<<< Down on the Farm, Cessily

[Exodus]

Time: May 2, Midnight
Location: "The Farm," A Network observation and interrogation facility


Exodus landed outside of a small house which was located out in the more isolated part of Sanctuary. It was of a new design, like every other building within Sanctuary, but this one was set up to look like the other farming houses that were scattered throughout the land. This rural community was the main support of Sanctuary's food industry, supplying it's own livestock, grains, vegetables, fruit and other supplies that a population needed to survive. Much of it was mutant supported, meaning that crops turned over at much quicker rates, but some of it was still done traditionally.

Taking the time to smoke a cigarette, Exodus stood outside the dimly lit home, looking up to the simulated night sky and enjoying the calm breeze that came in from the south. He stood there for several minutes and when he was finally finished, he dropped the cigarette to the ground and snubbed it out with his toe. Turning, he walked up onto the porch and to the front door, knocking only one time before footsteps could be heard inside.

Lara, one of his team members, opened the door. She was dressed in pajama pants and a tank top, looking the part of an average farming girl living in the home. Allowing him to enter, she shut the door behind him and then turned around to face Exodus.

"How are they holding up?" Exodus asked, tilting his head to look down the hallway of the home. It was dark, but a television set flickered from within the room at the end of the hall, indicating that someone was in there watching it. Possibly Lara had been in there.

"They are still alive, if that is what you mean. I feel a bit sorry for the younger one," Lara said, walking past Exodus and leading him down the hallway. "Cessily, I think. She doesn't seem to be taking the cold very well."

"I do not care. She had her chance," Exodus replied, stopping at a hallway closet door and opening it. He reached in, pushing the clothing that was hanging there to the side, and then ducked his head in order to step into a hidden room.

"I know, Exodus... I was just saying that maybe we should at least drain the water from her cell... that amount of cold for that long... she is probably going to need medical attention soon," Lara said with hesitation, stepping in behind him and closing the doors behind her. Inside the hidden room, the walls were smooth and metallic with no windows or any other exits. The only other doors appeared to be an elevator, which had a keypad next to them. Lara walked over and entered a code, causing the elevator doors to slide open.

"She will be fine," Exodus answered her, stepping inside the elevator and turning around to smile at her. "I promise you that she will live."


Moments later...


The doors to the elevator opened at an undetermined depth beneath the surface, exposing a long hallway. Again, these walls were made of a metal substance, and besides several ventilation shafts, there was no type of exit beyond the elevator door. Exodus walked down the long hallway, his dress shoes clinking along the metal floor, and after a short walk he arrived in a ten by ten room. The only thing within the room was a desk, and Stranger sat behind it half asleep.

"Are things well, Stranger?" Exodus asked, waking his friend.

Stranger sat up suddenly and then looked to Exodus. Remaining silent, he only nodded before visibly relaxing once identifying the intruder. He then raised a hand, pointing towards a doorway that led towards the "interrogation cells," which were politically correct ways of saying torture chambers.

Exodus nodded in reply and then walked through the door, stepping into a long hallway that had glass walls on either side. Behind each glass wall sat another prisoner, each one being driven mad in one way or another. One of the creepiest parts of being stuck in these cells was that the prisoners were capable of seeing the prisoner across from them. There was no privacy. After a while, a person's pride would fade away, along with other things. Many of the people here had long given in, but because of their crimes, remained here until Exodus felt the urge to dispose of them properly. Just another hidden gem that tourists never saw while touring around Sanctuary.

"EXODUS! HEY! I haaaaave a surrrprrriiiiiise for youuuuuu!" a prisoner called out as Exodus passed, causing the telekinetic mutant to stop and look his way. The prisoner looked both surprised and overjoyed that someone actually acknowledged him, and then he ran across his cell and began beating his head against the wall. He smacked it against the cold metal surface until blood began pouring, and then turned around and ran back to the window, pressing his face against the glass and smearing the blood all over. "SEE?! SEE YOU STUPID FUCK?!!" the prisoner screamed, then turned around suddenly as he heard something behind him. "No... No! Oh god not her!"

Exodus continued walking down the hallways, and most of the other prisoners remained silent as the first prisoner cried out in pain, his cries echoing throughout the prison. It didn't take long until silence filled the area, indicating that something had happened to the bloody man. Finally, Exodus arrived at the set of cells that Cessily was contained within. Instead of focusing on her, he looked across the hallway to the cell adjacent to her's, wondering who they had put her across from.

"Ah yes. Mark Matthews," Exodus said, looking toward Cessily's cell. She had been in there for only a day, so he doubted that they had gotten very acquainted. Mark wasn't the talkative sort. In short, he had been on a Brotherhood cell in Germany and attempted to abandon his team during a mission. Also, Stranger had driven him insane at least two months ago. At this point in his life, Mark did little more than write on his cell walls in whatever substance he could acquire, and stare lifelessly at anyone who passed by. The past day, since Mark had noticed the presence of Cessily across from him, he has stared across at her while somehow misplacing his clothing.

Cessily on the other hand, had been in the "welcoming tank," which basically consisted of having her cell filled with about four feet of fresh water. There was nothing else within the cell with her outside of a toilet and a bed, but both of those were submerged beneath the murky water's surface. She had not been given food or drank, or any other type of clothing to help keep her warm. While the water was not freezing, it was still cooler than body temperature, which would slowly lower her core temperature while also depriving her of sleep and other certain necessities. If she was thirsty, then there was plenty of water provided, however.

"How have you been holding up, dear girl?" Exodus asked, walking a few steps over to her cell. He reached up to a keypad that was on the metallic wall beside her glass wall, entering a series of numbers. The water in the cell began to drain and a door that was seamlessly built into the glass wall revealed itself. He walked to the exposed door and pushed it open, revealing that the glass wall was nearly a foot thick. "Did I not tell you that you would regret your decision?"

[Cessily Kincaid]

She’d made a judgment call in agreeing to help Emma, one that Emma had to have known she would make. The redhead may not have been close to Emma, but the woman had to have known that Cessily would never just leave her to rot. No, she wasn’t that kind of girl. She’d been given an opening to escape, when the null cuffs had been presented, the threat made by the Brotherhood – she should have taken it. A smart person would have. But she couldn’t leave Emma. Instead, she’d made the idiotic decision to try and go back for the telepath, a decision she almost regretted. Almost, because when push came to shove, Cessily would have regretted leaving the woman even more.

