Title: Bitter Reunions Part One                                                                                                        

Date: 01/13/04

Author: Yahily Rivera

Main Characters/Pairings: Scott/Jean (sort of), Professor Xavier, Ororo, Logan, Hank, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Ray (Bezerker), (Mentioned) Bobby (Ice-Man), Tabitha (Boom Boom), and Amara (Magma).

Series: From One End To Another Part 3A

Author's Notes: First off, I want to thank KN for your observations on my previous version. Thank you for telling me about my spelling errors. I also want to apologize for the lateness of this part. I'm afraid that school, work and a series of family problems have keep me very busy but your reviews are what urges me to write and finish the stories sooner. Sooo . . . . write to me and tell me what you think and you get chappies done and posted sooner. Hehe! As always I owe my beta Kris, she is a goddess! This story I'm dedicating to Nadja. Happy B-Day, Girl!

This story takes place after "Under Lock and Key" in the X-Men: Evolution cartoon. A few things for those of you who have never seen the show. Rogue's powers, unlike the comics, do not include her ability to fly and be invulnerable, just to absorb other people's powers and memories, like in the movies. Ray is Beserker from the comics and has the ability to shoot electrical currents from his hands. Amara (Magma) is not blond and white like in the comics, she looks more African-American but I'm not really sure. Her hair is dark with reddish highlights. Go figure!

Feedback: Absolutely! I'm new at this, so please don't burn me at the stake. Nevertheless I will appreciate any comments or suggestions you have on this story J. Write to me at www.Water_Soter@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Marvel comics and the almighty Stan Lee. It's free so please don't take the shirt of my back, J.

Warning: this story is pretty mild L but future chapters might not be J, so if you're easily offended please don't read, otherwise, be afraid be very afraid . . . hee! ha ha ha ha  (diabolical laugh!).

                 Squishy  thoughts          "Yummy"   spoken         Whoopee     telepathy

Mint.

Its fresh scent dominated Scott's senses, pulling his tired mind to its place of origin. Slowly and painfully, he pulled his eyelids open. It took a full moment for his vision as well as his foggy mind to clear, and once he did, he noticed two very peculiar things.

One, he was in the middle of some sort of field and not in the Med-Lab where he remembered blacking out, and the second, he wasn't wearing his customary ruby quartz glasses and wasn't blasting everything in his line of vision.

"What the . . .?"

Giggling caught his attention and he instinctively sat up, regretting it instantly as his head felt like it was being ripped apart.

"You should not lay on the wet grass, you will become sick." The words were spoken with clear elegance and sophistication in contrast with the pitch of the tone. When he looked around, he was more baffled by the sight of a little girl, sitting at a small white table with one of those porcelain dolls sitting next to her. She was drinking tea, reminding him of those British movies where women would sit around in white dresses and sip the warm drink, their gloved hands barely touching the handles of the cups. She sure was dressed like one. "Would you care for a crumpet?"

He stared dumbfounded at the empty plate she held, had to be he'd fallen and hit his head, or maybe he was dead and this was hell. Nothing like a little girl looking at you like some sort of freak to brighten your day. "Where are we?" He asked finally.

"It's rude to talk with your mouth full." Her statement only served to confuse him more. What was she talking about? "I am content that you finally came here."

"What are you . . .?"

"Will you come again?" He continued to look at the small child. His brain trying to find meaning in her words. Come back again?

He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, the wind began to pick up. Its gusts rocking the youth yet having no effect on the girl or her scene. "You will come back." It was a statement that was barely heard over the loud roar and he felt the desperation in the tone.

The light was fading and an unnatural fog was beginning to descended on them. Little by little it blocked his view of his surroundings until all he could see was the grayish substance swirling around him.

A small humming caught his attention and as he focused on it, he could make an echoing song coming from an undefined place.

"Who's afraid of the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man." The girlish tune resonated about, the paraphrased lyrics adding to his confusion. He lost track of time listening to that solitary sound.

A sudden shadow fell on him, breaking him out of the trance, and he instinctively he turned, startled.

The youth couldn't make out the figure but every hair on his back was stranding on end.

Come, young one. A brittle hand reached to caress him from the shadows, but the eldritch voice gave way to recognition.

Not this again!

