Demolition and Realization
-o-
Bobby Drake was shivering. Sam thought that odd, since Bobby never really shivered – he controlled ice, for Pete's sake – but there he was, noticeably shaking as he looked at the computer screen. As his fingers shook, he had trouble typing the computer code – he had to keep pausing to stretch them out.
Sam came forward to offer…comfort? Support? He wasn't sure, he just wanted the poor guy to stop shaking, and he swore as his hand automatically recoiled from his friend's shoulder – Bobby was freezing! Ice cold to the touch, and the air around him wasn't a picnic to stand in either.
"Bobby?" Sam asked tentatively, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "Uh…are you okay?"
"Fine," he muttered distractedly. Sam noted the evident sheen of frost that had enshrouded most of the control panel.
"You sure?" Sam insisted. Bobby had been his roommate for long enough for Sam to know his shortcomings – one of these shortcomings was the fact that if you ever tried to scare him, you'd likely be turned into an ice sculpture. Bobby had admitted that when he got freaked out, he'd use his powers unconsciously. He'd even talked to the Professor about it.
Bobby didn't so much as grunt in answer to Sam's query. He did, however, pull his hands back from the keyboard again, shaking them out.
"You're doin' fine, Bobby," Sam insisted, looking at the screen in incomprehension.
"No, Sam, I'm not."
Sam's stomach seemed to drop into his knees. He wasn't?
"What do you mean, Bobby?" Jubilation asked, sounding about as scared as Sam felt.
Bobby's voice shook even as he typed commands furiously into the keyboard. "There's not enough time. I'm not going to be able to find what I need."
"What are you saying, meu homem?" Roberto said, coming to stand closer to the screen. Sam felt a relief from the cold that was emanating from Bobby, at least, as it seemed that Roberto let his powers slip a bit when he was feeling uneasy as well. "You're not…you're not going to be able to shut it down?"
There was a swift breakout of worried whispers from the others. Sam glanced back at Rahne, who caught his eye and attempted a smile.
"C'mon, Bobby," Jubilation urged, looking at the ominous blinking numbers on one of the computer consoles; the numbers that declared how much time they had: Four minutes and counting. What could they do in four minutes?
Bobby stopped typing, taking a shaky breath. All eyes in the room looked at him with trepidation…as Bobby sunk to his knees in despair; Sam unconsciously moved closer to Roberto as a new wave of fierce cold washed through the room.
Jubilation looked like she wanted to comfort him, but she drew away from the frigid temperatures that surrounded him, looking at the clock uncomfortably. Rahne hadn't said anything; she had clasped her hands together against the cold, and Sam saw her lips moving in soundless prayer, looking heavenward as her breath rose in clouds before her.
Ray had been disbelieving, and now sat staring at the computer console, turning paler with each silent second closer to their dooms. Sam turned to Roberto, who was still behind him, still exuding that heat to counter Bobby's bitter cold, and looking at Bobby in concern.
It was Jamie, oddly enough, who made the first comforting gesture. He pulled his sweater over his hand, patting Bobby lightly on the shoulder through the layer of fabric. Sam noted in alarm that Jamie's sweater came away from Bobby's shoulder sporting a thin layer of ice crystals.
"Bobby…you don't have to be scared," Jamie said decidedly.
There was a loud silence that met Jamie's words.
Bobby said nothing. He gazed into a space a good three feet in front of him, absently picking the icicles from the corners of his eyes.
"Bobby," Jamie tried again, his voice not wavering in the slightest, "You're the one who can do this."
"Why?" Bobby muttered, looking at the younger boy at last. His face was pale, save for his nose, and some irritated skin by his eyes where, Sam could only assume, his tears kept freezing.
"You're Iceman," Jamie said simply, shrugging his small shoulders. "You can make ice out of nothing."
Bobby just blinked at him. Then, to Sam's surprise, he got up. Jamie grinned.
Two minutes…
Bobby fiercely pounded out the code on the keyboard, his resolve seemingly stiffened, but Ray was pacing in agitation behind him, looking more anxious than ever. Sam glanced at Jamie, who was smiling encouragingly to Bobby. How did he do it? That kid was only twelve years old. How did he get so…wise?
The fact that this could easily be the worst…if not last day of anyone's life had suddenly stopped mattering, as Jamie's simple words touched a deep part of everyone's soul. For a clumsy kid who duplicated if you high-fived him too hard…Jamie was a pretty cool guy.
The institute will self-destruct in one minute, the computer said cheerfully.
