Author's note: There is an explanation on why this took so long to write at the end of the episode
Cry Havoc!
Alex and Peter were tossing the football around in the backyard, while Scott and Jean watched from the porch. Their hands were twined together, and they were talking casually. Alex tossed a long, fast pass. Peter dove to catch it, and did so just by the skin of his teeth.
"That was awesome Pete!" Alex shouted. "No wonder the team is going to the semifinals!" He jogged up to the larger teen and gave him a high five.
"Thank you comrade, but it is teamwork that makes the team great, no?"
"Yeah, well you're just lucky that Matthews and his crew left last year," Scott chimed in. "There would be nothing to redeem a team with him on it." Jean softly punched him in the arm. "What? He was a jerk and you know it."
"He's just stupid," Jean said with a sigh. "He's like everyone else who sees something they don't understand- he fears it."
"Fear breeds hate, hate breeds violence, and then we all go to hell in a fast train," Alex added. He sighed. "I'm glad my foster-parents took it so well that I was a mutant."
Jean nodded. "My parents handled it well, too."
Peter nodded as well. "My parents saw it as a blessing. It helped with the farm work."
"The only thing that really bothers them," Alex added, "is that they can't help me." He rubbed his hands. "Especially when my hands hurt."
"Hey, I heard that you were talking to the professor and Hank about that the other day," Scot said. "You okay?"
"Yeah. . . .yeah." Alex rubbed the back of his neck. "My powers have been kinda funky lately. .. Not working, then overworking. . ." He shook his head. "It's been pretty crazy, but it's all good now bro. I got the fireworks under control," he flashed Scott the thumbs up. Scott thought he saw his brother's hands glow for a second, but wrote it off to his glasses playing tricks.
"How are Rogue and Gambit doing?" Jean asked curiously. "I thought I saw Gambit sneaking around."
"Yeah, he's doing okay," Alex informed them. "Apparently Rogue's cold has gotten worse, though her concussion has passed. Every now and then Gambit pretends his chest hurts so he can visit her when he isn't supposed to."
Scott rolled his eyes. "Typical."
"Comrades, I hev some news," Peter broke in. "I hed almost been forgettink. There is goink to beh a small dance this comink Friday, to celebrate deh team's entry into deh semifinals. It will be for anyone who lives in deh area, a small fee attached, so for to pay for buses."
"Really? That is news. And Mr. Callighan is going to allow that?" Scott raised an eyebrow. "Last time I checked he didn't want to do any public events at the school because he was too afraid that the mutants would blow everything up."
"Bro, we have a new, full time, primo man now. Some guy named 'Essex'." Peter tossed Alex the football lightly, and he tossed it up and down. "Kids who've met him say he's actually a decent guy." He tossed the football to Scott. "Get this- he's pro mutant."
Scott held the football, too distracted by this revelation to do anything else. "What? Whoa, whoa-! How'd he get to be principal then? I could have sworn that the board members would have never let someone pro-mutant in that position. I mean, even after we stopped the brotherhood from tearing up that board meeting, I don't think we made all that great of an impression. . . The exception being your great speech Jean," Scott added quickly as Jean gave him an offended look.
"Don't ask me," Alex shook his head. "I hear he's a smooth talker though."
"Figures. We take all that abuse from Kelley, and then the next guy is cool." Scott shook his head, and tossed the football back at Peter.
"Did anyone notice that we go through principals like Harry Potter goes through Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers?" Jean pointed out.
Alex paused. "Hmm. . . That would make Darkholm the evil one, Kelley the idiot. . ."
". . . And Essex deh werewolf?" Peter said in a very confused manner.
"I was going to say 'the cool one'," Alex said.
"Moody was cool," Scott interjected.
"Moody was an evil, traitorous impostor," Alex countered with a sly smile. "Remember?"
Scott frowned. "Hey, you're not supposed to do that!"
"Do what?"
"Show me up!" Scott said, lightly punching Alex on the shoulder. The younger Summers brother laughed.
"Yeah, well bro, you make it too easy," Alex said. "Ah!" He yelped as Scott lunged for him. The two brothers darted between the benches, trees and other obstacles.
Jean laughed as she watched Scott finally tackled Alex and the two began to wrestle. Peter sat down next to her with a bemused look on his face.
"I hev a question," he began, blushing slightly. "I would like to invite. . . Someone from deh institute to deh dance. . ." He dropped his head slightly. "But I am unsure of how. Some customs of America still elude meh."
"I understand," Jean patted him on the back. "Well, all you really need to do is go up to her, and ask 'Would you like to go with me to the dance?'. It's really that simple."
"Perhaps not. . ." He murmured. "She's. . . Seeing someone. . ."
Jean looked at him sharply, worried for a second that he might be talking about her, but he seemed to be really just asking for advice. "Well, in that case find out if she's going with him all ready, and if not ask her if she'd like to go as friends."
Peter considered this for a moment. "That sounds like a good plan. Yes, in fact, I think that will be perfect." Looking considerable happier, Peter sat and watched as Scott put Alex into a headlock.
"Ack!" Get off! Get off!" Alex said. Scott responded by messing up his hair. Alex grabbed onto Scott's arm with both hands straining to pry him off. He tried throwing his brother, but Scott knew how to counter it. All those training sessions with Wolverine paid off. Frustrated Alex tugged harder on Scott's arm. "No fair man! You're killin' me here!"
"You're a newbie and my younger brother. I should be able to beat you with my eyes closed and my arms tied behind my back!" Scott teased him. Alex thrashed a little more. Then suddenly Scott felt like his arms were burning. He let go of Alex immediately. "Hey!" He said indignantly as he noticed Alex's hands glowing. "What's the big deal?"
"I- I-" Alex stammered, holding his hands out in front of him. "Sorry. . .I don't know. . .what's come over me. . ." He stretched out his hands to their widest. They glowed fiercely. "M- maybe I should go talk to the professor again," he said slowly. "Th- this shouldn't happen. . ." Alex was shaking slightly, willing his powers to fade out, but his hands glowed on merrily.
"Alex-" Scott's eyebrows raised in worry. "Should I get the Professor-?"
"No, no!" Alex said quickly. "I- I'll talk to him later," as his hands finally began to turn normal again. "See? It's all cool." He held them up in front of Scott.
"Alex, you know you can talk to me if you need help, right?" Scott said empathetically.
"Dude, bro I got it covered, okay?" Alex patted Scott on the back, extra hard to try and knock him over.
"HEY!" Scott shouted as he nearly toppled over. Whirling around he began chasing after the retreating Alex again. "Get back here!"
Alex, laughing loudly, tried to drown his own nagging fears and doubts.
"Well, she's still got some sort of flu," Beast said, scribbling on a pad of paper as he talked to Storm. "And if she doesn't get better soon I think Gambit's 'recurring illness' won't either."
Storm sighed. "I wish I had let Logan stay home. . . I highly doubt the Rippers would have been able to run off with Rogue if he had been there."
