Authors note – I do not own any of these characters, they all belong to Marvel and/or 20th Century fox

Chapter 3 – In need

All the trees at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters share the same green glow that can only signal the arrival of summer. It had been a busy year, with arrivals and noticeable departures; no one at the school remembers anything close to normality. The school is different from the rest for two reasons; it is completely different below the surface, and every student attending is a mutant. Like there teachers, each child has the ability, or the potential of great power. Two floors below the surface, things are remarkably different. Twelve of the older students observed as Logan explained the inner workings of the school's jet.

Logan was always a loner by choice, and it was his choice to set up camp at the school. He still doesn't know what attracted him to the place, or to his position in the team. All he knows is above him is the school's basketball court and behind him is the most costly jet imaginable.

"Okay, can anyone tell me what I would need to do if one of the engines caught fire or was completely lost?" Logan waited impatiently, as one by one each student shrugged. It wasn't Logan's idea to teach classes; in his eyes he was lousy at it. But the Professor asked him to take some of Scott's classes for a while, and Logan owed Xavier a lot. Always giving him the encouraging smile was Rogue, one of the only mutants in the school who hated her real name. Logan and her have a lot of history, both arriving at the school together way back when. Standing next to Rogue was her boyfriend, Bobby Drake, the self proclaimed Iceman. Rogue and Bobby maintain a difficult relationship; Rogue's power is more of a curse, her being unable to touch any living person. Logan thought about how terrible her situation must be only to be distracted by one of Bobby's jokes.

"Is this the correct answer sir?" He unleashed a beam of ice that wrapped itself around one of the blackbird's engines. The class laughed in unison, all except Rogue. The girl on the other side of Bobby also gave a courteous chuckle. In many ways, Kitty Pryde would be classed as more attractive than Rogue. Among there classmates, it's Kitty who always gets the looks and gracious comments. In past lessons, Logan would have probably broken the nearest object in anger, but he thought of a much better idea to punish Bobby.

"Hilarious, stay back after class. As long as that takes to melt you'll be there with a mop." Bobby's smile vanished from his face at Logan's words, the rest of the class' cause of laughter changed to mock his situation. "Class dismissed."

The students packed away their things whilst Logan moved out into more open territory to light a cigar. Within seconds he heard the sound of footsteps and the familiar shout of his name.

"Logan!" Rogue ran up and tapped him on the shoulder. He took along drag on his cigar before enquiring.

"Yeah Kid?" Logan already knew what she was about to ask as she'd asked it a hundred times before.

"Can ya' please let Bobby go early? I know he'll have learned his lesson and I'll promise he won't do anything like it again." Rogue, like Logan, already knew the reply. He had no love for Bobby Drake, but Logan would do anything for Rogue. Rogue was a one of a kind in his eyes; she had an amazing smile and familiar Texan drawl. She also had a remarkable will and unfathomable strength in the face of adversity. Something Logan knew all about.

"Sure, go. But this is the last time!" He called after her; she had started running back to Bobby at 'sure'.

"Thanks Logan!" In his eyes, Bobby wasn't good enough for Rogue, but he made her happy and that's all that counts. From a distance, Storm approached. Logan hadn't heard or seen her, but sensed the increase in her scent.

"Something wrong, Storm?" Logan turned to face her having casually stubbed out his cigar on the steel floor. Ororo groaned as she saw the cigar butt.

"You smoking near a fully fuelled jet for one." Logan liked Ororo. In her homeland she was worshipped as a Goddess and it was pretty obvious she didn't like not having the same treatment at the mansion. He laughed at her joke, but sensed something more serious in her voice. "It's Scott. He requested we go pick him up from Alkali Lake."

The place resonates so much emotion for the two. Over the months, they had dealt with the loss of Jean and moved on. It seemed Scott never would.

"I'm going to go pick him up now, and I'd like it if you'd come with me." Ororo wasn't telling everything to Logan. It was the slight things that gave her away, like a too often repeated touching of her recently cut silver hair.

"What else?" Logan asked with his usual inquiring expression.

"When he called, he said he'd done something stupid. And I haven't been able to get through to him since. I know the Professor has a big announcement, but I just don't feel comfortable with Scott anymore. He's been so terribly isolated." Ororo's voice panged with genuine angst.

"He lost the woman he loved, Storm, you can't expect heartbreak like that to heal quickly." Logan himself loved Jean also, but he knew he could never of had what Jean and Scott had. Ororo watched his expression change from serious to something more solemn.

"But you loved her too. Didn't you Logan." Before finishing, Ororo knew she had gone to far.

"Let's go." Logan moved past her and boarded the blackbird, Ororo fazed for a second by the stupidity of her words.

Rogue switched off her television as the room began to shake. In the beginning, the members of the X-men leaving on various missions were extremely distracting. Over time, however, the many students have learned to appreciate the spectacle of a billion dollar jet emerging through a Bond style trapdoor in the basketball court. Rogue hopped along her bed to join Bobby in gazing out the window.

"Where do you think they're all goin'?" Rogue inquired, trying to snag her boyfriends attention from the jet about to burst of into the air. With a sonic boom that would shatter any windows not reinforced, the jet cut a path through the clouds and was gone. Bobby turned to face Rogue and thought for a while.

