Author's Note: Ok, here's chapter 12. I know I haven't published in a while, but I've been thinking about where I'm going with things, and I think you will like what I have in mind.


The Philosophical Chapter

Rowdy was slumped in an arm chair in the X-men's rec room, pretending to watch tv and glancing half interested around the room. Mostly though he was thinking over the past few days. It was just before noon on Saturday morning, three days after his first introduction to the X-men. He was amazed both at how much he had told them about himself and how open they seemed to be with him. Letting him in on their briefing the night before had given him the opportunity to listen in on their strategies and to see how they interacted as a team. He had seen first hand that they were extremely organized. Of course, he would have expected no less from a man like Xavier who had proven himself every bit as sharp as Doc Russell. Probably sharper, Rowdy allowed, figuring the man didn't limit himself to philosophy but seemed to thirst for knowledge on all fronts. Ph.D.'s in Genetics, Biophysics, and Psychology and two years teaching at Oxford was pretty impressive to anyone, and particularly so to a twenty year old high school drop out. Sure Rowdy had a fair education, but it was limited to the small range of things he had taken the time to teach himself or learn from the Doc. The idea of Ph.D.'s in anything, much less three complicated sciences, was beyond his capacity.

Then of course there was the fact that the man was a telepath. The world's most powerful telepath Xavier had said. He hadn't seemed arrogant about it, he simply stated it as a fact in a way that gave Rowdy no cause to doubt him. For some reason though, Xavier didn't seem to know anything about him. He claimed it was because he didn't read people's minds without permission, but surely there must be more to it. Each time he looked at a member of his X-men he seemed to know exactly what they were thinking, as if some thoughts slipped out, but that knowingness didn't seem to extend to Rowdy. There had to be something else.

Rowdy put those thoughts aside for the moment. Three days of comparative sobriety was making his head hurt. Combining that with the pain of his knee and he didn't really feel like tackling a problem like the professor just yet. Besides, he'd agreed to stick around for a little while, so he'd have plenty of time to puzzle out the mind reader later. He glanced at the clock on the wall: 11:50. Summers had said he could watch the danger room session, something Rowdy gathered to be some sort of training session, but Rowdy had opted instead to sleep late.

Summers. There was another interesting one. He was serious as hell, never seemed to smile, always seemed to be planning something. All in all he was the kind of man Rowdy generally couldn't stand to be in the same room with. Yet, for some reason, Rowdy liked him. Perhaps it was because of their chat in the infirmary a few days before, he wasn't sure, but there was definitely something likable about him. Not like that asshole Bobby who, by all rights, should have been the one Rowdy would have chosen as a kindred spirit. Instead Rowdy found his jokes annoying. Maybe it was just because the guy seemed to have taken a instant dislike for him. Everytime the subject of the Man in Black had come up the frozen prick said the same thing. 'Why don't you help? You must know more. Tell us more.' Couldn't the bastard see Rowdy had told them as much as he was allowed? Of course Rowdy knew who the guy was, but it was in the deal that he couldn't tell anybody. Not unless they asked the right questions and figured it out for themselves. He set Bobby aside for the time being as well.

Now Kitty. She was one Rowdy would like to know more about. Smiling, happy, and hyper, even during the mission debrief, after she'd gotten her arm sliced by some mutant freak-Rowdy smiled at the perversity of calling another mutant a freak- she seemed to be full of life. A lot like Jenny had been. Not totally though. Jenny had been laid back and quiet where Kitty was hyper and talkative, but she was always happy, never letting anything bother her for long. She was the reason Rowdy was waiting in the rec room. Rather than giving himself a tour, Rowdy had quickly accepted Kitty's offer the previous night of showing him around. Things were always more fun when a cute girl was involved.

So there he was, sitting in a leather arm chair, his bum leg propped up on the coffee table, pretending to watch Scooby Doo on the Cartoon Network, wishing for a drink, waiting for the pint sized brunette to finish training. He had considered going downstairs and watching the last bit but had quickly found that he didn't seem to have access to the elevator. So they didn't totally trust him. In this, oddly enough, Rowdy found some comfort.

"You just don't get it, do you? Those may have just been training drones, but they could still land you or one of my team in the infirmary!"

Rowdy was pulled out of his musings by the sound of Summers shouting.

