Chapter 10
The X-Men were gathered around
the war room all looking anxious and worried. Wolverine paced back and forth,
muttering every swear word he can think of.
*Poof*
Nightcrawler appeared
interfering in Logan's path of pacing. "Get outta my way, blue."
Logan snapped as he stared into the Blue Man's eyes.
"Logan, you gotta calm
down. You haven't sat down or even drank a cup of coffee for the nine hours
that Jeremy's been gone. Not to mention you haven't rest for a minute even
after you spent two hours in the danger room fighting a stimulation of Mr.
Sinister." Kurt tried to reason with Logan as he can see that the stress
was taking a toll on the Canuck.
"Look, bub, I ain't sittin
'til that child is back where he belongs." Logan said as he looked at Kurt
with such intensity that Nightcrawler felt as if Logan was literally shooting daggers
at him.
"Logan, ve'll find the
child. Have faith." Kurt said calmly as he teleported across the room to
where Kitty Pryde was, and Logan continued his pacing.
* * *
"What do you think he
wants with Jeremy? How could this have happen?" Kitty asked Bobby as Kurt
suddenly appeared beside them.
"I don't know, Mr.
Sinister is a pretty sick guy. Damn, if he even touches a single strand of hair
on the little guy's head, I'll freeze every single finger of his off." The
usually cool but now extremely infuriated Iceman said.
At first, Bobby was very
skeptical of Rogue even having Jeremy. He didn't believe that she should have
to take care of this child alone and felt that the boy would just bring more
heartache to Rogue, but in the last few months of Rogue's pregnancy and the
first time he laid his eyes on the little guy changed every doubt he had.
Rogue was so happy in those last few months of her pregnancy and the joy she
exerted had quickly spread around and especially hit him hard. He remembered
the first baby-sitting duty he had and that was the first time Jeremy had
addressed him as Unca Cool. He had taken a liking to the little guy, and spent
the whole day making ice slides with him. Hell Bobby had practically made a
whole ice playground for the little guy that day.
"Ve'll find him. I know it. All ve got to do is have faith and remain
calm." Kurt replied and his words seem to have a very serene effect on
Bobby and Kitty.
Kurt Wagner had a very special relationship with his nephew. From the day he
found out he was going to be an Uncle was a very exciting day for him. He made
sure to spend as much time with his nephew as possible. He embraced the fact
that he had a nephew and that his little known family was finally growing.
He remembered all those times he had spent with Jeremy and telling him various
bible stories here and there. Jeremy was such a smart little boy, and was
always eager to learn more. Then there was the time when Jeremy was learning to
walk, and he was never afraid of falling. The first few attempts, Kurt would
teleport right before Jeremy would fall, to catch him. However, after the
fourth time he teleported, Jeremy looked into his uncle's eyes with
determination and said, "No." Kurt had understood that the little boy
had wanted to do this on his own, and so he stopped catching his nephew's fall.
After Jeremy's tenth attempt, he finally was able to walk a few feet without
falling. Jeremy managed to walk to Kurt who was clapping with pride and joy,
and he gave his Uncle a hug and kiss on the cheek, signifying that he was
grateful his uncle was there with him.
"I just hope Jeremy is okay. He's the cutest little boy there is. Man, I
just hope the Professor can locate them on cerebro." Kitty said worriedly
as she started biting on her nails.
When Kitty had found out Rogue was pregnant, she finally had a legit excuse
that could be used every time to go shopping. Practically half of the toys
Jeremy had was from Kitty Pryde herself. She spoiled the little boy like mad.
To Jeremy, Kitty was just simply known as Kitty. She wanted it that way and
felt it was fitting, since she was still the youngest member of the team and
felt that Aunty would make her feel a little too old.
In many ways, Kitty felt like an older sister to the little boy. At times, she
would sneak some candy worms to the boy when Rogue wasn't looking, and she
loved watching cartoons with Jeremy. He brought out the kid that's still very
much in here, and with Jeremy, she did not feel the need to always try to be
older than she really was. She was free to be herself around the little boy and
that made her enjoy every moment she got to spend with him.
"I just hope he's okay." Kitty said, as the three huddled together
attempting to comfort each other to no success.
* * *
"This is ridiculous. I
feel absolutely useless just standing around." Elizabeth Braddock
commented as she kept making and undoing a psychic blade.
Elizabeth Braddock, code name:
Psylocke, had always felt that children were a nuisance. She never quite
understood why people would want a little brat running around. Even as close as
she had sort of gotten to Rogue, she had secretly pitied Rogue when she learned
that Rogue was pregnant. Betsy just accepted the fact that maybe she just had
no maternal instincts in her, and she was content with it.
That all changed when she had
been forced to spend an hour alone with Jeremy. Up until that one fateful hour,
she had always kept her distance from the little boy. Surely, she did
acknowledged him and cooed about how cute he was, but she did it all out of
politeness, but when Rogue needed a baby-sitter desperately for an hour, and
Psylocke just happened to have nothing to do and was in sight, she got stuck with
the job.
In the beginning, she had
absolutely no idea what to do with the child. Jeremy was one and half years old
at the time, and never in her life had she ever been in a room with a toddler,
alone. She tried making conversation with the child at first, but immediately
felt stupid when the little boy clearly didn't understand what she was talking
about. So she sat with the child for fifteen minutes in complete silence, just
watching the babe.
