"What's wrong?" Marie said.

"I hope nothing," Scott said. "But this weather doesn't look good."

Mystique appeared in the doorway and got into the copilot's seat, moving quickly.

"Do you think this is natural?" she said.

Scott fought the sudden turbulence, trying to keep the jet steady.

"I don't know," he said. "Stryker knows we're coming. He may have gotten Storm to arrange some nice weather for us."

"We can't land in this," Mystique said.

"We can," Magneto said, coming into the cockpit. "If we have to. Although it would be nice for me to be able to see the ground."

"Hang on," Scott said. "It's starting to clear up."

"As we get closer?" Magneto said. "That seems a little convenient."

"I'm not complaining," Scott said. "Look, there's the dam. I think I can set us down near the spillway entrance Mystique was talking about."

"Not too near," Magneto said.

"I'll do my best," Scott said. "Don't help."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Magneto said. Scott put the jet down, again rather uncomfortably hard. He was going to have to work on the landings.

They assembled in the back of the plane. Magneto wrapped his cloak around him as if they were stepping out into the heart of a blizzard rather than into light, powdery snow falling from a bleached gray sky.

"We have a plan," Scott said. "Mystique, are you sure you're up for this?"

"You just back me up, " Mystique said in Logan's voice. Logan looked at the duplicate of himself appreciatively.

"Neat trick," he said.

"Thanks," Mystique said. "Remind me to show you some other ones."

Scott lowered the ramp, and Mystique scrambled to the ground before it was fully extended.

"We'll be right behind you," Scott said. She headed across the snow without looking back. Scott turned back to Magneto and Logan.

"Ready?" he asked.

Magneto had donned his odd-looking helmet. He nodded perfunctorily, and then glanced at Charles.

Charles met Magneto's gaze, looking quietly furious. Scott could almost feel his desire to come with them, as though it were bleeding into the air. As if in answer to the thought, the feeling eased, and Charles's expression went carefully neutral.

"Good luck," he said mildly.

"Shall I bring you a souvenir?" Magneto said.

"No one's head," Charles said.

"People . . ." Scott said.

"Yeah," Logan said. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I'm coming with you," Bobby Drake said unexpectedly.

"No, you're not," Logan said.

"He could help," Marie said.

"You kids wait on the plane," Scott said.

"That's so lame," John said. Scott had the sudden impression that the three of them had come to some truce overnight. Now they were sharing a back corner of the plane, facing the others as a united front. "If you screw up in there, we're toast."

"The professor can fly the plane," Scott said.

"Not in a blizzard," Marie said. "You need all the help you can get in there, because if you lose, we're trapped here."

"We're not going to lose," Scott said. He spared a glance out the open hatchway. Mystique/Logan was loitering around the entrance to the spillway, glancing occasionally back in the direction of the plane. She looked pissed off. Of course, they were keeping her waiting naked in the snow.

"I can help," Bobby said. "It's the right thing to do."

Scott looked at Charles.

You know the odds as well as I do. Charles's mental voice was clear and matter-of-fact. No one will get on to the plane while I'm here, but it's true that if you fail, we can't escape.

"Damn it," Scott said. "Come on. You stay close to me, and when the shooting starts, keep your head down."

John grasped Bobby's hand, then quickly let it go.

"Don't get shot," he said. "It hurts like shit."

Scott looked at Marie.

"I suppose you think you should come too."

"No," Marie said. "I think I should stay here."

Magneto looked at her searchingly.

"Good child," he said after a minute. "You'll do what you have to, I'm sure."

"Go," Charles said. "We're running out of time."

They headed for the spillway entrance. When she saw them coming, Mystique disappeared out of sight. Scott led them to a spot just outside the mouth of the spillway and got them down, under what cover there was.

They waited. It should work. Stryker wanted Logan. It ought to work.

"It's been too long," Scott said finally.

"Fine," Magneto said, eyes cold. "We'll do this the hard way."

"Wait," Scott said. "There could be a dozen guards at the end of the spillway."

"Listen," Logan said. Scott did, and swore. The sound of rushing water was unmistakable.

