_____________________________Chapter 2___________________________________
John struggled through the blinding snow, his anger making him forget the cold. He had felt Jean's presence in his mind, so he had called up flames inside his head to make her leave. His attempt had worked. He didn't understand why no one would accept him. It's the same way it's always been, he thought, then he felt a rush of sadness fall upon him, drowning him. John pushed it aside, storing it in the corner of his mind where he had always kept unwanted emotions.
The moon shone brightly enough so John could see what was ahead of him. He had been walking since morning. His pace slowed, he fell to his knees. Fatigue overwhelmed him. He fell into a deep sleep, unaware of what was pursuing him.
Kitty was the first of the three friends to reach the medical center.
"Ha ha!" she laughed. "I win!" Kitty moved to push open the door, but accidentally phased through it. "Whoops!"
"Hello, Kitty." Jean Gray helped Kitty up off the floor as the other two came in, laughing.
"Very funny." said Kitty, pouting. "Ohh. Is that. them?" Kitty asked, pointing at two figures lying on hospital beds. The girl's bonds had been removed, despite what Scott had said.
"Yeah." Rogue said, looking at Bobby. He still looked uncomfortable. "You okay?" she asked him, touching his arm with her gloved hand.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Bobby's voice contained an angry note.
Rogue withdrew her hand and walked over to Jean. "When do you expect them to wake up?"
Jean wrote down some information on a clipboard. "The girl should come around pretty soon. I'm not so sure about Lance. He's been ripped up pretty bad."
"Like, why didn't we ask Lance to join the X-men?" asked Kitty.
"To be truthful, I don't know. We picked him up on Cerebro, but at the same time, we picked up Rogue here, and then Bobby. So for an unexplained reason we went for you two, and by that time, Magneto had already gotten Lance."
"So do you mean," Bobby said thoughtfully. "If you had gone to get Lance instead of me, I would be in the Brotherhood?"
"Well," Jean said, "Normally Magneto convinces people to join the Brotherhood by reaching out and promising to provide something that the person desires. Sometimes he acts differently, like doing them some sort of extreme favor, then they have to repay him, whatever. It depends if you would have had something for him to play on."
Bobby nodded, still thoughtful.
Suddenly, the girl in the hospital bed jumped to her feet. Her eyes examined every part of the room quickly. "Where am I?" she asked commandingly.
"You're in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. You'll be safe here." Jean said calmly. The other three were staring at the girl, startled.
"This doesn't look like a school."
"It's also the home of the X-men."
"The X-men? Who are they?"
"A team of mutants who fight. well, evil."
"Figures. And who are you?"
"I am Jean Gray. I am also a mutant, part of the X-men. I am telekinetic, and have some telepathic abilities."
"Oh, really?" the girl looked to the other three. "Who are they?"
"These are three of the school's students. Also mutants. In fact, everyone here is a mutant. Why don't you three introduce yourselves? And you can show her your powers. Well, except for you, Rogue, sorry."
"Oh, don't worry, I don't mind." Rogue looked relieved, "I'm Marie D'Ancanto. But everyone calls me Rogue. If someone touches my skin, I absorb their memories, personalities, and in the case of mutants, their powers. Temporarily. And most importantly, their life force. If I touched you right now, it could kill you."
"Interesting." said the girl, looking slightly impressed. "And you?" she asked, pointing at Kitty.
"My name is Katherine Pryde, but, like, no one calls me that. I'm Kitty. I can do some weird thing with, like, the atoms of my body or something, so I can phase through stuff."
The girl looked confused.
"Here," Kitty said happily, "I'll show you." Then, she promptly walked through the table between herself and the mysterious girl.
"Nice." the girl suddenly grinned. "I'll bet that comes in handy."
"You could say that. Always good for, like, visiting people. Like, just walk next door!" Kitty said happily.
"How about him?" the girl turned to Bobby.
"I'm Bobby Drake. My codename's Iceman. I can freeze the moisture in the air, and other stuff like that." he held out his hand, palm up, and quickly, a small ice figure took form there.
"Not too bad."
"What about you?" asked Kitty, curiosity getting the better of her.
"I can manipulate water with my mind, and I have regenerative powers."
"We know people with, like, powers kinda like those! Don't we guys?" Kitty said excitedly. The others looked blank. Kitty shrugged. "Well Logan has regenerative powers. And John can, like, control fire!" Kitty said proudly.
"I'll have to meet them, I guess." said the girl.
"Er." said Bobby.
"What about your name?" Kitty asked quizzically, while ignoring Bobby.
"Hydro." she then closed her eyes, obviously straining to remember something. "Oh, yeah, you can call me. Jessica." she smiled, happy to have remembered what she was searching for.
'Hey, I'll, like, show you around! Come on!" Kitty grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her to the door, then phased both of them through it.
"That was weird," they heard Jessica say.
Rogue sighed. "Why couldn't I have had a cool power, like Kitty's or even yours, Jean?"
"Rogue, I know your power is especially difficult, but there is no way you can stop having it. You have to learn to cope. I'm sorry." Jean looked unhappy. "Could you guys check this over and make sure it makes sense?" Jean handed them a piece of paper.
"Uhh. sure." Rogue took the paper. "Avalanche? That's his codename, right? Weird. What is his power anyway?"
"Remember that huge earthquake back at the lab? That was him. It says right here: 'Geological Manipulation'.
"Weird." Rogue scanned the rest of the paper and handed it back to Jean. "It's good. Well, we'll see you later, all right?"
