One Way or Another *HF*
By Mystikal
One Way or Another
Written by: Mystikal and SlashR
Mystikal stepped off the plane and glanced around. It had been awhile since she had been here, and even when she was here she had never gone anywhere near the airport. She really hadn't gone anywhere, she was always afraid she'd get lost in the big city of Los Angeles. She had lived there a couple of months and all she could remember was how to get to certain places. She remembered the hospital though. She hailed a taxi and got in.
"Take me to St. Vincent's please," she told the driver quietly.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hawkeye had received the email from Supergrover requesting a InterCourt Meeting. All members of the Inner and Outer Courts to be present. He replied saying he would meet them at the place. Hawkeye didn't know why the meeting was called, but he figured it must be pretty important if Supergrover thought that all the members should be present, and not just the inner courts. He reached for his GCU and paged Daemon. Fifteen minutes later Daemon was standing in his office.
"What's going on?"
"Supergrover wants to have a intercourt meeting. Don't know what the reason is though. I need you to get everyone prepped, the meeting is tomorrow. 5 p.m."
Daemon nodded and started to leave. He stopped before he reached the door and turned around. "Mystikal's out. Get her back here?"
"No. Have her go ahead and meet us at the place. I think she can handle that much," Hawkeye said with a smirk.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Erik Kayne lay in his hospital bed, counting the specs on the ceiling. The cleaning staff couldn't see them, but he could. He could see a lot of things. Such was his ability.
Microscopic vision, such a handy tool for a guy to have, he thought to himself. He knew more about what was wrong with him than the doctors did he bet. It seemed as if they knew nothing of what was slowly eating away at his stomach. Stupid doctors. He always hated them. He avoided hospitals if and when he could. He looked up when two doctors came in.
"So what's the news?"
The two doctors exchanged looks and frowned. One of them stepped forward, his face that off someone getting ready to tell someone they have to put their dog to sleep. Erik's frown deepend. "Mr. Kayne, you have a tumor the size of a small orange on the left wall of your stomach. The tumor is slowly eating away at the smooth muscle of the stomach and has created a small hole, which is secreting the acids that are contained within your stomach."
"So...that's not a good thing is it?" he asked.
"No, it's not. If we go in, we might be able to repair it. But I stress the word might." Erik sighed.
Fuck! Dammit... "What are my chances?"
"Hard to say. But if we're going to do this, we need to do it soon."
"Lemme think about it?" The two doctors nodded and turned to leave. The second one stopped and stared at Erik, looking into his eyes. The doctor shook his head then left. Erik laid back against his pillows and sighed. He could understand why someone would shake their head at his eye color. They were a burnt orange color. They had been his whole life.
_ _ _ _
Mysty entered St. Vincents, unsure of where to go next. She had a wig on, to cover her silver hair. She didn't really feel like being gawked at, sneered at, hissed at or anything else for that matter. Not today. Hell, she didn't feel like having any of that on a normal day. She stood in the main lobby, her eyes closed. She hadn't seen his mind in over eight months, hadn't seen him in just as long. He was her first freind after discovering that she was indeed a mutant. Well, unless you counted Tracy those few days she had been in Belfast. She concentrated harder, their were so many minds in this hospital. The sick, the hurt, the ones dying. She felt the passage of life from one patient, and said a little prayer for them. Finally, she found him. She opened her eyes and began to head towards him.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Daemon had gone to Siren to ask if she knew where Mystikal had gone, and, of course, she did. She even had the hotel number that she would be staying at. Daemon called there first. The man who answered the phone said the she hadn't checked in yet. Daemon then tried her GCU...she didn't answer it.
Dammit Mystikal! he thought. He set the GCU so that it would send out a page to her every ten minutes. She was bound to quit ignoring it at some point.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Erik looked up at the young woman who walked into his room with a smile. She was pretty, whoever she was. She had shoulder length brown hair, ice blue eyes, and she was tall. He always liked tall girls. The girl seemed to be smirking, like she knew what he was thinking. He shook his head at that thought.
