Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of X-men: Evolution or any
of the characters that I may or may not bring into this chapter. The
contents of this story are not meant to offend anyone and it is written
solely for your enjoyment so please.......enjoy it!
Thanks to all those who reviewed!
Spiraling down towards snowy mountain tops with close to no chance of
survival no matter how many mutants were on board....put things into perspective for Kitty. It made her wish she were sitting peacefully next to Lance simply assuring him that he wasn't going to lose his lunch. Or, maybe not that, but at least with Lance, rather than sitting tensely holding onto Pietro Maximoff's leg, waiting on his word to ensure their small sliver of
safety. She was very optimistic you see. Truth be told she wasn't sure when she had began to trust Pietro. Although
it wasn't just her. It was evident in the eyes of Rouge, Scott, Ororo,
Bobby, the Professor and most importantly Jean. Kitty still wasn't sure what was going on there. But she was sure that Pietro, more than likely,
didn't want to die anymore than the others. And if Lance and the others
could trust him....she knew she could too. "Kitty!" he shouted down to her and her brain snapped back into reality,
the harsh rattling of metal pounding into her head was enough to get
anyone's attention.
She didn't bother to enquire what it was he needed of her. Just simply
looked up at him as he spoke. "I need you to phase us through this mountain up ahead. Can you do it?" he
asked her instead of his more popular form of demanding. He knew she probably wasn't use to the pressure and freaking her out wasn't going to help keep them alive. It wasn't going to keep some of the people he cared
about safe. When she nodded he gave her a thumbs up. Only moments before they had been high enough above some of Alaska's little 'hills' for him to see that there was a mountain with a flatter surface on the other side of this one. And it
wasn't too far away from where they were headed. Or...so he thought. One
could never be too sure. Merely seconds after his memo to Kitty they were soaring straight towards
the middle of the giant rock and Pietro called to her.
"Now Kitty! Phase now!" he hollered at her.
Just as they were to impact into the snowy stone surface they glided gracefully through as if it were never even there. Kitty had done her part.
And now Pietro had to do his. Easier said than done.
All Jean knew was that they had A) landed; B) landed hard and C) were still alive. And all were thanks to Pietro and Kitty. The moment Pietro had stretched his hands out and bit his lip they had felt the plane go up, over
to the side and then plop down roughly. "Is everybody okay?" Scott asked after the jet had stopped shaking. There were only mutters of yes and nods because no one had the heart to complain.
They were lucky to be alive for God's sake. Jean quickly fumbled with her straps and hopped out of her seat. Racing to
the front she slid down next to Pietro, who lie crumpled on the floor. "Pietro," she whispered shaking him. She decided not to, however, seeing as he could have a concussion. There was blood dwindling down his chin, more than likely due to the pressure he had applied to his lip whilst biting it. She had a feeling he wasn't unconscious though, just a little shook up. So she initiated her course of action, to get him up, by placing her fingers
on each of his easily located top ribs. Where she had heard, from a
reliable source AKA Wanda, that he was ticklish. Wiggling her fingers she was relieved when he giggled slightly and let his
eyes open slowly, a smile on his face. "You are so strange sometimes." Kitty said to him as she accepted Lance's
hand up and hugged him as if he may disappear (no pun intended). He
whispered to her to see if she were okay. Jean leaned over Pietro slightly and he once again could have sworn he was
in Heaven, but said nothing.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked him softly holding up her
index finger. Lance rolled his eyes. "He wouldn't know that anyway." He scoffed. (I took that from The Mighty
Ducks lol.) Pietro glared. "This many." He spat and held his middle finger up to Lance causing both
the girls to laugh. "He's fine." Jean diagnosed to the couple as she helped the younger mutant up. He stood wobbly on his feet and would've fallen down had Jean not been there. He looked around and saw that Scott was rushing to see if everyone was okay. Pietro groaned a little and pushed past Jean to see something he thought was a little bit more important. ...His landing job. He didn't want
them hanging off of a cliff.
He smirked when he noticed that they were safely tilted against the
mountains side and fairly far away from the actual cliff. He zipped back to his and Jean's seat and leant underneath to retrieve a pair of packs that had been packed prior, way prior, in case of the severe
cold. He pulled out both his and Jean's.
Inside both of them were first aid kits, matches, walkie-talkies and identical black skiing goats, gloves and goggles. He put the clothing on and slipped the bag onto his back. They were, after all, going to have to
leave sooner or later.
He watched as the others followed in suit. "You guys sure come prepared." Lance observed as he helped Kitty put the goggles on top of her head. Pietro had a feeling he looked like a mad man seeing as his hair was still in an array of messy spikes with goggles to
boot.
He clapped his hands together. "So?" he asked, "Anyone have any bright
ideas?" he questioned on what they should do next. "I thought you were the idea man today Maximoff." Spike told him snidely. Pietro was prepared to tell him that he could have just let them crash when
Storm spoke up.
