Shards of the Past
Posted on Fri May 16th, 2025 @ 12:54pm by Connor Bruin & Kurt Wagner & Maeve MacKenna
3,005 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Timeline: January 8th, 1990
The door to Connor's lab opened with the scent of brimstone and the soft bamf of displaced air. Kurt Wagner emerged from the smoke with his usual theatrical flair, though his expression was more earnest than impish this time.
"Guten Morgen," he said, brushing soot from his jacket as he stepped fully into the room. "I hope I am not interrupting any breakzhroughs, but... ve need your help.”
Connor looked up from his microscope eyebrows raising. "OF COURSE YOU DO," he signed, the sarcasm evident in the smirk on his face. "IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR SECRET EXPEDITIONS PROFESSOR X TOLD ME ABOUT? I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE PARAMETERS FIRST."
Kurt gave a sheepish shrug, his golden eyes squinting at being identified. "Perhaps it is best to see it yourself firsthand." He leaned forward slightly. “I need your mind. And your instincts. And your teammate Maeve, if she is free.”
Connor blinked. "MAEVE? I DO NOT KNOW."
A small note had been placed under Maeve's door. A request. One asking her to meet in Connor's lab. It was ominous in its feel but she could smell the light scent of brimstone from its page and a pang in her heart hit as she remembered Genosha. Still feeling guilty about how she'd gotten him captured played on her mind, but maybe there was a way to atone.
It was a strange place to meet, for Maeve anyway. She'd never been in Connor's lab before and frankly after spending some time in a form of one in Genosha is made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Still, she made her way there and as she entered the lab she could see Kurt and Connor already in conversation.
Connor jumped slightly when Maeve entered, then immediately stood up a little straighter—not from fear or surprise, but as if caught off guard by a teacher or someone he wanted to impress. His hand fluttered quickly toward a piece of notebook paper taped neatly to the wall, just beside a bank of humming monitors and scientific instruments. In bold, carefully written block letters were the lab rules:
CONNOR’S LAB RULES
1. DO NOT TOUCH THE RED BUTTON
2. NO FOOD OR DRINK
3. SHOES OFF, BOOTS OKAY
4. NO YELLING UNLESS IT’S FUNNY
5. ASK FIRST
He pointed to it with a look of exaggerated seriousness, then flashed a sheepish grin at Maeve. "RULE FIVE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT."
Before Maeve could interpret any of that, Kurt swept forward like the wind, his smile warm but his urgency unmistakable.
"Forgive ze intrusion," he said with a slight bow in her direction, "but I believe your talents vill be essential." He gestured to the two of them, a hand to each. "Ve are trying to access an ancient vault hidden vithin ze Elephanta Caves in India. It is older zhan memory. But its entrance—vhat remains of it—is broken. Und zhat is vhere you two come in. Vould you please come?"
Watching with bewilderment as Connor frantically tried to point out the sign on the wall. She'd given it a quick scan and Maeve quickly looked at her feet, sneakers adorned, and wondered why boots were allowed but not shoes. Quickly her attention turned to Kurt, a pang in her heart still hit her when she saw him after what happened on Genosha. It was guilt. Still it was hers to bear.
Kurt's hand on her shoulder still felt somewhat soothing, almost the touch of a friend. Entering the room further, almost felt like being pulled in by Kurt, she said. "Kurt, I have no idea what the Elephanta Caves are..."
Kurt gave her an almost apologetic smile. "Zhey are in India, on an island off ze coast near Mumbai," he said, already reaching out his hands toward both Maeve and Connor. "But I zhink it is easier to show you zhan to explain."
Before either of them could respond, there was a soft bamf—a puff of brimstone, a rush of air, and a sudden weightless tug as the lab gave way to something entirely different.
A series of jumps followed, each one faster than the last without any chance to see where they were going. The world returned around them in fragments: the scent of humid salt air mixed with ancient dust, the sound of birds cawing overhead, and a distant echo of waves slapping against stone.
