It took almost a week to get to Nevada. Kurt had managed to call in a favor and gotten them a ride into Nevada on a supposedly decommissioned Learjet. It would remain close by for just under twenty four hours before taking off and they could find their own way home. It was decided during the mission briefing that only the most experienced X-men would risk this mission. And Donella. Though she wasn't as experienced as the rest of the crew going to Nevada she had adamantly refused to be left behind. Storm, Hank, Kurt, Rogue, Cyclops and Jean would be going with Logan and Donella. They drove from British Columbia to a tiny airport in the upper region of Montana and boarded the plane.
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"Any luck?" Logan's voice made Donella flinch. She was in her air form floating high above Nevada. The rest of the X-Men waited in the cruising Learjet. "If you keep asking me that I'll never be able to get a fix on him." She snapped.
She heard his dark chuckle and the tiny cracking pop that signaled that he had closed the comm. She turned her attention back to her task and reached out with her mind for any trace of Xavier. She couldn't feel him in her mind any longer and that frightened her far more than the roiling agony she'd felt before had. She swooped a little lower and scanned the ground letting tendrils of herself sweep the parched earth of Nevada in July. She couldn't sense him and she was growing desperate. She prayed to any deity that would listen for anything. Just a little help but she was answered only by the hot Nevada wind buffeting her in an effort to make her part of itself.
She spent hours in the air listening, searching and hoping. On the jet Rogue and Storm watched for her reappearance. When she'd become the wind they could only just see her outline then that too had vanished. Jean was sitting with her eyes closed attempting to reach the professor or at least feel his consciousness. Privately she was angry at Donella. Angry that it had been Donella the Professor had reached out for. Angry and grateful. The lingering pain in Donella's mind had been scorching. She reached out for Donella's mind as she had done from time to time for the last three hours. Donella was searching and becoming tired. Jean smirked mentally. She and Donella had nearly come to blows when Donella produced a letter from the Professor stating that he was leaving Donella in charge of Haven in his absence. Even though at the time Haven had only been a concept on paper. Scott had been understandably upset but he'd accepted Xavier's decision. Jean had not. She was convinced that Donella was in no way fit to be in charge of a project as vast as Haven. She or Scott were far better candidates, better educated as well while Donella only had a High School Diploma.
Suddenly Jean felt an excited jump in Donella. Logan comm crackled. "I found him!" Donella said excitedly. "I know where he is. He's underground."
She gave them the co-ordinates which Logan relayed to the pilot. Once Donella had filtered back into the Jet they were heading West. To a secluded stretch of space only a few miles from the Nevada/California/Oregon boarder. The plane circled the area once while Kurt teleported everyone to the ground in pairs. The the plane left, the pilot promising to refuel then set down in the first flat stretch of ground within two miles of their destination. He'd be there for twenty four hours then he was gone.
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Once they were on the ground Logan motioned for Scott to take the lead. They made for a small bunker like building. It was relatively easy to get inside the complex but once they were in hell seemed to erupt. The fighting seemed to take hours but in reality it was mere minutes before the ground was littered with the bodies of dead or nearly dead FoH militants. They moved swiftly through the carnage following a map Jean had plucked forcibly from a soldiers mind before he'd died. Rogue had a similar map from a militants mind that she'd touched, which came in handy when they came to a corridor that split East and North and they had no idea which way would lead them to the professor.
They split into two groups Logan, Storm, Cyclops and Hank going North and Jean, Rogue, Kurt and Donella going East. The militants kept coming, bottle-necking themselves in the narrow corridors. Donella moved through them with determined viciousness. She used her powers to suck the air from militants lungs or to drown them in their own fluids. They checked every room as they passed but still didn't find the Professor . Donella started grabbing militants at random and asking where he was being kept and if they didn't know they died. Jean and Kurt watched in horrified fascination. They were silently appalled that she could kill so swiftly and with so little regard. When Jean spoke up at one point though Rogue glared at her. "You only got a small taste of what she felt. Ah only got a small taste of what she felt through the Professor. She's being nice. She could boil their brains in their skulls, she could leave 'em alive but brain dead from lack of air. She could do a lot more damage but she's not."
Jean stared at Rogue as she moved up to walk by Donella's side. She'd have a chat with the Professor about his girlfriend later she decided. The came to another intersection and Donella motioned Kurt and Jean to go right while she and Rogue went left. A little further down the left hand hall Donella and Rogue saw a door swing open. They approached carefully. When they peered through the door it took all of Donella's self discipline not to run to the familiar wheelchair bound figure sitting on the far end of the room. "Do come in." A cultured voice invited from the desk at the far end of the room.
