Charles sighed, he wasn't sure what to do with this new bit of information. Sure, he wasn't thrilled with the idea that Kathy snuck into an R-rated film but at the same time he wasn't sure layering on a second punishment was the right answer.
Suddenly the door slammed open, and Scott was standing there breathing like a marathon runner.
"Calm down, boy… what happened?" Eli asked.
"Kathy… Kathy's gone!" Scott panted.
"How do you know?"
"I went to get her from her room… to let her know it was almost time for dinner, but I found this on the door to her balcony." Scott said and handed a piece of paper to Charles.
"I had an interesting battle of skills with my father, now I want to test my cousin and baby sister." It read.
Eli looked at Charles.
"Today is just not your day, is it?"
"From where I'm standing that seems to be at least the understatement of the day… perhaps in the running for understatement of the week." Beast replied.
Jawn came in at Charles's telepathic summons.
"What is it, Uncle?" Jawn asked.
Charles sighed "Your cousin has been kidnapped… by a mutant known as Legion."
"Wait, your son… my other cousin?" Jawn asked.
"Unfortunately…"
Eli looked around thinking he wished he had taken Charles's invitation sooner because things keep getting more and more interesting.
Charles reluctantly handed Jawn the note.
"So, he wants to test his skills against me?" Jawn said in confusion.
"Yes, but we cannot risk that happening." Charles replied sternly.
"Wait… wait… wait… your sideling me?"
"Yes, Legion is the most powerful mutant we have ever come across, he even bested me." Charles replied.
"You summoned me here just to tell me to stay here… normally you don't tell me anything at all and I have to find out after the fact."
"Professor… with all due respect we need to pull out all the stops… I understand why you don't take Jawn on missions but we're going to need all the firepower we can round up against Legion." Scott cut in.
Jawn looked at Scott then back to his uncle hoping that Charles listened to Scott this time.
"Very well… suit up and gather the team, we have no time to waste."
Jawn, Scott, and Beast took off to get ready to leave.
"Suit up… I don't have a suit…" Eli said.
"I thought you weren't a member of the X-Men… I can get you one if you've changed your mind about joining the team."
"Nice try…" Eli smirked as Charles started to leave the office. His daughter was in danger he would go in person to deal with the situation.
Meanwhile, Kathy regained consciousness to find herself looking up at a strange blonde with a go-tee.
"Who are you?" she demanded testing her restraints to find they held firm against her movements.
"Ye really dunnae know who I am." The man said squatting down and grabbing her chin in his hand "I'm your elder half-brother, or part of 'im anyway. You can call me Lucas."
Kathy's eyes went wide.
"My… no…" she struggled harder against her bonds, but they didn't budge.
"Aye… so you've heard of me… I see father told ya I'm dangerous… he be right ya know; I am dangerous." He said his grip tightening on her chin "So, little sister what have ye to say for yerself… you were father's favorite, father raised you, he wanted nothin to do with me."
"Lucas, he… he didn't know about you… I promise, he would have been there had he known."
"I dunnae believe ye… how could he not with that big supercomputer!" Lucas replied using his free hand to backhand her across the mouth.
"He has ya believin his every lie."
Just as Lucas finished talking he was flung against a wall.
"Jawn…" Kathy said in surprise as the rest of the X-Men joined them.
"Aw… look little cousin come t' save the day." Lucas said with a smirk standing from where he had fallen in a heap on the floor. "I'm impressed, ye may be a challenge yet, little cousin."
"Hey, don't call me little, I'm still working on that!"
"Yer younger than me, that makes ya little." Lucas replied as he lifted himself and Kathy off the ground and took off in flight.
"He summons me here and then quite literally runs away" Jawn muttered as he took out after him. He only noticed that Lucas put up a barrier when he realized Storm and Jean were unable to follow him.
"Well cousin… it's just you and me, now." Lucas said as they landed a few miles away from where the X-men were. Kathy was lying nearby having once again been rendered unconscious as Lucas figured out she wasn't up to a challenge yet.
Jawn looked Lucas up and down.
"I'm guessing you don't know who Juggernaut is, do you?" Jawn sighed "Because if you did you wouldn't have tried something like this!"
"I dunnae know who that is, I just know you are insanely powerful, and I was hopin you would be a better challenge than me father."
"Fair enough… you first."
The X-Men were trailing behind Jawn and watched as he Lucas and Kathy took to the sky. Jean and Storm tried to follow in the air but were blocked by a barrier. Logan too tried to follow at a run, but he too hit the barrier and was flung back growling and cursing.
"Are you okay?" Eli asked helping Logan to his feet.
"Yeah… but he won't be…" Logan replied.
Eli gave him a questioning look.
"Calm down, we don't kill people or at least I don't think we do?" Eli looked to Charles who shook his head having overheard the conversation up to that point.
"He hurt her… not bad but…" Logan growled
"You noticed it too…" Eli replied.