They were standing just outside the entrance to the Elephanta Caves, carved directly into the dark basalt cliffs that rose from the dense greenery of Elephanta Island. Timeworn stone steps led up to a wide and shadowed mouth, the entry framed by intricate bas-relief carvings of gods and dancers half-weathered by centuries of wind and rain, but still breathtaking in their scale and detail. Columns, hewn from the same rock, stood like titans holding up the sky.
Ferns had crept into cracks, and moss lined the lower carvings like green velvet trim on a fading royal robe. The jungle hummed behind them; the cave loomed before them like a forgotten throne room.
Inside the yawning entrance, cool, filtered light revealed more monumental sculptures of multi-armed deities, divine warriors, and guardians forever frozen in battle or blessing.
Kurt leaned against the cave's outer wall, catching his breath and muttering something under it about the perils of long-distance bamfing.
Connor, who had taken in the surroundings with quiet awe, lifted a hand to sign something.
"I RECOGNIZE THESE CAVES FROM MULTIPLE BOLLYWOOD FILMS. THE REAL PLACE IS MUCH COOLER."
"I feel a little sick..." Maeve said as she put her hand on Connor's shoulder to stabilise herself.
Kurt's multiple bamfing had made her stomach feel like it was doing flips inside her body. Thankfully after a couple of minutes it settled down and a little bit of colour found its way back into her face.
As she looked up at the wonder of what was in front of them her eyes widened much like a child seeing something for the first time, something spectacular, something wonderous. As she began to connect to this place, the earth and stone around her, unbeknownst to her particles of dust, pieces of stone had risen behind the group. Nothing dangerous but it felt almost mystical.
"This place feels magical. Ancient. Old." Maeve bent down and pushed her hand into the ground, feeling the connection as pebbles vibrated around her body but never left the ground. "Wait, what's Bollywood?" she just realised Connor's comment and turned to look at him as she removed her hand from the ground.
Connor gave a short, clipped nod, his hand already moving again, though he kept glancing around at the towering carvings like they might come alive at any second.
"INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY. BIG SONGS. BIG COLORS. BIG FEELINGS."
"Oh..." Maeve frowned squinting as if trying to conjure an image of those films. "Yeah, didn't get that kind fancy stuff on our wee island..." she with a catching sight of Kurt shifting.
Kurt pushed off the wall and dusted off his coat, the weight of the moment settling onto him like a familiar cloak. His golden eyes lingered on the entrance as though measuring it for hidden seams.
"All right, meine Freunde," he said, his voice low but charged with excitement. "Ve are not here to sightsee." He tapped two fingers lightly against the nearest column, feeling for something more than stone. "Somevhere beyond ze public chambers, zhere is an obscured vault older zhan ze temples zhemselves."
Connor tilted his head, waiting. "OBSCURED IN WHAT WAY?"
Kurt grinned in that rakish, mischievous way he had when danger was about to turn the day interesting.
"Camouflage... illusions... mysterious mechanisms. Vhat vas buried here vas meant to stay buried." He stepped lightly toward the shadowed interior, beckoning them with a tilt of his head. "But stone remembers vhat the history book forgets," he added, glancing at Maeve meaningfully. "Ze entrance vill not look like a door. It vill be disguised, woven into ze rock like any other vall or carving. But ze earsth knows vhere it has been disturbed, even if ze eye cannot see."
Connor signed quickly. "SO, BASICALLY, FIND THE SECRET DOOR."
"Precisely," Kurt said with a wink.
Maeve ran a hand through her light brown hair as she thought. "If the door is in the stone then I should be able to see for its general location. Like a section of a wall, or something like that." she spoke with some confidence. "I can't say my abilities are good enough yet to locate it specifically but..." she placed a hand back into the ground again. "I'm like a crappy compass." she joked. "But I'm getting what feels like a the tiniest void near the three headed statue thing over there." she pulled her hand free and started to walk towards it. The others could search other locations if they chose to but that's where she was going, maybe there would be a latch or a nice bright shiny red button to push.
