Following a Trail
John, Lance and Pietro didn't even try to hold their laughter in when they saw Tabitha and Jubilee. Bobby being Jubilee's boyfriend, tried to not even let a smile break out. Julia sent Jubilee, Tabitha and Kitty a look that clearly said 'told-you-so'. All the teachers looked surprised.
Storm was the only one who found a voice. "What happened to you children?" She asked her mouth gaping. Jubilee sent Wanda, Rogue and X-23 a pointed look. The three girls took a seat on one of the couches.
Tabitha spoke. "They threw food at us!" She yelled, pointing a finger at them accusingly.
Wanda rolled her eyes at them. "We didn't throw food at you!" She defended the three. "We hexed the food." She answered smirking.
Jubilee pouted. "What did we ever do to you?" She asked.
Rogue let out a small laugh. "You honestly don't know why?" She gave them an odd look. X-23, Wanda, Rogue and even Julia burst out laughing.
Julia was able to speak first. "Remember? You locked Rogue in-"
Rogue cut Julia off. For crying out loud the entire team was in the room, including Remy. "They get it, Julia." Rogue quickly interrupted, not wanting everyone to know where she had been... especially Remy.
Jubilee realized why Rogue cut Julia off, and still being annoyed about the food thing, she attempted to finish Julia's sentence. "Oh! You mean when you were chasing Kitty and me and Kitty dragged you into-"
This time X-23 interjected. "Yah! That's right!" She said, her claws popping out in frustration.
Logan and Yuriko rolled their eyes, Yuriko saying something along the lines of "That's what the thumping noises were".
Xavier interrupted before things got out of hand. "I hate to interrupt but we really must be getting on with this meeting." He said, amusement in his eyes.
Rogue frowned at him. He must have realized what they were arguing about the whole time. A sent a silent thanks, not sure if he hear or not.
Xavier motioned to Beast who was closest to the television. "Hank if you please." Beast got up without a word and turned on the T.V.
The television was showing an aerial shot of Seattle. The usually quiet city was anything but quiet. Every building was on fire and people were screaming and running down the street for their lives.
"Professor." Scott stuttered. "What's the meaning of this." He asked his eyes glued to the screen.
Xavier shook his head sadly. "You shall see." He answered quietly.
One lone figure stood in the middle of the street. In an instant the figure took to the sky to gaze upon the city from above. The person was wearing blood red clothes and long red hair flowed over her shoulders. Piercing orange eyes gazed over the city with boredom. The person was covered in flames, but somehow not burning.
The person looked directly at the camera. A moment later a yell echoed through the room and the screen went fuzzy. The most shocking thing about that was who had been the person.
Scott had turned white. "J...Jean? No! It...it can't be!" Scott whispered shaking his head. Alex rested a hand on Scott's back in a comforting gesture.
Xavier rolled in front of the television, which Beast had turned off. "No, not Jean, Scott. That was Phoenix." He told him.
Storm looked surprised. "We have to go after her! We have to stop Phoenix! She destroyed Seattle. We can't allow her to harm anyone else." She said firmly.
Xavier shook his bald head. "No, we can't go after her yet. That's footage from over an hour ago, Ororo." Kitty shot him a look that said 'so what?'. Xavier continued. "Phoenix never stays in one place for too long. We must be patient. We must watch news reports and find out where Phoenix attacks next. We will never be able to arrive on time. So we'll have to find a pattern and get to a place she plans to attack before she even gets there."
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Two girls burst out of a store giggling about some inside joke. Both girls seemed to be about seventeen or eighteen. They were carrying bags filled with purchases, as they were taking a shopping trip in downtown Chicago.
One had short dirty blonde hair that was completely straight. She had glasses and blue-green eyes. She was fairly tall for her age. Her outfit consisted of jeans and blue zip up sweater. Her friend was a little taller then her, with long blond hair that reached to the middle of her back and was a bit frizzy. Her eyes were deep blue. She was wearing a beige sweater and green pants.
These girls may have seemed to look or seem normal, but in fact they weren't. These girls were mutants, and not even their families knew about it.
A loud explosion came from the street on the other side of the stores they were about to go in. The noise was followed by several screams and a huge jet of smoke that flew into the sky.
The two girls looked at each other before dropping their bags and running towards the explosions.
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Scott sat in front of Xavier, looking upset, while Logan stood leaning against the fireplace, hands in pockets, his expression neutral. Xavier opened his mouth to say something when Storm came bursting into his office.
"Professor! Come quick!" She said breathlessly. She gave Scott a look of sympathy before continuing. "It's Phoenix!"
Xavier sent a quick telepathic message to the other X-Men before wheeling out of the room. "Come!" He ordered Scott and Logan.
