[OP: "Implicit Demand For Proof"-- 21 Pilots]

The lab was a grotesque level of the Temple's side buildings.

Tubes of things that would probably be better not to question about lined some of the passages.

Others had files of DNA samples and, probably, cloning experiments.

Some looked more like surgery rooms.

Mystique was more alert by the time they got her to the right room.

Sinister was in there, giving directions to his goons on what to do and barking at people who made mistakes.

"New material, Lord Sinister," said a guard.

"Eh?" Sinister turned. "Well...if it isn't Mystique. I take it you're the one who's not working for us already."

Mystique spat at him in response.

"And with poorer manners." Sinister didn't seem to care. "Well, I suppose she's here for testing."

"Yes...and the High Lord said to deal with her personally," the guard said.

"Oh?" Sinister looked greedy. "Well...your treachery must have been more impressive than I imagined. Right this way."

He went into a side door that looked like it was for medical examinations... Inside was one of those tables that you get strapped in.

"Just put her in this," Sinister said.

Mystique tried to break free, but they zapped her with something to make her more paralyzed and then tied her down.

"Oh, don't struggle," Sinister said. "This part is virtually painless. It's what comes after it that is the fun part. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised to see you here. I actually had a running bet with one of the other elites that you'd come on your own and offer to work for us. Seems more in character. I never expected to have to handle this myself."

Mystique gritted her teeth. "I guess I can surprise you after all. I take it you're the Sinister's I knew evil twin?"

"Very clever...but you're only half right," Sinister said.

How could she be half right about that kind of fact?

Mystique narrowed her eyes at him. "So is this the part where you inject me full of something that brainwashes me to your will because you don't have the spine to actually inspire loyalty in anyone?"

Sinister raised an eyebrow. "You wound me. Most of my followers are quite loyal on their own. Just a few delusional ones who get the idea that they can defy me and our High Lord Apocalypse.... However, before I put you under, I do have one question. What could possess someone like you to commit suicide in this manner?"

Mystique looked at him scornfully. "Something you'll never understand, monster."

"I'm not a monster," Sinister said. "It's all of you fools. You don't see the beauty of what we do here."

"What kind of freak do you intend to turn me into?" Mystique asked. "Where's the beauty in that?"

"I actually don't intend to alter your appearance at all," Sinister said. "As you might suppose, for a shape-shifter, altering their normal form would render them rather inconsequential...and I'm not really sure what that would do to your power...might actually hamper it. But we have many treatments here now. The good news for you is that we don't actually have to make physical alterations anymore to enhance people...or to adjust their attitudes. But, never fear, I'm not going to do that to you."

"I know you lie," Mystique said.

"And I know all about you." Sinister pulled up something on a computer. "Your whole life has been lived for yourself... I predict that after you get a taste of the simulation program we're going to run, you'll change your mind of your own free will. I give it a few hours at most. You put up a fight against Apocalypse? Well, he doesn't inspire that much terror, not without his horsemen backing him up. He thought he could intimidate you? But unlike him, I know that people get a little restless sometimes... You have to persuade them."

He pressed a few buttons.

One of those devices to simulate hallucinations attached itself to Mystique's forehead.

She swallowed.

"I also looked into your records of genetics," Sinister said. "Of course I'll be sampling your DNA, but your mental resilience? There's a promising strain of instability in them. Your mind isn't going to hold out for long. Be smart enough to beg for mercy for that point... The rehabilitation is so much more annoying when you have to put someone back together mentally also." He sounded a little put out at that idea.

"You're more insane than I remember," Mystique said, speaking through gritted teeth.

"And you will be soon enough," Sinister said. "Or you'll do the reasonable thing. You think it over. I'll just send someone to watch your progress. Busy man, you know."

He left the room.

If someone came in to take his place, Mystique didn't see them. The simulation began after that.

[This sounds dark...

Kind of like that one Justice League episode with the Question... Ew...]

* * *

About the same time as this, the kids were passing a restless night in the barracks of the Arena.

The guards mostly left them alone, thankfully, not wanting to mess them up too much before their fight.

Just after dawn, they were removed from the holding cells and taken for some more tests.

The medics pronounced them combat ready.

"The Game Master hasn't assigned them matches yet," one guard, the same Maximus as before, said. "Waited to see who'd bid first. People don't always check the ranks till early in the morning."

"Hey, one of those kids tested to be an Omega Level," said one nurse. "Isn't he too good for the Arena?"