"Nobody got hurt mon ami, an nobody was gone get hurt. I know what I'm doin, non?" That was definitely Gambit, though he didn't seem to be as agitated as Summers.

"No, nobody got hurt, but it was only thanks to Jean's warning. Not only did you leave Rogue's flank exposed, you nearly blew Kurt sky high with that blast!"

Remy walked casually into the room, glancing at Rowdy.

"Bonjour," he said to Rowdy, then turned back to Scott. "Rogue's good enough she can cover dat flank by herself. An I make sure dat baddy blew in the other direction. Nightcrawler was never in any danger."

"And just how would you know how 'good' Rogue is? You've seen her fight twice, and last night you pretty well proved that you don't know anything about her at all." Scott stormed into the room, not even noticing Rowdy's spot in the middle of the room.

"Right homme, I seen her fight twice. I know how good she is. She didn't let anyt'ing by her. Not once. She good. And by divin' into those robots I drew their fire and ended the battle faster than if I'd waited for you to pull what ever 'plan' you had. We still be fightin' if I'd waited on you."

"I was fixing to give the order to Storm to make her move. We had the scenario beat before you went and tried to play Rambo!"

"But I did play Rambo, an did a fair impression too I t'ink, and we beat de scenario anyway doin' it my way."

"And that's not the way we do things in the X-men! We don't put people in that kind of danger when there's a safer alternative! That's why I give the orders in the field. That's why we're part of a team." Scott said, slowly returning to his speaking voice.

"An I guess dat's why I'm not part of your team, non? I just de one you call to do de dirty work." Remy said. He turned to Rowdy and smiled. "What you tink homme? T'ink I'm not team player enough to play wit de spandex club?"

"Hey, don't ask me, I'm not in the club either," Rowdy said.

"Darn. I was hopin' you teach me de secret handshake," Remy said, sliding smoothly onto the couch and draping his feet over the end.

"Rowdy. See if you can talk some sense into this idiot," Scott said.

Rowdy raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised.

"I don't know you very well, but you've got to have a better idea of what's going on than this loose cannon," Scott said, turning and walking out of the room.

Rowdy and Remy looked at each other, both surprised at the way the argument had ended. Then, as if on cue, they both broke down laughing.

"I take it you tink he got a stick up his butt too?" Remy said

"Well, I don't know about that but, in case nobody's told you, I'm new here too. My only fighting experience with the X-men was on the receiving end."

"So i guess either you're not much of a fighter or maybe his idea would have worked, huh?" Remy said, looking at Rowdy's knee.

"Something like that," Rowdy said. "You're Cajun, right?"

"Non, I just talk dis way to pick up girls," Remy said with a smile.

"Yeah, right," Rowdy said. "Where abouts you from?

"Nawlens, born an bred. You?"

"Not quite that deep south. North Carolina."

"You a long way from home homme. You say last night you ripped off drug lords in Columbia?"

"For a little while. Didn't go real well though."

"Non, it didn't go so well for me neither. Got a hit worth ten million now."

"Yeah? Who do I see to collect it?" Rowdy said.

"Probably de same man you runnin from."

Rowdy didn't get a chance to answer, he was interrupted by another voice from the hallway.

"I could have killed 'em all, I could kill you. In town you're the law, out here it's me. Don't push it. Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go. Let it go." Bobby walked in, doing an almost perfect impression of Sylvester Stallone's Rambo.

"Bobby, will you hush with that? It was funny the first time, but it's kinda gettin' old." Rogue followed him into the room. "And you, Swamp Rat! What was the big idea leaving my flank exposed? And if you even think about commenting on that I'll wrap that trench coat around your neck till those red eyes of yours turn blue."

"Easy petite, I already hear it from de fearless leader. Besides, we gettin' along so good downstairs, why start fighting again?" Remy said.

"Well, so long as you keep your come-on lines to to yourself an don't go blowin' up my keys again I guess we can be civil," Rogue said, the fire fading from her eyes. She glanced at Rowdy. "Well hey, look who decided to crawl out of bed. How's your knee, Sugah?"

"It hurts like a bitch but I reckon I'll live. Kitty comin' up?" Rowdy said.

As if on cue, Kitty phased through the wall by the entertainment center, causing the television to flicker and change channels.

"Hey, come on Kitty, they just caught the Creeper!" Bobby said.

"It was really de park owner in a mask. He was tryin' to get into Daphne's pants." Remy grinned.