"Can I help ya ma'am? Maybe, point ya in the right direction?"
"Nope. I know where I'm at," she said still smirking. Erik recognized the voice. He hadn't heard it in a long time though.
"What brought you back?"
"You."
"Me?" He considered this information for awhile, then spoke again. "How'd you know I was here?"
"I still have some connections."
"You have connections...yet...you didn't bother to come visit me till now?" Mysty sighed and looked up to the ceiling.
"So...much. Erik, you have no idea the shit that..."
"We all have our problems Shannon," he said cutting her off. "I thought the one thing you picked up from me was that. We ALL have our problems. But we also look out for each other. If you needed help, any one of us would have been there for you."
"Erik. I KNOW that dammit..."
"Then why?"
"Because. It was something that I got dragged into."
"Into what? You're not one of those damn mutant guerilla's are you? One's trying to like..I dunno..take over the world and destroy the normals are you? Cause if you are..." he started threateningly.
"Oh lord no." Erik looked at her closely. She wasn't lying. He could tell. Though, he couldn't recall her ever lying to him. If she did, she was REALLY good at hiding it. He noticed her twitch just a bit and look down at her purse.
"Umm...Erik? Gimme just a second. I have something to do." She reached into her purse and pulled out a small pager looking device. She looked at the little monitor and grimaced. "Twenty-one missed....shit..." she mumbled. She punched a couple of buttons and this time groaned. "D's gonna shoot me..." Erik wondered what was going on and started to sit up.
"Umm...Shannon?" Mysty looked up sharply. "What's goin' on? You in some kinda trouble?"
"Yea...the worse kind. My..." Mysty paused, looking for the right word. "Boss, is gonna shoot me."
"What? Miss an important meeting?"
"I don't know." Mysty again pushed a couple of buttons. Erik heard another man's voice on the little gadget.
"Mysty?! Where the fuck have you been?!"
"Dammit, D. Calm down, yer gonna have a coronary."
"Where are you?"
"California. St. Vincents."
The man's voice suddenly turned concerned Erik noticed. "What happened?"
"Nothing. I'm visiting an old friend."
"Then why the hell haven't you responded back to the pages?!"
"I had it on vibrate..and it was in my purse. Sheesh..."
"One of these days Mysty..."
"Pow...straight to the moon...gotcha..."
"Shut up and listen a minute. We have a meeting with the White Court tomorrow at five. Hawkeye wants you to meet us there. Seems pretty important. Cut your little reunion short...don't be late."
"Why D, you say that like I'm a chronic late person...."
"You are."
"Yea, yea."
"Daemon out." Mysty shut off her GCU and sighed. She put the alarm on it back to beeping and off of vibrate.
"White court?" Erik asked. He had heard of the Hellfire Courts. "I think you have a little explaining to do. Don't you?"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Mysty explained as best as she could. Leaving out the details that she knew would bug Erik and make him nag her to quit. She didn't need that. When she had finished he regarded her for a moment. He knew by the look on her face it would do no good to argue with her. So, he decided to change the subject.
"So, how's the one hit wonder?"
"The who?"
"The guy who ran over you when you were living here. I seem to recall you had a crush on him or something..." Erik's face was lit by a huge smile. He really loved to aggravate Shannon sometimes. He missed it.
"Umm....gee...heh." Mysty had left him out the little story for a reason. Erik would get pissy if he had heard everything. "New subject!!" Mysty said smiling. "And..no. I don't have a crush on him." The two laughed and talked until a nurse came and told Mysty she would have to leave. "Well, that's my exit cue. The warden's come to bust me out..."
"You'll come back, right?"
"Yea. I got some stuff to take care of tomorrow. Meeting and all. I'll be back as soon as I can. I think I deserve a little downtime dammit!" Mysty said with a laugh. She walked up to Erik and gave him a hug. Then as a second thought, she kissed him on the cheek. "See ya Erik."
"See ya Shan."
