Kid Dynamo Chapter Six "Let's Make a Deal" by Connie Hirsch Our Story So Far: Teenage telekinetic fireproof mutant runaway (whew!) Jessica Pierce was rescued from the clutches of the Right by a very surprised Magneto. Our heroine hates his guts for more than the usual reasons -- her mother's mutant fire powers went berserk and killed the poor woman after Magneto had tampered with them way back when. So it was with some fear and loathing that Jessica decided to try Xavier's school for a month -- as a pure point of fact, Jessica had nowhere else to go. It's been over a week and a half since Jessie began classes, and it's been an eventful time. It started with Jessica's first Danger Room run, where she blew up robots and took out the forcefield. Since then, she's destroyed Colossus's training ram and an alien spaceship belonging to the Toad. Doug Ramsey may not have been joking when he suggested the codename "Overkill." And after a certain regrettable incident at the Hellion's prom, her fellow students may never let her live it down... * * * It started out as an ordinary Sunday at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. "Ordinary," of course, had a rather slippery concept around these parts. However, it worked for me. Sundays were the one day Magneto didn't schedule classes, even makeups. He probably thought he was being generous, but I'd wager money he'd have had a strike on his hands otherwise. My fellow students weren't allergic to classes, but they weren't fanatics either. So Sunday was blissfully unplanned. Sam and Rahne headed off to church in the morning, but aside from that, there was nothing scheduled. Since Magneto had lifted the general grounding two days before, we were planning a non-essential, just-for-the-fun-of-it mall expedition. I was feeling chipper, so much so I didn't let the fact that I'd have to choose whether to stay at the school or go elsewhere in a mere two weeks get to me. Despite all the drawbacks to the situation, I'd found something I'd never had before: peers. Mutants like me; friends who knew about and accepted my differences from human norm. Aside from my mother I'd never had that before -- it was more than pleasant. It was like having a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, one I hadn't really been aware of. Up in my room, my private room, with my own possessions in it, I stood a little self-consciously in front of the mirror and told myself to stand straighter. I'm far too tall -- 5'11" and built lanky. I suppose you could call me "svelte" but that's too fancy. I have blue eyes and curly dull-brown hair; short because I'd burned a good deal of it off in my first Danger Room run the week before. I was not a vision that songs are made for. So nobody was going to sing, I told myself. I turned this way and that. I'd gotten adventurous going through the clothes I'd "inherited" from Storm. There'd been a perfectly good pair of black leather jeans. I knew Illyana and Dani were going to be dressed to the teeth for a trip to the mall, and I was determined not to look shabby beside them. I looked okay in the jeans but Ororo must have looked wicked in them. I'll bet they were skin-tight on her. Storm was my favorite X-Man, both by what little I could learn about her from the popular press and what I'd gleaned from reading mission reports since I'd come to Xavier's school. It was annoying that in the two weeks I'd been there, none of the X-Men had bothered to show up, and there was no indication they intended to. Some headquarters. I decided on a red T-shirt that had survived from my old days in Ohio. "Question Authority," it said in big white letters, and on the back, "And Authority Will Question You." Noemi would have loved it. And Noemi would have felt happy knowing I was safe at this school. After all, she'd respected Magneto all those years ago, before he'd been insane. She'd have been happy he'd gotten better. I caught sight of my face in the mirror and removed the frown. Today I was not going to brood; I was going to go shopping with my friends. Smile firmly affixed to my face I headed out of my room and went down the hall, pausing at Doug's open door. He was leaning back in his chair, keyboard in his lap, intent on the computer screen. "'Ello," I said in my best Cockney accent. "Wot you up to, luv?" I leaned in the door dramatically. He glanced over with a smile and did a double take. "Hubba hubba," he said, in a playful way. "You ever think about becoming an evil mutant? Black leather suits you." Actually I had often worried about becoming an "evil" mutant, given my background, but I wasn't going to dwell on it today. "You don't have to be bad to wear black leather," I said. "I inherited Storm's jeans." "Storm's genes? Gee, you don't look black," Doug said without any hesitation at all. I gave him a Look that didn't seem to sink in at all. "Just as long as you don't start wearing a Mohawk," he said. He got a devilish light in his eye and went to his closet. "Got just the thing for you." He pulled out a black leather motorcycle jacket, studs and chains and all. God knows where he got it. Doug stands about 5'9", so the jacket wasn't a bad fit. I stuck my hands in the pockets and struck a pose. "Not bad," he said. "I think Illyana's got some mirrorshades in her room." Across the hall we went, Illyana was putting some finishing touches on her coiffure, so she had all her makeup out. Before I knew what had hit me, she was sitting me down in her chair, putting makeup all over my face while refusing to let me catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. When she reached for the styling mousse, I put my foot down. "C'mon, I don't want my hair stuck that way permanently," I said. Illyana put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes comically. "But it would look, like, so cool." "Hmmm," I said and closed my eyes to concentrate better. It was hard to get a grip at first, but at last I used my telekinesis to "straighten" my hair, making it stand on end. I settled for a modified Mohawk, short on the sides, long on top. I could hold it for as long as I could keep my concentration on it. Since I wasn't going to wear it like this for more than a few minutes, it wasn't a bad deal. I'd just donned the mirrorshades when Dani came in the room. "Who's this?" she said, genuinely puzzled. "It's the newest member of our class," said Doug with an innocent face. "She's a transfer student -- Magneto just admitted her today." "Huh?" Dani said, a tiny crease appearing between her eyebrows. I couldn't help it: I giggled, and she did a double take. "Well, there's a superhero costume for you if you want to hide your identity," she said. I posed and looked at myself in the long mirror. Even I couldn't recognize myself. "Let's go downstairs and show Stevie," said Dani. "I want to see the look on her face." Illyana giggled. "I'm going to get Sam and Rahne. _They_ have _got_ to see this." Dani and Doug and I went downstairs. Stevie wasn't in the library or the living room so we headed down to the gym and the locker room without success. On our way back upstairs we ran into Tom. His jaw dropped most gratifyingly. After he'd gotten over the shock, he laughed. He told us he'd seen Stevie in the kitchen earlier, so we headed back there. Someday I'll learn to "look" before I barge in. I suppose it's impolite, but it's certainly more discreet. But I had wanted a dramatic entrance and you don't get that by knocking politely. It didn't quite work out the way I'd pictured it. Maybe it was the way Stevie stepped away from Magneto. Not that they'd been embracing. His hand had been on top of hers, and even as I felt myself begin to blush I realized he'd been showing her how to hold a spoon or something. But it was too late, like dominoes falling, she was embarrassed, then I was embarrassed, then she noticed how I was dressed, then _Magneto_ noticed what I was wearing, and I realized he was staring at my getup. I hadn't thought about Magneto's reaction to my costume; I hadn't thought he'd see me like this. I didn't know whether to break into a chorus of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," or curl up on the floor and die. Doug solved my dilemma with a fit of sniggers behind me. I could feel my cheeks heat up. Stevie giggled too, and Dani went to the refrigerator, got herself a soda and sat down with a grin a mile wide. Magneto looked like he was thinking better of saying something. "Remember when Professor X told off Sam for wearing leather?" Doug said to Dani, and she laughed so hard I was afraid the soda pop would come out of her nose. "I do not expect a person of your age would need guidance in how to dress," Magneto said to me. "However --" I never did get to find out what his reservation was going to be; suddenly the kitchen was full of little patches of bright "snowflakes" that hummed, swirling about in a way that made me feel dizzy. Dani cried "Hey!" and staggered getting to her feet. I wasn't the only one feeling this way. "By the Eternal!" Magneto swore and did one of those dramatic gestures, his hands eerily flashing light, forcing the sparkle flakes away from him. It looked for a moment like he'd extend the field to cover the rest of us when the flakes turned red and squeezed the field in towards him. I was reaching with my seeker sense, trying to grasp something but there was nothing to hold onto. I only had a second to react when the