-23 telling the X-men anything, she’d rather die than to do that, also she never really spoke on a normal basis anyway so the X-men would likely not inspire her to start. The government was swift about their relocation techniques and within an hour the base was whisked away to another not too far off but just as secrete location.

Vincent had awoken, his eyes were heavy and the room was somewhat dark. He was strapped down to a metal table. The restraints placed on him were made with heavy adamantium metal including the locks. Vincent wondered where he was and what was happening. He looked to his left and right and noticed that he wasn’t as alone as he felt. He was surrounded by five petit sisters of blonde hair. They looked to be in a trance. They were concentrating, Vincent could feel it. They were telepaths no doubt about it. He tried to read their minds but they were strong. They were quintuplets and their powers were linked making them a formidable telepathic force.

Vincent struggled and asked, “Who are you? Where am I?” He shifted into his left and right as he asked anxiously.

The five young ladies, with eyes closed, replied in a trance like manner, “We are the Stepford Cockoos. Weapon-X desires your power be set free. Charles Xavier has locked your potential away. We undid the bindings that Kept the Phoenix locked inside of Jean Grey, setting her free. Charles Xavier has contain you in much the same way. We shall release you too. Where you are is not important. Who you are is.” The five ladies spoke in unison and never broke concentration.

Vincent was horrified at what was about to happen. He had already knew that he wielded a destructive power. He knew of the horrible trouble and chaos the Phoenix caused and hated a part of him-self for being like the Phoenix himself in a way. Vincent felt that he wasn’t meant to exist. He was someone’s weapon that tries to lead a normal life. Losing control, to him, reinforced the feelings of being a danger to others. Now these people were threatening to unleash what he hates most about him-self.

Trask walked into the room with his hands held military style/ at attention behind him. He stood over the table grinning at Vincent. The Cuckoos were silent and still concentrating. After a moment of staring Trask finally spoke. “My dear weapon, how nice it is to have you back! You don’t realize how long I’ve waited for you to be back in my grasp. The child of Magneto and Charles will finally realize his full potential! After Xavier tried to ruin my work of art by covering portions of it up! The fool!” Trask stood sinisterly over Vincent as if he personally was going to do the violating that was about to be done to Vincent’s life.

Vincent struggled and trying to get free. He first changed to metal form and tried to break through his restraints but Adamantium metal proved too much for him to overcome. He then tried to use his telekinesis to lift the restraints to free him-self. He was making progress until the Stepford Cuckoos hindered the use of his power. They were strong together, very strong. They suppressed his telekinetic powers. He then Vincent began to panic. He then shifted into metal form again, this way he could defend his mind from telepathic attacks. The Cuckoos were able catch Vincent before he could fully shift into metal form and suppressed that ability as well. Vincent struggled helplessly, he lay there turning red with fear and breathing heavily. His best chance was to try to defend him-self from their telepathic workings.

Trask added. “I won’t turn you into a mindless drone if you cooperate with me. You should be excited! This will turn you into the person you were created to be! You might experience some physical appearance changes but hey… you look good now you’ll probably look great after this so no worries, Agent V.” Trask said with a maniacal laugh. He ordered the Cuckoos to begin.

The women began to hum and they glowed. Vincent felt them prying open his mind and his X-gene. It felt like psionic hands smashing down the barriers that Xavier placed. Vincent fought hard to resist the physical changes he was feeling, he felt stronger with each seal broken and his cries for help were in vain. With his final seal broken from him he felt an alternate personality and presence in his body. It was strong and wanted to release its power. Vincent knew that to give into the desire and accept the power that was locked away, would change him forever. In a last ditch attempt to save himself from being taken over he used the sheer force of telepathy and will to divide the newly released portion of his X-gene away from the current portion of the X-gene he had always used, and expelled it from his body. That portion shot out from his body like a blue light and into a nearby embryo waiting to become a clone for Weapon X.

This was something that Trask had not accounted for. David and Victor looked on at the scene in amazement. They had never seen anything like this before. The machine that held the embryo that now held the other half of Vincent’s X-gene then exploded yet the embryo glowed and was protected. It floated in midair growing into a baby instantaneously. The growth and aging process didn’t stop until he was a grown man who looked much like Magneto, when Magneto was that age. The man opened his eyes he floated above the ground shattering most all of the glass around with his powers.

Trask was amazed. “Look at that!! His fighting our influence created a whole new being!! He’s magnificent!! My Agent V [OOC: Roman numeral 5] you’re my beautifully created mutant KILLING MACHINE!!! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..” Trask cackled loudly.

He lifted the metal the bound Vincent and set him free. “Set my brother free…” He said quietly. He began to destroy the lab sending metal flying everywhere. The Cuckoos tried to suppress him but the combined efforts of both he and Vincent subdued the women. The Stepford Cuckoos fled in fear of both mutants’ powers. They could not control Both Vincent and Agent V.

Trask ran for cover as both Vincent and the new mutant lay siege to the base. Trask tried to command David and Victor subdue the weapon. However David and Victor knew not to attempt to stop Vincent and Agent V. Victor grabbed Trask and positioned him so that he could snap Trasks neck. Trask struggled in Victor’s arms. The base was being ripped apart around them. “I ought to snap your pathetic little neck and rip your worthless skull off of your body right now, case I’ve been itchin’ to do it since I found out you lied to me. But I’m gonna let you go.” Victor released Trask. Trask was afraid breathing heavily.

David placed his magnum up to Trasks throat. “I suppose I should tell you why Victor and I won’t kill you for now at least. If we give you what you deserve now, then the dick that follows in your horrid footsteps, which there surely will be one, will be twice as annoying. So you be sure to keep a low profile okay. Else we might welcome the opportunity to waste another asshole for the sport of it. Now piss off you mutant hating son of a bitch.” David put his gun away and the two watched as Trask hightailed it out of the base.

Agent V turned to Victor and David. “You too are mutants, and if my brother, Vincent’s, memory serves me correctly, you are the two mutants responsible for attacking our father’s school and home, kidnapping Vincent. You have wronged your own kind, however I will give you another chance to reform and make peace with your mutant brethren. Come with us or be punished.” Agent V lowered him-self to the ground after having levitated above the ground. He stood naked before the others and not much concerned about it. Vincent felt comfortable with Agent V. He was a part of him but at the same time they were separate entities.

David and Victor looked at each other and then turned to Agent V once more before David replied, “We’re in so we’ll follow you. We’re done here.” Victor nodded in agreement. They were smart and knew when to take down. David thought, “It looks like we’ll be with the X-men for a while…”

Victor added, “First let’s get you some clothes. And second, if you wanna start a gang of mutants or at least rescue some, there’s someone locked away here called Agent six. We should spring her and bring her too.” Victor found a scientist hiding in fear and killed him on the spot by snapping the man’s neck.

Vincent snapped angrily, “MUST YOU DO THAT? Why did you kill him? He was just trying to survive!”

