Warnings: Cussing. I cuss. Too bad, so sad. I've rated it M for cussing now.
Thanks to those who reviewed! Also, thanks to anyone who is just reading too. Hope you're enjoying it.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Any comments or suggestions on improvement are welcomed too.
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Retrieval of Self: Chapter 5
Her legs were cramped from sitting with her knees bent to her chest, but Jean Grey didn't want to move from her position. She had no idea how long she had been sitting, though it seemed like at least half the day had gone. Still, she refused to budge. Sitting like this gave her a sense of comfort, somehow, as she thought about how once again she was unable to speak out to the guards as they took Scott and Kurt away. She could feel the bile in her throat rise as she thought about her unexpected cowardice and disloyalty to her friends. How could she even call herself an X-man and not even rail against the guards. Maybe she didn't have to go to the extremes that Logan did in his vitriol at the scientist, but she could've at least made some sort of protest. Instead, she was too afraid that the guards might take her instead to make even one utterance in protest. First, she let down Kurt, and now she let him down again along with Scott.
Either Logan didn't notice her shameful behavior or he was too absorbed in his anger because he hadn't said a word since Scott and Kurt were escorted to whatever new horror the scientists were going to inflict. All Jean could do was keep watch on the room's two doors, her eyes bouncing back and forth, waiting for one of her friend's return. Jean told herself that next time she would surely make some noise, that is if they didn't come for her … she really would… really. With a sigh, Jean realized she was just lying to herself. She felt her eyes prick with tears as she realized just the thought of being taken away like Kurt and Scott had been was too terrifying. Refusing to cry, Jean gripping her hands tighter about her knees, hoping that she could somehow scrounge up her courage. Where's the Wizard of Oz when you need him? Jean sniffled at her poor attempt at trying to cheer herself up.
Jean's pity party, though, was cut short by the sound of the west door being unlocked and opened. Some guards entered with Scott in tow. Jean stood up to greet Scott and see if he was okay. Her mouth gaping open, she let out an audible gasp as she caught sight of him. He wasn't wearing his ruby quartz visor! She quickly took in the rest of him, eyes narrowing at the large bruise that formed across the left side of his face, before returning disbelieving eyes to look at Scott as he was shoved into his cell.
Logan, who had stood up as soon as he heard the guards' return, had also noticed the absence of Scott's glasses. While he knew Scott had always lamented not being able to see anything but a red-tinted world, the fact that the collar was obviously strong enough to block Scott's powerful optic beam meant that their chances at escape just got lower. Logan, though, seeing the look that Jean was giving Scott, didn't want to interrupt the lover's little reunion, so he sat back down and remained silent.
After the guards had left, Jean turned to Scott. "Scott! I can't believe it!" Jean admired Scott's soft, brown eyes. It was the first time ever she had been able to look at Scott and not see her own reflection in his glasses.
Scott couldn't help but smile at Jean. Her smile was contagious to him, and he shared in her happiness at finally being able to see her beautiful features as they should be. "Neither can I."
Jean almost felt giddy at seeing happiness dance in Scott's eyes. "Your eyes are so… just so…"
"What?" Scott asked eagerly, wanting to know what Jean was thinking.
"They're just beautiful."
Scott felt like he could shoot right out of his cell and straight up to the stars. His face must've shown what he felt because Jean burst into happy giggles, which of course got him started as well. After a few moments catching their breaths, Jean's smile disappeared as she reached out and touched the bruise that spread across his cheek.
"How did this happen?" she asked concernedly. Now that she had gotten over her initial joy of seeing Scott without his visor, her worry over what the scientists had done sprung back up. "What did they do to you? Did they inject you with anything like Kurt?"
"No, they didn't inject me with anything," Scott reassured Jean, placing a hand on her shoulder through the bars. "Basically, they took a few of my vital signs, and then shoved me into some steel room."
"A steel room? What for?"
"Seems like the room was built to handle testing mutant powers," Scott continued as he reached a hand up in habit to adjust his glasses – and then paused as he remembered they weren't there. He'd have to get used to that.
