Chapter 5: The Fast and the Spiky
A whistle blew as the crowd was going crazy. It was a high school basketball game in the middle of New York. The teens were giving it their all, as one African American youth known as Evan Daniels was giving it his all in order to win the game.
"Alright, that's it." The coach was praising Evan as he dribbled the ball down the court. "That's it. Keep them away from you."
"Daniels, over here." His teammate called. He was a skinny boy with silver hair. This was Pietro.
Evan passed the ball to Pietro, who dodged the other members of the team as he threw the ball at the basket, but it bounced off the rim. A member of the other team took control of the ball as they made their way to the other basket.
"Get them!" Evan's mother, who was in the crowd, shouted.
"Steal the ball!" Her husband cried. "Set up your zone! Don't let them shoot!"
Sitting next to Evan's parents was his maternal aunt Ororo.
"Is it always this exciting?" Ororo asked her brother-in-law, seeing how he was getting into the game.
"No, this one's a real nail-biter." He replied.
The score was 82 to 82, and there were ten seconds left in the game. Pietro managed to intercept a pass as he stole the ball.
"Come on, ten seconds!" The coach urged him. "Go! Pietro, Daniels is open! Now!"
Reluctantly, Pietro passed the ball to Evan just as there were five seconds left in the game.
"You can do it, Evan." Storm encouraged her nephew. "Shoot. Shoot!"
Evan made a shot just as he was tackled. The crowd watched with baited breath as the ball made its way to the basket. At the same time, spikes came out of Evan's forearm, with no one noticing except Storm.
The ball rolled around the rim before falling into the basket as Evan slid on the floor, tearing a part of it up with his spikes. Luckily, everyone was too busy cheering for Evan's victory to notice his spikes, which he retracted back into his body. The young boy was carried by his team as he checked to see if his spikes were gone. Confirming that no one saw anything, he started cheering, not knowing that his aunt saw the whole thing.
As Storm was watching her nephew, Pietro just stood angrily on the court, annoyed that Evan had to steal the glory once again while he was left hanging.
In the locker room, Evan was loading up his gym bag as his teammates were congratulating him.
"Good game, man." One teammate said.
"Hey, yeah, Daniels. You rule, man." Another joined in.
"Thanks, guys." Evan said. "Good game."
Pietro was leaning on the lockers as this continued, and having had enough of Evan getting praised, he decided to mouth off. "I should've known you'd hog all the glory."
"What are you talking about, man?" Evan replied. "Everybody knows that..."
Pietro rudely cut him off. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had that last shot. I knew I should've taken it myself."
Storm was around the corner to greet her nephew when she stood back, not wanting to intrude on this private conversation.
"Hey, that was a great pass, man." Evan acknowledged. "But there's no way you could've made it down the court in time for a shot."
"Hey, dude, I got moves you can't even imagine." Pietro told him. "And I'm through holding back just to make guys like you look good." He shoved Evan out of the way as he stormed out of the locker room.
"It seems that boy has been competing with you since you were babies." Storm observed as she greeted Evan.
"Hey, Auntie O, what's up?" Evan smiled. "Where's Dad and Mom?"
"Waiting outside." Storm answered. "I think the boys' locker room makes your mother nervous."
"Right." Evan realized. "Some game, huh? It's tight that you showed."
"And miss my favorite nephew's big game?" Storm hugged him. "Not a chance."
Evan returned the hug. "Thanks again for coming, Auntie."
"Evan, are you all right?" Storm asked in concern. "I've been concerned about you lately. You know, about the things we've discussed before."
"Yeah, yeah." Evan waved off, not thinking it was a big deal. "No problem, Auntie O. Everything's cool."
"Evan, I saw what happened to you out there tonight when you fell." Storm said bluntly, hoping that he would see reason and join the institute.
"Hey, it's no big deal." Evan said. "I got it under control." He then sneezed as several bony-looking spikes shot out of his body, stabbing the locker and almost hitting Storm.
"Bless you." Storm said sarcastically.
Evan realized he had been caught. "Busted, huh?"
"Big time." Storm replied.
It was night as the Daniels family was having a barbecue in the backyard.
"I still can't get over that last shot, son." Evan's father said as he was at the grill. "What a beauty. You're gonna remember this game for a long time."
"Yes, wasn't it exciting?" His wife agreed.
Evan waved at his parents as he was talking to Storm privately.
"What amazes me is that you've kept it concealed this long." Storm told him.
"I'm telling you, I've got it covered." Evan argued. "A few points, a few spikes. I mean, so what? This is New York."
"Evan, you need to take this seriously." Storm scolded. "The Xavier Institute can offer you training."
"I don't need training, man." Evan said as he started pacing around a tree. "I can take care of myself." He made a couple of spikes come from his forearm. "Anyone messes with me, bam." He used his spikes to bash the tree.
Storm checked to see if his parents had seen that, but they didn't.
"No, Evan. You mustn't use your powers like that." Storm reprimanded. "You have to learn control."
"Hey, I've got control." He retracted his spikes. "See? Everything's cool."
"Like in the locker room?" Storm reminded him.
Evan couldn't argue against that. "Alright, so it's not perfected yet."
"I think we'd better continue this conversation with your parents." His aunt suggested.
"Like I didn't know that was coming." Evan said bitterly. "Look, can't this wait till after school tomorrow? I mean, this is a big night for them."
"Get them while they're hot." His father announced as he started loading the plates with food.
Storm saw his point and decided to wait until tomorrow. "Alright."
Evan kissed her on the cheek in thanks and went off to join his parents as Storm got a telepathic call from Xavier.
"Ororo, how's it going with your nephew?" Xavier asked in her mind.
"Just as I feared, professor." Storm responded. "He's being stubborn."
"Alright, we go to plan B." Xavier said back in his study. "Scott and Danny will arrive in the morning. By the way, Cerebro detected another mutant signature at the game tonight but couldn't get a clear reading on it for some reason. Did you notice anyone else there unusual?"
Storm thought back to Pietro; he seemed a bit quicker than his teammates. Much quicker than anyone else, actually. "Maybe, but I'm not certain yet."
"Very well." Xavier replied. "Keep me informed."
As school was letting out, Evan was heading to his locker to get his wallet. Only when he pulled out his wallet did he see that all the cash was gone.
"Aw, man! Not again." Evan exclaimed. It had been the second time that someone broke into his locker and stole his money.
"Something wrong?" Pietro asked, appearing in front of Evan almost instantly.
"Where did you come from?" Evan asked, shocked at how he came in.