"JUST GO AWAY!" He shouted with all his might and that seemed to pull him away from the thing and that peculiar situation. With a start, he sat up, breathing heavily. Dazed, he noted that he was sitting on a bed. A further look revealed the machines covering the metallic walls. The Med Lad.

Upon further inspection the brunet took notice of the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, easing breath back into his weary lungs. The IV line running into his arm and the heavy blankets that had fallen to his waste with his abrupt movements. A cotton sensation in his mouth and shaking limbs calming his thumping heart. He was home.

Having calmed down, he gazed around the room once more, perplexed when he found it vacant were at the very least the good doctor should be there 'babysitting' him. Where is everybody? But as soon as he asked the question his mind supplied him with an answer. The alarm! They're probably off on a mission or something.

Slumping back on the bed, Scott closed his eyes, hoping for some real rest. But the images of blood and guns flashed as soon as his eyelids had closed, perturbing him even more. His gut was telling him that these dreams were far from merely imaginings of his. He couldn't stay there, he needed to do something. So with a heavy sigh, he made up his mind. Maybe he was being paranoid, maybe not, but he wasn't going to take a chance either way.

Footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the darkened tunnels. Boots clacking and splashing on the occasional puddle as several figures in black moved swiftly along the walls, keeping to the edges of the dirty water. None of them said anything, using hand signals from their leader to direct their actions.

According to the intel, their living area should be two more openings to the left. The head man thought, after a brief pause in their movements. Another signal, and they moved the final meters toward the designated target area.

The primary target in sight, orders were to bring him in alive. With a few gestures, the men brought up their weapons, ready to move on his orders, Time to take out these freaks.

It had taken Scott fifteen minutes just to get out of bed. Pulling off the multitude of monitoring devices that he had been attached to without setting off any alarms had been quite a feat. But making his way precariously through the lower levels then mansion hallways to the garage in his weakened state, had been nothing short of a miracle. It had been pure luck that Bobby had chosen that time to 'accidentally' ice up Tabitha's arm to her door, forcing Doctor McCoy to leave his current post to attend to the situation. Without anyone to hinder his 'escape', Scott had taken the opportunity to slip away, silently thanking Bobby for his unpremeditated assistance.

Arriving at the garage and breathing heavily from his task, Scott eyed his car and the X-Van, putting most of his weight against the wall just to remain upright.

It's a good thing that I have my uniform in the X-Van. There's no way I'd make it to the lockers next to the Danger Room and then up here without passing out or something.

He moved cautiously toward the back of the larger vehicle, leaning on its sides to keep his balance.

"Hey, man, what are you doing down here? I thought you were sick." Ray's voice echoed in the small area, startling the young man almost to the point of falling over.

With a quick sideways glance, Scott saw the other youth standing just outside the room. Ray's pajamas and haggard appearance the only things reminding him of the time of night despite the darkness outside.

"I could ask you the same thing." He managed to rasp out, eyeing the other teen wearily. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I just came down to get a glass of milk. I heard a noise coming from here so I just came to check it out." Shrugging, Ray continued, "Besides, with Tabby screaming bloody murder while trying to blast Bobby is keeping half the mansion up."

"Yeah," Scott muttered, opening the trunk and bringing out his uniform with new found stamina. "Listen, Ray, I need to go out for a while. Don't tell anyone you saw me here, okay?"

Even in the dim light, Scott could almost see the youth's uncertainty, the body shifting nervously, "Okay," Ray said after a few moments of silence, "but can you at least tell me where're you going?"

Scott gave a tired sigh before answering. "To the Morlock Tunnels." He said simply, walking to the side of the X-Van to change.

"Why?" The other boy asked, obviously unnerved with Scott's response.

"I'm . . . I just need to go there." He replied sharply, coming out, dressed in full uniform instead of his night cloths. "Just don't tell anyone. I'll be back in a couple of hours." It wasn't an order, but the underline of one was evident in his tone.

Ray said nothing to him as he got into the Van and Scott for his own part didn't offer anything in return. His mind all too preoccupied with his recent 'vision' and its uncanny strong pull toward his missing friend.

This is just crazy. I don't even know if there's anything actually wrong with Evan. The guy hasn't even bothered to let us know what's going on with him. He thought irritably. With a sigh, he moved the vehicle out of the garage and toward the road in front of the school, I could smack him for making us all worry like that, especially Ororo.