"Okay." said Jean, distracted. She was checking different machines that had various tubes and wires attached to Lance, and muttering to herself worriedly.
Suddenly, John woke up. He quickly shut his eyes again, as it was extremely bright. He opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. He realized he was indoors. Sitting in a chair. John tried to stand up, but found himself tied down. He turned his head to see a man in a long white coat working at a desk. Beyond the man was a door. There was nothing else in the small room.
The man turned to look at John, lighting a cigarette, "I see you're awake. Now there are a few things I must know. First"
John interrupted him, "Where am I?"
"That is none of your concern. Now"
Interrupting a second time, John said, "Who are you?"
"You'll find out soon enough," said the man angrily, "now listen to me!" he paused, "Good. Now tell me your name."
John was silent.
"Tell me your name!" the man thundered.
John did not answer.
The man took a deep breath, a smile playing around his lips. "Alright, then I will have to force the answers from you." He took out a small device from the pocket of his white lab coat. He pressed a couple buttons on it. A hole formed in the ceiling in front of John. A machine emerged from the hole, and glowed red.
Immediately, John felt a fire explode within him. He took deep breaths, fueling it. The fire grew stronger, hotter. John began to hyperventilate, breathing normally wasn't enough. John searched frantically to vent the flames. His eyes rested on the man's cigarette. Instantly, the cigarette's tip exploded into flame, startling the man. Then John found he couldn't control the raging fire he had created. The flames grew wilder, burning everything, reaching to the ceiling. John cried out as the fires, inside and out, attacked him. The heat from the exterior fire burned the chair and ropes that held him. John didn't move from where he lay, hyperventilating. The sprinkler system went off, drenching everything, and put out the external flames. John lay on the floor, tortured by his own power. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the fire raging inside of him disappeared. John, still hyperventilating, found himself sweating. He got to his feet.
"Now, are you ready to cooperate?" the man continued without waiting for an answer, "What is your name?"
John breathed heavily. "John Allerdyce."
A couple days later, Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, and Jessica were eating lunch outside together. The weather had calmed down enough so that this was possible. Then a snowball hit Bobby full in the face.
"Aggh!" Bobby made a strange noise, his mouth full of snow. The girls laughed.
"I gotcha!" a young voice said. Then Bobby was bombarded by snowballs and fell off of his seat on the stone wall. A chorus of laughter came from the voice's direction.
"Jamie!" Bobby said, angrily, spitting snow from his mouth. "Stop it!"
The boy called Jamie laughed again, along with about five other kids, each identical to Jamie. They all picked up snowballs and threw them at the girls. Kitty giggled as the snowballs phased through her and hit her friends.
"Hi Jean!" Kitty said as she saw the redhead approach.
"Hi Kitty!" Jean smiled, then turned to the others and tried not to laugh. "Umm. Bobby, Rogue, can you come with me?"
"Sure," said Rogue helping Bobby up, who gave her a smile of gratitude.
They followed Jean inside the mansion.
"So, what's up, Jean?" Bobby asked, brushing off the snow clinging to him.
"Remember what I said after we got off the Blackbird?"
"Yeah," Rogue said. "We have to 'play nice' with Jess and Lance."
"Well, Lance will be waking up real soon, so you guys get up to the med center."
She quickly walked down the corridor towards Professor X's classroom.
"Alright then." Rogue said. "I'm interested in meeting Lance. I want to see if he's as bad as you say he is."
Bobby said nothing, but he looked annoyed.
When the two mutants reached the med center, they had picked up a third student. Their meeting went something like this:
"Aggh!! Bear! Get off me!" Bobby pulled the small furball from his face.
Rogue laughed. "Bear! What do you want?"
"Wants to come wiv you." the small furry mutant said pleadingly.
"Okay," Rogue said, giving in, "You can come."
So when the group entered, Bear decided he wanted to learn to walk through walls. He promptly ran into the wall and knocked himself out.
"Oh, well," said Bobby, "at least he'll be quiet now."
"Yeah," said Rogue. "Looks like Lance is waking up."
Lance sat up in the bed, then winced, gingerly touching his left side. He turned his head slightly to look at Rogue and Bobby. "That's too bad," he said quietly.
"What's too bad?" Rogue asked.
"Only that out of all of the people that could have rescued me, I got the X- Geeks." He smiled at the infuriated look on Bobby's face. "Well, I guess I should look on the bright side, I'm alive, aren't I?" He got up from the bed, and tested his injured leg. Finding that it would hold him, though painfully, he walked around the room slowly. "What's that?" He asked them. "Your dog?"
"That's Bear." Rogue answered, as the furry 3-year-old stood up walking dizzily around in circles. She scooped him up into her arms. She had no worries of him touching her, since he was covered in fur.
"Oh, what a coincidence!" Lance said grinning. "If it isn't my good friend Bobby Drake!" Bobby glared at him, and Lance chuckled. "Ah, well, can't expect everyone to want to be friends, right?"
"Whatever, Alvers." Bobby said angrily. "This is my girlfriend, Rogue."
Lance turned to Rogue, raising his eyebrows. "Now I'm sure you could do better than him, Rogue."
Rogue stayed calm as Bobby fumed. "Oh really? Well, I think I know what I'm doing, thank you!"
Lance went to open the door and leave, when Kitty phased through it, yelling, "Ahhh! Kurt! Don't do that!" She landed right in Lance's arms. He looked surprised, and almost dropped her.
