X-Men: Night of the Living Brain Dead
                               by
                           Ben Church bchurch@su.edu

	All major characters are the property of Marvel comics 
except Hotshot.

                            Chapter 14
	When Will awoke the next morning he felt refreshed and 
ready to start plotting his revenge.  He went to the galley and got 
the captain's breakfast and something for himself to eat.  When he 
got back to the cabin, the captain was studying an old map that was 
yellowed with age.  He set the tray on the bed and glanced at the 
map.  It was a sea chart and a map of an island.  On the island was 
a large X.
        "Going searching for treasure." he said.  It was not a 
question.
        "Yes boy, the greatest treasure of all." she looked at him 
and smiled.  "Your memory."
    
         Emma prepared the students for the dangers ahead.
         "If, while you are in his mind you are killed, it could 
cause severe psychological damage.  That is of course a worst case 
scenario.  It won't kill you because I'm not taking your whole mind 
into his."
        "If we weren't willing to take the risk professora, we 
wouldn't be here." said Angelo.  Monet, Clarice, Everett, Jonathan, 
Sean, Victor, and Angelo, were in the infirmary preparing to help 
Emma free Will's mind from Selene.
        "Very well, everyone join hands."  She closed her eyes and 
took Sean's hand, and placed her other hand on Wills forehead. 
Concentrating, she formed a link with their minds, and entered 
Will's mind with them.
    
         Will sat on the seat of the dinghy, straining with the 
oars. "How can a boat carrying only two people, weigh so much?" he 
wondered.  They'd reached the Island the day before, and they had 
begun ferrying over the crew at first light.  The captain had left 
one man behind to guard the ship.  Will knew that she did not 
intend to return to the ship.  If she had, she would have left more 
people to guard it.
        "They don't know do they?" he asked.
        "What?" she asked looking at him.
        "Your crew, they don't know what we're searching for do 
they?  They think it's gold or silver don't they?"
        "They're fools." she answered.  "They have no idea of the 
true value of what they're searching for."
        "That's what I don't get.  Why is my memory so important to 
you?  And for that matter, how can my memory be in a box buried in 
the sand?"
        "You'll understand soon."
        "Yea," he thought, "As soon as we get to that island, I'll 
slip away and kill you one by one."  But as soon as the boat 
landed, her hand closed like a vise on his arm.  Foiling his plans 
for escape.  As the pirates headed into the forest.  Will got the 
feeling that they were being watched.  Apparently, the pirates 
felt it too.
        "Mistress, there be spirits hauntin' this island." said one 
of them.
        "Shut up fool." she snapped.
        "You should listen more." Will said.  He'd spotted a 
furtive figure in the brush.  But it had all but disappeared.  Then 
he had seen two human figures flying over head.
        Suddenly, the air was ripped by an ear splitting wail.  The 
pirates cringed as a man flew into their midst shrieking.  The 
captain cursed as one of the pirates was hit by a psionic blast 
from somewhere in the bushes.  Will smiled.  Now was his chance. As 
he tensed for his escape, a huge man leaped from the trees into the 
horrified group of pirates.  A girl flew in and began to fight the 
first mate.  Three more jumped into the fray.  Will saw a blond 
woman watching from a distance.  He noticed that the captain was 
staring hard at her.
        Will's elbow shot back into the captain's stomach, forcing 
her to release her hold.  Then he turned and hit her in the jaw 
with a right hook and ran for the trees.  The captain brought up 
her whip and snagged his arm.  She pulled and he was yanked around 
till he was facing her.  She released his arm and swung the 
whip again. This time the whip wrapped tightly around his neck.  
She yanked him onto his stomach and before he could get up she 
planted a foot in the small of his back.  Then she grabbed a hand 
full of his hair and took a dagger out of her boot.  She held the 
blade against his neck and called to the attackers, who had all but 
wiped out the pirates.  The last one was running screaming into the 
woods.
         "Don't take another step in this direction or the boy 
dies!"  The attackers froze, but the woman approached slowly.  
        "Let him go Selene." the woman said.
        "Oh I don't think so Emma." Selene said.  "He's far to 
valuable to me.  Now you can either withdraw from his mind, and let 
me have him, so I can find out what he knows and keep him from 
talking, or I can kill him and then he won't be able to tell anyone 
anything.  It's your choice.  Either way, I win."
        "All right," Emma said, "Just don't hurt him."
    
