Wow, fourteen reviews, that's more than I expected. Thanks to all of you.
And thanks to TheKiwiKid, Quill is a great name for Spiny, now I just have to figure out a way to work that in... As for your question, I'm not really sure who's the most powerful. I suppose in combat Athena is the least powerful, but that's not saying much. Nick might be, except his strength changes depending on his environment, and I won't tell you anymore about some of the other characters, cause that would ruin the surprise. ;-)
Anyways, here we go...
Wolverine continued to sniff the air as they progressed in the direction that Jean had indicated. Storm took the lead, hovering in the air to get a better view, the two kids came next, carrying flashlights, and he pulled up the rear. They seemed more interested in each other than their surroundings. /Kids/, Logan thought with vehemence. They shouldn't let them selves get distracted so easily, he was certain that something here wasn't right. The smell was unfamiliar, and that bothered him.
He swung his head suddenly to the left, hearing something move in the bushes. He growled softly, he could smell it clearly now. It wasn't like anything he had ever smelled before. It was vaguely human, but covered with the more powerful smell of a feral animal.
The leaves shifted again and he saw a pair of reflective cat-like eyes staring at him. He continued waking, keeping an watch on the thing out of the corner of his eye. The leaves just barely rustled as it moved, stalking them. If he hadn't smelled it earlier, he might not have noticed it at all. Up ahead, Storm stopped, and turned around, alerting Cyclopes and Jean.
"Logan, is something wrong?" she asked. At the sound of her voice, the movement in the bushes stopped altogether.
"To the left, in the underbrush. It's big, whatever it is, and it's been stalking us for the last fifteen minutes," he told them, still testing the air.
"Where?" Cyclopes asked, swinging his flashlight towards the bushes before Logan could warn him not to.
The beam illuminated yellow cat-eyes, shining through the leaves, but only for a moment before the thing came barreling out into the open. They all got their first good look at it.
It crouched on all fours, ready to attack. The thing wore clothing, but it was badly tattered. Long black and white quills sprouted from its head and back, and its paws ended in long, deadly looking claws. It growled at them, showing massive white fangs, and the quills stood up on end, like an angry cat's fur.
"One of the mutants?" Storm asked as they regarded each other.
"Can't think of what else it could be," Logan said, extending his claws.
"She," Jean said, stepping forward. "It's a girl." She walked forward slowly, to stand in front of Wolverine.
"Jean," he said. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"It's alright," Jean said, crouching down and extending her hand. "We won't hurt you." It stepped forward, sniffing the air. Its features were almost human, but held a distinctly animalistic cast. The eyes were too large and slanted, it had a cat's button nose, and a fine fringe of fur encircled the edges of its face.
"It's alright, come here," Jean continued in a sooting tone of voice. It, /she/, Logan amended, pulled back, growling again.
"We won't hurt you," Jean repeated. Without warning the thing hissed at them and charged.
"Out of the way!" Logan yelled, pushing Jean down just as the thing slammed into him. It knocked him over, clawing at his face and arms. He could have sworn he felt his claws dig into its flesh. He heard Cyclopes swear, and then an electric sound, and the creature was lifted off of him. He got back to his feet as quickly as he could, feeling blood begin to pour from gashes in his arm before they healed.
Storm was standing with one hand upraised, looking at the creature. Cyclopes had one hand on his visor watching it as it began to right itself. It shook off Storm's attack and got right back to its feet, miraculously unharmed.
"Don't hurt her!" Jean called out, getting up.
It crouched low to the ground and began to walk sideways, circling. It leaped at them again, and this time Cyclopes caught it in the chest with an optic blast. It was pushed backwards only a few inches and was otherwise unharmed.
"Jean, I don't think we /can/ hurt her," Cyclopes said.
It attacked Logan, who was the closest, again. He slashed out with his claws and it blocked, /with its arm/.
