Lyrissa's Sparkles

“No… not here…” she whispered as tears began pouring down her face. Straight ahead of her, was her father’s labs and house; her old home. “He, he wasn’t… I mean, he didn’t want… was he?” she was too upset to even form a full sentence. “No, your father was not doing experiments on mutants. They started this after his death.” Beast sighed; knowing his mention of her father’s death was going to bring up emotions.

“We’re not just getting the kids out of here guys.” she announced. “We’re not?” Storm asked in mild confusion. “No, we’re not. We’re shutting them down.” she answered before moving closer to the labs. “Cyclops didn’t put dis in de plan Chéri.” Gambit argued. “Gambit, to hell with Cyclops’ plan.” she hissed as they kept moving.

“Hold it, we got company.” Wolverine growled; extending his claws and preparing for a fight. “How many?” Storm demanded. “Enough.” Beast answered as seven guards moved in on their position. “We don’t have to fight them… we can hide I think.” Lyrissa said quickly. “Where? These trees are our only cover, once they pass them we are fully exposed.” Beast inquired. “It’s nighttime, I work with shadows and dark, we can hide.” she answered. “I’m with her.” Gambit agreed. “Alright, but stay on yer toes.” Wolverine nodded.

Lyrissa motioned for them to move away from the tree line, and get close to the ground. Once everyone was down, she closed her eyes and thickened the darkness around them. “This gonna cover us?” Wolverine asked quietly. “If you shut up it will. I can’t hide sound.” she answered harshly. Her black wisps extending over herself and the other X-men.

“Richards, anything?” a voice called over a soldier’s radio. “Nothing sir.” he answered. “Keep looking.” the voice replied. Whoever it was, sounded quite aggravated. “Yes sir.” the soldier sighed and ordered his men to move out.

“Wolverine, where are you? The systems should be disabled by now.” Cyclops’ voice rang out over his communicator. “Damnit Scotty.” Lyrissa groaned under her breath. “Who’s there?” the soldier demanded; spinning around and drawing his gun. All six others did the same. “Don’t have to fight ‘em huh?” Wolverine huffed. “Shut up, we still have a chance… just shut up.” Lyrissa hissed; thickening the darkness further. “I said who’s there!” the soldier shouted as he moved closer. “Wolverine, come in Wolverine.” Cyclops’ voice seemed to echo through the darkness. “You thicken dis any more, and we gonna suffocate.” Gambit warned before Lyrissa could act. “Ugh… I know… just wait?” she whispered in reply.

One of the soldiers fired suddenly; barely missing Lyrissa. “We ain’t hidin’ anymore!” Wolverine announced before charging into the fight. “Are you alright?” Storm asked worriedly as she helped Lyrissa up. “Y-yeah… come on.” she answered before joining Wolverine. “We should try to avoid any casualties, on both sides.” Beast suggested; throwing two guns and a radio into the tree behind him. “Wish dey thought de same for us!” Gambit shouted as he too knocked a few guns out of the fight.

“Wolverine, Storm, Sparkles, Beast, Gambit! Come in! Are you alright?!” Cyclops demanded over all five of their communicators. “SHUT UP CYCLOPS!” Lyrissa screamed over hers. “Are you alright? What’s happening, why haven’t you been answering?” Jean’s voice called over the fight. “We were trying to avoid being seen.” Strom answered “They’re down, we’re movin’ in. Unless it’s an emergency, keep quiet one-eye. Got it?” Wolverine growled as soon as the fight had ended. He turned off his communicator before Cyclops had a chance to reply.
Before long, they were looking at the lab’s front door; which was more heavily guarded than they expected. “Our plan, was to go through the front door Wolverine?” Lyrissa snickered in awe. “It is the only entrance to the lab.” Beast answered. “I can see why you needed me on your team. Come on, there’s two side doors, a back door, and one underground that leads from the house to the lab.” she sighed and silently made her way around the back of the building. Living a few years as a homeless mutant in New York City, she had to learn to move quietly, and avoid being seen.

It took a while to get through, but they eventually made it to the security control room. “Okay, we’re here. I don’t know how to work these things though. You know I’ve never been good with computers and tech stuff.” she sighed. “Not to worry, I have experience with this sort of thing.” Beast smiled as he got to work. Thirty seconds later “Access Denied” flashed across all the screens in the room. “Hmm… that wasn’t it.” he muttered to himself as he began typing again.