Donella and Rogue entered the room and got a better look at the man behind the desk. He was alone, no guards or attendants, just him and Xavier. He was a powerfully built man with a thick shock of graying hair and penetrating gray eyes. Rogue tapped her comm. "We found him. East hall left fork."
"Gotcha. We'll be there in a few darlin'." Logan replied.
Rogue watched the door in case any militants showed up while Donella faced the Gray man. "Who are you." She asked simply.
"Derek Gordon." He replied. "You will be Donella and Rogue I suppose."
Donella didn't respond, just watched him and he sighed. "You've finally come for Xavier. It took you long enough."
The words were barely out of his mouth when Donella was right in front of him her hand smashing into his cheek with enough force to loosen a few teeth. "If you want to insinuate that we didn't care enough for him to come for him sooner I have no compunctions ripping your liver out through your nose." She stated calmly.
"In point of fact I'm insinuating that you Mutants simply weren't intelligent enough or sufficiently well connected enough to know where to look for your dear Professor Xavier." He replied using a pristine white handkerchief to blot the blood flecking his lower lip.
Donella narrowed her eyes dangerously but to Gordon's credit he didn't flinch. "It hardly matters now at any rate. He's useless to us or anyone else now. I'm afraid we fried his mind. He's all used up. You can have him back now."
"What do ya mean he's all used up?" Rogue asked.
"I mean, stupid girl, that we made him find as many mutants as we could before his mind just fell apart like soggy tissue. He's quite useless now, about as mentally competent as a two year old." He watched their expressions carefully and what he saw was interesting.
Donella looked eerily calm, it was Rogue who lost her temper. She advanced on him hands extended. "I swear I will drain the life from you, you son-of-a-bitch!"
Donella extended one arm and Rogue stopped. "You do realize, Mr. Gordon, that you are so full of bullshit you could rent yourself out as fertilizer?" She asked calmly. "This complex is coming down around your ears."
Running footsteps alerted Rogue to possible enemies and she spun to face the door just as the rest of the X-Men joined them. They all stared in shock at the professor. Donella motioned for someone to step forward. Jean hurried forward and pulled the Professors chair away from the desk. "Leave the chair." Donella said. "And someone check him for bugs."
"Surely you don't think I would be so primitive?" Gordon chuckled.
"I think you're full of shit. I think you're so desperate to be rid of all mutants everywhere that you'd stoop to just about anything. Well this is one group of Mutants you can't have." She waved her hand at the X-Men and they started back the way they had come leaving only her and Rogue.
"Rogue, go with them. I'll be right behind you." Donella still hadn't taken her eyes of Gordon.
"Ya sure?"
"I just got him back. I'm in no hurry to kill myself and lose him again Rogue, now go." Donella's voice was calm.
Rogue ran after the others and Donella gave Derek Gordon a truly frightening smile. "I know what you are Derek."
"And what am I?" He asked watching her.
"You're not Derek Gordon for one. You're a clone, or a paid substitute, some nameless puppet who doesn't mind dieing to protect the real Derek Gordon. You look enough like him to pass that's for sure but you aren't him."
His smile slipped a little. "And just how do you know that?" He asked coldly.
She leaned forward, her hands resting very lightly on his desk. "Because Derek Gordon is my brother." She smiled at the look of pure shock and fear that engulfed the imposters face and with a thought sucked the air from his lungs watching him writhe and suck for air that would not come.
When he was dead she pushed the button on a remote detonator. As they had been traversing the corridors they had been planting C4 charges. She was sure that there were enough flammable materials to make a sufficiently satisfying explosion. She transformed into her air form and floated up into a vent working her way to the surface. Once in the open air she floated over the bunker. "Time for an Earth Shattering Kaboom." She whispered as the ground shook with the explosions under the surface.
She turned and flew after the fleeing X-Men. Her mind felt as if it had been doused in ice cold spring water. Her thoughts sharper and clearer than they had been in a long time. As they approached the plane she became solid again and one thought fixed itself in her mind. "My brother is a dead man."
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Meet the antagonist. And be ready for the surprise identity. It will blow you away...I hope. I hope you like this. Sorry if the fighting is a little stilted. I'm not much good at fight scenes and such.
Chapter End Notes:
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