Jess sprinted on her way back to the others, instead of the gentle jog she had used before. This was too weird. Noxious gases, she could almost pass off as an accident, but a giant bubble over the school? No way. With luck, the Professor would be awake by now, and he could figure out what to do.
Luck is a fickle creature, as any gambler will tell you. Jessie ran through the clouds of gas, calling ahead. "Guys? You'll never believe what's going on! Guys!"
She came to a dead stop in front of the X-men, lying pale and unconscious on the ground.
"Guys! Guys, wake up! Storm! Scott! Professor!"
Leaving the adults, she ran around to the students, who were lying in similar states.
"Jubilee! Chamber!" She shook one of them. "Merina!" She was panting, panicking, starting to sob in fear. "C'mon, wake up!"
The only sound was her heart pounding in her ears. She stared around wildly, looking for a sign of life, then raised her face to the sky and yelled as loud as she could, "What the hell is going on here?"
Her shout echoed slightly in the silence. Behind the echoes, she thought she heard someone groan. Following the sound, she came to Wolverine and Archangel, lying near each other, waking up. She fell to her knees beside them.
"Oh my God, oh my God, are you guys okay? Oh, God, say something!"
"Jessie?" Said Archangel thickly, propping himself up on his elbows. "What's going on?" Wolverine was also sitting up, shaking his head.
Jessie burst into tears, trying to speak through huge sobs, then giving up. The two X-men looked at each other in surprise, and Wolverine moved forward to pat her on the back. "Hey, hey, calm down. Shh. It's gonna be okay."
Archangel stood up and flapped his wings, creating a clear space in the gas around them. He looked about incredulously at the people strewn on the grass around him. He crouched in front of the still sobbing Jessie, who was desperately trying to catch her breath.
"Jessie?"
She sniffed and looked up, glasses fogged. She took them off and started cleaning them on her PJ's.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have any idea what happened to everyone?"
She sniffed again. "I can't figure it out. I guess" - sniff - "something in the gas knocked 'em out, but the three of us recovered, and I can't figure out why." She sniffed and let out a few more sobbing breaths.
Wolverine put an arm around her as he looked at Archangel in bewilderment. What did all three of them have in common? There was a moment's silence as they pondered, and then Archangel snapped his fingers.
"Wolverine and I both have healing factors. That must have taken care of whatever's in this gas. But I'm not sure about you," he continued, gesturing at Jessie. "The only thing I can think of that's different about you is that you're human."
"That must be it, then," said Wolverine. "Whatever was in this gas only affected mutants."
Jessie sniffed - her tears seemed to have subsided for the moment - and looked up at Archangel. Her eyes looked huge when wet. "What're we gonna do?"
Archangel looked at Wolverine. That was exactly what they wanted to know.