500 Miles

Shadows

By Princess Alexandria

The silence was a little awkward and Christy was starting to worry about Mystique. Christy spoke in a gentle voice, "The first world I went to wasn't too bad." Christy shifted a little in her chair and watched as Mystique finally looked back over at her. "They'd had some tough times, but for the most part my stay there was nice enough." Her mind barely acknowledged the fact that she'd been shot there, she pushed that unpleasantness away as she remembered the other parts of her stay.

"What was it like?" Mystique asked just as gently and Christy sighed just a little, realizing that she really was going to do this. She was going to talk about it.

Part of her felt uncomfortable and she felt like she shouldn't waste time on this now, that they needed to talk about the mission. Still, it was apparent that Mystique needed her to talk just as much as Christy knew she needed to talk. If it were her double Raven sitting in this position she'd tell the Xman to tell her friends, so Christy took the advice, seeing how hard it was.

"At first I thought I'd lost my powers, because I couldn't shift and I could bleed." Christy used her fork to stir at the Chinese food container, watching as chow mein swirled on it. "It turned out that when I hit a double coming out of my portal I merge with her. It was just lucky I hadn't hit the double of this world, or she'd have been trapped inside of me." Christy looked up and Mystique wasn't pretending to eat. Christy gave her a small smile. "The Emma in that world worked at Xavier's institute and she helped teach me how to separate from my double so I could try again." Christy didn't mention the travesty that was that Emma's love life.

"But as I later found out, my ability to concentrate wasn't all that good and when I tried to come home a stray thought had me learning that time wasn't really a factor at all with my powers. I went back in time to when I was a college student, when I was married to Michelle." Christy made a face and Mystique smiled just a little in encouragement. "I ditched Michelle and found Emma, but Emma was a college freshman and that was the year that she was learning about her powers the most. We stumbled along with how to do it, and I lived in a college dorm while we waited for me to power up and for that Emma to learn how to use her powers on me."

"You needed that?" Mystique asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't talk to the women I possessed, and they needed to know how to help me get out." Christy's mind went to Raven. "It wasn't until the third jump that I found a double that could talk to me." Christy's words trailed off as she considered her words carefully. "I knew that in the first world I'd probably scared my double pretty bad and she had been hurt, but for the most part my showing up saved her life. She'd was being chased and I stopped the men from hurting her. In the second world I screwed up my doubles relationship with Michelle, but knowing how two faced Michelle is or was, well I would have preferred to know while I was still young, a little warning would have been nice, so I hurt that double, but I really thought she'd be better off."

Christy looked up with shiny eyes and stared into compassionate yellow eyes. "But my third double, Oh god. I was never so ashamed of my powers and my jumping then I was in that world." Christy took a deep breath and noticed that Mystique moved from her seat to the one next to Christy. "Her codename was Raven." Christy gave a small smile at the memory. "She was a hero, an Xman, and she was desperate. The Professor had screwed her over so badly." Christy shook her head and prayed that Raven was free of it, that running really had been the right thing to do. "You know how Tessa here used to be a spy for Xavier?" Christy looked up and watched Mystique nod. "Well, she was there too, but there was so much more to it I hope isn't true here. Raven and Tessa were so in love and the Professor sent Tessa on that mission and never told Raven." Christy's deep breath was shaky. "Raven was in the middle of sneaking into the Hellfire club to see her lover, a woman she hadn't seen in years, to get some closure or most likely to just see her. God Raven loved her." Tears streamed down Christy's face. "But I merged with her and we were captured."