"Me and Hank will stay here and check the damage. I know it seems
pointless for all of you to wait here so if you want to you can start heading to the area on these maps." She stated holding up two folded maps. She handed one to Cyclops, as expected seeing as he was the team leader. While she did that she explained that two people, the map holders, would lead two groups to the destination, because there were two possible ways to get there. And seeing as there was no way to tell which was shorter they
didn't want to waste time in their search for Logan. However Pietro's jaw dropped when she smacked the second map into his hand.
"You earned it." She told him and he smiled at her faith in him.
"Okay I claim Jean and the Iceman!" he declared promptly grabbing Jean
around the waist and Bobby around the shoulders.
"I'm with them." Lance announced showing his allegiance to his friend. Kitty nodded before saying, "And I'm with stupid- I mean Lance." She joked. Scott mocked a sigh. "I guess I'm stuck with you unwanted people." He joked
getting a punch in the gut from Rouge and a relieved sigh from Kurt and
Evan, who obviously did not want to follow Pietro's command. After that was decided the whole group made to go outside. Pietro was the
first, obviously, to the door and just allowed his arms to open it regularly before hopping out. Immediately he adjusted to the air. It was a
little hard to breathe at the altitude they were at but he reasoned, looking at the map, that as they went downwards more the air would even out
some. Turning to the door in the slushy snow, thank God they were wearing boots; he saw that it was tilted slightly up from the ground and that some of the others may need help getting out. He first extended his hand to Ororo, who delicately took it and hopped out, only to slip on the ice and have Pietro
catch her. She smiled and thanked him before turning to help Bobby, who
just made a little slide from the ice and slid out. Huh, why hadn't Pietro thought of that? The other's followed in suit. Evan
glaring at him the whole time. Did he think Pietro was hitting on his Aunt or something? She was gorgeous and all....but uhh no. He silently hoped that Jean might not use her powers
and slide down. You know just in case she might need a hand.......he was
pathetic.
She just floated over next to him and Iceman, Kitty and Lance soon came
over too after having their little coupling giggles. Who knows? "Before we even think about going," Jean began getting their attention, "I
thought I might just suggest that Lance, you might not want to use your
avalanching powers unless you absolutely have to okay?" Lance nodded. "Yeah," Pietro added, "We don't want any....well....avalanches." He said to the others as Lance rolled his eyes and assured them he wouldn't
use them if there was no reason to. So, after speaking briefly with the rest of the group and being told how to
communicate with the walkie-talkies, they were advised to come directly back to that particular area if anything was to go wrong or if the lead was false. After discussing that they knew what to do they headed into separate
directions. Cyclops and his team went in one direction, over an old tourist trail above the smaller mountain over to the other side, their destination. This meant
they might have to do some climbing.
Pietro and his group had to go downwards, through the woods and circle
around to the other side. Luckily they would not have to climb although
there were some cliffs and falls all around. So prepared, alert and duked out for whatever was tossed to them by Mother
Nature or anything else, the two groups set off.
Pietro had never considered himself a leader. He had never been very responsible, like Scott, and he wasn't born into the position, like Lance.
But he was beginning to realize that when it came to dealing with his
father there was no body as passionate as him to do the job. "So....where are we exactly?" Kitty asked from her spot next to Lance as they
helped each other over a fallen tree. Their vision was obscured by the
brightness of the white snow that fell all around.
"We are, apparently," Pietro began, pausing ahead of them to look at the map, "Five miles away from the area where this place should be located and only two miles southwest of the X-jet." He told her feeling fairly happy
that the map was so easy to read.
"So we don't exactly know where this place is, do we?" Jean asked as if she were trying to piece together some sort of mystery. Pietro shook his
head. "Nope, so we're just going to have to look for whatever may or may not be
suspicious." Pietro told them as they continued on in silence. Lance, however, seemed to dislike the silence. This is why four miles later Kitty gasped as Lance disappeared from her side. But she knew, from seeing her arm around thin air that he was still there. "Lance don't do that!" she
chastised him as he broke away from her. "I just think it's interesting how the snow looks when I'm stepping on it."
He told them, trying to give reason for his sudden invisibility. Pietro rolled his eyes. "Yeah Lance real interesting," He remarked to the footprints making their way away from the group. "And could you please stay
with us? God." He told the older boy exasperatingly. "Geez Pietro," Lance's voice came to them getting further away, "Lighten up
would ya-oh shit!"
There was a crack of ice and a gurgled yell from Lance before silence.
Kitty rushed forward, phasing through anyone in front of her. "Oh my God! Pietro I don't know where he was at!" She yelled to him as he
zipped over to her sloppily due to the snow. He quickly let his eyes search. God where was Lance. The ice cracked.....he was under water! He could
be dying as he contemplated this.
