Kid Dynamo Chapter 7B: 
    "Wheel of Fortune" Part 1
    by Connie Hirsch
 
    Our Story So Far:  Jessica Pierce is a teenage telekinetic fireproof
 mutant runaway who has taken shelter at Xavier's School For Gifted
 Youngsters, despite her considerable misgivings about the headmaster,
 Magneto. The leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants in his long-ago days had
 tampered with her mother's fire powers, which subsequently went berserk and
 killed her.
    Jessica was showing off for the other students at Xavier's when
 Hassen, a misdirected servant of Loki, kidnapped her, Doug Ramsey, Dani
 Moonstar, Stevie Hunter and Magneto.  Magneto managed to free himself and
 Stevie only to lose the trail of the kidnapper, leaving the two adults
 trapped in a pocket universe; while Jess and her fellow students talked
 themselves into being unwelcome yet honored "guests" of Loki.  Their mutant
 powers (with the exception of Doug's translating ability) mostly blocked by
 spells, the kids have determined to do something about their situation. 
    Last chapter they decided to steal the Heartstone, a magical widget
 that Loki desires, in the hope they can oblige him to send them back home. 
 In the meantime, Stevie and Magneto are having a rather interesting
 adventure themselves...
    
    * * *
 
    "It must be strange, to be a mutant," Lucas said.  He was mounted on
 the horse next to my own.  Up ahead rode Dani and Doug engrossed in their
 own conversation.  You could ride two across on this section of road, which
 was good, since the Asgardian scenery wasn't terribly exciting after three
 days in the saddle.
    I looked over at Lucas.  In four days, he'd gone from a total
 stranger to someone I thought of as a friend -- albeit a friend who didn't
 know anything beyond the sketchiest outline of my real life.  It was the
 first time he'd mentioned the mutant issue since we'd explained our
 predicament to him since the start of the trip.
    "I don't know that it's strange," I said.  "It's more like having an
 exceptional talent for music -- or languages like Doug has.  Mine's
 harmless -- occasionally useful."
    "But to be hated for what you are," he said. "Don't you ever feel
 like hating back?"
    _Yeah, plenty of times_.  "That doesn't help any," I said.
    "Oh?"  he said.  "I can't say I entirely blame mutants such as the X-
 Men or even Magneto for fighting back."
    Lucas didn't know the half of it.  I hoped my face hadn't changed at
 the mention of you-know-who, since we were trying to keep the connection to
 the team a secret.  Of course, If you-know-who showed up, as I found myself
 occasionally hoping he would, explanations would be awkward.
    "I think people like that only make the problem worse," I said.
 "Self-defense is okay.  Preemptive strikes are another matter entirely."
    "I suppose it depends on your point of view," said Lucas.  "And
 sometimes what appears to be a preemptive strike is something else."
    God, this guy was good.  He'd just about summed up the X-Men's entire
 career.  It really hurt that I couldn't tell him everything.
    "Ever thought about becoming a superhero?" he said after a pause.
    Now, that was a question I'd fielded often enough when I was a fire-
 proof curiosity living in Ohio.  "Are you nuts?" I said.  "The only costume
 I could wear would have a big sign on it that said, 'Please, Please Don't
 Use That Flamethrower On Me!'  Bullets would kill me as dead as anybody."
    "Yes-- but when you were little, didn't you wonder what other powers
 you might have someday?"
    Before I knew what "superheroing" would do to my mother and me.  "Oh,
 I played pretend right along with every other kid," I said.  "But that was
 before I knew much about anything."
    "Ah, childish dreams," he said.  He gestured vaguely at the
 countryside.  "Interesting to see how another society copes with people
 with vast powers."
    "I haven't seen that Asgard is such an ideal society," I said.
    "Those who have power, lead," he said.
    "A top-down feudal society," I said.  "Most of the peasants are
 unspeakably oppressed.  Only the elite live in luxury."
    "Asgardian society has been stagnant for nearly a thousand years,"
 said Lucas.  "On Midgard, more mutants are born every day -- and there's no
 reason to believe the trend will stop.  Soon, everybody might be a mutant."
    "Maybe," I said.  "Unless there is a natural equilibrium reached, or
 breeding for powers is instituted.  Or some mutant gets born whose sole
 power is to blow up the Earth."
    "I guess some of the mutants get pretty cosmic," he said.  "There's
 Magneto, for instance.  He must be the most powerful one."
    _Except for Phoenix_, I thought.  It was probably better for
 everybody if Earth never learned how close it had come....  "Most of them
 aren't," I said.  "Even Magneto must have limitations -- I heard he used a
 lot of equipment in his various escapades."
    Lucas laughed.  "Escapades," he said.  "What a light-hearted way of
 putting it."
    "What do you call it then?" I said.
    "Oh, I take it very seriously," he said.  "If I had the power -- and
 I were in the same situation -- I'd try to see the world was a better
 place."
    "Easy to say, hard to do," I said.  "What worries me is that Midgard
 -- Earth -- could end up the way Asgard is, ruled by the few and powerful."
    "You mean Earth isn't?" he said.  "Depends on what kind of power you
 mean, I suppose."
    I laughed and I saw Dani glance back at us and halt her horse and
 Doug's.  We rode up beside them and stopped.  "Is that it?" she asked
 Lucas.
    "Yes," he said.  Just over the trees up ahead we could see a castle. 
 Like Loki's castles and fortifications we'd seen on our travels, it was
 constructed from the native red stone of the region: it looked almost as
 though it had grown up from the ground, kind of rounded and weathered.  It
 encompassed a small hill; you could just see the tops of trees it enclosed;
 not only did it have its own internal park; but a spring and Lady
 Bridagan's Lake of Fire as well.
    "What now, Chief?" said Doug.
    "We go ahead with the plan," said Dani.  "After we get rooms in the
 local inn, we take the nickel tour in the morning."
    "I don't think they accommodate the tourist trade," said Lucas.  "Not
 that I'm going to try to get in, myself."
    "But they let people in who have proper business," said Doug.  "Like
 skalds, for one."
    "What about Jess and Dani?" said Lucas.
    "Interpretive dancers," said Doug with a poker face.  Lucas blinked
 and Dani just glared.
    "Surely you're joking," I said after a pause.
    "No, I'm serious," he said with the hint of a twinkle in his eyes.
 "You and Dani did a great dance this morning."
    "That's a kata, not a dance," I said and Dani giggled.
    "Kata, schmata," she said.  "If it fooled Doug..."
    "Right," said Doug.  "I could recite 'Howl.'"
    "I'm glad _I_ don't have to hear it," said Lucas.
    "If we do it right, we won't even stay the afternoon," said Doug.  "A
 skald always calls on the head bard of the castle to ask permission to
 perform.  We go in, we go looking for the Lake.  We scout it out -- if we
 can go for it, then we get the Heartstone, we tell the guards on the way
 out that the court skald says they're overbooked on interpretive dance or
 something."
    "And if we can't find it on the first try," I said, "then we sneak
 around in the evening."
    "I wish you'd wait till I've purchased disguise spells for all of
 you," Lucas said.
    "But that's going to take time, and we don't have that to spare,"
 said Dani.  "Go ahead and get them anyway.  We may need it for the
 getaway."  Lucas had promised to pawn our watches and Doug's leather
 jacket.  The Asgardians thought the watches were neat jewelry and they were
 fascinated by the zippers on the jacket, so we thought we'd get a good
 price for our "exotic goods."  We hadn't been able to sneak away with any
 appreciable amount of cash.
    "You kids sure you want to try this?" Lucas said with just a hint of
 worry in his voice.  It just about made my heart melt -- if only he knew.
    "Yeah," said Doug.  "I guess we gotta."
    
