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4
Havok ducked back behind the cover the small hillock provided, narrowly avoiding the shots fired from the two gunmen across the field. He stuck his hand over the edge to fire a few shots of his plasma powers randomly. He doubted he'd actually hit anything, but it would probably keep them from advancing any closer to their position. Beside him, Mirage was beginning to look a little panicked so he gave her a crooked smile. "Rogue sure is sadistic, isn't she?"
Alex had no idea how long they had been in the Danger Room, but it felt like it had been hours. Rogue had ended their warm-up exercises and activated the program she had prepared, saying it was a simple program designed to ease them into working as a team with the simple goal of capturing a flag that was on the other side of small copse of trees. Then everything had gone to hell. They had barely begun even thinking about strategy when a giant fist had slammed into Colossus, sending the big Russian soaring into the air, Juggernaut running after him with a laugh. From there the rest of them had been attacked by various Brotherhood members and any semblance of teamwork fell apart.
The original members of the New Mutants banded together for a little while, but they lacked a clear leader. In the past, Iceman had often served as a defacto leader, his ringleader status in their outside antics translating into a field leader position in training. With him now "off the team" so to speak, no one had stepped into that role. The heavy combat orientated training session that Rogue had just sprung on them had also thrown them off. Ever since the X-Men's loss at the Vault, the majority of the training for everyone at the institute had been combat related, but up until now they always had either Wolverine or Beast acting as their leader. Rogue had given them their goals and stepped out of the room.
The rest of the class did no better. Gambit disappeared almost immediately after Rogue, Colossus was occupied, and Wildthing laid eyes on a representation of the ninja she had fought at the Vault and attacked with a ferocious yell. With everyone scattering, Havok did the only thing he could think of. He stayed behind and protected Dani. The young Cheyanne's powers didn't lend herself to battle as much as his own, and he could see the panic on her face the second everything erupted into chaos.
"It'll be okay, stick with me," he had said, trying to keep his face calm like he had seen his brother do. She nodded with a grim smile and the two followed in the wake of everyone else.
Which led them to this small gorge carved into the ground on the other side of the trees. Across the field in front of them, two Acolytes Alex recognized as Sage and Bishop stood with guns drawn. They stood at the edge of another line of trees, guarding a staff jammed into the ground with a cloth banner bearing the helmet of Magneto attached.
"Any ideas?" he asked her.
"I have no idea. There's nothing I can do, my powers won't work on things that aren't really there."
He frowned. "The Danger Room should be able to tell what you're trying to do. How else could Jean use her telepathy, right?"
"I can't do anything to help Alex, I'm useless here."
He could see her wringing her hands, her eyes gaining a wide, jittery look to them. He reached out and took her hand. "I know you're scared Dani, but it'll be all right. You can do a lot right now."
"I'll just end up hurting you too. I can't control my powers!"
"Seriously babe? You freaking out right now and you're not causing nightmares. Seems like control to me. You just got to believe you can do it and I know you can do whatever you need to do. You're doing great so far."
She looked into his blue eyes and she could see he really did believe in her. He wasn't worried that her powers would flair out at the wrong time or at the wrong person if she used them, and he was trusting her to help them win. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax as she let it out. "Okay. So what do we do?"
"That's the Dani I know," he said with a grin, squeezing her hand tightly briefly, his thumb rubbing gently over her knuckles. He could see the blush rise in her face despite her darker skin and it made him smile more.
Above them more gunshots flew over their head as Wildthing rolled over the edge of their barrier and crashed into a heap next to them. Her uniform was slashed open along her stomach and several cuts ran the length of one of her thighs, though any actual damage to her body had long healed. A burn on her right shoulder from where she had just been shot by the energy pistols the enemy were firing was already healing.
"Stupid hologram ninja is hard to track," she muttered, though Havok couldn't tell if it was supposed to be some sort of explanation or just angry muttering to herself. She took a long sniff in the air but stopped and cocked her head towards Mirage. A strange look of confusion passed over Wildthing's face as she tried to puzzle out what she smelled.
"What?" Mirage asked, yanking back her hand from Havok. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Um, I think it's something we're supposed to gossip about in the bathroom together," the young clone said, and Alex was shocked to see some slight coloring of her cheeks. Dani's own blush just seemed to grow deeper.
He scratched his head. "I just missed something, didn't I?"
"It's nothing!" Dani said too quickly, and she glared at the other girl.
