CHAPTER TRIGGER WARNING: implied self-harm and blood descriptions.

The air is thick with tension, Sam taking slow, deep breaths as the metal digs into her arms and waist, she can feel her team members' fear, their anxiety starting to swirl in her stomach, her own entwining.

Rogue's emotions are more powerful, faint sobs heard in the distance, her terror pulsing through Sam, itching to get past her skin and out into the air.

"I've seen Senator Kelly," Jean's voice is strained, eyes flicking to Magneto as he tries to contact Mystique.

"Ah, so the good Senator survived his fall?" he approaches slowly "And the swim to shore? He's become more powerful than I could have imagined,"

"He's dead!" Sam exclaims "You killed him,"

"I did no such thing,"

"It's true," Storm's words cause Magneto to turn, his eyes now trained on her "I saw him die. Like those people down there will die,"

"Are you sure you saw what you saw?" he asks lowly, it's intimate, frightening

"His body couldn't handle the mutation," Jean explains

"That's not true," Magneto talks quietly under his breath, walking back to Sabertooth "Why do none of you understand what I am trying to do?!" he points to Ellis Island "Those people down there, they control our fate, and the fate of every other mutant! Well...soon our fate will be theirs,"

"You-" Sam is cut off by Rogue screaming

"Help! Please help me!" her pain stabs Sam in the chest, making her flinch and glare at Magneto. She needed to do something, and soon.

She shuts her eyes, taking a deep, controlled breath as she reaches out to Rogue. She'd never made a strong connection without touch but well, this would have to do. Her hands twitch in place, feeling a prick on her wrist from the harsh metal.

"You're so full of shit, if you were really so righteous, it'd be you in that thing" Logan finally speaks, glaring at the elder mutant. Magneto merely looks at him, perhaps contemplating something.

Fireworks boom in the distance, and he turns "It is time," he glances back, taking one last glance at Logan before he levitates away, up and towards Rogue. Sabertooth fades back into the shadows, crouching down to watch the prisoners.

Sam watches Magneto pry the hatch on the torch open, when he enters, Sam gasps involuntarily, Rogue's fear spiking. She shuts her eyes, screwing up her face as she thinks. She can still feel the others: Storm and her short breaths, the tight grip on her neck reminding her of a tight space.

"Rogue..." Sam pushes against her restraints, the sharp metal rubbing again. She tries to shut everyone out, but they keep coming back. She kicks her legs out, slamming her foot against the metal, pain shoots up her leg, but Rogue's presence grows in her mind and her eyes snap open, seeing her friends around her, helpless.

She starts to rub her right wrist, twisting it in the leather, feeling it start to rip, the spike of metal making contact with her skin.

"I'm sorry my dear,"

"No! Don't do this. Please!"

Rogue screams again, and Logan's claws pop out, extending through his chest and out his back, this breaks through his bindings and he falls to the floor.

"Logan!" Sam feels her grasp on Rogue slip, Logan breaking through her psyche again. He was alive.

Sabertooth approaches slowly, and suddenly Logan looks up, roaring from pain, extracting his claws and plunging them into Sabertooth's side. He groans in pain and grabs Logan, flinging him out the head, and watching him skid down the metal. He lungs after him.

When they can no longer see Logan, Sam lets a tear slip, looking up at the torch where Rogue was. She needed to reach her, to let her know she wasn't alone, that they came for her.

If Rogue died, Sam wouldn't let her be scared.

She reaches out again.

"Jean, try to bend the metal back," Scott pleads and she looks up at the bracing around his head, focusing hard. The metal shakes slightly but shows no sign of bending.

"I can't... It's too strong," her aggravation tries to reach Sam, but the woman is still looking at the torch, she feels it prod, trying to break through, but she pushes it back.

'It's okay,' she keeps chanting in her head, knowing Rogue would never hear her. Maybe maybe she'd feel her.

Her wrist starts to pulse, the metal having finally penetrated her wrist.

A surge of energy rushes through Sam, and her eyes flicker, trying to stay looking at the torch.

Rogue was absorbing Magneto's powers.

It's like a chain reaction, Rogue feels Magneto, his grief, all he's been through, and it feedbacks to Sam, making her eyes finally shut, tears streaming down.

She doesn't notice the motion around her, the metal clangs as Sabertooth and Logan throw each other around, she doesn't even see the metal claws that penetrate Lady Liberty's head, right between Scott and Jean

There's a loud bang as Sabretooth lands on the metal floor, his eyes falling on Storm. He approaches, hand outstretched.

"You owe me a scream..."

Sam kicks out, trying to defend Storm and Sabertooth merely laughs at her attempts, eyes on her now.

She can still feel Rogue, can hear her screams.

It's all-consuming, the pain, the fear. She can even feel the insecurity, buried deep, the shame of being a mutant. Magneto is there too, his anger, his past, all circling through Sam's chest.

It's too much, she feels like she'll be ripped apart, emotions tangling within her, trying hard to break out. She was overwhelmed, engulfed by the psyches of two powerful mutants.

She screams, loud, and piercing, her wide palms shooting out a strong force, Sabertooth flies back, his back against where Logan once was. 