    * * *
 
    Stevie opened her eyes to see Magnus's face but a few inches away, and
 it didn't seem at all strange that they should lie so closely, naked in a
 tropical grove beneath a rising sun.
    She could hear the raucous cries of the oasis birds as she lay
 looking at his peaceful face.  He smiled contentedly in his sleep, not
 surprising considering their exertions the night before.
    _Oh my Lord_, she thought.  It had to be a dream.  She'd have never --
 he'd have never....  Hallucinations could not be as vivid as her memories
 of the night before -- she hoped.
    Then there was the certain evidence of their nakedness, the "pool" of
 costume material on which they lay.  _Pretty convincing hallucination_.
    How could she have done what she did?  Everything had seemed so ...
 logical at the time.  There had been no barriers between thought and action
 -- more like lust and action.  _Could we have been drugged_? she thought.
 The loss of inhibition had been like being drunk, without any other side
 effects.
    She realized she was grinning broadly as she thought back over what
 they'd done.  Quite an extraordinary performance all the way around.  It
 would be a long time before she had such an experience again.  At least she
 didn't have to worry about getting pregnant -- her birth control pills had
 been in her pocketbook along with everything else, and she hadn't missed
 taking any.
    _This_ incident _is going to make things awkward.  Well, I've lived
 through a one night stand before, back in college_.  There might be some
 lingering uncomfortableness, but on the whole, Magnus was a sophisticated
 European who would deal with this in an adult manner.
    As she shifted, Magnus opened his eyes, their deep blue irises
 contracting in the morning light.  "Good morning, Stevie," he said
 pleasantly, moving away from her slightly -- and then sitting bolt upright.
 "_Gott in Himmel_!"  he exclaimed, his eyes wide in shock.
    He stared at Stevie as she sat up, averting his eyes when he realized
 what he was doing.  _He's blushing_, she thought as her own face heated up.
 She realized she'd automatically crossed her arms over her naked breasts.
    "Ms. Hunter," he said.
    _Shutting the barn door_, she thought.  "You may as well call me
 Stevie," she said. 
    "Stevie," Magnus said, almost turning to look.  "I have certain
 recollections of last night that I am at a loss to explain."
    "So do I," she said.
    He sighed.  "It seemed too vivid for a dream.  What could have
 possessed me?"
    "Whatever it was, it got us both," she said.
    "Ah, yes.  You were affected first," he said.  "But I soon, ah,
 followed your lead."
    _Ardently_, she thought, grinning broadly.  He turned and caught her
 expression, his mouth dropping open in disbelief.
    "I assure you," he said, with businesslike recovery, "had I not been
 drugged, I would never have behaved in such manner."
    _That's for sure, and more's the pity_.  "It's all water over the
 dam," she said.  "We're not the first two people who woke up surprised on
 the morning after."
    "To think that I could have --" said Magnus, head in his hands.  "It
 was just this side of rape."
    "Whoa, buster," Stevie said sharply.  "I don't remember any 'rape'
 going on last night.  Unless you mean when I jumped on you --"
    "_Nein_, ah, no," he said.  "Among the many offenses I have committed
 in my career there has never been rape.  But had you resisted last night, I
 should have forced you."
    He was mightily upset to be confusing his English so,  Stevie noted. 
 "There wasn't any question of forcing.  You were quite ... gentle."  _And
 generous, and enthusiastic_.
    "But if I had reacted first," he started to say, and she cut him
 off.
    "But you _didn't_," she said.  "Anyway, if that was abandonment to
 the tides of lust, you were all that a woman could ask for."
    "Well, thank you for that," he said and stopped.  "Excuse me, I did
 not intend for that to sound sarcastic.  It is that -- I had no intention
 of pursuing you in such a manner."
    "And you don't go for one night stands," Stevie said.
    "Just so.  I want you to know ... I still hold you in respect."  _Oh,
 thank you_, Stevie thought, but held her tongue.  "Our relationship shall
 not change."
    "That's what I hoped," Stevie said.  "It shouldn't.  We're two
 adults, we can deal with this in an adult manner."
    "I do not doubt it," said Magnus.  He still looked shell-shocked.
 "You mustn't think I make a habit of such ... antics," he said, looking
 away.  "My performance was seemingly inspired."  _Inspired at least five
 times I remember_, Stevie thought. _Yet another triumph for the
 Ubermensch_.
    "Haven't you ever woken up next to somebody you shouldn't have?" she
 said.
    "No," he said.  "Not like this.  Sex has special meaning for me.  It
 is more than the lust of animals."
    It was Stevie's turn to look away.  "Well, thank you," she said
 sarcastically.
    "No, I did not mean that to sound so --" Magnus stopped.  "It is easy
 to distance myself at such a time," he said.  "To deny what we did as
 having meaning, in order to go on without acknowledging it.  When in truth,
 our ... lovemaking was an honest outgrowth of my attraction to you, no
 matter how it was inspired."
    "I feel a great deal of attraction to you," Stevie said, feeling her
 face heat up.  She couldn't meet his eyes. "Not that I ever intended to act
 on it."
    "No, of course not.  It would be entirely inappropriate," he said.
 "We must strive to put this behind us."
    "I don't think I'm going to be able to just forget this," Stevie
 said.
    "We could be ... friends who have shared deeply," he said, holding
 out his hand.  Stevie took it and looked into his eyes.  "I can not forget
 either," he said.  "It was a memorable experience.  In the normal course of
 events I would not choose to go on as though nothing had happened between
 us."
    "I understand," she said, torn between relief and regret.  She
 wondered if Magnus would truly be able to keep to his promise.  No matter
 how noble the sentiments he expressed, the emotional fallout had only
 begun.  Better to change the subject, but be prepared for the future.
    "What happened to us, anyway?  I felt as though I were high or something."
    "It was not a euphoria similar to any of the standard intoxicants or
 psychedelics," Magnus said with a frown.
    "_You_ --  on LSD?" Stevie said.
    "I have tried various methods to better my control of my power," he
 said.  "Including certain judicious experimentation with mind altering
 drugs.  I was hardly the only scientist to do so in the Sixties."
    "And look what happened to Dr. Leary."
    Magnus gave her a cool smile.  "Be that as it may," he said.  "At
 least it provided a baseline against which to judge this... experience.
 Our inhibitions were loosened, our libidos inflamed, our perceptions
 heightened, without noticeable side effects."
    "Now you're making me feel like bottling the stuff and taking it
 home," said Stevie.  "We'd make a killing."
    "Given the drug abuse problem 'back home,'"  Magnus said wryly,
 "perhaps it is better if we do not."
    "You may have a point there," Stevie said.  She went to get up and
 realized she was still totally naked.  He realized it too, and a section of
 metallic "cloth" detached itself from the pad on which they had sat and
 held itself out to be wrapped around her.  She accepted it silently but
 gratefully.  "I suppose I'll get washed up now," she said.
    "No--" he said.  "We don't know what element caused our madness.  We
 should vacate this area as quickly as we can."
    "Why -- I suppose you're right," she said.  "Come to think of it, I
 didn't start to feel _odd_ until I took my bath...."
    "And my madness did not bloom until you had thoroughly soaked me," he
 said.  "Though I suspect the seeds of it were already planted well before
 that.  And the mountains are only a short flight away, and we can find
 water and food there, I trust."
    "Right, then," said Stevie.  She looked around the campsite and
 sighed aloud.  "You don't happen to know what became of my clothes, do
 you?"
    
