The Ripple in Man and Mutantkind

by Mistercraycray95

It was a normal school day at Bayvile High School for David Ripley, or as normal as it could be for an abused gay kid, until he finds out he's a mutant, which is more scarier than finding out you're gay, but joining the X-Men makes it all worth it. Rated M for language, violence, and brief sexual content.

21. Chapter 21

X-Men Evolution: The Ripple in Man and Mutant kind

Chapter 21: The Ripple meets the Rogue

At a poorly guarded warehouse, a man in a black outfit that covered him from head to toe, save his eyes, crawled through its ventilation system. "Impressive." A voice rang out. "You managed to slip past the security grid." The man opened up an air vent and jumped to the floor below. "However, you won't have such an easy time with me." A woman with white hair, blue eyes, and a black suit with a flowing clock appeared and flung a bolt of lightning at her assailant. He dodged the lightning and went back into the air vents. "Testing me, hmm? Very well, it's time I remind you why they call me Storm!" She said as a cloud appeared over her head, while outside storm clouds were concntrating and rain began to pour from them in a whirlpool like fashion through a chimney. Inside the vents, the man heard a loud noise like rushing water and turned around to see a torrent racing towards him. He tried crawling fast, but the water was faster and it pushed him a lengths away and into a large chrome room full of heavy looking machines.

"You look a little flushed." Storm said over a speaker from a control room above the room. "And your forecast isn't good." The assailant lunged forward, but was swept away by a cold breeze that froze him to the wall. He struggled, but managed to escape the ice.

"Now that was cold." He said.

"Well then, let's warm you up." Storm said pushing a button. A large laser gun came out of a wall and began to blast at the ninja man. With a mighty lunge, adamantium claws emerged from the back of the man's hands and sliced at the weapon, causing it to explode and send him flying, and also seering most of his outfit.

"You gotta connect first, any more party tricks?" He shouted. Suddenly a large cylinder with a cavalcade of different things appeared and a rotating metal wall began blasting at the man. He jumped and dodged everything that was trying to hit him and sliced away at the wall before delivering a couple more to the center.

"Stop." A male voice rang out before the machines stopped. " That is quite enough, it is for the moment all we can afford Wolverine." The man removed his mask and revealed a big chinned man with a distinctive haircut.

"Hey when I give a demo, I give a demo." He said smiling.

"As in demonstration or demolish?" A young man with red shades said over the speakers.

"Whatever it was, it was hot." A black haired boy said. All the people who gathered in the control room looked at him with curious looks. "I meant his actions, well umm... the actions he was doing while doing the... thing, for God's sake someone please stop me."

"Okay, stop it." A blue fuzzy elf boy said while hanging upside down and eating popcorn. Everyone younger than Storm in the room laughed. The black haired boy frowned, but then started to giggle to himself.

"Thank you Kurt." He said.

"Happy to help Ripley." Kurt said winking at him.

(Ripley's P.O.V)

After Logan was through with the infiltration simulation, and my awkward comment that was taken way out of context, Scott spoke up. "That was impressive and all, but what was the point?" He said.

"This simulation was meant to show you how to bypass and deactivate highly active security systems." Storm said. I raised up my hand with a question behind it."Ripley?"

"Yeah, when exactly would we need to break into warehouses and 'bypass highly active security systems'? Are we planning on taking a shipment of some advanced equipment or something?" I said.

"No, but these exercises teach you to be open minded to every possible outcome in a battle." Storm said.

"Yep." Logan said coming off the elevator. "So I hope you watched very carefully Rip." I gave a little smile, apparently my nickname had been spread to everyone else and almost everyone referred to me as Rip sometimes.

"Man, zhat vas tight. Thumbs up." Kurt said giving Logan two thumbs up, upside down. Jean and I snickered at Kurt as Logan went to the computer moniters that recorded his progress on the simulation.

"I feel like that vent was too easy to get through, maybe we should install a tripwire or maybe poison gas."Logan said. I looked at the monitors and saw the lasers and buzz saws went through in the ventilation system and cringed.

"What, nearly cut in many places in more than one way with more than one method wasn't enough?" I thought.

"Logan." Storm said sternly.

"Fine, knockout gas then." He grunted. I didn't see it, but Kitty was trembling in her chair.

"Oooh." She shivered. "Is it just me, or is anybody else, like, totally freaked out by all this?" Everyone just stared at her, except me because I find staring to be kind of rude, and Kurt ate a small handful of his popcorn. "Oh it's just me? Great." She leaned back in her chair with her arms crosssed. I stood up and walked to her.

"Trust me Kitty, I'm sure all of us felt the same way you did and it's okay to be a little nervous at first, but eventually this becomes natural to you and you adapt, even to the most crazy things." I said looking at Logan.

"Yah." Kurt said before teleporting and appearing right next to Kitty and I. "And the fuzzy man and his friends will be glad to help you adjust." He teleported and appeared on the opposite side laying down on the table and supporting his bowl of popcorn with his tail, which was aimed towards Kitty. "Popcorn?"

"Umm..." She said standing up. "If it's alright with everyone, I think I'm just going to just, like, turn in." She said as she phased through the floor, leaving Kurt with a down look on his face.

"She clearly doesn't dig zhe fuzzy man, not zhat I blame her." He said.

"It's okay Kurt, just give her time. She'll come around." Scott said.

"Yah, maybe." Kurt said. I put an arm around Kurt's shoulder.

"There's no 'maybe' Kurt. I've been around you for a while and even before moving in I found your fuzz to be adorable, and if I can then everyone else should be able to as well." I said. Kurt looked at everyone who smiled at him before he smiled at me brightly.

