Chapter 7

"How was dinner?" Joe asked as Rogue looked at the small, empty plate that had had a little rice on it. Her stomach growled with hunger as she gave Joe a glare. "Don't give me that look."

Suddenly Rogue froze when she heard screams of a man and the sounds of a drill. Then she heard them strapping him down as his screams subsided and a burning sound came into place. She immediately remembered Logan and how a facility such as this experimented on him like he was a scientific experiment rather than a person. She shut her eyes slightly and then opened them to squint their coffee brown color at Joe. "You are a mutant, you should know. They are just lahke any normal person. How can you treat them lahke lab rats?"

"Shut up!" Joe exclaimed as he approached her cell slowly. His eyes left hers and stared at the wall behind her. "My grandfather always told me that I had a disease. William Stryker. He inspired me to become a scientist such as himself. I thought I could figure out a way to cure myself, and I finally figured out how."

Rogue knitted her eyebrows at his words. A cure? What was he talking about?

"My father, Jason Stryker, didn't want anything but to satisfy his own father with whatever he wanted because he was afraid of him," Joe said. "He was so caught up in hating and blaming his father that he forgot to be one. I watched as Jason suffered from my grandfather's experiments and testing on him." Rogue shook her head in disbelief and pity. "I hate my father."

Joe diverted his eyes back towards Rogue and walked up even closer to her cell. His head jolted forward with anger as Rogue backed away behind the cell wall blocking their contact. "You hear that machinery going through the man's skin upstairs? Oh it's a beautiful sound. It reminds me of the time we tortured a disguised mutant working for my grandfather in the facility. One that helped my father survive the flood at Alkali Lake. Now, with the help of the medication and the surgery, my father is healthy and alive."

"You can't blame all mutants for your father's wrong-doin," Rogue said as Joe ignored her like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"All of you are nothing but trouble," Joe said. "You are a plague upon this earth. We all have a disease. . ." Joe paused and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to cure all of you. Oh but don't worry…… it is only a little pain for a short while."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked with confusion.

"Death will rid you of your disease."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So much violence. Vhy?" Kurt asked rhetorically towards Storm. She sat on the red sofa in one of the smaller living rooms. Her face looked exhausted, her brown eyes felt heavy, and her whole body ached with recovering pain. Kurt turned to her and brushed her tangled strands of white hair away from her face. He tucked one strand behind her ear. "Are you sure you are going to be alright? Are you sure he didn't hurt you?"

Ororo nodded slightly and gave him a half smile. She knew she was going to be alright, she just felt confused and worn out at the moment. Everything had happened so fast. The last thing she remembered was her and Kurt's kiss and then Sabretooth attacking her. She heard her screams replay in her mind. She had been so terrified when Sabretooth had dropped her in the small boxed area. It had been in her own garden, the only place where she felt free. For the first time in her life, she had felt trapped, helpless, and a prisoner in her garden. This was the only place where she felt safe and secure and loved. The feeling of not being safe in her own home worried her. What would become of her if she completely lost that feeling?

But that wasn't the only thing bothering her. When she had regained some of her strength back she had tried to follow everything Kurt, Logan, Professor X, and Scott were telling her. She had not yet fully taken in what Scott was intending on doing. How was he going to find Jean? Wasn't she dead? The thought of her best friend being alive no matter what the explanation for it was gave her much hope.

Kurt extended his hand towards hers to give her the cup of coffee he had made her. Storm smiled and accepted it from him. She silently wished more people in this world were like Kurt. So kind, so full of faith. She couldn't believe people were afraid of him. Could they not see the warmth in his yellow eyes?

"Thank you," Storm whispered lightly as she took a sip of her coffee. "Did you tell Bobby and Rogue to come down here?"

"I had asked Kitty vhere zey vere and she said she thinks zey vere studying. She said zey vill be down in a minute after she tells zem," Kurt stated as Storm nodded.

"Storm! Kurt!" Jubilee exclaimed as she came running into the living room with Kitty and Piotr behind her.

"What is it Jubilee?" Storm asked with a worried expression.

"Rogue and Bobby are no where to be found. Trust me, Multiple looked everywhere," Jubilee said referring to Jamie who caused himself to multiply and search high and low.

Before Jubilee could say anything more Kurt and Ororo had already teleported out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Logan opened his eyes to see water all around him as it entered his mouth. Bubbles formed in the water when he struggled to unconsciously let out a growl. He couldn't contemplate anything that had just happened to them. Not right now at least. He had to find Cyclops.

He suddenly noticed a red visor floating around in the water beneath him and swam down deeper to reach for it, realizing that Scott was probably somewhere deeper than the visor. His lungs were running out of air as he went down deeper. He realized that he couldn't rescue his teammate if he was dead too. So he swam up to the surface to catch his breath. He placed the visor on the hook of his pants, making sure it was secured tightly. He felt something heavy tugging at his foot, but he told himself he would take care of it when he fully regained his breath.

