Chapter 25: Bad Week; Gets Worst

"I am Magneto; what are you doing on MY Island?"

As Phillip listened to the older man in the maroon armor he could only shake his head as this was a most foul way to end an equally foul week.

In front of him and his fellow classmates were their guardians, their protectors assigned to prevent the very thing that was happening from ever happening. Storm; convulsing on the sand while trying to breathe as the very same metal she wore as jewelry was choking her more and more. Phoenix; one of the most powerful minds on the planet and she too could think about nothing more than her last breathe as the metal pot that hit her in the head had flattened and wrapped itself around her head and neck, blinding her while choking the life out of her. Finally there was Bishop. Poor, pitiful Bishop, the man whose defenses had been pushed aside twice like they didn't even exists; he was the only one to get a shot off with his newly made Plasma rifle. A shot that was as easily dismissed as the heavily modified Spa-15 shotgun was ripped from Bishop's hands and disassembled in front of him.

Yes, Phillip thought, this was a crappy way to end a crappy week.

The Year Two's and Three's scrambled to get a duffle bag packed with enough clothes to last a few days; with the exception of Illyana and Stacy whose room and their personal belongings inside of them no longer existed because of the hole blown in the their wall when the Sentinels were trying to take out Cyclops and Havok from the third floor battlements. Those two took a bit longer but were able to be appropriately outfitted.

Then there was the waiting. After riding the mono-rail out to the hanger and waiting until they were told that there was a change of plans and that they needed to wait until the next decision was made. And so they waited and waited and waited. At first Phillip sat with Sally and Stacy, glumly. Unhappy with the previous night's events and scared about what the next night could entail. The hanger suffered minimal damage but the three Pipers and the Bell 2000 helicopter that were parked outside of the hanger were no longer functional as the Sentinels had used them as target practice.

The agitation in Phillip started slowly. He started shaking his right leg and even when asked separately by both Sally and Stacy, found he could not stop its micro bouncing up and down. Then Jubilee, followed by Rusty started pacing and Phillip, oblivious to his letting Sally down in her moment of need joined them. Rusty with both Jubilee and Phillip following suite, starting to manifest their powers in their frustration; Firefist, every time he would make a fist his fist would flare up before dissipating. Jubilee would snap her fingers and soundless light fireworks would explode harmlessly along the hanger's concrete floor. Silent because the first time she threw her light firecrackers on the floor they went off with such a loud echo in the hanger that she startled most of her fellow students present and many berated her, but none as aloud as Tabitha. Phillip was the most active, constantly summoning his field and then dissipating it, each time he would form a new shape; lance, blade, claws, shield, buckler, tentacles, ram and then start back over with lance.

Stacy would periodically ask about her brother and Doug finally asked her if she could sense him with her psionics, since that is how her power worked; she psionically manipulated the pleasure centers of a person and to do that she had to establish a mental connection. When Doug pointed that out to Stacy the look that she gave him told everyone paying attention that she realized that she and her powers could be more than just a walking orgasm inducer. Smiling with a new found sense of purpose she sat back to try to reach out to her brother mentally.

Rusty periodically would ask Doug if he was able to get back online with the defensive network but each time Doug would morosely say in his high squeaky voice that the network was still down.

It was Amara who brought up Ric. She wanted to know what arraignments would be made for their fallen student. Rusty said that he wasn't sure, what he did know was that Ric had accidentally killed his parents and his younger sister when he dropped their house around them the first time he tried to masturbate. And to his knowledge, Julio Esteban had no other immediate family members.

Hearing that was too much for Amara, who came from a society were death and how one was treated upon dying was very important and she could not stop her anxiety from turning into sobs. Sally felt a pang of jealousy as she watched Rusty move to comfort Amara but she too joined in the rest of the females and Doug as they spent tears for their fallen fellow student. When Sally asked Phillip to sit with them, Phillip moved to comply but his own agitation stopped him and he went back to pacing and summoning his field, ignoring the headache that was forming.

