The regrouped X-Men stood in a rough circle, the uniformly unconscious Brotherhood scattered about the rest of the room. One by one, they briefly outlined their respective battles and their outcomes; Logan and Hank had, at first, mocked one another for being rescued by the students and fighting dirty, respectively. Now they'd come to an agreement whereupon neither of them mentioned their fights. It was easier that way.
Of the assembled group, there were few injuries. Evan and Scott had numerous bruises and scratches, Amara and Jean were suffering a few minor bumps, and Kurt had a nice gash in his arm. Evan and Rogue also sported minor burns from their respective encounters with Megabyte's power, but aside from that, the victors were unharmed. The only real shocks had come from Rogue and Kitty's announcement of the Professor defeating Simon, and Mystique aiding Kurt in bringing down Magneto. Kurt was now standing between Amara and Jamie, quiet, still dressed in the jeans and shirt he'd been abducted in, which were by now torn and bloodstained. The others had listened to a halting summary of his battle with Magneto, and fully understood his emotions – after all he'd been through, Kurt had finally been forced to take a life. Now they had to hope that the knowledge of what he'd done didn't tear him apart.
"Looks like we ain't so bad at rescue attempts after all, Elf," Logan announced with a cheer that wasn't entirely false.
Scott grinned. "Well, we learn slow, but we learn well," he agreed. Next to him, Evan chuckled.
"You're getting better at those one-liners," he informed Scott. Kitty yawned and stretched.
"Well, I'm, like, all rescued out," she told the others in general. "Can we, like, go home now?"
Rogue nodded. "Seconded," she agreed. With various comments of assent, the group began to head toward the ragged hole in the wall where the door had once stood. Jamie looked behind them.
"Shouldn't we tie them up or something?" he asked. Logan paused, then shook his head.
"Ain't no need, squirt. With Maggie outa the picture, they ain't gonna be a threat to no-one. We can leave 'em here for now."
Kurt looked troubled. "And what of Simon?" he asked. "I, for one, do not trust him to walk away from this easily. You said that he was simply out cold, and therefore will be waking up soon... should we not do something about that?"
Charles' voice sounded in all their heads. I wouldn't worry about Megabyte, Kurt. Yes, he will awaken, but I don't think he's going to be much of a threat to any of us.
Jean raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "When he wakes up, he's not going to be a happy little man. And an angry lunatic with all that power" she shuddered theatrically. "Ouch"
An angry lunatic he may be, Jean, came Charles' reply. But an angry lunatic with power he is not. Megabyte is incapable of accessing his abilities. I have placed a barrier in his mind to prevent it. He cannot use his powers again.
Hank looked impressed. "You can do that?"
You should know by now, Hank. I can do anything
Evan grinned. "Now that's a one-liner."
Return to the institute. Your work on Asteroid M is done, and there is much to do here. You've done well, everyone.
As they headed for the exits, Kurt hung back, his gaze drawn irresistibly toward Magneto's body. Logan came up next to him and spoke softly.
"Sometimes, Elf..." he said quietly, "...bad shit happens. We can't stop it; we can't change it; we can't decide what's gonna happen, or when it's gonna happen, or who it's gonna affect. That's the way things are. And I know this won't help much now, but there's somethin' ya gotta realise. That even if we can't have a say in what happens in the world, we can have a say in how it effects us."
Kurt looked up, eyes glowing faintly, saying nothing. Logan continued.
"Ya did what ya had to do. There's a lot of people wouldn't have done it in your situation. And, there's a lot who would've done it, and enjoyed it. You didn't do either. Ya took the lesser of two evils, Elf. That takes more guts than people will admit, and only a decent person can do it." Logan clapped a hand onto Kurt's shoulder. "You're a good kid. What ya did ain't a nice thing, but it was the best ya could have done, and better than most people could do. Don't let anyone else tell ya otherwise."
Kurt nodded. "Thank you, Herr Logan," he whispered. Together, they turned and walked towards where the others waited at the exit.
A short time later, the Blackbird roared away from Asteroid M. Behind them, the darkened station was still and seemingly lifeless. None of them commented; none of them noticed. None of them even looked back.
Twenty-four hours later, the dining room was once again filled as the evening meal was presented and, predictably, demolished. Around the table sat the entirety of the X-Men, some sporting wounds of war, others not quite so noticeable. Rahne wore a dressing gown over her pyjamas; although her injuries weren't all that serious, she'd been in a state of extreme exhaustion ever since they'd lifted her from the bottom of Cerebro's chamber. In Ororo and Hank's opinion, she should have been in bed; however, she'd insisted on eating with the others.
