Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 13

Chapter 6: Monet St Croix to the Rescue

Monet flew across the grounds and to the back of the estate which ended in a cliff overlooking a large body of water, a large waterfall gushed from Bayville River which cut through the grounds behind the woods and into the back of the estate.  Monet had suddenly remembered about the hangar area under the grounds. 

The X-Men's blackbird jet and two smaller planes were located in a large hangar which was situated right under the grounds Basketball court.  Of course, the favoured exit from the hangar by flight was the Basketball court, which had been constructed to open up directly above the hangar.  But there was another way the planes and jet would leave the hangar…there was a long runway that proceeded about half a mile through the ground and ended at the cliff – concealed excellently by the waterfall. 

I can't believe I forgot about this, Monet thought as she followed the river to the waterfall, and dove downwards, in the dark it was impossible to tell there was anything there other than water, the sound of it rushing to hit the pool below was loud enough to conceal any sound Monet made as she landed.  She still had the flashlight, and she turned it on, shining the beam on rock and earth around the waterfall, finding no entrance.  She glanced around, trying to calculate exactly how deep in the ground the hangar was and where the jet would exit from the runway in the ground. 

Monet took to the air slowly, using what little light she could from the flashlight in order to try and find some kind of entrance, then she found it, a dark gap behind the rock and water, Monet held her breath and pushed her way in through the water, getting soaked in the process. 

Thankfully Jean Grey's leather uniform had provided enough protection against the water, and only a little went down the collar.  Monet rubbed the water off her face and shone the flashlight across the dark cave, a few feet away there were two large steel doors, they looked impenetrable, and Monet could bet she'd barely be able to punch her way through them even with her superhuman strength.

          Monet placed the flashlight between her teeth, and she slipped her bare fingers as much as she could through the very thin gap between the two closed doors, she frowned, concentrating all her strength into her arms, and pulled both ways, the doors barely moving at all, she continued to try for several moments, the strain pressing on her back and shoulders.  Trickles of water from her soaked hair trailed down her face mingling with the sweat building up on her forehead.  She broke a nail and yanked her hand back and swore angrily in her head, pouting.

          You're stronger than this, Monet, she told herself, don't be a silly little girl worrying about your fingernails.  If you want to be one of the X-Men, you have to forget about nails and concentrate on saving your team…

          She tried again, to her amazement, the doors began to budge ever so slightly, she heard the soft creak as they did.

          "That's it, that's it!" she said to herself enthusiastically, "you can do it…you can do it!" she pulled harder on each side, the door budging more and more, the gap she managed to make was just big enough for her to slide through sideways, and she did so, sweeping her soaked hair away from her face.

          She turned off her flashlight and hooked the keyring onto the belt on Jean's uniform.  She glanced down the runway.  It was almost pitch black except for the small tiny glimmer of lights lining the sides of the walls – giving enough light just to follow towards the hangar.

Monet decided the hangar's low-lights would also be on, and she expected the subbasement lights would be also.    As there were no windows, and the subbasements were, after all, underground, the lights were left on all the time so that everyone was able to find their way easily.  At night, they would be set to a lower setting, just bright enough to see where you were going, but not much else.  Monet just hoped that none of the clones would be patrolling those areas, she'd be seen far too easily with the lights on, and she hadn't spent enough time down in the subbasements to know where the lights could be disabled.

          Monet kept to the air as she hurried down the runway, the floors were steel and she knew the stiletto heels of her black leather Italian boots were likely to make a loud noise, and it would probably echo down the runway right to the hangar and alert someone.  She dared not even breathe.  She followed the small lights on the walls, the runway followed a spiralled pattern and finally ended in the hangar itself.

