They ate at IHOP, and worked out what Scott thought was a reasonable plan. Kurt had agreed rather philosophically that while Charles could probably make everyone accept a blue customer as normal, it would be pushing their luck with one who was wanted for attacking the president. Scott promised him pancakes to eat in the car.

"Mushroom omelet," the waitress said, a note of confusion in her voice. Every time she came to their table she looked as though she couldn't remember having taken their order, or indeed having seen them before at all.

"Mine," Charles said, taking the plate from her with a nod of thanks. "Once there's any kind of alarm, we're going to have to consider the weather."

"Radar won't do them any good," Magneto said.

"Poached eggs and fruit," the waitress said. "And toast." Magneto took the plate from her and passed it to Mystique.

"What about Jean?" Scott said. Charles shrugged.

"We'll be outside her range until we're nearly inside," he said. "She could find us with Cerebro, but not track us for long."

"Scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast?"

Scott waved a hand.

"So the real danger's after we land," he said. "We'll have to get in and grab Storm and Jean before Stryker can use either of them against us."

"Which leaves the chocolate chip pancakes." The waitress put them in front of Magneto and wandered off, blinking. Charles looked at them as though they might explode.

"Someone has to get into the control room and keep the spillway open," Magneto said. He pointed to Mystique with a forkful of pancake and raised his eyebrows in a wordless question.

"I'll think of something," she said.

Scott ordered take-out for Kurt, tea to go for Kurt and Charles, and coffee to go for everyone else. There was something comforting about the whole process. It made it possible to reduce this to the level of a field trip. Although it left him feeling that he should count heads.

He'd shaken off the feeling by the time they were on the plane heading into Boston. Halfway there he'd been unable to avoid thinking about Jean. He'd bitten his lip and tried to coax more speed out of the Blackbird. For the first time he was glad that Charles was in the back with Magneto and Kurt.

The Blackbird's computer began trying to tell him how to find Bobby Drake's house from the air. It was absorbing enough that for a few minutes he didn't think about anything but ending up in the right part of town. Then he saw smoke rising.

"Oh, shit," he said.

"Language," Mystique said.

"Don't get cute," Scott said. "Try to get the police band on the radio."

Mystique put on the headset.

"There's a chase in progress," she said. "Suspects are on the freeway heading out of town."

Scott banked as they passed the neighborhood, trying to get a better look. The houses looked like matchboxes, with the tiny smoldering wrecks of police cars scattered around one house.

"I told them to sit tight," Scott said.

"There," Mystique said. She was pointing to the road Scott could see snaking around the edge of the city. It was suspiciously clear of traffic. He slowed, taking them lower. There were roadblocks at the exit ramps, and he could see a single cluster of cars speeding along the road, a dozen black-and-whites pursuing—

"That's my car," Scott said. "Logan, you asshole, you stole my car." He was wrestling the jet lower, trying to slow enough to take in the scene. The car—his car—was maybe a mile out in front of the pursuers, but there were two police helicopters coming up on it fast. The chase was almost over anyway; the road was blocked just a couple of miles ahead, with police cars behind the barricade.

"I can't set us down," Scott said. "There's not time."

One of the helicopters opened fire. Bullets tore at the road behind the car. Scott swore and took the jet into a dive, straight at the helicopters. They peeled away to either side, veering wildly and trying to right themselves.

The cockpit door slammed open.

"What's going on?" Magneto demanded.

"Logan's in trouble," Scott said. "They're about to get arrested."

"I don't think so," Magneto said. He came to stand behind Mystique. "Double around."

"What are you going to do?" Scott said, but he was pulling them around in as tight an arc as he could manage as he said it.

Magneto ignored him. He scowled. "I'm not in range yet. Get lower. Charles!"

"What do you want me to do?" Charles said, from the far back of the cockpit. "I've only got crude control at this range, and I can't simply paralyze people in cars going seventy miles an hour."

"You mean you won't," Magneto said. They were coming in for a low pass over the police cars. "But I will." The front rank of cars spun ninety degrees into a barricade that stretched across the road for a single heartbeat before the cars behind them smashed into it.