    * * *
 
 We didn't get very far with our plan.  I wish I knew exactly what it was
 that set off Lady Bridagan's alarms.  Maybe it was the magic collars; that
 was a major bit of spell making, after all.  Or we just lucked out and ran
 into a suspicious guard who alerted the right people who showed up in the
 right place at the right time.
    We didn't even get _to_ the Lake of Fire.  After getting into
 Bridagard just the way we planned, we slipped out of the public areas of
 the castle into the center and were nearly to the marge of the lake, when
 we were surrounded by guards, all too eager to shed our blood.  Doug and
 Dani raised their swords and a whole flight of arrows headed for us.
    I had time to think "Oh shit!" as I realized that ducking was not
 going to work.  Instinctively, I did the only thing that was likely to
 help: I grabbed the arrows out of the air.
    And immediately let them drop, of course: I keeled over as the collar
 tightened, choking the life nearly out of me.  I had time to think "Oh
 shit!" once again, as I realized the guards were only going to leap on us,
 kill us, and I wouldn't even know it.  
    Coming to, I had the sense it had only been a few minutes.  Not only
 was I alive, I also wasn't full of holes, to my amazement.  Doug was
 bending over me, patting my face, and over his shoulder I could see Dani
 standing with her arms folded, glowering.  The guards had their swords
 drawn, but they were standing back a respectful distance.
    "I wish I knew how I manage to project 'Valkyrie' at times like
 this," Dani said in English.  She sounded strained.  "Do you think I can
 scare 'em into running away?"
    The man who must have been captain of the guard pushed his way to the
 front.  He had a big belly, but he was built in the way that lets you know
 he had muscle underneath.  "What's this?" he said in a not-friendly manner.
 "A member of the Sisterhood come to Bridagard unannounced?"
    I got to my feet as Dani said, "We'll be going now."
    The captain gazed at her levelly and burst into ugly laughter.  "Oh
 no," he said.  "Something smells of fish here, or I am not Hrolf Harald's
 son.  They've got the taint of magic about them, boys, the smell of foreign
 lands, too.  But yon Valkyrie is a fake."
    "A _fake_!" Dani sounded outraged.  She laid her hand on the hilt of
 her sword and I noticed the archers take aim.
    "Back off quick!" I hissed in English.  "I don't think I can do the
 arrows again!"  Without looking at me, she calmly took her hand away and I
 could see the bowstrings relax.
    "If you can knock them over, we could make a run for it," said Doug
 in the same language.
    "Are you nuts?" I hissed back. "I could kill somebody that way!"
    "If you'll take time to stop arguing," said the Captain, "we'll take
 you into custody."
    "No," said Dani, her eyes strangely dark.  I have to admit she
 somehow looked amazingly menacing.  But the Captain seemed not fazed in the
 least.
    "I have lived the good life of a warrior," Captain Hrolf said.  "If
 thou dost choose to take me now, I cannot object."
    Dani glared, but said nothing.  The Captain let the silence go on for
 a good long time, then abruptly gave another belly laugh.  Like a fire
 catching, it ran around the rest of the guards, nervously, then with more
 confidence.
    "So you see, boys," he said.  "She's not a proper Valkyrie after
 all."  He put his hands on his broad hips and sneered down at us.  "Take
 them to the best dungeon cell, and Lady Bridagan will see to their
 punishment in the morning.  But treat them _gentle_, boys, for we don't
 wish to insult the _real_ Valkyries by mistreating those who pose as
 members of the Sisterhood."
    I've never been hustled off quite so politely.  The guards relieved
 us of our weapons but they didn't remove our armor or search us.  One was
 almost apologetic as he locked manacles around my ankles.  They were
 connected by  long chains to the walls of the cell.  I'd hate to have seen
 their worst cell; their best was not very pleasant.  There was some stone
 shelves sit or lie on, and some dirty straw on the floor.  It was dank,
 musty, and dark.  I've seen better accommodations at Motel Six.
    The door clanged shut, followed by much obvious sounds of locking up.
