Author's Note:

This fanfic is in response to a challenge the InterNutter has on her web page. (Go to http://cat.devil.com for details. I believe it's on her "miscellaneous" page. Check out her other stuff while you're at it, too. She's got a lot of neat stuff.) While this story may not what she had in mind, I hope she enjoys it.

Please review and give me useful feedback. You don't flame me, I don't flame you. (And believe me, I can get very creative...) This story is still open to massive re-writes. I'm having issues with the fact that it seems so contrived...

Standard disclaimer: I don't own the X-men and I'm not making a dime (or even a nickel) off this story.

Radical Nike

Part Five

Peculiar occurrences were the norm at the Xavier Institute, but sometimes peculiar just wasn't a strong enough word.

Professor Charles Xavier was uncertain if there was a term accurate enough to describe the current situation.

Best just to file it under "Wagner, Kurt," and simply let it lie.

There was a cookie jar without a lid sitting on the table before him. The furry elf himself was crouching in a chair nearby.

His older students, along with Rahne Sinclair, occupied various points of the room. Jean was sprawled out in one of the armchairs, nursing a headache from her earlier efforts.

Where to begin... Xavier thought. "Kurt, what can you tell me about this jar?"

Kurt looked at it and shuddered. "I have no idea where it came from, Professor. All I know is that someone left it where I would come across it." He pointed one of his digits at the surface, where a decorative border coiled, not actually touching it. "This odd mark is an old Romany script. (1) They're the words to a spell. The first part of the spell is meant to hold a person inside indefinitely. The second is a bit more malignant. Whoever holds the container can command the person bound to it to do whatever they desire. I cannot actually touch it. If I do, it forces me away."

Xavier kept his face composed. He could sense that Kurt genuinely believed what he was saying, but it was difficult to take the situation completely seriously. He picked up the jar and saw Kurt visibly flinch.

"Please don't make me chase my tail, Professor."

"I won't," he promised. "I would, however, like you to fall asleep."

Scott caught Kurt before he could topple to the floor. He set the boy onto one of the small sofas.

"That was freaky," Kitty stated, her blue eyes wide. "I didn't think that magic was, like, really real?"

Xavier traced the pattern with sensitive fingers. "These words do seem to have some kind of sentience to them, but from my understanding, they do not have power in and of themselves. The intent of the person who made this...vessel...is what is actually feeding the spell."

He noticed several of his students' jaws drop. Scott quickly regained his poise. "I'm sorry, sir, but it was just a shock to hear you taking this spell business seriously."

"I understand, Scott. Mysticism, sorcery, magic... these are all things most people dismiss. I often have to remind myself that I need to keep my mind open to all possibilities. My own brother, the Juggernaut, is proof of what such powers can accomplish." He tapped the jar. "Kurt, please wake up."

Kurt started awake and rubbed his eyes. "Vas..."

"I apologize, Kurt, but I needed to see exactly how the compulsion worked."

"Oh."

Just then, Ororo Munroe gracefully entered the room. "I apologize for interrupting, Charles, but I've finished talking with the police."

"I trust they accepted Kurt's statement?" The Professor had determined that the best way to handle the officials was to pretend that Kurt was simply the victim of a cruel prank and had no idea who had carried him off.

"You know they did, Charles," Ororo said, mildly reproving. "They seem to be more interested in who detonated that smoke bomb than anything else."

"Good work." He returned his attention back to his students. "You may have to deal with some unkind remarks for a week or so, Kurt."

The blue teen made a face, but he didn't comment. "I just want to concentrate on breaking that spell. I never really considered a future as a genie when I grew up."

"Ah, yes. I'm not sure what destroying the container will do." Xavier turned his attention to Rahne. "I think the person who made the jar would know how to do it. Rahne, I trust you still remember the scent of the boy who tried to run off with this jar?"

"Oh, aye, Professor. Jean got a look at the wastrel from my mind's eye." The mutant werewolf seemed slightly nervous to be included in the conversation, so Xavier sent a tiny thread of comfort towards her. She relaxed slightly.

"Jean?"

She groaned from her seat. "His name is Patrick Rumsfield. He tends to stay at the fringe of crowds, Professor. I don't know much about him."