"You're right, thanks Ripley." He said.

"X-Men." Xavier's voice rang out as he rolled in the room from the elevator. "Cerebro has detected a new mutant, and for this one we need to bring the whole team."

"Why everyone?" Scott asked.

"Her powers seem to have brought two sets of minds into her mind and she is confused, terrified, and on the run. I fear that if we don't get to her quickly she will hurt herself and others. X-Men, we have a rogue on our hands." Xavier said. How Xavier mentioned this new mutant reminded me of the dream I had earlier, and it's hidden message I couldn't quite explain or understand. *(See last chapter for details. -Mcc)

"Understood, alright guys let's suit up." Scott said. "We move out in five." One by one everyone in the room went into the elevator except me, I was still lost in my own thoughts.

"Hey Rip, ya got lead in your feet or what? Let's move!" Logan said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, it's just that I would happiliy oblige if I had a suit to suit up with, but if I remember correctly I burned and shredded it, well Sabertooth did minus the burning part." I said.

"Don't worry Ripley, we fixed a little something to your likeness. You should be able to find it on your way out of the elevator to your right." Xavier said.

"Really? Cool, thanks." I said walking into the elevator.

"Oh and Ripley." Xavier said."Be sure to find Kitty and lead her down to the winger with you."

"Yes sir!" I said playfully saluting before the door closed. After a few seconds the elevator doors opened and there was a brown package with my name on it.

"Hmm, an inconspicuous box with my name on it, how nice." I thought grabbing the package and teleporting to my room. I opened the box and there was a little envelope with a wax seal with an "X". I opened the envelope and inside was a letter to me.

"Ripley, we greatly underestimated your power and the integrity of your original uniform, so we present to you a more fortified uniform that should be able to withstand almost any kind of damage to it. Plus we caught on to your sense of style and modified it more to your liking to make you more comfortable and ready for unforseen events. May this uniform prove to be a symbol of who you are and where you stand from now on. - Professor Charles Xavier

I put the letter down and looked at the new copy of my original uniform inside, and it seemed different from the original somehow. I took it out and noticed the giant red "X" was darker and then I looked into the box to see a long black cloak that looked exactly as the one I made, but it seemed more well done and seemed to be made with silk and smoked satin because touching was just so...

"Mmm." I said. Without any words or any other deeds I slipped on the new uniform and looked at myself in the mirror. My middle and ring fingers stuck out of a strip of fabric that gloved them and allowed my other fingers to come out of two gaping hokes in the sides that were just big enough to let them through. The pants had thin red stripes going from the black belt and went down my thighs to the middle of my boots and ended at where my boots' top lining was. My cloak shrouded my shoulders and my arms and went down until it touched the floor. If anything else, I looked rather elegant. "If looks could kill, I'd be dead, undead, and then dead again." I said as I teleported out of my room. I walked down the hall and found Kitty pulling the little shoes from her uniform on.

"Hey Kitty, I was coming to come and get you." I said.

"Yeah the Professor told me to put my uniform on, in my mind which, like, totally freaked me out by the way. He told me you were coming to escort me to the winger, whatever that is." She said.

"It's a winger, you know for jets and helicopters, that sort of thing?" I said. Kitty's eyes went wide.

"This place has jets and helicopters? Shut up!" She said.

"I'm serious, it's totally crazy. There's like two helicopters and a jet." I said waving a hand around. "It's crazy, right?"

"Yeah!" Kitty said loudly. We both walked out of her room while we continued to converse.

"But something I'm still wondering about is where he gets some of this stuff." I said.

"Maybe he dumpster dives sometimes?" Kitty said. I raised a brow at her.

"Xavier?"

"Yeah."

"A crippled older man with mind reading powers?"

"Yeah, don't crippled people get more upper body strength?"

"Okay, no and seriously, dumpster diving for jets and helicopters? Where would there be a dumpster for jets and helicopters?"

"No you dork, for parts to make the jets and stuff."

I got a derpy look on my face which made Kitty laugh as we descended down in the elevator.

"Well, I suppose that's a plausible theory at least, but where would you go to find dumpsters for parts for air vehicles?"

"Can't you make stuff from, like, anything?"

"Not exactly."

"But what if you have a lot of it?"

"A lot of what exactly?"

"You know, like, stuff."

"I don't know what 'stuff' means, what stuff are you referring to? How did we even begin to talk about this?"

"I don't know!" We both burst out into laughter and we found ourselves in the hanger. Kitty and I widened our eyes at how big the hanger was.

"Oh..."

"My..."

"God." We both said in tandem.

"I have heard about the hanger a couple of times, but I never knew it was the size of Alaska." I said.

"Why Alaska?" Kitty asked with a raised brow.

"Why not?"

"Hmm, touchè."

I looked out and saw the jet, and Wolverine waiting outside for us. I led Kitty to the jet and Wolverine greeted us with a low grunt. "Hmm, not bad Rip, you're just a bit late." He said.

"Sorry we're late, I got stuck in the maze." I said. Wolverine sniffed at me.

"Alright smart guy, let's move." He said leading us into the jet.

"I'm serious, and there was a moat with tons of alligators trying to eat me, I would be dead if Kitty hadn't saved my life." I said. Wolverine gave an irritated growl and unsheathed the claws from his left hand. "I'm gonna shut up now, okay?" Wolverine sheathed his claws back into his hand.

"Now move!" The three of us walked into the jet and I took a couple seconds to look around the interior of the jet.

"Cool, leather seats." I said as Kitty, Wolverine, and I took our seats in individual chairs.

