'Oz was never like this,' Reggie thought to himself
as he began to run full tilt with the frightened child. He jumped and dodged
mutants and their attacks.
He stopped short when he saw the blonde from the ship worriedly
hunched over the large, furry blue mutant, and his heart went them when he saw
her helpless visage.
He ran up next to the blonde. She turned to him defensively but
sighed when she recognized him. She shook her head sadly and returned her
loving gaze back to the now unconscious mutant.
"Maybe I can help him," Reggie offered, thrusting
the child forward for her to hold. "Here, hold this."
Alex took the offered child that was more or less
pushed into her hands. She found her voice, "Do you really think you
can?"
"I'll give it a go," He took a deep breath and closed
his eyes. His hands began their pure white glow and Reg took another deep
breath before placing them on Beast. His newly discovered ability took on a new
meaning as he realized it was working for him. He peeked through his lidded
eyes to see the wound closing. He opened his eyes wide and gawked at what he
was actually doing.
"Bloody hell, it worked!" Reg said quickly as he finally
let his breath go and Beast began to move slowly.
"Wow!" Alex smiled brightly and jumped
forward kissing the Australian's cheek. "Thank you." Then she saw her
love began to move and helped him to sit up.
Beast opened weary eyes to see Alex kissing the
cheek of red faced Reg while pushing one of the twins into his arms, "I
take it I missed something, Dear?" Hank mumbled as Alex began to help him
into a sitting position.
Her words became more audible to Hank but he still
felt weak.
"Let's get this little one and Beast to a safe
spot." Alex suggested quickly gesturing to the baby.
Minnie landed by Alex's feet but Alex quickly offered
her a palm. Minnie began pointing to Wolverine who was being tormented by a
woman wearing red.
"You better get him out of here." She said
and began to wave them to the building.
"Why?" Alex and Reg called after her
together.
Minnie began her retreat to find shelter but
gestured to the sparkling Khaki who watched in horror as Logan's face contorted
in pain, and his muscles twitched involuntarily.
Alex and Reg moved faster to get Beast and the
baby out of there.
Khaki's eyes began to spark and they knew she would
strike soon.
Khaki looked at Rogue with mixed emotions. Rogue held
Khaki's hand to comfort her but it was overwhelming. These people had dropped
from the sky and began attacking people at a funeral. ‘Was there no
sanctuary for people mourning their dead? Did'nt they have any respect?’
Khaki could feel her mouth turn dry when she saw one of the
few people she trusted being whipped around in pain after helping other
mutants. Logan stood helpless under the spell of a witch dressed in red. Khaki
turned to Rogue again, her eyes pleading for help but Rogue only squeezed her
hand harder.
"No, Sugah, we best not get in the way," Rogue
said plainly but to the young girl it sounded like a command.
"She'll kill him if someone doesn't help him," Khaki
protested and then she jolted forward toward the scuttle. She could hear Rogue
on her heels but it didn't stop her.
Khaki turned sending a very controlled warning shot at Rogue's
feet and Rogue eyed the child suspiciously.
Khaki spread her arms and let the electricity run through her body
like a thousand needles. Her hair stood on end and she knew this was the most
power she had ever generated. She knew this extreme power was necessary
to help protect her friend, but she wasn't sure how well she could control it
yet.
Khaki looked at the sparks that flew from her
fingertips and wasn't sure how much longer she could hold the electric surge,
so she aimed it the woman in red who laughed at Wolverine.
Hayley saw Amber and a floodgate of emotions
opened. Amber was going for Xavier with her claws extended and Cyclops had
Amber in his site ready to blast her.
"NO!" Hayley screamed distracting Scott long
enough to grab Amber by the foot and pull her into the air. Amber's kicking
subsided but Hayley didn't notice because she saw the marks of red across
Xavier's shirt, and she noted the pained expressions in everyone's faces.
Everyone began to jerk about involuntarily as Khaki's
lightening danced though and around everyone within striking range. Hayley took
note that the lightening shot through her but did not affect her, and when she
noticed Amber's body jerking about she realized she was the only one aside from
Khaki that hadn't been affected.
Hayley quickly placed Amber on the ground and
approached the lightening mutant as Khaki began to fire up for another charge.
Gambit started dealing out cards to distract khaki but
found he was now Khaki's target and her lightening loomed over him as he braced
for another impact. He watched through half closed, pained eyes as Hayley
jumped in front his now slumped body.
"No, chere," Remy mumbled to no avail
because his words were merely above a whisper.
Hayley jumped in front of Gambit absorbing Khaki's strike
easily much to Remy's amazement. She gave the lightning mutant a coy smile as
Khaki watched Hayley begin to move in on her. Her coy smile came from watching
Rogue sneak up behind Khaki. 'This little lightening bug is going down.' Hayley
thought to herself.
Rogue shook her head and jumped to her feet. She wasn't sure
who could stand another jolt that Khaki could throw. She zeroed in on the
smaller mutant who was being distracted by something else.