"Be that as it may, I think everything turned out for the best anyway. Despite being ill she and Remy are taking advantage of the collar when she feels well enough." He chuckled.
"How is that situation going?"
"Poorly," Beast admitted. "I've made no progress. I can't get at the inner mechanisms because- as the Rippers so kindly told Rogue and Gambit- any sort of real fiddling with it will make it explode. Xavier scanned it somehow and ascertained that much was true."
Alex, some time after being made to cry 'Uncle!' in his brother's vice-like grip, was walking down the hallway like some sort of wraith. He wasn't ready quite yet to talk to Xavier, and so steered himself as far away from the Headmaster's office. After turning a corner quietly Alex saw Beast looming in the hallway with Storm next to him. Alex thought that it might be easier to talk to one of them about his problem, and stopped in the hallway, opening his mouth to speak. Neither Beast, who was intent on his scribbling, nor Storm, who was listening to him and glancing at the paper, noticed him.
"So, how is Evan-?" Beast began, but stopped abruptly as he bumped into something. He heard an 'Oomph!' and nearly dropped his pad.
"Oh, Alex!" Storm said, more surprised at the expression on Alex's face than at the fact that Beast had knocked him over. "Are you all right?"
Alex didn't answer, instead he leapt to his feet as if stung. Storm couldn't tell why, until she looked down at the floor. Her mouth dropped open. There were two hand prints burned into the floor.
Beast, using his usual skill and tact, caught on quickly. He saw Alex's mortified expression, and where Storm was looking and put two and two together without a word. "Perhaps we should take a quick trip to the infirmary," he said quietly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Alex, still mortified, could do nothing but nod dully. When they arrived it took only a look from Storm to send Remy out of the room so silently that he might not had ever been there. Rogue was fast asleep, twitching every now and then with a fever dream. Storm gently pulled the curtains around her bed to make Alex feel more comfortable. Beast gestured for Alex to sit, which the boy slipped up on almost lifelessly. His hands were glowing faintly and wouldn't stop. Beast pulled on extra large surgical gloves and picked up one of Alex's hands gently.
"How long have you been having problems?" Beast asked him gently.
Alex closed his eyes. What was he supposed to tell him? That everything in his room was covered in small burns, most of them hand or finger shaped? That he was too ashamed to admit to the professor that despite all the help he'd been giving Alex that there was no improvement in his power control, and, if anything, it had gotten worse? Or that he didn't want to go to the professor with the nagging thoughts that Magneto had been able to fix his powers, though there were a few side effects, and that the professor hadn't been able to do anything for Scott's powers or Rogue's? He couldn't possibly. "A- a while," he choked out.
"I see," Beast said, speaking volumes in only two words. Storm watched the boy's expression change over and over, reading the mingling fear and uncertainty. "And I suppose it's been getting increasingly worse, and more frequent over time?"
Alex nodded in reply.
"When was the last time you used your powers in excess?"
"Against Apocalypse."
"And before that?"
"When Scott and I nearly drowned."
"And I supposed the first time was Asteroid M?"
"Yes."
Beast nodded. "I'm going to take a blood sample," he said to Alex. "Just a small doctor-like prick on the finger." Alex nodded again as Beast plucked a sterilized needle out of his medical supplies and a minuscule tube with a red line, the type physicians usually used in physicals. A quick prick and a blood sample later Alex found a small Band-Aid, black, with bright yellow happy faces on it, wrapped around his finger. Beast stuck the tube into the clay-like pad made for it. Turning back to Alex he smiled a little. "That should give us a few clues into what's going on."
Again, all he could get out of the boy was a nod.
"We're going to have to talk to the professor about this," Storm told Alex.
Alex looked up at her, worried, but then let his gaze drop once more.
"It's okay Alex," Beast said, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder. He could read the boy's expression rather well. Judging by what was going on recently he took an educated guess. "You aren't the first person to doubt the professor's methods, trust me." Beast inclined his head towards where Rogue lay.
Over behind her curtain Rogue mumbled something in her sleep. Alex raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure you've heard about her power surge, before Apocalypse was woken up," Beast said quietly, hoping Rogue wouldn't wake. "After Mystique used her to wake him up Rogue flipped out and screamed at the professor for. . . At least two hours straight," Storm nodded in confirmation of the story. She, Logan and Beast had been there. "She went on and on about how if it wasn't for the fact that she knew Magneto would use her just like before she would have switched sides again and gone through his machine in a minute. 'At least then I might have some control,' she shouted at him. Frankly, I've never seen so much color in her cheeks."
Alex bit his lip. Partially because he wanted to laugh, partially because he knew he felt now the same way that Rogue did then.
"Of course after she had blown off steam she was all right. She and Jean both had surges, but they're fine now."
"Rogue doesn't have any more control than she had before," Alex mumbled, "and I haven't always had perfect control like Jean has."
"There might be something we can do to remedy that situation. After all your brother has his glasses," Beast said.
"Yeah, but ruby quartz gloves aren't going too allow much movement, and they aren't exactly the easiest fashion statement to pull off," Alex pointed out.
"This is true," Beast said with a chuckle. "Hopefully it won't come to something as extreme as that."
Alex was beginning to feel slightly better about his situation. Though Storm still looked dubious about the whole affair, Beast was giving Alex enough reassurance to put him at ease , at least long enough for the glow from his hands to once again dissipate. Knowing that his nagging doubts about the professor wouldn't be the first time Xavier had heard such things, out loud or with his powers also helped a great deal. He felt guilty that he almost wanted to laugh at the idea of Rogue venting some of her infamous anger out on Xavier.
"So, we'll go talk to the professor, now or later?" Beast asked in an encouraging tone.
"I guess sooner is better than later, right?" Alex looked up at the two teachers, forlorn.
Storm smiled, impressed by Beast's quick thinking. No wonder he had been a teacher for so long. He was very good with children, and their fears.
Beast nodded at Alex, "I would suggest sooner myself."
"Yeah," Alex said sullenly. "Uh, how about after the dance?"
Beast and Storm both blinked. "Dance?" Beast said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, for the football team," Alex said. It was far enough away that he could avoid it for a little bit, but close enough that things shouldn't get any worse. He just wasn't ready to face the professor. "It's this Friday."
"Well," Beast paused. Alex obviously didn't feel quite ready to talk to the professor, but Friday was close enough that things shouldn't get too out of hand. "All right. But I'm holding you to that. Either Friday night after the dance or Saturday morning- understand?"
Alex flashed a double thumbs up. "As the doctor orders!" He said, considerably more happy.
Beast pat him on the back. "We'll have this all sorted out by Sunday, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm going to take a look at your blood work as soon as I can. I have to go over Rogue's as well."
Alex nodded, and hopped down to the floor. "Friday then."
"Yes, Friday," Beast nodded, placing glasses on his nose and looking at a computer readout. "And if you aren't there I'm sending Logan out to find you."
Alex raised his hands in front of his chest. "No need to do that teach. I'll be there. Promise."
Storm laughed. "I should think so. Logan does have a certain reputation for being cranky when sent after wayward students."