Scott pulled them around in another tight arc. Logan was pulling the car to a stop, tires smoking on the pavement. He'd obviously seen them. Two of the police cars were pulling around the wreck on the shoulder and heading for the car. They were still minutes from the roadblock ahead.

"I'm setting us down," Scott said. He aimed for a spot between the car and its pursuers. He spared a glance at Magneto, who was watching the landing with his hands on Mystique's shoulders. "Get them inside," Scott said.

Magneto nodded without a word and headed for the back of the plane.

Scott brought the jet in for a bone-jarring landing. Out the windscreen, he could see the two police cars slowing as they approached. Logan was scrambling out of the car, yanking open the passenger side door and pulling Bobby Drake out. Marie was climbing out of the car on the other side, crouching low under its shelter. The other door opened more slowly. John Allerdyce stood up, looked around. The police cars were stopping.

"Fire on them," Mystique said.

"We don't have any weapons," Scott said.

"Wonderful," Mystique said. "How do you survive?"

Scott waited, breath held, as the doors opened and men with guns climbed out. As he'd hoped, they froze like statues.

"Like that," he said.

Marie was running across the pavement to the jet. Bobby Drake was behind her, running while looking back over his shoulder. Scott made a note to kick him around in training until he cut it out. Logan was trying to keep John ahead of him as John tried to drop back.

There was a blur of motion in the corner of his eye. One of the police helicopters was coming around for another pass.

"Damn it," Scott said, and dropped the controls, heading for the back of the plane. Kurt was strapped in and saying something softly in German. Scott patted him on the shoulder. The ramp was down, and there were running footsteps coming up it. Magneto was standing at the top of the ramp, hand outstretched.

"Come on," he said. The footsteps slammed to a halt. There was a yelp of fear, and retreating footsteps. Magneto stepped away from the hatchway, looking disgusted. "Charles. Get her inside."

"I'll get her," Scott said. The droning of the helicopter rotors almost drowned out his words, followed by the staccato rhythm of bullets hitting the pavement.

There were footsteps on the hatchway again, and Marie climbed jerkily inside, followed by Bobby. She crossed to the seats and began to strap herself in, blank-eyed. Bobby slid to his knees in front of her, started to shake her.

"Marie?"

"She's all right," Charles said.

Scott pushed past them to the hatchway. There was a terrible crash outside. Scott flung himself back against the fuselage and then looked out, one hand in front of his face. One helicopter was down and burning. Bullets were still raining down. The other one was still in the air.

Logan came pounding up the ramp, and half threw John at Scott.

"Get him in!" Logan shouted. Scott shoved John out of the way and hit the controls for the ramp.

"Everyone here?" Magneto asked.

"What's going on?" Marie asked. The blank look had been replaced by one of utter horror. She was pushing Bobby away.

"We're all here," Logan said. "Get us the hell out of here."

"Now!" Magneto called. The jet shuddered and began to lift.

Logan took Bobby by the arm and pushed him into the seat beside Marie. "Strap yourself in," he said. John was fastening his own harness without being told. Logan stepped in front of Scott as he tried to head forward. "Well?"

"They're on our side," Scott said. "For now." He looked at John, who had gone very pale and was starting to shake. "You okay, Allerdyce?"

"I think I got shot," John said, way too casually. He held out his left arm. There was a wet spot spreading rapidly across his sleeve. His hand was shaking wildly.

"Jesus, John," Bobby said, and started unfastening his harness.

"Stay put," Logan said. He crouched down beside John, running his fingers over John's arm. John jerked back against the seat back.

"Erik!" Mystique called from the cockpit. "Incoming!"

"Scott, go," Charles said. "We'll handle this."

Scott ducked around him, and then stopped.

"We'll need you too," he said. "Logan—"

"I've seen gunshot wounds before," Logan said. "You got a medical kit?"

"Aft storage locker," Scott said.

"You. Blue. Come here and help," Logan said.

