Thanks to:
Todd Fan – I don't actually know much about Josh, but research turned up more about him and I thought I might like his character if I hadn't already killed him off, so I put that in there.
Ciardra – I've been updating like mad the last couple of weeks, lots of ideas to get through! But the rate is going to slow down from now on, because ideas or not I still should be studying (boo!). The mansion is due for new recruits, some of which have been mentioned and some I haven't! The best part about winging the fic is that I can just add stuff without it upsetting my plot (and that they've now shown all the series of Evo – I wrote a fic last year and they showed series 4 as I wrote it and I realised they totally screwed up my ending in one episode! Good episode though, I guess I can forgive). X23 will have more storyline later on and Wanda and Pietro have time here – well, Pietro does, and Rogue and Remy back next chapter!
Ishandahalf – Pietro stikes me as the type to look immaculate even if there's no one around to see him, I figured it was an amusing personality trait to exploit! Everyone's coming together in the next few chapters! Well, almost…
Sangofanatic – The Remy/Rogue not plotted yet, but there's a reason for that as you'll see here. They will turn up in the next chapter! Mystique hasn't forgotten her foster daughter but she'll have something a little more immediate to think about here!
Rogue14 – In my experience, babies have the worst timing in the world! Lance meets a girl of his age still alive and he's now covered in puke. Typical! Sinister has a plan which is going to take some time to evolve. I don't write pro or anti songs of any politics coz it all strikes me as bullshit and I have no really strong beliefs in any direction aside from that. I can say that politicians are full of shit and I'm not gonna vote May 5th, but I can't put it into lyrics.
LadyEvils – Lance as Daddy was something that just happened and I think he did OK! Although he's not leaving it behind just because he's at the Institute. Sam's brother Josh was a mutant with red wings and a healing factor of his own, although I didn't find that out until I got him sick, so I stuck with that. I got the X23 history partly from the cartoon and partly from the comics, there's now a mini-series about her origins out. Lance and Todd about to be united, I would have liked to see the Brotherhood's meetings in the same way as some of the X-Men's were handled. Maybe one day I'll write a story about it…
Minnaloushe – A day after leaving you what has to be my longest review ever! Worth it though, it was a damn good chapter within a good fic. I don't recall where I ead that you don't need telepathy to work Cerebro, although in this fic I use the premise that you do, I think it was in a comic and then reinforced by Mystique wanting Cerebro thinking she'd be able to track mutants with it. If 'Lost' comes on over here I'll definitely check it out, sounds cool! The boy who burned was actually supposed to be Rusty Collins, a comic book character I chose at random although I knew his powers were comparable with Pyro's and there was a scene in a comic when he was sick and he'd set himself on fire. Interesting about the Rogue/ Magneto kid – the one in the AoA was called Charlie after Xavier, but there was another one called Magnus in the Exiles series who wasn't from AoA. Some one at Marvel sure likes Rogue and Magneto together ;) Some out of the US characters right here! I was a bit unsure about Havok because I always thought Hawaii was somewhere in the US and now I know it isn't I'm not right sure where it is! Still, he might pop up because I did plan on it being Sinister's first stop but then changed my mind. I hate those fics where Jean is a cow for no reason! There are so many of them and in a lot of them the characters are spot on save for Jean, who is suddenly a slut/ frigid/ manipulative bag with no reason as to why she is such. I could live with Jean being this way (I dedicated two whole stories to it) but not without good reason. Rant over! Her early incarnation, especially in Strategy X, suggests that she's a normal girl who wants to make people happy but isn't going to be pushed around either and I tried to keep that in mind. It was actually another reviewer (Furygrrl) who suggested the suicide thing and I thought it most likely that Sam would be the one to think it because he was the only one totally alone with no reason to be glad about it. The quick updates may suffer a bit from now until mid-May when I have important exams but they will be at least every ten days, I'm really enjoying writing this fic a lot and it's something of a time out for me!