sparkle flakes around me turned red and coalesced. I formed a telekinetic shield but they came right through it, then I tried to duck as they came straight for my head -- around my neck, and when I tried to grab at the tightness, they squeezed so hard I started to pass out. Falling to the floor took much longer than it had any right to. I had time to see Doug trying to pry a red band off of Dani's neck, Stevie looking daunted, Magneto holding off his red band with a sparking force field. And a guy I didn't know, with a face like a rabbit, standing in the middle of the kitchen with a bucktoothed grin, holding a gem or bright something that emitted sparkles. About that time I hit the floor. I didn't even remember to be scared. * * * Magneto wasn't sure just when the kitchen disappeared. He'd been too busy fighting the constriction on his personal shield. He'd realized quickly enough that the more power he directed towards the shield, the more the attacking force was strengthened. The trick, therefore, was to change the surface of the shield so that it kept its energies within, then attack the attacker, taking power _from_ it. He tried several variations all in the space of a breath, keeping his eye on the mysterious stranger who had appeared in the midst of the kitchen. But they were no longer _in_ the kitchen -- they were soaring high in the air, held in a web of light like insects in amber. He could see Douglas and Danielle; Jessica clutching her throat; Stevie frozen, her arms drawn up; their strange attacker -- flop-eared, dressed in some sort of Medievalist costume, his hand-held power source emitting the web that held them all. Magneto didn't wait for more comprehension than this; he struck with all his considerable might. Something was wrong with the ambient magnetic field, but he was still strong enough to leech all energy from the crimson band of light and eat away at the web. The rabbit-faced man pointed the jewel and suddenly both he and Stevie were free of the web. Magneto was flung head over heels. It took a precious moment to right himself, to see the web speed away with its other prisoners -- and to hear Stevie's scream below him as she plunged towards the distant ground. Magneto considered his options in one agonizing moment, and chose. * * * I was staring up at a high arched ceiling made out of close fitting stones. It made me think of cathedrals I'd seen in Europe. Noemi had taken me to Chartres once when I was six or so and it had seemed as huge as anything could ever be. I had the same little girl feeling now; there was shouting in some language I didn't know, and I couldn't quite recall how I'd come to be there. I reached a hand to my aching neck, and Doug leaned over me. "Don't use your power," he said, "if you do, you'll choke." Of course that meant I immediately tried it -- but not at full strength. As long as I just used my seeker sense I was okay, but when I tried to grasp the red band, it tightened painfully. I couldn't get a grip at all: the band was all force and no substance. Worst yet, it choked me whenever I tried to "grasp" _anything_. Doug helped me sit up. We were in the middle of a gold circle on the floor of a great crowded hall right out of the Middle Ages. Beside us crouched Dani with a matching red band around her throat -- evidently Doug had been spared. She was paying attention to the harangue going on in front of us. Up on a dais, seated on a magnificent throne of dark twisted wood sat a tall imperious black-haired man. He was heaping abuse upon the rabbit man from the kitchen,who knelt abjectly before him. Even though I didn't recognize the language -- it sounded Scandinavian at a guess -- I could tell the black-haired lord was very angry. He had a long and thin but fair-made face with incredibly green eyes. I suspected he would be quite handsome if he were to laugh or smile, but no emotion could be further away at the moment. He was dressed in a green, close- fitting jumpsuit with touches of black and white in it. Before him crouched the guy who'd kidnaped us. Calling him rabbit- faced is pretty accurate; he had buck teeth and a flat, twitchy kind of nose. What was really weird was his ears, long and white and floppy. He had whiskers, too, and they were trembling. He was so pitiful I almost felt sorry for him. The black-haired lord concluded his harangue with an imperious gesture with his left hand. Something that looked like a slow lightning bolt traveled from his hand to the rabbit man and that guy disappeared in a blinding, soundless flash, leaving behind only a smell of ozone. I was horrified; I looked to Dani and Doug but they were curiously unaffected by the kidnaper's death, more "angry" than appalled. The lord got to his feet and strolled down the steps to us. He was well over six feet tall and he looked down on us like we were were pop bottles in a gutter. He said something haughty-sounding and Dani got to her feet and said, "Not all of us speak your lingo, _Loki_.." I'd started getting to my feet when Dani got up, and I nearly stumbled when what she'd said sank in. I shot a glance to Doug and he gave me a quick nod. I mean, I'd been told the New Mutants had gone to Asgard the year before, so I _had_ to dismiss any ideas that I was hallucinating. Loki laughed. He did look more handsome when he did it, but it was the kind of laugh that sends shivers down your spine. He chanted something and pointed at me. It didn't feel like much -- a faint vibration from a passing truck -- but suddenly I could understand and speak the Asgardian language effortlessly. "As you see, it is most easily remedied, girl," Loki said to Dani. "What is your name -- Moon?" he added. His gaze swept around to Doug. "Oh, and that language boy, Code -- no, _Cypher_." Loki smiled, enjoying himself. He looked at me. "What have we here -- a new classmate?" he said. "How fortunate for your school -- and most unfortunate for your new fellow student." I watched him run his gaze up and down me, quick and then slow. When he reached my eyes I gave him a fierce glare that he smiled at. "Poor Hassen!" he said. "To think he mistook you for Storm!" "You were supposed to leave us alone, Loki," Doug said. "You promised." Dani shot him a look that said "I'm the leader." He shrugged in reply. Loki gave all of this a chuckle. "_I_ have left you alone," he said. "My -- friend, Hassen, thought to please me by bringing you to my side. Foolish, incompetent Hassen. Well, perhaps Cyclops will be willing to ransom you handsomely." I tried to remember everything I'd ever learned about Norse mythology and culture. It wasn't much; what I needed was a Masters in Comparative Mythology. Probably it would have been mostly worthless anyway-- but it might be worth a try. "_Ransom_?" I said, loud enough so the courtiers and flunkies and servants nearest us fell silent. "_Ransom_? You don't ransom _guests_." Loki turned to me, an eyebrow lifted, green glass eyes boring into me. "Explain yourself," he said. I couldn't say anything -- I was learning first hand how a butterfly feels when an entomologist sticks it on a pin. "We were Hassen's prisoners," said Doug besides me. "But it was a misunderstanding -- so we're your honored _guests_." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dani smile as she realized what was up. That big hall got quiet in a hurry. Loki glanced around and you could almost hear the wheels in his mind reluctantly grinding. I'd been right -- Asgard has a tradition of courtesy offered to guests -- and Loki knew he would be shamed before his court if he didn't live up to it, here in his own home. A slow smile spread over his face, one that said, "You have me now, but just wait." Aloud, Loki said, "Guests? Yes -- of course! Honored guests you shall be." "Thank you," Dani said, hands on her hips. Her purse was hanging from her shoulder; she was still dressed for the mall. "There are a few matters we have to clear up, first." Loki remained staring at Dani a beat too long. "These collars," she said, touching her neck. "_I_ thought they were the height of mortal fashion," he said. A courtier tittered on cue. Loki held up his hand in a businesslike fashion, kind of like a doctor examining a patient. I remembered he was supposed to be a magician of some note. "_Most_ interesting," he said. He stepped closer to me, running his hand about a foot away around my neck. "A most elegant design," he said. "Unfortunately, the spell is a unique creation of Hassen's -- I was a touch hasty in my anger. My magickal resources are stretched thin at present, I fear. It may be some time before I can devote my energies to reversing poor Hassen's spell." "Oh, great," said Doug, perhaps a shade louder than he meant. "It isn't as though the young ladies shall have need of their powers," Loki said as though to a child. "They are under my protection, here in my house, and anyone who presumes to harm them or you must answer to me." He folded his arms and smiled at us. "I suppose you just can't send us back to Westchester for the same reason," I said. "At present there exists a magickal barrier between the worlds," he said. "I _am_ surprised Hassen managed the transition. No doubt, as time passes it will go down of its own accord." _Yeah, right_, I thought. "Since you are still children, I shall assign your care to my lady wife, Sigyn," Loki said, nodding to a tall, solemn woman who stood nearby. I saw her glance at him -- no