Hello everyone! Thanks for the favs, follows and reviews! You're all awesome!
So, I wanted to get this chapter out yesterday, but that didn't happen -.-' But I finished it today! So TA-DA! XD
Please continue to review, whether it is to share ideas (I really want to know if you all think Jack should or shouldn't be a mutant, and if he should, what kind of power should he have? Help me out here!) or just leave a review to let me know if you like the story!
Sorry for any spelling errors, I'm still getting used to the keyboard on my new computer. It's so fragging tiny! DX
Disclaimer's on my prof.!
Enjoy reading!
Jack quietly watched Hank as the large mutant fumbled momentarily with the phone in his hand, the man's large fingers dwarfing the phone.
"Do you need some help?"
Hank sighed frustratedly, shaking his head.
"No, no. I've got it. I've handled phones before."
Jack bit his lip, ducking his head to try and hide a grin. Hank sent a half-hearted glare.
"Oh yeah, laugh it up." He nudged the boy's shoulder just hard enough to knock him off his seat. The teen yelped, hitting the ground with a thud.
Hank chuckled, ignoring the scowl sent his way in favor of dialing a number on the phone while Jack picked himself back up.
The line rang a few times and Hank was somewhat worried. It was late at night, and while he'd called one of the students he knew would likely be awake, he wasn't sure. His worries were laid to rest when there was a click as someone picked up.
"Hello?"
Relieved, Hank smiled at the tired voice.
"Kitty, it's-"
"Mr. Mccoy!"
Hank winced at the somewhat shrill shriek, holding the phone away from his ear momentarily before returning it to its place.
"Yes, Kitty, it's me. I need you to-"
"Are you, like, okay?! We've all been, like, so worried! What-"
"Kitty." Hank said sternly. The girl fell silent, and Beast finally managed to speak uninterrupted. "Kitty, take a deep breath, alright? I'm alright, I promise, but I need you to go and get Professor X on the phone for me, okay?"
"Right! Just give me a minute!"
Hank waited patiently, somewhat concerned when he heard crashing, stumbling and yelling on the other side of the line. From what Hank could hear, Kitty was waking up the whole Institute as she rushed to get the Professor. Jack seemed to be able to somewhat hear the commotion, and sent a raised brow towards Hank, who shrugged sheepishly. After a couple of minutes, the Professor's voice finally filtered through.
"Hank? Thank goodness, we've been looking for you for days! Are you alright?"
Beast smiled.
"I'm alright, don't worry. I was found by...Well, let's just I've made a new friend."
Jack all but glowed at that, making Hank's smile widen.
"I'm glad to know that you are safe, Hank. Where are you? I can send Logan and Ororo over right away-"
"Actually, I need you to come here. Leave Ororo with the students so that the kids have some supervision, but I need your help over here."
Hank could all but see the Professor raise a brow.
"Oh? Is something wrong?"
"Not wrong, but...I owe my new, young friend a favor, and I need your help. I'll explain when you get here. I'm in Jasper, a small town in Nevada. We'll meet you at, uh..." Hank looked at Jack, gesturing for the boy to give him a safe location to meet with the Professor. Jack quickly grabbed a pen and paper from his desk and scribbled something down before presenting it to Hank, who read it aloud. "Under the Route 78 Overpass. Wait, Overpass...?"
Jack shrugged with a sheepish expression, and Hank chuckled, shaking his head good-naturedly.
"Alright. Well, he's saying it's safe, so..."
"Who exactly is 'he'?"
"I'll formally introduce you when you get here, but right now...Well, right now, time's of the essence, so please hurry."
"Of course." The Professor replied, trusting his friend without any doubt at all. "It should only take a two or so hours, three at most. Stay safe."
"You too."
The call disconnected, and Hank handed the phone back to Jack.
"So..." The teen spoke up hesitantly. "Your friend's on his way, then?"
The boy's face showed painful hope and excitement, and Beast nodded.
"Everything's set. Now we just have to get under that overpass. You're sure that's safe, though?"
Jack snored.
"You kidding? Of course it is! That overpass has been blocked off for years, no one goes there anymore. I just figured if we met up under it that would just be extra security. The only real issue is getting down their without aggravating your injuries..."