Victor replied, “Well VINCENT, your new brother needed clothes, even if they are crappy middle aged clothes. And, he’s trying to survive, just like us! You didn’t see him going out of his way for us or you whe you were trying to survive did you? Us mutants are tired of TRYING to survive, we WILL and ARE surviving, and if offing the rest of those worthless people is our ticket to survival then I say fucking be it!” Victor spoke harshly but honestly.

Vincent couldn’t respond. Agent V stared taking note of Victors words. They struck a chord with him. People like Trask needed to be punished. They were infectious. Mold that spread from one apple to the next. Agent V continued to ponder, “If humans were the beloved people that the world said could do no wrong, by the Bible’s standards they are Able. The mutants were and are the underdog, thus we are Cain. From this point further I am to be called Cain. The humans, no, Able gave me the name Agent V. It represents my stance of never being society’s stepping stool again.” Cain spoke with conviction. David and Victor smiled, they liked what they were hearing. Vincent could understand Cain’s feelings because he was linked with Cain in many ways, but he didn’t agree with the, at least not anymore.

After Cain got dressed in the dead scientist’s clothes, the group followed David to the chmbers that held Agent Six. Cain using the power of magnetism easily removed the heavy metal door. Revealing Agent six inside the small room alone. “Hello my friend. I’m Cain. We’re here to set you free.”

Outside the mansion

Stinger had stuck with Cara while she stubbornly checked out the wounds of the others. “I’m fine and so are they. Gee Cara, you have become SUCH the good teacher~!” Wendy teased.

Charles had heard Hideki’s thoughts. “Professor!! Vincent has been Kidnapped!!! They took him!! We tried to stop them but we just couldn’t I’m sooo sorry!!” Hideki’s thoughts rang loud and clear in the professors’ mind.

Charles turned to Erik and Pietro. “Vincent has been kidnapped… our fears have come to pass… Our son… Erik!” Charles was actually beginning to panic. Erik had no words but cried out loudly, most metal objects nearby trembled and or were crushed under the pressure of his anguish. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! They took MY boy!” Erik yelled.

Pietro gave Magneto a hug. “We’ll get him back father. Don’t you worry okay. I’ll just zip back to their base and scope the place out. I’ll be back in like ten minutes.” Pietro zoomed off before another word could be said. But unfortunately the Weapon-X group had already moved base. Pietro returned and reported the news. Everyone’s disposition seemed to fall drastically. The X-men were about to enter a time of much confusion.

Black Jack

Being inside was like operating a computer. He could refine his search, calling upon memories that only included a specific person, place, or time. Or if he preferred he could watch the whole story from the earliest memory they have until now, but that would take a while. He was only interested in her dealings with Trask, specifically over the last few months, from the last time he saw her before she infiltrated, until now.

While he sorted, and called forth specific memories for information, he could feel the cracks in the shield he had erected around her brain, preventing anyone that he didn't want from poking around. He made a note to self, to repair the cracks after he got what he needed.

He grabbed what information he wanted from the memories he shifted through, slipping far enough out to let them, the memories, slip back to where they belonged. Travis then went on to the repairs. It wasn't like when he sorted through memories like a computer. Erecting boundaries and barriers was like encasing a piece of the person inside a dark tomb. Each tomb contained an image of the person, with a part of them locked inside. The human brain was a fragile thing, and too much erasure, implantation, meddling could permanently damage it.

Travis let his hand fall from Adria's eyes once the repairs were done, taking a deep breath. He didn't use up too much power, since he didn't implant any memories or erase anything, but to still sift through all of it was exhausting in it self. Adria's mind was now secure for the next little while, but her body would have to heal on it's own.

He rested Adria back down onto the bed, and brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face. It wouldn't be long now before she woke up. "See you again soon." Travis said, teleporting out of the Infirmary, and off the campus grounds.

Adria

Adria slowly slipped back into consciousness, her eyes blinking repeatedly to adjust to the lights and be rid of the glossyness. She tried to remember what happened last, and she shot up, looking to the doorway. "Who...?" The sudden jolt up caused her face to contort in discomfort from the pain in her side. It was obvious that she was alone now, but before she had blacked out the second time, she recalled a tall man, dressed like he was someone important. Not knowing who he was or what he possibly had done to her while she slept was an unnerving feeling.

The silence is what got Adria up and out of the bed. How long had she been out? Was the mission successful? She didn't know. It defiantly brought more questions that answers, and she thought about it as she made her way from the infirmary, sliding her hand along the wall to help her along as she walked. Once at the elevator, the doors opened, Adria stepping inside. The doors closed behind her, and she rested her back up against them as it went upwards.

It wasn't like her to keep obsessing over what has happened in the past, but she couldn't help but think if it was the right thing to do in helping Trask get the weapon. Had she known it was Vincent all along, would she have still gone through with it? No. Regardless of who it was it didn't change what needed to be done. Get the weapon back to Trask. I didn't do anything wrong. Just what I was ordered to do.. she thought to herself, repeating it in her mind. You can't change what has already been done, but the feelings she had just as the attack began were back, and they were bringing doubts with them. Adria shook her head, shaking away the doubts.

Adria had forgotten she was in the elevator, so lost in her thoughts that when the doors opened, she stumbled back at the sudden loss of a leaning post, catching herself on the frame. It was quiet on the surface, and Adria knew the attack was over. Glass crunched under her feet like snow from the blown out windows. There was a hole in the wall, and she stepped through it. A short cut to everyone outside. As she got closer, Xavier's voice rang loud and clear.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass.."

Mission completed.

Mia

Mia had been on vacation for the past two weeks, much to the insistence of Charles. She hadn't taken a day off in a few years, and Charles had given her an ultimatum. Go willingly, or I'll force you to go. So Mia decided the first option sounded better. While she was away, she was worried about how her restaurant was fairing, and everyone at the institute. She hadn't been away from them for any longer than a day at most, and it caused her to fidget in her seat as the plane touched down. She was excited to be home, and highly excited to see everyone.

The plane came to a complete stop, and not long after, the passengers began filing out. Unbuckling herself from her seat, she grabbed her carry on from the overhead compartment, slinging it over her shoulder.

The baggage area was packed, and Mia was tiny enough at 5'3'' that she could push her way through to the front. The baggage was starting to appear on the belt, and she hoped that the bag with the souviniers had held. There was a few fragile pieces that she had, and she did wrapped them in bubble wrap just in case. But even still it could break. Other passengers had began grabbing their luggage, the area thinning out. She had caught a glimpse of her pokadot suitcases, getting more excited as the minutes passed. She was that much closer to home.

The suitcases were heavy when she lifted them off the belt, extending the handle to drag them behind her on the wheels. One for each hand. Maneuvering through the crowd, she made it outside, the traffic stopping long enough to allow her to pass to the parking garage. Her purple Honda civic stood out against the other cars, giving the trunk a nice pat before opening it up and placing her suitcases inside. Jude had bought her the car the day before their anniversary, and had given it to her that night, a day early. She had wondered if he had waited till that night, if he would still be here, and had they taken the car instead of walking. She shook her head of the thoughts. She couldn't change the past. What was done was done, and all she could do was move forward.

