I'm sorry. This was just a slow episode for me. The next one isn't looking very good either, because I have no bloody idea how to start it. I'm debating whether it's going to feature Sinister doing evil things to the Morlocks (which is a strong possibility) or if that will roll over to Season 6 (which is going t feature Sinister like nobody's business!). The bad news is, Season 5 is coming to a close within the nest three episodes. The good news is that Season 6 is going to be even better than it's predecessor. Expect to see a whole lot more of the 'New Mutants', and a lot of good old trauma for the older members of the team. Why will you see so much more of the new mutants? That's the question isn't it? Muwahahahahaha!
Oh, I just got a great idea for the next episode! Morlocks are going to wait! Episode ten is going to focus on Wanda and Mystique, and set up for the confrontation between the Hellions and the X-Men! Maybe I'll still hang onto the Morlocks.... No, they'd be better over in season 6. Muwahahahahahah!
I'm done now. If you've read this, you are a good, loyal fan. My notes are always the best indicator of what's going to happen. Like the one at the end of the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. I won't until I'm a millionaire and I can bribe the right people. Ces't la vie.
Love Thy Neighbor
Jonothan Starsmore hid behind the garden wall, panting. He had his chest wrapped up tightly so that no light escaped and his mind was clouded to prevent detection. He could hear his pursuers following him. He was relying almost entirely on instinct, since thinking would cause his powers to activate to a large extant. He was exhausted from running for almost an hour straight. It was hard to outrun Thunderbird! Skin was pretty tough to get past too, since he was like the hero Mr. Fantastic in some ways.
He wasn't worried too much about Skin, or Thunderbird for that matter. It was Jubilee that worried him. She had struggled to break from Emma's hold too hard in her first few weeks. Frost had reacted by shutting down parts of Jubilee's independent thinking. Now Jubilee was practically an avatar of the White Queen.
It was the focus of the White Queen's power on Jubilee that had allowed Jono to stretch her hold on him, to begin to think independently again. Now he knew why the White Queen hadn't pursued the female mutant in Britain she wanted to. Her influence had limits. Her control over Skin, Thunderbird and Jubilee was complete, but she couldn't keep it on all four of them at once.
The footsteps were getting louder now. Jono knew he had to get moving. Someone would figure out that they could use Catseye or Empath to track him via sent or emotion. They probably all ready had. Despite the fact that he was close to passing out, Jono began running again. He had only taken five steps when he heard her.
"JONO!"
Chamber spun around just in time to see Jubilee launch herself off of the garden wall. Jono turned again to start running, but Jubilee landed a few feet in front of him. With Frost in control, Jubilee's physical abilities had advanced. She was some sort of crazy, firework throwing ninja. The idea was amusing, but with Jubilee staring him down, it suddenly took on a very scary meaning.
"I don't want to hurt you Jubes. Just le me pass," Jono said.
"You don't want to hurt me?" Jubilee snorted. "You've betrayed all of us!" She shouted, shooting off her powers.
"How the bloody hell did I betray you? I'm just tryin' t' leave!" Jono dodged her outbursts.
It was obvious that Jubilee didn't understand that rational. "We're a team Jono! You don't just up and leave your teammates!"
"Jubilee you're being controlled by Frost! That's her speaking, not you. What happened to the Jubilee who would stop at nothing to get back to Xavier's? The one who tried to run away after three days here?" They were circling each other now, Jono slowly unwinding his wrappings.
"What happened to the Chamber I knew? The one who was my friend? The one who promised he'd stick by me?"
"I'm still the same bloke!" Jono said desperately. "I've just broken out from Frost's hold. I can help you do it too!"
Jubilee stopped circling. "Ms. Frost is a good woman. She hasn't 'forced' herself on any of us!"
Jono shook his head. "You're saying that because she's brainwashed you. Jubilee, I know you're really in there somewhere so listen to me. I have to get out of here so I can get help for you, Skin, and Thunderbird. You're all Frost's puppets, and she's not going to ever let you go. So, I'm sorry but I have to do this-" Jono fired a gentle blast of telekinetic energy at Jubilee, aiming to knock her over. Jubilee screamed as the blast hit her, and collapsed. Jono, horror struck, rushed to her side. "Jubes? Jubes? What the bloody hell did I do?"
Suddenly Jubilee's arms locked around Jono's head, and she cracked his forehead against her kneecap. Jono managed to pull away from her, but only to get fireworks in the face. Blinded, and with his head throbbing, Jono tried to stagger off, but Jubilee brought both her fists across the back of his neck. Defeated, Jono crumpled as the world went black around him.
A few seconds later Thunderbird, Roulette, and Manuel came tromping onto the scene. Manuel smirked when he saw Jubilee hauling Jono's limp form up. "Well, well, well," he smirked. "Proudstar, why don't you help Jubilee with the traitor?"
The large native America boy gave a tiny half nod and hauled Jono up onto one shoulder. Jubilee dusted off her yellow jacket. "He was trying to feed me some sort of bullshit about Ms. Frost. He must be sick, or something," she said, concern showing on her face. "Maybe someone is controlling his mind?"
"It is possible," Roulette said. "Of course, he could have just been making it all up himself. You never know. I never trusted Starsmore anyway."
"On the contrary, Roulette. Jono's mind has been taken over."
All of the students turned to look at Emma Frost. Manuel and Roulette both seemed quite surprise at her news. "He's being controlled?" Manuel said skeptically.
"Yes," Emma said gravely. She held up Jono's head, then let it drop. "His mind is being controlled by Charles Xavier. I can sense it."
Jubilee looked like she'd been punched. "Professor Xavier? No! He wouldn't do that! Why would he do that?"
Emma looked distressed. "I don't know. . . I'm afraid that Charles might see me as competition. He doesn't want another school for mutants cutting into his monopoly. He wants to keep the mutants of the world under his control, so he can create a 'Brave New World' for himself." Emma paused as she saw Jubilee shake her head. "I know it's hard for you to think of your old teacher in a bad light, but do you remember how dead set you were against staying here? Why do you think that was?"
"No. . ." Jubilee murmured. "He couldn't have been. . ."
"He wants to force peace upon the world, and then be the man behind the scenes, pulling the strings," Emma said, placing a hand upon Jubilee's shoulder. "I try to shield all my students from Xavier's influence, but Jono, being a telepath, has always been hard for me to shield. Obviously, with my protection extended over all of you, I wasn't strong enough to protect Chamber." She bowed her head.
"What can we do?" Jubilee said. "We have to help Jono! We have to stop the Professor!"
"We're not able to stop him now," Emma said. "We can protect Jono from further contamination by placing a neural inhibitor on him. It will cut off his ability to communicate, but it's all I can do at the moment. . ." She looked sadly down at Jubilee.
"There has to be some way-" Jubilee began.
Emma shook her head. "We will start training harder. In a few weeks, perhaps a few months, we will confront Xavier and his students. We will show them no mercy, because they will not show mercy to us," Emma said darkly. "They have all been brainwashed by Xavier. They are his little army now. He has even joined forces with his former foe, Magneto, in order to strengthen his army. Together they will brainwash the masses and conquer those who resist Xavier's hold. We are the only thing standing in their way. We must prevent them from carrying out their plans."
"Yes," Jubilee said quietly. "We have to stop him," she repeated.
"Take Jono back to the house," the White Queen said to Jubilee and Thunderbird. "Skin will meet you inside. He's got the inhibitor ready for you."
Thunderbird and Jubilee began walking off to the house. Roulette and Manuel stayed behind.
"That was some story Ms. Frost," Manuel commented. "So, we're really going to take on Xavier? He's got a lot more people than we do."
"We have an ace in the hole," Emma said, gesturing at Jubilee's back. "She will certainly fight against Xavier's lot with all he strength, but they won't want to hurt her."
Roulette smirked. "They won't know we're coming either. We know their strengths, their weaknesses, and they don't know who we are. The odds aren't in their favor."
-----------------------
"WHAT? Professor, you can't be serious!" Scott exploded. "The brotherhood, coming to live with us? Magneto teaching? Hello, this guy kidnapped us, brainwashed us- his own daughter is still brainwashed. . ."
"Scott, calm down, I'm sure the professor has a good reason for doing this," Jean said, holding onto Scott's arm to prevent him from leaping over the desk.
Elsewhere in the room, the other students were reacting to the news. Some were taking it a little harder than the others.
Rogue looked at Kitty then down at her gloves, which she was playing with. Casually she said, "If Lance had his own room y'all are goin' there t' do anythang. D'ya hea meh?"
"Rogue-! What kind of a girl do you think I am?" Kitty said.
"A good gal datin' a bad boy," Rogue replied.
"Yeah? And what about you and Remy?"
"Hey, we've got complications, remebah?" Rogue held out her hand. "Kinda makes it hard t' do anythang. 'Specially knowin' that a power inhibitor will kill meh."
"Wait- if you could touch him-"
"Ah'd would've made up some sort of signal," Rogue said, totally deadpan.