"That's a question you should ask on the court." Pietro quipped.
"Look, I know you're fast, man." Evan admitted, knowing that Pietro was still hung up on the game. "You were really busting some great moves last night."
"Aha!" Pietro said. "You finally admit that I'm better than you?"
"I said you were faster, not better." Evan replied coolly. "I got a few tricks of my own, you know?"
"Sure you do." Pietro snatched his wallet and held it out. "Like getting ripped off for the second time this month. What's up with that?"
"Yeah, and I even changed the combination." Evan agreed.
Pietro hummed in thought. "Sounds like a bona fide mystery, dude."
"Yeah, but I'm gonna trap this sleazeball." Evan said determinedly.
"Sure, Daniels." Pietro pulled out a couple of dollar bills. "But you're gonna need some bait."
"Hey. Thanks, man." Evan said gratefully as he put the money in his wallet and then in the locker. "I'll get it back to you on allowance day." The two caught their hands in a Bro handshake. "Catch you later."
Pietro watched Evan leave. "Not even on your best day, Daniels. You'll never catch me."
"Man, you don't give up." Evan said. "Do you, Auntie O?"
His aunt had returned with two students from the institute. Scott and Danny were their names, but Evan didn't care. He didn't want to go to the institute, as he didn't see it as necessary. And now his aunt had told his parents about his mutation as well.
"That's because she loves you." Danny told him as he sat on the couch next to Scott. "You're very lucky to have family who understand what you're going through."
"This certainly explains why you're always coming home with holes in your clothes." His mother said.
"We always knew this was a possibility, Vi." Storm said. "While you did not receive the mutant gene as I did, we knew it could show up in future generations."
"It's really not so bad, Mrs. Daniels." Scott said, trying to make light of the situation. "Having special powers can be cool sometimes."
"Oh, yeah?" Evan challenged. "I'll tell you what, shades. Let me see what you've got that's so cool."
"Evan!" His mother scolded.
"Sorry, Mom." Evan apologized, realizing that he was being rude.
"It's okay." Scott replied. "My powers aren't really what you call indoor-friendly."
"Translation: He doesn't want to blow up the house." Danny added.
"Okay, whatever." Evan said tersely. "Look, man, I like it right here, and I'm not going to some home for freaks."
"Freaks?" Danny shot up from the couch and glared at Evan.
Evan rubbed the back of his neck, feeling guilty for what he said. "Eh, poor choice of words. Sorry. But my point still stands. If you excuse me, I got school stuff to take care of." He went upstairs to his room.
"Evan!" His mother tried to get him to come back, but Evan ignored her.
Danny shrugged. "Well, we tried. I'm leaving." He started to head out the door, with Scott following him.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, and I thought we were really making a connection there."
"I apologize for my son, Mr. Summers, and Mr. Fenton." Evan's father said. "He's obviously dealing with a lot right now. I'll talk with him."
"Too late." Danny pointed down the street, where Evan was riding his skateboard. "He left through the window."
Everyone went outside to see Evan speed away.
"We really need to work on our sales pitch." Scott said to himself.
Arriving at his school, he entered the building and hid in a corner near his lockers to confront the thief who'd been stealing from him.
"Okay, sneak thief, you wanna play tonight?" He said to himself as he made some spikes come out of his back and forearms. "The spike-man is ready." He waited a bit until a sudden flash went by him as the dials on the lockers started turning on their own and the lockers opened, spilling out their contents.
"What the heck?" Evan said in shock before all the junk got caught in a mini-tornado. "Freaky, man! What's going on?" As it got near him, his shock turned to anger. "Whatever it is, it stops now." He shot out some spikes to protect him from the tornado, which went away before a familiar skinny boy appeared in front of Evan, wearing a light blue and white jumpsuit.
"Pietro?" Evan said in disbelief at his friend doing all this.
"Call me Quicksilver." Pietro bragged. "Like the outfit? Made it myself. Took about a quarter second." He then noticed the spikes separating him from Evan. "Look at this. Seems my old pal has a few tricks of his own. But as usual, not as good as mine." He ran super fast around the spikes, making a whirlwind that blew them away as Quicksilver appeared behind Evan.
"You?" Evan couldn't believe that his friend Pietro could be a mutant as well. "You've got powers too?"
Pietro slapped himself on the head. "Duh. Finally. Remember, Daniels. Anything you can do, I can do better." In a quick motion, he took Evan's wallet and snatched the cash. "Mind if I take that back."
"But why would you want to rip me off?" Evan asked, wondering why his friend would do this. Sure, Pietro could be prickly at times, but he never thought he would go as far as stealing.
"Kicks, man." Pietro answered like it was a no-brainer. "For the challenge. Look, when you live as fast as I do, there ain't enough things to occupy my time." He sped off and back, holding several backpacks in his hands. "I gotta entertain myself. And you thought you could stop me." He slapped Evan with superspeed. "Well, wrong again."
"Don't bet on it." Evan growled as he summoned a spike from his hand, but Pietro moved out of the way and pushed Evan down to the floor.
"Too slow. What a surprise." Pietro fake-yawned. "You're gonna need some more time to work on those powers of yours. Maybe I can arrange it."
Sirens sounded in the distance as Evan asked warily, "What do you mean?"
"Can you say scapegoat?" Pietro mocked before dashing out of the school, leaving Evan alone as he was confronted by two police officers.
Evan was sitting quietly in a cell when he saw his parents, aunt, Scott, and Danny come up to his cell door.
"Evan, what happened?" His mother asked worriedly, seeing her son in jail.
"Welcome to the downside, pal." Scott said to him. "Misuse your powers; go to jail."
"It wasn't me, man." Evan pleaded.
"I know it wasn't you." Danny stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "In fact, I know you got framed."
"Evan, please listen to me." Storm reasoned. "Let us help you."
"So we'll make you a deal." Scott offered. "The professor will use his influence to get you out, and you give the institute a shot." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"
Evan crossed his arms. "Like I've got a choice?"
"You always have a choice, Evan." Danny pointed out. "It's just this time the choices are limited. Either join the home for freaks or rot in jail. Which is it?"
"Okay." Evan shook Scott's hand. "Deal."
It was morning at the institute, and the X-Men were having breakfast.
"So, like, where's this new guy?" Kitty asked in interest, having heard that they would get a new recruit.
"Still sleeping." Xavier answered. "He had a difficult evening."
Kurt teleported into his seat as he rubbed his hands in excitement. "I love the smell of bacon in the morning."
"I think he knows who really trashed those lockers." Scott said to Xavier. "Did he tell you?"
