Chapter Nine: A Problem With Authority (Scott)
He'd wanted Alex to come here all along. He'd been excited, when he'd agreed to stay, after the encounter with Apocalypse. Hell, he'd almost offered to share a room with him, despite the single that was offered him with his new status as High School Graduate.
But after two and a half weeks with the Beaubier twins, Scott was suddenly wondering if maybe he'd been a real idiot to encourage his brother to join the team. Apparently, family made things a little more complicated.
He sighed, and knocked.
As expected, he got no answer.
"Jean-Paul, come on man, I know you're in there."
Again, no answer.
So he knocked again. "Look, I'm not going to just disappear, as much as you probably want me to. So just let me in."
God. He really didn't want to do this. He'd never seen anything like that… display this morning in his entire life. Sure, things got a little dramatic sometimes. A house full of hormonal teenagers with barely controlled mutant capabilities was bound to cause a few explosions. But that… that was just…
Wrong.
Another sigh. Another knock. "Jean-Paul, quit being an asshole and let me in."
Footsteps.
Somehow, he knew the guy would respond to insults better than a little TLC.
Which was why he'd been sent instead of Jean, who was presently trying to sweet talk her way into her own room. Which Jeanne-Marie had locked her out of.
The lock clicked to the side, and the door swung open. And there was Jean-Paul, hair a wreck, eyes glazed, wearing nothing but a pair of sweats.
This did not look good. He'd never seen the younger boy looking anything less than GQ. Sure he hadn't been around that long. But he definitely looked… bad.
"Can I help you?" His sarcasm was palpable.
He'd been ready for the guy's venom, he thought. But the combination of his brittle words with that look on his face, like he'd just bitten into something awful... he had no idea what he was supposed to say to fix this. "Sorry… did I wake you up?"
"Yes."
Somehow, he didn't believe it. "Talk to me?"
"No."
The door started to close again.
He held out a hand to stop it. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened. No one cares, you know."
"About what?"
"Don't be a dick."
Again, results. Jean-Paul finally let go of the door and ran a hand through his hair, as if he were just now realizing the state in which he'd answered the door was not his natural one. It was a halfhearted attempt, sure. But it was something.
"She's really upset."
"She should be."
"Are you going to let me in, or make me stand here in the doorway?"
The darker boy sighed, quietly, and turned around to walk into his room, throwing himself onto the bed, face down.
Scott closed the door quietly behind him, and pulled out the chair under the desk, settling himself into it slowly.
He really didn't have a plan, on this one.
And he was always better with a plan.
Ok, so yeah, it was unexpected. So Jean-Paul liked guys. Big deal, right? Was he upset that they knew? Or was it that Jeanne-Marie had made such a show of it? Or… something else entirely that he was missing…?
God. They really should've sent Jean.
"So… which part of this are you upset about, exactly?"
"What makes you think I'm upset?" Came the acerbic reply from the pillows.
"Seriously, don't make this any harder on yourself. I'm not leaving till I figure this out."
Jean-Paul flipped over, finally, and sat up against his headboard, pulling at his hair again. But not as if he were trying to smooth it. Like he was… distraught. "Well, actually, a few things about it are upsetting. The first thing is that my sister is a fucking nutcase. The second one is that she basically mocked my sexual orientation in front of a group of my peers who were completely unaware of my status as a homosexual, and whom I would have rather spoken to individually about it, had the issue arisen."
Well, at least he did sound distraught.
In fact, he sounded overly business-like.
Right. More sarcasm. Come on Summers, get with it.
"Alright, I can't help with the nutcase thing. But I can assure you that no one cares who you want to sleep with." he offered, honestly. There was no way he could go head to head with the guy on his own turf, with this sarcastic bullshit. So he'd stick to his own. Honesty.
"Well, thank you for your assurance, but you'll forgive me if I, in my teenage angst, fear that not everyone is quite as accepting as you," he was rolling his eyes now. "I don't give a fuck anyhow, either way. Love me, leave me, whatever. It's no one's business, and I'm not ashamed at the end of the day, that's all that matters on that front. The point is that she did it for no reason other than to embarrass me. And she should know better. And yeah, it's pretty fucking upsetting."
