Epilogue
The sphere lifted off the ground before opening had finished sealing. As soon as it was closed, Magneto ripped off his helmet and ran a gloved hand through his sweat soaked hair. "The girl's power is so much stronger than I ever imagined," he muttered to himself.
"It was most likely Wanda's powers that amplified them. Perhaps the chaotic nature of nightmares and the unstable improbabilities that Wanda's powers affect boosted one another," Sage said. She was sitting to Magneto's left in the sphere. This particular sphere was one Magneto had constructed in order to carry many people comfortably, rather than quickly. Unlike other spheres, this one was designed with a large, circular bench for the occupants to sit on as the sphere traveled. Normally made completely of metal, Pietro had insisted on putting cushioning in this sphere if they were going to be in it for such a long period of time.
"That was a nightmare?" Pietro said. "I thought she could just turn the ground to quicksand and make your feet disappear."
"Obviously you need to read the reports I'm generating on each of the students at the Xavier Institute," Sage said curtly. "Danielle Moonstar, codename: Mirage. Known powers include the control over the dreams and the creation of waking nightmares based off a person's deepest fears. She has also displayed minor psychic abilities as evidence with her experience with Kitty Pryde, although control of all her powers is currently limited."
"Nightmares huh? Crappy power," he said. He put his arm around his sister. "So what did you see Sis? Fields of flowers and unicorns?"
She violently shrugged his arm off her shoulder. "I was dating Toad and he was acting just like you. I don't want to remember it." She had a look of disgust on her face, but her mind flashed back to the hellish landscape the world had turned into and shuddered involuntarily.
"What's wrong with me?" Pietro said, though everyone ignored him.
Magneto turned to Sage. "What of your mission?"
"The virus was properly uploaded into the weapons system of the mansion. I hardly think they noticed I was downloading information as I examined their defenses. I calculate it will take approximately six point four hours after a diagnostic is run on the weapons before the virus has infiltrated and disabled Cerebro."
"Charles will not detect it?"
"No. It will search through the last month's records and redisplay any without anomalous readings at random. I estimate that as long as there are no major crisis that arise that draws public attention, Xavier will remain unaware that anything is wrong for a least two weeks."
"Which should give Cassandra adequate time to operate Cerebra undetected," Magneto said, resting his head against the cool metal of the sphere wall behind him. "Very good Sage. I regret that Xavier would not join us, but then I never expected him too."
"Some of his followers will come to you," Bishop said. "I could read it in their faces. They're scared Xavier's going to get them killed."
"We shall see," Magneto said.
"As long as it's not that Russian kid. He and I have unfinished business," Juggernaut said with a smile. Like Magneto, he had removed his helmet to reveal sweat soaked hair. "I don't know why you didn't just bust me out in the first place instead of recruiting that tin foiled pansy. And just letting him go like that."
"Colossus had his use," Magneto answered. "His family is inconsequential to me, though I will keep an eye on his sister to see if her x-gene activates. However, we will deal with Gambit and Colossus for their defection."
He let out a sigh. "This trip has been far more taxing then I ever imagined it would be. Brace yourselves, I will alter the sphere return us faster."
They could feel the sphere accelerate as Magneto stretched his hand upwards and concentrated. The contours of the interior changed as well, as the metal shaped itself into a more conical shape to cut through the air better.
Wanda suddenly felt a fresh surge of panic in her chest, like she had experienced when Mirage's powers had gone haywire. A lump formed in her throat, cutting off her breathing as her heart began to race. She gripped down tight on the cushions beneath her, her knuckles and face turning bone white. The entire sphere was collapsing in on her, getting tighter. It was impossible to breath. It hurt. This was wrong, all wrong. Her head was spinning. Spots formed before her. All she could feel was everything pushing down on her.
"Wanda?" she heard and the world snapped back to normal. She glanced around. Sage and Bishop were talking quietly to themselves, small smiles on their faces; Cain was leaning far back in his seat, arms crossed and eyes closed; Pietro was playing some video game with a pair of headphones on. Only her father was looking at her. "Are you alright Wanda?"
"Yeah," she said, "I'm okay. Just got a little claustrophobic as the shape shifted. Never liked these things."
"To tell you the truth, so do I sometimes. But they are conveniently hard to track." He smiled at her. "We'll be home soon. Spend some time outside, I find it helps."
"I will, thanks." She did feel a little better already. She knew she was still shaken up from that nightmare, and she'd forget about it when she made it back to Avalon. Ceres was teaching her a bit about gardening, and that seemed to always take her mind off things. She looked back over at her father and she could see him still smiling slightly at her, though there was concern in his eyes. She couldn't help but feel good about that, knowing that he was so concerned about her wellbeing. He was a good father, she was very thankful to have him in her life. Despite everything that he did for mutants, he had always been there for her. He had always been a source comfort for her.
The claustrophobia started to come back a little, a long with a buzzing in her head. She closed her eyes, trying to look like she was just trying to sleep a little as to not worry her father more, and focused on her breathing. The panic subsided, but the buzzing persisted. She had this sinking feeling that something was terribly wrong. But then she remembered where she was going, who she was with. She and Pietro were finally united full time with their father. They were out of the decrepite Brotherhood house and living on Avalon, a virtual paradise. Their father was there. Her father was there. No matter what bad things came in the future, her father was there and would help make things better. He always has, she told herself. He's always fixed everything, always made her happy, always been there for her. Always.
Hadn't he?
A/N: I want to thank everyone who's stuck with me through this and reviewed; you've really helped inspire me to continue, and to try and stay as timely as possible in updates, which I may or may not have been.
As this part of the DPV series comes to a close, I'm happy with it and the direction it is heading, and hopefully you are too. If you aren't, tell me about it and I'll try and fix it. If you liked this, tell your friends, as the more reviews and hits I receive, the happier I get with what I'm doing and I work harder at it.
Before I begin part three of the DPV series, Disassembled, I'm going to be taking a break and writing a few other things, one of which is a story that is a sort of spin-off of DPV, but works as a standalone story as well. I plan on it being very upbeat and it should be a lot of fun for all involved. Check my profile to see exactly what I'm up to.
Again, thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed.