Note: Italicized text indicates telepathic conversations OR individual thoughts not shared via telepathy. Some people use different indicators for them but I do not. The context of the thoughts will tell you whether or not a conversation is taking place. It was pointed out to me that it allows reader to immerse themselves more as they have to distinguish it from the context without being told everytime. Secondly, underlined text indicates any sort of electronic communication. And that's about it for the pre-read. Enjoy!

X-men Story
Chapter Twenty Six

It hit me like a bucket of ice cold water. I knew that I couldn't very well say "No". After all, Professor Xavier was in urgent need of telepathically gifted mutants. And as an X-man I was supposed to sacrifice personal issues for the good of the team. Still, I couldn't help but wish that there was some other way. I'm only human. A mutated human, but a human nevertheless.

Jean: "It can't be helped. I'm sorry, Rick."

"I know. When does she get here?"

Just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, it did.

Jean: "They're...both coming. They want to be right here with us in the Professor's time of need. They'll be here in under an hour."

Just fucking great. Not only was mom on her way to the Mansion, but dad too. God help me, if I ever got my hands on the person who knocked out the Professor... I'd pulverize him - provided I was wearing some adequate, Psionically shielded armor of course. We still hadn't learnt anything much from our mysterious prisoner. All our stranger told us was that he'd only share his information if we released him from his cell and restore his property to him. He made it perfectly clear to us that he did indeed know a great deal about our current situation. But refused to go into detail until he was released and his conditions met. Jean tried to beat him up some more, but it did absolutely nothing to loosen his tongue. In the end she quit and went about alerting the other X-men so that they would return Betsy to the Mansion...with my mother in tow.

Because of Cerebro's glitches, Professor Xavier had it shut down. And with him now unconscious, we couldn't reactivate it without Hank ensuring that it was safe to do so. Anyhow, even if mom could have been given a portable Cerebro headset - like the time we all probed Logan's mind - she wanted to be at the Mansion personally. I'd just have to find a way to avoid them as much as possible.

"It's a damn pity that you can't seem to break his mental defenses."

Jean: "Don't you worry, hon. When Logan and Scott get here...he'll spill his guts. One way or another..."

Across her face was the darkest expression I had ever seen her pull. It was almost as if she had put on a mask. Her face was so twisted that I had to look twice - I might have not recognized her had I seen her from a distance.

"Jean?"

She quickly altered her expression. Possibly due to the fact that I was staring at her a little oddly myself.

Jean: "Yeah?"

"We aren't going to seriously hurt - or kill anyone...right?"

Silence... You might have thought that it went without asking. But the violent nature of the interrogation I had witnessed earlier on was enough to make me concerned.

Jean: "If he knows something that can help revive the Professor, we have to try our hardest to get it out of him."

I had come to realize that Professor Xavier wouldn't exactly be thrilled at the thought of torturing someone just on the whim that their information could revive him. He was a man of high moral principles. Weren't they the adults who were supposed to exemplify his teachings?

Jean: "Don't tell me you believe a word of what he says?"

"I don't know. But given the fact that Professor Xavier wasn't sure that he was one of Magneto's men...and he says he isn't, don't you think he could be telling the truth? And it seems he knows who Magneto is too."

Jean: "Other people may be interested in these tablets besides Magneto. He could be working for them. Or he himself may want them for is own purposes. He says he wants to keep them 'safe'. But he didn't say why he wants them kept safe."

"But he helped Ray. Ray would have died if he didn't heal him."

Jean: "He could be trying to gain our trust - to infiltrate us or something."

"But if he wanted to do that...couldn't he have gotten someone else to attack us? Then rush in to help us fight? He'd gain our trust a lot quicker that way. But he fought us. Which I don't get. But what I do get is that he was definitely easy on us. Come on, Jean. He could have hurt some of us real bad."

She admitted that I was right.

"I just hope we don't commit any atrocities. The Professor is strict with statutes of human rights."

Jean: "It won't come to that, Rick. Logan and Scott are extremely good at what they do."

I hoped so. Maybe their Good Cop / Bad Cop routine would break our prisoner. I just didn't want to think that we could be breaking international human rights charters in the process.

As I was in the subbasement for the entire night and going 'til morning, I heard the Blackbird dock. And I knew that in mere moments my parents would be flocking into the subbasement proper to see the Professor. At the time, I was waiting in Hank's laboratory with Warren and David. They were the ones most familiar with Hank's gadgets and were busy scanning the prisoner's gauntlet for clues as to its proper functioning. I quickly said goodbye and rushed out the door intending to exit the subbasement through the nearest elevator. Unfortunately, that plan was quickly proven futile.

As soon as I stepped into the passageway, there was a BAMF! Kurt had teleported into the passageway with everyone in tow. Probably to save them the time and hassle of using the elevators. They - my parents - saw me and stopped temporarily as everyone ran towards the Medical Bay where the Professor was being kept. I had stopped mid-motion myself. The awkward moment was quickly ended when Jean rushed into the scene, directing everyone else to follow her. They snapped out of their trance and ran to catch up with everyone else. With so many others around to hide behind, I decided to hang around the Medical Bay's entrance to hear the latest on the Professor's condition.

Emma: "Nothing's changed. Charles' vital signs haven't so much as fluctuated slightly."

Mom / Julie: "We'll have to attempt to locate his consciousness on the astral plane itself. All minds operate there at some level."

Jean, Betsy, Jake and Emma agreed. For once, no one was minding Emma's presence very much. I guess crises can shatter barriers. Of course, Hank was alerted of the problems that Cerebro had been giving. And until he hacked through the security codes, the telepathic boosting technology of Cerebro would remain unavailable to them. So that would be their first order of business, re-enabling Cerebro.

Mom: "We'll stay right here for as long as it takes."

Dear God, please, please wake the Professor. At the sound of approaching footsteps, I quickly exited back into the main passageway.

Jean and Ororo had suggested that we juniors, save Jake, should have some rest. But with the situation as tense as it was - we could only sleep for little over an hour before we were all up again looking for something to occupy our minds with. Twelve straight hours had passed and Hank was still only partially finished hacking Cerebro's reactivation codes. Jean and all the other telepaths had not left the Professor's side in all that time. They had been trying continuously to boost Betsy's astral form. She was the most skilled telepath present after all - not that Emma admitted it out loud mind you. The hope was that if they couldn't all enter the Professor's mind...then perhaps a single, super charged telepath could. As far as I learned from Warren - it was a failure. But Betsy refused to give up her attempts, as futile as they seemed.

David and Warren had made one minor discovery concerning the stranger's gauntlet. It was radiating a strange energy field that the sensors of Hank's scanner couldn't identify. Moreover, it fluctuated regularly as if it followed a set pattern. Other than that - no major technological breakthroughs had been discovered. Scott, Logan and Remmy were busy interrogating the prisoner. Since they had not alerted anyone - they obviously hadn't gotten anything out of him.

Everyone else was busy patrolling around the school. With Cerebro offline we were vulnerable once again. But I got the feeling that it was more in the way of working off the abundance of nervous energy. With the seniors back we all felt a lot safer anyway. Whilst most of the guys were upstairs in the Mansion proper, I chose to stay underground. I knew for a fact that my father wasn't in the subbasement. And mom wasn't leaving the Professor's side anytime soon. So I would be safeguarded from any unpleasant surprises. I didn't care where dad was, as long as he wasn't within my line of sight...

Bobby sighed softly. He had been listening to Joshua McKenzie talk for a little under an hour. If Rick knew that he was associating with his father, he'd be pissed. After all, he had issued a warning to all his friends earlier -

Rick: "Have nothing to say or do where he's concerned."

But unfortunately, he was trapped just as he was taking his break from patrolling. Joshua could tell. So he couldn't even lie and say that he was busy and on his patrol shift. At the start, Joshua didn't know if Bobby was still a friend. But when he made it clear that nothing had changed - the emotional talking began. Complete with trips down Memory Lane. He didn't mind the memory trips that much. A lot of his memories of Rick as a baby were entertaining. It was the despondent mood that saturated Joshua's words that was so difficult to endure. And through it all Bobby had the distinct impression that Joshua had something more to say but was leaving it unsaid. It was a bit unsettling.

Joshua: "I imagine that he must be the laughing stock of the whole school now, huh?"

There was a lot of truth to that statement. Things weren't as bad as they could have been. But they weren't all that great either.

Bobby: "Well, there are a few idiots around. But it's not so bad that he can't cope."

Too bad Joshua had to scream out Rick's secret to the world when he was last at the Mansion for Rick's birthday.

Joshua: "And what about the team? How's it going there?"

Bobby: "He's...coping there too..."

There was something off with Bobby's tone and Joshua's attention was immediately drawn towards it. As a lawyer he was used to picking up on verbal cues.

Joshua: "Something else you wanna be telling me?"

With a semi-guilty expression playing across his face, Bobby dropped his voice to a mere whisper.

Bobby: "Okay, look Mr. McKenzie - "

Joshua: "I keep telling you that you can call me Joshua."

Bobby: "Okay, Joshua...you didn't hear this from me, but Mr. Wagner didn't exactly make it easy for Rick when his secret came out."

Joshua seemed more than skeptical at first. Before Kurt's homophobia manifested itself, he was almost perfect in every other regard. Even now his homophobic attitudes tended to rub off on students. And the comments that he was passing around behind Rick's back didn't do anything to help the situation either. And they definitely had a negative impact. He was that highly thought of as a role model. It was news to Joshua that he and Rick were involved in a brawl the very day that Rick returned to the Mansion.

Joshua: "You're telling me the truth?"

With an exasperated sigh,

Bobby: "Yes. As a matter of fact - Professor Xavier is punishing them both right now. He's making them see Emma Frost for therapy every Saturday morning."

Learning that was enough to spur Rick's father into action.

Joshua: "Looks like I'll have to have a little word with Wagner."

Worry flooded Bobby's mind. What if he had it out with Kurt and made things a whole lot worse? What if Rick found out that his father 'talked' to Kurt and precipitated even more problems? He'd find it even harder to forgive Joshua if things got more difficult for him at the Mansion.

Bobby: "I don't know if that's such a hot idea."

Joshua: "I can't have him making life tough for Rick here. As if he doesn't have enough problems with the students. He doesn't need that shit from the staff members too. Has anybody else on the staff been acting up?"

Silence...

Joshua: "I won't tell anyone that you're my insider, kid."

Bobby: "Well, no. It's just Kurt. He gets along great with most everybody else."

Joshua: "Well then, since it's only Kurt - this will be a snap."

I wasn't a technology expert. I sure as heck wasn't an expert in the field of telepathy. There wasn't much I could do to help Hank, Warren or David in the main laboratory. And there wasn't anything at all that I could do to help Jean and the others in the Med-Bay. As I didn't wish to leave the subbasement, that left just one thing for me to do to occupy my time. Have a peek at how the interrogation was going. I didn't think that I'd be allowed in the brig. At least not whilst the interrogation was going on and the prisoner was outside of his cell. But there was an observation area that I could use.

So that's where I went. I took a seat and turned on the monitor. As far as I could make out nothing that had breached the UN's statutes of Human Rights had occurred. Our prisoner didn't have any new unsightly bruises that I could make out. Just the ones that Jean and Rogue had gifted to him. And considering that Logan was one of his interrogators, and with his chronic lack of patience, that was a plus. As a matter of fact, Logan, Scott and...Chris seemed to be calmly discussing something or the other. I couldn't tell what, as for some reason the monitoring equipment wasn't picking up sound. Whilst trying to enable the audio I kept a close eye on the visual display.

Scott and Logan calmly sat down and listened to the ranting of the prisoner, known as Chris. He had been going on since the interrogation began. The guy sure could talk. He went on and on and on and their seemed no stop to his endless prattle. At last Logan could stand it no longer and intervened.

Logan: "Okay, you do realize that you're our prisoner here. Right, bub?"

Chris: "Um...yeah. I know that. But - "

Before he could restart his chatter,

Scott: "And let's get this straight. You want us to let you join our team?"

Chris nodded slowly, hoping that by some stretch they were taking him seriously.

Logan: "And if we don't - I'm quoting you now - 'bad, bad things are gonna happen'. Right?"

Chris nodded once more, now made a little uneasy by Logan's sarcastic tone. Scott leaned in closer and the look on his face turned even graver.

Scott: "Is that supposed to be some sort of threat?"

Chris' eyes widened. They had completely misinterpreted!

Chris: "No! Of course not. You see - "

Logan: "Cuz you haven't joined us and already something 'bad' has happened."

An awkward silence prevailed for all but five minutes as Chris was subjected to probing stares. Abruptly,

Chris: "You know, I must say that you...gentlemen surprise me."

Scott: "Oh?"

Logan: "Care to elaborate, good chap?"

With a ghost of a smile,

Chris: "I've gotten more bruises from...from the women folk than you two."

That was certainly true. But Scott had done his best to restrain Logan. Jean and Rogue had truly worked a number on Chris. And he hadn't divulged any practical information. He wasn't about to let Logan cut anyone into pieces. Professor Xavier would never allow that. And both he and Logan couldn't do anything more painful to Chris than what Jean and Rogue had already accomplished. Not without killing him anyway. The man had shown himself remarkably resilient to pain. And at the end of the day what they were after was information. If pain infliction wasn't going to get them information - then perhaps diplomacy would have to do.

Scott: "Come on Logan. Let's take a breather. We've been in here for hours."

Grrrrrrr!!!

Logan: "What the fuck?"

Both X-men turned towards Chris.

Chris: "Okay, that was my tummy saying 'feed me'. Uh, you guys wouldn't mind giving me a little something to eat...right?"

Scott: "Well...we do have to feed prisoners...nutritionally sound meals too. It IS covered under the UN's statutes for the humane treatment of prisoners of war..."

With relief,

Chris: "Oh cool! You had me worried there for a sec. Okay, maybe we could start off with a little juicy steak. And then some mashed potatoes and corn with - "

They couldn't believe that he was actually serious. Bad cop Logan burst his bubble.

Logan: "Forget it, bub. You're getting nothin' but dry bread and water until you cooperate. Let's go, Cyke. I'm feeling in the mood for some steak myself. Mhmmm..."