"Ah, god!" Kitty squealed.
Warren was absolutely fuming. "That maniac is going to teach here? I came here because I didn't want to join his side. Do you know what he did to me in New York? He turned everyone against me, nearly made me kill a little girl. . ."
"Comrade, thinkink on dees too much is no good. Remember, I was on Magneto's side," Colossus said. "He threatened my family eef I did not cooperate weeth him. I agree, is not good man, but not bad man either. He has made deh wrong decisions, and perhaps dees will be first good one, no?"
Warren grumbled something, that sounded like, "Why the sudden change, anyway?" Then was silent.
Gambit could be seen over in the corner, playing with his cards and snickering at the people who were panicking. Kurt was standing next to him. "Vhat are you laughing about?"
"De whole lot of dem, havin' a heart attack. De Brotherhood are just mutants like us. Dey aren't more or less dangerous. Bah, Remy know for a fact dat de whole lot o' dem are really good guys wit' hygiene problems. De only one you haveta worry 'bout is Pyro. He's genuinely crazy."
"And Wanda isn't?" Kurt said, curiously.
"No, she's jus' got one helluva temper," Remy waved it off. "You should know dat. Didn't you talk to her when yo' mother was marble?"
"How did you know about dhat?" Kurt wondered.
Remy smirked. "Rogue an' I did a lot o' talkin' 'bout our parents de first time we were in Nawlins. She was none too happy 'bout what she did, but she t'ought dat if she was given a second chance, she'd probably do it again. Poor girl. Mystique really got her messed up. T'ough, mebbe Rogue's forgiven her. She didn't mention dat Christmas card t' me at all."
Kurt nodded. Then sighed. "I shouldn't have been so. . .closed to her after dhat."
"Don' worry mon ami. I know she forgave you fo' dat a long time ago," Remy clapped him on the back. "If you'll excuse me, I t'ink I'm gonna go pester her." He got up, and sauntered over to Rogue.
Kurt smirked. Remy was trying his best to get over Rogue's brush with death, but he couldn't help but appear by her side every few minutes. It was like he had some sort of homing device, strictly tuned into her. Remy briefly mentioned that was because of his empathy, but Kurt thought it was more of a playful stalking thing. Kurt sighed. He hadn't seen Amanda in a few days now, and she hadn't called. He knew she was busy over the weekend, but he still wanted to see her for a little bit. Vowing to call later, Kurt observed the continuing chaos in the room.
"Magneto?" Bobby exclaimed. "As in cape wearing, helmet toting, "we are the future, bow before us homo inferior," forcing evolution, brainwashing, scary ass powerful Magneto?"
He had made a small ice sculpture with his speech, and every time he mentioned a new aspect the sculpture changed. In the end Magneto was looking much like some sort of vampiric demon with a mustache and uniform that resembled Hitler's.
"Yes popsicle," Tabitha said, poking at the sculpture. "There's only one of him, thankfully."
"Dude, has the professor totally lost it?"
"Hey, in my opinion Magneto's better than Mystique," Tabitha shrugged. "She's a bitch."
"He's a fanatic!"
"I'd rather be taught by a fanatic than a bitch. Bitches are cranky no matter what you do. Fanatics are only cranky if you say something against their point of view."
Bobby and Tabitha argued back and forth on the point for some time, and a few of the other students began to chime in what they thought. Alex looked very apprehensive and Illyana was picking up some of his mood. They both did not want Magneto at the mansion, and you could sense it from a mile away. The fact that every so often Alex could be heard telling Illyana that under no circumstances should she summon a demon of any size in Magneto's room confirmed it.
"I can't believe you'd DO this professor!" Scott was shouting. "The brotherhood are nothing but ruffians and Magneto is an egomaniac who wants to take over the world!"
"Scott, nothing you say is going to change my decision. Erik is a friend of mine. Despite of differences, we have a lot of respect for each other. Also, the Apocalypse incident changed him greatly."
"As it obviously changed you!" Scott exploded. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you-"
Scott continued to speak but nothing came out of his mouth. Scott whirled around and looked accusingly at Jean. She was red with anger. "That is absolutely enough," she said finally. "You're overreacting. You just can't stand the thought of Lance living here again and threatening your 'macho image'. If you're going to act like a fifth grader you know where Bayville Elementary is." Scott looked furious and hurt. Though the rest of the students didn't hear him say anything Jean's expression suddenly changed. "Are you STILL on about that? Scott it's none of your concern! It was the professor's decision, I respect it and you should too. You're having more of a problem with it than I am." She paused again, as Scott was gesturing furiously. "Well, with the way you're acting I'm not sure he should make you team leader."
That caught most everyone's attention. "Scott's officially team leader? Instead of just, you know, assumed team leader?" Tabitha flashed him a thumbs up. "Way to go Slim."
Bobby, in the back, groaned. "Aw man, now we'll never get any rest."
There was scattered laughter. Scott looked slightly embarrassed. Jean released his vocal chords and he calmed down quickly. "I'm not the only one," he said sheepishly.
"Actually, now is a good a time as any to announce the teams," the Professor said. "I was planning on doing it fairly soon." Storm, Logan and Beast, who had been standing behind Xavier's desk stepped forward. "Dr. McCoy and I are home base. We will conduct things from the mansion and on occasion accompany one team or another as we deem necessary. Ms. Munroe," he gestured at Ororo and she stepped up, "Will be the advisor of the Gold Team. Your team leader is Scott and his co-leader is Jean. Gambit, Shadowcat, Boom Boom, Magick, Berserker, Amara, and Iceman are all members of the gold team."
Tabitha and Bobby flashed each other grins and thumbs up. Scott mentally groaned. The professor was clearly trying to give him a migraine. The two of them together was going to take every ounce of Scott's patience- if Remy didn't destroy it all first. Gambit was a wonderful fighter but he wasn't partial to orders. Scott did notice that besides he and Jean everyone who had some sort of romantic relationship was split up. He and Alex, and Colossus and Illyana were also on separate teams. That was probably for the best.
"The Blue team," Xavier began, "Consists of everyone I have not mentioned: Angel, Colossus, Cannonball, Sunspot, Havoc, Multiple man, Nightcrawler and Rogue," he gestured at Logan. "Logan is the team advisor and Rogue is team leader, co-leader being Kurt."
Both Kurt and Rogue looked thunderstruck, Rogue slightly more so. Remy was slapping her on the back and congratulating her, but Rogue looked more like she had just been handed a ticking time bomb. Kitty looked slightly disappointed. That is, until Xavier made his next statement.
"Kitty will also be acting as the home base's special liaison to both teams. Occasionally she will join the Blue team on missions, depending on what we require."
"Woo hoo!" Kitty said, enthusiastically. Kurt congratulated her, and after a nudge from Remy, Rogue did too. She still looked dazed.
Charles paused for a second, touching his right hand to his temple. Then he nodded to Ororo. Ororo nodded back, and walked to the door. "X-Men, please welcome your new classmates."
Ororo opened the door, and the ragtag Brotherhood glanced into the room. Magneto, dressed crisply in a suit and tie walked over to the Professor and shook his hand.
"He's scarier in the suit," Bobby intoned.
The Brotherhood entered slowly. Blob was carrying most of the luggage and Toad, who was resting on one of his shoulders. Lance was carrying his own stuff, which he almost dropped as he tried to give an awkward thumbs-up to Kitty. Pietro was looking smug and sneered at Scott. Jean could see a slight twitch in Scott's hand, and promptly latched onto it. Pyro was looking around the room, sizing it up. He occasionally made a comment like "The woodwork's nice, but how does it holdup to heat?" Wanda was clutching one medium sized suitcase, and frowning. It looked like this was almost the last place she wanted to be. Kurt noticed that after her initial glance around the room her gaze dropped. Rogue looked at him, then Gambit and gave them both quick nods. Kurt raised an eyebrow, but when Rogue and Gambit broke form the circle of mansion students along the walls, he began to understand and followed them.
Rogue held out her hand to Pietro. "Seems like Ah jus' beat y'all t' th' inevitable," Rogue said with a shrug. "Welcome t' the Xavier Institute."
Pietro eyed her hand to make sure that it was gloved than shook it. "If St. John hadn't torched the boarding house. . ." He began, shooting a dirty look at Pyro. Then he sighed. "Well, maybe it's better to have a united front anyway."
Remy was all ready having a full blown conversation with Lance. "So, mon ami," he said slapping Lance on the back, "if you get your own room, den you an' Kitty can use it an' Rogue an' I c'n keep de other one, right?"
"Remy!" Rogue snapped.
Lance chuckled. "Yeah, sure," he smirked. "That prevents me from worrying about what would happen if Rogue walked in on us."
Kurt found himself walking towards Wanda. "I could take dhat for you," he reached out to take her bag. Wanda snatched it back.
"It's fine. I'll take care of it," she muttered.
"You're sure-" Kurt began.
"I'm fine. Go play with Pyro," Wanda said irritably.