Christy went silent, clenching her fist as she faced the memories out loud. "Tessa couldn't break her cover, but she did what she could. That Emma was cold and scary, but she was helping us at times as well." Christy looked up at Mystique and felt the woman take her hand gently. "We were raped a lot, men, women, and poor Raven, well… it gets worse." Christy opened her hand and took Mystique's hand, staring at it. "In the middle of all that, I found out that Raven had training and could take over enough to speak at times. I also found out that if someone shows you kindness when no one else does, well, I hope Emma forgives me." Christy looked up and did her best to not cry. "I wanted someone and I gave myself to her. It felt good to actually give rather than have it taken, and I needed." Christy's words trailed off. "I saw why Raven loved Tessa, and I saw some dark parts of Emma that hurt, but I was with her willingly too, not happily, but willingly. At that point it meant next to nothing to go down on someone." Mystique's jaw clenched for just a moment, but the woman was clearly trying to hold her anger down for Christy. Christy did appreciate that. "We were there a week and then we were rescued. That's when I saw poor Raven hadn't really escaped hell, because she was a prisoner of sorts to the Professor. That's when I sought out that Mystique, I always know where to go for help." Christy squeezed Mystique's hand gently. "And I wasn't disappointed. Mystique and Irene helped us get Raven out of that." Christy took another look at the hand holding hers. "I fell in love with myself there," A weak chuckle escaped her lips. "Raven was," Christy shook her head a little. "I would have kept her if I could have, I loved her. We got each other out of that hell, we supported each other, and she suffered for me." Christy's voice got quieter. "I hope she's okay."

"I'm so sorry." Mystique whispered, and really what could anyone say to this, Christy thought to herself.

"So that world was where things were done to me the most." Christy said, remembering the words that started this conversation. "And I miss it sometimes, isn't that crazy. I miss them." Christy shook her head and decided that tonight wasn't the night for great detail.

"The next world was where I did things I'm the most ashamed of, well if you don't count getting Raven captured but she told me it wasn't my fault, she forgave me everything. In the fourth world was where I did the most good." Christy squeezed Mystique's hand, thinking of the other Mystique that got her through all of that. "I can at least say that I left things better in that world, better for some, and for those I hurt it was hard, but they were on the way out anyway. An asteroid was almost there." Mystique's hand jerked a little, squeezed a bit tighter and there was a small gasp. The rape wasn't a surprise to her, but this was. "I had to hunt people to power up in time to save them, but I saved Mystique and her people, I took them with me as I left." Christy caressed Mystique's arm. "But that Mystique and I, we had to kill everyone we could to get out. Everyone," Christy stared into her own Mystique's eyes. "Even children. She'd never killed a child before, neither had I. It was hard, but everyone in that world was going to die in a couple of weeks anyhow and their deaths gave me the power to save some. I saved twenty people, sent them to a good world where they could have a future." Christy shook her head. "I hurt a lot of people in my travels, but I helped some people too. Even Raven said she was thankful I had come, even Raven."

"Is that why you won't stop this before it starts?" Mystique asked softly, moving to caress Christy's hair. "Is this why you'll still let yourself fall into that portal when you could stop it, because you helped people? You could erase it all, never have to remember or feel…" Mystique's words trailed off. "Who are you doing this for?"

Christy looked away, staring at the shadows on the walls from the sun slipping through the curtains. "I debated about stopping it, creating a paradox that might very well kill who I am now, but spare me all I went through. I considered it." She sighed. "Thinking of what Raven went through with me, I really considered it for her too." Christy stared into Mystique's eyes. "But twenty one people are alive today in those other worlds because I came when I did. Twenty one good people. My first double would have died, but now she is learning about her powers." Christy swallowed hard, because this decision was condemning more than her. "Raven is a hero, she really is. She didn't have much power, but her heart was gold. Is gold. She'd understand my decision, and maybe now that she's escaped the Xmen, well maybe she'll be able to be happy. She hasn't been happy in so long." Christy knew she was right and Raven would understand if she ever knew a decision could have been made. "And an Emma died for her people on the asteroid world, an Emma that loved my double enough to marry her. My double in that world died from grief." Christy looked back at Mystique. "But I saved her Hellion in that world, I condemn them in Raven's but I saved them there. And I saved a Mystique and her kids, along with a few others. I did that, and I don't want to take that back. I've been working so hard so I don't take that back."

Christy took a few gasping breaths, before stopping breathing. Mystique pulled her close. "Oh baby, you always were too self sacrificing." Christy could feel that she wasn't the only one shaking just a little as Mystique held her.