Beast, suddenly very interested in the paper readout he was getting, didn't make a further comment, so Ororo sent Alex along. He darted off, relieved. That hadn't been nearly as bad as he expected it to be.
Ororo turned to say something to Beast, but the look on his face stopped her before she formed the first syllable. "Hank, what is it?"
"Alex's blood tests have to wait. I need to run some more tests on Rogue immediately. According to this," He held out the readout, "I may have been severely mistaken when I diagnosed her."
Peter hovered in front of the door to Kitty and Rogue's shared room. He raised his hand to knock several times, but his nerve failed him. Finally he settled on opening the door a crack and calling in. "Hel- hello?"
"Oh, like, hey Peter!" Kitty smiled. "C'mon in." Kitty got up and opened the door the rest of the way for him. "I was just finishing up an e-mail to my parents, so gimmie a sec to fire it off, kay?"
Peter nodded. "Is no problem."
"Great!" Kitty said. She strode over to her bed, where her laptop lay, and typed for a second, then double clicked. A little voice said "E-mail sent" and then Kitty looked up at Peter. "So, like, what's up?"
"Uh-" Peter stopped, his mind blank. Then he said quickly to recover, "I was wonderink if you hev seen my roommate?"
"Gambit?" Kitty said with a confused look. "No. He's probably visiting my roommate down in the infirmary. He's been doing that for, like, a while now. Why? Do you need him for something?"
"Uh, no, curious, you know."
"Right. . ." Kitty said a little uncertainly. There was an awkward pause.
"How is Lance?" Peter asked suddenly.
"He's okay," Kitty sighed. "But you know, his leg still isn't up to snuff and his arm still hurts. I don't think the Brotherhood boys are really helping him out at all. . ."
"So I guess he won't beh. . .dancink anytime soon?"
Kitty raised an eyebrow. "No, he won't be. He doesn't like dancing much anyway. . ."
Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "In that case, I was wonderink. . . Would you like for to join meh at deh dance this Friday? Deh rest of the team has dates, and I would feel awkward weethout one. . . And you were deh only one I could think to ask. Of course if Lance had been well, I would not hev because that would be rude-" he began turning increasingly red.
She laughed. "Oh, like, wow, Peter, I had no clue. Yeah, sure. I mean we're just going as friends so, like, where's the harm?"
Peter let out a great sigh of relief. "Thank you, I was worried you'd refuse. I do not know who else I could possibly ask. Everyone here is- how do you say it- 'paired off'?"
Kitty laughed. "Yeah, that's true. The dating pool isn't that large for mutant teenagers."
"I suppose not," Peter said, shrugging. Though Kurt is dating a 'normal' human."
"Amanda's special," Kitty said. "She thinks being a mutant is special. She thinks Kurt's cuter blue and fuzzy than in his image inducer mode."
"Very special," Peter agreed. "Perheps I will get to talk to her at deh dance. I hev not had a chance to meet her properly."
Kitty nodded. "Ask Kurt. He'll be sure to introduce you two."
Peter nodded, and then found himself at a loss of things to talk about. "I, uh, guess I will see you later. . ."
Kitty nodded. "We should talk again sometime," she said encouragingly.
"I would like that," he smiled. "Any idea when I will beh findink my roommate in here again?"
Kitty frowned. "Not sure. Rogue's been sick for a while, and frankly I'm, like, really worried about it. I've never seen her sick before."
"Probably all deh un-sickness is just catching up to her, no? I am sure she will be fine." He stretched his arms behind his back. "I will be in deh danger room for a while if you are for to need meh."
"See you Peter," she nodded. As he left she returned to typing on her laptop. Sorry about that, she typed to someone whose screen name read 'PurpleGlow'. Friend needed to talk.
No problem luv. Had to run and fold some laundry anyway, Purple typed back. So, seriously, you've met some of the mutants involved in thrashing that bloody robot and blue chap? What're they like?
Honestly? Kitty typed back. They're pretty much normal teenagers.
The danger room session for the older students the next night was no cakewalk. Logan was in charge of running the simulation rather then Ororo or Beast, both of whom were occupied with Rogue in the infirmary.
"How much you vanna bet dhat dhey're really doing something else and Logan's jealous?" Kurt had whispered to Scott before the session had started.
"Ororo and Beast are good friends. They are not sleeping together. Especially not with the excuse of checking up on Rogue," Scott had replied.
"Dhat's what dhey want you to think."
At the moment, though, there wasn't much talking, except the occasional cry of 'look out!'. Kurt, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Remy, Alex, Peter, and the new additions to the older team- Tabitha and Bobby- found themselves battling against two life sized sentinel robots. If it wasn't for Kitty slipping through the green goo the robots shot and pulling people out of it they would have failed the mission ages ago.
Out of all of them the Summers brothers, Boom Boom and Colossus were doing the most damage. Tabitha was constantly making large firecrackers for Colossus to hurl at the Sentinels. Though their armor protected them from the damage to a certain extent they were looking rather worn from the constant explosions. Cyclops was shouting out orders in-between firing precise blasts of optic energy. Havoc was cutting loose, to help himself with all his fears and frustrations.
One of the Sentinels, who was now being called 'Two-Face' by the group since Nightcrawler had used his talents and one of Gambit's cards to blow half his face plate off, aimed at Havoc and let fly a missile.
"Bring it on!" Havoc yelled, blasting the missile right back at the Sentinel. It exploded on Two-Face's chest plate, making it stumble back. "How's the elf doing?" He shouted at Cyclops.
"Not too good, no thanks to Iceman," Cyclops shouted back. "He really smacked into that wall hard when he slid across the floor."
"I was trying to trip up the Sentinels!" Iceman protested. "How was I supposed to know the blasted things had really good traction?"
"It doesn't matter much when they can also fly," Shadowcat pointed out. She and Remy were watching over Kurt. Remy was tossing cards up at the other Sentinel.
"Monsieur Tin Man doesn't want to play fair!" Gambit shouted. "Gambit's de only one able to fight an' he don' seen t' want t' pick on someone his own size!"
Jean used her telekinesis to twist off a lamppost, part of the simulated environment, and hurl it at the Sentinel's leg. It pierced the armor, and the wires and gears within the leg and came out the other side. The Sentinel fell to one knee and for a moment seemed to have a hard time computing what had happened.
"Merci Jean," Gambit said.
"No problem!" She called out.
He charged up the ace of spades. "Now, you're not quite Gambit's height, but dis'll do." He flung his card with deadly accuracy. It went right into the mouthpiece. With a flashing light that exploded from all the orifices in the Sentinel's face it toppled over. Gambit smirked. "Now dat's de way it's-"
The sentinel got back up to it's feet, face and leg both sparking violently. It was smoking out of its eyes and mouth. It aimed at him and fired out a huge chunk of goo.
"Mon Dieu!" Gambit shouted just before he became encased with the slime.
"Oh man! I can't just, like, leave Kurt here!" Kitty said frantically. Nightcrawler was showing no signs of stirring.
