Dark and Shameful Past

The year of the Mutant Murders started a ten year imprisonment program for mutants. Mutants were systematically stripped of civil rights and imprisoned, most at the infamous Camp American Freedom in North Dakota, a few at the smaller camps in California and South Carolina (Camp Liberation and Camp Sovereign Immunity). The murders of Senator Robert Kelly and the attempted murders of the President and Supreme Court, as well as mutant attacks on civilians, caused great outcry.

Yet resistance to the imprisonment campaign was also widespread. Canada immediately condemned the actions of its neighbor and opened its borders to persecuted American mutants. Mexico did nothing nearly as broad, but the Mexican government did resent the American attempts to tell them what to do, so American mutant hunters got short shrift there. The European countries also denounced the Americans, and the United Nations tried repeatedly to pass a resolution condemning the Americans' actions.

Not surprisingly, the resistance on the North American continent was centered in Canada, led by the legendary Wolverine and James Hudson of Alpha Flight, and in Mexico, led by Mystique and Magneto, until his untimely demise at the hands of a mutant hunter.

There were small pockets of underground resistance in the U.S. itself, of course, which was the main reason after the first year or so that the government kept getting new mutants to intern in its prisons. But the resistance continued, at least in part because the government was too cheap to fund large-scale creation of Sentinel robots. There were maybe one or two left standing after the first year, and they had been made by the lowest bidders...thus being prone to failure at the least sign of trouble.

There was also some trouble recruiting prison guards, especially since most mutants in the prisons did not hesitate to kill to get out. So the government decided the cheapest and best way to guard the prisoners was to get some of the other mutants to do so for them.

The traitor mutants were mostly, from what we can gather afterward, people who did their work reluctantly after torture or other pressures were put on them by the government (e.g. "We'll kill your mother unless..."). There were, of course, a few psychotic or sadistic ones who reveled in the power they had over other mutants, but those were rare. Unfortunately, most in the prisons didn't see it that way until afterward, so few of the traitors survived.

None of the sadists survived, to our knowledge.

We have one diary from that time, donated by the owner, which we hope will help shed light on that dark time in our country. May it never happen again. May the Camps stay the smoldering pile of ash, and never be rebuilt.

Diary Entry: Nearly Six Months Inside

I had to be on discipline detail when the news came in that the Wagner twins had been caught trying to teleport past the electric fences again. Why me?

My friend Wanda Maximoff tapped my arm. "Sorry. Looks like you're up this time, Elena." Reluctantly, I rose from my chair in the television security room. I hated discipline, or to be more honest, punishing mutants for trying to escape. Working at Camp American Freedom made me sick.

It was where any mutant still living was brought who hadn't had the sense to go to Canada or Mexico. The humans found it amusing, and far less expensive in "useful" human life, to have mutants guarding other mutants in these prisons. I was caught six months ago, myself, and my willingness to turn on my kind to avoid more torture and my stamina favorably impressed the warden. So here I was, on guard duty and about to commit blasphemy.

Most of us guards didn't like our duties. We did them to the least of our ability, and then went home and drowned our sorrows in alcohol or other experiences. Wanda had already had one nervous breakdown this year and cringed any time someone called her a traitor, which regularly happened.

I made my way down to the discipline block. When I reached the cell with the racks, I saw the Wagners there, bound and bloody. Kurt, as usual, had been beaten worse than Krystal. His fur was matted with blood, and one of his golden eyes was closed, while her fur was relatively unscathed. I shut my eyes and gulped. Get through this day, and get home. This is just work. Just get through it.

I took out a fully automatic Uzi from the gun rack outside and walked into the cell, training it on Kurt. Blasphemy. This is blasphemy. "Come on, Krystal. Get into one of the racks. I can kill him before he teleports anywhere."

Kurt interrupted me. "But guard Elena, she needs to be released first, ja?"

