The Day of – After

The first thing Scott did was to let Spud out of the trunk where Logan had stashed him. The first thing Spud did was jump on Jean and knock her over. The second thing Spud did was to jump on Professor X, who was sitting peacefully in his wheelchair. "A remarkable work of machinery."

"Yes… remarkable," Jean commented. She glared at Spud as if he was a monstrosity.

"Come on Spud… let's go dig that computer out for Mainframe. He'll want to use it," Scott commented.

"Shouldn't you wait for the government?" Jean suddenly asked. "I men, isn't that usually what happens?"

"I do work for the government kiddo. That's why we're here in the first place. Typically we handle bigger terrorist threats, but since there is a lull in activity, we were assigned to a hacker case that the principle called in as a terrorist," Scarlett commented as a van pulled up, causing her eyebrows to furrow. A man rolled down the window.

"Hello Scarlett,"

"Long Range… what brings you here?"

"Not that Duke doesn't trust you Scar, but he didn't like leaving you and the kid here without backup," the man said, getting out.

"Well, your first order is to help the kid dig out the computer,"

"She's the leader of the group of yours?" Jean asked the man.

"Yeah, when Duke's not around." Long Range commented meekly, then hurried over to where Scott was.

"He seems relatively normal," Xavier commented.

"Yes, well… Long Range can't do simple math," Scarlett commented. "But give him a huge equation not on paper, he solves it instantly, so long as he doesn't have to put it down on paper."

M

Long Range walked over to where Scott was with Spud. The dog was already digging. "Kid, this is going to take forever."

"No, it isn't… Spud's got the location and he's figured out how to dig it out," Scott said, watching his pet carefully.

Long Range watched as the dog would move the big debris out of the way. "He defiantly is remarkable."

"Yeah… Long Range, we're being watched," Scott commented.

"By someone from Cobra?"

"No… the kid with the earthquake powers is watching from up there," Scott commented as a fire truck drove up to the school. Long Range flashed a badge showing that he was allowed to be there, all Joe's carried one from their original units, whether it was army, marines or air force, or any of the other divisions of national defense.

"Is that robot a cadaver dog?" one of the firefighters asked.

"No… he's not," Scott commented. "He's looking for the school computer."

"I see… whatever for?"

"The principle filed a claim that terrorists had hacked the school computers," Long Range commented.

"So then… was it terrorists that did that,"

"No… there was no terrorist," Long Range commented. "Just the principle thinking that there was, so we have to cover our bases. Plus… it's a bonus if we can get the school up and running again."

"True… do you know if there was anybody inside?" the firefighter asked.

"Don't believe so," Scott said, reflecting on what Professor X had said. "There was a mandatory evacuation because of some earthquakes."

"We don't have earthquakes here," commented the firefighter.

"Doesn't mean weird things don't happen or occur," Long Range commented.

It was then that the principle hurried up. "What the hell happened here! I told you that terrorists would attack the school!"

"Sir… it wasn't terrorists," Long Range commented, shaking his head in the man.

"Then why are you taking the computer? It's to cover up the shotty job you did to catch the terrorists before they attacked!"

"No.. it's to cover the red tape procedures and to get the school back up and running as soon as possible… that or you dig out all those paper files,"

"So says the aliens!" the principle snapped at him.

"Hey! I'm an American citizen," Long Range said, insulted by what the man said.

"That's only because the government hired extraterrestrials and gave them citizenship and false papers so that no one knows that they are here! Not to mention amnesty!" the man said.

"Wow… what a nice break from what we usually do," Long Range said sarcastically as two firefighters hauled the principle away. "I mean, he fits right in with the nut jobs."

It was then that Scott was taking the computer from Spud. He glanced up at the hill and noticed a woman talking to the boy, but couldn't make her out due to the sunlight being in the wrong position. Long Range tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on Scott, let's get the computer in the van."

M

Rile looked up the foster family that Lance lived with in the phone book finding out where they lived. She hurried over to the house without Amy, hoping to be there when Lance got home from school. She leaned up against one of the cars in the driveway.

A van drove up and a lady got out and used the wheelchair lift to help a boy down. "I'm glad therapy …" the woman startled suddenly, taking notice of Riley. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lance's girlfriend," Riley commented, a wicked grin on her face.

"Really…" the woman said, narrowing her eyes at Riley. "This is not something he's told us about. Are you sure that you're his girlfriend."

"I'm positive," Riley lied, grinning at the woman as she did so. "My name is Riley Somers."

"May I ask why he and you are together?" the woman asked.

"What else teenage couples are together for, sex," Riley commented.

This caused the woman to suddenly turn toward Riley, anger in her yes. "Go inside." She said to the boy. When he was outside of the range she was choosing to speak to Riley in, the woman hissed at her. "I know for a fact now that you aren't dating him."

"What do you mean? What teenage couple doesn't have sex? It's part of being boyfriend and girlfriend, no? You're just mad that I said the word sex was used in front of the kid,"

"If you really knew Lance, you'll understand why I said what I did."

"If I really knew him? You're talking like he's some religious kid who believes in abstinence until after marriage!" Riley snapped.

"I didn't say that! It only goes to prove, what you just said, that you really don't know Lance. I want you to stay away from that boy, do you understand me," the woman said, her eyes becoming livid.

"Oh, come on, I know Lance is a bad boy! I don't need to be warned about the trouble he could get me…"

"I don't think you understand. That boy isn't the trouble I'm worried about. You are. Do I need to call the police to get you to leave?"

"Fine, I get the picture," Riley said, storming off out of site to her car, even though she wasn't old enough to have a driver's license. She sunk down into the car, sulking.

