Beginning Al Chapter 9

A lot happened at once that Al couldn't really keep track of. Al watched as his brother ran through the field on a mission, his eyes locked on one of the large robotic machines. The Sentinels, at this point, had all touched down onto the field just past the cave. The Sentinels were a little slow to react, possibly due to the amount of mutants present, Al wasn't really sure. Out of Al's peripheral he saw the X-Jet touch down behind them and shut down. He then saw Henry McCoy come out of the hatch, also ready to fight.

Iceman shot beams of ice out of his hands, enveloping a sentinel completely in ice. It didn't last, though, as the Sentinel's shell began to heat up and melt through the ice, it turned its attention to Iceman, shooting at him with a beam from the palm of its hand. Iceman dipped and dodged across the skies, managing to stay out of reach.

Storm was attacking her own Sentinels, shooting lightning out of her hands towards the things head. It briefly seemed stunned but was holding its own against her.

Al shook his head, ignoring the other X-Men around him and instead focused on his brother who was closing in on one of the Sentinels. Al ran up about ten feet and put his hand to his visor, unleashing a blast at one of the Sentinels knees. It hit the knee and while it didn't destroy it, the Sentinel dropped down to his other knee. That gave his brother the opportunity.

Al watched as Jaicen leapt onto the Sentinel's back, claws extended and began clawing his way up the back of the Sentinel. Jaicen made his way up to the neck, reared back his claws and slammed it into the head of the robot. The Sentinels shook his head from side to side and Al saw Jaicen hold on with his claw as his body was swung from side to side. The Sentinel reached up his hand and managed to grab a hold of Jaicen's leg.

Al unleashed a full on blast at the Sentinel's chest. The Sentinel staggered back a step and launched Jaicen through the air. Al watched as his brother soared thirty feet or so into a copse of trees, thudding into a tree and disappearing between a few.

"Jaicen!" Al yelled out, taking a step to run towards his brother.

The same Sentinel he had just blasted suddenly extended a wire out of the palm of his hand and wrapped it around Al's leg, taking him off his feet and hanging him upside down in front of the machine.

"Halt mutant," the robot said.

"Scott!" Al heard Jean call out to him.

Al hit the visor and the optic beam slammed into the Sentinel's crotch area. The wire surrounding him loosened and then dropped him. Al plummeted to the earth but stopped a few feet away from the ground, hanging upside down. He looked over and saw Jean's hand to her head. She gently lowered Al down, using her telekinesis.

Al looked up as he saw a separate Sentinel closing in on Jean from behind. He loosed a beam at the things head and sent it staggering backwards where it toppled over and hit the ground with a clang.

"Are you okay?" they both said to each other at the same time.

Al nodded and Jean smiled softly. Al looked around to see what was going on.

Magneto was nowhere to be seen and the man whom Jaicen and Al had helped escape was also absent. Al cursed to himself and shook it away, trying to remain focused. A quick scan showed Beast and Storm attacking the same Sentinel and seemingly doing a fairly good job of it while Iceman was keeping one busy by himself.

Al realized the two he had blasted were stunned, but not done. Al looked to the trees and saw his brother come running out of the trees, his claws extended with a look of anger on his face. Al smiled and let out of breath of relief.

"Who the hell threw me?" he heard his brother roar.

It would've been a much more amusing statement if they hadn't been in the heat of battle. Jean suddenly took off, flying towards Iceman. Al watched as she used her telekinesis to protect him from a rather large item that Al couldn't tell what it was, being thrown at him. Al realized that there was one Sentinel missing and he scanned the area.

As he did, the one he had shot in the crotch was now standing and looking at him. Al noticed a little too late, and turned to attack. Luckily for Al, Jaicen was quick and had crossed the field fast. Jaicen barreled into his brother, knocking him to one side.

Al rolled to the side and turned to his back as he watched his brother get hit with a beam from the Sentinel's hand that sent him sprawling back about ten feet. Al let out a roar of fury and put everything he had into a blast at the things chest.

