Chapter 13: Fear of Flying

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Over the next few weeks, Andie and Hope grew very close. They worked together in the danger room constantly and became the best team in the school. Max also worked with them, but became quite an annoyance. He acted so much like Gambit that it made Andie sick, so she avoided him as much as possible.


Max and Hope had only been at the school for three months but they just about kicked everyone else's butts in the danger room accept for Andie, most likely because they practiced together. All work and no play, however, was not their motto.

Andie and Hope loved to lounge around by the pool and soak up the sun, especially since Andie could cause drops of water to rise from the pool and come falling onto them like rain. It was during one of these lounges that they were called to a meeting with the professor.


Andie groaned but pushed up from her chair anyway and she and Hope followed Kitty into the mansion, pulling on clothes as they went. When they got to the meeting room, everyone else had assembled, even Max who never showed up on time for a meeting, had beaten them there.


"Now that you're all here," The professor held up a picture of a young man for all of them to see, "this is Ryan Walker. He lives in Orlando Florida. Three years ago he found that he had the same powers as Magneto's daughter Wanda. Unfortunately, he has no control over them, so he put a boy in the hospital and was taken to a lab by Stryker and one of his colleagues named George Dobson. We're going to get him out and bring him back here. I have an outline of the lab for you to follow."


"How'd you manage to stumble across that?" Andie asked.


"When Stryker was killed, we found some files that showed us quite a few labs that he had. This was one of them." Storm explained.


"Are you gonna let some of the new students go?" Scott asked.


"The only new students I am going to let go are Hope and Max." Xavier said.

He showed them the outline and told them that they would head out that night. The team met in the launch room. Andie, Hope and Max were the newest members, and none of them had flown in the X-Jet before. Once inside, everyone strapped in. Max gripped the arms of his seat and tried not to look completely petrified. Hope glanced over and realized his fear. She put a hand on his arm.


"You scared of flying?" She asked.


"What? Scared of - no, no way, I ain't scared of nothin'." He gave her a cocky grin. The jet began to move forward and Max swallowed; his face went white. Andie reached back and patted him on the knee.


"Not scared of flying huh Max?"


"Don't worry," Hope reassured him. "I'm sure that Scott and Storm know what they're doing."


The jet gained speed and shot out of the room, cutting into night sky. The moon cast its soft light all around them and the stars winked. They were above the clouds, far away from the earth and all it's problems, heartbreaks, and troubles.

Max felt his heart slow and he relaxed back in his seat. No one spoke for a long while except for the occasional tid-bits from Scott to Storm or vice versa. Most of them could only stare out at the night sky. It brought Max back to the day he discovered his powers, one year ago.

He had been in a kayaking accident that sent to the hospital with a concussion, a broken arm, some broken ribs, and his pride wounded. When he woke up, he had tried to call the nurse with the nurse button but it had short-circuited. Soon, he figured out that it had not just been an accident but that he could control and create electricity. When he couldn't touch people without electrocuting them, he decided to seek help.


It had not been hard finding the Xavier institute. He knew his father hated mutants and, with a little poking and prodding, he found out about the Sentinel incident, which led him to the institute. After he contacted Professor Xavier, he pretended to leave for college, but in actuality left for the institute. Now, with the promise of a new future, he embraced all the adventures that awaited him, including Andrea Daugherty.

She appeared to hang suspended just out of his league, but he intended to reach out and catch her. Why he felt so compelled to do so escaped him, but he still felt compelled. Maybe the mere fact that she ran from him so strongly was what made him want her all the more, or maybe he just plain liked her. He did not know, but he still intended to succeed.