Part 4: Breakdown

“I am worn out from groaning; All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my bed in tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; They fail because of all my woes.” -Psalm 6

The next day, after church, was quiet and slow. Rahne kept to herself and tried not to think of all the things that had been plaguing her. She sought refuge in prayer, but no peace came to her. She attempted to distract herself with reading, but every thing she picked up depressed her more. She decided she would not waste another day before going to see Moira—her “Mummy”. She wanted to be where she would feel loved and accepted, at least until she had to return to Genosha. Every direction she turned to in her room seemed to offer a new sorrow to her tormented mind. She lay on her bed in a fetal position, until her sobbing subsided into a nearly autistic daze.

It was about 9:30 p.m. when she heard the sudden crashing noise and felt the entire mansion shake. She leaped to her feet and ran into the main hallway, where she was met with clouds of smoke and falling debris. The roof of the X-mansion had been torn clean off. The familiar metallic voice of mutant hunting robots, called Sentinels, boomed down into the house. Before Rahne could even process what was going on, she could hear the sounds of battle: metal striking metal, force beams ricocheting onto the walls, shouts of confusion. Her friends and instructors were fighting the Sentinels as though their lives depended on it—which was usually the case.

Sentinels…attacking us…at home…People screaming…scared…No…No…No. No No No No No No!

For an instant, she almost assumed wolf form and ran to the fight. Instead, she burst into tears and ran away from the house on foot, as fast as she could go.

The remaining mutants at Xavier’s fought and eventually defeated the Sentinels, except for one, which flew away unseen. They were all surprised that no one was hurt—it seemed that the Sentinels were defending themselves, but not attacking with as much force as they had in the past.

Several of them noticed that they had only tried to capture some of the females, and none of the males. Cannonball and Sunspot were high-fiving and whooping it up. They revelled in the victory, laughing at how stupid someone must have been to send Sentinels to attack the school at such an unusual time, when all the mutants from every team were present.

“Good thing we powerful warriors were all here to protect our women,” said Bobby, beating his chest in true Tarzan fashion.

“Let that be a lesson to y’all skirts,” joked Sam, strutting around with his nose in the air. “No big metal monster can just come an’ try ta take our princesses without windin’ up ready for the junkyard!” Boomer rewarded them both with a kiss—and a small time bomb tossed subtly into their pants pockets.

Cyclops and Storm were commenting on how strange the attack was, and that the Sentinels must have been sent on a reconnaissance mission. They were organizing a team to gather the necessary equipment to clean up the school grounds, when Professor Xavier called for a head count.

Rahne was missing. No one had seen her during the fight either. Cannonball soared around the vicinity carrying Dazzler, who bathed the ground with a high-powered light. Sunspot, Rogue, and Colossus rummaged through the debris. Jean Grey, Psylocke, and Cable all searched telepathically for nearby traces of her thoughts. All of these methods proved fruitless.

“Call in the troops, Charley,” said Wolverine to the Professor.

“Wolverine, it’s dark and she may be unconscious somewhere out there. We will continue searching until we find her.”

“She ain’t here. She left.”

Professor Xavier understood immediately that Wolverine had traced her scent. “Did a Sentinel take her? Where does the trail end?”

“It doesn’t. She went thataway,” he mumbled as he pointed off toward the trees.

“Can you track her?”

“I’m doin’ good to be standing up right now, Prof. I can follow the scent, if it’s still there tomorrow. It’s getting’ old though. She must have left when the battle first started. She got scared. She’s prob’ly hiding out in the woods, ashamed to show her face just yet. Give it some time.”

Professor Xavier once again gave the area a concentrated Psi-scan, searching hard for Rahne’s thought patterns. He sensed nothing.

“Are you absolutely certain that you have her scent, and not someone else’s, or a wolf’s?”

Wolverine tried not to swear as he remembered what Rahne smelled like when he and Cable had pushed her too far. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m sure.”

“If she’s around here, she’s unconscious. Have a party search the woods again, this time more carefully!”

Hours passed as they frantically policed the woods. Everyone was tired and out of ideas. They couldn’t involve the police, naturally. Wolverine wanted to go ahead and start following her scent again but every time he stood up, his wound reopened and blood poured out like water.

“Gimme one more day,” he protested. “I’ll find that girl, if she doesn’t come back herself.”

Everyone was gathered, which was no small task, and interviewed by Professor Xavier. He asked them if they had seen any strange behavior in Rahne lately, to which they all answered no. Rahne’s entire behavior was strange to most of them, and none of them were very close to her anymore. He scanned their minds for any alien presence, fearing sabotage. Memories of the Shadow King haunted his mind. He could not bear to think what he or Malice might do while in the body of young, innocent Rahne.

At the close of the following day, Professor Xavier started to worry. He couldn’t wait any longer, he knew. Something had to be done. He hesitantly picked up his telephone receiver and dialed Moira MacTaggert’s number.