Flare (xmen)

Chapter 25: "I can't breathe"

Erik moved outside of the plane, holding onto one of the wheels outside of the plane. Erik looked like he was concentrating, or trying to move a jar with his mind. Either way, he was turning red and it looked like he was having a tough time. Seriously, how was he turning that red so fast? Ali had brownish skin, and she couldn't remember if she ever turned red, both in anger and in embarrassment.

It seemed to be working, as the submarine began rising up, the metal groaning. Erik seemed to be having a hard time lifting it though. He looked like he was in pain and that sub was going to drop back soon. Charles seemed to pick up on this too, because he put his fingers back up to his temple. Maybe psychic energy sharing, but knowing Charles it was just a pep talk.

It seemed to work, because Erik was able to stabilize it somewhat alright. Safety be damned. Ali unlocked herself from the seat and got up to see what was happening. She was pulled back down. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see what's happening. It feels too easy." Ali replied to Raven, and got up from the seat and grasped the side of the plane, stumbling toward the end of the plane. She turned her bracelets on, and could feel the light drumming through the bracelet. After stumbling in front of Charles and grasping the end of the plane hangar support beam, she looked down. The wind was whipping her hair harshly, and she could see that the sub was still risen in the air.

Suddenly, the plane began moving around harshly. Ali almost flew off the plane, but her bracelet got stuck on the pole. She could faintly see that there was a guy outside the sub, floating in the air, creating tornadoes outside. Cyclone guy.

"Hank!" Ali yelled. She didn't know if he could hear her, but this was going to end badly, she could feel it.

"Erik! Take my hand!" Charles yelled. Ouch, Charles. Ali was a bit affronted. He's your weird boyfriend/best friend, but still hurts. "Alison, get out of there!"

Erik ended up sending the submarine toward the beach, and it crashed onto the shore, rolling over a few times before stopping.

"I have a terrible idea!" Ali yelled back. This was really a bad idea. The light levels were going down outside but maybe this could work.

Ali took a breath. She had never bent light this far away from her. She held her hand out and tried to pull the light through the mutant. Her guy was screaming in pain, and she knew her yes were barely fighting back tears. She yelled and the light came straight to her palm. She almost collapsed in exhaustion, but the plane was unstable and she knew that she would be going down hard if she passed out then and there. The tornado seemed to have stopped, but it did its damage. The plane lost control as Erik pulled her back in with a piece of metal that she forgot to take off after Sean's debacle.

Erik shoved her toad the seat, and she hit her head. Ignoring the throbbing sensation, she curled her hands over her head, as the plane spun around. She used the light from her bracelets to create a forcefield, the pale yellow light forming a shield around her like a bubble. From her squinted eyes, she could see that no one else was protected and that the jet was going down bad. Her gut was almost dead as she pulled more light and formed the force fields around everyone else, hopefully protecting them.

Ali squeezed her eyes shut, terrified at the plane's uncontrolled descent. After the plane shot down and crashed, rolling over a few times, it stopped. Ali bounced a few times around the plane, ultimately stopping near Raven. She released the force fields and barely managed to stand up before crashing back to the ground.

"Ali!" Raven pulled her back up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, Raven." Ali promised. "I can't say the same for the plane, though." The plane was on fire, wrecked beyond repair.

"That was only the first wave." Erik replied ominously. "We still have to deal with Shaw and his forces." By forces, he meant the four other people, but Ali caught the drift.

"We're like sitting ducks out here." Hank informed shortly. "Let's get back to the jet."

"I read the teleporter's mind. Shaw is drawing out all the power from his sub. He's going to turn himself into some kind of a nuclear bomb."

"We've got no time. The system's out of control!" Moira snapped.

"I'm going in." Erik got up.

"Beast, Flare and Havok. Back him up." Charles ordered. "Erik, I can guide you through the sub, but you need to shut down whatever's blocking me. I just hope to God it's not too late to stop him."

"Alright." Erik started off toward the sub. Hank and Alex followed.

Ali walked out of the plane, and nearly got decapitated.

When she swung back up, she saw the cyclone guy was holding a piece of rebar and looked angry. She looked and realized that he had a huge burn mark on his shoulder. So she did manage to hit him.

She turned her bracelets back on and fired a beam, which missed. She grumbled, before grasping a beam like a knife, and charging. Cyclone guy dodged and began manipulating the wind, creating a storm and Ali couldn't see a thing. Instinctively, she struck at the point in which the storm was strongest and she heard a groan. A hit. The mutant stood, holding his bleeding arm. Just before he could yell, a red blast fired next to her and he hit the plane wing, knocked out. "Thanks." Ali mumbled.

A crack materialized behind her and Hank swung, just managing to save Alex. Azazel cracked again, taking Hank and Alex with him. Ali spun around, and found Raven.

"I'm going to go and confront him. That." Ali spat.

"Do you need my help? Raven asked genuinely.

"No, I have to do this on my own." Ali replied. "I got this, Mystique."

"Good luck, Flare." Raven smiled, while Ali inwardly groaned. Flare. What a dumb name.

Ali pulled the light from the bracelets toward her hands, forming two light balls in her palms. She ran toward the beach, to find Pierce and to end this part of her life.

"So we meet again kid." A voice echoed behind her. She spun around, and the face that haunted her dreams was looking at her.

Oh my god, I can't breathe.