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"Yipee!" Nicky shrieked happily as he swung between Lance and Kitty.
"Nicky?" Rachael yelled.
"Hi mom," Nicky called. He released their hands and ran to his mother. "I walked almost all the way to Grandma's. Lance and Kitty brought me home."
"Nicky I was frantic. I called the police! You can't keep running off like that!" Rachael exclaimed as she scooped up her son. "Thanks for bring him home."
"Oh no problem." Kitty replied. "I used to do the same thing when I was little. It drove my mom bonkers."
"I need to put him on a leash." Rachael said. "We were just leaving for church. Jeremy had gone ahead to help set up. I forgot my purse so I ran inside for just a minute. The phone rang, by the time I got back Nicky was long gone."
"Really it was no problem." Kitty repeated.
"I didn't mind seeing him again." Lance said. "Nicky's sort of interesting to talk with."
"Well we'll be over for dinner tomorrow night and I'm sure he'll try to talk your ear off." Rachael said.
"Will not." Nicky chimed in.
"We're already horribly late." Rachael apologized. "We'll see you later."
"Bye!" Nicky called.
"See ya." Lance said.
"Bye." Kitty waved. "Be good for your mom."
Lance and Kitty watched them drive away then started the walk back toward Dora and Andrew's home.
"Nicky's a cute kid." Kitty commented. "He looks a little like…"
"Don't say it." Lance warned. "Don't you dare say it."
Kitty laughed. "Come on Lance you've got to admit there's a family resemblance."
"Do you have any idea how fucking weird that sounds." Lance exclaimed. "I go into town and people ask how I'm related to the Petroses before I say a word. It's freaky."
"You're loving it." Kitty teased. Lance fainted toward her then caught her around the waist and pinned her against his chest with his good arm. "Lance what are you…" Kitty's words trailed off into helpless giggles as Lance's fingers found her ribs.
Lance felt a sinking sensation. He glanced down and saw Kitty had phased them into the ground up to their knees. "Um Kitty?"
Kitty looked down as well then smiled mischievously as she phased out of his hold.
"Kitty, get me out." Lance said.
Kitty slowly walked around Lance, surveying his predicament. Then she went to stand behind him. She rested her folded arms across his shoulders. "Are you ticklish Lance, hmmm?" Kitty purred.
"Definitely not." Lance insisted firmly.
Kitty traced her fingertips over his chest. "You don't lie very well." She whispered her lips brushed against his ear.
"What are you thinking Kit?" Lance asked.
"You're shorter than me right now. It's kinda fun." Kitty ran her fingers across his stomach.
Lance's breath caught. "Kit?"
"Hmm?"
Lance bit back a laugh as her fingers found a sensitive spot. He caught Kitty's wrist and tried to pull her around in front of him.
Kitty phased away. "Uh-huh. I'm having fun."
"Ummm, go right ahead."
Kitty grinned.
****** ****** ******
Kurt yawned. He squinted unhappily at the sunlight invading his room. Reluctantly he reached out and turned his alarm clock toward him. "Mein Gott! We're late!" He exclaimed.
Evan woke with a start at Kurt's exclamation. Bone spikes flew all over the room, Kurt teleported out to the hall. A moment later Kurt stuck his head back in the room. "And now I remember how we got our own rooms when you first moved in." He said.
"Sorry Kurt, it's been months since I did that." Evan apologized. "I thought we agreed to forget to set the alarm last night anyway."
"Ve did." Kurt said. "But ve aren't just late for the danger room any more. Ve have slept through breakfast."
"Scott didn't roust us out of bed?" Evan asked.
"Nope."
"Is he sick? I thought maybe we could get an extra ten minutes. He'd never let us blow off the whole session."
"I bet they've eaten everything by now." Kurt worried.
The two boys headed down to the kitchen. They found it empty and undisturbed. Kurt and Evan exchanged a concerned look.
"If this is some sort of a joke it's not funny." Evan said.
Logan walked in the kitchen door. His motorcycle helmet hung from his hand. "What happened to chaos central?" He asked.
"I'll check on Auntie O." Evan said.
Kurt nodded and popped out of the kitchen. He reappeared in the bedroom hall and started pounding on doors.
The racket was greeted with groans of complaint then shouts of alarm as the students realized just how late it was.
After a few minutes people began assembling in the hall.
"Has anyone seen Rogue?" Rahne asked.
"I'll see if Scott's still sleeping." Jean volunteered.
"Todd and Fred aren't in their room." Sam said. "And yah know they didn't wake up early."
