DISCLAIMER: in first part.
A Laying On Of Hands: Part Nine
by Cascade
"I could only get her out." Marcus told Logan.
Logan nodded. "It's amazing enough you got Dana out. Don't worry about it. Gumbo and Sam can take care of themselves. Now get her home. I'm staying here, to wait for the team to come. I'll call ahead and tell 'em you're coming."
As Dana neared the house, her empathy picked up on the emotions of it's occupants inside. Specifically Scott's and specifically, he was pissed.
"I'm going to go see if I can find anything on dad's side," Marc said as he pulled up to the front of the house. "Are you gonna be O. K. or do you want me to hang around for a while?"
Dana shook her head as she exited the car into the rainstorm that had appeared on the drive home. Marc glanced at her, concern in his eyes.
"D..."
She looked back at him, so many emotions were brewing in her hazel eyes he couldn't pick a particular one out. He sighed. "Take care..." he finished lamely. *What do you say to someone in this situation? Has anyone ever been in this situation?*
Dana nodded and shut the car door. She stood in the rain until she could no longer see Marc's car. She looked around herself dejectedly and made her way to the front door. She tentatively put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door slowly, stepping inside as quietly as possible.
She wasn't noticed at first. She stood on the doormat, alone and dripping. She heard Scott in the other room ranting about her behavior. She swallowed and prepared herself for the verbal assault she was going to get.
Scott stopped suddenly, probably Jean had realized she'd come back and told him. Dana heard footsteps and saw Scott come striding angrily through a doorway, followed by Jean and the rest of the X-Men. Scott paused upon seeing the condition Dana was in, but he quickly resumed his march to stand right in front of Dana.
Scott shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you Dana," he said quietly. "I thought that you had more common sense than that."
Dana stood her ground as Scott spoke. She licked her lips and tasted blood. Her lip must have split open again. She raised her hand to her lip and then brought her hand away so she could see the crimson streak of blood now on her fingertips. She brought her hand back to her face and tried to put a little pressure to stop the flow of blood. Anything to keep her mind off the fact that she was about to collapse from exhaustion and heartache.
"What did you think you were doing running off in the middle of the night with Cannonball and Gambit? I know you're upset about your father, but that does not give you the right to go tearing off and break into FoH headquarters looking for evidence! You're lucky you didn't get killed!..."
Cable narrowed his eyes as Scott lectured. Dana looked like she was holding up all right, but the waves of fatalistic emotions that radiated from her contradicted her appearance. He glanced at Jean to confirm what he felt from Dana. She was frowning. He took that as a sign he was right. He reached out to touch Cyclops on the shoulder.
"Cyclops... I think this... discussion can be continued later, after Cannonball and Gambit are out of harm's way."
Cyclops looked a little perturbed at being interrupted in the middle of his lecture, especially by his son, but he nodded in acquiescence. "You're right," he admitted. "You," he pointed to Dana, "go clean yourself up. We'll finish this when we get back. The professor is staying here if you need anything."
"I'm coming too," Dana said quietly. It was the first she'd spoken since she'd been pulled away from Sam.
"No, you're not." Cyclops folded his arms on his chest. "I think you've gotten into enough trouble already."
"I can help."
Cyclops shook his head and started to walk away with the team towards the hanger.
"I don't care if I have to ride on the wing... I'M COMING TOO!"
Cyclops turned and glared at her. "Don't you yell at me. You are in no position to be demanding things!"
Cable reached out and took Dana by the shoulders and motioned Scott on towards the hangar. She flinched a little at his contact. Her shielding was in tatters, and she couldn't protect herself from his pain.
"You're not strong enough. We're all just worried about your safety." He paused and thought. "I know you just want to help Sam, but he'd want you to stay here. Go dry off and warm up and I promise to keep you updated, and if we need you we'll come get you."
Dana nodded. Now that she didn't have anything to focus anger on she was having difficulty holding herself together. A few silent tears escaped her eyes. She focused herself enough to say, "Go on." She waved her hand in the direction of the hangar.
Cable nodded and turned. He could hear the Blackbird warming up in the distance. He cast one look back at Dana just to make sure she'd be O. K. and then jogged off.
#I'm worried about him too,# Cable told her as he turned the corner.
Gambit muttered another potent French curse as he pulled his lock picks from his pocket again. He had no idea how Marc had gotten a hold of his backup set. Logan probably had something to do with it. He was glad Marc was subtle in his passing, if he'd gotten caught, the whole thing would have been blown. As it was it was all fairly blown anyway, but at least Dana was safe now.
