Lyrissa's Sparkles

“We got your girl, Miss Jennings.” One of the soldiers announced to Jack and Sabertooth, who had given up the search for Lyrissa and planned on just killing the men and taking Mystique. “So give us Mystique.” Sabertooth growled. “There has been a change of plans, we need them both.” The soldier smiled. Sabertooth went to attack, but was shot with twelve different tranquilizing darts, and was knocked out. Jack tried to run, but was also taken out, and the two of them were thrown into the jeep with Lyrissa and Mystique, who sighed heavily at the two of them. Lyrissa was excited to see that Jack’s head was right in front of her feet, her hair sparkled as she brought her feet back and kicked him as hard as she could while duct taped.

“Lyrissa is in a jeep on her way to the labs. Sabertooth, Jack, and Mystique are also with her, prisoners just as she is. Security has doubled; we won’t be able to get in today. They are expecting us to try.” Xavier telepathically announced to his X-Men. Logan snarled and cut down three small trees in one swipe when he got the news, causing Max to jump back and avoid eye contact. “Well, it’s just a change of plans. This happens ya know? So we’ll just… we’ll just go there tomorrow, early tomorrow, and get her out. Kill them all and get her out.” Jazz commented, trying to stay positive, but letting her anger get the best of her. “We will not be killing anyone. Let us go now, and create a new plan of action.” Storm replied firmly, taking the lead form Wolverine, who was beyond upset that he wasn’t able to save Lyrissa from going to the labs. The last time she was there, she lost her sparkle completely.
When they got back to the mansion, the atmosphere was horrible. Allie had punched a hole in her bedroom door after picking up on everyone’s anger. Logan locked himself in his room, Kiera just laid on her bed; everyone was a mess, and wanted one thing, to have Lyrissa back home with them.

Inside the labs, Lyrissa and Mystique were thrown into a cell together, while Jack and Sabertooth were put in another. Thanks to his mutation, Sabertooth was awake, but Jack was still out cold from the tranquilizers. They were all, except Mystique who was already changed, stripped of their clothes and belongings, and dressed in what looked like white, baggy scrubs. Mystique had already been changed, and didn’t have to have complete strangers undress her, so she was put in the cell before Lyrissa who already had tears in her eyes when she was pushed through the door.

Their cell was empty, except for the two mats on the floor for beds. No pillows, no blankets or sheets, no windows, just the two mats. The only thing Lyrissa could see outside their solid walls was the hallway outside of the barred door where the guards would grin and laugh at them as they passed.

Mystique didn’t say a word as she lay down on her mat, and closed her eyes; she knew that sleep was important if she was going to survive the experiments. Lyrissa on the other hand, slid down the wall and hugged her knees, pushing her mouth over one of them to try and muffle her crying.

“Sabertooth… what d’we do now?” Jack groaned as he finally came to in their cell. “Wait.” He answered sharply, not wanting to speak with Jack at the moment. “Wh-what are they gonna do to us?” Jack asked worriedly, holding his head and sitting up. “Who knows.” He answered, and decided to ignore Jack’s every word, and tune him out for the rest of the night.

At the mansion, most everyone was still awake. Even though the clocks all read a quarter until one am. Allie was snuggled up in Logan’s lap with Wogan and Lyrissa’s blanket, trying her hardest not to fall asleep. Since they got back, she had gone from a rage that made Logan’s worst anger look like a sleeping kitten, to laughing uncontrollably, to crying so hard it made her throw up. The only person, who could calm her down, was Logan. “Ya feelin’ better, kid?” he asked as she took a jagged breath. “I w-want S-Sparkles!” she hiccupped tearfully. “I know kid, I know.” He sighed, rubbing her back soothingly as she started to cry again.

“If Wolverine and Sparkles ever get married, they should adopt her.” Kiera mused to Xavier as they watched him comfort her in a chair in the front room. “They would make a nice family.” He nodded. He was impressed at Logan’s skill with Allie, he hadn’t expected him to care for her so much, or be able to comfort her like that.