Xavier shook his head. "No, and I'm not going to pry. He'll tell us when he's ready."
"You ask me, he's looking to settle this score personally." Danny said knowingly before looking at the plate of sausages. "Pass the sausages, Rogue."
Kitty looked at the meat in disgust as Rogue passed it to Danny. "Eww! That stuff, like, totally plugs your arteries, you know?"
"Thanks for the concern, Sam." Danny said sarcastically.
"Who's Sam?" Kitty asked.
"Never mind that." Danny replied, not wanting to elaborate on that.
"I suspect you may be right about Evan's intentions, Danny." Xavier agreed.
"Yeah, trust me, professor." Danny said. "I can't read minds, but I know what a guy's thinking about when he's been framed." He then noticed Kurt in front of him, hanging from his tail by the chandelier as he tried to grab the plate of sausages. "Kurt! I'm trying to say something impactful here!"
"How many times do we have to tell you?" Logan scolded. "Ask, and it'll get passed to you."
"Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt Danny." Kurt teleported back to his seat.
"Here." Danny passed him the plate of sausages.
"In any case, it might be best if Evan had other things to distract his mind." Xavier suggested. "I've already enrolled him at Bayville." He looked at Scott. "Scott, could you introduce him to the basketball coach?"
"Sure." Scott responded. "After the last game he played in New York, coach will jump at him."
"Good." Xavier smiled. "Then let's hope that Evan's desire for vengeance is short-lived."
Unknown to the X-Men, Evan was upstairs listening to their conversation as spikes came out of his body, making holes in the robe he was wearing. He turned around when he found Danny behind him.
"Ahh!" Evan cried. "How did you get up here so fast?" He wondered if Danny had superspeed like Pietro did.
"Not important." Danny said. "What's important is that you don't do something stupid to get even with the guy who framed you."
"Hey, I got arrested because of him!" Evan argued as the thought of Pietro filled him with rage. "You don't know what it's like."
"To be framed?" Danny asked. "Actually, I do. I've been framed for a lot of things. Jewelry store robberies, disturbing the peace of my old town, and taking the mayor hostage."
"Whoa!" Evan couldn't believe what Danny was telling him. "For real, man?" He got a nod in response, which made Evan rub the back of his neck in awe. "That's really a lot."
"Yeah, and to this day, I never got my name cleared." Danny told him. "No one believed me, except for a couple of friends. But you got your parents, who believe you. Your Aunt. And all of us here. We believe you, Evan. So please don't push us away. We can help you. You don't have to do this alone."
Evan nodded as he thought it over. "Alright, man. Thanks. And I'm sorry for that freak comment." He apologized, feeling guilty for what he said back at his house. "I didn't really mean it, and I shouldn't have said it."
"Hey, I'm sorry." Danny said. "I shouldn't have reacted that strongly. I should be used to it by now. Not the first time I've been called a freak." He turned to leave. "I got to go now. See ya later, Evan."
"Yeah, sure, Dan." Evan said, making Danny stop in his tracks.
Evan knew he had done something wrong when Danny glared at him with glowing green eyes.
"Don't call me Dan." Although Danny said it with no malice in his tone, Evan knew that he should never make that mistake ever again.
The Brotherhood were in the office of Bayville High as they were trying to occupy themselves while Mystique was speaking to the founder of their organization.
Blob was entertaining himself with a paddle ball when the ball hit him in the eye.
"Ahh!" He threw it to the ground and stomped on it. "I hate this thing!"
In her office, Mystique was speaking to their leader. "I'm honored that you've come."
"I'm not here for your little student body meeting, Mystique." The man said. "Behold."
On her desk appeared a hologram of a Quicksilver. Mystique looked over the new mutant.
"So this is the speed demon I've been hearing about." She said.
"Pietro Maximoff." The man identified the young boy. "He is of particular interest to me." The man said, emphasizing the word particular. "I have just waited for just the right moment to approach this young man. And now is the time."
"Than we shall extend the hand of friendship to the boy." Mystique said.
The man shook his head. "It will not be that easy. He believes he needs no one. However, there may be a way." He moved his hand, and next to the hologram of Quicksilver appeared a hologram of Evan.
"Yes?" Mystique asked.
"Young Pietro has long had a grudge rivalry against Evan Daniels." The man explained.
"The new student Xavier enrolled here last week." Mystique realized.
"Yes." The man nodded. "Pietro has recently taken the advantage in that competition. And I believe Mr. Daniels would like to settle the score."
Mystique gave a sinister smile. "Well then, I know just how to bring them together."
"Excellent." The man said in approval. "Then I will take it from there."
"This is your fifth run, Spyke." Scott said to Evan, using his new code name. Evan was in a black and yellow jumpsuit with a belt that had the X symbol on it. He also had on his helmet as he was using his skateboard for this danger room exercise. After being told he could get some training, Evan jumped at the opportunity, hoping that it would give him the edge in battle when he confronted Pietro again.
"You want to take a break?" Scott asked, seeing that Evan had been doing it for quite a bit.
"No time for breaks, man." Evan said. "You got me here to train, so let's train."
Wolverine smiled, liking Evan's attitude. "You heard the man; let's roll."
Evan rolled down the ramp on his skateboard as he prepared to dodge the incoming obstacles. First there was Jean using her telekinesis to throw metal balls at Evan, who dodged them easily. Jean threw another set, making Evan break them by shooting his spikes at them. Next, Scott fired his optic blast at Evan, but the skater managed to maneuver past their blasts. Danny fired his own ecto-blasts, with one of them managing to knock Evan off his skateboard.
"Not too shabby, porcupine." Wolverine said, impressed by Evan's resolve. He held out his hand for the boy to pull himself back up.
"Spyke, the coach called." Kitty said from the observatory deck. "He says you gotta come to the gym. You've got a game."
"There wasn't one on the schedule." Evan said in confusion.
"There is now." Kitty told him. "Coach says Principal Darkholme put it together last minute. He wants you suited up in one hour because you're starting against P.S. 104."
"Dude! Alright!" Nightcrawler exclaimed. "You get to play against your alma mater."
"Yeah." Evan said, knowing that he would encounter Pietro again. This time, he would be ready.
The bus containing the rival team arrived at Bayville High with the students walking off the bus. Pietro was the next one to step off when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Maximoff." In front of Pietro was a glaring Evan.
"Well, well." Pietro taunted. "Out of jail, already? Or is this miserable dump part of your punishment?"
"We've got a score to settle, Pietro." Evan tried to grab him, but Pietro used super speed to move behind him.
