True Believers: Part Seventeen
Gina Bell sat alone on the roof of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, fuming. I hate Ms. Frost, she thought bitterly, not bothering to shield her thoughts. She didn't particularly care if Ms. Frost overheard. So sure she knows what's best for me-who does she think she is?
How could keeping her away from Nathan be 'what's best'? Ms. Frost wouldn't even explain why! Gina rose, pacing back and forth on the roof, stopping once or twice to swear under her breath. "I'm not a child!" she said bitterly. "I'm not!"
"Okay, Dreamy, you're not a child! I get it! Now if you're gonna pace, c'mon inside! You're making me nervous!"
Gina whirled, glaring at Jubilation Lee, who had just crawled out of the attic window. Chagrin mixed uncomfortably with her anger. She should have been listening more carefully-she might not have much experience with her abilities, but she'd give telepaths a bad name if she kept letting people sneak up on her. "Don't call me Dreamy," she snapped at Jubilee. She'd come to like the other girl a great deal, maybe even as much as Kitty and Dana, who'd been so kind to her during her time at the mansion, but Gina wasn't in the mood for company right now.
"Or what?" Jubilee asked with a grin. "Gonna give me nightmares?" She stood up, straightening her yellow coat almost self-consciously. "Besides, I thought you liked your codename. Since Bishop thought of it and all-"
Gina sighed. Why can't I stay mad at her? "I like Dreamweaver, yeah. Not Dreamy. How would you like it if I called you Jubie? Or Jube-Jube? Or Jubikins?"
Jubilee shrugged, and sat down. After a moment, Gina joined her. "I've been called worse, y'know." Jubilee gave her a sideways look full of sympathy. "I heard about what happened. Frost-bite and Irish doing the whole 'for your own good' thing-"
"Yeah," Gina said resentfully.
"Bummer," Jubilee muttered, and reached into the pocket of her coat. "Gum?" She offered Gina a piece, but Gina shook her head. "Yeah, too busy grinding your teeth, I know." Gina scowled at her, and Jubilee shrugged again. "Y'know, they did get ahold of the mansion, finally."
Gina stiffened. "They did?" she asked anxiously. "So what happened? Is everything all right?" Wishful thinking, the girl told herself grimly, when she knew something was wrong.
"Depends on what you call 'all right'. No one's dead and the place is still standing, so that's good, at least." Jubilee gave her a curiously tentative look, as if reluctant to continue. "But Cable's gone off on a mission, along with Wolvie, Domino, Storm, Kitty and her boyfriend, and everyone else is really upset about it."
"Upset?" Gina scowled. "Why?"
Jubilee hesitated again. "'Cause Cable's sick," she said softly. Gina felt suddenly dizzy, and Jubilee reached out to her, looking alarmed. "Whoa, Gines, don't fall off the roof, okay?"
"Sick?" Gina said weakly.
"Yeah." Jubilee's expression grew sheepish. "I was-um, kinda eavesdropping, I guess. The Hankster answered the call, and he said-" Jubilee rattled on, relating everything the Beast had told Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy. By the time she wound down, Gina managed to get herself back under control.
"I knew there was something wrong," she muttered. "I have to help him, Jubilee! He's headed for trouble, I know it!" She'd felt this way once before, when Andrew had told her they were going to rob that last bank, the one where she'd lost control of her powers and hurt all those people. She'd known that something bad was going to happen. And she wasn't just going to stand by and let it, this time!
Jubilee looked troubled. "Gina, it's not like I've never done anything crazy-jeez, leaping through Gateway's portal after Storm and the other X-ladies sure wasn't smart, even though it turned out okay-but you don't even know where Cable's going to be! And Frosty's sure as hell not gonna let you run off after him-"
"It doesn't matter," Gina said determinedly. "I can find him, I know I can." She struggled to find the words that could explain it to her friend. "We're-linked, Jubilee. If I could just get over there, I could-if it was Wolverine, you'd do the same thing!" She gave the other girl a sharp, suspicious look. "You're not going to tell Ms. Frost this." It wasn't quite a question.
