“Momma?” Ranma asked shakily.
Ororro pulled back a little and her form shifted to the blue skinned red haired woman Ranma had seen briefly. He reached out and caught her up on a hug which seemed to please the woman greatly.
“Are you all right, Ranma? Are you hurt at all.” she asked starting to franticly search the boy over for wounds.
“I’m fine, Mom. I was afraid I was too late or that you’d been caught.”
“But how did you escape Magneto? And how did you know where to find me?”
“A woman by the name of Frost helped me. Don’t know if you know her, she’s a mutant with mind powers and kinda dresses like a high class hooker.” Mystique smirked, holding back her laughter and nodded. “Anyway, she was able to pull the conversation you had with Magneto while I was asleep from my subconscious. I think she kept her partners busy and even gave me a map to find this place.”
“Her little club never does anything without expecting something in return,” she said thoughtfully. “And Magneto?”
“He may have been tough, but his cronies weren’t so bad. Left ‘em one heck of a repair bill, though.”
“Then they are probably trying to track you down even now. Come on, we have to leave.” She went over to the window and opened it, it was only the third floor and with grass below, no problem. “Hopefully you are able to leave quieter than you came in.”
“But what about that woman you were before? They all seemed to know her.”
“Don’t worry about her, she’s sleeping off a tranquilizer dart while I borrowed her form.” she said patting the sidearm strapped to her thigh.
“And what about that thing you were supposed to steal?”
“I already have it.” She gestured to the small satchel on her other hip.
“We should leave it.” Ranma said, “We don’t need it anymore.”
“You’re right,” she took out the wooden puzzle piece and seemed ready to toss it on the bed. She hesitated, “We may need this.”
“What? Mom.” Ranma protested.
“If we leave this we’ll have nothing to bargain with if Magneto catches up to us. Not to mention Xavier will probably stick his nose into it as well, now that he knows Magneto’s involved. This could be the trump card we need to secure our freedom.”
A knock at the door interrupted them, “Storm?” called a teenage girl’s voice, “The Professor says he needs to see you right away.”
Mystique shifted into the form of the taller African woman, “Thank you, Kitty. I’ll be down in a few moments.” she called, then shifted back to her normal form. “He suspects something is up. We have to leave, now.”
“I just don’t like the idea of stealing anything. That’s what Pop always did and it never led to no good. Besides, maybe these guys can help us against old bucket head.”
“No!” she snapped. “It would mean involving a lot of people who just aren’t ready for that kind of fight. Besides, there’s more at stake here than you know. Now, let’s go!”
*Bamf* “Ororro, the professor said, MOTHER!”
Reacting on reflex, Mystique drew her weapon and shot, but only hit the wall behind the brimstone smelling smoke left hanging in the air.
“Mom!” Ranma said, only grabbing the gun after the fact.
“I already told you, it’s only a tranquilizer gun. Now let’s go.” she moved to the window.
“That guy called you ‘Mother’. Why would he do that? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Mystique stopped at the window and turned to Ranma with a pained look on her face, “Just like your father, I, too, have made my share of mistakes and I certainly have more than my fair share of regrets. But please, Ranma. Please, trust me on this. I can’t loose you too. I promise, I’ll tell you everything later. For now...”
They were interrupted again, this time by a set of metal claws cutting the door off it’s hinges. Wolverine kicked in the remains of the door and stood in the room as Ranma put himself between the man and his mother. The Cyclops, Rogue and Nightcrawler followed Wolverine in.
“Mystique! Where’s Ororro?” growled Wolverine.
The dark woman calmly walked around her son, taking her gun from him, “She’s sleeping.” She said with a smirk, showing off the air-powered dart gun to Wolverine. “I locked her up safe and sound in a nice small, dark closet.” Wolverine’s eyes went wide at that announcement, “She should be waking up in the next few minutes. It would have provided a nice cover for my escape, but I didn’t expect to be here at the moment.”
Wolverine turned to the other X-men, “Split up!” he barked, “Find her!” They all scattered leaving him alone with the two intruders. He popped his claws from the back of his hands, “How ‘bout you make this easy on us and tell us where you hid her?”
“How ‘bout you point those pig stickers somewhere else before I put them some where you really don’t want them to be?” Ranma said stepping forward.
“Kid, stay out of this. This doesn’t concern you.”
“When you’re threatening my Mom, I’m very concerned.”
“Your what?!?”
Taking advantage of his distraction, Mystique raised her weapon and fired again, but Wolverine was too quick as he blocked the dart with the back of his claws.
Wolverine took a deep deliberate breath, “I’m going to let that one slide because my friend is at stake here. You’re gambling right, here Mystique. This place is too big and we may not find her in time. But kid, I’m telling you, Ororro’s terrified of being closed up like that, if that happens she could loose control of her power and destroy half this mansion, including anyone who might be in the way.”
Ranma turned and looked at his mother who looked away. “Mom?”
“Yes, it’s true.” she said, “The devastation she could cause would have been an excellent distraction needed to escape this place.”
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See other episodes by David L. Battley
(Posted Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:49)
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