“Access Denied.”

“No? Let’s see… ah, how about this one?”

“Access Denied.”

“Then this one perhaps?”

“Access Denied.”

“Beast, try ‘Karma Elizabeth’.” Lyrissa said suddenly.

“Alright, … Karma… Elizabeth…”

“Access Granted: Welcome Dr. Jennings.”

“Why didn’t ya give us the answer earlier, Sparkles?” Wolverine asked. “Because I hadn’t remembered it. It was only a guess anyway.” she answered defensively. “Why ‘Karma Elizabeth?’ dat some kinda code or somethin’?” Gambit asked curiously. “No, it’s my mom’s name. I just thought it was worth a try.” she answered quietly. “Oh…” he replied; not wanting to upset her.

“Defense systems disabled.” a computerized voice announced suddenly. “Guess we better give Cyclops the green light eh?” Wolverine smiled as he turned his communicator back on. “Yep.” Lyrissa agreed.

“Get a move on, won’t be long ‘till they figure out we’re here.” heordered through the communicator. “Great, move in for extraction. According to the maps, they’re being held one floor down from you guys. We’re heading into the testing labs themselves.” Cyclops replied. “On it.” he nodded and turned to face the group; “Right, you know how to get down Sparkles?” he turned just in time to see the tip of her braid rounding the corner of the doorway.

“Get back here kid, we gotta stay together!” he growled as he, and the others chased after her. “She ain’t gonna listen Wolverine.” Gambit sighed. He was right, Lyrissa was on a mission, and Professor Xavier himself wouldn’t be able to stop her at the moment.

Wolverine, Gambit, Storm, and Beast turned another corner to find her crouched down with her ear against the floor. “What is it?” Storm asked quietly. “Shh… listen.” she hissed. Wolverine was the first to hear what she was talking about; screaming. Coming from what sounded like a young girl, in a lot of pain screaming at the top of her lungs. “We must help them!” Storm gasped. “No, really? I thought we’d just wait until they were done!” Lyrissa spat. “Calm down petit, we gonna get dem outta here, don’ you worry.” Gambit consoled; drawing his bow staff.

“Kiera! No, let her go! I’ll kill you all, I swear to god, let her go!!! Leave her alone, she didn’t do anything! Please don’t!” the girl who had been screaming inaudible shrieks was now pleading with someone to let leave Kiera alone. “Jazz?” Lyrissa gasped.
“Whatever’s goin’ on down there, is nasty. Jazz never screams, or begs. I mean, she broke her arm in three places, and didn’t scream, or cry, or anything; she just kept going.” Lyrissa explained frantically. Beast opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, Kiera began screaming harder than Jazz had been before. In response, Lyrissa disappeared in a swirl of black wisps.

“Lyr- argh, Sparkles!” Wolverine shouted. “Sparkles!” he yelled again; using the communicator this time. No reply. “Where did she go?” Storm asked quickly. Her voice was little more than a whisper. “To Kiera.” he growled. “She probably didn’t mean to. As we all know, she has not yet learned to control her teleportation.” Beast sighed.

Meanwhile, Lyrissa was being restrained by a total of four guards, while watching another tortuous experiment be preformed on Kiera and Jazz. “Stop! Please, just stop!” she cried; still fighting to get free and help them. “And miss this wonderful opportunity for scientific discovery? This is what your father was working for, this is what he spent his life waiting for! Would you want his work to all be in vain?” a man who was obviously in charge grinned venomously. “My dad, would never, want his work to be used like this. My dad, only wanted to understand genetic mutation, not this!” she spat. “Little girl, you have no idea what daddy was working on.” he scoffed.

Kiera suddenly began having a seizure on the table she was strapped to. “Oh my god… stop! Stop now! Stop it right now, she’s going to die! You’re killing her, STOP!!” Lyrissa begged. “And miss watching her powers forcibly manifest? This is where we find what it is she has been hiding from us these past few days.” he grinned as he watched Kiera’s body twitch around until she fell limp. “KIERA!!!” Lyrissa screamed. “Oh shut up! You don’t even know these children… or do you?” he inquired. “I know them very well. Now Let, Them, GO!” she spat.

