Retrieval of Self

by ishkaw

A training exercise crashed by a group of mercenaries leads to capture and to a dilapidated building hiding a sinister secret. Their failure as a team causes the X-men to question themselves, each other, their abilities, and their humanity.

6. Chapter 6

Warnings: Cussing. I cuss. Too bad, so sad. Oh new warning! Brief violence.

Thanks to those who reviewed! Also, thanks to anyone who is just reading too. Hope you're enjoying it.

And I fail miserably. So it seems that in the show Jean does see Scott's eyes in two episodes no less(!), and they're green to boot. Comic book Scott has brown (I even looked on wiki!), so I assumed they kept it the same. Thanks to JCRobin, who rocks my socks for her awesome reviews, for the pointer.

As always, reviews are appreciated.

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Retrieval of Self: Chapter 6

Dr. Falk watched the liquids in the vials on the table slosh about as he ran his fingers across the neatly racked vials. As he contemplated which serum he would give his blue demon specimen, an occasional hum would lit past his lips. He was in quite a good mood.

The aforementioned specimen was sitting passively on the examination table, needing no straps or other forms of restraints to prevent him from a timely escape. Falk smiled smugly at that as he continued his perusal of the serums. In the past two weeks, Falk had sucked any hint of spirit out of his demon mutant, resulting in a docile specimen who obeyed all of Falk's orders.

Despite the administering of numerous doses of the XfB306 serum and other variants, there had so far been barely any hint of a change in the mutant's appearance suggesting that the serum was even working. Well, now that Falk had gotten the mutant under his control completely, he supposed that it was time to remove the hindering collar to see if there had been any alternate mutant power manifestations.

Still, Falk paused his fingers idle play as he thought. I'd rather administer one more dose of one of the serums, but which one to choose…

Falk smirked with success as his eyes fell on the only vial that contained a colored liquid. It was a dull ochre, and it glinted in the light as Falk plucked it from the vial rack. Yes, this would be perfect. The unassuming serum was one of Falk's more potent serums in the XfB series. A small dose would go a long way in boosting a mutant's power, or in this case, hopefully jumpstarting the powers. Unfortunately, it also had the same side effects as the other XfB series serums, just more pronounced.

Not really caring what unpleasant side effects the serum had on his test subject, Falk turned around and approached his blue demon who was looking despondently at his knees.

"Now then," Falk began as he placed his chosen vial on the tray beside the examination table. "Shall we test out a little theory before administering a new dose?" Falk asked rhetorically. Looking at the mutant who had yet to meet Falk's eyes, Falk was satisfied that his specimen was sufficiently cowed. "I think we shall," Falk's voice dripped with derision.

Kurt looked up through the fringe of his hair and watched as Falk retrieved a set of keys from his pocket. Kurt looked back down quickly to hide any hint of triumph or anticipation that might have passed over his eyes. He wanted to taunt the arrogant Falk that his overconfidence was his weakness. Briefly, Kurt wanted to bash his head against a wall as the unwanted line "your faith in your friends is yours" passed through his head. Obviously, that one geeky guard had permeated into his brain.

Fumbling with the small key ring, Falk picked the smallest key out of five others, which clinked against each other as they settled at the bottom of the ring.

Without preamble, Falk unlocked the specimen's collar and placed it on the side tray along with the vial but returned the key ring to his pocket. Stepping back for a second, Falk, tapping his finger to his chin, scrutinized the mutant, looking for any sudden outward physical changes. Seeing none for far, Falk approached closer.

"Well, demon? Do you feel any different, any extra power at all?"

Kurt just shook his head in denial. He really didn't feel any different. Ever since Falk had been constantly dosing him with that serum, he now constantly felt like he had a small fire burning in his chest. It made Kurt wonder if he was going to have to take buckets full of Tums everyday to keep it under control. But neither that heat nor anything else had changed once Falk removed the collar.

Falk hmmed as he stared a bit longer at Kurt before turning to the tray. "Looks like we'll be testing out this new serum then," Falk said as he picked up the ochre serum as well as a syringe. Turning sideways, he looked askance at the demon. "It'll have to be just a small dose as it's very potent, but I'll keep you for observation afterwards, and you will tell me how you feel. And because of the potency of this, there is no need to mention any side effects, which'll be – "

Kurt half-listened to Falk as he surreptitiously edged his tail over towards the key ring that was peeking out of Falk's pocket. He nodded obediently to Falk, cautiously keeping his eyes on the scientist. He didn't dare look down at Falk's pocket, afraid to give even a hint to what he was doing. He felt his heart racing as his clandestine approach neared fruition. All his passivity and obedience had finally paid off.