Jubilee snorted. "Tell her? I won't have to, she'll know as soon as she looks at either of us. Kinda hard to plot stuff around her, y'know."
"Then you won't help me?" Gina asked regretfully. Some help would be nice, but she'd do it alone if neccessary.
Jubilee sighed in exasperation. "I didn't say that, Dreamy. I just don't see how we could pull it off-"
"Worry not, children. That to me you can leave."
Gina gasped, springing to her feet and backing away from the woman who had just appeared out of thin air beside them. Jubilee did the same, her hand sparkling with the beginning of fireworks. The woman seemed taken aback by their startlement.
"I don't know who you are," Jubilee said angrily, "but this is private property, toots. Unless you want a face full of fireworks, get lost!"
The woman smiled almost lazily. She was about Ms. Frost's size, but more muscular, and wore strange clothes that looked like they were part armor. Her hair was glossy black, cut short, and her face was narrow but pretty. One of her eyes was bright blue, but the other wasn't real, surrounded by some kind of metal that reached up past where her eyebrow would have been, and in thin strips down her cheek. But it was two things about her that drew Gina's attention. The little tattoo on her forehead, shaped like a stylized bird, and the gold medallion she wore, marked with the exact same symbol.
It was absolutely identical to the one Gina had become accustomed to seeing around Nathan's neck.
"Ten years from now, quiver I would," the woman said to Jubilee, looking almost amused. "Until then, be not so foolish, child. Dislike, you would, the lesson I would give you." Ignoring Jubilee, she turned her attention to Gina. "Greetings, little sister," she said, her expression thoughtful. "You were wishing for a way to get to your brother, no?"
Gina frowned. The woman's voice was almost singsong, and she certainly couldn't speak English well, but there was something very familiar about the way she talked. Nathan, Gina realized. He sounds a little like this, sometimes. Not nearly so bad, of course, but his accent sounds just like hers, and he sometimes messes up words-
"Yes-" Gina said cautiously. That resemblance, slight as it was, made her think that it was at least worth hearing what the woman had to say. Jubilee made an indignant sound.
"You out of your mind, Gina?" she exclaimed. "We don't know who she is, why she's here-or why the damned security systems aren't going off!" Jubilee closed her eyes, a look of fierce concentration on her face.
The woman laughed. "Calling your teacher, child?" Jubilee's eyes snapped open, and she glared at the stranger, who smiled. "In better days, that meeting I would welcome-" the woman grinned almost recklessly, "but not now. Hear you not, she will. This speaking of ours, private it must be." She turned to Gina. "Again, I ask. You wish to make a journey, no?"
"Yes, but Jubilee's right! I don't know you!" Gina said, obscurely irritated by the woman's manner. It's like she's playing some sort of game with me! "Who are you?"
The woman sighed. "Names, names. What be in a name? True names, false names, call-names, soul-names-" She sounded like she was reciting a list, or something. "What name today?" She gave the two girls an impish smile. "You pick."
Jubilee suddenly grabbed Gina's arm. "She's a telepath or something! Use your powers!" she hissed. "I don't think Frosty or Irish would mind! She's a loon, listen to her!"
"Loon?" the woman asked almost uncertainly. She regarded Jubilee thoughtfully for a moment, and then her expression hardened. "Ah. Flattered I should be, by the bird parallel," she stroked her medallion almost fondly, "but I think there should be some shutting of the mouth from you now, little girl."
"Hah!" Jubilee snorted. "Dream on! I don't-" Her mouth kept working, but no sound came out. She gave the woman a horrified look, and blasted a few fireworks in her direction.
They bounced off a shield that glowed a bright emerald green. "Silliness," the woman pronounced. "Sit yourself down now, sparkling."
Gina gaped as Jubilee suddenly fell on her rear with a thump. "Leave her alone!" Gina said, outraged, ready to use her powers against this stranger if she did anything more to Jubilee.
The woman sighed. "Very well." She gestured absently in Jubilee's direction. "Freely speak, impetuous child. But think on this-better to listen first, no? Put thought before action?"
Jubilee glowered at her. "Fine," she said almost sarcastically. "I'll listen. Why don't you start with your name? Or would you like to avoid the question some more?"
