[Reviews - 12]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story |
Printer Chapter or Story |
ePub eBook Chapter or Story |

Has been viewed 953 times

- Text Size +




The adults were confused for a moment. "Look," Crystal said to put and end to their confusion. "While we were still developing in my mother's womb, my parents somehow found out that Hawk was a mutant and I wasn't. They wanted both of us to be mutants. My mom underwent a procedure that stripped me of my DNA. Well, actually, identical DNA, so I guess it doesn't matter.

"Anyway, they gave me Hawk's DNA and I got her powers. But after the procedure, they realized a few months later that Hawk's powers weren't finished developing and said that it was possible that I wouldn't reach Hawk's full potential. My parents have kept a close eye on me ever since. After I was born, they had set me up for a second procedure to have me match Hawk; but my parents knew it would I would've died and stopped it. When my powers started to manifest, my parents pulled me aside and told me somethin'. Neither of us at the time knew which one was older. They told me I was and said 'I was destined for greatness,' the way parents always say things like that. They said Hawk was going to receive the same abilities as I was, but that I was never to tell her except under dire circumstances. I found out about the procedures a few years later."

"Why doesn't Hawk know about this now?" Storm asked.

"Hawk's emotions are still unstable," Crystal replied despairingly. "If I knew- if she were to find out that our parents lied to her..." she let her voice trail off and shook her head. Professor X held up his hand to show that she didn't have to continue. She did anyway. "It would destroy her. Look, can we just let her believe the transference story, please?"

The Professor nodded, dismissing her. "Thank you! She exclaimed, relieved, as she rushed out the door.

XXXXX

"I don't know, Charles," Storm said, using a breeze to close the door. "Hawk needs to know."

"I understand, Storm," Charles replied gently. "But it's Crystal's call. Her parents entrusted her with this revelation, and she knows her sister better than any of us. It should also be her that tells Hawk."

Storm nodded, but she still didn't feel comfortable with this.

XXXXX

Magneto was in his former hideout when there was a knock on his door. He magnetically opened it to reveal Sabretooth, Toad, Mystique, Pyro, and two mutants that kept their faces in the shadows of the hoods on their cloaks. "We have a proposition for you," one of them said. "In exchange for shelter and joining your 'Brotherhood', we need you to give us some information. We would like to know if you've seen two girls recently. Twins to be exact. We lost our chance of capturing them when the X-men stole back their weather manipulator."

"And if I refuse?" Magneto asked. "My war is against homo sapiens."

"As is ours."

"What if I never have seen those two girls you are looking for? There are two types of twins: Identical and Fraternal."

"Your reward is your life," the mutant said, nodding to Sabretooth, who stepped forward.

"Fair enough," Magneto said, curious about Sabretooth's behavior. "If you're looking for identical twins, they're at the Xavier institute for gifted children."

"Those have to be the children you saw with the X-men," Sabretooth said.

The first mutant paused. "Yes," he said slowly. "He's right. The second one is starting to receive her powers." He turned to his group. "Let's go."

XXXXX

Crystal was in the yard, enjoying the fresh air. Hawk was probably in the stables, getting Storm ready for a ride. Crystal knew that if she she didn't talk to Hawk about her unexplained abilities soon, she would figure it out herself. And that didn't leave a pretty picture in her mind. She was about to go and head for the stables when there was a snap of a twig behind her. She whirled around to see no one there. "Hawk?" she called. "Storm?"

She searched a down a hill, but still didn't see anyone. "Hawk if this is one of your little pranks, it isn't funny."

"Of course it's not," someone said from her left behind her. She gasped as she spun around and saw the Brotherhood and two hooded figures. One of them pulled his back, and she gasped in horror.

"I know you," she said darkly.

"Yes, I met you when you were just a baby."

"What do you want?"

"I need your sister."

"Why?"

"We need her for a project, we also need you."

"My sisters powers are dormant. As of right now she doesn't have any."

"Wrong," the stranger replied. "I have detected her powers. Now where is she?"

"Even if her powers are developing- and I highly doubt they are- she'd be useless. She doesn't know how to use them."

The stranger nodded to Sabretooth, and he stepped forward, toward the stables. "Wait," Crystal said. "I'll go with you. We just have to make it look good. Come back here at midnight..."

XXXXX

Hawk awoke the next morning and went immediately to go get her sister. Hawk had overslept and she was going back into the Danger Room with Crystal, and they had only five minutes to get in there. She opened the door and screamed. Dangling from the roof was Crystal's body. Logan appeared a second later, and quickly cut the rope. He turned back to Hawk as Storm and a few other students arrived. Storm led Hawk away from the room.

XXXXX

"Do you want to cancel today's session?" Storm asked a little bit later.

"This isn't right," Hawk muttered absentmindedly.

"Hawk?"