Lance blinked. "Who are you?"
"Uhh." Kitty stared at him.
"That's Kitty." Rogue said, trying not to laugh, and failing. "She can phase through walls and stuff."
"I noticed." said Lance. He set her on her feet and stepped back. "Who's Kurt?"
Bamf!
A figure appeared beside Rogue in a cloud of smoke which gave off a slight smell of brimstone. "Did someone mention me?" the figure said, with a German accent.
"That's Kurt." said Kitty.
"What?" Kurt looked confused. "Why are you mad at me, Kitty?"
"You keep, like, teleporting right in front of me! It drives, like, me up, and through, the wall!" Kitty said unhappily.
"Oh." Kurt looked embarrassed. He looked around for another subject. "Who's this?" he asked pointing at Lance.
This could get annoying. Rogue sighed. "This is Lance Alvers. He's with the Brotherhood."
"Huh? Then why is he" Kurt began, but was cut off by Lance.
"I was." He looked angry. Opening the door, he said as he walked off. "Not anymore."
"Uhhh." said Kurt. "What was that all about?"
Rogue sighed and told him the story. "I am going to get so tired of telling this."
"I'll say," said Bobby. "And I'm going to get real tired of him being here."
"Just ignore him, Bobby, he's only trying to annoy you!" Rogue said to him.
"It's working." Bobby muttered.
"Bobby, we have to help out Lance, remember? We promised Jean we would. So stop grumbling!" Rogue grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the M.C., following Lance.
Kurt and Kitty looked at each other and shrugged. Then Kurt spoke up, "How about we go raid the kitchen?"
"Like, sounds good to me!" Kitty said, and Kurt teleported them to their destination.
Rogue dragged Bobby outside, where they had spotted Lance out of the window a couple of minutes before. They spotted him quickly. Unfortunately for him, so did someone else.
Ray Crisp walked up behind Lance. "Well, if it isn't the walking Richter's Scale!" Ray pushed Lance over, who tried to stop himself, but failed.
"What do you want?" Lance said, looking up at the mutant.
"Revenge." Ray smirked.
"I didn't do anything to you! I don't even know you!" Lance said from where he sat on the ground.
"Oh, I don't want revenge for me. I'm doing it for my friends! Should I have said avenge?" Ray's smile widened. "Remember Jamie? Or how about Rahne?" He extended a hand towards Lance, but not to help him up.
Rogue and Bobby ran over as Ray sent bolts of blue electricity at Lance. They hit Lance in the chest and enveloped him.
Rogue grabbed Ray and turned him around to face her. "What are you doing?"
Ray looked startled, then glared at her. "Why are you protecting him? Number one, he's a bully. Number two, he pushes around the younger X-Men. And most of all, number three; he's with the Brotherhood! He's our enemy!"
"Not. anymore." Lance managed to say, as he struggled to get up. Bobby reluctantly put out his hand to Lance. Lance grabbed it, and hoisted himself to his feet. "Thanks."
"Yeah." said Bobby.
"What?" said Ray skeptically, "You're not with the Brotherhood?"
"I" Lance began, but Rogue cut him off.
"That's right, Ray. He's not with the Brotherhood anymore. So you'll just have to go beat up on someone else!" Rogue was angry, she wasn't going to let Ray bug Lance about the Brotherhood, not after what they did. Then she realized the ground was trembling. Rogue turned to look at Lance. He, also was shaking. He grabbed his head with both hands. The trembling grew worse.
"Alvers!" Bobby said, as the ground lurched violently, throwing them all to the ground. "Stop!"
Lance still gripped his head with his hands. "I.can't!"
Ray picked up a branch that had fallen from a tree. He crawled over to where Lance was and stood up. Then, he slammed the branch down onto Lance's head. Lance fell to the ground, unconscious. The earth's tremors halted.
Rogue and Bobby looked up at Ray.
"Sorry," he said, shrugging. "It was the only thing I could think of."
"Well, that will sure go well with the rest of his injuries." Bobby said.
"Injuries?" Ray said, puzzled.
"Not again!" Rogue moaned, looking heavenward. Then, she gave in and retold the story, this time to Ray.
"Now I feel kind of bad for attackin' the guy," said Ray, looking at Lance. "He's going to have a major headache when he wakes up!"
"That's allright," Lance said, from the ground. "I'm used to it." He sat up and massaged his head. "Well, sort of."
"Er." said Ray sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
"Yeah, well." Lance staggered to his feet. "I don't think I know your name."
"I'm Ray Crisp, sometimes known as Berzerker."
"Umm, not to pry or anything, but, Lance? Why did your powers go insane?" Rogue asked.
Lance looked at her sharply.
"Sorry," Rogue said quickly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't"
"Nah, it's okay." Lance waved a hand at her. "It happened when you mentioned the" He broke off, obviously nervous about being unable to control his powers. "The Brotherhood."
"Oh, Lance, I'm really sorry." Rogue said.
"Yeah, well, thanks, I guess..." Lance's eyes widened, "Your friend. The fiery one."
"John? Do you know where he is?" Bobby asked hopefully.
"We" Lance shook his head, and corrected himself. "They, the Brotherhood, they knew your friend left this place," He gestured toward the school, "They were planning to ask him to join usthem."
"I know! Maybe Prof. Xavier can talk to Magneto! I mean, they're old friends and stuff." Bobby said.
" 'Stuff' meaning 'enemies'?" said Ray.