Nothing had prepared her for the sensation of being held it place by someone else’s powers, her form forcibly solidified despite her attempts to squeeze away from the grip. The null cuff snapping around her wrist with terrifying finality, leading to perhaps the most horrible sensation she’d ever felt. Her molecules, the ones she’d become so familiar to feeling, controlling, shifting, suddenly the feeling was gone – smooth, painless metal became pliable flesh, and internal organs that hadn’t been there in years suddenly reshaped out of the liquid inside her, firing back to life almost painfully. If it hadn’t been for the power gripping her, she’d have fallen, gasping for oxygen that her body suddenly craved. A painful first breath, like being born, faintly feeling a heartbeat, where she hadn’t had one for so long.

She was pretty sure she had passed out on the way to wherever Exodus had taken them – there were too many sensations, all at once. Coming to in a cell was not a pleasant experience, as water had come pouring in. The cold hit her feverish skin with a shock, and for a heart pounding moment, she was terrified of drowning in this small, locked room – her legs kept giving out, because muscle was nothing like steel. Had she always been this heavy, this weighted down by flesh? More than once, she slipped beneath the water, eyes open, only to remember that she needed to breath, and come bursting back out.

The nullification induced fever was frozen, even the cool water enough to send the girl’s temperature spiraling. It had been years since she’d felt such a thing as cold, seeping into her very bones. Bones? Was that why she was so heavy? Even with the water, she dragged fingers across her face, her hair, staring down at her hands; pale skin, pink nails…Fingerprints. So many years of hating what she was, thinking she was a monster, and suddenly all she wanted was to see that familiar silver skin. To be able to sink into a puddle and feel nothing.

It had taken her an hour to realize that there was glass in front of her, glass she could see out of. Enough to see someone across from her, staring at her. She shrank back, more self conscious than she’d been in years, because she wasn’t herself – this pink skinned body, this wasn’t her. Not anymore. Cold seeped into her body slowly, because she didn’t have the energy to move, not while feeling was so raw. It was wet, she could feel her fingers and toes, then the rest of her, pruning up. At one point, she stared at her fingers, shaking. A few hours, and there was an unfamiliar gnawing pain in her stomach, one that logic told her was hunger.

To her credit, she didn’t scream. She didn’t beg, or cry. She tried to drink, only to find her body rejecting it, vomiting painfully, although all that came up was the water. There was nothing Cessily wanted more than to curl up, but she was forced to stay upright, because every time she sank beneath the water level, her lungs burned. She could feel her heart beat drumming in her ears, an unfamiliar sound that seemed alien all of a sudden. The redhead refused to look out that glass window again, because she knew that whatever poor soul across from her was staring. She refused to contemplate the fact that she knew what cold did to a person – was her heart rate decreasing? Blood flow slowing, causing that awful sleepy feeling that kept dragging at her limbs? No, it wasn’t.

Screaming from outside jerked her attention up, from where she’d been drifting deeper into the water. She snorted out a few droplets, clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. Someone was shrieking, and the redhead winced, drawing her arms around herself and shutting her eyes, until a voice that was very close by spoke up. Green eyes opened to find Exodus at her little window to hell, and as he pressed something off to the side, she felt the water level go down. She tried to stand, really, but without the water holding her up, her legs simply collapsed beneath her, and she curled in on herself on the floor, shaking and sopping.

“P-p-peachy,” Her voice was hoarse, the chattering of her teeth causing her stutter, and as air hit her wet skin, she found herself shivering even harder, hair plastered around her. Her shorts and tank top clung to her, but she didn’t really notice, barely managing to move enough to look up at Exodus as he entered. A violent shiver wracked her slender form, and she was pretty sure her lips were blue when she stared up at him, lips twitching.

“N-n-never s-said I w-w-wouldn’t.” The reply was cut short as she coughed, curling up tighter as she coughed up water, retching despite the fact that there was simply nothing in her body to rid herself of. The pain in her abdomen was sharp and twisting, and the girl fought to catch her breath. Her pulse raced, and she could feel her skin goosebumping with a chill, her fingers and toes too numb to feel. She wanted to be strong, wanted to be snarky and witty and fight back…But these sensations were too new, being wet, being cold, being hungry – even the feel of the floor under her, her senses suddenly so different from what she’d gotten used to in the past years. She’d gotten so used to not feeling, not tasting, not smelling. More used to it than she’d ever wanted to admit. She was clothed, but she felt so much more naked than she’d ever felt, while running around silver, losing her clothes each time she liquefied.

[Exodus]

Exodus walked a few paces within the cell and looked down upon Cessily. Whether the girl wanted to admit it or not, he could already see her suffering from the effects of the welcoming tank. The fact that she wasn't used to senses at all probably only magnified the effect. He had to smile, however, as she told him that he was peachy. The kid had spunk. In all honesty, he liked her. It was most unfortunate that she had chosen to side with Emma Frost.

::Stranger, bring a warming blanket from medical. Also, bring a plate of what we fed the prisoners for dinner if there is anything left over,:: Exodus said telepathically, communicating with the man on the other end of the hallway.

For a long moment, Exodus simply stood there looking down at her. Thankfully, Stranger did not take long and appeared in view, holding a blanket under his arm and a plate of food in the other. Handing them to Exodus, Stranger turned and walked back down the hallway, his eyes looking upon Cessily until he was out of sight.

"Well then, let me get things started," Exodus said with a smile, setting the plate down on the floor in a place that indicated that Cessily could eat if she wished. He was not forcing it upon her. The blanket, which had been kept in a heated oven, was pretty warm and felt like it had just been taken out of the dryer. Exodus walked over to the young lady and unfolded the blanket a couple of times, draping it down over her. Hopefully the warmth it provided would give her some kind of relief. Then he took a seat on the floor beside her, uncaring if his backside got wet from the floor, and looked over to her as if she were an old friend.

"I remember when I was as young as you are now, Cessily," he started, raising his knees up and placing his elbows upon them. He then intertwined his fingers, his head turned to look at her. For whatever reason, he still had a friendly expression on his face. "I was strong in my convictions. Loyal to my friends to the death. But I was gullible, especially around those people that I trusted."

The lights outside the cell flickered off.