“Well, happy Halloween.” Andrew sighed as he sat with them in the kitchen. “Yeah.” Kiera yawned. “You should both get some sleep. It is not going to be easy to get Lyrissa back, you should be rested and able to fight. You aren’t going to get that way by staying up all night.” Xavier pointed out. “I know Professor Xavier, but it’s so hard to sleep knowing we couldn’t get to her in time.” Kiera frowned. “Yeah, but if we aren’t awake and ready to kick the crap out of those guys, then we’re staying here.” Andrew shrugged, it was clear that he was ready to fall asleep at any second. “I’ll try. Goodnight Professor Xavier, night Andrew.” She sighed, dragging her feet up to her room. “Goodnight.” They replied together. Andrew and Xavier exchanged nods, and he went to bed too, leaving the Professor alone with his thoughts.

“Hey Wovie, can we sleep out here tonight, you and me?” Allie asked sleepily as she snuggled into his shoulder.

“Why?”

“Because you’re snuggly, and make me feel better.” She answered honestly.

He couldn’t deny her, especially not with the fact that she was almost asleep already, and would be wide-awake and probably crying again if he carried her to her room and put her to bed. “Fine.” He sighed, and moved to the couch so they would both be more comfortable. “Thanks Wovie.” She squeaked, yawning and falling asleep almost instantly.

“You! Get up.” A guard yelled at Lyrissa. She was extremely tired, and felt like she had only been asleep for a few minutes. She was pretty heavily bruised from Jack and Sabertooth, and the skin around her mouth was still sore from where the duct tape was ripped off earlier. She groaned and rolled to her stomach to push herself up, but apparently didn’t move fast enough, because he burst through the door and pulled her by her hair. “I told you to get up!” he spat before dragging her out of the room. She had to jog to keep up with him, since he still had her by the hair.

She was led into the room where she and the X-Men rescued Jazz and Kiera. Where she heard them shoot one of the kids, and where she lost control and killed several people. She stiffened immediately and had to fight to stay in control of her powers as they pushed her to the table Jazz was strapped to, and tied her down.

“Okay Miss Jennings, we’re going to start with something small. Some think that mutations will manifest if the host is subject to immense pain, so we will be testing that theory today.” A scientist with a slight Irish accent explained. She wanted to ask what they were going to do, but her throat was too sore from screaming at Jack and Sabertooth from behind the tape, and crying in her cell. She lay quietly as they put small, metal prongs that were attached to wires in various places along her body. Of course to do so, they had to undo and remove her shirt, which was Velcro to make that easier, and remove her pants, leaving her in her neon orange boy shorts and black bra.

As soon as they backed away, they flipped a switch and started shocking her. When her mutation didn’t show, they flipped another and turned on another, adding more electricity. She tried with everything she had not to scream, but by the third switch, she couldn’t hold back. The pain in her throat only added to the torture, which only went on for fifteen minutes, but it felt like years to her.

“Well, it seems your mutation doesn’t respond to pain… we’ll have to try something else then.” The scientist sighed, going through some papers and pulling out one of Dr. Jennings’ reports. “I think we’ll try this one then. Your father believed that in cases like yours, the mutation will respond if the host’s life is in danger.” He explained as his assistants took her off the table and forced her to stand upright. “Electrocuting me doesn’t put my life in danger?” she asked sarcastically. She knew it was stupid to open her mouth, and regretted it as soon as the words passed her lips, but she couldn’t take them back.

The scientist nodded to one of the guards, and he gun butted her in the side of the head. Not hard enough to knock her out, but hard enough to send the message. “The more you fight, the more you’ll find we are in charge here.” He spat. “Take her back to her cell. If she fights at all, put her in her place before locking her up.” The Scientist sighed. “What about my clothes?” she asked quickly as they started pushing her out the door. “You aren’t goin’ anywhere, why get all dressed up? Ya look better like this anyway.” A guard smirked as they passed him, eyeing her suggestively.

Lyrissa didn’t fight as they took her back to the cell. She couldn’t quite keep up with them, and tripped; they took her falling as an attempt to escape. The guard that hit her in the lab picked her up and pinned her to the wall, using his body to keep her in place, and keeping his hands on the wall to either side of her. Needless to say, that made her uncomfortable. “What’d he say about putting up a fight?” he asked with a smirk. “I, I didn’t. I j-just tripped.” She defended nervously. He gave a slight laugh and backed away, punching her in the mouth before pushing her forwards to her cell. The two other guards with them laughed at her as she held her now bleeding face.

