Black Ice

Disclaimer: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering." - Yoda to Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars: Episode I

Chapter 40: Sapphire Fallout Part 1: Shattered X

The Xavier Institute

A couple days had passed since the psychotic former X-Man and Freedom Force member Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, had rampaged. In a fit of pure insanity, Bobby used his powers, which had greatly increased in scope and strength, to attack the X-Men, intending on killing them. Thanks to the help of Freedom Force, the X-Men made it through, and there were no casualties.

"Well…" Storm reported to the students. "Everything is soaked and soggy. Otherwise, nothing here is too badly damaged."

"Thank Heaven for that." Piotr nodded. He was sitting on a soaked couch, his girlfriend Rogue sitting next to him, looking depressed. He looked at the Southerner. "Are you alright?" Rogue nodded sadly.

"Ah'm…Ah'm…Ah'm fine." Rogue mumbled.

"Vell…" Kurt looked up at Storm. "Everyone vill recover. Zat's a good sign. And ze babies turned out fine." The weather-manipulator nodded her head. It turned out Fury had found what appeared to be a sphere made of ice lying nearby the Institute, with several small holes at the top. The sphere was hollow, and it had the tiny X-Babies Imara Munroe and Toby McCoy contained inside, sleeping soundly.

"Yes." Storm sighed sadly. She smiled a little bit. "You are right, Kurt. At least we're all alive."

"Tell that to Sam." Danielle muttered. "He's half-dead thanks to Bobby the Snow-Psycho!"

"Yeah." Roberto agreed, holding the Cheyenne girl close. "What right did he have to pull all that? After all the X-Men had done for him!"

"It's not his fault." Jean mumbled.

"Are you kidding me?" Tabitha exclaimed at Jean. "That little madman froze you solid, shattered Warlock, and tried to drown us! And you say it's not his fault?"

"Tabby, calm down." Amara told the bomber.

"I've been in Bobby's mind, remember?" Jean told Tabitha. "God…I never was in a mind so…so…"

"Twisted?" Amara grunted.

"Warped?" Roberto suggested.

"Ungrateful?" Rogue growled.

"…Damaged." Jean sighed sadly.

"Damaged?" Scott blinked from the wall where he stood. Jean nodded.

"His mind was…was…" Jean shook her head. "I never saw so much anger in one mind. So much hatred…so much bitterness…yet…he was so lonely. He was lashing out."

"At what?" Scott blinked. "What did this to him? Where'd he go? Where had he been?"

"Canada." Jean told him. "He had been wandering around the frozen areas of Canada for several months…just…" She sighed sadly. "He just let his anger get to him. It consumed him."

"What started this?" Scott wondered.

"I think I may be able to answer that." Hank "Beast" McCoy walked into the room. "Luckily, the infirmary wasn't too badly damaged in the flood. All Sam did in there was mumble."

"Mumble?" Tabby blinked. "About what? What'd he say?"

"That it was his fault. And he was apologizing to Bobby." Hank shook his head. "That's all he was doing."

"Maybe once he regains consciousness, we can find out what happened between them." Jean suggested. Forge walked in. "How's Warlock?"

"Confused." Forge sighed. "Luckily, all we had to do was thaw his pieces out, and he was able to fix himself up. He's wondering what just happened."

"You can tell him Bobby's just a jerk, that's what!" Amara grunted.

"Like, yeah." Kitty agreed. "What was he thinking?"

"He was in pain." Jean countered. While the X-Men started to argue, Forge walked away. He went outside, where he saw Warlock sitting at the wrecked fountain, looking depressed. The Native American mutant inventor walked up to the Technarc.

"Hey 'Lock." He greeted. "You alright?"

"…Self…" Warlock shook his head. "Self…confused…Self…sad."

"What's up?"

"Self-friend Bobby." Warlock sighed. "It does not compute. Query: How did Self-friend Bobby become like Self's people?"

"You mean the way he acted." Forge reasoned. Warlock nodded.

"Self-friend Bobby is joker. Prankster. Yet, today, he is angry. Self-friend Bobby became someone else. He tried to kill Self. Kill Self-friends." He looked up at Forge. "Why? Self did nothing wrong to Self-friend Bobby, but Self-friend Bobby try to kill Self and all Self-friends anyway. Why?" Warlock asked sadly. Forge sighed.

"I don't know, Warlock." Forge admitted with a sad sigh. "I really do not know. You see Warlock, there are many things about us humans even humans themselves do not understand." He looked up at the alien techno-organic life form. "I guess…sometimes, humans get angry. And in some cases, humans hold in that anger, even though we really shouldn't. Eventually, if too much anger is held in for too long, it's released in bad ways."

"Self-friend Bobby told Self that Self betrayed him." Warlock shook his head. "But Self would never betray Self-friends! Why would Self-friend Bobby assume that Self…" He dipped his head again. Forge sighed. How do you explain the darker nature of humanity to an innocent alien who came from a society that was nothing but that darker side of humanity?

"Well, Warlock…" Forge sighed. "Bobby didn't become like this out of the blue. You can't suddenly become crazy like him. A change like that happens over a long period of time. Something like this always starts with a person being hurt. Whatever hurt Bobby and caused him to change like this…it hurt him bad, Warlock. Real bad." Meanwhile, while the X-Men were convalescing, Xavier was sitting in his office and talking to Nick Fury.

"I can't believe this happened." Xavier sighed. "And to Bobby, no less." He turned his wheelchair. "Bobby wasn't the most academic student, but he was a good kid. His love of humor really brightened up the Institute." He shook his head. "How could he have changed so much?"

"I wish I knew, Professor." Fury sighed. "Kid was a ticking time bomb, and I didn't even see it coming. Nobody did."

"Did he tell you anything?" Xavier wondered. Fury shook his head.

"Anyone who ever tried to talk to him got shut down." Fury remembered. "The only one who ever could make anything remotely resembling any headway with him was Starway."

"Starway?" Xavier raised an eyebrow.

"Starway. That's the codename for one of Freedom Force's." Fury explained. "Lila Cheney. She's had it rough as a kid. You would not believe how she came about joining us. I barely believed it myself."

"My X-Men have been through some insanity in the past themselves." Xavier nodded.

"So I have heard." Fury looked around at Xavier's waterlogged office. Xavier nodded at Fury's look.

"I still cannot believe it myself." Xavier sighed. "Why couldn't Bobby talk to me? Why did he have to do this? I spent months looking for him."

"Keep in mind Professor, he's still a kid." Fury sighed. "Maybe he felt like you couldn't help him…or you wouldn't care enough to try."

Stokes Maximum Security Prison

Stokes was the maximum security containment facility that held superhuman criminals. It was the holding place of the notorious invincible powerhouse known as the Juggernaut. It also had a mental ward. Within one of the padded cells in that area was Bobby Drake. He was dressed in white, and in a straitjacket. Around his neck was a collar. A collar designed to shut off mutant powers. He was sitting with his back to the wall, semi-long brown hair falling over his face, obscuring it completely.

"Make it end…Make it end…Make it end…"

Next: Sapphire Fallout Part 2: Shiro's Story As Freedom Force deals with the events of Sapphire Twilight, Gina Tolensky/Botanica makes a life-altering decision, and she wishes to know why Shiro Yoshida/Sunfire, was intent on taking her under his wing.