_ _ _ _ _ _
Next Day
The members of the Grey Court sat in the conference room waiting for the members of the White Court. Supergrover had just called down, saying they would be delayed by a few minutes. Hawkeye tapped his fingers impatiently waiting for them to show up. The lights had been flickering off and on since they had arrived. It was just another annoyance. After a brief struggle to remain on the lights finally died.
"What the fuck?!" Hawkeye was now pissed. He stood up from his chair and walked over to the light switch, flipping it off and on. Nothing.
"Figures," Rage mumbled. Siren tried to look at her across the table but was failing due to the fact...well...she couldn't see.
"Someone smack her," Siren replied. She heard a quick smack and smiled.
"OUCH!! Sharon!! Dammit!!" Siren snickered.
"Alright, you three....chill," Daemon said.
"Yes. Please do. Such incompetence in a team could mean the downfall." They all turned towards the voice. The lights switched on with Daemon flying backwards through the wall.
Hawkeye followed Daemon with his eyes and saw Daemon not standing up. “Daemon…?” He then turned his head to the still invisible presence. “Alright, I know you’re there..Show yourself! Siren.. You go check up on Daemon..”
The figure suddenly revealed itself. “Your ignorance annoys me human. You should know that I, HellGoat, don’t tolerate this behavior from anyone. “
Hawkeye smirked. “Yeah well, the grey court don’t tolerate any ignorance either..Guys, let’s show him… guys?” Hawkeye looked behind him and saw the entire grey court standing in suspended animation.
“Hawkeye..Daemon seems to be frozen or something..” Siren ran into the room and stopped in her tracks when she saw what was going on.
”Siren..get out of here..get help..We…” HellGoat smiled as Hawkeye remained in the same position.
”Now Siren, your destiny awaits. Come with me..” He grabbed her arm and opened a portal. They both stepped through, leaving the grey court frozen behind.
_ _ _ _ _
Mysty approached the meeting site quickly. She was running almost an hour late. It really wasn't her fault. First the engineers who put fuel in her private jet had found something wrong, then once that had been corrected it took forever to get clearence to take off. Still, she doubted Hawkeye or Daemon would listen to facts. She was habitually late, and that made the lectures longer and more intense each time. She walked into the room, putting a big grin on her face.
"Be of good cheer! I bring you good news. Mysty's here...." She said with a flourish of her arms. Her smile was quickly wiped off her face when she saw the still forms of her freinds. Hawkeye was in a half standing posistion, his mouth open as if he had been in the middle of giving an order. They had all been frozen in time. She realized suddenly that Siren wasn't among them. She didn't know what was going on, but she planned on finding out. She quickly placed a temporary sheild around the room and left.
_ _ _ __ _
As she sat in the cockpit of her plane, she stared down at the trees below. She knew it was here somewhere.
"Where is the fucking mansion?!" Suddenly she passed through a holographic image, that seemed to shimmer. In front of her lay the mansion for the White Court. As she landed her plane and got out, she was greeted by a security team.
"Put your hands in the air!" One of the gaurds snapped. She turned to face him, a wicked smile on her face, but did as she was told.
"I am the Grey Rook, Mystikal."
"I'll need some proof of that ma'am."
She pondered this for a couple of seconds, wondering how stupid this guy was. Shit, as far as she knew she was the only person with silver hair. "Would you like a blood sample?" she asked sarcastically. She looked towards the mansion and noticed that Mufasa was heading in thier direction. "He'll tell you who the fuck I am."
Mufasa had been looking out his office window when the small plane had landed. Apparently it had not been expected, because shortly afterwards a security force was greeting the lone occupant of the plane. Mufasa blinked when he saw the silver hair, and quickly teleported to the ground.
"Mysty, what the fuck's goin' on?" The guards realized that she had been telling the truth about her idenity and began to leave. Mysty gave the one who told her they needed proof, a know-it-all smirk.
"I don't know. I was about to ask you the same fuckin' question," she growled. She had known that the Grey Court was supposed to have a meeting with the White. NONE of the people in that room had been White Court members. She wanted to know what the hell happened and she wanted to know right then. "Where's SG?"
"Do I look like his keeper?"