Pietro didn't have time to order anyone around. Sliding when he hit the ice Lance must have been on he kicked at it with
the bottom of his foot repeatedly until it broke. Jumping into the cold
water he let his hands feel around for Lance. Kitty too, rushed to where Pietro was and phased her arms through the ice
to find Lance. Suddenly, Pietro's hand hit a limp form.
"I got him!" Pietro shrieked as he struggled under Lance's weight. Jean used her powers to quickly but carefully pull him out of the water. And the
moment he hit the ground he became visible.
Bobby, the closet at the time, immediately checked to see if he was
breathing. His head shot up to look at Pietro who was allowing Jean to
assist him out of the water, and was soaked from the waist down and
slightly on his arms. "He's breathing," the boy informed him, "but just barely." Kitty ran over
to where her boyfriend lay and put her mouth to his in a frantic
performance of CPR in order to help him breathe better.
It wasn't too long before, like in every beach movie, Lance spit and coughed up water while gasping for air. He slumped slightly to the ground
and coughed a couple more times before muttering something. "Thank God Lance!" Kitty squealed hugging Lance's head to her stomach and
lacing their fingers together. Pietro knelt down next to the overjoyed
girl.
"What did you say?" Pietro asked softly as he undid the buttons of his jacket and pulled it off of his shoulders. Lance didn't hear him and Pietro didn't want to push it. He was too worried about his friend's health, no
matter how annoyed he was that he hadn't listened to him. "We should get him out of that jacket." Jean told Kitty as she indicated to the drenched black skiwear. Kitty nodded and began to pull off the article
of clothing. Pietro tossed her his own and she caught it, surprised.
"He shouldn't be too wet under that jacket so put mine on him, so he doesn't freeze to death." He told her. Lance coughed and shook his head. "No fucking way Pietro," he said stubbornly, "You're too damn skinny to be
out here without a jacket." He told his friend. Pietro smirked, "Make it up to me by telling me what you were trying to say instead of using your energy trying to bullshit you way out of wearing my coat." He ordered and Lance wasn't in the mood to argue much after that. He
coughed once more before managing to point at the water. "There's a body in there." He croaked and Pietro became alerted. He didn't ask if Lance had gotten a good look because he was shivering so badly that
Pietro wanted him to focus solely on staying warm. Flicking his hand he motioned for Bobby and Jean to come with him. As they
reached the broken and chunky ice filled water he turned to Bobby. He
jerked his thumb towards the site. "Can you...like....pull a Moses and part the ice so we," he pointed between him
and Jean, "can see if there is a body in there?" he asked the boy who nodded and didn't seem to notice Pietro's reluctance to give out orders. The remaining two watched as the ice caved into the already broken area and the deep blue of the waters cleared up. Pietro squinted and saw the dark
figure in the waters. He moved to speak but Jean beat him to it.
"I see it." She confirmed before swinging in front of him to telekinetically pull the body up and out of the water. With the body out
the ice fell inward and Bobby sighed.
Jean laid the body down and Pietro went over to check it out.
Upon seeing it you could tell that it wasn't too old, because it wasn't completely frozen or rotted. Kitty shrieked and looked away as the other's
leaned forward slightly. The person was and elder man in a tweed brown suit and he looked to have
been dead before being thrown, Pietro assumed, into the water. This
conclusion was drawn simply because his eyes were already closed. Pietro investigated the man's appearance further; wandering what the hell he was doing this far out here. As far as he knew only one person lived out
here. And that was Magneto....unless. "Lance," Pietro spoke to the now standing, yet still shaking teen, "Did you ever wander how Magneto got all of these places to recoup at after he was wounded and such?" When the older mutant shook his head Pietro explained. "Let's just say I don't think he's been taking them fairly." Pietro said as he kneeled down next to the body once more. "According to what Storm told us there is only one residence out here. This leads you to wonder why this
man might be out here." Leaning over he grabbed the mans left hand and pointed at the ring finger, "It doesn't look like he has a wedding band." Pietro hinted and Jean caught
on.
"This means he could very well be living all alone, old and never have gotten married. So there may not be any family to be suspicious if he went
missing...or was killed." She said drawing up their conclusions. "Yeah," Bobby said determined to add his two cents, "And look at his face. There are burn marks and half peeled flesh, plus it looks like his leg is
broken." They all looked at each other. "The Acolytes." They stated simultaneously.
Scott looked up at the towering snow covered rock before them wondering how on Earth they were to go about getting over it. He turned to
look at his group, who had just caught up with their leader and were
breathing heavily due to their hillier route. "You guys okay?" he asked first and foremost knowing that they more than
likely wouldn't tell him later if he didn't ask now. They all nodded and he turned to Kurt. "Can you teleport us up there?" he
asked looking determined to make it over the very rocky, slick and
dangerous 25 ft. hill that stood between them and their final mile of
walking to their destination. Kurt shook his head slowly dashing away Scott's hope of a quicker and safer method. "I have no idea how secure the footing is up there." He told them, "If I were to take someone up there, and it wasn't very stable, we could
fall and I might not be able to catch both of us." Scott nodded seeing his younger friend's point. "I guess we'll have to do
this the old fashioned way." He told them and Rouge shot him a grin.