The woman seemed to consider it. "The name that is, the name that was," she murmured.
"Oh, great, not this again-"
"Miriya, call me." The woman spoke right over top of Jubilee, who glared at her. "As good a name as any. And mine, once upon a time." Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and looked down at Gina. "So decide, little sister," she said soberly. "Only three chances, and this be the last. Come, or stay. Along both paths, danger be."
"She sounds like something out of a bad fantasy novel!"
"Wait, Jubilee," Gina said, and looked up at Miriya. "You'll take me to him? To Nathan?" For some reason, those same instincts that had told her Nathan was in danger were warning her that it was absolutely essential that this woman give her a straight answer, yes or no.
Miriya nodded. "Take you to Dayspring, I will. Yes. Where you need to go, when you need to be."
"I'll come, then," Gina said determinedly, and Miriya's answering smile was brilliant. Jubilee swore.
"Gina, you can't! Think about this for a minute, or get Emma to read her mind and make sure she's not-"
"No time," Miriya pronounced. "Come now, or not at all. A time for talking this isn't, little ones."
Gina gave Jubilee a quick look of apology. "Sorry, 'Lee. I have to." This was the right thing to do. She'd known that, as soon as Miriya had answered her question. "I know it seems crazy, but I've never been so sure of anything." She felt strong, confident, more than she'd ever been before. It was a new feeling, and she liked it.
"You are crazy! You're-" Jubilee bit off whatever she'd been about to say. "Fine," she continued, testily. "You're going to take off like this, I'm coming with you. Besides, Wolvie's there. If there's trouble, I want to be there to help him, too."
Miriya raised an eyebrow. "Loyalty," she said, sounding approving. "Good to see. But careful be, young woman. Step you into this dance, part of it you will become. Forever."
"No, Jubilee," Gina said quickly, feeling a little chill at Miriya's enigmatic warning. That certainty hadn't faded, but she didn't think it included Jubilee. "You have to stay, and tell everyone where I went."
"Look, Dreamy, I don't know where you're going! Neither do you, remember? And you're going to need someone to watch your back." Jubilee gave Miriya a suspicious look. "Beside, I bet your funny-talking friend here would just wipe my memory as soon as you two left, if I stayed. If she's shielding us from Emma right now, I don't think she'll change her mind about keeping this a secret."
Miriya laughed. "Oh, see I now why the Old One likes you!" She extended her hand to Jubilee. "A bargain, then, fiery one? You come to stand at your friend's side, swear I by the Bright Lady that harm is the last thing I mean to either of you?"
Something stirred, deep in Gina's mind, at the words 'Bright Lady'. But she was distracted from tracking it down by what Jubilee did next. Still regarding Miriya with suspicion, her friend nevertheless spat in her palm and shook the strange woman's hand.
"I still don't trust you," Jubilee growled.
"Good." There was something bitter in Miriya's voice for a moment. "Trust be unwise, when dealing with such as me." Jubilee frowned, and tried to pull her hand away, but Miriya held on. "Come now, little sister."
Gina hesitated for a moment, then took her hand. A moment later, the world around them vanished.
***
Drifting fitfully between a meditative state and sleep, Cable struggled stubbornly to create the void, the sea of perfect calm that Askani meditation required. But he couldn't quite manage to clear his mind. Tendrils of anxiety and frustration invaded the void, impossible to will away.
Soldier's instincts told him to sleep, that he'd need the rest, but something more primitive rejected the idea violently. It was quite simple. If he slept, he'd dream. And after his flashbacks, today, his dreams would almost undoubtedly be nightmares. Vivid, graphic, particularly tenacious nightmares, as if his subconscious was gleefully digging up all the painful details.
Blaquesmith had once told him, rather heatedly, that the nightmares were his way of punishing himself. If that was true, it was only fair. Ironic that his subconscious should have such a sense of justice when he was such a pitiful, self-absorbed coward in the waking world, trying to hide from the truth-
His concentration broken, Cable reeled as the void shattered around him. Feeling himself teetering on the brink of unconsciousness, he struggled to open his eyes. But his eyelids felt like they had lead weights attached, and he was tired, so tired-
But even as he lost the battle, he felt a sudden, bone-deep chill that washed away fatigue instantly. Aware that this last-minute reprieve had not been his own doing, he opened his eyes warily.