"Where is he K?"
"I dont know."
"Fine. I'll find him myself."
Right at that moment SuperGrover opened the doors and stepped out of the mansion. “Mysty, what’s going on here?”
”That’s what I want to hear from you.” Mystikal tried to explain the situation as calmly as possible, but saw SuperGrover staring at her in disbelieve.
”Mysty, I never called for a meeting with the Grey Court. Why would..”
”So are you saying I’m lying?”
”No. I’m saying we’re not behind this. However, I’ll call an Inner Circle meeting to see if anyone else knows about this.”
Within minutes the entire Inner Circle was called to SuperGrover’s office. Mystikal sat next to SuperGrover’s desk while the rest stood around in the room.
”I demand to know what this is all about!” Diablo slammed his fist on the desk and showed his teeth. “Furthermore, I..”
SuperGrover arose from his chair and looked Diablo in the eyes. “Things will be explained. Just let Mystikal tell her story first.”
Diablo snarled at Mystikal and looked back at SuperGrover. “You can’t be serious! You want me to listen to…”
”Diablo!”
”Very well.”
“I was out to help a friend when the Grey Court was meeting the White Court. I found out about this too late so..”
Cyclops turned his head to SuperGrover. “Grover, I didn’t know we had a meeting with the Grey Court?”
SuperGrover did not respond and Mystikal continued.
“When I arrived to the meeting place, I found the grey court….frozen in their place.”
Ozymandias glared. “Frozen?”
”Yes, but that’s not all.. Siren was missing.”
Diablo turned his back to the rest. “HellGoat?” No one else heard him, Diablo made sure of that. He formed a fist with his hand and surpressed his anger. He then smiled and turned back to the rest.
Mystikal looked at everyone and sighed. “I see you know nothing about this too. This probably surprises you more than me. I’ll.. I’ll.. No, I’m going.. Thanks for your time Grover, I think I can find the way out.”
"Are you sure? We can send someone with you..." Supergrover started.
"Nope! I'm cool." Mysty smiled. "I'm the highest ranking member! What could be better?! Seriously. I don't want help. No offence. I'll figure this out on my own. No need to get others involved." Mysty walked out of the office, leaving only disbelieving faces behind her....that and an annoyed God of Hell.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Diablo had found the place of the supposed meeting with ease. It wasn't hard. His father's trail blazed within his mind. When he arrived at the scene, he easily tore down the sheild Mystikal had placed around the place and walked in. What he saw, was to him, quite amusing. The "all powerful" Grey King was in a half-standing posistion, with his mouth gaping open like an idiot. The alien, Daemon, was laying, unconsious, on the floor on the other side of the wall.
”Well well well, finally the humans appear to show what they really are.. Mere puppets. ” Diablo looked around. He could still feel HellGoat’s powers oozing from the ground and shuddered. Why was he this scared?
Diablo stepped up to Hawkeye and closed his mouth. “I hate it when they leave the door open. Now, how to approach this situation? HellGoat seems to have stopped time for these humans. I could restore time for them, but wouldn’t they simply interfear with my plans then?” Diablo frowned and moved Hawkeye’s mouth in an awkward position. Then, he smiled. He moved his finger in a circle, counter clockwise and the event played backwards as if it was all taped on video. Then, when HellGoat was about to strike, Diablo moved his finger in the opposite direction to replay the event.
Meanwhile, Mystikal had arrived on the scene. When she saw Diablo amongst the grey court she knew it was best to stay covered, for now. At first it seemed that Diablo was the one behind this, but why was he toying with her fellow team members then, and why would he freeze the Grey Court? Then she saw it all. Diablo was replaying the scene over and over and there he was, a figure appearing out of nowhere, freezing the Grey Court without hardly moving muscle. She recognized the figure instantly. She did see him in the Grey Court files a few times after all, and every time he seemed to leave a scary impression. And she had seen him recently in Hell. That brought a shudder to her body.