TheDreamerLady – Having problems reviewing? Glad you said, was feeling a bit unpopular! And I like all reviews, especially long ones! And Juggy? In my other fic (Power9), he sang a Presley song to Amanda's mother and then ran away on a romantic getaway with her not having learned the use of doors. And a touch of Graydon – well, a mention – right here! Tell you something, if I was Jean, I'd have snapped ages ago! But she's got to have the same problems regardless of the Professor, right? Lance as Daddy gets me all "AW" some too! More about Pietro and his problems here! As to a significant other for Sam, haven't considered anyone yet but rest assured, I've been thinking about it since your review and I'm considering a couple of possibles, although nothing is certain. As to Logan not telling Jean what he could smell, I think it's because he knew it could take some time to track down the person and in the neantime Jean would be left with the Velocity and the unknown people within. Better to let one go than to let her get killed, right?
Author Note: This is a chapter I'm a bit uncertain about doing. It's a departure. I do like it, the inspiration came while wandering about the supermarket and thinking about the fic, but I'd like to know if I'm making things too complicated or if I'm on the right track. And I want to know what you'd like to see! I can't promise to put in all ideas but I will try to and will put in variations along with credits. Like, whom do you think Jean ends up with (if anyone) or is there anyone not mentioned that you wanna know about? I can't do it all but I'll try my best. In other words, hit the review button and give me your thoughts!
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"Dah dooby dooby doo…"
Betsy Braddock sauntered into the supermarket, singing cheerfully to herself. A morning expedition to the shops had brought her all kinds of new clothes and she'd stopped off at the swimming baths to do something that was definitely not covered in the by-laws. Brian was going to freak when he saw her hair.
She had never considered that at any point in her life she and her brother would have dragged a couple of mattresses into the local branch of Tesco in order to live there and yet there they were, sleeping in the clothes section and snacking on the biscuits. It had been Brian's idea and had turned out to be surprisingly workable. The superstore hadn't opened one day early on in the epidemic, none of the key holders well enough to leave their beds and inaccessible to the increasingly frantic population due to the steel shutters and supposedly inaccessible staff doors, but once the power had gone out it had been a simple enough task to cut a hole in the shutters and smash the window beneath. Simple enough for Betsy anyway, she sat back and watched Brian do it. There was food, water, practically everything they would ever need and quite a lot of things they didn't. The previous night they had put a tiny dent in the alcohol section, getting ludicrously drunk on a bottle of Jack Daniels. Her brother was still passed out on his bed. She had still felt justified in leaving Raphael with him though – the kid wasn't her responsibility alone after all.
The pair had found Raphael in a newsagent three says previously, living off sweets and crisps. They had no idea where the kid had come from and he couldn't tell them. He had been bright enough to bring some objects from wherever his home was, and Betsy suspected it couldn't be far away, a few things that a toddler might find important. A dummy, a tattered teddy bear, some cars and action figures packed away in a tiny Tweenies rucksack. He'd also brought his potty but not worked out how to empty it himself. Not pleasant. But Betsy had felt for this boy, left all alone and bewildered, able to do enough to keep himself alive but not to help himself in any meaningful way. He had sandy blonde hair and grey-green eyes and when he had seen them he had given them a wide smile rimmed with chocolate but seemed unwilling to go over to them. They hadn't even had to discuss it; Betsy had lured him with a soothing voice and promises of a proper meal and Brian had carried him away with them, not forgetting his toys. There had been a couple of tearful outbursts, asking for his mummy and wanting to go home, but aside from that he had settled with his willing but inexperienced new guardians.
Brian had asked the kid his name and the kid had told him it was Raphael. They hadn't thought much of it until they learned the kid was obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the name was some kind of wish fulfilment. They had a stereo that worked off batteries for music – only CD's, there were no radio stations on the air – but neither of them were sure how to make a TV/DVD combi work on batteries so in spite of Raphael's pleas, there were no videos. Instead, they had spent a lot of time role-playing. Betsy was gratified to learn she wasn't half bad at this ninja stuff and Brian had been reading him comic books in an effort to keep the kid entertained. There were also toys and puzzles and cuddly toys. And it could have been worse – if Raphael had been any younger neither of them would have known what to do.