And found himself on a beach.
The sand beneath his feet was so white it almost hurt the eye. The water, stretching out for as far as the eye could see, was a luminous turquoise, and behind him, a dense forest all but glowed in shades of deep green. I've been here before, he thought faintly, sure of it. But the sky above was a cloudless blue, and seemed-wrong, somehow. Squinting in the sunlight, he watched a seagull land on the sand, not far away. It gave him a curious look, and then took to the air again.
"Nathan--"
His temper flared at the sound of her voice, and he whirled on her with a growl. "Damn you, I told you to leave me alone!" he snarled. "Where the hell are-"
He trailed off in shock as he stared down at her. Red hair, green eyes, same face. But not Jean.
Madelyne had taken a step backwards, perhaps in surprise, but recovered her composure almost instantly. She raised an eyebrow. "You bit my head off thinking I was Jean?" A sardonic light flickered in her emerald eyes. "How perfectly lovely. Almost gives me hope for the future."
Cable felt like his blood had suddenly turned into ice water. "Madelyne," he said numbly. "Where are we?" It had to be the astral plane, of course. Again, she'd pulled him here, trapped him here-and if he hadn't been able to free himself the last time, with his telepathy in working oder, he didn't have a hope in hell now.
Madelyne shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I intended to bring you to Alaska, like we agreed the last time, but this-happened. I've never seen this place before, so it must have come from you." She gestured dismissively at their surroundings. "I made a few changes. Day instead of night, a few other little touches-it seemed terribly lonely, the way it was. Lonely, and not quite real." She studied his face intently. "But it's someplace you feel safe, isn't it? Why is that, Nathan?"
"I have no idea," he said harshly, ignoring that nagging sense of familiarity. "I've never been here before." She continued to watch him in that considering way. He let her get a good look and then deliberately broke eye contact. "What do you want, Madelyne?"
"To see how you are."
Cable started to laugh. He couldn't help it. "Maternal concern? How touching-" He rocked backwards at the telepathic equivalent of a slap across his face. Straightening, he glared at her, wishing he dared respond in kind. But if this was the astral plane, she had to be shielding him herself. Otherwise, lacking shields of his own, he'd be in agony. Picking a fight with her under these circumstances was reckless, at best. All she'd have to do was drop the shields around him-
She had the upper hand, here. He had to remember that.
She was frowning at him now, looking vexed. "Damn you." Despite her words, there was a curious lack of heat in her voice. "You have such a talent for getting under my skin-just like your father!-but that's no excuse." She reached out and laid a cool hand against his forehead. Feeling a brief chill, like the one that had heralded his arrival here, he jerked away. She rolled her eyes with a sigh. "A little nervous, are we?"
Amazing, his seemingly ever-present headache began to fade. Not entirely, but enough to notice. "What did you do?" he asked, more hesitantly than he'd intended. She gave him a small smile.
"A transfer of energies, you might say. Sometimes being an astral ghost has its uses." Her brow furrowed, and she flinched as he felt her presence in his mind. Considering, intent, speculative, but edged with concern. "I can't do anything more, not here. Maybe if I had you standing in front of me, in the real world-"
"I'll be fine," he said curtly, not wanting to get into a discussion of his health. The last thing he needed was Madelyne deciding that he was behaving foolishly. The Bright Lady only knew what she'd do then-Straightening, he stared down at her coldly. "Satisfied? Now, if you'll excuse me, I was trying to meditate-"
Her green eyes glinted with dark amusement. "Oh, you can leave anytime you want, Nathan." She folded her arms across her chest and regarded him expectantly. "Go ahead. Leave. I won't stop you."
His hands tightened into fists at his sides. "You know I can't," he said bitterly. "Even if you let me." Unaided astral plane travel was quite beyond him at the moment. Especially considering that she'd pulled him here, and was presumably the one maintaining his link to his body. Unless she helped him get back-
Madelyne's smile was almost mischievous. "Sorry. But I owed you for that crack earlier." She chuckled. "A tad reckless of me, perhaps-daring you like that. You're stubborn enough that I wouldn't have put it past you to try-"
"Can we get to the point?" he snarled. She fell silent, but her smile remained. It only made him angrier. "You do have a point, I'm assuming?"
