Back to Gatefold
Issue #18 by Kenn Beck
May 2016 |
[NOW: The Remains of the Alley...]
"Wake up, asshole," Callisto shouted.
Ororo shook her head, trying to figure out why it felt as if her scalp was on fire. She put a hand to the left side of her head and felt a bald patch, and her memory filled in the blanks. The Morlock leader, Callisto, had ripped out two chunks of her hair during their brief skirmish, and now she was calling her an asshole. She remembered being in a tunnel, and guessed that she was still there.
She opened her eyes and awoke to a far worse reality. There was a cavity within the rubble that had survived the collapse, but it was not much bigger than the interior of a large van. In the exceptionally dim light that somehow seeped into their location she saw that Callisto was not looking at her, she was kneeling over the prone form of the Marauder Prism. Ororo suddenly remembered what had happened, and looked to her right, her eyes landing on Shiro's body.
"Shiro!" she mumbled, crawling her way across to him. Her leg was in a great deal of pain. Maybe broken, maybe just badly bruised, but she could still move it.
He was alive, but only just. Blood stained the white stripes on the front of his uniform, making the entire thing a deep crimson. Two of the wounds still contained the shuriken that had cut him, and Ororo was afraid to remove them because the three other wounds that had no blades still in them were issuing forth blood.
"O-Ororo," he muttered. His mouth was ringed with blood. "Ororo, did we stop them?"
"Shiro, please, save your energy. Help is coming. We'll get you out of here as soon as possible."
"Hai," Shiro said simply, nodding. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," Ororo said, glancing around the darkened cavity. "Don't worry about me."
"You... will do fine, Ororo. Stay strong."
"He gon' die before they ever get down here," a gravelly voice said from the darkness, and Ororo spun.
"LeBeau!" Callisto seethed, and grabbed a piece of rebar that had broken loose in the collapse. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand!"
"I can't," Gambit drawled, kneeling next to Prism. A freshet of blood had coated the left side of his face with blood. "I can't think of one blasted thing I done that would ever atone for sins this big."
"You did this!" Callisto said, shoving him back to the wall and stabbing the rebar into the concrete near his head. Gambit did not flinch. "You led them here!"
"I was doin' my job, Tricia. That's not defense, that's the damned truth, and that's why I am going to Hell, ain't no question."
"You're goddamned right you are!" Callisto said, yanking the rebar out and holding it over her head, preparing to run him through.
"Stop!" Ororo said, her voice fraught with tension. "We need to work together to get out of here."
Callisto looked over at Ororo. "Are you crazy? This bastard has killed hundreds of innocent people! He's slaughtered people all over the world!"
"Didn't you say you used to be one of them?" Ororo said.
Callisto fumed silently. After a few seconds, she replied. "That was a long time ago. I quit when they started killing defenseless people." She turned and belted Gambit, sending him sprawling. He offered no resistance, simply rolling with the punch and landing in a heap against the rubble that surrounded them.
"We need to conserve our oxygen!" Ororo reprimanded them loudly. "The others are likely trying to get to us, so if we can just stay alive, we can make it out of this. The best thing to do in this situation is just stay still." She felt the first frosty fingers of fear creeping into her spine, and she shivered.
"And how would you know that? Have you ever been buried alive?"
"Yes," Ororo answered, "I have."
"Wake up, asshole," Callisto shouted.
Ororo shook her head, trying to figure out why it felt as if her scalp was on fire. She put a hand to the left side of her head and felt a bald patch, and her memory filled in the blanks. The Morlock leader, Callisto, had ripped out two chunks of her hair during their brief skirmish, and now she was calling her an asshole. She remembered being in a tunnel, and guessed that she was still there.
She opened her eyes and awoke to a far worse reality. There was a cavity within the rubble that had survived the collapse, but it was not much bigger than the interior of a large van. In the exceptionally dim light that somehow seeped into their location she saw that Callisto was not looking at her, she was kneeling over the prone form of the Marauder Prism. Ororo suddenly remembered what had happened, and looked to her right, her eyes landing on Shiro's body.
"Shiro!" she mumbled, crawling her way across to him. Her leg was in a great deal of pain. Maybe broken, maybe just badly bruised, but she could still move it.
He was alive, but only just. Blood stained the white stripes on the front of his uniform, making the entire thing a deep crimson. Two of the wounds still contained the shuriken that had cut him, and Ororo was afraid to remove them because the three other wounds that had no blades still in them were issuing forth blood.
"O-Ororo," he muttered. His mouth was ringed with blood. "Ororo, did we stop them?"
"Shiro, please, save your energy. Help is coming. We'll get you out of here as soon as possible."
"Hai," Shiro said simply, nodding. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," Ororo said, glancing around the darkened cavity. "Don't worry about me."
"You... will do fine, Ororo. Stay strong."
"He gon' die before they ever get down here," a gravelly voice said from the darkness, and Ororo spun.
"LeBeau!" Callisto seethed, and grabbed a piece of rebar that had broken loose in the collapse. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand!"
"I can't," Gambit drawled, kneeling next to Prism. A freshet of blood had coated the left side of his face with blood. "I can't think of one blasted thing I done that would ever atone for sins this big."
"You did this!" Callisto said, shoving him back to the wall and stabbing the rebar into the concrete near his head. Gambit did not flinch. "You led them here!"
"I was doin' my job, Tricia. That's not defense, that's the damned truth, and that's why I am going to Hell, ain't no question."
"You're goddamned right you are!" Callisto said, yanking the rebar out and holding it over her head, preparing to run him through.
"Stop!" Ororo said, her voice fraught with tension. "We need to work together to get out of here."
Callisto looked over at Ororo. "Are you crazy? This bastard has killed hundreds of innocent people! He's slaughtered people all over the world!"
"Didn't you say you used to be one of them?" Ororo said.
Callisto fumed silently. After a few seconds, she replied. "That was a long time ago. I quit when they started killing defenseless people." She turned and belted Gambit, sending him sprawling. He offered no resistance, simply rolling with the punch and landing in a heap against the rubble that surrounded them.
"We need to conserve our oxygen!" Ororo reprimanded them loudly. "The others are likely trying to get to us, so if we can just stay alive, we can make it out of this. The best thing to do in this situation is just stay still." She felt the first frosty fingers of fear creeping into her spine, and she shivered.
"And how would you know that? Have you ever been buried alive?"
"Yes," Ororo answered, "I have."
“The Sepulcher”
[NOW: The Crater Above...]
"I'm not leaving," Scott said, blasting away at the debris with controlled bursts.
"Scott," Kitty said, her hand on his arm, "I understand what you're going through. They're my friends, too. But Weapon X will be here soon, and if the Professor was as thorough as we know him to be, there won't be any evidence that we were ever a part of their operation. They're going to take us in, and we won't be able to do anything to help our friends."
"Jean is still down there," Scott replied, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Ororo, Logan, and Shiro are still down there, too," Kitty replied. "We don't know how many of the Morlocks are still down there, or if they even survived. There may even be some Marauders alive down there. Blockbuster threw me so high into the air that if I hadn't tunneled all the way down I would have hit like a bug on a windshield. I was floating down like a feather when I saw the entire structure crater. I thought I lost everyone. But Scott, we are so exposed right now."
Scott put his hand to his visor again, as if to release another blast, and then stopped. His hand dropped.
"Hey!" one of the uniformed officers at the scene yelled, coming towards them in an uneven gait as he crossed the unstable ground. "You two!"
As he reached them, Scott saw his hand was on the butt of his firearm, and he knew Kitty had been right. He looked into the trooper's eyes and saw a strange thing; they were crossed. They suddenly uncrossed, and when he saw them again, the officer had completely different demeanor.
