Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Nine

Increase

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Scott leaned against the counter, sipping his non-alcoholic punch and looked over the roomful of dancing teenagers. In the middle of the floor, Jean and Duncan danced together to the beat of the music with many of the others watching them.

"Hey, Scott."

Scott blinked, then half-turned and smiled.

"Hey, Paul. Enjoying the party?"

"Yeah." Paul said. "Taryn's just gone to do whatever girls do, so I thought I'd grab a drink."

"The punch is quite good." Scott said. "I think they mixed several different juices with the lemonade."

Paul took the ladle and filled a beaker, taking a sip.

"Not bad. Not tempted by the booze?"

"Hell no." Scott laughed. "If I lose my glasses… I have a serious optical medical condition. It wouldn't be good for me."

Paul nodded, looking round. "The girls sure take a while. Who you watching?"

"Jean." Scott sighed. "She's been having headaches recently, so I volunteered to be her emergency transport back to the Institute if it happens again. Looks like she's having fun, though."

Paul nodded again, then took another sip of his drink.

"So, optical medical condition? What sort?"

"I can't see without my glasses." Scott said, glossing over the fact that it was because he kept his eyes closed so as to not to destroy things by accident. "My eyes themselves are red. No whites, no iris, just red. That's why I need these glasses."

"Wow." Paul breathed. "That must suck."

"Yeah, it kinda does." Scott agreed. "Several of us at the institute have problems. Rogue has serious skin-contact allergies, she can only touch her brother and her cousin without the allergies acting up. Young Jamie bruises so easily that he's barred from participating in games lessons. The Professor himself is in a wheelchair."

"Damn." Paul half-whispered.

"The rest are fine, though." Scott smiled. "And with Ororo, Logan, Pietro, Clark and Martha around to rein us in should things look like they're getting out of hand, we manage to study quite well."

"Which is why you're in the top ten." Paul nodded, then he frowned slightly. "You know, I've never actually visited this Institute…"

"I'll clear it with the prof." Scott smiled. "Sunday'll probably be good. We tend to just relax that day. We have a pool."

"That'll be neat, I'll make sure I bring my trunks." Paul agreed. "Can I cadge a lift that day?"

"Sure, either me or Clark if he's around." Scott said, then he caught Paul's look and mentally cursed the lack of a pre-planned cover story. "Ah, yes. Well, in addition to tutoring us, Clark also does some freelance contracting. Mainly solving hardware problems, he's really good at it. He helped me track down a slight problem with my car last month, one of the cams had worn wrong, we had to replace the crankshaft and we took the opportunity to re-bore the cylinders and tweak the timing to get a bit more power without needing more fuel."

"Nice." Paul grinned.

Scott started to respond, then he paused as Jean leaned against Duncan, both hands pressed against her forehead.

"Dammit, that's not a good sign, but if I go over there…"

"I'll help." A voice came from behind them, startling both boys as Taryn stepped forwards. "Duncan will see either of you as a threat to his masculinity, but he'll let me get her for you."

As Taryn moved towards the couple, Paul and Scott exchanged glances.

"Was it just me," Scott asked after a moment, "Or does Taryn really dislike Duncan?"

"Duncan tried to ask her out on a date recently." Paul said after a moment's consideration.

"Wait, I thought he was…"

"Yeah, he was." Paul confirmed and Scott scowled.

"That two-timing son-of-a… Jean, sit down for a bit and see if it fades. If it doesn't, you're heading to the medbay. If it does, no harm done."

Jean sat on the chair that Scott had managed to grab and leaned forwards, fingers massaging her forehead.

"It's… too loud…" She whispered and Scott carefully placed his hand on her shoulder, concentrating on projecting as much reassurance and friendship as he could. After a long moment, Jean lowered one of her hands and rested it on his.

"Thanks, Scott, but… I think that we…"

"Should go?" Scott asked and Jean nodded slightly. "Alright. My car's outside."

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Jean leaned back in the car seat, one hand still pressed against her forehead as Scott carefully but quickly drove back towards the Institute.

"How bad is it?" Scott asked and Jean sighed.