"For some reason I feel like Emma Frost has led you down that path," he continued, glancing towards the flickering light, but then looking back to Cessily. "I asked you if you regretted your decision, and you said that you do. But I really do not think you understand the trouble you are in. I can make things very simple for you... You ask some questions, you tell me some answers... and I will not promise your immediate release, but I will have you moved to a much more comfortable cell."

Out of nowhere, the prisoner that had been screaming came slithering down the hallway on his back, as if he was being dragged by an unseen force. The lights flickered on and off repeatedly. Then he was simply gone, between flashes and the lights remained off.

"There are things that I allow to happen here that are..." Exodus tilted his head back and forth a few times, as if considering his words. "Ehh.. Unauthorized."

The darkness outside the cell seemed to grow very thick, as if it were pressing itself against the glass. Where the open door that led into Cessily's cell was, the darkness bulged in, sending spiderweb-like tendrils into the air around them. Somewhere outside the cell, as if he was very far away, Mark Matthews began chanting loudly.

"Magneto signs off on most interrogations and the methods that I use to obtain my information... but there are times when I must do what I must do," Exodus explained, glancing around at the darkness that was spreading around them. He did not seem overly concerned, but he made a face of impatience.

In the meantime, the dark tendrils began to wrap around themselves, extending out towards Cessily. It did not bother forming itself into a full figure, but instead it simply formed a human sized head. Two dark orbs bulged outward from the "face" and looked as if they were spinning, before finally making a final rotation and opening to reveal two eyes. "My... my..." a voice said from somewhere in the darkness, which had more or less spread all around them at this point.

"Coraline!" Exodus called out. "Not yet."

The face looked towards Exodus and hissed, and in an instant the darkness retreated out of the cell and disappeared from view. Just like that, the interior of the prison looked as normal as before, except for the streaks of blood from the dragged patient, and Mark Matthews actively cutting his wrists across from them with his own teeth.

Exodus made a face and raised a hand, telekinetically smashing the man into the wall, even though he was seated next to Cessily. He smirked, almost as if it were humorous, and looked over to Cessily once more and asked, "Belle, please... do not end up like these fools. Give me coordinates for Utopia."

[Cessily Kincaid]

Fear was nothing new to Mercury. That moment when she’d felt her non-existent heart stop, as the quinjet fell from the sky after the EMP sent out by Apocalypse. The knowledge that, without some quick thinking, they were all going to die. Oh, she was pretty hard to kill, but that didn’t matter – death was death. A moment frozen in terror, knowing that she might live and crawl from the wreckage, have to hear and see her friends dying around her. The moment before she leapt into action, any action, anything to save them. Because when someone she cared about was in trouble, Cessily could never just…walk away. It simply wasn’t in her. Whether it was killing the maniacs attacking the mansion, or taking a bomb blast to save a Brotherhood member who was helping, Cessily had to help.

One of these days, she may even regret it.

He stood there, staring at her, and for a moment, she wished she had the energy to glare at him, because really, this was just awkward. After a moment, someone else appeared, and the redhead glanced up through wet strands, blinking at the sight, before dropping her head back down. The plate was spared a glance, but the very appearance of it set her stomach to cramping almost instantaneously, roiling violently at the thought of food. She had to admit, she wasn’t sure she could keep anything down. It was too new. The girl didn’t respond to him, although the sarcastic voice in her head mumbled some fake exclamation of joy, which didn’t make it past her lips.

The sudden movement, as a blanket was draped over her, caused the girl to start violently, jerking sideways with a hiss as the warm fabric touched limbs that were far too cold. Within seconds, needles were jabbing her hands and feet, the sudden return of sensation nearly as painful as having lost it. She grimaced, inching her way slowly until she was sitting up, watching him warily as he sat down. Drawing the blanket closer, and tucking it under her toes, closing her eyes for a moment at the pain. She remembered this kind of pain. The kind she got after coming in from being in the snow for too long, to sit beside a fire or jump into a hot bath. It almost felt good, in a weird way, tingly and sharp.

Beneath the blanket, her fingers and toes wriggled as they regained feeling, and slowly her shivers decreased in number, although a stray one would shake her at times. Green eyes watched him suspiciously, and although she glanced at the hallway as the lights flickered, she looked back at him quickly, shaking her head a tad.

“I’ve seen…Too many of my friends die, to abandon the ones I still have.” She murmured almost silently, her voice raspy and rougher than she’d ever heard it. The idea of a simple solution would normally have caused the girl to laugh; it came out as a cough, her breathing labored for a minute as she caught her breath. “Why is it that I don’t believe it’s that simple?” The question was rhetorical, and she managed a watery flash of a smile, drawing the blanket closer as another shiver wracked her frame. The sudden, terrifying sight of someone being dragged down the hall, the flashes of light – dear God, it was like watching the Grudge all over again – caused Cessily to jerk, teeth coming together with a snap on her own lip.

Exodus was entirely unconcerned; Cessily tasted blood, lifting a hand to touch pale fingertips to her lip momentarily. It stung, and for a moment, she stared at the sight of red on her fingers. Her blood. She had blood. It wasn’t silver, but red, and warm, and slightly coppery to taste. The thought was quickly derailed by the sight of a darkness that was seemingly seeking out her cell, inching closer. For a second, she thought she was hallucinating – didn’t people always say that, when passing out ‘blackness closes in’, or something? Maybe she was passing out. Hearing Exodus, she blinked at him, tilting her head with something akin to curiosity.

“So…You work behind Magneto’s back when it serves your purpose?” See, she knew Emma was wrong about the whole lapdog thing. Her curiosity was short lived, because she was really trying not to look around, only to turn her head and come face to face with…A face? The redhead yelped and nearly fell over in an attempt to scuttle away, an arm coming up defensively – except that it stayed pink and normal looking, instead of turning into a silver blade. Dammit. He spoke, this time to the…Darkness? And with a hiss of sound, it vanished, leaving Cessily blinking and breathing heavily, nulled wrist held up as if the bracelet were protective.

Peeking out over her arm, she visibly paled at the sight of the prisoner across from her, yanking her eyes away as her stomach tried to rebel. There was nothing to expel, but she slapped a hand over her mouth as if to stop herself from throwing up. She heard a crash, and glanced at the cell to find the man thrown aside, her gaze turning back to Exodus, hands slowly lowering from her mouth. The question caused her to tilt her head, blinking at him, her face serious.

