The X-Project

WARNING: Trigger warning, mentions miscarriage. Graphic content.

Inside the dreamers' nightmares...


Vanessa, Garrison, and Jean find themselves at Alkali Lake Research Facility, and it is slowly filling with water.



The smell of algae was thick in the air, coupled with the sound of the occasional shudder that reverberated throughout the building. Poor lighting made it incredibly difficult to see much anything but rough stone walls held together with rivets and beams and low ceilings. The floor was covered with water five inches deep and cold to the touch. The facility was old, that much was certain, built to last...but it was clear that something had recently happened that called into question for how much longer.

The sound of dripping was persistent, though it was difficult to tell where. The halls were empty, and seemed to stretch on for miles. It definitely didn't feel like it was above ground.

She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. A moment ago Vanessa remembered feeling something not unlike certainty but now her hands groped along the rough, damp stone and she couldn't for the life of her figure out what that confidence had been about. Obviously she was lost down here. The water made deep slushing noises as she walked along, the very faint slow of her eyes brighter than the lighting more often than not. Calling out would alert others to her location more than the noise of the water shifting around her legs. Was there even the possibility of an ally down here? The metamorph reached a hand down to where her gun usually hung but came up empty. "Fuck," she swore in a whisper and looked down at her hip as if it would explain something. Suddenly she remembered falling and losing her gun in the water. Suddenly she felt wetter than she had a moment ago. She just had to find her way out before the water got all the way up. But where was out?

Alkali Lake. That's what the stenciled words on the wall said. The Alkali Lake Facility. Logan had told him about the mission there; the home of the WEAPONX program that birthed him, and ultimately, where he faced down Stryker and killed him. He didn't remember exactly why he was here. He was in his leathers, so it was an X-Men mission, but where were the others? Was it something to do with his investigation into the attack on Alpha Flight? That had to be it. Obviously. He must have taken a hit as they deployed to feel so confused. Kane touched the back of his head gingerly and his fingers came away bloody.

Great, he'd gotten separated and cold-cocked by someone. Get your head together, he ordered himself, trying to will away the fuzziness. There was a door at the end of the long, narrow room, and it bent under his strength before opening into a long, wide hallway, with a current of water rushing past and cascading down a set of steps. Main accessway, likely. Where the hell were the other X-Men?

The first thing Jean became aware of was the feeling of water at her feet. The second was that she was suddenly wearing her uniform.

As she looked around, a growing feeling had started up in her stomach, her surroundings all too familiar. This...this was impossible, and yet, there they were.

She fumbled around at first, reaching out to feel along the walls. Her telepathy was on the fritz, again, and she could barely make anything out. Someone was here, someone familiar, but she didn't know who. The feeling grew as she gradually made her way down the hallway, and she tried to fight the anxiety that threatened to reach up and pull her down into the very water that lay at her feet.

A silhouette caught her attention and she flattened against the wall, silent at first. Mystique? No...Mystique didn't have platinum colored hair.

"Vanessa?" she breathed. At least there was one familiar face.

The sound of motion through the sloshing water was barely audible over the sound of it rushing somewhere off in the distance. It's filling. Vanessa had a moment of paralytic fear as she considered a little too vividly what drowning would feel like. The sound of her name on her friend's lips didn't catch her attention, but the pale expanse of skin shone in the dimness down at the end of the corridor.

Do I run or do I hide? The metamorph weighed the options quickly. Running would be slow going in the water. There wasn't much of anywhere to hide either though. She skittered into the nearest shadow, eyes half-closed to diminish their glow. When she pressed her back against the wall behind her she found it recessed and quickly moved to flatten herself as much as possible in the small cranny. It felt like a handle stabbing her in the back but she didn't dare try for it until she knew what the figure down the way was going to do.

The water surged upward; a torrent that threatened to knock Kane off of his feet. He paused at the top of a set of stairs, using the metal bannister to regain his footing before carefully easing his way down the dozen steps. Waves crashed against his back, and he found the level now above his knees. It was cold water, like snowmelt off the mountains, and that was very bad. Despite the insulating material in the X-Men leathers, it was still cold enough to numb him, and he knew that immersion for too long was as good as a death sentance. He had to find the others and get out, soon

Garrison blundered into the hall, now buffeted by surges in the fast moving stream. The spray kept obscuring his vision, and he was forced to abandon his slow, careful pace in favour of a shambling run. Hopefully, no one was lying in wait.

The water level was steadily rising around Vanessa while she stood there straining to hear something over the sound of rushing water. She couldn't remember where she was or why she was here. Maybe she'd knocked her head on something when she'd fallen earlier. Then there came a noise. It was faint at first but soon she could pick up the uneven sloshing of water easily. Was someone running? She tried to make herself flatter so she could avoid the attention of whoever it was. If they were a threat she had a better chance at taking them from behind once they passed her.

Jean realized Vanessa hadn't heard her calling, namely because she was now suddenly trying to hide. She couldn't get too close, because she'd probably try to go kung fu on her.

"Vanessa!" she tried, a little louder, with hopes the water would mask it.

"It's me!"

Garrison heard... something? It sounded like a voice, but he couldn't properly make out words with the sloshing of the water around him. He stopped, and suddenly a roar came up behind him, wiping away any other noise.

"Fucking he-" The Canadian started as a plug of water came down the chute like it was coming through a fireman's hose. It engulfed him and pulled him off his feet before even his inhuman reflexes could grab for the side. With a sledgehammer impact, he glanced off of the concrete wall and careened down the hall, completely immersed in the surge of icy white water. He'd had just time to snatch a breath before it hit, but the bitter cold was already assaulting his ability to hold it.

The deluge of frigid water came rushing down the corridor toward Vanessa just as she was sure she had heard something. If she stayed where she was she'd be safe from being battered against the walls as it pulled her along, but there was no real guarantee it wouldn't fill to the ceiling and then she would be stuck. How much better would her position be if she was struck against the head by something and knocked out? Feeling along the walls beside her, Vanessa found a foothold higher up off the floor and quickly crept up into it. Her head was nearly to the ceiling as she braced for the water to hit her section of the corridor and prayed she could keep her grasp rather than get swept away with the tide.

