Chapter 2: Lost
I looked at Logan, wondering what to do. Logan smelled it before giving it back to me. I took a deep breath and opened it. There was only a small slip of paper with a few lines of typed print. I read it silently before handing it to Logan. He read it over and groaned.
What is it? Jean shot me a look of concern.
Magneto says we 'may have won this time but he always has a back up plan' I tried to explain it as best I could.
Logan smirked, "You tell your girl?"
I smiled, "Of course."
Logan sighed, "He's not going to give up, is he? He wants us to do his bidding." It was sort of mumbled, but everyone still heard him clearly. I looked over at Alex. He was utterly petrified. We had to get his bravery back up or it would probably end up disastrous for all of us. An awkward silence fell across the entire room. Logan glanced at me.
"Danger Room?" I asked.
"Danger Room," he confirmed.
No one groaned or disagreed this time. They all know serious this situation was for everyone. We all rose to our feet and headed to the Danger Room for some brushing up on our skills.
"That wasn't... horrible," I told Logan as we went to get the others from the entrance of the Danger Room. "No, it wasn't horrible."
Alex snickered. Logan chuckled.
"We have the most injuries we've ever had," Logan pointed out.
I sighed aloud. Logan, Alex, and I had been supervising the training in the Danger Room from above. Logan was obligated to overlook the whole thing, since he was the only conscious adult on the premises at the time. He had also decided that Alex and I would not participate in this training session because of our 'serious injuries' as he'd put it.
"They're just distracted," I supplied.
"That's no excuse," Logan snapped. "They can't be distracted while we're in battle."
"I know," I said, quietly. "They're just scared. They've all seen how bad of shape Alex and I are in."
Logan sighed, "Yeah, I know, but they really need to keep their cool and get all of the jobs accomplished. We can't afford any mistakes, captures, or casualties this time around."
I glanced over at Alex. He was incredibly alert and watched Logan extra closely. I looked at Logan. He stopped and turned to Alex. I stopped as well. Logan squatted down to Alex's eye level.
"Listen... Alex," Logan started. "I can smell your fear. You're allowing it to overwhelm you completely. OK, I know that they told you that Scott was screwed up pretty badly, but they lied. Got it? He'll be fine in a few days. The best thing you can do for him now is to get over your fears. Can you do that for us? We need you to help us beat Magneto at his own game."
"From the sidelines?" I muttered inaudibly. Logan turned his head and glared at me. Damn his heightened senses. "I'm going to go check on the others. You know, check on their injuries."
Logan smirked, "Good idea."
I walked away. I hoped Logan would be able to straighten Alex out. He was scaring me in ways I'd never been scared before. I continued to the others as I thought about my little brother. It wasn't safe for him to be scared all the time. It would probably get us all killed, or worse. I sighed aloud. I was his older brother. I was supposed to protect him, keep him from harm, but now look at me.
It's not your fault, baby
Jean, you know I don't like it when you read my mind.
I know, Scott, I know. I'm just worried about you. Besides you never tell me when you're having a problem, especially one with Alex, so you leave me no choice. I have to do a little investigating
You're right
I turned the corner and looked at my only hope of saving my brother's sanity, the X-men. They were a mess. Everyone had bruises and gashes covering them. Jean had a bump on her temple, but that's all. She had to concentrate the most to keep her powers in check, so she was barely injured. I looked at everyone else. They were a mess. I sighed. Just then, Evan came running in.
"She's awake! She's awake!" he called. "Scott! Logan, Jean!"
I hurried over to him to see what he was talking about. Evan grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the infirmary. I turned toward Jean just before she slipped out of my sight.
Tell Logan, then come on over to the infirmary
Twenty minutes later, Logan, Jean, and I were in the infirmary with Ororo. She was in a horrible condition and barely conscious. Her entire body was a giant bruise. Her eyes were almost swollen shut. She too had some bruised ribs. Her mouth was swollen and her jaw was more than likely broken. I ran a hand through my hair.
"We better not let the others see her," Logan said, mostly to himself. "They'll freak."
I sighed, "Especially Alex."
Jean set a hand on my shoulder. I looked into her eyes. She pulled me closer to her. I wanted to give in, to take a break and relax. I knew I couldn't, though. I knew we had to get Magneto's plan out of Ororo. It was our only chance of knowing what he was planning before he put it into play.
"All right, Red," Logan said. "See if you can get any useful information out of her."
Jean nodded and Ororo closed her eyes. Jean set her hands on her temples and concentrated on finding anything that could be of any use to us. I looked at Logan, but he was concentrating on Ororo. I sighed aloud. Logan glanced over at me momentarily. Then Jean opened her eyes.
"Anything?" Logan asked, hopeful.
Jean shook her head, "He told her his plan, but it's suppressed. She's put it out of her mind completely, so it must be really bad." Logan shot her a glare. "Or simply, she's telling herself it didn't happen, so I can't reach it."
Logan growled. I instinctively took a step back. Logan stormed out. Jean watched him go, and then glanced over at me.
He'll be fine. I smiled. Let's get Ororo to Painless Land. Then we'll go talk to him.
I'll get the sedative, but Logan. I'm not sure we can talk to him.
Jean got in a cabinet and pulled out a sedative. She quickly put some of it in a syringe and injected it into the vein in Ororo's arm. Ororo immediately fell asleep. She was probably just anxious to escape all of her pain. I looked over at Jean. She looked up at me and smiled. I slipped my hand into hers and she interlaced our fingers. Then we went to find Logan.
"Did Logan say anything about Alex?" I asked, still hopeful.
"No." Jean sighed, "but you know, he has spent the past half hour without you. Plus, he seemed quite anxious to get to the kitchen and make ice cream sundaes with Kurt, Evan, and Bobby."
"That's good," I stated, not really there. "I'm really worried about him."
"I know, baby, and you have every right to be worried. He's all you have left."
"I have you," I pointed out with a smile. Jean smiled back and gave me a quick kiss. We broke it off as we came into the kitchen. Four boys looked up from their hot fudge sundaes.
"What's the news?" Alex asked, taking another bite of his sundae.
"How is she?" Evan asked, concern covering all fun he might have been having.
"She's asleep," I told him. "Not unconscious, just asleep. We did a search for any helpful information, but there isn't any." I tried to lighten the subject. "How's the ice cream today?"
"Eets good!" Kurt replied, quite ecstatically. He took a huge bite of his sundae and got a nice sized lump of chocolate sauce on his nose in the process. Kurt didn't notice. "Eets very good."
"Have any of you seen Logan lately?" Jean asked.
"Yeah," Bobby spoke up. "He came through here a few minutes ago. He seemed very angry about something. He walked straight out of here and I think he might have left the Institute as well."
"What?" I burst out.
Suddenly Kitty phased through the door. She seemed to be in quite a hurry. "Scott! Jean! Mr. Logan just left the Institute on his motorcycle!" I glanced at Jean. She spoke what I was thinking:
"He's going to get to Magneto before he can harm us!"
TBC
