Tropic of Capricorn: Pseudo-Rescue and Warm Welcome

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

The raft begins to break up but a schooner comes to Garrison and Adrienne's rescue and takes them to a mysterious place called Avalon, where they are met by a face all-too-familiar to Garrison.

The hours stretched out, with only the sounds of the ocean and Kane's kicking to punctuate them. The island was getting closer slowly, and during a break, Kane and Adrienne had spent some time trying to estimate the distance left. Kane's thought was about three days - more than he'd hoped, but less than he feared. The raft was already starting to show wear and tear, and he was afraid that the lashings would come apart mid-ocean. There were also clouds on the horizon, warning of perhaps another storm. Without voicing it to Adrienne, for the first time, Kane had to admit to himself that they might come up short of their goal - fatally so.

Originally, his plan was to wait out the pre-dawn, avoiding the feeding times for a lot of sea creatures, but urgency put him back in the water pushing, and they sped forward again. He was so focused on his task that he almost missed Adrienne's warning shout. The dorsal cut through the water less than ten feet from him, sending him scrambling up on to the raft.

"Christ, you were in your own little world there, huh?" Adrienne muttered when he made it up to the raft and out of the predator's reach, trying to dampen the heart-stopping panic she'd felt when he didn't respond immediately to her warning. She said it through gritted teeth, as she was struggling to hold the end of the rope, which had been coming loose since he'd gone back into the water before dawn, taut against the baulks it was holding together. His jumping up onto the raft, though, hadn't helped keep the lashings together, and they were now more unstable than ever. "Um... I think we may have a slight problem," she muttered, and her voice sounded apologetic.

"Jesus, this thing is not holding up." He took the rope, pulling it taut and hearing the wood creak as his strength tightened it. But it was starting to fray, and their bamboo shell wasn't looking much between. They both tracked the fin making slow circles around the raft before it disappeared underwater in the dawn gloom.

"That's one less problem to-" Kane was cut off as the raft sudden jumped sideways as the shark emerged from below, snapping at the space where one of the baulks met the mat. They were almost pitched into the water as a chunk was torn from the mat, and Kane grabbed for Adrienne putting her between his body and the shark. But as quickly as the violent attack started, it stopped as the shark abruptly lost interest and swum away from the boat, leaving them both gasping.

Adrienne figured she'd been doing really well with everything that had happened so far. Taking the storm and the shipwreck and the lack-of-sustenance and the raft-building in stride. But the shark was too much. The shark broke her carefully constructed mental shields and produced gibbering panic. "Holy shit. It's a shark. Holy shit holy shit holy shit it's gonna come back it's gonna come back it's gonna eat us we're gonna die we're gonna die oh my God! We're gonna die on this water because we crashed and the beacon broke and we have no water and we're on a raft that's falling apart and there are sharks oh my God oh my God!" She was screaming the words by the time she ran out of breath.

"Hey, calm down. He's gone." Kane put his arms around her, but she wasn't necessarily wrong. The kapok mat was starting to absorb water, their supplies had been scattered when the shark hit them, and the raft was barely holding between the two baulks of wood. "Hey. We're going to get out of this, you hear me? Even if I have to swim day and night to that island toting you behind me like the world's slowest water-skier, we will get back on land safely."

Adrienne didn't respond; she was too focused on squinting into the darkness, trying to figure out if she was imagining the pinpoint of light she saw ahead. She blinked a few times, but it didn't go away. Was it getting bigger? "Hey... do you see that too? That light?" she pointed towards it. "Are we dying? I thought all that light and tunnel stuff was just bullshit!"

"Jesus, Adri. You're not dying." Kane peered at the light. It was too low to be a star and it did seem like it was growing in the pre-dawn gloom. It might be a reflection on the water, but with the raft coming apart, there was no need to be conservative about any chance. Kane pulled out the hand flares and struck one. The crackling red glow turned the waters around them crimson, and lit them up starkly in the empty sea.

