The other X-men returned sometime later, in which time Morph and Mystique had both come out of the surveillance room.
Morph, though not happy, was keeping up his facade with the ease of practice and switched characters as necessary, but Mystique really was not helping him. She was fine, up until they got near Kurt, and then every time she'd stop talking and just cast Morph a look like, "Not doing it."
It was kind of annoying. It was his friends' heads if she messed this up.
"You know, he's not gonna eat you," he hissed, at an opportune moment.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Mystique denied it.
Once they heard the two guests actually come back in, they switched roles.
As Rogue, Morph told them that the others were resting and to be quiet for a bit.
"Okay, sure," Wally said, a bit flatly.
"Hey, you'll never believe this," Shine said, "but we actually did find Spiderman."
That just about killed Morph because he was, in fact, a Spiderman fan.
"Oh..?" he said, trying to remember if Rogue was one.
"Yeah, he's cool. He remembered us," Shine said.
Lying to people who knew Spiderman...Creed was really the worst person in the world.
Morph kicked himself mentally. Stay on target.
"Well, that's nice," he said. He made his escape as fast as he could.
"Well, that was abrupt," Wally said. "I mean, I thought she'd be okay by now."
"Maybe she just feels weird about it with everyone else being so mad at us," Shine said. "Don't worry about it too much."
Mystique had to make an exit too, once she heard them--but she was just a little curious to see who'd she'd been impersonating up close.
She shifted into Jubilee to walk by them.
"So what was the problem?" Shine asked.
"Oh, false alarm," Mystique answered. "They just wanted me back for safety. The Professor and Wolverine went off on a mission."
"Oh, okay," Wally said.
Shine nodded, then she said, "They drove?"
"Huh?" Mystique said.
"Well, the plane was gone," Shine said. "I was just wondering which car fits the Professor's wheel chair--it's so big. I can't think of one off the top of my head. Unless he just flew it, and someone else drove... That'd be something to see going down the highway."
Mystique shrugged. "I don't really know."
Time to get out--maybe this woman was a little too observant.
"Are you all right?" Shine just about gave her a heart attack by asking next. "You seem a bit nervous."
"Ah, you know, just don't want to start up any more fights," Mystique lied.
"Oh..." Wally said. "I see..."
Mystique got out as fast as she could.
"What took you so long?" Morph hissed from the bushes.
"I had a bit of traffic--Now is it over?" she grumbled.
"Not yet," Morph said grimly. "There's still Act 3 here. I hate this..."
"Oh, just get it over with so you can get your precious friends back," Mystique said sourly.
"You have to get a grip," Morph said. "There's too many of them. If you mess up, we're toast--and so are Wolverine and the Professor."
"I'll be fine. I've been doing this longer than you have," Mystique sniffed.
Even though she was the one who kept almost getting her cover blown--but Morph didn't bother arguing. He didn't like her much, but he had no choice but to play nice for now.
[I didn't write this to ship them, but if you did, would that be multi-shipping?]
* * *
Shine started dusting the hallway. After all, they still had a deal to hold up.
Anyway, it was therapeutic.
She saw Rogue come out of her room... Huh, when had she gone back into it?
"Oh, hi," Rogue said. "How was the city?"
"Fine," Shine said, "like I said before."
"Hmm?" Rogue said, then she rubbed her eyes. "Ah, nevermind..."
"You seemed jumpy before," Shine noted. "What was that about?"
"Did I?" Rogue didn't remember acting jumpy. "Ah, well, it's been tense... You know, I flew by that church. It's even worse in daylight."
"I'm sure." Shine hadn't seen it yet.
"So, you gonna be okay?" Rogue asked.
"Ah...personally, I wouldn't care," Shine said. "It's just a building, but I feel bad for all the members and Rev Billings. He's been cool about it, but I can't help but wonder if he'd have second thoughts."
"Wouldn't you?" Rogue said. "This sorta thing kinda makes it hard to believe any of this is worth it."
"Why?" Shine said, absently running a duster over a table.
"People...hate it," Rogue said. "It feels like we just make it worse for others by interferin'."