She lid into the drivers seat, pushing the brake and clutch down as she put the key in the ignition and turned it, hearing the roar of the engine come to life. Taking the e-brake off, she placed it into reverse, slipping out of her stall. Shifting the car into gear, she left the parkade, wondering what everyone was doing during the drive home.

It was quite a sight when she drove up to where the gates should have been. Instead, they were torn off their hinges, laying on the grass all bent out of shape. "What-What happened here?" She muttered to herself, the car not going more than 10KM. Her mind began to race with scenarios of what transpired, which only got her more worried. Charles, Magneto, and-was that Pietro as well-all stood around to the left. Bringing her car to a stop, she got out, making her way over to the group, the bit of her stomach in knots with a terrible feeling. Charles and Magneto were in great distress. She could tell by the flashes of anger on Erik's face, while Charles held it in. Something had to have happened to Vincent, she concluded. Only Vincent could get such a response out of the both of them. She didn't verbally say anything. Instead, Mia wrapped her arms around Charles from behind in a hope to comfort him in some way, resting her cheek at the top of his head.

After fighting through wave after wave of soldier Ryan and Thantos stand amid the bodies of the broken soldiers panting and searching for the next threat. Between breaths Thantos pants out, "Well Ryan we did it. We stopped them. No more soldiers." He turns to his buddy and smiles holding his hand out.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass.."

Thantos's face dropped. He was stunned. After all of that they had failed. He had failed to protect his family. His friends were hurt and missing. He began to breath faster hyperventilating. 'It's going to happen again. I'm going to be alone. They won't stop until my entire family is dead and I'm alone again.' These thoughts continued to play over and over in his head getting worse and worse each time.

"R-Ryan this can't be right... There's no way we lost. Right Ryan?"

"No, I'll be fine. I’ve had much worse." Cara insisted again, leaning herself up against the wall of the mansion to support herself. "What do you mean inside? Did the soldiers sneak past us?" she didn't need an answer it made sense to her as soon as it left her lips. With the majority of the battle-trained mutants outside there wasn't much in Project X's way to Vincent.

“Vincent has been kidnapped…"

Cara felt the air in her lungs freeze as the message came. That’s what the attack was for, that’s why the soldiers didn’t force them back, although it wasn’t for not trying generally the soldiers would have put up a much better fight then they had today. They didn’t want to get inside the mansion; it was just a distraction.

"Our fears have come to pass…"

Although Cara was never a greatly emotional person she couldn’t deny the feeling of dread inside her, she may not have shared the visions of Vincent’s family but she could not deny he was a friend.

Sliding herself down the wall she was leant on Cara stared up into the smoke filled sky, the pain she was experiencing slightly dampened by shock. She looked out across the mansion’s grounds; the once bright and vibrant gardens were now covered in the bodies of black clad soldiers, guns scattered around them, the massive gates that once adorned the driveway to the mansion were now broken, bent and half buried in the flowerbeds and the sentinels that had caused the most damage now lay in burning ruins, only huge metal husks remaining of the great mutant-killers.

Eventually her eyes slowly drifted back to the blackened skies and there they remained for some few minutes as Cara just sat and listened to the sounds around her until Pietro returned. Then as the echo of Magneto’s cry was still ringing in her ears she finally pulled herself to her feet and limped over to hear the news.

"Well Ryan we did it. We stopped them. No more soldiers." Thantos said, smiling. He held out his hand for Ryan to bump fists with. Ryan did so, with gusto. He heard Thantos's knuckles crack, they weren't broken, but his hand should have hurt a little. Ryan smiled. "That's for almost killing me with that Sentinel." Ryan joked. "I swear, I actually thought I was gonna die there! If my bones were any less dense, my skin any less scaled, my healing any slower, I would have died. I was scared!" He laughed. Then he heard it. Professor Xavier's plaintive voice.

"Vincent has been kidnapped... out fears have come to pass..." He said. The sadness evident in every syllable. The world froze around Ryan. Everything stopped, everything was quiet. Ryan almost didn't even hear Thantos say, "R-Ryan this can't be right... There's no way we lost. Right Ryan?" Ryan tried to speak, but nothing came out. His mouth moved wordlessly, his brain hopelessly, desperately trying to grasp the fact that Vincent was gone. It was a joke. A sick prank. "Stop it you guys." Ryan said, chuckling, mostly out of nervousness. "You're kidding right? Vincent is really in the bushes over there or something and we're all gonna laugh about it before we go back inside and start repairing the damage from the attack. Right? Right?" Ryan asked, hoping someone, anyone would tell him he guessed it, that it was all a clever ruse, that Vincent would crawl out of a bush and they would all laugh. There was no such response. Ryan was greeted with only sad nods and tears. Ryan felt his heart shatter, next was the dull thud of his knees hitting the ground. He heard Magneto's pained cry and matched it with his own sobs. Tears flooded down his face, there was no holding them back. Ryan cried like a child. He cried so hard he had trouble breathing. He cried so hard, his whole body shook with the force of his sobs. Vincent wasn't just a friend. He was a brother, a mentor, he was everything Ryan could have wished for in a fellow mutant. Ryan just kept crying and crying. He felt Thantos's hand on his shoulder but it did nothing to console him. He just kept crying. Eventually he ran out of tears and just sat there, on his knees, sobbing silently.

Charles Felt caught up in feelings of despair and sorry. He let his son down. He let his students and family down. The faces of each one of them flashed in his overwhelmed mind. He placed his face in his hands and wept. He then felt the gentle embrace of one that he could only be Mia. She was one of a sweet heart and she knew how to make one feel better, she didn’t have to say a word. Charles began to feel centered once again. He placed his hand over Mia’s and said, “Thank you Mia. I needed that.”, softly to her.

Fuyumi felt horrible. She thought back to earlier in the day when Vincent, Vila, and her were formulating their plan of action. They were to protect the students. But once they found out that the students weren’t the actual target she should have switched modes. She wished she had not have allowed the steady flow of things to sweep her into quick brash decisions. She racked her brain for ways to help make this right. Then it hit her, Cerebro. Fuyumi sprinted over to the professor who was crouched on the ground next to Mia, Erik and Pietro who all stood. “Professor you must use Cerebro! I’m sure you’ll get a location on where Vincent is if you search for him that way.” Fuyumi sounded flustered. She was usually very calm in disposition but today’s events proved to be a bit much for even her.

Charles looked up with a sense of hope. He was so grief stricken that he had forgotten all about Cerebro. Charles replied, “Yes… Fuyumi you’re right! I must go to Cerebro immediately. Erik will you see to the students? I also received another communication from Hideki in the danger room just now. It seems they managed to subdue a rather dangerous mutant who’s abilities seem to mirror Logan’s. I can trust only you to safely handle someone of that caliber Erik.” Charles said swiftly.

Erik stopped him before he could continue. “Charles, it’s alright. I’ll handle things here. Please find our son, I know you will. We need your calm disposition more than ever right now. Vincent will be fine and you will find him. Don’t you worry.” Erik gave Charles a gentle smile and helped him to his feet. Charles nodded in response and headed off to the danger room swiftly.