While Garrison lit the flare, Adrienne started waving her arms around and shouting, hoping that, if he was right and she really wasn't dying, maybe the light was from a plane or a boat or something. "Hey! We're over here! Help! Over here!" She grabbed Garrison's arm and squeezed, letting out a squeal of glee. "It's getting bigger! The light! It's coming towards us!" she screeched, even though she knew he could see that for himself. When an airhorn sounded, she squealed again. "It's a boat! It's coming to get us! Hello! Hellooooooo! Over here! We're over here!"

Normally, he would have told her to save her voice, just in case something happened, But with the boat coming up, there was no reason to quell her excitement. A half hour ago, they had been looking at a very diminished chance of survival, and now all they had to worry about what their makeshift raft holding together long enough for them to get on the boat. Part of Kane's mind had to wonder what kind of boat it might be - pirates and slavers weren't unheard of, even in the twenty-first century. Still, he forced the thought away, he'd rather deal with that closer to the boat than without one at all.

It looked like a fishing schooner to Adrienne when it got close enough to make out the shape of it in the light of the flare, and she grinned like a madwoman when a voice with an Eastern-European accent called out to them in English about needing help. "Yeah, we're sinking here! And there are sharks!" she shouted back. The voice from the schooner told them that a lifeboat would be sent out to them, since the boat was too big to get close enough for them to board it directly. Adrienne heard the splash of the dinghy as it hit the water and the slicing of the oars as it made its way over to them.

The man at the oars was a bit of a surprise; his skin being light blue and unlike the voice from the boat, speaking with a light Texas accent. He introduced himself as Carl, as he helped first Adrienne and then Kane off their slowly sinking raft and on to the boat. The only thing they took was her purse and the emergency kit at the behest of the man, who suggested that they were never unwelcome additions on a fishing boat. When they reached the boat, another man and woman waited to help pull them up on deck and rerig the dighy. There were both Polish; married, and the woman had small horns coming out of her temples. Mutants. More so, European mutants.

"Thanks for the rescue."

"You were very lucky. Few boats in these waters. And dawn is hunting time for sharks."

"That part we discovered."

Adrienne echoed Garrison's thanks, drinking gratefully from the water bottle she was given by the Polish woman. "So where's your schooner based out of?" she inquired, confused by the accents of the assorted crew. "I mean, are we in for some sort of Captains Courageous scenario here, where we have to stay here and help you fish for a couple months til we get back to your port?"

They looked puzzled but shook their heads. "No, I don't think we need any extra hands that badly. If you give me your names, I'll radio ahead and we can see what we need to do to get you home."

"I'm Garrison Kane. This is Adrienne Frost. My passport went down with the ship, but I think Adrienne has hers. If you can put me in touch with a Canadian or British Embassy, I can sort the rest."

"One thing at a time, Mister Kane. Arina, see if we have anything dry for them to wear." He said, as he headed up to the helm. Carl nudged Kane and passed over a folded package.

"Here. Cheap shorts and a t-shirt, but they're dry and should fit." Kane held up the shirt with the octopus print on it. "My daughter likes octopuses. No judging."

"Sorry, thanks. Really, I appreciate it, eh?"

"Don't mention it. Arina likely has some jeans or something for your-"

"Girlfriend."

"Lucky guy. How did you end up out here?"

"Storm blew us completely off course, and we hit a reef trying to get shelter close to land. Tore the bottom out of the boat."

"A couple days ago? Yeah, that was a nasty blow." Carl said, pausing as Arina and Adrienne came back on deck.

Adrienne had changed into jeans that were about four sizes too big and a garishly printed blouse Arina had seemed proud to present to her. She'd bit her tongue about the clothes as the woman made small talk with her, basically asking the same questions Carl was asking Garrison up top, though she had a happy smirk in response to the other woman's comment about her boyfriend's fine ass. When they returned to the deck, she got a designer's pencil out of her purse and wrote her passport number on a piece of paper Carl provided her, since the notebook in her purse had gotten wet on the raft. Sure, these people seemed nice enough, but it hadn't escaped Adrienne's attention that no one had answered her question about where the schooner was based out of. She didn't trust them, and preferred to keep her passport with her. "Nice shirt," she snorted when she saw Garrison. "So, where the hell are we?" she inquired, taking a different tactic than asking where the schooner was from.