The blast was more intense and longer in radius then he had done before. Al climbed to his feet, not taking his foot off the brake. Even when the Sentinel dropped to the ground, he moved closer and blasted its head completely off its body. Al finally took a breath and let the beam settle, realizing the destruction he had caused.

He turned back and saw his brother shakily climbing to his feet.

That's when he saw the missing Sentinel touch down behind his brother. His hand went up this visor to try and help, but two things then happened almost simultaneously.

First, the creature wrapped a wire around Jaicen's body from behind and Al watched as it shot a few hundred volts of electricity through his body. The second thing, was the Sentinel that Al had shot in protecting Jean, had suddenly come back to life and sent a blast that hit Al in the shoulder, a glancing blow, but a blow hard enough that it sent him careening backwards to hit the ground hard. Al's head slammed down hard, the shock of the blast catching him completely by surprise.

Al briefly put his head up from the ground to see his brother lying limply on the ground with a Sentinel standing over top of him.

Then, it all went black.

Al felt himself lying on a bed and he slowly sat up, shaking the cobwebs away. He looked over and saw Jean Gray and Hank McCoy sitting on a bench in the lab talking. He walked over to them, glancing back to where he had been. There, he saw Scott's body lying with a nasty scorch mark in the shoulder area. Al stared at the body for a moment and then turned to listen to the two talk.

"Scott, and Al, I think will be fine," he heard Hank say. "It seemed like the blast he took was concussive as well as sedative. And the damage done to his shoulder is relatively minimal."

Jean, while obviously happy to hear that, seemed still incredibly worried. She stood and looked over at his body and sighed. She turned back and Al could see she had tears in her eyes.

"Logan," she said softly. "Jaicen…he'll be okay, won't he?"

"I don't know," Hank said, looking down at his large blue hands. "I normally don't think anything can stop Logan. I just don't know. Jaicen is a remarkable young man. But he's a man in a desert with nobody around to help him. We let him down. We've let him down every step of the way. We've let them both down. These boys should have had no dog in this fight. But they felt obligated to fix a situation they didn't put themselves in. We should've told them when we left and we should've been more upfront with them from the beginning. For that, I will always be regretful."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Jean said. "But I get the feeling you're more worried about Jaicen than Logan."

There was a long pause and silence.

"I cannot explain it Jean," Hank said slowly. "But I've felt from the moment I spoke to Jaicen that there was some connection there. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it. I feel like I have known him before. Perhaps in a past life. Right now, my heart grieves for him."

There was another long silence.

"We still haven't heard from the Professor," Jean said softly.

"One conundrum at a time Jean," Hank said with a gentle smile.

The two then walked back over to Scott's body and stood over top of him, looking down. Al walked around so he could see both of them look down at the body he was inhabiting. Al could see the worry on both of their faces and he wanted to scream at them. What happened to his brother? He was aware he couldn't converse with them though.

"What's our next step?" Jean asked.

"Ororo is trying to work on something now," Hank said. "Which reminds me, we should really put our heads together on this matter. You, Bobby, Ororo and I."

Jean stared at the body, not saying anything. Al could tell she was having a hard time convincing herself she needed to leave him here unconscious. Finally, she nodded and looked away from him.

The two walked to the door slowly and opened it. Jean took one look back at her husband longingly and sighed.

"Don't worry Jean," Hank said gently. "If you ask me, he will be on his feet before we know it."

The last thing Al heard, as the door closed, was Jean's voice.

"I sure hope so…"

Al snapped awake, though he couldn't tell how much longer it was after the scene he had witnessed. The first thing he felt was intense pain in his shoulder that made him double to the side, holding his left shoulder with his right arm. He groaned in pain and slowly climbed off the bed, stretching his back as his shoulder pulsed.

Al tried to remember everything from the fight and the conversation Jean and Hank had had. Unfortunately, like a dream, not everything was completely clear to him. He did realize that something had happened to his brother and they were concerned.

He looked down at the watch on his hand, expecting to see the time but instead, it read 23:15 with seconds dwindling.

"Damnit," he said. "Stupid watch that's not a watch."

Without another thought, Al left the lab and walked through the hallways, his shoulder sore but the more he was up, the duller the pain was getting. He was making a beeline towards the room they had done their "conference" in previously.

