Betsy looked over at Scott, warmed a little by the reassuring look he gave
her as they trudged up the snowy mountain. She was cold again and found
herself missing the added warmth that Scott provided. However, they
couldn't very well stay in a hole forever and they need to find help.
Betsy smiled back as best she could. She supposed she looked rather strange. Her face was already contorted because of the cold and the chewing gum that Scott had given made her jaws hurt after a while. He'd warned her not to stop chewing though because the only way to keep from getting a frozen mouth was to keep it in motion. When asked where he'd heard that, he replied simply saying that he'd gotten it from a book.
"You see that?" Scott asked after a half hour.
"What?" Betsy queried as she squinted to see what it was he was referring to through the translucent snowfall. In the near distance, two figures were approaching. Betsy reached out with her telepathy and indeed confirmed that they were real people.
"Hey!" Scott yelled. "Hey! Can you hear us? We need help!"
There was silence for a moment and then a BAM! sound. It took a while to register but when Scott saw bits of snow flying up as holes appeared in the ground, he knew it was gunfire. "Run!" he yelled, this time at Betsy. They diverged in opposite directions as bullets cut through the area that they had formerly occupied.
Betsy ran, not away from the two but rather at them. She leapt into the air once she was close enough and executed one of the flying kicks that she practiced in her room every day.
The side of her foot struck the first gunman squarely in the chest. He went flying backwards, his gun sailing out of his hands and into the snow.
The second attacker swiveled to face her but Scott came up just then, delivering a powerful right cross that spun the guy around and back. A sidekick knocked the firearm out of his hand and higher snap kick lifted him into the air, finally depositing him next to his accomplice.
Betsy turned to Scott, still not quite believing it. "What was that?" she asked.
Scott shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe we should-"
Scott abruptly cutting off his own sentence and his eyebrows going up were the only indication that Betsy got that something was amiss before she felt something knocking her legs out from under her. With a harsh thud, she fell to the ground and in an instant, her opponent (who was very much still conscious) was on top of her, reaching for her neck.
Betsy grimaced and tried to kick him off of her, but he was apparently anticipating that because he moved just enough to the side to avoid the strike.
A tingling sensation in her hand caused Betsy to look down. Her hand was glowing, radiating some sort of energy. The guy trying to choke loosened his grip when he saw this. His mouth looked as if it was about to say something but he never got the chance. The glowing in Betsy's right hand sprung out into a bright blue blade of sorts that impaled him through the shoulder. For some reason, no blood came out and there was no entry wound, even though he was screaming like crazy and clutching his head.
Betsy kicked him off of her easily as his grip had totally slacked. First she looked down at her hand, which was beginning to return to normal and then at her attacker who lie in the snow clutching his head. Not his shoulder, his head.
Betsy watched in amazement as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
***
Ah, Jean. You're awake. I think it would be best if you came downstairs into the main room right now.
Jean frowned. She'd just woken up and the Professor's telepathic voice was not what she wanted. Even so, he sounded so grim it was almost scary. What could've happened?
Jean slid her feet into her slippers and padded down the stairs, wiping the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes.
"Okay Professor, I'm here. What is it?" she asked when she reached the rest of the group. They all turned to look at her and she was surprised that the expressions on their faces mirrored that of Xavier's.
"What happened?" she asked simply.
"It's Scott," said Ororo. "His bus is missing out in the wilderness somewhere."
It took a while for Jean to make the mental connections. Scott's bus? Wait, he'd been going to DC on a bus. She would have gone with him had it not been for her illness. "What? Are you kidding?" she asked finally.
"No she's not," said Kitty. "The bus was supposed to reach a checkpoint about three hours ago but it never made it. The weather is really bad over there and not even the state officials can get a rescue force outto the region"
Jean looked at each of the X-men gathered there. It didn't seem to be joke.
"So no one can find him?"
"Or the rest of the students on the trip. Apparently, the bus's communications are damaged." Kitty gulped and averted her eyes to the ground.
"So, if he's missing," Jean said, "why not use Cerebro to find him.
