Fishy 2: the Blackening!

"Beer?" Logan offered, figuring Xander looked like he could use one, and ignoring Cyclops' disapproving glare as Jean bandaged his right hand.

Xander nodded his thanks and took a swig as he looked around the X-Men's medical bay.

"I know you've been through a traumatic experience," Xavier said kindly, "but please understand you shouldn't judge all mutants by the actions of a few."

"Ok," Xander agreed. "I'll agree to that on one condition."

"Yes?" Beast asked curiously as he finished taping up Xander's ribs.

"I'd like a hundred CCs of your blood and the use of your gear to see how many sequences it has that match my own," Xander said, pointing at Jean Grey.

"That seems reasonable," Jean said, sensing no hostile intent from him.

"I'll get the sample," Beast offered.

"That's a weird request, kid," Logan said. "I can see the sense in it, but most people don't use DNA profiles to determine humanity."

"I've no doubt she's human," Xander said. "I'm doing this to check the compatibility of our genes." He ignored Beast taking a sample of his blood as he spoke.

"She already has a boyfriend," Cyclops spoke up quickly.

"Which has nothing to do with why I'm checking DNA compatibility," Xander said, taking a sip of his beer.

"Ok, cued up and-" Beast fell silent for a moment. "Why are there fish proteins in your blood? Did we arrive too late?"

"My swim team coach injected me with fish steroids," Xander said. "It's completely unrelated."

"Would you mind if I keep a copy of this for my files? It could come in handy for my cryogenics research," Beast said thoughtfully.

"Cryogenics?" Xander asked curiously.

"Yes. I recognize these proteins because they come from a species of fish commonly found under the poles. They act as an anti-freeze for the circulatory system and prevent ice from forming. If we could find a way to safely inject them to the same levels I see here, we could safely freeze a human subject," Beast explained.

"Cool," Xander punned. "Do you have a large enough sample?"

"Easily," Beast assured him. "I can safely grow more from the sample you've given me if I need to."

"Excellent," Xander said, joining Beast by the scanner. "And how does hers compare to mine?"

Beast added the sample and started the sequencer. Data that was incomprehensible gibberish to anyone without a masters in biochemistry scrolled past on the screen. "Looks good," Beast said absently. "Did you know you have a recessive gene for red hair?"

"I did not know that," Xander said, taking a partially filled vial from his pocket and injecting the remains of Jean's sample into it before shaking it up, whereupon it started to glow blue.

"What's that?" Beast asked curiously as Xander held up the glowing vial and stared into it as if it held the answers to a question he hardly dared ask.

Xander slotted it into a hypodermic injector. "It's the formula Magneto was making for me," said Xander as he injected it into his jugular vein and winced. "I needed one more donor, female with an X-gene, to complete it. Ok, you guys are forgiven for kidnapping me now."

"Kidnapping you?" Xavier asked, confused as Xander winced and rubbed his chest.

Beast leapt into action helping Xander to a bed and attaching sensors. "This was not a wise idea," he admonished Xander.

"We'll see," Xander told him before addressing Xavier, "I was there willingly. I had no problem being turned into a mutant."

"So you decided to steal Jean's blood," Wolverine growled.

"Nope! Asked openly," Xander corrected him as sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"I didn't know you were going to use it for this," Jean said, checking his vitals.

"Why else would I want a sample that large?" Xander asked. "I'd need at least twice that for any magic ritual you could name," he said absently, his eyes losing focus.

Xander's pants suddenly burst into flame. Cyclops quickly spun around and grabbed a fire extinguisher to put him out.

"Get Drake," Wolverine ordered as he felt the rising temperature and saw a heat shimmer around Xander

Xavier telepathically called the ice-powered mutant down to the medical bay while alerting everyone to the danger and wheeling himself to the computer.

"What do you want?" Magneto asked as he appeared on the screen, still in an ill temper from having his experiment ruined, lab destroyed, and possible recruit stolen and in no mood to talk to the man who had done it.

"I need all the data on your latest effort," Xavier said, wasting no time. "Your test subject injected it with Jean's blood, shook it up, and injected himself."

"I'm surprised," Magneto said as he started sending the files to Xavier. "I mean, I know he seemed strongly in favor of the experiment, but I was half convinced he was faking it and had no idea he would go so far as to complete it himself. I'm not sure if Jean's blood will help or hinder the formula until I run a compatibility scan."

"He asked Beast to run one before he used it," Xavier said.

"Augh!" Logan roared in the background as a fountain of flames hit the ceiling.

"It'll grow back!" Cyclops shouted.

"That doesn't make it feel better!" Logan shouted.

"I'll be there with Pyro, Toad, and Mystique as quickly as I can," Magneto said.

"Probably a wise idea," Xavier admitted.

"Bobby, ice him!" Cyclops yelled as Iceman arrived.

"See you when you get here," Xavier said politely before cutting the connection.

Half an hour later...

"What did you do to him?!" Toad demanded angrily as he saw the block of ice surrounding Xander. His behavior surprised most of the people present as he normally wasn't one to get loud and lose his temper. Noticing everyone staring at him he said, "What? He may be a flat scan but he's a good guy."

"I'm keeping him from cooking himself," Iceman told Toad as he stood there with both hands on the ice. "If I didn't keep feeding it cold he'd go up like a roman candle."

"It's the interaction of Jean's and Pyro's DNA," Beast explained.

"I thought he'd checked for compatibility," Mystique said, joining Beast at the DNA sequencer.

"Of himself, but not the sample from the serum. Not that doing so would have helped," Beast said.

"Why not?" Mystique demanded as she looked through the readings.

"Because they are far too compatible with Pyro's," Beast said, shaking his head. "Thus, the energetic response."

"I'll help," Pyro told Iceman, placing his hands on the other side of the block and trying to cool Xander's flame.

"He's stable, or will be," Mystique said.

"The changes are consuming his artificial X-Gene," Beast noted.

"But leaving the alterations behind," Magneto noted curiously.

"What's that mean?" Toad asked.

"Any children of his will inherit his power set," Xavier explained.

"That's kinda cool," Toad said.

"Can the formula stabilize a natural mutant's genes so their children inherit their power set?" Jean asked.

"That is a good question," Xavier said.

"They'd stop reading as mutants to scanners," Magneto noted thoughtfully.

"Making it difficult for anyone to find among the general population," Xavier said.

"What does this mean, Professor?" Jean asked.

"It means children could inherit their parents' powers and no longer be targeted so easily by bigots," Magneto said.

"Would we still be mutants?" Toad asked, confused.

"Yes, but a lot of the risk would be gone," Jean said as she considered it.

"I don't think I'd want a kid stuck with my powers," Cyclops said.

"Donate sperm to impregnate your wife before having your X-Gene removed," Magneto suggested. "Anyway, this is all speculation at the moment."

"How long until Xander cools down?" Pyro asked.

"Four to six hours," Mystique said after discussing it with Beast.

"Someone get us some food," Pyro said.

"And cards," Iceman added.

"I'll order pizza," Wolverine said, leaving the lab.

"Why isn't he wearing pants?" Toad asked making a face at the sight of Logan's rear.

Typing by: Ordieth