Chapter 14: Loose Ends

The week following Rogue's kidnapping and Phillip's assault went slowly. Professor Xavier kept the mansion hopping with activity as he tried to track down his missing student. On the fifth day, Wolverine's nose and other extremities had not healed enough to be functional, but that did not stop him from attempting to track down Rogue and Phillip's attackers by their scent. As was expected, he could not track Rogue since she flew away, apparently under the control of Sinister. Phillip's assailants were not so lucky.

Wolverine went to the local high school using descriptions of the assailants given to him by Jean. He was able to corner one of the students as the student walked to his car from the school's weight room where he had been working out late into the evening with some other football players. Wolverine, with his still disfigured face was able to scare the high school football player easily enough, but Charles stopped Logan from actually assaulting the boy. When Jean had told him what the boys had looked like, Logan ignored her comments that the Professor had taken care of the situation. Logan thought the situation needed his personal touch.

Charles Xavier had indeed found the three attackers the day after the attack like he said he would be able to do, but as he expected it only led to a dead end. The three high school boys were bullies and jocks at the local school; they were also very prejudicial against anyone who wasn't like them: white, affluent, popular and physically fit. The stun guns used on Phillip were owned by the three boys, but the boys retained no memory of the assault thanks to a cortex 'bomb' psionically implanted into the boys. Charles was shocked to see such a vicious tactic used on the powerless lackeys. The cortex 'bomb' literally fried the parts of the brain that held any information as to who contacted the boys about the attack. Even knowledge of the attack itself was 'burned' away from their minds. This troubled Charles because the cortex bomb damage was permanent, those three boys had entire sections of their brain that they would never be able to use again and it made them prime candidates to succumbing to a stroke by age thirty. In the mean time they would suffer terrible headaches and their overall mental capacity was severely diminished; so badly that Charles did not expect them to be able to finish high school and one of the attackers was a senior while the other two were juniors. Charles knew there were less catastrophic ways to wipe a mind, but none that did the job as completely as a cortex burn.

This, along with that fact that neither Charles nor his students could find any trace of Sinister or his telepathic hounds; none of the changes made by Doug and Kitty to Cereboro bore any fruit. Did Sinister have a machine like Xavier's own Cereboro that extended the range of telepathic abilities or blocked him and his hounds from detection?

Charles was impressed with Phillip's psyche though, because after everything that Phillip experienced in his three days at the school, he adjusted well. Carol Danvers was assigned to take over as his Training Instructor and between her aggressive regime and Phillip's normal course load, he and the rest of the students were kept busy. Phillip bonded with his Year Three classmates as they became very protective of him, simply to keep him out of the infirmary; four times in three days was a record no one wanted to see broken, let alone made.

Remy had vanished twice looking for Sinister and Rogue. When he was at the mansion he was despondent and prone to excess physical activity in the Danger Room with his fellow Blue Team members. Nightcrawler tried haphazardly to console him; much to his chagrin. Storm and Bishop were healing faster than was predicted with Bishop working on increasing the security of the mansion while his healing wounds kept him from leading his Team. Storm increased the number of daily showers she subjected the mansion to threefold stating that 'The Goddess's healing waters would heal her soon enough'.

On the seventh day of Rogue's being missing, Emma decreed that the students needed a break and ordered a special activity to release their tensions. She cancelled the afternoon classes and had the Classes play against each other in an outdoor volleyball tournament. Roberto tried to convince the Assistant Head Mistress to switch the game from volleyball to soccer, as he stated it, 'footbol was a real sport' but Emma would not budge. Rebuffed, Roberto looked at his fellows classmates and proclaimed that the Year One class would beat all comers. His bravado didn't last long. The Year Two class beat his Year One class in their first game. When Rusty took up Roberto's mantra of proclaiming that his Year Two classmates would remain unbeaten, he too was quieted promptly when the Year Three's beat the Year Two's, thanks mainly to the teamwork of Teresa, Rachael and Stacy.