"But the collar – "
"They had some little slot in the wall where they slid the key into and told me to take it off. Of course, I immediately tried blasting the observation window and door, but it didn't work." Scott shrugged, "they just laughed at me and told me that the room could withstand a nuclear explosion."
"What did they have you do?" Jean whispered, worried that the room was like the Danger Room, and that the scientists forced Scott through some dangerous course.
"They just had me test out my beam on different targets at different intensities."
"Testing out your abilities before they start any experiments," came Logan's voice. He figured they were done with their teenage mushiness, even if it was sort of cute (not that Logan would ever admit). Logan stood up and walked over to the bar cells. "They want to find the full extent of what you can do before they decide how best to 'enhance' your power." Logan scoffed, showing what he thought of their enhancements. Even if his adamantium skeleton did make him pretty powerful, it still meant he couldn't swim well.
"Why did you cooperate with them, Scott?" Jean accused, before realizing what a hypocrite she was. She wanted to take back those words immediately, but couldn't as Scott quickly came to his own defense.
"I had to, okay," Scott answered, his face pinched with disconcertion at why he had to comply with his captures' wishes.
He had vehemently told the scientist that he wouldn't participate in their damn tests, which had caused one of the scientists to threaten "oh yes he would." Scott had to wonder if there was some sort of evil badguy training camp where all jerks were trained to say such stupid threats. Three flat screen TV sets that were hung near the ceiling had flickered on, the images in clear quality. Two TVs had shown the inside of the cell room, one with Logan in view and the other with Jean, both of whom were sitting unaware of being observed in their cells. The third TV had shown Kurt, strapped down on some examination table, being examined by Dr. Falk. Scott had felt sick as he watched Falk study Kurt's tail, Falk's hands running over the tail as he asked questions to an anguished Kurt. Scott knew from first hand experience at how much Kurt hated his tail being touched without permission, and he could feel his rage build up. The scientist's voice had come back over the speaker and threatened his teammates unless Scott cooperated. Scott couldn't hold his anger in anymore at the depravity of how low these scums would stoop, and before he knew it, he was blasting his beam at the observation window, even though he knew it would do nothing. When his tantrum was over, the scientist had accepted that as acquiescence, and the room was soon filled with targets and orders from his capturers on what to do.
Scott, of course, was in no way going to tell all these details to Jean, so he just whispered again, "I just had to."
"I know, Scott," Jean said, "I'm sorry I asked."
Scott shook his head, waving off her apology. "Afterwards, they just ordered me to put the collar back on again without the visor on. When they discovered the collar suppressed all my power, they took the visor away, though not without a fight." Scott said with a glint in his eye as he gestured to the bruise on his cheek.
"Yes, Scott, your bruise is very manly," Jean teased to which Scott blushed in embarrassment.
Before they could start up with any more sappiness Logan butted in. "So, what was over that way?" He asked, as he gestured with his head towards the door Scott had been taken through.
"Just more corridors and hallways," Scott shrugged. "I don't think I could even find my way back to that testing room even if I wanted to."
Logan let out a frustrated grumph as silence fell over the group.
Scott went and leaned against the back wall of his cell, sighing as he tried once again to think of a way to escape.
A short time passed before Jean couldn't stand the silence, the worry, and self-flagellation of her own thoughts running through her head anymore. "Do you think they'll bring back Kurt soon?"
Before anyone could answer, the east door was unlocked and opened.
"Well, speak of the devil," Logan commented as he watched two guards bring Kurt in. A pause and then Logan added, "no pun intended."
Scott thought that Kurt looked tired and ragged as he was lead into his cell. "You okay, Kurt?" Though concerned, Scott couldn't help but be sort of taken aback at how blue Kurt really was. His visor always made Kurt seem to be more of a reddish purple color, and it was weird to see differently. Still, though, Scott thought blue was a nice color and all, it didn't compare to green, the color of Jean's eyes. Too bad her hair was red. Scott felt that he could go for the rest of his life not seeing red and be fine.