"As usual, too slow." He pushed Evan to the ground. "Props for the attitude. Might be hope for you after all, Daniels." He then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see it was Scott and Jean.
"What's going on here?" Scott asked.
"Nothing I can't handle." Evan glared.
"Is this the guy who was stealing from the lockers?" Jean asked him.
"Stay out of this." Evan told them.
"That true?" Scott asked Pietro.
"Actually, yeah." Pietro said cockily as he slapped Scott's hand away before jabbing a finger in his chest. "I trashed those lockers. Why? You gonna do something about it?"
Scott grabbed him by the arm. "Look, I think you better come with us." Before Scott could say anything else, Pietro tossed him aside.
"I don't think so." Pietro replied.
"That's it, Pietro! You're going down this time!" Evan tried to tackle him, but Pietro moved out of the way.
"Ooh! That sounds like a challenge." Pietro teased. "Come on, Daniels. Let's see what you got." He used his superspeed to run down the streets.
"Trust me, man, you're gonna find out." Evan took out his uniform from his bag along with his skateboard as he rode after his former friend.
"Man, that guy's fast." Scott said of Quicksilver.
Jean came to his side. "We can't let Evan do this alone."
"When you're with the X-Men, you're never alone." Scott said. "Let's go." The two went off to help Evan.
Pietro was evading Daniels as he stopped in the middle of the streets to taunt his opponent.
"Give it up, Daniels." Pietro mocked. "You're out of your league."
"Not this time, Pietro." Evan said as before Pietro's eyes, the young mutant turned invisible, shocking Pietro.
"What the heck?" He felt himself being pushed to the ground. "Whoa?" He felt a punch to his arm. "What was that?" Another punch, this time in the stomach, made the speedster kneel in pain. "Oof!"
"What's wrong, Pietro?" Evan's voice taunted. "Too slow?"
Pietro snarled. "I'm gonna get you, Daniels." He tried to move around and attack wherever Evan was, but he couldn't land a hit. It was as if he were fighting the air.
"How?" Pietro said in confusion. "How are you doing this?"
"You can't be faster than me if you can't see me." Evan's voice explained as Pietro was once again pushed to the ground.
"Show yourself?" Pietro demanded.
"Okay." Evan's voice said as Pietro felt hands grab him by the arm and throw him into a wall as spikes were shot at him, pinning him to the surface.
Evan then turned visible as he grinned at the helpless Pietro.
"What the?" Pietro said in disbelief. "How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Evan asked innocently.
"Turn invisible?" Pietro shouted.
"I didn't." Evan pointed to his right. "But he did."
Next to Evan appeared a grinning Danny Phantom, much to Pietro's shock.
"Looks like your plan worked, Danny." Scott said as he and Jean caught up to them.
"Plan?" Quicksilver said as he was starting to realize he had been set up.
"Sorry, Quicksilver, you may be faster than us. But you'll never be smarter." Danny told him.
"Yeah? What good's it to you, Daniels?" Quicksilver said to Evan. "You can't prove I had anything to do with getting you in trouble. Can you?"
"Ooh. Sounds like a challenge." Evan pulled out a tape recorder. "I got it all right here. Check this out." He pressed a button on the recorder.
"Actually, yeah." Came Pietro's voice. "I trashed those lockers. Why? You gonna do something about it?"
Pietro could only glare as he realized he had been outplayed.
"You were right, Danny." Evan said to his fellow X-Man. "He would be stupid enough to give himself away."
Danny chuckled before he heard sirens in the distance. "Looks like the cops will take it from here. Let's go."
The four left, leaving Pietro for the authorities along with the tape recorder.
"Hey. Hey, let me go." Pietro begged as the cops pulled up in front of him. "Hey!"
The speedster was currently in a cell, pulling at the bars. "Hey, you gotta let me out of here. I want out of here!" There was a sudden shaking as Pietro fell off the bars and looked up to see the man that Mystique was speaking to earlier. "You?" He said, recognizing the man.
"It is good to see you again, Pietro, even under such distressing circumstances." The man greeted.
"Yeah. Well, you can make them a lot less distressing, you know." Pietro told him. "Come on, hustle it up. Move it."
"Still impatient." The man said. "But you have grown much, Pietro. And I have need of your services if you think you can handle the job."
"Ooh. Sounds like a challenge." Pietro said. "Okay. Whatever you want. Just let's bail this jail."
"Very well." The man held out his hand, and the bars bended, making an opening for Pietro to escape. The man then held out his hand to the younger mutant. "Come with me."
Pietro took his hand as they left the police station.
In the backyard of the Xavier Institute, the X-Men were having a fun pool party.
"Look out." Kurt appeared several feet above the pool as he fell down. "Cannonball!" He made a big splash, knocking Kitty off her raft.
"Kurt, knock it off." She scolded.
"Congratulations, Evan." Xavier said to Evan as he sat in his wheelchair at the end of the pool. "I understand you've been cleared of all charges."
"Yeah, it feels good to have that off my record." Evan climbed out of the pool. "Hey, thanks for your help, professor." He then looked to Danny, who was sitting in a chair next to Rogue, who was reading. "You too, Danny. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."
"Hey, when you're with the X-Men, you're never alone." Danny told him.
"Professor!" Came Kitty's voice. "Kurt's, like, totally getting fur in the pool."
"I am not." Kurt argued.
Xavier shook his head in amusement before turning his attention back to Evan. "We're just glad to have you with us."
"Thanks. Hey, check this out." Evan made a jump, but as he was falling into the pool, his spikes came out as he landed on Kitty's raft, causing it to deflate.
"Sorry." Evan apologized to the glaring Kitty.
Xavier chuckled. "It would appear your nephew's going to fit in just fine, Ororo."
"Yes." Ororo agreed. "But one must wonder, is that a good thing?"
Chapter 6: Another Dimension
"Go to Duncan Matthews' party?" Scott asked in response to Jean's question. "Eh, I don't think so."
The X-Men were currently at their table outside during a break between classes.
"You gonna finish that moo juice?" Evan asked Scott.
"You can have mine." Jean gave her milk to Evan before returning her attention to Scott. "Come on. It might be fun."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Jean, Duncan Matthews, and fun are two things that cannot possibly exist in the same place. It's been scientifically proven."
"Danny's right." Rogue agreed. "Matthews is a jerk."
"No, he's not." Kitty said. "I'd go."
"No freshman allowed." Danny told her, making her cross her arms.
"Oh, Matthews is a jerk." She snarled.
"Good." Danny nodded his head in approval. "You're learning."
