Hank watched as his pale tan skin turned blue and furry. The temporary antidote had worn off…again. He sighed. He got out of the desk chair he was sitting in and left his laboratory.
"Charles!" He called. "Where are you?"
They were in Charles Xavier's mansion, which the telepathic man was planning on turning into a school for mutants. Personally, Hank didn't think it could happen.
"Right here." Charles' calm voice came from behind him.
Hank turned around and rolled his eyes. "No, where are you really?" He knew that his friend was using a telepathic trick on his mind.
The illusion of Charles disappeared, but Hank heard the voice in his head clearly. "I'm in my office, Henry. You can come over if you'd like."
"Please." He muttered. "Nowhere to go, nothing to do."
"Where are Alex and Sean?" Charles asked as Hank headed for the office.
"I have no idea, Charles." He responded. "They're around here somewhere. It's your home, you should keep track of them." He finished with a chuckle.
"Good point." Charles agreed.
Hank reached the door of the office and turned the handle. He found Charles sitting at his desk, eyes closed, and two fingers to his head, obviously searching for Havok and Banshee.
"I know you're there, Hank." The telepathic said as he worked.
"Not surprising." Hank told him as he closed the door and sat down in the chair across from the team's leader.
"Are you used to it already?" Charles asked, with a mocking hurt to his tone.
Hank grinned. Then he stated, "Nothing surprises the Beast."
"You sure?" Charles snickered. Then he went back to business. "Found Alex. Looking for Sean now. "
"Okay." Beast grumbled.
The four mutants have been living in the mansion for about a week now. Charles still couldn't reach into Erik's mind to see what he was doing and feeling. The telepathic often complained about how Erik was disappointing him.
"Where is Alex exactly?" He questioned.
"In the front yard." Charles told him. "Let's see…Banshee is…in the kitchen."
Charles removed his fingers from the side of his head and opened his eyes. He curiously asked, "Has that antidote for your powers worked yet?"
Hank shook his furry blue head. "Nope. It's getting there, though. I can't find out how to make it permanent. It's just temporary."
"Interesting." Charles commented.
Beast raised his eyebrows and then heaved a sigh. "There's been nothing to do since the battle ended." He complained.
"I have to agree with you on that, Hank." Alex's voice boomed as he walked in.
Beast jerked around with a roar to look at him.
"I thought you were in the front yard." Charles grumbled.
"I was. Not anymore." Havok grinned. "How's it going, guys?"
"Boring." Hank snorted. He flexed his muscles. "I'm going to go climb a tree."
"Okay." Alex shrugged. "Have fun, Beastie."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that to have it sink in?" Beast roared as he left the room.
He heard Alex laugh as he left. "A few trillion!"
Hank shook his head in annoyance. The man always found it hard to sit still because his Beast transformation gave him an animal instinct. It always made him fierce, like a tiger or a lion, perhaps.
Beast reached the top of the staircase that led to the first floor. He let out a roar and jumped over all of them, landing on his feet, his hands touching the ground in front of him.
With a triumphant grin he walked out the mansion's giant front doors. He found the tallest tree nearby. It looked to be about a hundred feet tall, maybe more or less.
Beast walked up to it and began climbing up the trunk. Once he was a good distance from the ground, he started leaping branch to branch. He reached the top within one minute, due to the reflexes his powers gave him. He stood on the top branch, looking around.
He heard Sean's voice from below, but couldn't make out what he said.
"What was that, Banshee?!" He called down.
"Helicopter!" He boy shouted. "Get down, Hank!"
Beast let out a slight roar and turned to see a helicopter coming and heard the noise of the propellers at the same time. He jumped off the tree. He landed on all fours next to Banshee. He got up and they both raced for the doors.
They raced through the entrance and closed the doors, leaning up against them from the inside.
"Phew!" Sean panted.
Whenever a plane of helicopter came by, especially military, they had to hide. Only because of the battle a week ago. Beast had to hide most of all because he was a furry blue animal.
"You could've warned me sooner." Hank muttered.
"At least I wasn't too slow." Sean replied.
"Okay, you have a point." Hank admitted. "Anyway, do you think they saw us?"
"I don't know." Banshee shrugged. "They better had not."
"Yeah." Beast agreed.
Suddenly the whirling propellers grew louder as if they were coming closer to the ground. The two mutants exchanged glances.
Charles' voice sounded in both of their heads. "Whatever you do, don't let them in."
"Okay." Beast muttered. Then he said, "Send Alex down here."
Moments later, the boy was at Beast's side. The three of them were holding the door shut. They heard the helicopter land in the front yard.
"Just hope they don't have guns." Alex whispered.
Beast nodded.
Banshee didn't say anything.
There were footsteps and then someone, a man, yelled, "Open up in there!"
None of the mutants said anything.
"Open up, or we're breaking down the door!" The same man threatened.
No answer.
"Do it." They heard the man say to someone.
The mutants exchanged glances.
Suddenly they heard a gunshot and a bullet went through the door, hitting Beast, who was in the middle of the three. He let out a quiet grunt of pain. One of his hands flew to where the bullet had hit him, right in the stomach.
"You okay?" Banshee whispered.
Beast moved his hand from his stomach and put a finger to his lips. He nodded in reply to Sean's question. Then he put the hand back against the door.
He heard something beeping on the other side. "Bombs!" Beast whispered harshly. "Let's move."
Alex and Sean went against the all on opposite sides of the door and Beast climbed over the doors and held on. IF they got in, he'd be able to jump right on top of the intruders.
Boom! The bombs went off and the doors fell over.
"Now!" Beast snarled, leaping down and landing on a woman. Alex and Sean were now on either side of him. It was surprising at how many soldiers came in the helicopter. There was at least twenty, perhaps more.
The three mutants fought them side by side. Beast punched a man in the face and knocked him out. The attackers let out yells as they were ambushed by their victims.
"Whoa, what the heck is that thing?!" One man screamed as he pointed to Beast.
Beast leapt on top of him and kicked him in the head, knocking him out. He let out a roar and jumped onto a woman, scratching her shoulder and she fell over, with him. Beast got up.
As he looked around, he saw that all of the soldiers were on the ground, knocked out and bleeding. Beast looked at Alex and Sean. They were as surprised at how fast that went as he was.
"Wow." Hank murmured. Then for fun, he let out another roar.
"Is that it?" Banshee asked, mockingly disappointed.
"I guess so." Alex shrugged.
"Yeah, well, now we have to watch them or remove this from their memories and dump them somewhere." Beast reminded them. "They can't stay here."
"Oh, yeah." Sean grumbled. "Forgot about that part."
"Anyone dead?" Alex asked.
"You check, Havok." Hank said.
"Fine, I'll do it then, Beast." Alex rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Banshee, take the weapons and give them to Charles, just in case they wake up." Beast ordered.
"Alright, no problem." Banshee began searching and grabbing weapons for the bodies.
"As for me, I'll make sure that there are no others in the yard or in their helicopter." Hank decided. "See you guys in a bit."
"See you, Hank." Sean responded.
Beast walked out the doorway, but before he could do anything, he felt a stun dart hit him in the neck. He blacked out.