I smiled sadly and shook my head. "Kurt, you can't get away with that here. I know and you know that you taunted Boris to beat you instead of her. She can do a very short teleport out of her bonds."

He shrugged as best he could. "Can't blame a man for trying."

Krystal did do a short jump, the most either of them could do with the collars on, and then fastened the cuffs to her wrists and ankles resignedly. Her tail lashed and she whimpered slightly as I touched the button that started the rack up. The cuffs bit deep into her wrists and ankles, and stretched out her arms and legs until they were taut, but not in danger of more. This won't last forever. It can't last forever! This is America...

When she was secure, I nodded to Kurt and shifted my sights to Krystal. Kurt slowly attached his own bonds, and once again I deliberately hurt another mutant.

They both were secured. I pulled back a little and heard footsteps in the hall. I waited, keeping a casual grip on my weapon, hoping it wasn't the man I feared, standing in the doorway to the cell.

Damn. It was Pietro Maximoff. Unlike his gentle sister, whose demonic nature was under control, Pietro was a true demon. He took to torture and dominance like a duck to water. He smiled nastily at me and slapped his club into his hand explosively.

Krystal trembled at the sound, and Kurt tensed. I forced my own fear out of my body and said casually, "What are you doing here, Maximoff?"

He walked directly to me, fondling a large sharp knife. "Since your last infraction, I thought I might take a souvenir from these as well. It would teach the bad mutants a lesson, no, if I took...say, a tail?"

I broke in before Kurt could change to English from German. "Do you have a permit this time, or are you just taking the authority on yourself again? I know the warden didn't like my ... gentleness with the LeBeau thief, but he wasn't pleased when you blinded him, either."

"Mmm...so you care, Elena?" His dark eyes lit up and he moved to press the knife against my throat. I took a few steps back and said, quietly, "No."

"Then I'll take this one," he said, and was over Krystal's tail in one second.

Kurt started up again, and I prayed Pietro didn't know German as I put my hand over the blade of the knife, cutting it a little. Krystal just closed her eyes, and a small tear started leaking out a corner of one eye. "Stop," I said loudly. "Maybe we can make a bargain?"

Pietro chose to be amused by that and nodded, sheathing his knife. Kurt took a huge breath, and I added to my previous cruelty.

I walked over to him and released all my rage at his face. "If you don't shut the hell up and stay shut up, Wagner, I'll rip off both your tails and gag you with them myself." I raised my club as if to strike, but gentled my face and mouthed the word "Please!" as I did so.

His mouth remained open, but he was silent as he lay there helpless. I nearly vomited (nice job, hitting some poor bastard who can't fight back) but maintained control as I turned to face Pietro again.

The tear had leaked further down Krystal's cheek, and others had joined it. Pietro had indeed sheathed his knife, but instead he held her tail and played it between his fingers. "What bargain do you want to make, my sweet?" he asked, tugging a little on the tail in his hand.

Wanda gave me the words a few months back, after I had improperly restrained Remy LeBeau and Pietro had been brought in to correct my "error." I went over them once, then spoke. "By the powers of blood, ink, paper, spirit, and honor, I bind Elena Sidney and Pietro Maximoff to the bargain. May negotiations begin fairly and not be closed until they are agreed, and a contract is signed."

He dropped her tail after the first few words, and all playfulness dropped away from him. His eyes grew darker, and his face hardened. He walked toward me, looming over me. "You may be safe for now, but I assure you, my sweet sister will burn for days for this betrayal, mortal. Now, what do you want out of this little chat?"

I held my left hand up and set the gun down with my right. "I want no harm to be done by you to either of the Wagner twins, directly or indirectly, in any way, for the next six months."

He considered this, eyes flashing, then turning back to me. "What can you offer me to make my...restraint worthwhile? Why should I not strip the flesh from their bones as they lie here?"