"Uh, I forgot why I came over here," he said, a confused look on his face.
"{You came over here to offer these rescue workers some help,}" Cable said, emerging from the treeline, "{but they've got it covered, and you're trespassing on government property, Officer Lambert,}" he finished.
"Sir, yes sir," Lambert said, rapidly retreating to the perimeter fence.
Scott looked at Kitty and back at Cable.
{It's okay, I got this,} he sent. {They'll see us in military uniforms, as long as I concentrate. I know you told Bishop and I to wait at the mansion, but we couldn't just sit on the sidelines. He's concocting one of his spell-doohickey's to try to help. We'll buy you some time.}
Scott looked at the time-lost man who claimed to be his son and felt, for the first time since meeting him, a genuine affection for him.
{We'll find her, sir,} Cable sent, his face stoic and determined. {We'll find them all.}
[NOW: Below...]
"What the hell are you doing alive, Victor?"
Sabretooth smiled in the pitch blackness. "That's some sniffer you got on you, Logan. I was just thinking about you as I peeled the skin off of one of these toilet freaks. I see Weapon X finally got around to replacing me."
"Yeah," Logan replied, "it seems they wanted someone with some morals and decency."
"Is that what you call what you have? Because I seem to remember a time when you were the one hunting people down for money."
"Hunting takes skill," Logan said. "What you do is straight up murder."
"Speaking of which," Sabretooth said, slashing out with his claws. Logan grimaced as they dug deep into his arm, and spun away from the source of the attack. He could hear Sabretooth shifting in the darkness, could smell the pungent mix of sweat and blood, feel the heat baking off his body from exertion. The area they were in, judging by the echoes, was no bigger than a thirty foot section of tunnel, choked on either side by rubble. He sensed a draft of cold air, which was likely emanating from where Sabretooth had entered.
He heard a deep chuckle to his left. "Marco," Sabretooth said.
Logan stabbed out in the general direction the sound came from, but Sabretooth had moved already. He felt the wall of the tunnel next to him, so he put his back to it, retracted his claws and listening carefully for any sound Sabretooth might make. They sat in the dark, like two submarines, each waiting for the other to ping their sonar.
"What made you go back to Weapon X, Logan?" Sabretooth said from across the tunnel. Logan created a quick mental image of the area, and placed Sabretooth about twenty feet away and to the left.
He stepped carefully forward, trying to make no sound as he did so. He left a sudden increase in temperature on the skin of his left forearm, so he lunged in that direction and scored a hit, crushing his shoulder into Sabretooth's rib-cage, pistoning his legs and slamming him into the crumbling wall of the tunnel. He slammed his fist into Sabretooth's solar plexus, and then extended his claws again, driving them deep.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Callisto tried to shift the rubble from the mouth of the tunnel, straining with maximum effort, her neck muscles like steel cables taut with tension.
"Tricia," Gambit said, "you gonna strain yourself. Maybe rupture somethin'."
"I'm going to rupture your lungs of you keep running your mouth," she said, trying again. After a few seconds, she gave up, huffing. "How the Hell do you do that thing with the cards?"
"Leftwich finish our treatment. Did what Weapon X couldn't. Me and Harpoon got mostly the same thing going on, except he only charges up metal rods, I can charge up anything. Plus anything I blow up disintegrate with extreme prejudice."
"So can't you disintegrate some of this rubble?" Ororo asked. Callisto grabbed Prism by the wrist and started to move him.
"Not unless you want it blowin' up in your face, chere. And I don't think an explosion would have a beneficial effect on some of us. Be careful, Tricia, he hurt. Lemme help him."
"Oh, you mean Drevnak?" she said, pulling his arm forcefully. Ororo heard a sharp crunch, and her mind made an unconscious association, reminding her of the ceremonial breaking of the glass at a Jewish wedding. Erik had once told her how that moment, which the Talmut says serves to engender sobriety and balanced behavior, had been perverted into one of glee, and it was glee she saw in Callisto's eye as she brutalized the Marauder.
Prism's eyes snapped open and a sharp whistle came from between his teeth as his body locked into a spasm. The shuddering quickly subsided as his eyes lost any sign of life.
"Broke what was left of his spine. When they down, make sure they stay down." Gambit shook his head. "You and I ain't so different, Tricia."
Callisto grabbed Gambit by the lapels of his trench coat and slammed him into the wall. "I am nothing like you! You murdered women, children!"
"I ain't never murdered no children," Gambit insisted. "I'm responsible for they deaths, nonetheless. Don' matter that Essex, or Leftwich, or whatever he callin' himself, lied to me. Told me you was raising an army to attack civilians. Flimsy tale, and I bought it. Like I bought all the lies I been livin' on for all these years. But don't tell me I murdered children. I found one o' your little ones that Harpoon didn't finish off, a little boy what look like a tree."
"Shut... your... mouth," Callisto growled.
"He was still breathin', but only just. Then he wasn't breathin', so-"
"Shut up!" Callisto screamed, slapping him. He made no motion to resist, but neither did he stop speaking.
"I gave him CPR," he continued. "It was tough, his skin is some pretty thick bark, but I did manage to bring him back. Next thing I know, another kid is blastin' me with some electric needle gun, and I woke up buried."
"I said shut up!" she screamed, but did not assault him again.
"I know what you said, Tricia. But I am tellin' you, I didn't murder no children."
"SHUT UP!" she screamed, anguished. "I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR LYING TONGUE IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!"
Gambit was silent for a long time. He looked over to Ororo, who was breathing in long, raspy breaths. She had the look of a caged animal about her, even as she cared for her wounded teammate. "I know it don' make a difference to you, Tricia, but I am sorry for what happen down here."
"Your sorry means nothing to me," Callisto said, "nothing you say means anything to me. And if we do manage to make it out of here, Remy... I'm going to kill you."
[NOW: Above the Alley...]
Piotr hefted a sizable chunk of rubble over his head and stepped gingerly towards the edge of the crater. He knew his own weight, even without the chunk, could possibly trigger a further collapse, but he couldn't sit by and do nothing. When he knew he was on stable ground, he tossed the twisted mass of concrete and metal off to the side. He saw Kitty standing by a rescue vehicle with her laptop out. She looked like she was trying to fry a hole in the screen with her eyes.
"Katya," Piotr said, "take a break. You've been staring at that schematic for hours."
"I have to figure out where the most likely open space is, Piotr. I can't tunnel unless I know I have a place to end up, but I know there has to be a space down there somewhere. If I could just get a look at the metallurgy reports that-"
"Kitty," he said, placing his hands on her arms, turning her gently towards him. "We are all doing everything we can. We will find them."
"I know," Kitty said, her eyes trailing down, "but I should have been down there with them."
"And if you had tunneled while stationary, and part of the tunnel collapsed onto where you were standing, what would have happened?"
Kitty turned away. "I would have been trapped until I suffocated."
Piotr nodded. "I know it must have been difficult seeing the tunnel collapse from above, but you reacted correctly tunneling when you did. You wouldn't be alive to help anyone if Blockbuster had smashed you against the wall."
"I know," Kitty said, turning and putting her cheek against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm just worried about our friends. Ororo must be going half mad with claustrophobia by now."
"Don't worry, Katya. Ororo is a strong woman. She will keep our friends safe until we can get to them."
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
"Ororo," Shiro whispered. "I need a drink of water."
"Yeah, we're all a bit thirsty," Callisto said, "but we can't just pop into the 7-11, man."
"It's for the matsugo-no-mizu," Ororo said, holding Shiro's head in her lap. "It's a Japanese funeral rite. The water of the last moment, a drink of water to refresh the soul so it will revive in Yomi, the land of his ancestors."