"I notice those type of scents after I've been around Piotr and—"
"Shut up Laura!" Dani yelled.
Alex on the other hand had a slight revelation and grinned like an idiot, throwing Dani a wink. The other girl buried her head in her hands in embarrassment.
"It's okay," Wildthing started, "I imagine it's natural. I—" she stopped and sniffed again. "Ninja bitch!" Her claws snapped out of her fists and she made to lunge back into the woods behind them.
Havok reached out and grabbed her wrist. Wildthing jerked as her momentum came to an abrupt stop. She whipped her head around, her long hair slapping Mirage in her face. "What the hell are you doing?!" she snarled at him.
"Getting into grudge matches with some hologram of the chick you want to kill isn't the mission. We need to get the flag and we need to work together here."
Her nostrils flared out in anger and for a second Havok had to wonder if she was going to turn her claws on him. But with a final huff she sheathed her claws. "Fine. Plan?"
Mirage smiled at him. "You sounded kind of like your brother there."
Havok frowned a bit. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."
"Right now I'd say it's a good thing. What's the plan, O' Fearless Leader?"
"Crap, he's going to be gushing like he finally got me to live up to the family name when he hears about this."
The underbrush behind them rustled and out spilled Multiple and Wolfsbane in her wolf form. The two crawled over to the three and Rahne shifted back. "I have Toad distracted with some of my clones, and Sunspot and Cannonball are tied up with Blob," Jamie said with a smile. "No idea about Boomer and Magma."
"And Aye bit Quicksilver in the leg so he won't be running for a while," Rahne said with a grin. "How's everyone here?"
"Alex is turning into Scott!" Mirage said before anyone could say anything.
"Aww, that's no fun!" Rahne whined.
"We'll miss you when you go away to get the stick put it," Jamie said with a sad look.
"Dude, I am not my brother, chill out everyone. And you stop telling everyone that!" he glared at Dani, who stuck her tongue out at him. "Look, we're getting a butts kicked because we're all running around instead of working together. I hate Scott harping on everyone as much as you guys, but he'd probably be a little right if he was on our cases right now. So we need to get past those two—"
"Ninja bitch is out there too now," Wildthing growled.
"She is?" Havok said, risking a quick peak over the edge of the ditch. Sure enough, the ninja was standing next to Bishop, sword drawn. "Crap, okay, we need to get past those three and get the flag."
"Aye can run that far quick an' easy, but I need a distraction ta keep them off of me," Wolfsbane offered.
"I can lay down some cover fire, but that's only going to do so much. How about you Mirage? Can you pull them into a nightmare?"
She frowned, but thought carefully before answering. "Maybe, for a second or two. It's too hard to focus on them since they're not real people. Any much longer and I'd probably lose control and end up hitting all of us instead."
"Few seconds is better than nothing."
A crashing noise came from the woods and out walked the gleaming form of Colossus. Several blaster shots bounced off his metal skin without doing any more damage than a few burnt smudges before he ducked down into the ditch with the other mutants.
"The simulation of Juggernaut does not do him justice," the big man's voice rumbled. He smiled at them. "I am glad to see all of you are well. The others?"
"MIA right now," Alex said. He glanced over everyone before grinning. "Okay, now that Pitor's here, new plan."
------------
Rogue stood in the command center for the Danger Room, watching the action below through a mix of windows and monitors. So far, they had acted just like she had predicted they would for a first run. There was little to no sense of teamwork involved in what her class was doing, with everyone scattering once the first punch was landed on Colossus. A few team ups here and there, but there wasn't any planning or reason for the pairs other than whoever they were closest to at the time. Even the few who managed to coordinate some sort of counter-attack against the Acolyte simulations weren't working together, they were just attacking the same target.
The door opened and Logan walked in. "How they doing?" he asked, taking a sip from the coffee he was carrying.
"Ah've seen the Brotherhood fight better together," she said with a huff. "Professor expects meh to start working miracles?"
"Can't be that bad," he said, pushing some buttons on one of the consoles and quickly scanning through the high speed playback that began. "Where is Charles anyways?"
"He's upstairs. Scott and the others are on their way back." She waved her hand to the scene below them. "Seriously Logan, they got nothing together. They're out there just flailin' around. And that damn Swamp Rat just up an' disappeared."
"Hmm," he grunted. "Looks like Surferboy is catching on at least." On the screen, Rogue could see Havok defending Mirage.