"I got it!" Havoc said. He charged up both his hands.
"Alex, be careful!" Cyclops warned.
"Got it covered bro!" Havoc said irritably. His hands glowed ferociously.
"Alex, don't-" Jean began, "remember Remy had his ribs broken recently!"
"I've got it covered!" Havoc repeated. He was about to say something scalding when his powers fired without him thinking about it.
The overwhelming red beam, which would have clearly been a disaster if it had struck, was averted by a large ice shield, courtesy of Bobby Drake. The shield shattered instantly on impact, but it diverted the blast from the encased Gambit.
"Man, Havoc, watch what you're blasting! Sure, he used to be on the other team, but now he's working with us!" Iceman shouted.
Havoc simply looked at the shattered pieces of ice, horrified. He could imagine them as being pieces of Gambit, strewn everywhere. Maybe Friday wasn't soon enough.
"LOOK OUT!" Screamed Boom Boom.
The Sentinel Remy had officially fried was falling over again. It couldn't quite grasp how its motor functions worked any more. It was falling, however, right towards Havoc. He, however, was rooted to the spot.
"Fear not comrades!" Colossus shouted. He charged towards Alex and the toppling Sentinel and tackled Alex to the ground with the skills of someone who truly deserved to be the football team's MVP. Once Alex was on the ground Colossus stood up and plunged one large fist into the oncoming Sentinel mass.
Though the others were tied up keeping Two-Face at bay, everyone's attention was really riveted on seeing the outcome of the situation. Suddenly the leg of the Sentinel, which had landed on the two boys, was thrown up and off of them. Colossus pulled out a stunned, but otherwise all right Havoc. Colossus hauled his friend over towards Kitty and Kurt, and deposited him next the limp body of the blue fellow. He then walked over to Gambit, trapped in his stunned, crouching position as he had attempted to protect himself, and picked Gambit up. Colossus left him next to Havoc. "You may free him now, comrade," he said with a nod.
Havoc shook his head. "No way. I can't. You saw what I nearly did!" He pointed out to the melting pieces of ice. "That could have been bits and pieces of Cajun!"
"But it was not, comrade," Colossus pointed out.
"But it could have been!" Havoc said hysterically. "I could have blown Gambit to smithereens!"
Shadowcat shook her head. "Someone watch Nightcrawler," she said irritably, as she phased through the hardened goo and pulled out Gambit. The Cajun shook his head and removed a little gunk from inside his ear.
"Dat is an experience I'd prefer not to repeat," he said. Gambit looked at the people around him. "Well look at all de happy faces. What? Did I say somet'ing wrong?"
"It is nothink comrade. We are glad you are in good health," Colossus said.
Gambit gave them all a funny look. He was going to say something when there was a groan. Nightcrawler sat up slowly, swearing in German. "Vas happened? Did someone get dhe license number of dhat truck?"
"You took a spill on some of Bobby's ice," Shadowcat explained. She looked at the other Sentinel, the one Gambit had scrambled, and turned to the boys. "I'm making sure Sparky there doesn't get back up. You stay here," she directed Nightcrawler. "Alex, cover me."
Havoc shook his head.
"Alex, get over it. I need you to cover me in case Sparky gets up. All right?" Shadowcat said irritably. Gambit mouthed 'Get over what?' To Colossus who shook his head in reply.
"Guys! Incoming!" Cyclops shouted.
The quartet looked up to see a missile flying right towards them. Suddenly they burst into action. Gambit flung a full hand of cards at it, but that didn't even puncture the missile's covering. Shadowcat made a break for the other Sentinel. Colossus held his ground, ready to slug the missile as it got nearer.
Finally Alex realized that he couldn't act the way he had been. Shaking off his previous shock he let loose at the missile. He clipped it with a powerful blast, sending it spiraling towards Shadowcat and 'Sparky'. "Kitty! Heads up!"
Shadowcat, unlike most people, didn't look to see where the threat was coming from. She simply froze in place and phased. The missile landed nearby, showering the surrounding area with chunks of debris and bursting into flames. After things had landed Kitty phased back into solidity. A few man sized pieces of rock now pinned the unmoving Sentinel to the ground. Shadowcat smirked. "Nice job!" She shouted.
Havoc would have responded if it wasn't for the fact that he was desperately trying to turn his powers off. His hand were glowing ferociously. "Come on, dude, this is so not funny. . ." He murmured. "Come on! I'm the one in control here!"
Nightcrawler teleported over to pick Shadowcat up and regroup with Jean, Cyclops and the others. Apparently Two-Face was set at a higher difficulty level than Sparky, because even with Boom Boom and Cyclops chipping away at him he wouldn't go down.
"Kurt, 'port me up," Shadowcat directed. "Maybe I can scramble the thing's circuits."
Before she got a chance to though, Havoc let it rip. He had to get rid of his excess energy. Without warning a massive red beam tore through Two-Face's chest, leaving him flaring up and sparking. The robot finally shut down and began to topple over onto them, but Jean nudged it with her telekinesis and it flopped over in the other direction.
"Sheesh, you could have, like, told me you were going to do that," Shadowcat said.
Havoc didn't seem to hear her.
"Hey, Alex, nice shot," Cyclops said with a smile.
"Yeah, you gave de tin man somet'ing to 'member you by," Gambit chimed with a smirk. "Dat is if her 'members anyt'ing at all now."
Havoc was too focused on his hands which had finally faded. He smiled weakly at his companions. "Eh, I guess I did all right. Dude, that was one awesome training session!" He began smiling. "I dunno though bro," he frowned, looking at Scott. "I don't think I'm ready fro this whole 'training to be a mutant super hero' thing yet. I promised you I'd give it a chance, and though it's been fun. . ." Havoc shook his head, "I don't think I could pull it off under real pressure."
Jean smiled at Havoc as she removed the headpiece of her uniform. "That's a mature decision Alex. Maybe you'll be ready to join us later."
"Man, how could you not love this stuff?" Bobby said incredulously.
Tabitha shrugged. She threw an arm around Alex and smiled. "Don't worry too much about it kid," she winked. "If you don't want to be a hero, you could always bat for the other team. The Brotherhood is always looking for members."
"Uh," Alex blushed slightly, "no thanks."
She rolled her eyes. "You goody-goody Summers." Then she blew a kiss in his direction and proceeded to head out of the Danger Room, following Gambit and Kurt who were conversing in low tones about Rogue's condition.
Alex stared after her, struck by the same speechlessness that often followed one of Tabitha's short speeches. Cyclops finally burst into laughter at the sight of his brother's befuddled expression. Clapping a hand on Alex's shoulder the older Summers brother smiled. "You two make a cute couple," he joked.
Alex was speechless.
"Yah goin' with Pete? T' th' dance?"
"Yeah," Kitty said, smiling at her weak-looking roommate. "Too bad you're still stuck in bed. You and Remy could have gone."
"Ah don' really like doin' school dances anymore," Rogue mumbled, closing her eyes. "'S where mah powahs manifested, 'member?"
