A/N: Beast has always been one of my favorite characters (second to Jubilee) and in watching a young Hank in XMFC I was completely enamored by him. I'm well aware that Jubilee doesn't appear in the comics until the late 80's but given that this is my work of fiction I can take it upon myself to change it as I see fit. All hail the power of the imagination. :D With that said- I hope you enjoy.
"Those are the new recruits?" Hank asked a smirking Alex at his side. The duo watched what appeared to be a some sort of man from the wild accompanied by a rather pretty little thing that flanked his right side stroll through the mansion's foyer.
"It's more like a temporary thing I hear," Alex muttered back after clearing his throat. "This guy is no joke. Don't know what his so-called 'gift' is, but he's got the murderous look down pat."
"The girl?" Hank asked with a curious quirk of his head only to immediately duck around the door frame as said girl happened a glance down the hall their way. Alex chuckled quietly and cast a glance down at Hank's hand gripping the front of his shirt to also keep him out of sight.
"Not sure. All I know is that she travels with him." With a well aimed smack Alex was able to make the other (once) man release him. "You could always just ask the professor... you know, if you're so interested."
Hank leveled Alex with a deadpan stare before he turned and stalked off. Chuckling, Alex followed after him- but only after stealing one last peek at the new girl.
"Hank, c'mon! You know I'm just giving you a hard time. It's what I do." The younger man reasoned as he fell in step with Hank, clapping a hand good-naturedly against a thick, broad shoulder. "Loosen up a little, huh?"
"Says the one that looks normal," Hank muttered under his breath. Quickening his step he left Alex behind to linger in the wake of his departure as he locked himself away in his lab.
What the hell did Alex know? Sure, he was a walking nuclear reactor, but unless he had to use his mutation no one knew he so much as carried the X gene. Despite how frustrated Hank felt (with Alex, Sean, or Charles) he knew that he honestly had no one to blame but himself, really. Ultimately his mutation had escaped his control with his overpowering need to be normal. Looking back now- he would give his life to only have gargantuan, freaky looking feet again.
Hank had confined himself to the lab and his bedroom, refusing to be seen unless absolutely necessary. More times than he'd admit to did he stand in the mirror and stare at his reflection for hours. Hours. Contemplating Raven's- no, Mystique's- last words that fateful day on the beach when she made her decision to leave with Erik- no, Magneto- instead of staying with them. With him.
"Mutant and proud."
Since the day on the beach and Charles having sent Moira back to the CIA with no recollection of where they were holed up (along with the news of Emma Frost having so-called having "escaped") there had been an influx of people in and out of the mansion. The majority being contractors that only appeared after he and Charles had spent hours looking over blueprints and schematics of the mansion and endless discussions of what exactly it was the older man wanted out of all the new space they were to have.
Hank was thankful for the work, the distraction. Anything that kept him from thinking for too long on where he had gone wrong. Too many hours spent going over the data he had collected, the samples he had tested, the results... in the end it had failed. He had failed.
There came a knock at the door.
"Hank?" It was Charles. "May we come in?"
Ah, the tour.
With a quick once over to make sure all was where it should be he cleared his throat. "It's open, professor."
Hank made as if he were busy, head bowed low over the legal pad before him, pretending to read over the notes there. From the corner of his eye he watched as the door slowly opened and there came the sound of the professor's motorized wheelchair followed by that of footsteps.
"This is Hank," Charles chuckled quietly in that bemused manner of his. "Hank, I would like to introduce you to Logan and Jubilee. They'll be staying with us for short while."
Steeling himself Hank straightened up to level his gaze on the newcomers. "It's a pleasure."
"Likewise, I'm sure," replied Logan with a grunt and a nod of his head. Hank watched as the man cast a sidelong glance at the young woman at his side, her eyes hidden behind large, tinted lenses. "Manners, Jubes," he chuckled thickly in a way that Hank knew the man couldn't care less whether or not the girl said hello before turning on a heel and walking out the door with Charles following him out.
Now alone Hank did the best he could not to stare as slender fingers pushed the large frames into short raven black hair, revealing a gorgeous set of almond shaped eyes. He was unprepared for when she snapped her gum with a smile; a flash of dazzling white.
"Nice to meet ya."
It was then Hank knew he was doomed.