X men: a fan fiction episode
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters

The White Hot Room

Kurt pulled on the zipper down the side of his costume just a little as he wondered when the last time was that they had actually had a serious threat. He laughed and thought that maybe it should have made him feel insulted. The super villains and threats to humanity they fought were far from any preconceived idea of real – the last most devastating turn they had taken was a run in with their pre-teen selves in a battle against Mojo. Their battles were like a joke, hilarious almost – that the war they waged for mutant-kind and peace and unity was so… petty. He sighed as he ran his tail through his fingers, trying to make the blue fur stand up as he pushed against the little blue hairs. No, but not a joke, he decided. Staying alive is not a joke, keeping in place a world we hold dear, that's serious, that meant something to him, to a lot of people, and the people who fought the good fight by him. He yawned, baring a little of the white tips of his fangs and looked at Ororo sitting across him, leaned up against the inside of the blackbird like he was.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked casually.

"Nothing", Kurt replied, "just letting my mind wander a bit is all."

"Mm." She pulled her hands up from her sides and unfastened the ends of her cape from her wrists and pulled it out from under her, reaching up to lay it over the headrest of the nearest seat. The others had left. Tired after the mission that had lasted the past few days, they were eager to find something else to do. She and Kurt had left the danger room with them – where they had been whisked away when their journey began – but had both decided to go somewhere quiet, somewhere to get away, just to sit and relax, maybe talk, or just enjoy each other's silence. Neither felt like going back into the hustle and bustle of the mansion yet, especially when so many children roamed the halls these days. It was nice, it had made the mansion cheery and vibrant – it was a nice ambience to know, evolving from the more serious days when the team was in its dawn when it was all training and war, life and death -- back in the days when mutants were few and far between and the anathema of a world barely ready to accept their presence. It showed little, but the life and ready presence that a whole new generation of mutants had brought to the mansion evinced just the slightest show of progress of a dream. But as lively as the mansion was, it wasn't as suitable for just a quick quiet getaway and a little reclusion. They had walked along the corridors to the areas of the institute the X-men used to prepare for their missions, and found their way to the empty hangar. They had opened up the jet just to sit inside and enjoy the privacy, leaving the lights of the place off as they found a nice place inside to let the tire of the last mission conclusively seep away. There was only the soft hum of the hangar's ventilation, and the fluorescent light from the corridor coming in through the cockpit windows.

"So what's the next mission?" Kurt asked, which elicited a little laugh from both of them. There were certainly many missions from the X men never having planned any, weren't there? Things just seemed to keep coming at them. They were busy people. Being an X-man actually was a job, for the constant daily calls it made, but it never really seemed that way to them, it was more like just their way of life.

"I hope not to have one too soon", Ororo said, thinking about lying in bed all day or sitting in the crest of a tree as she rained on flowers below. She pondered this thought, and then pondered Kurt's mysterious appearance, always shrouded in dark, with imperceptible yellow eyes. Vivid and elusive eyes.

"I miss Jean", she said suddenly, straightening herself up to lean against the corner of the jet lockers.

"As do I," Kurt replied, looking down, upset by the memory of a dead friend. They never really had any time to take in all that was going on. Life was a constant flurry of activity and it was never easy to register everything that went on while being a freedom fighter in the midst of it. While it meant that they could never by still long enough for them to be tied down by regret, past, or sorrow, it made things worse, too, when they could not grieve and then find closure, and move on to accepting things as they were. So their personal lives very much revolved around things left unsaid, things left half done, half-baked romances – for the necessity of the job they did left them little time to be human and accept the humanity of it. Ironic, it was, that they were denying it, when the very fight of their lives was to prove that they, too, were human.

Storm looked up pensively, as if she were reading a sign post in the heavens. That was life for her, Kurt thought, endlessly and eternally surrounded in nature. How wonderful it must be.