"Get a grip, Summers," He berated himself, "Find him first, chew him out later."

Jean Grey moved precariously through waste filled water. Legs struggling with the powerful sewer currents that were augmented by the rainwater pouring in from every manhole and opening on the streets above. Jean checked her communicator one more time, glancing at it from every angle possibly before trying again.

"Professor? Logan, can you hear me?" But no reply was heard from the device. Sighing irritably, she checked ahead, eyeing her teammates before going back to the problem at hand. Another approach was needed, opening her mind, and she reached out to anyone in the near vicinity. 

Professor? . . . Logan? . . . Anyone? . . .

But her persistent attempts were met with nothing, only a mild buzz in her mind. Irritation was turning to worry then to frustration as she tried again but with the same results. Why can't I sense anyone? The red head thought, fatigue and worry testing her already limited patience. There should be at least a dozen people down here . . .

"So, vat do you think ve're going to find down here?" Kurt's voice brought the redhead out of her thoughts. Focusing her gaze forward, she got a clear view of her two younger teammates with the help of the little trickles of light that poured from above. They looked as frazzled and unnerved by the eerie stillness of the area as she herself did.

"I don't know but this is, like, totally creepy." Kitty said in a hushed tone, but their proximity and silence let Jean hear the brunette clearly.

"Yeah, like in those horror movies vhere the heroes get chopped-up into tiny little pieces."

"KURT!" Kitty yelled but immediately clammed her hands over her mouth, looking around in a highly agitated manner, then relaxed when her outburst didn't stir any unwanted company.

Jean sighed in understanding, and for a moment thought about letting the other two know that they had not only lost radio communication with the others, but also mental. Just as quickly as the idea had popped into her head, she dismissed it. They're freaked enough as it is. She thought wearily, then stubbornly opened her mind once more but was met with the same results. 

"Uh, guys . . . ?" Kurt's shaky voice broke her concentration. "I vink you should see this."

Already at her wits end, she spoke sharply at her teammate, "Not now, Kurt."

"I really think you should see this, Jean."

Giving up, she moved forward with rapid and violent strides, her telekinetic abilities ruthlessly parting the way. "We don't have time to fool aro . . ." She stopped dead in her tracks, all color draining from her face as she got a glimpse at what Kitty and Kurt were staring at. "Oh, God!"

Ororo stood in the now empty room that held Cerebro, giving herself a much needed moment to center herself before going off to be able to go check on Scott and keep from questioning him further on his sudden insight into the perilous situation her only nephew was now faced with.

Making her way toward the Med-Lab, the Weather Witch allowed her mind to wonder over the past few months, her heart constricting with every minute passed without any word from Evan.

Her mind was brought back to the present, noticing abruptly that she had already arrived at her destination and was now standing in the doorway of the Med-Lab. But that wasn't what caused her breath to caught, before her was the bed were Scott had laid during the past few days, the only problem was that the said youth was nowhere in sight, nor was the Doctor who was suppose to be looking after him.

Without another thought, she raced down the corridors, looking in every place she could imagine until racing to the upper levels when it was apparent that the young man wasn't anywhere in the sub-basement. She did the same in the first floor before stopping dead in her tracks at a unnervingly usual sight before her. In the Common Room, Henry McCoy, genius extraordinaire was crouched on the floor using a blow dryer do melt a patch of ice that had Tabitha stuck to the wall. The blond her herself seemed to be in a foul mood as she threw her "booms" at Robert who was doing a marvelous job of ducking out of the way and taunting his teammate at the same time. On the other side of the room, Amara, Jamie, Roberto and Sam were all sprawled around in their night cloths clearly enjoying the "show".    

Taking a deep breath to calm her rattled nerves, she looked pointedly at her fellow teacher and said as calmly as she could, "Henry, where is Scott? And what is he doing out of bed?"

"Ororo, how may I be at service on this lovely evening, or rather morning it seems." He replied with as much cheerfulness as his current situation allowed, clearly not have heard through the noise her questions.

"Hey, Miss Munroe, come in, we're having a blast!" Bobby spoke a little too enthusiastically for this ungodly hour while Tabitha's glare never left the bouncing youth. 