"I'll be fine, Jack." Hank replied, reaching forward and patting the teen's shoulder. "Let's just worry about getting your mother the care she needs."
Jack beamed at that thought. Everything was going to be okay!
At least...At least he hoped so.
It had taken a good thirty minutes to get Hank out of the house without him being spotted. Jack had managed, though, to convince Arcee that he was doing good and that she should go get some nice recharge back at Autobot HQ. After that, it was mostly just a matter of being quiet enough to sneak by Jordie, who was passed out on the couch (though being silent was still a feat, considering that Hank was injured and with how big he was he kept bumping his injured arms on the walls in a painful manner).
But they'd managed in the end, and Jack carefully helped Hank into his mother's car which had been stuck in the driveway the past two weeks. Grabbing the extra key from the garage, Jack clambered into the driver's seat, trying to ignore how his heart twisted painfully at the lingering scent of his mother's perfume in the car.
The drive, then, was relatively calm and quiet. Now and then, Hank would ask something, like why the overpass they were headed to was closed (it had been deemed an ineffective and dangerous route to take over the canon) or how long Jack had lived out in Jasper (and truth be told, before the 'bots, Jack had never been out of state).
It took a good hour to get to the spot, much to Hank's surprise. He'd been worried that the overpass was close to Jasper. But no, it was far from the outskirts, and Beast couldn't help but worry about how Jack felt going somewhere so far from the hospital.
Yet Jack looked perfectly fine, his face calm and eyes peaceful (and still just as unsettling, for some unexplainable reason). So Hank didn't ask, just in case the teen didn't want a reminder of the situation. So Hank instead busied himself by again looking over his healing injuries.
Jack had done a wondrous job, especially for his age and lack of experience. His mother had taught him well...
It was when Beast was examining a particularly large gash on his left forearm that Jack broke the silence that had fallen over them.
"That one was infected when I brought you home." He stated, eyes still on the road even as Hank looked at him. "Your fever from it broke only two days ago."
Hank winced. He knew how hard fighting off illness from an infected wound was.
"Sorry that you had to deal with that."
Jack sent him a bewildered look.
"Why? You're the one who went through the fever and nausea-"
"Nausea?"
Jack shrugged.
"Well yeah, you know that's a side effect. You don't have to be awake to throw up." A slight laugh. "Good thing I have good reflexes and a wastebasket in my bedroom."
Hank felt an odd combination of embarrassment, pride and growing fondness, the last two of those directed to Jack. He'd only been awake for about eight hours, yet he felt like he'd known Jack his whole life. That could be, though, because he all but wore his heart on his sleeve...
They'd only really known each other for a few hours, but Hank already trusted Jack like he did the other teens at the Institute. Maybe it was his more animalistic instincts, he mused. People always said an animal could tell is someone was good, bad, honest, a liar... And goodness knows he'd already inherited so many animal-like qualities, he wouldn't be surprised if he had that instinct too.
And then there was the fact that Jack had actually managed to bring him out of his rage, had somehow managed to coax the beastly-side of Hank so that the man inside could return to the surface and regain control.
He hadn't realized he had been staring at Jack until the teenager shifted awkwardly in his seat and sent the mutant a somewhat confused look.
"Uh...Is there something on my face, or...?"
Hank blinked, returning to reality.
"Hm?"
Jack's eye turned back to the road.
"You, uh, you were staring."
A look of surprise swept over Hank's face, followed by sheepishness.
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
Jack smiled slightly as he parked the car by an old, half-collapsed overpass. The structure, while having collapsed at the middle, was still an impressive structure that looked to stretch over a two hundred foot wide canyon. At Hank's raised brows, Jack laughed.
"Relax, the canyon's not that deep. Now c'mon, we need to figure out a way to get down there without aggravating your injuries."
Hank nodded, carefully climbing out of the car. Jack followed suit, only pausing to grab a flashlight from the glovebox before moving around to help Hank. Once they were both in the open, Jack switched on the flashlight and helped Hank towards the canyon as he looked around, seeming to search for something.
"If I remember right, there's a staircase that the construction workers used to get to the bottom of the canyon. It should be right...Here."