Erik then levitated off of the ground high enough for all to see him. He then spoke calm and authoritatively to the group outside the mansion. “Listen well everyone. I know today’s incident was indeed difficult. Today we were attacked by people who are afraid, afraid of you for your strength, afraid of you for what you have been blessed with. Fear stems from misunderstanding. They don’t understand us and thus out of fear they tried to harm and destroy us. But we mustn’t harden our hearts and close our minds off to the mission we all believe in. Vincent, my son…, has been taken from us. However, we WILL find him. We won’t let Weapon-X claim a member of our family, as X-men, and as a Mutant family! Charles is using Cerebro to locate Vincent now. The best thing for us to do is to be strong, be proud, and carry onward believing that our future will be better than our pasts! You all have made me very proud today. Charles is proud of you. You stood up for each other and fought hard not to kill even though they tried to kill us. I know how hard it is to come from a place of killing humans without a thought, to protecting those very humans that would rather see me dead. It’s difficult to love someone who hates you. But love suffers long for its cause and so shall we until our desired end is met, harmony. Rest now, tend to your wounds, continue to support one another. Know that all is well.” With that, Erik lowered himself down to the ground and headed into the mansion.

Fuyumi felt relieved after Erik’s speech. He was so charismatic and a natural leader. Fuyumi noticed some of the other’s dispositions improving slightly. However one person’s disposition showed they needed a little tending to. Fuyumi calmly walked over to Ryan and sat down beside him. She placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Ryan, don’t you worry. You were so brave today. I’m sure Adria will greatly appreciate saving her. Vincent looked proud to see you all work so well together in the middle of danger. You did what was best for the team and I know for sure he’d be proud of that. I believe that for myself as well. I wish I could have stayed by his side, but there were others that needed me too. I believe he’ll return to us, in one piece.” Fuyumi then gave Ryan a gentle hug. She liked Ryan for his gentleness and strong spirit. He took things so seriously and tried his best. She was very much the same way when she was younger.
Kyle stood next to Scott who looked as upset about today’s event’s as he did. He noticed Scott’s face cringe when he heard that Vincent was taken. Scott was definitely silently dealing with a great deal of anger and disappointment. Kyle looked on as Jonathan tried to console Memory, who seemed to be breaking down. Jonathan was most likely hurting heavily as well, but he needed to be strong for Memory and he was doing a very good job. Kyle wondered how his best friend was doing. Hideki was there when Vincent was captured. Kyle was sure Hideki wasn’t in the best head space. Kyle wasn’t in the best head space. He felt kind of useless. He wished he had been more helpful than he was. He wasn’t exactly sure of what would happen to Vincent but he prayed silently to on the spot that Vincent would be okay.

Kyle didn’t cry or look angry. He simply stood silently next to Scott and watched everyone else. He did however look disappointed. Kyle was a very interesting individual. He was very personable and quite the people person. However he had a very existent lonely side to him. He developed that way of being during the time when he couldn’t control his absorption abilities thus he couldn’t touch anyone. This problem had persisted for nearly two and a half years before he was able to be helped. He was used to being the charming guy you could see but never really get close to. Even now that people could get close to him, it was hard for him to take down those inner barriers that he placed up long ago. Vincent was a good friend to Kyle. Kyle could only imagine how hard Philip was taking the situation. Kyle thought to himself, “Whe the professor locates Vincent, I’ll fly as far as I need to so that I can meet up with him and make sure he gets home safely. I promise.”

Hideki plopped down on the floor of the danger room. He was tired and upset. He was relieved that X-23 had finally been subdued but Vincent was gone. He felt terrible having to tell the Professor that he failed to help his son. As much as Hideki beat himself up on the inside he tried to keep a slightly upbeat disposition on the outside. He never liked to look down and sad if he could help it. “Today was not a very good day…” He commented.

Philip looked on at the pile of rock and vines X-23 was constricted in. He stood looking on as if he were in a trance. His breathing was broken and winded. His eyes began to tear at the thought of his lover being snatched away from him and he couldn’t protect him. He began to weep heavily and didn’t wipe away a single tear. “Why… why… wasn’t I strong enough? I couldn’t save him… what kind of boyfriend am I?” Philip criticized himself.

Logan walked over to Philip and placed a hand on Philip’s shoulder. “Look kid, the guys we were facing were nothing easy to overcome. They aren’t just strong but as tricky as they come. There was no way we could have planned for this. You did what you could. This doesn’t mean you can’t protect who you love or that he ain’t comin’ back. We’ll get him and we’ll make Trask pay big time for this I swear.” Logan knew that Trask was to blame for all of this. It fit his M.O. perfectly. Philip seemed to take well to Logan’s encouragement and slowed in his weeping. Logan then turned to Vila, “Thanks Vila. You did an excellent job at keeping little miss assassin under wraps.” Vila didn’t say anything, but nodded as she left out of the danger room. Logan knew that Vila was taking this as hard as Charles, Erik, and Philip did.

Erik shortly afterward entered the danger room. His face was stern looking. He walked over to Hideki and helped him to his feet. “Thank you, all of you for helping my son as best you could. I do not take that lightly.” Erik the turned to Philip. “Philip my boy, I know… I know… but continue to be strong enough to believe that Vincent will be fine. Charles is looking for him right now with Cerebro. A mutant of Vincent’s strength will not be hard to spot with Cerebro.”

Erik then looked at the pile of stone and vines that held X-23 captive. He scowled at the pile angrily. With a wave of the hand he brushed the heavy stones aside using his power and levitated X-23 in the air. She was just like Logan indeed, with an Adamantium coated skeleton. X-23 was stuck in one position, as if she were standing at attention with floating in the air. “When will Trask learn that coating things in such an alloy is simply a heavy handicap? I’ll bring her to the holding cell myself. You all should tend to your wounds and get rest as best you can. Things from this point forward will not be easy.” With that Erik turned and walked out of the danger room taking X-23 with him.

He brought her to the confinement cell that was actually tested to be able to hold a mutant even as strong as Logan and stronger. He hurled the assassin into the cell using his power. He had very little remorse for the deadly mutant. Erik knew a stone cold killer when he saw one. He grew up suppressed and threatened by them every day in his youth. He said only one thing to X-23 before leaving her in the containment area alone and secure. “You, young one, are very fortunate that I am a changed man. Charles’ rubbing off on me has saved your miserable life more than you know… the old me would have ripped your bones apart and beat the remains with them but I have learned to suppress such uncontrolled and vicious urges. Do know that I can smell your bones miles away. So if you did manage to escape, you won’t be getting far before you feel your head begin to snap from your body. Just a bit of encouragement for you to be a good girl and behave.” Erik’s tone was composed but very serious. He meant every word and could more than back it all up.

Erik left the holding area and met with Charles. The room that contained Cerebro was enormous. The large spherical room had one extended platform from the room’s entrance. At the end of the platform sat Charles at the station that carried the helmet that the user would use to operate the machine. Only telepaths could operate Cerebro and not just any telepath could effectively use it the way Charles or Vincent could. It amplifies the telepathic strengths of the user. Erik slowly approached Charles. “How’s the search. Have you found him?” Erik asked, sounding like a worried parent whose child hasn’t returned home after curfew.

