The Quiet Before the Storm: Ch 4 Disclaimer: The X-Men belong to Marvel, the Coda to Wildstorm, and the story to me. The X-Force's Blackbird pierces the night sky, it's sensors scour the city below for one lost soul amongst them all... but who can say whether she is lost...or found? And what if she didn't want to be found? What would they do then? Bishop had a radio alert from McCoy, based on the analysis of the leather bustier and miniskirt Storm had work on her dinner engagement, he relayed to Xavier, "Professor, McCoy's analysis has confirmed your suspicions. The garments were saturated with a powerful bio-hallucinogenic neuro-toxin..." Xavier was firmly strapped into a seat behind the pilots, outfitting himself with a portable Cerebro unit, "Thank you, Bishop. Gambit? Continue the sensor sweep of the city. She could be anywhere!" "Oui, Professor" he replied as he had the sensor sweep for her original life signs...carefully omitting any variances, and even more careful to keep his thoughts chaotic, reinforcing the natural psi-screen he had. "...I shall continue scanning the city for Ororo's mental signature." he concluded as he activated the Cerebro unit's interface. Xavier cast his thoughts out... <> <<...you'll never be alone...>> She "heard" the words on a subconscious level, and the conditioning attempting to reassert itself... she opened her eyes to find herself securely bound to a chair in the study of Shaw's home. "Wakey, wakey, Ms. Munroe," he said softly, blotting her face with a cool, damp towel, "We don't have the time to repeat our earlier efforts at freeing you... an injection of this behind the orbit of the eye, directly in to the brain will suffice...then Emma and Liz can psionically deprogramme you at cranial ground zero!" "You..are a..fool," she whispered, still fighting the combination of brainwashing, drugs and the presence of two very powerful telepaths, and then feeling another presence invading her mind... a presence that left her feeling dirty. <> the male voice said, admonishing her like a child. <> the brainwashed portion of her mind reached out, <> <> he replied, <> In a surge of preconditioned rage, she broke her bonds with a burst of lightning, sending Shinobi back, breaking the syringe he held, launching herself toward the high ceiling, just out of reach. "Yes...My mind's clearing," she snapped, the familiar sense of "normalcy" slip back into place, as he shattered the Baroque chandelier with a gust of wind, "YOU tried to violate my mind...for your own selfish ends! Your abuses will cost you dearly!" Joseph protected Emma and himself with a forcefield, adding his voice to protest, "Hypocrite! Spare me Xavier's self righteous drivel... We chose to free you of all of them, because of your strong will! There is a primal aspect of yourself that has been buried underneath brainwashing, telepathic manipulation and abuses you loathe to remember... You believe what you do because you've been *told* to... when Xavier was away, the real you started emerging, you cut your hair, adopted a new style that better suited the woman you truly are...I know the true Ororo! And you are not she!" "No...NO!!" the confused woman replied, "What you think you saw, is not me... You can offer me nothing... I...chose my path?" Emma's forehead beaded up with sweat as she forsook the delicate, cautious approach, instead opting for the quick and dirty in her efforts to combat Xavier's conditioning, leaving the more powerful, and unfamiliar Liz to battle him outright...and Emma quickly damped Storm's powers again, locking them down under *her* control, reinforcing Liz's earlier efforts. The Coda telepath martialed her iron will and located Xavier, hitting him with a full force psychoblast, watching his Aspect crumble beneath the onslaught of her raw power hitting his amplified sensitivities... A grim smile of satisfaction crossed Liz's pale face, knowing that Cable was getting Redd off the estate, to the safe haven of Frost Enterprises. She and Emma had vacated the boathouse just before arriving at Shaw's penthouse, knowing the distraction would give their fellow outcasts a chance to escape unnoticed. She calmly short circuited Xavier's mind, leaving him a message firmly imprinted... She knew who he was, and what he did, so did Emma, Joseph, and now Ororo...and they wouldn't be the last ones to know. She returned her concentration to the current situation, knowing that the X-Force would soon arrive... Liz looked at Shinobi, shaking her amethyst mane, Ororo was still fighting them, who simply wished to restore her free will... But under the iron grip of an experienced telepath like Emma Frost, she was no longer a threat to herself or them, and with Joseph's help, using