Shiro smiled warmly at her. "You always did embrace everyone's beliefs, wind-rider."
"I do, Shiro. But you will not be dying today. We are going to get you out of here."
"I wish that were true," he said, "but I think we... both know that I am at my end."
"No, Shiro," Ororo said, tears brimming in her eyes. "You can't leave me alone down here. I need you."
"You are stronger than your fears," Shiro said, "you survived this once, and you are infinitely wiser now. You don't need me."
Ororo felt a tear slip free from her eye and drop down into the dirt. "There's no water here, Shiro. I don't know what to do."
"Your tears will suffice. I could think of no more pure a source than the soul of a good woman like you."
Ororo bent down and blinked, allowing the tears to come freely, watching as the droplets wet Shiro's lips.
"Arigato," Shiro whispered. "Ai shiteimasu, my sister."
"Ai shiteimasu," she whispered back. "I love you, my brother." She bent lower and embraced him, her face pressed against the side of his.
Shiro smiled as he looked past Ororo. "My father was right," he said.
"About what?" she asked, moving her head back to look at him, but he was already dead.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Sabretooth reached up and put his hands on Logan's face, raking it with his own claws and slicing open Logan's mouth at its corners, creating deep furrows through his cheeks. The flesh reknitted itself almost instantly, but the pain distracted Logan enough for Sabretooth to plant a foot on his chest and kick, driving him back into the dark.
"Damn it, Logan... that hurt," he said, clutching his side as the wounds Logan had created worked to heal themselves.
"Good," Logan said. "I want you to feel every second of what I am going to do to you. I'm going to flay you, Victor. Not because I think it will kill you; no, I know it won't. That's why I am going to do it. I'm going to flay you, and let your skin grow back, and then flay you again. And again. And again. Once for every innocent life you've taken down here."
"Man, maybe Leftwich took the wrong dog," Sabretooth grinned. "You're far more vicious and sadistic than I could ever be."
"No, it's you. You are the only one I would take pride in torturing. You, who have made so many people suffer."
"You have no great moral stance against torture, Logan. Admit it," Sabretooth smiled in the blackness, "you're just sore at me because of Rose."
Logan snapped, letting the berserker rage that had been building within him out like an erupting dam. His senses all at once snapped to extreme clarity, and he could see- just barely- the heat bloom that Sabretooth was giving off, and he dove into it, slashing ferociously with his claws. He felt the momentary clack of bone on his blades as they sliced through Sabretooth's ribs, heard the pop of his lung puncturing beneath the onslaught, smelled the fresh blood explode forth from the wound. He unleashed a long, guttural scream as he tore into his adversary's interior.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Peter crawled through the gap in the bars outside the vent shaft he had shimmied his way through, covered now with a thick layer of dust that clung to the layer of effluent that hadn't quite dried on him yet. Behind him he dragged the electric needle gun he had used to take down the card throwing man, although he had a suspicion it had broken on the journey out. The entire tunnel complex that had been the extent of his world was now gone, collapsed behind him like the ant-hills he had seen in the dirt outside the bars. He tentatively approached the green grass, and set his hand down in it, marveling at the texture of it. It was so much softer than he could have imagined, even as he felt the sharp edges tickling his skin.
A noise to his left drew his attention, and he hefted the electro-needler in that direction. An old woman held up her hands, demonstrating peaceful intentions. Although he did not recognize her, she looked very much like one of the Morlocks; her clothing was dirty, her unkempt hair barely tamed by a large kerchief, soiled, frayed finger-less gloves covered bony fingers with chipped and dirty nails.
"Who are you, young man?" she asked quietly. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm Peter," he said, his voice trembling.
"What are you doing out here, Peter? There's been an explosion, and little boys can't be wandering around on their own, even with such big guns."
"I built it," he said, twitching the hand that the gun was in. "I can build things."
"Where are your parents?" the woman inquired mildly.
"My mom and dad died," he said, his voice cracking, and finally, he broke into quiet sobs as the reality hit him.
"I'm very sorry," she said, appraising him carefully. "Don't you have any family?"
"No," he said miserably, "everyone I knew was down in the Alley."
"Oh, my poor sweet angel," the woman said, embracing him warmly, cradling his head to her chest. "You lived in the tunnel, didn't you? You're special, aren't you? You build special things, don't you?"
Peter nodded his head as he wept, enfolded in her arms.
"Do you want me to take you to the police, who can put you in a place with doctors and scientists?"
Peter shook his head frantically. Scientists were what the Weapon X men called their smart people. He began to pull away from her, but the woman grabbed him gently by the arms.
"No, of course you don't. But you can't be out here alone, can you? Would you like me to take you to a special place, a safe place, where you can get cleaned up, have some warm food, clean water, hide as long as you like, and no one will ever bother you again?"
Peter nodded.
"Well, then, let's go!" she said, smiling brightly.
"Thank you, miss," Peter said, his arms still clinging around her waist.
"You're welcome, Peter. I like protecting little lost boys like you," she said smiling. "And you can call me Nanny."
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
"Still don't- don't know how... to... kill me... eh, Logan?" Sabretooth said, lying in a pool of his own blood and entrails, several puncture wounds gushing blood, many of his bones fractured or broken. "I've come... back from worse," he said.
"I know, and you'll come back from this, I'm sure," Logan said. "You're healing even now, as we speak. But you're down for a bit. It'll take you a few days, maybe a few weeks, before you're healthy enough to dig yourself out of this hole. A few weeks of starvation, of thirst, of pain, of insects and animals biting away at your flesh in the dark. Who knows, maybe the insects will keep eating you as fast as you can heal. Enjoy it, Victor. It's not a tenth of the Hell that you put Rose through."
With that, Logan slipped out the entryway that Sabretooth had used to enter, and slashed at the piece of concrete that had been keeping it open. It collapsed, sealing Sabretooth in the dark. As the rubble settled, Logan listened for a long moment, wondering if maybe the collapse had actually killed him.
After a few seconds, he heard a weak chuckle, and he turned and walked away.
[NOW: Above the Alley...]
Scott took off his visor and rubbed his eyes with one hand. He had a headache that just wouldn't quit, and he wondered how much of that was withdrawal. He hadn't been out of mental contact with Jean for this long in months.
"Cable, can you read anyone's mind down there, see through their eyes, find a space big enough for Shadowcat to tunnel to, or Nightcrawler to teleport into?"
"Sorry, sir, it doesn't work quite like that. I can suggest, I can pick up general mental states, and I can even push people, but direct communication is not one of the abilities I possess."
"Cyclops," Sean said, "I've pinged the rubble with my sonar, I can't pick up much in the way of a habitable space. A few large pockets, but I cannot pinpoint them with enough accuracy to tell you where they are or how far down they go."
"And for every piece of rubble I remove," Piotr added, "there are fifty more sliding down the edges to fill the gap. It is like trying to dig a hole in mud."
Bobby stepped forward, his arms uncrossing as he pointed at the schematic. "What if I freeze the top layers, maybe they'll stick together so Colossus can dig without it filling in-"
"Fools!" a voice bellowed from above them.
They all looked up, but only Bobby replied. "Shit."
[NOW: Below...]
"I'm sorry I attacked you," Callisto said, throwing a small chunk of rubble across the space they were trapped in. "I know you and your people were just trying to protect us from the Marauders."
Ororo stared blankly beyond her, not acknowledging her. Her hand still lay upon Shiro's chest.
"And I'm sorry about your friend. I know what it's like to lose someone you love."
Ororo continued to ignore her. Her eyes were wide, with tears spilling freely down her cheeks, her lips trembling.
"What's wrong with you?" Callisto asked, frustrated.
