Neb: Back again, I do not own X Men Evolution. It is owned by Marvel which is owned by Disney, I hope you all enjoy the fanfic.
"Ricky, you've returned," Jessica called out as she ran over and hugged her brother.
Ricky hugged her back and smiled. "Good to see you again Jessica, I hope all has been well."
"You've missed so much," Jessica explained as she shook her head. "Brother, Mystique and Magneto are both dead."
Ricky's eyes widened when he heard this and then grunted. "Mutant activists?", he figured.
"A super mutant," Jessica corrected him as she led him up the mansion stairs. "Rogue was being controlled by Mystique the day after you left, and she went around stealing all of our powers. Apparently that was the final key to unleashing the ancient super mutant Apocalypse. I had to sneak around just to get those details, the older kids and the Professor had been very quiet about this whole situation. We wound up teaming up with the Brotherhood for a brief period of time, because their powers were taken also."
"That's crazy," Ricky realized.
"Did Rogue take yours before you left?", Jessica wondered.
Ricky remembered the night before he left the mansion. He willingly let Rogue into his head just so because he enjoyed having someone who knew what he was going through. Well, she knew the old stuff, now he had new baggage. "Yeah I think she touched me just before graduation," Ricky remembered. "How is she doing? Where is she?"
"She's doing better, but she's been crying in her sleep. Not out loud of course, but because of my powers."
"You've been visiting the X-Men inside their dreams," Ricky smiled. "Just as you had for me back when you were in that coma."
"That's right," Jessica nodded. "So have you seen or heard anything on the news about Apocalypse."
Ricky remembered Seer's prophecy about how he would be running the new Brotherhood mutants after the fall of Apocalypse. "No," Ricky shook his head. He was lying, and he knew if he would eventually get caught on that lie with all the mind readers that stayed with the X-Men. "I've been very busy he tried to explain, always on the run because of the activists. I... I've lost someone because of it."
"Ricky, I'm so sorry," Jessica sighed. "Is that why you've come back, you want someone to talk to."
"Yeah I need to talk to the professor," Ricky nodded. "I think I should learn about Apocalypse to. Fury didn't tell me anything about a super mutant."
Wolverine crossed their paths when he said that and grabbed Ricky by the shoulder. "What do you mean Fury?"
"Oh no, Jessica save me," Ricky responded as he was pulled away.
"I'd like to have a nice chat sense your back now bub," Wolverine growled.
"Don't be too rough on him," Jessica called after Wolverine. She then stood their in the hallway and then sighed.
"So start talking," Wolverine ordered him as the two sat back in the private study. Charles Xavier was out for the moment, unfortunately for Ricky, which meant Logan had him all to himself. "Why are you talking with Fury? Are you two friends or something?"
"Far from," Ricky assured. He tried his best to at least fake his old cocky smile, but it wasn't working anymore. Was he broken now? "How do I say... Nick Fury became my employer for a brief moment, and I'm considering going back to him."
"You work for Shield," Wolverine snarled.
"Momentarily," Ricky assured. "I tried to get out of the mutant game for a good minute, but it found it's way back to me. As it always does. Old habits die hard Logan, I was with the Brotherhood Hoodlums for a good while and our main motivation after Mystique disappeared was trying to get cash to live. I was shocked to see how full my Bank Account got after just one mission."
"So that's it, he bought you," Wolverine groaned as he rubbed the sides of his head. "And now you've come crawling back to us."
"I'm my own Mutant," Ricky finally growled back. "I am not tied down to Magneto, Mystique, Fury, or you. I came to this place because it offered me more than an allegiance, it offered me a way to make up for all the horrible things I've done." He breathed for a moment and then sat back against the wall. "How open have I been with you about my past? I think Rogue learned it when she touched me, Jessica was in my head when my powers were killing me, and Aurora learned it when she found a letter. But have we even had that many conversations? Outside of Laura I mean."
Wolverine glared daggers at Ricky when Ricky brought up X-23. They both had a complicated history with Wolverine's clone. "You don't remember? When Rogue stole your face and memories, she started chasing after all of your dads, the rest of us had learned your family history when trying to stop her."
"Right," Ricky remembered as he facepalmed. It was a stupid question after all.
Charles Xavier and Storm both entered the study and looked up at them. "Welcome back Ricky White," Charles greeted. "I hope all has been well?"
"Ricky, it is so good to see you again," Storm spoke.
"Good to see the two of you as well," Ricky regained his smile.
Wolverine stepped away and then let the professor take the conversation.
"So was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?", Charles wondered. "I hope you've had great success out in the world?"
Ricky remained quiet for a moment and then sighed.
"That bad was it?", Charles responded.
"New York has been flooding with Anti Mutant Activists," Ricky explained. "It's gotten out of hand how many of them there are."