"I do," Rogue snorted. "He calls himself 'Sylvan' and fancies himself some kind of magician. He's always goin' on about sorcery and demons and dark powers. I never took 'im seriously, but I guess he might have had something going, after all." She squinched her eyes shut for a moment. "He an' his girlfriend, Rhave—"

"Rhave?" Evan interrupted.

"Uh, her name's really Stephanie Crow. Anyhow—"

"What is it with you goths and funky names, anyway?" Evan mumbled.

"Shut up, Spyke," Rogue growled. The rambunctious skater flushed and quieted. "Anyhow, Sylvan an' Rhave have been actin' pretty interested in the Bayville Demon lately."

"Wunderbar," Kurt grumbled. "An amateur spellcaster wanted to make me his demonic familiar. I can't believe this." He jumped up and began to pace irritably. "He should be lucky I'm really not a demon..."

"So what are we going to do about him?" Kitty asked. "He totally freaked when he saw me and Rahne phase through the wall."

Xavier thought a moment. "Another concern. We have no idea if he recognized the two of you."

"Ah dinnae think that he saw much, Professor. I was a wolf at the time and the boy had already taken ta his heels by the time we were both completely in the room." She sniffed, obviously not impressed.

"No matter." Xavier turned to Rogue. "I think you should invite Mr. Rumsfield to visit. Miss Crow, also, if you feel she would also be involved."

"Wouldn't be surprised. They're stuck tagether like glue..."

Kurt cleared his throat. He was staring at the cookie jar. "Uh, Professor, where's the lid?"

Kitty coughed. "Uh, I think the Brotherhood still has it..."

Sylvan collapsed into a small heap on his bed as soon as he got home.

The jar was gone.

He didn't even know if the spell had actually caught the Bayville Demon or not. It was gone.

He would never know.

He had had so much faith that the spell would really work, too.

Someone, somewhere, had his demon.

A loud knock on his door jolted him out of his sulk. "Patrick, there's a girl on the phone for you."

Sylvan bit back the urge to correct his mother about his name, but then the rest of her sentence sunk in. What girl? She would've called Rhave by her name...

He cracked the door to permit his mother the view of a singular eye. "Who called?"

"She said her name was Rogue."

He pushed past her into the hall and reached for the phone. "What does she want?" Whatever it was, at least he could take his mind off that stupid cookie jar.

"Rogue? What's up?"

"Do ya know anythin' about a cookie jar with a fuzzy blue devil inside it?"

The sun was just starting to set. Near the Bayville Boardinghouse, four X-men quickly laid their plans.

"Jean, do they have the lid?"

The statuesque redhead nodded. "Tabitha tossed it in the corner of the front hall when she returned from school. She's currently in her room."

"Is anyone else around? I don't see Alvers' jeep."

"The Blob is in the back of the house. I think he's watching TV. I can't detect anyone else."

Cyclops turned to Shadowcat. "Easy in, easy out. Nothing fancy."

"Like, no prob. Just be ready to book when I'm outta there, okay?"

Shadowcat crept off.

Spyke began to fidget. "I hate being the back-up, man. It's boring, y' know?"

Jean made a disapproving noise. "We're not here for a fight, Evan." She turned a sharp look to the house.

"Problem?" Cyclops asked.

"No. Tabitha was about to leave her room and I implanted the feeling that she forgot to do something in her room." She watched the house for another long moment. "Kitty got the lid. Start the van up."

Shadowcat came running across the dead grass and climbed into the car breathlessly. "Let's get OUT of here!"

Cyclops stepped on the gas. "Did you get caught?"

"No," the petite girl shuddered. "That has got to be the nastiest piece of architecture, like, on the entire planet." She hugged the piece of ceramic tightly. "They're worse pigs than Evan."

"Hey!"

Sylvan parked the sedan right in front of the main entrance.

"I can't believe that we went through all that trouble this afternoon for you to lose the damn thing as soon as you managed to retrieve it..."

"Shut up, Rhave..."

Rogue was standing in the doorway before they had finished climbing the steps. "Follow me, guys." She glanced into the building. "We're just gonna pass through the house real quick. I hid it outside so no one would find it."

The duo barely had enough time to take in the interior as Rogue led them towards the kitchen.

"Hello, Rogue," a lovely black woman with white hair greeted. She was putting dishes away. "Are these the members of your little 'study' group?" From the look on her face, she didn't seem to think they were going to be studying much of anything.