love lost there. She was dressed quite plainly, in gray, her hair covered over with a wimple. "Your stay will be a pleasant one," she said. _Potential ally_, I noted. _At least, not an instant enemy_. "If you'll come with me, we can have you settled before the evening's banquet." "There's one more thing," Dani said to Loki. He had turned away when Sigyn walked up and now he turned back, not quite hiding his annoyance. "Hassen kidnaped Magneto, too," she said. I felt like kicking her -- I'd hoped we'd be able to discuss this amongst ourselves before we told it to Loki; I wasn't sure it was to our advantage for him to know Magneto might come looking for us. "Magneto?" Loki said, one eyebrow raised. "I thought he was the X- Men's greatest enemy?" "He was," she said. "But he runs the school now." Loki raised that eyebrow higher, like Mr. Spock. "How interesting," he said. "You say Hassen kidnaped him, too?" "Tried to," said Doug. "But he made Hassen drop him." I'd missed that part, but I didn't say anything. Better to show Loki a united front. "Where?" the dark-haired godling said. "Sure wish I knew," said Doug. "On the way here, anyway." "I shall have him ... searched for," said Loki. "Magneto is a mortal whose power rivals that of the Aesir. If he is in the Seven Realms he cannot stay lost for long." I had my doubts about the sincerity of Loki's words. The last thing I would want was Magneto showing up at my castle in pursuit of his purloined students. We'd just have to hope the Master of Magnetism was tough enough to get through whatever traps Loki set in his path. Sigyn led us away and found us a suite of rooms together, assigned us servants and set them to finding clothing and other items befitting our status. She was definitely the Lady of the Manor; the more I learned of what a classy, dutiful wife she was, the more sorry I felt that she was married to Loki. It must have been an hour or more before the three of us found ourselves alone -- and only by kicking all the servants out of Dani's bedroom. Once she'd barred the door, Dani sat down on a chair, and stared at Doug and me, perched on the high feather bed. "We're in trouble," she said. "No shit, Sherlock," I said, earning myself a frown. "It's worse than that," said Dani. "I didn't want to say anything in front of Loki, but ... does anyone know what happened to Stevie?" * * * His choice made, Magneto carried out his plan efficiently, despite Stevie's heart-wrenching scream. He dove after her, while simultaneously reaching with his power to slow her descent. He lost precious seconds and he tried not to grudge them; Stevie must be protected from harm or his decision to save her would have be in vain. She was still screaming when he matched speeds and held her in a magnetic bubble. He ignored her, desperately scanning the sky for the kidnaper and the children, but they were nowhere to be seen. _They had not been going that fast_, he cursed silently, _I staked lives on that_. A quick radar scan turned up empty. There was nothing he could do for his students, so he turned his attention to his colleague. The ground below was a desolate waste of rock and ice and snow. He set down atop a bluff. Stevie seemed to be in shock, and shivering from the extreme cold. He detached his cape from his shoulders and wrapped it around her. His power could warm the metallic fiber of the cape and his outfit, in a manner not unlike an electric blanket. "You're safe now, Stevie," he said. With a gasp, she began to cry and when she threw her arms around him he patted her shoulders awkwardly, while he scanned the skies for signs of the students and their abductor. Nothing. As if they'd never been there. "I'm here with you now," he said. "Step on the cape -- your feet will be warmer." He magnetically wrapped the cape around her snugly. It had been a warmish October day in Westchester; Stevie's outfit of leotard, wrap skirt and light leather boots had been appropriate. "Do you feel better now?" he said, determined to project patience when he felt none. Yelling would accomplish nothing; just make the poor woman more distressed. He needed a cool head. "I'm .. sorry," she gasped out, drying her eyes on the collar of the cape. "I was falling -- and I just --" "I understand," he said. "Where are we?" she said, looking around. Magneto sighed inwardly. It would not do to alarm her further; he'd have to put it delicately. "I am unsure," he said. "Nowhere near Salem Center." "The Antarctic? Greenland?" "Perhaps. If we make a reconnaissance, I could tell for certain." _After all, I_ might _be mistaken_, he thought. "You mean -- fly around?" she said, her eyes widening. "A magnetic force bubble can lift us both," he said. "And protect us from the wind at the same time." "I--" she said and stopped. "The kids -- what happened to them?" "Stevie," he said. "I do not know. Our foe has escaped with them. We must press on and search for some sign of them." "I guess I have no choice," she said. _True_, he thought. He couldn't leave her here on the ground; without his power to keep her warm she would surely freeze to death. And if he somehow found the trail of his students and their kidnaper, he might have to move fast. He wondered why he was taking so much care of her emotional comfort. Once it wouldn't have mattered to him if a human woman were content or hysterical. He decided he preferred the distraction of fussing over a companion, seeing to her comfort; it kept him from worrying overmuch about the welfare of his students. "Here, I'll keep hold of your hand," he said, extending his. He brought the magnetic bubble into focus around them, lifting off smoothly. "We need not stand," he said. He helped her sit on the "floor," assuming a lotus position next to her. Stevie kept her eyes shut for the first few minutes, then cautiously peeked, her hand gripping his tighter. He'd made the floor glow slightly, to give her visible assurance that something besides his raw will was there to hold them up. "It's so desolate," she said. "We must be at the ends of the Earth." "We'll soon find out," he said. He'd wait a while before revealing why he thought the ends of the Earth were too much to hope for. He followed the sun's path, for it was as good a direction as any; as best he could tell -- and he was singularly qualified -- "North" was straight up. * * * "And then what happened?" I said to Doug. "Not real sure," he said. "They fell away and then there was this flash of light. I'd put my money on some kind of dimension jump. It happened three more times." "So we know Hassen didn't come straight to Asgard -- he took the scenic route, in order to bypass the barrier," said Dani. "Yeah -- like slipping over the Canadian border," I said. "Just our luck. Too bad he's scorch marks now." "But he isn't," said Dani. "Oh -- that was before Loki put the language spell on you. He sent Hassen to Niflheim." "Trust Loki to act like he couldn't get the guy back," grumbled Doug. He smiled at me. "That was brilliant thinking, Jess." I realized he meant trapping Loki into treating us as guests. "Yeah, well," I said, embarrassed. "With these collars on Dani and me, we might as well _be_ prisoners." "Tough break," he said. "At least the food is likely to be good." "How long are we going to be stuck here?" Dani said, pacing the floor. "One night, one week, one month -- years?" "Crap, I wasn't thinking about that," said Doug, looking a little panic-stricken for the first time I could remember. "My parents are coming home from Saudi Arabia in two weeks. I guess Sam and everybody can explain why I can't come to the phone when they call -- but the shit's gonna hit the fan when my folks drive up and nobody can explain where I am." " 'A giant rabbit abducted them--' No, wait, Tom and Sharon aren't going to know _that_ -- they'll just think we all disappeared," I said. "Illyana's a good little magician," Dani said, and Doug snorted. "You know what I mean," she added. "I bet she can tell what happened -- don't forget she was going to get Sam and Rahne to see your outfit." "My stupid outfit," I said. I'd lost the mirrorshades somewhere between the kitchen and Asgard. "What did Loki mean anyway -- 'To think he mistook you for Storm'?" Doug looked thoughtful. "Bet he used an incantation that searched for Storm's genes -- 'J-E-A-N-S'. It was a spelling error." "Doug -- at a time like this we don't need nonsense," Dani snapped. "That's the silliest excuse I've ever heard." "Makes a weird kind of sense," he said. "Okay -- so he was just watching for a tall mutant woman wearing black leather and a Mohawk." "Missing the point that I'm not black," I added. "Nobody's perfect -- 'Poor incompetent Hassen,'" he said. "Loki probably had us snatched," said Dani. "Asgardian magic doesn't work that way, Chief," Doug said. "When he promised to leave us alone, he bound himself. He can't act against us directly, or he risks his magickal abilities entirely." "So he lets it be known to his flunkies that it's Open Season on X-Men and New Mutants," Dani said. "I don't see that speculating on whether Loki intended us to be here or not is helping anything," I said. "We're here, and he acted surprised. What's our chance of getting rescued? "Not too good -- depends on Magneto or Illyana," said Doug. "What about Illyana -- could she 'port here and back?" I said. "If there _is_ a barrier between the dimensions. She had trouble last time," said Dani. "We ended up