"We'll be at the dock inside of fifteen minutes. Sorry about all the secrecy, but the legal status of our port is a little- nebulous right now, and the founder wants to talk to you about it first. There's a supply ship that comes out from Fiji every week or so, which can get you back to a phone and a flight out."

Adrienne's eyes went wide. "Wait, what? Nebulous? Supply ship? Week? No phones?! Where the fuck are we?! Who are you people?

"We're the people that pulled you out of the Pacific Ocean before you drowned or got eaten by sharks. You can either be patient and get your answers when we reach the dock, or you can be rude and get your answers when we reach the dock. Or get back on your raft and we'll be on our way." Arina's husband said, returning from the wheel. Kane held up both hands.

"No, we'll wait. It's just a bit unexpected to find out there some kind of secret about everything." He quietly nudged Adrienne - a wordless suggestion to stop talking. Where ever they were, it was a long way from home, and these people represented their only hope of getting back there.

"It's really not as big of a deal as you guys think." Carl plopped down on one of the benches. "Just relax, everything will get explained on the dock. After that, we can get a beer and figure out how to make sure people know you guys are safe and get you back home."

It took all of Adrienne's remaining composure not to reel on Garrison for trying to shut her up even though the nudge had been gentle,. Her thoughts went, as they always did, to her husband and his particular methods for enforcing her silence. But she didn't say anything more. Instead, she wrapped her arms around herself and found an empty bench where she could sit with her knees drawn up and get herself back in order.

The rest of the trip went mostly in silence. The ship made a steady beeline for the island that they had been targeting, and based on a quick calculation, was at least another half day by their makeshift raft. Would it have held together?

They puttered into the dock and the crew moved with awkward speed to tie off the ship. It was obvious that none of them had a lot of experience. This wasn't a family of fishermen from way back. Carl nodded at the ramp and they started down, only to freeze at the bottom of the ramp in alarm.

"Ah, Mr. Kane. An interesting fashion statement with that beard." The figure was standing casually on the dock, dressed in a crisp white tropical suit and topped with a panama hat. With his florial tropical shirt, all he needed was a camera to complete the New Yorker cartoon image of the wealthy American tourist in the islands. Erik Lensherr, however, was no cartoon. One of the world's most noted terrorists, most powerful mutants and in their last encounter, very nearly the executioner of Garrison Kane. "I would advise against any hostilities on the dock. It took us the best part of three days to finish it, and I would hate to invest in repairs."

"Magneto." Kane breathed, positioning himself between Erik and Adrienne.

"For a time, certainly. Now, I prefer Erik in my retirement."

"Hostilities? Awesome," Adrienne muttered, pretty much at the end of her rope with all of this. "I'm guessing that means we've been kidnapped?" She kicked Garrison in the shin, though after the lack of food and the scant water she'd had lately, it wasn't very hard. "I'm never going anywhere with you again. Nine times out of ten we end up getting fucking kidnapped!"

"Kidnapped? My dear Ms Frost, from my perspective, it appears that you've been rescued. Vlad, Arina and Carl said that they pulled you from a makeshift raft after your ship had sunk. Is that not the case?"

"Stop playing around, Magneto. What do you want?" Kane said dangerously. He had noticed others on the dock and the beach behind, one or two of them Brotherhood he recognized.

"I have what I want, Mr Kane. Perhaps that is surprising to you." He gestured around him, to the beach and the tent city between it and the volcano. "Welcome to Avalon. The world's first mutant nation."

