Good day folks.

My strange tale goes on. Thanks for reading. I'll be away for a few weeks an unable to

post or write, so give me some time here okay. (I normally try to post once a week.)

So although it may seem a long wait (for the three people who read it, Coughs, we need more readers and reviewers questions are welcome. Coughs again trying to mask that entire sentence. Awkward silence follows.) Maybe I'm not turtlly enough for the turtle club.

Always remember.

The truth is the best lie.

The world is full of troubles but each person feels only his own.

(Regarding R. E. Lee and other famous influential leaders(is that all of them)).

If these great men are indowed with special wisdom and charisma that is a small gift from G-d. How can we ever hope to fathom the entire glory of our creator?

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Rouge woke up as if from a dream, it was five a.m. and she stood up.

It was gone! The horrible fungus was gone! Or at least most of it. Professor Xavier was still up and sensing she was awake spoke mentally to her.

; I attempted to remove it all but before I could a self-preservation instant set in. This may shock you but it left more in you.; News like that was a shock, the very idea made her dizzy.

; In me, more!; she said aloud and in her head and then gulped.

; I am afraid so,; the professor explained, ; it tries to force you to produce more of its kind so it can infect more people. I know this is surprising, we can help you though, you must come back to the institute before this is finished. Your life may depend on it.; It was all so sudden the infection and this, when would life be normal again?

'Professor, how many are in there?' Her belly was twitching again in several different places and she felt like a stretched balloon.

'I am not sure ten, twenty maybe.'

'Ah'm gonna be sick!' Rouge said as her stomach somersaulted a few times.

; You recently threw up half the store into the freezer but thank g-d you don't remember;'

'Professor was...' He finished her question,

; Yes your brother is there;' Xavier scanned for Kurt and found him in a state of agonizing pain were he to be conscious.

; He is being held captive outside and he's hurt, approach with caution.; Rouge reached for the shotgun on the counter.

; Ah've got caution all right.1 Bye professor Ah'll get in touch with you around noon. ;

; Goodbye Rouge, good luck.' She chambered the rounds to be sure it was loaded, and removed the safety.

'Alright little brother,' She walked towards the door shifting the cumbersome weapon in order to get it through,

' what mess did you get into?'

Outside Kurt was tied to a telephone pole and out of it; an old man was lying under an old paper on an old bench nearby. This section of town was more dilapidated than the area Jason and her lived in.

'Wow,' she said sarcastically, 'high class part of town.' The old guard had fallen asleep at his post.

; Ah'll just slip him out while that loser dazes.; Rouge thought. She walked up to the prisoner,

'Kurt,' she whispered so as not to rouse the guard.

'Pst, Kurt wake up!' She shook him. 'Come on Kurt.'

'Ohhhh,' he heaved and moaned. She hadn't seen him in a year.

'Nice state to find you in after all this time.'

'Mayne koff,' he raised it and looked around 'vats going on?' Rouge noticed the look he gave her.

'Kurt what happened to you?'

'Ahh, I am blind!' he shirked 'I cannot see! Professor! Are you there!'

'Now you've done it.' The guard stirred and turned over dropping the paper.

'Vere am I?' he asked Rouge; he was panicking now and would surely wake his captor.

'Shut up fuzz ball before you wake the guard up!'

'Rouge is zhat you?' She noticed the dried blood on his face rationalizing he must have had quite a time last night.

'Of course it's me.'

'But what happened, wait,' Kurt's mind was clearing, 'you're o.k. zhis is great.'

'Yeah Ah'm fine,' she started to untie him,' but what happened to you?'

Kurt thought back,

'I remember talking to someone in a store somevhere but I don't know What about.' He coughed and continued his testimony. 'He had a gun and shone a huge light on me. It hurt a lot, I tried to make him stop but he wouldn't listen. He blinded me with the bright light and interrogated me. Another man beat me before and I passed out.

; Thankfully Jason can heal him when we find him,; She thought. Then a starling idea occurred to her.

;It could have been Jason.; That, she hoped, was not the case. ; A different problem is Kurt can't remember a thing, or is that a problem. If he doesn't remember, he doesn't know I...;

'Lets get important things out of the way and fix you some food.' She led him as quietly as possible to the store sat him on the counter, then looked for something (if there was anything left over) for him to eat.

