"What—what happened?" Jean cried when she saw the Mansion in ruins and bodies on the front lawn.
Logan gripped the controls of the X-Jet so hard that he left imprints on the controls. "I'm going to find out." He growled. "And tear whoever did this a new mouth…in their throats!"
The second the X-Jet landed, the X-Men swarmed out of the jet and dashed towards the Mansion.
"Look!" Bobby pointed as they saw people moving across the lawn, kneeling over the bodies.
Logan smelled them before he saw them. SNIKT! The claws came out. "FROST!" He bellowed in an atavistic roar as he charged towards the blond-haired telepath.
Emma looked up just in time to see Logan bearing down on her. She went into her diamond form just in time for Logan to ram her against the wall of the Institute.
"You stupid animal!" Emma spat. "I'm here to—" Logan grabbed her by the throat and smashed her back against the wall again.
"No more talking witch!" Logan snapped as he raised his claw level to Emma's eyes. "Now you just—ugh!" He winced as a trio of flaming spears embedded themselves in his back.
"Let her go badger!" Evan demanded furiously. "She's here to help which is a damn lot more than you've done!"
"Evan?" Storm gasped as she saw the scene. "Evan…w-what happened here?"
"That's what I'd like to know too traitor." Scott growled as he raised his hand to his visor, the rest of the X-Men tensed waiting for a battle to start…then they noticed that aside from Evan, none of the Hellions where here.
"Wait you don't understand!" It was Jamie, running up to the scene with Penny in tow. "She didn't do it! She didn't attack us!" Penny nodded in agreement.
"Yeah right." Logan snorted.
"Shut up!" Storm snapped, too upset to reign in her nerves. "What did happen here?"
"Well first the Hellions showed up and started shouting and then we showed up and started shouting, then this guy showed up and HE started talking and then he, then he—" Tears welled up in Jamie's eyes.
"W-where's the Professor?" Kitty stammered. "Mr. McCoy? Angel?"
"I'm here…mostly." Hank coughed from behind them. There was a sharp intake of breath when they saw him. There was a stained bandage—apparently made of bedspread—wrapped around his forehead and blood crusting in his fur. Not all of it was his of course, but they didn't know that. Logan let Emma go.
"Oh my god." Jean covered her mouth.
"Henry! You should be resting—" Storm started but Hank just shook his head.
"I'm afraid that the others here take priority here. I am the only one here versed in medicine and my wounds are not as severe as some of the others. Lina, if you could assist me it would be appreciated."
"Of course," Lina said automatically as she hurried over to the wounded, lying on makeshift cots and stretchers.
"What happened to Charles? And Warren?" Storm asked Hank.
"Charles is unconscious. Warren suffered severe trauma."
"What kind of trauma?" Scott asked.
"There he is over there." Kurt pointed, spotting a flash of white that could only be his wings.
"If he's there, how can he also be over there?" Bobby pointed at Warren as he lay on the grass, mercifully unconscious.
"Oh my god." Kitty turned green as she put two and two together. Lina went over to Warren first and examined his back. There was a pair of fresh, nasty looking scars on his back.
"What happened Dr. McCoy?" Lina asked Hank.
"After his wings were severed we had to find a way to staunch the flow…the only option available was cauterization."
"Its okay, Lifeline will be able to fix it, right?" Peter asked. Hank and Lina looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Lifeline can repair and heal damage to the body but he can't make things grow back once they're gone." Lina said sadly.
"Unfortunately, Angel is not our worst casualty." Hank sighed.
Logan sniffed as the wind shifted. It brought the smell of death…and the unmistakable smell of burnt flesh. If you smell it once, you never forget it. "No…" Rina's keen sense of smell picked it up at virtually the same time. Amira and Gideon…both coming from a war-torn region recognized the unique smell too.
Hank averted his gaze from a corner of the lawn. Scott saw him avoiding it and turned to see for himself. He stiffiened when he saw over a dozen sheet covered forms.
The various gasps, shrieks of horror, or stunned silence made it too difficult for anything to be said for the next few minutes. Kurt made the sign of the cross over his heart. Then he did it again. And again, trying to bring some small comfort to himself. Sooraya lowered her head and started to pray.
"Tell us what happened…all of it!" Logan demanded as he looked to Evan and Emma, as well as Hank.
"We came here looking for Catseye. She vanished a few days ago and we thought she might've been here." Evan answered. "But when we arrived, we were all ambushed by a mutant named Trevor Fitzroy, a lesser member of the Hellfire Club who decided to carve a reputation out of our hides."
"It was a massacre." Henry groaned as if in real pain again. "He was…and he attacked…we tried to fight but…" For once the usually verbose Henry McCoy couldn't find the words to say.
