Bright Lights
An X-men Evolution fanfic by Lavender Gaia
Editing and Assistance by Lavender Gaia
Chapter Two: Flames
First draft: April 29, 2005
Disclaimer: I do not own X-men Evolution or any of its characters. They are all property of Marvel. Everyone you see here that wasn't in the show belongs to me or whoever their namesake is.
Everyone changed into their uniforms and met back at Scott and Jean's apartment, where the fearless leader gave out instructions. "Unlike in Bayville we don't have all the newest technology, but we'll have to make due with what we have. Jean can take two with her, and Angel, you can carry one, right?"
The winged man nodded and held up his keys. "Yes. My car is downstairs if you need to use it. It has GPS and everything"
"Right. Kitty, you drive some over, phase through anything you need to," Scott instructed as Warren tossed her the keys. "What about you, Kurt?"
"I can teleport over, but I'd rather not take anyone with me, so I can get there faster," the German explained.
"That's fine. Why don't you get going? Just head towards the smoke and flames, I guess," He nodded to the blue boy, who waved before teleporting out. "Amara, why don't you come with Jean and me? You're the lightest, less for her to carry."
Bobby looked worried about being separated from his girlfriend. She kissed him lightly, "Don't worry. I'll see you there."
Angel reached over, picking Rogue up. She wrapped her arms around his neck hesitantly. "Why me?"
"I'd look weird carrying one of the boys and you've done this before. I know you won't get scared," he explained, adjusting her in his grip.
"Whatever," She rolled her eyes as he walked out to the balcony and took off.
Scott nodded. "Alright, the rest of you go with Kitty. We'll meet up here afterwards. Try not to let anyone see you, if you can help it. It was bad enough in Bayville; we don't want to alienate ourselves the first day here."
Kitty nodded, leading her group into the hall, then the elevator. "When we get downstairs I need you to make a distraction, Tabby. We know you're good at that."
The blonde nodded, already charging up some energy bombs. When the doors opened, she threw them to the side, creating a small series of explosions. Workers and residents rushed over to see what had happened, giving them a clear shot at Warren's BMW outside the doors.
Kitty started it up as Sam plugged the address into the GPS. Without even waiting for a break in traffic, she pulled out, phasing through the other cars. After the first couple of streets they ignored the GPS, taking the back alleys not lit up on the digital map to avoid traffic and pedestrians who might think it was odd the way the car drove through buildings. No one seemed to look twice though; after all, it was New York City.
They parked in an alleyway two blocks from the school, making sure to lock and set the alarm. Warren would have been pissed if his BMW was stolen.
Overhead, the six that hadn't drove over were arriving. Angel alighted with Rogue, setting her down lightly on the grass before heading up to a window he could see bodies in. Jean didn't waste any time as Scott blasted a hole through the wall with his optic blasts. She dropped the three of them in, scanning the room for thoughts other than her friends.
Amara changed into her Magma form, walking casually through the flames, as the head didn't bother her. She pulled two kids out from what used to be a bathroom before handing them over to Jean. Her telekinesis allowed her to set the boys on the ground, safe from the fire.
Kurt had found an entire class of trapped students and went along getting them out by groups. Finally, the last two were safe on the grass. A girl threw her arms around his neck, "Thank you, Mr. Fuzzy!"
He blinked in surprise. "Ja, you're welcome!" He saluted the group before poofing away once more.
Kitty's group had found a side entrance. Tabitha blasted it open and Bobby iced it off, supporting the structure and cooling it in one blow. Everyone set off in different directions. The Iceman cooled off important routes. Kitty knew she was responsible for getting into the difficult areas, and continuously poked her head through walls to see if anyone was there.
"Shadowcat!" Ray called to her. "There are a few kids trapped under the stairs, and they say there's not much oxygen left. They can't breathe."
She nodded grimly, taking a deep breath of polluted air before phasing into the small closet where the three children had taken refuge. Steadying herself, she pulled them all out, showed them an exit before collapsing against Ray. "Thanks," she murmured breathlessly.
He grinned, holding her up. "No big. I'm not much good as anything but a scout on rescue missions anyway."
"Look out below!" Bobby called down from the third floor of the school. The pair jumped out of the way as an ice slide appeared where they were standing. Iceman watched the kids slide down, then run through the main doors to their parents. He followed them to the ground floor. "Whoa, that's a rush, you should try it!"