"Good, everyone is here now. Whenever you're ready Nightcrawler." Xavier said. I looked at the cockpit and my eyes widened in terror. Nightcrawler was behind the stick and he was starting the jet to get ready to fly it. Jean looked back at me and noticed I was quivering.

"Don't worry Ripley."Jean said."Kurt has been taking lessons with Scott, and even as he is he knows to be focused and serious when he really has to." I sighed a bit and prepared for take off. "By the way, I like the uniform."

"Thanks Jeanie, but you should feel the cloak, it feels great when you touch it." I said as the jet started, which excited my body and made me quiver.

"Whoo!" I said loudly. Everyone looked at me with a raised brow. "Sorry, p-shivers." I said with an awkward grin. Everybody turned back around, except Wolverine who gave me a kind of piercing glare like I was guilty of murder. I turned away and tried to look out a window, only problem was there wasn't a window to be seen.

Elsewhere

A young boy was running back home, his dad's car was gone and he remembered that it was date night tonight. He tried to search for his keys in his pocket, but stopped when he remembered the extra key above the front door. He reached into the gutter space and felt around until he found the key and unlocked the door and went inside. Once inside he went straight to his room and marveled at the trophies and awards for his physical feats and achievements thanks to them. He then pulled out a family album and inside were pictures of man, a woman, and himself. His mother, father, and what he thought was him, but it wasn't. He was actually a southern teenage goth girl named Rogue who accidentally stole the boys' memories and his physical stamina.

"All these memories, mah parents, mah life. It's all mahne, but it isn't. Ah don't..." She said making her way to a mirror that had trophies piled on the dresser the mirror was standing on. She shoved all of them off the dresser before gazing into the mirror again. "Who the hell am Ah?"

While the poor confused girl was sorting through her memories, her mother, a blind woman named Irene was dialing up a number she hasn't used in a while.

"It happened, she's now aware of her abilities, and she's loose on the streets. Well what was I supposed to do? She's a teenaged girl! We fabricated the perfect story, the clothes, the fake skin condition, and she seemed perfectly content with it. " She kept quiet as the person on the opposite end talked. "Yes, of course you're coming, but Xavier's team will be here as well."

(Ripley's P.O.V.)

We were flying swiftly and smoothly on our way to Louisiana to meet this new mutant, and like a few of the others I felt strangely eager to find out what she could do, and what she was like. On the way, Kitty and I were admiring the work done on my new uniform and how silky smooth my cloak is. Xavier explained that she was a goth girl, which told me she shared one of my tastes in music because I'm kind of goth, so she was probably somebody I could get along with. In the cockpit, Cyclops was giving some helpful tips to Nightcrawler to keep him in mint flying condition.

"Alright, keep it steady, and...right there." Cyclops said. "Good job Kurt, we'll make a certified pilot out of you yet."

"Thanks." Nightcrawler said leaning back in his seat and taking the stick with his feet making Cyclops look uneasy.

"Or maybe not." He said looking out at the front. "I cleared our fly pattern with the FAA, we should be able to land in Jackson, and from there we can head out with the X-Van."

"Good, you're picking up logistics quite well Scott." In the back where everyone else was, I couldn't help but admire Cyclops' smarts and nearly permanent poker face, it actually looked kind of cute. I didn't notice that Kitty was doing the same. She leaned forward to Jean.

"Scott seems so, like, together, ya know? And he's kinda cute." She said.

"Mm-hm." I said in agreement. Kitty looked at me with a surprised look.

"Cute? Well, a stiff maybe, but overall, hmm...at a certain angle maybe." She said with a inquisitive expression. Nightcrawler looked back at us and frowned before turning back to face the front before abruptly teleporting out of his seat, catching us all off guard. He appeared on the middle if the jet's nose with a goofy smile.

"What the hell is he doing?" Wolverine said.

"Oh god, please tell me this thing has autopilot." I said. Nightcrawler did a little dance before I saw him lose his footing and trip. "WHOA!" I said teleporting outside and catching Kurt as he fell towards the window, propelling us both towards it. Before we hit it, Nightcrawler teleported us back into the plane and I crashed on the floor, knocking the air out of me, and he landed on Kitty, causing her to yelp. "Oww." I said. "My spleen."

"Kurt, you know better than to play around in the jet. You frightened Kitty and hurt Ripley." Xavier said. Nightcrawler looked at Kitty with an apologetic look.

"Heh... sorry Kitty." He said before looking at me. "Sorry Ripley." I held up a strained thumb.

"No worries." I said weakly. "I'm just going to lay here and try to get my air back and pretend my back doesn't feel like it's broken."

"You know what? Just, like, stay away from me!" Kitty said, undoing her seat belt and walking to my seat. Above my head, I heard Wolverine scoff.

"Kids." He said under his breath and crossing his arms.

"Ugh, tell me something I don't know." I said looking up at him. He gave a little smirk and a sniff before looking back up. I got back up, or at least tried to, and fell down on my face. Everyone near the back looked back at me "Ow."

Elsewhere

A small airplane arrived at a Louisiana airport and a single passenger stepped off, a limo waiting for her. To most, she was a respected school official named Raven Darkholme, but to others she was known as the twisted mutant Mystique. Inside the limo, her dear friend and companion Irene was waiting.

"You took your time in your flight Raven." Irene said.

"Our annonomous benefactor's company has a few certain perks to his plans." Mystique said shifting back into her normal blue skinned and deep red haired form. "What happened? I thought I left the girl in what I thought was your safe keeping."

"I saw how her powers would emerge, I couldn't see when. "Irene said. "But yes I did take... steps. She was at a dance and she accidentally came in contact with a local boy."

