"I thought you said you liked kids, Logan," Storm whispered to him as quiet consumed the X-Jet.

"I do. When they're quiet," he said irritably.

After several minutes of silence, Logan noticed huge lead-grey clouds slowly moving in before the jet, blocking the way. "Hey, Ororo…mind clearing this…up…?" His words trailed off as he turned to look at her.

Storm's head rested on her hand, a dejected look on her face, all color drained from her eyes. Winds began to whip up, stirring the clouds into frenzied wisps of white.

He tried again. "Uh…Ororo…"

She jerked, as if woken from a deep sleep. "Oh…sorry." The skies began to lighten, clouds melting away like strands of cotton candy, as her eyes returned to normal. "I guess I'm just not…too sure about this."

"Don't worry 'Ro, we been up against these hunks of metal in the Danger Room too many times to…"

"This isn't a simulation. I…I just hope we're all ready for this." Her gaze flickered to the back of the X-Jet.

"We ARE," said Logan gently. "The professor wouldn't be letting those three go if he thought…if he thought anything would happen. Hell," he smirked, "you can't even kill me."

"We don't all have healing factors and admantium skeletons," Ororo said lightly.

Logan twisted in his seat to glance behind him. Jean had her head on Scott's shoulder, her eyes closed, his arms wrapped around her. "Yeah…I…I know." He sighed, and silence filled the jet once more.

Jean let her head droop onto Scott's shoulder. "You want to take a field trip?"

"A…a what?" he murmured. "Jean, we're on a jet."

She laughed quietly. "I know, I know. More of the mental kind, I mean. I've been practicing. Just hold me tight. I can only do it with physical contact."

"Uh…okay," he muttered, entwining his arms around her. "This good?"

She closed her eyes. "Perfect."

As he blinked, he felt the red-tinted world around him, the back of the leathery seats, the giggles and whispers of the teenagers from behind them, the smooth glassy windows beside them, begin to swirl and shift.

He opened his eyes. They were standing in the shadows of a tree in a large field. A faded red-and-white-checkered blanket was spread on the grass with an old wicker basket atop it. A light summery breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees around them.

"Whoa! I don't believe this. This is where my parents took me and Alex for a picnic when we were little!" Scott spun to face Jean. "How did you do this?"

Jean shrugged. "I must've pulled it from your head when I brought us here."

"Even the food we ate is here." Scott popped open the picnic basket and grabbed a tuna fish sandwich and a container of potato salad. "Wait-" He paused and scanned the box. "Wouldn't this be expired? It was from such a long time ago…"

Jean shook her head. "This is your memory. Time doesn't move here. That food is as fresh as you remember it being." She plopped down onto the blanket.

Scott sat beside her. "It's nice to relax in my childhood memories right before going onto the battlefield," he said with a small laugh. "I…" he paused, more serious. "Do you think you're ready to fight the Sentinels? I mean, you must be pretty tense, what with the nightmares, and your telepathy going haywire, and your powers…growing. I wouldn't blame you if…"

"I'm fine, Scott. A little…stretched, right now. But I'll be…fine," Jean said softly, lying back on the blanket.

He shifted so that he was over her, his arms holding him up from above her shoulders. "I just…I worry about you. If anything ever happened, I-I mean…I want to help you, even though it's not my particular area of expertise. But I…I'm here. I think the professor would…"

Jean reached up a finger to his lips. "No more words, now, Summers. I'm a telepath, remember? I know you care about me. And I also know what you'd rather be doing right now."

Scott smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

"Hey Rogue." Kitty poked her. "Rogue! You asleep?"

"Well,ah was," said Rogue irritably, stretching. She blushed and abruptly straightened as she noticed that, in her sleep, her head had been resting on Bobby's chest.

"Why are you guys so tired anyway? I'm psyched!" Kitty bounced in her seat. "Our first non-simulated battle! This going to be so much more interesting than Professor X's boring lectures about ethics."

Bobby yawned. "Gee, thanks for waking me up, Kitty."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "You guys need to be awake anyway. We're almost…there…" Her words died in her throat as she glanced out the window. "Oh my god."

Bobby and Rogue pressed up to the window beside her, their eyes wide in shock.

The city was a world of chaos, hundreds of people running in different directions, cars in smoldering heaps, smashed-in windows and crumpled buildings, even the sky dark and threatening. In the middle of all the panic were the Sentinels, scanning the crowd for mutants in their cold and systematic way, nothing escaping their trail of destruction. Piles of ashes from vaporized bodies smoked from the ground. The X-Jet was unnoticed as it zoomed by, cloaked and therefore invisible to radar.

"I change my mind. I'd rather be getting a lecture from the professor than out here," Kitty squeaked, shrinking back from the window.

Rogue absentmindedly fingered the white streak in her hair. "'Least it's not Magneto."

"Yeah," said Bobby with a gulp. "I guess."

The jet settled to the ground several minutes later, and the X-Men piled out.

"So what do we do?" Kitty said nervously.

"Go find the Sentinels," said Scott smoothly.

"Keep them from killing any more innocent mutants, and eventually destroy them," Jean continued.

"Listen to our instructions while we're out there," said Storm sternly.

"And…don't get killed," said Wolverine shortly. "Now let's go."