"Yeah, like, that must of been a bummer."
Rogue moved her shoulders in an attempt to shrug.
They both turned as the heard a loud 'Ahem,' from the corner. Beast had entered the infirmary.
"Oh, hey doctor McCoy," Kitty smiled. "Uh, should I leave?"
"No need Kitty," Beast said. "I'm more than able to take a little blood with you here. Still, don't stay too long. Rogue needs rest."
"I bet," Kitty murmured. Rogue had fallen asleep in the few seconds she hadn't been talked to. "Is she going to be all right?"
The glare of the infirmary lights on his glasses hid most of his expression. "Yes. She'll be fine Kitty." Beast sighed mentally. He hated to say that without being sure.
With that said, Beast bent over to take some blood from Rogue when a blue-white disk appeared and Illyana came stagger through. Kitty blinked, as Illyana shouted something in an inhuman language and fire crackled back in the hole before it closed. Her arm was hanging down at her side, her face was covered in soot and sweat and she looked slightly worse for wear.
"Demons," Illyana mumbled. "You don't keep 'em in line and they walk all over you. Or try to eat you."
Beast and Kitty stared at her.
"Sorry," Illyana said. "Was I interrupting something? I thought teleporting here would be the best thing since my shoulder's dislocated. . ."
"Since, like, when have you taken up visiting that place? I thought you, like, wanted nothing to do with it?" Kitty had taken a liking to Illyana since she had gotten there. Illyana almost seemed like a cross breed between Dani, Rogue, and Pete. They hadn't had much time to converse. Apparently Illyana had only recently overthrown the lord of Limbo, and needed to establish herself as the sorceress supreme. She was always disappearing and reappearing in the oddest of places. Time also was warped. Though it was never the years-to-days ratio that had turned her from an innocent ten-year-old to an experienced 16-year old sorceress and skilled mutant, she did have some time problems. She had to hide from herself for three days to avoid massive confusion, and bunked with Kitty since Rogue was in the infirmary.
"Sometimes you have to deal with the things you want nothing to do with the most," Illyana said. She yelped as Beast popped her arm back into place. "Ow!"
"You shouldn't go on any escapades until that arm is healed at least," Beast informed her. "Now you two run along, I'm going to take care of Rogue." He tossed Illyana a small bottle of painkiller. "Take two of these every six hours. It should ease the pain."
"Thank you," Illyana nodded. Kitty and Illyana strolled down the hallway. Illyana made her soul sword vanish and cast a sly look in Kitty's direction. She smirked. "So, Pitor asked you to the dance?"
Kitty nodded. "Why?"
"No reason," Illyana said. She winced as she tried to move her arm and her expression turned dark. "That place will be the death of me," she murmured.
"Why do you keep going back?"
"I just have to. Why do you act as a hero?"
Kitty sighed. "I understand. Sort of."
They walked on in silence for a while, then Kitty piped up again.
"Why'd Pete invite me to the dance? I mean, he could have, like, invited. . ." Kitty paused. Jean was dating Scott, Jubilee and Rahne were gone. . . Who was there still? Oh, right, "Tabitha."
Illyana let out a loud 'Ha' of laughter. "As charming as Tabitha is, she is not my brother's type. Besides. . . I think Pitor thinks she had her eye on someone else."
Kitty's eyes widened. "Really? Like who?"
"No information for you here gossipmonger," Illyana wagged a finger using her good arm. "You'll just have to wait and see."
"Awwwwwwwwwwww. . ." Kitty sighed. "Hey, you should, like, come to the dance." Upon seeing Illyana skeptical look she launched straight into an attempt to convince her. "There are plenty of guys here that aren't really all that bad. Like Beserker. Or Roberto. . ."
"I'll think about it," Illyana promised. "But that's no guarantee."
Kitty smiled. "You'll be there, I can just feel it."
Friday seemed to take forever to come. Alex had spent the past day or so dodging all the teachers except Logan. Logan didn't know the situation, and that meant he was safe ground. He might not be for long though. Alex was straining to keep control over his power. After the training session he had had a day of almost problem-free powers control, but that was about it. He couldn't just let loose in his room or on school grounds. Alex knew that could result in someone getting hurt. . . Or worse. Like Gambit almost had been.
"Hey surfer dude!"
Alex whipped around, nearly jumping out of his skin. It was only Tabitha, but after that reaction she was staring at him in such a way she might as well have been Beast, doctoral concern and all.
"You okay wave boy?"
"Y- Yeah. You just startled me for a moment."
A frown fluttered briefly across Tabitha's face, then cleared rapidly. "You going to the dance tonight?'
"I, eh, might be," Alex shrugged.
Tabitha grinned. "Might be? Why wouldn't you?"
Alex, rubbing his hands, sighed. 'I'm afraid of blowing something up' didn't quite feel like something he wanted to admit so he settled for something a little less extreme. "I don't have a date."
"That's it? Is that why you're acting so weird lately?" Tabitha smacked her forehead. "Boy, you Summer's sure have to keep up appearance don't you? Look, I'll go with you, and you can hook up with someone there, okay?"
"I don't want to hook up with anyo-" Alex stammered.
Tabitha pinched his cheek. "Chill, surfer dude." She winked. "I've gotcha covered."
"Somehow that doesn't reassure me. . ."
Tabitha laughed. "You heard too much about my time with Legion, didn't you?"
Alex gave her a funny look. "Huh?"
"Never mind," Tabitha shook her head and patted him on the back. "If you don't want to hang with me, then I think I've got just what the doctor ordered for you."
Thinking about what Dr. McCoy probably wanted Alex mumbled "Somehow I doubt that."
Tabitha ignored the comment, or didn't hear it, but either way she said nothing and left him standing in the hallway. He continued walking and passed Kitty and Tabitha discussing something in quick, quiet words. Suddenly he felt very unsafe.
"There's the man of the hour!" Tabitha said, grabbing him as he tried to discreetly pass them. "Guess what? Kitty and I have worked out your date problems!"
Verrrrrrrrrry unsafe.
Alex looked back and forth between the two. "Does the girl know about this yet?"
"Not quite yet," Kitty admitted. "Gimmie a second."
Kitty phased through the floor, and reappeared a few minutes later toting a very confused Illyana. "What do you mean found me a date?" Illyana said as soon as her mouth was visible.
"Viola!" Tabitha said with a smirk. "Now neither of you has any reason not to go to the dance!"
Alex and Illyana looked each other over. They hadn't met formally, but that was because Illyana had hardly met anyone formally. Alex smiled nervously, then, after glancing at his hand quickly, held it out to shake.
"I'm Alex. Scott's little bro, you know. You're- Illyana, right?" Alex asked. "Pete's sister?"
Illyana nodded, taking his hand and shaking it. "Yeah," she said, eyeing Kitty skeptically. "I've seen you around. Though I don't think we've ever actually talked."
"It's a big house," Alex shrugged. "People could walk around for weeks and never see each other, let alone talk."
Illyana smiled. "Very true."
