Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own anything. Well, I *do* own some of the
characters, and the plot. Same old, same old...
**********************
"John, what did you do?" Rogue asked him.
"I didn't do anything!" John protested, "I'm innocent!"
"Yeah, like we're going to believe you!" Ray said.
"For once, Ray, I agree with you," Rogue said.
"What?" John said, "You'd rather believe brainless boy here than me? This is insane!"
"And you're not?" Ray asked.
Professor Xavier entered John's room where a large group of people had gathered. He was followed by Jean, Scott, Beast, whose name was Hank, Logan, and to John's disgust, Bobby.
"Oh, look, some more visitors!" John said, annoyed, "I suppose you'll be accusing me of stuff, too?"
"No, John, we want to know what really happened," the Professor said.
"Well, whatever it was, I didn't do it!" John scowled.
Xavier spoke again, "John, I need to read your mind, to prove if you are innocent."
"Why can't you just take my word? Why don't any of you trust me?" John asked.
"John," Xavier said, "Please, just calm down!"
Xavier closed his eyes, and entered John's mind. Thoughts flew around everywhere. Anger for not being trusted. Fear that maybe he had done something wrong. Powerful hatred for anyone who distrusted him, and for mistreatment.
Xavier searched for any sign of what had happened. He found what he had been looking for, and withdrew from John's thoughts.
"Well?" asked Scott, and John glared at him, "Did he start the fire?"
"Yeah, someone torches snowman and brainless boy's room, so go blame the first criminal pyrotic you can find!" John rolled his eyes. Most people looked at him, surprised. John raised his eyebrows, "What? Never seen a fugitive before?"
Scott paused, then asked again, "Did John do it?"
Xavier sighed, then turned to look at John. "Yes," he said, "Yes, he did."
John gaped at him, "What? I didn't, I mean, I," he stuttered.
Everyone stared at him. John was shaking.
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" He said, trying to get a hold on himself, and failing, "I didn't do it! I was in my room all night!"
"Calm down, John," Xavier said.
"How am I supposed to-"
Aaron broke in, "Hey, Professor!"
"Yes, Aaron?"
Shawn answered, "How come John doesn't remember burning the room? I mean, he remembers everything else just great!"
"And he's definitely not lying!" Aaron added.
"How do you know that?" asked Scott.
"When someone's lying, they get nervous. They get all shifty, and you can tell if they look guilty. Anyway, if the prof said John did it, I guess he did it, but why doesn't John remember doing it?" Aaron asked.
"But-" John began.
"Shut up, Toasty, this has nothing to do with you!" Aaron said.
Shawn rolled his eyes, "Bro, it has everything to do with him."
Xavier answered the twins, "I'm not entirely sure, but the evidence is there, in his mind. For some reason, John doesn't know that he started that fire."
John suddenly became angry, "I'm tired of being talked about as if I wasn't here! Might as well make it that way!"
"John!" Jean said, but John had already left his bedroom.
"That was entertaining," Shawn said, "Let's get some breakfast." He left the room, followed by
Aaron, who was describing in great detail what he was going to eat.
"That figures," Rogue muttered under her breath.
"I knew it," said Ray, and he went to change out of his singed, smoky clothes.
Bobby walked out of the room, looking satisfied. Everyone else slowly filtered out, muttering and yawning.
**********************
Wanda struggled against the ropes that bound her hands behind her back, but they were tied too tightly.
"Here, let me help you," a voice said soothingly. A girl with long black hair came towards Wanda.
"Who are you?" Wanda asked.
"I'm Crow," the girls said, kneeling next to Wanda, and fastened a dirty strip of cloth over her eyes. She untied the ropes that had bound Wanda, "Are you alright?"
"I'll live," Wanda answered.
"What's your name?" Crow asked.
"Wanda, but I'm sometimes called the Scarlet Witch." Wanda shrugged, "Why are we here?"
"We are wanted to be used as experiments, mostly." Crow answered seriously.
"But we let all of the mutants go!" Wanda protested, "Most of them went home to their families!"
"Sadly, no," Crow explained. "There were more of us. Many people escaped, thankfully. There's a new base. The scientists will continue their work there. We are being transported to this new base as we speak."
"Where is it?"
"I'm not sure, but I know it must be far away. Or else they wouldn't risk it," Crow smiled, "Were you one of the people who helped some of us escape?"
"Sort of," Wanda said, "I mean, I fought some of the guys, but I didn't go inside the building."
"I want to thank you. Because of you and your friends, Slade was able to escape."
"Slade? He's with the Brotherhood now."
"I don't know what you mean by the Brotherhood, but Slade has been at the base as long as he can remember. So it's wonderful that he escaped with the others."
"Why didn't you escape with them?"
"I was...away..." Crow said trailing off into silence.
Wanda sighed, and thought, Of all of the people to get kidnapped, it ends up being me. Why not Toad or Peitro? That figures.
**********************
Aaron and Shawn had dragged John along with them to a game of paintball. So Bobby and Rogue were free to discuss last night's events.
"I can't believe John would do something like that!" Rogue exclaimed, sitting under their tree.
"I can," Bobby said.
"But he didn't know he did it!" Rogue said, "Isn't that a bit strange?"
"John is strange!" Bobby muttered, "I mean, who else would try to leave the mansion and set fire to something?"
Rogue remembered the way John had looked at Ray the previous day. With such hatred it frightened her. She realized that a lot of things about John scared her.
"It does make sense that he would attack the room Ray was in, though," Rogue said.
"Why?" Bobby asked.
"Haven't you ever noticed the way John looks at Ray? He can't stand him."
"Why not?"
"Remember when John used to sit with us at lunch?" Rogue asked Bobby, then continued without waiting for an answer, "Ray would make fun of him. You know how much that eats at John."
"But Ray does that to everyone!" Bobby protested.
"With John it's different. Didn't you notice when he told us about Kerri that he was sure we were going to laugh at him or something. Then there was that whole thing about telling Ray. Didn't you notice anything?" Rogue looked at Bobby.
"Not really," Bobby said sheepishly.
"Anyone would think that you hate John so much that you would do anything to make him mad!" Rogue said.
"They would?" Bobby looked slightly unsettled, "I don't hate... I mean, I-"
"Bobby?" Rogue said, suppressing a smile, "Are you jealous of *John*?" She burst out laughing.
"I'm not jealous!" Bobby said, proving Rogue's point. He paused, then added, "I just think he doesn't work out with the X-Men. He's got an attitude, and he's mental!"
"Okay," Rogue said, "You're jealous of him and you don't think he works well with the X-Men... Hmm... sounds a bit like a grudge to me."
"My family's scared of me! I'm never going to be allowed to go back home now! I still say we should burn down his house next time!" Bobby said angrily.
"Too late," John said.
"John?" Rogue said, "You're back already?"
"Yeah," John shrugged, "The twins went to go change."
Rogue realized that John was covered in red paint. This gave everyone the impression he was bleeding to death.
"What do you mean 'too late'?" Bobby asked.
But John wasn't paying any attention to Bobby. He was staring out at the mansion.
"Did the prof have any visitors?" he asked them sharply.
"No." Bobby said, "But-"
At that moment, a large van pulled up next to the mansion. The front doors opened, and a group of people filed out. They could be recognized as Jean, Scott, Hank, and the rest of the adults, including Professor Xavier. Following them, were a bunch of men, all armed.
John ran up to them, and was joined by Rogue, Bobby, and the twins.
"What're you doing?" John asked the men.
"None of your business, kid," one of them said.
"Oh, I had always thought kidnappings were my business, I guess I was wrong," John said, his voice dripping sarcasm. He pointed the paintball gun he had been holding at the men, "Now really," he said, "You don't want me to shoot you, do you?"
To the men, it looked like some guy, who seemed to be bleeding to death, was pointing a gun at them.
John grinned, and began to fire, without aiming, into the group of men. The red paintballs splattered over them, until John realized he had run out of the paint-filled spheres.
"That stinks," he said, and grabbed Aaron's gun out of his hands.
"Wait!" Aaron and Shawn said together.
The armed men had realized they weren't bleeding, and had either pointed their guns at John, or resumed leading the adults into their van.
John grinned, and shot the guy in front of him. Instead of paint, the gun shot out what must have been a marble. The guy yelled out in pain, and grabbed his arm.
"You guys are great!" John told the twins, and fired again. He ignored all of the guns pointing at him.
"John!" Rogue said, "Have you noticed? Well, if you haven't, there's a whole bunch of guys aiming their guns at you, and they don't seem to care if they kill you or not."
"Oh, really?" John seemed to see the men for the first time, "Now that's not very nice."
"John, just back off, and maybe they'll leave us alone," Bobby suggested.
John considered this thought, "I dunno, what about the teachers?"
"John, just back off!" Rogue said, "Please!"
"Alright," John said, reluctantly, and handed the gun back to Aaron.
The men turned away from him, and entered the van. The doors slammed shut, and the van disappeared down the road.
"John, since when do you care about the teachers?" Bobby asked.
"Hmm... I guess I just fall in love with people who decide I'm guilty for something I didn't do," John said, sarcasm in his voice. Then he looked at Rogue, "Why did you let them go?"
"I know where they're going," Rogue said.
"Really?" John asked, with so much enthusiasm, it was doubtful he was thinking about rescuing the teachers.
"Jean projected it into my mind, right before they drove away," Rogue explained. "We'll have to save them."
"Right," said Aaron, "We'll inform the troops!"
"I sure hope one of you can fly the jet," Shawn said, and followed his brother.
**********************
The students had all been rounded up and informed of what had just taken place. They all entered the Blackbird, and Bobby took the controls.
"*He's* flying this heap?" Ray asked, "I'm out of here!"
Amara and Kitty grabbed his arms, and thrust him into his seat. Allen buckled Ray's seatbelt.
"You're coming with, us, Ray," Amara told him.
"This should be a cheerful trip," John said, as he sat down in the seat next to Ray reluctantly, "Where are we going?"
"We're going to visit the Brotherhood," Rogue told him.
"We're what?" Ray asked.
"Going to vis-" Ruben began.
"I heard her!" Ray snapped at him.
