Chapter 11: Discussion

I looked at Rogue, who sat across the table, looking fearfully at me. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Suddenly she put on a brave façade; I smiled involuntarily. She was probably going to get hurt too.

Let her go, Scott. I glanced over at Jean in confusion. You're giving off some major anger.

I turned back to Rogue, "It's your call."

She nodded and rose slowly. I frowned; I'd halfway been expecting her to back out. I glanced at Evan. He had a fearful spark behind his eyes.

"We need a plan," I said. I haven't meant to say it aloud, but now that I had, I figured we'd go with it. "We have to find a way out of this, so I say that we get everyone prepared incase they're in the trio that gets sent out."

Evan shot me a hard look and mouthed, "You know?"

I nodded, "The magnetic shield is down, so we can have the next group stay in contact with Jean." I shot Evan a hopeful look. "Do you know where you're going before you get there?"

Evan hesitated, "Not really, but they're staying close by."

"What good will contact do?" Ray asked.

Jean smiled, "I'll send in our secret weapon if I have to, but the group will have to try to overpower the leader. Magneto doesn't have any real threat. Don't worry about us here; we'll be fine."

"Kitty," I spoke quickly, figuring that someone would be after Rogue shortly, "slowly phase everyone out of the clamps. Try to be inconspicuous about it. That'll leave us with absolutely nothing against us."

She nodded. Everyone fell silent. Rogue still stood frozen. There were a few beats of silence before Pietro and Lance came in the side door.

Do you think they heard us? Jean asked me.

Doubt it.

"Magneto wants Rogue," Pietro snarled.

"I think she decided that she'd rather not go," I returned.

It was a stalemate. Nobody moved for a moment. Finally Lance took a step forward; I shot to my feet. There was still no sway of control. Magneto walked in with Sabretooth and Pietro updated them both.

Magneto's face contorted with anger, "Cyclops, must I remind you that your girlfriend or little brother could both be part of my next hunting party. I'm sure that you know what they get to do by now."

I flinched slightly. Magneto snapped his fingers and Pietro was gone. I shifted my gaze to Rogue; she was gone too. I was frustrated now. He had Rogue and all I had was more trouble.

"Clear out!" Magneto ordered, "except you three, Jean, and Cyclops." Everyone else, including Lance, left. "You three, continue to eat. Jean, you go on to the infirmary. Sabretooth will escort you. Cyclops, come here now."

I grimaced inwardly for two reasons: Jean was alone with Sabretooth and I was in some deep shit. Magneto looked dead serious as I willingly approached him. The only good thing I saw was that we were away from my teammates. As I stopped in front of him, he struck me across the face. My head snapped aside, but I moved it back.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

I looked him directly in the eyes, "That I made it so that we both know more than she does."

He took a quick step toward me; I stood firm. "But you still know more than I do and I find that to be unfair."

"But you don't like things fair," I pointed out.

He snarled, "Believe me when I tell you that things are only going to get worse from here and you will suffer from this display of rebellion."

I didn't move but kept eye contact. Magneto's mood shifted suddenly. He was calmer, but still serious. He glanced over my shoulder at Alex's unconscious form. "He's still out?"

"Naw." I said it as if it was nothing, but glanced back at Alex. "He's out again."

"Again?" Magneto sounded angry and surprised at the same time.

"Yeah. Apparently it isn't healthy for an injured kid that just regained consciousness to have to walk across the whole Institute, especially if he hasn't eaten in about 10 hours." I was angry, but I had a good reason to be so. "He passed out right inside the entryway."

"I'll talk to the boys," Magneto stated bluntly. "You stay here and make sure he eats something when he wakes up. Got it?" I nodded. He smiled faintly and gave a small tug on my metal cuffs. "Don't do anything stupid."

He turned around with a swish of his cape. Then he went out the door. I sighed and gently touched the rising bruise on my face. I flinched, but turned to head over to Alex. After reassuring myself that he was still alive, I went to join the trio at the table. There was an odd silence as they continued to eat the now-cold pizza.

Evan grinned at me. "You look like hell."

"I know."

"So how did you know about us doing it?"

I sighed, "Lance was bragging earlier."

We fell into another awkward silence. I glanced worriedly at the other two. "Are you all right?" They just nodded. "Hey, come on now. It could've been any of us. You three just drew the short straws. There are three more of us out there now. I need you to cheer up so that I'm not leading a whole team of completely depressed people."

No one said anything. I heard a moan from behind me and a very faint, "Scott?"

I was on my feet and at his side instantly. I forgot about the others as I leaned over Alex. There were little tears in his eyes. I knew this was quite sappy, but I didn't move my eyes from his as I dug into my pocket for the painkillers. I pulled it out and dumped two pills into my palm. Someone brushed by my side. I glanced up to see Rahne holding a glass of water. I smiled gratefully as we gave Alex the pills.

"It hurts," he whimpered pathetically.

"I know." I was beginning to hate that phrase. It made me sound like I had all of the answers, but really my team was falling apart: three distraught from action, three in action, two (including myself) practically out of the action, and one MIA. I knew Alex was in pain and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. "Just relax and stay calm."

"You're taking this better than we would," Bobby spoke up. "I mean, we weren't even injured yet we've been wallowing in self-pity for hours."

"Yeah," Rahne stepped in. "I'd never be able to endure what you've been through."

I sighed to myself. We weren't getting anywhere with this. I glanced at the trio, then back to Alex. Magneto had said it could only get worse and I believed him. The only thing was that I couldn't see how this could get any worse.

As irony would have it, the door behind us opened. I turned around and grimaced at the site of Sabretooth. A wave of fear passed over me. Sabretooth smelled the air and smirk at me.

"Five kids scared shitless," he said to himself. "What am I to do?"

I glanced at the others. Evan was determined; Rahne was definitely afraid. Bobby fell somewhere in the middle. I looked back at Sabretooth, who still hadn't moved.

He raised his eyebrows and showed off his fangs. "You three" -he pointed at the trio but kept his eyes on me- "Get out."

They hurried out of the room to the entryway all too quickly. Sabretooth smiled and slowly began to approach me. I took a step forward to draw the attention away from Alex. He stopped in front of me. "Let's talk."

TBC