When his breath was back he dove back down into the salty ocean water. The water was a bit cold in the dark night. Logan could feel his goose bumps forming all around his body. He went deeper and deeper, kicking his feet back and forth to keep him going. His eyes searched the blurry waters as he saw emptiness.

He suddenly felt the heavy object tug at his foot again. His eyes widened as he looked down to find Scott holding on with a struggle. Logan took Scott's hand off of his foot and grabbed his wrist. He could see that his eyes were shut tightly, trying not to harm anything in his path. He was really cautious and controlled.

He swam up to the surface again and brought Scott up by force, realizing he was worn out. He held him by the shoulders to keep him steady. "Whoa Scooter," Logan stated. "You okay there Sport?"

Scott broke out into a fit of coughing in response to the question, keeping his eyes shut tightly. "Is………she………" Scott paused to breathe and coughed once again, "………alright?"

"Yeah she's alright. My first clue was when she attacked us," Logan said with sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke. He felt like she had just given them only a taste of what's to come.

Logan looked at Scott's shut eyes and reached for the visor he had attached to his pants. But it was not there. So he hadn't secured it on tight enough. Damn……damn damn, Logan cursed himself with bitterness. Scott held on to his shoulders as Logan swam back to the far shore. When they reached the shore after ten minutes they tumbled onto the wet sand with torn leather uniforms and stringy hair.

"Agh, the jet's still here," Logan said. "Let's go home."

"What about Jean?" Scott asked with concern. His eyebrows knitted down to his shut eyes.

"Are you blind?!? Do you not remember what just happened?" Logan shouted. Scott just stood there with a solemn expression on his face. "We'll come back another time. Come on!"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Scott started as he limped up in a standing position. "You can't fly the jet! You don't know how to."

Logan looked at Scott's shut eyes. "And who's going to fly it? You? I don't think so Stevie Wonder," Logan said with a gruff laugh. "Besides, there's a first time for everything."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you with the Brotherhood once again?" Professor Xavier asked calmly as Sabretooth stood behind a small cell wall that they had never used before, meant to be for invaders. Professor Xavier meant no harm towards Sabretooth, he just wanted answers. Sabretooth just growled loudly and tried to break through the metal bars, but to no avail. He didn't remember how he got in here and how Logan got away, but he knew he had to get out.

Suddenly, the teleportation sound that Professor Xavier had somewhat gotten used to could be heard behind him. He heard Sabretooth growling and glaring at the two behind him.

Professor Xavier turned around, sensing something was wrong. "Bobby and Rogue are missing," Storm began as Professor Xavier turned back to Sabretooth. He paused for a moment in time to take in what he had just heard. Now was not the time for the two to be wandering off without telling anyone.

Professor Xavier didn't hesitate with his next move. "I'm going to find them," Professor Xavier said, referring to cerebro, as he started to wheel himself forward. "Will you two be alright here?" They both nodded very slightly as Professor Xavier exited the small room.

Storm stayed back as far as possible from the cell as she saw Sabretooth staring at them and growling deep in his throat. Storm couldn't help notice something from the corner of her eyes. On Sabretooth's neck was a dog tag. The same dog tag Logan had told her about before. The one that gave them names as if they were test subjects or trained animals.

Sabretooth noticed Storm was now looking closer at the metal chain around his neck. He put his hands tightly around the metal bars and sank his deep black eyes into Storm's. He growled lightly and grabbed his dog tag to slide it beneath his shirt.

Storm finally realized that she had kept her eyes on the dog tag for more than necessary. She moved in her position, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the thought of experimentation on people. She shuddered slightly as Kurt put his hand on her shoulder to ease her, not knowing what was bothering her.

"Vhy do you come here?" Kurt began with slight anger in his voice, but showing no harm. Sabretooth just looked at Kurt with annoyance.

He turned to Storm and growled. "You think you get rid of someone, proud of your accomplishment, only to find out that they are not really gone," Sabretooth said, referring to himself. "There is never an end."

Silence followed as his words sank into Storm's mind. Maybe, just maybe, he was right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"LLL………OOOGGGAAANNN!!!" Scott exclaimed as he shut his eyes even harder and held on to his seat handle until his knuckles turned pale white. "I said the button on the left not the button on the right!!!"

"Yeah, yeah," Logan stated as the jet came back into position from it's rough turn high in the skies. "They looked the same to me. Calm down, I've got this under control."

The jet was shaking and swerving from side to side every two minutes. When Scott had told Logan to put it on auto-pilot now, he had thankfully pressed the right button. "You have to admit though, I am better than Rogue," Logan stated now that it was quiet. They sat in silence for a few moments as Scott's jaw tightened. Now that the chaos had calmed down, his mind was back to being tortured by the scene back at the island.