Jean's eyes widened at the sight of the water rushing forward, as well as Vanessa's attempts to get to higher ground. Looking around, her attention fell upon a closed, airtight door at the end of the hall. She immediately trudged her way toward it, but the water was almost too fast for her to reach it, and she slammed against the wall beside it, even as the water level started to rise, more and more, threatening to consume everything in its path.

The door's handle made a screeching noise as Jean turned the wheel, then a popping sound of the vacuum breaking was heard as the door opened and sent the water into the hallway beyond. The water levels started to drop quickly, for now.

Jean fell to the ground without the water there to keep her afloat, panting heavily.

Kane managed to get a hand on the doorway as he went past, and it took all of his remarkable strength to hold himself there as the torrent ebbed. Finally, as the water dropped, the Canadian sank to his knees, pulling in deep breaths and trying not to vomit from the dank, chilly water that had seeped up his nose and past his lips.

Vanessa's position in the recessed doorway had been precarious. She'd held on remarkably well but ultimately had been swept up along with everything else. She wound up laying in a puddle as the water retreated, coughing up what she had swallowed in her frantic attempt to control where her body went. All she could do was hope that there wasn't something either infectious or living in all that liquid.

When most of her coughing subsided the metamorph looked up to reorient herself. Her location in the hallway wasn't the first thing she noticed. A shock of red hair and a nearby familiar form were. "Jean? Garrison?" her voice croaked, rough from the ice water and hacking.

Jean brushed wet hair out of her eyes, mimicking the others' efforts to get the water out of her lungs. She tried to pull herself up to a stand, using the wall as a brace.

"We're in Alkali Lake..." she said. "I don't...I don't know how..."

"No idea. Someone rang my bell pretty bad a little while ago. Everything's kind of... fuzzy." Garrison shook his head slowly, trying to clear it without inviting more sharp spikes of pain. His body ached from the bashing it had taken down the hall, and all he wanted to do was lie down and close his eyes.



The group comes upon Scott Summers, who has somehow found himself at the Facility as well. They discover a traitor in their midst.



"It's Stryker." They all jumped at the sound as Scott Summers appeared suddenly in the doorway at the end of the hall. He was soaked, obviously a victim of the water rush that had cascaded through the hallway. However, as he stepped through, he winced, and they could see the blood trickling from his fingertips. "I don't know how but-" He stopped and put his hand over his bicep. "His men are better shots this time, too."

Vanessa brushed more falling hair out her face to confirm that voice belonged to who she thought it belonged to. She wasn't even on her feet entirely when she asked the obvious question. "Who the fuck is Stryker?" Her legs were a little shaking under her now that she was standing and a point on her calf screamed out unhappily at her putting weight on it. She must have gotten more banged up on her short journey through the water than she'd thought.

"Scott?" Jean said, spinning around with her eyes wide. "How did you..."

She shook her head. "None...none of this makes sense," she murmured, glancing back to Vanessa and Garrison. "Colonel William Stryker was the overseer of a military compound at Alkali Lake...he convinced the president to allow him to come to the school and try to conduct a raid, capturing several students. We came to rescue them and things went south...."

Blinking away the memories rapidly, Jean looked down then back over to Scott. "You're sure it's him?" she asked, an imploring look in her eyes. "How did you get here? How did....we... get here? I can't...It's hazy..."

"You probably got knocked on your head or something." Vanessa hadn't gotten knocked on the head, at least. Her recollection of how she got here was vague. Fuzzy. She was missing pieces but considering she faced possible drowning she didn't think that was strange. Drowning seemed like the most painful way of dying short of prolonged torture. She'd been waterboarded once. That was as close as the metamorph wanted to come to the experience. "We need to move. If we stand here we're just painting targets on our backs at best. At worst we can't get to another door to open when the water level gets back up."

She coughed again and turned away from the couple so she could check on Garrison. He was probably fine if she was, God knew he was more durable than her. But she didn't want to be in the middle of the couple who hadn't spent much time together and who were now in the middle of a possibly deadly situation. Wasting a minute checking on the Canadian was preferable to that. "You alright?"

"I'll live." He said, pushing himself to his feet. He couldn't tell how bad he'd been hit, but at least the cobwebs weren't as bad. "What about you? Scott call you in on this one?"

"No, not Scott." Her tone sounded more sure than she felt. Vanessa knew she was here for a reason. There was a purpose to her presence here. Scott wasn't involved, though, she hadn't known he was here at all until he'd stumbled through the door. Then it occurred to her with a sudden clarity that should have been suspicious in and of itself. "Took a wrong turn investigating, apparently. Next time I send the Quebecois to Canada. He's got that annoying habit of being speedy enough to not wind up in situations like these, you know?"

"I'd rather they hit him in the back of the head than me." Garrison agreed. "Scott, what's the play here, eh?"

"Getting out. We can't do any good here." He turned to Jean. "Can you sense Stryker's men? We need a safe way out."

Jean shook her head. "Sort of...getting knocked out must've messed with my telepathy. I can only tell when someone's coming not who they are..." she said.

"We have to risk it. There's a cross tunnel about two hundred feet up the hallway. Hopefully we can follow it to the surface." Scott said, his orders crisp despite the wound to his arm.

"Great," Vanessa grumbled, "we've got a 'hopefully.' Let's throw in a 'let's all pray' for good measure." It was entirely possible being soaking wet, without her gun and somewhere underground with the sounds of distant water everywhere made for a crankier metamorph than usual.

The trek toward the figurative 'light' at the end of the tunnel was harder than it normally would've been with the foot of water at their feet. It caused them to drag, as if something wanted to pull them under.

At the end of the tunnel was as advertised: another cross tunnel, but this time, it was not as quiet as they journey towards it. A trio of silhouettes darkened the end of the cross tunnel, with the figurehead commanding an outline that was easily recognizable to those who had been in his presence before.