"Oh, yeah, about that," Maximus said, "the Game Master said he's not going to die...no way. They just want to teach him a lesson. Then they'll cart him off to the Labs and training facilities for the soldiers. He could be a General someday."

"Why risk him getting hurt?" one of the other guards said.

"Oh, he won't get hurt," Maximus said. "Look at his stats. He can't be harmed with weapons--just the mutation-blocking ones and some electro-signals, according to the doctors. Almost god-tier right there, but one match won't hurt. Give 'em a good idea of how much control he already has. It's like free battle simulation for the Boss and a free show for us. Win-win. If you had half a brain, Slice, you'd know that without being told."

"You see Roach, Spray, or Bolts?" Jubilee hissed through one of the curtains when she had a chance.

"No," Kitty said. "They're lower than us...Ryan too... I guess you and I are the only Elites...other than Colossus--and Quicksilver probably. He might be Alpha, actually."

"You already learned the rankings? I can't keep any of this straight," Jubilee said.

"I heard a lot of people talking about it yesterday," Kitty said. "From what I got, the Serfs are the people who might as well be human...like Ryan. His mutation doesn't do anything, really, just looks weird. Or it's a power so weak you can't fight with it, like Roach and Spray. Then Grunts, they can do the most menial tasks, but they're a little more useful than Serfs, like Bolts. Those levels are basically slaves just like humans. Elites are mutants who can use their power to fight, but like me, they're mostly just good for a few basic things, dodging, escaping--or for Colossus, he's strong and tough, but that's about it."

"Geez, he's still a good fighter," Jubilee said. 

"Yeah, but we're talking the people who can do half a dozen different things, Kitty said. "That's an Alpha, someone whose power has way more range. Telepaths, Teleporters sometimes, people who are fast or who can shoot stuff, they'd all be Alphas."

"Really, you just figured that out?" Jubilee said.

"Okay, so they told me some of it when they tested me. I asked," Kitty said. "Actually they...weren't as nasty to me as to Trinity, from what I heard. Said I shouldn't be roughed up too much. I guess Elites get some respect."

"Yeah, they weren't that nasty to me either," Jubilee said. "I guess...yeah, I'd be an Elite or an Alpha, then? I can shoot stuff. They didn't really know what class I was in. I'm not that strong yet."

"Yeah, but they could enhance you," Kitty said, "I gathered...but Alpha's about the last level they put in these Arenas. So if you're an Omega, that's about one step down from the highest possible level. Omega mutants can do things so big and powerful it could change the landscape. Like Storm and...I guess like Proteus...he might almost be god-level though. Or Demigod, they call it. Those mutants can pretty much not be stopped by anyone else's power unless they're on that level, even by accident."

"I feel like these rankings could change," Jubilee said. "What if you get stronger?"

"Yeah, I think they do," Kitty said. "But we're kids, so we're not gonna change that much in the next few hours...and they're just getting rid of us. Except for Proteus... I guess he gets a free ticket out of here."

"Yeah, but to what?" Jubilee said. "Maybe you can make it, though."

"Maybe you can," Kitty said.

Pause.

"I don't want to," Jubilee said. "I mean, kill someone else...who's just doing it to survive. That's wrong."

"I know," Kitty said. "But if we don't, they'll kill us... I just want to escape. I don't want to do either."

"But if we use our powers in the Arena, maybe you could escape," Jubilee said.

"Jubilee, they have mutation-blocking tech in the walls," Kitty said. "There's a net over the top, too. Steel I think. Maybe something stronger. Kevin could bust out if it wasn't blocked, but it is. They keep powerful mutants here every day--you think they're not ready for anything we could throw at them?"

Jubilee shuddered. "Did we ever wish for a world where everyone was a mutant?"

"I never did," Kitty said. "And I see why now. It sucks! Our powers help us get away from humans, but it's nothing to people who are used to it. I liked being the minority after all. I mean, the humans' paranoia about us was nothing to this."

"You don't know how good you have it till it's gone," Jubilee said. "I'd take more Sentinels over this!"

"Hey, shut up." The nurse came in.

Jubilee frowned at her. "Oh, what's it to you? We're gonna fight for our lives anyway! We can't have one last conversation first?"

The nurse eyed her darkly. "You mouthing off, Prisoner?"

"Bite me," Jubilee said.

Kitty stifled a laugh of nerves and surprise.

