Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.

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Drifters

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Chapter 17: Hopefully

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" I think we're lost mates." John stated obviously. Piotr shook his head, they had ditched the plane 20 miles outside of the city in a small clearing in the forest so they didn't draw attention to themselves from the still numerous number of agents still surveying the town. They had been wandering now for almost an hour and a half and they had yet to come within sight of any signs of intelligent life.

John's statement went unanswered as neither Piotr nor Creed answered him. John sighed, this really was getting boring and he was this close to just burning down the dam forest so they could leave find Gambit grab him and take him back. It sounded so simple yet it wasn't. Even when they got out of this dam forest how the hell were they going to find him? Piotr wasn't being much help he just kept staring out in front of himself not saying anything. Creed kept fiddling with his little box with the beeping light. A lot of good that was going to do them. John thought. What was that thing any way? All Creed had told him was it was to help them find Gambit and to keep his trap shut. " So how much longer until we at least see the town?"

The silence was driving him insane as he kept on flicking his lighter open and closed. Open and close. Open and close. Open and close. Open and close. " John. Do you mind?" The large Russian asked looking down at the Aussie.

" Not at all mate." John said smugly as he continued to flip his lighter as he opened and closed it. He did it again and again and again and again. Until he found a large metal hand on top of his stopping his actions mid way between opening his lighter again.

" Do zat again and I will break your lighter in ze palm of my hand." Colossus threatened. John gulped and nodded with wide eyes. Peter normally was a very gentle giant but now he had this death glare going. Was he really being that annoying John thought as he pocketed his lighter?

" So Pussy Cat how much further?" John asked with a large yawn and a somewhat trembling voice. His fingers began to twitch because his beloved lighter was tucked safely away in his pants pocket.

" It's about fifty miles east." Creed answered ignoring the Pussy Cat comment.

" 50 MILES ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!?" John yelled, a few birds escaped threw the trees and some small animals took off running at the sound of John's voice. Piotr glared at him and Creed shook his head.

" 'Fraid so." Creed answered. John sighed and tried to control his breathing.

" Then why didn't we take the plane?" John asked in a whining manner his lower lip curling into a pout.

" Because a) we couldn't get a proper reading and b) it is to big we would have been spotted and shot down." Creed answered in an annoyed tone dangerously close to growling.

" Okay I get it. No need to be rude." John said then yelped when Creed looked over and growled at him.

John decided to keep his mouth shut for a while. By the glares Creed had been sending him he wasn't too much in the mood to get yelled at again. And Piotr seemed a bit on edge too, like he was worried about something or someone. It wasn't like Remy was in any real danger. The boy had most likely either hit a casino or shacked up with some lovely Sheila knowing him, the boy needed anything but rescuing. But then again they were just on a recover mission, just bring the boy back. Simple right?

Before they knew it they had reached the edge of the small forest and came across a large marsh looking landscape. Just great, John thought. You couldn't really make out much and you couldn't really trust your eyes out here. Nothing looked like it should.

" Lovely." John said after a moment. Piotr and Creed grunted. Dam he really missed Remy. There was no one to talk too out here. If Creed wasn't here then maybe Peter would be a tad more talkative. " Well I think we've hit Kansas gentlemen." John said more so to himself cause he knew he wasn't going to get an answer from the two behind him.

" Kansas isn't any where close to where we are Pyro."

John almost dropped dead where he stood. Peter had actually said something to him that wasn't a threat. Finally he heard someone else's voice other then his own. John looked back over his shoulder and smiled. " Alright mate. Then where are we?"

" Louisiana." Piotr stated simply pointing toward a street sign saying: You are now entering Louisiana.

" Well thank you captain obvious." John joked, and tried his luck by slowly pulling his lighter out of his pocket.

" You start flicking that thing open and closed again and I'll squish you and not the lighter in my bare hands." Piotr threatened. Just great John thought as he put his beloved lighter back into his pocket. Creed still said nothing and that was just fine with John, Creed never was good at small talk or going threw a sentence with out yelling or growling.

" Fine." John grumbled as they began to walk across the muddy train trying to find Gambit.

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" Any luck?" A very depressed Kitty Pryde asked. Jean shook her head causing a few locks of hair to fall onto her face.

" No. Kitty I'm sorry but we can't find Max or Logan. And the other Acolytes are out of my range." Jean said with hurt in her voice.

