Hi everyone. Thanks for the reviews, Lovestoread, and LondonVixen. I greatly appreciate each and every review. They really brighten the day.
I was thinking. It might be fun to include a few characters from X-Men Evolution as minor characters in this story, wouldn't it? Better than just saying 'a student' every time, don't you agree?
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"I can't believe it!" Xavier said. He slammed a fist on his desk, visibly angry. "He lured me away from the mansion so he could get Logan! And I fell for it!" His X-Men, plus Rogue, Gambit, and Wesley, stood uneasily before him. Magneto had successfully kidnapped Logan, but on the upside, no one had been killed or badly injured.
"What do we do now? Inform the authorities?" Wesley asked.
"No, that would not be wise," Xavier said. "I'll use cerebro to locate him, and then you three will go get him back." He rubbed his head. "I should have guessed this would happen. A child could have seen that plan."
"Doctor Grey?" A girl, maybe fourteen, asked meekly from the doorway. "Someone wants to see you."
"Okay. Thank you, Magma." Jean said. A blond man stepped into the room, dressed in swimming trunks and a t-shirt. He looked ill, pale and sweating profusely.
"Senator Kelley?" Jean asked, shocked.
"Dr. Grey?" Kelley said. He stumbled into the room, catching himself before he fell.
"How did you get in?" Storm said.
"There was a hole in your door." Kelley said. He held up his hands shakily, indicating a hole the size of a coffee can. "I squeezed through."
"What happened to you?" Scott asked.
"I-I need help," Kelley said, "Magneto, he-he did something to me. I was afraid to go to the hospital. I, I thought-"
"They'd treat you like a mutant?" Xavier asked. "Not all of us are bad."
"Tell that to the ones that did this to me." Kelley said.
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The Senator was lying on a bed in the infirmary, covered with a light sheet. It was already soaked with sweat after four minutes.
"Senator, I need you to relax for a moment." Xavier said. "I need to find out what Magneto did to you." He placed his hands next to the Senator's head.
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"Where are we?" Kelley asked. He leaned over and glanced out the window, saw what looked like an island prison, far below. They were landing on it.
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"You know, people like you were the reason I was afraid to go to school." Mystique said, striking him, knocking him down.
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"Are you a God-fearing man, Senator?" Magneto asked. Kelley struggled. He was tied to a chair. Magneto walked up to a strange device. Something shiny dangled from his hands. He placed it on the machine, and stepped back. "Well, don't fear God anymore, and don't fear me."
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"Welcome to the future…"
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A child on the beach tugged at her mother. "Mommy, is that a mutant?"
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Xavier gasped, and leaned back in his chair.
"Well?" Gambit asked. "What did you see?"
"Magneto has created a device." Xavier said slowly. "That activates the x-gene in humans. It creates a radioactive wave that spreads out. He wants to turn humans into mutants. And…" he looked at his X-Men, pained. "It seems that it somehow requires adamantium to run it. Apparently, it has such tremendous amounts of energy that it requires an extremely powerful filament. That's why Magneto wants Logan. He's going to use him to run the machine!"
"And he used Senator Kelley to test it out on," Jean Grey said. "It seems he succeeded in activating the x-gene, but failed to take into account the rest of his body. It's reproducing mutated cells so rapidly, it's like cancer, not how it's supposed naturally at all. The senator is over fifty years old. His body can't take that strain." She took out a cotton swab. "I need to give him an IV to try to lower the fever." She wiped his shoulder, and her finger brushed his skin. She cried out and jerked her hand back.
"What's wrong?" Wesley asked.
"I burned my fingers!" Jean said. She looked at the unconscious man.
"Oh no." Scott said. Jean took the cap off a bottle of rubbing alcohol and let a few drops fall on his arm. Flames sprung up for a few moments, then faded away. Gambit looked down. The floor around the medical bed was wet with a thick, clear substance. The man was literally melting away. Jean turned away, covering her eyes as the man died.
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Charles Xavier activated cerebro swiftly. Senator Kelley was dead, and if Xavier didn't act quickly, many more might share his fate. He put the helmet on, searching for Logan. Then he felt it. He strained, trying to get the helmet off, to escape the pain. He collapsed. Jean rushed in.
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Scott carefully placed the Professor on a medical bed, while Jean check his vital signs. "What happened?" She asked, hooking him up to several monitors. Scott held up a small vial of poison. "Apparently our visitor left something in cerebro. Magneto covered his tracks."
