"What do you mean no?" asked Kenna. They were in Franny's room. She was trying to ignore Kenna while packing a duffel bag.
"I can't go with you," said Franny, still packing.
"The dude does nothing but heal and help and you can't be bothered to go Manhattan with us?"
"First of all, it doesn't add up."
"He saved your life."
"John's dead, they had a whole funeral that we missed. If he could have been saved they would have done it."
"He said he needs more of the pieces and those pieces are in Manhattan and that's why he needs us to get him there."
"So, you're going to sneak out of here with one of Xavier's most important assets and travel all the way to war-torn Manhattan to search the entire city for non-descript piles of meat that's probably already been eaten by the zillions of rats that inhabit the area."
"He would have done it for you."
"That's what I'm kind of worried about."
"You're worried that he's probably the best of us?"
"What's his name?"
"Elixir?"
"His real name."
"I don't know. He only ever goes by Elixir."
"Have you ever known anybody else here to do that?"
"No?"
"Something's off about him."
"So, you're not going to help cause he's weird?"
"No, actually cause Kitty told me they need me for something. Said it was important and that she doesn't know how long it will take. I'm taking clothes just in case."
"Did she say anything about what happened yesterday?"
"Nope, and until somebody else says otherwise neither will I." Kenna looked at her bag.
"Whose clothes are these?"
"Noriko's."
"Franny."
"Don't judge me with your judge-y face you're doing the exact same thing! Maybe if you'd dig our stuff out a little faster I wouldn't need to resort to stealing this bitch's clothes."
"I haven't seen Layla for over a month now! She's gone. And she's probably not coming back for her clothes! Noriko is still using those!"
"Why did he ask you anyway? Surely there's someone in his dorm that can do this better."
"Apparently I came recommended."
"As a general agent of chaos?"
"As, a someone stupid enough to try something like this."
"It's good for you to hear that."
"I don't care. I'm going to help him. Or at least I'm going to try. Elizabeth is setting off a distraction at eight. I'm meeting with Elixir by her car fifty feet west of the cemetery. I told them you'd come because you knew the area well, but it's fine. If you can't make it, you can't make it."
"Guilt doesn't work on me. I wish I could help you out, but these are not Franny problems and I'm needed somewhere else."
"Fair enough, good luck with your thing I guess."
"You too." Kenna cursed bitterly to herself as she left the building. Without Franny to guide them around like she had planned it was going to make the whole ordeal much more difficult and much more dangerous. Now it was just her and Elixir gallivanting into an alien graveyard she was bound to get lost in.
When seven had finally rolled around it was dark. The night air was cool. Kenna was where she had tried to be at this time to not raise suspicion. She had asked Forge a few times now what she needed to do after the debris had been all cleared up. And he would always tell her that they'd cross that bridge when they get to it, to feel free to give up anytime, or the whole thing would probably go a lot faster if she actually learned to use her gift. Finding those answers unreasonable and oddly phrased she stopped asking after a while.
They hadn't agreed upon a signal. Nothing obvious anyway. Elizabeth didn't even bother to tell them how she was going to pull this off. Said that would ruin the surprise. They only agreed to meet at the car at eight. When Kenna casually strolled up to the meeting area unchallenged, she assumed everything worked out. Which was unto itself concerning. But not nearly as concerning as what she found at the meeting place. Elixir was already there, but he was with four other people hanging around the car and the car was more like a damaged and oddly colored police car just sitting in the middle of the woods.
"Elliot, what are you doing here?" asked Kenna. Before he could respond Yuuto threw a notecard at her face. Kenna glared at him and picked it up off the ground.
"We know what's going on. We're coming with you," said the card.
"I've never been to New York before," said Elliot.
"We're in New York now Elliot. You're standing in it," said Kenna.
"No, I mean the real New York. The big apple," said Elliot.
"Okay, whatever, that explains you two. What's with him?" asked Kenna pointing at the man with a thick jacket and black fabric covering his mouth. He gave her a thumbs up.
"That's Jono. He wanted to help too," said Elliot.
"Can he speak?" asked Kenna.
"Yes," Jono said in her head. The word echoed in her mind like a reverberating speaker. It was nauseating.
"Can you speak with your mouth?"
"No," said Jono.
