X-Men: Evolution

Blood Magics

26. Uncertain worries

Dragon found her day being filled with one very long reading and writing lesson; Jean and Mr. McCoy were both too busy doing something else to teach her the lessons they gave, and Scott didn't want to take her into the Danger Room for practice when she hadn't actually been "cleared" to do so by Mr. McCoy, so Mrs. O was the only one giving her her lesson. And Dragon was getting kind of bored with it. As much as being able to read a book herself if she wanted would be nice, there was only so long she could spend copying out letters and practicing sounds… and, in addition to getting boring, her mouth started to hurt from holding the pencil in it, too.

Mrs. O seemed to know this and gave her both a longer break at lunch and let her stop early. Dragon used the extra time to hunt grasshoppers outside; unfortunately, between them being harder to find at this time of year and the fact that her unmoving right wing unbalanced her a little and would flop open now and then to drag on the ground, she didn't catch a single one by the time the others came back. The younger mutants scattered, a few to play and a few to do homework; the older mutants had a Danger Room session right after school on Thursdays, and headed in for it.

Still bored, she headed in after them and went down while they all hurried up to their rooms to change; she obviously wouldn't be joining them, but she had been told that she was allowed to watch any time she wanted, so she went into the control room, finding Mr. Logan and Mrs. O already in there. A small table with a large book placed on top of it sat in one spot below the window that showed the Danger Room; it had been left exactly as it was since the last time Dragon had watched a session. It took a big jump, but Dragon made it onto the table, then stepped up onto the book, which brought her high enough to comfortably see.

It had been over a week since she'd decided to watch one, but it wasn't strange for her to be there to watch, so no comment was made aside from Mrs. O giving her a small smile. She waited while those who were supposed to be taking part in the Danger Room session gathered; Jean and Mr. McCoy were both absent when the session was started, but since neither Mrs. O nor Mr. Logan said anything, she assumed that they had expected that.

And as she watched the older students go through the session, it looked like it was even harder than usual. There were normally a whole lot of obstacles and things trying to knock them down, even potentially injure them, but this seemed like even more than usual. It went on longer, too, and by the end, there were a lot of near misses both from the obstacles trying to knock people down, and from those who tried to use powers to knock out those. It had Dragon wincing every time something came too close for comfort.

"Got sloppy towards the end." Mr. Logan grumbled.

"We're pushing them harder, Logan." Mrs. O told him.

"Yeah, because the outside world's gettin' more dangerous. They need to adapt and improve."

"And they will. But they can't do that overnight. Given that we extended the session a half hour and increased the difficulty level, I think it went rather well."

Mr. Logan gave another, wordless grumble as he stared out into the Danger Room while the mutants inside trickled out, moving rather slowly, then gave a nod.

"Suppose so." Uncrossing his arms, he began pushing several of the buttons and twisting a few of the knobs on the controls.

"You're setting it up for yourself?"

"Can't let myself get rusty, either."

"True. I've leave you to it. Are you going to watch Logan as well, Dragon?"

Knowing that she was offering to let her out through the door- not that Mrs. O really needed to worry about that since the door didn't stop her- Dragon shook her head and jumped down. Mrs. O opened the door for her.

"I think I'll leave as well to make sure there is at least someone supervising dinner."

"Doesn't Peter usually do that?"

"Yes, but he's also been the one taking Gambit his meals. Piotr vouched for him, by the way. I heard him telling Charles that even when they both worked for the Acolytes, Gambit was much like himself- never unnecessarily cruel. He avoided as much damage as possible and tried not to hurt anyone if he could help it. Xavier and myself are both looking at giving him a chance. He certainly hasn't done anything other than help us."

"So far." Mr. Logan growled. "I don't want that red- eyed rat anywhere near here. He's no good."

"Logan-"

"He kidnapped Rogue, or did you forget?!"

Dragon paused; she'd left and had been walking down the hall, but still listening. That got her attention.

"Not according to Rogue, he didn't."

"Oh, come on. You don't buy that."

