The first thing Charles was aware of was the distinct chill in the air. The next was that he was lying on the floor and his chair was conspicuous in its absence. Struggling into a sitting position he glanced around.

Storm sat on the floor across from him and Piotr and Hank were both settled in with a couple of books.

“Where’s Jean?” Charles asked softly.

“In a separate cell. Haven’t seen her for a while now.” Piotr replied softly.

“Is she okay? She alive?”

“She’s alive.” Hank replied glancing at him uneasily. “Why did you come Charles?”

“I thought I could talk them into releasing you.” Charles replied dragging himself across the floor to sit next to Storm. “Thought they’d be reasonable.”

Storm sighed and shook her head. “You came to get Jean back.” She said tonelessly.

“I came to get you all back. What they’re doing is not appropriate.” Charles started. “We cannot allow this to continue. There are too many lives at risk now.”

Hank glanced up suddenly. “Meal time.” He said as the door opened and Jubilee stepped into the room.

She walked past Charles to get to the dumbwaiter. Pulling out the trolley she uncovered four plates and four spoons. “Hope you don’t mind the simple meal. We’ve got a guest cook tonight and she’s a little new.”

Hank eyed the semi burnt pasta and bite sized steak. “Looks edible.”

“I see you’re awake Wheels welcome to the party. You’ll forgive us if we find your presence a bit infuriating.” Jubilee snapped before dropping his plate into his lap. “Better eat up. You never know when your next meal’s coming down.”

“How long have I been out?”

Jubilee shrugged and glanced at her watch. “Most of the day. The tranquilizer works on the central nervous system.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“Depends. You wanted an audience with Red, you’ll get one. After you’ve eaten. Tank figures she’s sedate enough to handle being moved from her cell to this one for a while.”

“We don’t want her in this one!” Storm snarled. “I don’t want her anywhere near me.”

“Well what you want is about as important to me and mine as what the army wants. In other words enjoy supper your precious Dr. Grey will be joining you shortly.”

The slam of the door had everyone jumping and looking at each other.

“Why don’t you want Jean in here?” Charles asked.

“Because she’s to blame for all of this!” Storm rose to her feet and began pacing. “She admitted to it. Said she wanted power, wanted to have control over the situation, over the war with humans. What kind of person would do that?”

“I’m sure you misunderstood what she said.” Charles soothed. “Please just sit down.

“You approve of her don’t you? You think that selling out Rogue and the girls, selling out the school is okay! We don’t. We want our freedom and if it means leaving Jean behind then we’ll do that.” Storm raged.

“Ororo please, calm down. This isn’t helping anyone or anything.” Charles watched as Storm moved over to sit next to Hank and Piotr. “We’ll all go home soon.”

Hank shook his head. “No we won’t. They’re not going to let us all go. It’s not the way they work.”

“You want to know the details of this situation? I’ll fill you in on what I’ve learned so far. Several years ago in an attempt to stop Magneto we brought Rogue and Logan into the mansion. Jean wanted Logan and Scott. Wanted to be the center of attention and she had it until something happened. Suddenly Jean wasn’t the top of the heap anymore. She had competition for a man who didn’t belong to her.” Storm explained coldly. “She wanted Logan, wanted what he could give and she was willing to risk it all to have it. After all no one would refuse beautiful, perfect Dr. Jean Grey. Only Logan did not in words but in actions. He stabbed himself to get free to save Rogue. He touched her, shared his gifts with her, and gave her the tags, the gifts. Jean saw that and hated it. In her desire to be the alpha female she had to get rid of the competition. She sold out the girls when they went north. Played them and us to have the power and the attention of the two men she felt could benefit her. Only problem was she didn’t count on Rogue’s resilience, or Logan’s devotion.”

“Jean was never interested in Logan.” Charles protested.

“No? Then why would she sell out the one woman who stood in her way of getting him. We’ve all seen what he’s willing to do for Rogue.” Piotr pointed out. “He’s willing to kill for her, more importantly he’s willing to die for her.”

“She’s sick. She needs help. I could help Rogue, Miss Pryde, and Miss Lee regain their identities if they let me. I’m willing to help them.”

“But they don’t want it.” Hank sighed. “At least one of them is pregnant. At least one of them is a cold, calculated killing machine that is willing to do whatever needs doing. They’re all survivors. How can you help them?”

Charles sighed. He prayed that his senior team members were wrong. Prayed that this organization wasn’t so twisted that they’d refuse to release innocent, tolerant people. Prayed that they were all wrong and that Jean hadn’t betrayed them.



Charles glanced up at the sound of a key in the lock and watched as the door swung open to reveal a tall, broad shouldered man with a black look upon his face. Spotting a flash of red hair behind him Charles hid his relief. He was obviously the guard sent to bring Jean in to speak to him.

He couldn’t still the gasp as he saw Jean for the first time. Her face was marked by a rather ugly looking brand. One hand was wrapped in yards of bandages, her arms had a multitude of burns and cuts on them and she was covered in bruises.

“Dear God Jean what happened?” Charles gaped at her.

“Frankenstein happened.” Jean explained sinking painfully to sit next to her mentor. “How’d you get here? Are you okay?”

“Look at ‘em.” Storm hissed. “Lovebirds. Makes me sick. Wonder if they’d move me. I’d rather spend the rest of my captivity in some small, coffin sized…”

“Shut up ‘Ro.” Jean snapped. “You’re no better. Willing to sell yourself for your freedom.”

“In case you’ve missed it Jean. The men that are here don’t want you. They don’t want me either. I’m no telepath but the fact that we can hear someone having sex in the other room is hardly a telltale sign that they’re lusting after us.”

“We’re POW’s ‘Ro not guests.”

“We wouldn’t be POW’s if you’d kept your stupid jealousy under control!”

“Ladies.” Charles raised a hand. “Jean tell me what’s going on. Why are they making such accusations?”

Jean stared at Charles for a moment. She couldn’t lie to him and she couldn’t reveal her full deceit. How could she explain to him that they could have so much more than anyone ever imagined and all they had to do was get rid of the competition?
You must login (register) to review.