Panther - A Nightcrawler Fanfiction

43) Deplete, Disbelieve, Disappear

[Author's Note: Because I am procrastinating on my homework, I am going to write a chapter of Panther! Yeyyyy! And then I actually did Creative Writing homework instead. But! I just finished this and I'm going to press Publish soon as I figure out what to title this. Not that the title really matters to you guys.  Okay this is kind of short, but it wanted to end there, so it does.

X-Men Characters in this chapter: Nightcrawler (Kurt), Wolverine (Logan), Professor X (Charles Xavier), Cyclops (Scott), "Phoenix" (Jean), Rogue (Marie), Gambit (Remy), Storm (Ororo)

OCs: Panther (Emery), Chet, Kenneth]

Kenneth felt the control over him immediately. He knew his powers were out of commission. They'd been subdued, albeit not completely, while he was in prison and the restriction was recognizable. He whirled around and punched Chet square in the jaw. Kenneth followed the momentum and Chet to the ground, aiming another punch at him.

"Return my powers to me!"

Wolverine wrapped his arms around Kenneth's torso, yanking Kenneth off Chet. Like a mental-health patient struggling against his straight jacket, Kenneth fought to free himself from Wolverine's grip.

"You don't understand!" Kenneth shrieked. Chet pushed himself up off the ground.

"What don't we understand, Kenneth?" the Professor asked.

"I'm the only thing keeping her safe!" Kenneth was furious.

"Safe from what?" the Professor encouraged.

"Herself! Goddammit! If I don't mess with her mind constantly, you can't stop her! You don't understand the extent of her powers. It's all in her imagination and her imagination is a dangerous place! You have trouble with her when I am tampering with her! Don't think I don't know things! Do you really think you can stop her if I've let go of the blocks on her mind?!"

"I kann," Nightcrawler said, stepping forwards.

"You think you can." Kenneth shook his head. "You people are so stupid. You can't even see how dangerous she is. She doesn't know how to control them, or hadn't you noticed." He shot a look at Rogue.

"She's been training," Wolverine said. "What's your point, bub?"

"I've been dampening her powers. Helping her. She doesn't know it. She can't feel it. I made sure she'd only know I was in her brain if I let her know. My signature is too close to hers. She never notices. But she..."

Kenneth didn't finish.

The warehouse across the street exploded.

The x-men were back in action. They'd been a team, been through Wolverine's training sessions in the Danger Room, long enough to know what part they played in this sort of operation. The Professor scanned for signs of life within and around the warehouse. Storm summoned a rain cloud. Wolverine slid down the building they were on by his claws as Chet latched onto Kenneth's arms and commanded him not to resist. Rogue carried Gambit. Nightcrawler teleported Cyclops. Jean flew.

Pieces of metal that had been part of the building's framework rained down several yards from the perimeter of the parking lot next door. The abandoned section of town needed a make over anyway, so the building wasn't any great loss to anyone but the one who owned it. 

When the Professor's mind touched Emery's, he retreated in pain instantly.

'Emery is the only one present. She made the warehouse explode,' he broadcast.

The team hesitated in their efforts, stopping in the street before what was the warehouse only a minute before . The shambles of the framework were barely standing, and beneath a framed doorway, stood Emery. Her eyes were shining so brilliantly that both the iris' and the whites of her eyes were not visible beneath it's brightness.

"I'm going to take a long-shot," Cyclops started, "and say Kenneth was telling the truth."

"It's not that much of a long-shot," Jean responded.

"Emery!" Nightcrawler called to her. "Emery! It's me. It's alright. We can go home now."

'We,' she broadcast.

"Yes we!"

'You know.' The metal pieces closest to Emery began to rattle, shaking against the ground.

"I don't care about your past!"

'Yes, you do.' The smaller fragments lifted off the ground.

"Whatever you're thinking," Rogue whispered in Nightcrawler's ear, "Just admit it. She knows anyway." A shard zipped at Rogue, which thanks to Gambit's quick yank of her arm, only grazed her hair.

'You're afraid of me. You're all afraid of me.' More metal levitated.

"Of course we're afraid!" Gambit said. "Look at what you're doin'!"

"You could hurt someone bad, whether ya mean to or not!" Wolverine told her. "Calm down."

'I don't want to hurt you.'

"You won't," Nightcrawler responded. "Just come here and I'll make sure you don't hurt anyone. I promise."

Emery moved forward, the metal quivering in their places with each step she took. She was ten feet away when the rooftop across the street came in range of her mind-reading capabilities.

'Chet! Kenneth!" Emery's head jerked up in surprise. She stumbled in the opposite direction in an attempt to put more distance between her and Kenneth. She tripped over a floating steel bar at the back of her shins, and fell backwards into a spiraling plasma portal.

In the next few seconds, Kenneth cried out such an anguished "No!" that it prompted Chet to say: "Don't move!" right as Nightcrawler tried to teleport. The teleport failed, restricted by Chet's powers, the puff of smoke billowing out from where Nightcrawler was standing. He'd landed in the same spot, not even a micro-millimeter of difference. Kurt called out her name, unable to go to her, as the portal closed.

And then she was gone.