A storm was brewing as the blond man stepped out from the cab. He let out a low even sigh, opening up his umbrella. He hadn't been there since him and Scott had gotten into it. He couldn't believe he had let this go on as long as it had; he instantly wished that he would have been the bigger man and apologized. After all, he and Scott were brothers. As Alex walked up past the gates, the skies suddenly started to become clear, and the rain stopped completely. He closed his umbrella, and looked up, not surprised to see what some people would call a white haired goddess. Alex knew better; it was Ororo Munroe flying down to meet him.
Before he could say anything, Ororo swept him into a hug. He instantly returned it, wrapping his arms around her. She pulled away with a sad smile on her face, "I'm sorry, I didn't think you were coming so soon; I just got done with power practice with some of the newer students,"
"Don't worry about it Ororo," he whispered gently. "How you holding up?" he asked.
"Ok I guess..." she murmured. "Your brother has taken it the hardest out of all of us.."
"Why couldn't he call me and tell me what happened? He should have known I would have put our stupid argument behind us for this...Jean was a friend," he said, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"Scott...he doesn't really talk to anyone anymore...the Professor is trying to get him to open up, but every time he does..." She let out a sigh, "he thinks that every time Professor X talks to him, he is trying to influence his thinking,"
"He wouldn't do that," Alex mumbled, wiping the oncoming tears from his eyes. "Where is Scotty?" he questioned.
"Hopefully in his room," Ororo said. "We have your old room ready so..." Alex smiled lightly, and started to follow Ororo inside the mansion once again. It was bigger than he remembered, and it seemed to hold twice the amount of students than when he was there. "So how are things going in California?" she questioned, trying to make the conversation lighter.
"Pretty good I suppose," he murmured, not really in the mood to talk about things back in his home. As the pair headed towards the set room, Scott came out of his room. "Scott..." he murmured.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Scott growled, not expecting him to be here.
"Well, I came to see how you were holding up," he said, clearly expecting his brother to act this way. "Why didn't you call me when it happened?" Alex asked, putting down his suitcase. Scott looked at him, and any person could tell that he was drunk. Scott tried to stumble past his brother, but Alex grabbed a hold of his arm. "Where do you think you are going?"
"Alex...let go of my arm this instant," Scott slurred.
"Alex...Scott, this is a school," Ororo said, her eyes starting to turn white. The blond shook his head, and turned his head towards Ororo.
"Ro' stay back, I don't want you to get hurt," he said, trying to make Ororo back off.
"What gives you the right?" Scott drunkenly tried to punch Alex, but he easily sidestepped it. Scott's glasses fell off Scotts face, and instantly he closed his eyes.
"Scott, I'm sorry," Alex said, bending down to pick up his glasses. He placed them on Scott's face, and Scott shook him off. Before Alex could stop him, he was stumbling out the door. He felt a small hand go on his shoulder lightly restraining him. "We can't let him go out like that..."
"Last time someone tried to stop him, Scott attacked the person with his power...luckily it was Logan..." Ororo explained.
"Who's that?" Alex questioned, momentarily forgetting about Scott. Ororo suddenly realized who she spoke about. After Jean had died, he had wandered off again, much to the team's dismay. The person who seemed to be hurt the most about him leaving was Rouge. She viewed him as a father figure, and him leaving again devastated her. "Ro," he murmured.
"Sorry..." Ororo shook her head to clear it and continued, "Scott and I saved him from a mutant named Sabertooth two years ago. He helped us fight Magneto many times after you and Scott had your misunderstanding..." She let out a low even sigh, "We better go get Scott before he does get too drunk, and ends up losing his glasses,"
"Why didn't we just stop him before he left the manor?" Alex questioned, suddenly a little angry.
"We can't have any of the students see Scott fighting against any of us..." He reluctantly nodded his head, knowing that it would be bad for anyone to see his brother this bad.
"Alright...lets go," he said, tossing his suitcase on the open bed. As the pair approached the exit to the manor, Alex heard footsteps behind them.
"Where y'all going?" Ororo turned around to the familiar voice. There stood Rouge, and she had a strange look on her face.
"Just going to pick up Scott," The white hair goddess replied.
"Ah," she murmured. "Who's this?" she questioned.
"I'm Scott's younger brother Alex," he introduced, offering his hand to shake. He looked a little confused when Rouge unintentionally flinched from his hand.
Before he could say anything, Rouge quickly apologized to him, "Ah'm sorry," she mumbled, "my power is such a curse...touch anyone and I can put them into a coma," she whispered.