"Then why did you-" Ruben tried to say.
"Shut up, you lame excuse for a light source!" Ray told him.
Ruben shut up, looking hurt.
"Ray!" Amara said, and punched him in the stomach. Ray winced, and made a face.
"Dude, why are we going the visit the Brotherhood?" Allen asked.
"We have to ask them to help us save the others," Rogue said.
"Like they're going to help us," Ray said.
"We helped them," Rogue insisted, "Maybe they'll help us."
"Yeah," said Ray, "*maybe*."
**********************
They landed in the field behind the Brotherhood's Headquarters. Luckily, the flight had been without incident.
The X-Men walked up to the door, and Ruben looked around for a doorbell. He gave up, and knocked. The door opened, and Toad looked at them
"We don't want any!" he said, and slammed the door in Ruben's face.
Ray smirked. Ruben knocked again.
"I said, we're not interested!" Toad slammed the door again.
Ruben knocked on the door for the third time.
Toad opened the door, and was about to yell at Ruben again, when Gambit walked up beside him.
"Oh, please," Gambit said, rolling his eyes.
"What do you want?" Peitro asked them.
"We need your help," Rogue said.
"Do you?" Peitro asked nastily.
"Shut up," Gambit told Peitro, annoyed.
Ruben looked into the room, "What a mess," he said.
John pushed Ruben into a bush.
Gambit waved them all inside. As they entered, they realized that Ruben was right. The place was a mess. The paint was peeling off of the walls, and the drapes were faded. The armchairs were stained and lopsided, and had springs and stuffing sticking out of the sides. The TV's tracking was off, and the table where a card game had been in session, but disrupted by the X-Men's arrival, was missing a leg, and was held up by a stack of dusty books that looked like they'd never been read. There was a large hole in one of the doors, no doubt leading to a bedroom.
"Nice place," Aaron commented, and smiled around at the dirty floor.
"What do they want?" Nightmare asked, from in front of the TV.
"They say they need our help," Gambit told him.
"Oh, whatever," Nightmare tuned back to the TV, and continued to watch what looked like Rocky IV.
"The professor and the rest of them were kidnapped!" Rogue said. "We know where they're being taken, but we need help!"
Toad looked at her, "You know where the kidnapper's hideout is?"
"I know where to find it," Rogue told him.
"Come on!" Toad grabbed Gambit's arm, and attempted to drag him out of the door, but Gambit didn't budge, "Let's go! We can save Wanda!"
"Wanda?" Amara asked, "Who's Wanda?"
"She's my sister," Peitro said.
"You have a sister?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, and Magneto's his father," Lance said, leaning against his bedroom's doorframe.
**********************
"Magneto's your dad?" Ray snorted, "Man, your family's got a lot of problems!"
Amara jabbed him in the ribs.
"Ow!" Ray scowled, "If you keep that up, I could be permanently damaged."
"Exactly," Amara said, and Ray glared at her.
"Lance?" Peitro said, surprised, "I thought you were still unconscious!"
"Does it look like I'm asleep to you?" Lance told him. He took a step forward, and winced. He touched his injured left side, "That stupid oaf started the bleeding again," Lance told no one in particular.
"What stupid oaf?" Aaron asked, curiously, then added, innocently, "Did Ray visit you?"
Ray kicked Aaron.
"Ray!" Amara said threateningly.
"What?" Ray looked at her, "I didn't do any-"
"Quiet!" Rogue said, "You can discuss this later! We need to go find Jean and the others!"
"And Wanda!" Toad piped up.
"Was she kidnapped, too?" asked Shawn.
"Yeah, and we have to do something!" Toad said.
"Will you help us?" Rogue asked Gambit.
Gambit looked down at her, "I cannot act without permission from Magneto."
"Well, ask him then!" Rogue said desperately.
Slade walked into the room. He smiled.
"Hello," he said. Then he looked up at Gambit, "Magneto just sent a message. He said that we are to help Charles, whoever that is, out of trouble. Do you know what he means?"
"It looks like you've got your answer, mademoiselle," Gambit told Rogue, "Alright, all of you, we're leaving."
:The Brotherhood followed Rogue and the rest of the X-Men into the Blackbird. The jet took off, and headed west.
"Now where are we going?" John asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Rogue answered.
"That's just great," Ray grumbled, and glanced at Amara. She appeared not to have heard him.
Slade looked around at the interior of the jet, "Modern sort of thing, isn't this?"
"Er," Kurt said, "Yeah."
Lance leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He appeared to be in great pain, and getting back onto the Blackbird definitely wasn't going to help much.
"So," Ray said to Peitro, "Magneto's your dad."
"Yeah, so?" Peitro glared at Ray, "What's it to you?"
"Just that it-" Ray stopped so he could avoid Amara hitting him on the head.
John laughed, and received a shock of electricity from Ray.
"Get a grip on yourself, mate!" John said, after recovering from the shock. Ray glared at him.
Rogue sighed, and thought, This is going to be a long trip.
Crow and Wanda had been transported onto a boat, and had ridden along on it for hours. They finally came to an island.
"What's it like?" Crow asked Wanda.
"Well, it's really big, and there's lots of huge trees, but there looks like there's a mountain really far away. There's a beach, looks like that's where we're going, and over to the side, there's a gigantic building, but it takes up almost no room on the island."
"It sounds really nice," Crow said, "I hope we don't have to stay inside."
They were dropped off on the shore, and the boat returned out into the deeper waters. It headed towards the building.
"Now what?" Wanda asked.
"Let's explore, come on!" Crow said excitedly.
"What if there's something dangerous in there?" Wanda was suspicious.
"They wouldn't risk us getting damaged, and besides, I'll hear anything coming." Crow took Wanda's arm, "Lead on!"
Wanda grinned, she was starting to like Crow, "You think you'll be able to keep yourself from walking into anything?" Crow had explained the reason she wore the blindfold.
"I'll be fine," Crow answered, and stepped into the shade of the trees.
There were the sounds of birds in the trees, and the air was heavy with the scent of ripening fruit. A little ways in, a path had been cleared, leading to an entrance of a cave.
"Let's go look in there," Wanda suggested, "the cave."
"A cave? Sounds interesting," Crow responded.
They had only walked a couple feet, when Crow stopped.
"What is it?" Wanda asked.
"Someone's here," Crow answered.
"Where?" Wanda looked around, but she didn't see anyone. Then, to their left, a figure walked towards them.
"Welcome," the figure said, stepping into the light. She had dark, smooth skin, and blue eyes. Her hair was shoulder-length, and silver-white. She was wearing a very familiar uniform, and her cape was torn and ragged.
Wanda stared at her, "I know you!"
Crow gripped Wanda's elbow, "Who is it?"
"It's Storm!"
**********************
Jean looked around at the others. They were all crammed into the back of the van, Professor Xavier getting the most room with his wheelchair. Metal bracelets had been fastened around each of their right wrists, except for Logan. Logan had attempted to cut Jean's off with his claws, but failed and received a small electric shock.
"Are you alright?" Jean had asked.
"It's nothing compared to what that Crisp kid's got," Logan responded.
Now, they had fallen into silence, and it was getting uncomfortable.
"How are we going to get out of this?" Hank asked them.
"Logan, why don't you just slice a hole through the wall?" Scott asked.
"I already tried, it didn't work," Logan said.
"Then it looks like we're stuck," Scott said.
"Not necessarily," Jean said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Hank asked.
"I read one of the guys' minds, and found the coordinates where we where headed. So I projected it into Rogue's mind. I wasn't able to tell her anything else, because then they put this bracelet on, and it seems to be blocking my telepathy."
"Mine, too," said Xavier, "Scott, take off your glasses."
"What?" Scott asked, "I'd blast Jean!"
"No, you won't," Xavier said calmly, "Just take them off for a moment."
Scott removed his ruby-quartz glasses designed to contain the energy blasts that emitted from his eyes 24-7. Nothing happened, but Scott quickly replaced the glasses on his face.
"What happened, Scott?" Xavier asked.
"Nothing," Scott said, "But it gave me a headache."
"I suppose that these are designed to contain our mutant gifts. That would be why they didn't give Logan one. They are afraid that he might injure himself, or attempt to do something that could be dangerous, and be unable to heal himself."
"I sure feel special," Logan said, rolling his eyes.
"Jean," Xavier said, "I congratulate you. You not only made escape possible, you chose a student with the right character to lead the others to us."
"As opposed to?" Logan asked.
"John," Scott said quickly, "He'd probably just laugh, and do something stupid."
"Scott!" Jean said sharply.
"What? It's true!"
"Or it could have been Bear," Hank suggested, before Scott and Jean got into a fight.
"No!" a small voice said, "I's came wiv you!"
"What?" Scott said, surprised.
Bear popped out from under Xavier's wheelchair.
"What are you doing here?" Jean asked.
"Sumbodies had to save yous!" Bear said, as if he were the teacher and Jean the student.
"Wonderful," Logan said, "We get kidnapped, and then we get stuck with the pathetic excuse for a hairball."
"I no hairball!" Bear told Logan fiercely.
"Of course not," Jean told Bear, and ran her fingers through his long fur.
"Jean, do you know what they're going to do with us?" Scott asked.
"No," Jean said, "I just suspect they plan on going back for the students."
The cook, Mr. Kamon spoke for the first time, "And the impudent little brats deserve it too," he said, "Starting fights with my food, raiding my kitchen! No respect!"
Logan raised his eyebrows, "They'll be sorry that they took *this* old geezer!"
Mr. Kamon looked at Logan, and picked up a cane that had been lying by him. He cracked it over Logan's head, and continued to mutter to himself about respect.
Logan rubbed his head, and said more to himself than anyone, "And he's talking about respect."
**********************
"Storm?" Wanda asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I was on a mission," Storm explained, and led them deeper into the cave, "Until I was captured."
"How do you two know each other?" Crow asked.
Wanda replied, "She's from the X-Men. The Brotherhood and the X-Men are. acquaintances."
"In here," Storm told the others, and disappeared.
Wanda looked around. She couldn't see anyplace to go. Crow felt the walls with her sensitive hands.