She scoffed. "Surprise, surprise. Give a Summers a gal to protect and he'll go to the moon an' back, so it's nothin' that special... Well, wait, look at this," she said, pointing out what was happening below. A group of them had managed to all make it to the same place, a last bit of cover before a stretch of open field to the flag, currently guarded by representations of Sage, Bishop and Revanche. The team members were all looking at Alex, who was scratching on the ground a plan of some sorts. "Maybe there's more ta him then we thought?"
"Let's see how it works out," Logan said, crossing his arms and waiting for the show to start.
He didn't wait long, as a beep indicated that Mirage had activated her powers and was using them on the simulations. From training Jean, Wolverine knew that the Room couldn't simulate real minds well enough to provide a true experience for the girl, but the computer analyzed her attack and attempted to reflect the results it would have. It was a brief burst, causing all three Acolytes to react to some unseen terror, but each of them were only dazed momentarily. It was long enough though.
From behind the edge of the hill, Colossus stood up with Wildthing perched in his palm, like some bizarre statue he was showing off. Logan couldn't figure out what that could possibly accomplish until the big man threw the tiny girl like a baseball. She rocketed across the field with her claws extended, a scream of fury on her face.
"Huh, wonder if Tinman could do that to me?" he mused out loud. Rogue shot him a grin.
Wildthing flipped at the last minutes, bringing her foot claws in first as she slammed, not into Revanche as Logan would have expected knowing his clone's massive grudge against the ninja, but into Bishop. As the first set of claws hit the tall black man in the legs, Wildthing continued the flip and brought the four claws from her hands down into the man's chest, knocking him to the ground. Her momentum was so strong that she then rolled twice before righting herself and turning to attack her next target.
Rogue and Logan had been so distracted by the living projectile, they missed the start of everything else that happened. Havok popped up from the ground farther down the line from where he had been and began pelting Revanche with blasts of plasma from his fists. He hit her once in the shoulder before she recovered and dropped to the ground. Sage had begun to track her gun over to Havok's new position, but had to react suddenly to the thundering steps of Colossus. He had paused only long enough to provide proper follow through when throwing Wildthing, and then took off at a run down the field towards Sage. Her shots pinged of the freight train heading towards her and she barely threw herself out of the way in time to avoid being shoulder checked.
With the defenders properly distracted, a mob of Multiples swarmed out of the bunker and began a rush towards the flag. Revanche and Sage each tried to make an effort to stop them, Revanche was still under fire from Havok while Colossus and Wildthing were both moving in on Sage.
Suddenly the Danger Room holograms shut down. Logan and Rogue each checked to see why Room would consider the program done when none of the Multiples had come close to the flag yet. It was Rogue who noticed first, and with a slap to his arm got Logan's attention. Sitting in the middle of the Danger Room, her tail wagging as Mirage pet her was Wolfsbane, flag in mouth. The entire thing had been one long distraction for the wolf.
"Damn fine bit of team work there," Logan commented with grudging respect. "Might be something there after all."
"Funny it only came from the youngest or newest members. What happened with the rest?" Rogue said with a sly look at the older teacher.
"They're Hank, Jean and Scott's students, not mine. Better get down there and debrief Teach."
She smirked at his dismissal of responsibility and thumbed a button. "Good job ya'll," she said into the loudspeaker's microphone. "Quick meeting in the debriefing room an' ya'll 'ill be free to go."
Down in the Danger Room proper, those that had been a part of the actual push to victory were gathered around each other congratulating each other on a job well done. The rest of class were pulling themselves up off the ground, most nursing a number of small wounds. All around them, tiny service robots were scooping up damaged bits of the room and beginning repairs. With Rogue's announcement, they moved through the now open door to the room across the hall, sinking into the comfortable chairs.
Rogue and Logan both entered from a stairwell that lead from the control room and took their place at the front of the room. "First off," the southerner began, "good work from the group that got the flag. Ya'll came up with a plan an' picked your targets well."
"What did they do?" Tabitha asked, tenderly rubbing her elbow.
"You can watch the replay later if ya want. But they made some smart choices, having Wildthing hit the guy who could absorb Havok's shots, and sending Colossus after the girl with the gun that couldn't hurt him."
"Who came up with the fastball?" Logan asked.
"Piotr and I did," Laura said.
"Nice move. Want to try that myself sometime."
"Anyway," Rogue continued, "good bit of teamwork once you started using it. What happened to the rest of ya?"