Tabitha clapped them both on the back. "So Kitty and I will leave you two alone to get to know each other, all right?" She winked at Alex and threw an arm around Kitty. "C'mon, let's raid the fridge. I heard that Dr. McCoy made a chocolate mousse cake." The two girls walked down the hallway, tittering loudly. Illyana watched them go. Alex looked at her.
"They're not very subtle when they're trying to set people up, are they?" Illyana said amused. She looked at Alex, offering up a smile. He smiled back, though Illyana noticed a slight hesitation.
"No, they really aren't." Alex sighed. "But, seriously, it's totally cool with me if you wanna just, you know, skip this."
"Are you kidding? We'd both get strung up by our ears by those two if we don't go now!" Illyana laughed. "I mean, we might as well. There's no harm in it, is there?"
Maybe not in your case, Alex thought, but he nodded. Illyana didn't have the potential to blow the roof off the building, and the lack of control that might very well cause it to happen. "Sounds. . . Cool."
"You look ill. Do I have a piece of demon stuck to me or something?" Illyana checked her clothes. "I didn't think there was any one me, and Kitty didn't mention it. . ."
"No! No, nothing like that. I'm just feeling, nervous. I'm a surfer, you know, not a dancer," Alex confessed with a shrug and a smile. It was true. At see he could 'dance' on the water, but on land he had the approximate reaction of a land bound fish: he flopped around uselessly. It came on living on a group of islands.
"If it makes you feel any better," Illyana said, starting to walk in the opposite direction Kitty and Tabitha had gone, "I'm not much of a dancer either. I didn't have much time for that between learning the dark arts and fighting demons."
Alex blushed a little. "Eh, guess not."
Illyana chuckled at his expression. "You know, it's been a while since I've been able to laugh so much with anyone. I suppose I'll be seeing you later?"
"Yes," he said. "Should I stop by you room around, let's say, seven-thirty?"
"Sounds like a plan. See you then Alex." She turned down another hallway and gave him a little wave. Alex found himself smiling and suddenly it didn't seem like doom was lurking around the corner.
Despite being give a fairly wide berth anywhere they walked in the dance hall, the majority of students, and teachers, from the Xavier Institute were having a very good time. Jean and Scott hadn't stopped dancing all night. Ororo had insisted upon going, and oddly enough, Hank and Logan got into a bit of a fight over who would go with her. It was settled with a coin toss, which Hank won, and then he realized that he wasn't comfortable going out with an inducer, or as his furry self to a crowded dance. Logan promised to take photos for him, and was genuinely remorseful that he had won that way.
The older students were all there (sans Rogue and Gambit), as were Bobby (alone), Tabitha (also alone though she hooked up with some jock later on), and Amara and Roberto together (much to some folk's surprise). The dance was held in the high school gym, and everything was being overseen by Dr. Essex.
Alex and Illyana had hardly noticed the loud music. Instead they were trading stories about being younger siblings to the 'heroes' of the family. They were in the middle of trying to compare who knew the most embarrassing story about their older sibling when Illyana stopped short and stood rigid.
"What's going on? What's wrong?"
Illyana turned to him, very pale, and grabbed his arm. "We have to move. Away from the gym."
"What? Why?" Alex looked at her frantically. His panic was bringing his power to the surface.
"Trust me!"
Alex nodded. They left the gym through back door, leading into the high school. Illyana hadn't been transferred into the high school yet. Her parents and Xavier were home schooling her until she could be brought up to where she should be age-wise. Technically Illyana knew more than they did, but not much of it was academic.
As she pulled him along down the hallways she said, "Did your brother ever mention some sort of portal here in the school?"
"There was a time when Kurt slowed down his teleportation and it opened some rifts into another world. Scott also mentioned Kurt and Forge got caught in a pocket dimension somewhere nearby. In the basement or something," Alex said without asking why. Illyana's expression turned from worried to grave in a flash.
"One of the rips in the dimensional fabric must not have sealed properly. Presumably the basement area. Pocket dimensions are tricky little devils. The fluctuation in the space-time continuum must have overlapped the two rips," She was slowly developing magical armor on her body, and she drew her soul sword. "My presence nearby only compacted the situation. Shit! I hate demons.
"Wait, I think I caught most of that, but what does it mean?" Alex said. He was afraid of the answer. "Your presence compounded what? And why are you mentioning demons?!"
"My presence compounded the want of the demons to escape. They know me and many of them want to slay me. They're pushing through the rip, trying to get out."
Alex stopped dead. Illyana, who had been pulling him also stopped short. She looked back at him. "What's the matter?"
"Shouldn't we get the others? Why're we plunging into this alone?" Alex said. "They can help! Your brother and mine, Jean and Kurt-"
"We can't. We have to find the breach in the dimension fabric and seal it, then destroy whatever demons may have escaped, and that means we have to do it fast otherwise there'll be too many for the entire team to handle. And before you ask, no I can't just teleport them there. It wound cause another fracture of the dimensional fabric and we'd really be done for."
Alex began following her again, but an icy hand had wrapped around his heart. He was going to admit to Illyana that his powers weren't stable at the moment, and he would be a better help if he ran to get the others. However in the half second after Illyana had laid out the situation in black and white his mouth had gone dry and his vocal chords froze up. He watched the look on Illyana face slowly grow more determined and more frantic by the second. She seemed to know exactly where she was going. Part of her connection to the mysterious world of Limbo, he was sure. Finally they came to a door. Illyana opened the door and flung Alex in, Then using her magic she shut the door and sealed it with a magical ward that Alex could tell wasn't going to let anything in or out.
"Are you mad? We'll be trapped in here!" Alex shouted. "With them! And no backup!"
"I'm sure we can handle it. You've got a lot of power, and I can help you redirect it. . ."
Alex nearly screamed in panic, "My powers are out of control!"
Illyana's face was expressionless for a long moment. Then she said, with traces of bitterness in her tone, "Well, that would have been good to know beforehand. There's nothing we can do about it now. Either we will triumph or we will suffer eternally."
"There's no other option?" Alex said quietly.
"There never is," Illyana replied darkly. "Not when it comes to demons."
Almost before she had finished the sentence Alex saw red fire emerge flash in the air in front of them. The creature that came through the rip did not look at all like the small raptors Scott had described to him. This thing was huge, with six glowing eyes, four arms, and a tail that looked like it could impale six full grown men at once. It had more horns, spikes, teeth and claws than Alex could imagine on one creature. All the demon's eyes fixated on him and Illyana. Alex's heart began hammering in his chest. Illyana held out her sword threateningly.
"Go back where you came from monster!" She bellowed, white light shooting from her sword.
The demon snarled as the light twisted around him. It struggled against the bonds, but they held fast. Illyana was clearly pouring all her magical strength, but the demon appeared to be winning. Alex grabbed Illyana's shoulder. She was the only one who could seal the portal. She couldn't be caught up fighting one demon, or they would have many more to contend with.
"Illyana! I've got it!" Alex shouted. His hands began to glow with a sudden fierceness. "Do whatever to seal the portal!"