"Uh-what?" Hawk asked snapping out of her trance.

"Do you want to cancel today's session?" Storm repeated.

"No," Hawk said, sniffing. "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm gonna need it. There's something going on here." She looked up at Storm. "Crystal isn't dead."

"Why do you say that?" Storm asked, confused.

"Because I would know. We would always know if the other was hurt. We would feel it. Even at night we would know. I didn't feel anything last night."

"Hawk?" Professor X's voice called from behind her. She turned to face him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine Professor," Hawk replied, getting up. "I'm gonna go get changed. Then I'll figure out what's going on. I don't care what anyone says; Crystal isn't dead, and I'm gonna prove it."

Charles looked at Storm as Hawk walked away. She shrugged. "Do you want me to continue with the plan for today's session?"

Charles nodded. "She's very determined. I don't think anything could stand in her way."

XXXXX

Hawk dodged another missile that came at her. She shot at her attacker, with an old fashioned bow and arrow, aiming for the wires. Storm wanted to exercise her 'danger sense' in an offensive attack. It wasn't long before she killed most of the sentinels and robots. There was just one more left. Up until now, her hasn't failed her; but this one tracked her every move. She quickly glanced at her watch and saw that she had two minutes. Storm was next to her, and the look on Storm's face told her that she was on her own. It was her choice on what to do with that last sentinel.

Hawk shot two arrows at him; one as a decoy, the other for the kill. She brought the sentinel down with 1:45 to spare. "Great job, Hawk," Storm complimented.

"Thanks," Hawk said, taking off the arrows and putting them where they go. Then she grabbed an ear bud from her iPod and placed it in her ear. "Is it alright if I go out for a ride?"

Storm nodded and she dashed off. The way Hawk had acted in the Danger Room concerned Storm a little. It looked as if she released all of her anger and rage into her shooting. She decided not to think too much on it, but made a mental note to tell the Professor about it. If it helped Hawk become a better fighter, then why should she ruin her chances?

XXXXX

Hawk was out near the forest area, enjoying the wind in her hair and face. Despite the earlier events, she felt relaxed and joyful. Riding Midnight Storm always cleared her head. "Whoa," she said gently. Storm came to a stop and she patted the mare's neck. When she looked at her watch, she saw that it was almost noon. She was getting hungry. She was about to turn the horse around when she noticed fog starting to form not too far from her, and thicken. She shivered a little and Storm started to paw anxiously. "Easy," she murmured. "Storm?" she called out. The mist thinned out to reveal eight figures heading toward her. One of them her sister. She recognized all but two of the others, and knew she didn't want to stick around to find out what they wanted.

She quickly turned Storm around and urged her into a gallop. "Yah!" She cried kicking Storm as hard as she dared. The black mare didn't need anymore encouragement than that. As they galloped towards the mansion, Isis and Sky caught up to them. They were reaching the last patch of forest when something like a bomb went off next Storm's right foreleg. The horse collapsed as her leg slipped from under her, and rolled onto her back, practically crushing Hawk before getting up again.

Surprisingly though, Hawk was uninjured; but she was still on the ground. She knew there was no way for her to get back up on Storm before trouble hit. "Go!" she cried, watching as the group came with in ten yards. "Go!"

Storm immediately bolted towards the mansion, the others- although hesitant at first- right behind her. I'm lucky, Hawk thought, scrambling to her feet and darting to the forest patch.

XXXXX

"I don't know what it was Charles," Storm said in her office. "It was like she had a some sort of fire burning in her that she just let loose as she shot the arrows."

"Do you think it's dangerous?" Charles asked.

Storm shrugged. "Let out on the wrong person, yes; but it also seems to make her more aware of her surroundings."

"Let's just keep an eye on her for now, and see what happens."

Storm was about to reply when the sound of a horse's hooves stopped her. She turned toward the window and saw Midnight Storm racing to the mansion... without a rider. She went out onto the balcony and saw Isis and Sky follow Midnight. Sky circled high while Isis stopped and howled, then barked Where's Hawk? she thought. She looked at Charles who had a grim look on his face.

"She's in trouble, Storm," he said. "Get your team and go about a hundred meters out into the yard. She'll be in the forest patch."

Storm nodded and went out into the hallway. Logan was on his way down the staircase. "Logan," she called. He looked up and was about to say something, until he saw the grim look on her face. "Please tell me the others aren't out."

"Which ones?"

"Rogue, Shadowcat, Bobby, any of them."

"Rogue is in the common room with Iceman, but Colossus, Angel, Shadowcat and Hank are out."

"Tell Rogue and Iceman to suit up and meet me in the yard." She started for the locker area, speed walking and Logan had to jog to keep up. "Hawk's in trouble," she explained before he could ask what was going on. "She went out for a ride on Midnight, and Midnight came back without a rider."