Magneto turned to face the student body. "I know that in the past we have had our differences. I have made mistakes, and now I will try to make amends for them." He paused. Scott and Warren were mumbling to each other. Magneto took this in stride. He had been expecting it after all. "I don't expect that the adjustment to this new situation will be easy, but the Brotherhood and X-Men have worked together before- most admirably- and I expect that we can do it again. Living together will be a new and. . . interesting challenge."
"We're gonna t' kill each other," Sam murmured to Alex. "Scott's ready t' blow Magneto away right now."
"I'm so tempted to open a portal under his feet," Illyana began, "but I wouldn't wish the wrath of demons on anyone. Not even him." She glanced over at Alex. "You had 'fun' time with him. How are you dealing with this?"
Alex laughed. "I'm using up a lot of willpower. The Brotherhood did help us against Apocalypse," Alex admitted begrudgingly. "I don't like the idea of Magneto teaching though."
Magneto continued, whether he was listening to the X-men's comments or not. "Pietro and Lance will co-lead the Brotherhood in drills," he added. "And I'd like to thank Rogue, Remy and Kurt for their efforts to mingle. Despite the reactions of some members of the Brotherhood," he frowned briefly at Wanda, "it is appreciated."
Rogue shrugged and said nothing, Remy flashed a thumbs up at Magneto, and Kurt smiled weakly, glancing back at Wanda curiously. Wanda gave him a steely look and Kurt looked away. Xavier interrupted any further conversation.
"I will show you to your rooms personally, with Erik and Ororo. You'll find that here you have considerable more responsibilities than at the Boarding House, but many more privileges as well. Still," Xavier folded his fingers together, "St. John, I'm going to have to ask you to leave your equipment with Logan. He will put it with your uniform."
"What? You've got to be jokin'!" Pyro exploded.
"Considering what happened at the Boarding House," Magneto said darkly, "find yourself fortunate that I did not melt it down into useless scrap metal instead."
Pyro scowled, took his backpack off, and gave it to Logan, grumbling the whole time. Magneto smiled smugly, and Xavier nodded. "Well, then, everyone's dismissed. We'll show you to your rooms and then you're allowed to do what you will. Your first Danger Room session is tonight at eight-thirty. Members of the Senior class of X-Men- you will also be required to attend." Scott rolled his eyes, then winced as Jean gave him a mental flick.
Rogue, The professor's voice sounded in her head as he gathered the Brotherhood to him. Thank you. Your performance today doubly assures me that I made the right choice in making you team leader.
Yeah. . . about that- Rogue began.
I have my reasons Rogue. Trust me.
Rogue gave off a feeling of uncertainty, but let it lie at that. All Ah did was talk t' Pietro.
You opened communications. Which is more than I can say for other team leaders. . . Xavier said wryly.
Ah lived with them, an' if it wasn't fah them Ah mighta died. 'Sides, Kitty an' Lance are datin'. Ah'm used t' them. It wasn't a stretch on mah part.
Xavier sighed, then chuckled and said no more.
------------------------
Oh bloody fucking hell.
Jono woke up with the inhibitor on him and the worst headache of his young life. He looked around and recognized the area as the containment facility that Ms. Frost had built into the school. It was a small cell, with concrete and metal walls that were at least two feet thick. Getting up, he walked over to what appeared to be some sort of green force field covering the only way in. He gingerly touched it with one finger. The field surged, encompassing him and zapping him with some sort of electrical power.
AH! FUCK! He mentally screamed. His chest heaved and knocked him away backwards. Jono fell to his knees, gasping. Gotta get help. He reached out with his mental powers and- nothing. Frantic, Jono reached out again, then a third time. He couldn't feel any minds around him at all. This is NOT happening.
Jono then realized there was something attached to his head. He touched it very cautiously, then tried to pry it off. It was some sort of neural inhibitor, but no matter what he tried- physical force, telekinesis or a combination of the two- it would not come off.
"Take it easy Jono."
It was at that point in time that Jono realized that there was someone else down in the containment area. Jubilee was sitting along the wall across from his cell. Jubes! You've gotta get me out of here! He mentally shouted. Then he smacked himself. She can't here me because o' this ruddy thing! He pried at the inhibitor once more.
"Stop doing that! You're only going to hurt yourself!" Jubilee said, concerned.
You're bloody brainwashed. Do you honestly think I'm going to listen to you? Jono retorted. Oh that's right, I've become a mute. He pointed to his eye. I'M he thought loudly. He shook his head 'no' and waved his arms in a 'no way' sort of move. NOT.He pointed to his ear. LISTENING. He pointed at her. TO YOU.
"Jono, I'm only looking out for your safety," Jubilee said, getting the gist of what he was trying to say.
He shook his head violently, pointed at her, tapped his head, then made the 'crazy' sign by twirling his right pointer finger and pointing to her with his left. Jubilee raised an eyebrow.
Jubilee got up and walked to the very front of the force field she almost put her hands on it but Jono's frantic waving made her stop. "You've been brainwashed by Xavier. Ms. Frost is going to fix you up, don't you worry. We're going to stop the professor from doing this ever again."
Jono began knocking his head against the wall.
"You don't have to feel stupid! Professor Xavier is a powerful telepath. I'm not sure even Ms. Frost can stand up to him."
Jono, suddenly figuring out a good way to communicate, used his powers to burn letters into the wall. When he was done he stepped aside and Jubilee read what he had written:
I hope he fries her brain like bacon.
Startled at the violent thoughts of her friend, Jubilee stepped backwards. The neural inhibitor was supposed to be blocking out Xavier's influence. Jono scribbled something more on the wall, and that made Jubilee even more nervous.
Frost has brainwashed you, Skin and Thunderbird and is going to use you to destroy Xavier and the X-Men. Are you really going to betray your friends like that? All you have is Ms. Frost's words to go on and since when has she been straight with you?
The Asian girl looked even more startled by this. She opened her mouth to say something but her eyes glazed over and she walked stiffly out of the room. Jono cursed mentally, sparks flying from his chest. He knew what that meant.
"You really shouldn't try that sort of thing, dear. It just makes me mad."
Well la-di-dah, Jono thought rolling his eyes.
Frost smiled at him. Just because you can't talk telepathically doesn't mean I can't hear you.
Jono thought nothing, but made a rude British gesture with his hands.
"Temper, temper," his former teacher scolded. "That just might get you hurt." She slapped him mentally and he reeled backwards. "Now be a good boy and cooperate or there will be more where that came from." She turned on her heels and left the room with a click-click-clicking noise.
Jono sat dejectedly in the corner of his cell and buried his face in his hands. It was hopeless. He couldn't call for help, the cell was keeping his powers somewhat suppressed so he couldn't just break through the walls, and his inhibitor prevented all but the most rudimentary of communication. Not that it helps me in Frost's little Borg school. . . He thought miserably.
He needed a way out and he needed it fast.
--------------------------
Wanda was a bit shocked by the sheer size of the rooms at Xavier's. She had been given her own room, due to the volatile nature of her powers. Someone had clearly set up the rooms in advance. There was a black meditation mat in one corner, the curtains were dark and would filter out most of the light when needed and the light was an adjustable one. There was also a night stand nearly identical to the one she had in the Brotherhood house. On it was a little note from Xavier and the staff, welcoming her to the mansion. Wanda dropped her bags in the room, shoved the note in the night stand drawer and started unpacking.
Down the hallway, Blob and Toad were examining their new room.
"Yo! We got a balcony!" Toad said eagerly. He looked down and whistled. "That's pretty far. I wonder if I could jump down there and back. Whadda you think?"
Blob was more focused on examining the stability of the king-sized bed that had been put in the room for his convenience. His last bed frame had broken the first night he had slept on it. He sat down, testing his weight. The mattress buckled, but the steel and concrete bed frame didn't. "That is cool!" He said with a stupid grin.
"Yeah?" Toad said, still looking out the window. "I think I'll go for it then."
Blob looked up, confused. "Huh?"
Toad had already launched himself out of the window with a loud "Yaaaaaa!"
"What the fuck?" Blob said loudly. He looked at the widow, dumbfounded. There was a loud crash and Blob waddled over as fast as he could. "Toad?"
In a nearby tree, in a position that was impossible for any normal human, Toad was stuck in the branches. His tongue was tangled up in the tree and he glared at Blob. "Hanks ha hlot hahsshole."
Blob snickered.
"Whatthehellareyoudoing?" Blob looked to his right and saw Pietro sticking his head out the window. The speed demon looked less than happy to see Toad caught in the tree. "Are you trying to make us all look like a bunch of idiots? Or are you just accidentally an expert on it?"
Toad didn't want to bother with trying to talk, so he just weakly flipped bird.
Pietro scowled. Slamming the doors to his balcony her walked back into his room and looked it over. It had taken him just moments to unpack, once he had decided to. He had taken a couple of trips around the mansion first and a catnap. Everything seemed fairly cozy, so he decided to head downstairs to get some lunch. "Unpacking is hard work," he explained to himself.
