ISSUE #16

It was a quiet flight back to the Institute, Scott had informed Nick Fury of what had happened in San Francisco, since the facility hit the city with a statewide Emp. Everything was turned off. The only image news stations received was the Image of Ian in the charger, and even that was too blurry for most to see. The destruction in the city, the X-men arriving. None of it was seen except for those unfortunate souls to have been there.

Ian had fallen asleep on the jet, resting after a long day full of emotions and death.

Once the team was back home, Scott had Hank take Ian to his lab.

" Oh dear." Hank ran up to the jet just as it landed and stood in front of the ramp and watched as Piotr carried Ian down the ramp in his arms.

" Hank." Scott called out to the man. " I want you to take Ian back to your lab and do a very through scan. I want to know if there is anything in his blood, anything in his body. You search him for each and every kind of micro-sentinel. You search him for everything. I don't want anything being traced back to this school." Scott told the man.

" Right, leave him to me Piotr." Hank spoke. He reached out and took Ian from Colossus and darted back to his lab. Hank looked down at the boy in his arm and shook his head. Another failure. Not just on his part but on all of theirs. They all failed this time. " You've gotten heavy, boy. What have you gone through all this time?" hank asked the unconscious teenager.

Scott and the others took to getting out of their gear and sat down to rest themselves.

" Are we ever gonna catch a break?" Bobby asked aloud. " First, Ian gets kidnapped, Eddie loses his powers and then the danger room betrays us and kills him. And during that time, tortures and nearly kills our students. What the hell gives man? It seems like no matter what we do, we're just going back further and further. What the hell is the point, Scott?"

" The point, Bobby, is that we owe it to these kids to try and make a world where they can live without the fear of death looming over their heads. If we don't who will?" Scott asked. " So, I know things seem bleak, I know things seem unfair, but we can't give up, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how badly we might want too... If we do... We're dooming these kids and theirs to the very same tragic history we've had. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in a world where children die because I refused to fight." Scott exclaimed. His devotion to the cause had always been the strongest, but right now, even the devout boy scout was beginning to feel the pressure and started to wonder if what they were doing was right. " All of you take the rest of the day off, tell the students they can the next week off to just rest. You all do the same. Dani, I believe your students are gonna want to know their friend is safe. And once you're done with that, let Rahne know she's more than welcome to come teach at the institute. I think she'd want to hear it from you more than anyone else. That's all for now, you're dismissed." Scott exclaimed. He walked out of the hangar with Emma right behind him.

" Where are you going, dear?" Emma asked.

" I need to wait for, Hanks results." Scott told the woman.

Emma grabbed Scott's hand and forced him to stop.

" Scott, you need rest. You haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks. Come to bed. It's been a long day." Emma told the man.

" But Hank..." Scott started.

" Hank is a big boy, Scott. And so Is Ian. He'll be here when you wake up. But for now, I'm telling you to rest. And I'm not taking no for an answer." Emma told the man.

Scoot sighed but nodded his head.

" Okay, but I don't want to sleep yet. Can we?" Scott asked as he placed his hand firmly on Emma's tight rear.

" My dear, do you even need to ask?" Emma laughed and then kissed Scott. " Come, let's get bed. I've got some new underwear I want your opinion on."

Emma dragged Scott off to their room for some fun, while Dani went straight to her office and called her students.

" What is it, Dani? Noriko said you guys found Ian, is he alright?" Sofia asked as she and the others stepped into the office.

" Yes... We did. He's fine. Right now, He's down in the labs with hank, doing a full medical examination on him." Dani explained to the students. They all exhaled a sigh of relief and smiled.

" That's good to hear. But what's gonna happen now?" Josh asked. " I mean is he still gonna be on the squad? With Kevin here, we have six."

" I don't know, Josh. We'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. But as for now I just wanted all of you to know that he was indeed alive and well. When he wakes up, I'm sure he's gonna want to see some friendly faces. So, I'll make sure to let you know when he can have visitors. I've been told to inform all of you that class for the next week has been canceled. So, go ahead and relax. Take time to just enjoy yourselves. That's all I needed to say, you guys can go ahead and return to your rooms now or go outside and have fun. Just make sure to not to leave school grounds without informing the teachers." Dani spoke.

" Yeah, okay." Sofia replied.

She and the other New Mutants all quickly left her office and Dani pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number.

" Sorry, I'm not available at the moment, leave ye name and number and I'll call ye back at first opportunity."

" That's weird? Rahne usually answers when I call." Dani stated. " Yeah, Rahne. I just wanted to call you and let you know, Scott said yes. If you want, you can come by this weekend, and we'll get things finalized. Alright, talk to you later sis. Love you, bye." Dani recorded her message and then hung up the phone. " Maybe, I'll call it a day as well. I'm so tired right now." Dani exclaimed. ' I'm so tired of being the victims." Dani sat at her desk and slowly started to cry to herself. The pressure from so many years of being hurt and seeing her friends hurt just bringing her emotions to a boil.