"Spread out." Scott hissed quietly, moving to give himself the best firing angle. Kane edged towards the wall, where he could see them better. Guns made it difficult, but he was fast enough to close the distance before they could get more than a few shots off. Especially if they ignored him for a second.

Vanessa stuck to the rear of the group and as out of sight as possible, effectively one of the most useless in this fight. Her own gun had been lost, she had no long range offensive use of her mutation and as she groped around her legs and arms she found herself without any of the knives she typically carried on her. Fuck. Unless she could get close enough to trade blows - and hope to God the person she was fighting didn't have Garrison's strength, Jean-Paul's speed or any other number of nifty tricks to use against her to their unfair advantage - she wasn't going to do them a lot of good.

The silhouettes grew closer, their footsteps rhythmic in a march even in inches of water.

"Ah know you're there," a male voice said with a thick southern drawl. He became visible in the light: a larger man, mostly made of muscle, wearing military fatigues with a head of salt and pepper colored hair and a beard. He wore glasses, that did nothing to soften a menacing appearance.

"It's about time," Jean said. Turning, she lashed out with a telekinetic blast in an attempt to knock Garrison, Vanessa, and Scott all backwards to daze them.

Jean cocked her head to the side, a slow smile spreading across her lips as Stryker's men trained their guns on the three.

"And the role of Judas goes to...."

"Ever had thirty pieces of silver jammed up your ass?" the angry snarl was uncharacteristic as Kane reached up, badly bruised from the telekinetic hit. He grabbed a power coupling and ripped it out of the wall. They were all thigh high in water, Stryker included, and now Garrison had a live electrical conduit in his hands. If it hit the water, they were all dead.

"Try me, motherfucker. Back the fuck off. Now!"

Jean quirked a brow, but lifted her hands, slowly backing up to join Stryker and his men. Stryker himself tilted his head.

"You're either very brave or very stupid, mah boy. Ah'd say the latter," he said.

"Whataya gonna do? Hold that forever?"

The triple banked optic blast knocked the first soldier into the other two, and sharp ruby stabs turned their weapons into junk.

"Run." Scott said, his voice cold. "Run away now."

Stryker narrowed his eyes, looking ready to grab for his own gun when Jean put her hand on his arm.

"We've still got time," she said, her eyes flickering up to the three of them. She smiled at Garrison and Vanessa.

"I don't believe we've met. Call me Jane. I'll be seeing you later," she said, giving the two of them a wave. As she turned to leave with Stryker she blew Scott a kiss.

Why was Vanessa bound to be the one confused the entire time they were trapped in water? She glanced down at the level of it, thankful for her height despite it not seeming to make much of a difference at the moment. "Who the fuck is Jane? Jean's evil twin?"

"Jean died. Years ago. When she survived the flood, she lost her memory and Jane appeared." Scott said, looking haggard. "Jane was the result. She's caused us problems before."

"We're boxed in here Scott, and she tips the scale." Kane secured the raw ended cable high above the water line. "Ideas?"

"How well do either of you know this facility? The water level's rising and any sane person is heading out of here. If there's only one way out we follow the evil twin and her backup singers as best we can. Not preferable but it's a reasonable assumption they will be leaving one way or another. Unless they have a teleporter. Then we'd be screwed. No matter what, though. we need higher ground." Vanessa looked from one end of the hall to the other, trying to see what she was hoping for through the flickering lights. "Anyone seen a stairwell lately?"

"I remember one down this way. I think. I wasn't exactly at my best when we escaped this place the first time." Scott admitted, leading them down the hallway. Fortunately, his memory had been correct, and they finally stepped out of the water onto a stair well leading up. Water dripped from the risers, but it was only a trickle compared to the earlier torrent. The door at the top of the stairs was secured, but two precision blasts from Scott and a blow from Kane were enough to break it off of it's hinges. They stepped out into an intersection, with a series of doors leading off to various rooms. Heavy blast doors were recessed into the ceiling, ready to drop if necessary.

"We must be in the middle of the facility." Kane looked around, and reached down, scooping up a discarded assault rifle, before tossing it to Vanessa. "According to the mission report, that way is to the control room, and that way is where Stryker reconstructed Cerebro."

Catching the weapon was more reflex than thought. She listened as she checked it over to make sure it was working and assess how much ammo was in the clip. "You just walk around with mission reports stashed away in your head? Handy. Control room would likely have surveillance feeds and those would tell us how much of a hole we're in here and maybe how to get out." She slid the clip back into place, satisfied with her inspection of the weapon, and looked back up at the two men. "We vote control room, aye?"

"It was an interesting read." Garrison said, and stopped as Scott's gaze fell on him.

"Good thing you're prepared, Kane. Lead the way." he said.



After escaping from Jane and Stryker and his men, Garrison, Vanessa, and Scott come upon the real Jean trapped in Dark Cerebro.





Kane was a little surprised that Scott wasn't taking the lead, but shrugged. "Control room it is."

A thud sounded from the opposite end of the hall towards Cerebro. Not the sound of gunfire, more like something striking something. Another thud followed, then a shrill sound. Almost like a shout, high pitched, decidedly feminine. Not in pain, but definitely trying to get someone's attention.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Like someone beating on a door.

Vanessa turned toward the sound, eyebrow cocked and rifle half raised. "Gar? You recall what they use this place for? Maybe a mention of it snuck into that handy mission report you've got shoved in your brain?" She took a tentative step toward the sound. It sounded like someone hitting a wall. Or maybe throwing something at it if the wall was padded. She was hoping this wasn't going to turn into one of those crazy people horror movies. The drowning thriller was enough for one movie, thanks.

"This was the WEAPON X research facility. They made Logan here." he said, having heard his friend discuss it in detail. At least the detail he could remember.

"Stryker built a duplicate of Cerebro here. He wanted to use it in conjunction with Charles' powers to wipe out all mutants - everywhere." Scot said, his voice chilling. "Then Magneto rewired it and almost made Charles use it to kill all non-mutants everywhere. We left this place at the bottom of a lake."