She was worried not just about her teammates but about Peter as well. Had he made it out okay? Kitty thought. There were so many agents around it was a wonder that she herself had managed to make it out with out being questioned first. Kitty raised her head after letting out a long deep sigh she then looked over to Scott whom was checking things out with the X-Jet. After they had met up with her they had made a crash landing down into a near by forest and managed to do something to it. Kitty wasn't a mechanic so she wasn't to sure as to what exactly was wrong with it. Only that they were stuck.

She then looked over to Evan and Kurt. They had only recently met up with Kurt again. He was asked to follow the Acolytes closely and she was suppose to watch Rogue and Logan. But she had screwed up big time. Kitty frowned. She should have been paying closer attention rather then flirting with Peter. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again she way bother talking to him at the bar? Cause you thought he was sweet. A small voice inside her head teased. Shut up. Kitty told the voice as she sat down and stared out the window. But the sound of constant footsteps on the metal floor tore her gaze over to Jean. The source of the noise.

The girl looked so worried. And why wouldn't she be? Her boyfriend had risked his life to save his friends and was now kidnapped and taken to one of Magneto's many bases. Sure the guy had only been with them for about two months but it was as if he had always been on the team. They were enemies at one point. Max used to work with Magneto for years before they ever met him. But something made him want to join the X-Men. Kitty was sure a huge part of it was Jean. The two had been dating since about two weeks after he arrived. Though she thought it was going on before hand but wasn't to sure. Which Kitty could tell didn't make Scott to happy. But he had Taryn so why should he be jealous? Jean and him had dated for six months and it was going nowhere Jean refused to let it become anything more.

When Jean had turned 19 her powers began evolving again more rapidly. Her telekinesis became stronger her telepathy weakened though but with that came another gift, some of you may call it. She became a touch telepath. It was as if her telepathy had a barrier put down so it was extremely minimal and the only way for her to use her telepathic powers to there max was to touch someone, skin to skin. The only problem was she couldn't control it. She tried for hours on end trying to harness the power but with the simplest or smallest touch that persons mind and thoughts would flow into her like a screaming banish. She ended up distancing herself and Scott ended up breaking up with her. Not because of the no touching part but because of whom she was becoming.

But when Max came into the picture and the institute he managed to get the old Jean back. Sure the boy was a few years older then her but only by about four years. Jean's appearance had changed to she had cut her long flowing red hair so it was about shoulder length a little longer the that. She no longer wore her dark drab. But some brighter colors and began to become more social then she had before. She was a more fun and newer person she wasn't as perfect and prissy as before. Max didn't seem to mind not being able to have skin-to-skin contact with her. The boy seemed like he could do no wrong. Kitty sighed, slowly she began to stand up and walked over to Jean whom was tugging on her black gloves.

" He'll be okay Jean. Max is a fighter nothing bad is going to happen to him." Kitty said sympathetically putting a comforting hand on Jean's shoulder. Jean looked up with say close to tears light green eyes.

" I know Kitty it's just that if anything happens to him I don't think I'll." Jean couldn't finish her sentence as the tears began flow down her cheeks. Kitty shushed her and hugged her.

" He'll be fine and he'll come back wilder then ever. If were lucky a little wiser too." Kitty joked. Jean coughed out a small laughed and Kitty felt her nod.

" Hopefully." Jean said with a small smile and new hope.

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" Did you call him?" Magneto's calm and cool voice echoed threw out the metal room. He sat there calm and content at his desk with his elbows resting on the desk with his chin resting on his folded hands. His helmet rest on the edge of his desk next to pile of papers he had yet to go threw, he made a mental note to look threw them later. But his eyes stayed glued to his son whom was fidgeting with his hands and somewhat bouncing around in place. Magneto smiled despite himself the boy never could stand still. " Pietro." He called again. The boy hadn't been listening to him before.

Pietro's head jerked up and he straightened his composer and stood like a soldier. " Yes sir?" Pietro asked his eyes locking with Magneto's.

Magneto sighed and gave a deep frown towards his son. " Did you call Mr. Wyngard." Magneto asked again more annoyed. Nothing was working out for him today. Pietro nodded. Magneto smiled. Good at least something was going right today.

