Chapter Ten

A sonic blast blew Bobby off his stand and sent him toppling to the ground. Archlight smirked but then glared as Multiple Man ran past her to get a piece of the Iceman. Storm tried to electrocute him but it was just one of his copies. She was distracted by Callisto, as per usual, leaving Bobby to deal with the multiple man all on his own.

Slicing noises rang in Bobby's ears and he knew Wolverine was attacking someone and probably hitting cars. Probably fighting Mystique or Psylocke. Bobby stood and faced his opponent. Without even moving his hands, ice began freezing the other mutant. Bobby was only mildly surprised by his unintentional act.

Multiple Man shook off the premature ice and ran at Bobby. Bobby raised his hands and froze him in mid run. Bobby smirked at his iced enemy, feeling pretty proud until he was caught in the back with such a powerful hit that he crashed right into the frozen figure, defaulting to the ground when it didn't shatter.

Bobby groaned, holding his stomach and looked up to see who hit him. Another Multiple Man smirked down at him. Bobby rolled out of the way but he was caught by the ankle and dragged about two feet until he remembered he was a mutant and tried to freeze this one too.

This time, Multiple Man got smart and dodged the ice. This must be the original. Bobby swung his leg up, catching the other mutant in the head. He succeeded it freeing himself but a pain shot through his leg. He ignored it and scrambled to his feet.

Poor Bobby couldn't catch a break as Archlight caught sight of him again. She raised her hands and released a blast with a smirk on her lips. She could tell he was wounded.

Bobby dodged and rolled out of the way, hiding behind a car. Small explosions were happening all around him. He heard Storm get hit and Wolverine's battle roar. He knew he couldn't stay back here for long but his ankle hurt and he didn't want to get hit by one of those sonic booms.

However, Bobby wasn't controlling Archlight and she quickly blew away the car hiding Bobby and Bobby along with it. Bobby let out a pained cry as he was flung like a rag doll down the street.

"Bobby!" Rogue's voice echoed softly in his ears. She was far away.

Something connected with Bobby's side and he gagged. He was losing it. What was wrong with him? His whole body seemed off center. He couldn't bring his arms up to defend himself. He didn't even know who was hitting him. He just knew it hurt and he couldn't even control his ice to cover himself in a shield.

'Something's not right... Something's wrong.' Bobby thought. Besides his inability to fight back, he suddenly wasn't being attacked... and the sun was unusually hot.

"Don't you dare die on me, Drake!" a rough voice growled out loudly at him. Bobby blinked open his eyes and looked up.

"J-John!" Bobby gasped, propping himself up as best as possible. "What are you doing here?"

John was shielding them both with a barrier of solid flames. A smirk played on his lips.

"I saved your life once. You think I'm just gonna let you die here?" he asked, using one hand to turned back and help Bobby stand.

A rush of energy pummeled the shield and John had to return both hands to keep the barrier stable. Bobby leaned on the ankle that wasn't twisted... or possibly broken.

"How did you know to come?" he asked, temporarily forgetting there was a battle on the other side of that wall. Multiple Man appeared behind them somehow and John threw his hand over his head and to the other side of Bobby. Now they were in a dome of fire.

"Professor..." John huffed out. "Called me with his mind, see? But I was too far north to get here in time so... So he sent the blue fur ball to get me."

"Kurt?" Bobby asked, curious. A mass of smoke puffed into existence between them and Kurt was there.

"What?" John nearly growled in annoyance.

"You can put it down," Kurt announced with a smile.

John lowered his hands, breathing heavily and sweating, not from the heat but from the strain on his body. The flame walls lowered and they could hear a helicopter flying off with the Brotherhood survivors. Multiple Man's clones were still iced but they'd probably vanish as soon as they melted.

"Bobby!" Rogue ran over with Storm. Wolverine helped Kitty to her feet so they could both hobble over. Kitty seemed to have hurt her leg at the knee, unlike Bobby who was hurt at the ankle, chest, and head.

Rogue didn't hug Bobby or even touch Bobby, as she usually would. John raised an eyebrow wondering just what happened while he was gone.

"Are you alright, Bobby?" Storm asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know... My whole body hurts," Bobby admitted.

"No kidding! You may have lost consciousness, but you were being knocked around like a beach ball," Wolverine informed him with no hint of pity. "I'm surprised you woke up at all. If not for the fuzz ball and Pyro, you might have died... again!"

"Yea... I gotta stop doing that." Bobby laughed lightly, airily. He looked down at his feet, head spinning.

The Professor had rolled in from somewhere, probably the jet, and kept his eyes still on Bobby. He put a hand out to Bobby as though to grab him but he was too far away.

"Catch him!" he ordered just as Bobby fell backwards.

He was caught in warm arms and pulled against someone's chest. The only thing he heard as he lost consciousness was not the crackling rubble or his friend's worried cries. He heard someone's heartbeat... loud and steady. It was like a lullaby to Bobby's rattled head and he went limp in the other's grasp.