"Here," she said, "There's a gap in the stone. It forms some kind of passageway. Probably hidden to the human eye. Am I right?"
Wanda nodded, then realized Crow couldn't see her, then said, "You're right."
She slipped in between the gap, and found herself in a tunnel. Hearing Crow enter behind her, Wanda walked forward. Suddenly, she found herself inside a huge, hollowed-out stone room.
Storm walked over to them, "I found this place, and used it to keep refuge in."
"Are you the only one here?" Crow asked.
"No," Storm replied, "There are a few others."
As if it had been called, a red wolf leapt towards them.
"What is it?" Crow asked.
"This is Rahne," Storm said, taking Crow's hand, and placing it on the wolf's back.
Crow touched a collar of metal around Rahne's neck, "What's this?"
"It's some kind of device intended to block mutant powers," Storm explained, "I have one, too. Except it's a bracelet. Rahne was in her wolf form when the device was given to her, so she must stay as a wolf."
"Are there more?" Wanda asked.
"Yes, but they aren't here at the moment."
Wanda looked around as Crow stroked Rahne's fur. She sat down on a rock. At least they couldn't be found in here.
**********************
The X-Men were extremely bored. They had been flying in the Blackbird for hours, and everyone was tired of sitting around. Bobby hadn't completed his training in the Blackbird, so he didn't know how to speed up the trip.
"Are we there yet?" Aaron asked for what was probably the millionth time.
"Yeah, we're there!" Ray said, aggravated, "Why don't you get out and see what it's like out there!"
"If you insist!" Aaron said, unbuckling his seatbelt, and getting up. Shawn picked up a fire extinguisher and hit Aaron over the head with it. Aaron fell back into his seat, half conscious.
He muttered to himself, "The sky is falling."
Ray rolled his eyes. John laughed silently.
"Are you laughing at me?" Ray asked John, and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"No, ma'am," John replied, grinning at the furious look on Ray's face.
Ray grabbed a handful of John's shirt and lifted him off the ground, because John hadn't been wearing his seatbelt.
"Take it easy, mate!" John said, "I don't-"
John didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying, because Ray punched John in his stomach, and threw him to the front of the plane. John's head crashed into the side of Rogue's seat, and he blacked out.
"Ray!" Amara said in a whisper, "Why did you do that?"
Ray didn't answer, but sat back down in his seat. Rogue stared at John, then Ray.
"What happened *now*?" she asked them.
"The sky is falling, I must tell the president," said the dazed Aaron.
"The president doesn't care about your stupid problems!" Shawn informed his brother.
Aaron pouted.
"Ray hit John," Ruben said unnecessarily.
"I see that," Rogue said, putting her hand right above John's face, but not touching him. She had not put on her gloves before they had left. In the excitement, Rogue had forgotten them at the mansion.
"Bobby," she said, "See if he's alright."
"What about-" Bobby began.
"I'll fly this thing," Rogue said, grabbing the controls.
"You don't know how to fly," Bobby told her.
"How hard can it be?" Rogue asked, as Lance's eyes widened.
Bobby bent over John. He touched John's face with his fingertips. With lightning speed, John grabbed Bobby's wrist. Bobby jumped.
"Oh, it's you," John said, and let go of Bobby's wrist to rub his head. He groaned, "I feel like I've just been hit by the Titanic."
"Bobby?" Rogue asked, "Is this light supposed to be blinking red?"
"What light?" Bobby stood up to look where Rogue was pointing, "I suggest that everyone should prepare for an emergency landing."
"In the middle of the ocean?" Ray asked, causing Lance and John to look nervous.
"The plane floats, as long as this thingy's not damaged." Bobby pointed to a switch.
Bobby began to work on getting the plane ready for an emergency landing. Suddenly, there was an explosion.
"Like, what was that?" Kitty asked, scared.
"I think the plane's gonna blow," Bobby said, bringing the plane down onto the calm water, "Everyone, get the lifeboats out, and get onto them, now!"
The young X-Men all jumped to their feet, and rushed to do as they were told. Roberto and Ray launched the lifeboats out into the water as soon as people got into them, and jumped in one themselves. Amara and Ruben joined them.
No sooner than the lifeboats reached a fair distance from the jet, it exploded. Flames streamed into the air, reaching over 30 feet. Liquid fire rained down around them, but seemed to be avoiding the X-Men's life rafts. Finally, the unnatural rain stopped. The Blackbird was still flaming.
"Like, that was so totally freaky," Kitty said. She was shivering.
Lance looked at what was left of the jet, and said shakily, "I'm never riding in one of those again!"
John agreed, saying, "Neither am I, at least if Bobby's driving."
Bobby looked at him, to retort, but stopped. John looked rather pale.
"Are you alright?" he asked John.
"Fine," John said, "I'm alive, aren't I? No thanks to your driving."
"You don't look so good," Rogue told him.
"It's not easy holding off that much fire for that long," John answered. He glanced at the deep water nervously.
"You did that?" Rogue asked John.
"I'm the only one who could," John said, "And besides, if all you guys fried, how would I get out of here?"
Rogue didn't press John further, but gave Bobby a look that said, I told you he wasn't all that bad. Bobby shrugged, and looked away.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Ray asked, also looking at the deep water.
"At least there isn't any sharks!" Slade said happily, as if all they had done that day was take the dog out for a walk.
"Sharks?" John said, scanning the water.
Aaron grinned, and dived into the water.
"Aaron!" Shawn said, "What are you doing?"
Aaron morphed into a huge shark. His black eyes gleamed as he made his way towards the raft John occupied.
John's pale face lost whatever color it had left when he caught sight of the Great White.
Shawn laughed, "Relax, Hades! That 'shark' happens to be my slightly idiotic brother."
The shark transformed itself back into Aaron. He treaded water, grinning.
"This is no time for fooling around!" Rogue said, and Gambit nodded his head in agreement.
"We need to find a way to get to land," Bobby said.
"I'll say," John muttered.
Bobby raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
"We were heading that way when we, like, crashed," Kitty said, pointing.
"Then we'll keep going that way," Rogue said, "But how?"
Aaron's grin broadened as he returned to his spot in the raft.
"You seem to have forgotten," Shawn informed them, "That my brother is a master of, well, not anything, but he can get us-"
"-Out of this predicament Frosty has gotten us into," Aaron finished.
"What?" Bobby said, "It's not my fault!"
"How is Shawn going to get us out of this?" Rogue asked.
"Shawn's not going to do anything," the disgusted Aaron said.
"But," Bobby said, "Oh, right, you're Aaron, not Shawn."
"That's right, Iceberg!" Aaron said, "Be careful, if you get any more dense, you might sink the Titanic, not to mention these measly little rafts."
"So how are you going to get us out of this?" Toad asked.
"Explain to these pitiful excuses for mutants for me, will you?" Aaron told his twin.
"Aaron can transform his mutated self into any animal form his twisted mind can come up with," Shawn said, "So he can use his highly intriguing gift to pull us to shore."
Aaron slipped back into the water, and dived below the surface. Within seconds, he had slipped so far into the depths, he had vanished.
"Dude," Allen said, "he disappeared!"
Rogue looked to where Aaron had submerged. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw John. He was looking into the water with an expression Rogue had never seen on his face. Fear.
"Can he speed it up?" John asked.
"You can't rush a expert!" Shawn said, but even he had noticed the note of anxiety in John's voice.
"John?" Rogue asked, "Are you alright?"
John ignored her.
"Yeah, like, you totally don't look too good," Kitty said.
John continued to stare at the dark water, but he moved away from the edge of the raft. He tore his eyes away from the ocean to look at Bobby.
"Is there any chance these things might sink?" John seemed as if he was suppressing panic.
"Well, they wouldn't sink for no reason," Bobby said, but he couldn't resist adding, "But you never know what might come up," After he said it though, he felt guilty.
John shivered, and edged farther away from the edge of the raft.
Suddenly, a fountain of water was spouted into the air. Something huge surfaced from the water.
"Good plan, Aaron!" Shawn said.
The whale spouted again.
"How is he going to get us to land?" John asked, thankful for a distraction.
"Good point," Shawn said, then, "Aaron! Try something less... realistic."
The whale dived under the water again. This time, he returned to the surface much faster. The gigantic monster in front of them turned its long neck, and brought its head down by Shawn's raft.
"Brilliant!" Shawn said, and reached down into his raft and pulled out some rope.
"What's he supposed to be, the Loch Ness Monster?" Ray asked sarcastically.
"Precisely," Shawn answered.
Ray shrugged.
Shawn looped the rope around the monster's neck, "Everyone has a rope in their boat. Tie it around Aaron's neck."
The monster waited until the rafts had been fastened, and then began to pull them in the direction Kitty had pointed out earlier.
Toad eyed the insects flying about in the air around them. He caught one with his long tongue.
"That's so disgusting!" Amara said.
"Well, I didn't tell you to eat any!" Toad said, and continued to eat the bugs.
Bobby looked back at John.
"What's up with you, anyway?" He asked John.
John glared at him, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on," Bobby said, "it's obvious. You're acting like you're afraid that this thing's going to just capsize at any second!"
John held Bobby with his cold gaze. Then he turned away, not answering.
"It's going to storm!" Amara called, "Look at the clouds!"
Sure enough, the clouds had become dark, heavy with moisture. The rain began to fall, slowly at first, then coming down in sheets. Jessica did her best to help bail out the rafts with her powers. Thunder rumbled, and lightning struck all around them. The calm water had become a churning mass of waves. The rafts were at their mercy.
The giant monster let out a chilling shriek as lighting struck the water beside it.
"Aaron!" Shawn shouted, trying to be heard over the roar of the sea and thunder, "Stay calm!"
But the monstrous sea creature took no notice and began to pull the rafts through the water at an alarming pace. The rafts were being dragged along behind it, the waves attacking at them viciously.
Kitty was shivering, and drew closer to Rogue. Rogue put an arm around her, and tried to keep her balance. Suddenly, a wave crashed into their raft. It caused everyone to fall into each other. Rogue looked up in time to see John knocked over the side of the raft, and fall into the water. He sank deeper into the water.