By the end of the activities, the Year One's had won the most games because while the Year Three's didn't beat them once, the Year Two's lost every game to the 3rd Year's and split with the 1st Years. More importantly, Emma was happy to see that all of the students had enjoyed the impromptu sports tournament, even the ever sullen Ric and shielded Sally, joined in on the festivities and neither had any issues with their powers while playing the games.

Afterwards, the students were walking back in the mansion to clean up, stopping off in the kitchen to grab a drink or one of Mrs. Veneer's tasty snacks, with most of them filing up the main stairs when they heard a large thump on the front doors, followed by loud squealing of tires. Phillip was actually closest to the door but hesitated in moving. The three Year One's behind him did not. Sam, Rahne and Dani raced to the front door; opening it they saw a naked Rogue, lying unconscious in the door way. Sam reacted immediately, yelling at Dani to get a blanket or jacket to pick up Rogue and take her to the Medical Lab, and for Rahne to go to wolf form and to see if there was anything her animal sense of smell could decipher. Then he blasted off, racing towards the van that had just exited the front gate to the school.

Phillip stood, unsure what to do, wondering if his original Trainer was alright and what Sam, who had the code/nickname of Cannonball, was going to do. It looked like he was going to intercept the family style minivan that had dropped off Rogue. Phillip had gotten to learn more about his fellow students and knew that if Sam so choose, he could slam into the minivan at full force, and the resounding impact would shred the van and its occupants. Phillip was thankful that when Sam activated his mutant ability that it didn't stink like when Nightcrawler teleported (that stunk of brimstone and sulfur). Sam too could generate a protective field around him like Phillip's and Sally's except his field also generated massive thrust down the length of his body that propelled him forward, causing him to take off as if shot out of a cannon. The protective field only protected him a few seconds after the massive thrust petered out, but Sam had enough experience to generate his field and thrust multiple times in procession before fatigue would render him helpless. Roberto liked to tease Sam that all of his thrust comes from the beans he ate the night before, whether Sam actually imbibed beans or not. Phillip would disagree with Roberto, Sam's exhaust smelt nothing like beans, more like sweat he thought. And the smell of his exhaust did not linger, since a slight breeze would easily dissipate it.

Before Sam could cross over the school grounds wall a loud, 'STOP' was heard mentally by all present. Sam arched back towards the front entrance of the school and Phillip noticed that Dani had returned from the hall closet with one of Rogue's cloaks, behind her, the door to the Professor's office opened and Emma walked stiffly out.

"Very good Dani, cover her up so that she can be moved safely to the Medical Lab. Phillip, when she is covered, please take her to the Lab, but be careful. I don't want you to chance her mutant ability won't still affect you even though she is not conscious."

As Phillip bent down to gingerly pickup Rogue he heard a 'whoosh' behind him heralding the return of Cannonball.

"Ms. Frost, why did the Professor call me off? I could have stopped 'dem."

"Stopping them wasn't a requirement Sam. We have already scanned them and know everything there is to know about those in the minivan. They are not a threat to us."

Bishop, Storm and Carol Danvers arrived at the front foyer from two different directions, Gold and Blue Teams where currently off the school grounds, both trying to track down their missing teammate and the three present were responsible for security of the mansion. Though Storm still had an air cast on her healing arm and Bishop moved stiffly, it would be a serious mistake to underestimate their capabilities.

Bishop went straight to the Asst. Head Mistress growling, "Is it the same three boys?"

Emma immediately put her hand on Bishop's broad shoulder and weakly replied, "Yes, Charles and I are trying to piece everything together. We have called the teams back." Pausing between ragged breaths, she paused and then jerked as if punched, Lucas, not able to help himself, wrapped her in a comforting bear-hug like embrace. "We are trying to stop the mind wipe that Sinister, again, has planted in the brains of those poor boys." Emma then leaned her head into Lucas's chest and grabbed his web harness, ignoring the fact that Lucas's arm prevented her from falling as she strained mentally at her task.