'Ya like Crispy Cheese Ball of Puff things right?'

'Sure!' She tossed the bag to him and he failed to catch it.

'Sorry, forgot you couldn't see. Here's bread n' that fake milk too,' this time handing the articles to him. While he ate she lit a cigarette.

'Kurt what brings you here? Why'd you leave the institute?' He gulped a few slices of bread comically.

'Well I had to find you. After the bombings the Professor sent all of us in the mansion out to round everyone up and bring you back home.'

'What bombings?'

'Just China again, they hit Nebraska this time.'

'China's booming us what is going on!'

'Well, the Chinese got mad when the president threw up on their Emperor. Then they shot down a spy plane. Finally we blew a Chinese sub out of the San Francisco bay. Things never got better after that.' Rouge went to get a small boom box and put batteries in it. The machine flickered as she turned it on. Scanning through channels she found a local news station.

A radio commercial started.

CHEESY CHEESIES ARE THE BEST!

FEED THEM TO YOUR UNWANTED GUEST!

THEY LOOK GREAT ON YOUR VEST!

STUFF THE MATTRESS WITH THE REST!

CHEESY CHEESIES ARE THE BEST!

BUY CHEESIES BY THE 500-POUND BAG AT YOUR LOCAL SAM'S CLUB OR OTHER REALY BIG STORES.

The jingle ended and news came on the air.

'NOW OUR LIVE UPDATE FROM STEVE JACKALANGER IN HAWAI.'

The voice of the anchor crackled on a cell phone.

'BILL THINGS ARE A LITTLE CHOPPY ON THE FRONT. I AM TOLD WE SUNK A CRUSIR AND TWO CHINESE DESTORYERS 500 MILES AWAY. THE MORALE IS STILL VERY HIGH HERE IN PEARL HARBOR ALTHOUGE WE LOST OUR LAST ENGAGEMENT THIS ONE TURNED OUT MUCH BETTER, DEATH TOLLS FROM THAT BATTLE NOT IN YET, BACK TO YOU.

CLICK, the radio turned off, Rouge was astounded.

; How could this happen?;

'Anything happen to the mansion?' She took another drag.

'Uh yeah, but is there a fire going or somezhing, I smell smoke.'

'Oh that's just me, Ah took it up after the city got blocked off.'

'O.k.' He shook his head ruffling long hair and snorted.

'Any way a bomb hit in Bayville it was some sort of magnetic thing, it fried some local electronic stuff but the institute is ok. It did weird stuff to me and Bobby we were at the store and it affected our powers.'

'How? You don't look so different.'

'I cant see very well in the day, but perfectly after dark. At night my eyes ... uh well, used to glow red and scare people in the institute.' He was obviously depressed about his vision but went on despite it.

'I also grew claws,' he presented them proudly she hadn't notice before. They decorated every finger with sharp pointed ends.

'Logan also says if I work on it my nose will be quite useful.' dust fell from the ceiling as the boards above creaked.

'Professor-X said he wouldn't be able to contact me for long today,' Kurt scratched his head with a claw,' but he said he'd call around 7 zhis morning.'

'Uh, I asked him to call around 12.'

'Oh, ok.' He ate another stack of three slices of bread. That was normal for him, but she still looked at it different now that she had done it before. Luckily he couldn't see her gawking at him.

'Do zhey have any of zhese night eye covers things.'

Rouge had not been thinking of anything but how odd Kurt looked. She hadn't noticed until he showed how he had changed.

'Sure, I'll look around for one.' She found one on the medication isle.

;Ah can't believe this is goin on. First these fungus things, next war and finally Kurt.; She felt really sorry for him and hoped he was not permanently blind.

; Kurt is so upbeat because that's his nature, when he can't get away he just doesn't pay attention.; She picked out an expensive one, not bothering to read the label.

'Here,' she said placing the contents of the plastic case in his hands. 'Those should work.'

He put them on,' ja, very nice, really soothing.' He yawned and stretched. Rouge turned towards the radio.

'Ah guess we'll hang out here until ya get rested up.' THUD echoed in the shop. She whirled to investigate; Kurt had hit the counter and was asleep. The package on the counter beside him read,

'With New Tranquilizer!'

Jason was walking back to where his prisoner was being held.