"We've got to get out of here," Scott said. "He's flooding the spillway."

Magneto turned to Bobby, putting a hand on his shoulder. Bobby looked up at him, looking too surprised to be angry.

"Show us what you can do," Magneto said.

Bobby held out his hand, frowned, and took a couple of hesitant steps forward into the spillway.

"Hey," Scott said. "We'll find another way, just—"

"I can do it," Bobby said, just as the first rush of water came into view, waist-high and swirling and frothing white.

There was a moment when Scott could have dragged him back, but he thought of Jean and closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact of the water.

It never hit. Scott opened his eyes to see the glimmer of ice, extending back into the spillway as far as he could see.

"Get further in," Magneto said. "You've got to block the spillway intakes."

Scott gave Bobby a hand up onto the shelf of ice.

"There's climbing gear in the plane," he said.

"No, I got it," Bobby said, getting to his feet on the ice with some effort. "There's so much water, though."

"You heard him," Scott said. "Find where the water's coming in and block it."

"I think I can do that," Bobby said. He half-ran, half-slid out of sight.

"Looks like we're going to make a hell of an entrance," Logan said.

Scott looked back at Magneto. He was floating a few feet off the ground, palms turned up, feet easily clearing the ice. Show-off.

"What are you waiting for?" Magneto said. "Come along." He moved smoothly into the spillway, cape sweeping behind him.

Logan and Scott exchanged looks.

"Right," Scott said.

They clambered across the ice. Scott really hoped he didn't demonstrate his amazing athletic abilities by falling down dramatically in front of Logan and Magneto.

"I think I've got it," Bobby called as Scott came into sight of him. "But I don't know how long it'll hold."

"Me neither," Scott said. "I think we're going to be finding another way out of here."

"We've got to get in, first," Magneto snapped. "Hurry up."

It's easy when you're floating, Scott thought. He collected Bobby and moved faster.

The doors at the end of the spillway were closed.

"Three guesses about what's on the other side," Scott said.

"Some kind of welcoming committee, I figure," Logan said.

"I'll open the doors," Magneto said. He raised a hand.

"Wait!" Scott said. Magneto looked at him.

"I won't wait long," he said.

"I'll get the doors," Scott said. "You get their guns. Drake, get out of the way."

Bobby obligingly dropped to one side of the doors, and raised a hand. A wall of ice began climbing up from the floor, sealing him off from the rest of the room.

"Ready," Scott said, and blasted the doors.

It took a while. Red light seemed to fill the spillway, arcing and twisting and sending off blistering-red sparks that made the ceiling rain ice.

Then the door smashed to pieces, with a tremendous noise. Scott had a brief confused impression of men with guns before Magneto gestured and the air was full of flying metal, guns smashing to the ice around and behind them.

Logan yelled and launched himself at the nearest soldier. Scott blasted one, sending him flying into a wall, and took the moment he'd bought to look around. There was something blue across the room by one of the doors. Mystique.

People were yelling. Someone threw himself at Scott, who sent him flying. The air seemed too heavy somehow, the draft from the open spillway doors growing to a rush of wind.

"Storm, no!" Scott shouted, and then he saw her, standing on the upper level at the railing, looking down at them, hair wild with crackling static force. Between them Logan slashed at the throat of the man in front of him, dropped him, stabbed another one. His claws were dripping red.

He had a shot. He raised his hand, and hesitated, just for a moment. Magneto shouted something he couldn't hear over the roar of wind.

A lightning flare blinded him for just long enough for someone to hit him in the back of the knees. Scott rolled away, trying to get to his feet, to get another shot. He saw Magneto look at Mystique, and saw him lose all expression. In a moment, the air was full of guns again, now pointing at the soldiers. The wind clawed at Magneto's cloak and made the guns shudder in the air.

"Storm!" Scott yelled, but her eyes were blank.

Logan grabbed at one of the guns, which came free in his hand. He leveled it at Storm.