Falk, though, was not so easily fooled. As he had begun filling up the syringe, he noticed out of the corner of his eye his supposedly submissive specimen's attempt at escape. Though, what the demon planned on doing once capturing the keys was beyond Falk.

Did the mutant really think he was so stupid to remove the collar without taking precautions to protect himself? All around the room, hidden in the walls, were tranquilizer guns pointed towards the specimen, ready to fire if he made any threatening moves toward Falk. Even if he did think he could somehow incapacitate Falk, maybe with some unrevealed power, did he really think he could run all the way back to his friends without resistance?

Falk's mind went a mile a minute as he processed his specimen's actions. Why hadn't the mutant attacked him first and then grabbed the keys? The mutant couldn't be trying to hide the keys anywhere, as there was only the sad remains of pants as a place to conceal them.

Falk glanced quickly back to the syringe he had been filling as he realized he must have overlooked some fact that would lead the mutant to such a foolish act. Maybe the specimen was stupid? Falk didn't fully register that he had filled the syringe way past his planned dosage and all the way to full throughout his musings. The only thing he had in mind was to stop the specimen from escaping through whatever means at hand.

Kurt, though, had not seen any suggestion on Falk's face of the turmoil passing through the scientist's mind. His tail was almost there. Just a few more inches and he'd have the keys and could teleport away from this unbearable room and vile scientist.

Just as his tail was about to grasp the keys, Falk spun straight towards him without warning, causing Kurt to lose his grip on the keys. Falk pushed Kurt down back onto the examination table having the upper hand with leverage and waited for one of the numerous tranquilizer guns stored in the walls to unfurl and sedate the test subject. Falk growled angrily as no sounds of a mechanical whirring signifying the opening of the wall met his ears.

Kurt wasn't going to just let Falk restrain him, but despite his resistance, he wasn't able to push Falk off of himself. Still, he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. This might be his and the other's only chance at escape, so Kurt refocused himself back on his goal. While Falk fought to bind one of his hands into a restraint connected to the table, Kurt's tail quickly grabbed the keys from Falk's lab coat.

Falk, feeling the weight leave his coat, angrily plunged the syringe still in his hand straight into Kurt's thigh. The pain, so sharp and sudden, shocked Kurt for a few moments.

Falk pulled out the empty syringe, a triumphant smile on his face as he stared down at his specimen. Falk's smile, though, quickly melted off his face, as he saw the mutant look up at him. Falk's nickname of demon now seemed more apt than ever as the unbridled look of anger and abhorrence transformed the mutant's expression to a fearful countenance. For the first time since he had worked on Weapon X, Falk feared his test subject.

Falk, though, did not have anything to fear just yet. However much he wanted to just hurt Falk for everything he had done, Kurt was not going to waste his prime and possibly only opportunity to escape by indulging in foolish desires. With one last fanged, menacing grin, Kurt ported away, keys grasped firmly in his tail.

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Scott was pacing in his cell. It was a new habit he picked up in the past few days, and he felt that he could now say without a doubt that he had stepped on every inch of floor in his cell. Scott brushed his hand through his hair as he turned around to take the few steps towards the bars. After what Scott figured had been two or three weeks in Falk's clutches, he had pretty much given up on any feasible escape plans and was now onto the ridiculous ones. What could he do, what could he do? I could tell terrible jokes and kill the guards through puns? My wit is mightier than the sword?

Scott felt that he was losing his mind if his grand plan was to make a guard groan to death. And who was he kidding? He was terrible at coming up with puns. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair again as he decided to cross the cell diagonally. Changing his pacing path was the most entertainment he was getting behind bars. He couldn't even play tic-tac-toe or write Scott hearts Jean on the wall. Not that he'd ever do that, no.