"Okay, and what's your-,"
"Hi I'm Crystal! It's a pleasure to meet you," said Crystal outstretching her hand. She was slightly taller than Kenna and had several scars on one cheek. One of them was fresher than the others.
"Kenna," she said, taking her hand, "Likewise?" Crystal squeezed and nearly crushed her hand. Kenna wiggled loose.
"Ow! What in the, just, ow!" yelled Kenna.
"Sorry! Sorry! Handshakes are new to me. I was told grip strength was a sign of respect and I'm very excited to work with you. I think we will be good friends." Her accent was strange, it sounded like some mesh of Asian-European accents. All she knew for sure was that English was not her first language.
"And you're here to help I assume?"
"Yes, I am told I'm good at helping."
"You all know what we're doing is going to be at least illegal right? We're leaving without permission to drive a stolen police car into what is probably a not so safe area," she said addressing the group.
"Why are you here then?" asked Elliot.
"Because Elixir deserves to have someone help him out for once," said Kenna.
"Well, we agree," said Elliot.
"You're going in the trunk Elliot."
"What?" Kenna popped the trunk. She struggled with Elliot until Crystal cut in and forced him into the trunk.
"I'm helping!" said Crystal as she closed the trunk.
"So, you're all really going through with this? Once I get that car started, we're not turning around." None of them bothered to answer. Only Jono even bothered to acknowledge the question with a shrug.
"Alrighty then, by the powers invested in me I pronounce us all really dumb. Let's go." They all piled into the car with the men sitting in back and Kenna and Crystal sitting up front. To her relief the car came with a GPS system and while it was confused as to why the car was in the middle of the woods it did have plans for getting back to the road. To her distress there was a hole in the divider that usually kept the back seat from getting to the front seat.
"Wait!" yelled Kenna's "sister" as she turned on the car. Elizabeth scooted Crystal over and got in the passenger seat. "Okay go."
"What are you doing?! I thought you were doing distraction!?"
"Distraction done. They are thoroughly distracted. We should go."
"What did you do?"
"I trapped some of them in their room of danger. We should go."
"Are they safe?"
"We really should be going."
"I am not going to drive away with their super doctor if they're dead."
"They're as safe as they can be in a room labeled for danger."
"Elizabeth."
"I modified the running danger room program to give a false exit. When, whoever, tries to leave it will just simulate the manor from then on out. I tipped the rest of them off so now they're trying to get the others out. The greatest threat they're facing right now is dehydration.
"You can do that?"
"Yeah I've had some experience with Shi'ar tech."
"Shi'ar?"
"Are we going or not!?"
"Hi I'm Crystal!" said Crystal offering her hand.
"Oh, Elizabeth Danvers. What's your-," Elizabeth stopped mid-sentence as she shook her hand, "Your handshake is weak, and it offends me."
"No! I'm sorry! Here let me try again," said Crystal crushing her hand.
"Ah!" screamed Elizabeth as slowly drove them out of the forest. The drive was silent at first. The conversational ice was thick with unfamiliarity. Beyond the moment to moment meetings none of them had really worked with each other on something like this. Kenna finally decided to say something, anything, to keep the silence from killing her. "So Crystal," said Kenna.
"Food," said Elizabeth staring out the window.
"Food?" said Kenna.
"Food," said Elizabeth.
"I wasn't really planning on making any stops. I know we didn't really plan this out, but we should probably just get in and get out." Yuuto threw a notecard on the dashboard from the back. It was faceup and Kenna was able to read it off the reflection in the windshield.
"Food," it said.
"You don't get an opinion," said Kenna.
"Food," said Jono's nauseating telepathic voice.
"This isn't a road trip! This is a mission! We are on a mission!" said Kenna
"Food!" said Crystal excitedly.
"We don't even have any money!" yelled Kenna. Yuuto threw a giant rolled up wad of cash onto the dashboard. "Elixir help me out here!" said Kenna.
"It's fine," said Elixir.
"What do you even want to eat?" asked Kenna.
"Pizza," most said at different times.
"Something truly disgusting!" yelled Crystal excitedly.
"Mexican!" cried a muffled Elliot that nobody heard.