I closed my eyes. It's a small price to pay...I owe so much...it will all be over soon... Without opening my eyes, I said, "If you agree to do nothing that won't heal by morning, no permanent damage of any kind, no draining of my blood or life to use against me later, I will be yours from noon until the last light of the sun fades from the sky this day, and this day alone."

Krystal cried out, "Don't do this! He's a demon!" and Kurt was muttering in German again. I ignored it as best I could.

He thought, and looked me over lasciviously. "Not quite enough. I want something more."

"Then I will demand more."

He shrugged. "Do you use birth control?"

Oh God, I hadn't thought about that... I had to bargain in good faith. The thought of lying was making me sick enough. I swallowed and nodded.

"Drugs?"

I shook my head.

"Barriers, then?"

"Yes, damn you."

He smiled. "Then, I will agree to never touch any of you again in any way. I will swear to leave all three of you alone in this life, and in the afterlife, should you visit my mother's land in death. But you must agree to not use any birth control during our time together, not try to prevent conception in any fashion, and swear by the blood that you will do your utmost to keep any child of our union alive, if one should result."

I looked at the Wagners again, in one last attempt to give myself time. I didn't want to agree to this. They were both staring at me, four glowing golden eyes flowing with tears. Kurt was shaking his head no, and Krystal's tail twitched. I closed my eyes and saw Her face, though, and that decided it for me.

I opened my eyes, turned my back on the Wagners, and said in hatred, "I agree to your terms."

He smiled, triumphant. "And I to yours." The rest of the ritual concluded as Wanda had said it would, with the ritual knife appearing so we could swear by blood, pens appearing to sign the contract when it appeared, and swore by our honors and our spirits that we would abide by spirit and letter of our agreement.

He left the cell then, not looking back at me or the twins. I sighed and took the Uzi back out to the gun rack. As I locked the cell, a voice said, "You should not have done that, you know. We are not worth this."

Without looking back to see which one had said it, I forced out, "Didn't I tell you to shut up, Wagner?" I left then, locking the cell behind me.

After the Ball: Part 2

I made my stumbling way home, crying a little. He told me to get out after the light faded, and I did. The scratches still stung, but they didn't matter as much as my internal pain.

I had to do it, but oh, it had been hard. I couldn't let them be hurt, let another be lost...and I couldn't hurt her, the one who had given me back faith.

I ran inside my apartment building and locked the door. My cell phone rang, but I ignored it. I had to take a shower. No, I couldn't yet. Maybe in another hour or so, but not now.

Instead, I lay down on my bed and cried. I didn't want a child, I didn't want sex, and I was alone. The phone kept ringing. Leave me alone. I'm not here right now. I wanted her but I was ashamed, though I knew she would comfort me.

Finally, my sobs abated, and I knew I could shower, for I was either pregnant or not by now. The compulsion to stay out of my bathroom dropped off entirely. I ran in the dark and fell, hard, onto my left knee. The pain helped draw me out of my mental confusion enough to realize I had to answer the phone. The Movement must need me.

I turned on a light and found the phone. "Sidney," I said, shaken.

"Hey, doll face." It was Vic, who pretended to be my boyfriend here in town. "Did you forget our little meeting? The music's hot, and the margaritas are cold."

Meeting...oh, yes. Damn. I was supposed to meet with Vic and a few other of the humans who were coordinating the release. Thursday. We were breaking them out on Thursday.

"Uh, I can't make it. Work kinda got in the way."

He was silent. I heard happy music playing in the background. "Another night, then?"

"Maybe...I don't know. I'll have to call you back." I hung up. I couldn't face Vic now. He was nice, but he didn't know what it was to be a mutant.

The shower was warm, but I was still cold. I basked in the heat, then turned the temperature down a bit.

*Elena?

Oh, not her. I couldn't stand having it be her. Not right now.

*Elena? I will not be denied!

I felt her push very hard at my mind. I let her in a little and saw her as I always saw her inside my mind...tall, strong, and thin as a razor blade. I "looked" at myself and saw my image flickering, crouching, hiding from her.