"How can you say that?" Shine said. "When is change ever not resisted? We just made some people real mad, that's all." She raised an eyebrow. "It's not like it's your responsibility in any way. Why should you feel guilty?"
"Who says I do?" Rogue said.
Shine gave her a look that said, "Get real."
Rogue sighed.
"I guess it's not like we made it happen, but you ever think we just don't know what to do?"
"Rarely." Shine said that like it wasn't bragging.
"Y'see, how can you be that sure?" Rogue said.
Shine shrugged. "Whenever I think an idea sounds risky, I whip out my Bible and theology and weigh it. If it matches up, I do it anyway. What makes sense to me doesn't always make sense to God. Or vice versa. So I feel sure."
"Sounds a bit risky to live life based on a book, no offense," Rogue said meekly. "I know it's important to ya, but it's...well, old, and I bet it don't even talk about mutants."
"I don't know about that. Samson had the strength of 10 men," Shine said. "And other people had the gift of foretelling the future. Both of those seem very much like something a mutant would do to me. The Bible makes no distinction of persons, it just says God gave them those gifts--and whether or not they used it His way. And when they didn't, sometimes He removed them. Other times, He didn't. He gives all of us gifts, and He expects us to make use of them. When we don't, they're empty."
Rogue tilted her head. "We don't get a choice. We're stuck with our 'gifts' from birth."
"That's not actually true," Shine said. "Particularly in your case, I'd say. Acquired some of your powers later, didn't you?"
Rogue was stunned, but then she realized of course she'd know that--she knew about Ms. Marvel.
"It was an accident," she said quietly.
"I know, but it wasn't really my point... Not all gifts are given at the same time." Shine shrugged. "Having special powers is in the Bible. Perhaps that's why it doesn't bother me. I believed that long before I met anyone like that, and long before I did, I'd decided to see those things as God-given. Meeting superheroes, or mutants, never made any difference in my book. I think Faith is the only way to see all people as equal--and all people as valuable. We can't base it on results we're seeing right now. Years down the line, who knows what's important?"
She tugged her hair. "So don't fret too much about it, Rogue. It won't stop us anyway. We'll find some other way to keep on helping the Morlocks."
Rogue was a little weirded out.
She had fully expected Shine to need cheering up--and hadn't been sure what to tell her, other than to not feel too bad. But instead, Shine was the one making her feel better and seemed already to have pretty much accepted what happened.
It was both uncanny and inspiring.
"You're not quite like other people, huh, Sugar?" she said. "Most would be real upset by that."
"I've never been as scared of material setbacks as of other ones," Shine said. "Stuff is replaceable, people aren't." She hesitated a moment, as if thinking of something. "It's not that I'm not angry, but it's a waste of my energy to focus on it, and may I say--it's not the first time some place I was using was attacked. I was glad no one was in it this time."
Rogue winced. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks, but no one died, fortunately," Shine said. "I've actually been quite lucky there, by the grace of God. I've heard much worse stories. I'm going to focus on that, and I think you should too. Setbacks happen, that's all there is to it. Those bullies will take a mile if we give an inch, and I'm not going to do it."
She waved her duster like a weapon. "Anyway, I better finish this."
"All right," Rogue said.
She started to move, but then she said, "Uh...Miss Likstar...about those powers in the Bible...was there ever any time they didn't like them? And wanted them gone?"
Shine looked up. "Jeremiah didn't want to prophecy, but he said when he tried not to, it was like a fire in his bones. He just couldn't keep suppressing it."
Rogue nodded. "I see."
"Powers of another nature were another matter," Shine said. "I guess it depends on if it's God or something else that cause it. There's a time to give power up, but there's a time to use it. I think when we really want to know the right time, we do."
Rogue nodded again. "Yeah.... Well, I do think my powers can be a good thing, sometimes.... Just wish I didn't get them by taking someone's life."
Suddenly she winced.
"Are you all right?" Shine asked.
"Yeah, yeah...just...maybe I slept too long." Rogue rubbed her head. "I'mma get some coffee."