There was a small din of chatter from the rest of the students. Rogue held up her hand to quiet them. "Yeah, save it. Ah purposely sat this one out ta see what ya'll had on your own. Ah know ya'll can work on together as a team, Ah've seen it. Why didn't Ah get that today?"
"You could argue we were busy distracting the rest of the Brotherhood," Roberto tried.
"Ah could, but Ah won't 'cause that's a load of bull. Magma?" Rogue asked, a bit surprised to see the girl raising her hand.
"None of us are really leaders. We've always had Mr. McCoy or Logan with us. You just threw us out there with no one."
"True. Eventually Havok stepped up, but it took him a while. But ya'll are good enough and been doing this long enough that ya can do okay without someone always callin' the shots. What happens if Ah'm your leader an' someone lahke Quicksilver sucker punches meh? Ya'll just gonna fall apart?"
She looked out on the crowd and for the most part the entire room was taking a good long look at themselves and their actions, even those that had eventually teamed up to get the flag. "Look, Ah'm not trying ta be too hard on you, since Ah'm supposed to be teaching ya these things an' not just expectin' ya'll to be perfect off the bat. But Ah need you ta know this ain't a game no more, an' ya'll need to step it up ta the next level. We gotta work as a team. We got some of ya that have been here a while, an' people like Piotr, Alex and Laura who ain't. We gotta get everyone on the same page, an' we gotta think of better ways for us all ta work together. Homework..."
There was collective groan from most of the room.
"Homework!" she continued, "Quick paper. Write meh what you could have done better. Look at who you paired up with, if anyone, an' who ya fought."
"What do you mean?" Roberto asked.
"Okay, think about this. You an' Sam teamed up. Bothaya are more physical guys an' ya went up against Blob, who ain't hurt much by things hittin' him. Magma an' Boomer are both more ranged an' went against Pyro. Yeah, Amara's immune to his fire, but he can get around hers. Blob on the other hand mighta thought twice if ya lit him on fire. Ya'll teamed up with your friends rather than thinking strategically. Think about things like that. Now go on an' get cleaned up an' go have some fun. Ah'll be around if ya want to talk about the homework."
The class broke up, most heading straight out the door for the showers, talking amongst themselves about what Rogue had said. Laura, on the other hand, walked right up to Rogue and looked up at the taller girl. "I'm not a team player."
Rogue laughed and could hear Logan chuckling behind her. "Ah know that Laura, doesn't mean we ain't going ta try and change that. 'Sides, you did pretty good there at the end. You recognized Alex takin' charge an' ya stayed instead of runnin' your own fight."
Laura studied Rogue's face a moment before nodding and leaving the room. Rogue laughed again. "You've got a weird kid Logan."
"If you want to call her my kid. Not really sure what to call her myself."
"Been a coupla months. Shouldn't ya have figured that out by now?"
Logan let out a sigh that came out more of a growl than he intended. "I don't know. She's me but not me. Part daughter, part kid sister, part total stranger with a similar story. I treat her the same as I treat the rest of you and it seems to work out okay."
"Then you know she looks up to ya same as most of us do right?"
Logan didn't say anything, though she thought there might have been a bit of a smile in his eyes. He clasped a hand affectionately to her shoulder. "You did good today Rogue. I think the speech might have gotten through to them. Like I told you, some things they need to hear from one of their own."
She smiled. "Thanks Logan." The smile quickly turned to a look of smoldering anger as she remembered on last piece of business she had to finish. "Could you tell the Professor how it went for meh?"
"And why can't you?"
"'Cause Ah need to beat the hell out of a worthless Swamp Rat."
Logan smirked. "Just remember what I've taught you about roughing someone up."
That broke her anger a bit. "Of course!"
She didn't have far to look after leaving the briefing room, as Gambit was leaning against the closed door to the Danger Room.
"Très Magnifique Chere. Dey a special group o' kids, non?"
Rogue didn't bother saying anything as she walked up to him and slammed him against the wall, her arm pinning him across his chest just under his throat. She had no problem manhandling Remy. She might have only been the second tallest woman at the mansion behind Jean, but she had a hell of a lot more muscle on her than the redhead.
"Chere, dis be a bit forward fo' you, not dat I don't like—"
"Shut up. Where the hell did ya go in there?"
"You say de mission is ta get de flag. I make a livin' takin' t'ings dat don't want ta be taken. Not fair fo' de udders if Gambit play. 'Sides, I'm no' much of a team player."