“I thought you said you knew where it was.” She deadpanned, eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully, because he had implied that earlier. But the more important thing was, “How the hell should I know? I’ve never been there.” This, at least, was the truth, and she scowled at him slightly. “In case you’ve forgotten, while everyone who had a sense of self preservation went there, I decided to come to Sanctuary.” Her shoulders shrugged beneath the blanket, and she didn’t look away from him when she said it. She’d never been to the Savage Land, or Utopia; all she knew was it was a jungle, and you had to fly there.

[Exodus]

"You thought that I knew where it was?" Exodus repeated, raising a brow and looking away. She spoke the truth and he knew that. Of course he knew that. But that was beside the point. Interrogation was not always about finding out what a person knew. It was just as much about breaking the person down until they would tell you anything that you wanted to hear. Cessily obviously wasn't at that point yet. He knew though, being smarter than anyone would give him credit for, that breaking a girl like Cessily in half would serve him no good.

"No, I do not. If I implied that I did, then you took that the wrong way. I know of Utopia. I know of the Mutant Hunters and how they help find a place for displaced mutants, whether that be here or there. But so far, there has been very little effort in discovering either's location. For now, they serve their purpose well. As does Sanctuary," Exodus said, almost as if he was trying to hold a civil conversation.

"Don't you agree? You came here to find a place where you could live without discrimination and to fit in among people that are like you. You seemed to have made several friends that were your roommates," Exodus continued, looking over to her. "Which I assure you, they are all fine. They spent the night in jail for harboring a fugitive, but since they did not know Emma's identity, I saw to it that they were released. Does this please you?"

He shrugged.

"It should. All of you who were raised at Xavier's are the same. Do you not see that you are being brainwashed into a way of thinking? You children are under the protection of the X-men and you see them go out to defend the humans from the 'evil Brotherhood.' Is that all that you are allowed to see? I may not speak for you, but many of those children see exactly what Scott Summers wants them to see and nothing else," Exodus explained, not yet attempting to sway the girl's mind into agreement with him.

"Mutants are hated, discriminated against and killed throughout the world," Exodus continued, the strength he was able to put behind his words allowing him to dominate the conversation. "The humans see this and they elect officials that support this kind of behavior. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't elected officials chosen by the majority of the people? So then, that leads me to think that yes... there are some good humans out there... but there are more who hate us."

He laughed.

"And yet the X-men teach you otherwise. How the people are innocent and we are terrorists that attack them for no reason, other than to further our own cause. Cessily, the Brotherhood attacks to avenge our fallen mutant brothers throughout the world. We are retaliating in a war that has been going on for many years. My own wife was a victim in this war, killed because she was a mutant. So when I kill a human, I can feel no remorse, because they are the reason that she died. Many of the Brotherhood are like this," he said, looking across the hallway into Mark's cell. The man was still moving.

"You should know this better than most, with your metallic skin. If the government was not frightened of The Brotherhood, then you and those like you would probably be in a human's lab somewhere. Experimented on, so that they could further augment themselves in order to fight against us and kill us. Look at the Purifiers... no doubt they gained much of their technology from studying mutants and copying what makes us the superior species," Exodus laughed and looked back at her. "And yet, we are the ones to blame for who we are. I wish that we could all live in peace, but humanity has shown that it is not possible."

"So you came here, to Sanctuary, to live free as a mutant... while your X-men fled into hiding. Now let me pose another question to you... if humans were so grateful for what the X-men have done, why would they need to hide? Why wouldn't the humans help their saviors, as the X-men have done so many times for them?" Exodus asked, raising a brow. "Give me a good answer for that, and we shall walk out of this cell together right now."

[Cessily Kincaid]

The question he posed, repeating what she had said, was probably rhetorical; the redhead nodded anyways, because that was the impression she had been given. If she had misunderstood, she had to wonder if he had meant for her to – give the impression that he knew more than he really did. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that she had no more than a basic idea of how to get to Utopia. A part of her had known just how dangerous it could be for her in Sanctuary, and she’d refused to even ask any of her friends how to get to the jungle retreat. After all, she’d had to go through the telepathic scanners to get into Sanctuary, and despite having been told they wouldn’t pry, she wasn’t that trusting.

The mention of her roommates caused the girl to straighten a bit, eyes narrowing at him, before widening with relief. She nodded, drawing a blanket closer at his question. “Yes. Thank you.” After all, he could have come up with some reason to simply keep them imprisoned, despite the fact that they were wholly unaware of Cessily’s actions. It was definitely a bit of stress off her mind, to know that she hadn’t gotten them into worse trouble.

Classifying her as one of the brainwashed members of the X-Men’s students, she couldn’t say she wasn’t surprised by the train of thought. After all, she could see how someone might view the school in such a way. Raised to believe the best in humanity, despite so much proof to the contrary. She let him talk, wincing momentarily as he mentioned his wife, but she didn’t interrupt. For a split second, it seemed like he was giving her the opportunity to reply, to offer up a reason that could earn her freedom, but the redhead paused. Finally, she shook her head, looking square at him, despite her physical discomfort.

“Nothing I say is going to have any bearing on what you think, so I’m not going to bother trying to think up a good enough answer for that.” She scowled, not looking away from him because he had shared, and now it was her turn. Sure, she wasn’t going to get into a philosophical debate, but she also couldn’t just sit back and let him analyze everything without considering her point of view.

“Everyone is brainwashed by something, whether it’s the media insisting that video games promote violence, a biased preacher claiming mutants are monsters, or,” She narrowed her eyes at him, “A mutant leader who preaches superiority. Yeah, the X-Men work to help protect humanity from mutants that hate them, just as they help to protect mutants from humans. But it’s the bigger picture that matters – the times they helped save both races, from threats like Apocalypse.” She glanced down, staring at the floor for a moment.

“Mutants are hated, but so are humans. Discrimination isn’t just due to mutation, but skin color, religion, even the choices one makes. I know humans aren’t innocent in all this, but while I’ve been vilified for my mutation, I’ve also been thanked by the human cops for helping to save a man’s life that was endangered during an attack on mutants.” The thought of experimentation caused the girl’s nostrils to flare angrily, because she knew damn well how the Purifiers had ended up with some of their technology – Jay. But she glared at Exodus for his laughter, shaking her head sharply.