Bishop did not try to inquire more, knowing that distracting the Assistant Headmistress with his questions or thoughts would be enough to ensure her failure. While he had no love for the three racist boys in the van speeding away, he still did not wish upon them the sentence Sinister gave them. One Cortex Bomb was bad, two was simply evil. The Professor had explained to the X-men that if a brain was exposed to two Cortex Bombs, that brain would fail completely, if they were lucky, they would simply be turned into a human vegetable, if they were unlucky parts of the brain's lower functions would be destroyed and the person would die in scant minutes. Speeding away in the family mini-van, he could just imagine the driver's brain seizing; loosing complete control of his mind and body and the resulting crash that would be destined to happen.

Ororo stopped Phillip as he was carrying the catatonic Rogue towards the elevator. Running her hands through her medium length striped hair, she lifted her head.

"Goddess protect her, look at the scars all over her face and body. Let's get her down stairs now Phillip." And then she led the way to the Medical Lab by way of the elevator.

Soon, Phillip, along with Dani, Rahne and Stacy were run out of the Medical Lab as Ororo checked to see what was wrong with their returned mutant. Rachael was allowed to stay until just over an hour later when the Blackbird landed with Gold Team and Phoenix ordered her from the lab. The Year Three's had been hanging out as a group in Teresa's room but raced to the Medical Lab when they had heard that Gold Team was back in the mansion. They found Rachael crying in a corner facing the blank wall and everyone but Teresa stopped where they were.

"Rache, babe, you ok?"

Rachael spun and faced her interrupter, snarling, "WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"

Phillip jerked back and then raised his field, Rachael's face was shimmering and it looked to Phillip that her whole face had a hidden tattoo of black lines starting from her eyes, going outward, covering all or most of her face. She paid him no mind. Teresa didn't flinch, just stood there, looking at her companion with love in her eyes. Suddenly Rachael ran towards Teresa and enveloped her in a strong hug. Their classmates left them to their moment and Phillip looked at Sally.

Whispering, "You saw her face? The marks?" Sally just nodded her head. Guessing, Phillip continued, "This is because of her relationship with Jean and Scott, her parents?"

Sally had her arms wrapped around her chest, but then moved her arms up to hug her own shoulders and again nodded her head. Phillip wasn't sure if she was crying or not because her forearms hid her face except for what was covered by her hair. Phillip saw Stacy holding Illyana and tears were coming down Stacy's face.

Without making a statement, Teresa started walking Rachael towards the elevator and up to the room they shared. The rest of the Year Three's followed quietly and when they passed the Common room, Stacy and Illyana turned to go there instead. Sally looked sadly at Phillip with her one uncovered eye and followed them into the Common. Phillip paused, looked around the hallway, Teresa and Rachael had already turned down the hallway that lead to the room they shared and then Phillip looked at his room's door before shrugging and entered the Common Room.

Phillip did not like the Common Room, mainly because of the almost nightly activities that took place there; Illyana riding James and Longshot. Stacy always wanted to play Longshot; as did most of the male students, which Phillip both understood and was scared by. Sometimes even Jubilee wanted to play Longshot, which scared Phillip even more, especially after one night when Jubilee insisted that they play four times. Each time the boys playing would shoot less and less while Jubilee would shoot farther and farther, easily winning the last two rounds.

Music videos were playing on the wide screen TV along the east wall which everyone was ignoring. James was in his normal spot, lounging in the overstuff bean bag near the west wall. Illyana promptly joined him and though they were fully clothed they started partially nuzzling each other immediately. Sam and Roberto were in their regular couch arguing about what they wanted to do to the three boys that attacked Phillip and dropped off Rogue. Phillip wondered if they understood what the future entailed those three boys? The attack on Phillip did not make him want revenge on his three assailants, it made him fear Sinister.

Across from Sam and Roberto; Rusty and Amara were cuddling on their couch; Sally stopped briefly upon noticing them but did not run out of the room the way Phillip thought she would. Maybe her sessions with the two Headmasters were getting somewhere. Sally did startle Phillip when he felt a push towards the couch occupied by the two lovers; Stacy had sat next to her older brother. Sally continued to push Phillip until he sat next to Amara with Rusty on the other side of her and Sally sat next to Phillip. Phillip couldn't believe what he was feeling because with the four of them on the couch it was a tight fit, though he wasn't touching Amara, but when Sally sat down, he actually felt Sally's hip and thigh and not her field; because of what he knew of Sally and her mutant ability, this befuddled him.