Scott could actually see his point. If it had been him… well ok, that was a pretty complicated scenario to construct… but if Alex had made him look like an asshole in front of his teammates somehow, he'd be pretty pissed off. "Fair enough. Why would she do it, though? I mean, she's usually a really nice girl."
Jean-Paul's expression changed suddenly. From that frosty, irritated expression to… something else. It was no less dangerous. But it was definitely a little more…
Ok, so "vulnerable" was probably not the best word to apply to Jean-Paul Beaubier. That much, he'd learned in the first five minutes of their association. Not that he didn't like the guy, he was ok, and he was capable, and he really could be funny when he decided to stop being the token asshole for the team for a second. But yeah. He really didn't do "vulnerable" so well.
At least, he'd never thought so before.
"I don't know."
Now Scott finally got a chance to roll his eyes. "Man, I really hope you don't think I'm buying that."
Jean-Paul's head snapped around to face him again, "Why wouldn't you?"
"She was pissed off the whole meeting. She kept looking at you. Everyone noticed, man, what happened?"
The younger boy's eyes narrowed, "Going to kick me off the team if I don't tell you?"
Scott just shook his head. "What the hell is wrong with you? I'm just trying to help. We're a team, a family, and we have to hold our shit together. It's not like I'm trying to steal all your secrets so I can use them to blackmail you later."
Jean-Paul just looked at him, expression totally unreadable, and pulled his knees up to his chest.
He looked an awful lot like a kid, when he did that.
"So talk," Scott encouraged him again. "What happened with Aurora?"
The other boy blinked at him, and wrapped his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. Then sighed. "She was angry because I… implied that she might be throwing herself at every boy in the mansion."
Actually, she was.
But having seen Jean-Paul's temper, he thought that was a bit of information he should keep to himself. He knew well enough that it was one thing to talk shit about your own sibling. But if someone else agreed with you, they were definitely going to get the shit kicked out of them. And the way the guy just got quiet, then walked out of the room earlier in the morning…
Quiet, yeah. So quiet, it almost hurt his ears. The guy had clearly been ready to blow. And he really didn't need him blowing up right here and right now.
"Well… ok. So why are you worried?"
"Because she's making an idiot of herself."
"I really hope you didn't phrase it like that, Jean-Paul."
"I'm not a complete moron, you know."
"Calm down, man. Here to help, remember?"
Jean-Paul seemed to squeeze in on himself, flexing his arms as if he could pull his knees further into his chest somehow. Like he wanted to disappear completely. "Well, there was the comment about her designing you a new costume."
"Yeah, what was that anyhow, didn't catch it."
"You weren't meant to," he admitted, shrugging, "I was just commenting that she'd probably have you in more spandex… or, you know, less."
Scott felt one of his eyebrows going up in alarm. He wasn't sure if it was more at the idea of Jeanne-Marie designing him a new, more "flattering" costume, or of being used in one of her brother's little digs against her. "I'm suddenly sorry I asked."
Jean-Paul ignored the comment, and continued, "So I suppose she deserved some sort of retribution. But I didn't say it loud enough for everyone to hear. This morning she asked why I was upset, since everyone else was in such a good mood. I believe the words I used to respond were, everyone else had you hanging all over them last night, if you must know."
Scott gave a low whistle, "Whoa there. See, when you said you weren't a complete moron, I honestly thought that meant you'd used nicer words."
"Oh look, he has a sense of humor."
"Seriously, don't make me hit you."
Jean-Paul sighed at him, and suddenly let go of his legs, pulling them up under him Indian-style, and leaning his elbows on his thighs, shoulders slumped sullenly. Once again, proving that insults and threats were the way to go by continuing to talk. "I've been… nagging her about it. It's embarrassing. Not for me, I mean, for her."
"Ever think to ask her why she does it? Maybe something's wrong."
The younger boy shrugged. "Something's wrong with all of us, Scott."
"I hope this isn't the freak complex thing again."
He shook his head, suddenly looking defeated. "No. I mean in our heads. Everyone here has had some kind of fucked up incident in their past. And Jeanne-Marie… she's had more than the rest of us put together. But that doesn't mean I can watch her behave like that."
"You love her, right?"