Jessica had seen this, also. Without hesitation, she dived into the water. She was immediately swallowed up in the darkness.
Rogue nudged Bobby, "John just fell into the water! Jess dived in after him!"
Bobby looked in the water, "You think they'll make it?"
"Jess is a good swimmer." Rogue said, not voicing her fears.
Suddenly, Rogue remembered. During training, sometimes they wee required to practice lifesaving and swimming in the mansion's pool. During these practice sessions, John had never showed up. Not once.
They continued to battle the storm, and watched the water, waiting for the two mutants to surface.
A huge thunder clap startled Kitty, so that she phased through the bottom of the raft.
"Kitty!" Rogue cried, and Kitty popped up by them.
Bobby reached out his hand, and pulled Kitty back into the boat, where she clung to Rogue, shivering.
"That was, like, so totally freaky!" she said.
Then behind them, Jessica appeared. She was struggling to stay afloat, and hold John above the water. Bobby and Ray grabbed her shoulders. Ray pulled her into their raft, and Bobby hauled John into his.
Jessica sat down, exhausted, "Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Bobby said, "Why didn't he just swim back to the raft?"
Jessica shrugged.
Rogue looked at John, Kitty still trembling by her side, "He's not breathing!"
"What do you do if someone's, like, not breathing?" Kitty asked.
Ray shrugged. Rogue thought about the things they'd learned in Lifesaving classes back at the Institute.
"Bobby!" she said, "Do something!"
"What am I supposed to do?" Bobby asked.
"I can't touch him!" Rogue told him, holding up her gloveless hands.
Bobby felt for a pulse. He found one, but it was weak, "He's still alive," he looked at John closely, "Wait! He is breathing, just not very much."
Sure enough, when Rogue looked at John, she could see, though barely, his chest rising and falling. Rogue and Bobby were relieved. Bobby, not only because John would be fine, but that he wouldn't have to perform mouth- to-mouth.
"Like, what are you going to do?" Kitty asked.
"I don't know," Bobby said, "Maybe we should just wait and see..."
He looked at Rogue. She looked worried. But when he glanced at John, he saw that his breathing had gotten stronger.
"I think he'll be fine," Bobby said, and Rogue looked relieved.
The rain had begun to slow down, and as suddenly as it had begun, the storm vanished.
"Dude," Allen said.
Ray gave him a look that said plainly, 'How stupid can you get?'
"Now what?" Ray asked.
The sea creature had stopped. It was turning its head toward a spot far out on the dark horizon. It cried a piercing screech.
"Hey!" Shawn said, "You're right, Aaron! It is land!"
"What?" Ray said, "You know what the thing's saying?"
"The 'thing' is my brother," Shawn stated bluntly, "Lead on, Aaron! We're almost there!"
**********************
The older X-Men had been transferred to a boat, and luckily, had room to move around in. They, too, were caught in the storm. The floor lurched about beneath them.
"I's bein' made into skoosh!" Bear yelled, as he rolled around.
No one bothered to ask what 'skoosh' was. They concentrated solely on keeping themselves from smashing into the walls. Professor Xavier's wheelchair was fastened to the wall, so he was unable to roll around the room they were locked in.
Jean reached out with her hand and caught Bear, who had been rolling by her.
Logan grabbed the side of the professor's wheelchair, keeping himself anchored.
"Jean!" he yelled to her, "Do you hear that?"
Jean listened, blocking out the sound of the thunder. She heard something, far away. It sounded inhuman and piercing, though faint.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I don't know," Logan said, "I haven't heard anything like it."
Actually, Logan had a pretty good idea what it was. Since he wasn't about to give the others false hope, he kept his thoughts to himself.
**********************
Wanda looked up, she had heard a noise. It had been drawn out, and definitely nothing human was able to create it. Wanda touched Crow's arm, she too had heard it. They snuck out of the cave. Storm had left them to do what they liked, obviously trusting them to be responsible.
The girls stood in the entrance of the cave, then made their way back to the beach.
"What do you see?" Crow asked.
"Nothing," Wanda scanned the horizon, then looked about on the island. She could not see anything capable of making such a horrific sound, "Wait! I think I see something! Really far out in the water!"
"Do you think it's another load of mutants?" Crow asked.
"I don't know," Wanda told her, "Maybe."
Suddenly, Rahne burst out from the trees behind them. She sniffed the air. Her tail wagged madly, and yelped happily.
"I wonder why she's so happy," Wanda commented. She looked back out into the water again. The shape had gotten closer, but not enough to be distinguished. And now, there was a second, over to the left, "There's another one!"
"Really?" Crow sounded excited.
"Yeah, they're both coming closer!" Wanda looked at Rahne. The wolf was running out into the water, then running back onto the shore. She seemed to be trying to get to the indistinct forms out on the ocean.
"What are you doing?" Wanda asked her.
Rahne whined pitifully.
"What's Rahne doing?" Crow asked.
"It looks like she's trying to swim out to the things out on the water, but she keeps coming back. She knows she can't swim that far," Wanda explained, "But what does she want?"
"I don't know," Crow replied, thinking.
**********************
The students cheered as they saw the land drawing closer.
"Bobby!" Rogue said, pointing, "Look! A ship!"
"It's going over to some sort of building on that island," Bobby said peering at the place Rogue was pointing to.
John stirred at the bottom of the raft. He coughed, and spit out some water. He groaned.
"You're alive!" Rogue exclaimed.
John gave her a look that said, 'You think so?'
"Are you alright?" Jessica called to him.
"What do you think?" he said, looking pretty worn out.
Bobby scowled. He should at least thank her, he thought, I mean, she saved his life! He could also be a lot less rude to Rogue.
John turned to him, "I know what you're thinking, snowman," he said coldly.
Bobby's temper flared, "Why didn't you just swim back to the raft, you idiot! It would have saved us all a lot of trouble!"
John continued to look at Bobby, then said, evenly, "What if I couldn't?"
"What do you mean?" Bobby snapped.
"Figures," John muttered, then replied, with forced calm, "What if I couldn't swim back to the raft?"
"You could have, there was nothing stopping you!" Bobby said heatedly.
"How dense can you get? You're worse than brainless boy over there!" John jabbed his thumb at Ray, who glared at him, "Let me spell it out for you," John leaned back, so he could keep Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby in his view, "I can't swim."
There was a pause, then Bobby said, "You can't what?"
John looked at the others incredulously, "Can't this guy understand anything?" He rolled his eyes and repeated, spacing his words out for emphasis, "I don't know how to swim."
Rogue realized that this was a touchy subject, but before she could say anything, Bobby broke in.
"Why not?"
John closed his eyes, as if praying for patience, "I never learned."
"But why didn't you?" Bobby persisted.
John stared into his eyes, but didn't answer.
"I said-" Bobby began, but Rogue interrupted.
"He doesn't want to talk about it, Bobby!"
"No," John said quietly, "No, I don't."
"See? Just leave him alone, please!"
John stared out at the advancing island. He narrowed his eyes.
"Like, what is it?" Kitty asked.
John pulled the raft next to them closer. He put one hand on Slade's head, and pushed him down into the raft, so that he was unseen.
"John, what are you doing?" Rogue asked.
"Sentry," John said, "He'd recognize Slade."
"What about-" Rogue began, but it was too late. The guard had already seen John. The guard said something into his mike, then aimed his laser sight at John. John didn't flinch, even when more guards came out, pointing their own guns at him, too. They didn't seem to care about the rest of them. John grabbed Rogue and pushed her into the neighboring raft. He did the same with Kitty. Bobby got the picture, and followed them.
John glanced down at the green dots covering his chest. He pulled his lighter out of his pocket. He hoped that it would work after all of that salt water. After the second try, he was able get a flame. It burst from the lighter, which he snapped shut, and tossed to Rogue. The flame moved through the air to burn through the rope binding him to the monster, which continued to pull the rafts, except in a different direction, more to the right. Away from the guards. Rogue reached out, trying to grab onto John, to prevent him from staying.
"John!" she said, "Come with us!"
John grabbed her bare hand. He stiffened, but gripped her hand tighter. He muttered something under his breath so quietly Rogue could barely hear, "Sorry, mate, but there's a few things you need to know..."
"John, no!" Rogue cried out, and tried to yank her hand from his grasp. John held on tightly, breathing heavily. Memories, feelings, and thoughts flooded over Rogue. She knew that she was acquiring John's powers. She could feel his hand growing cold.
"No!" she screamed again, and ripped her hand from his grasp. As she did this John slumped down into the raft, struggling to remain conscious. The guards were moving into the water, to grab John's raft.
Rogue realized what John was doing. Sacrificing himself so that they could escape. She was shaking, breath coming in gasps, John's psyche drowning her. She grabbed Shawn's shirt, and pulled on it. Shawn understood.
"Aaron, speed it up, will you?" he shouted.
The guards looked over at them, as if just realizing they were there.
"Who are they?" one of them asked John, shaking him.
"They're," John gasped, "mutant hunters."
"What's that... *thing*?" they demanded, pointing at Aaron.
"I," John struggled for breath, "I don't know."
Rogue was still shaking, tears pouring from her eyes. Bobby looked down at her, concerned, but unable to assist. Rogue wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm the thoughts and powers surfacing in her head.
"Bobby," she begged, "help me!"
"What do I do?" Bobby asked desperately. Rogue was unable to answer, she fell unconscious in his arms.
**********************
YAY!! I broke 10 reviews!! Oh, wait, that's cause 'idon'thaveoneyet' cheated and reviewed a all of the chapters... Wait, I told her to... But that was a long time ago... Oh, well, Yay!! Yes, I know this is an extremely long chapter. But I couldn't bear to cut it in half. Anywho...
Sum41Fan- Yes, I do know some of the people reviewing this. And you're right, I'm not overly fond of Bobby. I don't mean to make him evil, that's just what happens. And besides, if he didn't do some of the things he does, this could be a very boring story.
Idon'thaveoneyet- Hurry up and think up something to call yourself! It's annoying to type all that. And answering your question about Bobby, see what I told Sum41Fan. Beloved Bobby? *gags* ... That's it, I'm calling the Alliteration Misuse Office.