Chris' face fell.

Scott: "Ditto."

At that they threw Chris back into his cell and turned on the containment field. They'd return as soon as they had something to eat and could focus better.

"Um, I couldn't find any steak. All I got in the meat department was this extra large bologna sausage", I said, waving the sausage in my hand in an eye catching manner.

"Couldn't find any corn either. But we do got some instant mashed potato. And basic sandwiches."

I didn't know if Scott and Logan would be mad at me. But I at least had some ethics, okay. Chris was behaving himself remarkably. I didn't think prisoners behaved that way. I always thought that they fussed and fought and cussed and bit and spat and - well, you get the idea. There was none of that with him. And he even saved the life of Ray earlier. One of our team-members - an adversary. And now he was hungry. And they weren't even going to give him something decent to eat. That much I had heard in the observation room when I finally fixed the audio. I figured that the least we could do for the guy who saved Ray's life was give him something decent to eat. Y'all with me on that, right? If you aren't...then you are sorely lacking in the hospitality department.

Chris: "Does anyone know that you're here feeding me?"

He glanced around uneasily.

"Well, I don't see any signs warning me against feeding the animals, and the zookeepers aren't here right now...so I guess it should be no major problem."

He grinned amusedly.

Chris: "Hey, you made a funny!"

Unbelievable. How old was this guy again?

"Um...you do know that you're still in big trouble...right?"

He didn't answer the question. He was much too busy eyeing the food.

Chris: "You won't be lowering that there containment field would you?"

Of course I wouldn't. Not to mention couldn't.

"Actually no. I don't care if you're powerless and I could hold you down with telekinesis whilst putting the food in your cell. It ain't shutting down."

Chris: "Yeah, that and you probably don't have the access codes for it."

Smart ass.

"Yeah, yeah...there's that too. Even if I could - I wouldn't. Luckily for you, all I have to do is push this button - a compartment opens here. I put food in. Close it and push the button again...and voila! It opens up in your cell."

Chris took the plate and began devouring the food provided. He must have been really hungry.

"Uh, I'm kinda surprised that you don't think that the food could be drugged. Or laced with truth serum or some shit like that."

Chris: "Kid, right now - I'm so fuckin' hungry, I don't really care. Besides - chomp chomp - if you were gonna dose me with truth serum...you'd have done it hours ago."

Okay, valid point.

Chris: "Ooh yeah. Good grub. I knew you couldn't all be dicks."

"Yeah well...only cuz you saved Ray from dieing of massive internal injuries earlier."

Chris: "He's a good kid. Good kids don't deserve to die in such a violent manner."

Good kids? Ray was like nineteen going on twenty. That's a man in my book. Chris didn't look to be anything but in his twenties. Not much older. And how would he know that Ray was a good kid? That's like, personal information. We didn't know anything about him.

"How would you know that Ray's a *good kid*?"

Chris: "Oh...that...well I AM powerfully telepathic. And I do scan the minds of my opponents before I battle them. And often I sense things about their personal beliefs and such in addition to their fighting abilities."

Panic rushed through me instantly. Had he scanned my mind? Had he the time? And if so...what did he sense? Oh my gosh! The way he was smirking...what if he sensed that I was gay...and thought I was being decent because I was like - attracted to him? Which I totally wasn't. Okay, he looked nice and butch. But that didn't mean that I had to admire every butch guy I laid eyes on. Right? Dammit, what if he sensed me panicking? Wait, I forgot - his powers were suppressed with mutant repressor drugs. Phew...

"Really, you do that...huh?"

Chris: "Yup. Most telepathic fighters do it."

I knew Jake was no stranger to scanning the minds of opponents. Just so that he knew what they had before he got hit with it. He never mentioned it to me if he sensed personal stuff about the people so scanned. But then, I guess he was just following ethics and keeping quiet about any of our foes' personal secrets. Did our guest have such ethics?

"And...uh...what did you learn about me?"

He glanced right and left...avoiding direct eye contact with me. I assumed the worst. How could I not? I don't know why I was panicking. I mean, everyone in my personal life that mattered knew about me being gay. But then - I didn't want the rest of the world to know if it would mean a more complicated existence.

"Oh my God..."

I instantly turned my face in shame.

"Look, whatever you saw in my head...i-it's not what you think."

Chris: "How would you know what I think about what I could have sensed about you? You don't even know what it is I sensed. I could have sensed anything random thing at all. Hell, you don't even know if I bothered to scan you."

"You're...right. Why, yes you're right! I don't know what it is you sensed. Probably some meaningless crap or other - and that's only IF you got the time."

Slowly and deliberately he continued,

Chris: "You're a good kid too."

"Okay...thanks - I guess."

I gave him several minutes to "enjoy" his meal before speaking again.

"So is Chris even your real name?"

Chris: "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Oh, that's Shakespeare by the way. Romeo and Juliet..."

Weird...

"Yeah, okay. So I take it that it's an alias. What's your real name?"

Chris: "Ah, that's so not fair. You refused to give me yours. Remember?"

That was true.

"I won't lie about my first name. Would you?"

Chris: "I never lie. Chris is my middle name. BUUURRP!"

Ewww!

"Uh, could you at least cover your mouth?"

Chris: "Sorry."

Our prisoner was weird alright. He did seem to have such strange mood swings. At some times he appeared to be very mature - and at other times, a bit juvenile. John was of the opinion that his mood swings could be masking violent traits. But I didn't think so. I mean, in some ways he seemed so innocent at times. I found it hard to believe that he could be responsible for the attack on Xavier. Even when he acted mature - he didn't strike me as a ruthless type. And he certainly pulled his punches and held himself back when he fought us. On both occasions. Maybe I'd concede a little. I doubted that giving him my first name carried any risk.

"Rick. My name's Rick."

Chris: "Well howdy, Rick."

"Your turn. What's your first name?"

Michael: "Michael. But you can call me Mike."

"Alright, Mike."

Now to try and milk some information subtly out of him. If I managed to get more out of him than Scott and Logan... then I'd never let them live it down. Mwahahaha! Diplomacy would triumph over brutality. Grabbing a diet soda, I sat down formulating a plan to entrap our guest in a relaxed conversation...

Location: Unknown

Irene turned noisily in her sleep. Usually it was due to prophetic visions worming their way into her dreams. And as usual, that meant that Raven was unable to get any rest herself. Especially as the bed they now shared was significantly smaller than the previous one. Curse that Lance! Right on schedule, Irene woke up with a melodramatic start, sweating as usual.

Raven: "What did you see?"

She looked extremely confused.

Irene: "I saw Charles Xavier being attacked in front of his mansion- he's now unconscious. Maybe in some sort of coma."

Raven: "Don't tell me that you expect US to do something about it. We tried, honey."

Irene: "No it wasn't a vision of the future. It's already happened..."

Thankfully, Irene had no crazy ideas this time around. She was still trying to figure out what went on. The man she saw attacking Xavier was different from the man she saw earlier. As a matter of fact, she saw the man from the first vision trying to go to the Professor's aid. Most perplexing indeed. That raised new questions. Why would someone who tried to kill the Professor in her first vision want to help him after he was viciously attacked by another?

Raven: "What if you misinterpreted the first vision?"

It could be that the first man wasn't trying to kill the Professor at the carnival grounds after all.

Irene: "Or maybe...I misinterpreted the dream just now."

Which could also be possible. Irene said that she saw the man from the carnival vision leaning over Professor Xavier. What if the guy was just making sure that Xavier was dead? Xavier had a lot of enemies. What if two of them were staking him out independently? And when one got to him first, the other went to make sure that he was as good as dead. It could make logical sense.

Irene: "I saw more, Raven. The actual attacker escaped. But the X-men battled the first man. He - was so powerful. A mutant. He held them all at bay for a while."

That was enough to get Raven's utter and complete attention. A single man holding at bay highly trained mutant warriors like the X-men?

Irene: "He fought maybe - ten or more of their number at once. I couldn't make out who they were exactly. But they were X-men. He was eventually defeated. But I got the impression that he wasn't unleashing his true potential. As if he were holding back. The last I saw was his capture by the X-men. The vision got blurry at that point. I must have been close to waking."

Raven: "Do you think he's important in the overall scheme of things?"

Irene: "I don't know. I didn't sense that he is...but I didn't sense that he isn't either. I guess I'll have to wait until more information is revealed to me."

The scheming gears in Raven's mind started turning full speed. Who was this mystery man? And what was his connection to the X-men. Could he be a new enemy? And he was a mutant. If he was averse to the X-men, would he be interested in joining with others of like mind? Others like The Brotherhood perhaps? If she could locate him and free him from the grasp of the X-men, would he listen to her proposal willingly and with an open mind?

She had enough of living like she was. Lance was unworthy of any position of authority. Especially as other, more qualified and deserving people were around. People like her for instance. She was the rightful second in command of the Brotherhood. And in time she would be leader. But until such time as she could put her master plot into motion - it would be best to keep on Magneto's good side. And if she managed to sign in a mutant as powerful as the one in Irene's vision...it just might be enough to earn back her position. The trick would be to warm Magneto up to the idea. He was a diehard skeptic when it came to Irene's visions. Or...she could just do it as an independent move and pleasantly surprise him with a brand new member.

And that ungrateful brat, Lance would feel the full extent of her revenge. He treated her as his personal lackey now that he was the official second in command. Magneto had to be losing his mind. If he wasn't so powerful, he'd be forced out of office by a vote of no confidence ever since Lance's appointment. Whatever could have made him think that Lance would make a good second in command? No matter, Raven would dedicate all her energies to remedying the situation.

After hours of repetitive mental probing, it became obvious to the telepathic team that nothing more could be done for the Professor at the moment until Cerebro's telepathy boosting functions were fully operational. They were all dead beat tired, not to mention hungry. And in their current state, they would be more likely to miss a potential clue if it hit them. So Jean convinced them to take a break and refresh themselves before delving any further. Emma and Betsy were rather stubborn, but in the end, they too gave into their fatigue and agreed to Jean's proposal.

Emma went straight to her quarters to try and get a few hours of much needed sleep. Betsy followed suite. She was just back from a mission and was in dire need of it. Jake found himself to be the odd one out in the company of women - so he too departed, leaving Jean and Julie alone. They seemed to want to speak privately anyway. And with him around, it would be a gamble. He was known to sense thoughts without even trying. Jean and Julie were too mentally drained to put up an adequate barrier as it was. With a,

Jake: "I'll see you ladies later."

he was off.

Julie: "Right here on the Mansion grounds..."

No one would ever suspect that the Professor could be so easily defeated on his home turf. Especially as he had the X-men present to defend him. Jean was torn herself. Part of her believed the stranger when he said that he wasn't the one responsible for the Professor's current unconscious state. She kept telling herself that it wasn't wise to place such heavy belief in the words of a prime suspect. But regardless, she couldn't help but believe that his words had a ring of sincerity to them. And there was something...noble...about his character. Jean had never seen anyone control himself like he had. Especially during an interrogation as violent as hers.

Julie: "Do you think that Scott and Logan got anything out of your prisoner yet?"

Jean: "I don't know. I should think that they'd have called a meeting the moment they did. But let's go take a look, we don't have anything else to do. I feel too drained to project any thoughts."

So saying, they began walking towards the Brig.

Julie: "So, this guy is really powerful, huh?"

Jean nodded. More powerful than anyone was comfortable with. And he seemed able to focus his energies with ease and finesse. On the battle field, using his powers seemed to require but little exertion on his part.

Julie: "And you let the juniors battle him? I can understand the carnival. You had no idea someone like him would appear. But afterwards too?"

Jean: "They aren't exactly juniors anymore, Julie. They're maturing into a formidable fighting force. And with Scott and the rest gone...we needed all the help we could get."

She didn't say it outright, but Jean could sense Julie's worry...her maternal instinct. Already Jean herself seemed to be developing one of her own. It was a little difficult for some of the senior X-men to accept. But it was an inevitable fact. The juniors were growing up. And it was the Professor's will that they be allowed to grow at their own rate. They had proven themselves worthy to him...and indeed most of the seniors. And at the rate that they were maturing...the time could soon come when a new crop of juniors would need to be inducted.

Julie: "It's just hard to accept that your kid is...almost all grown up. But then you won't understand it until you're in the situation."

Oh they grow up so fast... So cliche, but oh so true.

Jean: "I suppose so. But it has to come at some point in time."

Julie: "Yes it does. I don't know if this is the best time to tell you this but..."

Her she paused and started eyeing the surroundings nervously.

Jean: "Yes? Come on. You can tell me anything anytime."

Julie: "Well...I think I might be pregnant."

Jean: "What?!"

Pregnant?! Little Ricardo would have a "cousin" practically his age.

Jean: "You think? Wait, is this like by chance or - have you and Joshua been...trying - "

Julie: "Well, I know I shouldn't feel like this. But the first time, my first pregnancy was - was unexpected. It was a pleasant surprise yes. But a lot of the time I was scared about the future. I want to experience a pregnancy free of all that. I want to carry a new life without that insecurity and just enjoy the experience. And with Rick gone... I can't face an empty house day after day. And there's only so much my friends can do to distract me. They always seem to bring their kids up in conversations too. I wanted to feel like a mother again. And I told him that."

Jean: "How does Joshua feel about this? Does he know?"

Julie: "He was thrilled at the possibility. But he said that we should not tell anyone yet. Until I've seen a doctor that is. I could sense that it was on his mind for a little while too."

Jean could recall him asking about the effect of his altered genome on future children. So it was obvious that he was contemplating the possiblity of having more children in the future.

Jean: "Well, while we wait for Hank to finish his work on Cerebro...I could run that test for you. If you would like me too, no pressure. I have free run of the Med Bay."

Julie: "But what about the prisoner?"

Jean: "Scott will probably call a meeting as soon as they get him to talk anyway. This IS something to do in the meantime. If you're really pregnant - then I'll have some company and won't feel so alone . Come on, let's get back to the Med Bay."

"So what exactly are your mutant powers?"