"You left it at the bottom of the lake but here we are and we're not exactly swimming, are we? So either someone sucked all the water out or they built a duplicate." Vanessa really wished she could remember where she was. What the fuck was up with her memory? Sure, she whacked her head somewhere but she'd taken worse hits and remembered where she was. The continued thumping kept her from dwelling too much. Without even deciding to consciously the metamorph found herself walking in the direction of the duplicate Cerebro. Somehow it felt like the right thing to do and her instincts didn't lead her astray too often. "If it's not here to house the criminally insane then I think we should figure out what's behind that door. I'm not leaving anyone in here to drown to save my own ass." The thought of it alone made her shiver.

The door was locked, with heavy hydraulics holding it in place. The keypad that normally provided access was dark and dead. Obviously the power to the area had been cut at some point. Garrison looked and winced.

"Big door. Scott?"

"Yeah. Stand back." They pulled back as an optic blast slammed into the first hydralic piston, cutting it cleaning as severing its locks. An equally perfect shot cut the second, and the door shifted slightly as the weight of the heavy barrier was now the only thing keeping it down. Garrison stepped up and bent down.

"You know, if this doesn't work, we did just trap someone behind this door for good, right?"

Scott gave him a look and he turned back to the door. "Right. Just saying. Well, bend from the knees." Kane wedged his fingers into the bottom of the door, groaned and started to lift. The entire door shuttered as he strained against it, gaining an inch, and then another, slowly pulling it up from the floor and creating a space. "Okay, this thing in insanely heavy. Some get under there and get whoever it is out. I don't know how long I can hold this up."

"Please don't drop this on me," Vanessa requested after ditching her rifle. She really hoped whoever was on the other side wasn't hostile as she scurried beneath the door. A mental note to thank God and possibly kiss Garrison if she survived this was made before all thought was wiped from her mind. Her face had barely gotten past the thick metal when she spotted someone unmistakably familiar. Didn't Jean's other personality just try to kill us? On the other hand, maybe Garrison could knock her unconscious and they could drag her out so Xavier could undo the mind whammy on her.

The decision was made in a split second and Vanessa reached out a hand. "Get your ass down here before I get a door dropped on me."

The room was dark, save for a single red emergency light that flickered on and off. What light there was barely had enough reach to show the true massive scope of the room.

Jean knew it was a risky move to make a noise to draw attention, considering she didn't know who was on the other side, but since her powers didn't seem to work in the room, she had to take that chance. Her first thought when waking, and finding no real ground save for a small strip of about four feet wide, was that she was in Cerebro. The design of the walls, however, guided by the weak light in the darkness, told her otherwise. It was a thought she chose not to fully entertain quite yet, considering what the implication of what room that might've been.

She backed up when something started cutting through the door. It was only a vague sense of familiarity coming from behind the door that kept her from attacking, barely even a mental picture. The sound of Vanessa's (perturbed) voice, gave some sense of relief, but only somewhat. She quickly took the other woman's hand and crawled out from under the door, grimacing as her leg scraped across the ground while crossing the threshold. She had a limp, though could not recall how she had gotten it.

Water seeping through the open door made her anxious, and the two people on the other side of the door were a surprise, but it was the sight of the hallway beyond that stole her breath.

"Vanessa? Garrison? Scott? What's going on?" she said. She couldn't help but swallow, bringing out a hand to steady herself against the door when her weak leg threatened to buckle.

"Jean!" Scott rushed over to her, grabbing her by the upper arms. He was interrupted by a strained gurgle from Kane.

"Could everyone- please. Back. Away- from the door..." they got clear and Kane kicked himself back, letting go as he did so. The door slammed down with a thunderous crash, as Garrison reeled back on his heels and ended up sitting down hard, chest heaving.

Vanessa's gaze flickered between Garrison and the couple. She wasn't entirely sure if Jean had been de-eviled or not so she grabbed her rifle and kept one eye on her. She took note of the leg the redhead was favoring and filed that away. If she tried to kill them again shooting her in the good leg would probably stop her quickly enough and it was worth a try before having to put her down more finally.

Moving to Garrison's side, Vanessa crouched down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. The quick quirk of eyebrow was all the question she thought she needed to ask if he was okay. While she did that, though, she answered Jean. "We're not entirely sure what's going on. We've all gotten smacked around and half drowned so far. The evil version of you tried to attack us with some bloke named Stryker and his minions. Oh and we're probably all going to drown in here if we don't get the fuck out. That about cover it for everyone?"

The look on Jean's face was as almost as if she'd been sucker punched. She tried to keep an even weight on her good leg and not rely too much on Scott for balance.

Deathstrike had come back from the dead, she had, why not Stryker? She felt rueful sense of amusement at the thought, mainly to help combat a growing dread.

"An evil version of me? How long ago? I've Cerebro for at least almost an hour. Maybe more. I can't remember," she said, shaking her head.

"Garrison, are you injured?" she added, but made no move to go forward. She was fully aware of the rifle.

"I got tagged on the back of the head by someone coming in. Bleeding's stopped." He said, obviously out of breath. "Just give me a couple of minutes to regain feeling in my arms and back, will you? That was one fucking heavy door, eh."

"Are you nauseated? Do you feel dizzy? Did you lose consciousness even briefly?" Jean said. It was hard not to go into doctor mode. In fact, she welcomed it. It gave her a purpose, something to focus on other than fear of shadows.

Tilting her head, Jean thought about it a moment. "It could be a shapeshifter or an illusionist in Stryker's employ. He's obviously not averse to using mutants for his own ends. Scott, how did you get here? He could've taken all of us. But why here? "

"I think that's less important than getting out of here right now." Scott said, checking her to make sure she was fine. "How fast can you move on that leg? Because I want to get clear first, and then start looking for answers for all of this."

Jean glanced down at her leg, testing it a little. It hurt, a lot, but nothing that could keep her from walking. She could hobble if she had to. "I can manage," she said. A small plan was better than no plan. Because right now it felt like they had been flying blind.