He whizzed past St. John, who had basically thrown his stuff all around his room and decided that he too wanted to get something to eat. "'Ey! Watchit!" Pyro shouted as Pietro clipped him on the shoulder. "Bloody idjit," he grumbled.
Pietro also shot by Rogue, who was heading to her room after finally recovering from shock. When Quicksilver passed a statuette on Rogue's side of the hall began teetering dangerously, then started to fall. Rogue dove, caught it, then placed it back on it's pedestal. "HEY! No destructive powahas in th' house Pietro!" She shouted, hoping he was still in earshot. Rogue shook her head. "This is gonna be so goddamn hard to adjust to."
Rogue pushed open the door to her room. She was shaking her head and looking at her boots when she noticed a pair of paints on the floor that didn't belong to her and looked way too big for Kitty. There was a muffled squeak and Rogue looked up.
"Y'all have GOT t' beh shittin' meh!" Rogue exploded. A startled Lance had Kitty pinned to the wall. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, and her shirt had been discarded somewhere. Lance was in only his boxers. He and Kitty were both still locking-lips, though now they both had a deer-in-the-headlights sort of expression on. "Did Ah not tell y'all t' use his room?"
"Rogue? Is something the matter?"
All of the occupants of the room froze when they heard Hank's voice. Rogue reacted first. She slammed the door, locked it, and kicked Lance's stuff under Kitty's bed. "Closet. NOW." She ordered. Kitty obeyed using her phasing powers without a second thought. Rogue pulled off her see-through green over-shirt and tossed it over the other side of her bed, kicking her shoes and socks off in the same motion. She then pulled the straps of her tank top down past her shoulders and grabbed her personal towel, wrapping it around her body. She had just finished when Hank knocked on the door.
"Rogue? Is everything all right in there?"
Rogue, clutching the towel, clicked open the door and opened it slowly and slightly. "Yeah. Ah'm just gettin' ready t' take a showah," she grumbled. "Ah need it t' calm mah nerves. Why in hell did Xavier make meh a team captain?" Rogue demanded.
Beast smiled. "It might seem a bit overwhelming now, but I'm sure you'll rise to the challenge. You're a good kid Rogue." He then looked a little sheepish and glanced over her attire- or apparent lack thereof. "I suppose I should leave you alone. . . Oh! We're going to have a big barbecue tomorrow to celebrate the new union of the two teams. Would you like to help me go shopping? Remy said you might."
"Sure Hank," she said without thinking, then regretted it. She really didn't want to go anywhere tomorrow. "What time?"
"I was thinking about ten we'd head out. We've gotta get a lot of food," he chuckled.
Rogue echoed the laugh. "Great. Tomorrow. Ten. Sounds wonderful. Now, Ah really do wanna take mah showah. . ."
Hank nodded and within a few seconds he was off. Rogue shut the door and Kitty poked her head out of the closet.
"Is he gone?"
"Yes he's gone!" Rogue shouted. "It's not him you should be worried about though!" She threw down her towel. "Ah'm gonna beat you six ways 'till Sund'y!"
Kitty yelped in fear and disappeared back into the closet. Rogue stormed over and pounded on it.
"Alvers, get yah clothes and get yah sorry ass outta mah room!"
"But Rogue. . ."
"But Rogue nothin'!" The southerner snapped. "Ah may haveta go take a showah now t' covah up fah y'all but Ah'm sure as hell not comin' back into a room that smells like sex between you two! OUT!"
Lance opened the closet door and collected his stuff. He put all of his clothes back on a bit awkwardly. While Rogue stared him down he left the room. "Thanks for covering for us," he said as he stepped out of the door.
Rogue slammed it in his face.
"Now," Rogue rounded on the closet, "as fah you." She threw the door open.
The closet was empty. It looked like Kitty had taken a shirt off a hanger, put it on and left. Rogue had her suspicions as to where Kitty might be headed.
"Ah. Need. Mah. Own. Room." She picked up her shower stuff, put on her robe and stalked off into the bathroom. She was certainly wanted that shower now.
-------------------
"Scott, you need to settle down." Jean's soft tones hardly cut through the young man's temper. "Look, if Rogue can make an effort to get along with them that you can too-"
"Rogue was one of them! Of course she can get along with them! She lived with them before!"
"Scott-"
"Of course she had to go and make me look like a jerk by acting all friendly-"
Mr. Summers, you will shut your mouth right now or so help me god I'll give you nightmares for years to come, Jean snapped, mentally slapping him. Do you have any idea what you're saying?
Scott began to protest back mentally. It's not fair that Rogue gets a higher place than you. You have more experience and Rogue's not nearly as levelheaded in a battle. You should have been the other team leader. Xavier's gone totally off his rocker! He's letting our enemies into the house-
Scott Summers, I never thought I'd see the day when your childish anger overrode your common sense, but clearly I underestimated you. With all that's going on do you think it's SAFE for the Brotherhood to be out on their own? Kelley's getting more and more support behind him and people have been up in arms since the whole Apocalypse thing. Jean said with a huff. If you can't get over your little spats with a couple of kids that have had it rougher than you have, then you're not who I thought you were- you're just like the Brotherhood boys. Scott stopped, his pride hurt. Jean continued walking, not missing a beat.
"Jean! Jean, wait!"
He rushed down the hall after her, much to the amusement of Pyro. He was walking out of the kitchen, munching on a sandwich that looked slightly charred. "Someone's sleepin' alone tonight," he chuckled deeply. He heard a disgusted snort from behind him and smiled. "Sheila," his grin widened as he beheld Wanda walking towards him, "'ow d'ya like our new accommodations?"
"I'd like them better if they didn't include you," she snapped firmly. A blue light engulfed his sandwich. The fillings shot out and splattered all over the front of Pyro's shirt.
"'Ey now! That's not fair!" He scowled. Pulling a lighter he carried around for emergencies- and other things- he flicked his thumb. A small flame sprang up. That was all he needed. Pyro created a small flaming ball and-
"Just vhat do you think you're doing?" Kurt demanded as he teleported down from the top of the stairs. Pyro scowled and made the ball of flames dissipate. Kurt growled at him, "Dhat's how you burned down dhe Boarding house. I doubt Xavier and Magneto will let it go so easily if you burn down dhe mansion too."
"Bah, you're just worried I'd singe your pretty blue fur," Pyro chortled. "Xavier's got a regular circus 'ere. All sorts of sideshow freaks-"
There was a near explosion of blue light and Pyro slammed into the wall behind him. Wanda looked surprised at herself. Kurt was in a state akin to shock. Pyro, now wearing his sandwich instead of eating it, looked a bit scared. He shuffled off without another word, leaving Kurt to stare at Wanda.
"What?" Wanda snarled. "I wanted him to go away." She stalked into the kitchen, just wishing Kurt would teleport away.
"Dhat was a little extreme for 'vanting him to go avay." Kurt said, having no intentions of leaving. He had always been somewhat fascinated with Wanda in a way. She wasn't like any other member of the Brotherhood, brainwashed or not.
Wanda rolled her eyes. "Who are you, my mother? Look, Pyro doesn't understand a word you say unless you beat it into him," she grumbled. "He's an asshole and I don't know why my father puts up with his total bullshit." She opened the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water, and slammed the door shut. "You better start fireproofing the whole damn mansion." After taking a long swig she relaxed somewhat, then stormed towards the back door.
Kurt bounced on his heels. He was waiting for a phone call from Amanda. Since they were still dating without her parent's permission he wasn't allowed to call the house. Kurt checked the clock. Amanda always called him at 12:15 every other day when they had off. That way her parents weren't too suspicious. However, there had been total silence for a few weekends in a row now. Kurt had tried to seek her out in school, but they had conflicting schedules. He was beginning to worry. He'd ask one of the others to call for him, but her parents were fully aware that any calls from the Xavier Institute were from mutants, and they had caller ID. It wasn't worth the risk. Kurt looked up at the clock. He'd be going from phone to phone for nearly twenty minutes now. Amanda had always been prompt in the past. Kurt decided that he might as well give up- and chasing after Wanda was as good a pastime as any.
"Hey, vhy are you so grumpy?" Kurt asked as he trotted behind Wanda. She was all but jogging to an isolated area outdoors.
"I don't like it when people harass me!" She retorted without looking back.
"I'm not harassing you," Kurt said, offended. "I vas trying to help you back dhere! Vhy are you so hostile towards me all of a sudden? I thought dhat you and I got along fairly well!"
Wanda grumbled, "Well, isn't that wonderful?" She was startled when a cloud of smoke and an irked blue demon appeared before her.
"Vhat is going on vith you?" Kurt demanded. "You're acting like your brother! He's dhe one who von't give us the time of day. You've helped me and my mother, and you wanted to help us vith Apocalypse. Vhether you like it or not, ve're teammates now, and teammates talk to each other vhen dhey have problems!"
Wanda glared daggers at him, her hands lighting up. "You can't help me with my problems."
"And vhy not?"