"Fine! But we're just going to pick it up! We're not eating there!" yelled Kenna. They pulled off onto exit six into a town called Katonah. The city felt old and new at the same time. Lots of short closely packed buildings with many intersecting roads. A modern village of sorts. The GPS led her to a small pizza joint called the "Pizza Station". It looked quaint, like someone was trying to run a pizza business out of the first floor of their house.
While she didn't plan on the detour, the occasion did let her live out her fantasy of slapping a big wad of cash onto the counter and asking for whatever she wanted. The food dispensary was more than happy to indulge this false sense of wealth. During her wait she wondered if there were any long term consequences for using money they conjured from nothing. It was in this train of thought did she realize there were two police vehicles now parked in front. She quickly ran outside to find everyone minus Crystal standing around an unconscious police officer while Yuuto was siphoning their gas into his police SUV.
"What happened!?" yelled Kenna. There was blood on the officer's uniform. "Yuuto!"
"He's fine," said Elixir. Yuuto handed her a notecard.
"How could you possibly know he was about to call for backup?" asked Kenna. He pulled out another notecard. Kenna swatted it away. "If you think about this Kenna this is kind of your fault. He was right across the street. I thought you saw him," said Elizabeth.
"Why didn't you say anything!?" yelled Kenna.
"I wanted to see how it played out," said Elizabeth.
"Did it live up to your expectations!?" yelled Kenna.
"No, nobody did anything I haven't seen before."
"Just, shut up Elizabeth. Where's Crystal?" she asked.
"Window shopping," said Elizabeth pointing two houses over.
"Okay, get everybody back in the car. I'll grab Crystal and pizza and if everything works out, we'll go before anybody realizes what happened," Kenna hastily instructed as she got further and further away. She found Crystal with her face pressed up against the glass of a clothing store. "Crystal let's go!" yelled Kenna.
"I want them," said Crystal. Kenna took a quick glance at what had caught her attention. While they were nice clothes there was nothing in there, that Kenna could tell, that would catch the eye. In fact, the clothes Crystal was wearing looked higher end then what was presented.
"Don't we all. Let's go," said Kenna. Crystal took a deep breath.
"Just one," Crystal said, not even bothering to look at Kenna.
"They're closed."
"On the way back?"
"We're coming back tonight. They'll still be closed." Crystal took another deep breath.
"We could take them now? And pay for them later?"
"Crystal this isn't helping." Crystal took another deep breath; this one was longer than the ones before. Pulling her face away from the glass Crystal huffed back towards the car. She had pressed her head against the window so hard the glass had cracked slightly. Kenna felt bad, for reasons she didn't quite understand, but not enough to act on it. Especially when she found out everybody had piled into the wrong police car.
"Elizabeth!" yelled Kenna.
"This one is better, bigger, and has much less blood on it," said Elizabeth tossing her the keys.
"Whatever, did you at least move Elliot into the trunk?" asked Kenna.
"Yes?" said Elizabeth. Kenna popped the trunk of the old car. He was still in there.
"What's going on? Where's the pizza?" asked Elliot. Kenna groaned.
"Crystal, would you please move him into the new car while I grab the pizza," asked Kenna.
"Wait no! Please! I need to pee!" yelled Elliot as Kenna back into the shop. The manager was on the phone and stopped talking the moment she walked back in. The mood had changed considerably since last time. They seemed worried. Kenna peeked over her shoulder just enough to watch Crystal shove Elliot into the trunk. Her order was already on the counter. Without anybody saying a word she placed the rest of the cash on the counter. The cashier cautiously slid the pizzas towards her. She grabbed the food, nodded her head, and left as quickly as she could. And Just like that they were back on the road with the aroma of pizza filling the car as Kenna's passengers pawed for whatever they could grab. Except for Elixir, who didn't seem interested in it whatsoever.
"Elixir are you okay?" Kenna asked over the free-for-all.
"I'm fine," said Elixir. She wanted to believe him. But, in her experience, people are lying when they say that.
"Are you sure?" she asked again not sure what to expect. He made eye-contact with her through the rear-view mirror.
"I am fine," he said with a little more stern in his words. He definitely wasn't, but neither was she. Even a simple stop for pizza quickly spiraled into money counterfeiting, grand theft auto, and pseudo-murder. It was troubling. Just like the noises Crystal was making while she was eating her pizza. She was completely enamored with the greasy meal and it was making everybody a little uncomfortable.