Scott glanced at Jean and Logan as he plodded back and forth. He could see from the haggard look on their faces that was surely reflected on his, that they were all feeling ragged, worn down and disheartened. He was especially worried about Kurt because he was getting the brunt of the experiments and looked it too. The glint of humor and vitality that was usually present in Kurt had all but dwindled. Scott also thought there was something odd about Kurt's appearance – different somehow. Scott just chalked it up to not being used to seeing things without his glasses.

He sighed again as he looked towards the doors of the room. He knew that the lab techs would be coming to collect him soon. They tended to ignore him when he wasn't being run through tests, as if he was a mere object to play with. But, it did give him the chance to hear their plans, and yesterday they had congratulated each other as Scott sat on the examination table. It seemed the scientists had finished their preliminary testing on him and were ready to begin whatever enhancements they planned on him today. Scott felt nervous and sick about it, but it's not like he could do anything about it. So, he continued to pace in his cell.

For Jean, she had no idea how much time had passed since they had been captured. Kurt was the only one who had been wearing a watch, and it, of course, had been smashed to smithereens. Oddly enough, one of the things she missed since being captured was knowing the time. Her head resting on her arms and back scrunched up against the back wall, Jean looked at her wrist and imagined her battered Mickey Mouse watch on it. Scott had given it to her when they were kids, and she still kept it as one of her treasures.

Scott, though, was doing everything but endearing himself to her now. With a grumbled sigh, she turned her head away from him because his pacing was driving her mad. If she watched him, her eyes would follow his path back and forth and back and forth. But, if the pacing helped him, she wasn't going to ask him to stop. She felt like she didn't have that right after her shameless actions as of late.

And in the end, her silence when Kurt and Scott had been taken away by the scientists had been for naught. A day or two after Scott had first been dragged out of his cell, they had come for her. It had seemed to Jean that when she had been led out by the scientists, that Scott and Logan's protests were not as vehement as before. Were they mad at her? Did they realize why she hadn't protested?

Jean shut her eyes tightly at the thought of her friends knowing how weak and disloyal she was. Moreover, she was just so scared for her friends and herself. So far all the scientists had done was test her power like Scott. She had tried to use her telepathy on the lab techs as soon as her collar was removed, but it seemed at least the room, if not the whole facility, was protected against her telepathy. She couldn't breach to where the scientists were standing.

Jean had no idea what the scientists were ultimately planning on doing to her, but whenever she thought of it, she felt sick to her stomach. She especially hated that one lecherous guard with the roaming hands. It seemed whenever she was led from her cell, he was the one who escorted her to the labs. His hands would linger longer on her arms or caress her back or hair. She despised the guard, but she couldn't do anything to stop him, and she sure as hell wasn't going to tell Scott about it.

Stretching out her legs, Jean looked across her cell to Logan. He was the only one who hadn't been taken to a lab by the guards. This, though, didn't seem to be a comforting thought to Logan because each time one of them was taken, he would protest loudly. Jean was still mad at Logan anyway. For whatever reason only known to him, Logan was still picking on Kurt, and it was just getting worse somehow. She had tried admonishing him when it was just them two left in the cells, but something seemed to spark inside Logan anyway that make him fly off the handle.

"Cyke, if you don't stop pacing I'm gonna tear your legs off."

"Sorry, Logan." Scott mumbled, and he came to a standstill in the middle of his cell.

Jean was grateful for a few moments before Scott started tapping his foot against the floor. Seriously, was he trying to drive her batty?

"Okay, Scott, stop," Jean said before sighing. "How about you come sit near me?" Jean figured she could perhaps distract Scott enough to prevent him from fidgeting about. Sitting next to her might not be a pleasant experience right now. The scientists hadn't thought to be so kind as to let them shower since being captured. Jean never realized how much she'd miss rolling on a chalky white stick to her armpits.

"Alright," Scott agreed before sitting by the bar cells near Jean.

"There, that's better, right? Now just take a – "

Scott never got to know what Jean wanted him to do because at that moment Kurt bamfed right into the middle of the hallway.

"Kurt!" Scott exclaimed as he stood up quickly, surprise written on his face.

"What? How?" Jean began, having also stood up and approached the bars.

Kurt wasted no time and began unlocking Logan's cell immediately. "It seems that Falk has such a big head that only one of us could be in the room," Kurt commented flippantly.

