Chapter 42

In The

Shadow Of War

Disclaimer: Let's go! Until now, I had forgotten that the Shadow King portion of 'Evolution XMJ' actually occurred much later, mainly after the whole Jean gets the Phoenix thing. But since this is a re-write and all, the change up of the events doesn't necessarily hurt the story.

Several days passed after the formation of the West Coast Joe/Misfits team and things would hit the fan when an old 'friend' of Xavier and Storm's by the name of the Shadow King made his return during this time. Forcing the Institute to team up with Emma and several of her Hellions since the Shadow King's return was that damned alarming. It also didn't help the growing tension that John 'Thunderbird' Proudstar would also show up to accuse Xavier of stealing his brother's comatose body courtesy of Lila's teleporting abilities. Something the good Professor would heavily deny but John refused to believe him thanks to past issues and Logan also had yet to return as well. It wouldn't be until after the threat of the Shadow King and as well as Astrid's had been ended, something that had brung Betsy and Lance into the fray considering his threat level while still on leave over in England, that another wrinkle would present itself.

One that would make itself known by causing an explosion and leaving a rather large hole just as the Hellions were about to leave after promising to send someone for Astrid's body. "Great! Now what!?" Asked Roberto with a groan as he and the others slowly picked themselves up. Again!

"Xavier! I've come for your head!" Declared an unknown voice.

Said owner would make his appearance as he stepped through the smoke and fire and John would be shocked by the sight of him! "James!? How!?"

Despite the situation, the Apache Mutant rushed to his little brother in elation to hug him, only to find himself being flung backwards rather painfully and into the crowd present. "Its thanks to the Shadow King and the dead one on the floor that I'm finally back! Back to take my revenge on you, Xavier! I owe you for years of my life being taken away from me with that coma! A coma YOU put me in!" He declared and made to rush the Professor but John was able to get in his way with blood trailing from his mouth.

"No, little brother!"

The two began to exchange blows with Sinew jumping in to help out as the others began to demand answers about what he was talking about from the Professor. "Gotta love those secrets, eh, Professor?" Evan asked with an annoying smirk on his face.

Several frowned at him as Xavier sighed. "During the 80s, I had tried to convince the Cleveland Jammers to be my first team of X-Men but none of them were truly ever interested in the idea. Admittedly, I was a rather foolish man back then and during a fight I had chosen to mentally contact young James and the distraction caused him to be attacked. Leading to his fall from a building and ending up in a coma. One he has not awakened from until now…"

Yells of pain and explosions could be heard from outside. "Well, if Astrid and the Shadow King were behind his awakening, its very likely they messed with his mind in order to have him attack." Emma said as several others went out there to join the fight.

"The fact he's doing pretty good despite being in a coma for a long time is surprising too." Remarked Lila as she watched the fight from near the destroyed front entrance.

"Yes, that is most curious." Beast said with a frown.

"Whatever the case is, we're going to have to undo whatever was done in his mind to get him back to his right mind." Jean threw in with a worried frown on her face.

"And if that actually works, Johnnie's little brother's gonna have a Hell of a time dealing with the fact that the world's passed him by." Lila said.

A situation that would have to be dealt with later once everything was hopefully taken care of and Lila seconds later went outside to try and help where she could.

Which wasn't really going that well for John and Sinew but it did look like James was starting to get winded. "Whatever you mind readers are gonna do, do it now! Little brother, come back to your senses!"

"I have, you moron!"

The two began to exchange blows with Sinew backing off to allow the two brothers to fight it out on their own and the Telepaths present quickly began to work on getting into James' mind to undo whatever had been done to his mind. Discovering that James had been injected with some drugs to help him ignore the years of not being able to use his body thanks to being in a coma. A punch from John sent the younger Proudstar stumbling back and would fall to his knees with a yell as the move gave the Telepaths an extra inch on him. "NO!" He yelled.

But in the end, victory would be on the side of the Telepaths. "Johnnie?" Asked a sweaty and exhausted James as he looked up at his brother.

"Yeah, little brother, its me." Came the response with a sad smile on his face.

Something that would be the last thing James would see before passing out much to the alarm of John. "I need a medic! Now!"

Hour And a Half Later

Nearly two hours later would see James waking up after a thorough examination by Hank much to the relief of John and Lila while the Professor had busied himself ensuring Ororo was safe and sound from wherever she was in the world after coming into contact with her in the Astral Plane as one of the Shadow King's Prisoners. It would take time but James would recover and be able to move about freely after a great deal of exercise and other methods were used to rid his body of the atrophy he'd suffered over the years. Though he would more than likely need therapy in order to deal with the fact he was essentially a kid in an adult's body thanks to the passage of time. "Prof, while a part of me is still pretty upset with that stupid move of yours, I've got bigger things to worry about." James told the older man somewhat hoarsely.

"And while I can't forgive or forget it, I'm willin' to work past it with you." He further said much to the surprise of not only the Professor but John and Lila as well.

"Jimmy…"

"No, Johnnie, there's no point in keepin' that an issue. Not when there's more important things to worry about like I said."

"That's really mature of you, Kiddo!" Lila told him praisingly and even ruffled his hair, causing him to groan in embarrassment.

John sighed as he looked at his brother's pleading eyes and then turned to the Professor. "If this is what my brother wants, I'll go along with it. For now. I'll even say something to the others back home about it. But don't think for a second this means we'll be workin' for you."

"Of course, I wouldn't expect otherwise. I know you and the others have important work to do back in Cleveland."

Narrowing his eyes at the older man as he felt Xavier gave in a little too easily and ignoring the voice in his head about that line of thinking being from his feelings towards the man, John decided to leave it be aside from a nod. Shortly afterwards, the trio would make their leave after some preparations were made for James back in Cleveland and Xavier felt a small measure of relief in him over James' awakening and return to the world. Even if it had been caused by the Shadow King and Astrid Bloom and others working with them.

Author's Notes: Glad to have gotten to this part!