Second Time Round
P.T.O. No one like a debtor so it's better if my orders are obeyed! P.F.
Disclaimer: It takes two days to log into . . . I blame Wolverine.
Please, Monsieur, another note: I mapped out all four seasons to help me figure out what to do with Rogue and I added a season five that will tie up a few loose ends. Season five was also the deciding point in Rogue's team situation.
Alright, UncannyAsianGirl, you wrote a freaking long review, so I figure you deserve some answers. Lucky, for me a few of you're questions will be answered in the chapter below, so I wont have to address them here.
Why Kurt didn't teleport the car through: I was actually going to put this in the chapter, but I forgot to while writing it. Oops. In the episode Forge doesn't know the car's there until he's already rigged Nightcrawlers lil teleporty changer thing, but in this one I dropped it right in front of him so I was just going to have him use the car battery and leave the car by the way side, cause comic Kurt could only teleport 300 additional pounds along with himself. So, him teleporting a car always bothered me.
Next issue transportation . . . well that's always been an issue, but anyways: (I'm only putting this up here cause I already started writing this chap and the way it's going I might not get to really address this) Of course non of the boarders would ever cop up to zapping her car, so Mystique will just have to file a police report saying it was stolen and then collect insurance on it. (If you'll remember our dear friend Risty had a car, and I seriously doubt the principal of Bayville high wants to advertise that she's spends time with the Boardinghouse delinquents.) Transportation will always be an issue, but Mystique will get a new car even if she has to ask Magneto for an advance in her paycheck!
As for watching episodes: it's true I usually watch them a lot, but Half-N-Half has the first two seasons on dvd now Huzzah! I don't want you all to think that I have to watch all over and over again, I mainly do it when I'm trying to figure out a certain action sequence or the set up of a place. Such as the insane asylum that Wanda's at, I'm majorly into the little know writing style of faction. So, I sat there and mapped out an entire escape route that one actually could use if they were in that certain asylum. If you watch the episode closely you will see the air duct I had Todd use.
This also plays into you're question about rooms at the boarding house: Do not try to map out the boarding house. . . it's so freaking complex. To get a good judge of the actual size watch Uprising, it gives you a shot from above. The place isn't as big as the mansion, but it goes way back. Also if you study the random front shots they often show you can see it has a basement just like my great aunt back in Minnesota's does! Huzzah! (Californian's don't get basements sadly) So, don't worry it's got enough room without me even throwing in the fact that it's got a tower.
As for the team size matter: The Brotherhood has more members than the X-men, isn't that a shocker? I mean the odds are never in favor of the 'bad guys'! Xavier must be having a panic attack! But wait! He has cerebro! He can make a truck load of new recruits appear out of no where. Woah, that was close, almost had the X-Men going into a battle against a larger opposition than they could ever possibly hope to handle. (I'm not going to be mean and play the odds in favor of the Brotherhood. That would majorly detract from the fun of my battle sequences, but don't you think it's kinda lame how by the end of the series all the X-men had to do was go storming full force into Kelly's office and suddenly the Brotherhood's choice dwindle down to A) drop building on Kelly, X-men and themselves or B) give up turn tail and run. No, I'm going to even out the teams with new recruits which will in affect give the new recruits a slightly larger role and increase battle amusement with there lack of skills. Plus it give the new recruits more of a reason to show up instead of one episode BOOM new recruits. . . why?)
On the not so dreaded topic of my pathetic spelling: Actually my spelling worse in real life, so count yourself lucky. The only time I have any real time to work on fanfiction is between the hours of 11pm - 5am on Fridays and Saturdays. If I'm lucky I get to make spelling corrections at 3am at that time if it doesn't have squiggly red lines under it I usually miss it or end up making it worse. In the last chapter it took me three tries to spell 'zappy thing' right.
And yes, one of the reasons Forge agreed to go with the Brotherhood is because he is very suspicious about how exactly Lance and Todd managed to read a manual that never existed. Oh, wait that might be in this chapter. . . Put 'Oh my Stars and Garters' At the beginning of your review if you actually read the entire note.
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"Ah, man! Total bummer, I've sent them pictures and told them stuff only I could know. Why don't they believe me?" Forge wondered allowed as he sat down at the kitchen table with the mail. On the top of the pile was a letter Forge written with 'Return to Sender' slapped across the front of it.