"Good job," Logan said proudly as he looked at Kurt as he cell door swung open. "Now, which one goes to this?" Logan jabbed a finger towards his collar.

"If it's a one size fits all, then the smallest one," Kurt answered as he picked out the smallest key. Kurt leaned forward as he inspected Logan's collar for the keyhole. With a clink, the collar unlocked. Logan bared a devilish grin before putting one hand on Kurt's shoulder. With a small squeeze of pride, Logan directed Kurt to open Jean's cell as he took care of Scott's.

Kurt quickly complied and opened Jean's cell as Logan made short work of the bars to Scott's cell with his claws.

Jean impulsively hugged Kurt before trying to assess if he had incurred any injuries while escaping. "How'd you escape?" As she took in his mien, she became worried at how worn he looked. "Are you okay?"

"Ja, fine," Kurt reflexively responded before realizing that he couldn't not tell the others about being overdosed with some strange serum. What would they think if he suddenly had some bad reaction to it? Kurt fumbled with the keys and Jean's collar while he admitted Falk's zealous last dose.

Jean thought Kurt already looked strained and his accent was thick. She grew even more worried, knowing that the full effects of the dose hadn't kicked in yet. Automatically, she raised her hand and put it on Kurt's forehead, trying to test for a temperature.

"Uh, Jean," Kurt began, looking at her oddly, "I don't think you can – "

The sudden sound of a klaxon blaring interrupted Kurt. Most of the lights turned off and others began flashing red. Kurt thought that whoever designed the alarm system must've watched one too many movies. Really, are the flashing red lights necessary?

"Alright, let's move!" Logan ordered as he sprinted for the door they were originally brought through. He wanted to try and take the posted guards out quickly. Right before he could rip open the door, the door opened to reveal two guards very surprised to see an angry mutant with sharp claws pointed their way. Before the guards could even get over their shock, Logan had dispatched them with a claw through each stomach. The others were shocked, to say the least, at Logan's brutality.

To Logan, this was just like his escape from the Weapon X facility all those years ago. His remembrance of his escape as well as his furious state only fueled Logan's anger. He didn't want the others killing anyone, but he sure as hell didn't mind if he did it himself.

Flicking his claws to rid them of the guards' blood, Logan turned towards his students. Seeing the stunned looks on their faces, Logan cursed under his breath before he reassessed his thoughts and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He probably really oughtn't kill anyone with his students around. Chuck would be furious at him for doing so, and Logan really didn't want the kids to get any ideas from him.

"Won't happen again," Logan said as he gestured to the two fallen guards. "And don't any of you do what I just did," Logan ordered, knowing that for now that would have to be enough; they really couldn't waste anymore time. "Now," Logan began as he turned his attention towards their escape, "we're not out yet. Let's get moving before any more guards show up." With that, Logan dashed out the door, followed by his students who made sure not to look down at the slain guards. After a glance both ways down the hallway, they hung a right, remaining on the alert for any guards.

So far they were in the clear. As they quickly approached an intersection, Logan turned towards Kurt. "You still remember the way back?"

"Ja, ve'll take not this turn but the next one," Kurt nodded as he ran alongside Logan. Logan briefly grinned. He was quite pleased that Kurt had been able to orchestrate an escape and still remember the way out. The kid's done good.

Logan briefly glanced over his shoulder at the others. " Jean," Logan said as they made a sharp left and continued down the hallway, "keep your mind open to the guards' locations."

Jean nodded, having already found that luckily it was just the testing room and not the whole facility that was protected against her telepathy. "Most guards are coming from the opposite way to the cells. We're good for right now."

Logan nodded in response as he continued to follow Kurt's directions towards the exit.

Scott felt quite useless as he ran beside Jean. He couldn't take off the collar because he didn't have his visor, but he still had the set of keys that Kurt had stolen in his pocket. He didn't think he could run down the hallway with his eyes closed, so they remained there. Still, he kept a hand hovering over his pocket. If they got trapped, then he would be ready to help out with an optic blast.

