Once again, the other students arrived back at the mansion to find Kurt already there, eating what appeared to be his thirtieth plate of food as Ororo fussed over him, waving an ice pack. Evan took one look and began ranting.
"K-Man! Where the hell did you go? You were gonna come right back after you took Simon home, so why didn't you, huh? We were worried abou -" Evan cut himself off as he got a closer look at the bandages on Kurt's ribs and the swelling from his bruises. "Holy crap," he whispered, earning a glare from Ororo. He winced. "Sorry, but – dude, what happened to you?"
Kurt swallowed his current mouthful. "I was... busy... with the Brotherhood," he explained. "They jumped me after I delivered the Kayle siblings to their home." Swiftly, he outlined the brawl in the abandoned building, ending with, "mein watch stopped working after herr Dukes put me through the wall, so I was forced to return here. Frau Ororo has been caring for me since then, although -" he gently but firmly pushed Ororo's hands away again "- she does not seem to understand that ice packs have little effect when they are working through fur."
Scott, meanwhile, was trying not to laugh. "Nightcrawler?'
Kurt grinned proudly. "Ja. I was stuck for something to say, and then I remembered that you all get code-names, so..."
Scott began to chuckle. "But... you called yourself Nightcrawler?"
Kurt's pleased expression gave way to one of confusion. "Ja. What? It's threatening, it's impressive, it's cool..."
Kitty bit her lip. "It's, like, a worm."
Kurt blinked. "Vas?"
Rahne sat down opposite Kurt. "A Nightcrawler is a worm, Kurt. A big, ugly, worm."
Kurt looked at Amara. "Mein English must be failing again, Amy. What are they saying...?"
"Der nightcrawler ist ein wurm," Amara informed Kurt. Kurt slowly digested this and, when he'd taken in the full brunt of what it meant, swore. Continuously. Amara, the only one who could understand him fully, went red; Jean, who was able to pick up a general idea of it via telepathy, was fairly impressed as well. Jamie, oblivious to what Kurt was actually saying, spoke up.
"Why can't you just change it?" he suggested. Evan shook his head.
"It was the last thing K-man said to Alvers before he knocked him out," he explained to Jamie. "You can't take something like that back, it'd spoil a dramatic moment. He's Nightcrawler now, like it or not."
Rogue jabbed Evan in the ribs. "Shut it, bone-boy," she said. "Ah think he's right; Nightcrawler does sound pretty cool." Jubilee and Bobby nodded in agreement with what Rogue said.
Meanwhile Ororo, frustrated in her efforts to put Kurt on ice, left the room with a semi-melted ice pack in her hand. Entering the kitchen, she saw Hank and Logan preparing various snacks from the fridge. Striding up to the pair, she slapped each one in turn.
Hank blinked. "Um... hello?"
"I hope you're pleased with yourselves!" she snapped at them.
Logan held up one hand. "'Ro, what in God's name are you talkin' about?"
Ororo tapped one foot impatiently. "Kurt. You two, fighting with one another all the time, trying to make him fight with everyone else... now look what's happened!"
Hank looked irritated. "He was ambushed, Ororo. We did nothing to cause this, so I find it rather unfair that you blame us for any misfortune that has befallen Kurt."
Logan nodded in agreement. "And if the elf weren't as good a fighter as he is, he'd be a lot worse off at the moment."
Ororo glared pure venom at the two of them, and suddenly hurled the ice pack into Logan's face. Then she slapped Hank again. Then she stalked out of the room.
Hank rubbed his face and looked at Logan. "Methinks that Ms. Monroe is being unduly harsh to the two of us..."
Logan agreed. "We oughta do something to calm 'er down."
Hank shook his head. "You know that's out of the question, Logan. Charles was most explicit about that. We are forbidden from any little games like that, ever since the – er – noodle incident[1]... remember?"
Logan shuddered from the memory, but his resolve did not falter. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, Poindexter. Besides, Chuck said no pranks on each other. I say we call a truce between ourselves and focus on gettin' 'Ro to lighten up."