Vanessa approved of Jean's Doctor Lady schtick, though she didn't discount that it could be faked easily enough. Unfortunately the metamorph didn't have enough medical knowledge to be able to ask questions that could verify whether or not it was an act. All she could do was watch the woman and make her best judgment on what she saw. Patience wasn't one of the virtues Vanessa possessed so she kept her attention split so she could focus on something she could deal with.

"Not that I don't find the threat of inhaling copious amounts of water a strong motivating factor, but we shouldn't overlook a really glaring point. If anyone wants answers about what is going on here then we might not get them once we're clear. I'm fine with a lack of answers if it means I keep on breathing, but..." Vanessa shrugged. "You aren't likely going to find any answers once we leave. They're probably all in here."



Garrison, Vanessa, and Scott discover a secret about Jean.



Jean's instincts immediately protested against this idea. They wanted to leave, as quickly as possible, to hell with answers. But the side that wanted to prevent future problems should Stryker return to wreak havoc yet again spoke quietly in favor of Vanessa's idea, despite those blaring instincts.

"Perhaps," she said, though a look of uncertainty still showed in her eyes.

"Look, this is a huge complex. We could be wandering around here for hours and not look at everything. Jean's hurt and-" Scott started, but Kane uncharacteristically cut him off.

"Vanessa's right. I've been beat up, shot at, half drowned and bounced off the concrete like a pinball, and I still don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing here in the first place." He pulled himself to his feet. "The control room is nearby. That should at least have some records and a map of the whole place. If we're going to figure this out, it has to start there."

Scott opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped and changed his mind. "I don't like it, but maybe you're right. We'll go to the control room. But if it's a dead-end, we're getting out of here immediately after." He said, framing it as an order. Kane just nodded and they started back down towards the control room.

Letting out a breath, Jean nodded. "Okay," she said. She still wanted to leave, still. But at least the control room might possibly have a way out if there was a map. If the water levels got too high they could at least find the exit.

"Lead the way." In the back of her mind she wished they could find some detonation charges and demolish the entire thing.

Vanessa refrained from pointing out the obvious. If the control room didn't have answers there would be no guaranteed way out for their determined leader to take. You couldn't get out of somewhere immediately if you didn't know the exit route. For now she simply checked her rifle over and positioned herself at the rear of the group as they started to move. No one was following them that she could see, at least. But what was with the random, drenched teddy bear? What sort of idiot brought their kids to work with them down here?

The bear held Jean's gaze, so much so that it caused her to almost freeze in place at the sight of it. Scott's current momentum, coupled with her abrupt slowing caused her to stumble for a moment. Her muscles felt stiff, and her stomach churned like the water below their feet.

They trudged through the wet concrete halls, cautiously approaching any intersections, straining to separate the sounds of their sloshing and the echoes to listen for anyone else moving. Finally, they reached the double doors with 'Main Control' stenciled on the wall beside them. Garrison waved Scott and Vanessa to cover him as he stood to one side and slowly eased open the door. The Canadian scanned the area as it came in to view for a trap, finally opening the door fully and stepping through. "Uh, I think we made a wrong turn." Kane said.

Instead of a control room, he was standing in what looked like a flooded nursery. The walls were covered in water logged and stained wallpaper that had ducks and bunnies on them, and the empty bassinet had a faded pink bow tied at the one end. Soft toys and childrens books were floating in the ankle high water; a discarded Raggety-Ann bouncing off his boots and swirling away in the slight current as he stood there.

Jean gasped, a soft sound made even louder by the near emptiness of the room. Her hands started to shake, barely hidden by her hold on Scott. Her limbs felt weak, as if suddenly weighed down by the water in the lake above them. The turning feeling in her stomach intensified into a shooting pain that made her clench her abdomen as her eyes started to water.

She shook her head.

"No..." she breathed, then covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a strangled, mewling cry, unable to move or turn away.

What doubts still remained as to the true identity of the redhead with them were dwarfed by the almost horrified reaction she had to the room. Vanessa finally peered through the doorway from her post just outside it and her brow furrowed. What was so traumatizing about a flooded nursery? "Gar, are there any kids in here?" Jean was a doctor and a teacher. If there were bloated, dead infants floating around it would explain her reaction.

"There's no one in here. Just a- well, kid's bedroom where the command room is supposed to be."

"This makes no sense." Scott said, coming over to Jean. "What is it, Jean? Are you picking something up from the room?"

Jean continued to shake her head, not even aware she was doing it. She reached out a hand to steady herself upon backing up and upon realizing she was touching the wallpaper, flinched and yanked her hand away as if she'd been bitten.

She felt almost felt rooted to the spot, staring down at the doll as it floated by her through eyes blurred by tears. "No. This isn't....Please..." she whispered. "I want to leave. Can we leave?"

"Not unless you know the way out," Vanessa replied a fair bit more gently than she would have to one of the guys. "Why are you freaking out? This doesn't make sense. Who puts a fucking nursery in the middle of some shady ass what the fuck this is?"

"You picked out that wallpaper." Scott said, frozen to the spot. "During that weekend in Portland. We walked by that baby store and you pointed to this exact wallpaper and said if we have children, that's what you were going to put in their room. Because it was the same as you used to have when you were a baby."

Jean didn't respond, silently staring at the room despondently. She couldn't even bring herself to wipe the tears that had started to roll down her cheeks because she didn't have the strength. She clutched her stomach tightly, as if letting go would end the world.

"Hell." Garrison said, looking closer around the room. His head injury hadn't showed up until he thought that a blow to the head was the only explanation for way he couldn't remember. It was almost right out of his psych classes. "This isn't Alkali Lake. Jane. Stryker. This is Jean's memory of Alkali Lake. Everything here is being pulled from her memories including this." He suddenly stopped and paled. "Oh Doc. I'm so sorry."