"Ja, fine." Kurt replied as he lied down on the floor. He was hot, achy, and tired again thanks to Falk giving him another shot of XmCraptastic serum. All he wanted to do was have the Sandman hit him with a Sahara-sized desert so he could sleep forever. With a small wave of his tail to the others, he quietly said, "night."
Jean and Scott looked worriedly at each other, but didn't say anything. Logan, though, wasn't going to let Kurt skip out on another meal.
"You oughta eat first, Elf," Logan interrupted Kurt's attempt at oblivion.
"Not hungry, tired. Sleep." Kurt didn't even open his eyes as he brushed Logan off.
Logan clenched his teeth, trying to control his sudden irrational anger. He figured his anger came from the fact that Kurt was blocking them out once again. Sure, Logan bet Kurt was tired, he certainly looked it, but trying to sleep right away also accomplished avoiding any of their questions. Fine, if Kurt wanted to be like that, then Logan wasn't going to stop it, but Logan sure as hell wasn't going to allow Kurt to pull some stupid stunt and jeopardize any possible escape. "No, you need to eat now."
Kurt opened his eyes and glared across the room at a point on the wall. He still wasn't hungry and he didn't want to eat and he was just so angry and frustrated and he didn't know what else and why the hell couldn't Logan shut the hell up about this! Taking a deep breath to reign in his frustration, Kurt replied as calmly as he could, "I'd rather sleep first."
"Too bad, Bub, because I'd rather you eat first."
Jean could see that Logan was barely keeping his anger in check. Logan should take a Anger Management course, or better yet, a How Not To Pick on Your Fellow Captives class. But really, Logan was just acting ridiculous towards Kurt for whatever reason, and Jean wasn't going to let it continue. However, she did see Logan's point.
Before Kurt could reply Jean decided to butt in. "Kurt, look, Logan is right. You really do need to eat." Jean could see that Kurt was listening even if he still refused to look anyone in the eye, so she continued. "You don't know when these men," Jean's voice filled with disgust momentarily on the word men, "will return, or when you'll get the next opportunity to eat. And," Jean let her worry seep into her voice to try and convince Kurt further, "you really need to keep up your strength and energy, especially with your metabolism. So will you please eat?"
Kurt really couldn't ignore Jean's impassioned plea, even if he wasn't hungry one bit. Besides, she did make a good point about keeping up his strength. If he wanted to have the energy to teleport and to escape whenever that opportunity arose, then he did need to eat something.
"Alright," Kurt sighed as he sat up and retrieved the bowl.
Scott brightened at Kurt's acquiescence, and turned to see Jean smiling brightly.
"Good," Logan said as he nodded towards Jean in thanks for helping him in expressing what he could not. Logan sat down against the cell wall before turning to Kurt. He realized he'd been pretty irrational towards Kurt lately, and so he figured he oughta try and make it up.
"Just don't think about anything as you eat it. Or better yet, try to imagine it's mashed potatoes or cottage cheese," Logan warned before Kurt got a good look at the so-called food. Logan wished they'd escape soon cause he had no idea how he much longer he could survive having to eat the gruel. It really didn't taste anything like cottage cheese, which was a shame as Logan really loved cottage cheese. With peaches… and a beer too. Beer made any meal tough and manly, even cottage cheese.
Kurt blinked a few times to try and shake off some of his sleepiness before looking into the bowl. "Yuck, day old sludge. I think I'd rather eat anything made by Kitty instead of this," Kurt commented as he held the spoon over the bowl and watched as the snot-colored mass made disgusting slopping noises as it plopped back into the bowl. "Do you think they got this from Toad's locker or did they just have everyone pick their noses and put it all in the microwave?"
Scott laughed, "Kurt, if you don't stop describing it, I think you'll see what that gruel looks like digested."
Jean just rolled her eyes. Boys. But she was glad that Kurt had regained his sense of humor and that Scott was being a little less tense.
Logan even cracked a smile, though he hid it with a well placed cough. Right now, Logan didn't care where "Fucking Falk" was or what he was up to. He was enjoying watching Kurt force down the sludge as he traded banter with Scott as Jean tried to look on in disproval. Logan could tell that Jean was actually getting a kick out of Scott and Kurt's jokes with her small sniggers.