Jack grinned triumphantly as they found an old, long, sturdy (though not in any way fancy) set of stairs. Jack was right about the canyon. It was only one-and-a-half stories or so. As they worked their way down carefully, Hank glanced at Jack.
"You sure know a lot about this place."
Jack shrugged.
"When I was younger, I liked to explore. It drove mom..." His face fell, his voice tapering off slightly for a moment. He then grimaced, seeming to steel his resolve and finished what he was saying. "It always drove mom crazy."
Hank grimaced as well.
"We're going to help her, Jack. I promise."
Jack nodded.
"I know." A nervous glance towards Hank. "Do you really think this Professor guy will help?"
"Without a doubt." Beast replied confidently. "Charles is a good man. Once I explain things to him, he'll be more than happy to help. In fact, I'm sure that he will insist you stay at the Institute while your mother's recovering."
Jack managed a hesitant smile.
"He sound's great."
Hank chuckled, inclining his head in agreement.
"He is."
Jack's smile gave way to a frown.
"I just...I wish I could feel like this is all justified." At the questioning look Hank sent him, the teen clarified. "I mean, I know I helped you and all, but that was just the decent thing to do, y'know? And if mom get's moved, then that means that this Professor guy will get stuck with the medical bill, and that just doesn't seem right. Then there's the whole staying at the Institute thing, I mean, how do you guys know you can trust me? How do you know you can trust me?"
Hank suddenly stopped walking, so Jack halted as well, looking up at Hank in confusion. The man had an odd look on his face-
Jack yelped as a large, furry hand ruffled his hair.
"H-hey!"
Hank was smiling again, the expression warm and kind.
"Let's just say I have a mean set of instincts and leave it at that. Jack, even a blind man would be able to tell that you haven't got a mean bone in your body. Besides, if you're keeping those government secrets for your friends still, even after everything that's happened with your mom?" He shook his head with a chuckle. "Well, I don't think many people would do that."
Jack all but glowed, and Hank absently wondered if this boy ever got any praise. Obviously he didn't bet much, with how the teen reacted to the praise Beast had offered. Hank shoved that thought away, though, and lightly squeezed Jack's shoulder.
"Come on, let's get down there, the Professor should be here soon."
Jack nodded, readjusting the arm over his shoulders and continuing to help the mutant man down the steps.
"So, anything I should know before meeting the Professor?"
Hank shrugged.
"Not really. He's a mutant, but his mutation isn't physical. Actually, that's the case for most mutants, it's much less common to find a mutant who's physical appearance is permanently changed by their mutation. Usually, a mutant has either a non-physical mutation, or they can change their appearance, but they can still change back. Anyways, the Professor looks completely human, so don't worry, you won't be shocked or anything when he leaves the jet. He probably has Logan with him, he's one of the Institute's faculty. He's got a bit of a temper, but his heart's in the right place, so don't worry if he's a little...coarse."
"And how coarse is coarse exactly?"
Hank chuckled, shaking his head.
"You'll see. Like I said though, he's got a good heart, he cares about every single kid at the Institute, whether he admits it or not."
Jack smiled slightly. That sounded almost like Ratchet. If this man was anything like the grumpy Autobot medic, then Jack knew he'd be fine.
They finally reached the bottom of the steps, and Jack helped Hank over to a large boulder so that the man could sit. By now, the furry mutant was exhausted, his wounds making the climb down seem like a marathon. Jack stood by the boulder, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to hide his anxiety. It was about twenty-four minutes later that a rumbling filled the air and seemed to shake the ground as a large, silver form descended from the sky, highlighted by the light of dawn just barely peeking past the horizon. Jack watched in awe as the giant aircraft slowly landed, kicking up dust and dirt as it did so. Hank couldn't help but grin at Jack's expression.
Once the jet had shut off, a ramp descended.
Jack had been prepared for a lot of things. What he wasn't prepared for was the wheelchair-bound man that carefully rolled down the ramp and up to him and Hank.
Carefully, Hank stood, letting Jack hide half-way behind him. The teen watched as another man, this one tall and tough-looking followed the handicapped man. Both men stopped a foot or two away.
Hank shifted slightly, laying a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Professor, meet Jackson Darby." Dark eyes turned to Jack. "Jack, this is Professor Charles Xavier, founder of Xavaier's Institute."