Before Bobby could retort, Lance spoke up again. "But the Brotherhood's not the only ones tracking him."
"What?" Rogue said. This could not be good.
"Well," Lance said, stealing a glance at Ray. "I overheard Magneto talking. He said that they had to get to him before the"
Rogue interrupted him. "Oh, no! The kidnappers! The ones who experiment on mutants!"
"Huh?" said Ray.
"Shut up, Ray." Rogue snapped.
Lance continued. "If Magneto hadn't recruited your friend, then he most definitely has been captured for 'research'. Did he have any way to protect himself?"
"Well, John normally carries a lighter, but," Rogue said quickly, "he left it in his jacket pocket."
"So he doesn't have protection against the cold or defense?" Lance shook his head. "If no one has gotten to him." Lance trailed off, "Talk to your professor," He turned to leave, then said, "And I hope you can find your friend."
"Where are you going?" asked Ray.
"To find the Brotherhood. I want to repay them for their kindness."
"Hey! You can't just leave!" Rogue protested.
"And why not?"
"You're not in good shape, if you haven't noticed!"
"What does it matter? I'm your enemy, remember?" Lance said, "Right, Berzerker?"
"Uhh." Ray looked from Rogue to Lance. "I."
"Stay with us, Lance," said Rogue, almost pleading, "Fight with us, when you're fully healed. Get your revenge that way. Please!"
Lance looked at her face, then gazed over the school grounds. He sighed, and absently touched his injured side. Seconds went by in silence. Then he squinted, concentrating on a spot out on the horizon. "Well, if it isn't my good friend" Before he finished, two people popped up next to them. One was Kitty, looking slightly dazed. She was gripping a silver-haired boy by the arm. Peitro Maximoff.
Lance stared coldly at him, then turned to Kitty, "What are you doing with him?" He sounded somewhat hurt.
Kitty started talking at a rapid pace, "Well, me and Kurt, we, like, raided the kitchen, and I wanted to go for a walk. Kurt didn't, he was tired. So I, like, went by myself. But then, this freak came out of nowhere and, like, slammed into me. I, like, didn't have any time to use my powers. Anyway, he said something, I dunno what, it sounded weird, and then he grabbed my arm and all of a sudden we were going really fast! Everything was, like, a blur. And now we're here," Kitty sat down on a bench, and in her confusion, phased through it, "Whoops!"
Peitro stifled some laughter.
Lance turned to look at him, and grabbed his shirt, lifting Peitro off the ground, "Shut up, you conceited moron!"
"Lancedon'thurtme!" Peitro said fast enough to beat Kitty's speed by such an extreme amount that what he said was unintelligible.
"See?" Kitty said, "Doesn't he speak English?"
"I'm used to it," said Lance, sparing her a glance, "And why shouldn't I?" he said to Peitro, obviously struggling not to kill the smaller mutant, "While you're at it, slow down!"
"Don't hurt me." Peitro said again, then he wilted under Lance's gaze. "I, just, well." He thought a moment then asked, quizzically, "Why aren't you dead?"
Lance threw Peitro to the ground with a cry of revulsion. Peitro skidded along the ground a couple feet. The ground rumbled.
"Lance!" Rogue said. "Calm down! I'll deal with him!" She walked up to Peitro, staring down at him.
To every one's great surprise, Kitty spoke up, angrily, "Lance is alive, no thanks to you! That's all you need to know!"
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Peitro laughed nervously, "I need to see Professor Charles Xavier."
After a few tortured days at the hands of the man in the lab coat, John was escorted by soldiers to a small, dirty-looking cell. They shoved him inside, and John was too tired to resist. He collapsed onto the floor.
"I don't have visiting rights, so who might you be?" a voice from the shadows asked.
John started. He hadn't realized there was another person occupying the cell. "Who are you?" he asked as a girl with black hair reaching her waist and a strip of cloth tied over her eyes.
"I'm guessing I'm your roommate." the girl said. "Well, I'm called Crow."
John thought she looked vaguely familiar, but ignored the feeling. "Why do you have"
"Why do I wear this?" Crow gestured toward the dirty cloth blocking her eyes.
"Yeah," John said, not caring if he sounded rude. He'd never bothered with manners before, why start now?
"My mutant power is to paralyze anyone who looks into my eyes. I was told to do something about it, so I did."
"Just like that? You gave up seeing because someone told you to?"
"Forced is probably a better word. But I don't need my eyes to see. My other senses grew stronger since I can't see."
"Why don't you just take the thing off?"
"Because I don't like paralyzing people."
"Why not? It could get you out of here. Wherever here is."
"Because I can drain their energy, if I wish. It's a wonderful feeling, so it's always very tempting."
"Then why don't you do it more often, if it's so great?"
" 'With great power comes great responsibility,' " quoted Crow, "Pretty soon I'd be draining anyone I saw, just to get that thrilling charge of stolen energy."
"Hmm. Spiderman?" John laughed, "I used to know someone who read Spiderman comics," then he scowled, "Until she left 'cause of me."
"What is your name, anyway?" Crow asked.
John thought a bit, "Pyro," He said.
Hours later, John settled down onto the hard floor. He quickly fell into a deep sleep. Crow knelt down next to him. She lightly laid her fingers on his face. Her sensitive fingertips glided across it. His features were somewhat sharp, and he had thick hair. Crow smiled, knowing that her instincts couldn't be misleading her. She knew that this 'Pyro' would be very important in the future.
