Really, I AM Dying! (pt. 5)

(A/N: This was written back-and-forth on a message board, so if some things get lost in the shuffle, let me know. I value your input!)

"Hold on." one of the security guards said, phoning his superiors for instructions. He came back in a few minutes. "We need to see some ID, sir."
Magneto currently had IDs in four different names, none of them the one he'd been born with. He picked the most up-to-date one--it was also the most flattering photo.

The guard scanned it. "Okay," he said. "We just need you to sign some paperwork, Mr. . . . Magnus, is it?"

"I'll sign anything you want. Just let me see my wife, please."

"That won't be necessary." a second guard said. "We just wanted to confirm that your ID matches hospital records."

"I didn't know there were any records. Has she been awake?"

Back at the Brotherhood house . . . things were approaching the critical point.
"Give me the remote!"
"No! I'm watching this!"
"But you've watched it three times in a row! Can't we find something else?"
"You got something against Fight Club, Summers?"
Scott sighed. "No, but I want to watch something different for a change, Lance. Now let me have the remote."
"It's my TV!"

Just then Storm confiscated the remote. "That's enough! You're supposed to be resting, not arguing!"
"It was his fault!" both boys said at the same time.

Storm just rolled her eyes. "I don't want to hear another sound from this room." She turned and walked out, still clutching the remote.
Lance and Scott just looked at each other in confusion.

In the next room, Brenda and Toad were holding hands.
They were the only boy/girl pair sharing a room, but Ororo wasn't worried. They were only children, after all.

Toad was eager to hear Brenda read more of "The Last Continent", but she was too sick to oblige.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Oooooooh..." she groaned in response.

"What hurts?"
"What doesn't hurt?"

"That bad, huh?"

"How long is this supposed to last?"

"I don't know..."

It was clear that Brenda had the worst of it. How long it would last was still unknown.
Not everyone got the disease.

But that was hardly a comfort to Xavier, who worried about his students.

"How many are infected so far?" he asked Hank.

"According to my last conversation with Storm . . . everyone except herself, Kurt, and Blob."

"I was afraid of that..."

The front doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Hank said. He opened the front door . . .
. . . and came face to face with a rather stern-looking older woman.
"Can I help you?"
"Where is she?" Martha Ellis demanded.

"Beg pardon?"

"Brenda. Where is she? What friend's house?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're--"
"Mrs. Ellis," Xavier said, from behind him. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Professor?"

"There's no need to worry," he said hastily. "Brenda's in good hands."
"I want to see for myself," the woman snapped. Then she softened a bit. "It's just . . . she left so suddenly, I was worried there was something wrong . . ."

"Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, thank you." She stepped across the threshold and accompanied the Professor to his office. "Tell me what's wrong," she said. "How bad is it?"

"There are only three people at the house not infected with the virus..."

"I take it Brenda's not one of the three?"

Xavier shook his head. "Unfortunately not. In fact, she was one of the first to be infected."

"How serious is it?"

"Very."

"Take me there. I need to see her, I need to know she's all right . . ." She started pacing and fretting.

"If she's going, I'm going with her," Wanda said. "I'm sick of sitting around waiting for something to happen. I want to help."

Magneto looked at her. "It's too dangerous," he said.
"Come on, I had measles when I was three!"
"So did your brother! This isn't ordinary measles. I won't let you expose yourself to--"

"Dad, please..."

Magneto was unwilling to let her go. He had just come back from visiting Mystique in the hospital (where she would have to stay another few days), and the thought of his little girl ending up like that . . .
"No," he said.

Wanda turned to Xavier. "I just want to help," she said. "You've only got three people running around taking care of everyone else! Can't you use another pair of hands?"
Xavier wasn't sure how to respond.

Wanda waited tensely for their answer . . . .

"I don't think we can risk anyone else being exposed," said Hank,who had just called the house for an update.
"Brenda and Rogue are pretty sick, and a couple of the others are getting worse."

"That's it, I'm going." Before Magneto or Xavier could stop her, Wanda rushed through the door, and Martha was at her heels.

"Not so fast, child."

"But I have to!"

"Not at the expense of your own life you don't."

"What are you talking about?" Wanda looked panic-stricken. "They're all right, aren't they?"

"That's not the point." Martha insisted. "The others are all infected, and you could catch it from them if you're not careful...."

"Then I'll be careful! I need to be doing something, and they need someone to take care of them! Please let me go!"

Martha looked at the girl's face and saw that she was obviously terrified. "What sort of precautions should we take?" she asked.

Xavier sighed. "I suppose," he said, "I could find something."

"I still think it's a bad idea." Magneto insisted.

"Perhaps not. Ah, here we are." He found a treatment the professor had originally developed for anthrax. "This vaccine should protect you against the virus. You'll also be wearing masks and gloves."

"You don't miss a thing, do you?" Mrs.Ellis said.

"What should we bring, medicine-wise?" Wanda asked.

After a quick consult with Cerebro, Xavier said "I think that's already been taken care of."