Logan nodded and went off to one of the common rooms.

XXXXX

Hawk hid in one of the highest parts of the tree that she could safely get to. Making sure to stay on the shadows of the leaves and branches while watching her enemies. Isis had already come back and made her move on Mystique; while Sky took her chances with Pyro. It suddenly dawned on Hawk that it wouldn't be long before Sabretooth found her. She quickly scrambled sown to the lowest branch and jumped down. Keeping her senses on full alert, she raced through the forest, keeping inside the mist. She realized that she'd run out of forest too late, as she broke out and stumbled over a bush. "Hawk!" A voice called behind her. Hawk whirled around and saw that it was only Storm with Wolverine, Iceman and Rogue.

"Storm," Hawk said relieved. "Boy am I glad to see you."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," she said, turning slightly to face her adversaries, making sure that it wasn't a trick. It wasn't, so she continued. "I was about to go back to the mansion, when this mist came out of nowhere."

"Is that Crystal?" Logan interrupted.

"Yeah," she said, turning to Storm and adding more quietly. "Told'ya she wasn't dead." Then she turned back to the others. "Anyway, I tried to get back to the mansion when I saw these goons appear out of nowhere, but it was like a bomb went off near Midnight and she fell. I was lucky she didn't crush me."

"Well, well, well," someone said from the spot where Hawk had fallen off her horse. "If it isn't the Wolverine. Protecting my experiments now are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Hawk asked icily after turning toward the voice. "Who are you?"

"You didn't know?" the stranger asked turning to look at Crystal. "My, my, Lily. Someone's been keeping secrets." Hawk's blood started to boil as he turned back to her. "I am William Stryker. And Crystal here, isn't your sister."

"Liar!" Hawk screeched as she lunged at him. Pyro shot a fireball at her and she had to twist in mid-air to avoid being hit. Iceman went to go turn off Pyro's flame and Storm went airborne. Wolverine prepared to go up against Sabretooth, while Rogue just took off one of her gloves; should the need arise that she had to get involved. "Crystal!" Hawk called. She didn't know how or why, but somehow she knew this was the only way to stop this fight.

"Hawk!" Crystal returned, shooting crystal's at her. Hawk held up her hands, as of to stop the crystal's from hitting her. Brown feathers started to come out of her hands and a vortex was soon created that combined the crystal's and feathers; sucking the twins into it. It was like their minds combined to become one, and Crystal's powers became Hawk's powers.

XXXXX

Storm covered her eyes as a bright light bursted in front of her face. When she opened them again, a huge hawk, as white as crystals was in front of her. A lightning bolt, not caused by Storm, came down and struck the ground to separate the two different parties. Then the hawk seemed to split in half to reveal the twins again. They fell to the ground with grunts of pain.

XXXXX

Hawk got up with a major pounding headache. "Ow," she groaned. She turned to look at her sister, who wasn't that far from her and gasped. "Crystal, your hair!"

Crystal moaned, then shot up right. "What?" she asked as she looked down at her hair. It had gone from a dark dirty-blond to a bleach blond. "Great," she muttered, not realizing Hawk was still in ear shot. "They warned me that this could happen-" she looked up, realizing she had said too much and covered her mouth. "Oops."

"Who warned you?" Hawk demanded, getting up. Crystal didn't answer. "Who, Crystal?"

Crystal gave in. "Our parents." Hawk gasped and took a step back. Crystal continued. "And the doctors."

"What else haven't you told me?" Hawk asked after a moment.

"Hawk, I-"

"No, Crystal. I'm tired of your secrets. What else haven't you told me?"

Crystal sighed. "How 'bout you're a mutant?"

Hawk gasped in shock, which quickly turned to anger. "And you never thought to tell me?"

"Hawk-"

"I thought we didn't have any secrets," Hawk said, tears filling up her eyes. "It appears I was wrong." She started running toward the mansion.

"Hawk, wait!" Crystal began, grabbing her sister's wrist.

"No," Hawk said, jerking her hand back, before lowering her voice to a whisper. "You're not my sister."

Crystal just stood there and watched as Hawk bolted toward the mansion with Isis, Sky and Midnight on her heels.

XXXXX

Crystal watched as her sister disappeared into the mist. Hawk's words had stung her greatly, but she knew that it could've been worse. She'd brought this on herself by not telling Hawk; and now she was just going to have to live with the consequences.

Magneto came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She shrugged them off and turned to face him as a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it off. "They'll never accept me now," she said softly. "I might as well go with you."

XXXXX

Storm moved out of the way as Hawk ran past her. She looked at Logan who shrugged. They then turned to see Crystal walking away with Magneto. She stopped and turned to face the X-men. It looked to Storm as if she were pleading to them to understand. Then she turned back to the Brotherhood, and walked away.





You must login () to review.