Uhhmmm…Hi! First off, I would like to thank any willing to waste their precious time reading and/or reviewing this story. Any critiques, input, or flames, are very much appreciated.
But if you could do me favor since this is a fic based on a cartoon and a WB drama. If you just play your favorite songs incessantly while your reading the story to help make up for the lack of real substance and pathos on your monitor, a ploy used by all teen drama's from Smallville, all the back to Beverly Hills 90201; that would really be appreciated. I may suggest some songs that fit a crappy teen drama and the scene but whatever you want to listen to please, by all means, go right ahead. That said here's the story.
Summary: The X-men lose their inhibitions and fall prey to their most primal impulses when Magneto does some gardening at the Mansion with some special flowers he stole from Lex Luthor, and Jean is the first of many victims.
Nicodemus goes to Bayville.
Jet – Look what you've Done.
Lex sat stiff in his chair. He sat as still as possible for as long as he could. Not a worthwhile pursuit for a boy billionaire but he couldn't help some nights when his mind would drift to thoughts of his mother.
He remembered her sitting in the nursery while the nannies tended to Julian. She just sat there and didn't move a muscle for what seemed like ages. The staff worked around her as best they could. Some of them were weary of her. Lex was always being shooed out of the nursery but he stalked the hallways hoping to spend some time with his little brother. Then without cause his mother would jump up startled and panting. She would stumble out of the nursery, pat his head, and lock herself in the bathroom. Some nights he distinctly heard laughter, some nights he heard tears. It was the nights when he couldn't tell the difference that scared him. After Julian died she told Lionel she couldn't have any more children and that if he wanted proof to talk to her Doctor. From then on she just got sicker and sicker until she was gone.
He tried to keep still but his body refused and kept twitching, muscles protesting he realized he had to get up. He retrieved some pamphlets he collected from the hospital and spread them out on his desk wondering why he'd picked them up in the first place. After consulting the world's best Doctors about his mothers condition what great revelation could a pamphlet give him.
He'd gone to the hospital that day with Clark who went to visit Pete. A nurse at Smallville General once asked him why such intelligent young people who weren't cutters, drug addicts, or adrenaline junkies were always in and out of her emergency room. The only answer he could think of was Clark Kent, but he just smiled politely and gave her the flowers for Chloe.
Alarms went off all over the mansion, and Lex's head of security barged into his study.
"Sir, we have a break in level three."
"What's going on?" He demanded.
"We don't know sir. The security camera's are down. It looks like some kind of magnetic interference."
"Magnetic?"
Down in the lowest level of the plant a fully armed ex-navy seal was staked to wall with a heavy metal rebar sticking out of his gut. The last thing his eyes ever saw was the heavy vault door swing open. A barrage of flames and the distant sound of maniacal laughter kept the rest of his team at bay. The form of a bird swept through the flames and collected a few items from the vault.
As the sprinkler doused the flames Lex cautiously urged his men closer to the vault. Though the smoke seared his eyes and throat he could make out a large red figure in looming in corridor. Lex rubbed his bleary eyes but his world had yet to come back into focus. Splinters of cold steel hovered above him. He didn't have time to duck before the blunt end of one sent him into darkness.
(If this were a real episode I guess you would cue the theme here.)
Simple Plan: Welcome to my life
Only two days later and she was still mad as all hell about what happened. Someone keyed the words mutie bitch into her beautiful SUV. For awhile she really believed that Principal Kelly did it until a quick scan of her classmates revealed otherwise.
One by one she ruled out the usually suspects, the brotherhood, and Duncan's football thugs.
It wasn't Lance. The jeep, though cherished by him and his friends was also a constant target for graffiti and it just didn't seem like something he would do.
That's not to say he didn't think it was funny as all hell when it happened.
Duncan was also innocent of this crime. He took the break up pretty well. If Jean wasn't willing to let him abuse her powers he would have dumped her anyway. It was the humiliation of a public breakup and that she was most likely leaving him for Scott that got to him. He nursed his wounds with a foreign exchange who was being groomed for the Miss Venezuela pageant. After the brawl at the school board meeting he never looked back.