"I have already done that," said Charles.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Jean asked incredulously. "Lets get him back!" Quickly, she added, "And the rest of the students of course,"
"We can't. It is impossible-the Blackbird can't do much in such hostile weather. I would have Storm clear it up but I don't want to risk her undertaking such an incredible task as completely reversing the current weather. As I'm sure you remember, the last time she was forced to try something like that she nearly went brain dead.
Jean did remember. "So you're saying we can't help Scott?"
"Not really-not until the storm passes." Xavier paused. "He's alive though, and his vital signs have not significantly dropped so I don't think he or his companion have anything to worry about."
"His companion?"
"Yes, actually that's also something we need to discuss. There is someone with Scott apparently."
"And?" Jean prompted.
"And, she's a mutant. A rather formidable telepath if Cerebro's readings can be trusted."
"Betsy!" Kitty exclaimed. "That must be Betsy."
"Who?" asked Logan.
"She's a girl at school. I heard Scott say she was psychic or something."
Jean ran a hand through her hair. "Betsy just moved here," she said. "She had a run-in with Scott when she accidentally barged into the boys locker room and erased their memories of it afterward. All except for Scott of course. His mental shields protected him I guess. After that, I really didn't see much of Betsy."
"You do know you should have told me," Xavier admonished. "It is vital that we be able to contact, maybe even gain any new mutants that show up."
"Yeah, I know," Jean told him. She sneezed loudly just then, startling everyone.
"Maybe ya oughta get back to bed, Red," Logan suggested as he blew out a long stream of cigar smoke, much to Ororo's obvious dismay.
Jean shook here head. "No, I'm fine. If the weather gets better I want to be here when we take off to find Scott."
"Suit yerself." Logan took another smoke and then flicked the cigar with perfect aim into the garbage can in the next room after stubbing out the flame.
Charles looked around the room. "Well, all of you can go on now. Kurt, be ready for your meeting with me concerning your visibility control."
Gotcha," said Kurt before disappearing with a BAMF sound.
***
"Whoa," Scott muttered as he looked down at the unconscious man. He turned to Betsy, noting that there was still the faint gleam of light that emanated from her hand. It disappeared about five seconds later.
Betsy did not respond. She wiggled her fingers and then finally glanced at Scott. "I-I don't know what that was," she said shakily. "It was weird-it was like-"
"Its OK," Scott cut in, interrupting her hasty attempt at an explanation. "Seriously."
"You're not freaked out?"
"No," Scott said reassuringly. I think the guy who's packin' a bazooka behind each eyeball can handle a little weirdness. Besides, its kind of cool."
Betsy regarded him silently for a moment before speaking. "You don't usually act like this," she said."
"Act like what?"
Betsy shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose 'open' would be the correct term. Usually your always so rigid and controlled. Like a robot. It just seems like you've up opened up a bit more lately."
"No, I don't know," said Scott, genuinely confused.
"Oh, well then never mind," Betsy said hastily. She wasn't quite sure why she'd brought it up in the first place.
She looked down at the two men who had opened fire on them. "What should we do about these guys?" she asked.
Scott knelt down and reached into the first man's pocket, coming up empty handed. He methodically searched both of them but they were clean. "Well, we don't know who they are or why they attacked us," he said, "but it certainly adds a whole new dynamic to things."
"Mmmm hmm. Betsy crouched down beside him and reached out a hand that came to rest on the first man's forehead. "Maybe if I psi-scan this guy I can learn something valuable," she suggested before closing her eyes and trying her best to do a mental probe. The fact that the guy was unconscious complicated things, but she had surprised herself once that day and there was nothing to say she couldn't do it again.
Betsy got brief images. A cabin, faces, and more. A memory of his flashed before Betsy's mental eye. 'No bodies, no traces. It'll be like they just disappeared.'
Her eyes widened and she immediately broke the telepathic rapport.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
Betsy looked up at him. "Someone wants to kill us. All I got was a brief message but there's more people out there trying to get rid of us."
"Why?" Scott asked.
Betsy shrugged. "I don't know. But I think we'd better forget about trying to get help from anybody up here and figure out how to get back."
***
Jean slowly walked back to her bedroom, collapsing on the immaculately made bed when she reached it. It seemed like such a simple problem to solve- getting Scott back. The X-Men had handled much more difficult problems in the past, but bad weather and a missing bus, it seemed unreal for that to be an unsolvable scenario.