"That's enough," Logan said, and just then the lightning struck again, arcing the from ceiling to Logan's outstretched hand and flaring across his body in a shower of sparks. The gun went off as he fell, sending the bullet smashing into a wall. Scott had to stop Storm. He finally had a shot.

"I'm sorry," he said, and took it. She crumpled behind the shattered railing.

"Get down," Magneto said, and there was something in his voice that made Scott hit the ground hard. Then all other noise was drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

It was very quiet when it stopped. Scott raised his head. Logan was moving slightly, making a noise of pain. A few of the guards were also moving, but not much. Bobby was standing in the spillway door, stock still. Watching.

"Check Logan," Scott told Bobby. Bobby nodded jerkily, and went to his knees by Logan.

"He's still breathing," Bobby said. His hands came away painted with blood.

Scott got to his feet. He wanted, badly, to scramble up the steps toward Storm, but looking at Magneto made him go for Mystique first. Scott bent over her.

"She's still alive," he said.

Obstructions—most of them bodies—swept out of Magneto's path as he strode over to them and dropped to one knee beside Mystique. He touched her hair, expression unchanging. Something like reason finally seemed to return to his eyes.

"We have to find Stryker," he said.

"Wait," Scott said. "Storm."

Bobby was helping Logan sit up.

"I'm all right, kid," Logan said. "That hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, though." He looked at Scott. "What happened?"

Scott ignored him, heading up the stairs. He found Ororo sprawled at the top of them. There was blood on her forehead, and she wasn't moving. He checked for a pulse, trying to move her as little as possible. The angle of her shoulder seemed wrong; he thought something was broken. But she was alive.

"Let's finish this," Magneto said. "We need to get into the control room."

Scott blasted the door. Magneto strode into the room and bent over the control panel, glancing up at a row of video monitors and then back to the panel.

"Where's the second Cerebro?" Scott asked.

"I'm looking," Magneto said.

"Umm," Bobby said, appearing in the door after him, "Logan just took off."

"What?" Scott said. "That asshole. Logan!" he shouted.

"Keep your voice down," Magneto said. "We don't all have to act like amateurs."

"He was staring at one of the doorways, and then he just ran out of the room like he saw someone."

"Stryker," Scott said. "He's gone to look for Stryker."

"Perhaps he'll be a distraction," Magneto said. "Here's the second Cerebro."

"Jean's got to be with Stryker," Scott said. "Logan can't fight Jean."

"Try to keep a sense of priorities," Magneto said. "Cerebro first. Then Jean."

"What about the kids?" Scott said.

"They're here," Magneto said. "We'll get them last."

"But—" Scott said.

"You would rather have them loose while Jean and Stryker are still threats?"

"Stop being right," Scott said.

"Now I know Charles raised you," Magneto said. "All right. Bobby—" Magneto looked up from the panel, and frowned. "Where did he go?"

Scott turned. Bobby was nowhere to be seen.

"Something's not right here," Scott said.

"You're right," Magneto said, and there was a new tone to his voice. Scott took a step back from him involuntarily. "You shouldn't have trusted me."

"What are you talking about?" Scott said. He raised a hand to his temple.

"This," Magneto said, and one of the discarded guns raised itself into the air in front of Scott.

"You're crazy," Scott said. Where had the gun come from? Had there been any guns in the control room? Yes, of course there had, because there was a body lying in the corner. A soldier without his gun. The gun that was floating in midair.

"I'm sorry," Magneto said, and the gun cocked itself. "I can't afford loose ends."

Scott touched his hand to his temple and blasted—

—the air was full of knives, jagged pieces of metal aimed at Scott's throat. Magneto smiled coldly.

"I don't think you can stop them all." Scott raised his hand again—

—Bobby appeared in the doorway.

"Run!" Scott yelled. "It's a trap!"

Bobby looked at Scott, and then set his jaw and threw himself at Magneto. A desk chair spun into the way but only turned Bobby's charge into an uncontrolled sprawl. He hit Magneto hard, and his hand touched Magneto's helmet as the two of them went down.