Shadowcat and Berzerker both hit him over the head. "Think you can make a ladder to get us up there?" She asked, phasing the three of them through debris that were falling from what was left of the ceiling.
"Coming right up!" Their order was done in a matter of seconds and the trio went in search of victims on the second floor.
In another part of the school, Angel set down tiredly next to Rogue. He had saved a countless number of students, but the wings on his back were as tired as any other part of his body and were going on strike. She leaned him against a chain link fence. "Rest for a bit, Sugar. Ya look like ya need it."
Rogue pulled off her glove and touched it gently to his face. A flash of his memories spilled in to her mind, but she was too distracted by the wings forming on her back to look through them. It would be something to go over while she took a long, hot shower. But right now there were still kids who needed her, and she took off again.
Tabitha and Kitty were exploring the East Wing when the blonde saw her best friend walk out of the ash and flames. "You have no idea how cool that looks," Tabby told Amara honestly, wishing she had a camera.
The princess ignored that. "There are some kids trapped behind a fallen beam, but I can't get to them without starting more fire."
"Boom Boom is on the job! Kids, stand back!" After Amara guessed the size of the wood, she fixed up a bomb and launched it. A satisfying explosion was heard. "Hey, Magma, you can get through their, but how are we supposed to get them out?"
Sam grinned as he appeared behind the girls. "Leave that to the invincible cannonball!" He burst through, stopping himself long enough to get the kids and go back to the safe area. Because of his powers, they were unharmed during the blasts and followed that with a trip down to the first floor.
"Help!" They heard someone. "Is someone there?"
Kitty stuck her head through a hole, making out figures. "Hello?"
"We're stuck in here! She's in a wheelchair and I can't carry her out of here!" The attendant explained.
Luckily, at that moment Scott was coming out of another corridor. "Is something up?" He asked, scanning his crew quickly for any major injuries.
"Cyclops, we're needed down below," she took his hand and phased them through the floor, landing surprisingly gracefully despite the charred wood that was below them. "Hi," she greeted the two as calmly as possible. "We're here to help."
Scott picked up the young, crippled child. He understood why her attendant couldn't get her through the maze of burning beams and walls, though she looked certainly strong enough to carry her.
Kitty took hold of them, moving the group through the labyrinth until they reached the main entrance, which had a clear opening. "Are you angels?" The older woman asked breathlessly as the leader of the X-men handed the little girl to her.
He smiled. "No. We're just regular people who help others who need it."
"I think you're much more than that," the woman nodded her head in thanks before going towards the open doors. "May God bless you and your strong hearts!"
Rogue flew down, letting another child go as he ran to his parents. The rest of the team quickly assembled, but she didn't see her brother. "Where's Nightcrawler?"
"I don't know," Jean replied, doing a mind scan of the school. "I think we got everyone though."
"Not quite!" Kurt explained as he teleported in. "I found a few teachers in the faculty lounge. It's right over there." He pointed.
"Tell everyone to stand back," Scott insisted. "I'll blast it in."
The blue boy nodded and bamfed away as Sam looked up. "Oh, no, the ceiling's cavin' in!"
"Not while I'm here," Jean grumbled, supporting it. "Just get everyone out soon, I don't think I can hold it for too long. There's nothing else left to hold it up."
The optic blasts easily tore through the wall as the rest of the group led the frantic teachers out. Once the last victim had left the building, Cyclops announced, "X-men, out!"
He led them towards the back of the school, away from any news cameras. Jean struggled to hold the roof over them. She stood by as they all ran out, desperately steadying the structure. But as a wingless Rogue—the last member of the team—left, she couldn't take it any more and lost control.
"JEAN!" Scott screamed in terror as the building fell on his wife. Kitty became intangible, diving into the rubble after her lost friend. A moment later she pulled the redhead out. The leader swooped up his love, kissing the top of her head and carefully wiping away blood from a shallow gash on her chin. "Are you ok?"
"I've been better," she smiled weakly. "Thanks, Shadowcat."
"No problem," the brunette muttered before falling against Kurt.
A newly revived Angel approached the group as they waited for instructions. Scott cradled his wife for a moment before placing her in Warren's arms. "Try to stay with us for a little bit longer, ok? Rogue, I need you to take her powers and fly Amara and me back to the apartment. Warren, take Jean. Everyone else, same as last time. Don't bother coming back to the base, I'm sure you need to rest as much as we do. Dismissed."