The Year Two and Three's, while being left alone at the hanger while they waited, knew that they were never really alone. The Professor's unspeaking presence could be felt mentally often while Phoenix, Polaris and Storm could be seen flying overhead at irregular times.

It was only when Havok showed up to prep the Blackbird that the students wiped away their tears and moved to help with the prepping, but they were surprised when it was Polaris who showed up magnetically carrying four gurneys with Artie, Leech and Cyclops following that told the students they would not be traveling on this flight.

The gurneys contained the four wounded X-Men who still needed extensive care.

Angel was the only one awake as he lay on his stomach and kept trying to tell his teammates that he was fine and did not need to go. The three 20mm holes in his body said other wise. He was expected to rebound quickly, but only after a muscle graft to his massively lacerated thigh. The holes in his wings could not be grafted and had to heal naturally. Because his bones were hollow, infection of the wings was a real threat, even with him taking moderate dosages of anti-biotics.

Nightcrawler was still heavy sedated. Whatever Magick did to him was enough to keep him alive but it would be a long time until his body could withstand the rigors of him teleporting.

The White Queen, like Nightcrawler, was suffering from explosive burns and while it wasn't obvious to most of the student's present that their formerly vivacious Assistant Head Mistress was in a self inflicted coma to prompt her bodies healing, all worried if she would ever attain her body's previous glamour.

The fourth gurney contained Rogue, who was still in the healing coma induced by the Professor and would remain in that state until either one of the school's three telepath's had the time to wake her up properly or when her mind was ready to wake itself up.

After setting the four gurneys lightly to the hanger floor, Polaris turned her attention to the Blackbird and with a grunt and then a wave of her hand; flight seats flew out of the open hatch to make room for the gurneys.

The Blackbird bore only a passing resemblance to the mechanical marvel designed in the sixties by the Lockheed Skunkworks Division, the SR-71 'Blackbird'. That plane was a super sonic spy plane designed to fly one man higher and faster than any previously

manned plane.

The Blackbird resting in Xavier's hanger was not the long needle shaped SR-71 but was more compact while having a wider body to accommodate two pilots and ten passengers, or as Polaris was configuring it, two pilots, three passengers and four gurneys. The other main difference between this Blackbird and the SR-71 was the engines, Xavier's Blackbird, which had no official designation because officially it did not exist, did not mount the two Pratt & Whittney J58-P4 of the SR-71, but something more futuristic, even though the engines were designed in the 1950's.

A man, Salvador Olkov in Livingston, California designed what he called, 'the greatest achievement by man', the Pulsating Particle Collider. The PPC used magnetrons, similar to what was found in the first generation of microwave ovens, to generate a chain reaction that was contained and replicated in the Collider, a small circular tube or container containing a cocktail of exotic gases, which included Freon and nitrous oxide. While the magnetrons agitated them the gases were pushed through the tube, generating electricity. The more electricity the PPC generated, the more self-sufficient it became until it became completely self replicating. The only downfall of the PPC was that it took tremendous energy to start the chain reaction inside the Collider.

Even with that downfall, the Big Seven oil companies thought that this device could end their monopoly on the worlds need for oil and promptly had the design squashed. The design would have been lost for all time if it wasn't for a chance encounter with a young, idealistic Charles Xavier and a couple of those Big Seven oil company executives. Gleaning knowledge of the PPC, Charles stored the information away in the back of his head until needed. When the time was right he approached his friend, Erik Mansherr, who would later be known as Magneto to the world at large, to create the PPC for him.

Charles Xavier has maintained possession of five PPC's, the original, Mark I which these days was used as a back up generator and a much larger Mark III which provided all the additional power that the mansion needed, especially the power needy Cereboro and Danger Room. Two Mark II's were installed on the Blackbird, and a newer, smaller Mark IV was installed on the Lockheed, the short range VTOL carrier that the X-Men sometimes used.

