Chapter 8
Exposed
The next morning, Jean sat on her bed brushing her hair. In twenty minutes everyone was meeting in the Danger Room to give Aidan her first lesson.
She knew Scott had a crush on Aidan. Jean could tell the minute they hauled Aidan into the MediBay. A later use of her powers confirmed her suspicions. But how to get Scott's mind off of lil' miss hot stuff and back on Jean was a different story... Until Jean got the brilliant idea to do a mind probe on Aidan and dig up some juicy past secrets. Besides the fact that everyone's new favorite redhead was a murderer, she happened to have a crush on the enemy.
This is wonderful, Jean thought.
I like Scott; Scott likes me.
Aidan hates me; I hate her.
Scott likes her; she likes Pyro.
Oh, this is gonna be good...
* * *
At the Acolyte base, Gambit and Jennie were at the breakfast table. Gambit was stirring his coffee and Jennie was poking her fork at her scrambled eggs.
"You know, Remy, St. John's been out all night. I'm beginning to worry."
"Y'know, chère, you been t'inkin' 'bout him a lot lately. Gambit beginnin' ta wonder jus' what you mean by dat."
"I don' mean nuttin'," Jennie mocked. "I'm just worried about all the innocent people he might fry. You saw how upset he was when he left."
"But what're we gon'a do, chère? We don' know where he is." Gambit kicked his feet up on the table and took a sip of coffee.
"What about his pager? You think he took that with him?" Jennie knocked Gambit's feet back down.
"Wouldn't do any good if'e did. He fried it last week."
"Dammit. Do they make flame retardant electronics? We may need to invest in some of those..." Jennie took a bite of her eggs. "...and an adamantium remote."
Colossus stuck his head in the kitchen doorway. "Um, maybe you two should have a look at this. Pyro's on the news."
Jennie and Gambit exchanged glanced and bolted for the living room. On the TV, Chopper 10 was busy relaying live footage of a lunatic with orange hair and a flamethrower trashing the Bayville Car Yard.
"Well. Now, we know where he is," Jennie muttered.
* * *
Jean, Scott, Kitty, Kurt, and Aidan were in the Danger Room awaiting instructions from Wolverine and the Professor.
"All right, Cyke," Wolverine's voice thundered over the loudspeaker, "run Operation Gamma Delta 5."
"Gamma Delta 5?" Scott asked. "Don't you think that'd be too rough for her?"
"Run Operation Gamma Delta 5," Jean commanded and the Danger room began to shift. It changed into a beautiful and serene meadow.
"This is it?" Aidan asked incredulously. "This is the infamous Gamma Delta 5?"
Suddenly a laser shot at the group. Aidan ducked as the beam phased through Kitty.
"Ok! I take that back!" Aidan said, rolling over to Kurt.
A Sentinel appeared over the ridgeline.
"That's what's shooting at us?!" Aidan yelled, wide eyed.
"Ja," Kurt said, "and it only gets worse." He grabbed her and bampfed her out of the way as the Sentinel shot another beam. They rematerialized behind Scott who sent an optic blast at the Sentinel's arm.
After a few more minutes of dodging bombs and laser beams, Aidan began to get a feel for the Danger Room. "Let me try this!" Her eyes changed and she shot a wall of fire at the Sentinel's chest. It cracked and fizzed, but didn't stop the metal behemoth.
"Not bad," Kitty applauded. "Go for its knee!"
Aidan sent another stream of fire for the Sentinel's kneecap, and as quickly as the Danger Room had changed the first time, it changed back.
"Woo!" Aidan yelled. "Did I get it?"
Professor X came over the intercom. "Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, meet Wolverine and Rogue at the X-Jet. The Acolytes are at the Bayville Car Yard."
"The Car Yard?" Kitty questioned.
"You guys heard him," Jean said. "Let's move!"
Scott turned to Aidan. "Wanna come along? You'll get to see us in action."
"Sure."