"Half of the school will be there." Scott reminded Jean. "Suppose somebody gets too close to Kurt. That holo-projector won't stop them from feeling his fur."
"Hey!" Kurt protested. "Chicks dig the fuzzy dude!" He turned to Kitty. "Right?"
Kitty had enough of Kurt's advances for one day. "I am, like, so out of here." She got up and walked away. "Later!"
"Oh, yeah." Kurt said to himself. "She can't resist."
"I'm trying to be serious here." Scott said. "I just think that it may be too risky."
"Scott's right." Danny backed up his friend. "Suppose if we do go to that party, Fred or Speedy over there," He pointed to Fred and Pietro, who were walking around, "will try and start something. And you know they will start something. They can't stop themselves from wrecking shit."
"Danny, language." Jean scolded. Honestly, he was starting to sound like Logan. "And come on. What's wrong with a little socializing?"
"I don't really feel like socializing with most of these people." Danny said. Although Bayville High was not Casper High it still felt like it with the bullies and all the other jerks. "Why can't we just all go out to a movie? I'd find that more fun than hearing about Duncan bragging about catching the damn football for the forty-ninth time."
"I'd like to see a movie." Rogue admitted as she subtly moved herself a bit closer to Danny.
"Danny makes a good point." Scott acknowledged. "We can just go to a movie. It's much safer than running the risk of exposing ourselves to everyone."
"Dude, it's just a party!" Kurt said, trying to get Scott to lighten up. He got on the table and started dancing, unaware that his tail was poking out. "Time to shake that tail! Wahoo! Party! Party! Party!"
"And I thought my dancing was bad." Danny whispered to Rogue, who giggled.
"Hey, watch the tail!" Scott warned him as he looked around, making sure no one saw them. Seeing that they were in the clear, Scott grabbed Kurt's tail, yanking Kurt back down into his seat. "Now see, that's exactly what I'm talking about."
"You pulled my tail, man!" Kurt glared indignantly at Scott.
"Grow up, Kurt."
"Hey, lighten up, dude!" The blue mutant shot back.
"You're always goofing around."
"And you're seriously cramping my style!"
"Listen." Scott tried to explain, but Kurt wouldn't have it.
"No! You listen! There's a sound I want you to hear. And it's..." He teleported away as a group of people who heard the sound turned around, only to see Scott waving away some smoke as he coughed.
Once the smoke cleared, Scott sighed. "Blew it, didn't I?" He asked the others.
"Pretty much." Danny replied. "But hey, it's nothing you can't fix, right?"
In what appeared to be an abandoned section of the school, Kurt was on top of a pile of boxes that he crushed when he accidentally teleported in here.
The boy groaned. "I have got to work on my re-entries." He looked down to see that his watch was damaged by the fall, rendering it useless and preventing him from disguising his true form. He looked around his surroundings in curiosity. He had never seen this part of the school before. In front of him were double doors with a sign that said Stay Out written on it.
Wondering what was behind it, he teleported past the doors and found himself in a dusty room, making him cough. "Man, somebody should fire the custodian." In front of him were several monitors. As Kurt got closer to them, he tripped an infrared laser with his foot. This caused the monitors to turn on, showing a young Native-American teenager.
"January 22, 1978." The guy said. "Hi there. If you're hearing this, you've got ten seconds before this lab self-destructs. Have a nice day. What's left of it."
The monitors then showed a countdown that started at 10, which began to make its way down.
"Uh-oh!" Kurt said in alarm. Taking action, he made his way to the keyboard as he tried to think of something to do. "I should have paid attention in computer lab!" He then got an idea. "Ooh, I know. I'll try Control, Alt, delete. That should work."
Meanwhile, Danny and Rogue had left the others and were walking past where the lab was when they heard an explosion go off.
"What the hell was that?" Danny questioned.
Rogue pointed down some stairs that led into a building that was separated from the rest of the school. "It came from in there."
The two raced down to find Nightcrawler passed out in the room.
"Kurt, are you okay?" Danny made his way to the mutant's side as he tried to find a pulse. "What happened?"
"Lab." He moaned. "Booby-trapped."
"Lab?" Rogue walked into the unmarked room and found all the monitors wrecked as they sparked with electricity. "Whatever this stuff was, it's thrashed now." She then saw a spherical object with two handles on it sitting undamaged on a podium. "Except for this."
Danny was still looking over Kurt as he held up two fingers. "Okay, Kurt, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Fifty-two." Kurt said as his vision returned slowly.
Danny looked at his fingers and shook his head. "Well, you got the two part right."
"Hey, Danny!" Rogue came out with the device. "Look what I found."
"Uh, Rogue, I'd put that down if I were you." Danny warned her. "For all we know, that could be a bomb."
"What?" Rogue said absentmindedly as she squeezed the handle, and the device shot out a ray that hit both Danny and Kurt as they were surrounded by a glowing sphere before they vanished, leaving no trace that they were even there.
Rogue dropped the object as she made her way over to where Danny and Kurt previously were. "Danny! Kurt! Oh, God!" She cried as she hoped that she didn't kill them. "Please be okay! I got to get help!" She ran out to go get the rest of the X-Men.
The two X-Men found themselves in the middle of the school hall, but something was off. It was more blurry than usual, almost as if they were glimpsing everything through a fog.
"What the hell?" Danny looked around. "Where are we? The Twilight Zone?"
"Ne ne ne ne ne." Kurt joked, imitating the theme of the show.
"Kurt, focus!" Danny snapped. "We got to find out where we are."
They saw images of their fellow students appear and disappear as if they were ghosts.
"Wow, I can't believe Kurt would pull something like that." Came Kitty's voice, making the two turn around to see an image of her and Evan talking.
"Yeah, you should've seen how ticked off Scott was." Evan said.
"Kitty? Kitty!" Kurt tried to reach for her, but his hand only passed through her.
"Guys! It's us!" Danny shouted, but they didn't respond. "They can't hear us. It's like we're ghosts." He then smacked himself on the head. "I can't believe I made that comparison."
A bug was crawling on the ground as Toad, who was on all fours, grinned at it, happy that he had found his lunch for the day. "Hey!"
A car honked at him as Toad was currently standing in the middle of a parking spot.
"Out of the way!" Darkholme shouted at him from her car, making Toad move as he looked down to see that the bug was gone.
"Aw. My lunch." He bemoaned in sadness.
Darkholme got out of her car and glared at Toad. "You are to stay away from this area, Mr. Tolansky. If I see one drop of slime on my new car, it's detention for life. Are we clear?"