    "I don't _fucking_ believe it!"  Doug said, throwing his arms up and
 pacing up and down the cell as far as his chains allowed him.  He glared at
 the both of us.  "You went and let them lock us up!"
    I didn't wait for Dani to speak.  "Well, what did you want me to do --
 tear their heads off?"
    "That would have been a _start_," he snapped back.
    "You're out of your gourd," I said.  "I might have killed somebody if
 I'd tried anything."  _Hell, I might have killed_ me.
    "Oh _very_ good-- tell it to the executioner," he said.
    "They probably won't execute us," said Dani.  "Not when they find out
 they can ransom us to Loki...."
    "And you!"  Doug yelled.  "Some great Valkyrie you turned out to be!"
    Dani stood up slowly, that black look back in her eyes again.  "You
 want to find out what kind of Valkyrie I am, Douglas?" she said, slow and
 deadly.
    Doug took a step back and sat down heavily on the shelf behind him.
 His hands were trembling and he was pale.  "Wha-- what did you _do_?" he
 said when he had his mouth under control.
    Dani turned her head away, her eyes closed.  "It isn't much fun to
 joke about, is it?" she said softly.  She stood for a moment, arms folded
 tight against her chest, then she turned to me.  "How did you do the
 arrows?" she said.  "I thought you couldn't use your TK?"
    "I haven't been holding back, if that's what you mean," I said.
    "Oh, _far_ be it from me to imply...." she started to say but I cut
 her off.
    "Shut up," I said.  "I can't do anything if I think about it.
 Grabbing the arrows was instinctual.  Once I realized what I was doing, the
 collar got me."
    Dani opened her mouth so quickly I almost expected to hear a snap.
 "Oh," she said.  It was her turn to pace now.  "I guess we're lucky you
 reacted the way you did."
    "Well, they might have hit our armor," I said.
    "Or they might not," she said.  "So if you didn't think about it, you
 could knock down the door to this cell...."
    "Yeah," I said.  "Try not thinking about the white elephant."
    "A little difficult," she said.
    "A _lot_ difficult," I said.  "Even if I counted on being knocked
 out, and just grabbed something, my control might be ... off.  The collar
 doesn't just cut off my breath, it squeezes so hard that my arteries are
 shut down and I faint right away, like a garrote.  If I tried to knock down
 that door I might lose control and take out half the castle."
    "And knock down the other half on us," Dani finished for me.
    "And I'd be unconscious and couldn't catch it or protect us," I said.
 I felt considerably less heated than I had; I could see now why Dani might
 have thought I was holding back.  Speaking of which....  "You didn't say
 anything about having a power in reserve," I accused.
    "It isn't the sort of thing I _want_ to use," she said.  "It's ...
 not a mutant power, so I guess the collar can't affect it."
    My mouth was open.  "So you're a real, uh, Valkyrie?" I said, my
 voice not quite squeaking.
    "Depends on you define 'real,'" she said sarcastically.
    "Didn't you have to be a daughter of Odin or something?" I said.  "Or
 am I getting mixed up by the _Nibelungenlied_?"
    Doug spoke up.  "Maybe they relaxed the rules?"  Evidently he'd
 recovered from Dani's whammy.
    "I don't know what the rules were -- are," Dani corrected herself,
 starting to pace again.  "Nobody asked me.  They were going to hold some
 sort of ceremony, but I ... cut and run."
    "You must have been upset, Chief," Doug said softly.  "That's not
 like you."
    "I don't want that kind of power," Dani said.  "I don't want to use
 it!"
    "Even to get us out of trouble?" Doug said.
    "Doug, we were sneaking into this castle to steal something that
 doesn't belong to us, so we could give it to one of the biggest sleazeballs
 in the known universe.  I'm not going to kill some guy because he's trying
 to do his job."
    "Oh crud," Doug said.  "We're stuck."
    "Yeah," said Dani.  "Between Jess and me we have enough firepower to
 level the castle and kill everyone in it.  But we're not going to do it."
    "Shit," said Doug.  He put his head in this hands.  "I thought
 superheroing would be simpler, somehow."
    "Welcome to reality, Sherlock," I said.
    