"It's called identity theft, look it up Einstein." Pietro jibed as he flipped through the rest of the mail.
"Like, maybe Mystique could arrange for you to fly out to California. Then you could show them you were a mutant and well. . ." Kitty stopped catching Forge's expression.
"Sorry, I'm just not sure my parents would dig the whole mutant thing. They were always kinda square." Forge sighed. "I mean my calling them after all these years was even to radical for them, they blocked the number remember."
"Well," Kitty started again, "at least you've got us. The Brotherhood's supposed to be like a family for mutants and Mystique said she'd let you use the basement as a new laboratory and she could, like, totally get you enrolled in Bayville High again if you want."
Forge smiled, "Thank's for the offer, but I think I've been at Bayville High long enough to last me the rest of my life."
"Is this Lance's report card?" Pietro asked no one in particular as he came across an envelope with Lance's name on it.
"I'll take it to him." Kitty laughed snatching it out of Pietro's hand.
"Hey! I wanted to read that!" Pietro squawked, he was about to give chase, but Kitty started running through a wall.
"Hey, Lance, it looks like you got a letter from the school." Kitty said as she phased into the living room.
"Why do we even get letters from school?" Freddy asked the room in general. "We live with the principal, you'd think she could just tell us whatever we need to know."
"Meh, it's just from that lame geology club I signed up for they're going on a field trip to a cave or some dumb thing." Lance scoffed tossing the letter aside.
"That actually sounds kinda fun," Rogue inserted picking up the letter, "Ah never knew you were in the geology club."
"Yeah, I signed up for it, but apparently so did Red and Summers, so I stopped going. I should really get off their mailing list." Lance stated, but he had no intention of putting out any effort to get his name off the stupid list.
Kitty snorted, "Like, why would you wanna sign up for the 'geology club' anyway? I totally can't picture you hanging around with a bunch of rock obsessed nerds!"
"I thought it might help with my training, y'know, geology study of . . . earth stuff and I make earthquakes . . . Oh, never mind, it was a dumb idea, hence why I never go." Lance said defensively.
"I'd go, then at least I'd get my moneys worth." Todd said sitting up, "I mean who knows you might even get to push Summers off the mountain or something."
"Yeah, except joining was free." Lance stated not taking the hint. "It's the blasted field trips that actually cost money."
"I'm sure you could get Mystique to pay." Todd insisted.
Lance sat up angrily and glared over at Todd, "Well maybe I-" Lance stopped finally catching on, "will go."
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(Day of the Field Trip)
"Why didn't you pack the night before?" Todd asked as he crammed even more stuff into Lance's already over stuffed back pack.
"I forgot! Okay?" Lance growled he was still to dazed from being woken up at 6am to pose a better argument.
"You forget everything." Todd muttered rolling his eyes.
"Maybe I've got more stuff to remember than you do, ever think of that?" Lance asked angrily as he threw on a sweater.
"Or maybe you're going senile in your young age." Todd quipped as he fought to get Lance's pack shut.
Lance snatched up his pack and headed for the door. "Maybe Rogue wont even wanna go this time and-"
"Do you know how hard it is to get a moment alone with you two gentlemen in this house?" Forge asked as he leaned against the door frame blocking Lance's escape.
For a second both just stared at Forge awkwardly. "Uh, yeah . . . no I have a bus to the mountains to catch. So, love to talk now, but can't." Lance explained hurriedly as he tried to get around Forge.
"And I am suddenly overcome with exhaustion!" Todd yelped and fell over.
"Don't worry Lance I took the liberty of setting Todd's clock ahead an hour last night." Forge said simply trying to conceal his amusement at there plight.
"It's only 5am?" Lance asked stupidly before realizing he needed a new escape route. "I am suddenly also over come with exhaustion!" Lance said following Todd's example, unfortunately he fell on Todd causing the younger mutant jump back up reflexively.
"Glad you finished you're little nap cause I have a couple questions." Forge started before Todd could think up another excuse. "I was wondering a bit as to how exactly you knew I was in middleverse and- don't even think about jumping out that window -somehow managed to read a non-existent instruction manual?"
"Uh. . . I don't know?" Todd asked casting another glance at the window.
"Y'know if you don't tell me I could always go to the Xavier institute and get one of the psychics-"
"No!" Lance and Todd yelled simultaneously.
"Then tell me!" Forge demanded.