Charles was about to reply that he had not yet located Vincent but he, just then, picked up on Vincent. “I’ve just located him Erik!! He was miles away in an underground base. He and several others have escaped it seems and the base has been destroyed. But something puzzles me and concerns me. It appears that I am sensing double signatures on Vincent’s X-gene. There is another present with him that shares Vincent’s reading. This is much different than clones like the young lady in captivity right now. She has a different signature than Logan. But it is as if there is two of our son.” Charles explained. He had communicated with Vincent and instructed him that he would be sending Scott in the blackbird to go pick him and his companions up soon. They would be back at the mansion in a couple of days.

Charles then proceeded to inform everyone else telepathically that Vincent was alright. “Everyone there is good news. I have located Vincent and he is alright it seems. I will have Scott and Logan fly to his location to pick him and his companions up. Rest easy and thank you all for your bravery and strength today. To all of our guests please make yourselves at home. I will have repairs initiated as soon as possible. I will aim to keep you all posted on the status of things.” With that Charles ended his telepathic communication with the others.

The next day had arrived and things were busy at the mansion. Repairs were underway and everyone was given the day off from all meetings and classes. They were encouraged to take it easy. Scott, Logan, and Philip set out to pick up Vincent. The trip would take a little while. They weren’t aware that David, Sabertooth, Agent Six, as well as Cain were the extra people that would be accompanying them back to the mansion. They were in for a deadly reunion…

Cara Black


“You have to stay in bed Cara, elsewise your head could get worse and your arm certainly won’t heal!” The nurse berated at Cara, it was the third time she had attempted to get up and evidently the nurse was losing her patience.

“I’m fine though! My arm will heal, even if I don’t stay here and what’s the worst that could happen with all the repairs going on, I’m not likely to fall without anyone around me.” Cara answered back, almost pleading. If nothing else so she could at least go for a cigarette.

“It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to head trauma.” Once she was satisfied that Cara was back in bed the nurse turned to leave. “Now please don’t try to run away again.” She added before walking back to her duties.

Cara rolled her eyes, waiting until she was sure the nurse couldn’t see her anymore before pulling herself into her shadow and off the side of the bed to where her clothes were neatly folded up. Pulling her t-shirt carefully over her head so as to avoid knocking her tender wound, she picked up her boots and coat, ducking her head around the corner to check that the nurse hadn’t been alerted to her movements. Tip-toeing towards the door, Cara pulled herself into a shadow to make the last stretch to the door.

She walked aimlessly through the mansion, eventually deciding she was far enough away that the nurse would never find her she sparked up one of her cigarettes giving a sigh of relief as she did so, it was amazing the kind of serenity a cigarette can bring.

She leaned up against one of the nearby walls relishing in the feeling of her first cigarette in several hours, when she thought she heard something like tears. Listening carefully she followed the sound that was just at the edge of hearing, as she grew nearer to the noise she could tell that it was a pillow cry, the kind of sound only makeable when someone buries their head in their pillow and just cries out the hurt.

She followed the sound back to the room of its origin, looking up and down the corridor to get her bearings she eventually worked out whose it was. She knocked, “Memory? Are you ok?”





Mutt Ant

Mutt was sat outside his van, relaxing with a cold beer after a long day of updating his website. He sat back and looked into the dark night sky his radio playing quietly away to itself as he flicked through his anorak of mutants all in all it was turning into a good evening.

He looked up from his anorak to take a sip from his beer, taking a subconscious gaze at the radio only now really listening to it.

“It has been confirmed that there was an attack on the Xavier instate today and it is believed to be of anti-mutant terrorist groups, though none have come forward. In other news…”

Mutt spat his beer across the slow burning fire in front of him almost extinguishing it. “Oh shit!” He quickly collected his things together, pouring the almost full bottle of beer on the fire to extinguish it and quickly climbing back into his van, heading off as fast as he could though with the distance between them he wouldn’t arrive until the next day.

He’d seen a lot of anti-mutant fighting in his life but very few on the scale of the attack at the mansion, he surveyed the damage from his van as he approached the opening in the wall where the gates had once stood.

Since he’d had interaction with the Xavier institute before he had known the grounds well as well as the mutants who lived there and had little trouble navigating his way to a clear spot to park. Once his heavily modified and pro-mutant stickered van was parked up he ran out hurriedly. “Fuyumi! Is everyone ok?!”

Ryan was bloody fast.

Jonathan figured he would be quick, a lot faster than him, but not that fast! Jonathan could easily sprint 100 meters in around eleven seconds, a record that he was damn proud of and hoped that maybe his new friend could only run a little faster than him but the scaled boy - who was in fact eight years younger than the cursed twenty-four year old and did count as just a boy - had abolished him. Then again, he had four legs to use while Jonathan had only two. And he had a tail.

J still wished he had a tail...

Upon reaching Ryan's current location, at this point hanging upside down from said tail in a tree, Jonathan curled forwards and pressed his hands to his knees drawing in as much air as his lungs could manage. He wasn't usually like this. Out of breath? Maybe. But not utterly breathless and exhausted. The day before must have taken a greater toll than he expected. He opened his mouth to speak but his voice and breath failed him. Lifting one hand he signalled for the boy to give him a minute longer.

When he had recovered enough, Jonathan faced the horned teen and considered the tree for a moment. Glancing from branch to branch, calculating each one and whether they would hold his weight, he took a short run at the trunk. One booted foot hit and pushed up, the other following and doing the same. He managed one more unsteady step up the tree truck then reached as high as he could, his long fingers gripping the nearest branch hard. Calling on whatever strength he had left Jonathan pulled himself up, walking up the tree as much as possible for extra support, and scrambled onto the branch.

He stared down at the floor with a grin, a real grin. Not a fake one like he had been using all day, and for most days, but a true beaming grin, the beam of which bright enough to blind like the sun. Then again, his ex did always say he had a smile that could light up a room when he chose to show it. Sidestepping that painful thought of his ex, Tanya, he returned his hazel eyes to Ryan's own almost cat eyes.

"Still got it! I used to free run as a kid, but I haven't don e it in years. Guess you never really forget it, huh?"

He bit his lip as an idea came to him, the temptation to follow it through almost becoming too much for him. If he just focussed for a moment he could recall the hope he felt earlier from Ryan and figure out exactly what it meant, even though he had a theory for some of it, and if maybe he could help. However, he managed to refrain. His number one rule at all times was never enter a mind without permission unless completely necessary or unintentional (which he had to add after feeling the hope without trying just moments ago).

Suddenly realising that he was still staring into Ryan's eyes while biting his lip, Jonathan's own eyes grew wide and he looked away, the almost unnoticeable pink blush showing faintly through his sun kissed skin at the top of his cheeks.
'Oh god, please say he didn't get the wrong idea...'

