A/N: OMG, my life is a mess, lol. In no particular order, my troubles include relationship (breakup/new one/etc--still trying to sort everything out), health (killer flu--lost my voice now and can't work!--along with another problem), school, and all 3 of my computers breaking down. Luckily I managed to salvage all my stories from the computer I was writing on. I'm updating on another computer right now and it's more difficult to do than before; so please bear with my now slow updates. I haven't abandoned any stories.

Thanks, you guys rock! I will post this note on all stories that are in progress.

( Volume: 4 Arc: "Lost and..." 5 Issue: 1/3 )

Chapter 140 : Gone

It took a week of house rest for Julian to recover from the exertion of saving Nori; a week which he spent in blinding pain and nausea. He'd been warned not to
use his powers for a while, by Dr. McCoy, who thought he had strained himself far too much by travelling so more attacks occurred in this time; however,
the Senior X-men had dealt with most of them, the new team only sent out once (with Laura as the substitute leader) as back-up. One mutant was saved, but two
died; the only victory achieved by the teams was that no body else died in the explosions.

Nori and Josh were similarly incapacitated by the experience. The former had indeed survived, but was verging on critical condition (even with healing), and the latter
had exhausted his resources so severely that he had an IV tube to replace lost nutrients. Emma had placed them both in a regenerative psionic coma to speed the
healing process slightly.

...

The blond-haired girl moaned slightly, her head tilting forwards. Her chest ached. She blinked, then began to turn her head slightly to the side as she noticed she was
not in a familiar surroundings. She was sitting on a chair, her hands tied behind her back; a man in a dark blue bodysuit—with a red visor—was looking down at her, his
arms folded, his expression stern. At his side was a scantily clad woman, wearing all white.

They wore X-insignia.

Her eyebrows drew together. The sedative she'd taken, somewhat similar to chloral hydrate, had the benefit of quick action and quick dissipation, so something else
must have been used to subdue her—because she felt awful.This meant she had been unconscious for a while. Sandra knew things, a lot of things about kidnapping.
She kidnapped mutants, for the Sapien League. She was a chemist, and a professional kidnap artist; she created her own knock out drugs, and sold them, as well as
kidnapping. She 'took' humans, too, for commission; however, she was a strong anti-mutant idealist and did work for the Sapien League for free.

Her lip curled. She recognized this one, the mutant with the visor—and the slutty female at his side. Scott Summers—the head mutant at this school—and
Emma Frost, a dangerous mind infiltrator.

"Good, you're awake," the male said.

She remained silent.

"I'm sure you're feeling fairly terrible at the moment," the female said airily. "Mickies tend to have that effect, don't they? Of course, I'm sure you don't sample your product
all that often…you've got to save some for the clients." She paused. "Alright, I admit…the sensations you are feeling right now might have something to do with my presence."

"I won't tell you…anything," the girl said, her voice hoarse and raspy.

"It's quite alright," the male said. "We understand you're in no condition to talk right now…so Emma's just going to do a friendly little rummage in your mind."

"Won't hurt a bit," the female added.

"NO!" the girl said. "I won't let you!"

"Darling…Sandra…I'm already done," the female cooed. She looked at Scott. "It's as we suspected. She's only a cog, but she's a highly regarded cog…she has direct connections to the Leper Queen."

"Mmm. Does she know the next plans?"

Sandra raised her head and looked at Scott in the eye. And smiled.

Emma's eyes widened as she grasped the full consequences of the plan.

"I sure do," Sandra said. "And they're already in motion. It's too late for your kind."

…

"WHATZIT—" Laura gasped, sitting up in bed and staring ahead.

Julian opened his eyes slightly and looked up from his pillow, but said nothing; this had happened before. The last situation had taken place at 4 AM, and Laura had been woken by Emma to assist.

She paused for a moment, tilted her head to look at him (he pretended to be asleep), then she threw the covers off and stumbled out of bed. Headed for the closet, towards her uniform.

Julian waited for a few moments after the front door closed, thinking it was odd that she didn't try to wake him; then he too sat up and pushed the covers away.

A few moments later he was zipping up his gear and knocking on his brother's door. No answer. He shoved the door open and threw on the light.

"Wake up, douchebag!"

"ARRGH!" James scrambled to pull the covers over his head. "Wadda—"

"Something's going on," Julian said. "You need to watch the Shrimps for me."

…

Having followed Laura to the ready room, he stopped at the door and hesitated, then opened it.

