Clash of the Heroes
Chapter 2: Scorch Marks
Kitty plucked the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Kurt's hand and giggled slightly.
The blue mutant rolled his eyes and stared down at his now empty hand, "Vas zat really necessary Kitty? You couldn't get your own sandvich?"
"It tastes better when I know you meant to eat it yourself."
Kurt watched Kitty giggle and take a big bite of his then he laughed slightly and started to get the ingredients out to make a second one.
Rogue entered the kitchen and pulled open the fridge, "Are ya two really gonna keep playin' kicks and giggles together or is somethin' better gonna happen?"
The duo turned to look at the brown haired girl, with her unusual white streak never going unnoticed and then back at each other, not really understanding the aim of Rogue's comment; "Vell maybe if you joined in once in a vhile it vould be your interpretation of better."
"Aren't ya a funny one Kurt," Rogue stated in a monotone voice then turned back to the fridge, "what should ah have fer lunch, hmm."
"Peanut butter and jelly? I'm sure Kurt wouldn't mind making another one for you too," Kitty wiggled the sandwich by Rogue's head.
"I've already made two, I'm sure I could manage to make a zhird one."
"Um, ah'm fine thanks, ah'll make somethin' maself."
The pair had been almost inseparable since Kurt had rejoined the X-men and it was so obvious what was going on. The pair was totally 'goo goo gaga' over each other, but they didn't seem to realize it. Although they were the only two who didn't notice because everyone else could tell. Rogue had secretly bet with Logan to see who would make the first move. Logan's money was on the squirt whereas Rogue's money was so on Kurt. Kurt was the guy and he was a bit older so it was about time he noticed his own feelings. She hoped something would happen soon so she could finally get the money from Logan or just pretend like she'd never made the bet.
Rogue opened her mouth for a smart remark back and clamped it shut again immediately. It was like someone had turned a stereo on full blast with the static, music, and stations all coming in jumbled and at once. She cracked an eye open to find Kurt's hands clutched to his head and his body convulsing unnaturally. Kitty looked on flabbergasted; turning to Rogue and back to Kurt not knowing who to help or what to do. Finally Kitty seemed to make up her mind and she grabbed Kurt's three-fingered hands trying to bring them away from his head.
"Kurt what's the matter? What's wrong?" Kitty's voice was so panicked that she actually got the blue fuzzy mutant to look up at her. The girl then turned to Rogue with the same confusion and worry on her features, "Rogue what's going on? What's happening?"
Rogue gritted her teeth and finally managed to speak, "Ya don't hear that?"
Kitty moved from Kurt towards Rogue and attempted to pry her hands from the fridge handle. The young teen was at a loss and practically whined, "Hear what?"
"Zat horrible sound! I zink it's coming from another dimension," Kurt wheezed out between tortured breaths falling to his knees.
"Another dimension?" Kitty asked in confusion, looking from one mutant to the other. Both her friends were withering in pain and she had no idea what to do. "What should I do guys?"
Kitty's only answers were gasps of pain and heavy breathing, "Beast! Beast, come quick!" She moved back towards Kurt and the moment she touched his arm something odd happened.
Across the mansion Emma was opening the chamber's metal sliding doors, leaving Cerebro and all its worries behind when Scott showed up. The tall blonde woman had just been searching globally for Jean with absolutely no luck. The X-men had at least gotten their precious professor back so the search for Jean, while still important, wasn't on the back burner anymore. Emma had been searching nonstop for weeks, since she had joined the team and not so much a trace had been found as of yet. Not so much a bleep of brain activity from the very talented telepath. Emma couldn't decide whether Jean was masking her identity, if she really lost all her brain activity, or if she was in fact no longer on this Earth. Unfortunately it felt like a huge waste of time but Emma would stop at nothing until her mission was complete. Finally she met Scott's covered eyes and smiled.
"And what do I owe to the pleasure?" Emma wondered in her honey coated English voice.
"Emma I need you to look again."
"We've been through this before Scott, I need more time. It's hard to pinpoint someone's exact location, especially such a talented telepath as Jean. I'm not even sure that she's still out there."
"I know she's out there, I need to find her."
Emma shook her head sadly. The obsession Scott had with Jean was starting to reach the annoying level. As much as she wanted to find the redheaded telepath also, although for a totally different reason; she couldn't help but feel jealous. All the attention Scott spent on finding Jean and his loyalty was note worthy. And not to mention the rest of the team that, while not as obsessed as Scott was, was equally worried about Jean. What she wouldn't do for someone to feel that way about her. Perhaps eventually she could shift those feeling from Jean onto herself. Yes in due time she would have all the X-men on her side.
"I was just looking for her Scott, I didn't find anything."
Scott turned his head slightly, "Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure. I need to rest for a bit, before I can start searching again."
"We've got to find her," Scott continued to ramble on with the sentences he repeated too many times each day.
"And we will in due time. Sometimes we need- Ah," Emma's sentence was cut short as a loud piercing sound entered her mind. It was like everyone in the world was talking all at once and she couldn't make out any of it. She hadn't had such a horrible headache or lack of perception since she was a young girl just learning to control her powers. What had caused this terrible lapse in her ability to control her mind? Wave patterns she recognized entered her mind and one's she had never come into contact with before was making it feel like she had a ten pound weight sitting in her head.
"Emma! Emma, what's wrong?" Scott practically yelled as he griped her shoulders and gave her a hard shake.