; I'll try this once more.; He thought. ; Then if that doesn't work I ought to just let it go and try to follow it. My whole previous idea of explaining things is out of the question.;

It was five in the morning and Jason was exhausted and al little pessimistic

; What if I don't find her now and that thing is no help to me?;'

He would not normally dwell on the negative but this was somewhat depressing. He walked up the road blaming himself and the bum for losing his friend. When he reached the old bench where the old newspaper covered an old sleepy guard he shrugged his shoulders in disgust.

'I should have known.' He strolled over to find his prisoner's escape. ;Oh no, how did he get away?; He roused the bum,

' wake up you old fool, you let it escape!'

The old man looked past Jason to confirm what he said,

'Yep.'

'Anything to say for your self?'

'Yep.'

'Well spit it out!'

'The way I see it, this here creature waited until I feel asleep and then it escaped.'

'Really now,' Jason was not at all pleased, 'well let me tell you how I see it. Number one, you fell asleep, number two, it escaped, number three, you did not wake up and realize.' Next came the extremely disgusting response.

'Yep.'

'Get out of here.' He scowled, 'I will take this back.' Jason picked up his revolver from the bench; it was empty.

'Why you!'

The man drew a knife, 'well, they are worth a lot these days.'

Jason reached into his pocket taking a new bullet out and inserting it into the weapon.

'Dieing is not much of a living; so how about you give them back, aye? Just put them on the other end of this bench.' he gestured with his gun. The man crept forward and finished placing all 5 bullets, then jerked his head off to the side.

'What was that?'

Then screaming, he attacked.

Jason leapt to the right, not anticipating an assault. His attacker reached the surprised man and tried to stab him. The student locked arms with the old man, pushing the knifed hand away from his person. The elder was weak from lack of food and out matched by age, Jason overpowered him easily. He bashed the knife wielder against a street sign knocking him unconscious.

Kurt's tail stuck out straight as a plank and his head perked, something woke him up. He tried to listen,

'Rouge, did you hear zhat?' She was asleep. Someone stumbled towards the shop; he leapt up preparing for an intruder.

Jason clambered through the blocked doorway of the half buried building.

'I'll finally get away from these crazed fools one day.'

;Zhat's him,' Kurt recognized the voice immediately as the one belonging to his former captor.

He slumped on the balls of he feet loading his knees in a crouched position and leapt for the entrance. The one time circus performer struck the surprised man with his feet and fell him to the ground, landing on top. Both struggled as Jason discovered the location of his absconded beast, who, unlike him had not a gun in hand. Kurt felt his opponent gaining the upper hand in the test of raw strength and kicked him into a display instead utilizing his superior lower body power and agility.

After permanently disfiguring the Pillsbury Doughboy, Jason cocked the hammer of his pistol ready to end the fight and aimed.

'I hadn't wanted to kill you.'

'Gay, mach, mayn, tog!' 2

BANG!

The room shock with a metallic ringing sound as buckshot ricocheted off of a steel light fixture. All quarreling parties turned in attention.

Jason saw Rouge standing next to the counter holding the weapon angrily.

' Y'all stop your fighting now!' The yell was very commanding,

'both of ya stand up and come over here.' The blind one holding his retractable quarterstaff and Doughboy killer his gun all fell silent on the floor.

'Jason stuff that gun; Kurt close the staff.'

'You know this guy?' each complying patron gaped out in unison.

When they arrived she took either's hands. 'Kurt Wagner, meet Jason Derain. This guy is my brother Jace, Kurt this is my best fiend.'

'We already meet.' the later substituted for a greeting.

'Twice,' added the fuzzy sibling.

Later.

'Do ya think you can fix him?' Silence as the doctor looked at the floor ashamed. 'Well?' she urged him on.

' I...ehr...I'll try.' he stammered out embarrassed for his need to do such a thing.

'You'd better, you owe him more than any of us know.'

'Here,' the resident medic led his patient over to a table. He cleared it and prepped for work spreading the German out for treatment.

'I'll have to remove this.' He took off the sleep covering. Lifting his hands over Kurt's eyes he began; a soft white glow surrounded his palms and stretched across the blue teen's face. In a few seconds, glow returned to eyes and pupils disappeared. Then the emancipated elf rose into the air relaxing and letting limbs, along with tail, hang loosely. Scares healed and bruises returned o their natural state. The glow stopped letting him down on the table as slowly as he lifted.