"A New X-man has been lost," Emma's voice was saying. "We—"

The room was full—several teachers, the team, the senior team. Emma. Scott. They turned to look at him, and Emma's lips parted, in mid sentence. A sentence she could not finish, because he was there.

She paused.

"Laura," she said instead.

"I didn't wake him," Laura said. Her face was pale.

Julian continued to stand in the doorway. This was odd, too odd. His eyes scanned the room, searching.

Searching for who was missing.

There was Sofia, Cessily, and Santo. Sooraya. Kevin. Even the other people he didn't count as close friends were there: David, Laurie and Jay. Nori and Josh were still absent.

Then he realized who was missing.

"No…" he said.

"Julian—"

"No—"

"Sit down," Scott said firmly, pointing to a chair. A direct order.

"Where is he?!" Julian demanded.

Scott stared at him directly, but Emma's head lowered, ever so slightly, and she closed her eyes.

"WHERE IS BRIAN?!" Julian demanded. "Give me the fucking details, right now, or I swear to—"

Laura looked at him straight. "He's dead."

…

"Julian." Laura was sitting on the arm of the couch, her hand on his shoulder as he struggled not to explode in anger. "No one knew. He was last seen at curfew,
going into his room. They found nothing. No signs of a struggle, a closed window…they only thought to check because they found plans for him in that girl we
caught. Emma found him on Cerebra, just as…just as it happened."

"When?" he whispered hoarsely. Muffled, as he was hugging a pillow tightly against his front and biting the corner.

"Nine this morning," Laura said. "Just before we were called in. Near the UN building. His powers overloaded and mutated. He turned on the suicide pathways in the
brains of over two hundred people."

Julian said nothing more for a while.

…

A week later, Emma stood at the front of the table, leaning over it slightly, dressed in her best black garments, as were her students. Her expression was as unyielding as that of the boy who had been closest to the victim.

"Today, we have lost one of us," Emma said, her voice cool. "That will never happen again under my watch. Do you understand?"

Silence.

"Understand?" Emma repeated.

"Yes," Laura said, her voice hard.

"Good."

Emma straightened.

"We must find out how the school was infiltrated. That is our next order of business. After this."

She paused. "Now let us bury one of our own."

...

"I'll have to call you back," Daken said. His long, elegant fingers snapped the cell phone shut, and then he tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans.

He stood on the veranda, gazing across the Xavier property, at the group gathered out by the gazebo. Yes, the funeral. His eyes narrowed as he heard
the approaching footsteps growing louder, smelled the taint on the air.

"Daken."

He didn't turn at Logan's voice. His father paused, leaning against the pillar.

"I'm sorry I brought you here at such a bad time. But…all th' same…if it means anything, I'm awful glad you ain't out there where I can't keep an eye on you."

Daken did not answer, only continued to watch the funeral proceed. What Logan didn't know, wasn't aware of—what no one was aware of—was his abilities. Ability
to hear Logan, and smell Logan, before the older man could sense him.

The ability to control others, through scent. It had been only too easy to follow the boy down the corridor, planting a suggestion for pliability—do what I say. The boy
had stopped, as Daken had leaned over and whispered: "She's waiting for you. Don't get caught."

Everything else had been done by the boy, as soon as he'd seen the girl waiting outside his window. Undetectable, thanks to Daken's slight manipulations to the mansion's security system.

These pathetic people deserve to die, he thought. It's too easy.

Logan finally left, accepting that Daken would not acknowledge him.

…

Circle. Circle, circle, circle.

Julian was dreaming, dreaming about a long, endless loop. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he followed the path that seemed set in
stone. He saw circle after circle—rings, chains, bullet holes, cells.

One way or another, everything happens again, Jean said, her expression deathly serious. You cannot stop what has occurred, only change
the order, and the way they happen.

Circle, circle, circle.

"NYARRGH!" He felt himself power up in rage—against this circle that seemed to be controlling him. "I'M GOING TO BR—"

He woke up to Laura slamming the back of her hand in his face. "WHATZIT?!" she gasped, having been startled out of a sound sleep.

"—pfft," he finished lamely.

They lay in silence for a while, then he rolled over. Laura glanced over at his back.

"And you're not going to elaborate on why you woke me up?"

"No." Julian mumbled into his pillow.

"Fine. I'll have you know, that was the best sleep I've had in weeks. Totally dreamless. Wait, no, I was on a beach, doing tequila shots with Johnny Depp.
I pity you and your nightmare. Must suck to be—"

"Laura—" He was annoyed, then amused. "Fuck you, you know?"