As they crossed the threshold into the greater hall, where the colossal Trimurti statute loomed like a god carved out of shadow and time, Maeve's hand skimmed the rough stone as she crossed the threshold into the greater hall. Connor and Kurt followed, their footsteps echoing softly across the worn stone floor.
Connor signed briskly once they caught up. "THAT IS SHIVA WITH THREE ASPECTS: CREATOR, PRESERVER, DESTROYER."
"Zhat is ein zheory," Kurt said, ignoring the comment.
When Maeve circled to the side of the statue where the carvings grew shallower, more irregular, they could see a half-hidden behind a slab of weather-darkened stone.
"HERE?" Connor signed with one hand while brushing his fingers along a section that looked no different at first glance. As he pressed, the wall gave just slightly under his touch with a muffled groan of age.
Kurt moved closer, eyes narrowing. With careful fingers he helped them shift the slab aside, revealing a hand-chiseled recess, rough and ancient compared to the ornate temple carvings. Nestled inside was a strange relic — what looked like a broken hinge, thick and heavily worn, its surface etched with symbols too faded to easily read.
It was a huge discovery that amounted to nothing, enough to make Kurt's brow furrow.
"Verdammt," he muttered. "Zhere vas a mechanism here. A clever one. But it may hef been damaged... or lost... over centuries of neglect."
Connor crouched down, studying the large broken hinge intently, then straightened and turned his head slowly, his eyes scanning the visible statues around them. His hand moved in the air again.
"WHAT IF THIS IS JUST ONE PIECE? LIKE TUMBLERS IN A LOCK?"
Kurt considered this, tail flicking thoughtfully behind him. "Ja... ja, zhat makes sense. If ze vault vas designed to be nearly impossible to open by accident, zhere vould be multiple triggers spread across ze different chambers."
He stepped back, gazing around at the vast cavern complex.
"But if you are right," he said quietly, "zhen ve must find ze osthers. And trigger zhem in ze right order."
Connor nodded. "THEN WE MUST FIND THEM WHILE DETERMINING THE CORRECT ORDER."
Kurt nodded slowly. "A riddle, woven into art and myth." He turned to Maeve, voice low and urgent. "Maeve, can you sense any osther voids nearby? Even small spaces? Ve may not hef much time before our presence disturbs more zhan just dust."
The heavy silence of the temple pressed in around them, as if unseen watchers held their breath while waiting in the wings.
The temple seemed larger than it looked. As Kurt's voice travelled around the cavern, Connor's more so, it felt like the statues that were etched into the walls were calling back, leading them to where they needed to be. "There might be one on the other side of the statue... maybe on in the centre of the room." She moved out from where they were standing.
Lowering her hands and then raising them slowly the dust and sand from the ground slowly began to rise to show an intricate design on the ground.
Kurt stepped back, folding his arms as he watched the dust swirl around Maeve's rising hands. His golden yellow eyes tracked the slowly revealed pattern beneath them—no longer just decorative mosaic, but a blueprint hidden in plain sight. He murmured, almost to himself, "Zhis is vhy I brought you both..."
Connor knelt beside the pattern, his eyes scanning rapidly over the revealed sigils and alignment marks. He looked up and around the room with laser focus, his mind racing through calculations, spatial memory, and comparative mythology all at once. His hands moved in sharp, deliberate motions.
"MAEVE. THE FLOOR DESIGN IS FRACTAL IN NATURE. EACH SYMBOL MIRRORS OTHERS ON A TRIANGULATED AXIS." He stood and pointed toward the far wall beyond the central area Maeve had indicated. "IF THESE HINGES ARE PART OF A LOCKING SEQUENCE, THEN THE VOID AT THE CENTER IS A PRIMARY JOINT. THE WALL FACING US SHOULD BE A MOVABLE SURFACE BUT MASKED BY GEOLOGICAL EROSION."
He paced along the perimeter, stepping with care. Then he stopped and turned to Maeve, locking eyes with her before signing, "CAN YOU SENSE IF THAT WALL HAS AN INNER STRUCTURE THAT MIGHT MOVE VERTICALLY OR HORIZONTALLY?"
