Chapter Eleven: Time to Find Our Friends

And here's Chapter Eleven! I'm combining this scene with the one called "Lover's Quarrel", but obviously, the name doesn't fit, so I'm just leaving this chapter's title the way it is. And I'm not gonna write all the scenes with Wolverine, mainly because he got enough focus in the original movies.

thewriternextdoo:

1. Thanks! Yeah, her flying the Jet was probably the closest we were gonna get to see her fly on the big screen (unless you wanna be morbid and also include when she was sucked out of the Jet earlier). Although, I didn't really like that she was screaming hysterically. But when she flies the Jet in this version... Let's just say that fear will be the last thing on her mind.

2. Yeah, the love triangle seemed out of nowhere to me. At the time, having only watched one or two seasons of Evolution, I wasn't aware of the Shadowcat/Colossus pairing.

3. I do have a reason for Rogue to have moved to another room in the next story, but we'll get to it when we get to it (right now, she's in a room without roommates). Either way, Rogue is much nicer to Kitty in this version than in the original.

0001234: Thanks! And no, Rogue doesn't rescue Cyclops...in THIS story. ;) (It would be nice to see in this type of story, but I'm too worried about accidentally turning her into a Mary Sue, which many people don't like)

Cellorules: Again, I wish all the chapters could be longer as well. But I'm doing the best that I can!

genbo: Yay!

Also, a side note: this story's review count surpassed the one for the previous story! I know, it's probably not that big of a deal, but to me, it's a milestone! XD

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

Magneto ripped the door to the control room away and walked in with Storm, Jean, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine. Jean, who was telekinetically holding a pair of soldiers behind them, tossed them away.

"Have you found it?" Magneto asked Mystique.

"A large portion of energy from the dam has been diverted to this chamber," she said. She pulled up a digital map on one of the monitors.

"Cerebro," Storm gasped in disbelief.

"There it is," Magneto muttered.

"Can you you shut it down from here?" asked Storm.

The shape-shifter rolled her eyes. "No."

Magneto gently took her arm. "Come. There's little time."

"Not without us," Jean insisted. Magneto shared a quick pondering look with Mystique.

"Oh, my God." Storm dashed to another monitor. "The children." She turned to Nightcrawler. "Kurt, will you come with me?"

"Yes," he said right away, after watching Mystique closely. Much like his newly found sister, he didn't really want to be around the evil woman after learning the truth. She may be their mother, but she didn't seem to care about them at all. For now, he could only pray for her.

No one noticed Wolverine examine another monitor, which showed Stryker.

"Where are they?" Storm asked.

"They're being held in a cell one level down," said Mystique.

"All right," said Storm, addressing her and Magneto, "we'll get the children and meet you at Cerebro."

Jean nodded. "Okay. I'll try to find Scott and the professor."

Storm looked at her with a bit of worry. "Will you be all right without us?"

The telepath stared at Magneto and Mystique. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Storm then looked around the chamber. "Where's Logan?"

For Wolverine had, once again, left them, leaving his com link behind.

Knowing that they couldn't waste time worrying about Wolverine, the X-Men and the Brotherhood had split up. Magneto and Mystique were heading to Stryker's Cerebro, with Jean close behind.

Suddenly, Jean began sensing a presence. It was something very familiar, but somehow very dangerous as well. They passed a corner when Jean saw Cyclops, looking ready to fire at them. Jean quickly pushed Magneto and Mystique to the floor with telekinesis, all of them barely missing the optic blast. While steam poured out of the damaged pipe, Jean shouted, "Go! I'll take care of him!"

The two Brotherhood mutants heeded her words and left.

Jean got up and sent Cyclops flying backwards, but he shot another optic blast, clumsily trying to hit her.

Storm and Nightcrawler went looking for the cell the students were in.

"Help us! Anybody!" They heard children cry. They ran towards a hatch in the floor and Storm looked through it.

"Jubilee?"

"Storm!" Jubilee called out. She and the rest of the students all begged for them to help.

"Okay, we're coming," said Storm. As soon as she said this, she heard a bamf! behind her.

Nightcrawler had teleported into the cell, to the students' astonishment.

Jean had lost Cyclops. "Scott?" She cautiously walked around, looking for her dear friend. She reached out, trying to find his presence, and looked behind her. He was standing there, and he fired a huge optic blast at her.

She quickly held up her hands to telekinetically shield herself, but the force was so strong, she was pushed back.

"Scott, don't do this!" she shouted.

But like Nightcrawler in the White House, Cyclops was under mind control. He wasn't about to listen to anyone. He walked closer, still firing the blast. Jean managed to get her footing and closed her eyes. Then she opened them again, a fiery glow in them, and sent the force of the blast back at him, which knocked them both backwards.

Unfortunately, the room they were in was inside the dam, and the damage caused giant cracks to appear. Water slowly began leaking inside the dam.

Cyclops walked up to Jean, who was lying on her back. When she cried out, he quickly said, "Jean, no, no, no! It's okay!" He was free from the mind control. "It's okay, it's me!"

"Scott," she said weakly.

"I'm so sorry!" he gasped, helping her sit up. He pulled her into a tight hug.

"I thought I'd lost you!" Jean cried, holding him close. She hadn't held him this close since they were together.

"I'm so sorry," he couldn't stop apologizing. "I could see you, but I couldn't stop myself. I tried. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she assured him.

They were no longer a couple, but they still cared about each other very much. They couldn't bear the thought of losing each other.

He helped her sit up more.

"Ow!" she cried out in pain. "My leg."

"Easy," he soothed her. Once she was comfortable, he asked her, "Is Marie okay?"

Jean couldn't help but smile at his concern for the southern mutant. "She's in the Jet, waiting for us. She'll be so happy to see that you're okay." When he smiled in relief, she suddenly tensed up. "Scott...something's wrong."

The dam was gonna break soon. They needed to find the others, and the professor, and get out of there!

And there's Chapter Eleven! Just wanna make sure I'm 100% clear: even though Scott and Jean broke up, they still love each other (as close friends), and care about each other deeply. Got it memorized? (Props to anyone that recognizes this quote)

I learned that the explosion from Cyclops and Jean's fight was going to leave her blinded, but that idea was soon abandoned. A couple scenes were filmed like that, though; in the scene when Wolverine shut the dam door to save the X-Men from the flood, Jean was the only one not looking at him (at first). I have a feeling that her injured leg was added in last minute so that Cyclops had a reason to support her as they ran. I wanted to try adding that in, but it didn't really have much of an impact on the story, so I just left it the way it is.