BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 12: GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS

Hank and Gale were walking through to the 'hospital' area or at least the space that was used as it. It was a large open area with small army cots or just ripped up pieces of blankets to sleep on. Helping her dad in a clinic she had helped him take care of those less fortunate at times so she had some experience with this. She saw many mutants there lying down, some were trying to help other looked as though they held the hands of loved ones.

She saw one little girl hugging what was most likely her mother who looked very sick. Gale tried to shut out all the emotions but it was so hard. The place was filled with grief, fear, and sadness. It was so overwhelming and she had to use all the training she had to shut it all out. They immediately went to work, they found a few of the healers there and Gale used her own powers to help as best she could.

Hank had an easy time, most likely since because of how he looked he was more accepted as one of them. They worked tirelessly with them, Hank drew blood samples as well as gave them shots of antibiotics and several other things. He looked to see that they were all suffering differently, if their immune system was dropping then a common flu or cold could cause much damage if their bodies didn't or couldn't fight it off.

He looked over to see a sheet being thrown over one of them and sighed. 'Who could be heartless to do something like this? Most likely the most cowardly lot those that will order the deaths of thousands but never see the faces of their victims.' He only wished that he could do more for these people, no one deserved this, to live like this. Shunned from the world and isolated because of how you looked.

That he knew all too well just how it felt. At least he was living in a nice place, these people were forced to live in barbaric conditions and the injustice of it all made a part of him angry. But he didn't let it fester inside of himself, he had work to take care of and these people and those at the mansion were counting on him.

Gale was starting to feel the drain from all the healing but she kept on going. At the moment she was between a teen boy and girl almost her own age, the boy had black skin and the girl was as pale as a ghost. She had already healed the girl a little and was on the boy. She touched that warm feeling inside of her when she used her healing powers and in her mind saw his body. She increased his immune system but down here she could see some of what was killing them. It was small and she knew it wasn't part of the body.

Back at the mansion she only had these faded shapes to work with, whatever attacked the white blood cells soon dissolved but not before doing whatever damage it could to the body first, but down here it was different.

'It's more concentrated down here…More potent…That has to be why it's still in their system,' She thought to herself as she healed his body up. Whatever attacked them at the mansion hadn't affected them as much that was for sure, the Morlocks had more sick people down here then they did and they are also in much worse shape. They even had a few fatalities from this stuff as well, 'What's different here? What do they have more of then we do?'

She stopped her thinking as she finished healing him. The boy grown and looked up at her, his eyes were all red and he smiled. "So I guess you're an angel to great me into heaven huh?"

She gave a small laugh, "No, sorry you're still alive."

"Figures, I was wondering why heaven smelled like a sewer," He looked at her and smile a bit more warmly, "Well you're a pretty new face, tell me you the new nurse? Cause I wouldn't mind that at all."

Gale grinned back at him, "Sorry and don't get your hopes up with me either."

"What you don't like guys that look like me?"

"I don't like guys…Period." His face fell a bit as he figured out what she meant.

The pale girl next to them laughed and Gale noticed for the first time she had the same eyes, "Just you're luck brother."

"Bite me sis."

"Twins?" Gale asked given they were the same age and the eyes. Plus there were a few similar features like in the chin and cheek area and similar build as well.

"Yep," The girl said and looked up at her although still lying down on her cot, "I'm Spirit and that's Wraith. Nice to see a new face although from the getup you're not one of us are you." From her uniform and the fact that her skin wasn't pale from living below sunlight was a major clue for the pale girl. That and she looked 'normal' very few Morlocks could pass for people up top and those that did she knew.

Gale shook her head, "No I'm with the X-Men we're here to help out down here." She looked over her shoulder at all the others, "It looks really bad down here."

Wraith sighed and closed his eyes trying to rest, "It's bound to get worse I just know it."

"Pessimist." His sister said.

"Delusional." He said back but both were smiling. Gale sensed no malice in fact she sensed only love for the other and worry for the other as well. They two kept on going back and forth and she had to stop herself from giggling at their antics. Even in the darkest moment they were trying to lift each other's spirits in their own unique way. She couldn't help but take a liking to them, they were unique people to say the least.

-Meeting Room-

Callisto and Scott had been talking about everything that had gone on. Exchanging dates when the first ones started to get sick. They noticed that the Morlocks were sick first and that they were in worst shape. Scott wanted to wait for Hank to get back although there could be a few reasons why this was. Maybe because they didn't live in such a clean environment to malnutrition, but he wanted to hear what Beast had to say first.

"So far Beast thinks that it's a poison that's causing the sickness." Scott told her.

Callisto's eye narrowed a bit as her jaw clenched. She remembered the last time this had happened with the illegal dumping but if this was deliberate then heads would roll. "Are you serious?

"We think so, have there been anything dumped here?" Scott asked her.

"We usually send out patrols to look for illegal dumping and then…take care of them."

