^Devil May Care^ Scott Summers

^he's proud of you, i can feel it.^

idk you yet: alexander 23

how can you miss someone
you've never met?
———

Heart of Glass by Blondie was playing on the radio as the five of them drove back to the mansion. Max was driving, despite complaints from Scott, as she was the oldest. Scott sat in the passenger seat next to her while the other three sat in the back. Jubilee singing along to the song while Max bobbed her head.

But they all stop when they looked at the school. Or where the school was. It was completely gone. They all looked at the school grounds and saw the student body standing on the lawn. Max's face curled in horror. Her home had been destroyed.

"Holy..." Jean whispered in shock under her breath as they turned on the schools pathway. They were all looking where the mansion once was. The X-Mansion had been completely destroyed, the rubble of the building on the ground, some of which were still on fire.

Max parked the car and they all got out, Scott faster than any of them. He ran over to the group of kids and teachers, asking, "What happened? Where's Alex? Where's my brother?"

A man with sliver hair, goggles and a matching leather jacket shrugged and said, "Pretty sure I got everybody."

Scott looked around, almost frantically for his older brother when Hank spoke up, "Alex was closest to the blast." Scott stood there for a moment more, panting before running over to the destroyed mansion for his brother. Max, Jean and Kurt, who just teleported, ran after him.

He stopped at the large hole in the ground where Cerebro and the labs were. Max stopped at his side and looked down into the crater like hole.

"Alex..." Scott said in disbelief under his breath. Max covered her mouth with her hand to hold in the gasp that came out as her eyebrows pulled together.

Scott fell to his knees as he began to cry and mourn over the death of his brother. He took off his glasses and kept his eyes shut. Max, who had never good with emotions, walked over and placed a, hopefully, comforting hand on his shoulder.

He shakily put his ruby lense glasses back on but kept to the ground. Max turned her head around slightly as she heard distant radio chatter coming from behind them. She saw Jean had done the same, thinking that she had heard something in someone else's mind on accident.

A helicopter flew in from the air as a woman robotic voice came on the PA system. "Please remain calm. Medical assistance is on the way."

Max tapped Scott's shoulder and called his name softly but alert of everything around her, not taking her dark eyes off the aircraft. She lead them over to a half broken wall as she didn't trust that this was a good thing. Something didn't feel right...

The woman's voice continued as the helicopter landed. Armored men came out of the plane in a line as they walked towards the mutants. They watched as a small, short haired woman walked towards them shouting something they couldn't hear over the propeller. The last guy walked out and shouted something.

The men holding guns shot a transparent white force field over the student body, including Hank, Raven, the sliver headed guy, and the other human woman. They were all knocked out.

The guy in charge shouted orders and the soldiers only picked up the adults, leaving the kids. When the four of them saw someone coming their way but hadn't seen them somehow, they hid.

"Vhat do ve do?" Kurt whispered to them, trying not to bring unwanted attention to them.

"Keep quiet." The redhead said. Max went to stand up, red energy already swirling her finger tips but Jean pulled her down.

"Max, no. You can't fight them." She whisper yelled.

"Why not? I can take them." She whispered back.

"Violence is not the answer in this situation!" Jean whispered once more before adding, "Please?"

Max grumbled around her breath and agreed as the man came closer. They huddled closer together, trying to make themselves smaller. Jean put two of her fingers to her temple, making it so the solider wouldn't be able to see them at all.

He looked around, looking directly in their direction, before pressing a finger to his earpiece and yelling, "Clear!" He walked back to the helicopter with the others.

"Thanks, Jean. We gotta help them. Kurt, can you get us in that thing?" Scott said before turning to the blue boy.

"Vou vant to gets in there? Vhat if the soldiers see us?" Kurt asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, they won't see us. Trust me." Jena said quickly.

Kurt hesitated but then put on of his hands out to them and said, "Hold on."

They grabbed on to him before he took a deep breath and they were gone in a puff of smoke.

***

They were trapped. Once they had gotten into the helicopter, the soldiers shut the door and a electrical field around them formed, rendering them incapable of using their mutations so Kurt couldn't teleport them out. It was like being trapped inside a coffin.

Max and Jean leaned against wall on the side of the helicopter with Kurt across, him praying quietly. Scott was propped up against the front, his legs between the three others crossed ones.

"It should have been me." The girls looked up at Scott as he begun talked, breaking the silence.

"He was the one that was gonna do something with his life. He was always the one." His eyebrows were pulled together as he sniffed. Jean looked at him for a second before nudging Max with her elbow, gesturing her to comfort him.

Max had never been good with emotions or connecting with people well. So ever since she and Jean became friends, the redhead had been trying to help her connect with people better.

Max scooted over to Scott and sat beside him, their shoulders touching a little.

'You know that's not how he felt.' Scott jumped slightly at the sudden intrusion on his brain. He looked at her, going to say something before she cut him off, again in his own mind.

'Don't worry. I'm not very good at reading other people's thoughts like Jean, more push my own thoughts into their heads.' He relaxed a little, making her smile before continuing, 'He felt you were the one that was gonna do something special with your life. That you were gonna make a difference in the world. And you are. He got his chance to change the world and he did.'

Getting more comfortable, Max reached out and intertwined her fingers with his as his hand lay on his knee. She laid her her on his shoulder cautiously, but relaxed when he put the side of his against hers.

"Thanks..."

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