"I understand that Ricky, but it's important that we persevere and show them we aren't someone they should be afraid," Charles explained. "That's how their numbers grow is by fear itself."
"Yeah I get that," Ricky shook his head. "Other's don't."
"Others?", Wolverine questioned.
"My sister told me Magneto and Mystique are gone," Ricky remembered. "Well there's a new Brotherhood that's been forming and also growing in numbers."
"A new one?", Storm responded. "Who's in charge?"
"Dragon and Seer," Ricky explained. "Um.. Professor, your brother is working with them."
"Cain," the Professor sighed. "Last I heard, you all fought with him, froze him, and then chucked him into a large body of water."
"Yeah he wasn't too happy to see me," Ricky admitted. "I'd like to say he's the scariest one there, but they've also got a squad of super healers with them. People who are effectively immortal. Some of them have been experimented on by Hydra just like Wolverine."
"Then we should pay these new brotherhood mutants a visit," Wolverine figured as he turned away.
"There's kids with them Logan," Ricky warned him. "Well Fury's got two of them, I don't know how many more there are."
"What is Seer and Dragon's goals exactly?", the Professor wondered.
"The same as Magneto's more or less," Ricky explained. "Seer and Dragon are not fans of humans, you can thank Hydra for that. They want me to change the world, but I can barely keep myself together anymore."
"Have you been seizing as of late?", Professor wondered.
"Not as often as I use to," Ricky admitted. "It depends how I use my powers."
"Is your mental block still up?", Storm wondered. "I thought Jessica went into your mind and fixed that."
"She did," Ricky remembered. "But when i took Gemini from her head, he put the mental block back up. Now it's more than trauma that limits my powers, it's my unborn little brother."
"Tell us about the Hydra Experiments," Logan pushed the conversation back. "Which ones of them are like me?"
Ricky could tell this was about Laura. He remembered the last time he saw Wolverine's clone she told him never to look for her again. Perhaps Wolverine had seen her again since then. "Dragon and Lady Vampress are the ones with metal bones," Ricky explained. "They don't sprout claws like you do, but Dragon's got a killer bite and Lady Vampress gets stronger when she drinks blood."
"I see where she's gotten her name from," Storm commented.
"She was the first one of them I've met," Ricky continued. "She worked for an old classmate of mine from before I joined the brotherhood. Fast forwarding to when I did work with the Brotherhood, that old classmate of mine had later betrayed her to become a scientist working for Hydra. She turned Lady Vampress in just so she could get funding for designing mutant controlling collars. Much later I had broken into a different Hydra base with my little brother and their gang of humans because I was promised an equivalent to the Gem of Cyttorak."
"Oh Ricky," Storm facepalmed.
"I can admit I wasn't in my right mind when I agreed to that," Ricky shrugged. "The seizures happened way more often back then. Anyways, Lady Vampress, Seer, Dragon, and Deadpool were all locked up in that base. I freed them to cause a struggle for Hydra while the rest of us would escape. Then my little brother's henchmen shot me twice."
"How are you still alive," Wolverine wondered.
"Logan," Charles chastised him.
Ricky remembered how pissed off X-23 was as she plunged her blades into Aaron. She didn't hesitate to murder Aaron for attempting to kill Ricky. Dragon had killed Glen before escaping as well. Ricky remembered feeling tears fall on his face before he passed out, the tears weren't his own. "Nick Fury saved me," Ricky answered him with a half truth. "The man had questions about Hydra."
"I bet he did," Wolverine responded, not buying what Ricky was selling.
Ricky remembered when Wolverine yelled at him. "You knew about her this whole time, and you didn't say anything!" Ricky shook his head getting out of the flashback. X-23 was in the past, he was never going to see her again, so why was he thinking about her.
"Is there any other times you've run into this new Brotherhood?", Professor asked.
"When I was knocked out on Christmas by Magneto," Ricky remembered. "I worked for the Brotherhood at that time I think. Oh there was that time we were looking for Evan, yeah I saw Seer, Ghost, and Lady Vampress that day."
"What were they doing there?", Storm wondered.
"They were trying to stop Power Eight from reaching the market," Ricky explained. "That stuff had toxic properties that were harmful to Mutants. Oh and I bummed a ride from Wade one time. Yeah I guess I've bumped into these guys a lot."
"Are you going to lead them?", Storm questioned.
"It has become somewhat tempting when Deadpool and Ghost decided to help me look for someone. But I'd rather check on the people in the manor to be honest and on my old Brotherhood friends. It sounds like it's been rough for all of you as well while I was away."
"Why do I feel like you've left out important details?", Wolverine wondered.
"I'll tell you guys more later," Ricky shook his head. "For now, I need to rest. Is my room still my room?"
"No one has claimed it since you left," Charles replied as Ricky exited his office.
"Something is fishy about that boy," Wolverine figured.
"I know what it is," Storm nodded. "He's not smiling anymore."