"We can't." Lance growled from the floor.
"Why not?" Forge asked plainly. "And keep the noise level down or you'll have to tell the whole Boardinghouse."
"Can we have a moment to discuss this in private?" Todd asked in a last act of desperation.
"No." Forge said with a half-smile creeping onto his face, he knew he was wearing them down.
"What do we do?" Todd asked the Lance that was still feigning unconsciousness.
"Tell him the truth?" The supposedly still unconscious Lance wondered aloud.
"But- can we trust you to keep a promise?" Todd asked locking eyes with Forge.
"Yes." Forge answered almost too eagerly.
"Well," Todd started, "I need you to promise that you wont go off and do something crazy."
"Like what?" Forge asked genuinely interested.
"How the heck should we know?" Lance growled without opening his eyes. "We can't even think up a logical excuse as to why we knew you were in middleverse."
"And believe me we tried." Todd added.
"Okay, stop stalling." Forge said flatly.
Todd shot a glance at Lance, but he was pretending to snore at the moment and all together just being unhelpful. "I knew you were in Middleverse and how to get you out because, I saw it happen before-"
"So, you're clairvoyant?" Forge asked.
Lance finally opened his eyes and looked over at Todd, "Is that what they call it when you can see the future?" Todd asked.
"Yeah, but why couldn't you tell me?" Forge asked a bit confused. "I mean it's probably part of your mutation, you should have at least told Mystique."
"No." Lance said sitting up.
"No?" Forge wondered aloud.
"Uh. . .that's one of the reasons we couldn't tell you. . ." Todd improvised.
"Or any of the others!" Lance inserted.
"Y'see Mystique's gonna go uh, bad-der and well frankly she scares me as it is, so no." Todd concluded hoping he'd buy into it.
"But-" Forge began just as Rogue walked by the door.
"Lance?" Rogue asked as she spotted him sitting on the floor. "Shouldn't you be at school already?"
Lance quickly stood up and looked at the clock. "Great, I'm late again." He growled sarcastically.
"Ah well Mahstique said she'd give me a ride to the school gym ah'm sure she'll give you one too." Rogue said before doing a double take. "Wait, again?"
"Uh, huh, I'll go wait by the car." Lance answered chipperly before brushing past Todd. "Gee, sorry I have to miss the rest of your discussion about molecular fusion, Forge, but I'm sure Todd will tell me all about it later." Then Lance bolted before Todd got a chance to protest.
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Lance sat looking out the window of the back of Mystique's car. He had originally intended to walk to school seeing as Mystique had only agreed to pay for his little field trip if he left the jeep at home so the others could drive to school. The thought of Mr. Toad's wild rides made his head hurt. Or was it the fact that Mystique was ranting on about the training session he'd botched the other day that was making his head hurt?
"You are never supposed to stop a simulation unless you're hurt!" Mystique rambled on, until she caught the glazed look in Lance's eyes. "You better start listening to me or you'll end up repeating the same mistakes!"
"That's what my History teacher said," Lance sighed.
Mystique growled as she pulled her new car into her new unmarked parking spot. She'd stopped using her old one since some idiot stole her car and the stupid police couldn't find so much as a hubcap! Rogue got out of the car first and headed over to the gym while Lance had to wrestle his backpack out of the backseat.
"Here Avalanche, you can never be too prepared." Mystique said handing him another pack.
"Er, thanks?" Lance asked, it took him a moment to realize this pack was going to be for Rogue.
Sure enough Rogue ended up sitting next to him on the bus, but what he couldn't understand was why Scott had to sit behind them ranting and complaining to Paul about how it didn't make sense that Rogue replaced Jean. How Rogue wasn't even in the club and why couldn't she have replaced Alvers who was barely a member. Of course Paul was completely sympathetic and agreed with everything Summers had to say, the loser. Usually Lance would have told Summers to shut up, but at the moment he was a bit preoccupied trying to figure out who Mystique was.
"Oh, wonderful it's starting to snow." Mr. Rhodetsky sighed sarcastically.
"Yeah, fresh powder!" Paul cheered, eagerly watching the snow fall.
Well I can rule those two out, Lance thought Mystique could never get that excited over snow and Mr. Rhodetsky would followed by the other students constantly.
Mr. Rhodetsky glared at Paul with his mirror, "This isn't a snowmobile trip, people. Too much of the white stuff means we turn around."
