[**This will take place just before the X-Men enter. They will be able to feel the earthquake, hear the shot, and feel the earthquake stop]
[***RP TURN ORDER
- Kitty
- Lance and Adullo (skip first round)
- Todd
- Hank
- Rahne
- Ramona
- Gayle]
He cried out in agonized pain as he felt the crowbar slam against his leg. As much as he had tried, he couldn’t pull himself free of his restraints. He could use his powers. He couldn’t do anything other than be pummeled into the ground by the man he once lovingly called ‘Father’. The ache of the impact ebbed up his thigh, to his hip. He held his head against the concrete, choking back pained tears.
“” Adullo once again demanded, lifting the crowbar for another strike. “”
Lance looked back up, eyes having grown saddened, but distant and cold in their own right. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the gut feeling of impeding death clung to him like a black tar. He said nothing, just stared. Adullo’s face warped into one of almost blind anger, and he swung the crowbar down again.
This time the crowbar slammed into Lance’s side. There was a quiet, but still audible crack. He felt it, much more than he heard it. A rib had undoubtedly snapped from the impact. More than likely a lower one. The immediate torturous pain sent Lance into another yelp, followed by an agonized cough. He could barely breathe, now.
Both his legs were beaten and bruised. His stomach was sore and raw. His head was throbbing and dull. And now, his lungs were slowly being choked of air by the pain of simply breathing. Adullo raised the crowbar once more. “useless. You cannot even give me the name of the man who did this before you die. God has indeed punished me with your existence; to forever know the shame of what I have forced into this world. Well, you are no part of me. I refuse you, and I will send you back to Hell, where you belong.>”
Lance closed his eyes, wincing unconsciously as he expected the blow to land. He instead felt a sudden connection. The suppressant. It had worn off enough. Instinctively, it seemed, Lance forced the ground to rumble beneath him. Small chunks of the ceiling fell down to the ground, as did the off-balanced Adullo. There was a dull thud, and then a moment of shifting as the man stood up once again.
“” Adullo said, voice able to scorn Lance with it’s very sound, now. Lance couldn’t think. All he could do was survive.
The ground once again shook, forcing Adullo to fall to his knees. Lance fought the incredible pain, the weakness in his legs, and the lack of air in his lungs, and climbed to his feet. His legs were so frail, so beaten and weak, that his steps were uneven and shaky. It didn’t matter to him. The pain, the speed, nothing mattered more than running. He had only gotten a few feet away as Adullo got to his feet once more, spinning around with a booming shout, “”
Don’t turn. Don’t turn. He hated his emotions, at times. He could barely control himself as he nervously turned around for a final look. That’s when a loud bang clapped through the air, and with the sudden impact to his gut, the trembling earth stopped. Lance fell limp to the floor, all of the air knocked from him. God, what had just happened? Though he tried, he couldn’t gather himself. The pain was too great, and every time he even tried to move his legs, a hideous torture spread through his lower back.
Adullo slowly walked over, and Lance barely lifted his head to try and look. In his mind, he recalled when he could look on that face with love, not terror.
“Papa! Papa! Look!”
“Oh? What’s that. A bug?”
“A beetle!”
“Ahaha. It looks big! It must have eaten a bunch of little bugs.”
“Yeah! Because it’s strong! Big, and strong, and tough!”
“Just like you will be, one day. You will be my big, strong, and tough young man.”
“I promise, Papa!”
Kitty sat angrily within one of the X-jet’s seats with her arms crossed over her belted in torso. She had been annoyed since the get-go. Annoyed that Lance didn’t tell her the truth about his line of work, annoyed that she couldn’t possibly have known that he was getting into danger like this, annoyed that he could be hurt right now and she couldn’t do anything to help him faster—all because he failed to tell her. And especially annoyed at how remarkably slow the X-jet seemed to go during an actual crisis. Maybe we would’ve like been there by now if it didn’t take everyone like a month and a friggin’ half to get to the hangar! She mentally cursed her team while tapping her fingers impatiently.
She wasted no time in waiting for the others to exit the jet before bolting off at her top speed towards the only building she saw. Tears welled in her eyes and her heart was seriously trying to evacuate her chest. She couldn’t lose him, not now, not when he just popped back into her life and not ever.