* * *
He knew he shouldn't have done this, but he couldn't help himself. He smelled the gasoline, and nobody could stop him. Now, half of the junkyard was on fire, and the other half was waiting just for him.
Tsunami and Gambit appeared below the tower of crushed car chassis' that Pyro was using as his own personal throne.
"Pyro! What do you think you're doing?" Jennie screamed.
"Just 'avin' a blast, sheila!" Pyro yelled back, igniting an '87 Cavalier as he spoke.
"We need to get out of here!" Jennie yelled to him as she extinguished a carburetor.
Pyro cackled and a firebird set a few more towers on fire.
"St. John Allerdyce, you get your ass down here!" Jennie yelled, trying her best to put out what Pyro had set on fire.
Pyro ignored her and rekindled everything she had just extinguished.
"That's it!" Jennie screamed. "We're going home RIGHT NOW!!!!"
"Aw, chère, don' yell at da boy."
"Shut up, you-"
Before Jennie could finish her smashing insult, the X-Jet landed in the yard.
"Great!" Jennie yelled over the jet and the raging inferno. "This is just great! Not only do we have a psychopathic pyrokinetic to worry about, now we have the X-losers!"
Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue ran out of the jet and into the heart of the inferno.
Aidan watched from the cockpit as Gambit sent some energized cards at them and Cyclops blasted one after the other.
Tsunami sent a tidal wave after Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue, but Kitty phased through it and Kurt bampfed himself and Rogue to safety.
"Gambit!" Tsunami yelled. "Distract them! I'll go after Pyro!"
"Distract 'em? By myself? You're crazy, girl!" He popped out his staff and pole vaulted over a charging Wolverine.
Tsunami climbed the tower of cars to get to Pyro. She grabbed him from behind and they fell towards the ground.
Just as Pyro saw his life flash before his eyes, they stopped falling. Jean Grey had them suspended about twenty feet off the ground.
"Why that crazy sheila jus' saved our lives," he said to Tsunami. Just as he finished his sentence, Jean mentally threw them into a wall of crushed cars.
"You were saying..." Tsunami muttered after they hit the ground.
Kurt bampfed into the X-Jet.
"What's going on?" Aidan asked.
"Vant to come and help?" Kurt asked, extending his hand. "Ve have them outnumbered."
Aidan grabbed Kurt's hand and they bampfed outside. As soon as they materialized, a wall of fire headed straight for them. Aidan's eyes glowed and the fire dissolved around them.
"Wow," Kurt said. "You're good."
"Thanks," she replied, shooting fire at a car that almost toppled onto Cyclops. Amazingly, she hit it and he didn't die. He looked over at her and gave her a thumbs up.
Jean noticed and decided it was time to end this. She lifted Pyro up from behind the '75 Mustang he was using as cover and held him in the air so he could see Aidan.
Pyro braced himself for another trip to the wall. When he wasn't hurled backwards, he opened his eyes and saw a redhead in a black jumpsuit with red gloves and boots. His face lit up in a humungous smile.
"Hey! Sheila!" he yelled and waved.
On the ground, Aidan looked around, after she heard someone yelling.
"Up 'ere!"
She looked up and saw him! The fire starter! What a coinci- Wait a minute. Now all this fire made sense! He did it!
"Hey, sheila! 'Ow 'bout givin' me a hand, eh?"
Aidan looked over and saw that Jean was the one holding him in the air. Oh no, Jean knew. Aidan ran toward Gambit.
"Firestorm!" Cyclops yelled. "NO!"
Gambit saw her coming and fired a few energized cards in her direction. She created a shield of fire and each card vaporized as it hit. She began a martial arts type fight with Gambit to get close enough to talk.
"Sorry, chère," Gambit said, "but dis is one fight, you're not gon' win."
"Shut up and help him," Aidan said, trying a roundhouse kick.
Gambit ducked. "What?"
"The fire mutant," Aidan said, blocking a punch.