scattered all over Asgard. Which was no picnic." "Yeah, I'd rather have a luxurious suite in a comfy castle anytime," said Doug. "'The epitome of gracious living' -- If only my folks weren't coming home in two weeks." "So we have a deadline," I said. "Get you back before your folks arrive or the school is dead meat." "Rrrrright," said Doug. He looked less chipper than any time I can remember. "Magneto _might_ make it here," said Dani. "I guess the chances are pretty slim, though." "Or Illyana _might_ be able to 'port," I said. "If she was going to do it, it'd be done," said Doug. "Cyclops used something to get the X-Men to Asgard before," I said. "Arkon's thunderbolts," said Dani. "But Cyke resigned, and no one else knows how to use them. I don't even know if Scott left a forwarding address, anyway." She stood up again, she was one of those people who thinks best when they're on their feet. "There's not much choice -- we're going to have to rescue ourselves," she declared. "Tell me another one," I said. "We can't use our powers." "The hell with that," she said. "Fold without a fight! You never struck me as the type that'd give up easy." "Give me a break," I said. "Listen -- we're more sophisticated than most of these Asgardians, we're better coordinated and hardier than most normal humans -- and I bet that goes for Asgardians too." "They're a lot stronger," Doug said. "So we don't get in any arm-wrestling contests," Dani snapped. "Strength ain't everything. _Powers_ aren't everything either. By the Great Spirit -- that's exactly what Loki's counting on. We'll be good little kids because our toys have been taken away." "Nice theory," I said. "If it wasn't for the fact that we can't do anything." "Bullshit," said Dani. "If we keep our eyes open, we'll find some possibilities. Loki has plenty of enemies in Asgard -- and the X-Men have some friends." "Yeah," said Doug. "The Warriors Three or Rahne's Wolf-Prince. Or Thor or Balder -- and I bet Odin would be real interested in what Loki's been up to. Hey -- we can contact the Valkyries. They'd be sure to help _you_." "No!" Dani said, a furrow in her brow. "Not the Valkyries. I _do not_ want them involved with this." Doug bit his lip, but nodded. I didn't know the full story of how Dani became a Valkyrie (if she really was one), she'd never volunteered much on the subject, and I'd only scanned the notes about the Mutant's previous Asgard adventure. Evidently it wasn't something she was happy with. I filed it for later reference. "So how would we contact any of these people anyway?" I said. "Ring them up on Bifrost Bell?" "Well," said Dani. "We should spend the next day or two getting to know Loki's castle and the people in it. Where this place is in relation to Asgard City proper. Who's for Loki -- and who'd help us against him." "Damn," said Doug. "You're right, Chief -- I don't see that we have much choice." "You bet," said Dani. "The main thing is, sitting and hoping to be rescued won't help us at all." "I guess," I said. "Oh crud -- I just hate this. All my life I've had to hide what I can do, and when I fall into a situation where I could use my powers freely -- I can't use them at all." "You know -- it's always possible Loki was lying about the collars," Dani said, touching her own unconsciously. "Maybe we can find a friendly sorcerer who could remove them?" "A sorcerous second opinion?" said Doug. "Well, I don't know about you but I feel better already." Dani and I looked at each other. Doug had snapped back into his Pollyannaish demeanor. _We'd_ just have to slog through it together. "Umm," said Doug, getting up to go to the door. "Loki promised not to plot against us -- the X-Men and the New Mutants. But I bet that doesn't include Jessica or Magneto or Stevie. So you'd better be careful, Jess." "I don't see what I can do," I said. "He wants to stomp on me, he's got all the power. Besides, I'm no threat at the moment. It's Magneto who'd better watch out." "True," said Dani, with a cold smile. "But then again -- maybe it's Loki that had better watch out." * * * Stevie was surprised Magnus wasn't angrier. Perhaps it was because he had something to do; to merely sit and wait would have brought out feelings she knew must be there. The Lord knew _she_ was upset enough to spit. So she sat and stewed, wrapped inside a surprisingly warm cape, thinking about what could possibly be happening to Dani and Jessica and Doug, and what was going on back at the school. The first part she tried not to brood over. She hadn't recognized their kidnaper; neither had Magnus. There were no rabbit-faced X-Men enemies, that they knew of. So it was useless, she told herself yet again, to worry about it. Dani and Jessica -- and Doug -- were competent and ... talented. Their captor had tried to keep them undamaged; that was a hopeful sign. At least Stevie could imagine what was going on back at the school. The staff and students had worked out a plan of action if Magnus disappeared or any combination of disasters occurred. If the situation were grim, those remaining would take shelter with Moira MacTaggert; otherwise they would remain on alert. Earlier Magnus had detailed their chances of being rescued by Illyana; they agreed they could not count on it. Every moment that passed without a rescue made it less likely. _I'm not going to keep our spirits up with thoughts like these_, she said to herself. _I may as well play tourist_. But it was the same snowy landscape below them, over and over. _You'd think we were going in circles_.... Stevie caught her breath as she recognized a peculiar rock formation below. It was a natural rock "face" roughly similar to "The Old Man of the Mountain" in New Hampshire. They'd flown over it before. _There couldn't be two just like it, could there_? "Magnus," she said. "Did we pass this way before?" She pointed to the outcropping. To her surprise, he didn't dismiss out of hand her idea that they had somehow circled back on their path. "We have been going westward our entire flight," he said mildly. Stevie had to agree with that. The sun was setting now, and the light had been increasingly in their eyes all the long afternoon. "What time did you see this formation first?" he said. "Less than five hours ago," she said. "Not long after we set out -- once I got my eyes open. I thought frozen wastes were pretty much all alike." "To be certain," he said. The magnetic bubble they rode in abruptly banked and turned eastward. "There are more landmarks. It should not be hard to check," he said. Stevie thought they had traveled at quite a clip before, but it was nothing compared to the turn of speed Magnus generated now. In a few minutes, they covered the distance it had taken a better part of an hour to traverse. They drifted above the ground. Abruptly he set them down -- upon the spot where they'd briefly touched down before, their original footprints still indenting the slight layer of snow. "How could this happen?" she said. "We couldn't have gotten turned around?" Magnus looked down at the ground, seeming more puzzled than worried. "This ... place has some peculiar properties." Her gaze flicked to meet his as the implication of what he meant hit home. "You mean..." she said. "We are not on Earth," Magnus finished the sentence for her. "We're not, are we?" she said, her heart thumping faster than before. "This -- area -- has too many odd properties to be anywhere on Earth," he said, glaring back fiercely at the setting sun. "And I have journeyed to some odd corners of it." "I don't understand," said Stevie. "How could we have doubled back on ourselves?" "We didn't. It is somewhat difficult to explain what happened without the proper technical background," said Magnus. _Uh oh_, thought Stevie. _Lecture time_. "Let me put it in layman's terms. You're familiar with the phrase 'pocket universe?'" "Yes, of course," she said. "Illyana's Limbo is a pocket universe. Are we in Limbo -- or somewhere else?" "I doubt we're in Limbo," said Magnus with a shake of his head. "Illyana would have surely found us by now. We seem to be in a universe of a very small size -- only a few thousand kilometers across." "Or we're on a very small planet," she said. "Not a bad guess," he said. "But then we must explain the fact that the visible horizon is much further away than the horizon of a truly small planet. What's more likely is that the ground is truly _flat_." "Then why didn't we go over the edge?" Stevie said. "There is no edge," he said. "In this closed universe, the edges turn back upon themselves." Stevie knew she must look baffled. Magnus smiled and gestured. A ring of metallic cloth detached itself from the cape she wore and floated into the air between them. "You've seen a Moebius strip before," he said. The ring broke, took a half twist and rejoined itself seamlessly. "To a two-dimensional being, there exists no 'other' side to the ring -- just one continuous surface. They could not discern where one side 'turns' into another." The Moebius ring flowed so that the twist curved round and round the strip. "Imagine there being a similar twist to the fabric of this universe," he said. "Turned back on itself in a way we can't perceive, at no particular point so there is no edge. The only way we know that the twist is there is by arriving where we started from." "I guess I understand, sort of, but it feels so _confusing_. What are we going to do?" Stevie said, clutching Magnus's