Author's note
I don't own any of these characters.
Act I To Russian With Love
Preface: The events depicted here are set about two weeks after episode 18 Beast of Bayville.
Anyone who knew him would be quick to describe Scott Summers as, reliable, responsible, confident, and an all around steadfast and trustworthy individual, if not a little controlling at times.
Which for the most part ,better or worse he had to agree with. He liked to think of himself as a role model for the younger students, and for some of the less..mature older ones. A thought that caused a rather guilty grin to cross his handsome features, as he revved the bike up with a violent twist of his wrist.
Tearing down the mansion's well manicured lawn and out of the garage, Scott felt his insides burn with molten energy as sheer inertia and engine power sent him ripping through the night air at a velocity faster than his red hued gaze could keep up with. Trees, statues, and fountains all became a scarlet blur as he maneuvered the roaring machine between his legs past all obstacles.
Clad in torn jeans, a tight fitted black leather jacket, with matching gloves and boots that had once belonged to his long deceased father, and his visor beneath a ruby red helmet, he was far from his usual poster boy of responsibility look. Or as Rogue had put it, the Abercrombie X man.
Gritting his teeth, and grasping the handlebars tightly in an ardent grip Scott braced himself, as the gate rapidly approached. He could have just left the gate open earlier today, and simplified things, but that would have been...irresponsible.
With an uncharacteristic manic grin, Scott violently yanked the handlebars up, the muscles in his forearms burning in protest, as the wheels of the bike left the ground.
Things seemed to slow down as Scott and the bike sailed sideways almost gracefully over the gate. Suddenly things returned to normal, and both motorcycle and rider came crashing down, on the other side, and sped off into the night.
"I am so dead, If Logan finds out.", Scott thought as he rode off.
--
Cruising around Bayville at an intermediate pace, Logans' bike humming lazily beneath, Scott couldn't help but smile inwardly at the looks he was garnering from people on the sidewalk, particularly the girls. Initially it surprised him to see so many people out, but then he realized that it wasn't that late, and it only seemed so because his days as an X Man usually started early.
While he still felt a little guilty for borrowing Logans' motorcycle, it was still a rush.
Besides, I'll gas it up and polish it before Logan even wakes up. He mentally reassured himself.
This was only the second time he had borrowed Logans' bike, he would usually borrow Storms' Porsche, or the X Van, washing ,gassing, and polishing both into pristine condition at the same time. No one was ever the wiser.
Scott had been pleasantly surprised the morning after his first time with the bike, to find that his thorough cleaning had washed off all traces of his scent that Logan would be able to pick up with his keen nose.
As much as his conscience tugged at him during these nighttime excursions, Scott couldn't help himself. Sometimes the stress of leading a team of horny, hormone fueled teenagers struggling to maintain peace, and some sense of normalcy was tough. The fact that they had powers, only served to complicate the matter. Somehow he had to let off some steam.
Turning down Main Street, his ears were assaulted by a raucous excuse for music that blasted out of an all too familiar jeep, stopped at a red light.
Great, Alvers. Scott thought with a bitter taste in his mouth, remembering all the trouble the Brotherhood had put them through recently. Realizing he was on a one way street, Scott sighed slightly as he pulled up alongside Lance Alvers.
The music continued to pound the eardrums of all that were unlucky enough to be in the vicinity, with several people on the sidewalk throwing disgusted looks at Lance, and the tawny haired girl slumped next to him. Gripped in embarrassment ,she tried to the best of her ability to shrink down out of sight, which didn't prove to successful considering there was no roof ,nor any doors to hide her.
Oblivious to his companions mortified expression, Lance continued to brutally bang his head to the beat of the song. Until finally she could take no more, and with an exasperated grunt she switched the radio off angrily.
"Hey! What gives man? I was listenin' to that!" He rounded on her as the stoplights red glow seeped through his windshield.