Kitty's group worked their way back to the car slowly, prepared to apologize to Angel for whatever dirt and blood they got on the car. She didn't bother to phase through traffic. It probably wouldn't hold very long and it would be bad if they suddenly fused molecules with a building or another car.
Once everyone was back home and Jean had gotten a hold of herself, they battled for showers. Scott was the loving husband and let his wife go first, knowing she had to clean the gashes in her body from the building falling on her.
Amara let them know that princesses didn't wait to take a shower, and mad, dirty princesses melted their roommate's things with molten lava. Since everyone was sick of fire for the rest of their lives, she got the first time. The boys were more understanding, knowing that getting ash and smoke out of your fur couldn't be fun. Kurt had won that war.
After she was finished, Jean settled on the couch in her light blue bathrobe, towel-drying her luscious locks. Scott had helped bandage up the cuts before climbing into the shower himself. Of course, the delicate kisses he had placed on them were already helping to heal her.
He joined her about ten minutes later, dressed in only a pair of boxers and a wife beater. "What are you doing?" he asked, tilting her to rest against his chest instead of the couch arm.
"Waiting for the news to come on. I want to hear what they say about us," she sighed. "Even if it's bad." Scott kissed her softly, then stared at the TV as the news broadcast started.
"Good evening, I'm Jennifer Range with your channel ten news. Today's breaking story is a large fire that broke out at P.S. 105. Because of the design of the building, most students were trapped as the fire quickly spread across the ground floor. With a weak foundation, the FDNY was unable to help them. Surprisingly, the children were saved by a group of unknown vigilantes. Mark Bond is on the scene. Mark?"
The scene switched to a man that was standing in front of the school. "Yes, Jennifer. Witnesses say that they weren't aware of the help until the children started to appear safe out of the building. Besides faculty and students of the school, no one saw the saviors. There is speculation, however, that this is a job of a mutant organization."
Cold terror gripped the heart of Jean Summers as she watched an interview with the police chief. "We do have beliefs that mutants were involved. There is no solid evidence, but if the FDNY couldn't get in there, we can't think of any other way anyone can help hundreds of people escape without super powers."
They saw a mother hugging her son as a reporter questioned, "There are rumors that the help could be from mutants. What do you think of this?"
The woman fixed her glare on the camera. "I don't care if it was rogue circus clowns! They saved my son, and for that they are heroes, no matter what our government thinks."
The Summers couple blinked in surprise as Scott whispered, "You don't think…?"
Another shot showed a little girl pulling on her father's leg. "A fuzzy man saved me, Daddy! Me and all my friends!"
He picked her up. "Did you thank him?"
"Yep! And I gave him a big hug!" She threw her arms around his neck. "He felt just like my teddy bear!"
The man didn't do anything to hide the tears rolling down his face. "Good girl. And, whoever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I lost my wife recently and…if I had lost my Jessica too…Thank you, thank you."
Jean now realizes she was crying, as she viewed two parents with their five children, one of them being the girl in the wheelchair. "They think whoever saved our kids were mutants?" The father repeated, then thought about this. "Well, then mutants must be the greatest things our society has to offer these days. No one dangerous and evil would risk their lives for kids they don't know. Our kids are the most precious things we have. I feel better letting mine go to school now that I know someone will be there to save them. Does this make me a mutant lover now? Hell yes."
They shot back to the reporter. "According to Principal Bell, every child and teacher is alive and counted for. Many are in the hospital being treated for severe burns and respiratory distress, but everyone should pull through and recover completely. Without our mysterious helpers, this could have been a lot worse. I'm Mark Bond, reporting for channel 10 news."
Scott reached over and turned off the television. "Wow. I…I can't believe it."
His wife snuggled him, letting her tears drip into his shirt. "I guess every once in a while we actually do something right."
"The Professor always said we should do good with our powers, help those who need it," he mused. "I never really understood that until now. Jean, even if I don't become a teacher or a coach…I still want to be an X-man."
She smiled at him, green eyes twinkling. "Me too, Scott. Me too."
"It's only our second day here. Should I be offended that you're leaving?" Kurt teased his roommate as Sam packed up his duffel bag the next day.
"'Course not!" Cannonball joked, zipping up the nylon sack. "Ah'm just trying to get away from Drake."
"I heard that!" Bobby shouted from the kitchen.