"'Old still!" he commanded, as he tried to work on the collar of another trapped mutant. The majority of the guards had all run for their lives when Gambit had begun to free the mutants. Unfortunately they'd taken their keys with them. Now Gambit had to free them the hard way. He didn't want to charge the collars up with kinetic energy. He was afraid he might hurt someone by making the collars explode that close to the head.
He was seriously considering it though with this particular squirming individual. Finally he heard the click of the lock opening. The young mutant tore the collar from his neck and ran for the door.
"T'ank you would 'ave been nice," Gambit muttered as he moved onto the last person in the cell.
"Hey Cajun! Need some help with that?"
Gambit looked up at the familiar voice, a smirk on his face.
Wolverine stepped through the door, extended his claws and sliced through the inhibitor collar of a nervous looking mutant who fled as soon as he was freed.
"Not a scratch!" He turned to Gambit. "Heard you were leadin' a jail break."
"Wonderin' when y' were goin' t' join de party, mon ami."
"Here." Wolverine tossed him a box of playing cards. "I interrupted a couple 'a guys in the middle of their poker game. They left without their cards. Figured you'd know what to do with 'em."
Gambit followed Wolverine out into the hall. Complete pandemonium had taken over. Mutants who's powers allowed it were blasting right through walls to escape.
"Doesn't look too structurally sound in here anymore," Logan grunted as he watched a young woman blow apart a section of the wall in her cell and then flee through the gaping hole.
They met up with Cyclops who was leading the team through the building and assigning tasks to the members.
"Where's Cannonball?" he asked, stepping out of the way of a small stampede of mutants who'd just been freed from a cell further down the hall by Jean.
"Dey took 'im."
Cyclops probably would have said "Who took him?" but he was interrupted by the roar of a section of the heavy cement roof as it came crashing down upon them.
Cable muttered a potent curse as he hastily amassed enough telekinetic power to hold up the roof. It was only partially successful. A few pieces of concrete slipped through his power at the edges. Both Cyclops and Jean cried out as one such piece came tumbling down to hit Jean on the head.
"We've gotta get out of here NOW, people!" Cyclops cried as he scooped up the unconcious form of his wife.
The other X-Men quickly ran to aid any mutants still left in the area threatened by the collapse, and hustled out with them.
"Cable, we're clear!" Cyclops shouted over the din.
Cable nodded and brought up the rear of the line of evacuating mutants. He let the ceiling come crashing down as soon as they were all well away from the area.
"Now, what was this about Cannonball being taken?" Cyclops asked of Gambit as he laid Jean down inside the Blackbird. Fortunately there was no real damage to her, she'd just been knocked out.
"Did Wolverine tell you about de Institution?" Gambit asked.
"Yes, somewhat."
"A doc came by lookin' fo' test subjects just after Dana got out. He took Cannonball with."
"A helicopter left just before you got free. I thought I smelled him in it. I couldn't catch it." Wolverine growled and clenched his fists.
Cyclops sighed. "And we have no idea where this place is?"
Gambit and Wolverine nodded.
"It's probably psi-shielded too." Cyclops muttered. "Cable?" he called to the man standing behind him.
"Yes?"
"Did you overhear our conversation?"
Cable nodded. " And I think you're right about the Psi-shielding. I can't see him anywhere. I could always try harder... but I don't think I'll be able to find him without a little help."
"All right. Cable, Gambit and Beast: take Jean and the Blackbird back to the mansion. Use Cerebro, or whatever you need to find Cannonball.
The rest of us will stay here and continue with the evacuation." Cyclops dropped his voice and tapped Cable on the shoulder. "Good luck."
"Cable? Y' all right, homme?" Gambit glanced over at Cable from where he was sitting at the controls of the plane.
Cable shook his head and blinked his eyes a bit. "Yes... I'm sorry. I was just daydreaming."
Gambit snorted. "Daydreaming? De Cable I know doesn't daydream. Who are y', impostor?" He chuckled. "I t'ink holdin' de roof took a little out of you."
"I guess so." Cable sighed. Keeping the roof up had taken a lot out of him actually. He hoped he had enough left to help Sam.
Dana paced in her room. Cable had promised to update her on the mission. He hadn't contacted her in a long time. She was worried. She was tired too, after healing both Sam and Gambit, as well as having to cope with her own body recovering naturally. She rubbed her bruised jaw. She couldn't sleep. She was too wound up.
She left her room and started walking. She had nervous energy that had to be spent before she could do anything productive. She wandered through the kitchen, but she didn't feel like eating. She passed through the library and picked up a few books but she only had enough patience to read the titles.