Hank considered this offer. Things were getting rather out of hand where Ororo's strictness was concerned... he sighed. "Alright. United we stand, my friend?"
Logan grinned. "Against a common foe," he finished. Hank, knowing exactly how far he'd get in asking where Logan had heard that quotation, simply picked up his plate. The two mutants walked over to the kitchen table, sat, and began to eat.
"So..." Logan said slowly. "How are we going to do this?"
"Good question," agreed Hank. "We'd best put our heads together on this one..."
School the next day was an interesting affair. Kurt's hologram hid any injuries that were still visible; the same could not be said of the Brotherhood. All of them sported bumps, bruises and scabs from their run-in with Kurt, injuries they couldn't hide and were forced to display to the general public. Naturally, they refused to explain to anyone exactly how they'd been beaten up. However, Kurt's efforts to break up the fight yesterday had not gone unnoticed by the student body, and rumours were flying around unchecked. By lunch, Kurt had been interrogated more times than he cared to remember, and his mood had ensured that while his friends grouped around him at the lunch table, no-one except Amara was actually willing to sit next to him for fear of being sniped at.
Almost no-one.
"Uhhh... is anyone sitting here?" Kurt looked up, surprised, as Simon gestured to the empty seat on Kurt's left. Kurt shook his head, surprised – Simon rarely ate in the cafeteria at all, let alone choose to sit in the midst of a large group of people. Carefully, Simon sat his tray of food on the table and took a seat. However, he did not begin to eat. He gave Kurt a searching look, his gave not leaving Kurt's face, until the German boy finally said something.
"Vas?" Kurt wiped his mouth. "Do I have something on mein face?"
Simon shook his head. "No. Not a scratch."
Kurt looked wary. "Why should I be scratched?" he asked carefully.
Simon snorted. "Don't give me that," he said. "Just tell me, is it true? Did you really beat those jerks up?"
Scott broke in. "Where did you hear that?" he demanded. Simon shrugged.
"Everywhere. It's all over the school today. Yesterday Kurt sticks up for me and Alvers threatens him, and now Alvers has had the crap kicked out of him along with his buddies. People talk, and I was just wondering..."
Evan snorted. "Get outta here, you can't just-"
"Evan!" Kurt cut him off sharply. He looked keenly at Simon. "Why do you think I would beat herr Alvers?" he asked.
Simon did not blink. "Because nobody has ever stood up for me before. You did. I saw your face when you hit Alvers, too. You know what it's like to be considered a freak. So when he challenged you, and when you looked capable of handling him, I decided that it was possible – just barely possible – that you'd done it."
For a long while, Kurt did not reply. Finally, he spoke. "I'm not going to answer you now. Do you have a class during 5th period?"
"No."
"We will talk then."
Simon nodded, then picked his untouched tray up and left with an absent farewell to the others. As soon as he was gone, Scott pounced on Kurt.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" he hissed furiously. "You can't tell him anything! What if he finds out how you were able to beat those guys, huh? Did you think of that?"
Kurt met Scott's eyes. "Ja, mein freund, I did. And I also know that Simon will not discover anything unless I actually tell him so, which I am certainly not going to."
Rogue looked confused. "Then why are you going to talk to him?" she asked.
"Because I owe him that."
Scott cut in again. "You don't owe him anything!" he all but exploded.
Kurt's gaze was ice. "Wrong, Scott. I owe him an explanation, from one freak to another. You, with your little army of female admirers and your large group of friends in this school, cannot understand that. So don't try." Kurt picked up his fork once more. "Judge not, lest ye be judged," was all he said for the remainder of lunch.
The members of the Brotherhood sat in the principal's office. Magneto stood in the room, holding a dossier of information in one hand. He looked at the four battered-looking boys and shook his head.
"Avalanche, Toad, Quicksilver and Blob," he began, "I do not do this very often, so I would advise you to listen closely." The others exchanged glances, unsure of what was coming next. "I apologise," Magneto said gravely.
