Justice began dressing quickly but caught part of
what Ally had gotten from Alex and scowled. He felt the adrenaline pumping. He
wanted to get his hands on Pietro and squeeze the life out of him.
Storm watched his face grow angry and
she touched his shoulder to which he nudged her away.
Justice turned to apologize,
"Sorry, they are torturing Alex." He sighed and hugged Ororo.
She hugged him back, "Remy's just
outside waiting for you and I am by your side."
Justice nodded in the small bathroom and
turned to splash water in his face. He felt Storm zip the back of his clothing.
"Are you going to be all
right?" She asked concerned.
"No, but we need to go, now,"
Justice said grabbing her to him hard and kissed her head.
She nodded and grabbed her uniform.
Justice turned his back as she shed her
clothing. If saw her body right now they wouldn't get out of there.
Remy took a hard drag on his cigarette
and watched Ally running down the hall. She didn't seem to notice him and
started past him to Justice's door.
Remy grabbed her arm lightly,
"Chere, he's getting dressed to go."
"He needs to hurry," Ally
pushed Remy away.
Remy grabbed her wrist, "Dis isn't
you," He forced her to look at him touching his hand under her chin,
"Is it Hayley?"
She shook her head, "I can only
read Alex right now."
He swallowed hard, "Dey hurtin'
her?" Ally's face fell and her tears played at the corners of her eyes.
Remy pulled her to him and understanding what had happened. His blood ran hot
at the thought of it. He knew if Alex was being forced then Hayley must be too.
He reached to Justice's door and pounded
hard. "Com' on. Justice!" He yelled.
Ally pulled away, "If you gather
Justice and Storm I will get Beast and Scott." She was near tears again.
"I had thought Alex would be able to fight back, but instead, she was
praying for death. That doesn’t make sense."
"We got a lot of help, chere. We’ll
get dem back," Remy assured her and hugged her again. He was truly upset
to hear that Alex had given in, "Who hurt Alex?"
She stared at him blankly so he pressed
again, "Who is the crapaud, Ally?"
She gulped upset that he knew as she was
certain that Alex wouldn't want them all to know. She gave in finally and
whispered, "Pietro." She almost felt as if she had been involved as
well and she was angered by the image and wanted to tear Quicksilver up.
The door shot open and an angry Justice
faced her. "Get in line, Al." He barked, "That scum’s mine
first."
Ally panicked, "I didn't say that
loud enough for you to hear, Just’." She made him look at her again.
"It's not under control yet, is it?"
His angered look took her back and she
knew he was going regardless, "What about your strength and speed? Did
they step up too?"
Remy's eyes became wide as the whole
thing made sense, "Yo' stronger now, homme?"
"Yeah," Justice mumbled
ignoring them both and kept a fast pace walk and stared vacantly ahead.
Remy glanced at Ally. They both worried
that Justice's anger would get the best of him on this mission.
Storm ran from the room in her uniform,
"He is not thinking clearly."
Remy nodded, "Give dat homme lots a
room, non?" Remy knew all too well what he was going through.
Ally ran into the sick bay and saw a
very upset Beast staring at a computer, "We're leaving, NOW."
Jean assured Hank that all was well and bid
them a successful trip.
Rayne sat on her bed and looked
dis-interested in the unfolding events.
"Allyson?" Beast asked her
quickly when he noted the worried look on her face, "Is there something
wrong?" He wondered briefly if Alex had been killed.
Ally dropped her eyes and was saved by
Justice's angry entrance. "You going? Come on!" He barked at Beast.
"The proverbial wild horses,
couldn’t drag me away from going along," Beast retorted.
Suddenly Justice's mind slipped into
Beast's mind and Hank spun around and looked at Ally, "Allyson? Why didn't
you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"That my Alex is praying for death
under Pietro's hands," Beast looked very angry but had no outlet for his
anger.
"Justice?" Ally turned to her
brother and hit him.