"Please, help me to not take it back." Christy whispered, knowing she was asking a lot of someone that loved her and wanted to spare her pain. "I need to do this, I need to save Emma and I need to fall into that portal."

"You never ask for easy things." Mystique complained quietly.

"I know." Christy bowed her head a little. "I know how hard it is to just sit back and watch someone get hurt, knowing it's coming. I was here the morning before Emma got shot and I didn't stop it." Her voice became a whisper. "I did that to my own lover, just so I could fall into hell. I know you could stop it all, but you have to see what this means to me. I let that bastard shoot my Emma again, I let him." Her voice cracked and Christy just went quiet as they sat at the table with their half eaten dinner. They both went quiet.

……………….

"I determined that you had three spies, and I believe it is Warren that knows about the trip Emma is planning. I watched him meet with two other people on two separate occasions, people it didn't make sense for him to be meeting with." Mystique spoke as they sat in the living room. It was the first mention of the mission and Christy was grateful for it. The dinner discussion was draining, and they'd taken a break, but they had a mission to do.

Warren wasn't someone Christy was overly fond of. The rich blonde man was around once in a while and Emma met with him for business, but Christy was still a little surprised he'd know anything. Emma thought he was a bit of a jerk, not that anyone could tell by how she treated him. Emma had talked him into moving some of his businesses, and therefore jobs, to Genosha.

"I'd hoped it was just one." Christy spoke quietly. "Who else?" She asked quietly, her fingers crossed mentally that it wasn't anyone that Emma would miss, had cared about. They were dead as far as Christy was concerned, they just hadn't been killed yet.

"Dr. McCoy." Mystique listed slowly and Christy grimaced. Emma liked that one. She wouldn't once she heard this, but still it would hurt. "And Kitty Pryde." Well, Emma hadn't really gotten along with Kitty, Christy thought with a mental sigh. "With Kitty's computer skills and powers she is by far the most dangerous mole in your backyard."

"So Tessa's cleared?" Christy asked and Mystique's eyebrow rose just a little. It made Christy feel a little uncomfortable having revealed who she was really worried might change sides, and not just because Tessa was a very hard person to fight.

"Not only cleared, she appears to be clued in. I found evidence that Tessa is collecting evidence on our three unexpected backstabbers." Mystique reported and Christy felt a confusion of pride at Tessa's abilities when she barely spent time with this one, and shame at her own inability to do what Tessa could. Mystique's voice slowed down. "I ran into a little trouble with her actually. She found me in the computers and I had to reveal myself to her, or end up fighting my way out of there, and we need to keep this whole mission quiet."

"What happened?" Christy asked, her voice lower as she struggled with the idea of outwitting Tessa, it just wasn't possible.

"I told her I was working on the assassination attempt, that I'd been brought in secretly." Mystique sighed. "And she saw right through that one, offering to call you up and ask you about this mission. I couldn't let her do that, so she got the truth out of me."

"What?" Christy felt like she'd gotten colder, her mind was already running to too many directions, this was one more fuck up she didn't need. Mystique was normally so careful.

"I'd already considered bringing her in Christy. We've got a battle on too many fronts, and two people aren't going to be enough." Mystique spoke with authority and Christy ran her hand through her hair a little roughly. "She's clean of all this, she's unreadable by the telepaths, and she is good at what she does. All of this and she has even more clearance than you do, since she set up the computers and runs them."

Christy just shook her head and sighed, this was getting out of hand. She preferred to call all the shots, but Mystique wasn't one to let her. Then again Mystique rarely called for more help either. Tessa was trustworthy, if she didn't decide to just prevent the attack altogether.

They talked for over an hour, discussing the mission and their roles in it. Tessa was going to focus on the spies, preventing any measures they took to help in the attack and capturing them. Mystique was with Christy on the beach. That was Mystique's plan and Christy went with it. There was no point in not, because they weren't calling Tessa and risking anyone finding out what they were up to.