Todd blinked. "Huh?"
"For sending you to deal with this... Nightcrawler, as you called him. I was unaware of his potential, and as such made a mistake by pitting you against him. However, I believe I have found some quite fascinating information..." He opened the dossier and extracted a single sheet of paper, covered with closely-written text.
"You've all heard of the Weapon X organisations in this country. In Europe, there is a similar, privately-owned organisation known as Genetex. I should say was; the company was disbanded just over six months ago."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "What is the significance of this?" she asked.
"A subject from their laboratories," answered Magneto. "Roughly seven years ago, a young mutant was captured in rural Germany. He was taken for testing, and pre-manifestation training. This training included reconnaissance, infiltration, espionage, sabotage, extraction and assassination, among various other skills."
Tabitha blinked. "What does that mean?"
Wanda, more familiar with this kind of jargon, answered her. "It means they captured some mutant kid, ran tests on him, and trained him to be like James Bond on steroids before his powers even came out."
"Quite," agreed Magneto. "This particular subject was known only as number 01500-4127. He was ten years old upon capture; however, his training was never completed. Three years after his original capture, 4127 escaped the Genetex facility. A single attempt to recapture him was made, and almost succeeded. However, 4127 evaded the Genetex agents and was not heard from again... until last winter." He waved the sheet of paper. "This document details a mission led by Dr. Francis Baine, head scientist and private owner of the Genetex corporation. Subject 4127 was detected in this very area – in the mountains near the X-Men's headquarters, in fact. A strike force came here via Baine's private jet. And that was the last time that Baine or his soldiers were seen alive."
"Unusually heavy snowstorms were blamed for their disappearance, but no effort was made to recover them – suggesting that those who wrote these reports knew better. It is virtually certain that they were able to locate 4127, but were unable to capture him. And they never left the area alive."
Lance stirred uneasily. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked.
Magneto nodded. "These files contain a detailed description of 4127. Both in physical form and the nature of his abilities, he is... unique. The information you gave me regarding Nightcrawler matches that description exactly."
Todd blinked. "So this guy... this Nightcrawler guy... he's this 4127 dude, yo?" Magneto nodded, and Todd continued. "And he's trained to take out anyone he picks a fight with, right? Sorta like he ain't gonna lose a fight, ever, right?"
"That's correct, Toad..."
Todd shot up in his seat, knocking the chair backwards. "AND YOU TOLD US TO PICK A GODDAMN FIGHT WITH THIS ASSHOLE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN' MIND, YO?" he screamed.
"Sit down, Toad!" barked Magneto. When the lanky youth sat again, a dark scowl on his face, Magneto continued. "Yes, I unwittingly sent you to deal with Nightcrawler. Which was why I apologized," he added pointedly. "Now, I'm giving you new instructions regarding how we will deal with him."
Pietro looked uneasy. "What?" he asked. "I'm not going anywhere near that freakshow, so don't try to make me..."
"I'm not," Magneto replied. "None of you are."
The others looked blankly at each other. "Huh?" Fred asked.
"Nightcrawler is not only far too formidable for you to combat, but is a delicate case besides." He dropped the folder onto Raven's desk. "Nightcrawler is many things, but above all is a survivor. He will ally himself where best he can improve his situation. And that is a weakness we can exploit."
Raven stirred. "How can we do that?" she asked. "Xavier has evidently won Nightcrawler's trust. The X-Men are in no immediate danger, and with Nightcrawler on their side are more powerful than ever. So I fail to see how we can convince him that joining the Brotherhood would aid his survival."
Magneto smiled. "You need not worry about that, Mystique. Action is already being taken to deal with this... difficulty."
[1] An incident that is never described in detail or in general, and about which nothing is known, save that it was unpleasant and apparently involving noodles of some kind.
Unless I'm mistaken, that's from Terry Pratchett's Diskworld.