"Temper, temper," she said benignly. "I suppose there's not much question which side of the family you got that from. Then again, your uncle did have his moments-"
Cable fought the urge to throw back his head and howl in frustration. Madelyne sighed, reaching out and laying a hand on his arm.
"Calm down. I'm sorry." Surprisingly, she sounded like she meant it. "I was being honestly, Nathan, when I said I wanted to see how you were." Her lips pursed, and she looked faintly disgusted. "I suppose I should have guessed that you'd try to do too much too soon. I'll deny it if you ever quote me, Nate, but 'Saint Jean'," Madelyne's lip curled in disgust, "is right. You push yourself too hard, and you'll burn out like a candle. Then where will your precious mission be?"
"If you brought me here for a lecture," he grated, meeting her eyes unwaveringly, "save your breath. I'm not interested."
Madelyne made a frustrated sound. "So stubborn," she complained. "Frankly, Nathan, if I had my way, I'd pen you up here like Xavier did the Shadow King, whatever I had to do to prevent you from hurtling blindly towards disaster. But there are too many players on the gameboard, now-" She trailed off, and for a moment, he thought he could almost see fear in her eyes. But it was gone, instantly, and she gave him a steely smile. "I knew you wouldn't listen to reason, but I had to try. Still, I will warn you."
"Warn me?" he said disgustedly. "About burning out?"
She shook her head. "No, Nathan," she said slowly, as if talking to a child. "About that." She pointed upwards, and as he followed the gesture, the sky vanished.
Where it had been, there was now a panoramic view of the astral plane itself, in all its chaotic glory. Nathan flinched instinctively, feeling like he was falling into it, but Madelyne's hand clamped down on his arm with surprising strength, grounding him.
"What are you-"
"Watch," she said, her voice quiet and firm. "And listen."
He obeyed, helpless to do anything else. After a few moments, he began to realize that there was something wrong. Behind the layered melodies, there was a buzzing sound, almost like static. And while the shifting colors were always wild, constantly in motion, there was too much turbulence there. Instincts he hadn't even known he had were twinging, warning him of danger.
"You see it." Madelyne sounded immensely satisfied. "I knew you would. That twit Tessa-she might as well be headblind. She saw nothing out of the ordinary."
"What is it?" he asked faintly, looking away from the sky and back at her. She frowned.
"I don't know. And all of this is just-the aftermath, you might say. Ripples. The incidents themselves were like waves of instability, ripping through the astral plane. I noticed it instantly-probably because of what I am." He blinked, surprised to hear her refer so openly to her non-physical nature. "Three times, since last night-"
He felt as thought a chasm had just opened up at his feet. "Last night," he said hollowly. "Waves, you said."
Her eyes widened slightly. "You know what's causing it. Wait-not these temporal waves you're chasing?"
"I don't know." Cable was so dizzied by the possible implications that the full impact of what she'd said didn't register for a moment. Even when it did, the possibility that she'd been rummaging through his memories while she had him here didn't bother him as much as it should have. The matter at hand was too important. "The waves were pure temporal energy, and out of phase. Temporal energy shouldn't have any effect on the psi-plane, they're two totally different things-"
"Unless it's the other way around," Madelyne said thoughtfully.
Cable stared at her, stunned by the suggestion. But she could be right. If the disturbance originated here-that could be why it was out of phase. But that still didn't explain it! Temporal energy, psionic energy-what was the connection?
His train of thought came to an abrupt end as the beach shuddered and flickered around them. As one, they glanced upwards, to see an increasing level of disturbance in the 'sea' of color. The ripples, as Madelyne had put it, were growing stronger. And the song of the astral plane was being drowned out as the static grew louder.
Madelyne turned to him, her face white with alarm. She reached up and took his face between her hands. He felt the same chill again, but nothing happened. She cursed sulphurously, but the terror in her eyes was unmasked.