"Because no one can!" Wanda snapped. "Honestly, do you think you could help me with this-?" She held up her glowing hands and the ground rippled beneath their feet. "Or maybe you think you can stop all the nightmares I've been having?"
"Nightmares?" Kurt said, his voice jumping up a few octaves. "About what?"
"Nonsense," she mumbled. "Just scary shit that's all in my fucked up head."
"Like?"
"I don't have to tell you anything!" Wanda snapped. Kurt glanced down at her right hand, which she was squeezing the water bottle in so tightly her knuckles were white. She scowled at him, moved the water bottle to her other hand, and then proceeded to push past him.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "God, she's just like Rogue when she first moved in," he mumbled to himself. "I'll be around if you need to talk!" He shouted after her, then teleported back to the kitchen. When he got there, Bobby was handing Tabitha a soda, freshly chilled. Bobby jumped slightly at Kurt's entrance, but Tabitha, unfazed by loud noises, just smiled at him.
"What's up Blue?" She asked.
"Did Amanda happen to call?" Kurt asked hopefully.
Bobby shook his head. "Sorry man, I haven't heard anything."
Kurt looked at Tabitha, who shrugged. "Last I heard she was grounded big-time."
Kurt was surprised by this news. "Grounded?"
"Yeah," Tabitha counted on her fingers, "It's been almost a month now. She's not allowed to use the phone, no going out on weekends- nothing."
Kurt's ears and tail drooped. "Oh no. Dhey must have found out dhat ve vere still dating!" He smacked his forehead, "Aw man! Dhey're going to be even more pissed off about it now because ve vere keeping it a secret!"
"C'est la vie," Tabitha said, chugging her soda. "I can always give her tips on how to sneak out."
"No dhanks Tabitha. De last thing she needs is to get them even more furious," he moaned. "Dhis sucks!"
"I agree," Scott grumbled, pulling up a chair and sitting down. He looked dejected.
"Your girlfriend grounded too?" Bobby chimed in.
"More like grounding me," Scott said. "I have never been so razed by anyone in all my life."
"And Jean can do it both verbally and mentally. Quite a double whammy for you I imagine, eh Shades?" Tabitha said. She and Bobby exchanged smiles.
Scott made a groaning sound and plunged his head into the grain of the table. Kurt sat down next to him. Blob walked into the kitchen, took one look at the state of the occupants and frowned.
"Well, this is depressing. Does the food stink that much here?" He waddled over to the fridge, opened it, and his eyes lit up like a child's at Christmas. "Wow! That's a nice spread!" He began hauling armfuls of food out of the fridge.
Tabitha nudged Bobby. "And that, my friend," she said, pointing at Blob with her coke bottle, "is the Mansion's grocery bill quadrupling in price before our eyes."
"Leave some for me, yo!" Toad said. He hopped right onto the table, then up onto Blob's shoulders. "Ooh! They're got that fancy mineral water!"
Scott looked up at the two brotherhood boys, but all he could find to say was, "Logan will hunt you down if he doesn't get dinner."
Blob and Toad paused, and Blob slowly put back about a third of the stuff he had taken out. Blob spread the rest out on the table, licked his lips and looked at Kurt and Scott. "Want a sandwich?" He offered.
The two X-Men glanced at each other for a moment then nodded at Blob.
--------------------------------
Jono had paced back and forth in his cell so many times he was sure he should have worn out a hole in the floor. He's tried doing that with his telekinesis- digging a hole out of the cell that is- but to no avail. The cell was quite effectively, breakout proof. He slid to the floor, one again trying to pry the inhibitor from his head, but to no avail. Why won't this stupid bloody thing just come off! He shrieked to himself silently. His chest heaved, throwing a shower of golden sparks out into the air around him. If my powers weren't dampened I might be able to rip this off, but not in this state. He shook his head, and held it in his hands.
Then the idea hit him with the force of a cannon. He suppressed the thought immediately, winding it with other, faulty ideas of escape. The plan he was cooking up, he knew, would depend on two things. One, on Frost's inability to control the fundamental instincts of the people she held control over, and two- Frost NOT reading his mind and finding out what he was up to. Once Jono had everything sorted out he was finally able to lay down and get some rest. Hopefully help would be coming soon.
-----------------------------------
At eight-thirty sharp the senior members of the X-Men team stood lined up outside the Danger Room. Scott and Jean were on opposite sides of the line. Kitty was next to Scott, shying away from her roommate, who was down by Jean. Kurt was relaying his problems to Rogue, who look less and less interested as he continued, though Remy, behind him, was quite amused at Nightcrawler's distress. Colossus was standing at attention, next to Kitty, though he glanced at her every now and then, concerned about how jittery she seemed. Warren, sandwiched between Colossus and Remy, noticed this and rolled his eyes.
Pietro, obviously, was the first member of the Brotherhood to get to the Danger room. He was followed by Toad, then Lance, the slow but steady Blob, Wanda and then Pyro. He came swaggering in with a bold step, as he had been reunited with his dangerous backpack. He slapped his hands together. "Time for some fireworks, eh?" He grinned at his comrades. None of them responded. He shrugged it off, and proceeded to make little sculptures out of fire until Magneto and Xavier showed up.
"St. John, you are not to use that infernal device until you are in the Danger Room," Magneto barked. "Do I make myself clear?"
Pyro swallowed and made the fire fade away. "Yes sir," he said guiltily. The other Brotherhood boys smirked.
Xavier wheeled to the Danger Room door. "Today's exercise will test the new team leaders that have been put into place. Rogue, Scott, you will be directing the actions of the X-Men. Pietro, Lance, you will be directing the Brotherhood. The environment we have decided upon is a varied forest area, with several clearings, ideal for ranged and close combat. As the teams are slightly uneven, Kitty will be acting as a member of the Brotherhood in this particular scenario." Xavier turned to Kitty. "I trust that you have no complaints against this?"
Kitty shook her head and walked over to the other side of the room. She positioned herself between Lance and Blob. She looked at Rogue for the first time since earlier, but Rogue didn't seem too concerned with her. Rogue was actually looking over each member of the brotherhood and mouthing things to herself. Kitty was confused by this at first, but she quickly realized that Rogue was all ready trying to figure out what the team should do in the Danger Room.
"The name of the game is capture the flag," Magneto said. Logan seemed put out by this. He probably had wanted a head on head battle. "Each team has a flag. The X-men's flag is red, the Brotherhood's flag is blue. You are only allowed to have one person guarding the flag at any given time. There is also tagging involved in this game. Logan, Xavier, and I will judge who has 'tagged' a person fairly- it is a test of power against power. For example," Magneto hid a smile, "Pietro could not shoot across the field, tag all of the X-Men, and then just waltz in and take the flag while they watched from the sidelines."
Pietro scowled.
"And," Logan grunted, "while you're holdin' the flag you ain't allowed to use your powers to get it back home. This especially counts for Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, Toad, Warren and Shadowcat. Removin' the flag using special powers also does not count," he added for clarification. He nodded at Jean and Wanda so they knew who he meant.
"Ultimately, we will be the judges," Xavier said. "Remember that we are watching everything that you're doing." He opened the door to the Danger room. "You have five minutes to get your bearings. The green ground indicates no-man's-land, where anyone can tag an opposing team member if they best them using their powers. Red ground indicates the X-Men area, where only X-Men can tag, and blue ground indicates the Brotherhood area, where the same rule applies in reverse." He wheeled away from the entrance. "Good luck," he said.
The X-Men and Brotherhood filed in, splitting off into two groups. As soon as the X-Men were set up Scott looked at Kurt. "You guard the flag while we sort out our plan of attack."
"Aye, aye, fearless leader!" Kurt said, saluting then teleporting away.
"Okay guys," Scott looked determined. "We've got a couple of priority tags on the other team. Avalanche, Quicksilver, Pyro, Scarlet Witch- all of them are major threats." Scott folded his arms. "We need to take them down fast and first."
Jean glanced at Rogue, and noted that the girl looked uncertain. The others were listening intently to Scott, who continued.
"Colossus- I think you're the best suited to take care of Avalanche. Anything he can throw at you, you can bounce back from," Scott said. Rogue nodded at this. "Gambit, I think Pietro should be your target. You've probably spent more time with him than any of us, and I think a few well place explosions will slow him down."
"Wait, Scott," Rogue said. "Ah don' think you've got this sorted out right." Scott raised an eyebrow at her. "Quicksilver's not a big problem- if he grabs the flag, he ain't allow to run no more. He's not gonna risk that. Th' boy can't slow up for five seconds."
Scott pondered this for a few minutes. "That makes sense. Still I think Remy would be the best person to take care of him-" Rogue shook her head. "What?" Scott said, frowning.
"Toad."
Warren snorted. "Toad? What about him?"
"This environment is ideal for his powers. Remy's got the best aim, good agility, and the intimidation factor against Toad." Rogue pointed out.
"Toad's intimidated by all of us," Scott pointed out.
