Glen ran at a breakneck pace down the corridor. Behind him, Bobby and Amara
were keeping up. They had been pursuing the mutant for nearly 20 minutes
and all 3 were fatigued. For once, Glen was thankful for the Professor's
harder training programs; they were putting him in better shape than he had
ever been in his life, even when he had been training for the gym team at
Bayville High. He had never been able to run this long and this fast
before. For the last few weeks, Glen had been undergoing a rigorous series
of physical programs designed to help him get in better shape in as fast a
time as possible. It was necessary, the Professor explained, to get him up
to the same physical level as the other X-Men as soon as possible. When he
asked why, the Professor had been evasive, saying only that "it may be
necessary in the future," And so Glen had endured in a few weeks a level of
training that the other X-Men had spent months developing.
Finally, they reached the end of the long corridor. Glen rested his hands on his knees, exhausted by the long run. He saw that his teammates were similarly tired. Glen looked up at the massive steel door in front of him as he caught his breath. This was where their pursuit had led them, and now it was time to confront the dangerous fugitive. Glen examined the door but couldn't find any means of access. That meant that they'd have to make their own entrance. "Amara, can you melt through this door?"
"I think so," said the small girl, and stepped forward. She clenched her fists, and her arms began to glow bright red. After a few seconds, she let out a cry and pointed her arms at the door. A stream of flame shot out and struck the door, which began to glow red. Slowly, the door began to melt as Amara maintained her assault. After about a minute, there was a large enough hole in the melted metal for them to pass through. Bobby quickly shot out a stream of ice to cool the door, and the three walked through.
Beyond the door, they saw a dark room. There were several pillars holding up the ceiling, and a number of workbenches scattered around with all manner of scientific equipment on them. At the far corner of the room, they saw their quarry, seated at a computer console, typing furiously.
"All right, you're surrounded!" Glen called out. "Give yourself up, and you won't be harmed,"
The mutant rose, her long red hair swaying. Not turning around, she replied, 'I'm not going anywhere, and I suggest you leave now while you still can,"
"We're not leaving without you," said Glen, then turned to his team members. "Ok, spread out and get ready to take her down. Remember, she can do all sorts of things with her mind, so stay sharp,"
Bobby and Amara took up flanking positions as Glen stepped forward. As he approached, the red-haired mutant crouched down and suddenly sprang into action. She leaped up onto the computer terminal and jumped, somersaulting through the air and landing behind Glen. As he turned around, the girl kicked him hard in the face and sent him flying backwards, and then turned her attention to the other two. Bobby raised his hand and shot a ball of ice at the girl, but she jumped again, and deftly rebounded off of one of the pillars. Bobby fired another stream of ice, but the girl stretched out her arms and a barrier of energy appeared. The ice deflected off of it and rebounded directly at Bobby, freezing him to the pillar he was standing by.
Glen slowly got up from the vicious kick he had received to see one of his teammates disabled. He phased out of time and reappeared behind the girl, meaning to tackle her from behind. She looked back behind her just as Glen reappeared and braced herself for the impact. They collided, and the girl rolled as she hit the ground, and wound up on top of Glen. Glen lifted his leg and kicked her off of him but had to quickly roll out of the way as the girl pointed at one of the workbenches, sending it flying towards him.
Amara stood watching the melee, unwilling to take a shot for fear that she might hit her team leader. Finally, the two broke free of each other, and she charged up for a shot. Before she could use her powers, however, the girl shot out her arm, and Amara went flying across the room. She landed inside of a tall filing cabinet, which tipped over, trapping her inside. Now it was down to one on one as she turned her attention back to Glen.
Glen shot a stasis beam at the girl. In response, she lifted a beaker off of one of the benches and directed it into the path of the beam. The beaker froze, then fell to the floor, and shattered. The girl then mentally lifted the entire contents of one of the benches and sent them flying at Glen. Glen froze what he could, but was forced to retreat behind one of the overturned benches. As he tried to figure out what to do next, his radio snapped on and he heard a gruff voice. "Glen, what's your status?"
The voice belonged to Logan, who was monitoring the capture scenario. Glen quickly keyed the radio and said, 'Uh, everything's under control. Really!" Several beakers smashed against the wall behind him, showering him with broken glass.
