Chapter 29. It's been a little over two years since I started writing this story. Wow. Two years, just like that. Life's short. One day, it's gone…

Thanks for all the thorough reviewing, Wanda W. I greatly appreciate it. And the next three chapters or four chapters so will be relaxation and character development, not action. I'm just unsure what the plot of the next chunk of the story should be.

Julie, thanks for the review of Chapter 28.

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"We're coming up on the school." Scott announced. "Thirty seconds and it should be in sight. Beginning our final descent." Several of the students cheered. The ground slowly became larger and more detailed as the altitude lowered.

"Looks empty." Jean mused. "The front yard doesn't have tanks or police cars in it, that is."

"Let's hope for that, at least." Logan said.

"This doesn't make sense." Rogue said. "You guys said you killed some of the raiders, and that happened early this morning." She glanced at her watch. "What, twelve hours ago? The police, FBI, and whoever else should still be here going through every room looking for evidence and stuff."

"Stryker must have not reported what happened." The Professor said. "We don't know if he was acting with proper authorization, either."

"Right." Gambit said. "He was planning on wiping out all mutants anyway, why would he bother report that some of his men got killed by mutants?"

"We're not out of the woods yet." Wesley muttered. The basketball court divided in the middle and retracted, opening to reveal the hanger. Scott guided the craft down gently, a bump rocking the passengers as the landing gear hit the floor. The basketball court above them slid back into place.

"We'll have to clear the place and make sure there are no mines or anything left behind." Scott said.

"Paranoid gym teacher." Logan mocked. "We're not dealing with scorched earth terrorists. They had no backup plans in case they lost."

"We can't bet lives on that." Ororo said quietly. "A mundane task or not, checking will be necessary."

"Speaking of which, how will we find the other kids?" Wesley asked. "Peter, John, Bobby, and all the others? They ran off into the woods."

"They were following emergency protocol." The Professor said. "I own a small bunker not far from the school. That's where they went, undoubtedly. The bunker is well stocked with food, water, clothing and other supplies."

"A bunker?" Wesley repeated.

"Yes." Xavier said. Wesley raised his eyebrows. "I own a lot of assets around the nation." The Professor explained.

"Are we doing this?" Scott asked. "Ororo, stay here with the student and the Professor. Everyone else, form up." Jean and Kurt stretched and walked over to him, near the back of the jet. Remy, Logan, and Wesley didn't move. Scott looked furious. "Did you three go deaf all of the sudden?" He snapped. Remy groaned dramatically. "The sooner we check to make sure the place is safe, the sooner we get to clean up and rest." They got up and joined Scott.

"You might not be billing us for the rooms, but we sure have to earn our keep." Logan grumbled.

"I am very sorry about the events of the past day, but it was out of my control." Xavier said. "If I had known what was going to happen, I would have acted accordingly. We will proceed with nothing but the utmost caution."

"Kurt, check around the hanger." Scott ordered.

"Ja." He said. BAMF! He teleported out. Several seconds later he reappeared.

"It's clear."

The back hatch of the blackbird lowered, and Scott strode to the circular doors leading to the underground hallways. He tapped the button. The door didn't move.

"Locked." He said. He leaned forward and spoke into a hidden microphone. "Cyclops." A small metal panel slid back, revealing a scanner. Scott took his left glove off and placed his hand on it. The device hummed as it scanned his hand, checking his identity.

"Identity confirmed, Cyclops." A computer voice said.

"Unlock all doors." Scott ordered.

"Command confirmed. Deactivating and releasing all locks." The computer said. An audible click was heard.

"I'm opening the door." Scott said. "Stack up." The other team members lined up against the wall on both sides of the door, Scott directly to the left, with his hand on his visor, Wesley directly to the right, pistol up and ready. He tapped the button and the doors hissed and opened, lights powering on. Wesley peeked around the corner, being careful to expose the smallest amount of his head possible. The hallway seemed empty. He stepped out from cover and advanced, Scott next to him.

"Clear." Scott said quietly. "We'll need to check several more rooms, though, before we know the lower levels are secure." He strode down the metallic hallway, and they came to an X. Not a dozen feet away was an elevator, right where the two lines met. Scott checked the corners; the area was clear. "Logan, Wesley, go right. Kurt, Remy, go straight. Jean and I will go left. Move out."

Ten minutes later…

"So, nothing seems tampered with except Cerebro?" The Professor clarified. They were all in the 'war room', which held several large computers and some equipment. More importantly for the students, along with Remy and Wesley, it had food and drinks.

"Right." Jean said. "They removed several of the critical components. I guess they couldn't entirely build one of their own, even with Erik's help."

"When can we go back upstairs?" Rogue asked, her voice tinged with frustration and exhaustion. She had been awake for 48 hours, or something like that. Simple math was too hard at the moment. The lower levels were neat, but she just wanted to collapse on her bed and sleep.

"As soon as you convince your boyfriend and his pal that they've had enough of a break." Scott barked. "We'd be half done by now if they didn't beg to stop for lunch. Charles said we all go up as a group, for safety's sake."

"Could you guys check the upstairs?" Rogue pleaded, looking at Gambit and Wesley, the two Scott had been speaking of.

"We will. Soon." Wesley said tiredly, his mouth full. Half of an energy bar was in his hand, his third in five minutes minutes. The group had already gone through several boxes.

"Give him a minute, chere." Gambit said, sipping a Dr. Pepper. Wesley glared at him, the food starting to ease his hunger and the trembling feelings he had in his limbs.