"What the?" Logan yelled
His claws didn't harm the thing at all, it just pulled itself up to its hind legs and hissed in his face. Its breath smelled like mashed potatoes.
Suddenly the thing was lifted backwards and slammed into a tree. The sharp spines on its back dug through the bark and into the wood, leaving it suspended. Logan turned around, Jean was standing behind him, her hands to the sides of her head, eyes locked on the creature. As he watched she lowered them to her sides and turned to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, talking over the creatures hysteric screeching and growling as it found itself unable to get down.
"Nothing serious," he replied, walking over to inspect his attacker. It growled and clawed at the air.
"Jean, can you get anything from it?" Storm asked, approaching.
Jean moved a little bit closer, and shook her head. "Nothing, she's too excited, all I can feel is her anger. She's only a child, though I can't be certain how old exactly." Jean pursed her lips. "I don't think she even knows for sure."
It had calmed down slightly, and was now watching them all, its animal eyes filled with malice. Jean reached out slightly, letting her hand get a little too close as she tried to establish a bond with the creature. Quick as lightening, it lashed out at her, raking its claws over her hand. Jean yelped and pulled her arm back.
"Jean!" Scott yelled, and ran forward to her side, taking her hand in his. It had scratched her deeply. Logan looked back at it, it looked extremely self-satisfied.
"I'll be alright," Jean told him while trying to stop the flow of blood.
"We are going to have to find a way to restrain her if we want to get her back to the Institute," Storm said, coming to inspect Jean's wound.
"I think I..." Jean began, but was cut off by a sudden, powerful, blast of wind.
They all staggered back, trying to maintain their footing against the sudden onslaught.
"I don't think so!" Storm yelled, sending her own blast of wind in the opposite direction. They heard a yelp as someone went flying backwards, soon followed by a loud crash.
Before any of them had the chance to get their barrings, something struck Logan across the back, hard. He staggered forward and turned to face his unseen attacker. There wasn't anyone there.
"Eh?" he said, looking to both sides. Whatever it was, it hit him again, this time in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Telekinesis?" Scott asked, before he was struck on the head by the unseen force, sending him sprawling.
Jean dropped down to help him. She frowned into the darkness. "Not telekinesis." She used her own telekinetic powers to lift some debris off the forest floor and send it flying outwards.
The dirt and leaves stuck to translucent, human looking figure. It stopped running and staggered, dropping something unseen object that became a tree branch the moment it left the figure's grasp.
"Got ya'!" Logan growled, grabbing the figure by the front of a now semi- translucent shirt and lifting it off the ground. It struggled, and then shimmered, becoming a teenage boy with long, metallic silver hair. The boy narrowed gray eyes at Logan and tried to kick him.
A second blast of wind hit them, and Storm turned away to deal with it.
Logan held the boy out at arms length, the kid was surprisingly light. He ineffectively kept trying to kick Logan, who just unsheathed one claw from the fist that holding the kid. The boy quit struggling the moment he felt the metal against his chin.
Logan grinned at him. "Do ya' feel lucky, bub?"
The boy looked at him in disgust. "That's 'do ya' feel lucky,/punk/.'"
Shouts from Jean and Scott drew Logan's attention away. They were being attacked by some sort of black mist, it looked like darkness given physical form. Scott fired several optic blasts at it and the mist shied away, fading into the ground.
Logan felt a stab of sharp pain in his leg and dropped the kid, who was invisible again before he even hit the ground. Logan cursed and looked down to see what was attacking him and found himself looking at... a teddy bear with a butcher's knife. That was so utterly outside of Logan's realm of experience that all he could do for a moment was stare at it. The teddy bear raised the knife for another stab and Logan punted it into the nearest bush.
He looked over at Storm, who had a small Asian kid wrapped up in what looked like a miniature tornado. Jean and Scott were walking back towards her, looking somewhat worse for the wear. As they approached the shadows behind them grew darker. Logan squinted, he didn't smell anything. All of a sudden the darkness coalesced into a demonic, vaguely humanoid form. It reared up behind Scott, curling tendrils of darkness reaching out towards him.