'Now or nevah, I suppose,' Rogue sighed as she grabbed
Khaki in a headlock to hold her still. 'Thank God for Logan's training.'
She sighed as the smaller mutant had little or no resistance.
Rogue jumped behind her and pressed her bare wrist to
Khaki's cheek for a quick second. Veins began to bulge quickly from Khakis
sparkly face and her mouth open in a perpetual scream of horror but she made no
sound but gestured for help. Khaki fell to the ground in a heap at Rogue's feet
and Rogue stood there trying to gain control of the crackling in her ears.
Rogue knew Hayley was running for them and would
assess the younger girl but it took all of Rogue's will power not to scream
with poor Khaki's thoughts.
Khaki didn't have the time to respond or
comprehend what was happening to her. She wasn't even sure who or what was
doing this to her. She saw the ground coming towards her and the blanket of
darkness added to her confusion as she could hear a far away voice.
"Are you all right?" the voice said gently but was
very far away.
Khaki tried to focus on it. "I just wanted to help
Logan," she breathed the words not even sure if she had said them at all
and gave into a grasp that felt angelic in comparison to the hard ground.
Hayley cut her heels into the earth sliding into the
duo. She grabbed Khaki as she fell and watched her struggling to hold her consciousness.
She stroked the child's head knowing all to well what Rogue's touch could do.
"Are you all right?" Hayley mumbled to the
girl whose eyes were rapidly closing.
What Hayley hadn't been expecting was the answer came
in stereo.
"I just wanted to help Logan," Khaki and Rogue
cooed together, and then Khaki shut her eyes completely leaving Rogue standing
there clenching and unclenching her fists as she spied Logan laying on the
ground with a hand on his head.
"Hey, uh Rogue," Hayley, said evenly as she
rose to meet Rogue's eyes. "You have some of Khaki's marbles. Remember? It
happened to us too."
Hayley watched Rogue's eyes and felt a chill at the
loss of feelings in them. Hayley regained her composure though, "What are
you now? Borg or something?" Hayley joked weakly.
Rogue gave her no emotion but brushed a finger
to Hayley's cheek. The touch was enough to send Hayley back a step or two and
Hayley was able to shake it off.
Rogue gave her a ghost of a smile as she began to rise
into the air above the rest of the crowd.
Dumbfounded, Hayley watched Rogue go, trying to
summize what the kid was trying to do. Hayley knew with most of the mutants on
the ground, that there was not a real threat to Rogue but she was worried Rogue
would kill the next person who touched Logan.
"Awww shit," Hayley mumbled and began to fire
contact between the siblings. Hayley could feel Justice's turmoil and knew he
would be useless at this point. She quickly found him getting to his feet to
face an angry looking Chloe, or was she Jump right now?
Justice felt and saw Khaki charging up as he spied
Storm's motionless body. Ty ran to help him as he held a large piece of rubber
in his hands.
"This might help boss." Ty shoved it into his
hand.
"Where did you get this?" Justice stared in
disbelief at the rubber.
"I had it stored in my body." Ty yelled as
he ran to his brother to warn him.
Justice shook his head and remembered the net Ty had
pulled once from his body. 'What else does that kid have stored in there.
Hoffa?' he threw rubber over Storm quickly.
He knew most of the other mutants could weather the
attack and took a deep breath to weather it himself as he protected the
helpless woman. What he saw when he look at the crowd was Chloe's crossed arms
and scorned look.
He wasn't sure what he had done wrong. He had thought Chloe
would try to calm Khaki and he would protect Storm if Chloe didn't make it in
time but Chloe froze in her steps taking Imp's hand and jumping them to a safe
distance. The whole time she watched Justice as if he had crossed her.
Justice gave her a clueless look and watched Imp's scared
face. Then a bolt of pain took his thoughts from him.
Justice was relieved to see Khaki had been subdued but
quickly found Chloe in front of him.
"Who is she to you?" Chloe demanded.
Justice was without words. 'What is she talking about?'
"STORM? You met her right? She is an X-man and she is injured."
Chloe pointed a finger to him, "She's more than that to
you, Justice Adams" Chloe countered.
The situation dawned on him then, "Oh Chloe," he
said in a calmer voice. "We're just friends."
Chloe's eyes held a dead stare and she gave him no
hint of the emotions she held. She said nothing but her non-existent emotions
spoke volumes to Justice and he got to his feet.
Chloe wandered off with a heavy heart, hoping Justice
didn't see it. She looked back slightly enough to see her husband carefully
removing the shield he had thrown over the beautiful woman. The concern in his
eyes for this other woman told Chloe she was more than a friend. Justice was
genuine when he told Chloe 'she's just a friend'. Chloe realized that the
feelings might be too new for Justice to admit them, even to himself.
Chloe realized the attacking mutants were up on their
feet again and that Rogue was flying and even with these serious things
happening in front of her she felt the tears well up and she wiped them from
her face quickly. Chloe then realized she was solid again.
Laughter replaced her tears but before she knew it she was
transparent once again. She sighed as she ran to help her in laws.