Sam felt his heart pounding hard in his chest. How many heartbeats would he have in one minute? It could possibly be the last minute of his life…
"It's no good! I can't get it to disarm!" Bobby moaned.
Ray finally pushed Bobby away from the keyboard, and Sam felt his scalp tingle with static as Ray juiced up. "Out of the way!" he warned. "I'm gonna fry this turkey!"
"Wait!"
Sam turned to the source of the voice – it was Scott – only to see the older boy coming through the door with none other than Tabitha and Amara. Well, this was a new development. "Do that and it's all over!" Scott continued, beginning to clack at the keyboard just as Bobby had been doing for the last five minutes. "And I don't mean in a good way. Does anyone know who did this?"
"We have no idea!" Sam piped up, watching in amazement as Scott coolly surveyed all the monitors on the wall, never breaking stride with the speed of his typing, glancing at the ever-decreasing time on the clock with seeming indifference. For all he knew, though, Scott wasn't more level-headed than any of them; he simply had the advantage of a pair of sunglasses to keep anyone from reading his expression.
"Never mind. I just got my answer," Scott declared, focusing on one of the monitors in particular and frowning.
"Who cares? Just get us out whatever way you came in!" It was Ray again, sounding panicked. Sam smoothed down his hair where it was beginning to stick up because of the static discharge.
Scott glanced at the clock. Sam followed suite, paling. He felt a dichotomy of blistering heat and bitter cold at once – a telltale sign that Roberto and Bobby were standing on either side of him, looking at the clock too. "There's no time!" Scott said unnecessarily. "Only 15 seconds left!"
Sam was seized by a fleeting, desperate thought. I'm going to die. I'm going to die today, and I didn't even write Paige back to tell her about the dance at the high school, or the trip to the Redwoods…
Amara's voice broke into his thoughts. "Well, what do we do Scott?"
"Yeah. What's the plan?" Bobby was quick to add. Sam couldn't help but think it wasn't very chivalrous to put all this weight on Scott to save them when Bobby had been the savior not a minute before.
"Scott?"
Sam caught a second's indecision…a second's fear etched in Scott's face, despite the sunglasses, but his countenance firmed, his jaw set, and Sam was almost certain he'd imagined it.
Ten seconds to demolition, the computer felt it prudent to remind them.
"Follow me!" No indecision, no fear, just the 'hero' expression Sam was used to seeing on the older mutant's face. Sam ran after him immediately, though he purposely fell slightly behind, just to make sure everyone was in front of him. Growing up with so many brothers and sisters…he was used to playing the 'shepherd' as it were, just to ensure that everyone had the same chance to escape this.
Except he wasn't the last one. He spun 'round, looking in surprise at the crowd of people behind him. He could have sworn…But they were all Jamie. Every last one of the people behind him was Jamie. Did he duplicate when he was scared?
He tripped into Cerebro, one of the Jamies just behind him, and Scott pointed to Amara, who shakily melted the door shut.
Not half a second later, Sam was subject to the loudest sound he'd ever heard. It was like Jay was firing off his shotgun, except he was firing it a million times at once, for how loud it was. He fell off the platform – a good distance it was, too…but his mutation insured a skull thicker than concrete, and it didn't hurt.
He saw Bobby was making an ice bridge to the ground…and everyone started to slide down. Despite the chaos, and the debris falling all around them, Scott had, it seemed, had the sense to realize that it was safer to be as low as possible – like his Mama had always made them go in the cellar for tornadoes – and make the request of Bobby.
It probably saved their lives.
Not five seconds had passed once the sounds of the explosions had ceased, before the foundation of Xavier's Institute started to settle – compensating for the weight it no longer supported – and the new sounds of crumbling plaster and marble hitting the Cerebro platform started to arise.
The ceiling had already caved in at this point – from the explosion – and a quick glance upward at the mid-afternoon sun was enough for Roberto to go Sunspot on everyone, wasting no time in helping Scott clear the larger pieces of debris from under the remnants of the Cerebro platform, making a sort of safe point for everyone to take cover under.
Sam saw Jubilation go down – she wasn't hit by any debris, she'd tripped while running and she'd knocked her head – Sam wasted no time in Cannonballing to the rescue, pushing her out of the way as more detritus fell toward her unmoving form. He felt small hands helping him to his feet, guiding him to safety as he was dazed – the falling mass of marble had conked him on the head, and while it wasn't enough to hurt him, he was now quite dizzy.
