Paragons Vol 2

Issue 16- The Saint and The Sinner

"I - I -- What have you --

Oh my god! Wings?!

Am I a demon too?!"

--Pixie

This was not the plan, at least not as far as Seren had scribbled it down on a random Rippa Pizza pamphlet she found amongst the general mess of the Singularity. The plan, as it had been planned, involved some incredible stealth sequences, perhaps some mild seduction of a beautiful mutant woman or two, and an explosion that was described as 'supremely, awesomely cool' and was underlined several times.

   There were certainly explosions, yet Seren's plan had never once involved massive... machines? She supposed that was the best name for them -- later she would learn they belonged to the Eternals, but until then they were just unknown. Massive machines that launched an assault upon the island of Krakoa and the people who lived on it.

   She couldn't deny a pang of guilt that struck her as she raced through the thick jungles of Krakoa, her own breath unheard by her past the sounds of battle between mutant and machine behind her. Perhaps she should have been in the fight herself. These were, in a sense, her people who were fighting and dying as she fled in the opposite direction.

   She may have let that guilt consume her if it was fear that guided her, yet nothing could be further from the truth. She had a mission to complete and that was all there was to it.

   She flashed a glance back over her shoulder, just long enough to ensure that her mission still followed. It almost surprised her to still find Zooey a few feet behind; the young girl sprinted along on hand and foot as her bladed tail stayed high to balance. She had been so reluctant to follow when Seren first found her, so unwilling to leave the place that the Council had ordered her to await judgement, that Seren was almost sure she would have to carry the girl out over her shoulder.

   Yet, with no element of force, Zooey now kept pace without a glint of doing anything else. Perhaps she simply didn't know what else to do, or the sounds of coming death made her willing to follow anyone anywhere they would take her. Seren preferred the idea that it was because Zooey trusted her on a level neither could yet understand, though she was a tad too pessimistic of human, or in this case mutant, behaviour to entertain that thought for more than a few seconds at a time.

   Of course the fact that this attack had drastically changed her plans put her in a particularly uncomfortable position. By taking Zooey she had effectively turned upon Krakoa and was now a fugitive. That was always going to happen, of course, Seren never expected to see Krakoa again once she did this, but now she had a whole new problem to bypass first. She was now trapped on the island that would throw her in a whole with now way off.

   Her original plan had been simple; take Zooey at night, find a sleeping mutant, use their dreams as a shortcut to safety. No mutant would be sleeping on an island under siege. She would have no shortcut out, and all she had left as a plan amounted to 'run away from the battle and hope something falls into her lap'. The kind of plan her dad was a fan of, while she much preferred that to be an absolute last resort.

   Her mam would have been an easy choice, so damn easy. A little teleportation spell and she could have Zooey anywhere in the world. Yet that was never an option. She had to take all the risk this time. She wouldn't let anyone she loved end up in the Pit because they helped her.

   That left her with one option. The Gates. If they were even still active given the attack. Of course they were also the one way out that allowed Krakoa to track them. She could only hope the attack distracted X-Force long enough to get Zooey somewhere they couldn't trace.