Shaking his head, he pushed himself up slightly into the tree, taking it branch by branch by branch so quickly that his mind could barely keep up, out of embarrassment.He had almost decided not to ever stop when he heard the gut-wrenching sound of the branch cracking. The one below him also snapped and dropped through the air to the ground and he dangled above Ryan and the grass floor so far below with fear in his heart and coursing through his body, clinging on to a branch that had half broken away form the tree. It broke away further and his body drooped further.

"Oh, this would happen to me today!"

These were his last words before the branch completely came away and his flailing body flew through the air. Within seconds his back struck the ground and the wind was knocked form him. his vision blurred form the force of the... could you really call it a landing? Crash landing maybe... Regardless, he was in a lot of pain.

"Well... I guess I don't... still got it."

>>>>>>>><Meanwhile, Memory's bedroom><<<<<<<<

A gentle knock at the door made Memory pull her head form the pillow that now had more tears than stuffing in it after her late night tear session gripping her mother's photograph and this mornings continued cryathon. Only a second later Cara's thick Russian accent, slightly muffled by the door, asked through politely with some concern.

“Memory? Are you ok?”

Her gentle gasp was barely audible to herself, let alone any several feet away separated from the noise by a wooden door. Puling herself up quickly, with panic and terror rising, she practically slapped away the tears that had almost stained her face and leapt to her feet. Standing in the middle of the room like an idiot she looked around quickly for some way to hide that she had been crying.

"Y-yeah, uh..." Clearing her throat, Memory finished the sentence as it had started off wavering like she had been crying. Well she had been crying but Cara didn't need to know.
"Just a sec!"

She looked at the water bottle on her bed side table, considering applying a little water here and there plus through her hair to make it seem as if she had come out of a shower not long ago, that would certainly hide it. However, it was was a poor excuse. Abandoning that idea, she decided to go for the most basic and boring of them all, but safest, and charged to he little desk and three mirrored display set up. Quickly pulling her make-up out and placing the photo down gently, Memory wiped her face wipe a cloth and started going through her usual morning routine, though skipping the outfit choice preferring to stay in the same thin fabric "dress" as yesterday that worked excellently as sleeping attire. Right now, she couldn't care less.

When the evidence of crying was somewhat covered from Cara unless she looked really hard, by which point Memory would be adding something else to her face and covering the eyes with either make-up or her hands or her hair. Taking a deep inhalation, she shouted Cara in.

"Door's open!"

'Better to face things head on.'

Cara Black

Cara waited quietly for a response her head close to the door; she could hear shuffling about within the room but couldn’t make out anything distinctive enough to be certain that Memory was even awake.

"Y-yeah, uh..."

Cara could tell something was wrong just from the croaked voice but it was better to let Memory decide if she wanted to share her feelings. “Is everything ok in there?” she asked again deciding that perhaps a friend’s concern might at least help Memory out a little. Well a teachers concern but the thought was still there.

"Just a sec!"

Cara looked down at her feet whilst she waited, quickly finishing the remainder of her cigarette before flicking it into one of the nearby plants pots. It wasn’t the greatest hiding spot in the world but she had never considered herself much of a good girl.

"Door's open!"

Looking back up Cara turned the door handle, “Is everything all right?” she asked entering and closing the door behind her. She had to give it to Memory if anything had been happening then she had hidden it well, as far as Cara could tell nothing was out of the ordinary. “I thought I heard crying is all.” She added still concerned.

“A lot happened yesterday and if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I know I don’t exactly have the greatest reputation here but I have always been a good listener.” She moved round to stand a few feet behind Memory glancing across at the dishevelled bed as she did so; the pillow was noticeably damp so Cara assumed that either Memory had a serious dribble problem or her earlier assumption of crying was correct. “Even if you can’t understand my accent.” She added with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"Sorry, would you like me to carry you? I can take you to the nurse."

Jonathan turned his head to Ryan with a bemused expression at the question, the all too familiar warm feeling his chest fluttering once more. Raising an eyebrow he tried to speak, the Texan voice failing for a second. Clearing his throat, he tried again, this time with more success.

"Dude, I'm a 24 year old guy standing at 6'6" weighing 184lbs and you, a 16 year old boy, expect to be able to carry me?"

His hazel eyes travelled up and down Ryan's body slowly, the focus still not completely returned, taking in every possible detail that he could. He honestly didn't look physically capable of holding the Texas native above the ground fro more than than ten seconds, not even in the slightest. Then again, they were in the school for the gifted. A school specifically designed for mutants with incredible abilities. For all Jonathan knew this kid could easily lift an eighteen wheeler while painting his own self-portrait without a mirror or photograph.

Well... probably not that, but the point still stands.

"Besides," Jonathan just managed to croak this out before clearing his throat once more and catching his breath. "it didn't kill me. I'll be fine." Smiling gently, he looked away.

"It's not as bad as flying into a Sentinel or anything. Now help me up would ya!" He called joking, beginning his ascent to a standing position.

>>>>>>>>>>>>><Memory's bedroom with Cara><<<<<<<<<<<<<

“Is everything all right?"

Memory's hand shook ever so slightly as she attempt to lie to yet another person, something that she was becoming increasingly good at. What's worse was that she also didn't even feel bad about it much any more. She could easily lie to a friend, acquaintance, lover and it wouldn't even leave a mark on her conscience. The only one she felt bad about lying to was Jonathan and this scared her. The utter disregard for everyone else's feelings really did terrify her, but now was not the time to linger on this thought. She lowered the eye liner pencil down from her face and help it in her right hand while looking for something else with her left, though what she wasn't even sure herself.

"Yeah... of course." She answered rather vaguely.

"I thought I heard crying is all.”

The pencil snapped in her hand.

Thankfully she had closes the lid of the small box in which she kept her eye shadow, the object her other hand had apparently been looking for, with a thud at the same time. Hopefully, it had been louder than the sound of the small pencil breaking in two. Subtly throwing the remains of her old dear friend to the ground beneath her table, Memory swallowed to wet her throat for speaking.

"Really? Interesting."

Memory was trying to keep her answers sort without sounding too rude, but it didn't quite seem to work. The crying must have affected her brain or something along those lines because it was becoming increasingly harder to maintain the charade.

'Focus Memory. You have to stay focussed or you'll never get through this.'

“A lot happened yesterday and if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I know I don’t exactly have the greatest reputation here but I have always been a good listener.”

With her eyes glue to the mirrors, Memory watched as Cara stepped to only a few feet from her chair and searched the room with her eyes, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. He eyes fell on the bed and lingered there. Memory followed her gaze and cursed silently. In the rush she had forgotten the bed, or rather the pillow, and it could have just blown her entire lie. The smokescreen M had used to defend her emotions and worries and troubles was clearing fast and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

'Guess I've just gotta tell her straight then...'

Memory turned the chair around, the swivel chair she had bought a while back finally coming in handy, and smiled apologetically at Cara. The smile was faked, at least to a degree, but should have been convincing enough. She could only hope.

"I appreciate the offer Miss Black, and I know that I can always come to you for some womanly advice or just a shoulder to cry on, but... this is really a family matter. I feel it should only be discussed with my brother. Thank you again though. I really do appreciate your concern."

