3
Bobby spent most of that day at school ignoring his teachers and trying to think of a way to ask Kitty to the dance. He decided early on that simply going up and asking her was not an option. He wanted to do it big, extravagant, and romantic, in some way that would blow her away and leave her with no option but to say yes. He already felt like she would say yes to him under normal circumstances, but most of his ideas fell apart as soon as he remembered she wasn't talking to him. He thought a lot more on that, realizing he probably came off a lot like Lance when he pushed her away. She was only trying to help and he acted like a jerk. What he didn't understand was why she wasn't even giving him a chance to apologize. Kurt had been right when he said Kitty didn't hold grudges, and she always relished someone trying to make up for past mistakes. Usually it would take someone playing taste tester for whatever food she got in her head to cook, and a few days later when their stomach was back to normal so would everything else. Her behavior now, the way she was avoiding him and giving him the cold shoulder when she couldn't, completely ignoring all attempts to apologize, made Bobby believe that she the only way she would be that hurt was if she really did like him; it was the only reason he could come up with as to why she would be taking it so badly this long.
He was in his last class for the day, sketching out plans in his head for a song and dance number to perform at lunch the next day when the teacher jarred him back to reality by dropping a note on the his desk. "You're wanted in the office Bobby." The note, a carbon paper copy of an attendance office slip said that he was leaving early. Not knowing why or who would pull him out of school, he gathered his things and headed to the front of the school. He walked into the Administration office and there, standing in front of the counter arguing with Principal Kelly was Scott.
"You are not authorized to take him out of school, plain and simple. You are a minor—"
"I'm nineteen, and in college."
"All the more evidence that you are not his parent or legal guardian. I understand that Xavier has special permission from all the parents of the..." Kelly had to pause for a moment to stop himself from saying something out of hand, "children at that Institute of his, but that permission does not extend to you Mr. Summers."
"The Professor called this morning and cleared it with your assistant that I could take Bobby out in his place. With his disability it's easier this way."
"Disability? We both know he hardly has a disability with his--"
"Whatever he can do, he still is a man who has to live his life in a wheelchair, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who could cause you a lot of problems if word got out that you were making life even more difficult for the handicapped."
Kelly stood to his full height, which still came up short against Scott's tall frame. "This is just one of many reasons I was glad to be rid of you Summers. You, like all your kind, have no respect for authority. You think that you're above the law, above the rules, above everyone. You think you're superior, free to do whatever you want because nature gave an unfair advantage over the rest of us. But you're just a pack of lawless freaks that will be stopped."
"Unfair advantage? You think I have an unfair advantage? I have to wear these glasses because I can't turn off my so-called advantage. I have to walk through a world that's forever red because nature decided I should be different. Do you have any idea what it's like to always be afraid that these things might fall off, or the lenses will suddenly stop working or break, and that I might accidentally hurt someone? Do you know what it's like to not be able to look my girlfriend straight in the eyes and tell her I love her because I might kill her?
"You think that we're all the same, that we're all like Magneto or Apocalypse or Lance Alvers, but most of us, especially those of us Xavier has taken in, just want to live a normal life. We want to go to college and get a job and grow old in suburbia with our families. But we can't because people like you are always in the way. And when we try to make a difference with our powers, when we try to save lives and stop those who would abuse their powers, all we get is people like you who call us monsters and freaks and menaces. We fight to protect a world that hates and fears us, when all we want is to live in peace. But we'll never have that because people like you will always be there telling us we're different, we're wrong, that we need to be locked up and kept away from everyone, that being a mutant should be illegal. Or worse, we should be exterminated.
"So remember Kelly, every time you start giving someone problems just because they're a mutant, anytime you push anyone mutant or human that doesn't deserve it, you're helping to make another Alvers or another Magneto. I don't think that's what you got into teaching to do. Come on Drake, we need to go."
Scott walked past him, and Bobby took in the sight of his dumbfounded Principal for a moment before following Scott out the door. He too was slightly stunned, and just stared at the older X-Man.
"What is it Drake?" he asked at last.
"That was just, so damn awesome!"
Scott glanced over at him for a moment, then grinned. "Been wanting to tell that guy off for a long time now."
"So where are we going anyways?"
"Professor decided you get a free flight to Hawaii."
"Sweet."
-------------
Despite their bonding over the way Scott stood up to Kelly, the first hour of their flight to Hawaii was a mostly silent affair. Ororo initiated conversation with each of them, but could not get them to talk much to each other. Deciding that the Professor might be right and that they would have to rebuild what was lost themselves, she put the plane on autopilot and pulled out her book. They had another two hours until the Blackbird would land, and hopefully the silence would crack the ice.
It took another twenty minutes before one of them made the first move.
"Listen, Bobby," Scott said.
"Yeah?"
"We should probably talk about Saturday. Probably why the Professor had you come with me to get Alex."