"What gives? What gives?" she replied sarcastically, her temper rising causing her petite frame to seem several times its actual size. "What gives, is that I didn't sneak out to watch you start a mosh pit in the middle of the street Lance!"
Groaning to himself Lance switched the radio back on, albeit at a noticeably quieter volume. He hated when she got like this, and he felt in his bones an argument coming on, and sought a way to stop it.
"You're way to high maintenance Kitty, you need to loosen up" he said flashing her a cocky grin and stretching an arm around her.
With a disgusted grunt she activated her powers, causing his arm to phase threw her.
"No. You just need to grow up Lance." she said coldly her arms folded over her chest, and her gaze directed towards the sidewalk.
"Psft..." he said, dejectedly blowing a lock of greasy hair out of his eyes and removing his arm, "It's not like I'm gettin' any..."
"What'd you just say!" Kitty shot back, as her head snapped back towards him.
Choosing to ignore her, like he usually did when she got like this ,he glanced to his left ,and was greeted with the sight of the most bad ass bike he had ever seen.
"Nice bike!" Lance called out to the rider, as Kitty folded her arms and gave him the silent treatment.
Scott remained silent ,quietly willing the light to change.
"Hey dickhead!" Lance shouted, his temper rising quickly. "I'm talking to you!"
Turning her head towards the commotion, Kitty felt something nagging at her as she eyed the motorcycle. Before she could place this odd feeling, the light turned green and the bike sped off.
Suddenly Kitty recognized the motorcycle.
"Hmph Prick.." Lance said.
"Hey..that looks like Mr. Logans' bike.. but that's not Mr. Logan..." she said to herself quietly. "Lance! Follow that bike!" she shouted in the authoritative tone she always used with him.
"So now, you're talkin' to me?" he grumbled, even though in truth he had planned to follow it anyway, nobody disrespected him.
"Like you weren't going to follow it already?" she replied rolling her eyes at his bruised ego, and easy to read personality." Besides," she continued instantly coy, "I'll make it worth your while later."
"Oh man this is soooooo blackmail..." Lance groaned as he followed Scott into the night.
--
Crap! Scott thought as the Jeeps headlights continued to chase him through the winding path that was Rainey Street.
Kitty must have recognized the bike. This was such a stupid move Summers! What is she doing out past curfew anyway! He silently berated himself as he guided Logans' motorcycle through curves and corners, out of the heart of the city, and into the outskirts, trying to lose Lance and Kitty.
The trees above them served to block out any moonlight, save for a few slivers that managed to creep in here and there, casting a silvery glow along the road. Seeing the trees gave Scott an idea.
Speeding up until he had at last managed to escape the grasp of Lances' headlights, Scott took careful aim above him. Quickly flipping up the visor on his helmet, Scott shot a small blast of energy at a particularly thick branch. With ominous lurching sound the branch crashed down behind him effectively blocking the entire street.
Moments later Scott heard the satisfying sound of Lance Alvers curses, followed by the frantic sound of rusty brakes. With a smile, he sped off again, having enough adventure for one night.
--
One hour later after he had gassed the motorcycle, and checked it for any damage, with a sigh a relief because there had been none, Scott crept up slowly towards the Xavier institute. By now it was late, so late it was early. So Scott had decided to push the bike the remainder of the way, so as to not wake anyone up.
Making his way through the gate and up the lane towards the garage, Scott silently counted his blessings, knowing he had cut it close this time.
Although, it was fun to give Lance some payback. He thought with a guilty grin, knowing full well he had probably ruined Lance and Kitty's night. Which was fine with him, considering they had tried to run him off the road. He knew that blast had given away his identity, but he wasn't worried about Kitty revealing the truth to the others though. She'd have to admit that she had snuck out herself.
Slipping stealthily into the garage, Scott again marveled at his good luck, until a voice from the darkness caught his attention.
"Busted."
"Crap..." Scott said softly as the lights flicked on, to reveal a smug Bobby Drake standing with his arms crossed by the X Van.