Next to her sat Bobby, hero of the moment as far as the younger students were concerned. He sported a cast on one leg that had been broken by the Danger Room's opponents, but it didn't trouble him too much – it had been almost worth it to see Logan's reaction to their story, and the attention he was getting from the others was certainly worth it. Jubilee in particular was waiting on him hand and foot – as far as she was concerned, Bobby's efforts had saved her life more than once during the battle in the Danger Room. Her injuries had consisted of no more than a few burns and bruises, so the only thing that she had to put up with now was the teasing of the others for taking care of Bobby, or as some of the others had put it, becoming his 'love-slave'.
Jamie, the next in line, was if anything more of a hero than Bobby. Logan, who'd promised to punish the youngest member of the team for stowing away on the Blackbird, had completely changed his tune – now, he was praising Jamie as an example of bravery for not only coming along on a dangerous mission but also managing to defeat both Todd and Lance. Jamie, shy by nature, had recriminated all of the compliments, but nonetheless was on the receiving end of a new level of respect from the others.
Evan wasn't being considered a hero by anyone. He couldn't have cared less. As far as he was concerned, he was safe, his friends were safe, and best of all, Pietro had gone down. The two rivals had had their long-awaited showdown, and hey surprise, Evan had won! The biggest winner had, naturally, been Evan's ego; however, the general air of exuberance in the mansion enabled the others to put up with it.
Kitty was being cautiously complimented by the others on her efforts. She'd displayed no more skill than the others had already known she'd had. What had surprised everyone was a certain†passion for violence they hadn't suspected she had in her. She didn't really care all that much, and for her part wondered why no-one wanted to fight her in the danger room any more. Next to her, Rogue had eventually worn down from the influence of draining Sabretooth, although she'd been more than a little angry with the world in general for a while there. Mostly happy at surviving, she was back to her old, vaguely pessimistic self again.
Scott and Jean's respective images hadn't changed. Scott had at first raised a few eyebrows by admitting that Lance had almost gotten the better of him; he'd retorted that, after all, it had been him to get everyone out of Magneto's prison, so things had pretty much averaged out for him. Jean, who'd had not much of a part in the proceedings other than her defeat of Tabitha, was very much at the same level of popularity and respect as before the mission.
Kurt had, not surprisingly, been fairly quiet ever since the rescue. Being a prisoner had brought back a few unpleasant memories that he was bottling up, rather than share with the others; added to this was his eventual killing of Magneto, a serious breach of his code of ethics, and the revelation that Mystique may have been more closely connected to him than anyone had thought. Mystique hadn't been heard from, although attempts were being made to locate her, so far without success. Kurt's silence was his way of dealing with the heavy stress he found himself under, although he was slowly beginning to come out of his shell once more, to the cautious relief of others.
Next to him, Amara had been almost as quiet, excepting a few attempts to cheer the blue mutant up. Her victory over Wanda had surprised quite a few of the others, and her sudden display of loyalty to the rest of the X-Men had raised her popularity quite a few rungs. This newfound popularity hadn't prevented a certain amount of gentle teasing, however – there was a betting pool as to when she was eventually going to hook up with a certain German boy, currently being led by Kitty.
At one end of the table sat the adults. Logan and Hank were talking companionably, much to the surprise of Ororo, who believed them still to be engaged in one argument or another. In truth, their friendship had grown after the rescue mission, a new level of respect for one another surprising each of them. Ororo had escaped serious injury in the Danger Room, although she was understandably worn out; still, she was energetic enough to watch the two men warily at all times, expecting a fight to break out at any moment.
Charles was sitting in his usual place at the head of the table, watching the others, an almost paternal smile on his features. This expression was, however, well deserved; the fruits of his proverbial labour had come to ripen. His students had faced their penultimate test, and evidently had passed with flying colours; the Brotherhood was broken and defeated, and the confidence of the students had risen almost beyond belief. Things were not perfect, of course – the dejected blue teenager sitting nearby was a testament to that – but they were getting better. One day, perhaps soon, these young adults would be ready for the world. With any luck, the world would soon be ready to recieve them.
Charles smiled to himself as he took a drink from his glass and listened vaguely to the buzz of conversation around him.
No, he thought, things aren't perfect. Maybe they never will be.
But they don't get much better than this.
Separated from the world around them by a barrier no-one could see, but was there nonetheless, the group of mutants feasted together, glowing from their victory. Not necessarily a part of the world they lived in; but for once, for that night at least, they couldn't have cared less.