"Doesn't sound like everything's under control. Hurry up and take her down!" came Logan's curt response. "Try using your new doubling ability,"
Glen closed his eyes and began to concentrate. The doubling ability Logan had referred to was something that Glen had developed very recently. By concentrating very hard, he could create an image of himself from another temporal period. In essence it was as if he was bringing a future version of himself into the present. He could also control this image, but only to a limited extent. If this worked, he thought, it might provide the distraction he would need to get in close.
Opening his eyes, he could see a faint image of himself appear besides him. Focusing his thoughts, he made the image stand up and start running towards the girl. With his mind, he made the image dodge the rain of objects flying at it until it was only a few feet away from the girl. "Now!" he thought to himself, and phased out of time. He ran towards the girl, and re-entered normal time when he was next to his double. As he reentered time, he saw the girl take a defensive stance, and she lashed out with a kick. Unfortunately for Glen, she did not strike at his double, but rather at him. He doubled over, and the girl struck him again, sending him down to the floor. Glen could only watch, stunned, as she waved her hands at a string of computer cables. The cables detached from their sockets, and one end lashed itself to the ceiling while the other tied itself around Glen's legs. The next thing Glen knew, he was being hoisted in the air, upside down. The girl laughed, and with a wave of her red hair, walked out of the room.
Up in the control booth of the Danger Room, Scott Summers looked down on Jean Grey as she walked out of the room. "That's my girl," he thought to himself, grinning.
Logan grumbled and shut down the simulation. He cued the intercom to the Danger Room and said, "Congratulations. You're all dead. Come back upstairs for debriefing,"
Glen sighed as the lights came on in the Danger Room. For the first time, he had lost in one of the simulations. He racked his brain for answers, but couldn't think of anything he could have done differently. Before he could reflect further on his defeat, the wires holding him up vanished, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud. He gathered himself up, and then he, Bobby, and Amara walked out of the room and up to the control booth.
Glen watched the video of the exercise, grimacing at the action he saw. When the tape ended, Logan looked at Glen and said, "Ok. What went wrong?"
"I tried the doubling trick, but Jean wasn't fooled at all. I think she could sense where I was even though I was phased out of time,"
Jean nodded her head, confirming Glen's theory. "Glen, if it's any consolation, that was the most convincing double you've been able to create. And you were able to control it much better than before. That ability should work pretty well in the future, assuming you don't try to use it against a mutant who's a telepath,"
"Explain," said Logan. "Why is the double so easy for a telepath to see through?"
"Well, it may look like Glen, but it doesn't think like him. When I first saw it, I tried to read its mind and figure out its plan of attack, but I couldn't get any kind of mental reading off of it at all. Once I realized that I was looking at the double, I realized that Glen's real attack would follow. I could sense where he was when he was out of time because he was so close by. All I had to do was wait for him to phase back in,"
Logan turned back to Glen. "What about your teammates? With a 3-to-1 advantage, you should have been able to bring her down easily. What happened?"
'We didn't deploy well enough," said Glen. "Her attack caught me off guard, and she was able to isolate us individually. From there, she had a pretty easy time,"
Logan next looked over at Amara. "You had a shot on her at one point. Why didn't you take it?"
Amara blushed nervously. "I was afraid I might hit Glen by mistake," she said.
"In the future, you may have to take that chance," said Logan. "I think we're done here. Dismissed,"
Glen could feel Logan's stern eyes boring holes in him as he walked out of the control booth. Logan had been a good instructor, but he was a VERY difficult man to please. Logan was aware that Glen was gay, as were all the other X-Men. However, Logan had reacted rather gruffly when he heard the news. Glen still remembered his words, 'Great, now I got a pixie to deal with. As though the elf wasn't bad enough!" "Yeah, we're a couple of real fairy tales," Glen had responded, trying to make the man laugh. That, he had quickly discovered, was impossible.
Glen showered, and went upstairs to his room. He opened one of his schoolbooks and began studying, but closed it after a few minutes. So many thoughts were swirling through his head that he couldn't concentrate. Between school and his training sessions, he had had very little time to himself, and his mind and body were taxed to their limits.
He lay on his bed, trying to relax, but couldn't. He found himself thinking of his friend Sam; it had seemed like an eternity since they had done anything together, despite their similar class schedule. Glen still cared very much for the boy, but could feel them beginning to drift apart from being separated so much. He wished he could be with Sam now, holding him in his arms, kissing him like he had done before, when they had first met. Glen still remembered that kiss vividly. He was very afraid that he might never get to experience that moment again. At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Glen heard Professor Xavier's voice outside, asking to come in.