Memory smiled once more before turning back to her mirror and make-up.

By nature, Memory held very little trust in anyone besides her family or close friend that she had known for years and years and years. To gain her trust quickly it took a lot. Since arriving she had never really felt any more or less trust towards Cara than anyone else, until she heard of her past. When this story came to light her opinion changed. The little trust that had been gained was gone, back to the normal "I couldn't care less" amount.

'I still can't believe I was foiled by a wet pillow...'

Cara Black

This was getting awkward, Memory’s answers has been short but hardly sweet. There was evidently some animosity there; whether for Cara’s personal history with the girl, (which was neither long nor eventful) or because of Memory’s own opinions on Cara’s past. Either way she could feel how little the girl wanted the gesture.

"I appreciate the offer Miss Black…”

Cara listened quietly as Memory explained herself matter-of-factly, at first something seemed odd about her smile that lingered in her mind afterwards but Cara couldn’t decide whether it was faked or not, it was different to Memory’s usual smile that was true enough but perhaps that was her REAL smile, Memory was such a closed book it was often difficult to tell if she was still hiding behind her veil or if it had slipped and a slither of emotion had actually managed to slip through.

Eventually Cara decided that it wasn’t worth lingering on, Memory was hardly going to open up just because her emotional wall had been cracked, it would just make the girl panic and disdain her even more. Cara watched as Memory continued her routine, watching her take out the eye-shadow and begin applying it. She was very beautiful, Cara thought and under normal circumstances she would have lost her heart to such a girl though, with the mansion opinion of her plummeting at the recent events, it was unlikely to ever happen; not to mention the fact that Memory had never clicked up on Cara’s gaydar.

“Well then if you don’t wish to share then at least let me take your mind off things? We can go get some lunch or something if you want?” she offered without her usual flirtatious charm. “I promise I won’t come on to you.” She added with a smile, still trying to lighten the mood.

Cara had always hated the begrudgement she received at the x-men’s school, of course when she first defected her past was only known by those she had fought against but as time progressed the word got out through the students and then things became complicated; word of mouth had begun to twist things, she’d heard one story that entailed her breaking into the Kremlin and murdering Stalin. It did of course give her a certain amount of discipline in her class as many students had heard of the awesome power that the Shadowdancer was apparently capable of but it did bring the problem that many of the students had taken to trying to prank her to prove they had balls.

She had hoped that yesterday could play more to her favour and at some points almost wished that something would’ve happened around Xavier for her to repay her debt and be out of his school. She had never abandoned hope that one day her leader might regain his fire and passion and take to the streets to once again fight for mutants. Though as time had gone by at the mansion Magneto seemed to have lost all fight entirely, he was old and corrupted my Xavier’s desperate attempt to level with the savages.

In her eyes it had always been an inevitability that the mutants would one day win, whether taken at the tip of a sword or just from pure old evolution, eventually the human race would give way to the mutant’s.

Cara awaited her response, quietly leaning back against the wall, raising one of her still bare feet to keep her balanced and folding her arms. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” She added to her earlier statement.

As the battle continued to rage around him, Ryan heard Vincent's voice in his head. "Ryan! You don’t know how glad I am to see you. Gosh friend you’ll have to tell me how this new look came about! Ryan I know there is little time, but do know that one’s appearance is not what makes them a monster, it’s their heart and their actions. You my brother, are no monster. You have the heart of an angel. Never forget that, your heart is your strength and that is what we’re all depending on Ryan."

Ryan thought quietly to himself, "Thank you Vincent. Maybe being who I am, being like this... Maybe it's not so bad." Just then, Ryan whipped his head around. He smelled that metallic tang in the air, and smiled. It could only be... it had to be... "Thantos!" Ryan called out, as he whipped his head around to see Thantos dive out of the air and smack a golem in the face. Ryan liked fighting with Thantos. The two were good friends and even better partners. Thantos appeared to be having some issues. He wasn't as effective as he usually was. However, he was doing ok, he managed to bring one down.

Just as Ryan was in the process of disassembling another golem, they all backed away from him and grouped up. He'd found destroying them was more difficult that he'd previously anticipated, they started to reassemble unless you smashed the gem in the center. Ryan disengaged from the fight and adopted a defensive posture, he was down on all fours, his tail lashing wildly. The golems were all grouped around a single boy with black hair (OOC: Terra). Should he fight with this boy? It seemed ok to destroy the golems, they were just made out of stone. However, in this new form, could he hold himself back against something made of flesh? "I don't want to fight with you!" Ryan called out to the boy, "If you're controlling these golems tell them to stand down. The X-Men here, under the direction of Professor Charles Xavier, are simply here to detain that giant monster." Ryan said, pointing to the Juggernaut. "We have no reason to fight with you. Just turn around and we'll leave you alone. If you all retreat, you'll be allowed to leave peacefully. Our only concern here is that thing." Ryan said, once again referring to the Juggernaut.

However, it seemed the boy and the golems, who appeared to be under his control, had other plans for Ryan. Instead of talking, like Ryan would have preferred to do, they all shifted forward, challenging Ryan, who had struck first. Ryan slunk lower to the ground, a low growl rumbling forth from his throat. The golems answered back with a roar of their own. It was so loud, it shook the ground and grated against his ears like the sound of an earthquake. Ryan stepped back. They weren't backing down. Fine, Ryan would do what had to be done. "So be it!" Ryan roared and dove forward towards the golems, sprinting towards them on all fours. He leaped high into air, landing on top of one and smashing its gem.

Ryan jumped off as it crumbled to the ground. Roaring in defiance of the giant golems. Just as he was about to jump on top of another one, he felt a vice like grip attach itself to his tail and he was whipped into the air. The golem swung him around, smashing him into the ground. Ryan's body was being tossed around like a rag doll, however, something was different, strange even. The impacts didn't hurt that much. The bruises and scrapes weren't forming. Sure he was covered in scales, but they couldn't negate all the damage he had to be taking. Was he healing... faster? "No time to test this out," Ryan thought. "I gotta get out of here." Ryan whipped his legs around, stabilizing himself mid-air while the golem flailed him around. Ryan grabbed onto the golem's arm with his arms and legs and held on. When the golem finally stopped shaking him, Ryan planted his feet on the ground, dropped his hips as low as he could, and hip threw the giant golem, tossing it over his shoulder and smashing it onto the ground, roaring as loud as he could while he did it. It let go of his tail and he jumped on top it, and punched it directly on its gem and it smashed easily. Ryan jumped off as what was left of the golem shattered and returned to the ground.

"We can't keep this up." Ryan muttered to himself. Ryan looked over at the boy with the black hair, who seemed to be studying him, as if he were some foreign anomaly. He was the one who was controlling them. If Ryan took him down, the golems would stop. However, it wasn't as simple as he thought. The golems were regenerating slowly. Not wasting anymore time, Ryan charged at the boy with the black hair, intent on getting him to stop his geological assault.