Toad nodded as she walked off. "Oh, yes. We're very clear." He spat his tongue at her as he started to look around for something to eat, when he came across the same place that Danny and Kurt vanished from.
He hopped down the stairs and was greeted by the destroyed room before noticing the gadget that started it all.
"Ooh, what's that?" He grabbed it as the device shot out a beam that made some of the boxes disappear.
Toad blinked once before letting out a cheer. "Whoa, this is some cool gizmo." He grabbed it and left the room. Oh, he was going to have some fun with this baby.
Scott and Jean were walking down the halls as they were still talking about Scott and Kurt's fight.
"So you think I should apologize to Kurt?" Scott asked.
"I can't believe Kurt would do something like that." Scott shook his head, angry at Kurt for making him think he had died.
"Well, what matters is what you think." Jean replied.
"Still, you gotta admit he jerks around way too much." Scott argued.
"So is that worth losing a friend over?" The redhead telepath countered. "Kurt knows when it's time to joke and when it's time to be serious. You gotta have faith in your teammates, Scott."
Suddenly, two students ran out of the bathroom.
"A ghost! We just saw a ghost!" One cried.
"Yeah!" The other shouted. "A blue-haired demon and some guy with white hair!"
"I'm out of here!" The first one yelled.
"I warned him! And now he's dragging Danny along on another one of his pranks!" Scott stormed into the bathroom. "Kurt? Danny?" No one was there, making him rub his head in confusion as he left.
"Not there?" Jean asked.
"No." Scott answered. "You better contact them. Tell them to knock it off."
Jean closed her eyes and placed her hands on her forehead as she tried to look for any sign of Kurt but couldn't get a read on him anywhere. "Scott, I can't pick up a trace of Kurt anywhere. It's like he doesn't exist."
"Well, what about Danny?" Scott asked.
Jean shook her head. "He's immune to my senses." It was very interesting for her and Xavier to discover that Danny was immune to their telepathy when he first came to them.
"Try again." Scott told her. "Kurt and Danny have to be around here somewhere."
"Scott! Jean!" Rogue ran up to them, looking terrified.
"Rogue, what is it?" Scott asked in concern, seeing how scared Rogue looked.
"Danny and Kurt are gone!" She cried. "There was this gizmo that we found, and it zapped them, and now they're gone!"
"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Rogue." Scott said. "Now where is this gizmo?"
"I'll show you. Follow me." She ran down the halls, with Scott and Jean following her.
They arrived in the room where Rogue left the device, but it was gone.
"But it was right here." Rogue said in frustration. "I dropped it there. Where could it be?"
Scott looked over at a green puddle on the floor. "Judging by this puddle of slime, I bet Toad has it. Come on, let's go find them."
The three went back to the school to look for Toad when they came across Lance and Fred instead.
"What are you looking at, Summers?" Lance sneered at him.
"Where's Toad?" Scott demanded.
Fred crossed his arms. "Yeah, like we'd tell you!"
Not in the mood for their attitude, Scott pushed Lance up against the lockers.
"Scott, no!" Jean cried, not wanting him to get in trouble or start any pointless fights.
"Hey!" Lance protested the rough treatment.
"I said, Where is he?" Scott asked again.
"Get off of me!" Lance ordered him.
"Tell us where that little fly muncher is, and I promise I won't drain you dry." Rogue threatened as she took off one of her gloves.
"Get lost, goth girl." Fred pushed her to the ground before lifting Scott up by his shirt.
"Put him down!" Jean commanded.
Lance got in front of her. "Back off, red, or I'll rock you!" He made a small earthquake that made the lockers shake a bit.
The other students noticed the commotion and decided to watch.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" They chanted.
"What is going on here?"
The crowd parted to see Darkholme glaring at the X-Men and the Brotherhood.
Rogue got off the floor and pointed at the Brotherhood. "Ask the loser's club."
"We weren't doing nothing." Fred said, putting Scott down.
"Yeah!" Lance added. "Summers here just went ballistic on us for no reason!"
"Oh, I got a reason." Scott said as he got into a fighting stance.
"Scott." Jean tried to stop him from making any more rash decisions.
"Quiet!" Darkholme commanded. She pointed at the X-Men. "You three, in my office now."
The X-Men begrudgingly followed Darkholme, passing by Lance, who made an L on his forehead and smirked.
"Shut it, creep." Rogue elbowed him.
Kurt reappeared next to Danny. He thought he could teleport back home but wasn't able to.
"Okay." He said to Danny. "Wherever this is, I can't teleport out! This is just way too freaky!"
"I know." Danny agreed before seeing a desk appear above them. "Watch out!" He pushed Kurt out of the way.
"It's raining furniture." Kurt said.
Danny looked at the ruined desk. "Wait, isn't that from Principal Darkholme's office? I would know I'd been sent there multiple times."
Danny was right, as Toad was currently in his Brotherhood uniform, zapping stuff in Darkholme's office with the gizmo.
"See the desk. Don't see the desk." He said to himself as he aimed the device at a chair. "See the chair." He fired at it. "Don't see the chair. So, Miss Big Shot, let's see how you like my new clean office policy."
"Inside, all of you." Came Darkholme's voice, causing Toad to hop out the window to avoid detection.
"I don't care what influence Xavier has with the school board." Darkholme said as she led the three into her office. "I am going to get..." She stopped when she saw that her furniture was gone. "What? What happened here? Who took my furniture?" She then realized who could've done this. "Fenton! He's the only one who'd pull this kind of stunt." She turned to the X-Men. "Where is he?" Not getting an answer, she stormed off in a rage. "I swear when I find him!"
The three X-Men looked out the window to see Toad zap Darkholme's new car.
"Looks like we found our Toad." Scott said.
As the two X-Men were exploring this new dimension, they saw Darkholme's car appear above them, making Kurt grab Danny and teleport the two out of the way. As they did this, they briefly passed through Darkholme's office.
"Scott, Rogue, look!" Jean pointed to the apparitions of Kurt and Danny that appeared briefly before disappearing.
"It's Danny and Kurt!" Rogue said, happy to see that they were okay. "Or their ghosts."
"No." Jean shook her head. "I got a brief mental reading from Kurt. It's like they're trapped somewhere."
Rogue had a look of concern on her face. "I hope they're all right." Especially Danny, as he was the one that she felt the most comfortable around. She felt like she could be herself around the guy. He was so kind and funny to his friends. And he had the protectiveness that made you know that he always had your back in a fight or a tough situation.
"They will be, Rogue." Scott reassured her. "In the meantime, I think we better have a talk with the Toad."