Kurt unfastened his straps.

"My name is Kurt Wagner," he said. "But in the Munich circus I was called the Amazing Nightcrawler."

"Sure," Logan said. "Get his shirt off."

"Hey," John said.

"Forgive me," Kurt said. He began peeling back John's sleeve as John tried to jerk his arm away.

Bobby looked up at Scott desperately as Scott passed. Scott clapped Bobby on the shoulder, patted Marie's hand.

"Hang in there, kids," he said. "It's going to get bumpy."

Scott took the controls of the plane, and blocked out any worries about what was happening in the back of the plane. The two F-18s on their radar were enough to keep his attention.

"They're trying to force us down," Mystique said.

"I don't think that's an option," Scott said.

"Get them down," Magneto said.

"I'm trying," Charles said. One of them started to veer off, then corrected course. "It's the range."

"I'd rather not just kill them," Magneto said.

"Now you care?" Charles said.

"Damn it!" Scott said. "They're firing."

Magneto let out his breath in frustration. "Well."

The missile's trail on the radar screen doubled back, chasing its own tail. Scott winced as one of the planes exploded in a burst of flame.

"One down," he said.

"The other pilot is ejecting," Charles said. "Now."

A parachute blossomed open some distance below them. The unmanned fighter had been easing into a turn; now it rolled wildly, falling.

"Don't let that land on a shopping mall," Scott said.

"Out of range," Magneto said. "There's nothing I can do."

It seemed suddenly very quiet. Scott could hear himself breathing too fast. He ran a hand across the back of his neck.

"Well. Okay. We're in one piece."

He spared a glance back at the professor. He and Magneto were looking at each other almost like they were enjoying this. Adrenaline rush, he told himself. Happens to everyone, right?

"Take the controls," he said to Mystique. "I'm going to check on John."

John's shirt was off. Logan had put on bandages and was keeping pressure on the wound. John was sweating and biting his lip, his right hand moving jerkily against the seat. Scott liked it that he still managed to shrug nonchalantly, and rewarded him with a grin.

"You're a hard case, Allerdyce."

"You know it," John said raggedly.

"Magneto's up there," Marie said, fairly calmly. "Does anybody but me have a problem with that?"

"I can explain," Scott said. Well, you see, we broke Magneto out of jail, but that's all right, because Stryker wants us all dead, and . . . well, no, it's not okay, but sometimes you've got to take the allies you can get.

"Explain," Marie said.

Logan glanced up and made it clear without words that he was waiting, too, and had been as patient as Scott had any right to expect. Bobby just looked worried.

"There's this guy named William Stryker. He hates all mutants. He has a base up in Canada, at Alkali Lake."

"I was there," Logan said. "There's nothing there."

"We think it's underground," Scott said. "He's stolen Cerebro so he can hunt down mutants with it. That's why they raided the school." Scott nodded toward the cockpit. "Stryker tried to ambush us while the professor was visiting Magneto. We had to fight our way out. They've been pretty useful."

"I thought they were the bad guys," Bobby said.

"They don't want anybody to kill mutants either," Marie said. "Do they."

"We most certainly do not," Magneto said from the doorway. "Are you talking about us?"

"You'd better watch it," Marie said, glaring at Magneto.

"She's threatening me," Magneto said to Scott. "And here I thought we had a truce."

"I think you can handle yourself with Marie," Scott said.

"He doesn't think you're much of a threat," Magneto said to Marie. "I know better."

Marie frowned.

"Knock it off," Scott said to Magneto.

"Charles wanted me to check on the boy," Magneto said.

"I really doubt that," Scott said.

"Feel free," Magneto said. He stalked off forward.

Scott came over to examine John's arm.

"You're not a bad medic," he had to admit.

"Wouldn't hurt to have Jean look at it," Logan said.

Scott's stomach clenched.

"You don't know," he said.

"Know what?" Logan said, scowling.

"Stryker has them. Jean and Ororo."

"You didn't tell me," Logan said. "You didn't tell me shit."