"Looks like our fearless leader, went for a little joyride." He said with a cocky smile.
Knowing that he was caught, Scott removed his helmet with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"You gonna bust me or what?" he demanded trying to sound tough and intimidating, knowing Bobby wouldn't buy it.
"That depends ,you think you can take orders as well as you give em?" he replied raising an eyebrow, his fox like smile growing wider by the second.
Weighing his options, Scott realized that no matter what Bobby had in mind, it wouldn't be worse than what Logan would do if he found out. The X Man known as Wolverine was the type to hit first, and not bother to ask questions later.
"What do you have in mind?" he finally conceded.
Positively beaming in a devilish way, Bobby hopped off the van, and started to head towards the door that led to the rest of the mansion before turning back to face Scott.
"First dude, lose the Grease look, second meet me in the danger room after morning exercises, we're gonna do a little recon."
--
A painfully short few hours later, Scott stood in the middle of the danger room after morning training, trying to keep on his feet. He was beyond tired, the lack of sleep, coupled with the unrelenting workout Logan had just put them through, insured that he would be struggling to stay awake during first period today.
He couldn't escape the feeling that somehow Logan knew he, or at least someone was messing with his bike, and was determined to punish the culprit with intense training until they broke. And Scott had to say, he was doing a damn good job, every part of his body ached.
Attempting rather unsuccessfully to stifle a huge yawn, Scott gazed around at his teammates as they trudged out of the danger room wearily, silently cursing Wolverine. Unfortunately what was silent to them, was loud and clear to Logans' sharpened senses, which earned more than a few slaps to the back of the head. With a slight grin, he saw that Kitty looked ready to pass out.
"Glad to see you're in a better mood Scott, I always like my employees to be happy."
Turning around at the sound of the familiar voice, Scott was greeted to the sight of the perpetually haughty face of Bobby. Even after the rigorous ordeal, his youthful face still held a mischievous smirk.
With a glance over his shoulder to make sure the last of the students had left, Scott turned back towards Bobby a weary expression on his face.
"Alright let's get this over with." he said tensely folding his arms over his chest.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down big guy!" Bobby said holding his arms up in mock alarm. "You've got to put on your uniform first."
Glancing down at his costume, which was torn in several places from the training, he eyed Bobby suspiciously.
"I'm wearing it..." he said slowly.
At this the smile on Bobby's face grew wider and more impish than Scott thought possible.
"Follow me." Bobby chortled as he positively strutted around Scott and out of the danger room, not bothering with an explanation.
Grumbling to himself, Scott reluctantly followed his head down.
Their walk was a short one, as Bobby led the older boy into the locker rooms adjacent to the danger room. The room was shaped in a large ellipse, with separate shower stalls on the far side, and lockers at the front. However most people used the showers upstairs on most days. Evidently this was one of those days, so it was empty.
"What's going on?" Scott asked his voice echoing slightly in the room.
"Open it." Bobby replied, pointing to the locker directly in front of Scott, struggling to contain his mirth.
With a deep breath Scott reached out and put a hand on the door. Steeling himself away he slowly opened it.
"You've got to be kidding me..." he groaned.
--
"99 Kriegsminister Streichholz und Benzinkanister..." Kurt Wagner sang to himself tunelessly as the steamy water cascaded over blue fur, soap in one hand, shampoo bottle in the other acting as a pretend microphone.
He continued to sing into the bottle not aware of the shadowy figure creeping outside his shower curtain.
"Psst.. Kurt.." the figure hissed.
Still oblivious Kurt scrubbed and sang merrily.
"Kurt.." came the voice a little louder, and with a touch more urgency.
Still unaware Kurt in turn kept singing, and started using his tail as a makeshift air guitar.
"KURT!!" the voice screamed, and so did Nightcrawler, in a panic he accidentally teleported into the hallway, and as if on cue a slew of high pitched female screams could be heard across the mansion.