In a matter of heartbeats, the chair warped itself out of shape and wrapped itself around Bobby like a spider. He went flying across the room, and hit the wall with a smashing noise that somehow sounded like glass breaking. He didn't move, body twisted at an impossible angle. Magneto was getting to his feet—

—Jean walked around the corner, holding the hand of a young girl with oddly mismatched eyes.

"Oh, it wasn't me, Dr. Lehnsherr," Jean said. "I only made a few suggestions." She bent down as if to whisper in the girl's ear, looking at her significantly. The girl smiled. It wasn't at all a nice smile.

Suddenly Scott felt as though someone holding him had dropped him. The odd sense of flickering he'd been having stopped, and as the world stabilized he registered several things at once.

His wrists were pinned to the wall by something metal. Bobby was pinned to the opposite wall, looking angry but uninjured. Magneto was holding his helmet, now rimed with frost, in one hand, facing the doorway that framed Jean and a twisted figure in a wheelchair who looked up at Magneto with mismatched eyes.

Scott knew him. Or he'd know who he was once. This wasn't anyone he knew.

"Jason," Scott said. "Jason, can you hear me? Jason . . . Jean . . ." He willed them to respond. Jean glanced at him and shrugged. There was no flicker of recognition in Jason's eyes.

"Do something!" Bobby yelled. "Hey, Magneto! Get them!"

Magneto showed no sign that he heard either of them. He was watching Jason. Slowly he opened his hand and let the helmet drop.

"Jean," Scott said. "Jean, don't do this. Don't let him do this."

Jean knelt next to Jason, putting her head close to his. Scott could see her lips moving. Jason looked up at Magneto.

Magneto took a step toward Jason. The lines of his face softened. Scott wondered what he was seeing.

Then the world shifted again.

—and then he shook his head, confused. He'd been daydreaming or something. He looked down at his notes. Halfway down the page the neat lines of physics formulas trailed off into loops and scrawls.

He quickly picked up his pen, glad it wasn't one of Professor Xavier's classes. Having a telepathic teacher mean he knew when you weren't paying attention.

Jean was sitting in the front row, looking up at Dr. Lehnsherr intently. Her hair was caught back in a long braid, and she was wearing a sweater and jeans.

"Tell me more about magnetic force," she said. He shrugged.

"What do you want to know?"

Warren was in the seat in front of him, blond head bend over his paper, absorbed in taking notes or at least in drawing sketches in the margins. One wingtip brushed the ground, a little dusty. Ororo was gazing out the window, looking longingly at the bright spring day and the tree branches swaying in the wind.

Scott turned to the kid beside him, a paler blond.

"You're new here, aren't you?" he said.

"I'm Bobby Drake," the kid said. He was looking at Dr. Lehnsherr and frowning. "Is he a new teacher?"

"He's always been here," Scott said. "Nobody ever really leaves."

"That's not true," Jason said, scowling. He slammed his book shut and got up from his desk with a clatter.

"He'll get in trouble," Bobby said. "I always tell John, but he never listens to me."

Jason walked to the front of the classroom, ignoring the murmurs of the students. He stood there glaring at Dr. Lehnsherr, who broke off frowning in mid-lecture, a piece of chalk still in his hand.

"Jason, sit down," Jean said. "You're interrupting the professor."

"People always leave," Jason said. "Or they get sent away."

Dr. Lehnsherr looked down at the chalk in his hand.

"Only when the strains become too much," he said.

"No one's getting sent away," Jean said. "Not this time."

"You're lying," Jason said. "You're lying to me."

"No, Jason," Jean said. "Jason, don't."

Jason's eyes narrowed. Jean gasped as her hands burst into flame. The flame crept up her arms, spreading an unearthly light around her.

"It's just Jason," Scott said. "It's not real, Jeannie."

"It feels real," she said. Now the flame was wreathing her hair, spreading out behind her like wings. "Oh, Scott, it hurts . . ."

Bobby got up and walked over to her. He crouched down in front of her and took her hands. The fire wreathed his own hands as well, but he smiled.

"I'm not afraid," he said.