    * * *
 
    Magneto did not hold out hope that they had returned to Earth.  It
 was possible an oasis in the Sahara _might_ have had an obelisk with
 Nordic style runes on it, but the other oddities of this place made
 certain his conclusion they were elsewhere.  The stars were odd; so too
 was the magnetic field which told him that North was straight up.  When
 he flew Stevie and himself high enough, the curvature of the "Earth" was
 nonexistent.
    Aside from that, it was a pleasant world; the desert giving way to
 a lush countryside, teeming with game and edible plant life.  There were
 no people.  It took them another two days before they came upon another
 sign of habitation.
    The silence between himself and Stevie had started innocently
 enough.  It was nearly intolerable now, but Magneto had no idea how to
 cure it.  Whenever Stevie offered a comment he cut her off, as quickly as
 he could.  Affronted, she had lapsed into silence.
    The trouble was, he didn't know how to stop behaving this way.
 Inadvertently, she'd breached all the walls he kept around himself, walls
 he'd hardly been aware of creating.  So rather than sound snappish or
 hurt Stevie's feelings further with some ill-chosen comments, he stayed
 silent.  And hurt Stevie's feelings further by his silence...
    He was jostled from his reverie by Stevie's speaking up at his
 side.  "Magneto, do you think that's a road below?"
    "I suppose it could be, Ms. Hunter," he said neutrally.  It might
 be no more than a game trail, but there seemed to be no reason not to
 check it out.
    The track crossed a meadow below them and Magneto set them down on
 a green sward beside it.  The "road" was composed of two parallel ruts of
 hard packed earth.
    "Animals couldn't have made this-- could they?" Stevie said,
 puzzled.  Magneto looked down.  _Wheel ruts less than a yard apart?
 Perhaps if they were made by a tiny axle..._
    "A sign of intelligence," he said.  Kneeling by the side of the
 nearer rut he indicated unmistakable wheel tracks in the mud.  "No mere
 animal made that," he said.
    "We have only to follow that and we'll find people," she said.
    "'People,'" he said in reply.  "But will they be human?"
    Stevie gave him a look he wasn't sure how to interpret -- anger?
 contempt?  "To tell you the truth, by this point I don't care," she
 snapped.
    He said nothing.  In truth, he didn't know what to say.
    "Well?" she said.  "Which way?"
    "It would seem a more likely course to continue in the direction we
 have been traveling," he said.
    "Okay, then," she said.  "Let's get started."  She turned and
 walked off down the road.
    "Stevie," he said.  Magneto flew to her side and set down next to
 her but she kept walking.  "Don't you think," he said, a hint of steel in
 his voice, "that it would be more efficient if I carried the both of us?"
    She stopped, hands on her hips.  "I'm sick and tired of playing
 luggage," she said.  She turned and started walking again.
    Something began to boil over inside Magneto.  He reached out a hand
 to gather the magnetic force that could pick up Stevie and return her to
 his side -- and stopped himself.  Would that not be treating her as
 "luggage?"  Was it not the moral equivalent of laying hands on her
 person?
    He sighed.  Took a deep breath, counted to ten, did it again.
 _Magneto will not be frustrated by a mere human woman_, he thought.  Like
 a ghost speaking he could hear what Charles had said to him in one of
 their long conversations after he had joined the school:  "Magnus, think
 about what you are doing when you refer to someone as a 'mere human.'
 First you diminish them in reference to yourself and then you imply that
 you are not human."
    Once he would have replied, "But I _am_ far _more_ than human."
 Charles had helped him see that the similarities were greater than the
 differences.  He knew it; he believed it; yet he found himself slipping
 back into old patterns of thought when he had been emotionally off-
 balance.
    What was he to do then?  Let her walk off into danger by herself?
 That would not do.  Stevie was no "mere human woman," but they faced a
 strange and unknown environment.  He must swallow his pride and walk by
 her side until she consented to be his passenger once again.
    It might be only a matter of walking a few miles.  What was the
 saying  -- "Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his
 shoes?"  Perhaps a few miles of walking with her could reconcile them to
 their situation.
    It took only a moment to fly down the road to her side.  She
 glanced at him warily as he landed, his stride matching hers.  She had
 made comparatively little distance.  "If you must insist on this
 exercise," he said, "I may as well join you."
    "Suit yourself," she said, not checking her stride in the least.
    Magneto was no stranger to walking; at various times in the past
 twenty years he had covered a good stretch of the Balkan Alps in all
 sorts of weather, in search of his lost wife, Magda.  His travels had
 been for the most part afoot, for he needed the confidence of the
 villagers if he hoped to find news.
    And it was good to stretch one's muscles.  Flying was too easy; one
 exerted no more physical effort than lying in bed, for hours at a
 stretch.  _Aside from our other problems_,  Magneto mused, _we are both
 irritable from simple lack of exercise_.
    It was a pleasant countryside; gently rolling hills and sudden
 meadows.  The road they traveled took the route of least resistance and
 were not their plight so grave, Magneto would have enjoyed the stroll.
    The season appeared to be autumn.  In the mountains ahead there was
 already snow on the peaks, but here in the foothills the trees were just
 beginning to change.  Some species he recognized from his childhood in
 Germany and Poland; other trees and plants were completely strange,
 unlike even the ones he'd seen in North America.  It was an interesting
 puzzle.
    Stevie steadfastly ignored him.  He found he was looking at her
 more than normal, appreciative of the way her body moved, so lithe and
 womanly.  It was an awareness that galled him; he didn't want it but at
 the same time he enjoyed it altogether too much.
    _That is why you are pushing her away_, he thought.  _You don't
 want her to have this control over you_.
    Or did he?  He drew away from that thought; he didn't want to deal