"You know, you look really veird without your visor," Kurt commented to Scott as he forced down another bite of the sludge.
"Yeah?" Scott said. "You look really weird too without it."
Kurt gave Scott a perplexed look.
"Well, for one thing, you no longer look so purple."
"Ach, I'm purple to you when you have your visor on?" Kurt said incredulously and with dismay. Even if he did have problems with his physical appearance, he still liked the color of his fur. But being seen as purple!
"Yup, purple like the People Eater."
"Who? I don't eat people." Kurt said, looking at Scott as if he'd grown another head.
"No, I know that," Scott said amusedly. "Nevermind that. But really, it isn't bad. It's more of a maroon, maybe?" Really, asking him to identify colors was pretty pointless when his whole basis for what colors are supposed to look like is from studying a crayon box.
"Good. I doubt I'd look good in pastel. I'd hate to be the color of Kitty's bedspread," Kurt said as he looked at the fur on his arm, imagining himself a shade of lilac. He shuddered.
This in turn caused Jean's mind to create an image of Kurt in a pretty pastel purple with a nice floral pattern. Jean couldn't help but laugh, causing her to accidentally let out a piggy snort.
"Did you just snort, Jean?" Scott teased as he tried to get his laughter under control.
"What? Of course not," Jean denied, but she was still laughing and another snort escaped her. "Oh god," Jean blushed as she put up a hand to cover her face.
Of course this led to Kurt and Scott relentlessly teasing Miss Perfect Jean Grey about her ridiculous snorts.
Logan sat back and enjoyed the brief respite from their horrible situation. Even though he knew it wouldn't last, Logan wanted himself and the others to soak up this moment to help them get them through whatever laid ahead.
Laughter filled the cell room.
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Falk was tapping his pen against his desk as he glared up at Leader Kemp. His office was dark, with only the lamp and computer emitting a concentrated light source. Right now they were discussing different methods on how to capture the mutants who were still at large. Kemp had just recounted how the mutants had escaped the night before, and how two of them had searched around and inside the specious abandoned building all of the day.
"And you didn't see it fit to capture them when they were right on our doorstep?" Falk asked menacingly.
"No, sir," the Leader didn't falter under Falk's harsh glare. "One of the two was the same woman who's able to control lightning and wind. She decimated our squad last night. I am currently planning a different strategy on how to apprehend her."
"Yes, I suppose it would be best not to reveal our location without a guarantee of capture," Falk nodded in concurrence. He smirked in self-satisfaction that his underground facility had yet to be discovered. He had dealt with telepathic mutants before at Weapon X, and he had reverse engineered some equipment from his days then. Of course, he had added to the equipment design, making it effectively create a wide barrier against all telepathic mutants. If any of the remaining mutants were telepathic and tried using their abilities to find his facility, they would be up the creek, so to speak.
Falk turned to Kemp again. "And who was this other mutant with her?"
"An unknown. He was a large, blue…" the Leader paused before continuing, knowing how absurd he would sound, "talking ape."
"Hmm, a talking ape," Falk repeated, already thinking of what this new mutant could add to his research. Falk mentally began calling the new mutant Cornelius.
"Sir, how would you like my men to capture the mutants?" the Leader asked, interrupting Falk's musings.
"We know where they live, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then we continue developing our original plan before we had the fortunate circumstance that brought the mutants to train right by us," Falk ordered as he turned back to study some of the data he had gathered from his research on their captives.
The Leader took Falk's diverted attention as a dismissal. He nodded before exiting to work on the pernicious plan.
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The Professor was in the living room, watching Star Trek but not really paying attention to the screen. He had always liked Star Trek as a boy, and was pleased when Kurt and Evan began watching reruns on the TV. He fancied himself after Jean Luc Picard, but unlike Jean Luc, he didn't have a script to tell him what to do next and how everything would turn out.