Something's wrong, he realized. She can't send me back. Absurdly, he grinned, unable to stop himself. "Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into, 'Mom'," he said mockingly.
"Oh, do shut up!" Madelyne snapped, but she still looked afraid. "Damn it, I don't understand what's wrong!"
The beach trembled beneath them again, and then vanished. Cable instinctively flinched, but Madelyne grabbed his arms, her grip so tight that he felt a twinge of pain, even in his left arm, where sensation was usually non-existent. Ah, the wonders of astral plane avatars, he thought wildly, knowing he'd have bruises-on his right arm, at least-back in the real world. They hung there, floating as if they were in zero gravity. All around them, the disturbance was growing, and Cable could almost hear a dull, rumbling noise in the back of his mind.
"Look at me," she said urgently. "Focus on me. I can't bring you out, you're blocking me somehow! You have to trust me, Nathan, you have to let me in!" Something in him rebelled at the thought, and frustration blazed in her eyes. "Nathan, I can't shield us both! And if this wave hits you when you're unprotected-"
He tried to let down whatever unconscious barrier he was throwing in her way, but without knowing exactly what he was doing, it was impossible. Wave after wave of cold shuddered through his body as Madelyne kept trying, but he couldn't feel even the beginnings of the transition back to his body. What he could feel, as sharp as if it were his own, was Madelyne's increasing desperation.
#An alternative,# a voice said in his mind. A woman's voice-for a moment he thought it was Madelyne, or Jean, but it was too cold, too impassive, to be either. #Let me help.#
He had no choice, he realized in a moment of crystal-clear insight. # Yes,# he sent back, and saw Madelyne's features freeze in shock.
"Nathan, NO!"
But the voice in his mind cried out, as if in rapture, drowning Madelyne's protest. Light blazed inside him, filling him with strength. Madelyne let go of him, her mouth moving forming words that he couldn't hear. It didn't matter. She was inconsequential, a spark beside the fire raging inside him.
He pulled away from her effortlessly, and rose, seeking it out. # There,# the voice said helpfully. Coming towards him, a great wave of instability, just as Madelyne had said, tearing through the fabric of the astral plane. The damage it's causing! Cable thought, a curious wrath seizing him as he studied the wave. It had a definite pattern, a structure just like the temporal waves. Like a reflection-
But it was getting closer, picking up speed. Without thinking, he raised the same sort of energy web he had in Alaska, his only thought a determination to stop this thing before it permanently scarred the realm of thought.
#NO!# the voice screamed, no longer impassive.
Too late.
The wave smashed into the energy web, shattering it almost contemptuously, and Cable was instantly blasted out of the astral plane.
***
Domino stood, stretching. "Damn, my legs are stiff," she remarked to no one in particular.
Logan glanced over, grinning. "Get tired of hovering, darlin'?" His eyes flickered for a moment to Nathan, who was asleep, as far as Domino could tell, and hadn't so much as twitched for almost four hours. She should know. She'd been watching.
"Bite me, old man," she said dryly, and he chuckled. Beside him, Storm's mouth twisted at the vulgarity, and Domino smiled cheerfully at her. "Enjoying your book, Ororo?" She heard a guffaw from Pete, where he and Kitty were still sitting at the sensor array, and was hard-pressed not to break into laughter herself.
Logan's nose suddenly twitched, as if he'd caught a scent. At the same moment, Domino gasped, staggering forward as the psi-link suddenly seemed to catch fire. Logan lept from his seat, steadying her.
"Darlin', what-"
"By the Goddess!" Storm cried, rising as well. Pulling away from Logan, Domino turned around, her heart thudding in her chest.
Nathan was glowing.
"Oh, shit!" she gasped, still a little unsteady as she threw herself across the aisle towards him. His eyes were still closed, but the red-gold radiance around him was growing. Tiny tendrils of smoke were rising from him as the chair, the safety harness, anything that was in contact with his body began to smoulder- NATHAN! she projected as loudly as she could along their link. WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT!
