The New Mutants By: Joey Disclaimer: Sorry, I don't own these characters, Marvel Comics and I believe KidsWB! (or at least they do for the Evo version) does, and I'm only using the characters for entertainment only, no harm meant.

will be used for Doug/Cypher's language translations and regular language translations as well.

Chapter 12 "Paint it Black"

Previously: Returning back to the Xavier Institute in Bayville from their mission on Muir Island, the teams of the New Mutants and the X-Men found a mysterious tape waiting for them, which contained a message from Emma Frost, the White Queen! She invited both teams to the Hellfire Club ball, which was accepted, although they didn't know it at the time, the Brotherhood had also been invited! Despite the obvious differences between them, the four groups, the New Mutants, the Hellions, the X-Men, and the Brotherhood all managed to not fight and peacefully interact, however the anti-mutant group Humanity's Last Stand, led a man named Cameron Hodge, who had a personal vendetta against the White Queen, crashed the party. Although in the end, the groups managed to defeat the invaders, the victory was costly, as Doug Ramsey was shot during the battle!

*****

Our lady of Blessed Hope Hospital, Boston Massachusetts

It hadn't taken long for Xavier to call 911, and Doug was taken to the hospital almost immediately, and rushed into surgery to remove the bullet wound, explaining that he had been caught in the crossfire from the attack, which was already being reported on local news stations, and he had even been kind enough to pay for the hospital bill, now Doug's life was in the doctor's hands, with thoughts and prayers for him deep in the minds and hearts for those who knew him.

******

Illyana:

Illyana Rasputin was afraid.

It seemed that as of late, she was losing things. Her brother, as he left for America to find his fate in the world, her innocence, as she became protector of a demon realm, and now, she might losing a friend, as Doug Ramsey was now in surgery to stabilize his bleeding and remove the bullet inside of him.

It hurt too. Doug had been the first of her new friends, the mutant team unofficially called "The New mutants" to befriend her, his mutant gift for languages helping her overcome the language barrier between herself and the others. He was a friend to her, in the beginning, as he taught her English, she even had a small crush on him, although that faded as time went on. Now he was a dear friend, and he might not even make it through the night.

She continued sitting in an empty bench in a hallway, lost in her thoughts and prayers, oblivious to those around her, which was how she was caught off guard when a hand touched her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly in surprise. Startled, she looked up to see one of the people that her teammates knew, an X-Man.

*What is her name again?* Illyana thought briefly. *Oh yes, Kitty Pryde.*

"So, like, how are you holding up?" Kitty asked the girl as she sat down next to her. "I know this must be pretty difficult for you right now, but don't worry, I'm sure he'll be ok."

"Thank you," Illyana replied, " I'm doing my best not to cry right now...this is just so unexpected, none of us ever thought something like this might happen."

Kitty nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I'm part of what you might call the senior team, and although we're young, we've been through so much together...but even we never thought of something like this happening," she said, "that's why we're here, to show support, we only just met most of you a few days ago, but we're just as worried about Doug as you are."

She then paused for a second, before adding "Could you...tell me about him? What is he like?"

"Doug?" Illyana said, " He...he was nice boy. He helped me learn English you know, with his power. Sometimes I wondered why he was with the team though, his powers being languages. I mean, I know Dani's is a mental power too, but her power is still offensive. But Doug still went out into a fight...he really was braver than we've ever given him credit for, you know? And now...that bravery may cause him his life....but I can't think of it like that. I know he'll make it out ok, that tomorrow he'll be with us, sitting in the van and tinkering with that computer of his, and everything will be ok."

Kitty just listened and nodded. "So he liked computers?" she asked, when Illyana paused.

"Yes, he did. It might have been an aspect of his powers, but he was incredible with his computer. He actually made a...what's the word.. a thinking program, that can talk and think of it's own will. He called it Warlock." Illyana said, "I wonder what that funny little program would say now?"

"He sounds like a real great guy." Kitty added in, once Illyana finally finished.

Illyana nodded in agreement. "Yes, he really is," she said, "if any of us could be called heroes...I think Doug would be the most obvious choice."

The blonde girl then stood up, before turning back to Kitty, "I'll be right back." she said, looking around carefully before teleporting into limbo. A minute later she reemerged from one of her glowing circles that signified her teleports, a small purple dragon in her arms.

Upon seeing Kitty's perplexed look, she replied, " I want you to have him. I've been taking care of him myself, but I'm giving him to you." she said.

"Well, he's cute...but why?" Kitty said, still confused.