John struggled through the blinding snow, his anger making him forget the cold. He had felt Jean's presence in his mind, so he had called up flames inside his head to make her leave. His attempt had worked. He didn't understand why no one would accept him. It's the same way it's always been, he thought, then he felt a rush of sadness fall upon him, drowning him. John pushed it aside, storing it in the corner of his mind where he had always kept unwanted emotions.
The moon shone brightly enough so John could see what was ahead of him. He had been walking since morning. His pace slowed, he fell to his knees. Fatigue overwhelmed him. He fell into a deep sleep, unaware of what was pursuing him.
Kitty was the first of the three friends to reach the medical center.
"Ha ha!" she laughed. "I win!" Kitty moved to push open the door, but accidentally phased through it. "Whoops!"
"Hello, Kitty." Jean Gray helped Kitty up off the floor as the other two came in, laughing.
"Very funny." said Kitty, pouting. "Ohh. Is that. them?" Kitty asked, pointing at two figures lying on hospital beds. The girl's bonds had been removed, despite what Scott had said.
"Yeah." Rogue said, looking at Bobby. He still looked uncomfortable. "You okay?" she asked him, touching his arm with her gloved hand.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Bobby's voice contained an angry note.
Rogue withdrew her hand and walked over to Jean. "When do you expect them to wake up?"
Jean wrote down some information on a clipboard. "The girl should come around pretty soon. I'm not so sure about Lance. He's been ripped up pretty bad."
"Like, why didn't we ask Lance to join the X-men?" asked Kitty.
"To be truthful, I don't know. We picked him up on Cerebro, but at the same time, we picked up Rogue here, and then Bobby. So for an unexplained reason we went for you two, and by that time, Magneto had already gotten Lance."
"So do you mean," Bobby said thoughtfully. "If you had gone to get Lance instead of me, I would be in the Brotherhood?"
"Well," Jean said, "Normally Magneto convinces people to join the Brotherhood by reaching out and promising to provide something that the person desires. Sometimes he acts differently, like doing them some sort of extreme favor, then they have to repay him, whatever. It depends if you would have had something for him to play on."
Bobby nodded, still thoughtful.
Suddenly, the girl in the hospital bed jumped to her feet. Her eyes examined every part of the room quickly. "Where am I?" she asked commandingly.
"You're in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. You'll be safe here." Jean said calmly. The other three were staring at the girl, startled.
"This doesn't look like a school."
"It's also the home of the X-men."
"The X-men? Who are they?"
"A team of mutants who fight. well, evil."
"Figures. And who are you?"
"I am Jean Gray. I am also a mutant, part of the X-men. I am telekinetic, and have some telepathic abilities."
"Oh, really?" the girl looked to the other three. "Who are they?"
"These are three of the school's students. Also mutants. In fact, everyone here is a mutant. Why don't you three introduce yourselves? And you can show her your powers. Well, except for you, Rogue, sorry."
"Oh, don't worry, I don't mind." Rogue looked relieved, "I'm Marie D'Ancanto. But everyone calls me Rogue. If someone touches my skin, I absorb their memories, personalities, and in the case of mutants, their powers. Temporarily. And most importantly, their life force. If I touched you right now, it could kill you."
"Interesting." said the girl, looking slightly impressed. "And you?" she asked, pointing at Kitty.
"My name is Katherine Pryde, but, like, no one calls me that. I'm Kitty. I can do some weird thing with, like, the atoms of my body or something, so I can phase through stuff."
The girl looked confused.
"Here," Kitty said happily, "I'll show you." Then, she promptly walked through the table between herself and the mysterious girl.
"Nice." the girl suddenly grinned. "I'll bet that comes in handy."
"You could say that. Always good for, like, visiting people. Like, just walk next door!" Kitty said happily.
"How about him?" the girl turned to Bobby.
"I'm Bobby Drake. My codename's Iceman. I can freeze the moisture in the air, and other stuff like that." he held out his hand, palm up, and quickly, a small ice figure took form there.
"Not too bad."
"What about you?" asked Kitty, curiosity getting the better of her.
"I can manipulate water with my mind, and I have regenerative powers."
"We know people with, like, powers kinda like those! Don't we guys?" Kitty said excitedly. The others looked blank. Kitty shrugged. "Well Logan has regenerative powers. And John can, like, control fire!" Kitty said proudly.
"I'll have to meet them, I guess." said the girl.
"Er." said Bobby.
"What about your name?" Kitty asked quizzically, while ignoring Bobby.
"Hydro." she then closed her eyes, obviously straining to remember something. "Oh, yeah, you can call me. Jessica." she smiled, happy to have remembered what she was searching for.
'Hey, I'll, like, show you around! Come on!" Kitty grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her to the door, then phased both of them through it.
"That was weird," they heard Jessica say.
Rogue sighed. "Why couldn't I have had a cool power, like Kitty's or even yours, Jean?"
"Rogue, I know your power is especially difficult, but there is no way you can stop having it. You have to learn to cope. I'm sorry." Jean looked unhappy. "Could you guys check this over and make sure it makes sense?" Jean handed them a piece of paper.
"Uhh. sure." Rogue took the paper. "Avalanche? That's his codename, right? Weird. What is his power anyway?"
"Remember that huge earthquake back at the lab? That was him. It says right here: 'Geological Manipulation'.
"Weird." Rogue scanned the rest of the paper and handed it back to Jean. "It's good. Well, we'll see you later, all right?"