Nothing. She pulled desperately at the safety harness, her only thought to get him out of the seat before it caught fire with him in it-but she yanked her hands back with a cry as the metal buckles scorched her skin. Cursing, Logan shoved her aside, only to set about doing the same thing she'd tried a moment ago. Pushing herself up from the floor, Domino smelled burning flesh.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Storm make an imperious gesture, and the air in the cabin grew moist, as if it were about to rain. Kitty jumped up from her chair and ran toward them, phasing right through the last, empty row of seats. Wisdom moved just as quickly, but had to go around them. All of this happened almost simultaneously, as Domino started forward to help Logan-
And the world blew up in her face. The next thing she knew, she was pinned up against the wall of the cabin as the plane spiraled downwards, out of control. She heard Gwen shouted and Logan cursing, saw Pete struggling to reach Kitty, heard wind roaring in her ears-Storm's trying to level the plane out, Domino thought dazedly. But as she fought the pressure of gravity and managed, painfully, to turn her head towards the other side of the plane, where Cable had been, thoughts of anything else, even the fact that they appeared to be going down, went right out of her mind.
Nathan, pinned up against the opposite wall of the cabin, was surrounded by the Phoenix-effect. As she watched, he floated foward, as if gravity had suddenly lost its grip on him. His eyes were closed, his features twisted into an expression of inhuman concentration. The plane shuddered, bucked like a rodeo horse, and then abruptly leveled out.
Domino grunted in pain as she fell to the floor. Struggling back to her feet, she saw the others doing the same. There was a thin gash across Logan's forehead that was closing over even as she noticed it. Storm was rubbing the back of her head, blinking dazedly. Kitty looked all right, but Wisdom was slower to get up, holding his side as if his ribs hurt. She herself hadn't gotten off scot-free, either, though it felt like her luck had saved her from anything worse than bruises.
"Holding altitude-systems are coming back on line!" Gwen's voice said breathlessly over the cabin intercom. "Everyone all right?"
No one answered her. They were too busy watching Nathan, still levitating a good foot off the deck, the Phoenix-effect shimmering around him.
"Someone please tell me I'm seeing things?" Kitty whispered. Wisdom was cursing steadily.
The Phoenix-effect vanished, and Nathan crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Domino rushed forward, kneeling beside him. Everyone else held back, but she didn't notice, or care.
Nathan was curled up on his side, unmoving. "Nate," she said softly, almost pleadingly. Please--wake up!
He opened his eyes, staring up at her dazedly. Blood was streaming from his nose and ears. She laid a hand against his forehead, not entirely surprised to feel how hot he was. "You unbelievable lunatic," she said almost conversationally as he blinked up at her. "I should-"
"Don't look at me like that," he said hoarsely. "I didn't do it." He sat up too quickly, and went pale. "I didn't." His features were tense with pain.
"All right, then," Wisdom said briskly, coming over and kneeling beside them. "Fair enough." He alone seemed to have shaken off the state of shock that still gripped the other three. They were just staring, as if their eyes were about to fall out of their heads. "What bloody well did happen then, Nate?"
Nathan didn't answer for a moment. "Temporal wave," he finally said. "In phase, this time. And after the one on the astral plane." He winced. "Madelyne was right."
"Did you say Madelyne?" Storm asked sharply, staring forward. Beside her, Logan looked just as stunned, and Domino heard Kitty whisper something under her breath.
Nathan shook his head almost doggedly. "They're reflections," he said exhaustedly, closing his eyes. "Reflections. What in the name of everything that's holy is going on?"
The door to the cockpit opened, and Gwen came out, her face grim. "We're stable, and on autopilot," she said levelly.
"Nice to know we ain't gonna crash," Logan quipped. The look in his eyes had gone from wild to wary, and although he spoke to Gwen, he was staring fixedly at Nathan.
Gwen ignored his comment, and looked down at Nathan. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly. He nodded, not saying anything, and she continued. "We weren't the only ones who got hit. I just got a flash burst from London-the tactical net's gone down."
Wisdom paled. "Bloody hell," he whispered. "The stations are sitting ducks!"
Nathan sunk his face into his hands. "And the hits just keep on coming," he said dully. "Top speed, Gwen. We need to be there yesterday."
to be continued...
[FOOTER]