"Well, I want you to remember this conversation, you helped me sort my feelings, and maybe a first step into friendship." Illyana replied, holding the dragon out.

Kitty accepted the little dragon, who looked up and yawned, before cooing. "Thank you...this means a lot," she said. "I think.... I think I'll call him Lockheed."

Illyana smiled. "Great." she said, now, let's go back to the others, they may have news on Doug's condition.

With that, the two girls and dragon walked off down the hallway.

*****

Roberto and Amara:

Whether it be by coincidence, or deliberate design by the others, Roberto and Amara had been left together, the two still nursing harsh words they had shared at the party.

Roberto was the first one to finally speak. "So.... you hear any news on Doug yet?" he asked the Latin girl.

Amara shook her head, her dark hair moving about as she did so. "No, nothing yet. He's still in surgery." she replied.

Silence came in again, before the both of them spoke simultaneously. "Look, I .." "No, you go first...." They paused again, before Amara broke the silence.

"Roberto, about what happened...I'm sorry, I lost my temper. Instead of trying to take things normally, I blew up on you." she said.

Roberto meanwhile, was looking down on the floor. He finally cleared his throat and replied, "Look, it's not entirely you're fault. I shouldn't have been acting like a pig. I care about you, and.... maybe I was scared I would screw it up somehow, deep in my mind, so I tried to break it before things got serious."

"But why Roberto?" Amara asked, "Why would you be afraid?"

"I don't know." Roberto said, throwing up his hands, "Maybe it's because I've never gotten into something this serious before, maybe I was afraid you'd want a guy like Doug or something."

Amara looked puzzled. "Doug? What are you talking about?" she said, "I'm not attracted to Doug."

Roberto sighed, "Yeah, I know that...but I mean, he doesn't show off, he's polite, and...Look at what he did tonight, he took a bullet for Rahne, A BULLET! He might die and.... and..." he paused mid sentence.

"and?" Amara said, trying to think of where he might be going with his rant.

"and I'm not sure if I could do the same thing..." Roberto finally said, "For all my strength, and bravado...I can't help but think...can I really do what Doug did? Am I really that brave.. or am I just a coward deep down?"

"Roberto...." Amara said, hugging the boy, "You're not a coward, don't ever think that. You don't need to take a bullet to prove what you are, you'll always be special to me, remember that."

Slowly, Roberto returned the hug. "Amara...." he said, "Thank you."

the two of them stayed in each others arms for a long time afterward, drawing the support the needed from each other.

*****

James:

Meanwhile, James Proudstar was off in another part of the hospital. The Maternity Ward. He looked out through the glass, at the new, shining lives before him, starting their new, grand journey.

"Weird," he muttered, "a friend of mine is getting a bullet pulled from his body, and I'm here looking at babies."

He gave a sigh, his forearm on glass, his forehead resting on the arm.

"The waiting...it's the hardest part." he whispered to himself, no one else around to listen to him but the babies, who were separated from him by the glass.

He thought back, to his younger years. His older brother John had joined the army, wanting to serve his country. He was big and he was strong, not even counting his mutant power, which James, by a quirk, also developed. Super strength, enchanced durability, speed, and senses. They were both powerhouses.

One day, John and his team had been called in overseas, due to an international incident. James couldn't even remember what it had been about now, but he remembered, a few weeks later, when the news came. John was MIA, missing in action.

His mother had broken down on the spot. While James had ran out of the house, venting his frustration on a boulder on the other side of the Arizona reservation that had lived on. That had been the first manifestation of his powers.

Time passed on. The days felt like weeks, and the weeks felt like months, and no news had passed.... until finally, they got a phone call.

John had been found. A little roughed up, but otherwise unhurt, and alive.

His older brother came back home shortly afterward, their mother fussing over him nonstop, their Father beside himself with joy. And to young James, it had only cemented how he had already felt about his big brother. He was a hero.

It wasn't long afterward, that John settled down with a nice girl named Talia Josephine, or T.J, as she liked to be called, and James had been contacted by school teacher all way in Boston about attending her school, it was Emma Frost.

"The rest...is history." he muttered, as his mind came back to the here and now.

His thoughts went back to Doug, last he'd heard, the boy was still being operated on. Like John, Doug was really a hero.

"C'mon kid, you can pull through." James whispered, "You don't have my muscles, or fancy powers like most of us...but you're strong.... you can do it."

Before he could think further, he heard a voice call out his name.

He turned around, to see two of those X-people. A girl with long, red-hair, and a boy with dark red sunglasses. *Scott and Jean..right?* he thought to himself, before walking over.