"Cool," Adrienne responded, thoroughly confused. "So, Erik, Mister Kane seems to think you're worthy of hostilities, while you mentioned something about retiring? What the fuck is going on? What's the history here that I'm missing?" she asked, gesturing between the two of them.

"Other than the thousands of deaths when he attacked San Diego, took over a Russian weapons platform, and ripped out my throat with my own uniform, no, no real history."

"That was positively years ago, Mr. Kane. One's priorities do change as they age." Erik said, although Kane couldn't help but notice that Magneto looked fitter than he'd seen him last. The man was in his mid-80s and yet could pass for a healthy 60s; maybe even 50s. Was he a clone? An impostor?

Since her own priorities had changed as she'd aged, Adrienne didn't have much of a reason to distrust what this creepy guy was saying, other than the fact that he creeped her out and that she trusted Garrison implicitly and he didn't trust him. Still, Garrison could get really bogged down in absolute rights and absolute wrongs sometimes, as she well knew. But on the other hand, being responsible for thousands of deaths wasn't exactly the same thing as hiring someone to kill one's abusive husband, right? It wasn't as if she and Erik were the same. She didn't really owe him understanding just because they both said their priorities had changed, right? "Oh, that Erik. Wait, wasn't that guy like... really old?" she asked Garrison. "This guy doesn't look that old. Is there a fountain of youth here?" she asked Erik hopefully.

"Nothing so generalized, my dear. No, after my last encounter with the X-Men, I discovered that my powers, or rather their use at the levels I operate at, provided a form of negative feedback on my body. It caused a problem with my internal magnetic fields. Neural damage, blocking of signals from my nervous system to the rest of my body, enhanced cellular decay... I was looking for potential ways to counter the effects when I discovered the existence of this island and it's abnormally high natural magnetic fields surrounding it. An American research base operated here studying the fields for several decades before being abandoned at the turn of the century. As I was renovating the vacant base, I discovered that the natural fields not only arrested the damage my powers caused me, but actually reduced many of the effects of aging. I won't rediscover my twenties again, as I see Ms Frost hoping, but I certainly feel decades younger."

Adrienne absorbed the information with a thoughtful look, but didn't have much in the way of a comment to make about it in regards to Erik. Instead, she went back to their previous topic. "So what about these priorities changing that you mentioned?"

"My efforts have always been about the survival of mutants. I know firsthand how more populous cultures can destroy potential challengers, especially in the early years. I had once walked the same path as Charles, towards education and integration. Later, I saw the first violent backlash, and believed that only fear would protect them. For all my efforts, all the cost, it wasn't even my efforts that proved my way futile. It was Apocalypse."

Erik stopped and took a seat on the benches along the beach. "He took his city, lost it, and in the process, caused the deaths of thousands of mutants worldwide. No, I cannot protect them through education. I cannot protect them through fear. But I can protect them through strength. This island."

"What, a make believe nation?"

"Make-believe? Oh, it is very different than that. This island I can secure. Against any who come for mutants here. If the rest of the world needs time to be safe for mutants, I will provide a place they can wait for that day."

"And how is it secure?" Adrienne inquired curiously. "I mean, where the hell are we, first of all, but secondly, how is where we are secure? Cuz it pretty much looks like a jungle and a fucking volcano to me," she mused with a raised eyebrow.

"The magnetic fields are strong enough that I could stop a navy alone. I have also developed an amplifier which once finished will be capable of generating a shield strong enough to withstand any assault." He smiled at Kane's reaction. "Yes, Mr Kane, why would I tell you about my capabilities so easily? Because they are going to protect them." He indicated the tent city going up. Children played on the beach, and for each Brotherhood terrorist he could identify, there were a dozen others he didn't know of.

"Avalon."

"It's genesis, yes. One day, perhaps this will be the place that a new, better world started."

"Are all these people... mutants?" Adrienne asked in disbelief. "No non-mutants here?" It also didn't escape her attention that Erik was the second person to ignore her question about where exactly they were.

"All mutants, Ms Frost. Together for the first time in a place they can truly call theirs."