Jean closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A/N Probably not my best chappie but please review anyway.
Betsy smiled back as best she could. She supposed she looked rather strange. Her face was already contorted because of the cold and the chewing gum that Scott had given made her jaws hurt after a while. He'd warned her not to stop chewing though because the only way to keep from getting a frozen mouth was to keep it in motion. When asked where he'd heard that, he replied simply saying that he'd gotten it from a book.
"You see that?" Scott asked after a half hour.
"What?" Betsy queried as she squinted to see what it was he was referring to through the translucent snowfall. In the near distance, two figures were approaching. Betsy reached out with her telepathy and indeed confirmed that they were real people.
"Hey!" Scott yelled. "Hey! Can you hear us? We need help!"
There was silence for a moment and then a BAM! sound. It took a while to register but when Scott saw bits of snow flying up as holes appeared in the ground, he knew it was gunfire. "Run!" he yelled, this time at Betsy. They diverged in opposite directions as bullets cut through the area that they had formerly occupied.
Betsy ran, not away from the two but rather at them. She leapt into the air once she was close enough and executed one of the flying kicks that she practiced in her room every day.
The side of her foot struck the first gunman squarely in the chest. He went flying backwards, his gun sailing out of his hands and into the snow.
The second attacker swiveled to face her but Scott came up just then, delivering a powerful right cross that spun the guy around and back. A sidekick knocked the firearm out of his hand and higher snap kick lifted him into the air, finally depositing him next to his accomplice.
Betsy turned to Scott, still not quite believing it. "What was that?" she asked.
Scott shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe we should-"
Scott abruptly cutting off his own sentence and his eyebrows going up were the only indication that Betsy got that something was amiss before she felt something knocking her legs out from under her. With a harsh thud, she fell to the ground and in an instant, her opponent (who was very much still conscious) was on top of her, reaching for her neck.
Betsy grimaced and tried to kick him off of her, but he was apparently anticipating that because he moved just enough to the side to avoid the strike.
A tingling sensation in her hand caused Betsy to look down. Her hand was glowing, radiating some sort of energy. The guy trying to choke loosened his grip when he saw this. His mouth looked as if it was about to say something but he never got the chance. The glowing in Betsy's right hand sprung out into a bright blue blade of sorts that impaled him through the shoulder. For some reason, no blood came out and there was no entry wound, even though he was screaming like crazy and clutching his head.
Betsy kicked him off of her easily as his grip had totally slacked. First she looked down at her hand, which was beginning to return to normal and then at her attacker who lie in the snow clutching his head. Not his shoulder, his head.
Betsy watched in amazement as his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
***
Ah, Jean. You're awake. I think it would be best if you came downstairs into the main room right now.
Jean frowned. She'd just woken up and the Professor's telepathic voice was not what she wanted. Even so, he sounded so grim it was almost scary. What could've happened?
Jean slid her feet into her slippers and padded down the stairs, wiping the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes.
"Okay Professor, I'm here. What is it?" she asked when she reached the rest of the group. They all turned to look at her and she was surprised that the expressions on their faces mirrored that of Xavier's.
"What happened?" she asked simply.
"It's Scott," said Ororo. "His bus is missing out in the wilderness somewhere."
It took a while for Jean to make the mental connections. Scott's bus? Wait, he'd been going to DC on a bus. She would have gone with him had it not been for her illness. "What? Are you kidding?" she asked finally.
"No she's not," said Kitty. "The bus was supposed to reach a checkpoint about three hours ago but it never made it. The weather is really bad over there and not even the state officials can get a rescue force outto the region"
Jean looked at each of the X-men gathered there. It didn't seem to be joke.
"So no one can find him?"
"Or the rest of the students on the trip. Apparently, the bus's communications are damaged." Kitty gulped and averted her eyes to the ground.
"So, if he's missing," Jean said, "why not use Cerebro to find him.
"I have already done that," said Charles.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Jean asked incredulously. "Lets get him back!" Quickly, she added, "And the rest of the students of course,"
"We can't. It is impossible-the Blackbird can't do much in such hostile weather. I would have Storm clear it up but I don't want to risk her undertaking such an incredible task as completely reversing the current weather. As I'm sure you remember, the last time she was forced to try something like that she nearly went brain dead.