Having Raphael around had helped to distract them from the big picture. Their parents were missing on a business trip and they had to presume they were dead. There had been no communication from the media for ages and the last person they had see alive apart from Raphael had been a middle aged woman collapsed outside a natural health store, clutching a bottle of rosehip and choking on her own blood. Brian had been introverted, coping by concentrating on the details of their predicament – how long the food would last, what they might do in a few years, problems with their health in a world where there was lots of corpses for disease to breed in. Betsy had looked on the bright side and grabbed all the clothes she had ever wanted, books she had been too busy to read, burying herself in inconsequential stuff to distract herself from everything around her. They might live in a supermarket but there were so many other shops out there with better clothes and a bigger selection of shoes. And of course, there was her all time favourite pastime of brother torment to continue. In spite of the heavy drinking session they had indulged in the night before, she didn't feel particularly hung over, maybe it was all the practice she'd been getting into with her friends in the evenings they spent in the park with a bottle of something cheap the past couple of years.
"Wakey wakey Brian!"
Betsy dumped her carrier bags on the floor and subjected herself to a sticky hug from Raphael. He'd been at the sweets again. The trouble with living at the supermarket was that everything was so accessible to him.
Brian poked his head from beneath his blankets and groaned. "Bleedin hell Betsy, what time do you call this?"
"I call it half eleven. It was your turn to give Raph breakfast."
"I will. When I've had a few cans of cola."
"No wonder he's been in the pissing sweets."
"So why didn't you give him breakfast, if you're so bothered about it?"
"Shopping."
"Christ Betsy! What for?"
"Retail therapy. Don't yell."
"There's clothes here!"
"Yeah, and that's all well and good for you and Raph. But do they do these here?"
Betsy whipped out a union jack sequined bikini top and waved it in front of her boobs. "I've always wanted one of these but mum kept saying only hookers and strippers wore them so I thought…"
"What the arse have you done to your hair?"
"Oh that." Betsy touched her new locks. "You like?"
"It's very…purple. Or am I still drunk?"
"Yes to both." Betsy pulled a long strand of purple hair in front of her face. "I think it looks great."
"You know, other people dye their hair blonde."
"I'm already blonde and it's a bloody dull colour."
"Thanks very much."
"You could do your hair some other colour Bri," said Betsy, plonking herself on her brother's bed and making it shake, causing him to wince. "I think pillar box red would be so you."
Raphael toddled over and grabbed Betsy's hand. "Biscuits!"
Betsy gave the little boy a severe look. "That's not how we ask. What do you say?"
"Biscuits pweeze."
"Uh…no. Have something proper."
"Want biscuits!"
"How about mini hot dogs?"
"Yeth pweeze."
"Fine. I'll feed him." Betsy gave Brian an evil look. "Just because some people around here can't hold their beer. I'll give him something proper to eat. You're a big tart Bri."
"Fuck off Bets."
"Fuh KOFF!"
"Well done Brian." Betsy gave Raphael a stern look. "That's a bad word Raph. Let's all smack uncle Bri for saying it."
"No…OW!"
"Never say that again uncle Bri." Betsy smirked and headed off toward the tinned section. The mini hot dogs were running pretty low but they were the boys favourite and she quite liked them herself. The camping stove was kept in the pet food aisle on the assumption that the last things they would eat were there. The camping stove wasn't on sale at the supermarket but they had liberated one from a camping shop.
"Two minutes over a low flame and they'll be ready," she told Raphael cheerfully. She also kept a very loud stereo in that aisle and decided that for optimum brother torment, she should turn it on.
"Bam bam bam bam bam!"
"Betsy, turn that bloody thing off!"
"Hangover, so hung over…" Betsy sang as she prepared the mini hot dogs.
"Bets!"
"Call me a doctor, send him over!"
"Turn that down!"
"Something that'll stop my legs from shakin, something that'll stop my head from achin!" Betsy put the food onto a plate and took Raph by the hand in order to lead him over to a table they kept in the lighting aisle.
"Betsy! Will you turn that bloody thing down!"
"Hangover, so hung over…"
Reluctantly, Betsy flipped off the stereo although she kept singing the song and bopped over to the lighting aisle, one hand holding the plate of mini hot dogs, the other holding Raphael's hand. She was singing loudly and not paying a lot of attention when she realised something was wrong. Her voice trailed off as her mouth went dry, dropping the hot dogs and barely hearing the plate smash.