It was as good a place to begin as anywhere. And it was a nice, seemingly non-probing question too. What mutant didn't ask that question to other mutants upon first contact. The mutants with powers and abilities that is.

Mike: "Well, as you've probably guessed - I'm telepathic and telekinetic. But I also have other abilities."

Ooh, interesting. The telepathic / telekinetic combination was so common. Of course, he was uncommonly powerful at both of them - but that psychic combination was pretty much run of the mill. It was the "other' abilities that held my interest.

"Like what?"

Mike: "Well, I am mildly clairvoyant, psychometric and empathic."

Hmmm, something like Professor Xavier. I had to think back to some of my Psionics classes with Jean and Betsy to remember what those terms meant. Clairvoyants are psychics who sometimes, against their will, experience past, present and future events as if they're happening to them in real time...with one hundred percent accuracy. Psychometry deals with reading psychic impressions off of physical objects to learn about the people and events that have come into contact with them. And empathy allows some psychics to read and influence the emotional state of others - quite different from their thoughts indeed. I was being silent for far too long - it could possibly be interpreted as ignorance.

Mike: "Uh, do you know what those abilities are?"

I'm not a ditz!

"Yeah, I do."

Mike: "What about you? I...didn't have the time to fully delve into everyone's minds."

"Oh, I'm telekinetic with some...very minor telepathic skills. But I really shine Elementally."

Mike: "Elementally...I don't recall you using any of those abilities. Anyhow, let me guess. Fire? Wind?"

"And Earth and Water...let's not forget Electricity."

Mike: "Yeah...uh huh. What are the odds of that?"

"I dunno. But it's true and I am rather proud of it. I am not a run of the mill mutant, no siree. I am special - and in the good way too."

Mike: "So why didn't you use them against me? IF you have got access to them? That fiery girl had no qualms about melting the ground beneath my feet."

We were all shocked that Amara's magma had no effect on him.

"Well, I figured that I'd be more useful in a defensive role. That and telekinesis is by far the easiest power to bend to my will. It takes more effort and energy to use those Elemental abilities. For me at least. Sometimes I wonder how other people can sustain those effects for so long. I have a few friends who are Elemental...and it's their only means of attack. They don't get drained so easily as I do."

Ray, Bobby, Amara, Roberto, John... My Elemental powers may have been formidable, but I lacked their stamina. They were all able to sustain Elemental assaults for longer than I.

Mike: "Well, you may have access to those abilities. But you just may be more adept at telekinesis. That's all. Take me for instance. I can do almost anything with telepathy and telekinesis. But I'm damned near next to hopeless with my other abilities. They seem to turn themselves on and off with a mind of their own."

Come now. That was better. Some information that could turn out to be useful. He said that he was mildly clairvoyant, psychometric and empathic. And now I had learnt that he wasn't in conscious control of them. Clairvoyance is an uncontrollable power for the most part. But the others usually aren't. But in his case...they were uncontrollable. I was a little surprised at how comfortable he was with sharing that bit of information. He must have let it slip, I supposed.

Mike: "You must have had some privileged genetic ancestors alright...Omni-Elemental."

"I suppose so. My...father - I got them from him I guess. He's Omni-Elemental too. And I was lucky enough to inherit my mom's telepathy and telekinesis. She's good at both. I'm not."

Before we could carry on our discussion any further, the main door to the Brig slid open. Logan and Scott entered, each with a mouth watering sandwich in hand. Upon seeing me in there, talking to the prisoner, they both frowned. And upon seeing the prisoner finishing up the remnants his meal - their frowning grew even more pronounced. Scott made mental contact with me to express his disapproval.

Scott: Rick, why did you feed him without permission?

Was permission required?

Starving prisoners is inhumane. And against the UN's regulations. It amounts to prisoner abuse.

Logan joined in our telepathic conversation, with some effort.

Logan: We were gonna feed him...eventually.

Scott: That's why we're carrying these. We were gonna eat it in front of him...slowly. We figured that he'd get so worked up - he'd crack for food. Systematic nutritional torture...

Logan and Scott regarded each other in the most dire and conspiratorial of manners. I only nodded towards them semi-skeptically.

Uh huh...

I could almost laugh, regardless of the severe situation that we were in. Yes, sometimes I feel as if I can laugh at any frickin' thing. Jean had sworn that Scott and Logan were good at what they did. And I had believed her without the slightest trace of a doubt. Scott's recent, cheerful stint notwithstanding - he was a very dedicated and worthy team leader, capable of advanced tactics - some of which were interrogatory in nature. Or so a confident Jean had declared. And Logan - well, I was of the opinion that he was a "Beat It Out Of You" kinda guy, myself. And that was the best that they could come up with? I expressed my surprise, mentally of course.

Scott: We didn't think that physical persuasion would have been very effective. Jean was rather thorough in her attempts at coercion. And if THAT didn't loosen his tongue, nothing we could have done would have.

Logan: I couldn't have done better myself without poppin' my claws.

I cringed slightly at the thought.

Logan: Not that I plan to, kid.

So you guys opt for this crazy psychological torture instead?

They nodded.

How about this? Give a little and take a little. It seems that he's pretty free with information, if you ask right.

They both regarded me oddly, as if the thought had never before occurred to them.

Yeah, it's a new concept I know. But why don't we give it a shot?

Scott: Well, I suppose we could listen to more of what he has to say...with an open mind this time.

Good. Cuz I think I believe him when he says that he didn't attack the Professor. You two weren't there when we fought him. You don't know what it was like - he could have done a lot worse to us. But he didn't. Even Jean agrees with that. We have to face facts. We don't know shit about what's going on here. And until we do - we should give people the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. No one even saw him attack Professor Xavier. The only thing some people are going on is some very vague, circumstantial evidence. And that's not enough for a guilty conviction beyond all reasonable doubt.

They looked impressed. Yes, I am so capable of that.

Logan: Damn, you'd have made a good lawyer, kid.

Lightly,

I know, I know. I am mature far beyond my years. So can I stay and -

Scott: Actually, no you can't. You sir, have a shift long overdue upstairs.

That was true. I couldn't hide in the subbasement forever.

Okay, okay.

I nodded goodbye to our guest and departed.

Meanwhile, in some dark, arcane locale....

Mysterious Male Voice: "You incompetent fool! How many times have I warned you about the way you carry that vial?!"

The underling's eyes grew wide with fear.

Underling#1: "P-Please, I only - "

Mysterious Male Voice: "You are just extremely fortunate that we're currently underpowered and I need every servant I can get. If that weren't the case..."

There was work to be done. And good help was so hard to find these days. The Master had declared his will and his duty bound servant was determined to carry it out to His satisfaction.

Gather unto me an army worthy of my command.

A tall order indeed. Difficult, but not impossible. One thing was certain, common rabble was to be avoided at all costs - no matter how desperate the situation became. The main problem lay in finding sufficiently talented mutant fighters worthy to fight in the name of the Master. After long, devoted searches, only a few such individuals were garnered. At times it was difficult to understand why any sane mutant would not offer his life and loyalty to the Cause. It was, after all, in their own best interest to side with their destined Savior.

Underling#2: "Lord Bennet, the lab-techs are ready to commence the genetic sequencing process."

Lord Bennet: "Finally, I was wondering when they would be ready to proceed. Their senseless delay has cost us enough time."

The problem had long tormented Lord Bennet. But then the solution came to him. If they couldn't "find" suitable candidates...then perhaps they could "make" them instead. It took long enough to collect adequate amounts of genetic material...and now at last they were ready to begin. Once a stable genetic template was constructed, it would be a simple matter to mass produce a never ending supply of genetically enhanced super troupers to serve the Cause...

Jubilee: "Come on, get in there...be a man for God's sake."

I am a man! But *sigh*...such a pansy at times.

Roberto: "Just act cool and let things play out however they will. If anything goes wrong, at least you can say you tried."

Wow...maturity coming from Roberto.

Amara: "Remember what you told us about Mistress Margali. She said that if you didn't make peace with them - you'd regret it."

Yes, I did remember her saying something like that - with the word "painfully" thrown in too...

I was supposed to be doing my duty and taking up my shift on the ground floor of the Mansion. And for that matter, so were my friends / teammates. Upon entering the ground floor I ran into those three. And as luck would so have it, of all the floors my father could be on, he had to be there. In the lounge according to Roberto. I regarded them closely and asked if any of them had broken their word and talked to either my mother or father. No one admitted it. And I assumed that they were telling the truth when they all looked me squarely in the eyes.

"I wouldn't know what to say or do. Or how to go about it exactly."

That, they reasoned with me, was not important.

Amara: "Oh, just go with the flow."

It would all come to me as I went along. Since my parents' arrival, I had been thinking a lot about it. Someone was very determined to persuade me to reconcile with them. So determined that they found a way to sneak notes into my supposedly secure room. And then there were the prophetic words of Mistress Margali to consider. A woman who the Professor believed harbored potent mystical abilities - gazing into the future being just one of them. Wouldn't it be folly to disregard her advice?

And then there was my own conscience to be concerned with. I almost felt like capitulating the morning after my runaway attempt. Hell, I even made the first few steps. But I had strengthened my resolve at the very last second. I was glad to see them go - as long as they stayed I'd be pondering thoughts of forgiveness...kinda like these. I wanted them to go and stay gone forever. I knew it was impossible, but that didn't mean I didn't want it in order to help keep such thoughts at bay. For one thing, the Mansion was their home long before it was mine.

Roberto: "Do we have to drag you in there?"

Looking for any excuse to stall,

"There are too many people inside the lounge."

Jubilee: "Well, ask to talk to him alone and somewhere private. Or one of us could deliver a message if you'd like."

I thought about it and decided....that I'd do it. One more chance. If I didn't grant them that much, I'd always question the path not taken. I'd be doomed to forever wonder if their acceptance, repentance and understanding were genuine or false. And then I'd regret it if it turned out to be true - I'd hate if if I missed out on so much. I always felt kind of sad that I didn't try harder to spend more time with dad for example. I regretted that I didn't see that sports was the only real way he could think of to relate to me. And if I ignored an opportunity to patch things up...it'd be a million times worse.

"Okay, I'll do it."

Jubilee: "That's wonderful!"

Roberto: "You won't regret it...at least, I hope you won't."

Amara: "Now, get in there and make us proud."

Heck no! People were there.

"Could one of you go tell him that he can find me outside. Like, maybe the terrace. It's off limits to students given that we're in the middle of yet another crisis..."

Jubilee: "Will do!"

"Well, I'll be waiting."

God, don't make me regret this...

Bobby: "Guys! What do you think you are doing?"

Bobby walked into the lounge just in time to see Jubilee, Roberto and Amara about to approach one Joshua McKenzie. They were not to have any contact with the Andersons. At first he felt a slight bit of guilt - he had quite a long conversation with Joshua. But then he checked himself. He was trapped into it. These three were actively searching him out.

Bobby: "Whatever happened to the promise, eh?"

And then came the shocker. They had "permission". Rick was going to try and reconcile with his folks. Most welcome news indeed. And about damned time, it was overdue.

Roberto: "Okay now that law enforcement has been dealt with...can we get this over with?"

Amara: "Yes we shall, darling. The suspense is killing me."

Joshua seemed to sense that the four young people approaching him had something important to say to him. He left off talking with Remmy and Rogue and closed distance whilst Jubilee attempted to articulate herself.

Joshua: "I couldn't help but notice the way you all were staring at me. What can I do for you?"

Jubilee dropped the peppy facade that she wore mere minutes before and seemed at a loss for words. It was understandable. How does one tell a parent that their son - who disowned them after he himself was nearly disowned - wanted to try and reconcile? Especially when other prying eyes and ears were around. The way that some people just enjoy dosing themselves with drama by minding other people's business...annoying.

Jubilee: "Well, it's like this..."

Amara: "A certain someone requests your presence."

Roberto: "At a secluded terrace, the whereabouts of which we shall disclose to you if you'd only follow - ."

Joshua scratched his head absently and interrupted.

Joshua: "I've tried talking to Julia about stuff like this non-stop. But she always does choose the oddest of times to be romantic."

They tittered as the source of Rick's conclusion jumping was made manifest.

Bobby: "No, it's nothing like that. Rick wants to talk to you."

With a look dripping with skepticism, Joshua regarded them, especially Bobby.

Joshua: "Are you sure?"

They all nodded in the affirmative.

Joshua: "Then...lead the way."

In The Meantime...

Magneto: "What?! Are you certain?"

Brainchild: "Yes, commander. I wasn't at first. I thought that Cerebra was malfunctioning. But after running a complete system diagnostic, I rescanned - an all out planetary search. I could not detect the mental signature of Charles Xavier anywhere."

What could it mean? Charles' mental signature could always be detected as a faint, background emanation. No amount of calibration could tune out the mental "static" that a psychic mind the like of his radiated. It was comparable to radios. No matter how sophisticated they were - in the background there was always some static, no matter how miniscule. And some of that energy was traceable as the radio wave "afterglow" of the big bang explosion.

In a way, Charles Xavier was like that primordial big bang. His birth created a ripple in the human group consciousness. A continuous ripple that all psychic scanners detected to at least some degree - not that their operators knew the source of it. If the source of those emanations - Charles' mind - had ceased to radiate them...did it mean that he could be dead?

Magneto: "I must investigate this myself. It's been a while since I last visited the Xavier estate."

Brainchild: "But, sir -"

Magneto: "Do not contradict me, Brainchild. Lance will be in command until my return to Genosha. However, if he goes over the top - then you have my permission to mentally manipulate him into making the right decisions."

Brainchild: "Yes, sir. But do be careful."

Magneto: "What need have I to be careful? I have no need to fear the X-men. The only real fear I've ever had is...Charles."

Brainchild: "All the same. What do you intend to do exactly?"

Not wage an all out war against the X-men. That was for certain. It was not yet the right time for a final showdown. No doubt they'd try to stop him. Especially if something had indeed happened to Xavier. He'd have to deal with that problem when he came to it. And then there was Charles himself to think of. What if he was in some kind of trouble - perhaps life threatening. It didn't seem likely that he could have found a way to control his mental emanations. If he internalized all that psychic energy, it would surely have driven him mad. And then every psychic on earth would sense that something was wrong.