"Where is Scott, Henry? He is not in the Med Lab where he should be." She tried again, louder this time, already losing what little patience she had managed to conjure up.

She saw the doctor suddenly freeze, turning wide-eyes to meet her blazing ones, "He was not in the Med-Lab?"

The startled look on the man's face serve to only rattle the Weather Witch.

"Ororo?" The Doctor had stood and was making his way to her, worry etching his features.

"No, Henry. He was not." She answered as the room became deadly quiet, the other teens looking at them with no little apprehension.

"He couldn't have gone far in his weaken state." Henry answered calmly, then shaking his head he added with a hint of irritation, "That boy has no sense whatsoever."

Ororo sighed in agreement, looking at him impatiently. "Perhaps together we might be able to find him."

"HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME?" Tabitha shrieked and Ororo gave a sideway glance.

"This will be an excellent lesson in patience, Tabitha." And left the young blond seething in her place. "And I expect to find this room in one piece when we return." She added as she left.

On board the Velocity, Charles Xavier was having similar difficulties reaching out to any of the inhabitants of the underground area. How peculiar. There appears to be some sort of disturbance in the astral plane inhibiting my telepathic abilities. He thought, unnerved yet pensive. An hour had passed and he had yet to be able to establish any communication with the X-Men, psionic or otherwise. He had not even been able to raise the mansion, adding to the queerness of the situation. He did not dare move from his position for fear he put the others in some sort of danger by making himself vulnerable. Its source appears to be somewhere within the very tunnels themselves, yet . . .

He trailed off, looking once more at the readings he was able to obtain but finding the situation becoming even more bizarre as he read the results from his scans. Yet the source appears to be far away from this area. How . . . odd. It is as though it were coming from two places at once.

Ray nearly jumped out of his skin as Ms. Munroe and Mr. McCoy raced pass him and down the hall. He blinked, dumbstruck before voices lured into the Rec Room.

"You gotta hand it to our fearless leader, it really takes talent to get Miss Munroe and Mr. McCoy pissed off." Ray couldn't help but smirk, only Bobby could find something funny at a time like this.

"Bobby! That's not funny. Scott is really sick!" Amara admonished, glaring at Bobby.

"Yeah, what if something happened to him." Roberto added, crossing his arms over his chest. Ray took a deep breath to calm his queasy stomach; he was already feeling guilty enough about not doing something to stop Scott from leaving.

"C'mon, guys, lighten up, it's not like Scott just went out and took off in the X-Van or anything. I mean, this is our fearless leader we're talking about, he probably just got up to use the restroom or something." Bobby shrugged and Ray swallowed nervously. Someone up there was really pouring on the guilt trip.

"Hey, Ray, you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost." Sam observed and Ray nearly jumped at being noticed. He so needed to get a grip.

"Maybe he's a precog, seeing Drake's future when I get out of here." Tabitha sneered, huffing from her place attached to the wall. The ice was melting, but not enough for her to shake herself loose and trying to blow herself off was a really bad idea.

"Where did Mister McCoy go?" He asked as a non-sequir, trying to ease his mounting tension.

"I think he said he was gonna help Ms. Munroe find Scott with Cerebro." Amara answered, all their attention suddenly back at Tabitha who had started throwing Booms at Bobby, while the boy laughed and taunted the tempermental blond.

Ray didn't even to look up as a Boom grazed his spiked hair, his mind too focused on his current situation. He was in one hell of a mess. Why the hell had he promised Scott?

"Hey, Ray." The youngest of the manor stood in front of him, Jamie looked younger than his twelve years in his red on orange pajamas. The kid was never going to be taken seriously looking like that. "Is Tabitha still trying to blast Bobby?" The boy asked, barely containing his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, their in the rec room." Jamie nearly jumped up and down happily. The kid always wanted to be included in everything that when on in the school.

"Cool! It's a good thing they're in the rec room. Last time she blasted the doors at the garage and set off the alarms. Mister Logan was sooo pissed when he found them." The kid added and disappeared into the room.

Ray's mental wheels began turning at Jamie's comment and headed down to the garage.