The silence broke when Jeremy
started crying loudly, and boy did Betsy panic. She tried to make funny faces
at him, pleading him to stop, even at one point, tried to bribe him with money
to stop crying. He kept on crying though, and after 3 minutes, Betsy finally
felt she had no choice but to pick the child up. As soon as she had the baby in
her arms, he immediately stopped crying. She swayed him back and forth, and
before she even realized it, Jeremy had fell asleep in her arms. It was then
that she realized that maybe babies weren't so bad after all. She thought they
were awfully cute and sweet. It was then that she realized maybe she did have
some maternal instincts after all.
So, for the remainder of the
time, she just held the sleeping baby, and marveled at how beautiful and
wonderful children could be.
"Don't worry, Psylocke,
there's no way I would allow Sinister to do this. Not after what he had put me
through, I will never allow him to do this to Rogue or Jeremy." Scott
replied with an anger that Betsy had never seen from him before.
Scott Summers had every bit of
reason to be angry to the fullest in this situation. From his past encounters
with Sinister, all he had felt was heartache. After what had happened to
Madalyne, and his son, Nathan, he vowed never to let another child fall into
Sinister's hands if he can help it. Scott was still feeling all the pain and
hurt he had felt when he had first lost Nathan. With Jeremy, Scott had tried to
watch over and protect him as much as he can, something he couldn't do with Nathan.
When Scott had learned that
Rogue was pregnant, he excused her from all her danger room sessions. Then, he
had the whole mansion baby-proof which he had spent a whole day doing all by
himself, and this was only half way into Rogue's pregnancy. He didn't care
about the other's protest; he just knew he wanted the newest addition to the
X-Men household to be safe. When Rogue had started looking for a place to move
into, he had made it his job to oversee if all the prospects were in good neighbourhoods,
if the house was safe for a child, and even baby-proof the house before she
even moved in with Jeremy. Although part of this was because he wanted to prove
to himself that he was worthy to maybe have a child of his own one day with
Jean, the other part was he just simply love the kid.
"We just have to remain
calm. That's all. I know we'll find Jeremy. It's not going to be like last
time." Jean Grey said as she put her arm around her husband in an attempt
to comfort him.
She can feel the pain he was
going through, and it was so intense that it felt like she was hurting herself.
Losing a child, something that she can't fully relate to, but yet she can feel
the pain that everyone was feeling. She had never spent too much time with Jeremy,
simply because she didn't want to be too intruding in Rogue's life. The time
she did spend with the little guy, she did cherish. He was the brightest child
she had ever met. His eyes always filled with amazement every time she will use
her telekinesis to move objects from point A to point B.
With Jeremy, she felt that it
was almost practice for her when she and Scott might be blessed to have a child
of their own. And every time she would look at Jeremy, she wished she could
bring a little friend into the world to play with Jeremy. She silently prayed
for his well-being.
* * *
Across the room, Orroro Munroe also known as Storm, was trying to remain calm
and strong for the team. In many situations, she had always been the one to
show leadership through the toughest ordeals, however, this time it was very
hard. For Orroro, Jeremy Lebeau had been a splendid godchild. She must have
spent the most time with the child apart from Rogue, Logan, and Kurt.
She recalled the time when Jeremy
had helped her with her gardening and was always mystified when she made it
rain to water her plants. And how he loved his nature walks with Orroro. She
would spend many afternoons just pushing the boy's stroller through the forest
behind the Xavier Mansion.
Aunty Stormy, she was to him. How she hated being called that, but coming from
that little boy never sounded so sweet.
"I can't take this
anymore!" She exclaimed as the Weather Goddess flew out of the room,
through an open window, and expressed her anger and pain with her powers.
* * *
As thunder pounded outside and
lightening went wild outside, Rogue and Remy walked into the Danger Room, hand
in hand. From everyone's faces, Rogue could tell that this was putting them
through hell. Rogue felt glad that she had such a great support of friends, and
Jeremy had such a wonderful family.
"Chere, we'll find
him." Remy whispered as he squeezed her hand.
"Ah know, sugah. Ah
know." Rogue replied confidently as she squeezed back.
The danger room door opened
again, and the Professor Xavier was wheeling in on his wheelchair.
"Professor? Have you
located them?" Rogue immediately asked as she let go of Remy's hand and
ran to the Professor.
"In a way,yes." He
replied.
"What do ya mean in a way,
yes?" She answered anxiously.
"I've pinpoint their exact
location, however, the area that is in question seem to be a barren land. I've
had it scanned and there's nothing there." Professor Xavier replied deep
in thought on how his discovery could be.
"Remy don't get it, how
can dey be dere and not be dere?" Gambit asked with confusion.
"Cerebro located them just
outside New York City, but I know the place very well, and there are no
inhabitants there. I just can't seem to figure it out. Cerebro locates mutants
and with the technology it's built with, it can easily bypass any decoys
Sinister might have set up." Professor Xavier explained.
"Wait a minute, did u say
by New York City? Is it north of it?" Remy asked as he was on to
something.
"Yes, north of New York
City. But the area is all trees and nothing else." Professor Xavier
explained.
"Remy knows the area very
well. I thought he'd abandoned it long ago. It's the Maurader's headquarters,
before the massacre, son of a bitch. He brought my son there. Dat bastard's
going t' pay." Remy yelled as he charged a card and threw it out the
window as it exploded in the air.
"I don't get it Gambit, like
I said, that area is barren. How can the headquarter be there, unless.."
"Unless it's underground.
There's three way t' get in. We must go now." Gambit said as he started
heading towards the exit.
"X-Men, start the
blackbird and we'll finish up the plans on the plane." Professor Xavier
ordered as everyone rushed off to do as he instructed. ~~~~~