"Yeah. Well. I'm sorry," Scott said.

"Great."

Scott wanted to hit him, just to take out some of his frustration at the situation on someone. They'd wasted an hour on breakfast while Logan was tearing up Boston.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?" he demanded.

"We were laying low at Drake's house. It was kind of uncomfortable, but it didn't seem like it was dangerous. Next thing I know, it's Armageddon."

"I don't know what happened," Bobby said.

"Somebody called the cops," John said.

"You don't know that," Bobby said.

"Yes, I do," John said.

"Then what?" Scott said. Logan shrugged.

"I got shot in the head. After that, we figured we'd better get out of there."

"Okay," Scott said. He could see that.

"My parents would never do that," Bobby said.

"Sorry," John said, not sounding at all sorry. "But it's the truth."

"Bobby," Marie said, putting a gloved hand on Bobby's chest.

"They wouldn't," Bobby said to Marie, insistently.

"It doesn't matter," she said.

"What about my car?" Scott said. Logan looked innocent.

"Was that your car?"

Scott clenched his teeth and tried to think about priorities.

"Stryker has a drug he uses to control people," he said. "He can use their powers against us."

"Better and better," Logan said.

"That's how we met Kurt," Scott said. "Meet the dangerous mutant who tried to kill the president."

"It is not really funny," Kurt said. "It was not nice, being in his power. I did not want to hurt anyone. I could not stop myself." He glanced to the side, rather than looking Scott in the eye.

"Sorry," Scott said. "I'm kind of punchy."

Kurt shrugged.

"It is not important."

"You think he's doing that to Jean?" Logan said.

"Yeah," Scott said. "Yeah, I do." He turned away, because he didn't really want to see Logan's reaction. He didn't want to know how any more people felt.

"I better go back up front before they kill each other," Scott said.

When he got to the cockpit, they weren't even trying.

"Are you surprised?" Charles was saying calmly.

"Not surprised. A bit disappointed," Magneto said.

"It's entirely your own fault," Charles said, and then stopped when he saw Scott.

"Let me guess," Scott said. "Why we don't trust you."

"Is that the only reason you can think of why I might be disappointed how you've all turned out?" Magneto said.

That stung, unexpectedly.

"Erik," Charles said. "Save it for me."

"With pleasure," Magneto said with a razor-sharp smile. He turned and left.

"I'm just going to fly the plane now," Scott said.

"I think I'd better go and . . . check on the children," Charles said, and left as well.

Scott looked at Mystique. She seemed to be concentrating very seriously on the controls.

"I hate it when I can't tell if they're fighting or . . ."

"Or what?" Mystique said after a pause.

"Or whatever," Scott said.

"They're fighting," Mystique said.

"Sounds good to me," Scott said.

It got quiet for a while after that. They were skimming the plane low over the countryside, steering well clear of anywhere with radar. Sometimes he watched Mystique's hands on the controls, watching the lines of tension as her muscles shifted under blue scales. The rest of the time he watched the horizon line, bright under the bleached winter sky.

Suddenly he found himself thinking about Jean. He'd been trying to hold it back, but like a kick to the stomach, he could see her, somewhere cold and dark, handcuff marks on her wrists. Her strong hands reaching out, as if she could touch him.

Jean reaching out, as if her hands could touch his face. He could feel the touch, the brush along his cheek.

Don't let go, she said. Hold on to me, Scott. Help me.

Help me stay with you. Her phantom hands moving to cover his. He could smell her perfume, and over it the smell of damp metal and oil.

Jean. Hang on. We're coming. He could feel her hands moving over his. His heart was beating too fast.

She was trying to laugh, trying not to be afraid.

A voice was talking somewhere. He tried to shut it out, afraid of losing the tentative contact.

Her hands were moving over his, moving over the controls.

Don't worry. She was trying to reassure him, at a time like this.

Shh, she said, and he could feel her fingers on his lips, soft and warm, and then something hit him on the side of the head and everything went black.