Despite it all....what Garrison said made sense to Jean. Unless it was by a small miracle it would've been impossible for Alkali Lake to not be completely obliterated. For Stryker to be alive. For Jane. For this. But why? How? How was this happening?

She looked down at herself, dressed in black, a uniform that once brought with it Hope, and also took her away. Still, she said nothing. Because if she spoke, if she acknowledged it, it would make it real.

Vanessa started adding things up mentally. She didn't remember coming here. She knew it was for a case but that was it. She had no bump on her head or even an ache to suggest she'd whacked it against something. Considering this was either a military or paramilitary type facility Vanessa was dressed all wrong for it. She was dressed how she typically dressed from day to day. The way Jean always saw her. The metamorph frowned at that. She took in the implication of the flooded nursery along with Kane's assertion this was from Jean's memories.

Jean looked like she was going to fall apart. Vanessa slung an arm around her friend and took in the place around them. "Here's a question, then. Are we in a real place with some sort of telepathically induced hallucination or some sort of holographic projection to make it look like her memories or is it all in our heads?" She damn near asked someone to pinch her but if someone was in their heads couldn't they fake the sensation of the pinch anyway?

"Either way they'd have to have my memories to know what to project with this much accurate detail," Jean said, quiet at first, but with growing resonance as she tried to focus on the task at hand rather than what was in front of her.

"I don't know how its being done."

It would've been easier to determine if her telepathy wasn't working (again), and it was very hard to remember what she was doing before she found herself there. But if she had to guess, it was probably another telepath...still, she would've felt them trying to get into her mind. So how did they do it?

"Jean, is this true. Did-" Scott started, the pain of realization obvious in his voice. "Did-"

Jean's eyes fluttered closed, the despair in his voice piercing her like an arrow. Vanessa's arm around her did nothing to quell the sadness in her heart, and the new pain that she felt at him finding out this way. She had hoped to tell him, eventually. She just never knew when.

"I was pregnant," she said faintly in confirmation. "And now...I'm not."

"Jesus Christ, Scott. Is this really the most important thing to discuss now? Someone's fucking with your wife's head and dragged us all into it and you want to sit around and have a fucking chat about the baby she lost? Really? Points for lack of tact. Can you talk about it once the two of you are safe and not, you know, trapped in an illusion or a memory or a dream or whatever this is?" To say Vanessa's patience for the situation had run out wasn't precisely accurate. Her usual protective streak where her friends were concerned had kicked into overdrive with the way Jean was dealing - or not dealing, as the case may be - with the situation.

"Why don't you shut your fucking mouth, Vanessa. I'm not interested in what some whore thinks is important or not involving my wife." Scott shot back, his eye flaring dangerously red.

"Guys, back it off. This isn't helping anything." Kane said, trying to defuse things before they got worse. Between Scott's angry shock and Vanessa's knee-jerk defense of Jean, all of the elements for a blow up at the worst time was happening.

"In fact, I don't know that you're not involved in this. Some whore turned merc bitch that played on Charles' generosity to get inside, and after you get close, suddenly we're trapped here. With someone who knows all about our secrets." He stepped forward, his good eye now glowing, increasing in intensity. He glowered for a second, and turned away, walking to the door. "Jean, we're getting out of here. You guys can do what you want but we're-" He suddenly stopped, his voice cut off as he stood halfway past the door frame.

A glint of steel played in the light as a hand, holding something, suddenly wrapped around Scott's neck, drawing a blade cleanly against the skin in a quick motion. Flesh separated. A burst of red exploded against the wallpaper, and a figure, her hair the same color stepped out from behind Scott. She cocked her head to the side as the man hit his knees, aimlessly clutching his throat.

"Bitch bitch bitch, moan moan moan...I thought he'd never shut up," Jane said. She looked up at Jean and gave her a wave.

"SCOTT!" Jean shrieked, thoughtlessly darting towards Scott.

A few men stepped out from behind Jane and trained their guns at the group. She gave them a nod and they started to fire.

Vanessa jumped forward, shoulder blocking Jean to one side as bullets stitched a line in the floor where she'd been moving. Kane reached back, grabbing the first thing at hand, and nailed one of the soldiers with the heavy bassinet. The throw gave Vanessa enough time to pull Jean into cover with her, trying to push through the shock before the redhead got herself killed trying to reach Scott. They turned their fire on the Canadian, but Kane was already moving, racing towards the corner and outside of their safe scope of fire. If they wanted to kill them, they'd have to come into the room, and Garrison had an idea about that. The walls in the room were wallpaper covered, like those of a normal room. If they were trapped inside someone's mindscape, the physical rules would be as mutable as the environment. Jane and her soldiers had cover against three feet of concrete on her side of the hallway. But on this side, it was nothing more than typical drywall.

He hesitated for a moment, trying to choose the right spot. "Vanessa, I need some covering fire!" The mercenary rolled once to her right, and leveled the rifle at the soldier's position. The two short bursts she spat didn't hit anyone, but it forced them further back, against the walls and unable to storm the room. Which was exactly what Kane was hoping for. He reached back, and slammed his fist through the wall. The drywall exploded under his great strength, punching cleanly through to the hallway beyond, the concrete offering almost no resistance. With his preternatural speed, he grabbed Jane by the arm, and yanked her back through the hole he'd made, suddenly acquiring a hostage. His hand settled around her throat, the pulse of strength obvious.

"Tell your men to drop their guns and back off now. And don't think about playing with my head, lady. All I need is a split second as you hit my shields to twitch my fingers, and I'll snap your damn head off." He hissed in her ear.

"How do you know I'm not her?" Jane whispered, lifting her chin. "How do you know she's not just a broken doll and doesn't realize it? That losing her kid made her snap...so she pulled you all in here, set me free, and killed her husband?"

Jane grinned, pure madness in her eyes. "Have you ever been in someone's mind before, Garrison? Do you know what happens when they die, and someone else is in there too? We could find out. You want to take that risk? Be my guest."