"Absorbing his memories and physical abilities, wonderful. We keep her locked away from the world for the better part of five years and in five minutes it all falls apart. We cannot lose her she has great potential for limitless power and we cannot lose her, especially to Xavier. You can see the future Irene, where would she be now?" Mystique asked.

"Home, or where she thinks is home." Irene answered. After a few minutes of driving, the black limo drove and parked in front of the house that was the home of the boy Cody, who was in a sense inside.

"Raven, please be careful, after all she is your..." Irene said.

"I know Irene, and don't worry. She will come to us." Mystique said shifting into a familiar orange and black costumed feral mutant. "Given the right incentive."

Inside the house, Rogue was still looking through Cody's family albums when she heard a knocking at the door. She closed the album and walked to the door and was about to open it when three sharp claws tore through it, causing her to scream. The claws made short work of the door before a man in an orange and black jumpsuit with a scary face jumped through the ruined door.

"Who are you, what do you want?" Rogue asked in a panicked tone.

"I want you girlie, I want you!" He shouted as he lunged at her with a snarl. Rogue dodged the man and turned to face him, grabbing a chunk of door from the floor. "Stand still and I'll make it quick. You're dealing with the X-Men now, and you ain't got a chance."

"X-Men? I don't know what's going on, but leave me alone!" She cried as she hit the man with the wooden plank and running away, behind her she heard the man give a chilling howl and rapid footsteps behind her which made her run faster until she ran out to the backyard. Suddenly a shadow moved over her and a young man with a long cloak, black hair, and glowing white eyes appeared.

"Trying to escape from the X-Men gorgeous? Not going to happen." He said tossing some kind of mini bomb at her. She ran off in another direction and was quickly out of sight. The young man smiled slyly as he shifted into a blue skinned woman with red hair.

"One more turn of the screw and you will come running into my arms ." She said shifting to a woman with white hair and blue eyes.

Meanwhile (Ripley's P.O.V.)

After landing in a discrete looking area that didn't seem to have much human contact whatsoever, Cyclops (who took over as pilot after Nightcrawler's little stunt) flipped a switch and everyone took off their seat belts and we all stepped outside. Once outside, I noticed that the X-Jet had turned invisible on outside. Wolverine drove out of the back of the jet in the X-Van.

"Okay, that is just awesome." I said. Cyclops was the last to come out, along with Xavier and saw that I was intrigued by the cloaked X-Jet.

"Yeah, pretty cool isn't it? A whole bunch of mirrors on the outside reflect and refract images that make the jet seem invisible." Cyclops said.

"Yeah, very nice." I said stepping on the ground and looking back at the jet that was now completely invisible to the naked eye.

"Hmm, how Wonder Woman of Xavier to have a sometimes invisible jet." I thought. Speaking of whom, Xavier had his fingers to his temples and was most likely scanning around the area before he opened his eyes.

"Wolverine, you take Ripley, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat with you to scout the area where she was seen last. Everyone else, we have to make a stop at the local hospital." Xavier said.

"Why a hospital?" Cyclops asked.

"There may be someone there who can help us figure out where she is." He said.

"Alright people, let's move." Wolverine said, with his designated team of three, including myself, following him while the others got into the X-Van and drove away.

Later

After a while of searching around alleys and stuff, my feet were beginning to hurt and I had to start levitating to move around, and by the looks given by Nightcrawler and Shadowcat they weren't enjoying this either.

"So does this bite, or what?" Kitty said to me.

"It does, right in the ass." I said.

"The Prof said that the girl's mind is confused and hard to pinpoint, so keep lookin' and quit belly achin'." Wolverine said opening a large trashcan.

"Wait, if her mind is hard to pinpoint, shouldn't that make it easy to find her?" I asked. Wolverine closed the lid and looked at me.

"I'm not following." He said.

"If he searched and scanned around the area and found a disturbance in one mind and finds it to be in shambles he should be able to..." I said before I felt something strong come over me, like I was suddenly scared, really scared.

"Ripley, vat's wrong?" Nightcrawler asked.

"I don't know, I just felt something come over me." I said holding my head. Wolverine suddenly began to sniff really loud.

"Vas, got a scent?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Yeah, I smell fear." Wolverine said.

"Are you sure it's not from me? Because I'm kind of freaking out now." I said.

"No, this is new, we're close. Let's go!" He said running off in one direction, with all of us following close behind him.

Meanwhile

In a large backyard, Rogue was now being chased by a woman with white hair and like the men, she was seemingly trying to hurt or even kill her.

"One conveniently placed lightning bolt." She said pulling out a small bomb and throwing it at Rogue. "One ex-mutant." Rogue managed to climb a large fence before the "lightning bolt" struck near her, knocking her to the ground. She looked up to see a blind woman with a cane, and she felt like she knew her somehow.

"Rogue, it's me, Irene. Try and remember." She said.

"Irene? Ah'm so confused, strange thoughts in mah head." She stammered as she flashed back to the people who attacked her. "People chasing meh."

"Easy honey, easy. The police are coming, and the X-Men will not risk a confrontation." She said offering her hand. Rogue looked up at her adopted mother in confusion.

"The X-Men?" She said.

"Mutant hunters, now hurry. I have a friend who can help you, come with me and I can take you to her." She said as Rogue took her hand.

"Ah don't know, all this is happening too fast. Ah don't..." She said before she saw the men who attacked her, and two others she didn't recognize. "It's them, the men who attacked meh! Run Irene, run!" She ran hastily away, accidently shedding off her glove in Irene's hand. Irene could only stand as the X-Men ran passed her.

"That's gotta be her." One said.

Ripley's P.O.V.