It felt strange working with Tessa, even without saying anything to the woman. Christy wondered how she'd deal with meeting the woman now.

……………………..

After some rather underhanded dealings, they were armed well. Christy stood in the hotel room putting the gun in her holster, while also making a mental note to have the gun dealer arrested for selling to shady people like her and Mystique later. They'd offered no id and he'd done no background check. That was illegal in Genosha, highly illegal. Emma was in the middle of making the selling of guns even more restricted but it wasn't a passed law yet.

"Ready." Mystique asked, as she stepped out of the bathroom. She was armed well as well. Her form was her own right now, but they needed to shift again before leaving. Christy looked out the window at the grey sky and the wind pushing at the trees. It was a bad day for a picnic, her mind reminded her of her original plan for this day. It was Emma that suggested the beach, Christy hadn't expected that her lover would be able to give her a weekend. Christy had been ready to settle for a lunch.

"You be careful too." Christy stared into her friend's yellow eyes. "I almost wish I wasn't taking you. All my eggs are in one basket." Christy's jaw clenched a little as she considered the worst that could happen.

"I'm hardly new at this." Mystique spoke gently and Christy nodded, pushing her vulnerability aside and standing a little taller. Her own battle ready mask of cold determination came over her face and Mystique nodded before shifting into the boyfriend to Christy's young female shape, the one she shifted into as well.

The guns were hidden in their bodies, safest from being seen. "This is a lousy plan." Christy said while opening the front door.

"You worry too much." Mystique grinned a little and followed her out the door.

…………………

Christy shortened her hair, tired of it flying around her in a mass. Christy had her foot wedged under the rock and her vision was partially obscured by the mask she wore, giving her tunnel vision. She stared up, waiting.

A small glow from her belt flashed brighter and that drew her attention. Christy moved slowly and pulled the specially built phone off of her belt and held it up, reading her text message. The words scrolled across the screen, 'You and Emma just pulled up to the beach house.'

Taking another look up, searching as far as she could, she saw nothing. Her fingers moved repeatedly over the keys as she typed her own message back. 'No sight of them yet, but the fishing here should be good tomorrow.' She gave a grim grin and looked over at the odd fish swimming up to nose the rock Christy was using to keep her body in place under the water.

Her equipment was either waterproof or in a case that she'd put in the cargo pants she had on currently. Her clothing was black and she wasn't breathing at all. She returned to her position staring up, only this time it wasn't an asteroid she was staring up at, but the water as she waited for the boat that she'd heard the attackers come from so long ago.

The underside of a boat slowly came into view after what felt like a long wait, but probably wasn't, and Christy stared at it a moment, taking in the size and trying to estimate how far away it was. It probably a yacht, but the bottom of it was black or dark. It was hard to tell here. Christy heard the motor chopping through the water and moved to pull her phone up again. 'I have a bite.' Was all she typed.

'And I'm gonna have a rash.' Mystique typed back, once again complaining about her own position. The woman was laying on the rough roof of a neighbor's house, waiting hopefully downwind.

Christy would have sighed if she could. She put the phone back on her belt and shifted just a little as she stared up at the boat bottom coming closer. Christy was near the drop, so the boat wouldn't be able to get past her by much or it would bottom out. This was where the attackers went to water.

Christy was irritated by the water everywhere, but she stared up with a grim look on her face. They were fighting this battle on too many fronts and it made her worried. She watched the bottom of the boat as an anchor was lowered several feet from her and she watched it throw up dust into the water as it hit the ground.

The flash of her phone had Christy pulling it up without really looking at it, until it was up above her head so she could see both it and the bottom of the boat. A different name scrolled across the screen. 'His spies are detained.' It was brief and right to the point. Christy stared at it a moment, debating about responding, but she pulled the phone down and started to tap at the keys.

'Things are starting to move here. Good job, but from here out I need to focus.' She almost hit send, but waiting another moment and then typed out a few more words. 'I feel better knowing you are with us Tessa.' This was her first contact with the woman, but the time where Tessa was a suspect as well was hard, so she had to say something.

