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X-Calibre Trilogy: Dead Run	By : jwieda Category: X-men Comics > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men comics, or any of the characters from it. I make no money from from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Suzanne
- 2-Peter
- 3-Suzanne
- 4-Peter
- 5-Suzanne
- 6-Peter
- 2
- 3
- 4
I�d managed to compose myself enough to face those in the
common rooms a little over an hour later. I hadn�t been sure what to expect,
but the look on Marius� face when he saw me definitely qualified as
�interesting�.

�Suzanne!� Marius stood up to greet me, a too-wide smile
across his face. �Thank God you�re��

�Alive? Yes.� I felt a familiar surge of power rise within
me. �We
are the Metatron.
We do not die so easily, oh ye of little faith.�

Marius began to shake slightly and had gone pale. �It is not
a matter of faith . . .� He trailed off when we burst into flames.

�No,� we agreed, �faith has nothing to do with you anymore.
What is it, Marius? Money? Power?
You humans are so fond of both, after all.� We folded my arms across my
chest and stared at him with . . . contempt? Anger?
Disgust is a close approximation of what we both felt as we stared him down.
o:p>
Marius licked his lips nervously. �I�m afraid I don�t know
what you mean,� he bowed to us in a show of obsequiousness. �I have always
acted in the best interests of the Sicarii and those we seek to protect.�

�Why, then, have the pleas of Nightcrawler�s priestess fallen on deaf
ears, Marius?� We kept our voice even and low. �Surely you know that I have
arranged for him to help you in those best interests � I have told your priests
as much. Why, then, will you not help him in his time of need? Why have you
persuaded the other Cabals to abandon him, as you have?�

He came up from his bow as the alarmed murmuring began
around him. We met his gaze with eyes of fire; I saw from my peripheral vision
that it was rippling over my body in a very animated way, almost as though
waiting to lash out at him. Marius had the same idea, although the thought wasn�t
as fully formed as it was for me. He took a step back from us.

�You misunderstand my intentions,� he attempted to explain
himself. �When Suzanne collapsed I assumed you were without a suitable vessel,
as no one had come forward to take her place from any of the Cabals. The
massive exodus that caused her collapse has left us scrambling for enough
supplies; our enemies are determined in their search for us; and our remaining
resources are wearing quite thin. We all agreed that what remains at our
disposal would be better used to help those with us than to organize a party to
search Europe for Nightcrawler and the boy.�

�A fugitive of Nightcrawler�s caliber would be held in the highest
security prison in this half of the Reich,� we glared at him. �You
know as well as I that this prison is not far from Berlin.
What makes you think you would need to search all of Europe for
him?�

Marius� face reddened now that he was caught in his lie.
Before he could form a reply, someone from within the crowd stepped forward and
bowed.

�Pardon me, Metatron, if I
may?� a British voice that I recognized addressed us hesitantly. We shifted our
gaze to Jonathan, who was coming up from a bow of his own. When we nodded to
him he continued, �I�m Jonathan Winters, head of intelligence for the Berlin
Cabal.� He cleared his throat as his eyes darted to Marius, who was staring at
him quite openly. Jonathan looked back to us and straightened his shoulders. �I
attempted to inform Marius earlier this week that my men know where Miriam
Shaham is being held, which would imply that the others are with her. He would
not listen and dismissed me before I could tell hims.�The rest are unaccounted for?� We raised my eyebrows.

�Yes, ma�am. One of my men has come
forward to tell me how many were collected that night, and most of them are
currently unaccounted for.�

�I see.� We narrowed my eyes at Marius as a panicked thought
flitted through his mind. I focused on this thought, then
sought out those related to it until I had the full story from an unwilling
Marius. �Very interesting . . . Surely an assassination of that level was not
easy to arrange, especially with the security provided at such a public and
high-profile event. One would almost think it an inside job, perhaps an
arrangement between certain members of the Reich and the Sicarii.�

�You sold us out!!!� Adeleine, one of my teachers, wailed as
she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. �Marius, how could you?? How
could you betray us like this?!?� She was crying as she accused him.

�How much did your twenty pieces of silver buy?� Mathias
frowned from my left. �What did you arrange that you told Magdalena
that our time is at an end?�

�I arranged for the best possible end to a war that we can�t
win,� Marius bristled. �You have no idea what the Nazis have up their sleeves
right now, or what they will have soon enough.�

Our fire rippled again as the echoed cacophony of screams
and machine guns came up the tunnels to greet us. I flexed my fingers absently
as I listened and tried to sense how many intruders we had.