"Cyclopes! Behind you!" Logan yelled, too late.
Scott turned, reaching for his visor, but as he did the shadows crashed down around him, and pulled him into the ground.
"Scott!" Jean shrieked. She ran to the patch of earth where he had been standing. The unnatural shadows were completely gone now, and so was Scott.
"I can't sense him!" Jean said, her voice on the edge of hysteria. "He's just not there, gone!"
"Jean, calm down and concentra... ouff!" Storm started to speak, but then staggered under an invisible blow. Her control over the whirlwind prison seemed to weaken. The boy struggled and broke free, falling to ground, his landing buffered by air. He levitated, this time in a whirlwind of his own creation.
Storm levitated herself, out of the range of the invisible attacks, needing no whirlwind to accomplish it. "You learn quickly, but we don't have to do this," she said.
The boy sneered at her. "Yeah, right, I'll believe that when..."
"Stop fighting!"
Everyone turned to look at where the voice had come from. A slender brown haired girl came bursting through the underbrush. Unfortunately for her, her path took her straight between Whirlwind Boy and Storm. She was lifted off her feet and slammed into a nearby tree, where she lay, completely still. Everyone seemed to draw breath at the same moment, and an unfamiliar male voice yelled, "No!"
A second later another girl came running out of the same segment of trees. This one, however, noticed the swirling winds and stopped. She stood there, pushing chalk-white hair out of her face, trying to find a way around.
Logan and Jean both started towards the fallen child, but the dark mist came up out of the ground in front of her. This time, however, it became a pale boy in a trench coat, who rushed to the girl's side. He touched her forehead and she stirred and opened her eyes. She put her hand to her head, then looked around at everyone.
"Please stop fighting," she begged. That plea, as sad as it sounded had a profound effect on everyone involved.
Whirlwind Boy stopped whatever it was he was doing. The wind dissipated and he dropped to the ground. The instant the winds were gone, the white- haired girl ran passed him and to the other girl's side. Storm descended, somewhat more gracefully than her younger counterpart, and walked over to the injured girl. The invisible boy became visible again and ran over to the others. The spine-backed thing stopped howling.
The white-haired girl placed her hand on the injured girl's head. As they watched a fine trickle of blood that had been escaping from her just above her hairline, retraced its path and disappeared. She struggled to her feet.
"Please don't fight, they aren't here to capture us or hurt us," she said, her voice trembling. "They want to help us, they're from a school."
The Asian boy blinked. "Help us? Are you sure?" She gave him a look and he raised his hands in surrender. "Right, sorry, stupid question."
"I don't believe that! I heard them talking, they said something about taking Spiny to an 'institute'" Invisible boy yelled.
"You misunderstood, we are here to recruit you, not fight you," Storm told them. "We are from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, a school for mutants."
"Well maybe we don't want to be recruited," the boy sneered.
"What happened to..." Jean began, she obviously had other concerns.
"Nick," the brow-haired girl interrupted, looking towards the boy in the trench coat.
"Yeah?"
"Let him go."
The boy just shrugged and gestured. Black mist swirled in the air, several feet above the ground, and Scott fell out, landing onto the grass and leaves with a thump. Jean rushed to him and knelt beside him. He was shivering madly.
The black-haired boy grinned, an unpleasant sight, Logan instantly distrusted him. "Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone is as comfortable in there as I am."
Logan sniffed at him and smelled... nothing. He didn't have a scent.
The white haired girl looked around, snorted and started talking before anyone else could say anything. "Well since you're all now done with this impressive bit of stupidity, I am going to do what I can to clean up the mess." She walked to Jean and Scott, knelt beside them and touched the side of Scott's face. He stopped shivering and looked up at Jean, becoming aware of his surroundings again.
"What happened?" he asked, but the girl started talking again before anyone could explain.