“Here.” Mystique whispered after Lyrissa was shoved through the door, and the guards had left. She was handing her a small strip of cloth to wipe the blood off of her face. “Thanks.” She smiled weakly, wincing and whimpering every time she touched her face. “Let me do it, you can’t see what you’re doing and will probably just make it worse.” Mystique sighed, taking the cloth from her and going to work. “Thanks.” Lyrissa repeated, and stayed silent until she had finished.

“It gets cold in here, so take this.” She said emotionlessly, taking off her shirt and handing it to Lyrissa. She was wearing a white tank under it.

“Thank you.” She was surprised that Mystique was being so nice to her, but wouldn’t turn her down, since she was only wearing her underwear.

“It’s survival. We are going to need each other to get out of here. Now get to sleep, believe me, you’re going to need it.”

Lyrissa nodded and laid down on her mat, and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long until she was out again.

Jack’s screams woke her up a short time later. “What are they doing to him?” she asked Mystique, who was leaning up against the wall, looking out the door. “Burning him it looks like. He tried to use his powers against them, so they’re punishing him for it.” She explained.

“That’s horrible.”

“You think this place is nice? You got the shock treatment, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the least painful thing they have here I think. Your next one will be hell. And it gets worse from there. Magneto wanted to attack this place, and shut it down because of all the mutants who have been killed here. That’s how I got in this cell.”

“What happened?”

“I was posing as one of the scientists, and they somehow figured out that I was a mutant, and threw me in here. I was gathering information to use as blackmail.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Only Dr. Jennings’ reports. From what I’ve read, he would roll over in his grave if he knew what has become of his lab.”

“I know. Dad loved his work, and loved mutants. To him we were just people like him, who had different talents. Like some people can play piano, some mutants can fly.”

“So he did have a mutant daughter. They said he was using you for experiments.”

“God no, all he used me for was to keep him company in the lab sometimes. But I usually would end up playing with the animals he had in there.” Lyrissa laughed slightly, and her hair actually started to sparkle for the first time since her capture, but it faded quickly.
Mystique stared blankly at her for a few minutes. “What?” Lyrissa asked, now confused.

“Does your hair always do that?”

“No, only when I’m happy.”

“You’re that X-Man aren’t you? The one Sabertooth was fighting when we blew up the police station.”

“Yeah, that’s why my hair’s so short now. You singed it off.”

Mystique seemed amused by her comment, and Lyrissa’s hair lightened slightly.
Suddenly Sabertooth was led right past their cell, growling threats at the twelve guards he had following him with tazers and tranquilizers. “His experiments are going to be the most painful, because of his healing factor. That’s what they’re going to want to know about, how it works, and eventually how to kill a mutant with a healing factor.” Mystique sighed. Lyrissa didn’t say anything.

It was past one pm by the time everyone in the mansion was awake and ready to be in the War Room, and moods weren’t at their best. Logan had to stay on the couch with Allie until she woke up, because he knew that it would be hell to have a cranky five-year-old empathic child running around with the emotions that were being felt by the others in the house. Having a five-year-old empathic child just around him wouldn’t be the greatest idea.

“About time you join us.” Andrew muttered as he sat down in the War Room, and Allie ran over and climbed into the chair with Xavier. “Enough Andrew, we can argue later. Now we must find a plan to rescue Lyrissa.” Xavier cut in, before Logan could reply. “Right. I think that Andrew, Jazz, and Box should be the only ones of us to go with you.” Kiera suggested. “Why?” her brother demanded. “They’re older, and can fight better. We’re good, but those guys have guns, tanks, trucks, alarms, and a whole lot more. Trust me, we can’t fight them. And… I don’t want to go back. I know I won’t be able to fight, especially if we get caught and have to go back to the cells. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.” She answered. “It is all right Kiera, and I agree with your suggestion.” Xavier nodded. “All in favor.” Jamie groaned.

