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For a moment after the quake cut off an unnatural stillness gripped the group. Lance slumped bonelessly between Duncan's two friends, who were looking guilty and a little scared. They released the dark-haired boy; he fell to the pavement without the slightest reaction and lay there, pale and motionless.
"Lance!" Kitty screamed phasing through Jean's hands and running to his side.
Jean stared at them feeling horrified. She hadn't thought… no one should have gotten hurt… not really.
Forcing herself to keeping on thinking, Kitty rolled Lance on to his back and pressed her hand to his chest. A choked sob of relief broke from her as she felt his heart beating against her hand. A moment later the slight rise and fall of his chest reassured her that he was still breathing.
Jean reached out mentally and informed the Professor of the situation asking for his advice. "I'll call 911," she announced loudly a moment later, knowing that Xavier was sending help from the Institute and wanting to be sure that no one actually called an ambulance if Lance's collapse was related to his mutant abilities.
Kitty racked her brain for any other vital signs she should be checking. She wanted to simply shake Lance and scream until he woke up and told her he was fine. Gingerly she opened his eyes. "Okay, not evenly dilated, that's bad, I'm sure that's bad. What do I do to fix it? Come on Pryde, now is not the time to be a ditz."
Around them the crowd shifted uncertainly, morbid curiosity holding them in place while fear of being blamed for whatever had happened pushed them away.
"I didn't even hit him," Duncan was protesting, mostly to himself. The pair who'd been restraining Lance when he collapsed quietly worked their way to the back of the crowd.
The X-Van pulled up in the parking lot and Storm stepped out. The gathered High Schoolers saw an ambulance and a team of medics.
Storm knelt beside Kitty, wrapping her winds around Lance's still form as she quietly reassured the distraught girl. "We will fix this," she promised as Lance was gently loaded into the van. Kitty climbed in beside him, her eyes watering.
Jean bit her lip watching them prepare to leave. "I should take care of Kitty," she blurted out suddenly and hurried to joint the other X-Men. Duncan watched her leave then shrugged carelessly turning back to his friends just happy no one had called the police. He didn't want to be blamed if the other boy was really hurt or anything.
"Kitty do you have any idea of what has happened?" Xavier asked.
"You know about Lance getting headaches from his powers, right?" Kitty stammered. "Lance never says anything, but I think they've been getting a lot worse."
"I assumed as much," the professor said. "I've scanned his mind, the problem is most likely physical in nature. This is outside of my area of expertise."
"So, like, you can't help?" Kitty asked sounding betrayed.
"I've asked a friend, Dr. Moira MacTaggart to come. I'm certain she will be able to help," Xavier reassured his student.
Kitty nodded, not looking very reassured and on the verge of tears as she held Lance's hand.
"This is my fault," Jean said quietly. "I should have stopped the fight."
"No Jean," Xavier replied. "You should have discouraged the fighting, but you are not responsible for Mr. Alvers condition. I believe his collapse was an inevitable result of using his powers without proper restraint. It was fortunate that it happened while you were present to see that his condition was brought to my attention. I fear his friends would have attempted to handle things on their own." Xavier shook his head tiredly. "They are an irrationally stubborn bunch. Honestly, I expected them to admit the need for adult supervision and assistance months ago. I believed that by allowing them to reach that conclusion on their own it would make things simpler when they joined us."
Once they arrived at the mansion Xavier and McCoy chased Kitty out of the med-lab until they could finish the preliminary examinations Moira would need to start figure out what was wrong with Lance.
Kitty wandered despondently through the school, unable to sit still while she waited, knowing that the chances of them having any definite news before Dr. MacTaggart arrived were slim.
Lost in her thoughts Kitty jumped when a calloused hand clasped her shoulder. "Don't worry half-pint," Mr. Logan said gruffly. "The prof and his doctor friend'll set things right."
Kitty nodded, trying to believe the reassurance. Logan patted her on the shoulder awkwardly then left her to her aimless rambles.
Scott showed up next. "I'm sorry Kitty," he said.
Kitty felt a sudden rush of anger. "No you're not!" she found herself yelling. "You're not sorry, you hate Lance and you hate us dating. Don't act like you care, 'cause you don't!"
"I care about you!" Scott yelled back. "And I'm sorry you're hurting, not that I'm surprised when you're dating Lance Alvers!"
Their raised voices quickly drew an audience. Not that Kitty noticed.
"Don't you try to blame this on Lance!" she yelled. "If this is anybody's fault it's Jean and her idiot, jerk of a boyfriend. You're always blaming Lance and his friends for everything that goes wrong!"
"Maybe because their always at fault," Evan commented snidely.
Kitty turned on him angrily "We cause as much trouble as they do if you want to be honest," she snapped.
"Not intentionally," Kurt protested.
"So what?" Kitty asked her anger dissolving in to sobs.
"Beat it! All of ya!" Rogue ordered glaring at the boys. "Now ain't the time."
As the X-Men and younger students dispersed, the former looking ashamed, Rogue led Kitty into the kitchen.