Glen got up and opened the door to his room, and allowed the professor to wheel in. "Hello, Glen. How are you feeling?" he asked.
Glen thought about saying that he was fine, but he put that idea aside. The professor wouldn't need his powers to realize how Glen was really doing. "Not well, Professor," he said, sighing.
"So I see," said Xavier. "I can tell that the stress of your accelerated training is beginning to wear on you. For what it's worth, I can tell you that you're the only member that I've asked to undergo such rigorous training, and you're handling it phenomenally,"
"I just wish I knew what it was really all about," said Glen. "I mean, you've told me that sooner or later, we're going to have to fight somebody, but who? There's no way the Brotherhood can be that tough," Xavier sighed, realizing that he could no longer keep this information back. "It's not the Brotherhood that I'm worried about, Glen. There is a mutant far beyond any threat the Brotherhood poses,"
"Who is he?"
"His name is Magneto. He is a very powerful mutant, and unfortunately, he does not share my views about mutants and humans,"
"How so?"
"He believes that humans and mutants cannot peacefully coexist. He has little hope that humanity will be able to overcome its prejudices and accept us for who we are. And he thinks that the only way that mutants will be able to live normal lives is through violence and force. Frankly, he thinks that mutants should use their powers to rule over humans. He has been recruiting his own mutants, just as I have been. The Brotherhood are just a few of the mutants under his influence,"
"So he's the one responsible for all of their attacks?"
"Not directly. For the most part, he lets them operate outside of his control. The results, as you have seen, are rather erratic. While they can cause serious damage when they have a purpose, they are often too caught up in their own interests to pose a serious threat. But Magneto has slowly been gathering his forces. I fear that soon he will try and draw us into open conflict and expose us to the world. I can only imagine how disastrous the consequences of that would be,"
Glen nodded. If he and the other X-Men were exposed, their lives would likely be ruined. They'd never be able to go to school the same way again, and the professor might even have to close the Institute down. "Do you really think he'd expose us?"
"Sadly, yes. He has made it plain that he has no concern for our fate when he puts his plans into motion. I knew when I first started the Institute that such a day might come. Unfortunately, it appears that that day may be coming far too soon,"
"Great," Glen muttered. "Glad to know we have so much to look forward to. Wish I could just forget about all this for a while,"
Xavier pondered for a moment, and then said, "I think I can accommodate that wish. I want you to take the next few days off of training. You're at a point now where your powers have developed as far as they will go. They will continue to grow over the course of time, but it will do you no good to continue to push you so hard right now. Relax for a few days, get caught up on your schoolwork if you need to, and make sure you take time to enjoy the world and be with your friends. Especially Sam. I know that you two haven't been able to see much of each other lately,"
Glen blushed slightly at the thought that Xavier was concerned about how much time he was spending with his friend. "Thank you, Professor. I'll try and do that,"
"And Glen, try not to dwell so much on what the future holds. I started this Institute with the knowledge that one day, the details of what goes on here would become public knowledge. But I intend for the Institute to remain here and to continue to fulfill its purpose, even after that day comes," With that, he turned and wheeled out of the room.
Glen dwelled on the words the professor had left him left, but he forced himself not to think about them. Professor Xavier had ordered him to relax, and relax he would. And he knew just what he wanted to do. He leaned over to his bed table and picked up the phone, and dialed a number that he knew by heart. "Hi!" he said, when the boy on the other end picked up.
"Glen! You called!" Sam shouted as his heart practically leapt through his throat. It had been so long since he and Glen had gotten to spend any kind of time together. "How are you?"
"Exhausted," Glen said, "but I've finally got some time off. Wanna get together later on?"
"Sure!" said Sam. "How about meeting me at my house in an hour, and we can go up to the hills and have a picnic up there,"
"Sounds great!" said Glen. "I'll see you in an hour," he said, and they hung up. "Woohoo!" he shouted, feeling instantly invigorated, and raced downstairs.
"You look all excited!" Kurt said as Glen pranced around the kitchen.
"Yep. I'm going to spend some time with somebody very special to me," said Glen, his grin a mile wide.
"Ooh, you got a date!" said Kitty teasingly. "Lucky!"
"Have a good time!" called Kurt as Glen bounced out the door.
Kitty laughed. "So like, how is it that a gay boy is the only one here who can manage to have a normal close relationship with somebody!"
