Disclaimer: All characters, etc. Property of Marvel, Kids WB, and anyone else who happens to own them.
Summary: Professor X, Wolverine and Storm have vanished, and it's up to the X-Men to find them.
Note: This story takes place after the end of Season One. Yes, I know Alex, Scott's brother, is conspicously missing. I'll explain this in a later chapter. That is of course if I get some positive feedback.
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It was Friday and school had just let out for the weekend. Scott, Jean, Kurt and the others gathered in the parking lot.
Jean was the first to speak. "I for one can't wait to breathe in the fresh mountain air."
"Uhh. I think I'm gonna be sick." Rogue said in her typically depressing manner.
"Not me, Mein freud. I'm with Jean. Well, except for the whole birds and crickets thing."
"Me, I'm going to do some serious mountain biking."
"Spyke. It's wilderness training not a vacation. After what happened with Sgt. Hawk. The Professor decided that Wolverine would be a better teacher."
"Whatever, Mom!" Evan should have known better. Before Scott could stop her Jean lifted him 3 feet off the ground, and dropped him on his butt.
"Oww! What'd you do that for?" Evan asked as he stood and rubbed his backside.
Scott was quickly losing control of the situation. They were lucky no one had noticed Evan suddenly being lifted into the air. Usually Jean was the one who had to calm him down.
"Jean, before you do anything else, I'm sure Evan wants to apologize. Don't you, Evan!"
"Why? She's the one who..."
"Evan!"
"Sorry, Jean."
Evan was the youngest of the X-Men and hadn't learned yet, that Jean was one girl you didn't want to make mad. Rogue was another. Kitty on the other hand, didn't get mad. She got even. Scott looked worriedly at his watch. Logan was late. That was usually a bad sign.
Like, what's taking him so long?"
Scott, and the others groaned. Up until then Kitty had been quiet. Also a bad sign. It's not that she whined so much, as she was constantly stating the obvious. It irritated everyone, but no one said anything. They stood in silence for nearly thirty minutes, waiting for Logan.
After glancing at his watch for the fiftieth time Scott finally spoke. "All right people something's up. Jean. See if you can contact the Professor."
"I can't sense him."
"What about Storm or Wolverine?"
"No one. The mansion's empty."
"Alright, Kurt take Jean and 'port back to the mansion. The rest of us will take my car back. And be careful we don't know what's going on yet."
As Kurt and Jean disappeared into a puff of brimstone. Scott and the others were already running for his car. They came to a screeching halt in front of the mansion only minutes later.
Racing inside, Jean and Kurt were waiting for them.
"We've already checked the first floor. Nothing." Jean was looking more worried by the minute. Scott was also worried, but as field leader it was his job to remain calm and in control of the situation.
"Okay. Nightcrawler, Spyke, you two search the second and third floors. Rogue, Shadowcat, search the grounds. Jean and I will check the lower levels. Anybody who's not in uniform change first. I want comm checks every five minutes. If you find anyone or anything report it."
No one argued, no one questioned his orders. He was in command. It took over an hour before the search was completed. All they turned up was a Playboy under Spyke's bed, and a stash of junk food in Kitty's closet.
"Like, how could they just disappear?"
"That's it, I'm gonna belt you so hard you won't remember the word 'like'."
"Rogue, calm down! I know Kitty can be irritating at times."
"Hey! I like, resent that."
"Arguing and fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything. We need to find out what happened to Professor X and the others. Let's go over what we already know, maybe there's something we missed. Okay, all the cars are still in the garage, the X-Jet is still in the hangar, and Logan's motorcycle is parked out front. If they left on their own how'd they do it."
As if something just occured to him, Scott turned to Jean.
"When you were downstairs did you check the mansion security log?"
"It was normal."
"What about Cerebro?"
"The Professor said that my powers weren't developed enough yet to control it."
"Look they've been gone now for over..." Scott looked at the nearest clock, and an expression of horror spread across his face. Quickly he looked down at his watch, then turned on the nearest TV. It showed nothing but static.
Jean was the first to ask.
"What? What is it Scott?"
"The clock. It says 2:23. My watch says 3:56. It stopped when I came in the mansion. The TV's are useless. That can only mean one thing..."
It didn't take the other team members long to come to the same conclusion.
"Magneto!"