"I always wanted to roughhouse rock climbing. Safety harnesses are for wusses!" she joked at her boyfriend as he looked uneasily at the height. "Well what does that say about me?" he groaned as she laughed and hit him
in the shoulder. She joined him directly at his side and looked up with him. Slipping her arm through his she let her head fall onto his shoulder.
"You and me." She told him, "We'll be okay. Those two," she motioned at Evan and Kurt who had already fallen backwards on previous trips, "I worry
about." Scott laughed and grinned at Rouge. She was one of the few girls that could
ever make him do that...and she could read him like a book.
"That makes two of us." He told her, "And I don't care how much rock climbing Evan's done before, the snow is just not working for him. So how do you suggest we do it?" he asked her, always open to her ideas. But he
was deflated, however, when she shrugged. "Like you said, the old fashioned way." She told him taking a secure stone
and climbing carefully up. Scott sighed and followed after her. "Dear Sweet God please let this work out." He prayed silently as he went after his newfound girlfriend, hoping that the others were fairing slightly
better.
"So you think they killed this guy just so they could use his home or something?" Kitty asked the other's who were now searching the man to see
if he had anything useful with him. "Pretty much." Pietro consented, "I mean after all it does make sense, who else could dish out burns like these but Pyro?" he asked and she nodded.
"Here's something." Jean stated from next to Pietro as she triumphantly
held up a large, frosty golden key. "Well that could be useful." Lance told them, still blue at the lips but other worth fine. "It puts a dent in busting the door down but who cares?"
he joked and Bobby nodded. "Besides," the younger boy said, "If their holding Logan hostage than we
shouldn't make too much of a fuss, to ensure his safety I guess." They all nodded and Jean stood. They all felt bad about leaving the body, but it would be best if they got moving. Pietro, however, hadn't moved from
his spot next to the body and looked deep in thought. "Pietro?" Jean asked laying a hand on his shoulder, "Is everything okay?"
she persisted. Pietro stood, but shook his head and turned to them. "If the house is a mile away from here....than what the hell is he doing so
far out in the woods?" Pietro asked them pointing at the body. "Do you think the place is less than four miles?" Lance asked his friend.
Pietro opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a –shing- of metal. "It's a lot closer than you think." Said a gruffy voice from behind them.
Kitty was the first to turn. "Mr. Logan!" she shouted and began to run to him. But Jean's arm shooting
out stopped her from going. Kitty looked shocked at Jean. "Jean! What are you doing!" she demanded. Jean leveled her gaze on the man
now before them. "Take a close look Kitty." She warned, "Does he look very happy to see us?"
she asked.
And that was when Logan lunged.
Sometime in the course of their scaling up the mountain, Scott had
surpassed Rouge and finally reached the top. He used his upper body strength to pull himself to the top and prepared to go back down the other way; however he stopped, knowing he should wait on the others. So he stood on the narrow top of the hill and watched as Kurt
and Evan climbed up. Only moments later did Rouge join them at the top, not seeming too pleased
that she was the last one. She jumped up and dusted her hands off, flatly refusing Scott's steadying
hand. She smiled at him, her hair wind lashed and in front of her face. "Piece of cake!" She told them casually clapping her hands together. "Let's
go back down now shall we?" she asked them with a laugh. Scott nodded and Evan held his hand out in front of him, "Ladies first." He
told her and she rolled her eyes. Turning around she looked down before placing her foot in an open foothold.
Moving to go down she spoke. "I don't know what you guys are so worried about, this will be easy." She
assured them as they followed her lead. She moved again to what she thought to be another foothold. She placed her
hands onto two snowy wet rocks and leaned down, prepared to step on the
next rock with her left foot. However the moment she did, her hands slipped and with a small scream she slipped. "Scott!" She shouted to her boyfriend who was the furthest away from her. He made a dive to her but she was gone before he could reach her. "ROUGE!" He screamed down to her. Looking over he saw that Kurt had already
bamfed after her, not willing to let his alleged sister fall. A shouted, "I got her!" was heard from down below both Scott and Evan, yet
only moments after a large thud was heard. Followed by an ear piercing
scream.
A female scream.
"Shit we gotta get down there!" Scott shouted as the two began to work their way quickly to the bottom. Praying that their teammates were safe.
DigitalAngel4U: Okay, it is moving quickly and you may be confused, but I had to end it somewhere and hopefully the next chapter will clear up the little cliffhangers of sorts. I didn't have too much romance in this one
but I plan to have plenty in the next one. Also I notice on my thing that I've been blocking anonymous reviewers and I apologize. I never meant to do that and I hate it when it is done to me. If
you've tried to review and it wouldn't let you, than feel free to try
again. Please let me know what you think and I'll update as soon as possible. And
to Pam Horner was it? Can you e-mail me back about your OC? Thanks!
of the characters that I may or may not bring into this chapter. The
contents of this story are not meant to offend anyone and it is written
solely for your enjoyment so please.......enjoy it!