"Hey, he's not the only one!" said Kurt, thinking of his own girlfriend Amanda.
"I know," Kitty smiled, and they both got up and left the kitchen. They didn't notice Scott standing at the far end of the kitchen as they left.
Scott walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, alone in the room. All the talk about dating about dates and relationships made him think about his own relationship with Jean. They were very close friends as it was, but he kept wishing they could be more than that. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to get close to her. The fact that she was already going out with Duncan Matthews didn't make matters any easier. More than anything, he just wished he could let her know how he really felt about her. He sighed, going over the quandary in his mind. How was it that he could control the destructive forces of his optic blasts, yet be so powerless when it came to expressing his feelings for Jean?
He continued to think, oblivious to his surroundings. It wasn't until he heard somebody say, "Hi, Scott!" until he became aware of reality again. He turned to see who was calling him, and inwardly blanched as he saw Jean standing next to the refrigerator.
"Um, hi Jean," Scott said.
"Feeling alright?" Jean asked.
"Like you have to ask," Scott said jokingly.
"C'mon Scott, you know I don't probe people minds without their permission," Jean replied. "What's bothering you?"
"Well, I've been thinking about you lately," Scott began, already beginning to feel his stomach contorting. "I was thinking., uh, that you were really something in that simulation earlier today. I've never seen anybody able to handle Glen like you did," he finished, trying to cover the nervousness in his voice.
Jean sat down next to him at the table and took his hands in hers. "Scott, is there something you want to tell me?" she asked, looking into the eyes that she knew lay behind his protective glasses.
Scott looked back at Jean, but felt his courage wilt under her caring gaze. "I can't. At least, not now,"
"Are you sure? Whatever it is, it looks like it's really eating you up,"
"Some other time. Soon, I promise,"
"Ok," Jean said, getting up to leave. "Just don't keep it to yourself for too long,"
Scott watched her leave. Great, he thought. Another chance lost. It was like this every time for him. He would always tell himself, "There'll be another time," He grimaced as he realized that some day, he might not have such an opportunity. "Jean!" he called out, but she was already gone, and Scott's words resounded off the empty kitchen walls.
Author's note: I apologize for the lengthy delay between chapters with this story. I have been mapping out this story in my head for a few weeks now and I actually wrote two other chapters for this story before completing this one. I had some difficulty figuring out exactly how I wanted to construct this chapter, what to include and what to leave out. Needless to say, I finally decided what the chapter should be. Hopefully, Chapter 3 will not be as difficult to write as this one was (and I can promise that Chapters 4 and 5 won't be difficult at all to write because they're already done!)
Finally, they reached the end of the long corridor. Glen rested his hands on his knees, exhausted by the long run. He saw that his teammates were similarly tired. Glen looked up at the massive steel door in front of him as he caught his breath. This was where their pursuit had led them, and now it was time to confront the dangerous fugitive. Glen examined the door but couldn't find any means of access. That meant that they'd have to make their own entrance. "Amara, can you melt through this door?"
"I think so," said the small girl, and stepped forward. She clenched her fists, and her arms began to glow bright red. After a few seconds, she let out a cry and pointed her arms at the door. A stream of flame shot out and struck the door, which began to glow red. Slowly, the door began to melt as Amara maintained her assault. After about a minute, there was a large enough hole in the melted metal for them to pass through. Bobby quickly shot out a stream of ice to cool the door, and the three walked through.
Beyond the door, they saw a dark room. There were several pillars holding up the ceiling, and a number of workbenches scattered around with all manner of scientific equipment on them. At the far corner of the room, they saw their quarry, seated at a computer console, typing furiously.
"All right, you're surrounded!" Glen called out. "Give yourself up, and you won't be harmed,"
The mutant rose, her long red hair swaying. Not turning around, she replied, 'I'm not going anywhere, and I suggest you leave now while you still can,"
"We're not leaving without you," said Glen, then turned to his team members. "Ok, spread out and get ready to take her down. Remember, she can do all sorts of things with her mind, so stay sharp,"
Bobby and Amara took up flanking positions as Glen stepped forward. As he approached, the red-haired mutant crouched down and suddenly sprang into action. She leaped up onto the computer terminal and jumped, somersaulting through the air and landing behind Glen. As he turned around, the girl kicked him hard in the face and sent him flying backwards, and then turned her attention to the other two. Bobby raised his hand and shot a ball of ice at the girl, but she jumped again, and deftly rebounded off of one of the pillars. Bobby fired another stream of ice, but the girl stretched out her arms and a barrier of energy appeared. The ice deflected off of it and rebounded directly at Bobby, freezing him to the pillar he was standing by.