Once I saw the girl we came to find, she looked at me and she was instantly terrified of me, and Wolverine. And while Logan might be kind of scary, I didn't know why she was scared of me. As we chased after her, I caught a glimpse of the blind woman she was with. I quickly let the thought slip away and regained my focus on the task at hand. Wolverine and I were close to the girl when she climbed up and over a fence.

"Please don't hurt meh, just stay away!" She shouted. Nightcrawler suddenly teleported in front of us.

"Wolverine, Ripley wait!" He said holding out his hands. "She seems to be terrified of you guys, let me try." Wolverine gave an reluctant sigh.

"Alright kid, but don't mess up, capeshe?" Wolverine said.

"Yes sir!" Nightcrawler said saluting before walking away.

"Ripley and I'll find the Prof, and squirt?" He said making Kurt turn around. "Put on your best face, no sense scarin' the poor kid anymore then she already is." Nightcrawler gave him a thumbs up and used his holowatch to change into his casual form before running after the girl with Shadowcat behind him. "And keep an eye on the half pint wouldya?"

"Hey!" She said with her hands on her hips. I giggled at Kitty's reaction as she turned back around and ran after Kurt. I then offered a hand to Wolverine.

"Hey, you want a ride? I'd rather get to Xavier sooner if not later, and I doubt that later is a luxury we can afford now." I said. Wolverine refused at first, but then took my hand.

"Alright, but no tricks." He said as he put an arm over my shoulders and I grabbed at his waist.

"Who said anything about tricks? Besides, you're my first passenger, I'm not going to fuck up anything with you." I said. Wolverine tightly clutched my shoulder making me wince. "Oww, hey!"

"Watch the language, bub." He said.

"Okay, but damn." I said. He squeezed my shoulder again. "Aaahh, okay, okay." I felt myself float and Wolverine actually followed nicely, and although he was a little shorter than me, he felt kind of heavy.

"Alright, where to?" I said.

"The Prof said he and the others were at the hospital, but they're probably moved on by now." He said.

"Alright, so how do we find them?" I asked.

"My nose will tell us the way, now let's move." He said.

"Right, follow the snout, cause it's never in doubt...HAH! I'm funny." I said laughing. Wolverine glared at me in annoyance. "What? I am." I began to slowly move in one direction and steadily increase my speed until I got to a nice pace. After a couple minutes we flew over Jackson and they were really silent and it was weirding me out, mostly because an older guy was hanging onto me over a really high altitude. During this time I was thinking about the weird feeling I got from the girl and the way her mind was at the moment, which made me flash to my dream. I wondered that if I got my mind erased in some places, and even if I read about them in a journal, diary, or any book, they wouldn't really mean much to me, not my mother, not Carl, and maybe not even Kyle. It made me wonder if I would be any better off then how the rogue is now. Wolverine looked at me and noticed my face.

"Hey Rip, what's wrong?" Wolverine asked.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, I'm just... thinking." I said.

"It's about the girl, huh?" He said.

"Huh? Well, I guess a little, but I..." I stopped talking as I saw the smug expression on Logan's face.

"I'm into guys, you know." I said.

"I know, but you said you were..." He said with a smirk.

"Not...that...way." I said. "It's just...I felt how she was feeling, in that alley when I was acting weird. I felt all her confusion, her terror, all of it just pouring into me like a flask. I can't..." I stopped talking for a moment and sighed.

"Ya can't what?" Wolverine said.

"...imagine being like that, living like that. All the bad stuff that I went through in my life, and even the good things, all mashed up and scattered across the winds, and unable to pick up the pieces, and not being able to tell which was the right piece of another, it sounds awful." I said.

"She only discovered her powers today, not her whole life ago." He grunted.

"I know, I'm just saying to live a life like that would be horrible, or the rest of a life. Not knowing yourself, and not knowing what was done to you and by you, I can't even think to know about what that's like."

"I do." Wolverine said.

"You do what?" I asked.

"Know what that's like, I live it every day."

"How?"

"In the past I had mine taken from me, I can't remember anything past getting my claws."

"My god, that sounds terrible, can you still not remember anything beyond the claws?"

"Yeah, but the Prof helped me sort through most of my memories, some of them aren't pretty, but at least I know who I am, or was I guess. I don't know if I'll get the full truth of my past or not one day, but for now the best I can do is to live for the days in front of me and ahead of me." I looked at the older man and I couldn't believe this side of him, so understanding and tender and soft, but tough as nails. I quickly let our conversation slide as we looked down to see the others walking down a street, Xavier was holding his temples most likely trying to locate the Rogue.

"Her mind is difficult to track, her mind is in such shambles I cannot be sure where she is." Xavier said.

"Good thing we found her then." Wolverine said above the rest of the group as we flew in. "She's not too far away, she's a few blocks west from here, half pint and the elf are in pursuit."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Xavier asked.

"She freaked out and ran when she saw us, but strangely she seemed more frightened by the both of us more than Nightcrawler or Cat." I said.

"Hmm, strange. Perhaps we could... Ah!" Xavier shouted in pain.

"Professor? What's wrong?" Cyclops asked in worry.

"Kitty, please a little quieter, concentrate." He said. In my mind, I could kind of hear what was being said in Xavier's head, and one voice sounded scared and worried, and I knew that voice to be Kitty's.

"It's Kurt, she hurt him, or she did something to him. He's, like, completely knocked out, I need help." Kitty's voice rang out. I widened my eyes and clenched my fists.

"It's Kurt, the rogue has absorbed his memories and his powers, but he's unconscious and not responding." Xavier said. Wolverine grunted as he clenched his fists which made his claws emerge from his hands.

"It's all my fault, I knew I shouldn't have let the elf be in charge!" He said stabbing a nearby fence post.