“Put the brat with the others, I want to see what this one can do, that makes her so confident.” he ordered. One of the soldiers nodded and un-strapped Kiera; then proceeding to drag her out of the room. She could hear the cell door open, and one of the kids start crying; followed by the clear sound of him being beaten for it. She heard the others start screaming, and saw a flash of light which meant one had used their powers. Then the also unmistakable bang of a gun, screams, and at least terrified silence.

Lyrissa couldn’t believe it. He had just shot one of the kids; her kids. For the second time in only a week she lost control again. Black wisps surrounded her, her eyes went blank, while still full of hate, and malice, and all lights in the room, while still on and visible, seemed to be taken out. “You want to see, what I can do? Do you really, want to see what I can do?!” she screamed as her wisps began choking the soldiers holding her. “I-I… I…” the head scientist stuttered as the guards fell to the ground. “You…you, you what?” she hissed; teleporting directly in front of him from across the room in a puff of swirling wisps. “I… please, I didn’t… I…” he stuttered. He was shaking violently in fear as her hand came to his throat. “You didn’t what?” he asked darkly. “Didn’t think Kiera would black out? Didn’t think these so-called experiments would hurt them so badly? Didn’t think you’d have to pay for this, did you?!” she scorned; pushing him up against the wall.

“Stop!” Cyclops commanded in his usual tone full of authority; Lyrissa ignored him completely. “Listen to me, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be like them, killing in hate. Just let go of him, and come back here with me.” Jean said calmly. Again, Lyrissa ignored them. “She’s lost control, if we try to stop her she could kill us as well.” she sighed.

“How’d you get in here so fast?” Wolverine asked Cyclops and his group as he and the others came in through the door. Jean sighed and pointed from the gaping hold in the wall behind them, to Cyclops in reply. “And he gets mad at me for clawin’ the locks on doors…” he sighed. “I’m afraid we have bigger problems Wolverine. Look.” Beast said; bring his group’s attention to Lyrissa who was still verbally abusing the scientist. “How do we calm her down?” Strom asked. “I don’ know” Gambit shrugged. “Ya don’t. When she did this in the danger room, she just snapped out on her own and ran. In the sewer, she passed out. I can’t think of a way to get her to calm down.” Wolverine replied.

“No… I think you can. Well, Beast can.” Jean said quickly. “I’m listening.” he nodded. “Do you remember when she broke down after the funeral?” she asked. “Yes, I had never seen her cry before that. Nor have I seen anyone cry so hard since.” he answered. “What did you do then?” she asked. “Nothing really. I listened to her, and held her; that was it.” he answered.

“No, please d-don’t! ARGH!” the scientist screamed as Lyrissa’s wisps surrounded him in a heavy shadow. “Lyr- Sparkles, listen to me.” Beast said as he cautiously walked over to her. “You need to calm down, you’re going to kill him if you don’t. I know what he’s done is very wrong, but this isn’t going to make anything better.”

“He lethim kill one of them…” she whispered; tears pouring down her face.

“Lyrissa, is this what your father would want?”

“I… no. He, he wouldn’t want any of this… he…” Lyrissa started crying harder as Beast mentioned her father, and let the wisps fade. “Oh god, daddy, I’m so sorry…” she sobbed as she dropped to the floor. “Shh, it’s alright. He knows.” Beast consoled. She couldn’t say anything else through her sobs, she could hardly breathe through them.

“Get outta here bub, before I finish what she started.” Wolverine growled at the scientist; showing his claws tauntingly. He didn’t need to be told twice, and ran from the lab for his life. “Come on, we have to move now. There’s no telling how many guards he’s going to send after us.” Cyclops announced blankly. “Lyrissa, are you alright to go back to the jet?” Beast asked quietly. She nodded against his chest as he held her. “Good, come on now.” he smiled; helping her up. “Come on kid, you too.” Wolverine said as he cut the restraints off of Jazz, and picked her barely conscious form off the table.

In no time at all they were back on the jet, and on their way back to the mansion. Not a word was spoken through the entire trip. Out of the seven kids that were held there, five came back alive; and out of those five, three were badly injured. Lyrissa spent the entire trip leaned against Wolverine while Beast tended to the kids. Jazz refused his help until he made sure Kiera was alright, and after Kiera she demanded he take care of Box because he had been badly beaten the night before.