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Rogue was back to tapping her foot on the X-jet, impatience screaming through her whole body. It had taken over a week for Professor Xavier and Forge to upgrade Cerebro, and now the Professor could "see" past any telepathic barriers. Forge had wanted to christen it "Mondo Cool Cerebro," to which the Professor had said, as placating as he could, that he'd think about it. Really, Forge needs to catch up on modern slang. Rogue didn't think she could handle another night of Kurt returning from hanging out with Forge spouting weird, outdated slang. Though right now she wouldn't mind hearing some random, what she liked to call, Kurtism, or seeing Scott washing his car in the midday sun (no she certainly wouldn't mind that), or even having Jean hog the bathroom. Heck, she wouldn't even mind doing extra DR sessions with Logan. At least it would mean they were all back at the mansion, safe and normal… well as normal as they could be.

They'd get them back to the mansion soon. When the Professor had announced the success of the upgrade, he'd already found the location of the others. After much hugging and cheering, they went about setting up a plan of attack and rescue. This took another day of scouting from Cerebro and on site at the abandoned facility before the Professor deemed them ready to try the rescue. In the interim, Rogue had barely survived waiting for them to upgrade Cerebro, and she thought she'd lose her mind if they had to delay anymore.

Of course, Rogue and the others had to practically beg to come with Hank and Ororo on the rescue. They eventually convinced them after swearing they'd follow all of Hank and Ororo's orders without question, including running away if necessary, and promising they wouldn't do anything stupid or dangerous. This made Rogue feel guilty for yelling at Kitty for running when Logan ordered them to. She knew it was the right thing to do, but sometimes she couldn't help but take her anger out on others, and Kitty was a convenient target. Rogue had, albeit still begrudgingly, apologized to Kitty, to which Kitty accepted. Though none too graciously. This thought peeved Rogue, and her foot began tapping faster.

Rogue shot Kitty a glare to Kitty's back before turning her attention back to the cockpit. Currently, they were flying as fast as they could to land close enough to the targeted building without being detected. Professor Xavier and Forge were both with Mundo CoolCerebro, and the Professor would be guiding them through the facility to theirs friends as soon as they had infiltrated the building.

With a frustrated sigh, Rogue held back asking any pointless questions on how much longer to go. She thought that she at least was keeping her cool better than Evan who looked like he was about to burst into a flurry of spikes like a blowfish from his pent up anxiety. She couldn't see Kitty's face, but she thought if a ponytail could somehow look stressed, Kitty's was doing it nicely. Hank kept on turning around from the cockpit to look back at them and give encouraging smiles while Ororo flew the X-jet. Rogue was sure that Hank's smiles were pinched, and they certainly didn't help her mood. As he turned around again to offer some reassurance, he was interrupted by the Professor's telepathy.

Something has changed. The Professor's voice sounded perplexed.

"What's going on, Charles?" Ororo asked.

Hm, Charles interjected as he concentrated on the missing X-Men's thoughts, it seems that our friends have decided to take matters in their own hands and have become their own rescuers.

"Oh, well this does put a damper on our plans now," Hank looked down at his detailed schematics of attack and escape forlornly.

I'll keep you abreast on their movements, and adjust your course accordingly to rendezvous with them. They'll need your help.

"Understood," Ororo replied as she continued their course towards the dilapidated building.

Rogue leaned back in her chair, feeling renewed hope now that she knew her friends were on the move too. With them working together, there'd be no way they could be stopped again.

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Scott was grateful that the DR sessions kept him in such great shape. They'd been running for awhile now, and Scott knew that he'd have collapsed by now if not for the arduous sessions. They'd gone up a flight of stairs and passed through numerous hallways with Kurt pointing them in the right direction. Jean had called out several times, announcing the presence of approaching guards. Luckily, they had always been able to duck down an alternate hallway before getting back on track.

Currently, though, they had slowed down incrementally. At first, Scott didn't notice their changed pace, but when he did, he began to see why. As he watched Logan and Kurt run in front of him, he noticed that Kurt would sometimes trip over his feet or weave a bit to the side, like he was drunk. At some point, Kurt had switched from running flat out on all fours to running just normally. Logan must've noticed that something was up with Kurt and had slowed up the pace. Scott hoped they were near their point of escape, but even if they did escape the building, they'd still have to make a run for it through the woods. Scott wanted to pull out his hair in frustration and anxiety.

"There's a large group of men gathering in that direction," Jean informed them as she pointed in the guards' general direction. "I think they're waiting for us."