"Okay." She said, curling up against his back in a comforting gesture. He eventually drifted off into an uneasy sleep again.

…

Three days after Brian Cruz's funeral, everything went to hell. As if it hadn't already been there.

"I'm leaving you in charge of the New X-men," Scott said to Julian—ordered—as he zipped up his jacket. It was the dead of the night, and the senior X-men were rushing
out, having just learned of a planned multiple Legacy-bombing through various underground leaks. "Emma's staying," Scott said. "You still answer to her, if something's up.
But remember, you're in charge. Do you understand?"

Julian was silent, confused at the wording, but he nodded. He was silent a lot these days.

"Good," Scott said, turning away. Neither had said if this is a trap, if this is permanent. If we don't come back.

…

"I don't want you out there alone," Julian said, on his cell phone with Laura, staring out at his house in the distance from the porch. "Bring the Shrimps. Bring James. I don't care how hard it is, I want you where I can see you. Don't hang up."

"Okay," Laura said quietly, pushing away the bedclothes on the other end. He could hear her walking, then as she pounded on James' door.

"RISE AND SHINE! Get the hell up, emo!"

Vague snarling, and background noises as James protested. "—fuck do you—HEY—oh my god—"

"Yeah, and I'll do it again if you don't—"

Julian shifted and fingered his keys in his pockets. He should go help—he wanted to—but he was afraid of leaving the school, of disobeying Scott's explicit orders to remain.

In case it was a trap.

…

Laura suddenly sat up on the couch. She'd been dozing, the Shrimps cuddled around her, while Julian stared at the security monitors, his arms folded. Nothing
had happened for three hours, yet he felt he had missed something.

"Julian—" Laura said.

He turned his head, traded a look with her. His eyes widened to match hers—he could hear it now, too. The sounds of destruction. Julian looked at the sleeping
toddlers, then at the screen, still showing a peaceful, quiet mansion.

The real mansion shuddered slightly from an explosion, and the faint, distant sounds of screams could be heard.

"We've been had," he said, standing up and scooping Rachel off the sofa. The girl blinked, startled, but he paid no heed as he headed for the door. "I want you
guys out of here. I don't want you anywhere near this. I—"

He opened the door, and came face to face with a surprise.

Laura stared over his shoulder with horror.

"Miss me, X?" Kimura asked, peering through the opened door with one eye.

Laura continued to stare at the woman who had caused her so much pain in her lifetime, the woman that had broken her, abused her, and left her for dead so
very many times. The woman that was smiling at her too widely.

The woman she had personally pumped full of liquid adamantium.

"But…" Laura's voice trembled, something Julian hadn't heard before. "You're…"

"Oh, clone," Kimura said, raising her firearm and pointing it at Julian's forehead point-blank. "Think, think hard, clone. Isn't it obvious…clone?"

"…" Laura moved like a snake. She dropped Nate, shoved Julian to the side, grabbed the doorframe and swung out her booted feet into Kimura's stomach. The impact
would have sent any other woman reeling; Kimura twitched ever so slightly, but as her finger pulled the trigger, the shot went wild and instead hit Julian's arm, missing
Rachel's head by inches. He jerked backwards, almost dropping the girl in the onset of pain.

He glared at Kimura, his eyes glowing green.

"Fucking touch them and I will rip you apart," Julian hissed. "Out of the—" he began to tell Laura.

"NO!" She turned to face him for a moment. "Take them and go! You heard Dr. McCoy, you can't—"

Rachel turned in his arms. "Mum?"

Laura let out a cry as Kimura pulled her hair from behind and sucked her out through the door, her fingers scrambling to find the frame and failing. Kimura
whirled her around, slammed her fist into her mouth.

Julian reached out with his hand and pinned Kimura against the ceiling, his expression cold, his hand shaking. His head throbbed so badly he thought he would drop her; the
energy travelling through his fingers was unsteady, pulsing.

"GO!" Laura snapped, seeing he was unsteady. "I'll—urrf—I'll be fine!" Laura's voice, curdling with rage. She was on her knees, on the floor, blood running down her chin
from the injury she'd received. "I don't want them to see!"

He hesitated, holding Kimura against the ceiling. He could disembowel Kimura right now—give her an aneurism—a heart problem—but Nate was looking up at him with wide
eyes, innocent eyes that hadn't seen violence before.