"Crystal?" asked Kenna. Crystal didn't answer. "Crystal!" said Kenna again.
"What?" she finally answered, breaking the triangle trance.
"How is your pizza?"
"Delightfully underwhelming,"
"What does that even mean?"
"It's good."
"Have you ever had pizza before?"
"No, but it let me down in all the ways I could have ever wanted."
"Where are you from?" Kenna asked hoping to keep the conversation going long enough never to hear her pizza eating noises ever again.
"Overseas," said Crystal.
"Anywhere specific?"
"No."
"Europe? Asia? Russia?"
"Yes."
"Sounds like you get around."
"We do."
"Which one was your favorite?"
"You're not going to get anywhere interrogating her like that Kenna. You need to give her a reason to answer your questions." said Elizabeth.
"I'm not interrogating her. I'm just trying to make conversation," said Kenna
"Tell Kenna where you're really from or she'll drive into something," said Elizabeth.
"Crystal I'm not going to drive into anything. You don't have to answer the question. We can absolutely talk about anything else if the question makes you uncomfortable for whatever reason," said Kenna.
"How long until we get there?" asked Crystal.
"We have about thirty minutes," said Kenna.
"What do friends normally do on long trips?" asked Crystal.
"Talk, play games, listen to music," two police cars pulled behind them, "avoid the police." Their lights turned on while the sirens blared. "Elizabeth, can you?"
"Impersonate a magistrate?" asked Elizabeth.
"Yes please, I was told that questions are easier to dodge then bullets."
"If only Yuuto agreed with that."
"Why?" Yuuto opened the door and released caltrops from his hands. They tore apart their pursuer's tires forcing them onto the side of the road.
"Yuuto! Come man! Have we not pissed off the police enough today!" yelled Kenna. Yuuto threw a notecard on the dashboard. "Crystal can you read that to me?"
"We had no other option," Crystal read aloud.
"Elizabeth could have changed into a police officer and could have convinced them she was taking us somewhere." Yuuto threw another notecard on the dashboard.
"As I said, we had no other option," Crystal read aloud again.
"Yuuto I will stop this car!" yelled Kenna.
"You can change shape?" Crystal asked Elizabeth. Her body twisted and morphed until she matched the elemental's appearance.
"Hello sister, it is me, Krystal, mother of the sliders."
"My family told stories of an ancient enemy that could change its shape. They were conquerors that used lies and deceit to ravage the worlds beyond our skies," said Crystal.
"That's so interesting, I've definitely heard the same stories. Except, the people I heard them from, weren't mutants. But they weren't exactly human either. Isn't that funny?" said Elizabeth. They kept talking with hushed words. It was rude, right in front of her, and she didn't appreciate it. She looked at Jono through the rear-view mirror. Her experiences with telepathic mutants were not well practiced but she thought this would be a good time to try.
"What are they saying?" she thought. He didn't acknowledge her. "What are they saying!?" she thought louder. He picked his nose thinking nobody was looking at him.
"Jono are you not one of the mind mutants?" Kenna asked out loud. He quickly flicked away the booger hoping she didn't notice.
"No," thought Jono.
"Are you messing with me?"
"Secondary mutation. I can talk but I can't hear."
"What was the first mutation?" He pulled down his face wrapping just enough to reveal that in lieu of a lower jaw there was a burning energy barely contained by the fabric.
"Kenna," said Crystal, tapping her on the shoulder.
"What?" asked Kenna looking back at the road. They were speeding towards a police roadblock. "Oh." She slowed the car to a stop. "Shit." Jono began taking off his coat. "No! no, I don't even know what you can do, but I assume it would kill them all. Am I close?" He shrugged. "Then please don't we're capable people, we can figure this out without murdering everybody."
"I don't see the problem," said Elizabeth.
"Murder is bad and doing it would hand a loaded gun to anybody who thinks mutants are monsters."
"It wouldn't be 'murder' if Elixir brought them back to life," said Elizabeth.
"It still would be, and even if it wasn't. It's still a whole host of other things I'd rather us not be associated with. Besides I'm sure Elixir doesn't want to be used as a cheap way of escaping consequences."
"It's fine," said Elixir.