Gambit saw Pyro in the air. He kicked Aidan in the stomach and she went down.
Rogue rushed over to Aidan. "You all rahght?"
Aidan coughed. "I think so..."
As Rogue helped Aidan to her feet, they saw Jean get wiped out by a tidal wave and Pyro began to fall.
"NO!" Aidan yelled, breaking away from Rogue. She concentrated and a huge hand of fire stopped Pyro's fall and placed him gently on the ground.
"What the-" Wolverine said.
"How'd he do that?" Kitty asked.
"Pyro didn't do it," Rouge said, running up to them. "Firestorm did."
Pyro shook his head. The X-sheila saved his life. He had to get to her somehow. He looked around and saw her lying on the ground. The poor girl looked like she just got hit by a Mack truck. That last power surge must've drained her right quick. Her ran over to her and cradled her head.
"It's ok now, sheila. Pyro's 'ere."
Aidan opened her eyes and saw him. Pyro.
He lifted her up. "Let's get you outta 'ere, eh?" He ran for the fence, but was suddenly lifted off the ground.
"Crickey! Not again! I've just about 'ad enough o' this!"
"Let her go!" Jean commanded. If she played her cards right, Aidan would never bother her and Scott again.
"No way! You'll 'ave to kill me first!" Pyro yelled.
Aidan knew Jean wasn't the best telekinetic in the world. She couldn't control two things at once. Aidan lifted her hand and a flash of fire sent Jean hurtling into a wall.
"Nice one, sheila!" Pyro blasted a hole in the fence and took off.
"Did you see that?!" Kitty yelled. "Firestorm just blasted Jean!"
"It couldn't be!" Cyclops yelled.
"Yes, it could!" Rogue said. "We know you're not blind!"
Cyclops ran over to Jean. As the other X-Men were wondering what the hell just happened, Tsunami and Gambit made a break for it.
Cyclops held Jean's head in his lap. "Jean. Are you ok?"
"I got a flash of her thoughts," Jean muttered. "She was an Acolyte spy."
Exposed
The next morning, Jean sat on her bed brushing her hair. In twenty minutes everyone was meeting in the Danger Room to give Aidan her first lesson.
She knew Scott had a crush on Aidan. Jean could tell the minute they hauled Aidan into the MediBay. A later use of her powers confirmed her suspicions. But how to get Scott's mind off of lil' miss hot stuff and back on Jean was a different story... Until Jean got the brilliant idea to do a mind probe on Aidan and dig up some juicy past secrets. Besides the fact that everyone's new favorite redhead was a murderer, she happened to have a crush on the enemy.
This is wonderful, Jean thought.
I like Scott; Scott likes me.
Aidan hates me; I hate her.
Scott likes her; she likes Pyro.
Oh, this is gonna be good...
* * *
At the Acolyte base, Gambit and Jennie were at the breakfast table. Gambit was stirring his coffee and Jennie was poking her fork at her scrambled eggs.
"You know, Remy, St. John's been out all night. I'm beginning to worry."
"Y'know, chère, you been t'inkin' 'bout him a lot lately. Gambit beginnin' ta wonder jus' what you mean by dat."
"I don' mean nuttin'," Jennie mocked. "I'm just worried about all the innocent people he might fry. You saw how upset he was when he left."
"But what're we gon'a do, chère? We don' know where he is." Gambit kicked his feet up on the table and took a sip of coffee.
"What about his pager? You think he took that with him?" Jennie knocked Gambit's feet back down.
"Wouldn't do any good if'e did. He fried it last week."
"Dammit. Do they make flame retardant electronics? We may need to invest in some of those..." Jennie took a bite of her eggs. "...and an adamantium remote."
Colossus stuck his head in the kitchen doorway. "Um, maybe you two should have a look at this. Pyro's on the news."
Jennie and Gambit exchanged glanced and bolted for the living room. On the TV, Chopper 10 was busy relaying live footage of a lunatic with orange hair and a flamethrower trashing the Bayville Car Yard.