 with it now.  Perhaps later, when they were both calm he could talk with
 her, explain why a relationship would not, could not work for the both of
 them.  _Perhaps I can even convince myself_.
    "What's that up ahead?" said Stevie
    Magneto cursed himself for a preoccupied fool.  He should have been
 keeping an eye on the road for dangers.  Where the path split into a "Y"
 at a sort of crossroads just before them, there was an obelisk.  It was
 vaguely reminiscent of the one back at the oasis, made of some hard
 blackish rock, the runes cut into the smooth surface.
    "Where's the Scarecrow, now that we really need him?" Stevie said.
    Magneto pondered letting it pass, but he decided he would just as
 soon understand the joke, if that is what she was making.  "Scarecrow?"
 he said politely.
    "From 'The Wizard of Oz,'" she said, looking away annoyed.   "The
 movie musical."
    "You see yourself as Dorothy?" he said.  He remembered the books
 well, his nurse had read them with him so long ago.
    "Yes, and you're Toto," Stevie said sarcastically.  Magneto raised
 an eyebrow.  "In the movie Dorothy comes to a crossroads and wonders out
 loud which way to go -- and the Scarecrow answers her."
    "I really must see this movie someday," he said.  He was quiet,
 studying the different directions they could take.
    "So what is it going to be?" Stevie said, breaking the silence.
    "I haven't decided yet," he said.
    "You used to at least consult me," she snapped.
    He looked at her coldly.  "You used to be able to hold a polite
 conversation," he said at last.
    For a moment, although Stevie did not move a muscle, he thought she
 was going to hit him.  Very slowly, she said, "So says Captain
 Conversation himself.  In the past two days I've said maybe three
 sentences that you haven't dismissed out of hand."
    Stung, he said, "I wish to maintain a certain distance at this
 time.  It's for the best."
    "There you go, deciding for _us_, again," she said.  "Whatever
 happened to 'We can be friends?'"
    "We can be -- we are," he said with a frown.
    "Then _act_ like it," she said.  "Loosen up!"
    "Perhaps I don't know how," he said.
    "Oh, don't give me this Germanic coldness trip again," she said.
 "If you're such a genius, figure out how.  Fake it."
    "Really, Stevie," he said and realized what he wanted to do was
 make her shut up by kissing her.  That would not do.  Words failed him.
 He looked into her eyes.  "You know the kind of man I am.  It is hard for
 me to deal with ... intimacy." Now he was sounding like a teenager!  "I
 am trying to deal with it by reestablishing the boundaries of our
 relationship.  You will always be my friend, no matter what happens."
    She frowned, not an angry frown.  "You poor schmuck."
    Magneto heatedly began to reply, but checked himself.  "Stevie --
 are you aware of what 'schmuck' really means?"
    It wasn't a reply anywhere along the line of what she had expected,
 and it threw her off stride.  "Er --" she said.  "Somebody to be pitied?"
    "Contemptible, obnoxious," he said, "are among its connotations.
 It has an older meaning, of course."
    "I -- well, I didn't mean _that_," she said.
    "I am sure you did not," he said.
    "You've been very provoking," she said.
    "I am attempting to deal with this situation," he said, "in the
 only way I know how.  I have been more short with you than I ought."
    "Should I take that as an apology?" she said.
    "If you wish," he said.  _Perhaps you've been suffering from too
 much pride_, he told himself.  Curiously, he felt better for admitting
 it.  He had expected to feel diminished.  "I can give you a formal
 apology if you prefer."
    "That won't be necessary," she said.  "If you would just _talk_ to
 me."
    "'Captain Conversation' can not think of much to say," he said.  "I
 used to know what our relationship was, and felt secure in our
 friendship.  But what happened between us..."
    "Happens to hundreds of people, everyday," she said.  "And they
 cope.  It doesn't matter to them."
    "I should hope it would," he said.  "It does to me.  Perhaps I
 should feel sorry for them."
    "Forget about _them_," Stevie said.  "We have to deal with us."
    _I'd rather deal with Loki, the X-Men and the Avengers -- all at
 the same time_, he thought.  "I don't want to have a ... relationship
 with you," he said at last.
    "Good!  Okay! You're communicating!" Stevie said somewhat
 vehemently.  She didn't sound altogether pleased, despite her words.
    "It is inappropriate," he said.
    "That's all?" she said.
    "Can't you think of enough reasons yourself?" he said.
    "I suppose I can," she said.  "I haven't exactly been _asking_ you
 for a relationship, have I?"
    "You do not desire one, then?" he said.
    Stevie shook her head.  "Coming from anyone else," she said.  "You
 think you're such a prize, then?"
    "As a ... spouse?" he said.  "No, decidedly not.  That is why I
 would not pursue such a vocation."
    "Okay," she said.  "Now hear this -- Magneto -- loud and clear.  I
 do not want a relationship with you.  I have never wanted one, and I
 never will.  Okay?"
    He should be feeling more relief at her words, he thought
 distractedly.  It tasted like ashes.  "Yes," he said.  "I... am glad we
 talked this out."
    "There may be hope for you," she said.  Magneto blinked in
 surprise.  "It's an expression," she added quickly.  "There's a _lot_ of
 hope for you."
    "Charles thought so," he said.  Something more must be said.  He
 felt like a schoolboy again.  _Perhaps I'm reliving my lost adolescence_,
 he thought.  "I-- I am honored you were my partner.  As hard as this has
 been to deal with, any other would not have handled it so well."
    "Thank you-- I think," Stevie said with a hint of a smile.  Magneto
 couldn't help but smile back.  "I believe we started this discussion with
 the topic of which road to take, and it's high time we returned to that
 subject."
    "The crossroads."  He smiled at her.  "I confess I have not the
 faintest idea which one to take," he said. "They both proceed roughly in
 the direction we wish.  Perhaps you would care to choose?"
    "We--ell," Stevie said.  "Let's go right-- I think that path looks
 a little more worn.  And in this case, I do think Robert Frost was
 wrong."
    "The right it is, then," he said, gesturing "after you" to Stevie. 
 As they started down the track he added, "What was 'Robert Frost' wrong
 about?"
    