"This is serious isn't it," Kurt said sounding stunned. "Not just a broken bone or a concussion or something."
"When he screamed, I thought he was dying," Jean confirmed with a shiver as she joined the group.
"Do you think someone should tell the Brotherhood?" Kurt asked.
"They'll just blame us," Scott said. "They probably won't even notice he's gone for a few days; by then we might know what's wrong."
****** ****** ******
Pietro jumped out of bed and promptly fell on his face. A clicking camera and an insane giggle gave away Tabby's responsibility.
Pietro glanced at his feet and saw a shoelace wrapped around his ankles. Moving bluringly fast he freed himself and dove at Tabby, tossing her over his shoulder and running downstairs.
"Fair's fair!" Tabby shrieked. "You pulled the chair out from under me at dinner last night!"
The racket woke Todd. He opened his eyes to see a menacing shadow looming over his bed. With an alarmed shout he leapt out of bed and ended up clinging fearfully to the window frame.
With the change in perspective Todd saw that the nightmare figure was supported by the hat -rack from the front hall. The artistic detail that had gone into constructing the scarecrow gave away Pietro's culpability.
A loud splash sounded outside. "Pietro!" Tabby shrieked. Todd looked out the window to see the girl sitting in middle of a mud puddle in the driveway. Pietro was standing over her laughing.
She retaliated with a few cherry bombs, the first of which caught Pietro off guard, knocking him on his butt.
Tabby followed up by lobbing mud at the downed speed demon. Pietro shoved her back into the mud puddle then retreated to a safe distance to laugh at her bedraggled appearance.
Neither of them noticed Fred quietly turning on a garden hose until he'd sprayed both of them down.
"The water's back on," Fred announced innocently.
In a split second Pietro was back, armed with several water guns and Tabby was in the process of gathering her own armaments.
Todd pulled a Tupperware tub out of his closest, inside were several already prepared water balloons for special occasions, something that seemed to come up at least twice a week. He opened the window and lobbed a balloon at both Pietro and Fred before grabbing his favorite water gun and heading out to join the fun.
"Yo Lance!" He yelled stopping at the rock-tumblers door. "Water fight!"
Todd frowned at the lack of response and poked his head through the door. The room was empty and several textbooks lay on the bed where Lance had tossed them before heading out for his date.
Todd hurried outside, tossing his water gun on the couch as he ran through the living room.
"Hey guys!" he yelled and was promptly doused. "Cut it out! Lance is missing."
The other three paused, taking in the news.
"So?" Pietro asked. "He stayed out all night on a date, he probably got lucky."
"On a date with Kitty Pryde of the X-geeks, laser-brains," Tabby snapped. "He's going to have to marry her before he scores."
"Maybe they eloped." Fred suggested, for a moment the other just started at him in disbelief.
"I bet little Miss Valley Girl talked him into giving her looser friends another chance," Tabby said angrily.
"Lance wouldn't ditch us for them, not again anyway," Todd protested.
"We'll-see-him-in-school-if-he-did," Pietro said.
"Speaking of which, we better start walking," Tabby said. "Lance still has the jeep. I've got dibs on the shower."
Before she was halfway across the yard Pietro dashed past her.
"I called it!" Tabby yelled, continuing up the stairs. As she raised her hand to pound on the door it opened, revealing Pietro, neatly dressed and ready for school.
"Is he sick?" Fred wondered.
"Yeah," Todd marveled. "Staring in the mirror is the one thing he takes his time with."
Pietro fidgeted through Tabby's version of a quick shower but shortly after Fred began his turn the silver-haired boy exclaimed. "Slow-slow-slow-I'm-going-for-a-run-bye."
"I'm gonna head for school too," Todd said. "See ya there, yo."
As Todd walked he kicked at rocks in the road. "Lance wouldn't just take off," he repeated.
Roughly two minutes later Pietro swept him off his feet. The next thing Todd knew he was being tossed on the couch, listening to Pietro babble at top speed and at the top of his voice. He was incomprehensible, even to people used to his hyper speed mode of speech.
"Deep breath," Fred said.
"I found Lance's jeep," Pietro repeated more slowly. "Abandoned. We have to find him."
"Do you think Kitty was with Lance when whatever happened?" Todd asked.
"Toad-you're-brilliant!" Pietro exclaimed dashing out. He sped across town, past the Institute's defenses and knocked on the front door.
"What the?" Spyke exclaimed opening the door.
"No-time-for-you, no-time-for-this. Lance-is-gone. Did-they-take-Kitty? Will-you-help-us-get-them-back?"
"Lance is downstairs," Evan said quietly. "He got hurt."
"I-wanna-see-him," Pietro demanded.
Evan gestured for Pietro to follow him.
As far as Pietro was concerned the trip down to the med-lab took an eternity and Evan wasn't even trying to walk at a reasonable rate.
When the last door finally slid open, Pietro froze, taking in the numerous gently beeping machines, Kitty asleep, slumped in a chair beside the bed, holding Lance's hand and finally Lance himself, too still, too pale, lines of pain marking his features despite being deeply unconscious. There were wires attached to Lance's forehead and chest and IV lines in his arms and an oxygen tube in his nose.