Jean did remember. "So you're saying we can't help Scott?"
"Not really-not until the storm passes." Xavier paused. "He's alive though, and his vital signs have not significantly dropped so I don't think he or his companion have anything to worry about."
"His companion?"
"Yes, actually that's also something we need to discuss. There is someone with Scott apparently."
"And?" Jean prompted.
"And, she's a mutant. A rather formidable telepath if Cerebro's readings can be trusted."
"Betsy!" Kitty exclaimed. "That must be Betsy."
"Who?" asked Logan.
"She's a girl at school. I heard Scott say she was psychic or something."
Jean ran a hand through her hair. "Betsy just moved here," she said. "She had a run-in with Scott when she accidentally barged into the boys locker room and erased their memories of it afterward. All except for Scott of course. His mental shields protected him I guess. After that, I really didn't see much of Betsy."
"You do know you should have told me," Xavier admonished. "It is vital that we be able to contact, maybe even gain any new mutants that show up."
"Yeah, I know," Jean told him. She sneezed loudly just then, startling everyone.
"Maybe ya oughta get back to bed, Red," Logan suggested as he blew out a long stream of cigar smoke, much to Ororo's obvious dismay.
Jean shook here head. "No, I'm fine. If the weather gets better I want to be here when we take off to find Scott."
"Suit yerself." Logan took another smoke and then flicked the cigar with perfect aim into the garbage can in the next room after stubbing out the flame.
Charles looked around the room. "Well, all of you can go on now. Kurt, be ready for your meeting with me concerning your visibility control."
Gotcha," said Kurt before disappearing with a BAMF sound.
***
"Whoa," Scott muttered as he looked down at the unconscious man. He turned to Betsy, noting that there was still the faint gleam of light that emanated from her hand. It disappeared about five seconds later.
Betsy did not respond. She wiggled her fingers and then finally glanced at Scott. "I-I don't know what that was," she said shakily. "It was weird-it was like-"
"Its OK," Scott cut in, interrupting her hasty attempt at an explanation. "Seriously."
"You're not freaked out?"
"No," Scott said reassuringly. I think the guy who's packin' a bazooka behind each eyeball can handle a little weirdness. Besides, its kind of cool."
Betsy regarded him silently for a moment before speaking. "You don't usually act like this," she said."
"Act like what?"
Betsy shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose 'open' would be the correct term. Usually your always so rigid and controlled. Like a robot. It just seems like you've up opened up a bit more lately."
"No, I don't know," said Scott, genuinely confused.
"Oh, well then never mind," Betsy said hastily. She wasn't quite sure why she'd brought it up in the first place.
She looked down at the two men who had opened fire on them. "What should we do about these guys?" she asked.
Scott knelt down and reached into the first man's pocket, coming up empty handed. He methodically searched both of them but they were clean. "Well, we don't know who they are or why they attacked us," he said, "but it certainly adds a whole new dynamic to things."
"Mmmm hmm. Betsy crouched down beside him and reached out a hand that came to rest on the first man's forehead. "Maybe if I psi-scan this guy I can learn something valuable," she suggested before closing her eyes and trying her best to do a mental probe. The fact that the guy was unconscious complicated things, but she had surprised herself once that day and there was nothing to say she couldn't do it again.
Betsy got brief images. A cabin, faces, and more. A memory of his flashed before Betsy's mental eye. 'No bodies, no traces. It'll be like they just disappeared.'
Her eyes widened and she immediately broke the telepathic rapport.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
Betsy looked up at him. "Someone wants to kill us. All I got was a brief message but there's more people out there trying to get rid of us."
"Why?" Scott asked.
Betsy shrugged. "I don't know. But I think we'd better forget about trying to get help from anybody up here and figure out how to get back."
***
Jean slowly walked back to her bedroom, collapsing on the immaculately made bed when she reached it. It seemed like such a simple problem to solve- getting Scott back. The X-Men had handled much more difficult problems in the past, but bad weather and a missing bus, it seemed unreal for that to be an unsolvable scenario.
Jean closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A/N Probably not my best chappie but please review anyway.