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#3
DEC 08 |
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The Stranger, Part Three:
“Escape”
“Escape”
Jean Grey’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around and discovered she was lying on a cold stone floor in a medieval-looking dungeon. She slowly stood and began to survey the room. Nothing but stone. She focused on a wall and tried to force a stone to move. Nothing.
“She’s trying to open a hole in the wall,” Mastermind whispered. Magneto nodded.
“And the illusion?”
“Intact.” Even as they spoke, a new stone was being placed in the wall to replace the one Jean had just pulled out. “She thinks her powers are gone.”
“Excellent,” Magneto said. “Continue. I shall go to see to the other’s interrogation.” He turned and walked down the hallway toward a small room where Toad and Nemo were waiting as another stone in the wall began to twitch.
Professor Xavier scowled. “I can still detect no trace of them,” he finally said. He scanned the faces of the four remaining X-Men. Warren Worthington, Bobby Drake, and Hank McCoy looked worried. Scott Summers paced back and forth like a caged tiger, looking like he wanted to tear something (or someone) apart.
“We can’t just sit here!” Scott finally yelled, punching the wall.
“Professor, would you like us to report to powers training?” Hank McCoy asked.
Grateful for the chance to clear the room, Xavier nodded. “You are all excused to the gymnasium except for Mr. Summers.”
“Got it,” Hank said. None of those three wasted any time in clearing Xavier’s office. Xavier sat behind his desk and waited patiently.
It only took a few seconds. “Blast it, Professor, we have to get her back!” Scott yelled, slamming his fist against Xavier’s desk.
Xavier expertly caught a small statue as it began to fall and replaced it safely on the desk. “And what would you have us do?” he asked.
“Anything!” Scott shouted back. “We have to find her and save her!”
Xavier raised an eyebrow. “And what about Adam? He is also missing.”
“I don’t care about him. I just want Jean back.”
Xavier thought a moment. “I see,” he finally said. He steepled his fingers and studied Scott. “So you are willing to discard one of your teammates for Ms. Grey.”
“I don’t trust him!” Scott yelled. “He knew too much about the way the Brotherhood would operate!”
“And how would you define this?” Xavier asked. “How much is too much?”
“He knew all their powers just as well as we do. He even shoved me out of the way when he saw Quicksilver coming!”
Xavier took a breath. “Is that was this is about? Do you feel threatened by Adam?”
Scott let out a harsh laugh. “As an X-man? Hardly.” He leaned over Xavier’s desk. “I’m threatened by the fact that he’s obviously a spy sent by Magneto!”
Xavier frowned. “Do you really think that I would allow any students into this school that I had not scanned? If he had been working for any of our enemies, I would have detected it.”
Scott’s voice was as cold as ice. “Maybe you missed something.”
Xavier’s frown grew deeper. “Perhaps I was mistaken and you are not yet ready to serve as team leader. Dismissed.” Xavier turned around and looked out the window. The sound of the door slamming shut behind him signaled that Scott had made his exit.
The door to Jean’s cell opened and Toad pitched Nemo inside. He’d barely hit the floor before the door was locked again.
“Nemo!” Jean cried, rushing to him. His face was bruised and blood flowed from cuts that covered his face and torso. She tore a sleeve from her costume and began trying to stop the flow. “What did they do to you?” she whispered as tears began to escape from her eyes.
Nemo’s left eye fluttered open. The right was swollen shut and badly bruised. “Don’t know what they wanted,” he said. “Never even asked me anything.” His eye closed and his breathing became regular as he slipped into unconsciousness.
“Why are they doing this?” Jean whispered again.
“I can break him, master,” Toad said as he hopped up and down in the throne room. Magneto sat slumped in a magnificent chair, deep in thought. “You want his secrets, and I can get them for you.”
“Silence!” Magneto roared. He stood and walked to a window. He looked out with his hands clasped behind his back. “There is something unusual about that X-man,” he mused.
“I can find out for you!” Toad whined. Magneto nodded once slowly and the Scarlet Witch raised a hand. Toad barely jumped out of the way before the room’s chandelier came crashing down on the spot he had just occupied.
“Let that be a lesson to you,” Magneto said. “Next time she will not miss. Now begone!” Whimpering, Toad slinked out of the room.
The Scarlet Witch shivered. For some reason, Magneto always had that effect on both her and her brother Quicksilver.
Magneto returned to his throne and sat. “What are you hiding?” he murmured.