"Save it for the rubes, lady. You think you're the first whackjob I've run across who thinks they can out-clever the cops because they're so much smarter?" Garrison said, unmoved. It wasn't that he didn't have doubts, but he was sure that Jean was Jean, and despite the discovery of the miscarriage, such a thing wasn't enough to drive her mad. "So shut up. Unless you'd rather have Vanessa get creative with you. I'm sure she can make this side of not dying the hard option for you."

Vanessa had taken up cover out of view of those in the hall so Jane couldn't see the cruel sneer of a smile that curled onto her face as she slipped character but her tone did wonders to convey it for her. She reached down instinctively and drew a knife out of its sheath on her leg, forgetting for a moment that she had checked before and it hadn't been there. "Jane? How do you feel about drowning? I could have a lot of fun with you and since I think my telepath can keep you in check I'm not too worried about your mind games or TK. Drowning might be all that saves you." She paused for a moment, licking her lips. "You'd be terribly pretty without your skin. And then no one would wonder which one you were."

Her expression lingered on her face for a moment. Then it was gone and Vanessa was the observant, alert mercenary she had been only moments before. The shift wasn't unlike her dropping a mimic and it was the exact sort of persona shift she pulled when she did that. One person to another in less time than it takes to blink. In this case a sadistic torturer wasn't a hard role to slip in and out of. After all, Jane was probably tied in one way or another to whoever had trapped them in Jean's memories. That made her the bad guy and the bad guy was playing havoc with her friend. A bit of skinning was nothing for that sort of person.

Jane cocked her head to the side, or at least, as much as she could muster given the man's hold on her throat. She stared between the two of them, then gave a laugh.

"Look at you. The manly man, the vengeful whore...You have no idea who you're dealing with," Jane said, though her voice was suddenly a foot away, standing behind the men and no longer in Garrison's grasp. The click of guns were heard as the men trained them on the three of them like a firing squad.


Jean discovers who's been manipulating her dreams.



"No," Jean said quietly. She stood up from Scott's body, her attention focusing on Jane as she stepped in front of Garrison and Vanessa. She no longer held fear but instead a burning anger that literally bled from behind her eyes. "But I'd like to. Scott's alive. I still feel our link. This isn't him. Who are you?" Jean said. The air around her seemed to shimmer, and the water started to boil at her feet. Bright specks of light, almost like fireflies, flickered around her.

One of the soldiers raised his gun higher towards Vanessa's head and Jean's gaze snapped to him. He suddenly disintegrated into ashes. The other men followed suit in a swirl of cinders, leaving only Jane.

"Stop hiding and show yourself. Now," Jean said, the word carrying dangerous and disturbing resonance.

With a herky, jerky motion, Scott's corpse began to twitch and then stand up from the prone position. Blood cascaded down the front of the uniform, flowing freely from his ruined throat, and his bloodless face slowly shifted from the death mask grimace into a satisfied smile. Once he was fully standing, he gave her a ridiculous half-bow, the body still awkward in its movements.

"Did you know that he still dreams about that Braddock woman when he's excited? Poor Jean; getting older, just the same cautious, solid, boring person as in the beginning. Do you want to know what they got up to? I know you wonder sometimes." The grimace was even more grisly with his sneering, unctous tones. "Just like he knows that you wish you'd met Logan first. Someone who could actually make you climax, instead of having to fake it in body and over your link. Tsk tsk, Jeannie. All those fantasies, all that mental betrayals, and now you can't even give him the family that he yearns for and you pretend to want. It's.... delicious in its tragedy, don't you think?"

"Who the fuck are you supposed to be, eh?"

"Oh god, and we had to bring the cop and the merc into your mind. What's the connection, Grey? Do you want to admit that your taste for younger men hasn't entirely left you? Or that the idea of a wet, blue, dirty whore under your lips is a secret you keep shoved in the far back of your mind?" Scott disappeared, only to reappear behind her, his lips an inch from her ear. "I've seen them all, you know. All of those evil little thoughts you blamed on Jane but secretly knew was you all along."

"Oh, dead Scott's a bastard, big surprise," Vanessa murmured dryly. She fired at Jane. The fact that she may simply rise from the ashes like the Scott corpse currently droning on wasn't lost on the mercenary. But it made her feel better anyway. Marksmanship wasn't even that important this close, but Jane still took the bullet to her face, her cheek becoming a ruined mess of shattered bone and pulp. Yes, that was quite satisfying. She turned to the corpse. "Could you get to a point? Kane's enticing and I make women wet. We got it. Nothing anyone didn't know. Got anything better?"

"Of course. You see, this is all about Jean today. And when you die, the system shock will kill your physical bodies currently trapped in a coma in the real world. Isn't that nice, Jean? Not only do you have to admit all those thoughts, but as a direct result of them, you get to watch the subjects of them die in your own mind. Echoes of them will live in your mind forever; just ghosts in the corners of your thoughts, so close you'd think that you didn't kill them after all." He grinned.

Kane put up a hand towards Vanessa. "Back off, Vanessa. He's serious." The Canadian had suddenly gone deadly serious, considering his options and the situation. If they were trapped in Jean's mind, what the creature was saying was true; the shock feedback from their simulated deaths could kill them for real. That's why they were here; hostages. "Who are you, really?"

The figure blurred; shifted, and suddenly a tall, gaunt man with dark hair sketched a half bow to them both. "Jean remembers me, don't you?"

Jean straightened, and the sight of the man caused a eruption of flames to instinctively flare out around her. His words stung, but they were just words, warped ideas sprinkled with half truths and dark thoughts meant to sting even worse with ears for them to fall upon.

"Parker Matthews," she said. Mesmero. To say she was surprised was an understatement. The last time she'd seen him she'd turned him into a zucchini for what he'd done to her. She hadn't thought much about him beyond the memory of it, not to mention thought him capable of any sort of higher telepathic function beyond his hypnotic powers. This, this was well beyond that.

"How are you doing this?"

In that moment she became aware of the full radiating web of minds that they were connected to...not him...they, but it was like seeing it from behind glass, able to watch but not reach them or change anything.