Diablo didn’t seem to notice her, but then she saw Siren standing there alone between her frozen team mates. She couldn’t help to let out a noise of anger when she saw HellGoat grabbing Siren by the arm and dragging her through a portal. Diablo looked up while the scene instantly flashed back into the present. The Grey Court were once again back in their former positions. Mystikal stepped back in shock when Diablo flew straight towards her. For some reason a demon flying straight towards you brings shock into any human being.
”What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you think I should ask you that? “ Mystikal stepped forward and looked Diablo straight into the eyes. His eyes didn’t reveal much. They were black.. pitch black.
“Heh, you have courage. Too bad it won’t help you when I rip out your heart."
”Oh yeah? Try me.”
Diablo formed a fist and let out a scream while blasting away some rocks. “ENOUGH! You have no business here! Leave! NOW!”
Mystikal smiled. “Oh yeah? Once again: Try me. Now, what are you doing here?”
"That is none of your concern. I advise you to leave before..." Diablo started threateningly.
"Before what? Puhlease. I have more right to be here than you. So go bugger off or something." Mysty knew that would only piss him off, but she really could care less right then. Diablo contemplated what he could do to her. What he really wanted to do just then was blast her with hellfire, but he didn't. He realized that SuperGrover would be highly angered by this. He had promised to not kill, and he was an honorable being. He chose to be. Diablo, instead, chose to ignore her. "Well...since you won't go. I will. I have a trip to make anyways."
Diablo regarded her a moment. "Where do you intend to go?" he asked, sarcasm evident.
"HellGoat," the girl responded, still walking away from him. Before she knew what was happening Diablo had her by her arms and had swung her around to face him.
"You will NOT."
"I advise you to let go of my arm."
This time it was his turn to smirk. "Or what?" Mysty hadn't really considered this. There wasn't anything she COULD do to him. He realized she wasn't going to respond and let a satisfied smile cross his face. "I will handle this myself."
"Oh really?" Mystikal figured she still had one ace up her sleeve. And now was the time to show it. She was going to go with him, one way or another. "How do you intend on doing that? Just march straight into asshole's lair, take Siren back and march straight out?"
Diablo hadn't really considered the "how" just the "I will" part. It would be difficult to get passed his father. He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized the girl was still talking. "...Siren only trusts me. She sees you and she will freak. Capice?"
"She will come with me or she will remain there."
"Yes. But, if she remains, that'll just defeat your whole purpose now wouldn't?"
"Don't presume that you know MY purpose," Diablo growled. Mysty could tell she definitely would not get along with him. There was no way. He was an arrogant, self-righteous ass.
"Ok. Fine. Lets start with what I DO know then. Shall we? One. You're the HellGoat’s son. Two. You and him don't exactly...get along. You go outta yer way to screw with his plans. Am I getting warm here? Now, lets see my side of the spectrum. One. Siren's my friend. I WILL save her, one way or another. There is no two for me, cause it just boils down to that one point."
"You talk too much," Diablo said in reply.
Mystikal flashed a quick smile at Diablo. "Yes, well you're Captain Obvious aren't you? Do you know how much I've heard that?" she asked with a smirk. "Anyways. What I propose is you take me, the poor, mere mortal, with you. I get Siren...and in the process daddy dearest gets pissed off. Plan is foiled, good guys win, and your goal to annoy him is accomplished."
He had to admit, the idea had a certain amount of merit. He could use Mysty to accomplish what he wanted. "Okay. You go. You do anything other than what I tell you and you will regret it."
"Has anyone ever told you, you could star in B movies?"
Diablo looked down on Mystikal and growled. “Your wit does not amuse me.” Diablo turned his back to Mystikal and walked away from her.
“Hey? What’s this? Leaving without me?”
”Could you stop being such a terrible irritation factor? I haven’t killed you yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t.” Diablo sat down on his knees and closed his eyes. “The portal was opened here. I can re-open it, then we can follow him.”
”To where?”
”I don’t know. If I knew where he is, I wouldn’t be tracking his portals, would I?”
“If HellGoat is powerful enough to keep his home a secret from you, why does he leave this trace?” Mystikal smirked as she saw Diablo cringe.