She walked away.
Shine shrugged but frowned to herself. She went back to dusting for about 30 seconds before someone else startled her.
"Interestin' speech." It was Gambit.
He had his ever present deck of cars in one hand and was shuffling and leaned on the hallway's wall.
Shine looked up. "It wasn't meant for you," she said. "And it wasn't a speech. We were just talking."
"Mmm...Gambit think, maybe you have everyone else fooled, but he know what you tryin' do."
"Oh?" Shine said. "Guess I can't keep anything from you."
She wished Wally would come out of their room. Gambit was acting a bit too ready for a fight.
"Rogue don' need what you're sellin'," Gambit went on, ignoring her sarcasm. "None of us do. She fine da way she is, and so are we."
Shine laughed slightly. It was just...so familiar.
"What so funny?" Gambit was not pleased.
"I just wondered when you'd come out and say it," Shine said, pausing to lean on a table. "Was bound to happen sooner or later."
"Say what?"
"'We don't need this.'" Shine made air quote. "'We fine da way we is...' Sorry for my poor imitating, but anyway...I supposed this was why you didn't like us. I take you for a man who's pretty set in doing things his own way. Would that be right?"
Gambit couldn't argue that. "Yeah, right. My way."
"And all the X-men need to agree with you?" Shine said smoothly.
Wow...caught in two sentences. Gambit frowned as he realized she'd trapped him easily.
"Well, dey certainly don' need to agree wid you."
"How droll," Shine said. "'I'm right, but you're not allowed to be'? Really? Is that the best you can do? I thought there'd be something about how this is bad for them."
"It is! You gettin' deir hopes up, and dey gonna be crushed when it don' work, jus' like it didn' work for you," Gambit insisted.
"Heaven forbid we all have a little hope in something bigger than ourselves, right?" Shine said. "'We on our own in dis world.'"
Something about getting your own words quoted back to you by someone you don't even like is really disconcerting. Gambit did a double take. "You...little..."
"I'm really, really sorry if this is bothering you so much." Shine didn't let him find the right insult. "But I can't change that I believe in more than that, and that we are, in fact, not alone. And never have been. I'm sure it's very delusional to you, Mr. Ex-cult Member."
Gambit flinched.
"But here's a thought." Shine frowned. "In my days before Christ, I might have been afraid of a lot and worried I was on my own, but I never claimed there was no God. Getting to know Him for myself was the difference. But you've gone the opposite. Serving some forest deity has led to being convinced we're on our own...but correct me if I'm wrong--maybe you just think it's better that way."
Ooh, she had him on that.
He was glaring.
"And if I do?" he said.
"I'm sorry," Shine said, "but I don't. And that's all there is to it. As for changing your friends...I don't know, did you ever think maybe they don't like being this way?"
"Dat is none of your concern," Gambit said.
"You don't tell me what to do." Shine was a little mad now. "You're not my God, and you're not my boss. You don't have to like it, but your friends can make their own choices. They have approached us, and I'm willing to answer their questions. I won't not do that just because it might piss you off."
"Sure, because you don' care," Gambit said. "Dey been here for years. We know each other, dere's trust. With each other back. You hardly know us, think you know best, think you can just make changes. Never are wrong, are you? How long till one of the X-men get hurt over it?"
Shine bit her lip. Then she looked at her duster. "I wouldn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do. And have done. I understand how you feel, believe it or not. I've spent a lot of time trying to convince people not to put others in danger for a stupid reason. But I don't believe that's really why you object. Isn't it more about what's going on inside? Losing people because they change?"
"Dat too," Gambit said.
"And Rogue especially." Shine went there.
Gambit frowned.
"Rogue got enough problems. She don' need more."
"I agree," Shine said. "Completely.... In fact, I'd say Rogue has far more problems than any of you happen to notice. Maybe to a stranger it's easier to see it."
"What do you mean by dat?" Warily.