"Well. Now, we know where he is," Jennie muttered.
* * *
Jean, Scott, Kitty, Kurt, and Aidan were in the Danger Room awaiting instructions from Wolverine and the Professor.
"All right, Cyke," Wolverine's voice thundered over the loudspeaker, "run Operation Gamma Delta 5."
"Gamma Delta 5?" Scott asked. "Don't you think that'd be too rough for her?"
"Run Operation Gamma Delta 5," Jean commanded and the Danger room began to shift. It changed into a beautiful and serene meadow.
"This is it?" Aidan asked incredulously. "This is the infamous Gamma Delta 5?"
Suddenly a laser shot at the group. Aidan ducked as the beam phased through Kitty.
"Ok! I take that back!" Aidan said, rolling over to Kurt.
A Sentinel appeared over the ridgeline.
"That's what's shooting at us?!" Aidan yelled, wide eyed.
"Ja," Kurt said, "and it only gets worse." He grabbed her and bampfed her out of the way as the Sentinel shot another beam. They rematerialized behind Scott who sent an optic blast at the Sentinel's arm.
After a few more minutes of dodging bombs and laser beams, Aidan began to get a feel for the Danger Room. "Let me try this!" Her eyes changed and she shot a wall of fire at the Sentinel's chest. It cracked and fizzed, but didn't stop the metal behemoth.
"Not bad," Kitty applauded. "Go for its knee!"
Aidan sent another stream of fire for the Sentinel's kneecap, and as quickly as the Danger Room had changed the first time, it changed back.
"Woo!" Aidan yelled. "Did I get it?"
Professor X came over the intercom. "Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, meet Wolverine and Rogue at the X-Jet. The Acolytes are at the Bayville Car Yard."
"The Car Yard?" Kitty questioned.
"You guys heard him," Jean said. "Let's move!"
Scott turned to Aidan. "Wanna come along? You'll get to see us in action."
"Sure."
* * *
He knew he shouldn't have done this, but he couldn't help himself. He smelled the gasoline, and nobody could stop him. Now, half of the junkyard was on fire, and the other half was waiting just for him.
Tsunami and Gambit appeared below the tower of crushed car chassis' that Pyro was using as his own personal throne.
"Pyro! What do you think you're doing?" Jennie screamed.
"Just 'avin' a blast, sheila!" Pyro yelled back, igniting an '87 Cavalier as he spoke.
"We need to get out of here!" Jennie yelled to him as she extinguished a carburetor.
Pyro cackled and a firebird set a few more towers on fire.
"St. John Allerdyce, you get your ass down here!" Jennie yelled, trying her best to put out what Pyro had set on fire.
Pyro ignored her and rekindled everything she had just extinguished.
"That's it!" Jennie screamed. "We're going home RIGHT NOW!!!!"
"Aw, chère, don' yell at da boy."
"Shut up, you-"
Before Jennie could finish her smashing insult, the X-Jet landed in the yard.
"Great!" Jennie yelled over the jet and the raging inferno. "This is just great! Not only do we have a psychopathic pyrokinetic to worry about, now we have the X-losers!"
Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue ran out of the jet and into the heart of the inferno.
Aidan watched from the cockpit as Gambit sent some energized cards at them and Cyclops blasted one after the other.
Tsunami sent a tidal wave after Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue, but Kitty phased through it and Kurt bampfed himself and Rogue to safety.
"Gambit!" Tsunami yelled. "Distract them! I'll go after Pyro!"
"Distract 'em? By myself? You're crazy, girl!" He popped out his staff and pole vaulted over a charging Wolverine.
Tsunami climbed the tower of cars to get to Pyro. She grabbed him from behind and they fell towards the ground.
Just as Pyro saw his life flash before his eyes, they stopped falling. Jean Grey had them suspended about twenty feet off the ground.
"Why that crazy sheila jus' saved our lives," he said to Tsunami. Just as he finished his sentence, Jean mentally threw them into a wall of crushed cars.