“Perhaps he does not expect me to follow him? Or perhaps that’s what he wants? Oh, and I can assure you that if he wants us to follow him, we have no hope of getting out there alive.” Diablo smiled and looked from his eye corners at Mystikal, hoping for a response of fear.
Mystikal however didn’t move a muscle and seemingly uninterested said, “So when do you get the portal ready?”
“Anytime I want it to, just wanted to inform you of the danger and our forth coming doom.” Diablo was still hoping for a response, but found none. He grumbled, waved his hand in the air and the portal opened. “Now, I’m going through first. I’ll hold Hellgoat busy, you’ll grab Siren and then get the hell out. I’ll follow..”
“You think you can hold Hellgoat back?”
”I don’t know. Let’s find out, shall we?” Diablo stepped through the portal. Mystikal clutched her fists and followed.
On the other side of the portal..
Diablo stepped through and saw Hellgoat instantly. He was sitting on a throne, looking at Siren who was caged in a corner. “Well, well, well Diablo, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Hellgoat stood up from his throne and smiled. “Have you come to show your alliance to me?”
”I’ve come to put a stop to your plans father. ”
Hellgoat smiled. “I see you DO have some guts after all. It appears that my brother didn’t totally fail with raising you.” Hellgoat raised his hand and Diablo fell on the ground in pain. “Just relax as I scan your mind for this glitch of yours. This incredible arrogance that these filthy insects deserve to live. It sickens me..”
”Never…” Diablo closed his eyes as the pain got more intense. His only thoughts went to Mystikal.. If only she could get passed them without being detected.
HellGoat’s eyes glowed. “I see you’ve taken a lot of effort to construct these barriers in your mind Diablo. How unfortunate that they will not do you any good against me.” One by one the mind barriers shattered and with each one being destroyed, Diablo screamed. His screams getting more intense every time a barrier fell down. He was helpless, or was he..?
With effort Diablo managed to raise his hand. “Get..out…of…my….HEAD” The blast released from his hand was enough to destroy planets. Hellgoat received the blast straight in his chest. For only a few seconds Diablo thought it was over. He soon knew better. The smoke cleared and Hellgoat emerged without a scratch.
“Is this all you could do?” HellGoat smiled as he resumed his mind attack. This time Diablo was prepared and resisted it with full effort. Still, he was fighting a losing battle. One, which was not going to last long…
Mystikal meanwhile managed to get to the cage. “Siren, are you okay?”
”Mysty, what are you doing here?”
“Trying to get you out of here, that’s what.”
”But.. How did you get here?”
”With some help from that rampaging idiot over there.” Mystikal pointed at Diablo.
”Geez, he’s really taking a pounding.”
”That’s why we need to be quick!”
Diablo saw Mystikal reached Siren in his peripheral vision and twitched his eyes. The cage started to move and then with a loud sound fell apart.
Hellgoat heard the sound and stopped his attack instantly. “What..?” His amazement quickly turned into anger. “How dare you interfere with my plans!” Hellgoat pointed his hand at Mystikal and smiled. “You shall be terminated for this.”
Diablo jumped between Hellgoat and Mystikal and received the blast with full force. Mystikal meanwhile was able to grab Siren by the hand and jumped through the portal leaving Diablo behind. Diablo smiled as he whipped away the blood from his mouth. “It seems you have failed at last father.” Then Diablo too disappeared.
“Failed Diablo? On the contrary, things are going just as planned.” Hellgoat stepped back to his throne and sat down. “Now that I’m able to observe Siren constantly, I can finish my plans.” Hellgoat smiled.
Meanwhile back on earth
”That was easier than I thought!”
”Yes, Hellgoat normally does not accept defeat that easily. Perhaps…”
”Perhaps what?”
”Never mind human, you have your friend back and I’ve restored the Grey court back into the current time. Go to them and let me be. I have more important matters to attend.” With that, Diablo teleported away.
Mysty and Siren exchanged glances, both of which would have made someone watching them laugh. Mysty rolled her eyes and sighed.