*Mystique?

*I am here, Elena.* She walked around me once and frowned. *What is wrong, child? You have been shaken.*

*I...I know. It had to happen.

*You must tell me what. I cannot help you unless you do.* She took my hand, and I started to cry. She pulled me into her arms and held me. *Calm down. You're okay. I have you now. You will be all right.*

*It was the children,* I murmured. *He wanted to hurt the children.*

She squeezed me and asked, *Are they all right?

I nodded, crying.

*Are you all right?

I shook my head, miserable.

*Do we need to take you out now?

I wanted to say yes. I had hated the idea of infiltrating the prison, hated the idea of torturing mutants, and hated the entire spy game. But who else knew how to work the controls? Who else could and would provide the right distractions at the right times? Who else could, if all else failed, get out if a major disaster occurred?

I wiped my eyes. *We're going to get out on Thursday, right?*

She nodded.

*Then I can stay till then. But please, get us out on Thursday!*

She held me and said, *I have a feeling I'm in your debt. But I won't press you for more now. Hookup's getting tired. Are you sure you'll be okay?*

*It's just three more days. What can happen in three days?* I pulled away from her and stood up.

*We will talk then, Elena. And remember your grandfather...maybe that will help you hold on.* Hookup broke our telepathic connection then, and I sank to the floor of my shower.

Grandpa Sidney, the Changeling. He had died for Charles Xavier...so had many others. I could hold on. I was my grandfather's blood. I would gladly die for Mystique or her children, Kurt and Krystal Wagner. I was strong.

Or so I hoped.

So Near, and Yet So Far

It was Christmas Eve now, the night before our planned prison break. Mystique would be getting Hookup into his gear to let the mutants know we were getting them out.

Hookup was...unusual. He had no telepathy of his own, but he could put two minds together, effectively giving them both telepathy for a short time, though his powers would not work on himself. However, our scientists working in the Movement had found a way to extend his power to more minds with a machine they called the L-150 (or, when they were joking around after hours, the Conference Call).

So sometime tonight, Hookup would let about 100 or so mutant prisoners know what was going to happen tomorrow, about the rescue. The drugs used to subdue the prisoners every year had been switched with harmless placebos, and the alcohol for the guards was triple strength...with some unpleasant additives.

I was falling apart. I didn't want to admit it, but I couldn't take the memories of Pietro leering down at me, the little cruel remarks, the way he enjoyed it when I screamed...oh, God, he loved my screams. He loved telling me how I would always have a little part of him with me. I still feared that...would a baby corrupt me from within? Was it happening now?

I walked down the cell blocks, trying to bring my mind under control. I had to remain in control. I had to stay and break the Cell Block A residents out...those mutants who had been crippled as a result of their capture or afterward. I owed it to them, especially...

I cringed. I was walking directly to A right now. He was there, lost in darkness, because of me. A voice to my left softly called, "Fraulein?" I nearly jumped out of my skin and let out a small scream.

It was Krystal Wagner, alone in her cell. Her brother had been moved further away after their latest escape attempt. Her blue face peered out at me. I nodded to her, collecting myself, not trusting words right now.

"Are you all right, fraulein?"

She looked so much like her mother, sounded like her.... A tear started forming, and I shuddered a little. "Y...yes," I said.

She cocked her head and shook it back and forth. "You are not all right," she stated. "Would you like to talk?"

I blinked. I knew it wasn't Mystique before me, but with the red light blinking above the door to block A, I could swear it was she. It must be a sign.

"I...I can't say anything right now. When we meet tomorrow, after the rescue, we can talk."

"The rescue?" Mystique/Krystal looked at me curiously. I hissed, "Don't tell me it's been put off again. I've been suffering in this hellhole for nearly six months now. You promised...you promised..."

Mystique must have seen something in my eyes that frightened her. She leapt back from the bars and said soothingly, "Of course, Elena. I will keep my promises to you."