"This place looks deserted." Rogue whispered offhandedly as Logan and herself made their way further into Morlock territory. She kept her tone cool, trying to hide her anxiety to their surroundings. Things were too quiet for her liking. "Shouldn't there be a bunch of people here?"

"The porcupine and his friends were here. Scent's recent. A couple of other people too. Heavy armed. Some kind of special ops." Logan spoke tersely, keeping himself close to the ground as they moved.

"Ah sure as hell don't wanna be around when those guys start pulling the guns on us." Rogue suppressed a shudder as her mind supplied her with a not too assuring image of their possible adversaries. Super-powered villains she could handle, but trained soldiers, armed to the teeth ready to kill anything on sight, were not people she was looking forward to coming across, especially without any projectile powers to count on. Hers, or otherwise.

"You're doing just fine, darling, just stay close incase we run inta trouble." Logan said reassuringly, stopping to smell the air then continued moving.

They walked in total silence until loud shrieks broke the calm.

"What was that?" Rogue asked, anxiously closing the small gap between herself and the older man.

"Damn!"

"Logan?"

"Get down, kid!"

Henry read his findings, then read them again. Baffled, he rescanned the area but with the same results. This was very unsettling.

"Well?" Ororo's voice announced her arrival from what he assumed was another fruitless search.

"Cerebro has not been able to detect him, nor for that matter, any mutants anywhere in Bayville." He sent a serious glance over his shoulder, "Not even us."

"How is that possible? Is Cerebro malfunctioning?"

"That was my first assumption as well, but every test I have run reveals it to be working as it should. I must say, I find this entire situation quite perplexing." Taking a deep breath, his gaze locked with Ororo's, "There's more."

Ororo moved closer to the large computer. Henry noted out of the corner of his eye that she modeled her X-Men uniform instead of her regular clothes she wore upstairs.

"I had attempted to contact the Velocity to inform Charles of the situation, but either our communication devices are being jammed or . . ."

A sudden alarm cut him off. With a few anxious clicks of the keyboard, a graphic display of the mansion appear. "There's been some sort of shortage at the main garage." His fingers moving before his mind could even process the information, a clear sight of said room appeared on the screen. "The X-Van's missing."

"Scott." Ororo muttered in a combination of worry and irritation.

Henry clammed down on his own annoyance with the youth and continued working the computer. "He seems to be heading northeast and . . . there." He wouldn't be so foolish.

"The Morlock tunnels!" Ororo's exclamation proved him wrong. The youth truly has no sense!

Quick clacking on the steel floor alerted him of the Weather Witch's intentions "Ororo?"

She stopped in the doorway, her back to him, "I'm going after him, Henry." He opened his mouth to suggest caution but she was out of the room headed to the elevator before he could even blink, "Stay with the children and keep the mansion on alert. We may face a greater threat that we had previously suspected."

"That, my friend, maybe quite an understatement." And with that, he upped the security level of the manor before heading back upstairs to forewarn his students. This situation might had just escalated to something they might not be able to handle.

In the dark residences of the underground tunnels, a young child's melody broke its desolated calm. The giggling voice echoing eerily through the abandon area.

"Whose afraid of the muffin man; the muffin man, the muffin man; whose afraid of the muffin man, the muffin eating man."

To Be Continued J

End Notes: In the episode "Day of Reckoning" part 1 and 2, the X-Men along side the Brotherhood face a sentinel created by Trask, an anti-mutant scientist, in which their battle gets televised and their identities revealed to the world as well as the existence of mutants. In "Mindbender", the X-Men encounter a powerful telepath named Mesmero, who is looking for the "keys" to release an ancient mutant who later, in "Under Lock and Key" we discover to be En Sah Bur also known as Apocalypse which is who I refer to as the ancient mutant. In the same episode, Mesmero fools Magneto into destroying a creature whose purpose is to destroy Apocalypse opening the second door of three to free Apocalypse, which is one of the events I refer to. In "Self-Possess" Rogue's powers go out of control, letting lose all the powers she had ever absorbed as well as the personalities to go with them. It nearly killed her and only with the professor's help was she able to "exorcise" their presences from her mind, but in doing so, she was left weak, both mentally and physically and bed ridden in the Med-Lab. In "X-Treme Measures", we are introduced to a group of deformed mutants called the Morlocks that live in the sewers underneath Bayville.