Scott didn't like the sound of that, "What do you mean by that?"

Callisto just crossed her arms, "It means we protect our own."

"Ya mean lahke last time?" Rogue asked remembering how they attacked that factory of Spears when he was sending some of the by-product from his energy drinks into the sewers. That had been a very messy and also was when Evan left them.

"We take care of our own, besides it's not like they'll go to the authorities. Then they would have to explain the illegal dumping they were doing and they can't risk that." Callisto then brought out a map and placed it on the table. "I've had every since factory checked out and they're all clean. No one had been using storm drains either and any other place they dump doesn't lead here but out to the bay."

Scott wanted to comment on her attacking people and how that would only be bad for mutants but now wasn't the time. He could sense they were on shaky ground as it was with them and didn't want to push too hard with this woman. He looked at the map although it looked old and there were drawings on it that seemed to be their way of making it more up to date. "What about other places?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…If someone is dumping a poison down here or pumping it in if it's air born then where would those places be?"

Callisto thought about that, if it was air there were a few shafts that led to the surface that could work but if it was water based then they could place it in a number of areas. "There are several main spots and a lot more other places…That's a lot of ground to cover."

"Then maybe we should send out teams to check it out." Warren stated, "If we try to find places that are out of the way we should find something to tell us where it's either coming from or maybe where they are using the poison."

Scott nodded, "Sounds good to me, Callisto would you object to some of us helping? It would cut the time down to find this and we'll leave some here to help with things as well."

Callisto nodded, the faster they found these people the sooner they would pay for this. Scott looked to Warren, "Think you can handle things from here?"

"Sure shouldn't be a problem," Warren guessed that he was to stay because his wings weren't much use in the small tunnels and his age would make him the most responsible one here. He didn't notice Callisto smirk at this as she eyes the tall mutant.

"Well then I'll have some Morlocks show you around and be your guides," The powerful woman said and then looked at Warren and this time he did noticed that look. He had seen it a few times from women and knew he was in trouble how. He was still working things out with Candy Southern. Okay despite the missing eye and the scar line across her face he did admit that Callisto wasn't too bad looking.

He preferred the strong willed women but then again there was something else about her, maybe cause she looked at him like a piece of meat or maybe the fact she had this aura of power and he knew that she could really hurt him if she wanted to. At the moment he wasn't sure if this was such a good idea but he would go through with it. He just hoped he was wrong about it or this could get very complicated.

They all left the small meeting room as Callisto called out several names and a group of Morlocks showed up of all various ages, sizes and in some cases shapes. They easily planned out who would go with who and who would lead who where. Warren had to be impressed with her leadership to say the least of her. She seemed to command them all like a general but they all seemed to highly respect this woman as well.

Warren was beginning to wonder what kind of life she had lived to make her like this? It couldn't have been an easy one and she seemed to truly care about these people. He could see it in her as she looked at a few of them that were showing signs of sickness. This would defiantly be an interesting experience to say the least.

-Later-

Scott and Rogue were left with moving to where one of the sources of water for the sewers came from. They had been led part of the way by a few Morlocks but then they split up in order to hurry and find anything out of the ordinary. They were looking for anything out of the ordinary and Scott was glad that they backed a few of those luminous flairs. The glow stick looking things that you just crack and they light up, although given some of the things they were seeing he kind of preferred the darkness. The smell (which he was disturbed to find that he was getting used to it) was bad enough and he really didn't care to see where the smells came from.

He did notice that Rogue was giving him the silent treatment again, 'Man what did I do to piss her off?' Cyclops thought trying to think of something. 'Times like this I wish I had Jean's power, it would make this so much easier.'

After a bit more he really didn't like the silence, "How were they doing when you were in the infirmary?" He figured when she went to get Hank and Gale that she'd go an see Vince and Kurt, he would have.

"They're doin' okay ah guess," She said simply and then just clammed up. It was like when she first got to the Institute all over again. He didn't know what was going on, they used to be a lot more open then this for the last year so why was she acting so cold to him?

He took her arm then, "Okay what's going on? You've been ignoring me for awhile now."

"Now ya know how it feels," She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothin'"

"Rogue I want to know what's going on," He pleaded with her as he let go of her arm, "Come on we're friends aren't we?"

She rolled her eyes, Rogue guessed that he wouldn't let it go and it was just the two of them. Maybe she should just let him have it? Vince said she needed to be more open well were was a good change for that. "Are we still friends?" She asked him crossing her arms looking at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Scott before ya started ta date Jean we used ta beh good friends. We hung out a lot and now…Now we hardly even talk anymore outside of a Danger Room settin'." It was also true that she had a huge crush on him at first, thankfully she grew out of it and found her own love life that she was more then happy with. "Ah mean sure ah'm finally in a relationship but ah make time ta beh with my friends."

Scott didn't know what to say about that. Had he been pushing the others aside? "Rogue I…I didn't mean to make you feel like I was pushing you away or anything."