“The Purifiers were simply weak willed individuals, molded by a corrupt man and woven into his own personal vendetta. I became no better than them, the moment I killed them, except that I did so in defense of my home. Killing for vengeance merely causes more hate, more anger, and more death, in a never-ending cycle, simply because no one can step up and be the bigger man and leave well enough alone.” She was in pain, her extremities aching from the feeling that was finally returned, sore and with a headache pounding at the base of her skull, but the redhead still managed to draw herself up proudly.

“They went into hiding for the safety of anonymity. And yeah, I came here to experience life as I wish it could be in the world, with equality – but this place, Sanctuary, it’s a pipe dream. Hidden away from the rest of the world for the same reason that the X-Men fled. Safety.” Her eyes narrowed sharply, “Being an X-Man isn’t about thanks, or rewards. They do it because they can – because mutants are in the unique position of having the power to do great and wonderful things for the world, if they choose to. And they choose to, not because they have to, or because they want people to love them for it, but because it’s what’s right.”

She didn’t expect him to understand; a part of her expected him to react violently to what she was saying, but she wouldn’t take it back. She wasn’t going to lie to him. Because what she had been taught at Xavier’s wasn’t brainwashing, it was how to make a good choice in life. If Cyclops had ever ordered her to do something that she hadn’t agreed with, she would have refused – just like everyone else would. She didn’t follow blindly, doing as she was told, just because she was told to. She didn’t hate humans, despite how she had been treated. But she doubted Exodus really cared about that.

[Exodus]

Exodus was silent for a few moments after Cessily had finished her little speech. In all honesty, it wasn't something new that he had not heard before. There was nothing she said that inspired an epiphany within him, changing his mind in order to suddenly realize how right the X-men were. He had known for quite a while what the X-men did and that they served a purpose that few others were able of doing. Like Magneto, he held a respect for them. But also like Magneto, he did not agree with their teachings.

The thing he found most fascinating was that Cessily did not up and deny the fact that she had been brainwashed. Instead, she listed examples of how people could be influenced to think a certain way. He knew this to be true. However, he felt that the experiences that he had lived through were what determined his current thought process. Not the words of a teacher. Definitely not the words of Magneto. Though she did not know it, Exodus only followed Magneto because he proved that he was capable of leading and he was powerful enough to be a shepherd for so many lost sheep.

"You do not need to convince me of the X-men's way of life," Exodus replied the silent moment. "I know that they have a noble cause... One that is needed. They have helped as many if not more mutants than we have here. And to think that the Sanctuary is a place of refuge?" He smirked. "Just look at the name. Sanctuary. A place of safety for all mutant kind. It is a noble cause as well, though sometimes I believe we are too well hidden. People quickly forget the name of the Brotherhood and assume that we are content with dwelling here in our happy little home."

Again, Exodus laughed. It was a short laugh that wasn't exactly filled with joy, but simply finding a bit a humor in what he had just said. He reached over and touched her shoulder with the back of his hand, nudging her as if he was sitting next to a friend.

"Happy little home," he repeated. "Do you think that now? You must think me to be a demon, conjuring these awful sights and torturing these prisoners for little reason." Exodus shrugged and shook his head, then motioned across the cell towards Mark. The man had stopped moving now, probably due to blood loss. Most likely, he would die. "That man there abandoned our way of life. He put his fellow brothers and sisters in jeopardy by being a coward. Luckily for him, none of them died on the mission that he went AWOL for... but he could have. You know... in the human military, there is a charge for such thing. Treason. They would do the same to him, except they would probably let him rot in a cell for the rest of his life instead of granting him the mercy of ending it quickly."

"Everyone in this hidden prison is a person like that. A traitor to our cause. You... I put here because you turned your back on Sanctuary and assisted Emma Frost. So in that regard, you are a traitor to us as well. But, I will admit," Exodus looked over at her. "You are doing something that you can not help. Your years of training with the X-men has put you in the position so that you can not say no to someone in need. And can I fault you for that? Heh, yes. But I can also take some corrective measures to make you a contributing member to our society. I only do this because I have come to like you, Cessily. Otherwise, I would let your newly acquired human flesh rot in this cell with the others."

"Now, let me ask you again," Exodus said, looking into the young lady's eyes. His mind reached out and touched her own, but with the gentle care that one would not expect from a killer such as he. Exodus did not force or destroy, he only offered insight and persuasion to the girl. Then his voice came into her mind as a whisper, ::Tell me of your pains and troubles. How your mutation has caused you to lose so much. Your parents... Jill and Mark... they could not get rid of you soon enough when your mutation came forward. Cessily... the humans in the world deny even the ones they cherish the most, simply because they are mutant. Does this not make you angry?::

[Cessily Kincaid]

The silence was probably more unnerving than when he was talking so nicely to her. She narrowed her eyes at him warily, trying to figure out if maybe she had pissed him off, or if he was just staring at her in disbelief. The possibility that he might be actually considering what she had said never even occurred to her – he’d likely heard all those reasons before, so she held no secret ambitions to try and change his mind now. It was more likely that he’d be silent in shock, wondering how she’d managed to get so morally straight-edged. Although he had a point about the theory of brainwashing, she somewhat resented the term. At no point was she forced into this way of thinking. It was more like a conditioning. Kids were conditioned to know right from wrong, and so was she.

After all, her parents, before they’d kicked her to the curb, had raised her lovingly and morally. The X-Men merely expanded on that. What was right and wrong for a human was right or wrong for a mutant, it was just that when a mutant did wrong, it usually ended up in the news, due to the person’s powers. But never was she ‘brainwashed’, which had such a negative connotation. The telepaths that had been in her head had never altered her thinking; Jean would never do such a thing, and yes, she even trusted Emma not to. The redhead shrugged stiffly when he finally spoke – she hadn’t been trying to convince him, just state her thoughts on the matter.

As he spoke, she stretched out a shaky arm, tugging the tray of food closer. The bread was all she picked up, nibbling a tiny bite and grimacing as her stomach cramped painfully against it. At the same time, her eyes fluttered shut for a moment at the taste, so much stronger than the muted flavors she was used to. A metal tongue simply didn’t taste things the same way. Exodus reached towards her, and for a moment, the girl flinched as he nudged her, eying him out of the corner of her eyes. She didn’t laugh, but she did shake her head, refusing to glance over at the other cell.