    * * *
 
 Dungeons are really the pits.  No kidding.
    Even if this was the best cell, it still stank.  I mean that
 literally!  Add the bedbugs and fleas in the straw on the floor.  And the
 cockroaches who were fearless and crawled everywhere.  And the mice and
 rats who seemed to regard us as intruders into their domain.  Mutual of
 Omaha's Wild Kingdom would have had a field day.
    But Marlin Perkins was nowhere to be found.  We decided to sleep in
 shifts, with one person awake to throw things at the rats when they got
 too bold.  I had almost fallen asleep when a cockroach ran across my
 face, and after that I decided to sit up with Dani, who'd drawn first
 shift.  Doug had wrapped himself up in Dani's cape, leaving just a little
 opening to breathe through.  I could have done the same thing but I was
 just too wound up for sleep.
    I don't think Dani was glad for the company, to tell you the truth.
 I had the impression that she wanted to brood alone, but beggars can't be
 choosers when you're locked into a dungeon together.  It's kind of hard
 to remain aloof.
    "What you said earlier -- about you really being a Valkyrie -- you
 weren't kidding, were you?" I said.
    "Wish I was, Jess," she replied and started telling me about the
 time she'd spent with them when the New Mutants had been scattered all
 over Asgard without a hope of finding one another.  Despite the worry, it
 had been a happy time for her, a vacation, doing things she liked best.
 Some of the facts of Valkyrie life had been deliberately concealed from
 her, other bits she had blindly or not so blindly refused to see.  "The
 worst part of it is," she added, "nobody seems to be able to explain why
 I was chosen.  Brightwind picked me, sure, which is evidently the
 greatest part of the qualification.  But why me?"
    "There's your rapport with animals," I said.  "And maybe there's
 something in your mutant power that's analogous to what a Valkyrie does
 to carry the honored dead to Valhalla.  Uh, _do_ they have Valhalla
 here?"
    "You got me," she said.  "I think I met Death, once or twice."
 She'd certainly met some_one_ or had some very interesting hallucinatory
 experiences.  Given all we'd gone through, I was more inclined to take
 her at her word than ever before.
    "That's an awful lot for anyone to bear," I said when she'd
 finished relating her tale.  "I thought I had a big problem with my
 ability to ... do major damage.  Kill people."  _And my ancestry_, I
 added silently.
    "Yeah," she said.  "I try to forget it as best I can but it keeps
 coming back.  At least you have control over your power.  I can't stop
 seeing death shadows."
    "Did you--" I had to ask, "Did you see any over us?"
    "Only when the arrows were flying, but you stopped that.  It's
 another reason I didn't want to kill the captain."
    "I don't want to ever get to the point where I can just casually
 kill people," I said.
    "Me either," she said.  "None of the X-Men are like that -- except
 maybe Wolverine, but he's a special case."
    I'd never met the X-Men, of course, but I'd heard and read so much
 about them.  "It seems to me that a real hero doesn't kill -- or fight --
 when he or she doesn't have to."
    "I wish it always worked that way," Dani said.  "Sometimes, if you
 hesitate, you can get in worse trouble."
    "Yeah, I know," I said.
    "Oh --  I didn't mean --"
    "That's how I got caught by the Right," I said.  "That's exactly
 it."
    "You've got to walk a fine line, sometimes," she said.  "Maybe
 we've got to learn to accept ourselves a little bit better.  I thought
 I'd gotten used to being a mutant -- my power was a royal pain at first,
 I couldn't be around people.  Only my grandfather, Black Eagle, was brave
 enough to stand by me.  Professor X came and helped me deal with my
 power, to master it.  And then I get hit with this Valkyrie deal."
    "You can deal with that too, I bet," I said.
    "Well, I wish I could," she said.  "But right now I want to
 concentrate on getting back to Midgard."
    "Yeah," I said.  "You know, I know how it is to have trouble with
 your identity."
    "You were on the run," said Dani.  "And it wasn't your fault.  You
 know I've forgiven you for deceiving us."
    "It's not just that," I said. I had to say it.  "It's my father.
 He's--"  I couldn't go any further.  Dani looked at me, troubled, and I
 opened my mouth to finish the sentence.
    A mouse had picked that moment to take refuge in Doug's pants leg. 
 Probably "Mickey" was fleeing one of the rats so it seemed like a good
 idea at the time.  There are worse ways to be woken up than by feeling a
 mouse in your pants; but Doug's attitude did not allow him to properly
 appreciate this fact.
    With Doug yelling and dancing about the cell I did not feel like I
 should finish my explanation.  The mood was gone; and I knew I could
 always explain later.
    I thought Dani was going to have to hit Doug over the head to get
 him to stop jumping around so we could remove the mouse, but eventually
 the little critter found his own exit.
    While Doug pouted and Dani laughed, I decided to try something
 other than sitting and brooding.  "Dani," I said. "Do you still have the
 stuff from your pocketbook?"
    "Sure," she said.  "What do you want?"
    "Do you have anything like a paper clip?" I said.
    Dani rooted through her pack.  The guards really hadn't searched
 very well, she still had her Swiss Army knife.  It turned out that she'd
 had a bunch of notes paper-clipped together.  "What do you want it for?"
 she asked, handing it over.
    "Oh, I thought I'd try some lock-picking in my spare time," I said.
    "I didn't know you knew that," she said.
    "I don't," I said.  "Noemi was going to teach me, but I could do it
 better with my TK.  I know the theory.  You should be able to do it with
 a simple paper clip.  I thought now would be a good time to try it."  
    Half an hour later I was ready to scream.  I'd made no progress
 whatsoever with the lock on my ankle manacle.  Dani had lain down "for a
 minute" and was fast asleep.  Doug was hanging over my shoulder, watching
 every move.
    "The problem is," I told him, "I can 'see' inside the lock, but I
 can't get the parts to behave!"
    "Tough," he said.  "You want me to take a shot?"
    "Go ahead."  He bent over his ankle lock and poked a bit.  I didn't
 have to lean over to see what he was doing, of course.  "You missed the
 first thingie, the part you have to lift," I said.
    "The tumbler," he said absently.
    "You've picked locks before?" I said.
    "No, never had to," he said.  "It's just the word that you want."
    "How do you do that?" I said, amazed.  "Know a word that you've
 never heard before?"
    Doug looked up and grinned at me.  "Hey -- it's my mutant ability,
 y'know.  My only recompense for its uselessness is its inexplicability."
    "Oh, great," I said.  "Don't they have a theory or something?"
    "Professor X thought it might be parapsychic," Doug said.  "He said
 something about reading the racial unconsciousness, 'absorbing language'
 from it.  Or else, I am unconsciously putting together all the clues of
 what's there and deducing the rest of the language from that."
    "I like the first one better," I said.  "How the heck can you
 deduce 'tumbler' from my description?"
    "I dunno," he said with a shrug.
    "Wait a sec,'" I said.  Maybe I was grasping at straws.  Maybe I