Sam grinned. "Anyway, I'll be back in a few days. This'll be my last chance at a motocross race before we start school. Mr. Logan already set up my bike and everythin', Ah don't wanna disappoint him."
"You're gonna miss Warren's party," Ray pointed out from the couch.
"He'll have others," Bobby said. "But I don't get it. I mean, I know you went to a lot during the summer, but aren't motocross races for professionals?"
"Ah like to think of myself as a professional, thank you," Sam glared at his best friend. "Sure, Ah'll probably be the only racer there who isn't sponsored, but Mr. Logan's helped me fix up my bike to racing conditions, and I just do it for fun. Anyway, Ah'd better go or Ah'll miss the train to Bayville. See ya'll in a few days!"
"Bye, Sam!" They all waved as their Kentucky farm boy left.
A few minutes later, their intercom rang. Kurt hopped up to get it, hoping it would be who he thought it was. "Yes?"
"There's an Amanda Sefton here to see you," The guard told him.
"Ja, please send her up." In a minute, there was a knock at the door and he threw it open to see his girlfriend. "Amanda!"
"Kurt!" She leaned over and hugged him. "Wow, this place is great. How is it here?"
"It's wonderful. We haven't had any major fights, the girls are down the hall, Jean and Scott are downstairs, and it's near some pretty great restaurants," he explained, sitting down on the couch with her.
She giggled. "Of course your second day here you'd know all the best places to eat."
Bobby and Ray came out of their room, slipping keys into their pockets. "Were you guys talking about food?" Bobby asked. "We're heading down to this pizza place with Kitty, Amara and Tab. Wanna come?"
The couple exchanged a look before Kurt replied, "I think we're gonna stay here, thanks. Tell me how it is."
"Will do," Ray promised, opening the door so they could meet the girls. "We'll be back soon anyway. I still don't get why they need three hours to get ready for Warren's party, but whatever. See you guys later."
"Warren's having a party?" Amanda asked as the boys shut the door behind them.
"Ja. Do you want to come?"
"I don't have anything to wear," she mumbled lightly.
"We do know five other girls who live in this apartment building," he pointed out. "I'm sure one of them could lend you something."
She sighed. "After what I have to tell you, you probably won't want me to come anyway."
Kurt frowned. "Amanda, what's wrong?"
"Well, you know I applied to a lot of schools, just in case I didn't get in to Columbia or NYU. I even sent in an application to Stanford. They accepted me, full academic scholarship," she explained.
"Amanda, that's amazing!"
"Yeah. What's even more amazing is that my dad went there and now they want him to teach. So both of my parents are moving there too," She looked at his face. "It's a great school. The only problem is…it's in California."
His excited expression fell. "That's very far away."
"I know. Kurt, I've given this a lot of thought and…I can't give up this offer. I'd see my parents a lot and I'd get such a good education. Full scholarship!" She bit her bottom lip. "I don't want to leave you though."
"I would never ask you to stay and give this up," He stroked her cheek lightly. "You deserve this. And I of all people understand wanting to be with your parents."
Amanda hugged him tightly, blinking back tears. "You're being so great about this."
"When are you leaving?" He asked quietly.
"In two days. My dad and I are leaving to get there before school starts. Mom's going to stay back for a while to send us our stuff gradually and sell the house," she told him.
"Wow…" Kurt whispered. "That's a very short time to be going so far away."
"I should have told you soon, I know," she said hurriedly. "I didn't want to upset you, with all the chaos you were going through with moving. Especially since I think we'll have to break up. I don't think I can manage a long-distanced relationship, especially when my parents don't want me to see you as it is."
"I wouldn't be selfish enough to keep you to myself when you have so much to give to others." He brushed back a lock of her hair.
"You're the most wonderful boyfriend in the world. Any girl would be blessed to have you. I guess it just wasn't meant to be for us," she whispered, more tears filling her eyes.
"Why don't you come to the party tonight?" He offered again. "It can be sort of a last date type of thing. One last night for you to spend with your friends before going to California."
"Thanks, Kurt. I think I'll take you up on that," she grinned, resting against his shoulder as the movie they had been waiting to see started.
He put his arm around her. Kurt was determined not to let it show that his heart was breaking. How come the thing you want to stay the same the most always has to change? He wondered.
In his pocket, his cell phone vibrated. Pulling it out, he said lowly into the mouthpiece, "Hello?"