"Scheisse, that's where we need to go." Kurt right now wanted nothing more than to pass out. He was really starting to feel the effects of the new serum, and he already felt ten times worse than he did after being given the other shots. He was having a hard time concentrating on the task at hand; his mind felt all fuzzy, like a giant cotton ball. He also figured that if he got any hotter he'd be able to cook an egg right on his tongue.

"They must be tryin' to cut off all the closest exits," Logan mumbled as he tried to come up with a new plan. There was no way they could bust through a group of guards, especially if they were armed with tranq guns again. "Alright, change of plans." Logan said as he veered down another hallway before stopping them. "Are we in the clear, Jean?"

"Nobody is too close right now."

Logan nodded before turning to Kurt. "Okay, which way is directly opposite from the cells, Elf?" Logan's first goal was to build as much distance between the guards and themselves.

"South," Kurt pointed perpendicular to the hallway to show which way as he leaned against the wall to rest. He wished that someone would just shut the damn alarm off. The sound and the flashing lights just somehow intensified everything he was feeling, making him wish he could just find some dark, silent room where he could curl up and sleep.

"Good, we'll for now head south and as far away from most of the guards as possible," Logan ordered. "And keep your eyes peeled for any means of escape."

They were off again. The facility seemed endless, but the further they went, the more the rooms they passed became dilapidated. Obviously, Falk's operations were not yet expansive, but it worried Logan that Falk could someday be using all of these rooms to experiment on mutants. As soon as they escaped, Logan would have to get the Professor to agree to plan an attack on the facility. They couldn't let it continue to operate.

"Stop!"

Everyone came to a crashing halt as Jean yelled out in warning.

"There's a group of guards coming towards us." She pointed in the exact direction they were heading.

"We backtrack," Logan directed. They had to escape undetected if possible.

As they turned around to go back the way they had just come, Jean let out another warning to stop. "Another group is headed in our direction from that way to meet up with the other group! We can't avoid them now."

Logan growled in frustration. He looked at Kurt who was leaning against a wall again, looking ready to pass out. They really couldn't afford to run into these guards.

"Then we hide in one of these rooms," Scott said as he tried to open one of the hallway doors. Damn, locked.

"Move aside, Cyke. I'll bust it open." Logan unsheathed his claws and approached the door.

"Logan, stop," Scott said, standing unmoving in front of the door. "If you busted the lock, then the guards would notice something."

Logan grimaced but complied. "Right, then Jean – "

"I'm on it!" Jean had already started concentrating to try and unlock the door from the other side with her telekinesis. The groups of guards were getting closer and would be on them very soon. Pushing her worry aside, she focused just on opening the door.

"There!"

Wasting no time, Scott opened the now unlocked door and rushed everyone inside. As quickly and as softly as he could, he closed the door and relocked it. He crouched down beside Logan and Jean, hidden from the view of the small window in the door.

They waited with bated breath for the sound of the guards to go stomping past. They didn't have to wait long at all. Within a few moments of them ducking into the what appeared to Scott to be a storage closet, they heard the clomping of the men get louder and then eventually fade to nothing.

After the group had passed, Logan turned to Jean to see if they were in the clear. Jean nodded as she put her hand down from her head.

"They met up with the other group and are marching further off."

"Good," Logan responded, glad for the respite and for the muffled sounds of the siren. The closet was dark and the only light was leaked in every other second from the hallway through the small window on the door. The red flashes of light cast their features into a strange light, as if they were in some submarine miles under the sea instead of a storage closet. Logan looked back at Kurt who had immediately gone to the back wall once the door was opened and collapsed. He wasn't sure if Kurt was going to be able to handle much more running.

His back against the wall, Kurt was resting his head on his arms that were in turn resting on top of his knees. Everything was just so, so hot to him. He felt like a furnace, and his muscles and joints felt so tired and painful, Kurt could've sworn he'd aged 100 years in the past several minutes. Closing his eyes, Kurt tried to block out the pain.

Jean shared a worried look with others. "He must be feeling that shot now." When the others gave her perplexed looks, she realized they didn't know what had happened before Kurt had escaped Falk. "Guys, this might be serious," Jean related to them. "Falk injected Kurt with too much of some strong serum before Kurt teleported out."