"Uh, yeah. This is Sylvan an' Rhave. Sorry, Ms. Munroe, but we really gotta go. Study, I mean."

"Of course..."

They exited into an elegant garden. "Sorry about that. Ms. Munroe keeps a sharp watch on us."

"As long as she doesn't interfere with our business," Rhave hissed.

Rogue gave her a startled look. "Hey, I don't want to start trouble. I just want this thing to go away..."

She had led them to a small green house. Carefully, she pushed open the door and went directly to a workbench covered with dust and assorted knickknacks. "We don't use this place too much except for storage. Figured that it would be overlooked."

Sylvan's heart leapt within his chest at the sight of the cookie jar. Then he noticed the tail.

There was a sinuous blue tail hanging over the side of the jar. It was caught in the lid, which apparently had come loose. The tail was twitching furiously and the jar was shaking violently.

"Whoa." Rogue looked scared. "Been busy, I see. How the Hell did he manage that?"

Inside the jar, Kurt was testing his limits. The substitute lid had accidentally slid out of place and he found that he could actually move around inside a bit. There was a strange sense of expansion and contraction when he wasn't completely 'bottled.'

It kind of tickled.

He had poked his tail out, probing the outside of the jar. He found that he could actually touch the outer surface if the majority of his person was inside.

He heard a startled exclamation from outside.

That's my cue.

Not even a second had passed after Rogue thoughtlessly spoke. Sylvan watched in horror as the cookie jar's lid blew off the top and a dark shadow blasted out of it.

It landed with a ka-thump on his chest, knocking him to the ground. Rhave shrieked and cowered away.

"Grab the jar! Grab the jar!" he yelled as the thing sat on top of him. He could feel its tail coiling suggestively around his neck.

God-its-eyes-were-GLOWING—

Rhave gibbered in the corner.

"Knock it off. You wanted ta scare 'em, and you've scared 'em good. Now let 'im loose."

Sylvan resumed breathing as the demon released him and leapt on top of a stack of boxes. He moved as a mass of shadows, only his eyes visible in the dark greenhouse.

Rhave stared at Rogue. "You—You're not holding the jar!"

Rogue snorted. "'Course not. That'd be insultin'." She kept her body interposed between them and the jar. "I'd like ta introduce you ta my brother."

Sylvan about died on the spot. "Your—brother—?"

"You have a hearing problem, Patrick?" she said dangerously. "Yes, my brother. He's an incubus and I'm—" Rogue stepped closer. Sylvan fumbled backwards towards the door. "—a succubus. And I want him set free of that silly little cookie jar..."

She was taking her gloves off. Her hands seemed to glow like white brands in the dim light.

"And either you tell me willingly," she whispered softly in his ear, sending a chill down his spine. She touched his leather collar gently with the tip of finger and he could feel a cold sweat break out all over his body. "Or I'll steal the knowledge right out of your soul..."

Rhave began screaming hysterically when the demon began to laugh.

Very early the next morning, Father David Fitzgerald was quite bemused when an odd couple knocked on his rectory door. They had a dog with them.

"Can I help you?"

"Um, sorry to disturb you, Father, but my name's Patrick and this is my friend Stephanie. We were wondering if you could do us a favor..."

Father David took his eyes off the improbable number of piercings the girl had in her face and focused his attention on the bag the boy was holding.

"We were wondering if you'd bless this cookie jar with holy water for us..."

Was that dog a wolf?

Later, at the Institute, Kurt was picking at his breakfast. Rogue was sitting directly across from him. Every once in a while, one of the two would burst into giggles, which inevitably set the other off.

Scott just shook his head. "You would think they'd be worried about Sylvan and Rhave talking."

Jean tossed her hair back and took a sip of her orange juice. "The Professor said that he'd take care of it."

"I'll bet Rogue's disappointed that her little 'succubus' shtick won't be remembered," Kitty groused. "I think she enjoys freaking people out."

Evan swallowed. "Hey, everybody needs a hobby."

At the other end of the table, Kurt and Rogue dissolved into laughter.

Inside the kitchen, Ororo carefully loaded her freshly baked cookies into the Institute's newest cookie jar.

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Author's Note:

(1) Kurt was adopted and raised by gypsies, who are also referred to as Romany.

Well, that's it. Please let me know what you think. Any suggestions for improvement are always appreciated!