AN: Yay! I'm back with another chapter for ya'all! Howda enjoy my evil villain? Isn't he so Southern Twang? Anyway, just a small side note, in this chapter you're gonna see the hints at a major couple involved in this fic. Sorry if you don't like the pairing, but I can assure you there will be a couple everyone likes! Now, on with the story!
To A Watcher: You have got to see Caleb! He is so kick-ass! The Seventh Season was the best Buffy ever!
To Luis: Acolytes… hmmm? They're Magneto's boys, yes? Then they will be in this story! Not just yet (they are mentioned) but they're there!
To Beenieweenie: Caleb and Jake are alike aren't they? Maybe that means something! *hint, hint* *wink, wink*
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Chapter Six- The Good, The Bad and The DeadLance Alvers drove down the darkened road leading to the town of Bayville. He had spent most of the day setting up on the cliff, trying to sort things out and failing miserably. All he seemed to get were more questions.
But he had managed to get things sorted out in his brain, that why at least his questions had categories he could file them under in his head. 1) Both Magneto and Mystique had disappeared from the Brotherhood's lives 2) but of course they aren't really gone 3) the evidence to that being that Magneto's henchmen, Pyro, Colossus and Gambit, were currently living at the boarding house 4) Wanda and Toad were off chasing down Magneto and wouldn't find him and 5) the X-Men were still stopping the Brotherhood's attempts to disruptor the peace even though Lance hadn't been involved in any of those activities lately. Ever since that night…
At the thought of that night when the X-Men were voted back into Bayville High, Lance's traitorous mind conjured up the picture of a pretty, brunette freshman with piercing blue eyes and who just happened to be a member of the X-Men. Lance sighed and allowed himself to enjoy the picture Kitty Pryde.
Then he shook his head, soft brown locks falling across chocolate eyes, and forced his mind away from the phaser of the X-Men. Like he had said that night, he'd never be good enough for the likes of Kitty, though he wished desperately he was. But Kitty had practically rammed a stake through his chest when she said he was nothing but a hood. In all his years, after all the names he'd been called, that hurt the most.
And the worst part was he couldn't understand why it hurt so much…
But Lance's trail of thoughts were broken when he saw a shadowed body rolling down the road, right in front of his jeep.
"Shit." He cursed and slammed on the break, praying he didn't hit who ever lay still on the floor. He turned a 90 degree angle and slid to a halt. Cursing every word he knew, the mutant of earthquakes hopped out of the car.
His boots slapped against the asphalt as he moved to the body in front of his car. Missing the tires by inches.
"You okay?" Lance called and frowned when he received no answer. He moved towards the front of the car and bit back a gasp at what he saw.
Obviously something had happened to this girl before Lance had almost run over her. She wore a white shirt which gave him a very good view a long gash across her belly and most of the shirt had turned dark red.
"Are you alright?" Lance asked, bending down and picked the girl up in his arms. When she still didn't respond he shook her lightly, "Hey, can you hear me?"
Finally the girl's eyes fluttered open and she looked around her. In a fearful voice she whispered, "Is he gone?"
"Who did this to you?" Lance demanded, trying to make his voice soothing and almost failing. All he could think was that Kitty was the same age as this girl and how easily it could've been her in this position. His anger made the earth shake, as was his mutant ability, and he feared it would scare the girl her held in his arms.
But the girl was too weak to notice, "Dirty Power." she mumbled, "He said I have dirty power and that he was going to take it. He was right, he did take my Power, and I can't feel it anymore. It's gone."
"Hey, I'm going to get you to the hospital, okay? We'll get you some help and everything will be okay." Lance assured her, knowing full well that the wound was fatal.
Suddenly the girl focused on Lance hard. She reached out his hand and squeezed it, "Find the Slayer for me, please. Tell her to watch out for him because he can kill us. And… and tell the mutants to watch out, too… because their Dirty Power will be next."
The girl went slack against Lance, her breathing shallow and uneven, and blood poured into Lance's hand, but he didn't take notice. He thought about the girl's words. The mutants were next after the Slayers? Then he remembered that this girl needed medical attention and fast.