The Mark II PPC's generated enough power for the equally advanced JK-12's SCRAM Thrusters to give the Black Bird a constant cruising speed of Mach 2.6 but the airframe of the Blackbird was rugged enough for the high speed and altitude it periodically traveled at, this speed was attained by the Blackbird flying up to a low orbit and then the SCRAM Jets would use the only fuel it carried to achieve a sub-orbital trajectory, allowing the Blackbird to hop around the planet. This form of travel could put the Blackbird in Tokyo in just five hours of flight.

The Blackbird wasn't going to Tokyo this day, Cyclops was flying it out to Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland. There Professor Xavier's colleague, Dr. Moira MacTaggert, would see to the X-Men's wounded. Havok and Polaris would stay with the wounded as long as needed. After dropping them off, Cyclops's was to fly the Blackbird back to take the Year Two's down to the Bahamas for an extended stay. When Siryn asked why they all didn't go to Muir Island, Cyclops's shrugged and told the students that was the original plan but something came up and the Professor changed the plans at the last moment.

After the Year Two and Three's watched the Blackbird lift into the distant sky, Phoenix told them that it wouldn't be until the morning before they left and for them to leave their bags where they were so the students could go back to the mansion to help with the clean up.

By this time the last S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle had left the school grounds and for four hours they picked up all of the rocks and rubble strewn all about the sides of the mansion and placed them in large piles for Mr. Veneer to do away with. For Phillip, the exercise was just what he needed, as he used his field enhanced strength to carry the rocks, for others, less physically strong, the job was daunting and tiring.

During one of the breaks the Year Three's were talking with the Veneer's about the near future with none of the student's happy about what they were hearing.

"What do ya'll mean you are staying here? Everyone is leaving!" Stacy exclaimed louder than was needed since everyone was standing close by.

Mrs. Veneer gave Stacy her patented heartwarming smile while hugging the young Kentucky native, "We will be fine. In a few days the construction company will arrive to repair the school," waving towards the front of the pock-marked mansion, "and everyone will be back soon after that."

"But who is gonna to protect you? We're being sent away because until the repairs are completed, the Professor thinks we will be safer elsewhere, but what about ya'll?"

Mr. Veneer leaned forward to ruffle Stacy's hair, something he knew she hated having done to her but would never complain about his doing it to her. "Like the Mrs. said, we will be fine."

"Bullshit." The finality of Rachael's tone was not enough to dissuade the married couple.

"I am glad you disagree with the Professor on this Rachael."

Rachael was one of the few at the school who liked Mr. Veneer over Mrs. Veneer, he was a man who was not without sin and everyday faced his previous sins face forward.

"You know what they did to Rictor. What makes you so sure that the Hellfire Club wouldn't do something similar to the two of you simply because you are easy targets?"

Mr. Veneer didn't move to ruffle Rachael's short haired scalp, Mr. Veneer never touched Rachael. "Yes, they could do that or worst, but we trust the Professor on this. He says we will be safe and we will be. We have been with him for years and our safety has never been at risk before."

"But who is going to make sure we have a proper diet? I can't chance my girlish figure going to pot because Mrs. V's healthy snacks aren't available!"

"That is why I am going to be sending you a care package every now and then, Illyana! And since you are taking a care package with you when you leave, I need to get back into the kitchen."

The students nodded and five of the six hugged both the Veneer's before they went back to lugging rocks and other garbage the Sentinels weapons spewed across the school's grounds. Mr. Veneer walked Mrs. Veneer around the side of the house vice through the mangled front doors.

"So, as scared as I am about being here all alone?"

"Definitely." Mrs. Veneer hugged her husband's arm as they walked.

"You know all that talk of us dying has given me a real thirst for life."

"It has Mr. V?" Mrs. Veneer serendipitously looked at her husband out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, it has. Enough to where I want to take a longer break to enjoy the 'here and the now'.

Chuckling at her husband's randiness, "Well, I guess I can take ten minutes longer before getting back to the kitchen."

A shocked look on his face, "Ten minutes? For me?"

Faking like she was uninterested, "If you insist, twenty minutes, but only if you insist."