“Not a demon. A mutant. Someone with a lot of power, and the will to use it to get his way, even against others. And I think a lot of the people in Sanctuary make it a point not to think about the Brotherhood’s methods.” The girl paused, looking down at the bread in her hand, and when she continued, her voice was much quieter. “I also think that, eventually, this place will not be enough for the Brotherhood, and that people are deluding themselves, thinking you, and Magneto, will be content with staying in this hidden dome forever.” Because eventually, the Brotherhood would need to expand, and she doubted it would be an addition to the city under the waves. He brought up why she was here, and the girl glared at him, green eyes flashing sharply.

“Like hell I did! I helped Emma because…Because whoever or whatever is masquerading as Magneto, they’ve obviously become unhinged. Enough to cause serious unrest, enough to endanger Sanctuary, and the entire vision it stands for, or so it seems. From what she did tell me,” Nope, no bitter note in that sentence, none at all, “Attacking other mutants over some kid, turning on his own people…Rage? Is he doing anything to find out what happened to her?” That was painful to say, but the girl managed it, glancing away from him for a moment.

“Emma wanted to help fix things.” She muttered, because when it came right down to it, Cessily knew that Emma had that goal in mind. The woman hadn’t gone about it the best way, but the purpose had been good natured. Glancing up to meet Exodus’ gaze, she tilted her head at him, jumping when his voice slipped into her mind. Her stomach clenched at what he was saying, muscles twitching in her jaw as she clenched her teeth together, refusing to speak until she hid the hole his words opened in her heart. After a moment, she exhaled, slowly.

“Of-of course it does. But humans fear what they don’t understand. Me, turning into…What I am…They couldn’t have…Anyone would have been upset, terrified.” Cessily didn’t want to lie – she wasn’t sure she’d ever forgive them, but her hate had always been for herself, not them. She was a monster, they shouldn’t love her. The injustice of it burned her, and she swallowed hard, as her stomach tried to rebel against that small bite of bread, roiling at the mere memories.

[Exodus]

Exodus suddenly stood up from where she sat beside her, almost as if he was about to quickly leave. He moved to the door of the cell and then stopped, looking out into the hallway from the direction he had originally came and pointed at something out of Cessily's line of sight. "Evadez-vous de lui!" he yelled angrily. "Maintenant!"

A hissing sound was heard from down the hallway and then it grew brighter, as if a light had been uncovered. After several more seconds, Stranger appeared, that vacant look in his eyes even more so. He looked at Exodus for a long moment, but it seemed as if he couldn't speak.

"You are welcome. Now leave," Exodus replied to some unspoken words. Stranger gave him a look that said he didn't want to go, didn't want to walk down that hallway by himself again. He then glanced at Cessily and disappeared from sight. Exodus looked back towards the young girl. "My wife has a hard time distinguishing between friend and foe," Exodus said to her, almost as if he needed to explain what had just occurred. He then looked past her, as if looking at something or someone behind her. There was no one there, however.

"Yes, I am. We were just talking about that, weren't we Cessily?" he said, looking to Cessily again. "Now where were we? Ah yes... your parents doing away with you at the first sign of your mutation. Their disgust when seeing you in your natural form. You say that it is a natural thing for them to be upset?" he asked, shrugging and walking a few steps back into the room. "I agree. It would be shocking at first. But in the same sentence, I would have to say to myself... that's my daughter."

Exodus allowed his words to be heard no only audibly, but mentally as well. They had the capability of weighing heavily on someone, even though his words may have had the effect by themselves. He did not seek to completely change who Cessily was, no. He only sought to spark a flame within her that would override her other thoughts on the matter.

"I was a bit lucky, Cessily. My father was a mutant as well. However, my mother was not. Much like yours, she did not want to have much to do with me once she learned that I took after my father," Exodus explained, standing over her. "But I thought a lot like you, at least at first. Maybe if I did something good, she would take me back. She would see that I'm still the little boy that she read stories to, who's boo-boos she kissed when I would cry, who would run to her room in the dark of the night for safety during a storm... I had these ideas in my head but sadly... she never looked at me the same way again."

Exodus took a knee in front of her and reached out, bringing his fingers up to her cheek in a gesture that would be soothing in most circumstances.

"You are such a beautiful and an unappreciated girl, Cessily," he spoke her name again, making it as personal as possible. "How many nights have you cried, missing your mother and father? No amount of counselling that they could provide at Xavier's could make up for that. Yet you stayed strong enough to fight those Purifiers, to help others when that school was destroyed. Did your parents even check on you after that? Or do they see just another mutant when they look at you now?"

[Cessily Kincaid]

Whatever she had been expecting him to do, suddenly leaping to his feet wasn’t it. The sudden movement caused the girl to jump, nearly toppling over sideways with a yelp of surprise. Used to being able to use her molecules to cling to things, she very nearly lost her grip on the tray, fumbling awkwardly with it. Setting it down for fear of dropping it, she looked up in astonishment as Exodus approached the door – for a moment, she was convinced he was leaving, until he started shouting. She had no idea what he was saying, but he did not sound very happy about it, and the redhead blinked, staring at the man that appeared, completely confused.

The explanation didn’t help, once the man had left, and Exodus turned back to her. Instead of clearing things up, the young woman drew her lips into a frown, because something was wrong with that statement. His wife…Cessily frowned harder at him. “I thought…I thought you said your wife was…Was killed…” Her voice was very quiet, and she couldn’t help but twist around to look behind her when he spoke, because she was almost positive he wasn’t talking to her. There was nothing there. Slowly turning back to face Exodus, the redhead narrowed her eyes in confusion. Either he was going out of his way to freak her out, or there was something not quite right in his head.

Once the topic of conversation was picked back up, the pale girl scowled, green eyes staring down at her hands. Pale hands, with real nails, normal skin…This was what she was supposed to be. But it felt wrong now. She wasn’t herself, not unless she was shiny and silver, able to mold her form at will, and cling to surfaces. Cessily flinched at the word disgust, drawing into herself further when he agreed – the expression of horror on her father’s face when he found her, shrieking for help, ingrained on her memory. The cold, impassive look on her mother’s face in court, refusing to look at her. Cessily couldn’t even look at Exodus as he spoke.