"Eww Kurt put some clothes on!"
"Hey he really is blue everywhere."
"T-T-abitha! Kitty! I can explain!"
"Just put some clothes on!"
Teleporting back into the supposed privacy of the bathroom, Kurt let out a sigh, before looking up and seeing his stalker.
"S-" he began to scream, before Scott clapped a hand around his mouth.
"No more screaming!" Scott said somewhat less composed than usual, then added matter of factly. "Dude, you're naked."
"I vos taking a shower you idiot!" came Kurt's muffled reply.
"Oh..right." Scott replied in an embarrassed way. "Well get some pants and meet up in my room ,I need your help."
--
A few minutes later Scott sat on his bed, anxiously awaiting Kurt. He didn't have to wait long ,with a bamf! noise, his furry friend teleported in fully dressed, leaving smoke and flames in the air.
"Okay, vhat vos so important zat you-" Kurt began as he stepped out of his own smoke, before he collapsed in fits of laughter at the sight of Scott.
Scott who had expected this, remained silent, though still it annoyed him.
Rolling around on the floor, and gasping for breath, Kurt finally managed to pull himself together.
"Vhat-vhat are you vhearing and vhy!?" he sputtered before lapsing back into side splitting laughter. And indeed Scott was a spectacle.
His usual khaki pants were replaced with extremely small cut off denim shorts, with matching blue boots. His shirt was a hot nauseous pink halter top, only partially covered by a long banana yellow trench coat, with matching gloves. To cap this insane hodge podge of styles, instead of his trademark sunglasses he was wearing a huge pair, that covered almost his entire upper face. How Bobby had managed to find a pair made of ruby quartz, he didn't know.
"I-I lost a bet to Bobby alright!" Scott said angrily, not wanting to explain the whole scenario, and get blackmailed again.
"Clearly!" Kurt cried still guffawing, but slowly regaining his composure.
"Look." Scott said slowly his gloved hand over his face in shame." Bobby wants me to go around the mansion and take pictures of myself like this. He gave me a whole list of places." he continued morosely pulling a list from his pocket.
"The way I see it, if you 'port me around, it won't be so bad."
"Ja, ja, zat is a good point.." Kurt said still shaking slightly and wiping a tear of mirth from his eye.
"So will you do it? I'm desperate man ,I'll owe you forever." Scott pleaded.
"Ja, vhat are friends for." he finally replied as he shook off the last giggles.
"Thanks man, I owe you big time." Scott breathed, with a huge smile immensely relieved.
"Besides, I vouldn't miss zis for ze world."
--
For the most part Scott and Kurts' journey around the mansion, went smoothly. Until they got to the last room on the list.
"Jeans' room..." Scott said, his hands causing the paper to shake, with conflicting desire and apprehension.
A multitude of thoughts ran through his head, what if he got caught, what if she was furious, and an even scarier thought, what if she wasn't mad.
Rolling his golden eyes, Nightcrawler tapped Scott gently on the shoulder to wake him up.
"Are ve doing zis or vhat?" he asked his tail lashing about impatiently.
"Yeah...yeah let's do this." Scott said grimly, steeling himself once more like a soldier preparing for a battle that no matter the outcome equaled a loss.
"Oh, brother.." Kurt mumbled as he grabbed Scotts' wrist and teleported them both into Jeans' room.
Still not used to the sensation of teleporting, Scott was momentarily disoriented when they re-materialized inside the room. The fact that the lights were off didn't help.
"Ow! Vatch ze tail man!" Kurt complained.
"Sorry, sorry, just find the lights!"
A moment later the lights flickered on ,as did the fan overhead, and the two were greeted with the sight of Jeans room.
It was somewhat larger than both of theirs, and the walls were all splashed with a creamy peach color, except for the far wall, which extended into an elegant balcony. Despite its' size, or perhaps maybe because of it, the room was spotless. They could see their reflections in the wooden floorboards, and not a speck of dust lay anywhere. Her bed was even made.