It had already been 3 days since his students and Logan's capture. Though the Professor spent hours upon hours on Cerebro, looking for any mutant signature and scanning the area around the suspicious building, he had no success. Ororo and Hank had spent each day combing the area where the fight had taken place and by the abandoned building, but they found nothing. Not a trace or even a hair.
Charles sighed, hoping that somehow his students were persevering. Suddenly, the slamming of a door upstairs brought him out of his reverie. Unfortunately, his students who had escaped were not handling it so well. It seemed that Kitty and Rogue were constantly fighting, and that Evan was constantly training in the Danger Room. He refused to pry into precisely why, but he certainly was upset over the constant bickering and would prefer if they would make amends.
Charles turned his head towards the stairs as he heard a loud stomping coming down, wondering which of his students was making such a racket. Kitty rounded the corner, her eyes puffy and red.
"Oh, Professor!" Kitty exclaimed, startled to see him sitting there, and she hurriedly tried to wipe her eyes.
"Kitty," the Professor said, "come sit here." He patted at the seat near his wheelchair.
Kitty complied and tried to smile to show she was okay. But, she wasn't fooling anyone.
"Now then," the Professor looked at her seriously once she had sat down, "tell me what's troubling you."
"Well, I really don't want to bother you…"
"Please, Kitty, you aren't bothering me. I wouldn't have asked if you were," the Professor gave her an encouraging smile.
Kitty took the offered seat and looked down at her shoes. The Professor let Kitty gather her thoughts, knowing that she would confide in him. Unlike some of his other students, Kitty wasn't as secretive or obstinate in asking for help.
Finally, Kitty looked up at him. "Do you think that –" Kitty looked down at her knees as if she could draw courage from them before continuing, "do you think that I was wrong to run away and leave the others behind?"
Ah, so this must be what she and Rogue are constantly arguing about. The Professor sighed, realizing they both must be feeling the same guilt that was plaguing Evan. Not necessarily survivor's guilt since no one had died, but it was a close description.
"No, I don't," the Professor stated.
Kitty stared at him in shock. She thought for sure he would say yes. After all, Rogue had told her so, and even she thought she was wrong in leaving her teammates behind.
The Professor looked at Kitty seriously before explaining his point. "Logan told you to run, and you did. It is always important to listen to your teachers in such dangerous situations."
"But what if he was wrong?" Kitty asked as she began nervously picking at some loose threads on the couch.
The Professor knew he had to be careful in his answer. He didn't want to impress on Kitty that Logan and her other mentors were infallible, but he also didn't want her to constantly doubt their judgment. "I have confidence in Logan's ability to protect you, and I respect his judgment. Some situations call for a unified plan of action, and in this case, Logan was right in ordering you to run and you were right in following his instruction."
"It just doesn't feel like it was the right thing to do," Kitty shrugged despondently.
"Sometimes the right choice can feel like the wrong one. If you had stayed behind, you would've only been captured yourself, and would have only made the situation worse. By running, you are free to help them escape" The Professor leaned in to Kitty to emphasize his next point. "And I would have done the same. Sometimes, you must do what might seem like the cowardly option, when it is actually the hardest and best option to choose." The Professor leaned back, looking hard at Kitty. "Understand?"
Kitty nodded slowly, mulling over what the Professor said. He was usually right about these things, and his reasoning sounded good. Kitty, though, still couldn't help but feel the guilt gnawing at her insides.
"Good," the Professor smiled at her before moving towards the elevator. He knew that whatever he said, Kitty would still doubt herself. All he could do was to keep on reassuring her that what she did was right. This might give her a bit more to think over. "Now then, let me continue on in my search through Cerebro."
"You haven't found anything yet?" Kitty asked as she turned and perched on the edge of the couch to see the Professor. She already knew the answer but hopes springs eternal.
"Unfortunately, no," the Professor stopped his wheelchair and turned to face her again. "I believe something might be blocking my power."
"What? How is that possible? You're the strongest telepath out there!" Kitty stared in disbelief. The Professor was so strong, and only Magneto knew how to stop his power, right?
"I'm not quite sure, but if they were able to capture the others and keep them contained, then they must know quite a bit about us mutants," he explained. They were dealing with experts who knew how to handle them, which worried the Professor even more when he thought about what might be happening to his captured students.