"She's claustrophobic, Tricia, don't you listen?" Remy said. "Listen to me, Storm, forget about everything but my voice. Forget everything and listen. Hear the sounds of nature, the air slipping between the spaces. You are in an open veldt, surrounded by acacia trees and grazing springboks. You are staring up at the blue skies, but in the distance, you hear the rumble of thunder, and you can taste the rain in the growing breeze. You know a soothing shower will be coming soon."
"I grew up in Somalia," Ororo said. "There are no veldts in Somalia."
Remy sat back, sighing. "I thought you were catatonic."
"I should be dead."
"We're going to get out of this," Remy said.
"No, I mean as a child. I should have died with my parents. The building I was in was struck by one of General Aidid's rocket grenades, and it collapsed. But the rebar in the building managed to hold up enough rubble to keep me alive. It impaled my mother. They shot my father, and then drove off. And then, before the sound of the engine even faded, Magneto was there. Lifting the rubble, freeing me. I remember it all. He was there for me. He saved me."
"Where is he now?" Callisto sniped.
As if on cue, the rebar in the rubble began to vibrate.
"He's here."
Slowly, the shuddering strips of metal began to rise, dragging several tons of concrete with it. A thunderous rumble shook them as the massive slabs of concrete were lifted nimbly by metal strands that weaved themselves in and out of the gaps, forming a net of sorts to lift the maximum amount of debris. Callisto and Remy squinted as daylight streamed into the pocket they were trapped in, but Ororo merely continued to stare straight ahead.
Wolverine emerged from the main tunnel section and saw the acreage of material being hoisted above their heads, and whistled through his teeth. "Even I gotta admit, that's impressive."
As the meteor of rubble lifted higher and higher, Kitty and Piotr leapt into the hole, rapidly descending the crater walls toward their teammates before Scott could stop them. Kitty reached Ororo first, and hugged her fiercely, before looking down at Shiro. "Oh, no, Shiro," she said, and began to cry. She looked up at Piotr, who stared at his teammate and bowed his head. She could see him struggling to keep himself in check, even behind his metal facade. After a moment, he bent, and helped Ororo to her feet.
Above, the rubble was cast aside, landing with more thunder amidst the surrounding trees and empty land. Erik descended towards them, surrounded by a bubble of sharp metal shrapnel from the rubble, hundreds of pieces orbiting swiftly around him with eerie precision. "Erik," she said, taking a lurching step towards him, bolts of pain to rival her lightning firing in through her leg. "Erik, it's Shiro... he-"
Suddenly, Piotr's hand reached down and gripped Ororo's neck savagely, lifting her off the ground.
"Silence!" Erik seethed, his face contorted in anger. "You fool! I know all too well what you have done! You have betrayed our cause, and Brother Shiro has payed for your hubris!"
"Erik!" Piotr bellowed, struggling to regain control over his own body. "Release her!"
"Another infidel!" Erik screamed at Piotr. "I saved your sister's life! I gave you purpose! I gave you power! And this is how you repay me?!"
"Ororo," Piotr struggled, his face a mask of agonized confusion, "I cannot turn back to flesh! He won't let me release you!"
"It's okay, Piotr," Ororo struggled, "he is manipulating you. As he has all of us, for as long as he's known us."
The skies above grew dark as clouds began to gather.
"Magneto!" Kurt yelled. "Enough of this! You do not know what happened!"
He teleported next to Ororo, but before he could pull her from Piotr's grasp, Erik smacked him in the head with shrapnel, knocking him back, disoriented.
"I saved you all! I lifted you from ruin, from certain death, and showed you the path to true power, to true peace! And you betray me by throwing in with the Devil incarnate and his underlings! How dare you?" He looked at Ororo, unable to hide the fury he felt. "I loved you as I loved my own children! I trusted you! I made you the leader of my congregation, elevated you above even my own beloved son! I should have left you buried in the rubble where I found you, left you to die in the filth!" Erik trembled, struggling to contain his rage. With a hiss of breath, he allowed Piotr to release Ororo, who dropped to the ground, gasping as she held her windpipe. A rumble of thunder sounded from the distance.
"It would have been appropriate, as you were the reason I was in the rubble to begin with," she coughed.
"What?" Kurt asked, stepping forward, holding his hand over the bleeding gash in his head where Magneto had struck him.
"It was General Aidid's men who destroyed your home," Erik said.
"How did you happen to reach my house before the rubble could even settle? I still heard the engine of his soldier's truck as you lifted the rubble off of me." Ororo looked up at him, her eyes fiery with rage.
"I should strip the life from your body," he screamed, "and leave your corpse to rot in the rubble of your failure. But I won't," he said, his voice wavering. "Enough of my students... my children... have died this day. Your life is not mine to take, even though it was me who gave it back to you when you were left for dead by the General and his men."
"How did Aidid even know my father was helping that rebel? My father didn't even know who he was."
"I saved you!" he yelled at her.
"Every piece of rebar in that house had created a shield to protect me. Except for the piece that pierced my mother's chest."
"Ingrate!"
"You could have stopped the bullets from killing my father. Instead, you let him watch them kill his wife and daughter, and then die before digging me out. You could have saved them. Like you saved Piotr's sister from that runaway tractor, which was brand new, and had, until that moment, been in perfect operating condition. Like you saved Kurt from that enraged mob that was whipped into a frenzy by a gunman that was never found, that used bullets without rifling on them."
"I should kill you," Erik snarled.
"Then do it!" Ororo screamed. "You have manipulated me, used me, and all along it was you that I should have been fighting against! You murdered my family, finish the job, and prove what a monster you really are!"
Erik was silent, sneering at her furiously. A look of betrayal was tinted with just a hint of admiration. She always was one of his brightest followers.
Piotr stared at him with a naked fury that he couldn't properly control. "Is this true?"
Erik stared at Ororo, ignoring Piotr's question. "You are no longer one of the chosen. I take from you that which I have given you. Ororo Munroe, you are excommunicated!" A bolt of lightning arced down and struck a tree a few hundred yards distant.
The shrapnel around him formed into a platform, which lowered and slipped beneath Shiro's body. It rose slowly, reverently, and took its place by Erik's side. "He will be returned to Avalon, where the soshiki will be performed."
Sean and Logan both took a step forward to intervene, but Scott held up his hand. "X-Men, stand down. There has been enough death today."
Erik looked at Piotr, and then Kurt. "Neither of you are welcome back at Avalon. I choose not revoke your access to your abilities, although it is within my right- and within my power- to do so. You were following her as you would have followed me. I insisted on that loyalty, that unwavering faith, so I consider that my error in judgment, and I will pay for that. But your duplicity, your continued willingness to sit with the servants of my hated tormentor Charles Xavier, is a betrayal I cannot forgive."
The first few drops of what would become a torrential downpour began, spattering the ground around them. Erik rose with Shiro's body and rapidly ascended into the darkening sky. The rain began to fall in earnest.
"Storm," Scott said, looking into her eyes, "are you okay?"
"No," she replied frankly, "but I will live."
"I need you to get this weather out of here. The rain could flood the rest of the structure, and we still need to find the others that are missing, including Jean."
"I can't," she replied. "It seems that when Magneto excommunicated me, he removed my powers. I can no longer control the weather."
"Don't matter, Slim," Logan said, "She's not down there. I smell a bunch of scents, there are plenty of dead bodies down there, but she ain't one of them. Jean and a bunch of the Morlocks, their scents are... missing. She was alive, and then she was just gone. Someone got them out of there."
Scott looked around. They had lost one of their own, they were wounded, and there was nothing more they could do here. If Jean was still alive, Scott had to have faith that she would find a way to contact them.
"Okay, X-Men. Let's go home."
As they made their way back to the transport, Logan stepped up to Ororo, who was looking back at the crater. "What's wrong?"