"I didn't tell him," He
shouted and left abruptly.
"He did, didn't he?" Ally
asked quietly.
"Yes," Beast was confused.
"He has lost control of his
telepathy since the step up, Hank," Ally sighed, "I’m really worried
about him going."
Rayne swallowed hard listening to the
exchange. She liked Alex and she had an idea of why she would want death. ‘Torture
has a way a doin’ dat,’ Rayne thought bitterly. She looked about the room
and prayed for a miracle to happen so she could escape. She knew Remy would be
going and she was not going to stay here. She wanted to be by his side no
matter what the danger.
Bobby walked in with Scott and carried
the same worried look.
Scott looked at Ally, "I've never seen Justice so angry
before."
Ally walked past him, "Just stay
out of our way, Scott." She suddenly matched Justice's anger.
Beast held her by the shoulders,
"Let our anger not cloud our judgment." Ally’s eye’s glowed breifly
and Hank knew the captured women were being tortured further and walked out
swiftly with her.
Bobby looked at Jean and Rayne as the
adults left. He smiled to himself knowing he would have to time it right. He
made his way out of the Infirmary with a friendly smile and wave at Rayne.
Rayne waved back with a grin. She
guessed that Bobby was going to try and sneak aboard the Blackbird. Rayne knew
also that the boy knew a quick route to the hanger that housed the jet. She
thanked God quickly for the miracle. She didn't want Bobby to get to far ahead
and so she implemented her plan. She shivered and wrapped her arms around
herself with a slight moan.
"Are
you cold Rayne?" Jean asked.
Rayne merely nodded pretending to be
upset and let her teeth chatter.
Jean sighed, "I'll get you a
blanket." She turned her back for a minute to gather up a blanket and when
she turned back around, Rayne was gone. "Damnation!"
Jean bolted from the sick bay and began to
look for her up and down the corridors, "You get back here this minute,
Rayne!" Jean cried into the empty halls even though she knew how futile it
was.
Rayne quickly found Bobby by scent and
caught up with him as he was boarding the underground transport system that
supplied transportation from the mansion to the hangar and other areas. She
hopped on the rail just in time and when it stopped she followed him to the jet
hangar. The large jet, that she had come to this place on originally, had some
panels opened on the side and some equipment around it so she figured they
would be taking the other smaller one. She was happy about that decision
because the other jet didn’t hold very fond memories for her. Bobby ran
over to the big jet and climbed onboard, while Rayne shook her head and gained
entrance to the smaller one.
She looked around in the cabin for
a place to hide and found a panel for a storage compartment that housed
emergency gear. It was a cramped place, only about 5x6 but she made herself as
comfortable as she could among the equipment.
Not long after that, she heard Justice
grumbling and cursing as he boarded. She prayed that they wouldn’t discover
her.
Justice was firing up the Blackbird
as Logan got on. He slapped his hand on a control panel in anger.
"You goin’ in with this attitude,
Justice?" He grunted, "Not a good idea. Better to keep a cool
head."
"This coming from a guy who socked
me in the jaw for just knocking on his door!" Justice shot back angrily.
Logan lit his stogie as Scott got on
board. "Want to put that out?" Scott and Justice said together.
Justice rolled his eyes, "Am I that
bad?"
Logan chuckled until he saw Remy and
Storm climb in.
Remy watched Justice at the controls as
if he was at home there. "Yo' gon' fly dis homme?" Remy teased.
"You have a problem with that?"
Justice shrugged and began to bring other controls to life and programmed the
coordinates. Remy stared at him impressed, but Scott was skeptical.
"I have it," Scott said
pointedly.
"Would have been nice if
you had it ready, before we got here!" Justice barked.
Scott was angered at the unreasonable jab
and thought to retort, but a gentle hand on his shoulder backed him off and he
looked at Ally's gentle eyes.