She turned to Jean. "Give me your hand," she said, putting out her own expectantly. Before Jean could respond or protest the girl snatched her injured hand and pressed her fingers onto it. The blood vanished, absorbed back into Jean's skin, and the cuts sealed.
"Thank you," Jean said, somewhat shocked, looking at the girl's eyes.
The girl smiled. "You're welcome." She got to her feet and walked over to Logan.
"I'm fine," he growled before she could get close to him.
"You have blood all over your arms."
"I'm fine!"
She didn't balk, even when he glared at her, she just crossed her arms and stared at him. She smelled stubborn Much to his annoyance, he could smell everyone else's rising amusement. He snarled at her, and then blinked, noticing her sightless eyes.
"Don't give me that look. What do you want to bet I can see better than you can?" she asked. She sounded exasperated.
Logan didn't know what to think. She was either very brave, or downright stupid. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave him alone until she was certain he wasn't injured, he held out his arm.
"It's healed," he said simply.
She looked at his arm and then back at him without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "So it is," she said, walking off and leaving Logan feeling more confused than he had in years.
"Oh yes," she said, walking over to some underbrush. "Before I forget." She reached into the bushes and grabbed something, or rather someone, judging by the yelping noises. Make that two someones. She dragged two children out by their ears. One was a boy who looked about twelve, maybe younger, with sopping wet hair. The other was a little black girl with two short, stiff, braids that stuck out from the sides of her head. She was holding a teddy bear, a very familiar teddy bear. She hugged it and look at Logan, somewhat guiltily, who held back the impulse to growl.
The white haired girl looked down at them. "You didn't really think you could hide from me, did you?" she asked. They didn't respond.
"How long have you two been hiding there?" Invisible Boy demanded.
"Oh they've been there since this ill-conceived fight started," the white haired girl said. "Speaking of which, I believe we have something to discuss, them," she gestured to the two children, "included."
Storm nodded. "I believe we do."
"We don't want to go to your 'institute', and that's final!" Invisible boy said, crossing his arms.
"What?," Scott asked, "Do you plan to stay here? Through the winter? You won't survive."
"We'll manage. We'll go down to the towns if we have to."
"And if someone recognizes you as mutants? What then?" Scott asked, stepping over to the other boy.
The boy looked up at Scott, seemingly not impressed by his size. "What are the chances of that happening?" he scoffed.
"Better than you think." Scott looked around at all the people gathered. "Where have you been the past few weeks? The secret is out. Everyone knows about mutants, and some of them have made it a point to make our lives miserable."
Logan gazed around at their faces filled with shock and dismay. That had been a punch to the gut for all of them, all except for the brown-haired girl, who just nodded.
"If for no other reason, than do it for them," Jean said, gesturing towards the children. "They'll be able to get an education, you can't provide that for them out here."
The boy looked like he was wavering.
"Hey Kale," the Asian boy said. "Old man never said anything about not trusting other mutants." He glanced at Storm. "I think we could learn a lot." Storm smiled at him and nodded.
The invisible boy, Kale, looked around at the others. "Laurie? Nick?"
The brown-haired girl smiled. "I think we should go with them."
"If Laurie says they're trustworthy, then that's good enough for me."
"Wen? Athena?"
"Lets go for it, why not?"
"I think it would be best for Nena and Dorian."
Kale glanced down at the two kids and sighed. "Do I even need to ask?" The two of them smiled an shook their heads. "Majority rules then," he said, turning to Scott and Jean. He sounded resined "We'll go with you."
"Merrooow!"
"Um, could someone get Spiny off that tree?"
"Is she coming as well?"
"Of course. Err, that is, if she wants to."
"That was one heck of a fight."
"Tell me about it."
"Hey, Athena, I've got some bruises you could heal."
"You look fine to me, Wen."