Illyana looked at him, nodded slowly and released the demon. It lunged at her, but Alex blasted it instinctively. While it was distracted Illyana skirted around it and directed her attention to the growing portal.
The demon rounded on Alex, furious. It roared its displeasure. Mortal creature! It snarled, You DARE to attack me? Only the sorceress supreme of Limbo has a chance at defeating my brethren or myself. You are a mere ant- AND I WILL CRUSH YOU!
"Dude, you sound just like every villain in every movie ever made," Alex said. His power shot forth of its own accord, hitting the demon squarely in the chest. It staggered back. Two of its eyes stayed focused on Alex, while the other two observed the spot where he was hit with mild shock.
What power is this? The Demon hissed. His chest was, for lack of a better term, boiling. Steam was pouring from it. You. You manipulate light somehow.
"Part of my powers," Alex said, confidence flowing into him. "What, am I too hot for you?"
The demon shrieked its rage and lunged at him. It was much faster than Alex thought it would be. He just barley dodged it in time. He caught the barest of glances of Illyana sealing the portal as quickly as she could, then turned to face his opponent. The demon's eyes glowed fiercely. All of its arms swiped at Alex at once. He blasted two away from him, but the remaining raked across his chest.
Alex screamed. Though the demon had just barley scratched him it felt like his chest was exploding with fire. The demon, sensing this moment of weakness, charged full force. Alex held out his arms to block the onslaught and his power rushed out, without warning and without mercy. The demon changed direction far too late. The blast engulfed half of its body, making it boil and steam and melt. Two of the arms were lengthening stumps, dripping to the floor. The eyes on one side of its body were steamed shut. The damage he had inflicted on the demon, however, was not Alex's immediate concern. Nor was his own burning wounds. The part of his blast that had missed the demon had scorched the whole basement and knocked Illyana straight into a wall. She lay there unmoving as the portal, only partially sealed, began to expand again.
The demon saw the helpless Illyana and made a beeline for her, wishing to finish her off first. Its injuries slowed it and Alex, who realized its intent, was able to get to her first. The smell of burning demon flesh was almost too much for him to take. Alex held up both hands again. He made sure that the demon was sure to be in the path of his power, along with the portal, and squeezed his eyes shut, willing all his power to go foreword. Illyana stirred just in time to throw her hands over her eyes before red light filled the room.
In the gym everyone paused as the floor shook slightly and a rumble drowned out the music. It only lasted a few seconds, but it left everyone talking for a wile afterwards. Everyone began looking at the Institute folks oddly. Logan began to look suspicious and Ororo waved all the students over to her.
"Is everyone here?" Logan grunted.
"I think so-" Jean began.
"My brother. . . Where's Alex?" Scoot said looking around frantically.
"And Illyana!" Peter said frantically.
Kitty and Tabitha shot surprised looks at each other. Tabitha mouthed 'Do you think they're making out somewhere?' Kitty shrugged.
"Maybe they left early?" She offered.
"Everyone's supposed ta check out with me or 'Ro before they leave," Logan grunted.
"Then where could they be?"
"Dunno."
Scott and Peter looked equally worried. "I vill go look for dhem," Kurt offered.
"We might lose you too elf. If you're goin' anywhere you're takin' me along."
Ororo held up a hand. "We all brought our communicators, did we not? We shall simply call them."
Scott had his out in an instant. "Alex? Alex are you there?" He said into it.
Illyana's head was pounding. The basement has certainly seen better days. There was evaporating demon flesh over everything, most of which had been destroyed by Alex's blast of energy. Alex was passed out on the floor. Illyana saw the portal. It was much smaller than it had been, but it was still there and still a danger. By the looks of it though, Alex's blast had gone through the portal and taken care of most of the nearby demons while frightening the others off long enough. Illyana sealed the portal with a few choice words, and lifted the seal on the door.
She heard a voice behind her and turned, expecting to see Alex getting up, but he wasn't. Illyana walked over to his limp form and heard "Alex are you there? Speak to me bro!" Realizing that it was Scott on his communicator Illyana scrambled for hers.
"Scott? It's Illyana. Alex and I are in the basement. There was a bit of a problem we had to take care of."
Scott's voice came in over the communicator several octaves higher in panic. "What happened to Alex? Is he all right?"
"He's okay, I think. He nearly wiped out the whole basement with his power, so I think he's just drained. Can Kurt get us? I would teleport us out of here but I'm almost as drained as your brother," Illyana said as she began to feel her aches full force. She vaguely remembered being blasted by Alex herself.
"He'll be down in a second. From the sound of it he's going to need to teleport you straight to the infirmary."
"Yeah," Illyana said, laying back against the wall, her sword resting on her lap. "That would be a good idea." Her armor faded and she began to close her eyes. "Take your time. We're not going anywhere."
Several hours later Alex woke up. His head was throbbing with pain, and when he opened his eyes he saw that his hands and lower arms had been bandaged. He rolled over slightly and saw Illyana sleeping.
"Welcome back to the land of the living Alex."
Alex sat up slowly and smiled at his brother weakly. "Nice to see you too bro. Aw, man, it feels like I've had my brain reconstructed. How long have I been out for?"
"Three hours. Just a little longer than Illyana," Scott said. "Though it looks like she's going to beat you now."
Alex nodded. "She's okay, right bro?"
"Yes." Scott looked at his brother, sat down on the edge of the cot and said, "Alex, why didn't you tell me you were having power problems?"
"I- I was too afraid to bro. I mean you've got perfect control and -"
"Perfect control?!" Scott shook his head. "Since when? Have you seen me without my glasses on ever?"
"Oh," Alex murmured. "I guess that makes sense, but dude at least you had, you know, something you could use to stop it. I nearly killed Gambit, remember?"
"Yeah, I do. That isn't the point though. The point is I'm your brother and no matter what happens you should e able to talk to me about it. Promise me that next time you will."
Alex nodded solemnly. "I promise Scott."
"Good," Scott said, ruffling his younger brother's hair. "I'm always lookin' out for you kiddo. Remember that."
Beast came over, adjusting his glasses. "Well, I see you've recovered fairly well." He patted Alex on the head. Alex looked a little sheepish.
"I probably shoulda checked in earlier, huh?"
Beast smiled. "I shouldn't have let you go another week without making sure things were fixed. Be that as it may, I have figured out the problem."
"You have?!" Alex said astonished. "How?!"
"It's actually quite simple. You power is solar based. When you are in sunlight you absorb the energy you need to use your abilities, and then channel it later. Similar to your brother. Theoretically your powers should be equal and cancel each other's out. However," Beast took his glasses off and began wiping them clean, "despite the fact that you know of your abilities you haven't been using them in excess. That is you haven't gone out to practice with them every day, like Scott does."
"My adoptive parents didn't really like the idea of me firing off energy beams outside or inside so I tried to keep it to a minimum," Alex agreed. "I mean if anyone found out it would be rough for all of us."