"That's the whole point ya idiot! You wanted to stay here because it's a sweet place ta live, fahne. But if ya wanna be on the team, you do what you're supposed ta do an' you go where you're supposed ta go. You ever ditch out on training lahke that again, Ah will have the Professor boot ya out of here before we're done stretching. And if it's mah class you think ya can just walk out on, Ah'll have Wolverine carve your ass up before tossin' ya aside! Got it?"
"Come now Chere..." he tried to start.
"Don't 'Chere' me! You've lost whatever points you'd gained with me. Think about that next tahme ya want ta pull a stunt lahke this."
"Is there a problem here?" a voice came from towards the elevators. Rogue didn't bother reigning in the fury on her face as she turned to see Scott at the end of the hall, covered in grime and carrying a backpack worth of gear to be stowed.
"Nah, we're done here." She took her weight off of Gambit, pulling him off the wall and shoving him towards the elevators in silent dismissal. The Cajun mutant straightened his jacket and made his way away from the scene with a stride that did little to show what had just happened, though Scott could see it buried under the mask of casualness on the other man's face.
Scott waited until Remy had left before turning back to Rogue. "Good day then?" he asked with an attempt at a smile, hoping to defuse rather than redirect his friend's rage.
"Ha!" she let out in a humorless laugh. She sank down onto one of the benches built into the wall next to the Danger Room door. "Let's see, Ah've got a class that consists of kids who apparently have no idea what teamwork is an' one prick of a man who think he can do whatever he wants. Ah'm great, how about you?"
"Long day drudging through the sewers with a claustrophobic woman who can make hurricanes," Scott answered, sitting down next to her.
"Meh," she dismissed it with a wave of her hand.
"And I had to talk to Spyke."
"...Eh, okay. Your day sucked too. Anything interestin' happening down there?"
"He says he was just getting medicine for a few sick kids, but everyone agrees he was probably hiding something, so who knows."
"Great, Morlock problems on top of Magneto recruitin' an army. Ah miss just duking it out with the Brotherhood, so much less complicated."
"I hear you." They sat in companionable silence for a little while before Scott had to say something. "Rogue, I really am sorry if anything I said made the Professor pick you for this."
"Eh, forget it Scott. Ah guess it's a bit flatterin' ya'll seem ta think I'd do a good job. An' if Remy wasn't pissin' meh off this way he'd fahnd some other way. Plus everyone else wasn't that bad. Hell, Alex even turned out ta be a halfway decent leader in the end."
"Alex? Really?"
"Came up with a plan ta save the day an' everything. Even got compared to you by a few people. 'Course, he did spend most of the class worryin' about Dani. Talk about déjà-Summers-vu."
"Gee, thanks. I like to think I wasn't that bad."
"An' Ah'm sure ya do think that," she said with a smile, nudging his shoulder with her own. "But Ah think it is different for Alex."
"How so?"
She stood up and grinned. "Dani knows he exists. Now hit the showers Summers, ya smellin' up the place."
-------------
Upstairs in the large and finely decorated office of Charles Xavier, the team that had ventured out into the Morlock tunnels was dispersing. Scott had left early to take the gear downstairs and clean up (he had somehow managed to come off worse for wear down in the sewers), while the others had remained to debate theories as to what might be happening beneath their feet, joined by Hank and a few of the other X-Men on hand that were not part of Rogue's training group.
The debate was going no where productive, as there were few definitive clues to go on, so when the Professor noticed a slight tension in Jean's face he called an end to the meeting. "It would seem your initial conclusions are correct, until we know more we must wait. Thank you all for taking the time and effort to seek out Evan, enjoy the rest of your afternoon. Jean, if you would stay a moment."
It didn't take long for the others to leave, and soon it was just Xavier on one side of his desk and Jean sitting on the other. Charles spent a moment studying the girl, not looking into her mind but merely reading her body language. Her eyes would not meet his, and once again she tensed for a moment before relaxing slighting.
"Jean, you realize whatever the problem is you can come to me, don't you?" he began softly.
"I know Professor," was her quiet reply.
"How long have your powers been giving you trouble?"
"Most of my life?" she said with a small smile. Xavier simply raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed in response. "I've been having problems for a few weeks now. They seem to happen sporadically though and only last a few seconds at a time."
"I see. Are they similar to what occurred a few years ago?"
"A bit. I haven't had any problems with my telekinesis, though I have noticed it is getting stronger."
"We expected this as you grew older and more comfortable with your abilities."