"Since she now has Nightcrawler's mind and powers, I should be able to track her movements more easily." Xavier said holding his temples. "There, she isn't far, but she might move again so we must be swift."

"Alright X-Men, let's move out." Cyclops said running off with everyone else following behind him, except Wolverine who looked kind of down on himself for what happened to Kurt. Storm turned around, but I motioned her to keep moving. She nodded I hesitated, but I grabbed his shoulder and he turned to face me.

"Hey, chin up. Things could have been worse, she might have touched me and we would have two powerhouses tearing up the place." I said with a little smile. Wolverine brushed my hand off and walked off. "It wasn't your fault Logan, these things just happen, and we can't ever see them coming. It could've been you, me, or even Kitty. Nightcrawler may be knocked out, but he's alive, so why don't we go and track the rogue down so we can help her and be sure she doesn't accidentally hurt someone?" I said holding out my hand. Logan turned around and saw my hand extended out to him. He sniffed once and walked in my direction and when he was in front of me, I smiled a bit as he took my hand. "And one more thing to wrap it up, lighten up a bit, as a favor to me. It'll do you some good."

"Fine, but you better too Rip." I opened my mouth to say something, but he held up a hand which silenced me. "And don't try and deny that you need to, because I can pick up a mask any day and I can literally smell tension. If you let it build for too long, it can hurt ya. Lighten up a bit, as a favor to me." I raised a brow of his mimicry of my own words and I felt my heart soften to his words.

"I should teleport you to where Kitty is." I said clearing my throat. "I have a psychic impression from Xavier on where Kitty is, and where she's at you'll find Kurt. They need an adult with them and while everyone else is going after the rogue, you're a prime candidate. "

"Okay, but what are you gonna do?" He said.

"I'm going to go ahead of the others to track the rogue down and try and keep her from hurting anyone else." I said concentrating on Wolverine. "Good luck, you're the first person I teleported besides myself."

"You sure you know what you're doing Rip?"

"Nope." I smiled nervously as I felt my teleportation powers in effect. In the blink of an eye Wolverine was gone, while also screaming my name in anger. I gathered my own thoughts and teleported away to find the rogue.

Elsewhere

Rogue suddenly found herself in a large cemetery, where she sometimes hung out on some nights.

"How did Ah get here? ^I was here and then...^" She said. Her eyes widened after she suddenly spoke German. "Ah can speak German? How can Ah speak German?" She looked around at her surroundings and teleported to another part of the cemetery. She kept this going, disappearing and reappearing in various spots and places, gaining better control over them as each time, and for the first time that night, she felt alive and free before she teleported once more before tripping and falling on the ground. She held her face in her hands and cried silently.

"Why is this happenin' to meh?" She said

In the shadows, Mystique lay in wait, looking for a perfect opportunity to strike. She was about to make her move when the red head of the X-Men, Jean Grey, appeared and walked up to the sobbing girl.

"Hi." She said in a friendly tone. Rogue looked up to see the young and beautiful red head looking at her with a friendly smile.

"Do Ah know you? Ah'm so confused, Ah don't know." Rogue said.

"It's alright, just calm down and focus on me." Jean said.

"Ah... Ah do know you. You're Jean Grey, you're one of the X-Men, like the ones who attacked meh, get away!" Rogue said.

"Wait! If you know who I am, then you know that I won't hurt you, I just want to talk. Look, things are kind of tough now, but if you want to talk." She said hokding up an X-Men communicator. "You can contact me any time with this." She closed her eyes and the communicator floated in the air and with a gesture of her hand, the device floated to the young goth girl. She begrudgingly took the device and stared at it in her hand as the other X-Men arrived. "The X-Men are always here to help you when you need us."

"That's right." Storm said. Rogue's eyes widened in horror when she heard Storm's voice.

"You! You won't take meh." She said running off leaving Jean and everyone else bewildered.

"I don't understand, I thought we were connecting and then..." She said.

"...she saw me, for some reason she's terrified of me." Storm finished.

Behind a large gravestone, Mystique smiled slyly and she began to plan. Elsewhere, Rogue stumbled into a monastery and she hid behind the stone coffin inside. From the skylight, a young man with a red visor jumped in, startling her.

"You think you can run from us? Try and escape? Think again." He said menacingly. Rogue ran out of the monastery and saw the second man who threatened her first appear. Rogue turned back around and turned and saw the red head.

"I tried to help, I really did, but I guess some people just won't be helped." She said holding up her hand as if readying for a telekinetic strike. Rogue quickly teleported away and found herself outside a different monastery where the young black haired man suddenly appeared.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked.

(Ripley's P.O.V.)

After the rogue appeared in front of me in a poof of brimstone, I tried to reach to her to help her off the ground, but she retracted and crawled away from me in fear.

"Hey, don't be scared. I promise I'm not going to hurt you, concentrate on the blue boy's memories. Remember who I am." I said. I was talking, my mouth was open and words were coming out, but the poor girl looked too glassy eyed with fear and confusion and she ran off and tripped on her shoe. Jean ran up to her.

"Are you okay? Don't try to move, lie still." She said kneeling down. Rogue backed away from her, and from behind Storm appeared.

"Please child, tell us what's wrong." Storm said. Rogue reached out to her with her uncovered hand. My eyes widened, because I knew what was about to happen.

"Storm, stay back!" I shouted, but it was too late. The rogue's had already grabbed a hold of Storm, bolts of electricity shooting through her fingers. After a few seconds, the rogue let go of Storm and she propelled into a small hole unconscious. "Oh god." Cyclops arrived and ran up to Jean.

