Chapter 5
Enter the X-Men

Aidan spent the better part of the morning and afternoon searching for the fire starter. She had gone back to the 7 Eleven and searched a ten mile radius around the building. Around three o'clock she gave up and drove to the wharf.

It was useless.

She'd never find him.

* * *

Jennie knocked on the bathroom door. "Remy?" She knocked again. "Remy, what are you doing?"

"Bon Dieu, chère! What you t'ink goin' on in here?" came the disgruntled reply.

"I'm bored."

"And?"

"AND, I was wondering if you were busy."

"Well, chère, at da moment, Gambit be a little tied up."

"Ok, then."

Jennie wandered through the house in search of Piotr. "Hey! Piotr! Where are you?!"

In the kitchen, Piotr rolled his eyes. "I am in the kitchen."

"What 'cha doin'?" Jennie asked as she sat at the table.

Piotr didn't reply and filled in the answer to 32 down.

"Oh, so you're playing the strong, silent type today. I know how to fix that."

Jennie leaned closer and looked over his shoulder. He tried his best to ignore her, but she began to hum. He filled in about six more answers before he threw down his pencil.

"Ok! What do you want?!" he huffed.

"Nothing. I was just bored and wondered what everybody was doing. Remy's a little preoccupied, so I decided to bug the hell outta you," she smirked.

"Well, you've done a good job..."

"Where's St. John?"

"Who knows. Probably out on the patio with that blow up doll for pyromaniacs."

Wow, Jennie thought, that was the most she's ever heard Piotr talk. Usually he was so quiet and reserved.

"Oh...yeah..."

Remy sauntered into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and cracked open a Mountain Dew.

Jennie made an angry face. "That's mine."

Gambit, being ever so suave, ignored her. "So, chère, what was it you wan'ed?"

Jennie rolled her eyes. "Are you bored?"

"Little bit."

"Wanna go reek random havoc?"

"Sound like fun." He turned toward Piotr. "You comin', mon ami."

Piotr raised an eyebrow and continued with his crossword.

Gambit put his arm around Jennie. "Guess it's jus' you 'n me, petite."

Jennie was a little less than enthusiastic. "Goodie... you owe me a Mountain Dew."

* * *

Aidan let her leg dangle over the edge of the pier and watched the small currents and eddies float in the harbor. After the fifth eddy took the shape of the fire mutant's face, she decided that she was going mad.

Suddenly a loud BOOM pulled her from her daydreams. Smoke was coming from one of the boathouses. Where there was smoke, there was fire, right? Maybe it was him. God, she hoped so.

Aidan stood up and ran for the boathouse. She couldn't pinpoint where the smoke was coming from. As she stood motionless, trying to figure out what to do next, an Ace of Spades floated to her feet. She was about to pick it up when she noticed it was glowing. Glowing was bad.

She jumped behind some boxes as the card exploded

"What the hell..." she muttered.

"Look like you show up at da wrong time, no?" a very Cajun voice asked.

She looked up and saw a man in a trench coat standing on top of the boxes. She walked backwards, not daring to take her eyes off of him, and into a forklift.

He gracefully jumped from the boxes and walked towards her. Before he got within touching distance, she ran.

"Aw, come on, petite! Gambit not gon' hurt 'cha!" he yelled after her.

Ok, she thought, why is that all the cute guys around here have sexy accents and are trying to kill me? Maybe I should just move back to Iceland. No sexy accents there.

As she rounded the corner, she was hit full force by a wave of water. She stood up and created her own personal blow dryer. After about thirty seconds, she was dry again. When she looked up, she saw a woman in a sky blue jumpsuit. She had dark blue knee high boots, wrist length gloves with the fingers cut out and a wave neckline. Aqua slash marks were on her sides and on her shoulders, and her hair was in a French Twist. She stood next to the man in the trench coat.

"Oh, look, Gambit," she said. "A civilian. How lovely!"

"What do you want?" Aidan asked, preparing to use her powers.

"Want?" the woman laughed. "Why would we want anything?" Now, a thirty- foot wall of water was suspended behind her.

Aidan's eyes glowed red on black. The air molecules around Aidan acted as a shield, and as the wall of water collapsed, it evaporated before it even hit her.

"Impressive, mademoiselle," Gambit applauded, "but try to evaporate dis!" He sent an arsenal of energized cards her way.

In defense, Aidan shot flames at the incoming cards. Because she had never fought with her powers, her aim was slightly off... ok, she hit two out of twelve, but who's counting? Luckily, she managed to dodge the rest.

The woman created a cyclone of water that picked Aidan up off her feet and sent her crashing into a concrete wall.

As Aidan lost consciousness, she heard: "Nice work, Tsunami. Dépêche-toi. Let's go down and have ourselves a drink."

* * *

Same little redhead girl, same field of wildflowers, same dream. Aidan saw the house go up in flames; heard her mother's cries. Only this time, she could smell the smoke, feel the heat. Normally, she would wake up screaming at this point. No such luck. There was a flash of black and then the little girl was playing behind a tent in the Cairo marketplace. A little boy tried to take her ball. She got angry and her eyes began to glow. The tent caught fire and she ran. Not again... The little boy's words echoed behind her: "You're a freak!"

* * *

"Hurry! I think she is vaking up!"

Aidan moaned. "My head..." She opened her eyes and saw a fuzzy blue face.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Aidan turned her head and saw a larger fuzzy blue face in a white lab coat.

"Are you all right?" the second blue guy asked.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

"Beast!" the first blue guy yelled. "Tell her to stop vith the screaming!"

"Well, if you'd get outta her face..." Beast muttered to himself as Aidan continued to scream.

Beast walked over to Aidan. "Calm down. You'll be ok."

"Where am I?" Aidan noticed the IVs, heart monitors, thermometers, and various other medical paraphernalia. "What are you doing to me?" She sat up and began pulling at the brainwave sensors.

"If you will calm down, all of your questions will be answered momentarily." A man in a wheel chair maneuvered into the room. "I am Professor Charles Xavier. And you are at my school for gifted youngsters."

Aidan, a little calmer, got up from the bed. "Can you please explain what's going on? And who are they?"

"This," the Professor said motioning to the blue guy in the lab coat, "is Mr. Hank McCoy, and this is Kurt Wagner. Hank is a faculty member here at the Institute and Kurt is a student."

"How did I get here?" Aidan then realized she was in a hospital gown and promptly sat back down.

Kurt bampfed out of the room and bampfed back a few seconds later with a bundle of clothes.

"If you'll get dressed, I will answer that question and introduce you to a few others."

The Professor wheeled out of the room and Kurt and Beast followed.

* * *

"This is Cerebro," the Professor said as he and Aidan entered the room.

"Wow," Aidan whispered, looking around. "What is it?"

"Basically, it is a computer. It controls the Institute and is also a highly developed mutant detector."

"Mutant detector?"

"When a mutant uses his or her power anywhere in the world, Cerebro can detect it and pinpoint the mutant's location within a five mile radius."

"Wow," she whispered again. "Is this how you found me?"

"Yes."

"So, does it tell you about the mutant? Y'know, like what they... do?"

"Unfortunately, no. Cerebro cannot tell what a mutant's abilities are."

"This place is amazing... so, who are these 'others'?"