        Clarice felt rage mounting in her.  This woman was 
threatening to kill someone with whom she had wanted to be friends, 
and was probably responsible for the disappearance of her friend 
Jubilee as well.  Slowly she clenched her fist and concentrated.
    
         The knife at his throat was suddenly in several pieces. 
Emma advanced and Selene vanished swearing.  Will got slowly to his 
feet.
        "Thank you for helping me." he said, "But who are you?"
        "That will all be explained when we recover your memory." 
She looked at him strangely.
        "What?" Will asked.
        "You don't have an eye patch." Emma said.
        "Should I have one?" Will asked.
        "Never mind."  She turned to the others.  "You have all 
been a great help but this is something Will and I must do alone." 
The others slowly faded from sight.
        "I take it you're going to help me?" Will asked.
        "Yes, but I don't know where to find your memory." she 
answered.
        "I still don't understand how my memory could be something 
tangible that I could find."
         "Neither do I, but then I didn't create this fantasy.  You 
did."
        "What do you mean?" he asked.  "You're saying that all this 
is just some fantasy world I created?"
        "That's exactly what I'm saying.  Right now, you're in a 
coma.  I've entered your mind to help you get out."
        "All right, assuming what you're saying is true, how do I 
get out?"
        "You can't, not till you get your memory back.  You can't 
get out till you remember how you got here in the first place."
        "Well then," he said, reaching into his pocket, "It's a 
good thing I swiped this map."  He pulled the treasure map out of 
his pocket."
         "Amazing," Emma thought, "His fantasy is so complete.  I 
wonder why his mind picked a pirate scenario?  Ah well, I'm a 
telepath not a psychologist."  Out loud she said "Well then, shall 
we go?"
        "Let's shall."
    
        It did not take them long to reach the spot on the map 
marked with an X.
        It helped that there was a large X on the ground.
        "Dis mus' be de place." Will said.
        "I don't believe this." Emma said.
        "Neither do I.  My opinion of myself is really dropping.  I 
mean how cliché can you get?"
        "Look at it this way," Emma said smiling, "You just want to 
get out so bad you're willing to do something ridiculous to help 
yourself."
        "I even remembered to supply shovels." he said, indicating 
two shovels.  He picked one up and began to dig.
    
        Will shoved the box out of the hole and climbed up after 
it.  He tried to smash the lock but it wouldn't budge.
        "Here," said Emma, "Let me try."  She stared at the lock 
and it shattered.  The lid of the box burst open and light flooded 
from the box.  Will stared into the light and knew what he must do. 
 Without a backward glance, he leapt into the box.
    