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The two teenagers had just reached what was causing the explosions. The two girls quickly observed the destruction and Phoenix. The girl with frizzy hair turned to her friend.
"Quick, Dawn! Put a shield up!" Dawn nodded her head and stretched her arms out in front of her, a small shield encircling the two girls.
Dawn looked at her friend, who was rubbing her hands together. "What are you doing, Stacey?"
Stacey looked up at Dawn, but was still running her hands. "I'm going to see if I can stop her." She said, just as a big man, with long yellow hair and glittering black eyes was sent flying back and hit a tree.
Dawn watched shocked as he stood up with a growl. "We've got to help him!" She said, the shield still up.
Stacey stopped rubbing her hands. "What do you think I'm doing?" She said in a neutral tone. Electricity started to zap around her hands. With her left hand she pointed to Phoenix. A bolt of lightning shot from her hand, hitting Phoenix in the shoulder.
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The entire X-Men team gasped at what they saw on the screen. Chicago was already half destroyed. What was more, their was a battle going on down in the heart of Chicago. Phoenix, Sabretooth and two teenage girls that appeared to be mutants.
Danielle stood up when she saw what was happening. "She's going to kill them! We have to help them!" She yelled in a panicky voice, her eyes glued to the screen. An explosion erupted on the screen. Most of the girls turned their heads away, not wanting to see the burning bodies of the teenage girls.
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However when the fire, and smoke cleared away the two girls were unharmed. Xavier seemed to be the only one not surprised. "One of the girls has the abilities to make shields." Some of the X-Men made a quiet noise that sounded like 'oh', their gaze stuck on the screen again.
Finally Ororo couldn't take it. "Professor! What good are we sitting here when those girls are going to be slaughtered. Danielle is right! We have to help them." Her voice was pleading with her mentor.
Xavier let out a sigh. "You are right. Most of you will be going to take part in this. The rest will remain here."
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Dawn and Stacey watched as the man that looked like a cat go flying back again. He had been trying to duke it out with the woman consumed in flames. Every time he got close to her she'd wave her wrist around and he'd go flying back, as if he had been struck.
This time he hit a brick building. Upon impact the wall broke and he fell to the ground and tons of bricks fell on top of him. He laid unmoving.
Frustrated, Stacey rubbed her hands together quickly. After charging her hands up for a minute, she let two bolts of lightning shoot from her hands. One hit the woman in the chest and the other hit her stomach.
She was sent flying back and hit a tree. She collapsed to the ground. Thinking the danger had passed, Dawn put the shield down. Stacey and Dawn did a high-five. "Alright!" They exclaimed happily in unison.
Suddenly, Stacey went flying back with a scream. She hit a lamp post and fell to the ground unconscious.
Dawn whipped around to see the woman standing again. She was surrounded by even more flames and looked absolutely furious.
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Rogue sighed in annoyance as she watched Quicksilver, X-23, Iceman, Jubilee, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Gambit, Scarlet Witch, Mirage and Nightcrawler board the Blackbird. It was true. She was kind of jealous that she'd missing out on the action.
They were probably going to get to fight Phoenix and rescue the two girls. But the Professor had told her to stay here, he probably had his reasons. Or maybe it was the fact that her powers sucked, and would be useless in this battle. What also sucked was he had sent all her friends out on the mission. Well not all of them.
Tabitha and Julia didn't go because when the meeting for selecting which members would go to Chicago was called they had gone out shopping and were still out shopping. John had left the Professor's office as soon as Xavier had chosen who would go. Probably off to hang with his buddy Lance.
That left Rogue and Peter all alone. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just they didn't connect as well as she did with John or Laura, or him with Kitty and Bobby. But they were still friends, and they'd be getting to spend an entire day without the others.
Rogue looked over where Kitty was waving bye to her boyfriend. Peter was smiling and his eyes seemed to be sending her an unspoken message. Finally Wanda grabbed Kitty's wrist and pulled her up the ramp, mumbling "Those girls will be dead if you don't stop waving. For crying out loud we'll be back in a couple of hours." The ramp finally closed.
Peter looked over at Rogue and sent her a look of amusement. Peter walked out of the hanger, probably off to the recreation room. Rogue stood up to follow when she heard Xavier and Beast speaking in hushed tones.
"Xavier, why is it you seemed so worried. They are well trained and I'm sure they can handle themselves." Beast sounded like he was trying to reassure the Professor.
Xavier let out a sigh of pain. "It's not that at all. I just fear that they won't get there in time." Rogue let out a silent gasp and hurried out of the hanger.
A/N: Dun dun dun... we are nearing the end of this story... so what will happen to all of our wonderful heroes? Only reviews will tell...