I smiled. I felt bad that I had intimidated the woman who had rescued me before, who had given me new life. I would do anything to spare her pain. If there was a God, She was it for me. "I'm sorry, Mystique," I quivered. "I...just need to get out of here. We can talk more tomorrow, then, about why. I didn't mean to scare you."

Mystique came back to the bars and gently touched my hand. "Merry Christmas, Elena."

"Merry Christmas, Mystique." I turned and walked back the way I had come. The rescue would continue, and my Leader was with me. I was going to be all right.

Transcripts from two Interviews

Interview 1: Gambit, AKA Remy LeBeau speaks with Dr. Henry McCoy...all spellings are the editor's -- Ed.

Dr. McCoy: I imagine you were rather bitter about your betrayal.

Gambit: Damn right, cher. Remy did good for the criminal underground, and then the underground turn him in to the haters.

D: What was the facility like?

G: Big old prison, got up for mutants. All run by rules, gotta get up at nine. Gotta eat at 10. So on. Gambit didn't mind that too much. He'd heard of worse.

D: So tell me how your troubles began.

G: (smiles) Gambit always hook people up with what they want, take what he want, cher. That's Gambit. Didn't know he took the warden's private stash, did he? So Gambit on punishment.

D: What is a punishment?

G: (shrugs) Different things. Solitaire lockup, tied up, beaten, gagged, sometimes torture.

D: (horrified) Torture?

G: Yeah. Rack, boot, especially if you can regenerate.

D: So what happened to you?

G: Pretty girl come to rack up Gambit. Gambit like her. Pretty brown hair, nice smile, seem to care for Gambit. We talk. She just tie Gambit up and leave, not make him be racked. Then...

(silence)

D: Go on.

(silence)

D: Gambit, we need to have a record of what happened to mutants, so this doesn't happen again.

G: (reluctantly) He come in. Tall man with silver hair. Said pretty girl tell him to rack Gambit hard. So he did.

(silence)

D: Do you need a few moments?

G: Naw. Just hard to think of words. Then he say that he supposed to make sure Remy never steal again, and she said to kill him. But he gonna just ...

(silence)

D: Is that when he rendered you sightless?

G: (restless fidgeting) Yeah. Big old knife. That the last thing Gambit ever see.

D: But you got out again.

G: Yeah. Ken up the way pass on a message. Mutants break us all out. Gotta be careful and clever.

D: And something happened.

G: (pause, fidget) Yeah.

D: What?

G: Heard her voice again. Pretty girl who want Gambit dead. Been cursing her for months, then she expect take Gambit out for more pain. She pretend it all to save Gambit. But he know better.

(silence)

So he pretend to fall, charge up her guard ID card, and...

Interview 2: Krystal Wagner speaks to someone about the mutant guard, Elena Sidney

I did not know what to feel about her at first, mein Herr. She was another mutant guard, another traitor. But my brother had some faith that the guards didn't want to hurt us. Other than the crazies.

She wasn't cruel to us, but she did what they told her to. I can still see her face as she held a gun on Kurt. I believe she would have fired, too, if he had done anything she didn't like.

But I changed my mind that one day a few days before Christmas when we were caught again trying to escape. She had us strapped to the rack. My wrists still ache, thinking about it. Then Pietro came in and wanted to take my tail. He would, too. Everyone knew what he did to Remy, and that he would do it again. So she made a bargain with him for our safety.

She threatened Kurt, too, but that was for show. I knew it. I could feel it as he did, mein Herr...his fear dropped away to be replaced with pity.

I saw her next two days later, walking along the cells. She seemed smaller, jumpy. She screamed when I called to her.

(unintelligible)

Yes, mein Herr. She called me Mystique. She talked to me like I was an old friend, but more than that. She behaved as if I were her mother, or a saint, or something. But she told me there would be an escape.

