Chapter 12: Survival of the Fittest

On its way back the X-Jet hit some turbulence and was delayed. Their first stop was the ski resort. Storm and Mystique put the jet down just to the side of the huge metal sphere protruding from the snowy ground.

All the adults went into the sphere, while Jean and Scott waited outside.

~inside~

"It's way too clean," observer Mystique.

"They haven't been here in days," said Wolverine sniffing the air.

"No, they haven't." said Xavier using his telepathy, "They're all at the mansion."

"That's bizarre." said Mastermind, "Why would they go over there?"

"Cable probably went out," said Creed sarcastically.

Once everyone was back outside Magneto closed the metallic dome.

THWAP!

A piece of pink paper hit Scott in the face.

"Ah, what the-" said Scott peeling the sheet of his face.

"Holy shit!" yelled Jean when she glanced at the sheet.

Needless to say everyone was staring at her. Jean Grey swear?-There must be a glitch a the matrix (haha)!

Scott held the page in front of him and read it aloud:
"'Come one, come all
For 4 days only
And only 4 days
Mutant Manor will open its doors
Stay the night
Or come and meet our all mutant staff!'"

"All mutant staff?!" Jean was freaking out by now.

"Well this explains a lot," said Scott.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jean who was a little on edge at this point.

"When Jamie picked the phone he said 'Mutant Manor!"

-------------

Meanwhile at the Xavier Institute the clean up had officially ended at 12:30 am. All the kids stood back and admired their work, minus Kurt and Toad of course who were still at the mercy of the tyranny of Demon. The mansion was nothing short of immaculate-that's when it hit them-

"Oh mah Gawd!" yelled Rouge, "It's too clean!"

"Merde, you right, Chere!" shouted Remy.

Everyone dispersed quickly and dirty the place up as quickly as possible then went to bed.

~Time Passes~

Due to control panel complications the adults as well as Scott and Jean were delayed a little longer considering they couldn't fix it. They were forced to call for a few cabs. They reached the Institute around 2:30 am.

They had started to embark up the driveway. All the lights were out and all seemed quiet until-

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Toad and Kurt came flying around the side of the building with Demon only a pace or two behind them and gaining.

SKNIT!-"The hell?!" Logan unsheathed his claws in the moonlight.

Jean held the Demon in place, while Toad and Kurt caught their breath and Logan retracted his claws.

"I know this might sound somewhat inane (silly)," Hank began, "but why is a horse chasing you?"

"It's not a horse it's a polo pony-" said Toad.

"Nien, it's ze spawn of Satan!" exclaimed Kurt.

"Why is it here?!" asked Mastermind.

"I don' know-" said Toad.

"Rogue and Gambit wanted them-" explained Kurt.

"And where are your sister and Gambit?" asked Mystique crossing her arms.

"Asleep in their room, I guess," responded Kurt.

"'THEIR ROOM'?!" Mystique shrieked.

"Whoops," said Kurt.

"I think you just signed their death certificate, yo," said Toad.

"Nein, I just signed my own, mein sister will kill me!" said Kurt.

Don't forget Gambit, man" added Toad.

"Not with two broken legs he won't!" shouted Mystique as the headed for the front door.

With that Jean released Demon and the two boys picked up right where they left off-

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

In the foyer the retuning mutants found all four Mounties loosing their shirts in a lighting round of poker to Jamie.

"Jamie?! What are you doing up?" asked Scott.

"Would you believe kicking some ass and taking names?" asked Jamie.

"No," said Scott flatly.

"Paul? Why are you guys here?" asked Creed.

"Well Rogue and Gambit called us to come and help with the polo ponies they had delivered and Zeke tended the bar-"

"Bar?!" asked Beast "We don't have a liquor license!"

"Where are Rogue and Gambit?" asked Magneto.

"Up stairs, I assume," said Paul.

"Ya, they're in their room," said Jamie.