Emma let out a low moan and gripped her fingers tighter in her hair. Scott stared down at the woman wishing there was something he could do for her, but he had no idea what was wrong. She slowly slipped onto her knees and Scott moved down to the ground with her.
"Emma!"
"Scott…" Emma breathed out his name in an inaudible whisper.
Scott pulled Emma to his chest trying to soot her pain when suddenly everything went blank for them both.
Pow. Smack. Whoosh.
Logan kicked at Ororo's head and the agile woman ducked easily. She made a punch at Logan's stomach but he easily took a half step back and avoided. Then Ororo's foot made contact with Logan's face and he fell to the ground but not before grabbing the woman's ankle and taking her down with him. The kick boxing match continued in this dodge, swipe, maneuver, punch, avoid, aim, and kick routine for the next twenty minutes before Bobby had had enough of it.
The eighteen year old boy pushed the button to turn the speaker on and complained, "Why do I have to watch you guys fight again?"
Logan avoided a last kick and then took a leap back. He breathed heavily took a few gulps from the water bottle on his side, took the towel off his chair and wrapped it around his shoulders before speaking, "So you can learn something."
Bobby rolled his eyes, "I can fight perfectly fine."
"With your powers you have control but not of your body. Now that you can take the form of ice its imperative that you train your body in that state. You are not invincible when you're made of ice like you might think. Training your body and mind in the art of kick boxing will help with your coordination and self defense," Ororo explained while dabbing her face on her own towel.
"Yeah exactly," Logan agreed.
Bobby pouted slightly, "I hate it when you make everything sound so… right, Storm."
The black woman smiled endearingly, "That is my job, of course."
"Why don't you come down here so we can show you? It's a better view from down here anyways," Logan commented.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Bobby grumbled as he made his way down to the training area.
Logan and Ororo threw back their towels and started to explain specific moves and defenses to the boy.
"Ok Bobby so the first move you should learn is the block. You put this arm up like this and move this one lower like that and of course you move it to the place that your opponent is aiming at," Logan told while positioning Bobby's arms in the correct places.
Bobby let Logan put his arms in the right spots and then moved like he was told and did the maneuvers that the older man was teaching him. As much as he wanted to deny that he had a weakness, he couldn't lie. His hand to hand combat skills weren't the greatest and this would be handy to know for future reference.
Suddenly Logan's grip on Bobby's arm tightened to strengthening lengths and the teenager attempted to pull his arm away. Logan turned his head to the side and started to sniff into the air.
"Logan what is it?" Ororo asked as she tried to help Bobby release his arm from the grasp.
"Do you hear that?" Logan wondered shifting his head to the side and scrunching his face like he was smelling something really nasty.
"Hear what? What's the matter?"
Bobby looked on worriedly as Ororo tried to calm Logan while the grip on his arm didn't loosen a bit.
"That sound! It sounds so horrible!" Logan practically roared.
Instantly the pain in Bobby's arm stopped and he felt like he was floating up, up and away. It was like nothing could touch him or hurt him. Then he felt nothing at all.
Beast was fiddling away in his laboratory with his notes, computer, and measurements when he heard Kitty call his name.
"What is it Kitty?"
When he heard her say his name a second time and with more distress he put his paperwork down and started to head to the kitchen. He hoped it wasn't something stupid because he almost had a break through and he didn't want to forget anything. As he entered the kitchen Beast had enough time to see Kurt on his knees with Kitty hovering over him and Rogue by the fridge in the same pained stance. He took another step to rush in when Kitty touched Kurt's arm and they vanished in something that seemed like a bolt of blue-silver lightning searing the floor on its path downward and then they were gone. Beast turned his head to look at Rogue, but then she vanished in the same odd lightning bolt way. Beast jumped out of the kitchen and stared down at the floor in curiosity. What had happened and where had they just gone?
"Logan, Ororo I think we have a problem!" Beast called.
Beast went to the training room because if Logan was anywhere he would be there. When he got into the control room he saw the program still running and turned it off. He waited to hear Logan's angry yell from his program being turned off, but nothing came. Beast went down and entered the room. The same scorch mark was on the ground in here too. That meant that most likely Logan and Ororo had been… abducted, he couldn't decide if that was the right word yet or not. Beast looked at the training sheet and saw that Bobby's name was on the chart also. Scratch that name off the candidates of possible allies left.
"Scott… Emma?"
Beast walked down the corridors looking for someone, anyone! Finally he moved to the mechanics wings, "Forge?"
Forge's head popped out right away, "Yes?"
Beast touched his chin in wonder, "Why didn't they take everyone? Why did they take anyone in the first place, hmm? Why did they specifically take them?"
"Pardon?" Forge questioned as he got out of the ship and rubbed his oil stained hands on a cloth.
"Looks like it will just be you and me around here for a while, Forge."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone is gone."
"Gone? Like on missions?"
Beast shook his head, "No not on missions. I'm not sure where they've gone yet, but I'll find out. I'm going to call Angel and see if he can help me."
"Well I can help you if you need," Forge offered.
"No, I think I'll just call Angel."
Forge watched Beast walk out then mumbled under his breath while walking back into the Blackbird's engine storage to finish his upgrade, "Jeez no one ever wants me to help them around here. I'm really handy!"
Just then a loose bolt popped out and sprayed Forge in the face with oil. He sighed, "Great now I know why they never take me on missions and want my help."