(unintelligible)

I had nearly freed myself from my collar when I heard a scream from my left. I looked and saw Remy and Elena. He had done something to her. Her chest was burnt, and he hissed out something at her before he let her fall to the floor. So I went over to see her.

She smiled and asked me to hold her. I did. She asked if she had done well. I said she had, trying to find her pulse. It was slowing. She relaxed in my arms and told me she was glad I was with her again, for she could die in peace.

(sniff) I'm sorry. I tried to get her to recognize me, but she kept calling me by my mother's name instead. Finally she grew silent, and she breathed out, and was no more. So I teleported out of the prison.

There were trucks there, and drivers for them, to take us to Mexico. I kept her body with me and took it onto the truck when we left. She deserved better than what the other guards got.

Diary Entry: Death After Death

Let me tell you about the first time I died.

I was fourteen, a year after the Mutant Murders, and they were bringing in a nurse to test us for the mutant gene. I wasn't really worried. Sure, grandpa had been a mutant, but I had never manifested any powers, and my mother wasn't a mutant. Most of us weren't worried, and we joked about how some of the dorks in class must be mutants as we waited for our blood test results.

Then I was called in front of the class, and our teacher told everyone that I was one of the hated mutants. There was a shocked silence, and then someone started laughing at me. They pointed and clapped and I hated them all. I was put in a chair at the front of the room, outcast, and sat there for the rest of the day.

After school, a bunch of boys were waiting for me and took me to the playground, where I was beaten and fondled and kicked until they got tired and strangled me. They then dumped my lifeless body in my back yard.

My mother found me that night and took me inside the house. I woke up to her angry voice on the phone, trying to berate a funeral home director to take my corpse. I giggled a little and she stopped talking, paled, and hung up the phone.

She explained that I would need to go away. I had actually died, and there was no better way to keep pursuit to a minimum than for me to try to make my way to a haven in Mexico or Canada while those who had killed me still believed I was dead. (Xavier's school, tragically, had been firebombed out of existence just three months before, or I would have gone there.)

The second time I died was in Mystique's arms. I had managed to make it down to the Mexican border, hitchhiking and doing occasional prostitution for money, when the guy who'd promised to take me over beat me nearly to death, fractured my limbs, and stole my money. Erik, her beloved, found me and took me to her. I told them about my powers and asked them to kill me, as there was no way I would be anything but crippled from my injuries. When they learned of my previous resurrection, and how I had healed all physical damage to my body afterward, they reluctantly agreed to do it. Mystique held me as I died from the poison they fed me.

So I was not afraid of dying when Remy's blast slammed into my chest at the prison. I was afraid I would come back to life there after the prison break and be trapped there forever. But then Mystique came again to hold me into death, and I welcomed the change.

When I awoke after my third death, I stretched out my left knee to test it. Not a bit of pain anywhere. I opened my eyes. I was in a dark place with a lot of people in it. Vic was holding up a flashlight. "Back with us, honey?"

"Yes," I said, confused. "Where's Mystique?"

He frowned. "Back in Canada at the meeting point." He moved to take me into his arms, and I scooted away.

"Don't touch me. Don't touch me, Vic. I don't want to be touched." I cried as I spoke, holding my arms at my sides.

"Hey, what's the matter? We're out. We did it. Sure, you had to die again, but no one much on our side died."

"What about Wanda? And Johnny? And Scott? Did you get them out?" I spat the names of my friends among the guards out. "Or did you just kill them off because they were unable to face the tortures of being a mutant in the United States? They didn't want this, they were as bad off as anyone else."

Vic retreated from me and turned off the light. "Okay, okay. We'll give you a little time out. Sorry."

I felt others moving away from me too, whether in guilt or because of my anger I didn't know. I didn't care. I cried for my friends, and for my life, and for my losses over the past eternity in hell. When a hand reached out to hold one of mine, I let it. The tears fell and the pain burned inside me. My body might be healed, but my mind was not.