After sending that Christy was about to put her phone away, but another message scrolled across it. 'You stepped outside with Emma.'

Christy looked up and saw what had caught the corner of her eye, a smaller boat being lowered very slowly into the water to avoid making noise. Christy shoved the phone into place without responding and pulled her foot out from under the rock. Christy moved carefully toward the anchor as she watched the small boat shift as people stepped into it. It rocked a bit and it wasn't all the rough weather causing it.

The smaller boat started to move as Christy's hand closed around the chain on the anchor. This time she didn't type out a message, just a letter, it was their own shorthand. The letter A meant the bad guys were on the way. Typing more right now, in the middle of the action, was a waste of attention and time. Christy wrapped her other hand around the chain and jumped up as much as she could while not rocking the chain suspiciously. Christy's feet kicked behind her as she moved up toward the large boat.

Mystique was the one to say that it was rather unusually for Emma to be unconscious right up until Christy was tossed into her portal, that the hit they took wouldn't have done that and that Emma was more than strong enough to sense the bad guys coming. It made it clear that there was yet another front this battle needed to be fought on, and Christy's lack of need to breath bought her this battle.

She trusted Mystique to hold the mess on the beach together long enough for Christy to get there.

As she broke out of the water she did it quietly and then moved to carefully shove now sharpened fingers into the side of the boat as she worked to climb up. She clung to the outside of the boat while she listened hard, but while there were some sounds of movement they weren't on the deck. Christy carefully slipped over the edge and silently as possible set her feet on the deck of the boat. She looked around and moved lower to the ground as she pulled the water mask off and tossed it softly into the water. She quickly shifted her wet clothes and then put them back on, a bit dryer than before. She didn't want the squish of wetness to give her away and a puddle out here wouldn't be suspicious.

Glancing at the beach she could see from this angle what she couldn't see before from the beach, the attackers shadows and her and Emma standing on the beach. It was about to get ugly and Christy needed to hurry up. All the stealth in the world was useless if you missed the battle.

……………….

Christy moved silently into the cabin of the boat, her gun now out and in front of her. She moved as quickly as she dared, unsure of how many people might still be aboard. She had a target she needed to get, and wasting time with others wasn't an option.

Her face was stony as she noticed the light shine off of a bald head. She took just a moment to stare at him, comparing him to other versions of him she'd met. His hands held in front of him, fingers touching and making a small tent shape. His eyes were closed as he focused, and Christy's lips became thinner as she stared at this proof that Mystique was right. Emma was fighting a different battle, against a more powerful foe. Christy didn't waste time telling him why she was doing this, and she bit her tongue at all the things she wanted to say as she just lifted her arm and pulled the trigger.

He heard something, moved just a little, but Christy's bullet still got the powerful telepath right in the side of the head. He slumped to the side, but didn't fall out of his wheelchair. "Bastard." She muttered and moved to turn, but the sound of footsteps startled her. Christy glanced around for a darkened corner.

"Charles?" A woman's voice called out, sounding a bit shocked. It sounded like she knew something was wrong. Christy backed away from the doorway and pulled her gun back up to aim.

The sudden mental scream from her lover caught Christy by surprise. Christy's body tensed as images flew through her mind. Part of her consciousness knew this was Emma's scream when Christy was tossed into the portal. Christy felt Emma's love and desperation, her fear, and it hurt to think the woman was feeling this.

Still it proved that Christy had been here before, that she was the reason Emma woke up. Charles Xavier had been keeping Emma unconscious, and Christy's killing him had stopped that.

The sounds of gunfire drew her eyes toward the window, as she sought out the beach. Emma's mental voice was still screaming for her and Christy could barely see under the extreme pressure. She tried to reach out to Emma, to reassure her.

Her distraction cost her. She didn't hear the door open or the fast footsteps. The metal arm near her face had her jerking backwards but not enough. He hit her and Christy once again found herself flying at a wall.

