Formed Addiction
Chapter 2 – Reality Check
"He's not going to enter this building." Wolverine stated as he positioned himself in the chair with his legs on the table.
Silence hang in the air.
"Fine." Summer said and looked at him and Storm who was standing near the window. "Then neither am I."
"Sum! Sum, stop it, of course, you and John can stay." Ororo practically ran up to her and took by the arm.
"Summer, come on, kid. You know this school is your home but this is no place for Pyro! He fought against us, you in Alcatraz!" Logan roared from his place.
"You listen to me!" Summer turned, her face angry and annoyed. "Look at yourself first. You call my boyfriend a traitor but what do you really see when you look in the mirror?"
Now the tension could be cut by a knife. Logan wanted to say something back but it seemed like there was something caught in his throat. Summer turned to the white-haired woman and said, her shoulders finally falling in a way of relaxation:
"We'll be in 'Four Seasons', Ro."
"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow, hon. Glad you're back." She kissed her friend's cheek.
"Can't say the same." And she disappeared behind the door.
"You couldn't help yourself, could you?" Storm scowled at the man behind the table.
"It didn't go well?" But it wasn't much of a question.
Summer just coughed.
"That bad?" John, who was standing his back to the car they've rented at the US airport when they arrived this morning.
"Worse…" She got in the car.
"Wolverine?" Pyro followed her.
"How did you guess?" She asked sarcastically.
As another vase, sent by a very aimed arm, hit the wall right next to Eric Lancherr's head.
"Mystique!"
"Do not call me that!" She hissed in return. "My name is Raven!"
But her skin was dark-blue once again, hair turned red like poison, eyes yellow-green, somewhat catlike. In a way more then one she was Mystique.
"You are wrong, my dear…" Magneto's calm voice said when the blue woman reached for another part of the interior to send it to gray-haired man's head. "Multiple!"
That same second a copy of James Maddox was holding the slick woman around her waist while the other James was standing ext to Eric, smirking. Mystique stopped but no because she really couldn't get away from Maddox's hold but because a part of her heart still needed…wanted to hear what Eric had to say.
"Good girl." He started.
"Good girl." She mocked him, shifting into him for a split second.
"Did you get it?" Logan asked when Kitty phased through the back door the car where Bobby was waiting for her.
"Don't I ever?" The girl handed him a file and put her shoulder-length reddish brown hair in a messy ponytail.
"Right, kid." Wolverine hissed more to himself then anyone else in the car.
"Hey…" Iceman tried to catch Kitty's attention.
"Oh, hi, honey." She gave him a usual pack on the cheek that definitely didn't have a heart in it.
"K…" And although Bobby tried to look convinced his insides were ripping from apart. Their relationships have been on edge ever for the last couple months. He himself didn't know the reason and hoped that didn't either…
"So, what is it there?" The only woman in the car inquired.
"Damn…" Logan sighed as an answer but answered her question when he was standing in front of the X-Men team that later that evening. "Do you remember the cure?"
After the series of nods and a sarcastic "who doesn't?" from Warren he went on:
"So this new substance that was discovered in the labs Kitty's been to today also blocks the X gene but a bit differentially."
"How do you mean?" Storm cut in.
"It's directed to the aim of the holder."
"Stop circling around the bush, for God's sake!" Summer snapped.
"Yeah." Anna agreed, playing with a loose strand of hair. "Define that, please."
"Basically, when the substance is injected in mutant's body it does block the gene…poisoning it."
Dreadful silence hung in the air. Warren and Anna at the window, Summer with her legs on the chair, Storm on that same chair's arm, Bobby and Kitty in different corners of a rather big couch, and Wolverine in the middle of the office with the file in his right hand.
"So…" Storm cleared her throat. "This means that this thing was created to kill mutants?"
"Exactly." The feral-man nodded.
"By who?" Iceman cut in.
"We don't know. It's not the government. If you ask me, mutant opposition."
"You're right. But, as strange as it may sound, it's not the biggest problem at hand…" Summer was met by questioning looks. "This a sign for Magneto to act again."
"Magneto?" Kitty sat up straight, looking somewhat confused. "But we haven't heard of him in at least half a year…even more."
"Well, the powers of those who were cured are back and this time he's not gonna stop, trust me."
"Why are you so sure?" Anna asked and took a hold of Angel's hand.
"Her precious boyfriend must have gotten a call from his boss…" Logan roared which caused Summer to snap her head in his direction:
"One more word and I go out of this door and never come back and you know that although I don't have the amount of power I used to you won't be able to handle it without me." Her voice was a dangerous whisper as she glared at Wolverine.
"Let's stop it right there." Ororo patted young woman's shoulder.
"What is he talking about? What boyfriend?" Warren asked, curious.
"Pyro." Wolverine snapped quietly.
A chores of "what's" and "how's" could be heard around the small office. Bobby and Kitty got especially restless.
"That's enough!" Storm wasn't the one to shout but as she said it the bolt of lightning struck outside as if to make her point. "It's already past midnight so let's just everyone go get some rest and tomorrow we can discuss it all once again, detailed."
Warren and Kitty were the first to leave the room followed closely by Logan and Storm, leaving Summer, Bobby and Anna alone.
"You are with John?" Iceman looked up at the brunette. "But I thought…"
"I don't want to talk about this." She stated.
Bobby nodded but there was clear determination in his eyes. That subject wasn't closed.
"Should have told me…" Anna said as the man disappeared.
"I know…" Summer smiled sadly. "I know…"
"What the hell are you thinking?" Ororo demanded as she ran behind Logan through the first floor's halls of the mansion. "Haven't I asked you to be easy on her?"
He didn't answer anything, just kept walking.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" The white-haired woman hollered.
As she was near the front door the bell rang.
"I'll get that but we're not done yet!"
"Who can it be at a time like this?" Wolverine turned to look as well.
Storm opened the door and froze, the expression of pure shock written on her face.
"What?" Logan asked, coming closer to see a dark-haired man in his mid-thirties about his high dressed in a black pair of jeans, dark T-shirt and a black leather jacket.
"Long time no see, Ro." The man said, his emerald eyes piercing Storms.
Logan was beginning to lose passions:
"Susie, who is this guy?"
"Derek Windom." The man on the doorsteps starched a hand for a handshake. "Her husband."
Logan's mouth formed a perfect 'o'.