"Of course. Why else would I care?" It was a flat, rhetorical question. He sounded defeated too, to match the look of him.
"Loving someone means you have to love the stuff that pisses you off too, you know. You don't get to pick and choose. Maybe your sister is just affectionate?"
Jean-Paul arched an eyebrow at him.
He reminded him very much, at that moment, of a young, disheveled Spock.
Seriously. Ears and all.
"She's insane and you know it. And she's throwing herself at anyone who'll let her because she needs the validation. It's self-destructive and embarrassing. Come on, you can learn that shit watching sitcoms. You know, the same place you got that little love theory, as touching as it was."
Scott sighed, defeated. "Look, all I'm saying is that if you know she has issues, maybe you should try and work through them with her, instead of condemning her for them."
The other boy's jaw muscle flexed once. Twice. Other than that, he didn't move.
"Alright, just think about it, ok? We need you two on top of your game. And seriously, everyone is worried about you," he stood now, shaking his head. He didn't really think the guy was going to listen to him, after all. All things considered, it'd gone fairly well.
It occurred to him that what Jean-Paul Beaubier needed was a hug.
But he hadn't signed on for hugging half naked teammates, male or female. That was just inviting disaster, really. Mainly from Jean.
So the pep talk would really have to do. If it became necessary later, he could always send Jean in with the hug.
"How's that for touching?"
"Brings a tear to my eye," came the driest reply yet.
"I figured."
"I'll think about it."
Scott stopped his slow progress to the door, shocked.
Jean-Paul stretched out on the bed again, picking up a nearby magazine, as if to let him know the conversation was over.
But he had one more question, and he couldn't resist. "Hey, JP?"
The other boy looked up from his magazine, with a long suffering expression on his face.
"Who'd you kiss?"
He raised an eyebrow, and actually grinned. "Wouldn't you love to know."
And Scott Summers left his room feeling like he might not be so bad at this team leader thing after all. At least, as long as his teammates responded to threats and stubbornness. And really, who wouldn't?
But it still didn't ease his fears about Jeanne-Marie. Sure, he could understand that she'd be upset, after the shit he'd said. But to put on a show like that… he would've expected her, even on one of her more extroverted days, to just give it back, in kind. Under her breath, like he had been.
It just didn't make sense. She really was a sweet girl. Pretty much the opposite of her hard-headed brother, really. So what the hell had happened?
When he went to check on the girls, a few hours later, his fears were only made worse.
He knocked softly on the door, and since it was partially open, pushed inside. Jean was sitting on Jeanne-Marie's bed, holding her, and letting the girl cry on her shoulder.
It was almost dinner, for god's sake. And she was still crying about something that happened after breakfast.
Jean looked up at him and shook her head quickly, her eyes saying pretty much everything he needed to know. It wasn't going well.
He moved further into the room, sat on the edge of the bed, and reached out to smooth some of the younger girl's hair. "Hey, JM. Dinner's almost ready. Everyone's wanting to see you."
The answer that came was in French, and choked with sobs. He had a feeling that even if he did speak the language, he wouldn't have caught it.
"You saw Jean-Paul?" Jean asked him, as if the girl crying on her couldn't hear her at all.
He shot her a questioning look, and her green eyes said something else entirely this time. Don't bother. She's not listening. "Yeah, a few hours ago. I could probably go get him, if you want."
Jean shook her head, "No, let him come when he's ready. They both probably need to calm down some. And I don't think she could handle it right now."
Scott looked at the fragile form cradled in Jean's lap, and realized that he hardly recognized her. As Aurora, she made a hell of an impressive figure. And she was a natural—intuitive, quick, a fast learner. She and her brother both, really.
But this… she didn't look a damn thing like Aurora right now.
"Kitty wanted to come up. Should I let her?"
Jean nodded, and Scott realized that she'd probably been taking care of the girl all day, and was in need of a break. Desperately.
"Ok, I'll be back with her."
"Thanks," Jean gave a lopsided smile, and shot a worried look at Jeanne-Marie as the girl drew a ragged breath.
"Something in her snapped, Professor," Jean was saying, rubbing at her temples distractedly, looking very tired, and a lot older than nineteen. "Whatever happened between the two of them, it broke something in her."