"If only we could, like, make Cerebro stronger so you could overpower whatever's blocking you," Kitty said as she cupped her hand in her chin as she tried to think of ways to modify Cerebro. Too bad she knew basically nothing about how it was built or how it worked. She'd probably cause a minor explosion if she tried to work on it.
"Hmm, yes, modify Cerebro…" the Professor considered over her suggestion.
Kitty was surprised that he even took her seriously. Could the Professor really modify such a great machine? Maybe Hank could help. After all, he was the resident genius.
"Of course!" The Professor enthusiastically hit his hand in the palm of his other hand. "Kitty, I believe you have just found the key to us finding the others."
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A blast to his right. A quick dodge to the left. Throw a spike there… and there.
Yes, right on target!
Evan turned quickly around to face several black spheres that were flying directly at him. With a duck, he narrowly missed the first one from hitting him in the head, and it instead crashed into the ground behind him. As he rose up from his crouch, he threw a spike at one of the other approaching spheres, but it caromed right off of it.
"Crap!" Evan quickly flung himself to the side as his spike flew back at him. Sprawled on the ground, he watched as the spheres veered towards him. Evan quickly tried to regain his footing, but his shoes kept on slipping on the metal floor. In the end, he had to scamper across the ground on his hands and knees, dodging spheres as they hurtled at him.
Evan thought he wasn't doing too badly with the dodging. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to actually fight these freaking "Balls Of Doom."
Maybe he could get them to crash into each other. That might not be a bad plan. He bet Scott couldn't come up with anything better. Ha, he really was doing well… until the lasers joined in! Oh man! Evan knew he couldn't dodge both the spheres and the lasers at once. What program did he set it on again? Out of His Mind, level 56?
One sphere struck the ground so close to Evan's feet, he fell backwards in surprise. Now I'm in for it. All the spheres were floating around him, and the lasers were all pointed towards him. There was no way he could dodge all of them from his position. This is gonna hurt. The spheres came hurtling towards him. Evan closed his eyes.
Several loud crashes later, Evan reopened one eye, peering out, wondering why he was still in one piece. All the spheres had crashed to the ground and all the lasers were powered down. Looking over to the Danger Room Control room, Evan saw his aunt through the windows looking at him sternly. Evan returned her look with a small wave and a sheepish grin. Boy, was he in trouble.
Getting up, he pretended to dust himself off first. He knew his aunt was waiting for him in the control room, but he wanted to delay that moment for as long as possible. Not knowing what else he could do to delay some more, Evan went back to the old how to take a break during PE trick. He bent down and retied his shoe.
"Evan, I know what you're doing. Get in here, please," Ororo's voice came over the speakers.
Sighing, Evan realized the jig was up, and so he walked… really slowly, to the control room.
"Evan, that was very stupid and dangerous of you," Evan was met with as a greeting when he walked into the room.
"I know, Auntie O," Evan replied as he sat down in one of the chairs near Ororo. "I was just blowing off some steam."
Ororo sighed, knowing precisely why Evan was training in the Danger Room like this. He was usually the slacker of the group, missing some DR sessions here and there. But now, ever since the others were captured, Ororo noticed Evan had started training in the Danger Room alone. She knew he blamed himself for their capture and that he probably was training so hard so he wouldn't make the same mistake again. Ororo wanted to tell him he wasn't to blame or to ease his mind somehow, but she knew it wouldn't be so simple as some inspirational speech.
"Alright then, just don't do it again," Ororo instructed. "Next time you want to practice in the Danger Room, be sure to tell someone just in case you get hurt. And also, don't you dare do it on such a high level again until you're given permission."
"Yes, Auntie O," Evan replied with a slump to his shoulders.
"Hmm, you know," Ororo started as she crossed her legs, "even I've gone into the Danger Room and set the level too high. I was lucky Logan had wanted to practice too and was able to turn off the program before I was too seriously injured."
Evan stared at his aunt, unsure of why she was telling him this, and a little disbelieving. His aunt was a meticulous person, and he'd never think she'd do the same stupid mistake as he did.