"I lost a lot of friends…on BOTH sides." Evan sighed. "The Hellions are gone. Yvonne is in a coma and Monet fled and we still don't know what happened to Catseye. Everyone else: Beef, Bevatron, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot…are gone. Dead." Emma looked away, cut to the core by the loss of her students and the still unexplained absence of her daughter.
"Who cares about the Hellions homme?" Remy demanded. "What about our people?"
"Up yours Cajun!" Evan snapped. "I was here a hell of a lot longer than you before I left…both sides were our people to me! If you think it didn't kill me inside to see old friends like Amara, Roberto, or Ray DIE right before my eyes than you're even stupider than you look!"
"Amara…Roberto…Ray? Th-they're all dead?" Jean sank to the ground, her knees giving out from beneath her.
"And Everett. And Jesse. And Tim…and—" Hank looked straight at Kitty. "Doug and Danielle too."
Kitty let out a shriek that turned into a sob and then uncontrollable crying. Peter wrapped his arms around her and let Kitty bury her face into his shoulder.
"Emma and Xavier took down Fitzroy." Evan added pitifully, knowing it would be no real comfort to them.
"Who-who's…" Scott's voice choked, heavy with emotion. Hank understood though.
"Forge was knocked out by a piece of falling plaster. He only has a minor concussion though. Jubilee came through all right." He reassured Logan and Rina. "Betsy's physically fine but she suffered some sort of telepathic-feedback and is now in coma." Rogue paled and covered her mouth at the news.
"The same thing happened to Yvonne." Evan said, looking pained.
"Sam and Paige were a bit banged up, but not badly." Hank sighed. "Unfortunately Sam seems to think that the deaths are his fault, seeing as he's the team leader of the New Mutants and poor Paige took it all very hard. Not that anyone can blame her."
"Where are they now?" Storm asked.
"We felt it best that they rest now." Emma told her. "I put them in a telepathic-induced sleep. Jubilee as well. They've all been through an awful ordeal."
"What about—" Amira started anxiously.
"Naomi is fine." Hank assured her. "She was in the underground levels when—it all occurred, so she's unscathed. She, Penny, and Jamie—or at least, one of his duplicates—are playing in the back. We didn't want them to see this…"
"Then why is Jamie—or a Jamie at least—here?" Jean pointed at the Jamie that stopped Logan from killing Frost. Hank lowered his voice as he explained.
"Jamie has created a number of duplicates to fetch supplies and things…personally, I believe that he's doing so in the hopes of having that many perspectives will divert his attention from what's unfolded here."
"Is that everyone?" Rogue asked.
"Dead Girl's well…Dead Girl." Hank shrugged. "She cannot be killed, cannot be hurt, and cannot sleep so she's assisted in caring to the injured. And Professor Xavier…Charles was caught in the same telepathic feedback that knocked Betsy and Yvonne into a coma. Emma has been unable to wake any of them."
"They are alive and can be wakened." Emma said, heading off the questions she knew were coming. "But it will take a lot of time and treatment to do so. There's only one place I know of that can offer it."
"Muir Island?" Jean guessed.
"Exactly."
"But what happens to the Institute with the Professor gone?" Kurt asked in a tone that wasn't far from a wail. "Where will we go? What will we do?" A clamor broke out that only came to halt when a clap of thunder interrupted them.
Storm's eyes returned to normal as her voice took on a firm tone. "I do not and cannot know all the answers. I assure you though that, in spite of all that has happened we will not close down the Institute. Charles would never want that. Nor will we abandon our quest for mutant-human peace and coexistence. Right now though, we will see to our own. Lina, is you please, continue to assist Beast in caring for the injured. Colossus, Gambit remain here. Shadow Cat, Rogue you too." Storm knew that Kitty was deeply hurt by the deaths of Doug and Danielle—two of her closest friends and Rogue was concerned about Betsy.
Storm turned to the others. "Wolverine take X-23 and Iceman and check out the front gate. Cyclops, you Pheonix and Night Crawler stand guard on the other side of the Mansion. Rakasa, stay with the children." Storm saw Sooraya still praying and decided not to give her an additional task. "Hindsight…" She sighed as she turned to him. "I'm afraid I have a difficult job for you."
"You want me to use my powers and see if I can learn anything from…" He nodded his head towards the Institute's rubble. "Fitzroy's body? Any Hellfire plans?" Storm nodded. Gideon threw her a salute and marched off. Evan went with him to show where the body was.
"Nicely done." Emma said to Ororo as she watched the others disperse and take to their assignments. "So who's going to be the one who tells Tabitha and Rahne about this?" Storm looked at her. "It was at the top of your thoughts and so loud that I couldn't block it even if I wanted to." Emma explained.
Storm sighed. Emma was right. Who was going to be the bearer of bad news? What was going to the happen to the Institute? What now? She just didn't know.