When the lies come tumbling down...

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Mama?" came the tiny voice from an equally delicate child, soft curls framing a plump little face.

"Svetlana...what are you doing out of bed, my angel?" Yelena blinked, turning to see Svetlana in the doorway of her dressing room, clutching a much-loved stuffed lion to her chest.

"I...I can't sleep...can you come snuggle in with me?"

"I'm sorry, my angel...your Papa and I have a very important dinner to go to. We're leaving soon. But I promise to come check on you the moment I get home." Yelena smiled as she rose from her vanity and lifted the little girl into her arms, heedless of the wrinkles it would leave in her silk dress. In a few minutes, she had Lana tucked back into bed, surrounded by her favorite stuffed toys and a pile of warm blankets. "There...all settled in. Try to rest, my love...you've been so tired lately that I worry about you."

Lana closed her eyes and sighed as her mother said goodnight and kissed the top of her head the way she always did. Eventually, she lost track of time as she was waiting and fell asleep, burrowed deep in her bed.

The sound of voices outside her door woke her...unfamiliar voices...two...maybe three of them...they didn't sound anything like Mama and Papa's friends...and it wasn't the guards from outside the house...fear made her shiver as she blinked, staring at the doorway, clutching at her stuffed lion.

They sounded like they were counting...looking for a door...and eventually they moved further down the hall, where Lana couldn't hear them very well. Moving sluggishly she slipped out of her bed and stumbled to her doorway, pressing her ear to it.

Her lion hit the floor when she heard Mikhail and Piotr start to scream. Tiny voices raised in alarm, screaming for mama and papa, screaming for Lana. As fast as she could, she opened her door and darted out into the hallway, though it felt like an eternally slow crawl with her body trying to give out on her. She felt like she was moving through water as the panic in the twin's voices reached a fever pitch, with glass breaking and the strange voices raised in anger.

By the time she'd made it to their door, the men were gone, and the twin's bedroom was a mess. Lights were turning on as the rest of the household scrambled to find out what was happening, and Piotr flew into her, screaming and crying and begging Mikhail to come back.

She woke with a start, sitting up and gasping for air as she relived the terror. It lingered as the real world began to intrude on her awareness, brushing away the cobwebs of sleep with bright jabs of pain in her neck and shoulder. A whimper escaped her lips as she blinked and tried to focus her wavering vision. She was sitting on a faded, but comfortable, blue couch in a small room she didn't recognize. The window didn't tell her much either except even through the frosting, she could tell the sun was still up...maybe late afternoon.

Lana simply hoped it was later afternoon that same day, and not some other day entirely.

"Owww..."

[Alex Kaine]

With a creak and sigh of old upholstery, Alex had rushed out of his seat in a wingback chair and knelt down by the side of the couch. "Lana! Lana, it's okay. We're safe."

Never mind that he wasn't entirely sure that was true. He looked her over and cupped his hands around hers. Her skin was still distressingly cold.

Alex searched Lana's eyes for the clarity and brightness he was used to seeing there. "You were hit with some sort of tranquilizer darts. How are you feeling?"

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"As if I've been run over by a herd of elephants...and...oh god, your hands are so warm...I'm freezing..."

She said softly, her accent thicker than usual as she blinked at him, eyes dark and devoid of warmth, but at least beginning to clear. Shivering, she tugged him up on the couch beside her, promptly curling up in his lap and resting her head on his shoulder, her forehead against his neck.

Lana sighed faintly before she spoke again, stumbling over the words. "Where...where are...we? This...this isn't...Redención House..." she finally gave up and muttered under her breath in Russian, wondering if she looked as wilted and beaten as she felt.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex wrapped her up as well as he could and tried to rub some warmth back into her body, but his hands trod carefully around the puckering bruises he knew were hiding under her shirt, where less than ten minutes ago Spectre and Void had carefully cleaned away shards of the weird exploding tranquilizer rounds Vanguard had shot her with while Alex had watched in a helpless, pacing frenzy. Holding her now was an unspeakable relief.

"No," he said. "We're, um... well, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure where we are."

Right, that was a great job of being comforting. Alex avoided Lana's eyes and pulled one arm free so he could snag the knit afghan off the back of the couch and throw it around her shoulders.

