Disclaimer: I don;t own X-Men! I own Julia, Stacey, Dawn and Matt! Bwa-ha-ha-ha

Long Waits of Anticipation

As Rogue predicted John had run off to hang with Lance. Peter was also in the recreation room. They were all absorbed in a game of pool. The new recruit, Matt was currently sitting on the couch in front of the T.V. reading a book.

Rogue walked over and sat down next to him. She picked up the remote, and looked at Matt. "Mind if I change the channel?" She asked politely. At the moment the screen was showing the weather. Sunshine promised for the next week. Rogue inwardly rolled her eyes. The weatherman was never right.

Matt looked up from his book and smiled at Rogue. "Not at all." He said in a deep voice. Rogue felt her cheeks redden when he sent her a dazzling smile that showed off his prefect white teeth.

Rogue finally looked away from Matt and flipped the channel to the Chicago news. Matt set down his book as soon as Chicago came up on the screen. The boys playing pool leaned on their cue sticks and watched the news report.

Well it wasn't really a news report. It was more like footage showing the battle that was currently taking place in the deserted streets of Chicago.

Rogue instantly saw something wrong with the picture when it came up. "Hey! One of the girls is missing!" She spoke loudly. "Where is she?" Nobody answered. Rogue wanted to smash the television.

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X-23 unbuckled her seat belt and walked to the back of the X-jet where the other X-teenagers were sitting. Jubilee began her traditional whining. "How long?" She asked.

Storm looked at the teenagers at the back of the Blackbird. "A half hour."

Kitty grinned. "Not as long as the last trip." She commented.

Wanda rolled her eyes as she approached the others. "Last time we were traveling to save Rogue and Logan. This time we're saving Chicago."

X-23 crossed her arms. "Rogue's not coming on this mission." She stated.

Iceman leaned against the side of the plane. "Neither is Peter and John." He rolled his eyes. "And those new recruits." He smirked. "Tabitha, Julia and Matt." He started chuckling. Kitty and Jubilee started giggling too.

Pietro frowned, not wanting to be left out of a joke. "What's-so-funny?!" He asked. For once X-23 and Wanda didn't complain about his speech, wanting to know what was funny as well. Pietro stomped his foot. "Come-on!-What-gives?-Tell-us!" He said, impatient as usual.

Jubilee was able to stop giggling long enough to tell them. "Well, apparently this Matt guy has the hots for Rogue!" She clamped a hand over her mouth, giggling.

Just then, Gambit came stomping out of the room he had been in. He slammed the door on his way out and slouched in one of the seats near the cockpit.

Jubilee raised an eyebrow. "What's his problem?" She asked.

Kitty rolled her eyes and gave Jubilee a look that said: 'Duh!-The-answer-is-so-obvious.' "Jubilee! He's totally crushing on Rogue. And he probably just heard what you said about Matt!" She whispered to her friend.

X-23, Wanda and Pietro looked at each other and started laughing. X-23 looked over her shoulder at Gambit who was currently frowning and looking jealous. She couldn't help but laugh harder at the look of sick love plastered on his face.

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Rogue was on the edge of her seat, literally. The other teenager, was holding out her arms, as if doing some invisible attack. The wind was blowing like crazy around Phoenix, who was slowly walking towards the teenager. Matt looked just as tense as Rogue, his eyes bulging.

Rogue stood up abruptly, she grabbed clumps of hair on her head. "Someone get her out of there!" She screamed, willing someone to hear her.

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Dawn tried to force the attacker back. She summoned the most powerful winds to try and send the fire woman back. Unfortunately it had no effect. With a flick of her wrist, Dawn was sent flying back and smacked into the brick building across from the cat man.

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Rogue scarcely breathed as Phoenix looked at the camera shooting the footage. In the blink of an eye, the camera went flying out of control and the screen went fuzzy.

Rogue sank back onto the couch. She felt Matt grab her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. "It'll be okay Rogue." He whispered. She gave him a smile of thanks. Once again she got the feeling that something about him wasn't right. She only wished she knew what it was.

"Maybe we should tell the Professor." She sighed, with sadness, hoping the two teenage girls were going to be okay.

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"We're almost at Chicago." Storm called to the other passengers. "Everyone take a seat. We'll be landing in five minutes." She said.

As soon as X-23 was buckled into her seat, she stole a glance out the window. Chicago was in view. Or at least what was left of it.

A voice came over the radio next to Scott. "Scott! Scott? Are you there?" It was no doubt, the worried voice of Xavier.

Scott answered instantly. "Yes! We are just arriving in Chicago. We're about to-"

Xavier cut him off. "Listen to me Scott. You're too late. The two girls couldn't hold off Phoenix. I want you to find them, and bring them back to the Institute. Do you understand?" He asked in a serious, concerned voice.