He hated seeing her like this. He fought an urge to put his arms around her. But as the oldest of the young X-Men, they both had responsibilities. And those would have to come before their… relationship, sometimes. And right now, they had to take care of this, and not themselves.
But he really did want to. Badly.
Instead, he just shook his head, returning his thoughts to the twins. "No way. He told me what he said, it wasn't nice, but it wasn't that bad. He was just giving her shit for being the female counterpart to Roberto. Typical brother stuff, I'd do it myself if she was my sister. He wasn't sweet about it, the guy's an asshole—,"
Xavier shot him a look.
Which he ignored, too irritated by the entire situation to really care, "but it wasn't anything compared to her trying to publicly humiliate him like that. Just typical brother and sister crap."
"I fear that Jeanne-Marie has bigger problems than we'd originally thought," the Professor leaned back in his chair now, shaking his head sadly. "Her time at Madame DuPont's has damaged her psyche to the point of fragmentation, it seems. At times, it's almost as if there are two Jeanne-Maries. One who is shy, quiet, afraid, the one you brought back here, the one upstairs right now. And the other who is confident, loud, and, I admit, quite a flirt. The one we see in the Danger Room, and the one we saw this morning."
Jean grimaced at that, "MPD?"
Xavier nodded, "Perhaps, though I'd have to do a complete analysis to know for certain. She definitely shows signs of it. And it seems that an emotionally traumatic event can be the trigger for her to revert into the scared persona, and slowly, the confident young woman comes out again. It's only a theory, of course, but it would certainly explain her behavior."
"How's Jean-Paul?" Jean was obviously changing the subject on purpose, unwilling to spend anymore of her precious sanity on this particular one.
"He's fine. Irritated. Grouchy. You can hardly tell the difference, really," Scott shrugged, unwilling to divulge the other boy's secrets so easily. That was pretty much all they needed to know.
"It can't have been easy for him, to have everyone learn about his orientation like that," Xavier was shaking his head sadly, "It may seem like a small thing, to the two of you, but put yourself in his position—anything that singles him out as different is likely to be painful."
"The wonderful world of being a teenager," Jean shook her head.
"No, really," Scott insisted, "I think he's ok with it. I mean, not with the way it happened, but he doesn't care if everyone knows. He's really not the kind of guy who cares what everyone thinks of him."
He realized, as he said it, that this was actually the thing about the guy he liked. That he really didn't care. He may have been annoyingly stubborn, extremely arrogant, and a pain in the ass when it came to authority figures… but at least he was honest.
He could appreciate that, really. He catalogued it, along with his list of strengths and weaknesses of the rest of the team, in his head. Good to keep those things in mind.
"In fact…," he continued, as the idea kept coming, "he's the exact opposite of his sister. She needs validation, like he said. He'd just as soon tell us all to stuff it, if he thought he'd be better off."
Jean's eyebrows raised in alarm, "Not exactly the best way to advertise him to a team whose lives may depend on him in the near future."
"Trust me, I'm not advertising him. He's a pain in my ass."
Another look from Xavier.
"Sorry, Professor," he offered up this time, figuring a second offense deserved an apology, at least. "But he is good, and so is she. I've seen what they can do, and I'd trust them with my life. And they could be great."
In the short silence that followed, he looked up at Xavier. And saw him looking at the two of them with a faint smile on his face. Something like… pride, really.
And found himself grinning back.
For his part, Scott would have chosen not to trust a mysterious phone call from Gambit.
This instinct, however, had proven faulty upon arrival at the Brotherhood boarding house.
He came onto the scene with Jean and suddenly wondered if they had been stupid to send Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Iceman to London with Storm. The shit, as they say, had hit the fan.
He looked around, quickly, for the X-Men who should already be there.
Shadowcat was with Avalanche, pulling him up off the ground near a pile of limbs that resembled Toad and Blob remarkably. Nearby, a green-haired woman in a silver costume was digging her way out of a massive crater in the ground.
Northstar was in the air, an unconscious Quicksilver in his arms, flying into the house. A spinning blur of flashing knives was mangling the door to the house, clearly planning on ruining JP's plan to keep Pietro out of the thick of things.