**********************
"John, what did you do?" Rogue asked him.
"I didn't do anything!" John protested, "I'm innocent!"
"Yeah, like we're going to believe you!" Ray said.
"For once, Ray, I agree with you," Rogue said.
"What?" John said, "You'd rather believe brainless boy here than me? This is insane!"
"And you're not?" Ray asked.
Professor Xavier entered John's room where a large group of people had gathered. He was followed by Jean, Scott, Beast, whose name was Hank, Logan, and to John's disgust, Bobby.
"Oh, look, some more visitors!" John said, annoyed, "I suppose you'll be accusing me of stuff, too?"
"No, John, we want to know what really happened," the Professor said.
"Well, whatever it was, I didn't do it!" John scowled.
Xavier spoke again, "John, I need to read your mind, to prove if you are innocent."
"Why can't you just take my word? Why don't any of you trust me?" John asked.
"John," Xavier said, "Please, just calm down!"
Xavier closed his eyes, and entered John's mind. Thoughts flew around everywhere. Anger for not being trusted. Fear that maybe he had done something wrong. Powerful hatred for anyone who distrusted him, and for mistreatment.
Xavier searched for any sign of what had happened. He found what he had been looking for, and withdrew from John's thoughts.
"Well?" asked Scott, and John glared at him, "Did he start the fire?"
"Yeah, someone torches snowman and brainless boy's room, so go blame the first criminal pyrotic you can find!" John rolled his eyes. Most people looked at him, surprised. John raised his eyebrows, "What? Never seen a fugitive before?"
Scott paused, then asked again, "Did John do it?"
Xavier sighed, then turned to look at John. "Yes," he said, "Yes, he did."
John gaped at him, "What? I didn't, I mean, I," he stuttered.
Everyone stared at him. John was shaking.
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" He said, trying to get a hold on himself, and failing, "I didn't do it! I was in my room all night!"
"Calm down, John," Xavier said.
"How am I supposed to-"
Aaron broke in, "Hey, Professor!"
"Yes, Aaron?"
Shawn answered, "How come John doesn't remember burning the room? I mean, he remembers everything else just great!"
"And he's definitely not lying!" Aaron added.
"How do you know that?" asked Scott.
"When someone's lying, they get nervous. They get all shifty, and you can tell if they look guilty. Anyway, if the prof said John did it, I guess he did it, but why doesn't John remember doing it?" Aaron asked.
"But-" John began.
"Shut up, Toasty, this has nothing to do with you!" Aaron said.
Shawn rolled his eyes, "Bro, it has everything to do with him."
Xavier answered the twins, "I'm not entirely sure, but the evidence is there, in his mind. For some reason, John doesn't know that he started that fire."
John suddenly became angry, "I'm tired of being talked about as if I wasn't here! Might as well make it that way!"
"John!" Jean said, but John had already left his bedroom.
"That was entertaining," Shawn said, "Let's get some breakfast." He left the room, followed by
Aaron, who was describing in great detail what he was going to eat.
"That figures," Rogue muttered under her breath.
"I knew it," said Ray, and he went to change out of his singed, smoky clothes.
Bobby walked out of the room, looking satisfied. Everyone else slowly filtered out, muttering and yawning.
**********************
Wanda struggled against the ropes that bound her hands behind her back, but they were tied too tightly.
"Here, let me help you," a voice said soothingly. A girl with long black hair came towards Wanda.
"Who are you?" Wanda asked.
"I'm Crow," the girls said, kneeling next to Wanda, and fastened a dirty strip of cloth over her eyes. She untied the ropes that had bound Wanda, "Are you alright?"
"I'll live," Wanda answered.
"What's your name?" Crow asked.
"Wanda, but I'm sometimes called the Scarlet Witch." Wanda shrugged, "Why are we here?"
"We are wanted to be used as experiments, mostly." Crow answered seriously.
"But we let all of the mutants go!" Wanda protested, "Most of them went home to their families!"
"Sadly, no," Crow explained. "There were more of us. Many people escaped, thankfully. There's a new base. The scientists will continue their work there. We are being transported to this new base as we speak."
"Where is it?"
"I'm not sure, but I know it must be far away. Or else they wouldn't risk it," Crow smiled, "Were you one of the people who helped some of us escape?"
"Sort of," Wanda said, "I mean, I fought some of the guys, but I didn't go inside the building."
"I want to thank you. Because of you and your friends, Slade was able to escape."
"Slade? He's with the Brotherhood now."
"I don't know what you mean by the Brotherhood, but Slade has been at the base as long as he can remember. So it's wonderful that he escaped with the others."
"Why didn't you escape with them?"
"I was...away..." Crow said trailing off into silence.
Wanda sighed, and thought, Of all of the people to get kidnapped, it ends up being me. Why not Toad or Peitro? That figures.
**********************
Aaron and Shawn had dragged John along with them to a game of paintball. So Bobby and Rogue were free to discuss last night's events.
"I can't believe John would do something like that!" Rogue exclaimed, sitting under their tree.
"I can," Bobby said.
"But he didn't know he did it!" Rogue said, "Isn't that a bit strange?"
"John is strange!" Bobby muttered, "I mean, who else would try to leave the mansion and set fire to something?"
Rogue remembered the way John had looked at Ray the previous day. With such hatred it frightened her. She realized that a lot of things about John scared her.
"It does make sense that he would attack the room Ray was in, though," Rogue said.
"Why?" Bobby asked.
"Haven't you ever noticed the way John looks at Ray? He can't stand him."
"Why not?"
"Remember when John used to sit with us at lunch?" Rogue asked Bobby, then continued without waiting for an answer, "Ray would make fun of him. You know how much that eats at John."
"But Ray does that to everyone!" Bobby protested.
"With John it's different. Didn't you notice when he told us about Kerri that he was sure we were going to laugh at him or something. Then there was that whole thing about telling Ray. Didn't you notice anything?" Rogue looked at Bobby.
"Not really," Bobby said sheepishly.
"Anyone would think that you hate John so much that you would do anything to make him mad!" Rogue said.
"They would?" Bobby looked slightly unsettled, "I don't hate... I mean, I-"
"Bobby?" Rogue said, suppressing a smile, "Are you jealous of *John*?" She burst out laughing.
"I'm not jealous!" Bobby said, proving Rogue's point. He paused, then added, "I just think he doesn't work out with the X-Men. He's got an attitude, and he's mental!"
"Okay," Rogue said, "You're jealous of him and you don't think he works well with the X-Men... Hmm... sounds a bit like a grudge to me."
"My family's scared of me! I'm never going to be allowed to go back home now! I still say we should burn down his house next time!" Bobby said angrily.
"Too late," John said.
"John?" Rogue said, "You're back already?"
"Yeah," John shrugged, "The twins went to go change."
Rogue realized that John was covered in red paint. This gave everyone the impression he was bleeding to death.
"What do you mean 'too late'?" Bobby asked.
But John wasn't paying any attention to Bobby. He was staring out at the mansion.
"Did the prof have any visitors?" he asked them sharply.
"No." Bobby said, "But-"
At that moment, a large van pulled up next to the mansion. The front doors opened, and a group of people filed out. They could be recognized as Jean, Scott, Hank, and the rest of the adults, including Professor Xavier. Following them, were a bunch of men, all armed.
John ran up to them, and was joined by Rogue, Bobby, and the twins.
"What're you doing?" John asked the men.
"None of your business, kid," one of them said.
"Oh, I had always thought kidnappings were my business, I guess I was wrong," John said, his voice dripping sarcasm. He pointed the paintball gun he had been holding at the men, "Now really," he said, "You don't want me to shoot you, do you?"
To the men, it looked like some guy, who seemed to be bleeding to death, was pointing a gun at them.
John grinned, and began to fire, without aiming, into the group of men. The red paintballs splattered over them, until John realized he had run out of the paint-filled spheres.
"That stinks," he said, and grabbed Aaron's gun out of his hands.
"Wait!" Aaron and Shawn said together.
The armed men had realized they weren't bleeding, and had either pointed their guns at John, or resumed leading the adults into their van.
John grinned, and shot the guy in front of him. Instead of paint, the gun shot out what must have been a marble. The guy yelled out in pain, and grabbed his arm.
"You guys are great!" John told the twins, and fired again. He ignored all of the guns pointing at him.
"John!" Rogue said, "Have you noticed? Well, if you haven't, there's a whole bunch of guys aiming their guns at you, and they don't seem to care if they kill you or not."
"Oh, really?" John seemed to see the men for the first time, "Now that's not very nice."
"John, just back off, and maybe they'll leave us alone," Bobby suggested.
John considered this thought, "I dunno, what about the teachers?"
"John, just back off!" Rogue said, "Please!"
"Alright," John said, reluctantly, and handed the gun back to Aaron.
The men turned away from him, and entered the van. The doors slammed shut, and the van disappeared down the road.
"John, since when do you care about the teachers?" Bobby asked.
"Hmm... I guess I just fall in love with people who decide I'm guilty for something I didn't do," John said, sarcasm in his voice. Then he looked at Rogue, "Why did you let them go?"
"I know where they're going," Rogue said.
"Really?" John asked, with so much enthusiasm, it was doubtful he was thinking about rescuing the teachers.
"Jean projected it into my mind, right before they drove away," Rogue explained. "We'll have to save them."
"Right," said Aaron, "We'll inform the troops!"
"I sure hope one of you can fly the jet," Shawn said, and followed his brother.
**********************
The students had all been rounded up and informed of what had just taken place. They all entered the Blackbird, and Bobby took the controls.
"*He's* flying this heap?" Ray asked, "I'm out of here!"
Amara and Kitty grabbed his arms, and thrust him into his seat. Allen buckled Ray's seatbelt.
"You're coming with, us, Ray," Amara told him.
"This should be a cheerful trip," John said, as he sat down in the seat next to Ray reluctantly, "Where are we going?"
"We're going to visit the Brotherhood," Rogue told him.
"We're what?" Ray asked.
"Going to vis-" Ruben began.
"I heard her!" Ray snapped at him.
"Then why did you-" Ruben tried to say.