It was like he understood, he knew what it felt like, to try so hard to please them, only to get told how worthless she was. Being told not to come home, despite Apocalypse threatening the safety of the world. She swallowed, nostrils flaring, and when he leaned over to brush her cheek with his fingers, she flinched as if she were being hit, eyes glancing at him only to skitter away. It was like twisting a knife in an open wound, a wound she had tried to cover so hard, hiding behind that silver skin like a safety net. She could feel tears gathering in her eyes – a strange feeling, and one that was wholly unwanted, for a girl who hadn’t cried real tears in years. Her shoulders tensed, hunched, and when she spoke, it wasn’t what she wanted to say.

“I…I was legally emancipated from them. After Apocalypse was…They said…” She lifted a hand, scrubbing furiously at a cheek, where she could feel the tears sliding, rubbing until her cheek was pink. “They said I should…I should never come home.” Her breath caught in her throat, and she lifted her head to look at Exodus, eyes sharp despite the tears. “They didn’t…Didn’t object to the emancipation. Mailed my things to Xavier’s. The Purifiers…They destroyed everything.” Scrapbooks, photo albums, little bits of ash, all of it smelling like burning paper and flesh. Her throat caught again, and this time, there was anger in her tone. “They told my friends…Told them I was sick. In rehab.” She’d confronted one of her old friends while there and had been told that, as they sidled away from her and sent her pitying looks. She didn’t need their pity.

Some small part of her rebelled against saying all this, telling him things that she had kept secret for so long. Only a few teachers knew the cause of her absence back then, she hadn’t told anyone the truth. No one bothered questioning why she never heard from her parents anymore, why she never spoke about them. Even from her closest friends, she’d managed to keep the truth about what happened secret. But she couldn’t keep quiet, the truth pouring from her painfully, because Exodus could understand. He understood how much it hurt, to be betrayed by family, by people who had been trusted. People who were supposed to love you.

[Exodus]

Exodus ignored the question of his wife being dead. Honestly, he didn't know the answer to that. Coraline was as much of a plague to his mind as she was to others, though he had learned ways to keep her at bay. Still, the being within him felt powerful, and when she wanted she could push her way into the forefront until she was noticed. It was during these times that she could ride Exodus' link to another person's mind and influence what they saw. Hell, sometimes Exodus allowed that to happen. But other times... she just kind of came along on her own.

Instead of focusing on that, however, he focused on the problems that this young lady was having. She was a beautiful young mutant. One who had been rejected by the ones that loved her the most and she had been taken in and influenced by the X-men. To say anything otherwise was foolish, because they taught and believed in their cause there, just as the Brotherhood believed in their own. Why else were so many students growing up to defend the beliefs of a man they hardly knew? Most likely most of the younger ones, perhaps even Cessily herself, had never even met Xavier directly. At least here, Magneto was a present, even if he didn't seem to be himself at the moment.

"So then you were truly alone. Completely disconnected from where you came from," Exodus said, nodding at her after she described the fate of her keepsakes. They had all been destroyed when Xavier's had been. He removed his hand from her cheek and lowered it down to her shoulder, leaving it there in yet another attempt to comfort the girl.

"I understand more than you know. I would do anything for my mother and yet, just like you, mine would have nothing more to do with me. I am so sorry, Cessily... for your loss and for all that you have been put through, simply because you are different. Because you are a mutant. Those Purifiers... they hated you with all of their heart. That's why they attacked you and destroyed everything that you were. And yet, where is the public outcry for this?" Exodus asked, questioning humanity. "There is none. Because as a whole, humanity agrees that we should be outcast and exterminated. Sent out like an unloved child and forgotten about. Because if it is so easy for a man and a woman to forget about their own child because they are mutant, then why would it be hard for those who are not related to us to hate us?"

Exodus shook his head.

"It is not. They hate us because of who and what we are. But we are not afraid," he continued, looking into Cessily's eyes. "They destroy our homes and our lives and we keep standing, you and I. They take everything from us, yet we keep going, do we not? I would love to sit back and say that I have retracted into this Sanctuary and I am at peace with my life, living here in safety and security. Living in acceptance and being loved by friends. In a way, we are developing our own family here, that loves us for what we are. I am right, no?

But then I look out into the world, just as I always have and now urge you to do the same. How can we sit here and let humanity hate us and destroy us without doing anything about it? If I sit here and do nothing, then a little girl like yourself somewhere in the world could be cast away without the luck of meeting a man like Scott Summers. These things happen every day, except in many countries, these mutants are killed for what they are. Even children. Cessily," he said, again using her name and allowing it to sound out within her mind, drawing her attention to his words. "Not every human is bad. But as a majority, they are filled with hate for us. They allow people like the Purifiers to destroy us. There are other hate groups throughout the world that persecute us daily... so let me ask you... Why should I not hate them in return? Why should you not hate them for this?"

He squeezed her shoulder lightly and then said, "I would kill every human being if it means saving a single mutant girl like yourself. If you stop denying how you feel and see that you feel the same way... then I can show you a family that will never leave your side. The Brotherhood is a place for people like us, Cessily. It is a family that protects each other and strives to make this world a better place for mutants everywhere. And we will do whatever it takes to accomplish this, even if we appear evil in other people's eyes."

[Cessily Kincaid]

Had she been thinking straight, she would have focused more on the confusion she felt from his contradictions. She might have lingered to the idea the maybe he was not quite sane, and she might have noticed that he didn’t bother answering her rather hesitant question. But the emotions rising in her made that concern take a backseat, because some part of her knew that this was wrong. She shouldn’t find it so easy to talk to him, to tell him what had happened to her. Cessily wasn’t one for pity, especially when it came to herself, so keeping those painful things secret hadn’t been very hard. She wanted people to see her as strong. She didn’t want to think about what she’d lost, how devastated she’d been by the destruction of her home.

How furious she’d been, to see those bigots marching at her home with the intention of killing her friends. It still hung over her head; she’d lost her temper. There had been ways to take out the attackers without killing, but she’d let her anger get the better of her. And a part of her didn’t regret it, no matter how many nightmares she might have about ripping through a grown man’s body as a blade. She didn’t want to listen to Exodus bring up painful things. She hadn’t been alone, and she knew it. The X-Men, they had become her friends, her family, she had belonged – but when he told her how sorry he was, it was hard to remember that.