Lance entertained the idea of causing a small avalanche and making them all turn back, but he knew that would just lead to more trouble plus three of the people onboard would eventually guess it was his fault. Before he could picture Mystique's reaction to her plans being foiled, the bus started to go out of control. Lance's first thought was, don't panic this must have turned out alright before. Then Summers shot a laser-beam out the window, the bus stopped and the next thing he knew Rogue was smiling at the X-Geek. Lance whipped his head around to see if anyone else was frowning at this, but he realized in general no one was happy about being knocked around in the back of a school bus.
"Everybody okay?" Mr. Rhodetsky asked a bit winded himself.
"Heh. Now what?" Paul muttered.
"We head back." Mr. Rhodetsky said simply as he tried the engine that Lance knew wouldn't start, "Okay, okay, people, now, who wants to get out and push?" he asked as Rogue got out of her seat.
"Mr. Rhodetsky, why not take our snowmobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" Rogue suggested.
"Yes! Love that idea." Paul shouted almost over zealously.
Lance wondered for a second if some of Paul's enthusiasm was from the fact that he really wanted to get Rogue alone in the cave. He'd be easily disposed of and Summers was a little to trusting and not exactly observant, especially when he was whining about Jean. At this point everyone had pretty much cheered Mr. Rhodetsky into going along with Rogue's idea. So, it was off to the cave on snowmobiles.
"I'll drive." Lance muttered, as he walked up to Rogue who was already sitting on a snowmobile.
"Excuse me? Ah'm drivin' this one if you want Ah'm sure Paul would love tah swap me for Scott." Rogue stated as she started up her Snowmobile.
Lance rolled his eyes, "Fine, just don't drive the thing into any trees or off any cliffs." he sighed sitting down behind her.
"Ah don't make no promises." She laughed as she pulled up to Scott and Paul. "Test you're mettle, tough guy?" She asked with a wicked grin.
"What?" Lance asked not fully comprehending the situation.
"You're on" Scott answered cooly.
"Yeah." Paul cheered and Lance wondered if he was reading into the whole Mystique thing too much or if Paul really wanted to race against a rogue and one of the schools worst delinquents who had very few qualms about cheating.
Summers started out in the lead, but Lance realized pretty soon that Rogue was serious about catching up as she headed off the path and up a hill. The next thing he knew they'd flown off the top of the hill landing next to Summers.
"I thought I said no cliffs?" Lance yelped as Summers almost hit a tree.
"Oh, whoa. Look, you know what? I've had enough." Paul stated as Scott rushed to catch up with Rogue again until once again they're side by side.
"Kick him!" Rogue demanded.
"What!?" Lance asked slightly bewildered. Rogue just rolled her eyes and rammed into Summers snow mobile causing it to topple over. Lance looked back in a state of disbelief as Summers flipped his snowmobile back over.
"No trophies for second place." Rogue chuckled as Scott and Paul rode up to the Taepo Cave entrance at a much slower speed.
"How'd a southern gal like you learn to handle a snowmobile?" Scott asked as he walked up to Rogue.
Rogue chuckled again, "Let's just say I'm full of surprises."
Lance tried his best to ignore their banter, his target was Paul, because of this it wasn't until Paul slipped away from the group that he realized Summers and Rogue had already gone. Lance followed only as closely as he felt he could without being noticed. He had to assess the situation before acting, if he just barreled in he could make things end even worse than last time.
"Paul here's your friend, but I bet you never practice fighting him." Lance could her Rogue complaining, he assumed to Summers.
"I'm afraid you'd - loose that bet, Rogue. Hello Scott. Are you surprised to see me - or me?" Lance's breath caught for a second as Paul's voice shifted into Miss Darkholme's and then to Mystique's. The urge to spring into action was a strong one, but he knew showing up now might make it look like he'd been in on Mystique's plan.
"Principal Darkholme, you're Mystique?" Summers asked stupidly.
"Something Professor Xavier neglected to tell you. Nice of him, wasn't it? You have no idea what he's been hiding from you. Let me fill you in. You X-Men are nothing but puppets for Charles Xavier and I am a sharp blade cutting your strings just so I can watch you fall!" Lance had crept a little closer when Mystique started ranting. He had just gotten close enough to see the others when Mystique pushed Summers over the cliff. Something had gone horribly wrong.