"Shut up, you lame excuse for a light source!" Ray told him.
Ruben shut up, looking hurt.
"Ray!" Amara said, and punched him in the stomach. Ray winced, and made a face.
"Dude, why are we going the visit the Brotherhood?" Allen asked.
"We have to ask them to help us save the others," Rogue said.
"Like they're going to help us," Ray said.
"We helped them," Rogue insisted, "Maybe they'll help us."
"Yeah," said Ray, "*maybe*."
**********************
They landed in the field behind the Brotherhood's Headquarters. Luckily, the flight had been without incident.
The X-Men walked up to the door, and Ruben looked around for a doorbell. He gave up, and knocked. The door opened, and Toad looked at them
"We don't want any!" he said, and slammed the door in Ruben's face.
Ray smirked. Ruben knocked again.
"I said, we're not interested!" Toad slammed the door again.
Ruben knocked on the door for the third time.
Toad opened the door, and was about to yell at Ruben again, when Gambit walked up beside him.
"Oh, please," Gambit said, rolling his eyes.
"What do you want?" Peitro asked them.
"We need your help," Rogue said.
"Do you?" Peitro asked nastily.
"Shut up," Gambit told Peitro, annoyed.
Ruben looked into the room, "What a mess," he said.
John pushed Ruben into a bush.
Gambit waved them all inside. As they entered, they realized that Ruben was right. The place was a mess. The paint was peeling off of the walls, and the drapes were faded. The armchairs were stained and lopsided, and had springs and stuffing sticking out of the sides. The TV's tracking was off, and the table where a card game had been in session, but disrupted by the X-Men's arrival, was missing a leg, and was held up by a stack of dusty books that looked like they'd never been read. There was a large hole in one of the doors, no doubt leading to a bedroom.
"Nice place," Aaron commented, and smiled around at the dirty floor.
"What do they want?" Nightmare asked, from in front of the TV.
"They say they need our help," Gambit told him.
"Oh, whatever," Nightmare tuned back to the TV, and continued to watch what looked like Rocky IV.
"The professor and the rest of them were kidnapped!" Rogue said. "We know where they're being taken, but we need help!"
Toad looked at her, "You know where the kidnapper's hideout is?"
"I know where to find it," Rogue told him.
"Come on!" Toad grabbed Gambit's arm, and attempted to drag him out of the door, but Gambit didn't budge, "Let's go! We can save Wanda!"
"Wanda?" Amara asked, "Who's Wanda?"
"She's my sister," Peitro said.
"You have a sister?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, and Magneto's his father," Lance said, leaning against his bedroom's doorframe.
**********************
"Magneto's your dad?" Ray snorted, "Man, your family's got a lot of problems!"
Amara jabbed him in the ribs.
"Ow!" Ray scowled, "If you keep that up, I could be permanently damaged."
"Exactly," Amara said, and Ray glared at her.
"Lance?" Peitro said, surprised, "I thought you were still unconscious!"
"Does it look like I'm asleep to you?" Lance told him. He took a step forward, and winced. He touched his injured left side, "That stupid oaf started the bleeding again," Lance told no one in particular.
"What stupid oaf?" Aaron asked, curiously, then added, innocently, "Did Ray visit you?"
Ray kicked Aaron.
"Ray!" Amara said threateningly.
"What?" Ray looked at her, "I didn't do any-"
"Quiet!" Rogue said, "You can discuss this later! We need to go find Jean and the others!"
"And Wanda!" Toad piped up.
"Was she kidnapped, too?" asked Shawn.
"Yeah, and we have to do something!" Toad said.
"Will you help us?" Rogue asked Gambit.
Gambit looked down at her, "I cannot act without permission from Magneto."
"Well, ask him then!" Rogue said desperately.
Slade walked into the room. He smiled.
"Hello," he said. Then he looked up at Gambit, "Magneto just sent a message. He said that we are to help Charles, whoever that is, out of trouble. Do you know what he means?"
"It looks like you've got your answer, mademoiselle," Gambit told Rogue, "Alright, all of you, we're leaving."
:The Brotherhood followed Rogue and the rest of the X-Men into the Blackbird. The jet took off, and headed west.
"Now where are we going?" John asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Rogue answered.
"That's just great," Ray grumbled, and glanced at Amara. She appeared not to have heard him.
Slade looked around at the interior of the jet, "Modern sort of thing, isn't this?"
"Er," Kurt said, "Yeah."
Lance leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. He appeared to be in great pain, and getting back onto the Blackbird definitely wasn't going to help much.
"So," Ray said to Peitro, "Magneto's your dad."
"Yeah, so?" Peitro glared at Ray, "What's it to you?"
"Just that it-" Ray stopped so he could avoid Amara hitting him on the head.
John laughed, and received a shock of electricity from Ray.
"Get a grip on yourself, mate!" John said, after recovering from the shock. Ray glared at him.
Rogue sighed, and thought, This is going to be a long trip.
Crow and Wanda had been transported onto a boat, and had ridden along on it for hours. They finally came to an island.
"What's it like?" Crow asked Wanda.
"Well, it's really big, and there's lots of huge trees, but there looks like there's a mountain really far away. There's a beach, looks like that's where we're going, and over to the side, there's a gigantic building, but it takes up almost no room on the island."
"It sounds really nice," Crow said, "I hope we don't have to stay inside."
They were dropped off on the shore, and the boat returned out into the deeper waters. It headed towards the building.
"Now what?" Wanda asked.
"Let's explore, come on!" Crow said excitedly.
"What if there's something dangerous in there?" Wanda was suspicious.
"They wouldn't risk us getting damaged, and besides, I'll hear anything coming." Crow took Wanda's arm, "Lead on!"
Wanda grinned, she was starting to like Crow, "You think you'll be able to keep yourself from walking into anything?" Crow had explained the reason she wore the blindfold.
"I'll be fine," Crow answered, and stepped into the shade of the trees.
There were the sounds of birds in the trees, and the air was heavy with the scent of ripening fruit. A little ways in, a path had been cleared, leading to an entrance of a cave.
"Let's go look in there," Wanda suggested, "the cave."
"A cave? Sounds interesting," Crow responded.
They had only walked a couple feet, when Crow stopped.
"What is it?" Wanda asked.
"Someone's here," Crow answered.
"Where?" Wanda looked around, but she didn't see anyone. Then, to their left, a figure walked towards them.
"Welcome," the figure said, stepping into the light. She had dark, smooth skin, and blue eyes. Her hair was shoulder-length, and silver-white. She was wearing a very familiar uniform, and her cape was torn and ragged.
Wanda stared at her, "I know you!"
Crow gripped Wanda's elbow, "Who is it?"
"It's Storm!"
**********************
Jean looked around at the others. They were all crammed into the back of the van, Professor Xavier getting the most room with his wheelchair. Metal bracelets had been fastened around each of their right wrists, except for Logan. Logan had attempted to cut Jean's off with his claws, but failed and received a small electric shock.
"Are you alright?" Jean had asked.
"It's nothing compared to what that Crisp kid's got," Logan responded.
Now, they had fallen into silence, and it was getting uncomfortable.
"How are we going to get out of this?" Hank asked them.
"Logan, why don't you just slice a hole through the wall?" Scott asked.
"I already tried, it didn't work," Logan said.
"Then it looks like we're stuck," Scott said.
"Not necessarily," Jean said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Hank asked.
"I read one of the guys' minds, and found the coordinates where we where headed. So I projected it into Rogue's mind. I wasn't able to tell her anything else, because then they put this bracelet on, and it seems to be blocking my telepathy."
"Mine, too," said Xavier, "Scott, take off your glasses."
"What?" Scott asked, "I'd blast Jean!"
"No, you won't," Xavier said calmly, "Just take them off for a moment."
Scott removed his ruby-quartz glasses designed to contain the energy blasts that emitted from his eyes 24-7. Nothing happened, but Scott quickly replaced the glasses on his face.
"What happened, Scott?" Xavier asked.
"Nothing," Scott said, "But it gave me a headache."
"I suppose that these are designed to contain our mutant gifts. That would be why they didn't give Logan one. They are afraid that he might injure himself, or attempt to do something that could be dangerous, and be unable to heal himself."
"I sure feel special," Logan said, rolling his eyes.
"Jean," Xavier said, "I congratulate you. You not only made escape possible, you chose a student with the right character to lead the others to us."
"As opposed to?" Logan asked.
"John," Scott said quickly, "He'd probably just laugh, and do something stupid."
"Scott!" Jean said sharply.
"What? It's true!"
"Or it could have been Bear," Hank suggested, before Scott and Jean got into a fight.
"No!" a small voice said, "I's came wiv you!"
"What?" Scott said, surprised.
Bear popped out from under Xavier's wheelchair.
"What are you doing here?" Jean asked.
"Sumbodies had to save yous!" Bear said, as if he were the teacher and Jean the student.
"Wonderful," Logan said, "We get kidnapped, and then we get stuck with the pathetic excuse for a hairball."
"I no hairball!" Bear told Logan fiercely.
"Of course not," Jean told Bear, and ran her fingers through his long fur.
"Jean, do you know what they're going to do with us?" Scott asked.
"No," Jean said, "I just suspect they plan on going back for the students."
The cook, Mr. Kamon spoke for the first time, "And the impudent little brats deserve it too," he said, "Starting fights with my food, raiding my kitchen! No respect!"
Logan raised his eyebrows, "They'll be sorry that they took *this* old geezer!"
Mr. Kamon looked at Logan, and picked up a cane that had been lying by him. He cracked it over Logan's head, and continued to mutter to himself about respect.
Logan rubbed his head, and said more to himself than anyone, "And he's talking about respect."
**********************
"Storm?" Wanda asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I was on a mission," Storm explained, and led them deeper into the cave, "Until I was captured."
"How do you two know each other?" Crow asked.
Wanda replied, "She's from the X-Men. The Brotherhood and the X-Men are. acquaintances."
"In here," Storm told the others, and disappeared.
Wanda looked around. She couldn't see anyplace to go. Crow felt the walls with her sensitive hands.
"Here," she said, "There's a gap in the stone. It forms some kind of passageway. Probably hidden to the human eye. Am I right?"
