Chapter 2
Westchester, New York. Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Kitchen.
Shrill alarm beeps screeched through the Mansion.
Peter Rasputin scrambled to his feet. He sprang forward. His powerful stride cut through the smoke around him.
"Hurry, Peter!" Kurt Wagner yelled with a tiny smirk.
Peter wound back his skillet-sized open palm.
"Do not worry, friends, I shall take care of it," Peter said.
With a mighty swat, Peter's right hand whooshed through the air.
"Faster, big guy! I can't take anymore!" Jubilee squeezed her hands over her ears.
Peter cocked his arm back a second time. His bare hands had tamed the permafrost of a Russian collective. The Brotherhood. The Brood. The Phalanx.
There was no way in hell Peter Rasputin would be beaten by a damn smoke detector.
Peter fanned the smoke detector like a Hebrew slave. His thick fingertips were millimeters from the little plastic sphere on the wall. It's tiny, blinking slit of light was like a green grin with a blaring laugh every two seconds.
"Ya big dummy," Kitty Pryde chided, "It's not gonna stop until, y'know, you get rid of what's causing the smoke."
"Hard'a hearin', Remy?" Rogue reached behind Gambit and shut off the oven.
The alarm stopped.
"Chere!" Gambit said.
He rushed to turn the oven back on. Rogue blocked him.
"Uh, uh," Rogue teased.
"You do not mess wit' a master chef an' deir accoutrements!" Gambit said.
"Ah know. S'why ah never bother Jean when she's cookin'." Rogue smirked.
"Jean! Mon dieu!" Gambit started hyperventilating and patted his white chef hat. "…Dat like comparin'…Toad ta Magneto!"
"Use a shovel gumbo, it's easier!" Jubilee chirped from the kitchen table.
"So do all tha master chef's almost burn down the whole dern kitchen makin'…whateva it is y'all was makin', or just you?" Rogue said.
"Gambit have perfect palate. 'Mong other t'ings…" Gambit grinned, "…His cookin' more sophisticated den makin' jus', Eggo."
"Sophisticated?" Peter returned to his seat at the kitchen table. "I am sorry. My English is not always perfect. I thought the word indicated…classy."
"Ha!" Rogue laughed.
"It do. And so do Gambit," Gambit said.
Rogue and Peter exchanged glances. Then burst out into more laughter with Jubilee and Kurt joining.
"E'ryone t'ink dey a Johnny Carson," Gambit mumbled.
"Ah, Remy, look at it this way. Laughter sounds much preferable to that wretched ala-…" Kurt said.
The smoke detector roared to life again.
"Ugh!" Kitty groaned.
Kitty shot a death stare at Logan standing at the kitchen door. Then at his cigar. She phased from her chair through the kitchen table and snatched his stogie out his mouth.
Wolverine didn't say a word. His face did all the talking. He scowled at her like she cussed in church.
Kitty pouted and batted her eyes at her grisly old teddy bear. "Please and thank you," she said and put out his cigar.
Smoke wasn't coming from his cigar anymore but it was definitely coming out his ears. Lots of it.
Wolverine shrugged and pulled up a chair at the kitchen table next to Jubilation.
"…When'd we get so many flamin' smoke detectors around here?" Wolverine grumbled.
"Yeah, I don't know what to make of these new-fangled smoke detector things…" Jubilee nudged him, "…My day we didn't need someone to tell us there was a fire. We could tell from the cows running."
"Don't push it, kid," Wolverine said and glared at Jubilee and Kitty, "the both of you ain't as cute as you think."
"We know you love us, Wolvie," Jubilee said.
"And we are as cute as we think." Kitty smirked.
She glanced at her boyfriend, Peter. He wasn't nodding.
"Right, Peter!" She elbowed Colossus.
"Of course, Kitten. Anything you say I am in agreement with," Peter said.
"Ah, impressive, Kitty. You know Amanda's looking to adopt a dog. Can you refer us to the same spaying and neutering place you took heir Peter?" Kurt said.
"I'll give you their card," Kitty said.
"Katya, please!" Peter said, "Kurt, I assure you. My…" Peter blushed, "…er, Jubilee, help me. I am not good with euphemisms."
"Spauldings," Jubilee said.
"My…Spauldings…are exactly where they always are," Peter said.
"Yeah, in your hands," Logan said.
"That is not what I meant, Logan, my brother," Peter said. If his face was any redder he'd set off the smoke alarm a third time.
"So cute this one is." Kitty kissed Peter's dimple.
