Pulse, Part Eighteen

by Tangerine

 "It all looks the same!"  Betsy cried, her words echoing off the walls with more sound than she intended.  The shadows assured her that the hunters were far away, and she was, for a very short time, safe.  "How do I get out of here?"

 She half expected the Dawn to answer, to hear a cold and dead voice in her head telling her where to escape, but the undercloaks were ailing, sick and in pain.  They were confused, sensing only where danger lay and not how to escape it.  The anger at Apocalypse's actions welled in her again, and she felt pity for the shadows, for their suffering.

 Betsy walked along slowly, pulling her cape tightly around her body in an attempt to get warm.  It was so cold, and she was in such agony, but still she pressed forward, stronger than it, stronger than the forces that sought to destroy her.

 It had been hours, she realised, since she had come here to the tunnels.  Hours of aimless wandering, hours of dull aching and sharp shots of cramping, hours of crying, hours and hours and hours.  This was her life.  It had come down to this.

 "Warren," Betsy murmured, "Warren, do you remember how you used to speak of these tunnels, how you used to dream of them?  I didn't understand your terror until now, lover, I didn't realise."  She paused, leaning her head against the frozen brick.  "I didn't realise how hopeless it was down here."

 She looked around, touching her fingers to her lips.  "Warren, I'm doing this all for you, honey.  All of this, from the beginning and to the bitter end, it's all for you.  I loved you, Warren, I love you still."

 Betsy brought her hands to her heart, the pulse steady and strong.  "Why won't you come back to me?"

 She gasped when she said it, blinking back the tears.  It was so wrong of her, so evil of her to wish for such a thing when it was the last thing he wanted.  He'd hate her for thinking such a thing, but she was so alone, so lonely.

 "Warren!"  There was only ever silence, but she remembered his voice, strong when he wanted it to be, quiet when he was at ease.  He could have talked for eternity, and she would have listened to every word and remembered it all.  "Warren, please, you've left me all alone."

 Silence.  Silent but for the pulse that beat against her fists.

 Blinded by tears, she pushed onward, descending down stairs into a long stretch of dark.  She walked slowly, carefully, attuned to the world around her.  There were friendly thoughts far to the south, three of them, trying to find her, getting lost, Emma and Domino fighting, and the boy, Chamber, the rock.  Remy was near to them, worried and fearful.  Shatterstar was in pain, and Bobby was tending to him, like he had done with her.  They were between here and there, trapped but mere steps from freedom.

 "Oh, Warren," Betsy breathed when she stumbled into a large, barren room.  There was light, though the source of it was mysterious, and she reeled back, hitting the wall and standing perfectly still.  She knew this place, she had seen it in her mind every night she shared Warren's bed.  "Oh, Warren, life is so cruel to me."

 They had hung him here, the Marauders, they had pinned him to the wall.  She ran to the wall and collapsed to her knees, pressing her body against the chilled surface.  There were holes in the stone, holes covered with dried blood.  The blood of an Angel, her Angel, her precious, beautiful Angel.

 "Warren, I'm sorry," she muttered, bringing her hand to her head as she cramped again, but this time a heat flowed through her legs, and she fell back, breathing deeply.  "Warren, our child is going to be born in the very place you died."

 She tried to move, tried to stand again and go somewhere else, but the pain and the wetness and the feeling of loss was too great.  This was the beginning, this was the end, and her baby, whether she was ready for her or not, was coming into this world.

 "I can't do this alone," Betsy cried, throwing her hands over her face.

 But she was alone.

****

 Emma brought her hand to her temple, feeling Betsy's distress.  Where was she?  "Elisabeth is in labour," Emma murmured, her blue eyes wide with fright.  "And she's still so far away.  The pain is incredible."

 "Fuck!  Fuck!  Fuck!"  Domino swore, deciding that is Psylocke survived this mess, that she and Domino were going to work things out warrior-style.  "I have never seen a more incompetent group of people.  This is why I was never an X-Man.  X-Force was where it was at.  This is just ... fuck it!"

 "Domino, perhaps you should do something about your stress levels," Emma replied coldly, grinning a calculated grin before moving her hands to adjust her uniform, white of course, flattening the leather against her hips.  "One would think you are an X-Man."

 "I'm not fucked up enough for that yet," Domino muttered.  "I know the X-Men have been in these tunnels before, Nate got everything funnelled to him through Cyclops, but it all looks the same."

 "Course it does.  It's supposed to."

 "Gambit," Domino said distastefully, watching the Cajun saunter up to them, lighting a cigarette as he threw the used one to the ground, crushing it with the toe of his boot.  "What are you doing?  Taking a fucking walk?"

 "Nah," Remy replied, taking a long drag, "walking until I find the rest of my team.  Don't know where they are, so I'm going to keep walking until I see Drake's ugly face.  What're you doing down here?  Vacationing?"

 "Fuck off," Domino replied.  "Because you fucking X-Men can't keep track of the more screwed up ones, we're here trying to find Psylocke.  Haven't you heard, Cajun?  The nimbo's in labour, and we can't find her."