"I mean, we're somewhere in south LA. Two mutants showed up and helped me get you out of the fray. Then they brought us here and took care of your wounds. They said they'd take us back to Redención when you were up to it."

He could see the questions piling up behind her eyes, and he knew the best he could do was to answer the first one. "Lana, they're Brotherhood."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Of..course...they are..."

Lana sighed and set her head back on his shoulder, quietly trying to digest that tidbit of information. Between his warmth and the afghan over her, she gradually stopped shivering and settled against him more comfortably. It was, after all, even in light of the circumstances, her very favorite place to be.

Absently tucking a lock of brown-tipped blonde hair behind her ear, Lana tilted her head back and regarded him carefully. "I suppose I'm indebted to them now..."

[Alex Kaine]

Alex had been dreading her reaction. Now he wasn't sure what to make of it. "They were the only help available - I couldn't see the Redención crowd. I just needed to make sure you were okay."

He wasn't sure if it was an apology, an excuse, or what... He had no ground to argue Lana's grievance with the Brotherhood, and he wasn't going to try.

"We can tell them you're ready to go. I mean... if you are ready."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Have you called Ana? She'll be worried...and...I need to call Sergei..."

Lana kissed the corner of his mouth lightly, lips lingering there for a long moment before fingers searched the tiny pockets of her shorts. A frown briefly marred her features before she met his gaze.

"I don't remember what I did with my phone? Is it in your pockets? I'd go searching, but inevitably we'd be interrupted..." she tried to say it with a straight face and failed, a smile curling her lips. It was an unexpected moment of levity she somehow knew they both needed.

[Alex Kaine]

The smile was a surprise, but a welcome one. Alex returned it and wrapped her up tighter in the afghan.

"Well, you could always give it try--"

That was when they heard the door.

[Spectre]

It had not taken mind reading abilities to discern the subtle tones of mistrust when Spectre had revealed that she and Void both worked with the Brotherhood. She had no desire to hide that fact from either of the young mutants like it was some taboo cult. Spectre was a true believer. The Brotherhood had the best interests of the mutant community in their works, and one day, an evolved society would look back and they would be the heroes of a world in chaos.

She also understood completely why Lana did not see things in quite the same light. She had sensed when the girl's mind awoke again. It was like knowing there was a light on somewhere in a darkened house. Stopping outside the door of the room where their guests were resting, Spectre recalled the events that had so shaped the way the young girl saw the Brotherhood.

A debacle if ever there had been one. Needless tragedy.

Without being obtrusive to the conversation inside the room, she knocked on the door, giving the occupants time to prepare for a visitor. Opening the door just a crack, Spectre spoke softly. "Feeling better..?", she opened the door a bit more and poked her head around the corner, giving the pair a knowing smile.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"See? What did I tell you? Always an interruption."

Lana said softly, keeping her tone light as she shifted to curl up in his side. Remaining in his lap, she mused, would make for a rather awkward conversation. Tilting her head, she nodded and managed a smaller smile for the lovely woman peeking around the door.

"I am...thank you. The tranquilizers still have me feeling a little loopy though."

[Alex Kaine]

Alex leaned down to muffle his voice in her hair and murmured, "I don't know, I thought you were always like that."

That brought a self-conscious giggle from Lana and a smack whose windup was fortunately hampered by the afghan. Alex flinched for her benefit.

"I think she's feeling better," he said to Spectre. "Thanks again. We're, um. Really lucky you came along."

[Spectre]

Pulling over a wooden chair with a slatted back, Spectre turned it around backward and sat straddling it with her hands resting on the back. Tapping her fingers, she decided to just lay out all of the facts. There was nothing to be gained from hiding anything.

"You are very welcome. Though, it will no doubt surprise you to know I did not just come along. I had been there the whole time, not far away, keeping an eye on you..", when she said 'you', her sparkling green eyes settled on Lana.

"I'm sorry I let you get hurt. That should not have happened. I was careless.", she looked truly disturbed that things had turned out as they had.

"I am so very glad you are all right. The effects should wear off soon."

[Svetlana Ustinov]

"Its...not your fault. I made a considerable target of myself, to be honest."

She managed to free one hand from its confinement in the afghan, fingers winding with Alex's as her smile slowly faded.