So who was it? She caught Taryn picking the metallic paint chips out of her house keys. Principal Kelly had been keeping a close eye on her old friends. He as good as accused them in his covert way of being mutie sympathizers. It was his way of promoting anti-mutant paranoia and maintaining an anti-mutant atmosphere at the school. Her former best friends hoped this stunt would distance them from her once and for all and get Kelly off their backs.
Driving home that day was like one of those dreams where you go to school and realize you're naked. She felt like a freshly splashed Carrie White but she suppressed the urge to go Carrie on all of them. After that incident she toyed with the idea of dropping out of school and finishing the year by correspondence. But she still had a future to consider and refused to make any major decisions based on fear. Scott was too afraid to take his car for the time being. He piled everyone into the X-jeep and had Logan drive them. He was pretty cool about it.
After finishing her morning meditations she felt ready to face the day. But she failed to notice some gardening tools left carelessly on the lawn as the mansion was being fixed up and two shadowy figures lurking about.
"Fall!" Mikail Mxyzptlk whispered to her before he handed Magneto back his helmet and the two bid a hasty retreat before Wolverine could pick up their scent.
She tripped over a rake and hit the grass. Her head spinning, she heard Kitty, Rogue, Evan, Kurt, and Logan stifling hysterical laughter. A few loud giggles escaped Kitty. Scott, that hypocrite, elbowed her for laughing although she knew he knew it was funny.
"You're laughing and you know it!" She accused him.
"I know, but come on guys! You saw what happened. She doesn't need this right now." He said choking back his own laughter.
Peeling her face off the grass she turned her head and saw the ugliest weed she'd ever seen. It looked like the sunflower from hell. It's seemed to pull back a little then release a spray of spores. Scott and Kurt suddenly appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Hey, you ok?" Scott asked while beating back the giggles. Scott and Nightcrawler were careful to avoid eye contact because they knew that would start them laughing.
"I'm fine" she said between sneezes.
Kurt crushed the flower as he stepped toward her.
"Actually Guys…" Jean said stretching out her arms. Scott grabbed and one and Kurt grabbed the other hoisting her onto her feet. She mumbled a thank you as they headed for the jeep.
Scott took a few deep breaths and when he felt he could speak without laughing he said, "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah," she answered meekly. She survived, luckily her clothes survived. She just wanted to get this day over with.
The new mutants arrived after Jeans little tumble so they didn't know what was going on. Jeans face was a bright red and she kept sneezing. The older students seemed to be in deep concentration as if fighting for self control and Kitty was seemed a bit peeved at Scott, staring coldly at the back of his head.
Roberto mouthed the words, "What happened?" to Bobby.
He shrugged shaking his head as discreetly as possible. This got Kitty and Rogue giggling which got Kurt started but it died off quickly.
Amara broke the awkward silence that followed. "Guys, did we miss something?" she said.
"I fell," Jean yelled over the erupting laughter, "I tripped over a rake, very Sideshow Bob, so yuck it up OK Junior?" Amara flinched stunned by Jean's outburst.
"Hey, you don't have to bite her head." Rogue said harshly.
"Yeah, that was like totally uncalled. Besides, that fall was pretty funny." Kitty said.
"It was a total face plant." Evan added.
"And we missed it. That's sucks" Sam whined.
The ride stopped and the laughter was silenced. Despair and a reluctance to leave the security of the jeep gripped the students. Logan gave them the time they needed. Kurt felt Kitty squeeze his hand as he opened the car door. Bobby helped Amara pull her heavy backpack over her shoulders not that she needed it and Jean stared at her with an unspoken apology which was accepted of course.
"Hey Stripe!" Logan started. She jerked her head around to face him. "I gotta pick you brats up today so after school, I'll be here." She smiled at him before heading to main entrance.
Scott tried to put an arm around Jean but she pushed him away before sneezing violently into a tissue.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Scott asked for about the fifth time that morning.
"Sure Scott," Jean said before blowing her nose. "I'm fine." She finished between sniffles.