"When did you start back up again with ze cigars, mein freund?" Kurt asked Wolverine, "I thought you had quit?"
"Should know by now, elf. I never quit nothin'," Wolverine said.
"So just a hiatus for three years?" Kurt said.
"Yup."
"As long as you don't take a hiatus from the good people of Budweiser 'zen we are good."
"Amen." Wolverine reclined in his chair. "Elf, wanna know a good balanced fighting style?"
"Brew in one hand, brew in ze other?" Kurt said.
"Damn straight," Wolverine smiled.
"Agreed!" Jubilee said.
"Two more years, liebschen, 'zen we can have a real toast," Kurt said.
"I'm old enough to go to war and die, why can't I have a drink?"
"That didn't work for me back in the day, and it better not work for you now!" Kitty dropped her elbows on the table.
"Katya, we put out the smoke, did we not?" Peter said, hiding back a small grin.
"Uh, doy doy. Geez, not the quickest tractor on the collective, huh?" Kitty said.
"Then, tell me, Katya. Where is the fire?" Peter smiled.
Kitty folded her arms and flared her nostrils.
"Burn from the big guy!" Jubilee said.
"Didn't know you had it in ya." Wolverine bellowed out his signature guttural laugh.
"My Spauldings are right where they are supposed to be," Peter said proudly.
"And I can tell you exactly where they're not going to be tonight, bub!" Kitty leered at Peter.
The mountainous Russian shrunk in his chair down to about 5'11. "But, Katya…it's Thursday…" Peter mumbled.
"For ze rest of us, ja," Kurt said.
"E'ryone can relax…" Gambit carried a tray of seven steaming plates to the table, "…Breakfast is here."
"Just put the slop on the table already, gumbo, and cut the theatrics," Logan said.
Gambit rested the tray on the center of the table. "Dis gourmet, Monsieur Wolverine!"
"No argument here, mein freund. The aroma…" Kurt shut his eyes as he inhaled the rich blend of Belgian Waffles, keesh, and fresh coffee, "…Simply divine."
"Dis guy gets it," Gambit patted Kurt on the back.
"All jokes aside, mighty nice a you to do all this for us, Remy," Rogue said as she took her seat.
"Gambit can do many nice t'ings for you, Chere," he said as he sat across from her.
"Heh…" Rogue chuckled, "how about shave?" She rubbed her gloved hand on his stubble.
"Course. Jus' let Gambit know da part of yo' body, and he shave it for you." Gambit gave his devilish grin.
"Gross! PG please! I'm still a youngin, after all, according to sooooome people!" Jubilee snatched a plate from the tray.
"Good you're finally outta denial, kid," Wolverine said as he grabbed a plate.
"Kids I tell ya. Amirite?" Kitty said.
"I could not agree more, Katya," Peter said.
"Much better…" Kitty took a plate then furrowed her brow in thought, "…wait…"
"You do the honors, 'Crawler?" Wolverine bowed his head.
"For you, herr Logan, ze world." Kurt folded his hands in prayer. "Let us bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we are so very thankful to you for all your blessings. To be in a place and a time that I would never have dreamt of as a boy. But that Father, is your power. Your gift to see not what is there, but what will be. Always what will be."
"Que, sera, sera," Gambit mumbled.
"Remy!" Rogue kicked Gambit's shin under the table.
Kurt chuckled and continued, "Your plan for us, all of us, is so much greater zan we can see today. You fill us with ze hope that better days are always on ze horizon. How can we not praise him for such a gift? To know ze best is yet to come."
Your faith is repayed, Kurt Wagner. A gentle voice floated into Kurt's mind.
"Mein gott!" Kurt stumbled from his chair.
A sudden burst of golden light showered the mansion. The searing light stunned Kitty and Jubilee and floored Gambit and Colossus.
"By the white wolf!" Colossus yelled and transmuted his skin to organic steel.
Wolverine jumped from his chair. Six adamantium claws ripped through the flesh over his knuckles.
Rogue took to the air, shielding her eyes with her forearm. "What in tarnation?"
Wolverine feverishly sniffed in all directions. "Nuthin'," he snarled, "Can't get a blasted scent!"
The wave of light's intensity waned. A soft, golden tint settled over the mansion.
In an instant, the kitchen was flooded with dozens upon dozens of students. They passed like ghosts through the X-Men as they moved through the kitchen to sit at a massive, ephemeral table that looked like it could seat fifty people.
Wolverine snapped back. "What the flamin'?"