Surprisingly, all the kids, even Max, raised their hands. “All opposed?” Andrew asked slowly. No hands went up. “It’s settled then, Box, Jazz, and Andrew come with us. Unless, you don’t want to go, because we won’t make you.” Jean announced, looking to Box and Jazz for their reactions. “I don’t want to go back no. But I will, because no one should be in those cells, and labs.” Jazz answered. “Yeah. We should probably get Sabertooth and Jack out of there too. That’s a death no one deserves.” Box sighed. Everyone else who had been in the lab before murmured their agreement.

“Okay, the next thing we need to plan is how we’re going to get in and get her.” Scott announced. “I got nothin’.” Box admitted. “Me either, they’re crazy guarded. And they know she’s with you guys, and know you got us out. So they probably have even more guards.” Jazz sighed. “We’re screwed then. We go in swinging, and come out dead. If we go in stealth, we’ll probably get busted, and come out dead!” Andrew sighed in frustration, letting his head fall and hit the table. “Andrew… what if we get caught, and break out from the inside?” Jamie asked quietly as the thought came to him. “They strip you, and take everything. You wouldn’t be able to take anything with you to break out.” Box sighed, shooting him down. “So you couldn’t take in the lock picking stuff then.” Max mumbled.

Dante sat up suddenly, and they could practically see the light bulb go off above his head. “What if the kit was inside you? Do they check that?” he asked quickly. “What you mean?” Gambit asked, tilting his head quizzically. “I mean, if you swallow a piece of the kit, would they know you have it? Do they do X-ray and stuff like that, or just strip search?” he answered. “Strip search.” Kiera, Jazz, and Box all answered together. “So if you get caught, and each have a piece,” he smiled, waiting for them to catch on. “Oh my god… would that work Professor Xavier?” Kiera asked hopefully. He shook his head, and several of the kids, and a few X-Men sighed in disappointment. “Damn. That would’ve been so easy too.” Andrew smiled. “Getting in would. Getting out would be a battle.” Jean nodded.

“Well, what if we have one group go in for a rescue, and another for a distraction?” Jazz asked. Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to explain. “Like… okay. Say you Cyclops, take a group and blow a bunch of stuff up, fight the guards, and just really cause a lot of trouble, taking out a few cameras during your rampage. Then say Gambit has a smaller group, and while you’re keeping everyone busy, they go in for extraction.” She explained after receiving a nod from Xavier telling her it was all right to explain her plan. “We could try that. Who would be in each group?” Storm asked. “Well, I kind of remember where a few cameras are, but I definitely know where the things to blow up is. So I would probably be in the group that raises hell.” Box smiled. “Sorry Professor-X.” he grinned, after realizing his language in front of Allie. “I know some of the way to the cells from the side door. But Kiera’s really good at remembering her way through places, and finding her way out of others. So if we go with this plan, we really should bring her Professor.” Jazz suggested. He nodded his approval, and Box and Kiera exchanged fives under the table.

“I think Wolverine should lead the demolition team.” Scott suggested. “No. Wovie goes in the group that gets Spawkles. She’ll want him first.” Allie replied, shaking her head. “Not to mention, if it was Jean in there, would you wanna be in the group that goes on the outside, and doesn’t even see her until they’re on their way home?” Andrew asked. Scott sighed, “No, I wouldn’t.” he admitted, receiving a smile from Jean. “Okay. So we have Wolverine, Jazz, and Kiera on the rescue team. And Me on the demo… guys that’s not good odds.” Box laughed nervously. “Relax, we’ll get this sorted out.” Beast smiled. The next three hours were spent in that room figuring out their plan of action, before finding Andrew, Kiera, Jazz, Max and Box uniforms. Max argued that he go with his sister, and made it onto the demo team.

