Having the Professor back was strange. People didn't just die, and then come back, and die…and then…

Suffice it to say that the students were all confused to no end, albeit pleased that perhaps some order had been restored to the school. Things would have exploded into quite a bit of panic with the events of the past few days.

Apparently, Magneto's return had strayed even farther from Taryn's original vision, and things were once again looking down for the mutant community as a whole.

"This problem," said a rather uptight-looking assemblyman appearing on the five o'clock news one day, "is never-ending. Either we find a solution to sate these things in whatever their vendetta may be, or we eradicate the problem. The latter of these two options, even given the current situation, is not plausible at the time being, but, should circumstances elevate –"

Taryn shut off the TV, then hurled the remote towards the other side of the room. Some of the others she had been matching the news with, mostly older students, seeing as the material would be too sensitive for the young ones, reacted similarly.

"This is pathetic," Bobby said, restraining himself to an armchair. He glanced at Rogue, half-hoping she'd be looking at him, acknowledging him, but with no such luck, He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, which didn't go unnoticed, but still garnered no reaction.

"Only in America," John chuckled sarcastically.

"Oh, real appropriate," Rogue snapped back at him.

"Hey, I can't help it if it's a new Great American pastime!" John continued, egging people on as always. "Playing baseball, eating pie, and killing mutants—"

"Shut up, alright?" Taryn said loudly, glaring at him. She was still feeling guilty, now more than ever, because if she hadn't brought Magneto back – a pointed glance from Rogue kept Taryn from finishing off the thought. Rogue seemed to have taken Taryn's advice to heart. Even if she was upset about things, she seemed more alive now.

"It isn't only like that here," Colossus, né Piotr Rasputin, added in, breaking the tense silence. "My sister, Illyana, says things are just as bad at home."

"Oh, yeah, encouraging," John continued. "Times are shitty, but they could be worse! We could be in Russia—"

"Would you just shut the hell up?" Taryn snapped, standing up and storming out of the room. John felt horrible for letting his mouth run again, but he masked it with a snide smirk.

"Good thing Angel isn't up yet to go chase after the drama queen," he chuckled, receive glares from everyone in the room.

"You're going out to get her." Rogue said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at him. John, knowing that a stupid remark at the moment may cost him a limb, rolled his eyes and obliged.

He trudged outside despondently. "Taryn," he called out. "Taryn!"

No answer.

He glanced around, and stood rather still. Was she ignoring him? In a situation like this, she'd usually be itching for a chance to tell him off. Suddenly, he caught two voices around the corner wall, one male and one female.

"Figures." He muttered. "Cupcaking with Angel this early –"

It only took him another second to realize that the male voice didn't belong to Warren, and that whoever it did belong to wasn't exactly selling Girl Scout cookies. He peered round the corner, and decided to keep silent until the right moment.

"I'd come quietly if I were you," said the male voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Taryn said in a low voice.

"Does it matter?" the man laughed. "You're coming with me –"

Taryn made a fist and threw it in a slamming motion toward the ground, expecting him to fly headfirst into the grass, only to find that he didn't budge. The man smirked. Then, he made the exact same motion, sending Taryn plowing into the ground.

"Anything you can do, I can do better," he chuckled evilly as Taryn staggered back to her feet. She was about to give it another try when she noticed the stranger look out past her shoulder. She herself turned around and stared in horror at John, who now was pinned to the ground, as if by an invisible weight. She glared back at the nameless man.

"You and your friend are coming with me." He lifted them both into the air, and sent them crashing to the ground, unconscious. "And I don't take 'no' for an answer."


Taryn awoke to the sensation of something dripping onto her head. She rubbed her eyes and sat up sorely, glancing around. She saw cement bricks. A window. Bars caked in ice & snow. They were obviously somewhere cold.

Yeah, that helped.

"Dammit." She groaned. "Where am I?" She attempted to lean backward when she realized that whatever she had been lying on earlier was now moving. "John?"

"Where the hell are we, huh?" he grumbled.

"Oh, gee, let me go check the map!" Taryn muttered sarcastically. She looked at him again, and noticed a large knot on his head, livid red and purple with unsightly blood spots. "You okay?" she asked, reaching out towards him.

"Fine." He snapped, swatting her hand away. Taryn rolled her eyes at him.

"You don't have to be such an ass, I was just checking.
"Oh, please…" John groaned. "You're not fucking Florence Nightingale—"

"Just shut the hell up and let me look at it!" Taryn growled in exasperation. John put his hands up in surrender and submitted to Taryn gently grazing her fingers over it, wincing when she ran over a sore spot. "It's pretty ugly…"

"You think?" John retorted.

Without responding, Taryn stood up and went under the window. Closing her eyes in concentration, she lifted herself up towards the high window and wriggled her hand through the tiny gap between the bars, pulling it back in with a handful of sand. She got herself back on the ground, and proceeded to put a small amount of it onto John's forehead. When he saw her coming at him with it, he started leaning out of the way.

"Hold still, for fuck's sake!" Taryn snapped.

"Some polar bear could have just taken in a piss in that snow!" John said, almost hysterically. "Didn't think about that, did you?"