"Never mind him Scott. We are all on
edge," Ally sighed as she felt her sister's pain gnawing at her.
Remy caught Ally’s somber mood and his
heart went to her, "Yo' both suffer for dem?" He missed Hayley but
was sure he would be holding her soon. He knew it meant going against Magneto
and his followers but he was ready, he was ready to fight for his friend and
his lover.
Alex watched Pietro as he lay next to
her. She could feel his naked body against hers and also felt him breathing
uneasily in his sleep. She was sure he was sound asleep so she tried to think
of a way to utilize this to escape, but how? Even if she could struggle free of
her restraints she would still have him to deal with.
She could feel the bruise on her face and
wondered if had been Pietro who had hit her. He didn't seem like he had been
able to. He seemed to act more like a lover than an enemy. Alex sighed and
longed for Hank to hold her. Tears stung her cheeks wondering how would she
face anybody after this. She now knew all too well how Rayne and Hayley felt,
and she felt bitter tears swell in her eyes.
Pietro began to stir in his sleep as if
he was used to her in his bed and he reached for her. She watched him blink
awake and look at her with a smile but she turned her head. She felt his touch
along her cheek.
"Sabretooth hit you hard, the
sadistic bastard," He sighed. She kept her face turned from his and he
pulled himself up so he could see her eyes and she was forced to see his.
"I won't hit you," He said quietly.
"Maybe you don't hit me but you cause
me to hate you more than you know," She turned her face from his.
"I don't think you hate me," He
smiled.
Hayley woke slowly to see Victor
standing over her and she dared not to move. Until she felt the torment Alex
was going through and she began to try to burn through her bindings. Her fire
didn't come and she felt the helmet. She struggled more realizing Alex had lost
her fight.
Eric joined her bedside as he smiled
over her, "That telepathy you were born with," He cooed. "It
should help you to share your sister's pain."
Vic grabbed Hayley's face roughly,
"Still got a lot of fight." He growled loudly. "Not for
long."
Hayley felt weak but knew she had to
fight and she watched Eric motion for them to leave her with him. "You
will be thoroughly broken and in my alliance before this day is out," He
promised.
"I am no horse to be broken in,
Magneto!" She scoffed.
"No, but you do have a weaknesses
that we can exploit to ensure your loyalty," Eric smiled and let his hand
reach for her abdomen, "Is this Sabretooth’s seed that grows within
you?"
"No," Hayley laughed,
"It's my boyfriend's."
Eric smiled spotting the bluff, "I
doubt that. Not enough time has elapsed," He stood again thinking of his
soon addition to the next generation of followers and smiled broadly,
"This boyfriend may be yours to have and to hold, ’till death does you
part, if you join us."
Hayley spat at him. "Not a snowballs
chance in hell, Eric!" She wrestled again, "And Remy wouldn't join
you either even if his life depended on it."
"What if 'YOUR' life depended on
it?" Eric chuckled.
Hayley wrestled free a foot and struck
Eric along the side of his face. She began to wrestle the other foot free when
she felt the back of his hand against her face.
"Angry because we are going to
win?" Eric sighed, then his smile turned ominous, "You need to be
taught another lesson, I see." Hayley narrowed her eyes at him as he
beckoned for Creed, "You may do whatever you wish to her as long as you
don’t kill her. She is to be turned to our side before the day is out."
Hayley saw Sabretooth's fist coming at
her face and braced herself. She tasted her own blood and soon felt Victor
grabbing her body and tearing at her clothing.
"Don't leave her too weakened, she
needs to be fit enough for surgery in a while," Eric commanded then walked
away.
Hayley tried to fight Victor but he was
far too big for her to push off of her. She groaned and held back tears as she
tried to remember her time with Remy, hoping to trick herself from getting too
upset.
Victor bit at her flesh and laughed,
"Aint healing, huh?" He growled, "It would be more fun if you
could heal." Hayley couldn't pretend any longer and threw up.