�Marius . . .� Jonathan addressed him, visibly shaken, voice
weak. �What have you done?�

�He has betrayed us shamelessly,� we spoke above the rising din.
�Where
is Miriam, Jonathan?�

�Switzerland,�
he shouted as the gunmen arrived in the common room. �Heidelmann has a castle
there��

We threw up a barrier of fire to separate us from the SS,
their bullets melting and dropping harmlessly to the floor before hitting
anyone. What happened next was the mental equivalent of being shoved out of the
way; the Metatron took me over completely,
scanning each person quickly for the Sicarii sigil. Those who had it received a
sudden headache only a fraction of my own as my power was commandeered to
search each mind for loyalty or betrayal. Those who were loyal were gripped by
a tendril of fire while those who were not dropped suddenly to the floor, dead
before they hit the stones. I screamed inside as my mind involuntarily lashed
out, twisting thoughts hard enough to cause synapse failure and aneurism in
those deemed a threat. Within minutes it was over and she retreated, leaving me
to drop to my knees before vomiting up bile and precious little else.

�Mein Gott [My God]. . .�

�Was geschah gerade [What just happened]?�

�Sie sind alle tot [They�re all
dead] . . .�

�Gott wird gepriesen [God be praised] . . .�

�Ich werde kotzen [I�m gonna puke] . . .�

�Werde ich erschrocken, Mutti [I�m scared, Mommy]!�

�Ich glaube es nicht [I don�t believe it] . . .�

I whimpered as my mind continued to go haywire, picking up
both the words and thoughts of those around me. I felt gentle hands on my
shoulders, then heard Mathias� voice asking gently if
I were alright. I dry heaved in response and waved him away, finally panting as
the nausea retreated. The headache remained, however, and I realized this must
be how it feels to have one�s head cleaved open. I could still hear them all
and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block them out. It took almost ten
minutes but I managed it; then I felt Her return ever
so softly.

�What do we do now?� Magda worried within the tight group
that had assembled around me once I was able to stand again. �They know where
we are now! We�re not safe here anymore.�

�We are going to fetch Nightcrawler, Peter, and Miriam,� we
answered tiredly.

�That�s a lot easier to say than do,� Jonathan sighed
raggedly. �If Marius was on the take, there�s no telling how many people know
about us right now. It�ll be neigh on impossible to
get to Switzerland
no matter how we cut it.�

�We�ll get there just fine,� we waved absently with my right
hand. �We should be ready to go within the hour. We haven�t much time; Peter
is growing weak, and I can barely feel Nightcrawler.�

�You can find them from here?� Magda breathed. �That�s
amazing . . .�

�I could probably feel them from Shi�ar,� I blurted out,
then blinked. What was Shi�ar? Oh . . . oh! I blinked again as I recalled the
strange people I�d seen earlier today across the Universe.

�What�s Shi�ar?� Jonathan frowned.

Magdalena shrugged, as she was
without an answer.

�We�ll all find out sooner than we want to, I suspect,�
Mathias ran a hand through his graying hair. �Do you know exactly where they
are?�

�More or less,� I yawned and sank into the nearest seat. �I
can see where Peter is. Nightcrawler is harder because he�s so faint.�

�Regardless,� Adeleine fretted over me like a mother hen,
�you�re not taking us anywhere until we�re sure the trip won�t kill you! Let�s
get some good food into you, dear, and maybe a nap . . .�

I allowed myself an hour and a half to recuperate before
pulling the flames around us all again. I could almost see through Peter�s eyes
because he was focusing on us to begin with, and I determined that the children
and those too weak to fight against those in Heidelmann�s stronghold would be
relatively safe in that cave once we blocked it off. Everyone else would be
needed to fight, however, and weapons of some kind were found for most of them.
Someone asked if carrying ammunition via fire were really such a good idea; She
assured me that it wouldn�t go off during transit and while I had faith that
She knew what She was talking about, I could tell that the one who�d asked
wasn�t as convinced as I.

To Her credit, none of the bullets or other rounds exploded
at any point during the trip. I sank to the stones again, though thankfully
without the nausea that marked the last manifestation of our shared power. I
looked up and through my blurred vision I saw a battered figure hanging from
the wall and realized he was the source of the spine-chilling rattling wheeze
that vaguely approximated a song:

��take courage from her as your prize, and say hello for me
. . .�

The chains rattled as someone moved to get him down. �Easy
there, Peter, take it easy. You�ll be okay now . . .�

�Do you have a fix on Nightcrawler yet?� Jonathan leaned
down to speak in my ear.

I focused as hard as I could and was dismayed to find that
the thread was thinner than ever, almost as though it were about to snap at any
second. My voice sounded funny as I managed, �Upstairs, somewhere . . . not
sure . . .�

�The manor rooms,� someone informed us, apparently from
Peter�s rasping. �He says he�s upstairs, in the good rooms. He, er . . .�

I heard a voice clear itself.

�Evans says he�s already dead.�

�We�ll have to hurry then,� Magda�s voice was decisive.
�Give me some cover � I�m going to go find him.�

�I�m going too,� I blinked to clear my vision and felt my
stomach tighten into knots. I knew what she was going to find, I knew what she
was going to ask . . . to ensure that the prophecy did not fail, I would have
to go through with that which I dreaded to even think about.

�Suzanne! You�re too weak��

�So carry me,� I glared at Mathias, who was too stunned to
do anything but pick me up and walk.
- 2
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- 4
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X-Calibre Trilogy: Dead Run