He was sure that was Jean, he could feel her. But why was she there? How did she survive? Why was she not the same Jean that had been with them before? She was so powerful. Her eyes had scared him for that one second in time. But he was thankful that his eyes had been shut because of the loss of his visor. His mouth twisted in an awkward position and he held in the overwhelming feeling of emotion inside him.

"Turn the jet around," Scott ordered in a mono-toned and solemn expression. "Now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Logan asked with amazement. "Cyclops, we can't go back. I know you want to, but we can't. Look, I don't know what that was all about but I know one thing for sure."

"What's that?"

"We are going back to the mansion," Logan slightly shouted with a surprise of silence as a response. Logan took the jet off auto-pilot as he took control of the jet once again.

"WRONG BUTTON LOGAN!!!" Scott exclaimed as the jet sped up in the cloudy night sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright Rogue," Joe said as he brought Bobby down in chains. "You can be occupied with your boyfriend now." Joe locked him up in one of the boxed cells and Bobby dropped to his knees. "I figured two X-men is better than one," Joe said with a snarl as he exited the room.

"Bobby," Rogue said with hurt in her voice at seeing him like this. His clothes were torn and she couldn't help notice the little mark on his shoulder. "What did they do to you?"

"Rogue," Bobby muttered. "Are you ok?"

"Ah should be asking you that," Rogue said as she looked at him with tenderness from her prison.

"Joe had used some kind of tranquilizer on me back at the mansion," Bobby stated as he pointed to the mark on his shoulder. "If I use my powers this thing will seriously harm me. Apparently I heard that these chains don't allow cerebro to find us either. I guess Joe turned out to be a great scientist."

Rogue listened to his unhopeful words. He had come here by force, unlike her. "Please forgive me, ah……" Rogue silently spoke and then paused as she decided not to tell him how she got here.

"That little…" Bobby started then stopped to take a breath. He sat in a sitting position and looked over at Rogue. His glittering blue eyes glazed over with a wet coat of water mixed with what seemed like pure ice. "I love you Rogue."

"I love you too Bobby."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The time has come, to land this jet. Logan knew he could do it, yet he knew Cyclops was terribly hesitant. Scott had repeated what Logan had to do to land the jet enough times for him to know. He reached his leather gloved hand and shifted gears. His claws on his right hand popped out and he reached forward to press the buttons needed for the landing. He lowered the jet towards the opening basketball court and brought the jet down as it shook intensely.

The jet felt as if it was being pulled down by gravity as it dropped to the floor. It made a loud thump on the underground floor and Scott held on for dear life. He took in a deep breath when he realized that they were finally home. "You call that a landing?" Scott asked, eyes still shut.

Logan escorted Scott out of the jet and down the steps as they entered the lower level halls. Logan entered an equipment room he was familiar with and grabbed one of Scott's spare visors out of a glass case. He handed it to Scott to place on his face. Scott did so and with a relieved sigh opened his eyes.

He saw red, familiar things in front of him. He saw Logan, but Jean was no where to be found. He remembered the first time he had put his visor on he had seen Jean in front of his eyes. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. They had become friends before and her voice was so kind and welcoming, he knew her face would match her heart. When he looked into her eyes, the feeling he had before became stronger. He knew there and then that she was his match. The other part of his soul.

His heart ached with overwhelming pain and he tried to brush it off to be the leader that he is. He knew though, that he wasn't going to give up, no matter what. But he was happy that she was still alive, that there was still hope.

Scott looked down at his torn and wet clothes and decided to go and change. He headed upstairs, leaving Logan in the lower levels.

Logan grabbed a sweater and placed it over his soaked uniform. He replayed the scene at the island and decided to wear off some stress in the weight room. He headed to the elevator and pressed the up button. When he reached the top floor his keen hearing senses couldn't help pick up the noise of the doorbell. At first he shrugged it off, but when it kept ringing in his ear he decided to open the cursed door. When he opened the door, a mailman stood before him with an envelope wrapped neatly in his hand.

"Special delivery for Charles Xavier," the man spoke with enthusiasm. Logan just shrugged, took the letter from the man and closed the door in his face without a word. He sniffed the letter just in case of something unexpected. Everything was safe and clear. He decided no one would mind if he read it, so why not?

He ripped the envelope open, not caring about saving it's neatness, and read the words written in print.

Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters:

We are writing this letter to inform you on what is taking place Saturday, the fifteenth…………due to the assassination of our president, the vice president will now take his place as we…………we must not dwell on a tragic event………society must move on as……… we invite all members of the Xavier Institute to witness the first steps in the beginning of a bright future……………signed Vice President Watson.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Hope you liked it!!! More to come, if you review!!!