Glen slowly got up from the vicious kick he had received to see one of his teammates disabled. He phased out of time and reappeared behind the girl, meaning to tackle her from behind. She looked back behind her just as Glen reappeared and braced herself for the impact. They collided, and the girl rolled as she hit the ground, and wound up on top of Glen. Glen lifted his leg and kicked her off of him but had to quickly roll out of the way as the girl pointed at one of the workbenches, sending it flying towards him.
Amara stood watching the melee, unwilling to take a shot for fear that she might hit her team leader. Finally, the two broke free of each other, and she charged up for a shot. Before she could use her powers, however, the girl shot out her arm, and Amara went flying across the room. She landed inside of a tall filing cabinet, which tipped over, trapping her inside. Now it was down to one on one as she turned her attention back to Glen.
Glen shot a stasis beam at the girl. In response, she lifted a beaker off of one of the benches and directed it into the path of the beam. The beaker froze, then fell to the floor, and shattered. The girl then mentally lifted the entire contents of one of the benches and sent them flying at Glen. Glen froze what he could, but was forced to retreat behind one of the overturned benches. As he tried to figure out what to do next, his radio snapped on and he heard a gruff voice. "Glen, what's your status?"
The voice belonged to Logan, who was monitoring the capture scenario. Glen quickly keyed the radio and said, 'Uh, everything's under control. Really!" Several beakers smashed against the wall behind him, showering him with broken glass.
"Doesn't sound like everything's under control. Hurry up and take her down!" came Logan's curt response. "Try using your new doubling ability,"
Glen closed his eyes and began to concentrate. The doubling ability Logan had referred to was something that Glen had developed very recently. By concentrating very hard, he could create an image of himself from another temporal period. In essence it was as if he was bringing a future version of himself into the present. He could also control this image, but only to a limited extent. If this worked, he thought, it might provide the distraction he would need to get in close.
Opening his eyes, he could see a faint image of himself appear besides him. Focusing his thoughts, he made the image stand up and start running towards the girl. With his mind, he made the image dodge the rain of objects flying at it until it was only a few feet away from the girl. "Now!" he thought to himself, and phased out of time. He ran towards the girl, and re-entered normal time when he was next to his double. As he reentered time, he saw the girl take a defensive stance, and she lashed out with a kick. Unfortunately for Glen, she did not strike at his double, but rather at him. He doubled over, and the girl struck him again, sending him down to the floor. Glen could only watch, stunned, as she waved her hands at a string of computer cables. The cables detached from their sockets, and one end lashed itself to the ceiling while the other tied itself around Glen's legs. The next thing Glen knew, he was being hoisted in the air, upside down. The girl laughed, and with a wave of her red hair, walked out of the room.
Up in the control booth of the Danger Room, Scott Summers looked down on Jean Grey as she walked out of the room. "That's my girl," he thought to himself, grinning.
Logan grumbled and shut down the simulation. He cued the intercom to the Danger Room and said, "Congratulations. You're all dead. Come back upstairs for debriefing,"
Glen sighed as the lights came on in the Danger Room. For the first time, he had lost in one of the simulations. He racked his brain for answers, but couldn't think of anything he could have done differently. Before he could reflect further on his defeat, the wires holding him up vanished, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud. He gathered himself up, and then he, Bobby, and Amara walked out of the room and up to the control booth.
Glen watched the video of the exercise, grimacing at the action he saw. When the tape ended, Logan looked at Glen and said, "Ok. What went wrong?"
"I tried the doubling trick, but Jean wasn't fooled at all. I think she could sense where I was even though I was phased out of time,"
Jean nodded her head, confirming Glen's theory. "Glen, if it's any consolation, that was the most convincing double you've been able to create. And you were able to control it much better than before. That ability should work pretty well in the future, assuming you don't try to use it against a mutant who's a telepath,"
"Explain," said Logan. "Why is the double so easy for a telepath to see through?"
"Well, it may look like Glen, but it doesn't think like him. When I first saw it, I tried to read its mind and figure out its plan of attack, but I couldn't get any kind of mental reading off of it at all. Once I realized that I was looking at the double, I realized that Glen's real attack would follow. I could sense where he was when he was out of time because he was so close by. All I had to do was wait for him to phase back in,"
Logan turned back to Glen. "What about your teammates? With a 3-to-1 advantage, you should have been able to bring her down easily. What happened?"