She nodded. "It's my telepathy that is surging. It's more intense than it was last time. Instead of just hearing those around me, it's like for a moment I can hear everything."
"Everything?"
She nodded again. "Whenever I try to use Cerebro, when I first put on the helmet and before I can focus, it's like for a second I can hear millions of thoughts at once, like whispers. Too quiet to make out but so many that it's deafening. Does that ever happen to you?"
"It's been some time, but yes, when I first started using Cerebro I found myself in similar situations. Is this what these surges are like for you?"
"Yes. There are too many thoughts to pick out what anyone is saying, but it's so many I know it can't just be stray thoughts of those around me. It's like I'm... tapping into something bigger than me."
Xavier found it hard to keep his face neutral, but he did manage it. Years of practice while listening to Erik's rants about humanities faults helped in that regard. "There are many theories," he began after a moment, "regarding a shared consciousness that all minds are at least subconsciously attuned to, through an Astral Plane. It is possible that this is what your mind is attempting to access."
"But why?" she said, fear lacing her voice. "The last year or so all I've had to deal with is the occasional stray thought that someone was thinking too loudly to ignore. Why is this happening to me now?"
"I don't know. I suspect that it is simply coinciding with your telekinesis increase, a maturing of your powers. I might not have experienced the same phenomenon as you are when my own powers were developing, but there were many points in my youth where the control I had was no longer sufficient. If you would like, I could take a look to see if perhaps there is something in your subconscious that is driving these surges."
"Do you think there is?"
"No, I believe it is merely your powers continuing to develop; but like out recent encounter with the Morlocks, it is best to check all avenues."
Jean nodded. "Okay."
Xavier pulled his wheelchair out from under his desk and circled around until he was sitting directly in front of Jean. "Try to relax," he said as he placed his hands on her head, his fingertips resting gently on her temples. Jean took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh
With a rush, Xavier found himself standing in a wide open plain of tall grass blowing in the wind. For what seemed like miles in every direction there didn't appear to be a thing, just simply a sun touched field with a gently summer breeze. With nothing to see here, Xavier began to probe deeper. His feet lifting off the ground and he was soaring through the air. As he traveled, he could see parts of Jean's mind take shape. He could see the mansion shimmer into existence, with crowds of students swarming around it like ants as they went along with their day. To his right he saw a tower appear, made of the same ruby quartz as Scott's visor, no doubt storing her memories of her soulmate. He smiled to see just how prominent his first student was in his second's mind, and at that the tower seemed to continue upwards until it was past the barriers of her mind. Their psychic bond, he thought to himself.
He continued like this for some time, flying over her mind and seeing just vague glimpses of things important to her such as her college, her family, even their enemies until at last he came to series of cliff faces. He landed before the first series of natural walls which lead to her power. Two giant cliffs rose up before him to either side, while between them was a large canyon that created a corridor between the two mountains. Scattered along the ground were bricks of stone that once made up mental blocks that Xavier had built for Jean when she was younger to contain the massive amount of mental power that overwhelmed her. Most of these walls were broken when Jean's powers began to surge several years ago. Still a few had remained. Walking deeper into the canyon, he found the remains of several others he had though would still be standing. However, most of them seemed to have naturally eroded as he had intended them to as her mind stabilized through her turbulent teenage years. One gave of the distinct impression be being forced through by Jean herself, with lingering feelings of himself among the energies there. He guessed this wall fell when he had been under the control of Apocalypse. Jean had pushed herself harder than she ever had before then, unlocking even more of her potential on her own by sheer necessity.
He came to one last wall, this one still standing though cracks were forming. This was not a wall created by himself when he first discovered Jean. In fact, he could get no reading off where this last block had come from. It felt a bit like Jean herself, but at the same time felt very much like something else entirely. Behind this wall is what I fear, he thought to himself. Behind the wall lay some hidden power or at the very least the conduit to it. Steeling himself, he stepped up to the wall and placed his hands upon it. Beneath his hands he felt power throbbing, the likes of which he had only encountered twice before, both of the times he had directly confronted Apocalypse. It was a power that was still sleeping, but preparing to awaken when necessary.
Later, he would think back on his next move as incredibly foolish, as well as arrogant. But with his protégé in potential danger, he felt he had to act. He gathered his own mental strength and began pulling the shattered stones from the previous walls to him, attempting to shore up this last barrier.
The reaction was immediate. Light flared from the cracks in the wall, bright oranges and reds of a raging inferno piercing the stone blocks, and with them the cry of a bird of prey.