I'm done, big bunch of sorrys about the delay. Looks like Wen is still winning the popularity contest. That's cause he's so cool. BTW I changed the category to drama/humor, seems I just can't stay serious. =P
And thanks to TheKiwiKid, Quill is a great name for Spiny, now I just have to figure out a way to work that in... As for your question, I'm not really sure who's the most powerful. I suppose in combat Athena is the least powerful, but that's not saying much. Nick might be, except his strength changes depending on his environment, and I won't tell you anymore about some of the other characters, cause that would ruin the surprise. ;-)
Anyways, here we go...
Wolverine continued to sniff the air as they progressed in the direction that Jean had indicated. Storm took the lead, hovering in the air to get a better view, the two kids came next, carrying flashlights, and he pulled up the rear. They seemed more interested in each other than their surroundings. /Kids/, Logan thought with vehemence. They shouldn't let them selves get distracted so easily, he was certain that something here wasn't right. The smell was unfamiliar, and that bothered him.
He swung his head suddenly to the left, hearing something move in the bushes. He growled softly, he could smell it clearly now. It wasn't like anything he had ever smelled before. It was vaguely human, but covered with the more powerful smell of a feral animal.
The leaves shifted again and he saw a pair of reflective cat-like eyes staring at him. He continued waking, keeping an watch on the thing out of the corner of his eye. The leaves just barely rustled as it moved, stalking them. If he hadn't smelled it earlier, he might not have noticed it at all. Up ahead, Storm stopped, and turned around, alerting Cyclopes and Jean.
"Logan, is something wrong?" she asked. At the sound of her voice, the movement in the bushes stopped altogether.
"To the left, in the underbrush. It's big, whatever it is, and it's been stalking us for the last fifteen minutes," he told them, still testing the air.
"Where?" Cyclopes asked, swinging his flashlight towards the bushes before Logan could warn him not to.
The beam illuminated yellow cat-eyes, shining through the leaves, but only for a moment before the thing came barreling out into the open. They all got their first good look at it.
It crouched on all fours, ready to attack. The thing wore clothing, but it was badly tattered. Long black and white quills sprouted from its head and back, and its paws ended in long, deadly looking claws. It growled at them, showing massive white fangs, and the quills stood up on end, like an angry cat's fur.
"One of the mutants?" Storm asked as they regarded each other.
"Can't think of what else it could be," Logan said, extending his claws.
"She," Jean said, stepping forward. "It's a girl." She walked forward slowly, to stand in front of Wolverine.
"Jean," he said. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"It's alright," Jean said, crouching down and extending her hand. "We won't hurt you." It stepped forward, sniffing the air. Its features were almost human, but held a distinctly animalistic cast. The eyes were too large and slanted, it had a cat's button nose, and a fine fringe of fur encircled the edges of its face.
"It's alright, come here," Jean continued in a sooting tone of voice. It, /she/, Logan amended, pulled back, growling again.
"We won't hurt you," Jean repeated. Without warning the thing hissed at them and charged.
"Out of the way!" Logan yelled, pushing Jean down just as the thing slammed into him. It knocked him over, clawing at his face and arms. He could have sworn he felt his claws dig into its flesh. He heard Cyclopes swear, and then an electric sound, and the creature was lifted off of him. He got back to his feet as quickly as he could, feeling blood begin to pour from gashes in his arm before they healed.
Storm was standing with one hand upraised, looking at the creature. Cyclopes had one hand on his visor watching it as it began to right itself. It shook off Storm's attack and got right back to its feet, miraculously unharmed.
"Don't hurt her!" Jean called out, getting up.
It crouched low to the ground and began to walk sideways, circling. It leaped at them again, and this time Cyclopes caught it in the chest with an optic blast. It was pushed backwards only a few inches and was otherwise unharmed.
"Jean, I don't think we /can/ hurt her," Cyclopes said.
It attacked Logan, who was the closest, again. He slashed out with his claws and it blocked, /with its arm/.
"What the?" Logan yelled
His claws didn't harm the thing at all, it just pulled itself up to its hind legs and hissed in his face. Its breath smelled like mashed potatoes.