"Okay." said Jean, distracted. She was checking different machines that had various tubes and wires attached to Lance, and muttering to herself worriedly.
Suddenly, John woke up. He quickly shut his eyes again, as it was extremely bright. He opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. He realized he was indoors. Sitting in a chair. John tried to stand up, but found himself tied down. He turned his head to see a man in a long white coat working at a desk. Beyond the man was a door. There was nothing else in the small room.
The man turned to look at John, lighting a cigarette, "I see you're awake. Now there are a few things I must know. First"
John interrupted him, "Where am I?"
"That is none of your concern. Now"
Interrupting a second time, John said, "Who are you?"
"You'll find out soon enough," said the man angrily, "now listen to me!" he paused, "Good. Now tell me your name."
John was silent.
"Tell me your name!" the man thundered.
John did not answer.
The man took a deep breath, a smile playing around his lips. "Alright, then I will have to force the answers from you." He took out a small device from the pocket of his white lab coat. He pressed a couple buttons on it. A hole formed in the ceiling in front of John. A machine emerged from the hole, and glowed red.
Immediately, John felt a fire explode within him. He took deep breaths, fueling it. The fire grew stronger, hotter. John began to hyperventilate, breathing normally wasn't enough. John searched frantically to vent the flames. His eyes rested on the man's cigarette. Instantly, the cigarette's tip exploded into flame, startling the man. Then John found he couldn't control the raging fire he had created. The flames grew wilder, burning everything, reaching to the ceiling. John cried out as the fires, inside and out, attacked him. The heat from the exterior fire burned the chair and ropes that held him. John didn't move from where he lay, hyperventilating. The sprinkler system went off, drenching everything, and put out the external flames. John lay on the floor, tortured by his own power. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the fire raging inside of him disappeared. John, still hyperventilating, found himself sweating. He got to his feet.
"Now, are you ready to cooperate?" the man continued without waiting for an answer, "What is your name?"
John breathed heavily. "John Allerdyce."
A couple days later, Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, and Jessica were eating lunch outside together. The weather had calmed down enough so that this was possible. Then a snowball hit Bobby full in the face.
"Aggh!" Bobby made a strange noise, his mouth full of snow. The girls laughed.
"I gotcha!" a young voice said. Then Bobby was bombarded by snowballs and fell off of his seat on the stone wall. A chorus of laughter came from the voice's direction.
"Jamie!" Bobby said, angrily, spitting snow from his mouth. "Stop it!"
The boy called Jamie laughed again, along with about five other kids, each identical to Jamie. They all picked up snowballs and threw them at the girls. Kitty giggled as the snowballs phased through her and hit her friends.
"Hi Jean!" Kitty said as she saw the redhead approach.
"Hi Kitty!" Jean smiled, then turned to the others and tried not to laugh. "Umm. Bobby, Rogue, can you come with me?"
"Sure," said Rogue helping Bobby up, who gave her a smile of gratitude.
They followed Jean inside the mansion.
"So, what's up, Jean?" Bobby asked, brushing off the snow clinging to him.
"Remember what I said after we got off the Blackbird?"
"Yeah," Rogue said. "We have to 'play nice' with Jess and Lance."
"Well, Lance will be waking up real soon, so you guys get up to the med center."
She quickly walked down the corridor towards Professor X's classroom.
"Alright then." Rogue said. "I'm interested in meeting Lance. I want to see if he's as bad as you say he is."
Bobby said nothing, but he looked annoyed.
When the two mutants reached the med center, they had picked up a third student. Their meeting went something like this:
"Aggh!! Bear! Get off me!" Bobby pulled the small furball from his face.
Rogue laughed. "Bear! What do you want?"
"Wants to come wiv you." the small furry mutant said pleadingly.
"Okay," Rogue said, giving in, "You can come."
So when the group entered, Bear decided he wanted to learn to walk through walls. He promptly ran into the wall and knocked himself out.
"Oh, well," said Bobby, "at least he'll be quiet now."
"Yeah," said Rogue. "Looks like Lance is waking up."
Lance sat up in the bed, then winced, gingerly touching his left side. He turned his head slightly to look at Rogue and Bobby. "That's too bad," he said quietly.
"What's too bad?" Rogue asked.
"Only that out of all of the people that could have rescued me, I got the X- Geeks." He smiled at the infuriated look on Bobby's face. "Well, I guess I should look on the bright side, I'm alive, aren't I?" He got up from the bed, and tested his injured leg. Finding that it would hold him, though painfully, he walked around the room slowly. "What's that?" He asked them. "Your dog?"
"That's Bear." Rogue answered, as the furry 3-year-old stood up walking dizzily around in circles. She scooped him up into her arms. She had no worries of him touching her, since he was covered in fur.
"Oh, what a coincidence!" Lance said grinning. "If it isn't my good friend Bobby Drake!" Bobby glared at him, and Lance chuckled. "Ah, well, can't expect everyone to want to be friends, right?"
"Whatever, Alvers." Bobby said angrily. "This is my girlfriend, Rogue."
Lance turned to Rogue, raising his eyebrows. "Now I'm sure you could do better than him, Rogue."
Rogue stayed calm as Bobby fumed. "Oh really? Well, I think I know what I'm doing, thank you!"
Lance went to open the door and leave, when Kitty phased through it, yelling, "Ahhh! Kurt! Don't do that!" She landed right in Lance's arms. He looked surprised, and almost dropped her.