"Take us there!" ordered Wolverine.

"Two seconds," said Jamie as he rearranged the cards in his hands, "Royal flush."

"Damn it," said Bob.

"He hasn't lost yet," said Paul.

"I swear he counting the cards!" said Larry.

"Are you sure probability isn't part of your mutation?!" asked Zeke.

"Let's go!" said Jean.

Jamie led the returning travelers up stairs and stopped at the dynamic duo's door, "This one. Now what?"

"You go to bed!" said Scott.

Jamie just rolled his eyes and went quietly, knowing better than to fight with Scott when he was in a pissy mood. "Cyke, definitely needs to get laid more," Jamie thought to himself, "too bad Jean won't get off her high horse."

"I heard that!" yelled Jean.

Wolverine covered her mouth, "Do ya wanna ruin the element of surprise?!"

Mystique turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly.

Remy and Rogue were fast asleep, spooned up against one another.

Light from the hallway flooded into the darkened room and cut Rogue across the face. Her eyelids scrunched a little and then she rolled over and faced Remy, "Kitty, Ah told you whatevah it it Ah'll handle it in the mornin'."

SKNIT!

Both teens were wide awake in a split second-"Oh mah Gaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

THUD!

They lost their balance and rolled off the far side of the bed.

"Remy get yo hand off a mah- (oh, like you don't know! This is the 'Raggin' Cajun we're talking about!)-SLAP!

"OW!" yelped Remy, "Cher, do really tink dis be de time fo' foreplay?"

"Ah can't believe you just said that!" yelled Rogue, "Whay I oughtta-'

"Are you two quite finished?" asked Beast.

The two teens stood up (wearing pajamas mid you!-let's not start any of this crap!). Remy had his arms around Rogue's waist.

"Unhand my daughter!" yelled Mystique.

"Remy can't!" Gambit insisted.

"Don't you get smart with me you little wise-ass you're in enough trouble as it is!" shouted Mystique.

"No, he really can't," said Rogue, "he wearing hand cuffs! Throw meh the key. It's in the drawer."

"I told you we should have brought them," insisted Sabertooth, "at least their entertaining."

"I am not in the mood!" said Mystique in a dangerous tone.

"What do you two have to say for yourselves?" asked Magneto.

"Uh-welcome back?" ventured Remy.

"Try again," growled Wolverine.

"Please don' kill us?!" begged Remy.

"Much better," said Wolverine crossing his arms.

"I can't believe you dragged Kitty and Colossus into this!" scolded Jean.

"Ya know for a telepath yer pretty naïve," said Rogue.

Jean gave Rogue a dirty look.

"What, ya don't believe me?" asked Rogue putting her hands on her hips, "Fiahne, go across the hall and knock on their door."

"Their door?!" asked Scott.

"Ya, Scott their door-gotta hearin' problem?" asked Rogue sarcastically.

"No, but while you're in such a talkative mood, care to explain this?" asked Scott holding up the flyer that hit him in the face."

"Hey, we did what we 'ad to, homme," said Gambit defensively.

"Care to elaborate in a less comfortable setting?" asked Beast.

Before long all the adults, Rogue, Remy, Scott, Jean, the Mounties and Pietro (who was awakened from a blissful slumber by all the yelling) were all seated in the foyer.

"Now," said the Prof., "Why don't you start from the beginning."

So, Remy and Rogue told the whole story about the helicopter and needing the $13,000 and how they met at Starbuck's and hooked Piotr and Kitty because of their prior interest in one another. Then how they needed to convert the mansion into a resort and the fasted way to do that seemed to enlisting the aid of polo ponies, considering the fact that it was so greatly revered in high society and much more entertaining that croquet or lawn darts for that matter. That's why Demon had been terrorizing the grounds and then by some odd coincidence it turned out the helicopter repairman had known Demon from the miniature racing track, a small circuit, but nonetheless growing more popular by the day and that the jockey was also a short order chef part-time. Although Merf was only going to hold all his jobs until his trust fund kicked it in about four years.