"Bets?"
Her hand instinctively clamped down on Raphael's as she saw the guy standing in the aisle, a tall pale guy with a – birthmark? – on his face in the shape of a diamond, just above the bridge of his nose…
"Betsy?"
Betsy's eyes opened wide as she saw the man approach, her customary exuberism curtailed by his sudden appearance. How had they not heard him? How had she not sensed him?
Raphael clutched her hand tight and whimpered.
"Elisabeth Braddock." The man seemed to glide rather than walk. "And the boy I can hear must be your brother Brian. And who is this?"
Raphael began to screw up his face, ready for a good tantrum. Betsy kept her hand in his, too afraid to do anything. Ever since she had realised she was different, that she could do things that other people didn't seem able to do, she had been able to read the surface thought s of peoples minds although she didn't like it – it made her feel like the worst sort of voyeur – but sometimes she couldn't help it, catching stray thoughts and random images on occasion that she was unable to prevent and there had never in her experience been a mind that she couldn't examine if she wanted to. She couldn't probe his mind, couldn't even sense where it was. How could he prevent her from doing so unless he had powers too? This was the first time she had met anyone else with powers and they were so much stronger than hers…
"It doesn't matter," continued the man. "He will be useful to me no matter what."
"Betsy! What are you playing at?"
"You…" Betsy swallowed. "You get out of here now before I hurt you."
"You hurt me?" The man seemed amused. "You'll do what I tell you to. Trust me on this."
"Gone!" Raphael yanked on her hand. "Want to gone!"
"Go away." Betsy lowered her voice, still hoping she could be in control of the situation.
"I think I'll stay."
Sinister moved toward her and Raphael and she had time to wonder about the little boy and about her brother lying hung over in another part of the supermarket…
"Oh bollocks!"
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Pietro glanced around and realised two things at once. The first was that the people surrounding him were kids, maybe twelve or thirteen. The second was that they were all identical.
"What's going on?"
"Uh…" One of the kids moved forward and smiled apologetically. "I was a bit scared. But now I know you're nothing to be scared of – I guess I can be one person again."
Pietro watched as the kid braced himself. All the other kids seemed to run into the boy, making one person and no trace of the hoards that had been surrounding him.
"You…you're a mutant?" Pietro wanted to collapse in disbelief. He had been seriously worried for a moment.
"No." The kid looked hurt. "I can just make copies of myself. I'm not weird."
"Right. Good. Fine." Pietro was already making plans to escape the kid. He seemed a little…odd. And he probably preferred his own company.
"My name's Jamie." The boy stuck out his hand and Pietro glanced down at it, not shaking. After a moment Jamie dropped his hand and cleared his throat. "I sure am glad to see another person. I thought I was going to have to spend the rest of my life with only Jamie, Jamie and Jamie to talk to. And Jamie's so dull."
"Oh. How…bizarre."
"But now you're here! Do you wanna play scrabble?"
"Not really. I have to go now."
"Go?" Jamie began to pout. "But…I've been all alone and I was really glad to see you and everyone I know is dead and…and…"
Pietro sighed as he saw tears well up in Jamie's eyes. "I don't think you coming with us is a good idea."
"Us? There are more people?" Jamie grabbed Pietro's arm. "You have to let me come! I'm going insane all on my own!"
"You're not on your own. You have all those, uh, clones."
"It's not the same as other people – please! Let me come with you!"
"Oh for…" Pietro closed his eyes for a moment, thinking over his options. His first instinct was to speed away – there was no way even an army of weird kids could follow, not if he got back to Wanda and set them off in a different direction.
Wanda was the problem. They hadn't spent much time together really since he had sprung her from the asylum, and in that time they'd had no reason to engage in the typical sibling bickering that went on between brothers and sisters. They had too much to catch up on – well, for him to tell her – too much to rediscover about each other, too many memories that they wanted to hash through. Memories that of course, couldn't involve their father for fear of the cold, alien look that came over her features whenever she thought of him. But in their childhood she had always been able to catch him in a lie, even if the lie was only through omission. She always knew when he was hiding something. She wouldn't always call him on it, but she would shoot him a knowing look that told him that she knew he wasn't telling her something and sooner or later she would find out what it was…
If she had been here there would have been no argument. She would insist on the boy coming with them if that was what he wanted, saying that being alone wasn't the worst thing – knowing you didn't have to be alone but other people didn't want to be with you, didn't want you around, that was the worst thing. She had said as much in the brief outline she had given him of her years between his last sighting of her being taken away and the day he had arrived to break her out.