'We didn't deploy well enough," said Glen. "Her attack caught me off guard, and she was able to isolate us individually. From there, she had a pretty easy time,"
Logan next looked over at Amara. "You had a shot on her at one point. Why didn't you take it?"
Amara blushed nervously. "I was afraid I might hit Glen by mistake," she said.
"In the future, you may have to take that chance," said Logan. "I think we're done here. Dismissed,"
Glen could feel Logan's stern eyes boring holes in him as he walked out of the control booth. Logan had been a good instructor, but he was a VERY difficult man to please. Logan was aware that Glen was gay, as were all the other X-Men. However, Logan had reacted rather gruffly when he heard the news. Glen still remembered his words, 'Great, now I got a pixie to deal with. As though the elf wasn't bad enough!" "Yeah, we're a couple of real fairy tales," Glen had responded, trying to make the man laugh. That, he had quickly discovered, was impossible.
Glen showered, and went upstairs to his room. He opened one of his schoolbooks and began studying, but closed it after a few minutes. So many thoughts were swirling through his head that he couldn't concentrate. Between school and his training sessions, he had had very little time to himself, and his mind and body were taxed to their limits.
He lay on his bed, trying to relax, but couldn't. He found himself thinking of his friend Sam; it had seemed like an eternity since they had done anything together, despite their similar class schedule. Glen still cared very much for the boy, but could feel them beginning to drift apart from being separated so much. He wished he could be with Sam now, holding him in his arms, kissing him like he had done before, when they had first met. Glen still remembered that kiss vividly. He was very afraid that he might never get to experience that moment again. At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Glen heard Professor Xavier's voice outside, asking to come in.
Glen got up and opened the door to his room, and allowed the professor to wheel in. "Hello, Glen. How are you feeling?" he asked.
Glen thought about saying that he was fine, but he put that idea aside. The professor wouldn't need his powers to realize how Glen was really doing. "Not well, Professor," he said, sighing.
"So I see," said Xavier. "I can tell that the stress of your accelerated training is beginning to wear on you. For what it's worth, I can tell you that you're the only member that I've asked to undergo such rigorous training, and you're handling it phenomenally,"
"I just wish I knew what it was really all about," said Glen. "I mean, you've told me that sooner or later, we're going to have to fight somebody, but who? There's no way the Brotherhood can be that tough," Xavier sighed, realizing that he could no longer keep this information back. "It's not the Brotherhood that I'm worried about, Glen. There is a mutant far beyond any threat the Brotherhood poses,"
"Who is he?"
"His name is Magneto. He is a very powerful mutant, and unfortunately, he does not share my views about mutants and humans,"
"How so?"
"He believes that humans and mutants cannot peacefully coexist. He has little hope that humanity will be able to overcome its prejudices and accept us for who we are. And he thinks that the only way that mutants will be able to live normal lives is through violence and force. Frankly, he thinks that mutants should use their powers to rule over humans. He has been recruiting his own mutants, just as I have been. The Brotherhood are just a few of the mutants under his influence,"
"So he's the one responsible for all of their attacks?"
"Not directly. For the most part, he lets them operate outside of his control. The results, as you have seen, are rather erratic. While they can cause serious damage when they have a purpose, they are often too caught up in their own interests to pose a serious threat. But Magneto has slowly been gathering his forces. I fear that soon he will try and draw us into open conflict and expose us to the world. I can only imagine how disastrous the consequences of that would be,"
Glen nodded. If he and the other X-Men were exposed, their lives would likely be ruined. They'd never be able to go to school the same way again, and the professor might even have to close the Institute down. "Do you really think he'd expose us?"