          Monet had been right in assuming the lights would all be on, they were, but at their lowest, so that strange shadows from the jet and small planes were cast upon the walls and floors.  Monet kept to those shadows, and moved along the walls.  No signs of any clones nearby.  She walked up the offramp leading to the door into the subbasement halls, and began to walk.  One of the lights on the ceiling was malfunctioning, and light was flickering on and off wildly.  Monet soared slowly down the hall, she slipped into the nearest room, it happened to be Hank McCoy's laboratory.  She glanced around, everything was silent, no one to be seen.  And then, to her horror, she heard footsteps descending slowly down the hallway nearby.  She began to panic, there was nowhere to go.  She yanked the flashlight off the beltloop on the uniform she was wearing and shone it around her quickly, there were no other doors leading out of there, the only way she could see happened to be an air vent.  It was her only hope.  The airvent was high up on the wall, and the grille was screwed down securely at the two bottom corners.  Monet used the button on the spring keychain of the flashlight to unscrew it quickly, her heart thudding as she heard those footsteps getting closer and closer, she took each screw out and kept a hold of them, lifted the airvent grille and flew in, letting it close with a sharp slap behind her.  She sucked in a breath.  The airvent was narrow, but she could look over her shoulder enough to see the flicker of flashlight being shone across the room beyond the grille.  She waited until It felt silent before she began to move throughout the airvent.

          At least I'm inside now, she thought.  She followed a maze of the vents, shuffling quietly, holding the flashlight between her teeth again as she went.  The direction she went through took her directly up to the mansion, and she soon found herself in a vent looking down into the foyer, she could see two clones guarding the area, they looked menacing in the dark, their red eyes burning through the night.  They were talking.

          "Who'd you think the girl was?" one clone was asking.

          "One of the students," the other clone replied, he was glancing around, Monet held her breath, remaining quiet, realising that anything she did now, even breathe too loudly could jeopardise her position.

          "All the students were shipped off obviously, there's been no sign of them…"

          "Maybe she broke in then looking for cash," the other shrugged.

          "Oh come on," the other clone groaned, "she was wearing an X-Men uniform, she's one of them."

          "I don't think she'll be back."

          "Number six went down to check the database for information on her, I guess we'll find out soon enough.  Minute she comes back, we'll be ready for her."

          "Can we do that?" the other clone asked, "what if she is a student?  You know the mutant containment facility isn't able to incarcerate mutants under the age of eighteen…"

          "Why is that, anyway?" the other clone asked.

          "The boss told us why, remember?" The other clone asked.  "mutants under the age of eighteen can still manifest other powers in addition to those they already have…" he stated, "it's a precaution."

          Monet drew her breath and frowned.  So that's where they've taken the X-Men to, she thought frowning, some mutant containment facility?  And in Genosha…

          Monet began to back out the way she'd came.   Where have I heard Genosha before?  She thought quietly, as she kept going.  Then it suddenly came to her, Genosha was in Africa. 

          Monet had spent the first eight years of her life in Africa, and Genosha came to her now as the place in a story her father had told her to get her to behave when she was young.  Stories of a mad scientist who had a laboratory there, who would come and snatch children in the night.  Up until then, she'd always thought Genosha didn't really exist.  She'd never seen it on a map as far as she knew, but there were several islands on maps that were never named, desolate places that didn't count as far as geography was concerned.

          Monet managed to make her way back to the laboratory, and she pulled herself out of the airvent, and dropped down into the lab once again, it was silent, and there was no sign of the clone that had been patrolling the area earlier that night.  She began to creep back down the hall, she took to the air and headed off down the area towards the hangar, and glanced around carefully for any signs of clones around.

          The coast was clear, and Monet was about to head back down the direction towards the runway, when she stopped, and glanced at the blackbird.  If she had to go to Africa, she definitely wasn't going to be able to do it by her powers of flight.  She silently crept under the blackbird and found an emergency exit hatch, she pulled the tightly wound handle, and climbed up inside into the warmth and dark.  She made her way towards the controls, and seated herself, pulling on a seatbelt.  She studied the controls.

          She'd never flown the blackbird before, but it looked to be easy enough.  On the flight to Scotland she'd been watching the controls as Jean Grey and Scott Summers had been piloting, it had not looked so difficult.  Monet smirked a little as she started up the blackbird, the control panel lighting up brightly, the lights coming on all along the inside panels. 

          As the engines roared to life and she pulled the jet down the runway she said to herself calmly, "Monet St Croix to the rescue."

(The end – OR IS IT!? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNN.  I love a good dun dun dunnnnnn, don't you?  Blah, anyway, big thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.  Love ya as always.  I know its dragging on but I could rush it and leave A LOT unexplained or I could draw it out and explain everything.  I know there's been no ROMY, but trust me, there will be at some point ;) )