Lance blinked. "Who are you?"
"Uhh." Kitty stared at him.
"That's Kitty." Rogue said, trying not to laugh, and failing. "She can phase through walls and stuff."
"I noticed." said Lance. He set her on her feet and stepped back. "Who's Kurt?"
Bamf!
A figure appeared beside Rogue in a cloud of smoke which gave off a slight smell of brimstone. "Did someone mention me?" the figure said, with a German accent.
"That's Kurt." said Kitty.
"What?" Kurt looked confused. "Why are you mad at me, Kitty?"
"You keep, like, teleporting right in front of me! It drives, like, me up, and through, the wall!" Kitty said unhappily.
"Oh." Kurt looked embarrassed. He looked around for another subject. "Who's this?" he asked pointing at Lance.
This could get annoying. Rogue sighed. "This is Lance Alvers. He's with the Brotherhood."
"Huh? Then why is he" Kurt began, but was cut off by Lance.
"I was." He looked angry. Opening the door, he said as he walked off. "Not anymore."
"Uhhh." said Kurt. "What was that all about?"
Rogue sighed and told him the story. "I am going to get so tired of telling this."
"I'll say," said Bobby. "And I'm going to get real tired of him being here."
"Just ignore him, Bobby, he's only trying to annoy you!" Rogue said to him.
"It's working." Bobby muttered.
"Bobby, we have to help out Lance, remember? We promised Jean we would. So stop grumbling!" Rogue grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the M.C., following Lance.
Kurt and Kitty looked at each other and shrugged. Then Kurt spoke up, "How about we go raid the kitchen?"
"Like, sounds good to me!" Kitty said, and Kurt teleported them to their destination.
Rogue dragged Bobby outside, where they had spotted Lance out of the window a couple of minutes before. They spotted him quickly. Unfortunately for him, so did someone else.
Ray Crisp walked up behind Lance. "Well, if it isn't the walking Richter's Scale!" Ray pushed Lance over, who tried to stop himself, but failed.
"What do you want?" Lance said, looking up at the mutant.
"Revenge." Ray smirked.
"I didn't do anything to you! I don't even know you!" Lance said from where he sat on the ground.
"Oh, I don't want revenge for me. I'm doing it for my friends! Should I have said avenge?" Ray's smile widened. "Remember Jamie? Or how about Rahne?" He extended a hand towards Lance, but not to help him up.
Rogue and Bobby ran over as Ray sent bolts of blue electricity at Lance. They hit Lance in the chest and enveloped him.
Rogue grabbed Ray and turned him around to face her. "What are you doing?"
Ray looked startled, then glared at her. "Why are you protecting him? Number one, he's a bully. Number two, he pushes around the younger X-Men. And most of all, number three; he's with the Brotherhood! He's our enemy!"
"Not. anymore." Lance managed to say, as he struggled to get up. Bobby reluctantly put out his hand to Lance. Lance grabbed it, and hoisted himself to his feet. "Thanks."
"Yeah." said Bobby.
"What?" said Ray skeptically, "You're not with the Brotherhood?"
"I" Lance began, but Rogue cut him off.
"That's right, Ray. He's not with the Brotherhood anymore. So you'll just have to go beat up on someone else!" Rogue was angry, she wasn't going to let Ray bug Lance about the Brotherhood, not after what they did. Then she realized the ground was trembling. Rogue turned to look at Lance. He, also was shaking. He grabbed his head with both hands. The trembling grew worse.
"Alvers!" Bobby said, as the ground lurched violently, throwing them all to the ground. "Stop!"
Lance still gripped his head with his hands. "I.can't!"
Ray picked up a branch that had fallen from a tree. He crawled over to where Lance was and stood up. Then, he slammed the branch down onto Lance's head. Lance fell to the ground, unconscious. The earth's tremors halted.
Rogue and Bobby looked up at Ray.
"Sorry," he said, shrugging. "It was the only thing I could think of."
"Well, that will sure go well with the rest of his injuries." Bobby said.
"Injuries?" Ray said, puzzled.
"Not again!" Rogue moaned, looking heavenward. Then, she gave in and retold the story, this time to Ray.
"Now I feel kind of bad for attackin' the guy," said Ray, looking at Lance. "He's going to have a major headache when he wakes up!"
"That's allright," Lance said, from the ground. "I'm used to it." He sat up and massaged his head. "Well, sort of."
"Er." said Ray sheepishly. "Sorry about that."
"Yeah, well." Lance staggered to his feet. "I don't think I know your name."
"I'm Ray Crisp, sometimes known as Berzerker."
"Umm, not to pry or anything, but, Lance? Why did your powers go insane?" Rogue asked.
Lance looked at her sharply.
"Sorry," Rogue said quickly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't"
"Nah, it's okay." Lance waved a hand at her. "It happened when you mentioned the" He broke off, obviously nervous about being unable to control his powers. "The Brotherhood."
"Oh, Lance, I'm really sorry." Rogue said.
"Yeah, well, thanks, I guess..." Lance's eyes widened, "Your friend. The fiery one."
"John? Do you know where he is?" Bobby asked hopefully.
"We" Lance shook his head, and corrected himself. "They, the Brotherhood, they knew your friend left this place," He gestured toward the school, "They were planning to ask him to join usthem."
"I know! Maybe Prof. Xavier can talk to Magneto! I mean, they're old friends and stuff." Bobby said.
" 'Stuff' meaning 'enemies'?" said Ray.