Wanda nodded, then realized Crow couldn't see her, then said, "You're right."
She slipped in between the gap, and found herself in a tunnel. Hearing Crow enter behind her, Wanda walked forward. Suddenly, she found herself inside a huge, hollowed-out stone room.
Storm walked over to them, "I found this place, and used it to keep refuge in."
"Are you the only one here?" Crow asked.
"No," Storm replied, "There are a few others."
As if it had been called, a red wolf leapt towards them.
"What is it?" Crow asked.
"This is Rahne," Storm said, taking Crow's hand, and placing it on the wolf's back.
Crow touched a collar of metal around Rahne's neck, "What's this?"
"It's some kind of device intended to block mutant powers," Storm explained, "I have one, too. Except it's a bracelet. Rahne was in her wolf form when the device was given to her, so she must stay as a wolf."
"Are there more?" Wanda asked.
"Yes, but they aren't here at the moment."
Wanda looked around as Crow stroked Rahne's fur. She sat down on a rock. At least they couldn't be found in here.
**********************
The X-Men were extremely bored. They had been flying in the Blackbird for hours, and everyone was tired of sitting around. Bobby hadn't completed his training in the Blackbird, so he didn't know how to speed up the trip.
"Are we there yet?" Aaron asked for what was probably the millionth time.
"Yeah, we're there!" Ray said, aggravated, "Why don't you get out and see what it's like out there!"
"If you insist!" Aaron said, unbuckling his seatbelt, and getting up. Shawn picked up a fire extinguisher and hit Aaron over the head with it. Aaron fell back into his seat, half conscious.
He muttered to himself, "The sky is falling."
Ray rolled his eyes. John laughed silently.
"Are you laughing at me?" Ray asked John, and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"No, ma'am," John replied, grinning at the furious look on Ray's face.
Ray grabbed a handful of John's shirt and lifted him off the ground, because John hadn't been wearing his seatbelt.
"Take it easy, mate!" John said, "I don't-"
John didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying, because Ray punched John in his stomach, and threw him to the front of the plane. John's head crashed into the side of Rogue's seat, and he blacked out.
"Ray!" Amara said in a whisper, "Why did you do that?"
Ray didn't answer, but sat back down in his seat. Rogue stared at John, then Ray.
"What happened *now*?" she asked them.
"The sky is falling, I must tell the president," said the dazed Aaron.
"The president doesn't care about your stupid problems!" Shawn informed his brother.
Aaron pouted.
"Ray hit John," Ruben said unnecessarily.
"I see that," Rogue said, putting her hand right above John's face, but not touching him. She had not put on her gloves before they had left. In the excitement, Rogue had forgotten them at the mansion.
"Bobby," she said, "See if he's alright."
"What about-" Bobby began.
"I'll fly this thing," Rogue said, grabbing the controls.
"You don't know how to fly," Bobby told her.
"How hard can it be?" Rogue asked, as Lance's eyes widened.
Bobby bent over John. He touched John's face with his fingertips. With lightning speed, John grabbed Bobby's wrist. Bobby jumped.
"Oh, it's you," John said, and let go of Bobby's wrist to rub his head. He groaned, "I feel like I've just been hit by the Titanic."
"Bobby?" Rogue asked, "Is this light supposed to be blinking red?"
"What light?" Bobby stood up to look where Rogue was pointing, "I suggest that everyone should prepare for an emergency landing."
"In the middle of the ocean?" Ray asked, causing Lance and John to look nervous.
"The plane floats, as long as this thingy's not damaged." Bobby pointed to a switch.
Bobby began to work on getting the plane ready for an emergency landing. Suddenly, there was an explosion.
"Like, what was that?" Kitty asked, scared.
"I think the plane's gonna blow," Bobby said, bringing the plane down onto the calm water, "Everyone, get the lifeboats out, and get onto them, now!"
The young X-Men all jumped to their feet, and rushed to do as they were told. Roberto and Ray launched the lifeboats out into the water as soon as people got into them, and jumped in one themselves. Amara and Ruben joined them.
No sooner than the lifeboats reached a fair distance from the jet, it exploded. Flames streamed into the air, reaching over 30 feet. Liquid fire rained down around them, but seemed to be avoiding the X-Men's life rafts. Finally, the unnatural rain stopped. The Blackbird was still flaming.
"Like, that was so totally freaky," Kitty said. She was shivering.
Lance looked at what was left of the jet, and said shakily, "I'm never riding in one of those again!"
John agreed, saying, "Neither am I, at least if Bobby's driving."
Bobby looked at him, to retort, but stopped. John looked rather pale.
"Are you alright?" he asked John.
"Fine," John said, "I'm alive, aren't I? No thanks to your driving."
"You don't look so good," Rogue told him.
"It's not easy holding off that much fire for that long," John answered. He glanced at the deep water nervously.
"You did that?" Rogue asked John.
"I'm the only one who could," John said, "And besides, if all you guys fried, how would I get out of here?"
Rogue didn't press John further, but gave Bobby a look that said, I told you he wasn't all that bad. Bobby shrugged, and looked away.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Ray asked, also looking at the deep water.
"At least there isn't any sharks!" Slade said happily, as if all they had done that day was take the dog out for a walk.
"Sharks?" John said, scanning the water.
Aaron grinned, and dived into the water.
"Aaron!" Shawn said, "What are you doing?"
Aaron morphed into a huge shark. His black eyes gleamed as he made his way towards the raft John occupied.
John's pale face lost whatever color it had left when he caught sight of the Great White.
Shawn laughed, "Relax, Hades! That 'shark' happens to be my slightly idiotic brother."
The shark transformed itself back into Aaron. He treaded water, grinning.
"This is no time for fooling around!" Rogue said, and Gambit nodded his head in agreement.
"We need to find a way to get to land," Bobby said.
"I'll say," John muttered.
Bobby raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
"We were heading that way when we, like, crashed," Kitty said, pointing.
"Then we'll keep going that way," Rogue said, "But how?"
Aaron's grin broadened as he returned to his spot in the raft.
"You seem to have forgotten," Shawn informed them, "That my brother is a master of, well, not anything, but he can get us-"
"-Out of this predicament Frosty has gotten us into," Aaron finished.
"What?" Bobby said, "It's not my fault!"
"How is Shawn going to get us out of this?" Rogue asked.
"Shawn's not going to do anything," the disgusted Aaron said.
"But," Bobby said, "Oh, right, you're Aaron, not Shawn."
"That's right, Iceberg!" Aaron said, "Be careful, if you get any more dense, you might sink the Titanic, not to mention these measly little rafts."
"So how are you going to get us out of this?" Toad asked.
"Explain to these pitiful excuses for mutants for me, will you?" Aaron told his twin.
"Aaron can transform his mutated self into any animal form his twisted mind can come up with," Shawn said, "So he can use his highly intriguing gift to pull us to shore."
Aaron slipped back into the water, and dived below the surface. Within seconds, he had slipped so far into the depths, he had vanished.
"Dude," Allen said, "he disappeared!"
Rogue looked to where Aaron had submerged. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw John. He was looking into the water with an expression Rogue had never seen on his face. Fear.
"Can he speed it up?" John asked.
"You can't rush a expert!" Shawn said, but even he had noticed the note of anxiety in John's voice.
"John?" Rogue asked, "Are you alright?"
John ignored her.
"Yeah, like, you totally don't look too good," Kitty said.
John continued to stare at the dark water, but he moved away from the edge of the raft. He tore his eyes away from the ocean to look at Bobby.
"Is there any chance these things might sink?" John seemed as if he was suppressing panic.
"Well, they wouldn't sink for no reason," Bobby said, but he couldn't resist adding, "But you never know what might come up," After he said it though, he felt guilty.
John shivered, and edged farther away from the edge of the raft.
Suddenly, a fountain of water was spouted into the air. Something huge surfaced from the water.
"Good plan, Aaron!" Shawn said.
The whale spouted again.
"How is he going to get us to land?" John asked, thankful for a distraction.
"Good point," Shawn said, then, "Aaron! Try something less... realistic."
The whale dived under the water again. This time, he returned to the surface much faster. The gigantic monster in front of them turned its long neck, and brought its head down by Shawn's raft.
"Brilliant!" Shawn said, and reached down into his raft and pulled out some rope.
"What's he supposed to be, the Loch Ness Monster?" Ray asked sarcastically.
"Precisely," Shawn answered.
Ray shrugged.
Shawn looped the rope around the monster's neck, "Everyone has a rope in their boat. Tie it around Aaron's neck."
The monster waited until the rafts had been fastened, and then began to pull them in the direction Kitty had pointed out earlier.
Toad eyed the insects flying about in the air around them. He caught one with his long tongue.
"That's so disgusting!" Amara said.
"Well, I didn't tell you to eat any!" Toad said, and continued to eat the bugs.
Bobby looked back at John.
"What's up with you, anyway?" He asked John.
John glared at him, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on," Bobby said, "it's obvious. You're acting like you're afraid that this thing's going to just capsize at any second!"
John held Bobby with his cold gaze. Then he turned away, not answering.
"It's going to storm!" Amara called, "Look at the clouds!"
Sure enough, the clouds had become dark, heavy with moisture. The rain began to fall, slowly at first, then coming down in sheets. Jessica did her best to help bail out the rafts with her powers. Thunder rumbled, and lightning struck all around them. The calm water had become a churning mass of waves. The rafts were at their mercy.
The giant monster let out a chilling shriek as lighting struck the water beside it.
"Aaron!" Shawn shouted, trying to be heard over the roar of the sea and thunder, "Stay calm!"
But the monstrous sea creature took no notice and began to pull the rafts through the water at an alarming pace. The rafts were being dragged along behind it, the waves attacking at them viciously.
Kitty was shivering, and drew closer to Rogue. Rogue put an arm around her, and tried to keep her balance. Suddenly, a wave crashed into their raft. It caused everyone to fall into each other. Rogue looked up in time to see John knocked over the side of the raft, and fall into the water. He sank deeper into the water.
Jessica had seen this, also. Without hesitation, she dived into the water. She was immediately swallowed up in the darkness.
