Summary: A sadistic gang of intelligent killers are attacking the Xavier Institute, and since rendering the mutants powerless by using their technology, are at an advantage...or so they think.
Notes: This is after Jubilee and Rahne left. Not directly after, jus' sometime after.
Fear: Chapter 1-The Hunted
*****
Dark night skies cast overhead, thick grey clouds matted over the blanket of black velvet, and the air was crisp and cool, with a howling wind that made the trees sway back and forth eerily.
Professor Charles Xavier was sitting in his study, talking quietly to Ororo about the student's studies, when Logan stormed past the open door. Both whipping their heads around, Charles called out to the disgruntled man. "Logan, what is it?"
Stopping abruptly as he had just gone by the study door, Logan backed up and stuck his head in the room, a scowl on his face and his eyes wide and suspicious. "Somethin' ain't right Chuck." he grumbled, tilting his head back and sniffing twice before staring back toward the Professor and Storm, his hands twitching uneasily.
With a raised eyebrow, Ororo stared over at Logan, the same bewildered look across her features as a weird sensation passed through her. "You felt it too, didn't you?" she asked to both men.
Xavier nodded absently, eyes still widened with shock and trying to get over the strange sensation that had just passed over them. "I believe Logan is correct...Something is not right." Putting his hands to his temples, he closed his eyes for a moment in concentration, before they snapped open in more shock than before. "My telepathy, it's gone!"
Ororo raised a hand calmly, closing her eyes to tune in with the weather in an attempt to create a small rain cloud. Bright blue eyes opening, not white with power, she exclaimed, "My powers have left me as well!"
A painful grunt escaped Logan's lips as he released his claws on his right hand, quickly sheathing them but noticing the cuts in his knuckles wouldn't go away. With a sniff and a twitch of his ears, he realized his enhanced senses were no longer in tune either. "Same here." he mumbled stoically.
Slowly wheeling toward the window in his study, Charles' mouth gaped open at the sight outside. Logan and Ororo also moved toward the window, staring as well.
Some kind of energy field surrounded the mansion, seemingly on all sides. It looked like some sort of electrical spider-web, and glowed a light bluish color in the dark night.
"Holy shit..what the fuck is that?!" Logan exclaimed rather loudly, breaking the silence between the three mutants.
"My only assumption would be, that it is the very device supressing our mutant abilities." came a voice from out in the hallway.
Logan, Ororo, and Xavier stared at the form of Hank McCoy, no longer furry and ape-like, but human indeed.
"Hank?" Logan gaped, wide-eyed, having never seen him in person before he turned into the Beast.
"The very same." he said quietly, but almost proudly as he stepped into the room. "I'm sorry, I was standing in the hallway and was listening. I ran up here when I realized I was no longer a Beast, though I have to say I'm a little disheartened that it has nothing to do with me having control over my abilities." he admitted, peering past the three and out to the spider-webish thing out the window.
Charles nodded at him. "I'm not sure we should alert the children." he said quietly. "We don't want to cause them any reason to panic."
"No reason ta panic!?" Logan nearly shouted. "There's a freakin' dome outside blockin' our powers, an' I dunno 'bout you Chuck, but I sure as hell wanna know who the fuck's doin' this!" he grumbled, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
"There's no need for foul language Logan." Ororo scolded softly with a partial smile.
"What should we do?" Hank asked calmly.
"You and I will rouse Scott and Jean to help gather the rest of the students," Charles said, then turned to Logan and Ororo. "You two, see what you can do to find out what's going on outside."
Logan nodded sharply, then immediately raced out of the room, Ororo on his heels.
*****
Ten minutes later, Hank and Xavier were gathered in the library with a bunch of sleepy and confused students. Although they had explained what they knew so far, it didn't help ease the children's concerns.
"Professor, is this some kind of anti-mutant attack?" Scott asked, breaking the silence between everyone. Despite being without his powers, he still wore his ruby-quartz lenses in case whatever the thing was outside returned their abilities. He didn't want to be caught with nothing to prevent himself from hurting someone if things went back to normal.