"I know," Jean said. "But you can't stop me from burning." She turned to look at Scott. "Professor Xavier's coming."

"He's in class," Scott said. "He can't just leave his class."

"Pay attention!" Jason said. He glared, and the desk in front of Dr. Lehnsherr burst into flames. Dr. Lehnsherr watched it burn and smiled tightly.

"Is that the best you can do?" he said.

Jason waved a hand and the flames were everywhere, crawling up the walls and across the floor. Warren's wings were on fire, charring and crumbling. He went on taking notes. Ororo was beating at the windowpane with her hands.

"I won't let you," Bobby said, and stood up. He backed up against the chalkboard. "I won't let you," he said again, and ice spread out from his hands, creeping slowly at first and then ever quicker across the edges of the room, over the ceiling and the floor and the desks.

Jean gasped and stood up. The fire was dying down throughout the room, except around her; it crawled through her hair and down her arms, caressing her without burning. Slowly it faded, as if it were soaking into her skin. She turned to look at Dr. Lehnsherr.

"He's losing control," she said. "Help us."

The room was freezing. It tasted as though the air itself was freezing. There was frost clinging to Jason's sweater, frost in his hair. Jason was staring at Bobby with those unearthly eyes.

"I don't know you," Jason said. "Jean, make him stop."

"No," Jean said. "I don't have to do what you say. I'm older than you are." Scott could still see the fire in her eyes, like flames reflected in dark water. Her voice was low and urgent. "Dr. Lehnsherr, please."

"There's no metal," Dr. Lehnsherr said. "I can't make him stop." He seemed older somehow, and there was a shadow across his face.

"There is," Jean said. "Just do it." She was close enough to touch Dr. Lehnsherr. The air seemed to shimmer around her, a hint of flame. "Trust me."

Dr. Lehnsherr raised a hand, and there was a terrible clatter of metal. The scene jerked crazily, but then solidified again. Jason was lying against the wall, blood running down his forehead.

"You shouldn't have done that," Jason said, rolling over to face them. There was something wrong about the way he moved. There was something wrong about his face.

"No, you shouldn't," another voice said. A heavy-set blond man with short-shorn hair was standing in the doorway. Scott thought he'd seen him before. Jason's father. He'd cut his hair.

"Mr. Stryker," Dr. Lehnsherr said. "You have no right to interrupt my class."

"Is that what this is?" Stryker said. He chuckled. "Interesting lessons you give. Jason, let them go."

"Who let you in here?" Dr. Lehnsherr demanded.

"Jason," Stryker said. "I told you to let them go." He looked down at Jason like he was a thing, a casual assessing look like you'd give a car that had broken down. "What did you let them do to you?"

"You can't take him away," Jean said. "The professor will stop you."

"I don't think so," Stryker said. "Come along, now. I need you in Cerebro."

"No," Jean said. The air around her shimmered. "I'm not supposed to go in there alone."

"Jason, persuade her," Stryker said. "Jason. Wake up."

Jason's eyes were open. He was looking up at Stryker expressionlessly.

"He won't wake," Ororo said softly from her seat by the window. "He won't wake up ever again."

Stryker didn't seem to hear her.

"She's out of control," he said to someone behind him Scott couldn't see. "It doesn't matter. She's brought us Xavier, and that's really all we needed." He shrugged. "Shoot her."

There was a pause, a single breath's length.

Scott was already moving, out of his seat with his hand on his glasses, when the noise started. The clatter of gunshots was deafening.

"Jean!"

Jean was half out of her seat, reaching out a hand to Dr. Lehnsherr, when she cried out and fell—

—at Magneto's feet, and he was kneeling, throwing his cloak over her as if it could shield her from the bullets, and possibly it could, because bullets were ricocheting off the walls behind him but he was unhurt, a perfect fury in his eyes—

—the chalkboard splintering behind him with a noise like breaking glass. The bullets were tearing the room apart. Ororo had fallen, curled up in a pool of blood. Warren was sprawled over his desk, the feathers of his wings sodden with red. Jason watched expressionlessly, blood starting to mat his hair.