Charles looked concerned and confused.
"Noticed what?"
"Kid's got a busted lip, don't know if she had any other injuries." Logan growled.
Scott bit his lip then attacked the barrier with an optic blast that ended up ricocheting around for a few seconds before dissipating away.
"Can we please refrain from shooting lasers at the barrier!" Eli demanded.
"What he said." Logan growled as they came out from where they had ducked to avoid getting hit.
Eli walked over to the barrier and poked it pulling his hand back and giving it a slight shake to dissipate the shock. He then looked over at Charles who nodded at the unspoken question. He then looked over to Rogue.
"You might want to pay attention to this…"
"Why me?" she asked.
He ignored the question then turned to a tree that was outside of the barrier focusing on it and pulling a power he used rather regularly.
They all gasped in shock as the tree's roots grew up out of the ground and began to put pressure on the outside of the barrier. It took several minutes but eventually the barrier buckled and dissipated.
In the shock of it nobody noticed Charles look away memories flooding his mind that awoke old pain that he would have denied to any of the teens/young adults around him.
They started in the direction Lucas and the others went Scott muttering something along the lines of 'I could have done that' only for Kurt to shoot back a 'no you couldn't'.
Charles looked at Rouge as she projected a thought to him.
-Are you okay?- she asked.
-I will be- he replied simply.
Rogue gave him a doubtful look but didn't press any further. She knew they would find out in time if they were really meant to know.
Jawn used his power to pin Lucas to an old growth tree.
"Why are you doing this, David?"
"I am Lucas, not David and like I said I wanted to test my skills against the rest of father's family… I had ne idea she had only gotten 'er powers within the past few days."
"So you weren't exactly paying attention." Jawn assumed.
"I guess your right but that still leaves you."
"Little tip for you, David, before you attack someone get all the information first."
"I know that now… but I would think you of all people would understand my predicament, you grew up without your father as well."
"At least I understand why my father wasn't around, you don't seem to get it."
A soft groan caught their attention.
"No, he doesn't get it because he doesn't want to… his mother has him convinced that dad was the bad guy because she doesn't want to admit she was in the wrong for not telling dad she was pregnant." Kathy said.
"You okay?" he asked pointing at his lower lip.
"I will be… but a couple of my teeth gouged the inside of my lower lip." she said spitting a bit of blood out of her mouth. "That's gross."
"Let me see…" he says walking over and kneeling in front of her. He then took her chin in his hand moving her head gently to examen the injury before putting his hand over the affected area healing it.
"I didn't know you could heal people" she said in surprise.
"Yeah, I've been practicing that." Jawn replied, "and if you hadn't gotten kidnapped I wouldn't have had the chance to use it."
"I'm so glad my being a 'damsel-in-distress' helped you." Kathy replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"This is the part where you say, 'you're welcome'."
She gave him a glare "Not on your life, bub." She said through clinched teeth.
"You haven't even been here a day and you're already talking like Logan." Jawn pointed out.
"What do you expect, I've only known the man since I was 2."
"Excuse me… we were in the middle of a battle."
"No excuse you, David… the good kids are having conversation, wait your turn."
"Jawn we can catch up later I believe you need to deal with your 'playmate'".
"Well, right now I'm concerned about you, are you injured in any other way."
"No, not that I can tell."
"Good, now that I know you're not injured. Seriously what the heck were you thinking… you couldn't wait a week before you got kidnapped."
"Not like I scheduled it."
"It doesn't matter if you scheduled it, you got kidnapped on the first day… Kitty didn't even do that."
"Back off bub, I know where to hit to make it count."
"And yet we still had come to save you."
"He ambushed me, you weirdo!"
Jawn was glaring at Kathy when suddenly something went flying passed nicking the side of his ear drawing blood and pulling his attention back to Lucas.
Jawn put his hand to his ear and glared at Lucas, then used his powers to slam the older man onto the ground.
"I am having a conversation with my cousin; I will get to you in a minute."
"Jawn, just finish off your little playmate here, I'm tired, I'm hungry and I want to go home." Kathy groaned.
"Alright, but first I'm going to put my own barrier around you to keep you safe"
"Thanks, Jawn." Kathy replied.
Jawn then turns to Lucas.
"Okay, David, since you're so impatient." Jawn said walking over to Lucas.
"Yes, I called you here for a battle, and I am not that weakling David" Lucas said in anger.
"You can call yourself 'Lucas', 'Lucifer' or whatever but you will always be David."
David growls and suddenly the area is alight with flame, but Jawn notices the flames put off no heat.
"Seriously, you really think this is going to scare me, cousin? This is how it's really done." Jawn replied by taking over and soon the heat is licking at Lucas and causing him to back away in terror.
Scott and the others are just coming into visual range when they hear Kathy cry out Jawn's name in terror.
To Be Continued…