"Whether or not I believe that Rogue would take off with him when he asked for help without notifying us is not important. What is, is that she has, in a way, given her own statement in vouching for him. Saying for argument's sake that it's not true, and he did kidnap her, she obviously harbours no ill will towards him for whatever happened in New Orleans. If Rogue bears no grudge, Logan, then you do not have a right to do so. As for myself, I think the only reason that he is still being held in a containment cell even now is because of everything else that has been going on. If Gambit had shown up last weekend, I think he would have been offered his chance by this point. He's only still in holding because there's too much on Xavier's mind to add one more thing. I'm quite certain that sooner or later, he's going to be offered the chance to wear the uniform, Logan, and you're going to have to… adapt and improve."

The last three words held amusement; Mr. Logan began grumbling. Dragon started walking again, pretty sure that anything interesting was now over. But it did make her even more curious about the man in the cell downstairs. Rogue had never mentioned knowing him from before to her… but then, they hadn't really talked much about him, just the two of them. There had never been a reason to bring him up.

Thinking of Rogue, Dragon closed her eyes and tried to feel her. She'd been in the Danger Room session, so Dragon guessed she would be feeling tired? Would that help her at all with trying to feel Rogue the way Rogue felt her with her mind?

Try as she might, though, Dragon couldn't feel anything. She didn't even know how to start. Dropping it with a sigh, she headed away. The basement levels were good for being alone, but they were a little colder than the rest of the mansion. Dragon could deal with cold; she'd seen a lot of snow in her nine years. But it wasn't exactly her favourite thing, so she figured maybe she could find somewhere that was just a little warmer, and ended up prowling the upper hallways until the dinner bell rang. Heading to her room when it did, she ate the meal that had been put on the table in her room for her, then hesitated.

Now what? She could remember Mr. Logan telling Mrs. O that the outside world was getting more dangerous. She knew, of course, that Trask was out there planning something, and that something else had gotten Kurt and was doing who- knew- what to him. That was probably what he meant, but Dragon was worried if there was even more trouble coming. How many people were there who wanted to hurt them?

Remembering the boy who'd picked her up by her tail, and all of the other people who had surrounded them at the time, and even the other four mutants that had showed up just before the fighting started that were Magneto and his people… the answer to that was maybe "lots of people."

Dragon took a deep breath. She wasn't in trouble right now; if she was, her instincts would be screaming it. She would know.

But she was still restless. She left her room to prowl the halls again, and was surprised when she smelled food near the dining room; surely people had finished and left by the time she'd gotten all the way down there? She peeked inside, not wanting to be seen by Tabitha if the bomb- thrower was in there, but she instead found Jean, Mr. McCoy, and Professor Xavier.

"And you're sure that you can replicate it on your own, now?" the professor was asking Jean. She nodded.

"Yes. I've got every step of the process noted down if I forget anything."

"Good. I'm glad we were able to pick that antidote apart and figure out how to manufacture it ourselves within the space of a day after all. In most circumstances, I would have laughed at myself and called it a fool's endeavor, but…"

"Sometimes, with the right motivation, the impossible can become possible." Mr. McCoy finished. "And of course, it helps that we had three of our most brilliant minds working on it."

"Indeed. Since we have been able to determine how it's done, Jean, I'm going to leave you here tomorrow. I want you to make more of that antidote."

"You think it will be needed?"

"I would like to be prepared. He's tried to use it on Kurt before. We have no idea if he has other people he's done this to, as well. I want you to continue making more of it. In addition to that, since you'll be the oldest person left at the mansion, you can consider yourself in charge for the time being. I am hoping we will not be gone long, but since I have no idea what we're going to find, it's possible it may be awhile. If this laboratory location was destroyed before Sinister left, we may spend days digging through rubble for anything worthwhile. So if anything comes up, Jean, you'll be the authority here while we're gone."

"You've got it. Just make sure you check in regularly."

"Of course. Daily. I'm not expecting any problems this time, however."

Dragon swallowed and left, not wanting to listen more. She already knew they were going to take a look at a place that they thought might help them find Kurt. She didn't know what "antidote" they were talking about, nor was she happy with what was happening. But it wasn't like she could do anything about it; not only were her powers very badly trained compared to everyone else, but she couldn't even fly right now. And given what had happened with the trip she'd gone on before that hadn't even been her fault, she definitely didn't plan on coming with them this time unless they asked her to. Definitely not.