"Can't someone else use cerebro and find Logan?" Gambit asked. Wesley had headed to his car to get something.
"No, Gambit, the Professor was the only one strong telepathically to use it." Scott said irritably. "If someone untrained, like Jean used it, it would be dangerous." Jean glanced at him.
"I'll be back in a minute. "
Jean jogged lightly down the passageway. She paused, pressing her eye to the scanner at the door. Several hundred feet behind her, Scott saw what she was doing.
"No, Jean, don't do it!" He yelled, running down the hall. She ducked into the room, and mentally willed the door to shut quickly.
She was the only option left. She had to use cerebro, or others would pay the price. She hurriedly turned on the supercomputer and put the helmet on.
Scott reached the door and accessed it. The scanner read his eye, and the door opened. He ripped the helmet off Jean's head. She was barely able to stand.
"The Statue of Liberty. That's where the Brotherhood is." She told him. "And they have the machine there."
"Good Lord," Scott said, "from there they could wipe out half of New York City. We have to stop him." Jean gave him a look.
"Talk about stating the obvious."
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"Promise me you'll never do that again," Scott demanded, finishing putting on the x uniform.
"I promise never to do that again," Jean said obediently. Scott kissed her. "Unless I think the situation calls for it." She finished.
"Arh." Scott growled. "And now we have to go rescue that animal of a mutant."
"Aww," Jean said playfully. "Don't let him annoy you."
"Fine." Scott agreed. "But next time he calls me sport, I'll blow a watermelon-sized hole in his chest!" Jean gave him a hug.
"I love you, Scott." Jean said quietly. "And don't you forget that." They joined up with Storm.
"I left a note for the three others," Storm said. "I fear they may be upset they learn we left them behind."
"They'll be fine." Scott said, unconcerned. Storm typed a code into the door, and they walked into the hanger. The Blackbird's ramp lowered, and the three walked in.
Rogue, Gambit, and Wesley were already strapped in and waiting.
"How the heck did you get in here?!" Scott snapped.
"I would like to know that myself." Storm put in. Wesley smiled brightly.
"That's Gambit's little secret," the Cajun said, looking immensely pleased with himself. "Right, Rogue?" She nodded.
"What's with the outfit?" Scott questioned, looking at Wesley. He now sported a black bulletproof/tactical vest, and in one hand was a helmet.
"I should ask you the same thing. Can you actually do more than casual walking while wearing that?" Wesley asked. "I'd hate to see what would happen if it shrank in the washing machine. But then, it seems it already did." Gambit and Rogue tried to keep from laughing too loudly. Storm didn't seem to appreciate the young man's humor.
"I don't think you three should come with." Jean said, managing to keep Scott from blowing up. "This will be extremely dangerous."
"You'll ruin the mission," Scott said bluntly.
"I do this kind of thing for a living," Wesley said. "I work for ARGUS Corporation. 'ARGUS' stands for 'Armed Guardian Services'. We do VIP protection and guard locations." No one spoke for a moment.
"You're, um, a mercenary?" Rogue asked.
"A private military contractor, to be precise," Wesley said. "What's with that look?"
"What look?" Cyclops asked. Wesley nodded at Rogue.
"You look like I just said I do assassinations on the weekend," he said. "My occupation is perfectly legal. I don't overthrow governments or take over nuclear bases and threaten to nuke the world if I don't get five hundred million dollars in a Swiss bank account. I'm an expensive bodyguard and security guard, not a bad guy."
"Fine, we believe you," Scott said. He looked at Gambit, showing frustration. "You never said what your power was. Spill the beans." Gambit reached into his pocket, and took out a playing card. It turned a bright orange, and he tossed it on the floor. It exploded.
"He can charge objects with kinetic energy, causing them to explode. He can also control how big the explosion is," Wesley said.
"A little Gambit magic," Remy put in.
"You of all people shouldn't go," Jean said to Wesley. "If Magneto activates his machine, the odds of you surviving are painfully low."
"If he activates his machine, wouldn't that mean you all were killed, along with Logan, and the city of New York will be wiped out?" Rogue asked.
The X-Men hesitated before answering that.
"Well," Jean finally said to Scott. "Do they come?"
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You answer that question. Does Scott allow the trio to go with, or not? State your opinion, in your review.