Suddenly the thing was lifted backwards and slammed into a tree. The sharp spines on its back dug through the bark and into the wood, leaving it suspended. Logan turned around, Jean was standing behind him, her hands to the sides of her head, eyes locked on the creature. As he watched she lowered them to her sides and turned to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, talking over the creatures hysteric screeching and growling as it found itself unable to get down.
"Nothing serious," he replied, walking over to inspect his attacker. It growled and clawed at the air.
"Jean, can you get anything from it?" Storm asked, approaching.
Jean moved a little bit closer, and shook her head. "Nothing, she's too excited, all I can feel is her anger. She's only a child, though I can't be certain how old exactly." Jean pursed her lips. "I don't think she even knows for sure."
It had calmed down slightly, and was now watching them all, its animal eyes filled with malice. Jean reached out slightly, letting her hand get a little too close as she tried to establish a bond with the creature. Quick as lightening, it lashed out at her, raking its claws over her hand. Jean yelped and pulled her arm back.
"Jean!" Scott yelled, and ran forward to her side, taking her hand in his. It had scratched her deeply. Logan looked back at it, it looked extremely self-satisfied.
"I'll be alright," Jean told him while trying to stop the flow of blood.
"We are going to have to find a way to restrain her if we want to get her back to the Institute," Storm said, coming to inspect Jean's wound.
"I think I..." Jean began, but was cut off by a sudden, powerful, blast of wind.
They all staggered back, trying to maintain their footing against the sudden onslaught.
"I don't think so!" Storm yelled, sending her own blast of wind in the opposite direction. They heard a yelp as someone went flying backwards, soon followed by a loud crash.
Before any of them had the chance to get their barrings, something struck Logan across the back, hard. He staggered forward and turned to face his unseen attacker. There wasn't anyone there.
"Eh?" he said, looking to both sides. Whatever it was, it hit him again, this time in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Telekinesis?" Scott asked, before he was struck on the head by the unseen force, sending him sprawling.
Jean dropped down to help him. She frowned into the darkness. "Not telekinesis." She used her own telekinetic powers to lift some debris off the forest floor and send it flying outwards.
The dirt and leaves stuck to translucent, human looking figure. It stopped running and staggered, dropping something unseen object that became a tree branch the moment it left the figure's grasp.
"Got ya'!" Logan growled, grabbing the figure by the front of a now semi- translucent shirt and lifting it off the ground. It struggled, and then shimmered, becoming a teenage boy with long, metallic silver hair. The boy narrowed gray eyes at Logan and tried to kick him.
A second blast of wind hit them, and Storm turned away to deal with it.
Logan held the boy out at arms length, the kid was surprisingly light. He ineffectively kept trying to kick Logan, who just unsheathed one claw from the fist that holding the kid. The boy quit struggling the moment he felt the metal against his chin.
Logan grinned at him. "Do ya' feel lucky, bub?"
The boy looked at him in disgust. "That's 'do ya' feel lucky,/punk/.'"
Shouts from Jean and Scott drew Logan's attention away. They were being attacked by some sort of black mist, it looked like darkness given physical form. Scott fired several optic blasts at it and the mist shied away, fading into the ground.
Logan felt a stab of sharp pain in his leg and dropped the kid, who was invisible again before he even hit the ground. Logan cursed and looked down to see what was attacking him and found himself looking at... a teddy bear with a butcher's knife. That was so utterly outside of Logan's realm of experience that all he could do for a moment was stare at it. The teddy bear raised the knife for another stab and Logan punted it into the nearest bush.
He looked over at Storm, who had a small Asian kid wrapped up in what looked like a miniature tornado. Jean and Scott were walking back towards her, looking somewhat worse for the wear. As they approached the shadows behind them grew darker. Logan squinted, he didn't smell anything. All of a sudden the darkness coalesced into a demonic, vaguely humanoid form. It reared up behind Scott, curling tendrils of darkness reaching out towards him.