The bullets seemed to be coming out of nowhere. Scott looked around for something to blast, but there was nothing he could see. Dr. Lehnsherr kept his arm around Jean, his expression unchanging.

"Enough," Professor Xavier said from the doorway. Scott looked up to see him standing looking in at them, a book under his arm. "That will be quite enough."

"You?" Stryker said. "I'm not afraid of you."

Professor Xavier lifted a hand as if calling his class to order.

"You know, I never liked having to listen to you when Jason was in school," he said. Stryker froze in place.

"You can't stop me," Jason said. His voice was hoarse, as if rusty from years of silence. Blood was darkening the front of his sweater.

"Yes, Jason, I can," Professor Xavier said. "And I can stop your father." He looked at Jason, eyes tired. "He won't hurt you anymore."

"You didn't stop it," Dr. Lehnsherr said. The shadows were back on his face. "You let Stryker take him away from your school and torture him. You left him in what you knew was a prison."

"This isn't really the past, Erik," Professor Xavier said. "It's only a memory."

Professor Xavier walked to the front of the classroom. As he did, the damage faded around him. Warren and Ororo were in their desks, looking confused. Bobby was sitting up on the floor with the shards of the chalkboard all around him, brushing pieces of slate off his clothes.

Scott found himself in his seat again, looking down at the clean white cuffs of his shirt. Through the window, he could see sunshine. It blazed in Jean's hair where she sat in the seat beside him.

The professor touched Jean on the shoulder as he passed and brushed his fingers over the edge of Warren's wing with the ghost of a smile.

"Do you remember?" he asked Dr. Lehnsherr with the same half-smile.

"How could I forget?" Dr. Lehnsherr said. "But you said yourself this isn't real."

"No," Professor Xavier said. "And it's time it ended."

At the front of the classroom, the professor knelt beside Jason, touching his fingers to Jason's temple.

"Enough, Jason," he said. Jason watched him with cold eyes.

"He isn't ever going to forgive you," Dr. Lehnsherr said.

"I don't expect you to," Charles said.

And the classroom wavered and faded away.

Scott was lying in the shelter of a control panel. He remembered being pinned to the wall, and tried to move his wrists; he could. Magneto must have let him go when the illusion started. Or maybe when the shooting started.

Shooting. Jean.

Scott rolled to a sitting position, ready to attack anything that got in his way. Stryker and two guards were frozen in the doorway, in the familiar blank-eyed pose he knew meant Charles had reached them. Magneto was kneeling in the center of the room with Jean practically in his arms, pressing a fold of his cloak against her leg.

"Hold still," he said. "You're bleeding."

"It's not that bad," Jean said. "It just grazed me."

"Jean," Scott said. It was all he could say. Jean looked up and smiled at him faintly.

"I'm all right, Scott," Jean said.

Magneto shrugged and tossed his cloak into her lap.

"You're the doctor," he said. He stood up, looking around. Scott followed his gaze to where Jason lay against the wall, tangled in the wreckage of his wheelchair.

Kneeling beside him, one gloved hand on his forehead, was Marie.

Bobby was sitting up just out of reach, surrounded by twisted metal and shards of ice.

"Marie?" he said, sounding unsure. He reached out a hand toward her.

She glanced up at Bobby, almost sadly.

"Call me Rogue," she said.

"Hello, Rogue," Magneto said, low and dangerous. "What have you done to Charles?"

"It's all right," Jean said, looking at Rogue. "He's all right, isn't he."

She'd absorbed Charles's powers. Scott knew he should be horrified, but he'd run out of room for horror. It was just one more reason why they had to get this done and get back to the plane.

"I was careful," Rogue said. "I didn't hurt him that much." She looked at Scott as if seeking absolution. "He told me to do it."

"He would," Magneto said. He walked up beside her, and looked down at her where she was kneeling. She tilted her head up, and he reached down almost idly to touch her hair. Somehow it seemed more intimate than a kiss.

"Jason's dying," Rogue said.

"Let me see," Jean said, struggling to get up. "Scott, help me."

Rogue shook her head.