"I… don't know. It's like my shields, they're either there or they're gone, and I can't control which it is."

Scott refrained from commenting, but the glance that Jean gave him told him that she had caught his thought anyway.

"I've contacted the prof and…"

"He sent me." Another voice said from just above them. Scott jumped in his seat, reflexively slamming the brake and causing the car to squeal to a halt.

"Dammit, Kara!" He half-shouted. "More warning next time!"

"Sorry." The blond Kryptonian apologised as she landed just next to the car and reached out to the passenger door. "I'm here to take Jean back, faster this way."

Jean nodded as Kara undid her seatbelt and then scooped her up.

"Okay." Scott sighed. "I'll see you back there. Is Clark back yet?"

Kara shook her head as she started to float upwards. "No, he contacted Xavier and said something about searching for… someone."

"I'll get the details later." Scottnodded. "See you."

Kara nodded, then she turned and accelerated away with Jean curled up in her arms. Scott watched her go, then turned as another car pulled up. His curiosity turned into dismay as Duncan and two of his hangers-on got out and stalked across.

"Hey, specs," Duncan sneered. "Where's my girl?"

"Back at the Institute." Scott said, carefully controlling his anger over Duncan's possessiveness. "My friend had a faster vehicle."

"You got in my way." Duncan snarled. "We'd have gone all the way tonight."

"Not likely." Scott said. "Jean once told me that she was going to be a virgin until she got engaged at the least."

Duncan smirked and Scott felt his heart sink. "Oh hell, what did you…"

Before he could finish his sentence, his communicator beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Scott here."

"Scott, it's Kitty!" A panicked voice half-shouted. "We need you back here, Jean's out of control!"

Scott leapt into his car and hit the accelerator, leaving two strips of rubber as he accelerated away. A moment later, lights in his mirror alerted him to the fact that he was being followed, so he hit the comm on his dashboard.

"Scott to the Institute, I'm on my way, but I'm being followed. I think Duncan is trying to claim Jean as his own."

"Understood." A new voice said. "Your pursuit will be dealt with momentarily."

Scott carefully slid his car round a corner and smirked as a brief tendril of lightning hit the car behind him, causing its electronics to overload and shut down.

"Scott, you are clear." Storm sent. "Head back now, the situation is… complicated."

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Kitty reflexively phased as a filing cabinet flew towards her while Kurt, who had found himself targeted by a table, reappeared on the other side of the infirmary in a cloud of smoke as the table shattered against the wall.

##I've got her!## Kara shouted, unthinkingly reverting to her native language as unseen psychic forces slammed into her, trying to force her away. However, the psychic forces were insufficient compared to her fully-charged Kryptonian strength.

"We need to drain her power!" Xavier commanded as he ducked a flying piece of debris that bounced off the console. "Fortress, can you do anything?"

A slight hum announced the activation of the tractor beams and most of the flying debris suddenly changed course, all flying into a single corner.

"Thanks, Fortress." Xavier sighed in relief, then his grip on the console suddenly increased as the invisible force projected by Jean tried to hurl him against the wall.

"Warning." The Fortress' voice said calmly. "Unable to counter direct effects of current psychic disturbance."

"What's going on?" Rogue yelled as she ducked one of the few pieces of flying debris that the Fortress hadn't locked down.

##Jean's power is going out of control! We need you to drain some of it from her so she can control it!##

##Understood! Kurt, get me there!"

Kurt vanished and reappeared behind Rogue before vanishing with her, reappearing beside the thrashing teen even as Rogue finished pulling off her glove.

##Hold her steady!## She commanded even as she grabbed one of Jean's hands. An instant later, she gasped and all three were surrounded by an coruscating aura of light.

"What's happening?" Kitty half-shouted and Xavier closed his eyes in concentration.

"I… can feel… they're together on the mental plane, working together… doing… something, I'm not certain what…"

The sphere of light seemed to blink out of existence and Jean collapsed almost bonelessly.

"Wow, that was weird." Kara said slowly as she shifted Jean in her grasp. "How long were we in there? Felt like a couple of days at least."