Xavier put a hand to his temple. //Scott? Rogue? Pietro? Todd? Fred?// "I can't sense their minds at all." He said with a frown.
"I'll start reviewing the security tapes." Logan said. "But I haven't smelled anyone around who should have been here."
****** ****** ******
Gambit stirred groggily. He found himself lying on the floor in one of the base's storage areas. "Wanda!" He exclaimed as he lunged to his feet. Sometimes he when he woke up Wanda was the only thing he was certain of. Everything else in his life had a dreamy unreality to it. He couldn't lose her.
Gambit found the scarlet clad girl sprawled across the floor several feet from where he'd awakened. Gently he gathered her into his arms. "Cherie?" he asked.
Wanda's lashes fluttered. "Remy? What happened?"
"Rogue." He said.
"The X-Men attacked us?" Wanda asked.
"Non." Gambit replied slowly. "She had all deir powers. I think she done dem de same as she done us. She's acting for someone else."
"Father!" Wanda cried leaping to her feet. While she checked on Magneto Remy went to look after the others.
****** ****** ******
Todd hopped back along the trail of footprints in the sand. "I found it! Hey guys I found it!" He yelled.
He bounded over the top of a hill and found his three friends collapsed in its shadow.
Scott turned toward Todd's voice. "How far?" He asked.
"About fifteen minutes as the Toad hops."
Scott grinned a little. "Hear that guys?" He called.
Fred glanced up tiredly. "More walking?" He asked. "I'm really tired."
"I know." Scott sympathized. "But it's just a little further. We're not going to let Mystique beat us. Quickie, how are you holding up? …Quickie? Pietro?"
Fred reached over to shake Pietro then drew a sharp breath at the heat radiating off the speed demon's skin. "Cyke!" He called worriedly.
"There's nothing we can do here." Scott said. "Even in the shade it's too hot."
"Right." Fred replied. He slung Pietro over his shoulder and pushed himself to his feet. "Let's go."
Scott stood up as well. "I'll take him." He said.
"No!" Fred protested his attitude turned protective in a heartbeat.
Scott sighed. "You're showing signs of heat exhaustion too." He said. "I don't want you exerting yourself anymore than you absolutely have to. If you collapse we'll never be able to carry you. Now give me Pietro and lets get out of here."
Reluctantly Fred handed over his burden and they set out after Todd.
****** ****** ******
Wolverine stalked out of the security room. "Who ever it was, they covered their tracks." He snarled. "The tapes were erased and the computer was trashed."
"Cerebro was also destroyed." Xavier said.
"Professor isn't there anything we can do?" Jean asked worriedly.
"Erased doesn't mean gone." Beast said. "We'll need to enact repairs first but I am confident we will be able to extract something from the tapes."
Jean nodded. "I guess I should just get out of your way then." She said.
On an impulse Jean went back to Scott's room. She sat cross-legged in the middle of his bed, closed her eyes and rested her fingertips against her temples. //SCOTT!// She called.
Distantly she sensed Xavier's wince. //Jean, where ever they are they're out of my range.// He protested. His mental voice was a faint, distant protest.
On the astral plane the mansion fell away beneath Jean. Her surroundings became as fluid as thought, an ever-changing palette of colors and sounds. With so many minds everything clashed. It was dissonant. It was everything she normally shut out of her psyche. But mixed in with all the madness she found a slender tether. Months ago it had been this strand, woven from shared memories and emotion, that she'd trusted to pull her free of the mire of quicksand her wildly expanding powers had trapped her in. Now she sought to strengthen that connection. Before it had led her home, this time Jean looked to the delicate thread to lead her to Scott.
****** ****** ******
Magneto withdrew into his office. He left Mastermind and Gambit to fill-in the blanks in their theory by themselves. Magneto knew with a bone deep certainty that the girl had acted under Mezmero's command. That knowledge enraged him. Mezmero had dared to use him several months earlier. He'd tricked Magneto into assisting him in his efforts to free his master, Apocalypse. Magneto would not forgive that transgression and now the man attacked him in his own home? This time Mezmero would not get away with it.
Mastermind had clues from the mind games he'd put Mezmero through last time. Gambit's profession had given him a talent for sousing out where things were hidden and while he specialized in breaking and entering, Gambit also knew the basics of data theft. The two of them didn't need him hanging over their shoulders.
He reached out through his power and switched off the lights then sat at his desk with his head cradled in his hands. He tried to shut out the dark fears prying at his mind, the hollow whispers of ghosts demanding rash, violent reaction.