Kurt and Danny found themselves on the basketball court when they heard footsteps coming. Acting on instinct, Kurt grabbed Danny and teleported away from the door as a third figure showed up and started to cough on the smoke that was left from Kurt's teleportation.
"Whoa!" A familiar voice coughed. "Where'd you come from?"
The two X-Men dropped down behind the guy, making him turn around as he gasped in fright at Kurt's appearance.
"Relax." Kurt held out his hands in a calming motion.
"What are you, man?" The guy asked.
"Who are you?" Danny asked in return.
"Don't let my looks fool you." Kurt reassured the newcomer. "I'm a harmless blue fuzz ball. Really." He then got a closer look at the guy and realized he was the same guy that appeared on the monitors in the lab. "Hey, I know you. You're the one I saw on the computer screen just before it blew."
"Why would you put a bomb in the lab?" Danny asked.
"So no one would go snooping where they shouldn't." The guy explained. "The name's Forge. You found my lab, huh? What's with the Halloween get-up?"
"No, costume." Kurt told him. "I'm human. But I'm a mutant. I know I look strange, but there are some fringe benefits." He teleported behind Forge.
"Yeah, like a small attention span." Danny muttered.
"Trippy." Forge said. "I thought I was the only one." He held out his hand as it turned into some kind of mechanical device.
At this, Danny was imagining his friend Tucker geeking out and wishing he had a mechanical arm like that.
"There he goes!" Scott cried as he and the rest of the X-Men were chasing down Toad in their uniforms. Scott fired an optic blast, but it missed as Toad fired a beam at the X-Men.
"Take that!" He cried.
"Shadowcat, down!" Jean ordered as the beam came toward Kitty. The Valley girl phased through the ground as the ray hit a fountain instead, causing water to erupt from where it used to be."
The fountain then appeared next to Danny and Kurt as they watched Forge work on something.
"Man! Somebody's really giving that gizmo of yours a workout." Kurt commented.
Back in the real world, the X-Men were still chasing Toad.
"Get him!" Scott ordered the team as they kept their pursuit.
"That gizmo is a trans-dimensional projector." Forge said. "My science fair project. And when I fired it up, it created this pocket dimension that I call Middleverse. I got caught in the ray myself, and I've been here ever since."
"Couldn't you just stick with a baking soda volcano?" Danny asked before another question came to him. "By the way, how long have you been trapped in here?"
"A couple of hours?" Forge asked.
"But your message said 1978." Kurt pointed out.
"Yeah, the current year." Forge replied.
Danny and Kurt looked at each other before Danny decided to break the news to Forge. "Forge, it's been at least three decades since you were trapped here."
"What?" Forge exclaimed in shock as he looked around the dimension. "But it only felt like a couple of hours. And I still look the same." For three decades, he had been trapped here. He thought of his parents. "Mom. Dad. Oh, God. Are they still alive?" He asked frantically. "Oh, they must be worried sick. We got to get out of here!"
"We will. But how?" Danny asked.
"We'll need help from the other side." Forge said. He then looked at Kurt. "And I'm thinking that you may be able to help out on that."
Kurt then noticed the images of two girls walking past him.
"You are so lucky." One girl said.
"Oh, isn't he so cute?" The other asked.
"Totally!" The first girl answered.
The girls kept giggling before entering the women's locker room.
"So just how far does this Middleverse extend?" Kurt asked Forge, getting a smack from Danny in response. "Oww!"
"Focus, Kurt!" Danny scolded.
"Done!" Forge presented his new invention to the two. It looked like some kind of harness.
"What is it?" Kurt asked.
"This little baby will alter the phase-shift frequency of your teleport power." Forge explained.
"Can you say that to us as if we've never been to a physics class before?" Danny asked politely, not understanding the science jargon.
"Kurt can teleport to the real world." Forge clarified.
"Good!" Danny cheered.
"But only for a sec." Forge said.
Danny shook his head. "There's always a catch."
Forge held out some batteries. "These batteries don't have much power. Still, with luck, you can tell somebody how to reset the projector to get us back."
"Oh, I just hope they don't think I'm joking." Kurt moaned, getting Forge to send him a look of confusion.
"He has that kind of rep." Danny revealed.
Toad was currently in a tree, trying to evade the X-Men. "Get lost! I'm warning you!"
Scott shot down the branch he was standing on, making Toad fall as Jean caught the device in midair with her telekinesis.
"Got it!" She cheered.
"That's it! I'm out of here!" Toad hopped away, with the X-Men letting him go since they got what they wanted.
"Come on, let's go back to the scene of the crime." Scott said to the others. "Maybe we'll find something that can tell us what exactly this gadget is."
The X-Men went to the lab as Jean said the obvious.
"Well, it's all wrecked."
Scott shook his head. "There goes that plan."
Danny, Kurt, and Forge were also in the lab in their dimension as well.
"Looks like they got your invention back, Forge." Danny said as they watched the X-Men.
"Yo, guys!" Kitty got their attention as she and Evan were looking over Forge's invention. "We've been running a diagnostic on this thing."
"Can you believe it?" Evan added. "It uses CP/M! I mean, talk about retro, man."
"It's putting out some kind of, like, steady low-power pulse wave that just seems to disappear into thin air." Kitty explained.
"And that means what exactly?" Scott asked, wondering what the point was.
"We figure that the pulse has trapped the crawler and the phantom in some other dimension." Evan spelled out.
"Is there a way to bring them back?" Rogue asked.
"Maybe if we trash it, they'll come back." Scott guessed.
"No, no!" Forge shouted. "They've got it all wrong! If they destroy the projector, we'll be trapped here forever!"
Danny and Kurt were now as fearful as Forge as they realized their one shot at getting out of here was going to be destroyed.
"Everyone stand back." Scott warned the others. "I'm gonna use full power. This could get messy."
"You know, I could just, like, phase through the gizmo and, like, quietly short it out." Kitty suggested.
"That works too." Scott said.
"Forge, hurry!" Kurt cried as Forge was putting the harness on him. "They're gonna destroy it!"
"Done!" Forge announced. "I think it'll make you visible for a couple seconds. There's also a glitch that I need to fix."
"What does Kurt have to do?" Danny asked as they were working on getting the glitch out.
"Push that button and teleport. Tell them not to destroy the machine. They have to reset it instead. But you got one second before it runs out of power and you're pulled back here." Forge said as Kurt nodded.
"Right! I'm gone!" Kurt teleported back to the real world.
"What the?" Scott said as Kurt appeared in front of the machine. He was about to say something when he sneezed and was returned to the Middleverse.