Mr. Veneer carried on the charade, "Mrs. V! How dare you insult me so!"

Giggling as she nuzzled her husband's beard, "Oh very well, forty five minutes, but not a moment more!"

That afternoon, everyone was called to the secluded portion of the back garden, the one with the seven headstones. When they got there it could be seen that two large rocks had joined the headstones. The Professor sat next to the two rocks that Amara had carved to read the names Remy LeBeau and Julio Esteban Richter as he spoke dearly of the two departed. Everyone knew without having to ask that when the school was repaired and the wounded healed, a more fitting ceremony would be held in the fallen's honor.

Phillip joined the rest of the students in the West Wing Common room after the short ceremony where most of the students cried as they commented about how they wished they knew Esteban better or that they wished Esteban had lived a happier life or how maybe he would be happier now where he was.

Phillip felt guilty because his first thought was that he was glad it was Esteban and not him. He wasn't happy with his second thought of wanting to leave the school. Except that the thought of being alone out in the world scared him even more. He looked at all of the students around him and wondered if they thought the same thing, how many would glad it wasn't them that the Sentinel's caught out by the north western edge of the school's border and was terminated because of how powerful their sensors said he was? How many wanted to leave the school but were afraid to?

If anyone did want to leave the school, they said nothing and neither did Phillip.

At four AM the next morning, the Year Three's loaded into the crowded Lockheed short range carrier for their flight to the Bahamas. The Lockheed, again an unregistered craft that when it flew in tightly controlled air space would assume one of the many fronts the Professor had set up for it. The Blackbird did not utilize this traveling façade very often because it had more extensive stealth technology onboard and because it traveled much higher and faster. The Lockheed was deemed a short range craft but while it could fly for extreme lengths of time its top speed was less than 500mph, much less if heavily burdened as it was now with a full compliment of passengers and baggage.

It took Bishop and Storm piloting the Lockheed close to five hours for the trip to Magneto's Island. For Phillip, those five hours were spent in a cramped jump seat that was very uncomfortable and unlike the Blackbird, held no room for him to stretch. What chafed at all of the Year Three's was that the Year Two's were leaving Xavier's after the Year Three's but since they were flying in the Blackbird, they were going to be on the island a good two hours earlier. They were just waiting for the Blackbird to arrive back from Muir Island.

Going to Magneto's Island vice Muir Island also disturbed Phillip. He had noticed that Sally's Slide Shield went up as soon as they boarded the Lockheed and was jealous that she as well as Teresa and Stacy were able to go to sleep. Sleep was not forthcoming to Phillip for various reasons and so he spent the trip worrying about where they were going and why they were going there while intermittently summoning his field, making sure to keep his arms tight in front of him.

Though he didn't say anything aloud, he was sure that Rachael understood his worries about traveling to Magneto's Island because the red head wouldn't look his way and the few times she did look him in the eyes, she would nod before turning to look out the window. Phillip was a young man whose life, though shocked to the core by his being a mutant and subsequently being sent to Xavier's, was based on logic. He had just recently accepted his being a mutant; he thought he understood where he was and what was expected of him. Illyana's tale about what she experienced on Magneto's Island flew in the face of logic. From all that he had seen and experienced, it shouldn't, but it did. Magneto's Island and what it represented scared him.

So he did the only thing he could think of; he practiced summoning his field.

It was only after they debarked on the sandy inlet bay that they learned that the Year One's would be staying with the Professor. Stacy's explosion of angst surprised no one and Jean had to calm her fears that Sam's needs would be taken care of.

The only positive about traveling in the Lockheed was the fact that the Year Two's had to unload and setup the additional supplies carried aboard the Blackbird, which included a large community tent and some smaller tents.

No on had been on the Island since the survey team left eight months ago and Bishop wanted to extensively search the alien city before they moved into it. He estimated that his search was going to take two to three days. In the mean time, the city, the forest and especially the volcano were off limits.