"Not really. He's intimidated by the X-Men as a team, but individually he'd take any of us on- except Remy. Gambit was one of Magneto's elite, therefore he was on Toad's side, but a LOT higher up."
"Toad did try to take me out in order to earn his place at Asteroid M, and he wasn't frightened at all to be facing me," Jean added.
"Okay! Fine. Gambit can take care of Toad," Scott shook his head. "But we still have to deal with Pyro and Wanda."
Rogue turned to Warren and pulled out some throwing stars, "Can you air deliver me over Pyro? Once we sever his pipelines he can't use his flame throwing power, that takes him out of the game."
"I'm impressed Rogue," Scott said, smiling. "That's a good idea. What about Wanda?"
Rogue let out a short laugh. "Don't piss her off."
"Dat's a good idea," Gambit mused.
Jean smiled slightly at Rogue. "So, that leaves Blob?"
"Ah think they're going to have him or Avalanche guardin' th' flag," Rogue said. "Makes sense, right?"
"Yeah," Scott agreed. "But you never know. When you and Warren take to the air, try to scout out as much as you can. Oh- what about Kitty?"
"So long as we watch our flag, I don't think Kitty's going to be a threat. She can't use intangibility to run away with the flag," Jean said, "but she can use it to steal the flag."
"Right. Everyone pretty much knows what they're doing then?" Scott asked. "Jean, I think you should switch with Nightcrawler guarding the flag. Nightcrawler can target Quicksilver, and I'll focus on Blob."
Almost as soon as they had finished Xavier's voice came over the intercom. "Times up! Everyone take your positions- and Go!"
------------
It was about fifteen minutes into the game, and Avalanche and Kitty were panting for breath. They had spent the last three minutes trying to escape Colossus. "Jesus! He was never that fierce a fighter when he worked for Magneto!" Lance gasped. They were trying to escape the Red territory and retreat back into their safe Blue ground.
"Maybe because he didn't want to fight for him!" Kitty replied. A tree went sailing overhead. Kitty yelped, grabbed Lance and pulled him down through the ground. They emerged just on the outskirts of a battle between Rogue and Wanda in the middle of No-man's-land. Warren lay on the ground, unconscious. He had been called out several minutes earlier. He was the third person out- Pyro and Toad had been the first two. Rogue was hopping all over the place, having borrowed Toad's powers. She was skillfully avoiding bending trees, grabby grass, and random explosions.
"Gambit is out!" Logan's voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Shit!" Rogue swore, but whether it was over Gambit or the most recent explosion by her feet, Kitty wasn't sure.
Lance stood up. Summoning his powers Lance threw the ground where Rogue was just about to land. Kitty watched in awe as Rogue touched ground for only a moment, then was thrown up by the ground she had sought after. Rouge landed hard on her right arm.
"Ah! Ah god!" She shrieked. She grabbed her arm and cried out in anguish.
"Rogue!" Kitty said, totally forgetting which side she was supposed to be on. Lance tried to grab her arm and hold her back, but Kitty phased through his arm to rush over to her roommate's side. "Are you okay-?"
Rogue's hands moved in a blur. Kitty was too stunned to do anything about it. She felt the drain of energy and the world suddenly drained of color.
"Rogue you little bitch-" Lance shouted, half furious, half impressed. Logan announced that Kitty was out. Rogue smirked. They faced off, but a sound behind Rogue made her turn. A large, tree branch twisted and knocked her off her feet. Wanda loomed over her. Rogue put up her hands- then melted into the ground.
"What the- damnit!" Lance shouted. "Kitty's powers. Shit."
Wanda frowned. "We're down to four. "
"Colossus is out!" Magneto's voice echoed.
"I wonder who did that," Lance mused. "That leaves four on both sides." With a gush of wind, Pietro was standing by their sides. "Blob! Blob! BlobnotonlytookdownColossus, but he's gottheflag- and nothing can stop him!"
"What are we waiting here for?" Lance said, "Let's give him backup!"
--------
Over on the X-men's side things were chaotic. Cyclops was running after Blob, firing a nonstop barrage of optic blasts at him. Kurt was teleporting every ten feet or so, trying to wrestle the flag from Blob's grasp. Jean was floating about, trying to pry it away from him using telekinesis. Blob was having the time of his life.
"What? Can't take one little flag away from the Blob?" He laughed loudly. Then he yelped.
"What, you ain't never seen a head pop out of the ground?" Rogue said as she slid up into view. Blob, instead of trying to go around her, just proceeded to charge at her. Rogue, unprepared for this response, was frozen to the spot, but Kurt teleported her out of harms way at the last second.
Suddenly Wanda, Lance and Pietro came running- Pietro in the lead, of course. "Now what?" Cyclops yelled, as he pointed to them. Rogue looked around wildly.
"Hold 'em off!" She shouted. Rogue said something to Kurt and he vanished. Rogue hopped over the Brotherhood's heads and stayed there in an attack ready position. Blob slowed, realizing that they were at the final confrontation. It was no-man's-land, and anyone could be called out.
Jean and Wanda concentrated on one another. Rogue, using Kitty's powers, began harassing both Avalanche and Quicksilver. She would fight them hand to hand, and any time they tried to counter she would hop away or phase. Cyclops was doing his best to avoid Blob's blows while trying to get an edge.
About five minutes into the fight it was clear that Rogue's extra abilities were fading. Jean had been overpowered by Wanda, and Pietro had fallen to Rogue, but as the two team leaders stood back to back, they were clearly at a disadvantage.
"Well, looks like we've got you," Blob said proudly. Rogue and Cyclops looked grim. Blue energy collected around Wanda's hands, and just as she was about to throw it Xavier's voice boomed overhead.
"The X-Men win!"
"What?!" exclaimed Lance. "How the fuck did they win?" He threw his arms out towards Scott and Rogue.
Rogue grinned. "Y'all fahgot- Nightcrawler was never tagged out."
Lance's jaw dropped. Nightcrawler had vanished at the beginning of the fight, and he hadn't given him a second thought.
"Rogue and I decided on that backup plan very early in the game." Cyclops said, relaxing. "If we ever got all of your team involved in a fight and Nightcrawler was still in the game, we would have him teleport, grab your flag, then run back to our side as fast as he could manage."
Blob looked like he had just been blind sided by an atom bomb. Wanda opened her mouth but no words came out. Nightcrawler teleported next to his teammates and gave them both high fives.
"All right!" Nightcrawler smiled. The simulated environment disappeared. Nightcrawler was assaulted by the rest of his team with congratulations. Kitty cut through them all and fumed at Rogue.
"I can't believe you! I absolutely can't believe you! You like, totally made me think that you were hurt! You, like, betrayed me!"
Rogue folded her arms. "Ah wouldn't call it betrayal. . ." She said.
"Then what would you call it?" Kitty shouted.
"'Sides good strategy and usin' what you know about your opponent t' ovahcome them?" Rogue teased. "Payback."
Kitty sputtered something. Rogue smiled.
"Cyclops, Rogue, I must say I am impressed," Magneto clapped as he, Xavier and Logan entered the Danger Room. "When Blob had the flag I thought it was all over for you. Bravo. I believe we've all learned something today.
"Yeah," Kitty grumbled. "Southerners play dirty."
"Hell yeah!" Remy whooped. There was scattered laughter. Though the Brotherhood looked somewhat frustrated about the victory that had been snatched away from them, they looked slightly more comfortable around the X-Men and vice versa. Cyclops was thanking Blob for lunch earlier, Pietro was (reluctantly) admitting to Kurt that it was a clever plan, Lance was trying to get Kitty to stop pouting, Toad was poking at Colossus' armor, and Wanda looked slightly more at ease. Pyro stormed out of the Danger Room. He was still furious that he hadn't even had the chance to use his powers.
"You know what," Logan grunted. "This may have been a pretty good idea after all."
"I'm glad you're finally beginning to see the light," Magneto said. "Let's leave and see how long it takes them to notice."
Xavier chuckled. "I think we should."
As the two old friends and Logan left the room, the chatter still continued.
-------------------------
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Rogue? Is that your alarm?"
Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
"Rogue turn that thing off, willya?"
Beep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
ROGUE!"
"Aw, fuck it!" The goth rolled over and swatted at her clock, knocking it to the floor. Swearing she got up and looked at the time. "Nine? Why th' hell is mah alarm set for nine?" She shot an evil look towards Kitty, suspecting this was revenge for making her look like and idiot the night before, but then she realized Kitty had been woken up by it first. There was a knock at the door.
Rogue got up, strode over to the door and threw it open. Beast stood there, blinking. "Sorry. I was just going to see if you were ready early to go to the store, since I heard you up."
"Store? Store!" Rogue said, smacking her forehead. "Oh, geez, Ah'm not ready at all!"
"That's okay!" Beast said. He tapped his watch. "We're not leaving until ten anyway. But since the boys were all ready up I thought you might be."
"Boys? Who else is coming 'sides Remy?"
"Kurt and Fred."
Fred? Rogue thought, Who's Fred-?. "Oh! Blob. Do we really want him to come?"
