Lost in the Dark

"We've captured one of your cohorts, Erik."

I felt my heart sink, plummeting tgh mgh my ribcage and into my shoes. I refused to look at him. Stoic. Be stoic. Show no emotion, it'll only give him an opening. "Oh?"

"Yes," Stryker continued, fingering one of the chess pieces, a little white pawn. "I'm quite surprised he's still alive." Oh thank God it isn't Raven... "Found him about a week ago. He was in a coma; came out of it this morning, actually." He put the pawn down, looking at me. "I want you to tell me about him, Erik." He handed me a manilla envelope. I refused to take it, keeping my hands politely folded in my lap. Stryker glared at me, then set it down in front of me.

"Not much to tell, really," I said, picking absently at my nails. He'd force the information out of me sooner or later. He always did. I never told him anything willingly; I was too proud to do that.

He sighed. "Oh, Erik, must we do this again?"

"Pull his arrest record," I said, "that should be enough for you."

"We've done that," he said, rising. I tried to stand, but Laurio was behind me and shoved me back down into the chair. "He's been quite a busy boy. Everything from shoplifting to terrorism." I rolled my eyes. Terrorism. That's what they kept calling our failed assault on Liberty Island. Terrorism. Like we'd bombed the hell out of a country, killed millions of innocents. No, murder was never my objective. "You're the one who knows him, Erik." Laurio slammed my head against the cold plasitc desk, singsing the back of my neck. I ignored the pain that was weaving through my skull and thrashed, swiping at him with my arms, my fingertips groping the air, searching for something metal, anything. A capped tooth, a zipper, a badge, an earring, anything. Nothing. Nothing metal at. \. "And I'd like to get to know him, too," said Stryker, grinning. I gritted my teeth, refusing to scream as the sharp, acid-like liquid hit my skin, seeping into my bloodstream.

Everything stopped. I lay there against the desk, desparately wanting to move and finding myself unable to. Laurio jerked me up, like a puppet, and I looked at Stryker, waiting patiently for him to ask his question.

"Who is Mortimer Toynbee?" he asked, opening the manilla envelope and pulling out a picture. It was a faded mugshot from about a year or so ago, when he'd gotten himself arrested for grabbing some woman's purse on the subway. "Tell me, where did you find him?"

"Charles is the one who found him," I said mechanically, wishing I could just shut my mouth. "With Cerebro. He was testing it out, and picked up on Mortimer."

"I see. Go on. Tell me more."

"He was in an orphanage in York, England," I continued. "He'd lived there all his life. He was about fifteen, maybe sixteen. Raven and I flew out and picked him up. We pretended to be a married couple and we adopted him."

"So technically, he's your son by adoption."

"We never really saw it that way. Charles enrolled him in his school immediately - "

"Who were his other pupils? Did he have any?" He leaned forward, motioning for Laurio to take names.

"Yes, he had a few," I said. "Scott Summers, Jean Grey, and Ororo Monroe. Mortimer didn't fit in, though. Shortly after, Charles and I parted ways. I realized that humankind would never tolerate us, and he refused to accept it. Mortimer came with me." I hoped that they wouldn't press me further. Mortimer had a lot of secrets. Secrets that I happened to know.

"I'm wondering, just out of curiousity - " Stryker picked up the pawn and rolled it around in his hand " - you see, when he woke up, he was saying a lot of things we couldn't quite make out. Is he romantically involved with anyone."

"Yes." No, no don't say anymore. You are damning him if you say anything else; he will suffer and it will be part of your doing. Erik, you can't say anything else. "He's currently involved with Victor Creed." God, if you're as merciful as everyone tells me you are, take him now. End his suffering before it begins, please...

Stryker grinned. "Thank you, Erik," he said, rising. He put the chess piece down. "We'll tell your friend you said 'hello.'" He and Laurio left. I could only sit there until the drugs wore off.