"True. The problem is, however, that all that energy is building up, and you have no way of directly blocking it, like your brother does. Without letting out a decent amount each day you are becoming 'overloaded' for lack of a better term. You go out, you absorb energy, and then it sits there. Finally you got to the point where you absorbed far too much." Beast slapped his hands together loudly, making Alex and Scott jump. "BAM! It started coming out on its own."
"So all I have to do is let some out?" Alex said, astounded that it could be that simple.
"I've all ready arranged with the professor for you to start having target practice of some sort every day. That way you burn off your excess energy," Beast smiled.
"Dude, that's awesome! Thanks Dr. McCoy. I didn't realize that my problem could be that easy to solve," Alex breathed a sigh of relief.
"I wish everyone's problems were that easy to solve," Beast murmured. His tone and the slight flutter of his eyes were all the boys needed to realize he was talking about Rogue. "I've run just about every test I can," he elaborated, "and I can't figure out why she's deteriorating this way."
"Deteriorating?" Echoed the brothers. "She's gotten worse?" Scott said, with great concern for his friend.
"By the hour," Beast murmured. "I can't hide it any longer. I've got one of the machines processing a DNA sample now. If that doesn't answer some questions, nothing will."
The brothers watched the troubled doctor walk away. Scott and Alex looked at each other dubiously. "What could be wrong with her?" Alex asked.
"I don't know."
"Wrong with who? Me?" Alex and Scott turned to see Illyana sitting up on her cot. "I needed a helluva lot of rest. Sealing a portal that big isn't exactly a walk in the park. Especially after you've been nearly toasted by your own team mate. Which, by the way, I have to thank you for," She nodded towards Alex. "You fried those baddies good. Without you we'd all be dead."
"Though you'd be short a backache," Alex pointed out.
"And a soul," Illyana retorted. "You did good Alex. Thank you."
Alex blushed slightly. "You're welcome."
A day later, everything had been more or less sorted out. Alex and Illyana were back on their feet. The dance had been a success, and if anyone had noticed the ruined Bayville basement there were no comments made about it. Tabitha and Kitty had stopped annoying Alex and Illyana respectively, seeing as Alex and Illyana had been spending a bit more time together anyway. Scott had been on pins and needles since Beast had revealed the truth about Rogue's condition and he'd been waiting for the bombshell to drop all afternoon.
Finally it did.
Xavier called in all the senior students into his office. Kurt, Jean, Scott, Kitty, Peter, Warren and Remy knew it was serious when they saw that Beast, Storm and Logan were all ready there. Storm was trying her best to look impassive, but her eyes betrayed her. Logan's countenance looked as if it had been chiseled into marble, and yet he still looked devastated. Beast and Xavier wore the same expression, though what it was, none of the students could put their fingers on.
When they had all entered the room Ororo used a zephyr to close the door. Xavier straightened up. Logan moved from his spot mechanically and stood behind the students. Beast looked at the professor and they nodded slightly to each other.
"I have called you here because there is something you must know," Xavier said slowly. "We have run several tests on Rogue to diagnose her illness to no avail. A few hours ago our last test finally gave us results." He looked over at Beast.
"As you all know Rogue has been under the influence of the power-suppressing collar for some time now. To suppress a mutant power the collar uses energy to 'turn off' certain parts of a mutants genome," Beast swallowed, tweaked his glasses, and sighed deeply. "Also you all know Rogue's power. She absorbs psyches and abilities. In order to absorb a mutant ability, however, her DNA has to mutate to allow for that power. It always stays altered, thought the altered genes are dormant." He had to place the papers he had been holding down on Xavier's desk. "A tiny part of Rogue's powers allowed her body to accept the altered DNA as her own, normal DNA. Now that her powers are suppressed this is no longer possible. Her immune system is. . . It's. . . It doesn't realize that the altered DNA is Rogue's own. Her own antibodies are fighting to destroy her. She's dying."
The shock hit everyone in an anguished wave. Kitty began crying hysterically, and Kurt numbly wrapped his arms around her, too stunned to grieve himself. Jean couldn't move, and Scott staggered under the weight of the news. Peter and Warren stared at each other, each becoming a lifeline to the other. Remy, however, went white as a sheet. Logan moved forward to grab him in order to make sure he didn't do anything wild, but he simply slid down limply to his knees, whispering "Non. Non."
"It simply comes down to this," Xavier murmured. "We have some time to try and figure out how to get the collar off of her. If we cannot. . . I am going to attempt to preserve her mind in mine, intact, under a sort of stasis. We will then put her body in suspended animation until we can remove the device safely. It is the only way. I wanted you to hear this, together, and know that we are here for you, and know that more than ever Rogue is going to need you and your support. I did not wish to tell the younger students at this point, but it was unfair of us to keep it from you when you may have- very little time left."
Outside, oblivious to the devastating news, Alex walked along, relieved that everything appeared to be heading down a brighter path.
The End
Author's explanation: You may be wondering why this story took so god-awfully long to put up. There was some writer's block involved, yes. There was some laziness involved, yes. The biggest problem, however, was much more evil: Laptop death.
I love my laptop fiercely. I use it all the time. I really started getting pissed off when I thought the AC adapter gave out on me. I got a nice new one and it worked awesome for some time. Then funky things started happening. By the time I was done with finals I knew the problem lay with my laptop, not the adapter. As it turns out the prong that transmitted the power from my ac adapter ti my laptop had broken. It took me forever to get it to a guy to check it out. When it all came down to it I had to buy a new laptop about three weeks before I had to be back at school get most of the brain from my old laptop transferred over, and by that time work had killed all my creative juices. Why? You work an 8 hour shift at customer service during your busiest season of the year and try to be nice to people you just want to smack silly 5 days a week and see how your creative juices fare.
So, though it is much delayed, you have episode 7. I'm sorry if it seems weak. My creative juices were still recovering for most of it. To make it up to you Episode 8 will be that much better. I also have some good news to longtime fans of Season 5. Even when I'm done with Season 5 I DO plan on doing as Season 6. In fact I'm so excited about some of the ideas I've worked out teeny bits of scenes all ready.
Thank you to all the diehard fans, old and new, of season 5. I promise that episode 8 will be up WAY sooner than this one was and it will be much better. I have the whole thing plotted in my mind. Don't worry, the Rogue subplot will be finished one way or another in the next ep. I wouldn't leave you hanging that badly. However the next episode is brotherhood-centered.
Oh, there's also a sick twist that's going to have your head spinning at the end and change life in Bayville for a good long time- at least well into Season 6.
Now that I've whetted you appetite I hope you all stick with me. Even if it seems like this roller coaster has been derailed it's back on track an totally ready to throw you for a loop.
A reminder- you can always check my profile for info on what the current plans for Season 5 are.
Thank you all and again, my apologies on the delay,
Caitlin/ Kare-San
P.S. Forgive me grammar mistakes and the like. I did not proof read this throughly, so if some words are mxed up (b/c they are spelled similar) please forgive me. I wanted to get this up as soon as I was done with it.