M

Kitty was upstairs in her room with her mother. She was trying to think really hard about what to pack. Her mother reminded her that hey could always send things to her. "It is more stud. I mean, I have no idea how big my room will be at this place, nor how many students there will be."

"That boy… Kitty, he didn't touch you inappropriately at any time?"

"Mom… if he had, I would have been away from him fast. Why are you asking?"

"In case our father brings it up… which is likely that he will."

"He worries way to much!" Kitty commented, shaking her head and letting out a short chuckle. "That boy… he's not a person who touches like our family does."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I was so happy about having used my powers with no snafus, that when I let him in, I hugged him. You and dad don't tense up. He did though, as it he was somewhat uncomfortable with me doing that."

"It was probably because he was using you and had a conscience attack for a few seconds,"

"Maybe… he did seem to understand the whole not having a friend thing," Kitty commented. "That, and not fitting in like me."

"Kitty, some people will be manipulative like that, saying anything," her mother said with worry.

"No, he knew what it was like, not feeling like you belong,"

"Speaking about not belonging and this friend issue… we really should have listened to you about the fact that you said you were being bullied. This school, maybe you'll get a fresh chance,"

"Expesully since they said we have lessons with both there and at school… real public school,"

"That Mr. Logan, he seems gruff, but a nice enough man,"

"I think daddy's afraid of him, I mean… he's used to people in business suits, not guys with cowboy hats," Kitty said, laughing with her mother.

M

When Lance got back to the foster home, the first thing he did was storm up the wooden ramp that was on the stairs and slam the door to his room.

"Hi Lance."

This caused Lance to blink a couple of times. "What are you doing in here?"

"I saw a monster at therapy today, but mom says it's my imagination,"

"It could have been… or maybe not," Lance said, listening to the little kid describe the monster, ending that he found it scary and wanted Lance to keep the monster away. Lance told him he couldn't make any promises, but he would do his best, which was enough to make the boy happy and wheel out of the room.

Lance then preceded to toss the few things he had into his duffle bag. Anger was on his face about having gotten into such a mess again. A knock came on the door and his foster mother opened the door safely. "Lance, please tell me you aren't going to run away."

"Lance, that isn't a reason to run away," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm not running away! They're transferring me!" Lance snapped at her.

"They can't… you were getting better at staying out of trouble," his foster mother said, sitting down on the bed. She motioned for him to sit down with her. "Let's talk about this."

"What's there to talk about," Lance said, sitting down as he did, holding out a card.

"This is a home in New York state!" his foster mom said, startled. "How are you going to get there?"

"I'm going to be driving. Apparently I'll be supervised."

"We can try to argue your stay,"

"I'm not worth it," Lance commented, causing her to shake her head and begin to leave.

"Lance… if you ever need help, you know where we live,"

M

When Scott and Kitty saw the X-Jet, they were amazed. Kitty was amazed because she had never been able to ride on such an airship before and Scott was surprised that the X-men has such sophisticated technology at their disposal… technology he could play with. Spud was excited because he was going for a ride and wouldn't sit still until Logan buckled him into a seat.

"So what powers do you have?" Kitty asked.

"I don't have any that are X-gene related… but I am really smart," Scott says. "But that tends to get me into trouble!"

"So… there are normal students at the institute too?" Kitty asked.

"If you can call him normal, he'll be the first," Logan stated, a grin on his face, enjoying the whole situation.

""It's part of the whole showing mutants can co-exist," Jean commented dryly, not looking at Scott.

"My name's Kitty Pryde. What's yours?" Kitty asked suddenly.

"My name is…"

But Scott was interrupted by a smirking Logan. "Introductions can wait until we get to the institutes.

"Well, anyways, I'll be glad to get rid of Riley," Kitty said.

"Who's she?" Scott asked.

"She's the girl who always bullied me," Kitty commented. "Are you going to miss your sister?"

"My sister? You mean Scarlett?" Scott said laughing. "She isn't my sister, though she and the rest of the Joe's are like family. She is… one could say, a mutual friend of my father and Mr. Logan, which is why I am probably going to the institute."

"Sorry… you both have red hair," Kitty said, shrugging her shoulders.

Scott was about to say it was alright, except Logan chuckled. "And I bet all redheads are related… did you hear that Jean, you now have a little brother."

Jean just glared out the window, hoping to be home soon.

M

Riley had been sulking so bad that when Lance had gone inside the house, she had missed him. To her credit, if Lance had seen her, his foster house would likely have been in rubble just like his school was. Lance went and tossed his pack into the back of his jeep, making her think he was running away, which made her hope that he would take her with him.

It was then though a woman came out of seemingly nowhere. Her astute teacher look made Riley gag with disgust. She could figure out who the woman was or what she wanted to do with Lance. There was also a presence that made her float down into her seat.

"What if I don't want to go to Bayville?" Lance said to the lady.

"Not much you can do about this. The transfer to that group home one might call it, it is final,"

"I could run away you know," Lance said, only to have the woman grab his face and force him to look at him. He was obviously not happy about this.

"Yes, well… have you wondered what my ability is," she whispered into his ear. "You know that monster that little boy saw today. It could appear to the whole family and they end up in the insane asylum. It would be a lot more fun then putting your simpering, already paranoid ex-principle into the asylum. And yes, he is there now. You saw him getting carted away."

"Fine," Lance said. "How come I get that this isn't the fresh start that I've been wanting and that you planned on transferring me."

"Tough kiddo, that's that way life is. Water is wet, rocks are hard… something you should know, and life is not fair. So… live with it," she said, then went and got into the car. "Start driving to New York state kiddo."

As soon as both were gone, Riley was lived. The only thing she could think of was taking it out on Kitty tomorrow at school, not realizing that neither would be there.