"Callisto and Gambit are gone."
"Want me to go after them?"
"No," Ororo said. "They both have to live with their sins. When the time comes, we will deal with them. Are you certain Jean is not dead?"
"Positive," Logan answered. "Her scent just cuts off. Along with about twenty or so Morlocks and someone else familiar that I can't place. They just disappeared, like Kurt when he vanishes, without the rotten egg smell."
"If she is alive," Ororo said, "she will find a way back."
[EPILOGUE: ONE MONTH LATER: Beneath Callisto...]
"There's no going back," Mikhail cautioned. "Once you look into the crystal, you are forever changed."
"I understand," Jean said, her hand absently trailing over the scar on her side. Mikhail had offered to remove the scar, but Jean felt the less she owed to him, the better. He had saved her and the Morlocks from certain death, but she was starting to wonder if they hadn't found themselves in something far more dangerous. She didn't care at all for the way that Mikhail's crew mates, Shostakov, Turgenov, and Belova, acted. They still moved and spoke to her, performed their duties, and seemed alive, but they lacked any kind of independent telepathic presence, as if they stopped existing once you stopped looking at them.
Mikhail was another story altogether. He was a complete blank slate. In the past month, he had made them completely comfortable, and taken care of their every basic need. He refused to take them back home, however, and any attempts to probe his mind returned nothing but a blaring static. He was extremely powerful, and it seems he had taken a liking to his guests, and had no intention of letting them leave.
Jean he had taken a special liking to, possibly because of her ability to shield her own mind telepathically. Everyone else seemed hypnotically predisposed to remain... wherever here was. But Jean never relented, and it was perhaps the challenge of someone not easily controlled that had prompted Mikhail to discuss her becoming his queen.
He nodded, and backed away from the door, allowing her to enter the chamber. It had been hollowed out of the bedrock millennium ago, according to Mikhail, although Jean had no idea how he could know that. Mikhail had discovered the crystal within shortly after his arrival, and it had given him power beyond his own abilities, raising him up to a god-like level. Jean figured if there was any chance of escaping- and to be honest, this was now a situation she felt must be escaped- it involved accessing the power of the crystal.
She turned as Mikhail nodded his head, and the doors of the chamber slowly drifted shut, closing her in with the crystal. Jean raised her hand and put it near the surface, feeling the intense warmth of it from a good foot away. It would burn her if she touched it, she estimated, sizzle the flesh right off her hand, and turn her bones to ash before she even knew it was happening, and yet her hand continued to close in. She pulled her hand back, and looked at it, and there was nothing wrong with it, but when she looked at the crystal again, her hand was still closing in on it, as if she had never pulled it back at all. She stopped, and turned away from the crystal, closing her eyes, clasping her hands to her chest, taking a few deep breaths, but when she opened them again, she was facing the crystal, and her hand was just an eyelash away from touching the crystal's surface, blood boiling, flesh roasting in the heat. She knew, even if she ran from there, managed to convince Mikhail to return her to Earth, and lived the rest of her life never thinking about this crystal again, the minute she let her focus down, she would be right back here about to touch it.
So she stopped fighting it, and pressed her hand into the M'Kraan Crystal.
[To Be Continued!]
"I'm not leaving," Scott said, blasting away at the debris with controlled bursts.
"Scott," Kitty said, her hand on his arm, "I understand what you're going through. They're my friends, too. But Weapon X will be here soon, and if the Professor was as thorough as we know him to be, there won't be any evidence that we were ever a part of their operation. They're going to take us in, and we won't be able to do anything to help our friends."
"Jean is still down there," Scott replied, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Ororo, Logan, and Shiro are still down there, too," Kitty replied. "We don't know how many of the Morlocks are still down there, or if they even survived. There may even be some Marauders alive down there. Blockbuster threw me so high into the air that if I hadn't tunneled all the way down I would have hit like a bug on a windshield. I was floating down like a feather when I saw the entire structure crater. I thought I lost everyone. But Scott, we are so exposed right now."
Scott put his hand to his visor again, as if to release another blast, and then stopped. His hand dropped.
"Hey!" one of the uniformed officers at the scene yelled, coming towards them in an uneven gait as he crossed the unstable ground. "You two!"
As he reached them, Scott saw his hand was on the butt of his firearm, and he knew Kitty had been right. He looked into the trooper's eyes and saw a strange thing; they were crossed. They suddenly uncrossed, and when he saw them again, the officer had completely different demeanor.
"Uh, I forgot why I came over here," he said, a confused look on his face.
"{You came over here to offer these rescue workers some help,}" Cable said, emerging from the treeline, "{but they've got it covered, and you're trespassing on government property, Officer Lambert,}" he finished.
"Sir, yes sir," Lambert said, rapidly retreating to the perimeter fence.
Scott looked at Kitty and back at Cable.
{It's okay, I got this,} he sent. {They'll see us in military uniforms, as long as I concentrate. I know you told Bishop and I to wait at the mansion, but we couldn't just sit on the sidelines. He's concocting one of his spell-doohickey's to try to help. We'll buy you some time.}
Scott looked at the time-lost man who claimed to be his son and felt, for the first time since meeting him, a genuine affection for him.
{We'll find her, sir,} Cable sent, his face stoic and determined. {We'll find them all.}
[NOW: Below...]
"What the hell are you doing alive, Victor?"
Sabretooth smiled in the pitch blackness. "That's some sniffer you got on you, Logan. I was just thinking about you as I peeled the skin off of one of these toilet freaks. I see Weapon X finally got around to replacing me."
"Yeah," Logan replied, "it seems they wanted someone with some morals and decency."
"Is that what you call what you have? Because I seem to remember a time when you were the one hunting people down for money."
"Hunting takes skill," Logan said. "What you do is straight up murder."
"Speaking of which," Sabretooth said, slashing out with his claws. Logan grimaced as they dug deep into his arm, and spun away from the source of the attack. He could hear Sabretooth shifting in the darkness, could smell the pungent mix of sweat and blood, feel the heat baking off his body from exertion. The area they were in, judging by the echoes, was no bigger than a thirty foot section of tunnel, choked on either side by rubble. He sensed a draft of cold air, which was likely emanating from where Sabretooth had entered.
He heard a deep chuckle to his left. "Marco," Sabretooth said.
Logan stabbed out in the general direction the sound came from, but Sabretooth had moved already. He felt the wall of the tunnel next to him, so he put his back to it, retracted his claws and listening carefully for any sound Sabretooth might make. They sat in the dark, like two submarines, each waiting for the other to ping their sonar.
"What made you go back to Weapon X, Logan?" Sabretooth said from across the tunnel. Logan created a quick mental image of the area, and placed Sabretooth about twenty feet away and to the left.
He stepped carefully forward, trying to make no sound as he did so. He left a sudden increase in temperature on the skin of his left forearm, so he lunged in that direction and scored a hit, crushing his shoulder into Sabretooth's rib-cage, pistoning his legs and slamming him into the crumbling wall of the tunnel. He slammed his fist into Sabretooth's solar plexus, and then extended his claws again, driving them deep.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Callisto tried to shift the rubble from the mouth of the tunnel, straining with maximum effort, her neck muscles like steel cables taut with tension.
"Tricia," Gambit said, "you gonna strain yourself. Maybe rupture somethin'."
"I'm going to rupture your lungs of you keep running your mouth," she said, trying again. After a few seconds, she gave up, huffing. "How the Hell do you do that thing with the cards?"
"Leftwich finish our treatment. Did what Weapon X couldn't. Me and Harpoon got mostly the same thing going on, except he only charges up metal rods, I can charge up anything. Plus anything I blow up disintegrate with extreme prejudice."