Would he be strong enough to resist the urge to help Charles if he was in need of it? Regardless of what the X-men thought, he had no desire to see old friends die needlessly. And he himself owed his life to Xavier. A debt that he was not even sure the X-men knew of. If they knew that Xavier had saved his life when they were both young men, would they demand he help Charles if he was in trouble? Wouldn't directly helping Charles be betraying the vow that he had made to defend the rights and freedoms of mutant-kind?

He knew that there would have to be sacrifices if the dream of mutant liberation was to be realized. But was it far too much of a sacrifice to let his friend suffer if it would mean that the opposition would suffer with him? Former friend he corrected himself. But if they weren't friends - did that mean they were enemies? There was never a cut and dry answer to that bothersome question. If only Charles had seen sense so many years ago. What a force they would have been. The Brotherhood's dream of mutant supremacy would have been realized decades ago.

But Charles had his own foolish ideas. He believed that humans and mutants could learn to peacefully co-exist. That could never happen so long as mutants were seen as little more than lower animals. Naive to a fault, Charles established his X-men to counter the plans of The Brotherhood. A most annoying group of individuals indeed. But powerful as well. And experts in the field of brainwashing rhetoric and psychobabble. So good in fact that they had succeeded in luring away the only woman he'd loved, since the death of his wife, to their side of the great divide.

And it all stemmed from one Charles Xavier. The idea that one man could cause the potential ruin of so many lives was scandalous.

Brainchild: "Sir?"

Magneto: "I'll decide that when I see what it is that we are dealing with."

Magneto: What has happened to you, Charles?

In The Med-Bay

Jean: "Now all we have to do is wait and see if it turns blue."

Julie: "And if it does, then that means - "

Jean: "That the test result is positive. In layman's terms - that you're really "with child". Should take only a couple of minutes."

Both women anxiously gazed at the test tube. Two minutes had yet to pass by but they couldn't help but feel as if they were being made to wait far too long. When Julie's watch registered three, it happened. The almost clear solution in the tube started to grow cloudy and semi-opague. With the passage of another minute, a faint azure color materialized.

Julie: "Does this qualify as a positive."

Jean: "Hmmm, we better wait and see if the color becomes more intense and pronounced. Hormones can be funny at times. We wouldn't want any false results."

Joshua followed the small group of teenagers outside and onto the terrace. It almost sounded too good to be true. From all accounts, it seemed to him that both he and Julie were effectively disowned. He never thought that his son could ever take it that far. He always had such a slow fuse. But the fact that Rick had even opted for a name change spoke volumes as to how serious he was. According to some of the seniors, he hadn't even brought up the topic of his disowned family to any great extent. They had barely managed to sustain eye contact earlier when they arrived in the subbasement. And now, like a bolt from the blue, he wanted to talk? It was sudden, unpredictable. But it was also most welcome indeed.

Jubilee: "Well, here it is. We'll just go."

And they left him to wander along the terrace in search of his estranged son. The terrace was rather long and it was a full three minutes before he reached the terminal end of it. But sure enough, right at the very end stood Rick. What was the deal with his hair? The question occurred to him earlier in the subbasement, and flashed once again to mind. His back was turned and so Joshua could not tell if he was aware of his presence. Even if he didn't see or hear Joshua's approach, shouldn't he have sensed it telepathically?

Then again, Rick's telepathy was never top of the line. Or perhaps he was aware and chose to be impersonal until he was comfortable enough to open up. All the same, some acknowledgment would have been appreciated on Joshua's part. When several minutes passed by and no response was given, and none seemed likely to come - he decided that he needed to take the first step in initiating the conciliatory conversation.

The only problem was - he had no idea how to begin. An "I'm Sorry" in all probability was not going to quite cut it. It didn't matter that those words embodied his frame of mind. They were an old worn out phrase, made useless through centuries of usage. He needed to try and find some other, more concrete way of apologizing. Something not quite so cliche.

Rick: "So talk already."

He jumped in surprise when he realized that Rick had finally decided to speak. The tone he used wasn't exactly hostile. That much Joshua could make out. But it wasn't anywhere near welcoming either. It was altogether difficult to read. And this was something strange to him as he was accustomed to reading the emotional states of witnesses on the stand from the voice tones they used. When he next heard an ill-humored sigh, Joshua realized that he was stalling far too long.

Joshua: "I...don't know what to say."

Simply the truth.

Rick: "You've never been at a loss for words."

Joshua: "It almost seems like whatever I say might make you mad."

Truly, that was his biggest problem. Both he and Julie had tried their best to impress upon him that they were willing to try and be supportive. And all it served to do was anger him.

Rick: "Don't you think I have a right to be?"

Rick's back still faced Joshua.

Joshua: "Why don't you turn around and we can talk face to - "

Rick: "If I want to talk face to face, I will. I want to talk to you. I don't want to see you at the outset. Now answer the question."

Sighing,

Joshua: "Yes, I suppose you have every right to be mad."

Rick: "Good, at least you'll admit that much."

Joshua: "But you got mad because of the way your mother and I - the way I treated this whole...situation."

Rick's shoulders stiffened and Joshua could see him clench the railing tightly.

Rick: "Situation? What situation are you talking about?"

Joshua: "You being..."

Rick: "Say it."

There was no mistaking the cold edge to his voice in that last sentence.

Joshua: "The way you are..."

And in a flash he spun around, anger evident on his face. Joshua looked away, not sure of exactly what he had done to elicit such a response.

Rick: "See, you can't even say the word 'Gay' and you expect me to honestly believe that you've changed? Situation...the WAY I am..."

Joshua: "I am trying to come to terms with this."

Rick: "And you have almost nothing to show for it. If you can't deal with the mere word - can you deal with the actual concept?"

Several minutes passed by in silence.

Joshua: "It's just so much of a shock to me. You have to understand that."

Rick's response was, that it shouldn't have been all that shocking to someone who pieced various, seemingly unrelated pieces of evidence together for a living. As a lawyer he was supposed to have more wit than that which he had shown. Shouldn't he have had an inkling? For that matter - shouldn't his mother as well? And in a way, he was right. Rick had never shown the slightest interest in girls. And it surprised Joshua to think that he ignored all the little tell tale signs that Rick was now bringing up.

Rick: "Didn't you ever notice how I always shied away from the girlfriend topic? Or the ever annoying grandkids expectations?"

Joshua: "I never thought..."

Rick: "I don't even understand how you could have been so homophobic. Jean tried to warn me about you - but as usual I didn't listen. She - "

Joshua tensed. Rick had said that Jean tried to warn him about coming out...

Joshua: "What did Jean say?"

Rick: "That you were homophobic as a teenager."

Joshua: "She...didn't say anything else?"

Rick: "No. And I didn't want to believe her. I chose to follow Ororo's advice instead. She had way too much faith in you and mom as parents."

Jean Grey was always nosey to a fault. She was forever poking around in other people's business. And that habit had apparently not been lost in over fifteen years. She couldn't have said anything much if she wanted to keep her precious Summers' secret. Rick continued on his rant.

Rick: "Mom, I could have understood...if she was the one with the homophobia. She lived in an orphanage run by a convent for a while. But you were never exposed to religious bias ever. I don't understand this...unreasonable reluctance to accept that I'm gay. Hell, even Logan has come to terms with it. Can you believe that?"

Truthfully, Joshua thought that Logan would have had more trouble with it than most. Could it mean that he had a serious problem? Was homophobia rated as a serious condition? He couldn't help but remember what Scott had told him the night Rick ran away.

Scott: The problem doesn't lie with him, it's on you...

Joshua: "I know I have a problem. But I'll try harder. I'll get help - whatever it'll take."

Did psychiatrists treat homophobia? Joshua knew that there were some who claimed to be able to treat homosexuality. But was there a cure for homophobia?

Rick: "Y-you mean it?"

For the first time since the commencement of their conversation, it seemed as if some headway was being made. There was a feeble tone of hope in that last sentence. Weak and skeptical, but it was there. That was what counted. Quick to capitalize on it before the moment was lost,

Joshua: "Yes, I'll do whatever you think is best."

Rick: "And, you won't mind it if I don't want to see psychiatrists or - "

Joshua: "No, none of that. I'll be the one seeing the shrinks. I'm the one who has got the problem."

And judging by the look on Rick's face, the ghost of a smile, it seemed that Joshua had at last found the signal he needed to get his message through. It was a pity that it wasn't to last much longer. At that very minute, Julie came running onto the terrace. She had been looking for Joshua the old fashioned way and had no luck. Even though she was telepathically drained from all the effort she had been using to help the Professor earlier, she risked a mental probe and located her husband. At last, she pinpointed his whereabouts. At the end of one of the Mansion's many terraces. What would he be doing there? She dismissed the thought and started running towards the place. Even before she caught sight of him she started yelling out the source of her excitement.

Julia: "Josh! Josh! It's true. We did it, I'm pregnant! We're going to be parents all over again!"

Rick's frail smile faded completely away. And once again his demeanor became cold and harsh.

Rick: "You two didn't waste any time, did you?"

Julie had by this time arrived on the scene.

Julie: "Josh I - "

Joshua: "I - we heard, Julie."

She glanced quickly in front of Joshua.

Julie: "Rick ? What's going on?"

Rick: "So what? You wanted 'normal' children that badly?"

Joshua: "It's not what you think. We - "

Rick: "Weeks...just a few blasted weeks was all the time that passed. I know I was being stubborn - but couldn't you have waited a little while longer?"

Realization dawned upon Julie.

Julie: "Oh no..."

Rick: "Sixteen years and one kid was good enough for you. But when you find out that I'm gay - time to order in a replacement, huh?"

Joshua: "Wait, don't go!"

Rick: "Just get out of my way! You know what, I hope this kid turns out gay too. Then I'd like to see what you'd do. Given that there's a lot of evidence to support a genetic factor - it just may happen. Happy parenting!"

And he was gone.

How Did It Go?

Jubilee: "So - how did it go?"

There was nothing to tell them but the truth. They should have been able to guess. I was certain that my facial expression should have been able to tell it all. Imagine, mom pregnant?! For sixteen plus years one kid was good enough and they suddenly opt for another? If the timing was different - like say, way before my coming out attempt, I'd have believed my father when he said that it was "not what I thought".

But it was too much of a coincidence to believe it after I heard my mother screaming it out like it was hot off the printing press. It had to be very recent indeed. Less than a month if she only now knew for certain and came running out like she won the lottery. She probably missed her period or something. Jean did inform me when we first talked about her pregnancy that period missing generally happened when women get pregnant.

And then what mom had said...that they'd be parents "all over again". There was only one explanation for it. I was stubborn a little too long and they'd given me up as a lost cause...and decided that they were young and able to have another baby. A nice, "normal" one. And come to think of it - she had said "we did it" in a self-congratulatory and victorious manner. So it had to mean that they were trying to conceive. That this pregnancy was definitely not accidental - like I was. Well, if that was what they wanted, let them have it. I didn't really expect much from the entire talk anyway. And I had been a little surprised towards the end, before mom came screaming into it. But then I guess it was a little too good to be true. Roberto was right, at least I tried.

"Not too good."

Amara: "Oh no. What happened?"

They all looked at me expectantly.

"So you weren't sneaking around trying to eavesdrop?"

Roberto: "Of course not."

Bobby: "We couldn't find anything good enough to hide us. So we basically waited here in the lounge."

"Well, get this - apparently, mom is pregnant."

Looks of complete shock registered upon all of their faces.

"I know."

I explained it all to them and they immediately saw what I was getting at. Even Bobby and Roberto - and they were usually typical, somewhat dimwitted, pretty boys for the most part.

Roberto: "Well, at least you tried."

"I told them that I hoped the baby turns out gay."

And I meant it. Hmm, they already had the experience of having a gay son. How about something new? Maybe a girl, a lesbian would be a fine addition. And it would be more diverse too. A gay girl would be a nice, new experience. Ooh, and if she turned out to be one of those mannish lesbians, so much the better!

Bobby: "I wonder what they'd do if that happened."

"Probably quit having their own genetically disadvantaged kids...and decide to adopt the straightest looking kid they could find or something. Hey, let's just forget about them. Scott's in the subbasement, and Ray is nowhere in sight. We have a mansion full of X-men and...partially automated defensive and surveillance systems. How about we unwind a little in the Rec-Room? There's no David or Jake around to preach to us to follow orders..."

Roberto: "Suits me. John and Jamie are the laziest by far when it comes to actually patrolling. And all Ray does is boss us around. Let them handle it for a little while."

Time: The Morning After
Location: The Xavier Mansion

Jubilee: "Rick! Wake the hell up!"

"Whaaaat?!"

It was with more than a little exasperation that I responded to Jubilee's wake up call. I was in the middle of a very kinky sex dream - something to do with lots of whipped cream, strawberries and a mysterious, muscular, masked man about to eat me alive...and it all got dashed to oblivion just as things were about to get really interesting. I had fallen asleep in the Rec-Room. And you may have thought that with our current crisis, lurid sex dreams would have been the last issue rooted in my subconscious. But tell that to my hyperactive, teenaged hormones. As soon as the grogginess wore off, an embarrassing thought hit me. Was I moaning out in my sleep like I was in the dream? My tone immediately altered.

"Sorry...just a little groggy. Um...what's the deal?"

I glanced quickly around me and saw that she was the only one there. Where were the others? Had they just left me sleeping to saunter off elsewhere?

"Where are the others?"

Jubilee: "They're in the Med-Wing. It's the Professor. He's - "

"Oh no! Is he...dead?"

Her expression shifted to one of mild frustration at being interrupted. I can't help it if I jump to conclusions.

Jubilee: "No! Scott sent a quick message over the intercom. He woke up about ten minutes ago. The guys went down to see him. I've been trying to wake you up with no luck. If you resisted my attempts any longer, I would have thrown some cold water over you."

I apologized for my lack of receptivity. She relented somewhat as we walked towards the elevator.

Jubilee: "So, what the heck were you dreaming about?"

I couldn't help the hot blush that crept up my neck and onto my face.