The nurse frowned at Jubilee, then shrugged. "Sedating you isn't worth it. You only have a few hours left anyway. You want to be lippy? Knock yourself out. I'm off shift soon."

Jubilee couldn't believe she got away with that.

But could it be...the nurse was almost a little afraid to provoke her? Maybe she wasn't an Elite or Alpha.

[By the way, those scalings were all made up by me. I don't know how the comics actually rate them. This is just for the use of Apocalypse's world. I did use the same terms of Alpha and Omega, but the rest are my own. I was inspired by this web comic called Unordinary, however. Good story.]

* * *

Mystique came out of her artificially induced trance, with no idea how long she'd been in it.

She had the idea she'd been screaming for a while... Her throat hurt.

The room felt cold and clammy.

"Awake?" a female voice addressed her.

For a moment she thought it was another hallucination, because when she looked, she saw someone who looked basically like her...a little different.

Then she realized, of course, it was.

In a hoarse voice, she said, "So...it's you."

"I see you didn't think this is how we would meet either," the other Mystique said. "Sinister has an interesting sense of humor... Actually, I'm supposed to interrogate another prisoner, but they aren't done probing him yet...so I was told to come in here first."

She had her hand on the computer. "Let's talk."

Mystique struggled to use her power...not surprisingly, she couldn't.

"We have blocking tech," the other Mystique said. "So, no, you can't transform your way out of that... Amateur mistake."

"One can dream," Mystique said.

"You'd have had enough dreaming, I'd think," the other her said. "Come...had enough yet? This is only going to get worse if you prolong it... You should see your vitals... You could have gone into shock."

"Happened before," Mystique muttered.

"Yeah, well, if you're like me, then you should know better," the other Mystique said. "I know what I am... I'm not that tough, not mentally. This would break me...fast."

"And to avoid that, you've decided to just do what they tell you?" Mystique stared at the ceiling. "I think I know all about that... I wonder how much alike we are--from what I hear...more so than is strictly comfortable."

"I never joined the X-men," said her other self. "And they wouldn't have allowed me to. I can't fathom how you pulled that one off--or why."

"Long story. I can't fathom why you're doing this," Mystique said. "Have you seen this world? Apocalypse promised me a world where mutants would rule, once...and he created a world where they are enslaved more than the humans ever could dream of."

"Oh, you think so?" the other Mystique said. "I don't know about that. Before Apocalypse took this place over, it was a future of Sentinels being in charge. Only small pockets of free mutants, barely living. The rest were enslaved...and probably killed as soon as they were useless."

"I see no huge difference," Mystique said.

"The difference is, here, we can be on top, if we're smart enough," the other Mystique said.

"You really believe that?" Mystique said. "Because if you're me--then you know that's a load of bulls---. And you just tell yourself that to avoid the guilt. Doesn't work, though."

"Don't act like you know me. Clearly we're different people," the other Mystique said savagely. "One of us in on that table, the other is free."

"No," Mystique said. "For once in my life, I think I am the one who's actually free--for now, anyway. Standing where you are would be less freedom than being strapped to this is, because I can choose...at least in this moment."

"And if you had cooperated, you could have chosen again," the other her said. "Instead, you want them to force you into it. Then you have no choice. Who convinced you of this option? Was it that other shape-shifter?"

Silence.

"Did you think we wouldn't know?" the Alt Mystique said.

"No," Mystique said. "I knew you knew. Why else do you think I got arrested?"

"Yes...a stupid plan," Alt Mystique said. "And sloppy, I might add. Should have just turned in that Talis while you had the chance."

"What exactly do you think you're gaining by playing along with them?" Mystique said. "Freedom? Not if you screw up. Shape-shifters aren't really highly regarded here, are they? We never are. No one likes someone who can be whatever they want. I'm surprised you're still alive...but it doesn't bother you at all that there is no older versions of us? Just the two of us from the past...and I'm soon to be dealt with here. So how long do you have?"

"Is that really any of your concern?" Alt Mystique said. 

"I'm not the one literally torturing a different version of myself just to save my own neck, darling," Mystique said sarcastically.

The Alt Mystique would be thinking later that day that Kurt really got his savageness from his mother, but as of now she didn't know this.

"The irony has to strike you," Mystique went on. "I spent my whole life torturing myself, trying to escape, giving up...now it's almost become literal. And what next? We merge? Do you know about that? I don't want to share a body with you."

"That's not going to happen," the Alt Mystique said.