"I can't talk about her privacy like that," Shine said. "Not yet, anyway.... She doesn't like sharing, I'm sure you're aware.... Neither do you." She tilted her head. "Not a lot of communication goes on between you X-men. But, you know...I'm not interested in changing Rogue's personality or anything. I want to know what she wants, that's all. Same as everyone else. I like her just fine the way she is, except for one thing: She's sad."
Shine had chosen her weapon well. She couldn't have picked a better thing to make Gambit not so sure of himself.
"Sad?" he said.
Shine nodded. "All the time... I could sense it even if I didn't know the signs... Oh, she's not an unhappy person, but..." She shook her head. "It is sad. And you're scared."
"Scared? Gambit ain't scared of nothin'!"
"Only people who are scared will say that," Shine said flatly. "All brave people know they have fears, they just overcome them. Bravado isn't to be mistaken for courage, Mr. Lebeau. You couldn't have proven my point better than by saying that."
"Now wait jus' a minute--" Gambit felt he was losing this suddenly.
But Shine didn't listen to him. "Tell me the truth," she cut in, "or stop talking to me. I'm being honest. Are you?"
Silence now.
"I was," Gambit said.
"All of you," Shine said, "you all have something...sadness, fear, anger, discouragement, envy, pride...and that's not something that bothers me, but I think it should bother you. Because it's not the best life, carrying that kind of burden. Now, if I propose a solution to this, you can certainly refuse it, but who are you to tell anyone else they need to be stuck that way? If it doesn't work, then you'll be proven right anyway. So tell me, isn't it really that you're afraid it will work?"
Gambit looked mad again. "It ain't."
"Liar." Shine crossed her arms.
Normally she'd not just come out and say it, but Gambit had pushed her buttons enough times in the last month for her to feel he really ought to take it if he was going to start something.
"Who you callin' a liar?" Gambit said.
"You," Shine said.
Gambit made a sudden motion.
Shine flinched.
The tension in the room got weird.
Gambit actually had no intention of attacking her, despite his blustering, he wasn't the type to attack a woman like that. The most he'd have done is explode a vase next to her or something.
But her reaction seemed too instinctive.
Shine recovered first, though, and relaxed. Of course it was nothing.
"A mite jumpy, ain't you?" Gambit said.
"It's...a reflex." Shine rubbed her throat. "Too many times being attacked in the past. Don't take it personally."
Awkward.
Well, that had pretty much killed Gambit's ability to try to make a point in any stern way here.
"Gambit ain't no liar." He was much more subdued, still grumpy though.
"I don't mean on purpose," Shine said. "Just...that it's...hard to be honest. Look, if I'm offending you by this, please keep in mind, you've been trying to offend me into giving up for weeks--and Wally also."
Gambit raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I know what you're doing," Shine said. "Did you think we were stupid?"
"No, I figure you too stubborn," Gambit said.
"And you're right," Shine said. "We are." She crossed her arms. "We are never going to give up, and, no offense, I have seen tougher guys than you try to stop me, and Wally has too. I like you, don't get me wrong, and the effort is almost flattering, but you don't scare me. And your little jabs don't intimidate me either. We laugh at them later, actually."
Gambit glared at her. "You're insolent."
"I know," Shine said. "And you're rude." She smiled sweetly. "But if you're willing to be more civil, I'm personally perfectly willing to forget all this ever happened. Otherwise, can you blame us for trying to cope with it in a way that doesn't make us wring your neck? You ought to be grateful. I think we know where we stand now, don't we?"
Gambit frowned. "You think dis make it better?"
"You'll have to forgive us when you're ready," Shine said, calmly. "I can't make you do that. I can't make you like me. I can only try to do what's right and not return it in kind. But don't mess with the bull if you don't want the horns. Outbursts like the other day's aren't exactly our fault, are they? If you asked for it. And you know I'm right, or you wouldn't be taking this from me. If this is as close to an apology as I can get, I'll take it. Just don't make my husband that mad ever again, please. Have a little consideration for how I have to deal with it for the next few days while you get to be ignored."
Ouch.
Gambit had run out of things to say. Debate wasn't his strong suit. [Ha, like cards...]
"Well, jus' so we clear," he huffed.