"Dream?"

She sighed impatiently.

Jubilee: "You were tossing and turning and you cried out a couple of times."

Damn.

"Oh really. I don't remember - um - exactly. Must have been...some sort of nightmare or something."

She eyed me rather probingly whilst my gaze shifted nervously. Thankfully, she did not press the issue further at that point in time. We had by then arrived at the Subbasement entrance to the main Med-Bay. Upon stepping into the observation room I could sense the nervous relief of the others. Almost everyone was in the observation room excluding the psychics - they were actually with the Professor at his bedside. Professor Xavier still seemed to be peacfully sleeping though.

"I thought you said that he woke up ten minutes ago, Jubes."

She nodded and looked confusedly towards the Professor's bed in the main visual display.

Jubilee: "Well, that's what Summers' announcement said."

Ororo was nearby and chanced to hear us. Walking up to us, she offered an explanation. Apparently, only the Professor's mind had "awakened" and made contact with the psychics while I was asleep. Hank had finally recalibrated Cerebro and our super computer was again fully operational. Jean, mom, Emma, Jake and Betsy had used Cerebro to thoroughly probe the Astral Plane for the Professor's presence. Ordinarily, when telepaths "visit" the Astral Plane, their consciousness is split partially between the physical world and the mental. That's why a forceful blow or such to a telepath's body can knock him or her fully back into the land of the living. It's something like a daydream - but infinitely more intense and realistic.

Betsy had come up with the notion that perhaps Professor Xavier's astral body - his physical body's counterpart - had been fully forced into the Astral Plane by the violence of the mental assault he had suffered. It was theoretically possible and would have left his body vacant. Hence, it would have been impossible to sense the Professor's presence within his body as his essence would not have been there to begin with.

"I don't get it. Why didn't they just go onto the Astral Plane and search. They didn't need Cerebro for that."

That was certainly true. I'd been on the Astral Plane before minus Cerebro.

Ororo: "Rick, the Astral Plane is a very big - for want of a better word - place. Even the most advanced psychics cannot delve past the outer fringes without telepathic amplification technology. Humanity's mental evolution has not yet become that advanced."

I felt a little stupid that Ororo as a non-telepath was giving me such an explanation...but I'm a horrible telepath and Jean and Betsy had not yet covered that topic in our Psionics classes.

"Oh, right..."

Ororo: "Anyway, Betsy was partially right."

Jubilee: "How so?"

Ororo: "Professor Xavier's Astral form was forced completely out of his body. But it wasn't on the Astral Plane either. At least not at the beginning. His essence was somewhere else."

Where else could there be? It's either he was here or there, or - as is usual - partly here and there. I knew about Astral Projection. But even then the Astral Body is still connected with the physical. It was a basic tenet that if the Astral Body gets separated from the physical totally...then death must ensue. And now we were talking about somewhere elses. How wonderfully specific. Jubilee vocalized my confusion.

Jubilee: "Somewhere else?"

Ororo: "Yes. He was blasted out of his body to parts unknown, then he navigated his way to the familiar Astral Plane. Professor Xavier's mental signal is greatly weakened. He thinks it best that we leave all elaboration off until he is safely back in the land of the living."

The next logical question was, how were they going to do that?

Ororo: "They are strengthening his mind / body connection. Betsy is the most advanced telepath we've got. She's leading his mind back to his body. Jacob is using his abilities to influence the Professor's physical body - to make it more receptive to his Astral Body's reintegration. Having one's Astral Form ripped out and forced back in can take quite a toll."

She went on to say that while Xavier's mind had awakened and was partially reinstated - full integration had still not commenced. Professor Xavier's mental powers seemed to have been greatly taxed by his ordeal.

Jubilee: "Why don't we try and get more telepaths to help us?"

Hank stepped into our circle. Dark rings were clearly visible under his eyes, despite his dark blue fur. He had stayed up the entire night working non-stop on Cerebro after all.

Hank: "All our psychics are exceptionally talented. And they are all adamant that Charles is the deciding factor now. They have opened the door - he must muster the strength to step through the threshold. It's up to him."

But Ororo said that he was severely weakened...

"Has he the strength...do you think he has?"

Hank: "Honestly, I can't say. But Charles is a fighter."

"If he doesn't reintegrate soon...will he die?"

Hank: "It's a definite possibility. At the very least, he may be trapped on the Astral Plane indefinitely. And that's almost as bad - to be stuck in limbo."

I then had a thought.

"Why don't you hook him up to Cerebro? Couldn't it boost his mental powers? Isn't his mind *partially* reconnected with his - "

Hank: "It won't work. Cerebro is designed to amplify the telepathic power of a conscious person and then progressively lead him or her onto the Astral Plane and back. The person has to be physically conscious to begin with."

Right, he was the genius. It couldn't be that simple. All we could do was wait...

The Xavier Mansion seemed to have changed but little since his last assault. Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto stood outside the Mansion's main gate, just out of the security scanners' range. He had always thought Charles a poor strategist. Born into fabulous wealth and yet he had so much to learn about the proper management of resources. Erik never had the cash flow that Charles had access to and and was forced to..."work" for the finances to fund his Brotherhood activities. With his kind of wealth, Charles should have accomplished so much more. Just what did he intend to do with it all? He couldn't take it with him beyond the grave. The morbid thought drew his attention back to the task at hand.

He walked up to the gate and activated the intercom.

Erik: "Charles Xavier, I demand a word with you."

A sudden thought hit him. What if they didn't recognise his voice? He couldn't at that point deny that he was slightly nervous. Suppose Brainchild was right and it was some sort of trap. They never struck him as the type. But there is a first time for everything. And after all the times in the past when Erik himself trapped them...they could have learnt a thing or two. And be itching to pay him back.

Erik: "It is I. Erik...Lehnsherr."

Several minutes passed before he was treated to a response by the Mansion's automated system. Losing his patience, he decided to just barge in and discover what was going on himself. But he'd remain cautious just in case it turned out to be a trap in disguise. With a gesture, the gate was violently warped and thrown off the boundary wall to allow him access. As he walked up the path towards the front door several lawn statues split down their sides to reveal automated canons. All it took were a few well aimed electromagnetic blasts and they were disabled.

Erik: "I hope they still have a warranty on those."

With little difficulty, the Master Of Magnetism was fast approaching the front door...

[Cerebro: "Warning, perimeter breach...Mansion integrity compromised...Initiating immediate security lockdown."]

A new and exciting day in the life of an X-man. It never seems to stop does it? About a half hour since my arrival in the Med-Bay, the alarms sounded. At first, everyone was content to believe that perhaps Cerebro was glitching. For one thing, if the external perimeter was breached, it would take some time before the Mansion itself got broken into. But barely half a minute had passed since the first warning and Cerebro was reporting that the Mansion had been infiltrated. Hank accessed the Mansion's network and attempted to access the security system. The cameras were all offline. In fact, the entire network seemed to be glitching again.

Logan: "These constant glitches are getting real old, real fast."

Then she shaking started. Even underground in the Subbasement we could feel it. Thankfully, the student populace was made to stay in the emergency shelters until we got a firm handle on our situation. Something major was going on at the surface level of the facility.

John: "Do you think that maybe our prisoner has some friends who've tracked him down and wanna set him free?"

I remembered the flashing red lights on the guy's - Mike's gauntlet. What if it was some sort of homing signal. Kind of like in those spy shows - set to go off after a certain period of time had passed without communication? And for that matter, what if the code he made us enter to stop it was some sort of encoded message for help? Just because he was behaving "nicely" didn't mean that he was enjoying himself in our brig. He wanted out alright. And he could have hatched some sort of plot to escape. I expressed those concerns.

Ororo: "You could be right. Obviously we cannot interrupt the psychics. We shall have to deal with this ourselves."

Scott: "Yes, and we can't leave them here defenseless either. Some of us will have to stay here to defend them."

Joshua: "I can remain."

When no one acknowledged him,

Joshua: "It's no problem."

Scott wasn't too pleased about it. He argued that dad had gotten rusty after so many years had passed. He argued that he could be relied upon and that he was still part of the family. Besides, with his formidable Elemental powers - he could be quite an asset. In the end Scott was forced to agree. But he left Kurt and Peter with him, just in case things got overwhelming. Kurt could teleport them all out to the relative safety of the shelters. Several others were dispatched to guard our prisoner - Remmy, Warren and Hank. John, Roberto, Bobby and Jamie were sent to the shelters in case anything should come up. The rest of us made our way to the main elevator.

Logan: "Damn!"

The ground floor looked like a hurricane had blown through. Shrapnel and sawdust littered the floor. Xavier had to have some very deep pockets if the Mansion had to deal with issues like that in the past. Ororo turned to me.

Ororo: "Sensing anything?"

I tried and came up with nothing. Scott turned to Logan.

Scott: "How about you? Smelling anything?"

Logan: "This damned sawdust is messin' with my nose, bub."

A sudden crash sounded in the distance causing all of us to start. Logan's ears perked up and he informed us that he was hearing what sounded to be a low, garbled, human voice. So at least it was safe to say that we weren't going to have to face off against a robotic threat. At a signal from Scott, all talking ceased. Ororo and Rogue took to hovering whilst I levitated the rest of us all along, following the direction of the voice. The ground was so littered that we dared not walk and risk making a sound and giving our presence away to our unwelcome guest. As we advanced down the hall, we all started hearing the mumbling. The voice was garbled but I thought I could make out a - "Where the hell are they?"

Another crash sounded and we pinpointed the sound as coming from the room to our left. We all dropped sliently onto the floor and awaited a signal from either Scott or Ororo. With a low whisper,

Scott: "On the count of three we go in. Be ready for anything."

He started counting but was interrupted by Amara.

Amara: "You're counting too quickly."

Scott: "Okay then, princess. One-one thousand, two-one thousand - "

It was still too fast for her taste. She volunteered to count for us and took a look at her watch, intending to precisely call out the seconds. Sometimes Amara's ditziness has its advantages. She looked at her watch crossly. With a fierce whisper,

Scott: "What is it now, Amara?!"

Amara: "My watch has stopped. And I just changed the battery too!"

Ray sighed impatiently and raised his wrist. He promptly frowned.

Ray: "Hey, my watch is bitchin' too!"

Logan then took a look at his and reported the same thing.

"Okay, I'll do the honors. Mine is working fine."

David: "Wait a sec, Rick."

He grabbed my wrist and scrutinized my watch. He pointed out the obvious fact that it was a digital watch. Then he brought up the point that the only watches not working were the ones with hands. None of us could see where he was going with it. He requested that Ray lend him his watch for a moment. This was all going down in the midst of constant crashes from the interior of the room by the way.

David passed the watch around in the sawdust on the floor.

Ray: "Dave, if you damage my watch, you'll just have to replace it."

Two faint clinking sounds were heard. When David brought the watch back up, we saw that two small nails from the wooden scraps had stuck onto it. He nodded as if something had been made suddenly clear to him. With a dire and dramatic look, he pointed to it.

David: "I suppose you know what this means."

We didn't.

David gasped in shock. Hey, not everyone was a know it all like he was.

David: "The only watches not working are the ones with hands! Rick's watch is digital with a plastic band. Ray's watch has metal hands, and a metal band too for that matter. The nails have stuck onto it and it's stopped working because it has been...magnetised!"

He elaborated some more and explained that we were all probably within an electromagnetic field of some sort. Hence, the watches had stopped. The seniors took one look at each other, enlightenment on their faces, and with one accord, rushed into the room. Us juniors remained in the hall a bit baffled. David looked upon us, pitying the backwardness of our thought processes. He took a deep breath, ready to begin his lecture but was interrupted by the sound of a painful sounding crash. It was quickly followed by an extremely painful sounding scream from Logan and a shriek of anger from Ororo. That in turn was quickly followed up by a shout from Scott.

Scott: "Juniors, stay out! Get to the subbasement! It's Ma - "

Scott was cut off mid-sentence. We all glanced at each other and dashed into the room disregarding the direct order of Scott to not do so. The first sight that greeted us was a sprawled and gagged Scott. He was bound from head to foot by electrical wiring, his mouth sealed. His visor was lying on the floor some distance away, forcing him to keep his eyes shut lest he should destroy everything in sight. Logan, Rogue and Ororo were facing off with someone who I couldn't see properly because they were blocking my line of vision.

David: "It's exactly who I thought."

Scott heard David's voice and frowned.

Scott: "I told you to get out of here!"

Ray: "You can thank us when we save your behind...sir."

With some effort, I managed to telekinetically pry the wires off his body. They were bonded to him rather tightly. Jubilee took up his visor and replaced on his head. No sooner had we done this, did an unknown voice resound.

Unknown Voice: "I was wondering when you all would just show up. I thought that perhaps I'd have to come down and greet you myself."

"Who the heck is that?"

Logan and company were still blocking my view.

Scott: "It's Magneto. I wonder if he's alone - or if he's brought company."

I promptly levitated a little into the air to get a good view. He looked like a thirty something year old version of the guy I saw in the computer files alright. They weren't kidding when they said that he had reversed his ageing process. And surprisingly, he was dressed pretty normally for an evil mutant mastermind, bent on taking over the Earth and establishing a new world order. Jeans and a tee. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the infamous helmet almost fully covering his head. But aside from that, he looked pretty normal. I almost expected him to be wearing that infernal costume with the red cape. Scrutinizing him closely, I could make out the resemblance between him and Pietro. They both had the same shaped jaw and hair that was practically white. Not quite as white as Ororo's, but nearly so.

David: "NOW do you guys understand?"

We all nodded and Magneto wasted no more time small talking with the seniors up front. He addressed us all.

Magneto: "I demand an audience with Charles Xavier!"

In her deep, southern accent, Rogue begged to differ.

Rogue: "That ain't gonna happen today. You're off your rocker, Magneto."

He frowned...in an almost jovial way. The next second, I could have sworn that I saw him cast a furtively, cocky grin towards Rogue. She for her part started blushing furiously and broke off her aggressive gaze. Logan grunted impatiently whilst a sudden chill in the room told us that Ororo was not very happy about it either. The next statement was directed solely to Rogue.