Lyrissa was being put through her fourth experiment of the day, and hated everyone in the building, except Mystique. Everyone but her, she wanted to kill. She didn’t have time to think, because at the moment she was in a room, having various objects thrown at her, to see how much she could dodge, and to monitor her mutation, and how much it could withstand. There were knives, spikes, bricks, balls, and several other things, and she was beyond exhausted. She had already taken a brick to the gut, and been stabbed twice. Suddenly and idea came to her, and she ran with it. Her wisps came around her in a sphere, and she thickened the shadows around her in the corner to create a cocoon type thing around herself, which protected her from anything they threw at her. Until they turned the florescent lighting that was hidden in the wall and floor panels, to get rid of any shadows. Even her wisps disappeared, because she couldn’t focus on anything. “I can’t work without shadows!” She screamed as something hit her in the side, and knocked her over. “Well, what about those things you were using before, why can’t you use those?” A voice asked from their control room. “I need shadows to use my shadow wisps! My mutation, centers around, SHADOWS!” she screamed, she was losing her mind in that place. “Well then, I suppose you’re done with that. Take a break, we’ll get you later.” He replied lazily, and turned off the microphone. She watched in fury as they charted her performance, and left the control room. Leaving her in the overly bright room alone for the next hour. When they came back, they just turned off the lights and left her again, which put her in darkness so thick she couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face.

She didn’t know how long she had been in there, sitting in the floor sobbing, when the lights kicked on again suddenly, and two guards walked in and jerked her to her feet. “Move.” One ordered, and pushed her to the door. She wanted to scream, fight, or spit at one of them, do something. Anything. But she couldn’t, she knew they would just beat her again and throw her into the cell with Mystique. Leaving her, and laughing about how pathetic she was, or what else they would have done with her if it were authorized.

“You need to stop arguing with them.” Mystique said quietly after the guards left them alone in the cell, and walked out of earshot. “I know. I can’t help it.” She sighed, banging her head on the wall behind her. “Save your strength, for when you need to fight.” She explained wiping some blood off of her leg from whatever experiment they had done on her while Lyrissa was in the light room.

“Get the blue one, and drag her if you have to!” someone ordered from down the hall “Yes sir.” Three voices answered in unison. “What could they possibly want now?” Mystique sighed, standing up and limping to the door, waiting for them to come and get her. “Your furry friend needs a playmate.” One of them smirked as he pulled her out of the cell. “You’re next sweetheart.” Another smiled to Lyrissa before walking away, pulling mystique along by her arm.

She was thrown back into the cell barely conscious a while later. “What happened?” Lyrissa asked softly. “They wanted to see how our mutations work in combat. You’ll be fighting him next. If you don’t fight hard enough, they’ll tase you. So give him hell.” She explained, laying on her mat and closing her eyes. Lyrissa could tell she was trying to hide how much pain she was in. “If anyone comes to rescue me, I’m taking you with.” She promised. “Why? I wouldn’t do the same for you.” She smirked. “Because Mystique, I’m not you. You’ve been helping me in here, it’s only fair I help you out too.” She explained.

“No one’s coming to get you. Now get over here, and let’s go.” A guard spat from the door, unlocking it and waiting for her. Lyrissa slowly stood up, and made her way over to him; holding her arms out for the cuffs he had in his hands, and waiting to be guided to wherever they were going.

The X-Men were on the jet, preparing for the rescue, and praying that it would work. “So one more time. I go with you, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Andrew, Box, and Jean, and we just blow stuff up, scream and yell, and get their attention, and keep it?” Max asked Cyclops nervously. “That’s the plan, yeah.” He sighed. Max had gone over the plan seven times already, and was working on eight. “And me, Kiera, Wolverine, and Beast will be going to get Sparkles.” Jazz smiled. “Okay. What happens if you guys get into a fight though?” he asked. “Max, you don’t have to worry. Yes, this mission is very dangerous, but we will keep you safe, and watch over you.” Storm assured. “Maxie, we got your back.” Box grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

They landed far enough from the labs to be outside their security systems. “Okay, everyone ready?” Cyclops asked. “Y-Yeah?” Max gulped. “That sounded, confident.” Jean smiled. Max cleared his throat, “Yes Sir.” He stated firmly, making everyone smile. “Then let’s go. Wolverine split off and follow the girls at the fence. Wait for our signal to go in.” Cyclops ordered. Wolverine grunted and followed as their entire group started making their way to the labs. Jazz was right, they had at least twice the security compared to the last time the X-Men went for a rescue mission.