Before Bobby could retort, Lance spoke up again. "But the Brotherhood's not the only ones tracking him."
"What?" Rogue said. This could not be good.
"Well," Lance said, stealing a glance at Ray. "I overheard Magneto talking. He said that they had to get to him before the"
Rogue interrupted him. "Oh, no! The kidnappers! The ones who experiment on mutants!"
"Huh?" said Ray.
"Shut up, Ray." Rogue snapped.
Lance continued. "If Magneto hadn't recruited your friend, then he most definitely has been captured for 'research'. Did he have any way to protect himself?"
"Well, John normally carries a lighter, but," Rogue said quickly, "he left it in his jacket pocket."
"So he doesn't have protection against the cold or defense?" Lance shook his head. "If no one has gotten to him." Lance trailed off, "Talk to your professor," He turned to leave, then said, "And I hope you can find your friend."
"Where are you going?" asked Ray.
"To find the Brotherhood. I want to repay them for their kindness."
"Hey! You can't just leave!" Rogue protested.
"And why not?"
"You're not in good shape, if you haven't noticed!"
"What does it matter? I'm your enemy, remember?" Lance said, "Right, Berzerker?"
"Uhh." Ray looked from Rogue to Lance. "I."
"Stay with us, Lance," said Rogue, almost pleading, "Fight with us, when you're fully healed. Get your revenge that way. Please!"
Lance looked at her face, then gazed over the school grounds. He sighed, and absently touched his injured side. Seconds went by in silence. Then he squinted, concentrating on a spot out on the horizon. "Well, if it isn't my good friend" Before he finished, two people popped up next to them. One was Kitty, looking slightly dazed. She was gripping a silver-haired boy by the arm. Peitro Maximoff.
Lance stared coldly at him, then turned to Kitty, "What are you doing with him?" He sounded somewhat hurt.
Kitty started talking at a rapid pace, "Well, me and Kurt, we, like, raided the kitchen, and I wanted to go for a walk. Kurt didn't, he was tired. So I, like, went by myself. But then, this freak came out of nowhere and, like, slammed into me. I, like, didn't have any time to use my powers. Anyway, he said something, I dunno what, it sounded weird, and then he grabbed my arm and all of a sudden we were going really fast! Everything was, like, a blur. And now we're here," Kitty sat down on a bench, and in her confusion, phased through it, "Whoops!"
Peitro stifled some laughter.
Lance turned to look at him, and grabbed his shirt, lifting Peitro off the ground, "Shut up, you conceited moron!"
"Lancedon'thurtme!" Peitro said fast enough to beat Kitty's speed by such an extreme amount that what he said was unintelligible.
"See?" Kitty said, "Doesn't he speak English?"
"I'm used to it," said Lance, sparing her a glance, "And why shouldn't I?" he said to Peitro, obviously struggling not to kill the smaller mutant, "While you're at it, slow down!"
"Don't hurt me." Peitro said again, then he wilted under Lance's gaze. "I, just, well." He thought a moment then asked, quizzically, "Why aren't you dead?"
Lance threw Peitro to the ground with a cry of revulsion. Peitro skidded along the ground a couple feet. The ground rumbled.
"Lance!" Rogue said. "Calm down! I'll deal with him!" She walked up to Peitro, staring down at him.
To every one's great surprise, Kitty spoke up, angrily, "Lance is alive, no thanks to you! That's all you need to know!"
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Peitro laughed nervously, "I need to see Professor Charles Xavier."
After a few tortured days at the hands of the man in the lab coat, John was escorted by soldiers to a small, dirty-looking cell. They shoved him inside, and John was too tired to resist. He collapsed onto the floor.
"I don't have visiting rights, so who might you be?" a voice from the shadows asked.
John started. He hadn't realized there was another person occupying the cell. "Who are you?" he asked as a girl with black hair reaching her waist and a strip of cloth tied over her eyes.
"I'm guessing I'm your roommate." the girl said. "Well, I'm called Crow."
John thought she looked vaguely familiar, but ignored the feeling. "Why do you have"
"Why do I wear this?" Crow gestured toward the dirty cloth blocking her eyes.
"Yeah," John said, not caring if he sounded rude. He'd never bothered with manners before, why start now?
"My mutant power is to paralyze anyone who looks into my eyes. I was told to do something about it, so I did."
"Just like that? You gave up seeing because someone told you to?"
"Forced is probably a better word. But I don't need my eyes to see. My other senses grew stronger since I can't see."
"Why don't you just take the thing off?"
"Because I don't like paralyzing people."
"Why not? It could get you out of here. Wherever here is."
"Because I can drain their energy, if I wish. It's a wonderful feeling, so it's always very tempting."
"Then why don't you do it more often, if it's so great?"
" 'With great power comes great responsibility,' " quoted Crow, "Pretty soon I'd be draining anyone I saw, just to get that thrilling charge of stolen energy."
"Hmm. Spiderman?" John laughed, "I used to know someone who read Spiderman comics," then he scowled, "Until she left 'cause of me."
"What is your name, anyway?" Crow asked.
John thought a bit, "Pyro," He said.
Hours later, John settled down onto the hard floor. He quickly fell into a deep sleep. Crow knelt down next to him. She lightly laid her fingers on his face. Her sensitive fingertips glided across it. His features were somewhat sharp, and he had thick hair. Crow smiled, knowing that her instincts couldn't be misleading her. She knew that this 'Pyro' would be very important in the future.