Magneto: "Aww Anna Marie, you know me well enough for a first name basis to apply. You *can* call me Erik."

Anna Marie? Rogue started frowning. Scott whispered an explanation.

Scott: "It's Rogue's real name. She doesn't like us to use it."

It was the first time that I ever heard Rogue's real name. No one ever called her Anna Marie. And she never told me her real name. It was hard to see her answering to a name like that. Our Rogue? But wait - if she never used that name with us...how did Magneto know it? He seemed to be almost familiar with her. And the way she was blushing. I looked from one to the other slowly. The grinning on Magneto's part and the blushing on Rogue's continued. And I suddenly placed it. I had seen the same grin on John's face once! When he was taunting one of his many ex-girlfriends! Well not an ex-girlfriend...an ex-ho. But it was the same grin alright!

"Oh my damn!"

Logan was breathing heavily all the while and at last he lost whatever little temper he had.

Logan: "Enough of this shit! Rogue, stop acting like a prissy school girl and pull yourself together!"

Rogue: "O-okay."

Magneto took his cue and quit the semi-cute grinning.

Magneto: "I came to enquire about the health of my dear friend. How is old Charlie boy?"

A low, feral growl escaped Logan's throat.

Logan: "You should know. What, you came to see if your assassin did the deed right, huh?"

Shock registered for a quick moment on Magneto's face, then it was quickly repressed.

Magneto: "What are you prattling on about?"

Scott: "Your hired gun?"

Magneto: "Is Charles...well?"

The seniors quickly tossed each other a few glances. Magneto's shock looked to be genuine to me. And Professor Xavier had said that he didn't believe Magneto was behind the attacks of our stranger. Magneto would have sent someone far more ruthless. Magneto's shock and general lack of knowledge about what they were accusing him of lent credence to that theory.

Ororo: "As well as someone who has had a near death experience can be."

Magneto: "Charles almost died?"

Logan: "Are you going deaf?"

Silence reigned supreme for several minutes. Almost inaudibly, Magneto broke it.

Magneto: "Take me to him."

Scandalous laughter erupted from behind me. I saw that Jubilee had cracked up. Amara was pleading with her to stop. Ray too was desperately trying to stifle the sound by basically covering her mouth. She slapped his hand off.

Jubilee: "Okay, you have got to be crazy!"

Magneto frowned angrily towards her, causing Ray to shake a little nervously. He whispered underbreath,

Ray: "Jubes, stop aggravating him. He's a psycho mutant with some serious power..."

Ororo: "I'm afraid I have to agree, Magneto. You're not getting past us."

Magneto: "Oh really."

A metallic scraping sound alerted us that Logan had unsheathed his claws. Magneto chuckled briefly and the next thing we knew, Logan was sent forcefully flying into the opposite wall, completely outstretched and helpless. Logan had said that he faced Magneto before and got chewed up and spit out. His skeleton was laced with adamantium. An indestructible metal, but a metal nonetheless. And Magneto was the Master Of Magnetism.

Magneto: "Will you never learn, Wolverine? How many times do we have to go through this? You are not the man who can defeat me. Get over it!"

Logan mumbled some swear words before commanding us to attack and show no mercy. Scott immediately countered that order somewhat and instructed us OJT X-men to stay back.

Magneto: "Okay then. Bring it on!"

He barely finished the sentence before Scott signaled everyone out of the way. A full force optic beam of his was discharged towards Magneto. A shimmering orb coalesced and absorbed the full brunt of it. Magneto didn't even have to gesture. In fact, he had not even moved a muscle. Scott kept it up for about a minute and finally grew exhausted. Magneto's shield was not anywhere near overwhelmed. Laughing, Magneto merely said (in an extremely amused manner),

Magneto: "Good God, man! Show some decency! There are ladies present."

Scott looked confused as to what that statement meant... Until his belt buckle broke off...followed by the buttons on his shirt...the front button of his pants.... We were all in civilian garb. You try working for extended hours in those uniforms! The zipper finally popped and it was all Scott could do to maintain a mere semblance of decency. He broke off swearing violently.

Ororo went next and pelted him with a frigid gust of wind. The sudden cold did shock Magneto as the jeans and tee he was wearing weren't very insulatory in nature. He was trapped in an icy shell in a mere ten seconds. It didn't last for more than a couple of heartbeats though. Expanding his magnetic field, he broke free.

Magneto: "Allow me to return the favor!"

Several pieces of scrap metal became fluid and sluiced over Ororo, thoroughly encasing her. She began screaming to be let out. That drove Logan mad and with a great effort he extricated himself from the wall and began attempting to slice her out of her prison - carefully of course. At last it was left to Rogue and Magneto. Neither one made a move. Scott's very clothes were busily attacking him. And Logan was occupied trying to free Ororo. Us juniors - Ray, Jubilee, Amara, David and myself figured that regardless of what Scott had said - we had to do something to at least buy them some time.

Amara let out a very un-princess like war-whoop and leapt into the air. She was in the process of forming a fireball to throw at Magneto when the metal band of her watch tightened violently. She screamed in surprise and pain. The fireball went flying with bad aim. David had to quickly morph into eagle form to escape being badly burned. Jubilee seized the opportunity and aimed a burst of energy at Magneto. It temporarily blinded him. Quickly, David morphed into some type of ox and used his horned head as a battering ram. Magneto, still encased in his shield, was sent flying. The shield seemed to have dimmed greatly though.

The next sound we heard was Jubilee shrieking. Her earrings were being painfully pulled by Magneto's powers and her ears were suffering some bitchy pain.

Amara: "Damn it! That IS low! The only people who fight dirty like that are -"

Magneto chuckled heartily,

Magneto: "Bitches, I know! Mwhahaha!"

Ray: "Back off!"

Magneto: "Oh look. The boyfriend wants to score some points."

Ray pelted him with electrical bolts, whilst I tried to telekinetically pull Jubilee's earrings in the opposite direction that Magneto was pulling them in. If someone didn't stop him, Jubilee's ears might have been ripped off. Fortunately, Logan had succeeded in freeing Ororo by then. And Magneto had been sufficiently distracted so that Scott was able to join the fray, at last in control of his clothes. Another full blast of Scott's and the shield flickered out. A half second later, gale force winds knocked Magneto straight through the wall and into the hall. Rogue had still not yet moved a muscle.

"Is she always like this when you guys battle Magneto?"

Scott: "No, I thought that she grew out of it."

Magneto: "Okay, I'm done playing."

Logan attempted another lunge and was caught midair.

Magneto: "You just don't know when to quit, do you? Well, I suppose you might as well make yourself useful."

Two seconds later, Logan was being magnetically controlled like a puppet - an easy feat for Magneto considering Logan's adamantium infused skeletal structure. We all had to leap out of the way as Logan was forced to rush at us, claws flailing. It brought back the terror I felt in the Canadian wilderness and my first impulse was to get as far away from him as possible. The quickest way for me to accomplish that was to fly straight up to the ceiling. I noticed that Logan was not being made to attack Rogue.

Rogue, do something!

Rogue: I-I'm sorry, hun. It's just...

Yeah, yeah. Ex-crush or whatever. Not to be rude...but get busy!

Logan was roaring in rage. Being controlled by another was definitely on his Don't Do list. I expected Rogue to try and attack Magneto to put an end to it. Instead, she tried to face off against Logan. Unbelievable. Scott said that he thought that she had gotten over whatever her past issues were with Magneto. So what was her problem now? Surely she could never have made the X-men if she behaved like that all the time.

Rogue was about to smack Logan when she was magnetically pushed out of the way and sealed in a malleable, metallic prison formed from the scrap metal lying around.

Magneto: "For your own good, love. I don't like damaged goods."

I had to remember to close my mouth. I was that shocked. It seemed that Magneto's physical age wasn't the only thing revitalized when he used the Lazarus Chamber. Youthful flirting...from a man as old as the Professor. The way in which everyone talked about him - I expected him to act like he had a permanent stick up his ass. And for a straight guy, that's pretty damned extreme. I didn't doubt that he was dangerous and bad to the bone. Maybe he wanted to have some fun whilst performing his evil deeds. In any case, Rogue was out of commission. It seemed that he had forgotten about me for the time being. I was hovering right at the ceiling and out of his sight after all. No one could focus whilst Logan was in his control. They couldn't be expected to defend themselves from him and stay on the offensive with Magneto.

I had to do something. Perhaps, getting Logan away from them. That said, I focussed upon Logan, got a mental grip on him, and moved him away from the others, all the way to the other side of the room. That drew Magneto's attention towards me. With a gesture, the wiring shot out from the walls and promptly wrapped themselves around me, pulling me down to ground level. Three streams of fire courtesy of Amara distracted Magneto long enough for me to tear them to pieces and free myself. I turned to Logan.

"Logan, you've got to get out of here. He's using you against us."

Of course, Logan had a problem with that. Aside from running away from a fight, he wasn't too keen on leaving Ororo. She quickly turned to him and made it an order. He was still a bit reluctant. In the end, she had to blow him straight across the hall and seal it by blasting the ceiling above, creating in essence, a wall of rubble. Amara's flames had been completely blocked by Magneto and he was slowly pushing his shield forwards towards us. She had to leave off on the fire lest it should be diverted towards us.

Scott: "We're packed too tightly in here! We need more room to maneuvre!"

"On it! Everyone, take cover behind something!"

They held off on Magneto for a moment whilst I moved the sealed Rogue behind a staircase for cover.

Scott: Rick, what are you going to do?

The same thing I did when I fought Kurt. Tell everyone to grab onto something rooted to the floor and hold on tight.

Magneto: "Ah, the overconfidence of youth...been there, done that. Now I'm doing it again..."

Three pieces of jagged metal - they looked to have been furniture at one time - came flying towards me. I mentally deflected them out of the way. My real aim was to form an indoor tornado like I had with Kurt. With enough power, it would be sufficient to destroy all the walls, reducing the ground floor to an open plan room. At the same time Magneto would be kept busy defending against the flying debris. Pity that we couldn't just force him outside. The Mansion was under a full security lockdown courtesy of Cerebro. I shifted into my Wind altered state and started working on the vortex. Moments passed and all I achieved amounted to some gusts. Powerful, but I had a problem making them spin in a coordinated fashion. I guess the rage helped when I fought Kurt. Several seconds later I sensed the power of another thrown into the mix - Ororo's.

Ororo: Believe in yourself and the power and all else will follow.

Magneto: "Is this what you've come to? Sending children to fight me?"

"I am not a child!"

Magneto: "You're not yet a man."

"I am a man!"

Yes, I was rather sensitive with regards to any and all statements relating to my masculinity (even though Magneto was referrng to age, I misinterpreted).

Magneto: "Are you even old enough to drive, boy?"

And maturity level too for that matter.

"Don't....call....me....boy!"

If rage was the trigger required, suffice it to say that conversation with Magneto did nothing but enrage me. And with the rage came the amplification of my abilities that I needed. The air currents started to pick up pace. The dust on the floor whipped up violently and started swirling in roughly concentric circles. Several of the potted plants that had escaped Magneto's destruction blew up into the air and collided with his shield.

I felt the presence of Ororo once more and the velocity of the winds really began to pick up. The plaster had begun to peel off the walls by then and they started creaking. Several more shards of metal came streaking towards me, but the vortex's swirling winds, sustained by both Ororo and myself, were strong enough to deflect them. Magneto couldn't devote all his energy to attacking as he was forced to bolster his defences, namely his electromagnetic force field. Every loose object in sight was swirling madly about, colliding against his shield.

Ororo: In the midst of a raging storm, stay calm and collected and you need not fear. All who oppose you will suffer at the hands of the vortex, whilst you remain safely cradled in the eye of the storm.

Magneto: "You fool! You'll bring down the entire Mansion upon us!"

"No, I won't. Because I'm in control and I know what it is I'm doing."

I quickly switched from Wind to Earth form and began to disintegrate the weakened walls. Switching back into Wind form, I upped the power of the vortex once more and the walls burst asunder, bricks, concrete and dust swirling about. I stopped the vortex and dove out of the way as Magneto launched an electromagnetic bolt, free at last to resume his offensive stance. Everyone, minus Rogue, who was still encased, dove out from their cover and spread out. The advantage, of having us all in one place, was no longer Magneto's as we were able to dodge his attacks with greater accuracy. We had a great deal of the ground floor to execute evasive maneuvers.

Scott: "Get the Hell out!"

Magneto rose into the air and deflected two more of Scott's blasts.

Magneto: "I was welcome in this Mansion before you were even born!"

Ray: "Yeah, back when you and the Professor were on good terms! But it ain't so now!"

An electrical blast erupted forth from Ray's hands and collided head on with Magneto. He wasn't shielded at the time... When the glare died down, we saw that he wasn't even singed. I remembered then what Jean and the others had told me when we talked about him - right after my fight with Kurt. Magneto's powers extended far beyond mere metal bending. He had control of all aspects of the Electromagnetic spectrum. And it included - and was not limited to - magnetism AND electricity. ELECTRO...magnetic.

Magneto: "How invigorating."

With a gesture, Magneto released the electrical energy that he absorbed from Ray's attack and rained bolts upon us. Ororo dove in the way of some and absorbed them. Her body could adapt to a great extent and absorb elemental damage, and she made good use of that fact. Ray was able to manipulate the bolts heading towards him and Jubilee. Scott countered them with optic blasts whilst I shielded myself, Amara and David.

Magneto: "I grow weary of this frolic! Just stand aside and let me see Charles!"

Scott: "Why? So you can kill him yourself?"

Magneto: "I am telling you that I don't have any idea about an assassin!"

David: "Yeah, and I suppose you know nothing about a certain group of stolen, ancient Egyptian artifacts either, huh?"

Magneto: "Are you people on anything, or are you just that dumb?"

I had a flashback to a conversation with Mike, our prisoner. He said that Magneto was not responsible for the fulfillment of the prophecy on the tablets. That someone far worse was. And he said that he didn't work for Magneto and was opposed to his ways. And Magneto looked to be totally clueless as to what was going on.