Illyana did not heed his warnings and disappeared later that morning. She returned twelve hours later, and when asked where she was, since none of the X-Men, consisting of Cyclops, Phoenix, Bishop and Storm could find her, her only response was, "Magick."

Over Bishop's objections, Cyclops moved the two classes into the more built up area of the alien city before he had to leave with the Blackbird, leaving Bishop in charge with Phoenix, who was still recuperating from her broken femur and Storm. Storm was the only one who truly loved staying on the Island, everyone else including Illyana was despondent about their living arraignments.

Bishop shared with everyone the survey team's findings. The alien city had been buried under the water for hundreds of years before Magneto raised the Island, but they could find no connection with any other civilization found on the planet's surface. The language found written on the walls could be linked to no other language known. They speculated that the city could be associated in some way with Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and his claims to being the King of the Atlantis but they had no proof to make that connection.

The buildings in the city did not only have no roofs, they also did not have doors of any sort. Outside of lamps scattered through out the city that provided illumination from an unknown chemical or element inside of them, there was no alien technology to be found nor were there any pots or jars that are commonly found at other archaeology digs. But what stumped the survey team the most was that while each domicile had rooms that indicated sleep and socializing rooms, nowhere in the city were there rooms devoted to waste removal, specifically bodily waste nor was there a main road or route through the city that could have been used as such.

When Magneto raised the Island, he refurbished one area of the city for his needs. The largest of course was the pit that he expanded for his magnetic machine to grant him the ability to shift the worlds tectonic plates to his whim. The rest of the area he refurbished was for his and his guest's quarters which included an outhouse. There was no running water to be found but there was a hot spring close by that could be used for bathing, even though it was a bit salty. This is the area the two classes moved into.

While Bishop and the X-Men searched the Island, the two classes were busy prepping things for their eventual residence, such as bead curtains for the open doorways to give some semblance of privacy, and fresh water containers to catch the rain from the storms Ororo was going to summon. Another hole was dug for a new outhouse.

Illyana's return perturbed Phillip far more than her disappearing had; talk amongst them after she disappeared showed that most of her classmates expected her to go missing. None could say why, it was just a feeling they all had. Phillip's only recourse to everything that was beyond him was to practice summoning his field even more.

His head ached constantly but he complained to no one. Nor did he really listen to the complaints around him.

Sally complained twice but very meekly and did not lift her head so her eyes could be seen through her bangs. She had asked Phillip that first night to sleep in her sleeping bag with her but Phillip could not lie still and spent the rest of the night pacing by the camp fire. After that she did not ask anything of him nor he of her.

Rachael and Teresa got into two arguments which were their first as a couple and after the second argument they started sleeping separately as well. They would not talk about what they argued about and Rachael surprised all by saying that when the Class's went back to West Chester, she was going to leave the school.

Illyana spent more time in her ornate metal form than Phillip had previously seen, but what took him a couple of days to decipher was that she no longer sieved sex. At first he thought it was because James was back in Washington D.C. with the Professor but that didn't seem right to Phillip.

Sex did occur on the Island, Ororo, walking around the Island with just her metal jewelry on, seemed invigorated on the Island and was constantly found masturbating and never in the privacy of her chamber. However, she did not try to get anyone to join her. By the time that they arrived on the Island, Phillip was used to seeing Ororo walk around naked without a care for clothes, a sight that enthralled him and his penis while also intimidating him. He would always look away when he saw Ororo but his throbbing penis meant that he couldn't help but constantly steal side ward glances.

Scott and Jean had sex Scott's last night on the Island. The lack of doors and Jean's screaming of her pleasure told all who cared to listen what the two of them were doing.

Rusty and Amara spent every free minute in the hot springs but they did not copulate, Amara was in morning for Julio Esteban and seemed to be constantly telling Rusty not to hang on her.

Doug and Tabitha tried to cheer everyone up with their antics but no one seemed to pay them any attention, especially Stacy, who was withdrawn as she occupied all of her time trying to contact her brother mentally. Eventually, even the two of them got on each other's nerves and one or both would make an effort to stay away.

