Daughter Of the Beast *Wolverine/Avengers*

Chapter 35- In Which Our Heroes Are Imprisoned

        Handguns dangling from my hands, I returned to the throne room. Dozens of people crowded the room, making it seem smaller than it was. Magneto surveyed them all, a small smile gracing his face. He noticed me and waved me over. "Ah. You've come back. Is the President dead?" I nodded wordlessly, staring at the smooth floor. The Glocks flew out of my hands with a flick of his gloved fingers. They were nestled carefully into the box and carried far away from any mutants who might use them.  

        I didn't dare to move for a few minutes, but everyone seemed to be purposefully ignoring me, so I sneaked into the crowd of people. I spotted Everett, Black Widow and Dr. Banner, and headed over to them. Welcomed immediately, we bent our heads together to discuss what we were going to do. "Who are the other people here?" 

        "Mutants?" I questioned the question. 

        

        Black Widow nodded once in affirmation, red hair brushing her chin. "Some of them I know from SHIELD records, and others are obviously mutants. " Her eyes rapidly scanned the room. 

        There was a gunshot from the front of the room. I, and the others spun around on our bare feet. Magneto held a pistol in the air, and a few chunks of magnificent Russian ceiling showered his head. "So. Who will join me?" 

        There was an awkward silence. He rolled his eyes. "Let me make this simpler... You join me, you can get normal clothes, food, whatnot. If you don't join me, you can sit in the prison below the palace where I can easily fetch you if I need you. Now, let's try this again. Who wants to join me?" Six people immediately shoved through the crowd to join him. Black Widow caught her breath as a seventh went to join them. 

        "That's Kerosene. He can set any fat on fire, whether it's covered by skin, muscle, or bone. He's incredibly dangerous." 

        In the end, about a dozen people separated from the crowd. Two angel men, a boy with sickly grey skin and black eyes, and a creature that flickered between wolf and human like an ever-changing hologram were among them. I swallowed, a bit relieved that no one from our team had gone forward out of desperation or confusion. I moved next to Everett as Magneto swept the crowd with his piercing gaze. "No one else?" There was some shuffling and muttering. 

        Then someone stepped up. "I'll join you." 

        "Tony?" Steve said from behind us. "Tony? What are you doing?" His voice was small and lonely, voicing the confusion that all of us felt. Tony turned and gave us a tiny sad wave before joining Magneto.  

        The pinprick of hurt twisted and spread into a heavy weight inside my chest. Why would Tony do that? He was part of the team. He was part of the Avengers! He was part of us. He couldn't just throw that away. But he just did. Everett shook next to me. Anger rolled off him in heavy waves. I took a deep breath to relieve some of the pressure behind my eyes. 

        My arm was roughly grabbed and I shouted in surprise. "This way Miss." All of us were dragged kicking and screaming down a red tiled staircase that descended into the underbelly of the palace. Normal rooms became mosaic caverns winking with jewels that devolved into bones as we went deeper and deeper. The stairs became worn and bare, and the walls only bore faint flecks of paint. The soldiers weren't careful, and by the time we paused in a deep blue, oval room, I had knots and bruises forming on my elbows and knees. Head spinning, I was jerked along. I tried to focus on Everett's dark hair in front of me as it jounced up and down. A long hallway stretched before us. Green painted doors embedded with dirt stood in rows like soldiers. 

        They flung open the door and began shoving us into them, the click of the locks echoing like solitary insects. The cell had a single barred window watching over the four benches laden with thin straw that served as beds. I claimed the one in the far right corner. Three other prisoners stood, dazed and looked around at the tiny space. I recognized none of them. We glared at each other for ticking minutes until I reached my hand out. "I'm Ruari Logan." 

        "I'm Falcon." A dark hand fitted into mine, and we shook. I instantly felt more comfortable around him. It was an echo of home, being around someone with dark skin like carved chocolate. 

        The other two didn't speak. Falcon sighed. "Ruari, this is Doctor Strange and Doctor Druid." 

        The two men smiled at me from underneath their messy hair. They moved like mirror images of each other. "We're telepathically linked on the subconscious level. We also have a neural link set up. That way, we always know what happens to the other, even in different dimensions, planes of existence, and other things." Doctor Druid said. 

        "The side affects are minor. We move together, and if Druid eats, I don't need to. We're essentially one force inside two bodies." Doctor Strange finished. 

        "So... what if you want to not move together?" I ask. 

        "We simply erase pieces of the neural link." They said together. 

        I sighed, already getting a headache at the thought of being 'neural linked' to someone. 

        The light in the cell slowly faded as the hours passed. No one moved. It was so quiet, you hear the straw dust settle in our lungs as we breathed.  

        Eventually, we fell asleep, the darkness no comfort.