"Yeah, an he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids. You ready for that tour?" Rowdy said, slowly pulling himself out of his chair.

"Absolutely!" Kitty said. "Let's start with the kitchen. I'm about to starve."


"So how much of the mansion did the Professor show you while we were gone?" Kitty asked as she piled two roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, three cookies, and a pickle onto her plate.

"Not much, just what I saw on the way up to his office," Rowdy said. He set his plate full of sandwiches down on the kitchen table and walked to the refrigerator.

"That's it? We were gone several hours! You guys talked the entire time?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I filled him in on the highlights of my life and he gave me the high points about all of yall. I think he pretty much wanted me to get the real low down on the X-men from one of yall though. Then we kinda digressed to politics and philosophy."

Kitty gave him an odd look. "You're kidding."

"Naw, why?" Rowdy pulled two Guinness's out of the fridge and walked limped back to the table.

"Well, no offense, but you don't exactly look like the political type."

"Yeah, I'm not really. Did you know the president is Robert Kelly?" He cracked open one of the beers and poured it into a glass.

Kitty gave Rowdy another odd look, then just shook her head. "Wow, you really have been out of it." She took a huge bite from one of her sandwiches. "You know Logan's going to kill you if he catches you drinking his beer."

Rowdy shrugged. "So what brought you to the X-men?"

"Professor Xavier recruited me when my powers first started to emerge and my parents let me come here to learn more about them. I-"

"Logan's gonna kill you if he caches you drinking his beer."

Rowdy and Kitty looked up and saw Rogue and Bobby standing in the doorway.

"Naa, I figure I'll buy him a four pack later," Rowdy said, draining the glass and cracking open the second can. "It'll be alright."

"What are you going to buy it with?" Bobby asked. "I thought you were broke."

"Well how 'bout you loan me a couple bucks then? We'll call it the 'save the injured alcoholics' fund."

"No, you can just steal it like you do everything else."

"So I take it you've never had to steal anything, Iceman?" The way Rowdy said 'Iceman' sounded more like an insult and Bobby's name.

"As it happens, Rowdy, I've worked for all the money I've had."

"Worked? Or bummed of the rich bald guy upstairs?"

"Hey, come on you guys, cut it out! You've known each other for like three days" Kitty said, trying to avert another argument between her best friend and the guy she had hoped to have some time alone with.

"That didn't seem to take long." Yet another voice trailed in from the kitchen door. This time it was Jean Grey. "Rowdy, why don't you let Kitty show you around some more. Bobby, I think Hank was looking for you. He said something about snow football."

Bobby and Rowdy gave each other hard looks before Bobby finally turned and walked back out of the kitchen.

"Kitty, I rented Monty Python's Holy Grail the other day, before we had to go fight that crazy cult if you want to watch it later," Bobby said on his way back through the door, not bothering to wait for an answer.

"Yeah, why don't we get on with looking around," Rowdy said, pulling himself up. "I wanna see this library the professor mentioned yesterday."

"Oh, and Rowdy," Jean said.. "For future reference, Logan doesn't like people drinking his beer."

"Yeah, it seems like I heard that somewhere," Rowdy said as he limped out the door behind Kitty.

Rogue watched them leave then sat down to eat the second sandwich Kitty had left, untouched, on her plate. "I don't get it Jean."

"You mean Bobby and Rowdy?" Jean said, opening the refrigerator door.

"Yeah. They've barely even talked to each other, but it's like every word out of their mouths is some kind of dig at the other one. I mean, They just met, how could they hate each other already?"

"Well it's not just those two that seem to have decided they don't like each other."

"What do you mean?"

"Well unless I'm mistaken, it seems like you and our friend Gambit don't seem to get on very well either."

"Well yeah, but that's different. He keeps hittin' on me."

"He's only joking Rogue."

"Yeah, but I don't care for that kind of joking."

"Why not?" Jean asked, knowing the answer.

"Because it's not fair. Even if I was interested in him it's not like I could have any kind of relationship with him. Or anybody."

"Have you told him about your power yet?"

Rogue shook her hear.

"Then maybe you should. Maybe then he'll back off."

"And if he don't?" Rogue asked.

"Then maybe you should consider that maybe he's interested in you regardless of your handicap."


"What do you make of our young friend, Scott?" Professor Xavier asked.