"You were saying..." Tsunami muttered after they hit the ground.
Kurt bampfed into the X-Jet.
"What's going on?" Aidan asked.
"Vant to come and help?" Kurt asked, extending his hand. "Ve have them outnumbered."
Aidan grabbed Kurt's hand and they bampfed outside. As soon as they materialized, a wall of fire headed straight for them. Aidan's eyes glowed and the fire dissolved around them.
"Wow," Kurt said. "You're good."
"Thanks," she replied, shooting fire at a car that almost toppled onto Cyclops. Amazingly, she hit it and he didn't die. He looked over at her and gave her a thumbs up.
Jean noticed and decided it was time to end this. She lifted Pyro up from behind the '75 Mustang he was using as cover and held him in the air so he could see Aidan.
Pyro braced himself for another trip to the wall. When he wasn't hurled backwards, he opened his eyes and saw a redhead in a black jumpsuit with red gloves and boots. His face lit up in a humungous smile.
"Hey! Sheila!" he yelled and waved.
On the ground, Aidan looked around, after she heard someone yelling.
"Up 'ere!"
She looked up and saw him! The fire starter! What a coinci- Wait a minute. Now all this fire made sense! He did it!
"Hey, sheila! 'Ow 'bout givin' me a hand, eh?"
Aidan looked over and saw that Jean was the one holding him in the air. Oh no, Jean knew. Aidan ran toward Gambit.
"Firestorm!" Cyclops yelled. "NO!"
Gambit saw her coming and fired a few energized cards in her direction. She created a shield of fire and each card vaporized as it hit. She began a martial arts type fight with Gambit to get close enough to talk.
"Sorry, chère," Gambit said, "but dis is one fight, you're not gon' win."
"Shut up and help him," Aidan said, trying a roundhouse kick.
Gambit ducked. "What?"
"The fire mutant," Aidan said, blocking a punch.
Gambit saw Pyro in the air. He kicked Aidan in the stomach and she went down.
Rogue rushed over to Aidan. "You all rahght?"
Aidan coughed. "I think so..."
As Rogue helped Aidan to her feet, they saw Jean get wiped out by a tidal wave and Pyro began to fall.
"NO!" Aidan yelled, breaking away from Rogue. She concentrated and a huge hand of fire stopped Pyro's fall and placed him gently on the ground.
"What the-" Wolverine said.
"How'd he do that?" Kitty asked.
"Pyro didn't do it," Rouge said, running up to them. "Firestorm did."
Pyro shook his head. The X-sheila saved his life. He had to get to her somehow. He looked around and saw her lying on the ground. The poor girl looked like she just got hit by a Mack truck. That last power surge must've drained her right quick. Her ran over to her and cradled her head.
"It's ok now, sheila. Pyro's 'ere."
Aidan opened her eyes and saw him. Pyro.
He lifted her up. "Let's get you outta 'ere, eh?" He ran for the fence, but was suddenly lifted off the ground.
"Crickey! Not again! I've just about 'ad enough o' this!"
"Let her go!" Jean commanded. If she played her cards right, Aidan would never bother her and Scott again.
"No way! You'll 'ave to kill me first!" Pyro yelled.
Aidan knew Jean wasn't the best telekinetic in the world. She couldn't control two things at once. Aidan lifted her hand and a flash of fire sent Jean hurtling into a wall.
"Nice one, sheila!" Pyro blasted a hole in the fence and took off.
"Did you see that?!" Kitty yelled. "Firestorm just blasted Jean!"
"It couldn't be!" Cyclops yelled.
"Yes, it could!" Rogue said. "We know you're not blind!"
Cyclops ran over to Jean. As the other X-Men were wondering what the hell just happened, Tsunami and Gambit made a break for it.
Cyclops held Jean's head in his lap. "Jean. Are you ok?"
"I got a flash of her thoughts," Jean muttered. "She was an Acolyte spy."
