"Who ARE these people?!" Andre exclaimed, raising a hand to them. He turned to Lars questionably.
"I would not have suspected, Neophyte, but as I can see, I was wrong," Unuscione said.
"Why is Neophyte/Lars kissing/touching man/boy?" the morphed Kleinstock twins asked in the duplicative manner they spoke in when the two merged and shared each other’s bodies and spoke at the same time.
"It does not matter, Harlan and Sven," Exodus ordered. "I want them both, and I want them now. I’m sure you’ll come submissively, Neophyte."
Exodus was not incorrect in his statement. The Neophyte he knew would have bowed before them crying if they asked him to, let alone if they asked him to come with them. Even though he surely knew that to do so would probably mean certain death, the Neophyte Exodus was familiar with would have been the first to stop his heart if the decision was made by Exodus. Neophyte was nothing but a complete submissive, an abused child who was used to being abused and thought he deserved it.
This was not the Neophyte Exodus knew.
After time alone and away from the Acolytes, he grew. After learning about others and himself, he grew. Maybe not that much, but a little. Most of all, though, he found love, or at least something that had felt like love so far, and he wasn’t about to give up the feeling he had with Andre for the world. And he also knew what they would do to Andre.
"No," Neophyte mumbled, grabbing Andre’s hand and looking to him for support.
"What?!" the bubble gum chewing girl in the corner said, who was new and foreign to Neophyte. "You mean to say we’re here to kick you ass across this mountain, and you’re saying no? Do you think you have a choice?!"
"She is correct, Neophyte, and you know it," Exodus said. "Now come with us."
"Look," Andre began, "I don’t know who you people are, but I don’t care. You threaten him and try to take him somewhere he doesn’t want to be, and I’ll kill you." Andre had never really intentionally used his powers to hurt anyone before, but with clenching of his raised hand, he ended all that. He blasted water at all of them, hot, scalding water as hard as he could blast.
The Acolytes, shocked at both this transgression and unexpected attack, reacted slowly.
And while they recovered from the attack, Neophyte squeezed Andre’s hand and morphed them into the floor, taking them miles away in seconds.
By the time the Acolytes could see that they were gone, they were more than just that.
***
Brian’s eyes felt like they had anvils behind them, but his stomach felt worse. Running to the bathroom, he rejected whatever it was that was bothering him, and he kneeled there for awhile. Glancing at the prostitute in the bed beside him, he woke her. "Wake up," he ordered.
The prostitute awoke, and glanced up at Brian, smiling seductively. "Wanna play?" she whispered.
Brian grinned and rose to the occasion. "Sure," he said, half naked with boxers on. "Let’s go." He dropped his boxers to the floor and did just that.
***
Kitty Pryde was crying in her room.
The posters she once had of movies she liked (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) and actors she worshiped (David Duchovny, Harrison Ford) were torn to shreds on the floor. Her Elfquest books were strewn across the room, thrown there, and her window was shattered. Kitty Pryde had had a temper tantrum.
Meggan ran to her room, hearing the noise and immediately worrying about danger. After she sensed Kitty’s moods, she ran a little faster. This was about quite enough of this for Meggan.
"Kitty, what are you doing?" Meggan asked.
"What does it look like I’m doing, Meggan?" Kitty scowled. She raised her head out of her eyes to answer Meggan’s questions, and then went back to hiding from the world with her tears.
"Fine, then," Meggan retorted. "Why are you doing it?"
"Does it matter?" Kitty said. "And why should you care? Why don’t you go whine about missing Brian?!" Meggan’s face contorted to the insult, but then she realized something, instinctively reaching out to Kitty with her mutant power.
"Kitty, I know what you’re doing, or at least what you’re trying to do," Meggan said. "And it’s not going to work. Got it?"
"Why don’t you just go away?" Kitty mumbled. Meggan sat next to her on the bed, reaching around her with her arm.
"DON’T TOUCH ME!" Kitty screamed, flinging Meggan’s arm away. "Get away from me!" Meggan’s eyes shined with worry.