"If we're going to have to shop for him, I suspect I'll just let him pick out what he needs to survive, then buy the usual supplies for the mansion. Unfortunately, this will probably add hours to our trip."
Rogue sighed. "That's why ya wanna leave early. All right, give me fifteen minutes."
------------
Blob stared in awe at the food section in Costco. His jaw looked like it had come undone. "You say they sell stuff here in bulk? As in portions that might actually satisfy me?"
Beast nodded. "Yep."
Blob wiped away a tear from his eye. "I'm in love!"
"Oh gawd," Rogue said, making a retching noise. Remy barely kept a straight face. Blob had a cart all for himself, while Kurt steered the cart for the mansion food. Beast checked his watch.
"Why don't we give it an hour before we meet again here?" Beast said. Blob nodded and took off, the fastest any of the others had ever seen him move. "Ah, food. It's great motivation."
"I can see dhat," Kurt said.
Remy couldn't control himself any longer. He burst out into a peal of laughter, and Rogue had to keep him from falling over.
Beast started walking towards the meat section, aiming to get burgers and hot dogs. Kurt pushed the cart after him. Remy and Rogue walked off to get other party supplies, including chips and soda. Beast began looking through the meats carefully. The people around him slowly dissipated as they saw the big, blue and furry hands poking out of his jacket. He picked up and examined a few selections of meat. Soon there were a couple of steaks, a ton of burgers (veggie, beef and chicken) and a few dozen hot dogs in the cart.
"You think that will be enough?" Beast asked his companion.
Kurt looked at the mound of assorted meats. "Yah. It's enough to feed an army."
"Good. That's what I'm going for." Beast walked over to another section to pick out a variety of cheddar and American cheeses.
Kurt sighed. He had been roped into this because he was the best at unpacking a van full of food. Teleportation came in very handy when the kitchen was so deep inside the mansion's bowels. He had wanted to go out, and maybe sneak into Amanda's house to see what was going on, but ever since he had unloaded the car once for Beast, he had been Beast's fist choice for a grocery shopping companion.
Kurt was slumping over the cart handles as Beast walked towards him with a pile of cheeses. He placed them in the cart and looked at Kurt's unhappy expression.
"Why so blue my young friend?" Beast inquired.
"Dhe general teenage problems," Kurt sighed. "You'd think dhat being a mutant would be problem enough and fate would cut you a break once and a while."
"Unfortunately that is rarely true," Beast said, ruffling Kurt's hair. "So what is it? Problems with Amanda?"
Kurt blinked. "How did you know?"
"Well, to start with, girlfriends or boyfriends tend to be what's bothering a teenager. Secondly, she's trying desperately to get me to make you turn around," Beast pointed over Kurt's shoulder. Kurt's head whipped around. Amanda was standing there, gesturing from Kurt to come over. Beast took the cart and winked at Kurt. "Go. I can take care of the cart for a minute."
Kurt grinned, "Dhanks Herr McCoy." Making sure that no one was watching, Kurt teleported over to Amanda.
Amanda threw her arms around Kurt and hugged him. "Kurt! I'm so sorry I haven't called, but I've been grounded so deeply-"
"I've heard," Kurt said sadly. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
"No it's not," Amanda sighed. "I told them."
"You- you told dhem?" Kurt said, thunderstruck. "Dhey forbid you to date me! How could you think dhat telling dhem was a good idea?!"
Amanda snapped, "I didn't want to lie to them anymore!" Then she softened. "I thought that they'd take it better than they did. I was wrong. Luckily my honesty only got me grounded for, oh, a month and a half instead of the rest of my life. Plus I'm not supposed to see you ever again."
"Vonderful," Kurt moaned, putting his head in his hands. Then he stiffened. "Vait, if you're not allowed to go out, dhen- are dhey here?"
"Yeah," Amanda nodded. "They won't know we talked if they don't see Mr. McCoy."
Kurt went white. "But Rogue and Remy are here too!"
Her face drained slightly of color. "Oh," she glanced over her shoulder. "Well, it's a big store. They might not run into them."
"Where are they now?" Kurt asked.
"Right here," Amanda's father said, with no little amount of fury in his tone. Kurt backed off. He looked down at his daughter. "We saw some of those people here and came looking for you Amanda."
"Is that so?" Amanda squeaked.
Her mother's lips were pressed into a fine line. "We don't care about your kind sharing our schools," she said to Kurt, "but I will not have my daughter dating some sort of- of-"
"Hero?" volunteered Beast as he pushed the cart over. Rogue and Remy were trailing behind him.
Mr. Stefon looked absolutely shocked at Beast's appearance under his fedora. "What are you, his father?" He gestured at Kurt.
"I'm his teacher," Beast said. "Dr. Henry McCoy, if you must know."
"The one that went on that rampage through town!" gasped Mrs. Stefon.
"He was the best teacher at Bayville!" Amanda retorted.
"Keep you comments to yourself," her father snapped.
"Dere's a closed mind," Remy said loudly to Rogue.
"Do you have a problem with me young man?" Mr. Stefon growled.
"Me? Non," Remy said, looking surprised. "I believe it's you who have de problem wit' me an' my good friend Kurt."
"Kurt is a good kid," Beast informed Amanda's parents. "He was out there fighting Apocalypse-"
"Another one of you people," Mr. Stefon yelled.
"- while other people were ready and waiting to skin him alive when he got back, just because he's different," Hank concluded.
"Different? Is that what you call it?" Amanda's father snarled. "Listen, I don't want any of your differences. You people may have 'saved the world', which I doubt, but it was one of you who caused the problem. If you're a teacher, then teach that student of yours that he should respect our wishes and stay the hell away from our daughter!" Mrs. Stefon grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her away from the mansion residents.
"Kurt, I'll-" Amanda started, but a rough jerk from her mother cut her off.
"You'll stay away from him and his friends. They're nothing but trouble." She looked at Remy's eyes and shivered. Remy winked at her, eliciting a scandalous gasp from Mrs. Stefon.
Beast looked Amanda's parent's grimly. "Come Kurt, we'll find Fred and leave. No sense in staying where we're not wanted." He looked at Amanda's family and shook his head. "I would think that the history of 'your people'," he made the quotation marks in the air, "would make you look at prejudice in a negative light. Apparently not. I used to teach Shakespeare before I taught chemistry. I believe the phrase that best fits this situation comes from The Merchant of Venice." He cleared his throat. "If we prick us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die?"
With that Beast turned the cart around, and began to walk away. Rogue put an arm around Kurt and made him turn away from Amanda, who looked devastated by her parent's actions. Remy bowed to Amanda's family, then joined the others.
"Jews are human!" Mr. Stefon shrieked at their backs. "You aren't!"
Amanda wrenched away from her mother. "You're a total asshole!" She screamed at her father. Then she ran out of Costco. Kurt wanted to go after her, but Rogue's all ready vice-like grip on him tightened further as a warning.
"Well," Beast said quietly, "I'm glad we avoided any further unpleasantness."
"Yes, we did just vonderfully," Kurt sounded depressed.
"We're done getting stuff here anyway," Beast tired to lighten the mood. "I think Fred has had more than enough time to stock up for at least a year."
Right on cue Blob came striding into view. "I got some extra stuff that I know the Brotherhood likes. I hope you don't mind," he grinned. "I love this place." Then he saw Kurt. "Did I miss something?"
"The usual bigotry," Remy offered. "Nothing unusual."
"Oh. If it make you feel better, even if people don't think I'm a mutant they usually make fun of me because of my weight." He gestured at himself. "Can you believe it? I mean, really, I'm only just pleasantly plump."
Kurt looked skeptical about that. "Yeah, well, it doesn't help if your girlfriend's parent dhink you're dhe worst thing for her."
"I wouldn't know about that," Blob said as they began to wheel up to the checkout. "I've never had a girlfriend. I dunno why. I'm pretty damn good looking, don't you think?" He leaned towards Rogue.
Rogue said the first thing that came to mind that wasn't totally derogatory, "You need more hair."
"Really?" Blob stroked his chin. "Maybe I'll grow a goatee. Yeah! That'll really catch the ladies' eyes!"
When they got up to the counter the cashier looked over the mound of food and her eyes nearly fell out of her forehead. If she hadn't been overworked before, after the half and hour it took her to ring everything up she was. Though it might have been shorter if she hadn't stopped mid-ringing several times to gape at Beast. It took them another twenty minutes to pack all of the food and themselves into the car. The drive back to the mansion was fairly short, and so was unpacking, seeing as Beast promised extra credit to the younger students in they helped. Kurt, being in a funk, was almost no help at all.
"Why don't you go relax for a bit?" Beast suggested, patting Kurt on the back.
Kurt sighed. "Okay," he said, teleporting off to the Rec. Room. At first glance it appeared empty, but then Kurt noticed a figure wearing red curled up in one of the chairs.