Thanks to all those who reviewed!
Spiraling down towards snowy mountain tops with close to no chance of
survival no matter how many mutants were on board....put things into perspective for Kitty. It made her wish she were sitting peacefully next to Lance simply assuring him that he wasn't going to lose his lunch. Or, maybe not that, but at least with Lance, rather than sitting tensely holding onto Pietro Maximoff's leg, waiting on his word to ensure their small sliver of
safety. She was very optimistic you see. Truth be told she wasn't sure when she had began to trust Pietro. Although
it wasn't just her. It was evident in the eyes of Rouge, Scott, Ororo,
Bobby, the Professor and most importantly Jean. Kitty still wasn't sure what was going on there. But she was sure that Pietro, more than likely,
didn't want to die anymore than the others. And if Lance and the others
could trust him....she knew she could too. "Kitty!" he shouted down to her and her brain snapped back into reality,
the harsh rattling of metal pounding into her head was enough to get
anyone's attention.
She didn't bother to enquire what it was he needed of her. Just simply
looked up at him as he spoke. "I need you to phase us through this mountain up ahead. Can you do it?" he
asked her instead of his more popular form of demanding. He knew she probably wasn't use to the pressure and freaking her out wasn't going to help keep them alive. It wasn't going to keep some of the people he cared
about safe. When she nodded he gave her a thumbs up. Only moments before they had been high enough above some of Alaska's little 'hills' for him to see that there was a mountain with a flatter surface on the other side of this one. And it
wasn't too far away from where they were headed. Or...so he thought. One
could never be too sure. Merely seconds after his memo to Kitty they were soaring straight towards
the middle of the giant rock and Pietro called to her.
"Now Kitty! Phase now!" he hollered at her.
Just as they were to impact into the snowy stone surface they glided gracefully through as if it were never even there. Kitty had done her part.
And now Pietro had to do his. Easier said than done.
All Jean knew was that they had A) landed; B) landed hard and C) were still alive. And all were thanks to Pietro and Kitty. The moment Pietro had stretched his hands out and bit his lip they had felt the plane go up, over
to the side and then plop down roughly. "Is everybody okay?" Scott asked after the jet had stopped shaking. There were only mutters of yes and nods because no one had the heart to complain.
They were lucky to be alive for God's sake. Jean quickly fumbled with her straps and hopped out of her seat. Racing to
the front she slid down next to Pietro, who lie crumpled on the floor. "Pietro," she whispered shaking him. She decided not to, however, seeing as he could have a concussion. There was blood dwindling down his chin, more than likely due to the pressure he had applied to his lip whilst biting it. She had a feeling he wasn't unconscious though, just a little shook up. So she initiated her course of action, to get him up, by placing her fingers
on each of his easily located top ribs. Where she had heard, from a
reliable source AKA Wanda, that he was ticklish. Wiggling her fingers she was relieved when he giggled slightly and let his
eyes open slowly, a smile on his face. "You are so strange sometimes." Kitty said to him as she accepted Lance's
hand up and hugged him as if he may disappear (no pun intended). He
whispered to her to see if she were okay. Jean leaned over Pietro slightly and he once again could have sworn he was
in Heaven, but said nothing.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked him softly holding up her
index finger. Lance rolled his eyes. "He wouldn't know that anyway." He scoffed. (I took that from The Mighty
Ducks lol.) Pietro glared. "This many." He spat and held his middle finger up to Lance causing both
the girls to laugh. "He's fine." Jean diagnosed to the couple as she helped the younger mutant up. He stood wobbly on his feet and would've fallen down had Jean not been there. He looked around and saw that Scott was rushing to see if everyone was okay. Pietro groaned a little and pushed past Jean to see something he thought was a little bit more important. ...His landing job. He didn't want
them hanging off of a cliff.
He smirked when he noticed that they were safely tilted against the
mountains side and fairly far away from the actual cliff. He zipped back to his and Jean's seat and leant underneath to retrieve a pair of packs that had been packed prior, way prior, in case of the severe
cold. He pulled out both his and Jean's.
Inside both of them were first aid kits, matches, walkie-talkies and identical black skiing goats, gloves and goggles. He put the clothing on and slipped the bag onto his back. They were, after all, going to have to
leave sooner or later.
He watched as the others followed in suit. "You guys sure come prepared." Lance observed as he helped Kitty put the goggles on top of her head. Pietro had a feeling he looked like a mad man seeing as his hair was still in an array of messy spikes with goggles to
boot.
He clapped his hands together. "So?" he asked, "Anyone have any bright
ideas?" he questioned on what they should do next. "I thought you were the idea man today Maximoff." Spike told him snidely. Pietro was prepared to tell him that he could have just let them crash when
Storm spoke up.