Jonathan watched Ryan's retreating form with confusion and disappointment, the vice-like grip that the boy had managed to pull off on Jonathan's arm beginning to sting with pain, no doubt from bruising. The conversation had become suddenly awkward and Ryan had seemed to just flip out, his mind overrun with thoughts and feelings that required him to be anywhere but with Jonathan. It hurt just a little, but thankfully not as much as his arms. Ryan's scaled skin had pressed hard into the toned muscles, the much needed areas of Jonathan's body almost yielding beneath his new friend's unbreakable hold.

Within seconds Ryan was gone, and Jonathan was left alone with his turbulent thoughts tormenting him, his twisted demons slowly but surely getting their hooks in his soul and dragging it deep down into the depths of Jonathan's own fears just as he would do to all of his victims. And he did not like what he found there. With the persuasion of the devil on the twenty-four year old Texan's shoulder, his mind returned reluctantly to the soldier from the day before who now lay on the cold, hard and lonely slab in the medical room, the light of his soul slowly extinguishing as Jonathan's power infected his mind and corrupted it turning the only thing keeping him alive against himself. Soon he would be dead. Soon there would be no more pain or fear. Until then however, Jonathan was left with no choice but to accept the repercussions of his actions, even if they were to save his sister's life. No human life is more important than another, and it was unfair for him to take one life for another. Although, given the same circumstances he would choose the same course of action to save the sister he loved.

With a pained sigh, Jonathan turned towards the building in search of his victim for no reason other than to apologise, for all the good it would do, and just be there with him when the time of his passing came. An object to the corner of his eye caught Jonathan's attention however. The rather impressive, yet almost discarded, piece of art from his black scaled friend bringing a small smile, in the form of his lip curling ever so slightly up at the corner, to his face. Lifting Ryan's belongings up, he began to carry them inside, ready to drop them off at Jonathan's room until Ryan felt like returning.

While Jonathan suffered this torment alone, Memory had company. The rather imposing Russian teacher, whom Memory liked but did not fully trust (as was the case with most people she met), stood leaning against the wall watching Memory like a guard, the almost intimidating gaze unnerving the typically courageous Memory.
“Well then if you don’t wish to share then at least let me take your mind off things? We can go get some lunch or something if you want? I promise I won’t come on to you.”

Memory's mouth dropped open at Cara's words and pushed the chair around quickly, almost stopping it too late. For a moment, Memory was left stunned by this reveal, and annoyed that she hadn't picked up on it sooner. She was usually a lot better at this. Slowly, a real smile broke though Memory's near impenetrable emotional barrier.

"Oh. My. God."

Turning quickly and finishing her eye-shadow, Memory practically leap from her seat and began towards her closet, the same one that she had to fight with to actually close sometimes. There was a sudden surge of determination that pulsed through Memory's body, flowing through her veins with every heart beat. She felt almost brand new.

"Sure, let me just get dressed and we can go." She said quickly turning to Cara still standing figure. Her eyes slid down to the bare feet and Memory rolled her eyes.
"Oh honey, shoes."

Memory opened the wardrobe doors and the determination, the motivation, the drive, that she had just receive faded away practically right before her eyes. Within a second, the twinkle of life that had entered her eyes and energy that had filled up her body life disappeared. Her eyes went dull and her shoulders drooped. Staring at the clothes that she had hidden her true self behind so many times and feeling the make-up on her skin that had masked the real Memory deep beneath. She shook her head gently and grabbed a quick few garments, not bothering to make it in the least fashionable, and a pair of black converse. Memory turned to Cara and pointed to the closet.

"If you don't want to go all the way back to your room to get something there should be a good few pairs in there that you could use. My last count was at twenty-three but I think I got rid of a few since then. If it doesn't close then just leave it, I usually do. I'm gonna go get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs."

Memory rushed from the room, out of the door and searched for somewhere, anywhere, that she could not only change but just be alone for a few minutes. Just herself. No one else. Finally, the bathroom down the hall from her bedroom became Memory's salvation, her safe haven, and she embraced this sanctuary with open arms. Dressing quickly into the mish-mash of clothes that looked totally different from her usual style but worked enough for just one day she steeled herself for facing the world.



"Memory!"

M turned at her brother's call, first noticing the painting and then his tired and utterly exhausted appearance, the dark circles and drained look making him appear far older than he was, something which already happened when he was at his best. As his own eyes surveyed her outfit, Memory shifted uncomfortably while he stepped close to her and lowered his voice so only she could hear what he had to say.

"M... are you ok? You're... You're not, well... you."

Memory frowned, but nodded and faked a smile. Ah, her infamous fake smile that always showed up at least once per day to someone. Unfortunately for her, Jonathan had known her long enough to see right through her barrier like glass, his words shattering it within seconds.

"No you're not. You only ever dress like I do when you're upset." He whispered with a small smile, pointing subtly at her clothes, to which she merely rolled her eyes and looked away. Suddenly her heart stopped and it felt like someone had just gripped her windpipe with a chilly hand and held it tight to suffocate her. She lifted her hand and pressed it against Jonathan's face when he started to speak, then turned it around towards the television in the corner of the room. The chaos on the streets shocked them both into silence and it wasn't until the news team's footage suddenly cut off that the wonder twins looked to each other in stunned silence. Finally, it was Jonathan that ended the silence.

"I want to go there, more than you know, but we can't M. Our powers-" Jonathan rephrased at a look form his sister, one to remind him that one of his powers could help. He just didn't know how to use it. "The powers we can use well in a crisis are useless in this situation. The X-men can handle it, and as much as it pains me to say this... we have to stay out of this one."

After a moment, Memory nodded her agreement and walked away quietly. Jonathan neither tried to stop her nor followed her. She needed time to herself, away from him, sometimes.



After putting Ryan's belongings into Jonathan's room until the black scaled teen returned, J sat in the lower levels with the victim soldier with his cold hand in Jonathan's own gloved ones. The still body of the slowly dying man lay weak before him and Jonathan could do nothing to help him. His eyes stung as tears began to form and a solitary drop escaped his eyelids, the tear making its slow decent onto the edge of Jonathan's jaw and dropping to the hard ground below. It had such a short lifespan, form his eye to the floor. It was the same for all things on this earth. While it may seem like they have lived for so long and will continue to for years to come, in the end that life is minuscule compared to the lifespan of earth, the sun, the universe. The lives everyone lives everyday are so insignificant compared to the vast expanse of space. And yet, every life is important. Every life contributes. And every life should be defended, not destroyed so heartlessly as Jonathan had to this man's own. One more tear dropped and Jonathan hung his head.

"I'm sorry... I am so sorry... I have the power to kill at my fingertips and I chose to be so careless. There's no excuse. If I could take your place, I would in a heart beat... I don't know if you can hear me, I don't even know if you really want to hear me but... I am truly sorry..."

Slowly Jonathan's thoughts travelled to Kyle, and his kind words the day before. He had spoken of how his situation was so similar to Jonathan's once, but how he had overcome it. His words, laced with his French accent, had calmed Jonathan to his very core the previous day, made him feel like he could do almost anything.

'If only he were here now... I could use some words like that again...'