Xavier jerked back in his wheel chair, his hands sliding off of Jean's head as she pulled back at the same time. "Did you feel it, the surge?!" she asked after a moment.
"Yes," Xavier said, struggling to keep his voice steady. "It is certainly intense. I can see why you are concerned."
"Could you make up what the whispers were saying?"
"Whispers?" he asked. Could Jean not hear what he heard, felt what he felt in that rush of power?
"Yes, it was like all the other times, millions of whispers at once."
"Hmm, I heard only the loud noise, I could not hear anything distinct," he lied.
"Is there something wrong with me?" she asked, anxiousness readily apparent in her voice.
Xavier forced a smile, hoping it appeared natural. "No, I truly do believe it is merely your powers coming to their full maturity. The various exercises we developed when you were younger should help to strengthen your control over the new influx of power."
Jean let out a sigh of relief and gave the Professor a stunning smile. "Thank you Professor, I was getting really worried. The last thing I want is to lose control."
"Completely understandable," the Professor said softly. "If I may ask though, have you talked to Scott about this? He was after all a great help during your last power surge."
For a moment he could see her look nervous again. "No," she said at last. "I don't want to trouble him with this. He's worried about enough things with Magneto and now Evan. If I can handle this on my own I will."
"I saw the bond between the two of you, quite a remarkable thing to see, even if it was just my mind creating a visualization of it. I'm surprised he cannot sense your distress."
"I'm blocking it from him," she sat up straight, visibly taking ownership for her decision. "Like I said, I don't want him worrying about something he can't control, especially if you say it's something I can work through on my own. It might be a bond formed between us, but I have control over it, more than he does anyways." A thought seemed to cross her mind. "Is that normal? I would think even though I am the telepath that something like this would be more mutual."
"Honestly, I've never formed such a bond myself, and the only other one I've ever encountered was formed between two telepaths. I was rather surprised to learn about yours, though it does make me extraordinarily happy to see that your feelings for each other are so strong."
"Me too," she said with a smile. For once in this conversation, Xavier found his own smile coming to him naturally instead of one he had to force for his student's comfort.
"I do think you should consider telling him, as he has proven to be quite the anchor for you in the past. But it is of course your decision."
Jean stood. "I will Professor, I just don't want to give him one more thing to brood over right now. You know Scott, as much of the world's weight on his shoulders as he can get."
"Yes, one of his main faults I'm afraid. You have been quite the anchor for him in that regard."
Jean smiled, and gave her mentor a tight hug. "Thank you for everything. I should probably find him before he starts over analyzing this afternoon's mission."
"And I wish you luck with that." She gave a small laugh and went to the door, though Xavier stopped her with one last statement. "If anything changes Jean, please come to me immediately."
"Of course Professor, thank you again." She slipped out the door.
With a sigh, Charles moved his chair to the window and stared out the glass to the grounds of his school. More than ever, the weight of things that he glimpsed in Apocalypse's mind pressed down on him. He had tried to discount those things when he was first recovering from his encounter with the ancient Pharaoh, but now as evidence began piling up, he was beginning to think he may have seen the actual future. The power residing in Jean was just the latest, perhaps the worst. As optimistic as he was about mutants and humans co-existing, the vision of Sentinels and human protests could become a reality at any time and he half expected at least some rogue faction inside the government to attempt a war at some point. Erik's continued antagonism of humanity was another factor adding to that possibility. Despite that, Charles always felt cooler heads would prevail and his dream would be fulfilled. Even if things continued towards those visions he had seen with Apocalypse, he felt there was always a chance to avert them. This problem with Jean though seemed to not only be a reality, but possibly unchangeable.
He had told no one the exact details of his visions except for Irene Adler. Destiny had offered that each was a possibility but that the future was always in motion, and many paths existed. But these powers in Jean, this creature that was both Jean and not, seemed determine to come true. He had sensed it willing, for now, to lay primarily dormant, but it was growing stronger and it was preparing Jean for the day it would emerge. He had no clue if it would be a force for good or evil, but in his vision they had lost Jean because of it.
He rubbed his face, hoping to relieve some of the tension. No matter how much he monitored this situation, would he be able to do anything before it was too late? Was he even supposed to? Not for the first time he cursed his curiosity that had caused him to dig into Apocalypse's mind in those moment when he could. What good was knowing a future that could not be changed?
"Chuck!" a gruff voice and firm hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking up he saw Logan standing next to him, his face creased in concern. "You okay? Called your name half a dozen times."