When he was once more in the safety of the underbelly of Cerebro's platform, he glanced out at the rest of the room, shocked to see Jamie helping everyone to safety. He was acting as a sort of personal bodyguard – more of a human shield, he realized – to anyone who was unable to help out because of the nature of their powers. Rahne, Jubilation…even Ray, who was cursing loudly at his involuntary predicament.
Sam glanced up at his own rescuer, seeing Jamie again, saluting him and fading away.
"So tha's it," Rahne said quietly. She'd moved to stand next to him, and Sam jumped.
"What?" Sam queried, watching as Tabby and Amara teamed up, back to back, Amara melting the falling rubble into the walls, and Tabby throwing her little bombs with surprising accuracy at the larger wreckage, effectively blasting it to harmless smithereens.
"Jamie," Rahne said, pointing at two clones carrying Jubilation's prone form to their safe point. "He splits 'imself into so many clones tha' th' damage canna affect 'im as much."
Some sort of shadow had moved across the sun, and Sam watched, gasping, as one of the Jamies, while moving to help Roberto, was crushed before their eyes by a large piece of what had once been shielding from the bay windows from the main floor. It had the telltale dents, even, of Sam's own efforts to get through it earlier.
"But watch, Sam," Rahne intoned quietly, pointing to the prone arm of Jamie that they could see. He watched as the arm faded away.
"Y'see? An' look…" Rahne pointed to the two Jamies still carrying Jubilation across the room – a new Jamie sprung forth from one of the others, and rushed to get Roberto safely out of action until the sun came back – effectively finishing what the original clone had started.
"But…how'd he know that the other one was hurt?" Sam found himself asking, as Roberto was ushered silently to safety, the clone disappearing once more with a weary smile.
"They're all him," Rahne answered simply, her eyes not leaving Jubilation, and her slow progress through the dangerous mine-field that had become the Cerebro chamber. "Ye know when ye scrape yuir own knee…he knows when one o' his clones is hurt."
When they got closer, Sam helped lower Jubilation to the floor, conscious of the bump on her head, as Jamie absorbed the last clone into himself. Rahne moved forward swiftly, catching Jamie as he passed out then and there.
"Mutants VS Mutant Manor," Bobby joked feebly, tripping into the protective alcove, rubbing at his right knee – something had ripped a hole bigger than Sam's hand right through the fabric of Bobby's pants – and shrugging in a joking manner. "Turns out the house put up a good fight."
Taking in the state of everyone's tattered clothes, Sam could tell who'd been most subject to the blast. It looked like himself, Ray, and Scott had gotten the worst of it, thought there was a miraculously small amount of blood. Ray's feet were somewhat scuffed up – but the guy wore sandals everywhere – and Jamie had sported a bloody nose from the stress of absorbing his injured clones, but other than that, it looked like everyone had escaped the exploding school with only bumps and bruises to show for it.
Tabby and Amara joined them then, followed, at last, by Scott, who surveyed everyone's tattered clothing, as Sam had been doing not an instant before. "Is everyone all right?" he asked with authority. His gaze was drawn to Jubilation and Jamie, the former of whom had started to stir, clutching a hand to what had to be a sizable bump on her head.
"What happened?" Jubilation muttered, glancing around, eyebrows knitting together as she looked at the tattered right sleeve of her trademark yellow jacket. "And who decided that the zombie look was suddenly in?"
Sam found himself chuckling appreciatively at the joke, taking in his own attire – holes at each knee bigger than Bobby's, and a new, shorter shirt that showed his midriff.
"Jamie?" Rahne said quietly, nudging him as he stirred.
"Did we win?" came Jamie's voice, feebly sitting up and rubbing his head. "My head hurts."
"Bobby, can you get us out of here?"
Scott was all authority again, and Bobby nodded, gesturing for everyone to stand close to him – Roberto and Rahne supported Jamie, Sam and Amara supported Jubilation, and the assorted students, former student, and pre-graduate ascended, out of the sub-level basement, past the rubble that was still falling stubbornly from the sides of the cracked walls, and into the light of the not-quite-ready-to-set sun, where, Sam hoped, this terrible chapter of their day could lead to something better.
-o-
A U T H O R S N O T E
I always wondered what the poor new mutants were thinking, as they looked at the clock, thinking that they were going to die…
So I wrote it. :D
And I've proved again that Rahne's accent kicks my butt, Ray apparently isn't allowed dialogue, and I love angsty things. :D
Written for the contest at devart; 'Worst day ever.'
Ayaia of the Moon