Al was worried, as he wasn't sure exactly what was going on. He did remember seeing his brother in relatively dire straits, but he was also fully aware of his healing properties from what he'd been told and seen. He tried to keep his emotions in check as he passed people. Clearly, his emotions were on his face as everyone was veering away from him as he passed.

The door to the conference was closed, so Al decided to make himself at home and pushed the door open without another thought. He saw all four of the other X-Men sitting at the conference table, clearly deep in conversation and they all leapt up as one, turning their attention to him. Keeping his emotions in check didn't last long.

"Where is my brother?" Al growled.

No one spoke right away instead they exchanged a few glances with each other.

"Are you well, Al?" Storm asked, clearly in reference to his shoulder.

"I'll repeat myself," Al said, his voice getting lower. "Where, the hell is my brother?"

"Al, please," Jean begged. "Just calm down."

Al's hand went up to his visor, causing him to realize they had at least left that part of his suit on. The whole room tensed as his hand rested on the visor, ready to blast whenever he was ready.

"I'm not asking again," Al said.

Throughout this ordeal, Jaicen had been the one who had lost his temper on more than one occasion and deep down Al had always assumed it had been a bit of Logan coming out in Jaicen. Not because Al could even remember what Jaicen was like when he was angry, just because of how extreme the change in his demeanor was during those times. This anger, Al was sure, was all himself.

"Your brother got taken," Bobby, the Iceman, spoke up. "Sentinels got him. We're discussing that now."

"How is that even possible?" Al exploded. "You four are longtime X-Men and the Sentinels were able to just take your friend and get away? Without so much as a chase? Someone needs to start making me understand this really quickly."

"We are no more infallible than we are indestructible," Hank said quietly. "Each of us were in our own battle for survival."

"And it seemed like once they had Lo… Jaicen," Jean said. "They gave up attacking us and retreated. Almost as if they were given orders at some point to bring him back. Before we had a chance to react, they were gone."

Al softened a little, dropping his hand down from his visor and his anger ebbed a little. If what they were saying was true, they really had no idea where Jaicen was. The thought immediately caused anger to be replaced with worry.

"How do we find him?" Al said softly.

"We're working on that now," Storm/Ororo said, not entirely cold. "Until we figure that out, I believe Hank wished to speak to you privately."

Al looked over to Hank.

"It needs to be figured out as soon as possible," Al said. "Or I'll go looking for him myself. Now, what is it Hank?"

"Back to the lab."

"Listen Hank," Al said. "I don't have any patience for being tested right now."

The other three had convinced Jean she needed to stay and help them figure out what to do, so Hank and Al had retreated to the lab. When they had made it back, Hank checked Al's shoulder again and nodded solemnly before wrapping it up with white gauze. He made sure to tell Al he'd be fine, but fairly sore for a little while.

"This is not about testing you," Hank said. "This is about that watch on your wrist."

Al looked down to the watch curiously then back to Hank. Of course, Al didn't know the significance of the watch other than the fact that he had apparently come into this world with it.

Al watched as Hank went around to a work bench and pulled out the statue that Jaicen had told Al about previously. He set the thing on the table and Al moved closer to take a better look at it. It was pretty much exactly as his brother had described it other than it seemed like the ruby was pulsating with light.

"When I discovered this statue," Hank began. "And even after I showed your brother, the ruby was not shining like this. It has only happened very recently."

"Okay," Al said. "What're you getting at?"

"Simply this," Hank said. "I tried very hard to get that watch to show any bit of life and failed. Now I see it is on your wrist and seemingly on an ominous count down. I believe that the statue and the watches are connected. How did you get the watch to operate?"

"I just put it on my wrist," Al responded.

"Ah ha," Hank said with a guttural grunt.

"What?"

"Just as I suspected," Hank said. "The statue and the watches are connected. But they are also connected to the two of you. When we brought you back here, the statue's ruby was not shining quite as bright as it is now. It would seem, as the watch counts down, the statue gets brighter."