In the dungeon, Nemo pushed himself up and staggered over to Jean Grey. “We have to get out of here,” he whispered.
“But how?” Jean asked. “They’ve neutralized my telekinesis and there’s no way out?”
Nemo smiled. “Are you sure?” he asked.
Outside the cell, Mastermind frowned as Nemo raised his hand. “What’s he doing?” he whispered. His eyes went wide as a glow appeared around the hand. With a scream, he dove out of the way as Nemo’s energy blast tore through the wall of the cell.
“Come on!” Nemo yelled, grabbing Jean’s hand and pulling her through the hole. It seemed like his strength was returning more quickly than could be anticipated. “They won’t be confused for long!”
Jean hurried out with him, running past Mastermind, who lay in the floor after being struck by a chunk of rock.
“Can you figure the way out of here?” Nemo asked.
Jean’s brow furrowed as she concentrated. “This way,” she said, taking a left turn. They continued running down the gloomy corridors.
“They have escaped,” Quicksilver reported as he returned to the throne room. “Mastermind has been injured.”
Magneto thought a moment. “No matter,” he judged. Then a cruel smile crossed his lips as a thought came to him. “You and the Scarlet Witch shall remain here with me. Let Toad try to stop them.”
“As you wish,” Quicksilver said before running out of the room to find Toad.
“The door is just ahead,” Jean said as she and Nemo continued through the castle. She froze as she heard an ominous thud behind her. She clasped Nemo’s upper arm and turned.
Toad crouched there, a smile on his twisted face. “Master Magneto was right. You are attempting to flee. His loyal Toad will stop you!”
“Not going to happen,” Nemo said as he raised his hand. One energy blast later, Toad was sprawled on the floor and the two X-Men were making their way out.
“They’re gone,” Quicksilver reported as he ran back into the room.
“We could have stopped them,” Scarlet Witch said.
A cold smile formed on Magneto’s face. “I know.”
“Then why did you hold us back, sir?” Quicksilver asked. “We would have brought them back to you.”
“Your loyalty is not in question,” Magneto said as he stood and walked back to the window. He looked down and watched as Nemo and Marvel Girl fled. “There is something odd about that young man. He does not feel… right.”
Scarlet Witch nodded once. “I feel the same thing. When I used my hex magic in our last battle against the X-Men, it was as if he was somehow…” She paused a moment. “Wrong is the only word I know that could describe it.”
Magneto slowly nodded once. “Yes. Let Xavier deal with this.” He smiled his cold smile. “We have much else to do.” He turned from the window and sat back on his throne. His eyes closed as he began to search his thoughts for his next attack.
Hank McCoy scowled as the doorbell at the mansion that served as Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters rang. “Three in the morning,” he griped as he yawned. “Don’t people have anything else to do than ring doorbells at this time of night?” He opened the door. “Oh, my stars and garters!”
Xavier sat behind his desk with his fingers steepled. Despite the late hour, he looked as if he had had hours to prepare. Jean Grey and Adam Lucas, seated on the other side of the desk, appeared much more haggard. “Most peculiar,” he said. “He let you go.”
“That’s what we thought,” Adam said. “We never saw Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch. The only obstacle he placed in our path was Toad.”
The door to Xavier’s office flew open. Scott Summers ran in, wearing only pajama pants, with his hair still mussed from sleep. Warren Worthington, Bobby Drake, and Hank McCoy were standing behind him, peeking in and trying to look inconspicuous. “Jean!” he said. “You’re all right!”
Xavier glanced at a small clock on his desk and raised his voice so that he could be heard clearly in the hall as well as his office. “As it is now four a.m., I recommend that we all return to bed. Due to these unusual circumstances, I will postpone classes for two hours in the morning. Dismissed.” The X-men all headed for the door except Adam, who drew closer to the desk.
“Professor, may I have a word with you?” he asked.
Xavier nodded. Adam closed the door and then pulled a chair up closer to the desk. “What is on your mind?” Xavier asked.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Adam said. “I can’t keep it hidden any more.”
Xavier listened as Adam spoke. As the story went on, Xavier had to fight to keep a neutral look on his face. At last Adam was finished. Xavier said the only words possible for him.
“Is this true?” he asked.
Adam nodded. “Yes. Every word.”
Xavier thought a moment. “Adam, you are hereby dismissed from this school. It is too dangerous for you to remain here. You may sleep here tonight on the condition that you speak to no one else about what you have just told me, and you are to depart tomorrow morning.”
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To Be Continued...
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