"Me and Hank will stay here and check the damage. I know it seems
pointless for all of you to wait here so if you want to you can start heading to the area on these maps." She stated holding up two folded maps. She handed one to Cyclops, as expected seeing as he was the team leader. While she did that she explained that two people, the map holders, would lead two groups to the destination, because there were two possible ways to get there. And seeing as there was no way to tell which was shorter they
didn't want to waste time in their search for Logan. However Pietro's jaw dropped when she smacked the second map into his hand.
"You earned it." She told him and he smiled at her faith in him.
"Okay I claim Jean and the Iceman!" he declared promptly grabbing Jean
around the waist and Bobby around the shoulders.
"I'm with them." Lance announced showing his allegiance to his friend. Kitty nodded before saying, "And I'm with stupid- I mean Lance." She joked. Scott mocked a sigh. "I guess I'm stuck with you unwanted people." He joked
getting a punch in the gut from Rouge and a relieved sigh from Kurt and
Evan, who obviously did not want to follow Pietro's command. After that was decided the whole group made to go outside. Pietro was the
first, obviously, to the door and just allowed his arms to open it regularly before hopping out. Immediately he adjusted to the air. It was a
little hard to breathe at the altitude they were at but he reasoned, looking at the map, that as they went downwards more the air would even out
some. Turning to the door in the slushy snow, thank God they were wearing boots; he saw that it was tilted slightly up from the ground and that some of the others may need help getting out. He first extended his hand to Ororo, who delicately took it and hopped out, only to slip on the ice and have Pietro
catch her. She smiled and thanked him before turning to help Bobby, who
just made a little slide from the ice and slid out. Huh, why hadn't Pietro thought of that? The other's followed in suit. Evan
glaring at him the whole time. Did he think Pietro was hitting on his Aunt or something? She was gorgeous and all....but uhh no. He silently hoped that Jean might not use her powers
and slide down. You know just in case she might need a hand.......he was
pathetic.
She just floated over next to him and Iceman, Kitty and Lance soon came
over too after having their little coupling giggles. Who knows? "Before we even think about going," Jean began getting their attention, "I
thought I might just suggest that Lance, you might not want to use your
avalanching powers unless you absolutely have to okay?" Lance nodded. "Yeah," Pietro added, "We don't want any....well....avalanches." He said to the others as Lance rolled his eyes and assured them he wouldn't
use them if there was no reason to. So, after speaking briefly with the rest of the group and being told how to
communicate with the walkie-talkies, they were advised to come directly back to that particular area if anything was to go wrong or if the lead was false. After discussing that they knew what to do they headed into separate
directions. Cyclops and his team went in one direction, over an old tourist trail above the smaller mountain over to the other side, their destination. This meant
they might have to do some climbing.
Pietro and his group had to go downwards, through the woods and circle
around to the other side. Luckily they would not have to climb although
there were some cliffs and falls all around. So prepared, alert and duked out for whatever was tossed to them by Mother
Nature or anything else, the two groups set off.
Pietro had never considered himself a leader. He had never been very responsible, like Scott, and he wasn't born into the position, like Lance.
But he was beginning to realize that when it came to dealing with his
father there was no body as passionate as him to do the job. "So....where are we exactly?" Kitty asked from her spot next to Lance as they
helped each other over a fallen tree. Their vision was obscured by the
brightness of the white snow that fell all around.
"We are, apparently," Pietro began, pausing ahead of them to look at the map, "Five miles away from the area where this place should be located and only two miles southwest of the X-jet." He told her feeling fairly happy
that the map was so easy to read.
"So we don't exactly know where this place is, do we?" Jean asked as if she were trying to piece together some sort of mystery. Pietro shook his
head. "Nope, so we're just going to have to look for whatever may or may not be
suspicious." Pietro told them as they continued on in silence. Lance, however, seemed to dislike the silence. This is why four miles later Kitty gasped as Lance disappeared from her side. But she knew, from seeing her arm around thin air that he was still there. "Lance don't do that!" she
chastised him as he broke away from her. "I just think it's interesting how the snow looks when I'm stepping on it."
He told them, trying to give reason for his sudden invisibility. Pietro rolled his eyes. "Yeah Lance real interesting," He remarked to the footprints making their way away from the group. "And could you please stay
with us? God." He told the older boy exasperatingly. "Geez Pietro," Lance's voice came to them getting further away, "Lighten up
would ya-oh shit!"
There was a crack of ice and a gurgled yell from Lance before silence.
Kitty rushed forward, phasing through anyone in front of her. "Oh my God! Pietro I don't know where he was at!" She yelled to him as he
zipped over to her sloppily due to the snow. He quickly let his eyes search. God where was Lance. The ice cracked.....he was under water! He could
be dying as he contemplated this.
Pietro didn't have time to order anyone around. Sliding when he hit the ice Lance must have been on he kicked at it with
the bottom of his foot repeatedly until it broke. Jumping into the cold
water he let his hands feel around for Lance. Kitty too, rushed to where Pietro was and phased her arms through the ice
to find Lance. Suddenly, Pietro's hand hit a limp form.