Rogue nudged Bobby, "John just fell into the water! Jess dived in after him!"
Bobby looked in the water, "You think they'll make it?"
"Jess is a good swimmer." Rogue said, not voicing her fears.
Suddenly, Rogue remembered. During training, sometimes they wee required to practice lifesaving and swimming in the mansion's pool. During these practice sessions, John had never showed up. Not once.
They continued to battle the storm, and watched the water, waiting for the two mutants to surface.
A huge thunder clap startled Kitty, so that she phased through the bottom of the raft.
"Kitty!" Rogue cried, and Kitty popped up by them.
Bobby reached out his hand, and pulled Kitty back into the boat, where she clung to Rogue, shivering.
"That was, like, so totally freaky!" she said.
Then behind them, Jessica appeared. She was struggling to stay afloat, and hold John above the water. Bobby and Ray grabbed her shoulders. Ray pulled her into their raft, and Bobby hauled John into his.
Jessica sat down, exhausted, "Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Bobby said, "Why didn't he just swim back to the raft?"
Jessica shrugged.
Rogue looked at John, Kitty still trembling by her side, "He's not breathing!"
"What do you do if someone's, like, not breathing?" Kitty asked.
Ray shrugged. Rogue thought about the things they'd learned in Lifesaving classes back at the Institute.
"Bobby!" she said, "Do something!"
"What am I supposed to do?" Bobby asked.
"I can't touch him!" Rogue told him, holding up her gloveless hands.
Bobby felt for a pulse. He found one, but it was weak, "He's still alive," he looked at John closely, "Wait! He is breathing, just not very much."
Sure enough, when Rogue looked at John, she could see, though barely, his chest rising and falling. Rogue and Bobby were relieved. Bobby, not only because John would be fine, but that he wouldn't have to perform mouth- to-mouth.
"Like, what are you going to do?" Kitty asked.
"I don't know," Bobby said, "Maybe we should just wait and see..."
He looked at Rogue. She looked worried. But when he glanced at John, he saw that his breathing had gotten stronger.
"I think he'll be fine," Bobby said, and Rogue looked relieved.
The rain had begun to slow down, and as suddenly as it had begun, the storm vanished.
"Dude," Allen said.
Ray gave him a look that said plainly, 'How stupid can you get?'
"Now what?" Ray asked.
The sea creature had stopped. It was turning its head toward a spot far out on the dark horizon. It cried a piercing screech.
"Hey!" Shawn said, "You're right, Aaron! It is land!"
"What?" Ray said, "You know what the thing's saying?"
"The 'thing' is my brother," Shawn stated bluntly, "Lead on, Aaron! We're almost there!"
**********************
The older X-Men had been transferred to a boat, and luckily, had room to move around in. They, too, were caught in the storm. The floor lurched about beneath them.
"I's bein' made into skoosh!" Bear yelled, as he rolled around.
No one bothered to ask what 'skoosh' was. They concentrated solely on keeping themselves from smashing into the walls. Professor Xavier's wheelchair was fastened to the wall, so he was unable to roll around the room they were locked in.
Jean reached out with her hand and caught Bear, who had been rolling by her.
Logan grabbed the side of the professor's wheelchair, keeping himself anchored.
"Jean!" he yelled to her, "Do you hear that?"
Jean listened, blocking out the sound of the thunder. She heard something, far away. It sounded inhuman and piercing, though faint.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I don't know," Logan said, "I haven't heard anything like it."
Actually, Logan had a pretty good idea what it was. Since he wasn't about to give the others false hope, he kept his thoughts to himself.
**********************
Wanda looked up, she had heard a noise. It had been drawn out, and definitely nothing human was able to create it. Wanda touched Crow's arm, she too had heard it. They snuck out of the cave. Storm had left them to do what they liked, obviously trusting them to be responsible.
The girls stood in the entrance of the cave, then made their way back to the beach.
"What do you see?" Crow asked.
"Nothing," Wanda scanned the horizon, then looked about on the island. She could not see anything capable of making such a horrific sound, "Wait! I think I see something! Really far out in the water!"
"Do you think it's another load of mutants?" Crow asked.
"I don't know," Wanda told her, "Maybe."
Suddenly, Rahne burst out from the trees behind them. She sniffed the air. Her tail wagged madly, and yelped happily.
"I wonder why she's so happy," Wanda commented. She looked back out into the water again. The shape had gotten closer, but not enough to be distinguished. And now, there was a second, over to the left, "There's another one!"
"Really?" Crow sounded excited.
"Yeah, they're both coming closer!" Wanda looked at Rahne. The wolf was running out into the water, then running back onto the shore. She seemed to be trying to get to the indistinct forms out on the ocean.
"What are you doing?" Wanda asked her.
Rahne whined pitifully.
"What's Rahne doing?" Crow asked.
"It looks like she's trying to swim out to the things out on the water, but she keeps coming back. She knows she can't swim that far," Wanda explained, "But what does she want?"
"I don't know," Crow replied, thinking.
**********************
The students cheered as they saw the land drawing closer.
"Bobby!" Rogue said, pointing, "Look! A ship!"
"It's going over to some sort of building on that island," Bobby said peering at the place Rogue was pointing to.
John stirred at the bottom of the raft. He coughed, and spit out some water. He groaned.
"You're alive!" Rogue exclaimed.
John gave her a look that said, 'You think so?'
"Are you alright?" Jessica called to him.
"What do you think?" he said, looking pretty worn out.
Bobby scowled. He should at least thank her, he thought, I mean, she saved his life! He could also be a lot less rude to Rogue.
John turned to him, "I know what you're thinking, snowman," he said coldly.
Bobby's temper flared, "Why didn't you just swim back to the raft, you idiot! It would have saved us all a lot of trouble!"
John continued to look at Bobby, then said, evenly, "What if I couldn't?"
"What do you mean?" Bobby snapped.
"Figures," John muttered, then replied, with forced calm, "What if I couldn't swim back to the raft?"
"You could have, there was nothing stopping you!" Bobby said heatedly.
"How dense can you get? You're worse than brainless boy over there!" John jabbed his thumb at Ray, who glared at him, "Let me spell it out for you," John leaned back, so he could keep Rogue, Kitty, and Bobby in his view, "I can't swim."
There was a pause, then Bobby said, "You can't what?"
John looked at the others incredulously, "Can't this guy understand anything?" He rolled his eyes and repeated, spacing his words out for emphasis, "I don't know how to swim."
Rogue realized that this was a touchy subject, but before she could say anything, Bobby broke in.
"Why not?"
John closed his eyes, as if praying for patience, "I never learned."
"But why didn't you?" Bobby persisted.
John stared into his eyes, but didn't answer.
"I said-" Bobby began, but Rogue interrupted.
"He doesn't want to talk about it, Bobby!"
"No," John said quietly, "No, I don't."
"See? Just leave him alone, please!"
John stared out at the advancing island. He narrowed his eyes.
"Like, what is it?" Kitty asked.
John pulled the raft next to them closer. He put one hand on Slade's head, and pushed him down into the raft, so that he was unseen.
"John, what are you doing?" Rogue asked.
"Sentry," John said, "He'd recognize Slade."
"What about-" Rogue began, but it was too late. The guard had already seen John. The guard said something into his mike, then aimed his laser sight at John. John didn't flinch, even when more guards came out, pointing their own guns at him, too. They didn't seem to care about the rest of them. John grabbed Rogue and pushed her into the neighboring raft. He did the same with Kitty. Bobby got the picture, and followed them.
John glanced down at the green dots covering his chest. He pulled his lighter out of his pocket. He hoped that it would work after all of that salt water. After the second try, he was able get a flame. It burst from the lighter, which he snapped shut, and tossed to Rogue. The flame moved through the air to burn through the rope binding him to the monster, which continued to pull the rafts, except in a different direction, more to the right. Away from the guards. Rogue reached out, trying to grab onto John, to prevent him from staying.
"John!" she said, "Come with us!"
John grabbed her bare hand. He stiffened, but gripped her hand tighter. He muttered something under his breath so quietly Rogue could barely hear, "Sorry, mate, but there's a few things you need to know..."
"John, no!" Rogue cried out, and tried to yank her hand from his grasp. John held on tightly, breathing heavily. Memories, feelings, and thoughts flooded over Rogue. She knew that she was acquiring John's powers. She could feel his hand growing cold.
"No!" she screamed again, and ripped her hand from his grasp. As she did this John slumped down into the raft, struggling to remain conscious. The guards were moving into the water, to grab John's raft.
Rogue realized what John was doing. Sacrificing himself so that they could escape. She was shaking, breath coming in gasps, John's psyche drowning her. She grabbed Shawn's shirt, and pulled on it. Shawn understood.
"Aaron, speed it up, will you?" he shouted.
The guards looked over at them, as if just realizing they were there.
"Who are they?" one of them asked John, shaking him.
"They're," John gasped, "mutant hunters."
"What's that... *thing*?" they demanded, pointing at Aaron.
"I," John struggled for breath, "I don't know."
Rogue was still shaking, tears pouring from her eyes. Bobby looked down at her, concerned, but unable to assist. Rogue wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm the thoughts and powers surfacing in her head.
"Bobby," she begged, "help me!"
"What do I do?" Bobby asked desperately. Rogue was unable to answer, she fell unconscious in his arms.
**********************
YAY!! I broke 10 reviews!! Oh, wait, that's cause 'idon'thaveoneyet' cheated and reviewed a all of the chapters... Wait, I told her to... But that was a long time ago... Oh, well, Yay!! Yes, I know this is an extremely long chapter. But I couldn't bear to cut it in half. Anywho...
Sum41Fan- Yes, I do know some of the people reviewing this. And you're right, I'm not overly fond of Bobby. I don't mean to make him evil, that's just what happens. And besides, if he didn't do some of the things he does, this could be a very boring story.
Idon'thaveoneyet- Hurry up and think up something to call yourself! It's annoying to type all that. And answering your question about Bobby, see what I told Sum41Fan. Beloved Bobby? *gags* ... That's it, I'm calling the Alliteration Misuse Office.