"It's going to rain", she said, translating the weather's intention. "We should head back to the cabin. We shall take a pleasant walk before your fur gets drenched." She stretched and moved to get up. They had been sitting in the jet for a good thirty minutes, and it had been pleasant, staying in the hide-away and just having some time to think. Kurt got up and walked over to pull her up gracefully, taking her cape off the chair and pulling it over her shoulders as his hands ran down her arms to hold her in a waltzing position. She giggled, remembering their waltz in the sky. He side stepped and back, with a grin on his face, then twirled her away from him, and she laughed when she had to duck from an overhead compartment. Then he drew her back in and dipped her to her delight. She fell neatly in his arms, and he pulled her back up and then stepped into a bow, gesturing to the exit of the jet.

"My lady," he said suavely.

"Charmer", she replied.

He helped her out of the jet and the both of them walked across the large hangar, climbing the stairs to the exit that opened up to the back garden of the institute. The cabin their team live in was not too far away, and there was an opening through some trees that led straight into the clearing in which the house sat. It was an extra extension to the grounds that had been built in with the latest rebuilding of the mansion after Magneto's destruction, not more than several months ago. Their cabin was a nice sort of symbol for their team unity. It belonged to their team only and had al the necessary facilities to keep it self sufficient save the danger room and a jet. Theirs was more an external team detached from the school and their team was more about keeping in check mutant ties and relations with the rest of the world or combating any threat to it, while the other team dealt with affairs localized to the school and handled issues of recruiting mutants to the institute, guiding the next generation. One team to nurture the coming world, widen the dream, and the other to protect the vision. So it made sense for Storm's team to maintain their own separate establishment apart from the core of the institute.

By the time Kurt and Ororo had cleared the trees, the sky had darkened and filled with heavy clouds, a little eerie and foreboding in their gloominess. They looked to be in for a good storm.

"Goodbye, Kurt", Ororo said when they neared the front door, smiling at him and then lifting off the ground to fly up to her attic bedroom, where she always stayed. Kurt remembered that it made her feel more comfortable the closer she was to the sky, and when she could see the clouds, she had said.

"Good day to you, Ororo", Kurt smiled at her, bidding goodbye, as her watched her fly off, then he walked up to the porch of the house himself. Just as he stepped into the shelter, a light drizzle began to wet the grounds of Westchester.

"Hey, bub", Logan growled in greeting, as Kurt came in through the ominous oak front doors (that many a villain were sure to soon break, he thought passingly) and shut it securely behind him. Thunder cracked and heavier splatters of rain began to fall outside.

"Logan!" he returned, "we have not seen you in a while". Logan had strayed from the team back in the savage land, and had stayed away from the mansion for a while, and now he was back. The hurt of Northstar's death by Logan's hand still stung, but the X-men had understood his possession by the Hand and had welcomed him home as always.

"Ya missed me, eh elf?" Kurt grinned a little. With a bamf he teleported himself to the kitchen, fetched a soda, and with another bamf, sat himself down on the couch where Logan and Bishop were enjoying beers and some brotherly chatter.

"Hey Lucas", Kurt said, raising his hand in a wave.

"Kurt," Bishop acknowledged. He stretched out on the couch. It was good to be home.

"So that girl Foxx, the new kid, she's something, eh?" Logan started, as he leaned back and put both feet up on the table. He could still smell the faint scent of Mojo on Kurt and Bishop, a pungent unique sort of reek. Damn, he had missed out on a good fight. Mojo was one of those villains who got up his spine because of how smug and useless they were. It sat well with him to get a good fight now and then.

"Blue hair, orange eyes."

Logan downed his beer can and punctured it with an adamantium claw.

While the men chatted below Ororo stepped out of her uniform upstairs and changed into something more comfortable. The rain was heavy on the open balcony, and it sprayed into her room through the open slat of the sliding doors leading out to it. Deciding to get herself wet in the rain, to cool off and refresh herself while she had the free time on her hands, she walked up to the sky light and pushed it outward and open, letting the rain in. She flew out on to the roof and shut the sky light behind her. Storm walked across the rooftop, taking pleasure in the feel of the water hitting onto her skin, enjoying the view of Graymalkin Lane from her roof. She settled on a spot where she could see the back yard of the mansion, and ran her fingers through her wet hair as she sat herself down and enjoyed the pelting rain. It was a heavy rain that would last the afternoon. The windows of the mansion were shutting hastily, as students rushed to stop the rain from coming in. And towards the back of the mansion, she saw some students run out to the pool, laughing and jostling each other as they tumbled into the water. Children, she thought with a smile.