"Yes, sorry Logan, too many things on my mind."
"Anything I should know about?" Logan asked, sitting down on the edge of the window.
"Not at the moment at least."
"Hmm," he grunted. Count on Logan to both not believe him but accept Charles's decision anyways. "Saw Scott downstairs, nothing with the Morlocks then?"
"There is more there than we are aware of, but unless we start combing the sewers for clues we'll have to let them keep their secrets."
"I could go down there you know, maybe take the kid with me, sniff around."
Charles considered this. "No, ultimately I think that would simply antagonize them more. It's my hope that by respecting their wishes now they might be more inclined to accept assistance when they truly need our help."
"This is Spyke we're talking about, he's probably neck deep in something right now," Logan offered with a shake of his head. "Your call though."
"Evan always did have a talent for finding trouble. Still, we must respect their privacy. How did Rogue's lesson go? I haven't been able to read much more than seething anger from her, but I suspect she's purposely sending that towards me."
Logan chuckled. "I don't doubt it. She's frustrated by the whole thing. Rogue tossed them into the deep end to see what would happen. Most of the class fell apart without one of us leading them, though Alex seemed to step up in the end and put together a decent effort from a few of them."
"Alex, really? Scott must be ecstatic."
"Yeah well don't tell Surferboy that," Logan laughed. "Overall Rogue did a great job. Showed them their weaknesses and got them to think about changing them. Oh, and the Cajun ditched out once she started the simulation. She had some choice words with him when she ran into him in the halls."
"Mr. LeBeau certainly enjoys getting under Rogue's skin. Is there going to be a continued problem there?"
"Like I said, choice words. Want me to make sure they sink in?"
A smile crossed Xavier's face. "Why do I get the impression you're planning to do that anyways?"
Logan shrugged. "Because you know me well enough to know that I am. Just thought I'd pretend to ask though."
"Try not to cause too much damage when you speak to him, and if possible, don't hurt him."
-------------
Jean sat wrapped in a towel, brushing her wet hair out as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Was the Professor right? Was it just her powers ramping up to the next level and she had to simply get used to it? She didn't think he would lie to her, but she couldn't help but feel there was more going on than that simple explanation. Aside from these bursts of thoughts, she didn't feel particularly more powerful when it came to her telepathy.
She sighed and put down the brush. She should probably tell Scott about it. If this had the potential to become another problem like a few years ago, he would be better off forewarned.
'Scott, I need to talk to you,' she called out to him with her mind.
She didn't have to wait long before there was a knock on her door. She mentally waved him in, and the door opened to reveal her boyfriend. "Jean, what's wrong, I, whoa!" He saw her with still damp hair, just a towel on, and long legs crossed in front of her as she turned to face him and he quickly shut the door behind him.
Jean grinned, always appreciative of Scott's reactions to her. "Something wrong? You've seen me in less after all."
"No, nothing wrong at all," he said, swallowing down a brief stutter. "You sounded worried when you called though."
"I," she started to say, but stopped herself. She still wanted to avoid adding more to Scott's worries, and here he was for the moment without much of a care at all. Why ruin that? "It's nothing; I was just being silly and was missing you."
Worry lines crossed his forehead. "Are you sure? If something's wrong you know I'm here for you."
'He's going to worry anyways,' she thought. She stood and firmly planted a deep kiss on him to stop him from talking. He stood shocked for just an instant before his arms wrapped around her and he committed fully to the kiss,
Through the bond they shared, Jean could feel the worry slipping away and be replaced with overwhelming love for her. 'This was all I need,' she thought. 'He loves me so much, with that I can get through anything.' She moved one hand to cup behind his neck while the other reached down and undid the bunch that held her towel closed, letting it fall to ground around her ankles.
Scott paused at this. "Are you sure, Logan's around—"
"I've made it perfectly clear to Logan that we're adults now and can do what we want as long as we're safe and discrete." She kissed along his jaw line, finally coming to nibble gently on his earlobe. "Besides he's busy hunting for Gambit right now."
Scott shivered at the sensation she was causing and ginned. "Sucks to be Gambit," he said, running his hands down her body.
"And it's great to be Scott Summers," she said with a smile, falling backwards onto her bed and pulling her boyfriend down with her. Love continued to shine through their bond, and Jean basked in it. 'Why ruin it,' Jean thought again. If she could take the burden of another problem he couldn't control from him, it was worth it. Nothing wrong could come from that.