Ororo: "Suppose we believe you...what exactly do you want with Professor Xavier?"

Scott: "And for that matter - what made you come to enquire after the Professor's health? How did you know that something might have been wrong if you aren't the one responsible?"

Magneto ignored their questions and asked some of his own instead.

Magneto: "So you say that Charles has been the victim of an assassin?"

Scott nodded carefully.

Magneto: "What exactly has happened to him?"

Scott and Ororo explained our current situation, albeit in a very rude and impatient manner.

Magneto: "I have to see it for myself. Then I'll believe it."

Scott: "Why? So you can go celebrate with certainty?"

Ororo: "That will be a foolish move, Magneto. Even if Professor Xavier dies, his dream and teachings will live on through the efforts of all he has influenced."

A somber expression was playing across Magneto's face.

Magneto: "So there is the possibility that he could die?"

Ororo: "If his mind and body are not reintegrated soon...yes."

Scott: "I bet that piece of information just made your day."

Anger once again manifested upon Magneto's countenance. Several pieces of debris rumbled as the environment reacted to his shift in emotions. The next moment we were treated to a melodramatic outburst. One that could possibly have won an Oscar if we were able to send a video to the Academy. A finer bit of melodrama would be hard to come by.

Magneto: "What kind of a man do you take me for?!"

A despotic, psychotic megalomaniac - that was what I had been led to believe.

Magneto: "Do you think I ENJOY fighting against an old friend? Don't you believe that I'd rather work with him than against?"

Scott scoffed disgustedly.

Magneto: "At one point I did work with him, for the sake of his dream and our friendship - until I realized the utter futility of his vision. Charles and I - as you no doubt know - we have not always been at odds."

Well yes. I remembered the Professor telling me once that Cerebro was actually the result of both their intellectual inputs.

Scott: "After all the times you've tried to kill him - do you expect us to believe that you're here because you're concerned?"

Magneto: "Whatever you may believe, I've never thrown a curve ball that Charles couldn't catch. I merely aimed to keep him too busy to thwart my plans. I'd actually prefer that he be alive when the Brotherhood's vision becomes a reality. Just so that I can gloat and he can realize how in the wrong he is."

We all let this sink in.

Magneto: "When I first - became aware that something could be wrong with Charles, I thought that perhaps you all tried to murder or at least get him out of the way so that you could get your hands on his finances."

Scott gritted his teeth angrily as Magneto carried on.

Magneto: "But then I thought to myself - Charles would no doubt sense it in your subconscious before you ever got the opportunity to act upon the impulse. That...and I was becoming paranoid. I myself always have to keep a careful eye out for my own safety with the kind of people I'm forced to work with - "

Ororo shifted slightly,

Ororo: "I'm assuming that you have a thread of honesty in you - did you come here alone? Or did you bring those miscreants with you?"

Magneto: "Like I said - I came to see Charles. If I'd wanted to wage a war today, then you'd know it. Besides, what have I to fear from you?"

A smashing sound surprised us all then. Rogue had at last broken free of her metallic prison.

Magneto: "Nice for you to join us, dear."

Rogue seemed to be trembling with anger. I didn't like to think that she was trembling due to any other reasons.

Magneto: "Yeah, I've still got it."

Scott seemed to be considering something.

Scott: "Alright."

We all gasped. What was he thinking?

Ororo: "What?"

Scott: "Let him see the Professor. But one condition."

Magneto: "Condition?"

Scott: "If we're to be expected to trust someone like you - you should have some trust in us."

Magneto: "So what is this...condition?"

Scott: "Your helmet. It must be removed."

Magneto: "Absolutely not. My solemn word is enough."

Amara: "It clashes badly with your outfit anyway."

Ray: "Shut...up...Amara...."

Scott: "Your word? Don't make me laugh. If you remove the helmet, then we can telepathically subdue you should any trouble arise. You're lucky that we aren't asking you to take a dose of the most potent mutant suppressor drugs we've got."

After five minutes of giving us a most convincing death glare Magneto agreed.

Scott: "Good, you'll be walking ahead of us. No sudden movements. Should you need to turn around, ask for permission first. We'll guide you. Rick, stun him the first sign of troublesome behavior."

Scott, are you crazy?! You know what happened when I tried stunning the Juggernaut! Or have you forgotten?

Scott: We're going to have to bluff. He doesn't know that you're a...

Useless telepath?

Scott: A telepath in training. And after your display of power, I doubt that he thinks you're of the weak, run of the mill mutant variety. I think we're going to have to give in to him. We can't beat him. At least not today. And if we keep denying him much longer, he'll lose his temper. I think this is the most calm that I've ever seen him. If he loses his temper...he'll try and force his way into the Subbasement. We have the students' safety to think about. We'll only have to bluff until we get him to the Med-Bay. If anything comes up there...Betsy and company can handle him. He'll be helmet-less.

But Scott, Magneto can weaken psionic powers. I remember Jean confirming it.

Scott: It takes time. And he needs to be protected by his helmet whilst he's doing it.

Oh, alright.

Magneto: "Well stop dilly dallying! I'm a busy man!"

Looking around, I saw that everyone was just as uncomfortable as I was. But there was no helping it. We all started heading for the elevator...

Clawing at the barrier of rubble that separated him from his teammates,

Logan: "Uh...helloooo! Anyone there?! Ororo...Scott...Rogue..."

Glancing around, Logan pouted.

Logan: "...anyone?"

Laughter. Scandalous, outrageous, disbelieving laughter erupted when Scott communicated the particulars of our situation to our subterranean comrades. This was quickly followed by irate outbursts as to whether Scott had lost his mind. Hank was particularly vocal. Ororo was accused of not exercising her authority and countermanding Scott's order. Every other member demanded to be present, but Scott said no. They were to remain at their posts. The prisoner was to be guarded and the students, safeguarded. Then I heard the voice of my father intruding upon the conversation via the intercom.

[Joshua: "Scott, you did some crazy things when we were juniors! But you're...you're a man now! I'd have thought you'd get a little more sense in that head of yours!"]

Dad seemed to have forgotten that he was no longer an X-man. He had no rights where team decisions were concerned anymore. And the anger in his voice was unmistakably virulent. I wondered if that was the way they got on when they worked on the same team, with Scott as the leader. Or was it worse?

[Scott: "I am the leader and -]

Ororo cleared her throat,

[Scott: "I am the co-leader, and whatever decisions Ororo and myself agree upon...goes."]

Magneto chuckled and made some comments of his own. The gist of which was: "Without Xavier, you all are nothing but a miscellany of immature oafs. You'd better hope and pray he lives if you intend to defeat me someday. You'll crumble without him."

Presently, we approached the Med-Bay's entrance. Dad refused to open the door. After exchanging a few, violent swear words, Scott accessed the control panel and keyed in the master code. The door slid open to reveal a scowling dad, Kurt and Peter. Peter was in his metal form, and upon seeing Magneto enter, he quickly resumed his untransformed, flesh and blood state. Betsy was still in mental communication with the Professor. But the other psychics, Emma, Jake, mom and Jean were walking up to our position, absolute distrust written upon their countenances. Jean in particular wore a viciously mean scowl. Aside from Magneto, she seemed to be throwing that expression in Scott's direction.

Magneto: "Charles..."

Almost in a mad dash, Magneto made off towards the bedside of Professor Xavier. He was apprehended midway by the telekinetic grip of Jean. Scott warned him again of any sudden movements and Betsy reinforced his warning with one of her own. Magneto didn't look intimidated in the least, just sad. And I mean genuinely sad. I could sense it distinctly. As did every other telepath in the room - they made not another attempt to stop him. I looked at Magneto's psionic dampening helmet in the hands of Ororo. He was willing to put himself at the mercy of his most vaunted foes to see if Professor Xavier was alright? Maybe their old friendship was not as dead as some of us believed.

The door slid open then and an irate Logan rushed into the room.

Logan: "Couldn't one of you communicate what you were planning?! I had to contact Remmy to find out! And you left me to hack my way through alla that rubble to reach the elevator and - "

They quickly apologised and he calmed down somewhat. Making his way closer to where Magneto stood - though still wary and keeping his distance, he inquired as to whether the psychics had any luck whilst we were gone. They unfortunately had not been able to reintegrate the Professor's mind. But Betsy did her best to try and lift the maudlin mood that had sunk everyone's spirits.

Betsy: "Don't give up hope! We are close - I can feel it. We just need to try harder. For a moment I thought that Charles would have made it."

Magneto left the bedside and came walking towards us. Each telepath braced for a possible altercation. Ororo clutched the helmet tighter, in case he tried to be sneaky and magnetically pull it out of her hands. But it wasn't a fight he wanted. He wanted information as to how the Professor wound up in his condition. And he wanted it immediately. Scott was against telling him any particular details. But to our surprise, Betsy said that she saw no harm in revealing them as Magneto obviously knew nothing. Without his helmet protecting his mind, she could sense his sincerity. So Scott told him about the events of the last several days.

Magneto: "All of this because of some stolen artifacts?"

Scott eyed him probingly. Two seconds later he voiced his opinions.

Scott: "You may not have known about the effect of the attack on the Professor. But that does not mean that you were in the dark about the artifacts. We apprehended a possible suspect, and he says that there was another person at the scene of the crime. And that it was he who attacked the Professor."

Ray: "Where are you going with this?"

Magneto: "Precisely what I'd like to know."

Scott explained it to us. Mike had said that he wanted the tablet to protect it. He did not say who he wanted to safeguard it from. Suppose he wasn't quite sure himself. What if there really was a second man? And what if he was working for Magneto? Magneto said that he didn't plan on killing the Professor. And his emotions proved that he was sincere. What if the attack that the Professor went through was meant to merely get him out of the way? But something went wrong? Perhaps by being interrupted by Mike? Mike had said that he was trying to help. And what if the bad guy - sent by Magneto - escaped, and we blamed Mike for it?

The real bad guy could have escaped and run off to Magneto - reporting that something had went wrong and that Professor Xavier could have been seriously hurt. Magneto had not told us how he knew that Professor Xavier was in trouble. He ignored and avoided the question earlier. Mike said that Magneto was not the one responsible for fulfilling the Prophecy. That someone far worse was. Could Magneto have found a new ally or something? Someone who wanted those tablets?

I reasoned, it was possible for all kinds of things to go wrong if a telepathic attack was interrupted. Why, Betsy was trapped in an assasin's body because of an interrupted attack of Emma's. I brought up the fact, carefully so as not to ruffle Emma's feathers too much. All eyes turned towards Magneto accusingly. His anger returned.

Magneto: "What blamed foolishness! If I had known about this - I'd have anticipated that you would come up with such a ridiculously feeble-minded notion, Summers. And I'd most certainly not have agreed to give up my helmet."

Scott: "Not necessarily. You could have just have underestimated our cunning. It has happened before."

Several computer monitors blinked. Magneto must have been getting upset and emitting electromagnetic pulses. No one else seemed to have noticed. They were all glaring at him, too occupied to notice it.

Magneto: "This - man you have in your custody. I want to see him. I will get to the bottom of this. You people have always handled prisoner's with kid gloves."

Scott and Ororo vehemently denied him that request. Scott's idea was winning over a lot of support. And it was felt that Magneto might try and kill Mike to silence him - just in case he had anymore information for us that could complicate the Brotherhood's plans. Magneto's scowl grew even more pronounced and the monitors flickered once more. I didn't know if he was planning something sudden or not. So I decided not to chance it. That said, I contacted Scott mentally.

Scott, I think Magneto's anger might explode sooner of later. The monitors are flickering. Doesn't electromagnetic interference do that?

He was too busy arguing more of his points to pay any attention to me. So I tried Jean instead. She fended me off like I was a bothersome insect before I could get started good. I tried Ororo, Logan - same thing. If they wouldn't let me in because they were too busy listening to Scott, I had to let them know what was going on verbally.

"People! The monitors are flickering! I think Magneto is emitting electromagnetic radiation! If it messes up the equipment connected to the Professor - wouldn't that be bad?!"

That got their attention, including Magneto's. Hank quickly took a brief look at the closest visual display unit. His bushy blue eyebrows did their signature twitch. Everyone else nervously kept their eyes on Magneto (who was still furiously death glaring all present). Hank then stole all our attention momentarily.

Hank: "It's not flickering at all! The data is being refreshed! Charles' life signs are changing!"

Oops, well I must have been too engrossed in the argument myself and misinterpreted the little flashes on the screen. I couldn't tell by Hank's tone if that was a bad thing or not. He elaborated,

Hank: "Charles' vitals are strengthening! Strengthening exponentially!"

Amara: "Strengthening? You mean he's waking up?"

Logan: "What the heck could have caused that?"

Betsy, Jake and Emma started staring at the Professor's body and at Magneto - back and forth. Seeing them doing so made us all do it.

"Would someone please explain to me why we're doing this, it's making me dizzy."

Jake: "Magneto, you usually emanate electromagnetic radiation when upset, do you not?"

He nodded, now calm as the argument had been temporarily broken up by Hank's announcement.

Betsy: "And you were more than upset just now."

Hank burst our bubble at about then,

Hank: "No...his vitals are falling again!"

Emma then commandeered our eyes and ears with a vocal outburst of hope. If there was a word to describe the look on her face - eureka, would be it. She went off on a rant of her own.

Emma: "Of course! Electromagnetic radiation can weaken or strengthen mental signals! Cerebro was designed on that prinicple. But it requires that the individual be conscious at the outset. What if Magneto was emitting electromagnetic radiation just now? It happens when he's angry..."

Jean: "Oh my gosh! The electromagnetic field produced could have been strengthening Professor Xavier's mental signature!"

Hank: "Electromagnetic signals from a living source - could possibly have very different results than from a mechanised one. Computers have been made to try and simulate living systems - but none have been able to match the complexity."

I then thought of something.

"Hank, Professor Xavier's vitals just started to revert to their low levels. Magneto had calmed down right about then. Maybe he stopped emitting whatever little electromagnetic pulses he was and - "

Betsy: "- so Professor Xavier's vitals registered a drop! Brilliant, all!"