"Hey, what's with the light show? Did we...?" He said as he saw the winds pick up and the rogue begin to levitate. "Oh no...no!" The girl spread her arms wide as lightning began to strike and flash and the winds began to rage. I saw that some of the lightning was striking at Scott and Jean, and she was holding up a telekinetic shield that was keeping the storm from hurting them, but it looked like she couldn't hold it for long. I flew over to them and threw up another shield similar to Jean's to reinforce hers.

"We can't keep this up forever Scott." Jean said.

"Give it up, she has Storm's powers, but not her control." Cyclops said as the winds began to tear apart the cemetery and knocked down a few power lines as torrents of rain filled every empty space in the area, including the hole where Storm was, that was filling with water quickly and about to rise up to the the knocked down power lines.

"If those power lines hit that water Storm will be fried!" Cyclops said quickly jumping into the water. He swam over to Storm and grabbed her, putting her over his shoukder. Jean floated up and I followed suit. Jean then lifted Cyclops and Storm out of the water as the it touched the power lines. We all floated above the ground as the monsoon from hell raged on.

"I can't hold us up here for long. You're both too heavy." She said. I looked up at the rogue and narrowed my eyes at her.

"I will not lose anyone today, not now or ever again." I thought as I flew up to the raging girl.

"Get away from meh!" She shouted as she threw a bolt of lightning at me. I dodged it and floated closer to her.

"Listen to me, you have to calm down, I'm not going to hurt you, please you have to trust me." I shouted over the wind.

"Ah can't, it's too much power, someone help meh!" She shouted closing her eyes.

"Look at me." I said. "You know me, you know the X-Men, you have the memories to prove it. Concentrate on them." She looked at me and closed her eyes. I didn't have much time, the monsoon was still going and the ground was covered with electricly charged water and Jean was about to lose her grip on Cyclops and Storm. "Listen to me, you have other powers in you, use them and save yourself, please I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt." I said. She looked back at me, her eyes peircing mine and filling me with her fears and grief. "Please." She closed her eyes and I felt some small sense peace from her before she teleported away. I let out a huge sigh of relief as the storm began to quickly dissipate, but I also felt a great sense of disappointment for losing her. I floated down to the ground with Jean and Cyclops, who was carrying Storm in his arms.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's just unconscious, she should be awake in a bit." Cyclops said.

"Excellent work my X-Men." A voice said. We all looked in the voice's direction and saw Xavier and Wolverine, who was holding Nightcrawler with Kitty right behind them.

"Where did she go?" Cyclops said.

"Her mind is too fractured and wherever she is, I can't tell." Xavier said. "She"s gone."

"It's my fault she's gone, she was scared and I told her to go before anyone got hurt. I'm sorry guys." I said holding my arm and looking down.

"Ripley, you did the right thing." Cyclops said putting an arm over me. "If it wasn't for you, who knows what would have happened to us, you saved us." I blushed at Scott's compliment as Nightcrawler woke up.

"Ugh, vhere am I?" He said groggily. Kitty rushed up to Kurt and hugged him tight.

"Oh Kurt! Thank god you're okay, you really scared me you fuzzy elf." She said hugging him again. Kurt looked at Scott and I and I mouthed to him "Told you so!".

"I'm sensing a lot of confusion, and another being at work here." Xavier said. Wolverine sniffed at the air loudly.

"Mystique, she can change her form, but not her scent." He said.

"Who's Mystique?" I asked.

"She's a mutant shape-shifter who can make herself appear to be anyone, or almost anything." Xavier said.

"So the way Rogue was acting towards a few of us, that was because of Mystique?" I said clenching a fist.

"How dare she?! How dare she use my face to scare someone else, I scared and hurt enough people already. How could she do that?" I thought.

"What do we do now? Should we go after her?" Cyclops asked.

"No, she must come of her own will, and after tonight she may take some time to accept us. And for her sake I hope it's soon." Xavier said. We all made our way to the X-Van and before I went in, Wolverine pulled me aside.

"Ripley, the next time you teleport me without practicing on other objects first or unless I tell you, I'll work your ass in the danger room so hard you'll have to start walking with your hands." He said gritting his teeth at me. "Got it?"

"Yes sir." I said in a nearly choked whisper. He let me go and I entered the van.

"That was scary, but also kind of...EW! Ripley don't you say it was hot! Dammit I just did, fuck!" I thought.

Later

In the X-Jet, I sat trying to forget my almost fantasy about Logan, but also thinking about Rogue. I picked up her name through her jumbled thoughts and terror, ironically that's what we referred to her as we tracked her down. I thought about how scared she was because nothing felt right in her own mind, she forgot who she was and who her family was, and when she did nothing felt right in her mind, like it wasn't her still. I thought about Xavier's deal and after all the turmoil and all the strange dreams I have been having I came to a conclusion. I got up from my seat and walked up to the front seat where Xavier was sitting.

"Professor?" I said. Xavier looked up at me.

"Yes Ripley?" He said.

"I have thought about your offer, and...I have made my decision. It's sweet of you to offer to wipe my mind, but..."

"You don't want me to wipe your mind." He finished. I looked at him with a curious expression.

"How did you..." I said before Xavier flashed a smile at me. "Oh... right."

"You did a great job Ripley." Xavier said.

"With...what exactly?" I asked.

"You passed your test."

"Forgive me if i still don't understand."

"I had no real intention of using my powers in such a manor, it isn't my place to change the minds of others and I won't ever do it."

"So the test was to be sure I could be trusted to deal with my past or something?"

"Something like that."

"If I didn't pass what would have happened to me?"

Xavier went silent for a moment before speaking again.