 was getting excited at nothing.  But if it worked!  "If you can come up
 with the words -- their definitions -- what's to stop you from knowing
 all about locks?"
    "'Cause I don't, that's why," Doug said, shaking his head.
    "To know a language is to know the concepts in it," I said.  "If
 you know technical jargon -- with the breadth and depth that you can --
 then you must know the technique too.  Or if you're such a great deducer,
 you should be able to deduce, say, lock-picking skills from it."
    Doug sighed.  "Nice theory," he said.  "Only I _don't_ know how to
 do it."
    "Maybe not on a conscious level," I said.
    "Remember what you said to Dani? 'Try not to think of the white
 elephant.'"
    "But this isn't a matter of thinking," I said.  "It's a matter of
 believing.  If you can do it unconsciously, you should be able to do it
 deliberately."
    "Nice theory, Jess," Doug said.  "And I'd like with all my heart
 for it to work.  But it won't."
    "But if it did," I said.  "Game for a little experiment?"
    Doug shrugged.  "It isn't like we were going anywhere," he said.
 "What do you have in mind?  And will it hurt?"
    I made him lie down on the shelf, and then I led him through the
 hypnosis routines Noemi had shown me when I was getting control of my
 power.  They'd been very helpful for me and I hoped Doug could benefit
 from them too.  Once he was under I told him that he was to imagine he
 had access to shelves and shelves of books that contained every language
 in existence.  Then I told him the books were in a vast library, filled
 with _all_ kinds of knowledge.  "And now you have a library card with
 unrestricted access," I said.  "You can look at any book on anything, not
 just the language books.  As long as you use the information for good,
 it's yours."  I added a few post-hypnotic commands -- to feel confident,
 to be optimistic, the usual, and woke him up.
    "How do you feel?" I said.  He sat up and stretched.
    "I don't think I've been this rested in days," he said.  "Riding is
 hard work, you know."
    "Doug," I said, frustrated.  "Try the lock, already."
    "Jess, you know I hate to disappoint you," he said.  "But this
 isn't going to work."
    "Go ahead," I said, handing him the somewhat bent paperclip.  "Give
 it a try anyhow."  As he put the end of it into the lock I added, "Now is
 the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party," which was the
 post-hypnotic command I'd specified to bring on maximum assurance and
 belief in what he was doing.
    I watched in amazement as Doug went click! click! click! with the
 tumblers and the ankle manacle fell open.  "Is that all it _is_?" said
 Doug. "That was _easy_."  He sounded shocked.
    I'd thought my hypnotic command would make him more relaxed, a
 little more in touch with the subject of lock-picking.  But he'd gone
 through that lock with the ease of a professional locksmith.
    Doug got up and paced back and forth, a kind of disbelieving smile
 on his face.  "Quick--" he said. "Name a kata -- one of the ones you
 haven't shown Dani."
    "There's the Kuniyoma," I said, the first that came to mind.  It's
 a difficult one.  Doug took a centering breath and moved through it like
 he was floating.  Like a master does.
    I closed my open mouth when he turned to me for an evaluation.
 "Your form is off," I said.  "You should have extended more on the
 kicks." Other than that, he'd been perfect.
    "I can't do anything about the physical limitations," he said,
 still with that grin.  "My tendons aren't stretched enough to do those
 kicks right.  I'll have to work on that."
    He picked up the paper clip.  "Hold out your ankle," he said.
 "It's time to get out of here."
    Dani was rather confused when she was woken up and told that Doug
 was going to bust us out of the cell.  I felt a little confused myself.
 "You _hypnotized_ him?" she asked me twice.
    Doug spent a good few minutes examining the door.  Then he backed
 up to the opposite wall, took a deep breath and launched a flying kick
 that booted the wooden, iron-bound door off its hinges and across the
 dungeon corridor.  Doug landed on his feet and disappeared running down
 the hall, where we could hear the sounds of the guard yelling and a
 scuffle.  Dani and I stared at each other in disbelief, but I think we
 must have simultaneously decided to see if he needed help because I
 distinctly remember almost getting stuck in the door together trying to
 come to his aid.
    Not that Doug needed it.  When we came pounding down the corridor
 he was bending over the unconscious body of the only guard, removing his
 swordbelt.  He looked up at us.  "This," he said, "is going to be fun."
    I looked at Dani and she looked back.  "I think I've created a
 monster," I said.  Dani laughed.
    "Okay, enough," she said when she recovered.  "Let's get out of
 here."
    "Good thinking, Chief," Doug said.  "Which way is out?"
    "You're the answer man," Dani said with a hint of sarcasm in her
 voice.  "Why don't you figure it out?"
    "Power don't work that way," he said.  "I know general things --
 like the theory of castle construction -- but specifics, like the layout
 of this particular castle -- isn't included."
    "So what does the theory have to say about the way out?" I butted
 in.
    "It's either that way, or this way," he said.  "You take your
 pick."
    "I think I remember coming this way," I said.
    It was as good a guess as any, but it was wrong.  We were lucky
 getting through the first few corridors.  When we made it through a door
 into the inner sanctum of the castle we had to retrace our steps.
    Although we proceeded cautiously, using my seeker sense to "see
 through walls" and check for guards, we were unable to avoid a party of
 two guards making their way to a duty station.  It was either stand still
 and hope they didn't see us or duck out into another corridor where there
 were too many people.  Doug launched himself at the guards as soon as
 they saw us, before Dani and I got our weapons out. 
    He was dancing around yelling "Parry! Thrust! Ha!" and stuff like
 that.  Those guards didn't know what hit them, I think.  They were down
 with flesh wounds when cries started echoing through the corridors.
    "We're in for it now," said Doug.  "Let's amscray."
    We amscrayed, but the way out was blocked by too many guards.  We
 kept being driven higher and higher until we were up on the parapets.  It
 was just before dawn and the light was growing stronger.  On either side
 of us on the top walk of the castle wall we could see a huge party of
 guards.
    "Well, I'm out of ideas," said Doug.
    "A great time for it too," I said.
    "If we surrender and claim the protection of Loki, they probably
 won't hurt us," said Dani.
    "They're kind of pissed," I said.  "They might ask questions
 later."
    "I _can't_ kill them, Jess," she said.  "I _won't_."
    "I understand," I said, and I did.
    I noticed Doug staring up at the sky and wondered why he'd get
 distracted at a time like this.
    "Don't say 'die' just yet," he said.  "I think our party is going
 to get crashed."
    I looked up.  There was a group of riders on winged horses headed
 our way, led by a familiar-looking, riderless one.
    "Oh, Great Spirit,"  Dani groaned.  "It's the Valkyries!"
    
    
 To be continued in Kid Dynamo Chapter 8:
 "Truth or Consequences"
 
    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.
    
    

.