containment unit, Alkali Lake, Canada, 1984
Rose woke up last. At first, it was a cause for concern, until Peter's finger poking her in the she made her jump up and groan. He pulled his hand back, feeling his hand drained, while she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.
"Is she okay?" Peter asked, skeptical about her ability to stand. Raven and Hank reached down, pulling her up. Her head rolled to the side onto Hank's shoulder.
"Touch her again," Hank told Peter, who furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but poked the woman's cheek again. Her whole body jumped, and he immediately pulled his hand back, shaking it out, as if he had been hit by some kind of static shock.
"What the-"
"Your built up kinetic energy gave me mine back," she replied, pulling her arms from her friends's shoulders. "Thanks," she whispered. "Where are we?" she asked, finally managing to breathe better. Peter moved, zipping around before he was thrown back by the wall. "Shit, dude, are you okay?" she reached down for him, helping him up again once he nodded in answer to her question.
"Hey!" Raven finally shouted, noticing the same face she and Rose had back at the house. Rose's eyebrows raised in surprise at the face, but not shocked.
"Hello, Mystique."
"Major Stryker," she returned, just as full of venom.
"Colonel," Rose spoke, the newly appointed colonel's nod making her eyes narrow.
"I wouldn't get too close to the wall if I were you. It may create some— discomfort," his voice and smile inspired some bile to raise in Rose's throat.
She knew the feeling.
"I'm Moira MacTaggert. I'm a senior officer at the CIA."
"I know who you are, agent MacTaggert," he was so calm. So eerie, as if he was so comfortable with what he was doing.
"You cannot keep me here in this—"
Moira's attempt to give them some time, perhaps an opportunity to escape and call for reinforcements, was stopped by Stryker in just a moment. "Actually, I can. A psychic event just destroyed every nuke from here to Moscow. That event emanated from exactly where we found you; at the home of the world's most powerful psychic. So, you're going to tell me. Where is Charles Xavier?" he leaned forward, looking down at the group of mutants, and one agent.
"It's not Xavier you want, Stryker," Rose spoke, taking a step forward, one of her hands going behind her back. "There's someone worse. More powerful."
"If you let us out of here, we can help you," Raven tried, but Rose's wave of her hand made her stand down.
"Do you really expect me to believe that? You can put on any face that you want, but I know who you are, what you are," he continued, his thinking sinking in for Rose. This wasn't going to go the way she needed it to.
"What did you mean when you said more powerful than Charles?" Hank asked her while she held the colonels' eye contact.
"Smurf looking Egyptian god wannabe is a personal connection," she replied, not tearing her eyes away. "The four people with him? That man is En Sabah Nur, and Erik is one of his horsemen."
"Uh, Rose?" as Stryker moved away from the window, she looked over to Peter, "Magneto?" he asked to check.
"Yeah."
"What's he like? Is he— you know, a bad guy?" he asked, making Rose and Raven share a brief glance as Hank checked on Moira.
"No," Raven shook her head. "I mean, yeah. He was—" breathing out, she felt at a loss for words. "Why do you care so much? Did you see his speech on TV or something?"
YOU ARE READING
CATACLYSM || X-Men
Fanfiction"Mutation is the key to our evolution. The process is slow, normally taking thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward." "You're looking at one of the first of those leaps. Welcome to the School for Gifted Youth." ±...