He didn't have the heart to be the one to taint him.

And he didn't have the energy to keep holding this woman a mere prisoner.

Julian closed his eyes, then let Kimura drop, and slammed the door, taking Nate's hand. "C'mon," he said, pulling the boy down the corridor.

"But mum—" Nate said, his voice high and keening.

"She'll be ok. I promise."

…

~ Children, do not leave your rooms. We are under attack. Such actions will result in death, and worse, detention. New X-men, we are using alpha 1,
to your stations please. And if you could be so kind as to bring the 'Shrimps' to me, Mr. Keller, I would be much obliged. I am heading towards Cerebra.~

Frost, perfectly calm and collected, even though she was currently engaged in combat with two soldiers. Her nose was bleeding; earlier, when she'd still been flesh,
a woman had appeared—out of nowhere—interrupting her in the middle of a sip of tea. "That was twenty thousand dollars of cosmetic surgery," Emma had hissed,
not even wiping away the blood as she turned to diamond. She'd brought her fist into her adversary's stomach, sending her through the wall.

"I expect a rather large compensation cheque in the mail," she'd called after her.

…

"Miss Frost," Julian said, following her into Cerebra. "Here. Keep them safe. Laura's engaged with—"

"A rather generic, idiotic woman with a nasty temper? Yes, I've met her. I need you to assist me in preparing the Shrimps."

"No—"

"No argument. Do it."

Julian stopped as he saw that Emma had crammed the main helmet on and was now typing commands into Cerebra. Two helmets descended from the ceiling at
either side, the formation used by the Stepford Cuckoos.

He had to go, but suddenly he was concerned. What was Emma planning on exposing his children to?

"You've got to be kidding. Where are the Cuckoos? These two don't know squat about shit."

"The Cuckoos were the first to fall," Emma said calmly. "What the 'Shrimps' can do will be entirely sufficient. Prepare the girl, please," Emma said, holding out her hand to
Nate. "Come here, darling…Auntie Emma needs your help quite badly to make a naughty girl learn a lesson about cosmetic sabotage."

Nate looked at Julian, who was busy leading Rachel to the helmet.

Laura.

"Do it," Julian said. He picked up the helmet and lowered it gently on the toddler's head; it was an almost comical effect, as it fell down to her mouth, which was like a
little rosebud in her heart-shaped face.

The Shrimps stood, wearing the oversized helmets, their lips pursed, afraid to move.

"Now…here," Emma kneeled, and took the childrens' hands in hers. "I want you to concentrate…on telling the bad people something with me. Can you do that?"

"Why?" Nate asked.

Emma paused.

"Because elephants have flat feet," Julian said quickly.

"Oh." Nate accepted this. "What 'm I s'posed to say?"

"Anything you want, darling," Emma said. "I need you to think about putting them to sleep while you say it, though. Can you make the bad people take a nap, darlings?"

"Yes," the Shrimps answered together.

"Good," Emma said. "On three…ready? Good. One, two…"

THIS IZ THE SONG DAT NEVER ENDS, YES IT GOES ON AN ON MY FRENS, SOME PEOPLE STARTING SINGIN IT NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS, AN THEY'LL
CONTINUE SINGING IT FOREVERS JUS BECAUSE!! THIS IZ THE SONG DAT NEVER ENDS….

Emma threw back her head, made a choking sound, and her eyes squeezed shut very hard. She threw her head forwards again and blood rolled down her nose.

She opened her mouth, obviously in a great deal of pain.

"Are you—" Julian began, rubbing his forehead, which was now aching with a renewed fervor.

Emma ripped the helmet off her head. "Dear god."

"What?"

"I think they may have permanently damaged a few of them," Emma said. "I've never felt such a forceful, clumsy psionic intrusion in my life…but it's done. All of the
intruders have been…disabled. You may go find Laura now."

"STAY WITH THEM!" Julian said, racing out. Moments later he took to the air, ignoring the ripping sensation. This was more important than pain.

He couldn't fly through the adamantium-plated ceiling—or he would have.

…

"LAURA!" Julian shouted, sifting through the rubble of the room he'd left her in.

"LAURRRA!"

He finally stopped shouting, about half an hour later, after he'd searched every square inch of the room and its vicinity, and had forced Emma to run searches over and over.

Laura was gone.

"Kid…" Logan, approaching. The X-men had returned as soon as they could manage, turning the jet around in midflight. "We'll get her back, I swear."

Julian was silent, and his expression was cold and stone-like.