Screaming in the back of her mind and a barrage of memories made her flinch and she put her hand to her temple, immediately clenching her eyes shut. Her eyes were wide when she opened them before her face twisted into rage. "Amelia....Sophie Cuckoo....you killed them."

"Technically, you killed them. I wasn't your enemy until you tried to rip my mind away. But after that, I'm afraid that you deserved my special attention. Those bitches aren't the last of the bodies we're going to see today." Both Kane and Vanessa suddenly froze as their clothes suddenly transmuted into steel, locking them both in place. "I own your mind now, Grey. Your nightmares. I'm going to crush the two of them slowly, to make sure you get to enjoy every last scream I can wring out of them. And then I'm going to do to you what you wanted to do to me; take your mind away. I might leave Jane behind. Just as a little surprise for your husband."

Well, fuck, was all Vanessa thought. She was surprisingly calm considering the situation. What did she have to work with? It was a dream or some sort of mental landscape. Things should be mutable but the creepy looking guy also seemed to be in control. Willing the steel to bend didn't do anything. What else did she have? Her mutation. Big help that was, right? Well...maybe. It was a dream. What did he know of her capabilities? Vanessa began concentrating much in the way she had when she had been playing with Jake's powers. Her bone structure started to shift, something the creepy guy wouldn't be able to see under the steel. Fuck being crushed, she was going to shrink herself into being someone thinner and lankier and smaller.

Jean's eyes never left Matthews', though she was well aware of what was happening. The fire was spreading, and a darkness had come over her that was almost frightening to behold. He had killed two people and threatened the people she cared about. This he would come to regret.

" No, you incessant little worm , " Jean said.

Garrison and Vanessa's steel clothing trap turned into a thin layer of hardened clay, and easily started to crumble as Vanessa turned smaller and relieved the pressure and whenever Garrison moved, revealing their regular clothing once more underneath.

Meanwhile, Jean sent a telekinetic blast toward the Matthews that slammed him against the wall of the flooded nursery, causing it to crack. She lifted herself up off the ground, her feet skimming the water. Her hair seemed to be almost part of the flames.

"The only other person who is going to be dead today is you ."

"Really? I hate to break it to you, but your claws have been pulled, kitten." Matthews smiled, and reached out with one hand. Suddenly, the air around Jean was filling with rushing water; an impossible sphere of churning flood waters that choked her, forcing into her mouth and nose, drowning her.

"Shit-" Kane burst forwards, counting on his speed to lay a blow on the man, but before he could close the distance, a piece of rebar from the ruined wall lanced out, and impaled him through the gut. The impact spun him round and he slammed to the ground, clutching the wound as blood welled around his hands.

Garrison going down stunned Vanessa at first. It stunned her for too long likely, but less than a minute later the one knife she had was thrown at Matthews. Under normal circumstances it would have hit home and buried itself in his throat but she wasn't counting on this being normal circumstances so she dove for the door hoping to find a discarded rifle she could use to her advantage.

With barely a glance, Vanessa's knife turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated in the air. "Haven't you figured this out? I control Jean's mind now. The reality is mine to command." As her hands closed around the rifle, it shifted under her grip. Instead, she found herself holding a six foot long snake, in brilliant iridescent green, twisting around to strike at her face and throat.

Jean would've screamed had the water not stolen her breath. It consumed her, much as it had before, with a weight to it that was surprisingly crushing. She twisted and turned in the water, fighting the tide until it became more of a necessity to breathe than anything, but she couldn't. What strength she had left her as water replaced oxygen.

The result had the world flickering precariously around them as she collided unceremoniously with the ground, creating a large splash that sent water flying everywhere.

The snake kept trying to strike Vanessa. It had connected with her neck and shoulder and sank fangs into her cheek just below her eye. Every puncture throbbed from the venom's effect. She was on the ground, struggling to control the damned serpent while also trying to keep it away from anyone else. What kind of snake is it, Vanessa? Think. You've spent enough time in jungles and in pet shops to know this. Is it venomous? For all her struggle to control the thing Vanessa wasn't precisely panicking. All she needed was a good grasp on the thing behind it's head so she could control it better. After all, she'd loved snakes as a kid. She was familiar with them and she even liked them. The only problem was the bastard in charge had probably made it venomous whether or not it was which meant if she couldn't get a decent hold of it she'd be dead.

Another strike sank fangs into her shoulder and Vanessa finally got the grip she needed. It didn't last when she saw Jean on the ground in a puddle and lifeless. The snake got her again, this time on the side of her abdomen.

"One has the poison seeping in, and the other has his blood seeping out. There's a lovely contrast there, don't you think?" Matthews walked over and grabbed Jean by the hair, wrenching her up. His first blow caught her flat across the cheek, and the second left him with a bloody hank of hair ripped from her skull as she sank back to the floor. "They're dead, Jean. You're dead. Just accept it. If you're good and convince me, I might even make this quick and painless. Otherwise," A boot connected with her ribs solidly, lifting her up for a moment from the blow. "I'm going to go through every nightmare you've got hidden away and make you live them all."


Pain. It was a great motivator. Pain from herself, pain from others. Jean's telepathy was fine tuned to recognizing it in others, in what relation the mind had to the body. It helped her a lot as a doctor, and it helped her now...to know.

Water dribbled from her mouth as she coughed it up when he kicked her, sending an explosion of it radiating through her that made her eyes open just after the hit the ground again. She saw the world on its side, her head bobbing in the water. She saw Vanessa and Garrison on the ground covered in varying shades of red.

He was right. They were dying. Their minds and bodies would be shutting down soon. Unless.

Jean's hand sunk to the bottom of the murky water to find the bottom to use as an anchor to at least pull herself up to sit up. She slowly looked toward Garrison and Vanessa as a tendril of blood from her torn scalp dripped down her forehead and ran down her cheek, which had already started to swell up.

Her eyes held a mixture of apology and determination as the two of them started to feel a strong sense of pulling and a lessening of pain before a pop resounded and they disappeared from the dream.