"It's too late."

"I am sorry," Magneto said. "I wasn't . . . in control."

"You did what you had to, Erik," Rogue said. "I'm sorry I was too late."

Magneto looked as if he wanted to answer her but bit back the words.

"You were just in time," Jean said instead.

"Did I do all right?" Rogue said. Her Southern accent was starting to return.

"You did great," Scott said.

"Hi," Jean said, turning to him. "What did I miss?"

Scott scrambled over to her. She was still kneeling, pressing Magneto's cloak to her leg. She smiled at him, and he thought he could still see the reflection of the sunlight in her eyes and on her hair.

"Jean," he said, reaching to touch her gingerly, half-afraid it would be illusion again. His fingers brushed her hair.

"Oh, Scott," she said, and her arms went around him.

He didn't want to let go. Ever.

"Get a room," Logan said from the doorway. Scott glared at him.

"Jean's hurt," he said.

"The rest of you don't look so good, either." He looked across the room at Bobby. "Hey, kid. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Bobby said, getting to his feet and brushing ice off his clothes. "I think one of the bullets hit my ice wall. I'll have to try to get it thicker next time."

"Nice work," Scott said. "Remind me to give you extra credit."

"In what class?"

"We'll figure it out later," Jean said. She winced as Scott tried to help her up. "It's my leg. It's not bad, but I don't know if I can . . . ow. Walk much."

"Where's Kurt?" Rogue said.

"He just went to take Ororo back to the plane," Logan said. "He said he'd come back for Mystique. Looks like somebody hit her with a tranquilizer dart." He looked hard at Rogue. "There's people frozen like statues all over the base, do you know that?"

"Yes," Rogue said. "I know."

Logan shook his head.

"Hope the professor knows what he's doing." He looked at Stryker. "Are you going to kill him?" he asked Magneto.

"No," Jean said.

"Yes," Magneto said.

"No," Scott said. "As little as I think it'd be a loss to humanity, I can't let you."

"You can't stop me," Magneto said.

"I can," Rogue said. She rested her gloved hand on Jason's forehead for another moment, and then stood up. She held out a hand toward Magneto, but made no attempt to touch him. "I can, and I will if I have to."

"Fighting Charles's battles for him?" Magneto said. "There's nothing in it for you."

"I'm not the professor," Rogue said. "I'm Rogue."

Magneto looked at her hard, and then smiled abruptly.

"Well, then, Rogue," he said. "Stop me if you can."

There was a hiss of metal. Logan stared at his right hand, claws now extended. He looked up at Magneto, and then his hand lashed out and the claws buried themselves in Stryker's throat.

Magneto jerked his head, and Logan pulled his arm back quickly. Stryker dropped to the floor, and lay in a heap. Blood pooled under him, dark against the metal floor.

Logan stared down at him.

Jean stared at Magneto.

"Okay," she said finally. "It's over. Let's find the kids and go."

"Why didn't you stop him?" Bobby said, putting his hand on Rogue's sleeve. Rogue didn't look at him.

"I don't really know how to use the professor's powers," Rogue said softly. "It didn't work."

Jean looked at her with what Scott thought was a skeptical expression, but she hadn't said anything when Kurt appeared in the doorway.

"Hello again," Kurt said. "I see you find Dr. Jean. Hello, Dr. Jean."

"Hello, Kurt," Jean said.

"I think your friend Storm, she is not good," Kurt said. "And the professor will not wake. There is John, on the plane, but he says he knows nothing about first aid. I think he is afraid."

"I'll come," Jean said. She turned to Scott. "Get Cerebro. And the kids."

"We will," Scott said.

"I'll find the children," Rogue said. "Logan, Bobby, come with me. Scott, you and Erik deal with Cerebro."

"Excuse me," Scott said. "I'm in charge here." He looked at Rogue and sighed. "Okay, Bobby and Logan will go with Rogue to find the kids."

"And we'll deal with Cerebro," Magneto said. "Hurry up. I don't want to still be here when she loses Charles's telepathy."

"You have a point," Scott said.