“He is impossible, arrogant…and…and…annoying!” Siren just laughed. They walked a short distance down the hallway to the door where the other Grey courters would be waiting. When they walked in everyone froze and stared at them. After a moment of silence Mysty spoke up. “Geez, ya act like you’ve never seen us before. Chill,” she said smiling.
“Where have you two been?” Hawkeye asked.
“Oh, around and about,” Mysty replied.
“Specifically…?”
“Well, not sure. T’was rather warm though.”
“I’ll tell you what happened. Mysty’s still rather…annoyed it seems.”
“Annoyed hell. That damn “hell god” whatever the hell he is…grrr,” Mysty said trailing off.
Hawkeye and Daemon exchanged looks and nodded. They both focused their attention on Siren. Mysty started to back out towards the door again. It’s not that she didn’t care about what was going on, she did. But she knew she would be well informed before the week was out. Now, she just wanted to finish her visit to her friend. Daemon watched her leave, but said nothing. He knew she probably wouldn’t have listened anyway.
Mysty headed back to her little plane and started the take off sequence. She slowly guided it down the runway and lifted off into the air like a giant bird set free.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Diablo didn’t like the fact that Hellgoat had quit so easily. Hellgoat could’ve easily destroyed both him and Mystikal. But he hadn’t. He had let them go. He would find out what his father was up to and he would stop him. He could care less about the girl involved. It was of no concern to him. But, apparently, she was a continuation of the pet project his father had started those many years ago. He had stopped it then. He would stop it now. If only to show he wasn’t afraid. Though, that’s exactly what it was. Fear. He could admit to himself…sometimes.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Mysty was again at St. Vincents. She stared down at Erik who was sleeping. The nurse had remembered her from the last time and had shown her in. Apparently, whatever was making him sick was worse. He was very pale and breathing shallowly. He had also denied operation requests. He didn’t believe in having his body opened up. You never knew what someone might leave behind. He was kind of paranoid that way.
She sat down in the chair to think. She knew she could help him. It was just a matter of who’s power to borrow, and how much pain she was willing to inflict upon herself for him. He had always been there for her. Probably still would be if she had let him. Blackfire and Loki were the only two she had seen use healing. Both appeared taxed afterwards, depending upon the degree of the healing. Loki had helped heal Michael. Him and Blackfire. And it had left them unconscious. Blackfire usually only healed small things. Mysty thought for a moment. She could, theoretically, combine the two. It might make it less tiring and she could help her friend. Easy as pie.
She concentrated on the two people she would have to borrow from. When she had a firm grasp on those aspects of their powers she melded them together, linking them. She stood up from her chair and walked towards Erik. She placed her hands on his stomach and closed her eyes, concentrating harder. She could…sense the problem almost. Her hands began to glow a faint purple. Oooooo……tingly.
_ _ _ _ _ _
When she woke up she was sitting back in the chair, with the nurse fanning her. She had a splitting headache.
“Are you alright dear? You passed out about 5 minutes ago,” the nurse said.
“Yea. I’m fine. Thanks. Do you have a Tylenol?”
“Sure. It is a hospital. We tend to carry that stuff here,” the nurse replied with a grin. She turned to go out the door and get a couple for the young lady.
“Lovely. A nurse with sarcasm.”
“Yea. She’s cool that way,” she heard Erik say.
“Oh, good. Yer awake. How do you feel?”
“Like new. What did you do?”
“Nothing to important,” she said with a laugh. Erik raised his eyebrows then shrugged. “So you’re gonna be ok then?”
“Sure, sure. Always will. Did ya make yer meeting on time?”
“Uhh…..no,” Mysty said with a laugh. She wasn’t about to tell him what happened though. She didn’t think he would believe her anyway. “Well, lets get you outta here and go get some real food.”
“Don’t you think the doctors might have a problem with that?”
“Fuck ‘em,” she replied. She reached out and extended a telepathic shield around him, making them invisible. They managed to hold their laughter until they were out of the hospital.
THE END