"Cyclopes! Behind you!" Logan yelled, too late.
Scott turned, reaching for his visor, but as he did the shadows crashed down around him, and pulled him into the ground.
"Scott!" Jean shrieked. She ran to the patch of earth where he had been standing. The unnatural shadows were completely gone now, and so was Scott.
"I can't sense him!" Jean said, her voice on the edge of hysteria. "He's just not there, gone!"
"Jean, calm down and concentra... ouff!" Storm started to speak, but then staggered under an invisible blow. Her control over the whirlwind prison seemed to weaken. The boy struggled and broke free, falling to ground, his landing buffered by air. He levitated, this time in a whirlwind of his own creation.
Storm levitated herself, out of the range of the invisible attacks, needing no whirlwind to accomplish it. "You learn quickly, but we don't have to do this," she said.
The boy sneered at her. "Yeah, right, I'll believe that when..."
"Stop fighting!"
Everyone turned to look at where the voice had come from. A slender brown haired girl came bursting through the underbrush. Unfortunately for her, her path took her straight between Whirlwind Boy and Storm. She was lifted off her feet and slammed into a nearby tree, where she lay, completely still. Everyone seemed to draw breath at the same moment, and an unfamiliar male voice yelled, "No!"
A second later another girl came running out of the same segment of trees. This one, however, noticed the swirling winds and stopped. She stood there, pushing chalk-white hair out of her face, trying to find a way around.
Logan and Jean both started towards the fallen child, but the dark mist came up out of the ground in front of her. This time, however, it became a pale boy in a trench coat, who rushed to the girl's side. He touched her forehead and she stirred and opened her eyes. She put her hand to her head, then looked around at everyone.
"Please stop fighting," she begged. That plea, as sad as it sounded had a profound effect on everyone involved.
Whirlwind Boy stopped whatever it was he was doing. The wind dissipated and he dropped to the ground. The instant the winds were gone, the white- haired girl ran passed him and to the other girl's side. Storm descended, somewhat more gracefully than her younger counterpart, and walked over to the injured girl. The invisible boy became visible again and ran over to the others. The spine-backed thing stopped howling.
The white-haired girl placed her hand on the injured girl's head. As they watched a fine trickle of blood that had been escaping from her just above her hairline, retraced its path and disappeared. She struggled to her feet.
"Please don't fight, they aren't here to capture us or hurt us," she said, her voice trembling. "They want to help us, they're from a school."
The Asian boy blinked. "Help us? Are you sure?" She gave him a look and he raised his hands in surrender. "Right, sorry, stupid question."
"I don't believe that! I heard them talking, they said something about taking Spiny to an 'institute'" Invisible boy yelled.
"You misunderstood, we are here to recruit you, not fight you," Storm told them. "We are from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, a school for mutants."
"Well maybe we don't want to be recruited," the boy sneered.
"What happened to..." Jean began, she obviously had other concerns.
"Nick," the brow-haired girl interrupted, looking towards the boy in the trench coat.
"Yeah?"
"Let him go."
The boy just shrugged and gestured. Black mist swirled in the air, several feet above the ground, and Scott fell out, landing onto the grass and leaves with a thump. Jean rushed to him and knelt beside him. He was shivering madly.
The black-haired boy grinned, an unpleasant sight, Logan instantly distrusted him. "Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone is as comfortable in there as I am."
Logan sniffed at him and smelled... nothing. He didn't have a scent.
The white haired girl looked around, snorted and started talking before anyone else could say anything. "Well since you're all now done with this impressive bit of stupidity, I am going to do what I can to clean up the mess." She walked to Jean and Scott, knelt beside them and touched the side of Scott's face. He stopped shivering and looked up at Jean, becoming aware of his surroundings again.
"What happened?" he asked, but the girl started talking again before anyone could explain.
