Chapter 49

Clint

"Great work, Drumm," I said. "And the kid?"

"A few halls down," Drumm answered. "Prepare for the worst, but don't be overeager. We're treading very dangerous waters here."

"Roger," I nodded, gingerly setting down my Duffel bag and pulling out the Rifle. It was sleek and long, made with some of the rarest metals on earth, all to accommodate a bullet that should not exist.

"Is that the…" Coulson spoke up with a hint of excitement and trepidation.

"Yup."

"I've heard the rumors but never imagined I'd lay eyes on the real deal," he muttered. The bullet was fashioned from the remains of a recovered Tesseract storage cell from World War 2. Only three bullets were ever made, two of which had been used to eliminate targets previously thought unkillable.

The bullets did not move particularly fast–no faster than any other sniper rifle bullet– but something about it allowed it to rip through most surfaces and substances when accelerated to certain speeds.

Fury hoped it would do the same to Jean Grey if it ever came to that, though I was supposed to make a phone call to him before that. Natasha had updated Fury after her fight with Bobby.

"Weapons live and set to the highest level," Natasha announced, "but don't point at her. Let me do the talking."

If anyone knew what went on inside the mind of a teenage girl, it would be Natasha.

"This will likely be the hardest thing you ever do," I said slowly. "So don't—watch out!"

I spotted him too late. A blue-haired blur leaped into the hallway, claws stretched, swinging. Drumm spun around to cast his strange magic, but it was too late for May. The blur's claws slapped her hard into the wall. She fell to the ground, limp and bleeding from a gash to the side of her head.

"May!" Coulson absolutely lost it, unloading stun rounds into the Beast, but he only roared in feint protest and charged forward anyway. I pulled my bow and fired a foam arrow at him, but he leaped into the air, latching onto the ceiling with his claws, continuing his charge at us.

Red fiery whips lashed out next, restraining and yanking down the Beast. He landed with a loud thump.

We pointed our guns at him, ready to fire, but then I recognized him.

"Dr. Hank?"

"As in, Dr. Hank McCoy?" Natasha asked, lowering her gun. Coulson seemed satisfied that the beast was sufficiently incapacitated and rushed to May's side.

The beast snarled at us through his binds, but he struggled to break out of it.

"He's hard to place underneath all that savagery, but yeah, it's him."

Hank McCoy was the mild-mannered inventor of Charles Xavier's little team. There were rumors that he could throw down. Since he never made a habit of it, there'd been some doubts, but his little demonstration earlier cleared all of it.

"What's wrong with him?" Natasha asked.

Drumm frowned and generated a strange fractal with a single hand. "He's been brainwashed."

"The professor or the monster?" I asked.

"This is Xavier's touch," Drumm answered as he pressed his spell against Hank's head. "He must be truly desperate."

The change was instant. Hank gasped, his yellow eyes wide with terror. He desperately searched our faces.

"How did I…get here?"

"Peace," Drumm said. "Your mind was overtaken by another."

"Xavier," Hank said with a heavy voice. "I can't believe…After everything, how could he?"

"What's going on in there, Doc?" I asked. "Can you give us a heads up?"

Hank's eyes glazed over as he lost himself in thought.

"The last thing I remember was Jean shredding her restraints. She left the med bay, dragging Charles along with her. He said something to me, and everything turned black. "

"I'm beginning to get why the kid hates the old man," Coulson chipped in, even as he held May close. He cradled her in his arms, and Natasha joined, assessing the full extent of her injuries. She produced some bandages from one of her pouches and wrapped it around May's head.

"He's rotten alright," I said, "but Fury wants him alive, preferably strong enough to stand trial for his crimes."

"Chum for the ravenous public," Drumm surmised.

"DC will need somebody to pin this entire mess on when all this is over," I said. Fury had to explain the ruined mansion and whatever else followed.

"This will be the end of us," Hank muttered dejectedly, and he was right.

"Not if you step up," I said. "You have almost as many credentials as the bald old guy and are considerably less creepy."

"Thank you?"

Normal mutant folk needed a spokesperson for them, now more than ever. The fallout from this would be catastrophic. Charles's actions were about to set their movement back several decades at least. Mutant fear was about to reach an all-new height.

With somebody as level-headed as Hank at the lead, at least they stood a chance.

"I don't exactly have the face for Politics," Hank said. He was right there.

"Nothing a simple glamor can't fix," Drumm said.

Hank seemed to perk up that that, but for the wrong reasons entirely. "How does that work exactly? Hard light or some strange hallucinogenics?"

Drumm smiled as he slowly released the binding spell. "We will get into all that later. For now, we need to get you somewhere safe. Your mind is still fragile. We can't let you stay."