Mrs. Veneer kept her word about sending a care package. On the fifth day on the Island, the Blackbird returned, this time with Cyclops and Wolverine, they were to leave the following morning. Their arrival also coincided with the funk that most of the students were in to lift, if only for short time.

After lunch, Wolverine accosted Phillip on the latter's way to the outhouse.

"Kid."

"Yes Wolverine."

"I hear you are getting big in your britches."

"Big?" The confusion on Phillip's face mimicked the shaking of his head.

"Yeah, big for your britches, like you need to be taken down a peg or two." Phillip coughed as Wolverine blew smoke from his stogie into his young protégé's face.

"How? Wh?" Phillip did not see nor was he expecting Wolverine to shove him in the chest, sprawling him on his back.

The anger that had been bubbling below the surface with Phillip erupted, "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!" He sprung to his feet faster than Wolverine ever could because of his enhanced strength and speed granted by his summoned field.

"Oh, the boy wants to tussle, does he? Well, I am game, I am always game." Throwing his cigar to the side, Wolverine bent low as he rushed Field, chin out, and head leading with his arms dragging behind him as his claws extended with a SNIKT. The same combat position he used the last time the two faced off against each other.

Phillip stood his ground until Wolverine was on top of him. Before the two could make contact, he threw himself backwards and swung his legs upward, catching Wolverine at the bottom of his extended chin.

Phillip assumed that Wolverine wasn't trying to harm him and that his options limited him to what he could respond with and in this case the option of deflecting Field's kick was too slow and the Wolverine braced as best as he could since he was flying in the air at the time of contact.

Once contact was made, Wolverine saw a bright light as his lower jaw was slammed up into his upper jaw and three of his teeth did not survive the collision. Wolverine did not know this because he was stunned and seeing stars.

"Wow." Phillip couldn't believe that the maneuver worked as he watched Wolverine fly up and through the roofless building that Phillip was passing through on his way to the outhouse. Bounding to his feet, Phillip sprung high in the air to meet Wolverine who was on the decent part of his trip. Scrunching his face as he concentrated on his field wrapping tightly around his body Phillip swung and his right fist smashed into Wolverine's torso. The very dazed Wolverine was helpless to prevent the blow and Phillip flinched as his fist slammed into Wolverine's adamantium laced ribcage.

One of the hobbies of the Professor was statistics. He simply loved keeping stats. When it came to measuring physically manifested abilities, he had numerous stats but he found two the most useful, pounds per square inch and pounds dead lifted. Pounds per square inch showed how hard someone could punch while pounds dead lifted showed how strong one was and the two commonly did not equal the same. Wolverine was a good example of that, his adamantium laced bones allowed him to hit much harder per square inch than a normal man of his musculature could. For those with super normal class strength a simple numbering scale was used with the number representing how many tons that individual could lift. Colossus was a class 75, which showed that he could dead lift 75 tons. Prior to her Ms. Marvel powers being stolen, Rogue was the next strongest at class 50. Phoenix using her TK was a class 25 while Polaris limited to only lifting metal was a class 45. Bishop, when fully charged was capable of reaching Class 10 while the Angel was a Class 1.

Of the students, Sunspot was the strongest at Class 45, but because Roberto hadn't mastered his power he could only do that once before depleting his energy reserves; the Professor expected Roberto to both increase his energy reserves as well as the amount that he could lift, which the Professor projected to be around Class 65. Thunderbird was known as an earlier developer by the Professor, meaning he peaked early with his mutant abilities and strength wise that was at Class 40. Wolfsbane acquired Class 10 in her Wolfgirl Hybrid form but the natural raw strength of her Dire Wolf form could not be discounted. Marvel Girl was currently rated as a Class 15 and projected to be a Class 30 but her telepathy was also weaker than that of her genetic mother's. Magick's metal form only ranked Class 5 strength but she would be the first to admit that a life of fisticuffs was not in her future.