When he woke up, it was cold. There was the smell of wood smoke. Scott touched the side of his head gingerly and winced. He touched his face to find his visor still in place and opened his eyes.

They were in a clearing in the woods. People were moving around, arguing. Not a surprise. Scott shook his head trying to clear it, and then regretted it.

"Mystique hit me," Scott said.

"She had to," Magneto said. He was sitting on a log near where Scott was lying, watching the argument across the clearing with interest. "You were setting course for a Canadian air force base."

"No, I wasn't," Scott said. He sat up, head throbbing, stomach clenched. "Jean..."

"Is doing exactly what Stryker wants her to," Magneto said.

Scott tried to think of a reply to that, and was spared by having to throw up.

"Charles, come here," Magneto said, rather sharply. "I think he may have a concussion."

"Of course he has a concussion, Erik," Scott heard the professor saying from nearby. "She knocked him out cold." There was a loud crunching of dry leaves, and then a warm hand on the back of Scott's neck. "Look at me, Scott."

"I'm fine," Scott said, looking up at the professor with as much of a smile as he could manage. "Just don't let her hit me again."

Charles returned the smile. "Under the circumstances, I can't say I blame her. How's your vision?"

"Same as usual."

"Can you stand up?"

"You had to ask," Scott said. He got to his feet slowly, pulling up on the arm of the wheelchair. "Apparently."

"Leave me alone!" Marie's raised voice carried from the other side of the clearing. Scott looked up to see her stalk off into the woods, followed after a moment of indecision by Bobby. Charles frowned.

"What's going on?" Scott said.

Charles sighed.

"The Canadian air force is out in force looking for us. It was land, or take on a fighter squadron with nothing but our powers."

Magneto walked away to where Mystique was tossing wood into a pile. The air was rapidly cooling, and the shadows were getting long.

"I can guess what Magneto voted for," Scott said.

"Jean can't stay in Cerebro for long," Charles said. "It must have taken a tremendous effort for her to try to control you the way she did. She'll have to rest."

"So we're waiting for her to get tired?"

"And for the fighters to give up return to their base," Charles said. "We can camp here and get some rest until after midnight. With any luck, we'll catch Stryker asleep himself."

"I'll be okay," Scott said. "Just somebody make some coffee."

John was lying on a sleeping bag near where Mystique was piling firewood, watching her. His eyes didn't quite focus right. Demerol, Scott thought. Probably a good idea. But John on Demerol near a campfire was probably a bad idea.

Scott found Kurt and got him to help set up a tent away from the fire. Kurt figured out how the tent went together almost at once and began fastening things efficiently, which was good, because Scott was finding it a little challenging.

He was happy to finish and retreat back to the circle of firelight, where Logan was standing looking out at the woods. Kurt got John up and led him over to the tent, to which John made only a token protest.

"It's getting dark," Logan said. "Want me to go find the kids?"

"What happened?" Scott said.

"They're scared," Logan said. "I don't blame them."

"We've got to do this," Scott said. "We're too short-handed without Magneto and Mystique."

"Yeah," Logan said. "Want me to give them a pep talk?"

Scott wasn't sure if Logan was serious or not.

"Yeah," he said. "That sounds good."

"Let's see what I can do," Logan said. He turned his head, not looking but listening. "I hear them," he said. "Of course, the whole county probably does, too." He walked off into the woods.

"Thanks," Scott made himself say, although he suspected it was too late for Logan to hear.

Night had fallen in earnest. Magneto was sitting on a log by the fire, his arm around Mystique's shoulders. He was looking not at her but at Charles, who was staring into the fire. Somehow Scott didn't feel like joining them.

Watching them together Scott couldn't help seeing not Magneto but a much younger Erik Lehnsherr, a stern and temperamental professor. It was an image that he tried to forget most of the time, and usually could with ease. Scott's first year at the school had been Magneto's last.

He and Professor Xavier had started fighting in the fall. Jean said not to worry, that they'd done it before and always made up in the end, but it was hard to ignore the bitter fights that started at the breakfast table and went on behind closed doors in breaks between classes all day, leaving Professor Xavier alone at the dinner table, looking weary and drawn.