He didn't want Jamie around, he thought the kid was too weird, but when Wanda found out she would be angry, maybe making them go back for him. It was an argument he could do without, not when things were going so well between them. His sister was the only person he had left in the world and although he wasn't much of a sentimentalist, damned if he was going to lose her again.
"Fine. Come on. Help me carry this stuff."
"Yay!" Jamie grabbed the basket and skipped outside, Pietro following more slowly and wishing his run had taken him in the opposite direction. "We're going to…hey mister, where are we going?"
"Well…first we have to go back and wake up my sister."
"And then?"
"I don't know. We're just walking."
"That's cool. We can play I-spy!"
"No we can't!"
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with C!"
"Jeez, where's your off switch?"
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Sam gaped out of the window as the Velocity flew over the Institute. "You never said this place was a mansion. I thought it was some kind of boarding school!"
Jean laughed. "It is, but the building was in the Professor's family for years and he didn't need the space. Made more sense to locate the school here than in some sterile, purpose built place. Nicer too. The Professor wanted to welcome mutants here to learn to control their powers and he thought if it were more homely then they'd feel less…well, they'd miss their real homes less." She trailed off, realising she'd talked herself into an awkward situation.
Logan triggered the release for the hangar and the basketball court slid smoothly back. "Hey Jean, why doncha wake up Daddy and tell him we're here. I am not touching that kid, I can smell him from here."
"Enhanced senses not always an asset then?" Jean grinned at his irritated expression and waited until they had landed to get out of her seat and make her way into the back. The journey hadn't disturbed Lance at all, still sleeping in the same position as when they had left Illinois, mouth slightly open and his breathing slow and regular. She shook his arm, feeling a bit guilty for waking him.
"Whuh?" Lance blinked slightly. "OK, got a bottle right here…"
"I don't want a bottle Lance," said Jean, slightly amused. "We're at the Institute."
"Huh?" Lance struggled his way to wakefulness, Jean's face swimming into sight. "Oh, it's you. We're here?"
"Yeah."
Lance stretched out in the uncomfortable seat, rubbing his neck and cursing under his breath. "Where's the kid?"
"He's OK. Sleeping now. He woke up but Sam took care of him."
"Sam?" Lance turned around and saw the blonde boy sat across the aisle. "Where did he come from?"
"Uh, they picked me up in Kentucky," replied Sam, slightly uncomfortable. Jean had made him feel welcome but Logan had been surly all the way home and Lance was an unknown quantity.
"Kentucky?" Lance kept attempting to massage some feeling into his neck and shoulder area, still trying to shake the cobwebs. "When were we in Kentucky? How long was I sleeping?"
"Long enough." Jean indicated to the window of the Velocity. "We're in the Institute. Is your neck sore?"
"Just the way I was sleeping." Lance grinned, eyebrows raised. "Nothing a massage couldn't cure, if you know anyone up for the job."
A growl from the front of the Velocity made them both turn their attention to Logan. "I'm gonna go find Mystique. I need some fresh air anyway."
"Enhanced senses," Jean reminded them, pointing to the kid. "Come on, I'll show you around, find you a room each and you can settle in."
"Right." Lance got out of his seat, relishing the idea of a shower. He disturbed the kid as he took him out of the seat but that at least was a distraction. He didn't know what would happen to them now they were here. It seemed likely that this Sam kid was a mutant too and that he was here of his own free will – but did that mean that Jean and Logan could be trusted or just that they had both fallen for the same bullshit story?
Logan was already off the Velocity and walking out of the hangar. Slightly put out, Jean rolled her eyes. "You'll get used to him. He's a bit grouchy but he means well. Anyway! Let me show you around, let me meet Todd. I hope he's been alright with only Raven around. She's not exactly friendly."