A look of anger passed over Logan's face before worry took its place. "Shit," Logan said as he punched the ground. Not only did he have to worry about them escaping, but now he had to worry about Kurt and what effects the serum might have. He wanted to get Kurt looked over by Hank as soon as possible. "We need to find the quickest and safest escape route. Jean – "

Jean turned her attention back to Logan as he addressed her.

"I want you to scan several of the guards' minds and glean as much info from them as you can. Look for possible exits, and less guarded areas."

Jean nodded as she put her hand up to her head again to carry out Logan's orders. Logan knew that he was asking a lot out of Jean. The task would be difficult for her, but he knew he could rely on her to come through.

Meanwhile, Scott had approached Kurt, and had called out his name with no response. He knelt down beside Kurt and was about to call out to him when Kurt mumbled something.

"What?" Scott didn't understand what he had said. "Kurt, are you – ?"

"Heiss."

"Um, not really." Scott thought it was odd Kurt was speaking German, and that it was actually quite cold throughout the building. "But I…" Scott leaned in and realized Kurt had his eyes closed, "…think you need to wake up now." Scott leaned in and gently shook Kurt, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Zu heiss," Kurt said softly.

"Guys," Scott turned back to the others, trepidation threading his voice, "I think I need some help here. I can't get Kurt to respond to me."

Logan had been keeping an eye on Scott and Kurt while waiting for Jean's findings, but now he moved to hunker down beside Scott. Jean also looked up at Scott's call and immediately stopped her search to join them.

"What's wrong, Scott?"

"I dunno," Scott looked at Jean, worried and confused. "I tried waking him, but it's like he's caught in a bad dream or something."

"Bitte," Kurt's voice recaptured Scott's attention. Scott noticed that Kurt was sitting stiffly, as if he was restrained and couldn't move. "Stoppe, bitte.." One thing was for sure, Scott was for once glad he'd decided to take German in school.

"Alright, I'm stopping this." Logan had no idea what was going on, but he certainly didn't want Kurt to get louder and attract the guards. "All he needs is a good shake" Logan moved towards Kurt, but was stopped by a hand.

"Really now, Logan. I think we can be a bit kinder than that," Jean said as she took her hand off of him.

"Fine, then what's your way." Logan crossed his arms as he continued to look at Kurt who was still sporadically pleading something in German.

Jean shared a quick exasperated roll of her eyes at Logan with Scott. Sometimes Logan just didn't see the subtle side of things. "I can just sort of poke him with my telepathy." Jean explained as she closed her eyes to concentrate. "Hold on a sec."

As she delved into Kurt's mind, what she saw and felt shocked her so much she lost her concentration and had to pull back out.

"What's wrong, Jean?" Scott asked, worry tingeing his voice.

"He's not dreaming, not really," Jean stared as her hands clenched into fists as what she saw sunk in. "It's more of a memory, and god -" Jean stopped as everything became clear to her. She knew that she wasn't fully trained in shielding her mind, especially when she was sleeping. One time she woke up with the oddest sensation of wanting a cigar and a desire to watch the University of Michigan play football. But, she had always wondered why sometimes she would wake up in terror, feeling as if she was being… "Burned alive," she whispered, and then looked at Logan with shock on her face. "They were going to burn him alive!"

"Wait, what?" Scott asked, confused and troubled.

Logan, though, knew exactly what Jean was talking about, and he wasn't about to let it continue. "We end this now. Jean, wake him up."

Jean nodded and closed her eyes to brace herself as she reentered Kurt's mind. It didn't take Jean long, and with a gasp, Kurt opened his eyes. Logan was right there, grabbing his shoulders to draw Kurt's attention to him. Logan knew how Kurt had escaped from the fervid flames back in Germany, and he didn't want to risk having Kurt teleport randomly in confusion and fear.

"Elf, look at me. You know where you are?"

Kurt drew in a shaky breath as his mind reoriented itself. Not really hearing Logan's question, Kurt nodded anyway, the familiar nickname clearing away the lingering fog, and slowly the absolute terror he was feeling ebbed away. He didn't know what was worse, his mind's decision to reenactment one of his worst days of his life, or the way his body felt right now. He didn't really consider himself a masochist, but today might be the exception. Shaking that random thought away, he rubbed his eyes to erase all traces of his dream from his mind.

