He was up and running now. Well he was up anyway. God, this was why he had retired! Why he had pulled back from what he did best. Leading a team into combat! Now though it took all of Hank’s complex drugs just to get him on his feet,.never mind get him into battle! And even then they couldn’t keep the pain at bay.

Scott didn’t know how many doses he had injected into himself when the alarm had sounded. Too many to be good for him that much was sure! But then again, Cyclops thought with a cynical smile, what did he have to lose?

This mysterious illness, if it was indeed even a disease; something Hank seemed less and less sure of with each passing day, was eating him up from the inside. And though he fought it with as much determination as he had ever shown against any of the enemies he had come up against over the years yet still it refused to back down.

It was ironic in the extreme. Retirement had always seemed a long way off. An inevitable hurdle to be crossed somewhere down the line! Something, if he was honest with himself that he had to admit he had dreaded rather than looked forward too. It had seemed like the end of something precious. Instead, once he had been forced prematurely into it, Scott had found it to be the beginning of a new life he could be equally passionate about.

He had always been a teacher. That had been as much a part of his life as the daily training in the danger room or the endless hours spent musing over strategy and tactics. But he had always been one step removed from the students somehow. Intervening whenever someone pointed out a problem, but somehow never taking the step that would have allowed him to discover those problems for himself!

It hadn’t felt wrong. In fact it had been something he had prided himself on. Logan was the one who jumped in regardless, dragging home strays right left and centre. Scott was the voice of reason. He saw the disadvantages of any situation, however emotional that situation might be. And hopefully by doing that he helped to find a way to resolve them.

Now though things had changed. His focus had shifted from the teams he had left behind to the school he now fully helped to run. And Scott’s focus was in itself a burning force as powerful as the beam that poured from his eyes and which only the ruby crystals could contain.

From day one he had loved the Institute and the long years he had spent there had only intensified that feeling. Indeed his entire life had been dedicated to protecting both it and the ideals it stood for. In his eyes though his present physical condition should have ended all that! It should have left him sidelined and useless. A hanger on rather than a participant in the schools daily life!

His power let him blast mountains into dust. His gift though, the non mutant gift; the one thing that set him apart from all the other students; had been his cool head in combat! The ability to calculate and weigh up the pros and cons of a given situation and yes, if need be, to make the hard decisions. To sacrifice lives, for the greater good! No matter how much it hurt.

How strange then to find that this same, seemingly cold ability, could actually prove useful in the day to day lives of the students. Scott had let down certain barriers, had taken that step into the lives of his pupils and what he had found there was something he could deal with as perhaps no one else in the institute could.

Cute children were all well and good but if they wielded deadly powers then some perspective was perhaps necessary. Kia had touched him. He had recognised so much of himself in her that it was hard not to be drawn in. But the fact remained that whatever his emotions might be towards her they didn’t blind him to the fact of her potential danger. Nor had his sympathy for Max prevented him from administering the short sharp shock he hoped might galvanise him into action.

Logic wasn’t a sin after all! It didn’t have to set up barriers! In fact it could help to break them down. This was what Scott had learned from his illness. Though fate had had to hammer it into him the hard way! He still had a role to play here at the Institute! Indeed that knowledge and his love for his family and friends were the only things still keeping him slugging away in this unequal fight!

Because he was tired! Physically if not intellectually! So tired that, he truly didnt feel up to meeting the challenge of this intrusion! To hell with that though! For once logic took a back seat to his emotions. This was his home that was under attack. The place where he had raised his son!

Scott forced himself , as he always did in these situations, to be calm. Jean would find Sean and link to him no matter what the com badges did. She would keep him safe just as they had agreed. And Scott would go to the children. Because he could! Because he could force himself to leave emotions behind and do what he had too. Sean had Jean. Kia had no one. And she wasn’t the only one.

They had taken on these children. The so called Superbrats! Scott had heard the name before and not in a good way. Why didn’t people try to imagine what life would have been like if their own powers had suddenly burst into life when they were seven? Maybe then they wouldn’t be so fast to judge!

In any case he, himself didn’t give a damn how difficult they were to deal with. He had been breaking ground with them. He had been setting boundaries and opening horizons in equal measure. And he had been good at it. Now though they were under threat. Just like the rest of the institute.

These children though were his responsibility. That much had been agreed on. Strategy and tactics could still be useful even if his physical abilities had been eroded by disease and they had dictated the fact that a member of the x men should be assigned to the youngster’s safety.

It was a role he could still assume, leaving the others to perhaps more strategic posts. In theory the children wouldn’t be prime targets. Though that was far from being certain!

Everything depended on who had invaded and why. And that unfortunately wasn’t something they had either the time or the leisure to contemplate. As far as Scott was concerned everyone was a target, kids included. And he was damned if he was going to let them fall into enemy hands.

Still.. reinforcements were always welcome! And as Scott rounded the corner he realised that he had ust found some. The girl in front of him looked ready for action. Shoes had been dispensed with , something anyone else would have learned to regret the hard way but which of course she didn’t need to take into consideration . The white hair had been tied back., fighter style, a luxury to be deal with if indeed it was to be kept. All these factors were taken in and weighed in the balance by Scott’s ever calculating mind even before he came up with a name to match the face.

Trade! Logan’s latest prodigy! Dangerous as hell! An ex drug addict who had killed in and out of the cage. And whom Logan trusted with is life. Well if Wolverine hadn’t regenerated with the best of them she would already have gutted him from what Scott had read. Still there had been exonerating circumstances.

As there had been in the latest murder scene she had been implicated in. Already it was unheard of for Logan to have admitted so much before asking for her readmission to the school. I have this kid who kills people but it’s not her fault Hardly the best defence in the world if you were in a court of law. But submitted for once, crudely, as it had been before his peers it had carried its own weight of conviction.

So, faced as he was with his own all too apparent inadequacies, Trade wasn’t the last person in the world Scott would have wanted to encounter .At least her sense of survival had been proved and proved again and her behaviour since her return to the Institute had given no cause for complaint. How she would react to an outright attack such as this one remained to be seen though. Though for the moment at least there was determination rather than madness in her eyes.

“Trade” Cyclops said as he approached her. “ I know we haven’t had time to put you on a team yet but… Im heading down to get the kids and .. he gave a sardonic smile and glanced at his right arm… I could use a hand. If you’re up for it, that is?

Edited by: Fengal at: 6/15/08 1:39 am