"Kitty," Meggan softly explained, "we’re concerned about you. We’re worried about you. We want to help. We love you, Kitty."
Kitty only sobbed. "You can’t help me," she finally said. "No one can help me."
"Maybe not, Kitty, but we can try, and we can do our best," Meggan said. "That’s what we’re here for."
"Get out of my room," Kitty whispered, not tempted by what she believed were false promises.
"Fine, Kitty," Meggan said. "I’ll leave now, but not for forever." Meggan walked to the door, glancing at Kitty, and then walking out of it.
And Kitty Pryde sat on her bed, crying over her lost world. "It’s all gone," she whispered, looking around. "Everything." She wasn’t crying over her lost posters or books, or any of that. She had ruined those on purpose so she could mirror the feelings she had. She was crying over a loss of innocence, over a loss of her old world. Over the loss of things immeasurable.
Kitty Pryde had trusted the world with her life, giving it for when it should need it, and it had taken it and tortured it. Now she wanted it back intact.
But that would never happen. And so she sat weeping, like she’d done the night before, and the one before that one, and the one before that.
***
"Moira," Meggan said, walking into Moira’s lab, "I think we need to talk."
"Sure," Moira said, looking up from her computer. "I was just doing the routine check. What would ye like to talk about?"
"Well, I know that we had decided to let Kitty work things out on her own and that she was showing signs of recovery, but I think we were gravely wrong," Meggan explained.
"What happened?" Moira asked, worried.
Meggan didn’t respond with words but with an action. "Computer: View Designate Katherine Pryde’s room, full screen," Meggan said.
On the screen, a full picture of Kitty’s torn up room was shown, fully equipped with Kitty sitting on her bed, sobbing. Lockheed hid in the corner, under a pile of books, being as quiet as he could possibly manage. Moira’s mouth opened and her eyes widened. "We should have known!" Moira shouted. "The signs were all there!" Moira immediately worried about her friend, and began to blame herself for it.
"It wasn’t your fault," Meggan said. "And you know it." Moira sat down to return to her routine check, so she could immediately help Kitty. Meggan stood over her. "Don’t feel bad about it." Moira didn’t respond, just stared at the smaller computer screen blankly. "Moira? Don’t worry so much about it. She’ll be okay."
"It’s nae that, Meggan," Moira said. "You remember that we have a program to check on the Acolytes, right? Well our computer just scanned them as being in Switzerland, and with the data Colossus gave us our computer locates them in the same area as a former, disliked member of the Acolytes. When I checked up on it, it seems that they destroyed the place, but no bodies were found. We need to get there and help that boy, and we need to get there now!" Moira swiveled her chair over to a microphone, and with a push of the button she had announced that all of Excalibur needed to report to the hangar in full gear in ten minutes.
***
"Do we have him yet?" the bubbly, raven haired girl asked while sitting on a plane.
"First of all, teeny bopper," Unuscione began, "when we’re there, we’ll tell you. Secondly, I’d suggest you shut your trap before we shut it for you."
"I’d hardly suggest speaking to me in that tone of voice, skank," the girl retorted, "unless you expect to back it up. And call me by my codename, Hiatus."
"SHUT_UP!" Unuscione said, getting up out of her seat and heading towards Hiatus. The Kleinstock twins watched eagerly, ready to see the girl get her expected beating. Frenzy grinned, ready to join in, and Scanner jumped in front of Unuscione.
"Don’t do this!" she said, blocking Unuscione’s way.
"Get out of my way, blondy," she grumbled.
"Yeah, let her at me!" Hiatus eagerly retorted. "I’d love to see what she could try to do!"
"Quiet, children," Exodus bellowed. "We are there."
"He’s here?!" Hiatus asked.
"Yes, we are currently near his present hideout," Exodus said.
"Finally!" Hiatus complained. "We’ve been chasing this guy all day!"
"Shut up, bimbo," Frenzy shouted.
"Our mission is to take Neophyte and whoever else we have to," Exodus said. "Dead or alive."
To Be Continued.
E-mails, assorted complaints, compliments, etc, are welcome at PhaserBob@Aol.com