his electromagnetic abilities in concert with Frost's precise psychic surgery, the weather witch would soon be free. Liz heard Remy's voice break the silence, "Uh-uh, mes amis...didn' yer momma ever tell you not t'fight wit' girls?" She turned to face Bishop and Gambit, her violet eyes glittering in the dim light of the room... the cybernetic prosthetics were sensitive to an extended range of the light spectrum, and she easily noticed Bishop's plasma rife charging up... She raised an eyebrow, though she didn't move, "We never fight fair anyway...." Bishop levelled his rifle at Shinobi and fired, "I'll bring him down with a concussion round..." Shinobi, however, was well trained in the defensive uses of his powers from his days as a Hellion, and phased instantaneously, much to Bishop's chagrin, "No... We won't let her go back to that.." Remy was too late in his attempt to warn his teammate about the consequences of letting a phaser get a hold of you as the big soldier grimaced in pain, clutching his abdomen as Shaw's hand passed into his chest. "Too late, LeBeau..." Shinobi taunted, "All it takes is a thought, and my hand can seize his heart!" Remy shook his hair out of his eyes, charging up a card for a minimal blast, "Sorry, mes enfants, Gambit don' have no time f'r th' niceties-- ridin' an energy wave might sting, but it not gonna kill ya..." The small blast knocked Bishop out of the Amerasian's grip, though Shaw phased through it, as easily as the former Shadowcat might have, leaving the black man at Gambit's feet. "Hey, Bish, my man," LeBeau asked, helping him to his feet, "You okay?" "nooo.." he groaned as he managed to loose his dinner. Liz tapped Shinobi on the shoulder, "I'd be more concerned about your health, "Chere". That's a nasty smoking habit you've got, there. A nice little time bomb, ticking away! What if I give it a little encouragement?" Remy clutched at his throat, coughing violently, his lungs on fire. feeling as though he couldn't breathe. He collapsed as he lost the rest of breath. Bishop recovered enough to see that Liz was the threat, tried to knock her out of the way, only to find himself on the receiving end of a series of deft Coda manoeuvres that hit him like bullets. Never had he seen someone move so fast, or hit him so hard, even Rogue held back her formidable strength when they sparred, but the Duchess of Avalon was playing for keeps. She held back nothing as she pummelled him into the Persian carpet... He felt something grinding in his side, and the pain was agonizing as her cool, crisp accent hit him, <> Bishop wisely decided to stay down, "nuh..noooo...." And then Remy foolishly tried to deliver the coup d'grace to what he perceived as the downed Coda warrior, only to see at the last minute that it was his teammate's head that his charged staff impacted upon! The world began to twist around him like a bad acid trip, and he was smelling colour, seeing sound and tasting texture. It was too late for him to realise that the Coda he was facing was Liz, his latest paramour, as she telepathic turned his world inside out, overloading his mundane, human senses, and then he, too, collapse to the floor with a groan. <<...et tu, Remy?>> she muttered, shaking her head. She heard the crackle of lightning, only to see that Xavier had tried to enter the fray, and had been knocked out of his hoverchair by Ororo's lightning bolt... and she now straddled his chest, one hand flickering as she electrified the entire room... Joseph had shielded himself and Emma..and herself..within magnetic bubbles, while Shinobi remained phased, hovering in midair. It seemed their little drama had reached a climax...and Ororo had reached a catharsis, choosing to resolve things on her own terms. The room was silent as she spoke to Xavier, "I am free now. You will never own me, so you'll have to kill me, is that it, Xavier?" He was speechless. This was the last thing he'd been expecting. For one of his most.. beloved..of students to turn on him. For the first time, he finds himself speechless. "Go ahead, tear my mind apart," she challenged him, "But be aware, we're immersed in an electromagnetic field....the only thing that separates you from electrocution is me, Xavier. The moment I let go of this "arclamp"...if I die, *you* die! I would rather die free than ever return to your "school"...now the question is: are you that desperate?" She felt his presence withdraw from her mind, though it was raw from Emma snapping the oldest remaining blocks. She knew that Charles Xavier was now aware that she knew the whole truth, everything that had occurred between them, between him and Jean...or even him and Kitty..or any of his students for that matter... He had no recourse...