 "You have some anger issues," Remy replied with a smirk, trying to keep calm and rational though his mind was racing.  "We better find Elisabeth.  That baby's going to be born in a bad way, and she'll die if we don't get the little one to a hospital."

 "What?"  Emma said sharply.

 "It's too early.  Sinister said that she's not developed, so we've got to find Elisabeth before that baby dies.  Not only that, we've got to avoid Apocalypse and his Horsemen.  They've been leaving tracks all over the place," Gambit said, waving his hand around in emphasis of their distress.  "Is she alone?"

 "Iceman and Shatterstar are somewhere between where we are and where she is.  She is alone, Remy, and in pain," Emma said quietly.  Hearing what he said, what he knew about Elisabeth's condition, it made her worry more.  "We have to find her now."

 "Then lead the way, chere," Remy said with a grand sweeping motion of his arm.  Emma smiled as she took the lead, and Domino followed with an equally flattering scowl.  Chamber, quiet until this point, took third.  "You here as the powerhouse?"

 *Yeah.  Why?*

 "There's always got to be one," Remy replied with a grin, almost offering the boy a cigarette then thinking better of it.  Mouths and the act of breathing were both vital to smoking.  "They been fighting like cats, non?"

 *Cats on bloody speed.*

 Remy laughed.  "Welcome to the X-Men."

****

 They hadn't said much to each other, though both were aware the other was awake, thinking and waiting.  Bobby watched as the burns began to heal from Shatterstar's face and arms.  He should have guessed Gaveedra would heal quickly.  He seemed the type.

 "I am sorry," Shatterstar muttered eventually, sitting up and letting Bobby have the ability to move again, but Iceman was saddened by the sudden sense of aloneness.  It had felt nice having someone so close.

 "What for?"

 Shatterstar looked at him.  "For ... that."

 Bobby blinked stupidly.  He wasn't intending to be dense, but it was happening anyway.  He really wished he understood the problem, Shatterstar seemed so humiliated by it, but he didn't see it.  "For what?  Gav, man, you did nothing wrong."

 "You are patronising me."

 "I don't even know what that means," Bobby replied lightly.  When Shatterstar only seemed to grow more grim, Bobby sobered up and tried to guess at what the warrior really meant.  "You can't control what your power does.  So it makes you sick, it doesn't make me judge you.  I lost total control of my powers for awhile there.  Admitting that using your power makes you hurt or sick, well, that's just a human thing to do."

 Shatterstar shrugged.  "I made you ..."

 "What?  Touch you?  Wrap my arms around you?  Try to make you feel better?  What if I wanted to do all of that, huh?  I didn't oppose much when you kissed me!"  Bobby spit it all so quickly he didn't have a moment's time to stop and realise what a stupid thing he was about to do.  It had come out so harsh and angry, not at all what he intended.  "I'm an idiot.  I'm sorry.  I meant that in a charming, boyish, happy-go-lucky sort of way."

 Shatterstar regarded him with a suspicious look, his lips pursed tightly together and his brow furrowed perplexingly.  Bobby looked guiltily at him, but Shatterstar lost the smirk quickly.  "It is all right.  We are ... all good."

 Bobby laughed with a wide grin.  "We're all good."

 "We should rejoin the fight."

 "We should.  Allow me."  Bobby put his hands to the wall and watched as the ice crept up the brick.  When the stone was chilled at the way through all it took was a quick punch to shatter the rock.  "After you."

 They exchanged looks and set off on their quest.

****

 Emma rounded the corner then shrieked loudly, stepping back into Domino who elbowed Remy in the groin hard enough that it seemed hardly an accident.  Somehow, Remy thought dryly, she meant for that to happen.

 "Em?"  Bobby said, grasping his chest and sure this was the heart attack all those french fries were inevitably going to herald.  In time, his heart jumped down from his throat, and he blinked.  "What's with the party?"

 "We're here to save your sorry asses," Domino said, grateful to see Shatterstar, albeit red-skinned and generally miserable looking, was still standing, blades clutched in either hand.  "Star, are you all right?"

 "I am fine," he replied stoically, refusing to meet her stare, and Domino frowned, knowing something had changed with him and not quite sure what it was.  He was definitely hiding something from her, of that much she was sure.

 Shatterstar didn't hide things.  It was against his ... everything.

 Emma did a quick headcount.  Six.  Six!  They were just as useless with six as they were with three or four.  Chamber had power, and much to her surprise as she unconsciously brushed his mind, Shatterstar seemed to possess an equal amount of force.  She knew from personal experience that Bobby, if pushed, could be a powerhouse.  Remy had to be good for something besides a little romp between the sheets, and Domino was angry enough to be of use.

 Emma frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.  By default, that left her as the only truly useless participant of the little hero charade.  Of course, she had a purpose and that was to find Betsy telepathically, but there was so much interference in her head, so much background noise, she was following whims and hunches.  They didn't have to know that, but up until this point, her guessing hadn't hurt anyone yet.

 Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden flash of white, hot pain in the back of her head.  She clutched the base of her spine and a shrill cry departed her lips.  She fell into Bobby's arms, and his was the last face she saw before her world went dark.

 And somewhere close, watching and listening, Apocalypse plotted their doom.

[next part]

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