As soon as they made it back, Box, Jazz, and Kiera were taken to the infirmary, and Jubilee went to find Max and try to tell him what was going on. Lyrissa just sat quietly on the jet and stayed put. “You okay?” Wolverine asked quietly; he couldn’t leave the jet until she sat up since she was leaning on his chest. She didn’t answer. She was staring blankly in front of her, and hardly blinking. “Lyrissa?” he asked slowly. She still didn’t answer.

He gave a heavy sigh and lifted her off of him so he could stand up. When he let go, she just fell back against his seat and stayed there. “Knock it off kid, let’s go.” he grunted before even turning around to face her. “No… I don’t want to move.” she replied in a very emotionless, monotone voice. “Fine, stay here then. I got better things to do than to sit and watch ya pout.” he replied and left.

“Wovie!” Allie shrieked happily as he walked into the kitchen; jumping off of Rogue’s lap to hug him. “Hey kid.” he smiled; patting her head before grabbing a seat himself. “Whewe’s Spawkles?” she asked curiously. “Back in the jet. She ain’t comin’ out, so I left her.” he answered. “Evewybody’s sad, and won’t tell me why. Wovie, what happened?” she asked after crawling into his lap. Without asking him first. “Nothin’ to worry about sugar, just a rough night. That’s all.” Rogue answered. “But-”
“Allie, I believe it is time for bed.” Professor-X interrupted from the door way. “I don’t wanna go to bed. I’m not tiowd!” she whined even more. “Go on now, Jean will tuck you in.” he pushed. Just like Lyrissa, Allie did whatever he told her. The only difference was that she would argue at least once against him before breaking down and doing what he asked.

“Lyrissa is falling into a depression. She feels responsible for everything that has happened. Not to mention, she lost control and killed four people, and almost killed a fifth. She refuses to leave the jet at the moment, I believe she will end up spending the night there tonight. She is mildly in shock. I want all of you to keep a close eye on her, but not to confront her about it. Do you understand Wolverine? Because the last time I gave this speech, you confronted her anyway and caused her to lose control and run, remember?” Xavier sighed after finishing his small speech. Everyone nodded their understanding, but kept quiet.

“You said she’s in the jet, where’s that?” Andrew asked form behind them. “Down in the hanger. Though she is not going to talk about tonight, she hasn’t even come to terms with it herself yet.” Jean answered. “Well, can you let her know I’m here if she needs to talk? I’m going down to the infirmary, I know Max is probably having a nervous breakdown right now.” he sighed. “Of course.” Cyclops nodded. With that Andrew turned and left the kitchen to see if he could find his way to the infirmary.

Three hours later Lyrissa was still lying awake on the floor of the jet. Wolverine had left the lights on when he left, and she mentally thanked him for that. Although her mutation allows her to thicken darkness, and dim lighting, she had always been afraid of the dark if she isn’t the one controlling it. Even at nineteen years old, when she lived in the sewer she slept near a storm drain so she had some light from the city above. The floor was pretty cold, and the uniform she had been given wasn’t very warm, or comfortable for sleeping for that matter. Not that she could sleep even if she wanted to. She decided to sneak up to her room and put on some better clothes, at least then she would be comfortable as she sat awake all night.

Being as stealthy as she could, she snuck past everyone’s rooms. She knew they were all probably asleep, but she still held her breath while passing Wolverine, Jean’s, and the Professor’s rooms since they would be the first to detect her.

She quickly stripped from her X-suit, and Jubilee’s boots, and threw on a pair of good jeans, her usual boots with two inch heels, a simple black t-shirt, and grabbed her leather jacket she had left behind when she ran away the first time. She hadn’t planned on leaving when she was going to her room, but once there her mind started ticking and she needed time to think about if she wanted to live with the kids after tonight or not.

She snuck down to the main gate, and left without a problem. A slight idea where she was heading, and how to get there. With a smile on her face she broke into a run. “Great… couldn’t resist could you?!” she shouted at the sky as it started to rain. Pulling her jacket around her, she kept running towards the city itself. “Jack’s gonna love me for this.” she sighed.