"I got him!" Pietro shrieked as he struggled under Lance's weight. Jean used her powers to quickly but carefully pull him out of the water. And the
moment he hit the ground he became visible.
Bobby, the closet at the time, immediately checked to see if he was
breathing. His head shot up to look at Pietro who was allowing Jean to
assist him out of the water, and was soaked from the waist down and
slightly on his arms. "He's breathing," the boy informed him, "but just barely." Kitty ran over
to where her boyfriend lay and put her mouth to his in a frantic
performance of CPR in order to help him breathe better.
It wasn't too long before, like in every beach movie, Lance spit and coughed up water while gasping for air. He slumped slightly to the ground
and coughed a couple more times before muttering something. "Thank God Lance!" Kitty squealed hugging Lance's head to her stomach and
lacing their fingers together. Pietro knelt down next to the overjoyed
girl.
"What did you say?" Pietro asked softly as he undid the buttons of his jacket and pulled it off of his shoulders. Lance didn't hear him and Pietro didn't want to push it. He was too worried about his friend's health, no
matter how annoyed he was that he hadn't listened to him. "We should get him out of that jacket." Jean told Kitty as she indicated to the drenched black skiwear. Kitty nodded and began to pull off the article
of clothing. Pietro tossed her his own and she caught it, surprised.
"He shouldn't be too wet under that jacket so put mine on him, so he doesn't freeze to death." He told her. Lance coughed and shook his head. "No fucking way Pietro," he said stubbornly, "You're too damn skinny to be
out here without a jacket." He told his friend. Pietro smirked, "Make it up to me by telling me what you were trying to say instead of using your energy trying to bullshit you way out of wearing my coat." He ordered and Lance wasn't in the mood to argue much after that. He
coughed once more before managing to point at the water. "There's a body in there." He croaked and Pietro became alerted. He didn't ask if Lance had gotten a good look because he was shivering so badly that
Pietro wanted him to focus solely on staying warm. Flicking his hand he motioned for Bobby and Jean to come with him. As they
reached the broken and chunky ice filled water he turned to Bobby. He
jerked his thumb towards the site. "Can you...like....pull a Moses and part the ice so we," he pointed between him
and Jean, "can see if there is a body in there?" he asked the boy who nodded and didn't seem to notice Pietro's reluctance to give out orders. The remaining two watched as the ice caved into the already broken area and the deep blue of the waters cleared up. Pietro squinted and saw the dark
figure in the waters. He moved to speak but Jean beat him to it.
"I see it." She confirmed before swinging in front of him to telekinetically pull the body up and out of the water. With the body out
the ice fell inward and Bobby sighed.
Jean laid the body down and Pietro went over to check it out.
Upon seeing it you could tell that it wasn't too old, because it wasn't completely frozen or rotted. Kitty shrieked and looked away as the other's
leaned forward slightly. The person was and elder man in a tweed brown suit and he looked to have
been dead before being thrown, Pietro assumed, into the water. This
conclusion was drawn simply because his eyes were already closed. Pietro investigated the man's appearance further; wandering what the hell he was doing this far out here. As far as he knew only one person lived out
here. And that was Magneto....unless. "Lance," Pietro spoke to the now standing, yet still shaking teen, "Did you ever wander how Magneto got all of these places to recoup at after he was wounded and such?" When the older mutant shook his head Pietro explained. "Let's just say I don't think he's been taking them fairly." Pietro said as he kneeled down next to the body once more. "According to what Storm told us there is only one residence out here. This leads you to wonder why this
man might be out here." Leaning over he grabbed the mans left hand and pointed at the ring finger, "It doesn't look like he has a wedding band." Pietro hinted and Jean caught
on.
"This means he could very well be living all alone, old and never have gotten married. So there may not be any family to be suspicious if he went
missing...or was killed." She said drawing up their conclusions. "Yeah," Bobby said determined to add his two cents, "And look at his face. There are burn marks and half peeled flesh, plus it looks like his leg is
broken." They all looked at each other. "The Acolytes." They stated simultaneously.
Scott looked up at the towering snow covered rock before them wondering how on Earth they were to go about getting over it. He turned to
look at his group, who had just caught up with their leader and were
breathing heavily due to their hillier route. "You guys okay?" he asked first and foremost knowing that they more than
likely wouldn't tell him later if he didn't ask now. They all nodded and he turned to Kurt. "Can you teleport us up there?" he
asked looking determined to make it over the very rocky, slick and
dangerous 25 ft. hill that stood between them and their final mile of
walking to their destination. Kurt shook his head slowly dashing away Scott's hope of a quicker and safer method. "I have no idea how secure the footing is up there." He told them, "If I were to take someone up there, and it wasn't very stable, we could
fall and I might not be able to catch both of us." Scott nodded seeing his younger friend's point. "I guess we'll have to do
this the old fashioned way." He told them and Rouge shot him a grin.