"And how do you think you'll avoid it?" Mystique said. "Die?"

"No..." Alt Mystique lowered her voice. "Idiot, don't you know Apocalypse is always prepared?"

Mystique would have sat up if she could have. "What?"

"You think that was not foreseen?" Alt Mystique said.

Her voice, Mystique noticed now, was much younger sounding than her own. Odd difference. Also more fragile.

"Sinister and Apocalypse already have a way to make sure that anyone who merges will be bent to their will," she said, in a hushed tone. "That's the point... They want this to happen."

"And what about them?" Mystique said.

"I'd think you could guess that much," Alt Mystique said. "And I'm not like you, because I'm not stupid enough to think I can defy them. They've got all of you right where they want you, idiot. All your friends, the X-men, they're walking right into a trap."

"They know that," Mystique said.

"Then they're even stupider!" Alt Mystique said. "Your son is already caught. They didn't make it past the front gate without losing someone. Oh, and I just heard--they caught all of the kids you had on the team."

"What?" Mystique wasn't sure which of those facts bothered her more. Kurt could handle himself...but at the same time...

"Oh, yes," Alt Mystique said savagely. "And they sent them to the Arena... Think Roman Coliseum. They're all dead...unless maybe they're useful enough to keep alive. Caught a few of the older ones too."

"Which ones?"

If it was Shine and Wally, it was over.

"I don't know. Alternate versions of Colossus and Quicksilver maybe?" Alt Mystique said. "Not the ones from my universe, I know that much. Sounds like them though. The DNA samples are already being analyzed here. You missed a lot."

This was a disaster!

But...maybe not all was lost... Some of the team was still out there...some of the most powerful ones.

At least Morph was okay, from the sound of it.

"Downside is one of our agents has gone off the radar," Alt Mystique added as an afterthought. "So maybe he's dead, but he wasn't that important."

He probably wasn't dead...unless his own cronies killed him, Mystique thought to herself.

But this was not good.

"Even so," she said, "at least someone is trying to stop this. And you don't know what's coming... The Merging will wipe this planet out. Or if it doesn't...it'll be full of people are who are basically zombies. Who would live in that world?"

"At least it's living," Alt Mystique answered.

Mystique sighed. "I remember when I would have said that...probably only weeks ago..."

Pause.

"What happened to you?" Alt Mystique said. "I...don't understand it."

She suddenly sounded a little emotional.

Really, she should pull herself together. Mystique wouldn't buy her for a second as a villain if she didn't know who she was. At least she herself sold callous criminal better. [Keep telling yourself that, Raven.]

"A lot happened to me," she answered aloud. "Mostly, I met people who are different. And I got shown something better than what I had...which wouldn't take much, looking back. But it wasn't just seeing it...it was them drawing me into it, no matter how hard I fought it, that made the difference. They knew I was a contemptible coward, just like you are...but they didn't care... Somewhere along the timeline, I almost stopped caring also. That was when I stopped being as afraid."

The Alt Mystique leaned on the desk/computer stand and shook her head at her.

"That sounds like a load of crap," she said.

"I suppose--that's what I thought too," Mystique said. "I'm the most surprised that I bought it. But I did. The thing is, I don't want to go back."

She shivered suddenly. "I've been afraid I will...terrified, actually. That I'll snap out of it. And I don't want to, for once...maybe not for one. I always tried to ignore the truth before...but now it's the truth I don't want to ignore. To become deluded again. I don't trust myself, but somehow, talking to you, I feel a little better about it."

"And why is that?" Alt Mystique said, as bitterly as she herself could have.

"Because you're just like me," Mystique said. "A few differences, perhaps...and I now find you foolish. Not that I never found myself foolish either, but I find you foolish in a way that makes me feel as though I've put that behind me... Drag me back into it if you will. Maybe I can't stop you...but the difference between us is I have to be dragged back inside, and you have never gotten out."

Alt Mystique suddenly looked angry. "You have no idea what my life has been like!"

"I probably have the best idea of anyone you'll ever meet, actually, unless you're a bigger sharer than I am!" Mystique shot back. "Don't be asinine. If we have basically the same past, then you know I know."

"We don't have the same past," Alt Mystique said. "You have had a chance to not be alone, haven't you? Well, my only chance at that got destroyed a long time ago. Brutally, I might add.... The same thing is going to happen to you! With or without me! And if you're not going to cooperate, then we'll make you, you understand?"