"So can't you disintegrate some of this rubble?" Ororo asked. Callisto grabbed Prism by the wrist and started to move him.
"Not unless you want it blowin' up in your face, chere. And I don't think an explosion would have a beneficial effect on some of us. Be careful, Tricia, he hurt. Lemme help him."
"Oh, you mean Drevnak?" she said, pulling his arm forcefully. Ororo heard a sharp crunch, and her mind made an unconscious association, reminding her of the ceremonial breaking of the glass at a Jewish wedding. Erik had once told her how that moment, which the Talmut says serves to engender sobriety and balanced behavior, had been perverted into one of glee, and it was glee she saw in Callisto's eye as she brutalized the Marauder.
Prism's eyes snapped open and a sharp whistle came from between his teeth as his body locked into a spasm. The shuddering quickly subsided as his eyes lost any sign of life.
"Broke what was left of his spine. When they down, make sure they stay down." Gambit shook his head. "You and I ain't so different, Tricia."
Callisto grabbed Gambit by the lapels of his trench coat and slammed him into the wall. "I am nothing like you! You murdered women, children!"
"I ain't never murdered no children," Gambit insisted. "I'm responsible for they deaths, nonetheless. Don' matter that Essex, or Leftwich, or whatever he callin' himself, lied to me. Told me you was raising an army to attack civilians. Flimsy tale, and I bought it. Like I bought all the lies I been livin' on for all these years. But don't tell me I murdered children. I found one o' your little ones that Harpoon didn't finish off, a little boy what look like a tree."
"Shut... your... mouth," Callisto growled.
"He was still breathin', but only just. Then he wasn't breathin', so-"
"Shut up!" Callisto screamed, slapping him. He made no motion to resist, but neither did he stop speaking.
"I gave him CPR," he continued. "It was tough, his skin is some pretty thick bark, but I did manage to bring him back. Next thing I know, another kid is blastin' me with some electric needle gun, and I woke up buried."
"I said shut up!" she screamed, but did not assault him again.
"I know what you said, Tricia. But I am tellin' you, I didn't murder no children."
"SHUT UP!" she screamed, anguished. "I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR LYING TONGUE IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!"
Gambit was silent for a long time. He looked over to Ororo, who was breathing in long, raspy breaths. She had the look of a caged animal about her, even as she cared for her wounded teammate. "I know it don' make a difference to you, Tricia, but I am sorry for what happen down here."
"Your sorry means nothing to me," Callisto said, "nothing you say means anything to me. And if we do manage to make it out of here, Remy... I'm going to kill you."
[NOW: Above the Alley...]
Piotr hefted a sizable chunk of rubble over his head and stepped gingerly towards the edge of the crater. He knew his own weight, even without the chunk, could possibly trigger a further collapse, but he couldn't sit by and do nothing. When he knew he was on stable ground, he tossed the twisted mass of concrete and metal off to the side. He saw Kitty standing by a rescue vehicle with her laptop out. She looked like she was trying to fry a hole in the screen with her eyes.
"Katya," Piotr said, "take a break. You've been staring at that schematic for hours."
"I have to figure out where the most likely open space is, Piotr. I can't tunnel unless I know I have a place to end up, but I know there has to be a space down there somewhere. If I could just get a look at the metallurgy reports that-"
"Kitty," he said, placing his hands on her arms, turning her gently towards him. "We are all doing everything we can. We will find them."
"I know," Kitty said, her eyes trailing down, "but I should have been down there with them."
"And if you had tunneled while stationary, and part of the tunnel collapsed onto where you were standing, what would have happened?"
Kitty turned away. "I would have been trapped until I suffocated."
Piotr nodded. "I know it must have been difficult seeing the tunnel collapse from above, but you reacted correctly tunneling when you did. You wouldn't be alive to help anyone if Blockbuster had smashed you against the wall."
"I know," Kitty said, turning and putting her cheek against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm just worried about our friends. Ororo must be going half mad with claustrophobia by now."
"Don't worry, Katya. Ororo is a strong woman. She will keep our friends safe until we can get to them."
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
"Ororo," Shiro whispered. "I need a drink of water."
"Yeah, we're all a bit thirsty," Callisto said, "but we can't just pop into the 7-11, man."
"It's for the matsugo-no-mizu," Ororo said, holding Shiro's head in her lap. "It's a Japanese funeral rite. The water of the last moment, a drink of water to refresh the soul so it will revive in Yomi, the land of his ancestors."
Shiro smiled warmly at her. "You always did embrace everyone's beliefs, wind-rider."
"I do, Shiro. But you will not be dying today. We are going to get you out of here."
"I wish that were true," he said, "but I think we... both know that I am at my end."
"No, Shiro," Ororo said, tears brimming in her eyes. "You can't leave me alone down here. I need you."
"You are stronger than your fears," Shiro said, "you survived this once, and you are infinitely wiser now. You don't need me."
Ororo felt a tear slip free from her eye and drop down into the dirt. "There's no water here, Shiro. I don't know what to do."
"Your tears will suffice. I could think of no more pure a source than the soul of a good woman like you."
Ororo bent down and blinked, allowing the tears to come freely, watching as the droplets wet Shiro's lips.
"Arigato," Shiro whispered. "Ai shiteimasu, my sister."
"Ai shiteimasu," she whispered back. "I love you, my brother." She bent lower and embraced him, her face pressed against the side of his.
Shiro smiled as he looked past Ororo. "My father was right," he said.
"About what?" she asked, moving her head back to look at him, but he was already dead.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Sabretooth reached up and put his hands on Logan's face, raking it with his own claws and slicing open Logan's mouth at its corners, creating deep furrows through his cheeks. The flesh reknitted itself almost instantly, but the pain distracted Logan enough for Sabretooth to plant a foot on his chest and kick, driving him back into the dark.
"Damn it, Logan... that hurt," he said, clutching his side as the wounds Logan had created worked to heal themselves.
"Good," Logan said. "I want you to feel every second of what I am going to do to you. I'm going to flay you, Victor. Not because I think it will kill you; no, I know it won't. That's why I am going to do it. I'm going to flay you, and let your skin grow back, and then flay you again. And again. And again. Once for every innocent life you've taken down here."
"Man, maybe Leftwich took the wrong dog," Sabretooth grinned. "You're far more vicious and sadistic than I could ever be."
"No, it's you. You are the only one I would take pride in torturing. You, who have made so many people suffer."
"You have no great moral stance against torture, Logan. Admit it," Sabretooth smiled in the blackness, "you're just sore at me because of Rose."
Logan snapped, letting the berserker rage that had been building within him out like an erupting dam. His senses all at once snapped to extreme clarity, and he could see- just barely- the heat bloom that Sabretooth was giving off, and he dove into it, slashing ferociously with his claws. He felt the momentary clack of bone on his blades as they sliced through Sabretooth's ribs, heard the pop of his lung puncturing beneath the onslaught, smelled the fresh blood explode forth from the wound. He unleashed a long, guttural scream as he tore into his adversary's interior.
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
Peter crawled through the gap in the bars outside the vent shaft he had shimmied his way through, covered now with a thick layer of dust that clung to the layer of effluent that hadn't quite dried on him yet. Behind him he dragged the electric needle gun he had used to take down the card throwing man, although he had a suspicion it had broken on the journey out. The entire tunnel complex that had been the extent of his world was now gone, collapsed behind him like the ant-hills he had seen in the dirt outside the bars. He tentatively approached the green grass, and set his hand down in it, marveling at the texture of it. It was so much softer than he could have imagined, even as he felt the sharp edges tickling his skin.