"I always wanted to roughhouse rock climbing. Safety harnesses are for wusses!" she joked at her boyfriend as he looked uneasily at the height. "Well what does that say about me?" he groaned as she laughed and hit him
in the shoulder. She joined him directly at his side and looked up with him. Slipping her arm through his she let her head fall onto his shoulder.
"You and me." She told him, "We'll be okay. Those two," she motioned at Evan and Kurt who had already fallen backwards on previous trips, "I worry
about." Scott laughed and grinned at Rouge. She was one of the few girls that could
ever make him do that...and she could read him like a book.
"That makes two of us." He told her, "And I don't care how much rock climbing Evan's done before, the snow is just not working for him. So how do you suggest we do it?" he asked her, always open to her ideas. But he
was deflated, however, when she shrugged. "Like you said, the old fashioned way." She told him taking a secure stone
and climbing carefully up. Scott sighed and followed after her. "Dear Sweet God please let this work out." He prayed silently as he went after his newfound girlfriend, hoping that the others were fairing slightly
better.
"So you think they killed this guy just so they could use his home or something?" Kitty asked the other's who were now searching the man to see
if he had anything useful with him. "Pretty much." Pietro consented, "I mean after all it does make sense, who else could dish out burns like these but Pyro?" he asked and she nodded.
"Here's something." Jean stated from next to Pietro as she triumphantly
held up a large, frosty golden key. "Well that could be useful." Lance told them, still blue at the lips but other worth fine. "It puts a dent in busting the door down but who cares?"
he joked and Bobby nodded. "Besides," the younger boy said, "If their holding Logan hostage than we
shouldn't make too much of a fuss, to ensure his safety I guess." They all nodded and Jean stood. They all felt bad about leaving the body, but it would be best if they got moving. Pietro, however, hadn't moved from
his spot next to the body and looked deep in thought. "Pietro?" Jean asked laying a hand on his shoulder, "Is everything okay?"
she persisted. Pietro stood, but shook his head and turned to them. "If the house is a mile away from here....than what the hell is he doing so
far out in the woods?" Pietro asked them pointing at the body. "Do you think the place is less than four miles?" Lance asked his friend.
Pietro opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a –shing- of metal. "It's a lot closer than you think." Said a gruffy voice from behind them.
Kitty was the first to turn. "Mr. Logan!" she shouted and began to run to him. But Jean's arm shooting
out stopped her from going. Kitty looked shocked at Jean. "Jean! What are you doing!" she demanded. Jean leveled her gaze on the man
now before them. "Take a close look Kitty." She warned, "Does he look very happy to see us?"
she asked.
And that was when Logan lunged.
Sometime in the course of their scaling up the mountain, Scott had
surpassed Rouge and finally reached the top. He used his upper body strength to pull himself to the top and prepared to go back down the other way; however he stopped, knowing he should wait on the others. So he stood on the narrow top of the hill and watched as Kurt
and Evan climbed up. Only moments later did Rouge join them at the top, not seeming too pleased
that she was the last one. She jumped up and dusted her hands off, flatly refusing Scott's steadying
hand. She smiled at him, her hair wind lashed and in front of her face. "Piece of cake!" She told them casually clapping her hands together. "Let's
go back down now shall we?" she asked them with a laugh. Scott nodded and Evan held his hand out in front of him, "Ladies first." He
told her and she rolled her eyes. Turning around she looked down before placing her foot in an open foothold.
Moving to go down she spoke. "I don't know what you guys are so worried about, this will be easy." She
assured them as they followed her lead. She moved again to what she thought to be another foothold. She placed her
hands onto two snowy wet rocks and leaned down, prepared to step on the
next rock with her left foot. However the moment she did, her hands slipped and with a small scream she slipped. "Scott!" She shouted to her boyfriend who was the furthest away from her. He made a dive to her but she was gone before he could reach her. "ROUGE!" He screamed down to her. Looking over he saw that Kurt had already
bamfed after her, not willing to let his alleged sister fall. A shouted, "I got her!" was heard from down below both Scott and Evan, yet
only moments after a large thud was heard. Followed by an ear piercing
scream.
A female scream.
"Shit we gotta get down there!" Scott shouted as the two began to work their way quickly to the bottom. Praying that their teammates were safe.
DigitalAngel4U: Okay, it is moving quickly and you may be confused, but I had to end it somewhere and hopefully the next chapter will clear up the little cliffhangers of sorts. I didn't have too much romance in this one
but I plan to have plenty in the next one. Also I notice on my thing that I've been blocking anonymous reviewers and I apologize. I never meant to do that and I hate it when it is done to me. If
you've tried to review and it wouldn't let you, than feel free to try
again. Please let me know what you think and I'll update as soon as possible. And
to Pam Horner was it? Can you e-mail me back about your OC? Thanks!