It had always been thus. He'd listened to Charles Xavier's dreams of peaceful co-existence with an ear jaded by the horrors in his past. His people had been imprisoned and slaughtered for one man's hatred and because they were different enough to be a convenient scapegoat for a nation's woes. What then would humans do when confronted with a people so different that it was argued that they were no longer Human but a separate species. After all it was humanly impossible to command the earth's magnetic fields or to out run the sound of your own voice or to know another man's thoughts as surely as one knew his own…
The dark whispers of his fears had gotten much harder to ignore after his children had been born. He'd wanted to remake the world before they were hurt by it. Charles preached patience but he had no time.
And yet he had to wait. He had searched the world over and found only a handful of mutants, many of whom had little interest in starting a war with humanity. They'd hidden their abilities for their entire lives and saw no reason why future generations couldn't do the same.
He'd tried to find ways to force the children's powers to manifest sooner and more powerfully so they would be able to protect themselves. He admitted there'd been mistakes made. Every time he'd been certain that he'd perfected his process for bring a mutant to their full potential without the dangerous intermediate stages where they where obviously different but not yet strong enough to protect themselves. His efforts should have worked. There was no way to test it but according to every theory…
Despite his certainty Mystique's son hadn't come into his true powers until puberty. The process had caused his physical mutation to manifest early but that was hardly an advantage for the boy. Mystique's reaction had been completely irrational; it was her own fault she'd lost the boy, trying to run off like that.
Mystique had returned, eventually and he'd believed she'd gotten over the incident, but several years later, when they found the girl Destiny had predicted things had gone wrong. He'd gotten little Anna away from her parents but apparently Mystique had still been angry about loosing her son. She and Destiny had taken the girl and hidden her away until her powers came naturally.
It had been shear luck that he'd stumbled across the Alvers children. At that point his efforts had been focused on bring forth powers in children who hadn't begun to manifest them naturally yet. He should have tested the process on the boy, but the parents wanted the girl 'cured' so he'd taken the chance that it would work even though her powers had already manifested in a preliminary stage. It wasn't his fault that she'd died. The parents had raised a huge fuss and his cover identity had been crumbling under the scrutiny. He normally left that sort of thing to Mystique's talents but after she'd hidden the first girl Magneto had been reluctant to bring her into contact with any other children.
Mystique hadn't been his only concern either. He'd been in the middle of the divorce and Magda had been extremely agitated since filing. He'd almost expected her to take the children and flee. Of course he would have been capable of finding her and taking them back but he had a lot of important things to do. He didn't have time to be a single parent. It had been essential to maintain some sort of civil relationship with Magda. He hadn't dared risk being associated with the Alvers girl's death. By the time things had calmed down again the boy had been lost. There'd never really been time to seek him out again somehow. He had other things to do.
Then he'd had a break through. He'd been so sure it would work properly that time. He hadn't wanted to wait until he could find the boy again. He'd been so very sure. It had worked. Wanda's powers had developed to their full extent within a few hours of being treated. He hadn't anticipated the difficulties involved with managing a temperamental eight year-old who had suddenly gained the ability to turn his powers against him and to make the improbable a commonplace occurrence. Anything could happen when Wanda was in a mood and she was always upset.
He'd believed things were improving. Three weeks after Charles' visit he'd really thought she was beginning to gain some self discipline but a normal childhood spat had nearly ended Pietro's life when Wanda's power had tossed her brother out the third story window of their home. He'd been walking out to get the mail and had seen Pietro fall in time to use his abilities to catch the boy. The next day he'd had Wanda committed. Still the process had worked. Years later he'd tested it one last time and it worked, that the girl had been a teleporter and had disappeared never to be seen again was hardly his fault.
In the end he'd concluded that if he couldn't give Pietro the power to protect himself it was best to hide the boy. He had enemies. The humans in power would seek to prevent his people from claiming their rightful place. He had known that as surely as he breathed and he had known they wouldn't hesitate to use his child against him. The only useful thing that fool Maximoff had ever done was giving Pietro his last name. And as irritating as it was to hear his son call the man Papa it did help to complete the illusion.
The boy had remained safely hidden until he came into his power naturally. For all the good it did, Magneto thought with frustration. Pietro didn't have the excuse of youth to explain his weakness anymore. He lacked potential. He wasn't nearly ruthless enough or clever enough to compensate for his lack of raw power. It was enough to drive a parent to distraction. When he tried to force Pietro to improve himself the boy simply turned to other for protection. He was hopeless. Wanda certainly had more potential than her brother, but she was as ruled by her emotions at seventeen as she had been at eight. Still perhaps she was salvageable… with enough intervention from Mastermind.