"Great." Lance glanced sourly around the hangar. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
Jean led the way out of the hangar, wanting nothing more than to get the hell into her own room and lock the door for a while. Being the cheerful one was hard.
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Mystique was in Charles's study, casually reading through some papers when Logan walked in. She glanced up, feigning disinterest. "Back so soon?"
"Find what you were looking for?"
"Nothing of use to me now." Mystique tossed the papers onto the desk she was sat on, the table having no accompanying chair due to Charles's wheelchair. "Did you bring anyone back?"
"Two teenage boys." Logan folded his arms and leant against the doorframe. "And a baby."
"Oh good. Three boys to one girl. That's going to make for some interesting scenarios."
The same thought had already crossed Logan's mind. "I doubt that's an issue for any of them at the moment. We'll find more people."
"If Jean's back, then she can start scanning on Cerebro now."
"No." Logan scowled. "She's not a machine. She needs to sleep and we should spend some time getting these kids used to the place before we take off again."
"That could take days."
"I don't care."
Mystique crossed her legs and swung them back and forth. ""You're certainly concerned about Miss Grey…"
"Don't even think about saying it Mystique."
"I wasn't thinking about saying anything." Mystique smirked, revealing the lie, but the tension was coming off her in waves. "So when Jean's rested she can search specific areas?"
"I don't know. I guess. You want her to search Mississippi?"
"Among other places."
"Other places?" Logan walked toward the desk. "Like where? This isn't some excuse for you to have a reunion with your underworld pals. Why are you so worried about Irene anyway? She might be blind but she can look after herself."
"It's not Irene I'm worried about." Mystique picked up a paperweight, turning it over in her hands, seemingly distracted by the object. "I have children."
Logan wondered if he'd heard her right. "What?"
"Two of my own, two adopted. Graydon's old enough to be on his own – I'm not worried about him."
Her voice was dismissive and Logan wondered about it. There was some history there that she didn't want to discuss and she certainly didn't seem too worried about him – it bore the marks of a bitter falling out. Mystique certainly wasn't the maternal type and in spite of the concern she had shown since the disease had hit, it didn't erase his memories of her being the coldest bitch he'd ever met.
"Then there's Kurt. He's in Germany. I don't know if Cerebro can track him there. He's about the same age as Todd and he looks – he doesn't look like the humans. He can't blend into the crowd."
"Not a shapeshifter?"
"No. But there is a certain family resemblance."
"He's blue?" Logan ran his hand through his hair when Mystique nodded. That was bad. Some one who looked different in a world where the majority had died was not going to be welcomed with open arms. Nor was there going to be an outcry if he was seen by the wrong person and something bad happened.
"And I have two adopted daughters. Gloria in Washington – she's not a mutant. And Rogue in Mississippi, living with Irene."
"Rogue?"
"It's a long story."
"And it's this Rogue you're most concerned about. Why?"
"She's destined to have certain…abilities. We thought it safest not to tell her until they manifested."
"So now you're worried that she could be running around with these powers causing havoc – what are these powers?"
Mystique shifted her weight on the table. "She can absorb the powers and memories of a person through touch."
"I don't see how that can be a problem right now."
"If she meets another survivor?"
Logan winced. "You think she might absorb them. Truth Mystique, how bad could it be?"
"Very bad. Destiny saw her unable to control her powers. She can't touch anyone, not without absorbing them. The slightest touch could leave the victim unconscious. Prolonged touch could be – more unpleasant."
"I can see why you'd choose to adopt her," said Logan. "Use the kid to knock out your enemies and retrieve information at the same time. Sneaky."
Mystique's eyes flashed for a moment as she considered defending herself, then her shoulders sagged. "That was the idea. But she's a teenage girl. She's been in isolation for five years, awaiting the advent of her powers. She has no idea that she even has them, that mutants exist, that Irene has powers. No matter what's happened she'll be scared, alone and if her powers have manifested it could be disastrous."