The heavy, imposing reinforced steel doors of the chamber lasted all of thirty seconds while Magneto frowned at them in concentration and the straining metal screamed. Scott could have helped, but he thought he'd like to hear Magneto ask him to first.

"Okay, that'll be a cold day in hell," he said, as the doors finally peeled open with a groan. Magneto gave him a sharp look and strode into the chamber.

He stopped halfway out on the walkway, looking around. Scott couldn't tell from his expression what he was thinking. After a moment he shook his head and went down on one knee by the machine, beginning to unhook connections.

"I could just blast it," Scott said.

"Absolutely not," Magneto said. "We're taking it with us."

"Oh, no," Scott said. "You are not taking Cerebro."

Magneto looked up at Scott over his shoulder.

"No?"

"No," Scott said.

"I helped build it," Magneto said.

"That doesn't mean you can build another one without the professor's help."

"I don't intend to put this one back together without Charles's help," Magneto said. "I imagine he'll cooperate, since it's the way for him to find his precious students."

"And then you keep it?" Scott said. "And hunt for a telepath?"

"Can't we cross that bridge when we come to it?" Magneto said, almost smiling.

"I don't like you," Scott said.

"No one asked you to," Magneto said. "But you need me. And Charles needs Cerebro. So if you can possibly put your suspicions aside for a moment and help me, we might be able to disassemble it before Rogue's control fails and we're trapped in a base filled with humans who are terrified and heavily armed."

"Don't tell me you've got a big, round, metal-lined room to put it in," Scott said.

"Well, not yet," Magneto said.

"Right," Scott said, and got to work.

They would never have been able to carry the thing, but Magneto levitated it easily, frowning a little at how to get it through the door.

"Think the spillway's still open?" Scott said as they made it back into the entryway.

"If it wasn't, this entire part of the base would be flooded," Magneto pointed out.

"And we'd . . ." Scott said.

"I can fly," Magneto said. "Can you swim?"

"Are you two coming?" Rogue said from the entrance to the spillway. "We got back to the plane with the kids fifteen minutes ago. What took you so long?"

"Ask him," Scott said.

Magneto looked at her.

"Yes, we'll need that," she said. "Oh. Did I just—"

"You can read his mind later," Scott said. "Let's get back to the plane."

Back on the plane was something of a mob scene. There were five kids clustered around Logan, all trying to ask questions at once. Logan looked like the role of babysitter was an uncomfortable one. Jubilee had joined Bobby and John and Rogue in one corner instead and was carrying out her own interrogation in more hushed tones.

Jean had pulled out sleeping bags and put Ororo and Charles on the deck. She was working on Ororo, her face tense. Scott didn't feel like it was the moment to ask stupid questions like "is she okay." He went down on one knee next to Charles as Magneto found room to stow Cerebro.

"He's not doing too badly, under the circumstances," Jean said, not looking up from Ororo. "He's not showing any signs of coming around, though." She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Scott, we really need a medical facility of some kind."

"That's going to be tough," Scott said.

Jean frowned.

"You think the government involvement runs deeper than Stryker."

"That's not the half of it," Scott said. "We broke Magneto out of prison. We blew up a helicopter and smashed up some patrol cars. We're probably the most wanted fugitives in the United States right now."

"I'd include Canada," Magneto said, standing in the cockpit door. "No need to be modest."

"Are we all here?" Scott said.

Magneto nodded.

"Mystique and Kurt are up in the cockpit. Miss Lee says there were no other children taken prisoner at the school." He shrugged. "That she knows of."

"Then let's go," Scott said.

"I've got a question," John said from the corner. "Where are we going?"

Scott hadn't gotten that far. He looked at Jean.

She shrugged.

"You'll come with us," Magneto said, as if it were a foregone conclusion.

"With you," Rogue said. She sounded more skeptical than alarmed.

Magneto looked at her appraisingly.

"We have a base with medical facilities. That is what you want, isn't it?"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Scott muttered under his breath.

"Scott," Jean said softly, touching his arm. "Any port in a storm."

Go on to the Epilogue

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