"I scared you." Mystique must have been maddening her with her response to this, but to her it was clear as day. "I know you too well, don't I? I felt the same way when Shine used to--but if you lash out at me to feel better, it won't work. You know it. You're going to do it anyway, aren't you? Destroying me won't make you happier, but you'd rather do that than confront the truth? Just like I would have...but someone stopped me... No one is here to stop you... I'm sorry for you."

She sounded just like Kurt, and she didn't even realize it.

"Shut up!" The other Mystique hit some buttons on the computer. "Maybe this will curb that attitude of yours."

The simulation began again...

[This is pretty sick...

Yet...sadly in character.

I'm proud of our Raven, though. She's really trying. But not as proud as I am freaking out over this.

As the author, sure, I have creative control, but I'm not the one who came up with such psychotic characters, I'm just borrowing them, and that's what freaks me out when I try to depict them accurately. Too real.]

* * *

After the alternate Mystique left her other self and then met Kurt later, she was disturbed on both counts.

"Well...did she break?" she asked, when they rejoined Sinister.

"We're making progress," Sinister said.

"She's holding out longer that I thought," Selene said. "My money was on 30 minutes... It's been hours now."

She glance at Alt Mystique. "Wonder how long you'd last."

"I'm smart enough not to try to find out," Alt Mystique said coldly.

Selene laughed just as coldly. "For now."

"Why, my Black Queen, our Mystique is very loyal," Sinister said. "Much less egotistical than Magneto, to boot. Don't insult her intelligence. Both of you know what we do to traitors."

"How long before you have the rest of their team?" Alt Mystique said, flatly.

"Sources say it should be a couple hours," Sinister replied. "I'm too busy to keep careful track of them, but they stopped to rest somewhere. Some rebel sympathizer, no doubt. We'll deal with them soon enough, but for now, the X-men alone should suffice. If they want to come to us, why bother dragging them in?"

"And the ones sent to the Arena?" Selene asked. "Anything promising for you?"

"A few DNA samples," Sinister said. "Oh, but you'll find this amusing, Selene. They actually snuck a human into their group."

"No?" Selene said. "Wait...was this human a teen-aged girl with blond hair and an annoying Yankee accent?"

"I haven't met her, but the hair and age match this file." Sinister had one pulled up on his computer. "We're checking her DNA for any cloning potential to produce mutants, but she herself is going to be made an example of. Can you imagine the madness of bringing a human on a mission like this? If they aren't even going to take it seriously, I'm inclined to think we over prepared."

"You might want to watch that," Selene said. "That same human once shut our doorways.... Maybe she's more than she seems. Though she's a sniveling, little Weakling still. I'd make short work of her... She cost us before. And she stopped me from killing Mystique--the older one. So I have a vendetta."

"If you want to watch her match, it'll be broadcast to us," Sinister said. "I usually find those games tiresome, but this is one I will be happy to observe. See how the young X-men hold up against my enhanced and groomed fighters."

Alt Mystique never watched the matches herself--not after the first time.

"So you're going to put all those kids in the ring?" she said flatly. "How old are they?"

"Youngest is 14," Sinister said.

"That is young," Selene said. 

"Young but strong," Sinister said. "Oldest is in his 20s, looks like. A double of a friend of ours.... May have to bring him here, in fact. A pity to waste such a fine specimen...but should be good for one fight or two first. Oh, they have their own Colossus also. Have we collected him yet from the other dimension? I forget..."

"No, we didn't bother," Selene said. "Unless you want him, Lord Sinister."

"Eh, we'll have him soon enough, one way or the other. Why waste the energy?" Sinister dismissed it.

"Since he refuses to talk, why not send the monk to the Arena?" Selene suggested. "They'll only try to rescue him if you keep him here. And there's delicious historical irony in it that I like. Sending a Christian to an arena for public execution?" She laughed.

Sinister chuckled. "I do like the sound of it... We took samples already... Why not? He'd be good for a few matches at least."

"He won't kill though," Selene said. "So he'll probably not last."

"Oh, that's true..." Sinister said. "Still...making an example of a Christian and an X-man? That's of use to us."

Alt Mystique made a face to herself.

"As for you, Mystique," Sinister spoke, turning to her, "I have a new assignment for you if you're not busy. Listen carefully...."

[Oh no...

Not Kurt!

You monsters!

Man, Selene is really sick, isn't she? Would you believe it if I said all of this is pretty much just how she is written in the original content too, though?]