"Hey Phillip", Rusty acknowledge as he sat down and then almost grudgingly a, "hey Sal" followed. Sally ignored him and watched Sam and Roberto argue while Stacy looked on enraptured. Sam was pushing for what he considered the 'right' thing to do with the three high school bullies and Roberto just wanted to pound them.

After waiting a second, to make sure they weren't going to be back to kissing, Phillip replied, "Rusty. Amara." And then he too concentrated on the three across from him while glancing at the bean bag to make sure Illyana didn't go crazy on James. Even Phillip had noticed that she let her enthusiasm get away when she was with James. For his part James knew he had a good thing and just enjoyed himself with her. Phillip was pretty secure that they weren't in love, just young and very physical lust. One more reason for him to be envious of the hulking James Proudstar except that he actually liked James; who was a laid back, stand up kind of guy but then it helps your confidence heaps when you can lift tons, run almost as fast as a cheetah and have a physique that put professional bodybuilders to shame.

Roberto and his claims of the actions he was willing to take was getting out of hand. Phillip would have spoken up but didn't because they were both Year One students, while he was a Year Three student and didn't want to cause any animosity. Sally nudged him to point out that Tabitha and Doug were at the Common Room doorway talking. As classmates they were thick as thieves; add on the fact that Doug wanted the boys to look at him the way they looked at the voluptuous and gorgeous Tabitha and you could understand why he chose to spend so much time with her.

Doug left her and Tabitha entered the Common room to cheers from Sam, Roberto and Stacy. While Tabitha wasn't the 'life of the party' the way Jubilee was, she was very much a party girl and was constantly doing the zany and outrageous things one would expect from a party girl. Tabitha was greeting everyone by name until she saw Sally sitting next to Phillip on the same couch as Rusty and Amara.

"Oh wow, we are going to have fun tonight," and with that she launched herself at the couch. Phillip stiffened for the impact wondering if he should raise his field or whether or not Tabitha was going to bounce off of Sally's permanent slide field. Amara started to squeal as Tabitha was about to land on them. With an "ommph" Tabitha landed across all four of the couch's inhabitants, with Phillip taking the brunt of the impact as she landed chest first into his lap. Her feet landed in Rusty's lap and her knees split Amara's legs apart.

"Hey there girl, watch it. Rusty has claims on that tonight," then Amara joined Rusty in giggling about Tabitha's antics.

Tabitha looked up at Sally from her lap, "Sal, great to see you in the Fun Room, we have missed you."

Phillip was astonished to realize that Tabitha's head was actually lying in Sally's lap and not on her field. "Sally, have you gotten control over your slip field? Tabitha isn't sliding out of your lap!"

Sally looked at Phillip with a smile on her face, shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, "Something like that" and then bent down and touched her head to Tabitha's head. Roberto asked if that meant Sally liked girls and before Sally could say anything Roberto was pelted with various pillows and shoes thrown and swung by everyone except Phillip and Sally.

Phillip abruptly got embarrassed because he realized that what was rubbing against his crotch was Tabitha's very massive chest. Roberto, while still laughing at being pelted, saw Phillip's reaction.

"Day-AM. Phillip, aren't you the lucky dog you are surrounded by two of the best endowed girls in the school. Don't you feel lucky?"

Phillip couldn't stop his face from getting red, but he still had to bite his lip so he didn't correct Roberto, because he was surrounded by the 'three' biggest girls in the school. Tabitha was just the opposite of Sally when it came to parading her womanly charms. Sally hid and squished hers; Tabitha flaunted hers, routinely wearing tops that showed all or most of her cleavage; which constantly got Phillip in trouble because she would always catch him staring. Tabitha however wasn't consistent with Phillip when she would catch him, sometimes she would give him a scolding look and other times she would openly smile at his stares.

Amara's preference was somewhere in the middle of Sally and Tabitha, however, her tops always looked elegant, no matter how much skin was showing. Tabitha's goal was to show off her skin while Amara showed off how well she looked in her outfit; and she always looked gorgeous. Always.