"What just happened?" Evan asked.
Back in the Middleverse, Forge was currently strangling Kurt as he was starting to have a breakdown at the realization that he would be stuck here forever. "You idiot! We're stuck in here forever! I'll never see my parents again! Who knows if they're still alive!"
"Forge!" Danny pulled him off Nightcrawler and slapped him in the face. "Pull it together, man! We're gonna get out of here. You're gonna see your parents again. We just got to think of something."
Rogue was looking over the device when she saw a reset switch. "Hey, guys, there's a reset switch. What if pressing that brings them back?"
"Yes!" Forge cried in joy.
"Rogue, I could kiss you right now!" Danny said.
Scott shrugged. "Worth a shot."
Rogue nodded as she looked over the machine. "Intensity settings, power regulators, beam width, restart!" She pressed the button as the gizmo shot out a beam that left a sphere that contained Forge, Kurt, and Danny.
"Come on!" Scott encouraged. "Teleport through."
"Hang on!" Kurt said to his friends. "Let's go!"
"We can't." Forge reminded him. "The battery's tapped out. We need more juice to get us home."
Danny smiled. "And I know just where to find it."
"Where?" Kurt asked.
The hybrid smirked. "Take us to Darkholme's car."
"What's the matter?" Scott shouted. "Let's go!"
They saw the three teleport away.
"What are they doing?" Evan asked.
"I don't know." Scott answered. "But I hope they hustle."
"There they are!" Came Toads' voice. The X-Men turned around to see that Toad was there, along with Blob and Avalanche. "And they still got that vape-ray I was telling you about."
"Fork it over, losers." Lance demanded. "Or this place is gonna rock."
"The projector stays with us." Scott said. "X-Men, keep that portal open!"
"Your call." Avalanche made a small earthquake before charging at the X-Men, with Toad and Blob following his lead.
Back in the Middleverse, Kurt teleported himself and his friends to Darkholme's car.
"There it is." Danny showed the car to Forge.
"Far out, man!" Forge went up to the car.
"I swear, that homey's lingo is so wack!" Kurt said to Danny.
"It's the seventies, Kurt." Danny deadpanned. "What do you expect?"
In the real world, Cyclops was currently facing down Blob.
"Come on!" Blob challenged. "Hit me with your best shot, Slim!"
Cyclops fired an optic blast that blasted Blob back only a couple of inches.
"Takes more than that to stop the Blob!" Blob boasted.
"Thanks for the tip." Scott thanked him before looking at Jean. "Jean!"
Jean nodded as Scott fired at the ground underneath Blob, shattering it and allowing Jean to use her telekinesis to pull it from under Blob's feet, tripping the huge mutant.
Shadowcat was backing up as Avalanche was inching his way closer to her.
"You and me got a date, pretty Kitty. How about a ride on the concrete coaster?" He made the floor rumble as Kitty was pushed through a wall that she phased through before somersaulting back in.
"Lousy ride, loser!" Kitty insulted.
Toad was hopping around Spyke. "Come on! Come on! What you got?" He taunted. "You ain't got nothing! That's right! You ain't got nothing!" He hopped past Evan and toward the device, making Spyke shoot some spikes in front of the invention, causing Toad to crash into them.
"You call that nothing, you slimy superball?" Spyke quipped.
Then Quicksilver appeared. "Yo guys, I'm back from lunch. What's going on?" Before he could assess the situation, Rogue kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him out.
While the fighting was going on, the trio in the Middleverse were in Darkholme's car.
"You sure this will work?" Danny asked Forge.
"No." Forge answered honestly.
"Great." Danny said to himself. "Let's hit it!"
Kurt stomped on the gas as the car roared through the hallways and teleported away.
Back in the real world, the Brotherhood was cornering the X-Men.
"Okay, enough of the warm-ups." Blob said. "Time for some serious smashing!"
They then heard honking as they all looked at the car about to come through the portal.
"Look out!" Scott cried as the X-Men dove for cover.
Darkholme's car entered the real world as it ran over the device and crashed into Blob, making the vehicle stop in its tracks.
"Whoa." Blob said in relief. "Good thing I'm the Blob."
"Yeah, you can say that again." Toad agreed.
Lance looked over to see that the device was smashed. "Come on, guys. This party's over."
The Brotherhood then left, with Blob throwing the unconscious Quicksilver over his back.
"What the heck are these?" Forge asked as he looked over the airbags.
"What, they didn't have airbags in the seventies?" Danny asked as he got out of the car.
"Danny, you're all right!" Rogue hugged him tightly, glad to have him back.
Danny smiled as he returned the hug. "I missed you too, Rogue."
The X-Men were watching from Forge's front yard as their new friend was hugging his mother and father.
"Well, good to know that it worked out well with Forge." Danny said as the X-Men went to leave. They got in Scott's car as Scott looked at Kurt through his rearview mirror.
"You're gonna have to duck until we get a new holo-watch." Scott said.
"So it's true!" Kurt joked. "You really are ashamed of me!" Everyone laughed before Kurt decided to get serious. "But for real, Scott, about what happened before, my bad."
"Yeah, well, maybe I take things too seriously." Scott admitted. "I need to lighten up some."
"Who are you, and what did you do with the real Scott?" Danny joked.
"Oh, Scott, not you." Jean said in mock concern.
"Check his temperature." Kitty urged in jest. "Mr. Military's going soft."
"Yeah. And I could probably dial down the goofing a little." Kurt said.
"More like a lot." Danny murmured, making Rogue giggle.
"Welcome back." Scott fist bumped Kurt. "Okay. So now what do you say we head home, gear up, and run a level-three training sim in the Danger Room?"
"On second thought, Duncan's party sounds pretty good right now." Danny replied.
"Give us a break." Evan added.
"Oh, man!" Kurt rubbed a hand through his hair in irritation. "See? That's what I'm talking about. Always serious."
Scott then smiled. "Psych!"
"You got us." Jean laughed.
"Very nice." Kurt said in approval. "There's hope for you yet."
"That was a more cruel joke than the one Kurt pulled today." Danny said to Scott, making everyone laugh again.
"Yeah, well, tell me about it on the way to Duncan Matthews' party." Scott said.
"Whoa, Scott, I was just kidding about going." Danny said. "Let's go to the movies."
"Yeah, it'll be fun." Rogue agreed.
"Alright then, to the movies then." Scott said as he drove the car to their destination.
"It's good to have you back, Danny." Rogue said, blushing.
"Thanks, Rogue." Danny replied as he also blushed.