"What's up?" he asked them, as they met halfway down the hall.

"Took us awhile to find you," Scott replied, "we got some news on Doug."

James's eyes widened. "What? Really?" he asked, hope in his voice.

Silently, he said an old Apache prayer his grandmother had taught him, and followed them both back to the others.

*****

Interlude:

The assembled group was waiting just outside the emergency room, the lead surgeon trying to quiet down the crowd. She was in her mid twenties, and was Puerto Rican. As she did so, she took in the crowd, it was large, and people varied, looking like they were from all over the globe, one of them even holding what looked to be a rather realistic looking toy dragon.

"Excuse me, if I can have everyone's attention? Thanks," she said, "now that I have your attention, I want you to give you an update on the boy's condition. My name is Cecelia Reyes, I was the lead surgeon. Now, we managed to remove the bullet without too much trouble, that's the good news, however his body still went through a tremendous shock, and lost a significant amount of blood."

She let that sink in with the others before continuing. "Now, that doesn't mean he's going to die, however the next few hours are going to be critical. If he's strong enough, he should be able to recover to full strength, although he should still not do anything strenuous for a while, plus he'll be needing a new suit," she said, "however, it's still possible that he just lost too much blood, and if that's the case, then we'd done all we could."

She then started to take off the operating gloves she was using, saying, "Now, he's in room D5, in the West wing, if you'll excuse me, I'm needed elsewhere."

With that, she walked off, leaving the group to dissipate and visit Doug. However one of them, walked off in the opposite direction.

Logan continued walking until he reached a staircase, leading to the other floors. He gave a quick look around, to make no one had followed him, before walking.

Inside waiting for him was a woman. Her features obscured by a trenchcoat and fedora.

"You called?" she asked, once the door was shut.

Logan nodded, "Yeah, " he replied, "listen, I know you're not too keen on playing baby-sitter, but I need to call in a favor you owe me."

The woman crossed her arms. "A favor? Well, all right, what is it?" she said.

"We got a bunch of kids out on their own now. One of them just got shot," he said, "but that's not the point. I want you to follow them, keep tabs on 'em, make sure they don't get hurt."

"Isn't that sort of going against letting them do their own thing?" the woman replied, "Sounds kind of strange coming from you, Logan, not agreeing to their wishes."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to see a repeat of what happened, you got me?" he said, "So will you take the job? I'll have the files on them for you tomorrow."

The woman paused at that, considering the offer. Finally, she nodded her head. "Ok Logan, since we're old friends, I'll do it. But now you owe me, all right?"

End interlude.

*****

Sam and Dani:

Almost everyone else had gone in to see Doug before them, now it was Sam and Dani's turn to visit the boy. His pulse was low, but he was breathing at the least.

As defacto co-leaders of the team, most of the burden over what happened was on their shoulders, Sam's especially so.

"You doing ok Sam?" Dani asked, "You've been quiet ever since we walked in..."

Sam let out a sigh, "Sorry, Ah guess Ah'm just tired. And worried," he said, "an' Ah blame mahself for this."

"What do you mean Sam? Doug acted of his own will when he took that bullet for Rahne, you know that." Dani said, "There's no reason to blame yourself."

Sam shook his head in response, saying, "Yeah, Ah know that, but it's something else."

"Well, then what it is then Sam? Tell me." she replied, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"It's just...it was mah idea to break off from the main group, an' the others followed me on mah call." he said, "Later on Doug and James signed up after we fought the Hellions, an' later you an' Illyana joined.."

Dani was still confused at his words. "I don't get what you're saying Sam..." she asked.

"It's simple, Doug is where he is now BECAUSE Ah wanted to go out away from Xavier, because Ah felt we could do more good going out and helping others rather than just reacting all the time.... if Ah hadn't wanted to, Doug wouldn't be fighting to survive right now." Sam said, "Ah've been leading the team...an' now Ah'm wondering if it was such a good idea in the first place."

Dani then grabbed the boy by both his shoulders and looked him in the eye, " Sam, listen to me, this is not our fault. There was nothing you could do," she said, "and the idea is a good one. If it hadn't been for you, there's a good chance Doug and James might be under the sway of that White Queen lady, Illyana would either be dead or enslaved because of that demon lord Belasco, and the Demon Bear might have murdered me."

She then let him go, "Trust me Sam, we don't blame you, and neither does Doug. Even if he dies, he wouldn't blame you."

Sam looked down at the floor, still not entirely convinced. "Are you sure about that Dani?"