"Oh, give him a minute." He said. "As in, 'I could run a marathon right now, but let my pathetic friend get something to eat so he doesn't faint.'"

"Homie," Remy said casually. "You just took da words out of my mouth." Rogue gave Jubilee a look.

"You guys have to act so macho." Jubilee spoke up. "Come'on, we're all dead tired and we all know it. Just check the stinkin' rooms to make sure the bogeymen have left, okay?" Scott looked like he was about to add something to that statement, when Logan interrupted him.

"Enough." The Canadian said. "Odds are a hundred to one that there's nothing scarier up there than some moldy laundry. Let's just go check so the kids won't be jumping at shadows. I'd go do it myself if the Professor wasn't being so dang insistent that well all go together."

"Fine." Wesley said exasperatedly. "Let's go."

"At last." Jean said. "We still have more work to do after this. You three will have the rest of the day off, at least."

They piled into the elevator after Jean unlocked it. Wesley took his pistol back out and clicked the safety off. Scott adjusted something on his visor, getting ready to blast anything he needed to at the top.

Wesley tapped Logan on the shoulder. "Hey, if there are people waiting outside the elevator to gun us down when the doors open," Wesley said offhandedly, "I'm using you as a human shield." Scott smirked. Logan flicked out his middle claw briefly.

The car stopped, and the doors slid open. Nothing. The group stepped away from the cover of the elevator and spread out. The only audible sound was the ticking of a grandfather clock, and the wind.

"It's cold." Jean whispered, surprised. It wasn't supposed to be. The air outside the elevator felt fifteen degrees colder than the lower levels.

"Ice." Logan said.

"What?" Remy asked.

"Ice. I had Bobby, with Kitty's help, ice the main hallways shut, to slow down the raiders." Logan said quietly. "Stuff's probably not melted yet." He turned the corner and headed towards the main offices, stopping at the Professor's door. Logan tried to turn the handle, but to no avail. The door had been frozen shut, a layer of ice sealing it.

"Here, let me." Gambit said. He placed a hand on the ice, charging it. Instead of blowing up, though, it simply turned to steam. The handle turned and the door swung open. The room looked exactly like it should.

"We all know that no one's still here, except for that one guy." Scott said. "So let's all split up and just check the rooms quickly. Maybe we'll be done in half an hour. Remy, you're coming with me. There's a containment cell in the lower levels. We'll take that last commando down there. Everyone else, just be cautious."

Forty-five minutes later…

Jean stepped out of the elevator, her shoes tapping the metal of the floor.

"All clear?" Storm asked, pacing the hallways.

"Yeah." Jean said. "The raiders, they took their dead with them, but you can still tell where the fighting took place. Several hallways have blood splatters. One is littered with shell casings, and reeks of smoke. The carpets will certainly need a cleaning. That, and the walls. A few places are shot up pretty badl Oh, and we taped up a couple of shattered windows that they used for rapid entry. We swept up most of the broken glass, and Kurt's vacuuming around the spots to make sure. I told Wesley and Logan to clean the place up the best they could before the kids go up there." She ran a hand through her hair. "I swear, I am not going to be the one to talk to the workmen when we have the repairs done."

"Sounds like the boys had fun." Storm commented dryly. "It's a miracle we didn't lose anyone. Scott arrived at the bunker. The rest of the students were inside, unharmed-they'll be here in a few minutes. Everyone is accounted for."

"Good." Jean said. "Let's get everyone back upstairs." Storm fidgeted a little.

"Something wrong?" Jean asked.

"Not really." Storm said. "But the students…" She glanced towards the war room, where everyone was waiting. "Will they ever feel safe again here? This is supposed to be a place of refuge, of protection. Yet Stryker just waltzed in here and kidnapped six of them."

"He hardly 'waltzed' in." Jean pointed out. "Stryker paid in blood to take this place." She headed towards the war room, Storm following. "As far as the students, they'll be okay. Kids are amazing. Kids can recover from injuries that would kill us adults, they can shake off traumas that would leave us mentally scarred... they're stronger than we give them credit for. It'll take a while, but they will feel safe here again."

"Maybe we really should bring those three onto the team." Storm said, bringing up an earlier discussion, from yesterday. "They've been a great help. Imagine going through the events of the last twenty-four hours without them. That would have been difficult. Very difficult."

"Still, what would they teach?" Jean asked, starting to walk towards the War Room. "I think Remy speaks French proficiently, so he could teach French classes. Logan, he could teach combat, physical education, stuff like that, but I don't think he'd have the patience to teach kids. Wesley, he's still a kid himself, and he doesn't seem like the sort that would take the job anyway. We don't even have fifty students here, we don't really need seven teachers."

"You have a point." Storm admitted. "I don't know if it would work. But it's definitely something we should consider." Jean nodded her agreement as she tapped in the access button on the door, then strode into the War Room, putting a cheerful demeanor on for the sake of the students.

"Good news!" Jean said. "We get to go back upstairs. The rooms have all been checked, everything's fine now. The others will be here soon also."

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So, there's chapter 29, mostly just a necessary transition—I would've just skipped it somehow, but when I tried, it didn't turn out well enough. I know this chapter wasn't exceptional, but I'm hoping it turned out fair, decent.

Trivia question; in this chapter, the computer obeys Scott's command and says, "Deactivating and releasing all locks." What famous gamecube video game has a computer say the same thing right near the end of the game?