With the perspective of adulthood, Scott was pretty sure they'd always made up in bed. While he thought it was obvious that totally different goals and values, Magneto being a terrorist, and Magneto trying to kill Marie weren't things that could be made up in bed, he was beginning to wonder if it was obvious to them.

You worry too much, Scott told himself. He walked around the clearing to where the plane's bulk was blurred by camouflage netting and sat on the ramp. He could see the figures at the fire, but not hear what they were saying.

He hated waiting around like this. He wanted to get everyone back on the jet and go find Jean. He knew it wasn't the rational thing to do. He just wasn't sure he cared.

"Brooding?"

Scott looked up at Mystique's voice. She was watching him from the bottom of the ramp, head tilted to one side. He smiled.

"Yeah," he said.

"What is it like?" she said, dropping gracefully to sit at the foot of the ramp, resting her knees against its slope.

"What?"

"I've never been mind-controlled," Mystique said. "I wondered what it felt like."

"I didn't know what was going on," Scott said after a pause. "It just felt like Jean. Like she always feels." He could still feel her hands over his, the phantom brush of her strong fingers. His stomach clenched.

"You can hear her thoughts?"

"When she wants me to," Scott said. "When we're close." She always knew how to get to him. She'd known this time, too. But the fear had been real. He knew it had.

"And you like that," Mystique said.

"What's it to you?" Scott said.

She shrugged with elaborate unconcern.

"I always like to know people's tastes," she said.

Scott almost shook his head, and caught himself before he made his headache worse. He smiled instead.

"You're not flirting with me," he said.

"Are you so sure?" Mystique posed dramatically on the ramp, head thrown back, blue curves shading into black shadows.

"Yeah," Scott said. "I'm sure."

"You think you know so much," Mystique said. She sounded annoyed.

Scott looked over at the fire. He couldn't see Charles and Magneto. Then he made out a faint movement that might have been a black cloak moving against dark trees. If so, they'd retreated well out of the firelight.

The cold was getting bitter. You'd think they'd stay by the fire. You'd think Mystique would stay by the fire, but here she sat, trying not to look in their direction. Scott felt his chaperoning instincts kick in. It was, he thought, too quiet for them to be arguing.

"You think I should . . ." he said.

"No," Mystique said.

There was a pause.

"You don't really think . . ." Scott said.

"It's none of our business, is it?" Mystique said.

"I thought you and Magneto," Scott said.

She shrugged with one shoulder.

"I don't own him," she said.

"You're not convincing me," Scott said.

"Should I behave the way you do with Logan?" Mystique said.

Scott opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it again.

"That bad, huh," he said after a minute.

"Horrible," Mystique said. "We don't put up with that kind of jealousy in the Brotherhood."

"Score one for your team," Scott said.

Mystique smiled.

"Don't you think we'd be better off all on the same team?"

"We'd be happy for you to join us," Scott said.

"You're homeless and hunted fugitives, with a large group of teenage children to find and protect, and a very limited amount of resources that you'll still be able to access. We have a stable organization, a number of well-hidden bases, and operating funds. You need us."

"We'll get the school open again," Scott said.

"You don't really think that," Mystique said. "Xavier may deny reality, but you don't."

"And you don't seem to be a homicidal maniac," Scott said. "Good for you."

"Sometimes Erik acts before he thinks," Mystique said.

"That's one way to put it," Scott said.

"He's desperate to stop the war," Mystique said.

"There's not going to be a war," Scott said.

"You don't believe that either."

"I don't know what I think," Scott said. "I just know Magneto's dangerous."

"So is Xavier," Mystique said. "So are we."

"We're not joining you," Scott said.

"Suit yourself," Mystique said. "But we'll take in your children. If you ever need us to."

"Why would you do that?" Scott said. Mystique looked down at her feet, dark blue against the dark leaves at the foot of the ramp.