"No, it's not! Just because we're mutants doesn't mean we can do whatever we want! Just the opposite! We need to be even more careful than anybody else. We don't' get a pass just cause one of us can bring back the dead!" yelled Kenna. Two police cars started to approach them. "Fuck." She faced the back and shifted into reverse. Crystal opened her hand towards the envoy. The road engulfed them.
"Wait, where'd they go?" asked Kenna looking back towards the front.
"I put them in the ground," Crystal said proudly.
"You killed them!?" yelled Kenna.
"No! No! I, uh, uh, trapped them, in the ground. Crystal help."
"You can do tha-," Kenna was interrupted by a hail of bullets of various calibers. The roadblock was shooting at them. Elixir, even as he was getting shot himself, mended every wound so quickly nobody had a chance to die. Between shots Crystal once again raised her hand against the barrage. The tiny bits of ferrous material flying at them bounced off an invisible barrier.
"Is everybody alright?" asked Kenna looking around frantically.
"They're fine," said an unconcerned Elixir.
"Jono, you're up," said Elizabeth coughing up stray blood.
"Don't listen to her Jono, Crystal," said Kenna.
"I'm sorry!" said Crystal.
"Put us in the ground." Crystal didn't even bother to question her. The road opened up and engulfed them as well. "Okay, now can you move everything out of the way that allows us a path to drive forward," said Kenna waving her hands around like a crazy person. Crystal reached out forcing the rock to swirl into a self-creating tunnel.
"Crystal help?" asked Crystal.
"Yes! Crystal help! Keep doing that!" Kenna pushed the car into the vortex. It was loud. A maelstrom within the earth. A road with no end. The GPS lost them. Crystal gasped for breath. Sparks few. Pipes burst. The longer they were down there the less say Crystal had on where they were going. Then the water came. Their journey through what lies beneath had led them to a body of water in a vessel not equipped for such things. In its prime the vehicle was good for keeping out the rain but here, weakened and worn, it could not hope to protect them from the wet.
Kenna was distraught. A flurry of emotions was hitting her all at once and none of them would agree with each other. The shock of the cold. The warmth of her manifesting mutation. The overwhelming trepidation of the situation if she didn't act quickly. The part of her that wanted this. Crystal, finally regaining part of her composure, spread her arms apart stopping the water from getting in.
"Crystal, are you alright?" Kenna tried to ask calmly as her body began to betray her.
"Please don't do that again," said Crystal trying to catch her breath.
"I don't suppose you can pull the rest of the water out, can you?" she asked, starting to feel cramped. Crystal shook her head. With great reservations she grabbed a shard of glass and dug it into her skin. It slowed things down, but it wasn't stopping anything. She was exposed to so much so quickly that small cuts weren't cutting it and anything deeper would risk losing consciousness. Her head started to get cozy with the roof. It was starting to dawn on everybody what was going on. She grabbed the handle reluctantly. Leaving the car was not an ideal but at least the car could be saved, and Elixir would have a little less to do.
Elixir grabbed her shoulder. She stopped growing and for a moment it seemed he diffused the situation entirely like it was no big deal. Until she started going again faster then before.
"What happened!?" asked a large confused Kenna who was now leaning over and taking up the seat behind her.
"Having trouble stopping it," said the Elixir digging his fingernails into her.
"What happened to absolute control over this kind of stuff!?"
"Over physiology, not physics. If I stop the mutation mid process the pressure will build, and you will explode."
"Explode!?"
"It's fine, I'm exploring a work around."
"Unless you can do it in the next three seconds I think it's going to make-,"
"Take a deep breath and let it out slowly."
"What?"
"Do it now!" he yelled. She took a deep breath, really testing the integrity of the car, and exhaled. A great stream of burning gas was discharged from her mouth. The temperature spiked. It went from hot car to sauna to breathing in death. Crystal finally had enough and purged the vehicle of the steamy expulsion. When the vapors cleared Kenna was still of considerable size, but no longer gaining any. Satisfied with his work Elixir checked on everybody else and slumped back into his seat. With their only real mode of transportation beaten up and stranded at the bottom of a small aquatic valley with all the mobility of a dead fish he finally said what everybody was thinking.
"Well that was fun. So what do we do now?"