"I take it, zat zis is your first time in her room?" Kurt asked coyly, his tail suspended behind him in an almost question mark shape.
"Yeah." Scott replied dully. "It's yours too right?" he asked trying his best to sound casual.
"Maybe.." Kurt replied intending it to be a joke, but he soon faltered under Scotts' hard gaze.
"Ja it is." he sighed, and Scott eased up a little.
"You need to ease up man." Kurt said worriedly.
"Let's just take the picture and get outta here." Scott replied changing the subject and tossing him the camera.
Taking a few steps backwards towards the door, Kurt aimed the camera.
"Come on Kurt hurry up!"
"Calm down, calm down, I vant to get you in ze right light..."
"Kurt!"
"Alllllmost zere, now smile for ze camera baby!"
Before the click of the camera could sound, the click of the door behind him sent them both on edge. Panicking again, Kurt quickly teleported out of the room, mouthing an apology to Scott. Gripped with fear, Scott rapidly ducked down and rolled under the bed tucking his large body in just as Jean opened the door.
The door opened slightly allowing the thin frame of Jean Grey to slip in, instinctively groping along the wall for the light switch, she was surprised to find the room already illuminated, as the fan itself spun around merrily cooling the room.
That's odd, I could have sworn I turned the lights off.., she thought momentarily, before brushing it off, and deciding she must have left them on.
Striding across the polished hardwood floor, she gently tugged at her chair, before sitting down tiredly at her desk. She ran a few lazy fingers through her robin colored locks, frowning slightly at the split ends. At that point she decided that Logans' danger room sessions were great for her powers, but less so for her hair.
With a well worn brush floating next to her, she began the dogged task of combing her voluminous hair, her powers speeding the process somewhat.
Under the bed, Scotts' initial fear slowly gave way to boredom, as Jean spent thousands of years combing, primping, and otherwise beautifying herself, in the way only girls can, which began to frustrate as well as simultaneously amuse Scott. One of the many reasons he liked Jean was because of the feminine aura she exuded.
After more brushing, Jean stood up pointedly, and faced herself in the mirror. Tensing up Scott held his breath, as he feared she was going to discover him.
But to his immense surprise, she instead began to undress.
Oh man.. Scott groaned inside. Should I really be watching this? Though he made no serious attempt to turn away. If I look away, I might make too much noise..., Scott lied to himself, trying to find an excuse.
What would the Professor say if he saw me now? What would Kurt and the others say...
With a silent sigh he closed his eyes because in the end he knew.
What would Jean say?
Fortunately he didn't miss much, seconds after Jean started, a voice popped into both of their heads, the voice of Professor Xavier.
All senior and junior X Men please, meet me in my office as soon as you can, I have news.
Pulling her shirt back over her head, Jean sighed and trotted gracefully out of the room.
Feeling relieved, Scott waited a moment or two to make sure she was gone, and then hopped out from his hiding place, and sprinted back to his room to change.
--
Professor Charles Xavier sat calmly at his desk with a fresh cup of coffee steaming in front of him, the warm morning sun just beginning to seep in through the window in a leisurely way. As always he was dressed impeccably well, in a crisp pinstriped business suit. Logan couldn't help but think as he lounged on the wall adjacent to the desk, that Charles looked like the CEO of a rich company.
How does a guy that can' t walk, get dressed, showered, and ready and hour before we're all awake? He thought.
Practice. The Professor replied in his head, arching an eyebrow amicably.
"Hmph...I don't get it Charles, yer not above peaking in my head, but ya still won't look in those kids heads, and find out whose been playin' with my bike!" he growled.
Sipping his coffee patiently the Professor chose to ignore him and instead turned to the woman at his left.
"Ororo." he began putting his coffee down.
"Great the silent act.." Wolverine grumbled to his right.