cape closer to herself. His head turned quickly, his solemn blue gaze showing a trace of impatience overlaid by a touch of -- compassion? "We must make a place to rest for the night," he said. "There is a vein of iron ore not far from here. I do not fancy attempting to construct an igloo out of ice blocks." They flew to the site in a magnetic bubble. Stevie thought she might eventually get used to it as a form of transportation, but wished she wouldn't have to. Magnus made her stand and watch from a safe distance a hundred yards away as he called the ore to the surface, his aura glowing brighter than the setting sun, as a sullen pool of slag grew on the hillside. It turned out more like a hut than a house, with no windows, a door, and a chimney. Magnus formed a scoop from used leftover metal, and heaped the defrosted earth deep around the little structure for insulation. By the time he was done, the sun had set and twilight had faded. Stevie yawned mightily as Magnus flew to her side. "We may as well rest," he said. "I had hoped for moonlight to light our search, but it appears this bedamned land lacks a moon as well." A ball of blue witchlight floated three feet above his head, so Stevie took the opportunity to check her watch and realized it had stopped. Magnus missed very little, even when tired. "I'm afraid I have a deleterious effect upon watches of any kind," he said. "If I may?" He took the watch from her and set about repowering it. "I wonder what time it is now?" she said with another yawn. "Past seven?" he said, power flaring around her Swatch. "That should last a while -- perhaps the night. I gave up carrying a watch years ago," he added. "I've come to rely upon my sense of time passage." Stevie sat on the floor of their hut and watched as Magnus practiced magnetic interior decoration. He hadn't let the complete lack of anything to burn stop him from constructing a chimney -- for ventilation, she supposed. Magnus built something halfway between a Franklin stove and a radiator. She could see it start to glow. Soon the hut warmed pleasantly. Magnus put a pot of snow on the stove to melt. "I suppose it's potable," he commented. "This area seems unsullied by any form of life, even bacteria." Stevie shifted uncomfortably. Things had been happening so fast she had forgotten to be hungry. As Magnus watched water boil, she rummaged through her pocketbook. Half a roll of Lifesavers, some sugarless gum -- and one slim candy bar. "Look what I found!" she said, holding it out. Magnus raised an eyebrow. "I shall never say anything against a woman's handbag again," he said. "We can split it," she said. "Dinner." He held up a hand. "No -- go ahead if you must. I have ... fasted before. I expect going to bed hungry will affect me less." Stevie looked at the candy bar in her hand. Damn, she could almost taste the chocolate. "Maybe -- maybe I should save it?" she said reluctantly. "It is composed of sugar and fat," he said. "Quick, easily absorbed energy. It won't fill your stomach, and the sugar rush may only keep you awake." "You're saying I should save it for the future," she said. "I've hardly begun to explore all the avenues of escape from this place," he said. "The situation is far from hopeless. However, it may be several days before we escape completely, or find food." Stevie put the candy bar back in her purse. "We can have it for breakfast," she said. "Morning is the hardest time, if one is fasting," said Magnus. "It takes several days for the body to adjust." "You sound like you've gone hungry before," said Stevie. "Yes," he said. "Involuntarily, I assure you. I remain convinced we will be out of this waste in another day." Magnus insisted Stevie drink a cup of hot water with him. "It's important not to become dehydrated," he said. "Also, the water will help ease hunger pangs." Stevie sensed Magnus was uncomfortable before he spoke again. "About the sleeping arrangements," he said, and stopped. "There is a small problem. I do not have enough metallic cloth to create two beds. It is made of a special alloy, the ores are not readily available here. And when I fall asleep, our source of heat goes away." "We could take turns sleeping," Stevie said. "That's one solution -- though your watches would be quite cold," he said. And I suspect neither of us would get enough rest." Stevie smiled to herself. Magnus was so ... gallant some times she could strangle him. Better say it before he died of terminal morality. "Maybe we should share the bed, for warmth's sake," she said. "Ah, yes," he said. How he was avoiding blushing, she had no idea; with his fair coloring, he should pink up pretty thoroughly. "Not that I would take advantage of such a situation," he added. "I trust you," she said. She thought of Magnus acting untoward and couldn't visualize it; although she knew instinctually he was as warm blooded as the next man. Less than a week before on the night of the ballet he'd let the armor drop for a while and revealed a more human demeanor; emotional and even funny. Emotional enough to be concerned about her feelings and her sense of propriety. Not just her propriety, her reputation as well. "There'd be no cause to ever mention this back at the school," she assured him. Without a word Magnus shed the costume he was wearing, down to his underwear. He even used the "fabric" of his boots and the cape to create a sleeping bag atop the iron bed frame, no wider than a single bed. Stevie was already in her leotard. As she wiggled into bed she said lightly, "I wouldn't worry about impropriety -- we're not going to have room to turn over, let alone fool around." "I expect so," he said, easing himself down, his front to her back. He had warm feet, she noted; and a very solid muscular body. It was funny how you could see someone a hundred times and not know how he would feel pressed close to you. "Come to think of it," she said sleepily, "I wouldn't want to sleep alone tonight anyway. Too many nightmares." "I shall keep you safe," Magnus promised, and dowsed the light. * * * Let me talk about Loki's castle and lands and people for a bit. They surprised _me_, maybe they'll surprise you too. First, when you think of Loki, you think of the guy who's battled Thor on a couple of occasions. Before I got involved with Professor Xavier's little operation, I had these two guys figured for mutants or aliens pretending to be Thor and Loki for some reason. I had dismissed the thought that they might really be the guys from the Norse myths. But don't go running for your copy of _The Elder Edda_, just yet. Sure we were in Asgard. Sure, we were "guests" of Loki, "God of Mischief." And somewhere out there were Thor and Odin and the World Tree and the Fenris Wolf and all that. Unfortunately, all those ancient skalds (bards, to you) had either embellished a whole lot for myth cycles like the _Eddas_ or they never got their facts straight in the first place. There are several races that make up the Asgardian population. Most prominent are the Aesir (singular Aes) like Odin and Thor who get dubbed "gods." And there are the Giants ("Vanir"), their hereditary enemies whom they had supplanted. Then there's a large human population with different degrees of exotic heritage. Aesir are superstrong and often have magical powers; Giants are large, almost as strong as the Aesir. The average Asgardian human is stronger than human norm but not beyond belief. It was an exceptional Aes like Thor who could lift a 100 tons or more. Thor's greatest enemy is Loki. It might surprise you to know that Loki is a Giant -- a runt Giant, adopted by Odin and raised as his foster son. I wonder if Loki is a mutant, given that Giants aren't particularly magical either? At any rate, Loki the Giant was raised among the Aesir and developed a real hatred toward them, particularly for his foster brother Thor. Evidently, this part of the myth is actually true. What it doesn't mention is that this enmity and rivalry has gone on for centuries. Aesir -- and the Giants -- live a long time. And they've got to do live somewhere. And get food from somewhere, and clothes, and houses -- even castles. If you've got a nobility, you have to have a peasantry, a support system. So it should come as no surprise that Loki had absolute control over a considerable stretch of land. Actually his "country" had come from his wife's family. Sigyn was from a noble Aes house that didn't get mentioned in any myths I've seen. Asgard was a lot like that; you weren't actually tripping over mythological figures left and right. (Considering we'd already "tripped" over Loki, I suppose you could say we'd used up our quota.) So maybe it sounds to you like we wouldn't have had much trouble fostering a revolt among the Gillikins against the Wicked Warlock of the West (aka Loki)? Guess again. While I wouldn't call him exactly loved, he was well respected, due in no small part to Sigyn's able administration. I guess Loki was smart enough not to shit where he lived. It became quickly apparent we would not easily be able to scare up some aid against Loki. At dinner that night the three of us deliberately split up. I got the courtiers, Dani got the warriors, and Doug went to hobnob with the skalds and other entertainers. As we discovered, Loki's court was renowned for the quality and amount of entertainment. It helped that Loki had proclaimed us honorary Aes; as ordinary "mortals" we'd have had to sit below