The sound of cracking wall did register, along with pain and Christy put her shields up high, because Emma was distracting her just as she didn't need it. Christy moved quickly to the side, stumbling partly to get out of range of the metal man. Her mind filled in nearly useless information, his man. All she cared about was that her gun would be useless with him, but she remembered him as Peter or Colossus from the comics. The metal skin was a plan give away that it was him.

She was needed on the beach and this was a major screw up. She looked at the man and then noticed the bald and small woman in the doorway with the hateful expression on her face. There was something not right about either of them. Peter was too focused on her, not even looking at the body Christy had managed to put between her and them. And the other woman held a mad type of hatred that held no grief. Christy stood a little taller and decided to test it. "I killed him, and I'll kill all of you." She motioned with her gun filled hand at the Professor, and her eyes widened a little as she noticed something she hadn't while aiming at his head. She looked as briefly as she could at the body and her heart sank as she noticed the inhibitor around his neck. He'd been a prisoner.

"I know." The bald woman growled out, clearly mad at her. Christy determined that the Professor must have been her prisoner. "I brought him here to see his precious Xmen destroy his dream of peaceful co-existence, and you killed him before I could destroy him." Christy's expression turned steel like herself, only allowing a fraction of a second of regret at the mistake. Instead she held her gun out and prepared herself for a hell of a battle.

She noticed now that Peter was robotic, controlled. It made it clear she was right that it was a telepath she was after, just not which telepath. She'd never seen any bald woman in any reports she'd ever seen; a small bald old woman with hateful eyes, and a more than passing resemblance to the now dead man.

As Peter lunged at her, not as graceful as she suspected he could be. She didn't waste time she just moved. She did notice he knocked over the body and didn't even notice it. It was a bit morbid, something even she never did. Once the battle was over though, she had to admit in a battle she had walked over bodies. She'd just never expected an Xman to do this to their beloved Professor. The dead man landed with a thump, but Christy still in motion and she was aiming at the other telepath

He knocked her aim off and Christy shot the wall. Her body was in motion, and only partly under her control. She tried one desperate attempt to shoot Peter, but the bullets bounced off of him, two hitting her. They went through her and into the wall. He wasn't even slowed down. He didn't fear bullets like she didn't, but then with the way he was acting he wasn't really home either.

Christy leapt over a couch and ran for the doorway the old woman must have snuck out. She could hear the woman not far in front of her and Christy knew she was the key to the entire battle. She needed to get that telepath fast because Emma and Mystique were outnumbered on the beach and the sounds of a battle reached her ears as she started up the stairs to the deck, even over the loud running footsteps chasing her.

It felt like a car hit her as she was slammed into the stairs and Christy let out a yelp of pain. His mass was immense and she twisted and squirmed to try and get loose, but found herself trapped. Her heart hammered a little as her body struggled madly trying to get loose, to get away. Fear at being bound hit her and it gave her strength she rarely ever had. Christy managed to buck him off of her and she didn't bother to look, she just got up and kept running. She could hear bullets on the beach and her ears could hear a splash next to the boat. She ran for that side to stare down and see a lone bald woman staring a small boat engine and the raft was getting away.

Then she felt her bones jarred and air as strong arms held her tight, the water rushing up to meet them. With his metal body wrapped around her they started to sink fast. Christy struggled, his arms hurting with the strength he used. They fell lower and lower, into darkened water.

Christy turned to stare him in the eye and used her one free arm to grab the gun out of her trapped arm. She pulled her gun up, and it felt awkward, but she pulled the trigger while aiming right for his eyes. Blood pooled out and his body released her, floating down further without her in his grasp. She could feel his death, like she'd felt the last man's death and it was with a small bit of regret that Christy stared just a moment and shook her head at the senselessness of this.

She tucked the gun into her pocket and started to swim up, her legs moving as fast as she could and her feet shifting to flippers, she raced for the shore. She couldn't catch the telepath now, but she could try and stop the Xmen.