"Kurt? It's Rogue."
"Oh, hey. What's up?"
"Well, you said you were going to take German, right? I was just wondering if you'd mind if I took it with you," His sister asked quickly.
He blinked. "I…No, of course not. Why the sudden interest?"
"I've been thinking about asking you to teach me for a while. I'm in the bookstore and I saw that all translation dictionaries were 50 off and I thought I'd pick up a German one. Then I realized that I might as well take the class with you and we could learn together," she explained. "Well, I could learn and you'd have an easy class."
"That would be wonderful," he told her as a grin lit his face.
"Great. I'm sure you're with Amanda, so I'll let you go." As an afterthought she added, "See you tonight…bro."
"Bye, sis." Kurt closed his cell phone, holding the warm object in his hand as he smiled at a picture of himself and his sister on the other side of the room. Suddenly he didn't feel so lonely anymore.
A/N: Lots of fun moments in this chapter and I believe it's even longer than the last one. This is the first time I've ever written a team action sequence, so I'd love to know what you thought of it. Constructive criticism does help. Since Amanda is leaving for now, I'm going to be experimenting with other relationships for Kurt. Send in suggestions! (Nothing sick like Kurt/Rogue though. Ew.)
If you don't know from In the Heat or my bio, I did have surgery on Wednesday. Nothing majorly serious, but updates really depend on how I'm feeling and how drugged up I am at the moment. Laughter is the best medicine, so recommend any humor fics I might like. Reviews will honestly get me to work faster (I'm not just saying that so I'll get more). All encouragement is helpful since it takes a while for me to get into a good position to write and I won't bother if you guys don't want me to update.
Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.
Review Responses:
Simba317: There will be some Romy in this and I'll be doing a bunch of stuff with Kitty. As much as I love Pyro, I can not even try to attempt at writing his ultimate goodness. I'm just not that talented. I agree with you that Kitty and Rogue work best together. I'm not an XME Rogue fan, but I always find her the most likeable with Kitty. Thanks for reading.
DOJ: I loved those lines too. My beta cracked up when I told her. Glad you liked it.
Diaz F.: Most of the college experiences I know are through my sister, as I am still a lowly high school student. I'm doing a lot of things with Kitty and Kurt in this fic that I've never attempted before, so who even knows what I'll come up with. Thanks for reading.
Wen1: I've planned a lot of fun things with JOTT. Writing them married is fun!
Ingrid: Don't worry, I plan on updating both this and In the Heat as much as possible.
Slickboy444: Having Scott and Jean married just opens up so many options. And I actually don't write Bobby/Amara because of the fire and ice thing (since she's technically liquid magma...). They're just really cute together and seem to care about each other a lot. This is the fic where I'm planning on fooling around with a lot of Kurt and Kitty pairings. Amanda's out of the way for now, still not sure if/when I'm going to bring her back. I'm really glad you like it!
Quillian: Thank you!
Elizabeth: It's a lot easier to navigate the cast if their all in one place, save Angel. If I threw them around a lot I'd probably end up losing someone…Thanks for reading.
Whylime: Yeah, my sister and her boyfriend were the same way. Must have changed majors five times (and colleges three times). I'm still not sure what I'm doing for a lot of them, so they'll probably change with my whims.
Mattb3617: I really like your idea for Bobby. I might use that, as I'm pretty much blank on what to do for him and my beta isn't any help. Agriculture seems good for Sam, but I have some plans for him that will be revealed later. I hope you keep reading!
Rogue14: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Darkstorm5000: The only problem I have with Rogue doing psychology (and I might use it for a time) is that you have to go through years of therapy yourself to get a degree and because of all the Mystique mind games I actually don't think she'd pass. My sister did it for some time and a lot of people she knew broke down, so she switched majors. I'll have to ask her about it to use in the fic, thank you for the idea! As for Bobby, I might use accounting, though being good at numbers isn't really shown in the show.
Telepathic Angel: Yes, there will be plenty of JOTT! I hope you liked this chapter.
Jenskott: I don't really know that much about Betsy except that she's from England and she's Psylocke (…right?). If I read more about her as I work on this story she might be in there, but I have other plans for Angel right now. Don't worry, there won't be any change in the JOTT though.
GothikStrawberry: Law…I didn't think of that, but it might be interesting. I'd love to see those other guys think she'd suck because of how she looks and then have her give them a run for their money. Thanks for the idea!