Scott seemed momentarily shocked. X-23 didn't blame him. She was too. They were just landing in Chicago. They were only about a minute too late. X-23 felt like something had been pulled out of her stomach.

Scott rebuked at the Professor. "What about Jean?" He asked.

Xavier responded instantly. "There's no question that she's already left. Just get the two girls, Stacey and Dawn. Bring them back to the Institute. They'll need immediate medical attention." The link shut off before Scott could respond.

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Freaky Friday. Weather. CSI. Rogue kept flipping the channels. Looking for something, anything, about Chicago or any other cities that were being attacked.

Lance finally had enough. "Are you looking for something, or you just changing the channels for the sake of doing something?"

Rogue ignored him and kept changing the channels. Lance threw his cue stick on the ground. "Stop it! Your giving me a headache." He yelled.

Cry baby. Rogue rolled her eyes, but kept flipping channels. John picked up Lance's stick and held it in front of him. "Come on Lance. Drop it. She's probably looking for the Phoenix." Then something weird happened. Rogue heard John's thoughts.

I hope those girls are okay. Man I just want to kill Phoenix.

Rogue dropped the remote. Matt looked up from the book he was reading. "Something wrong, Rogue?"

Rogue didn't answer. Instead she buckled over, and landed on the floor clutching her head. She leaned over her knees. She shut her eyes tight to block out the voices in her head. She was vaguely aware of the boys rushing to her side. Then Rogue blacked out.

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Stacey blinked her eyes open ever so slowly. Her back was killing her and she was lying in the middle of the street. She lifted her head up and observed the scene around her.

The crazy fire lady was gone. There was a pile of bricks several feet away from her, the hand of the cat guy sticking out. Stacey turned her head to look at the other side. The streets were still deserted, Chicago was half destroyed. Stacey saw Dawn lying on the ground on the other side of the street.

Stacey moaned. Well, they had succeeded in getting their asses kicked. That's for sure.

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Scott lead the way down the streets of Chicago. They were still empty, but it just made their job that much easier. The group made a turn and came face to face of the street that had been the battle arena only minutes ago.

The group split silently into two groups. The X-teenagers and Storm ran up to the girl known as Stacey. All the other X-Men raced towards the unmoving girl known as Dawn. Logan looked around the street sniffing, until he looked angrily at a pile of bricks. After a moment he stalked over to it, moving the bricks.

X-23 immediately noticed how Stacey was awake. She was lying on her stomach, but being supported up by her elbows. She was staring down the street with a look of sadness and annoyance on her face.

Storm kneeled next to Stacey. "My name is Ororo Munroe." Stacey turned her ocean blue gaze to Storm's kind face. "Me and my friends are mutants like you. We've come to help you and your friend. Could you please tell me what happened?" Storm asked.

Stacey shrugged. "I don't know what happened myself. Me and Dawn were just shopping when that fire woman started attacking people. Since were mutants, we thought we could take her. When we got here some cat man was already fighting her. I attacked her and we thought we won, but she threw me into a tree. I don't remember anything after that." Stacey indicated to the tree that was snapped in half and lying on the ground on the sidewalk.

Storm rested a hand on her shoulder. "We would like you to come back to New York with us. We will treat Dawn and you'll have to explain what happened to my mentor. Charles Xavier." She added in the Professor's name.

Stacey sat up. "You guys from that Xavier's school for gifted youngsters place?" She asked. "Me and Dawn were thinking of joining but thought it would be better to just stay put."

X-23 looked over at Logan and noticed him hauling Sabretooth out of the pile of bricks. X-23 pointed over to them. "Is that the cat man you were talking about earlier?" She asked.

Stacey nodded. "Is he okay? I hope he's not hurt too bad. I'd feel terrible. Me and Dawn just watched him get tossed around." Stacey said panicky.

"He's dead." Logan grunted. Pushing Sabretooth's body away from him. Sabretooth went rolling down the small hill of bricks. Logan got up from his crouching position, looking somewhat disappointed.

They've been enemies for a while. X-23 remembered Rogue telling her that. He probably wanted to be the one to finish him off. X-23 thought, feeling slightly sorry for the burly man.

Stacey's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh God! That's horrible." She gasped.

Before Stacey could speak, Scott interrupted. "Storm! We have to get back to the Institute! Dawn's condition is unstable. Kurt's teleported her back to the Blackbird with Danielle. She said she'd watch her until we got back."

The group of X-Men walked swiftly down the street. At first Stacey hesitated.

Kitty walked up to Stacey and put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm Katherine Pryde. You can call me Kitty. I'm sure Dawn will be fine." She reassured the other girl and lead the way back to the X-jet.

A/N: Dun dun dun... Kay there's like 3 chapters left. Gasp! Review! YAY!!