So Lance gathered the girl up in his arms and placed her into the jeep. With gritted teeth, he floored the gas and zoomed into Bayville.
The whole time the girl kept on muttering, "Dirty Powers. Dirty Powers."
Lance arrived at the hospital in two minutes flat. He picked the dying girl up and carried her into the hospital. He threw himself into the room and very one turned to look at him, wondering what was going on.
"HELP!" Lance called and a nurse rushed forward. She took one look at the girl in the mutant's arm and her eyes widened.
"We got a bleeder here!" The nurse shouted and doctors rushed forward, removing the girl from Lance's arms and placing her on a stretcher. She was then wheeled into a pair of swinging doors and disappeared from Lance's view. From behind the doors, Lanced heard someone shout, "We're going to need over a 100 cc's of blood here, stat!"
"What happened?" A nurse demanded to know of Lance.
"I don't know." he answered, "I was driving into town when I almost ran over her body. I don't know what happened before that."
The nurse frowned, "Another girl attacked."
When Professor Xavier's, of Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, emergency call was released most of the mutants were sleeping.
Only Kitty, Scott, Jean and Rogue were up. Kitty was currently spaced out, thinking about Lance Alvers despite her better judgment. Rogue was watching her favourite late night television and Scott and Jean were finishing up their homework.
Then Professor Xavier and Ororo, aka Storm, walked into the room where they sat. Everyone, expect Kitty, turned their heads to the professor, surprised to see him up so late.
"What's up, Professor?" Scott asked.
"It seems that a young girl was just brought into the hospital, bleeding from a terrible stomach wound. From what I've heard this girl was attacked because of what she says is 'dirty power'. I want you and the others to check it out." Professor Xavier said, "See if you can read her mind, Jean."
"Will do, Professor." Jean complied.
"Ah, Professor won't they like not let us in since we're mutants an'all." Rogue asked and Xavier shook his head.
"They've already let the mutant who brought the young girl in stay, so the four of you will be as well." Xavier said.
"A mutant found the girl?" Scott questioned and then he glowered, "The Brotherhood."
"Yes, Lance Alvers brought the girl in." Xavier said
"Alvers." Scott growled and Kitty's hand snapped up. Rogue raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Blushing a bit, Kitty lowered her head hating the fact that her good friend could always see her emotions.
"Why would Alvers bring the girl in?" Jean questioned.
Xavier shook his head again, "From what I heard he almost ran over her in the road just outside of town."
"I bet they did this." Scott said angrily, "They probably just let it get out of hand again and Alvers brought her in. The Brotherhood is no good."
"Why are you always like saying that!?" Kitty demanded, jumping from her seat, "The Brotherhood would never physically harm someone on purpose!"
"They would, too." Scott shot back.
"Would not!"
"Would to!"
"Kitty's right, Scott. Until we have the proper evidence we can't blame the Brotherhood. That's why I have just decided that only Kitty and Rogue will go." Xavier said.
"What!? They can't go with Alvers there. He might attack them!" Scott thundered in horror.
"The last thing the mutants need right now is for a confrontation when people are just starting to trust us again. If you and Alvers start a fight, we will lose that trust again. I'm asking you and Jean to stay behind. Kitty and Rogue can take care of themselves." Professor Xavier said.
"I won't let them go alone!" Scott shouted.
"Scott, Professor Xavier's right!" Jean shot back, surprising Scott, "The less people that go the better. You will start a fight with Alvers if he's still there. We can't take that risk." Scott stared at her as if she had just physically stabbed him in the back and Jean looked regretful, but she stood firm.
Scott growled again and moved to go to the stairs to his room. As he passed Kitty, he said harshly, "Sometimes I wonder whose side you're on."
Kitty said nothing, she just glared. Rogue shook her head and moved to get her coat. Kitty, wearing long sleeves and pants, felt no need to retrieve her jacket. Instead, she just stood and went to Scott's car, which Rogue would drive.