"Sadly, yes. He has made it plain that he has no concern for our fate when he puts his plans into motion. I knew when I first started the Institute that such a day might come. Unfortunately, it appears that that day may be coming far too soon,"
"Great," Glen muttered. "Glad to know we have so much to look forward to. Wish I could just forget about all this for a while,"
Xavier pondered for a moment, and then said, "I think I can accommodate that wish. I want you to take the next few days off of training. You're at a point now where your powers have developed as far as they will go. They will continue to grow over the course of time, but it will do you no good to continue to push you so hard right now. Relax for a few days, get caught up on your schoolwork if you need to, and make sure you take time to enjoy the world and be with your friends. Especially Sam. I know that you two haven't been able to see much of each other lately,"
Glen blushed slightly at the thought that Xavier was concerned about how much time he was spending with his friend. "Thank you, Professor. I'll try and do that,"
"And Glen, try not to dwell so much on what the future holds. I started this Institute with the knowledge that one day, the details of what goes on here would become public knowledge. But I intend for the Institute to remain here and to continue to fulfill its purpose, even after that day comes," With that, he turned and wheeled out of the room.
Glen dwelled on the words the professor had left him left, but he forced himself not to think about them. Professor Xavier had ordered him to relax, and relax he would. And he knew just what he wanted to do. He leaned over to his bed table and picked up the phone, and dialed a number that he knew by heart. "Hi!" he said, when the boy on the other end picked up.
"Glen! You called!" Sam shouted as his heart practically leapt through his throat. It had been so long since he and Glen had gotten to spend any kind of time together. "How are you?"
"Exhausted," Glen said, "but I've finally got some time off. Wanna get together later on?"
"Sure!" said Sam. "How about meeting me at my house in an hour, and we can go up to the hills and have a picnic up there,"
"Sounds great!" said Glen. "I'll see you in an hour," he said, and they hung up. "Woohoo!" he shouted, feeling instantly invigorated, and raced downstairs.
"You look all excited!" Kurt said as Glen pranced around the kitchen.
"Yep. I'm going to spend some time with somebody very special to me," said Glen, his grin a mile wide.
"Ooh, you got a date!" said Kitty teasingly. "Lucky!"
"Have a good time!" called Kurt as Glen bounced out the door.
Kitty laughed. "So like, how is it that a gay boy is the only one here who can manage to have a normal close relationship with somebody!"
"Hey, he's not the only one!" said Kurt, thinking of his own girlfriend Amanda.
"I know," Kitty smiled, and they both got up and left the kitchen. They didn't notice Scott standing at the far end of the kitchen as they left.
Scott walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, alone in the room. All the talk about dating about dates and relationships made him think about his own relationship with Jean. They were very close friends as it was, but he kept wishing they could be more than that. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to get close to her. The fact that she was already going out with Duncan Matthews didn't make matters any easier. More than anything, he just wished he could let her know how he really felt about her. He sighed, going over the quandary in his mind. How was it that he could control the destructive forces of his optic blasts, yet be so powerless when it came to expressing his feelings for Jean?
He continued to think, oblivious to his surroundings. It wasn't until he heard somebody say, "Hi, Scott!" until he became aware of reality again. He turned to see who was calling him, and inwardly blanched as he saw Jean standing next to the refrigerator.
"Um, hi Jean," Scott said.
"Feeling alright?" Jean asked.
"Like you have to ask," Scott said jokingly.
"C'mon Scott, you know I don't probe people minds without their permission," Jean replied. "What's bothering you?"
"Well, I've been thinking about you lately," Scott began, already beginning to feel his stomach contorting. "I was thinking., uh, that you were really something in that simulation earlier today. I've never seen anybody able to handle Glen like you did," he finished, trying to cover the nervousness in his voice.
Jean sat down next to him at the table and took his hands in hers. "Scott, is there something you want to tell me?" she asked, looking into the eyes that she knew lay behind his protective glasses.
Scott looked back at Jean, but felt his courage wilt under her caring gaze. "I can't. At least, not now,"
"Are you sure? Whatever it is, it looks like it's really eating you up,"
"Some other time. Soon, I promise,"
"Ok," Jean said, getting up to leave. "Just don't keep it to yourself for too long,"
Scott watched her leave. Great, he thought. Another chance lost. It was like this every time for him. He would always tell himself, "There'll be another time," He grimaced as he realized that some day, he might not have such an opportunity. "Jean!" he called out, but she was already gone, and Scott's words resounded off the empty kitchen walls.
Author's note: I apologize for the lengthy delay between chapters with this story. I have been mapping out this story in my head for a few weeks now and I actually wrote two other chapters for this story before completing this one. I had some difficulty figuring out exactly how I wanted to construct this chapter, what to include and what to leave out. Needless to say, I finally decided what the chapter should be. Hopefully, Chapter 3 will not be as difficult to write as this one was (and I can promise that Chapters 4 and 5 won't be difficult at all to write because they're already done!)