He really didn't want to look up at the others. He knew that it was Jean who pulled him out of his dream; her familiar touch still lingered in his mind. He had seriously thought that his friends would never find out about that horrid night. Looks like blind optimism had taken a precipitate dive off a cliff without a parachute. And Logan, well he hadn't removed his hands from his shoulders yet, and Logan was never this demonstrative with his feelings. At least he already knew about what had happened. Kurt sure as hell wasn't going to look up at Scott to see if he also now knew. He didn't want to see the pity or shock in any of their eyes. So, Kurt kept his eyes closed to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

Logan looked to the others as Kurt recovered but kept one hand on Kurt's shoulder for support. "Don't mention this to the others." Logan just added this to his list of things he would have to deal with but really didn't want to when they got back to the mansion. Right now he'd rather just have all their memories wiped; that'd be the easiest but cowardly thing to do. Why did everything have to go to hell in a handbasket at the same time? There was no time, though, to continue hiding in the closet. Inevitably, they would be found, and Logan had rather be gone before then. "We leave, now," Logan ordered. "Jean."

Jean was exhausted having been almost constantly using her telepathy to scan for guards as they escaped and now to wake up Kurt, but she wasn't going to complain. She gathered up her energy to complete the task she originally set out to do.

As they waited anxiously for her to finish, Scott turned to Kurt, not really knowing quite what to say. "Um, how're you holding up?"

"Okay," Kurt replied tiredly without any conviction in his voice as he leaned his head against his arm and looked up at Scott.

Scott was momentarily stunned upon seeing Kurt's eyes. Instead of the usual yellow pupils, the whole of Kurt's eyes were a solid, glowing gold.

"Vas?" Kurt asked, worried about Scott's reaction.

"Um, nothing." Scott looked down then glanced back up at Kurt. "It's just…I think the serum might be kicking in," he finished in a rush.

Kurt's eyes widened at that alarming declamation but before he could ask what Scott was talking about, Jean announced she'd found a possible escape route.

"The Star Wars guard!" Before the others could interject with groans at the mention of the annoying guard she continued, "he and four other guards were assigned to guard a small garage while everyone else gathers in that way." She pointed in the general direction to where they had just come from.

"How far is it from here?"

"Not too far. We just need to keep heading the way we're heading basically," Jean explained to Logan. "And there aren't too many guards in between, so hopefully we won't have any problems."

"Good." Logan nodded in Jean's direction. "Jean, you take the lead, and keep us aware of any nearby guards. We don't want another close call." Logan then turned to Scott and Kurt, "Scott, you and – " Logan paused as he saw Kurt's eyes, and could see that Jean was equally taken aback as she followed his gaze. Hell, meet the fucking handbasket. There wasn't much he could do about that now. Taking in the rest of Kurt's tired and exhausted posture, he knew that there would be no way that Kurt could continue on his own. "Right, Scott, you take care of Kurt and stay in the middle, and I'll take rear." Logan stood up first, ready to bust through the door.

Jean was already scanning for any guards that might approach the hallway as they exited. So far they were in the clear.

"Why don't you get on my back?" Scott said to Kurt as he silently presented his back for access.

Kurt nodded, knowing it would be futile to protest, and not really wanting to anyways. Kurt put his arms around Scott's neck and laid against Scott's back, hoping Scott wouldn't mind if he just fell asleep right then and there. Scott did make a nice pillow.

In one swoop, Scott stood up and after a few minor adjustments, they were set. If it was another situation, Scott probably would found it amusing that he was giving Kurt what was basically a piggy-back ride. Jean did shoot him a brief, amused smile before turning back to looking out the small window in the door.

Logan turned and pointed to Scott, "and don't you let him," Logan said as his finger slide over to point at Kurt, "fall asleep. We don't want any accidental teleporting." After receiving a nod from both, Logan got ready to open the door. "Let's move."

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Notes:

- So the whole "faith in your friends is yours [weakness]" is, yes, a Star Wars quote. From Revenge of Jedi. It's the whole Emperor v. Luke: Scene Let's Banter First. With all these quotes from SW, you'd think I was a huge fan.

- Okay, I tried with the German with multiple online German dictionaries for context, but none really were that helpful. So, if you know German and spot a mistake, I'll fix it.

-And Jean waking up and wanting to watch Michigan play football was a poke at Michigan's mascot, the wolverine.