"No! Scott!" Rogue yelled as she ran to the edge of the cliff. "Why did you do that?" she half-sobbed as she fell to her knees.
"I'm Protecting you, dear. From his lies." Mystique started what Lance knew would turn into another of her self-righteous rants, but Lance was just a bit sick of those by now.
"More like protecting yourself while lying to the rest of us." Lance growled as he came up behind her.
"I don't know what you're talking about Avalanche. - Now, let's rejoin the others and break the tragic news." Mystique said shifting back to Paul.
Lance cut her off forcing her back towards the cliff. "I saw what you did and even if the police wont believe me the Brotherhood will." Lance stated threateningly.
Paul just shrugged, "But the police will believe me and Rogue if we say that Scott got shoved over a cliff by some rotten delinquent. So, you better keep you're mouth shut." Paul said smugly standing next to Rogue.
"No more secrets." Rogue said in a voice just above a whisper as she took off her glove. "Your powers are mine! Your memories are mine!" She shouted as she grabbed onto Mystique's wrist. They only maintained contact for a few seconds before Mystique hit the ground and Rogue stood up. "Oh, Scott. Ah'm sorry." Rogue sighed.
"Rogue?" Lance asked noticing a strange look on her face right before she jumped over the cliff. "ROGUE!" Lance yelled leaning over the edge of the cliff to see that she was down on a ledge with Summers. "No more jumping off cliffs!"
Rogue and Scott looked up at Lance for a minute, "Look out!" Rogue shouted as Mystique smacked Lance in the back of the head knocking him down he crashed into Rogue and Summers sending all three of them into the torrents of water below.
Lance flailed around in the water a bit, he'd never been much of a swimmer, the next thing he knew he'd smacked into a rock wall and the current was pulling him under. He half-imagined he heard someone yell for him to 'hold on' over the roar of the rushing water and he did his best to obey. Then suddenly part of the wall next to him had been blasted apart and someone had latched onto the rock right next to him. Lance looked and saw Summers, but he was losing his grip. Lance realized it was because Rogue was clinging to his back and reached out to grab her, but it was too late. Both of them fell somewhere below, he had failed to save them, but he had to at least save himself. He had to tell the others what had happened. Lance pulled himself up onto the rock and looked over the edge in an effort to find any trace of Rogue or even Summers would be nice at this point. To his amazement he realized they hadn't fallen back into the water. They were on a bridge the wind had carved out of the rock, it was pretty far down there. Lance thought the rock face was slanted just enough that he might be able to climb down. He was wrong of course and ended up slipping about halfway down and landing unceremoniously on the rock bridge with a thud.
"Lance, help Scott's hurt!" Rogue exclaimed earnestly when she spotted Lance.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Lance coughed as he inched his way over to the other two, "What's wrong with Summers?"
"I think he hit his head in the fall, he's having a real hard time staying awake." Rogue explained with fear rising in her voice. "C'mon, Scott stay awake, please!"
"Lemme try." Lance muttered as he reached them, "Hey Summers if you don't stay awake I'm going to tell Freddy I found out Jean secretly still likes him."
"Don't you dare." Scott growled coming around a bit at the annoying sound of his rivals voice.
"Yeah, I'll even get Toad to provide catering." Lance said with a smile which Rogue couldn't help, but return. Scott was definitely awake now, but Rogue's smile faded fast.
"It's Mystique!" Rogue shouted as a hulking wolf jumped down onto the bridge.
"The X-Men. . . They're coming." Scott said with a bit of difficulty.
"Never thought I'd be happy to hear that." Lance muttered as he tried to position himself in-between Mystique and the others. As far as he knew their being stuck on a little rock bridge was all his fault and he intended to make up for it.
"They can't find us." Scott grumbled.
"Figures." Rogue sighed, "Ah'm gonna give 'em somethang they can find." she added as she started dragging Scott farther away from Lance and the wolf.
Mystique had the advantage here, if Lance used his powers it would most likely send them all plummeting into the depths. The only thing Lance had going for him was more hand to hand combat training than Mystique knew about. Not enough to win in an out an out brawl against her, but if he could take her by surprise or get her to make the move he wanted. . . "Whatcha gonna do Mystique? Huff and puff and run away with you're tail in between your legs?" Lance quipped just before the wolf lunged at him.