Aurora was also flying, darting in and out of long, silver, crackling projectiles that a hideously ugly, apish man was firing at her. She was, as Jean had sworn she would, performing admirably. As if she hadn't been reduced to a quivering child only yesterday. He saw the Scarlet Witch nearby, hands glowing blue and green, about to fire a hex at the huge mutant charging her.
What the hell had happened here, he didn't know. But he was suddenly very glad he'd sent the twins ahead with Kitty, or things might've been even worse right now than they already were.
"Scott!" He heard Jean yell. He spun instantly to see the green-haired woman had clawed her way out of the crater and was advancing on them, while Kitty was still trying to scrape a half-incapacitated Avalanche off the ground. He put his hand to his visor, ready to fire a warning shot, but the woman suddenly froze.
He looked over to Jean, felt something coming through her. She was fighting to knock this woman out. She had it. He could feel it as certain as if she'd said it. Jean would take care of this one.
Cyclops turned his attention to Aurora, who seemed in the most immediate danger. He leapt to the side, away from Jean and the other woman, and fired a blast at the man attempting to spear her, on high power, sending him smashing into the house, ripping through the wall entirely.
Aurora was immediately at his side, accent almost completely gone, just like her brother's barely there one. "When we got here, the three boys were unconscious, and Lance was nearly hit, but he managed to stop her just in time. Wanda was still upstairs, and came when she heard the noise. My brother took Pietro, but we have no one to guard him, and Northstar is needed in the fight."
Jean swooned not terribly far from him, and he suddenly felt dizzy. He'd have to get further away from her, if he was to remain unaffected by this. "Understood. Northstar," he hit the communications pad on his arm, "Bring Quicksilver to me, the spinning guy is on your tail."
"On my way," Came the clipped answer.
There was a crash to their right, as the Scarlet Witch was sent flying, headlong, into Avalanche and Shadowcat, and the huge man came barreling after them.
"Shit," he swore, knowing any shot he took at that angle could catch the pile up of his friends easily, "Aurora, distract him, get me a shot."
She flew off, unquestioning, and proceeded to fly loops around the man almost faster than he could see, confusing him utterly.
Northstar was next to him now, and dropped his charge unceremoniously to the ground. "We have to get them out of here, Cyclops."
"Get a hold of Wanda, if you can, You have a better shot at getting close than I do." He picked the thin silver-haired boy up over his shoulder and ran to get further from Jean and the woman, who was now on her knees in front of Jean.
Northstar blurred, and was gone.
The flashing bladed whirlwind came out of the mangled front door, now simply a white-haired, sour faced young man, but Scott's attention was completely taken by the clear shot he now had at the huge mutant Aurora had distracted for him. He dropped Pietro, focused on the huge mutant, and sent a powerful blast in his direction.
But the white-haired mutant knocked his target out of the way.
Anger flashing through him, he blasted the whirlwind, knocking him to the ground quickly and scanning the area for Wanda.
She was pinned to the wall of the house, by the huge mutant he'd been trying to stop, hands glowing dangerously again.
Northstar and Aurora were on him, however. When they called to him, he looked up and the twins reached out for each other. Scott looked away just in time to avoid the flare they caused, and the burly man reeled backwards.
But a flying harpoon slammed Wanda into the wall, catching her long coat and pinning her against the siding again.
Scott snapped his attention over to the spear-man making his way out of the rubble of the wall just as he felt the ground begin to shake. The man leveled a harpoon in the direction of Lance and Kitty, and fired it off just before the directional quake swallowed him. Scott raised his hand to shoot the projectile off its path, but before he could manage, Kitty had phased herself and a still staggering Avalanche right through it.
Movement in the corner of his eye, as the green-haired woman hit the ground and Jean followed soon after. Both done in entirely. He reached down for Quicksilver again, to run over to Jean, taking one last shot at the whirlwind fellow as he tried to get to his feet.
But had bigger problems as the huge mutant had recovered from his momentary blindness and was now charging at him recklessly. He let Pietro slide lifelessly back to the ground and turned his blast onto the barreling wall of mutant coming at them…
And the mutant kept coming. Slower, yeah. But he was still, somehow, standing. He turned up the intensity of it, that barely controlled power in him making him hot, heating him up from the inside out.
A scream. A girl's scream.