She turned to Jean. "Give me your hand," she said, putting out her own expectantly. Before Jean could respond or protest the girl snatched her injured hand and pressed her fingers onto it. The blood vanished, absorbed back into Jean's skin, and the cuts sealed.
"Thank you," Jean said, somewhat shocked, looking at the girl's eyes.
The girl smiled. "You're welcome." She got to her feet and walked over to Logan.
"I'm fine," he growled before she could get close to him.
"You have blood all over your arms."
"I'm fine!"
She didn't balk, even when he glared at her, she just crossed her arms and stared at him. She smelled stubborn Much to his annoyance, he could smell everyone else's rising amusement. He snarled at her, and then blinked, noticing her sightless eyes.
"Don't give me that look. What do you want to bet I can see better than you can?" she asked. She sounded exasperated.
Logan didn't know what to think. She was either very brave, or downright stupid. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave him alone until she was certain he wasn't injured, he held out his arm.
"It's healed," he said simply.
She looked at his arm and then back at him without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "So it is," she said, walking off and leaving Logan feeling more confused than he had in years.
"Oh yes," she said, walking over to some underbrush. "Before I forget." She reached into the bushes and grabbed something, or rather someone, judging by the yelping noises. Make that two someones. She dragged two children out by their ears. One was a boy who looked about twelve, maybe younger, with sopping wet hair. The other was a little black girl with two short, stiff, braids that stuck out from the sides of her head. She was holding a teddy bear, a very familiar teddy bear. She hugged it and look at Logan, somewhat guiltily, who held back the impulse to growl.
The white haired girl looked down at them. "You didn't really think you could hide from me, did you?" she asked. They didn't respond.
"How long have you two been hiding there?" Invisible Boy demanded.
"Oh they've been there since this ill-conceived fight started," the white haired girl said. "Speaking of which, I believe we have something to discuss, them," she gestured to the two children, "included."
Storm nodded. "I believe we do."
"We don't want to go to your 'institute', and that's final!" Invisible boy said, crossing his arms.
"What?," Scott asked, "Do you plan to stay here? Through the winter? You won't survive."
"We'll manage. We'll go down to the towns if we have to."
"And if someone recognizes you as mutants? What then?" Scott asked, stepping over to the other boy.
The boy looked up at Scott, seemingly not impressed by his size. "What are the chances of that happening?" he scoffed.
"Better than you think." Scott looked around at all the people gathered. "Where have you been the past few weeks? The secret is out. Everyone knows about mutants, and some of them have made it a point to make our lives miserable."
Logan gazed around at their faces filled with shock and dismay. That had been a punch to the gut for all of them, all except for the brown-haired girl, who just nodded.
"If for no other reason, than do it for them," Jean said, gesturing towards the children. "They'll be able to get an education, you can't provide that for them out here."
The boy looked like he was wavering.
"Hey Kale," the Asian boy said. "Old man never said anything about not trusting other mutants." He glanced at Storm. "I think we could learn a lot." Storm smiled at him and nodded.
The invisible boy, Kale, looked around at the others. "Laurie? Nick?"
The brown-haired girl smiled. "I think we should go with them."
"If Laurie says they're trustworthy, then that's good enough for me."
"Wen? Athena?"
"Lets go for it, why not?"
"I think it would be best for Nena and Dorian."
Kale glanced down at the two kids and sighed. "Do I even need to ask?" The two of them smiled an shook their heads. "Majority rules then," he said, turning to Scott and Jean. He sounded resined "We'll go with you."
"Merrooow!"
"Um, could someone get Spiny off that tree?"
"Is she coming as well?"
"Of course. Err, that is, if she wants to."
"That was one heck of a fight."
"Tell me about it."
"Hey, Athena, I've got some bruises you could heal."
"You look fine to me, Wen."
I'm done, big bunch of sorrys about the delay. Looks like Wen is still winning the popularity contest. That's cause he's so cool. BTW I changed the category to drama/humor, seems I just can't stay serious. =P