Ororo, seeing Evan's disbelief, nodded her, "Yes, Evan, we all make mistakes, even I do and so does Professor Xavier."
Evan looked even more incredulous. "Oh come on, when has Professor X ever made a mistake? I mean, he's the Professor!"
"It's not my place to say, but everyone makes mistakes," Ororo replied. "Sometimes our mistakes are harmless, such as recording over someone's football game with the Home and Garden network."
Evan let out a small laugh, remembering when that had happened. Logan's expression at discovering his game was replaced with one-hundred and one ways to water your petunias was priceless.
Ororo smiled before continuing. "But sometimes our mistakes might have serious consequences," her expression went grave, "but the best thing to do is to learn from it, not beat yourself over the head with it."
Evan grumbled as he realized his aunt was no longer talking about his Danger Room
escapade. He hated serious talks like this. How does his aunt always manage to rope him into these sort of talks?
"Evan, whether or not you truly made a mistake no longer matters," Ororo looked him in the eye. "In the end, you can't erase the past and by wearing yourself down like this, it isn't improving anything. Learn from it and don't use it as your own personal bludgeon. You understand?"
Evan nodded hesitantly. He just wanted this conversation to be over… even if his aunt did usually give good advice.
"Just think about it over a bit more." Ororo knew Evan learned best from doing and not hearing some preachy speech. Now it was up to him whether he took her advice or not. "Now let's get out of here," she said as she stood up. "How does breakfast for dinner sound?"
Evan smiled and let out a whoop – the conversation was over and he was getting one of his favorite dinners. His aunt sure knew how to please him. "Alright! Can I have extra cheese in my omelet?" Evan gave Ororo the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.
Ororo let out a laugh at his antics. "Alright, you can, but only because you're my nephew."
As they exited the Danger Room, Evan's thoughts turned back to his missing friends who wouldn't get to share in the pancakes, eggs, and sausage. "Do you think the Professor is any closer to finding the others?"
"I don't know," Ororo answered truthfully, "but I'm sure he's doing everything in his power to –"
Ororo was interrupted by said Professor's telepathy.
Hank, Ororo, Evan, come up to the living room immediately, please.
Evan and Ororo didn't hear the question, but they were able to deduce what Hank had asked by the Professor's reply.
I believe I have found a way to discover the location of Logan and the others.
Evan let out a loud "Go Professor X!" before breaking into a run down the subbasement hallway to the elevator.
Ororo ran to catch up with Evan as she asked the Professor how he was going to find the others if so far nothing had worked.
Through Cerebro, or perhaps I should say Cerebro 2.0. Came the reply. Ororo could hear the pleased tone in the Professor's voice. She had no idea what the Professor was going to do. It sounded like modifying Cerebro, but wasn't that a lot of work? Could he even do it without Eric Lehnsherr's help?
Evan, I want you to find Kurt's cell phone and call Forge.
"Professor?' Evan questioned.
Tell him he has a new project to work on.
"Right on it, Prof!" Evan said as he jumped into the elevator.
Excellent. Professor Xavier cut off his telepathy, finally feeling as if something was going right. We're on our way. I pray that we rescue the others unscathed. Hopefully Logan has been able to protect them from any harm. All the Professor could do now was concentrate on revamping Cerebro as quickly as possible. It was time to reclaim his students.
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Reviews are much loved. Concrit is great too.
Sorry Rogue wasn't in this. She was painting her nails. She wanted to see her nails, painted, painted – painted black. Yeah.
Notes:
- Scott's first-hand experience with Kurt and no touch the tail is taken from one of the episodes where Scott pulls Kurt's tail and Kurt gets all P.O-ed. I believe it's the one with Forge. I believe it's also played in the opening sequence.
- Cornelius is a reference to Planet of the Apes.
- Prof X comparing himself to Jean Luc is a nod that Patrick Stewart plays both characters. Hope you caught that. ;)
- As a refresher, Eric Lehnsherr, aka Magneto, helped Prof. X in building Cerebro.