"Keeping an eye on...me? Why am I of sudden interest to the Brotherhood? Is it because I got angry at the one who interrupted our evening at the club?" Lana replied, her voice as level as she could keep it, her mind going a touch numb as it raced through possibilities.

[Spectre]

Shaking her head, Spectre smiled a bit, her subtle gaze dropped to where Lana's fingers entwined with Alex's in an unspoken request for his touch, and support. It was good that she had someone like him by her. He seemed a resourceful kid. "No, not the club."

Looking more serious, she watched Lana's every reaction, without intruding upon her thoughts. Just because she could did not mean she would. "It's not a sudden interest.", she confirmed.

[Alex Kaine]

Alex looked uncertainly from Lana to Spectre. "But the mutant in the club... I thought he was after me, not Lana. Does this have something to do with..."

He stopped himself there. It was Lana's wound, and he didn't feel right yet bringing it up.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

Her fingers tightened around Alex's, her gaze suddenly glittering where it had been a flat chestnut before. It took a moment, and then another...and then a deep. steady breath before she could force her voice to emerge and not shake uncontrollably. "Its about what happened eight years ago in Saint Petersburg, isn't it."

As it was, her voice emerged sounding tired with a short thread of pain wound through it. The pain she'd become accustomed to upon recalling the events of those fateful twenty-four hours and the hell life had become in the subsequent years. She managed a sigh and tore her eyes away from Spectre's, gazing up at Alex before resting her head on his shoulder once more and half-closing her eyes.

Here, she mused, she could think and feel, without it overwhelming her. Lana wondered absently if she'd ever told Alex that.

"What more could you possibly tell me about it? And why would you be interested in me because of it?" she said without moving.

[Saladin]

“Not precisely.”

The door had opened again, admitting a tall, rugged man with a square chin, ice-blue eyes, and a regal mane of golden blond hair. He was dressed in a blue pinstriped shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and under one arm was tucked a charcoal jacket, which he left hanging carelessly on the back of a chair as he stepped into the room. His eyes were on Lana, as if it were gravitational attraction that held them there.

“Tron brought you to our attention, but there is far more to it than that, Svetlana. But, I’m sorry, I really should introduce myself. My name is Saladin.”

[Alex Kaine]

Alex held Lana somewhat more tightly, suddenly gripped by - he wasn’t entirely certain. Admiration, fear, excitement. Embarrassment that he had the man’s face on a T-shirt. “Saladin,” he said with a dry throat. “Oh my God. The Saladin.”

But Saladin didn’t respond to him.

[Svetlana Ustinov]

She gently patted Alex’s hand as he gripped her tightly, her own gaze narrowing as he introduced himself. Lana didn’t need an introduction...she could still hear her mother’s voice describing his features, and the self-assured way he carried himself.

“Please call me Lana...only...only my mother calls me Svetlana.”

Tron...he’d said so much she hadn’t known what to do with that night. Or the next day, until she’d sat down with Sergei and Natasha, both of whom were more than willing to talk about the night Mikhail had died. While they’d been told the same thing she’d had shoved down her throat, Sergei clearly recalled her Yelena vowing that Saladin wouldn’t have done such a thing. Not to any family, but certainly not to hers.

Lana didn’t know what to make of it.

And she certainly didn’t know what to make of the fact that here she was face to face with someone she’d spent the last eight years of her life hating.

“How much more? And why? Why would you have any interest in me?” she asked quietly, pulling the afghan around herself tighter, shivering again, confusion warring with anger across her features.

[Saladin]

Saladin settled back into the wingback across from the sofa, following the transaction between the two teenagers with interest. Usually an adult walking in on a young couple was the surest thing to send them scurrying to opposite corners of the couch trying to look innocent, but Lana looked comfortable where she was, and Alex looked determined to defend her from all comers. Not, he noted with some appreciation, that she looked like she needed defending. Spectre’s account of Lana’s exploits at the rally had been impressive.

And now he found himself on the receiving end of spectacularly wintry glare. That was a problem.

“I promise I’ll explain everything,” he said. “But first, you have a grievance against me. I can’t pretend that I can ever put that right. But I still must offer you my sincerest apologies and condolences for what happened to Mikhail.”