A noise to his left drew his attention, and he hefted the electro-needler in that direction. An old woman held up her hands, demonstrating peaceful intentions. Although he did not recognize her, she looked very much like one of the Morlocks; her clothing was dirty, her unkempt hair barely tamed by a large kerchief, soiled, frayed finger-less gloves covered bony fingers with chipped and dirty nails.
"Who are you, young man?" she asked quietly. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm Peter," he said, his voice trembling.
"What are you doing out here, Peter? There's been an explosion, and little boys can't be wandering around on their own, even with such big guns."
"I built it," he said, twitching the hand that the gun was in. "I can build things."
"Where are your parents?" the woman inquired mildly.
"My mom and dad died," he said, his voice cracking, and finally, he broke into quiet sobs as the reality hit him.
"I'm very sorry," she said, appraising him carefully. "Don't you have any family?"
"No," he said miserably, "everyone I knew was down in the Alley."
"Oh, my poor sweet angel," the woman said, embracing him warmly, cradling his head to her chest. "You lived in the tunnel, didn't you? You're special, aren't you? You build special things, don't you?"
Peter nodded his head as he wept, enfolded in her arms.
"Do you want me to take you to the police, who can put you in a place with doctors and scientists?"
Peter shook his head frantically. Scientists were what the Weapon X men called their smart people. He began to pull away from her, but the woman grabbed him gently by the arms.
"No, of course you don't. But you can't be out here alone, can you? Would you like me to take you to a special place, a safe place, where you can get cleaned up, have some warm food, clean water, hide as long as you like, and no one will ever bother you again?"
Peter nodded.
"Well, then, let's go!" she said, smiling brightly.
"Thank you, miss," Peter said, his arms still clinging around her waist.
"You're welcome, Peter. I like protecting little lost boys like you," she said smiling. "And you can call me Nanny."
[NOW: Elsewhere in the Alley...]
"Still don't- don't know how... to... kill me... eh, Logan?" Sabretooth said, lying in a pool of his own blood and entrails, several puncture wounds gushing blood, many of his bones fractured or broken. "I've come... back from worse," he said.
"I know, and you'll come back from this, I'm sure," Logan said. "You're healing even now, as we speak. But you're down for a bit. It'll take you a few days, maybe a few weeks, before you're healthy enough to dig yourself out of this hole. A few weeks of starvation, of thirst, of pain, of insects and animals biting away at your flesh in the dark. Who knows, maybe the insects will keep eating you as fast as you can heal. Enjoy it, Victor. It's not a tenth of the Hell that you put Rose through."
With that, Logan slipped out the entryway that Sabretooth had used to enter, and slashed at the piece of concrete that had been keeping it open. It collapsed, sealing Sabretooth in the dark. As the rubble settled, Logan listened for a long moment, wondering if maybe the collapse had actually killed him.
After a few seconds, he heard a weak chuckle, and he turned and walked away.
[NOW: Above the Alley...]
Scott took off his visor and rubbed his eyes with one hand. He had a headache that just wouldn't quit, and he wondered how much of that was withdrawal. He hadn't been out of mental contact with Jean for this long in months.
"Cable, can you read anyone's mind down there, see through their eyes, find a space big enough for Shadowcat to tunnel to, or Nightcrawler to teleport into?"
"Sorry, sir, it doesn't work quite like that. I can suggest, I can pick up general mental states, and I can even push people, but direct communication is not one of the abilities I possess."
"Cyclops," Sean said, "I've pinged the rubble with my sonar, I can't pick up much in the way of a habitable space. A few large pockets, but I cannot pinpoint them with enough accuracy to tell you where they are or how far down they go."
"And for every piece of rubble I remove," Piotr added, "there are fifty more sliding down the edges to fill the gap. It is like trying to dig a hole in mud."
Bobby stepped forward, his arms uncrossing as he pointed at the schematic. "What if I freeze the top layers, maybe they'll stick together so Colossus can dig without it filling in-"
"Fools!" a voice bellowed from above them.
They all looked up, but only Bobby replied. "Shit."
[NOW: Below...]
"I'm sorry I attacked you," Callisto said, throwing a small chunk of rubble across the space they were trapped in. "I know you and your people were just trying to protect us from the Marauders."
Ororo stared blankly beyond her, not acknowledging her. Her hand still lay upon Shiro's chest.
"And I'm sorry about your friend. I know what it's like to lose someone you love."
Ororo continued to ignore her. Her eyes were wide, with tears spilling freely down her cheeks, her lips trembling.
"What's wrong with you?" Callisto asked, frustrated.
"She's claustrophobic, Tricia, don't you listen?" Remy said. "Listen to me, Storm, forget about everything but my voice. Forget everything and listen. Hear the sounds of nature, the air slipping between the spaces. You are in an open veldt, surrounded by acacia trees and grazing springboks. You are staring up at the blue skies, but in the distance, you hear the rumble of thunder, and you can taste the rain in the growing breeze. You know a soothing shower will be coming soon."
"I grew up in Somalia," Ororo said. "There are no veldts in Somalia."
Remy sat back, sighing. "I thought you were catatonic."
"I should be dead."
"We're going to get out of this," Remy said.
"No, I mean as a child. I should have died with my parents. The building I was in was struck by one of General Aidid's rocket grenades, and it collapsed. But the rebar in the building managed to hold up enough rubble to keep me alive. It impaled my mother. They shot my father, and then drove off. And then, before the sound of the engine even faded, Magneto was there. Lifting the rubble, freeing me. I remember it all. He was there for me. He saved me."
"Where is he now?" Callisto sniped.
As if on cue, the rebar in the rubble began to vibrate.
"He's here."
Slowly, the shuddering strips of metal began to rise, dragging several tons of concrete with it. A thunderous rumble shook them as the massive slabs of concrete were lifted nimbly by metal strands that weaved themselves in and out of the gaps, forming a net of sorts to lift the maximum amount of debris. Callisto and Remy squinted as daylight streamed into the pocket they were trapped in, but Ororo merely continued to stare straight ahead.
Wolverine emerged from the main tunnel section and saw the acreage of material being hoisted above their heads, and whistled through his teeth. "Even I gotta admit, that's impressive."
As the meteor of rubble lifted higher and higher, Kitty and Piotr leapt into the hole, rapidly descending the crater walls toward their teammates before Scott could stop them. Kitty reached Ororo first, and hugged her fiercely, before looking down at Shiro. "Oh, no, Shiro," she said, and began to cry. She looked up at Piotr, who stared at his teammate and bowed his head. She could see him struggling to keep himself in check, even behind his metal facade. After a moment, he bent, and helped Ororo to her feet.
Above, the rubble was cast aside, landing with more thunder amidst the surrounding trees and empty land. Erik descended towards them, surrounded by a bubble of sharp metal shrapnel from the rubble, hundreds of pieces orbiting swiftly around him with eerie precision. "Erik," she said, taking a lurching step towards him, bolts of pain to rival her lightning firing in through her leg. "Erik, it's Shiro... he-"
Suddenly, Piotr's hand reached down and gripped Ororo's neck savagely, lifting her off the ground.
"Silence!" Erik seethed, his face contorted in anger. "You fool! I know all too well what you have done! You have betrayed our cause, and Brother Shiro has payed for your hubris!"
"Erik!" Piotr bellowed, struggling to regain control over his own body. "Release her!"
"Another infidel!" Erik screamed at Piotr. "I saved your sister's life! I gave you purpose! I gave you power! And this is how you repay me?!"
"Ororo," Piotr struggled, his face a mask of agonized confusion, "I cannot turn back to flesh! He won't let me release you!"
"It's okay, Piotr," Ororo struggled, "he is manipulating you. As he has all of us, for as long as he's known us."
The skies above grew dark as clouds began to gather.
