There went Mattie again, cursing up a storm with those strange hieroglyphs being spat out of her mouth. Jacob shook his head, certain now that he wasn't just seeing things. He held out a hand in front of Mattie and said, "That's enough. She's going to show us where Nicholas is. It's fine. I don't really [i]think[/i] she had any part in harming Nicholas. Even if she did, she wouldn't tell us."

The woman scoffed, earning a sideways glare from Jacob. He didn't really care that he was talking about her in front of her face. She was evil. At least, she used to be evil. It had been a couple of years since he'd interacted with her, and the last time he did, he was the one who was trying to kill his brother and his brother's girlfriend. The thought gave him an internal shudder.

"Yes," Morrighan said, ceasing her malicious staring at Mattie. "I assure you this time, however, I have no part in his upcoming demise."

"Do you have to be so morbid?" Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Well," she replied, "No. It's a habit." That reply was unexpected. Thanks to that, there was a brief awkward silence that was broken when Morrighan said, "Anyway, like I said, I know where he is. Come here, grab my hand." She held each hand out to them.

Jacob was apprehensive, but eventually he hesitantly stepped forward and grabbed the mutant demon's hand. He looked back at Mattie, waiting to see if she was either going to come with them or stay.

[hr]

[i]Maybe this will set your mind straight.[/i]

The words faded as if Nicholas was slowly sinking back under the water he'd escaped from. There was a slight pinch in his bicep, one of the last feelings he could recall before darkness consumed him again. However, he was conscious. He was conscious of the darkness that he'd sunken into. He could feel his eyeballs moving behind their lids. It didn't matter which way he looked, there was darkness. Then a light, but not like the one he'd woken up to. It was a light like a star, steadily growing until it felt like it was right in front of his face. Finding that he could move his limbs again, he reached out to grab the light, but his hand only went through it. Then the light disappeared, only to reveal him to be in a room whiter and emptier than the one he'd been strapped in. One could not decipher the floor from the wall from the ceiling. It was white, empty space.

"Like in a movie," he found himself saying aloud. His own voice startled him -- it was loud and left an echo.

"Yes," another voice responded. It was Alice.

"What did you do to me?" Nicholas asked, but he wasn't angry. In fact, he felt very peaceful. Very content. "Where am I?"

"You're in your own mind."

He looked around and scoffed. "Really? It's pretty empty in here."

"Oh, cut the jokes," Alice sighed. Nicholas was sure that if she could see her, she'd be holding her head in frustration. "You can't just be like your brother, can you? Always gotta be joking around."

"Sorry," Nicholas said, unsure why he was apologizing.

"Nick, you've grown soft. That's that. You're going back to how you were in the simulation, and they can't have that."

"Who's they?"

"I think you know."

Nicholas felt his heart sink, because he did know who they were. The head honchos back at the lab. The lab that he refused to go back to. The lab that they were fighting. "Why are you working for them?"

There was a pause, one that probably seemed longer than it actually was, before Alice finally responded. "They've promised us paradise, but we need you. We need you, Mattie, and Jacob. You three..." she sighed, "You three are the strongest. As much as I hate to admit it. You three are the most valuable. We need you to help us. We need you to help us get all of the mutants back to the lab. The ones who resist...will be destroyed. I don't want you three to be destroyed. I want you to make it to paradise with the rest of us."

Nicholas should have been angry. He should have been appalled at the thought of helping those sons of bitches get what they wanted. But again, he was just so...calm. Content. Relaxed. The word that came out of his mouth seemed both forced and enthusiastic at the same time. It was an odd feeling. His voice wasn't his.

"Okay."