Chapter 7: Footage Trouble
(1 day later.)
Xavier's P.O.V
It was getting quite frustrating, even for someone such as myself. Beast had set up his cameras yesterday and there was still no sign of that creature. The only problem was that the cameras were positioned almost everywhere. In the forest, on the tree branches and never more than five trees apart. They were also covering all points of the river and the cliff path, even the entrances and floors of the two caves in the mountain. I had been using Cerebro to see if I could somehow get into the creature's mind or at least see where it is, but for some reason I found I could not.
I was watching the footage in my study now. If I had patience, then I would surely see it at some point. "All things come to those who wait." Violet Fane, 1892.
I lifted a hand to massage my eyes and that was when I heard a knock at the door. "Come in."
"Hey Professor," said Wolverine, entering.
"Logan, what can I help you with today?" I asked, closing my laptop.
"Jus' wanted ta tell ya that earlier me an' Gambit went out ta see if Ah could get a scent for that thing and track it."
I frowned lightly. "I see. Was there any success?"
"That's what's botherin' me," he grunted, leaning against the wall. "Ah couldn't track it at all. Ah got a slight musky scent, but it just seemed ta disappear afta' that."
I laced my fingers together. "Curious."
Another grunt. Then; "Ah'll see ya later, Professor." I nodded as he left and quickly opened my laptop again. I knew I should be focusing on other things, but nothing truly urgent required my attention. I was just so curious, and I usually do not rest until I am satisfied with something, or I really do need to sleep. This creature…
"I must make sure not to spend too much time on this."
Wait, one of the cameras was offline – that section of my screen was static. "Hank, I need you in my office right away."
"I'll be right there, Professor."
"What could have happened?"
Hank arrived after a few minutes. He had been in the lower lab, working on another project. "Yes, Professor? Did you see something?"
"No, in fact, I cannot see anything at all on one of them."
He peered closer.
"How in the world?" he questioned rhetorically with a finger at his chin. "Hmm, I suppose it could be a minor lapse in power, but I will go and check it just in case."
"Thank you, Hank. Be careful, take Scott or one of the others along with you."
"Alright." He nodded.
Cyclopes' P.O.V
When Beast asked if I could go out for a short while with him, of course I said yes. He couldn't go out on his own, and a small part of me wanted to see this creature. Only Rogue and Jubilee had seen it so far and they got put into some kind of trance!
We walked down the cliff path and when we were at the bottom, Beast led me over to a tree and asked me to keep watch. He jumped up onto a thick, low-hanging branch, and started fiddling with…was that a camera? "Yo Beast, what's a camera doing up there?"
"This is one of my own wireless surveillance cameras," he answered, not looking away from his camera. "The Professor asked me to set a few of them up so he could keep an eye out for that mysterious creature."
"O-kay."
He flicked a switch, looked confused for a second before shaking his head, then jumped down. "There, done." We started to head back to the mansion.
"Cyclopes, Beast, another camera has just gone offline. It is near the first waterfall; can you take a look at that one?" I heard the Professor asking in my mind.
"Sure, Professor," I replied as we changed direction.
When we arrived, Beast did the exact same thing as before, jumped up, looked, flicked a switch, then jumped back down.
"Same as last time?" I asked him and a troubled look was my answer.
As we neared the mansion the Professor contacted us again, telling us that two more cameras had gone offline. We ran to the nearest one – a tree near the entrance gate – because I could tell Beast was beginning to be bothered by this. It was the same as the last two. Then the Professor contacted us again to tell us another three cameras had lost their visual.
We split up.
Probably a bad idea, but it would get the job done quicker. Beast just told me to flip the switch that was on the back of any camera I needed to fix. But as I was getting close to the first one, the Professor contacted me again. "Scott, the two in your vicinity have come back online, get back to Hank, I do not want you two separated for more than need be."
"Sure thing, Professor."
I started to run. Now I was extremely troubled by this whole ordeal.
"Just what is going on?"
Beast's P.O.V
"I don't understand. How could they have all been switched off?"
I was – for lack of a better word – stumped. Someone has to be turning them off, but who? There wasn't anyone I could think of.
"Let me see, the other X-Men wouldn't do it and the only other thing in the compound is that creature. But animals cannot work technology – they can't even understand it! And we do not even know if it can climb, so that rules it out of the immediate equation."
Nobody then.
I switched the last one on, then turned around and broke into a jog to meet up with Cyclopes.
Spider-Man's P.O.V
This was quite funny. They never even considered that I could climb. I've been keeping to the highest branches of the trees and have been scaling the cliff face. There are several blind spots too.
It was me who had been turning off the cameras, of course. They were ingenious but of simple design. Apparently it was the blue-furred one they call Beast, or Hank, who had made them. (Figures that they have codenames to match their abilities or appearance.) He was a scientist then, or a technological worker. Nice. Pretty good one too.
I had opted to watch him instead of the other one they call Cyclopes, or Scott. There was something about him. I had a feeling I had seen him before, possibly even met him! I had the same feeling for the others too, but it was just a little more intense when I saw Beast. I was looking down at him now, hidden high up in the leaves of a tree opposite him. It seemed the Professor person had been communicating with them telepathically. At least, I assumed as much as they certainly had no immediate way of knowing where to go.
"Why would you put a switch on the back of your wireless cameras? I mean really…why not a remote control? Or even a small push button? No, you had to make it soooo obvious."
I rolled my eyes and was completely silent as I sneaked away. I figured I could go and check out that mansion, just to see exactly what it was I was up against.
It turned out the mansion had floors underground as well. I could feel strange vibrations and was able to deduce that. Deciding to take a risk, I swung onto the roof.
Bad idea.
My spider-sense started going haywire after a few seconds. I couldn't see any danger though. I heard it first and twisted around. A giant robotic claw was reaching for me. I tore it in half.
"That was easy… Too easy."
I was right.
Four more claws appeared and started lunging towards me. I dodged them with ease.
"Agility, got to love it."
I disposed of a further two before I felt a bit bored. These were the only defence this place had? I decided to see what it was they were defending. Immobilising the last two by jumping between them and causing them to tie themselves in a knot, I followed them back to their source. It was a tunnel leading underground at the back of the building. I pried open the metal covering, being careful not to leave too many abnormal marks, and ventured in.
"I'm probably going to seriously regret this!...Spider-sense, shut up!"