She meandered through halls without really paying attention to where she was going. *Come on, Cable... What's going on over there?* She looked up and found herself stopped in front of a door in the men's dorm.
She opened it, puzzled why her unconscious would lead her here. She suddenly realized where she was.
"Oh, Sam..." she whispered as she stepped into his darkened room. "Please be all right."
She picked up the shirt lying on his bed. It was the one he'd changed out of quickly last night in order to change into darker colors. She hugged it close to her chest. It smelled like him. His cologne was a part of it, but underneath that... was Sam.
She sat back on his bed and closed her eyes. She saw his tousled blond hair, his ever-present smile, his sparkling blue eyes...
She was startled out of the vision by a low rumbling. She stood and looked out the window in time to see the Blackbird coming in for a landing.
She laid the shirt back on the bed and ran to the door.
"What happened? Where is everybody?" Dana asked as she watched with horror as Jean was carried off the Blackbird by the Beast. "Is she okay?"
Gambit took her arm and gently pulled her away from the plane.
"She'll be fine, petite. She don' even need y'. De others are makin' sure all the captive mutants get free."
"Remy! I'm so glad you're all right!" she hugged him briefly and then looked back at the plane anticipatorily.
"Petite... Sam's not on de plane. De Doc came right after y' left, 'fore I had a chance t' get us free. He took Sam with him."
"Sam's at the Institution?" Dana choked out.
"Don' worry, petite. We'll find him."
"How? We never found where it was."
"Cable's goin' t' use Cerebro to find Sam."
Dana fidgeted in her chair as she watched Cable strain. She could see the sweat on his brow as it trickled from underneath the Cerebro headgear. He was using Cerebro to cut through the interference from the psi-shield around the Institution. It wasn't comfortable to be this close to him, especially when he was straining so. She reached out to him with her empathy searching for hope or success. All she felt was pain. She disconnected quickly and blinked her eyes which had begun to water with the pain she'd felt.
She watched Cable, intently willing him to find Sam somewhere. She blinked her eyes in puzzlement... She couldn't have seen... His T-O arm was rippling. The metal was bending out of shape, strange protrusions formed on the surface of his arm. She rushed to his side, touching his good arm. She closed her eyes and in her mind she 'saw' the virus. It appeared to her as a great darkness, like a black hole. Around the virus was a golden shell holding the blackness back. The shell was starting to crack.
#What are you doing?# Cable's voice was strained.
*I'm helping you out. I'm going to hold the virus for you, so you can find Sam. Don't argue.*
#Fine,# he mentally sighed at her stubbornness. #I'm going to connect us telepathically. That should make it easier for you to work. It might be painful for you, so hold on.#
*Understood.*
Dana nearly fell to the floor in pain. Cable couldn't shield himself from her when they were this closely connected. She felt like she was on fire. She breathed deeply, trying to get past the pain. Cable reached out and helped her as much as he could.
#Are you all right now?# he asked.
*Better, yeah.*
She touched her hands to his forehead. Another wave of pain washed over her, but she was more prepared for this one and it didn't bother her as much as it could have.
She sought out the boundaries of the T-O virus and took up a position just outside of Cable's golden colored shield that held the darkness of the virus back.
*O. K. I'm ready.*
Cable's power faded gradually from the boundary. Dana replaced it with her own power until the T-O virus was completely surrounded by a diffuse white glow. She felt it straining against the boundary like a wild animal, snapping and clawing. It advanced a little ways and she pushed it back with all her strength. It seemed to detect that her strength was flagging. It became more vicious. It collected itself and prepared for an attack en masse at a weakening part of her shielding. She gritted her teeth and tried to fortify her shield with all of the remaining power she had.
*For Sam... For Sam... For Sam...*
The T-O virus screamed as it smashed itself against the weak point. A growl issued from her throat at the effort of holding it back.
Suddenly the white boundary flashed with new power and reverted to its gold color.
#I've got him!#
Dana knelt on the floor breathing hard. Beads of sweat stood out on her brow.
"Y' okay petite?" Gambit asked. She nodded and waved him off.
"Where is he?" She looked to Cable who appeared to be in worse shape than she was.
"South," he grunted, pulling Cerebro's head gear from his head and struggling to his feet.
Gambit helped Dana to her feet and the three of them made their way back to the Blackbird.
"I t'ink y' should stay here, petite. Y' in no shape t' go bustin' in someplace."
"Try and stop me," she growled.