That's when Forge and Merf came through the main hall.

"I can't believe we finally finished," said Merf.

"I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life, man," said Forge.

"Wanna go collapse by the pool?" asked Merf.

"Sure," said Forge, "assuming we can make it that far-how long has it been since we've slept."

"About 76½ hours," said Merf looking at his watch.

"Not so fast you two!" said Storm.

The two men looked over.

"Shit, were we supposed to take the back stairs?" asked Merf.

"Non, don' worry 'bout it," said Remy.

"So where's all the money?" asked Magneto, "Surely you kept a log."

"Ya, it's in de third parlor in de desk," said Remy.

"Pietro, bring it here," ordered Magneto.

Pietro returned as fast as he left and handed the book to his father.

Magneto flipped to the last page with writing on it-

"YOU MADE 75,000 DOLLARS?!"

Everyone was speechless.

"Uh ya," said Rogue, "everyone is interested in mutants a little more than we thought."

"Oui," said Gambit, "de governor stopped by as well."

"An' we were in the paper as well," said Rogue, "we didn't even know the reporter was heah."

"I'm just impressed you made it legitimately," said Scott directing his comment toward Gambit.

"Hey!" Gambit yelled.

"Apparently you want a pair of black eyes! What the first one wasn't enough?!" asked Rogue.

"Please, try to touch him," challenged Jean.

"That's enough!" said Xavier.

"Just cut to the case," said Rogue, "What's are punishment?"

The Prof. just smiled, "I'm not going to punish you."

Rogue's jaw dropped.

"What?!" roared Scott.

"This is outrageous!" said Jean.

"Charles, I must agree with Scott and Jean on this one," said Ororo.

"Ya, Chuck whar's the deal?!" asked a rather confused Wolverine.

"Well," said the Prof., "so far Gambit and Rogue are the only two who have successfully been able to have both sides work together longer than the duration of one mission. That in itself is quite an accomplishment."

Then everyone looked at Magneto, "I won't punish you either. The base was standing when we got back, that's all I care about."

"Oh c'mon!" said Logan rather P.O.-ed.

"Don't worry, Logan I'm sure you'll think of something to do with Magma, Iceman, Sunspot and Berzerker." said the Prof.

"What the hell is all the yelling about?!" shouted Wanda from the top of the banister.

Everyone was a little taken back by her outfit. Wanda was wearing a full riding uniform for huntseat. You know blood red coat, tan skintight spandex pants and black leather knee high boots. She balanced the helmet covered in black leather on her hip and held a short black riding crop in her hand.

That was about the time St. John appeared behind her in black silk boxers and headband with fuzzy horse ears on it, "Shi-er Wanda are you comin' back to bed or what?" that 's when John caught sight of the adults below-Magneto in particular-"Oh shit!"

Needless to say all the metal objects in the room started to shake. Sure Magneto and Wanda didn't have the greatest relationship, but she still was HIS DAUGHTER!

"Not so funny when it's your daughter, is it?" asked Mystique.

"The hell does that mean?!" growled Rogue.

"Well at least I finally know why yer always limpin'," said Creed noticing the whip in Wanda's hand.

"IS EVERYONE DOING IT, BUT US?!" asked Scott in a moment of brief hysteria.

"What was yer first clue, Scooter?" asked Wolverine.

"On second thought maybe some survival training is in order," said Xavier, "with any luck you'll all learn some discipline as well as self restraint." He looked at Creed and Logan, "Think you two restrain yourselves long enough to teach some survival training?"

The two augmented animals looked at each other, grinning like madmen.

"I think we can make an exception," said Creed.

"Ya, just this once," added Wolverine.

"So," said Pietro leaning back in his chair pompously as he smiled, "going for a midnight ride, Sis?"

~Fin~

Next up: Bushwhacked