"I'm not sure Scott. Logan and Ororo are trying to gather more information, then we can do something about this if need be." Charles answered quietly, trying not to frighten anyone at the moment.
Jean smiled tightly with a long sigh, gently putting her hand on Scott's arm as she sat beside him on the floor.
Amara sat near Jamie, trying to comfort the younger boy who was rocking back and forth nervously from his seat on the floor beside a chair where Bobby was sitting. "Calm down Jamie, it'll be okay." she tried to assure him with a comforting smile.
He looked to her with fearful eyes, trying to stop his lower lip from quivering as he nodded slowly.
*****
Ororo stood by the mansion's front door, keeping guard as Logan went to examine the 'glowing spider-web'. If someone was out there, they had to make sure whoever it was, they didn't get inside the mansion.
Walking out on the front lawn until he was about five feet from the glowing web, Logan eyed it suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. He was too used to having his enhanced hearing and everything, so it was taking him a little time to get accustomed to the muffled feeling throughout his senses.
Fumbling around in his jeans pockets, Logan produced a quarter and tossed it effortlessly at the web.
A loud jolting shock was heard, like a gigantic bug-zapper, as the glowing web completely fried the piece of metal.
"Hmph." Logan grunted, glancing back at Ororo by the door. "It's definetly electrical." he nodded, kicking at the dirt. "An' we can't get out."
"We better get back inside and inform the others!" she called back to him, nervously glancing around. Without her weather controlling abilites, Storm was feeling somewhat naked, helpless even. It was just too abnormal for her...for all the mutants at the institute, to be powerless.
Logan started marching back toward the door, when a loud noise echoed from the right side of the mansion.
"Logan get down!!" Ororo cried loudly.
The loud noise turned to a quick 'whirring' sound, getting louder and louder as it neared. Logan threw himself to the ground at his teammate's cry, seeing something fly overhead out of the corner of his eye. "What the fuck was that?!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet and glaring sharply into the dark shadows beside the mansion.
"I think it was some kind of gun!" Storm shouted to him, beckoning for him to get moving. "Come inside quickly, we don't know what we're up against!"
A low growl escaped Logan's lips, and as he continued to glare into the dark he noticed a faint greenish glow. "Nightvision goggles..." he muttered under his breath. Then with a feral cry he unsheathed his claws, ignoring the pain as he raced toward the faint bits of light which he was sure was the attacker.
"Logan, no!!" Ororo yelled, not wanting to leave her post by the door, in case someone might try to come inside. They were obviously up against more than one opponent...right?
Leaping into the shadows, Logan swiped his claws, only to have them cut into an innocent piece of shrubbery, nothing more. He growled angrily, sheething his claws with a pained grunt. Someone was there, he knew it...They had just gotten away from him.
A relieved sigh escaped Ororo's lips as Logan returned, though there was blood dripping from the open gashes on his hands where his adamantium claws had been released from their housings. She noticed the scowl on his face; he obviously didn't capture the attacker.
Clenching his fists tightly by his sides, Logan brushed past Ororo and into the mansion's foyer. "C'mon, we gotta go tell Chuck what's goin' on." he said gruffly.
Raising a delicate eyebrow, Ororo anxiously stepped back inside, closing the door securely behind her. "But we do not know what's going on. Do we?" she asked, suddenly staring at the panel for the security system.
"Yeh, someone's after us...prob'ly 'cuz we're mutants. We jus' don't know who yet." Logan grumbled in responce, turning sharply when he realized Ororo wasn't coming. "What?"
"They've somehow...disabled the mansion's security." she answered in an almost panicked whisper, still looking over the panel that was completely shut down.
Grabbing Ororo's wrist and breaking her from her shock, Logan dragged her up the stairs to the library where everyone was. "C'mon!"
*****