Scott looked up from the mini bar where he was pouring himself a Coke. Turning to lean on the bar, facing Xavier, he thought for a moment.

"Well, he's opened up a lot since we first brought him here, but he's still not telling us anything useful."

"No, and I doubt he will for quite some time," Xavier said. "What about him personally?"

"I'm not really sure yet. He's sarcastic and pretty impatient, but when I got him to open up the other day he seemed to be pretty friendly. At least until he realized that he was being friendly."

"Yes, I think that's the key. He seems to be deliberately making himself unsociable. He goes from not wanting to talk or help to talking freely about nearly anything for a few moments. Then he goes back to being silent."

"He's still scared of us?" Scott asked.

"No, not us. I think he's scared of getting close to us. It's very text book psychology. He's recently lost his three best friends and now doesn't want to make new ones for fear of losing them. This Man in Black simply adds to that fear. Because of this he is deliberately belligerent and sarcastic. What about his mental faculties?"

"Mental faculties? What about them?"

"What do you think of his mental frame of mind?" Xavier asked. He had a pointed look, giving Scott the feeling he was in the middle of an exam and the answer to this question would determine whether he passed or failed.

"Well," Scott paused to choose the right words. "He seems nervous, but that makes since given his situation. It's those hallucinations he had that worry you, isn't it?"

"Yes. Those combined with not being able to 'see' him telepathically worry me greatly. If anyone of the X-men started having hallucinations I would have them committed to the infirmary for Dr. McCoy and Jean to examine immediately. Even Logan does not have actually hallucinations when he is awake."

"Do you think he's crazy, Professor?"

"Clinically, no. Having hallucinations does not necessarily make one crazy, particularly since I suspect he knows that he is having them. He doesn't seem to have trouble distinguishing reality from illusion. However, he is not stable. And there is something else that bothers me."

Scott looked at the Professor, sensing he would not like what he was about to hear.

"You like him, don't you Scott?"

"Yes sir, I do. He's rough, and maybe not a good fit as an X-man, but I think he would make a good student here at the very least."

"Yes," Xavier said. "So do I. I think he needs to be a student here. What about Kitty? She appears to have taken quite a liking to him as well."

"Yeah, I think that's an understatement. But then, you know know how kitty is when she meets a new guy. When she first came here she had a crush on me. She'd jump and drop whatever she was holding whenever I walked into the room."

"Yes, I remember. I seem to recall her volunteering for night security duty so that she could spend time with you."

Scott looked away, trying not to blush. The young X-man's crush on him had been cause of many good natured ribbing's from Jean, Hank, Bobby, and even Logan.

"What's your point professor?"

"Rowdy said some unsettling things during our discussions the other day. You know he had studied philosophy?"

"Yeah, you mentioned he was friends with a philosophy professor."

"Yes. Dr. Calvin Russell of New York University. I'm familiar with much of his work. He has written extensively on Machiavelli. Rowdy has a better than average grasp on the subject. He quoted The Prince and Plato's Republic, and Thomas Hobbs several times."

"And that makes you nervous?" Scott frowned. He himself had read all three philosophers works and couldn't understand why it would worry the professor so much.

"By its self no. He has a very dim view of humanity however. He expect the worst from people. Because of this he believes that peace in simply a good idea, but not a logical possibility."

Scott's frown didn't change. Philosophy and psychology just weren't his strong suits.

"Perhaps this help you to understand my worries a little more clearly." Xavier slid a book across his desk. "Read through that tonight. And in the meantime, I don't want Kitty volunteering for night duty with Rowdy anytime soon." At that, he turned his wheel chair and moved towards the door of his office.

Scott picked up the book he had been given and glanced at it as he moved to follow the professor. It was "The Necessary Evil" by Erik Lehnsher.


Author's Note: OK, Like the chapter title suggested, I got a little philosophical in this one, and probably will in a few later chapters as well. If I over do it, or get too melodramatic, yall let me know. Next chapter: Snow Football, another look at the Man In Black, and the all important question- What does happen when Logan catches someone drinking his beer?

By the way, my iguana and I will be leaving for Hawaii in a few days for two weeks drinking Mai Tai's and flirting with Hawaiian girls, so I won't be updating until after the 18th. It should be fun if I can keep the iguana away from the volcano's. No good can come of that. He is great at picking up girls though, so it should be worth the extra effort.