"Don't worry about it," Alex assured her. "Ororo, we probably should get to Scott," Alex whispered.
"We'll be right back Rouge...can you go to the Danger Room and prepare the next session for advanced Power Practice?" Ororo questioned.
"Sure no problem," Rouge replied in a soft voice. "Who's covering for Mr. Summers?"
"Um...not quite sure on that one," Ororo said. "We'll figure it out when we get back," she promised. "Alright..." she murmured, pulling back her newly cut shortened hair. "You take Scott's Jaguar, and I'll take the skies...he usually goes to the bar that is closet to the mansion," Alex couldn't believe that his brother was doing this. Growing up, he had thought that Scott was the strongest person in the world. He had pretty much raised Alex growing up. He shook his head, and grabbed the keys that the weather witch offered to him. Her eyes went from the normally blue to a ivory white. She took into the sky and scanned down below for any sign of Scott.
She had to admit it was weird seeing Alex after the few years that have passed. He had really matured since the early days of her being in the X-Men. He was very selfish, but now it seemed he had turned a new leaf. Ororo caught sight of Scott coming out of a taxi. She saw that Alex had seen him as well and was pulling in behind the taxi. Ororo made sure that there was no one around before landing nimbly on the ground. "Scott...wait," she said, easily catching up with the inebriated man.
"What?" he grumbled.
"Drinking isn't going to solve your problem Scott," she reminded him.
"Buzz off," he said, shoving Ororo. She stumbled backwards, and Alex immediately caught her.
"Scott, what the hell is wrong with you?" Alex growled, helping the tall woman steady herself. Scott suddenly reached up and let out an optic blast. He let out a grunt of pain as the blast hit him. Alex let loose a sonic pulse on the ground knocking him over.
Ororo knew that if this fight continued, they would get caught. To buy them some time, she focused on creating a fog to surround the next couple miles around the threesome. She didn't want this fight to last longer than it needed to so summoning thunder and lightening as well she shot, "Enough!" her voice had demanded the two males to listen the instant she thundered her voice. "Now Scott, just get in the car," she said in a much calmer voice. Not wanting to risk tempting Ororo's patience, Scott just nodded his head, and trudged to the car.
Alex got in the driver's seat, and Ororo got in the backseat with Scott. The ride back to the manor was silent, and anyone could cut the tension with a butter knife. The younger male knew if he tried to question his older brother, it would just lead to more fighting. A calm suddenly fell over Scott, and he had fallen into unconsciousness. Ororo shook her head angrily as she buckled him in, and turned to Alex. "Great...he managed to get himself out of power practice once again," she ran a hand through her hair.
"I can cover for him if you want," Alex offered. He had to admit to himself that it had been a while since he had really used his powers in the offensive, but it would be better than not having a second person helping Ororo.
"Thank you I would really appreciate that," Ororo said with a sigh.
When they arrived at the manor, they immediately headed back towards Scott's room. "Well...this would have been a lot harder without your help," she whispered. "Alright...we'll go grab you a suit, and than head towards the Danger Room,"
The trip towards the armory was silent, and most students were either in their rooms, or out and about. "So...besides you and Scotty, is anyone else here that I could recognize?" Ororo shook her head.
"Hank left quite a while ago, he is know supposed to be head of mutant rights in the President's cabinet," she said. "Hopefully with him being there, we won't have to hide so much anymore," She said with a shrug.
"You don't believe that we will be able to get along with the rest of the world?" Alex questioned, as she tossed him a suit. Ororo frowned deeply as he said that. That had reminded her of Kurt and of how he had asked something similar to her after their initial meeting. He had left a few weeks after the Lake Incident. He had said that he was trying to find himself. She shook her head, and started for the Danger Room. Alex followed suit and wondered what was going on in that head of hers.
Instead of answering Alex's question, Ororo replied, "Lucky for you, we got a good group for our advanced training...you'll be able to work with them easily,"
"That's good," he said, adjusting his collar slightly on the leather like suit. The doors opened up with a swish.
"Alright...this is Alex..he is going to be covering for Scott..." She took a breath, "you ready to start?" she questioned to the group. This particular group was composed of Rouge, Iceman, Shadowcat, and Colossus. Each gave a quick nod, "You two," she gestured towards Rouge and Colossus, "are going to be with Alex. His codename is Havok, and that is what you are to refer to him as,"
"Sure thing Storm," Colossus said heading towards Alex. After taking a look towards Iceman and Shadowcat, Rouge reluctantly followed behind Colossus.
"Alright, lets start this," Storm said tiredly, clicking a couple buttons on her watch, initiating the program.