"Yeah, probably."
"I know you're still angry about it all. I know you feel betrayed or manipulated by your friends."
"A little."
"Maybe we didn't handle it the best way. But I'm not going to lie to you and say I wouldn't do it all over again. You've proven yourself before, sure, and I'm happy to have you on the team full time. There were times I was just like you, wondering when the Professor was going to put you on the team. But it was my idea to test you, and the Professor agreed, with everything he's seen coming. We need to make sure the team is strong enough to handle it all."
"Scott dude, he told me all about it. I understand. You don't need to explain. Sorry I over reacted without hearing you all out and sorry about decking you like that."
"Yeah, don't do that again."
"Don't be such a jerk about everything," Bobby said with a grin.
There was pause in the conversation, neither one knowing where to go from there. "Kinda scary," Scott said at last, "I thought Apocalypse would be the worst thing we'd ever face and the Professor says it's just the beginning."
"Yeah, we'll get through it. Or we'll do our best at least."
"Which is why you need to start following orders better."
"Thought you turned human for a second, back to leader robot now I guess."
"I mean it Bobby, you could have gotten you and Kitty killed if it was the real thing with that stunt you pulled this morning."
"I know, I know, dumb move on my part. That's why we train right, to learn?"
"That's why we do it. Look, I don't want you to think I'm coming down on only you. I'm just trying to make sure we're at the top of our game. I'm still glad you're on the team and you have huge potential to be even better. Just watch out for yourself and your teammates from now on, okay?"
"I will. Thanks Scott."
"You're welcome. We cool now?"
"I think so."
They sat in silence for some more time, until Bobby spoke up. "How did you ask Jean out?"
Scott just laughed. "I was kidnapped by Mystique and she came and rescued me."
"Already thought of that one, I don't think it would work out."
"Yeah, I'm probably not the best guy to go to for relationship advice. Took me what, four years to tell her how I felt?"
"You and Kurt both suck. I'd have better luck asking Jamie for help; at least he has an excuse. He has no idea how to ask a girl out."
-------------
At that very moment in Bayville, irony reared its head and struck.
"Rahne? I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the dance with me next week."
"Sure Jamie, Aye'd love ta go with ya!"
-------------
Ororo landed the Blackbird at a small airfield outside the town Alex lived in with his foster parents. They went back into the cargo hold and piled into the jeep stored there, and headed off meet Alex. The young surfer was waiting for them with his foster parents on the porch of their home.
"Scott bro, what's happening?"
"Hey Alex," he said, hugging his brother, "good to see you!"
"Man, I totally can't believe I'm coming to live with you guys! Just before winter too, I'm totally going to freeze to death. Hey, speaking of freezing, the Iceman himself!" he and Bobby exchanged a manly high five/fist tap with each other. They had caused some chaos together with Kurt when Alex had stayed for an overdue visit with Scott after Apocalypse. "How's it going dude? Scott told me you made X-Man, not bad!"
"Yeah, I'm stuck taking orders from your brother now."
"Sucks man, he can be a total drag!"
Alex introduced Ororo and Bobby to his parents. Ororo stayed behind to assure them of Alex's safety at the mansion while the boys got Alex's bags from his room and brought them to the jeep. They were heading back for a final goodbye when Ororo's phone rang.
"Hello Charles... yes, we were just about to leave... what, here?... Of course, we'll head over there right away." She hung up the phone. "Cerebro has picked up multiple signals from the Brotherhood boys just a few blocks from here."
"The Brotherhood? What are they doing here?"
"That's what we are going to find out. Alex, I want you to stay here and—"
"No way Ms Munroe, I'm joining the Institute, I want to help out."
"Alex dear," his mother started.
"Mom, I'll be safest with them then back here waiting alone. It'll be fine, these guys are total pushovers."
The X-Men and Alex ran to the jeep and headed off. Their first sign they were getting close was the rumbling they felt through the jeep. "Avalanche," Scott said through gritted teeth as he switched his glasses with his visor and strapped the hand control to the inside of his palm.
The site they found as they rounded one last corner was not the one they expected to see. In the middle of a small park between buildings was a large metal sphere, a larger version of the one Magneto usually transported his followers in. It was dug into the ground as if it had crashed there rather then landing gently as Magneto usually commanded them to. Around the pod were members of the Brotherhood. Blob stood out in front, his large girth acting as a shield for Avalanche, who stood slightly behind Blob and was sending out small shock waves. Toad was crouched on the side of the sphere, peaking his head out over Blob's.
Surrounding them all was a large, angry mob of people. Many of them carried some form of weapon, everything from bats to shotguns. The Brotherhood and the mob were in a sort of holding pattern a safe distance from each other, but the X-Men could already see tensions were high. Someone threw a rock and it bounced off of Blob and landed in a pile at his feet of other things that had been thrown. "Heh heh," he chuckled, "you think that's going to stop the Blob?"