Down by the pool they ran around the water's edge chasing one another while holding conversation.

"No I tell you, he can like fire up, and then it makes half his body disappear an' the dude's just waist-up flying around."

"Dude, what?"

"Cannonball, man!"

"The hell, the guy actually has awesome powers. Invulnerability and whatever. You're seven. Shut up."

"Yeah but like where do his legs go, do they get flamed up?"

"What?"

"'Kay and you said he was invulnerable, right? Right so if he's all invulnerable then how does his power affect him, eh? Ah, you see? Condom."

"Conundrum, fool."

Jay and Josh sat by the pool's edge kicking up water while Pete and Max continued their discussion. Some other kids from the younger classes were trying to flip themselves in somersaults off the diving board. Everyone was reveling in the modest thrill of being outside in the rain.

Suddenly some of the X men showed up on the landing overlooking the pool.

"Mind if we join you!" Paige yelled, giggling as Warren and Scott were, looking at the kids enjoying themselves. They tossed their shirts indoors, revealing swimwear, and casually made their way down the steps to the poolside as the children yelled sounds of "Hello Mr Summers", "Angel!" and "She's Cannonball's sister! You ask her!". It was a wonderful summer day to be wet.

The children gathered around one side of the pool, facing the senior staff, wary in their presence and not sure if the fun should continue.

"Ask her, since you like her anyway," Pete snickered. Max blushed and his eyes shot big, and he elbowed Pete so that he fell backwards into the pool.

"Guys, just make sure you play safe, alright? We don't want you getting hurt. Play nice with each other and don't slip. Go, have fun!" Scott waved them off, and the kids ran off to make hay and merry in the pouring rain.

"Yeah now let's relax in the pool like mature adults!" Warren said as he took off toward the pool. He and Paige clambering to be the first on the diving board. Scott soon joined in, running towards Warren to try and tackle him.

But Max still stood where he was, looking around the pool area.

"Pete? Pete!" He searched among the faces of the other kids playing. Then he remembered, and looked into the pool. Then he yelled for help as he saw Pete wrestling to resurface.

"MR SUMMERS! PETE'S DROWNING!"

Scott's immature side at once turned off at the arrival of a critical situation. He leaped off Warren and rushed over to where Max was, took one look into the water and dived in, only to fish out Pete's limp body. By this time the other kids had come running around in curiosity, and they crowded about Scott, hovering over him and prying in concern. The day had turned humorless.

"Everybody clear out! Give us space!" Scott laid Pete out on the ground and began to press hard against his chest, intermittently leaning down to breathe air through the boy's pale lips, desperately trying to resuscitate him. He tried again, to no avail.

Ororo saw what had transpired from the rooftop and hastily picked herself up by the wind and raced along it to the pool side.

"Scott! Get the children to dry ground! NOW!" She yelled at him as she landed, immediately kneeling to straddle herself over the boy.

Scott understood, and trusting her, he grabbed two of the smaller kids in his arms and gestured for Paige and Warren to get the rest of the kids indoors, hurrying them away from Pete and Ororo.

As soon as she knew the others were a decent distance away so that they could not be affected by the wet ground, she deftly positioned her fingers over Pete's chest and sent an electric charge to through him to jump start his heart. Instantly the boy heaved off the floor, coughing and spluttering. Ororo heaved a heavy sigh of relief and swung her leg over to kneel next to the boy.

But just as soon as he got his bearings, Pete got up and desperately scrambled away from her. His stared off into the distance and his eyes were full of apprehension and fear. Out of panic he picked himself up and ran away from the pool, stopping when he stood in the grass. His eyes darted frantically as he stood in the grass, heaving with panting while the rain gently cascaded down upon him.

Ororo look at him in confusion, kneeling where she was while the boy stood far away from her. From just inside the mansion Scott frowned, perplexed, as he looked out at what was happening, and the kids stepped out into the rain again warily.

Then Pete closed his eyes and held his head as he shouted "Go away! Go away." Then he collapsed in exhaustion onto the slick, muddy ground.