"Do you think it would be...prudent of me to use my gifts, to ascertain whether or not someone has been in fact tampering with, Logan's machine." the Professor asked seriously.
"Well I don't doubt as to whether or not your motives would be noble..." she began a small smile on her full lips, "But I sincerely doubt, you would like what you would find in the minds of some of our boys."
"And a few of our girls." she added playfully thinking of Tabitha.
"What of you Hank?" he asked turning his head towards the front of his desk.
"I don't know Charles when I was that age-" he began before Logan cut him off.
"Alright!" he snarled somewhat, garnering laughter from his three colleagues, "But we'll see whose laughin' when they're messin with yer stuff!" he said pointing at them all.
"Logan I highly doubt, anyone desires to go for a joyride on my wheelchair, though they are most welcome to try. It's harder than it looks." Charles said a smirk still on his lips.
"Now down to business." he said instantly serious placing two fingers on his left temple.
You may all come in now. He said telepathically.
Still yawning and stretching, Rogue and Kitty led the way, as Evan, Jean, and Kurt filed in chatting animatedly. Standing in front of the desk as Beast moved out of the way, they all looked to the Professor.
"I'm glad you all could make it, but where is Scott?" he asked gazing around.
"Right here Professor!" came a voice from the hallway, a second later Scott sprinted in and doubled over clutching a stitch in his side. Thankfully back to his normal appearance.
"I'm here..." he panted.
"Dude did you take a shower yet?" Evan asked moving away from his team leader apprehensively.
"Ugh-" he started before the Professor cut him off.
"Ahem, not to be rude but I've called you all here to discuss important business, not Scotts' hygiene or lack-there-of."
A few people laughed, and Scott grinned sheepishly as he caught Jeans' eye.
"Now then Hank why don't you explain to them their next mission." he stated gesturing towards his blue furred friend, who stepped forward, garnering the attention of all, particularly Storm.
"Gladly. As you all know in the short time I've been here, I've spent most of my time trying to upgrade Cerebro. For the most part I had failed miserably." he stated rather baldly.
"But Hamlet wasn't written in a night." he continued, "With the help of the lovely Storm over here, I've made some significant advances." Hank continued casting Storm a glance that made her giggle uncharacteristically.
Seeing the usual vapid expressions, that he had become accustomed to in the classroom, he decided to skip the tech talk and get to the point.
"In short, my additions now allow Cerebro to detect mutants on a global scale."
However their expressions were far from impressed, and then Rogue chose to speak for the group.
"Um, couldn't it already do that, Ah mean how else did we get Kurt and Rahne?" she asked tactfully.
"Yes and no." the Professor said, taking this time to cut in. " Before it could detect a mutant in other countries, only a year after they first used their powers, and even then the signal was weak."
By now, the excitement in the room was palpable.
"About time." Beast said sighing softly, and then clapping his enormous hands together to get their attention. "So for your first international recruiting mission you guys are headed to the home of, Bellinsky, Babel, and of course Tolstoy!"
At the blank stares he lowered his head in defeat.
"Russia.." he sighed again as he trotted off mumbling about the degradation of the American school system.
"Alright settle down!" Logan barked over the growing din. "Get packed you guys are leaving as soon as ya get outta school today."
"Who's taking us?" Kitty asked as everyone resumed chatting and celebrating.
"Me, half pint."
At that the whole room grew silent as a graveyard.
"You?"
"Yep yer lives are all in my hands." Wolverine said with an evil grin.
Looking around at the uncertain expressions on his friends faces, Kurt decided to raise a hand in the air.
"Yes Kurt." the Professor said.
"Ummm... could I request a different set of hands..."
End
Hope you guys like that, I promise the next chapter will have more action, until best of luck to you all, in your writing endeavors.
Cerebro Files X Factoid 2346: Cyclops optic blasts are not heat based, in fact they are concussive blasts capable of breaking through solid objects, but are not capable of welding or melting.