"What happened?" Xavier asked as he carefully wheeled himself out from behind the console.

Rogue slipped her glove back on before answering. "It was weird, her power was really out of control, but when I started to pull it from her, suddenly Jean, Kara and myself were… we just…"

"Jean asked for help and we did so." Kara finished. "Rogue helped to calm the power while I gave Jean my strength to hold it while she built new shields. Took several days in there, but obviously not as long out here."

##That's right.##

Everyone looked at Jean, who looked back at them in confusion. ##What?##

##Since when can you speak Kryptonian?## Rogue asked and Jean blinked.

##What do you mean since when… Oh my. Kara, I can feel your thoughts!"

Everyone's eyebrows shot up at that, then Xavier broke the silence.

"Well, it would seem that your powers have evolved slightly, allowing you to understand Kryptonian thoughts."

"Hey, that would mean that she could teach the other Kryptonians when they are revived, right?" Kara asked excitedly and Xavier nodded slowly.

"Yes, language implantation. It's a skill that I developed quite some time ago. When you are recovered, Jean, I'll be happy to teach it to you. For now, though, I'd recommend getting Jean to her bed."

"I'm here, what happened?" Scott demanded, bursting in through the infirmary door with Storm close behind him.

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"You are a hard man to track down." A voice said and the red-and-blue-clad figure perched on the side of a building jolted in shock. "However, I really think we need to talk."

"Who's there?"

"Up here." The voice said and the figure looked up, stiffening in shock.

"Superman?"

"The one and only." Clark replied with a smile as he drifted down to the same level as the person on the wall. "Spiderman, I assume?"

A nod was his answer and he smiled again. "It's an honour to meet you."

"Yeah, me too!" Spiderman gasped. "Your my biggest fan… no, wait! I mean that I'm your biggest fan… I've screwed up already, haven't I?"

"Don't worry." Clark laughed, altering his position so that he was apparently leaning against the wall beside the younger man. "Anyway, a friend of mine passed a message that someone was considering pressuring you into joining the Avengers, so I thought that I'd pop by first and offer an alternative. I've been involved in forming and supporting several teams…"

"Like the Henshin Rangers in Japan?" Spiderman asked and Clark nodded.

"I'm more of a loosely-allied benefactor for them, but yes. I occasionally deploy alongside a team known as the X-Men and I have fought alongside the Avengers a time or two. I'm now preparing to train a new team, mainly mutants, and I wondered if you were interested in joining."

Spiderman turned to look over the city and Clark remained silent, letting him think.

"I'm not a mutant, does that make a difference?"

"Neither am I." Clark replied, earning a surprised look. "Nor is my cousin, although my sister is. My mom's a full human, but everyone at the Institute loves her."

"Would I be expected to move to this… Institute?"

"At least for advanced training, yes." Superman replied calmly. "Any dependents you have would be welcomed as well, as long as they are willing to help out a bit. My mom is the cook, she loves it there."

Spiderman cocked his head slightly. "Okay… it sounds good so far. Are you the leader?"

"No, Professor Xavier is…"

"Charles Xavier?" Spiderman interrupted, his voice filled with awe. "The author of On Evolution and Adaptation in Humanity?"

"That's him." Superman confirmed.

"Oh, I am so in!" Spiderman gushed. "Superman and Xavier? No way am I missing… ah…"

"Ah?"

"My aunt." Spiderman said slowly. "She doesn't know that I'm…"

"I see." Superman nodded. "Then may I make a suggestion?"

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The door opened and the grey-haired lady stared at the group at the door for a moment.

"Peter? Who are your friends?"

"This is Professor Charles Xavier of the Xavier Institute." Peter said and the man in the wheelchair nodded with a smile. "These are Clark Kent, his mother Martha and their friend Kurt Wagner. Everyone, this is my Aunt May."

"Good afternoon, Mrs Parker." Xavier said. "My apologies for interrupting you, but I was hoping to recruit Peter for my Academy, and he didn't want to leave you living alone. May we enter?"

"Of course." May said, then her eyes widened as Clark lifted Xavier onto the raised porch without any sign of effort. "Please, come in."