"Crystal." Shine was so brazen it was infuriating. "Can I finish my job now?"
"You do whatever you want!" Gambit said and stormed away.
Shine sighed. "Well, he'll have wounded pride from that for a while, but if in the long run we stop quarreling, I'd think it's worth it."
* * *
Morph had to return to the house, at least ostensibly, so that no one would suspect anything.
That night, he snuck back into the control room to tinker around a bit.
And early the next morning, Professor X and Logan returned. Morph was nowhere to be seen, but he'd left a note that said "gone fishing".
"Does he fish?" Rogue asked.
"I think he's using it as a way to say he's doing something fun," Wally said.
"Hey, the Professor's back!" Jubilee said.
"I didn't hear a car," Storm said. "I must be getting careless."
"We're all stressed, Sugar," Rogue said.
"Wolverine!" Jubilee opened the door to try to hug him, and he jumped away.
Well, that was normal.
"Aw," Wally said.
"Was your mission successful?" Scott asked the Professor.
"Oh, yes, everything is taken care of. I'll have to fill you in later," the Professor said. "But for now, I think I need to check in to the control room."
"Jean's been monitoring in your place. So far, so good," Storm said.
"Jean?" the Professor said a it oddly. "Well, I would still like to see for myself."
"You just got back. Shouldn't you rest?" Jubilee said. "You guys always work too much."
"Batman," Wally said to Shine.
She shrugged. "All superheroes do it."
Professor X flew his chair [sounds so wrong] down towards the basement.
Wolverine was pretty silent, surprisingly.
"So, did you see any action?" Rogue asked amicably.
"No," he said.
"Is something wrong, Logan?" Storm said.
Normally at least a sentence or two about how they fought would be expected.
"Nah, just tired," Logan said.
Suddenly, there was a loud crackling sound, and the electric lights in the room all went out, and the hum of the refrigerator stopped. The A/C also shut off, which would make the house sweltering in about 20 minutes.
"Huh...did the power just go out?" Wally asked
"Yes, but not to worry. We have a backup generator," Storm said.
But nothing happened.
"Jean!" Scott said suddenly and ran for the basement.
Logan was right behind him, and everyone else followed.
Of course it was pitch black down there.
Storm crackled some light in her hand and illuminated the hallway.
"Kaminari 2.0," Wally hissed at Shine.
"She's older. He'd be her 2.0," Shine said.
"Quiet," Gambit warned.
Everyone was listening, and then Scott opened the surveillance room door, and Storm shone her light inside.
All the power was off in here, and something was sizzling.
"Oh dear," Hank said. "I believe it's short circuited...but it's not supposed to do that. We have precautions! This equipment is highly delicate."
"Jean?" Scott found her lying on the floor, but she was already coming to.
"I'm all right," she said, rubbing her head. "Just the shock of Cerebro turning off so suddenly was a lot... Where's the Professor?"
"I'm here," he called, from behind the desk. "I'm all right."
Storm inspected the equipment. "I see no sign of damage."
"I believe there's a flashlight in one of these cupboards..." Hank rummaged around and finally turned on a battery-operated lantern and grabbed a hand held flashlight.
"You could do better than that," Wally said to Shine.
"They seem to have it in hand," she replied.
"My goodness!" Hank said, looking under the desk. "Someone has tampered with the wiring down here.... What a mess... It'll take me days to replace all this... Who would do such a thing?"
Everyone looked at each other.
"Well, no one here," Wally said.
"But it must have been a human being," Hank said. "This couldn't be an accident... Now, if someone thought this was either helping or a misdirected practical joke, may I say, it is always better to ask a professional."
"It wasn't me." Jubilee took that to be directed at her. "I'm not good with machines--you know that. I didn't do anything."
"You sure you didn't try to fix something?" Storm said.
"No! I wouldn't!" Jubilee said. "I'm not a liar!"
"No one said you were." Storm patted her shoulder. "Now, I'm sure there's a better explanation. Hank, you sure you didn't do it on accident?"
"I have not been in here since yesterday, and it was working fine then," Hank said. "Who has?"
