Zemo: Enchanted

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

While the various teams of X-Men and X-Force stagger back home, Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil have one last surprise for them; getting to them in their own home.



Half of the mansion residents were out fighting the bad guys and keeping good ol' America safe. It was times like these that John felt glad he hadn't signed up to be part of the X-Men. He'd never felt any guilt, choosing to stay on the sidelines, simply watching the events unfold. So fucking what? He actually liked playing the part of the useless asshole around here.

He propped his feet up on the coffee table and turned the television on. Oddly enough, the screen was blank. He frowned and depressed the channel buttons then leaned forward to smack the television set. All of a sudden, the screen flashed white and John blinked once, twice before closing his eyes, discovering dozens of colored lights dancing on the back of his eyelids. It was like a little, miniature fireworks display. They were pretty. He was fascinated. He was entranced.

But just as quickly as it had appeared, it soon disappeared from sight and John stood up, releasing his hold on the remote, dropping it to the floor. He had something important to do now. He had somewhere to be. There was no time to waste. No time to waste at all.

***

Jubilee paused in front of the little stand and spent a moment chalking her hands. While she had most everything she could want at the Brownstone, including the Danger gym and the city for training itself. It still wasn't a fully equipped gymnasium, and she needed one to be able to do uneven bars.

Having gotten her hands sufficiently chalked, she strode purposely toward the piece of equipment she'd been eyeing for the past minute. While free-running was much the same sort of work out she would have gotten from gymnastics, it wasn't entirely the same. She missed the feel of the bars under her fingers, and the uncomplicated trajectories.
She leaped and grabbed onto the lower bar, swinging herself around and then gripping the higher level, legs outstretched. It was at this point she noticed a strange woman standing at the door.

"Can I help you?" she called, twisting and throwing herself upward till she held herself suspended above the upper bar, legs straight and fists gripping to it tightly.

"Yes, I believe you can." The Enchantress nodded, extending a hand slightly upward towards Jubilee on the bar. "You can come with me." She gave a slight smile, the air around her seeming to shimmer and shift slightly like a mirage.

"I don't..." Jubilee began, but the command had hit her somewhere in her backbrain and her arms were already releasing, swinging her down and then into a vault to land on the mat beyond. She stared at the Enchantress for a moment, before walking forward to stand in front of her. "I'll come with you."

Without saying a word, the blonde woman nodded once and then turned, heading back into the halls of the mansion with Jubilee in tow. Perhaps it wasn't the most challenging task, collecting these mutants from their home, but it was her master's wish, and she would comply.

***

It was good to walk the grounds again. He had seen so much of Europe from the Blackbird Marius had honestly found the aborted abduction a relief. At least that had involved healthy activity and a bit of fresh air. Now that he was back he'd made a point of taking the air. That is, until he'd encountered something rather more interesting with which to occupy his attentions.

Had he been more alert he might have been aware that his brain was trying to pose certain questions about this development, but they were being overridden by other organs whose opinion held slightly more weight with a 19 year old boy. Flipping the hair from his eyes as they reached the front door of the mansion, Marius turned to the vision walking beside him and fixed her with his most accommodating smile.

"So," he said as he held open the door as befitting the escort of a lady, "anythin' more I can do for you? Just say the word, and it shall be done."

"My dear boy, you have been quite helpful already." The tall woman - whose hair and eye color Marius couldn't quite place a finger on - lifted a hand and placed it lightly on Marius' cheek. It felt almost as if she had leaned down and kissed him, a warmth spreading from her palm and over his cheek and face. "Wait here for me."

Beneath her hand, Marius' head moved faintly in a nod. "Your wish," he said, meaning every word, "is my command."

The boy stepped back, bowing low, and, once she had passed, politely shut the door behind Amora the Enchantress.

***

If he'd lost a few pounds and tied his hair up in a bun, Shiro sitting under his favorite oak tree could have been confused for Siddhartha under the bodhi tree. Years at Xavier's and he'd had the great fortune never to be a kidnapping victim like so many others. Until now. It had shaken what meager resolve he possessed, made even worse by the reappearance of the Enchantress.

Legs crossed, eyes shut, and fingers tracing a mudra, Shiro inhaled slowly through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. He repeated the breathing technique as he silently chanted a mantra. The gentle spring breeze was comforting and peaceful, and the relative silence of the mansion was a godsend. Shiro soon fell into a trance, and let out an involuntary sigh.

So lost in his own mind, he didn't perceive the woman approaching him, though even if he had been coherent he wouldn't have heard anything anyway. She knelt down silently before the meditating boy, her lips parting slowly as she inaudibly whispered a single syllable. Shiro's eyes snapped open and focused intently on her.

"On mani hatsumei un," he sang as he brought himself to his feet and wordlessly followed the bringer of his enlightenment.

***

With precision that would have made one Sam Guthrie very proud, Angel landed gently on the flyer's platform and stretched her arms above her head. It had been perfect flying weather and she'd been quick to take advantage of it. Her hair ruffled in the wind and she patted it down as she headed towards the door, thinking about dinner and potentially hunting John down for some TV mocking.

Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, however, and coming closer to the edge she could see the figure of a tall blonde woman standing below her, clad in a long white gown. The woman smiled when she saw Angel, lifting a hand in greeting to her. "Hello," she called, her voice musical and sweet.

"Um, hi?" Angel responded, speaking up so she could be heard, tilting her head as she got a look at the woman. She didn't recognize the woman but that sometimes didn't mean much - visitors were pretty common to the mansion, especially she supposed with all the changes going into place. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Yes. Could you come down and help me look for them?" Even from this far away the woman's smile was dazzling.

Unconsciously, Angel leaned further out, her body almost straining towards the strange, wonderful woman. "Who are you looking for?" Angel asked, swaying further out into the gentle wind that she'd been playing in earlier. She didn't know the woman but she was safe...she had to be safe, looking like that, feeling like that.

"Come down," the woman entreated, stepping back on the lawn. "Come down here and I will tell you everything."

Her feet weren't on the platform any more and Angel blinked, startled. She hadn't even realized she'd stepped off or activated her powers - weird. But the nice lady was calling to her and she kept moving away. "Wait," Angel called, the blue fire flickering briefly around her, "I'm coming, too..."

Instead of stepping down off the flyers platform and into the mansion, instead she went off the other side, flying down to land lightly with the group who had assembled on the grounds, like an impromptu picnic. In the centre of the loose circle stood the Enchantress with a smug look on her flawless face. As Angel landed, the Asgardian reached out to stroke her chin, and then raised her hands. The group was surrounded by a nimbus of golden light, and simply faded away without a trace.

The only mark of their passing was on the walls of the mansion, where Amanda Sefton's normally invisible runes were now black and charred, still sizzling with paint from where they flared white hot and died away.