"What-did-you-do? What-did-you-do? What-did-you-do…" Pietro demanded.
Before Evan could say anything the speed demon was in motion. Zipping through the mansion like a tornado on fast-forward, spreading destruction in his wake. Apprehension and fury blending into simple panic.
For a few moments Logan stood in the kitchen doorway, watching the blur of motion and sound as it smashed everything in it's path and sent student reeling. Then he walked calmly across the room and waited. A few seconds later his arm shot out and caught Pietro by the arm. The speedster's momentum wasn't enough to overcome Logan's solid, adimantium laced resistance and Pietro was yanked off his stride to land in an ungainly heap at Wolverine's feet.
Instantly the silver-haired boy began to struggle. "Let-go-let-go-let," he chanted.
"Calm down!" Logan ordered finding it nearly impossible to keep his hold on the teen.
Pietro's voice rose into a plaintive wail.
//Pietro, enough!// Xavier projected using his powers to forcibly settle the boy. //We didn't hurt your friend. We are trying to help him.//
Logan hauled the suddenly unresisting teen to a chair and stood behind him, keeping his hands firmly planted on Pietro's shoulders to prevent a repeat of his early rampage. Meanwhile the Institute's students slowly picked themselves off the floor and looked around at the damage.
"Scott, would you go pick-up the rest of Lance's friends so I may explain the situation?" Xavier requested.
"On my way Professor," Scott said.
****** ****** ******
"He should be back," Todd said. "How long could it take? This is Pietro we're talking about."
"Yeah, but he's gotta wait for the X-Men to decide we should work together," Tabby pointed out.
"That could take forever!" Fred exclaimed.
"We should start looking ourselves," Todd said. "Pietro should have told us where he found the jeep."
The sound of a car pulling into their driveway drifted into the room. Todd leapt to the window. "It's Summers," he announced. Without another word being spoken the trio charged outside and to Scott's dismay, tumbled into his car almost before it stopped moving.
"Let's get this rescue underway," Todd exclaimed slapping Scott on the shoulder as Fred settled his considerable bulk in the passenger's seat.
"Lance doesn't need rescuing," Scott said.
"Where is he?" Todd demanded, his voice suddenly and surprisingly threatening.
"He passed out while he was with Kitty," Scott summarized. "We brought him back to the Institute for medical treatment."
"What's wrong with him? Why didn't he call us?" Todd demanded.
"The Professor will explain," Scott sighed. "Lance is still unconscious, but I guess we should have let you guys know what was going on. No one realized how worried you were getting."
Fred frowned at Scott. "Who else is going to worry if we don't?" he asked.
"We look out for each other yo," Todd added. "Like Fred says, no one else cares."
****** ****** ******
Kitty watched Pietro, the silver-haired boy stood stiffly by the door of the med-lab. She couldn't remember ever seeing Pietro remain still for so long. It was a brittle stillness, as if he were afraid that the slightest movement might set off another panicky race through the mansion.
Kitty realized that as hard as this was for her it was going to be worse for Lance's friends, at least she had faith in the Professor and the other adult X-Men. This was one of those problems that were too much for a high school student, even ones with a group of super-powered teammates, to take care of. Luckily she didn't need to, the Brotherhood on the other hand, had been abandoned by every grown-up who'd ever promised to help them and from their point of view, they were being forced to leave Lance's welfare in the hands of their enemies.
"It's going to be okay," Kitty said softly.
Jerkily Pietro drug his gaze away from Lance to glare at Kitty. "You don't even know what's wrong with him," he said curtly.
"The Professor will figure it out, you'll see," Kitty promised.
Pietro speared her with another glare. "He couldn't figure out how to turn off Rogue's power. He can't even give Cyclops control of his powers and Summers has been under his care longer than anyone."
"Fine," Kitty snapped her eyes tearing up again. "Lance is never going to get better."
Pietro flinched.
A while later Todd, Fred and Tabby nervously ventured in, guided by Scott. For a moment they stood clustered in the doorway. Then Todd moved to pat Lance gingerly on the shoulder.
"We're all here now. We'll take care of you," Todd said sounding less sure than he would have liked to.
Scott withdrew as the Brotherhood settled in, joining Kitty in keeping vigil.
The professor met him in the hall. "Thank you Scott, now you'd best get to school. I've already called Principal Kelly and made your excuses."
"Should I get Kitty," Scott asked.
"Missing one day of classes won't hurt her and her mind wouldn't be on them even if she were there." Xavier said. "Besides her presence may help assure the others that we mean Lance no harm. Moira will be arriving in a few hour and I anticipated difficulties when she begins to investigate the causes of Lance's collapse."
"Should I stay?" Scott asked frowning with concern.
"I wish to reassured them not instigate a fight," Xavier said with a sigh. "Your primary rival may be unconscious, but do you honestly believe you can spend the day with the Brotherhood and not have the intra-group rivalries explode?"
"Whatever you think is best," Scott said stiffly, his face coloring with embarrassment.
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