The shadows didn't whisper anymore. They screamed. The time of war was coming, suffering and destruction would blanket the globe, only the strong would survive. It was coming. It was almost upon them. There was no time. He had to strike the first blow… No Apocalypse, Apocalypse had attacked him. That was his priority. Charles' efforts at peacemaking would inevitably fail but they'd delayed the coming war with humanity. Apocalypse was the immediate threat. Magneto pressed his hands to his ears to try and block out the screams from the shadows. Rogue had done something to him, it had never been this bad before. He had to maintain his focus. Apocalypse first. Humanity afterwards.
****** ****** ******
The narrow canyon walls loomed over them providing welcome relief from the desert sun. Todd led Scott and Fred stumbled after them, his entire attention focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Pietro had yet to regain consciousness and the heat radiating off his body was worrying Scott more than he wanted to admit to the other two.
They were almost there, Scott reminded himself. Fred was not going to collapse before they got there. They'd be able to treat Pietro's sunstroke and he'd be fine. Scott himself was beginning to suffer from dehydration, but they were going to make it to the base before it became an issue.
There was an underground lake beneath the base Scott remembered. His mind drifted off thinking about the cool water, more than he could drink. He could wade in the water. The smooth sandy bottom of the lake would feel so good on his burnt, cut, sore feet. Water to drink…
"Hey, a lemonade-stand!" Fred exclaimed as he pointed at an outcropping of rock.
Todd made sure he was pointing in the right direction then nodded. "Yep Freddy, lemonade, you just have to keep walking okay?"
"Damn, I left my wallet in my other bathrobe." Fred declared. "You'd think Rogue could wait for a guy to get dressed before kidnapping him. There I was, peacefully getting a midnight snack then bam! I'm in the middle of a desert in my bathrobe and I don't have any money for lemonade."
"It's okay Freddy." Todd reassured the larger teen. "I've got some money."
"Jean!" Scott exclaimed.
"Not you too!" Todd moaned.
"I'm here Jean! The Mohave Desert. The earthquake base, I'm here!"
"Earth to Cyke! No more people cracking up yo!" Todd yelled.
"I sensed her," Scott insisted, "in my mind."
"So is she coming?" Todd asked hopefully.
Scott shrugged. "I've got no idea if she heard me or not. She seemed really far away. I could just barely hear her yelling for me."
"Well we're almost there." Todd said. "Just two more bends then we're at the rockslide you described."
"Where's the lemonade?" Fred asked plaintively.
****** ****** ******
Gambit ducked into Magneto's office. "Rogue's travelin' conventionally. I just got a bite on one of m' lines. Mystique used her credit card to buy three plane tickets for Tibet."
"Take Wanda, go after her." Magneto commanded. "It is essential that we stop her."
"How 'xactly are we s'posed to do dat?" Gambit asked. "De last time we fought her she be on her own and she didn't have our powers to turn 'gainst us. Still, it didn' turn out s' well, neh?"
"You are correct." Magneto admitted. "Which is why I am seeking reinforcements. With regards to Apocalypse Charles and I are in accord. Delay the girl as best as you are able. Even while she possesses all our powers she still can't fight us all at once."
"Y' sure it be safe to trust de X-Men like dat?" Gambit asked.
"I assure you, I am more than capable of dealing with Charles Xavier and his band of dreamers."
"It's jus'… it feels all wrong being enemies wit' Silver-kid." Gambit replied. "Xavier's s'posed to be de strongest 'path on de planet. Mebbe he brainwashed 'Silver or somet'ing."
"Pietro is young, foolish and in love." Magneto replied. "It would hardly require a telepath to sway his loyalties. I will be fine."
"Alright den. Wanda an' I'll be going. We'll be 'xpectin' y' and de X-Men shortly."
****** ****** ******
The glass in Irene's hand dropped to the kitchen floor and shattered. She stood frozen in the center of a spreading pool of tomato juice. Images of what was to come flashed before her blinded eyes.
Mystique reached up and ripped out her own eyes. She led their foster-daughter toward a huge grasping hand. The girl was bound like a sacrificial lamb. The hand closed on both of them with a crushing strength then rose toward the sky.
A tall, dark haired boy was harried along a path lined with brambles and bard wire. The path became steps leading to a guillotine.
An indistinct mob swirled around the base of the guillotine. The huge fist hovered menacingly over the crowd. Rogue's blood dripped down on them like acid rain. The voices rose in a cacophony of discordant screams.
An unseen shadow sliced the rope holding the blade aloft. Hands reached out to pull the boy to safety but blood splashed the crowd. The people in the mob fell on one another in a rage and the blood spread and spread.