Dani nodded her head, "Yes I am Sam," she said, "just as I'm sure that if he were to die, Doug would go up in the hallowed halls of Valhalla."

Sam looked up, confused. "Valhalla?" he asked, not sure what she meant by that.

Dani smiled sheepishly, "I'm a bit of a fan of Norse Mythology, you see. Valhalla is the home of honorable and mighty warriors who die in battle, handpicked by the Valkryies to stay with Odin, the chief God." she explained

Sam nodded and smiled, "Ah understand now," he said, "just kind of brings an odd image to mah mind, Valkryie Dani. Riding a winged horse up there in Valhalla."

Dani gave a small laugh, "Maybe I'd call it Brightwind..." she said, the image now in her head as well.

There were a few moments of silence between the two, before Sam finally spoke up.

"Dani?" he asked, "Ah want thank you, those things you said? Ah needed to hear that."

Dani nodded her head and said, "Your welcome Sam, anytime."

The two then held hands, as they kept a vigil over Doug.

*****

Rahne:

Rahne Sinclair, the mutant codenamed Wolfsbane, due to her powers of lycanthropy, was the final person to come in and see Doug. She had been in crying hysterics for most of the night, blaming herself over what happened, and agonizing over the fact that what possibly be her last words to him were so harsh.

She had somehow managed to compose herself well enough to gather the strength to finally see the boy, but when she finally entered and saw him lying there, it took all her strength not to break down and cry.

She approached the bed, and stroked some stray hair out of the boy's eyes. "Doug? I dinnae know if ye can hear me...but I wanted to say I'm sorry for yelling at ye." she said, "everybody is outside, hoping an' praying for ye. Even that evil woman, the White Queen had called and expressed her condolences over what happened, an' the leader of the Brotherhood, his name is Lance Alvers, came by to check on ye."

Her memory of that drew a small smile to her lips, as the older boy hadn't gotten along very well at all with Kitty Pryde's new pet dragon. It was a rather comical scene, with the two glaring at each other and shooting dirty looks at one another when Kitty wasn't looking.

Her mind shifted away from that though, and she reached over and gave Doug's hand a squeeze.

"Please Doug," she said, "fight on, come back to me, an' to us. I know ye can...I-we....we don't want to lose ye."

She couldn't help it anymore, the tears overcame her then, and she broke down, her head on the boy's chest as she cried her heart out, the grief coming back with a vengeance.

She was so distracted, her emotions so drained, she didn't notice the hand on her shoulder, supporting her, trying to soothe her.

Not until she heard the voice.

"Rahne...come on...it's all right...."

She shot up like spark, tears still rolling down her cheek as she looked right into the eyes of an awake Doug Ramsey.

"Doug!" she practically yelled out, grabbing him and holding him tight.

The boy groaned lightly from the pressure, his body still weak. "Easy there Rahne," he said, "good to see you too..."

Then, part of the large group of mutants surged in, having heard Rahne's yell.

Doug looked up, angling his head around Rahne. "Hey guys.." he said, "I miss anything important?" he tried to joke.

He couldn't say anything else however, as Rahne suddenly kissed him, catching him totally off-guard.

By now everyone else had managed to cram themselves inside the room, cheers and words of encouragement ringing out as they saw Doug alive.

End Chapter Twelve

Author's notes: Well, that certainly took awhile. Sorry about that. The vicious combo of writer's block and school struck again. At any rate, Yes, I decided to have Doug live. He was just too nice to kill off, and I enjoy writing him. Now though, we'll be saying good-bye to the X-Men, as it's back to our core cast of characters, and yes, that mysterious woman WILL be popping up again. Go ahead and guess as to who she is if you like. I couldn't help but bring in Lockheed in, as well as bring in the Shadowcat/Magik friendship from the comics (and for you fans of Pryde and Wisdom, I did base Lance and Lockheed's little interactions from the little fights that the purple dragon and Pete Wisdom used to have). I also put in a few other comic references in this chapter, I hope you liked them! Looking ahead, we'll have a big of a lighter chapter ahead of us, to offset the drama of this one, and after that, it's the biggest challenge the team has faced yet, because Magneto and his team are coming! As always, C&C is greatly appreciated, and I'd like to thank my pre-reader CraneESD.

Next Chapter: Trying to take a break from all the action of mutant life, the team takes in a rock concert, but when the star is Intergalactic Rock star Lila Cheney, there's going to be some musical mayhem in this cosmic Cannonball caper! Look out for "Steal this planet!", a rock fable!