"Yeah well…could have fooled meh," She said sadly turning away from him. "Scott…Ya were mah first friend…and ah mean ever. Ya never gave up on meh even when ah was with tha Brotherhood."

"That's because I knew deep down you were a good person." He said softly to her and his words did give her a hint of a smile. "I guess I should have seen what I was doing but you got to understand. I've been in love with Jean for years, it killed me seeing her with Duncan all that time and still trying to be her friend. There were days I wanted to scream my head off at it all."

Rogue could relate that was exactly how she felt when she used to see Scott with Jean all the time. But now she was happy for them, they did deserve each other.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Rogue I'm sorry I mean it. I never wanted to hurt you or anyone else. It's just that I dreamed of being with Jean for so long…"

Rogue nodded her heard she knew exactly how he felt. She had taken his memories and when Jean's powers had gone out of control and they used her to reach Jean. She never told anyone but she had felt the connection they had, she had felt how much they cared for each other. It was then that she realized she would never have Scott and when she tried to move on. "Ah guess ah can understand that at least…"

"I guess with college, Jean and everything that I have been a little out of it lately."

"A little?" She asked getting a little humour back into her voice.

"Okay maybe more then a little," He said with a lopsided grin, "But you got to tell me these things. Unlike Jean or Xavier I'm not a mind reader." She sighed and nodded not saying anything, "But I don't want to loose you're friendship Rogue, so here's the deal. If I ever start to do something like that again, smack me upside the head."

She smiled at that and looked at him, "Ya realize ah could literally take your head off now right?"

He just shrugged, "Guess that means I have better incentive then."

Scott was glad to see her smile a little, he really hadn't noticed what he had been doing lately. With everything and trying to restore his friendship with Paul it had been kind of hectic. He was glad that he wouldn't lose her friendship but he'd have to be more careful about this from now on. He really didn't want to become one of those people who when they start dating someone knew they just blew off all their friends.

He might have to talk with Jean later about this, he didn't want her to fall into the same trap at he had. They continued on for ten more minutes and he was hoping for something to show up. Everyone was getting sick, Morlocks were starting to die, and then there were the others. His team mates and friends were sick, Jean was sick and there was no way he would let her die.

When Scott had seen a few of the bodies of those that had died his mind flashed to Jean and what would happen if it was her. He felt like his soul would be shredded if that happened, and if she had died then whoever was poisoning the water supply he feared what he would do to them.

Eventually they started to hear a lot of rushing water and guessed they were nearly some type of plant or something. The sound got very loud like a rushing river was near them when they came up to a ladder. Scott looked up to see a hatch there.

"Ah wonder if it's locked?" Rogue asked him seeing the hatch up there.

"I could blast it," He offered then noticed her rolling her eyes, "Or…you could just fly up there and easily break it open."

She agreed with the second choice and floated on up, the hatch had been locked but with her new level of strength all she had to do was push it. The metal easily gave way as the locks snapped and she pushed it back. She saw clear night sky and flew on out. She looked around while Scott was climbing up, it looked like something to do with the water supply of the town. She wasn't sure what they did here since she had no clue how the water system worked.

"Y'all know what this place is?" She asked him when he arrived.

Cyclops scanned the area and looked around, "I…Think it's one of the places that purity the town's water supply."

Nothing seemed to be out of the order at the moment but then they both saw a few headlights behind the large fence around the facility. They saw a gate open up and both of had to hide. There was a small squared building that was a pumping control station that Rogue easily broke open the simple lock door and both hid inside of it.

The place was totally dark with only one window and a flight of cement stairs to a pumping machine with controls. It was a bit loud but it would mask any noise they made. They kept the door open a crack to watch as several tanker trucks moved into the area. "What's goin' on? They don't look lahke what ah would expect ta beh here."

"I don't know, let's wait and watch." He said as the two mutants looked on. The trucks stopped and men in work clothing started to pile out and get hoses off the tankers. They started to connect them to the trucks and then to other pipes as well. It was soon obvious that they were pumping something into the water supply. Unfortunately from the noise they couldn't hear anything what they were saying.

It was then Rogue noticed what was on the side of the truck, "Hey that logo…Isn't that tha company Spears owns?"

Scott looked and saw it and something clicked in his head. They all remembered Spears and his Power8 drink that was poisonous to mutants. Seeing the logo and what they were doing and now mutants being sick? It was too much of a coincidence. He wanted to stop them but with just the two of them he didn't like the odds. They could be armed and he had to get the word out about this. "As soon as they go we get back and warn them all about this."

Rogue looked at him, she wanted to stop this, "We don't know what they're doing Rogue, we can't prove anything and if we just attack then it will make mutants look bad. Trust me I hate this too…But we can't act, at least not for now." Scott also knew that the Morlocks wouldn't be pleased with this at all, they already had one ugly meeting with Spears and this time he just knew things would get worse.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 13: INVESTIGATION