Hank winced, looking at May, then remained determined. "I can't leave yet, not without finding Ilyana. She's the sister to Colossus, and I just got a call from Kitty Pryde. She apparently teleported when she heard that Dante was fighting her brother."

"You think she could be here?" Natasha asked.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. As if we didn't have enough to deal with already.

Suddenly, we heard a crash, and the entire mansion shook. We all braced for a long moment while chunks of stone rained down and paintings crashed to the floor. The mansion did not stop shaking for an entire minute. When it finally stopped, I spoke.

"THAT is why we can't let you stay. You're not only vulnerable to Charles anymore. Whatever that thing was that possessed Jean, it's free now. It already took Collossus, and I'm betting the other X-men are not far behind. Dante thinks our best chance of survival is to get that thing as far away from civilized society as we can," I said. "I'm sorry about Ilyana, but everything is secondary to saving the planet now. Dante is fighting that thing tooth and nail, and as much as I like the kid, I don't like his chances."

Hank's eyes went wide. "I see… Promise me you'll look for her then, after all of this. We can't lose both Ilyana and her brother to this…thing."

"You have my word," I nodded, glad he hadn't put up much of a fuss.

"I'll be sending you to the Sanctum, along with the rest of the X-Men. Inform them of the situation," Drumm said as he looped his hand, generating a fiery golden portal. "And offer the Witch my apologies."

Drumm swept his hand forward, and Collussus vanished before our very eyes, but the stoic man made a confused face that immediately put me on alert.

"What's wrong?"

"The Witch, she escaped."

"We can't go after her," Natasha said, and I agreed.

"Call the Director and give him an update," I said. "We've put this off long enough. Let's end this."

---

Ilyana

Minutes after the mansion shook and strange cracks appeared, Aunty Moira showed up. She came with a few buses and men in suits.

For the first time since I met her, she did not take her time to hug me and talk to Bunny. She and the Professor looked worried, so I snooped, peeking into the Med Bay through a half-closed door.

"How could you let this happen, Charles?" Aunty Moira hissed, "Trying to kill a kid?"

"He was no kid or human, Moira! He caused this. Jean is in bed because of him. If he'd just let things alone…" The Professor seemed to grow more tired with every word. "I messed up, Moira, and I'm not sure if I can fix things," he said, "but I have to try. I beg you, keep the children safe. I can't lose them. I won't let them pay for my mistake."

Aunty hugged him, and I felt so sad that it hurt. I leaned deeper into the open door.

The Professor was covered in sweat and blood. I pulled Bunny in closer as my eyes started to water, and behind me, I felt a tap.

I jumped, yelping, only to turn around to find Kitty smiling down at me. Her smile disappeared when she saw my teary face, and she pulled me close as the tears started to pour.

"Professor and Aunt Jeany…" I said in between hiccups.

"I'm so sorry for scaring you," she apologized. "Everything will be okay. I promise. We're just going away for a minute. We'll be back before you know it."

"But big brother Piotr…"

"--will be fine," she said. "He's the toughest dude on the roster. If anyone's gonna stop the government cronies, it's him."

"Why is the government attacking us?" I blinked, looking up at her.

"Eh…," she made a face an adult did when I asked them questions they didn't want to answer. "It's pretty complicated."

"How?"

Kitty's face even grew even more conflicted. Just as she opened her mouth to answer, Aunty Moira stepped out of the Med Bay.

I could see the relief on Kitty's face.

"What are you doing here, Ilyana?"

She swept me up in her arms and smiled at me, but I saw the fear she was trying to hide.

"Your Aunty Moira is taking you and the rest of the kids on a special trip into town. We'll have lots of treats and fun. What do you say, Illy?"

I frowned.

"I don't want to be separated from big brother Piotr again. The last time the government came for us, I didn't see him for months."

"That won't happen," Moira promised. "We'll get all this sorted out before you know it."

"Besides, the big guy won't be able to let loose if he's worried sick about you," Kitty said, throwing an enthusiastic fist. "I want to stay behind and help out, too, but you guys need me more." She said, rubbing my head.

I wasn't happy about it, but I understood. Moira was a grown-up whom the Professor trusted, so I knew I could trust her, too. Kitty was not quite a grown-up, but she has always been nice to me and Piotr. If she said he needed me safe, then I would leave for his sake.

I pouted for a bit before I looked up at Kitty and then Moira. "Can I bring Bunny's sister, Floppy?"

Kitty and Moira seemed to freeze over before bursting out laughing.

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused. They didn't stop laughing for a while.

 (Read ahead on Patreon.com/Artandcreativewriting. We'll be on chapter 63 after today's double chapter. That's 14 whole chapters ahead. )