"This is all very intriguing," Al said. "But why should this matter to me right now?"
"I think, that this may be the key to getting you home," Hank said, rather excitedly.

"Getting me home?" Al asked incredulously. "I'm not going anywhere without Jaicen. So right now, the real concern needs to be focused on him and not some stupid watch or some ridiculous looking statue."

Hank seemed slightly miffed, very briefly, but then nodded slowly. Part of Al wanted to feel bad, but the other part kept reminding him that they need to stay focused on finding Jaicen. He didn't know where Jaicen was, or what was happening to him, but he just felt like he needed to find him as quick as possible.

"We'll find him," Hank said.

"Yeah and how do you plan on doing that?" Al asked. "Seems to me, this little group you have is fairly unreliable without your professor here to call the shots. We don't even know where Jaicen is or know anyway to actually figure out where he is. Do we have any options? Do we have any ideas?"

"We will figure something out," Hank said, trying to remain positive. "We will find Jaicen, Al."

Al sighed and picked up the statue, looking at it closely. The red ruby was rather bright but Al imagined it could get brighter. Al glanced at his watch, realized another hour had gone by and shook his head in frustration, the dull throb of his shoulder still very apparent.

"I think you should take that with you," Hank said. "Wherever you go, from now on, I think it needs to be with you."

Al opened his mouth to argue, or at least question the thought, but Hank held out a rather normal looking denim backpack to him. Al looked at it and then slowly took it from Hank's large hand.

"It is not really out of the ordinary, but a good size," Hank said. "I think you'll find use for it."

Al opened his mouth to say "thank you", but just didn't really care enough to follow through so instead shut his mouth. He opened up the bag and stuck the statue inside, zipping it shut and slinging it over his shoulder. Hank patted Al's shoulder gently.

Al opened his mouth to speak about what their next move was, when Jean Gray exploded into the room.

"Quick," she said. "Magneto's here."

Al felt his heart pounding in his chest as she ran out. He looked at Hank, but Hank wasn't watching him, instead he had followed Jean. Al didn't know the reason why Magneto would be coming to the mansion, but he had a bone to pick with him in any event.

Al ran to keep up with the two of them as they walked down the halls and into a common area. They headed towards the main doors of the house, where they met Bobby and Ororo. Al didn't see Magneto at first, but then the doors to the mansion flew open and all of Al's anger came flowing back to the surface as he watched the man walk into the mansion.

One hand went up to his visor, but Jean quickly grabbed his hand and shook her head. Al gritted his teeth, but trusted her enough to not push the issue.

"Hello X-Men," Magneto said.

"What are you doing here Magneto?" Storm boomed back at him. "If it's a fight you're looking for, we have better things to deal with right now."

"No fight," Magneto said, turning to look dead at Al. "Seems like you're missing the most annoying member of your little team."

There was a silence and it took all Al had not to try and attack Magneto, despite knowing it wouldn't actually do anything. The man infuriated Al and given that most of this was at least somewhat because of him, Al realized he hated the man.

"Why'd you come here helmet head?" Bobby asked.

"Very original," Magneto said. "In any event, I came here because I thought we could be of service to each other."

"What makes you think we need your help on anything?" Bobby laughed.

"I'm fully aware that one of yours was taken," Magneto said. "And it occurred to me that you would have no real way of figuring out where he was taken to."

"Get to the damn point," Al growled.

"Well, it would seem to me that we are both looking for similar things," Magneto said. "Trask is clearly at fault here. So if we find Trask, we find your brother."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Al smirked.

Magneto smirked and flicked his wrist.

"That's the easy part."

With that, a man was floated into the room from outside. The man who Jaicen and Al had tried so hard to save and clearly failed. Magneto had taken him prisoner.

"What makes you think he'll tell us anything?" Al said, though there was no conviction in his voice.

"He doesn't have to tell us anything," Magneto said, looking past Al.

Al turned and looked to where he was looking and saw Jean Gray. All at once he realized what Magneto was referring to. The other X-Men followed his look, to Jean, who tightened her chin resolutely.

"You see Al, when you have a psychic on the payroll, you don't need anyone's permission…"

End Al Chapter 9