Christy felt the sand with a kick of her feet and knew she was almost there. She scrambled onto the beach while doing her best to see what was going on. One body was on the ground and Christy almost stumbled over him. She stared down at the tall man and the smell of blood. She hadn't sensed any death on the beach and she suspected he was still with the living. Maybe not for long, but Scott Summers hadn't died yet.

Christy saw that Emma was up and fighting mentally with Jean. She could hear a battle going on around the side of the house and suspected that Mystique was really in trouble. Christy froze for a moment in indecision, unsure of who needed her more.

Emma was desperately fighting a stronger telepath, even though neither moved. Christy made up her mind as the blonde fell to her knees, and she ran up behind the redhead with sharpening fingers. She would have stabbed but Jean moved, as if sensing her. It was bad luck, but Christy switched her attack to a clawing at the woman's back. Jean screamed and Emma did something that silenced the redhead.

Christy found herself standing in front of her lover for the first time in over a year and a half. She stared into sharp blue eyes and almost lost herself in them, seeing Emma's relief that she was okay, but a nearby death scared her out of her trance and Christy's eyes widened as she didn't hear any more fighting on the side of the house. "Oh no." Christy begged softly as she started to run for them. "Please no." Logan was nearly immortal, Mystique wasn't.

It was dark, and Christy had her eyes enhanced as much as she could. She saw a figure on the ground and another standing over it arm held out, but she couldn't see more. "Mystique." Christy called out, hoping. The standing figure moved to look up at her and it shrunk a little. Christy let out a relieved breath.

"I wish I could say I was winning, but he just collapsed, I didn't hit him." Mystique's voice was flat. "Not yet at least." The blue woman's voice was filled with cold anger.

"Wait." Emma's voice called out as Mystique was returning her arm, which Christy could see held a gun, up and aimed at Logan. "They were controlled."

"Nice alibi, but this bastard tossed her into that damned portal." Mystique snarled. "I don't care if telepaths were pulling his strings."

"Mystique." Christy took a step closer when she heard Mystique's pain. Mystique had to let it happen and apparently it was asking too much of her friend to ask for that.

"Chuck." Logan groaned out. "Cassandra." Christy stared down at him.

"Tessa found the telepath." Emma told them. "She was killed." Christy gave the ground her puzzled look, since she couldn't really see features very well in the dark so looking at anyone made no difference.

Christy glanced down at her phone and noticed it was lit. She pulled it up to read it. 'Found the woman that ran, she didn't survive the encounter.' Was posted a minute ago. Another message ran across as she stared. 'heading to shore, Tessa.' "Don't let him move." Christy told Mystique, "but don't kill him yet, something is really wrong." She moved back toward the water to see the lights on a boat coming closer. Tessa and her multitasking had her at two battle fronts. Christy shook her head and glanced back at the women at the side of the building, her heart clenching as Emma leaned down closer to Logan.

"Stay away from him." Christy ordered softly. "Please, just until we know."

"He's been controlled Christy. He isn't the enemy." Emma ignored Christy's fear and reached out a hand to help him. His pained groans faded.

"No, really. Get away from him." Christy took a step closer, too paranoid to accept the battle was over just yet.

"If you aren't going to listen to your personal guard your majesty, well, what's the point of having one." Mystique piped up, her own voice as tense as Christy's. Emma backed away from Logan.

Emma came closer to her and the light from the approaching boat made it possible to see some of her features. "I thought I lost you." Emma whispered. Christy swallowed hard and fought the urge to cry, but her body started to shake. "Christy? Are you okay?"

"It's over." Christy muttered quietly, trying to calm her shakes by holding her arms around herself.

"Don't go into shock now baby, we need to hold it together just a little longer." Mystique reminded her and Christy tried to calm her shakes.

"Emma?" A familiar voice called out.

"Over here Tessa." Emma called out, but she was still looking at Christy with concern. Christy felt the brush against her shields, the touch that normally brought reassurance and love. She couldn't risk lowering her shield just yet though; Christy knew they had things to do. They didn't have time for the conversation just yet.

……………….