Logan gave Raven a look of undisguised contempt. "You play with peoples lives like they were pawns on a chessboard, you even pick them out for your twisted ideals before they can make a choice of their own. You're disgusting." He turned his back on her as he walked to the door. "I'll ask Jean if she can use Cerebro now, go after anyone she picks up on my own. That's always assuming she's able. And assuming she picks up any signals from Mississippi – I'm not going to tell her about this, I'm not putting responsibility for your fuck-up on her head. And if she does find something and I go after it, you don't ask anything of any of those kids. If I come back and find out that you did, I'm putting a claw straight through Cerebro and you can try finding your kids the old fashioned way."
He stormed out of the study and found the others in the kitchen. Lance had changed the kid at some point and was trying to interest him in a brightly coloured rattle. Jean was pulling sodas out of the fridge and Todd had joined them and was making small talk with a slightly bemused Sam, who had never encountered anyone like Todd before.
"Change of plan," snarled Logan, slamming the door behind him. "Sorry 'bout this Red, gonna need you to use Cerebro again. I'll go after the survivors if we find any, you can stay here. Turns out there might be some people alive in various locations and it's a good idea if we find them sooner rather than later."
"Oh. OK." Jean put her soda down on the kitchen table and forced a smile.
"If you don't feel up to it that's OK, I understand."
"No, the least I can do is try, if you don't want me to go after anyone. It'll only take a moment."
Lance waved the rattle above the kid, watching the scene. Logan was pissed about something, that much was obvious, although he was trying to hide it in his voice it showed in the tense stance he held. Jean didn't want to use this Cerebro, whatever it might be, but she wanted to be helpful. And Logan wasn't happy about her using it either. What the hell did this Cerebro do?
Before Jean could leave the kitchen, a siren sounded deeper in the Institute. Startled, they all looked around, the kid beginning to whimper at the noise.
"What the hell's that?" asked Sam.
Logan narrowed his eyes. "Follow me, all of you. Bring the kid."
Lance grabbed the kid and they raced off to the Danger Room, Lance and Sam seeing for the first time how big the mansion was from the inside and how alternately opulent and high-Tec it was. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it and wanted to stop and examine their surroundings, but the siren hit a cerebral nerve, forcing them to be more alert to possible danger.
When they arrived in the control room of the Danger Room, Mystique was already there checking out the security cameras. Lance and Sam both gaped – they couldn't help it. It was one thing to hear about a shapeshifter, another to see her in the blue flesh.
"We've got trouble," she said sharply.
"Really? I thought those alarms were a good thing." Logan hurried over to the screens and glanced down. "Who the hell is that?"
"You don't know? Looks like Charles had his secrets from you after all."
"Facial recognition matched to archive files," droned the computer. "Name, Cain Marko."
"Cain Marko?" Logan looked blank.
Jean leant over his shoulder and gasped. "He just ripped off the gates with his bare hands!"
Lance, Sam and Todd exchanged nervous looks and went over to the screens, craning for a better look. Todd leapt onto the back of Mystique's chair. "That guy is huge yo."
An elbow to the face dislodged him. Mystique turned to face Logan, face unreadable. "Cain Marko is Charles Xavier's half-brother. He was imprisoned in Stoke County maximum-security facility. There was no indication he had powers until he was in his twenties. After that he became a Juggernaut, incredibly strong and impervious to everything thrown at him…"
"They subdued him somehow, long enough to imprison him." Logan stood, aware of Marko's progress toward the doors of the mansion. "Jean, Lance, Sam, Todd, you're with me. We have to stop this guy from destroying the place. Mystique, you stay here. If worst comes to worst, you get the kid out of here."
"Right." Jean didn't say what was on her mind – Todd, Lance and Sam were unknown, they had no idea if the three would be of any use to them and no experience of working as a team. And if they failed, would Mystique even try to save the kid or would she be away without a thought to the helpless child that had been left in her care?
Maybe they could reason with the man. After all, he was the Professors brother, how different could they be? And then she thought about his previous location in a jail and knew that he would only be there if the Professor had given up all hope, and the Professor didn't give up easily.
And that was assuming the others would consider helping at all. They had come to the Institute in the hopes of company, a better life than the one they might spend alone, some security in an uncertain world and now there was a super-strong madman at their door. Maybe they didn't want to help.
Todd looked uncertain. Sam was confused. But Lance had weighed up the situation quickly and had a look on his face almost as menacing as Logan's.
"Let's go."