There was so much wrong with the world, so much that could cause hate, as people judged everyone. She wasn’t judged just because she was a mutant. She’d been judged as a redhead, as being Irish, there were always opinions on everything. She met Exodus’ eyes warily, uncertain. He was right, in a way. Every day, mutant children were thrown out into the streets or killed, because of what they were, and not all of them were lucky enough to have found a place like Xavier’s or Sanctuary. Was it right, for children to go through such pain, for something that should be considered a gift?

Cessily scowled a bit at him, because he was asking her a question, one that she shouldn’t be so torn about answering. She wanted to say yes, yes, he had every right to hate them, that they deserved it. But she couldn’t. No, the bigger part of herself still knew right from wrong, no matter how truthful his words rang. It wasn’t right to hate humans for what they couldn’t control – humans were judgmental. There was no way around it, but that didn’t mean Cessily had to judge them back. When she finally spoke, she hesitated, and her voice was slow, unsteady.

“That’s what the school is. Was. The X-Men. A family. My family.”

[Exodus]

"The X-men are your family? Were your family?" Exodus asked, looking around the small cell. He shook his head and looked back to her, a sad expression coming to his face. "Then where are they? You call them family, but they must not have put up a very convincing argument to keep you with them. Perhaps they simply did not care if you left? No... I think that they preferred to keep you hidden away. Your mutation would draw unwanted attention to them, because... let's face it. They are cowards."

Exodus reached down to the young lady's arm, moving his hand down from her shoulder to her wrist, where the null cuff was latched on.

"They would prefer to keep you like this. Humans. X-men. While your friends went out into the human's world to pursue their dreams, you were trapped and told to stay behind because you looked different. I wonder if your parents would have accepted you, if you would have kept this white skin instead of turning into a silver monstrosity?" Exodus asked, and while he spoke, his mind weaved it's way into Cessily's. In a way, he was showing her truths that she didn't want to face, while magnifying them into things that were greater than they probably were.

"The Brotherhood accepts everyone, because we accept the change that is the evolution of the human species," Exodus said, grasping her wrist enough to turn it over and look at the null cuff. "So while Julian may have neglected you, but we will not. We will not stop until this prejudice is over... until mutants have taken their rightful spot on the top of the pecking order. We have all been given a power to change the world around us in some way, or to adapt to the conditions around us... whatever the case may be. The Brotherhood accepts you, Cessily."

The null cuff snapped open, releasing her from the terrorizing feeling of being human and allowing her to take her natural form. Exodus rose and took a few steps back as the transformation took place and there was nothing but admiration in his eyes as he witnessed evolution perform it's task. Still, he held the girl's mind within his grasp, touching buttons here and there in order to calm her. Make him trust him. Make her see that what he spoke was the truth. This was easily done for him, since he truly believed it to be the truth.

"Mercury," Exodus finally said after the change was complete. "That is your mutant name. No longer will I refer to you with the name that your human parents gave you. Simply take my hand, and I will lead you out of this place and show you Sanctuary in a new light."

With that, Exodus extended his hand out to her to help her up to her feet.

[Cessily Kincaid]

The weight of flesh was dragging her down, so unused to the cold, the hunger, the sensation of touch on normal skin. It was fogging her mind, and the conviction she should have had at claiming the X-Men as family wasn’t there. Her fingers twitched, giving away the impact his words had on her – no, they hadn’t begged her to stay. She’d hesitated in telling most of her friends, worried about their reaction to her leaving for Sanctuary. Telling Wither had been hard, and he hadn’t reaction well to the news. She was used to being judged, but not by friends. But something she knew about the school was that no one was forced to stay. Everyone was free to leave, whenever they wanted. No one had begged her to stay. At the time, she’d assumed they were respecting her desire to make her own choices. Now? Now she had to wonder…Was Exodus right? Had they let her go because she was simply too much trouble to them? They must not have cared about her, not enough to try and convince her to stay.

Instead they ran. They hid in Utopia, hiding from the world that hated them. Even then, Cessily had pondered the seemingly cowardly move. Exodus was right; they had run away, hiding instead of asserting themselves. They were cowards. She didn’t want to hide, she hadn’t wanted to stay in the Worthington Complex, chafing at the bit to go back into the world, only to be told it would be too dangerous with her appearance. Her green eyes followed his hand as he gripped her wrist, looking back up at him, her gaze sharper than before.

Yes, yes, her parents might have accepted her, had her appearance not changed. But that didn’t matter, because they didn’t matter to her. They were obsolete, part of a past that had no bearing on the future. The X-Men had always had her wear a holowatch in public, to look the part of a human. Never once had she argued, or complained, or let them know how much it hurt, to have to hide who she was. Her stomach clenched at the mention of Julian. Her best friend, who had hared off into the world on his own, because he was so free to do so…Who had left her, trapped in the school, because they didn’t want her to be seen in public. Always being told how dangerous it would be, if she went out as herself. The tightness in her chest was an amplification of the smothering uselessness she’d had at the mansion. Unable to escape, unable to be free, locked away in the school because they had convinced her no one else would accept her.

Acceptance, from the least likely of places, a balm on her hurt soul; as the null cuff snapped off, she felt the amazing feeling of mutating, as if she were sixteen all over again, only this time, it wasn’t pain she felt. Bones, muscle, flesh, all melted, silver spreading across her body as she regained that awareness of herself. Each molecule stretched and tightened, body momentarily losing definition, before snapping back into a human shape, red hair shiny, no longer wet or matted, flowing in metal strands down her back. Silver eyes looked down, and her hands lifted, fingers molding into blades, the nails lengthening to deadly points, before flowing back to normal.

“Show me,” Was all she said, voice identical to before, and she looked up at him, one smooth metal hand lifting to take his, despite the fact that her lower body simply flowed forward until she was standing. Bare toes wriggled against the floor, the cold was nothing to her now, the water simply causing her to shine more. There was no hunger, no fatigue, and a shift of her perspective let her regain her bearings to see out of each surface of her body. There was no shame in her tall stance, she didn’t try to hide the shiny silver skin that was bared by the shorts and tank top. Mercury lifted one hand to her hair, running through the smooth strands, before letting out a low laugh. It was good to be free.