He stopped the beam, the object of his power surge staggering now, but still stumbling toward him and his charge. A split second, he re-focused on the action to his left. Trying to take it all in, feeling it slipping out of his control. The white-haired whirlwind mutant had an unconscious Aurora in his arms, holding a throwing star threateningly to her neck and backing way from an irate Northstar. Kitty was phasing up out of the ground behind him, preparing to take him out, but he could tell that Northstar was about to crack.
A crackling of energy and Wanda, free of her coat and standing with legs far apart, arms out, an expression of pure bloodlust on her face, fired a hex bolt at the spear-man, who had dug his way out of Avalanche's chasm, and had yet another rocketing toward him. But he got his shot off.
"Northstar, Wanda, now!" Scott shouted, knowing there was no way the girl could move in time to keep from being impaled or sucked down into the earthquake with the man trying to spear her. It would have to be one or the other.
Jean-Paul blurred.
The oversized pile of mutant was moving faster now, toward him and the unconscious Quicksilver.
Shadowcat reached the whirlwind holding Aurora, grabbing his attention and causing him to turn his back to Scott, giving him a shot. He made his choice, reached up for his visor to knock him out, even if it meant toppling him onto Aurora.
A wave of sickness ripped through him. And the world went black, very suddenly.
When his eyes opened, Jean was hovering over him.
An angel. God, she looked just like an angel.
But his stomach clenched before he could think too much about that, and he closed his eyes again, fighting a very insistent urge to vomit. Violently.
Her hand was cool on his head. "You're awake. You were the closest, so you were hit the hardest."
"What happened?" He tried to speak, but something was caught in his throat.
"That mutant, the woman I was fighting, woke up and knocked nearly everyone out, except Jean-Paul and Wanda, who were already too far away."
He sat up, suddenly, throwing off her hand.
And shivered, swooning again. Sick. In his throat. Stomach weak.
God, what had she done to him?
"Where are Pietro and Jeanne-Marie?"
No answer.
He looked around his room. Panicked.
"Where are they, Jean?"
She just looked at him, with very wide, very sad eyes.
He shuddered violently, and fought his way out of bed, trying to calm the sickness in him and still scramble back into his clothes somehow. Had to get them back. Had to find them. Had to keep them safe.
He'd failed them.
"Scott, no, just lay back—,"
"Not now, Jean, we have to go and you know it. Where are the others? The Brotherhood, Kitty, Jean-Paul—,"
"Right here, mon ami." From the doorway.
Scott stopped. And forced himself to stand up straight, and look Jeanne-Marie's brother in the eye.
He looked like hell. Still in his costume, slashed down one arm and bleeding, eyes freezing him on sight. At least he was in one piece. And mostly unharmed.
Jean-Paul was staring him down, however, and blurred for an instant. And was suddenly standing in front of him. Jaw muscles flexing. Hands clenching and unclenching.
"Jean-Paul…," Jean started, taking a tentative step forward.
Scott held out a hand to her, but never looked away from the other boy. "I'm sorry," he told him. "We'll get her back."
"You told me to take care of Wanda, and I did," Northstar snarled at him. "And who took care of my sister?"
Scott's heart leapt into his throat. The intensity behind that stare being leveled at him… he understood it. But it was just a little frightening, nevertheless. "You couldn't have helped her, and I had a clear shot. Wanda would have died."
At perfectly normal human speed, Jean-Paul Beaubier pulled back one arm, and clipped Scott painfully with a solid right hook to the jaw.
Reflexively, the older boy took a step back, reeling from the pain of the hit, and the nausea he still hadn't shaken. Completely, utterly stunned.
"Jean-Paul!" Jean gasped, running to his side and steadying him in her arms.
The weight of her, her solidity, brought him back to himself, and he looked back up at his assailant.
Standing there, clenching his jaw again, otherwise totally expressionless. But his chest was heaving, and his breath was loud. Shaky. "You missed."
Scott opened his mouth to reply, to explain, to berate… he didn't know what for.
But the other boy had already turned his back, and was out the door before he could speak.
"What the hell is his problem?"
Scott only shook his head. "I think he hadn't even apologized to her."
"That's no reason to—,"
"I'll heal. Let's go, we have to find them. Now."