Rogue looked over in horror as the wolf's teeth sank into Lance's arm. "Open your eyes, Scott. Now!" she half-screamed ripping off his shades.
Lance swung the wolf off of his arm and over the edge, he hadn't planned on her actually biting him. Lance was about to look over the edge when a huge eagle rose up to meet him. Lance shielded his face with his already wounded arm. The next thing he knew there was a bright flash of red in front of him and the eagle shrieked as it got knocked right of the air. Lance looked over surprised to see Summers unconscious and Rogue standing over him with the remnants of Summers laser vision fading from her eyes.
"Some friendly advice, teach; don't mess with the Rogue!" She shouted almost conceitedly after the retreating bird as the X-Jet pulled up next to them.
"What would we have ever done with out the X-Jet, I wonder." Lance sighed sarcastically.
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Wolverine stood over Lance as Storm wrapped his wounded arm, "Where's your allegiance, kid? Us or-"
"The Brotherhood." Lance stated abruptly locking eyes with Wolverine almost as if he was daring the older mutant to challenge his choice.
Instead Wolverine just turned toward Rogue. "And you?"
Rogue looked frightened and confused, like she half-expected to see Wolverine grab Lance and hurtle him out of the plane. Rogue looked over at Lance and then beyond him to where Scott lay on the floor. "Do I have to choose now?" She asked.
"We've either earned your trust by now or we haven't." Wolverine stated simply.
"Ah'm sorry," Rogue said sadly as Storm left Lance to go tend after Scott, "but ah think the Brotherhood needs me more than y'all do right now."
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"Rogue!-Where-the-heck-have-you-been?-Is-Mystique-with-you?-No.-What-happened-to-you're-arm-Lance!?" Pietro asked literally the second the two of them entered the house.
Lance took a moment to process what had just been asked then responded in a much slower fashion, "Rogue's been with me and Mystique tried to kill us, but only managed to rip up my arm and give Summers a mild concussion."
"What!?-Hold-on-one-sec-I'll-get-the-others." Pietro yelped as Rogue slumped down onto the couch and Lance sat down in his favorite chair. Pretty soon the rest of the Brotherhood including a rather enlightened looking Forge and a frankly disgruntled Toad had assembled.
"Like, oh my god, like, what happened to your arm Lance!" Kitty asked as soon as she spotted it.
"I'm alright, alright? You should be more worried about Rogue." Lance suggested and sure enough Kitty was over by Rogue's side in a flash.
"So, like, what happened to you guys?" Kitty asked full of genuine concern.
"Mystique turned on us." Rogue scoffed angrily.
"She tried to off Summers and when we confronted her she tried to off us too." Lance explained.
"She was gonna tell the police Lance pushed Scott over a cliff." Rogue added. "She's been lyin' tah all of us, I saw it in her memories. The X-Men arn't really our enemies!"
Everyone was quiet fo a moment after her outburst.
"So, what do we do now?" Freddy asked.
"Tell Magneto?" Pietro suggested.
"Ah, guess." Rogue sighed.
"Maybe I could set up a security system or something. Y'know, in case she comes back." Forge said heading back down into the basement.
Rogue shuddered at the thought.
"Someone should keep watch tonight." Kitty stated trying to comfort Rogue.
"I'll do it." Lance said sitting up.
"Nah, I knew I slept through my fifth and sixth for a reason, yo? Sides you look beat, literally." Todd quipped looking Lance over.
"Well, now that's settled what are we having for dinner?" Freddy asked. "I've got ravioli."
"Honestly, Blob, is your mind always on your stomach?" Pietro asked indignantly.
"Sorry if I thought maybe Rogue and Lance might be hungry after their ordeal, Pietro." Freddy shot back as the two of them headed into the kitchen.
Kitty smiled after them, "Don't worry Rogue, no matter what happens I'm sure we can handle it if we work together."
"Um," Freddy called, "The Ravioli's done!"
"That's not done, that's dead and burning!" Pietro shouted as he ran outside to get the hose.
Kitty laughed, "See teamwork!"
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For those of you who might actually want to know, Charles Xavier made it so everyone on the little field trip forgot that Lance, Rogue, Scott or 'Paul' ever went, because sending Scott bakc with a concussion would have just been cruel.
And why did I name this chapter Stab of the Lance? Well, it's quite simple really. I was just trying to get all the Rogue fans extremely confused and just generally freaked out.