The force keeps him there, Sam still crying out, Rogue's presence in her psyche disappearing with every pulse of kinetic energy leaving her. Jean can't see Sabertooth, but she can see Sam and the unfamiliar force leaving her, Storm having a full view of both Sam and the mutant being held in place, Scott's eyes stay shut.

Sabertooth finally falls, knees hitting the floor just as new feet land next to him. Sam falls limp, eyes open, but her body is exhausted.

"Hey Bub, I wasn't done with you yet," Logan stands next to Sabertooth, beaten and bloody, one hand behind his back. Behind him, the metal torch is ripped open, exposing the machine Rogue was hooked up to, metal rings circling her as magnetic energy pulses from her.

Sabertooth roars, standing and reaching for the man, weakened by Sam's force, they circle each other and Logan catches Jean's eye.

"Scott, when I tell you, open your eyes," she says quickly

"Jean, I can't. You'll be killed -"

"You have to. Scott, trust me,"

Logan retracts his claws, pulling his hand from behind his back, revealing Cyclops' Visor. He watches Sabertooth's eyes widen "Drop something?" he casually throws it in the air, allowing Jean to look up at it, freezing it mid-air.

With a roar, Sabertooth starts to pounce on the pair.

"Now!"

The visor lands in front of Cyclops' face, floating at an angle, his eyes open and energy rushes into it, its angle allowing for the beam to shoot at Sabertooth, propelling him through the glass windows and out to sea.

A soft whirl is heard by all, the machine moving so fast the rings are no longer visible, Rogue unable to even scream.

Jean angles the viser so Scott can free her, and once her braces are broken, she takes his visor into her hands, placing them back on his face.

"There," she smiles, Scott then gets himself free and rushes to help Storm.

Meanwhile, Logan has run to Sam, bending the metal back and catching her lax body.

"Hey hey," his hands find her cheeks, forcing her to look up into his eyes, her feet now steady on the ground "You okay?"

"Uh huh," she nods, slightly dazed. Her right hand goes to grab his wrist, something catches his eye and he lets go, attention now on her arm. Her leather suit had ripped, and now blood was pooling down her hand.

"What happened?" he's angry, but concerned.

"I hadn't noticed..." Sam could hardly feel anything until she saw it, now she realised how deep the cut was, a jagged gash on the top side of her wrist. It starts to ache, the blood dropping down to her fingertips, staining her nails.

Sam glances back at where she was bound, seeing the sharp point that she'd used to ground herself, now covered in blood.

Before Logan can reply, Scott has run past, ready to blast the machine "Wait! You could kill her!"

Scott sighs "Storm. Can you get me up there?"

"I can't control it like that. You could fly right over the torch,"

"Then let me go,"

"Logan - "

"If I don't make it in time, then at least you can still blast the damn thing!"

There's a moment of consideration before he nods, turning to Storm, then Jean "Do it. Jean. Use your power. Try to steady him,"

At that moment, Rogue's shrieks rip through the head. Storm looks up at the machine and above it, a glowing ball of light, resembling the sun appears, beginning to grow and spread across the city.

Looking back, Storm's eyes are white

"Everyone grab onto something," Everyone bar Logan steadies themselves on a piece of metal, feet planted firmly for whatever was coming.

With a wave of her hand, Storm easily turns the air into a cyclone. Debris starts to fly out of the head, and the cyclone whips faster and faster around Logan. He prepares to be flown away, and his eyes stay on Sam who's still weak, her strength slowly returning.

Slowly, Logan is lifted up, and then, all too soon he flies off, far too high and over the machine. Jean's hand rises, trying to keep him steady.

Sam shouts out to him and at the last second, he grabs the overhanging tuning arm of the device.

He starts to fight the wind and manages to pull himself into a crouch. The minature sun has grown even more, and the light blinds him slightly, the loud whirring much worse up on the machine. Logan looks down and sees Rogue screaming, her head now thrown back. Sam feels her pang of hope.

The light encases the statue and spreads rapidly across the harbour toward Ellis Island and Manhattan. It moves further out into the harbour, building on itself until it's an unstoppable wall. Fueled by the magnetic power in Rogue, the light extends like an ever-growing bubble, out and up over the ocean, the black water turning turquoise in its path.

"He's not going to make it," Cyclops warns

"He will,"

Logan drops down into the machine, through the spinning rings, he can see Magneto, drowned out by the noise, screaming for him to stop. Logan extends his claws and drives them forward.

Magneto outstretches his hand, using his last bit of strength to hold back Logan's strike. Logan tries to fight it, but his claw is getting further away from the machine.

Cyclops' hand raises to his visor "Scott wait!"

"Sam I have to!"

"Just wait!"

The fight continues, Logan's face contorting in pain as he tries to push through Magento's control, and finally, Scott steps up "I have a shot, I'm taking it," his solar energy shoots out of this visor, hitting Magneto.

He falls to the ground, and Logan lunges forward, destroying the machine, as the light slowly dissipates, the team doesn't take a moment to stand and gawk, they turn and run down the stairs, preparing the Blackbird to get Rogue and Logan to safety.

There was one problem.

Sam couldn't sense them.