Closing her eyes Maeve frowned slightly as she concentrated on her task. It was almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack, in the dark. There was something though, she could almost reach out and touch it with her mind. "Stone." she said simply.
As the stone responded to Maeve's command, the entire section of granite moved slowly and groaning as if an elderly man was made to get out of his easy chair. There were even pops and creaks of grinding stone like stiffened joints. Connor chuckled to himself at the metaphor. "IT SOUNDS LIKE AN OLD MAN," he signed.
Kurt tilted his head slightly as the thunderous groan echoed through the chamber. "Ja, old," he said with a breath of reverence, "und full of secrets."
The wall Maeve shifted revealed another recessed hinge, just like the others—but more ornate, framed in fractured stone relief that had crumbled from seismic shifts long ago. The air poured through the opening, dry and cool, as if the breath of the chamber exhaled its approval.
Connor stepped closer, his fingers tracing the exposed mechanism. Then his eyes drifted upward and narrowed. His hand slowly lifted, pointing toward the ceiling where a jagged gap broke the continuity of the dome above them.
"THERE WAS A FOURTH," he signed. "ABOVE US. A COUNTERBALANCE. PROBABLY FELL IN A QUAKE OR WAS LOOTED."
Kurt followed his line of sight. The remains of a hinge socket could just barely be made out—split in half, sheared by time and gravity.
"If zhat is ze last tumbler..." Kurt murmured, "und it is broken..."
Connor's hands signed quickly as he glanced at Maeve. "NOT IF MAEVE CAN MAKE ANOTHER USING RESIDUAL STONE AND PATTERN MATCHING."
Kurt turned to her, golden eyes lighting up. "Fraulein, if you hef anysthingk left in you... zhis is ze last hurdle."
Maeve felt a little out of breath. Those around her didn't fully understand the exertion that moving earth and stone had on her. A small sweat had broken out on her brow, whether that was from the humidity or the work... well it was probably both. "I'll give it my best shot," she offered as she began to move her hands in a sort of clockwise motion, her fingers moving independently.
Stone cracked and lifted as she shaped the missing hinge from raw earth, calling fractured pieces back into form. The temple responded with a strange hum—not sound exactly, but pressure.
Connor noticed it first. "PIEZOELECTRIC DISCHARGE," he signed sharply.
Dust rose like static off the floor, curling into the air in shimmering spirals. The glyphs etched into the tiles lit up faintly, and with a final groan that vibrated through the soles of their feet, the entire floor quivered, then opened.
A low, grinding spiral cracked beneath them, stone folding inward like the petals of a granite flower. In the center of the now-revealed shaft, an ancient spiraling stairwell plunged deep into the earth, lit only by dim reflections from the engraved walls below.
At the heart of it all was a pedestal. On it, glowing faintly with inner light, another shard of the relic Kurt had been piecing together.
Kurt bamfed to the pedestal, reappearing with a breathless smile and the shard in hand. "Got it!" he said. "Zhis one... it hums like ze others. Eet is genuine."
But as soon as his fingers left the pedestal, the stairwell around them began to retract. Stone shifted, curling upward like a closing iris. The spiraling staircase had rapidly turned into a pit with them at the bottom.
"Mein Gott..." Kurt muttered. "I vill get you out first, zhen I vill take a rubbing of ze inscribed murals down here."
"NO NEED." Connor raised a hand and tapped his temple. "I TOOK A RUBBING OF THE RELIEF ALREADY."
“You... did vhat?” Kurt blinked.
"I HAVE AN EIDETIC MEMORY." Connor gave a small smirk. "I CAN REDRAW IT WHEN WE RETURN."
Kurt gave a delighted laugh, clearly impressed. "You are full of surprises, mein junger Freund."
He turned to Maeve and took her gently by the arm. "Hold on tight." Then to Connor, "Next stop—sunlight!"
Maeve nodded and still felt the need to grip onto Kurt's arm. There was always a part of her mind that thought if she let go of him she'd get lost to whatever ether her bamfed through!
Just when claustrophobia began to get the better of them, they took their leave.
BAMF!
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