Chapter 35: A Change of Plans

Ten minutes later found the three of them in Xavier's office, along Xavier himself, Ororo, and Kurt.

"I don't understand how Mystique could have snuck on campus," Ororo protested. "What about the new security gate? It's voice-activated, even the password."

"She can imitate anyone," Kurt answered. "Even their voice."

"Okay, so who was she imitating?" 'Ro glanced at Xavier expectantly.

He shook his head. "I have no way of knowing. Not without doing scans of every person in this building and comparing them to our security tapes. I don't see how—"

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jubilee opened it and stuck her head in. "Hey, professor, I was just wondering if… whoa! Serious meeting, huh? Sorry I interrupted."

"What is it, Jubilee?" Xavier asked in a patient voice.

Jubilee grinned at him. "I was just wondering if you knew where Remy was headed after he talked to you this morning."

Xavier frowned. "This morning? Jubilee, Remy left yesterday for New Orleans."

Logan gave a satisfied snort, but Jubilee protested. "No, no, he came back this morning. We had a breakfast date planned for after he talked to you. I told Kitty and Rogue about it already…" her gaze flicked over to her friend, and it reminded her of their talk. She went on, without taking a breath, "And by the way, what the hell was Wolverine doing, sleeping in her room with her last night, and then threatening to take my arms off this morning?"

Wolverine growled. Xavier put up a restraining hand. "Whatever he was doing is his business, and Rogue's. Remy Lebeau left for New Orleans yesterday; if you saw him this morning, I fear we have our answer as to how Mystique was able to sneak on-campus."

Jubilee said nothing for a long moment, digesting this information. Rogue watched her friend, slightly worried. With Jubilee's exuberant emotions, how would she feel about having been the one to let Mystique onto the campus and attack Hank? Would she feel guilty? Would she feel responsible, like it was her fault? Would she be all right?

She needn't have concerned herself. Jubilee made a disgusted face and coughed. "Ew! You mean I got kissed by a chick? A BLUE chick?"

"I'm afraid so," Ororo told her firmly. "You'll get over it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, we were in the middle of a meeting here, Jubilee."

"Oh, don't mind me," the girl said airily, throwing herself into an empty chair.

Wolverine growled and took a half-step closer to her.

"…I'll just be on my way, then," Jubilee finished quickly, and then ran out the door.

Scott gave the shorter man a tight grin. "Good show," he remarked quietly. Logan grunted.

"Professor," Rogue began slowly, "What are we going to do about Hank's research? Mystique took his serum, all his notes, and destroyed his computer."

"We go after her." Scott said.

"And we kill her," Logan added. For once, Scott didn't contradict him.

"What about Hank?"

"I have another friend who's a doctor, who is used to working with mutants," Xavier said. "He'll come and look after Hank, while you X-Men will go after Mystique, who is probably acting under Magneto's orders."

Rogue's eyes widened, and Logan groaned. "Great," he said grimly. "What does Buckethead want with Hank's serum? I thought he didn't want mutants to have to hide."

"Perhaps he wishes to remove the option from us," Xavier said. "In any case, though, let me try Cerebro to see if I can find where Mystique has gone." He wheeled himself from the room.

"Okay, assuming he comes back with some info, we've got to be ready to suit up," Scott said, switching effortlessly into leader-mode. "Storm, you and Jean can… aw, shit," he trailed off. This would be their first real mission without her. He buried his face in his hands.

It was Logan, of all people, who stepped forward. He squeezed Scott's shoulder, and absently left his hand there as he spoke. "How 'bout this: I'll take point. I can take out more of 'em as I go, and when he figures out I'm there, old Buckethead won't be able to resist pulling me apart to see what makes me tick. While he's doing that, Kurt can poof in there and poke around for Hank's serum while Storm and Cyc here can keep them occupied from a distance." He patted Scott's shoulder briskly. "How's that sound, Summers?"

Scott nodded, lifting his face from his hands. "Not a bad plan, considering the source," he said, but the insult lacked sincerity. He nodded. "All right, we'll do it that way. Any questions?"

"One. What am I going to do?" Rogue asked.

"You're going to stay here, where it's safe," Logan told her. "You don't have me in your head anymore, honey, and that means you've got zero combat skills. Mystique would wipe the floor with you."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She glanced at Scott. "You don't think you'll need me?"

He shook his head. "With your mutation suppressed, Rogue, you'd be a sitting duck. Especially with no combat skills."

"What about this?" Rogue asked, lifting her hand suddenly and floating Logan's silver lighter out of his pocket. Without touching it, she flicked it open and lit it up before she finally reached over to cup the tiny flame in her palm. "What if Pyro is there? Wouldn't you want to fight fire with fire?" She concentrated, making the flame larger, before leaning forward and blowing it out.

"Not to mention," she went on, closing the lighter with her hand and reaching over to drop it back into Logan's pocket. She opened her hand suddenly and raised it, and Logan's body lifted about 6 inches off the ground. "I might be the only person able to keep Magneto from turning Wolvie into a pretzel."

Kurt grinned, his teeth flashing white in his dark blue face. Storm turned away to hide her smile. Rogue gave Logan an eyebrows-raised, "see-I-made-my-point" look as he dangled there, helpless.

"You wanna put me down, darlin'?" he asked with a scowl.

With a smirk that rivalled his own, she let him down. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if he were counting to ten, and then cocked an eyebrow at Scott. "What do you think, Cyc?"

Scott shrugged. "I think she makes a hell of a point."

Grudgingly, Logan had to agree.

"Okay, new plan: Rogue, you take point with Wolverine, and give Buckethead a run for his money," Scott said, unconsciously adopting Logan's nickname for their enemy. "Everything else remains the same."

Xavier rolled back in at that moment. "Mystique is heading toward Magneto's hideout. Apparently, she did not expect us to discover her theft quite this soon; she must have been unaware of Hank's two 'test subjects.' If you hurry, you might be able to catch her before she returns to their home base."

"Let's go," was Scott's reply. He paused for a moment, eyes closed, as the professor dumped all the information into their minds that he had learned in Cerebro, and then nodded once before heading down to the locker room.

A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated;you all have my apologies. I'm just blocked on this story, though, and even though I know where I want to take it, I have no idea how to get there nor any motivation for writing. Please bear with me; I'm doing my best. It might be another week or even longer till my next update, but I promise I haven't abandoned this one.