Kurt poofed in at this timely moment, so they repeated the question.
"Between when you last used it and now, most of us were gone," Storm said. "Kurt, Wests, Jubilee, who was at the house?"
"Well, not me," Jubilee said. "We all went to the city. I mean, they did come back before me, but it wasn't that much before."
"We did what?" Shine said.
"We came back way later than you," Wally said.
"But that is not true," Kurt said. "You vere both here sooner than that. I saw you. Ve spoke--don't you remember?"
"We never did," Shine said.
Kurt looked confused.
"Okay, who's framing who here?" Wally said.
"Let's not jump right to framin'," Rogue said. "Kurt, you sure it was them?"
"I'm positive!" Kurt was distressed.
"Unless he de one lying," Gambit tried.
"No, Kurt would not lie," Shine defended him. "If he says he saw us, then he believes it. But there are people who could have made him think so. Was anyone like that around?"
"It vas just you two, Jubilee, and myself," Kurt said. "And Rogue, but she vas upstairs."
"I was, and you can ask Morph," Rogue said. "He saw me. I wasn't anywhere near this room."
"All right," Storm said. "Then who is to blame?"
"I hate to say this," Shine said, "but can't one of you shapeshift...the one who's conveniently not here?"
Silence.
"But there is one thing," Storm said. "If one of us were not real, Logan would know. Logan?"
Wolverine sniffed. "Morph isn't here," he said. "Only people here are the ones you see."
Wally shot him a weird look.
"Well, what about from yesterday? I mean, any trace of anyone in here who shouldn't have been?"
"Nope," Wolverine said.
Shine rubbed her temples. "I'm baffled."
"I saw you in here too," Jubilee said, "but you wouldn't tamper with something that important, would you?"
"I wouldn't touch it!" Shine said. "I don't like the idea of risking electrocution, thanks."
"Ditto," Wally said.
"I'd swear they were telling the truth," Hank said. "But some people are very good liars, and there is no doubt a culprit's here. So someone is lying."
"Maybe it's him, then." Wally gestured at Logan.
"It wasn't me," Wolverine said.
Jean rubbed her forehead. "I think he's telling the truth... My mind is a little in shock right now. I can try--"
"No, don't risk it," Scott said. "We can get to the bottom of this. It's just a matter of narrowing it down. So far, everyone says you two were in here. Can you prove you weren't?"
"Well," Wally said, "we were with Spiderman at the time."
Silence.
"You expect us to believe that?" Scott said finally.
"It's true. He's a friend," Shine said.
"You expect us to believe that Spiderman is a friend of yours," Scott said, "when you're from the future, and you'd never met any of us before. And you didn't even know how to work the microwave, let alone track down Spiderman."
Shine's eyes glinted. "We met him on a previous miss--well, it was more like a disaster, actually, but if he was here now, he'd affirm what we said."
"And how could we track down Spiderman?" Scott scoffed. "You could have picked a much more convincing cover story."
"If it was just a story, why make up something that unconvincing?" Shine said.
"Because it would be like you to hint at things we know nothing about as some kind of justification for your actions," Scott said heatedly. "You have many times. You think that trick will get you out of this. I want to know why you'd tamper with this equipment. You could have killed Jean."
"We weren't here!" Shine insisted. "There's some hoax--a hologram, a robot, something. There is always an explanation, and one of our rules is not to lie, remember?"
"According to you." Scott was not moved.
"Scott, it is a serious thing to accuse someone who's never lied to you," Storm said.
"We don't know that any of what they've told us is true," Scott said. "It's never been tested. We can't test it, because they're from the future! It's a get-out-of-jail-free card."
Wally was getting mad. "Hey, newsflash," he said, "if we meant to hurt you idiots, we could have ages ago, and why do it like this? All of you who saw us would sell us out. Why would we lie?"
"Perhaps you thought you could trick your way out of it or blame it on Kurt or Jubilee," Scott said, "or robots, as you say."
"This is ridiculous," Shine said. "No one is buying this, right?"
The X-men were silent.
