Sword and Shield | E. Lehnsherr

22. Flower, Gleam and Glow

If this Colonel Stryker believes this asinine cell can hold Kora, she'll make sure to end him slowly. The green lights are an affront to nature as she sits against the metal walls, her legs crossed in front of her with her eyes closed. Somewhere in this concrete prison, she can feel the earth struggling to break free, to become alive again. She'll be damned if she can't help it.

The young boy with the white hair, whose name, she learned, is Peter, steps away from her, asking, "You know him? Magneto?"

With her eyes closed, she waits for someone to answer. "I used to," Raven replies. "I'm not so sure anymore."

Curiosity spikes at her mind.

"What was he like? Was he like they say he was? Was he a bad guy?"

"No. I mean, yeah, he was. Why do you care so much? Did you see him get his ass kicked on TV or something?"

"Yeah, but...he's my father."

Kora chokes on air, her eyes snapping open for a moment.

"What?" Raven asks.

Peter shrugs. "He and my mom, they did it—"

"Yeah, I know. But, are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. He left my mom before I was born. I met him ten years back, but I didn't know it was him. By the time I figured it out, it was too late, you know. Then, this week I saw him on TV again, and I came to the house looking for him, but by the time I got there, late again. You know, for a guy who moves as fast as me, I always seem to be too late."

Kora takes a deep breath and closes her eyes once more. She'll interpret that information later.

"Let's hope not this time," Raven says softly. Kora hears her footsteps coming closer. "We haven't been properly introduced."

"I know all I need to know about you, Raven," Kora says. "You can call me Kora, but I'd suggest you leave me be."

"If all you know about me are stories, you don't know me."

"Oh, trust me, I know enough," Kora takes a deep breath, tunneling further under the metal and concrete. "The plants whisper what they've seen. They missed you. They were very happy when you returned home. Now, they are all dead. If you'd like to keep talking, I suggest you tell me more about Erik Lehnsherr."

"Why is that?" Raven asks with a scoff.

"He is on the other side now. I need to know if there is something in him to be saved, should the opportunity present itself to take him down." Kora opens one eye, arching a brow at the shapeshifter. "The plants said there was only one person who could truly control him, that Ria girl. Is that true?"

Raven clenches her jaw. "In a way."

"Well, let's hope Ria will come to our rescue yet again, wherever she may be. Rest assured, I will do what I have to when the time comes. Even if he was your friend."

"You don't strike me as a killer."

"Nor do you." Kora closes her eyes once more. "Yet, I seem to remember you trying to kill a bunch of humans on live television a decade ago. We all have dark parts of ourselves, Raven. Sometimes, we have to embrace it to survive."

There. A smile tugs at her lips. A forgotten seed in a forgotten plot of land buried beneath this structure. Kora reaches out, pulling the plant from within, pleading with it to grow up and up, to follow her call.

"So you control plants—"

"Raven, I am trying to get us out of here, and I very much need to concentrate. You can sass me later." The plant hits the metal edges. "Don't worry, little one," Kora whispers. "Stone always has a weakness. We will find it."

It takes a moment, but she feels the plant growing closer, now through the first layer from a crack in the foundation. It comes closer and closer, bursting through more and more weaknesses until it reaches their cell. With a happy gasp, Kora leaps from position to her knees and kneels next to the floor, luring the plant through the small crack where wall and floor meet.

A small flower grows in her palm.

"Perfect." She stands and turns to the others, spreading her arms. "I say we'll be out of here in five minutes."

"Hear me, inhabitants of the world."

Kora frowns as Charles' voice echoes in her mind.

"This is a message. A message to every man, woman, and mutant. You have lost your way, but I have returned. The day of reckoning, it is here. All your buildings and temples will fall. The dawn of a new era will emerge, for there is nothing you can do to stop what is coming. This message is for one reason alone. Those with the greatest power, protect those without. That's my message to the world."

"How was Charles doing that without Cerebro?" Hank asks as commotion draws Kora's gaze above to their frantic captors.

"I know that voice," Stryker says through the intercom. "It's Xavier, isn't it? What's going on?"

"We don't know!" Raven exclaims.

"We don't know, bro!" Peter adds, his arms stretched wide.

An alarm begins blaring as Kora kneels beside the small pink flower, willing it to grow, call its friends, to overwhelm the foundation. She whispers beneath her breath, blocking out the others' confusion.

A sigh of relief passes her lips as more flowers blossom through the cracks, vines climbing up the walls of the cells and wrapping around the green lights. She wills them to squeeze as much as they can. The lights crack under the pressure until someone hauls her to her feet and presses her against the wall.

The door explodes from the outside. Once the dust settles a bit, Hank removes himself from Kora, allowing her to step towards the hole, her eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"Where else would I go?" Pluto asks, tilting his head. "Plus, I didn't do much. It was all Jean."

"What about breaking the door?" Scott asks with a wince.

"It was all Jean."

As Kora hugs her son tightly, whispering blessings against his head, Jean rolls her eyes and says, "We know where the professor is."

"I think we might have a way out of here," Scott adds.

"Well, you've been busy," Raven says as they all step out of the cell. The plants Kora had called slink back into the depths of the soil, though she can see the imprint of them on the walls.

"We had a little help."

✤ ✤ ✤ ✤

Short chapter, but the next one is long. And we'll get to see a familiar face :) One who we haven't explicitly seen yet in this act :) Oh, and pain. 

Hope you enjoyed!

-L