DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-men.
The simulation ended, and seconds later, both Logan and Hank were running into the Danger Room as fast as they could. Hank easily overtook Logan, and reached Remy's side first. Scooping him up, he headed out of the room and towards the Med Lab. Logan, upon reaching the group, turned to Bobby.
"What was that, Popsicle?"
"An accident."
"I know what I was, bub, and that wasn't an accident. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but you'd better get over it, and soon. You put the whole team in danger there."
"Logan. What happened?" Storm had been busy at the time of the incident.
"Rogue and Ice prick here had just taken down one of the 'bots, and another was about to fall on him and Rogue. He saved his own ass, then Gumbo sweeped in at the last second and got Rogue out of there. When they were out of harm's way, Drake blasted him with a stream of ice, knocking the kid out."
"Robert? Care to explain yourself?"
Bobby looked around, then rolled his eyes. "I thought that he was part of the sentinel and that it was shooting off of the main body towards me. I tried to block it." A quick glance around the room told him that no one believed his story. "Ok, I was going to build a pillar of ice to keep it from falling on Rogue. He got in the way."
"Listen, Iceface, none of us believe a word of this shit you're feeding us."
"Logan!" Storm interrupted.
"OK!" Bobby screamed. "I thought he was… making a move on my girl."
"What?" Logan spat. "Are you really that…" Before he could finish his question, though, Rogue erupted.
"What the fuck is your problem, Bobby?! Ah told ya, it's over. And ya know why? Because of things like that. You're such a fucking jealous moron that ya didn't even care that Ah was safe, it just mattered that HE was th' one who did it. Ah've told ya before, Ah don't need you t' protect me. Ah'm not a helpless little whiny piece of shit, and Ah don't need it."
Logan was surprised. He had never really heard Rogue swear before, and he had certainly never heard her rage like that. He turned to Bobby, to see what his reaction was.
"Rogue, you kissed me!"
This was starting to become a soap opera.
"Only so Ah could borrow your powers! Ah didn't have time t' take off a glove, that thing woulda killed ya by then. Ah can't believe you. IF ya'll will excuse me, Ah'm goin' to see just how much damage Bobby did t' Remy."
"SEE?! Now you're calling him by his first name!"
Rogue left the room, flipping him the bird on her way out. An uncomfortable silence ensued, which Jubilee broke by smacking Bobby on the back of the head and asking,
"She calls me by my first name, too. You gonna try to kill me?"
"No, Jubes—"
"Don't call me that. I'm not looking for a relationship right now."
"That's not what I meant! I just—"
"Save it, Bobby." Kitty had come up beside Jubilee. "Nobody wants to hear it."
Logan still had his back to Bobby, and addressed him without turning around. "You're lucky I ain't looking at you. Or else you might not have anything to look back with." He started to walk out of the room, and Carol and Storm rushed after him. Colossus tapped Kitty on the shoulder, and asked timidly, "Katya? Is it alright if I am hitting the showers?"
Kitty nodded, and Nightcrawler put his hand on his large friend's shoulder.
"I will join you." Seconds later, there was a loud "BAMF", and they were gone. Bobby turned to the two girls and pleaded with them.
"You know that he likes her. You would have done the same thing."
Jubilee stepped right in front of him and pointed her finger at his face, making him flinch.
"I also know that she doesn't like you, and that that is more important." She shot off sparks at him, but they went right through. Peering around him, she saw that kitty had grabbed a fistful of his hair and turned him intangible.
"Jubes. Don't hurt him." Bobby breathed a sigh of relief. At least someone was on his side.
"What?! You saw what he did!"
"Yeah, and you don't want to stoop to his level."
"Thanks, Kitty. It's good to know that…"
"Drake, I hate you. Never think otherwise." She returned him to his regular, solid state, and shoved him, making him fall.
"Come on, Jubes. Lets get out of here."
From his spot outside Cerebro, Scott had witnessed some of what happened, although he had no details. He had seen Hank emerge from the room carrying Gambit, then, moments later, he had seen Rogue rush out and follow them. He had seen Logan, too, come out and head towards the elevator, followed closely by Storm and Carol. When Jubilee and Kitty walked out moments later, and he saw the look on Jubilee's face, he really started to get interested. Nothing seemed to faze her. Ever. He peeked around the corner and into the room, where he saw Bobby standing up slowly. The door slid shut, as Bobby began to scream. He adjusted his glasses and turned back towards cerebro, where he was surprised to find the Professor emerging.
"Well?!"
"Perhaps you had better come inside, Scott."
Scott nodded, and followed the Professor. As the Professor put on the familiar helmet, he turned slightly to Scott.
"Don't move."
The walls shuddered and the metal plates disappeared, replaced by a glowing white map of the world.
"The white lights are humans." The map changed to red, illuminating slightly different parts of the earth. "The red, mutants." The map again changed, this time zooming in on the area surrounding Alkali lake. The red and white lights both appeared, showing the mutant and human activity surrounding the area. Part of the map glowed a faint green.
"See the green spot? That is where we last saw Jean. When I returned from that and checked Cerebro, the area was not green."
"What does that mean?"
"A disturbance in the water. Something that is neither human nor completely mutant. The only other time that I have seen this particular shade of green before was when I was tracking my half-brother. He carries an advanced mutant signature. So does Dr. McCoy."