"Last time I checked, piss was yellow." Taryn sneered at him, holding up the handful of slowly melting, absolutely white snow. "Plus, people piss on jellyfish stings, and they turn out fine—"

"Am I interrupting something?" said a voice behind the bars. Taryn and john both turned around and looked up to see the face of their kidnapper leering at them from above. "The name's Drop Force—"

"Real creative," John said with a snort. Drop Force glared at him, waved his hand, and sent him falling forward to the ground, hitting the already painful knot on his head.

"Don't toss him around, you dick!" Taryn yelled, much to John's surprise. "We're only here because of me—"

"Correct, miss." He smirked. "I require your cooperation." Taryn leaned back, prepared for an evil rant. John rolled his eyes. He'd heard his fair share of these with Magneto. "For ages, people have tried to destroy their superiors, merely because they fear their own weakness. And now, the time has come to create a race of people who are worthy of controlling this world –"

"Déjà vu," John muttered.

"We must purge ourselves of our oppressors—"

"No thanks." Taryn interrupted, and then added sarcastically, "How are you planning to purge yourself, anyway? You don't look bulimic to me."

"Let's just say," Drop Force began with a wicked grin, "that I plan on seeing who among us can take the heat." He gave a condescending wink at his hostages. "Think on it." And with that, he swept away, leaving Taryn deep in thought.

"What was that all about?" John asked in confusion, rubbing his head.

Taryn paused, still thinking, then gave a gasp in realization. "The sun!" She said in hoarse whisper. "Of course! He's going to pull the Earth as close as he can to the sun. into its orbit, to destroy the humans—"

"That'll fry us too." John pointed out. Taryn rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"Obviously." She said shortly. 'The guy's delusional." She let out a breath and looked at John sincerely. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this because of me. He was after me—"

"I bet you're glad that at least I'm the one who has a big fucking lump on his forehead, instead of your pretty-boy boyfriend—"

"I'm trying to apologize!" Taryn snapped. John snorted derisively and turned away from her, and Taryn could tell that he was still hurting from her choice. "Look," she said quietly. "No matter what you think, I didn't pick Warren just to hurt you. I just…I couldn't do it anymore. You always asked so much from me—"

"Bull shit!" John interrupted, turning around right in her face and making her jump slightly. "Like what?"

Taryn sneered at him, and said in a high, whiny voice. "Taryn, you're my girlfriend so you have to do what I say and follow me and agree with me and always bee on my side and agree with me and—"

"Stop it!" John said loudly.

"Fine." Taryn said resolutely, then scooting over to sit against the wall. "You're so fucking blind—" she said, pounding her fist backwards against the cement block wall. In her frustration, she didn't notice something land with a clink onto the ground, out of a makeshift pocket in her sweatshirt sleeve. She only realized it when she saw John looking downward at a small, metal, rectangular object that landed on the ground next to her.

His lighter.

"Care to explain that?" he asked.

Taryn rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and picked it up, staring at the Zippo lighter with a shark design. "You dropped it in my room that one night when you tried to get me to leave." She said quietly.

"Still doesn't explain why it's in your pocket." John said, no longer sardonic or condescending, but genuinely wanting to know the answer.

Taryn looked up at him and sighed desperately. "I wanted to keep it, so sue me." She said in a single breath. "it's all I had left. When you went away…" she paused and looked down at the floor. "I already convinced myself that we didn't stand a cat in hell's chance. You don't even know—"

"Like hell, I don't know." John said, now kneeling in front of her with his hand on her knee, looking her straight in the eye. "I had to deal with it too. I thought I was doing the right thing—"

"Look, if it means so much to you, you can have the stupid thing!" she said, shoving the lighter forcefully into his hand. "It's not like I've got much use for it."

John paused and stared at it. There was a time when that thing had been the only thing he valued in the entire world. He glanced up at Taryn. "Thanks," he said, with a half-smile, which she returned for a moment, then looked away again. John daringly reached out for her hand again. "You're freezing." He said.

"It's kinda to be expected." She replied with a weak laugh.

"C'mere," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. She froze up and stared at him suspiciously. "I'm not trying to do anything." He said, resting his chin on her shoulder from behind. "I've missed you. So sue me."

"John, I'm gonna tell you this one last time," she said, leaning her head gently against his, though still considerably tense. "As far as I'm concerned, no one is better than you. I just…I can't handle us anymore."

John sighed and nodded. "We're gonna be okay," he said, trying to sound confident. "We're gonna get out of here.

"Like you know," she laughed quietly with a shot of sarcasm. "And I have a feeling things'll be warming up really soon…"


A/N's

Le sigh.

Not too many reviews this time around -- but the ones I did get really made my day! Well, yep, I know a few readers are going to be disappointed that Taryn and John were kidnapped and shoved in a cell together. But don't worry, it's just a temporary arrangement. I haven't forgotten that she picked Warren, don't worry. But John's territorial. You didn't think he was just going to give up, right?

Next chapter, we see how everyone at the school reacts when John and Taryn go missing, and we see the return of a few familiar faces, plus the story behind this new mutant, Drop Force, who so unceremoniously spirited our little friends away.

And just to point something out -- I had a little too much fun with the line, "Some polar bear could have just taken a piss in that snow!"