"I had a child, once," she said. "But—"

There was a crashing sound in the underbrush. Scott started to swing down from the ramp, heart pounding. Then he saw Logan at the edge of the circle of firelight and relaxed. Logan had the two kids with him. They stopped just at the edge of the woods, a sudden tension in the little group Scott didn't understand.

Marie and Bobby started arguing too softly for Scott to hear; as he watched, Marie shrugged off Bobby's hands and walked back into the woods. Bobby said something short to Logan and headed for John's tent. Logan turned up his hands in exasperation. He looked across the circle of firelight, shaking his head, and then turned to go after Marie.

"Everyone needs to chill out," Scott said.

"I think they saw something they didn't like," Mystique said.

"The professor," Scott said. "Would never. Here." He didn't sound convincing even to himself.

"I'm unconvinced of the collective rationality of those two," Mystique said.

"They're talking," Scott said. "Have to be."

"And we're talking," Mystique said. She stretched out on the ramp, leaning on her elbows and looking up at Scott. "Talk to me some more."

"Want to keep trying to recruit me into the Brotherhood?"

"Am I getting anywhere?"

"Nope."

"I could try Logan."

"Logan doesn't talk much."

"Who said anything about talking?"

Mystique was smiling, but her shoulders were tense. Her hand moved restlessly over the metal of the ramp. Scott thought about Logan and Jean, and felt the urge to pat her hand. He was pretty sure she'd take it the wrong way, though, and they had enough problems already.

The fire crackled. There was a soft crunching in the underbrush. Logan and Marie coming back, Scott assumed. He closed his eyes.

"Aren't you cold?"

Scott opened his eyes. Magneto was standing looking at them, his cloak thrown over one arm. He looked very tired.

"Freezing," Mystique complained dramatically. She got to her feet with a shiver. Magneto held out his arm to her, and she let him drape his cloak over her shoulder. She looked relieved.

"Come, let's get warm," Magneto said. He spared Scott an unreadable glance. "Charles wants you."

"Thanks," Scott said. He climbed down from the ramp.

I really don't want to go over there, he thought, but he couldn't justify making the professor wait when he couldn't get around in these woods by himself.

Scott walked across the clearing slowly. One of the tents was setting itself up in front of Magneto and Mystique. He couldn't see their faces in the shadows. Marie and Logan were sitting by the fire, talking in low tones. They looked up at him but didn't say anything. At least they were back. Bobby was nowhere to be seen. In the tent with John, Scott guessed. Kurt sat outside the tent, looking up at the night sky.

The professor was sitting well out of the circle of firelight, in a clear space between the dark bulk of two trees. Scott had to make himself not look at his clothes, not wonder, not care.

He sat down beside the wheelchair. There was a fairly long silence. The ground under him was very cold. Charles was staring across the clearing at the tent Magneto had just set up. Scott could see a blur of movement as someone closed the tent flap, and then nothing. Charles kept watching the tent.

"We've got to get Jean back," Scott said.

"We will get her back." Charles said, and shook his head. "But the consequences are likely to be severe."

"You mean the fact that we're probably on America's Most Wanted right now?"

"That, and the fact that we've set police cars on fire, crashed a helicopter, shot down a military jet, and killed several people. We're doing a very good job of starting Erik's war."

"For what it's worth, I don't think he wanted this to happen," Scott said, not sure why he was defending Magneto.

"I know he didn't," Charles said. "He thought his machine would stop it, as misguided and horrible a plan as that was. He was willing to sacrifice Rogue to stop the war he saw coming, to save millions of lives. I'm not willing to sacrifice Jean." Charles shook his head. "We're going to rescue her, and I know more people will die in the process. Someone will have to answer for that."

"Not you," Scott said.

"I am, in fact, responsible," Charles said.

"You saw what they did to Magneto," Scott said.

"Yes," Charles said distantly.

"If you think I'm going to let them do that to you, you're crazy."

"We don't know that it would be like that," Charles said.

"We don't know that it wouldn't be," Scott said. "So no heroic gestures."