the salt. The servants assigned to us had done an amazing job of pulling together color-coordinated wardrobes. For dinner I had an elaborate black and red dress to wear. By morning I had several other dresses and items of random apparel. In Asgard, the nobility wears distinctive colors the way the Europeans employed heraldry. Accordingly, it was assumed our colors were the same as those we'd arrived wearing; all my clothes were black accented with red and silver for the rest of our stay. I played dumb for the evening, which wasn't hard considering I had virtually no background information on the place. I asked a whole bunch of questions and listened eagerly so I was quite a hit. Some of the Asgardians were rather interested in Midgard and wanted to hear as much as I'd tell. Dinner was a virtual smorgasbord, of course. Loki was the first one up to the sideboards but after him everyone joined the line in no particular order, and you could go back as many times as you wanted. There was some good beer to drink, a surprisingly flavorful wine as well, lots of bread and a little cheese in addition to the meat dishes. At this point in the season there were still plenty of fresh vegetable dishes. I very cautiously and discreetly tasted a little bit of meat and managed to keep it down. Amazing what you can bring yourself to do when you have to. It looked like I might not have any choice but to switch to a meat-eating diet if I didn't want to come down with malnutrition here in Asgard. After the meal was done the tables were rearranged so there was a formal performance area in the center of the floor, and the entertainment started. You have to realize these people didn't have TV or radio, or even books. Ladies brought out their embroidery, gentlemen sewed tack, and I could see servants gathering in the balcony that ran around the big room to look on. There was a dancing bear act, and a juggler, and then the skalds started in. Some sang ballads, others recited poetry while harps were plucked in the background; since Asgardian poetry is alliterative rather than rhymed, the effect is a weird kind of talking blues. I was surprised as anything when Doug walked on stage. He explained he was going to translate a heroic tale of the American people -- and launched into a freestyle translation of Robert Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew." His powers must let him translate poetry as well -- and very well at that. The effect on the Asgardians was electric. They'd heard the same ballads and variations on ballads hundreds of times, and here came Doug with this neat new one. After that, there was no stopping Doug. He launched into Poe's "The Bells" and then "The Highwayman" For a finale, he recited Bob Dylan's 'The Ballad of Hurricane Carter" which brought the audience to its feet, Loki included. I'd been watching Loki on and off when I wasn't too busy. He seemed mostly bored, but then I'd catch him following Doug or Dani with those gleaming green eyes, or worse, looking in my direction. Since he was three deep in flunkies and servants, at least I didn't have to worry about dealing with him. Doug's success as a court skald was guaranteed that night. The head bard at the castle personally came up and placed a harp pin on Doug's shirt, welcoming him to the guild. Then they carried Doug around the hall on their shoulders and everyone toasted him. Doug had a grin on his face a yard wide. At that point I decided to go up to my room and sulk. At least he had a power he wasn't blocked from using. I was glad for Doug, but at the same time I was pissed. Especially at Loki. Boy, if I ever got control of my telekinesis back, he was going to be one surprised little Giant. * * * "Jessica's in danger," said Noemi. She was seated on the hut's one chair, next to the stove. She wore her Firefall costume, the mask pulled down around her neck, the luxurious blonde hair like a waterfall down her back. _She's dead. How can she be here_? Magneto thought. _ I must have been misinformed_. Noemi smiled the smile she had always used when he didn't quite grasp a point. "Jessica is in danger," she repeated. "You simply must do something about Loki." _Loki_? Magneto looked around the room. On the wide double bed, Stevie lay asleep next to him. _That wasn't right, either_, he thought. "You are not paying attention," said Noemi. "Loki will be after Jessica for her powers and her heritage. You must protect her." "I would -- I mean, I will," he said, flustered. There was something he should remember but it was difficult to put his finger on it. _Oh yes_. "You should have told me," he said reproachfully. "Water over the dam, love," she said with a toss of her head. "You know why I didn't." "I could have protected you --" he said. "You were a different man then," she said. "You're better now. I did what I had to do, I have no regrets." "Regrets are all I have," he said. "I have to go now," she stood and walked to the foot of the bed. She smiled down at Stevie. "She's a good woman. Take care of her, Magnus." Noemi began burning, wild flames that lit the small room, that climbed to the roof, but produced no heat. Magneto knew there was no pain; Noemi held herself as though in the throes of deepest ecstasy. She was a pillar of fire in the shape of a woman. Magneto could see her face, ghostlike in the flames. "Almost forgot," Noemi said, her voice faint. "Look for the holes in the air." The flames went out, leaving nothing behind but an afterimage. Magneto rubbed his eyes. Somewhere a woman was crying. _Who-- Noemi? Magda_? he thought, and then as a swimmer breaks the surface to breathe the air, he realized he'd been dreaming, and awoke. He lay for a moment trying to take it all in. Why had he dreamed of Noemi? Why had his subconscious suggested that Loki was their abductor? And why did the phrase "holes in the air" seem so mysteriously important? Then he realized he hadn't dreamed about a crying woman. Stevie, next to him, was whimpering in her sleep. "Stevie, you're having a nightmare," he said. "Wake up." He shook her slightly and repeated himself several times till she awakened. Magneto formed a ball of St. Elmo's fire in the air above their heads for some illumination, and heated the stove. "What -- where are we?" she said. "In our hut," he said. _More reassuring than "I don't know_," he thought. "You were having a nightmare -- I thought it best to wake you." "What a dream," she said. She'd been clutching him tightly in her fright and now she sheepishly pulled away from him, as far as the limits of the sleeping bag would allow. "They were hurting one of the kids, and you -- anyway, it was horrible." "What was I doing?" he said. "It doesn't matter, does it?" Stevie said. She looked haunted. "I don't suppose it does," he said. "Better go back to sleep, we've a few hours until daybreak, at least." "What if stays dark longer than on Earth?" she said with a delicate shudder. Magneto forced himself to concentrate on her question. Despite his best intention it was rather distracting to share one's bed with a woman. "Then we fly around in the dark, if we have to," he said. "After we are well-rested. "I wish we were home," she said forlornly. "I'm scared and I'm hungry." She sniffled back some tears and he knew he must say something to relieve her anxiety. "I shall get us home, Stevie," he said. "I shall keep you safe." "I'm sorry," she said, using one hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. "You sound so certain when you say that." "I've had some experience ... escaping, returning to Earth. I was once kidnaped by an alien called the Stranger. If I could do it then, I can do it now, no matter where we are," he said. _I just have to determine where we are first, and how we got here_. "I'm sorry to doubt you," she said. "I'm just so hungry." "Hunger passes," he said. "In another day or two -- providing we do not find food -- you'll hardly notice the emptiness. A strange energy takes hold of one." "You've fasted before," she said. She lay back down in the sleeping bag, and he arranged himself around her once again, dowsing the light as he did so. "Yes -- when I was very young," he said quietly, almost whispering. "And once or twice since then. On an alien planet, with only the Toad for company -- it took three weeks before I found a machine that would give us food." "How horrible," she said, and took his hand in hers. In the darkness he closed his eyes and felt the small precise bones that made up her grip. "Yes," he said. "You are a much more ... enjoyable traveling companion than Mortimer ever was, I assure you." Stevie snorted softly, and he knew he had calmed and amused her. _Small victory_, he thought. _One small victory at a time_. * * * It may have been unworthy of me, but I took some enjoyment in the fact that Doug had a hangover the next day. _I'd_ had the presence of mind to drink sparingly. The Asgardians drank heavily compared to Americans, in part because with that level of technology the water wasn't safe. Doug had been fairly buzzed when he started reciting; and he'd really gotten smashed after his triumph. Things did not look that much better in the morning. We were still stuck in Loki's castle; we had no way of getting home or even getting a message home, and our powers were still blocked. I don't know how Dani felt, but I felt naked. Okay, right, I'd spent most of my life not using my telekinetic power. I only used it when