But she did have a bad feeling about this. She didn't know if it was her instincts screaming at her, but she knew she didn't like what was going on at all.

Normally she slept on top of the bed nowadays. She was safe here; the other people here weren't going to hurt her nor let anyone else do so. But now, she wasn't so sure she felt that way… at least, she wasn't so sure if she felt that they would be able to not let anyone else do so.

She slept in the shadow under the bed.

Sleeping in Kurt's room had helped a little, Kitty mused as she buckled herself into the X- Jet. Cyclops buckled in next to her, since Wolverine was the one piloting and Storm the co- pilot. Rogue had buckled herself in one seat away from everyone else; she always did, just in case of turbulence. The likelihood of them hitting turbulence bad enough that it bumped them into each other and shifted clothing enough that Rogue's skin might be bared was low, but never zero, and Rogue, in Kitty's opinion, was overly conscious of it. Sure, if they were flying into a fight, then she could get the caution, but with an information- seeking mission like this it didn't really matter all that much if someone was a little dizzy from contact with her when they got there. It was a minor inconvenience at worst, in that case, but Rogue still insisted.

Kitty supposed it wasn't really her business. She tapped her fingers on her knee, waiting for the professor to come inside; he was giving Jean, who was staying behind, a couple last minute instructions. Kitty had caught the name Gambit as she was boarding and assumed that one of them was to make sure that their "prisoner" didn't get forgotten when it was time to eat, though why he was still in the cell at all was a mystery to Kitty. After all, Colossus had gotten a second chance with them when he asked, and it had been a great decision- the gentle giant of a mutant sitting across from her and next to Bobby on the jet right now, looking at her in concern, had been nothing but a help, and Rogue herself had insisted that nothing bad had happened during the "incident" in New Orleans. He'd asked for help; they'd both gone in a hurry. It was a little strange, Kitty would agree, that Rogue hadn't notified anyone at the mansion at the time, but then again, she was also aware that Rogue hadn't been feeling all that welcome at the mansion at the time… she'd been going through one of her occasional I- have- poison- skin- and- need- to- stay- far- away- from- all- other- people sort of moods, on top of a fight with Kurt over Mystique. So it wasn't completely abnormal for her to think, in the spur of the moment, that she would just go. So Kitty really didn't understand why he hadn't just been brought in and given a chance yet.

Then again, maybe she did; for some reason, Wolverine seemed to really not like him. Perhaps they had held off for a bit in order to pacify him.

"Are you alright?" the huge Russian across the jet asked her, and she blinked; curling her hand into a fist to stop her tapping, she tried and mostly failed to smile back.

"I will be… once we find Kurt." She told him.

"I am sure we will find something." He assured her kindly, and Kitty tried harder to smile.

"I hope so."

The blue teleporter's absence was really starting to rub her nerves raw. He should have been here, buckled in next to her, or perhaps hovering around in the cockpit asking if he could fly them. He complained, on occasion, that he was not often given a chance to fly the X- Jet on the way to and from missions. Given his tendency to lean back and steer with his feet as a joke, Kitty was well aware of why, but the ride just wasn't the same without his antics.

Finally, Professor Xavier wheeled himself on board, over to the spot for his wheelchair, and secured himself in. The jet was as smooth for takeoff and landing as it could be, but it was still safest for everyone to be buckled when it did so.

The jet door closed; they all waited as the hangar door opened and the way out was ensured to be clear, and then finally, finally, they were taxiing off, heading out towards the coordinates they had been given that housed a facility that Mr. Sinister had once worked at. If they could find some kind of clue left behind, or determine how this Sinister picked out his locations, they could track down where he was now, and take Kurt back. Whatever nightmare that Kurt was currently going through, they'd put a stop to it. And once they had him back, Kitty wasn't going to let Kurt out of her sight for a long, long time.

A/N: When you're as small as Dragon, people tend to forget and/ or not realize you're there. She overhears a lot. Sadly, with so many worries going around the mansion, they're affecting her, too. Children in a household full of fearful adults also become frightened...

They're off to see what they can find, now. We'll have to see if anything turns up...