"You and Erik," Charles said. "He asked me if I had to die to prove I was right."

"I hope not," Scott said. "We need you."

There was a long pause. Scott looked up, wondering if Charles was mad at him. Instead, Charles was peering into the darkness across the clearing again. Scott had a momentary urge to say, Are you sixteen, or what?

"You know," he said instead, "unless you've developed the mutant ability to see through canvas . . ."

"I think the tents are nylon," Charles said very seriously. "So that wouldn't help."

"Gore-Tex, actually," Scott said. "We bought new ones last year."

"Did we talk about this new camping gear?"

"I sent you a memo," Scott said. "You know, sometimes, when they're under stress, people do things that they . . ."

"Scott," Charles said gently. "I said no."

"I knew that," Scott said.

"And I regret it already."

"Love's a bitch," Scott said after a while.

After Charles got settled into a tent for the night, Scott headed back to the warmth of the campfire. The only one there was Logan, poking at the fire with a stick.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Scott said.

"Someone should keep watch," Logan said.

"Yeah. Me," Scott said.

"You got kicked in the head," Logan said. "Go lie down."

"I'm not tired," Scott said.

"Don't be stupid," Logan said.

"Real good coming from you," Scott said.

"Listen, what is your problem?" Logan said.

"Like you don't know."

"Right," Logan said. "Stay away from your girl."

"I don't want to talk about it," Scott said.

"Whatever," Logan said. He tossed the end of his cigar into the campfire. "There any food on the jet?"

"Some canned stuff," Scott said.

"Better than nothing," Logan said. He walked off.

After a few hours sleep they broke camp. Everyone but Logan was shivering and blinking off sleep and seemed in no mood to talk. Scott slid behind the controls of the plane with a certain amount of relief. Everybody else could have their personal dramas in the back. He was just going to fly the plane.

He'd only been in the air for a few minutes when the door to the cockpit slid open. Marie slipped into one of the seats.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she said.

"Sure," Scott said unenthusiastically.

"I'm going to get some coffee," Mystique said. She went out.

"What's up?" Scott said, faking cheerfulness as best he could.

"I know we need their help," Marie said. "And I understand all that about just stopping Stryker being the important thing."

"But you don't like working with Magneto after what he did to you," Scott said.

"I don't like it that he and Professor Xavier were kissing," Marie said.

That kind of saying "no," Scott thought. Thanks so much, professor. I'm going to kill you.

"Well," Scott said. "They have a complicated relationship." He saw Marie's appalled expression. "Not a relationship. More a history."

"They had a relationship."

"When I was a kid," Scott said. "Before Magneto was Magneto."

"What happened to him?" Marie said.

Scott shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Was he always so . . ."

"Evil?" Scott suggested.

"No," Marie said. "He's not evil."

"He tried to kill you," Scott said.

"Because he was scared," Marie said. "Like John tried to kill those policemen at Bobby's house. I wanted him to," she said defiantly.

"He was protecting you and Bobby," Scott said.

"Yeah," Marie said. "I guess Magneto thinks he's protecting people."

"He's seriously deranged," Scott said.

"I guess I figured that he'd, well . . . had a thing for the professor. After he tried to kill me, I could kind of feel him in my head. And he kind of felt that way. But I thought . . . I mean, they hate each other, don't they?"

"It's complicated," Scott said.

"Bobby doesn't believe that's really what we saw," Marie said. "He keeps talking about tricks of the light."

"Bobby's a good kid," Scott said. "But sometimes teenage boys aren't great at understanding stuff that's complicated."

"It was a bad scene at his parents' house," Marie said. "John thinks his brother called the cops."

"It was a bad scene at the school," Scott said. "We're all in a lot of trouble right now."

"You're not going to say 'don't worry, it'll be okay'?"

"No," Scott said.

"Good," Marie said.

Scott frowned at the instrument panel. The wind had picked up in the last few minutes. Snow was starting to lash the windows, and the visibility was dropping sharply.

"Get strapped in," Scott said. "Right now."

Go on to Chapter 3

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