people weren't looking -- like picking your nose or something, a habit you don't want known. But no matter what I did, I always knew my power was there as a backup, whether I fumbled a glass while I was washing it or climbed up on a rickety old ladder. Now suddenly, I didn't have it to depend on. In the first two days, I managed to strangle myself four times, just trying to do minor things like grab for a comb just beyond my fingertips. There's nothing quite like being choked to teach you to remember not to do something, as any puppy being obedience trained could tell you. I could still use my "radar" sense, but even the slightest amount of lift would tighten my magic choker. Dani fared better than I did. Because of the nature of her power, she'd been pretty rigorously trained not to use it unconsciously. Dani had spent the previous evening fairly productively, making contacts among the young warriors of Loki's castle guard. I was awakened by her tapping on my door --- she'd arranged for riding lessons for Doug and me. Once we determined that Doug wasn't going to be good for anything until noon or later, we went down the the stable where I received a rather humiliating riding lesson. Humiliating because I assumed I knew how to ride a horse. Now, I'd ridden a pony plenty of times with 'Lito on his father's estates in Spain. However, that had been English-style, on exquisitely trained ponies, with attentive grooms who didn't let us go over any fences that were too high. The Asgardian horses were just this side of wild. Worse, the saddles were Western-style. And the horses were _big_ -- destriers like the knights of old rode. Think Clydesdales, and add a couple of hands. I found myself glad the groom had come out to throw me up into the saddle. Once up there, I was very, very sorry. It was a long way to the ground; I was dizzy. When the horse moved, I was _scared_. And because this was a strong-willed horse, when it sensed my fear it decided to take advantage. Within two minutes of starting I was bucked off. To complete my humiliation, I instinctively used my power to cushion my landing and blacked out when the choker tightened. The only thing that kept me from being trampled was the horse's innate dislike of stepping on anything squishy. Luckily for me, that was the nadir of my horse-riding career. After I could breathe again I was so mad at the damn horse that I got back on it and forgot to be scared. Dani had a better time of it than I did. She'd broken horses for her parent's ranch and on top of that she had an empathic bond with animals that the choker didn't interfere with. To her credit, she didn't brag about the fact that she still had a working power. In fact the reason my horse quieted down so soon after my fall may have been due to her influence. After the ride we went back up to our suite to check on Doug. I wasn't walking too funny, my riding muscles didn't hurt until the next day. Doug was more or less conscious, so we forced him to get dressed and eat some dry toast. I jokingly asked our butler to fetch some coffee and he surprised me by actually producing a pot; Loki had it specially imported from Earth. The coffee helped Doug some. He was morose and not just from the hangover. He was still worried about his parents and what they'd do to the school when they found out he'd disappeared. They didn't even know he was a mutant. "Why the hell didn't you tell them?" I said to him crossly. He shrugged his shoulders. "It was never the right time," he said. "Besides -- they'd worry about me -- they probably would take me out of the school. And then I couldn't be a New Mutant anymore." Right, so to save himself some trouble, he let worse trouble develop by not working to prevent the problem. I wasn't going to stand there and point out his stupidity to him so I suggested we go and pick out some armor. Dani had been invited by the captain of the guard to scrounge through the armory for what she and her friends needed. Despite the impression you get from Dungeons and Dragons, armor is _not_ one-size-fits-all, at least not good armor. Since Doug, fortified by caffeine, was now in working order, we went down to see what we could find. There was quite a bit, but most of it was intended for big brawny Asgardians. Doug lucked into a set of what must have been boy's armor almost immediately. Dani and I went climbing over bales of old cloaks and piles of shields. While Dani struggled with the lock on an old trunk, I explored further and noticed a niche on the wall, with several racks of armor hanging in it. I eliminated several helmets straight off because even to my uneducated eye they were just too large, and even the ones that looked they might fit, didn't, or else I couldn't turn my head, or see out of the tiny eyeholes. I picked up the last one almost as a joke. It was a classical Greek style helmet, silver or at least silver- plated, with a keyhole face opening, a noseguard down the center and a large white horsehair crest rising like a chess knight. For a wonder, it fit perfectly. It was surprisingly light -- must have been made of _mithril_ or something -- and I could see very well. Not only that, there was quite a bit of matching armor to go with it, all of it in a neat style that was halfway between Greek and Japanese. "I think this one was left over from the Trojan War," I said, carrying what I hadn't donned back over to my friends. "Don't take any wooden horses," said Doug. Dani had about five suits of armor spread out on the floor, trying on bits from each. She finally settled on a piece or two from each, including a helmet with wings on it. "Not bad," said Dani, circling me. "You need a cape." We unearthed a white woolen cloak that smelled heavily of naphtha, and one in black for her. Doug maintained he didn't want a cape because it would get in the way. To tell the truth, I just couldn't see him in one. Magneto sure, but Doug? "Something tells me this isn't going to be much of a vacation," I grumbled sometime later. Now that we had armor we needed arms, so Dani took us up to the fencing yard to pick out some swords and shields. Dani had had training with the Valkyries, and Doug had picked up some fencing -- I think he was so humiliated by his first adventure in Asgard that he had worked to make sure it never happened again. I'd never fenced, but I'd worked with a staff in my karate class. I ended up with a spear, which I didn't intend for throwing. After a couple of bouts with Dani we figured my best bet might be a jab through the eyehole with the business end, before a swordsman could get close enough to hit me with his sword. I'm making this sound light-hearted. It wasn't; we were deadly serious, because our lives could depend on these weapons. We were at a great disadvantage because we had to assume every Asgardian outclassed us in strength. If Dani and I could have used our powers it would have been a different story. I'd have picked us up and flown us directly to the City of Asgard and found Thor or somebody. But we were stuck here, and we had only Loki's guarantee of our safety. That's "Loki," as in "God of Lies." Another night, another dinner, some more after-dinner entertainment. Doug had learned his lesson and drank watered wine, but he still got up and delivered Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue," and then encored with Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant." You have never lived until you've sat in an Asgardian mead hall singing "You can get anything you want/At Alice's Restaurant." In Asgardian. Even Loki, up on his dais, sang along. There had to be a way back home. We just had to be very, very clever to find it. * * * Stevie shifted slightly so as not to disturb Magnus. She was so hungry she couldn't sleep, but she was damned if she wake him up by tossing and turning. He'd flown them around and around from dawn until well after dusk. Although he maintained that using his mutant power was not a strain she couldn't fully believe it; just the concentration alone must be exhausting. Maybe he'd been right; eating the candy bar had been a mistake. She'd saved half of it for later, when he'd refused his half, claiming he didn't care for sweets. It had been such a small portion that it hadn't satisfied the gnawing emptiness inside. Her mouth was watering, thinking of it inside her pocketbook next to the bed. What would it matter if she finished it off that night? Stevie tried to think of arguments against it but came up blank. There had been compelling reasons to hold on to it but the overriding argument was that she was hungry _now_. She tried to stretch without waking Magnus, but when she moved and started feeling the floor for her pocketbook he spoke up in his soft baritone voice. "Stevie? I wondered if you were awake?" She should have noticed: the bedclothes hadn't lost their warmth as they did when he slept. "I was just looking for my pocketbook," she said, hoping a note of guilt didn't sound in her voice. "Let me make a light for you," he said, as a faint blue ball formed above them, filling the little hut with a soft glow. "I just thought I'd look for ... something," she said. _Your half of the candy bar_, she thought guiltily. "You can't sleep either?" "A touch of hunger," he said. "I imagine you must feel it as well. It passes, given time." "You've starved before?" she said. Magnus gave her a rueful smile. Sleep had softened his features, so