Rogue and Kitty drove in silence as they made their way to the hospital. Kitty leaned against the front passenger seat and looked out the window. She found her thought were filled with Lance…
Rogue saw her friend's wistful face and she didn't need to have Jean's power to know what the young woman was thinking about.
"Ya really do care about Alvers, don't ya?" She asked casually. She knew that if Kitty wanted to talk about it, she'd tell Rogue. Kitty and Rogue had come to a sort of silent pact. They would not judge each other and they could tell each other about the problems in their life.
Kitty looked over at Rogue and saw her eyes were void of emotion. She sighed and looked back to the window, "I like don't know." she answered, "The fact is that Lance's is like our enemy, which Scott happily points out to me every day. Something inside me just tells me like Lance is not evil even though he's working for the side, ya know?"
Rogue nodded and Kitty fell back into silence. As the drove, Rogue realized Kitty may just be in love with the enemy. She wondered if Lance shared Kitty's feelings, or if Kitty even knew. She doubted it since Kitty seemed so confused about how she was always defending Lance.
Of course, Rogue would say nothing of her realization. She didn't want to push Kitty into something she wasn't ready for. She would find out on her own and if she didn't… well, maybe that would be for the best. Kitty's love story sounded too much like Romeo and Juliet for her taste. And since the story by William Shakespeare had ended with tragedy it didn't make Rogue feel too happy.
They finally pulled up and the hospital and hopped out of the car. The automatic doors slid open. Rogue and Kitty stepped in and the nurse behind the sign-on desk looked up at them in surprise. But she didn't say anything as Kitty and Rogue walked down the corridor.
"Ah think she's gonna have a heart-attack." Rogue said smirking.
Kitty laughed, feeling better, "Yeah."
"Now, what room are we lookin' for?" Rogue questioned.
"The professor like said the girl was in ICU in room 203." Kitty said, remembering what their professor had said, "He said we just see if the girl is awake and if she's not then to come back later. He also said to get Alvers to leave if he's still with the girl." Kitty saw a sign on the wall the point them to the ICU.
They turned and Rogue said, "Ah doubt Alvers is there. He is a Brotherhood member, Kitty. They're not known for their morals."
Kitty lowered her head and said nothing. Even though some part of her wanted to defend Lance, Rogue was right. He's the enemy, her mind shouted, and here I am ready to like leap to his defense. God, I'm pathetic. No wonder why Scott's angry with me. But then Kitty shook her head fiercely. No, Scott had no right to be angry with her. He always was so judgmental when it came to the Brotherhood. If he hadn't been so much like that, then Lance would've stayed on the X-Men team. Instead, he left because he couldn't handle the X-Men and Scott's false accusations. I'd like probably leave as well, Kitty thought but it didn't dull the ache in her heart. She had asked Lance to stay for her, but he had said no.
Rogue stopped at the door marked 203 and peeked into the window. Her eyes were wide when she turned back to Kitty.
"This is the room, but someone else is in there." Rogue said.
Lance? Kitty thought and looked in the glass on the door as well. She didn't see Lance, but that was because a body was blocking her view. The person standing in front of the door was small to be sure, but tall enough to cover the glass on the door. Kitty wondered why Rogue was so surprised.
Then the person standing in front of the door, moved away and turned to the side so Kitty could see a face. Her eyes widened as she pushed open the door. The person inside the room turned to face Rogue and Kitty.
Kitty and Rogue moved in the room to stare at the person in wonder. This person was the last person they would expect to see in the hospital visiting a girl no one knew or knew why she was here.
So Kitty said in a strangled voice that had Lance Alvers looking up from his spot in the chair in the corner, "Miss Summers?"
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So, that's the end of Chapter Six. What did you think? I bet you can tell what the first pairing of the story is going to be. *grins* Who wants to take a guess at who I'm putting together? You'll be surprised who it'll turn out to be! Stay tuned for Chapter Seven: The Slayed where we see the Kitty/Lance relationship unfold more. Until then review!
"Some say the glass is half empty, some say the glass is half full, I say, are you going to drink that?" --Lisa Claymen
-Lizzy Rebel