"Get out of here you mutie freak!"
"We don't want your kind here!"
"We don't wanna be here neither," Toad shouted. "We just wanna find the guy we're looking for."
"Other mutants are here!" one of the crowd called out. "We have muties in our town!"
"Last warning!" Avalanche yelled. "Or we're going to flatten you!"
"See how you flatten this!" came from the crowd and a there was the crack of a rifle. The bullet hit the sphere near Toad's head and ricocheted off. He screeched and leapt away from the sphere, hiding behind Blob.
"Yo Blob," he laughed as he calmed down, "you have a bullet in your butt."
"That's it, we warned you!" Lance's eyes rolled back into his head and with a stomp the ground began to quake. Most of the crowd fell to their knees as the ground rolled underneath them, but some managed to keep some semblance of balance and tried to push their way towards the mutants. Around them, windows rattled and shattered, cracks formed on the pavement of the streets, and lamppost began to sway dangerously.
One of the humans still standing threw a rock, hitting Lance in the face shield he wore and knocking him back into the metal sphere. The quake stopped, and people began to get up. Instead of the ground, angry cries to kill the muties rumbled.
"We've got to get them out of here before we have a blood bath!" Scott yelled to his team.
"Why not just take 'em down? We've got enough power between the four of us," Alex suggested.
"The crowd's likely to turn on us, even if we help them," Bobby said.
"He's right. Storm, can you give us some cover?" Scott asked.
"Of course," she said, her eyes clouding over as she rose into the air. Even in civilian clothing without the silvery cape she wore, she looked the part of the weather goddess. Wind swirled her hair as the distant sound of thunder roared out, distracting some of the crowd. A thick fog began to roll in to the square, and the cries for blood turned into cries of confusion as people began stumbling blindly in the white sheet. A breeze blew in from behind the X-Men, moving some of the fog and revealing a clear path to the stranded Brotherhood members.
The X-Men ran down this path, meeting up with the Brotherhood members half way.
"X-geeks?" Blob bellowed. "We don't need to be rescued by them! We can take this puny humans."
"Man, forget that, if that bullet hit me and I'd be a dead froggy," Toad said. "I'll take any out I can get."
"Besides, our orders are not to fight the humans," Lance added, "or you dorks, if we can help it."
"Save it Alvers, let's just get out of here before they find their way out of the fog," Cyclops replied.
They couldn't all fit into the Jeep, so Storm stayed airborne, pulling Bobby and Alex up with the help of some strong winds, while Scott drove the Brotherhood a safe distance away. They had made it to the other side of town and were in a small, secluded cove before they started to speak again. Storm took the car to get the Blackbird while the younger mutants spoke.
"Spill it Avalanche, what are you doing here fighting a crowd of humans."
"We weren't here to pick a fight four eyes, we're here to recruit him," Lance said, pointing at Alex.
"Me? Are you guys crazy? Why would I go join up with you three losers?"
"Brotherhood isn't just us anymore," Lance said. "Magneto's made us a paradise. Not just us, but all mutants. He's making all mutants into a Brotherhood."
"Yeah man," Toad piped up. "It's like the garden of Eden type paradise. No people trying to shoot you cause you're a stud like me, just mutants living in peace."
"Like Asteroid M was a safe, peaceful place for mutants?"
"Magneto changed his ideas after Apocalypse. He saw how survival of the fittest might not be best, and decided to just help mutants survive. No tests to get in, no pledging your loyalty to Magneto, you just have to be a mutant. And as much as I hate saying this, he told me to invite you guys if we ran into any of you."
"Magneto wants us to come live what, on his floating piece of metal?" Bobby asked.
"It's an island he made," Lance answered. "You don't need to decide, just keep an open mind about it. I might not be best friends you guys, but after all Apocalypse craziness I'd rather be sitting around not worrying about a mob killing me then fighting you guys and them."
"Speaking of mobs, what did you do to start that?" Cyclops asked.
"Nothing, they just attacked us. People are always attacking us," Blob said, genuinely dejected.
"Magneto messed up our landing or something," Lance said. "We crashed in that square and then the crowd came out. A few of them recognized us from TV and that's when they decided they wanted us dead for being mutants. It's not safe for us anymore, you have to see that. Avalon is the way to go, the way to survive."
Just then the Blackbird came over the ridge of the cove, as did the metal sphere. Both landed on the ground with doors open.
"Think about it Alex. We've got to stick together, and the X-Men are going to get you killed. Magneto will be in touch," called out Lance as he entered the sphere behind Blob and Toad. "Thank Storm for the cover for us." The sphere closed and launched into the air.
The X-Men climbed the ramp of the Blackbird. "You think they're for real?" Bobby asked.
"Doubt it Ice-dude," Alex said. "One thing I learned during my time as a mutant, don't trust Magneto."