" He said he refuses to come. He said his last job he did for you was the last." Magneto frowned he was wrong. Just great what else could go wrong. " And it would seem that reports of Wanda's movements have led her to 500milesclosetohere." Pietro spit out as fast as he could. Magneto's eyes grew wide. He had to ask Magneto thought. He pushed away from his desk slowly standing in all his evil glory. Carefully lifting his helmet and holding it at his side taking a deep breath.

" Double the guard, and go and assist Pyro, Creed and Colossus. While I'm gone Electra is in charge." Magneto said smoothly while sliding on his helmet and adjusting his cape.

" Electra? What about me?" Pietro spit out in an outrage. Magneto glared at him.

" How can you be in charge when you are in Louisiana assisting the others?" Magneto asked exiting the room, Pietro followed.

" But it shouldn't take that long." Pietro tried to argue.

" Have you ever been on a mission with St. John?" Magneto asked as if it was painfully obvious what the answer was going to be. Pietro shook his head. " Well you're about to find out. Electra is in charge until I return." Magneto said heading down toward the launch bay. " And I expect to see Gambit here by the time I return with Mr. Wyngard." Magneto called out as he walked away.

" Are you sure?" Pietro called out one last time.

" Positive." Magneto said as he walked threw the doorway leading toward the launch bay. " Oh and one more thing." Pietro looked up at Magneto's retreating form. " You might want to send someone down to cell 33 to retrieve Mr. Coopers limp and mattered body." Magneto called out before he left to go see if Jason would care to reconsider his hasty decision of turning him down.

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Authors Note: Alright not to sure what to make of this chapter. I liked the end and the whole Jean's telepathy getting really weak I'm not sure if that could really happen but this is my fic and I'll do what I want. I've wanted to have Jean become a touch telepath for a while and I have this other fic I'm working on with the idea so this whole scenario will come back in my writing later. I felt that seeing as how I kind of left the X-Men and John, Piotr and Creed so I felt I had to push back the Rogue waking up chapter to have you guys find out what was going on with them. So here ya go let me know what you think okay. Be brutally honest. Flames are welcomed. As you can see I'm desperate for reviews.

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Okay I'm going to try this again. Sorry if I missed anyone I'm new at this.

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Ishandahalf - Yes Embers is screwed. But I'm not to sure I want to really write Logan beating the crap out of Embers but maybe. For now I'm implying it. How'd you liked it and aren't to confused anymore if so let me know about what and I'll help explain it to you. Oh yeah I'll work on ' Someone So Beautiful Is Frightening' spontaneously. I'll write a second chapter and just go from there. It will be a pointless romance fic. I think I need one of those, it won't be for a while though. Thank you for reviewing.

Yumiko - Hey is this soon enough for ya?

Rogue Lebeau - Okay I promise that Rogue will wake up in the next chapter but I felt that I needed to fill you in on what the others were doing. So please be patient.

Cool-Chick-Rae - Yeah Embers told Magneto about Rogue. I had to have them find out about her from somewhere and the idea just popped into my head when I was writing it. As of right now I have no idea what the next chapter has in store other then the fact that Rogue wakes up. As for Embers intentions I don't know whether or not they are good or bad. I leaning toward a way out thing but for right now I'm not telling.

Panther Nesmith - How will Remy know where to get the stuff? Good question wish I knew the answer. As of now I would consider Embers gutted. As for Wanda she is out of commission so she will be mentioned but I don't plan on having her wake up for a while. And St. John did make another appearance as you have read. And I want you to know that the last part of this chapter is for you. I was checking over reviews and saw your question as to where Pietro was in all this and I stopped answering reviews and decided I needed to bring back Pietro. And thanks to you I have a way to bring in Jason Wyngard into the picture. So thank you. Oh yeah and between the two I chose boxers. Lol.

Lonewolf - Hell no. Even if I become completely board of this ( which I won't.) I will still continue writing this. It may take me a while cause my giant well of wonderful ideas is a little dry but I will stick with this till the end. I was a little worried about having Embers continue to be in this story but I like him. I think I have developed him enough. I hope. Let me knew if you hate him cause I'm not a big fan of OC if they aren't well developed and such.

Eixid - Hey don't worry last time I checked your fic you had like four new chapters up. Lol. Oh yeah and your forgiven if I'm forgiven. Update 'Here's To The Good Life.' Soon please.

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Okay I know there are more but I'm to tired to answer anymore. It's 1:31 am and I think you would rather have me post this then answer anymore reviews.

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Take Care, Rogue Star