"It does look bad, Sugar," Rogue said. "But, if you're lyin' just 'cause you think we'd be mad at you for doin' somethin' by accident, then, you don't have to worry."
"Oh, I'd still be mad," Scott said.
"Not helpin'." Rogue frowned at him.
"I can't confess to something I didn't do." Shine threw up her hands. "If you won't believe us, then we're at an impasse."
"No, what you are is out of a free residence," Scott said.
The others gasped.
"Scott!" Jean said. "Isn't that too extreme?"
"If we can't trust them to tell us the truth, they can't stay here. We can't risk something like this happening again," Scott said. "At this point, I don't care whether it was on purpose or not. It's irresponsible. Professor, this is the clear decision, right?"
Professor X had been silent, but now he said, "I believe you're right, Scott."
"Professor?" Storm was stunned.
"Hey, ain't you gonna say something?" Rogue said to Logan. "They're here for you and all. You letting Scott get rid of 'em?"
"I agree with Scott," Wolverine said. Grimly.
Shine shot him a shocked look.
Then suddenly her eyes narrowed.
"You're not Wolverine," she said.
She tried to lunge at him.
Scott shot an energy beam in front of her and grazed her arm.
Shine flew back.
"Hey!" Wally said.
"Don't be stupid, sweetheart," Wolverine said, extending his claws. "You think I ain't the real Wolverine? You want to try that again, to my face?"
"It's not the real him!" Shine was not daunted at all. "Just let me get close for a minute. I'll show you."
"You're out of control," Scott said, grabbing her and yanking her up. "How dare you attack him in our presence."
"I wasn't attacking him!" Shine said.
"And what do you call that?" Scott said.
"Let go of her." Wally grabbed his arm.
Gambit and Rogue pulled him back.
"Let's please keep our heads," Storm said.
"They have to go," Professor X said. "It's unfortunate, but it's all we can do. The risk is too great. Hank, if you would help recover them if they won't go quietly."
"I'm not so sure about you either," Shine shot at him. "Of all the slimy--!" She tried to break away from Scott's grasp. "Just let me do something! Come on, what's the harm in letting me try?"
"I wouldn't let you touch either of them," Scott said. "You can go willingly, or we can drag you outside."
"You're giving us the boot?" Wally said. "You don't realize what you're doing!"
"Don't!" Kurt suddenly said. "I believe them. There has to be another explanation."
"Even if it was that they were hypnotized into it, we have no way to confirm that, since we can't read their minds," Scott said. "And they are still too dangerous to have around. This discussion is over."
Shine was not giving up. She kicked him hard in the shin, and he did loosen his grip. She almost made it to Logan that time, but he reached out and swatted her away. She hit the ground, then she rubbed her face.
Wally yelled something that shouldn't be repeated at Logan for that.
Shine held up her hand. "Don't," she said.
"I'm so sorry, Miss Likstar," Hank said, plucking her up. "But I have to abide by our leader's wishes, and perhaps some time away would be best."
"Where would we go?" Wally protested.
"Maybe Spiderman can take you in," Gambit said.
Wally almost punched him, but he held himself back.
Shine suddenly looked up at Gambit.
"Wait," she said, "you--you have to believe us."
"Why?" Gambit said.
"Because you know what this feels like!" Shine said.
Gambit's smug glance froze.
Hank took Shine out. Rogue reluctantly shoved Wally out, and he didn't put up a fight.
"This is not right!" Storm insisted. "We're abandoning them!"
"It's final," Professor X said. "I'm sorry, Storm."
"While I know she was angry," Jean said to Wolverine, "did you have to hit her? She's not as tough as us."
"She was actin' crazy," Wolverine said. "I had no choice. It was hardly anything."
Jean sighed.
"They are innocent!" Kurt cried. "They vould never have done this! They have saved your lives before."
"People can turn, kid," Logan said.
"Vell, they vould not!" Kurt said. "I have faith!--and if you kick them out, I'm going vith them! I von't stay here vithout them!"
"Kurt--" Scott began.
Kurt poofed out.