sharp and hawklike in the daylight. In the blue glow they were delicate, almost feminine despite their masculine size and the bristles of his unshaven beard. "Before," he said. "When I was very young, and later on. I ... the camp was the worst; there was never enough food to go around. Food was never beyond your thoughts, it was the primary focus of life, along with avoiding pain." Magnus looked up to the ball of light, which sparkled, sending beams laserlike around the room. "I prefer to go 'cold-turkey,' I think you say, stop the food entirely rather than drag it out." "The camp," said Stevie. "Charles said you had survived Auschwitz." He glanced over to her. "_Auschwitz-Birkenau_" * he said. "That's what we called it in German. What else did Charles tell you?" [* Oush'- vitz -- Ber'- ken- now] "Not much," she said, embarrassed. "Nothing, I think you'd keep secret --" "No, I did not mean to sound as though I thought Charles had betrayed me," he said. "I ... trust Charles. He has always borne his ability to look into the hearts and minds of others as a responsibility." "What did you mean, then?" said Stevie. "I suppose -- I wondered how it was told, how he said it, what else he told you." "It was just in passing," she said. "When you came to the school for the first time -- I went to Charles and told him what I thought of having a famous ... supervillain join the X-Men. He reminded me of what the team had always stood for, and a little of what he knew of your background. How he knew you in Israel when you were both so young." She was silent a moment. "I think he always regretted the missed opportunity to be your friend." "And I have recently come to regret what might have been," he said. "Too late." He lifted his right arm above the cover, his left index finger running up and down the prominent tattoo on his faintly silver- haired right forearm. "It was gone when Alpha regressed me, and when Eric the Red restored me," he said. "The tattoo I bore in Auschwitz. Erased. In the months after my restoration, its loss distressed me as much as the indignity of my imprisonment. My humiliation." "But you have it now?" said Stevie. "Yes, Charles said I psychosomatically restored the tattoo. Otherwise, it was as though a portion of my life had been ... erased. Even now, there are details that I cannot clearly remember." "Do you want to remember them?" Stevie asked. She did not dare to ask if he thought Charles would have blurred memories to ease his friend's pain. In her heart, she hoped he hadn't, that the lack of memory was a natural easing Magnus had permitted himself. "I feel it is a matter beyond choice," he said. "What happened to me cannot be undone; to deny it is to unmake myself. When my tattoo was erased, it is as though I should have considered myself to be cleansed of the horror of the camp, and that cannot be done." "But Charles said you were just a little boy," she said. "You were innocent--" "No," he said quickly, his voice rough. "No one who lived through Auschwitz was innocent. At the beginning perhaps -- but no truly good person lived through the camps. The good people could not survive, could not turn their backs on their fellow man. Only the selfish could survive." "You're not --" Stevie started to say and Magnus cut her off. "No, I am not a good person," he said. "To do the things I did to survive, I could not be a good person." He was silent and Stevie found herself reflecting on the things a pretty child might have done to survive. She shivered and Magnus turned to her. "You are cold," he said, warmth spreading through the bedclothes. "I looked for the men in my cell block to fall sick," he said, "for then I could steal their food when they were too ill to rise from their beds. That, and a hundred other crimes...." "It wasn't your fault," she said simply. "The will to survive." "Perhaps the strongest force in my life," he said. "More than love, or fear." "You may think that, but it's not true," she said. "Even when you tried to conquer the world, it wasn't to make it safe for _yourself_, was it?" "For the others of my kind -- mutants," he said. "It was the only way I knew. To avenge all those whom I saw die. Whom I helped kill." "You had no choice," she said. "There is always a choice," he said. "It takes a good man to make a good one." "You aren't bad," Stevie said. "Those men who forced you, the ones who imprisoned you -- they were the evil ones." "If I could only believe that," he said. "Or to believe my actions now can make up for my earlier mistakes. I have abilities, power to use as I will. All that keeps me going is the responsibility that my power brings." Magnus doused the light, and Stevie gazed upward at the afterimage in her eyes. "What's it like?" she said. "To have magnetic powers?" "What's it like?" he repeated back to her. "It's such a part of me. I have trouble separating what I am from what I do." "I was mature before my power awoke, though that is many years ago and seems almost another life. It _was_ another life. In one night, my power awoke and I ... my child was dead and my wife deserted me." "You were married?" Stevie said, hoping only sympathy showed in her voice. "You were a father?" "How different my life would have been," Magnus said. "If my daughter Anya had lived. Perhaps like me, she would have been a mutant. Then again, perhaps I would have been forced to fight to protect her and our other children." "You have others?" she said sleepily. She was curious, but he had already started to answer her earlier question. "At first the power was overwhelming, like wading chest-deep in the ocean. It ran through me, through my nerves like sweet fire, like riding a tiger. It exhausted me and gave me terrible headaches. But I couldn't stop using it; it was power, power to crush my enemies, power to keep me and mine safe." "To be able to reach out," said Stevie. "To bend steel to your will." "It's as though I were one with the metal, feeling it to be part of myself. And as I would bend my hand, so can I change the shape of the metal. Intellectually, I know I am in reality reshaping the molecular bonds of the metal, but it feels as though it were just an extension of my body, subject to my will." Stevie shivered, and he reached to pull the coverlet around her, his hand resting briefly on her shoulder. "After my resurrection, my power changed. It was more intense, but at the same time, I was more in control. I wonder what was done to me, for in retrospect it seems I was ... improved, my powers strengthened and deepened." He was silent a little while and Stevie wondered if he'd dozed off. "I am always aware, more or less," he said, "of the metal around me, in what quantity and how far. Electrical fields -- those of machines and the lesser ones of living bodies, float around me. Even as we lay here, I can sense the iron-laden rocks in the ground for thirty meters around our hut. Should anything move, I'd know it." "Saves on burglar alarms," she said. In the darkness he ran a finger down her cheek so softly that she didn't jump. "Humans are collections of electrical impulses, the iron in their blood whirling through thin air, their hearts like flashing lights, their brains like miniature thunderstorms. If I look in the right way," he said, his big toe deliberately rubbing her instep, "I can see the nerve impulse climb up your leg." "That's wild," she said. "You should have been a poet." "I'm no artist," he said. "You underestimate yourself." "Perhaps I know myself better than you do," he said. "Perhaps you don't know yourself." He snorted softly. "We must both of us get some rest. I have every expectation of escaping this pocket universe in the morning." "How?" she said. "I'll explain -- in the morning," he said. "For now, we must sleep." "Fat chance," Stevie said. "I'm too hungry." "I fear I can not alleviate that condition," he said, "But perhaps you'd allow me to teach you some auto-hypnosis?" "Hypnosis?" she said. "Didn't you use to -- well, mind-control people?" "My expertise in that area has been vastly overstated," he said. "The most I can do is enhance alpha waves, which renders the individual more suggestible. Telling people I was controlling their minds subdued any further resistance." "Smoke and mirrors," Stevie said. "In essence," he said. "Hypnosis cannot make a person perform acts contrary to their will. However, when a famous supervillain commands one, the subconscious is all too eager for self-preservation." He paused. "I will only lead you in an auto-hypnosis exercise, at any rate -- merely relax you enough for sleep." "It ... sounds safe enough," she said, uncomfortably reminded of Magnus's all too recent past. "If you trust me -- " he said hesitantly. "I hope I have never given you any cause to _distrust_ my intentions towards you." "It's all right," Stevie said. _I'm already trusting him with my life_, she thought. _Might as well go all the way_. "I'm ready," she said. "Now, I want you to concentrate on your breathing," he began, asking her to count her breaths with him. Stevie was never quite sure when the counting stopped and sweet sleep untinged by hunger took over. To Be Continued in Kid Dynamo Chapter Seven: "Wheel of Fortune" This story (c) 1992 Connie Hirsch The New Mutants, Magneto, the Hellions, Loki, and all constituent characters (c) 1992 Marvel Comics Group. This story is not for sale and is not to be distributed without permission of the author. .