"Why?"
"Their mutations were triggered by some unnatural occurrence. Dr. McCoy, for example, was doing research and tested a formula on himself, thus causing his body to advance itself by force, giving him his blue appearance."
"So he's not supposed to be blue?"
"Not yet. His agility and size are his primary mutation. The fur is a secondary mutation, not meant to be triggered until much later in his life."
"So does that mean that Jean's alive?"
"That's where this gets tricky. At first, I thought that the near drowning triggered her secondary mutation, thus saving her life. But when I concentrate on her mental patterns, I cannot locate her."
"Can't you just find whatever that green thing is and ask it?"
"I was unable to get a lock on it until this morning. It was not fully formed, but now it is. I can show you what it looks like, if you wish."
"I do."
"Very well." He concentrated and the map shifted again, showing an area somewhere just above the international border. People, both mutant and human, were running, cars were flying into buildings as if they were blown. What looked like a green tornado was tearing down the street. It came to a stop at the corner and materialized into a large bird. Scott immediately recognized it.
"It's her." Seconds later, the face finished forming, and the Professor, too, saw her. She grinned maniacally and returned to her blurred state, tearing down yet another street. The professor zoomed out again, showing the map in a pale orange, with neither the humans nor the mutants highlighted. The only other color was green. Two green dots, one in Westchester, the other in Canada.
"The lower dot is Henry. The other is 'Jean'. This," a blue dot formed at Alkali lake "is where she supposedly died. Given her path of destruction…" a dotted white line formed. "She is on her way here as we speak."
Jubilee banged on the bathroom door.
"Rogue, come out of there." Rogue had returned to their room some time after they had. She reported that Remy was alright, and headed straight into the bathroom, where she had been for a good fifteen minutes.
"No."
Kitty came up beside Jubilee. "Then I hope you're dressed, because if you don't come out, I'm coming in."
"Fuck off. Both of you."
"You know we can't do that, Rogue. You need to talk. Get out of there and come talk to us."
"Ah said no."
"Rogue, this is your last warning… I'm coming in if you aren't coming out."
All three of them knew that Kitty wouldn't do it. She had a big problem with using her powers to invade in other people's privacy. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
"No, ya won't."
Jubilee patted her on the shoulder and shrugged. She had tried. Now it was Jubilee's turn.
"Rogue, If you don't come out of there in ten seconds, I will break this door down." That, on the other hand, was most definitely not an idle threat.
"Ya break it, ya bought it."
"I'll put it on my charge card. Get your ass out here. Now."
Before Rogue had a chance to answer, someone walked through the door. The balcony door.
"Remy hopes dat's a Capital One "no hassle" card. Ot'erwise, de rates…"
"Uh… were you outside again?"
"Remy likes to sit in de trees. Sometimes, he gets lucky and finds a good tree. Mind if I try?" He pointed towards the bathroom door and Jubilee and Kitty both stepped away, letting him take over the effort.
"Chere? You ok?"
"Go away."
"Non, you know Remy can't do that. We need to talk."
"Ah said leave me alone, Swamp Rat."
"Remy has t' ask you somet'ing."
"Do it through the door."
"Remy likes to look at people in de eyes when he talks. And he got a feelin' dat you feel de same way."
"X-men, please report to my office", Xavier's telepathic message interrupted their conversation. Seconds later, Rogue came barreling out of the bathroom, shoving Remy out of the way. He looked over at Jubilee and Kitty for a second, before following her out of the room. Jubilee started for the door, but before she could make it, Kitty grabbed her arm and pulled her through the floor, into the library, where they nearly landed on a student.
"Ah!"
"Sorry... carry on."
They walked to the professor's office, where they were surprised to see Scott in full uniform.
"You missed the training session, fearless leader."
He didn't even acknowledge Jubilee's comment, and she rolled her eyes and decided not to press it.
Bobby had sat back down on the ground, too upset with himself to even change out of his uniform. When the Professor summoned him, he stood up slowly, and walked out of the Danger room, hanging his head. He hadn't even heard Beast padding along behind him in the hallway.
"Mr. Drake?"
"Huh? Oh, Dr. McCoy. Hey."
"Please, call me Hank. Twinkie?"
"Wha?" He looked back. The large, blue man had a small box tucked under his arm and was eating one of the cakes.
"Would you like a twinkie?"
"Would I ever." He accepted one of them and started to eat. He was grateful that Dr. McCoy didn't bring up what had happened in the danger room. At the same time, though, he felt as if he owed some kind of explanation.
"About what happened in there... I didn't really think about what I was doing. I just sort of... did it."
"Mr. Drake, People do things that they regret. It is a wise man, however, who understands the reasons."
"I was just so upset. And he... he's the reason that she broke up with me. I just know it."
"Did she say so?"
"Well, no."
"Then you do not know it. Horrible things have happened because of assumptions."
"I guess you're right."
They got off the elevator, and Bobby turned to his new, fuzzy friend.
"Thanks, Dr...Hank. And call me Bobby."
A/N: Another chapter... yay? I felt sort of bad having Bobby flip out like that and then just end up being a dick for all of eternity... He's not really a bad guy, he just doesn't belong with Rogue, that's all... Matter of opinion, I guess. But anyways, Reviews make me happy (hint hint).