        The light blinded him, as he was thrust out of the warm 
safety and into the cold world outside.  With his first breath he 
cried.
        "I'm reliving my birth." he realized and then the memory 
faded.
        The next memory was when he was seven years old.  And now, 
he was watching, as if he was someone else.  And Ms. Frost was 
standing next to him.  He remembered her name now.  He remembered 
everything.  But for some reason he was reliving certain moments in 
his life.
        "Perhaps these are moments that you've not yet come to 
terms with." Frost said.  "Maybe now, your mind has decided to 
finally take the time to sort them out."
        "Could be." he said.  "And please don't read my mind like 
that again."
        "I didn't read your mind.  I'm inside it.  Your thoughts 
are as obvious to me as they are to you."
        "Where were you during the last memory?  And why would I 
need to come to terms with my own birth?"
        "First of all, I didn't want to intrude upon your birth. 
And second, birth is always traumatic, for both the babies and the 
mother."
        Will shut up and watched the scene unfolding before him.
        He was at a park, in the mountains of Vermont, he saw 
nearby a family having a picnic.  There were two children sitting 
on the blanket.  One was him when he was seven years old.  The 
other, was also seven, but a girl.
        "That's my twin sister.  Seven years old, my god." his 
voice was nearly choked of with grief.  "This is the day she died." 
 As he watched in horror, his sister walked to the bathroom, but 
didn't make it.  As she walked through the tall grass, she began 
swatting at something.  Then she slapped at her arm and then fell.
        "She was mute." Will said, tears welling up in her eyes.  
"She was also allergic to bees. We found her an hour later.  The 
grass was so tall that we couldn't see her.  She was dead when we 
found her."  This memory faded away to be replaced by another.
        In the interval between memories, Frost looked at Will.
        "You blame yourself don't you." it was not a question.
        "At first I did." Will said.  "But after a while, I 
realized that there was nothing I could have done."  
        Now he was thirteen.  He had just climbed to the top of a 
very tall tree.  He stood to get a better view of the land around 
him and the branch he was standing on broke.  He fell to the ground 
and hit several branches on the way down.  A fall that should have 
broken his leg, had left him unscathed.  This then, was the day 
he'd found out he was a mutant.  Soon this moment too faded to 
another.
        Two months ago, at school.  He was talking to his 
girlfriend, Sarah the girl from his fantasy.  She made several 
hints about what she wanted to do after the prom on Saturday.  As 
she went away Will looked at the lock for his locker that he'd been 
holding.  It was now a molten lump of slag.  Standing next to 
himself, Will looked down the hall and saw a boy watching him.
        "Well now I know how they found out I was a mutant." he 
said.  Almost as if what he'd said triggered the memory, he found 
himself reliving the night of his parents murder.
        Soon he was watching the battle with the street punks.  
Then in shock, he watched as, in slow motion, he totally eradicated 
them.
        Then, as suddenly as they started, the memories stopped.  
In front of him he saw a long staircase extending up into darkness.
        "I guess this is how I get out." he said and, putting aside 
his grief, started up with Frost beside him.  Soon though, he was 
unable to ascend the stairs without help.
        "I....I don't...get it." he gasped.  "Why am I....having so 
much trouble, going up?"
        "I don't know," Frost said as she helped him up another 
step.  "I guess the battles you fought in your mind were harder on 
you than you thought.  I only hope I have enough strength to get 
you the rest of the way up."  But she did not.  As they neared the 
end of the stairs, Emma began to fade away.
        "To weak to go on." she said.  Before she could say 
anymore, she was gone.  Will felt his grip slipping.
    
        "Xavier, you must help him!" Emma was as close to hysteria 
that as Sean had ever seen her.  Which wasn't saying much, but she 
was yelling.
        "I can't." Xavier said, he was closer to tears than anyone 
had ever seen him.  "If I cause any damage to him, I could never 
forgive myself."
        "And if you do nothing we may lose him forever!  If I wait 
till my strength is up he could drift so far into his subconscious 
that we'd never find him again.  It has to be now, when he's still 
close to the surface.  You're the only one who has the strength to 
do it."
    
        Will fell again.  The stairs had vanished and he knew that 
if he fell all the way, there would be no going back.  He looked 
desperately for something to break his fall, but he saw nothing. 
Then he heard a voice above him.
        "Will grab my hand!"  Will looked up and grabbed Professor 
Xavier's hand.  Straining, Xavier pulled Will up and out.
        As he was lifted, Will broke through a barrier he had not 
seen.  As the memory of what Jean had told him washed over him, he 
was filled with a determination to put an end to the trouble his 
enemies had caused.
    
         Will awoke with a start.  "Arcade!" he said, "Arcade and 
the Black Queen are behind it.  They stage mass kidnappings.  
Arcade brainwashes all the mutants they get, and Selene feeds off 
the humans."
        "I take it this means you've regained your full memory?" 
Monet asked smiling.
        "Everything she knew, I know." he answered.
        "Including where they are?" asked Storm.
        "Yes," said Will.  "But I can't tell you."
        "What-" Creed started.
        "But I can show you." Will said quickly.

To be continued...