All eyes once more turned towards Magneto. And it wasn't accusatory that time. In a rather small, silghtly embarassed voice, Scott asked it Magneto would try inundating the area where the Professor lay with electromagnetic signals. Magneto's chest swelled up and he looked slightly pissed.

Magneto: "Oh so now you decide to swallow your pride?"

Scott: "Look, let's drop our damned differences for a minute. You come here saying you don't relish the idea of the Professor dying...act like it!"

Magneto frowned and was about to retort when Hank announced once more,

Hank: "Increasing, his vitals are increasing. You must be emanating again, Magneto."

A soft southern voice intruded. So softly that it was almost inaudible,

Rogue: "Please, Erik. He's - he was your friend once. At one time...a long time ago - you cared about him a lot more than now."

Everything seemed to slow down then as we all took the opportunity to mind other people's business. I could sense some sort of emotional signals from both of them. I wasn't sure what exactly. But every other telepath was looking on a litle anxiously. So it was safe to say that they knew more than I did. Evidently, something was passing between Magneto and Rogue that I'd have to ask about later on.

Magneto: "I've cared about another, and not so very long ago. And look how that turned out."

The way they started staring at each other again, I developed a pretty strong inkling that more than a crush went on between them. If they became any sappier - I swear that my waterworks would have begun to spring a leak. Emotional cliches tended to have that power over me at times.

Rogue: "He'd do it for you. And you know it."

With a sigh - I'd heard such sighs on soap operas before - Magneto capitulated and said that he would do it. He walked back over to the bedside and waited for Hank to refresh the medical data. Jean and Emma stood ready in case it was some sort of trick on Magneto's part. They'd be there to stun him. Betsy sat next to the bed and went into a self-induced trance. She would contact the Professor to inform him of what exactly was going on.

Hank: "Yes, his brainwaves are approaching near conscious levels! Keep at it."

And they did - for about an hour, during which time none of us left. Hank was getting a little flustered. There seemed to be a sort of cycle in operation. One in which the Magneto's emanations increased the Professor's mental energy, and then decreased it. At first Jean was inclined to believe that Magneto could be trying something. But then Hank explained that Magneto was trying his best. It was just that he never had to do something like that before. And the psionic suppressing and strengthening qualities of electromagnetic radiation were taking turns with the Professor's mind. Then a new problem manifested itself.

Hank: "Hmmm, I think we'll have to stop soon to give Charles' body time to rest a bit before we try again."

Scott: "Why is that, Hank?"

Hank: "The Professor's red blood cells are showing signs of stress. They're being damaged by the electromagnetic pulses."

Logan: "I don't understand what - "

I did. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin. The protein that allows gaseous transport of oxygen and carbon-dioxide. It is an iron containing compound. Iron was absolutely necessary for its proper function. The constant magnetic influx of energy must have been wearing out the iron in the protein faster than it could be regenerated.

Hank: "Yes, precisely. At this rate - I suggest that we stop in the next fifteen minutes or so."

Jake had a suggestion.

Jake: "Wait, his red blood cells are suffering physical damage, right?"

Hank confirmed it. Without the iron in the correct state within the protein - hemoglobin molecules change shape.

Jake: "What if I try healing the Professor's body from the physical stress whilst Magneto continues the therapy? Maybe then he can try for longer."

Hank thought it was a brilliant idea and allowed Jake to proceed. Which he did. No sooner had he started on it, did a violent burst of mental energy flood the room. Jean, Betsy, Emma, Jake and Magneto were thrown right back. We all felt excrutiating pain that forced us to our knees for about a minute. I tried to communicate with Jean mentally but my telepathy seemed to have deserted me. The wave of power shocked several members who had chosen to remain silent (they were pissed at Scott before) into loud speech.

Julie: "Okay, what's going on?!"

Kurt: "I have never felt anything like this before - from any psychic attack even!"

Hank: "I don't know!"

As suddenly as it began, the headache inducing mental waves stopped. We all recovered and stopped reeling then. Hank looked at the computer screens. They were fried. The Professor was still.

Joshua: "Oh no. Hank, is he - "

Before my father could say the word 'dead',

Professor Xavier: Not to worry my friends. I am well.

Needless to say, smiles broke out on every face present. Except for Magneto, that is. But I swear I saw a look of relief on his face. Peter, our strong, silent man of steel was the first to recover from the shock sufficiently.

Peter: "Professor Xavier, can you hear our voices, or are you - ?"

Professor Xavier: I can hear all your voices sense your mental thoughts, Piotr."

Emma: "My telepathy?! I don't sense anything!"

I tried once more to open my mind to its full receptivity and achieved nothing for my trouble. Jean, Jake, Betsy...they all confirmed that it was the same with them.

Professor Xavier: Not to worry. Your powers will come back online soon enough.

Jubilee: "Professor, if you're okay, then why aren't you getting up?"

Professor Xavier: My mind has only just reintegrated. I have next to no control of most of my voluntary muscles. I cannot even lift an eyelid, far less speak or sit up. It will be well soon enough. Some rest is all I need whilst my nervous system reconfigures itself.

David: "Oh, like restarting a computer? It seems the human body ain't plug and play compatible."

Ray: "Hey! Where's Magneto?!

Ray's outburst alerted us that Magneto had indeed disappeared. Ororo had dropped his helmet when the psionic wave hit. He must have taken advantage of all our occupied senses and made a bolt for it.

Professor Xavier: Don't bother to run after him. He's already flown off. Not before I thanked him, though.

Ororo: "You didn't alert us when you sensed him slinking off?"

Professor Xavier: Erik placed a lot of faith in your honor. Perhaps there is hope for him yet. If only he'd have more faith in humanity. No, Ororo. Let him go. It was my way of saying 'thank you'.

Emma frantically reached for the intercom and started making announcements left to right. In minutes the med-bay was flooded by anxious X-men. Scott even let it go that they left our prisoner unguarded (once he ran a check to make sure that the security system had not been affected by the electromagnetic/psionic burst we had just been through.

Tearful and sappy emotions were running high. Everyone had something to say to express the overwhelming relief we were all feeling. Hugs, kisses, handshakes and playful punches (from the younger members) abounded. It didn't matter that Professor Xavier couldn't feel them. (He informed us that his nervous system had not gotten around to reconfiguring the sensory nerve receptors in his skin and muscles yet).

Scott: "Professor, there's so much we have to talk ab -"

Professor Xavier: Yes, Scott. And we shall. Only a little later. Never before have I felt so sleepy...

Hank: "Okay, let's just leave the Professor to his rest. We can all reaquaint ourselves once he's recovered."

And so Hank hussled us out of the room whilst he ran some medical scans.

Ororo: "Oh my! Logan, are you crying?!"

All eyes turned amusedly towards Logan and Ororo. Sure enough he was blinking rather a lot. He saw us all staring and quickly rasped out, in his semi-aggressive, macho voice,

Logan: "Of course I ain't cryin'! Some frickin' specks got into my eyes when Ororo blasted the ceiling down to keep me away."

"But Logan, you weren't crying - uh - 'trickling' in the room before the Professor re-"

Logan: "Well, some consoles shattered where I was standing. Some specks got into my eyes there too. Must have irritated them."

Emma: "You poor, poor dear."

Jean: "Okay...sure..."

Scott: "Yeah, we believe you alright."

Logan started fuming and made a few, rather sordid comments. But the 'specks' had evidently not gotten out of his eyes by then as a steady trickle still flowed from them.

Logan: "Will you people stop staring at me?!

Jake: "Say Logan, how's about I heal those 'irritated eyes' for yah? You're getting along in years and your healing factor must not be what it used to be."

Amara: "Yeah, Logan. You must be slowing down. Let Jake heal your eyes up. Then we'll see whether the 'trickling" will stop or not, eh?"

Jubilee suddenly dashed forward, camera phone raised. She snapped a photo and ran off screaming that it was going up on the school network's message board for all to see. Logan took after her full speed, but she was fast. Glancing at one another, we let go of our stress, put all our differences aside for the moment and - chuckling like children - rushed after them to see who would win the race. Some of us ran, one of us teleported, some of us flew and one of us shadow stepped. But all of us moved as one. I wished that it could stay that way. But I knew that our conflicts would all eventually come creeping back. It was a pity that it took the near loss of Professor Xavier to unite us in that manner. Perhaps one day we would be perfectly coordinated. At least I hoped so...

Initiating the auto-pilot, Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto leaned back into the pilot's seat and prepared for a long flight back to Genosha. As soon as Erik had seized the opportunity to bolt as soon as the attention of the X-men was drawn away from him and to their mentor, Xavier. He had not expected the sudden burst of mental energy that Xavier released the moment his mind started the reintegrating process. The surge shocked him and he unleashed a localized electromagnetic pulse that fried the machinery in the room. Xavier's wave was strong enough to debilitate the X-men. Storm dropped his helmet onto the floor. And the way was clear.

Professor Xavier: Thank you, Erik.

Charles had awakened in time to command the X-men to stop him. But he hadn't alerted them to his escape attempt - with the result that it was successful. Erik considered, at least the debt was repaid immediately. On the field of battle, Erik preferred to as for no quarter from a foe, and he expected none either. If only he could have stayed but a short while longer and talk seriously with Charles. The nerve of them to doubt his word. He had never lied before - perhaps kept a few secrets. But never lied.

His words had no effect on them. They still believed that he was in some way responsible. What use would he have for ancient stone artifacts? Renaissance art was where the money was. And about hiring an assassin to kill Charles, IF he wanted to kill Charles, he'd have done it himself. And then he wouldn't have let there be any doubt about the issue. He'd want his victim to know that he was the one responsible.

A signal came in on the radio, interrupting his thoughts. He didn't answer at first, and the automatic message recorder came online. When he heard the anxious voice of Brainchild, he immediately responded.

Brainchild: "She's been busy, sir."

Magneto: "Really?"

Brainchild: "Yes. She's snuck into the communication room several times during your absence. I monitored and recorded the messages. Lance was right. His tapes weren't forgeries after all."

Magneto smiled to himself. He was right after all in rewarding Lance. Lance said that his word could be trusted, and he was right. So that backstabbing demoness was after his life after all.

Magneto: "And were you able to trace the location of whoever she was contacting?"

Brainchild: "Somewhat..."

Erick didn't like the sound of that.

Magneto: "What do you mean 'somewhat'?"

Brainchild: "We were able to trace part of the signal. The other part was very obscure. Quite possibly because the person she was talking with has some form of electronic protection running."

Magneto: "Alright, out with it."

Brainchild: "Her contact was located somewhere in Antarctica. Where exactly, I don't know. But the more often she talks with him - the closer and closer we'll get to the exact location.

Excellent, he thought. Let her keep thinking that all was well. Soon he'd deal with her. But he wanted to wait and make it satisfying. >From what Lance said - supported by his video and audio tapes - she planned on unleashing some sort of augmented mutant on him. An attack by a living weapon the like of which he wouldn't survive. Once she had the weapon in her possession, she'd have to work quickly. From carefully analyzing the tapes, her accomplice - some man she referred to as Nathaniel - was of the opinion that the lifespan of the said weapon would be limited. He'd wait and watch her every move. When she went to collect her weapon, he'd be there. This - Nathaniel claimed that he had the means to control his creation. And if Magneto found Nathaniel's location - then that control would pass to himself and The Brotherhood. It would serve Mystique right to have her executed by her own would be assassin.

Brainchild: "It is a pity that Lance did not overhear anything that could help us locate this mystery mutant. I'm curious to know what his abilities are."

Yes, a pity indeed. It would be much more satisfying. He'd be able to visualize Mystique's execution even more clearly. He never thought that she would be a part of genetic experimentation on mutants. It was something that only a human would do. Nathaniel must be human, he thought. As leader of the newly assembled Genoshan mutants, Magneto was against any and all genetic mutation on mutants. And to stoop so low...deserved the death penalty.

Magneto: "How has Lance been running Genosha in my absence?"

Brainchild: "Remarkably well for one so young as he is. He only seems immature on the surface. He successfully dealt with Zealot and his little bid for power."

Magneto: "Really, how?"

Brainchild: "He went sneaking into the good councilor's personal records. With the dirt he found - Zealot's hostility quickly crumbled. He's coming along well but I'll be more comfortable when you return."

Magneto: "I'm on my way, Brainchild. We have some things to talk about that I don't wish to discuss over the radio. I've learnt a few things today and I need your input."

Brainchild: "I await your arrival, sir."

Erik was not sure, but he was willing to bet that Mystique was in some way connected with the attack on Xavier. Her latest plot was one against his life and it involved a powerful mutant. It would have taken a powerful mutant psychic to displace the mind of Charles Xavier - whether he was caught by surprise of not. What if the two men - Charles' attacker and Erik's future assassin - were one and the same? And if Mystique's murderous plot and Charles' assault were linked, was her true purpose the elimination of the leaders of the opposing factions? Perhaps she and her accomplice were nearing the climax of their plans. Lance's tapes were so fragmented that it was difficult to extract what little they had learnt from them. It made logical sense. If she killed him, she would run The Brotherhood. And eliminating Charles would render the X-men into a group of disorganised imbeciles. She'd find it easy to establish her rule then with little coordinated resistance. Whatever her true plans were,time would tell. Come what way, he'd have to make such an example of her that no one would ever dare try plotting against his life again.

Author's Notes

Yeah, it's me again. I am so sorry about the lateness. It's become a habit that's so hard to break - I know. But I'm trying. I have a life too and time is hard to come by these days. It sounds like an excuse and it is - a real one too. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and yes more is to come eventually. Chances are this chapter won't be up on Nifty until next week, so if you have any comments to make, you can post a message on the group. Thanks for bearing patience with me all these months. And thanks for all the emails and IMs. Too many to acknowledge. I still haven't had the time to read them all yet.

***This chapter is dedicated to a few people who've helped me a lot over the last month and a half or so. You know who you are. Most especially a certain Chad. Thanks for listening to my long rants and questions with patience and fortitude. It means a lot to me as I was in need of someone to listen to me with exactly those qualities.***

***One last thing, to my girls Jennifer and Lana - happy fifth anniversary, dolls! Don't think that I forgot!***