"Magneto!" Kurt yelled. "Enough of this! You do not know what happened!"
He teleported next to Ororo, but before he could pull her from Piotr's grasp, Erik smacked him in the head with shrapnel, knocking him back, disoriented.
"I saved you all! I lifted you from ruin, from certain death, and showed you the path to true power, to true peace! And you betray me by throwing in with the Devil incarnate and his underlings! How dare you?" He looked at Ororo, unable to hide the fury he felt. "I loved you as I loved my own children! I trusted you! I made you the leader of my congregation, elevated you above even my own beloved son! I should have left you buried in the rubble where I found you, left you to die in the filth!" Erik trembled, struggling to contain his rage. With a hiss of breath, he allowed Piotr to release Ororo, who dropped to the ground, gasping as she held her windpipe. A rumble of thunder sounded from the distance.
"It would have been appropriate, as you were the reason I was in the rubble to begin with," she coughed.
"What?" Kurt asked, stepping forward, holding his hand over the bleeding gash in his head where Magneto had struck him.
"It was General Aidid's men who destroyed your home," Erik said.
"How did you happen to reach my house before the rubble could even settle? I still heard the engine of his soldier's truck as you lifted the rubble off of me." Ororo looked up at him, her eyes fiery with rage.
"I should strip the life from your body," he screamed, "and leave your corpse to rot in the rubble of your failure. But I won't," he said, his voice wavering. "Enough of my students... my children... have died this day. Your life is not mine to take, even though it was me who gave it back to you when you were left for dead by the General and his men."
"How did Aidid even know my father was helping that rebel? My father didn't even know who he was."
"I saved you!" he yelled at her.
"Every piece of rebar in that house had created a shield to protect me. Except for the piece that pierced my mother's chest."
"Ingrate!"
"You could have stopped the bullets from killing my father. Instead, you let him watch them kill his wife and daughter, and then die before digging me out. You could have saved them. Like you saved Piotr's sister from that runaway tractor, which was brand new, and had, until that moment, been in perfect operating condition. Like you saved Kurt from that enraged mob that was whipped into a frenzy by a gunman that was never found, that used bullets without rifling on them."
"I should kill you," Erik snarled.
"Then do it!" Ororo screamed. "You have manipulated me, used me, and all along it was you that I should have been fighting against! You murdered my family, finish the job, and prove what a monster you really are!"
Erik was silent, sneering at her furiously. A look of betrayal was tinted with just a hint of admiration. She always was one of his brightest followers.
Piotr stared at him with a naked fury that he couldn't properly control. "Is this true?"
Erik stared at Ororo, ignoring Piotr's question. "You are no longer one of the chosen. I take from you that which I have given you. Ororo Munroe, you are excommunicated!" A bolt of lightning arced down and struck a tree a few hundred yards distant.
The shrapnel around him formed into a platform, which lowered and slipped beneath Shiro's body. It rose slowly, reverently, and took its place by Erik's side. "He will be returned to Avalon, where the soshiki will be performed."
Sean and Logan both took a step forward to intervene, but Scott held up his hand. "X-Men, stand down. There has been enough death today."
Erik looked at Piotr, and then Kurt. "Neither of you are welcome back at Avalon. I choose not revoke your access to your abilities, although it is within my right- and within my power- to do so. You were following her as you would have followed me. I insisted on that loyalty, that unwavering faith, so I consider that my error in judgment, and I will pay for that. But your duplicity, your continued willingness to sit with the servants of my hated tormentor Charles Xavier, is a betrayal I cannot forgive."
The first few drops of what would become a torrential downpour began, spattering the ground around them. Erik rose with Shiro's body and rapidly ascended into the darkening sky. The rain began to fall in earnest.
"Storm," Scott said, looking into her eyes, "are you okay?"
"No," she replied frankly, "but I will live."
"I need you to get this weather out of here. The rain could flood the rest of the structure, and we still need to find the others that are missing, including Jean."
"I can't," she replied. "It seems that when Magneto excommunicated me, he removed my powers. I can no longer control the weather."
"Don't matter, Slim," Logan said, "She's not down there. I smell a bunch of scents, there are plenty of dead bodies down there, but she ain't one of them. Jean and a bunch of the Morlocks, their scents are... missing. She was alive, and then she was just gone. Someone got them out of there."
Scott looked around. They had lost one of their own, they were wounded, and there was nothing more they could do here. If Jean was still alive, Scott had to have faith that she would find a way to contact them.
"Okay, X-Men. Let's go home."
As they made their way back to the transport, Logan stepped up to Ororo, who was looking back at the crater. "What's wrong?"
"Callisto and Gambit are gone."
"Want me to go after them?"
"No," Ororo said. "They both have to live with their sins. When the time comes, we will deal with them. Are you certain Jean is not dead?"
"Positive," Logan answered. "Her scent just cuts off. Along with about twenty or so Morlocks and someone else familiar that I can't place. They just disappeared, like Kurt when he vanishes, without the rotten egg smell."
"If she is alive," Ororo said, "she will find a way back."
[EPILOGUE: ONE MONTH LATER: Beneath Callisto...]
"There's no going back," Mikhail cautioned. "Once you look into the crystal, you are forever changed."
"I understand," Jean said, her hand absently trailing over the scar on her side. Mikhail had offered to remove the scar, but Jean felt the less she owed to him, the better. He had saved her and the Morlocks from certain death, but she was starting to wonder if they hadn't found themselves in something far more dangerous. She didn't care at all for the way that Mikhail's crew mates, Shostakov, Turgenov, and Belova, acted. They still moved and spoke to her, performed their duties, and seemed alive, but they lacked any kind of independent telepathic presence, as if they stopped existing once you stopped looking at them.
Mikhail was another story altogether. He was a complete blank slate. In the past month, he had made them completely comfortable, and taken care of their every basic need. He refused to take them back home, however, and any attempts to probe his mind returned nothing but a blaring static. He was extremely powerful, and it seems he had taken a liking to his guests, and had no intention of letting them leave.
Jean he had taken a special liking to, possibly because of her ability to shield her own mind telepathically. Everyone else seemed hypnotically predisposed to remain... wherever here was. But Jean never relented, and it was perhaps the challenge of someone not easily controlled that had prompted Mikhail to discuss her becoming his queen.
He nodded, and backed away from the door, allowing her to enter the chamber. It had been hollowed out of the bedrock millennium ago, according to Mikhail, although Jean had no idea how he could know that. Mikhail had discovered the crystal within shortly after his arrival, and it had given him power beyond his own abilities, raising him up to a god-like level. Jean figured if there was any chance of escaping- and to be honest, this was now a situation she felt must be escaped- it involved accessing the power of the crystal.
She turned as Mikhail nodded his head, and the doors of the chamber slowly drifted shut, closing her in with the crystal. Jean raised her hand and put it near the surface, feeling the intense warmth of it from a good foot away. It would burn her if she touched it, she estimated, sizzle the flesh right off her hand, and turn her bones to ash before she even knew it was happening, and yet her hand continued to close in. She pulled her hand back, and looked at it, and there was nothing wrong with it, but when she looked at the crystal again, her hand was still closing in on it, as if she had never pulled it back at all. She stopped, and turned away from the crystal, closing her eyes, clasping her hands to her chest, taking a few deep breaths, but when she opened them again, she was facing the crystal, and her hand was just an eyelash away from touching the crystal's surface, blood boiling, flesh roasting in the heat. She knew, even if she ran from there, managed to convince Mikhail to return her to Earth, and lived the rest of her life never thinking about this crystal again, the minute she let her focus down, she would be right back here about to touch it.
So she stopped fighting it, and pressed her hand into the M'Kraan Crystal.
[To Be Continued!]