"I would have had no choice but to turn you to the authorities and put you through the orphanage system, and I didn't want to put you through the system, I feel that instead of being shuffled from home to home, you should stay with us where you could call a permanent home."

"But I did pass, so that means I can stay?" Xavier nodded his head. I smiled in utter relief and hugged the man, which startled him. " Thank you, really thank you." Xavier pat my back with affection.

"Umm, Professor?" Nightcrawler said. Xavier and I seperated and Xavier turned to face the fuzzy blue elf boy.

"Yes Kurt?" Xavier said.

"Zheres a police car in front of zhe mansion gates." Kurt said. Xavier's eyes widened in fear and he wheeled over to the side mirror.

"Scott, bring in the jet stealthily and everyone meet in the garage. We don't know what to expect from this unexpected visit. Logan, when we get inside, sneak into the garage and bring the car around, if they were here long we need to be sure to not to make ourselves appear like we have something to hide."

"If we need to get us all out of here and into the limo quickly, I would be glad to help." I said.

"Thank you Ripley." Xavier said.

I admit that I was kind of nervous, I didn't know what the police were at the mansion for, but I felt that it wouldn't be nice, because it never really is nice when a police car is parked in front of your house, plus I've never been so sneaky before, especially not with any police. We flew the jet into the hanger as quickly and quietly as we could. Everyone slipped on their normal grabs and I teleported Logan and everyone else, myself included, to the garage, everyone piled into the limo and Logan started the car.

"Ripley, when I say now, teleport us a few feet from the gates, got it?" He said.

"Yes...?" I said nervously.

"Logan, what are you planning?" Xavier asked. Logan just smiled and stepped on the gas a little before he set the car in gear and stepped on the gas more. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on the outside of the mansion gates.

"Ready? And...NOW!" Logan said. I concentrated a little harder and with a loud rushing noise the car plopped down hard on the ground and continued to drive on. I opened my eyes and saw that we were driving up to the front gate where the police car was, and behind it was another car, a green 90's Nissan. I felt a large lump appear in my throat, because I recognized that car. The limo approached the gate and Logan rolled down the window as a male policeman exit his car and walked up to the limo.

"Good evening officer, can I help you with anything." Xavier asked.

"Yes Mr. Xavier, I was told there is a Mister Joshua Davidson living here in this institute?" He asked. The lump in my throat grew bigger and I felt my heart begin to race.

"Yes, he's right in here? Is there something wrong?" Xavier asked giving the policeman a serious concentrating look. In a few seconds he grew a remorseful expression on his face.

"I just need to ask him a few questions." The officer said. I swallowed a big chunck of air and looked to Xavier with a pleading face.

"What's he here for? Is he here to take me away?" I said telepathically to Xavier. Xavier looked back at me with a grievous looking face.

"Go ahead Ripley, we will all be right here if you need us." He said.

"Oh god." I thought as I exited the limo and walked outside to the policeman.

"Before I answer any questions, I just want to know if I'm in trouble." I said.

"No, I don't think so, but I do have to ask a few questions Mr. Davidson." He answered.

"Can you call me Ripley please? Everyone does."

"Okay Ripley, what is your relationship with the Daniels family?" I swallowed my spittle and forced myself to speak.

"I have a close friend in their family, Kyle, he and I have known each other since we were kids. He was adopted by the Daniels this last year. He and I are actually...um, 'boyfriends' if you would."

"So Kyle is your boyfriend or isn't he?"

"No, he is. It's just we both are still kind of in the closet with our relationship."

"Can you tell me what exactly happened the day your home blew up, I understand that you and Kyle were in the house together?"

"Yes, we were arguing, he told me that he wanted us to be open about our relationship and I didn't and he got angry and tried to leave. And as he was leaving, I smelled gas and then all of a sudden there is an explosion and I'm waking up in a hospital somewhere. I don't know which hospital, but..." I stopped talking to see Robert and Julie; Kyle's adopted parents walking towards me, and they looked really sad.

"Robert? Julie? What's going on?" I said looking from them to the officer.

"I still have a couple more questions, can we..." The policeman said.

"No we can't, enough with the questions, I want to know what's going on right now! What the hell happened?" I shouted. Julie just cried silently and Robert held her to try and calm her down. The policeman sighed and grabbed my shoulder gently.

"I'm so, so sorry Ripley, but your boyfriend is dead." He said. My eyes widened and it felt like my heart had stopped completely.

"What?" I said quietly. "No, he's in the hospital, he's okay. He's just asleep for a while." Robert and Julie walked to me and tears began to fall from my eyes.

"From what I understood, Kyle had some brain damage, and a couple hours ago, it took it's toll."

"No, this isn't true, he's fine, you're lying, you're all fucking liars! He's fine!" I shouted out falling to the ground. "No, please god no, tell me it isn't true!" I shouted in sobs as Robert and Julie held me as I burst into tears and began to cry along with them. Everyone watched me from the limo as they heard the grim news, some of them shedding sympathetic tears for me, including Jean and Kitty, as I wept hard and long into the night, mourning Kyle and the now broken promise I made earlier in the cemetery.

End of Chapter 21

A/N: 'Phew'! This is probably the longest chapter I wrote so far. I had an experience almost like at the end of this chapter, I was dating this guy and I heard rumors that he was in a car accident, and because he wasn't answering me I feared the worse had happened. I was a wreck for days, however this turned out to be false and I was so relieved and happy, but I'm afraid that Ripley isn't so lucky. I'm sorry Ripley, but I had to include some tragedy so you could prosper and grow. Favorite and follow and review, because that would make me and Ripley very happy, especially now. Stay tuned for the next chapter.