"Probably to pick up Scott. He's been gone for about a week." He looked at Rogue for a time, wishing he could touch her face and kiss her. It wasn't impossible, they'd done it before, but Rogue never wants to take the chance again. Bobby realized he'd been gazing at Rogue for a moment too long when she stopped looking at him and instead turned to peer out into the corridor.

"I think we should," Rogue stuttered, tears began welling in her eyes, "I think it would be the best for both of us if we stopped seeing each other."

She looked up at him, his expression one of sadness but not surprise. Without a word, Bobby lifted his hand and moved it towards Rogue's face. Unsure of his intentions, Rogue leaped off the bed, angered at Bobby's stupidity.

"What the hell are you doing? You wanna' get yourself killed?" He smiled at her worry and kneeled on Rogues bed so they were at the same height.

"I am not scared. Of you, or the future. Our mutations would be a problem we'd have to cross whatever our powers are. I'll find a way, Rogue." Lost in the moment, the two teenagers in love were disturbed by another student at the door. Rogue didn't dislike Kitty; she just didn't like much about her. She wondered whether Kitty had been listening the whole time.

"Don't mind me. I guess the professor didn't want to disturb you two, but he's mentally called a meeting in the main hall." Bobby and Rogue snapped out of their private trance and thanked Kitty for the warning. The main hall was situated at the newly built South wing of the school, like any school hall, it's the communal meeting and eating area. The hall was mainly built for the new training facility a floor below, imaginatively titled 'the danger room' by its participants. It probably cost more than the blackbird with the room managing to create any environment using state of the art holographic technology. Rogue hadn't yet built up the courage to try it out yet, not sure her power would be of any use in the heat of battle. Professor Xavier always told her that her abilities could save any team but she never understood how.

The hall, like the rest of the mansion, was completely decked out in wood, with refined paintings and plants taking up every spare space. Today there were no tables, just many rows of chairs, half full of puzzled students. Rogue sat by her close friend Jubilation Lee, though everyone called her Jubilee (Something she encouraged). Bobby sat on Rogue's other side, noticing Kitty's attempts to get a seat near them. Rogue and Jubilee shared a quick, careful hug before enquiring what the meeting was about.

"What's going on? A meeting like this ain't happened since the funeral of Dr. Jean." Rogue looked around after asking, the whole school had turned up, eager to find out what the unexpected gathering was about.

"I guess it's to do with Scott. Maybe he died too?" Rogue gave a sympathetic smile. Being brought up in Beverly Hills didn't do much for Jubilee's personality.

"Don't say that, I like Scott. He's nice lookin' too." Bobby cleared his throat at Rogue's words as a humorous reminder. The talk soon stopped as a solemn Kurt wheeled an even graver Xavier onto the recently constructed stage. All eyes were on the principal of the school as he spoke into a lowered microphone.

"Many years ago, me and my close friend Eric Lensherr, better known to you all as Magneto, developed the idea for a school. A school for our kind, mutants or homo superior as Eric named us. This school was to be a place where we could live in peace, honing our talents whilst having the education any student should. In two days we all may be presented with a choice. A company named Worthington industries has development an antibody, a suppressor of some sort. They're calling it a cure." The room exploded with nervous chatter, soon taken over by other students hushing the rest, eager for more information. Xavier Continued, "To my knowledge Eric is planning to stop the announcement, but if, for any reason he doesn't, all of you will be allowed to take it if you so wish."

Jubilee stood up suddenly; ready to ask one of the many questions going through all the student's minds.

"Is that it?" Like many of the students, Jubilee's power is intertwined with their emotion. Her black hair began to radiate different colours and lights snapped and crackled around her.

"Calm down, Jubilee." Xavier remained calm, despite half his students' distress.

"No, Sir. I oppose this cure like everyone here. But it sounds like you're just gonna' sit around and let Magneto attack Worthington industries? People could die!" Bobby and many others barked agreement. The rest remained silent or booed Jubilee's words. Rogue sat still, her head still ringing from what Xavier declared. A cure. Bobby called Rogue's mutation a problem that they would have to cross. In Rogue's eyes, they just found a bridge.

"I am aware of this, but Eric obviously has all the information. He told me willingly; this could all be a ploy for the X-men to be made out as the villains. I will not let anybody charge into battle not sure who the enemy is!" Xavier slammed his fist on his wheel chair causing Kurt to give him a worried look.

"Professor, we all know who the villain is here! Magneto has attacked our team. They tried to kill Rogue, and that shape changer of theirs masqueraded as Bobby! Since when have you been such a hypocrite?" Bobby collapsed next to Rogue, annoyed by Jubilee changing the subject of attention to them. Kitty looked at him and then to Rogue, ever since Rogue heard the word cure, she'd been in a dreamland.

"Jubilee…" Xavier froze, his eyes fixed at some point in front of him. Jubilee stopped her barrage of arguments and gazed at the vacant professor.

"What's wrong with him?" Someone asked from the back of the hall. Kurt moved to his front, shocking him from his trance. Covered in cold sweat and shivering, Xavier desperately looked up at Kurt.

"Professor?" Many of the students had crowded round them.

"Jean." Xavier drifted into unconsciousness, causing many to gasp with worry. Kurt grabbed hold of the professor.

"Stand back." With a large implosion of purple smoke, Kurt and the professor teleported to the medical centre, leaving a collection of coughing and confused students in their wake.