Kurt walked over, wondering why there was only one person sitting there. Then he realized it was Wanda, and she had fallen asleep. Everyone else must have avoided the room so they didn't wake her up and face her wrath. Kurt noticed a book on the floor, lying under her limp hand. Kurt picked it up and placed it on the end table besides her. The soft thud made Wanda's eyes spring open.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded fiercely.
"I'm just looking for a quiet place to brood," he said truthfully and sat down on the couch. Wanda couldn't quite bring herself to believe him at first, but realized her was serious fairly quickly.
"What's your problem?"
"I believe dhat I don't have to tell you anything," Kurt said stretching out.
Wanda snorted. "What is that, a late comeback?"
"No, it's just not a pleasant story. I vould sound like I vas complaining," Kurt sighed. "Unless, you vant to share problems."
Wanda frowned. She picked up her book and began to walk out.
"You look really tired," Kurt commented.
She stopped. "I am really tired," she admitted. "The nightmares keep me up."
"Dhat bad, huh?"
"Yeah," she sighed. Wanda sat down on the other end of the couch. "They're recurring, but they scare me as much the five hundredth time as they did the first time."
"Well, it's not nightmares that I'm worried about. It's people. People who think with their prejudices," He turned his holo-watch off, revealing his blue self. "At least you look normal. People don't immediately run screaming from you."
"No, they wait to get to know me first, then they stay away," Wanda said. "Even Pietro keeps his distance."
"I dhink you're not giving us a chance," Kurt sat up. "Dhe X-Men aren't quite as jumpy as dhe Brotherhood. If you stop acting so aloof, I bet you'll make friends."
Wanda folded her book into her arms. She stood up. "I'll take that advice," she murmured. "Thanks. . . Kurt."
Kurt smiled. "You're welcome Wanda. See you at the barbecue tonight?"
"I think so," Wanda smiled back.
---------------------------
Jono sat patiently in his cell waiting. He was getting increasingly nervous. If he didn't do this right the first time, he'd never get a second chance. He heard footsteps and his heart leapt. They stopped and he swallowed. C'mon. C'mon on!
---------------------------
"Pass the ketchup?" Shouted Bobby over the sea of heads that covered the deck. Fred was helping Beast cook up the mass amount of food needed to sate the hungers of about two dozen people. Toad wrapped his tongue around the ketchup and it shot out all the way down the table. Bobby delicately pried it out of the tongue coils and wiped it off with his napkin. "Thanks," he said, sounding uncertain.
"Welcome, yo!" Toad said. He had a chip bowl all to himself, since no one wanted to be that close to him.
Tabitha, Rahne, Ray and Roberto were playing Frisbee while waiting on the second or third round of meat to cook. Logan was using his claws to tear through the largest steak that most of the mansion residents had ever seen. Remy was piling his own homemade gumbo on everyone's plates, whether they wanted it or not. Kitty was inviting everyone to try her cookies, but the only ones brave enough were Blob and Beast. Magneto and Xavier were talking with Ororo and overseeing the whole operation.
Jean had forgiven Scott for his arrogance, but only after her not only begged her, but he got Pietro to put in a good word in for him. In reality Pietro had begged Jean to forgive him so Scott would stop following him around, trying to be friendly. Now Scott was actually talking to Lance civilly, though they only addressed each other by their last names. Warren had reluctantly warmed up to Pietro. He was the only one who could understand a word the speed demon was saying, since his father always talked very fast while dealing with people during work. Colossus and Alex were getting beaten by Rogue and Illyana in a game of touch football, much to the boys' astonishment. Kurt and Wanda were discussing some book they had both red, and were in a friendly debate about which one of the characters would turn out to be evil in the next book. Blob was passing out the food, while Beast, with his usual 'Kiss the Cook' apron on flipped off the next round of burgers to him.
"This is turning out to be a most pleasant evening," Storm said, leaving her place besides the two team founders.
"Indeed," Beast agreed as he passed off the last hot dog to Blob. "I think the only one not enjoying themselves is St. John."
"On the contrary-" Ororo swept her arms in the direction of Pyro. "He and Amara are actually comparing notes."
Beast raised an eyebrow. "I think we'd better keep an eye on them."
Pyro tried snaking his arm around Amara, but the younger girl touched his arm with a finger made out of lava. Pyro yelped and let go, leaping up to nurse his hand.
"I think Amara can handle the situation herself," Ororo laughed.
Beast chuckled. "So it would appear."
Ororo leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Beast's cheeks went red, visible through his fur. "Why, Ororo dear, what was that for?"
Ororo's laughter rang out like bells. "Your apron. I thought you'd rather have me kiss you than, let's say, Fred, who seems to be enamored with your cooking. He's on his tenth burger."
"I'm beginning to think we're going to need a bigger van," Beast said.
"You're probably right."
--------------------------
Jubilee came down the steps and looking into Jono's cell. She better than to open the cell, though she had been tempted. "Jono, it's me." Starsmore turned around to look at her. He staggered toward her, gasping for breath. Jubilee's eyes went wide. "Jono? What's the matter?"
Jono fell to his knees in front of the force field separating him and the outside world. Suddenly he jerked to his feet, soundlessly screaming and trying to scrape the headpiece off of him.
"Jono!" Jubilee screamed. She pounded in the pass code to open his cell and just as she rushed in her collapsed, twitching. His eyes rolled back. Jubilee grabbed the inhibitor and tried to pull it off herself but it was stuck fast. On instinct she used her power on the piece, and the circuits fried.
Jono's eyes snapped open. This was his chance. Emma Frost was tearing down the stairs, absolutely livid.
IF ANYONE CAN HEAR ME MY NAME IS JONOTHAN STARSMORE. I'M BEING HELD CAPTIVE BY EMMA FROST IN HER SCHOOL. SHE HAS BRAINWASHED THE OTHER STUDENTS! PLEASE HELP!
Emma staggered as Jono's strong psychic message hit her like a ton of bricks. Jubilee's head snapped up. "Jono!" She shouted. "Jono, try to send the message to Xavier!"
Jono nodded. CHARLES XAVIER! PLEASE, IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS, TRACK DOWN JUBILATION LEE! WATCH OUT FOR FROST AND HER HELLIONS!
"That enough out of you!" Frost screamed at him, slamming his mind psychically. Jubilee tried to jump at her, but with another mental blow she fell down. Emma quickly got her bearings, and physically threw Jono back into his cell.
"Miss. Frost! What happened?" Manuel roared, charging down. Roulette was at his heels.
"We're moving our plans up," she pulled Jubilee into a sitting position. "Get me another inhibitor," Frost barked at Roulette, and the girl disappeared upstairs. "We're going to lock Starsmore down here, and say that all of the mental abuse has killed him. She's not allowed down here any more," she shoved Jubilee at Manuel. Her eyes glittered. "I'm going to break him," she said, looking at Jono. "When this is all over I'm going to break his mind into little pieces, until he's only good as a weapon."
Roulette returned with the inhibitor, and Frost locked it onto Jonothan's head. Then she reactivated the force field.
"Pick her up," Frost said, as she began to ascend. "I want her emotions manipulated into such grief that she will have no choice but to turn it into anger. Jono's 'death' will be her motivation to destroy her former teammates."
--------------------------------
"Charles!" Magneto said, helping Xavier back into his wheelchair. Logan had abandoned his steak and sprinted over when Xavier screamed. Jean had also cried out in anguish. Scott and a few other students crowded around her. "Dear god- what happened?"
"I was wrong-" he gasped. "I was wrong."
"Wrong about what Chuck?" Logan prodded.
"The fight- the fight that was going to take place between two sets of mutants. I thought that by joining our teams together we would avoid it. It's not between the Brotherhood and the X-Men. It never was going to be," Charles choked.
Magneto looked at him, totally taken off guard. "What? We're the only large factions of mutants."
"No- no we aren't."
"Are you talkin' 'bout the Morlocks?" Logan asked. "Chuck, they're cranky, sure, but they would never-"
"No, Not the Morlocks."
"Then who Charles?" Magneto asked.
"Hellions," he gasped. "They call themselves the Hellions. Oh, Erik, we wanted to prevent a war but the war has just begun!"
The End
A/N: Well, some of you might sit there wondering 'what about Kurt and Amanda?' Oh, yea, you'll see Amanda again, but I'm not a Kurmanda shipper. I just can't ever be. Why? Three words: Talia Josephine Wagner. And if you don't know who she is, fie upon you! For those of you who do you know where I'm going with this, but it's going to be a very long, slow road. Especially after the major arc in Season 6 starts. You'll see what I mean.
Thanks to all of you for tolerating my slowness. I promise I'll try to get the last three episode out faster. I have just decided to name the next episode Something Wicked this Way Comes. It directly reflects all the evil things that will be going on. You'll see a lot more prejudice in the high school. You'll see what Mystique is up to. You'll see what Frost is up to. You'll try to figure out what Sinister is up to. And, of course, you'll see more of he Brotherhood and the X-Men learning to live together.
I now have a wonderful opening scene! Oh, joy! I must go off and write now!
(Yes, this is a very good sign. )