'He'll be out for a wile the, damage was extensive but,' he held a single shining hand over the fur covered mutants head.

'He will be able to see normally at night and will be farsighted in day.'

'What exactly happened that night you bashed him up?'

Jason shrugged, 'I came in following you, a while after you actually came in, and found the, um.. what's his name here. Well he started going on about how he was your brother and all this crazy stuff and well, I didn't believe him for a second. I turned a light on him so I could see who he was and it paralyzed him.'

'Why?'

'I guess I didn't want to take chances, you know I do not take unnecessary chances.'

Jason was half informing and half justifying the whole event he accounted. Rouge saw it a little, but let it blow over for all their sakes.

; Blue boy won't be a happy camper when he wakes up that might start a fight or two. Unless?'

Hank was not being served but waited patiently anyway. The terminal was crowded and he wanted to board his flight or get a different flight. Finally a service attendant produced himself from the room connected to the desk.

'Can I be of service to you?' The clerk asked politely.

'Yes,' he replied noticing the help's spiked hair. For some reason the man was not affected by his appearance in the least. 'I would like to know when my flight will board, if it has not already.' He handed over his card and the indifferent man read the flight number.

'You'll board tomorrow at about three thirty depending on circumstances.'

'Circumstances?' Hank had flown a few times and never herd someone say that before.

'Yeah,' the man stretched around the counter in order to read the card.

'See this flight is canceled today and your ticket is valid for the next flight tomorrow afternoon. I hate to tell you mister McCoy but you probably won't have a chance to get a seat on that flight' He leaned over onto his fist.

'It is fully booked and the only seats available will be contested by everyone on your flight, because the war and all. My advice to you would be to get your ticket refunded and book a later flight, waiting around for every flight tomorrow is really a waste of time.'

That was the last flight in a week and Hank knew it,; drat; he cursed his luck to himself.

'Oh well, thank you very much anyway.'

'Next!' The oddly styled clerk called behind him, as Hank walked towards the refunds and exchange desk on the other side of the airport.

; Sure spoke good English for a foreigner, ugly too.; thought the dimwitted attendant,; some people are so weird.;

'Returns,' read Mr. McCoy, he strode towards the service area. The woman, who was supposed to be attending it, had her back to the desk lazily. She wore long earrings and a huge stack of hair that resembled pancakes with syrup. When Hank got her attention he disturbed her fingernail whitewashing.

'Excuse me.' Turning to face the blue man in a suite without looking up from her hands, the woman recognized his presence.

An elongated 'yea' greeted him.

'I would like to exchange my ticket for a refund please.'

'What flight number.'

The mutant searched his mind, luckily it was still in short term memory.

'Thirty four nineteen.'

She punched in the numbers, mechanically sacking her gum.

'I'll need your ticket.' He began to look himself and realized it was neither in his front pocket or the back.

'Hold on, I know it is here somewhere.'

'Take your time darling I have all day.' The woman said rudely.

Beast was appalled,; how can she be so unforgiving?;

'Madam I assure you...' That was all it took the three hundred pound clerk went off on him.

'Listen fella' I, I,' then it happened, she looked up at Hank. The pink gum fell from her agape jaw. Her shaking hands knocked over the bottle of polish, concealed from Mr. McCoy by the fake granite desk, which proceeded to stain her pants.

'I believe we were just exchanging my ticket of a refund, weren't we?' The petrified woman mouthed 'yes sir', as he handed her his ticket and she complied, eyes transfixed on him. Hank thanked her, took his money, grabbed a kennel and walked happily away.

;I Suppose I should call a cab.; He reached the taxi-waiting terminal and sat on a bench. Taking out his pocket book and reading glasses Hank began to finish Mac Beth for the umpteenth time. No one else sat on the bench; no one dared sit on the bench next to a two hundred pound blue gorilla. Until a young blind woman found her way over. Beast moved his things to the side allowing her ample room to sit. He greeted her and continued reading. She returned it and started conversation.

'The weather feels cool again; are the autumn leaves nice her in New York?' Looking up from his book again he observed them.

'Not being a native I can't testify about previous years but they seem rather dark red now, soon to shrivel as winter will be here very soon.'

'I'm glad the benches aren't as crowded as the airport

1 one of the best thing I ever wrote. 2go ahead, make my day.